Overwhelmed

It's been too long since I've written anything. I'm still reading- of course! I just got a copy of Chatter, by Perrin Ireland, through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. The book came out on October 23 so it's not a pre-pub anymore but I'll have the review by early next week. In the mean time I've put my Bookmooch account on vacation, took it off to get a book I really want to read and got a bunch of new requests that I have to send out.

My problem right now is the way the books are piling up. I have books to read for work, books to read to review, and books I just want to read. Where to begin? After Chatter I want to read The Gathering, the new Man Booker winner, and then Signed, Mata Hari, coming out mid-November. And that's just for the blog in the short term. For work, I have three or four Isaac Bashevis Singer books lined up and Mr. Mani by A.B. Yehoshua; and for me, The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson, Gestures by H.S. Bhabra, the rest of the Love Hina manga series, American Born Chinese, a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang, and others. And then there are those big books- Middlemarch, The Golden Notebook, and (shudder) War and Peace. Those are going to take forever. In the words of Rankin/Bass, "Just put one foot in front of the other..."

Lucky (?) for me, I found out the other day that I'm about to be substantially less employed than I have been. Not unemployed. I haven't been sacked or anything; I've just been re-purposed. I'm done cataloging a medium-sized collection of adult Judaica and I'm going to be working in the Hebrew school children's library starting next week. So I'll have more free time for reading! And a whole new genre to master. Well, one thing you can say about me is that I'm always up for a challenge.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed with all the books sitting next to your chair?

REVIEW: The Sea, by John Banville

The Sea, by John Banville. Published 2006 by Vintage. Literary fiction. Winner of the Man Booker Prize.


John Banville's The Sea won the Man Booker Prize in 2005 and so I had high expectations- not only did I expect it to be an excellent book but I expected to really enjoy it. I don't think it would have stood out for me on the bookshelves had it not been for that perky little gold sticker. You know, yet another novel about some old guy reminiscing about his first crush. Yawn, right? Some of my favorite books have been Booker winners though- my all-time favorite novel, Possession, by A.S. Byatt, won in 1990, and others like The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (no, I didn't like the movie), The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro, and The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, are books that I treasure. Then there's Amsterdam, by Ian McEwan, 1998's winner, so they're not all golden, but I digress.

I think The Sea is quite polished and accomplished- like the best student in class, it's neat and clean, sits with its hands folded at the front of the room and turns in its excellent work on time but lacks the spark of real genius. The book opens as the narrator, Max, whose wife has just died after an extended illness, moves into the Irish boarding house that was the scene for his first experiences with love and death. One followed quickly upon another one brief summer when he was 11, and it seems fitting to return there now that once again he has experienced the death of a beloved. (Fitting in a literary sense, anyway- I'm not sure a real person would end up back there in any sense but the psychological.) The narrative goes back and forth between three time lines- the childhood summer, his years with his wife Anna, and the present tense, Max's unhappy after-life boarding with the spinstery Miss Vavasour and an enigmatic loner known only as the Colonel.

The tone of The Sea is elegiac, mournful- slow and heavy and the writing is characterized by the same literary artfulness as the premise. Occasionally some violent emotion bursts through the otherwise calm surface and the reader gets a sense of Max's turmoil- his hopelessness and grief and loss. I wish there had been more moments like this, more touching the wound as it were. I know the book is very well-crafted but sometimes it felt over-composed. Perhaps the effect is intentional, meant to contrast with the outbursts and show Max's fragility. Still I found it difficult to connect with Max. He's not really that likable- he wants to appear worldly but his irony and sarcasm (not to mention his alcoholism) undercut his sophistication. He seems to lack affection for his daughter, who he describes as unattractive and unambitious, yet attached to a man he deems unworthy. And his memories of Chloe, the little girl he loved, are detached and don't sound to me like the way an 11 year old would experience first love, although I've never been an 11 year old boy so what do I know. His outbursts, his testiness and his anger, do render him more human, however.

We know early on that his memories of the house itself aren't accurate so it's possible his other memories are equally distorted. Later we find out that there were some adult goings-on in the household that his childish perception missed entirely, and we find out one important fact in particular at the end, to do with the identity of a character who would otherwise have faded into the background. I have to say that I really wish I had known this thing at the beginning; holding back this little fact struck me as parsimonious. I mean, I know it's meant again to underscore the overall artistry of the novel but it wasn't really that crucial, not some 180 spin, just a little twist, like a quarter of a turn, and I think I would have enjoyed the book more had I just known. When the realization hits, though, it crashes down hard, and that moment- a casual, throw-away remark- was for me the most dramatic of the entire book.

Overall, I think The Sea is certainly deserving of the recognition it has received from the Man Booker committee and is definitely a worthy, meaty, literary read, if you're into that kind of thing. It's one of those books that I appreciated but didn't really like. Oh well.

Rating: BACKLIST

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

BookNook: Christian Science, by Mark Twain

Can I review a book if I didn't finish it? Cause I think I'm going to stop where I am with Christian Science but I do want to talk about it a little. I want thank everyone who voted in the poll; I appreciate that there are actually a few people out there who read my blog!

I came across Mark Twain's screed against the Christian Science religion and its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, one day while I was doing some volunteer cataloging at the Congregational Library in Boston. The Congregational Library is a small research library run by the headquarters of the Congregationalist Church; it's located in a beautiful space in a historic neighborhood, steps away from the Massachusetts State House. So I was cataloging some books in their small collection on the Christian Science religion when I took the next book in my stack, opened it up and saw that Mark Twain was the author. Huh? Mark Twain? Naturally I was intrigued.

I read the first couple of chapters and laughed so much my supervisor came out of her office to ask me if I was okay. Yeah, I'm okay, just enjoying my job way more than I should! Later on I found a used paperback copy and picked up again after you all voted for the book. The beginning of the book tells a fictional first person account of a man injured in a bizarre accident in Europe, who is ministered to by a visiting Christian Science lady. She tells him that his injuries and his pain are imaginary and that he will be cured as soon as he can accept that fact. The narrator tries to take her advice but finds his outwardly jutting bones do not oblige. And so begins a very strong, biting, sarcastic and angry invective.

In his day Twain was very threatened by the rise of the Christian Science church. H felt that it was a sinister force, growing at an exponential rate and would inevitably take over the country. He therefore takes care to attack everything he can about the religion and especially its founder and her writings, which he finds amateurish, contradictory and puzzling. Obviously, the big takeover he predicted didn't happen, so with over a hundred years of hindsight his book seems not just dated but almost silly. For this reason I found myself getting bored, and I decided not to finish it. I thought, okay, Mark Twain has lots of material with which to attack Mary Baker Eddy. Got it.

So what then? Is the book merely a curiousity or does it have something to teach us? I started writing this review thinking I would palm it off as a historical artifact but that's the interesting thing about writing- sometimes it takes you somewhere you didn't expect. In a sense the book is just an artifact and curiousity, an example of Mark Twain's pithy prose, if you're into that kind of thing. And on that level it's interesting enough.

I think it's something more. It's also a reminder to always scrutinize, always question, always look beneath the surface. Maybe Christian Science didn't turn out to be the threat to American society that Twain feared, but maybe there's something going out there now, today, and we all need to remember to ask questions and never take anything for granted. Maybe we should be out there, finding what scares us and sounding the alarm. Couldn't hurt to try. Okay, so not very deep. But still a good point.

REVIEW: You Can Run But You Can't Hide by Duane "Dog" Chapman

Published: 2007. Click on the cover to buy from your local Booksense-affiliated independent bookseller.

As I've written before, I'm a fan of the Dog. I watch the show, I admire the 'do, and I decided to read the book. The show, which follows Duane "Dog" Chapman through his days as a professional bounty hunter, is both serious and campy, showcasing Dog's talents as a bounty hunter as well as his (and his wife Beth's) considerable personal charisma. You Can Run But You Can't Hide, his autobiography, is a lot like the show. One minute, he's telling you some heartfelt anecdote about connecting with God; the next, he's describing the love of his life as "rack-tastic." Who could ask for more?

The book covers his life from childhood to the present day, as he confronts fame, spiritual growth and strides and setbacks in his fifties. The theme running throughout the book is redemption- redemption from a past that includes a first-degree murder conviction and bouts of drug use as well as chaotic relationships and a professional reputation as a loose cannon. The hunt for convicted serial rapist Andrew Luster is presented as the defining event of his career, the really big success that made him famous and earned him the respect of his peers and of the public. The two most important people in his adult life, his mother and his wife and partner Beth, are portrayed with absolute love and reverence throughout, Dog's ever-present appreciation of Beth's physical attributes not withstanding. And that stuff is just his way of showing he cares.

I had fun reading Dog's book. I think it would appeal to a lot of people- reluctant readers, fans of pop-culture, and people interested in born-again Christianity. The writing is never the point in a book like this but he tells his life story well, with emotion and humor. It's raw and personal and honest. I felt for him in his struggles with drugs, crime and abuse. The chapters on the Luster hunt were riveting. There were no big surprises- not even Dog's candid admission that he's "vain". No! Not you, Goldilocks! But it was fun. Knowing how successful he's become, it's gratifying to see him overcome his challenges with grace and gratitude and live to do a lot of good in this world. God bless you, Dog.

Just for fun

I took this from my friends' list on LiveJournal.

Book Meme!

bold; what you have read,
· italicize what you started but couldn't finish,
· and strike through what you couldn't stand.
The numbers after each one are the number of LibraryThing users who used the unread tag for that book.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (150)
Anna Karenina (133)
Crime and punishment (121)
Catch-22 (117)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (115)
Wuthering Heights (110)
The Silmarillion (104)
Life of Pi : a novel (95)
The Name of the Rose (91)
Don Quixote (92)
Moby Dick (87)
Ulysses (85)
Madame Bovary (83)
The Odyssey (83)
Pride and Prejudice (83)
Jane Eyre (80)
A Tale of Two Cities (80)
The Brothers Karamazov (80)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies (80)
War and Peace (79)
Vanity Fair (75)
The Time Traveler's Wife (74)
The Iliad (73)
Emma (73)
The Blind Assassin (74)
The Kite Runner (72)
Mrs. Dalloway (71)
Great Expectations (70)
American Gods (68)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (68)
Atlas Shrugged (68)
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books (67)
Memoirs of a Geisha (66)
Middlesex (66)
Quicksilver (66)
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West (65)
The Canterbury tales (64)
The Historian : a novel (63)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (63)
Love In the Time of Cholera (63)
Brave New World (61)
The Fountainhead (62)
Foucault's Pendulum (62)
Middlemarch (62)
Frankenstein (59)
The Count of Monte Cristo (59)
Dracula (60)
A Clockwork Orange (59)
Anansi Boys (59)
The once and future king (57)
The Grapes of Wrath (57)
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel (58)
1984 (57)
Angels & Demons (57)
The Inferno (57)
The Satanic Verses (56)
Sense and Sensibility (55)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (55)
Mansfield Park (55)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (55)
To the Lighthouse (55)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (54)
Oliver Twist (54)
Gulliver's Travels (53)
Les misérables (53)
The Corrections (54)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (53)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (52)
Dune (51)
The Prince (51)
The Sound and the Fury (52)
Angela's Ashes : a memoir (51)
The God of Small Things (52)
A People's History of the United States : 1492-present (52)
Cryptonomicon (50)
Neverwhere (50)
A Confederacy of Dunces (50)
A Short History of Nearly Everything (50)
Dubliners (51)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (50)
Beloved (50)
Slaughterhouse-Five (49)
The Scarlet Letter (48)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (48)
The Mists of Avalon (47)
Oryx and Crake : a novel (48)
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed (48)
Cloud Atlas (48)
The Confusion (47)
Lolita (46)
Persuasion (46)
Northanger abbey (46)
The Catcher in the Rye (46)
On the Road (46)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (46)
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything (45)
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values (45)
The Aeneid (45)
Watership Down (44)
Gravity's rainbow (44)
The Hobbit (44)
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences (45)
White teeth (45)
Treasure Island (44)
David Copperfield (45)
The Three Musketeers (44)

I can't figure out how to do a strike-through but just for the record I hated- and I mean hated- The Time Traveler's Wife. And yes I know I am the only one who feels this way. So what?

It's up!

Okay, I couldn't wait.

If you're interested, it's at AYearofWarandPeace.blogspot.com. It'll be a while before I dig in to the book but I set up the blog today in any case.

War and Peace

No, this isn't a review! But you can still click on the cover if you want to buy War and Peace from your local Booksense-affiliated independent bookseller.

The new translation of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is hot off the presses and I just picked up my copy this morning. Okay, that's stage one. Stage two.... Stage three- Profit! Haha just kidding.

Stage Two is reading it. Now, I have a few Big Books hanging around, but I've been hesitating to read them because it means I would have nothing to write about for a while. Like, War and Peace would take me awhile, you know? And I really want to keep this blog going strong.

So I've been looking it over, and this is what I think. Taking a page from Imp Reader (if that's okay!) I'll read it in stages, along with other things, and blog about it as I read it in another blog, tentatively titled A Year of War and Peace. I'll give myself 2008 to get through it, pacing myself- five parts, give-or-take 300 pages each- and I think it will be doable. I'll make an announcement when the second blog goes up and when I start. So for now it's business as usual. But come January 1- Ready, Set, Read!!

Book News

Congratulations to Anne Enright, just-announced winner of this year's Man Booker Prize for her book The Gathering.

To learn more about the Man Booker, a very prestigious award given annually, go to their website.

REVIEW: Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

Published: 2006
Click on the cover to buy from your local Booksense-affiliated independent bookseller.

A short story about a village contained in a purse. A house where possessions and body parts become haunted. Intermarriage among the living and the dead. A supernatural soap opera within a soap opera. Magic for Beginners isn't a typical read for me.

I first heard of Kelly Link at this year's American Library Association conference, at a session on emerging young writers. The speaker likened her work to that of Neil Gaiman, a fantasy writer I don't know well. I try to follow up on conferences by reading because I think it's important for me professionally and because I love to learn. So when I got home I picked up a copy of Magic for Beginners, not quite knowing what to expect.

Magic for Beginners is Link's second volume of short stories. I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it. The stories are creative, original and unusual. They are set mostly in the here-and-now, in recognizable cities and suburbs and don't require a lot of exposition to get started. One story is set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, another in a convenience store, and another in a nameless, generic suburb. When they're not set in the real world, Link sketches the setting economically, using familiar tropes (like witches) to get the reader started. Into every setting Link's premises swirl together elements of reality and fantasy so seamlessly the reader can almost take it for granted. Well of course there is an opening to the zombie world right outside that store, you think as you read "The Hortlak"; obviously. Her slightly blase tone makes it easy to be seduced.

But be careful, because beneath that matter-of-fact surface there's something more going on. Metaphor, for example. Is the story about the lost handbag containing Grandma's village really a story about searching for lost heritage? And what about that not-quite-neutral third-person narrator who pops up again and again? In the story "The Great Divorce," a living man is divorcing his dead wife. Near the end of the story (and I'm not giving anything away here), the narrator says, "Even as I've been telling you this story, I haven't described things exactly as they went on. I haven't been honest about the dead people in this story, about how the dead carry on." What? The narrator's abrupt intrusion shocked me out of my readerly complacency. On one hand, this admission of bias raises the specter of racism in how the dead are portrayed; on the other hand, the narrator is asking the reader a deeper question about the very purpose of writing, or of reading. Why tell this story this way if it's a lie? Why read it? Of course it's fiction so there is no "truth" anyway, so how does it undermine the very endeavor of reading and writing when a narrator in a fictional story admits that he/she's lying? Or does it?

I enjoyed the opportunity to toy with some larger questions but overall I have admit that Link's laid back tone in some of the stories, like "Stone Animals," about the haunted house, just didn't hold my attention. I wasn't always sure where they were going, or where they ended up. When Link's fine weave of tones and realities worked for me, in stories like "Catskin," "The Faery Handbag" and the title story, the book was something close to magic.



P.S. If you like this style of mixing realism with elements of the fantastical, you might check out some of A.S. Byatt's short stories, particularly those in Elementals and Little Black Book of Stories. Enjoy!

Search Engine Review: Covering Photography

Covering Photography is a search engine I heard about in a recent edition of Research Buzz, a great newsletter that comes out every week. If you don't have a subscription and you're interested in keeping up with the world of search I highly recommend it.

But anyway. Covering Photography covers book covers- the photographs on them, anyway. From the home page:

Covering Photography is a web-based archive and resource for the study of the relationship between the history of photography and book cover design. The images / book covers contained in our database may be accessed via a number of categories including by Photographer, Author, Publisher, Publication Date and Designer.

It's a neat little resource. The home page is illustrated to look like a flattened book cover. It features a keyword search and allows users to browse by photographer, author, publisher, publication date and designer. There's no information on the about page as to the specifics of the scope or coverage, but from browsing I can see that the database covers classic authors like Thomas Hardy, bestsellers like John Grisham, literary highbrows like Margaret Atwood and popular figures like Pamela Anderson. Publication dates range from 1949 to the present although not every date in that range is represented.

Searching by keyword seems a little tricky. I'm not sure how keywords or search terms are assigned to the covers and it took me a few tries to get results. The words that seemed to work best were terms that described the photos rather than terms of images that appear in the photos- "nude" worked well, for example; "cat" did not. Terms that describe the genre of the books worked well also, like "poetry" or "mystery". Keyword searches will also pull results from words in the title. The advanced search allows a user to exclude words and search by phrase, also helpful. Users can also search by phrase in the simple search by enclosing the terms with quotation marks.

If a user browses the results come back as a list of cover photos; if the user is searching by keyword or in advanced mode, results come back as a text-based list of titles. Since the engine is meant as a database of photos, I think it would be neat to present all results by cover photo instead. But as the creator says in the about page, it's a work in progress so maybe that's something we have to look forward to.

Covering Photography is likely a good resource for photography and book professionals; for the average, non-pro bibliophile, it's a fun resource for browsing and time-killing. Go take a look.

REVIEW: Monumental Propaganda by Vladimir Voinovich

 

Monumental Propaganda, by Vladimir Voinovich. Published: 2006

 Okay, Monumental Propaganda is not hot off the presses. But it was my favorite book of 2006 and I decided to review it on the blog after looking at my LibraryThing account and seeing that only 17 other people on LibraryThing owned this book. 17? Seriously? 

Monumental Propaganda is a terrific book. Everyone should read it. Why aren't more people reading it? Probably because they've not heard of it, where is where I come in (I hope!). I picked up Monumental Propaganda last year because I'm always drawn to things Russian and have made a habit over the last few years of reading or rereading one of those Big Book Classics (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pasternak, etc.) every year and thought, hey, a new book. This could be cool. And cool it was. Actually better than cool. Like I said, it was my favorite book last year. It's a satire, about a Stalinist true-believer named Aglaya Revkina who is having a hard time adjusting to the Khrushchev era, and is shocked and dismayed by the paper-thin allegiances of her Communist brethren. For Aglaya, Stalin was more than a man, more than a leader- he was a movement, a hero, and something like a god. She manages to alienate herself from her fellow Party members and slowly thereafter from society in general, after she takes a giant iron statue of her hero from the town square and locks it up in her apartment. Over the years the statue takes on almost religious meaning for her and she sacrifices everything else in her life- career, money, love- to keep it. Told in parallel is the story of one Mark Shubkin, a Jewish dissident intellectual and writer, portrayed as a kind of a poor-man's Soltzhenitsyn, who lives in the same building along with his mistress Antonina. They make a colorful couple and their life on the other side of the Soviet equation- the outsiders- has its own ups and downs. Aglaya's and Shubkin's fortunes are told against the backdrop of Soviet history from the 1960s until the 1990s and we get to see how the changes in Russia affect them both. Sounds awfully serious but like I said, it's a satire, so while there are serious themes running beneath the book, there is also a lot of humor and humanity. 

Aglaya, for all her nuttiness, is portrayed as a woman whose logic and motivations are clear and consistent, even as they lead her to greater and greater ruin. She tries so hard to adapt to changing circumstances but she just can't do it. I really enjoyed the way Voinovich plays out her story against all the huge changes that took place in Russia during the 30-odd year period he covers and shows just what would happen to someone in her position- and therefore the kinds of things that probably did happen to a lot of people. It's a great way to explain history to an outsider- throw into the mix an exaggerated, hapless-yet-determined character with iron-clad beliefs and will to survive it all. 

And survive it she does, right to the bitter end. Monumental Propaganda is a rollicking good time of a satirical novel about serious subjects. Aglaya's unshakable determination coupled with Voinovich's lively prose will keep you reading as she navigates her way from the totalitarianism of the Stalin era through the anarchy of the post-Soviet years. When the end finally came I felt like it came too soon, only because that's how much I enjoyed her story.

A bit of book news worth noting

Doris Lessing, author of many books including The Golden Notebook and most recently The Cleft, which I reviewed here, has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. NPR covered the story here and you can find out more information by going to DorisLessing.org or her page at Wikipedia. According to the NPR article is she only the 11th woman to ever win the Nobel Prize for Literature. See also the official page of the Nobel Prize for more information on the prize itself and its history. Brava Doris!

Cool!

I just found out I won a copy of The Awakened Mage, second and final volume in a two-part series that began with The Innocent Mage. Both are published by Orbit Books and the contest was held over at The Book Swede.
As usual you can click on the cover for more info or to buy from a Booksense-affiliated independent bookseller.
Thanks Chris!

Book Shopping

Lately it's felt like the world has been conspiring against me. The world does not want me to read You Can Run But You Can't Hide by Duane "Dog" Chapman. Yes, I want to read the Dog's autobiography. I'm not just all about Serious Good Literature. And I'm a fan- what can I say? The flowing blond tresses, the huge biceps, the way he uses his intelligence and skills to make the world a better place... He's Fabio Hawaiian-style, a man who must spend as much time with his bottle of conditioner as he spends with his personal trainer. I've been watching his show on A&E for several months. It's irresistible.

So onto my own search, for his book. I have had it listed on my Bookmooch wishlist for several weeks with no bites. It's not highbrow enough for my usual bookstore haunts. I am unwilling to make a special order for a current hardback that should be no problem to find. The public library near my workplace doesn't have it. Barnes and Noble had it, but I couldn't find it, and I couldn't find a staff member to help me. It was shelved in Sociology/Criminology which doesn't make any sense, because it's an autobiography. But whatever. What do I know, I'm just a librarian. And then I went to Borders last night, which I know has it, and I know where it is- on the first floor, in the Television section. Except there was no one working there! I'm sure there was someone, somewhere but no one I could find, no one near the two large checkout counters. No one wandering the aisles. No one!

So I ordered it from Amazon. And I say to Dog's book: you can run, but you can't hide.

REVIEW: Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo

Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo. Published 2007 by Algonquin. Literary Fiction.

Breakfast with Buddha is the new novel from Massachusetts-based writer Roland Merullo, which takes as its subject the angst of the upper-middle-class American man, specifically one who must take a road trip with his sister's Russian New-Age guru. Otto Ringling is a well-off publishing executive from suburban New York whose parents have recently died, leaving him and his hippy-ish sister a valuable homestead in North Dakota. In order to settle the estate he must go out there and transact some business; his sister is afraid to fly and insists that he undertake the trip in the company of one Volya Rinpoche, a monk of unclear religious leanings. Otto is not pleased, but he's a good guy and agrees, and the trip is not what he expects.

I have been a fan of Roland Merullo's for several years, ever since I read Revere Beach Boulevard, one of three books in his Revere Beach Trilogy. Revere Beach Boulevard is a compassionate novel about a blue-collar Italian-American family in transition and in trouble and compassionate is the key word because it characterizes much of Merullo's writing. Revere is a working-class town in northeastern Massachusetts near where I grew up, and I know how easy a target its denizens make for snobbery and derision but Merullo really treats his characters with care and respect, and the same is true with Breakfast with Buddha. Otto and Rinpoche could both have easily been caricatures- a clueless yuppie and a Froot Loop off on a road trip. Instead they are both believable and likable, flawed but kind and sensitive to the world around them.

You can probably tell, but I liked this book a lot. Merullo is a very skilled writer and as I said, draws his characters with compassion and sensitivity. One thing I like to do when I'm done reading first-person stories of personal transformation is to re-read the first chapter or two, to see the way the narrator introduces the story. In this kind of book the beginning is also the end- the character has already lived the story and the transformation has already taken place when it opens, so it is worthwhile, after having experienced the story, to see how the narrator talks about what for him has already happened. In this case I saw on this second reading something like embarrassment on Otto's part, a very modest self-effacement that I found endearing. The only flaw I found was the sense I had about 7/8 of the way through that Otto's transformation came on a little quickly, but re-reading the beginning dispelled this impression a little or at least softened it with the sense that okay, yes, it's a believably ongoing process. Anyway it's a charming, sweet, beautifully written book. Go read it.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review from the publisher.

Afternoon Sessions at the Podcast and New Media Expo

After the morning keynote I went to three sessions- "Interviews that ROCK: Getting the Most out of your guests" with Heidi Miller of Heidi Miller Presents, and "Guerilla Love: How to get your name out there, share the love of life and make 'em smile" with Karen "KFC" Blanchette of Skydiver Girls and PodChick fame, and the legal panel that my husband was on. I'm going to refrain from commenting on the third panel because I'm biased, but the first two were terrific. Heidi Miller's presentation on interviewing was hands-on and useful; I got lots of good notes and I'm planning on going to her site later to look at the full presentation again. It's something I'm going to file and I'm sure I'll refer to it later. The second was just as good but a lot more fun. KFC is a well-known podcaster who employs guerilla marketing techniques such as stickering, t-shirts and even stamping her cash with her podcast URL. Her husband sprayed the audience with a leafblower filled with 100 stamped (and glittered!) one-dollar bills, just to drive home the point. Now her podcast will get publicity when we spend our dollar bills- and when the next person spends them, and the next, and so on. Get the point? Very clever.

I was also lucky enough to have lunch with a podcaster named Heidi Estrin who does the Book of Life podcast over at Jewishbooks.blogspot.com, a podcast featuring interviews with writers of Jewish-interest childrens' books. I think this podcast will turn out to be a great resource for me at my synagogue job and something I'm looking forward to sharing with my coworkers and my patrons.

The conference overall seems pretty high energy and intense. I saw a very diverse crowd of independent podcasters and corporate players of different stripes- corporate podcasters, insurance people, lawyers, vendors of all kinds. I found the exhibits to be pretty bland although I did sign up for a free online subscription to Blogger and Podcaster Magazine. There were a couple of individual podcasters I'd hoped to meet but I've pretty much given up on that since it would be like finding a needle in a haystack but you never know, there's always tomorrow.

What, I hear you ask, does all this have to do with book reviews and reading? Well it has to do with new media and new ways of disseminating information, and with the production and issues surrounding those sources of information. And going to this conference has given me some great topics to write about in the future and some solid connections with information and content creators which can be leveraged in all kinds of ways. Just trying to be a better librarian and a better blogger by educating myself and my audience about what's going on out there.

Keynote & Morning Activites - Podcast Expo

The day started with a keynote event starring Howard Lindzon, the founder of Lindzon & Associates and the creator of Wallstrip, a video podcast about stocks and investing ("Stock Culture Meets Pop Culture").

First of all, I thought keynotes were supposed to be speeches- this one was done as an interview, which I found a little odd. It also seemed cold and didn't hold my attention well. I dislike live interviews at conventions- I'm not here to listen to the speaker talk to some guy on the stage with him- I could get that in a regular podcast or standard media interview. I want the speaker to address me- you know, the audience. You know there's a live audience, right?

I also found Lindzon to be kind of cold and a little odd, at least on stage. (He seemed like a nice enough guy when I met him yesterday at the meet-and-greet for speakers.) My attention drifted in and out like I said, but from what I caught he basically talked about the business side of vod/podcasting and blogging and the importance of positioning yourself well in relation to your audience. At one point he said he felt like he deserves to be on CBS Morning News but then a few minutes later told the interviewer that he didn't think being on TV should be the goal of any podcaster. But it's your goal, right? If there had been the opportunity for questions I think that would be a good one. He reminded me of a local newspaper reporter I talked to at the meet-and-greet yesterday who took a very elitist, condescending attitude towards the new media world- like, it's okay for me to put myself out there, but you all newbs should back off. Yeah, right. That'll happen.

Then it was on to the exhibits and free pens and candy. Mmm free pens and candy.

Podcast & New Media Expo

So this weekend I'm in Ontario, California, at the 3rd Annual Podcast and New Media Expo. If you're not familiar with podcasts, they are downloadable, audio recordings made on any subject under the sun. And this is their convention. The reason I'm here is twofold: first, as a librarian I'm always interested in new media outlets and their potential for sharing information and I'm a longtime podcast listener, and secondly, my husband is speaking on a panel about podcasting and the law. So yeah. My own interest is probably not enough to motivate me to spend the time and money to fly out to sunny Cali from Boston but given that I'm a plus-one on a company-sponsored junket- no problem!

Today is the first day of real programming and I hope to have some fun stuff to talk about later today; yesterday we flew in and attended the speaker's reception, where we met some folks and collected (and distributed) a few cards. I'm also hoping to be able to promote my own blog a little and learn some things to help me be a better blogger. And I'm looking forward to the exhibits and talking to some of the commercial players in this new medium. So off I go to breakfast and I'll write more later.

REVIEW: Frenemies, by Megan Crane

Published: June 2007 by 5 Spot. Click on the cover to buy. I'm an IndieBound affiliate and receive a small commission on sales.


I don't read a lot of chick lit. In fact I hardly read any. The last few chick lit books I came across, I threw to the floor after the first three pages. Just couldn't handle the stereotypes, the bad writing, the formulas, and that's more or less what I expected when I picked up Frenemies. But this is what I like about getting Advance Reader Copies- books come across my desk that push me outside my comfort zone and I get exposed to things I wouldn't normally. And sometimes- just sometimes- I find something unexpected, and unexpectedly delightful.

Frenemies is just such a book. It is absolutely charming. It does have some of the little characteristics that annoy me about chick lit- female characters with boy's names (cause that makes them cool), a tendency towards establishing character traits by the use of brand names and pop-culture references (lazy!) and a predictable, Jane-Austenesque Mr. Right-versus-Mr. Wrong setup- but Frenemies also has engaging characters, good writing and a compelling story.

The plot focuses on Gus, a 29 year old librarian (no, I didn't know it was about a librarian when I picked it up) working to define her adult life on the eve of her 30th birthday. She starts in the middle of a messy breakup with a louse of a boyfriend, and things quickly spin out of control from there. Her best friends, Amy Lee and Georgia, are going through transitions of their own and additional complications arrive in the form of Henry, Gus's ex's roommate, and Helen, the new girlfriend of the ex, also a former close friend of Gus's.

But at the hub of this maelstrom of 20-something angst is Gus herself, and she is a very relateable, normal and likable young woman with a lot going for her, not the least of which is her own intelligence, self awareness, honestly and good heart. I liked Gus a lot and liking her is what kept the book afloat for me. She has insecurities and failings too, but it's easy to forgive her because she's a good person just trying to do the best she can. And yeah, you can kinda see the end coming from a mile away, but so what.

I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this book and how it kept me reading. There is some real (if not really deep) emotional truth to the way all these relationships played out. I can't say I really bought the thing with the neighbor, but that's a minor quibble. Of course I didn't have any real questions about where it was going but it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride nonetheless.

Rating: BEACH

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: How To Be A Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook. Edited by Stuart M. Matlins and Arthur J. Magida

Published: 2006. Click on the cover to buy.
Publisher: SkyLight Paths Publishing

How To Be A Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook is, quite simply, probably the best hands-on reference I've ever seen on comparative religion. When I say hands-on, I mean that this is the book you turn to when you have to go to a wedding or a funeral at a church or other house of worship that is totally unfamiliar; it is the place to get answers to questions about holidays, services, proper attire and etiquette. It's not the place to go for detailed theology but for quick questions and practical advice, it's very useful stuff.

How To Be A Perfect Stranger is divided into 29 chapters, one for each religion it covers, and includes appendices covering holidays, a glossary of terms, the meaning of various symbols, and a summary of the correct forms of address for religious leaders of various faiths. The selection of religions profiled takes nothing for granted, covering every major faith you're likely to encounter in North America. The religions are sequenced alphabetically so there can be no accusation of bias by, for example, having Roman Catholic come before Protestant or somesuch.

Each chapter is divided into five sections: History and Beliefs; The Basic Service; Holy Days and Festivals; Life Cycle Events; and Home Celebrations. In each section, the same questions are asked and answered for every religion so the coverage is scrupulous and uniform. The only exception to this format is the chapter on Native American religions, which has some of the same divisions but the material is not presented in the same question-and-answer format. In the introduction, the editors explain this choice thusly:

"Because there is not a single Native American/First Nations faith, we found the standard question-and-answer fromat used in these chapters inadequate to properly explain the practices and spirituality of indigenous North American peoples. At the same time, their faith differs so basically from those religions in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions or from Hinduism or Buddhism that adhering to the standard format woudl have been more of a disservice than a virtue. For example, ceremonies and their content vary greatly among tribal groups and even native religions' basic concept of a Creator bears little relation to concepts of a Creator in most Western and Asian religions" (xvi)

It sounds to me like they're trying to say that they just tried to do the best summary-type treatment they could in the space they had. All of which indicates that if you're interested in learning the nitty-gritty of Native American religions this volume probably isn't the best source, but if you're looking for more of a broad-strokes treatment or quick introduction this book would be okay.

They get more detailed elsewhere, however. The information for the book comes from a questionnaire that was sent out to national representatives or clergy all over the country and then preliminary chapters sent back out for correction and comment. Therefore the information is probably pretty reliable. I did a quick web search and other reviewers seem to agree. How To Be A Perfect Stranger won the 2006 "Best Reference Book of the Year Award," from the Independent Book Publishers Association. It's well-deserved. Helpful, practical and hands-on, How To Be A Perfect Stranger is fun armchair reading and a great resource for home reference.

REVIEW: Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress : A Girl's Guide to the Dungeons & Dragons Game, by Shelly Mazzanoble

Released: September 2007. Click on the cover to buy.
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Are you a woman (or do you know one) who's never played Dungeons & Dragons but has always been curious about it? Do you have a friend/husband/boyfriend who plays, but you were intimidated by the stereotypes about nerds and geeks, or thought it would to be too hard, or have too many rules, or take too much time? Well if so, Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress is the book for you.

Author Shelly Mazzanoble writes from the point of view of an extremely (even hyper-) girly-girl young woman who loves to shop, watch soaps and get mani-pedis- and who also loves participating in the ongoing campaigns of Astrid the elf and her band of adventurers. She wants to convince women that D&D isn't all about smelly geeks in a basement casting arcane spells and speaking with cheesy British accents while dressed in chainmaille and Ren Faire outfits. Her thesis is that it's just about groups of friends coming together on a regular basis for a fun, wholesome activity that fires the imagination, fosters social skills and helps participants gain confidence.

Okay.

Let me just say up front that I am exactly the sort of person towards whom this book is aimed. My husband is an avid D&D player, as have been many of my male friends throughout my life. I always thought it was a boy thing- a little seedy, a little smelly, and just a little weird. I was in college before I knew any women who played, and they weren't, uhm, people I could relate to. So I just thought, this isn't for me, and put it aside. So when this book came along I thought, okay, let's see if this woman can sell me on D&D. Cause if she can sell me, she can sell anyone.

Most of the book consists of a girly primer on the basics of D&D. She writes about spells, points, character sheets and dice; she includes cute illustrations and quizzes, and even some recipes of suggested appetizers to serve at your own D&D party. The tone is light and breezy, and peppered with pop-culture and fashion references, and the dominant color is pink. It's cute. It's informative. I enjoyed reading the story of how she came to play; she seems like someone I can relate to. Even though the stereotypes aren't the whole story, there is still a lot of truth to them and they do put people like me off the game. I mean, most of the reason I've rejected the idea of playing is that I think I just wouldn't fit in in most groups. But maybe I'm wrong.

As far as actual game-play, the rules and regs don't seem that intimidating or difficult. And I like the idea that it's not competitive. I like Mazzanoble's tone and style, and I think the information is presented in a way that's easy to understand. Her "I'm an outsider who became an insider" approach helps. And there's lots of humor and silliness. I love the little features like "Top Ten Spells Every Woman Should Know", quizzes, cute recipes and the appendix with a sample character sheet. All in all a fun little read. But did she sell me on playing D&D? Well, let's just say I'm not as hostile to the idea as I used to be. And every once in a while I catch myself checking out dice...

Librarian stereotypes rant

The purpose of this blog is to be a resource for readers and I'm not going to make a habit of writing about library issues (unless I get comments from you all that you'd like me to, of course) but today I felt like writing a little rant.

I subscribe to a librarian news feed called Library Link of the Day. Yesterday I got this story as part of that feed.

You know, I hear a lot about librarian stereotypes. Stereotypes and fighting stereotypes. How it's so over to be one of those frumpy-mummy librarians with cardigans and cats. How it's hip and cool to be a kick-boxing, blog-writing, WoW-playing librarian. A recent New York Times article interviewed a bunch of pierced and tattooed librarians who live to social-network and do tag clouds, and they talked about how it's all about being techno-savvy and stuff. And how we're all so uber-hip now, not like those stuffy old ladies of yore, the ones with the buns and glasses.

Uh-huh.

Yes, technology is important, and every day changing technology impacts libraries and librarians and library patrons. And it's important to be fearless with technology, to be willing try new things, to push boundaries and find new ways to use technology.

But it's not all about the toys. Just cause it's on the web doesn't make it relevant. Just cause it's at the Apple store doesn't mean patrons (or anyone) need it. Libraries have always been, and will always be, about service, first and foremost. I heard a very well known library professional speak at a regional conference about how "everyone" would have an iPhone soon so we had to adjust library services to new broadband technologies ASAP. No, only middle class people are going to have iPhones and the like. What's the benefit of making all those shiny toys the center of library services when the majority of our patrons can't afford them?

And how superficial, all this talk about coolness and hipness. What difference does it make if library service is delivered by a dork with a bun and a long skirt (like me!) or by some ultra-cool hottie in a Threadless t-shirt and skinny jeans? Is someone a better librarian because she has better fashion sense?

Talk about high school all over again. I'm a librarian, and that's cool, but I'm still not one of the Kool Kids.

One of the things that drives me crazy is when 25 year olds stamp their feet and whine about how no one takes them seriously because they're young. No kidding. I know you were hot shit in college, I know you're totally into manga and that makes you awesome but you know what? If people don't take you seriously maybe you should spend more time developing yourself as a professional and less time deciding what to dye your hair this week and where the next piercing should go. Respect is something you earn. It's not something you're entitled to just because you waaaaaant it. I once heard a young librarian complain that the 50-something faculty members in her academic library didn't take her seriously when she showed up to give a talk wearing a miniskirt and dyed pink hair. Shocking!

And how disrespectful is that attitude of the people (mostly women) who built this profession? My mentors and role models are all those stodgy older women so deplored by everyone who wants librarianship to be ultrahip. And you know what? They know more than I do. They are more experienced than I am. Learning from them helps make me a better librarian every day. Even if I know HTML and they don't.

Listen- I'm not cool. I'm never going to be cool. And I've accepted that. But "cool" isn't what it takes to be a good librarian. Never has been, never will be. It's about having the skills to serve your patrons, and yes, that includes keeping up with technology but it also means old-fashioned things like judgment, people skills and professionalism. It's not about being young or old, or frumpy or fashionable. And who cares what the Kool Kids think anyway.

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled content tomorrow. :-)

REVIEW: The Schocken Guide to Jewish Books: Where to Start Reading about Jewish History, Literature, Culture, and Religion, edited by Barry W. Holtz

Since it was Rosh Hashanah a few days ago and the Jewish holiday season I thought it would be appropriate to review The Schocken Guide to Jewish Books. The Schocken Guide is the book lover's passport into the world of Jewish books- basically it's an extended bibliography of Judaica in a range of subject areas, fully annotated and illustrated with photos and drawings. I found it on one of my trips into my local used book store; it caught my eye because I work in a synagogue library right now and was browsing the Judaica section for something that might be either a good addition to the collection or a useful tool for me. This book turned out to be both.

Schocken Books is a publishing company specializing in Judaica since it was founded in Germany in 1931. In 1987 it became a division of Random House but continues to publish popular Judaica in a broad range of subject areas. Today Schocken publishes authors like Anita Diamant and Aharon Applefield. See the official About Schocken page at Random House or the entry on Wikipedia for more information. In other words the company is an expert source when it comes to Jewish books.

Every chapter of The Schocken Guide is written by a different expert, mostly rabbis and college professors representing every stream of Judaism. The chapter on the Jewish Middle Ages, for example, is written by Ivan Marcus, a professor of history specializing in medieval Europe at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The chapter on immigration and Jews in America is written by Brandeis University professor of American Jewish History Jonathan D. Sarna. So it's not just one guy rattling off a list of his favorite books but scholars giving a gloss on the most useful volumes in his or her specialty.

The recommendations include all genres of writing- fiction, nonfiction, etc. And each section mixes genres so for example the chapter on the Holocaust includes Holocaust fiction as well as history and memoirs. This feature is useful for someone learning about a given topic because you can find all the information you need in one place. The well-researched chapters cover mostly scholarly topics like Jewish mysticism, Israel and Zionism, women, as well as separate chapters covering Hebrew and Yiddish literature as well as American Jewish novels.

It's been fourteen years since The Schocken Guide was published in 1993; I would love to see an updated version covering newer publishers like Jewish Lights and newer trends in Jewish publishing, like the recent spate of self help books. I think it would also be helpful to include some chapters on less-scholarly topics. At my library, the single most popular category of books for adults is cookbooks and it would be great to have an expert along the lines of Joan Nathan tell me about the must-haves. It would also be helpful to include a directory of publishers and other resources in Jewish literature, like the National Yiddish Book Center or the Association of Jewish Libraries. But it is still incredibly useful for evaluating collections made up largely of older books and for anyone looking for a good read in Jewish religion, history, and literature.

'Tis the season

for yard sales. Actually 'tis almost past the season, but they're still going strong. Even though it's a Sunday, I figured there would be plenty of yard sales today because yesterday was a washout and it's absolutely gorgeous out now. So we went out this morning and spent about three hours roaming around finding cool stuff. A pretty Polish stoneware teapot, a pin, some video games. I go to yard sales regularly, and have my own every couple of years, and I've found books to be incredibly hard to sell at yard sales, and I rarely buy them when I go. Condition is so important and most books at yard sales are the dregs- the battered, the old, the ugly, the water-damaged, the torn.

Once in a while you find a curiousity like the 1923 Fannie Farmer cookbook I found yesterday, but having bought it for a mere quarter and spent a few minutes ooo-ing and ahh-ing over the quaint, outdated recipes I have no idea what I'm going to do with it now except put it into my next yard sale. I consider myself lucky to find anything even readable. I found a somewhat old (1983) hardcover for 50 cents that I'm going to give to the library where I work, but that's it.

Oh and sometimes I buy books because I plan to trade them, but you've got to be careful with that. Books at yard sales are by definition not current so be careful not to buy yet another copy of that best seller from three years ago which is now flooding the book-trade market. I almost considered using my husband's Blackberry to check the swap site I use before I buy books for trading purposes but that's a little retentive even for me. I bought an Anna Maxted paperback (in very good condition, natch) for $1 at a sale thinking, hey, chick lit is popular, right? and then found out there are already 50 copies of it on my favorite swap site. Darn. But then you never know. A week or so later I got a Terry Pratchett novel at another sale, and I traded it within 24 hours.

Once I decided to finally settle down and read a certain lengthy literary novel written by a famous South American writer after I realized I'd bought two different copies at two different yard sales. I guess I wanted to read it a lot more than I thought I did!

As far as selling, presentation is so important. If you just throw them in a box, forget it. Most people aren't going to weed through grocery bags and smelly cardboard. Remember you're selling. Lay them out nice on a table, and only offer interesting books in good condition. And be flexible and remember it's about community spirit and goodwill, not just about making money. I've given away books rather than sell them sometimes when it's something like a poetry anthology going to a child. My husband and I are having a yard sale in a few weeks and I'm trying to decide if it's even worth it to sell books at all. The most you can charge for most paperbacks is $1 and I get better value trading them even if it costs me a little upfront to mail them out.

It's all recycling and it's all better than throwing them out. As far as donating books, working in a library cluttered with unwanted donations has soured me on donating books, because I don't want to do to someone else what's been done to the library I work in. So I'll continue to work the used book market in my own way.

A questionnaire for a Saturday afternoon

I'm in between book reviews right now but I don't want you guys to forget about me in the mean time so here's a little meme thingy for a lazy Saturday.

(1) What book are you currently reading? I'm reading three- Adventures of Mottel the Cantor's Son by Sholem Aleichem, Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo, and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

(2) How do you decide what book to read next? Well right now I'm trying to read my galleys in some sort of logical order so I can post reviews in a timely manner... otherwise it's what I feel like next, maybe something I just bought that I'm dying to get to, or something that's been on my shelf for a while and I feel like it's time. Or I alternate between galleys, books that I trade and books that I buy.

(3) Do you always finish books, or do you give up on them? If you give up on them, how many pages does it usually take? I sometimes give up on a book. If it's boring, if I notice that it's been a month since I looked at it and I'm not really interested anymore... I don't stick to a rule as far as how many pages- if I don't want to read it anymore, I don't.

(4) Do you ever re-read books you love? If so, how often? Please give examples, if possible. I haven't re-read a book in a long time. I reread Possession a couple of times, because it's an all-time favorite, and I've read Persuasion more than once, and others when I was in college. But these days I'm more inclined to move on to newer pastures. There's so much out there I want to read.

(5) Can you read books in noisy places (e.g., on trains and buses, crowded rooms)? Yes, I can read any time, anywhere. I can focus very well and sometimes actually become deaf to noise.

(6) Where do you acquire most of your books? If you are a library user or borrower, how many books do you borrow at once? If a buyer, what is the average number of books you buy at once? I get some galleys, and I trade books online, and buy books. As I've written elsewhere in my blog, I'm not a library patron despite being a librarian. My husband and I go out to Borders once a week or so and I always come back with something, no matter how much I tell myself I'm not going to!

(7) Do you use bookmarks, or dog-ear the pages of your books? Do you make marginal notes? If so, do you use pencil or pen? I dog-ear pages, bend the spines back, write in books... basically read them pretty hard!

(8) Do you have any unusual tendencies, while reading? Umm... no... like what?

(9) Do you skim through pages at top speed, or do you stop to savor the sentences along the way? I don't skim but sometimes I read fast. I've noticed I get more out of the book when I slow down so there are times I make a conscience effort to go at a more leisurely pace. Like eating a nice dessert, you don't taste it if you gulp it all down at once.

(10) We know most of us can read just about anywhere, but let's be more specific: Where, and when, do you do your best reading? I read on the bus or the subway in the mornings, on the sofa in the afternoons and in bed in the evening.

REVIEW: Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan

Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan. Released: August 2007. Click on the cover to buy. I'm an IndieBound affiliate and receive a small commission on sales.

Loving Frank is a fictionalized account of the love affair between architect Frank Lloyd Wright and a married Chicago woman named Mamah Borthwick Cheney; Cheney and Wright met when Wright designed a house for her and her husband Edwin. They fell in love, and Cheney eventually left her family and fled to Europe with Wright, with whom she lived for the rest of her life save for a short time apart. I liked Loving Frank. It was a little bit of a surprise for me that I liked it, but I did.

Despite being a long book, Loving Frank is a very quick read- the chapters are succinct and the action moves quickly. The writing isn't particularly dense but it is detailed and careful, and breezes along confidently. Despite Frank's position as the love of Mamah's life, neither Horan nor Mamah ultimately idealizes him. Loving Frank is not a biography and I can't say anything about the real Frank Lloyd Wright but this fictional one is a deeply flawed man. He is arrogant, impecunious and irresponsible both with himself and with Mamah, though Horan also takes pains to show their relationship as rich and loving and sincere.

What made Loving Frank a good read for me was Mamah- Frank Lloyd Wright is the hook that probably got Loving Frank all the attention it's (rightly) been getting, but it's Mamah's story. I was bothered at the beginning as Horan portrayed Mamah as what seemed to be just another repressed housewife, married to a nice-but-dull-guy, unsatisfied, unfulfilled. We've all read that story before. I actually threw the book down a few chapters in because it just seemed a little stale. But I picked it up again and what won me over was Mamah's intelligence and drive, and her perseverance and struggle to carve out a life for herself after it seems like she's lost everything, as well as Horan's honesty and the way she challenges Mamah to accept responsibility for her choices. Horan also gives Mamah the heart to feel remorse and regret and to have an honest and loving relationship with her partner, despite the challenges. And Horan makes her so very likable and sympathetic as a woman trying to make a meaningful life for herself. I rooted for her and rejoiced a little in the slow progress of her growing confidence, personally and as a blossoming intellectual and feminist.

The ending caught me off guard but then how else could it have happened? You'll understand once you read it. Horan did an excellent job building the tension in the chapters leading up to what happens but it is jarring nonetheless.

Overall I enjoyed Loving Frank. Not the best love story ever but an enjoyable, convincing portrayal of a flawed, likable woman struggling for the freedoms and choices that many women struggle for, even today, and coming to a tragic end at what should have been the best time of her life. It was a very satisfying read, definitely the kind of book you can stay up all night with.

See also: LovingFrank.com, official website of the book; Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney on Wikipedia. But don't read the Wikipedia entries unless you want spoilers!

Rating: BACKLIST


FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

The Traveler Restaurant and Book Store, Union CT

For several years now I've been making periodic road trips with my husband to the New York City area for various family events- weddings, funerals, anniversary parties and so on. Both sides of his family are centered there so it's the setting for many large family events, most of which are attended by people traveling in from all over the country. We live in the Boston area so when we're driving to New York part of the trip invariably involves time on route I-84 in Connecticut and for several years I've noticed a large, old-fashioned looking sign on the side of the road in the town of Union, right over the Connecticut-Massachusetts border: FOOD BOOKS. Map of Traveler Restaurant:860-684-4920 1257 Buckley Hwy Union, CT 06076, US

The sign looks like something out of the 1950s- picture a clean-cut nuclear family dressed in their Sunday best in an old-style station wagon driving to grandma's house; they see this large friendly sign inviting them in to a simple diner-style restaurant for a hearty meal. Oh, and books! Free books. Three, to be precise, per person, with your meal. When we first pulled off the highway to try The Traveler I was a little daunted and didn't quite know what to expect- I wasn't even sure it was really open or if it was actually a relic from the 1950s. Well it is actually a lot of fun.

There are bookshelves all over the spacious restaurant full of all kinds of books- old books, new books, all categories. There is also a tight but well-packed used bookstore in the basement selling everything from vintage children's books to vintage Playboy. Each time we go I can't wait to place my order for lunch and start browsing the shelves for my three books. Every time I come back with some random discovery I never would have found or even thought of. Humorous French detective novels. Out of print science fiction. A biography of a French writer from the 18th century. All the books upstairs are available for taking as part of the free book offer and are also for sale for 50 cents apiece after that. They also sell books in bulk- big grocery bags full of popular fiction, or romance novels, or cowboy novels, or scifi for prices from $2.50 to around $20 depending on the contents.

Oh yeah, and the food's pretty good too. For a book lover it is so much fun.

So, what did I choose? The Portrait of Zelide, a biography of 18th century French novelist Madame de Charriere; Dolly, a novel by British writer Anita Brookner, and a book of short stories by Argentinian writer Edgardo Cozarinksy called The Bride from Odessa. On my first trip to The Traveler I got Radiant Cool, an experimental novel published by the MIT Press about a murder and written by philosophy professor Dan Lloyd, and Daniel Pennac's The Fairy Gunmother, a bizarre, hilarious French detective novel starring "professional scapegoat" Benjamin Malaussene. You just never know what you're going to find. But I know that I have some fun reading ahead!

REVIEW: The Breads of France, and How to Bake Them in Your Own Kitchen, by Bernard Clayton, Jr.

Firstly, "BookNook" is a new feature I'm going to roll out on an every-now-and-then basis; simply put, "BookNook" will feature reviews of out of print books, unusual finds and ephemera- the kind of things you pick up at a used book store or find the dusty corner of your collection. So, let me know what you think and enjoy!

Published: 1978 Click on the cover to buy an updated version. This article covers the 1978 edition.

Okay, this is kind of a random choice for a book review- a used-bookstore find, not exactly hot off the presses, and since when has a brioche been hip enough for a blog? I just fell in love with The Breads of France. It's so awesome! It has loads of interesting, doable recipes from all over France, divided by region, and so much variety. Brioches, bagels, quick breads, cookies, dinner rolls, croissants, Christmas stollen, and lots and lots of straight-up loaves of bread.

As far as features, there is a very helpful section at the front on the tools needed for successful bread baking and a resource list, although given that the contact information for the companies selling supplies is 20 years old it's probably not accurate any more, but hey, it's a place to start. The recipes include an estimated time with every step, so you can tell how long to mix, how long to wait, how long each step should take. Very helpful for planning. The directions are clear and well-written. The cultural information about the different areas of France and the background of the different breads was fascinating and fun to read.

I have to admit I haven't tried actually baking anything yet but it's such an interesting book just to read and look at, why sweat the baking? Seriously though, I intend to try one of the brioche recipes this week but I love to read cookbooks as much as I like to use them and this book is definitely a terrific find.

REVIEW: The Cleft, by Doris Lessing

The Cleft, by Doris Lessing.  Published August 2007 by HarperCollins. Click on the cover to buy. I'm an IndieBound affiliate and receive a small commission on sales.

The Cleft is the new novel by renowned British writer Doris Lessing, author of contemporary classics like The Golden Notebook and Memoirs of a Survivor. This book is the fictional history of a place called the Cleft, a fictional deep cavern that served as the center of a small ancient society composed entirely of women. These women, the Clefts, were the first humans. They reproduced asexually and bore only daughters. But then a new kind of child is born, with unfamiliar appendages; at first, these are called "monsters" and are shunned and mutilated. Eventually the Monsters, or boys ("squirts," as they come to be called), aided by giant eagles, form a separate village and as time goes on the two societies move closer together. This "history" is told by a nameless Roman senator who also interjects with stories about his own marriage and family, since although the story is ostensibly about the history of the place the theme is the relations between men and women. Parallels are drawn between his wife and the Clefts, between his children's development and that of the youngsters of the long-ago time he's recounting.

I'll admit I'm not very familiar with her works (although I'm working to change that as we speak) and I found the book a little tough going at first. It reminded me a little of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, especially that book's coda or epilogue. After a while though I couldn't quite figure out where it was going, and I found the tone to be remote and abstract, and the characters to be almost indistinct. Apart from the narrator and his family, who occupy a very small part of the narrative, there are no more than five distinct characters and they are not terribly well-formed and seem to serve as representatives for entire races and generations of people.

However, when I discussed the book with a friend who is very familiar with the content and tone of Roman histories (that is, histories written during Roman times) I was assured that these very characteristics- abstractness, representative characters and large amounts of speculation- were actually quite typical of the kinds of histories that Romans wrote and that Lessing therefore was doing a very good job of realistically portraying how a Roman would have told this story.

My friend also warned me that abrupt endings were also typical of Roman histories and to be prepared. Good thing, too, because that's exactly what happened.

When it was over I could see better the narrative's arc and understood the overall structure a little better. But did I like the book? Well, yes and no. Lessing is a demanding writer of challenging fiction; to me The Cleft wasn't the kind of book I like, it's the kind of book I admire. I admired it, and I would recommend The Cleft to anyone who is looking for just that kind of reading experience.

See also: Doris Lessing on Wikipedia.

Rating: BACKLIST


FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: Hello Kitty: The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon, by Ken Belson and Brian Bremner

Published: 2004

As anyone knows, who knows me well, I am a 34 year old Hello Kitty superfan. There are probably bigger Hello Kitty fans than I out there but I can say unapologetically, I LOVE HELLO KITTY. I have Hello Kitty plushes, accessories, jewelry, kitchen appliances, stationery, special Hello Kitty dolls from Hawaii and New York, and even a trinket or two picked up for me in Japan. When I got married I bought Hello Kitty wedding dolls on eBay showing Kitty and her boyfriend, Dear Daniel, in wedding costumes. It all started when I was a little girl in the 3rd grade and bought a Hello Kitty calculator from a schoolfriend (which I still have to this day- the calculator, that is). "I can count," she proclaims ever so cutely on the front. Yes, she can, and so can the executives at Sanrio who have been counting more yen than anyone might have thought possible with the cute Kitty-chan ever since.

And no one can deny the marketability of Kitty even today. She's marketed to girls and women alike and appears on everything from cheap pencils to diamond jewelry and accessories ranging into the thousands of dollars. Just recently I saw on the Sanrio.com website that you can take your cell phone to a special Hello Kitty store in California and have it custom-encrusted with Swarovski crystals. She's not just for little girls any more, and she hasn't been for a while. So naturally I couldn't resist a book purporting to be a (semi) serious analysis of that most adorable of business creations.

The book has a meaty premise- to explain the appeal of Kitty and document her rise to world domination- um, I mean document the success of an enduring corporate icon and put Kitty in the context of Japanese history and culture.

The book succeeds as an amusement but I have to say overall I was disappointed. It starts off with a breezy description of Japanese demographic trends and the culture of cute; how the character goods business and the constant stream of advertising to which Japanese people are subjected grew from a language that is primarily visual in nature and how the brilliant founder of Sanrio, Shintaro Tsuji, capitalized on all this and more to create the marketing and branding success that is Hello Kitty.

The authors, journalists with the New York Times and Business Week respectively, then delve into the business of Kitty, starting with Tsuji's life story and from there the history of Sanrio as a company and the character goods business in general. The authors repeatedly describe Kitty's success as a byproduct of women marrying late and having more disposable income to spend on themselves. In fact there were many times I felt that the same information was being repackaged and repeated over and over. Even the large type in the hardcover edition gave me the impression that someone was trying to make the book longer than it really was.

Overall though I thought the tone was a little too light and conversational; I would have appreciated a little more in the way of insight into Kitty's success and specifically what went into her design and some better discussion of her broad and lasting appeal. What really bothered me though was the way much of the book just read like a valentine to Shintaro Tsuji. The chapter focused on his story is called "The God of Kawaii"; he has "plenty of qualities worth marveling at" and is "masterful"; he has the "drive and desire to work at a relentless pace" and so on. This mash-note tone continues throughout the book and quickly wore thin, especially when coupled with the apparent lack of serious journalism or analysis. At one point the authors say that Kitty is "a statement for those who want to snub their nose at the establishment". Um, no, she's a corporate icon designed to sell cheap accessories to girls and young women. She's cute and I love her too but come on. Meanwhile critics of Kitty and Sanrio are largely dismissed as fogeys and sourpusses who just don't appreciate cuteness.

So it's a breezy read with some interesting information and anecdotes about Sanrio and Hello Kitty but I would have enjoyed the book more if it were a heftier and more balanced piece of cultural criticism instead of a one-sided bit of sycophantic fluff.

See also: Hello Kitty on Wikipedia

Search Engine Review: LazyLibrary.com

A new search engine launched recently, designed to help readers find short (200 pages or less) books on the topic of their choice, called LazyLibrary.com. The premise is simple: "read less. get more," the site says. From the home page:

"Ever read a book that was a few hundred pages longer than it needed to be? Yeah, so have we. Fortunately, there are authors out there that would rather have a concise and effective book than a lengthy and diluted tome, and that's where we come in."

The interface is simple and easy to read. The home page includes the search box, a brief description of the site and a clickable cloud at the bottom with sample "popular searches."

Simply type your topic into the search box at the top left and the engine returns results on a new page. Additional features include new and used Amazon.com prices, a link to buy the book from Amazon, rating stars (this feature is not yet enabled in the beta version), number of pages, graphics to indicate the length in visual terms- one page for each 50 pages- and a link to get a blurb.

It's cute, although the results seemed a little haphazard. A search for "russia" returned some good, on-topic results- the first two results were Afghanistan: A Russian Soldier's Story and Adopting Alyosha : A Single Man Finds a Son in Russia. The rest of the hits, nine in all, made sense. I did a couple of other searches that also returned reasonable hits. The results made sense to me if the engine was doing a topical approach but then I did a search for "library" and "libraries," to see how the engine would handle a search that might not get as many keyword-in-title type hits. The results seemed to confirm that the engine was using the search term as a keyword and not as a subject.

The first result was The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran Pocket Library Series), which has nothing to do with libraries and probably was included because the word library appears in the title. The next four books were children's books and I couldn't figure out what any of them have to do with libraries, especially the second one, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type. I did several other searches for words like "quilting" and "Woolf" (as in Virginia) and "embroidery" and got a variety of mostly-useful results.

I think that LazyLibrary is a fun little tool somewhat useful for finding quick reads in nonfiction, if only because fiction tends to be longer than 200 pages and might be tougher to search by topic. It might be of interest to librarians for light readers-advisory work and to general readers for quick searches and entertainment. I would be interested to know more about the folks behind the site and exactly from where they're pulling their results. How closely is the site affliated with Amazon is one question I have. I'll check back on it now and then and see how it's coming.