Sunday, September 6, 2015
Days of Awe / Lauren Fox 256 pp.
A middle school teacher loses her best friend in an accident, and grieves her loss while her marriage falls apart and her pre-teen daughter turns against her. Not as depressing as it sounds, and occasionally sharply observant, this is nevertheless pedestrian stuff. Nominal Jewish interest which feels mostly tacked on rather than integral to the story.
A Master Plan for Rescue / Janis Cooke Newman 322 pp.
12-year-old Jack is listening to the radio in his New York apartment on a quiet December Sunday in 1941 when suddenly his vision blurs and he fears the world will never be the same. Through his new thick glasses he navigates the schoolyard and the city streets after he loses the person he loves most, and with the help of his code-a-graph and a Jewish refugee named Jakob, concocts a plan to set the world right again. Full of period detail - the Lower East Side, the radio, the colorful intersection of ethnic groups - that is overused to the point of unreadability, Newman even includes my favorite feeble chestnut, the malign Catholic priest. Occasionally suspenseful and moving but ultimately forgettable.
Innocence: or, Murder on Steep Street / Heda Margolius Kovaly / 234 pp.
Written in 1985 but only translated from Czech in 2015, Innocence is a noir-ish murder mystery set in 1950s Prague during a period in which ordinary citizens lived in fear of being denounced to the State Security by their friends and neighbors. Kovaly lived through this period which saw the execution of her husband for 'anti-state conspiracy;' she supported herself by translating many authors, most notably Raymond Chandler, on whose style Innocence is clearly based.
A child is murdered in a movie theater, and then the investigating officer turns up dead soon after. The cinema's female ushers all have motives and opportunities. A fairly ordinary mystery made interesting for the flavor it gives of of monotonous lives punctuated by occasional flashes of terror.
A child is murdered in a movie theater, and then the investigating officer turns up dead soon after. The cinema's female ushers all have motives and opportunities. A fairly ordinary mystery made interesting for the flavor it gives of of monotonous lives punctuated by occasional flashes of terror.
A Clue to the Exit / Edward St. Aubyn 185 pp.
It seems lately the only fiction that holds my interest is the stuff I can't understand. So this was very interesting! Charlie Fairburn has six months to live, and he decides to spend it writing a novel about the meaning of consciousness while supporting the Monaco gambling habit of Angelique, his luscious girlfriend. The characters in Charlie's novel, Patrick, Crystal and Jean-Paul, sit on a train stalled in fog and discuss metaphysics, neuroscience and the mind/brain split as Charlie approaches his fevered end. Apparently some (or all) of these characters have appeared in St. Aubyn's The Complete Patrick Melrose Novels.
Full of deep meaning or perhaps not much meaning at all - hard for me to say. But worth it for the rich store of lovely, witty, delicately-balanced sentences such as: "Eccentricity was the natural and in itself cliched protest of slaughtered individuals" and "...if you jump out a window, you can always tell when you've reached the ground."
Full of deep meaning or perhaps not much meaning at all - hard for me to say. But worth it for the rich store of lovely, witty, delicately-balanced sentences such as: "Eccentricity was the natural and in itself cliched protest of slaughtered individuals" and "...if you jump out a window, you can always tell when you've reached the ground."
Friday, September 4, 2015
All Together Now
All Together Now by Gill Hornby, 328 pagesThe town of Bridgeford is small and best known as a crossroads for people commuting to London. But the people of Bridgeford (particularly those in the Bridgeford Community Choir) are proud of their tiny town and when a developer makes plans to build a big-box supermarket in Bridgeford, its citizens and the choir come together to fight for their quaint village.
Hornby creates a cool cast of characters here, who wouldn't feel out of place in a Love, Actually-esque romantic comedy. There's the awkward man whose wife has left him, the middle-aged mom who is trying to take care of everyone else in town to make up for the empty nest at home, the city council member who thinks he's cooler than he actually is, and the single mom with a deadbeat stoner son and secret past. And all these people sing together. It makes for a light and pleasant read.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Modern romance
Aziz Ansari may be better known to you as Tom from the sitcom Parks and Recreation or for his work as a stand up comedian but here is presenting his research w/ Eric Klinenberg about modern dating. One big take away for me is just how LITTLE has changed. Sure, there are tons of dating apps and services but people are still looking for the same things...someone they connect with and want to spend time with.
Lots of interesting studies and information, some of it gathered from Ansari's "stage" research which includes asking people about dating and then inviting them on stage to share with the audience their texts between romantic partners.
A little different than the average comedian book. Probably more suitable for people a little closer to the dating scene.
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Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Vincent
A graphic biography of Vincent Van Gogh that talks a lot of his relationship with his brother Theo and focuses on his time in Arles and after. Theo was devoted to Vincent but that relationship worked both ways. This book really talks about the dependence of Vincent on Theo and the amount of encouragement and money Theo gave to Vincent.
The graphics and colors are beautiful and the relationship between the brothers is as well.
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Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants
This is a collection from the online comic website The Oatmeal. The comics generally tend to point out the foibles of modern life including mundane things like how much time we spend using plastic storage containers vs. the time spent looking for the correct lid. Others focus on the misuse of grammar. Some comics made me nod in agreement or just smile. Others had me laughing out loud.
365 Days of Wonder
This is a companion book to Palacio's terrific book Wonder. In wonder middle school teacher, Mr. Browne, writes a precept for the month on the board that will be discussed and written about throughout the month. At the end of the school year he asks that the students send him a postcard over the summer with their precept on it. This book is a collection of Mr. Browne's favorite precepts and ones from the students featured in the book Wonder. There are also reflections by the teacher about the precepts, his life, his students, and events that took place in Wonder. Some of the featured precepts are touching, others humorous, and all are thought provoking. They are gleaned from a wide range of sources including famous people, authors, popular songs, and plays.
A few of my favorites:
"He was a bold man that first ate an oyster." (Jonathan Swift)
"Life is about using the whole box of crayons." (RuPaul)
"Don't dream it. Be it." (The Rocky Horror Picture Show).
"The things that make me different are the things that make me ME." (Piglet--A.A. Milne)
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