Pie Not Included

It Sucked and Then I Cried (by Heather Armstrong)

2009-04-08T17:26:00.001-07:00

So of course I had to read Heather "Dooce" Armstrong's book, and I have to say, I was disappointed. I don't hate her (although it's not hard to be jealous of her $40K per month) and I enjoy her blog. But I was expecting the book to go into depth a little more into PPD, as the title would suggest.

I found it to be annoyingly glib, almost. It really takes a long time to get to the climax of the book, which would I guess be her being hospitalized for four days. In that segment, she suddenly refers back to things that were never explored, such as fits of violence. The book is like cute story cute story cute story I cried a lot cute story BAM IN THE HOSPITAL. I feel like it glosses over a lot of what it's supposed to be exploring.

I also think the all caps thing doesn't work very well in print, if at all. I don't mind it in a blog, but in a book, it feels gimmicky and lazy. The letters to Leta are interspersed in there too, in a cutesy font. It seems like another distraction from the (supposed) main story. And she ends the book by talking about her four-day stay in a mental hospital as if she spent a year in Guantanamo. It feels self-indulgent and lacking perspective. (There's this whole, "I remember when you used to visit me in the hospital sometimes, and you would bring Leta..." and I was like oh really? All four of those days?)

I am not trying to make light of what Heather went through; the problem is, I think she's making light of it. And then at the end talking about it as if she's made us understand her suffering. She hasn't. And that's why, for me, the book falls apart.

The Princess Diaries, Princess in the Spotlight, and Princess in Love (by Meg Cabot)

2009-03-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

After the lit GRE, I will possibly get further along in Infinite Jest (I'm still at the filmography in the notes, which, are you kidding me with this?)or start The Blind Assassin which is next on my list of reading list books by women, but in the meantime, I used some birthday money to pick up this special volume at Borders with the first three Princess Diaries books. My friend Annie had suggested them as a possible model for my YA novel.

A cursory glance through Amazon tells me there are 10 books, which, yay! I loved the first three. It's much slower paced than I expected, most likely because I'd seen the movie, and a lot of action was crammed into it. But I love the main character, Mia, and the supporting characters (particularly Lilly and Grandmere, who are very vivid, and gives me some ideas about bringing my supporting cast to life). Anyway, most of my brain was spent just LOVING THE HELL out of these books; the rest of my brain was swirling with ideas for my own YA thingie.

I know I'm late to the P-Diaries party, but really. So much fun. And I feel far less guilty about liking these than the Shopaholic books...

Shopaholic and Baby (by Sophie Kinsella)

2009-03-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

Fluffy, ridiculous, blah di blah. Fun to read, but I can see the point of negative Amazon reviews, such as:

But now, the main character, Becky Bloomwood, is just annoying and irresponsible. The foreign bank accounts, credit cards, etc. are just ridiculous. Her husband has become a joke. What man, of any means, would put up with this amount of lying and trickery. I realize that there are people out there who have shopping disorders such as this, but it's an addiction. I think that the next book should be Shopaholic and Therapist.

It definitely requires a huge suspension of disbelief, because in real life, I couldn't stomach Becky's compulsive lying and complete inability to face reality. Luckily it's a book! So I just say la la la to myself and forget about it as soon as I turn the last page. Still, this reviewer has a point.

Shopaholic Ties the Knot (by Sophie Kinsella)

2009-03-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

At some point this weekend, I realized I need to start studying for the lit GRE, as it is in less than a month. So the odds are I will read nothing but fluff until April 4! Like these books!

This one was good; it made me laugh a lot. Of course, the main character is not only ridiculous about money but also a compulsive liar; the idea that someone rational would want to marry her is kind of a stretch. Also, the solution to the central conflict was obvious from the very beginning, and in fact could have been solved way more easily than it was.

Still, I loved little things like her buying the canoe, and the details of the wedding were fun to read. I'm a sucker for weddings, I guess! That also reminds me that we've been going through wedding pictures this weekend too---very fun.

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan (by Sophie Kinsella)

2009-03-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. You don't have to say it. And right now I'm reading the third one. Ian says I'm a Shopaholicaholic. I can't help it! They are like candy for the brain.

The Price of Salt (by Patricia Highsmith)

2009-03-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

I've never read any of the Ripley novels or anything else by Highsmith, but I was intrigued by this book when I saw it on a friend's bookshelf. It was published under a pseudonym because Highsmith didn't want to be pigeonholed as a "lesbian writer" and this is the story of the erotic awakening of a young girl when she meets an older, more worldly woman at the department store where she works.

Absolutely pitch-perfect, I thought. Has a vaguely ominous tone at times, but is ultimately not a suspense novel in the way that I imagine her other novels are. Definitely makes me want to read more Highsmith... like Shirley Jackson, I have a feeling she's one of those underappreciated writers, relegated to "genre" status when she doesn't deserve to be. Anything else I say will give away too much of the plot... but I recommend it.

Confessions of a Shopaholic (by Sophie Kinsella)

2009-02-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, okay, I did it. I read it. I bought it at an airport and read it on a plane. And... I ENJOYED IT.

I thought I was going to be annoyed, because I don't generally understand people who love to shop, and I don't really relate to the whole designer lust/labels thing. I thought I would want to take the main character and smack her in the head. Which of course is a little true, because she's obviously delusional, but she's delusional in a Bridget Jones/Adrien Mole kind of way. She's charmingly delusional, and that makes all the difference. You do root for her, or at least I did, and I didn't think I would.

It's perfect fluff, and I do completely intend to read the rest of the series--I wouldn't buy the books, but you know, I would read them in a bookstore or library. It would only take like 45 minutes each.

On a side note, so far, every book I've read this year has been by a woman, and I'm currently reading Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt. That's kind of weird, yet cool. Eventually I'll finish Infinite Jest, though, and ruin my streak. Maybe not until December, though.

How to Ditch Your Fairy (by Justine Larbalestier)

2009-01-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

A very cute YA book that I put on my wish list when John Scalzi mentioned it on his blog, and I subsequently got for Christmas. I loved the central concept (everyone has a personal, invisible fairy that brings them a very specific type of good luck, like the ability to find loose change), the main character, and the inventiveness of the storyline.

But... the subplot where Charlie gets "kidnapped" repeatedly by Danders Anders is really distressing to me. She doesn't want to get in this guy's car, and he physically forces her into his car. Then she... doesn't report him? Keeps going along with it (at least SIXTEEN times) because he's bigger than she is? Because she thinks the school will protect him? And there's another guy there, who doesn't do anything about it either, and in fact is Danders's accomplice. I get the feeling that it's supposed to be lighthearted, but the subtext felt so deeply wrong to me. If a guy tries to force you to do something you don't want to do, YOU RAISE FUCKING HELL. You don't just go along with it. As it stands, that is not a message I am comfortable with, at all. And I kept waiting for something to happen that would underline how deeply wrong it is, but nothing really did.

I had other minor nitpicks and felt like many of the plotlines didn't quite get resolved at the end. (Also, the school and New Avalon society are clearly draconian and insane but there's no fallout from that either.) I guess I wished she had gone in a different direction with the plot point mentioned above, and maybe fleshed out the end a little bit. It was very likeable, though. Which is probably not at all how this review reads. But it was!

Houston, We Have A Problema (by Gwendolyn Zepeda)

2009-01-19T09:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't read Gwen's online writing, I don't think really ever, but I've heard her name for years and years. I liked the premise of this book (girl bases life decisions on advice from a fortune teller) and although I think that premise was not realized as fully as it could have been, I didn't mind, because I found the characters and story to be very engaging.

The story hinges on the main character, Jessica, who has conflicts with her career, with men, with her family, and even with her cultural identity. All the conflicts seem very plausible, and Jessica is easy to root for. Better than I was expecting, an enjoyable read, and I would absolutely recommend it to chick-lit fans!

Cold Comfort Farm (by Stella Gibbons)

2009-01-17T16:29:00.000-08:00

I always thought Cold Comfort Farm was a mental institution--possibly based on long-ago movie trailers? But it turns out it isn't! The novel seems to be a satirical comedy of manners, and there are some postmodern elements too (in an introduction, the author announces her intentions to put stars next to the best passages, which are laughably overwrought descriptions of scenery).

Of course the book wouldn't work if it was 100% satire and you didn't care about the eccentric cast of characters at all, and you do. They're just this side of totally ridiculous, and you do root for them in spite of yourself! Now I need to see the movie....

A little later, as she sat peacefully sewing, Adam came in from the yard. He wore, as a protection from the rain, a hat which had lost--in who knows what dim hintermath of time--the usual attributes of shape, colour, and size, and those more subtle race-memory associations which identify hats as hats, and now resembled some obscure natural growth, some moss or sponge or fungus, which had attached itself to a host." (Page 80)

Assassination Vacation (by Sarah Vowell)

2009-01-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

I got this book for Christmas from La Wade and was very excited about it, as I, like Sarah Vowell, really like going to see morbid things like the mummified hand in St. James Church in Prague or Lizzie Borden's house. And I wasn't disappointed in this, loosely a memoir about visiting various relics and sites associated with the assassinations of McKinley, Garfield, and Lincoln. (Weirdly, I started reading it right after I'd visited the assassination site of JFK.)

I think the words "discursive" and "erudite" are on the cover, but they still apply perfectly, so I will steal them! I wanted this book to go into more depth, to be twice as long, to talk more specifically about (for instance) how Garfield died (since they thought he was going to live) and maybe venture into the assassination of Kennedy, since he was on my mind at the time. I also found the sporadic railing against the Bush administration almost anachronistic---I mean, I certainly agree with her, but the Obama Age seems like a whole new world in many ways, and it no longer seems to apply.

All that being said, I found it charming. And I hope one day that Sarah Vowell will take me on vacation with her. Sarah, if you want to go visit morbid shit, call me!

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (by Amanda Foreman)

2009-01-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

Not as can't-put-down-able as any given book by Antonia Fraser (who, as I said below, is my high watermark for historical nonfiction) but still a fascinating look into the life of the Duchess of Devonshire. I of course was curious after seeing the Keira Knightley movie as to the "real" story behind the film, and I wasn't disappointed---lots more detail about her role in fashion, politics, culture, and her strange personal life.

The biggest problem for me was that I liked the personal stuff more than the political stuff, and there was a LOT about Whig politics in here. Then when the book ended, I wanted to know: what happened with George III? What happened with the Prince of Wales? I mean obviously, that's what Wikipedia is for. But I thought the focus was a little too narrow at the end, and didn't place Georgiana's life and times into the larger context as effectively as it could have.

The Lady Elizabeth (by Allison Weir)

2009-01-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

I picked this up in another airport, I think, hoping for another Boleyn Girl only with more historical accuracy, given that Weir is an historian. Well, it did have some interesting historical detail and some speculation based on historical rumor, but not nearly as good as nonfiction about the period (especially Antonia Fraser's, which is my high watermark for historical nonfiction).

Plus, there was some super clunky writing! I even marked a page so I could copy it down for you. A friend and I had just been talking about the whole "...she exclaimed happily," "he sighed sadly," "she chirped perkily," speech markers thing, so I was hyper-aware of it. It was bad though, she couldn't help but notice unfortunately.

"Fret not," Kat soothed, taking her hand...
"Oh, I am so relieved!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"You know I could never leave you," Kat declared fervently..."The King has constented to me marying in the Chapel Royal," she went on excitedly....
"As long as you promise to stay with me, Kat," Elizabeth said graciously. "And as long as I can be your bride-maid!"
"Of course!" cried Kat, ebullient with happiness."
"I shall have to have a new gown," Elizabeth reminded her.
"Naturally!" Kat enthused.

See what I mean?

Cruddy (by Lynda Barry)

2009-01-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

Leant to me by my friend Annie, who knew I was familiar with Barry's Marlys comics. (I remembered reading them in L.A. Weekly.) I gather that Cruddy got a lot of attention when it first came out a number of years back; according to the cover, it made Entertainment Weekly's best books of the year list, whenever that was. (Notice I am too lazy to just Google it, already.)

Since it's labeled as "an illustrated novel" I expected more illustrations; there really aren't a ton, and I think there are more in Alexie's Teenage Indian book. What there are did add some zest to the text, but the prose really stands on its own. It's a fantastic book--dark, gruesome, gripping, and blackly comic. I guess it's a "YA" in that the protagonist is a young adult, but it deals with some heavy themes in a sophisticated way.

From the first paragraph, the narrator's voice sucks you in, and doesn't let go until the end. I read this on a plane, and I was happy when the plane ride lasted long enough to let me finish it. A fantastic read.

Year-End Book Wrapup '08

2008-12-30T21:22:00.001-08:00

This is kind of the first time I've realized it's going to be 2009 in two days. Damn, ham. (And now I'm nostalgic, because I used to say "damn, ham" all the time. When did I stop? Why did I stop? WHERE HAS MY YOUTH GONE?!)

Well, I don't think I'm going to finish any of the books I'm reading (Georgiana, Infinite Jest, and The Lady Elizabeth) by midnight tomorrow, so I may as well do my book wrapup. (Also if I do finish any of them it will be Georgiana, which so far is pretty good, but not good enough to bump any of my top five off the list.) Last year’s is here.

This year I read 46 books, which is a downturn from last year, when I read 55, books, one of which was Finnegans Wake. Well, I taught two extra classes this year, plus I still have a full-time job and a blog. Still, I only read 6 book list books. Pathetic! This year 21 were by women (and 4 were by Stephenie Meyer; it was a sad year for women on my list) and 25 by men. And now, on to the top and bottom 5!

(First of all, I’m going to say that both I’m Not The New Me and Schuyler’s Monster are awesome, and both are written by people I love, and you should read them immediately. I’m going to disqualify them from this list, because I can’t possibly be expected to rank them, can I? No, I cannot. So with that said...)

Top five books of the year:

1. And Then We Came To The End, by Joshua Ferris
This is the book I fell in love with and went around all excited about this year, like Black Swan Green and I Capture The Castle last year. I strong-armed my book club into reading it, too. Nobody fell in love with it to the degree I did, but then again, not only did I love the humor and heart and narrative conceit, I also really related to the advertising agency setting.

2. Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates
My friend Stephanie, with whom I went to grad school, said this is one of her favorite books, which I should read before the movie came out and “ruined it.” I love, love, loved this book, but I could not possibly be looking forward to the movie more KATE AND LEO. KATE! LEO! It was also a partial inspiration for Mad Men, which was easily the best TV show of the year (speaking of advertising) and they do have a lot in common—beyond the time period, even. Fabulous book.

3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
I include this book here because I enjoyed the hell out of it, and have recommended it to several of my students who enjoyed The House on Mango Street. Funny, clever, lots of heart. I read several young adult books this year (and am 20,000 words into my own YA, let’s not forget) and this one was my favorite.

4. The Year of Living Biblically (by A.J. Jacobs)
A book that I think is deceptively accessible, but super thought-provoking and even better than The Know-It-All, which I also thoroughly enjoyed. I think his open-minded and open-hearted exploration of the Bible was refreshing, and made me think about religion in a way that I hadn’t for a long time. Definitely one I will teach in English 100 after it comes out in paperback.

5. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
I had to include Twilight, not because it’s “good” (even though this first book is kind of not terrible) but because it brought me so much glee this year. As a proud LOLfan, Stephenie Meyer, I salute you.

I actually enjoyed a lot of books this year, some of which are more intellectual and “literary” than these (Junot Diaz or Evelyn Waugh, for instance) but these are the five books that stuck with me the most. (Mysterious Skin almost made it, but the movie is so vivid to me that it’s hard for me to remember the book as an independent entity. The book is also wonderful, though.)

The bottom five...

Again, it was hard for me to find five books I hated this year; right now I’ve got two that sucked, one that was a slog, one that was uneven, and one that was INCREDIBLY ENTERTANING but empirically shitty.

1. Ten Days in the Hills, by Jane Smiley
Sucked. I called it an “entertaining airplane read” but in hindsight, it was because I was trapped on that airplane. People having a lot of sex and arguing about the Iraq war, which I have heard enough about because I live in Berkeley and that is what we do there. Don’t bother.

2. Wishful Drinking, by Carrie Fisher
The latest addition to the list; could have been good, but was really very not. Too breezy by half, not as funny as it thinks it is, too conversational, lacking real heart or heft or emotion or even fun gossip. Very disappointing.

3. The Heart of the Matter, by Graham Greene
Didn’t suck, but didn’t wow me, and was kind of a slog to get through. I wish I’d read more bad books this year. This would be way more fun!

4. Lives on the Boundary, by Mike Rose
You know, this wasn’t even bad, it was just boring, and boring to teach. We had boring class discussions and they bored me. I would explain why, but I’m too bored to write more sentences.

5. Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer
This either had to go on the list of the worst or the list of the best. I won’t spoil it for you, but here is where the Twilight saga, which is already completely ridiculous after books one through three, goes completely, hilariously, totally off the rails. And Renesmee is NOT A NAME.

So how about you? What were your top and bottom books of the year?

The Tales of Beedle the Bard (by J.K. Rowling)

2008-12-30T21:11:00.000-08:00

I did not get this for Christmas, but yesterday I went to a bookstore in the area (a very awesome independent bookstore I'd never been to before, incidentally) and read it while standing up in the children's section. This may be my last book of the year before my year-end book wrapup, unless I finish Infinite Jest in the next 24 hours. HA HA HA! I am on page six.

Anyway, it is a cute book of wizarding fairy tales, and more related to Harry Potter than I was expecting, with Dumbledore's commentary throughout, and the final story directly relating to the final book in the series. I didn't feel compelled to buy it or anything, but I enjoyed it. It made me miss The Potter, though. Oh, The Potter. You were so glorious.

The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell)

2008-12-22T12:50:00.001-08:00

Read this on the flight to Utah; so fascinating. A ton of fascinating examples of the concept of the "tipping point" which I enjoyed as both a person who works in marketing and as a human person.

I especially enjoyed learning about the average size of "sympathy circles" (the number of people whose deaths would really devastate you), the whole thing about members of family units becoming instinctively responsible for various areas of knowledge (which explains why women, even in modern families, most often end up being responsible for children), and various other things that will ecome in really handy if I ever have a baby. Oh, and the concept of personalities being way more based in context than in intrinsic, black and white qualities.

I'm sure everyone already read this like six years ago, but it is honestly a fascinating and fast read that changed my perspective on the world just a tiny bit. Very glad I picked it up.

Wishful Drinking (by Carrie Fisher)

2008-12-18T19:36:00.000-08:00

I accidentally ordered this from Amazon (really not sure how that happened) and decided to read it before returning it, since I've enjoyed Carrie Fisher's novels. (I mean they aren't brilliant by any means, but they're decent.) I thought this book was a huge disappointment. It's basically a standup act in book form, with incredibly hokey and awful jokes, no real good celebrity anecdotes, no real emotional throughline or anything. (She is supposedly "finding herself" after electroshock therapy, which is compelling, but really it's just bad standup, written out.) Also many of the same (bad) jokes recur multiple times, and the intro is basically the same as chapter one--which, what's the points?

I've already started my "best and worst of 2008" list, but I think I'm going to have to bump something to make room for this. Completely not worth your time. Skim through it in Barnes and Noble or something.

But Enough About Me (by Jancee Dunn)

2008-11-30T21:50:00.000-08:00

A memoir by a writer for Rolling Stone, mostly filled with charming anecdotes about her endearingly quirky family and the celebrities she's interviewed over the years. Really fast, breezy, engaging, and fun. It would make a good stocking stuffer book, I think! I wish I had something more exciting to say about it, but I've taken some Benadryl and am falling asleep. It's really good, though.

Testing

2008-11-23T20:13:00.001-08:00

One two three... if this works, all I have to do is start reading books again!

The Year of Living Biblically (by A.J. Jacobs)

2008-10-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

I really loved this book. The author's voice is funny, charming and engaging, the premise is clever, and the topic is quite thought-provoking. I'm actually thinking about teaching this in a class next semester; it would be a good choice for a non-fiction book, the students would like it, and it would provoke some interesting class discussions. Now I have to go read Ecclesiastes! Thanks, A.J.!

Fat Kid Rules the World (by K.L. Going)

2008-09-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

A YA novel recommended in my workshop, where we read the opening scene, which is the main character on a subway platform, contemplating suicide. (We were talking about ways to establish character. Yep, that'll do it.) I loved the way the main character's fat was a throughline of the whole story--for instance, being the source of his crippling insecurity, which in turn drives the plot forward. But it isn't your typical "fat kid loses weight, gets the girl" type of story either. Instead, the fat kid meets up with a very skinny kid, a punk rock guitar player who wants to form a band with him. Not what I was expecting, but I found myself really rooting for Troy, and really not wanting it to end.

A Prayer for Owen Meany (by John Irving)

2008-09-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

Got totally absorbed in this book and finished it with tears in my eyes, although it is not nearly as "sentimental" as I'd feared--at least not in a bathetic way. I loved Owen as a character and the story kept me interested to find out what would happen to him.

Minor criticism time. I got tired of the narrator going on and on about Reaganite politics. (I know that was the point, that Americans get bored by stuff like Iran-Contra, but god I was bored.) I was way more interested in learning about his arrested sexual development, which Irving maddeningly does not confront. I get that the book is essentially an antiwar nove, but I enjoyed it more on the story level and less on the "message" level. But this is a minor criticism because it really isn't particularly didactic or messagey.

Here were my two big questions when it was over, regarding the concept of Owen as "God's instrument": 1. What was the higher purpose (or the effect, rather) of Tabitha getting killed with the baseball? Was it just to reveal Johnny's father to him? If so, that seemed not to have much of an effect, in the end. 2. Isn't that an awful lot of trouble for God to go to, just to save a group of kids, when he could just have had the psychopath get run over by a bus or something? I've talked about this book with a couple of people and there are interesting things to be said regarding the idea of fate, God's role in the world, and that sort of thing. But those were the questions I was left trying to answer.

At any rate, it's been years since I've read Irving, and I'm glad I picked this one up. Engrossing and very captivating.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (by Sherman Alexie)

2008-08-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

Absolutely and utterly charming. We talked about it in my YA novel-writing workshop and it's wonderful: funny, heartwarming. I think Melissa and Eliza both said how great it was; they did not lie.

The Road (by Cormac McCarthy)

2008-08-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

My Twitter about this was: "Just finished Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" and feel as if I've put my heart through a sieve. Good god."

I read this because Entertainment Weekly put it #1 on the list of best books of the past twenty-five years. Although that list was jacked up (I'm looking at you DAVE EGGERS) it made me brave enough to read a book that I knew was about a father and a son in a postapocalyptic world. Its spare, deceptively simple style reminded me of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, and of poetry. A beautiful, haunting book. I recommend it.

Perhaps in the world's destruction it would be possible at least to see how it was made. Oceans, mountains. The ponderous counterspectacle of things ceasing to be. The sweeping waste, hydroptic and coldly secular. The silence. (Page 274)