More Jane Austen, Not Less

My mother-in-law gave me An Assembly Such as This, by Pamela Aiden. It's the first in a trilogy that tells Pride & Prejudice from Darcy's point of view. She loved it, but I haven't read it yet. Just wanted to alert fellow Jane Austen fans that this is out there :)

Hmm.....

Kinda slow lately. Any good books out there?

I just finished Deja Dead, the first book in the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs. I enjoy the tv series Bones on FOX and that's based on the Brennan character. I'll probably read a few more in the series. I thought some of the technical descriptions in the book were a little dry and come off much more interesting when you have the visual of the television to go with them. But overall, I enjoyed the book.

I have the third Bubbles book sitting around from the library that I need to finish in the next week or so and then I might delve into The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I have a coupon to buy it this weekend from Barnes and Noble and well, all my other books are packed away for now. :-)

Interesting coincidences

So I haven't finished any books lately, but I am in the middle of the second Bubbles book, which I am enjoying for its silliness. Bubbles visits Amish country. Quite entertaining. Coincidentally, I received my latest Bookmarks Magazine in the mail a week or so ago and read it cover to cover. One of the books it reviewed as an interesting read was Rumspringa by Tom Shachtman. He is the man who also created the documentary "A Devil's Playground" which I believe was nominated for an Oscar. Then 20/20 had a show on this week about Amish gone bad. It's so strange that all in a week's time three Amish related things have popped up in my world. Not that I'm particularly fascinated by the Amish. It's just interesting how coincidences pop up sometimes....

Here are some books that I thought sounded like they might be good that were also reviewed in Bookmarks:

Theft by Peter Carey--a novel set in the art world and about art forgery

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen--a novel about a man studying to be a vet who runs away to the circus in the Depression-era

The Bookwoman's Last Fling by John Dunning--a detective book in the book world. Part of the Cliff Janeway series.

The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue--a science-fiction book about a boy kidnapped by changelings who then take his place in the real world (or something like that). I'm not super into science fiction but this one is touted at a fairy tale for adults and sounded entertaining. (Allison, I thought this sounded like a book you might like.)

If anyone reads these before I have a chance to, I would love to know what you thought of them.

On a streak...

I have finished three books in the last week and a half! Go me! I read Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich. I really enjoyed it. I like that she brought in a couple new characters with the gay funeral directors. I laughed picturing Grandma Mazur prancing around like Mick Jagger, and sort thought "Eww!" to Lula's outfits. But I was quite entertained by this one. Either my expectations for her books have been lowered or I feel like she has gotten out of her rut she was in for books 7-9. I also read Bubbles Unbound since Allison and Carol both recommended it. I was pleasantly entertained by these characters as well. And I plan on reading the rest of the series.

The third book I finished was The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. I was really enthralled with this book. It starts in the mid-1960's and goes through to late 1980's. Dr. Henry and his wife have twins, a boy and a girl. The boy is perfect and "normal" and the girl is born with Down's syndrome. Due to events in his family history, the doctor feels that the girl would be better off at an institution. And that there would be less grief for him, his wife and son if they believed the baby had died at birth. The doctor lives with the secret that his daughter is alive and well and living with the nurse he asked to deposit the baby at the institution. The nurse could not fathom leaving the baby in such a place, and chose to raise her in a different part of the country. The book is written with every few chapters alternating between the doctor and his family and the nurse and the little girl. It flows well and I really liked how the chapters switched back and forth. I would recommend it as a good read. It's also a quick read.

I keep saying I'm going to read The Lost Painting and there it still sits on my bookshelf. I really do want to get to it, bu I think it reminds too much of my college reading since its about one of the artists in my thesis topic. So even though I find the book interesting, its hard for me to think of it as light reading. I may move on to the next Bubbles book next. ;-)

Summer Re-Runs

Okay, we've been a little slow here at the Bookshelf lately. I'm not helping, either, since I've been stuck in a re-reading rut. I'm hosting my book club next week and I haven't even bought the book! I'm hoping they'll be too distracted by my wonderful cooking to notice :) All my "new" reading lately has been childbirth/early childhood stuff (and baby name books!), and maybe there's just not room in my brain for anything else.

So, I thought I'd try to start a little bit of discussion. What books (if any) do you re-read, and why? If you're not a re-reader, why not? Here's my list:

Harry Potter: I secretly really, really want to go to Hogwarts. But reading these is the closest I can get :) I love visiting the world JK Rowling constructed. The books are rich and full of detail, and really just delightful to read. The characters are well-drawn and believable, and even though I already know what's going to happen, the getting-there is so much fun that I can read them over and over.

Jane Austen: I love reading about all the social rules and who follows them or breaks them. I love Austen's gentle satire of social conventions (which you could easily miss by skimming) through making characters ridiculous with dialogue. And every time I get to the end of Pride & Prejudice, I'm so happy that Lizzy & Mr. Darcy finally got together.

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next Series: My inner English nerd loves the wordplay and literature references, but those couldn't stand alone without the entertaining characters and clever situations. Plus, I've always wished I could literally enter my favorite books, and I think the way Fforde manages this is an impressive feat of imagination.

Kate Atkinson: I love her writing. I bought Human Croquet on the bargain table of Barnes & Noble without having heard of Atkinson, and I loved it. And that's not even her best book! Her sentences are just a pleasure to read, and I enjoy the unfolding of her intricate plots.

Gregory Maguire: Even his "not as good" books are fun retellings of fairy tales. It's the familiarity of a story you've heard since childhood, but with variations. I think my favorite of his is Lost, which incorporates Jack the Ripper and A Christmas Carol, if you can believe that.

Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit: Because I'm a big nerd, that's why.

HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and sequels): Because sometimes, you need a little insanity.

Janet Evanovich: It's nice that Stephanie Plum's life/career/family are so much crazier than mine :) Even in the less stellar books in the series, you're always guaranteed to laugh out loud at least once.

Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy series: Because there's something comforting and lovely about animals talking to each other and solving mysteries, even if the mysteries aren't all that interesting.

Dorothy Cannell: Cozy mysteries at their finest. An injection of Britishness, crazy family members, fun mysteries that make you wish you were poking around an old mansion with lots of secret passages.

Jennifer Crusie: Her contemporary romances are engaging enough to re-read. Welcome to Temptation and Manhunt are really the best.

There are more, I'm sure, but these are the most frequently re-read for me.

On My Bookshelf...

Bubbles and other laugh out loud novels...

On Allison's recommendations, I started reading the Bubbles' series by Sarah Strohmeyer. They're not quite as good as Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, but they're an easy and entertaining read. And, yes, at times, I even laugh out loud. I've read four of the five books so far and am going to pick up the fifth at the library in the next week.
Bubbles is a really ditzy blonde hairdresser who as part of her divorce settlement attended junior college (Two Guys) to be retrained for a new career. After failing tons of courses over 8 years, she finds that she's a natural for reporting. After all, what is a beauty parlor anyway but a den of gossip! She has a brilliant daughter who dyes her hair with koolaid and a hot boyfriend named Steve Stiletto. Strohmeyer admits to creating Bubbles at the kitchen table of Janet Evanovich. Definitely you can see Evanovich's fingers in this one.
The other two authors that I really enjoy reading that make me laugh out loud are Christopher Moore and Carl Hiasen. Holly introduced me to Christopher Moore with The Stupidest Angel and her Mom introduced me to Carl Hiasen. Both of them have characters that are out there to say the least. I think Moore is a bit more unhinged with his plots than Hiasen, but both of them write very entertaining and fun novels. These are all great summertime reads as they're light, hilarious and entertaining - just the way, summer should be!

Better get started!

Britain's librarians have posted a list of books to read before you die right here.

I think I went to a really good high school (go, public education!), because I have read 23 out of 30, many of them in high school. I hadn't heard of Birdsong or The Master and Margarita before. A few of these I just haven't gotten to. And I just have to say, "The Lovely Bones????? Are you kidding me?" Man, I hated that book. Actually, I liked it until the convoluted, tacked-on ending, which ruined that book for me. Ugh.

Need a Laugh?

Boy, have I got the book for you! On my flight back to Wisconsin, I read Early Bird by Rodney Rothman. The guy next to me kept giving me sideways looks and trying to inch away. I tried to smile reassuringly and explain, "It's this book! It's so funny!" Yeah, he thought I was a loon. This is the memoir of a comedy writer who loses his job at the age of 28. Lost as to what to do next, he decides to test-drive retirement out in Florida. At first, he's perplexed by the old folks up washing their cars at 6:15 in the morning, 4:00 pm dinners at value buffets, and the ladies who can play five Bingo boards at once (he can barely manage one). But he settles into retirement, gaining acceptance into the exclusive clique that hangs out by the condo pool and joining the shuffleboard team. Laugh-out-loud funny and achingly poignant. A totally satisfying reading experience. I've been recommending this to everyone I know. It's 244 pages and a quick read. Read it! Seriously!

Still chugging away...

I recently finished The Kalahari Typing School for Men and The Cupboard Full of Life by Alexander McCall Smith (#4 & #5 in his Ladies Detective Agency series). Okay, I understand that when you write a series of books you will have to repeat a few things in the off chance that someone picks up a book out of order in the series. For example, it is always mentioned in the Stephanie Plum series about the unlucky happenstance of getting her cars blown up, etc. But Smith's repetition gets a bit annoying. It is mentioned probably no less than 3 times per book about Mma. Makutsi's (a supporting character in the series) 97% on her secretarial exam. I just find it getting to the point where some of the repetition bothers me. Also, Smith seems to drag the story out and then all of sudden gets bored with it and ties it all up in the last two chapters. Either speed things along throughout the course of the book, or make them longer!

I do still somewhat enjoy the books though. The Typing School was entertaining because you read the book really hoping that Mma. Makutsi has finally found the right man. And book five culminates in an event that Mma. Ramotswe has been waiting for for awhile.

I'm sure I will continue to read the series as I am pretty loyal once I start a book series as evidenced in my next book choice: Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich (the twelth book in the Stephanie Plum series). Even the Plum series wavered a little after about book 6, but it came around again in book 10. So I'll hold out hope for the Ladies Detective Series. There are either one or two more books already published in the series. So I'll get them eventually. After Evanovich, I think I'll read The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr.

A Mommy book

For Mother's Day my mom gave me Sippy Cups are NOT for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor. I pretty much read this book in one day. It's such a quick read. And I think any new mom or mom-to-be should read this book! It's so realistic, although slightly over the top. In the Out and About With Baby chapter. She talks about one of her thrice weekly outings to Target and it made me laugh out loud and I could completely relate! Actually much of the book I could totally relate to. I'm not sure if that's because this mom is from Los Angeles and we are both dealing with living in the same "mommy" scene. I'm sure it's the same everywhere. I suppose I could go on, but you really should take a look at this one if it sounds at all interesting to you. I laughed out loud several times while reading it.

Past Bestsellers

I haven't gone through all the years yet, but this site lists the top ten selling books of every year from 1900-1995. Pretty cool. It's a different kind of list than the "best books of the past X years" kind you usually see. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.

Holly, I know you read the Stephanie Plum books, and I just finished the second Bubbles book by Sarah Strohmeyer, and thought you might like them. The first is Bubbles Unbound. Bubbles is a hairdresser trying to make it as a journalist. She's a hoot. I also just finished A Dose of Murder by Lori Avocato, which is a total Stephanie Plum rip-off, but cute. The similarities are just too close to be coincidental. You can tell she pitched the series as "Stephanie Plum, but with a former school nurse turned insurance fraud investigator." Example: instead of Lula, the plus-size black sidekick, she has Goldie, the tall Creole transvestite. Jagger, the mysterious investigator who trains Pauline, is totally Ranger.

On My Bookshelf...

On My Bookshelf...

I must be the only person among you all that reads the suspense novels. The last one I read was Up Country by DeMille. It's about a Vietnam veteran returning to Vietnam on a secret mission for his former boss at the Army Criminal Investigation Department. Not only is there suspense, intrigue and slimy bad guys, but there's romance and a lot of information about how the war affected the protagonist and others (both North and South Vietnamese).

I'm now reading In a SunBurned Country. Not sure of the author. It's about a man's travels through Australia. He's written several books - one about his travels in Britain, America, etc... Since I've been to Australia a few times, I can identify with some of his stories.

I'm also reading the third book of the Jewel in the Crown trilogy - The Division of Spoils. I have been reading this trilogy for over a year. Definitely I'm not the historical novel type! Although, the third book is finally making a lot more sense than the first two. The first book was so disjointed and skipped around to all these different characters and stories. The second was a little better. And the third is finally tying a lot of the first two books together.

Not sure what my next book will be. I may have to go to the library and check into some of the books you all recommend.

The Best Novel?

So, the New York Times Book Review decided to name the greatest novel in the past 25 years. Time Magazine has a lovely (and short) article about it here. Even better, Laura Miller, one of the judges explains here why she declined to vote.

The end result almost doesn't matter (but if you're dying to know, it's Toni Morrison's Beloved). It's a bizarre thing to do, gathering a group of judges to pick "the best" novel of any given period. Trying to distill literature into some sort of athletic contest with one "winner" is ridiculous. The picks were also nearly all by white men, though they did ultimately choose a black woman as the author of the "best" book. Overcompensating much? I love Toni Morrison, and I think Beloved is brilliant, but I also think this group of mostly old white guys choosing the best book might have been consciously trying to avoid accusations of favoring other old white guys.

I like what Time Magazine did with their list of the 100 best books since 1923 (Why 1923? Who knows?). It gives room for diversity, for a multitude of experiences and viewpoints, for authors trying to accomplish different things. The NYTBR exercise drives me nuts because literature is collective, not singular, and no one novel can represent all great novels of the last 25 years.

Hey, how'd I get on this soapbox? Can somebody help me down?

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

I just finished this book. It was indescribably wonderful! Thank you, Holly, for suggesting it.

The premise: The island nation of Nollop off the U.S. coast semi-worships their most famous resident, the fictional creator of the pangram (sentence using all letters of the alphabet) "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." They have a statue of Nollop with his sentence inscribed on tiles in the center of town. One day "Z" falls down, and the council of elders determine that this is Nollop speaking from the grave, challenging them by removing "Z" from their written and spoken language. Citizens violating the new alphabet face flogging, banishment, or death. But that's not the only tile to fall. The novel is written entirely in letters between the Nollopians, sometimes letters to out-of-town relatives, sometimes notes left on the refrigerator. Only a few pages are challenging to read because of the letter omissions. The plot is delightful, the character development charming, and the wordplay just plain fun. I can see some readers finding it overly clever, and it's true that the book is built on a gimmick, but it's a gimmick that doesn't prevent endearing characters and suspense. At 200 pages, it's a fairly quick read, and a thoroughly enjoyable one. It's going on the "never throw/give away" shelf next to my Jasper Fforde.

Her Fork in the Road

There's a bookstore on the west side of LA devoted entirely to cookbooks and cooking related tomes. I bought this book--Her Fork in the Road--there several months ago and just started reading it. The book is a collection of stories celebrating gastronomic travel, all written by women who are supposedly some of the best writers in and out of the food and travel fields. The stories meld unique ethnic cuisine experiences with the food's surrounding cultural context. The book is making me hungry--for both food and adventure! It's a different sort of read, but one I'm enjoying on many sensory levels.

Curtis Sittenfeld

I read in the Sunday LA Times that Curtis Sittenfeld has a new book coming out this month called "Man of My Dreams." Did anyone else read her first book Prep? I was initially drawn to the book because the protagonist was supposed to be from my hometown of South Bend, Indiana. The book turned out, in my opinion, to be an extraordinarily well written tale of teenage angst and the desire to be accepted. I'm eager to read her latest effort as well.

Mommy Wars

I recently finished Mommy Wars by Leslie Morgan Steiner. The book is a series of essays by mothers about their choices of whether to stay at home with their children or continue their careers. As a member of a playgroup with both working and non-working moms, I was curious to read the viewpoints of mothers on both sides of the fence. It is obvious, upon reading this book, that no woman can ever be certain she made the right choice and the only way to make peace with that choice is to embrace it entirely.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

I finally finished a book! Mark this day on the calendar!

Since I've finished all my current knitting projects and waiting for my yarn for the next one to show up in the mail, I read yesterday and finished The Historian. This book is about a professor looking for his advisor who has gone missing. The advisor had become interested in researching whether Vlad Tepes (aka Dracula) really existed and is in fact undead and still walking around attacking people. The search begins all over again with the professor when he starts to look for his missing mentor. Then his daughter starts to look for him when he just takes off. The book is filled with vampire lore from a historical fiction perspective and it is fairly interesting overall. I think the middle third of the book is way too long and way too dry and I think Kostova probably loses many readers at that point, but I forged on and finished and it does end up nicely tying up all the loose ends, leaving with a sort of cliffhanger. But a good cliffhanger, not one where you're mad that the whole thing wasn't completely resolved.

I would recommend it to anyone that likes academic type fiction books or interested in where vampires originated. I think it was well written overall even if she tended to drag it out an extra 200 pages or so.

Now I'm on to lighter fluffier reads...I think I'll read the next two books in Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies Detective Agency series....

Summer reading

So, I've been on a mildly trashy contemporary romance novel kick, and I thought I'd admit to it here :-) These books are so quick to read, and fun, and there are so few surprises that they're comforting in a way. And as the weather gets warm, they're just perfect sometimes. So, if anyone is looking for cute, fluffy reads, Susan Donovan's He Loves Lucy and Rachel Gibson's Sex, Lies, and Online Dating are both very cute and enjoyable. I can also recommend almost anything by those two authors, as well as Jennifer Crusie and Janet Evanovich (who also does the Stephanie Plum books but has been cranking out the romance lately).

The Love Wife by Gish Jen

I stayed up too late finishing this book last night, but it was worth it. I've enjoyed Gish Jen's past novels, Mona in the Promised Land and Typical American, and this one was just amazing. The story begins when Carnegie does two things to disappoint his Chinese-born mother; he marries a white woman "Mama Wong" insists on calling Blondie, and he adopts a child of unknown parentage. Mama Wong's dying wish is for the Wong children to be raised more Chinese, so she arranges for Lan, a distant relative, to be brought over from China to nanny for the children (Carnegie and Blondie have adopted another daughter from China, and have had a late-life biological son). This book is about so many things: Carnegie's conflicted relationship with his mother and Chinese culture in general, Blondie's fears that Lan is the wife Mama Wong had wanted for Carnegie, the daughters' feelings that they are not one thing or the other, Lan's categorizing of everything as "Chinese" and "American" and assimilation attempts, what it means to belong to a family. I also learned a bit about the Cultural Revolution, which Lan lived through.

Excellent book. Like her others, I highly recommend it.