Book IT! GremLindz Style

My Latest Masterpiece

2008-05-24T12:47:00.012-04:00

So, yes, I've been slacking on the book reviews. Fear not, I have been forging through many a book, including:

Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man's Tour of Duty Inside the IRS by Richard Yancey

Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham

A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain

What is the What by Dave Eggers

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner from Azkaban (almost finished)

I actually have reviews started for the first three, so in all seriousness it is pretty sad that I haven't finished them by now. Fear not, I'll get around to it. I've decided to read the entire Harry Potter series all at once. I've seen most of the movies, but have never read any of the books. The first one was just OK, but they have gotten a little better as I go along. I think I'll just review the entire series at once. What is the What is currently holding book of the year status, and it will have to take a pretty hefty shove to remove it. I'm not sure any of the 100+ books on my "to read" shelf have it in them. Sorry, it was just that good.

And without further ado, I present my latest creation (and my very first paid baking job for my aunt's friend's 8-year-old daughter):

It is a white cake with buttercream icing. And yes, that is dyed coconut for grass. Freaking awesome. I'm very proud of it. The only thing I would change is the writing--I need a different tip that is thick but not a star design. But by the time I realized this last night it was too late and Michael's was closed. Oh well.

Freedom for adventures!

2008-03-27T20:30:00.003-04:00

I know all one of you who read this have been waiting patiently for me to finish Thrilling Tales so I can write about it, but fear not, I finished it a couple of weeks ago and have actually since finished another book as well. But before we get into the real business of this blog, a quick update on life.

Two weeks ago marked the end of my grad school career (because I’m graduating, not because I’m quitting) and yesterday solidified my 4.0 reign over the Publication Management program. It was a little shaky at the end, but I prevailed and my grade report now hangs with glory on my parent’s refrigerator, where it will remain for the next five years.

Nick recently got a new job, so be sure to read all of his articles on thefreedictionary.com and the freelibrary.com once he starts on Monday. Not only does this mean he no longer has to cover municipal and school board meetings, but also means he can go to Frisbee every week when it starts in June (and carpool! Yes!) and that we are one step closer to achieving item #6 on my Things to Do in 2008 list (Buy a house). We are very close, people! You are invited to the party when we get one (which will be a very small party if this proves to be our only means of inviting people).

McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, Michael Chabon, ed.

Thrilling Tales promised to bring me all new, never before seen, original stores, and that, by god, it did. All of my favorite subjects were covered: time travel, the end of the world, cats, revenge, true love… wait a minute. Seriously though, the stories were delightfully strange and adventurous. “Catskin” was about a boy whose mother turned into a cat after she died, and then she burned down a house with cats in it, and then sewed him what was essentially a cat-skin hoodie, and every now and then he decided to put the hoodie on and walk around on all fours like a cat. I’m still trying to figure out any metaphors or ssssssymbolism, although it may have just been a really weird story. And I’m all for that! Because I am weird. And because I absolutely love cats, some might say bordering on obsessed (the only thing holding me from plunging into full crazy cat lady status is Nick, and I’m not sure that will prevent me in the future. He has limited me to only having one cat at a time, which I guess I agree with because if I had more than one I’d never get anything done, I’d just sit all day admiring how freaking adorable they are and running around the house with them playing tag). Although I don’t think I would ever sew cat hides together to make myself a little cat jacket. That seems a bit too far.

Thrilling Tales marked the first works I have read by Michael Crichton and Stephen King. I know, very hard to believe that I’ve never read Stephen King, but there it is. And they were back-to-back. The rate at which Stephen King pushes out stuff is amazing to me. It makes me wonder if he actually still enjoys writing, or if it has become so commonplace to him that he doesn’t really even have to try anymore. Because that would be sad. But at the same time, does he really have to try anymore? He’s built up such a substantial platform that I think people will buy his books even if they are crap. Does Michael Crichton still write books? To be honest, I was (obviously) never too interested in either, and I’m not really any more interested now.
I have to say that my favorite story in the whole collection was Nick Hornby’s “Otherwise Pandemonium.” What is it with me and apocalyptic scenarios? I do enjoy them, although I can’t recall reading a book with such a premise. But “Pandemonium” took apocalypse to a different level by adding in a time-travel-y aspect that is really fun and had me frantically turning the pages so I could find out what happens. Not since High Fidelity have I been that engrossed in Hornby’s stuff, and it was refreshing to experience it again. Please don’t disappoint me with another book like A Long Way Down. Seriously, man. Don’t.

And there are still so many other great stories! One about a detective investigating the death/murder of Hitler’s neice/lover. A stream-of-thought-ish recount of a drug epidemic in NYC that included conspiracy theories and apocalyptic scenarios (this was a jackpot other than the somewhat annoying stream-of-thought-ishness which made me feel like I was on drugs). One weird one about a husband and wife who collected salt and pepper shakers and ended up killing each other (I’m still not sure why). A tale about a circus elephant that gets hanged (this had some great twists in it that I can’t give away but made the story have an amazing structure). One war story about a general who escapes and seeks refuge with a girl and her grandmother that I didn’t think I’d enjoy, but did, because it was not only touching but really pissed me off at the end. (Isn’t it great when a book/story really gets an emotion out of you?!) A story about a guy who is working at an archeological dig and the mischief a writer stirs up when she comes to do some research. I could go on and on! They were all great, which is rare in a short story collection (in my experience, anyway).

Dave Eggers’ “Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly” really geared me up to read What is the What?, the pick for this year’s One Book One Philadelphia, which Nick and I intend on reading at the same time and discuss (in case you had, until now, escaped the fact that we are total nerds, hello, we are!). I am also pumped to one day read You Shall Know Our Velocity!, which Nick picked up for me at a book sale the other day. It goes without saying that I have no business buying or receiving any books at this point, given that my “To Read” shelf is now overflowing onto the already overflowing shelves on my bookshelf and throughout my tiny tiny bedroom. I don’t know where to put them anymore! My box set of hardcover Harry Potter’s that I got for Christmas, thanks to my understanding parents, resides in their family room downstairs, but until the insanely joyous day that I get to move out of my parents house, I have no idea where I am going to start putting all of my loot. In the last month alone, thanks to bargain books and used book sales, I have gotten the following:

You Shall Know Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers
What is the What? By Dave Eggers (I know I already mentioned these two, but I felt the need to include them in order to entirely disclose my what should be shame at buying even more books when I have about 70 unread ones.)
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Summerland by Michael Chabon
The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank
Then We Came to an End by Joshua Ferris
Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich

And as a gift for being done grad school, Nick bought me a hardcover box set of: Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan all by E.B. White, of course. Aren’t the illustrations in Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little absolutely fantastic? Garth Williams is amazing. They make me so nostalgic for library class in elementary school and that book of ghost stories that I always checked out even though it was really easy to read, with the story about the girl who wore a green ribbon around her neck, which, to the surprise of her boyfriend, Alfred, held her head on. (Exciting! Just found that book: In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories.) I also remember really liking the word Caldecott, as in the medal for illustrations. There’s just something really nice about it that makes me feel happy. I think we had a Caldecott winner visit our library once, and I’ve always been happy when surrounded by books, so maybe that’s why. But who knows where my weirdness evolves from, it just does.

A book is always the perfect gift for any occasion. One of my last classes was Book Proposals and I came up with an idea to make a book of gift suggestions for every occasion. Although the flaw of this idea is that most people would probably just browse the book in the bookstore and not buy it, because why would you if it was available for reference in the exact location where you would buy the gift? Perhaps a website instead. But that’s a project for another time. You should buy Thrilling Tales for the adventure seeker in your life. Someone who isn’t afraid to be a nerd or weird or crazy or gremlin, and likes going on long journeys that aren’t predictable.

Up next: My thoughts on Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man's Tour of Duty Inside the IRS by Richard Yancey

After that: Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham (currently reading)

And People Wonder Why I Don't Want to Have Kids?

2008-03-10T17:24:00.002-04:00

This is the most disturbing thing I've heard since JesusCamp.

I am almost finished the McSweeney's. Last week of grad school! Weee!

I Want a Beans Feast

2008-02-10T16:32:00.000-05:00

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Not surprisingly, it took me a whopping two hours to read this yesterday afternoon. Surprisingly, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. This is probably the effect of not having read it when I was a kid. Why is it that you can enjoy something immensely as a kid and then when you show it to someone who never saw it as a kid, they just don't get it? For instance, one of my friends never saw An American Tail when he was a kid, and I did and loved it (still do!) even though it scarred me for life (I cannot hear Fievel's crazy laugh without getting a bad feeling in my stomach that is related to my fear of being left behind somewhere). It's excellent! You should def netflix it.

Anyway, I feel the same way about Willy Wonka (the movie, obviously, with Gene Wilder). And even though I am a Johnny Depp fan, I just didn't get the recent remake, probably because it was more like the book, which, in my mind, is not the real story. The dialogue (in the new remake and the book) just doesn't seem right, and isn't nearly as funny as the dialogue in the 1971 version, which is just bizarre since Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay. Obviously the movie is a bit darker than the book but even non-dark elements are better. One of the biggest let-downs of the 2005 version is the songs: the 1971 character songs (with the exception of the absolutely horrible and without a doubt must-fast-forward-through "Cheer Up Charlie") are superbly better (seriously, "I Want it Now!" Genius! I want a bean feast! (were there even any in the 2005 one? I don't remember, but I don't think so)) and the Oompa Loompa songs are far superior! The songs in the book/2005 version are way too long. They are darker, but far too long. And they aren't catchy. And the performance of the Oompa Loompa songs in the 2005 version are just downright annoying. Where are my orange faced friends? Now that I think about it, I kinda hate the 2005 version. Not to mention, Johnny Depp was really annoying and not at all like quirkily loveable Gene Wilder. And where is the deception by Charlie? And where is the evil trick by Willy Wonka at the end making Charlie think he squandered his prize by sipping the fizzy lifting drinks? No intense moments where I think Charlie is going to be chopped to bits. Sadsies. Also, I kind of like how we are led to believe that the kids die in the 1971 version. I think it's an appropriate punishment.

Regardless, it's a fun book for kids I guess. I remember reading The Witches and LOVING it, and then the movie was an added bonus. Matilda was also a good one, so I'll let good old Roald slide on this one.

Up Next: McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, Michael Chabon, ed.

Smartsies and Funsies

2008-02-09T16:08:00.001-05:00

Migraine by Oliver Sacks

Although it was tough to read, Migraine is definitely one of the most informative books I have ever read, and am thankful that I read it. Since 2002, I have suffered (and I do mean suffered) from migraines, complete with auras, which are pretty much the most terrifying and annoying thing I have thus encountered in life. And how thankful I am that I am in the minority of migraine sufferers who get them! Thanks to Excedrin Migraine, and now some wonder drug that my neurologist prescribed that I take when I get auras that eliminates the migraine, my migraines have been manageable. I would rather not have them, but I guess I don't really have a choice in that.

So when I got this book for Christmas, I immediately started looking through it and found the wonderful pictures that can finally show, better than I can describe, the insanity that I see when I get auras. I don't know why I can't describe this other than saying, I get a blind spot and then I get an arc of squiggles in my vision that vaguely reminds me of when you highlight a cell in Excel. Anyway, this is what I see at first:

And this is what I see about 10 minutes after the blind spots first appear:

And that's what an aura is. Mine usually last from 15-45 minutes. They start out at some point in my field of vision and slowly work their way up to the top, and then eventually out of my field of vision. After that my vision is still a little weird, in that I can't look at a computer and (much to the delight of my co-workers) must sit with sunglasses on, and I get a usually mild headache, due to my medicine, and maybe some nausea, that usually lasts about two hours in entirety. Once that is gone, my vision is mostly back to normal. Fun, no? It's much better than before which involved complete incapacitation and throwing up and sensitivity to light, sound, etc., which usually hit a high mark during which I would cry out of pain and complete lack of control. Good times.

Anyway, Migraine really put things in perspective for me in regards to what other migraine sufferers have to experience, and I am so very thankful that I have relatively low-key migraines. Once, during a migraine, I lost feeling in my fingers on my left hand, and was, rightfully so, freaking out. This is actually normal, and can effect your entire arm. Terrifying. Thankfully this has only happened once.

Migraine made my migraines a little less horrifying, but still left me wondering why we don't yet know what causes migraines. I'm pretty sure mine are stress related (my neck/shoulders/back are insanely tight) and therefore my neurologist suggested to seek chiropractic and massage therapy weekly/bi-weekly. No problem! Medicinal massages are by far the best prescription I have gotten in life.

My only problem with Migraine is that it got very medical at times, making it difficult to understand. Also, the entire time while reading it I was paranoid that I was going to get a migraine. I don't know how this could have been helped, but I'm pretty sure the tiny font size didn't help matters. Anyway, a big thank you to Oliver Sacks for making my life a little less scary. I recommend that you gift this book to anyone who gets migraines, even if they think they know everything about them. Believe me, you don't. Plus the pictures are neat.

To-Do List by Sasha Cagen

For my Book Proposals class, I was required to sign up for various e-newsletters about publishing (Publisher's Lunch, Publisher's Weekly Daily), including Daily Dose by Powell's, which sends out information about a new book every day. A couple of weeks ago I got a Daily Dose for To-Do List and immediately started freaking out because I LOVE to do lists and somehow have never heard of the magazine or blog that existed before the book. So I raved about it for about twenty minutes at work and then went about my business.

That weekend I was at Barnes and Noble doing a project for Book Proposals when, right next to the escalators, I saw a table with books on it, and there it was. And I squealed. And Nick was embarrassed (per usual). And then I did the next normal thing when I see a book I'm excited about: pick it up and hug it like someone is going to take it away from me. Even though it was $16, even though I didn't have any gift certificates from Christmas, even though I ended up buying the $30 Writer's Market to complete said project and item #1 on my To-Do List for 2008 (seen below)(I also ended up buying Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live. It had been on my to-buy list for years! And it was only $5!), even though I have been horribly cheap/frugal in order to accomplish item #6, and even though I had just gotten 22 new books for Christmas and have about 50 other books on my to-read book shelf, I allowed myself to buy the book. And then read it immediately. And I loved it.

I love the concept, the design, the section introductions, the actual lists, and the type of paper they printed the book on. I really love that instead of just typing out what was on the lists, they actually included images of the lists (as does the blog and probably the magazine). My lists are most often lists of errands I have to run or things I need to buy or projects I need to do at work, and this book opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of lists. I would summarize but I really think you should check this one out for yourselves. It is amazing. You should buy it for everyone, because everyone should make lists! As promised:

2008 To Do List (in progress):

1. Submit 3 pieces of writing to publications
2. Enter a photography contest
3. Read 30 books
4. Bake one cake from Cakes to Dream On
5. Perfect my cheesecake and chocolate chip cookie recipes (testers needed)
6. Buy a house
7. Learn how to make steaks with the yumsy crust/seasoning rub like I had at Bobby Flay's Steakhouse (AC)

Next Up: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (What? I needed something light after Migraine. Plus my sister is putting on the musical in the beginning of March and I think it's finally time that I read the real thing. Also, this doctor that I encountered in the ER the other night totally reminded me on the crabby teacher and now I'm in the mood.)

Back in the High Life Again

2008-01-31T21:17:00.001-05:00

I'm a little more than halfway done Migraine, but I have good excuses as to why this one is taking so long:

-My very own migraines that grace my existence about once a week

-Nick being ridiculously hilarious while trying out for the Olympics

-Fancy weddings at the Crystal Tearoom and nights spent at the Ritz Carlton (I would show you my pictures but stupid webshots is down)

-Quizzo

And one bad excuse that I will soon no longer be making:

-Grad school

I'll probably finish Migraine up some time next week. I think I'm in the mood for some fiction next.

Boo hiss.

2008-01-16T18:56:00.001-05:00

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union (YPU) is set in an alternate reality, much like Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America which assumes that Charles Lindbergh, a Nazi sympathizer, was elected President of the US, only it took me longer than it should to understand what kind of alternate reality. After reading a Publisher’s Weekly review of the YPU, I have come to discover that apparently “Franklin Roosevelt proposed on the eve of World War II, a temporary Jewish settlement had been established on the Alaska panhandle.” This was obviously never followed through with, but Chabon pretends that it did and thus YPU is born. I had understood that there was a large settlement of Jews in Alaska, but I could not have told you why. Was it implied somewhere at the beginning of the book? I have no idea.

What I can tell you is that YPU is a really dense detective story that I would have enjoyed if a) I had an easier time catching on to the Yiddish that was interspersed throughout (which was quite upsetting since I’m the only Irish girl I know who says she’s shvitzing instead of sweating), and b) I paid more attention to the insane amount of rambling details throughout its 400+ pages. Not that I didn’t know what I was getting into. Last summer I had struggled through Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and vowed to finish it during my Pocono retreat vacation. While it ended up being one of my top ten favorite reads of last year, it still required a constant effort to concentrate and get through the heft. I admit I was more interested in Kavalier and Clay’s story than YPU, but I was interested all the same.

Because I like a good mystery. I recently rediscovered this when while visiting for Christmas, Nick’s grandmother was struggling with the puzzle of Norman Rockwell’s Freedom From Want, which is absurdly hard. It took us four hours to get the woman’s dress and arm together. I consider a puzzle like a mystery because you’re trying to find where the pieces it. I realize that this is partly my OCD shining through, but I really needed to get that puzzle together. The last time I checked, it was still sitting unfinished on Nick’s dining room table.

So one morning Meyer Landsman, a detective in Sitka (the Jewish settlement) is awoken by his landlord to investigate a murder that occurred overnight a few floors down. Soon afterwards enters Landsman’s cousin/partner, a half Jewish, half Tlingit (which I actually recognized after reading many books set in Alaska as of late: Into the Wild, If You Lived Here I’d Know Your Name, and pieces of Assassination Vacation, which I believe is the source of my knowledge about the Tlingit people) detective. And then all of these things started to happen and I wasn’t really sure where the story was going, but parts were exciting and made me want to read more, so I continued. And then I got so far into the book that I couldn’t justify giving up on it, so I labored on and forced myself to commit to the back 200 pages and when the plot got resolved it wasn’t very satisfying. And I’m obviously not satisfied with the effort it took to read the 400+ pages when I didn’t really get anything out of it.

This could be for a number of reasons; one being I never really understood the motivations of the characters. Landsman is an absolute mess, having been (relatively) recently divorced from his wife. The only theme I recognize throughout the entire thing is one’s destiny, but even that is weakened by strange plot twists that either happen outside of the pages or I was so distracted with anything else around me (weird people on the train, the depressing man in the neurologist’s office who said he never reads anymore because he has the History channel, Beans (my cat)) that I missed it on the page. It was funny at times but not as often or as intense that its hilarity alone carried the book. I smiled to myself a few times but never broke out into the kind of laughter that leaves my co-commuters reassured that I am, in fact, insane. Hopefully the book that I got for Christmas that Chabon edited is more enjoyable.

Up Next: Migraine by Oliver Sacks

Also, this hilariousness is what the boyfriend has been up to. (Great pic!) And this.

My (book) Year in Review

2008-01-04T15:42:00.001-05:00

Out of 29 books, these are the ten that I enjoyed the most in the months of 2007 and highly suggest that you read them. Now. (Fiction marked by F; Nonfiction, NF.)

Best Books I've Read In 2007

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (F)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (F)
About Alice by Calvin Trillin (NF)
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (NF)
The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno (F)
Braniac by Ken Jennings (NF)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (F)
Sweet & Low by Rich Cohen (NF)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynn Truss (NF)
White Oleander by Janet Fitch (F)

What a nice balance of fiction and nonfiction. And I didn't even plan it!

Honorable Mentions That Just Missed The Cut (in order of just-missedness)

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides (F)
Flush by Virginia Woolf (F)
The Hours by Michael Cunningham (F)
Puff by Bob Flaherty (F)
House-keeping Vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby (NF)

Books I received for Christmas 2007 (All from Nick, btw. Insane! (in the membrane))

The Partly Cloud Patriot—Sarah Vowell
McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales—Michael Chabon, ed.
The New Kings of Nonfiction—Ira Glass, ed.
Confessions of a Tax Collector—Richard Yancey
Travels with Alice—Calvin Trillin
Poop Culture—Dave Praeger
Money for Nothing: One Man's Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions—Edward Ugel
Busting Vegas: The MIT Whiz Kid who Brought the Casinos to Their Knees—Ben Mezrich
What's You Poo Telling You?—Richman & Sheth
Little Altars Everywhere—Rebecca Wells
Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog—Kitty Burns Florey
Paint it Black—Janet Fitch
The Beach—Alex Garland
Saturday—Ian McEwan
Specimen Days—Michael Cunningham
The Future Dictionary of America
All the President's Men—Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward
A Cook's Tour—Anthony Bourdain
The Best American Travel Writing 2004—Pico Iyer, ed.
Salt: A World History—Mark Kurlansky
Migraines—Oliver Sacks
Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren't as Scary, Maybe, Depending on How You Feel About Lost Lands, Stray Cellphones, Creatures from the Sky, Parents Who Disappear to Peru, a Man Named Lars Farf, and One Other Story We Couldn't Quite Finish, So Maybe You Could Help Us Out. (This title is very When the Pawn…-esque.)

Cookbooks Received for Christmas 2007

Ben & Jerry's Icecream & Dessert Book
Starting With Ingredients—Aliza Green (All of the recipes are listed according to their main ingredient. Awesome.)
Wilson's Cupcake Fun!
The Food You Want to Eat—Ted Allen
Williams Sonoma Essentials of Baking

...and thanks for all the fish

2007-12-28T10:40:00.000-05:00

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

After I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns (ATSS) last week, I started to tell my grandmother, who introduced me to Hosseini when she lent me her copy of The Kite Runner a few years ago, how good, yet upsetting, it was. She then told me that she had brought it with her for her stay at my house for Christmas, which I took as a delightful coincidence since we hadn’t spoken about the book and it’s been out since March. The next day I found out that Nick’s grandmother had also just finished reading it, which I found even more incredible. If there was a required reading list for the women of the world, this book would top the list for this year.

So Hosseini likes to tie his stories up in a nice, neat bow at the end. Is it such a horrible thing for a heartbreaking story to end a little bit happily for his characters? I don’t think so, but I guess some people need nothing but realistic situations when they read. Personally, I really need his stories to end with some sort of light at the end of the tunnel moment because if they didn’t, I would be left depressed about the world and humanity in general. And that’s no way to live your life. If the stories aren’t true to the normal outcomes of people’s lives in Afghanistan and the Middle East, they at least could be true for some of the population. So I find no fault in it, and if you can’t get passed this minor thing, then why bother reading anyway?

One of the major points of Hosseini’s stories is to show that there is a common thread of decency in people, no matter what country you live in. Sure, there are people who are selfish and greedy and downright evil, but these people don’t comprise entire societies. And societies shouldn’t be judged based on the worst citizens. I guess would include the world’s current view of the US, thanks to G Dub and the Christian Maniacs who are attempting to take over the world with their insane science-hating brainwashing. The point is that there should be some hope in everyone that the entire world isn’t going to shit because of the crazies who are currently in control. That there is some sense of service and good in people that will prohibit the world from being completely destroyed.

What ATSS exposes, if you have been completely oblivious to the outside world for the past six years, is the horrible injustice being imposed on women in the Middle East, and specifically in Afghanistan. These women, who aren’t allowed to leave the house without their husband, who must completely cover themselves in a burqa that leaves only their eyes exposed, who are beaten and abused as if they weren’t even human at all, who are prohibited from seeking out education, are, I’m sure, struggling every day to try and make it to the next. Of course not every single woman in the Middle East is forced to put up with a controlling and abusive husband, but it’s not a rare situation either. One of the main character's mother sets it straight from her early on in the book: their lives as Afghan women are revolved entirely on the ability to endure all of the crap that gets thrown at them.

This book left me thankful and appreciative for the life I have, which was especially relevant for this time of year (in addition to the annual viewing of It’s A Wonderful Life, which makes me cry harder with each time I see it). This book really made me appreciate the privileges and opportunities that my family and society have given me. I never had to worry that my parents would force me to marry some man (and most often a man much older than me) when I was 15 or 16, I never had to worry that I wouldn’t have enough to eat or drink, that I wouldn’t have a bed to sleep in every night, that I wouldn’t be able to go to high school let alone college and learn and read and have conversations about things other than what my husband wanted for dinner. These are obviously things that some women, and people in general, have to deal with in this country, but I guess, like many others, I most often take these things for granted. Every winter morning when I walk the ten minutes from 30th Street Station to work and pass the men sleeping on the sidewalk, I am increasingly thankful for my huge comforter goose-down coat and the warm house I just came from and the shoes on my feet and the shower I have access to every day and for food and everything else I am spoiled enough to have. I don’t think there is a day that goes by that I don’t complain about having to live with my parents, but I am so thankful that it is an option and they didn’t change the locks after I left for college. I am especially thankful that women in this country are allowed to have a purpose in life other than being a baby machine. For someone’s sole purpose in life to be birthing and raising babies has to be the most depressing thing ever. How are you supposed to properly raise your children if you aren’t allowed to be educated? How are your children supposed to use you as a role model if you aren’t allowed to walk down the street by yourself, or even without being completely covered up as if your natural physical appearance is indecent?

After reading The Kite Runner, I was sure that ATSS would be Cry-fest Part II, but, much to the relief of the people who ride the R3 West Trenton, I actually only cried twice (although the one time I had to stop reading because I thought I might break out into sobs). ATSS was more upsetting and hard to read than tear-enducing, but I think it was just as influential and enlightening as The Kite Runner. And it’s actually a really nice story about women, friendship, hardship, and the good in people. I couldn't stop reading it. I even skipped my train ride home naps so I could read and many times almost missed my stop because I was so engrossed in it. So that’s why I recommend (surprise!) that you get A Thousand Splendid Suns for everyone on your holiday gift list who you haven’t already gotten gifts for (and you must really not care too much about them if you haven’t gotten them a gift at this point). Or buy it on sale for everyone who will be on your gift list next year. Or buy it for everyone you know just because—for the good of humanity. The world doesn’t have to be as gloomy and depressing as it looks on the news (especially if you live in Philadelphia (see first rumber (hello, shameless plug!))).

Up next: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (On a recent adventure in Old City, Nick and I passed a girl who was reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union while walking down the street. She was smiling to herself at whatever she was reading, and after we passed her Nick says that I could be friends with that girl because we are both crazy book people just as I was about to say that I used to be friends with that girl in high school and that she is slightly crazy. Ahhh life.)

Hello, freedom! (At least for a few weeks anyway…)

2007-12-11T21:07:00.001-05:00

So this week brought the end of the fall term, which means I only have one more left before I am finished! Which means I will have a master's degree, and this is slightly frightening because it means that I am getting old. But it also means that I will have more time to do the things that I want to do, like read books, take pictures, write blogs about the books I read, bake, and generally lounge around (because let's face it: there are very few things that I love more than lounging).

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

The Hours was a fun one because it reminded me of being in college and reading books that I would eventually have to write a paper on. This was fun because I kept realizing that I didn't have to write a strict paper and could write about whatever I wanted and no one would care and I wouldn't be graded on it (but I guess if you don't like what I write, you won't come back here again. I'm willing to take that risk, since Nick is the only person I think who reads this). It was very Virginia Woolf-y, but I guess you'll read that in any review. It's impossible not to say it though. Not much happened, yet so much did. And through not a lot happening, strong themes ran throughout the whole thing.

I really liked the use of three parallel worlds interrupting each other, and the similarities between them was interesting. By the end, we come to learn that all three included suicide attempts (sorry if this spoils things for you, but I don't think it should) and in all three there was a Richie/Richard/Richmond strangling the main character of that world. The "Rich" character doesn't allow the woman to become the woman she was meant to be, or could be, and that is really depressing. In one of the world, Richie is Laura's son, a total momma's boy who plays his part in forcing Laura to conform to the role of a soldier's wife after the second world war. This world infuriated me, because Laura kept making excuses for her own needs and desires by saying that her husband had seen all of these horrors in the war and was a good person and that she was bad for wanting a life and personality of her own. No, Laura! That is how it should be! I could go on forever. In another world, Richard is the best friend of Clarissa, who has been captivated by Richard their entire adult lives, even though he doesn't challenge her or really value her as a human being, in my opinion. And Richmond smothers the insane Virginia Woolf in a way to protect her from crazy London. Let's shut her up in the countryside and that'll fix her! Also, the way Leonard is portrayed as Virginia's babysitter rather than her husband really pisses me off. I really hope that's not how it was in real life. Although it probably was. And who is to say that insane people don't need babysitters rather than husbands? It was just depressing, that's all. I wonder why Rich was the root word for all three. Perhaps Cunningham is saying wealth is the root of all evil. It's possible!

Running through these three worlds are themes of death, meaning in life, regret, becoming who you are supposed to be, societal expectations, and women's role throughout it all. I wouldn't consider myself a feminist, but I guess when you look at the basic definition, I am. I don't go around whining about the inequality of society because I think that it's pretty obvious that society is inequal and is wrong about it. It isn't a secret that, for the most part, women are more capable of handling complex situations and emotions better than men. I'm not saying women are better, but in many cases, women are more capable human beings. And perhaps feeling this way is why I have so few girlfriends—I have too high expectations of the way women should behave. It could also be because I am anti-social and incapable of keeping in touch with people. I am trying, though, so perhaps we can turn this around.

One night in class I noticed a Madeline Albright quote on my friend's Starbucks cup: There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women. Well, Madeline, besides the time you had a cameo on Gilmore Girls, I couldn't have been more in love with you than I was reading that for the first time. And this is from a person who knows absolutely nothing about Madeline Albright. Isn't it just great that my first dose of Madeline Albright wisdom traveled to me through a Starbuck's cup? Anyway, what she says is true. Eff you if you allow a fellow woman to be trampled on in life. And there are peripheral women characters throughout each of the worlds who allow the women to stumble and struggle through life when they could have been like, listen, this just won't do. And these characters will undoubtedly go straight to hell because look at how many lives they ruined as a result of their selfishness. I'm just saying.

Thanks to the About Alice post, I decided to start a new tradition where I recommend when said book would be an appropriate gift. We'll see how long this lasts. I would buy The Hours for any undergraduate lit/writing major due to the literary form and Virginia Woolf-iness of the book, but that is such an easy cop-out that I'll come up with another. I don't think it would be appropriate to buy The Hours for a woman who is going through a tough time, because I think it would probably set her over the edge and make her miss the point the book is trying to make. I'm not sure a male would enjoy this book, unless he was a Virginia Woolf fan, and I've never met such a creature. So I think an appropriate receiver of The Hours would be a 20-30 something woman who is slightly dull and needs to realize that her life should be fun and exciting and something that she looks forward to experiencing. Although shouldn't everyone come to realize this?

Up Next: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (and more crying on the train)

Once Again, Crying on the Train

2007-11-27T18:48:00.000-05:00

About Alice by Calvin Trillin

You probably shouldn’t get used to this, but I finished another book. Actually, it was an essay that first appeared in the New Yorker that I read last year and loved, and Nick found it for me in book form. After reading About Alice in the New Yorker, I wanted to go out and buy all of Calvin Trillin’s books and read them all one after the other. That didn’t happen, but I did pick up Remembering Denny and enjoyed it, although not as much as I will probably enjoy his others which deal more with his life.

Reading About Alice in book form was just as good as reading it the first time, although without the captivation of reading Trillin for the first time. And the scene of me reading was much the same except for this time I was once again crying on the train instead of crying at my desk while reading the essay on lunch. It doesn’t take much in the way of emotional things (movies, books, tv shows, commercials (sad, I know)) to make me cry, something Nick and I became well aware of when we saw Into The Wild the other week and I was crying halfway through the trailer for The Kite Runner. I don’t even think it was so much what was happening on screen as me remembering the story and being unable to contain myself. I will be one blubbering mess during that movie, to which I intend on bringing an entire tissue box and a plastic bag to store the snotty mess. It’ll be like me watching Rudy except I’ll have to show my patheticness to an entire theater of people, most of whom I assume will also be crying their hearts out. Can’t wait for that!

I can’t decide whether it would be appropriate to give About Alice as a gift for a wedding or a funeral. I think it would be appropriate in both circumstances, actually, but could I live with myself for giving the same gift at events that are, most of the time, at either end of the joyous spectrum of life. Would it be more touching to instill the hope in a soon-to-be married couple to have a bond like Calvin and Alice or would it be more comforting for someone who has just lost a loved one that the person they are grieving was as loved and cherished as Alice was by Calvin? I’m not sure. And now that I think about it, what circumstance in life would this book not be an appropriate gift for? For a college graduation? Certainly. Just because? Obviously. Birthday? Definitely. It’s a no win situation, actually. So you can thank me now for giving you a perfect Christmas gift idea for someone you love.

Big Fat Disappointment

2007-11-26T18:56:00.000-05:00

(The cover on my book is prettier, actually. Which horrifies me now because that means there are multiple prints of it.)

That's Not In My American History Textbook by Thomas Ayres

There are times when I am in a used bookstore and pick up a book that looks excellent and it turns out to be excellent. And I get sad thinking of how there are probably only 2,000 other copies and that the general public is missing out big time.

This was what I was thinking when I picked up That's Not In My American History Book by Thomas Ayres. At first glance, it seems exactly the kind of book I love. A let’s set the record straight kind of deal where the author lets us know exactly what did happen.

In theory, this is awesome. I would write a book like this. And it’s too bad I didn’t, because I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had (because I am a critically acclaimed author and all). Not only were the articles (I will call them articles because each factoid was sectioned off and at most was 5 pages long) repetitive, but the tone was like a step-right-up circus tale. Horrible. I wanted to continue reading, but I cannot. There are far too many books on my to-read shelf to waste any more time on this thing. Perhaps someday I will write a better version, but until then, America’s children will continue thinking Paul Revere rode around on a horse and warned people about the British and not knowing women fought in the Revolutionary war. Sadsies.

The Saddest 100th Post Ever

2007-11-25T10:47:00.000-05:00

So this grad school term is almost finished kicking my ass and perhaps I will once again return to writing about books. Fear not, I have been forging through and reading. Here is a quick run-down of the last few months:

Sweet & Low - Rich Cohen (Hilarious and very informative history of the Sweet & Low business/brand. No really, I'm serious.)

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer (Goodish. I crammed this one in so we could see the movie. I had to adhere to my new rule of always reading the book first, and in doing so, I gave away the ending of the movie to Nick which was actually even before the beginning of the book. Whoops!)

Assassination Vacation - Sarah Vowell (Hilarious and put me on a history kick.)

Best American Non-required Reading 2006 (Good, the last two pieces were EXCELLENT.)

I feel like there has been more, but I guess not. I guess I did read some books for my classes, but I'm not going to include them because they were boring and not worth reading. Sorry. Wish I could sit and write paragraphs upon paragraphs about them, but at this point I'm just going to skip that.

I had saved two links to post in early October but never did. Sad. The one was about winter coats and it had really gotten me in the mood for cold weather. But now that cold weather is actually upon us, I don't think it'd be appropriate to post it any longer. The second was about this strange thing of ordering a library. I'm not sure how I feel about it, even almost two months later. I do enjoy going to used book stores and buying way more books than I need. (About a month ago, Nick took me to Harvest books and we left with 12 books for $20. Yesterday we went to a used book store in Phoenixville and we left with 5 books for $20. Not as cost effective, but we did get some gems.) Does it take the fun out of building a library if someone does the picking for you, or is it fun to see what someone else would choose for you? I really can't decide. I think I would do this but also continue buying books for myself. Because let's be honest, do we really think I could ever stop buying books? Ha.

Thick Haze

2007-09-25T18:28:00.000-04:00

(I sampled a high school friend's screen name for the title of this post. Bob, where are you?)

Puff by Bob Flaherty

I finished Puff a good two weeks ago and just now am getting around to writing about it. Why? Because even though I have been on a break from classes my life seems to not have slowed down in the least. And here we are again starting classes for the term. Grad school is old and I am ready to be finished with it in March. I have a countdown posted at my desk and fully intend on squealing with delight when I get to cross off September at the end of this week.

Did I enjoy Puff? Yes. Do I really remember anything worth mentioning now that I’ve been reading another book and catching up of the entire summer’s New Yorkers for the past two weeks? Not really. Which is why I came up with a new plan. I have about 50 books on my “to read” shelf that I’ve been picking through, purposely choosing books that aren’t similar in genre or topic so I can have variety. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is stupid since I don’t really have anything to compare them to ever when I write about them. Also, I remember enjoying The Kite Runner, The Namesake, and some other middle eastern-based book in the summer after I graduated from college (reading both while listening to Sigur Ros - amazing) and it was interested to read them around the same time. And I still remember them! Who would have thought? So tonight I’m going to write myself up a little reading list complete with themed chunks. We will see how I do.

Anyway, here are some things of note that I have read in the six or seven New Yorkers I’ve plowed through in the past two weeks:

This article about fasting (sorry it’s just an abstract. If you’re in the Langhorne area, I’ll lend you my copy for the full article). It makes me really want to go on a three day juice fast to cleanse. That, and apparently my body does not react to raisins as others do and I have felt horrible for the past week after eating a pack of raisins every day for a week. Too much information? Sorry.

This cartoon:

So true. (Take it from someone who has lived in the Philadelphia burbs for their entire life.) I keep seeing anthologies of New Yorker cartoons in the Bargain Books at B&N. I think I may eventually pick one up.

This article about romantic comedies in recent years. Not entirely sure if I agree, but an interesting study nonetheless.

This article about Asperger’s syndrome. Interesting yet hilarious.

This is the most amazing thing I have seen since the mini pumpkin cheesecake pan Nick got for me for my birthday this year (among other things). Btw, if anyone in the Lower Bucks County area is interested in buying one of my pumpkin cheesecakes for Thanksgiving, leave a comment. They will be $15.

Currently Reading: Sweet and Low by Rich Cohen (Yes, it is about Sweet & Low and it is hilarious and great so far.)

Behindsies

2007-08-28T15:55:00.000-04:00

Forgot to mention that I will be reading Puff by Bob Flaherty and catching up on other reading material, including six New Yorkers (I am so behind! This is not including this week's which I assume I'll get tomorrow) and the last edition of Kitchen Sink (tear).

The Sad State of Foster Homes and my Working Life

2007-08-27T17:34:00.000-04:00

For once I haven’t started a new book without writing the review of the just-finished book yet. Amazing.

White Oleander – Janet Fitch
Again, I wish I had read the book before I saw the movie, because the book was so amazing! Although if I had read the book before seeing the movie, I would have been really pissed about the movie and hated it. Meanwhile, I mildly like this movie, because in my mind they are two different things. Mostly because the only thing I got out of the movie was depressed, and while the book was depressing, it didn’t consume you like the movie did. There were other lessons to be learned.

For instance: you grow from the people you meet along the road of life. How touchy-feely of me, I know, but I actually think it’s true. Negative or positive, you learn something from pretty much everyone you encounter. I would give examples, but I’m way too classy of a person, so let’s just leave it at that.

Also: people are selfish. This is quite obvious, I know. But when you look at the actions of others you might not right away recognize them as selfish. I can only guess that the reason that most of the foster families that took Astrid in were doing so because they were selfish (wanting a live-in slave, wanting assistance with their thrift-store-ish business, wanting to receive tax relief, wanting company so as to not go insane). Otherwise, I have no idea why any of them, with the exception of Claire, the woman who wanted company, would want to take in foster children because they seemed to hate kids and be constantly annoyed by their foster children. Which makes me sad about the current network for foster children. I know it’s a huge problem in this country, especially since a lot of the families that actually do adopt children adopt from other countries so they can have the cute babies, but seriously, people. There are 118,000 kids in this country that are in foster car e waiting to be adopted. 118,000! I understand that there are kids in other countries that need to be adopted, but it seems that people just forget that there are kids right around the corner from you that need help too. If I wanted kids, I would most definitely adopt them, and probably from this country.

This number is also a direct result of people not knowing proper birth control methods. On the drive down to North Carolina two weeks ago, I passed a billboard for abstinence. A billboard! Needless to say, I flipped out, while driving. I was speechless. Abstinence is a great practice to teach the kids and all, but it shouldn’t be their main form of birth control. Are you kidding me, southerners? I don’t even believe I should have to explain this. And I won’t, because I assume anyone reading this has enough brains to understand why it doesn’t work. After that billboard, we promptly passed by a Phillip Morris building in the shape of cigarettes and I knew we were taking a time warp. And oh was I right…

…because when we stopped for lunch at Aunt Sarah’s Family Restaurant (doesn’t it sound so awesome!) and had the first of our few delicious and cheap southern lunches, the server brings over the check, slides it across the table right to Nick and says, “Here you are, sir.” Nick found this hilarious, I found it repulsive. So I go to pay the check while Nick is in the bathroom, and the server rings me up, and as she’s taking the check and cash from me she says, “How did you get this?! I gave it to him!” Granted, I think she was just being a little too cute for my taste, but lady, this will not fly. Then we get to Raleigh…

…and find this really awesome southern cafeteria-like restaurant that was a god-send because I was about to pass out from hunger. We get in there, and this man takes us to our seat, where he proceeds to pull out the chair. Which is just unacceptable. But to make it even more hilarious than me not wanting that chair is that Nick is walking in front of me and goes to the chair that the man pulled out. So the man goes to the other chair and pulls it out for me and pushes it under as I sit. Ugh. So formal and unnecessary.

So I got a little off topic, but who cares? I enjoyed this one. You should pick it up from your local library. In the even that you live in LBC (Lower Bucks County), you can use Lindsay’s Library.

The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman

I don’t need to say a lot about this book except for it’s really helpful if you want to start being a freelance technical communicator. It was recommended to me by someone who took this survey I was administering for my independent study (which is done next week, thank god, I can return to normalcy) who said it was really informative and really to the point. Was it ever. It was step-by-step, everything you need to think about and consider when becoming freelance. Actually freelance anything could use it, you should just ignore the specific examples of gigs he gets.

I was reading this book on the back end of my vacation and it made me really depressed to go back to work: 8-5, boring office job where I get to do an exciting project for like an hour a day if I’m lucky. Also I hate the commute. I’ve had an exciting bonus the past few days, though: I’ve been working from home while the union moves our boxes back into our newly renovated office. My commute has consisted of walking the two whole feet from my bed to my computer. I’ve had a stress-free Friday and Monday, and will have a stress-free Tuesday. Ahhh I can’t wait until I can freelance write and bake full time. Those will be the days.

A Spot of Blah and In the Belly of the Bored

2007-08-20T23:47:00.000-04:00

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

As I mentioned before, this was not nearly as good as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, but I suppose it’s not entirely fair to compare the two as a review of the one. But I will do so anyway, briefly. Everything that made The Curious Incident great is missing from A Spot: voice, pace, even its genre. Even if all of these things were exactly the same, I would still have a problem with this book because it was utterly and boringly (in parts) predictable.

And when your plot is predictable, things can’t be made better by good voice and pace. They just can’t. So I’m sorry, Mark Haddon. I know you’re probably just glad that you even wrote a second book after the success of your first one, so at least it’s out of the way and you can get back on track with your regular awesomeness. Or maybe The Curious Incident was a one hit wonder in the adult literature world. If this turns out to be the case, I hope you know that I will be very sad about it. But I will be investing in all of your children’s books for my sister’s children (given that I won’t be having any of my own and I doubt Beans really needs me to read him children’s books).

(As a quick side note, I just found out that The Curious Incident will be adapted into a movie by Steve Kloves (will be writing and directing). I’m not sure how I feel about this since I really like two of his Harry Potters and I didn’t really like the other two. Hrm. I learned this from Mark Haddon’s website, but since it’s not on imdb I’m not sure who I believe. I won’t get my hopes up just yet.)

When I say the plot is predictable, I generalize, because it’s more than the plot: it’s also the characters. Every single one of them: Jamie, Katie, Jean, George, David, Tony, and Ray. And possibly Jacob, even though he plays a very minor roll. From the moment the book begins and we learn the smallest bit of information about them, you know where the story is going to go. I will remain general in case you actually want to read this book. Just warning that the only way this will work is if you have had random pieces of your brain removed so you can’t see how obviously the book is laid out within the first few chapters.

Still, A Spot was mildly enjoyable. (Do I convince you? I’m not sure I convince myself.) Parts were funny and on the whole it wasn’t so horrible/boring/plain that I didn’t think it was worth finishing. Also there was a part that was superbly written and left me cringing and feeling physically ill (as was the exact point) while on the train ride home one afternoon that I’m pretty sure the people surrounding me thought I was going to poop my pants. What I was missing was the need to stay up all night to read it and finish it so I could find out what was going on (ahh more reminiscing about The Curious Incident, I apologize). Mark, that’s what I need in your next book. I haven’t given up on you. Yet.

In the Belly of the Beast by Jack Henry Abbott

As you already know, I didn’t finish this whopping 150 page book. Sorry. Really, I am, because I wanted to enjoy and finish this book, but things just didn’t happen that way. Mostly because, unlike in 1981 when this book was published, we have all seen Shawshank and therefore know and understand the ways of prison. What we haven’t learned from Shawshank has been picked up from various other sources, such as TV cop/law dramas and Dateline features (not that I watch either of these, I’m just guessing. I honestly don’t know where I get my prison information, but an educated guess would be these two).

What was great about this book was how good of a writer Jack Abbott was (just found out that he was released from prison and then promptly killed someone over a fight about a bathroom. This is infuriating. And wtf, Susan Sarandon? She named her son after him! I can’t believe this madness) considering he only had formal education until 6th grade, when he started going in and out of detention centers and then later to prison. At some point while he was in jail, he decided to start reading and educated himself with books sent from the outside world and somehow formed a really strong vocabulary, voice, and writing style.

While in jail, Abbott had major disciplinary problems, which is annoying until you start to understand his argument about growing up in juvenile detention centers instead of the free world. You actually never grow up and mature because you are constantly treated like a child.

Some sections were really interesting, others were more like I know, I know. Actually, the good sections were things we already know, but the way he wrote about them was so captivating that I’d be so into the book I would almost miss my station (this hasn’t happened yet, but I’m waiting for that sad, sad day).

How intriguing and interesting this may sound, it was very repetitive and little too heavy on the philosophy/politics for my attention span right now. So I stopped around page 50. Perhaps I will pick up the Norman Mailer that was being written during their correspondence.

Up Next/Currently: White Oleander by Janet Fitch and The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman

Effing Hilarious

2007-08-15T21:59:00.000-04:00

So I guess you should know that I finished A Spot of Bother (OK, not NEARLY as good as the dog book, which I admit, I am obsessed with) and gave up on In the Belly of the Beast about halfway through, not because it wasn't written well but because it was quite repetitive. (If you must know, I am about 150 pages into White Oleander after starting it yesterday and I am loving it.) But, oh look, I'm going on vacation again and therefore have not had time to write up reviews on them yet. I have had to spend my time logging survey results (btw, if you are a freelance Technical Communicator, please take my survey! Please?) and taking pictures for photography class. I don't know if I have a weird sense of humor, but small statues of animals are really hilarious to me. Esp evil bunny. Every time I think of evil bunny I laugh (this includes while in class when someone is presenting their pictures of garden statues and it reminds me of evil bunny. This = awkward). Anyway, this hilarious doggers statue was propping open a door in New Hope on Sunday:

Uhh, need I say more? Besides my camera kicks ass. Which you'll see by the stunning (every time I say stunning in all seriousness it still sounds sarcastic. Bah!) colors in this one:

And here's another one just for funsies (see Superbad now):

Perhaps I will write the reviews when I return. I guess I have to if I ever want to cash in my full button for my personal pan. Also, this guy came to speak in class tonight and he was pretty effing hilarious.

Interesting

2007-08-02T18:36:00.001-04:00

So my new computer at work apparently does not want to let me post my blogs. Fine. Be that way. I am fine with using my own spare time to post blogs so the one person who reads this can learn what I think about books (thanks, Nick!).

Anywho, I actually wrote about the following before last weekend's wedding but struggled to post it until now. I am now more than halfway done the next book, so that post should be coming shortly. I won't keep you in suspence any longer.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

Well, this was a long time coming. (Editor's note: And now even longer. Thanks, IBM!) Thankfully, I was successful at finishing this on vacation (I actually finished it on Saturday night (July 20th), which, while not technically “on vacation,” it was still during my vacation weekend, so I say that counts). And I apologize if I implied that I was not enjoying reading it by saying I was “trudging through it,” it was just a slow read. For two reasons: it was 630 pages long, which, off the top of my head, I think is the longest book I have ever read (never read any part of the Bible (KJ version: 796 pages), War and Peace (1500 pages) or any of the Harry Potters (even though they only average to about 500 pages each). I believe up until now, the longest I had read was The Grapes of Wrath (464 pages) and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (528 pages). I won’t count The Golden Notebook (672 pages), because while I rather enjoyed it and hope to read it in full one day, I was forced to skip to different passages to adhere to the reading schedule as outlined by my British Lit professor. So it’s still not entirely my fault). Secondly, the font was about 8 points, and taking that and 630 pages into consideration, that is a lot of text. I didn’t mean trudging, I meant very slowly reading while enjoying.

Anyway, yes, I did enjoy The Amazing Adventures, and I’m slightly surprised about it. Mostly because I am not a huge fan of comic books or graphic novels, and that is what the story is based around: two cousins who start a comic book during the heyday of Superman. But it was also about the Holocaust, growing up, living, and one day realizing you have become something and you’re not really sure how. Which, I think, is one of the most terrifying things about life. Because who wants to take a ten year detour to become the person who you want to be. I know I don’t. Although I guess that is what being a teenager is, of sorts.

After 630 pages I thought I would have a lot to say about this book, but actually, I don’t. I was impressed by how much detail and back story is involved in books of this length. And while not much happened in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a whole lot happens in The Amazing Adventures, so much that between chapters there are sometimes gaps in time to fast forward so we can get to what happened and not be bothered by how it happened. Which doesn’t sound like a good writing strategy, but it actually is, in this case. At times when I was reading this book I would think about something and then remember, oh right, that happened in this book. I felt like I was reading it for a year. A month can feel like a year sometimes. And I think that’s all I have to say about that. I won’t miss lugging this book to and from work every day, I will say that much.

Up next: A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

I chose this because, as many of you know, my sister is getting married on Saturday (Editor's Note: already happened, sorry you missed the party, it was fun. Check out the pics), which will mark the end of the wedding planning year. I had been planning to read this book during the wedding week (look how nicely the timing worked out!) because it involves a wedding. Although, it involves an unwanted wedding, which, thankfully, is not the case for my sister and our family (I just set the record for grammatically correct placed commas in a sentence). I do, however, look forward to the return of me time and peace and no more long lists of things that I must remind myself to do. If I survive the next few days, that is. (Editor's Note: I did. Aren't you proud?)

Killer

2007-07-17T20:04:00.000-04:00

So, I'm still not done The Amazing Adventures, and to be honest, I'm not much farther along than I was the last time I posted. So you're getting more pictures. I'm not entirely happy with this one, mostly because Mr. Snake's head is not in focus, but I thought it was neato enough to post. I'm still figuring out the old Canon Powershot S3 IS, hence my inability to focus properly.

My promise to you: Finish The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay on vacation this week in the glorious Poconos. This may be hard to do, since Nick and I plan on spending most of each day in their olympic size pool, paddle boating, and venturing along nature trails, but I'm sure I will get some good stretches of reading in at some point. I also have three New Yorkers to catch up on, so this is quite a challenge. Hopefully the next time I write I won't have to hold my tail in between my legs.

Speaking of, Nick and I had to spend most of Sunday in the stupid emergency vet place with one of his cats, poor old girl. She is on her final life, I'm sad to say. However, she has had a good run of 17 years being a saucy little minx (although I have only known her for 6). One of my fav pictures of her (and yes, that is little Nicky (don't kill me!)). Anyway, Sunday has convinced me that emergency vet places are the devil and they never tell you anything of importance, give you false hope, and then rape you with the bill. Evil evil evil.

Horrifying

2007-07-10T21:10:00.000-04:00

When I was calling in my Rx refill today, I was alerted that Eckerd is now part of Rite Aid, and I had a momentary freak out because I thought Rite Aid was the company that allows their pharmacists to decide whether or not to fill birth control Rxs. However, I was wrong, it is evil CVS. My "conscientious non-breeding" (god, I love you, ILY, IHY, and of course the one time I want to link one is when I realize they don't keep a running archive of them online. BAH!) will continue on, for now.

Since I am still trudging through The Amazing Adventures, I leave you with scary bunny. HAHAHAHA. I die every time I look at it. He's going to get you!

Don't be worried

2007-07-08T12:16:00.001-04:00

I am still working on The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. However, I am only about halfway through its 700 pages. So until I finish, which probably won't be until after I go on vacation to the Poconos for a few days, I leave you with some awesome pictures that Nick and I got yesterday of a snake killing a frog at Tyler Park. Sweet!

Unfortunately there were like two good shots out of the 20 that we took. Damn blurry pictures! In case you're wondering, shortly after we took the first picture, the snake realized he could not possibly swallow that huge frog (perhaps a toad) and slithered on up the hill, where he posed nicely for some pics. We don't think the frog is dead in the second picture, but we aren't really sure why he didn't get out of there before the snake changed his mind.

We Have a Plan!

2007-06-18T10:27:00.000-04:00

I have decided on what to read next: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.

Double Double Your Refreshment

2007-06-15T16:08:00.000-04:00

As promised, I am giving you a double dose of book reviewing since last week/weekend included spending hundreds of dollars and 14 continuous hours making a cake for my sister’s wedding shower. I was in shock this week—having the shower and bachelorette party finally come and gone and having finished school last week, I felt like I should be doing something but didn’t know what I should be doing. The shock has not entirely worn off yet, so at times I can be found wandering around my house aimlessly thinking I should be doing something and end up just playing with Beans (much to his excitement. I think he is now as in love with me as I am with him. Isn’t reciprocal love wonderful?) once I realize that there isn’t anything for me to do (besides move all of my financial files into the filing cabinet that I bought a few weeks ago, but I don’t count that).

The Best American Non-Required Reading 2002, ed. Dave Eggers

I’ve read two or three newer editions of the Best American Non-Required Reading and was really excited when Nick bought me the first edition, completing my collection (although I have yet to read the 2006 edition, so don’t spoil it!). However, I was less excited about the 2002 version after reading it. The main reason is that it seems like they threw it together once they decided on doing the project, which could very well be true since in the Introduction (or Preface, or one of the millions of sections before the start of the book), Dave Eggers admits to rushing around to choose pieces to include after having decided to put the collection together in July. Half the year is already done! Of course you’ll have to rush around, you’d have to rush around if you had the entire year to go through all of the publications they go through looking for pieces to put in these things. Still, the first edition was fun and enjoyable.

Also, I’m glad the subsequent editions are far less teen angst-y than the first edition. As someone who hated being a teenager, I really don’t want to be reading stories about other people who hate being teenagers. I know the drill, and I’m over it.

Actually, some of the stories were pretty dull. I actually stopped reading one of the stories and skipped ahead to the next, something I never did in any of the other editions, and something that was really hard for me to do (I have a really hard time stopping a book mid-read. I will torture myself to get through it because I can’t stand to leave a book not entirely read). But it was just so bad. “‘Jiving’ With Your Teen,” a “dictionary” to help you talk to your kids, is really nothing we haven’t all heard/read before. I could not tell you the point of David Schickler’s “Fourth Angry Mouse,” a story about a kid who wanted to be a stand-up comedian because his grandfather was and failed at it accidentally becoming the part of the Fourth Angry Mouse in some off-Broadway play that was somehow supposed to be related to Of Mice and Men (a parody, perhaps? I never understood what was going on). I was originally intrigued by Eric Schlosser’s “Why McDonald’s Fries Taste So Good,” but was done by the second page when he started going into minute detail about the science of liquid flavoring. Snooze-fest (no, really, I actually did fall asleep while reading it on the train). I struggled through and finished it though. Also, “Generation Exile” and “The Nice New Radicals” both dealt with Tibet. Can we have some variety, please?

Thankfully much of this edition was funny stories. Rodney Rothman’s “My Fake Job”, a piece about a guy pretending that he worked in the office of a .com business was unbelievable—especially since it really happened. It was originally published as a nonfiction essay in the New Yorker, and once they found out that a few paragraphs of the piece never happened, they freaked out and disowned him (I think Eggers may have used that exact phrase. I am not plagerising!). I’m not entirely sure why this guy felt he needed to make up that part. I mean, it did bring the story together nicely, but I’m sure he could have thought of something else to bring the story together as that part did (I won’t give it away in case you want to read it—and you should!). And if you’re going to make up a section of a story, do not pass it off as nonfiction. In the post-James Frey/Jayson Blair world that we live in, are you really that stupid? I guess so. Actually, I guess the James Frey and Jayson Blair things happened after this edition came out. Hrm. Still!

Also, “Local HipsterOver explaining Why He Was At the Mall” was absolutely priceless and dead on. You won’t be surprised to hear that it was from The Onion.

If I ever get sick of reading David Sedaris stuff, you’ll know my life no longer has any humor or meaning. Even after reading “To Make A Friend, Be A Friend,” at least twice before, I still laughed and smiled like that weirdo on the train.

Thank god the hipster, multi-language fluent kids (high school students who live in the San Francisco area) who compile the editions, much to my future enjoyment, got on track with the rest of the editions. Seriously, check out the blurbs about these kids in the later editions (they didn’t include blurbs for anyone but the authors in the first editions). It’s insanity the amount of stuff these kids do.

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
(I couldn’t find a picture of the book that I actually read, but I would have liked to get the non-movie cover. I have something about buying the book with the movie cover. It just doesn’t seem right. So I’m including the picture of the book that I wish I had.)

I have one regret about The Virgin Suicides: that I didn’t see the movie (twice) before reading the book. Because if I had, I think I would have a better grasp on the meaning and point of everything.

That being said, the movie is exactly the same as the book. The mood, the flow, the voice, everything is exactly the same. I have no idea how Sofia Coppola did it. I think even the lighting is the same as I was imagining it (or was I imagining it that way because I saw the movie? A-ha! Or maybe not).

After seeing the movie I was like wtf is going on, but after reading the book I have a better understanding, although I still don’t entirely understand why the girls all end up killing themselves. I guess depression? Is this like a metaphor? I don’t consider myself a dumb person, but sometimes things just go right over my head. Someone please help me out with this one.

And even though I don’t entirely understand the motive of the suicides, I still really enjoyed this book. Something about how it is narrated and the fascination that these boys had with the Lisbon girls is very familiar. I had off from work on Monday and I noticed that the neighborhood kids are all getting out of school and playing during the day, and it made me feel really old. I don’t entirely remember the feeling of getting out of school for the summer and having nothing else to do but swim all day and play Man Hunt at night until the neighbors threatened to call the cops. To not have to go to work all summer, which wasn’t entirely horrible since I worked with all kids and got to go out after work. Being an adult is not entirely fun. Going to work every day is definitely not fun, and I fully intend on finding a way to not have a regular 9-5 (or as my job is currently, 8-5, absolutely horrible) job. But with these boys obsessing over the girls and collecting evidence and labeling them, I was brought back into the days of figuring out weird mysteries (I recall something strange going on in my friend’s backyard that had multiple doors in the fence (I think the boys next door were playing tricks on us) and also a different time when Stephi and I insisted on collecting the rainwater as it emptied out from the gutters after a torrential downpour. I could not tell you why we were doing this, but it was very important and eventually led to going out in the street and “saving” the water in buckets before it ran into the sewer drain). Ahh kids.

And there are some things that haunt and stay with you for your entire life, while other things fade or don’t occur to you until years later. For instance, it didn’t occur to me until a few years ago that I think a kid I was friends with kissed me at a party in 6th or 7th grade. Because I remember the situation and I remember what happened, but I remember part of it being fuzzy and also not knowing what a kiss would be like if I were kissed (I realize this sounds really stupid, but I am telling the truth. It all happened so fast!). Anyway, at this point in my life, I’m almost positive this happened. But it’s not like I’m going to as this kid if he recalls our so-called kiss if I happen to run into him. Especially since there is a good chance that I am wrong. I wonder what that conversation would be like. For years I have wanted to set the record straight about something different that happened in 5th grade, but how exactly would a situation like that happen? Oh, btw, this thing that happened never actually happened that way. Oh, don’t you remember something that happened about 15 years ago? Because I definitely do and here’s how it went down. I think I’m only obsessing about this because I think I inadvertently instilled a complex in this kid’s brain and it makes me feel guilty when I see him running around the development. But the complex should never have been instilled! Oh, it’s a sad time in my head sometimes.

Anyway, I will be picking up Jeffrey Eugenides’ second book, Middlesex, the next time I get a gift certificate. Which will probably be on my birthday in about a month. (You may send gifts, thanks.)

Up next: I'm not sure, but I'll update you once I have ample time to peruse my "to read" shelf.

Queen of Cakes

2007-06-12T12:16:00.001-04:00

I finished the Non-Required Reading on Thursday, but have not been able to write up something about it yet because my sister's shower and bachelorette party were this past weekend. I promise to attempt to write something some time this week. I have already started and am halfway through The Virgin Suicides, so I may end up posting both at the same time.

In the meantime, you can enjoy marveling at the cake that Nick and I made for my sister's shower. I'm slightly disappointed with it, but it was the first time I a) made a tiered cake, b) made a tilted tiered cake, and c) worked with fondant (the stuff that is on the outside). I can only get better from here!