Things to Read - On the Bookshelf (December 2015)

Recent reads . . . as always, my favorites are starred.

1. The Mare - Mary Gaitskill's novel, Veronica is one of the most haunting books I've ever read. It's also amazing. So I expected some sort of tragic sadness from her newest book, The Mare. But instead, the novel starts off somewhat sappily sweet when a tween girl from an inner-city neighborhood goes to stay with a childless couple in the country for the summer (via a charity called the Fresh Air fund). The book alternates perspectives, mainly between the girl, Velvet, and Ginger, the "country" wife (for lack of a better adjective). Velvet eventually becomes a realistic character, full of teenage desires, as she tried to balance the two radically different worlds in which she's found herself. But throughout the novel Ginger remained somewhat of an empty shell, who never came to life for me.

***2. Some Luck - This is the first book in a trilogy involving 100 years in the life of a midwestern farm family. The beginning was a little cheesy as it is told through a young baby than toddler's perspective. But eventually Smiley finds her pace and I could not put this book down. I ended up falling in love with every character, from the selfish oldest son to the animal loving middle child. A great read.

3. Mislaid - I've written about Nell Zink before (click here) and I'm still not sure what to make of her. In this novel, a lesbian mom, while escaping her gay husband, kidnaps her daughter and lives in poverty for a series of years, while pretending to be black (because she stole a dead child's birth certificate). It's sort of funny, it's sort of uncomfortable. It's a farce, maybe. I don't know. But it's worth reading.

***4. Life After Life - Everyone told me I'd love this book and they were all right. The writing is crazy good. And the idea that the smallest changes in a day/week/month could effect your entire life is (as always) fascinating.

5. My Documents - These short stories by Chilean writer, Alejandro Zambra, occur during the Pinochet years. Some are better than others, but they all focus on people unsure of the present and scared to question the past. The best (if you ask me) is Memories of a Personal Computer, where the story of a relationship is told through how the couple uses (and disuses) technology.

***6. Americanah - I'm a little obsessed with Adichie after reading her book/pamphlet We Should All Be Feminists. And I LOVED this novel. We live in a neighborhood with a lot of families from different countries and I always want to ask, "What do you think? Are you happy here? Did America fulfill your expectations?" But I can never find a non-cheesy way to have this conversation. This novel was, for me, the conversation I've been wanting to have. The story involves a Nigerian woman's experiences in America, but it's so much more than that. It's a love story. And it's about race. And nationality. And travel. And being poor. And later, not being poor. After I finished it, I felt like my best friend had just left. I didn't want to let her go.

Things to Read - On the Bookshelf (May 2015)

Lots of great reads lately. My favorites are starred.

1. Stone Mattress: Nine Tales - This is a really quirky selection Margaret Atwood's recent short stories. She calls them "tales about tales" and very few of the stories seemed to have much in common. Though almost all the characters are old and reflecting on life in some way or another. Not a bad read, but definitely not Atwood's best.

***2. Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned" - I spent 2 months on the library waiting list to finally read this book. I love HBO's Girls. I love Lena Dunham. And, like Dunham, I'm a sharer. In conversations, I often receive a look like "whoah, too much information." I have a hard time with the line between appropriate and over the top. And civility. But, wow, some of the stuff Dunham shares made me uncomfortable. All I could think is "her mom read this? How awkward." No subject is off limits. I'm still not sure how I feel about all of this information, should some things remain private? I don't know. But for a Dunham fan, it's still almost impossible to not to enjoy this book, even while you cringe.

*** 3. The Girl on the Train - I can't say this is deep literature or anything close. But I could not put it down. Not for a second. The suspense, oh the suspense. And the end was worth it. A really fun book to read.

4. The Bees - I love the concept of a book about bees told through the perspective of a bee. And the author uses beautiful details to describe how Flora, the main character, sees/smells the world around her. But there didn't seem to be much of a plot, rather Flora stumbles from one situation to another. After awhile reading The Bees began to feel like a chore and I never made it past page 123.

**** 5. River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze - READ THIS BOOK. Peter Hessler's memoir of the time he spent in the Chinese "river town" of Fuling during the 1990s made me feel like I was there with him. I love when a book has the power to transport you somewhere else, with people so real that you expect to meet them one day. This is that book.

**** 6. Date Night In: More than 120 Recipes to Nourish Your Relationship - This is my favorite new cookbook. It's fancy, but doable. After Dan spent a weekend away for work, the kids and I made him the rainbow chip cake as a welcome home surprise. It was by far my best baked good ever. Amazing.

Things to Read - On the Bookshelf (2nd/3rd Grade Edition, May 2015)

I asked the girls to review their recent reads -

1. A Single Shard - F's review: I really enjoyed a single shard. The plot was incredible, and the ending has a twist. The main character, Tree-ear, is an orphan who lives with Crane-man under a bridge. Than Tree-ear gets a job working for a very talented potter named Min. There is a ton of adventure and tragedy, but not too sad. The book is incredible. I recommend it to kids 9-100.

2. Brown Girl Dreaming - F's review: I LOVED this book! The poems are incredible, and inspiring. It is the story of the author, Jackie Woodson, growing up. She describes the land and sadness of the time when blacks and whites were segregated. There are poems about her older brother and sister, and her younger brother. I recommend it to kids 9-100.

3. Superheroes (Amelia Rules!) - F's review: I really enjoyed this book. It is part of a series of books called Amelia Rules!. As you have probably guessed, it is about a girl named Amelia. This specific one is about when her club, G.A.S.P. (gathering of awesome super pals,) becomes famous. Everybody is trying out to be part of the team! I recommend this hilarious comic to kids 8 to 100.

4. The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels - P's review: I like these books because they are interesting. They are also funny.

5. Garfield Sings for His Supper - F's review: I really love Garfield comics! This fat cat will bring a smile to your face when you read his books! It is about his adventures with his owner, the household dog, Odie, and the owner's girlfriend. It has everything from camping to candy! I recommend to kids 1 day old to 100 years old.

Things to Read - On the Bookshelf (April 2015)

Some are most definitely better than others. I think from now on I'll star my favorites.

1. The Book of Unknown Americans - I didn't love this book, the main characters were likable enough (a Mexican couple who moves to America in order to find better schooling for their recently-disabled teenage daughter), but they didn't have much depth, nor did anyone else in the book - as if the world was simply divided into "good" people and "bad" people; although the novel is marketed for adults, it read like a young adult novel.

*****2. Spoiled Brats - SO FUNNY. At times I laughed out loud. Life through the perspective of a classroom pet. A man who accidentally pickles himself in the late 1800s and thus is forced to endure modern society (i.e Rip Van Winkle meets 2014). Though beware these stories definitely have an edge to them - is the author laughing at us or with us?

3. Friendship: A Novel - I didn't finish this book, despite finding it well written. The plot centers around the friendship of two girls in their mid-twenties. And reading it made me realize how very very far I am from my mid-twenties. So I stopped reading. When I feel a need to get back in touch with the younger generation, I'll watch a few episodes of HBO's Girls and call it a day.

*****4. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - READ THIS BOOK. Of all the books listed, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is BY FAR my favorite. In a Pakistani cafe, a local man decides to tell his story to an American tourist. This is the whole plot. But why is the American there? And why does the Pakistani feel a need to listen to him? As day turns to night, everything starts to seem sinister. Or does it? Or should it? I COULD NOT PUT THIS NOVEL DOWN.

5. Alias Grace - I'm a fan of Margaret Atwood, so I assumed I'd like this book. But it wasn't one of my favorites (I much prefer the Blind Assassin). Atwood based this novel on the true story of Grace Marks, a house maid in the late 1800s who killed her employer and his mistress. Atwood succeeds in making Marks a sympathetic character (Grace's backstory was my favorite part of the novel), but a lot of the story still seems unfinished somehow. As if Atwood herself couldn't decide on the guilt or innocence of the character she created.

6. Creative Block: Get Unstuck, Discover New Ideas. Advice & Projects from 50 Successful Artists - Fifty artists (all very different). Fifty interviews. Lots of project ideas. I'm slowly making my way through it all, but so far, this is a great book to pick up when you're feeling "stuck".

Things to Read - On the Bookshelf (2nd/3rd Grade Edition)

I'm feeling lazy, so I asked the girls to write about their recent reads. Don't these books sound awesome?

1. A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

P's review - I love this book because it tells you about the lost boys of Sudan. Salva, the main character, was from the Dinka tribe. His story all started when he heard gun shots at school. The war had come to his town. He had to run for miles to get away from the fighting - all the way from Sudan to Ethiopa, which takes a very long time. On the way, he loses his uncle, who is his only remaining family. When he got to Ethiopia he lived in a refugee camp. After about six years in the refugee camp, everyone was kicked out and had to walk hundreds of miles again. This time to Kenya. Months later Salva was at a refugee camp in Kenya when someone taught him how to read. They picked some boys to go to America and he was one of them. In America,he started a family . He also started a charity to build wells for Sudan. When Salva built a school and well for his enemy tribe, the Nuer, everyone was surprised. And that is the story of Salva.

2. The Fourteenth Goldfish

P's review - I really like this book so far. The book is about a girl with a cranky old grandpa, who is a scientist. The grandpa is looking for a cure to make people young again. And then he actually turns young again. So when a thirteen year old boy comes to the girl's house, she doesn't believe he is her grandpa. Though eventually she believes him because he is so cranky. So far I like the book.

3. Under the Egg

F's review - Under the Egg is incredible so far. It is a mystery about a 13 year old girl who lives in Manhattan on her Grandfather's legacy of 375 dollars. Her grandfather has recently died, leaving her basically on her own. She still lives with her mother, but her mother stopped living in the real world a long time ago. As Jack, her grandfather, would say, "As the years passed, your mother started to prefer the world inside her head instead of the world outside, until she didn't even think the real world existed." Then the girl finds a painting that she thinks could change her life forever. I've only read this far in the book, so I don't know the end yet. I highly recommend it to kids 9-13.

4. Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes

F's review - This book is hard to explain. Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes is a book with complex words and an intense plot. It is about a blind 11 year old thief, who only steals to survive. He has an incredible sense of smell, and astounding hearing. He lives in a small port town, but even when he sees a giant fish, he is shocked. Would you not be shocked if you came across a giant dogfish the size of your boat when traveling to rescue a kingdom who's children are locked up and enslaved? I'm pretty sure you would be shocked. His loyal companion, Sir Tode, part cat, part horse, part man, is a knight... by default. A local dragon happened to come into Sir Tode's farm yard, eat some sheep, and choke. The next morning, when the local neighbors saw the dead dragon and Sir Tode sitting next to it, they assumed he had killed him and demanded he be knighted. And one day, while on a mission, he was fighting with a local cat while riding his noble horse in front of a old witch's home. Anyway, long story short, they woke up the witch, she cast a spell on the cat, the horse, and Sir Tode, combining them all into one odd creature, and preventing the weird creature from dying forever. So, when he meets Peter, he is hundreds of years old. Yet he looks shockingly young for his age. I recommend this book to kids 8-11.