Saturday, July 31, 2010

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner



Dear Ms. Weiner,

  Ever since I picked up a copy of your first novel, Good in Bed, I have been a fan.  Your real portrayals of women along with your ability to write with wit and compassion are so different from other writers of the so-called chick-lit genre that I eagerly anticipate the release of your new books and purchase them immediately - in hardcover.

  I'm sad to say, though, that Fly Away Home is not your best piece of work.  The premise -- a loyal senator's wife humiliated by her husband's admission of an extra-marital affair, the lives of their two polar-opposite daughters, Diana and Lizzie, and the attempt at reconciliation -- seemed like it was "ripped from the headlines", especially with the references to similar real-life scandals.  I found none of the characters - not even Milo, Diana's son -- particularly likeable, and I found some of the situations your characters faced in the context of the story (an unexpected pregnancy, for one) far-fetched.

  I still adore your work, and am marking this down as a one-time only blip.  Bring back the real characters and tell a story that we can relate to, and don't fall into the trap about writing about the hot scandal.

Best,
Suzanne


Friday, July 30, 2010

Book Beginnings on Friday


  Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

  My sentence this week comes from The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender:

It happened for the first time on a Tuesday afternoon, a warm spring day in the flatlands near Hollywood, a light breeze moving east from the ocean and stirring the black-eyed pansy petals newly planted in our flower boxes.

    This sentence does make you want to read further -- what first happened that Tuesday afternoon? -- and it also gives a very pleasant description of the (initial) setting.  I haven't gotten further than this yet but I'm looking forward to reading more.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Ulysses Wednesday #7


  Welcome to Ulysses Wednesday, where I track my progress reading James Joyce's tale of a day in the life of Leopold Bloom.

  Status:  Unchanged from last week

  Real life has a great way of interfering with my reading time.  Work has been insane the last two weeks and I think I've been able to manage about 10 pages since my last post.  I'm going to have to re-read them because I just was not able to focus properly, so that's why I'm calling my progress stalled.  I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, though (did I say that last week?)

Friday, July 23, 2010

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver



  We Need to Talk About Kevin is not a book I would have picked up on my own -- why would I want to read a novel about a kid who commits mass murder in his school when there is sadly too much of that in reality?  However, seeing it recommended by two bloggers whose opinions I respect and generally agree with - Becky at Page Turners and Boof at The Book Whisperer - I felt that I needed to give it a go.

  Eva, Kevin's mother, is writing letters to Kevin's father, Franklin, in the aftermath of the tragedy that Kevin has created.  In these letters, she is brutally honest in a way that she couldn't or wouldn't be in face to face conversations; she explains how she was quite happy with her lifestyle as a travel-guide writer/publisher, jetting off to research locations for months at a time, yet being happy to arrive home to Franklin.  The decision to have a child put a hold on this for her, and with the arrival of Kevin, you immediately sense that Eva regrets his birth and the sacrifices she will be forced to make.  She tells Franklin of all the incidents in Kevin's childhood that indicated he was not a well-adjusted boy; incidents that at the time Franklin accuses her of fabricating just to make Kevin look like an evil child. 

  She explains the day -- Thursday as she refers to it -- when Kevin locks nine people in the school gymnasium and massacres them.  She talks of her visits to Kevin in the juvenile detention center -- visits that neither of them care for.  And tells Franklin about the effect Kevin's actions have had on her personally.

  Eva is not a likeable person -- I found her vain and shallow -- but then I think about what she has endured and I wonder how I would act in the same situation.  Who can even imagine what that would be like?

  I didn't love this book, but it was an interesting, if disturbing read.  I agree with Boof that it is an excellent choice for book group discussions; it would be fascinating to hear what parents have to say about it.
 
 

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Book Blogger Hop!

  The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-for-Books.  This week's question is:  Tell us about the book you are currently reading.

  Well, in my case it is plural -- I have four books I am currently reading:
  • Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner.  I'm about halfway through; it's ok but not completely thrilling me.  It has a "scandal of the month" flavor to it that is disappointing.  But as Weiner is one of my favorite authors, I am giving her the benefit of the doubt.
  • Unlikely Soldiers by Jonathan F. Vance.  I've just started this one; and the subtitle says it all -- "How Two Canadians Fought the Secret War Against Nazi Occupation".  I think I'll enjoy it and hopefully learn about some heroic men in the process.
  • Outcasts United:  A Refugee Team, an American Town by Warren St. John.  I heard about this book on Books on the Nightstand's weekly podcast and I just picked it up at the library.  It's about a young woman in suburban Atlanta who coaches a soccer team made up of refugee children from all over the world.  Another one I think I'll enjoy.
  • Ulysses by James Joyce.  I don't know what to tell you about this book but that the language is wonderful and I also want to throw the book against the wall.  But I will move forward .....

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Ulysses Wednesday #6


Welcome to Ulysses Wednesday, where I track my progress reading James Joyce's tale of a day in the life of Leopold Bloom.


Status: on page 316 of 783


  Sadly, not a lot of progress this week, and not a lot of time to write a decent post about it (darn workload).  I just wanted to put up a post to keep up with the routine.  I promise to come back next week with some great insights (or just insights). 
   My goodreads friend Ed, who joined me in reading Proust last year, sent me some great notes on reading Ulysses so I'm hopeful that the lightbulb will go off soon.....

Monday, July 19, 2010

It's Monday -- What are You Reading?


    It's Monday - What are you Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at bookjourney to allow us to share with others in the book-loving cyberworld what is on our reading plates.

    This week I completed:
     Books in Progress
    I am expecting a crazy busy week at work this week, so I will be happy if can have time to read these books (well, make progress on Ulysses) and make it to my two book group discussions. 

  What are you reading this week?

Sunday, July 18, 2010

The Fatal Englishman - Three Short Lives by Sebastian Faulks


  If I have a complaint about my new nook e-reader, it is that it makes it way too easy to buy books.   I can't even remember what I was initially looking for, but the search results on this particular day popped up The Fatal Englishman - Three Short Lives by Sebastian Faulks, and when I read the synopsis, all I had to do was tap "buy" and *poof* the book appeared on my device.

  Sebastian Faulks is primarily a novelist, but in this work of non-fiction he traces the lives of three Englishmen of different eras:
  • Christopher Wood, a painter living in 1920s Paris
  • Richard Hillary, a WWII pilot severely injured on a mission
  • Jeremy Wolfenden, a journalist in the 50s and 60s based for a time in Moscow

  The three men were similar in ways:  they had close relationships with their mothers, somewhat distant ones with their fathers; they were deemed very talented at their chosen vocation; and they all died much too young.  

  Unfortunately, another thing that they had in common for me was that none of them seemed particularly likeable; I enjoyed reading about the times in which these men lived, but I became uninterested in their personal stories.  And while I was expecting a story of three men who died somewhat anonymously, all three were publicly recognized in their lifetimes and I didn't see the reasoning that Faulks used to choose these men for his subjects. 

  It wasn't a bad book, but it is more interesting for its historic accounts than for its biography.  And it taught me a lesson:  put the book on your eWish List and think about it before making the decision to purchase.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - A re-read


  I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in one afternoon not long after it was published and I just adored it.  A novel of the correspondence primarily between writer Juliet Ashton and residents on the island of Guernsey not long after the end of the Second World War, I felt so attached to all of the characters and did not want to let them go. 
  One of my book groups is reading this for our next discussion, so I picked it up again to refamiliarize myself with the story and it took me a bit longer to read (a day!) but I believe that I now love this book even more. 
  The authors - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - made such a wonderful story of surviving during war, and of the immense effect of reading, along with creating the wonderful characters (even crankypants Adelaide Addison (Miss)).  When I closed the book for the second time the same warm, comforting feeling came over me. 
   This book has become one of my all-time favorites and if you haven't already picked it up, I highly encourage you to do so.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Book Blogger Hop!

  The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-for-Books. The question this week is: Right this instant, what book are you dying to get your hands on (past, present, or future)?

  I mentioned last week that Jennifer Weiner is one of my favorite authors, so I am eagerly anticipating her new book Fly Away Home, which was released this week.  I have ordered it from my favorite indie but I can't get there until Monday to pick it up.  It's not like I have nothing else to read in the house, but I know that I soon as I have it in my hot little hands I will start reading it.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Book Beginnings on Friday


  Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

  My sentence this week comes from my summer reading project, Ulysses by James Joyce:

Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. 
 
  So from sentence one, I was already confused, because I had always assumed that Ulysses was all about Leopold Bloom -- who is this Buck Mulligan guy?  The confusion has not let up, but Joyce does have an amazing way with words; and though Bloom is walking around the streets of Dublin, it is everything that goes on around him that is the focus of the book.  

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Ulysses Wednesday #5


Welcome to Ulysses Wednesday, where I track my progress reading James Joyce's tale of a day in the life of Leopold Bloom.
Status: on page 292 of 783


My head hurts. 

I didn't read very much since my last post, but it still takes me a long time to read 10-20 pages at a sitting.  In this week's reading I'm not sure what is going on, really.  Bloom has gone into a pub to have dinner, and there are all kinds of characters carrying on.  I think they are writing a letter (as a group or each person individually, I cannot determine) and to show you what I'm up against, this is a section of what Bloom has written (and yes, this is exactly how it appears!):

On.  Know what I mean.  No, change that ee.  Accept my poor little pres enclos.  Ask her no answ.  Hold on.  Five Dig.  Two about here.  Penny the gulls.  Elijah is com.  Seven Davy Byrne's.  Is eight about.  Say half a crown.  My poor little pres:  p.o. two and six.  Write me a long.  Do you despise?  Jingle, have you the?  So excited.  Why do you call me naught?  You naughty too?  O, Mairy lost the pin of her.  Bye for today.  Yes, yes, will tell you.  Want to.  To keep it up.  Call me that other.  Other world she wrote.  My patience are exhaust.  To keep it up.  You must believe.  Believe.  The tank.  It.  Is.  True.

Umm, yeah.  I don't know who he is writing and I can't begin to imagine what this is about, although Elijah has come up several times in the book so far but I haven't yet figured out why.

  Some more interesting wordplay, and one particular passage that reminded me of Dr. Seuss (any Joyce scholars are likely reeling with the comparison):

One rapped on a door, one tapped with a knock, did he knock Paul de Kock, with a loud proud knocker, with a cock carracarracarra cock.  Cockcock.

  So I hope this week's reading will move along better.  The one reference I'm using (and I use the term reference loosely), Beowulf on the Beach:  What to Love and What to Skip in Literature's 50 Greatest Hits, says that the next part is worth it.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Murder on the Orient Express on Masterpiece Mystery


Did anyone watch Masterpiece Mystery's presentation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express last night? 

This is one of my favorite Poirot mysteries (recently reviewed here) so I was interested in seeing how this version was done (I haven't seen any movie versions of Christie's novels up until now).  It was good and portrayed the "whodunit" piece well; but I was disturbed by something that I don't recall reading in the novels:  Hercule Poirot's devout Catholicism.

Not that I'm against Catholicism or any religion -- far from it -- but since I don't recall reading about that in the Poirot stories I've read (and I've read quite a few) I'm not sure why they chose to include this in the movie.  They made it have a bearing on Poirot's decision-making and it didn't sit well with me -- Poirot is all about logic and his "little gray cells", not emotion.

I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts about this.

It's Monday - What are you Reading


  It's Monday - What are you Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at bookjourney to allow us to share with others in the book-loving cyberworld what is on our reading plates.

  This week I finished the following books:
  Books in Progress:
  I have two book group discussions next week so I will also need to get that reading done, but they are both short books and re-reads (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Stranger) so they should not take too long.

  In blogging news, I went on my first blog hop this week and discovered some great new blogs and found new followers.  I think I am starting to get the hang of this ......

  What are you reading this week?

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Promises to Keep by Jane Green


  I have read and enjoyed several of Jane Green's previous novels -- Jemima J especially, but also The Other Woman and Bookends -- but I haven't read any of her more recent books.  When I saw her most recent book, Promises to Keep, on the new releases shelf at the library I thought I'd give it a try.  I've been reading a lot of books lately with heavier subject material, so I thought a lighter read would be just the thing to cleanse the ol' reader's palate, as it were.
 
  I certainly did not expect to be crying my eyes out 15 minutes after closing the book when the message of the book hit me.  Not that it is a completely sad story - which I don't want to describe too much at the risk of giving it away - but it is a personal one for Jane Green and I think she did a wonderful job.

  The story is centered around two sisters - Callie and Steffi.  Callie is the almost-stereotypical suburban woman -- taking care of her kids and her workaholic husband while running a photography business from her home.  Steffi is 33 but to her family still hasn't grown up and settled down.  It seemed to be a typical "chick lit" (and I admittedly do not like that term) plot, but then something happens that impacts the lives of the sisters and those closest to them -- Callie's husband and two young children; the sisters' divorced parents, Walter and Honor; and Callie's best friend Lila.  It is here that the story takes an bittersweet turn and I literally could not put the book down until I reached the last page (thank goodness for lazy Saturday mornings). 
 
  As I put the book down and started to think about it, I was overwhelmed by the amount of emotion Jane Green put into these characters.  And though it had me tearing up, sadness is not what it's all about;  there is a good sprinkling of humor throughout as well, along with some really tempting recipes (Steffi is a chef, and there is a recipe at the end of each chapter for a particular dish described in the narrative).

  I highly recommend this novel.  I haven't read Jane Green for a few years, but she's back on my must-read list.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Book Beginnings on Friday


  Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

  From Promises to Keep by Jane Green:

Steffi elbows her hair out of her eyes before grabbing a frying pan, splashing olive oil liberally into it and scraping the finely chopped onion into the oil.

  I literally just started this book, so I don't know where this sentence may lead, but it did make me hungry!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

My First Blog Hop!


  Here it is -- my first blog hop post!  The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-for-Books.  The question this week is:  Tell us about some of your favorite authors and why they are your favorites.

  I have a lot of authors I love, though I don't know if I consider any of them "favorites". 

 Certain authors - Margaret Atwood and Jennifer Weiner - are ones who I will always buy their books.  In hardcover.  These two writers have very different styles but I love their books equally.
  I also love writers that give me a sense of the place in which their writing takes place -- Andrea Levy and Rohinton Mistry are two that immediately come to mind.
  And I love writers that make me laugh -- Jen Lancaster, Dave Barry, and Bill Bryson are all very funny.

Thanks for stopping by!


Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Ulysses Wednesday #4



  Welcome to Ulysses Wednesday, where I track my progress reading James Joyce's tale of a day in the life of Leopold Bloom.


  Status: on page 225 of 783

  This week's reading was much more interesting than what I slogged through last week.  There is a fine discussion in the library about Shakespeare and how autobiographical his plays may or may not have been; and in the midst of this talk turns for a minute to an anticipated gathering of "young poets' verses" and what I thought to be an interesting statement: 
Our national epic has yet to be written.

Could Joyce have believed that it was up to him to write such an epic?

  In this section we also see Leopold Bloom go into Davy Byrne's pub for lunch.  The descriptions of the meat and other foodstuffs eaten by other patrons is rather off-putting, so I can see why Bloom decides to order a (gorgonzola) cheese sandwich.  After lunch he goes to the library - the location of the above mentioned Shakespeare discussion - to look up something for an advertisement he is trying to sell.

  You know, I thought Ulysses was all about Bloom and nothing but Bloom, but I was wrong.  In my reading thus far he appears for a chapter here and there and then sets off to let others participate in the action.  I knew there were other characters, of course, but I didn't realize that they had as much of a role in this novel as Bloom.

  What I also found interesting was Joyce's use of the word Holocaust:

All those women and children excursion beanfeast burned and drowned in New York.  Holocaust.  Karma they call that transmigration for sins you did in a past life the reincarnation met him pikehoses. Dear, dear, dear.  Pity of course:  but somehow you can't cotton on to them someway.

and then later on a reference to a dreadful catastrophe in New York, which was an actual event - a passenger ship disaster on June 15, 1904, the day before the events described in Ulysses.   Even though his use of holocaust in this instance is accurate, it is certainly not a context in which I am familiar in seeing that term used.

  So am I getting it yet?  Probably not entirely, but I do have glimmers of understanding here and there. It is definitely not a book to be read casually though.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand


  Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson is a story of love at any age and that you can very well teach an old dog some new tricks.

  Major Ernest Pettigrew, a retired Army officer, lives in the town of Edgecombe St. Mary, in the home that originally belonged to his parents.  A classic Englishman of the "stiff upper lip" variety, he is caught in a vulnerable position when he hears some tragic news and answers the door to the town shopkeeper, Mrs. Jasmina Ali, who assists him in his time of need as any good neighbor would.  Thus begins a relationship that surprises them both - as well as their families and the rest of the town - and lays open everyone's prejudices and attitudes for introspection and shows that anyone can find it in their heart to change for the better.
 
  There are many ups and downs in this novel -- some terribly funny, some awfully sad -- but the author put the story together so well that I found it very difficult to put the book down without reading one (or two) more chapters.  The characters were absolutely delightful -- even the not-so-nice ones -- and I felt like I wanted to sit with Major Pettigrew and Mrs. Ali and discuss literature with them over a nice cup of tea.

I highly recommend this novel.  It is one of my favorites of the year thus far. 

This novel also fulfills the "Title in the Title" choice for the What's in a Name Challenge.

Monday, July 5, 2010

It's Monday - What are you Reading?

 


  It's Monday - What are you Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at bookjourney to allow us to share with others in the book-loving cyberworld what is on our reading plates.

  I finished the following books this week:
              Almost Dead by Assaf Gavron
              Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

 Books (still!) in progress:
             Ulysses by James Joyce (though I'm 1/4 of the way done - woo hoo)
             Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
  also     The Fatal Englishman:  Three Short Lives by Sebastian Faulks, proof that I should not go shopping for books on my new nook when I'm bored (I'm really enjoying it, though)

Book I did not finish:
             The Story of My Life by Helen Keller - I read the autobiography portion of the book but couldn't get through all of the letters and other additional material before I had to return it to the library.  It was a very interesting story though and made for a great discussion

I'm not sure what I'm going to read this week -- I feel like I should read something light I don't have anything on the shelf right now that applies -- one of the problems with having so many books to choose from is that I am sometimes paralyzed with indecision on what to read next ....

What are you reading this week?

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Canadian Book Challenge


  Canada Day -- July 1 -- marked the beginning of the fourth Canadian Book Challenge, hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.  The challenge is to read and review 13 Canadian books (13 representing the number of Canadian provinces and territories) before next Canada Day.

  I am very excited about this challenge and for the opportunity to dig a bit deeper into the literature of my native land, even though it is no longer my home.  Everyone knows about Lucy Maud Montgomery, Margaret Atwood, Yann Martel, Alice Munro; some might know of Mordecai Richler, Carol Shields, Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje, and Douglas Coupland -- however there are other Canadian writers who have written some great novels and do not receive the exposure and recognition that they deserve. 

  Whenever head up to my hometown - Winnipeg - or to visit my brother in Toronto, I always find myself at a bookstore and pick up a few Canadian books.  I think I have a few on my shelf now to get me started -- time to go have a look!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

July's Reading List

It seems like July is going to be a "light" reading month for me, in that I don't have a lot of reading I "have" to do so I can see about tackling the massive Mount TBR on my bookshelves.

I am still working on Ulysses this month as my project book -- it's slow going, but I am impressed with my progress, though I still think it will be on the currently-reading shelf for a while yet.  It's one of those books where I need to isolate myself and concentrate.

For my reading groups:
    The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
    The Stranger by Albert Camus
    Both of these are re-reads

For thelittlereader's readalong:
    Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

I did just sign up for The Canadian Book Challenge 4 to celebrate the literature of my homeland, so I'll go through Mount TBR and see what books I already have before I make my shopping list for when I visit next month  (This is as good an excuse as any to pick up some books!)

Also in July I am eagerly anticipating the release of Jennifer Weiner's new novel, Fly Away Home, which I already pre-ordered at my local indie.  She is one of my favorite writers, so I'll likely start reading this as soon as I pick it up.

What will you be reading this month?

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Book Beginnings on Friday

 

  Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

From Almost Dead by Assaf Gavron:

I climbed aboard the Little No. 5 as I did every morning on my way to work.

A simple sentence, yet in my opinion appropriate given the tone of the rest of the book.