tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71739690206181575022024-03-04T23:22:28.377-05:00Reading Comprehensionthe book club where only my opinion mattersmendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-18044532170801467422011-10-05T13:43:00.008-04:002011-10-05T14:00:16.112-04:00book club: march 2011 edition<a href="http://astoriadesigns.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/ifdetective.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://astoriadesigns.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/ifdetective.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;">Over the course of a couple days in March I re-read Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game and read Debbie and James Howe’s Bunnicula for the first time. Bunnicula was darling: a charming story of a ‘vampire’ bunny told from the perspective of a family’s dog. It spawned many sequels and while it is clearly written for children, you can understand why parents continued to read it to their children. The narrator’s – the dog’s - voice is so charming and clever that even the simplest story has great appeal.<br /><br />I read Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game for the first (and only other) time when I was 11 or 12. I distinctly remember being in my sixth grade classroom and, when finishing this cleverly crafted mystery, realizing how entertaining and smart books could be. The novella begins with the death of Sam Westing, the richest man in town.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>His great fortune is promised to the winner of the Westing game – the game he set into place to expose his killer. A broad, richly-developed cast of characters is introduced as players in the game and much intrigue, suspicion and strategy ensues. For being so short, the book is dense with tightly and expertly wound storytelling. I was so happy to find that The Westing Game held up twenty years later. I immediately bought copies for my niece and nephew – both big young readers.<br /><br />That’s it. There’s not much more to say. Truly good books – even those intended for children – can be great on so many levels. It’s always worth spending some time with them.<br /><br />Title: Bunnicula<br />Author: Debbie and James Howe<br />Read: NYC<br />Format: tiny paperback<br />Sweet, charming, cute: Three out of five stars<br /><br />Title: The Westing Game<br />Author: Ellen Raskin<br />Read: NYC<br />Format: tiny paperback<br />Smart, intriguing, well-crafted: Five out of five stars</span></p>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-22302570716066542992011-10-05T13:37:00.005-04:002011-10-05T13:41:44.294-04:00A Note<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:revision>0</o:Revision> <o:totaltime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:pages>1</o:Pages> <o:words>66</o:Words> <o:characters>378</o:Characters> <o:company>AOL</o:Company> <o:lines>3</o:Lines> <o:paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs> <o:characterswithspaces>443</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> 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style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;">So it’s been awhile since I last posted anything. The main reason is that I got stuck on what to write about the books I read after Just Kids. Also, I haven’t been reading so quickly. I’m not doing anything else. I’m just not reading that much. Sue me.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;">Anyway, I’m going to write up something very quick about the two books that I read for March book club and then I’m going to try to catch up after that. We’ll see how it goes.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;">Here we go. </span><!--EndFragment-->mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-13317786150074518432011-02-20T17:35:00.005-05:002011-03-28T19:48:00.163-04:00Just Kids :: Patti Smith<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://thingsforhorses.com/images/horses_ap.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 360px; height: 246px;" src="http://thingsforhorses.com/images/horses_ap.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Title: Just Kids [non-fiction #2]<br />Author: Patti Smith<br />Read: Boston, NYC<br />Format: trade paperback<br /><br />Patti Smith is cool. Everybody knows that. Robert Mapplethorpe is cool too. And I think most people know that as well. In Just Kids, Smith writes about their relationship and friendship against the backdrop of NYC in the late 60s and early 70s and all the art/artists/rock/roll/poetry of the era.<br /><br />For the most part, it is well-written, and even when it isn't, it's so personal and earnest that you grant it some leeway. Plus, her lyrical memories are fun to peek into, even when the book starts to get a little tedious, which it definitely does.<br /><br />Beyond being sometimes tedious, Just Kids has other shortcomings as well, I think. It's name-droppy (mostly to the effect of era-dropping the ultra-cool 70s in NYC) and the writing is often over-wrought. But even though these criticisms are things that generally make me dislike books, I still found Just Kids really, really interesting. Her New York covers similar ground to my own and considering the significant differences was, well, interesting.<br /><br />In my estimation, Patti Smith is not the best writer or musician or artist</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> of her generation</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. But in this book, she tells the story of her love of Robert Mapplethorpe (and the lives they built with each other's support) so sincerely that it more than makes up for any nitpicks I might have about any of her work, let alone this one. Besides, who am I anyway? I'm certainly not as cool as Patti Smith so I'll just shut up now.<br /><br />Touching despite its flaws. And despite it making me feel un-artistic and unaccomplished.<br />3 out of 5 stars<br /></span>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-87157259458273996772011-02-13T23:42:00.007-05:002011-02-23T17:29:10.040-05:00The Magicians :: Lev Grossman<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://c0360232.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/magician-cards.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://c0360232.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/magician-cards.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Title: The Magicians</span><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Author: Lev Grossman</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Read: NYC, Boston</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Format: Kindle</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;font-size:85%;" > </span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">It took me a long time (3+ weeks) to read The Magicians because, well, it wasn't very interesting. Friends and the internets alike suggested that the book was like The Secret History meets Harry Potter meets Narnia meets etc. And it was. It just somehow managed to be boring too. Because those great books were much more than just their great concepts, they were peopled with nuanced, three-dimensional characters and fascinating, page-turning plots.<br /><br />The Magicians follows Quentin Coldwater as he grows from bookish, awkward nerd to powerful magician to fantasy adventurer. The first half or so chronicles Quentin's discovery of his magical gifts and his years of training at Brakebills, the magic college. Grossman lingers in this setting for far too long and somehow manages to do it no justice. By the time Quentin graduates I was left feeling like Brakebills was a shallow sketch filled with a series of experiences. It lacked dimension even after taking SO LONG to get through.<br /><br />After graduation, Quentin and his friends move to New York City where they do standard Reality Bites-ish, angsty things until they find themselves busy with an adventure. The adventure takes them to Fillory - the imaginary-or-is-it setting of a children's book series. They see crazy things and meet amazing creatures. They fight for their lives and the liberation of this fantasy world.<br /><br />The book is ambitious in scope and creativity, but I think in the end falls short of being truly good. Rather than a rich world with an exciting, adventurous arc, we get a string of fantastical scenes and vignettes. Grossman fails to create a world, despite pages and pages of effort. I don't mean to be as harsh as I sound, </span><span style="font-size:85%;">there's just a lot of squandered potential in these pages. If The Magicians was 25% shorter and had a little more story editing, I think it could have been really memorable and even great. As it is, though, I think it's really just okay.<br /><br />I don't regret reading it, but I don't quite recommend it either.<br />3 out of 5 stars, but only because I'm feeling kind of generous<br /></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-63149675694455958032011-01-19T17:43:00.005-05:002011-01-26T00:41:42.245-05:00The Twenty-One Balloons :: William Pene du Bois<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/discovery/krakatoa/kraktoa_main.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/discovery/krakatoa/kraktoa_main.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Title: The Twenty-One Balloons [book club selection, RC]</span><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Author: William Pene du Bois</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Read: MA, NYC</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Format: Kindle<br /><br />This month, RC chose two children's/YA books for book club. Both were excellent, but I think this one suffered (in my esteem) from having been read after the wonderful When You Reach Me. It was a fun and colorful and immensely imaginative read. Though, compared to When You Reach Me, which I think is a great book for kids TO read, I feel that The Twenty-One Balloons is a wonderful story to have read to you.<br /><br />In it, Professor William Waterman Sherman sets out on a hot air balloon adventure. He is discovered too-soon after his departure on the other side of the country with twenty giant balloons rather than the one he left with. The bulk of the tale is his recount of his adventure on and escape from the volcanic island of Krakatoa.<br /><br />Thoughts:<br /><br />- the characters, especially the professor, are beyond charming<br />- Krakatoa is cleverly conceived, both physically and socially<br />- the Krakatoan inventions are adorably clever<br />- the story is so sweet and fable-like, you expect it to be moralistic in the end; happily, it's not<br />- there are cute illustrations<br /><br />If you would like to rekindle a sense of childlike wonder, or if you are looking for a book to share with a wee person, pick this one up.<br /><br />Sweet, earnest, charming.<br />4 out of 5 stars<br /></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-92201602697825045472011-01-16T22:16:00.006-05:002011-01-25T17:35:18.710-05:00Wise Blood :: Flannery O'Connor<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/puma/nov05/images/owl.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 280px;" src="http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/puma/nov05/images/owl.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Title: Wise Blood</span><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Author: Flannery O'Connor</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Read: NYC</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Format: Trade paperback</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">The word is dour. </span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">I was trying to explain Wise Blood to TG and all I could say was that the writing reminded me, in some ways, of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. But not soul-crushingly bleak like The Road. And not quite as depressing as The Road. Just a similar tone: dour. It's a testament to O'Connor's writing, then, that such a stark and gloomy tone doesn't overwhelm this very rich work.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">In Wise Blood, the troubled Hazel Motes struggles with faith and religion and all that stuff. He returns from the war to no family and sets out to establish and preach his new 'Church without Christ.' He meets a blind preacher, his homely daughter, and an irritating kook named Enoch. They all play their roles in Hazel's crisis of faith and his eventual triumph/degradation to enlightenment/insanity. Find out which it is yourself.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">I continue to be wowed by O'Connor's writing. Even as she explores the darker side of people and spirituality and life, as she does so well in Wise Blood, she never sacrifices or over-stylizes her characters or plot. She measures out style and substance with awesome balance.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">More O'Connor please.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">4 out of 5 stars</span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-61992861505421182011-01-12T23:22:00.001-05:002011-01-25T17:38:01.863-05:00When You Reach Me :: Rebecca Stead<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://adweek.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/pyramid.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 452px; height: 232px;" src="http://adweek.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/pyramid.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >Title: When You Reach Me [book club selection, RC]<br />Author: Rebecca Stead<br />Read: NYC<br />Format: trade paperback<br /><br />I don't know how to start praising Rebecca Stead's 2009 Newberry Award winner, When You Reach Me. It's a children's book with amazing heart and no subtext or moral. It's just a wonderful story made up of all the things I love:<br /><br />- NYC setting<br />- smart, charming, non-precocious narrator<br />- it's just a little fantastical<br />- well-flushed out, believable characters<br />- a richly developed setting that you can almost see as you read<br /><br />Miranda lives happily with her mom on Manhattan's Upper West Side when one day her life starts getting weird. First, her lifelong best friend Sal gets punched for no reason on the way home from school. He immediately decides he doesn't want to be friends with her anymore. Soon after, she starts getting mysterious notes that she doesn't know what to make of. The novel follows 11-then-12-year-old Miranda as she tries to get to the bottom of it all.<br /><br />When You Reach Me is short enough to read in one sitting and I recommend doing so. You won't want to put it down, so if you have to you'll be annoyed (I was). It's the kind of book that makes children love reading and reminds adults how great storytelling can be.<br /><br />Just read it. It's really good.<br />5 out of 5 stars<br /></span>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-13730915426897576992011-01-10T23:40:00.003-05:002011-01-13T01:15:08.546-05:00Madame Bovary :: Gustave Flaubert<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://redchairconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/daily-confession-103009-A.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 280px;" src="http://redchairconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/daily-confession-103009-A.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" >Title: Madame Bovary [2011 White Whale #1]</span><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Author: Gustave Flaubert, Lydia Davis translation (2010)</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Read: NYC, Boston</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Format: Kindle</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I've read the first 3 pages of Madame Bovary like a billion times, but I never followed through. I blame my failures on the ratty old used-book-store paperback I've been working with. After reading<a href="http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/68712/"> a cool article in New York magazine</a> about a new translation by renowned fiction writer Lydia Davis, I decided to give it another go. To help my cause, I bought it for my Kindle, since on it I tend to read faster.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Unlike my experience with other White Whales (namely Wuthering Heights), Madame Bovary did not disappoint. Reading novels like Madame Bovary resurrect the old English major in me, so to spare you I will simply report my musings in list form.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><ul><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Emma Bovary is a jerk. I get that she wants more than her provincial life can offer, but so does everyone else. She's unjustifiably cruel.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Charles Bovary is some kind of pitiful rube. He hasn't got much of a backbone and is so desperate for approval and love that he is just permanently a victim. Poor guy. I liked him. </span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">There are a bunch of other townspeople who make regular appearances in the plot. They both underscore the provincial lifestyle. But even they, like the Bovarys, want to make more out of their small town lives. </span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">I never know what to say about writing when I read something in translation. What got lost? What got added? I've never read another translation (obvi), nor have I read it in French, but I found the translation beautiful nonetheless. It was incredibly descriptive, but not at all overdone. Spare, but still vivid.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-size:85%;">I guess that's all I have to say. People often commend Madame Bovary for the patterns Flaubert develops, but I think that's why I have limited things to say. The characters kind of do the same things over and over, but it's all to show the crappy choices they keep making out of desperation. It also cements the character development further, one subplot at a time. But it's all to the same effect: to make me feel even stronger about the first two bullets I list above.</span></div></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Madame Bovary is beautiful and thought-provoking. Is it the [insert superlative] novel ever written, as it is often touted to be? I'm not so sure. But I know I liked it a lot and that I'd recommend it so long as you're in the mood.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A classic worthy of that designation.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">4 out of 5 stars.</span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-48698999998710358462011-01-04T17:29:00.004-05:002011-01-04T17:49:03.450-05:00Unreviewed Titles of 2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://understandinggov.org/wp-content/uploads/iou.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 240px;" src="http://understandinggov.org/wp-content/uploads/iou.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">I was going to blog about these eventually, but have decided not to (for now, anyway). A lot of them were long ago and forgettable enough that I'd have a hard time anyway. Here are star ratings for my other readings of 2010, at least.</span><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">The Music of Chance :: Paul Auster (4 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Dead in the Family :: Charlaine Harris (3 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Fablehaven :: Brandon Mull (3 stars, RC book club selection)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Ender's Game :: Orson Scott Card (5 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">The Book Thief :: Marcus Zusak (5 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Scott Pilgrim vs the World, vol. 1 :: Bryan Lee O'Malley (4 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Audrey, Wait! :: Robin Benway (3 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Tinkers :: Paul Harding (3 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">The Partly Cloudy Patriot :: Sarah Vowell (4 stars, non-fiction #2)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Thank You, Jeeves :: PG Wodehouse (4 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Three Men in a Boat :: Jerome K. Jerome (2 stars, MP book club selection)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie :: Alan Bradley (4 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag :: Alan Bradley (3 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Honest Illusions :: Nora Roberts (3 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">A Moveable Feast :: Ernest Hemingway (4 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">A Super Sad True Love Story :: Gary Shteyngart (4 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Club Dead :: Charlaine Harris (3 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Dead to the World :: Charlaine Harris (4 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Born Round :: Frank Bruni (4 stars)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Mockingjay :: Suzanne Collins (5 stars)</span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-80327650038041684712011-01-02T11:01:00.005-05:002011-01-02T11:58:01.231-05:00Decoded :: Jay-Z<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://gis.nyc.gov/nycha/assets/images/photos/resize/TDS021_A.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 225px;" src="http://gis.nyc.gov/nycha/assets/images/photos/resize/TDS021_A.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Title: Decoded [non-fiction #1]</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Author: Jay-Z</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Read: NYC</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Format: Hardcover</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">I love Oprah and I love Jay-Z, so when the former picked the latter's new book as one of her final "Favorite Things" I knew I had to read it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Decoded is a not exactly a memoir and not exactly a music text, but rather a little bit of both - blended perfectly into a stylish, fascinating, compulsive read. The title itself refers to the 20+ Jay-Z songs that the rapper demystifies. Decoded presents the lyrics of each song footnoted with Jay-Z's commentary about meaning, meter, references, allusions, etc. It was enlightening experience to queue up these songs and listen while reading.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Between all the explanations, Jay-Z tells stories from his life. He tracks his evolution as an artist, his life as a drug dealer, and the pivotal point in his life when he chose to focus on music rather than the street. In telling these stories, Jay-Z doesn't glorify/demonize his rise to fame or his crack-dealing. There are no lessons, it's just context. And it's riveting.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">For the last few years, Jay-Z's public image has been all Beyonce and Maybachs and St. Barth's and the elite world of the TriBeCa mega-celebrity. But the reality is that less than 20 years ago, the now near-billionaire was living The Wire. I kept thinking to myself, it must be really weird to have the realities of your history and current life be so wildly different. But the reality is no less real. Great wealth and success can't erase memories, especially when those memories are as intense as those of a CRACK DEALER. I kept wondering how often intrusive thoughts of what Jay has seen creep into his mind as he lounges on a catamaran or buckles up on a private jet. How do you make sense of a life that has seen your hands handle crack rocks and shake two presidents' hands? To clarify, these emo musings are mine, not Jay's. The rapper never seeks pity or praise for his life (praise for his craft is a different thing; and arguably very deserved).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">I read Decoded in one day, unable to put it down. Granted, I'm a long-time Jay-Z fan and probably was going to like it whether it was great or not. But it was better, even, than I expected. Thoughtful, personal, unsentimental, and at times nearly-academic (!), Decoded is a must-read for all hip-hop - no all MUSIC - lovers. Oh, also it's really cool-looking.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Read and enjoy this as soon as possible.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">5 out of 5 stars</span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-75909206665196353052011-01-01T16:42:00.003-05:002011-01-01T17:02:50.384-05:002010 Digest & 2011 Goals<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Happy New Year!</span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.creativemag.com/images2001/npALKASELTZER.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 236px;" src="http://www.creativemag.com/images2001/npALKASELTZER.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Well, another year is over. I didn't accomplish my reading goals, but I came pretty close. I'm satisfied.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><u>50 New Books</u></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Not quite: I read 50 books total, including 3 re-reads.<br />Best: I Capture the Castle/Hunger Games Trilogy<br />Worst: Shadow of the Wind/A Lady of Persuasion</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><u>6 Non-Fiction Titles</u></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Yes!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><u>4 White Whales</u></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Not quite: read 2, started a third. I don't think I'll ever get around to reading those Russians.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><u>Roald Dahl Catalog</u></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Nope. I didn't even actually try to do this in the end. My enthusiasm for Dahl's work sort of petered out by very early in the year. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">For 2011, my reading goals will be:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- 50 books total</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- 8 non-fiction</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- 4 white whales (probably Madame Bovary, Wind Up Bird Chronicle, Anna Karenina (again), and TBD)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- The rest of Fitzgerald</span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-64333053093933353722010-12-27T20:59:00.002-05:002010-12-28T21:33:01.340-05:00A Wind in the Door :: Madeleine L'Engle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.technologyreview.in/files/12903/Mitochondrion_x220.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 284px;" src="http://www.technologyreview.in/files/12903/Mitochondrion_x220.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><div>Title: A Wind in the Door</div></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Author: Madeleine L'Engle</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Read: NYC, MA</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Format: Trade paperback</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Last year I reread A Wrinkle in Time and liked it just fine, but I wasn't in a huge rush to continue with the series. Over a year later, I picked up A Wind in the Door.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">At the beginning of this novel, we find the precocious prodigy Charles Wallace is sick and still unusual. His sister and a gang of adventurers attempt to get to the bottom of his illness by succeeding in three trials. Also, they battle evil itself in Charles' body. What?!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Overall, I found this second installment of the "Time Quintet" unimpressive. Because I was already invested in the characters, I was kind of interested in the events. However, I ended up annoyed with how unnecessarily complicated the plot was. I mean, I was able to follow it: it's a children's book after all. I just found the whole thing anticlimactic. Yes, it was a sort-of interesting and different premise. Yet, was it worthwhile? Does it set up future books? Does it develop the world of our characters? Do I care? On all counts: not really.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">I think I'm done with this series for now. I like the Murry children, but on the whole I think theirs might be a good, but not great, tale.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Fine for what it is, but the last Murry adventure for me.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">3 out of 5 stars.</span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-65936239680183870612010-12-20T16:52:00.009-05:002010-12-20T17:28:16.654-05:00The Russian Debutante's Handbook :: Gary Shteyngart<span class="Apple-style-span"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.notablebiographies.com/images/uewb_06_img0417.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 276px;" src="http://www.notablebiographies.com/images/uewb_06_img0417.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" class="Apple-style-span" ><br /><span class="Apple-style-span">Title: The Russian Debutante's Handbook</span></span></span><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Author: Gary Shteyngart</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Read: NYC, Paris, Boston</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Format: Trade paperback</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">I read - and loved - Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart this summer. Shortly after finishing it, I went to see the author read at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He was funny and nice and I decided to buy the only one of his novels I hadn't read and I had it signed - woo!</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">The next night, I was at the bar in Brooklyn I always go to and who should sidle up to the bar stool next to me? Gary Shteyngart. I did not talk to him because I am shy. However, I did take it as a sign that clearly I should read Russian Debutante asap. </span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">And I would have. I mean, I started it asap. But despite being told by the sales associate at the Tenement Museum (and others) that this was the best of his books, I just couldn't latch on. I loved Absurdistan and Super Sad True Love Story and I'm very glad I read them first. Had I started with Russian Debutante, I would not have picked the others up.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I don't mean to say that TRDH was bad, because it was certainly not. However, plot-wise I found it unwieldy - even meandering at times - and I never did grow fond of Vladimir, our narrator, either. Plus, while </span><span class="Apple-style-span">I'm interested in some of the themes explored (immigration, assimilation, otherness, success, expectations, legitimacy), I felt that they exploded into a lot of directions and the result felt unruly. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">All that said, I like Shteyngart's prose style. As a writer, he skillfully can turn a clever (yet not glib) phrase all while being sincere (and never saccharine). It's a difficult balance, but one Shteyngart achieves in all of his novels.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Some prefer Absurdistan to Super Sad True Love Story, but I don't. I think Shteyngart's work has steadily improved and even though I didn't love Russian Debutante, I look forward to reading all this author's future works. I like his style and sometimes that beats all.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Good writing in need of a story editor:</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">3 out of 5 stars.</span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-60480833834591565892010-12-06T00:39:00.006-05:002010-12-29T01:07:05.285-05:00Tender is the Night :: F Scott Fitzgerald<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.destination360.com/europe/france/images/french-riviera-beaches.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 360px; height: 280px;" src="http://www.destination360.com/europe/france/images/french-riviera-beaches.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Title: Tender is the Night [book club selection, VM]</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Read: CDG > JFK, NYC</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Format: trade paperback</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">I've had Tender is the Night on my bookshelf since 1999 when I was supposed to read it for my 20th Century American Novel class. I was inspired to actually go ahead and read it after re-reading The Great Gatsby last year. Clearly, I was slow to respond to that inspiration. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >In any event, when it came time for me to choose the next Anything Goes Book Club selection I decided thought it might be a good option. My fellow readers agreed.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">One of the reasons I was so interested in reading Fitzgerald again was how swept away I was with the writing in Gatsby. I was really looking forward to that same caliber of lyrical prose and while Tender is the Night was beautiful in its own right, it didn't quite compare. The strength of this novel lies in Fitzgerald's wrenching development of his and Zelda's semi-autobiographical stand-ins, Dick and Nicole Diver. It is this couple's relationship that is the centerpiece of the novel. In it, their life is chronicled from their glorious (glorified?) early days through the challenges and changes that test not just their marriage, but them as individuals.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">I'm not sure if it was one of the ladies at the club meeting or if it was in the introduction, but someone notes that the novel starts out one way (through the eyes of a young Hollywood ingenue who is smiiten with and eventually tempts Dick Diver) and ends in another (as a study of Nicole and Dick's chiasmatic relationship). I believe the introduction also explains that the novel was much, much longer and was considerably edited. I think my biggest complaints about the work can be explained by these facts/observations. First, the story does read as unintentionally uneven because of the change in perspective. But, death of the author be damned. Fitzgerald was clearly inspired by his own experience; so much so that the work he started out writing morphed in the process. Knowing this makes the book feel more personal and more beautiful, in its own way. Secondly, the novel seems a little out of balance in some ways. That is, some portions seem intensely detailed - to the point of tedium - and others seem wildly under-described. It's very possible that this is a casualty of massive editing, but I have to imagine that something could have been done to prevent such distinct pockets of dense description alongside single sentences that change the trajectory of the novel.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">All in all, a beautiful novel. Even if I don't believe it to be Fitzgerald's greatest work (as some critics claim).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">4 out of 5 stars</span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-46808150839564838862010-12-05T17:11:00.000-05:002010-12-21T17:57:21.412-05:00The Gardner Heist :: Ulrich Boser<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.claveklinkhamer.com/vermeer2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 328px; height: 381px;" src="http://www.claveklinkhamer.com/vermeer2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" class="Apple-style-span" >Title: The Gardner Heist, The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft [NF 2010 #6!]</span><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Author: Ulrich Boser</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Read: Boston, NYC</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Format: Trade paperback</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Recently on a very good night in Cambridge, I went to both Mr. & Mrs. Bartley's Burger Cottage and the Harvard Book Store. Feeling generally nostalgic for my youth's home, I decided to pick up this book about the notorious Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft of 1990.</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Other than a general knowledge of its occurrence, I knew very little about this crime. Now I know a lot. Including:</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- there's a bunch of scary gangsters in Boston</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- art theft is cool-sounding and all, but it's really bad</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- investigators get obsessed with this case, but all the leads are now cold</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- the museum has not replaced the missing canvases with any other works </span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- a man (Harold Smith) with NO NOSE helped the author learn more about the case</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- my hometown of Brockton is mentioned as a place the paintings might be</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- nobody KNOWS who did it, but a lot of people think that that Whitey Bulger guy might have something to do with it</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- Whitey Bulger and Billy Bulger are brothers</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- there were NO CLUES at the scene of the crime</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">The writing in the book is a little wack. Ulrich Boser really loves the sentence composition </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"> that begins with a descriptive clause and leads into the statement. Like this:</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">"A tall man with dark hair and glasses, John So-and-So took his work very seriously."</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">When 60% of your sentences follow this construction, it gets silly fast. And after about 100 pages, it starts to make you roll your eyes. No matter, though. The topic was interesting enough for me to fight through the mediocre writing and I'm glad to know more about this fascinating event. Also, as much as I like to pretend it is all progressive state legislature and patrician ideals, Massachusetts has a very real, very seedy criminal underbelly. Though one of the most infamous crimes </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">- debatable, I know - </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">would be an art heist.</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Also, it has a section of glossy color pictures in the middle. That's always fun.</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Fascinating and suspenseful. Goofy writing.</span></div><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">4 out of 5 stars</span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-12383443806685861762010-11-17T15:35:00.004-05:002010-11-17T16:45:31.579-05:00Richard Yates :: Tao Lin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/12/8/128732403342830560.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/12/8/128732403342830560.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Title: Richard Yates</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Author: Tao Lin</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Read: NYC, JFK > CDG</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Format: trade paperback</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The fluff on the back of Tao Lin's novel Richard Yates describes Lin as "Kafka for the iPhone generation." That was exactly stupid enough to get me to read it. Also, I liked how it's just a little bit hard to tell </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small; ">who the author is and what the title is from the cover. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Basically, Richard Yates is the story of a young writer and his underaged girlfriend. Their names, amusingly (or maybe annoyingly), are Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning. The two are kind of screwed up and even though it's sometimes disturbing and ridiculous, it's very often sweet as well. By way of plot, not much happens really. And while many serious themes are discussed (statutory rape, eating disorders, suicide, guilt, control, neurosis, depression, etc), they are not explored deeply and certainly not moralistically, which is nice.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lin's writing is spare and can feel distant, but by the end you feel invested in the characters - and their relationship - nonetheless. When I was a full 25 percent into the book, I still wasn't sure if I liked it or not. Like, maybe the names were too gimmicky or the writing too pretentious or something. I'm glad I stuck it out, though, because I did enjoy Richard Yates, all told. Besides, it's a testamant to Lin's ability that despite these affects, he is still able to produce a story and characters that sustain your interest. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small; ">And while I'm not rushing out to buy his other novels, I would recommend this one to certain friends.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small; ">Different and modern, but not cold:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">3 out of 5 stars</span></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-87408173496106880292010-10-26T12:57:00.008-04:002010-10-27T12:48:57.819-04:00Stud Club Trilogy :: Tessa Dare<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dargate.com/cat/248_auction/248_images/793.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 234px;" src="http://www.dargate.com/cat/248_auction/248_images/793.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I swear, I'm taking a romance novel break after this. Too much!</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Titles: One Dance with a Duke, Twice Tempted by a Rogue, Three Nights with a Scoundrel</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Author: Tessa Dare</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Read: NYC (9/10 - 10/10)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Format: Mass market paperback, kindle</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After I was disappointed in my first romance novel excursion (Nora Robert's Honest Illusions), someone suggested I read the first book of this trilogy. She had read about it on Jezebel and said it would be more like a 'traditional' romance novel and that it might be a better representation of The Genre. I'm glad to say it was.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The ridiculously named Stud Club consists of three guys who haggle over breeding with a fancy old racehorse: Spencer (Duke), Rhys (Rogue), and Julian (Scoundrel). </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the excellent One Dance with a Duke, the agoraphobic and stern Spencer falls in love with Amelia (headstrong, individualistic, approaching spinsterhood). After whisking her out of a ball, they spend an entire night trying to find out what happened to the just-murdered Leo (also of the stud club). Spencer and Amelia are both way into each other and proud. After some ups and downs and intrigue they finally figure it out and commence with the unbridled passion and whatnot.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Rhys St. Maur returns to his ancestral home in Twice Tempted by a Rogue. Racked with guilt over a childhood mishap, Rhys spends the better part of his life (and the war) trying to meet his own demise. When he goes back home he falls in love-at-first-sight with the widowed local innkeeper. It turns out they knew each other as children and that she's carried a torch for him for decades. He wants to prove to her that he loves her and that it's not just guilt and a sense of duty that keep him nearby. They both eventually come clean about their fears and motivations and have a bunch of sex.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Three Nights with a Scoundrel focuses on Julian Bellamy who (a) is obsessed with uncovering what happened the night of his BFF Leo Chatwick's murder, (b) is in love with Leo's deaf twin sister Lily, and (c) is LEADING A DOUBLE LIFE. Unlike Rhys and Spencer, Julian is lowborn and thinks himself unworthy of Lily. Of course, she loves him anyway, but is turned off by the danger he constantly puts himself through (trying to solve her brother's murder). When the truth behind Leo's murder comes out, it was genuinely surprising, even if it wasn't so artfully executed. Eventually, everyone ends up knowing the whole truth about every possible thing and lots of love and thrusting and - eventually - children result.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In order of goodness, I'd say the Stud Trilogy goes Duke, Scoundrel, Rogue. But, like Dare's other trilogy (you remember, the Sirens), you can probably stop after the gripping first installment. One Dance with a Duke had a familiar story - sort of a saucy revision of Pride and Prejudice, but with horses. The romance element was very sweet and I was genuinely interested in how these two characters would end up together. Maybe by the time I got to the other two novels I was desensitized to overblown romance, but they really just weren't as engrossing. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I did learn two interesting things from the Stud Club:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Hessians are boots and all fancy men wear them</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Stays and corsets are basically the same</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">All in all, excellent reading if you have a kindle (or no shame) and a wide expanse of beach.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">One Dance with a Duke:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">4 out of 5 stars</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Twice Tempted by a Rogue:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">3 out of 5 stars</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Three Nights with a Scoundrel:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">3 out of 5 stars</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This concludes the great romance novel trial of 2010. Final verdict: I get the appeal and - clearly - how one book can snowball into a whole series/author obsession. But I think I'll probably read them sparingly from now on. And only when the main characters don't like each other at first as that always proves more entertaining. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Until next year, ripped bodices!</span></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-37462487174535419782010-10-25T00:12:00.006-04:002010-11-01T11:34:21.027-04:00Shakespeare Wrote for Money :: Nick Hornby<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://weijiblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Arsenal-logo.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 255px; height: 300px;" src="http://weijiblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Arsenal-logo.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small; ">Title: Shakespeare Wrote for Money [essays, NF 2010 #5]</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Author: Nick Hornby, intro by Sarah Vowell</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Read: NYC</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Format: Trade paperback</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Nick Hornby is not really a top ten favorite novelist of mine, but I really enjoyed the first collection of his "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns (see January, 'Polysyllabic Spree') and was eager to read the others. It's unlike me, but because the bookstore didn't have the second I jumped right to the final book. And, e</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small; ">ven if he is more self-indulgent here than in the first collection, I still find the format and his voice charming. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now, I could meta your face off with the whole writing-about-reading-about-writing-about-reading thing, but I'd probably just make myself dizzy. Instead, here's a list of stuff I liked/thought about while reading:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Intro:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Sarah Vowell is just the darlingest.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On Reading:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Hornby likes to say that reading begets reading; as I'm 'in the business' of aggressive reading, I have to agree. I feel like every book I read makes me add 3 more books to my to-read list. It's dizzying and daunting.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- In a discussion of Robert Altman's Nashville, Hornby suggests that maybe we should leave our favorite books/films/records alone in memory. He suggests that the confluence of right time and right place can never be recreated and that it serves the object best to be left alone in its place of exaltation. Of course, he recants (it's a silly idea, after all). But I like thinking about context and I liked that he brings it up for his readers to consider.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- All readers possess the right to not read something (when for whatever reason you feel like you should have read it) as well as the right to not finish something. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On YA:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- YA seems to be a focus for Hornby in 2007-2008. Right on!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Books to read: David Almond's Skellig, Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat, M.T. Anderson's Feed.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Apparently, there is something called an "Alex Award" that is given to books written for adults, but that would appeal to teenagers. Past winners look good. Must remember to keep an eye out for this list. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Misc:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- One month's column was about the movies Hornby watched. Maybe I'll do something like that.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Charming, quick, and worth it if you're into that kind of thing.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">4 out of 5 stars</span></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-37918901228273660002010-10-19T16:27:00.005-04:002010-11-01T11:36:28.008-04:00Surrender of a Siren, A Lady of Persuasion :: Tessa Dare<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/6385637/2/istockphoto_6385637-siren-light.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 251px; height: 285px;" src="http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/6385637/2/istockphoto_6385637-siren-light.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Titles: Surrender of a Siren, A Lady of Persuasion</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Author: Tessa Dare</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Read: NYC</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Format: Kindle (secret shame)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">These two romances follow the excellent 'Goddess of the Hunt' to round out Tessa Dare's 'Siren trilogy'. Each novel focuses on the romantic pursuits of a secondary female character from the preceding title. Both are readable and fast, but neither has the oomph of the franchise's starter.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Surrender of a Siren opens with the runaway Sophia - disguised as lowly governess Jane - trying to buy passage onto a ship bound for Tortola. She has recently run away from what promised to be a suitable, but flat, marriage to Sir Toby Aldridge. However, once she realizes that her dowry was hers to inherit, marriage or no, she knows she can't marry for anything less than passion. So, she takes a wad of cash and flees to Tortola. On her voyage, she falls for the roguish and handsome Gray, the ship's owner and former privateer (that's fancy for pirate). Lust. Passion. Steam. Love. When they get to Tortola and Sophia's truth is uncovered, will Gray love her still, knowing that their relationship was founded on lies?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Of course! Duh.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Isabel (Bel) Grayson, Gray's young half-sister, is at the center of the trilogy's final - and weakest - installment. Unlike Sophia or Lucy, Isabel doesn't want to marry for love or passion. She's a do-gooder and wants to marry someone who will elevate her standing to 'Lady of Influence". Like all the ladies of London, Bel gets the hots for Toby (of pursued-by-Lucy and jilted-by-Sophia fame). He, too, is swept away by Bel's exotic, curvaceous beauty. When she learns he is able to run for Parliament, she agrees to marry him. They have an insatiable appetite for one another, but Bel has control issues or something. So, while poor, stupid Toby loves her, she won't allow herself to love him in return. Until she just kind of realizes she does and is also, oh-joyously, pregnant. Also in this novel: Toby's mom loves their neighbor and Lucy's galpal/personal physician falls for Bel's half-African, brother-from-another-mother Josiah. Too much!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">All in all, I think the Siren trilogy hit its peak at the end of book one. I mean, Surrender of a Siren was fine, but I don't enthusiastically recommend it. I think for those who are not committed to The Genre (like me), a novel from this category has to be extra trashy or extra romantic or extra cheesy to be worthwhile. Surrender was not extra anything. But it was a little of all of those things; enough to still be embarrassing. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A Lady of Persuasion, I'd say, was squarely bad. It was steamy at times, but never satisfyingly romantic. And in her 'ambitious' subplots, I think Dare was making an effort to veer away from cheesy and towards legit, which I think was a mistake. Stick with what you know, you know what I mean? Another thing about 'A Lady' is that Bel was a terrible heroine. She is unsympathetically rigid and while Dare explains some of her character through a shallow exploration of her past, she remains unlikable. Bel could be a failure in character development, but could as easily be a failure in conception. And even with my limited experience with romances I know there is no greater recipe for falling flat than a poorly conceived principal.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Surrender of a Siren:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Readable, but just okay, 3 out of 5 stars</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A Lady of Persuasion:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yawnsville, 2 out of 5 stars</span></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-58488961639069709262010-10-14T13:59:00.003-04:002010-10-15T15:02:32.636-04:00Goddess of the Hunt :: Tessa Dare<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Gods/images/Artemis.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 357px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Gods/images/Artemis.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">I've had a rough couple of weeks, so TG (my book pimp) gave me a gift. And what a gift it was!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Title: Goddess of the Hunt</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Author: Tessa Dare</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Read: East Village, NYC; one sitting</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Format: Mass Market Paperback, Embarrassing Cover</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In my limited experience, romance novels by Tessa Dare are kind of awesome. In her debut novel (and the first of the 'Sirens' trilogy, seriously), Ms. Dare gives us exactly what we want from a bodice-ripping romance. There's the unassumingly beautiful, headstrong virgin (Lucy) and the brooding nobleman with a secret and broad shoulders (Jeremy). There are misapprehensions. There's a happy-ending-red-herring about halfway through. There is thrusting and ravaging. Uniquely, this one also had a wandering, senile old woman.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lucy Waltham has her sights set on one of her brother's friends. She attempts to practice her seduction skills on another friend, the stony Jeremy, Earl-of-something. For a variety of reasons, they find themselves fake-courting each other. But, how long does it stay fake? And how long will it take for them to know exactly how the other feels? Lust (and love?), etc ensues.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In Goddess of the Hunt, the characters are far from new - to romance or otherwise - but they are fun to follow regardless. Like all novels of its ilk, the joy is not in whether they get together (they will, duh), but how they get there. And the (guilty) pleasure Tessa Dare offers us in getting there is considerable. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">An excellent distraction and a worthwhile way to pass a few hours: </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">4 out of 5 stars.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-91687105582626669042010-09-25T17:23:00.001-04:002010-11-01T11:35:42.190-04:00A Short History of Women :: Kate Walbert<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sandiegohistory.org/calpac/cardface/midgettrini4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 285px; height: 447px;" src="http://www.sandiegohistory.org/calpac/cardface/midgettrini4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Title: A Short History of Women</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Author: Kate Walbert</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Read: NYC</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Format: Trade paperback</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Kate Walbert's A Short History of Women is a multigenerational story that begins in 1914 with a British woman, Dorothy Trevor Townsend, who starves herself in the name of women's suffrage. The legacy of her sacrifice informs the lives and identities of the generations of daughters and granddaughters that come after her, both in the UK and America. All told, it's a beautiful, stirring story.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the telling, though, it was a tiny bit uneven at times. Specifically, Walbert jumps around both in time (throughout the 20th century) and in voice (through the voices of Dorothy Townsend's descendants). This can be a moving device when wielded properly, but it falls a little short here, for me anyway. Personally, I just found certain stories/contexts more interesting than others and it made reading through less affecting segments seem chore-like at times. Not to say that any parts were weak, they certainly weren't; more that certain plot lines were especially wrenching.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Add it to your pile of to reads, I'd say. But it doesn't have to sit at the top.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Beautiful writing, great characters.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">4 out of 5 stars.</span></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-2812264884545534222010-09-24T15:37:00.001-04:002010-10-28T17:23:08.677-04:00This is Where I Leave You :: Jonathan Tropper<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.muktinath.org/images/hinduismfolder/shiva.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 333px; height: 400px;" src="http://www.muktinath.org/images/hinduismfolder/shiva.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Title: This is Where I Leave You [anything goes book club selection, TG]</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Author: Jonathan Tropper<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Read: NYC</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Format: kindle</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This September, the book club decided to go the contemporary fiction route with Jonathan Tropper's This is Where I Leave You.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At the beginning of the novel, the recently separated (and cuckolded) Judd Foxman learns his father has died. He heads to his childhood home to sit shiva with his child psychologist mother and neurotic adult siblings. Over the course of his days at home, secrets, grudges, and grief (over his lost father and his lost youth) are explored. It kind of sounds insufferable, but Tropper's sharp wit and at-times beautiful writing steer the novel clear out of maudlin waters (for the most part). Even when he's being angsty and poignant (the novel is ostensibly about death and aging, after all), Tropper's easy humor makes those pills go down pretty smoothly.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I read this book during a very difficult time. The one year anniversary of my brother's death was looming and the reality of mourning and grief was as real as the building anxiety as the exact date drew closer. I cried a lot while reading as I was genuinely moved by the honesty in the characters' sadness and in the different ways it manifested. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I also found the relationships between the adult siblings really interesting. Over the years I've thought a lot about how adulthood reshapes the way we interact with our siblings when your (or at least my) understanding of them as people was born in a long-ago-far-away place. A lot of the way Judd is both a part of his family and apart from his family is so familiar to me. As is the fact that that there's really nothing like tragedy to wrench you out of that in-between place and make you realize you simply have to make choices about the way you want your relationships to be and then go with it.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This write up really doesn't do any justice to how light and funny the book really is. It's a fast read and, in my opinion, worthwhile. But, I can't promise that if I had read this book 14 months ago I would have had the same experience. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sad and provoking. Also funny and sweet.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">4 out of 5 stars.</span></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-29245796085627006952010-09-18T12:19:00.004-04:002010-12-29T01:39:54.967-05:00Little Bee :: Chris Cleave<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3040/2631548126_68d9738dc4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 250px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3040/2631548126_68d9738dc4.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Title: Little Bee</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Author: Chris Cleave</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Read: NYC</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Format: Trade paperback</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Little Bee is about a young Nigerian refugee who makes her way to the United Kingdom and tracks down a young couple with whom she shared a traumatic experience on a beach in Nigeria. In its telling, the story is told in alternating voices: that of Little Bee herself and Sarah (the wife in the aforementioned British couple - her husband has recently died).<br /><br />Now, here's the thing with this book. I liked it well enough while I was reading it. I wanted to know what happened to Little Bee and the British couple in Nigeria. I also wanted to know what would happen to them now that she is squirreled away with Sarah in England (illegally). But something sat funny with me while I was reading, despite the fact that I was actually engaged.<br /><br />Once I finished and knew what was what, I became more aware of what was nagging at me. It was a couple of things:<br /><br />1) Sarah did not seem to be too torn up over her husband's death; I found this unbelievable regardless of the circumstances/challenges of their marriage <br />2) I got a little of that exoticism that I disliked in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in the voice of Little Bee<br />3) I don't like when men write women in first person; I think at best it is natural (very rare), at worst it is offensive<br />4) So much build up (intriguing histories to be uncovered, intriguing futures to be planned), but it all falls kind of flat upon resolution<br /><br />I don't want to dog on Little Bee completely. I enjoyed reading it. I just wasn't super thrilled with it once it was all over.<br /><br />A quick, engrossing read, but not without some (annoying) flaws.<br />3 out of 5 stars<br /></span></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-85667868107343864222010-09-10T02:12:00.002-04:002010-12-29T02:57:34.168-05:00The Case of the Missing Servant :: Tarquin Hall<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.indianrecipes.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/Pakora-Recipe.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 235px; height: 250px;" src="http://www.indianrecipes.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/Pakora-Recipe.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Title: The Case of the Missing Servant</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Author: Tarquin Hall</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Read: NYC</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Format: Trade paperback</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Vish Puri is a rotund Punjabi private detective with an overblown sense of his own ability and an incessant hankering for fried treats. In this first installment of his adventures, he has to solve the mystery of his own attempted murder, find a missing servant (of course), and investigate the character of a wealthy client's future son-in-law. With the aid of his mother, a team of crack assistants, and, indeed, his own ability he manages to get to the bottom of everything. Though it takes a minute to get used to, the telling is charming and fun to watch unfold.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">I obviously enjoyed Hall's series debut even though it wasn't particularly innovative insofar as the mysteries are concerned. But it was light and Puri is truly a lovable new character (even if he is, apparently, Poirot-ish). What I find interesting in my own reaction is that even though a white, British man writes this Indian tale (set in Delhi), it doesn't bother me. Not in the way McCall Smith's Ladies Detective Agency series troubled me. Maybe because the voice that Hall is inhabiting is a man and therefore the difference is smaller and easier to overlook. Or maybe it's because Hall doesn't exoticize his protagonists culture in the same way that McCall Smith does. Somehow, I feel like it's more respectful. I could totally be projecting that, th0ugh.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Anyway, I really enjoyed The Case of the Missing Servant for what it is: a light, charming, fun read. And while I didn't run out to buy the second installment (now still in hard cover), I expect it's just a matter of time.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">Fun, colorful, charming.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;">4 out of 5 stars</span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7173969020618157502.post-22259244637438077762010-05-05T11:05:00.000-04:002010-10-22T12:09:50.353-04:00Wuthering Heights :: Emily Bronte<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://sydlexia.com/imagesandstuff/heathcliff/heathcliff.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://sydlexia.com/imagesandstuff/heathcliff/heathcliff.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Title: Wuthering Heights [White Whale 2010, #2]</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Author: Emily Bronte<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">R</span>ead: NYC</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Format: Trade paperback</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Let's not beat around the bush: I really, really didn't like Wuthering Heights.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In a nutshell: Heathcliff and Catherine love each other, but she marries someone else (isn't that always the way). After she marries and eventually dies, he gets all gloomy and haunted and vengeful and mean. They live on a landscape that matches Heathcliff's 'tude. He makes life miserable for everyone in two households. At the end, he dies and things start looking up.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thoughts:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><meta charset="utf-8">- I hate when character's accents are written phonetically.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Heathcliff is overbearing, scary, and completely unsympathetic.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Catherine, too, is unlikeable. Also, she is annoying.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Bronte doesn't convincingly develop their 'love' or any kind of passion; as a motivation for decades of revenge, it falls flat. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- The narrative requires that the moor be a very insular world. But, the fact that everyone just accepts it as their whole world out of some under-developed sense of obligation is weak and convenient. Heathcliff was able to leave. If he's such an ass to everyone, why do they stick around?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Rocky moors, unkempt terrain, cold, damp. It's gothic, I get it.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Even though I didn't like it, I'm glad I read Wuthering Heights - even if only to cross it off my list. Also, there are certain books that are referenced so frequently that it just makes sense to go through them. Even if they are not your thing.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
<br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Maybe if I read it when I was 12 I would have liked it more:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">2 out of 5 stars</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>mendoza!http://www.blogger.com/profile/00868274812363937362noreply@blogger.com1