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Title: My Dearest Friend: The Letters of Abigail and John Adams
Author: Abigail Adams, John Adams, Margaret Hogan, C James Taylor
Publication date: 2007
Book's setting: 1752-1801
Random facts: I put this book on hold because my request for the letters of Victoria and Albert bounced back and I was in the mood for historical ridiculousness.
Plot summary: My Dearest Friend (not to be confused with the biography of Abigail named Dearest Friend) is a compilation of letter by John and Abigail Adams to one another. They begin during their courting period and extend to Abigails's death. It is divided into sections such as The Continental Congress and The Presidency.
Favorite aspects: Okay, so wow. They were really romantic. I felt a little weird reading the letters, they were so private and serious and adorable. Also My Dearest Friend worked very nicely as a crash course in American History... as much as I know about history my dates are eternally fuzzy. Reading the letters dated and in order helped solidify a timeline in my head.
Least favorite aspects: Their grammar and spelling was all crazy. I appreciate that the editors of this collection didn't make any changes to make the letters more readable, but at the same time this was a very slow-going book. It took me two weeks to read.
Other works it reminded me of: I've never read a book of letters before. This is a first.
Sadie's merciless breakdown: I am still unsure as to whether the fact that I read this massive collection of letters written in such weird English I practically had to translate it is a testament to my devotion to my forefathers or a pathetic example of how I have no life outside reading and munching on granola bars. But all that aside. While reading My Dearest Friend all I could think about was how embarrassed John and Abigail would be if they knew I was reading their love letters. If someone published my diaries I would die. Of course my diaries are filled with idiotic descriptions of my nonexistent love life and stupid droning about school work instead of witty political banter and insight into our nations beginnings. However the principle remains the same. I think they would be embarrassed.
But My Dearest Friend also made me mourn literacy in America. Before there was fiction readily available, before there was internet or tv, you had to be funny all on your own. I really began to understand the desire people had in that time to find a funny or "witty" spouse. If your partner didn't have a sense of humor you'd probably never have any fun. Abigail and John were both incredibly funny and intelligent and witty... making all sorts of amusing Shakespeare jokes. I'm pretty sure half of the humor went over my head, but you could still tell it was there. It made me think of Jane Austen's books and her character's never ending search for a man with wit. No wonder Lizzy did not want to marry Mr Collins.
Recommendation rate: You have to be a serious stan for your IRL OTP of John/Abigail to read this. Sadly, I'm that stan.
Title: How the Irish Saved Civilization
Author: Thomas Cahill
Publication date: 1996
Book's setting: Nonfiction- Fall of Rome to Late Antiquity
Random facts: It was on the New York Times Bestsellers list. Nice.
Plot summary: Starting with the fall of Rome and St Augustine, Cahill tells the story of the decline into the dark ages. Focusing mainly on Ireland, he explains their barbaric past as well as the coming of St Patrick and Catholicism. Basically it's about how the Irish monks and clerics saved the world. They preserved records and copied over philosophy and poetry and kept the Bible safe while the rest of the world was in turmoil. And then how, years later, they emerged and spread their knowledge, dragging Europe out of the dark with the same works that had made it great hundreds of years before.
Favorite aspects: I love history. Reading this book really gave me a new way of looking at the Dark Ages. It's interesting, Europe never actually pulled itself out of the plague filled, war torn world. Really it was the remnants of the Roman Empire, Catholicism, and previously existing science and literature that saved them. So think what would have happened if the Church hadn't been able to jump-start the rebirth of Europe... How long would it have taken humanity to go through all those steps again? Would we even be here now if Plato and the Bible hadn't been preserved? It's almost like that was God's way of assuring that Christianity would survive the Dark Ages and constant barbarian wars and the black death and all the awful stuff in the Middle Ages. Monks were really spectacular people.
Least favorite aspects: Cahill quoted a lot of ancient literature but the set up was very odd and I had a hard time reading the poems. Although I think I can blame a publisher for that.
Other works it reminded me of: Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer; The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli.
Sadie's merciless break-down: I read the majority of this book one night from 11pm-3am. It was after a long day and I was very grumpy and hormonal. My cat was asleep on my stomach and I just read all night, feeling moody and alone. The fall of Rome depresses me. It makes me literally sad- the way natural disasters and murders and relatives in the hospital make me sad. Yesterday I was watching Doctor Who with my little sister... and of course it was the Roman Nestene Duplicates episode. Auton Rory has nothing to do with this book, except for that they were Romans and made me sad all over again. Dying civilizations toy with my emotions in crazy ways.
But Rome isn't the point of this book. Ireland is. Or rather, how Ireland had to pick up the pieces of a dying Roman society before everything was lost forever. I've never been overly fond of Ireland. Not that I dislike it or anything, but I am not Irish and never felt a connection to them. Scotland was always more mysterious to me. (Tam Lin and all.) But How the Irish Saved Civilization gave me a new respect for them as a little country. I root for the underdog and Ireland is like, the original underdog. I was at dinner with the Dooley family on St Patrick's Day and I was complaining that I didn't really understand Patrick or Ireland or anything and how oblivious I was to them as a society and country. All I know about Irish people are Brooklyn Irish bars like McMahons and O'Riley's. So Mr. Dooley lent me this book and demanded I read it. I'm glad I did.
Recommendation rate: If you're a history buff then you should read it. Otherwise it's just dates and facts and sexy Romans and half-naked Celts. Your choice.
Title: The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues
Author: Ellen Raskin
Publication date: 1975
Book's setting: The 1970's
Random facts: Although it's by no means autobiographical, Ellen did live in Greenwich Village while a young artist like Dickory in this novel.
Plot summary: Smaller than The Westing Game and less philosophical than Figgs and Phantoms, The Tattooed Potato still weaves a series of witty and waggish mysteries. It is definitely Ellen's easiest book to understand but that doesn't mean it ever gets dull. Dickory is an art school student living in Greenwich Village with her brother and sister-in-law. She answers a newspaper ads to be an artists assistant and finds herself in over her head with Garson, a bi-polar painter who works as a sketch artist for the NYPD. She assists Garson in solving several cases with the police force but there is a larger mystery looming over Garson and Number 12 Cobble Lane. Can Dickory manage to solve it and save Garson and Issac with the help of George Washington III?Favorite aspects: Typical of Ellen, The Tattooed Potato covers much deeper ground then one would expect from a book shelved in the children's section. Suicide attempts and murders, blind beggars and blackmail. The wordplay in this book was off the walls, much like in The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon. Ellen uses nursery rhymes, intentionally misspelled words, acronyms, and riddles to weave her mystery in Number 12 Cobble Lane. It almost felt like a season a television show or something- the novel is cut up into several smaller "case files" yet each one brings you closer to solving the big mystery. In the end all the cases manage to fit their way into the bigger picture. It was well written, carefully plotted, clever, and amusing. Scary too, of course, but I'd expect nothing less from her.
Least favorite aspects: The only serious fault I could find with this novel was that her action was extremely hard to follow. I kept having to go back and figure out where exactly everyone was at that moment in time. Then again it was incredibly complicated and I'd imagine writing a mystery is never easy. Trying to balance wit and clues with fast paced action without giving too much away too early- I could never do it. The good news is the book made sense. The bad news is you might have to reread a few sections of it before it actually makes sense.
Other works it reminded me of: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett; From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.
Sadie's merciless break-down: Most of the time I refer to authors by their full names or their last names. I only call authors by their first names if I feel like I have a personal relationship with them. (Edith, Neil, Hilary, Gordon... to name a few.) Ellen is one of those authors. She is like, the only Ellen in the world to me. So please excuse me for calling her such. (Actually I can't think of any other authors named Ellen off the top of my head.)
Anyway, she's been a god among authors to me for years. The Westing Game has been a favorite of mine for ages. The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) could very well still be the oddest book I've ever read. One day I might just understand Figgs & Phantoms. You see, Ellen writes real mysteries for kids. Well planned, actually mysterious, legitimately creepy mysterious that never have sell-out endings like so many other mysteries do. (Looking at you Balliett. Don't think we haven't noticed.) The fact she only wrote four novels is something that will bother me for the rest of my life.
Recommendation rate: If you are a fan of other books by Ellen then you should read it. Even if you've never read her other works The Tattooed Potato would be a good way to ease into her bizarreness.
Title: Housekeeping
Author: Marilynne Robinson
Publication date: 1980
Book's setting: Turn of the century to mid-century
Random facts: Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Plot summary: "There is so little to remember of anyone - an anecdote, a conversation at a table. But every memory is turned over and over again, every word, however chance, written in the heart in the hope that memory will fulfill itself, and become flesh, and that the wanderers will find a way home, and the perished, whose lack we always feel, will step through the door finally and stroke our hair with dreaming habitual fondness not having meant to keep us waiting long."
Favorite aspects: Being a sister, being half of a whole, being Lucille, this was one of the most gloriously horrifying books I've ever read. It was worse than I Capture the Castle or We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Ruthie and Lucille's relationship was so explicit even though it was actually shoved to the side in favor of stories about Sylvie and their grandmother. The chapters that chronicled Lucille growing up and leaving were more poignant than entire novels written about sisters. I think that Robinson is oven over-praised for her beautiful writing at the expense of her story telling. Obviously her word selections were unparalleled, but Housekeeping was grander than a collection of lovely words. It was had gorgeous core that explored what it means to 'keep house' and to hold a family together. I don't know if anyone has ever done that before. Another thing I loved was how Robinson is unashamed of her religion. An entire section near the end is dedicated to paralleling the story with Bible stories. It was a bit of a life-changing book for me.
Least favorite aspects: This book has skyrocketed into my top favorite books list. I couldn't even conceive of a flaw. Unless truth and realism and painful depictions of life are flaws.
Other works it reminded me of: Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor; Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff; The Neumiller Stories by Larry Woiwode.
Sadie's merciless breakdown: I'm going to get heavy for a moment. Housekeeping was about two sisters growing up with a solemnly ignored bereavement. It was the twisted version of me and Kate and Daniel. Daniel's been following me lately. I've been seeing him in my friend's brothers. Or perhaps I'm not seeing him. Perhaps I'm feeling his absence. As I get older I've been more aware of art with bereavement themes. Inception for instance (But my feelings on Mal are another story entirely). I have never read a book that so openly explored suppressed sorrow like Housekeeping. The parallels between Lucille and me and Ruthie and Kate only made it odder. I just read it and I kept thinking- this book is for me, for her, it's about us, it has to be. I think a good definition of 'art' is when it expresses your emotions better than you could yourself. When art reminds you of who you are. Feeling so close to these character is strange considering it is obviously a dark and unhappy novel. I am not consumed by this strange sorrow all the time. It's hard to admit, but more often than not I forget Daniel. Yet Housekeeping was a peek into a part of me I often forget I have.
Robinson's books mainly explore the concept of home. Home as refuge, home as a prison, home as a place where you are required to love others, homes being desperately rebuilt after tragedy, homes being torn apart by tragedy. It's a very real concept and something that is largely ignored. At least it seems to be ignored in the literature I'm used to reading. Even if you've never lost a loved on or suffered mental illness I'm sure you've known someone who has been through these things. Maybe at the very least Housekeeping will help you understand people better.Recommendation rate: In my humble opinion it is a must-read.
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publication date: 2010
Book's setting: 1777-1778
Random facts: Sequel to Chains.
Plot summary: It's been a year since Isabel and Curzon escaped captivity. But in the time that's elapsed Isabel stole all his money and left to find her sister. Curzon is broke and alone and forced to join the rebel army. Forge is the story of his winter in Valley Forge, his search for Isabel, and their reconciliation.
Favorite aspects: Curzon's voice can be chilling. It is very simple and soft. I read some reviews for this book saying that Curzon was not as well developed as Isabel was in Chains, but I found him real, wonderful, and emotionally stimulating. I actually had a harder time liking Isabel. Maybe it's because I have a soft spot for little boys forced to kill strangers? Anderson does not have my favorite narration style (it's heavvvyyyy) but I was amazed at her ability to write Curzon so convincingly. She's a rich white lady from Upstate New York! How did she write a cold, hungry, little slave boy in 1777? (Black magic, I guess. Or research. But I hate research so I'm sticking with black magic.)
Least favorite aspects: Anderson is a wonderful author. She writes in unique voices, she writes beautifully, she writes interesting stories. But she is a bit too self-aware; she's aware that what she's writing is important. Forge is definitely mature, but I think Anderson is a little too interested in her effort to "educate children" about slavery and repression. It begins to show in her writing- a pride in her wonderful exploration of history. Her narration is heavy and bogs down her character's voice. Even smaller things like the glossary, appendix, and timeline in the back of the book made me feel like she (or possibly the publisher) was talking down to the me, anticipating me to be uneducated about her subject matter. I think anyone who picks this book up off the shelf already knows a substantial amount of American History.
Other works it reminded me of: Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson; Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes; Betsy and the Emperor by Staton Rabin.
Sadie's merciless break-down: Historical fiction turns me on. It makes me feel closer to times past. It fills me with unconditional love for the universe. The Revolutionary War is one of my favorite time periods to read about. It's also one of my favorite time periods to watch. Like Liberty's Kids and Felicity: An American Girl Adventure, which, if you ask me, was robbed for the Oscar. (Is it the sexy boys with ponytails and waistcoats? Could it be? Probably yes.)
Anyway, my favorite aspect in historical fiction are the cameos made by historical figures. When General Grant or Lafayette or Benedict Arnold shows up I get all giddy and feel like shouting, "HEY! I KNOW YOU!" It's like you're getting caught up with your old friends. You want to give them tea and biscuits and pat their historical little heads and ask them how life in the army is treating them. (I'm dead serious.) So in this Forge was a success. It's one of those books where reading it was not sufficient. I want to force everyone I know to read it so I can express my great love for George Washington to them. My love for history gets bottled up sometimes and then I explode and annoy my family to no end.
Recommendation rate: If you enjoy historical fiction then you really must read it.
Title: Companions of the Night
Author: Vivian Van Velde
Publication date: 1995
Book's setting: The mid-90's
Random facts: This book reminded me of the X-Files, especially with all the 90's culture and religious fanatic cult group and random road trips.
Plot summary: Kerry drives to the laundromat in the middle of the night to fetch her brother's forgotten toy. What she thought would be a quick in-and-out before her father notices the car is gone turns into a night of terror. She finds herself trapped in the midst of a hostage situation. Members of what appears to be a religious cult have a seriously injured young man, Ethan, tied up. They're claiming he's a vampire. Kerry knows vampires are fairytales, but despite her protests she finds herself involved in a deadly game of murder and mysticism.
Favorite aspects: Ethan reminded me more of Howl Pendragon than of Con or Edward or Dracula. He was funny and enjoyed teasing and shocking Kerry. He was rather self obsessed, but in a sweet and almost petty way. He was not a stereotypical vampire. Nor was he some sort of reinvented, revamped vampire with shiny new abilities. His powers were limited. His personality was what made him original. Also the setting was gorgeous. Either Van Velde knew Brockport like the back of her hand or she researched a lot. Her descriptions of the college town were natural and engrossing.
Least favorite aspects: I found the exposition awkward at times. When you're writing a fantasy world you need to lay down its ground rules... and you need to incorporate these rules into the narration or the dialogue or the plot. I think that Van Velde took a few too many pauses from her story to straighten things out with her reader. It slowed the pace of an otherwise treacherously fast-paced novel.
Other works it reminded me of: Sunshine by Robin McKinley; Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.
Sadie's merciless break-down: I desperately want to turn this into a What's Wrong With Twilight lecture but I'll try to stay general. Let me start by saying that I really love vampires. I love their extreme, insane, flexible mythos. I love vampires who sleep in coffins and have OCD tendencies that make them pick up scattered objects. There is an endless supply of mythology to be explored. But there is one thing vampire stories should be consistent in. Their tone. They need to be disturbing. They need to feel unreal and wrong. Companions of the Night didn't take vampires lightly.
Kerry actually spent most of the book terrified of Ethan which I wholeheartedly approve of. I don't think that Twilight is bad mythos because Edward sparkles, I think Twilight is bad mythos because Meyer stripped the story of it's core. The reader must be unnerved.
Let me end my review with a spoiler. (you've been warned.) While I was reading Companions of the Night I kept thinking, "if this ends well it will be a magnificent book, and if it ends with her staying it will be rendered useless." But it ended magnificently. Kerry didn't turn, she didn't even want to. When it was over and her family was safe she just said goodbye to Ethan and went home. I was just very impressed.Recommendation rate: It's vampires. You either: a. love them. b. hate them. c. are just tired of them. Choose accordingly.
Title: Jane and Prudence
Author: Barbara Pym
Publication date: 1953
Book's setting: The early 1950's
Random facts: Barbara Pym was close friends with Julian Amery, a member of Parliament, which may have been inspiration for the character in Jane and Prudence with the same job.
Plot summary: Jane and Prudence went to Oxford together years ago and have remained good friends ever since. The only difference is that Jane is 40 and married with a grown-up daughter while Prudence is 29 and single. Prudence seems to be doomed to a string of faulty love affairs and Jane just wants to see her settled. The problem is that Prudence is determined to be in love with her married boss. Jane and her husband Nicholas move to a new country village to take over a dying parish and Prudence comes to stay... reluctantly. But in this little town she meets Fabian, the mysterious and romantic widow who can't quite seem to get over his dead wife. Can Prudence woo him? And does she even want to?
Favorite aspects: I just love Jane and Nicholas. They're both so well educated and brilliant but they're living like poor country folk, holding together dying parish, dressing badly, and being dull. Yet I don't pity them, I admire them. Instead I pity Prudence, whose existence is so chic and empty and lifeless. I'm a bit of a ~city girl~ at heart who tends to scrunch up my nose at the idea of ~country life~ but Pym portrayed Jane's world as so lovely! I want to go to the Spinning Wheel for a lunch of fried eggs and potatoes! Also Jane and Prudence is chock full of nonstop giggles, so that counts for something.
Least favorite aspects: I didn't like Prudence. All the other characters were likable and interesting, but Prudence was just annoying. Maybe her string of admirers just got exhausting after a while. I think she was a bit too good for her co-worker and as ridiculous as Fabian was, it's better they didn't get too far. Pym usually writes hosts of charming and adorable characters... even highly flawed ones... but Prudence grated on my nerves.
Other works it reminded me of: Other things by Barbara Pym; books by Rosamund Pilcher.
Sadie's merciless break-down: Hey look. I read another Barbara Pym novel! How seemingly predictable at this point. But when you find an author you like, you just want to run with it... until you run out of books. The funnest thing about reading multiple works by the same author is finding the similarities between novels and trying to determine that one thing that makes an author's work distinctive. Last year I whipped through a dozen Diana Wynne Jones books in a month and read everything the library had by Edith Wharton. I think 2011 will be a year of Barbara Pym. I hope you all don't mind because her books shall continue to crop up.I have nothing else to say mainly because a new episode of Chuck airs in seven minutes and I want to make tea before it starts. Fin.
Recommendation rate: If you enjoy British romance comedy then obviously you should read it.
Title: Fables: Legends in Exile
Author: Bill Willingham
Publication date: 2002
Book's setting: Alternate modern New York City
Random facts: Issues 1-5 out of a grand total of 106.
Plot summary: All our favorite fairytale characters were living happily in their sprawling fairytale land when then were invaded. A few of them including the iconic Snow White, Beast, Little Boy Blue, and King Cole, escaped to modern day New York City. (Think Narnia, Ingary, etc.) Here they must learn to live and get along while waiting till it is safe to return to their beloved lands. There is tension, anger, and jealousy between the characters from Fabletown, but they need to stick together, or they'll be found out. This volume holds the first five issues and first story arc from the every popular and ongoing comics series. This story focuses on the disappearance of Rose Red and her villainous fiancee, Blue Beard.
Favorite aspects: The characters were just so well done. Visually they were stunning. However, more importantly, their characterization was really good. I think my absolute favorite part was how Cinderella and Snow White had been married to the same Prince Charming. In a graphic novel or comic series there is very little room for explanation or exposition, but I didn't have any questions about the authors universe, and there were basically no holes in the plot that I wanted filled. My biggest qualm with graphic novels is that very often they are just hard to follow. Too many characters, too many dead end plot lines. Fables had none of these problems. It was a tight-knit, well told, interesting, fun, beautiful story.
Least favorite aspects: Red Rose being Snow White's sister, who was obviously the same Snow White from the more popular fairytale of the same name, confused me a bit at first. This is really my fault for having an inadequate knowledge of fairytale characters before starting. I had to google Red Rose to find her fable... it's a lesser known German one. This isn't really a fault of the author or anything, but if you meet any character you don't immediately recognize from your childhood story books or Disney films just stick with it. Also Wolf was not at all what I would have expected... not sure if I like him or approve of his noble personality.
Other works it reminded me of: Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack by Shannon, Dean, and Nathan Hale; Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
Sadie's merciless break-down: I love television. I might be a serious reader but I can not deny the love I feel for my tv. Every now and then I get this uncontrollable urge to watch television EVERY SINGLE DAY. I just want to pull out my X-Files and Doctor Who dvds and flop on the couch and never think an original thought ever again. It's at times like this when a graphic novel comes in handy. This makes me sad because I should read graphic novels for their own individual beauty, not because I feel stupid and want pretty pictures. But my motives aside, I can not deny the quality of Fables.
Above I compared it to Watchmen... which is really only true as far as the illustrations and page setups go. Really it was more comparable to a sexed-up and grown-up Rapunzel's Revenge. (Okay, not that sexed-up, lest you think me a perv.) Basically it was everything I like in a graphic novel. Of course, out of the fourteen sequential volumes that have been published... the BPL only has two.
Being a comics fan when your sole source of literature is the BPL is hard. The BPL is lazy when it comes to comics and graphic novels and orders copies really late or not at all. Or even worse, they've got volumes missing from a series so it's impossible to read them in the correct order. Basically I'm screwed. I've got three options as a comics fan. First of all, I can just not read any. Or I can buy them all from Amazon.com and go broke in the process. The third option is my favorite option and one I use all too often. I can skulk into Barnes and Nobles and read the next thirteen volumes in the store, hiding in a corner, where no one can find me. Then I just wipe the guilt off my face and saunter out. Of course, this is why book stores are going extinct, and I'm not helping any, but I'm running out of viable options.
How does one afford to be a true comic book fan? How does one keep up with the constant flow of issues and volumes and spin-offs? I'm not cut out for it.
Recommendation rate: If you love comic and graphic novels but aren't really a superhero fan then you should try these.
Title: Absence of Mind, The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self
Author: Marilynne Robinson
Publication date: 2010
Book's setting: Nonfiction
Random facts: Robinson's third book of essays. She's also published three modern fiction novels.
Plot summary: Absence of Mind is a collection of four essays on religion in the light of science and philosophy. Basically, a new take on the age old "science vs faith" debate. Robinson sets out to shame modern thought. She focuses mainly on Freud and Darwin and their impacts on society and modern thought. Instead of trying to debunk them by proving God's existence or something she merely points out inconsistencies among their philosophies and tries to prove how religion can and should exist side-by-side with science and post-modern ideologies. (I'm too dumb to explain her thoroughly. Just read it.)
Favorite aspects: To be honest, I often get annoyed at Christians constantly trying to debunk evolution or whatever. I guess I don't think it can be proved, and I'll just go on my merry way without worrying about it. Does that make me a bad Christian? I don't know, I hope not. But Robinson managed to point out the flaws in modern Darwinist credos politely and gracefully. I think that's my favorite aspect of Robinson's theological writings. She is always very polite. She demands your respect by respecting other, although she isn't afraid of disagreeing with the fundamental ideologies of the 21st century. Also I really liked the part in Thinking Again where she talks about the reasons for the theory of multiple universes. I'd never thought about that before.
Least favorite aspects: How can you disagree with a woman who has PhD and a Pulitzer Prize? (joking.) But really, Absence of Mind blew my brain open in a very convincing way. I don't have anything bad to say.
Other works it reminded me of: Heretics by GK Chesterton.
Sadie's merciless break-down: This book almost made me feel stupid. I pride myself in actually enjoying books like these, but this one almost killed me. Although I did understand her subject matter and was comfortably familiar with all the men and theories she mentioned throughout her essays, her sentences were so elegant and heavy and ridiculously profound I had to take Absence of Mind word-by-word. It took me two weeks to read, partly because I am lazy, but mostly because I just wanted her words to really sink in.
It was like a modern day Heretics, or the natural progression of what Chesterton was dealing with in 1905. If anyone reads this blog, or has any sort of respect for my opinion in literature, then I'd recommend reading Heretics followed by Absence of Mind.
Let me quote the internet here. Someone on Amazon said that Absence of Mind was "in defense of the consciousness." I think that sums it up pretty nicely.
Recommendation rate: If you enjoy modern theology then you need to read it, and while you're at it also pick up Robinson's Death of Adam.
Title: Close to Famous
Author: Joan Bauer
Publication date: 2011
Book's setting: The late 2000's
Random facts: Bauer's Hope Was Here won a 2005 Newbery Honor.
Plot summary: Twelve-year-old Foster McFee is an avid cupcake lover and extraordinary baker who almost failed sixth grade and doesn't know how to read. Her mother is a back-up singer with dreams of stardom. The two of them leave their apartment in Memphis in the middle of the night, fleeing Mom's abusive boyfriend who thinks he's a reincarnation of Elvis. Eventually they break down in rural West Virgina. Foster and her mother are taken in by a kindly older couple and it seems like the town of Culpepper might be an indefinite stop for the McFees. Friendships are formed, dreams are shared, and awful secrets unravel.
Favorite aspects: I just love books with a great ensemble cast. All the characters in Close to Famous are strange and lovable and quirky without being stereotypes. But my favorite thing about this book was that it had that lovely "tremble in the sight of God" vibe. A surprising amount of children's books seem to have a nonspecific and incredibly powerful religious vein that runs right through the heart. It is very beautiful and powerful, the way that God can be at the heart of a book you'd never suspect. Hope Was Here had a similar core. I get all giddy when religion is "sneaked" into something that is seemingly "secular."
Least favorite aspects: Close to Famous was too short for the amount of characters and issues brought into it. The ending was... rushed? It ended on a high note that you know won't last long. Culpepper is still falling apart, and no amount of cupcakes will save it. Maybe I am looking at it through a cynical eye and it is meant to be read by an optimistic thirteen-year-old, but I just felt depressed when it was done. Every scene (especially the climax) was weighed down with issues that were not fully addressed. When you're dealing with child abuse, war, death, learning disabilities, politics, divorce, affairs, an an economic crisis in a book written for nine to fifteen-year-olds it's only reasonable that nothing would be explored too much. Otherwise you end up with something completely inappropriate, preachy, and self aware. Perhaps Bauer should have picked only one or two of the heavy themes in Close to Famous and carefully covered them completely instead of lightly brushing over half a dozen weighty issues.
Other works it reminded me of: Northward to the Moon by Polly Horvath; Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo; Criss-Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins.
Sadie's merciless break-down: I read this book while listening to Mandy Moore. I REALLY LOVE MANDY MOORE. Sometimes the music you listen to while reading will stick to the book forever. I guess if I ever read Close to Famous again I'll start humming Merrimack River. Anyway.
There need to be more kids books like Close to Famous. By that I mean books that deal with real issues like abuse and death and low self esteem in a hopeful, uplifting, age appropriate way. Although I previously said that Bauer had too much on her plate, at the same time it'd good that hard to talk about topics are being explored in a safe way. This isn't My Corner of the Universe or Speak, that's for sure. Kids need more books like this. That's why I'm such a champion of Polly Horvath, Kate DiCamillo, Lynne Rae Perkins, and Joan Bauer. Preteens are a hard group to market towards. They need something meaty or they won't bother. They want to be respected like adults in their books, but if an author goes to far you end up with a confused, inappropriate novel that is likely to wind up on the Banned Books list.
A few weeks ago I was with some friends in Barnes and Nobles and we found the "Issues" table. Yeah, an entire table of young adult books that were about ISSUES. They all looked like crap. "Issues" shouldn't be romanticized. Stories about angsty sex, self harm, suicide, and anorexia shouldn't be published with sparking covers and placed on an attractive table. Novels for that awkward age group should approach issues with reserve and caution. Maybe I'm being naive or something, but I don't think so. A novel written entirely in slam-style poetry about kids who take drugs and have alcoholic mothers don't exactly make kids afraid of drugs, do they? I think it makes it all look kinda cool, because then if you've got mad issues, then you too can write freestyle poems and feel deep and shit!
Actually well written novels for preteens that handle hard to talk about issues with delicacy are a bit of a niche... but it's a good niche and a really important one.
Recommendation rate: If you are a fan of modern children's literature you should definitely try it.
Title: Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America
Author: Linda Furiya
Publication date: 2006
Book's setting: The 1960-70's
Random facts: I love reading about food more than anything else in the world. Fact.
Plot summary: Bento Box in the Heartland is Furiya's memoir of her childhood as the only ethnic family in small town Indiana. Despite being born in the United States she always felt torn between her parent's traditional Japanese home life and her very American school environment. The book goes through her childhood and is filled with heart-warming family stories and well as her confrontations with racism. Each chapter ends with a recipe for a Japanese meal.
Favorite aspects: This was just a gorgeous book. First and foremost it had me drooling. I don't often read candid memories of childhood but Furiya captured the thought process' of her younger self and wrote them shamelessly. Her irrational fears and the strange ways she viewed the world growing-up are honest and relatable. It was a book that was easy to inhabit. She described her trip to Japan and her first multicultural experience in Brooklyn so well it was almost as if I was there with her- tasting and seeing the world for the first time. I go gaga over a good memoir and this one was exceptional. Food is the basis of many cultures. That desire to cling onto cuisine above all else was portrayed in a truthful and amusing way.
Least favorite aspects: As a memoir I really can't debate the subject matter... and the writing was excellent and hysterical. I guess I don't have anything to criticize.
Other works it reminded me of: How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina Friedman; In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord.
Sadie's merciless break-down: My African-American-Puerto-Rican cousins live in Queens. They live in an extremely Asian neighborhood filled with Koreans and Japanese. In Bento Box in the Heartland Furiya recalls being the only child in school with a Bento Box and the embarrassment she felt eating rice balls at lunch. My cousin Isabella is the only one without a Bento Box. So now my aunt has to put together complicated lunches for her daughters every morning. It's amazing the sort of peer pressure that cuisine can put upon someone.
Sometimes I feel like the only true connection I have to my Puetro Rican and German heritage is through eating. If I eat pernil and pasteles and schwartzwalder apfelkuchen and arroz con pollo and sauerbraten then BY GOLLY I AM GERMAN AND PUERTO RICAN! I don't know if it works that way (because let's face it, I'm an American) but it sure feels that way. In the cuisine that comforts me eating I feel a tiny bit of cultural pride.
Of course my life isn't anything as drastic as Linda Furiya's, but I think that anyone who has a heritage that they cling too will be able to identify with her. Food is about family. It's about shopping and eating together, about passing down recipes and sharing flavors. Family is heritage and heritage is culture. Bento Box in the Heartland is a sweet book and a delicious book. It left me hungry and happy.
Recommendation rate: If you've ever liked to eat than you should read it. (Just be prepared: you will have to go out for Japanese afterward.)
Title: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden
Author: Helen Grant
Publication date: 2009
Book's setting: The 1990's
Random facts: The author is British. She moved to Germany after she married and writes her books there. In English. About Germans.
Plot summary: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is the account of Pia's childhood in Bad Münstereifel. When her Oma dies on the last Sunday of Advent the town takes it as a sign of bad things coming. When young Katharina disappears it becomes clear that something is amiss. Ten-year-old Pia and her out-cast friend Stefan must team up to solve the mystery of the disappearing children (much to Pia's mother's despair) in a closed off town filled with gossips, mysterious old men, and magical black cats.
Favorite aspects: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden wins a prize! The first book of 2011 to make me cry! Anyway, my favorite aspects were all the aspects. But what I liked best was how the story turned from a charming modern fairytale into a dark and deadly mystery. It was not the book you thought it was when you opened it. The ending was magnificent and scary and really sad. Poor Stefan.
Least favorite aspects: Okay, so I can't fault this book. Not really, not when it is the book that I have always wanted to write. Instead of finding faults with it, I shall point out what I would have done if it had truly been mine. I would have given Pia closure with Stefan. I might have even given them the hints of a romance. I would have actually shown Boris' black Mass. I might have hinted that Herr Schiller was actually supernatural.
Other works it reminded me of: Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson; Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones.
Sadie's merciless break-down:
If I didn't know better I'd say that I'd written this book. This is my novel, the novel inside I planned on writing one day. The book inside me is set in Germany and heartily embellished with German phrases. The main character is a little girl who loses a very close family member, and she copes with it very badly. In the novel I haven't written yet the little girl and best friend run around the German country side and befriend a mysterious old man and/or woman who has lots of cats. Everyone has so much coffee and whipped cream that the reader gets tired of seeing those words. It's dark and mysterious yet somehow charming. I've started this book a dozen times. I've never gotten very far.
The problem is... that book is The Vanishing of Katharina Linden. HELEN GRANT WROTE MY BOOK. I've never read anything in that screamed "THIS HAS BEEN MADE EXCLUSIVELY FOR ME" before in my life. It struck my soul and I'll never be able to think about it as anything but mine. I can't be mad that Helen Grant wrote The Vanishing of Katharina Linden. She did it better than I would have... I feel such a soul connection to this book that I think it's jumped into my top ten favorites list.
I don't know what to say. This has to be the freakiest thing that has ever happened to me. Helen Grant, what have you been doing snooping around my subconscious!?Recommendation rate: If you aren't me you might not love it with the fierce passion I did. But it was still excellent, so try it!
Title: Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero
Author: William Makepeace Thackeray
Publication date: 1848
Book's setting: Around 1815
Random facts: It's pretty darn long.
Plot summary: Vanity Fair follows the lives of two very different girls, Emmy and Becky. They start off best friends, but their drastically different stations in life and ideas for the future slowly tear them apart. Becky, who lacks money and breeding, uses all her wit and charm and sex appeal to escape her drab destiny as a governess. She succeeds in marrying up... until her husband's family, disgusted with his choice, cuts them off. Emmy on the other hand is rich, sweet, and too innocence for her own good. She marries her childhood sweetheart who cheats on her and dies in Waterloo, leaving her destitute and pregnant. Then a couple million other things happen and everyone dies and remarries and has babies and love affairs and it's a good ol' Regency mess!
Favorite aspects: Vanity Fair is perhaps the only book written before 1900 that has made me laugh. I must have giggled once every other page. I was not expecting something so ridiculously funny when I started it. I read it because I wanted something old and extravagant with lengthy descriptions of dining halls and Lady Whoever's dress. Vanity Fair pulled through on that account. The characters were all so awful you had to love them, they were so ridiculous that you had to care. It was the longest, messiest, most sarcastic book I've ever read.
Least favorite aspects: Maybe 800 pages is a little too long. Maybe Thackeray could have paced himself. Also I liked Emmy's bits better than the Becky parts, even though everyone only seems to remember Becky. A lot of the political and social commentary went over my head considering I'm not a Regency historian.
Other works it reminded me of: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy; The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.
Sadie's merciless break-down: When I'm in an emotional slump there is nothing I like more than a really long book to hide inside of for a couple of days. I read Vanity Fair in five days and I'm not really sure what happened in between my bouts of reading.
Babies have forever been problematic in the world of literature and cinema. Children can be put into one of two boxes which I call the "MY BABY!" and the "WHAT BABY?" The first sort of child probably has his life threatened multiple times, or at least his inheritance. His mother dotes on him, and probably half the world as well. He is coddled and respected and sometimes even worshiped. His welfare is of most importance. The second sort of child isn't really there at all. His mother is pregnant and then gives birth and the baby sort of sleeps and eats off to the side of the action. Casual mentions of him every now and then remind you just enough not to forget there ever really was a baby in the first place. Most babies can fall easily into one of those two categories. Emmy's Georgy was the first and Becky's Rawdy was the second. Georgy was practically the main character of Emmy's half of the book while every time Rawdy popped up I had to remember him all over again. I find this all very interesting and amusing. I'm not sure what my point is... there really isn't one. I just find literary babies really funny.
I shall end this review of Vanity Fair with a quote that I just love. "Little boys who cry when they are going to school- cry because they are going to a very uncomfortable place. It is only a few who weep from sheer affection. When you think that the eyes of your childhood dried at the sight of a piece of gingerbread, and that a plum-cake was a compensation for the agony of parting with your mama and sisters, oh my friend and brother, you need not be too confident of your own fine feelings."
Recommendation rate: If you actually enjoy over-blown 19th century nonsense then you'll love it. Otherwise there are probably more educational ways to waste 800 pages.
