One Day by Dave Nichols

Em and Dex, Dex and Em.

I started reading this book thinking it would be kind of a light weight, happy-go-lucky, romantic-shenanigans type of affair.

Boy, was I wrong!

Emma and Dexter connect the day of their college graduation. After the first 24 hours of their meeting, they go their separate ways but remain in contact via post cards and letters.

They have various levels of contact over the years with both of them experiencing their own challenges in family, relationships, and careers. Their friendship itself  also experiences its own ups and downs.

Do they finally get together? The book answers that question. I have to say that this was not an ultimately uplifting book. It has an increasing level of "realness" as the book progresses through their lives. There was never a moment where I really cheered these two on. I really became convinced that Dexter was kind of a lead weight and a liability to Emma . For her part, Emma had plenty of awkward experiences and perhaps her storyline hit a little too close to home for me at certain points  in the story.

The book explores the deepening friendship and bond between these two individuals, for better or for worse. There is no sugar coating on this little pill of the reality of love between two people and perhaps that is the crowning achievement of this book.

Affluenza by Oliver James

It's been a while since I have updated this blog but I have been reading! I've not been reading religiously from my reading list but I have been having some wonderful reading experiences.

I would definitely use the word "wonderful" to describe this book, Affluenza, by Oliver James.

As the name suggests, it discusses the "sickness" of the affluent: the unhappiness of the never-ending pursuit of "more" and "better". This book ties in with my interest in minimalism but it goes so much deeper than just "have less stuff." It explores why we feel we need more stuff and it also tells us why capitalism has highjacked everything from feminism to how we value ourselves.

This book was an eye-opener to me as I have been completely taken in by Selfish Capitalist values...not necessarily with material possessions but I am totally guilty of using my career to define my identity and to determine my self worth.

The truth is that this has not always been the case. Prior to the rise of Selfish Capitalism, people were judged by their character, not their earning potential. Motherhood was something that women could be proud of...now society puts mothers at the bottom because they don't get paid a wage. People are unhappy because they feel they can't trust others who are also in pursuit of more and better. Can't we just relax and be happy with what we've got and who we are? Can't we enjoy the beauty of the world around us with the need to possess it? Putting family before career is the recipe for satisfaction and this is totally possible if people would let go of the need to "keep up with the Joneses" and focus simply on their needs.

I had never really thought about a lot of the points James raises in this book but I agree with all of them.

Read this book and free your mind from the never-ending cycle of consumption and dissatisfaction!

Five stars!

-Laurie

Little Children by Tom Perrota

I decided to read Little Children because I let Netflix "pick" the movie version for me a few years ago. Man, computers are smart things because I really liked the movie; reading the book was the natural thing to do.

In an exciting turn of events, I actually liked the movie version better than the book!

The movie, while dark and satirical like the book, had a heart warming ending. I thought that the two main characters, Sarah and Todd, both found what they were ultimately looking for. In the book, the characters kind of make some realizations about what each of them meant to each other and it didn't seem like they really discovered anything about themselves or made and real profound break-throughs. I guess the book is more realistic...but the idealist in me really liked seeing the more "happy" ending of the movie. The book ending is rather dark and a bit disturbing in its emotional disconnectedness.

Here are my English Class Answers about this book:

Synopsis: Todd is a stay-at-home Dad married to Kathy, a documentary film maker. Sarah is a stay-at-home Mom who takes her daughter, Lucy, to the same playground as Todd and his son, Aaron. They start an affair as they both have troubled marriages. Meanwhile, a convicted child molester has recently been released from jail and is living in the neighborhood. While Todd and Sarah are cheating on their respective spouses, the witch hunt begins for the child molester. Hilarity ensues (not really). Perrota draws many parallels between the behaviour of the children in this story and their caretakers - there is not much difference between the the selfish demands of the children and adults!

• Deep-Thought Provoking-ness: Medium
• Entertainment Value: Medium 
• Fun Factor: Medium
• Emotional Impact: Medium
• Writing Quality: Medium

Pretty much "Medium" all the way around. I would say that the movie version was more "Medium to High" on all categories.

Three one-word descriptors of the book:

1. Satire
2. Childishness
3. Perversion

Did I like it?? (yes or no) I could tell that this book was written by a man: it lacked a certain amount of emotional empathy with the characters. There was definitely a judgemental tone to the author's voice.

IV. "Read it" or "Skip it" (for all prospective readers): Read the book FIRST, then see the movie (maybe you will enjoy the book more if you proceed in this order!)

WANT!

I am really eager to get my hands on Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman.

See a synopsis here.

She is oppressed, she escapes inspiring hope and determination in the rest of us. I can't wait to read it!

I'll be popping by my friendly neighborhood book seller this weekend to see if it is on the shelves yet.

Until next time,
Laurie

My NEW Review Process

OMG, y'alls - I feel like this here blog is morphing from infant to toddler! I am rolling out a NEW review process which is based on how I evaluate books for myself. I'll still provide a more indepth review but it's also nice to have some apples-to-apples comparitive standards.

I. Book Qualities: Rating of high, medium, or low on the following qualities:

• Deep-Thought Provokingness
• Entertainment Value
• Fun Factor
• Emotional Impact
• Writing Quality

II. Three one-word descriptives of the book
III. Did I like it?? (yes or no)
IV. "Read it" or "Skip it" (for all prospective readers)

That's it! Hope you like it.

-Laurie

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road was written by the same author who wrote No Country for Old Men (of which I saw the movie version). The Road has the same kind of barren, minimalist feel that NCfOM has. And the same kind of hopeless feeling, as well.

The Road is a post-apocalyptic tale about a man and his son trying to survive in a barren waste. Starvation and cannibals are a constant threat. They are following a road from north to south to avoid the approaching winter. No plant or animal life remains except for the few human survivors of a planet-wide catastrophe (the author does not elaborate on the cause...it could either be an asteroid of a nuclear winter).

The love that the man and his son share is very moving and at some points it almost brought me to tears. In the face of hopelessness, the two of them have each other and it is enough. It sustains them and keeps them pushing on in what seems like a pointless effort. The man's purpose in life is to protect the boy and he does it well. When they are almost dead with starvation, they at least know that they are not alone.

The ending is not happy but it is not hopeless, either: other "good guys" are found in a world full of ruthless, hungry animals who once were human. In the end, the story shows that honor and goodness can remain even when pushed to the extreme limits when the willingness is there to hold on to it. In the end, that is all that the survivors have.

This book won a Pulitzer prize and apparently there is a movie version - I have to find it, ASAP!

This is a good read...probably to become a modern classic. But be warned, it is not an escapist, good-time read.

Until next time,
Laurie

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

The Hours by Michael Cunningham is a book about people deciding whether or not to commit suicide or not.

The book toggles between the stories of three characters:

• Virginia Woolf: fictional depiction of the real life author's creative process of determining the fate of one of her famous characters, Mrs. Dalloway (i.e. whether or not she will kill herself). Virginia Woolf did commit suicide in real life and that is also represented in the book.
• Laura Brown: 50's housewife in Los Angeles. She feels overwhelmed and deeply unsatisfied with her seemingly perfect house, husband, and son. She also goes through a thought process of deciding if she will continue on with life or not.
• Clarissa Vaughn: modern-day Lesbian who is spending the day organizing a party for her dearest friend, Richard, who has won a very prestigious literary award for his poetry and who is also dying of AIDS.

These three stories are seemingly unconnected in the beginning of the book. As the storyline progresses, the parallels between many of the characters are revealed and the reader learns how some of the lives are connected. The thoughts and feelings of Virginia, Mrs. Dalloway, Richard, and Laura are all echoed by each other. However, different decisions are made by each of the characters for different reasons.

Also note that each of these three characters' stories are told over the course of one day (which I think is important to the author's theme).

I liked how the stories intertwined together at the end of the book. I saw the movie version of this book several years ago and missed a lot of what was going on. Reading the book gave this story a lot more depth and I was able to understand what the author was trying to communicate a lot better.

The story itself was a little bit of a bummer. People who count "the hours" of their lives like a bored employees counts the minutes until quitting time is not uplifting to me!

Ultimately, some characters cannot tolerate the wait until death, and others decide that life is too sweet to give up. Who lives and who dies lies with the pages of the book - you'll have to read it to find out.

I kind of want to learn more about Virginia Woolf after reading this book. From my very brief look on the internet, she suffered from some sexual abuse as a child which led to a lot of her mental troubles as a grown up.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

-Laurie

January Recap and February Goals

I finished five books in January and that's pretty high number for me!

Having started this blog and actually trying to read a lot of books makes me realize just HOW MANY books there are to choose from out there. There are so many books I want to read and the list just keeps getting longer. And then new books come out. How am I ever going to keep up? I have to realize that I can't read everything.

For February, I would like to read from my list but I also want to try another classic or a book from a different genre (non-fiction, maybe?). I need to give myself a goal like this each month so I can stretch myself and not read only one type of book for the rest of my life.

Let's see how this thing goes in February!

Happy reading,
Laurie

Room by Emma Donoghue

What can I say about Room? It was moving, disturbing, and heartwarming all at the same time.

Jack is the narrator and the main character. Jack is five years old and lives in Room with Ma, his mom.

I won't go into the plot too much because a great part of the book is slowly piecing together what the real situation is as an adult (which is not the situation as Jack perceives it with his five year old eyes).

The author speaks through Jack in his five year old language. It took a few pages to get used to the youthful vernacular but I was really enjoying it by the end of the book. I also really liked that the author did use Jack's perspective to tell the story. His innocence gives the events and characters in the story a new, interesting light. I really came to love Jack and I was really proud of how he grew and adjusted to the changing circumstances of his life.

This is a GREAT book and I 100% recommend it!

Keep reading,
Laurie

Blog Design

Blogger is acting all screwy and my backgrounds are not loading. Going into the template designer is too tempting not to change things around! I like to keep things spicy and changed up. So, enjoy the change of scenery.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo,
Laurie

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

I have seen this book on "must-read" lists on the internet so when I saw it sitting in the "hot picks" section of the library I snatched it up! This is an adventure story that kept me turning the pages.

The book follows the story of Dr. Marina Singh, a pharmacologist, who must travel to a remote part of the Amazon in search of answers surrounding the untimely death of her friend and colleague, Anders Eckman. She is also tasked with determining the status of research done on a fertility drug that her employer, Vogel Corp., has funded. Heading the research is Dr. Annick Swenson, who has guarded the results of the research to the point of ridiculousness. Marina must convince Swenson to be more transparent with her results as the company's bottom line is dependent on the drug's commercial success.

I liked this book - it was fun. It wasn't a high brow literary work with a deeper meaning but I found the writing to be quite good and the characters complex and engaging. Patchett painted a great picture of the heat and oppressiveness of the Amazon, but it still made me want to go!

My only criticism is that I didn't like the ending. I wanted more as far as the outcomes of the characters in the story. The harshness of life on the Amazon is a big theme throughout the book and the reader definitely sees that played out in the book. The ending is "happy" in one sense but utterly heartbreaking in another. The reader goes with the protagonist on this adventure into the heart of the Amazon and experiences that hardships that go with that. I think that the unsatisfying ending is engineered to leave the reader with just that sense of being changed by the trip.

I would recommend this book for it's readability and it's engaging storyline. It's a good read, yo!

-Laurie

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

I finished A Visit from the Goon Squad a few days ago. However, in between getting my teeth drilled and feeling like I got punched in the mouth, I haven't really had the time to post my thoughts on the book.

But I have thought about this book.

This book was hard to connect with emotionally. No two chapters are told from the same character's point of view and the chapters do not go in chronological order. Some of the characters are marginally connected to the others. I went from one chapter to the next surprised that such a minor character in the life of the previous narrator will be featured so prominently in the next chapter. It got a little difficult keeping track of all these people and why they were important.

There were so many characters and connections in this book that I drew myself a chart after finishing to help me visualize it all:

I know it's difficult to read all the character's names but it's not important - the network itself is important. Sasha and Bernie (at the center of the graph) are kind of the epicenter of the story which is why I highlighted their names. Sasha and Bernie are connected to each other for some time in the story and they are connected to others at various other points in time (but not forever - this chart shows connections without regard for when the connection existed).

The book focuses on these connections over time and how they break apart and new connections form. Time is also a big theme with "time" being the "goon" as referred to in the title: time ravages and destroys and it leaves no person untouched. Sasha and Bernie each undergo radical changes in their circumstances during the course of their lives (as do those connected to them).

The book discussed the music industry, the entertainment industry, and public-relations type things with many characters involved in these spaces in some capacity. I think the author dislikes the entertainment and music industries and uses the characters to communicate a distrust for these industries: they are false. I would have to agree with her on that point. It's all smoke and mirrors as far as I'm concerned and it's not satisfying in the end.

I did enjoy reading this book even though it was hard to really empathize with any of the characters. I was happy that the author didn't fall into the "Valentine's Day" trap (that movie with a billion high profile movie stars that falls flat). A Visit from the Goon Squad keeps things interesting by shifting time periods, perspectives, and mood and tone. The reader is constantly having to readjust mindsets for each new character. It was done well. It had serious moments without being too heavy. One chapter is told entirely in the form of slides (i.e. Power Point slides) - but it is still done so well and communicates the complexity of the relationships involved in that situation.

Overall, this book did not hit me with the full force of emotion but the characters were complex and interesting. The changing timeline was an adventure. I say: read it!

Until next time,

Laurie

This and That

Friday arvo (that's Aussie for "afternoon") I spent some time shopping in the downtown district of Melbourne. I went into Big W which is very similar to a Walmart State-side. I had to take a look at the book selection. I have to say, I was a little bit disappointed as there wasn't much to choose from in my favorite genres.

I did see a few books that peeked my interest...only because I know I would not spend the time to read them. Shocking!



Eh, sorry Snooki: I won't be needing your advice on how to keep my skin that shade of orange.



Ozzy is pretty cool, this might not be so bad as long as it as read as strictly humor.

 There was also a moment of nostalgia in the book store when I saw this book:

The Babysitters Club books are still around! Before sexually active vampires hit the scene, girls could read books that were pretty darned wholesome and entertaining. I read quite a few in this series in the fourth and fifth grade. In fact, they helped me develop the love of reading I have today. Good times!

Just a few thoughts today...still working my way through A Visit From the Goon Squad.

Until next time,
Laurie

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

I finished Breakfast at Tiffany's in about two hours (it's only a little over one hundred pages long). Since it is a classic I was expecting a much more difficult read a la Sinclair Lewis (still not sure how I managed to read Arrowsmith in its entirety). Maybe I shouldn't be so intimidated by classics after all.

Anyway, what did I think about the story? First of all, see this page for a synopsis.

Holly Golightly is the object of the narrator's story. On the surface she is a carefree party girl who makes the scene and the society section of the news paper. She has plenty of suitors, loves good fashion, and is in my opinion quite a flake. That's right: I'm not a fan of this character. I know Audrey Hepburn is cute as a button playing her in the film version, but the character, as created by Capote, has got some major issues and I feel for the poor soul.

There's a lot of symbolism floating around in the story with cages and her pet, a stray: mainly that she just can't imagine that anything should have to live inside a cage or be withheld from their wild nature. She and the cat don't belong to each other - they just found each other and they are in some sort of non-committed cat-owner arrangement. But PLEASE, darling: commitment is so passe...we couldn't possibly imagine such a trite concept! (sarcasm).

As the novel progresses and the reader learns more about Golightly, we discover that she's not a very happy person but it's her own doing. She left a marriage where she was loved and doted on. She flees for New York. Eventually, she chooses to flee New York and the friendship of the narrator whom she calls "Fred".

I can't be bothered with the whole "wild hearts can't be tamed" and "she's just a wild spirit" bullshit. The cage IS happiness! She refuses to get in the cage and thus she will never find contentment. It follows her around but she willfully turns it away. In the end, she puts her cat on the street telling it to "scram" or something similar (since they were never in a committed pet-owner relationship anyway) but she realizes that she is wrong. She and the cat DID belong to each other. But she leaves anyway in spite of this insight.

I'm happy that this book does not glamorize the Cut and Run Syndrome: it's emotional cowardice and I think this novel highlights that. Golightly is not a hero in the end but a victim of her own inner demons.

Given that I reacted to the Golightly character as strongly as I did, I do say that it is an effective story. I guess I could delve deeper into the meaning of everything in this book but I really don't want to (which I guess is an opinion in itself).

It's a classic - you should read it.

Tootles,
Laurie

Read the Awards Challenge 2012

I am participating in a reading challenge hosted by fellow book blogger, Girlxoxo. I decided to do this because I really want to read these books anyway so the planets aligned and off we go!

There are three levels for this challenge:

• Level 1 - Gold - Read 10+ books
• Level 2 - Silver - Read 6 - 9 books
• Level 3 - Bronze Read 1-5 books

I think I am going to keep things realistic and stick to the Bronze Level.

As fate would have it, yesterday I picked up a copy of A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2011 winner of the Pulitzer Prize) so I am ready to get reading.

Here goes nothing!

Keep reading,
Laurie

Breaking News

I have joined a book club and February's book is Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. I'm so scared, y'all! I've only read the classics when I HAD to like in high school and college.

My mission for today is to find that book and read the first chapter. Stay tuned to see if my lazy ass will actually do it!

Laters,
Laurie

**Update: no need to worry - finished this 100 pager in about 2 hours. Done already!**

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go is a page turner that reminded me a lot of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (although Never Let Me Go is not a futuristic dystopia like BNW but more of a parallel universe dystopia as it's set in the late 1990's). In fact, there's no mention of any futuristic technology and Ishiguro makes a point to not do so. Thus, the reader can immediately draw close parallels between NLMG and our current reality.

The book is voiced by Kathy H., who has grown up at a school called Hailsham, which is located in an isolated section of English country side. As a reader, you are confronted immediately with Kathy's vocabulary usage of "donor", "carer", and "completed". Clues as to the meanings of these words are revealed gradually through out the novel and I think that is meant to mirror the growing awareness of Kathy and her classmates from Hailsham as to who they are and their purpose in life. Each of these clues adds to the disturbing feeling that the reader experiences as one realizes the nature of the madness that this parallel society (but it also makes the reader realize that actual society is not that much different from Ishiguro's creation).

Central to Kathy's story are her two best friends, Ruth and Tommy, who have grown up with her at Hailsham. Ruth and Tommy eventually become a couple and Kathy is close friends with both of them.

As the second part of the novel progresses, the reader sees how relationship complications of this threesome eventually come to break them apart. However, in the third part of the book, they are brought back together under completely different circumstances and the reader witnesses the depth of their love for each other.

In addition to the relationship between these three characters, the ultimate outcome and the purpose behind their existence and others like them is deeply disturbing. It got me thinking not only about how scientific advances thrust more power into the hands of humans who are ultimately incapable of handling it, but also about how societies throughout time have always had a class of people who are dispensable.

Harvesting internal organs can symbolically mean using the lives of some for the benefit of others...like slavery. Slaves lives were (are) basically given away to enrich a few. An example, the better off in rich countries use a disproportionate amount of the world's resources at the expense of the poorer peoples...their sacrifices make our posh lifestyles possible and we think little of it. It begs the question if true equality within humanity is ever possible and if this user-usee relationship will always exist in some form or another for the remainder of history. For all our "enlightenment" it seems like we have gotten no farther in this area. Ishiguro is just presenting yet another possible situation where that can play out.

This is a good book and I foresee it becoming a modern classic. There is so much to think about.

Now, I just have to figure out how I can get a rental copy of this movie!

Literarily Yours,
Laurie

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Welcome to Black and White and Read All Over! This is the very first post and book review on this blog. May this be the beginning of an enduring and successful project.

Today I will review the novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides which was published in 2002 and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

We learn from the very first page that the main character's story is about gender identity (i.e. (s)he is a hermaphrodite). This first person account is not your typical After-School-Special coming of age story about sexual identity,  and that is the source of the author's mastery.

This novel goes beyond narrator's life story exploring the origins his gender ambiguity and how it is the result of decisions made by his forebears. The story begins in Greece with the scandalous coupling of his paternal grandparents. The reader witnesses their voyage across the Atlantic and subsequent settling in Detroit, Michigan. As his grandparents begin their new lives in the new world and their family tree grows into the next generation, the scene is set for the introduction of the protagonist along with his dark secret.

This novel was intriguing. Even though the protagonist was born a female and was reared as a female, the voice of Cal is undeniably male. There's a matter-of-fact tone to Cal's story that lacks the melodrama that a female voice might interject. Cal states the facts in an almost objective way and because of this, the reader does not pity Cal because he was wrongly labeled a female. Instead the reader is treated to the great journey through time culminating in this strange, marvelous entity that is fated from several generations back.

This book makes the reader question gender. "Gender" is really a societal construct. Science tells us that all children begin with the very same sex organs in the womb. It is only the hormones secreted that determine if those sex organs will form the female sex organs or male ones. But what if the hormones are insufficient? What of the individuals who are "in-between" sexes because of some chromosomal anomaly? How do they fit into a society that has such rigid definitions of male and female? This book raises a lot of questions not just about gender identity in society but also about identity in general. How much of our identity is really "us" and how much of it has come pre-constructed by society?

Like all good books, this novel does not seek to answer these questions but raise the concerns in the readers' minds.

This is a great read and I would recommend it to anyone who can approach it with an open mind.

Keep reading,
Laurie