Four New Books (How's That For A Title?)

"People always think that happiness is a faraway thing, something complicated and hard to get. Yet, what little things can make it up; a place of shelter when it rains-a cup of strong hot coffee when you're blue; for a man, a cigarette for contentment; a book to read when you're alone-just to be with someone you love. Those things make happiness."

-A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith

It's been a while since I posted here and I really only just realized it the other day when someone asked me what I was reading. You know those months where you just feel like time is whizzing by without your permission and then all of a sudden you wake up and it's the end of March? That was how this month was. And I will say that I did a little bit of reading, so there are things to update you on.

In my last post, it should have been clear that I was over winter. If it's possible, I'm even more over it now. Spring continues to taunt us here in DC, though it's looking like Opening Day (go Nats!) is going to be a beautiful one, so I'm thankful that I'll be continuing my three-day weekend with some baseball and beers. But still, spring hasn't completely shown her face yet, so I still don't have that feeling like in You've Got Mail when Meg Ryan finds out it's Tom Hanks while they're in a beautiful garden, which is what spring sometimes feels like to me. Yes.. you know what I'm talking about--where you're so full of it all that you feel it in the back of your throat.

So to tide me over, I've been doing some reading and thought I'd share it with you from earlier to later in the month:

-Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors by Andrew Shaffer: I love random facts and I love writers, so this was a perfect fit for me. If you were ever an English major or ever thought about being an English major or a writer, this is a really fun book that you'll enjoy. Shaffer takes you in time through the badasses of literature from the Marquis de Sade through James Frey focusing on those authors who drank, smoked, did drugs, shot people, or generally incited mayhem in society in their day. Not only are the stories great (I mean, you have to love Hemingway), but Shaffer has a really raw, real way of writing. He blows through the pretty words and tells you the story of the authors in a shockingly small number of words. It's quite amazing what he manages to get across in each chapter. It's helpful when you already have a general idea of who the people are and what they wrote, but it's certainly not necessary and it doesn't make the ride any less fun. If you like books about books or flaunting your literary knowledge about, this is the book for you.

-A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle: I can already hear your intake of breath when I tell you that I had never read A Wrinkle in Time before. Somehow it slipped through the cracks of my childhood, most likely because it was "science fiction" and I was way too good for that (I've been a snob for a long time, you know). Anyway, I was looking at one of the blogs I like and there was a link to a list of the 50 best sci-fi books ever. Of course, I sent it to my science fiction loving boyfriend and since it's been a while since we read something together and neither one of us had read it, we decided it would be fun to read together. Since it's technically a children's book, it didn't take us very long (I read a paper copy and he listened to it so we didn't finish at quite the same time but close). If I was 10 again, I probably would have loved it--Meg and I would have been kindred spirits in a way, I think. But since I'm 26 (oh, god) I think it was a little harder for me to enjoy. I liked the characters (for the most part, though I wanted to smack Charles Wallace around a little bit) and the whole idea of a "wrinkle in time" was wonderful and I even loved the jab at Communism that was quite relevant for its time, but I must say I didn't love it and I'm not even sure I can put a finger on why (and after sending a text to Traber to see if it was okay if I told my very small reader-base that we read this together that he read it, he said: "For the record, did not love it"). But actually, I'm glad we read it because it was fun to talk about, especially with him because we saw different things, him being more science-minded, and me being more literary-minded. It was fun and I bet that you'd love a good re-read of it if you read it as a kid.

-The Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig: For some reason, my reading list this year has been full of stories of young boys and the thing that  makes them grow up (see This is How You Lose Her and Canada) and I'm kind of loving it. It's not usually a tandem I go on (though this is an unplanned tandem), but I'll run with it, especially if it's taking me to books like The Bartender's Tale which I very simply loved. And for so many reasons. The writing is flush with simple beauty as Doig tells the story of Rusty who grew up for the first six years of his life with his aunt and horrible cousins only seeing his father Tom once a year for a vacation. When Rusty turned six, his father came and picked him up and took him to live with him in Montana where he owned a bar and where he was "...the greatest bartender that ever lived." Rusty grows up admiring his father and learning all about the rough life in Montana as he gets to listen in on the life in the bar from a hidden vent that he can hear through. Rusty's twelfth year is a memorable one as Rusty becomes inseparable friends with Zoe who is new to town, he finds a love of theater as he helps a wealthy woman in the community prepare for a role in a Wilde play, and a new complication to life shows up in the form of a teenage girl who claims to be Rusty's father's daughter. One of the greater characters in the book is Del who comes to Tom with the plea to help him capture an oral history of a military base where Tom used to bartend. The detail-without-going-into-detail that Doig executes in this storyline is amazing. Oral history has been a fascination of mine for a while (I even took a class in grad school about it) and it's so finely interwoven into the story that you almost don't realize that you're learning something. It's a story of growing up to the point of not being able to fall back into childhood anymore and of learning who you can become as a person even at a young age. I loved it and if you loved Canada or The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, I recommend you grab this one too.

-Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth: Though this book was published a while ago, it's gaining recent recognition as it is one of the volumes by Jennifer Worth that is inspiring the (wonderful) series on PBS by the same name. I love the PBS show and can't wait for it to come back at the end of the month, and I felt similarly about the book. You have to get over the fact that Worth is writing literary nonfiction and that she's embellishing on some of the parts of the story that she doesn't know first-hand, but once you do, it's a wonderful and heartwrenching read.  Worth was a nurse working at Nonnatus House in East End of London during the 1950s where she saw all kinds of poverty, abuse, love, family, and despair going on around her.The book is split into three parts which each have their own story lines: one is about children who grew up in the workhouse and somehow made it out alive which is fascinating and brings to light some of the atrocities that the poor suffered in the early 1900s in England, the second part is about Sister Monica Joan who is losing her memory with her age and is accused of stealing jewels and must go on trial, and the third part is about Jennifer's relationship with an ill man with whom she shares tea after hours and who tells her his stories of the war and of his life. Though a very uplifting read, it does shove the reality of the slums at you and it's well done. Worth's experiences are fascinating and her storytelling is very fluid and relatable. If you love the show, pick up the book--you'll recognize some of the storylines and it's fun.

Unfortunately, I haven't been doing as much reading as I'd like to be, but I'm hoping that life will slow down a little bit in the coming weeks and I'll have a chance to catch up. I'm halfway through The Round House by Louise Erdrich right now and I'm basically obsessed with it and am going to be picking it up right after I post this. Also, thanks to HarperCollins for sending me Call the Midwife and

Also, on a totally personal note, I'm getting my braces off in two weeks from today and I couldn't be more excited! I'm sure that I'll bombard you with before and after pictures, so prepare yourselves.

I'm looking forward to a relatively quiet April as we gear up for a very busy May through August and I hope that spring comes your way soon!

Keep reading,
Stephanie

Winter Doldrums? Here's Your Literary Prescription.

"Has that happened to you yet in your life? You hear a word forever, then all of a sudden it makes a whole different sense? That happens to me all the time."

-Canada

By Richard Ford

Winter-after-New-Years always sucks.

You've worn all your cute winter things too much already, you can't afford to buy new clothes, you've worn your tights so much that they are starting to wear thin, the flu is rampant (and you ride public transportation and have all of a sudden become very paranoid), and all you want to do is either go on vacation or lay around in bed all day and eat.

Or maybe that's just me.

But thankfully, there are few more captivating things to bring one out of the winter funk than books. I usually wait until I've read about three new books to update, but I was so excited upon finishing my last one that I didn't want to wait--I wanted it fresh and vivid in my head. But let's start from earlier in the month and work our way forwards.

Here's what's been getting me through the winter doldrums:

-The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling: I walked into the library a few weeks ago and this book basically greeted me at the door. I felt that it was fate. I couldn't believe the library even had it considering it's J.K. Rowling and is pretty new, but then again, this is certainly not Harry Potter. Rowling's narrative centers on a small, fictional town in England called Pagford which is basically run by the town's elected council. Though the town is small, the council fills a large hole in life for many of the people. After one of the main council members Barry dies unexpectedly, there is a run on his seat with people clamoring to get onto the council. Though the plot makes its focal point the upcoming election and the race to the council seat, Rowling spends a lot of time on the character development of the varous people around Pagford, all of whom had some connection to the deceased Barry. Sometimes you wish that Rowling would just get on with the story and stop showing us so much about the characters, who are plentiful, but just when you want her to move on with the plot, she does. Rowling has shown us that she knows how to develop a character and make them real people through her Harry Potter books, and she goes even further here. The great thing is that there are lots of characters to hate and to sympathize with, which is a great mix for the kind of small-town political intrigue that arises when somehow mysterious posts from the "Ghost of Barry Fairbrother" keep showing up on the council's site. Though the world is certainly adult and the election is very adult, the troubled teenagers take up a large part of the focus as they try to cope with their horrible families, impoverished lives, falling in love, and trying to figure out who they are in the light of their parents.  Rowling does a great job of making us care about this small town and the people who reside in it, no matter how broken they are. My one major complaint was that I thought that some of the tie-ups of the story were rushed and a little too loose. But if you love character-focused books, this one is for you!

-Canada by Richard Ford: I love books that make me actually get up out of bed when I randomly wake up at 7:00AM on a Saturday morning just so that I can finish the last 20 pages that I couldn't finish the day before. And thus, I loved Canada. Seriously. I've been trying to think about how I wanted to write about this book and I don't think I've figured it out yet, so bare with me. I've been wanting to read this book since it came out, so when I got an email from HarperCollins about reviewing it, I jumped on it! The main character is Dell Parsons who, along with his twin sister, has grown up his whole life on military bases, moving around from place to place with a family that pretty much just simply functions. When Dell's father gets into some financial trouble and decides that the best way to get out of it is to find a bank to rob, which is just what Dell's parents do. After they are inevitably arrested and jailed, Berner finds her own way to cope with her disappointing childhood by leaving home, and Dell, as the good, rule-abiding boy that he is, heeds his mother's wishes and agrees to be smuggled across the Canadian border to live and work with a stranger who takes him in and puts him to work. And this is where it gets interesting. Dell's employer is a dandy-ish man with lots of secrets, and part of the fun of the story is finding them out, so I won't spoil it too much, but let's just say that his reasons for being in Canada are not particularly kosher. When Dell gets involved in some of the dealings in the small Canadian town, things go awry and Dell's young life will never be the same. One of the more interesting aspects of the book is Dell and Berner's relationship and how it is both affected and not by their parents' new criminality. The story itself is arresting, but what really pulled me in was the spare, yet magnificent prose. It really felt like Ford was telling you the story while sitting under a burningly blue, wide sky--it swallowed me up and held me prisoner until I finished it. I usually like to get through books to get on to the next, but I really took my time with this because I wanted to savor every word. This was the perfect book for a contemplative February. If you like William Faulkner, hell even if you somehow don't like Faulkner, I encourage you to pick it up.

Though Canada was a lovely distraction from winter, there are still several weeks to go, so I'm stock-piling on books to get me through. I just started the fun book Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors and am so far fascinated by the shocking lives of those who have so influenced our culture and society. I will be sure to update you on that one soon!

I hope that you are somehow avoiding the winter blues, whether it be with books, a vacation, parties, or however you prefer to spend your time.

Keep Reading, friends,
Stephanie

It's Raining and I Like Blogging, So Here We Are

"It is raining. I am tempted to write a poem. But I remember what it said on one rejection slip... After a heavy rainfall, poems entitled RAIN pour in from across the nation."

-The Journals of Sylvia Plath

It has been raining and dreary for five straight days now. Five. Days. Normally, I love a good rainy day--it gives you the excuse to be a little sleepier and to listen to sad songs. But five in a row is driving me completely mad. It's not helping that this week is one that just won't seem to end, but in order to maintain any semblance of sanity it really needs to. So today while gazing out my window at the cold, grey-ness, I decided that I had to do something tonight to at least make this week not a complete loss. So, I came home, made dinner, talked to one of my favorite people on the planet, changed into my favorite yoga pants, my old, ratty Wittenberg t-shirt, my old-man cardigan, and my favorite grey socks. I poured myself a beer and I sat down to write and fill you in on the past few weeks of reading. Take that, soggy weather!

There were two books that I neglected to completely review that I read in 2012, so I'll start with those and then move on to the three books I've read this year so far. If the beginning of this year is any indication of the awesome things in the world of books that are to float my way, then call me a happy girl.

Here's what I've read since my last post that was not a look back at my 25th year or my top list of books from 2012:

The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell: O'Donnell does a lot of things right in this book and one of them is the characters that she creates and almost forces you to root for. Marnie and Nelly lived in Glasgow with their eccentric, drug-addicted, often abusive parents. The book opens bluntly with the fact that Marnie and Nelly's parents are dead. Not only are they dead, but they are buried in the backyard by the two girls. The girls are used to fending for themselves, so they survive fine without their parents for a while and then they are taken in by the man living next door, Lennie, who's partner died leaving him alone with no one to care for and little to do. Lennie has several secrets of his own, and he makes room in his life and home for the dark and troubled Marnie and the young, innocent, extremely proper-speaking Nelly. When their estranged grandfather turns up looking for their mother, chaos begins and the story of their parents and what the girls have been going through slowly begins to unravel. The story is a little dark, but funny in places, and it's a very quick read with short chapters and plotlines that keep you wanting to read and find out more.  I would say that if you liked The Family Fang  by Kevin Wilson, you'd like this one!

An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth Percer: This book actually made my Top 10 of 2012, so I'll just re-post my review there here. Suffice it to say that I really loved this book and found it the perfect read for myself for where I am in my life. My review last week: " This was my last book of the year, and I adored it. It's actually one that HarperCollins sent me and I read it over Christmas. I had a stressful time getting out of DC for the holidays, and because of the fat that I was engrossed in this book, I didn't throw up on the plane on the way back! The story is about Naomi who grows up in the Boston area with a clinically depressed mother and a father who loves her and had a heart attack in front of her while touring Rose Kennedy's home. As she grows up, she is determined to become a doctor and puts all of her effort into it. Naomi's only childhood friend is Teddy whose family is devoutly Jewish and who disapproves of Naomi, but the two are in love--a kind of kid-love that most of us are familiar with, but also something deeper that stays with them even after Teddy moves away and eventually stops communicating with Naomi. As the years pass, Naomi throws herself more into school and tennis and she goes to Wellesley where events occur that lead her to the Shakespeare Society and to performing plays with the group. She makes good friends and stops focusing on school as much, and when her mother becomes ill, her life is completely changed. The major plot point is when Naomi's best friend is accused of cheating and her time at Wellesley goes a bit sour. I don't want to give anything away except to say that this book was the perfect book for me--it's about thinking you know who you are and who you're supposed to be and then taking the time to figure out that it's not that way at all. The story is not only about Naomi's time at school but also in understanding her troubled mother, the nature of friendship, and what is truly important. Naomi comes across as real person, not just a character, and I was sad to finish the book."

And on to 2013...

The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon: This short, quick book packs a punch. I will warn you right now: if you have a problem reading things that are not capitalized and that take a while to get used to the writing style, this may not be the book for you. Written completely in lowercase letters, it is told from the perspective of Mary who is the daughter of a poor farming family in 1830. The story is written by her own, newly literate hand. Mary's father sent her to work at the city's vicar's home as a housemaid and nurse to the vicar's ailing wife. Prior to her stay with the vicar and his family, Mary had never been anywhere but home, so the world that she is thrown into is new and scary and exciting. As Mary cares for the vicar's wife, she makes herself invaluable in the household, not only for the friendship that she kindles with the woman, but also in her liveliness and spunk. After the woman passes away, Mary is kept on by the vicar, who teaches her to read but with dire consequences. Mary continues to remind you that she is telling you the truth and that she's writing her story in her own hand, and the reason for those reminders becomes clear in the end. Mary is someone easy to sympathize with and whose telling of her own story is very effective and heartbreaking. I really liked this book and it made me gasp aloud at points (warranting strange looks on the metro) and once you get used to the writing style, its a good, engrossing read.

This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz: Junot Diaz doesn't necessarily need one more random person praising his genius, but he's gonna get one. I love him. I feel like I shouldn't love him, but I do. If you've read anything else by Diaz (if you haven't read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, please go get it now) you'll be familiar with his recurring character Yunior who we meet often in his short stories and in his collection Drown. This book is comprised of nine stories which can all stand well on their own, but work so seamlessly well together it's amazing. Yunior is a womanizer of the worst kind--one who thinks he'll never get caught and who doesn't understand the seriousness of what he's doing to someone he claims to love, yet all he really wants deep down beneath his machismo is to be loved. Each story focuses on a woman in Yunior's life--past lovers, a woman twice his age with whom he had an affair, his mother, his brother's girlfriends, and the true love of his life who he lost by looking everywhere for love and not finding it. The stories are infused with Yunior's home life and his stories of being an immigrant in America. Rafa, Yunior's brother, is diagnosed with cancer that eventually takes his life and becomes this crazy, determined, almost admirable character in a way. Diaz's writing is always straight-up raw with emotion and reality and it's amazing how close he hits to the bone. So good. Please read.

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver: As I literally just finished this book and then sat down with my computer to write, this is by far the book that's freshest in my head. When I started reading this about a week ago, I said to Traber, "Man, I just don't know if I'm going to like this Barbara Kingsolver book." To which he wisely said, "You always say that about Barbara Kingsolver books that you read and then you like them." Smart (and attentive!) man. I felt the same way about Kingsolver's Lacuna and The Poisonwood Bible at the beginnings--I wasn't sure if I was going to like them. It's always something about her characters... they're just not that likable in the beginning or something. I can't quite put my finger on it. Nevertheless. Flight Behavior is the story of a woman, Dellarobia, a high school educated housewife, living in an Appalachian town who, while on her way to a field to meet a man with whom she is considering having an affair, she comes upon thousands of monarch butterflies making their home right there in Tennessee. The sight of the butterflies stirs something in Dellarobia, steering her away from the affair and thrusting her headfirst into national fame and a life that she doesn't understand anymore. Married to a farmer (who is indebted to his parents) at a young age, Dellarobia has two wonderful kids whom she loves and one of whom is one of the greatest parts of the book. The world hears about this strange sighting of butterflies and begin knocking on Dellarobia's door to see them. Eventually, scientists come to find out why the butterflies have come to this field when they should be in Mexico or Canada and Dellarobia becomes enthralled and stimulated by the butterflies, and begins to help the scientists on their quest. The book deals a lot with global warming and the effects it has on things that we don't even realize, and although it's loud when it comes to that side of it, I never thought it was preachy.  There is a lot that happens in the book, but there were two big things that I took away from it. 1) Barbara Kingsolver must be a super-well-rounded person and tells an excellent story. Her books are always so well researched and always go on to teach me something I didn't know about something I never thought I would care about. 2) Dellarobia is on a quest of her own and doesn't know it until the butterflies smack her on her back basically. The story, while about the butterflies is really about Dellarobia's coming to terms with who she is, who she is forced to be, and who she wants to be regardless of where her circumstances have put her. If you liked The Help  or any other Kingsolver, I'd say pick this one up!

And that's where I am in my reading life as of about 30 minutes ago. And now the choice becomes what to read next. This is the pile of books next to my bed:

Sooo I have a big decision to make on what to read next. But that's half the fun!

Time for me to put on warm pajamas and go listen to this song on repeat like I've been doing since I got home and do some kind of sun dance and pray for just a little sunshine tomorrow.

How has your year in reading begun? I hope you've had a chance to read a ton of great things like I have! :)

Keep reading,
Stephanie

Stephanie's Top 10 of 2012

"One wanted, she thought, dipping her brush deliberately, to be on a level with ordinary experience, to feel simply that's a chair, that's a table, and yet at the same time, It's a miracle, it's an ecstasy."

-To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf

For the past three Januaries, I have sat down, taken a deep breath, and allowed myself to re-visit every lovely word I've read throughout the year prior. I love this, and I actually think that it's a really great exercise for a number of reasons--I get to remember books that might have been shoved into the back of my brain because of something as silly as the passage of time, I often can vividly remember what I was doing while reading a certain book (for instance, I bought The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown at Kramerbooks because I was waiting for Traber to get home from a trip he had just taken and I had started reading it at his apartment before I fell asleep because it had gotten late, or I remember reading Arcadia by Lauren Groff while flying to Indianapolis to see a friend get married and I don't even remember the plane taking off because I was so engrossed in the book) so in that way, it allows me another way to look back at the year and everything I've done. It also is cool to look at the patterns and personal trends I went through during the year--there was a short "post-semi-apocalyptic" phase, and of course, a Nora Ephron phase, and a "short and sweet" phase. Regardless, it's always fun for me to reminisce about my reading life and to also look ahead to all the fun things to come!

I have been keeping these yearly lists since I was 14 years old. Actually, all of my lists are on the same type of paper (which I'm running out of.. and I really don't know what to do about it. I may have to go on a paper hunt soon. I'm distressed.) and they all fit very nicely folded in an old, loose rubberband and sit in an old wooden cigar box throughout the year. I consult them pretty often--when I make lists for people, I usually take the last five years out and browse through to see if anything sparks a recommendation for that person. My first few years of lists are funny to pull out--I used to love gel pens (couldn't get enough of them.. you know what I'm talking about) so often the lists are written in different colors and in rather large print. Now, I only use black pen (I was told by my fourth grade teacher that blue pens look unprofessional and I've abhorred using them ever since), my handwriting is (to the dismay of those I write to, I'm sure) very small and loopy. And on the even more plus side, I've now got this blog to help me remember exactly what stood out to me about each book I read this year. I've tried to keep a reading journal before and it's never worked--but sharing it has given me motivation!

I know that I've already talked about my 25th year to the extreme, so I won't philosophize about 2012 too much except to say this: there are some amazing books out there and the fact that I come to that realization each year not only gives me hope but keeps me going.

In 2012, I read 52 books (two less than last year). Let me, as usual, give my caveats about my Top 10 lists: these are books that I have read and completed between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012. These books were not necessarily published in 2012 (though most of them were published within the last three years) and anything that I have reread this year is not eligible for the Top 10. At the end of the top list, you'll find the list of all the books I have read this year. Also, for the Top 10 books, I've linked to my original post about the book and listed the year it was published.

Without further ado:

Stephanie's Top 10 Books of 2012

 

10) Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer (2012): As I'm looking back at my list from this year, I'm realizing how few non-fiction books I've read, and it makes me sad. But I am very glad that I got to this one! Foer dives into the world of memory competitions--while writing about the competitions, he decides to enter himself and is mentored by a band of interesting characters who teach him the tricks of memorizing cards, names, numbers, and other things. Foer talks in depth about the idea of a Memory Palace (which actually keeps popping up in my daily life) and about how humans are really losing their ability to remember due to an overabundance of technology and tools to act as our memories for us. It's a really fascinating read and though the topic may sound dull, Foer is a wonderful writer and really pulls you in.

 

9) The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (2012): This was a book that I pretty much picked up because I liked the cover (yes, my mother taught me well.. thanks, mom!) and I was really drawn into it and it kind of freaked me out. The story follows a girl who is living in America when the Earth is randomly knocked a bit off its axis, making the days no longer 24 hours where there is a definite time for sunrise and sunset. Though this seems mild when you just passingly think about it, Walker delves deeply into all the things that would change not only on a global level, but also for a teenage girl who has her own problems. I really thought that Walker did a great job of also of showing the true nature behind the creation of a common enemy in the face of fear (in this case, the enemy is the people who want to continue to live their lives on "clock time" rather than on the time the earth rotates). Well written and extremely thought-provoking.

 

8) The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson (2011): I like a good, quirky, dark book and this one fits the bill. The story follows the Fang family--the parents are performance artists who use their life and their family, which includes Annie and Buster, or Child A and Child B to create art. The great thing about this book is that it combines two major themes: What is Art? and the idea that no matter what your parents do to you, there is this unexplanable pull that we have to them, good or bad. It's a really interesting story that, while darkly told, made me laugh out loud.

 

7) An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth Percer (2012): (I can't link to an old post for this book since I just read it and don't have a past post, so I'm linking you to the Amazon page for it.)  This was my last book of the year, and I adored it. It's actually one that HarperCollins sent me and I read it over Christmas. I had a stressful time getting out of DC for the holidays, and because of the fat that I was engrossed in this book, I didn't throw up on the plane on the way back! The story is about Naomi who grows up in the Boston area with a clinically depressed mother and a father who loves her and had a heart attack in front of her while touring Rose Kennedy's home. As she grows up, she is determined to become a doctor and puts all of her effort into it. Naomi's only childhood friend is Teddy whose family is devoutly Jewish and who disapproves of Naomi, but the two are in love--a kind of kid-love that most of us are familiar with, but also something deeper that stays with them even after Teddy moves away and eventually stops communicating with Naomi. As the years pass, Naomi throws herself more into school and tennis and she goes to Wellesley where events occur that lead her to the Shakespeare Society and to performing plays with the group. She makes good friends and stops focusing on school as much, and when her mother becomes ill, her life is completely changed. The major plot point is when Naomi's best friend is accused of cheating and her time at Wellesley goes a bit sour. I don't want to give anything away except to say that this book was the perfect book for me--it's about thinking you know who you are and who you're supposed to be and then taking the time to figure out that it's not that way at all. The story is not only about Naomi's time at school but also in understanding her troubled mother, the nature of friendship, and what is truly important. Naomi comes across as real person, not just a character, and I was sad to finish the book.

 

6) The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (2009): If you read my post about this book, you know that I was hesitant to read this for two reasons: 1) it's about a dog and 2) it was an audiobook. Traber and I listened to The Art of Racing in the Rain over the course of several road trips in June and July. Honestly, we didn't even finish it together--I hacked his audible account so I could listen to the end because it was killing me. I had to finish it. I loved it. And I kind of want to read it in paper rather than listening to it just to see if it brings out the same emotions (like... I almost had to stop driving the car because my eyes were so full of tears) as it does when listening to it. The story isn't really about a dog--it's about the dog's owner who gets him when he's a puppy and then eventually gets married and has a daughter. The simplistic yet lovely view of the dog's own world captures the love, happiness, and tragedy of the family as they grow. The dog, while philosophical at times, is a dog and Stein does a great job of verbalizing his world. Please read it.

 

5) The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (2011): This is a book that's about baseball but not about baseball at all and I loved it. I zoomed through it so fast that I almost wanted to go back and re-read it. The story surrounds several people involved in some way with the baseball program at the fictitious Westish College: three baseball players, the president of the college, and his daughter are the main players, but others pepper the pages. It's hard to explain the plot of the book without giving anything valuable away, but it is beautifully written with an engaging plot and is about so much more than you initially think. My biggest takeaway can be summed up in my initial post: "It's about religion and dedication but not necessarily to a god or supernatural being, but rather about the religion we create for ourselves around an aspect of our lives and what happens when it's taken away from us. It's a novel about finding oneself in the midst of becoming something different than you expected."

 

4) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012): Words can't quite express my love of this book. The plot seems like it would be sappy and too preachy almost (it's about two kids with terminal illnesses who meet in a support group and fall in love), it's not. Green does an amazing job of capturing the ideas and emotions of teenagers while also laying them over with the slight sheen of adulthood which they've earned through their illnesses and making them very real people who are easy to connect with. Yes, it's young adult, and yes, I cried when I read it, but don't you need a little bit of that every once in a while? It's been on almost ever "Best of 2012" list around, so I think I'm right in saying that you should try it too.

 

3) Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (2011): I just realized that I never posted about this book and I'm kicking myself!! This book won the National Book Award in 2011 and rightly so. I was captured from the first page by the beautiful, accessible prose and the story of Esch who is a impoverished pregnant teenager in Mississippi during a massive hurricane. The story only takes place over the course of about two weeks, where Esch and her brothers and father are trying to stock up for the storm, but Ward is able to tell the life story of Esch and the loss of her mother, everything that led up to her pregnancy, and how the family tries to survive through the impossible. Though Esch is the main protagonist, the character development of her brothers and their friends, especially her brother Skeetah who has an affinity for pit bulls and loving them. Although the life that Esch leads is far removed from most of our lives, Ward opens it up for us to see in all its terror, small beauties, and hardships. It's a beautiful book and probably the one I have recommended most this year.

 

2) Arcadia by Lauren Groff (2012): If you've looked at any book blogs this year "best of" lists, you recognize this title. Everyone was talking about it and it's not hard to see why. The story is about Bit who was born and grew up on a commune. The novel is narrated by Bit and is broken into three sections: Bit as a young boy when life at the commune was wonderful, Bit as a teenager as the commune broke apart, and Bit as an adult who has to live in a world that has only recently become a bit familiar. It's brilliantly told and about so much more than life in and after a commune. Slightly reminiscent of Emma Donoghue's Room, this is one that you have to read.

 

And my number 1 shouldn't surprise any of you...

 

1) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2011): I loved this book. I want to marry this book. I want to read it again and I want it to never end. In case you haven't asked me for a personal book recommendation from me this year (I recommended it to everyone. Seriously.), the story surrounds a circus that only appears at night almost out of thin air. The circus is fueled and maintained by a competition between two older men--they want to see whose protege is the best, basically. I almost don't want to tell you any plot because it's so good that it's best that you don't know anything going in. But if books that are a little fantasy-y aren't your thing (mine either), don't let that turn you away--it's about so much more than that, and the magic is just the icing on the cake. What I love about this book (and I said it in my original post), is that in the end, it's not about what you thought it was about, and I mean that in the best way possible. So good. Please read it.

 

 

And that's it, folks. My top 10 picks from the books I read in 2012. Below is the list of the other books that I read in 2012. This was a really hard list to pick only 10 from, so anything with an asterisk is an honorable mention and shouldn't be passed up. (The double asterisk indicates that it was a top 10 book)

 

• **The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• *Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
• **The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
• Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
• *The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
• **The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
• Rin Tin Tin by Susan Orlean
• *Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
• Then Again by Diane Keaton
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik
• *Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• *The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Blue Nights by Joan Didion
• *Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
• I Celebrate Myself by Bill Morgan
• The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
• 1984 by George Orwell
• **Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
• **Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
• The Cottage at Glass Beach by Heather Doran Barbieri
• The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
• *The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
• **The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
• *Home by Toni Morrison
• *The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
• *The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• *How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent by Julia Alvarez
• *I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron
• Crazy Salad by Nora Ephron
• In One Person by John Irving
• **Arcadia by Lauren Groff
• **The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
• **Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
• Mudwoman by Joyce Carol Oates
• Paris, My Sweet by Amy Thomas
• **The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• *The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Judging a Book by its Lover by Lauren Leto
• Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
• *The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
• *NW by Zadie Smith
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
• With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge
• Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear
• *The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
• *Astray by Emma Donoghue
• The Elephant Keepers' Children by Peter Hoeg
• *Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
• *The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell (look for a review of this next week hopefully!)
• **An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth Percer

And now it's time to look forward to 2013 and the stack of books next to my bed which includes This is How you Lose Her by Junot Diaz, The Life of Pi by Yann Mantel, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon, and Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver--so many to choose from! Stay tuned to the blog as I hope to continue updating it monthly if not more frequently.

 

A final word to say thank you to all of you who read, comment, and generally encourage this blog. Not only have you helped encourage the blog, but you all encouraged my 25th year goals and really made 2012 an amazing year for me.

 

Happy 2013 and keep reading!

Stephanie

 

For past "Stephanie's Top 10" lists, click these links for 2009, 2010, and 2011!

 



On Surviving and Loving 25

"You should draw a picture of Terabithia for us to hang in the castle," Leslie said.

"I can't." How could be explain it in a way Leslie would understand, how he yearned to reach out and capture the quivering life about him and how when he tried, it slipped past his fingertips, leaving a dry fossil upon the page

"I just can't get the poetry of the trees," he said.

"Don't worry," she said. "You will someday."

-The Bridge to Terabithia

Tomorrow I will be 26. Years old.

I'm confused about how it happened, really. Didn't I just turn 25? Though the fact that time is going at some kind of sprint recently is beside the point.

The point is that unless you haven't spoken to me, read my blog, or basically been in my general vicinity for the past year, you probably know that about 2 months before I turned 25, I had a freak out. I had just graduated from grad school a few months before, I was still trying to find my little place here, and I was just going through a thing. So turning 25 was something I could hold on to and obsess about. Around this time, a friend of mine (whose blog here is fantastic, by the way), was telling me how she made a list of things to do while she was 25. And I loved the idea. And of course, being who I am, I took it further than I probably should have. But here we are, one year later, and I survived being 25, with many (but not sole) thanks to the epitomic "list" that you're all sick of hearing about.

So, what did I do? It took me a month, but I came up with 19 goals. I put them on a spreadsheet. I saved it as "25 Goals of 25" (25 goals was going to be too many, but I was hopeful for a while!). I made columns for things that were able to be counted (beers, restaurants, letters, books). I started. That's it. Simple as pie. (Well maybe not that simple, but keep reading and I'll give you tips on starting your own list if you're interested!)

So of course, I want to talk about it. And I want to tell you what I did and what I didn't do.

If you want an intro to the list and to some of the things I accomplished early on, see this post here.

I'm not going to share with you all of my 19 goals because some are personal, some are boring, and some are embarrassing, so I'll spare you and just talk about the cool/interesting ones.

Goals That I Accomplished:

Goal #1: Try 25 New Beers
Giiiirrrlll, I finished this goal back in March. I mean, I annihilated this goal. And I continued to annihilate this goal to the point where this year, I tried 66 new beers. That's right. I could tell you about my favorites and least favorites, but frankly, I have never been good at describing why I like the taste of something very well, so I'll only say this: I'm glad I had this goal for two reasons. 1. It proved my theory that I just frankly love a good IPA. 2. It gave me an excuse to be and have fun. Honestly most of this list gave me a reason to let loose a little and try new things, and this is just one example. Now, that doesn't mean I'll ever try and drink Tetley's Ale ever again, but you can bring on the Full Sail IPA! Honestly, I think that this goal can be summed up by this photo:

Goal #2: Read 5 Books From My To-Read-Before-I-Die List
My list is about 30 books long (and constantly growing) and it's very intimidating. There's so much that I haven't read (and I know I'm kidding myself when I say I'm one day going to read War and Peace) and keeping that list helps me take care of some of the gaps in my knowledge. The five books I chose this year were Of Mice and Men, 1984, A Clockwork Orange, Flowers for Algernon, and To The Lighthouse.  Actually, I thought I was being really diverse in my choices, but I realize now that I was very much on some kind of science-fiction-y, moral-y trek. Each one of these books made me think about some aspect of my life and the world around me (which of course is what reading is supposed to do) and they (well, most of them) did it quite beautifully.

Goal #4: Write One Letter A Week
I'll admit that I'm not done with this goal because I actually began it on January 1, so I have a few weeks to go yet, but this has been my favorite goal.There is nothing, nothing better than a good letter. And in this day and age, a good letter takes skill. It takes time. I spent a lot of time writing a lot of letters. My original intention with this goal was to write 52 different letters to 52 different people, but frankly, I think I was being a little optimistic in thinking that there were 52 people I wanted to write letters to. At Week 41, I cycled back and started picking people who I thought needed, would appreciate, or asked for a letter. These letters came in all different sizes and shapes--stationary, Hallmark cards, notepaper. And all in my very small, not that nice handwriting.  Every week (well, sometimes I'd skip and have to write two letters the next week to catch up.. I'm busy, okay?!), I got to sit down and think about the person that I was writing to and write about whatever I wanted. Only about 5 people wrote letters back (and they have no idea how I appreciate that), but it wasn't about getting letters back. It was about letting people know that I was thinking of them, even if just for the 30 minutes it took me to jot off a letter to them. Honestly, it became more about me. I got to sit down and spill out what has been happening in my life and became almost like meditation. I had to sit and breathe for 30 minutes. It was lovely. It was a lot of work, so I don't think I'll keep up the weekly letter, but it's nice to know that it can act as a very inexpensive and important therapy.

Goal #8: Try 5 New Restaurants
I laugh in the face of this goal. Bahahahaha! I accomplished this goal by the end of January and it was so easy for many reasons. 1. When you start dating someone, all you do is go out to eat. (And actually, Traber's and my first date was at my first restaurant and was right after my 25th birthday!) 2. Since I had been so very poor in grad school and didn't have that much time for too much cavorting about, I never went out to eat. So even basic places, like the two places that are right by my apartment complex, had previously gone un-tested. Though this goal was expensive, I loved it. And here are my top 5 restaurants that I tried this year:

1.  Jaleo (Chinatown) (Oh. The asparagus.)
2. Alewife (Baltimore) (Best burger I've ever. had. ever. Please go there)
3. Zaytinya (Chinatown) (Get the apricot dessert thing. Oh my GOD.)
4. Bier Baron (Dupont) (You can't get much better than 10$ for a burger AND beer.)
5. Biergartenhaus (H St.) (The food is meh, really, but the beer. The beer!)

It's hard to choose my top 5 really, though, because most of the reason that I loved going to these places was the company that I was in and the fun times that we had there. But the food is awesome too. I ended up trying 45 new restaurants. Ridiculous. And awesome :)

Goal #11: Fix Teeth
Yep. I have braces. The appearance of my teeth have bothered me for several years now. Things were just out of place and getting a little scary. I had some money saved and this is what I wanted to do with it. So I did. I am a 25 year old with braces. I perpetually feel 12 years old. Though the braces are clear and you might not notice them unless you got close, they are there. And they screw with everything. But I am so beyond glad I have braces. I feel more confident, I lost a little weight (because I wasn't eating as much... it's a pain to brush your teeth every time you put something in your mouth!), my teeth are looking great, and it was a really big decision that I made all by myself (with input from others, of course). The best part? I thought I wasn't getting them off until July, and it turns out it's going to be more like APRIL!!! :)

Goal #14: Update Blog Once A Month
You're a witness. I've been doing it! :) Sometimes twice a month! When I first started this blog, I was so excited, but then life gets in the way and you forget about it. But I love talking about books and reading (and myself.. of course) and I love having an outlet for that (it also helps to divert some of my boring book talk away from my poor friends and people who really don't care!). Not only that, but since I started back on the blog, I've gotten a chance to write some reviews for HarperCollins (which you can read here and here) which is so fun and challenging! I know that there aren't a ton of people out there who read this, but it's kind of nice to send this stuff into the void and see what comes back. So thank you for being a reader and for visiting! :)

Goal #16: Learn to Play the Ukulele
Have you met my ukulele Babette? She's awesome. Me? Eh... I'm not so awesome. But I know a few ditties and I love being able to play the uke. It's a fun (yes, I know, and hipster) distraction.I wish I took lessons and didn't just teach myself using Youtube, but alas. I'm sure you thought that I forgot all about Babette since my post about her, but I've been working extra hard just so I could show you this. Before you watch: I know it's not perfect. My singing voice has deteriorated immensely since high school. If you catch it, you'll see the product of Goal #13: Find the Perfect Lip Color (and I wish that I had recorded this a few days later and I would have worn my new spoon ring [from my lovely, fantastic boyfriend] which was Goal # 10: Find a Spoon Ring).

 

 

Yes. That happened. Obviously, I need a lot more work and I'm not great, but it's so fun anyway! (It also took literally 20 tries to get it to be not more horrible than that).

And now on to...

Goals That I Did Not Accomplish (And Regret in Some Way):

Goal #6: Visit a New City
Technically, I did complete this goal. This year, I went to Indianapolis, Long Island, and Sandbridge, Virginia, none of which I'd ever been to before. But they were all because I had to go (okay, had to is the wrong word.. most were for weddings and Thanksgiving which were awesome, so it was worth it!) not because I said, "Man, I really want to go there." I am notorious for not taking vacation and I wanted to break out of that mold, but time and money were not kind to me. What I wanted to put on the list was "Go to a foreign country" but I knew the likelihood of that was even less and so I didn't want to test the fates. So I settled for hoping for Charleston, SC. Alas. A dream to be realized another day.

Goal #7: Write a Short Story
I'm more sad that I didn't even try to do this one. I've never been an excellent writer and my creative writing is even worse. But I have an idea for a story, I just didn't force myself to find time to sit down and lay it out there. And I think I was scared (which was part of what this whole list was meant to overcome). It won't leave the perpetual "to do" list in my brain though.

Goal #15: Have a Dinner Party
Again, time just got away from me. What this was also supposed to make me do was to branch out with my cooking and try new things and it just didn't happen. I have all the elements for a great dinner party (I even have cloth napkins!), but things got busy and it fell through the cracks.

Although there are several more goals that I didn't cover, I can tell you that of my 19 goals, I accomplished 14 of them! Not too shabby!

With any kind of big project like this, there are bound to be things that come out of it, and some of those things certainly weren't expected.  For as much as I was truly dreading being 25, this has turned out to be the best year. Ever. And that's really not an exaggeration. I have had more fun this year than ever before and I think it was because I let myself. In the past, I've not been very good about letting myself have fun, but I was bound and determined (and armed with fun goals to accomplish, dammit!) to have fun. My bank account, liver, and waistline probably aren't thanking me right now, but it's worth it. Every second has been worth it.

If you're thinking about doing something similar to this, first of all, let me know(!) and second of all, here are some tips that I figured out along the way:

1. A spreadsheet (though your mom makes fun of you for it) is a great way to remind yourself what you've accomplished, what you need to do, and helps keep all your info in one place!
2. Put both fun things and not fun things on the list. The not fun things suck, but you feel an extra hit of accomplishment when you do something you don't want to AND you get to cross it off the list.
3. Don't put more than you can chew on there. Really, this isn't about making yourself crazy, it's about figuring out what you want to accomplish and trying to get through it strategically, not killing yourself to run a marathon (unless you want to) just because you think you should because of whatever reason people tell you. This is for you. And it's so much better when you can embrace it for that.
4.  Don't stress out about not accomplishing something. First of all, you don't have to share your goals with the world (my friends probably wish I hadn't shared with them!). Again. This is for you! Second of all, goals don't go away. I still want to write a short story. It's gonna happen. It just... hasn't yet.

Perhaps the biggest thing is that you have to put yourself out there, but not let the goals shape your year. Let your year invite your goals.

This year has surpassed my wildest dreams and there are so many people to thank for that, and you should all know who you are. (Tip #5 should be that you have to have people around you who will remind you of your goals, text you beer names, and take you places :) )

Thank you all for helping me make this year beautiful.

On to 26!
Stephanie

PS - Back in a few weeks with my Top 10 of 2012 (see some of my past "Top 10 of 20__" posts here, here, and here)

A "Mysterious" Change of Heart

Mysteries have never been my thing.

Well, I guess that's not really true. I used to adore "Choose Your Own Adventure" books which are a kind of mystery in themselves and I had an Agatha Christie thing for a while, but my stereotype of mysteries has always been similar to my stereotype of romance novels--that they are poorly written with obvious plots and are good for plane rides but not much else.

So really, no. Mysteries have never been my thing.

Except.

A few weeks ago, I got a couple more books from HarperCollins and though I knew that they were mysteries, I wanted to try something new. Expand my horizons. I mean, that's what my whole 25th year has been about!

And I'm so glad I did, because Elegy for Eddie and The Stockholm Octavo were perfect for November reading and for breaking the stereotype.

Here's what I thought:

Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear: When I first read about this book, I was nervous because it's part of a series that follows Maisie Dobbs, a woman living in the first half of the 20th century who falls into being a private detective of sorts. I was worried when I started the book that I would feel left behind because I hadn't read any of the prior books, but it was quite the opposite. Though I'm sure that if I had read the other books, I would have caught on to some little inside details, but I don't feel any loss from not having read them. The novel opens with the story of a woman who works in a stable in the late 1800s. She is pregnant and ends up delivering the baby in the stable. Jump to the 1930s, post-WWI, and the baby that was born, Eddie, has been murdered. Eddie grew up relatively slow, but he had a way with horses. As he grew up, he worked odd jobs and made a way for himself with the help of his mother. Maisie, the private detective, grew up knowing Eddie from a distance, but they grew up in the same poor part of town. Maisie found a way out of her old neighborhood and when Eddie's death doesn't seem like an accident, some of his friends seek out Maisie to try and figure out what was behind it. What could easily turn into a trite "whodunit" quickly becomes about something else all together, and Eddie is just one piece of the larger puzzle. Maisie Dobbs is an interesting character, and we learn a lot about her: she grew up poor and inherited a great deal of money after the war which she is very uncomfortable with because she doesn't know how to live a privileged life. The novel follows not only the search for the truth about Eddie's death, but also Maisie's growth as a human and her realization of what she wants in life. I really enjoyed Elegy for Eddie: it's a quick read that will keep you intrigued until you figure it out! Here's a little more about the book.

The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann: Take The Night Circus and Shadow of the Wind, stir them together and you get The Stockholm Octavo. With hints of magic, conspiracy plots, psychics, geometric intrigue, card games, mysterious folding fans, and a search for love, you really can't get much better. Really--from the first chapter I was hooked. The story follows Emil, a sekretaire (basically a customs worker) in 1790s Stockholm, or "The Town" as it's often referred to, who gambles at a local establishment. He goes about his general life until Mrs. Sparrow, the establishment's proprietor and a "seer" senses something in Emil and offers to lay what she calls an "Octavo" for him which uses cards to determine the eight people who will play the greatest roles in a very important act in his life. The first few chapters are full of the actual laying of the Octavo which takes eight nights. Each card laid represents a certain character who will play a role: the Trickster, the Magpie, the Key, the Courier, and so on. Once Emil has his entire Octavo laid for him, he must seek them out (or pay close attention to what surrounds him) so he can use them to influence an important event. Initially, Emil's important event in his life is to find love, which he (of course) thinks he has figured out. But he soon learns that he is part of a larger web when Mrs. Sparrow reveals that he is part of her own Octavo, and the stage becomes wide. Told in a kind of journalistic way (each chapter is attributed to one or more sources and we are warned at the beginning that much of the "history" told are based on half-truths, hearsay, and outright lies), the story of Emil's quest for love becomes the story of the eight people in his Octavo. Though the story revolves around Emil, the larger plot is in the conspiracy to assassinate the king of Sweden and the woman (called "The Uzanne") who makes the attempt. Though I really did love this book and highly recommend it, I wish that I had known more about the history of Sweden during this time--I think the political intrigue and the underlying fervor for political revolution would have resonated more. Regardless, Engelmann obviously knows what she's talking about and creates a very palpable and colorful world that is changing before Emil's eyes. His love of The Town and of his life can't stop it from changing, and that holds true in today's society. Emil is a great character who you love and hate simultaneously, but above all, you want to keep reading to figure it all out. There is very subtle but gripping element of magic that really catches you and characters that keep you on your toes. There is so much that is going on at once, and I don't want to give too much away, so I apologize if my summary is all over the place. Full of card games, mysterious fans, and the overriding idea that we are all connected in some way, The Stockholm Octavo is one that really makes you pay attention and rewards you for it. Here's a little more about the book!

So that's what I've been reading the past few weeks. Though life has kept me plenty busy, I'm so glad I got the chance to read these two new books!

The next few weeks promise to keep me busy with holidays and such, but I'm excited to come back in December and regale you with what I got done (and didn't get done) in my 25th year, seeing as it's all over in about 3 weeks! I just started Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse which will wrap up my "Read 5 Books from my To-Read-Before-I-Die List" goal.

Though I'm not freaking out about turning 26 (yet) like I was freaking out about turning 25, I have to say that I'll be a little sad to see the year go--it's been such a good one, and I want to keep it around a little longer. So I'm going to live it up and then start a whole new awesome year!

On that note, a happiest of Thanksgivings to you and your family! I hope you get to spend it with the ones you love, celebrating old traditions, making new ones, and being thankful.

Until next time, keep reading!

Stephanie

A Post-Sandy Post

"This storm is kind of like love... you think you have it figured out, then it changes on you."

-NBC News 4 Reporter

Well, Sandy has made her presence known here in Silver Spring, but thankfully we are with power (which is truly amazing, really)!  The government has been closed for two days and metro is opening back up at 2:00 today, and frankly, I just need to get out of this apartment! But we are fine here, and thanks for all of your texts and thoughts while we weathered the storm! :) I filled the time by learning Moon River on the uke, reading a ton, baking, and watching Little Women. Not such a bad storm!

Anyway, I realized yesterday that I am sorely behind on updating the blog! Work has been so busy this past month and my weekends have been packed, so to be honest, my reading has suffered a little bit, but there are still things to update!

Here are the things that I've read since my last post:

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver: Actually to be more accurate, I listened to this book. As I mentioned back in July, my boyfriend and I have been doing a lot of driving around for weddings, parties, weekends away, etc. and to fill the hours of driving that we did, we picked a few books on tape to listen to and this was a book that we had both gotten at one point but had never actually read. It's a pretty long listen, but we finished it in about 3 separate trips. At first, I was super annoyed by the narrator's Southern accent, but then I came to fall in love with it. She had this amazing way of changing her intonation to let you know who was talking--very subtle, but very beneficial. The Poisonwood Bible blew up a few years ago when it was an Oprah Book Pick. The story is about the Price family who moves to the Congo in the 1960s for a mission. The father is a preacher and he takes his wife and four daughters with him. The chapters alternate between each girl as their adventures in the Congo escalate. Each girl is very different even though two of them are twins and their views on their lives in the Congo are fascinating. The book follows them through their time there and after when they leave the mission. A really interesting look at what family means when disaster strikes and when many of the family members don't really like each other to begin with, this is a great and engrossing book that makes you want to know how things turn out for the Price family.

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout: A few years ago I read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout and liked it well enough, though I didn't love it. I have to say that I did like Amy and Isabelle more. The story is about a mother and daughter who live in a mill town in New England. While not complete social outcasts, they are both a little on the edges of society when the book starts out. Isabelle, the mother, works as a secretary at a mill where the women there basically ignore her and where she is in love with her boss who is married. She wants what is best for her daughter Amy whose long, beautiful blonde hair both helps her to hide herself while making her desirable to many. The story revolves around the sexual affair that Amy has with her teacher while she is in high school, and that story line is fascinating, but Strout does this amazing job of weaving in the context of the surroundings and the community to make this story not just about the affair, but about life in this town in general. Strout gives you small peeks into the lives of the other people in the town which really makes the story much richer and fuller. A complex and dramatic story that gets into the nitty-gritty of mother-daughter relationships, this is a great read!

NW by Zadie Smith: There's a lot to say about Zadie Smith--some people love her, some people hate her. I read White Teeth last year and while I enjoyed it, I didn't love it. But there's something about Zadie Smith that I like and is sometimes hard for me to put into words. I think what I like about her is that she's very raw and real and she doesn't shy away from the realities and situations that life sometimes puts us in.  NW is split into four sections, each focusing on a different character. All of the characters live in the northwest section of London. One of the more fascinating chapters is the one that is told in short vignettes that range from instant messenger conversations to surveys to short stories about two of the characters friendship through the years. The characters in NW seem to be the focus of the book on the surface, but the book is also about London and about life--the characters are all connected somehow, but they all live these different lives in a very close proximity which is so accurate on how we live our lives today. Told in an unconventional way that doesn't sugar-coat the realities of human existence and life, this book is a really interesting read that will make you look around you and pay attention to your own surroundings a little more closely.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes: This was one of the books on my To-Read-Before-I-Die list (from which I'm trying to knock out five this year) and is the fourth that I've read from that list this year (one more to go! What on earth should it be?!). In case you aren't familiar with the novel, it's the story of Charlie who is mentally disabled and has extremely poor writing and speech skills. His IQ is very low and though he escaped living in a state home, he works a menial job at a bakery and has very little life outside of that. Charlie is chosen to undergo a series of treatments that end up raising his IQ. The book is told through Charlie's journal entries that the scientists performing the experiment ask him to keep and you see his IQ raising through the course of the book through the way Charlie writes and thinks.  Charlie becomes more intelligent than the scientists and his intelligence isolates him from the world, then is deteriorated as the treatment begins to wear off. It's a really thought-provoking story that made me really think about the role of science in our lives and the ideas of how we should or shouldn't use the technology that we have available to us. If you haven't read it, or haven't read it in a while, I highly recommend it--it's a very easy read and one that, though written several decades ago, really applies to our world today.

With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge: Now, I haven't yet finished this book--I started it at the worst time possible (when I wouldn't have time to read it during lunches because I didn't get a lunch for about a week and a half or have energy to read it on the metro) so it's taken me a while to get through it, but I'm glad I'm reading it. My best friend's husband has been telling me to read this book for probably 2 years now, so when I went to their house a few weeks ago, I stole it from him and became determined to read it. Sledge was a Marine during World War 2 and fought in the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa. Though Sledge is not necessarily a writer by trade, his very raw and honest portrayals of the battles that he was in, the training he went through, and then men that he fought with are told in a very impactful and meaningful way. Sledge does not sugar-coat the battles or the way the Marines felt about the Japanese and he certainly doesn't gloss over the terror and horror that the men went through in fighting for our country. Sledge's details of the war are very personal and emotional, and that's why they pack such a punch when you read about the horrifying trauma of war. It takes a little time to get through because there is a lot to take in, but it's really educational and well-written.

That's what was on the plate last month. I'm really excited because once I finish With the Old Breed, I have two books that HarperCollins sent me to read: Elegy for Eddie by Jaqueline Winspear and The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann! I'm really excited to read these, especially because one of them is a mystery and it's something that I usually don't choose for myself, so it'll be something new!

I hope that you all have survived any remnants of Sandy that you experienced and that you had some good books to keep you company during the storm! I'm hoping to have an update for you on the new books in less than two weeks.

Keep Reading (and happy Fall!),
Stephanie