November 2005 Books

[tbb113]

I finally found some books I like :)

In perfect light : a novel by Benjamin Alir Saenz. A beautifully written story about a young man that tragically loses his parents in a car accident at age 10. Here is the blurb from Amazon (since they do it better then me)

When Andres Segovia and his three siblings lose their parents in an auto accident, the oldest brother sneaks them away from their El Paso foster family to Juarez to raise them himself. But poverty leads to drugs, prostitution, and sexual abuse, and the family becomes unglued. Andres finally makes his way back to El Paso, where he meets Grace Delgado, a social worker to whom he goes for court-mandated counseling after his first arrest. Grace is a widow and cancer patient, and her empathy for Andres leads her to examine her shaky relationship with her own son, as well as her inability to relate to his wife. His characters provide rich fodder for Saenz's unique ability to look deeply into his characters' past to see what motivates them in the present and which of their memories are impossible to shed. A former priest and award-winning poet thoughtfully shares his meditations on multiculturalism and familial love--especially the struggle to survive its loss.

I'm in the middle of Colors Insulting to Nature by Cintra Wilson. Its set in Marin County so I'm appreciating the local angle. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it and while at times it goes to the absurd, its a good read.

Playwright and Salon columnist Wilson made a name for herself four years ago with her essay collection, A Massive Swelling. In her raucous, hilarious debut novel, she covers similar ground: the ugly side of fame and America's unhealthy obsession with celebrity. The dark Gen-X fairy tale follows the adventures of Liza Normal, a would-be starlet with far more ambition than looks or talent. Saddled with a frightening stage mother, Peppy, Liza—"not a girl ruled by the logic of self-preservation"—endures humiliation after humiliation as she acts in an unintentionally campy family musical, turns punk, dates a drug dealer and a washed-up boy band member, goes to rehab and tries unsuccessfully to make it big in Hollywood. The indefatigable Liza finally triumphs in Las Vegas, creating a stage show based on a character from the softcore slash fiction she's written throughout her travails. Wilson goes out on a limb with her verbal extravagance, and readers may find her post-Eggers postmodern asides to the audience (whom she calls "Young Readerlings") and fancy fonts a bit too-too. But her spirited sendup of celebrity worship is laugh-out-loud funny.

[KristiB]

I'm in the middle of The March by E.L. doctorw

It's a novel about General Shermans destructive march across the south during the Civil War. It's told from the points of view of soldiers-both Union and Confederate, freed slaves and the General himself. So far I really like it but there's so many characters I was expecting a thicker novel.

[Beth H]

I've been reading a lot recently. I just finished Barbara Ehrenrich's two books, "Nicked and Dimed and Bait and Switch. I enjoyed the first book better - she goes "undercover" as a minimum wage worker in several US cities (as a waitress, cleaning lady, Walmart clerk) adn finds out how difficult it is to make ends meet. In the second book, she goes "undercover" as a laid-off white collar worker. Also interesting but not as compelling.

I've recently discovered PD James (I don't read many mysteries) - I've read her first mystery Cover Her Face and her autobiography, which I'm really enjoying.

[erin elizabeth]

I just finished two intriguing books.

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan (book critic on Fresh Air). It is a book about books and reading. I really liked it (except for the chapter on Catolic martyr stories which I skimmed) and got a nice little list of books to add to my to-read list. She loves detective fiction so any mystery lovers may at least want to scan that chapter. It sounds like a weird idea for a book, but she tells tales of her life through the books she loves. I took a class from her at Georgetown one summer and the book sounds just like her.

Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham was next. I really liked the idea and the sci-fi spin on the three connected tales, but it left me unsatisfied. Very interesting idea--three characters with the same name appear in each story and rescue each other each time--and I thought the poetry throughout was neat, too (mostly Whitman).

Next up is Zadie Smith's On Beauty even though I did not like White Teeth. And a couple of memoirs I picked up off the new book shelf. I also have a copy of Wallace Stenger's Angle of Repose that I am working through, but it is getting short shrift beause of the library books :)

[SDMomChef]

So many books to read and so little time! :rolleyes:

I'm currently reading The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough. It is the first in I think a six part series....so far she is doing a great job with the historical details as well as the character development. I look forward to getting home from work and spending an hour or so reading it each night. Has anybody else read this book or others in the series?

[DeeK]

I just finished Lucky Me by Debra Borden. It was a so-so book. I was disappointed because I enjoyed the little excerpt in Redbook magazine.

The main character was just flat-out unlikeable, in my opinion.

Next up for me is 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal.

[Kristal]

Based on the many recommendations from this BB, I recently picked up Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. I'm enjoying it so far and sense it's going to be a quick read.

[KristiB]

I just finished The March by E.L Doctorow.

The March was good but I thought there were too many characters; like Doctorow had a checklist. Some of them disappear mid-novel. So either he should have had fewer people or a longer book.

Right now I'm reading The Kite Runner. I don't know why i took so long to pick this up because I'm loving it!

[DeeK]

I finished 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal while we were out boating today. I enjoyed the book. It was a very quick read. It wasn't as much about his father as I thought it would be though.

After I finished the book this afternoon I had such a craving for some good "Jewish" food. So dinner was at TooJays for Matzoh Ball Soup and a grilled cheese.

(A little off topic ---- we had SUCH a good day boating. Saw several alligators including 2 that were in the 12 - 13 ft. range and we saw our first river otter. They are soooo cute!! Saw 1 bald eagle too. A good day on the wildlife sighting.

[KristiB]

(A little off topic ---- we had SUCH a good day boating. Saw several alligators including 2 that were in the 12 - 13 ft. range and we saw our first river otter. They are soooo cute!! Saw 1 bald eagle too. A good day on the wildlife sighting.

Sounds fun! I'm just glad you didn't see the alligators snacking on the river otters :D

[Veronica]

I just finished The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd and didn't care for it. I thought it was a passionless novel with poorly developed and unrealistic characters. I have The Secret Life of Bees and guess I'll go ahead and read it, but only because I think it's supposed to be better than the mermaid story.

Right now I'm reading Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. It's about a man's search for the meaning of life. It's very thoughtful and moving -- makes you think. It's a short one, too -- only 150 pages -- so a great choice for a quick read.

[jjsooner73]

I just started The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400032717/104-7536749-7302368?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance). It is told from the perspective teenager with autism. So far, it seems true to what I know about people with austism and is an interesting read.

I also have The Queen of the Big Time (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812967801/104-7536749-7302368?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance) by Adriana Trigiani. I've read her other books and really enjoy them.

I purchased Blink (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316172324/104-7536749-7302368?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance) a few weeks back, but haven't opened it yet. I have been too tired to wrap my head around nonfiction, but hope to read it soon.

[JenniferJJ]

Leadership Presence - This book was written by two actresses who do corporate training. The women's networking group at my work is having a book club, and this is the first book to be discussed. I'm a little nervous about contributing because a)I'm not a big reader and b)my business acumen is not the greatest.

[Jazzmatazz49]

I've been trying to read P.D. James since my daughter-in-law is a fan and there are several of her books here. I just can't get into them, all the characters run together in my head and I can't remember which one is which! Maybe I'm just having a hard time focusing lately.

The last book I read was The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman. Good, but very bizarre.

[doggerham]

I'm onto Drums of Autumn from the Outlander series. They are such fun! Thanks to those who have mentioned this series and inspired me to get into them.

In my purse (as the former are much too big to carry around) is David Nevins' Meriwether. So far so good, but I liked Undaunted Courage better.

Amy

[kima]

I have three chapters left in a book i am totally and completely in love with.The book is The Girls by Lori Lansens. I could have whizzed through it in three days but instead have stretched it out for almost two weeks. I will copy the Amazon summary of it but basically it is the story of conjoined twins- told from their point of view. This two remarkable girls (women really) are so real to me-i know what is going to happen (they tell you early on) and I don't think I can bear it.
Highly recommend this book!


In 29 years, Rose Darlen has never spent a moment apart from her twin sister, Ruby. She has never gone for a solitary walk or had a private conversation. Yet, in all that time, she has never once looked into Ruby's eyes. Joined at the head, "The Girls" (as they are known in their small Ontario town) are the world's oldest surviving craniopagus twins. In her astonishing second novel, Lori Lansens (author of Rush Home Road) ventures into the strange world of physical abnormality that Barbara Gowdy so chillingly explored in We So Seldom Look on Love. While some writers might be tempted to play up the grotesque aspects of life as a conjoined twin, Lansens treats her so-called freaks with sensitivity and respect. The result is an extraordinarily moving narrative about human connectedness that questions the very meaning of "normal."
The Girls is a fictional autobiography of the Darlen twins, mostly told by Rose but with occasional chapters by Ruby. The stronger and more frustrated of the two, Rose longs to become a published writer but tends to conceal or distort disturbing incidents from their shared past. Ruby, by contrast, tells it like it is, but is much more accepting of their intertwined fate. (Ruby is also the prettier twin, and one of the most poignant and shocking scenes in the novel is Rose's account of her--or rather their--first sexual experience.) As Rose and Ruby describe their relatively sheltered childhood, rocky adolescence, and tentative experiments with love, the interplay between these two distinct voices heightens the dramatic tension of what's to come. The saddest part is saying good-bye--to "The Girls" and to this compassionately written novel. --Lisa Alward

Review
“The Girls, the year’s best book to come out of Canada, possibly the world.

[Kathy B]

I just finished The Da Vinci Code a week ago (I know I am probably the last person on earth to read it) and I thought it was a fun read.

Yesterday I finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I just want to know.....WHEN is the next one due out? I liked this one pretty well and much better than the previous one, but it is going to be hard to wait for the last book. :(

Nothing else on the nightstand at the moment, so I guess it's time for a library run. Better read back through this thread before I go.....

[Natasha]

Not much action on the book thread so far this month! I had to dig several pages down to find it :)

Recently, I finished a book called Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, and really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd recommend it for the non-fiction/history buffs. It looks at key events in the post-Revolutionary War period in some detail, and in quite an entertaining way. I've included an excerpt from Amazon below. On the heels of this book, I had a hankering to read more about that time and place, and was interested to read more about John Adams, so I've just delved into David McCullough's John Adams. So far so good!

About Founding Brothers, if anyone's interested...

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
In retrospect, it seems as if the American Revolution was inevitable. But was it? In Founding Brothers, Joseph J. Ellis reveals that many of those truths we hold to be self-evident were actually fiercely contested in the early days of the republic.
Ellis focuses on six crucial moments in the life of the new nation, including a secret dinner at which the seat of the nation's capital was determined--in exchange for support of Hamilton's financial plan; Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address; and the Hamilton and Burr duel. Most interesting, perhaps, is the debate (still dividing scholars today) over the meaning of the Revolution. In a fascinating chapter on the renewed friendship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson at the end of their lives, Ellis points out the fundamental differences between the Republicans, who saw the Revolution as a liberating act and hold the Declaration of Independence most sacred, and the Federalists, who saw the revolution as a step in the building of American nationhood and hold the Constitution most dear. Throughout the text, Ellis explains the personal, face-to-face nature of early American politics--and notes that the members of the revolutionary generation were conscious of the fact that they were establishing precedents on which future generations would rely.

In Founding Brothers, Ellis (whose American Sphinx won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 1997) has written an elegant and engaging narrative, sure to become a classic. Highly recommended.

[tbb113]

I very slowly worked my way through Mendel's Dwarf (you can read the discussion on the on-line book club thread. I then just finished The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Fascinating book about an alternate history for the US and WWII. Premise is that Lindbergh wins the election in 1940 instead of Roosevelt. I read this for an IRL book group and the discussion is tomorrow night. Looking forward to hear what the other people think (since I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that is Jewish in the group).

Need to go to the library and find some good books today :)

[Natasha]

I then just finished The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Fascinating book about an alternate history for the US and WWII.

Tyra, thanks for the review of this book! I almost picked it up at Borders recently. It looks very interesting.

Natasha

[Canice]

I've heard a number of interviews with Philip Roth about this book and found them captivating. Good to know it really "delivered" for you!

During my recent stress-fest I plowed through "Julie & Julia". I like memoir, and I like food, so this was a good read during a difficult time. Not quite the breezy read that was "Cooking for Mr. Latte" but certainly not heavy or intellectually challenging. Just a comfortable little piece of escapism in a dark month.

Now I'm about 75 pages into Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. I know she won the National Book Award for it, but I tend not to enjoy books about dead spouses. Still, it's Joan Didion. So I'm going to try to appreciate it, see what happens.

[memartha]

I just finished Good Harbor by Anita Diamant. I didn't love it. I thought it was a depressing portrayal of middle-aged women. I'm hoping to find The Red Tent at the library, also by Diamant.

I'm interested in Joan Didion's book. Might look for that as well.

[tbb113]

I went to the library and took out three books. I am flying through Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult. Its an older book of hers (1993).

Picoult ( Songs of the Humpback Whales ) brings her considerable talents to this contemporary story of a young woman in search of her identity. Abandoned by her mother when she was five years old, Paige O'Toole has been left with painful doubts about her self-worth. She leaves her Chicago home for Cambridge, Mass., at 18 to fulfill herself as an artist, but must work in a diner because she can't afford art school. When she marries Harvard medical student Nicholas Prescott, his parents disown him, disapproving of their Irish Catholic daughter-in-law. Again Paige is forced to sideline her creative needs and work as a waitress in order to support Nicholas until he is able to establish his career as a cardiac surgeon. Paige is soon overwhelmed by the demands of Nicholas's socially sophisticated world, and after the birth of their son, Max, she becomes emotionally and physically exhausted. Unable to communicate her terrors about herself to Nicholas, she leaves him to search for her mother, who may hold the answers to her life. Told in flashbacks, this is a realistic story of childhood and adolescence, the demands of motherhood, the hard paths of personal growth and the generosity of spirit required by love. Picoult's imagery is startling and brilliant; her characters move credibly through this affecting drama.

I also took out Plainsong that I'm going to bring to my bookclub tonight and a newish Elizabeth Berg book, The Art of Mending.

[doggerham]

Am currently reading John le Carre's Absolute Friends. You have to like his style, which is a little dream-stateish, and with things in strange time lines. I happen to like him a lot, and keep reading this, looking at the publication date and saying to myself "how could he have written this in 2002?" because it is so timely.

Here's the blurb:
"As resolutely up-to-date as ever... [With] the same embracing clarity of vision about human motives and failings that gleams through all of his best work, this is a book that offers a bitter warning even as it delivers immense reading pleasure. No reader, whatever his politics, could fail to be moved by the passion and intelligence of le Carré's latest."
Publishers Weekly

[tbb113]

I read both Plainsong and The Art of Mending. I enjoyed them both and will probably pick up more books by Kent Haruf. I took three more books out of the library, but I think only one is going to get read (or my mood needs to change) :rolleyes:

[Denise]

Tyra - Just a warning about Kent Haruf. I don't think anything else he wrote was half as good as Plainsong . Eventide is a sequel to Plainsong and worth reading just to see what happens to all those great characters. The Tie That Binds and Where You Once Belonged were both very diappointing and the latter had a truly awful ending!
Just didn't want you to be as disappointed as I was!

[tbb113]

Thanks for the heads up. I will read Eventide and then see where I go from there (and what the library has in stock). ;)

[sherri]

I recently finished The Baker's Apprentice (the sequel to Bread Alone). Ugh, I have to say I was extremely dissapointed. I didn't think she did a good job developing the characters and I found myself disliking Win and Mac. I did love reading about her baking and gardening, but even that was limited. I did finish the book and based on the ending it appears there will be another sequel. Am I in the minority here??

[tarav]

I am just finishing Saffron Skies... pretty good, it is an easy read even though it is quite lengthy. I am starting My Sister's Keeper next for a book club... it looks really good and full of controversy!

[imloulou]

I finished the Kite Runner. I LOVED this book. I loved everything about it. It was such a sweet, sad, and beautifully written book. I have not read a book like it in a long time. I really KNEW the charactors I was reading about.

I am now reading The Tender Bar...I dont have much spare time so it takes a long time to get through a book (I used to read ALL the time!!) I could polish a book off in a few days...

Now I only have time to read a page in bed before falling asleep...It is really sad when every page in a book is dog-eared... :rolleyes: LOL!