my books. my life.

Title: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
Genre: Literary Fiction
ISBN: 0618329706
Pages: 368
Year: 2005
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Source: Personal Collection
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary:

9-year-old Oskar Schell lost his dad on 9/11. One day, he finds a key in his father’s closet in an envelope marked “Black.” He decides to go on a mission and speak to every person named Black in New York City to solve the mystery in the hopes of learning something about his dad.

My Thoughts:

I am kicking myself for waiting this long to read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I am a big fan of Jonathan Safran Foer (Eating Animals literally changed my life) and this book only solidifies it.

Precocious and socially-awkward, Oskar is immediately lovable. He’s one of those characters you just want to hug. He is so sad without his dad and he can’t seem to find a way to move on with his life. Until he finds this key and suddenly he has A Plan. Along the way he meets all kinds of people, befriending many. In the end, he is different, though maybe not in the way he imagined.

The book jumps between Oskar’s story and the story of his grandparents, who fled Dresden during WWII and found each other again in New York. This is where Foer takes liberties and plays with different writing techniques. It is ambitious, but works. Yet even during these wonderfully-written passages, I was drawn back to Oskar and longed for his story.

The story happens because of September 11th but it is not a book about September 11th. It is a story of survival, loss, love, and life. I highly recommend it to those of you who, like me, have let it linger on your shelves.

Others’ Thoughts: S. Krishna’s Books; Erin Reads; Take Me Away;

Buy It Now: IndieBound

I read all three of these books during the fall readathon. So why not review them all at once?

Title: Olive Kitteridge
Author: Elizabeth Strout
Genre: Short Stories; Literary Fiction
ISBN: 0812971833
Pages: 304
Year: 2008
Publisher: Random House
Source: Personal Collection
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary (I tried to write this myself and failed. Here is the publisher’s summary):

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.

As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition–its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.

My Thoughts:

I’ve struggled writing this review (just as I struggled writing the summary). The book is very good, but I am not sure I can adequately explain why. When this happens, I kind of want to just tell you to go read it but that wouldn’t make me a very good book blogger so I am giving this a shot.

This collection is an honest and heartbreaking look at life. It is beautifully-written but even more beautifully-developed. The characters, Olive and the rest of the town, and the keen insight into human interactions are what make this so good. Its Pulitzer is well-deserved.

Olive is woven in and out of the stories; sometimes she has the lead and sometimes she just makes a quick appearance. While the town is the obvious connection between all of the stories, naming the book Olive Kitteridge, a subtler move, makes the reader dig a little deeper.

The stories are sometimes sad, in the way that people stuck in a small town are so often portrayed as sad. People seem trapped by the lives they’ve made for themselves, but when we finally leave Crosby, we see more of the same.

If you haven’t already, I recommend picking up Olive Kitteridge. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Buy It Now: Amazon; IndieBound

Staying friends will mean that I have to let go of the misunderstandings, arguments, and hurtful comments again and again and again – maybe even forever, if Julia never fully heals. p. 280

Title:The Art of Forgetting
Author: Camille Noe Pagán
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction
ISBN: 0525952195
Pages: 291
Year: 2011
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Source: Review copy from publisher
Rating: 4/5

Summary/My Thoughts::

After college, Melissa moved to New York City with her best friend Julia and became an editor of a diet magazine. She is dating a man she loves, even if he does work all the time, and while she does doesn’t adore her job, she’s good at it. When Julia is in an accident, suffering brain trauma that changes her personality and impair her memory, Melissa’s life changes drastically. Once she can no longer depend on her best friend, she reexamines her life, her friendships, her family, and her relationship.

Confession time. I picked up this book for two reasons: (1) the gorgeous ballerina on the cover and (2) the author lives in, and the story partially takes place in, Ann Arbor. It’s like Pagán wrote the book just for me. When running also began to play a role in the book, I got a little scared at the Michelle-ness. And by scared, I mean I thought it was awesome.

The Art of Forgetting took the friendship theme common in women’s fiction and put a little bit of a twist on it. Julia always had a little power over Melissa, best evidenced in one critical point in their past. I’ve had friendships that weren’t necessary equal – and I think I’ve been on both sides – and examining that aspect of friendship was really interesting to me.

There was also a lot of “what if” versus “what actually is.” Again, this is something totally relatable. I think that’s what I liked most about this book (besides the Ann Arbor street names that made me a little homesick). It felt really relatable even though I’ve never had to deal with anything like Julia’s accident and its aftermath.

I am so glad that this cover jumped out at me because The Art of Forgetting is definitely worth reading.

[Note: I am using the mini-review format while I am away. Fully length reviews will return in July.]

Title:Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
Author: Vanessa Woods
Narrator: Justine Eyre
Genre: Memoir
ISBN: 1400167450
Pages: 278
Audio: 8.1 hours
Year: 2010
Publisher: Tantor Media
Source: Library
Rating: 3.5/5

My Thoughts:

Bonobo Handshake is a memoir of sorts. It tells Woods’ story of her time in the Democratic Republic of Congo at Lola Ya Bonobo Sanctuary, a sanctuary for bonobos – like chimps but smaller, friendlier, and…um…friskier. Woods’ boyfriend, who normally studies chimps, finds them irritating, but Woods falls in love and finally finds her place in the world.

I’d heard good things about Bonobo Handshake when I picked it up but I guess I hadn’t actually paid much attention to its content because I was surprised when the book focused so much on Woods and not the bonobos. But since it is her memoir, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. And I can easily adapt when a book isn’t what I was expecting, so I sat back and enjoyed the story.

Watching Woods learn to love the bonobos and seeing them through her story was fascinating. I think I’ve spoken of my interest in chimpanzees and bonobos before. If I weren’t a lawyer, and I had done better in my science classes, I would have loved to find some way to work with them (it’s the alternate career I always say when asked).

Bonobo Handshake is full of humor, pain, joy, and loss. It takes you on the same emotional rollercoaster ride Woods herself was on.

During the book, I found myself learning about Congolese politics, history, wars, and the black market trade in protected animals. I can’t help but admire the things the sancutary is doing for these Bonobos by rescuing them and educating the community about these strange little apes (check our their website here).

The narration was superb. Eyre has this adorable Australian accent that I could just listen to all day, but she was able to capture the boyfriend’s American accent and the Congolese accent of the locals. I highly recommend the audio version of this book.

[Note: I am skipping the "Others' Thoughts" and "Buy It Now" sections for audiobook week only. They will return soon.]

Join the fun and head on over to Devourer of Books for all of the Audiobook Week goodness.

“I guess I just get angry that people can have lots of relationships that no one would blink an eye at, but because mine have formal labels the get listed against me somehow, and the get lumped together as if they’re all equal, but they’re not.” p. 101*

Title: The Ninth Wife
Author: Amy Stolls
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
ISBN: 0061851892
Pages: 496
Year: 2011
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Source: Review copy from publisher
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

When she starts dating Rory, Bess thinks she’s finally found her future husband. But his proposal is a bit overshadowed by the news that he has been married 8 times. Naturally, she is a bit apprehensive. So she sets out on a cross country road trip with her grandparents, her gay neighbor, his dog, and a mannequin named Peace. Along the way, Bess searches for Rory’s previous wives in hopes of discovering her answer.

My Thoughts:

The Ninth Wife is a thoughtful look at marriage in today’s world. Each of Rory’s marriages were different. Some lasted longer than others. Some were the result of true love, while some were more done out of convenience. Through each story, through the 65-year marriage of Bess’ grandparents, and through Bess and Rory’s own tale, we see the worry that often goes along with marriage – will this work out? is it inevitably going to end? does s/he really love me?

But The Ninth Wife is about more than marriage, it is about friendship, family, and identity. It is about how we’re all trying to find our place in the world, whether it is next to another or not.

At first I thought this was going to be lighter women’s fiction. But the second half of the story becomes much more serious and thought-provoking. After closing the book, I found mind wandering back to it. It was like Stolls sucked me in with the promise of a lighthearted book and then held me captive when it turned more serious. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The Ninth Wife felt almost like two separate books. In part one, the story alternates chapters between a third person narrative of Bess’ life and how she is falling for Rory and Rory’s first-person tale of his many, many wives. Then, in part two, the story becomes about Bess’ road trip. Rory still has his role, but it is smaller and his first-person narrative is gone. I enjoyed this change halfway through the book – at 496 pages it’s a fairly lengthy novel and the variation kept me on my toes.

Stolls did something interesting with The Ninth Wife that is worth checking out. This book is funny, touching, and full of hope and Bess is a wonderful heroine in her own, unique love story.

Others’ Thoughts: Raging Bibliomania; That’s What She Read

Buy It Now: Powell’s; IndieBound; The Book Depository; Amazon

*Page numbers refer to the advanced copy and may differ in the published version.

Title: Nevermore
Author: Kelly Creagh
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 9781442402003
Pages: 560
Year: 2010
Publisher: Atheneum
Source: Library
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

When Isobel, star cheerleader and star football player’s girlfriend, is paired with all-black wearing, lip-pierced Varen for a school assignment, she groans. But after spending some time with Varen working on their Edgar Allen Poe project she starts to fall for him. She ignores her old friends, breaks up with her boyfriend, and finds herself wrapped up in Varen’s mysterious life where she must enter his dream world (and encounter all of the haunting creatures in it) to save him.

My Thoughts:

My interest in Nevermore began when I was eavesdropping on a twitter conversation between Jen and April (click through for their gushing reviews) where they RAVED about it and lamented its lack of readers. They convinced me to give it a shot and within a few days I was reading it, ready to embrace the awesomeness.

Now, I did not react to Nevermore as strongly as they did. And I really wanted to. I think it was good. Better than good. But not so-amazing-I-am-now-dying-for-the-sequel.

Varen and Isobel have some crazy chemistry. I suspect Varen and anyone might have some amazing chemistry though (me perhaps?) because he is that good of a character. Unfortunately, they don’t act on it for a LONG time so that by the time something happens, it was less the product of great anticipation and more like something I had almost given up on.

Which brings me to the other reason I didn’t love Nevermore. The book itself is LONG. It’s 560 pages. I am not one to shy away from a good, long book, but this one felt unnecessarily long. I found myself getting a little bored during the last 200 pages and that’s where ALL THE ACTION is. Part of me might have enjoyed this book even if it didn’t have the paranormal part – I was just fascinated with the relationship. And I am not just saying that because the paranormal part gave me nightmares. Which it did (probably shouldn’t have read it while Ben was out of town).

That said, I don’t want you all to think I didn’t like it. Because I did. A lot. The creatures Creagh created were fascinating. While the dreamworld was a bit confusing, I think it worked really well – just like a real dream. And the subject matter – both Edgar Allen Poe and lucid dreaming are two topics that I have been interested in for quite some time.* After the I closed the book, I ended up doing some “research” on Poe. Creagh did a wonderful job of working his mysterious death into the novel. Oh, and I loved Gwen – she reminded me a somewhat calmer, definitely more sober Rayanne Graff.

Nevermore is worth the read if it sounds like your kind of book. I am looking forward to the second book, Enshadowed, due out in January. For now, I may just stare at the gorgeous cover of Nevermore and dream about Varen. Don’t tell my husband.

Others’ Thoughts: Anna Reads; The Elliot Review; Angieville; Presenting Lenore

Buy It Now: Book Depository; IndieBound; Powell’s; Amazon

*I took a Psychology of the Consciousness class in college (you know, the kind of class taught by someone who did way too many drugs at Harvard in the 60s) and lucid dreaming was one of the topics we covered. A few students claimed they could do it by the end of the semester. The trick to knowing you are dreaming is that you can’t control lights (turn them on/off) in dreams or read digital clocks. Once you realize you are dreaming, you are supposed to be able to do anything you want. Pretty cool, huh?

Title: Room
Author: Emma Donoghue
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
ISBN: 0316098337
Pages: 336
Year: 2010
Publisher: Little, Brown
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 4.5/5

So this review is really late. Which is because Jennifer from Literate Housewife and I read it together and planned on doing a joint review. But then we kind of became slackers and never did it. She posted her review last week (go read it) so I am now posting mine.

Summary:

It’s Jack’s fifth birthday. He is perfectly happy to celebrate it with Ma in their Room. But Ma has other plans. Jack is finally old enough to help her leave Room. But Jack doesn’t want to leave the only place he’s ever known.

My Thoughts:

Room received A LOT of buzz. So I had pretty high expectations when I finally began reading it. And it lived up to it.

Room is told from the point-of-view of five-year-old Jack and the language is his. Donoghue actually manages to pull this off without dumbing down the book or creating an annoying narrator. Through Jack we are able to discover how Jack and Ma ended up where they are and what Ma’s plan is. We can see how depressed Ma is even if Jack doesn’t understand it.

Room filled me with many emotions: sadness at their life, anger at the person who did this to them, terror when they take action, and hope for their future. It’s a difficult subject, but Room was hard to put down.

Other Reviews: Book Chatter; eclectic/eccentric; The Avid Reader’s Musings; She is Too Fond of Books; Helen’s Book Blog; Jenn’s Bookshelves

Buy It Now: Powell’s; Indiebound; Amazon; Book Depository

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Sorry for going dark for so long. I’ll be back with some reviews later this week.

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now that it’s time to start your holiday shopping, I wanted to drop in to share with you a wonderful deal on one of my favorite books of 2010. You can get a signed, personalized copy of Justin Kramon’s book, Finny, for $17 (US only). You can read my (gushing) review of Finny here.

Now, how many people can I buy this for this Christmas?

Title: Anansi Boys
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 0060823844
Length: 7 hours 36 minutes
Year: 2003
Publisher: HarperAudio
Source: Library
Rating: 4.5/5

Plot Summary/My Thoughts:

This review is going to be short and sweet mostly because I finished Anansi Boys ages ago and I’ve forgotten everything I had to say about it. Between that and not posting for a week, I’m feeling like a bad book blogger. But thanks for reading this anyway.

How do I describe the plot of Anansi Boys? Well, we have Fat Charlie, our main character, a Floridian turned Brit of West Indian descent. Fat Charlie is not really a fan of his dad because he always embarrassed Fat Charlie as a kid. But when his father dies, Fat Charlie gets dragged back into his world. Because the thing is Fat Charlie’s dad is Anansi – the mischievous spider god of West African folklore.

As you may guess, mischief ensues. First, Fat Charlie meets his long lost brother, Spider. And Spider certainly knows how to cause mischief himself (it’s explained that he got the divine powers side of the family). Then Spider steals Fat Charlie’s fiancé and ends up getting Fat Charlie framed by his boss for embezzlement.  After Spider’s visit, Fat Charlie must find a way to get his normal life back.

The book continues both in the present world and the “beginning of the world” where Fat Charlie encounters all of the ancient gods, represented by other animals.  Anansi Boys is a cleverly woven story of the plausible and the impossible.  It has magic but only just enough magic.  I think I can honestly recommend it even if fantasy isn’t necessarily your thing.

I just (as in two seconds ago) learned that Anansi Boys is a spinoff of American Gods (which I have not read). I’m not sure how that should affect my understanding of the novel. I felt it stood on its own pretty well.

Once again, Neil Gaiman has created a fantastic world the you won’t want to leave. His power over the language, his vision of rich and unique characters, and his ability to weave a complicated web (pun totally intended) of a story never ceases to amaze me.

Hmm…That wasn’t exactly short and sweet now, was it?

Thoughts on Audio Production:

I loved Lenny Henry’s narration. His interpretation of the wide array of characters in Anansi Boys was fantastic. He easily switched between the British and Caribbean accents. He captured the smooth-talking Spider, the ancient Callyanne Higgler, and the pompous Grahame Coats. I highly recommend listening to this one – you’ll be in for a treat.

Buy It Now: IndieBound; Powell’s; Amazon; Book Depository

Other Reviews:

• BookLust
• Books and Movies
• things mean a lot