Author: gr4c5

I write. I read. I cook. I run. That's me, in a nutshell.

Mutual Friend

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Busch, Frederick. The Mutual Friend: a Novel. Boston: David R. Godine, 1983.

While this book received rave reviews from publications like The New York Times and The Village Voice I didn’t enjoy it. Maybe it was the raw violence. Or the disturbing sex scenes. I’m not sure. I found it troublesome. Probably the best part was the mastery of voice. For the most part, the entire story is told from the point of view of George Dolby, Charles Dickens’ right hand man. There is a chapter told by a maid and another by his wife…But, let me back up.

The Mutual Friend is the story of Charles Dickens at the height of his fame and the end of his life. While on his book tour Dolby is his tour manager, friend, guardian and sounding board. It’s Dolby who mostly reveals the drama in Dickens’ life. The health-draining stress of the tour, his practically nonexistent marriage, troubling health issues, oppressive poverty, and faltering ego. But, not all of The Mutual Friend is told from Dolby’s point of view. Probably the most disturbing chapter is that of Barbara, the maid. She starts out as a prostitute who prefers women. When Dickens looks for a Jewish maid, Barbara works her way into his household and seduces his son. Another chapter is told from the viewpoint of Dickens’s wife. The demise of their marriage is sad and poignant.

From Kate’s chapter: “He approached me, then, and his scented breath, the cologne he wore, the smell of the lavender sachet with which his clothing was fragrant, all came down to me as a rush of memory floods upon the heartsick widow who opens and closes her solitary cupboard to remind herself that once she was someone’s wife” (p 84).
Another disturbing line: “…and I looked at the dazzle on the surface of the river and saw what lay beneath – the bones of dogs, the limbs of babies, the sewage of civilization” (p 161).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Frederick Busch: Too Good To Miss” (p 48).

Professor and the Madman

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Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman: a Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. New York: Harper Perennial,1999.

I was supposed to read this last August and I ended up reading something completely different by accident. The titles were nothing alike but I kept getting them confused. Go figure.

Is this a movie? If it isn’t, it should be. They say that truth is stranger than fiction and I agree. Dr. W.C. Minor was a brilliant American doctor who was found legally insane after committing murder. During his confinement in a mental institute in London, Minor embarked on a quest to help Professor James Murray compile submissions for the Oxford English Dictionary. His astounding contribution led Professor Murray to seek out Dr. Minor, learn of his confinement in an asylum for the criminally insane, and despite all that, become the closest of friends.

The story itself appears benign. Dr. Minor’s mental illness consists mostly of hallucinations and the paranoia that certain people were “messing with him.” As a result nothing could prepare me for the moment when Dr. Minor decided on December 3rd, 1902 to cut off his own penis (a procedure called autopeotomy). “In his delusional world he felt he had no alternative but to remove it. He was a doctor, of course, and so knew roughly what he was doing” (p 193). What the ??? It’s this tongue-in-cheek writing that makes The Professor and the Madman so much fun to read.

BookLust Twist: In both Book Lust and More Book Lust. In Book Lust in the chapter called, “Words to the Wise” (p 249), and in More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Dewey Deconstructed: 400s” (p 68).

Running and Being

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Sheehan, George. Running and Being: the Total Experience.New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978.

I didn’t know what to think of this book when it came across my desk. Everyone knows George Sheehan is a renowned expert on distance running. Everyone also knows he isn’t exactly the friendliest of runners. What I didn’t know was how funny he would be in Running and Being. Part philosophy, part psychology, part memoir, and all about running,  Running and Being was above all else, entertaining. Amidst the advice about pace, hills, racing, losing, injuries, and accomplishments there is humor, sarcasm and wit. Even the illustrations are funny.
Here are two examples of nonrunning humor: “I was born with the dread that someone would punch me in the nose or, even worse, put his arm around me” (p 26), and “I never smoked. Buying something and then setting it on fire is incomprehensible” (p 47). Crack me up.

Despite Sheehan’s “keep away” attitude I found his advice to be warm, solid and comforting. If words could actually be all those things. I consider his expertise on the subject of putting one foot in front of another to be priceless.

This is not a Book Lust challenge book – just something I picked up because it’s reputation preceded it.

Moviegoer

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Percy, Walker. The Moviegoer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.

I felt like I was doing this book a disservice by reading it. I was bored half the time and I really couldn’t tell you why. I guess I didn’t fall in love with the main character as quickly or as easily as I wanted to. What is there to say? Binx “Jack” Bolling is a 29 year old stock broker who dates his secretaries. He’s good at what he does so he earns everyone (including himself) a lot of money. He appears to be a shallow man who spends most of his free time going to the movies. The majority of the story takes place in New Orleans which was fun. I have always been fascinating by that area of the south.
For the most part The Moviegoer was a social commentary on a man who prefers to watch life from the sidelines. He doesn’t spend a great deal of effort actually getting out there and making things happen. He has no clue who he is. Probably the most telling moment of the story is when Binx is being questioned: “‘What do you love? What do you live by?’ [he is asked.] I am silent'” is his reply (p 226). He can’t even answer the question of what he holds sacred, of what makes him live.

Best funny lines, “Oh the crap that lies lurking in the English soul” (p 26). Anytime someone uses the word “lurking” in a sentence I’m a fan. “Whenever I feel bad, I go to the library and read controversial periodicals” (p 100). The librarian in me loves the fact he goes to the library and he used the word periodical!

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust and mentioned three times: first, in the chapter called “Companion Reads” (p 65). I was supposed to read The Moviegoer with The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner (which I already read), The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, and A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee. All four books represent being more of a spectator to life than a participant. The second time The Moviegoer is mentioned in Book Lust is in the chapter “New Orleans” (p 168), the reason why I read the book in August. The last place The Moviegoer is mentioned is in the chapter “Southern Fiction” (p 223).

Sandman Slim

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Kadrey, Richard. Sandman Slim. New York: Harper Collins, 2009

This book was brought to me by the Early Review program at LibraryThing. This is my 27th? book. I think. Sometimes writing these reviews scares the crap out of me. What if I have no clue what I’m talking about? What I love a book although I don’t understand it? Such is the case with Sandman Slim.I honestly do not know how to describe this book. Horror? Fantasy? Supernatural? Funny as all hell (pun totally intended)? Kadrey has the sarcasm and biting wit that keeps Sandman Slim down to Earth, yet the violence and creatures main character James Stark encounter is nothing short of unearthly. Stark is back from Hell (literally), although he calls it Downtown. He prowls his way through LosAngeles witha score to settle with the magic circle – particularly one Mason Faim – responsible for killing his girlfriend, Alice. James has ammunition, a fortune-telling coin (reminiscent of the Joker in the latest Batman flick), a black bone knife, an infernal key that unlocks more than just a simple door and a 200 year old friend named Vidocq. Sandman Slim is full of interesting characters and Kadrey takes full advantage of bringing them to life even when they should be dead (James himself walks around withtwo bullets rattling around in his ribcage). My favorite scenes are the flashbacks with Alice. The entire time I was reading Sandman Slim I kept thinking it would make a great movie. I would cast Anthony Bourdain as the lead.

Another thing I wanted to add is that this copy looks and feels good. I don’t know about you, but I love when a good just feels good in my hands.

Line I hope is kept: “She goes into the kitchen, rattles some drawers, and comes back with a hefty kitchen knife. Nice. She’s getting into the spirit of things” (132). This is a scene when James is trying to convince someone she can’t hurt him. Literally. Love it.

Scarlet Letter

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Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Literary Classics, 1987.

I had to write a book report on this in high school (who didn’t?) then I had to write a critical analysis complete with symbolic meaning and themes in college. I don’t remember what grade I got on the high school paper. Not to brag, but I’m sure it was an A because high school lit classes were easy. In college my paper received a B+/A- because a) I didn’t quote the professor teaching the class (he was an authority on The Scarlet Letter apparently), and b) I didn’t delve deeper in the sexual side of Hester. 19 year old me wanted to concentrate on sin and the effects of that sin on everyone. To me, that’s exactly what The Scarlet Letter is all about.

The Scarlet Letter opens with Hester Prynne being led to the stocks. She is the sinner and as a result is being publicly ridiculed. Her crime is having an adulterous affair that resulted in the birth of a baby girl. She not only won’t disclose the father of her child, but she won’t repent for her affair. She is condemned to wear the letter ‘A’ as a punishment, as a constant reminder to the community that she is an adulteress. While there is residual shame, Roger Chillingworth does not want the public to know Hester is his wife. There is honor in Hester’s scandal – because she refuses to give up the name of her lover. Dignity prevails and she outwardly bears the burden of shame alone. Her lover also shoulders the guilt of sin in his own way as he plays an important part of the community.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in two different chapters. First, “Literary Lives: The Americans” (p 144). Second, “Wayward Wives” (p 231).

August ’09 Is…

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August is a long awaited trip homehome. August is the trials and tribulations of hiring. August is a little Avett Brothers, drums and Sean for music. August is getting back to cooking. August is so many different things, including a goal of 84 miles. Don’t ask. Here’s what August is for books:

  • The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester (the easiest way to celebrate National Language Month.)
  • The Moviegoer by Walker Percy (Marking the anniversary of hurricane Katrina later this month – The Moviegoer takes place in New Orleans.)
  • Mutual Friend by Frederick Busch (Celebrating Busch’s birth month.)
  • Turbulent Souls by Stephen J. Dubner (Blame it on someone else month. I think I’ll have to wait for the review to explain this one.)
  • These Tremendous Mountains by David Freeman Hawke (Celebrating the expedition of Lewis and Clark)
  • Wind, Sand & Stars by Antoine Du Saint (August is National Aviation Month)

And for LibraryThing it is: Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey and I really, really should reread the one Early Review book I didn’t get around to reviewing, Honeymoon in Tehran by Azadeh Moaveni.

For fun it’s a bunch of running band vegetable books. Go figure.

July ’09 Was…

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July ’09 was yesterday, but it was also a really fun month (despite the pool letting go). First there was meeting a friend for dinner and asking her to come work for me! Then there was Rebecca Correia’s Iron Horse show. Of course I rallied the troups (all 12 of us!) and we had a great time. I really need to blog about the three-way Kisa had with the girls and who can forget the Wicked Wally?
How could I forget Boston? The trip into the city was amazing because the company couldn’t have been more perfect. They caught the mandarin fish! I have a few pictures from the day of my way, but I’m dying to see theirs!
July was also the return to running. I am proud to say I logged 35.21 miles in July.

  • The Skull Mantra by Eliott Pattison ~ this one stayed with me for awhile. I think it should be a movie.
  • The Stillmeadow Raod by Gladys Taber ~ cute.
  • Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx ~ ugly.
  • The Enemy by Lee Child ~ fascinating. Can’t wait to read the others!
  • Morningside Heights by cheryl Mendelson ~ middle class society in Manhattan.
  • The Light That Failed by Rudyard Kipling ~ a little tough to get into at first.
  • The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne ~ back to a classic!

For the fun of it:

  • Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman

I was supposed to read a couple of Early Review books but only one arrived in July. I will have to review it in August (I’m reading it now).

Morning Star and a confession

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Bantock, Nick. Morning Star, In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine is Illuminated. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2003.

I was first introduced to the Griffin & Sabine stories back in 1992. The series appealed to me on so many different levels. As an avid, no rabid letter writer I relished the idea of reading someone else’s mail. As a creative, romantic type I was drawn to the amazing artwork. There was something sensual and slightly erotic about each envelope and postcard. Visually stunning, the colors and images race off the page.

Morning Star was no different. I was held captive by the gorgeous illustrations, the illicit thrill of ‘opening’ each letter and gently extracting someone else’s prose. The passion on the pages made my fingertips tremble. Being separated from that one great love was something I truly connected with. I have felt that sense of longing for someone so far away. What didn’t speak to me was the storyline. For all the “unraveling of unreliable reality” I was getting lost. It was almost as if the story had transpired into a foreign language and I somehow lost my book of translations.

I have to ask. When this book came out, did You see it? If so, did You think of me? Did You want to buy it, keep it, have it, remember me with it? Everything was so long ago. That river of time has flowed on, despite it all.
To answer my own question – Didn’t think so.

Morningside Heights

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Mendelson, Cheryl. Morningside Heights. New York: Random House, 2003.

I need to start off by saying wordy books are hard for me to get into right away. It takes me somewhat longer to “feel” the story, if that makes any sense. Mendelson has a doctorate in philosophy and she has practiced law in New York City. Teacher, philosopher, lawyer, and now writer. Morningside Heights is her first novel. Maybe it’s the combination of all these professions that creates the need for lots and lots of words to set the scene, any scene. True, there is more than enough social commentary to analyze, but, there is also more than enough description as well.

Here’s one of my favorite quotes: “The oligarchs wanted to keep all the bourgeois pleasures for themselves, along with the money, while proletarianizing everyone else, squeezing people with overwork and low pay, corrupting the liberal political forms so that they only answered to cash” (p 120).

Morningside Heightsis the first of a trilogy of novels about an area of New York City called Morningside Heights. Like Astoria is a part of Queens, Morningside Heights is a neighborhood in Manhattan. For as long as anyone can remember it has been a quiet, affordable community but lately, as older residents pass away, their apartments are being sold to upscale “suits” creating an economy the lifelong tenants ca no longer afford. The story centers around Anne and Charles Braithwaite and their circle of family and friends. As the neighborhood changes so does the social structure that the Braithwaites have come to rely on. Everything they hold sacred – their culture – is compromised until finally they are forced to consider a new life…in the suburbs.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “New York, New York” (p 170). Also, from More Book Lust in the chapters, “Barsetshire and Beyond” (p 16) and “Maiden Voyages” (p 159). I disagree with this last inclusion. Maiden voyage implies first book, fiction or nonfiction. Morningside Heights is actually Mendelson’s second book. First fiction, yes. But, not first book.

Light That Failed

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Kipling, Rudyard. the Light That Failed. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1914.

I have to start off by saying seeing a swastika imprinted in this book gave me a start. This hated image got me thinking. What were Kipling’s political leanings? Was he actually a Nazi sympathizer? Even though the swastika in The Light That Failed was “backwards” or counter clockwise, I still questioned the meaning behind it. After doing a little research I discovered Kipling used the Indian symbol of good luck (typically paired with an elephant and a lotus flower – although my copy did not have either of these images). The Nazis adopted the swastika symbol for themselves in the 1920s, six years after my version of The Light That Failed was published.

This book was hard for me to get into, at first. The story didn’t roll off the pages as easily as other war-time novels. The Light that Failed follows the life of Richard Heldar, a soldier turned painter. The story begins with Dick as a child with his companion, Maisie, shooting a pistol by the ocean. This opening scene lays the foundation for the competitiveness they will share later in life. It also begins Dick’s never ending love for Maisie despite the fact they will have gone their separate ways by adulthood. Dick spends some time as a soldier in Sudan and makes some lifelong friends, but it’s after the war when he returns to London, England that the story really picks up. Dick comes home to be an artisit and to paint. His depictions of war become popular and his talent is exposed. Ironically, it is that same war that brought him fame that also brings his downfall.

Favorite lines, “Dick’s soul is in the bank. He’s working for cash” (p 64), and “I’m not going to belong to anybody except myself” (p 81).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter, “Balkan Specters” (p 31) although Bosnia is but a fraction of the plot.
ps~ Also, I should add – Because this book is out of copyright it’s available on the web.

Enemy

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Child, Lee. The Enemy.New York: Delacourte Press, 2004.

If given the entire afternoon and evening I could have finished this book in one sitting. I loved it. It had just the right balance of good guy with a bad attitude; just the right amount of law and order verses crime and chaos. I can see why Pearl was mesmerized by the writing of Lee Child because I was, too.

The Enemy opens with a heart attack. A two-star general is found dead of an apparent heart attack. Within hours his wife is murdered. Within days two special forces soldiers are murdered, one at a time. At the center of each death is Jack Reacher, a complicated military cop. Ordinarily considered one of the best, suddenly Reacher is starting to look more like a suspect instead. Normally a loner, Reacher finds himself working with a young, female partner trying to clear his name. It is obvious he is being set up and Reacher will stop at nothing to get to the truth including going AWOL and much worse. The Enemy is peppered with military jargon and violence but not overwhelmingly so. Reacher has a likable character. He is human enough to do the wrong thing from time to time. How he gets out of the trickier situations really makes the story. I was fascinated from start to finish.

One thing I was really drawn to was the fact there were four murders (teeny spoiler there) and all four murders *seemed* to be staged. The general wearing the condom, Carbone’s over-the-top sex crime, Brubaker’s drug dealing…and…now, I really would be spoiling it if I said anything about the fourth murder!

Best lines, “They don’t like you, they don’t bring you coffee. They knife you in the back instead” (p 4). I saw this as premonition of sorts.
“My brother was a man horrified by anything less than the best” (p 75).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, ” Lee Child: Too Good To Miss” (p 41). Nancy Pearl says it was Lee’s book, Persuader that sold her on reading everything else he wrote. She suggested starting with The Enemy since it’s the first Reacher book of the series. I agree.

Close Range

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Proulx, Annie. Close Range: Wyoming Stories. New York: Scribner, 1999.

I am fascinated by Wyoming. Have been ever since I was a teenager. I think it started when a boyfriend of mine enthralled me with stories of Coffin Lake. It sounded so beautiful and wild and so far away. Close Range is a collection of short stories that take place in Wyoming. Here is a list of the short stories:

  • “The Half Skinned Steer” ~ a creepy story about an over-eighty year old man who travels from New England to Wyoming by car for his brother’s funeral. It’s an odd story because he and his brother weren’t close. Favorite line, “He wanted caffeine. The roots of his mind felt withered and punky” (p 29) and “He traveled against curdled sky” (p 34).
  • “The Mud Below” ~ a desperate tale about a man obsessed with bull riding because it’s all he knows how to do.
  • “Job History” ~ Literally, a fast-forward version of the job history of Lee Leland.
  • “The Blood Bay” ~ okay, I admit it. I don’t know how to describe this story. Just read it for yourself!
  • “People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water”
  • “The Bunchgrass Edge of the World” ~ Girl talks to a tractor.
  • “Pair a Spurs” ~ favorite line, “I get the rough end a the pineapple every day” (p 153).
  • “A Lonely Coast”
  • “The Governors of Wyoming”
  • “55 Miles to the Gas Pump”
  • “Brokeback Mountain” ~ I think everyone knows this story, thanks to the movie.

Confessional: I read Close Range at the same time as Stillmeadow Road by Gladys Taber. Bad idea. Not because one made the other worse. It was just that they were too completely different books and the contrast made it difficult for me to concentrate.

Close Range: Wyoming Stories sets a very harsh, violent, sad landscape for its characters. Poverty and a sense of futility is in every story. Every situation is a lesson in survival and dealing with the crappy hand you have been dealt. Words like stark and bleak and depressed come to mind. The characters are born into a way of life that has barely any opportunity for change. There is no easy means of escape. The brutality of the landscape is matched only by the grit of its inhabitants.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Companion Reads” (p 64).

Up the Down Staircase

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Kaufman, Bel. Up the Down Staircase. New York: Avon Books, 1964.

I admit it. I left work in a hurry. I didn’t clean up my desk and I didn’t pack my books. So, I had a weekend with nothing to read. True, I had some loose ends to finish up (Close Range turned out to be not my thing), but determining that didn’t take all weekend. Desperate for something that would be a quick read I found Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman. Funny! I was supposed to read this sometime in May. Oh well. It ended up being a July 11th read.

In the spirit of every new-to-the-business, green educator, Sylvia Barrett is no different than all the rest. Every first year teacher can claim Up the Down Staircase illustrates his or her career. When Sylvia begins her first term in New York’s Calvin Coolidge high school she has nothing short of big dreams and great expectations. Within days she discovers her classes, her students, fellow teachers and the entire school administration are nothing like she imagined. Getting through to the students is an exercise in swimming in quicksand. Getting through to the administration is like screaming into the wind. In both situations Sylvia plods through with humor and grace. What makes this book such a pleasure to read is how the story is communicated. Through “intraschool communications,” homework assignments, suggestion box missives, and letters to a friend Sylvia’s teaching triumphs and tragedies come to life.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Teachers and Teaching Tales” (p 230).

Lucky Girl, Dumb Me

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Yes, this will be a book review – eventually. But first, first it is a confession. Lucky Girl: a Memoir by Mei-Ling Hopgood came to me as an Early Review book last spring. I remember its arrival clearly because its the first early review I finished in the new house. I also remember reading it just as clearly because I finished while I was lying in bed sick, just hours before I was to head to Bolton for a 60 mile cancer walk. What I don’t remember doing is writing a review for Lucky Girl. Somehow, after getting sick, walking 60 miles, having my mother as a house guest and going home to Maine I missed writing a LibraryThing review. Even though I don’t remember writing it, I never for a second thought that I didn’t. Imagine my surprise, no – my shock when I was gently reminded I am missing one Lucky Girl review! LibraryThing now has a way to track books someone has received as an Early Review. The database tracks when you receive a book and when you review it. It was on this page that I learned I failed to review not one, but TWO books. I knew about one – the one I didn’t finish, but Lucky Girl??? Lucky Girl!? I could have sworn I wrote something. I finished it on May 15th, 2009.

Better late than never, here it is. The review for Lucky Girl: a Memoir by Mei-Ling Hopgood.

Hopgood, Mei-Ling. Lucky Girl: a Memoir. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2009.

One of the best things about reading a memoir is when it is a happy one. When the author has had a reasonably good life and has an even better attitude about it. It was refreshing to read a story about an adopted individual who a) knew all along she had been adopted as an infant,  b) was actually okay with it, and c) had no desire to hunt down her birth family if only to ask “why did you give me up?” There was no malice, no repressed feelings of abandonment or resentment. Hopgood had adjusted well to life with midwest American parents and bore no hard feelings toward the Taiwan family who couldn’t keep her. Hopgood’s memoir instead focuses on how her life changes when her Chinese family not only seeks her, but pulls her into their world. As she reconnects with her heritage the core of who she is culturally comes to the surface. She gains a deeper understanding of what it means to be American, to have Chinese roots, to have more family than she knows what to do with. In the end there is an element of forgiveness as well..even though she didn’t know she needed it. The honesty and humor that Hopgood writes with is delightful and the photographs are the perfect addition to an already enjoyable story.