Booklog

The Abstinence Teacher

2008-10-19T15:20:00.004-05:00

I have a love/hate thing going with Tom Perrotta. I loved Election and Little Children (although, strangely, I thought in both cases the movie was better than the book), was ambivalent toward The Wishbones, and really did not like Joe College. The Abstinence Teacher is hands down my favorite of Perrotta's books. The characters are believable and evoke sympathy, and the theme relevant (one of Perrotta's greatest strengths), highlighting the tension between secular and religious America. I highly recommend it.

The Road

2008-10-19T15:07:00.003-05:00

Bleak, depressing, and sad, The Road could fall into the genre of the dystopic novel because of its post-apocalyptic setting, but I consider it an allegory of the parent-child relationship. The parent goes through hardship to care for the child and keep him alive. The parent tries to explain why he is doing what he is doing, even though the child cannot understand, and the parent cannot adequately explain. The parent tries to instill a sense of morality. All of this done in the hope that the child will be equipped to care for himself when it becomes necessary. While I didn't love The Road (so bleak, depressing, and sad), I am comforted by the message in the face of my own grief in the recent loss of my mother.

Highlights from the last year

2008-10-04T10:19:00.003-05:00

The best books I've read in the last year:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon)
Suite Francaise (Irene Nemirovsky)
The Nine (Jeffrey Toobin)
The Abstinence Teacher (Tom Perrotta)
George Saunders (Pastoralia, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, The Braindead Megaphone)
Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)

Other books I liked:

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (Janelle Brown)
Lush Life (Richard Price)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)

A whole year?

2008-10-04T09:51:00.003-05:00

I haven't updated this blog in over a year. I am a fly-by-night, follow-the-trend-then-abandon-it kind of girl. I had a facebook page for about six months too. Life has thrown me a lot of crap in the last year, last two years, actually, but there has been one constant: books. As long as I can still take refuge in a fictional world, the real world is a little easier to traverse. My reading over the last year has been spotty, and my views clearly colored by what I've been going through. I know The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is an excellent novel, but because I was reading it as my mother was dying, it is forever tainted. I've abandoned a lot of books over the last year as well, some unable to hold my interest, others I've deemed a waste in a short life. My love of books has brought me back here, and I think I'm going to give mini-reviewing another go.

Falling Man--Don DeLillo

2007-09-08T20:11:00.000-05:00

I think DeLillo isn't at the top of his game with Falling Man, which pains me as a DeLillophile (and thus frequent apologist). Plot summary: a couple struggles to make sense of 9/11, cut three years, they are better, but still messed up. The title falling man is but a small part, as are the disjointed scenes fictionalizing the radical conversion of Mohammed Atta. The elements of what DeLillo does well are still evident here--scenes of dense imagery that leave you breathless (the last few pages are particularly brilliant)--but the plot doesn't really go anywhere. Perhaps the lack of plot direction is intended to reflect that as a society we still lack focus and consensus about the meaning of 9/11, but maybe I'm giving DeLillo too much credit and it's just an unfocused novel.

She's Not There--Jennifer Finney Boylan

2007-09-08T19:42:00.000-05:00

**Book Club Pick** She's Not There is the memoir of a transgendered English professor in the process of transitioning from male to female. I have mixed feelings about this book. By turns funny, sad, and intriguing (Richard Russo is her best friend!), I don't feel like I gained an overarching understanding of transgender from reading it. There were moments in the book where she had the opportunity to go a little deeper into gender issues, and I felt like she chose to stay superficial and focus on the chronology and the details of the transition and its effect on her friends and family. For example, shortly after she transitioned, she was chatted up by a drunk man who followed her out of the bar, got demanding, and ended up following her in her car. He passed on by when she stopped at a gas station, but she had quite a scare. To me, this was a great opportunity for her to discuss the fears women face every day, what it means to be a woman in this society, something like that, but she didn't even scratch the surface. Disappointingly, she just recounted it as a story. I must say, though, that this book got the discussion going in our book club like never before, trying to wrap our heads around gender, its meaning and implications.

Mao II--Don DeLillo

2007-09-08T19:00:00.001-05:00

In Mao II, DeLillo delves into the world of a renowned author and later links him to terrorism, drawing a comparison between writers and terrorists as societal participants. He is also concerned with the crowd as a cultural function or force. DeLillo's cultural commentary is prescient and spot-on. His observations are unspoken universal truths and when coupled with his incredible, dense imagery, they are discomforting, to the point that at times I had to put the book down and take a breath to curb physical manifestations of anxiety. Yeah, his dialogue is stilted, but that has never bothered me that much. To me, it is meta-dialogue, dialectical in function. I can't describe the effect DeLillo has on me, except to say that he makes me look at the world differently.

The Killer Angels--Michael Shaara

2007-09-08T18:55:00.000-05:00

**Book Club Pick** Traditional Civil War history is not my thing, due in large part, to its focus on military minutia and great men to the exclusion of other historical considerations. At the same time, however, I am greatly intrigued by the Civil War, arguably the single most important event in the development of our nation, as I believe that we are still dealing with its ramifications in this country today, in ways most of us are unaware. Unfortunately for me then, The Killer Angels, a fictionalized retelling of the battle of Gettysburg, focuses on great men and military minutia. My prejudice against this type of history, however, didn't prevent me from recognizing the work as a readable, well-told story of the personalities behind the battle and the significance of that battle in the larger military context of the war.

The History of Love--Nicole Krauss

2007-08-07T17:24:00.000-05:00

I liked this one, although I kept getting characters mixed up, but I couldn't help thinking about how Krauss is married to Jonathan Safran Foer and how their books had similar themes, and then I wondered about what it would be like for two writers to live together. Do they borrow ideas from each other? Are they secretive with what they are working on? Do they bounce ideas off each other? Do they borrow discarded ideas from one another? I couldn't stop thinking about this, and it kept me from enjoying the book. Weird, I know.

I Am the Messenger--Markus Zusak

2007-08-07T17:17:00.000-05:00

I loved the Book Thief so much that I had to pick this one up when I saw it glinting on the library shelf. Ed Kennedy is getting mysterious messages on playing cards, directing him to do things to help his fellow man. Without a lot going on in his life, he takes up the mantle and starts making people feel good. Quirky and hopeful, it's a nice story.

The Thirteenth Tale--Diane Setterfield

2007-08-07T17:06:00.000-05:00

A story within a story, about mysteries (fictional and metafictional), authors, and the love of books qua books. Set in the English countryside, it has a gothic feel. When I finished this (back in May, I believe) I loved it, but in retrospect, some of the connections between characters don't totally add up for me. But still a good read, though I'd recommend it for winter, when you can curl up with it, and a blanket, and a cup of cocoa. There's a lot of cocoa drinking going on in it.

2007-08-07T17:05:00.001-05:00

Confession: I have read thirteen books since my last post. I have no excuse but that I've had one crazy summer, replete with family and personal health crises, high school reunion planning, and a wild Harry Potter birthday party (wild for six- and seven-year-olds, that is). I'm taking suggestions for an appropriate penance.

2007-06-16T09:06:00.000-05:00

I'm so far behind in posting (six books or so!) because of this thing called Goodreads.com, a social networking site for people who like to read. It is completely addictive. Check it out if you are so inclined. I'm posting reviews of books I read there, and soon will transfer them here, but I may abandon the blog all together in favor of goodreads. I'm still deciding.

I Am Charlotte Simmons--Tom Wolfe

2007-05-28T12:09:00.000-05:00

I came to I Am Charlotte Simmons with trepidation. I had read the reviews that likened Wolfe to a voyeur and questioned his motivation in spending years "observing" typical college students fifty years his junior. It seemed creepy. But when I saw it in the bargain bin, I couldn't resist, and as it turned out, I couldn't put the thing down. Wolfe is a great writer and storyteller, and although there are some weird things about the book, like his linguistic obsessions over current uses of profanity, he presents a compelling story and a fascinating character in Charlotte. Charlotte, a brilliant student from the impoverished, rural North Carolina, earns a scholarship to the prestigious Dupont University, and dreams of intellectual stimulation unlike she has ever known. Instead, she finds a world of wealth, privilege, and debauchery. Although she wants to play the games of sexual intrigue of her classmates, she has none of the requisite accompanying hardness and cynicism, so her efforts are personally devastating. Wolfe deftly tackles big themes--purity, vanity, greed, social class. He may have gotten some of the details wrong, and if you are currently a college student I'm sure you will find much with which to quarrel, but the bigger story is superb.

About Alice--Calvin Trillin

2007-05-28T11:46:00.000-05:00

In About Alice, Calvin Trillin pens a moving tribute to his late wife of nearly 40 years. He celebrates her passions and her quirks and their life together. Both sad and sweet, it is a true-to-life love story. Have tissues handy.

Black Swan Green--David Mitchell

2007-05-28T09:49:00.000-05:00

**My Book Club Pick** Set in the early 1980s in a small English suburb, Mitchell navigates the treacherous waters of early adolescence, through the eyes of Jason Taylor. Jason's life is changing. His parents are fighting, his sister is leaving for university, and he works to control the "hangman" who makes him stammer. There is the usual coming of age fare here--dealing with bullies, avoiding appearing too interested in school, and sexual curiosity--but Black Swan Green's poignance and quirkiness set this one apart from similar works. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

The Birthday Party--Stanley N. Alpert

2007-05-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

In The Birthday Party former federal prosecutor Stanley N. Alpert recounts his random kidnapping in 1998, in which he was held for 24 hours and then released; his abductors wanted only to withdraw money from his bank account. They targeted him because of his expensive-looking trench coat. He was treated well, as far as these things go, and released unharmed, but the experience was still harrowing. That much of the story is interesting. I'll give him that. But this is not a good book. It is poorly written, very poorly, and Alpert comes off as a whiny, chauvanistic, elitist snob, frequently mentioning the cost of personal items he owns and the large amount of money he made as a law-firm lawyer, neither of which were relevant to his abduction. Further, he spent a great deal of time talking about how important he was as a federal prosecutor. If I didn't work with federal judges and prosecutors on a regular basis, I might have bought that, but I do, and most of them are not as egomanical as Alpert comes off in the book. If Alpert would have stuck to the details of the crime and later the investigation without the personal details that appear only to self-aggrandize, it would have been a better book. Avoid this one.

The Mighty and the Almighty--Madeleine Albright

2007-05-11T21:14:00.001-05:00

Full disclosure. I love Madeleine Albright. She is a hero to me--brilliant, tough, and a successful Secretary of State. It makes me love Bill Clinton more for choosing her to represent America to the world. The Mighty and the Almighty was not the most fascinating memoir I've ever read (sorry Maddy!). But its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. Albright talks about the Clinton administration's decision-making processes (which she speculates are far, far different from those of the current administration), and speaks candidly of both their foreign policy triumphs and errors. All in all, interesting thoughts of a fascinating American.

American Fascists--Chris Hedges

2007-05-11T20:59:00.000-05:00

Last year, I read Michelle Goldberg's Kingdom Coming, about the rise of "Christian Nationalism," the political movement of evangelical Christians. I said it was the scariest book I had read in a while. Strike that, American Fascists is the scariest book I have read, possibly ever. Picking up on the same themes, but with more alarmism, Hedges describes the twenty-five year progression that began with Pat Robertson's and Jerry Falwell's early televangelism, and has led to enormous political influence over government from the local school board that mandates the teaching of creationism to the establishment of the Republican Party. Hedges makes a number of arguments, but his most paradoxical is that liberals who value a free society are harming that very ideal by tolerating the intolerant "Dominionists". He likens the movement, whose ultimate political goal is an American theocracy, to the Nazi party. Hedges--the son of a Presbyterian minister, graduate of Harvard Divinity School, and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist--has the street cred to know of what he speaks. If this interests you, read it, along with Michelle Goldberg's Kingdom Coming. It will send shivers down your spine.

The Book Thief--Markus Zusak

2007-05-11T20:32:00.000-05:00

In the interest of getting caught up on my now seven-book backlog, I'll be brief. The Book Thief is wonderful. I'd even call it delightful, except that it deals with some difficult subject matter. Set in Nazi Germany, The Book Thief is narrated by the very busy angel of death, who tells in detail the story of Leisel Memminger, an orphan adopted by a working-class German family in the late 1930s. Leisel's coming of age (and her intense love of books) is set against the poverty of her circumstances and the uncertainty and fear that characterized Hitler's rise to power. I highly recommend it; one of my favorites so far this year. A shout out to briefwriter for suggesting it.

The Scarlet Letter--Nathaniel Hawthorne

2007-04-23T21:06:00.000-05:00

I have posted before how I tended not to read the books that I was assigned to read in high school. The Scarlet Letter, however, I did read, but I didn't understand it. I have memories of reading the assigned pages, being rather confused, then getting to class to have Mrs. Nicholson tell me what I had read, and thinking, "that's not what I read." Luckily, I understood it this time around, and I'm very glad I gave it another try. On this read I realized that it is just a superb story, with the angry, craggy Roger Chillingworth, taking revenge on tortured Arthur Dimmesdale, and poor Hester Prynne faced daily with her indiscretion by the letter on her breast, and the child flitting about her, and none able to be happy because of repressed puritan society. Good stuff.

Libra--Don DeLillo

2007-04-21T12:53:00.000-05:00

Due to my general malaise, and unforseen computer problems, I am a shameful and unprecedent five books behind in posting. Mea Culpa.

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Libra is Don DeLillo's take on the Kennedy assassination, and the life of Lee Harvey Oswald. DeLillo recounts Oswald's (fictionalized) life story, focusing on significant life events that impact his tragic choices and mythical end. DeLillo is so gentle with Oswald--revealing him to be idealistic and well-intentioned, albeit seriously misguided and somewhat dim--that I developed a great deal of sympathy for him. A parallel plot involves the role of the CIA in recruiting and directing Oswald. This is interesting as a theory, but because stories of CIA intrigue aren't really my thing, those parts dragged for me. But, DeLillo is an amazing writer, one of the best, and his unique descriptive voice enlivens this legendary piece of American history. The pages describing the assassination are excruciatingly beautiful and haunting, and they stayed with me for days.

The Uses of Enchantment--Heidi Julavits

2007-04-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

The Uses of Enchantment tells the story of a middle-class suburban teenager, Mary Veal, who mysteriously disappears. When she turns up after a couple of months, she is taken under the wing of a therapist who determines that she faked her own abduction, and writes a book about this "syndrome" in adolescent girls. The story is told from different perspectives--that of the therapist, the present-day teenager (now in her 30s), and chapters entitled "What Might Have Happened," which recount the abduction (or do they?). There is also a parallel story of a teenager abducted in the 1970s under similar circumstances, and another one about a Salem witch. What actually happened is never made clear, which I guess is much of the point, but so frustrating! I'm not opposed to ambiguity in plot, and under certain circumstances find it refreshing, but there was so much ambiguity here that it obscured the story. Although Julavits is great at description, there is also some uneveness in tone, and I found some of the dialogue (exchanges with her sisters, in particular) excruciating. I have no sisters and therefore no personal experience upon which to judge, so perhaps talking to them is excruciating? All in all, an ambitious novel with some rough patches.

Everyman--Philip Roth

2007-03-04T16:41:00.000-06:00

Why, oh why, did I pick this up at the library? I knew it would be utterly depressing, and it was. Utterly. But I loved The Plot Against America, and I couldn't resist Everyman's compact size for throwing into my lunch bag for reading on the train to work. (Indeed, my book choices are frequently informed by ease of carrying onto the metrolink.) In brief, the story begins at a funeral of the "everyman" main character, then Roth recounts the life that was, focusing in particular on old age, which he calls "a massacre." Roth is getting old and he's not happy about it. If you love Roth you should read this because the things that Roth does well--visceral orientation to time and place--he does well here, but it is a total downer. You have been warned.

Old School--Tobias Wolff

2007-03-04T16:12:00.000-06:00

Old School is a coming-of-age story, set in a New England prep school in the 1960s. The unnamed narrator defines himself by his association with the prep-school literary elite--the editorial board of the school literary magazine. In the narrator's senior year, the school hosts Robert Frost, Ayn Rand, and the most admired author of the students--Ernest Hemingway. He and his classmates contend for a personal audience with each author through writing contests, in which they try to best themselves and each other.

I was surprised at how much I liked this novel. I picked it up at a library branch we don't usually frequent unless it's cold and Ben needs to get out of the house (it has an overwhelming amount of toys for a library), and I managed to read about 50 pages while he played. I love how Wolff describes being in love with literature, and the creative inspiration of youth. He makes palpable the feeling that nothing is better than writing the perfect sentence. Granted, it is one of too many novels about the white, privileged, east coast elite, and it loses points for that, but what is good about Old School outweighs what isn't.