Archive for the 'book review' Category

‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said,
‘To talk of many things:
Of shoes – and ships – and sealing-wax -
Of cabbages – and kings -
And why the sea is boiling hot -
And whether pigs have wings.’

Alice. The smiling Cheshire cat. The White Rabbit. The Queen of Hearts. The Jabberwocky. It seems like I grew up with these characters, and yet I had never sat down and read Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass in their entirety, as they were written by Lewis Carroll.

So, it was about time to remedy that.

There’s not really a need to review Alice in Wonderland. It’s the epitome of a classic novel and is already extremely well loved (and rightly so). But I did want to share a few thoughts and favorite passages.

Many authors cite Lewis Carroll as a source of inspiration, and there’s no question as to why. The imagination, wit, and adventure in his work is extraordinary. I love how completely quirky everything in Wonderland is. You can sort of feel your imagination growing as you read it. (As if you ate a little cake that said ‘eat me.’) Suddenly everything seems possible. That’s special.

I also want to note how much I adore the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. They are perfect and fantastic, and I’m glad they’re still the standard illustrations for most editions. I do not take kindly to the illustrations being changed in children’s literature to keep them more “modern.” For example, the new illustrations in the Ramona books are generic and horrid. (Ramona looks like this. And sometimes like this. Not like that.)

My book club is reading both works for our March selection, and I’m hoping to have time to read the notes in my copy of The Annotated Alice before the discussion.

~

“Oh, it’s too bad!” she cried. “I never saw such a house for getting in the way! Never!”

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

“The Knight looked surprised at the question. “What does it matter where my body happens to be?” he said. “My mind goes on working all the same. In fact, the more head-downwards I am, the more I keep inventing new things.”

I’ve said it before and I will no doubt repeat myself in the future: I love Food Writing. Good authors writing about food is some of the best vicarious living through reading that you can experience. When that author also makes you laugh out loud quite frequently, that’s some good food writing.

American Fried: Adventures of a Happy Eater is the first book in Calvin Trillin’s “Tummy Trilogy” and is a collection of his articles and essays in various magazines in the 1970s. Trillin isn’t much of a cook himself, so he mostly writes about eating out, and this book takes you to restaurants all across America.

Despite being written in the 70s, and the fact that many of the establishments mentioned have doubtlessly changed or closed, the collection still feels timeless. There is one funny part that can be best summarized by the line “I admit to having been intrigued by the idea of storing restaurant information in a computer.”

I definitely recommend this collection, and can’t wait to begin the second book in the trilogy: Alice, Let’s Eat.

Here are some of the lines that made me laugh:

The other New York newsletter I have seen, The Craig Claiborne Journal, devotes more space to recipes than to restaurants, and is therefore of less use to me, since my cooking skill does not extend past a special way of preparing scrambled eggs so that they always stick to the pan. (page 78)

New York line behavior can be explained only by assuming that just about everyone in the line believes himself to be in possession of what the Wall Street people call inside information. (page 96)

He was not going to be able to meet me until a few hours after I arrived in Cincinnati, but he suggested on the phone that for my first taste of authentic Cincinnati chili, at lunch, I might want to try the unadorned product and therefore should start with what is known locally as “a bowl of plain.” He had no way of knowing, of course, that I have never eaten the unadorned version of anything in my life and that I once threatened to place a Denver counterman under citizen’s arrest for leaving the mayonnaise off my California burger. (page 129)

Fairs are good places to eat, particularly for stand-up eaters – which is one of the kinds of eaters I am, although when I eat standing up away from home I sometimes miss the familiar cool breeze coming from the open refrigerator. (page 185)

Buster’s fried chicken tastes as if it is made from chickens that have spent their entire pampered lives strolling around the barnyard pecking contentedly at huge cloves of garlic. (page 213-214)

Title: The Sixty-Eight Rooms
Author: Marianne Malone
Published: 2010
My edition: Random House Hardcover 2010
Purchased From: Barnes and Noble Greenwich Village
Pages: 269

Synopsis (from Strand): Every Chicagoan knows about the Thorne Rooms in the Art Institute of Chicago. Sixty-eight miniature rooms, depicting rooms from European homes throughout the centuries, in immaculate detail, precise right down to the tiny rugs and doorknobs. Sixty-eight rooms so marvelously real that they seem magic. And for Ruthie, they are. Because she has found a key that allows her to shrink down to a size where she can explore the rooms, and discover their secrets. Small enough to find that someone has been in the rooms before her, and left important clues behind.

I read this because: I love the Thorne Rooms, they are my favorite part of the Art Institute of Chicago. Combining these lovely rooms with children’s literature is a perfect fit. Also – if ever one was to judge a book by its cover, this one pretty much takes the cake. I have Kelly to thank for giving me a heads up that this book was about to be released, and you can read her review here. Thanks Kelly!

My thoughts: What a magical book. There’s a lot to love about it: likable characters, unique setting, good writing, magic, adventure, mystery, and tiny things. A great read and a wonderful escape into a magical world.

If you don’t enjoy reading children’s books yourself, first of all take a moment and think about when exactly it was that you lost your soul. :) Seriously though, if you’re not interested in this for yourself, it would make a great gift for any child in your life.

Book club worthy? For book clubs interested in children’s literature, definitely yes.

Follow up required: Reading this really makes me want to go back and visit the Thorne Rooms again soon. I also really hope there will be a sequel.

You might like this book if you like: From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg, The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall 

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

My favorite passage:

It was the feeling you sometimes get when leaving the darkness of a theatre after a really exciting movie – you notice how the world around you is exactly the same as when you went in, only you feel different. (page 45)

Extras: Excerpt from the book, Marianne Malone’s Website

I’ve been enjoying the Casson family series by Hilary McKay. This month I finished the third, Permanent Rose. I don’t feel the need to post a full review of it, but here are a few of my favorite lines from the book:

“I always say a little prayer when I put cakes in the oven,” remarked Eve, as she stopped to kiss Rose good-bye.
“What do you say?”
“I say, ‘Please, God, don’t let me forget I’ve put that cake in the oven.’” (page 102)

“Where can Caddy have got to?” moaned Bill for the hundredth time. “Why doesn’t she answer her mobile?”
“It’s switched off,” said Rose.
“Why?”
“In case someone rings.” (page 183)

David, always aware of his lifetime’s collection of guilty secrets struggling to escape, had been shocked at being seen through so quickly.” (page 2)

Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Published: 2009
My edition: Putnam Hardcover 2009
Purchased From: Book Depository
Pages: 451

Synopsis (from Strand): Set deep in the heart of Mississippi, circa 1962, “The Help” offers readers an enchanting and original journey into the trying lives and times of three very different women who chose to come together for a common cause. In this book weare introduced to 22 year-old Skeeter, who has recently graduated school and is being pushed into marriage; Aibileen, a wise and regal maid whose troubles as an African American in Mississippi are enough on their own; and Aibileen’s best friend Minny, whose just been put out of another job and is in need of help. Through author Kathryn Stockett’s touching and remarkable characters this moving narrative will take readers by the hand and lead them to new places.

I read this because: The rare combination of a well-reviewed novel and long run on the bestseller lists is always intriguing.

My thoughts: It’s been a while since I’ve read a fantastic, page-turner of a historical novel, and I’m happy that the drought is over. I can see why this book has done so well; it’s immensely enjoyable. It’s a great story, good writing, lovable narrators and main characters, and a bit of sass. It’s also not without its villains, which is important for any good story. I expected the ending to be sadder than it was, but that’s not a criticism. Also, I think it’s been a while since I read a novel set in the south, which was lovely. I enjoyed this book a lot and had trouble putting it down for things like work and showering.

Book club worthy? Yes, I think it would be great for discussion.

Follow up required: This is Kathryn Stockett’s first novel, but I will definitely keep an eye out for her second.

You might like this book if you like: The Thirteenth Tale, and historical fiction in general. 

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

My favorite lines & passages: Even though she has zero kids and nothing to do all day, she is the laziest woman I’ve ever seen. Including my sister Doreena who never lifted a royal finger growing up because she had the heart defect that we later found out was a fly on the X-ray machine. (page 48)

“Every morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision.” Constantine was so close, I could see the blackness of her gums. “You gone have to ask yourself, Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?” (page 63)

Extras: Kathryn Stockett’s Website, The Help on Facebook

Title: The Left Hand of Darkness
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Published: 1969
My edition: Ace Paperback 2000
Purchased From: Barnes and Noble Lincoln Square
Pages: 304

Synopsis (from Strand): Winner of HUGO and NEBULA Awards for Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year. The story of a lone human emissary’s mission to Winter, an unknown alien world whose inhabitants can choose – and change – their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter’s inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters. Completely embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, the novel stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.

I read this because: Ursula K. Le Guin is an author I’ve meant to read for a long time. My book club also selected this as our January book, which gave me the perfect reason to stop dilly-dallying.

My thoughts: I didn’t really go into this book knowing much about the plot or what it was like, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I think I was expecting more of a epic story, with dozens of characters and an intricate plot. I liked that the focus was on the relationship between Genly and Estraven, and on Genly’s personal challenges and growth.

Book club worthy? Yes, my book club’s discussion of this was fantastic. It’s the sort of book that you want to talk to people about after you finish it.

Follow up required: I’d like to read more of her work, most likely starting with A Wizard of Earthsea. I also own a collection of her short stories.

You might like this book if you like: I haven’t read a lot of Science Fiction, so the only thing I’ve read that I find it at all similar to is Margaret Atwood’s novels. I think it’s the style and creativity that I find comparable.

Links to purchase: Indie Bound, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository

My favorite lines & passages:

I am not trying to say that I was happy, during those weeks of hauling a sledge across an ice-sheet in the dead of winter. I was hungry, overstrained, and often anxious, and it all got worse the longer it went on. I certainly wasn’t happy. Happiness has to do with reason, and only reason earns it. What I was given was the thing you can’t earn, and can’t keep, and often don’t even recognize at the time; I mean joy. (page 241-2)

To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness. (page 151)

Extras: New Yorker Interview with Ursula K. Le Guin about The Left Hand of Darkness, Communal book club discussion from NewYorker.com

Title: McCarthy’s Bar
Author: Pete McCarthy
Published: 2000
My edition: St. Martin’s Press Hardcover 2001
Borrowed from: Hoboken Public Library
Pages: 338

Synopsis (from his website): Despite the many exotic places Pete McCarthy has visited, he finds that nowhere can match the particular magic of Ireland, his mother’s homeland.  In McCarthy’s Bar, he journeys from Cork to Donegal.  Travelling through spectacular landscapes, but at all times obeying the rule, Never Pass a Bar That Has Your Name On It, he encounters McCarthy’s Bar’s up and down the land, meeting fascinating, friendly and funny people before pleading to be let out at four o’clock in the morning.

Through adventures with English crusties who have colonised a desolate mountain; roots-seeking, buffet-devouring Americans; priests for whom the word ‘father’ has a loaded meaning; enthusiastic Germans who ‘here since many years holidays are making’; and his fellow barefoot pilgrims on an island called Purgatory, Pete pursues the secrets of Ireland’s global popularity and his own confused Irish-Anglo identity.

Written by someone who is at once both insider and outsider, McCarthy’s Bar is a wonderfully funny, affectionate portrait of a rapidly-changing country.

I read this because: I’m currently obsessed with any and all things concerning Ireland.

My thoughts: I loved this book. As far as armchair traveling goes, Pete McCarthy is an excellent companion/guide. Not only does he take you along for the ride as he meanders through the west of Ireland, he also explores the experience of feeling completely at home in a place that isn’t your homeland. I learned quite a bit about Irish culture and Ireland while reading it, and laughed a lot at his dark and witty humor infused into his stories.

Sadly, when I was googling Pete McCarthy to see if I could find him on Twitter or some links to good interviews, I found out he died in 2004. He was 51. He only wrote one other book; he didn’t get the chance to write the third book he had been planning.

Book club worthy? Mostly just a fun book to read on your own, but potential for some good discussion on whether or not you can feel a stronger attachment and kinship with the country of your ancestors than the country you were raised in.

Follow up required: I’d like to go to Ireland, as soon as possible. :) I’d also like to read his only other book, The Road to McCarthy. (Not to be confused in any way with The Road by Cormac McCarthy.)

You might like this book if you like: Bill Bryson

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

My favorite lines & passages:

There’s nothing like a couple of Italians staring at you to make you feel ashamed to be part of a nation that thinks polyester is a good fabric. (page 116)

Luckily I’ve trained myself over the years never to go anywhere without something to read, just in case someone turns up late, the meeting ends early, or I’m inadvertently imprisoned for 35 years and put in solitary confinement. (page 128)

The Celts believed that our world and the spirit world are very close, and that there are particular places of energy where the divide is very thin, and it’s possible to step across to the other side. (page 226)

I like reading in a pub rather than a library or study, as it’s generally much easier to get a drink. (page 258)

I think everyone has an inner voice, and we can all learn to listen to it. You don’t need to analyse where it comes from, but you can attune yourself to it. If you can learn to follow it, it will lead to fulfillment. That’s why I came here. (page 334)

Title: Inklings
Author: Jeffrey Koterba
Published: 2009
My edition: Houghton Mifflin Hardcover 2009
Borrowed From: Hoboken Public Library
Pages: 264

Synopsis (from Strand): Political cartoonist Jeffrey Koterba grew up as an awkward twitchy child, his body bursting with the same unsettling nervous tics as his father–a talented musician whose dreams of fame had faded leaving him an eccentric alcoholic who obsessively fills the house with broken electronics. To escape the instability of his home, Jeff fled to the Sunday comics, copying the strips he loved, and making his own. After his rebellious teenage years, this love of drawing would become his livelihood and salvation, as he struggled with his troubled family life and his long-undiagnosed Tourette’s syndrome. INKLINGS is a pitch-perfect memoir filled with a self-deprecating humor and a complete absence of sentimentality. The prose is pithy vivid and as full of feeling and nuance as the author’s art.

I read this because: The cover caught my eye every time I went into a bookstore, and I read a good review of it in an issue of Entertainment Weekly.

My thoughts: This is a great memoir for many different reasons. Mainly I loved it because it’s a wonderful portrait of a person working hard and devoting their life to their passions, and eventually making a career from it. It’s also fascinating to read about what it’s like to live with Tourette’s syndrome. And, not least of all, it’s a (not sappy) story of rising above an imperfect childhood/home life and other challenges without bitterness.

Book club worthy? I’ve said before: I don’t personally enjoy discussing memoirs in book groups, but this one would make for better discussion than most.

Follow up required: I want to check out the music of Jeffrey Koterba’s swing band, Prairie Cats. :) I also enjoyed browsing his editorial cartoons on his website (link below).

You might like this book if you like: A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

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

My favorite lines & passages:

Trying to not stare at the corner is like being thirsty on the hottest day of the school year but not being allowed to leave the room to get a drink. The more you can’t get a drink, the thirstier you become. You raise your hand and ask your teacher if you can be excused to get a drink, but she says no, you just had a drink a little while ago. You’ll have to learn patience, she says. But your mouth is so dry and you just know you’re going to die. In this moment it’s the corner that I thirst for.  (page 62-63)

I will not allow my embarrassment and fear to overshadow what hasn’t yet happened. (page 256)

Extras: Jeffrey Koterba on Twitter, Jeffrey Koterba’s Website

Title: Wishful Drinking
Author: Carrie Fisher
Published: 2008
My edition: Simon & Schuster Hardcover 2008
Borrowed From: Hoboken Public Library
Pages: 163

Synopsis (from Strand): If ever there were living proof of just how intense coming of age in Hollywood can be, Carrie Fisher’s story could very well be considered the ultimate. Born the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Carrie was in a unique position of being involved with icons growing up, and becoming an icon herself by the age of nineteen. In “Wishful Drinking” Fisher speaks candidly on just how her extraordinary life and unpreccedented success led to her eventual mental collapse and struggles with addiction. Filled with all of the candor and intelligence that have come to mark Fisher’s career of late, this stunningly original and insightfully poignant memoir pulls back the curtain on a life unlike others.

I read this because: My friends and I saw her Broadway show last week and loved it. This book was adapted from her stage show, and is fairly similar with a little bit of extra detail.

My thoughts: While I don’t think anything can compare directly with her show and the warmth and humor she brings to the stage, her memoir is definitely fun on its own. It’s lighthearted, despite most of the subject matter being a bit heavy (death, drugs, infidelity, etc). She never feels sorry for herself though, nor asks the reader to. She simply tells you fascinating details about her life in an extremely funny way.

Book club worthy? Not particularly. (I don’t consider many memoirs good for book groups, though there are exceptions, of course.)

Follow up required: I’d like to read her autobiographical novel, Postcards from the Edge.

You might like this book if you liked: Any humorous memoir writers, like David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs

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

My favorite lines & passages:

Resentment is like drinking a poison and waiting for the other person to die. (page 153)

Cry all you want, you’ll pee less! (page 154)

Extras: Carrie Fisher’s website, Carrie Fisher on Twitter

Title: Great Expectations
Author: Charles Dickens
Published: 1861
My edition: Penguin Popular Classics 1994
Purchased From: BookDepository.com
Pages: 443

Synopsis (from BN.com): Young Phillip Pirrip’s life is shaped by an act of kindness which raises him from poverty to wealth. One of the greatest works of classic literature, this novel is a timeless tale of love, hope and humanity.

I read this because:
1. After reading & loving David Copperfield, I wanted to read more Dickens. 
2. Miss Haversham has been a character in several other books I’ve read (the Thursday Next series), and I figured it was about time to read her as she was originally written.
3. My book club picked this for our December book.

My thoughts: My Charles Dickens crush that begin with David Copperfield has been cemented into true love with Great Expectations. I apparently couldn’t appreciate his style in high school (when I read A Tale of Two Cities) but I now love his storytelling mastery, his way with descriptions, and his unforgettable and endearing characters.

To me, the message behind Great Expectations is one of coming to terms with the mistakes you’ve made in the past, and moving past them. That’s a theme that everyone can relate to, which is probably why this novel is so beloved.

I’ve been thinking about David Copperfield and Great Expectations a lot, and I’ve decided that while I recognize that Great Expectations is the superior and more complex novel, I love David Copperfield even more. David, Traddles, Agnes, and the rest won my heart over the tough competition found in Pip, Joe, Herbert, and Miss Haversham. But I do love both, and look forward to reading more Dickens.

Book club worthy? Definitely, my book club had a great discussion of this novel, although it turned out to be a more somber discussion than we had expected.

Follow up required: I’m trying to decide which Dickens novel to read next. I think I’ve narrowed it down to Nicholas Nickleby or Oliver Twist, although I’m tempted to re-read A Tale of Two Cities next to see if I like it better than I did in high school, now that I’m a Dickens fan.

You might like this book if you liked: It’s hard to compare Dickens to any other author, but if you’ve never read Great Expectations you definitely should.

Links to purchase: IndieBound, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository (The Book Depository is the only US site that sells the cute, affordable Penguin UK edition I read, so the other links provided are to the gorgeous new Penguin Classics Hardcover series.)

My favorite lines & passages:

…a large hard-breathing middle-aged slow man, with a mouth like a fish, dull staring eyes, and sandy hair standing upright on his head, so that he looked as if he had just been all but choked, and had that moment come to… (chapter 4)

So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise. (chapter 27)

For there was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery. (chapter 34)