Teaser Tuesday

Posted on May 25, 2010 by chowmeyow

When she was not looking for her name, she was writing it, and not just Charlotte either as she would have put on her books at home, or even at the little village school where she went before. Charlotte alone proved no identity at all. Charlotte Mary Makepeace she wrote in full and in her best handwriting on each of the different-colored exercise books given to her. Besides the satisfaction of writing her name so carefully, it seemed also curiously comforting to prove emphatically over and over again that she was still Charlotte Makepeace just as she had been yesterday at home. For since this morning she had felt herself to be so many different people, and half of them she did not recognize.

-Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer

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Teaser Tuesdays is a fun weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. I change the rules a little bit to suit my own purposes: I hand pick the teaser, rather than choose one randomly. I also very frequently post more than two sentences. :)

Polysyllabic Spree – April 2010

Posted on May 23, 2010 by chowmeyow

Books Purchased:

Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato
Irish Folktales by Henry Glassie and Francine Kass
Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden
Backing into Forward by Jules Feiffer
A Summer of Hummingbirds by Christopher E. G. Benfey
Third Helpings by Calvin Trillin
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Candide by Voltaire

Books Read:

Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
Round Ireland With a Fridge by Tony Hawks
Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato
Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Alice, Let’s Eat by Calvin Trillin
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
77 Love Sonnets by Garrison Keillor

Previously reviewed: Auntie Mame, The Postmistress, and 77 Love Sonnets

Round Ireland With a Fridge is a very fun travel writing memoir, about a man who takes a bet to hitchhike the full circumference of Ireland with a fridge. I read it in preparation for my trip to Ireland this summer, and it gave me a lot of good ideas of where I’d like to visit. Worth a read if you like travel memoirs and/or Ireland, and especially worth a read if you’re planning a trip there.

I saw Mathilda Savitch for the first time at Barnes and Noble while I was in Michigan last month; it won their Discover Award in 2009. I really enjoyed the unique narrative voice of the main character, Mathilda. I would have enjoyed the book more if it had a stronger ending with more of an emotional impact, I finished the story feeling underwhelmed.

Dead End Gene Pool is a memoir by Wendy Burden about growing up in a wealthy, prestigious (and disfunctional) family (the Vanderbilts). Not a particularly life-changing memoir to read (it isn’t trying to be), but a fun romp that makes for a good summer pick.

I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid to my brother while I was in Michigan (which is why it’s not pictured in the above photo). It’s a very fun book for kids, and Benny loved it. He likes being read to, but doesn’t much like reading on his own. This book changed that completely. He finished the book on his own, and then wanted the other books in the series. My parents got them for him, and he finished them in record speed. So awesome!

Alice, Let’s Eat is the second book in Calvin Trillin’s Tummy Trilogy of food writing essay collections. I enjoyed this one just as much as the first (American Fried), and looking forward to the third – Third Helpings.

I’d never read anything by Muriel Spark before reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I enjoyed this short novel a lot, and now I really want to watch the movie adaptation with Maggie Smith. I’d like to read more Muriel Spark as well – does anyone have a recommendation for which of her books I should read next?

Teaser Tuesday

Posted on May 18, 2010 by chowmeyow

I’m reading a non-fiction book right that’s good, but a little uninspiring for a Teaser Tuesday post. So instead I’m going to post a teaser from a poem in the poetry book I’m currently reading now – Picnic, Lightning by Billy Collins.

This is the best -
throwing off the light covers,
feet on the cold floor,
and buzzing around the house on espresso,

dictionary and atlas open on the rug,
the typewriter waiting for the key of the head,
a cello on the radio

-From the poem “Morning” by Billy Collins

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77 Love Sonnets by Garrison Keillor

Posted on May 16, 2010 by chowmeyow

sonnets

During April, in honor of National Poetry Month, I read 77 Love Sonnets by Garrison Keillor. (Here’s a link to purchase this collection at an Indie Bookstore.) A modern collection of sonnets is, unfortunately, rather hard to come across. I was delighted last year to find out that Garrison Keillor was publishing a collection of his sonnets, and I bought it right away. I had been reading from the collection somewhat sporadically, and decided to read the collection from front to back in April. Many of them are about romantic love, and others are tributes to a variety of other people/things. All of them are lovely.

Here is one of my favorites:

November

How is your bookstore doing? people ask, and I say,
“Holding its own.” And they smile and say, Great.
A bookstore is like an old father. If he has a nice day,
Goes for a walk: fine. It’s enough to perambulate,
No need to run a six-minute mile.
A bookstore is for people who love books and need
To touch them, open them, browse for a while,
And find some common good – that’s why we read.
Readers and writers are two sides of the same gold coin.
You write and I read and in that moment I find
A union more perfect than any club I could join:
The simple intimacy of being one mind.

Here in a book-filled sun-lit room below the street,
Strangers – some living, some dead – are hoping to meet.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Posted on May 16, 2010 by chowmeyow

thepostmistress

Title: The Postmistress
Author: Sarah Blake
Published: 2009
My edition: Putnam Hardcover 2009
Borrowed From: The Hoboken Public Library
Pages: 326

Synopsis (from Strand): As the dawn of World War II sweeps throughout Europe, Americans are still relatively at ease and holding fast to Roosevelt’s promise that we’d be safe at home. Though, one American radio reporter, Frankie Bard, whose been stationed in London is bent on extending warnings to those in Europe and back home. While many of these broadcasts go unheard, Franklin, MA, resident Iris James has heard the call and heeded the warnings. Along with Iris, whose concerns are still veiled behind feelings for a local mechanic, Will and Emma Fitchs’ lives are about to be changed by the warnings as well. In “The Postmistress” author Sarah Blake offers us a novel that shows us 4 lives forever changed and intertwined.

I read this because: I saw about 400 fantastic reviews, and had to check it out for myself. It also sounded like exactly the sort of novel that I would enjoy.

My thoughts: To put it very simply: I love this book. It was almost like I made a checklist of everything I’d love in a novel and Sarah Blake wrote it: Historical fiction, WWII, strong & likable characters, letters, a love story, multiple points of view, a small town on the Eastern seaboard.

I was craving a good novel, too. As much as I adore memoirs, poetry, non-fiction, food writing, short stories, etc; I often need a compulsively readable novel. I want to be told a story. From page one I was completely drawn into this story, and didn’t want to emerge from it to do things like eat, sleep and work.

One thing that this book made me think a lot about is our society’s relationship to the news. There are many people who follow world news extensively, but there are also a lot of people who don’t. (I’ll be the first to admit that I often fall into the latter category.) A common excuse is that “there’s too much sadness & bad news out there.” This book really brings that attitude into perspective, especially through the character Frankie Bard, who travels around Europe riding evacuation trains and interview people to find out their stories. Some (ok, most) of these stories are heartbreaking. No matter how much you don’t want to hear it, there are heartbreaking stories happening all over the world, right now. (The passage I quoted below relates to this.) It doesn’t mean we need to spend our whole life being sad about what happens in other areas of the world, but we can certainly try not to be blind to it, and we can do what’s in our power to be educated about what’s happening and help however possible.

Book club worthy? Yes.

You might like this book if you like: The Help, Water for Elephants and historical fiction in general.

Links to purchase: IndieBound, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository, Strand

My favorite passage:

I wanted to write about this somehow – this aspect of war and its terrifying accidents and how we come to terms with the fact that wars are being waged right now, even as I write (and you read) these words. How do we imagine that simultaneity? (page 324, from the afterword)

Extras: Read the first chapter online, BookPage interview with Sarah Blake

Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis

Posted on May 8, 2010 by chowmeyow

auntie_mame

Title: Auntie Mame
Author: Patrick Dennis
Published: 1955
My edition: Broadway Books Paperback 2001
Purchased From: Strand
Pages: 299

Synopsis (from Strand): The world’s most beloved, madcap, devastatingly sophisticated, and glamorous aunt, Mame is impossible to resist, and this hilarious story of an orpahned ten-year-old boy sent to live with his aunt is as delicious a read in the twenty-first century as it was in the 1950s.

I read this because: I saw the copy that my friend Jon was re-reading, and it looked like just the sort of thing I would like too.

My thoughts: I adore Auntie Mame. I can’t believe I had never heard of the books, the movie, or any of the stage adaptations. Thank goodness I’m no longer in the dark. It’s an extremely fun book, and very witty. Auntie Mame is one of the most memorable and likable characters in literature. She’s fabulous, ridiculous, charming, and mischievous. Reading this book is a treat. It’s a great book to read at any time, but would be a particularly good one to read while traveling, or anytime you want a lighthearted (but still smart), funny book to make you smile.

Follow up required: I’m looking forward to reading the other Auntie Mame book: Around the World With Auntie Mame. I am also incredibly excited to see the movie version with Rosalind Russell, which I’m watching later tonight with a few friends.

You might like this book if you like: P. G. Wodehouse

Links to purchase: IndieBound, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository, Strand

My favorite passage:

By one o’clock there were more than a hundred and twenty relatives milling around Peckerwood, all talking, and all talking loud. Mrs. Burnside indicated her disapproval of all this with a fanfaronade of flatulence. (page 70)

Polysyllabic Spree – March 2010

Posted on May 2, 2010 by chowmeyow

This is officially a new record in lateness putting up a Polysyllabic Spree post. :) Life has been too busy to keep up with lately, and I apologize for my absence here.

Books Purchased:

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
About Town: The New Yorker And The World It Made by Ben Yagoda
Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
Around the World With Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis

Books Read:

Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
American Fried by Calvin Trillin (library)
Caddy Ever After by Hilary McKay (library)
Forever Rose by Hilary McKay (library)
How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac (library)
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel

Previously reviewed: Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass, American Fried, Beatrice and Virgil

I read the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, and just like the first book… I could not put it down. I’m really glad that I got into this series in time to join in the excitement building up to this August’s release of the third and final book, Mockingjay.

Caddy Ever After and Forever Rose are the final two books (that have been written so far) in the Casson family series by Hilary McKay. I adore this series. Forever Rose seemed to tie all lose ends up nicely, but I read that Hilary McKay is planning on writing a prequel. If you enjoy children’s literature, you’ll likely love this series too.

In March I re-read How Proust Can Change Your Life. It was not quite as fantastic as I remembered it being, but it was still good. It makes me want to Stop, Drop, and Read Proust.

I’d been meaning to read Olive Kitteridge ever since it came out, and I’m so glad I got a copy for Christmas. It’s a novel told through 13 interwoven stories, all featuring (sometimes front and center, sometimes in the background) an older woman named Olive Kitteridge. Elizabeth Strout’s writing is incredible, she pulls you into the lives of people in Olive’s small community, and you feel at home there as a reader. You find Olive to be a friend, despite her somewhat grumpy temperament. This is a novel to read when you’re craving the type of story that feels like a windowpane into people’s lives, a movie almost. The stories are moving, honest and beautiful and it was a pleasure to read.

The Rights of the Reader is a book by a French author about children and reading. It’s for adults – it talks about the perception that kids don’t read anymore, and how it often seems like they don’t enjoy reading either. It presents very good ideas about why certain kids don’t seem to like reading, and what you can do to help them find an interest and love of reading. If you are a teacher, or if you have children of your own, this is a fantastic book to read with a lot of good ideas.