Estella's Revenge

Top Ten Tuesday, the 2012 VD Edition

2012-02-14T08:56:00.000-06:00

Yes, I turn Valentine's Day into VD at every available opportunity. What will I be doing to celebrate? I will eat Dove chocolate truffles and red velvet cupcakes until I fall into a carb coma. But that's only after Greyson celebrates with a little Valentine's Day party at school and I shower upon him my gift of choice: BOOKS! Yep, my kiddo is getting two books, a Thomas the Train toy, and the teeny weeniest box of chocolate I've ever seen. Huzzah!

It's also Top Ten Tuesday once again, and I'm totally digging today's theme: Books That Break Our Hearts a Little! I consider it a very high compliment if a book can make me cry or make my heart feel like it's breaking. In those cases, the author has most definitely written characters and plot that I can wholly invest in, and what's not to applaud about that?

Without further ado, the top ten books that broke my heart a little. And you might see a couple of themes running through these choices.

ROOM broke my heart a lot. It shattered it into pieces and stepped on them over and over and over again. This story is not without hope but I felt so completely, utterly invested and compelled in spots that I thought I'd have to stop reading. Even though it ends well, it broke my heart along the way.

The Book Thief was shocking as it made me bawl beginning around page 250 and there are something like 500+ pages in the book. I was in love with the characters, the plot, and the historical moment for a big trifecta of heart breakage.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a very obvious choice, but it didn't break my heart any less. Not only because the fate of some of my friends I'd loved along the way just sucked but because it's OVER. J.K. Rowling, I love you!

In The Hours, the issues that stuck out to me most were the dueling feelings of nurturing and guilt that mothers, friends, and partners work through. But it's also about the crushing weight of obligation and events that spin out of one's control. It was a book I read when I was quite young (early 20s) that introduced me to some of the issues I would face (and that most people face on some level) as they age.

The Birth of Love is a book I could relate to as a new mom. Namely the guilt that goes along with it. While this one didn't necessarily make me cry, it was the little moments and everyday struggles a family faces...the little hurts...that broke my heart.

Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates is not really an obvious choice on a surface level. The main character goes through a great deal of trauma at the hands of an older professor and his wife. Her heart is broken on a number of occasions by their actions, and I was totally invested in the character. These feelings were also heightened by Joyce Carol Oates's ability to write an oppressive atmosphere into this little novella.

The Passage was so long and involving, I couldn't help but be engaged with the characters and their individual plights. If I hadn't been involved, I never would've finished this chunkster, but as it was, I raced through it when I was home on maternity leave. Between the action and the struggles and the damned monsters trying to eat everyone, I got my heart broken a couple of times. But nothing broke my heart liked the CLIFFHANGER ENDING! I can't wait for The Twelve to come out!

Y'all know I had to throw in a short story collection somewhere, so I'm giving the "break my heart" award to Simon Van Booy's The Secret Lives of People in Love. There were a mixture of story lengths in this book, but it was some of the shorter tales (just a couple of pages) that compelled me most for their observations and sometimes for the shock of the endings.

The Golems of Gotham by Thane Rosenbaum is one of those largely overlooked novels that I champion at every available opportunity, so I'm singing its praises here, too! Not only are the present-day characters heartbreaking: a man and his daughter, reeling after the death of his parents (her grandparents). In this book we also get to meet a few ghosts of the Holocaust: Primo Levi, Jerzy Kosinski, Jean Amery, and Paul Celan--all writers who committed suicide after surviving concentration camps.The writing is gorgeous, the premise is unique, and the grappling with loss was heartbreaking, though this is another hopeful ending.

Just, yeah. The Road. Earth is destroyed, civilization is limping along, and a dad and his son are just trying to survive. OK, Cormac McCarthy, YOU GOT ME!

What books broke your heart a little? Bookworms wanna know. :)

Spread the Love Giveaway

2012-02-13T10:39:00.000-06:00

Next week is my 7-year blogiversary and I'm giving away books! Click HERE to enter my Spread the Love Giveaway and win one of the following beauties...

Note: Comments on this post WILL NOT enter you into the giveaway!

This giveaway is only open to US residents (Sorry! I'm too broke for international shipping!) and I'll draw the winners on February 21st!

It's Monday and I'm a Reading Fool!

2012-02-13T06:00:00.005-06:00

Or maybe just a fool. I'll let you decide.

SO, this past week I finished reading and reviewed two books. WHOA NELLY! I was only sort of wowed by Ann Patchett's much-typed-about State of Wonder. However, I was surprisingly bowled over by Nathacha Appanah's The Last Brother. And if you haven't started reading that book yet, you need to get on the stick. Do it! Do it!

Right now I'm about 70% (Goodreads influence) done with Karen Russell's weird novel, Swamplandia!. I like it, but it's not without its own issues. I'll discuss that in my review this week.

The library continues to be a source of avalanchery (yes, it's a word now). I have a digital copy of The Tiger's Wife waiting in the wings via my library's Overdrive service, and I picked up my hold copy of Teju Cole's Open City on Friday. AND--yes there's an AND--I expect the e-book of Michael Ondaatje's The Cat's Table to drop anytime. Oh, and The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst is the next one I'll receive from my physical holds list. Then will come 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, and that might spell the end of my reading mojo.

SERIOUSLY! These are all Tournament of Books books. I have to say, I'm kicking some serious arse in the Tournament of Books (personal) Challenge, but I'm also kinda ready to read whatever I want with reckless abandon. Cinder is staring at me from my stacks and oddly enough, I'm already feeling the pull of Son of a Witch after my successful romp through Wicked earlier in the year.

Tournament of Books aside, I got quagmired in The Norton Anthology of American Literature this weekend. I mentioned the online classes I inherited in my previous post. One of them is Early American Lit (blah), so it looks like I'll be re-reading some Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and Washington Irving in the coming weeks. I'm OK with Irving, but Paine and Franklin make me vomit in my mouth a little.

And that's it! Only one book in the mail this week, and unsolicited copy of Five Bells by Gail Jones. It doesn't really look like my kind of thing, but we'll see. I have hopefoolery. Full of new words today.

If you don't already know, It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by the ever-lovely Sheila over at BookJourney. Get thee there!

The Sunday Salon - Tag! I'm It!

2012-02-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Sunday, bloggy lovelies! This week has been some serious crazy. Hectic, hectic mess.

Y'all may recall that I was originally teaching fewer online classes this semester than I have in previous semesters. While I usually teach four online sections, I was down to two. While it was a hit in the paycheck department, it was an increase in free (READING) time. And then this week happened. I've now inherited an additional three online sections. I cannot seriously complain since it's a blessing in the pocketbook, but it's been a bit hellacious trying to assess where the students are in the courses and put my own sections together in a week's time. Woohah! Makes for a fast-paced week and lots of lost bloggy time this week. Now that it's Sunday, I have a few minutes to sit back and take the week in and dig into some reading.

I didn't know quite what I was going to write today, but VOILA! I was tagged by Trisha from Eclectic/Eccentric to answer her super awesome fantastic fun questions. And I will. So here we go.

Rules
1 You must post the rules.
2 Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3 Tag eleven people and link to them on your post. (I'm cheating here. Questions to come...brain drain.)
4 Let them know you’ve tagged them! (See parentheses above.)

1. What is your favorite piece of art?

My fave piece of art might be an odd choice, but I love it anyway. In my younger days I would've gone for a more popular choice like Van Gogh's "Starry Night," but for as long as I've been visiting the Dallas Museum of Art, I've been in love with Constantin Brancusi's "The Beginning of the World." It doesn't look like much here, but it's the most perfectly smooth, beautiful egg. I just want to lay my cheek on it every time I see it. Beautiful imagery here.

2. What literary character do you think would make an awesome world leader?

Ok, I can't fall back on Estella on this one, so let's see. Mr. Knightley from Jane Austen's Emma. He's precise, concise, and morally strong. And if I can picture him as Jeremy Northam from the film adaptation, he's also a looker.

3. What color do you think should be outlawed from clothing?

Pink. All pink. Outlawed from everything. I don't like pink. Although, my first car was "raspberry" and that's too close for comfort.

4. Hats. Yes or no?

Under the right conditions--and I'm speaking only for myself. Other people are adorable in hats all the time. When I have long hair I am not opposed to a well-chosen ball cap. With my hair short as it is now, I side with floppy, crocheted, wintery hats.

5. What contemporary novel should be added to the high school curriculum?

Feed by M.T. Anderson. It's contemporary YA. It has just enough curse words to get a high schooler's attention on a very surface level and cause a little scandal to get them interested. Then ALL the issues are so so so discussionworthy. Issues of body image and constructing beauty ideals, Internet addiction, the role of advertising in society, open access to information, environmental issues, synthetic environment vs. bonafide nature, I could go on and on. Even though it's YA, I've used it in college comp classes and we still discuss the heck out of it. Will be using it again in the coming Fall semester.

6. What book featuring real people do you think could work if the characters were switched to animals?

Oh my...this question is hard for me as I am adamantly against books starring animals. Let's go with Great Expectations. I think Miss Havisham would make a great cobra.

7. Genetically designed humans. Hell yes or absolutely not?

In literature or in life?! I read plenty of books about them but the idea of the real thing scares the pooshnickens out of me.

8. What book would you like to see get parodied a la Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?

Hahhaaha, Lady Chatterley's Lover. The bad, scandalous possibilities are endless. Or maybe Madame Bovary, too!!!

9. What book would you absolutely hate to see get parodied?

Don't touch, Gatsby. Back off, now!

10. TV. Awesome source of entertainment or horrifying time suck?

Time suck. That's not to say that I don't enjoy a lot of TV. I am completely addicted to Chopped on the Food Network and Sarah's House on HGTV. BUT, for the most part I try to turn it off and read instead. Otherwise I'll have another 30-book year, and that's unacceptable to me.

11. What literary character should immediately jump off the page and into your bed

Trisha, questions like these are why I LOVE you so much. I always throw back to the classic novels. Let's call it a Darcy-Andi-Knightley sandwich, shall we?!

I'm tagging:
Heather from Capricious Reader
Amanda from Fig and Thistle
Emily at The Alcove
Rebecca at Drunk Literature
Chris at Chrisbookarama
Lisa at Books, Lists, Life

Your questions, should you choose to accept them...
1. Who would rank on your list of crushworthy authors--either for their skillz or their cutiepieness?
2. What is your favorite guilty pleasure book if you have guilty pleasure reading?
3. Which literary female heroine would you most like to be for a day and why?
4. Which television female heroine would you most like to be for a day and why?
5. If you found out you were preggers (stop hyperventilating) OR if you were buying for a friend or family member, which children's book would you consider a MUST HAVE for beginning a child's library?
6. Do you have a favorite independent or small press? Why do they rock?
7. Have you read any independent or undersung books lately? Something that's been flying under the bloggy radar?
8. What's on repeat on your MP3 player? (Selfish, I need new music.)
9. If you would be any pair of shoes, what would they be (feel free to refer to Pinterest or Google Image Search)?
10. If you won a million dollars, what would you do first?
11. Adult beverage of choice?

The Last Brother

2012-02-09T09:50:00.000-06:00

Morning bloggers! It's been a very Tournament of Books week. I finished State of Wonder over the weekend, and I finished up Nathacha Appanah's The Last Brother on Tuesday.

It's funny to read these books back to back. They both take place in exotic locales, they're both about intense and somewhat complicated relationships, but State of Wonder was 368 pages while The Last Brother weighs in at a slim 160 pages. Of the two, I found Appanah's novel much more satisfying than Patchett's.

The Last Brother is the story of Raj, a 70-year-old man born and raised on the island of Mauritius. Looking back at himself as a 9-year-old, he recounts the sudden loss of his two brothers and the unlikely story of his friendship with a Jewish boy named David. The relationship between the Raj and David would shape his life in a way he never expected. His remembrance of that time and the events that played out between he and David were filled with loss and grief that shaped his adult self.

There was more acute emotion and powerful writing in this little novel than in most chunky books. The narrative bounced back and forth between Raj in the present day on a visit to David's grave to1945 when Jews were held captive in a prison on the island.

Reading this little book it felt that every scene, every chapter, was lovingly chosen and written down to its most basic, concise form. It was an examination not only of Raj's missteps as a kid, but of a specific piece of history that is almost completely overlooked. Did you know there were Jews shipped to Mauritius?? I didn't, and I certainly never learned it in a history class in high school or college. This book was an heart-wrenching way to experience the incident, and it was a beautiful examination of how one's decisions can shape a lifetime.

And I haven't really done this novel justice, but there it is. It's awesome. Buy it. Just do it. OH, and this one is translated. Cheers to Geoffrey Strachan for translating this one beautifully from the French.

Rating:

Snuggle -- Skewer

Pub. Date: February 2011 (reprint edition)
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Format: Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1555975753
Source: Library

State of Wonder

2012-02-08T06:00:00.002-06:00

I have started and quit almost every one of Patchett's novels. In fact, I think Taft is the only one I haven't started at all. While I wouldn't say I dislike her writing, I can say that her novels start slowly. State of Wonder is no exception, but I am tickled to report that I FINISHED IT! Haha!

From the moment I read the blurb, I knew I'd pick this book up and try Patchett's work yet again. Though the book was not a perfect one, the premise is fantastic...

Note: I tried to come up with my own blurb, but given the complicated plot and a severe case of brain drain, I gave up and pilfered the publisher's synopsis. It does the job.

Dr. Marina Singh, a research scientist with a Minnesota pharmaceutical company, is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have all but disappeared in the Amazon while working on what is destined to be an extremely valuable new drug, the development of which has already cost the company a fortune. Nothing about Marina's assignment is easy: not only does no one know where Dr. Swenson is, but the last person who was sent to find her, Marina's research partner Anders Eckman, died before he could complete his mission. Once found, Dr. Swenson, now in her seventies, is as ruthless and uncompromising as she ever was. But while she is as threatening as anything the jungle has to offer, the greatest sacrifices to be made are the ones Dr. Swenson asks of herself, and will ultimately ask of Marina, who finds she may still be unable to live up to her teacher's expectations.

Straight off, I was taken with the idea of a romp through the Amazon with Patchett's characters. Dr. Swenson is an enigmatic matriarch to her colleagues and the Lakashi tribe alike; she's thoroughly difficult for Marina to read and given their uneasy teacher/student relationship, Marina is freakin' scared of her. For Marina to find herself in a number of situations wherein Dr. Swenson depends on her was thoroughly transforming for the character of Marina Singh. It was a worthwhile transformation to follow through this novel, and Patchett did a wonderful job characterizing Singh and Swenson.

I was also very taken with the peripheral characters in the novel including the deceased Anders Eckman and his wife, Karen. The brilliant, deaf boy, Easter. And I can't forget the majestic Mr. Fox, one of the pharmaceutical company big-wigs and Marina's secret lover. The interplay between such a complicated cast of characters made for a rich novel and convincing story.

It did take me a while to sink into this novel thoroughly as those opening chapters were slow in traditional Patchett style. However, as I moved through the book I was glad she took the time to introduce me to all of the characters and also to Brazil itself. In the early part of her journey, Marina spends time in Manaus and later heads off into the rainforest. The setting itself is the most vibrant character in the novel.

The second half of the book, Marina's time in the rainforest interacting with the Lakashi tribe and following Dr. Swenson's research, comprised the quickest of the novel's pacing, but some of it struck me as unbelievable. While I loved that Dr. Swenson was such a bitch and had such strong control over her charges, I found it hard to believe that a tribe with which she could hardly communicate would bow down at her feet. Meh. Not so much. I also wish Marina had had a bit more difficulty settling into life with the tribe. There were some dramatic moments, but I felt that Patchett put all of her effort into making the characters realistic in the early pages of the novel, the tribe itself suffered from a lack of attention in comparison. I also felt that Patchett went for some cheap plot twists. I can't be specific without giving too much away, but some of the turns the story took were surprising only because they were so obvious.

Beyond the characterization and beyond some of the novel's shortfalls, it was a supremely interesting read for the ethical questions it posed. Dr. Swenson's research holds huge ethical implications and could change medicine entirely. I thought it really interesting that she put herself into some touchy situations when she was really just a big old snake in the grass. She was one of those characters I wanted to believe but always suspected of doing despicable things. She was a hard one to read and that makes her all the more worthwhile to read.

While I expected State of Wonder to blow the top of my head off with its wonderfulness, I found it a little too uneven for that and a little too predictable in spots. I'm still glad I read this book, and I would recommend it to almost anyone for the well-written characters, the unique setting, and the wonderful ethical dilemmas. It probably won't make my top ten for 2012, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it fares in the Tournament of Books.

Rating:

Snuggle (one-armed hug) -- Skewer

Pub. Date: June 2011
Publisher: Harper
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-0062049803
Source: Library

Happy Birthday Dickens!

2012-02-07T08:44:00.001-06:00

Charles Dickens owns my ~~soul~~ blog! Obviously...Estella...right?! Happy 200th birthday today even though you're dead! Rock ON!

Midnight in Paris

2012-02-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

I am a movie person. I teach Literature and Film for heaven's sake. However, if I'm in a pinch, I will always choose reading over TV watching or movies or anything else. Seeing as there are slim windows of opportunity for me to read in any given day, everything else of the hobby variety gets shoved aside. Needless to say, I haven't seen too many movies lately.

BUT (here's the but, see), my mother has been on a movie renting kick. For the last couple of weekends she's come in with movies to watch, and when she called this past Friday to ask if there was anything I wanted to see, I chirped up about Midnight in Paris.

I should probably go ahead and throw this out there: I'm an idiot when it comes to Woody Allen's films. I haven't seen Annie Hall, I haven't seen Alice. I think the only Woody Allen movie I'd seen before this one was Match Point--not his most critically acclaimed.

Midnight in Paris was dreamy. I mean that literally and figuratively. Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) and his fiance, Inez (Rachel McAdams), travel to Paris on a tag-along vacation with Inez's parents. Gil is a successful Hollywood screenwriter, but he's unfulfilled by his work and desperately wants to write a successful novel. He loves Paris, unlike the snotty Inez and her Tea Party parents. While he's out walking one night, Gil discovers that Paris changes at the stroke of midnight. He's picked up by a cab full of famous writers and hustled off to a party from the 1920s. He meets the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, and along the way on return visits, Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, T.S. Eliot, and anyone else worth mentioning in 1920s arts scene.

Gil idolizes the writers and the mystique of Paris in the 1920s and his trips back in time are his desires made reality. He continually returns to the present day to his crazy fiance (who I wanted to SHANK), but he learns a great deal about himself and what he wants out of life. He also learns to trust himself as a writer and write with more truth and conviction in spite of all the naysaying around him.

It sounds very sappy and cliche but it was such a fun movie. Seeing as I idolize the 1920s--especially the American expat writers--it was easy for me to slip into Gil's position in the film. The writers themselves were a hoot--Hemingway was macho to the max, Zelda Fitzgerald was a charming nut, and Dali was just hilarious.

The interplay between Gil and his potential in-laws was also really well done, and it's possibly the first time I've ever intensely disliked Rachel McAdams in a role. It's a testament to good acting in this film. While I'm often not a fan of Owen Wilson, he was also perfectly suited to this quirky role as a writer looking for a place to fit in.

Finally, the cinematography added a lot to this film. We've all heard the "rose colored glasses" remarks. This film is really like seeing Paris through a rose-colored lens. The landscapes are warm and cozy. Even the streets at night seem to shimmer. And the characters are consistently bathed in pinkish light. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

It's a romantic story, exceptional characters, and it was enough to make me laugh out loud ("cryptofascist airhead zombies!"). Winner, winner chicken dinner. I WILL purchase this one.

Mailbox Madness and Miscellaneous Malarky

2012-02-06T10:23:00.000-06:00

How's that title for some Monday morning alliteration??! I haven't even had coffee today. I think a round of applause is in order. I also put up Valentine's Day stickies on my office window, so it's possible I've been body-snatched.

I don't usually participate in Mailbox Monday, but this past week has seen a noticeable deluge of books coming into my house. Lately, it seems that if I wish out loud on my blog or Twitter, a book magically appears in my house! Usually, it's thanks to a wonderful blogger or author who decide to be my book fairy.

I should also mention: Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia and is gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday is hosted by MetroReader in February.

Find blurbs for each book near the end of this post!

If you haven't heard of Cinder by Marissa Meyer you may have experienced a recent head injury and a damaging case of the forgetfuls. It's EVERYWHERE. And it just so happens to look really really good. Cinderella + cyborg = kickass. Vasilly is kind and generous and sent her ARC along to me since she was done with it.

Next, I was happily Tweeting about how much I want to try Eowyn Ivey's novel, The Snow Child, when BAM!!! A woooonderful, quite popular author direct messaged and offered to send her ARC! Her exact words, "I don't usually give ARCs away, but I like putting books in the hands of bloggers." Right on! She remains nameless here because I don't know if she wants the world to know she's giving away her ARCs. I'm moving her book up in my reading queue, too. :D Very sweet indeed.

I also accepted two books for review recently. While I've been laying off of the review books these looked intriguing enough to add to my downsized TBR. I have a good relationship with the publishers and the pitches were very kind, well-thought, and seemed to actually have a clue what I prefer to read and blog! Huzzah!!! Is this progress?! I think it just might be!

White Horse is the first in a debut trilogy from Alex Adams (published by Atria). I'm picky about my post-apocalyptic novels, and after my undying love for The Passage, we'll see if this one can hold a candle. Crossing my fingers.

Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin looks weird-wonderful. I'm all about weird spirit photography and spiritualism and that kinda stuff. This one is published by Sourcebooks Fire for children and young readers. The illustrations in this one look great, and the book itself is beautiful.

Cinder blurb:
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earths fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. Shes a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsisters illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kais, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her worlds future.

The Snow Child blurb:
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

White Horse blurb:

Thirty-year-old Zoe wants to go back to college. That’s why she cleans cages and floors at GeneTech. If she can keep her head down, do her job, and avoid naming the mice she’ll be fine. Her life is calm, maybe even boring, until the end of the world when the President of the United States announces that humans are no longer a viable species. Zoe starts running the moment she realizes everyone she loves is gone. On her trek she encounters characters both needy and nefarious: some human, some monster, and some uncertain beings altered by genetic mutation. Zoe comes to see that humanity is defined not by genetic code, but by soulful actions and choices.

Picture the Dead blurb:
A ghost will find his way home. Jennie Lovell's life is the very picture of love and loss. First she is orphaned and forced to live at the mercy of her stingy, indifferent relatives. Then her fiance falls on the battlefield, leaving her heartbroken and alone. Jennie struggles to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, but is haunted by a mysterious figure that refuses to let her bury the past. When Jennie forms an unlikely alliance with a spirit photographer, she begins to uncover secrets about the man she thought she loved. With her sanity on edge and her life in the balance, can Jennie expose the chilling truth before someone-or something-stops her?

What landed in your house this week?? Come on, enable me just a bit more!

The Sunday Salon - A Mixed Bag Week

2012-02-05T10:27:00.001-06:00

Happy Sunday morning, everyone! I have a breakfast casserole in the oven, a cup of coffee beside me, and a book open on the bed. I stayed up entirely too late finishing Ann Patchett's State of Wonder for my 2012 Tournament of Books personal reading challenge. I did have the luxury of sleeping until almost 9:00 this morning, and I almost never do that. I'm rested and ready for the day. I'll take some more time to read books and blog posts after I post assignments for my online classes. Fun fun fun. While today is slated to be relaxing, the earlier part of the week was not so great.

This past week was the most stressful I've had in a while. I mentioned in a blog post a while back that my job will eventually be going away. With that in mind, we had some very important visitors on campus one day this week, and while I do not have blood pressure problems in the least, their visit alone made my head feel like it was going to explode. Long story. Not a story for the blog, but it was suitably heavy to make me glad to see the end of the week.

My job is still secure for now--every day is business as usual--but it was still enough to take a toll on my writing and reading habits this week. The good news is that I've been poking around online, and there are some interesting prospects posted here and there. Not a ton of jobs, but a few that excite me. I would like to get into a more significant position in the online education sector. If I could work from home I would soil myself with glee. Seriously. Cross your fingers.

The weekend has been much better. In fact, yesterday was super bookish. I met up with my former graduate school colleague and good buddy, TheOtherFeminist, for Chinese food and book talk. I pulled up at the restaurant a touch early and got a table for some reading. Fem came in a few minutes late. All told, we got the party started around noon and the next thing we knew we'd talked until 4:00!!! Any time we get together we have scads to discuss, and much of it is related to teaching and reading and literary theory and all that awesome stuff.

We started brainstorming a new anthology of short stories we're affectionately calling The Kickass, Bookgasmic Anthology of Undersung Short Stories. You'd buy it, right?! The whole idea is that most of the anthologies for teaching literature (and simply reading!) have the same old stuff in them. We started a list of lesser-known stories we think would blow professors' and students' skirts up. We also have a penchant for the twisted, FYI. *wink*

We also talked about what we've been reading lately and what's on the docket for later. And of course, there were recommendations, and iPhone e-mailing of recommendations. You know how it goes when book nuts gather. It's rare that I get to indulge in heavy book talk with a face-to-face buddy. We have plans to get together at a Real Bookstore soon and do it all again!

While the week started out rocky, it certainly ended strong. This coming week should be much more even keel (knock on wood). I hope your weekend is wrapping up right and you'll be off to a good start tomorrow.

What are you reading today?

**If you're interested in joining in The Sunday Salon, visit the Facebook page!

Madame Bovary, A Story of Really Miserable People

2012-02-03T14:53:00.000-06:00

Yesterday sucked. It actually wasn't the day's fault, but there were meetings with bigwigs and people-stress and daycare WTFery and just ridiculousness. I'm glad yesterday is over and I can enjoy today -- a Friday filled with afternoon and evening time to read and grade papers. Well, it's all good except the paper grading part. I have a class this afternoon, but they're working on a project for the majority of the time in class, so it should work in my favor.

Getting beyond the crapfest that was yesterday...as most of you know, Heather and I did a buddy read of Gustave Flaubert's much-drooled-upon, Madame Bovary. Many of those lists of best books say this is the second best book in the stratosphere right after Anna Karenina. I haven't read Anna K. so I have no idea about the ranking, but I'm also a little curious as to how in the world this became the second best book in history? I wasn't included on that vote.

This was not a bad book. Not bad at all, in fact. Like most Realist novels, it's filled with characters who are annoying and who are tortured (sometimes) to death. In interesting and unique ways. My experience before MB was largely limited to Theodore Dreiser's American realist novel, Sister Carrie, which came WAY after MB. But the basic tenets are the same: characters who have a icky lot in life. Done!

Here's a short synopsis:
Emma marries Charles Bovary who she initially thinks is quite fine enough to save her from living with her father. After she's married she's bored and begins to think Charles is icky. She has an overblown sense of the romantic from reading lots of novels that have filled her head with nonsense (damn reading women!!!). Misery leads to adultery and lots of stupidity and she's miserable and adulterous for a long, long time. And stuff.

First off, I did not hate Emma Bovary as much as the average reader. She was quite a silly woman, bored, needed more manual labor to keep her busy (as is once proposed in the novel). She is certainly the epitome of selfishness by the time it all goes to hell, but I still didn't hate her. This book reminds me of the same themes at work in the short short story, "The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin (two pages vs. 400 in this novel). Women had no choice but to marry if they were going to have anything in life, and they often ended up stranded and miserable. Given, her husband loved her but she was not fulfilled in a number of ways. Does it make her actions right? NO. Was she a goober? YES. But I don't hate her. There were a lot of issues of circumstance that set off a chain reaction of gargantuan proportions.

The readability of this novel really surprised me. I downloaded the Eleanor Marx-Aveling translation because it was cheap, and then I discovered that it's largely considered the worst translation of anything ever. BUT, despite that, it was still a quick read. We zipped through in a week. If Lydia Davis's translation is considered the best thing ever, then I want to read it one day to see what all the fuss is about. Note: Marx-Aveling was THAT Marx's daughter. Yep! Daughter of Karl Marx did the first English translation of this novel. High five!

Like any red-blooded 30-something, I was also initially interested in the scandal that went along with this novel. It's supposed to be right up there with Lady Chatterley in the "holy shit this is scandalous" category. But I have news for all of you pervs out there: there are no jiggling loins or heaving bosoms in this novel. I know, I know...I was disappointed, too. There was one very shady foray in an arbor and one bouncing carriage and that's it. That's all I've got. There's a big difference between 1857 and 1928 in the writerly sexuala department. Still, I know why it blew people's hair back in the 1850s. I get it.

I am glad glad glad this was my first classic of 2012. It was a great reading experience (though I still don't think it's the second best book in the universe). It was even cooler to read it with Heather and gossip about Emma Bovary everyday. That little tart sure does give a reader food for thought.

Rating:

Snuggle -- Skewer

Pub. Date: 1857
Publisher: No idea
Format: E-book
Source: Purchased by me.

It's Just the Truth!

2012-02-02T13:35:00.001-06:00

VERY IMPORTANT VISITORS on campus today. And my head hurts. And I don't feel interesting. Maybe tomorrow.

Randomness

2012-02-01T07:35:00.000-06:00

Greyson woke me up at 5:30 this morning, and I don't have to be at work until 9:00, so I thought I'd stop in to say good morning. The coffee is flowing, but actual thoughts haven't congealed yet. Alas, you get randomness in all its glory.

I turned on the Cooking Channel this morning, and I'm faced with a very young, clean-shaven chef Aarón Sanchez from 2002. He wasn't cute or charming back then.

My child, who was formerly terrified of the bathtub has now come to terms with bathing outside of the sink. It's all thanks to an inflatable duck named Howard (apropos, yes?). I now have a hard time getting him out of the bathroom as he enjoys standing at the side of the tub, waving, saying, "HI HOWARD!" over and over again.

I have a bad case of the Too-Many-Good-Books-To-Read. I'm LOVING State of Wonder by Ann Patchett and I'm moving through it at a good clip. I also have other Tournament of Books books staring at me from the sidelines. Along with a copy of The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. They're all calling to me at once! Oh, and an e-book copy of Swamplandia by Karen Russell came in from the library. Ugg!

I love my Keurig coffee maker. LOVE!

I went to my favorite independent bookstore in the universe this past weekend. a Real Bookstore, in Fairview, TX! They have a great cafe, which I've mentioned here before because it sells booze. Books and booze! But they also sell yummy pastries and panini sandwiches and whatnot. I was about to gnaw my own leg off so I purchased this (click to embiggen)...

And it is a sandwich which will change your life. It's called the "Three's Company Grilled Cheese." It's a panini filled with white cheddar, gruyere, and goat cheese, and it is a force to be reckoned with. It's served with a side of raspberry jam to cut some of the richness of the cheese and a healthy helping of Kettle potato chips. OMG, y'all. This grilled cheese DID change my life. I won't eat it often, or I'd blow up to the size of the store, but it was so, SO tasty You can read more about it in the Dallas Business Journal. That's how good this sandwich really is!

I should also mention that I ordered a red velvet whoopie pie to go along with my sandwich. I had to save it for later because I was so full of melty, gooey cheese, but it was beyond fabulous. So tasty. If you haven't been to a Real Bookstore and you live in the Dallas area (or ya know, within five or six hours), go to this store. Just do it. 25% discount for educators, too. Just sayin'.

Finally, just because he's cute...

La Perdida by Jessica Abel

2012-01-31T06:00:00.001-06:00

La Perdida, by Jessica Abel, is the story of Carla, a young Mexican-American woman who moves to Mexico City to "find herself." While she initially spends the bulk of her time with American expats, she befriends numerous Mexican citizens and leaves her expatriate friends behind to experience a more "authentic" Mexico. When her time in Mexico begins, she barely speaks Spanish and idolizes Frida Kahlo. It doesn't take long for Carla to realize she'll gain no respect from her native Mexican friends by living on the outskirts of the culture. Soon she is entrenched in a party lifestyle with radical friends and a free flowing supply of cocaine, and it's all downhill from there.

The Mexico that Abel presents in La Perdida is not flattering in the slightest. The Mexican youths surrounding Carla are thugs and the relatives of drug lords. She doesn't realize it right off the bat, but it's one of many ways that Carla begins her journey with very little awareness of the culture surrounding her. And she's a bone head. She never seems rattled to be meeting drug lords or snorting coke. And she's not quite as disturbed that her boyfriend is dealing pot and not paying rent as I might be in the same situation. She chalks it all up to an "authentic" experience in Mexico.

When we're looking at issues of ethnicity, I suppose we could assume that by experiencing this story from Carla's point of view, we can see how Americans are less aware of...well, everything. Carla seems oblivious to most things -- mostly the bad things -- happening around her. It could be a critique of Americans' lack of political and cultural awareness outside of our borders. In this way, the book could be considered clever.

But the book really sort of pissed me off. While there are real problems with drug cartels in Mexico, this whole story line just seemed a really easy way to go. Carla was a caricature. Mexico itself seemed a caricature. I suppose I would've rather experienced a more nuanced plot and characters that made observations in a unique way rather than a stereotypical one. Instead of investigating Mexican youth culture I got another drug lord story. Crocodile Dundee comes to mind...the second one, with the kidnapping and pistol whipping.

Blah.

This book was not a painful one to read. I enjoyed the characters' humor, and I like Abel's brush-stroke illustrations. It successfully emphasized the busy atmosphere in Mexico City and the rush of people in a large, metropolitan area. However, beyond the aesthetic, this one wasn't for me.

Rating:

Snuggle -- Skewer

Pub. Date: May 2008
Publisher: Pantheon
Format: Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-0375714719
Source: Purchased by me.

Syndicated!

2012-01-30T12:43:00.000-06:00

My recent post over "influence" in book blogging was picked up and syndicated by BlogHer!

Find it at "My Tipping Point Regarding 'Influence' in Book Blogging"

It's Monday! And a Book Slide!

2012-01-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila from BookJourney!

I'm sort of cheating today. Sort of! I got ahead of myself and talked about my current reading for The Sunday Salon yesterday, so today's Monday reading report is a little different.

When I read the list of books for The Morning News Tournament of Books, 2012, I immediately went out to my library's website and added them all (nearly ALL, seriously) to my library holds list. It's ridonkulous how many people are in front of me for most of the books, but as is usually the case, they all come in at once!

I got a notice that the first book available from my list is Ann Patchett's State of Wonder! I've been excited about this one since before it was published, but I've been dragging bootay on actually reading it. This is one I'd love to purchase since I hate dragging around bulky hardbacks, but as my wallet is currently squished under the load of books I'd like to buy, I'll be sticking with the library's copy and hoping I don't develop carpal tunnel from holding it. Also, I have an employee with a VERY similar name to Ann Patchett. Kinda weird!

The next available book on my holds list should be Open City by Teju Cole. I sincerely hope it'll be at least a week until it comes in. Else I might be crushed by my gigantic amount of holds getting ready to tumble into my hands.

On the non-library side, I received a copy of Paris My Sweet: A Year in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate) by Amy Thomas a couple of days ago. Sourcebooks offered to send this one, and after reading the sample chapters, I was hooked! I accepted another foodie, travel memoir from them last year: Tout Sweet by Karen Wheeler. I loved that one, so I have really high hopes. This looks like just the thing for a fun, bookish getaway. Also, I'll be singing the praises for Sourcebooks in the near future. In my experience, they are a model for how publishers should interact with freelance book reviewers and bloggers. Hurrah!

So that's it for now! Those are the newest goodies to fall into my hands, and I'm sure there will be copious others in coming weeks.

What new books have you snatched lately?

The Sunday Salon - Bookgasm

2012-01-29T08:13:00.000-06:00

Good (early) morning! Greyson is out and about but I still wake up at 7am no matter if he's here or there. Such is the life of a mama, I suppose. Oh well, it gives me time to lounge with coffee and breakfast, getting a little reading in, or maybe watch a movie before I go pick him up this afternoon.

First off, I have to thank the SCADS of you who responded to my previous post on some growing influence and pressure in blogging. I was genuinely (wonderfully) shocked at all of the similar sentiments and the number of bloggers who chimed in. This is not the last you'll hear from me on this issue, I'm sure, but it was great to get that initial post out into the world and confront this issue that's been bugging me for a while.

As a result of this conversation, there are some things in the works in the background of this blog. Heather and I are doing some scheming for a combined project, and I'll leave it at that. Some of you will know immediately what's shaking, and others of you may be surprised. Especially if you're a newer blogger. :)

It's been a very bookish week around here. I've made a concerted effort lately to unplug at various points in the day and really focus on my reading. Heather and I were able to hunker down and bust through our buddy read of Madame Bovary in just around a week. The text of the novel is between 350-600 pages depending on the edition. On my Nook, it was 740 pages. Given, Nook pages aren't very large and don't hold much text, but I was still pretty happy to put my head down and make so much headway so consistently. This can be a problem for me, especially with a book that verges on Chunkster. The key is staying consistent and involved with the reading. Helps me avoid getting antsy!!!

After I finished up Madame Bovary on Friday, I picked back up with Jessica Abel's graphic novel, La Perdida. It was a really good graphic novel, but I had some issues with it. While I enjoyed the plot, there were parts of it that bugged. It should make for an interesting review later in the week.

Finally, I'm digging into Kergan Edwards-Stout's Songs for the New Depression. While I've had some issues with the writing from page one, I think the protagonist is gonna be an interesting fellow to follow along. It'll also be a quick read, so I should finish it early in the week.

2012 is off to a great start. The last couple of years it's taken me much longer to read through...anything! Hopefully this is a good omen of things to come. I am happy with a book a week (or a little longer if it's lengthy and/or dense). On track so far! We'll see how the rest of the year plays out.

Oh, and who's seen Midnight in Paris?! I have it in my hot little hands! I'm so excited to watch it as I've read really good things. And who doesn't like the idea of hanging out with Hemingway and Fitzgerald after midnight in Paris?! Count me in!

Pulling the Trigger on "Influence" in Book Blogging

2012-01-26T17:31:00.001-06:00

I stay out of drama. I'm not about drama in the blogosphere because, generally speaking, this site is my happy place. To put things in perspective, I've been blogging for seven years as of February 21st (I've already written the happy, gushy post). I was here before review books and NetGalley. I was here before authors and bloggers started quibbling. I was here before there was a debate over what constitutes a "review" or a "reaction." I was here before it was cool. I was here before it made money. I was here and I remain here because I love to read, and I really love the friends I've made online. I adore sharing ideas with you.

Today, however, was something of a tipping point for me. I've already had icky feelings (quietly, and in my own brain) over what feels like the publishing industry gaining (or attempting to exert) more "control" over blogging. It started with ARCs. Everyone wanted ARCs. Publishers started e-mailing, authors started e-mailing, the review copies started sliding through the door. This was years ago, mind you. But publishers started dangling carrots! Unlike most, I have never felt one iota of obligation to review a book unless it's something I specifically requested from a publisher or publicist. Even then, I make it really clear that if I don't want to review a book, I won't. If I don't like it. If I'm too busy. Because it's my blog. And my blog is mine.

After the scramble for ARCs started, the scramble for "traffic" started. Everyone wanted to talk about how to increase traffic and "brand" their blog. We came up with lists of best practices and what-not-to-dos. Everyone hopped on Twitter and Tumblr and Facebook and Ning and Goodreads and Shelfari and had to be plugged in all the time.

Am I different? No. I'm not. I admit it 100%. My blog has a "look," I have a Twitter account and a Tumblr account and a Facebook fan page. I used to run a 'zine for BLOGGERS (not for publishers). But do you want to know why? Because I like to talk to my friends who read. Because the bloggers I know are the only friends in my life who read.

But something that "old age" in blogging has taught me and that I see more all the time is this: we are a tool. We are an available and fertile market. We publicize what needs publicizing, mostly, for free. I've also learned that I don't want to be dictated to. I don't want to be pushed or nudged or shoved into anything.

As I logged into NetGalley the other day for the first time in months, I realized something--some publishers are getting pushy! A surprising number of publishers now want to know how many visitors visit one's blog in a day or a week or a month. How many people subscribe to one's blog? How quickly one can review a book?

And do you know what I have to say to these "guidelines" and these demands?

KEEP THEM.

To the wonderful, polite, genuine publishers, publicists, and many many authors I've worked with here over the years, thank you! This anger is not for you. That's really important. But it seems like every day this idea of book blogging is becoming more mechanized and impersonal at the hands of external forces.

At the end of the day, the most important thing to me about blogging is the reading I do. It's the friends with whom I share my words. I don't want to feel pushed around. I don't want to feel purchased. I want to feel liberated because that's always what reading and blogging have done for me -- they've freed me! Freed me to open my mind and think new thoughts. They've freed me to write my experiences and send them out into the world with confidence.

Come hell or high water, ARCs, no ARCs, publisher inquiries or not. Social networking or not. Obligation or not. I will read. I will write about what I read. I will read and write what I want and what is in my heart. And I hope that as a group that is always our goal. Our ultimate and most cherished goal. To be truthful and open-minded and collegial to one another, no matter what external forces are at work, exerting influence. I can tell you this: whether it's another seven days or another seven years, this blog is mine. It is the essence of who I am as a reader, and reading is a part of my soul in a way that nothing else is. Sharing my reading and all that is literary is my job every day and my hobby, too. I am lucky. I am blessed to do what I love. I will always read what I want. I'll write what I want. And I will do so feeling strong and never intimidated by what I should do with an Internet home of my own making.

Limitations are not welcome here.

Re-Reading and Remembering

2012-01-25T12:41:00.001-06:00

Re-reading is something I didn't do for a very long time. Occasionally I would grab a book for a re-read when I was in a slump, but I've also long wished to re-read more often, to enjoy books again, or to re-evaluate them with a little (or a lot) more age. I missed yesterday's "freebie" day for Top Ten Tuesday, so I thought I'd throw these out for today instead. These are the top ten (ok, eleven) books I would like to re-read including my impressions of them as I remember them and the time in my life they take me back to visit.

From my high school days:

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway made me hate Hemingway! I read it as a 9th grader with no idea about anything in the world. The main character seemed antiquated and yucky and "why would he care so much about this fish?" I hated it. I'm curious what age and some additional literary expertise would do to my opinions of this slim novel.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens was my second or third Dickens novel. Great Expectations was the first. I read it as a 9th grader and later undertook A Tale of Two Cities as a senior taking concurrent high school/college English courses. While I didn't first love it as much as GE, it's really stuck with me in a similar way. I remember a lot of the characters, I remember specific scenes and impressions, but it's another novel I think worth revisiting. It's also the best opening paragraph in literature!

From my early 20s:

The Red Tent by Anita Diamont was one of the first novels I read at the recommendation of Yahoo! Groups book discussion groups. At 21, I had not been reading for several years, but I'd just started back. As a student at Baylor, I spent a good deal of time in the art section of the library and picked up a slim biography of Auguste Rodin, the sculptor. That was all I needed to get back into the groove of reading for pleasure. When I joined the book discussion groups, I met a lot of the bloggers I'm still friends with today and I began to read outside of anything I'd read before. At this particular point in my life, I could go into a bookstore and be completely overwhelmed because I had no idea what to read. This novel was beautiful and thoughtful and everything I knew I wanted to read more of.

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross was another book I read at the recommendation of my book group buddies. It was a wooonderfully involving historical novel about a supposed female pope in the 9th century. My book group also had the opportunity to chat with the author, which is when I first realized how accessible many authors are to their readers. And what a delight that was to discover!

The Hours by Michael Cunningham made me think very seriously about womanhood and motherhood. At the time, at the age I was when I read it, I found it somewhat terrifying, but I could also relate to some of the feelings of isolation as I devoured it shortly after my grandmother passed away. It's one of the most oddly uplifting and hopeful books I've ever read, and the closing paragraphs remain my favorite conclusion of a novel.

From graduate school:

Call it Sleep by Henry Roth is one of those classics that not many people discuss anymore. It sort of got passed over in favor of other novels. An American Modernism professor introduced this book, and I remember camping out under the breakroom table in the university writing center inhaling this one before class time. It's a stunning novel of the immigrant experience that incorporates some of the bravery and experimental elements of the Modernist period.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak was a cryfest! It was also one of the best discussions we had in my Adolescent Lit class. I found an affinity for Holocaust novels in graduate school in all their incarnations. This was just a great book, and I'm still fond of the narrator, Death.

The Golems of Gotham by Thane Rosenbaum is sadly underread. It came to me by way of the same professor who introduced Call it Sleep. It's a wonderful mishmash of magical elements, history, and Holocaust. Specifically, it deals with the ways in which Holocaust families inherit the Holocaust trauma. It contains some of the most wonderful passages...

Despair, if nothing else, is a private matter. The mind isn't required to share such information. That's because the soul is the master of its own short-circuitry, the system shutdown, the fading pulse that monitors the brokenness of both spirit and heart. When a state of mind sinks to a point where the life itself--the day-to-day engagements, the nightly slumber and silences--becomes unbearable, who are we to second-guess or armchair analyze? There was no way to properly insert oneself inside the minds of the Levins and follow the logic of [Holocaust]survivors who would one day choose a synagogue as the setting to turn off their own life-support systems.

Mail Order Bride by Mark Kalesniko is a graphic novel I don't hear too much about. I read it right after grad school and found the characters to be a lot of fun: a nerdy, virginal husband and a waify, aloof mail order bride. This one was full of multi-ethnic issues that I felt compelled by and it was a lot of fun to discuss the book via conference call with the author.

From then on...

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was just fabulous. I loved the premise, the execution, and it made me bawl like a baby. I'm kind of a sucker for books that grab me by the heartstrings.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is the most recent book on my list, so I won't gush any more than I already have. This is one of those books that was atmospheric enough and twisty enough and quirky enough that I want to feel the same sense of wonder again. I'll wait for the memory to fade a bit and pull the book out when I need to revisit that sense of fantasy.

Twisty, Twisty Books: Literary Fiction and Inextricable Genres

2012-01-24T06:00:00.003-06:00

Last year I made it my mission to read literary fiction and it's been seven months that I've had this little scheme in action. I loved the books I read last year so it was a no-brainer to continue into the new year.

When I started this journey I wrote a post titled, "Why Literary Fiction and What the Heckfire Is It?" After these seven months of ruminating, I've pretty much decided that literary fiction is fiction marketed as literary fiction. I think I'm also still keen on my original definition that, "authors who write literary fiction might have more of an agenda than the average bear." Literary fiction is also (typically) critically well-received. This is the trifecta, you see: agenda, marketing, critical reception.

Notice, the trifecta definition does not exclude any genre, and that leads me to my next lightbulb...

As a result of the literary fiction post I linked above, Carl and I had a great conversation about the rub between literary fiction and genre fiction and how MANY MANY MANY literary fiction works do include an element of some genre or other: sf, historical, etc. It was interesting to go back and revisit this conversation Carl and I had because I've been spending a lot of time thinking over the books I read last year and gazing at my immediate TBR, and I know something very specific about my literary fiction tastes after seven months of this personal project: I MUCH prefer literary fiction that incorporates a specific genre or some sort of unique angle.

Of the 20 or so books on my immediate To Be Read pile, it seems to me that the majority of them have a very specific angle or incorporate multiple genres. Let's have a sample...

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin - historical, retelling of Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - sci-fi
The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer - retells or makes overarching references to Lysistrata
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters - historical, GLBTQ

This is a really small sample, but I think it illustrates what I'm driving at. Seems to me "literary fiction" is a genre imposed from the outside by publishers and consumers. Any genre can be literary fiction if the conditions are right.

The literary fiction titles on my shelves tip the scales heavily toward historical novels (The Sisters Brothers, C), retellings or homages (Wicked), and sci-fi/fantasy or magical realism (The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake). Even within these examples it's almost impossible to distinguish one genre-within-a-genre from another! Wicked was a retelling/homage but also a fantasy. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake was magical realism with a bit of historical thrown in.

I suppose what the last seven months have done for me is to really help me pinpoint and refine my tastes. It's brought me a greater sense of self-awareness (and shelf awareness!) and has made me realize exactly how closely bound all genres really are and how silly it is to get into a tizzy over genre lines. I don't tizzy, but some readers most definitely do.

In conclusion, I really want to thank all of you who responded to my original post back in June 2011 and those of you who come here and converse with me over these bookish thoughts. You bloggers, you make me think and by allowing me to discuss these items with you, allow me to understand myself and my reading better all the time.

Short and Antsy

2012-01-23T07:13:00.000-06:00

I mentioned yesterday I'm still in the midst of Madame Bovary, and while I'm still in the midst of it today, I did knock off another 50 pages or so last night. In my 740-page e-book (it's usually half that in print), I'm on page 400. I hope I can have this one wrapped up this week. Heather and I have been discussing this one behind the scenes as we go, and I can't wait to dig in with her some more! So much to talk about.

Yesterday morning, I was feeling just a tad antsy with Madame B. so I decided to take Nancy's advice and start reading a smaller book to keep me feeling energized. I picked up Jessica Abel's graphic novel, La Perdida. My first encounter with Abel's work was back in 2009 when I read her funky vampire graphic novel, Life Sucks. I re-read my review of Life Sucks and it brought back a lot of the details that I'd forgotten. Abel has an interesting take on life and a distinct humor. I see it coming through in La Perdida, but I already have a few problems with it. I'll hold my judgement until I'm done, but I'm thinking a post on multi-ethnic literature and criticism is in order.

I have a few review books I've accepted recently, so those are on the horizon immediately after MB and La Perdida. First up is Kergan Edwards-Stout's novel, Songs for the New Depression. I was already looking forward to this one, but even moreso since it's shortlisted in the GLBTQ category for this year's Indie Lit Awards. I admit, I'm woefully underread in GLBTQ lit, so this should be good!

After posing my question yesterday about which book I should read next from my TBR, it looks like I Capture the Castle takes the cake! I'm planning to read it in the next couple of weeks, and I'm really excited about it! I have wanted to read it for a good 10 years. Lots of my fellow bookworms recommended it to me back when I was an active member of Yahoo! Groups, pre-blogging.

And that's all that's shaking in my reading today. Greyson is off to daycare since my mom was kind enough to shuttle him this morning, I'm hunkered down with a cup of coffee, and I have a few minutes to myself. All I have left before I start the commute to work is to do are makeup and pick out an outfit for the day, so I have a few minutes to Tweet or read. I should read, but I'm leaning toward the Tweeting.

I hope you all have a great Monday full of books!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila from BookJourney.

The Sunday Salon - The Shrunken TBR

2012-01-22T09:56:00.000-06:00

Mornin' bloggers! It's been a very bookish weekend. I dropped Greyson off yesterday for a visit with the fam, and quickly did some shopping. With some new jeans and a rad military-style jacket under my belt, I headed home to settle down with Madame Bovary. Just as many of you have pointed out, Madame Bovary is not a nice person. But I also know this novel is considered a hallmark of literary realism, and bitchy is the m.o. of the movement. I read Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie in grad school and really liked that one, and it was a whole lot of bummer. I'm ok with bummer sometimes!

I've been looking at my TBR a lot this weekend. Wanna see? Click to embiggen...

Having so few books in my possession is a great help (the rest are in storage). I don't spend tons of time waffling about what to read next when I have a small group of great choices in front of me. Also, note the jack-o-lantern candle holder. A Greyson original. So, in short, I'll be choosing from this pile next. Let me know what you'd like to endorse. :D

The rest of my day will be uneventful. Kiddo will be coming home, I'm hunkering down with more Madame Bovary until then, and doing a little blog surfing to see what the rest of you are up to on this lazy Sunday.

Linkapalooza, Vol. 3

2012-01-20T06:00:00.002-06:00

Each week, for Linkapalooza, I will post a list of links to discussion threads and reviews from my week's bloggy reading. These are reviews that pique my interest, fun or interesting discussions swirling in the blogosphere and other stuff that tickles my fancy. The most important thing? All bloggers, all the time. No big media outlets here, people. Grassroots reading, baby!

Discussion/Opinion

A Backwards Story recommends a Top Ten Books for people who don't read "Cinderella!" Very unique list, and since I love fairy tale takeoffs, this was right up my alley.
The library saved Sassymonkey $1,390.81 in 2011! Holy crap!
Trish tackles homemade baby food for Weekend Cooking!I wish this had been me.
Melody highlights Unbridled Books.
Wendy discusses Blogger Impact with grace.
Jackie from Farm Lane Books wonders why "Some of the Best Books Aren't Very Good?"

Reviews

Heidenkind finally convinces me to read Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick.
Becky reviews bedtime board books and this could not be more timely for my household.
Chris writes another of my favorite reviews...The Dovekeepers.
Jill entices me to Take the Cannoli...
Brooke writes a passionate review of Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns.

Recommendations of your own??? Leave them in the comments section!

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

*Trumpets sound, angels sing."

I loved it. Loved, loved, loved. And not like "love that goes away because it's really just a passing infatuation." OHHHH NO, this is real love. Real bookish, all-time favorite, gooey love.

Now let me try my best to explain because I want there to be some logic behind this lovefest and not just a gushy mess.

I only sort of knew what to expect when I picked up Gregory Maguire's Wicked. Having read Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and having NOT fallen in love with that one, I thought I might pick this book up, read through a bit, and then set it aside. I am thrilled to be wrong.

Elphaba, the eventual Wicked Witch of the West, is born to a minister father and a tart of a mother. She's green, she has pointy teeth and odd eyes, and her mother doesn't really bond with her. She spends her childhood with her missionary family in an unsavory part of Oz called Quadling country and is nearly uncontrollable until her younger siblings come along. As she grows, it's evident that she's not as odd as her parents originally feared, and she's a smart little whipper snapper. She attends Shiz University with Galinda (later Glinda) and a cast of other pivotal characters, and her life unfurls into an adventure as she eventually becomes involved in political workings and endures heartache and failure throughout her life until the unavoidable ending we know awaits her.

I did not expect an epic, and that's what this book feels like. From Elphaba's birth to death, we have a peek into her best and worst moments, and rarely have I met such a sympathetic character. Is she all sunshine and light? OH no. She's smart, intuitive, moral, and conflicted. She is sensual but also practical to a fault. She might be me. If I were green. Maybe.

Aside from loving Elphaba herself, I really enjoyed Maguire's narrative on several levels. First off, there is an obvious fantasy element here -- this is Oz, after all -- but there's also a distinctly historical feeling to this book. At times I felt like I was living in Victorian England, at times Nazi Germany, and even Nixon-era America. The various regions of Oz were colorful and unique, and I enjoyed getting to know them through Elphaba's travels and their representative characters.

This book also critiques and satirizes some big, honkin' issues. Maguire explores the nature of evil, implications of religion, human rights, revolution. I was genuinely surprised and delighted by how political in nature this book became at times. I was most compelled when Elphaba was embroiled in some plot or other and impassioned by the dwindling rights and oppression of Animals (animals with a human capacity for intelligence, thought, and communication). It was easy to see how she started strong and almost naively passionate about issues in her college years, but withered and became embittered with time. Though, I have to say, she was never as bitter and never wicked as one might associate with the book or film version.

I suppose I also had my doubts coming into this book because I have no particular fondness for The Wizard of Oz. I disliked Baum's novel, though I appreciate it and have used it in my college classroom. I am fond of the movie, but not fanatical by any stretch. I enjoyed Wicked in a similar way to Bill Willingham's Fables series. The characters are recognizable because they are figureheads in our pop culture. They are archetypes. Almost everyone knows them, but Maguire tells the backstory. The whole story. It's a very smart takeoff from what we think we know about these characters. He crushes the stereotypes while still leaving some nugget of the character in tact for the sake of familiarity. He grows the story; he does not just retell it.

Wicked is a world of it's own with rich characters, settings, and a twisted plot. It's humorous and horrific by turns. It's political and silly and passionate. It is the best of what I look for in a book -- an intricate plot and well-fleshed characters and a huge emotional investment. For these reasons and more, it's going on my all-time favorites list. Having read some reviews, it seems that this novel is quite polarizing, but that's another sign that a novel is worth risking. It can be a payoff or end up in pissed off, but it's most definitely worth a go.

Rating:

Snuggle (with big, sloppy kisses) -- Skewer

Pub. Date: September 1995
Publisher: HarperCollins
Format: e-book
ISBN-13: 9780060987107
Source: Purchased by me.

On Chunksters, Or My Literary Nemeses

2012-01-18T06:00:00.002-06:00

NEMESIS: : a formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent

Yep. That just about says it. This post is an honest rant about chunksters. It's an admission of one of my readerly weaknesses. Are you ready? It's like book therapy, y'all.

First, how does one define a chunkster? Well, lemme tell you, it's a hell of a long book. As it was originally defined for the Chunkster Reading Challenge (which started several years ago and is still running) it's a book of 450 pages or more. Now, to some, 450 pages may be no big deal. A walk in the park. A piece of cake. Some other cliche. To me? Death and readerly destruction, people.

My particular tendency to shy away from Chunksters is multi-faceted:

1. I feel like it takes me FOREVER to finish. With a hectic work/home life, I don't get that much time to read in a given day.

2. I'm something of a commitmentphobe, and if a Chunkster doesn't grab me by the nosehair at the very beginning, I will really never finish.

3. They're unwieldy and really hard to carry around in my cute Guess purse.

Bottom line: they take more commitment than a shorter book, and that just doesn't always work for me. As previously discussed, I'm a book tart.

On the flip side, I have enjoyed a slew of Chunksters in my time. When I had fewer time-sensitive responsibilities I had my nose in a Chunkster without a second thought. The Lord of the Rings? Why not! The Little Stranger? Yes, please!

Now I run screaming from a 500+ page monster because it will bring my reading life to a complete halt. Nothing to blog about, nothing to Tweet about, except one. long. book.

And for me, this may be one of the downsides to blogging. I like to have books to blog about, and if it takes me three weeks to read one book, I'm at a loss. It's not a good excuse, and I really just realized this may be the actual reason I avoid the chunky monkeys, but it's true. Before I blogged about books, it didn't matter if I invested weeks into one novel.

Because I realize this tendency of mine, I also try to face it head on. I read a couple of Chunksters in 2011 and I'm beginning 2012 with a book that borders on chunky (Wicked). I also have a buttload of other books on my shelves that I've wanted to read for a very long time that fall into the Chunkster category: Vanity Fair, A Suitable Boy, A Fine Balance, The Help, A Game of Thrones, and more.

While I recognize my fear of Chunksters, I also have to admit that once I get into one, I typically enjoy them immensely. There's something about the breadth of a Chunkster and the epic feel that is ridonkulously satisfying. The author can indulge in description, and wonderful world-building, and invest time and finesse into characters in a way that many shorter works cannot. And it's with these positive attributes in mind that I VOW to read more Chunksters in 2012.

While I had every intention of joining The Chunkster Challenge in 2012, there's one leetle bitty rule that trips me up: no e-books. I am quite dependent on them for financial and logistical reasons, so I'm doing a personal Chunkster Challenge this year instead of the official -- though I loooove the hostesses and am following along with the challenge and The Chunky Book Club. If you have a similar inclination to tackle the heaping chunkies this year, I urge you to go on over and sign up.

And now that I've virtually spilled my guts, I want to know about YOU. Do you shy away from longggggg books? Why or why not? What is your favorite Chunkster that you'd recommend that I try sooner than later?