Entomology of a Bookworm

Book Review (& Giveaway!): World's Strongest Librarian, by Josh Hanagarne

2013-05-14T16:02:00.000-04:00

There are two kinds of memoirs in the world: Those that should not be written, and all the other ones. Those that should not be written include all of the memoirs written by people who think their life experiences are somehow unique or important or different when they really aren't, or those who do, in fact, have unique and important and different life experiences but have no idea how to tell people about them in a way that is itself unique, important and different.

Josh Hanagarne's memoir, The World's Strongest Librarian, is neither of these things. It is one of the other ones. It is the kind of memoir that should be written, the kind that needed to be written, and now, the kind that needs to be read. After all, how many books out there are about a 6'7" weight-lifting librarian with Tourette Syndrome struggling with his faith after being brought up in the Mormon church? And how many of those (of which I'd argue there are none, but to be honest, I haven't actually looked) are actually well-written and entertaining and emotional and heartwrenching and otherwise wonderful?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Which is all a long-winded way of saying READ THIS BOOK. If you love books and their power to shape lives, read this book. If you love libraries and believe in their continued importance in this world (that means not you, Mr. Rosenblum), read this book. If you like interesting people with incredible stories to tell, read this book. If you like memoirs that deal with all of the good bits of love and family and faith and passion and wellness without glossing over the sometimes-heartbreakingly-bad bits, read this book.

"The public library contains multitudes," Hanagarne writes, "And each person contains multitudes as well. Each of us is a library of thoughts, memories, experiences, and odors."

Suffice it to say that Hanagarne's particular library of thoughts, memories, experiences and odors is a fascinating one. Read this book.

If you'd like a chance to read this book sooner than later, today's your lucky day! I'm hosting a giveaway of one copy of The World's Strongest Librarian (Sorry, US and Canadian readers only). Enter by leaving a comment, with additional entries for following. Contest runs through Friday, and I will pick and announce a winner on Saturday after I run 13.1 miles at 7AM in the morning oh god why am I doing this to myself again.

(This is my first time using Rafflecopter, so please bear with me!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Also follow Josh on Twitter (@joshhanagarne) and/or on his blog, The World's Strongest Librarian.

Thoughts: The Secret History, by Donna Tartt

2013-05-06T10:33:00.000-04:00

I'm way behind the times on this one, I know. It's been on my radar for years, and on my shelf since before Borders went out of business. It has moved with me from place to place, aging on the shelf while I waited for the right time to pick it up.

Which came this year, after Emily and I read Emma together and needed to turn to something a little... I would say lighter, but that's the wrong word. Faster, perhaps? Less mundane?

And mundane The Secret History is not. Tartt has crafted a suspense of the highest brow here, following a group of exceedingly pretentious college students through their studies of Ancient Greek. She looks, in great detail, at how their lofty philosophical ideals come into play--or don't, as the case may be--in real life, peeling back the layers of the group's pretension until readers realize that, at heart, they are just like every other group of college kids in the world: partaking in copious amounts of sex, drugs and alcohol, and generally trying to reinvent who they are, where they've come from, and what they want to be when they grow up.

Except, of course, for the murder. Most college kids don't commit murder (I hope.)

Tartt reveals the cruel deed on approximately page 2 of the novel, so for those few of you who haven't read this, I haven't ruined anything. Read it anyway, I promise. And then we can talk about it. Because it is eminently discussable. There are virtually no likeable characters, if you list out their characteristics and motivations, and yet we sort of don't hate them all? Even though they are murderers? And there isn't much whodunit mystery, because we know who did it from the beginning. And I have no idea in what year--or even decade--the novel is supposed to be set, because sometimes it seems like it must be the 60s or so, but then they have a college computer. So that's confusing.

Small details aside, though, the novel is a masterpiece of suspense. The creep-level of Tartt's novel is due in large part to how believable it all is. It seems such a natural progression of events, from cover-ups to frustration to outright killing, that it is easy to forget how downright terrible the murder is in the first place. And Tartt absolutely masters the psychology of it all, how it impacts each member of the group and the group overall. It's actually hard to say which is more suspenseful, the build-up to the act itself, or the fallout from it, but that's part of what makes it so wonderfully captivating.

I know I'll be picking up Tartt's new novel, due out this fall.

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For those who have read this and Tana French, does anyone else see similarities between this and The Likeness? Creepy college kids with secrets to hide, excluding themselves from normal college life in favor of the company of each other?

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The Secret History | Donna Tartt | September 1992 | Vintage | Paperback | 576 pages | Buy from an independent near you

Harry Potter Readalong, All the Gifs, Book 6, and an Apology

2013-05-03T13:54:00.002-04:00

But first, the apology! I've dropped off the face of this readalong's earth, and it's all because of Doctor Who. I started watching the series (starting from 2005) about the same time that we all started reading Book 5, and Doctor Who quickly took over my life. It was (is?) all I do when I get home from work.

I did manage to catch up on Book 6 (and by "catch up on" I mean "read all of") during last weekend's readathon, though, so here I am! I'm SO excited to have made it back to the real world (or the Harry Potter world, depending on how you choose to see it) in time for the last book. And the end of the sixth book. BECAUSE DUMBLEDORE. Even though I knew this was coming, it was still ALL THE FEELS.

Actually, I may have had even more feels this time through than in the re-reads of Books 1-5 because this was the first book I was reading for only the second time (rather than the 4th or 5th or seventy-gabillionth time, I'm looking at you, Sorceror's Stone). So while I knew what was coming, I was still fuzzy on recalling all of the other details surrounding that awful, awful moment. I'd sort of even forgotten the whole Draco-is-supposed-to-do-this bit, at least until I got to about chapter 5. But I digress. Because I had been so keen on simply finding out what was going to happen in my first (and previously only) read of the sixth book, I missed a lot, which mean I had a lot more to rediscover in this book than in the others that I've read over and over again.

I've decided that the Malfoys' storyline, while brought on entirely by their own greed and self-servance (not a word, but it'll do), is also kind of heartbreaking. Narcissa (such an obvious name choice, JK) really just wants what is best for her son, and her son really just wants what any teenage boy wants--to prove he's not a child anymore, and to impress his parents (and everyone else, while he's at it). I still hate the whole lot of them, and Draco is utterly atrocious in this book (illegal curses? Come on, Snape, even you can't turn a blind eye on that one), but at least we get to see some Malfoy heart. Such as it were.

(Question, though--if the dementors have run off, but Lucius is in jail at Azkaban... who is guarding Azkaban? And is it really as bad as it once was if the dementors aren't there to make it terrible?)

Other things that are brilliant about this book: Luna's Quidditch commentary (though I do rather miss whats-his-face from the earlier books, as he was rather funny); Fleur's undying love for Bill and Mrs. Weasley's eventual acceptance of Fleur through the olive branch that is actually a tiara (perfect!); Harry and Ginny finally getting it on in their awkward teenagery ways. I also really love Harry's continual standing up to the Minister of Magic, proving himself Dumbledore's man through and through. Warms my heart, that does.

So, I'm uber-excited for the last book, which I really, truly did not like the first time I read it, but given all the tings I realized I'd forgotten in the sixth book, I'm going into with an open mind (and lower expectations than the first time, because let's face it, I had set the imaginary bar pretty damn high when I read the seventh book the first time.)

ONWARD!

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PS - In honor of my newfound Doctor Who addiction, all gifs above are Doctor Who themed. Sorry I'm not really all that sorry about that.

Looking Ahead: May Highlights

2013-05-02T06:03:00.000-04:00

May's a big month for book releases, with publishers prepping for summer reads and Memorial Day weekend officially kicking off beach reading (OMG I'm already packing my sunscreen). It's also the beginning of the summer movie series, which means tie-ins and related reads abound. And last (but certainly not least, thanks for reading, Mom!), May is the month of Mother's Day, which means yet another influx of books about mothers and daughters, none of which are featured below. But not because I don't love my Mom. Just because those books don't look as good as these do:

Call Me Zelda, by Erika Robuck (NAL, May 7) I read Erika's Hemingway's Girl last year and loved it, and that was before I found out she was a local-to-me author. Don't doubt for a second that I didn't jump at the chance to read her newest novel, which focuses on a fictionalized friendship between the real Zelda Fitzgerald and the imagined nurse Anna Howard. This one's perfect for fans of Z: A Novel of Zelda (St. Martin's, March 2013), and will hit shelves just in time for the May 10th release of the new Gatsby movie. Oh, and if you're in the Annapolis area, Erika will be reading and signing at the Annapolis B&N on May 10th.

Good Kings Bad Kings, by Susan Nussbaum (Algonquin, May 28): I finished this last weekend and it took me over a week to write a review for Shelf Awareness, simply because I couldn't find the words to express how wonderful this is. And heartbreaking. Telling the story of the dysfunctional and often cruel ILLC, a nursing home for juveniles with disabilities, it will make you reconsider every assumption you've ever made about what it means to be disabled--especially when you lack the resources or support that so many of us take for granted.

The World's Strongest Librarian, by Josh Hanagarne (Gotham, May 2): The title alone is enough to make me want to read this one. The publisher's blurb claims that the book "illuminates the mysteries of this little-understood disorder, as well as the very different worlds of strongman training and modern libraries." Sign. Me. Up.

Homeward Bound, by Emily Matchar (Simon & Schuster, May 7): I read Jessica Valenti's Why Have Kids? last fall, and have had my eye out for more in the same vein ever since. While this tackles overall domesticity, not parenting and motherhood specifically, it sounds like it will scratch all kinds of thinky gender-study itches. The sociology minor in me is squealing with delight.

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And look, I even ended up with an entirely accidental even split between fiction and non-fiction - just like my April recap. I'm sensing a trend, here, friends.

Reading Recap: April Favorites

2013-05-01T17:38:00.004-04:00

April was a big month of non-fiction for me, with my favorites list for the month splitting up evenly between fiction and non-fiction. I also caught up on a few big titles from last year that I can't believe I've waited this long to pick up:

How to Find Fulfilling Work and How to Change the World: These two new volumes in the School of Life series make an excellent pair, urging readers to reconsider how we want to spend our limited time on this earth. How can we be fulfilled? And how can we make a difference? What makes us happy, and what will improve others' lives? Neither offers answers, but rather presents interesting arguments, facts, figures, and examples to force readers to start asking--and answering--the right questions.

Gulp, by Mary Roach: Considering the fact that I'll read pretty much anything Mary Roach writes, there was no way I'd be missing out on this one. And Roach's recap of the Alimentary Canal -- from how we chew to how we poop -- did not disappoint. It didn't top Stiff, which is still my favorite Mary Roach book of all time, but it's a close second.

Reconstructing Amelia, by Kimberley McCreight: I'm not much for "when-x-meets-y" descriptors, but the entire time I was listening to this on audio, I kept thinking, "It's like Gossip Girl meets Gone Girl!" Seriously. Suspense, mystery, suicide, teen bullies, secret clubs, naked photos, drugs, booze, text messages and Facebook and even an anonymous newsletter--this one has it all, and I powered through it in just a few days.

Backlist Picks

Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter: This one had been buzzing in the book world since last summer, and I finally picked it up on audio. It's just as beautiful and wonderful as everyone says it is, and Eduardo Ballerini's narration is spot-on. I'm picking up Walter's new short story collection, We Live In Water, this month.

The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller: This ToB-contender didn't take home the rooster this year, but that doesn't make it any less wonderful. It's a love story based on a version of the myth of Achilles, which Miller has interpreted as a love story told through the eyes of Patroclus, Achilles' lover and best friend. It's heartbreaking and lovely and wonderful and sad and hopeful and everything you hope a retelling of a classic myth could ever be.

Thoughts: The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

2013-04-30T11:43:00.000-04:00

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”

I'm not going to go so far as to say that The Fault in Our Stars is the kind of book that all living humans need to read, nor will I argue that it is perfect. But I will say it is the kind of book that shatters the world in a way that makes it feel like all of the pieces might not ever go back together perfectly, like everything is slightly askew after you rebuild it.

The Fault in Our Stars is, at its heart, a love story. A girl named Hazel Grace meets a boy named Augustus at a teenage cancer support group. He likes her because she looks like his dead ex-girlfriend, but then because she is kind and smart and funny. She likes him because he is witty* and cute and makes her laugh. They fall in love. They go on adventures. They suffer through the pains of cancer together, her lugging an oxygen tank behind her wherever she goes, he limping around on a prosthetic after losing a leg to cancer. They ruminate on the meaning of life and death and experience. They help their friend Isaac get through the loss of an eye, his adjustment to life without sight, and his devastating break-up with his girlfriend.

In short, except for the cancer, they are just two pretentious teenagers in love. But in their lives, there is no "except for the cancer." It is everything, it shapes everything, it controls everything. And so The Fault in Our Stars quickly becomes more than a teenage love story, morphing into a story of two people trying desperately to hold on to the world and to each other, to control their own destinies, to hold up in the face of pain, and trial, and loss.

On audio, Kate Rudd's narration brings Hazel Grace's character to life more than I think might have happened in print, which makes her hardships only the more difficult to bear. But the narration (both Kate Rudd's voice and Hazel Grace's telling of her story) is not without a touch of hope, for where there is love, there is also happiness. Or something like that. Honestly, I was crying too much at the end to have many deep thoughts beyond how much heartbreak I could stand in one read. And I am not a big book-crier.

The Fault in Our Stars has fallen victim to the hype machine, torn apart by those disappointed in it, elevated beyond reason by those who adore it. But if taken for what it is--a love story between two very sick teenagers--it defies expectations, proving to be bigger than any one descriptor. It will make you re-think what it is to be loved, to love, to be needed, to need, to be in pain, to be dying, to be lost, and to consider that life is just a sum of all the small moments we are given.

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*My biggest beef with this book was Augustus, because while I know he is meant to be a pretentious teenager, I just cannot believe there are teenagers who talk like that. At all. In fact, I don't even think there are adults who talk like Augustus. He's too smart, too philosophical, too perfectly quippy to be seventeen. But when I was able to gloss over this annoyance, I did sort of love Augustus, after all.

Readathon: The End

2013-04-28T10:29:00.002-04:00

I made it! I finished my first Dewey Readathon with just under 1,000 pages read (plus an hour of audiobook). I didn't keep exact track of time spent reading vs. poking around other posts vs. eating/napping/running/walking the dog/etc, but I'd say I probably got a good 12 hours of reading in.

I'm donating $0.05 per page read/minute of audiobook listened to, which brings me up to a $52.45 donation to the Anne Arundel Literacy Council.

1) Which hour was most daunting for you?
Probably hour 18 or 19 -- I went to bed sometime in there and managed mere 17 pages of Tiny Beautiful Things before I gave in to sleep.

2) Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I really enjoyed Gulp by Mary Roach as a bit of humor and education in the middle of day, but my re-read of the sixth Harry Potter book is really what kept me going until the wee hours of the morning.

3) Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
No, it was great!

4) What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Loved the cheerleaders and constant mini-challenges -- enough to take breaks now and then but not enough to distract completely from the reading in front of me.

5) How many books did you read?
In total - 1
Finished books I'd already begun earlier in the week - 2
Read a bit and then put it down - 2

6) What were the names of the books you read?
War and Peace
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince
How to Change the World
Gulp
Tiny Beautiful Things

7)Which book did you enjoy most?
Hard to say, but probably Harry Potter, Gulp, or the 17 pages of Tiny Beautiful Things.

8) Which did you enjoy least?
War and Peace, but not because I actually didn't like it, just because it wasn't the greatest choice for readathon material. Too brainy, if you will.

9) If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
N/A

10) How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
If scheduling permits, I'll definitely do it again!

Readathon-ing!

2013-04-27T08:22:00.001-04:00

It's officially here -- my first ever Dewey 24-hour-readathon! Sadly, I'm starting the day with an 11-mile training run instead of curled on the couch with a book, but I have WWZ on audio to keep me coming through the miles and am SO looking forward to settling in with a book when I get home and showered.

I'm going to follow Jenn's (from Jenn's Bookshelves) example and update on Tumblr and post links to my Tumblr here as I go - stay tuned for updates!

My Book Stack

The Starting Line

Noon Update: 11 Miles, Very Little Reading

Mini-Challenge: Re-title Your Read

1:00 Update: Moving on to War and Peace

3:00 Update: Looking for Something Lighter...

5:00 Update: Cocktail Hour Is Upon Us!

7:00 Update: Second Book Completed

9:00 Update: Harry Potter Was a Good Decision

11:00 Update: More Harry

1:00AM: Bedtime!

My First Dewey Readathon

2013-04-25T11:24:00.003-04:00

Guys, it's happening. I've signed up for my first Dewey readathon, and I am stoked. I have no idea what exactly I'm supposed to do all day except read a lot, but I don't really see too much of a problem with that (I'll be running in the morning, but I have an audiobook for that).

Here's what's on my list for the day:

War & Peace: I've fallen two books behind in the War & Peace Readalong, and I am determined to start catching up. I'm not sure Tolstoy is the best readathon book of all time, but I figure I can alternate between this and something lighter (see: Harry Potter) to keep my eyes from crossing.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Another readalong I'm trying to keep up with. I read the fifth book (even though I never managed to post about it) and am only half a book behind on the sixth, so I figure I can play catch-up on Saturday.

To Have and Have Not: Hemingway's on my 26-by-26 list as well as War and Peace, and while I've mostly resigned myself to not actually reading everything the man has written before my birthday in November, I'd like to get to at least more than the four books I've currently read.

Gulp: I'm sort of in love with Mary Roach, and mad that I didn't think of writing a song about her first. I'm halfway through this and hoping to finish it this weekend.

We Live in Water: I finished Jess Walter's Beautiful Ruins last week, and we're picking up We Live in Water for our next Mini Long-Distance Book Club readalong. I'm hoping short stories will make for good readathon fodder.

Tiny Beautiful Things: Another one I picked up recently, and another short-form piece I'm hoping makes good readathon material.

And last, but certainly not least, some books to get me through my last 23-day stretch before my next half marathon:

World War Z (audio): I've got the new recording of the audiobook on my phone, ready to keep me company for my 11-mile training run Saturday morning. I figure after that, I'll be exhausted enough that all I'll want to do all day is read. And possibly nap. And also read.

Born to Run: I've heard this is the kind of book that makes you just want to keep running. The last few weeks before a race, I need all the motivation I can get, because the last thing I want to do when I get home from work every day is lace up my sneakers. #icandothis

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Obviously I don't plan on reading all of this, and I will allow my eyes to wander over the shelves as the day progresses, but I wanted to start out with some kind of a plan. What do more experienced readathoners recommend?

Book Review: How to Find Fulfilling Work, by Roman Krznaric

2013-04-23T10:50:00.000-04:00

There have been many, many posts of late about the so-called "quarter-life crisis," from an entire HuffPo page collecting articles on the topic to this Book Riot post on what to read through a quarter-life crisis. As a 25-year-old who has recently realized I have absolutely zero idea what I want to do with the rest of my life, I'd say I'm smack dab in the middle of this particularly trendy issue.

And Roman Krznaric's How to Find Fulfilling Work could not have landed in my mailbox at a better time. The book, part of Alain de Botton's School of Life series, offers up history, wisdom and guidance for finding the fulfilling work. Not the perfect career. Not the most high-paying job out there. Not the most world-changing work available. But fulfilling work, which means it is important to you, the worker, the person who will do this for the rest of your life.

Or maybe not. Maybe you'll be one of the multi-career individuals Krznaric points out, focusing on multiple jobs at once or perhaps several careers over a lifetime. The biggest overall takeaway from Krznaric's short but impactful book, after all, is that there is no one path for everyone, and there are no right answers. Finding fulfilling work is about taking chances, asking questions, and learning who we are as an individual, and Krznaric's book aims to help us do just that. He offers examples of individuals who have found--or not found, as the case may be--fulfilling work, homework assignments intended to get one really thinking about what it is we want to be doing all day, and probing questions about our priorities, our goals, and our intentions.

Though How to Find Fulfilling Work doesn't have all the answers, it does ask questions that force us to start writing our own answers. It's a short book, but an important one, whether you be in a quarter-life crisis yourself, or just somewhere along a not-so-fulfilling career path. And hell, I'd bet it could be thought-provoking even if you consider yourself happy and fulfilled at work. At just over 200 pages, it's well worth the read.

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Review of How to Change the World coming soon.

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Entomology of a Bookworm Got Tumbl'ed

2013-04-19T09:27:00.002-04:00

I'm just diving into the great, wide world of Tumblr, and looking for blogs to follow. Who of you are there? Who's got recommendations? Books? Reading? Feminism? Dr. Who? Harry Potter? Inspirational images? Quotes? What are your favorites? Who should I be following?

Come follow me on Tumblr for more books, reading life, Dr. Who/David Tennant, Sherlock Holmes, and other beautiful things. I'll be migrating short-form content over there (photos, quotes, the like), but will continue long-form reviews and commentary on the reading life here. At least that's my working plan, which of course will continue to morph as I continue to write. (Note to self: Must work on that "continuing to write" thing.)

Book Review: Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson

2013-04-18T09:27:00.000-04:00

This review originally ran in the Friday, April 12th issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. If you don't already subscribe, sign up here to receive a bi-weekly dose of readerly goodness in your inbox.

On a snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born blue in the face, strangled by her own umbilical cord, never taking her first breath; on a snowy night in 1910, the local doctor arrives at Mrs. Todd's bedside just in time to save Ursula's life.

In 1930, Ursula Todd walks into a restaurant and shoots Hitler at point-blank range; in 1930, she is wed to an abusive husband in England.

In 1933, Ursula Todd weds a German man and settles in Germany, unable to leave the country after war begins in 1939; in 1940, she is having an affair with a British government official in London.

Kate Atkinson's Life After Life is the story of Ursula Todd's many, many lives, all starting in the same place, at the same time, but varying by degrees. She lives through the Second World War again and again: as a friend of Hitler's mistress, as a member of London's air raid patrol, as a government worker. She loses siblings, parents, friends, lovers. She sees families torn apart, city blocks destroyed, "the crushed fragments of lives, never to be whole again."

It is only natural, then, that Ursula begins to question her ability to change the past--and therefore the future. Atkinson details the implications of a life lived over and over again: Are our fates locked in, or do we have the power to change them?

The success of Life After Life lies in Atkinson's ability to parse these cerebral questions of life and philosophy without ever losing sight of Ursula's story--or stories. The result is stunning, emotional, at times funny--and always downright unforgettable. One of my favorites of 2013 so far.

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Book Review: The Mapmaker's War, by Roni Domingue

2013-04-08T14:15:00.000-04:00

This review originally ran in the Friday, March 8th issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. If you don't already subscribe, sign up here to receive a bi-weekly dose of readerly goodness in your inbox.

"This will be the map of your heart, old woman." So begins The Mapmaker's War--part legend, part romance, part fairy tale and part (fictional) memoir. Aoife, the narrator, tells the story of her life to herself--and thus to us as well--from the beginning, recalling a wild childhood spent adventuring in the forest and her unlikely apprenticeship to a skilled mapmaker. She recounts her first encounter with the Guardians, a peaceful people on whom she inadvertently brings a war, her discovery of a dragon--and a hoard of treasure with it--and her eventual exile from her own land. She also remembers her attempts to rebuild her life, reconstructing a person from the broken pieces left behind in her homeland.

The Mapmaker's War, Ronlyn Domingue's second novel (after The Mercy of Thin Air), is a testament to storytelling in its own right, placing epic fantasy at the heart of the everyday in a way that makes the magical seem as real as the mundane. Aoife's story is riddled with pain as she loses her family, her husband, her children and her sense of self, but it's also filled with resilience. The second-person narration may take some getting used to, but it ultimately succeeds in bringing readers deep into Aoife's story. The Mapmaker's War is, as Aoife writes in the beginning, the map of her heart as she tries to find her place in a world, persevering against all obstacles to understand who--and why--she is.

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Thank-You Notes for Writers

2013-04-04T08:17:00.000-04:00

In college, I was lucky enough to spend a semester studying in Paris. About a month into my stay, I found myself frustrated with the French, and France, and my entire program, generally missing home and wondering what in the hell I'd gotten myself into. I had cheese and Nutella and wine and the company of a best friend, but I was cold, I missed my family (and the sun), I stepped in dog poop in the sidewalk at least once a day, and I was learning first-hand how little the Parisians wanted to help me with my French.

In front of Shakespeare and Co.

When I came across a battered copy of A Year in the Merde in a used bookshop in the city, imagine my delight at finding that Stephen Clarke had had all of the same troubles I was having at that very moment:

Dear Mr. Clarke, I just wanted to say thank you for A Year in the Merde. I just moved to Paris, and I will be studying here for the next semester. I have not enjoyed Paris as much as I had expected to - the French and I just don't see eye-to-eye - but your book took everything about France and the French that drives me insane and, magically, made it laughable and humorous. I laughed so much while reading your book, and afterwards when experiencing things that you wrote about, and I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it and how much of a difference it made knowing I am not completely insane in my thoughts here.

Thank you,
Kerry

And his response, which came only a few days later, made my day:

hi,
glad you enjoyed the book. you do know there's a
volume two called merde actually, don't you? it might
help you continue your laughotherapy.
like uranium and tobacco smoke, prolonged exposure to
france can cause lasting damage.
bonne lecture
sc

I've since come to appreciate my time in Paris, even going so far as to say I miss the place sometimes, but it was a harder transition than I ever could have anticipated. Stephen Clarke's words--in his book and in his email--let me know I wasn't alone in my struggles to appreciate the City of Light. How could I ever thank him enough?

Last day in Paris, at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Or as far up as we were allowed to go that day, anyway.

Have you ever written a thank-you note to a writer?

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Over at Go Mighty, you can sign up to join the Mighty Girl community and participate in the #thankawriter project. Bonus: For every #thankawriter submission, you'll be entered into a competition to win a set of Penguin's adorbs Drop Cap classics. I'm not participating or in anyway affiliated with the contest, but figured it was worth a share for anyone interested in thanking a writer and potentially winning some really lovely books.

On Sale Today: Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson

2013-04-02T09:52:00.002-04:00

Guys, Kate Atkinson's Life After Life is on sale today. Stop what you're doing and go buy it. Right. Now.

This is historical fiction in its most imaginative form, focusing on Ursula Todd as she dies and lives and dies and lives and dies and lives and on again, leading up to and eventually through World War II. It is a fascinating study of history, of what it means to live and to die, and of the consequences of our actions. Atkinson has given us a story that is gripping and compelling and complex and confusing and enlightening all rolled up into one finely crafted novel. Don't miss it.

Review: Z: A Novel of Zelda, by Therese Ann Fowler

2013-03-27T12:56:00.002-04:00

In sitting down to review this novel, I could give you a summary of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald's whirlwind romance, from their flirtations in Montgomery to their rapid-fire wedding in New York City following the publication of Scott's first novel, This Side of Paradise. I could tell you about the Fitzgerald's romps through New York and Paris and Italy and Alabama and Hollywood and back again. I could explain to you the cracks and breaks in their marriage, their passion alternating between love and hate on a near-daily basis by the end.

But I'll leave all that alone, because Therese Anne Fowler does it better than I could hope to do. Instead, I will tell you that Fowler's novel Z: A Novel of Zelda is on bookstore shelves this week, and that it is a book meant for the hands of anyone with even a passing interest in the Jazz Age. I will tell you that Fowler has clearly done her research, packing her novelization of Zelda's life with enough detail and historical accuracy that it is easy to forget that we are reading fiction. And I will tell you that Z is my favorite kind of historical novel: one so steeped in truth that it sent me out looking for more to read about Zelda and her famous--and often infamous--husband immediately after turning the last page.

Fowler never claims to know the full truth of Zelda's life, especially given the conflicting nature of many of the records available to us. But with the information available, she has reconstructed a perfectly plausible--and delightfully captivating--account of Zelda Sayre's life as Mrs. Fitzgerald, cataloging the extreme highs and lows that the couple suffered together and alone. Z is sure to be of interest to anyone familiar with Scott Fitzgerald's work--and did you know Zelda herself was a writer?--to those with an interest in the Jazz Age, and to any readers who enjoy imagining the histories of their favorite writers.

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I received a copy of this title for review from the publisher via NetGalley.

Z: A Novel of Zelda | Therese Anne Fowler | St. Martin's Press | March 2013 | Hardcover | 384 pages | Buy from an independent near you

Book Polygamy

2013-03-20T07:57:00.000-04:00

I was going to title this post "Book Bigamy" because I liked the alliteration but given the fact that Goodreads tells me I'm in the midst of no less than 7 books at the moment, "polygamy" seemed a more accurate description of my recent reading habits.

It started simply, with just two books. Then I added a third, then joined a readalong and added a fourth, and so on, until I found myself with an in-progress book stack of staggering proportion:

I like big books and I cannot lie.

There are times, of course, when I'll go on a book-finishing binge, eager to clear my stacks and start fresh on a whole new set of titles. But more and more, I find I've become addicted to the middle of books--that period of time, in the midst of reading, when you are far enough into the story to be comfortable but far enough away from the end to feel it will last. Reading several books at once ensures that I am never without a book middle to entice me; those rare occasions when I find I am in the middle of nothing (except, perhaps, War and Peace, which I fear I may be in the middle of forever) are occasions of panic and indecision and quite often lead to what us voracious readers call a "slump."

There are fatalities in this system, of course--those books I start but never finish, turning instead to one of my (many) other current reads. But as one who's never minded unfinished books, this bothers me no more than a conscious decision to set something aside. There are far too many books to read in this world, and not enough time in which to read them; I try to focus my attention on those books that truly captivate me--and often, that means competing with several other concurrent reads for my precious moments of reading time.

I know there are readers out there who prefer to read just one book at a time, and there are those who read like me, scattered about and in the middle of several things at once. Which are you?

Book Review: The Gods of Heavenly Punishment, by Jennifer Cody Epstein

2013-03-18T10:38:00.000-04:00

This review originally ran in the Friday, March 15th issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. If you don't already subscribe, sign up here to receive a bi-weekly dose of readerly goodness in your inbox.

Yoshi is a young Japanese girl living in Tokyo, busy with school and prayers for the emperor, with occasional visits to her father stationed in Manchuria. When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, everything changes. Tokyo becomes a target for American bombing raids, and Yoshi's life fills with air raid sirens, prayers for soldiers and hopeless waiting. When Tokyo is at last hit with bombs that have been anticipated for so many months, the city left behind is unrecognizable, nothing more than a collection of corpses and ash and burned-out buildings.

Jennifer Cody Epstein's The Gods of Heavenly Punishment is Yoshi's story, and it is the story of Cameron Richards, a downed bomber pilot in 1942's failed Doolittle Raid; Anton Reynolds, an American architect living in Tokyo before the war; and Billy, an American soldier sent into Tokyo as part of the occupation after the Japanese surrender. Their stories come together in a tale of war and all the chaos associated with it, detailing the everyday cruelties and illogical injustices that became the norm for Tokyo residents after the 1945 firebombing of the city. With stunning clarity, Epstein has re-created Tokyo both before and after the bombing in a novel that raises still-unanswered questions about the horrors of war, the cruelty associated with it and the lasting impression it can make on a person, a people or a place.

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The Gods of Heavenly Punishment | W.W. Norton | Hardcover | 384 pages | March 2013 | Buy from an independent near you

HP#4: The Big Reveal, or, Dumbledore is Amazeballs

2013-03-16T09:45:00.000-04:00

HPatGoF is inteeeeense, y'all. I did not remember how absolutely suspenseful the last few chapters were; even knowing how the book ends, I stayed up well past my bedtime this week to finish this section. And my, does it tug the heartstrings. There's no gentle lead-in to Diggory's death. It's just, boom, we're noble and heroic and we will share the championship FOR HOGWARTS! and then boom, Portkey and then boom, Avada Kedavra, dead.

Also, I love that we get to see Dumbledore's true badassery in this section, as he immediately figures out the Moody situation and deals with it without delay. Harry says Voldemort is back? Ok, then, let's get real about this and see what we can do to stop it. Oh, and Minerva, while we're sorting things out, go get that black dog from my office and tell him we'll be right in. Moody is really Crouch sipping Polyjuice Potion to make him look like Moody? Truth serum, stat. He also wears his scary face and brooks no nonsense. I like that in a wizard.

There is so much set up for Book 5 in the last few chapters of Book 4, it makes me all tingly inside. Not set up like Book 4 loses its way, but Voldemort comes back, we learn who really is a Death Eater (no surprises there, quite), the Weasleys are called upon to be awesome yet again, Snape goes off on some undefined errand for Dumblydorr, the mystery of Crouch is revealed, Sirius shows himself to his fellow Voldermort-haters, and we just know that things are going down. It's like it's impossible to read this scene without hearing dramatic but excited music playing in the background.

I know there are a lot of things that happen that are fascinating that aren't directly related to Voldemort's return to power (Fred & George's money, for one, and the tournament itself, for another), but I am easily distracted by dramatic crescendo-ing conclusions, and now I'm all giddy for the next book.

Four Things

2013-03-13T11:44:00.000-04:00

Four things that are making me incredibly happy right now:

This nerdy tote bag, purchased while we waited in a three-hour line to have Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal (Robert Jordan's wife, and editor of the Wheel of Time series) sign our copy of A Memory of Light - the last Wheel of Time book.

Our recent trip to Portsmouth, NH, which included a drive up the Maine coast and a stop at the Nubble Point lighthouse.

My slow but steady progress through War and Peace, which I'm determined to read before my 26th birthday.

This guy, and his growing collection of ridiculous sweaters.

Harry Potter #4: Part the Third, or Percy Is a Swine-Nosed Imp

2013-03-08T08:56:00.000-05:00

This week, I finally got my act together and took notes while I was reading so that I wouldn't get to the end of the week and suddenly find all the thoughts leaking out of my head. Unfortunately for me (or, actually, for you fellow readalongers), these notes didn't prove all that coherent. Case in point:

"Percy is a swine-nosed imp."

I didn't even reference a page number, so I have no idea what got me all bent out of shape about Percy (this time).

In other news, this week, we learn all about how Rita Skeeter is the absolute worst, and how Albus Dumblydorr is all about second chances: Hagrid (we knew that already), Lupin (who couldn't love Lupin?), and, it turns out, Snape (ugh, Snape).

Snape is still an asshat, Karkaroff is up to no good, and that mermaid scene underwater is actually kind of creepy, because, well, friends and loved ones knocked out and floating under water under threat of death or other imminent demise if not rescued within one hour.

I'm really glad Harry got extra points for honor, because even though they all laugh it off and pretend like of course Hogwarts wouldn't actually let someone die/disappear/be eaten by merpeople if they weren't rescued within an hour... the clue does actually say that that something "black" will happen. So good on you, Harry, for being a hero, because if we've learned anything in the last 3 books, it's that sometimes the wizarding world is more harsh than we might expect.

Other things I thought about:

- How many dots must show up on the Marauder's Map at any one time? This goes back to the maths (I blame the readalong for this obsession with the maths), but really, if it shows everyone, doesn't that make the map a little crowded? And... wouldn't it mean Harry could figure out where the other Houses' common rooms are, because there would be clusters of students there?

- Myrtle complains to Harry that sometimes she gets flushed out into the lake when someone isn't paying attention. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? First of all, gross, Hogwarts, that's pollution, you can't just flush your crap into the lake and then expect students to go diving into it to rescue their loved ones. Second of all, gross, Myrtle, just leave the toilet if someone starts using it. Third of all, I thought ghosts couldn't be affected by material things (they can't eat real food, for instance), so how could the water force her to move against her will? I don't know why I am so hung up on this, but I am.

Things are getting iffy with Crouch and Bagman, Moody is up to something, Sirius is suspicious, Hermy-own-ninny and Skeeter are going to duke it out, and the great maze challenge is upon us. I'm so excited for the rest of this book.

Harry Potter, Book 4: Triwizarding, Awkward Teenage Arguments, and SPEW

2013-03-01T13:47:00.001-05:00

Note #1: I really should start taking notes while reading, because I always have all the thoughts and then it comes time to sit down and write my weekly post and *poof!* Thoughts be gone. (Maybe this is the result of too many Memory Charms!?)

Note #2: I'd really, truly forgotten how much I like this book.

When we last left off, Hogwarts had just announced the Triwizard Tournament and everyone was plotting how to get around Dumbledore's Age Line to put their name in the Goblet of Fire. Now, the other competing schools have arrived and SURPRISE! Harry Potter's name has come out of the Goblet of Fire.

I mean, obviously we knew this was coming (even those of us who hadn't read the book, right?), because how could there be anything amazing happening at Hogwarts without Harry being a part of it? (JK also gave it away a little bit by calling the book "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," if you ask me.)

Which, of course, is pretty much Ron's take on things, because he immediately starts snubbing Harry and acting totally immature and jealous, even though I really do feel bad for him because once, just once, he just wants something amazing to happen to him. Hermione sums it up when she says he just feels overshadowed. Again.

And, once again, Hermione proves herself the most intelligent witch/wizard around--this time, including the professors--because obviously Harry could not have hoodwinked the Goblet of Fire into thinking there should be four competitors on his own, and even more obviously, he could not have tricked Dumbledore's Age Line without Dumbledore's knowing it. Why is it that only Hermione (well, and Harry) seems to be able to see this?

There is Moody, of course, who also sees this is highly suspicious, but he sees everything as highly suspicious and is immediately dismissed as a paranoid whack-o. Oh, actually, maybe that's why everyone else dismisses any possible foul-play or danger-intending when Harry's name comes up.

Of course, Harry battles a dragon and pretty much plays Quidditch with it, Golden-Egg-Snitch and all, which is amazing, and Ron forgives him and everything is right as rain again (except for that whole someone-trying-to-do-Harry-in-bit). Which I'm grateful for, because pretty much every scene in the entire series in which HRH aren't speaking is my least favorite scene of them all.

NOW... Golden Eggs! Sirius returns! House elf liberation! Awkward romances!

War & Peace: Part Deux

2013-02-28T13:16:00.000-05:00

This is the second post of 12 to follow in My Friend Amy's War and Peace Readalong, which goes through the end of this year. I'll likely rush ahead towards the end to try to finish this one before my 26th birthday in mid-November, since it is also part of my 26-by-26 list.

War and Peace! Goodreads assures me that I am 16% through you, which is a little disheartening because last post I was 9% through and I haven't even doubled that yet, but I am enjoying you nonetheless.

Obsessive percentage-tracking aside, I am really getting into War and Peace. I've taken fellow readalonger Jason's advice and given up on trying to remember everybody, and instead trying to just appreciate the story for what it is on its own. It's working! Though I still can't tell you the difference between Prince Andrei and Prince Oblonsky (wrong Tolstoy novel?) and Prince Bolkonsky, I can tell you that Part II is full of the gruesome, grizzly, violent details of War that really move this novel far beyond the Peace-with-Imminent-War we encountered in Part I.

And that war is heart-wrenching, no?

We encounter bored soldiers who are eager for action, clueless as to the pain and violence that will befall them when they actually experience war. We watch as the Russians score a decisive victory, only to have it belittled, wiped away, and generally looked over in light of the terrible news coming from other corners of the battle. We follow Rostov (is he the one in love with one of the girls from Part I?) as he charges into battle and is injured in short order, barely understanding what has happened to him and unable to follow the flow of the charging troops in his haze.

At the end of the day, what is most trying about this war is that these men are just men, as they are in every other war ever fought. They have their own hopes and dreams and aspirations and failings and problems and lives, but they have been brought together to fight for a cause they may or may not believe in, and may or may not fully understand. In doing so, though, they become part of something larger than themselves:

"Understand that we're either officers serving our tsar and fatherland, and rejoice in common successes and grieve over our common failures, or we're lackeys, who have nothing to do with their masters' doings. Forty thousand men massacred and the army of our allies destroyed, and you find an excuse for laughing... It's all right for a worthless fellow...but not for you, not for you."

Looking forward to Part III, perhaps re-encountering some of the peace (or more war, either way), and moving that percentage tracker a little further along.

If you've read this one, what am I missing? What should I be on the lookout for?

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War and Peace | Leo Tolstoy, trans. Richard Peaver and Larissa Volokhonsky | Vintage Classics | 2011 (originally published 1865) | Paperback | 1248 pages | Buy from an independent near you

Harry Potter, Book 4: There Is More to the Wizarding World Than Hogwarts

2013-02-22T08:28:00.000-05:00

Well, there is more to the wizarding world than Hogwarts, Diagon Alley (and Knockturn Alley), and Platform 9 3/4, anyway. This is by far my favorite part of book 4 -- Rowling's reveal of other parts of the wizarding world. And this reveal comes long before the Triwizard Tournament sheds light on other wizarding schools; the Quidditch World Cup is teeming with new wizard-y things we didn't know about before this book:

Professional, post-graduation wizards who are not professors, including Bill and Charlie, Percy's new appointment to the Ministry, Mad-Eye Moody's work as an Auror, etc.
More about the Ministry of Magic than just the Minister and the occasional ax-man, including a Department of Magical Games and Sports, Aurors (wicked cool profession, no?), the Improper Use of Magic Office, the Department of International Magical Cooperation, the Department of Mysteries, and the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad.
Other wizard schools, including Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.
The awesome and wonderful and amazing extent the wizarding world goes to to make sure Muggles don't know about wizards at all. Although I do have to wonder if those Memory Charms do lasting damage... seems to me that messing with memory that often is a dangerous thing.

Don't let the Muggles see you.

Also, aren't the Weasleys just the grandest? I was crying from laughing when they plastered their "normal" letter with postage to get it to the Dursleys, and then Mr. Weasley's attempts to fix the living room, and standing up for Harry when his uncle is (yet again) a total jerk to Harry, and then when they get all mad but secretly love it when Dudley eats the tongue-growing candy, and then when Arthur is so awesome with the big scare at the World Cup.

Which brings me to the darker side of the wizarding world that is revealed here--house-elf slavery, Death Eaters, dark marks, painful scars, extreme mudblood loathing. There's a lot of set up in this first chunk of HPatGoF, but it's all pretty spectacular set up.

Hermione after learning her food is made by house elves.

I'd forgotten how much I love this book! (And, let's face it, what I crush I have on Cedric.)