October Reviews

Excuse the brevity and absence of pictures, but I’m off to LA for the Helen Fielding reading tonight (excuses FTW). 

Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje

203 pages

I wrote about this memoir earlier in the month after reading it with my students and really enjoyed it. In brief, Ondaatje tells the story of a trip he takes back to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, to put the pieces of his family history together. The reader must accept, just like Ondaatje, that he or she might not be completely informed- there are times one isn’t sure who exactly speaking or if the stories being told are completely factual.

Verdict: It’s not for everyone (stream of consciousness, non-linear narrative, poetry, etc…) but I thought it was fascinating and appreciated the risks he took (although critics maintain that he is still just a “Western autobiographer).

What I Had Before I Had You by Sarah Cornwell

288 pages

This doesn’t come out until January, but I was able to receive an ARC through Amazon. The narrator, Olivia, a bipolar woman, has cheated on her husband and is moving her young son and teenaged daughter from Texas to New York. She decides to visit her hometown of Ocean Vista where her son, also bipolar, disappears at the beach. While trying to find him she must also tackle the demons of her youth, flashing back to her teenaged years with a mentally ill mother, new friends, too much freedom.

Verdict: Cornwell has a unique tone, but at times I felt some of the coincidences and such were a bit too far-fetched. As someone who grew up with a bipolar father some of the elements of this book did hit home- it’s always interesting to see someone else’s spin on the illness.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

544 pages

I originally started reading this in July or August for our English department book club, but the date kept getting pushed back so I stalled. We finally met last week so I rushed to finish before our meeting. Just in case there’s another human being alive that hasn’t read it, Catch-22 is about a pilot named Yossarian in WWII, stationed on an island off Italy, who is frustrated with the increasing number of missions he must fly before he is sent home. The novel satirizes the bureaucratic and stereotypical aspects of wars, with a non-linear, hilarious narrative.

Verdict: As our book club meeting demonstrated, this book is not for everyone. It’s long, it can be difficult to follow if you’re not prepared for the randomness of some of the scenes, and there are a ton of characters. That being said, I loved it and could kick myself for waiting so long to have read it.

Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bridget Jones’s Diary: The Edge of Reason, Mad About the Boy

288, 352, and 386 pages, respectively

Yes, I had a Bridget Jones month. I read the first book back in high school and thought I had read the second, but had apparently not. And then the third came out in mid-October and I was curious to see what happened to Bridget. I plan on writing a post this weekend on my thoughts on it as a “series” (such a dirty word), so check back in a few days if you’re dying to know. Oh, the suspense.

Monthly total: 2,061 pages

Top Whatever Tuesday- Heroines

The Broke and the Bookish asks us to come up with our top ten heroines this week- this was seriously hard for me. First of all, what makes a hero? To me heroes are people that actually change society- they cure diseases, save babies from dying, invent tampons. I generally don't read books about people I consider heroes, so I'm going to have to extend the definition to females I admire. And, because I'm drawing a blank, for the first time ever I'm going to leave my list incomplete. 

1. Antigone (Antigone by Sophocles)- Yeah, she gets on my nerves, but her willingness to exert herself was way, way, before her time.

2. Fern (Charlotte's Web by EB White)- The vegetarian in me commends her efforts to save a pig from slaughter. 

3. Hester Prynne (Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne)- You wear that A, lady. You wear it. 

4. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter by JK Rowling)- A goody goody whose willing to break rules to help her friends and defy evil.

5. Nancy Drew (Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene)- I can't imagine what the world would be like if she hadn't solved all those mysteries and put away all those criminals. The world is better place because of Nancy.

6. Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee)- Her concern with the goodness of humanity, as well as her willingness to fight boys, makes her pretty damn cool.

7. Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte)- Because we've all had a crazy man with a wife locked in the closet in our life.

8. Paula Spencer (The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle)- She kicked out her alcoholic, abusive husband. Enough is a enough. 

A Rant Before Bedtime

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I'm Googling a little obsessively lately and it's occurred to me that information, both correct and incorrect, is just too readily available on the Internet. This isn't the first time I've had this thought, it's just resonating today. We don't have to work for information anymore, we don't have to talk to anyone, we don't have to go anywhere. Just today I managed to find some herbal remedies for a medical condition I've diagnosed myself with, selected a new camera to buy for yearbook, decide on a new recipe for dinner, start a web page program for my students, check if Barnes and Nobles carries a book at the store so I can look at it before I order it on Amazon, and see what my electric bill is so far this month (don't ask). I'm not kidding- all between the hours of five and seven.

It's just too much. There aren't any surprises anymore, the concept of mystery and wondering becomes completely irrelevant at the press of a button. Our experts have turned into faceless beings that claim sufficient knowledge- instead of making the time to create a connection we ask the source that's open and all too ready to help, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all for the low price of an internet connection. 

Once upon a time, back when I was twelve, I was doing a project on the Hetch-Hetchy project in Northern California for science and had to request past newspapers from the circulation desk at the public library.They went downstairs to the archive and brought back bundles of newsprint.

Once upon a time, back when I was ten and wanting to figure out when my favorite used bookstore, Yesterday's Books, opened on a Saturday morning I had to pull out the phone book, look up the number, and call for the information.

Once upon a time, back when I was seven, I had to do a report on astronaut Sally Ride. I went to the library and looked up the information in a card catalog, jotting down the call numbers for the relevant books with tiny pencils on scratch paper thoughtfully cut into small squares by librarians. 

Once upon a time, when I was six, I accidentally said the "N-word" because I was looking up different locations on a globe, learning how to use latitude and longitude. Unfortunately, there was a little African American boy in the group and the whole situation ended up with me crying. Wait to set me up for failure, Niger.

Bottom line- we used to have to work for our information. There was a sense of satisfaction that was gained after a long afternoon in the library with notes scribbled in my Trapper Keeper (what what) and fresh copies made from the machine I pumped dimes into (there is nothing more adult-like to a middle schooler than using a copier without an adult). I don't feel that way after hours spent at my dining room table with my bleary eyes glued to my computer's screen.

Side note: Did you know that card catalogs are now nifty DIY sort of projects that upcyclers love to distress and put in their homes? They use the drawers for their kid's crap or their office supplies. Would I balk at having one in my front room? Hell no (in fact I kind of want one now...), but you can bet one drawer would have some actual cards in it. 

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But, on the other hand, this whole "information at your fingertips" monster is terribly efficient. The things I was able to do this afternoon would have taken me several hours worth of phone calls and appointments if I hadn't had the ability to look them up on the Internet. I'm a busy woman and there are only so many hours in a day. I've got shit to do. Lots and lots of shit. 

But, back to the other hand, the romance is gone. This whole technological revolution is like an old, boring marriage- we've been together awhile and I'm becoming nostalgic for the days prior to we vowed to stick together forever. Technology gives me what I want but doesn't challenge me- we don't fight anymore, we don't try anything new. Every night all we do is Google with the lights off.

I could start making massive parallels to our society, and how this is indicative of a larger epidemic- the laziness that is today's people. But I won't. This diatribe is nothing new, we've heard this song before. And I'll be honest- while I'm sitting here pining away for the days of yesteryear I know very well that I'm not going to change. I'll check Facebook when I'm done typing this, peek at my email, and glance at the weather so I know what to wear tomorrow. I'll continue lusting after the iPhone 5 and and iPad, and will forever use technology as a way to communicate. Despite all this I can still think it's sad. Maybe Siri will know what to do. 

Applebee's Again?

I'm a sucker for first time novelists, but I'm also an admittedly harsh critic of their follow up works. If the first novel is descent, I'll read the second; if it's not as good as the first I give the author one last try. If I had ever actually dated, instead of being a serial monogamist, this would probably have been the system I used to determine whether or not to keep a guy around. It's  fair, I think. I've used it before on Curtis Sittenfeld (she ended up passing), Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (they failed miserably), and am still waiting for Janet Fitch's third (White Oleander was good; Paint it Black was painfully horrible). It works for me.

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Recently I acquired the ARC for The Red House, by Mark Haddon, his third novel. His first book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, was quite successful, and I enjoyed the quirky story about an autistic teen's mystery. This would be the equivalent to a guy maybe taking you to a great concert in the park or an eclectic art exhibit, followed up with a dinner at a fantastic hole-in-the-wall bistro and some quality second-ish base action (I'm trying to think what this would have said ten years ago...). Haddon's follow-up attempt, A Spot of Bother, the story of a hypochondriac father, did not end up being nearly as enjoyable. The charming guy from the first date decided to take you to a Transformers movie, Applebee's and then passed out on his couch after an hour of sports highlights (as if the folding, talking cars weren't bad enough). The score was tied- his third would decide his fate.

Applebee's again? What the hell? 

The Red House definitely fell short of the expectations Haddon set forth with his first novel. It's not that The Curious Incident was an extraordinary piece of literature, but it offered a unique perspective and tried to be a little different. I don't feel like Haddon has achieved either since his debut. The Red House was boring at times, denied its characters of any depth, and failed to adequately handle some of the issues it brought forth (bullying, adultery, and teenage homosexuality). I also take issue with the fact that the publisher gave the novel a disgusting amount of praise on the back cover, claiming it to be a "literary tour de force," that the novel will "entrance" readers" and is "brilliant." The Applebee's boy is claiming that he'll keep you out and up all night long when in fact he's snoring before nine with leftover chicken wings on the coffee table.

And, for the record, I worked at Applebee's one summer in college, therefore giving me full right to use it negatively. This is not an "impress your date" kind of restaurant, boys. It's one you go to when you're married and have three kids whp will probably spill their french fries on the floor and cry when they let their balloons go (again). 

Off to read John Irving- he's definitely not an Applebee's man. 

The Bunny Died for Our Sins. Right?

I used to love Easter when I lived at home- my mom hid baskets full of cheap trinkets and candy and we'd find them. Eggs were colored the year before, and the rest of Easter was usually spent being lazy. Simple and fun. 

At one point, we were going to church- apparently this is some sort of religious holiday. If I recall, the Easter Bunny dies for our sins and then comes back to life to spend eternity delivering crap to children in the middle of the night? Is that right? Oh wait... Anyway, we were a church-going family for awhile and we'd get dressed in our spring finest, take some pictures, and then head on out to hear about the version of Easter that doesn't include rabbits.

In honor of this holiday, that has been turned into something ginormous and commercial ('tis the American way), I bring to you the Brick Bible- a LEGO version of the Holy Text. Given my love of LEGOS I find this very amusing. It's officially on my Amazon wish list.

Nonfiction Nagging- It's Okay to Be Slow

This is going to be quick- I have to get up at 4:30 am to catch a flight to Chicago, and plus, it's a really short book. And it's about running, which most of you don't give a rat's ass about.

The main message you should get from The Accidental Athlete by John "The Penguin" Bingham is that anyone can be an athlete; the term "athlete" comes from your own perception and efforts. Walk, run, cycle, swim, lift, jump rope, pole dance, skateboard, roller blade, play tennis, whatever! Just move your ass while doing something you actually enjoy.

Speaking of prying the butt cheeks off the couch, I think the most inspiring thing is that he started running marathons in his forties, after being over-weight, inactive, and a smoker for many years. Age, size, and history is not an excuse, people.

And that's it.