Ellie's Book #5: Wintergirls

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
*****

How do I write a review of this book?

A week later, I'm still shaken by it.

I read Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak last year and loved it. I cried when I finished it—beautiful and cathartic tears. It hit me in a way that a lot of books don't. It was definitely a five-star read for me.

I've decided that Wintergirls is a five-star read, too, but it took me a long time to make that decision.

Wintergirls is no less powerful than Speak. In fact, I'd say it packs an even stronger punch, although I hate to use such a cliché for such a book, even though I can only think of clichés to describe it. Kick in the gut, brick to the face, hit by a train, knock the wind out of you, rip you open—pick your own description here, that's what this book did to me emotionally. I couldn't put it down even though it was, simply put, terrifying.

The book begins with Lia, a high school senior, being told by her stepmother that Lia's best friend Cassie was found dead in a motel room. Cassie and Lia haven't spoken for six months, which is why Lia didn't answer her phone over the weekend when Cassie tried calling her thirty-three times, and now Lia is haunted by the idea that somehow she is responsible for Cassie's death.

Which sounds simple enough, and rough enough for a book premise.

But.

The reason Cassie and Lia haven't been close is because Cassie's parents made her stop talking to Lia after Lia's second stint in rehab for anorexia. The first stint happened after Lia blacked out while driving Cassie's car because she didn't have enough food in her system and when the paramedics got there her blood pressure and body temperature were only just this side above dead, and Lia's secret was out. Cassie wasn't even scratched and so her secret eating disorder, bulimia, stayed secret and she stayed popular and cut off Lia as "a bad influence."

Until Cassie winds up dead in a motel room.

Honestly, I have never read a book this intense, where the heroine seems absolutely determined to destroy herself slowly and systematically. Nearly every time a food is mentioned, Lia tacks on the number of calories in parentheses. She often speaks in strikethrough font, so you can see the war between her body and her mind as she slowly and determinedly tries to starve herself down to 99, 95, 90, 85 pounds and lower, all while hiding that fact from her family so they won't send her back to the hospital. "I take the cup [of orange juice] from her. My throat wants it my brain wants it my blood wants it my hand does not want this my mouth does not want this."

I had no idea until the very end whether Lia was going to make it or not, and it was a sick-making kind of feeling to watch her spiral downward out of control and not be able to shake her awake, or wave my arms in front of her parents' faces and say "How are you not seeing this?" or heavens, just shove a cupcake down her throat or do something, anything to get her or anyone to see the madness and stop it. It was not a comfortable book to read.

And yet I couldn't put it down. I read it straight through and felt absolutely depressed for most of the rest of the day as I processed it. Anderson's writing style is gripping and immediate and visceral, and you really do feel like you're living through the experience yourself, which, as I said, is not a comfortable thing. But there is no doubt it is well written.

I don't know if I liked this book or not. I do know I won't forget it any time soon.

And I think that I'm going to have to recommend it to people to read. Not like Speak, which I think everyone should read, period, no exceptions. But I think that some people should take the opportunity to read Wintergirls because even though it's not a comfortable experience, it is a powerful experience, and one that will change you.



(And if you do read it, I'd love to discuss it with you.)

Life's Lessons Learned

This is Dallin H. Oaks' newest publication. It is a very quick read. All of the chapters are brief, self-contained chapters that are each only a few pages long. I think I give the book two stars. For some reason I was kind of disappointed. I love hearing Elder Oaks speak in conference, and so I had really high expectations. The chapters were so short that he doesn't go into as much detail as I would hope or like.

For example, the first chapter is about his father's death and how he learned that no matter how faithful and righteous the prayers of the faithful, nothing can change the will of God with some matters. He describes how his father got multiple priesthood blessings, some from high leadership in the Church, that said he would be healed, but he ended up dying anyway. This is an important and interesting principle, but what it did for me is raise more questions. Why, then, do all of those super righteous people not express God's will in their blessings, but their own? How can a person know if a blessing or prayer offered is the will and desire of the person giving it, or of God?

His mother, particularly, experienced great pain and internal conflict because of all those blessings offered. But he doesn't get into these latter questions, and I wish he would have.

There are lots of interesting tidbits about his life, because he uses a life experience to illustrate how he learned a certain principle. So, each chapter contains an experience from his life to connect to the principle. It was fun to learn new things about him.

Mostly, I wish the book and chapters were longer and more detailed. Simplicity can be good, but I thought this was way too simplified.

A Jane Austen Education

Although swimming in half-finished books, a recent vacation necessitated the purchase of a book. (The thought of losing a library book absolutely terrifies me since my sister’s dog chewed up one of my library books when I was about 11; they didn’t revoke my library card like I thought they would, but, oh, the horror of the very idea.) I knew I didn’t want just any book; it had to be classy and cool (so I wouldn’t be embarrassed if an authentic New York hipster saw me reading it), entertaining (because it was for a vacation after all), and be the type of book I would actually like to own (although that point may be moot since I buy all sorts of books to entice the children to read). What I finally decided on was A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz.

A Jane Austen Education is part literary analysis, part memoir, and (a very small) part self-help book. William Deresiewicz shares his transformative experience with Austen as a graduate student. Like many others, Deresiewicz was quick to write Austen off as the author of fluffy romance novels. After a reluctant reading of Emma, however, he began to see the genuine talent and valuable insight in Jane Austen’s work. His respect and admiration continued to grow as he read (and re-read) each of her novels. In his book, Deresiewicz extrapolates a life lesson from each of the novels and shares how it helped him to reconsider his goals and priorities.

Unlike Deresiewicz, I’ve loved Austen from my first reading of Pride and Prejudice in 9th grade, and while he doesn’t seem to be making an intentional effort to convince readers of her merit as an author, Deresiewicz does an incredible job of pointing out the small things that make Austen great. His analysis is meaningful and interesting but is also short and to the point. A few of the reviews I’d read online felt that he had too much summary of the novels, but I didn’t feel like that was the case as they were always relevant to the point he was illustrating.

I really liked the way that Deresiewicz presents the lessons he learned from the novel. He clearly outlines his interpretation of Austen’s novels and then talks about how they helped him to solve one of the many problems of growing up, most of which involve our relationship with others. His tone in discussing these lessons isn’t forceful or preachy, but I felt like I was being challenged to live up to Austen’s expectations of me. If you need inspiration for improvement, imagining what Austen’s cutting wit might come up with to describe your failings will certainly do the trick. I enjoyed Deresiewicz’s stories, and, honestly, loved the idea of someone consciously applying lessons from the novel they’ve just read. In fact, my only complaint with the book is that I sometimes felt like Deresiewicz didn’t tell enough about his life or how certain situations worked out after his Austen-inspired revelations struck him.

A Jane Austen Education ended up perfectly fitting my vacation book requirements. It was a fun, intelligent read that kept me thoroughly entertained. If you are an Austen fan, you’ll most likely love it, and even if you’re not, you’ll probably enjoy it. This book gets 4 stars, and, to back that up, an offer to lend you my copy.

Ellie's Book #4: Longitude

Confession: I've had some crazy scheduling stuff come up recently so while I'm currently reading book #6, I'm a bit behind in my reviews, so I'll be playing catch-up in the next few days. I finished this book a little over a week ago.


Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
****

My dad loves documentaries, especially of the National Geographic or Nova variety. This may be where a lot of his random trivia knowledge comes from; I know that the things I learned through osmosis while these programs were on in the house for much of my childhood certainly come in handy when it's Trivial Pursuit time. They also, incidentally, made me look like a huge nerd (yes, even more than normal) one time in eighth grade history class when I happened to be the only student who not only had heard of but also was able to tell about the German Enigma code machine from WWII. I had learned about the enigma machine while sitting on the couch in our family room downstairs, probably working on some counted cross stitch project (my nerdiness factor really isn't shrinking much here, is it?) as my dad watched a TV program on the code breaker. I think he also used the opportunity to tell me about the decoder rings he had loved in his childhood, but I may just be thinking of A Christmas Story.

Anyway. Most of the documentaries he watched have just kind of blurred together for me, but I do have a specific memory of once again sitting downstairs (only this time I was working on a puzzle, I think of a map of the USA—yeah, I'm never getting rid of the nerd label now) watching a documentary about the search for longitude with my dad. I also remember missing the end of it because I was rather young and my mom made me come upstairs to get ready for bed. So when I saw that the Kindle Daily Deal awhile back (we'll talk another time about just how much I adore the KDD) was a book called Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, you can bet I 1-clicked the heck out of that deal.

And I loved this book. It's written as a popular account rather than a history, so while it is still historically accurate and well-researched, it moves along at a great clip, it doesn't get bogged down in footnotes and it's exciting and accessible. It almost reads like a novel in some places—you've got your problem that is threatening the existence of the kingdom; your plucky hero from somewhere obscure, fighting against all odds to save the day; your villains and antagonists who are bound and determined to throw every obstacle possible into the hero's way in order to win the glory for themselves; and somehow it all turns out right in the end. Throw in a handful of astronomers and watch-makers and you've got Longitude.

Most people don't realize in our era of GPS and Google Earth that in the early and not-so-early-at-all days of sailing, longitude was a major problem. Captains could determine latitude quite easily from the sun and the equator, but longitude was a different matter all together. Leaving aside the basic fact that people couldn't agree where the Prime Meridian should be in the first place, even once you started from the prime meridian you had no accurate way to measure your distance from it. This could lead to disaster at sea, from not knowing how close you were to shore, which led to a disastrous shipwreck of Admiral Sir Clowdisley Shovell's fleet on the Scilly Islands in 1707, causing a loss of 4 ships and 2000 men; or from losing time and supplies backtracking to find your destination, as in the case of Commodore George Anson, whose longitudinal delays in 1741 eventually led to the death by scurvy of more than half of his 500-man crew. These and similar disasters prompted Parliament to establish the Longitude Act in 1714, which formed the Board of Longitude to award a prize worth millions of today's dollars to the person who came up with (and proved!) an accurate method of determining longitude at sea.

Sobel's subtitle makes it seem as though this book is mostly focused on English clockmaker John Harrison, who eventually won the prize. However, the book's scope is a bit wider than the subtitle lets on, and Harrison's story is only one of the threads of the narrative. Sobel also chronicles several failed attempts, some of which are hilariously bad (one involving pouring "sympathy powder" on a wounded dog's tail at a set time everyday is particularly great, as is the one that proposed to anchor ships at various intervals throughout the ocean to set off fireworks and cannons at set times), and the aftermath of Harrison's inventions. All in all, this is an excellent and comprehensive-enough view of the longitude problem, and it was fascinating.

I loved Sobel's writing style, which was clear and succinct but also lyrical. I also have to applaud her choice of chapter epigraphs, especially the nod to Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" (and that was the last nail in my nerd coffin. Ah, well). My one complaint is that there were no accompanying pictures of the people or devices described in the book, at least not in my Kindle edition.

If you're interested in readable history and science (or even if you think you don't like history or science) and cool inventions and astronomy and unpleasant people with names like Rev. Maskelyne, do yourself a favor and pick up Longitude.

Introducing a New Category: DNF

I didn't think about this before, but we need to have a category for books that we decide-- for whatever reason-- not to finish. Introducing DNF, or Did Not Finish.

I wish we didn't need this category. Mainly because I really wanted to like the last book I started reading, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers. But I just couldn't.

This book has won all sorts of awards, it was even a finalist for the Pulitzer. My problem is I have no idea why. The premise is very intriguing-- I only read a synopsis and thought it sounded awesome. Here you go, if you're interested. From Goodreads...

The literary sensation of the year, a book that redefines both family and narrative for the twenty-first century. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is the moving memoir of a college senior who, in the space of five weeks, loses both of his parents to cancer and inherits his eight-year-old brother. Here is an exhilarating debut that manages to be simultaneously hilarious and wildly inventive as well as a deeply heartfelt story of the love that holds a family together.

Sounds good, right? That's what I thought. Instead, it's just ... not. I was not a fan of how much swearing Eggers threw in there, for seemingly no reason at all. And what put me off right off the bat was the huge Preface/Contents/Acknowledgements section that dragged on and on and on ... and seemed to be partly a sarcastic reaction to critical reviews of the book. Yeah, not a fan. I even gave it about 120 pages worth of a chance to impress me, to give me a reason to finish all 437 pages, and I never found it. In the end, I concluded it's just not worth my time to keep slogging through a book that I'm not enjoying at all. After reading a few books that I LOVED, I just want to get into another excellent read.

Oh, well. Better luck with the next one.

Meg's 5th Read: I Am Not a Serial Killer, by Dan Wells

Oh, where to begin.

Let's see... I first heard about this book on a blog that was listing its pick for the best fiction by LDS authors in 2010. I read the synopses given and added several of them to my to-read list, and then promptly forgot all about them. A while back, when I was picking my next selection via Goodreads and random.org, this one came up. I picked it up from the library, and it wasn't until I read the author bio and saw that Dan Wells lives in Orem that I remembered where I had heard of this book. That said, the fact that the author is LDS is the only Mormon thing about this book. (Which is probably a good thing, because LDS-themed fiction isn't really my favorite. I have read some that I really enjoyed, but I don't usually go out of my way to read books from that genre.)

The basic plot of this young adult book (which is the first in a trilogy) involves a young man, John Wayne Cleaver, who has been clinically diagnosed with sociopathy. In addition to that, he has a fascination bordering on obsession with serial killers. I don't need to spell out for you what kind of combination that is. Fortunately, John also has a strong desire to keep himself from becoming the type of monster it seems he is fated to be. This strong desire has led him to set up strict rules for himself about his interactions with other people and his daily behavior. Sticking to these rules is essential.

John lives in a small town, Clayton, with his mother, who happens to run the town's mortuary along with her twin sister. When a serial killer strikes Clayton, it's no surprise that John's interest is piqued-- perhaps to an unhealthy extent. John ultimately figures out who the killer is, and knows that he is in a unique position to be able to stop him... but also knows that he needs to do so without unleashing the monster within. Succeeding on both accounts turns out to be a lot more difficult than John anticipates.

So... what do I rate this book? This is where it gets difficult. I literally bounced back and forth between liking and hating it, pretty much every chapter. I guess I'll start with what I didn't like.

First, I knocked one star off after the fourth or fifth time I saw a grammatical error. There weren't TONS of mistakes, but seriously, where was the copy editor? I think I am more particular than the average reader, but then again, I think all of the readers of this blog would have been just as annoyed as I was to see the kinds of minor errors that made it to print. Moving on...

A second star gets knocked off because, while I have to give the author credit for tackling the task of writing from the perspective of a 15-year-old sociopath, there were just too many times when it felt forced and I didn't believe it. I think that a lot of that came from the inexperience of the author. This is his first book, after all. I got the feeling that this same story, written by someone with a bit more experience, would have been flawless in this respect. Sorry, Mr. Wells. I anticipate your future books to be even better though, so I don't feel too bad for saying this.

Finally, I think I have to knock one more star off just because of all the times that I almost stopped reading it. This happened for several reasons. One, it is a bit dark in some places. Remember, you are reading the thoughts of a teenager who is obsessed with death... and not just death, murder. At some points I just thought to myself, OK, I'm over it. And to be honest, I think the main reason I picked it back up again after one of those moments is that I wanted to be able to give it an honest review on this blog. :)

Another reason that I almost gave up on it is that Wells brings a supernatural element into the story that (1) I wasn't expecting AT ALL, and (2) I wasn't a big fan of. By the end, I had to admit that it was an OK choice on his part, but I still wasn't super happy about it.

On the other hand, I obviously kept reading, and here are my reasons for doing so. One is that it does have some good humor in it. I chuckled inside my head quite a few times-- especially at some choice dialog between John and his nerdy friend, Max. Additionally, once the action really got going, I definitely got sucked in and had to know how it ended. There were some really tense moments. Wells definitely did a good job with those.

So, all in all, it was an entertaining read. I think, looking back, that I have to say my "like" for the book outweighs my dislike. I didn't love it, and it wasn't so blah that I'd take it or leave it, so it gets three stars from me.

If you are interested, here's what another reviewer had to say, from FantasyBookCritic.blogspot.com: 

"Part serial killer thriller and part supernatural horror with black humor, coming-of-age and teen angst mixed in, “I Am Not A Serial Killer” is like a cross between Dexter, Jeepers Creepers, and a YA dramedy..."

INFO:
Title: I Am Not a Serial Killer
Author: Dan Wells
Published: 2010
272 pages

Ready Player One

I think this is the blog equivalent of showing up 5 minutes late to class. Sorry about that. I am excited to introduce myself and talk about books. My name is Aubrey. I am a high school English teacher; sparking a love of reading in my students is my highest priority and greatest privilege as a teacher. My husband, Mike, is studying to become a video game programmer; I was pretty positive he was “the one” when he called me before our second date to find out what book I was reading with my book club so we could talk about it together. Also, he regularly quotes Pride and Prejudice in conversation, which I find admirable. We have a happy, nerdy little life together.

The first book I’d like to share with you is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. This one came strongly recommended… as in, Mike brought it home, ecstatic that he had found a second copy so we could read it together. It’s hard to resist that kind of excitement.

The book is set in the year 2044 and things are pretty dismal. The economy has never recovered from the recession and people miserably eke out their lives of extreme poverty. But, there is a silver lining… the OASIS. The OASIS is a massively multiplayer online simulation game. The real world no longer has much appeal, and people are more than happy to escape into the virtual world. This is especially true for Wade Watts, the teenaged, socially outcast main character who, along with millions of others, is on a quest. Five years before the story begins, James Halliday, the creator of the OASIS passes away. The legendary programmer left the world one final, epic video game quest… to find the three hidden keys that will lead one player to the hidden “Easter egg.” The person who finds the egg will inherit Halliday’s incredible fortune and stewardship of the OASIS. Oh, and, to find the hidden keys one must have a vast knowledge of video games and 80s pop culture. Wade and other video game enthusiasts have plenty of motivation to find the egg, but so does Innovative Online Industries, the massive company that hopes to privatize the OASIS to increase potential profits.

I think the main appeal of this book is how fun it is to have an epic quest designed around video games and 80s pop culture. At various points, being able to quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail and play a perfect game of PacMan are crucial to Wade’s success and survival. Honestly, I wasn’t terribly familiar with a lot of the referenced texts, but Cline does a good job of explaining them just enough to let you in on their significance without overdoing it for those who get it.

Ready Player One raises an interesting question in today’s world: is the real world actually better than virtual reality? To some people that may seem absurd, but I see people every day trying to find a balance between reality and virtual reality. We spend hours escaping from life with Facebook, Pinterest, blogs, video games, etc. There are people who prefer texting to actual conversations because they find those conversations uncomfortable. Wade has to answer this question, and it is surprisingly hard to guess which side he’ll take.

Overall, I enjoyed Ready Player One quite a lot, but something that bothered me was the frequent swearing/use of uncouth phases. I don’t usually mind swearing, but I did feel like there was too much of it and that it didn’t serve much of a purpose. Maybe it was meant to show that these people are angry and alienated. Either way, I could have done without it.

Ready Player One has an original premise, relevantly questions our relationship with technology, and keeps readers interested with its high stakes adventure. I would give this geeky epic 3 stars and warn you that reading it may end up in a trip to the arcade.

Ellie's Book #3: I Capture the Castle

I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
*****

I have been meaning to read this book for some time, and was spurred on by several references that Kristen has made to it in the past few months. (I would claim that I also picked it up because the author also wrote The Hundred and One Dalmatians, the book upon which my son's favorite movie is based, but I have to admit that despite seeing Dodie Smith's name in the credits as often as I do, I didn't make that connection until I glanced at the author bio in the back of the book. Movie recognition fail.)

This book hit me in a funny way that I can't quite describe. I was pre-disposed to like it based on what I'd heard about it and also the fact that I approve of plots that resemble Austen in general. (People often mistake Jane Austen books for romantic comedies, which is true to some extent, but that misses the HUGE undercurrent of the do-or-die struggle that is the Regency marriage game.) And I did enjoy it, but it went deeper than that.

The Mortmain family is living out their 40-year lease of an old castle which has fallen and continues to fall into disrepair. They are in a state of not-so-genteel poverty, although the grinding hopelessness of their situation doesn't really crash down on the reader as it might because it is held at bay by the wonderful personality that is the narrator, Cassandra Mortmain. Can I just say that I love her? I love her in the way you love a sister or a best friend (or, occasionally, yourself), who you cheer for and laugh with and who makes you tear your hair out when they do really stupid things that you can't save them from and which you know they are better than. I loved her voice, the way she frequently stops to take stock of herself and her feelings, and her determination to be fully honest with herself in the journals she's keeping.

Cassandra's older sister, Rose, out of desperation, determines to marry strictly for money. I get this. I remember a time during law school when my husband and I did the calculations and said unless something can change and soon, this is the day we will run out of money. It's a terrifying, suffocating feeling, and you get just enough glimpses of it through the lens of Cassandra's plucky (but not foolish) optimism to forgive Rose for deciding to do whatever it takes to never be in that situation again. And for the record, I like Rose a lot better than I ever liked Scarlett O'Hara, who made a similar vow.

I had more problems with Mr. Mortmain, the father of the family. For reasons I (and the other characters) can't quite fathom, Mr. Mortmain fritters away his time and talents NOT writing his second book for years as his family sinks farther and farther into the above-mentioned poverty. I was frustrated that he could be as callously oblivious as he seemed to be to his family's bleak situation. (Although I have to confess that from the descriptions of the book he wrote, I wouldn't want to read it myself.)

The rest of the cast of characters are worthy of this book in every way. Dodie Smith has a gift for characterization that makes you feel as though you know these people, or might run into them at any moment.

The book was extremely well written, and I loved reading it. I'm not sure that I liked finishing it, though. In order to explain, I may need to get ever-so-slightly SPOILER-y, although I won't give away any main plot details.

This book wormed its way into my heart, and I wanted nothing more than good things for Cassandra especially. I wanted her to be happy. And in the end, it felt like I hadn't quite gotten that for her, and had to settle for her being smart instead, with the hope that happiness would follow sometime in the future. The ending was almost devastatingly effective for me, rather like a kick to the gut, in that even though it was a good ending as far as being hopeful and as far as the welfare of the characters was concerned, I felt every bit of the ache that Cassandra must have been feeling, and it stayed with me long after I finished. It's taken me a few days to come to terms with it and write the review.

That being said, the book was absolutely worth that kick in the gut. I'm not sure how soon I'll want to re-read it, knowing what's coming (because who likes being kicked all the time?), but I'm betting it will eventually go into my re-read roster.

Let me reiterate that it's really not a depressing book and that nobody gets eaten by the eels at this (or any other) time. But if you tend to fall into deep smit with fictional characters and live their lives vicariously, be warned that this one is going to be a bit of a ride.

In short, this book truly was extraordinary. I'll be feeling it in my bones for a long time to come. Five stars.

Middlesex-- Book #4

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2003. I have been trying to formulate a review... and have experienced great writer's block. This book is... so many things.

Take the opening line, for example:

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.  

If it's not altogether clear from that cleverly written opening, along with the title of the book, I promise it's not a spoiler for me to tell you that the omniscient narrator and protagonist, Calliope Stephanides, is a hermaphrodite man. Cal, as he later becomes known, is of Greek descent, the grandson of a Greek couple who immigrated to the United States in the 1920s-- oh, and who also happened to be brother and sister. One of the children of this couple ended up marrying a cousin, and they had two kids. Chapter Eleven, a son, whose name is never explained-- one of my irritations with this book; and Calliope, at first a daughter, and the grand prize winner of a mutated gene that resulted in 5-alpha-reductase deficiency.

The first half of the book is about Cal's family-- starting way back when with Desdemona and Lefty, the incestuous immigrants. The latter half of the novel describes Cal's childhood, which he spent entirely as a girl; his adolescence, which was mostly spent in a state of confusion and disappointment at his failure to develop like his classmates; and his ultimate understanding and acceptance of his gender identity.

Eugenides based much of the story off of his own life-- though he is not a hermaphrodite. He is of Greek descent and lived in Detroit, and a lot of the other details of Cal's life were taken from his own.

The book is written in the form of a memoir, though Cal's narration is omniscient and thus describes things he couldn't possibly know. Major themes include rebirth, the American Dream, race relations, ethnic identity, Greek mythology, nature versus nurture, incest and intersex, and gender identity (naturally).

Now... to review it. Sometimes this is the hardest part. I honestly have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, there's no denying it's well written. There's some great humor in it. Additionally, I think Eugenides did a remarkable job of describing the reality of an intersex teenager and adult, and the challenges and confusion that can pervade such an existence. I obviously can't know whether his descriptions were true to reality, but they seemed authentic.

On the other hand, a lot of the story was just weird and uncomfortable. I didn't like reading about Desdemona and Lefty's incestuous marriage. There's a reason incest is illegal. And despite the fact that I know there are many people in the world like Cal, it's not what I'd call super fun to read about much of what they go through. I think I understand it better, and I have a greater appreciation for the serious struggle that it really is, but I'm not convinced that this book was the best way to go about getting that understanding. Eugenides was pretty tasteful in what he chose to include-- there weren't any graphic sex scenes-- but Cal is definitely confused and experiments in various ways before he finds some answers. Cal also ends up working at a strip club/peep show in San Francisco, and that's a section of the book I could have done without. The part where he finally sees a specialist in New York and gets some real answers about his condition was a breath of fresh air for me. I think I am more suited to reading the technical, clinical side of issues like this.

Basically, I think I finished the book more because it was like a car wreck-- and I couldn't look away-- than out of true enjoyment. Unlike The Thirteenth Tale, I don't plan on reading this again. Taking all of this into consideration, I'm giving this book 2 stars.

Title: Middlesex
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Published: 2002
529 pages

The Thirteenth Tale-- and my third read

Title: The Thirteenth Tale
Author: Diane Setterfield
Published: 2006
406 pages
Meg's rating: 5 stars

I loved this book.


Just had to get that out of the way.

The Thirteenth Tale is awesome. It is a mystery and a ghost story. It is about books and book lovers. It features writers and storytellers, siblings and twins, forbidden affairs and unnatural passions, a larger-than-life dessert caterer, a reclusive bestselling author, a destructive house fire, and loss, heartbreak, and reunion. Among other things.

Diane Setterfield hit one out of the park with this book. I was drawn in almost immediately-- and though I thought I liked it at the beginning, I liked it more and more with every chapter I read. Though I read this book concurrently with another one (which I shall be reviewing shortly) it was this book that stayed on my mind all the time-- this book that I couldn't wait to get back to every day.

The main character and narrator of this book is Margaret Lea, the daughter of a loving, book-shop-owning father and a mostly absent, ever grieving, depressed mother. Margaret dabbles in autobiographical writing when she is not helping her father out at the shop and so is only mostly shocked when she receives a letter from one of the most prolific authors of the day, Vida Winter, who wants Margaret to write her biography. Ms. Winter has written numerous bestsellers, but has managed to keep her personal life a tightly-held secret. Though reporter after reporter has come to call, Ms. Winter gets her thrills by answering their questions with complete fabrications. She is a master storyteller.

Margaret decides to accept Ms. Winter's request, and what follows is an enchanting, gripping, enthralling tale. To say it was mesmerizing is not an exaggeration. And I will leave it there, because I don't want to risk spoiling anything. Suffice it to say, I highly recommend this book. I give it five stars because, not only did I love it, I can't wait for some time to pass so I can read it again. I would absolutely LOVE to see a film adaptation, and will not be at all surprised if I do at some point.

From the back of the book:

"Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness-- featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves."

Book #3: The Game, Book 7 in the Mary Russell series

I also read Miss Pettigrew, but have no need to rehash Ellie's thoughtful review of a lovely little book. Pettigrew was my second book of the year, and I've decided to track how many I read simply because I never have before. It'll be interesting to see the body count after the year's up.

Speaking of Ellie, she also got me turned onto the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. I've been burning through them, and they are delightful.

Truthfully, I don't usually read mystery series because they can become a bit wan and kitschy. (The fact that I read a lot of the Cat Who series when I was younger may have something to do with this jaded view of mystery novels.) I like this series even more as I go along, which is refreshing.

For a bit of background, the character Mary Russell is a half-Brit, half-American, Jewish feminist orphan. Yeah, I know. But it works. It works marvelously. In the first book of the series, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, 15-year-old Mary encounters the semi-retired Sherlock Holmes who keeps bees in Sussex. They become nearly instant friends, and eventually Mary becomes his apprentice (ergo the title). Their adventures together land them in all sorts of troubles both in solving crimes and as instruments of the political machinations of Mycroft, Sherlock's older brother.

The writing is excellent, and entirely told from the first-person perspective of Mary Russell herself. Although the author is the first to emphasize that these are Mary Russell books not Sherlock Holmes books, they are one of the better bits of derivative literature I've chanced to stumble upon over the years. Ms. King is very thorough with her research and is true to the essence of the world established by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, while making the character of Mary her own.

Unfortunately, to delve much more into the background of the books would be to deny potential readers the pleasures of discovering the world of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes themselves.

In The Game, Russell and Holmes find themselves in India of all places. (This is far from the only random exotic locale the pair finds themselves.) It's a lush and lustrous romp, full of interesting characters and part of the plot dependent on characters from Rudyard Kipling's Kim. Disguises, deceit, dangerous beasts, and political intrigue in a time of political unrest in the British-occupied country weave through the novel. I hesitate to give too much away, as this is the next book in the series for Ellie and I don't want to ruin it for her.

I liked it a lot. It's not my favorite of the Mary Russell books I've read so far, but that's largely because of how much I loved the two companion books in the series, O Jerusalem and Justice Hall. My appreciation of the book may have been enhanced if I was at all familiar with the book Kim, though I think Laurie King does an adequate job explaining the connections for someone unacquainted with the book or the character.

A solid offering in the series. I've yet to finish one of the books and not be curious what happens in the next one. And I'm especially glad that there are still quite a few more books to dive into, so expect more reviews from this series as the year progresses.

I'm giving this four stars. It was a fun and pleasurable read as the Mary Russell books always are. Definitely give The Beekeeper's Apprentice a chance if this piqued your interest at all.

Just the facts, ma'am
Author: Laurie R. King
Published: 2005
Rating: 4 stars

All But My Life-- Book #2

I read All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein for my RS book club meeting, which was yesterday night. I wasn't able to pick up a copy of the book until last Sunday, but it was easy to read the entire thing in just a few days.

All But My Life is an autobiography written by Klein. It focuses on her six years spent as a slave laborer for the Nazis, and ends with her liberation by US soldiers in 1945. Gerda was only 15 when the Germans invaded her country of Poland. She watched her only sibling, a brother named Arthur, leave home, forced to join the army, and never saw him again. She was also eventually separated from both her parents, never learning their fates, though it is likely they ended up at Auschwitz.

Gerda herself eventually worked at five different labor camps, surviving horrific conditions, starvation, and some of the worst of Nazi brutality. She managed to keep pictures of her brother and parents under the soles of her heavy boots. In the beginning of 1945, she-- one of approximately 4,000 women-- began a 350 mile death march, and ended up one of only 120 survivors. During this march, her best friend, Ilse, who had been at her side throughout the previous six years, died in her arms.

In May of 1945, one day shy of her 21st birthday, Gerda finally saw liberation in the form of US Army Lieutenant, Kurt Klein, a German-born US citizen. Though because of starvation Gerda weighed only 68 lbs and her typically black hair was white, Kurt saw something more than her haggard appearance. The two felt an instant connection and became engaged later that year. Kurt eventually brought Gerda back to the United States, where they have lived ever since.

Gerda was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama just last year. She has spent her life telling her story and working to promote tolerance.

Now for my review. I have read a lot of Holocaust literature. I took a whole course on it during my undergraduate degree. This book is at the top of what I've read. Gerda's writing style was frustrating at times, but I kept reminding myself that a memoir like this is going to be fragmented in parts. It isn't as smooth as a novel, obviously, and some parts were confusing. However, after going through all that she did, I am surprised she is able to recall all of her experiences with such clarity. She is definitely a resilient soul. I can't help but believe that she was preserved in order to be able to tell her story, especially after reading of so many instances in which she narrowly escaped death.

For these and other reasons, I give this book 4 stars. I think Holocaust literature has a special place in society-- many of these people have spent their life as a witness of what they saw and went through. I think their stories should be read and remembered as much as possible.

Outlander: Scots, Sex and Sutures

4 Stars

Outlander was...breathtaking. Despite its length, it was a breeze to read. But how do I describe it? I don't want to just call it a romance because that word has certain literary baggage. It was not corny or contrived or full of gratuitous sex, but yes, I suppose it was at its core a romance novel.

Claire is a WWII nurse from 1945 who accidentally steps back in time to 1743 Scotland. Other than this element, the book strives for realism. This realism creates some incredibly difficult/heartwrenching/violent reading material which Diana Gabaldon mercifully intersperses throughout the book to give you enough time to recover. Until the end. That's why I read 200 pages last night.

But as a whole, the book left me swooning and romantic and desperately wanting to snuggle my own red bearded husband. I fell in love with the characters--everyone from Claire, with her badass medical skills, intelligence, and fiestiness to the rowdy, bawdy group of clansman that provide much of the book's comic relief. Not to mention the romantic interest. Oh damn.

Though mostly driven by the developing romance, there's also a wonderful mess of political intrigue overriding the plot. With a full 850 pages, you can do a lot in one book. It was hilarious at times, I felt as if I were just one of the guys on a wild romp through Scotland full of adventure and derring-do. Other times it was a social commentary. At others it was a startling contrast between modern life, modern marriage, modern medicine and 1740s Scotland.

I highly recommend this book, but with a few cautions. It's definitely rated R for violence and sex. The violence was very personal. It wasn't distant war scenes, it was torture and rape. There were many times I just read with my mouth agape--not sure I wanted to continue. Though the sex in this book is frequent, it is not gratuitous, it's always advancing the plot in some way. If you ever want to read a well written sex scene that isn't full of "trembling member" this and "aching bosoms" that, the author does an incredibly accurate, generally tasteful job of describing pure intimacy. Again and again. ;)

My other caution is the writing is incredibly detailed, which made it start a little slow. It took slightly more than the 100 pages I typically allot to get really "in" to the plot. But once I was "in" I couldn't put it down.

If you DO read this book, we have to discuss it. There are parts that I'm still questioning. And I love a book that can do that to me.

Info:
Title: Outlander
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Published: 1992
850 pages (paperback version)

You Just Don't Understand

Rating: 5 stars.

I reread this book after having first read it almost 15 years ago. It is by Deborah Tannen, PhD. She is a well-known linguist that has been at Georgetown for years.

This book deals with the stylistic differences between genders in conversation, and how those stylistic differences play a large role in men and women misunderstanding each other in conversation.

Obviously, there are individuals (male and female) who both experience something different than she describes and who also converse in a way unlike the majority of their gender. She does make note of that multiple times throughout the book and isn't slapping labels on genders.

However, it is true, that men and women by and large see the world differently and experience the life differently, and thus have different motivations for conversation based on these different paradigms. There are patterns, based on gender. It was fascinating to reread this because, as I have a five year old daughter, I could see the patterns Tannen describes already emerging in my daughter, especially when she interacts with other five-year-old girls. I can see how I endorse and confirm them through my own behavior.

It also helped me to understand my husband much better. I came back to this book after all these years because I had the feeling that our true conflict was not about the topics we were trying to argue about. I had the feeling that our words were getting in the way, and that the way we interpret the messages and metamessages of language are very, very different.

A great read, even if it's not going to serve a practical purpose for you, because it's just plain interesting.

Ellie's Book #2: Coco Chanel

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm packing in a few quick books up front to buy me buffer time to tackle that copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that's been sitting in my TBR pile for a couple of years now.


Book #2: The Gospel According to Coco Chanel by Karen Karbo.
*½

I finished this book a few days ago and have been trying to figure out ever since if I actually liked it or not.

I picked this book up as a Kindle daily deal for cheap as free because I have a secret fascination with things that have to do with high fashion (this may or may not be traceable back to the time I read The Devil Wears Prada. We won't get into that here), as well as a weakness for impulse-buy-priced ebooks, and it looked like an interesting read.

And it was, as far as the actual biographical bits about Coco Chanel went. The author seems to have done her basic research and I liked the way Chanel's life was presented according to category ("On Style," "On Self-Invention," "On Cultivating Arch-Rivals," etc.) rather than strictly chronologically, although it was chronological enough to avoid confusion.

But.

Something about this book bugged me from the get-go, even though it took me a while to figure out exactly what it was. Even while I was enjoying the presentation of Chanel's life and quotes and loves and adventures, I wasn't enjoying the book itself. I didn't hate it or dislike it enough to quit reading, but it just rubbed me wrong.

It finally clicked that I didn't really like the author. I wasn't interested in the autobiographical sections that she used to frame the chapters on Chanel. I didn't like the editorializing she made on Chanel's life and attitudes. I guess it boils down to one basic thing: I didn't like her tone of writing.

Let me clarify: I think she's a good writer. Her tone positively sparkles in some places. She definitely has wit and skills and such.

But.

The book didn't really gel as a whole. It felt a lot like a compilation of newspaper columns in some ways: each chapter is complete in itself and follows some little gimmick or motif, but doesn't necessarily match the preceding or following chapters.

In some cases it felt like the author had already drawn her own conclusions about Chanel's life or actions based simply on surface facts and was writing what fit those notions, rather than actually exploring what might have been really going on in the background, what her motivations were, or the like. (At one point she actually says, "I was going to discuss [incident], but I simply can't bring myself to do it.") I guess I'm more accustomed to having biographers dig a little deeper than mere surface facts, even—or perhaps especially—when those surface facts are pretty damning.

But what really bothered me the most was the author's tone relative to the fact that she was writing this book from a feminist point of view (she all but stated it outright). I have no problem with that in general; what bothered me was that the tone seemed to be less about the feminism that's for gender equality and respect and more about the stereotypical feminism that, to put it bluntly, sounds more like man-hating than anything else, and which gives more reasonable branches of feminism a bad name. To paraphrase a quote from Pride and Prejudice, "Take care, Karen; that speech savors strongly of disappointment." I kept feeling like this book had been written in the aftermath of a bad breakup and the author kept forgetting that the book was supposed to be about Chanel and not her own relationship problems. At several points I wanted to tell her to quit whining and get back to Chanel.

Which is probably very unfair for me to say. It's quite probable that the author meant nothing of the sort. But it was kind of hard to get away from that feeling, and that is what ultimately made me decide that this book only gets 1.5 stars. I liked parts of it, but overall I didn't really care for it, although someone else might.

(Maybe I'll just go watch The September Issue again to make myself feel better.)

An Introduction and My Book #1: The Handmaid's Tale

Hello, fellow bloggers and readers. I'm Kristen. I'm a reader and an editor and chaser of a very active six-month-old baby boy. Growing up, I was that kid who spent recess reading books. I'm not shooting for a specific number of books to read this year, but I still read a lot and look forward to a year of interesting book discussions.

Onto the main event: The Handmaid's Tale

Amazon does a daily deal for Kindle—namely, some deeply discounted book or other miraculously sent to my e-reader. The Handmaid's Tale looked reasonably interesting, so I indulged in a $0.99 splurge.

To quickly cover the basics, it was written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985. It falls under the category of dystopian or speculative fiction. (As an aside, is it morbid how much I usually love dystopian novels?) The author derived the title from "The Handmaid's Tale" in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

In the dystopian world established by Atwood, the government has been overthrown by a fundamentalist religious group which calls itself "The Sons of Jacob." Any bank account owned by a woman became frozen—suddenly, women had no status or recognized rights except through their husbands. For the common people, society functions somewhat in a communistic format. People are given tokens that represent rations of food and other supplies. On a monthly basis, random people are executed as an example.

Presumably due to radiation and other environmental grossness, fewer and fewer women are capable of conceiving and carrying a baby to term. The radiation can cause infant mutations and other unpleasantness. The remaining fertile women are rounded up, permanently separated from their families and children, indoctrinated, sometimes tortured, and forced to become Handmaids. Handmaids are in essence sexual slaves passed around the upper echelons of society to both continue the human race and to provide children for the wealthy classes of society. The Handmaids live as pariahs and concubines, given three chances with three families to conceive and bear a child before being shipped off to the ambiguously named "Colonies" for a life of hard labor.

The main speaker throughout the novel is a Handmaid. Her name is Offred, a patronymic name given to each of the Handmaids that consists of the word "Of" and the first name of the man she serves (thus, "Of + Fred"). Any time she goes in public, she must wear red robes that sound like a combination of a nun's habit and a hijab. Her story isn't a happy one, and the whole book is rather depressing even for a dystopian novel.

Did I like it? I'm not quite sure, really. I found it interesting. It isn't a pleasure read by any means. Even fairly restrained depictions of the monthly "Ceremony" wherein the Commander has sex with Offred while Offred lies in the Commander's wife's lap (yep—that adds a whole new dimension to the idea of a threesome) made my stomach turn.

I find the societal implications also interesting, as well as the exploration of the underground resistance movement. If I hadn't gotten it for less than a dollar, I'm not sure I would have read it. I do find it fascinating how understated the horror of the book is. I think it's intended to indicate the result of indoctrination. Much of the writing is simply observational, without commentary on how horrible their lives all are. It's at least effective in that respect.

The novel ends ambiguously, which was fine for me. I would imagine those who favor neat tidy Victorian endings with the bad guys punished and the good guys avenged will hate the ending. The ending does give some hope for humanity without seeming phony, which I did appreciate.

I'd say read it if you get around to it. Thus, I'm giving it 3 stars under Meg's rating scale. I wouldn't enthusiastically recommend it, nor discourage anyone from reading it. The Handmaid's Tale is certainly thought-provoking and reasonably well-written. It's a quick read and for all its unpleasantness, I wanted to find out what happens. That's more than I can say for a few books I tried to read last year.

Book #1: Five Chiefs

When he resigned in June 2010, Justice John Paul Stevens was the third-longest-serving Supreme Court justice in American history. As a lawyer and on the Court, he worked with five chief justices. Five Chiefs is his account of the workings of the Court from his personal experiences with these chief justices: as a law clerk during Vinson's tenure, a practicing lawyer when Warren was chief, a circuit judge and junior justice during Burger's term, a contemporary colleague of Rehnquist's, and a colleague of the current chief justice, John Roberts. -- excerpt from the inside cover

My opening disclaimer for this book absolutely must be, don't bother if you aren't interested in the Supreme Court! You've been warned. And, honestly, if you don't fit into that category, do yourself a favor and just skip this review, because it will probably bore you to tears.

That said, I really enjoyed this book. Not only because I fancy myself somewhat of a SCOTUS junkie, but because Justice Stevens is such a gentleman. I mean, look at him:

 A bowtie? Yes, sir.

This non-traditional take on a memoir was good for several reasons.

First, it's a non-traditional memoir. Instead of merely waxing nostalgic about his life and amazing legal brilliance (as you might expect a brilliant former Supreme Court justice to do), Stevens decided to explore the role of chief justice. Though that is a role he never filled personally, he knew five different chief justices personally, and has more than enough experience to write a book such as this. The memoir parts come in as he intersperses his many stories and anecdotes about the chiefs with experiences from his own life, so you do get to know him better.

Second, Stevens provides a unique and informative look at the history of the position we call 'chief justice,' as well as a brief summary of all of the chief justices this nation has had, including descriptions of the landmark cases decided during their respective tenures. I loved reading about all these men-- some of whom I admittedly knew nothing about-- and the cases. Yes, I'm a nerd. (Did you know former-President Taft served as chief justice? I didn't.)

Third, it is very candid. Stevens doesn't hold back. When he thinks a case was decided incorrectly, he wastes no time in telling you exactly how and why. He is also very honest in describing what he sees/saw as the strengths and weaknesses of the five chiefs he focuses on. He does all this while still maintaining dignity and grace in his writing. While I was at times surprised with his appraisal of certain people and events, I was nevertheless grateful for such an intimate look.

While I don't share most of Justice Stevens' opinions on legal issues, I can appreciate his intelligence and his values. I found myself chuckling a few times when he described the outcome of landmark cases that he agreed with-- perhaps even authored the opinion for-- but with which I wholeheartedly disagreed, and vice versa.

If I had to give one criticism of this book, it'd probably be that it errs on the side of randomness. There were several points when Stevens went to great length to describe memories, or something like a room or fixture of the Supreme Court building itself, that didn't seem to have much to do with anything. But, it is a memoir, so you've got to expect a certain amount of that, right? (And in the interest of full disclosure, I can't count that entirely as a con, because I liked reading those parts! Ever since visiting the Supreme Court, I just eat it up. All the anecdotes, all the random, trivial facts, lore, everything.)

As I said earlier, if you aren't interested in the Supreme Court, or have at least some interest in legal issues and the legal history of the United States, this book is not for you. You will probably not make it through the first few pages. But rest assured, that is not meant as a slight against anyone who doesn't want to read this book. It's definitely a book with a narrow audience, in my opinion. I probably even have some law school friends who would rather read anything else first. :)

I give this book 3 stars, with the above disclaimer. If this were a book on a topic of more general appeal, it'd be 4 stars.

Info:
Title: Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir
Author: John Paul Stevens
Published: 2011
248 pages, not including the Constitution, which is reprinted in the back

Say hello to Ellie and also to Miss Pettigrew.

Booyah!

It's maybe a little sad that your first introduction to me on this site is where I'm doing a celebratory dance that I was the first to finish a book. I'm really not this annoying in real life, I promise. (Or at least I hope I'm not. Those of you who know me in real life, feel free to not disillusion me on this point.)

Anyway. I'm Ellie. I read, I write, I edit, I breathe (usually). I love old movies, and I love new movies. I spend most of my time hanging out with my toddler son and my husband. I have another book blog where I'll be doing various other posts this year, so if I haven't scared you off yet, feel free to wander on over there and watch the madness continue.

But the important thing here is that I finished reading my first book for the year. To be fair to the others, it was a very quick read and one I've read before (I was re-reading it for my book club). On to the review.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, by Winifred Watson.
****

This book is absolutely delightful. It reminds me of a big, lavish Fred Astaire musical in terms of both tone and wit. It's frothy and fun and I wouldn't be surprised if a Busby Berkeley number popped out from between the pages at any moment. This is the perfect kind of book for a rainy day, when you need a little pick-me-up, or a sunny day, when you need a book that's in keeping with the weather, or for any kind of day in between. Unless you hate puppies and sunshine and people having fun, you will most likely enjoy this book. (Note: this book does not actually contain puppies.)

Miss Pettigrew is a middle-aged, dowdy, down-on-her-luck, timid, perpetually-seeking-employment spinster of a governess, and the daughter of a clergyman to boot. She begins her day at 9:15 a.m. by going to the employment agency, where she is given word of a possible position. She heads over to the home of Miss Delysia LaFosse, uttering a little prayer before she rings the bell, admitting to God that it's her last chance, and they both know it.

Little does Miss Pettigrew know that by ringing the doorbell at Five, Onslow Mansions she is heralding the start of one bright, golden, adventurous day. In the glittering world of Miss LaFosse (a decidedly non-clergyman's-daughter-type actress), Miss Pettigrew is given the chance to act the heroine, save a damsel in distress, reunite young lovers, eat delicious food, play dress-up, incite a night-club fight and even (gasp!) wear make-up and curl her hair. What would her strictly proper, strictly conservative, dearly departed parents say if they could see her now? And what would her new acquaintances do if they knew what she really was—only a lowly governess, and not a very good one at that? And how on earth will she be able to settle down to her dull gray existence after living for this one spectacular day?

I have to say that my favorite thing about this book is the snappy dialogue. It feels just like a rapid-fire comedy from the era of early talkies (and was supposed to have been one. several motion picture studios had their eye on this book, and the rights had even been acquired, but for one reason or another the project kept getting delayed. The film version wasn't made and released until 2008, with Frances McDormand and Amy Adams. I highly recommend the movie, too, although it doesn't follow the book exactly. But how could you resist Lee Pace or Ciaran Hinds? That's right. You couldn't). My favorite passage involves this exchange between Miss Pettigrew, Miss LaFosse, and one of Miss LaFosse's several suitors, regarding another of her suitors:

"What does he remind you of?" [asked Michael.]

"Ice-cream," said Miss Pettigrew.

"What?" said Michael. His face lit with joy.

"Woman," he cried in delight, "your acumen is marvellous. I could only think of him singing mushy songs to mushy señoritas in mushy films."

[. . .]

"Ha!" said Michael triumphantly. "Caldarelli's ice-cream. She prefers the son of an ice-cream vendor to me."

"How dare you?" cried Miss LaFosse indignantly. "You know Nick's father never sold ice-cream in his life. And your father sold fish."

"Fish!"

Michael jumped to his feet. He exploded into oratory. He strode up and down the room. Miss Pettigrew cast nervous eyes on chairs and ornaments.

"You compare fish . . . with ice-cream," cried Michael. "Fish has phosphorous. Fish feeds the brain. Fish is nutritious. Fish is body-building. Fish has vitamins. Fish has cod-liver oil. Fish makes bonny babies bigger and better. Men give their lives for fish. Women weep. The harbour bar moans. You compare fish . . . with ice-cream. And look me in the face."

Love it!

I give this book four stars, because it's one that always cheers me up, that I bought right after the first time I read it, and that is clever and well-written to boot. (I should mention in fairness that since it was written in the 1920s there are a few moments that definitely are not PC, but if you can get past those it's an absolutely lovely read.)

Currently Reading

Hello, world.

Here goes.

As I type this, it's not quite the new year yet, but I already have a feeling about 2012. 

I've yet to put a name to this feeling. I feel . . . anticipation. Excitement. Eagerness. Potential. 

I think 2012 is going to be a great year. 

No idea why.

Whatever else happens in 2012, a lot of reading is going to take place in my house. 

My goal is to read 52 books in 2012. That's a lot of books for a stay-at-home mom who is also employed. 

This is where you get to join in my bibliophilic (word?) journey. I hope you enjoy it. 

I've invited some fellow bibliophiles to come along for the ride. You will meet them shortly. 

By way of introduction, my name is Megan. Many of my friends call me Meg. 

I love to read. I love my husband and my little babe. 

Who are you?