A Life In Books

My first book of 2009 is one that I just bought using the bookstore gift card that was in my stocking: Among Other Things, I’ve Taken Up Smoking, by Aoibheann Sweeney. It is the story of Miranda, a young girl who grows up on an isolated island in Maine with her emotionally distant father, Peter. Her mother, we learn very early on, died when Miranda was quite young. Her father is consumed with his work on translating Ovid, when not mired in bouts of alcohol-infused depression. A local fisherman and friend of her father, Mr. Blackwell, provides a parental presence when Miranda is young, but by adolescence Peter’s petty cruelties have driven Mr. Blackwell away, and Miranda is left to grow up primarily on her own, and it seems she spends more time taking care of her father than the other way round.

As a teenager, she struggles with feelings of isolation, trying to find her place with her peers, and her unorthodox relationship with her father. After graduation, he announces that he has arranged a summer job for her in New York City, at the Classical Studies Institute he helped found before she was born. There she learns not only about her father’s personal history but about herself and the woman she has become.

Sweeney writes about serious and sensitive issues with empathy and Miranda is someone with whom many will identify, whether it’s the awkwardness of being a teenager, the conflicted relationship with her father, her sexuality, or any other number of issues that make her a fully realized character. Among Other Things, I’ve Taken Up Smoking was an auspicious beginning to my reading year and a promising debut from Sweeney.

Among Other Things was the winner of the 2008 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Debut Fiction, so it counts as one of my selections for the Book Awards Reading Challenge.

At some point over the coming year, I am probably going to end up kicking myself for this or at the very least, laughing hysterically at my wide-eye optimism, but I’ve decided to sign up for several challenges for 2009, in addition to the ongoing challenges I am still participating in (the Book Awards Reading Challenge, the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge, and the Countdown Challenge). One of the new challenges involves reading 100 books, and I think having other challenges will help me meet that goal. Here are the ones I’ve signed up for so far. If you are hosting or know of others that you think I should consider, please post about it in the comments section.

1. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
2. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
4. Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb
5. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
6. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
7. TBD
8. TBD
9. TBD
10. TBD
11. TBD
12. TBD

1. Theatre of Fish by John Gimlette
2. French Milk by Lucy Knisley
3. The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer

1. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
2. Angels of Destruction by Keith Donohue
3. The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon
4. TBD
5. TBD
6. TBD
7. TBD
8. TBD
9. TBD

1. How to be Good by Nick Hornby
2. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
3. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
4. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
5. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

1. Long: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
2. Free: Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby
3. Dusty: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
4. Used: The Museum Guard by Howard Norman
5. Letter: Lesley Castle by Jane Austen
6. Strange: The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
7. Distance: In the Wake by Per Petterson
8. Alive or Not: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
9. Cover: Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson

1. Profession: The Museum Guard by Howard Norman
2. Time of Day: Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
3. Relative: Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
4. Body Part: A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
5. Building: Lesley Castle by Jane Austen
6. Medical Condition: Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

We are now in the last hours of 2008, and I’m sitting here once again in my favorite comfy chair by a roaring fire, looking back on the year and the books I’ve read. I managed to read 61 books this year; the complete list is here. My first book was Everything Is Illuminated and my last book was Before Green Gables, and in between were a lot of great books, some average books, and thankfully just a very few that I didn’t really enjoy. Here are my 10 favorites from this year:

Away by Amy Bloom

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

The Girls by Lori Lansens

In Beauty May She Walk by Leslie Mass

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty

Open Secrets by Alice Munro

The Bird Artist by Howard Norman

The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson

Will Storr vs. the Supernatural by Will Storr

I’ve already got a pile of books to be read in 2009 stacked on my nightstand, on bookshelves, sitting on the kitchen counter and coffee table, not to mention all the books in my wishlist and those waiting to be discovered or published. I can’t wait to get started. Here’s to another great year of reading and I wish you all the best in 2009!

My last book of the year was Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson, a modern prequel to L.M. Montgomery’s classic Anne of Green Gables. Many readers, myself included, have wondered about Anne’s life prior to arriving at the Cuthbert’s farm. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables, Wilson wrote this book to provide an answer to those questions. Wisely, she doesn’t try to duplicate Montgomery’s writing style, and it’s clear that this is a modern interpretation, but it retains much of the magic and allure, thanks in large part to the character of Anne, who is just as charming and entertaining in 2008 as she was in 1908.

I managed to finish reading this book just in time to successfully complete the What’s In a Name Reading Challenge (Before Green Gables was my color selection) and it also counts towards the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge.

Earlier this month, Heather wrote about a book called The Man in the Picture on her blog, A High and Hidden Place. The cover art caught my eye, and then when I saw that it was written by Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black, I knew I had to get it, and it would be the perfect book to read by the fire on a cold winter’s night. Well, I didn’t get the cold part, since it’s been in the 50s here at night (the teens for you Celsius folk) but I did get a great fireside tale.

Oliver is visiting his old Cambridge professor, Theo, who has a tale to tell, or rather, a desire to unburden himself of a sinister story. A Venetian painting of a carnival scene is the subject of this tale of horror, and Hill once again creates a world that shimmers with foreboding and menace. She perfectly captures the essence of a horror story without cutting any corners or taking any cheap shots, and succeeds in giving the reader - in this case, me - a full-bodied reading experience in a single evening by the fire.

Recently I received a book I’d requested from the publisher, called Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas by John Baxter. I was planning to save it to read for the upcoming Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge, but I was in the mood for some holiday reading and Baxter’s tale of preparing a feast for his French in-laws was too tempting to resist.  Australian by birth, Baxter is a world traveler who moves to Paris after falling in love with a French woman. The book is a bit like sitting down in front of a roaring fire while the snow falls outside, listening to a older uncle regale you with tales of his life and travels. Baxter shares his thoughts on the nuances of French cooking and customs, interspersed with reflections on his Australian childhood, his travels in America and the UK, and the things he’s experienced since calling France his home. All this is told in a meandering, tangential style, so that the uncle you’re listening to is the slightly doddering one, and you’re not quite sure when the story he’s telling is taking place or how this particular recollection fits in with the rest of the story, but really it’s doesn’t even matter because it’s all interesting stuff. Immoveable Feast is a pleasant read, sure to boost your holiday spirit and make you wish you had a place set for you at Baxter’s table.

I created a book display at the library this month that highlighted some of our a book called Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story by Paul Auster. Billed as an unsentimental Christmas story, this compact little book, whose story first apppeared as an op-ed piece in the New York Times, shares what Auggie claims to be the best Christmas story ever, all for the price of lunch. For me, the best part of this book were the illustrations, funky and colorful. As for the story itself, I guess I like a little more schmaltz with my Christmas after all, so while I appreciated the message of Auggie Wren’s story, it was a little too understated for my holiday mood.

This was a very special Christmas, since I got to have some of my family with me for the first time in several years. But one thing that doesn’t change is that every year there are some books for me under the tree, and of course, this year was no different, with five new books unwrapped and sitting on my shelf: Shakespeare Wrote For Money by Nick Hornby, I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosby, The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and Celtic Daily Prayer by The Northumbria Community. Plus there was a gift card from Borders Bookstore in my stocking, so I’ll probably have a few more Christmas presents to put on the bookshelf over the next few days.

I hope everyone is having a very happy and book-filled holiday!

The last selection of the year for my library book club was a novel called Away by Amy Bloom, which takes place in the 1920s, spanning the globe, from Russia, to New York City, Seattle and Alaska. Lillian Leyb has escaped the Russian pogroms, in which her parents and husband were brutally murdered. She believes her young daughter, Sophie, also died in the attacks, and so when Lillian arrives in the tumultuous society that is New York City in the 1920s, she is a shadow of a woman, surviving but haunted by her past.

But she is also a woman with an iron will. When she learns that her daughter may actually be alive and living in Siberia, Lillian sets off on a quest that will take her across the country and into the frozen Alaskan wilderness. Along the way, she must persevere through acts of violence, abuse, injury, incarceration, and even love.

Although this book measures in at roughly 250 pages, it could easily have been three times that length and still kept me entranced. There are a variety of characters, all with their own subplots, and it would not have been a disservice to the book or the reader for there to be more ink devoted to them. Away is one of those rare books whose sum is greater than its parts, a book that transports the reader to another time, so that the sights, smells, sounds and tastes of another age can be experienced. When I read a book, particularly a historical fiction novel, that’s what I look for, and that’s what Away delivered.

Recently one of the college students who works in our circulation department read and recommended a graphic novel called Castle Waiting by Linda Medley, which is actually a compilation of several volumes that were initially published in serial form. The beginning of the story is recminiscent of a traditional fairy tale, particularly Sleeping Beauty, but that’s where the tradition ends. What we are given instead is a collection of eclectic and eccentric characters, and a multi-layered, entertaining plot that keeps the reader guessing as to where it will lead. Bits and pieces of older stories are included, like the Bremen Town Musicians (one of my childhood favorites), Rumpelstiltskin and the Three Little Pigs, but the real appeal is in the original characters and the unusual plot twists. The artwork is fabulous - simple yet very detailed and expressive. There are several plot points that are introduced but not resolved, so my only wish is that the second volume of stories were readily available so I could keep reading about the residents of Castle Waiting. Still, even with the loose ends, this is a supremely entertaining collection.

Like several of the books that get added to my ever-growing wishlist, Nick Hornby’s The Polysyllabic Spree came to me by way of Bybee, who raved about it on her blog back in January. I had it on my list since that time, but it wasn’t until late last month (yes, I am that behind on blog posts) that I finally got my hands on a copy and found out why it was that I added it to my list in the first place. Spree is a collection of monthly essays Hornby wrote for the Believer magazine between September 2003 and November 2004. Like many booklovers, I am a sucker for books about books but I can’t say I’ve come across one written with the same wit and self-deprecating humor as Hornby does. I learned, I laughed and I added even more books to my wishlist.

What did I learn? Well, among other things, that Wilkie Collins wrote a book called No Name. While reading the chapter in which Hornby is loving the book, I made a note to add it to my list. But then, in the following month, he was fooled by the early chapters of No Name, which became an excruciating reading experience.  I promptly crossed it off my list. I also learned about the bands The Polyphonic Spree and Marah - the latter now added to my list of fan pages on Facebook.

What made me laugh? A lot. One particularly memorable bit was his description of meeting St. Peter at the pearly gates, and Hornby’s hope that he will be judged on the books he has bought versus the books he actually read. I’m glad I am not alone in continually adding books to my personal library, knowing there are some I will never read and that I will never have time to read them all. Perhaps the next time my husband questions yet another book purchase, I can point this out to him.

Hornby also has me considering some writers whose works I’ve never attempted. First among them is Charles Dickens. Yes, I can hear the audible gasps now, but I’ve never read anything by the venerable author, although I see that changing in my near future. If Nick Hornby thinks he’s the greatest writer that ever lived, then I think I need to at least give the man and his verbosity a chance. Anton Chekhov, and actually Russian authors in general, have always intimidated me. I’ve elevated him and his brethren to an almost mythological status, and in so doing have told myself that I could never read their works and understand them, much less actually enjoy them. But at one point, Hornby is reading Chekhov’s letters, and even shares an excerpt. What I found is a refreshingly accessible writer, whose words and sentiments are not only comprehensible, but entertaining.

Lastly is Charles Lamb - although Hornby really only makes passing reference to him, it seems like practically everything I’ve read in the past few months mentions that man - last night I was reading one of my current books, Immoveable Feast, and there he was again. If that’s not a sign that I need to read something by Lamb, I don’t know what is.

So what books did I add to my wishlist? Quite a few: How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer; George and Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism by Charlotte Moore; So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance by Gabriel Zaid; This Is Serbia Calling: Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio and Belgrade’s Underground Resistance by Michael Collin; How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions by Francis Wheen; and Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. Like Bybee, Hornby is my latest literary crush, and so I didn’t even bother adding the next installment in his Believer essays series to my wishlist; Housekeeping vs. the Dirt is sitting on my nightstand, ready and waiting for me.

I first learned about Cornelia Funke’s book Inkheart while sitting in a movie theater with my husband sometime last year. The previews are one of my favorite things about going to the movies and on this day, even though we were going to see a grown-up flick which I’ve now completely forgotten, for some reason all of the previews were for children’s movies. They first showed one for The Spiderwick Chronicles, and I’d heard of that book but hadn’t read it, either. Then another preview started, asking “What if every time you read a book, the story came to life?” and showing a young girl reading aloud about a dog and then one suddenly appearing in front of her. I thought it sounded like a neat story, tucked it away in the back of my mind, and that was that.

Then a few weeks ago, something brought it back to the forefront. I’m not sure what that something was, but when I asked one of my coworkers who works in the children’s area about the book, she heartily recommended it, saying it was her teenage daughter’s favorite book. (I’ve met the daughter, and she seems to have a good, mature head on her shoulders, so I took this as yet another point in favor of the book). I took a copy home with me that very night, and while I would like to say I sat there uninterrupted and finished the book in one sitting, I can’t. Life being what it is, I’ve had to dip in and out of Inkheart and its bewitching world for almost two weeks, dulling the magical shine of the book somewhat. I believe that was a fault of mine, not the book, and hope I will have some proper time to devote to the second book in the trilogy, Inkspell, when the copy I placed on reserve becomes available - hopefully that will be just in time for Christmas, when I plan to set aside a good amount of time in front of the fire, book and tea (or wine) in hand.

For now, let me just say that Meggie is as engaging a heroine as one could ask for - resourceful, intelligent, compassionate and full of spunk. She and her father, Mo, a ‘book doctor,’ are swept up into a fantastical adventure, where the characters from books come to life, and not all of them are the good guys. An eclectic cast of characters, including a curmudgeonly aunt with an obsession for books, makes this a great read for book lovers of all ages.

The movie itself comes out at the end of January, and its official site is here. It’s been so long since I’d seen the theater preview that I didn’t realize how different it appears from the book. Brendan Fraser seems a good fit for Mo, although the girl looks a bit older than I pictured Meggie to be and several of the other characters aren’t as I imagined them, either. In my head, for instance, Capricorn looked a bit like this guy, and I pictured Dustfinger as shorter for some reason. Helen Mirren is playing Elinor, so that’s a good sign. Hopefully the movie will retain the spirit of this wonderful book.

With just a couple weeks to go before the end of the challenge, Inkheart counts as my third chunkster (just one more to go!) in the 2008 Chunkster Challenge, and as one of my selections in the Countdown Challenge.

November’s selection for my Virtual Author Visit book club was The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. The story focuses on Marina, an elderly Russian woman living in the United States, and alternates between the present time and the period in which Marina lived in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) during the Second World War. In the present, Marina is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and we are shown the debilitating effect the disease has on both Marina and her family, which Dean portrays with an empathetic touch. As a young woman, Marina worked as a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum, and the portions of the book that describe that period are also treated with sensitivity and eloquence, including the siege and its devastating aftermath, mass starvation and death. Dean seamlessly goes back and forth in time, and as the novel progresses and Marina’s condition worsens, the two time periods become like one.

Les over at Lesley’s Book Nook also recently read Madonnas. Unlike Les, I had never heard of the book until I decided to pick it for my book club and invite the author to speak with us, and while I enjoyed the parts of Marina’s early life moreso than the later life, I can see why Les felt the opposite. I’ve had a bit of a fascination with Russia and its history though, and I visited the Hermitage back in 1990 when St. Petersburg was still being called Leningrad. I don’t really remember any specific works, but I do recall being amazed at the countless works of art, many with religious themes.

There are some great resources on Dean’s publisher’s website, and the album of book groups even includes one of our group. During our call with Debra she informed us that she is currently working on another novel, teasing us that it was again set in Russia, this time during the period of Catherine the Great. I can’t wait to read it.

This past week was my birthday, and so I treated myself to a couple trips to bookstores, not that I really need an excuse to do that. At one, my niece who was with me surprised me by buying me a copy of Nick Hornby’s Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, which I had been eyeing since at the time I was in the middle of reading The Polysyllabic Spree - thanks, Jennifer! I was enjoying Spree so much that I knew that I wouldn’t want to stop reading Hornby’s accounts of his reading experiences. I think I’m in love with Nick Hornby now, by the way - or at least he is serious crush material.

Then I went to another bookstore, and to my complete surprise and delight (considering I have looked for this book practically every time I’ve entered a bookstore in the past two years) they actually had a copy of Anne Fadiman’s At Large and At Small, a collection of her personal essays. Anne is also the author of Ex Libris, one of my favorite books about books and reading. Aren’t the covers on these books fabulous? The muted colors, the simple but charming illustrations, and even their soft texture invite the reader to sit down with a cup of tea and just relax into the book. I’m looking forward to setting aside some reading time in front of the fire during the Christmas holiday to do just that.

For anyone interested, me, my blog, and my recent reads are the subject of today’s What on a Wednesday over at The Book Depository, a site that is quite frankly, awesome, particularly for those of us on this side of the pond - we can order books not available in the US and get free shipping to boot. They have book news, author interviews and all kinds of other biblio-goodies. Check them out if you haven’t done so already!

By now, pretty much everyone has heard about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows and many bloggers have already read and posted about it, so I am a little late to the party. I’ve had my copy sitting on my nightstand since the day it came out, but wanted to be in just the right mood to read it. That mood came long a few days ago, and I am happy to say that this little book is as charming a read as everyone says. Comparisons to 84, Charing Cross Road are common and also well-deserved (although I still prefer the latter).

Comprised of letters mainly between Juliet Ashton, a London writer, and the residents of Guernsey, one of the channel islands of the coast of France, which was occupied by the Germans during World War II, the book is an homage to reading and the impact that books can have on our lives. It’s also a glimpse into the horrors of war, from the perspective of the civilians, whether they have had their houses bombed, their town taken over by the enemy, or suffered the imprisonment of concentration camps.

Juliet receives a letter from Dawsey Adams, a Guernsey farmer and member of the Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, who found her name inscribed in the flyleaf of a book about Charles Lamb, and so begins a friendship not only between Juliet and Dawsey, but between her and the rest of the society. It’s not long before Juliet succumbs to the charms of Guernsey and its inhabitants, traveling to the island and forming deep and lasting bonds with the islanders.

While the book is lighthearted, it never makes light of war and its consequences. It’s no small accomplishment that the authors managed to broach such difficult subjects while still maintaining the book’s charm. I would not be surprised if Guernsey notices a boost in their tourism figures over the next few years, as readers fulfill a dream born of this book and make their own journey to the island.

Although I’ve had a copy of The Girls by Lori Lansens on my bookshelf for nigh on two years, it was the enthusiastic recommendation of a coworker that finally got me to read it, and counting as one of my selections for the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge didn’t hurt, either.

The Girls is told from the point of view of two sisters, craniopagus twins, Rose and Ruby Darlen. The bulk of the story is Rose’s, although there are diary-like entries by Ruby interspersed throughout the book. While conjoined, the two are as different as two sisters can be, with Rose being the more intellectual of the two, while Ruby is the plain-speaking, no-nonsense type. Rose is writing her life story, and so she delves into their past, their adoptive parents, their current living situation, their hopes, fears and dreams. Rose’s more introspective narrative is offset by Ruby’s, who sometimes tells the reader how things really are, or gives details that Rose chooses to overlook or downplay. Their lives are fascinating, and not just for being conjoined, but for their experiences, their relationships, the sacrifices they make for one another, and above all, for the deep and unconditional love they have for each other.

I found myself wishing I knew each of these women, that they would be people you would want to be friends with if you met them, and so it’s easy to become emotionally attached to them and their story, with all its triumphs and sorrow. This is one of those rare times when a book more than lives up to its recommendation.

For my church book club, the last pick of the year (we don’t discuss in a book in December, we hold a holiday party instead) was a book called Down and Out in Providence by Geralyn Wolf, who is the Bishop of Rhode Island for the Episcopal Church. In January 2003, Wolf lived as a homeless person in Providence, Rhode Island, living in city shelters, trying in vain to get both work and a library card, and visiting area churches, partly for the food and spiritual sustenance they offered, and partly to see how they received someone like her. In the book, which is comprised of journal-like entries, Wolf shares her experiences and offers glimpses into the lives of those she encountered during those 30 days.

Three books that I recommended to my group as further reading are Nickel and Dimed, Stuart: A Life Backwards and The Glass Castle. All of these books provider the reader with fascinating and troubling stories of the working poor, homeless, and their families.