Over the Clover

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

2009-10-16T15:34:45Z

David Sedaris

★★★

I love the cover of this book. Front and back. The simple green background and the bright, chalky letters make me happy.

Even if I had hated this book and David Sedaris, I would have read this one for its cover.

I know there are those who would say that's wrong, but I don't care. I just don't care.

My favorite essay was You Can't Kill the Rooster.

I'm going out and making one of those today!

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Norwegian Wood

2009-10-14T10:18:30Z

Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami

★★★

This was my second book by Murakami. I picked this one up for two reasons. First it's his most popular book in Japan and the book that created his notoriety. Second, it's the only book he wrote that is straight-forward. He said in an interview that his reason for writing this book was to see if he could write a story without magical realism.

This book gave me a better feel for Murakami. In the future if someone asks which book to start with I'll recommend this one.

As in Kafka on the Shore I had a really hard time believing in the characters (they all feel like the same person to me) and caring for them (they feel two-dimensional).

The part that really didn't work was Murakami, a man, writing about female sexual experiences. It just didn't ring true at all. Just one example: two women had sex with one particular man and it was so good they swore off sex for the rest of their lives.

But, as in the previous book, I did appreciate the overarching story. What would it be like to continually know people close to you committing suicide? Or to continually be involved in three-way friendships?

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Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

2009-10-13T10:59:43Z

Holidays on Ice: Stories

David Sedaris

★★

What I learned from this sad to disturbing collection of Christmas tales is that Sedaris has major psychological issues with Christmas.

Six in all, the pieces are a mix of essays and short stories. The short stories include baby murder and intentional self-dismemberment.

The essays are not quite as disturbing, but still not what I would call funny. Even Santaland, which is one of the author's most famous pieces, was never one of my favorites. But most people find that one fall down funny. I don't get it.

Maybe I don't get it because I can't join the Christmas -is-the-most-depressing-time-of-year mentality. I mean, it's not like my favorite time of year, but I think we've all become a little too dramatic about how depressing we think the holidays are.

I'm starting to think I'm a freak just because I can accept the holidays as another day, and I don't spend the rest of the year either dreading them, plotting against them, or harassing people who say Happy Holidays as opposed to Merry Christmas. Times are weird.

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Book Club Reads

2009-09-22T00:00:10Z

I haven't kept up with posts very well the last couple of months. But then I haven't had a lot to say about the books I've been reading. I joined a (er, another) book club a few months ago. I have a problem with committing to book clubs here in Connecticut. I find myself disappointed with either the book selections, the discourse, or both and so I habitually quit the groups. That either makes me sound snobby or nerdy, but it's just the truth.

Then this year, I made a real commitment to a book club. I am reading the books no matter what, and I am resolved to stay in the group for at least a year. OK, I cheated a bit when I refused to read Eat, Pray, Love, but everyone has to draw his/her lines somewhere.

So, I think I can sum up what we've read pretty quickly in one post.

The Memory of Running
I missed that one as I joined the group after the first meeting.

The Road
Liked it a lot. No, I didn't really like the book, but I liked how the author could evoke the feeling of an apocalyptic world so completely.

Dog on It
A silly book about a narrating dog who is one-half of a detective agency.

Eat, Pray, Love
This was the one I boycotted as it was just way too Oprah for me.

The 19th Wife
A long book that tried too much. The story switched between the 1800s and the present. I liked the historical stuff about Mormonism and its history. The modern day murder mystery just didn't work as well.

The Time Traveler's Wife
The most unromantic romantic novel that I've ever read. Actually, I would say Wuthering Heights really wins that title, but this one is a close second.

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The title is way too long. Otherwise, I would have also accused it of being too sentimental if it weren't for all the Nazis in the book. Although I have a feeling that Martha Stewart herself would find this book "charming" I did end up liking its take on love and family.

So far, I am enjoying this book club. Most of the selections are not books I would have ever read on my own, but I've learned something from all of them. I'm looking forward to the second half of the year.

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The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

2009-09-21T21:40:31Z

Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway

★★★★

I never had to read this book in high school or college. In fact, I didn't have to read anything by Hemingway in my academic career. I might be the only one...

I picked this one up because pretty much everyone who reads it says they hate it and if I haven't read an author I like to start out with the one people seem to anecdotally hate the most.

Although I have no interest in fishing, I did enjoy this book. I came away learning some things about fishing as well as a few tidbits of wisdom.

And the book was either not as over-the-top macho as I was expecting, or I've become impervious and need to find more girlfriends.

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As They See 'Em by Bruce Weber

2009-08-29T00:23:22Z

As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires

Bruce Weber

★★★

This might be the first out and out book about sports I have ever read. And except for one really boring chapter, I was completely enthralled.

The book came up in conversation and the book was lent to me. I even put other things on hold to read this one.

So why was it so fascinating to me? I think because I grew up in a very male household: grandfather, father, and two brothers. One of my earliest memories are watching sports with my grandfather and playing sports with my brothers. Give me a room full of guys talking about last night's game, and I'll still feel at home--even if I don't follow sports myself anymore.

Back to the point, not once as a kid did we ever talk about umpires. And I just realized how strange that was. I realized I knew nothing about the topic of umpires.

But a few dozen pages into the book I started asking myself: "Why would anyone want to be an umpire?" It's a job where you are always on the outskirts or you're invisible; you never belong. The most you can ask for is silence. People not yelling at you is a good day.

I never really did answer that question. I suppose like all things there are people out there who love it. They would do it whether or not they get paid. They just love doing it. And really, you should do what you love, no matter what.

Oh, and the author of this book wrote the most poetic thing about sports I have ever read. Here it is: "The umpires…are neither inside the game as the players are, nor outside it among the fans, but the game passes through you, like rainwater through a filter, and that your job is to influence it for the better, to strain out the impurities to make it cleaner, fairer, and more transparent, without impeding it, corrupting it, changing its course, or making it taste funny."

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50 Books in 50 States

2009-08-14T02:12:44Z

Recently I have been thinking about how some books are really good at evoking how it feels to live in particular states. I am going to add to this list as I find books that fit into each state. I hope to be able to find one for each state.

Alabama = To Kill a Mockingbird
Idaho = Housekeeping
Michigan = Middlesex
Ohio = Winesburg, Ohio

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Atonement by Ian McEwan

2009-07-18T03:57:02Z

Atonement

Ian McEwan

★★★★

I can't remember the last time I was so gripped by a novel. I loved the way this story was told. There are basically three sections and each section is one day in the storyline. The first part is told from various points-of-view. Sometimes we go forward in the day and sometimes we reverse a bit. The second and third sections are told from the viewpoint of a single, but different, character.

There is so much you could talk about with this book. I am not sure what the main theme is. Crime? Love? Time? One might think from the title that it would be atonement itself?

As a statement about life starting out at one point and ending up somewhere else completely unimagined, it's a wonderful analogy. We never really know what another person might be thinking or his/her true motives. Even friends. Even family. And there is a certain amount of danger in that. And loneliness.

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Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

2009-06-03T10:46:59Z

Haunted: A Novel

Chuck Palahniuk

★★★

Finishing my second Palahniuk book, I am struck by how many people are shocked by this work. I suppose it did have scenes not usually depicted (the cannibalism springs to mind foremost) but I'd use a word like chilling over shocking.

The book largely seems like an indictment of reality TV. Let's hope that eventually people are not killing and being killed for the sake of one's 15 minutes.

The structure of the novel is interesting. It is a novel about writers who are writing short stories throughout the novel. Every other chapter is a short story "written" by one of the characters. Really, the stories are confessions from each one's past.

The short stories are far more interesting than the novel proper. No less unbelievable, but very memorable.

While Haunted is vastly different from Choke (and one of Palahniuk's more minor novels) I'd say I did draw one more conclusion about the author's style.

He has a talent for making the most far-fetched idea seem, at least, plausible.

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Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

2009-05-23T10:05:24Z

Choke

Chuck Palahniuk

★★★★

What a strange book. Since finishing it I have heard that Palahniuk always writes about the same angry man. I'll have to read more to judge that, but this book is great. Not because he is writing about an angry guy. Not because of all the shocking details.

I am impressed that he could use the shocking details and such an angry protagonist to make some pretty great points about who we are--and who we think we are.

Looking forward to reading another Palahniuk novel now.

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