Monthly Archives: January 2012

Enchantments by Kathryn Harrison

Posted on 01/31/2012 | 1 comment

Published by Random House, March 2012 ****

Harrison puts a spin on the tragedy of the Romanovs in this unique novel: what if Rasputin’s daughters were wards of the deposed tsar and his family following the death of their father?  Empress Alexandra can only hope that Masha (Maria) holds the same healing powers as her father, or can at least offer comfort to the ailing tsarevich, Alyosha (Alexei).  Imprisoned with the royal family at Tsarskoye Selo, Masha spends hours at Alyosha’s bedside telling stories to distract him from his latest injury aggravated by his hemophilia.  Masha is a lyrical storyteller as she romanticizes Russian fairytales, Rasputin’s life and the courtship of Nicholas and Alexandra.   The two teenagers develop a bond that distracts them from their confines, much as the magic in Masha’s stories transform history into legend.

I appreciate that Masha recognizes Rasputin as a holy man, but also as an imperfect mortal who does not deny himself worldly [carnal] pleasures.  What irritated me was the idea of the 14 year-old Alyosha being portrayed as a sexualized adolescent.  I never anticipated reading a narrative about the tsarevich’s first sexual encounters.  I found it somewhat distasteful.  However, I understand its relevance in relation to Alyosha’s fatalistic attitude.  Because of his illness, his outlook was more realistic than that of his parents or his sisters and he resigned himself to his fate.

No, the Rasputin sisters never really lived with the Romanovs (why wouldn’t they have been sent directly back to their mother in Siberia?) and the premise was somewhat outlandish.  However, Masha’s sublime storytelling adds magic to the narrative that allows the Romanovs to transcend their own destiny. The successful elements outweigh any imperfections or inconsistencies in this unusual, entertaining book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via the Amazon Vine program.

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Disturbing Books

Posted on 01/30/2012 | Leave a comment

Warning: Adult Content (or, Mom, you shouldn’t read this)

Yes, I have a dark side, and I enjoy the sick and twisted book every now and again.  These are books I would never recommend to the faint of heart and are generally violent or sexually explicit.  There are some minor spoilers below, but if you’re squeamish or easily offended, you’re probably not going to read any of these any way.

  • American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis – This is the ultimate in utter depravity.  Patrick Batemen is a Wall Street executive in the ’80’s and he’s also a serial killer with a penchant for kinky threesomes and various forms of torture and dismemberment.  His murders are elaborate and incredibly violent (very hungry rat, cheese wiz, and a paper towel tube), but his rants about subjects such as Genesis and Huey Lewis and the News are almost equally disturbing.
  • The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski – An unnamed European boy witnesses some of the horrific atrocities of WWII that deeply affect him.  The most disturbing scene is the raping and pillaging of a village by Russian soldiers.
  • Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk –  I adore this book for its in-your-face grossness that only Chuck can deliver.  The first story involving a gruesome masturbation accident induced fainting spells at author readings.  And a girl cannibalising her own ass-cheek flesh is so over the top!
  • We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver – This is exactly why having kids terrifies me.  A mother discusses her disturbed first child who appears to have been a sociopath from the moment of his birth.  His chilling behavior culminates by murdering members of his own family and going Columbine on his school with archery equipment.
  • Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo – Just the idea of a soldier losing all of his limbs and  most of his face and thus all of his senses is so intensely freaky.  Having lost his hearing, sight and any ability to communicate, he is left to suffer within the confines of his own mind.  If that’s not a total mind-f*ck, I don’t know what is.
  • The End of Alice by A.M. Holmes – A convicted child molester corresponds from prison with a 19 year-old girl who is bent on seducing a 12 year-old boy.  There are explicit scenes of pedophilia and prison rape that would make Humbert Humbert blush.

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Method to the Madness

Posted on 01/28/2012 | 1 comment

As my friends and family well know, I am super anal about the way I catalogue and organize my books.  Everyone has a system, and I tailored mine to my extensive collection.  The sheer volume of books in my home require that I have OCD tendencies or else my house would be a cluttered mess.  So here’s a breakdown of what happens when a new book enters my home:

Cataloging:

  • Step one: Goodreads.  I enter the book into my virtual library.  Most likely the book is already on my wish list, so I shelve it as owned.
  • Step two: The Master Spreadsheet.  I have a huge excel file where I enter info such as title, author, publisher, publication date, format (trade paperback/pocket paperback/hardcover), if it’s a first edition or if it’s an ARC.  There are separate tabs for nonfiction, fiction/literature, children’s books and collections.
  • Step three: Ownership.  If I own it, it must be labeled.  I have a variety of Ex Libris labels that I have customized with my name and usually a cute image that I put on the inside cover.

Shelving:

  • Depending on the genre depends on where the book is placed.  I have a specific set of shelves for all my TBRs, but once a book is read, it goes to its permanent home.
  • If it’s nonfiction, it goes in the den.  There are shelves for general nonfiction which I have tried to organize by subject.  I have a shelf specific for all my Tudor books, another for Romanov books, and a newly created section for true crime.
  • If it’s ficiton or literature, I have a massive wall-to-wall unit in my bedroom which is organized alphabetically by author.
  • Children’s and young adult books go in my Alice in Wonderland themed guest bedroom.  I have two bookcases that house everything from Harry Potter, Narnia, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Hunger Games, all of my grandma’s Dr. Seuss books, favorite novels and picture books from my childhood, and other children’s collections.

Most importantly, I know where any book is located at any given time.  You give me title or an author and I can pluck it from its shelf in less than a minute.  Do you have any system to keep you home library organized?

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Shelf Lust

Posted on 01/27/2012 | 2 comments

My guest bedroom is Alice in Wonderland themed and it also includes part of my teapot collection and all of my children’s literature. On the left are my very worn, but very loved copies of The Chronicles of Narnia along with A Companion to Narnia, which has some great maps and illustrations to better understand Aslan’s world.  The teapot I got in a little pottery village called Seagrove in North Carolina which is home to dozens upon dozens of artisans creating and selling their wares.  If you’re ever in the area, I suggest you check it out.  Back in the day I jumped on the whole Series of Unfortunate Events bandwagon, but never finished reading the series (long-term goal).  Eventually I plan on starting from the beginning again and really paying attention to the subtle literary allusions integrated into the books.

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The Bookiverse Explodes!

Posted on 01/26/2012 | Leave a comment

I made two awesome discoveries in the Bookiverse today.  The first I learned about through Literary Musing’s blog, and that’s the TLC Book Tours site.  It matches up bloggers with books so the author can do on-line book tours…  Well, I’ll let the TLC folks explain it:

TLC Book Tours is a service providing online virtual book tours to authors. For a minimal amount of money, time, and travel, an author can gain exposure to thousands of potential readers.

Virtual book tours are a promotional tool for authors to connect with readers via blogs…

We work closely with authors to determine their target market and rely on their input.  We’ve built relationships with hundreds of bloggers and are constantly making new connections every day…

Every tour stop is different.  Some include interviews, author guest posts, or giveaways. Some just review the book.  The incentive for a blogger to host a tour (aside from a free book) is access to the author through email.  We encourage author involvement!

Of course I signed up, especially when I saw that my author friend Mari aka Claire Avery took advantage of this awesome service.  I’ll let you know what I hear…

The second discovery was actually made by my BFF@Work, and that was  the World Book Night site.  What a wonderful concept!

 World Book Night is a charity dedicated to the promotion of literacy and the celebration, sharing and enjoyment of reading amongst teenagers and adults. The first World Book Night was held in the UK in 2011. In 2012 World Book Night will be celebrated in the USA as well as the UK and Ireland on April 23 and will see tens of thousands of givers share the joy and love of reading with millions of non or light readers.

There is no charge for these special, not for resale editions. We’re just looking for enthusiastic readers to help get some books into the hands of new and light readers… World Book Night U.S. is supported by American book publishers, the American Booksellers Association, Barnes & Noble, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and Ingram Book Distributors. Through their generosity, we are able to make the books available free of charge.

Courtney and I filled out our applications and we are hoping hoping hoping that we get picked.  How fun would it be to walk around the bank handing out some of our favorite books!  I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and variety of books they were offering, and we each got to pick our top 3 choices.  I picked A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Book Thief, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  So we should find out if we can participate by the end of February and Word Book Night is April 23.

 

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Just for Fun

Posted on 01/25/2012 | Leave a comment

I haven’t provided any links in a while, so here are my findings for the week:

I must agree with at least two of Greg’s reasons for declaring books evil:

The Bad Neighbor — This past weekend, it snowed a bunch. I woke up Saturday morning with every intention of going out to shovel our sidewalk — the neighborly thing to do. Instead, I got lost in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, and didn’t end up shoveling until well after noon. Indeed, this is just one of a million examples of books causing me to do something (reading) instead of something else (studying, showering, eating?) I really should have been doing.

This is entirely true, as neglecting domestic responsibility and other forms of work are a regular occurrence for me, especially when the weather’s crummy here in Chicago.

The Blubbering Fanboy — Writers are people, too. I know this. Doesn’t stop me from turning into your mom when The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan when I make my way to the front of the line to get a book signed. I can tell you this, I probably hold the record for most awkward interactions with published novelists. (I wrote about one such instance in the Richard Russo Reading Pathways post.) It’s a gift, I tell you.

I’ve met a number of authors, but I think the ones that flustered me most were Jodi Picoult, Philippa Gregory, and Khaled Hosseini (hubba hubba!).

Oh, the literary tattoo.  I’ve got one – the Cheshire Cat sits beguilingly  grinning on my shoulder-blade.  And anyone who gets one tattoo always considers getting more.  The Sis and I have contemplating getting a matching tat designed with combination of a reading/writing motif for me and a celestial theme to represent her.  There have been other ideas I have considered over the year, but here are some cool ones (however large) (via Bookishly Boisterous).  Obviously I love the giant Alice deal, but that’s a LOT of real estate on the skin.  I also love the Fahrenheit 451 dude and The Reading Rainbow…

How ’bout a Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland themed wedding (via Neatorama)?  The chick is gorgeous and I love her hair, but I don’t know how I’d feel about my husband wearing that much makeup and fluffy eyebrows.  However, the staging of the photos is incredible (tea party in the forest!)…

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Extemely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Posted on 01/24/2012 | 1 comment

Published by Mariner Books, 2006 *****

This book has been on my wish list for a long time, and I can’t remember why I never picked up a copy.  Lucky for me, my best friend gifted it to me for Christmas, and I am sorry I hesitated so long to prioritize it.  Perhaps I was concerned it was pretentious because it was so highly praised, but with the movie coming out, I knew I had to finally dig in.  I devoured it in less than 48 hours (why, oh why does work have to get in the way?).

It is a brilliantly written story about a boy, Oskar, coping with the death of his father in the 9/11 attacks.  Beneath that surface of Oskar’s narrative, there is so much more.  During his search to find the lock to fit a mysterious key his father left behind, he uncovers the stories of other individuals in New York City.  He also learns more about his father’s history, specifically the relationship between his grandmother and grandfather, both survivors of the Dresden fire bombing.  I was less interested with the grandparent aspect, but there is no denying that it contributed to the overall structure of Oskar’s story.  I must say, it is impossible not to adore this precocious boy as he pieces together his father’s mystery and comes to terms with his loss.

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All the Flowers in Shanghai by Duncan Jepson

Posted on 01/23/2012 | Leave a comment

(I have to admit, this isn’t my strongest review, but I had a hard time articulating how I felt about this book.  Plus it was Monday of my first full week of work since early December.  So…)

Published by William Morrow, December, 2011 ***

1930’s China was a very contradictory society.  Just prior to the Revolution, cities like Shanghai are modernizing, but customs are still very traditional.  This is the world that Feng inhabits when she is hastily married to her dead sister’s fiancé.  Despite the conventional role she is forced into with the large Sang family, specifically to produce an heir, she attends Western-style dances and parties.  She has wealth, but she is unhappy in the large family compound.  She makes decisions that only emphasize her dissatisfaction with her position.  I think the main reason that I did not have much sympathy for her was because the author’s attempt at writing a woman’s voice was unconvincing.  There have been plenty of examples of a male writer giving authenticity to their female character/narrator (Memoirs of a Geisha), but this doesn’t reach that level of skill.  Witnessing Feng brood in her room for half the book was tedious, and regardless of the complications with her arranged marriage, I never felt the contempt she conveyed toward her husband.  Every time Feng seems to capture a glimmer of happiness, some negativity has to come along and ruin it, and it is usually of her own doing.

The book then jumps from the late 30’s to the post-war era of Communism.  The author completely passes over a significant part of Chinese history – a world war and Japanese occupation.  Suddenly Feng abandons her privileged lifestyle and settles into a communal village, riding the waves of the Revolution just to survive.  Her guilt and irrationality just don’t seem justified.  There were some redeeming moments throughout the book, but the ending was relatively unsatisfying. It would have been a much more engaging narrative if Feng’s world wasn’t so isolated and if the author had tried more to capture the society’s changing atmosphere during these tumultuous decades.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via the Amazon Vine program.

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Weekend Update, or I’m Cultured Dammit!

Posted on 01/21/2012 | 1 comment

What a fun weekend this has been.  I took Friday off and went to the opera with The Bestie.  We love Friday matinees and we saw the amazing The Magic Flute by Mozart.  I cried during the Queen of the Night soprano aria.  After, we had a lovely dinner at Lloyd’s (Rach had the tilapia and I had a great white fish and we split some awesome raspberry chocolate cheesecake).  The best part were the yummy sangrinis.  Yes, I spelled that right.  A sangria martini with vodka and champagne.  Yum!  Then back to our place for dirty martinis, cosmos, Big Bang Theory and Chopped.  Despite the snow storm, we had a perfect Bestie day. And we got some serious culture!

Rachel and I also finally exchanged Christmas gifts and I had to share that I finally got a copy of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, so I want to get that read sooner than later because of all the movie hype.  It’s been on my wish list for years, and The Bestie’s reading it now, too, so this week I can finally read for pleasure since I’m relatively caught up on review copies from The Vine.  She also got me a new lovely slow cooker cook book by Taste of Home that I will flip through during the course of the week.

On a low note, I got the mail today and the only thing in the box was a damn jury summons… On the bright side, that’s a whole day of reading while waiting for my name to (hopefully not) be called.

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Let’s Play Robinson Crusoe

Posted on 01/19/2012 | Leave a comment

Here’s the hypothetical, “If I were stranded on a desert island…” scenario for the Bibliophile.  If I were stranded on a desert island and could have only 5 books with me, I decided on the following:

I chose War and Peace because it’s an epic that has it all – history, warfare, romance, philosophy…  It’s the kind of book that would occupy a lot of time all alone on my barren island.  I had to have Dante’s Inferno with me because it’s they type of book that can be studied, with plenty of footnotes and lots of allegory.  Pillars of the Earth is one of those companionable books that has great characters (love you Prior Phillip!), dastardly villans, chivalry and a high entertainment factor.  Life of Pi was the first one that came to mind because not only is it my favorite book, but it has a built-in survival guide.  The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe offers a great variety of horror, mystery and some of my favorite short stories ever written, so there would be no shortage of material here.

I must mention that A Prayer for Owen Meany was a close 6th, and just barely missed my list.  I thought Owen would be a wonderful friend to have in exile, and it’s an amazing book full of symbolism and beauty.

So these are the 5 books I would choose to keep me company while I was cast away.  What books would you bring with you on your desert island?

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