Category: Book Reviews

Amy & Isabelle

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Strout, Elizabeth. Amy & Isabelle. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.

Amy & IsabelleBy sending me a copy last year, my sister introduced Amy & Isabelle way before Nancy did. An advanced reader copy, in fact. This was a BookLust reread because I couldn’t remember how it ended (one of the book lust rules is remembering the story). I think I read it too fast the first time around. That always happens to me with the really good ones. I tear through words and pages and chapters because I need to know What Happens Next. And Next. And Next. I think I’ve said it before, but I sift through words, looking for phrases that catch my imagination, rattle my heart. I underline them to lay claim to them. My favorite from Amy & Isabelle is from page 232, “…and then roof of her life collapsed…” I also to admit I was excited to see the words ‘jesum crow’ (p.224). I spell it j-e-e-z-u-m but I think the phase is a Maine thing through and through. (Amy & Isabelle takes place in Maine.)

Isabelle and Amy are in a typical mother-daughter relationship. Amy is a coming-of-age 16 year old. This is the story of her alienation from her mother, thanks to an exploration of sexuality that her mother, Isabelle is not ready to admit her daughter is capable of, much less ready for. They live alone with each other and must deal with their love/hate struggles without the distraction or guidance or stability of a man to call husband or father. The psychology of this story runs pretty deep. When Amy gets her period for the first time her mother shoves pamphlets at her, thinking it’s better than how her mother handled it by not saying anything at all.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter, “It was a Dark & Stormy Novel” (p128).

About Time

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Davies, Paul. About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

About TimeI am often snagged by great one-liners. Here’s one of my favorites from About Time. “We are slaves of our past and hostages to the future” (p23). It’s a standard idea. Nothing too dark or deep. What I liked was the mental imagery of being tethered to the past. I have this particle theory and it somehow applies.

I have to admit, I categorized tagged this book on librarything as “attempted” because after 88 pages I sent it home. Maybe I’m too distracted by the other books I’m reading. Maybe I’m too distracted by all things work. Maybe I’m just too distracted. Period. Whatever the reason, I am bored by this book. There are parts that fascinate me. Einstein’s “twin” theory is amazing. But, for the most part it’s like watching paint dry. It doesn’t interest me the way it should. This is the first book I’m using the “50 page Rule” on. See Rule #2.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust‘s chapter called “Science Books for the Interested but Apprehensive Lay Person.” Pearl elaborates on p. 212 saying, “About Time…makes a mind-boggling topic as understandable as it can be for nonphysicists. (If you only had time to read it.) Well, I attempted to make the time!

House of Sand & Fog (w/ sorta spoiler)

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House of Sand and FogDubus III, Andre. House of Sand and Fog. New York: Vintage, 2000.

The whole time I was reading this I kept thinking two things. First, why can’t these people communicate, and how much am I missing because I’m not understanding the culture? What’s getting lost because I’m lost on the psychology? I kept mentally screaming, “you simply are not getting it!” first at one character, then another and another.

From the very beginning of this novel I felt as if I were a puppet – being played by both and all sides. I felt sorry for everyone involved and couldn’t decide who deserved my sorrow more. The Iranian family because Father had to work two jobs and they lived beyond their means behind a veil of pride and culture? The down-on-her-luck girl who lost her house because she wasn’t on top of her A game? The cop who was stuck in a loveless marriage and displayed Robin Hood crookedness whenever he saw fit? Everyone in our society who can’t pronounce Middle Eastern names? The drowning in paperwork county that messed everything up in the first place?

It’s the story of misunderstanding. When Kathy Nicolo loses her house to the country for owed taxes on a business she never had the miscommunications begin. When her house is sold to Massoud Amir Behrani the misunderstandings continue. Things become further complicated by Lester Burdon, a deputy sherrif who does things his own way. Caught in the web are Behrani’s family. Innocent and slightly less obsessed.

When people start to die, I decided I was sorry for everyone involved. Most of all I was sorry for the lack of communication whether it was complicated by culture or not.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust (p.129): Included in the chapter “It Was a Dark & Stormy Novel.”

6 Nightmares

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6 NightmaresLake, Anthony. 6 Nightmares. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 2000.

The subtitle to this book is, “Real Threats in a Dangerous World and How America Can Meet Them.” Yikes. What was even more yikes for me was the fact that this book was written in 2000…October. Not even a year before the attacks of September 11th, 2001.  It gave me such goosebumps to read this Book Lust pick. Lake states things like, “If such an attack occurs [wmd], we must be able to say, looking back on this period, that we did everything we could to prevent it and to deal with its devastating consequences. The hard truth is that we are not doing so” (p. 21). While the U.S. hasn’t been hit with the kind of weapon of mass destruction Lake means, it’s sobering to think commercial flights were turned into weapons with “devastating consequences” less than a year after those words had been published.

In addition to scaring the bejeezus out of me, Lake writes lyrically and with humor. “The collapse of the Soviet Union and its empire has lifted the lid on a seething cauldron of suppressed hostilities” (p113). I loved this imagery. Seething is one of my favorite words, probably because I do the verb so often. This passage reminded me of Natalie Merchant’s song, “This House is on Fire” (2001) from her album, Motherland. In it she states, “you go passing wrong for right and right for wrong. People only stand for that for just so long.” There’s that seething again.
The humor came with a little pun-intended remark, “…in this case we wanted to saddle up, and Chirac did not put Descartes before our horse” (p.150). It made me giggle at an otherwise tense moment. Comic relief? There were hundreds of little tongue-in-cheek gigglers. I just liked that one the best.

Lake pointed out many different opportunities for the U.S. to be at risk. He lists past enemies as well as potential future ones, giving careful reason for each threat. He doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, but he certainly gives us something to think about.

BookLust Twist: From chapter 9/11 in Book Lust. Pearl recommends this as “background reading” (p172).

Music Lesson

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Weber, Katharine. The Music Lesson.

Music LessonI picked up Weber’s second novel after reading her debut novel Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear. In Objects I fell in love with the narration immediately. The writing was so fluid I hoped everything Weber wrote would read the same way.  
I liken Music Lesson to that of a second kiss. It’s not as good as the very first one yet still highly enjoyable. When I found out it was part of the Book Lust Challenge I almost put it on my “must reread” list because I liked it so much.
It’s the story of Patricia. She guards a stolen painting in a cottage in Ireland. Alone. Alone with her troubled past and complicated future, Patricia has time to contemplate the crossroads. The stolen painting becomes more than just “art” to her. It guides her through a metamorphism and an awakening.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust under the heading of “Irish Fiction” (p126).

To learn more about one of my favorite authors, Katharine Weber, go here.

Child of Darkness

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Child of DarknessFurui, Yoshikicki. Child of Darkness; Yoko and Other Stories. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1997.

I’ll be the first to admit it. In the beginning pages I wasn’t connecting to this book at all. The first story, “Yoko”,  opens with a nameless, faceless, ageless man hurrying down a mountain. He comes across a women sitting on a rock in a ravine. She’s stuck, not by a force of nature, but a force of her own mind. She can’t move from her perch and needs him to help her get down. Later she blames the incident on acrophobia. What’s interesting is this is the one place in the entire story where the same scene is described from both her and his point of view. Later her issues are only described as an “illness” and the word acrophobia never resurfaces. It is suspected that the illness is shrouded in vagrity because the Japanese view mental illness as a taboo subject. Yoko is a strange woman. Sane one minute, paralyzed by her illness the next. The rest of the story is how the nameless, faceless (now we know he is young) man copes with a relationship with Yoko. Half accepting her mental state as is, half wanting to “cure” her.

The next story also deals with mental illness but from the perspective of someone who is dying of cancer (also a taboo subject in Japan). I am more sympathetic towards the cancer victim. There is a sense of insanity when you have been told you have the disease. I can only imagine what depths your psyche would sink to when you are told it’s terminal.

The third and final story is also about sinking into insanity. This time a
These stories, translated by Donna George Storey, also includes her critiques. It’s interesting to rewalk the stories with an analytical map. It’s like seeing a city for the second time after you learn it’s history. Everything looks different.

BookLust Twist: Under the heading “Japan Fiction” Nancy Pearl calls Child of Darkness “dark.” Yup (p. 32).

Is There a Nutmeg in the House?

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David, Elizabeth. Is There a Nutmeg in the House; Essays on Practical Cooking with More Than 150 Recipes. New York: Viking, 2001.Nutmeg

Elizabeth David writes with humor. She also writes about cooking. My kind of book. Sorta. In the rules of the Book Lust Challenge, I said that I wouldn’t read cookbooks from start to finish. I would read the intros and “skip” the recipes. I didn’t want to try every recipe; didn’t want to be David’s version of a Julia Child fanatic. Here’s the issue I have with Nutmeg. Essays run seamlessly into recipes and commentaries. I end up reading about how to make mayonnaise (my archenemy) step by step.
Nevertheless, I have learned interesting things such as:
          *the potato is an aphrodisiac, capable of advancing a man’s “withered state” (p. 73). I kid you not.
          *Nutmeg is underrated and people should carry graters with them to utilize this spice more often (p. 93). 
          *David hates garlic presses as much as I do (p.51). 
Probably one of the best things I’ve learned from reading David’s Nutmeg isn’t really a lesson. It’s more of an affirmation – to “not to despair over rice” (p.139). While I don’t despair over any kind of rice per se thanks to Alton Brown and a whole episode dedicated to the grain, David’s words ring true with me on a deeper level, “Every amateur cook, however gifted and diligent, has some weak spot, some gap in her knowledge or experience which to anyone critical of her own achievements can be annoying and humiliating.” This statement even knocks the great ones down a notch. Ever seen Bobby lose a throw down? You get what I’m talking about.

BookLust Twist: Nancy Pearl adds this to her “Food for Thought” chapter in Book Lust (p.91) and goes on to say, “…Elizabeth David not only shares her love of food and cooking  but writes so evocatively that you can smell and taste the ingredients and dishes as she describes them.”

The Cage

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Schulman, Audrey. The Cage. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 1994.Cage

As soon as I saw this book I knew I would read it in one day. The Cage is only 228 pages long. The storyline is simple. Beryl is a young photographer, known for her moving portraits of animals. She is recruited for an assignment in Manitoba to take stills of polar bears in their natural habitat. The catch is the assignment involves working with three other men and a cage barely big enough to contain her. Nothing will stand between her and the bears except for the much anticipated cage. When the cage didn’t make it’s debut in the story until p.150 and it was afforded a few pages of description (Beryl sits in it only twice), I knew the Cage was a metaphor for something bigger: Beryl’s life. She is confined by her insecurities, her rigid sense of self. She is uncomfortable with relationships and intimacy, constantly jittery and unsure. “She sometimes wished she had ears like a cat so she could fold them back as cats do then people pushed their faces in too close” (p. 45).
Beryl and her crew spend some time in Churchill before going out on the expedition. There, Beryl befriends a local and spends some time bear watching at the local dump. It reminded me of an episode of Northern Exposure when Ed & his date go to the dump to watch the bear forage for food.
Needless to say, the expedition ends with death. Beryl even speaks of the impending doom as a premonition the night before. I was shocked by the tragedy even though I knew it was coming. It was a given someone had to (and would) die by bear. It’s like the proverbial gun in the first act, by the third act it needs to go off. Schulman did a great job leaving the story open. Ultimately, I was unsure exactly who survives. I closed the book wondering what Beryl was going to do next. Just the way I like a book to end.

BookLust Twist: This selection comes from Book Lust’s “Adventure By the Book: Fiction” chapter (p. 7).

13 Clocks

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Thurber, James. The 13 Clocks.New York: Simon & Schuster, 1950.clocks

Even though it took me less than an hour to read 13 Clocksfrom start to finish I enjoyed every second of it. Illustrated by Mark Simont, this was fun to look at, too. Where to begin with this wonderful children’s story? It’s a fairy tale, it’s poetry in motion. For starters, it has a lot of alliteration however silly, “You sicken me with your chocolate chatter…” (p. 110). Huh? It’s clever and heroic, funny as a fairy tale. Typical story: beautiful maiden is locked in a castle. She is being held captive by her cruel uncle (not) and can only be saved by a prince. Of course there is the typical, impossible challenge her captive gives all suitors. Each in turn typically fails until one can outwit the captor. Which one does, of course. All fairy tales have to have a happy ending, right? There is even a “message” at the end. The happy couple is told, “remember laughter. You’ll need it even in the blessed isles if Ever After” (p. 120). Didn’t someone say that to me on my wedding day? But, I have to admit my favorite line was uttered by the villain, “We all have flaws,” he said, “and mine is being wicked” (p. 114). I told you I have a black cloud.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust under the chapter, “Not Only for Kids: Fantasies for Grown-ups” (p.175).

Girls’ Guide To Hunting

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Girls GuideBank, Melissa. The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing. New York: Penguin, 2000.

This is another book I picked up before the Book Lust Challenge. I think it’s from my sister, yet I found it in my mother’s collection at home. I loved Melissa Bank’s narrative in the beginning when the main character, Jane, is a child. She’s a little too smart for her age. Unfortunately, as Jane gets older, the voice/narrative loses some of it’s wit, sarcasm and charm. All in all what fascinated me was Bank’s ability to mature Jane through voice. The story about the neighbor was the only part that threw me because I took all the other stories to be about Jane, even the one about cancer. The neighbor story didn’t seem to fit with the sequence as well. 

I find it interesting that it’s now being made into a movie (due to be released this year).

BookLust Twist: From Pearl’s Book Lust in the chapter “Chick Lit” (p. 53). How appropriate!

Griffin & Sabine

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Bantock, Nick. Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991.

Griffin & SabineNick Bantock’s trilogy evokes very romantic feelings for me. Way before Book Lust the first offering in the trilogy, Griffin & Sabine was given to me by a secret lover. 23 years old, I was in lust/love with the bearer, and I think initially as a direct result, the book won my instant favor as well. Later, I determined it was an aphrodisiac for the mind as I repeatedly poured over each gloriously illustrated page (also by Bantock). I was as careful and as loving as a caress. The delicious unfolding, opening, and reading of letters and postcards was as tantalizing and seemingly illicit as my affair. Never mind the storyline of ill-fated lovers, destined to never be together, however passionately in love. That wasn’t only what excited me. The artwork drew me in and captivated me to no end. If candles, soft music, and wine stir passion through sight, sound and palate then Griffin & Sabine is for the artistic intellect.Bantock

My affair has long since ended. The passion cooled to cold and I went on to marry someone warmer. I have kept every Bantock book ever given to me and will continue to collect them. For kids of all ages and passions on all levels.

Caine Mutiny

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Wouk, Herman. The Caine Mutiny. New York: Doubleday, 1951.Caine Mutiny

I read this book before I took on the BookLust Challenge, even before I even knew of Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust at all. I read it because it was one of my dad’s favorites (although, when I think back I think he was referring to the 1954 movie version). When a 1951 edition fell into my hands last summer I couldn’t resist cracking it open, despite the fact I had always assumed Wouk to be a difficult read. I thought anything and everything he wrote would be filled with technical military terminology; guy fiction adventures I couldn’t possibly understand. I was wronger than wrong.

The Caine Mutiny was about a mama’s New York boy, Willie Keith, who joined the navy to avoid going into the more dangerous, death-sentence army during World War II. He fancied himself a musician and if it weren’t for the tour of duty he’d been in the bar, entertaining the fun-loving crowd, romancing a beautiful nightclub singer. He skated through practically everything from basic training to active duty. Only when Willie’s vessel was put through the dangers of a typhoon, and his acting Captain Queeg froze with indecision, did Willie rise to the challenge of assuming command. True, Willie had been growing up all along, but this was a heroic burst of responsibility. This act, among others, resulted in a court martial of Capt. Queeg and led to the most fascinating part of the book. The court-martial finale scrutinized all characters involved in the events leading up to trial so brutally that I was left wondering if assumption of command from Capt. Queeg was really necessary. There was much more to the story than that. such as the incident with the strawberries, but I’ll leave it at that. 

BookLust Twist: In Book Lust Wouk’s Caine Mutiny is mentioned twice, in “What a Trial That Was” (p. 243) and “World War II Fiction” (p. 253).

The Blue and the Gray

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CommagerCommager, Henry Steele, ed. The Blue and the Gray: From the Battle of Gettysburg to Appomattox.2nd ed. New York: Merridian, 1994.

I’ve never been overly excited by historical novels, especially ones that spit out fact upon arid fact. To say that I was not looking forward to reading Commanger’s Civil War book was an understatement. To my surprise, I am delighted with the reading. It is a delicious combination of letters, journals, diaries, newspaper reports and so forth. With all the first-hand accounting, it lends itself to a very voyeuristic snapshot of one of the most widely studied wars of our time. Rereading the Gettysburg Address didn’t make me feel like I was back in high school. I enjoyed discovering the origin of the speech. “David Wills asked Lincoln to make “a few appropriate remarks” and the result was the most memorable of all American addresses” (p.59). Wish I knew that in 7th grade.

Some of the more pondersome passages: “I could stand by and and see a man’s head taken off I believe – you get so used to it here” (Cornelia Hancock, nurse in Gettysburg p.187). Makes you think. “We called all hands and gave three cheers and a tiger!” (Captain George Hamilton Perkins, p. 212). What exactly is a tiger? All I could think was, “They’re Grrrreat”, the Tony-The-Tiger exclamation. Something to look up later.
PS~ In addition to being a fascinating read, Commager includes maps of significant battles, although they are hard to follow. Maybe because I have the paperback version? (Not the edition pictured here.) The images are cramped and  blurry.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust (p. 58) under the category of “Civil War Nonfiction.”

Among the Tibetans

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Bishop, Isabella Bird. Among the Tibetans.New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1894.Isabella Bird

Holding this egg fragile book is amazing. I know there is a 2003 edition out there, but this 113 year old edition is certainly more tantalizing, magical even. What is it about an old book, with it’s tired binding nearly gone, its cover frayed and faded, its thin pages brittle and yellowed? Even the illustrations in Among the Tibetans are glorious in their ancient detail. I know I’ve said it before, but a book that is a pleasure to hold is even more enjoyable to read.

From the very beginning, I loved the narrative of Tibetans. Bird seemed like someone I would have loved chatting with over tea. With statements like, “…of whom the less that is said the better…” (p.9) and, “…was prepared to ‘wink’ at a moderate amount of dishonesty, so long as it affected only myself.” (p. 23) I formed an instant opinion that I would liked her. The fact that she carried a pistol at all times only bolsters my opinion.

As for the work of Among the Tibetans, I was drawn to images of the culture, the landscape – everything that painted a portrait of Tibet; for I imagine it to be much the same in the 21st century. I want to believe travels to Tibet in 1894 would have been similar to such a journey today and I read Bird’s narrative with that in mind. The only thing I could wrap my narrow mind around was the descriptions of polygamy. A woman marries the eldest son, always, and his younger brothers are all sub-husbands to her. While I think it’s practical to keep the land, traditions and heritage all in the same family I don’t think I could handle more than one husband. One is my limit!

BookLust Twist: Pearl appropriately calls Bird, “one of the more dashing and irresistible travelers” (Book Lust, p143). I couldn’t agree more.

PS~ Among the Tibetans is cataloged as being written by Isabella Bird. I took the author’s name from the title page where she is described as, “Isabella Bird Bishop, Hon. Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Etc. Author of “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,” Etc., Etc.”

Collected Fictions

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Borges, Jorge Luis. Collected Fictions. Trans. by Andrew Hurley. New York: Penguin, 1998.Borges

I think anytime I read too many short stories in a row I tend to want each story to connect to the last. Like a string of pearls, cars of a train. It’s the wrong way to read them, I admit it. The cure for what ails me is to read slowly, digesting each story as if it were a single meal, designed to be eaten without accompaniment. As with any piece of written work, I am struck by phrases. Here is one of my favorites, “…said goodbye to myself in the mirror…” (p. 121). This stuck me not because it is am overly thought provoking statement(it is not), but rather because of it’s comment on society. We stop to stare at our image in the mirror (however critically), but how often do we say anything? I know me, myself & I. We just stare.

Other favorite parts include a short, short paragraph on toenails on p.296 (I thought of my husband for silly reasons) and a story called, ‘Captive’. ‘Captive’ is the story of a young boy who disappeared from home. After many years he is found and returned to his family. While happy to be home he “could not live a life that was hemmed about by walls and one day he went off in search of his wilderness” (p. 300). This all takes place in a handful of lines. Recently I read an article about a Cambodian woman found after 19 years in the wilds. She is having a hard time adjusting to society. Is it any wonder? I love it when fiction comes before reality.

All in all, I enjoyed Borges’s collection. The fact that he is a premier Latin American writer sweetened the deal because I was treated to cultures, ways of thinking, societies beyond these 50 states. In addition, Borges creates stories around Shakespeare, the Odyssey, and Quixote. A real pleasure to digest.

Booklust Twist: Mentioned in Book Lust in a list of Latin American authors (p.145)