Category: BookLust II

Remains of the Day

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Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. Read by Simon Prebble. Tantor Audio, 2012.

Stevens is a dignified butler who has been given some well deserved time off from his American employer, Mr. Farraday. Mr. Farraday has also given Stevens the use of his vehicle (including fuel), urging Stevens to take a road trip. But, Remains of the Day isn’t really about the vacation of Stevens, but rather the memory lane Stevens end up traveling down. On his driving tour Stevens thinks back over his years as a butler first with Lord Darlington and then with Mr. Farraday after Farraday purchases Darlington Hall and its contents, including the servants (“the whole experience” as he says). Heavy on Stevens’s mind is his he spent working with housekeeper Miss Kenton and his strained relationship with his now deceased father. All three were employed together with Lord Darlington. I have to admit, as an emotional person, the passing of Stevens’s father and how Stevens reacts was somewhat disturbing. If you read the book, pay attention to when Stevens tells a guest the doctor has been called. The guest thinks Stevens has called the doctor for his ailing feet (for he had just asked Stevens for bandages) and Stevens lets him think as much even though his father has just died, the real reason for the call.
Remains of the Day is more flashbacks than present day story. Stevens takes you on a journey to discover what it means to have dignity. He reveals a world where being proper is more important than having sentiment. He explores the meaning of loyalty not only to an employer, but to oneself.

Reason read: This is a companion read to A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee (which does not take place in Sri Lanka. See BookLust Twist for further details) but August is the bets time to visit Sri Lanka, or so I am told.

Author fact: This is Ishiguro’s third novel.

Narrator trivia: this is the second audio book I have listened to narrated by Simon Prebble. The first was Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Book trivia: Remains of the Day was made into a movie in 1993 and starred Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It received eight Academy Award nominations. Not too shabby. This is definitely one I want to put on my list to see.

BookLust Twist: Mentioned more than one in Book Lust and then again in More Book Lust. In Book Lust in the chapter called “Companion Reads” (p 65) – which is why I am reading Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee at the same time. Also, in the chapter called “100 Good Reads, Decade By Decade (1980s)” (p 179). Remains of the Day is also from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Sri Lanka: Exotic and Troubled” (p 212). Interestingly enough, Remains of the Day has nothing to do with Sri Lanka and is only mentioned in this chapter to describe the style of another book.

As an aside, I plan to go through all Book Lusts (Book Lust, More Book Lust and Book Lust To Go) to see how many books have nothing to do with the chapter they are mentioned in. I am curious to see how many books that eliminates – not that I won’t read them…

Nickel and Dimed

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Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2001.

What started out as an idea for an article for Harper’s quickly blossomed into a full blown New York Times bestselling book. In 1998 Barbara Ehrenreich set out to research how anyone lived on minimum wage and as she put it, “the only way to find out was to get out there and get my hands dirty” (p 4). So, at a time when welfare reform was sending millions of women back into the workforce, for three months writer-by-trade, PhD educated Ehrenreich joined the unskilled labor force to see what it was all about. The emphasis of the experiment might have been on surviving the economy of 1998 but a byproduct of that experiment was the truth that the further down the class ladder one lived, the more invisible one became. Ehrenreich tried her hand at being a waitress, a maid, a healthcare aide, and a Wal-Mart associate. It’s this last position that was a real eye opener for me.
In the back of my mind I wondered how “honest” Ehrenreich’s experiment really was. No matter how terrible her situation she always knew she could escape it and at times, she fell back on her “real” life. When she had a skin ailment she used her real life connections to get medication without seeing a doctor.

Personally, I have never been homeless although I know people who were, by choice. There was a time when I was without health insurance, but admittedly, at the healthiest time of my life. I have held several jobs at one time, not because I needed them, but because I wanted to make as much money as I could. I’ve never had a job that required a drug test of any kind. For all these reasons and more I couldn’t put myself in Ehrenreich’s shoes.

Reason read: Ehrenreich was born in August.

Author fact: Ehrenreich has her own website here.

Book trivia: Considering the subject matter, you would not think Nickle and Dimed would be funny in any way, but Ehrenreich writes with such sly humor that you can’t help buy crack a smile or maybe even giggle.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Guilt Inducing Books” (p 110).

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

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Maguire, Gregory. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Read by Jenny Sterlin. New York: Recorded Books, 2000.

Maguire likes to shake things up. We all know the story of Cinderella: ugly and horrid stepsisters, raging and sinister stepmother, glass slipper, dashing prince, yada, yada, yada. Maguire unhinges these characters, as if from a magic box, and sets them down as completely different entities. I think in order to enjoy Maguire’s adaptation of any fairytale you have to throw out everything you think you know about the villain and start over. He is adamant that every “bad guy” has a reason for his or her unpleasantness. Take the wicked stepmother in Cinderella. In Maguire’s Confessions her husband has been murdered. Fleeing England with her two small daughters she lands penniless in Holland. She has to rely on the kindness of strangers to feed three mouths and she is savvy enough to know her daughter (Iris and Ruth) are too ugly to be married off to wealthy suitors. They are going to need significant dowries if they are going to attract any man at all. She might not be the nicest of mothers, but it is obvious she is trying to look out for her children and herself. Survival of the fittest. In Maguires’ tale, Iris and Cinderella (known as Clara here) are tolerated friends. They even grow to care about one another. Of course there is a prince but the twist here is that he is intrigued by ugly stepsister Iris because she is witty and can carry on a conversation, unlike the throngs of pretty girls his mother has set him up to meet.
Probably the most interesting spin on Maguire’s take on Cinderella is the commerce side of the times. The tulip trade and art world of Holland play prominent roles in the story. Real events surrounding the crash of the tulip trade and actual artists of the region are cleverly portrayed. My favorite part is when Iris takes an interest in painting and takes lessons with the Master. Turns out, she’s not half bad!

Reason read: August is National Fairy Tale month.

Author fact: Maguire has roots in Albany, New York.

Book trivia: Confessions is Maguire’s second book. The illustrations are amazing (print version, of course).

Audio trivia: Jenny Sterlin does a great job with the accents.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fractured Fairy Tales” (p 94).

Ordinary Jack

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Cresswell, Helen. Ordinary Jack.New York: Macmillan Publishing, Co., 1977.

Jack Matthew Bagthorpe is one of four Bagthorpe children. He is convinced he is the ordinary one because all of his siblings have special talents or are considered “genius” except him. They are either mathematical, musical or sporty. Middle child Jack is none of these things. He (and his dog Zero) are practically ignored or shunned because of their lack of specialness. An accomplishment is a string in someone’s bow and Jack didn’t have a one. Uncle Parker is keen to Jack’s plight and sets out to make him extraordinary. Uncle Parker has decided Jack’s hidden talent will be the gift of prophecy, and later, of dowsing. The funny thing is, the Bagthorpe family come completely unglued when Jack’s “prophesies” start to come true. Of course, there is mayhem at the end. My favorite part is when Zero learns how to fetch. The family is completely dumbfounded by the event. You have to feel sorry for the dog!

Favorite line, “‘I have been given that information at least three times in the last hour and am by now in perfect possession of it'” (p 12).

Reason read: July is National Kids Month

Author fact: Cresswell also wrote for television.

Book trivia: Ordinary Jack is the first in the Bagthorpe Saga. I am only reading one other book in the series.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called ” Best for Boys and Girls” (p 21).

Faith Fox

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Gardam, Jane. Faith Fox. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003.

While the title of this book is Faith Fox, Faith is not the star of the show. The real star is her deceased mother, Holly. Holly Fox died of a blood clot while giving birth to Faith and her passing devastates everyone who knew her. Holly’s overly loving mother, Thomasina, can’t face the newborn who killed her daughter so she runs away with a widower, not even attending Holly’s funeral. Then there is Holly’s overworked doctor husband, Andrew, who can’t deal with a newborn emotionally or physically. He decides to cart the baby off to his brother Jack’s Tibetan commune in northern England. There, Andrew reconnects with his pre-Holly love interest, Jocasta (now married to Andrew’s brother, Jack). It is all of these characters that make Faith Fox so interesting. Threaded throughout the story is the push-pull struggle of north versus south England. Underlying prejudices shape certain characters and their behaviors.
This is one of those books you have to read carefully or else you might miss something. Gardam’s language is conversational, almost conspiratorial. It’s as if she is leaning in and speaking under her breath, all in a rush to tell you all the dirty secrets.

Reason read: Jane Gardam’s birth month is July.

Author fact: In 1999 Gardam was awarded the Heywood Hill Literary Prize for a lifetime’s commitment to literature.

Book trivia: This has been described as a “comedy of manners” in more than one review.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Jane Gardam: Too Good To Miss” (p 96).

“Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus”

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Harun, Adrienne. “The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus.” The King of Limbo. New York: Overlook Press, 2001.

This is such an interesting story! Frank Cocokowski is a reclusive and strange man. Alone with his thoughts in a big house he barely leaves, Frank begins a slow descent into madness. His only link to the outside world is by reading his estranged son’s small town newspaper. An article in the Salish Bay newspaper prompts Frank to write a letter of outrage to the editor. Only Frank knows nothing of Salish Bay or its problems. He poses as Andrew Glenn, a one-time resident of Salish Bay opposing the construction of a new development. His letter is so well articulated he soon gains a following and stops the construction. He then receives a weekly column in the paper. Needless to say, things become more complicated for Frank.

Best line, “Frank’s heart beat as mercilessly as if he had just entered the town naked on a horse” (p 71).

Reason read: June is short story month and this is the very last shorty I will be reading!

Story trivia: The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus won the Nelson Algren Award.

Author fact: Everyone describes Harun’s writing as elegant and beautiful. I would say haunting because they creep up on you, silent as a ghost, and leave you with a shiver.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 103).

Rose of Martinique

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Stuart, Andrea. The Rose of Martinique: a Life of Napoleon’s Josephine. New York: Grove Press, 2003.

Mrs. Bonaparte was born Marie-Josephe-Rose de Tascher de La Paerie on June 23, 1763 on the Caribbean island of Martinique (hence, the title of the book). Andrea Stuart feels a connection to Mrs. Bonaparte because of “personal identification” (p xi). Having grown up on the island of Martinique, Stuart is able to set the stage for us with wonderfully lush descriptions. She is able to tap into the beauty of the landscape because she experienced for herself. This commonality allows the reader an accurate portrait of Rose’s childhood home. That personal connection slips away when Rose is 15 and marries for the first time. She is sent to Paris where cultures and feminine expectations are completely different. Rose’s new husband sets up to educate Rose in the art of sophistication, a la Pygmalion style. But, when Rose does not rise to the challenge and cannot meet her husband’s unreasonable expectations, she is banished to a convent. Subsequently, Rose, mother of two, is separated by the age of 21 and the marriage has all but ended. Of course, Rose finds marriage again (notice I didn’t say love). Almost like the wolves of Washington, marriage is a partnership of business, while love is reserved for lovers. From here on out, Rose is Josephine.
I could go on and on about Stuart’s attention to detail. It’s obvious the woman did her homework. She refers to other biographies written about Mrs. Bonaparte and seems particularly interested in correcting the misconceptions about Josephine’s sexuality and relationships with other women. All in all, I found the writing fascinating.

Quote that stuck with me, “Brutality was an intrinsic part of plantation life and no child, however privileged or protected, could escape it ugliness or its savagery” (p 13).

Reason read: Mrs. Bonaparte was born in June.

Author fact: Stuart’s first book was Showgirls. Not what you think.

Book trivia: The Rose of Martinique includes beautiful illustrations.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Complex Napoleon” (p 55).

“Lukudi”

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Harun, Adrienne. “Lukudi.” The King of Limbo and Other Stories. New York: Overlook Press, 2001.

Natife is from Nigeria and knows the ways of lukudi, otherwise known as “wealthmagic” or black magic. Ever since Natife cured Carena’s skin ailment she knew he would be the perfect peer counselor for suicidal Ally Reisch. The key to getting close to Ally is to befriend her favorite horse, Denali and to protect her from the abusive Ciggy. Interestingly enough, Natife acquires a magical lighter from a man trying to get his brother to quit smoking. The lighter proves to be important in the relationship between Ally and Ciggy. Harun’s storytelling is magical.

Favorite line, “Some people have memory in their bones and will not die for many lives” (p 24).

Reason read: June is short story month.

Author fact: Harun has her own website here.

Book trivia: The King of Limbo and Other Stories is Harun’s first compilation of short stories.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 103).

 

 

 

“Birdland”

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Knight, Michael. “Birdland.” Goodnight, Nobody. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003.

Raymond, the protagonist of “Birdland,” knows how to capitalize on the African parrots that migrant every fall to his tiny town of Elbow, Alabama. The parrots have brought Ludmilla Haggarsdottir (aka The Blond), an ornithologist from New Hampshire. Having nowhere to stay, The Blond rents a room with Raymond and becomes his girlfriend. His second source of income is wood carvings of the parrots for all the tourists who “flock” to Elbow (pun totally intended). Elbow in and of itself is an interesting little community of less than 12 souls, all fixated on the game of college football. I fell in love with Raymond and his band of misfit neighbors. They live the simple life without telephones or tvs. The Blond is the most colorful thing he’s seen since the arrival of the parrots.

Quotes I loved, “The African parrot can live up to eighty years…and often mates for life, though our local birds have apparently adopted a more swinging sexual culture due to an instinctive understanding of the rigors of perpetuation in a non-indigenous environment” (p 5) and “I want to tell her that the past is not only for forgetting” (p 14).

Reason read: June is national short story month. Are you tired of me saying that?

Author fact: In 2003 Knight taught at the University of Tennessee. The sad thing is, when you do a Google search for “Michael Knight” the first thing that pops up is the television show “Knight Rider.”

Book trivia: I’m going to sound like a broken record saying this but most of Knight’s short stories appeared in magazines (like Playboy) before they were published as a collection.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the very simple chapter called “Parrots” (p 104).

“Crossing the Craton”

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McPhee, John. “Crossing the Craton.” Annals of the Former World. New York: Farrar, Straus and Grioux, 1998.

For starters, do not be intimidated by the subject matter: geology. McPhee writes with a folksy tone. Right away he is calling the reader “friend.” This is not to say the content of “Crossing the Craton” has been dumbed down. It hasn’t. McPhee doesn’t spare the reader from words like brachiopods, samarain, neodymium and nautiloids and his timelines are a confusing mess. It takes some getting used to but I have to say this, reading about the oldest rock (35 billion years old) from the Minnesota River Valley is pretty fascinating. “Crossing the Craton” is the last chapter in his behemoth book, Annals of the Former World and probably the shortest.

Best quote, “There would be more to tell you if you could sense what you can’t see” (p 626).

Reason read: I am treating the final chapter of Annals of the Former World as a short story since it is under 50 pages long. All the other “chapters” are actually separate books that I will be reading at different times.

As an aside, every since Natalie Merchant sang about the San Andreas fault I have always been curious about it. McPhee talks about it several times in “Crossing the Craton.”

Author fact: John McPhee has written over 24 different books. I only have six of them on my list.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Beckoning Road” (p 19).

Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home

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Winegardner, Mark. “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home.” That’s True of Everybody.New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2002.

How often do you think about bowling? If you aren’t a member of a league, probably not very often. So, when I read “The average American home, Harry had read in a magazine, no longer contained a bowling ball” (p 3) I thought to myself, I’m sure he’s right. No home of mine has ever had a bowling ball. But, in “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home” Harry has a reason for being worried about bowling balls. As the owner of a bowling alley in Cuyahoga, Ohio if he wants to stay in business, he needs to care. He has two daughters, one is an artist in New York who only paints phalluses and is married to a man with whom Harry has a passive aggressive relationship. His second daughter, Jane, helps with the bowling alley. The real meat of the story centers around the disappearance of Harry’s new hire after two weeks on the job. It becomes his private obsession. “Thirty Year Old Women” is a slightly depressing story. You can’t help but feel sorry for Harry. He is an overcompensating wimp who couldn’t be more accommodating to the people in his life.

Funny line to remember, “The penis, Harry thought, truly is a sad, slouchy little guy. (p 7).

Reason read: June is short story month.

Author fact: Winegardner is the director of the creative writing program at Florida State University (or, at least he was, in 2002).

Book trivia: Like most short story complications, some of the short stories have been published elsewhere.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 104).

Sound of Thunder

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Bradbury, Ray. “A Sound of Thunder.” R is For Rocket. New York: Doubleday, 1952.

This is an incredibly short story that packs a punch. It’s one of those simple as hell stories that makes you think for hours afterwards. Take Concept #1: At the heart of the story is a travel/safari company that advertizes, “Safaris to Any Year in the Past. You Name the Animal. We Take You There. You Kill It.” Let that digest. That alone is definitely something to ponder. Concept #2: The main character of the story, Eckles, wants to kill a dinosaur. Not just any dinosaur, but the king of all prehistoric lizards – the tyrannosaurus rex. Contemplate that. What would it take to kill such a beast? Concept #3: the safari can only kill an animal predestined to die or else the future will hang in the balance. Kill the wrong thing and you might upset the whole apple cart of life as you know it. And guess what, Eckles accidentally kills a butterfly, upsetting the path to the present. Concept #4: before leaving present day Eckles learns that a benevolent leader has just beaten out a tyrannical dictator for President. You can see where this is going.

Reason read: June is National Short Story Month

Author fact: Ray Bradbury’s site is here. I’m sure it’s not the only one dedicated to the writer.

Story trivia: “A Sound of Thunder” was first published in magazines like Playboy (1956).

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Time Travel” (p 220).

Earthly Possessions

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Tyler, Anne. Earthly Possessions. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1977.

This is a super quick read. The fact that it was a made-for-television movie back in the 90s should tell you something: really good but without prolonged drama; couldn’t make it to the big screen. Here’s the quick and dirty of the plot: Charlotte Emory is at the bank, waiting to clean out her savings so she can run away from her married life. She’s the bored housewife of a boring preacher. While waiting to change her whole life, suddenly it is changed for her. She gets caught up in a robbery and is taken hostage. Since her captor is practically half her age she isn’t exactly afraid of him, or the gun he waves in her face. Almost willingly Charlotte finds herself on a road trip with Jake Simms, Jr – demolition derby racer, escapee from jail, and father to his teenage girlfriend’s unborn child. The three make an interesting pair. Tyler’s writing is sharp and funny. She gives us alternating time frames, bouncing between Charlotte’s escape in present day and the past – as if to explain how Charlotte’s life ended up so complicated.

Lines I liked, “I tripped over a mustard jar big enough to pickle a baby” (p 6). Who thinks like that? Another one, “That prodding black nubbin in the hand of a victim of impulse” (p 49).

Reason read: June is the most popular month to get married in…and divorced in, too. I have no idea why.

Author fact: Tyler graduated from Duke University at the age of nineteen. Are you doing the math? If there were four years spent at Duke she would have entered college at the age of fifteen.

Book trivia: Earthly Possessions was made into a television movie in 1999 and starred Susan Sarandon as the bored housewife. I can picture that completely.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Marriage Blues” (p 161).

“How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life”

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Tinti, Hannah. Animal Crackers. “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life.”New York: Dial Press, 2004.

Holy cow does this short story creep up on you! I so want to spill the beans and spoil the ending, but I can’t! I must not! Suffice it to say this story will punch you in the gut and you will like it. Our protagonist is an unnamed former medical student who starts a wayward relationship with an edgy artist. You know from the first two sentences of the story that her relationship is doomed but what you don’t realize (until it’s way too late) is that this same woman has serious issues. There is a reason why she is a former medical student. When aforementioned edgy artist abruptly vanishes from her life he leaves behind a red tailed boa constrictor in her apartment and for awhile things are good. Until they aren’t. Like medical school, there is a reason why Fred says “don’t let the snake out of the cage.” I’ll leave it at that, except to say when Fred returns for his snake three months later, things are decidedly different at the former medical student’s apartment.

A shade of warning, “Then she turned and quietly fainted” (p 134).

Reason read: June is short story month

Author fact: Animal Crackers is Tinti’s debut.

Book trivia: the short story, “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life” is not mentioned on the inside flap so everything about the story was a complete surprise.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 103).

Inside Passage

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Modzelewski, Michael. Inside Passage: Living with Killer Whales, Bald Eagles, and Kwakiutl Indians. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to live on an island” (prelude to Inside Passage, p xi). This is how Modzelewski starts his book. Kismet. How Michael Modzelewski ends up living on an island is one of those right place-right time kind of deals. While in a relationship he knew wouldn’t work out he met a man who lived on a deserted island in the Inside Passage. For those not in the know, the Island Passage is the waterway from Seattle, Washington to Alaska. The rest is history. Modzelewski lives with his new friend, Will Malloff, for three weeks before being left alone in the northern wilderness. He soaks up every opportunity to learn that he can. From fishing with Kwakiutl Indians and trying to save a wounded eagle to diving with killer whales and cooking a Thanksgiving dinner in a wood burning cook stove. Modzelewski seizes every moment to make an adventure. The one problem with Inside Passage? It’s too short. I can overlook the fact he didn’t include photographs if he had just written a few hundred more pages! Inside Passage is a short 184 pages with acknowledgments.

Great quotes, “I soon learned that some people appear in our lives briefly to connect us to other people or events that carry a lasting impact” (p xv), and”Human beings fail to realize that in destroying other forms of life, we shrink our own range of possibilities” (p 117). Two more about the ocean, “The ultimate design is when there is nothing left to take away” and “In the sea I found my sky” (both on page 164).

As an aside, when you listen to Natalie Merchant give interviews she is always crediting a book, documentary, news article or museum show for her musical inspiration. Modzelewski is no different. He credits the movie Jeremiah Johnson as his turning point.

Reason read: June is the best time to visit British Columbia, according to a few travel sites.

Author fact: Modzelewski has written for Sports Illustrated and Outside magazine, but Inside Passage is his first book.

Book trivia: I am always disappointed when pictures aren’t included. I mean, come on! Check out the title to this book! I want to see killer whales, bald eagles and even a Kwakiutl Indian!

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Living High in Cascadia” (p 150).