Choosing What to Read After The Night Circus, or Book Binge!

As you all know, we're inching closer to the closing of the Borders chain here in the U.S. I've been on the Borders e-mail list for ages, and when I started getting sale notices, I didn't pay much attention. But when I got the most recent sale notice, and everything was 70-80% off, I leapt into action like a book-eating jungle cat.

Only moments ago, I finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and let me tell you all, I am BURSTING to post about it. BUT, Heather and I are reading it together and I'm waiting to discuss it with her a bit before I gush to you all. However, if you've noticed my sidebar you will now realize that I've hereby declared The Night Circus "The BEST Book EVER in the Land." Pretty swanky title, eh? More on that later...

SO, trade paperbacks 70-80% off are reasonably cheap, so I got myself four of them at the Borders sale. I'm now circling them trying to decide what to read next that might even remotely hold a candle to The Night Circus. OR something that might be different enough from "The BEST Book EVER in the Land" to keep my reading mojo smoldering. I picked up...

• Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters because I was so overcome with adoration for The Little Stranger
• Amsterdam by Ian McEwan because he totally RULES ME with books like On Chesil Beach and Atonement
• The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy because there's Holocaust/fairy tale tie-in element and I'm for sho' all over that 
• Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria by Julia P. Gelardi (non-fiction) because I have an ongoing and ever-growing obsession with all things Victoria ever since I watched the film, The Young Victoria, starring the stunning, grossly attractive, and always fashion-forward Emily Blunt (girl crush)

 So what should I read???? Have you, or you, or you read any of these books? Are you lusting after any of them too? HELP!

Choosing What to Read After The Night Circus, or Book Binge!

As you all know, we're inching closer to the closing of the Borders chain here in the U.S. I've been on the Borders e-mail list for ages, and when I started getting sale notices, I didn't pay much attention. But when I got the most recent sale notice, and everything was 70-80% off, I leapt into action like a book-eating jungle cat.

Only moments ago, I finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and let me tell you all, I am BURSTING to post about it. BUT, Heather and I are reading it together and I'm waiting to discuss it with her a bit before I gush to you all. However, if you've noticed my sidebar you will now realize that I've hereby declared The Night Circus "The BEST Book EVER in the Land." Pretty swanky title, eh? More on that later...

SO, trade paperbacks 70-80% off are reasonably cheap, so I got myself four of them at the Borders sale. I'm now circling them trying to decide what to read next that might even remotely hold a candle to The Night Circus. OR something that might be different enough from "The BEST Book EVER in the Land" to keep my reading mojo smoldering. I picked up...

• Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters because I was so overcome with adoration for The Little Stranger
• Amsterdam by Ian McEwan because he totally RULES ME with books like On Chesil Beach and Atonement
• The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy because there's Holocaust/fairy tale tie-in element and I'm for sho' all over that 
• Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria by Julia P. Gelardi (non-fiction) because I have an ongoing and ever-growing obsession with all things Victoria ever since I watched the film, The Young Victoria, starring the stunning, grossly attractive, and always fashion-forward Emily Blunt (girl crush)

 So what should I read???? Have you, or you, or you read any of these books? Are you lusting after any of them too? HELP!

Bookellanea or This is How I Drool

Bookish + miscellanea. Get it? Get it? OK, it's been a hell of a week, and it's Thursday and I'm dragging arse. This has just been one of those weeks at work when every duty snowballs at once and I'm left trying to keep my curly head above water. No signs of slowing before the end of the term on July 30th, so I'll be paddling hard until then.

In the meantime, I've been reading Lucy Knisley's graphic novel French Milk for the second time this year. She will be my next Outspoken Interview, with ILLUSTRATIONS!!!! That'll post this coming Monday.

I'm also still reading The Passage, and I will wait to tell you how FREAKIN' AWESOME it is when I'm finished with it completely. 200 pages left! You know how allergic I am to overhyped books,  but this one, so far, has been far and above the hype. And this is not even my "kind" of book generally speaking. Awesome. Just awesome. But I'm waiting to tell you that. Right. Ahem.

While I haven't gotten anything new from the library or for my Nook, I have been adding titles to my Nook wishlist when I blog hop or read through the latest issue of the New York Times Book Review. Have you read any of these?

By Fire, By Water by Mitchell Kaplan - I read about this one over at Caribousmom. Wendy writes:

Mitchell James Kaplan’s debut novel is set in fifteenth century Spain during the time of the New Inquisition when King Fernando and Queen Ysabel were waging war and expelling all Jews from Spain. This period is also remembered for Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) and his discovery of the Western Hemisphere. Kaplan has taken all of these events and created an historical novel of depth, passion and faith which held me spellbound.

The only other book I've read from the Spanish Inquisition time period was Alice Hoffman's YA historical, Incantation. I read it a few Dewey's Read-a-Thons ago, and I absolutely loved it. I would love to delve back into this particular part of history.

The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna is one I read about over at Farm Lane Books. Jackie summarizes it nicely:

The Birth of Love combines a present day birthing experience with flashbacks to Vienna in 1865, a time when thousands of mothers died simply because doctors didn’t think to wash their hands between performing an autopsy and helping with a birth. We discover how Professor Semmelweis, the first man to suggest that doctors should wash their hands regularly, was imprisoned in a lunatic asylum. He was driven mad by his realisation that he had killed so many women by spreading disease between them.

The book also gives a scary prediction for the future, suggesting that in 2153 no one will give birth – all babies will be grown in special genetically screened baby farms.

Having a child certainly gives any woman a greater appreciation for the process. Personally, I had absolutely no interest in birth stories before Greyson came along, but now a book like this sounds like something I'd love to get my hands on. I'm also fascinated by the various historical periods. Seems I'm craving something historical! That's totally out of the ordinary for me. I'll blame it on loving The Good Earth so much. Now I need MORE!
My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares is everywhere. I can't even remember which blogs have featured it because they numbers are stacking up. The Powell's description:

Daniel has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after life, crossing continents and dynasties, he and Sophia (despite her changing name and form) have been drawn together-and he remembers it all. Daniel has the memory, the ability to recall past lives and recognize souls of those he's previously known. It is a gift and a curse. For all the times that he and Sophia have been drawn together throughout history, they have also been torn painfully, fatally, apart. A love always too short.


Interwoven through Sophia and Daniel's unfolding present day relationship are glimpses of their expansive history together. From 552 Asia Minor to 1918 England and 1972 Virginia, the two souls share a long and sometimes torturous path of seeking each other time and time again.

OK, does The Gargoyle come immediately to mind for any of you? It did for me. I've never read any of Brashares' YA stuff, so I'm completely new to her writing, but I'm hoping this story offers something new. I adored The Gargoyle, so if it's too similar I may be irked. We'll see how it goes!

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross was one I noticed in the New York Times Book Review, and it had a pretty good showing from what I can remember. This is only part of the blurb from Powell's, but it sounds like quite the twisty mess:

David Pepin has been in love with his wife, Alice, since the moment they met in a university seminar on Alfred Hitchcock. After thirteen years of marriage, he still can't imagine a remotely happy life without her — yet he obsessively contemplates her demise. Soon she is dead, and David is both deeply distraught and the prime suspect.

So basically, David Pepin is not the only married man under fire or embroiled in murderous schemes in this book (that's included in the rest of the blurb over at Powell's). While I'm not much of a murder reader, it seems as if this one may be an interesting, if brutal, examination of marriage.

Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon is another book that landed on my radar, but I'm not sure how. I'm almost certain it was a blog, but it's been a while so I can't remember who got me hooked.

Dismantlement = Freedom

Henry, Tess, Winnie, and Suz banded together in college to form a group they called the Compassionate Dismantlers. Following the first rule of their manifesto--To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart--these daring misfits spend the summer after graduation in a remote cabin in the Vermont woods committing acts of meaningful vandalism and plotting elaborate, often dangerous, pranks. But everything changes when one particularly twisted experiment ends in Suz's death and the others decide to cover it up.

It sounds one part The Secret History (Donna Tart) and one part "The Destructors" (Graham Greene). Both the novel and the short story came immediately to mind when I read the blurb, and now I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm not sure if I'll be able to grab it from the library or if I'll end up snagging it on e-book, but either way, I must try it!

What books are you drooling over?

Bookellanea or This is How I Drool

Bookish + miscellanea. Get it? Get it? OK, it's been a hell of a week, and it's Thursday and I'm dragging arse. This has just been one of those weeks at work when every duty snowballs at once and I'm left trying to keep my curly head above water. No signs of slowing before the end of the term on July 30th, so I'll be paddling hard until then.

In the meantime, I've been reading Lucy Knisley's graphic novel French Milk for the second time this year. She will be my next Outspoken Interview, with ILLUSTRATIONS!!!! That'll post this coming Monday.

I'm also still reading The Passage, and I will wait to tell you how FREAKIN' AWESOME it is when I'm finished with it completely. 200 pages left! You know how allergic I am to overhyped books,  but this one, so far, has been far and above the hype. And this is not even my "kind" of book generally speaking. Awesome. Just awesome. But I'm waiting to tell you that. Right. Ahem.

While I haven't gotten anything new from the library or for my Nook, I have been adding titles to my Nook wishlist when I blog hop or read through the latest issue of the New York Times Book Review. Have you read any of these?

By Fire, By Water by Mitchell Kaplan - I read about this one over at Caribousmom. Wendy writes:

Mitchell James Kaplan’s debut novel is set in fifteenth century Spain during the time of the New Inquisition when King Fernando and Queen Ysabel were waging war and expelling all Jews from Spain. This period is also remembered for Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) and his discovery of the Western Hemisphere. Kaplan has taken all of these events and created an historical novel of depth, passion and faith which held me spellbound.

The only other book I've read from the Spanish Inquisition time period was Alice Hoffman's YA historical, Incantation. I read it a few Dewey's Read-a-Thons ago, and I absolutely loved it. I would love to delve back into this particular part of history.

The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna is one I read about over at Farm Lane Books. Jackie summarizes it nicely:

The Birth of Love combines a present day birthing experience with flashbacks to Vienna in 1865, a time when thousands of mothers died simply because doctors didn’t think to wash their hands between performing an autopsy and helping with a birth. We discover how Professor Semmelweis, the first man to suggest that doctors should wash their hands regularly, was imprisoned in a lunatic asylum. He was driven mad by his realisation that he had killed so many women by spreading disease between them.

The book also gives a scary prediction for the future, suggesting that in 2153 no one will give birth – all babies will be grown in special genetically screened baby farms.

Having a child certainly gives any woman a greater appreciation for the process. Personally, I had absolutely no interest in birth stories before Greyson came along, but now a book like this sounds like something I'd love to get my hands on. I'm also fascinated by the various historical periods. Seems I'm craving something historical! That's totally out of the ordinary for me. I'll blame it on loving The Good Earth so much. Now I need MORE!
My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares is everywhere. I can't even remember which blogs have featured it because they numbers are stacking up. The Powell's description:

Daniel has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after life, crossing continents and dynasties, he and Sophia (despite her changing name and form) have been drawn together-and he remembers it all. Daniel has the memory, the ability to recall past lives and recognize souls of those he's previously known. It is a gift and a curse. For all the times that he and Sophia have been drawn together throughout history, they have also been torn painfully, fatally, apart. A love always too short.


Interwoven through Sophia and Daniel's unfolding present day relationship are glimpses of their expansive history together. From 552 Asia Minor to 1918 England and 1972 Virginia, the two souls share a long and sometimes torturous path of seeking each other time and time again.

OK, does The Gargoyle come immediately to mind for any of you? It did for me. I've never read any of Brashares' YA stuff, so I'm completely new to her writing, but I'm hoping this story offers something new. I adored The Gargoyle, so if it's too similar I may be irked. We'll see how it goes!

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross was one I noticed in the New York Times Book Review, and it had a pretty good showing from what I can remember. This is only part of the blurb from Powell's, but it sounds like quite the twisty mess:

David Pepin has been in love with his wife, Alice, since the moment they met in a university seminar on Alfred Hitchcock. After thirteen years of marriage, he still can't imagine a remotely happy life without her — yet he obsessively contemplates her demise. Soon she is dead, and David is both deeply distraught and the prime suspect.

So basically, David Pepin is not the only married man under fire or embroiled in murderous schemes in this book (that's included in the rest of the blurb over at Powell's). While I'm not much of a murder reader, it seems as if this one may be an interesting, if brutal, examination of marriage.

Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon is another book that landed on my radar, but I'm not sure how. I'm almost certain it was a blog, but it's been a while so I can't remember who got me hooked.

Dismantlement = Freedom

Henry, Tess, Winnie, and Suz banded together in college to form a group they called the Compassionate Dismantlers. Following the first rule of their manifesto--To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart--these daring misfits spend the summer after graduation in a remote cabin in the Vermont woods committing acts of meaningful vandalism and plotting elaborate, often dangerous, pranks. But everything changes when one particularly twisted experiment ends in Suz's death and the others decide to cover it up.

It sounds one part The Secret History (Donna Tart) and one part "The Destructors" (Graham Greene). Both the novel and the short story came immediately to mind when I read the blurb, and now I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm not sure if I'll be able to grab it from the library or if I'll end up snagging it on e-book, but either way, I must try it!

What books are you drooling over?

Eating My Way Through Reading

I've always been a fan of foodie books, most especially any memoir involving food. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kinsolver comes to mind, as well as the recently read, Confections of a Closet Master Baker, by Gesine Bullock-Prado.

There's something endlessly comforting about books and there's something endlessly comforting about food. That's probably why I'm pretty smart and pretty "fluffy"; I find the most intimate, gentle moments involve one or both of these favorite things. We talk about food a lot in my house. Chuck was a chef for ten years, and we're both self-proclaimed foodies. There's nothing we won't try. Likewise, I like to think of myself as a pretty fearless reader. There's certainly not much I won't (or haven't) try in that arena.

I suppose with all of the change afoot in my life lately, I'm deeply wanting comfort. Our lives seemingly revolve around food as we move our habits toward cooking at home almost exclusively (eating out is the devil!), moving our eating habits further toward the healthy, and we're making a concerted effort to grow some food and buy locally. I also find I'm having to deliberately carve out moments to read. In the early morning while Greyson is napping, at work when the office and tutoring hours are slow. As a result of this daily campaign for comfort, I've turned overwhelmingly to foodie books. Here's what's "peppering" my shelves. (I know, I'm shameless. Couldn't help myself.)

I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a few years ago, and it quickly jumped to my list of all-time favorites. While most "normal" people can't take a year to grow all of their own food and raise their own meat, I found it an inspiring idea which I can incorporate into my own life on a small scale. See my "Sub'Herb'an Gardener post! I also learned oodles about seasonal eating, heirloom seeds, the vast amount of petroleum products eaten up by the food industry. I felt it made me a more knowledgeable, well-rounded consumer in general, and it certainly made me a much more ambitious and thoughtful eater.

You'll probably remember, I just finished Sarah Addison Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon a few weeks ago. I charged through it and loved every second. Like Addison's other books, food certainly plays a big role. One of the main characters, Julia, owns a NC barbecue restaurant, and if you know anything about North Carolina, they are passionate (almost as much as Texans) about barbecue. Likewise, the main character is a baker, and her cakes made my mouth water the whole time I was reading. The writing in this one also nourished my underwatered reading soul. It was pure bliss.

Finally, I'm reading The School of Essential Ingredients now. Well, I've dipped into it, but I have another book or two to finish first. So far I know it's about a woman who's teaching a cooking class, and I'm very much looking forward to meeting her students and reading more about their food.

Like any good obsessive reader, I also have a laundry list of books I want want want!

I stumbled upon these yummies from my weekly browsing in Barnes and Noble, as well as my blog reading. I'm particularly excited about The Backyard Homestead: Producing All the Food You Need on 1/4 Acre! by Carleen Madigan. I don't even have 1/4 of an acre in this city, but I'm excited by the idea of this book. As so many city dwellers know, if you're passionate about eating locally and growing your own, you have to maximize the space you have, even if it's minute. That's what we're doing, and I hope to be inspired by this book. It just came in on hold for me, so I'm off to pick it up at the library at 2:00.

Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg, by Michal Perry, seems to be buzzing quite a bit lately. I've read a number of reviews, and while many assume it'll be another Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, it definitely seems to have its own unique flavor.

Finally, The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentleman Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir, by Josh Kilmer-Purcell. Someone used to be a drag queen? I love drag queens and farming, so it sounds like a winner. I read a review or two of this one as well, and I can't get my hands on it fast enough.

There you have it...the books I've been reading, and the ones I see on my immediate horizon. If you have any additional recommendations involving food--fiction or non--please send them my way!

Eating My Way Through Reading

I've always been a fan of foodie books, most especially any memoir involving food. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kinsolver comes to mind, as well as the recently read, Confections of a Closet Master Baker, by Gesine Bullock-Prado.

There's something endlessly comforting about books and there's something endlessly comforting about food. That's probably why I'm pretty smart and pretty "fluffy"; I find the most intimate, gentle moments involve one or both of these favorite things. We talk about food a lot in my house. Chuck was a chef for ten years, and we're both self-proclaimed foodies. There's nothing we won't try. Likewise, I like to think of myself as a pretty fearless reader. There's certainly not much I won't (or haven't) try in that arena.

I suppose with all of the change afoot in my life lately, I'm deeply wanting comfort. Our lives seemingly revolve around food as we move our habits toward cooking at home almost exclusively (eating out is the devil!), moving our eating habits further toward the healthy, and we're making a concerted effort to grow some food and buy locally. I also find I'm having to deliberately carve out moments to read. In the early morning while Greyson is napping, at work when the office and tutoring hours are slow. As a result of this daily campaign for comfort, I've turned overwhelmingly to foodie books. Here's what's "peppering" my shelves. (I know, I'm shameless. Couldn't help myself.)

I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a few years ago, and it quickly jumped to my list of all-time favorites. While most "normal" people can't take a year to grow all of their own food and raise their own meat, I found it an inspiring idea which I can incorporate into my own life on a small scale. See my "Sub'Herb'an Gardener post! I also learned oodles about seasonal eating, heirloom seeds, the vast amount of petroleum products eaten up by the food industry. I felt it made me a more knowledgeable, well-rounded consumer in general, and it certainly made me a much more ambitious and thoughtful eater.

You'll probably remember, I just finished Sarah Addison Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon a few weeks ago. I charged through it and loved every second. Like Addison's other books, food certainly plays a big role. One of the main characters, Julia, owns a NC barbecue restaurant, and if you know anything about North Carolina, they are passionate (almost as much as Texans) about barbecue. Likewise, the main character is a baker, and her cakes made my mouth water the whole time I was reading. The writing in this one also nourished my underwatered reading soul. It was pure bliss.

Finally, I'm reading The School of Essential Ingredients now. Well, I've dipped into it, but I have another book or two to finish first. So far I know it's about a woman who's teaching a cooking class, and I'm very much looking forward to meeting her students and reading more about their food.

Like any good obsessive reader, I also have a laundry list of books I want want want!

I stumbled upon these yummies from my weekly browsing in Barnes and Noble, as well as my blog reading. I'm particularly excited about The Backyard Homestead: Producing All the Food You Need on 1/4 Acre! by Carleen Madigan. I don't even have 1/4 of an acre in this city, but I'm excited by the idea of this book. As so many city dwellers know, if you're passionate about eating locally and growing your own, you have to maximize the space you have, even if it's minute. That's what we're doing, and I hope to be inspired by this book. It just came in on hold for me, so I'm off to pick it up at the library at 2:00.

Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg, by Michal Perry, seems to be buzzing quite a bit lately. I've read a number of reviews, and while many assume it'll be another Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, it definitely seems to have its own unique flavor.

Finally, The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentleman Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir, by Josh Kilmer-Purcell. Someone used to be a drag queen? I love drag queens and farming, so it sounds like a winner. I read a review or two of this one as well, and I can't get my hands on it fast enough.

There you have it...the books I've been reading, and the ones I see on my immediate horizon. If you have any additional recommendations involving food--fiction or non--please send them my way!

Much Lusty Wanting: Great House

This actually has nothing to do with my previous post on real estate and books, but as soon as I closed the window from composing that post, I popped over to Nonsuch Book and found mention of Nicole Krauss's new novel, Great House. It's set to release October 4th, and I'm bitter that I'll have to wait that long!

Check out the blurb:

A powerful, soaring novel about a stolen desk that contains the secrets, and becomes the obsession, of the lives it passes through. For twenty-five years, a solitary American novelist has been writing at the desk she inherited from a young poet who disappeared at the hands of Pinochet's secret police; one day a girl claiming to be his daughter arrives to take it away, sending her life reeling. Across the ocean in London, a man discovers a terrifying secret about his wife of almost fifty years. In Jerusalem, an antiques dealer is slowly reassembling his father's Budapest study, plundered by the Nazis in 1944.

So. Unfair.

I can't wait.

Much Lusty Wanting: Great House

This actually has nothing to do with my previous post on real estate and books, but as soon as I closed the window from composing that post, I popped over to Nonsuch Book and found mention of Nicole Krauss's new novel, Great House. It's set to release October 4th, and I'm bitter that I'll have to wait that long!

Check out the blurb:

A powerful, soaring novel about a stolen desk that contains the secrets, and becomes the obsession, of the lives it passes through. For twenty-five years, a solitary American novelist has been writing at the desk she inherited from a young poet who disappeared at the hands of Pinochet's secret police; one day a girl claiming to be his daughter arrives to take it away, sending her life reeling. Across the ocean in London, a man discovers a terrifying secret about his wife of almost fifty years. In Jerusalem, an antiques dealer is slowly reassembling his father's Budapest study, plundered by the Nazis in 1944.

So. Unfair.

I can't wait.

This is an ILLNESS...

Really, this book addiction is out of control. I told you about my fortuitous discovery (B&N gift card) yesterday and my subsequent purchases. Well, I'm very happy with myself and the lust is really pumping for those books that I picked up, but today I found myself in a "situation."

It was my usual day, I woke up around 6:00 or 6:30 when the sound of Daisy chewing on her feet in the crate rattled me out of my slumber. I checked e-mail, did some work, ate a muffin, and got ready for work. Headed out about 9:00, got to the college, read over my students' assignment for today, taught from 9:50-11:05, and I went to the library to finish up a few Information Hunt assignments for my Access and Retrieval class.

Before I out myself, my question for you, dear book lovers, is:

Can we ever really pass up free books? Really. Can we?

In my case the answer would be...NOOOOO! I came home with the following:

The Gargoyle, by Andrew Davidson. This seems to have become one of the "it" books in the blogosphere as of late, so that explains how I came to be interested in it. Well, that, and the cover. I'm a whore for a great cover and this is one of them. A blurb, my dearests:

The narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul.

A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany.

If I had to guess, I would say I'll dive into this book before the others I checked out. We'll see. My reading habits are as shifty as Texas weather (retarded, cliche comparison...shhhh!).

I've decided to try to let go of my bloodthirsty grudge I've had aimed at Curtis Sittenfeld (biatch!) for years. I can let it goooo that she said this about Melissa Banks' novel, The Wonder Spot:


To suggest that another woman's ostensibly literary novel is chick lit feels catty, not unlike calling another woman a slut -- doesn't the term basically bring down all of us? And yet, with ''The Wonder Spot,'' it's hard to resist.


Ok, fine, I'm not letting it go at all. To read the rest of the review, click HERE. I haven't even read The Wonder Spot, but I find Sittenfeld's review so needlessly bitchy, I just can't let it go. BUT, I'm still going to try one of her books. Part of me hopes American Wife is really worthless so I can sorta, kinda call her a slut, too. Or maybe just a pretentious a-hole, but we'll see how it goes. Why do I have a sneaking suspicion I won't be receive any books from Random House...ever? Ha!


Blurb from Bookmarks Magazine:


While critics couldn’t say for sure whether or not Sittenfeld captures the exact thoughts of Laura Bush, they did agree that she creates a realistic and highly sympathetic portrayal of the (soon-to-be former) First Lady. (The author supposedly based the novel on Ann Gerhart’s 2004 biography, The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush.) Sittenfeld asks provoking questions about marriage, loyalty, and responsibility. But many reviewers couldn’t fundamentally understand why the very decent Alice had supported her husband despite her doubts about his capabilities; Sittenfeld’s pat, unsatisfactory answer is that Alice leads a life “in opposition.” That, combined with the author’s obvious contempt for Charlie, brought the reviews down a notch. Still, there’s nothing as titillating as a look, albeit fictional, inside the White House—especially during an election year.

Finally, The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff. I want this book for two very distinct reasons 1) Susan liked it 2) the cover is DEL-I-CIOUS! Almost as yummy and edible as The Gargoyle.

Blurb from an Amazon review:

On the very morning Willie Upton slinks home to Templeton, New York (after a calamitous affair with her archeology professor), the 50-foot-long body of a monster floats from the depths of the town's lake. This unsettling coincidence sets the stage for one of the most original debut novels since The Time Traveler’s Wife. With a clue to the mysterious identity of her father in hand, Willie turns her research skills to unearthing the secrets of the town in letters and pictures (which, "reproduced" in the book along with increasingly complete family trees, lend an air of historical authenticity). Lauren Groff's endearingly feisty characters imbue the story with enough intrigue to keep readers up long past bedtime, and reading groups will find much to discuss in its themes of "monsters," both in our towns and our families.

I've been working since about 6am with a few breaks for meals and whatnot. It's after 9:00 pm now, and I really want to stop, but I still have a job application to complete. See y'all later!

Book Lusting

It doesn't pay for me to listen to NPR's book podcast. In fact, I mean that literally since my bank account shrinks after every listen. I haven't listened to the podcast in a while because I've been on more of a music kick on my daily commute, but today the prodigal listener returned. Now my wishlist is several books larger.

Blood Kin, by Ceridwen Dovey: A president has been overthrown by a military coup in a nameless country in an unspecified era. The president's barber, chef, and portraitist are imprisoned, with many others, in a remote palace in the hills high above the city center. Before the coup, these three men worked with unquestioning loyalty, serving the president in seemingly benign jobs. Now, forced to serve the country's new leader, they begin to reconsider their role in the old regime.

I love the idea of following the lives of those closest to a powerful leader. What would the minutia of life be like for a President's portraitist? Especially one that paints a new portrait every two months and is continually changing the details based on the President's mood? Listening to Dovey speak about her novel was incredibly interesting, and I can't help but admire the author herself in addition to her innovative book premise. In addition to writing novels, she's also working toward a PhD in Anthropology.

Cheer!: Three Teams on a Quest for College Cheerleading's Ultimate Prize, by Kate Torgovnik: Meet the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack cheerleaders from Nacogdoches, Texas, whoseem destined to win their fifth National Championship in a row — until they are shaken by the departure of their longtime coach. Fall in love with the Southern University Jaguars from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an African-American team hoping to raise the $17,000 needed to travel to Nationals and transform their near win several years ago into a Cinderella victory. Root for the University of Memphis All-Girl cheerleaders from Tennessee — a team that continually struggles for the same respect Coed teams get — when their quest for a national title is threatened by injuries and dropouts.

Incidentally, Stephen F. Austin University isn't terribly far from where I used to live in Texas. Like any red-blooded Texan girl in a football addicted hometown, I was in love with cheerleading. While I never went out in the little skirts, I was the school mascot in 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. I know, I know. I got to wear a fox costume (full-body...like a carpet), do cheers, tumble, jump, and generally act a'fool in front of large audiences. And we won quite a few cheerleading competitions. I can't resist a book that respects this "activity" for what it really is...a sport.

Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run, by Alton Brown: He's on the road again. This time, Alton Brown and his motorcycle-mounted crew are off on a thousand-mile, south-to-north journey that follows America's first "superhighway"—the Mississippi. Starting at the great river's delta on the Gulf of Mexico and ending up near its headwaters in Minnesota, Alton and buddies travel the heartland's byways to scout out the very best of roadside food—and to get to know the people who spend their lives preparing and serving it.

I fell in love with Feasting on Asphalt in its first season on The Food Network, and I'm itching to get hold of this companion book to season two. Alton Brown is hilarious, and one smart cookie. And I can't resist a guy on a motorcycle.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, by Mary Roach: The bestselling author of Stiff and Spook turns her outrageous curiosity and infectious wit on the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex. In Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, Roach shows how and why sexual arousal and orgasm can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to make the bedroom a more satisfying place.

I loved Stiff when I read it a number of years ago, and it remains one of my all-time favorite non-fiction reads. Well, one of my all-time favorite books in general, actually. I have to admit, I'm more than a little captivated by sex, too (who isn't), so this marriage of Roach's humor and a risque topic is tailor made for my bookshelves.

Now do you see why it doesn't pay for me to listen to NPR? Really, my paycheck is crying, and it just arrived today.

Lust

Since you've all had a few days to peruse some of my favorite bloggers in the previous post, I guess I'll post something new. Yesterday was kinda crazy. Bought a North Carolina auto insurance policy, worked in the writing center, ran some errands with B., taught a night class, and finally got to come home, shower, have dinner, and I was passed smooth out by 10:45. You can call me Animal. Party Animal.

Today is a migrainey day (again), so I'm taking it easy and being an enabler. I'll tell you about some of the newest items on my Amazon wishlist.

The Kindle. I have a serious case of gadget lust since April posted about hers at Estella's Revenge. Another bookish friend shouted the wonders of yon Kindle in a discussion group, and now I can hardly contain myself. Too bad I don't have $399 to throw around at the moment. I hope beyond hope that the price falls a bit in the near future and I can snatch one up. The books are cheaper, I'll be killing fewer trees with my bookish obsession, and that little puppy is way portable. Good plane reading, anyone? I'll probably be traveling to TX during the summer at some point, and I have a conference in San Antonio in November. Just think of all the books I could hoard in one little gadget! The mere thought makes me quake.

*use imagination to insert cover of Best American Nonrequired Reading, 2007 here*

Yeah, Blogger is being putzy. Anywho, I first saw the Nonrequired Reading 2007 in Books-a-Million recently, and what an intriguing idea! I'm a sucker for the yearly "Best ofs" anyway (short stories, essays, comics, etc., etc.) and what's better to a moody, finicky, noncommital reader than a collection of NONREQUIRED READING?! Not much, I can tell you that fo 'sho.

*use imagination to insert cover of A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You here*

In my neverending search for quality short stories, I ran upon Amy Bloom. Well, I ran upon her name, really. I haven't read any of her stuff yet, but everywhere I go that mentions really good short story writers mentions her. The blurb from Amazon to describe Blind Man:

It was Henry James who first claimed the imagination of disaster, but in Amy Bloom's stunning second collection, she appears to have inherited the mantle. Most of the characters in A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You are pursued by at least one of the biological furies: cancer, miscarriage, Parkinson's disease. And even those with their health intact tend to be sick at heart, having run the gantlet of family life and suffered what the military men like to call friendly fire. Yet the effect of these brilliant stories is anything but dreary. Instead they produce an odd sense of elation--Bloom somehow persuades us that her characters will continue under their own steam long after we've closed the book, and she alternates hope and hopelessness in exactly the right, recognizable proportions.

*use imagination to insert cover of Artists in Exile, by Joseph Horowitz here*

This is a little goody I spotted in the NY Times Book Review a week or so ago. I've always been interested in artists' and performers' lives, and this book chronicles the "intellectual migrations" of thousands of artists and thinkers from Europe to the U.S. in the early 20th century. Some notable names: Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, and Marlene Dietrich just to name a few.

So, tell me you wonderful enablers. What are you lusting after?

I've had about all I can stand of the slow writing center computer, so I'm going to finish The End of America (thoughts coming) and grade some tests. Yeehaw!