rebecca

Last night I read Rebecca again... Oh, what a great book. I hadn't read it in years and loved the spooky Gothic atmosphere, the surprising twists, the descriptions of living in such a colossal house, the constant taking of tea. You just sink into the story, wrapped up in the narrator.

In my editon, the introduction by Sally Beauman was all spoilers. It kind of ruined my fun a little bit even though the insights about identity and gender-blurring were valuable. It should have been placed at the end of the story.

Here's a photo of Milton Hall, the supposed inspiration for Manderley --


Seriously - to live in a house like that I'd marry a murderer!



"Rameau's Niece" by Catherine Schine was comic and light - repressed academic goes on sexual odyssey - but ultimately tiresome. It took too long for the story to get started and had a thousand overblown descriptions of how amazing her husband was. There were funny bits though - a discussion between friends where one thinks the topic is Art (as in Art History) and one thinks they're discussing Art (as in the friend's husband Arthur).

I loved loved loved Schine's book "The Love Letter" and remain convinced that's her best work.

trouble

I have been reading some wonderful books recently!

Last night I finished "Trouble" by Kate Christensen - too fantastic. It's about two friends escaping from their troubles by going to Mexico City and letting loose. I adored the descriptions of lively Mexico City! The food, the music, the history, the colors and smells. My husband and I went on vacation there a few years ago and it was tremendously fun to revisit through the book. The ending also has a utter shock that made me gasp out loud. Wonderful book, wonderful writer.

I also read "Of Mice and Men" by Steinbeck and shed many tears at the end. In 100 brief pages, Steinbeck makes you care terrible for the characters and then breaks your heart. It's devastating. I haven't read it since high school but I loved rereading it.

"Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier is a masterpiece. I was utterly enthralled. So many things stick in my mind: A body is a "hut of bones." The scene where Ruby covers Ada's eyes and asks what she hears - "Just 'trees'? What kind of trees?" They lived so close to the earth, with all its savagery and beauty. The ending made me clutch my heart and sob and ponder the power of being claimed by another human.



"Not Becoming My Mother" by Ruth Reichl - I'll read anything by her, her memoirs about food and her life are some of my favorites. But this book was very slight - lots of white space on every page, very thin. She has already told stories about her mother in her previous books so she just kinds of puts them together in this book. Don't bother reading this book.

shopaholic

I read the Shopaholic series when they were new - at the time (2001), I found it a guilty pleasure. I liked the humble details - how Becky Bloomwood likes the cushy chair where she picks photos for the financial magazine's cover, how she wishes someone would stop and ask what labels she's wearing, how she proudly ignores the newsstand (but only b/c she's read all the magazines already). It was cute and homey, easy to relate to her struggles of stopping spending. My favorite episode was when she tries to follow the thrifty book's advice. I read the first three books in the series, but lost interest as the later ones seemed painfully dopey. It lost the relatable touch and became just an airhead doing horrifically irresponsible things and yet everyone loves her anyway.

But I did rent the movie (for ninety-nine cents) and found it a pleasant diversion. The actress was cute.

What I was thinking, though, is that the Shopaholic book is a WARNING in disguise of the economic collapse of last year. Seriously. The main character is a financial journalist who knows nothing about finances. Shades of all the newspapers that missed the story of the bubble. She's told to get a job in the financial services industry in London to get rich - exorbitant bonuses sounds familiar? And, of course, the main plot - she can't stop SHOPPING despite that she has no money. It's like a predictor of the future. All those problems which seemed so amusing had some horrifically ugly consequences for us all.

body and soul

Loved, adored, and swooned over this book! "Body and Soul" by Frank Conroy is deeply felt and thoroughly satisfying story with hints of "Great Expectations" and a nuanced description of the consequences of possessing extreme musical talent. I read this for the first time when I was in high school and remembered enjoying it. But reading it as an adult, I was even more swept away. Apparently the author is famous for his memoir "Stop Time" so I'll have to read that too.




"Home Game" by Michael Lewis was pretty amusing. He has a likeable personality even as he admits trying to shirk his duties at times.



I whipped through "What Do You Do All Day?" by Amy Schiebe - gotta love any book where a mother thinks she doesn't feel like singing the effing alphabet! Very funny and real.

Also I read "The Frozen Toe Guide to Real Alaska Livin'" by Brookelyn Bellinger - oh dear. It appears we may move to Alaska. This book did not allay my fears. It has a jokey tone and depicts a freezing cold land of nutjobs in Carhartt overalls and rubber boots. Scary.



Just ordered six copies of "Gladstone's Games To Go" for Christmas presents. My game-loving inlaws will never be bored with this book around.

i'm so happy for you

Went on a vacation to Alaska last week! But I'm back.

I finished "The Brothers K"! Finally! It's not the kind of book everyone will love - if you are baseball nut, you will love it more than life, I'm sure. But it takes a certain amount of indulging the author as he goes into long detailed baseball digressions. It's a sprawling family saga and I got impatient with the languid pacing. I wanted something to happen! But I'm glad I stuck through it. The ending pierced my heart with its last image and I felt sad and hopeful and satisfied. The writing is very clever - a child observes that a crazy man has eyes like ketchup and mustard mixed together - but he needed an editor with a chainsaw. I think he got so caught up in the big ideas he was exploring (about religion and Indian philosophy and the purpose of war, etc) that the narrative drive just sat there. Another line that sticks out is a Vietnam soldier reflecting that what he was really defending was the innocence and sweetness of the people back home.

I also read "Hell is Other Parents" by Deborah Copagen Kogan, a group of essays about modern parenting. I like her writing but there was a certain element that rubbed me the wrong way. She makes life choices - living in an expensive city, having a baby after her other kids are nearly preteens, making a long drive with a toddler, sharing her postpartum room - and then complains about it. Several times, I wanted to say to her - what did you expect? Here in reality, this is what we deal with. Own the consequences!

And I read "The Liar's Club" by Mary Karr, a memoir about child abuse. I think I've overdosed on this genre - Angela's Ashes, Falling Leaves, The Glass Castle. It's well-written and the author went through a lot. I had no greater insight. The Glass Castle by Walls captured me much more as I struggled to understand why her parents were choosing to live on the streets. I still think about Jeanette Walls' brother sleeping under a blow-up raft to stay dry under a leaky roof.



In Anchorage, I picked up "Crossing Washington Square" by Joanne Rendell. How I wanted to love this book! The premise is about two literature professors in a love triangle - sounds scrumptious to an English major like myself. And yet it was cliched and stilted from the start with paper doll characters. I felt the same way about "The Professors' Wives Club" so I don't know why I bought this book. I think I really liked the coat on the cover.



Also on vacation, I read "I'm So Happy for You" by Lucinda Rosenfeld. Here, the premise seemed offputting as described in reviews - the dark side of friendship, the spite and jealousy that binds women together. But the book was utterly delightful, daring and hilarious and joyous. I was laughing out loud, clutching my pearls in horror and having way too much fun with its satirical humor. I was cracking up at a scene where a rigid federal prosecutor and pothead slacker debated the "war on terror." One odd thing was how often the characters emailed each other. It seemed they didn't pick up a phone at all.


As a palate cleanser after "The Brothers K" 600-something pages, I am reading "What Do You Do All Day?" by Amy Scheibe. Then I'm excited to read "Body and Soul" by Frank Conroy. And "Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier and "Rameau's Niece" by Cathleen Schine.