In the Unlikely Event -Judy Blume

Judy Blume is one of the authors of my childhood; how cool is it to read one of her books as an adult, meant for adults. Its like meeting up with an old friend.

In her new book, In the Unlikely Event, Blume recalls events from her own childhood in Elizabeth, NJ during the early 1950s where 3 planes crashed in their tiny, pleasant town. The novel is focused on 15 year old Miri, but several other characters get their chance to voice their own ideas and point of view. The book finished 35 years in the future so you can get a true ending to the story.

I listened to Blume talk on NPR about the novel and how she does not normally provide an ending like this, instead telling her disgruntled readers that it is up to them to decide what happens to the characters. Blume stated that she decided to create an ending, because she too wanted to know what happened to them. I really love that. We often think that authors know everything about the characters they write, but this idea makes us feel part of the journey with her. I just really dug that.

Ok, so how was the book? I liked it. It was a really good summer read, something that you would like to read at the beach or pool. Like I said above, Blume switches POV between multiple characters throughout the book, which is something that I really enjoy in a book, and Blume does an OK job with this, others have done it better, for example: Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists, Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections to name a few. In these novels you can clearly see and feel the different characters talking; that is make this type of writing so amazing. Blume does an okay job with it. You don’t really feel like you are reading different people’s inner thoughts, it is more a retelling, like a deposition for something.

This is also not a book that you will want to read, put down for a few days and then come back to later; one can easily forget the characters and not be able to keep them straight. Or maybe I am just awful at remembering characters. Shrug.

The good stuff: It was a very satisfying read, especially since it gave nice closure. At times parts of the book were surprising which kept you reading and involved. I also really like the idea of it being based on real events, but the people and their stories are fictional.

I would recommend reading it if you have a passing interest in picking it up.

Next up: The Dinner by Herman Koch

 

The Marriage Plot -Jeffery Eugenides

I am a little behind when it comes to reading The Marriage Plot, Eugenides’ 2011 novel, but better late than never, which could be the motto of this spotty blog. How did I like the book? “Yeah, um, it was good, I guess.” Not a glowing endorsement, but it kept my interest. 

The novel is centered around Madeleine Hanna, a recent English grad from Brown University during the 1980s and her ongoing love triangle with the mysterious Leonard Blankhead and her “friend” Mitchell. It is that old story of the nice boy being too nice and not getting the girl that he wants and instead she falls for the jerk. It is a little played out; Eugenides can do better, and he has [see: Middlesex]. 

For me it only starts to get good when Madeleine and Leonard’s relationship gets more intimate and more complicated and we see her grow into the person she could/should be without this dude weighing her down. But it just seems like plot (pun not intended) rather than real emotion.

The layout of the novel is interesting, as the characters each take turns speaking and telling their side of the story which weaves together masterfully, in true Eugenides form. I really enjoyed the parts about Mitchell, I would read an entire book about him. But I like an underdog. 

Perhaps this book would resonate more with someone that has had a history of complicated love situations; that is not me. In Eugenides’ defense, he does do this classic love triangle well, it doesn’t seem hooky, but it is a bit predicable. She is kind of a mean girl and the nice guy doesn’t deserve her, but he can’t see that, but we see it, we see it coming a mile away.

I know it isn’t always fair to compare an author’s work with their other books, but we do and this wasn’t as good as Middlesex. Man, that is a great book. Bad ending in my opinion, but despite that, it is still one of my favorites. This was okay, but from the start it, the concept of the book wasn’t in my wheelhouse. 

Overall: Kinda disappointing 

Next up: In the Unlikely Event -Judy Blume

We Are Not Ourselves -Matthew Thomas

First off, I am garbage at keeping up a blog. Total garbage. I will not make any grand declarations that I will now keep this book blog going, but Imma try.

I heard about the book We Are Not Ourselves from various sources that include it among their best books of the year, so I gave it a shot. It was worth it.

Admittedly, the book is exactly the kind of novel that I enjoy, multi generational, ethnic, and blue collar, but it was really well done. Page wise, it is an undertaking, 641 pages but it reads much faster.

The story starts with the main character, Eileen as a young girl living in Queens, NY in a rather dysfunctional home. As the reader you can see that her parent’s strained relationship will have an effect on her later relationships/marriage.

As a grown woman she thinks that she has found the perfect man, a man unlike her upbringing, a man that will be her partner in life, a man that will free her. She puts too much trust in what he will be and is ultimately let down by what he really is. She tries so hard to find man that is in stark contrast to her young life that she misses out on the positive aspects that were there, hidden within her parents.

As she navigates her adult life she is often lost and wondering how she got there. A child, Connell offers more confusion and loneliness when she expected the opposite. As age and illness take form in her life, she finds strength that we as the reader knew she had, but she was unsure of. The reader cheers her along and wonders how long it will go on, will she get where she wants to be?

The book ends with the next generation, with Connell, what will he make of his life now? We are hopeful. The same hope we had for Eileen all those years ago.

I often judge a book by the way it makes me feel and think when I am not reading it. Often in between reading sessions I would catch myself thinking, “man, what is Eileen going to do about Ed?”. Or missing the characters as if they were real people that I couldn’t wait to visit again. I am a sucker for multi-generational novels that focus on the family and this book does not disappoint.

Up next: The Marriage Plot -Jeffery Eugenides

Wish You Were Here -Stewart O’Nan

This is the first book that I have read by O’Nan, it surfaced on my Facebook feed from NPR. The review was actually for Emily, Alone, the sequel to Wish You Were Here. Here is the link:

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/23/137084790/nancy-pearl-presents-10-terrific-summer-reads?sc=fb&cc=fp

This was something that I did not realize until I was at Barnes and Noble ( Borders is my choice bookstore, but my beloved store by my house closed down). I decided to fully invest the books and I started with WYWH.

What drew me in to the book was that it was described as a character driven novel, which is right in my wheelhouse. Emily, Alone is about an elderly women coping with life in her later years. I have read a tremendous amount of books about adolescence, but not many about the twilight years. This was the initial draw.

WYWH follows a week in the life of a small family vacationing at their summer cottage for one last time before it is sold. The cast of characters include: Emily, the recently widowed matriarch, Arlene, her sister-in-law, Kenneth, the failed artist son and his wife Lisa and their son and daughter Sam and Ella, Meg, the recovering everything, recently separated daughter and her son Justin and daughter Sarah. The funny thing about this book is that I did the bulk of the reading while vacationing up north at my own cottage this past weekend. Luckily, my family is no where near as dysfunctional as Maxwells.

Emily has sold the cottage and the family and all of their individual and collective problems ascend upon the retreat for one final trip. The book is broken down into 7 parts, one for each day of the week that they are there. Within those 7 parts each character gets a turn to discuss the day’s events. O’Nan does an incredible job of speaking for each of the characters in their own unique way even though each is vastly different from each other. The style is reminiscent of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, another wonderful book that speaks for so many different characters in a way that is authentic and raw.

The book is vast, over 500 pages, but reads very quickly; much of it is dialogue. But the best parts are the unspoken uneasiness that comes with a forced family outing. His detail and insight of being a 14 year old girl, a 50 year old schoolmarm, and a failed middle aged artist all within pages of each other is amazing. Through O’Nan’s writing you can actually feel the eye rolls, shifts in sitting positions and sighs. There were even times that when one character would do something, I would think to myself as if they were real people, “Oh man, Emily is not going to like that”. When I was not reading the book I was thinking about the characters as if they were real people in my life; this is always a sign of a good book. This is the similar reaction that I had to one of my many favorite books: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.

Do you like dysfunctional families? Stories of universal human annoyance? I totally recommend this book.

Next up: Emily, Alone by Stewart O’Nan. The sequel to Wish You Were Here.

A Walk in the Woods -Bill Bryson

“Here, read this book about two middle aged men walking the Appalachian Trail.”
“Well, that sounds like the worst book ever.”
“No, it’s good. Bill Bryson wrote it.”

Bill Bryson rules. If you know who he is, then you have probably already read this book and do not need me to tell you to read it. But if you have not had the pleasure of reading his many books, get with it and read some, yo.

Bryson grew up in the Midwest during the 50s and 60s and later left for Britain for two decades, and has since returned to the US. He has written several books about various stages in his life: his childhood (The Thunderbolt Kid), traveling the US (The Lost Continent) and many many others, including his travel of the Appalachian Trail.

What is so great about Bryson is his ability to take a very simple subject like hiking in the woods and making it so entertaining and appealing to all audiences. In A Walk in the Woods, Bryson sets out on a very ambitious feat of hiking the Appalachian Trail with his old pal, Katz. These gents are by no means rugged or savvy, they are out of shape but have pretty cool equipment and maps albeit not even very good ones. They head off together and meet interesting people and Bryson discusses the beauty as well as the devil in the Trail.

Because I have Bryson’s work before I knew that it was going to be good. I would have never picked up this book had I not known the author. He has this really uncanny ability to discuss the most mundane details and conversations and make them humorous and relate able. The story wasn’t so much about the scenery it was more about these two self aware schlubs trekking through the woods discussing how awful they are at it. It is the perfect book of human follies.

If you are new to Bryson’s work then I would check out The Lost Continent and The Thunderbolt Kid and then A Walk in the Woods. All in all, read Bill Bryson.

Next up: Unfamiliar Fishes -Sarah Vowell

The Way the Crow Flies -Ann-Marie MacDonald

Man, do I know how to keep a blog going or what?! Forgive me.

This year I taught my first literature based English course and I think that I just didn’t want to talk about books when I wasn’t at work. I really underestimated how much my 12th grade students hate reading. I thought that if I simply told them how much I liked the books that they would say, “Ok, I will give it a try.” Nope. getting them to read was a mess. I didn’t want to assign worksheets for them while they read, I just wanted them to enjoy the book. Stupid idea. Long story short, we soon had an agreement and things worked out fine. These are the books that they read this school year and their average reaction:

The Kite Runner– Mixed, but felt strange that they liked a book with a rape scene.
Animal Farm– Liked talking animals that get drunk.
1984–Liked, I had a difficult time discussing all of the sexy time scenes.
Nickel and Dimed–Hated it. Hated her. Broke my heart a little.
The Great Gatsby–They dug it. Really dug it. Hated Daisy!

When the school year starts up again I will include student reactions to these books. Next year I will also be teaching the 11th grade British Lit course, so updates on that as well.

But back to the task at hand: My personal reading reactions.

My fellow book nerd buddy at work, Colleen came into my classroom two weeks ago and handed me a hefty book, The Way the Crow Flies , saying that she just finished it and I needed to read it next. Since I have been in the thick of grading students work before they leave for the summer, I have not had that much time to read, but I have somehow find the time to make it happen.

I will say that Colleen was right, the book was great, but it is also a disturbing book. It deals with molestation and that is not generally a theme that I seek out for entertaining reading. (Does anyone?!)

The book follows the young life of Madeleine McCarthy, the daughter of a Canadian Air Force member and her assimilation into a town during the Cold War era. You experience the issues with being the new girl, trying to make the “right” friends and be a young girl during this challenging time in our collective history as well as the challenge of being a young girl in any time.

The characterization was incredible. MacDonald’s ability to so accurately write this book from the point of view of this 9 year old girl is amazing. There were many times in the book where I can remember thinking exactly the same thing that the main character Madeleine said and thought. Her relationship with her brother Michel was one that reminded me of mine with my brother Jim; being treated as the younger sister that is teased to the point of tears and in a few minutes being treated like buddy. It was similar to the relationship between Holden and Phoebe in The Catcher in the Rye, my favorite book.

The book as two different plots between the main character Madeleine and her father Jack. As the book continues, the book seemingly separate stories come together in the end that makes you pause and say, “Man, that was good writing”. It was a couple major twists and leave you shaking your head.

The problem that I have with the book is that the content can be very disturbing and it makes you feel like a creeper if you suggest it to people. In fact, after I read one of the more disturbing parts I went to school and told Colleen that I hated her. It reminds me of The Kite Runner; it is great book but you feel gross telling people that you like it. My students had a real problem stating the the liked the book because they thought that it implied that they liked books about rape. As one student stated, “I really liked The Kite Runner, and I feel icky saying that.”

So yes, I really really liked this book and I suggest you read it, but don’t hate me and think that I am a creeper.

Next up: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

Read Those Books!

I have an obscene amount of books.

Reading has always been my thing. Which is strange, because I was not a good student in middle and high school. I was average at best. But I was constantly reading. Every night before I went to bed and all weekend and all summer. You would think that that nerd-dom would filter into my schooling. Nope.

The bookstore has always been my favorite place to be. Whenever I am stressed or upset, I always find my way to a Borders or a used bookstore. A fine used bookstore is the businesses. Cheap books, complete with old covers, the smell of old, well loved books; nothing beats it. But I digress, I have found constant solace in being surrounded by books. As a child or young adult, when I would imagine what my “grown up house” would look like, it would inevitability include a cherry wood office with a big desk and brown leather chair and wall to wall bookshelves. Sean agrees, so we are getting married.

I’ve always known that I have had more books than the typical twenty something but now that I have begun to gather all of my belongings in preparation for a new chapter in my life. (Get it? Chapter? Books? It’s a delightful pun.)

As I slowly start packing up my things for moving out after I get married and Sean and I buy a house, I realize that I have way too much garbage. Not so much that I should be on Hoarders or anything, just too much stuff. Whilst cleaning, I am constantly reminded of the old George Carlin bit about “Stuff”. If you don’t know what I am talking about then get with it.

When I am faced with a certain item I look at it and think “Do I need this? Do I want to take this with me in my new life?” Usually I can part with many of these items.

But not my books. I love my books; they feel like friends. (That must be the most depressing thing I have ever written. Take that emo poets!) I just cannot part with many of them. But worse than that, I keep bringing more into the house. I need the world to stop writing books so that I can get caught up on my reading.

Frankly, enough is enough. I have too many books that have gone unread. I will do something about it.

I will read them and blog about them.

Did you think that I was going to say that I am vow to not buy anymore books until I have read all the ones that I currently possess? That’s stupid, dummy.

Did you think that I was going to finally rid myself of my books and get married with a clean slate? Wrong again, dummy. Read this post again.

I am currently reading two books, which is not something that I usually do. But this is a special circumstance. A week ago, I started reading The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson. Which I am loving, but we will get to that later. I have to put this book on hold to start reading The Stranger by Albert Camus.

“Oh, are you reading this book for school Kim?”
“Nope. Book club.”
“Nerd.”

There is book club that meets in Royal Oak once a month that I have wanted to join for some time. So I decided to make Feb 24th my first meet-up. So I have to but Bill on hold for Albert. I just started the book and will offer my full report soon. I am not sure how I want to do this, give updates when I feel like it, or wait until I have finished the book. I will wing it.

Next post: A review of The Stranger. Also, tips and a list of rules that I have about reading and books. Yep, I have rules about books, because after all; Nerds Heart Books.