Book Report: The Glass Castle

When my mother-in-law handed me The Glass Castle she said, "You are not going to be able to put this book down."
She was right.
The memoir of a woman who grew up in abject, absolute poverty and went on to become a writer and journalist, The Glass Castle is captivating from page 1.   The stories are horrific but not in a sad way.  Walls writes of her childhood as a matter-of-fact.  The poverty in the stories is so severe that you find yourself wishing it was a joke.  Example: the family lived in a three-bedroom shack in West Virginia that had no running water so they used a bucket in the middle of the kitchen.  It rarely had electricity and never had heat.  The roof was full of straight-out holes and Brian (the brother) would sleep with a tarp over him to keep dry during the rain.  Still, the four Walls children had an amazing way of always overcoming the life they'd been given.

The Glass Castles is a run, don't walk to get and read this book.  But don't start it until you have a few hours to yourself to read because once you pick it up you will be powerless to put it down.

Book Report: Island of Lost Girls

I'm bored with TV and playing on the internet so I've been doing a lot of reading.  Here it is, August 5th and I'm turning in my 1st book report for the month.  My wonderful friend Megan sent me Island of Lost Girls promising a quick yet creepy read.

And she was (mostly) right.  It was a very quick read though I have to say I wasn't super creeped out by it.  A general story about an abduction that happens in broad daylight with several side-plots happening both in the past and with another child abduction that takes place several states away, Island of Lost Girls has a decent mystery element to it.  Author Jennifer McMahon seems to go a touch formulaic with the "it's too obvious" bad guy who may or may not really be a bad guy.  A few of the plot "twists" were also  very see-through and written quite shallowly.
And, without giving too much away, this story takes place in an incredibly screwed up little town.  I suspect the Visitors Bureau of Vermont will not include this on a tourism list anytime soon.
The book did manage to hold my interest despite the bizarre, constant Alice in Wonderland imagery.  Worth a quick read, perfect for something to do while waiting for your kids to be done with swim class.

Book Report: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

As promised I moved right from The Girl Who Played With Fire to the final book of the trilogy The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. "Hornet's Nest" picks up right where "Fire" leaves off.  However, where "Fire" is an action packed page-turner, "Hornet's Nest" is more a spy, intrigue novel.  It's rather slow and there are about 1000 different characters, most of them in law enforcement.  I almost had to do a trusty character chart to keep up with who was police, who was with Sapo, who was with "The Section" and who was in the mob.  I also found this book to be much more predictable.  Even the "surprises" were things I saw coming a mile away.  There is an entire Berger side plot that amounts to almost nothing.  I kept wondering where it was going and there were 10,000 more interesting directions it could have gone but for me the Berger plot was a gigantic flop.

That said, the ending of the trilogy came together quite beautifully and despite being more intrigue than action I stayed up until well after 3am to finish. (Darn those Kindle dots - you never really know how much of the book you have left)

I do feel really invested in the characters and I feel like they were all written quite consistently which I appreciate.

Unfortunately Stieg Larsson passed away while writing the 4th book.  It was written but not entirely edited and revised.  If his estate does publish the 4th book I will, of course continue to read on Wasp's adventures!

Book Report: The Girl Who Played With Fire

Thank you Jennifer for making me feel better about not getting into Anna Karenina.  I moved on to the second book in Stieg Larsson's trilogy:  The Girl Who Played With Fire.  I devoured the book in 3 days but mostly in one sitting.  And for the first time in a really long time I was so wrapped up in the story that I had to skip ahead, avoiding more tedious parts of the story to find out what was happening.  I'm certain that I missed small details but I don't regret it, the story was exciting and I wasn't waiting around through research while they found Salander, I needed to know post haste what she was up to.  I even found myself about to shout out loud at the book "JUST TYPE HER A MESSAGE IN YOUR COMPUTER!" (and he did - about 100 pages after I thought of it!).
Anyway, I was obviously super interested in this book.  It is an incredibly well-written thriller, much more captivating than the first of the series which took me quite a while to become interested in.   I really enjoyed how Larsson expanded on a lot of the interpersonal relationships and filled in a lot of Salander's past.
Of course, my next book is the final book of the trilogy.  I expect I'll read that one pretty quickly too.

Book Report: Traveler by Ron McLarty

Sent to me by my dear friend Judy, Traveler, by Rom Mclarty is next up in my book reports.  Set in East Providence, Rhode Island the story follows a man as he goes home and confronts childhood events that have followed him well into middle age and learns the truth about what really happened all those years ago.
As mysteries go, this was an easy one to crack.  I figured out the "whodunnit" about 100 pages before the reveal.  The love story plots aren't really believable or sympathetic.  The disappearing priest plot line is so very meh.  The ending is predictable and not even very satisfying.
What I did like about Traveler is the overwhelming "Rhode Islandness" of the book.  Having lived in Rhode Island for nearly a decade it was fun to read about places, things and attitudes I know really well.  Blackstone Blvd, Riverside, NY System, the constant mob undertones, the beaches, the names, even the buildings at Brown University.  There is a comforting familiarness in all of those things and even after six years here in North Carolina I still miss a good Dells Lemonade and sometimes, yes, even a gagger. 
Rhode Island is a funny little place.  People don't leave.  They are born, grow up, go to school, get married, have kids and die all in the same neighborhood.  Of course, there are exceptions - I mean, of course people leave and of course new people move in, like I did.  But they're at a significant disadvantage.  How do you find your place in a world where everyone has known each other since their grandparents got off the boat together in 1890?  It takes time but eventually you do.
I still miss Providence.  I'd still love to go back.  North Carolina has been a fantastic place for us to live but it still hasn't felt like "home" yet.  Not deep down in my bones.  There is a culture here that I just can't get in sync with and, try as I might, I feel like an outsider looking in.  I'm befuddled by NASCAR, the love for the Confederate flag (I was behind a car yesterday that had FIVE different Confederate flag stickers on the back windshield), the southern redneck drawl (not the charming drawl, I do like that), the appeal of vinegar-based BBQ and the general love of red neck culture.
I've digressed into not the book, but if you're looking for a little piece of Rhode Island, Traveler is a great book to bring back memories.  Just don't go into it looking for a complex, intriguing plot.

Book Report: Bossypants by Tina Fey

I promised myself a comedy after the last book I read, and I followed through with Tina Fey's memoir "Bossypants".
I have a serious girl crush on Tina Fey - and have since she was reading Weekend Update on SNL.   Something about her really speaks to my nerdy-girl heart.  I get excited when I hear Terry Gross say that Tina Fey is going to be a guest on "Fresh Air."   My sister introduced me to 30 Rock and boy is it funny.   Oh and Date Night anyone?  I laughed so hard at that movie we had to pause it so I could catch my breath (and put the baby back to bed since he woke up from the loud snorts and screams).

The book just makes her more awesome.  She nails so much of the proverbial "it."  From what she calls "teat nazis" (I call them lactavists) who judge women based on their breast feeding choices, to the constant battle of condescension  based on how a baby exited your body, to the fact that women face insane battles in the work place to how we do the dumbest things to get attention from boys. Either Tina Fey is finally telling everyone how life really is or she & I are just cut from the same nerdy cloth.
I actually did laugh right out loud while reading "Bossypants."  She talks about the creative process behind some of the funniest scenes from 30 Rock and I was fascinated to learn the behind-the-scenes stories from Saturday Night Live.  (Jimmy Fallon is only mentioned like twice in the book and yet, somehow, I manage to like him even more for his mere mention.)  My husband kept asking what was so funny and I would end up reading about three pages out loud before offering to just let him read the book on his own.
The story of her first Pap smear had me rolling.  I mean, that is some seriously funny stuff.  I thought my 1st pap smear was bad.  (The doctor was enamored with my father who was on TV at the time.  He wanted to know all about my dad and my dad being on TV.  I wanted this stranger's face out of my crotch)  Her story is worse.  It's also hilarious.

"Bossypants" is a fun, enjoyable book.  It's honest but still kind (even towards Sara Palin).  It makes me wish I wasn't too old, too mommy, too suburban to move to New York and work with the cool kids on Saturday Night Live... so I just read about them then go sneak into my son's room to take his temperature because he felt really warm and worry why he's running a fever again.  It's a glamorous life I tell ya.

I highly recommend "Bossypants" and will leave you with her "Prayer for my Daughter" (it's all over the internet but now it's here too)

First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Bea......uty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, May she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her

When crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels.

What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, That she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back.

“My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.  

Amen

Book Report: Two Kisses for Maddy by Matt Logelin

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After a rough pregnancy Liz Logelin gave birth to her daughter Madeline seven weeks early.
The next day Liz died... as she was on her way to the NICU to hold her daughter for the first time.
Let's just pause and soak in that awfulness.
Matt, her husband, blogged his way through the pain, the tenuous days of being a single dad with a premie, through the minefield of memories some as simple as a rubber band hanging on a door knob, some as complex as being back at the place where they fell in love.
I found Matt's blog about six weeks after Liz died and followed it faithfully for a really long time.  Something about the horror of my own near-death with G and the raw emotion of what Matt wrote had me transfixed.  I was rooting for this guy.
He announced on his blog that he'd be writing a book and I knew as much as I didn't want to read it that I needed to.
And tonight I did.
In one three hour stretch.
I wish I could tell you there was a big happy ending.
But there can't be.
Liz is dead.
"Two Kisses for Maddy" is, at its heart, a love letter from Matt to Liz.  An amazing remembrance of a husband who was totally in love with his wife.  Just as she was.  A touching tribute that is so beautiful and honest it sometimes feels like an invasion of privacy to read it.
And yet, I did.
I couldn't put it down.
It's not all downer.
There are lots of triumphs among the tragedy.
Regular blog readers will remember some of the bigger milestones... and they're in the book.
What a gift for Maddy to have.  A touching, wonderful tribute to her mom, written by her dad.
As a reader, it's also nice to have some of the background to the stories he's written over the years.
This book is a heavy read.  Read it when you can embrace the emotions involved, when you can feel the love and cry and laugh.  I knew that even if I was up half the night I'd have to finish it in one sitting and I'm really glad I did.  I have to say though, I come away from"Two Kisses for Maddy" feeling refreshed, optimistic.  There are bad things that happen in life and while they change you and where you thought life was going, you can survive.
But seriously, my next book is going to be a damn comedy!

Book Report: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Time for another book report.  I've just finished "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."  This is a book that has caught on in pop culture.  I usually shy away from the books that everyone likes but a good friend sent me her copy and since she liked it I knew I would.
And I did, mostly.
The story was a little convoluted.  It's about one very messed up family and unfortunately, these freaks can breed so there are a lot of family members to keep up with.  And it's important to keep up with them because, in the end, it does matter.  I found myself at the climax of the book having to go back and remind myself who certain people were.
The story also contains a lot of sexual violence that is just not for the faint of heart.
While the characters may have been a little cliche they did have interesting relationships.
The book was originally written in Swedish.  You can tell.  The translation isn't done very well and I kept itching to go back and clean up some of the grammar.  It became a bit distracting.
It sounds like I didn't like the book but I have to say I did enjoy it.  Once you get through the first 1/3 of the book it gets very exciting so stick with it!  It speeds up.  I'll absolutely read the other two books in the trilogy but I won't rush out to get them.

Book Report: Freedom by

Book #1 for 2011 was Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.
Heralded as the book of the century, featured on the cover of Time magazine, picked by Oprah for her own book club, the darling of all sorts of NPR discussions, lists and interviews, the hype surrounding a fiction novel was overwhelming. I was very excited to read this book and was more than thrilled when the book club I'm in picked this to start the year with.
It's hard to pinpoint what exactly it is about the story and characters that is so captivating. Perhaps seeing warning signs of bad decisions and consequences long before the characters care about or even recognize them gives the reader an instant stake in rooting for the best for everyone involved. The characters are all, to a one, so completely unloveable and yet immensely sympathetic. The relationships, and I do mean every relationship in the book, are entirely inappropriate and yet the reader finds themselves rooting for a resolution, hoping that these pitiful creatures will find absolution and resolution in the end, the same way we're all hoping for the same thing in our own lives.
Freedom is a meandering read. Don't be turned off by the first chapter. You're introduced to about 40 different families and couples. Only the next door neighbors remain players in the book. Walter's portion of the story is intensely boring. It's worth the struggle to get through his rantings about obscure birds and zero-population growth.
In my mind the only person who can play Richard when the inevitable movie comes out is Judd Nelson.

Ultimately I found this an engrossing read, powerfully written, current-event-topical and not too preachy.
I recommend it highly!