What Happens When You're Spending Your Time Reading Like a Maniac

"No shame in saying that I felt a loneliness drifting through me. Funny how it waws, everyone perched with their own tale, beginning in some strange middle point, the trying so hard to tell it all, to have it all make sense, logical and final."

Let the Great World Spin

I'm finding that sometimes, life gets in the way of even the most well-intentioned plans like keeping a blog, for instance. I haven't updated here since APRIL?! How have I become so detached from something that I was so excited about?! But never fear, dear Reader--for, although my blog-writing goals have fallen to a dusty way-side, my reading habits have grown and developed. In fact, I have been simply devouring books to the point where I wonder where I find time to do much else (and those around me worry about my well-being). I can blame one word on my recent obsessive reading--SUMMER. When I was still in school (okay... I'm still "in school," but I'm talking about real school here) the idea of summer meant way more free time than I knew what to do with, which usually meant that I ended up longing for school and filled my days splitting my energies between swimming, beating up my brother, sucking down gallons of fruit punch Kool Aid, and getting lost in book worlds. Even though I am not in real school anymore--meaning that those summers are supposed to be out of reach to me now--I refuse to give up my insanely long "to read this summer" lists and hours-long reading-fests.

Suck on that adult-world. You can't keep me down!

So, to kick off the summer (a little late), I thought I'd give you an idea of the things I have been reading! So... since Little Bee, the most notable books I've read have been:

The Swan Theives by Elizabeth Kostova--This is Kostova's newest book (and she's coming to the National Book Festival! Yay!), and although I think I had higher expectations for it, I still liked it. The book follows a psychologist who has a patient who recently tried to take a swipe at a painting in the National Gallery of Art (how fitting!! I was a little disappointed to find out that the painting doesn't exist...) and although the man won't talk about why he tried to ruin the painting, the psychologist soon becomes entangled in an ages-old mystery and, soon, in his patient's life. It's a fun mystery-type book--well written, although some of the story lines are a little hard to believe, but that's fiction for you! This book made me want to learn more about painting and art, and happy to be working at the National Gallery, even though I don't see art, really--at least I'm close!

The Last Station by Jay Parini--This was recently adapted into a movie (for which Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren were both nominated) and well worth the read! I don't know anything about Leo Tolstoy, so I really cannot attest to the historical accuracy of this historical fiction piece, but after I finished the book, I looked some things up, and it seems pretty true to life! The story is told from several perspectives of the people who surround Leo Tolstoy in his final weeks of life, the most notable of which are his wife (whom every hates), his daughter, his servant, and his "manager," but you never hear from Tolstoy himself. It's an interesting story about what seemed to be a very troubled, though revered life.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann--If you pick up none of these other books, please do yourself a favor and choose this one to read. I loved this book. Let the Great World Spin won the National Book award for 2009, and rightly so. This story follows several characters around a central event which is the real-life occurance of a man who strung a tightrope between the Twin Towers and walked it in 1974. The characters are vivid and beautifully written and include a judge, his wife who cannot get over her son's death in Vietnam and meets with a support group for it, a monk who is having trouble with his faith, a prostitute, a young boy with a penchant for graffiti, and the tightrope walker himself. This book is wonderfully written and real, and really speaks to a post-9/11 world well. The ways that all of the stories line up (or don't) is brilliant and reveals the connectivity of us all under an umbrella of tragedy, hope, and spectacle. Seriously. Read this book.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Scaffer and Annie Burrows--Let me be frank--I put off reading this book because it was one of those ones that EVERYONE was talking about, and I'm typically not pulled in by the popularity of a book. But, I was at the library one day and spotted it and figured I'd give it a shot. I'm so glad I did. This epistolary novel (which is so awesome because it's so hard to find a good one and they're my favorite kind!) is comprised of letters written right after World War 2 between a woman writer in London and a group of people in Guernsey (an island in the Channel) who formed a book club in response to German occupation. The letters become more detailed and they all begin to grow a bond. This is a fun, touching, and easy read that is definitely suited for the beach!

The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow--If you are female, this should be on the top of your to-read list. Zaslow was the man who helped Randy Pausch put The Last Lecture on paper, and he does an excellent job with this book. This non-fiction read tells the story of a group of friends from Ames, Iowa who have been friends since grade school. There are 11 in all (although one did pass away in their early twenties) and they still get together to this day even though they are spread all around the country. Many of the girls have had tragedy, although one more so than others, and it is an amazing thing to see how these women come together even after so many years. Zaslow does a great job of interspersing information about female friendships throughout the story and it really made me think about my own friendships and how much I cherish them. This is non-fiction, but reads like fiction.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon--When my book club voted on this book, I rolled my eyes, but read it anyway since I had missed the last meeting. Oh. My. God. Even though it is almost 500 pages, I finished it in four days because I simply could not put it down. I am not someone who really likes mysteries or suspense stories, but Zafon knows how to tell a good story. The story is about a boy whose father owns a used-book store. One day he is given the chance to pick one book from the "Cemetary of Books" and he chooses The Shadow of the Wind by an obscure author whom he had never heard of and soon learns that all of the books the author has written have been burned by an anonymous man. The boy soon learns everything he can about the author and becomes involved in a tangled reality of death, disguises, burning books, love, and post-Spanish civil war politics. So awesome. It's really a great read, and I can't wait to talk about it at book club this week! Also, note that this was originally written in Spanish and has been translated... the prose is fantastic.

That's about all the time I have to write about, but here's what else I've read since my last update, and I'd be happy to discuss any of them with you and give you my opinions!

Alice Have I Been by Melanie Benjamin
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (yes, again)
The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha (based on the blog 1000awesomethings.com which is pure gold)
Dancing for Degas by Kathryn Wagner
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
His Excellency George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis
I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass (I'm reading her first book right now and loving it so far! She's coming to the National Book Festival too!)
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (good God, do I love Faulkner!)
The Red Tent by Anita Diament (better than I thought it would be.. I really liked it actually!)
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (yes, this is a children's book.. but Paterson is coming to the National Book Festival and she's the new National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.. I couldn't resist! Jacob Have I Loved, here I come!)
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (yes, again. But I went to see Hamlet while there was a production at the Folger, and it made me want to read it again!)
Push by Sapphire (whooo... gird your loins before you read this one)
The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman (what happens when imaginary friends get out of hand..)
The Bad Beginning and The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket (I found myself missing Snicket's wit.. so I had to do it! :) )

So, on a sort of side note, I've been considering taking on the challenge to read all of the past National Book Award for Fiction winners.. which is about 60 books. But I've read about 7 of them already, and I think I'd spread it out over a few years. Thoughts?

Keep Reading (and sharing what you're reading!!)
Stephanie

Chris Cleave's "Little Bee"

"I could not stop talking because now I had started my story, it

wanted to be finished. We cannot choose where to start and stop.

Our stories are the tellers of us."

Chris Cleave

Little Bee

If you know me, you probably know my love for all things related to Africa. In college, I originally had no intention of making Africana Studies one of my majors, but I fell in love with the subject and haven't looked back since. There is just something about Africa that grips me. So it should come as no surprise that when I saw Chris Cleave's Little Bee in the bookstore, I had to have it. And although it took me about a month to finally get it from the library, when I did, I absolutely devoured it. here's the synopsis without giving too much away--a young girl from Nigeria (who has christened herself "Little Bee") is on the run from a group of rebels because she witnessed them killing many people in her village. She ends up in England in a detention center and is mistakenly released with no papers to prove her citizenship either way. The only contact in England that she has is a British couple she met while they were vacationing in Nigeria. The circumstances under which they met are extraordinary and life-altering and guide the story. There were several times where I found myself with my mouth wide open and my hand to my chest in shock. Even though I know full well that things like this happen every day, the way Chris Cleave tells the story makes it more real. Both Little Bee and Sarah, the British woman that Little Bee meets on the beach, are able to tell their sides of the story through alternating chapters. Cleave makes you care about the characters so much, even though Sarah seems a little high maintenance and sometimes I just wanted to slap her.

There were two things that I really appreciated about the book and I think that they were the reasons that I felt so moved by it. Little Bee's story is obviously the more devastating as you can imagine, and throughout her telling it (which she does somewhat reluctantly), she talks about how she would have to change the telling of the story if she were telling it to the girls in Nigeria. Little Bee has prided herself on perfecting "the Queen's English" and thus tells the story that way even though she feels that there is something lost in the language that could be captured better in her native tongue. But I think that this is an important aspect of the story--Little Bee is breaking through the barrier of language and of culture to tell the story to the people she wants to understand--who she needs to understand. And I think that there is a certain beautiful nakedness in that and a certain sadness too--through this conscious action of almost translating her story, Little Bee acknowledges that the people that she knows are reading her story are reading it from a completely different perspective than the people form her homeland. She opens her story wishing she could be a British pound because it has power and influence that she will never have as a Nigerian woman. It is powerful in making the reader understand the unnecessary divide that exists between the developing world and our world--while there may be differences in culture, there are not differences in how we bleed and how we feel and how we want to better ourselves. The relationship between Little Bee and Sarah solidifies and strengthens this notion and becomes something to be pondered.

The other thing that kept me enraptured was in the fact that it made me think. Not in just a "whodunit" kind of way, but in a "what would I do" kind of way. There are a lot of moral issues that arise in the book, and I don't want to give anything away, but it's something that makes you think about yourself as a person and as a citizen of the world and what our responsibility is in that world.

This is a wonderful book with some beautiful language, but is not necessarily a "light read" in that it's not happy go lucky all the time. I would highly recommend Little Bee if you need something to start out your spring/summer reading fix. This may be a good pick for those of you who liked The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb, or Fortunate Son by Walter Mosely.

If you've read this already, tell me what you thought--and if you decide to read it, I'd like to hear what you think!

On a side note, yay for 12 followers! :)

Next on the pile: The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Keep reading,
Stephanie

The Importance of Re-Reading

"We need to learn not simply to read books but to allow ourselves to be read by them"

-Mark Edmundson

Why Read?

I find that I like to revisit the past and I really have a thing for nostalgia (if you’re an ADPi, think “Remember Whens”). This extends to a lot of aspects of my life, but especially when it comes to books. I put a lot of stock in re-reading and there are quite a few books that show up on my lists more than once. There are probably people out there who don’t understand why anyone would want to read something in which they already know the plot and ending, but those people don’t understand the point of reading. Reading and learning are the things that help us grow and better understand ourselves as individuals and in relation to the wider world. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: when we read, there is something, however small, that changes the person we were before the reading. Thus, it is in re-reading that we can re-discover that person—the core of ourselves—and better understand who we were, who we are, and who we want to become. Think about the first time you ever read The Catcher in the Rye and how you felt about Holden’s “phonies” and that wonderful image that inspired Salinger’s title. Or the light across the lake in The Great Gatsby. Or Kurtz’s “The horror! The horror!” in Heart of Darkness. When you read these, you were probably 16 (if you’ve read them at all). Think about how differently you looked at the world when you were a teenager—and that makes all the difference in re-reading.

In just this past week, I have been inundated with a strong sense of the nostalgia that sometimes takes a stranglehold on my life. Due to my inability to make it to the library for new books, I started re-reading the Harry Potter series (and having just finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, am feeling re-devastated due to the events in the last half of the book) and I went to Richmond, VA to see Wicked for the 10th time (and proud of it!) so I thought it might be fun to write about books that I’ve enjoyed re-reading, books I want to re-read, and recommend books that you may have not read since high school, but might want to pick up again. So here goes in no order:

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: Esther Greenwood is not your average teenager in Plath’s only novel. Rather, she sees through the materialism that grabs her fellow teenage girls, and wants more, but unfortunately the world doesn’t want to give her more. The devastation of this causes her to attempt suicide (like Plath) which lands her in a mental institution. A beautiful but heartbreaking story of growing up and finding yourself, it is a wonderful re-read, and a necessary read if you haven’t read it before! I read this when I was 15, thinking I was cool, but when I re-read it when I was 21, I found just how little I knew when I was 15.

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner: I love Faulkner. I don’t know why, but I just get him. This is a hard one to get through because it’s not linear and part of it is told by a boy who is mentally handicapped, but it is a work of genius. The plot (when you can find one) follows the Compson family—boys obsessed with their sister Caddy (in different ways), the upholding of family honor, and what family means. I would recommend reading this with someone else so that you can discuss it--I read it with a class in college, and learned so much from the discussions!
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum—Well, if you know me at all, you know my love for Oz. When I was in 8th grade, I discovered the wonderful world that Baum created, and was delighted to find that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was only the first of 13 Oz books originally penned by Baum (there are more, but they are done by different authors). My love affair with Oz began with the movie (as I feel is how most people are aware of the book now) and was only broadened by the books which are written for children, but are smart and stimulating enough for adults. I re-read this during my junior year of college when I got back from studying abroad, and it helped get me through the semester with its magic and my memories of days spent in Oz.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: I thought I would hate this book. All I knew about it was that it was about a pedophile who kidnaps a young girl and takes her as his lover. Sounds creepy, right? Okay.. yes… some of the descriptions made me want to look away, but Lolita is about more than Humbert Humbert’s love for “nymphets,” it is a story of America, obsession, and words. The language is beautiful (I was often compelled to read out loud) and it is amazing how you view Humbert and Lolita in the beginning and how it may (or may not) change in the end. A true American novel, it is one that you should definitely read at some point.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac: I feel like I’ve mentioned Kerouac in every blog entry I’ve had, but that’s only because he is amazing. Originally written on a long scroll in a typewriter, Kerouac’s most famous novel is one that is often seen as rebellious and “hippie,” but reading between the lines shows a softer side to Kerouac’s madness. Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty take five road trips across the country, looking for something they can’t quite put a name to. Written in a kind of laid-back way, many think that Kerouac was nothing but a drug addict or alcoholic, but this work captures the American spirit of the 1950s and 1960s. I love re-reading this, because I find something new every time, and this is one of those books that makes me look at the world in a different way and it always inspires me to take a road trip.

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien: I had to read this in high school, but seeing as many of you reading this are probably older than I am, I’m sure you didn’t read it in high school or college. O’Brien’s story of Vietnam is a truly amazing act of storytelling. Told through stories of himself and the men in his platoon in Vietnam, you get a sense of war, love, death, greed, and life in this beautifully written book. His characters are so human and so real that it truly makes me cry every time I pick it up. O’Brien really was in Vietnam, and while this isn’t a memoir, it certainly feels that way. O’Brien came to speak at Wittenberg my freshman year (and autographed my book!) and then I saw him again at the National Book Festival in September, and he is a wonderful speaker and amazing writer.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy: I have only read this once, but it is one I'm looking at re-reading soon. The Road is the story of a man and his son and their survival after the apocalypse and their encounters with the others who have survived. I loved this book because of the relationship of the father and son and their desperate will to survive. This will forces them to go south for the winter and the book chronicles their journey.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens: I love Charles Dickens. Maybe it’s because I associate it with my time in England, because the professor who I read him with was brilliant, or because he is a straight-up genius, but nonetheless, I love him, and Oliver Twist is my favorite of his. I have a thing for books about kids who are different, and Oliver certainly fits the bill. The rousing tale of life in 19th century England amongst the lowest people in society was one that Dickens wrote in attempts to raise awareness of the mistreatment of orphans.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: When I first read this, I didn’t really get it. That may have been because I considered it a “boy” book, with its adventures and male protagonist, but upon re-reading, I found out how much I loved Huck Finn and his attitude. Personally, Huck Finn taught me to question society and to look for adventure in life and his brave pre-road road trip helped to inspire such authors as Jack Kerouac.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Yes. We have all read this. But if the only time you read it was in high school, please pick it up again. We all know what it’s about, and it’s no wonder that everyone has read it because it is an honest look at American racism, southern life, growing up, and understanding responsibility.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey: Nurse Ratched?! Talk about one of the most awesome characters in American fiction! Kesey’s novel about a ward in a mental institution in the 1960s is a direct protest against authority, American repression, and consumerism, I always find new ways of loving the characters and understanding them. If all you’ve seen is the movie, read the book. Kesey himself HATES the movie.

Obviously, it is never a good idea to constantly re-read, because then we would have nothing new, but there are certain books I try to read every three years or so. Are there books that you re-read again and again? Do you agree with me about re-reading? Have you found that your opinion of a book has completely changed in re-reading? Share with me... I'd love to hear about it!

After I finish Harry Potter, I've got Little Bee and Alice Have I Been on the nightstand, and I'm very excited about it! I've also been thinking of what I want to tackle this summer, and I think Leaves of Grass in its entirety might be my project! :)

Keep (re)reading,
Stephanie

Because why wouldn't you want to read a book about Woodstock?

"What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000!"

-Wavy Gravy

I feel like my life goes in cycles in which I obsess over things for as long as the ride lasts (take Lost for example. If you have talked to me in the past 2 months, you know about my Lost obsession. It's taken over my life.) and I feel like my reading habits are absolutely subject to this. When I was a kid, I LOVED series books--particularly Sweet Valley Twins and Babysitters Club--and my mom always tried to steer me away from them and make me branch out (probably so as not to become one of those girls who you see today who "reads" but only Twilight). There is nothing wrong with series books because they do have the wonderful potential to open your eyes to something else that you might enjoy. Series tend to be so engrossing and fulfilling that a person is probably more likely to understand why they like the series as opposed to trying to express why they like a certain book.

While this may be interesting, it's actually strayed a bit from the purpose of this post (shocking, I know). Recently, I've been in a non-fiction phase which is pretty rare for me, honestly. I don't know if I miss taking classes where reading non-fiction is required (like my Africana classes) or if I'm just becoming more and more aware of what I don't know, but more non-fiction books are catching my eye. The first book that I read this year was The Girls of Room 28: Friendship, Hope, and Survival in Theresienstadt by Hannelore Brenner. The book documents the lives of the girls who lived in Room 28 in this internment camp near Prague during Hitler's reign. Brenner focuses on a few girls using journal entries and interviews to get a sense of the hope, despair, and humanity that emanated from the women who were forced to act as a family toward each other in a time of utter tragedy. Brenner does a wonderful job of helping the reader understand the purpose of Theresienstadt (which was basically a cover--the Nazi's treated the Jews in this camp "well" so they could show them off to the world and prove that there was nothing wrong with Hitler's reign. In fact, they allowed the Jews in Theresienstadt to put on shows and go to school, thus helping the false image of "good treatment" be perpetuated.) However, as a reader who attaches to character more than plot, I found myself disappointed in Brenner's use of the women themselves--the organization of the book did not allow for me to remember vividly more than one girl. Although what she lacks in specific characterization, she makes up for in helping us to understand the humanity of the Holocaust--she does not paint these women as perfect or above greed or guile. Although they were in a terrible situation, these girls were still girls who did not always get along or like each other--so many different kinds of people were thrown together and it would be impossible to expect them all to get along. For me, the telling of this story was so that I felt more for the people in Theresienstadt because they were people not some idealized people. They were amazing and resilient, but they were still people. The women who were not sent to the death camps and survived the diseased conditions of the camp get together to this day (most of them now in their late 80's) and the fact that their story gets told is amazing and really opened my eyes to a different side of the Holocaust that does not always get pulled out. In reading The Girls of Room 28 I learned a lot about the Holocaust that I did not know, and to further my knowledge, when I finished the book, I visited the Holocaust Museum in DC and it really came to life more then. Which is to say, if you have not been to the Holocaust Museum, you should pay a visit. Put it on your bucket-list. It is one of the best museums I've ever been to, and every time I've been has really been a powerful visit.

After a book whose subject matter was a little depressing, I wanted to switch to something a little more light-hearted, and stumbled upon a new memoir about Woodstock written by Michael Lang called The Road to Woodstock. Lang was the man behind the organizing of the infamous 1969 music festival and uses interviews, photographs, and his own memory to recapture the planning and implementation of Woodstock. Although I have always been completely fascinated by Woodstock, I knew little about it besides the music, and there was so much more behind it than just the music. The way that Lang describes it (as many others have), makes Woodstock out to be a turning point for American culture and society as well as a completely religious experience. Lang relates his troubles with finding a place to actually have Woodstock, the weather and building issues, and some anecdotes about some of the performers including Janis Joplin and Sly and the Family Stone. Right after reading the book, I downloaded the Greatest Hits albums of The Band and Creedence Clearwater Revival and just played them on a loop for days because the ways that Lang describes the festival made you wish you had been there. Yes, of course, there were drugs and all that, but Woodstock seems to have been about a lot more than just that--it was about coming together to just be and appreciate music and feel part of something. I think the fact that 400,000 people trekked to Yasgur's farm to hear music and camp in the mud says something about the state of mind of the young people of America in 1969, and Lang gets into this aspect a lot in the book. It is definitely a great read both to increase your knowledge level, but also to get a cool perspective on what Woodstock really was.

I've got some other non-fiction books lined up, but I'm not sure what I'm reading next... too many choices!

As always, feel free to comment, become a follower, or ask questions! :)

I hope that your reading adventures are taking you fun places!
Stephanie

PS... To end on the subject of series reading, if you haven't read Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, do it. I know that they are for kids, but they are hilarious on an adult level and pretty smart! And since they are kid's books, they don't take long! It's always a good thing to read a children's book every once in a while! :)

My Top 10--Because I Love Lists...

For most people, the end of a year is usually a time to look back at where we were, where we are and where we're going. Oftentimes, our contemplations on a year compels us to make resolutions--vows to change what we saw in the past that we didn't like in ourselves. It's a very human quality, but one that I usually don't invest much energy in for a few reasons: 1) The fact that it's a "new year" doesn't ever really make me want to change something about myself. If I'm going to make a resolution, it's because I want to, not because there is a good starting point at January 1. 2) I try to look at myself and where I was/am/will be more often than just once a year so that I can try to better understand myself. 3) A year is too long, and with my terrible memory of things, it's hard for me to just randomly look back.

But, there is one thing that I do every year that replaces the resolution-making and the hoopla of looking back randomly at my year. Since the year 2000, I have kept handwritten lists of everything I've read (both for school and for fun) from January 1 to December 31, and every year, I look it over, tally up the number of books, fold it into it's well-worn creases and rubber band it in with the past years' lists. It's no secret that I believe that reading tells a lot about a person and that it helps to change us, even in the smallest ways, and so looking at a year's list helps be to better understand where I was and where I'm going. We choose the things that we read because it may be something that interests us or because we think it has something to teach us, and so looking at what we have read in a year can show us how we have grown or changed and it can help us to remember periods of our lives. I'm sure that not everyone makes this kind of correlation, but I can usually remember where I was when I was reading a book, too.

So, in looking at my list, I have compiled a "Top 10" list of things that I have read this year. This is not a list that is exclusively for things published in 2009, but comes from the list of things that I got around to reading this year... some as far back as 1920. Also, know that this list contains personal favorites of mine--that doesn't mean that they are necessarily high-brow quality, but rather that I enjoyed reading them and would recommend them to others. This kind of list is part of the reason that I started this blog in the first place--I love making lists, and I love books, so I guess it only goes to fit, huh? So here it is!

Stephanie's Top 10 Books of 2009:

1) The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski: This should come as no surprise to you if you and I have talked about books at all this year. This is not only the best book I've read all year but the best I've read in probably 5 years. The story is about a boy born mute who lives on a farm with his parents who raise dogs who through training gain a kind of human-list intelligence. The boy has to overcome his own disability and deal with family issues such as the death of his father and the replacement of his father with his uncle. Most of you know that I hate dogs and generally anything to do with them, so I was wary about this book. But honestly, it is beautiful. Not only is the prose wonderful and oftentimes breathtaking, but the story and plot itself is riveting (and actually mimics Hamlet a little if you catch it). It amazes me that this is Wroblewski's first novel, and I cannot wait to see what else he writes. It's a bit longer (something like 500 pages) but I could not put it down and finished it quickly. (Also, just some trivia, I heard that Oprah is making a movie out of this soon...and I feel like Tom Hanks is in on it too, so that could be interesting).

2) The Help by Kathryn Stockett: Again, this should be no surprise. This is a story about the 1960s in Mississippi that centers around 3 characters--2 black maids and a privaleged white girl who wants to write about their lives. The book is separated into chapters by each character's point of view, and through them, you learn about black life in the deep south at the time of the Civil Rights struggle for equality. The black women are hired to raise these white babies and then when the babies are older, they are supposed to scorn these women. The story is not just about civil rights but also about family, memory, and community. There are also characters that you love to hate, and it is quite well written. Another book that is longer, but will be one that you stay up at night to finish.

3)The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen: This is a pleasant and unexpected surprise to the list, but a great one. One of my roommates got this book for me for my birthday in December, and it ended up being the last book that I read in 2009. I tend to love books that are about kids who are different, and T.S. is certainly different. He is a 12 year old genius cartographer from no-where Montana whose work is sent to the Smithsonian for a fellowship without him knowing (and the Smithsonian doesn't know that T.S. is only 12). When he finds out that he got the fellowship, he "hobos" on a train from Montana to DC and his journey is really fascinating. Not only is the plot good, but the format of the book is really what makes it worth it--the novel is supplemented with maps and drawings on each page which help tell the story and get into T.S.'s head. I thought that these maps would be too distracting, but they are so well done that they truly add to the book. The only thing that I didn't like was the ending--I thought that Larsen could have developed it more, but it is only his first novel, and I think that the rest of the book made up for it.

4) Hold Love Strong by Matthew Aaron Goodman: This was the first book that I read after I graduated in May, and because of that, I knew I was going to have a good summer of reading. Hold Love Strong follows a boy names Abraham who is born to a teenaged, impoverished mother in the projects of New York. Abraham can see what is wrong with his life but because of the vicious cycle of poverty and the existence of the projects finds little hope in getting out. His story is really tragic, but can definitely make you appreciate your own life and get a new perspective on hope and possibility. It really does break your heart because his hopes are so often dashed, so if you read it be prepared--it's not really a heartwarmer.

5) My Life in France by Julia Child: I know that it's kind of cliche that I read this book this year--but I really enjoyed Julie and Julia and frankly just wanted to know more about this fascinating woman. This book chronicles Julia's love affair with France and all things French. You really get a sense of who Julia Child was through her own words and her life is just so full and rich that reading this book is like licking the frosting off of a spoon. It's very accessible and she really shows herself as a human rather than the epic figure that she is made out to be. For a nice, smooth read that really makes you want to go to France (or anywhere, really) and eat and just enjoy life, this is a good pick. (Also see my post on this book for more info).

6) Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela: This has been on my to-read list for a really long time, and with the movie Invictus coming out, I thought that this winter was the perfect time to read it (well, that and I was missing reading stuff about Africa) and it certainly was. Nelson Mandela is truly an amazing human being who went through 30 years of wrongful imprisonment on Robben Island for standing up for what he believed is right. What I really loved about Mandela was that he understands what he did right, but he also understands his shortcomings, making his life story accessible and triumphant. The nice thing about this is that you don’t have to know a whole lot about the struggle against apartheid in South Africa to understand it, although if you do, it does make it more meaningful I think. This is another long book that did take me a while, but it was worth it for a true story about pride, truth, and overcoming adversity.

7) Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving: I went to see John Irving speak at the National Book Festival, and he said that he writes the last sentence of his novels before the first one. I think this is a really cool idea, and it made me want to read more of him for some reason. I read The World According to Garp a while ago, and I liked it, but I read Twisted River and loved it. I feel like some Irving novels are a little too dense, but not so in this case. The story follows a father and son on the run from a sheriff after the son accidentally kills someone. The relationship between the father and son and the best friend of the father is complicated and beautiful and Irving does a great job of trying to capture family dynamics, endurance, and the harm of secrets. I will say that you should read this book when you have the time to sit and read so that everything can really sink in.

8)The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff: I know practically nothing about the Mormons or Brigham Young, so I don’t know how historically accurate this book is, but I think that Ebershoff did his research. The book tells two stories of polygamy—the first is about Brigham Young’s actual nineteenth wife Ann Eliza Young and the son of a woman who is in a polygamous marriage the husband of which is found dead. This book fulfills a lot of things that people look for in books—suspense, mystery, history, and intrigue. The story is really interesting in how the stories of Ann Eliza and the young man intertwine and resolve in the end. The stories kept me reading and wanting to know more not only about the characters but about the true history behind Brigham Young and Mormon life in Utah.

9)The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd: I know I’m about 4 years behind everyone on this, but I loved this book. If you don’t know, the story is about a girl who accidentally shot her mother when she was just a baby and has had to grow up with that knowledge and with her father who obviously resents her for it. She runs away to find out about her mother and finds a group of women who take her in and help her to better understand herself and the world around her. The story chronicles the tragedy, hope, beauty, and sorrow that comes with growing up and trying to understand the world.

10) On the Road by Jack Kerouac and Why Kerouac Matters by John Leland: So, this is kind of cheating, but it’s my list, my rules. I read On the Road for my class on the Beat Generation this past year and loved it just as much if not more than the first time I read it. The jazzy, crazy, beautiful story of the ultimate road trip can be looked at in so many ways, but reading Why Kerouac Matters really puts it in perspective. Leland delves into specific scenes and themes in On the Road and pulls out Kerouac’s brilliance that might allude you if you don’t have a chance to read it for a class or discuss it with others. I loved this book and even if you aren’t an English major and enjoy literary criticism, Leland is able to put what could be difficult into laymans terms.

Do you agree? Disagree? Want to tell me the best book you read this year? Make sure to comment

Here’s a list of everything that I’ve read this year in chronological order. Feel free to ask me about any of the things I’ve read! Honorable mentions go to the starred ones!
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
Home by Marilynne Robinson
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
*King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild
Minor Characters by Joyce Glassman
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathon Safran Foer
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
*Once Again to Zelda by Marlene Wagman-Geller
Surviving in Biafra by Alfred ObioraUzokwe
Respectability and Resistance by David Goodhew
How to Live by Henry Alford
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Gone With the Twilight by Don Mattera
*The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Blame Me on History by Bloke Modisane
Machete Season by Jean Hatzfeld
Darfur Diaries by Jen Marlowe
Why Kerouac Matters by John Leland
A Little Bit Wicked by Kristin Chenoweth
Hold Love Strong by Matthew Aaron Goodman
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
My Judy Garland Life by Susie Boyt
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Africa by Richard Dowden
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson
Light in August by William Faulkner
*Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
*Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathon Safran Foer
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
The Four Corners of the Sky by Michael Malone
The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell
*Other People’s Love Letters ed. by Bill Shapiro
*Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
A Country Called Home by Kim Barnes
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
*Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
What Else But Home by Michael Rosen
My Life in France by Julia Child
Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving
*Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
*Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen

I hope that this post finds you enjoying your new year, reading wonderful books, and adhering to your resolutions!

Happy Reading,
Stephanie

An Ode to Grocery Shopping and Julia Child

About every two weeks, invariably on a Sunday morning, I make the trek to the grocery store, with cart in tow. If you have ever lived with me, or know me pretty well, then you know that I love grocery shopping more than almost anything. In fact, I completely revel in it. Every two weeks, I get to go through the number of carefully clipped coupons that I store in a worn envelope, plan what I'll be eating for two weeks so I can make a list of what I need, and take a relaxing Sunday morning walk with my cart to 15 minutes to the grocery store. I think that my love for grocery shopping was begun when I was little and my mom took all of us to the store, where we invariably fought over who would get to stand at the end of the car (when Mom would let us). The grocery store always unleashed wonderful possibilities! There were always free cookies at the bakery, a free slice of hard salami at the deli, and we would always leave with animal crackers that came in the red box that looked like a circus truck. Not only that, but we would leave with the raw ingredients for what would turn into wonderful meals around the table. How could I not love it?

When I went to college and lived without a meal plan my senior year, that love persisted and grew. I loved the thrill of looking up sales, planning meals for the week, and the challenge to maintain some semblance of a budget. Not only that, but I think that is when I began to see grocery stores as the great human equalizer and the proof that there is humanity out there somewhere. Think about it--everyone has to go grocery shopping, no matter where you live or what you look like or who you are. There are no rules--no dress code, no membership requirements, no time limit. The second you enter any grocery store, all you bring with you is yourself and your list, and no one can stop you. And, you can be assured that wherever you live, a grocery store will be there, and even though it isn't quite the same as your childhood store, you smell that meaty, vegetably, cakey, yeasty, beautiful air that fills grocery stores, and comfort arrives. Usually, too, you can get around pretty easily too, as most stores are set up to be arranged about the same. What better feeling than being in a place surrounded by possibility--the possibility of meals, gatherings, experiments. And I always leave with this sense of calm and accomplishment that usually stays with me all day--even when I'm crossing the street with my cart and all of my produce falls out (of course it wouldn't be something in a box). But see, a nice couple helped me pick it all off the street, and my grocery-shopping high stayed with me for the next few hours.

In fact, one of my favorite days of the year is the day before Thanksgiving. My mom goes to the grocery store early around 6:00AM to beat the crowd to get everything she needs for a long weekend of feeding us. Usually, there are some people with the same idea, but not many, and the people who are there are of the same mindset, it always seems. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I always have this sense of peace around that time. Grocery stores further that. People don't have to say anything to you, but the congenial nod or slight smile of someone who reaches for the same thing I am always makes me feel connected in some way. I very rarely meet an angry person in the grocery store--maybe it's because I am always so relaxed and happy that I don't realize it, but I find people more apt to say hello. I think I wrote a poem once about the day before Thanksgiving--it's awful and I wrote it for a class, but still--proof of my love for grocery shopping and the day before Thanksgiving.

The thing is, though, that I'm not a really a varied shopper--especially here. I seem to buy the same things every two weeks because I know I can afford them and I know that they'll taste good. I think that other people do this as well, and part of me loves it because I love routine. But I so want to learn to cook. Unfortunately, when you cook for one, you are usually stuck with a ton of leftovers. I think that this longing for coking has bolstered by interest in Julia Child, thus leading me to read My Life in France, which I have almost finished. Over this past week, I have devoured Child's book and loved every moment--I found myself smiling like a fool on the Metro until I noticed a woman staring at me, probably thinking that I was one of those crazies you find so often on the Metro. But really, you can't help but smile and find grocery-store-type solace in My Life in France. It is everything we look for when we pick up a book: adventures in far off places (obviously France, but also Germany and Norway), a purpose (discovering her love of cooking and everything French and wanting to educate others about it), words that you can really sink into and trust (her writing, with the help of Alex Prud'homme, is home and honest--she doesn't bullshit, but tells it like it is adding humor and tenderness), and a love story (Julia and Paul are so perfect for each other, it almost seems unreal). The book is easy to read and hilarious, as you can imagine if you've ever seen an episode of The French Chef. But beyond all that, Julia Child's story is heartening--here is a woman who didn't figure out what she really wanted to do with her life until her late 30's, but immersed herself in French cooking and loved her life. She soldiered on and even though her life was not perfect, she took it by the horns and gave it a what for. And for that, she is admirable.

Over the summer, I read Julie Powell's book Julie and Julia which I also adored for its wit and hilarity, and if you read My Life in France I recommend reading Powell's memoir afterwards, and possibly seeing the movie Julie and Julia which I enjoyed (and Meryl Streep is genius. But what's new?). If you're looking for an easy, engaging read, My Life in France is the one for you.

Do you agree with me on grocery shopping? Am I crazy? Maybe so, but it gives me peace of mind. Next time you head to the grocery store, think about it. Leave a comment telling me about your own grocery feelings. :)

Next on the pile: Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving

As Julia would say: Bon Appetit!

"What Else But Home" and Other Readings

My mom is usually great at picking out wonderful books for me. Seeing as she works in the library in technical services and sees most of what is new that gets put on the shelves, and she knows me pretty well, she is usually able to come up with some wonderful book that was not otherwise on my radar. I thought that this would be the case with the latest of her suggestions What Else But Home by Michael Rosen. Everything considered, I should have loved it--the book is about a group of inner-city boys living in the New York projects who are taken in by the author and his family as a kind of adopted family. I am a sucker for stories where the underprivileged are given a chance at a decent life, and through trials and tribulations, they are able to live the life that they deserve, so at first glance, I expected to love What Else But Home, but I couldn't stand it. First of all, I didn't find Rosen to be that great of a writer--there were a ton of grammatical errors in the book and his prose is sometimes hard to follow. It makes for distracted reading when every few pages, you have to re-read a sentence numerous times in order to understand what it says (and it's maddening when you still can't understand what he is trying to say). The concept is great--Rosen and his family are very wealthy, living in a penthouse in Manhattan. A park separates their lavish home from the projects, and the park is where the family meets a group of boys who live in the projects over a game of baseball, a theme which is constant throughout the book. For reasons unknown really except for the fact that the boys seem to take a liking to Rosen's oldest son, the family incorporates these boys into their lives and eventually some of them come to live with them. I'm not going to get all political or philosophical on my own beliefs, but I really did have a problem with Rosen's methods. I also had an issue in connecting with the book at all. I wish that I had gotten some idea of why the seven boys from the projects were great people or why Rosen took such a liking to them and invested a ton of money in their futures (which some of them took advantage of, but not all), but the image that I kept getting from the writing was that these were just seven boys who were basically identified by their race (Black and Latino) and were becoming part of the family for that reason alone, really. I don't want to say that what Rosen and his family did was not extraordinary--not many people would take in seven boys whom they had never met into their home, feed them, clothe them, send them to school, and help them find jobs. It is really an amazing thing that they did. But I feel like the book approaches the whole experience from a kind of experimental point of view rather than a story of humanity. And in all honesty, what I did like about the book was the way that Rosen was very up front with these boys were human, and they weren't all responsive to help and that they were not perfect, and that he himself was not perfect. While that did add an element of human-ness to the book, I found it overall disappointing. I personally would not recommend it, although it certainly made me think about my own moral beliefs and instincts.

If you are like me and are a sucker for feel-good books about the ways that people help others, here are some other books to consider:
-The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers--This is the book that the movie is based on, and it is really a story of triumph and a good read.
-Amazing Grace by Jonathon Kozol--I think that Kozol is amazing and his way of studying the life of people living in the projects is spectacular. I have put this on many a booklist, and would love for someone to read it!

In other news, my DC book club has just chosen Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway for our next meeting. Although it was not my vote, I do love Mrs. Dalloway (I read it twice last year alone because I wrote my English symposium paper on it), and I'm excited to read it again. I feel like fall is a great time for Virginia Woolf. I've also been absorbed into another smaller book club with one of my roommates, and I suggested reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett for next month! Some of you should know that as what I hailed to be the best book I read all summer, and I think some of you would agree! I'm so excited to be able to read it with other people and discuss it!

Last weekend, at the National Gallery of Art (where I work part-time), Toni Morrison came to read for the opening of the new exhibition of Robert Bergman's photographs (which I'm really excited to see!). Morrison wrote the introduction for Bergman's book called A Kind of Rapture, and it's an essay called The Fisherwoman. I was not able to go see her live, but did see the video they showed staff, and was bowled away by the story and her reading of it. It was truly wonderful, and was able to capture the feeling that I get when looking at a Robert Frank photograph. I will post it on here when they release the video, because it is something to hear. It really made me want to read Sula again.

The fall is really starting to settle in here--I barely see the light of day because it gets dark so early, which has always made me feel cozy for some reason. I'm looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving and being able to listen to Christmas music without feeling silly!

I hope that your readings are more successful than my last one! More to come soon!

Next on the pile: My Life in France by Julia Child