The Series of My Youth

I woke up this morning, fired up my computer, and discovered that Sweet Vally High was a trending topic on Twitter. I clicked though some links and discovered this, Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later. A smile slowly crept across my face. I loved these books. They were the stepping stone after I had out grown The Babysitters Club. This got me thinking, the Sweet Valley High books obviously aren’t great literature. However, they did keep me reading during a time where a lot of young girls abandon books. They served an important purpose in my life.

Will I download the new Sweet Vally High book to my Kindle? Well, according to the reviews it’s not very good, so I may put it off for a while. I’m sure, if I do, I’ll zip though it in a few hours. It will take me back to a summer where I flew around my neighborhood on a light blue bike, ate peach Jolly Ranchers, and hoped that the boy I had a crush on would kiss me on the 4th of July.

(I have NO idea why the first paragraph of this post is double spaced and the second is single spaced. I tried to fix it, but Blogger didn't make it easy. Sorry about that)

Gown made from Golden Books

Gown made from Golden Books

Cross-post from Boing Boing. One of the images:

Remember when I was sick?

900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad

I bought that when I was under the influence of heavy duty medication. What was I thinking? 

Desert Island Books

The question always seems to pop up at parties. It goes something like this, “If you were stranded on a desert island, what five books would you bring with you?”

It’s an impossible task,  I’d have to narrow down my library to five books. This post will be my best shot.


1. To Kill a Mockingbird

2. One Hundred Years of Solitude

3. The Canterbury Tales

4.Lord of the Rings (the three volume set) *

5. Hitch Hiker's Guide To the Galaxy: a Trilogy in Four Parts *

It’s my island. I read what I want.

*Yes, I realize these are sets. They are still technically one book. I’ll argue that point with the evil desert island overlords.

Side note, I just put this book on my wishlist: Deathless. I can't wait to read it.

It's a cross post.

S. A. Cosgrove posted these on her blog a few days ago. I read them both and fell in love. 

Date A Man Who Reads

Date A Girl Who Reads

It Should Have Been A Lot Better Than it Was. City of Thieves.

Oh City of Thieves!

This book should have been so much better than it was. It had all the material. A coming of age story during the Siege of Leningrad, making one of the characters half Jewish while Germany occupied the surrounding area, and giving the characters an absurd task that only makes sense in the historical context of the time. Anyone would want to read that. However, it just didn’t work.

The tone shifts felt like a 16 year old learning how to drive standard for the first time. I’d be reading along at a good clip, and something wonderful and emotional would be happening, then, BAM the next paragraph would be a description of sex straight out of American Pie (1999). It got to the point where the tone shifts though out the chapters got so jarring that I stopped caring about the characters and just wanted the book to be over. I really wanted an emotional connection with them, but I just couldn’t. I’m willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt though, Benioff is a screen writer, and I think this is one of those rare books that would have made a better film than novel.  



Next up is Stayin’ Alive: the 1970’s and the Last Days of the Working Class. Part of the reason I’m starting this book this weekend is because it is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire’s 100th anniversary. Non-fiction always takes me a bit longer to read so, don’t expect any posts about it for a week to a week and a half from now.

Today’s Pop Culture is Tomorrow’s Masters Thesis

Boing Boing posted this gem yesterday: "The Wire" as a Dickens serial. The site itself has been wanged so give it some time before it’s back up.

This got me thinking. The Wire may be one of the best television shows in the last 10 years, but does it really compare to the likes of GREAT LITERATURE (!1!)? (Imagine the words great literature being spoken by an old professor in a plaid smoking jacket who’s had too many shots of whiskey.) Why yes, it does. You see, Charles Dickens wrote his serials  to be consumed like we watch television. They were episodic, were published on specific dates, and people loved them. Dickens didn’t write for a highbrow audience he wrote for the common worker. The only reason his work is highbrow today is because our language usage has changed, and professors have decided that they are some sort of untouchable great works of fiction. I have a feeling 25 years from now The Wire will be discussed in such tones. Smile when you see it. Remind the students taking the class that it was once a popular television show.  

I suppose the point of this post is to get some of you interested in reading Dickens. Here’s a suggestion. Don’t try to read it all at once. Read a chapter a week. Let the book simmer for a while. Remember, that’s how the author and most people read him when it was originally published. The vast majority of DIckens’ work is in the public domain so you can download them on Google books, pick them up at the library, and I believe most of them are free though devices like the Kindle and the Nook.

Out of Print Clothing

Out of Print Clothing

Sorry for the slight delay in posts. I had a nasty stomach virus Monday and Tuesday of this week, and it's put my reading schedule behind.

Oh, and I'm lusting after the To Kill a Mockingbird shirt. One day, it will be mine. Also, check out Out of Print Clothing's mission. It's a great way to buy yourself something and feel good about it at the same time.

It's a lot like eating good chocolate. Let the Great World Spin

On August 7th, 1974 Philippe Petit walked a high wire strung between the World Trade Center buildings. 

Thus begins Let the Great World Spin. And thus ends any plans I had for the day.

I had every intention of getting up this morning and getting some stuff done around the apartment. I was going to make a Target run so I could stock up on cat litter. I was going to take a walk with my husband in the park. I was going to catch up on some episodes of old TV shows that have been languishing in the digital graveyard that is my DVR. Didn’t happen. It’s that kind of book.

It’s the kind of book you set down for a moment just so you can stay in the world a little longer. It’s the kind of book that breaks your heart and makes you laugh out loud on the same page. It’s the kind of book that stops you cold with a single sentence.

After all that, I’m relieved. This book got heaps of praise, it sat on staff selection shelves, it snaked it’s way up the precarious New York Times Bestsellers List, and it came highly recommended by people who love to read. I was skeptical. Hype, you see, is a bad thing. Hype made me think I’d like Napoleon Dynamite (2004) (Took every once of goodwill inside of me not to snap the DvD of that turd in half and mail it back to Netflix) Hype has sent me down the dark shadowy road of terrible, no good, very bad pop culture. Hype drives me away from books like this. At the end, it’s worth all of the hype and more.

This book is shoehorned into the 9/11 genera. It gets lumped in with books like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close  and The Reluctant Fundamentalist . Honestly, I think that Let the Great World Spin a huge disservice. It’s not a great commentary on 9/11, or a post 9/11 society. It’s more of a richly woven story of a New York that existed once and propelled itself forward.

Moving on, I’ve got two books on the horizon. First up will be City of Thieves . Then I’ll be moving on to Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class.

Oh, and then there’s this....

The Kindle and paper books

Last November I bought the latest generation of the Kindle  After hemming and hawing about it for over a year I took the plunge. I fell in love with it. Don’t get me wrong, the Kindle has it’s faults, but it was a great addition to my book collection. That’s right, addition, not substitution for, not replacement of. Nothing can replace my paper books.

Part of my love for my Kindle developed because I can now carry an entire library in my purse. 

The above pictured paper books weigh about 15 pounds, and obviously can’t fit in my bag. The Kindle can, and holds a lot more than just those four books. It’s virtual ink technology makes it easy to read off the screen, and it’s ability to connect to the Internet for free makes me happy. I mean, sometimes you’ve just got to go to Wikipedia and search for the entry on shellfish.

However, I’ve not stopped buying paper books. Far from it. The day my Kindle arrived I excitedly turned it on, went to Amazon, and tried to have it’s inaugural download be To Kill a Mockingbird nothing came up. Then I tried to have it’s first download be One Hundred Years of Solitude nope, nadda, not there. With in ten minutes I realized that this device was going to have to supplement my book collection. I couldn't get two of my "stranded on a island" books. 


Another reason it won’t replace my paper books is because of smell. That’s right, smell. Don’t believe me? Fine. Pick up the nearest book. Open it. Stick your nose in it’s binding. Inhale. That’s the smell of my childhood.  I doubt Amazon is going to be able to duplicate that.

It’s Okay to Hate a Classic

When I told people I was reading Lord of the Flies I received two reactions. 1. Ugh! I read that in high school and a I HATED it. (This was also followed by a face where the person looked like they had just stepped in dog poop.) 2. I LOVED this book. I haven’t read in it years! Mind if I borrow your copy when you are done? (This was followed by a blissful face.) Two camps. One side or the other. Absolutely no one was in the middle on this book. After reading it, I can see why. It caused me to throw the book across the room more than once, I yelled out loud at the characters, and thought, “I really don’t care if any of these twits get off the island. They are myopic assholes.”

This book clocks in at 182 pages, novella length. When I first cracked it’s spine I thought it would zip along. At page 90 I  thought William Golding had channeled Sisphus. This is not an easy read. Not by a long shot. This doesn't mean the book is terrible, poorly written, or just a load of crap. It’s just a challenge. Golding seems to pack in an entire society in three sentences. That’s great for an adult that’s an avid reader. For a high school student that is tepid about reading it can be daunting. I can see why so many copies of this book lay abandoned at the bottom of lockers.*

Golding sets out to create a world with no hope, no love, and is full of cruelty.  It’s stark in it’s reality, but it simply fell flat. It felt like he purposely subtracted any emotion out of the characters and stripped them down to husks. I just don’t see that as being possible. There are other books that address this same topic but do it better. Battle Royale is in the same neighborhood, but gave it’s characters deep emotions. It kept me connected and made me want to care. Most recently, The Hunger Games Trilogy followed the same path, and again it kept me connected and interested in the story.

As I walk away from Lord of the Flies I’m left with the realization that Golding created a universe without women. An argument could be made that the book is what happens when women are subtracted out of a society. It does not paint a pretty picture. If you read it, it should serve as a warning.

Next up, Let the Great World Spin. This has been a book I’ve tried to ignore for the past two years. I’ve walked past it in bookstores, seen it sitting on desks at work, and skipped past it on recommended reading lists. Then I read this NPR story about it. I sighed heavily and picked it up. We’ll see how good it really is.

*Note: If any teacher would like to share their lesson plan for Lord of the Flies with me I’d love to see it. I want to know how this book is taught.

Book Shelf Porn!

Book Shelf Porn

That is all. 

Here's a sample image from the Yale Rare Book Library. If there is a heaven, this is what it looks like. 

Anger Management Sessions in Wuthering Heights

Five years ago I was hungry for a good series. I walked into Joseph-Beth and asked for a recommendation. (Sadly this bookstore has closed.)  A copy of The Eyre Affair was thrust into my hands. Two days later I was back for Lost in a Good Book. Two days after that I was hunting for a copy of The Well of Lost Plots. A love affair had started. I hadn't felt this way since I had read The Hitch Hiker's Guide To the Galaxy .

Fford has the amazing ability to be funny and kind at the same time. Think about it, when is the last time you laughed at something that was kind? Sure, you’ve laughed at stand up comedians, SNL (once or twice in the last 15 years), the Simpsons,  or even a random Sit-Com on television. All of those examples are someone making fun of someone else,  sometimes it’s brutal, sometimes it’s soft, but it’s almost never kind.

Last night I finished One of our Thursdays is Missing, and I really enjoyed it. Being the fifth book in a series it’s a tad difficult to review with out sounding like an idiot. I could tell you that the written Thursday can’t find the real Thursday so she has to leave the Eyre Affair to find her. But that could drive you away from the series. However, I discovered a fantastic video by the author that explains the whole issue:

Yes, this whole blog post is playing the Jasper Fford Role Playing Game. Read the books. You’ll laugh out loud. Do it for yourself.

Next up is Lord of the Flies for the Required Reading Revisited book club. Small confession, I've never read this book. I’ve cited it in papers, I’ve discussed it, but after I read the first chapter I realized I must have picked up the CliffNotes when I was in college.

Jellicoe Road or How to Overdevelop a Character and Make Her a Cartoon

I should make a confession, I love Young Adult literature. Some of the best books I’ve read in recent years have been a  part of that genera. The Book Thief made me weep. It was beautifully constructed and the characters stuck with me. I find myself washing dishes and having my thoughts drift towards Rudy and Liesel. Markus Zusak made them almost real. It was breathtaking.

 Jellicoe Road  tries to do what Zusak did, but fails. Marchetta’s characters end up being cartoonish examples of what adults think teen tragedy is. It’s one thing to have a teen character have PTSD. It’s another to have her have PTSD, abandonment issues, survivor’s guilt, asthma, witness a suicide, have her abandoned a second time, and then make her responsible for keeping her suicidal boyfriend, that she doesn’t really like, alive. Wait, then she likes him. Then she hates him. Then she falls in love with him. It’s hot and cold running moody teenager.  She’s also responsible for watching over a small cadre of arsonists that live at her school. The book glosses over that point, but if someone was going to burn me alive, a daily footlocker search for Bic lighters may be in order. Lastly, there’s a serial killer element in this book that seems so forced that I feel like the author put it in just to mess with me.  This book did too much, too fast, and zipped past the point where I was supposed to care about most of it. I audibly groaned several times when I was reading it

Look, I realize I’m being harsh. I realize this may seem a tad unfair to the author, the character, and the book in general. However, if I am going to read a book about teen tragedy  I need to have a reason to be emotionally invested in the story. Life of Pi gave me teen tragedy and magical realism. It also made me wonder if the story actually happened. It’s not beyond the edges of reality that a young person, who’s faced with an unimaginable series of events, would create and live in his own fantasy world to get though it. Jellicoe Road doesn’t do that. It tries to be a reflection of reality and ends up being a fun house mirror.

If anyone wants to come a long and point out where I’m horribly wrong, I’m totally off base, and that I’m an idiot; I welcome it. I’ll take descending opinions about this book. In fact, I’d honestly love to see some.  I tend to get wrapped up in my criticisms and miss crucial points.  

Next up is One of Our Thursdays Is Missing. My love for Jasper Fford is boundless. I want to make a mini-Fford and put him in my pocket. Lets just say... I’m excited.

*** Note: In my previous blog post I referred to my husband as an asthmatic, glasses wearing nerd that plays World of Warcraft on the weekends. He got mad at me, and wants me to point out that he was in the military and works out once a day. He’s also like me to tell you that he hasn’t played World of Warcraft in three (!!!) weeks. The man cleans out our litter boxes so, I have real motivation to make him happy.

Graphic Novels Are Not For Nerds

For whatever reason, graphic novels have a terrible reputation.  People think that reading one will turn you into a glasses wearing, asthmatic nerd that plays World of Warcraft on the weekends. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. I happened to marry a glasses wearing asthmatic nerd that plays World of Warcraft on the weekends, but that's a blog post for a different day.)

To bolster my argument I'm going to highly recommend the readers of this blog pick up Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History and  Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. Two graphic novels that contain more than dragons, wizards, and magic. You'll end up loaning them to friends and never getting them back. I think I've purchased five or six copies of these books over the years.

Recently I picked up, Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword and really really enjoyed it. Yes, there may be a troll and some magic involved in this book, but it's also a great coming of age story. The only issue is, I think the fact that this book is marketed towards the Orthodox Jewish community may be it's downfall. It's a great read, but it may be ignored or languish in the religious section of bookstores. That is serious  a shame. Independent authors who write things like this should be praised. Mirka is a strong character that can help any girl though that rough period between 11 and 16.

The last graphic novel I'm going to beg you to read is Bone. Yes, this does include magic, dragons, a love story, and is epic in scope. However, the backbone of Bone is the story of a family. People may pass this up because it's too comic book like, but that's a huge mistake. Bone's central theme will make you smile, it's story will make you gasp, cheer, and cry. Read it. Enjoy. (Side note: Due to Bone's massive weight and length it's almost impossible to take into public and read on a park bench. Just a warning.)

On Anne Moody, Woolworth's, and JFK...

Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody

I suppose this blog should start off with one of the better autobiographies I've read in recent years.  Having been burned by books like Running with Scissors and  A Million Little Pieces I've nearly stopped reading the genera. However, when I picked this up, it makes me want to seek out more.

I often judge books like this by their voice and not their content. Moody's book gives us both a fantastic voice and wonderful content. Growing up poor and black in small town in Mississippi she takes us to places where the stories are mainly told though oral history. She starts us in a small house as a sharecropper and places us right at the start of a series of events that would change the United States on a fundamental level. We go with Moody though grade school, high school, and college. We understand her involvement with groups like CORE and the NAACP. We also understand her mother's terror as she writes Moody letters begging her to stop.

The book ends with the assassination of JFK. Moody is getting on a bus to testify in front of Congress about voting rights in the South. She leaves us wondering if she will ever see full equality in her lifetime.

 There's a reason this book still remains in print, and is often taught in African American literature classes. It's earned it's spot on my shelf, and will remain there for quite some time.

*********

My next read is Jellicoe Road I'm about 150 pages though it and will do the write up when I'm done. The way I read, that should be some time this weekend.

Also,  Jasper Fford's new Thursday Next novel came out this week. Just giving everyone an FYI on that.

Opening lines and opening blogs

It was a pleasure to burn. - Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

I am a failure as a blogger. Abject, total, and complete failure. I've tried to pick up this medium, but abandon it because something else comes along. I Tweet, I facebook, hell, I even MySpaced back in the day, but blogs just weren't for me.

After being begged, pleaded, yelled at, DMed about, @ed, and told sternly I've taken one of my passions here. This blog will be about my books. Yes, yes, it may also include some updates about my crazy, yet lovable, husband. It may also include updates about the total insanity of my four cats. It may also include some rare rants when I see a state try to cut out it's library system because.... well... because they are fucking idiots.

Oh, and I swear. A lot.

Get used to it.

Next update will be about Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody.

 Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. - Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude