Time for an update. Since we are moving and that necessarily implies a certain winnowing of the mountains of books around the house, I did a "wild release" of The Monsters of Templeton. It is the first time I have participating in BookCrossing although I've been signed up for a couple of years. It was very exciting. I felt so furtive though. I left it on the shelf under a pay telephone at Union Station in D.C. I wonder who found it and what they did with it. Hope I find out someday.
Read a series of pretty darned good books. Alexie Herman is a genius. What a great book!
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen had parts that were just superlatively funny and sad and true. I devoured it in one trip to Norwalk, Conn., and back. I am such an Anglophile. I love that sad, funny humor. It also had elements of Scoop by Evelyn Waugh, one of my favorite books.
So far in 2008:
9. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Paul Torday
8. Dragonhaven, Robin McKinley
7. The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo
6. The Asolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Alexie Herman
5. The Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff
4. Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill
3. Inkspell, Cornelia Funke
2. Riding Lessons, Sara Gruen
1. Summer People, Brian Groh
Reread:
4. Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson
3. The Silver Princess in Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson
2. Captain Salt in Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson
1. Earth Abides, George R. Stewart
Friday, February 29, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Reading Update
I have been going to the library instead of buying books, which I should always be doing, especially since we're going to be moving soon. Read Inkspell, by Cornelia Funke, the sequel to Inkheart. I liked this one even better but was annoyed by the muddled "Stay Tuned for the Next Installment" ending. So, where is it, Cornelia?? Huh?
Also Heart-Shaped Box, a debut horror novel by Joe Hill. A ripping yarn, couldn't put it down, liked the characters. It had some uneven moments, but really good.
Then I broke down and bought two books. Just finished The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff.
This novel disturbed me on several levels, most of them to do with me and my own writing. It has a number of similar themes to Reply All--a young woman who suddenly finds out a truth about her parentage, a hint of incest, a search for her real father, a daughter repeating the mistakes of her mother. However, dare I say it, I prefer my own Reply All, although apparently no one actually in the publishing business does.
Lauren Groff is a literary novelist, has an MFA, and has published in literary magazines. Her style is lovely, and her story is an interwoven historical mystery, contemporary chick lit-ish story, and tribute to the history of Groff's home town, Cooperstown, NY. But for me these elements were woven together in an arbitrary and disconcerting way, especially the frame of magical realism with the discovery of a kind of Loch Ness monster in the town's lake. Oh, and there's a ghost too, and a Carrie-like fire starter. Oh, and the ghost leads the main character to the last piece of the historical mystery in a ridiculous scene, where I could almost hear the author thinking, Jeeze, where else can I send her to find clues??
I didn't like the main character, especially her sexuality. It didn't seem real. It felt so glasslike, cold, brittle. And some of the historical sections dragged and others were simply confusing. And I guessed who the father was the very first time he was mentioned.
By contrast, I think Reply All is at least a coherent narrative, although like Monsters I jump back and forth in time, but between two main protagonists, the mother and daughter. It's also funnier. There's not much real humor in Monsters, the main character sort of thinks she's funny, but she's so shallow it's just annoying.
Okay, this is harsh. I'm just jealous. Blah, blah. I read it all didn't I? Enjoyed it enough to keep reading. Liked the monster of course. Admired her writing.
Moving on now to Kate DiCamillo's Tale of Despereaux. Library again.
EDITED TO ADD: The New York Times agrees and also writes reviews better than I do.
SO 2008:
5. The Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff
4. Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill
3. Inkspell, Cornelia Funke
2. Riding Lessons, Sara Gruen
1. Summer People, Brian Groh
Reread:
3. The Silver Princess in Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson
2. Captain Salt in Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson
1. Earth Abides, George R. Stewart
Also Heart-Shaped Box, a debut horror novel by Joe Hill. A ripping yarn, couldn't put it down, liked the characters. It had some uneven moments, but really good.
Then I broke down and bought two books. Just finished The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff.
This novel disturbed me on several levels, most of them to do with me and my own writing. It has a number of similar themes to Reply All--a young woman who suddenly finds out a truth about her parentage, a hint of incest, a search for her real father, a daughter repeating the mistakes of her mother. However, dare I say it, I prefer my own Reply All, although apparently no one actually in the publishing business does.
Lauren Groff is a literary novelist, has an MFA, and has published in literary magazines. Her style is lovely, and her story is an interwoven historical mystery, contemporary chick lit-ish story, and tribute to the history of Groff's home town, Cooperstown, NY. But for me these elements were woven together in an arbitrary and disconcerting way, especially the frame of magical realism with the discovery of a kind of Loch Ness monster in the town's lake. Oh, and there's a ghost too, and a Carrie-like fire starter. Oh, and the ghost leads the main character to the last piece of the historical mystery in a ridiculous scene, where I could almost hear the author thinking, Jeeze, where else can I send her to find clues??
I didn't like the main character, especially her sexuality. It didn't seem real. It felt so glasslike, cold, brittle. And some of the historical sections dragged and others were simply confusing. And I guessed who the father was the very first time he was mentioned.
By contrast, I think Reply All is at least a coherent narrative, although like Monsters I jump back and forth in time, but between two main protagonists, the mother and daughter. It's also funnier. There's not much real humor in Monsters, the main character sort of thinks she's funny, but she's so shallow it's just annoying.
Okay, this is harsh. I'm just jealous. Blah, blah. I read it all didn't I? Enjoyed it enough to keep reading. Liked the monster of course. Admired her writing.
Moving on now to Kate DiCamillo's Tale of Despereaux. Library again.
EDITED TO ADD: The New York Times agrees and also writes reviews better than I do.
SO 2008:
5. The Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff
4. Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill
3. Inkspell, Cornelia Funke
2. Riding Lessons, Sara Gruen
1. Summer People, Brian Groh
Reread:
3. The Silver Princess in Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson
2. Captain Salt in Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson
1. Earth Abides, George R. Stewart
Friday, February 01, 2008
It Is Imperative ...
That we nominate (and then elect) Barack Obama. After last night’s debate, I am even more convinced of this than I was before. Hillary is smart, focused, competent and utterly locked in process. This is her fatal flaw. Last night she used the phrase, “It is imperative,” eight times (cool transcript analyzer tool on the NYTimes Web site) although it seemed like she said it over and over like a parrot. And I recalled a conference of payroll managers that I covered a year or so ago when one of the speakers, a woman, said over and over again, “It is imperative.” That’s Hillary to the bone. An Omega girl, the one who takes care of everything, runs every committee, bosses everyone around, knows everything, and you may like her, even love her when she’s not being annoying, but ultimately I’ve never liked being controlled and managed, even for my own good, much less when I don’t even agree with the management’s direction.
Obama can see the forest. He’s the visionary thinker, the transcendent politician, the way forward, the way out for us, out of this maze of horrible things the Bush administration has dumped us into. Some of my friends, and some pundits, even The New York Times, say Obama will be “eaten alive” by the Washington establishment and that Hillary deserves to be president because of her pragmatism and “powerful intellect.”
I can sense their fear of change and understand their belief that Hillary can handle that meat-grinding machine in D.C. But she’s part of that grinding, complacent, cut-throat, cynical, condescending establishment. Obama isn’t. He’s a breath of fresh air. So what if he runs up against opposition, entrenched special interests? What? We should choose the very thing that’s wrong with our political system?
O-Bam-A
Obama can see the forest. He’s the visionary thinker, the transcendent politician, the way forward, the way out for us, out of this maze of horrible things the Bush administration has dumped us into. Some of my friends, and some pundits, even The New York Times, say Obama will be “eaten alive” by the Washington establishment and that Hillary deserves to be president because of her pragmatism and “powerful intellect.”
I can sense their fear of change and understand their belief that Hillary can handle that meat-grinding machine in D.C. But she’s part of that grinding, complacent, cut-throat, cynical, condescending establishment. Obama isn’t. He’s a breath of fresh air. So what if he runs up against opposition, entrenched special interests? What? We should choose the very thing that’s wrong with our political system?
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