Playing Catch Up

While I have been continuing my quest, I have neglected this blog...it is time to quickly get it up to date. Two of the books were quite long and took me a bit to get through, but each was well worth it...

#28 Naked

EW Grade A-
Excerpt of EW Review: "Sedaris covers an impressive emotional range here, from the comically corrosive title piece, in which he discovers that ''nudists are just about the last people you'd ever want to see naked,'' to ''Ashes,'' his account of his mother's death from cancer -- a direct, unsentimental hit to the heart."

I agree with the review somewhat but it took me a few stories in to appreciate it, he really is an odd guy, with some identity issues.

I would recommend..

#24 Lonesome Dove

Excerpt of EW Review: "The heart sinks at page 50 of this loamy novel about genial cowpoke Gus, good-natured whore Lorena, cruel Blue Duck, and a very long cattle drive. Not because there are 800 pages left, but because there are only 800 pages left.."

Yeah, I agree 100% with this review, and my heart sank for other many other reasons as well. Wonderful book….

I highly recommend!

#59 Krik? Krak!

Excerpt of EW Review: "There have been nonfiction books aplenty about Haitian dictators, but none capture the grimness of everyday life on the island so well as this collection of stories.”

Short, lyrical sad and sweet…just another example of a book giving me a glimpse into a world outside of my own. I am ashamed that I don’t know more about Haiti’s history and grateful to Danticat for the brief education.

I highly recommend!

# 86 And the Band Played On

Excerpt of EW Review: "For shame, America: Shilts' riveting account of the first five years of the AIDS pandemic shows, all too clearly, how the country failed to stop the disease when it had the chance."

This book was epic and took the longest for me to complete so far. I had gay friends back in the 80’s and therefore I was not as blind as some. I was also moved by the TV movie back in the 90’s and yet I was still riveted by this book.

I highly recommend!

Giving authors another look

I read Rabbit Run and White Teeth, earlier books from the 2 authors below. Wasn’t moved by either but I am very happy to have given them both another chance...

#18 Rabbit at Rest

EW grade: B+

Excerpt from EW review: “In the age of families: the '50s. The age of psycho-political voyages and discoveries: the '60s. The age of oodles: The Reagan '80s. The waning age: right now. These are the defining moments of John Updike's Rabbit tetralogy, and with each volume the author has seemed more determined to hold a mirror up to the age at hand. That determination is responsible for the brio with which he evokes middle-class manners in Rabbit at Rest, the newest and last of the books. It's also responsible for a diminution of moral and psychological intensity — increasing relish for the look and sound of things, declining interest in the causes and meanings”

Egotistical with low levels of guilt and empathy…just a few ways to describe Rabbit..even at the end of his life. But somehow…somehow, he is still likable. There is real depth in this story and I was sad to see it end.

Liked it….

#19 On Beauty

EW grade: A-

Excerpt from EW review: “There isn't a subject that Zadie Smith won't touch in On Beauty, her splendid and bighearted new novel: race in America; the perils of intellectualism; the culture wars; growing old; the gut-busting absurdity of glee clubs. Smith uses the plot of E.M. Forster's odd, radiant 1910 Howards End as the scaffolding for her own equally strange and sinuous tale of contemporary people trying to live good lives when everyone has a different idea of what that means. As with her messy, ambitious White Teeth, she tries to capture all the stuff of life between two covers, a virtually impossible task. But she makes such an admirable attempt you forgive her the occasional loose end.”

I really enjoyed this book...incredibly smart and funny, I lived in that house with these characters. Yet another story about a man unable to control his libido and the women he hurts, I agree with the reviewer…I wished the novel was longer.


Loved it!!!

“I can’t do chatting”

#72

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

EW Grade: A
Excerpt from EW review: “Haddon, a veteran children's-book author who used to work with autistic individuals at an adult training center, never goes for cheap poignancy or facile irony…. Christopher [the protagonist] ….. a British boy with autism …. narrates a short period in his life with brisk logic and rollicking or heartbreaking humor that in either case reflects the solemn literal-mindedness of his condition (when a train-ticket seller asks him how long he plans to stay in London, he replies, ''Until I go to University''). Christopher solves a mystery or two, just like a favorite fictional hero of his, Sherlock Holmes. While the only initial crime to be solved is learning who killed a neighborhood dog named Wellington, the novel eventually encompasses Christopher's quest to determine whether or not his mother is dead, which his father has told him but the teenager cannot quite believe. " Full Review

This one lived up to the hype. What a fabulous book! I am sure there are many people like me out there who have no real understanding of autism….man, did this book open my eyes. Enlightening….sad, funny… a truly beautiful book.

Loved it! Would highly recommend

Comparisons to Anton Chekov?

#8

Selected Stories

EW must have disabled the link for this review; I can’t seem to find it. I love short stories and this one is beautifully written, but bleak, sad and dreary. Stories of suicide, child abuse, jilted lovers….just a little too much for me…

Not a fan

Troubled Childhood Story #1

#4
The Liar’s Club

EW grade: A

EW Review: Poet Mary Karr's The Liar's Club, a memoir of growing up in a '60s Texan refinery town, is nothing short of superb. Raised by an alcoholic Gulf Oil union man and a failed artist, Karr resolves her love for her dysfunctional parents with her tragicomic take on them, quarrying from a past a less courageous author might have played for sympathy.

I chose to read this book because of the accolades in Stephen King’s book and her romance with David Foster Wallace. People have mixed feelings about this memoir and I have to admit, my expectations were high. What is really sad is that I think the reason I didn’t like it is because I relate to it. Not so much that the events of my childhood mirror hers but because of the similarities in the way she dealt with her issues, focusing on the small, seemly insignificant “assaults” rather than the larger crisis which would ultimately shape her life.

I liked it... somewhat

And But So Then....

#66
A Supposedly Fun Thing I Never Do Again

EW grade: A-

EW Review: "Despite the success of last year's Infinite Jest, some suspected that the bricklike 1,079-page novel was propping open more doors than minds. Happily, the publication of Wallace's new collection should change all that. The author forgoes his usual irony in favor of seven surprisingly earnest appreciations of everything from being a kid in the geometrically precise Midwest to postmodern critical theory. A Supposedly Fun Thing is a heady, often hilarious tour of American diversions — state fairs and cinema, cruise ships and tennis, six hours of TV a day. Wallace fans will recognize favorite preoccupations, quirks, and, of course, footnotes (137 in the title essay alone); new readers will discover a remarkably talented, fluid, and arresting young voice."

So sad this man is gone, sooo sad. So funny and brilliant. I personally feel that Infinite Jest should be on this list as well but I am comforted by its inclusion on Time’s list. This book is lighter in tone and has some real laugh out loud moments. No one can put together a sentence like Wallace could. Here he justifies a man murdering his wife for using Jif rather than Skippy peanut butter: ".... the guy's got a point, that if you've developed a sophisticated peanut-butter palate and that palate prefers Jif theres simply no way Skippy's going to be anthing like an acceptable facsimile, and that a wife who fails repeatedly to grasp the importance of Jif is making some very significant and troubling statements about her empathy for and commitment to the sacrament of marriage as bond between two bodies, mind, spirits, and palates..." He makes it sound almost reasonable, right?

Loved it! I would highly recommend

Any Anthropologists out there?

#71
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

EW Review: "Clear-eyed, warm-hearted, and eloquent, Fadiman tells a transfixing story of clashing cultures, in this account of a sick Hmong immigrant girl and the San Joaquin Valley doctors who tried to treat her."

EW's comments regarding this book are a little misleading. Yes....the story is about Lia Lee, a Hmong girl with a complicated seizure disorder; however, a great deal of this book is about the Hmong people, their struggles, their culture, etc. I was riveted by the story of Lia but this book is really an anthropological study....

My feeling are divided on this one...

...the Master of Horror....

#21
On Writing

EW grade: A-

Here is an excerpt from the EW review:"....King can often be his own harshest critic. He questions his qualifications to pen a primer on writing, comparing his monstrously successful novels to fast food: ''Colonel Sanders sold a hell of a lot of fried chicken, but I'm not sure anyone wants to know how he made it.'' As he recounts his career and provides insight into his technique, he calls Insomnia and Rose Madder ''stiff, trying-too-hard novels,'' Maximum Overdrive ''a stinker,'' and himself ''a vulgar lowbrow.''
This elegant volume proves that self-characterization wrong. Blissfully brief at 288 pages (''I figured the shorter the book, the less the bulls---''), On Writing opens with ''C.V.,'' a mini-memoir so finely seasoned that it whets your appetite for a full-scale autobiography. Raised by a single mom after his dad abandoned the family, he grew up addicted to B movies: ''Never mind Snow White and the Seven Goddam Dwarfs. At thirteen I wanted monsters that ate whole cities." Full Review

(Quick Note: I have already read 20 or so of the books on this list ...some I look forward to reading a second time and others....well, not so much. This one falls into the first category. I am a big fan of Stephen King..... I was 13 when I first read The Dead Zone and I have been in love ever since...)

I think at first glance, some people have scoffed at the fact that this book is #21 on this list. First off, it's Stephen King, a horror writer for God's sake. Secondly, its about writing.....what could be more boring? Well they couldn't be more wrong. I have always known what a great writer he is - but this book helped to convert the non-believers out there. Nothing about this book is boring, not the autobiographical section nor the "on writing" section. How many writers can make you laugh out loud during a discussion of the passive tense?

I loved it! I would highly recommend!

hmmm...a murder........

#69
The Secret History

EW grade: A
Here is an excerpt from the EW review: "This is actually a good, even profound novel. It's the story of a group of pampered and precocious students at a small New England college who devote themselves to ancient Greek culture and get more than they bargained for-tragedy, fate, Furies. It's as gripping as a murder story should be, even though the murders and murderers are no mystery; as in Greek tragedy, it's mainly a question of retribution. But what is most remarkable about the book is its own classical poise-its sovereign style and moral assurance." Full Review

Yes, this one was good. On the first page, the reader knows who was murdered and who did it…. but the story is intense regardless….you can feel the suffering of each of the characters as you read it. I agree with the review…it is profound…a story about friendship, trust (or lack thereof) and remorse…

I liked it...I would recommend

Two down...

I have conquered 2 of the books on the list in the course of a mere 3 days!

# 60
Nickel and Dimed... (On Not) Getting By in America

EW grade: A
Here is an excerpt from the EW review: “…how do Americans earning $6 to $7 an hour…..make ends meet? Ehrenreich found out by walking in their shoes…working the highest-paid ''unskilled'' jobs she could find -- like diner waitress, cleaning woman, and Wal-Mart ''associate.'' Her account is at once a clear-eyed portrait of how the bottom third lives, and a complacency-shaking expose of the dead-end-job economy.” Full Review

Now this is a book I would not have picked up on my own but…wow…was it good. It had all the characteristics of a good read: funny, sad, thought- provoking and it stayed with me for days. It has forever changed my views on “unskilled” workers.


Loved it! I would highly recommend

---

# 63
Pastoralia

EW grade: A-
Here is an excerpt from the EW review: “…. compellingly strange, funny, and poignant style ''Twin Peaks''-y isn't to date his singular voice but to place it: The six hypnotically absurd stories in Pastoralia are all slices of life from a lumpy apple pie baked with utterly, mutantly American fruit “ Full Review

I was looking forward to this one, the review was provocative and I like odd, unusual storytelling. The first story, Pastoralia, was interesting but I found the rest of the stories bleak and depressing, it was like taking a peek into a person’s psyche and seeing the most neurotic, insecure side of their nature.

Not a fan...

One thing for sure

One thing is for sure, I love to read...and I am quite sure that this love has gotten me pretty far in life....in all aspects of my life.

I have created this blog because as a reader I find I am always looking for book recommendations...asking friends, browsing reviews, looking at book clubs, etc....

As a result I have challenged myself to read Entertainment Weekly's "The New Classics: Books The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008".

.... personally I am not reading the books in order but I will tackle them all. What I would really like is other people's thoughts on the books I am reading.....