Top Ten Summer TBR's : Top Ten Tuesday

It's been a long time since I hopped into this meme, and I miss it.  So now, with the school year's end firmly in my sights, I give you my Top 10 summer to-be-reads. 

Expect reviews in July and/or August, and do steer me away from any that you've found lacking or push me toward those high on your own best-reads list!

1.  Every Day by David Levithan.  Amazing YA author, first-class editor, and fellow Brown alum.  Plus it's a book group book:  score!

2.  11/22/63 by Stephen King.  Potboiler meets JFK alt-reality novel.  And it's my first Stephen King in a decade, at least!  Excited!!!  Another book group book, for August.

3.  Wildwood by Colin Meloy.  One of my frosh recommended this YA fantasy highly, and I admire Colin's sister Maile Meloy's short fiction, so it's my first "no other reason but desire" summer TBR.  Plus it takes place in Portland, through which I'll pass while reading it, so locale works too.

4.  A Beautiful Truth by Colin McAdam.  My obsession with great apes continues, and this new novel is this year's fodder for cogitation.  It promises a fresh spin on the humans-adopt-a-chimp trope to be found with increasing frequency in documentaries and novels alike. 

5 and 6.  This Is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila and  Late Lights by Kara Weiss indulge my short story appetite.  The former promises Hawaiian settings and themes while the latter may hit all too close to home with tales of dysfunctional high school students.  Both have readers buzzing, so bring 'em on!

7.  The Illustion of Separateness by Simon Van Booy.  Back to WWII fiction with a debut novel getting raves.

8.  Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  You know this novel, but I don't.  Yet. 

9.  Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris.  It's summer: You gotta get some funny.  And this one's a download from Audible.com with Sedaris reading his own work: It doesn't get any better than that.

10.  The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  Another recommendation from many of my students.  I'm looking forward to reading this one as I ease back into thoughts of September...

MFB, and please join me in conversation about any and all of these books!
L

p.s.  What's your top pick for a summer 2013 read?  What do you think of my list?  

So many thanks to the women of The Broke and the Bookish who keep this community-building meme going month after month.

The Good Muslim by Tamima Anam : Mom & Me Review

Find it at Indiebound or Betterworldbooks
and/or sample her prose at Amazon.

Here's a new feature for y'all:  Mom and Me.  She's a retired science librarian/tech writer in New Mexico; I'm a high school English teacher in Washington state. We share a love of our imperfectly tended gardens (OK, mine's oh so much more imperfect than hers), lifelong learning (not a day goes by...), Jacques Pepin, travel, show tunes, Tignanello purses, our two-legged and four-legged family members, and - of course - books!

Once a month or so, we'll offer up a tandem review/virtual dialogue about a new book we both suspect you'll enjoy.  We hope you'll find our "dialogue" valuable reading in and of itself, and that we'll inspire you to try your own inter-generational read-along, be it with our picks or with your own.

We decided to begin this feature with Tahmima Anam's new novel, The Good Muslim, thinking that its focus on mid-to-late 20th century Bangladesh would bring us into an unfamiliar culture through an engaging narrative.  The plan:  Read the book in its entirety, then shoot each other a few questions along with our general reviewish thoughts.  Our mutual thanks to Trish and all at TLC Book Tours for offering this opportunity, and to Tahmima Anam for her worthwhile new novel.

What's It About? The Good Muslim is primarily the story of Maya and Sohail, an idealistic brother and sister who both participated in Bangladesh's war for independence from Pakistan during the early 1970's.  He was a rebel soldier, she a doctor who aided victims of war.  The story traces their shifting relationship after the war and highlights the aftermath of that war's violence: female rape victims shunned by their families, PTSD-afflicted soldiers turning to fundamentalist Islam to cope with their lingering guilt and fear, plus military coups followed by martial law quickly replacing hard-won democracy.

Mom's Take:

I found this book to be engaging from the start. I almost always find stories that take me to a different culture experience appealing. There’s nothing like a good novel to help the reader absorb without having to work at it!

The realities of the wars between neighboring countries all over the world include the horror for the combatants, the effects on families at home, the terror for the women like Pilar and her companions, and the aftermath for all.  Sad though the story is in many ways, many moments struck me as universal. Maya—the independent daughter, Sohail—the independent son, loving one another but not able to understand the other. Religion is comfort for Sohail and his followers but not so much for Maya.  Rehana, the mother, like mothers everywhere wishing the best for her children, hoping that they will enjoy and help one another, suppressing her own needs, helping her neighbors. Zaid, Sohail's little boy, wanting so much to be loved by his father, finding solace with Maya: how many children today must look outside immediate family for sustenance? Class warfare—after being united in war the haves still want to have and the poor continue to strive to be noticed: Maya rises to cause change...

Some of my favorite passages were those with Maya and Rehana and I loved the tenacity of Joy in his love for Maya. I also related to Bangladesh because of my long-standing interest in Nobel Prize winner Muhammed Yunus and his mini-banking system to help the poor of the country.

My take:

Who would find value in this book? Anyone who wants to experience history and a perhaps unfamiliar culture through the lives of original and well-developed characters would find satisfaction in these pages.  It's a story about the aftermath of war, so you can expect to see some quite regrettable actions and references to wartime violence against both men and women.  However, it's done quite tastefully, so mature teens could certainly appreciate the story and learn through this novel.

Both Mom and I thought that this novel was certainly worth our time, and that our newly refined understanding of this period in Bangladesh's history - not to mention the daily life of one family during this time period - sparked our curiosity about the current state of that nation.  I recognize that novelists like Tahmima Anam are probably not setting out to educate us about an entire culture but rather crafting fiction with that cultural foundation, yet when a novel's setting is new or unique to us, the urge to generalize from singular lives to entire cultures is tough to resist!

My Actions:
 This novel reminded me just how lucky I am to live in a time and place of relative plenty and power for women.  In her acknowledgements, author Asam thanks her parents for their example as socially engaged citizens.  Perhaps this novel was written - in part - to give voice to the then-voiceless and to empower people now to stand against religious extremism, institutionalized misogyny, and military dictatorships.  So I'm going to write to my Women for Women International "sister" in Afghanistan.  (Backstory: WfW provides education and assistance to female victims of war.  After my first years sponsoring sisters, I stopped writing because my sisters were illiterate and didn't respond.  I did have one sister who wrote to me after her sponsorship year was over, but I couldn't get back in touch with her. I'm ready to try again.)  PLUS, I will find at least one action to support returning veterans in my own community.

Now come on in and eavesdrop: The Mom and Me Dialogue is on the next page. (Just click "read more" below.)  Warning: Although we won't reveal specific spoiler moments, our conversation led us to discuss some aspects of the entire novel.) 

Then hop over to the other blogs on The Good Muslim's virtual book tour with TLC.

The Toes of August : Wordless Wednesday

Here they is.

The ultimate summer self-indulgence for working women is taking the time to paint our toes.  Thanks, world, for granting me the time to do so.

And if you'd like to find more profound and certainly more diverse wordless wonders, please do hop by Create With Joy.

MFB,
L

Wordless Wednesday: Deer Harvest Edition



The few.  The proud.  The survivors.

Pretty and precious.
Yesterday cherries, blueberries, and raspberries overwhelmed our trees and bushes.  But they weren't quite ripened to perfection so we let them rest, with plans to harvest today.  Then, the deer - with their impeccable timing - came through last night and decimated almost all of everything.  Sigh.

Needless to say, this morning's chores got rearranged and 'picking the survivors, then hitting every plant with the deer spray' miraculously rose to the top of the list. 

Lesson learned.

AND:  "Rabbit!"  It's the first day of August!  (Anybody out there remember this from childhood?)

MFB,
L

Go ahead: Spend just a few moments celebrating summer via photos by hopping over to...

Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon : Review

Reserve your copy at indiebound.org.

And final post for the pre-publication read-along ably wrangled by E. at As The Crowe Flies and Reads.

First and foremost: I offer my thanks one final time to E. and all the read-along bloggers for encouraging me through this novel with their widely varied, thoughtful, and often hilarious commentary.  The experience - all parts of it - has been one of the particular blessings of this summer.

Read-Alongers: I'm going to offer a few thoughts after my general review of Telegraph Avenue below.  Please click the link at the bottom of the post to respond to my specific responses to the "Brokeland" chapter, as I have truly valued your comments along the way and would love to know whether you agree with me or not.

Next, to the text.  I'll try for summative comments in the review below, rather than a response to the last chapter alone, as such an endeavor would needs be full of uber-spoilers, and I think that many who visit this blog would appreciate the finer aspects of Telegraph Avenue.

The Review

What's it all about?
Essentially, Telegraph Avenue is the story of Archy Stallings, floundering part-owner of Brokeland Records on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, CA, and all those who contribute to the web of relationships in his life.  It's also the story of his teenage son, Titus, and his partner Nate's son, Julie.  In the end, the issues of race and gender in the United States and how they continue to morph from generation to generation form the central themes of the novel.  Finally, motifs of jazz music, film, pop-culture, and the homogenization of all three weave their way through this story.  Oh, and then there's the nearly unavoidable motif (in any contemporary novel written about the U.S.) of The American Dream and its (lack of?) viability today.

What makes this novel unique?
Setting plays a major role, as does pop culture from the '70's through today.  And here Chabon inhabits characters of many backgrounds and gender identifications, all from a pretty close third person stance (I say it's free indirect discourse with occasional authorial rather than narrator's intrusions, but others on this read-along disagree), which is quite ambitious for a writer and interesting to process for readers.  Chabon's flexing his style-muscles here too, so expect a hefty dose of simile and metaphor, plus leaps in narrative timeline within the multi-character third person narration.  Also - and this was a major plus for me - it's funny. Often.

Who would particularly enjoy it?

• A major plus in this novel is Chabon's successful creation of a richly populated fictional world, so if you enjoy immersing yourself entirely in a novel, this one won't disappoint! Characterization drives plot, so if that's your cup of tea, this will be too. 
• If you enjoy music, and particularly - though not necessarily - jazz, this book will hold particular appeal, as it will if you lived through the '70's and thus connect easily with many of the images and pop culture references.
• If you liked any of Chabon's earlier novels, I suspect that this one will please you somewhat too.
• If  you've pondered questions of race, father-son relationships, the viability of living your dream in the U.S. today, and what - exactly - love is, then this novel will offer you another chance to explore these issues.
• If you enjoy layered comedy, you'll appreciate this novel even more.
• For more detailed kudos with examples, hop to my previous post about Telegraph Avenue.

Any "cautions" with regard to content and/or style?
Telegraph Avenue requires a mature reader.  I'm not talking about age, but rather experience and sensibility.  Why, what do I mean?  I mean that you have to persist through the first chapter's exposition to get to "the good stuff" when the plot kicks in during chapter two.  You have to endure sometimes oddly incongruous yet interesting metaphors and similes and accept that pondering them will be part of the experience.  You must accept the gamut in terms of language and characters' behaviors, some of which you might not use or engage in yourself.  And if a good laugh is low on your interest barometer, well, maybe you should lighten up a bit and then pick up Telegraph Avenue.

MFB,
L

The Nitty Gritty about "Brokeland"

Read-Alongers and anyone who won't mind potential spoilers, keep reading!

Telegraph Avenue Read Along : "A Bird of Wide Experience" & "Return to Forever"



Reserve your copy through your local
bookseller or Indiebound.org .


When I was growing up, my tenth grade English teacher, Ms. Nitkin, explained to us students of American Literature that what distinguishes a novel from a novella or a short story is that a novelist creates an entire world, one we feel we're entering each time we crack the cover.  Few novelists take the time to do that these days, it seems, opting instead for character- and plot- driven narratives that may grip us with their pacing, their trajectory, or their psychological insights, but don't actually create fully faceted worlds with richly specific atmospheres for us to inhabit.  Chabon does in Telegraph Avenue, and in my book that's an achievement to celebrate. 

This week, I found myself staring down my (typical) multiple reads, hopping over Transcendentalist New England (the Pulitzer-winning Alcott bio, Eden's Outcasts), contemporary NM/LA/Midwest/reality TV (the newer and thus far slight Gruen novel Ape House), and 1980's Bangladesh (Tahmima Anam's The Good Muslim), landing squarely in Brokeland territory every time.  For a reader who found the first 100+ pages more than a tad annoying in many respects, that's a triumph of the author's craft and the collective pull of this read-along community over my own capriciously critical proclivities. 

To the specifics:

• I took one look at the form of "A Bird of Wide Experience" and thought, "Please.  No.  Not another and even more obvious flexing of Chabon's Style muscles."  But I took a deep breath, dug in, and found that section to be a fluid read despite the mannered choice of writing it in a single sentence.  Jury's still out on whether, as a part of the whole in which no other segment is crafted in this way, it works.  (I do get that, as a set piece, the shape's meant to in some way support the bird's eye view, on multiple levels.  I just need to reread it after I've finished the novel to see whether I think it succeeds as an integrated chapter.)  In any case, I was sad to see Fifty-Eight go, and it did call to mind a relatively recent climb up the stairs on Telegraph Hill in SF (not to be confused with our title street in Oakland), as the famous parrots flitted about, screeching, overhead.  And there were flocks of wild parrots in Palo Alto/Redwood City too, now that I come to think about it.  They were all green and smallish, so despite the mild climate, I don't know how a big African Grey like Fifty-Eight would fare in the urban landscape... I guess we'll find out.
•  I learned a word which could have been applied to my circumstances nearly every day of my life, and I'm grateful to Mr. Chabon for it:  trepverter.  It means "thinking of a clever comeback or witty remark when it is too late."  Aviva recognizes that, because she's a cautious communicator, she often catches herself in moments of trepverter.  As a teacher, for me each day is filled with opportunities to offer just the right observation, ask just the right question, or pipe up with a bon mot or a humorous but non-harming remark to lighten the journey.  I do a decent job of it, if I do say so myself, but every day I drive home thinking of how I could have done better.  And who among us hasn't "trepverter-ed", probably within the past week?  Note to self:  trepverter would be a sparky idea around which to build some writing exercises too, both of the autobiographical and the fictional sort.  Might even be worthy of a poem: How would that concept influence both form and content? 
• Too many laugh-out-loud moments to count.  I especially admire comedy that works on multiple levels, and here character-driven comedy is supported by linguistic comedy within situations that offer both humor and pathos.  Well played, Mr. Chabon.
• I appreciate the way that Chabon continues to build nuances into the motif of apology in this section.  Most of the main characters have plenty of cause to both offer and receive apologies, and an American novel with race as foundational element pretty well must address the issues of apologies and reparations. Chabon highlights the complexities of the act of apology without - IMHO - waxing too didactic or taking sides in any heavy-handed way, and his treatment of this motif truly made me ponder.
• Lest anyone think I'm responding with unqualified raves for this novel, please know that I've saved all my critiques in a private file.  I do not think that Telegraph Avenue is a perfect piece of writing, especially style-wise.  However, I'd still recommend it.  (Is that too critical, yet sans support?  If you think so, let me know and I'll offer up some thoughts on the many moments when stylistic choices jarred me out of the narrative and/or out of the fictional world.)

I've bookmarked many additional passages in this section, so I could gabble on quite a bit longer, but I'd rather see what the rest of the the read-alongers have to say, and then jump right back into the world of Telegraph Avenue. 

MFB, as we careen down the home stretch,
L

p.s. Please, y'all, whether you've stopped by this read-along for the first time today or whether you've been following from the beginning (Post 1,  Post 2, Post 3), do check out the varied, trenchant, and often funny responses from the other read-along participants, whose posts are linked at host As The Crowe Flies and Reads.  And buy the book.  Despite my concerns, I know that it will linger in my memory for a long time, and suspect you'll find it worthy as well.

p.s.s. Telegraph Avenue Film School continued with The Band Wagon.  Um.  Seemed like a decidedly second rate Singin' In The Rain to me. I can't tell how this would be a Tarantino influence, but perhaps one of you out there has more than just a passing knowledge of his films and you could fill us all in...  Here was the one fun moment in an otherwise dull film:


Yup.  That's the best there was.  Consider yourselves spared.

Next up?  The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly with Clint Eastwood. 

What I Did : Blog Tour Review



Find it at indiebound or Amazon.


If you've read Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime or Matt Haig's The Dead Fathers' Club or Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and you found Christopher or Philip or Oskar fascinating, you'll likely find What I Did, with its six-year-old protagonist Billy, equally intriguing. This new novel by British-American Christopher Wakling promises a stellar read for fans of close first-person perspective and for those who enjoy inhabiting the mind of a singularly unusual child. 

Because voice is the primary element here, I'll offer a longish excerpt from the introduction. Here's how Billy begins:

This is the first bit and shall I tell you why?  Okay I will.  It is to make you read the rest.

Don't worry, it isn't a trailer.  Trailers are the first bits before films which are actually really adverts and Dad says adverts are where they try to get you to buy something probably don't want.  Then again Mum says maybe you do.  I often want it.

          You want this story.  It has already started...

When you're watching a trailer it won't even be before the right film!  That's great, I love that it looks fantastic, let's watch that.  No, we can't.  It's not here.  That is called frustrating.

Dad says they put all the best bits of a film in the trailer to reduce you to watching it, and that quite often the rest of the film isn't up to much, but he is wrong.  They don't put the best bits in there, not always.  There's no bit where Luke actually blows up the Death Star in the trailer for Star Wars but they do have light savers which are magnificent.

Sadly there are no light savers in this story.  It is all real.  It is about a terrible thing which happens to me.  But watch out because the thing you think is the terrible thing isn't really it.  Other things come later and they're worse.  I'm not going to tell you what they are yet because now isn't the time.  That is called suspension.

I also have to warn you that nobody is bad or good here, or rather everyone is a bit bad and a bit good and the bad and good moluscules get mixed up against each other and produce terrible chemical reactions.

Did you know cheetahs cannot retract their claws?

Here is the real beginning.

His website's christopherwakling.com.

As you can see, the humor of this novel emerges from Billy's at once precocious and impulsive character and his free-associating voice.  Plus, Billy's an enormous fan of David Attenborough's nature videos, and his naively humorous yet often trenchant comparisons of human behavior to that of predators and prey add a dimension that enriches his internal monologue.  This novel is chock-full of hilarious malapropisms and aural/oral linguistic confusions as well, so those of us who embrace both the complexity and the absurdity of the English language will find laugh-out-loud passages on nearly every page.  (I learned that misheard and thus misunderstood words or expressions may also be called "oronyms" thanks to Isabel Costello, who also offers a thoughtful response to What I Did.)  If you're looking for more hilarious samples of Billy's worldview, complete with "Billy"-drawn illustrations, hop over to Wakling's website and "Billy's Blog".

But don't think that this book is just one gag after another: far from it.  In fact, it's also a harrowing tale of partial understandings, of multiple truths, of missed opportunities, and of unfortunate choices when they count the most. 

Dramatic irony fuels narrative tension here: we as readers understand far more than Billy does; his self-absorbed blunders and willfulness - worsening an already bad situation - make us cringe with concern.  And, clearly, the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree:  Billy's dad follows the same pattern as he reacts to an unfulfilling job situation and to Billy's constant drama.  The novel's major conflict - and one that aggravates tensions between Billy's Mum and Dad as well - is initiated when a nosy pedestrian reports Billy's dad to Social Services for (what most readers will see as regrettably yet understandably) spanking him after he ignores repeated warnings and runs out into a busy street.  And because Billy's one of the most accident prone/ADHD six-year-olds ever, his continued impulsive actions lead to a number of additional personal injuries, exacerbating misunderstandings with the "ChildSafe" social services team investigating the family.  How Mum, Dad, Grandma Lynne, and Billy respond to "Butterfly" and "Giraffe" from "ChildSafe" provides the central conflict in the narrative, with plenty of tense moments among Billy's family members emerging in response to this crisis.

The novel's most salient strength - Wakling's Billy - may also be its liability for some readers:  What I Did takes place over just a few days, and - to be honest - whatever tension could be developed between the inciting incident and the intense final forty pages is undermined by Billy's incessant digressions and by his realistic focus on the present moment coupled with his ignorance about his own plight.  Thus, the tension that mounts among the other characters related to the main plot is experienced obliquely.  Personally, I enjoyed the entire novel, but I did want to offer a heads-up to those who prefer more intensely single-plot-driven works.

On the whole though, I found much to appreciate here, and recommend this novel.  I would think that my IRL book group would find plenty of fodder for discussion in What I Did,  as it's mostly young moms for whom the central issues of raising a child would hit quite close to home.  I suspect that many book groups would enjoy it too, regardless of the life circumstances of their members.

Many thanks to TLC tours and to Mr. Wakling's publishers, HarperCollins, for offering me the opportunity to be part of this blog tour.  To enjoy others' responses to What I Did, simply follow the schedule for the rest of this tour.

MFB,
L

My action:  I'm going to review the developmental psychology of six-year-olds, because I've never raised one and often found myself wondering, "Are six-year-olds normally this willful?  This out-of-control?  Do they tend to pee their pants a lot? Is this kid some sort of autistic-savant?"  And then there's Billy's cousin Lizzy: she's three years old and not yet speaking at all.  Where is her silence on the spectrum of language acquisition?  Clearly, I need a review!

Telegraph Avenue Read-Along : "The Church of Vinyl" Edition



Reserve your copy at indiebound.org!


Well huzzah and praise Buddha, Chabon's finally hitting his stride.  After a first chapter stuck in first gear, weighed down by a freightload of expository and stylistic baggage, "The Church of Vinyl" slams on the gas and takes off into a full-fledged, multi-faceted plot while deepening our understanding of independent record store owners Nat and Archy, as well as Archy's pregnant midwife wife, Gwen. We're even treated to a few pages inside the venerable dome of Mr. Randall "Cochise" Jones, the Hammond-genius jazzman who's both wise and eccentric in equal measures.  Now Chabon's focusing on just a few core characters rather than bopping around among a crowded cast as he did in the first section: Again, huzzah.  And his authorial stylings seem far less obtrusive than they were in "Dream of Cream": More matter with less self-conscious art.  Yay.

There is much to applaud in this chapter, so in the interest of time - and with the hope that those not participating in this read-along will purchase the novel when it debuts in September - here's a trio of passages that raised an appreciative smile:

• Of the oily yet powerful councilman Chan Flowers, funeral chapel owner, erstwhile best friend of Blackspoitation star Luther Stallings, and ominous presence in the Brokeland neighborhood:  "A smile opened, thin as a paper cut, at the bottom of Flowers's face."  (So much shown, so much characterization implied, so economically.)
• I just kept chuckling and shaking my head during Nat's first COCHISE neighborhood meeting. It seemed painfully realistic (given Nat's email list) that 90% of his crowd turned out to be white Berkeley-esque types, that he had to "bribe" Singletary to be there, and that he forgot to tell Archy about the meeting.  The "Juddhists" among the aging hippies in attendance codged a particularly broad smile too as I thought, "If such a New Agey hybrid religion exists, it would have to be born in Berkeley."  Then I looked it up.  It's real, sort of, and the term was supposedly coined in 2005 at Thich Nhat Hanh's "Peace Today" retreat at Stonehill College in Massachusetts.  Then I found this light-hearted thread with "Juddhist" sayings: Zen Juddhism.  It made me wonder if Chabon himself might have found this religious hybrid personally appealing.  Enjoy.
• And here's a lovely extended analogy that also feels organically right. It's Aviva Jaffe reflecting on the impeccable manners of teenage, Texas-bred houseguest, Titus Joyner:

She had to admit that she loved the "sirs" and "ma'ams" that aflowed from his lips so readily, drawled out like pats of butter smeared across a biscuit.  She remembered hiking in Yosemite with Nat and Julie a few summers back.  Climbing to the top of the Mist Trail up a preposterous stairway of stones proposed, cut, hauled, and fixed immovably into place, proof against time and earthquakes, under the auspices of the WPA.  She remembered feeling grateful to those long-dead men, the planners and the workers, for their foresight, their labor,  the heroic absurdity of that granite stair.  That was how she felt, whenever he would "ma'am" her, toward the dead grandmother of this boy.

What?  I'm Not The Only Reader In The Blogospheres?  To find out if other book bloggers shared my enthusiasm for the second chapter in Telegraph Avenue and to enjoy their trenchant, humorous, and thought-provoking commentary, just hop to the linky-list over at As The Crowe Flies (and Reads).  Last week's "conversations" provided a wonderfully welcome diversity of perspectives on this novel, and I trust that the same will be true today.

A Prediction and a Question for Read-Alongers:  Call me crazy, and I've been wrong once already, but I'm guessing that "A Bird of Wide Experience" is Fifty-Eight, and I was indeed wondering what would become of him.  Will Titus take him on?  Will Archy?

MFB in The Church of Vinyl,
L


Report from Film School:  We Netflixed the 1973 Coffy, Pam Grier's first film, from the list of Kill Bill influences in "Dream of Cream".  Well.  Now I have a new reference point for many action films today, and I can certainly see how it might be a Tarantino influence.  Not exactly deep or well-acted, but plenty of violence and sexiness and funky music.  In the "Coincidence? I think not." realm, when we finished watching Coffy, Cat Woman starring Halle Berry was just finishing on TV, and the parallels in both the action and the characters were too many to ignore.  Then on came Hustle and Flow.  I loved that film the first time around, but saw so much more cinematic history behind it after watching the '70's flick. So thanks to E. at As The Crowe Flies (and Reads) for hosting this read-along and to Michael Chabon for piquing my interest in Blacksploitation films, which in turn led to a fully fulfilling 'night at the movies'.  Next in the queue from the Kill Bill syllabus: Vincent Minelli's 1953 musical The Bandwagon.  I'm intrigued to see what that film might have contributed to Tarantino's choices.

TA Pilgrimage Update: I've been planning my Telegraph Avenue trip via Google Earth maps.  Even though I've visited the Berkeley end more than once, I had a completely inaccurate mental picture of what the Neldham's/Brokeland Records neighborhood looks like.  The bakery actually closed and was re-opened by its workers as Taste of Denmark.  You can bet that'll be stop number one!

Telegraph Avenue Read-Along: Dream of Cream Edition

Order your advanced copy here at Indiebound.

  

Welcome to the second installment in our Telegraph Avenue read-along hosted by the fabulous E. Crowe at As the Crowe Flies and Reads.  If you're a Michael Chabon fan, or if you think you might enjoy a novel based in late 2000's and 1970's Oakland, CA (hence the title), I hope you'll drop by each Tuesday in July to follow me and our gaggle of fellow bloggers as we sample this promising new offering.  You'll find my first post in the series here.

Note: This installment won't contain any plot or character spoilers, but does include both kudos and questions about the first section of this novel, which is titled "Dream of Cream".


So.  Here it is, with apologies for formatting quirks as I'm traveling and using unfamiliar computers & browsers:

Well.  Hmmmm.  I'm feeling quite ambivalent about my experience with this novel so far.

Thumbs up right now for:
* The sections in which character and conflict drive the writing.  Those were utterly engaging.  The section related to childbirth was particularly engrossing for me (vague to avoid spoilers).
* A unique time period to revisit (however wee we were when the '70's hit the scene).
* Jazz and film as indispensable elements of the mise en scene/zeitgeist of the novel.
* Occasional "ah ha" insights into human nature that coaxed a nod of agreement or illumination.
* Moments of much-appreciated humor.
* Vivid evocations of Telegraph Avenue itself.  Setting seems to be emerging as a character, as one might predict from the title.
* I enjoyed the section that contained the chapter title reference, and I'm hoping that the Dream of Cream is a real thing (vague to avoid spoilers) so I can enjoy it for myself at the end of the month when I'll be in the Bay Area! And, all you blog-alongers, I was way off on my guess about what the chapter title refers to, wasn't I?  


Thumbs reserving judgment:
* The execution of some stylistic elements and narrative choices jarred me out of the fictional world on a regular basis.  I'm hoping that as I grow more accustomed to Mr. Chabon's patterns in this novel, these elements will integrate into the flow of the story more gracefully for me.  If others in our read-along are comfortable with more detail on this, I'd be happy to elaborate, but I'll wait for the A-OK from Ms. Crowe before I critique!

I do want to express that I'm pleased to have committed to this read-along with the fabulous E. Crowe of As the Crowe Flies and Reads.  In my previous experience with such cyber-conversations, my commitment to the group has led to perseverance through novels that, in the end, were some of the most rewarding reading experiences of the past few years.  I trust that this one will turn out to be equally valuable, and can't wait to hop on over to the other bloggers on this read-along to see what they're thinking about Telegraph Avenue today!

MFB,
L

p.s.  My Action Reader action is to view at least two of the films on the "Kill Bill" syllabus for the community education course in which young Julie Jaffe meets Titus Joyner.  (These two being my favorite characters in the novel so far.)

Book Group Books : Best American Short Stories 2011



Find it at Amazon or Indiebound.


It's pretty dark down there.  But groping through the darkness and into the light together can be just the challenge to ignite a stellar book group conversation.

In fact, that's what just happened when our local book group got together over appetizers and The Best American Short Stories 2011.  Although we all agreed that this was a rather bleak collection - with occasional and welcome rays of light - we had so much to talk about (twenty stories, to be exact) and the content was so diverse that our conversation soared. 

Our favorites in this collection included Irish writer Claire Keegan's gentle, affecting "Foster", the tale of a poor young girl sent to spend a summer with a couple who've recently lost their own young son; George Saunders' speculative "Escape from Spiderhead" (think "Harrison Bergeron" set in a human testing lab for psycho-active drugs); "To The Measures Fall" by Richard Powers, a piece about how one's shifting responses to the same novel over the course of one's life reveal more about who we are than about the story itself; and Caitlin Horrocks's "The Sleep", which intrigued the English teachers in our group with its third person plural perspective and provided plenty of grist for the conversational mill with its core premise: a town so depressing in winter that its citizens begin to hybernate from Thanksgiving through Easter.

And then there were the stories that stymied one or all ("Gurov in Manhattan" in particular); these, in fact, led to some of the most animated and thought-provoking discussions of all.

Even with its somewhat sobering overall tone, I would heartily recommend this collection - or others in this series - to book groups.  Most of our members noted with enthusiasm how much they enjoyed exploring this genre, one they don't usually indulge in, but we all agreed that the best way to read a grouping like this is to ration: read one per day and let it "sink in", percolate through your consciousness a bit, before moving on to the next.

I give this a five-star rating for book groups who welcome a diversity of opinions to match varied but high quality content.

MFB,
L

p.s.  My action on this one is actually creating this review and posting it on Goodreads and Amazon, because I hadn't planned to do so yet I do believe that other book groups will enjoy it.

And for, It's Monday, What Are You Reading blog hop at Book Journey, right now I'm 3/4 of the way through the light and fluid international romance Random Placement (I realized too late that it would be a terrific read for a plane trip, so I forced myself to stop until tomorrow's trip to ABQ), re-reading sections of Danny Dreyer's Chi Running for my second week of C25K training, and starting Michael Chabon's latest Telegraph Avenue for the read-along at As The Crowe Flies and Reads that begins tomorrow.

Books on fire: A disaster strikes Casa What She Read

...but it'll be OK, because it's only a hypothetical brought to you by those fabulous tricksters as The Broke and the Bookish's Top Ten Tuesday blog hop.

If I had but a backpack and three minutes to gather up my heart's gold, I'd grab my guitar, my newly adopted pooch CJ, a few trinkets of personal significance, and my top ten must-save books:

1.  Kitten Nell by Dick Bruna.  I've had this book my whole life, and my whole life has pretty much paralleled hers.  A collector's item, but more of a talisman and a guide.

2.  My high school copy of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.  Apparently, I swiped it from school, as the library stamp's still on the front page.  The cover has long since separated from its fellows and walked its own way, but my penciled margin notes add nostalgic value to this most gorgeous of literary coming-of-age novels.

3.  Desiderata, an illustrated book of the classic Max Ehrmann poem given to me for high school graduation by my thoughtful godmother.  Every line still rings true, and the spot-on taste-telling of her gesture still moves me.

4.  Georgia O'Keeffe's letters, with panels from her show at the National Gallery from the 80's.  To read the iconic American painter's most intimate correspondence with her friends is indeed inspiration enough for a lifetime.  And then the paintings.  Well, it just doesn't get any better than this.

5.  A collectible edition of Salmon Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories.  One of my favorite books for young people, oft-recommended here, and also an allegory about freedom of speech. 

6.  Go, Dog, Go by Philip D. Eastman and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl.  Both traveled with me from childhood as well.  Clearly, sentiment will rule the flames.

7.  My hefty edition of The Riverside Shakespeare from back in the day.  A perfectly-chosen present from my high school boyfriend, and one I still refer to regularly, with relish and a warmly nostalgic smile.  It's his birthday today, and I hope he knows how much this book and his goodness meant to me.

8.  The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, translation by Jane English, with apt black-and-white photos supporting poetic text in both English and lovely Chinese character calligraphy.


9.  A quick armful of sheet music/tab books for guitar and vocals. 

10.  My very own fourth grade illustrated sci-fi novella, Miss Pickle in Outer Space.  An early masterwork.  How could I let it go?

MFB,
L

p.s.  I'll be hopping along, but I'd love to know your top-of-the-line single pick.  What would you save, if you could save only only one?

Wordless Wednesday: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Simply magical.  And it's up for an Academy Award too!

MFB,
L

It's Monday: What are you reading?

NOTHING.

And that's why I need your help.  I need your recommendations for medium-to-short, highly readable fictions that are still rich enough in ideas, characterization, and writing style to be worth the time.

Why?  I'm completely overwhelmed right now, but I do crave a great read to take me away from pressing stressors each day.

So, please:  Which of your favorite books fit the bill?

MFB, with gratitude for whatever recommendations you can provide,
L

p.s.  I'm posting this in conjunction with the regular It's Monday:  What are you reading?  blog hop over at Book Journey.  I always enjoy it, and hope you will too.

SNOW DAY!!! And I've got one question for you.

What is the absolute best book to cuddle up with next to a warm fire as the snow falls and the scent of hot chocolate wafts through the air?

• A beloved story from your childhood? 
• An all-day potboiler, sure to enchant with steamy romance on a tropical isle? 
• Poems to read aloud to your kids or loved one(s)? 
• A collection of short stories or essays for 'intervals' between sledding and snowman-making sessions?
• A book about snow itself? 

Tell me! (in the comments)

MFB,
L

(Me personally?  On this day, between lesson planning and stacks of student essays and the requisite snow-play sessions, I'm finishing the utterly engaging Prinz Honor novel An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.  If I kick that one, I'll go on to the rest of Dracula.  Basically, I just kept reading what I was already reading...  I'm not certain if that was the right strategy for the perfect snow day, though!)

In My 'Mailbox': 'Classics' for Classes - Which one's your favorite?

My 'mailbox' - my bookbag, actually - is brim-full of potential novels for my tenth grade class, on loan from our school book room.  I've read them all before, of course, but this weekend and next are devoted to re-reading each one as I confirm my choices for next semester. 

Take a look at my potential picks:

Rather a dark lot, no?  But boasting plenty to compel and to question...

Do you recall reading these in high school or thereafter?  Which ones stuck with you and which meandered off into some distant corner of your memory?

And, just out of curiosity, which of these novels would you choose to (re)read yourself?

If you could read only one of these with a group of teens right now, which one of these books would you recommend?

Of course, I harbor my own predilections about which are the most teachable and the best fits for my students' needs, but I'm also quite curious about your views... Who knows, I might just be swayed if you champion one of these venerable tomes!

Now find out what other reader-writers are perusing this week by visiting the hop over at The Story Siren's In My Mailbox!
MFB,
L

Top Ten of 2011: Edgy Does It.

What a fine year in reading.  So many potential "bests".  For this blog hop, I'll limit myself to the requisite ten, but I hope you'll take a gander at my "Books, Ratings, Reviews" page tabbed above to sample the many additional worthy tomes that didn't quite fit today.

That said, I would recommend each and every one of these books to readers who enjoy the skillful use of language to illuminate thought-provoking content. The links below are (except when otherwise noted) to my longer review posts for the books.

A word to the wise reader: Many of these books shake us out of our everyday thinkin,g in part through the use of some decidedly edgy content (sex, violence), so I would not necessarily recommend them for all readers.  Write to me in the comments if you're considering some of these reads and would like additional background on them - I'd be happy to elaborate.

Do you agree with my choices below?  Of those on my list, which would you champion too?

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Greene and David Levithan.  Certainly the best young adult novel I read this year, this also boasts two protagonists, each voiced by one of today's top Y.A. novelists.  Themes: love, tolerance, identity.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. Reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe in Hamid's use of an unreliable narrator plus elements of mystery to keep us hooked from cover to cover in this novel of globalization, terrorism, the lure of the dream of America, and the tyranny of the dollar.  Bonus:  The title reveals our own prejudices or preconceptions as it doesn't refer to what you'd expect...

My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel.  I've never read prose like this:  luminous, dreamy, sensuous, elegiac.  And the content's anything but predictable.  Another multi-voiced novel: an aging and delicate one-time drag queen, General Augusto Pinochet of Chile and his malcontent wife.  Definitely not for the prude, but a reading experience and characters you'll never forget.  (I didn't review this novel here - I read it for my IRL book group - so I linked to Amazon so you can "look inside".)

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.  Yes, it's long, but the characters in this classic set in the Napoleonic Wars become so intimately known that they feel like friends and neighbors to the reader, and one reads this chunkster with increasing emotional investment in the soap opera of their lives. Definitely worth your (considerable) time. (I didn't review this novel here - I read it for my IRL book group - so I linked to Amazon so you can "look inside".)

Bright's Passage by Josh Ritter. Standout all-American post WWI novel, set in Virginia when a returning soldier must escape with his young child when his wife dies giving birth and her despicable family members vow to take their son.  It's the literary debut of a lauded singer-songwriter, so the prose and imagery are as gorgeous as you'd expect too.


Nothing by Janne Teller. This young adult novel explores not only the lengths a small group of young people will go to to find meaning in their world (think Lord of the Flies themes, in a tranquil suburban/rural setting with escalating acts of surprising betrayal and violence), and then moves on to help us consider the commodification of meaning.  Yet it's all concrete, substantial, psychologically intriguing, and even darkly funny. 

And The Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman.  Perhaps the single uplifting tome in my list, Kalman's illustrations and quirky prose make this luminous recounting of her pilgrimages to historic American sites a joy from cover to cover.  Kalman's engaging voice with a unique perspective on life landed this one on my list.

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok. Simply gorgeous, this memoir of Bartok's childhood, which was dominated by the actions of her beautiful, artistic, but also mentally ill mother, seems to have set the standard this year.  Mira's a wonderful artist herself, and this book's popularity is well deserved, in my view, as she recounts the saving graces of day-to-day beauty with intensity and grace and offers a compassionate yet sometimes painfully honest perspective on her mother's illness and its ravaging repercussions.

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel. This semi-allegorical novel is Life of Pi author Martel's allegory about the Holocaust, with nods to the tragicomic worldview of Beckett.  For me, a reader reasonably fluent in literature of the Holocaust, it packed an emotional and intellectual wallop well worth experiencing. 

Off to find the best book finds of the year from the other bloggers at The Broke and The Bookish.

With gratitude for a year of plenty, at least as far as books were concerned,
L

Top Ten Books I Hope Santa Brings

Where to start?  In fact, I'd be grateful for any book a friend or family member thinks I'd enjoy.  That's the truth.  But if The Broke and the Bookish affords me the opportunity to proffer a few bold hints, here goes...

1. The Conference of the Birds by Peter Sis.  I've already ordered and paid for this illustrated text based on a twelfth century Persian poem, but I've been waiting on alibris to deliver it for a couple of weeks now.  Can't wait to enjoy this promising new work from one of my favorite illustrators.  (I linked to an Atlantic Monthly article about the book.  It includes slides of some of Sis's illustrations and a review too.)

2. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.  The latest novel from my fellow Brunonian has garnered strong reviews, and I'd enjoy reading it.


3.  The Complete New Yorker on CD rom.  Can you imagine?  Eighty years of impeccable stories, poems, in depth journalistic pieces, and cartoons, all at your fingertips?  Ultimate gift!


4.  The Apothecary by Maile Meloy.  Somehow, my copy never arrived from her publisher, but I'd love to read Meloy's new middle reader fantasy.

5.  My own copy of Howl's Moving Castle and the other two in Diana Gwynne Jones's fantasy trilogy.  Loved Howl's, but I'd appreciate my own copy to lend out to friends - pay it forward, I say.

6.  T.C. Boyle's newest: When The Killing's Done.  I simply enjoy anything that guy writes.

7.  The Best American Short Stories 2011.  This collection always offers treasures and pleasures aplenty, and I tend to purchase my own copies if I don't receive them as gifts. Bonus this year: Geraldine Brooks, one of my favorite American writers, is this year's guest editor.  And among this year's authors: Jennifer Egan, Nathan Englander, Elizabeth McCracken, and Joyce Carol Oates.


8.  Wildwood by Colin Meloy (Maile Meloy's brother, of The Decemberists).  This children's fantasy reads well from its first sentences on, and I'd love to enjoy it in its entirety.

9.  2011 National Book Award non-fiction winner The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt.  I adored his speculative biography of Shakespeare, Will In The World, and would be grateful to read his latest.

10.  Whatever Santa and his elves wish deliver, I'll read with relish.

What's on your list this year?  Visit The Broke and the Bookish if you're looking for a few more good books to add...

MFB,
L

In My Mailbox: Cyborgs and Fairy Tales

I still can't get over finding excellent books at my doorstep.  This week I was happy to find...

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (ARC copy of this Jan. 2012 futuristic young adult fantasy from Macmillan: Thanks!)

and


A Princess and Her Garden by Patricia Adson, PhD. (perusal copy from the Center for Applications of Psychological Type - again, thanks!)

Clearly, I am channelling Cinderella... I'll keep you posted on how these twin volumes illuminate the age-old fairy tale that's really so much more - and frankly more empowering - than the Disney version might lead us to believe...

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.  Link up there to find out what others are reading (or at least collecting) this week...

MFB,
L

Book Beginnings: The Last Werewolf

 "It's official," Harley said.  "They killed the Berliner two nights ago.  You're the last."  Then after a pause: "I'm sorry."
    Yesterday evening this was.  We were in the upstairs library of his Earl's Court house, him standing at a tense tile between stone hearth and oxblood couch, me in the window seat with a tumbler of forty-five-year-old Macallan and a Camel Filter, staring out at dark London's fast-falling snow.  The room smelled of tangerines and leather and the fire's pine logs.  Forty-eight hours on I was still sluggish from the Curse.  Wolf drains from the wrists and shoulders last.  In spite of what I'd just heard I thought:  Madeline can give me a massage later, warm jasmine oil and the long-nailed magnolia hands I don't love and never will.
    "What are you going to do?" Harley said.
      I sipped, swallowed, glimpsed the peat bog plashing white legs of the kilted clan Macallan as the whisky kindled in my chest.  It's official.  You're the last.  I'm Sorry.  I'd known what he was going to tell me.  Now that he had, what?  Vague ontological vertigo, Kubrik's astronaut with the severed umbilicus spinning away all alone into infinity... At a certain point one's imagination refused.  The phrase was:  It doesn't bear thinking about.  Manifestly it didn't.         
                                            - Opening moments of The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan

I am so not a paranormal kinda gal.  But, even though I'm only just beginning The Last Werewolf, I am loving this novel's wit and edge and unpredictability in a most predictable genre.  The very first two lines drew me in with both big-time plot revelations and an enduring relationship built in two terse words:  "I'm sorry."

Warning:  As noted in the comments, this novel can get quite graphic and uses all the words (if you catch my meaning).  I haven't quite reached the intensely violent parts yet, and normally I don't do well with such fare, so I'll keep you posted.  For now, I'm willing to brave it because the other aspects of the novel are so good thusfar.

Now, if you'd like to enjoy many more "book beginnings", go on the hop at A Few More Pages.
MFB,
L

Check it out:  You can get it for 4 bucks on the iPad too.  I did the research, because my library copy must go back tomorrow and I'm only a few chapters in... (Don't have an iPad myself, but plan to mooch off the Dave.)

Top Ten Tuesday: Perfect Gift Books

To my way of thinking, a book with beautiful illustrations and a theme of compassion and/or following your bliss is the ultimate gift.  Whether sitting on a shelf looking gorgeous or sitting in a lap offering contemplation, these ones should lift the lives of those in their care.  Second most perfect type of gift-book: a warm-and-witty fantasy or a book that we can return to daily for solace.  All my picks below reflect these values. 

I've linked titles to Amazon below because you can "look inside" the books, but might I suggest that you enjoy a lively seasonal visit to your local bookseller? If it's possible for you, why not give - and live - local?

1. Olivia by Ian Falconer.  I would offer to every young'un in my world.  Boy or girl, you can't find a better role model than the irrepressibly creative (and just a touch diva-esque) Olivia.

2. The Arrival by Shaun Tan. I will give to every person who doesn't see the merit in non-linguistic storytelling.  This entirely-pictorial tale is mesmerizing and transcendent.

3. Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hahn.  How about a non-judging, non-denominational, clear and practical and brief and poetic guide to making your life happier and the world a more compassionate place?  Perfect stocking-stuffer for any evolving soul on your list. 

4. The Tree of Life by Peter Sis.  Got scientists in your sphere?  This gorgeously illustrated and complex picture book honoring the life of Charles Darwin is bound to win them over as it calls to their creative, non-linear (dormant?) side.

5. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Great new old-school find: For every middle schooler and Harry Potter fan on my list, I will offer what clearly must have been a JK Rowling influence.  Let's just say that the 'cloak of invisibility' and talking hearth fires predate HP by decades...  Thanks to my friend M who loaned this to me: I love it!

6.  Bright's Passage by Josh Ritter. For all my book blogger friends, I'd give this sleeper of 2011.  I still think it's one of the best books I've read this decade, and anyone looking for a spare, luminous, and quintessentially American novel with mythic vision, not to mention gorgeous prose, will love it.

7.  The Sibley Guide to Birds.  In conjuring magic, one could do no better than birds.  Cultivate the art of calling blessings to you by noticing when the feathered grace your days.  David Sibley's illustrations are both beautiful and precise, so this guide functions as both a source of aesthetic pleasure and an accurate field guide.  For everyone, from the child to the newly-retired with time for birding at last, from the hiker to the shut-in with a bird feeder in the window, this guide offers pleasures aplenty.

I think that's enough for everyone on my list and yours, but if you've got a personal favorite to add to the list, champion it in the comments below and I'll stop by later today for a quick update!

Thanks for visiting, and do let me know what you thought of my list, then go check out the super-abundance of suggestions at Top Ten Tuesday's at The Broke and the Bookish!

MFB,
L