meeting up with Our Secret Brother John Green (osbJG)

It's been a busy coupla days around here and so I'm only now getting around to writing about last Thursday when I biked over to the Santa Monica Public Library to see osbJG. He was in town on his book tour promoting his most recent novel Paper Towns and I wasn't about to miss an opportunity to hear him talk in person.

I regret that the only good photo of him makes him appear as though he has agitated hands.

The library auditorium was packed (with some attendees in an overflow room. Thank goodness I got there early) with folks (mostly high school kids is my guess) dressed up for Halloween as per osbJG's suggestion. This queen of hearts' costume was too good not to photograph. And that sailor boy just warmed my heart. Look at that grin!


This gal wore my favorite costume.

Says she hand sewed it so it took her two weeks to make. See? It even flips inside out for when the ghost gets eaten by Pac-Man. Awesome!!


NB: osbJG came dressed up in costume as well. Can you guess who he's supposed to be?

Walt Whitman! Of course!!

I regret that my photography skills are so wanting. I think I was a little nervous. Nervous because I was one of maybe 5 non high school/college age kids there (the other 4 were probably parents who'd driven their kids over) and felt a little like a moron. Nervous because I was worried that when it came time for osbJG to sign my book I'd say something stupid and he'd mock me (in a funny and kind way, but mortifying if you are the one who getting mocked). Nervous because I was going to ask him to hold my sock-in-progress and he might think that I was a perverse sort of stalker indeed.

He did hold my sock in progress and graciously allowed me to photograph him doing so. I am racking up nerdy points in so many ways with this shot.

NB: I haven't finished the socks in question yet. I learned the hard way that knitting argyle successfully for me involves backwards knitting for the colorwork part.

The talk and reading was great! I like what osbJG said about why decided to write for the young adult genre, how he finds it meaningful to be given a voice, invited to sit at the table among those who might influence the opinions of our young people. It's validating to see so many young folks responding to his energy and enthusiasm.

it's not like I'd understood, anyways

Whew! What's with me and the cheezy post titles today?

Anyways. I was supposed to read this book of short stories by Jim Shepard for my online book club. I gave up halfway through. I just couldn't get into it. I'm not sure if it's his writing style that didn't speak to me, the subject matter(s), the use of the first person singular for every story, or maybe I'm just not that smart (lots of smart sounding people gave it great reviews). I just didn't get it. However, I am completely fine with not liking it and not finishing it.


As I mentioned previously, I did appreciate the cover design (sort of makes me wish I did like the book because this would look great blown up and framed as a poster). The designer/art director who came up with this concept is a genius as far as I'm concerned. I'm not buying books anymore these days, but if I were and I happened to be in a bookstore, I think I would probably pick this one up and seriously consider a purchase. Just based on the graphic design alone. I'm sure others have been similarly dazzled/duped into buying this book. What an awful lot of tricksters those designers are.

last one, I swear

Edited to add: It seems like Google's Feed Reader doesn't support the embedded video that Lookybook uses. So you'll have to go to my blog directly (or lookybook's site) to view it. Not sure how other feedreaders deal with this, though. Sorry 'bout that.

This is another one that I would love to have on my coffeetable:

more lookybook

Edited to add: It seems like Google's Feed Reader doesn't support the embedded video that Lookybook uses. So you'll have to go to my blog directly (or lookybook's site) to view it. Not sure how other feedreaders deal with this, though. Sorry 'bout that.

And personally, I would buy this book for myself:

Lookybook (yet another account)

Edited to add: It seems like Google's Feed Reader doesn't support the embedded video that Lookybook uses. So you'll have to go to my blog directly (or lookybook's site) to view it. Not sure how other feedreaders deal with this, though. Sorry 'bout that.

I love childrens' books. The illustrations are marvelous and the stories are great. So I just opened up an account with Lookybook a free service where you can flip through children's books and have the option to purchase them through a few online services if you so desire. You can create a bookshelf of your favorites and browse other folks' bookshelves. I just flipped through a highly recommended book called Bad Kitty. It is very charming. Delightful even. I might have to pick up a copy for the nieces.

The Great Gatsby. To Mrs. Ulrich

I joined another book club. This one is an in-person kind. My first meeting is on Tuesday and it's a classic literature book club so the first book I read with these guys is The Great Gatsby. I'm sure many of you read this in high school as did I. But I know that I missed a lot so I was happy to read it again.

Funny thing, I tried to find it at my local public library and had a really hard time tracking it down. It wasn't in the fiction section which I browsed by last name. I couldn't imagine a public library of this size not having at least one copy so I looked it up on their online database from home. But when I got to the library again, I found that the search results led me to the nonfiction section and there were just analysis and academic material on F. Scott Fitzgerald and his writings, instead of the writings themselves. Two reference librarians later I was directed to the young adults paperback section where I found three copies sitting on the shelves. Young adults, eh? Who knew?? Well, actually, I bet some of my readers knew.

But back to Gatsby. It was good. Really good. And a quick read too coming in at 180 pages. I found it interesting all the stuff I was confused about from my first read back in high school all coming back to me. And I wonder at my ignorance. Part of it wasn't my fault. I think I grew up in a fairly sheltered environment with my isolated immigrant family. How was I supposed to understand a sentence like:

"You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy," I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret.

Talk about feeling uncivilized. I think I asked my English teacher Mrs. Ulrich about what that meant and I vaguely remember her saying something about it doing with wine, but I still didn't get it. Corky? Claret? What was so impressive about it? And how come none of the dialogue made any sense?

As I read it this weekend I remembered more parts that I puzzled over back in high school lit class. I can't imagine that I understood any of the book to be able to write intelligent papers on it for my class. And I also recollect the exasperation Mrs. Ulrich expressed during discussions in class. The brilliance of this literature must have been lost on all of us. What a shame. I'd love to go back and have a discussion with her about this book now.

I guess something that wouldn't have occurred to me was how subtle the writing could be. A lot of stuff is nuanced, and I'm thinking that you wouldn't be able to "get it" unless you've lived a little and gotten around a bit. To an able reader of literature, the nuanced and subtle bits seem pretty obvious and the book is rich with layers and layers of symbolism for lit lovers to glorify in. But back in high school English class I wasn't equipped to fully appreciate this as I am now.

I enjoyed the writing which I thought was very smart without being excessively clever. I thought his use of themes was masterful. And I finished the story a bit caught up in the tragedy of the failed characters, but still feeling like they all sort of got what they deserved (right or wrong). I'm looking forward to Tuesday's meeting to hear what the other classic lit lovers have to say about this and silently dedicating my participation in the discussion to Mrs. Ulrich.

more reading

The good news is that I have been reading more. Joining that book club was a great idea. I like being exposed to a bunch of new stuff. And since I'm done with my book for the club well before the deadline, I'm itching to keep reading while I wait to hear what the next book will be. I've made good use of my library card getting new stuff for me to read.

So far, nothing I've read (from the book club or my own findings) have made me lose myself in that way that a really really good book will grab you and make you stop everything else in your life forsaking sleep, meals, bathroom breaks and work to finish another chapter (or let's be honest: finish the book). But that's okay. It's still been a fun ride.

Some of my thoughts about the books I've read:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman was okay. Just so-so. I liked Anansi Boys better and don't really believe that you needed to read the former before the latter as many fans have insisted you do probably because this was the order the writer wrote them in. I did it backwards and it was just fine. I'd be willing to give a few more of his books a shot since they are so well regarded by people whose opinions I respect, but I'm not feeling terribly optimistic since American Gods was a bit of a let down. It was easy to read and more or less entertaining, but sort of all over the place and so ultimately not satisfying.

Last month's selection for my book club was Petropolis by Anya Ulinich.
It was funny and interesting if a bit dark. Sort of reminded me of something Todd Solondz might adapt for one of his films (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, Palindromes) if he were to get into the business of adaptations instead of coming up with his own material. Perhaps a bit too dark at times for me to be able to really get into it? I don't know. It didn't resonate with me, though I did feel sympathetic towards the main character and worried about what would happen to her next.

I keep catching Pride and Prejudice on t.v. over the last few weeks. The Keira Knightly one. Sheesh. I have to take back every not-so-nice thing I've ever said about her. She's wonderful in this. I'm not a huge fan of the costumey movies (there are some really good ones that I've enjoyed terribly in the past but lately if it's a costumey period piece, I'm probably not likely to go see it. maybe there aren't enough explosions in them.) So anyways Pride and Prejudice, Keira Knightly and that dreamy Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy, I just can't get enough of it. I keep seeing bits of the movie and never the whole thing. I suppose I could fix that and just get the DVD. But anyways, it's been on my mind so I decided to pick up the book and give ole Jane Austin a shot. It was great! Very funny. And lots of ideas that feel more contemporary and progressive to me about women and their status and marriage. I was surprised by that. I'm going to have a Pride and Prejudice screening marathon next Friday with Janet. She's going to help me bake 5 cakes for a wedding that I got roped into baking for. And while we're waiting for each cake to bake, we're going to watch the Keira Knightly version and also the BBC one that I keep hearing so much about. Now I'll finally get to see the movie in its entirety. Twice. I'm stoked!

And since I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice so much, I decided to give Emma a shot. I'm about a third into it. I haven't really sat and given myself over to the book on a long afternoon read or anything like that. It's good but I'm not as won over with it as I was with Pride and Prejudice. Emma and her dear old dad are just a bit much. Sometimes a bit annoying, but that's rather judgemental of me. I blame myself for not really giving the book a proper go. Maybe over the weekend.

Hm.. I really thought I'd read more than three books since my last book post, but I guess I haven't. Maybe I'm forgetting the others.

what I've been reading lately Pt.2

I realized that I never wrote about the other book club selections. The first two books of the book club were Aryn Kyle's God of Animals (which I mentioned before) and Hisham Matar's In The Country of Men.

Both books were coming of age stories. The God of Animals about a young girl who lives on a horse ranch and the story of her life with her dysfunctional family. In The Country of Men about a 9 year old boy in 1970s Lybia who observes the effects of a dissident government uprising on his family and neighborhood. They were both somber stories. I could relate to The God of Animals as someone who has experienced similar struggles of pre-adolescence, the confusing things that adults seemed to do and say (often contradictory), the self-consciousness, the urge to say things that were bottled up and never having the guts to do so.

In The Country of Men was a little harder for me to relate to. The names and some of the vernacular felt exotic to me. And my ignorance of the politics from that time period (globally as well as what was local to the story) felt sort of like a hindrance to really grasping the story. There were some nice literary touches (the descriptions of the heat and the sun) that I could get into, but with a less than satisfactory ending and the overall sadness that I felt about the story, I can't say that this will be a book I will remember fondly.


I also had a problem with the ending in God of Animals. Are endings just hard to write? It felt just a little tidy and glancing. But the rest of the story was enjoyable if a bit tense at times (for me). Also, I think that as both books wrote stories from the perspectives of their young protagonists (in first person narrative even) there were bits of insight that were conveyed in a way that I feel that only an adult would be able to express. It comes from a retrospective with experience and the sort of self-inspection that I just don't think kids are capable of. This is not to say that kids can't be self aware. But it's of a different sort. There's more innocence and naiveness to it and I feel like both writers fell short of satisfactorily conveying this innocence in their protagonists' narratives.

I haven't participated in any of the book club discussions which happen in the comments section of their blog (on their npr site). I guess my two cents aren't worth putting out there and some of the previous commentors have already expressed some of my thoughts. But I'm glad it's out there. It's interesting to read what others have to say and to see how different people respond to each book selection. I'll be looking forward to the future selections and let you know about them too.

what I've been reading lately

I've been enjoying my foray into the bookclub world. I should have thought of this last year when I made that book a month resolution. I guess I work better with deadlines. Not that reading for pleasure should involve deadlines, but, oh, never mind.

Anyways, I recently finished Neil Gaiman's Anasi Boys.


It's a story of a young man named Fat Charlie who spent his entire life resenting his embarrassing father and doing everything he could as an adult to avoid being around him. When his dad dies, Fat Charlie finds out that dad was actually Anansi, the spider god. And he's got a brother he never knew he had who seems to have ended up with all the fun god powers. Trouble brews and Fat Charlie's comfortable pleasant life is disrupted in ways that he'd never imagined and he's forced to right things. And of course along the way he learns more about his dad, his brother and ultimately himself.

It's an enjoyable entertaining read (thank goodness after some of the somber selections from the previous months) that had me chuckling throughout. It's quirky and colorful. There's a little romance, a little mystery. I really liked it.

I sort of think I was meant to read his stuff years ago. He's the Neil that Tori Amos sometimes refers to in her songs, Emily has always spoken well of his work, and he wrote the screenplay for Stardust (which I really enjoyed). I hear that he is a dedicated blogger (I suppose all gainfully employed writers are these days, sort of makes sense, doesn't it?). Of course I found out all of this after I finished his book.

When I started the book last weekend, I read his dedication page and had a good feeling for the rest of the book:

You know how it is. You pick up a book, flip to the dedication, and find that, once again, the author has dedicated a book to someone else and not to you.
Not this time.
Because we haven't yet met/have only a glancing acquaintance/are just crazy about each other/haven't seen each other in much too long/are in some way related/will never meet, but will, I trust, despite that, always think fondly of each other...
This one's for you.
With you know what, and you probably know why.

And then a teeny little postscript at the bottom of the page:

NOTE: the author would like to take this opportunity to tip his had respectfully to the ghosts of Zora Neale Hurston, Thorne Smith, P.G. Wodehouse, and Frederick "Tex" Avery.

The good feeling carried through as I finished it over the stifling hot weekend. Enjoying our new AC unit holed up in the bedroom. Stayed up late even for it. I'm going to have to get another of his novels to tide me over until the book club meets up again at the end of the month, if that's any indication of how much I enjoyed his writing.

I've gone and joined a book club

Always on the search for new books to sink my teeth into, I checked out npr's book section online. They have a nice selection of reviews and recommendations from their staff, other writers and even librarians with rock star status.

The Bryant Park Project just started a book club (I'm a month behind) so I decided to join in. This month's book is Aryn Kyle's The God of Animals. I'm about 40 pages in so far and I'm enjoying it. It's a pleasant read of a young girl whose family runs a horse ranch. Haven't read far enough to get more of a sense of the plot, but I can see already that this will not be a drudgery to get through (unlike, say: The Dubliners. Was it The Dubliners? Oh dear god, I just couldn't get past page 16 with that guy spinning yarns o'er and o'er again. But I think I should give it another go, just to be fair. James Joyce is so revered and all, etc, etc.)

Also, I'm kind of enjoying not knowing too much about this book and discovering the story on my own time as it unfolds during my readings.

Anyways. Book club convenes online May 2 to discuss this book.

it's so cute it hurts

Check out this new blogger on the block. For you bookworms (not bibliophiles I just learned) out there who are looking for book reviews from the young crowd. Dude's got 4 reviews so far and I have enjoyed reading each one.

we read

I read.


I finished Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle. It was good. I wish I could have hung on to it a little longer, but I was already overdue at the library. Did I mention that it was good? It was good. I'm really inspired to start a vegetable garden like right now. It's making me want to cook again which is also really good.

I went to the local farmer's market on Sunday to pick up some seasonal vegetables. I need to reserarch this further, because I was a little disappointed, but... There were lots of tomatoes, strawberries and god help me zuchini. Not a bundle of kale in site. I don't get it. Aren't we in winter yet? I know I live in an area with mild climate year around. And also we've experienced an unbelievable Indian Summer (as I write this, I believe that it is about 80 degrees outside. I work in the mid-city area between downtown L.A. and the beaches. Madness.). My friend stacyM says that it's been discovered that some strawberries have two seasons (this when I asked her about the early crop of strawberries I kept seeing in the markets back in March). But all that produce I saw yesterday seemed a bit much.



I did what I could. I picked up some cage-free eggs. I wanted to ask the seller if the hens were free-range and not only cage-free and also why they were only vegetable fed when hens naturally feed on grubs as well as grains. But in the end I decided to buy the eggs without harassing the guy. They were also being sold in styrofoam containers, but sigh... I can only take on one battle at a time.

Anyways, okay. Sorry this book report is a little lame. But read this book. It's really good. I said that already, right? It's like Barbara Kingsolver for cryin' out loud. How much more endorsement do you need? She's funny and charming and smart and informative. There.

Now on to more exciting news...

He reads.

As I hinted in an earlier post, yes, M is reading Kay! You know, when we were engaged I never once stopped to think: could this guy get any cooler? Cause really, he's a catch. This is not to say that he was sub-cool before last week when he asked me the most heart-stopping question to date (Can I read that Fionavar Tapestry book? The last time my heart stopped at a question he directed at me was something along the lines of: will you marry me? Just so you have an understanding of what we're dealing with here.). But, well...this just puts him at another level. I was so nervous to hand him the book not wanting to be pushy about it or pressure him or anything. I tried hard not to say things like: if you don't love this book after you're done reading it, don't worry about it, I'll send you the divorce papers in the mail and everything will be fine.

Okay, actually I did say that, but it was in total jest. Of course. Mostly.

Anyways, he brought it with us on the camping trip and he got through a good chunk of it and he's nearly done. I'm so freaking excited I can't even tell you! I had to stop myself from asking him all last week: Do you like it? Do you? Isn't it good? Don't you just love Diarmuid? Isn't he so funny and smart and, and, and how about that Loren? He's pretty cool too, huh? I can't wait for you to be done so we can hold hands and talk about it more.

Okay, actually I did sort of say that too. Can you blame a girl?

He's in the home stretch, I think. Just a few chapters left but I think his progress is going to slow a bit because we're home now and you know we have to go to our jobs and all that (damned employment!) and also distractions like tv and the internet and such-much. But I take it as a good sign that he's been reading from it every night before he goes to bed. I think he wants to Know what happens next. I tried to explain to him in a non-pressuring, non-bossy way that it's really best read in chunks because the stories are so many and the characters so complex, you're apt to forget some of the significant parts if you put it down for too long or just read 5 pages here and 5 pages there. I think he's doing just fine. I'll report more as events warrant.

can of worms?

So... m just asked me if I've ever read The Fionavar Tapestry.

Um, yeah.

hiya peeps - #s 3, 4 & 5

I've been gone for awhile. So much has come up in the last few weeks. An unexpected week-long trip to Boston, good news on family health, some pro bono graphic design work and a new class that I'm taking at Otis.


But today, I'm here to talk to you about books. Books from my reading list to be precise. I've knocked off three more since the last time I posted.

I'm pretty pleased with how my progress has picked up for the rest of the year. It's nice to have a story to look forward to, something you can curl up with and immerse yourself in. Now if the weather would just cooperate and stop being so darned sunny all the time. Am I the only Angeleno who doesn't care for her famed gorgeous climate? Would it kill us to have a little more rain??


I digress.


Book number three that I finished reading is by Austin Grossman and it's called Soon I will Be Invincible. It's an entertaining concept of a story of modern day superheroes in some sort of parallel universe where the narrators are either the villian or one of the superheroes. By parallel universe, I mean that the reader is supposed to believe that this story takes place in a world as familiar as our own with all the references from our recent history, but in a world that also incorporates alien and mutant individuals with super hi-tech possibilities. A world where superheros have agents and PR packets and endorsement deals. A world that still seems to be riddled with mundane everyday crime. Some of these creative little bits are amusing, but just that. I feel like the writer spent a lot of time on everyone's back stories, but didn't really have a new story to tell. Like he just wanted to reference the common gossip that everyone's shared about the supers and the villains but not much else. It might have been more successful as a graphic novel instead. It reads pretty easily and quickly, but it didn't move me enough to recommend it to you, my friends.




The books do seem to be getting better, though as I go through my list. Book number four is On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. It's well written and I really enjoyed his exploration of the two characters, a young bride and groom on their wedding night. Each is struggling with their own particular anxiety as they are about to consummate their marriage. A lot of the book goes through talking about each character's childhood and past, a little about their families as if to provide explanation of the person in this honeymoon hotel suite and how they got there. And then there's a revelation that the main character comes to at the end that is somehow not terribly satisfying.


Something that I'm having problems with in all the books I've been reading are the endings. It seems like the writer just tacks some sort of epiphany to the last 10 pages and then the story ends. It feels like a cheat in some way, like it's too convenient. But perhaps I am being a trifle picky.


Another nit that I could pick is the sort of affectedness I feel like some of the contemporary writers have with their narrative voice. Their choice to write with the voice they do feels more like a gimmick than the true narrator of the story. It's a minor defect that doesn't take away from the story and sometimes it's amusing, but overall not effective. On Chesil Beach is exempt from this kind of affectation which I appreciated. McEwan just tells the story like it is. Not a bad read.




The last book I finished reading (just last night as it were, narrowly missing another monetary contribution to the Santa Monica Public Library) is an older book, Anne Tyler's Accidental Tourist. Of course now I have to see the movie to see how they compare (5 bucks says that the book is better, anyone? anyone?) having missed it back in the 80s when it first came out. Even so, I had a hard time keeping William Hurt and Andie MacDowell's faces out of my head as I read the story. It's well written and engaging. I really like the characters from the very beginning. Do you ever read a book where you get really into the lives and world of the characters and you want to hang out with them or invite them over for dinner, or read more about their lives and friends and families in subsequent books? That's kind of how this book felt. I love the Learys and all their idiosyncratic organized ways. Again with the sudden epiphany and an ending that felt a little bit tacked on, but the rest of the book more than made up for that. And now I really, really want to get a welsh corgi.

two down

I am totally cruising through my book list.



I can now check Hilma Wolitzer's Summer Reading off the list. And thank goodness. I won't even bother with including NPR's review of the book here because I found it to be utterly inaccurate and I wouldn't want to mislead you. (I mean, I respect NPR's journalists. And this lady works for Terry Gross for crying out loud.) There is nothing clever or witty or brazen about this book at all. It was a short read of total fluff, kind of like a literary soap opera where the lives of the characters are supposed to have some kind of clever parallel to the literature referenced in the book itself. Clever my ass.

The story is told through the points of view of three characters whose lives intermingle during a summer in the Hamptons. Angela is a retired literature professor who is haunted by memories of an affair from her youth, Lyssa is a poor little rich girl socialite whose worst dilemmas waver between trying to (barf barf) find herself and wondering which h'ors d'oevres to have her housekeeper serve and Michelle the housekeeper from the poor side of town who is the most interesting of the three, but I honestly can't tell you what she learns during the book. I can't tell you what any of them learned, their stories end satisfactorily with everyone getting married or being reuinited or finding new love, blah, blah, blah.

About halfway through the book, I thought to myself: I have no idea what the big conflict will be for each character to struggle through and learn from, wondering how the writer was going to wrap it up quick so that we could hit the lows of each story in preparation for the epiphany of the character arcs at the end. Or even provide some sort of lesson to the reader by way of a cautionary tale. Perhaps my expectations were a little too much. When the book drew to a close, I could feel the writer scrambling hastily for some sort of conclusion to the mess so that the three women's stories came together at the end a little too pat, a little too convenient.

What I learned is that this book sucks. A quick harmless read with not much substance throughout.

one down

Oh, the weekend... It was oppressively hot. So much so that I actually dreaded the additional day we had off. At least at the office, I have AC. But I did manage to get some reading in...

Of the many books I picked up from the library last week, I started with the ones that were due first. So I gave Then We Came To An End a go. Here's what the NPR's recommendation said about the book:

Joshua Ferris' Then We Came to the End is one of those novels that slowly grew on me. I enjoyed it right from the beginning, but it wasn't until I turned over the last page that I was struck by just how good this first novel really is. The story begins as the economic boom of the 1990s is beginning to head south. The writers and designers in a rapidly failing Chicago ad agency are just waking up to the reality of a world marked first by austerity measures (no flowers in the lobby), and then layoffs and firings, which are known in the agency's parlance as "Walking Spanish down the hall," a reference to pirates' treatment of their prisoners (and a Tom Waits song). Told in the first person plural (the "we" voice is my favorite narrative style when it's done well, as it is here), Ferris' novel is about work and identity — the extent to which we define ourselves by how we make a living — and how people behave (often badly)in the face of change, particularly change for the worse.

There are the rumors flying, the infighting, the paranoia, and the incessant gossip around the water cooler about who's in and who's out, who's doing what to whom, who's going crazy, who's brought a gun to work, who's still showing up at the office (even though he was fired weeks ago), whose marriage won't make it through the downturn, not to mention the endless pettiness. One unforgettable series of scenes involves the machinations the characters go through in order to capture a particularly coveted chair that belonged to one of the first people fired. But Ferris goes beyond the work, exploring how people cope with change. In one very moving section (for which he switches to the third person), he writes with compassion about the ramifications of one character's bout with breast cancer, leavening the inherent oppressiveness of the situation with humor. Reading Then We Came to the End made me feel good about the state of contemporary fiction.

I think I related a little too well to this book. Though it takes place in the creative department of an advertising corporation, a lot of the quirks of office life were quite familiar to my none too creative corporate past. The annoying co-workers, the whiney cubicle-mates, the seemingly larger-than-life boss, the office gossip, etc. It seems that no matter what kind of work you do (benefits consulting, international education, commercial real estate or corporate advertising) these elements exist everywhere. You just can't escape it.

And I think that what I could relate to is also what got to me. At times the book felt like such a downer that my already low-enthusiasm to show up at the office took a deeper dive south. Worse yet, I'd brought it all home with me when home is where I try to escape all of this nonsense. (Tougher yet when your spouse works for the same company.) In small moments to myself, without half realizing it, I'd get bummed out thinking about the cynicism that can make work feel like such a burden. But that's my own personal hang up man, and I can't let Joshua Ferris take credit (or blame) for that.

And I couldn't really get into the dark humor as the writer dealt with the subjects of cancer, death, abortion and workplace violence. Yeah. I know. I'm such a party pooper. However, every time I was ready to dismiss this book as being too dark or too painful a reminder of my professional obligations there would be a story or a chapter that redeemed it all. I think that it's this kind of skillful use of hope (and not in a cheesy or preachy way) that the reader discovers among the gloomy stories of gossip slung at the water cooler is what ultimately made this book enjoyable for me.

addendum to my book post

I should have finished reading all the articles on NPR's summer booklist page before hitting publish on my last post. Here's one that I think might tickle the fancy of adventuring loving, sword wielding, newly parental types out there. Now who might that sound like?



Review also from Glen Weldon:

The first six issues of Mouse Guard, writer/artist David Petersen's epic-in-the-making about medieval intrigue among mice, has just been released in a nifty hardcover edition, and now's the time to get on board. Petersen creates a rich and painstakingly detailed world of anthropomorphized adventure in each panel; the battles are beautifully rendered and thrilling, but you're just as likely to marvel over his depiction of everyday life in a mouse village. (Check out the opening sequence.) If there exists anyone who is unmoved by the sheer, giddy awesomeness that is manifest in a fight scene between a crab and a sword-wielding mouse in a teensy purple cape, I don't want to meet them.

Hear, hear! I couldn't agree more.

Oh, and Jenn? The NPR summer reading list also has an article written by Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl who reviews younger reader books to recommend.

books

At the beginning of this year, I had a new year's resolution to read a book a month. Remember that one? Yeah, well like so many cliched resolutions I didn't do so great.

I'm going to give it another go. Not so much in a structured way. Not so much a resolution per se. See, I think that one of the reasons why I failed is cause I didn't plan well enough. I had all the right intentions and interest, but without a prepared list of books to turn to, each month I was at a loss for reading material and would just let it slide.

I've never been very good at figuring out how to pick a new book to read. Usually I stumble across one good author or another and then proceed to read everything that this person has written until I run out of material. Worked well enough with Barbara Kingsolver, Guy Gavriel Kay, Robin McKinley and Tenessee Williams to name a few. Or I turn to good friends with good taste and see what they recommend.

This time I researched through NPR's archives to see if they had some sort of best of list or top books of 2007 to read. Their summer reading suggestions looks promising. Here are some that I gleaned through my research (click on the title to read an excerpt):

• Then We Came To The End: A Novel by Joshua Ferris
  Takes place just as the economy is crashing from the dotcom fiasco in Silicon Valley. Told in an amusing (though not condescending) first person plural, I'm attracted to the contemporary ironic voice that narrates anecdotes of cubicle land - something I can completely relate to.
• On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
  I've always wanted to read more of Ian McEwan's writing but keep forgetting to do so. The only thing I knew about him was that I thought he was a dirty short story writer. I was at my buddy Ben Faucon's flat in Bordeaux back in '95 and I picked up what I think was In Between The Sheets and whichever story it was that I read, it was filthy. Shockingly so. And okay, I liked it. I'm not sure that the rest of the McEwan canon can be described as dirty, but I think that what appeals to me about his writing (what I can remember anyways) is the honesty of his stories.
• Summer Reading: A Novel by Hilma Wolitzer
  This could be utter crap. But oh, what the heck. It sounds like an easy enough read.
• The Angel On The Roof: The Stories of Russell Banks by Russell Banks
  I've been meaning to pick up this volume of short stories for years. And again, I kept forgetting to do it. (I need a better book reading list.) I first heard Russell Banks on This American Life in an episode where he reads his short story Sara Cole: A Type of Love Story. Ooh, that was a good story. Click on the story title to hear the podcast of that episode.
• The Accidental Tourist: A Novel by Anne Tyler
  Never saw the movie. Heard it was a good book. Nuff said.
• Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
  This one sounds funny. It's a little outside my normal preferred genre of reading in that it's sort of a comic book fantasy novel. The story is split narrated between the superhero and the evil villain set in a futuristic reality. It sounds funny. The excerpt is from the first page/first chapter and the villain is narrating. I like him already.
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
  I'm a little lapsed in my B. Kingsolver reading. I think there might be a few anthologies that I've missed. Pretty much I'll read anything this lady writes. Her shopping lists are probably awesome to read.
• The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
  My buddy Nathan recommended this one to me and it's something that I've wanted to check out. Hopefully it won't have the same effect on me as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle did.

And as an added bonus, all of these are available at my local public library! Have y'all read any of the books up there and want to share your thoughts about them?

And last but not least, a book that I probably won't be cracking open anytime soon, but am curious to know from my Tolkien fan friends, have you guys heard of this book?



Here's the write up from the NPR reviewer Glen Weldon:

A new Tolkien book has been published, and elf-loving geeks around the world are dutifully abuzz. Like The Silmarillion (ask your I.T. guy), The Children of Húrin is set in the Elder Days of Middle Earth (read: it's a prequel). Scraps of the story have appeared before, in a book called Unfinished Tales; this time around, Tolkien's son has done what he can to finish the tale. He's succeeded: Freed of dense, labyrinthine annotations, The Children of Húrin reads like classic Tolkien. (Which is to say it reads like Beowulf, only tweedier. Check out an excerpt.) Still, anyone conversant enough with Tolkien's world to pick a Sindar Elf out of a line-up of Noldor Elves, and who has no trouble figuring out how Morgoth is related to Melkor (trick question! Morgoth is Melkor!) will eat this up.

This is probably old news to you. Actually, I find that traffic to my site is increased if the content has anything to do with Wales, fencing, or Lord of the Rings (okay, so I've never actually written about Lord of the Rings before, but now I might have incentive to do so).

Happy reading everyone!

two months in and already a failure

I've failed. It happened so quickly and quietly, but there’s no denying it. As of today, March 1, 2007, I have officially lapsed in the one new year’s resolution I made.

My resolution (for those of you not in the know) was to read a book a month. I don’t plan for enough pleasure reading in my life these days. I read one book last year (The Time Traveler’s Wife so good, please check it out.) and so I decided that a new year’s resolution was a good place to change that. A book a month isn’t at all difficult a goal for me, that’s one of the reasons why I chose to accomplish this way. So I won’t collapse from the pressure if I don’t fulfill a goal like: read 5 major works of literature that you have never read in one month for every month in 2007. Life enriching, true. But who needs that kind of pressure?

January’s book was Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. Great stories. Not amazing as far as books go. I guess it was a memoir of sorts and I’m no expert on memoirs (writing nor reading) (which is not to say that I am an expert on any kind of writing) but I felt like it wasn’t very strong structurally. It sort of meanders from tale to tale entertaining and inspiring, but without a nice arc to the whole thing. If you are a teacher, interested in teaching or just enjoy reading fine true life stories, pick it up and give it a read. It goes quickly and reads easily.

February’s book was supposed to be The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I started it midway through the month, but never put aside the time for it. Being that it was nonfiction, there wasn’t a story that pulled me in to keep reading. It was more for improving my mind and finally reading this oft-referenced work so I could see what the hub-bub was all about. So far I’ve read about the Hush-Puppies (don’t laugh, that part was in the introduction), the plummet of crime in New York and the syphilis pandemic in Baltimore (okay, you can laugh. That’s all in the first chapter.). It reads like a university course lecture which I’m fine with but I guess my brain isn’t after a long day at the office, or on weekends when all it really wants to do is be lazy and not think too much about anything.

March’s book is going to be so exciting, I can hardly wait. I put a hold on it at our local library (which if you live anywhere near or happen to be visiting, you should check it out. It’s a lovely, lovely library. Huge! With a modern furniture exhibit going on right now.). The book is Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay and it’s supposed to be in the library this weekend and I think (hope) that I am one of the first to reserve it. I have even taken measures to announce at the last Kenny family meeting that once the book is in my hot little paws, I plan to take a weekend off and hibernate with the book. If I lived all alone, I would just read it straight through stopping only to pee and maybe grab a bag of chips to munch on. But since m is pretty serious about our three meals a day, and sleep, he finds sleep important too, anyways, I will have to adjust what my normal reading marathons are like to my husband’s fussy demands.

Maybe to make amends I’ll try for two books in March. To make up for February. February is a short month too. Not enough weekends in it to get stuff done. All right then. I feel better about it. I’m glad I came clean with it though. Wouldn’t do to keep secrets about such things. Makes it seem all sneaky and subversive or something.

And how is it that I don’t even have a post category for books? How out of touch with pleasure reading have I become?? Let’s fix that.