Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Final Tally

Obviously, due to the drop-off in number of items added to the list and of postings posted over the last three months, life has been busy. Teaching is a job to love for the holidays and summers off, but it is a relentless beast during the actual working days. Even though it's break, I spent the last two days grading papers. I do, however, have a couple of books to add to the List, therefore completing it for 2011.


Books I've read this year
  1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
  2. White Noise by Don DeLillo
  3. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
  4. American Tabloid by James Ellroy
  5. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson
  6. Babel-17 by Samuel Delaney
  7. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
  8. Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
  9. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
  10. Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
  11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
  12. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
  13. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
  14. The Story of Avis by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
  15. Austenland by Shannon Hale
  16. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
  17. Daisy Miller by Henry James
  18. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
  19. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
  20. The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
  21. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  22. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
  23. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
  24. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
  25. Bossypants by Tina Fey
  26. The Group by Mary McCarthy
  27. Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile McCoy
  28. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  29. The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Anthony Horowitz
So, I guess the grand total has to be 29. I was hoping for 40, but maybe in 2012!

Just for fun, a few of the YA books I read (though I can't say I honestly remember if this was all of them)
  1. Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn
  2. Peeled by Joan Bauer
  3. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones
  4. Heist Society by Ally Carter
And, a preview of my to-read list for 2012:
  1. The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (reading now)
  2. His Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  3. Wildwood by Colin Meloy
  4. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
  5. The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides
Happy New Year!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Keeping track, part three

I'm well on my way to thirty-plus books this year; actually, if you count the re-reads, I'm already at 29. Maybe I can make 40 books this year! That's not even counting the textbook I've had to read for the Composition class I teach, nor the numerous YA novels that I end up snacking on throughout the school year. 

Books I've read this year
  1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
  2. White Noise by Don DeLillo
  3. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
  4. American Tabloid by James Ellroy
  5. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson
  6. Babel-17 by Samuel Delaney
  7. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
  8. Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
  9. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
  10. Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
  11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
  12. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
  13. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
  14. The Story of Avis by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
  15. Austenland by Shannon Hale
  16. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
  17. Daisy Miller by Henry James
  18. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
  19. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
  20. The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
  21. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  22. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
  23. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
  24. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
  25. Bossypants by Tina Fey
  26. The Group by Mary McCarthy
Books I've re-read:
  1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
  2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
  3. The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Chestnutt

Updating the List

I don't have time right now to write a complete book review of the last three books I've read, but I so want to share.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman


Amusing, wry, and sometimes bittersweet look at the lives of international journalists, editors, and others who work at a newspaper in Rome. Interconnected vignette-style novel. Smart, enjoyable, but not particularly memorable.


Bossypants by Tina Fey

Do not read this alone at Noodles and Co. if you don't want to laugh so hard that you spit Japanese Udon Noodles out through your nose onto your Kindle. That is all.


The Group by Mary McCarthy

Eight Vassar graduates in the early 1930's figure out life and love in New York. Unflinching, honest, daring portrayal of women's inner lives before we all over-shared on Facebook. Functions almost as a sociological text. First published in 1963. A fast read for how thick it is; also another interconnected-vignette style novel (that makes three within the last two months: Let the Great World Spin; The Imperfectionists; The Group. I guess this is my style!)

Three great quotes from The Group:

"In private, they often discussed her, like toys discussing their owner, and concluded that she was awfully inhuman."

"'Who was it said,' she added, twinkling, 'that his wife had a whim of iron? My father always quotes that when he has to give in to Mother.'"

"'I felt sure he'd been invited and was staying away on purpose and that everybody there knew that and was watching me out of the corner of their eye.'"
"'Your grammar, Dottie!' chided her mother, absently; her sky-blue eyes had clouded over."


Currently reading:

Though I may have to pause and pick it back up later - it's through inter-library loan, it's been renewed twice and is now overdue, and I've only read one of the stories in it. 

Monday, September 5, 2011

Axe Cop

This is a brilliant idea. This 29-year-old started writing down and illustrating the crazy stories his 5-year-old brother told. Like most brilliant ideas, simple. The result is hilarious.

http://axecop.com/index.php/achome/index/

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Keeping track, updated

Books I've read this year
  1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
  2. White Noise by Don DeLillo
  3. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
  4. American Tabloid by James Ellroy
  5. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson
  6. Babel-17 by Samuel Delaney
  7. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
  8. Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
  9. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
  10. Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
  11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
  12. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
  13. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
  14. The Story of Avis by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
  15. Austenland by Shannon Hale
  16. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
  17. Daisy Miller by Henry James
  18. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
  19. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
  20. The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
  21. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  22. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
  23. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Books I've re-read:
  1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
  2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
  3. The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Chestnutt

Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin

title: Let the Great World Spin
author: Colum McCann

genre: novel
published: 2010 (paperback)
source: Kankakee Public Library (interlibrary loan), at the long-ago suggestion of my friend Jo

first line: "Those who saw him hushed."

rating: 5/5 stars




This book is remarkable. It's hard to write an original review of a National Book Award-winning book that has been critically lauded by the New York Times Book Review, Dave Eggers, and Frank McCourt, among others. What can I bring to the table, two years after its original release? So this is just my attempt to collect my thoughts. 


First of all, I've never read a novel by Colum McCann before. I think he's a genius. He wrote a post-9/11 novel that is set in 1974. Amazing. So many of the lines in the novel, especially descriptions of the Twin Towers, resonate in a haunting way, even without heavy-handed foreshadowing. Instead, McCann reminds us what New York is, was, and can be in the face of beauty and tragedy.


The organization of the novel is a mosaic of characters, moving through vignettes that eventually all connect. (Strangely, the novel I started immediately after this one, The Imperfectionists, functions in almost the same way.) Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3 are each composed of three stories each, set in 1974, punctuated between books by descriptions of the tightrope walker Phillippe Petit. Book 4 is the only one set after 9/11, and this is the book in which all the characters' stories intertwine. Though the characters range from an Irish monk to Bronx prostitutes to an upper-east side WASP, none of them ring false. McCann brings raw honesty and authenticity to all his characters, and even women narrators read true (something rare in men's writing, in my opinion). 


I unhesitatingly recommend this book to anyone. 


Some notable quotes:


"I gave them all of the truth and none of the honesty." (p. 303)


"Recklessness and freedom--how did they become a cocktail?" (p. 263)


"Even if people laughed at the notion of goodness, if they found it sentimental, or nostalgic, it didn't matter--it was none of those things, he said, and it had to be fought for." (p. 145)

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

. . . will be tomorrow.

Today I am turning in my term paper for English 678, returning my NIU library books, and attending the last class session of my Master's degree.

Today is Jack's last day at Theresa's house, the babysitter who has watched him since he was four weeks old.

In a couple of weeks I will begin to teach 8th American History for the first time.

On that same day, I will begin to teach college Composition as an adjunct instructor for the first time.

In a couple of weeks, my three-year-old will start at a new babysitter's house.

At the end of this month, he will begin attending preschool, where he will have his first cubby, his first nametag, his first teacher.

I am leaving behind the known world. Here goes nothin'.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Stephen King's Just After Sunset

title: Just After Sunset
author: Stephen King

genre: short fiction
published: December 2008 (hardcover)
source: Franklin Grove Library

first line: "You don't see what's right in front of your eyes, she'd said, but sometimes he did."

rating: 4/5 stars



I can't even remember how old I was when I first read Stephen King. I know that in 8th grade I was already reading Christine, Insomnia, and Salem's Lot, but I'm pretty sure I attempted Tommyknockers back in pre-pubescence, never completing it, though whether my reason was fear of the contents or intimidation of its size is now lost to the ages. 


Regardless, I'll admit it--long time fan. Most people with graduate degrees in literature would never say this aloud. It's tempting for me to be self-indulgent and say, "Well, that's because I'm not a book snob and never have been," but that's not quite right. I AM snobby about books. I can't stand to read drivel, sap, or sloppiness anymore. Almost twelve years of studying the world's great literature at universities has heightened my standards to the point that for me, there is no guilty pleasure when I'm reading. If it's pleasurable, I don't feel guilty. If it's something I'm apt to feel guilty for reading, it's not pleasurable. It's like someone who's been off dairy for years and tries to eat a vanilla ice cream. I'd have to choke it down, it'd be liable to make me puke, and I certainly wouldn't enjoy it.


The thing with Stephen King is that he's not just a horror-genre hack. He's really talented. He may not be the next Proust, Dickens, or James, but he's also no Dean Koontz or James Patterson. I really don't think I have to defend this position too vigorously. King has started to earn a toehold in literary circles, partly for his 2000 memoir On Writing. In 2007, he was named editor of the prestigious "Best American Short Stories" series, cementing his position as Respected American Writer (totally different, as King himself will tell you, from Commercially Successful American Writer). It is in the short story that King truly shines. Heidi Pitlor, series editor of the "Best American Short Stories" series, did well to choose King. His novels have always terrified and captivated me, but his short fiction is, in short, dazzling. I think I've read about every one of his collections, Skeleton Crew most notably (my volume is losing its cover and is highlighted into oblivion). King's short stories range from comic to wistful to grotesque to horrifying to downright beautiful. If you're looking for a starting place, pick up Skeleton Crew and read "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" and you'll see what I mean.


King's new collection, Just After Sunset, is most of these things. Notably absent is the "horrifying" story. Nothing chilling here, except for a few brain-burning images from "Willa," the opening tale. There is more beauty and sadness than anything else. King, as a writer, is showing his age. Mostly, that phrase means starting to fail at which you once succeeded. I mean literally. The tales are mostly about older adults with grown children, losing spouses, moving to Florida, facing their own deaths, and coming to terms with the afterlife. Which isn't to say that these stories are staid, boring, or flaccid. King writes with a humanity and a fearlessness that's both touching and disconcerting. 


"Willa," "Harvey's Dream," "The Things They Left Behind," "The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates," and "Ayana" are all tales that deal with what worlds lay beyond ours, and what happens when those worlds intersect. 


"The Gingerbread Girl," "Stationary Bike," and "A Very Tight Place," as well as all the stories listed above, feature a protagonist dealing with the loss of a loved one.


"N.," one of the most characteristically "scary" King stories, is more disheartening than anything. (At the end of the story, it's clear that the story goes on, and no good can come of it.) 


"Graduation Afternoon," one of the shorter stories, is more of a sketch, and is one of the two stories in the volume that King admits to "transcribing" from a dream or vision instead of intentionally creating (the other is "Harvey's Dream," also sketch-like). 


The best story in this collection, hands-down, is "The Things They Left Behind." It's part of a growing canon of post-9/11 literature, and it made me weep. It's haunting and beautiful and sad and not a little bit scary. 


All the stories in this volume held my imagination and attention. I became captive to each one in its turn. They stayed with me after I read them. If they didn't horrify me, that's all right--I'm past the stage where I'm looking for fear. Motherhood is full of fear every day. If you want more traditional, scare-you-in-the-dark King, grab an earlier volume. If you want captivating, beautiful, wistful, disconcerting tales, look no further. 

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Zen Inspiration

Being a very distractible person, I fail to make the best of situations. I get angry and frustrated with my kid. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by small tasks. I stress and worry and wonder why I can't get on top of things.

Since my freshman year of college, I have found peacefulness and calm in Zen practices. Buddhism, though widely considered a "religion," is more about habits than beliefs. It's about the way you train yourself to think and to act. I don't claim to be Buddhist, but I do turn to Buddhism when I am feeling crazy.

Some sources for peace and calm:

Sylvia Boorstein
I heard her on the American Public Media program "Being" on Mother's Day morning, and the timing was perfect. Her outlook on being a mother and being a Buddhist (or in her case, a Jewish Buddhist) made me reflect on my own parenting. One of the most notable things that she said on the program was that everyone has time to cultivate their spiritual side. Even if you're a busy, working mother, it's about doing things lovingly. Even folding the laundry lovingly can be a spiritual practice. She's written tons of books: I downloaded the first chapter of Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake on my Kindle and plan to download the rest when my class is over. I would love to attend one of her retreats. http://www.sylviaboorstein.com/

The Dalai Lama
I read My Land and My People in college, and now I follow him on Twitter. Seriously. There's something wonderful about receiving a little glimpse of the sublime in between all the goofy stuff.

Yoga
I did yoga when I was pregnant with Jack. Getting ready to start it up again. "Strong mind, strong body."  Jack likes to watch my yoga DVD with me and stretch with "the girls on t.v."

"Lessons from a Zen Mommy."
I just read this in the August 2011 issue of Parents' Magazine. I wish I could link to it, but they don't digitize their entire issue. It's written by Bethany Saltman, a Zen Buddhist and mother of a three-year-old, and she's the real deal: before becoming parents, she and her husband lived in a monastery. She translates traditional Buddhist teachings into "mom" lessons, such as: stop multitasking; take responsibility for yourself and your mess, and teach your child to do the same; limit acquiring too much stuff; don't beat yourself up over things; develop rituals; count your blessings; remember to breathe.

Stephen Batchelor
A Religion Panel in my Honors Program at Clarke College brought me into contact with a woman who was Zen Buddhist. She described Buddhism to me for the first time, in a way that calmed me and made me feel hopeful and joyful in a very depressing year of my life. After listening to her speak, I bought Buddhism Without Beliefs and Verses from the Center by Stephen Batchelor, and these volumes became my crash-course in Buddhism. Admittedly, it has been a long time since I've read them, but I think they are ready to be dusted off.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Keeping track

In the very first class I took for my grad program, my professor recommended that we all keep a notebook where we record the titles and details about books we've read. I started to do that the following summer, which is now four years ago. Then came baby. And more grad classes. And four years' worth of papers to grade. And moving. And all that stuff. 

That notebook, in which I took careful notes about the seventh Harry Potter book as well as C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity and Screwtape Letters, Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone, and Anne LaMott's Grace (Eventually), gradually faded into obscurity only to be resurrected last summer as a grad-school notebook for my Dickens class. (Interestingly, it started life as an ill-fated workout notebook, where I kept track of how much I lifted and what settings I put the machines on and number of reps at Powerhouse Gym in Morris, IL the summer before I got married.) It's now, sadly, tattered and full of boring notes about Pickwick Papers. 

But who am I kidding? I don't have time anymore to write full-page summaries of every book that I read, including my evaluations, number of stars, and important quotes. It's impressive enough, these days, to read a non-school book beginning to end, though I've done a better job of that this summer than I have in recent years.

So, if only to remind myself (and my "mom-brain") what I've read lately and why, here's a breakdown (roughly in the order I read them) for 2011 (not including YA novels, because those take like 2 seconds to read and I totally don't digest them):
  1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
  2. White Noise by Don DeLillo
  3. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
  4. American Tabloid by James Ellroy
  5. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson
  6. Babel-17 by Samuel Delaney
  7. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
  8. Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
  9. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
  10. Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
  11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
  12. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
  13. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
  14. The Story of Avis by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
  15. Austenland by Shannon Hale
  16. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
  17. Daisy Miller by Henry James
  18. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
  19. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
  20. The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
Books I've re-read:
  1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
  2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
  3. The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Chestnutt

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Requiem for Borders

I did not intend to make one last trek to Borders, though I've been following the news the last several weeks and was saddened but not surprised that many of its stores would be closing. What need have I for Borders? I am always up to my ears in reading for grad school; I have a million books at home I haven't read yet; I have a local, independent bookstore that I love; I have Amazon for deals; I have a Kindle. Why visit Borders yet again, even for 10-40% off every item in the store? Borders is redundant.

As I drove to Target tonight for a two-year-old's birthday gift, though, I passed the Borders sign and wondered. Bargain-priced gifts, not just another Mattel toy from a big box store, danced in my head. I turned in at the next entrance and selected a Melissa and Doug wooden dress-up doll for 20% off.

That should have been it. I could have cruised to the checkout and left. But instead, as I too-carefully selected a 40%-off birthday card, I was entranced by any number of lovely, tempting items. A box the shape of the Eiffel tower. Bookends that look like globes and suspension bridges. Elaborate, felt-and-sequin bedecked cards that retail for $10 apiece. A hardcover copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance with a fetching green dust jacket. Chocolates. Board games. Word games. A "Hop on Pop" floor puzzle.

It's no coincidence that very few of these items are books. That was the error in my logic. Borders isn't my favorite brick-and-mortar chain bookstore over Barnes and Noble for no reason. If it were completely redundant, I would have no reason to prefer it or have an opinion at all. But it's the tremendous amount of slightly nerdy, overpriced crap that draws me in. I have no need for anything I listed above, or anything else in the store, quite honestly. But I very nearly went right back in after I'd paid (for the Melissa and Doug doll, three cards, and a tube of Burt's Bees hand lotion) because on the way out the door, I was momentarily shanghaied. There's something heady about the idea that only $19.99 stands between you and The Complete Yoga Kit, or between you and copy of The Complete History of the World with a cover 18 inches high.

I think it's the completeness of the crap that beckons me. As my professor said tonight at grad class, "Everything contains its opposite." If I am drawn to The Complete Whatever, it's because it suggests to me that I am incomplete. I am not a yoga master. I do not know everything about the history of the world. That these things, and more, become possible as you wander every overpopulated nook and cranny of a Borders store, I think, is the draw. Books are beside the point.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Spain

Hard to believe I will be here in about a month. Can't wait to hug my brother, drink Spanish wine, stay in a villa, and tour the Alhambra. Also can't wait to escape the bitter cold of the American midwest in favor of the Mediterranean coast. Feeling like I should be studying Spanish (in what spare time?), but suppose I will rely on my brother for translation as needed. Starting to count down the days. (35 as of today!)

Friday, February 11, 2011

Grace Paley

At the first meeting of my new class, "American Literature since 1960," we read "A Conversation with my Father" by Grace Paley. Oh my goodness! Her prose is so spare, so compact, so forthright, so clear, yet so dense that a group of graduate students continued uncovering meaning for a solid hour. From a four-page story. I went the following week and used my birthday money to buy her short-story collection "Enormous Changes at the Last Minute." Hello, new friend.