I finished Apologize, Apologize by Elizabeth Kelly last night and I wish I hadn't. I didn't want it to end!
Apologize, Apologize is about the quirky Flanagan family living in a big house on Martha's Vineyard. Anais Flanagan is the daughter of Peregrine Lowell, a newspaper magnet who funds her anti-establishment lifestyle. Anais is married to an Irish immigrant, Charlie Flangan, and is such a dog lover that she names her sons Collie and Bingo.
The novel is told from the perspective of Collie who takes after his grandfather in his rule-following, conservatism rather than his free spirited mother and brother. Bingo is the one his mother adores, the beautiful and risk taking son. As the boys grow up in a house overrun with big and little dogs and with a drunk father and uncle providing comic relief, one minute you are laughing at the absurdity of the household and then thinking "oh my, how did they survive" the next.
Kelly's writing is wonderful and the wit that runs through the novel makes it so enjoyable, but when it is over it is the emotional connection with Collie that had been created in ~300 pages is surprising.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Bright-Sided
I read Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich for a non-fiction book club in NJ (hopefully I will be able to make future meetings of this splinter book club).
Overall, I liked the book and Ehrenreich's challenge to a standard part of the American psyche made a lot of sense to me. I think that the idea of positive thinking started out with good intentions - when you are mired in negativity, it's hard to get out of it and when you believe things can turn around they can. But thinking positively will not raise you out of poverty, will not cure an illness. And thinking something certainly doesn't manifest it into being (The Secret, the law of attraction).
When I finished the book I thought, thank you Ms. Ehrenreich for saying it's okay to not be positive all the time. That to have bad moments or negative thoughts is what makes us human. I have so many friends who have experienced challenges in life and the pressure they feel (and I too have felt) to keep up the happy facade is heartbreaking.
When we discussed the book at book club, I heard some differing views and it did alter some of my opinions about certain sections. There was discussion that Ehrenreich was still angry about the experiences she had when writing Nickel and Dimed and this was really a diatribe against the American class system.
I agree that there was an underlying feeling of frustration, but in the end I would still recommend the book to friends, especially those who have experienced some loss or adversity in life. I would hope they would experience what I did - a little understanding into why we as Americans encourage each other to "turn that frown upside down" and why that's not necessarily healthy or helpful to our development as people and a country.
Overall, I liked the book and Ehrenreich's challenge to a standard part of the American psyche made a lot of sense to me. I think that the idea of positive thinking started out with good intentions - when you are mired in negativity, it's hard to get out of it and when you believe things can turn around they can. But thinking positively will not raise you out of poverty, will not cure an illness. And thinking something certainly doesn't manifest it into being (The Secret, the law of attraction).
When I finished the book I thought, thank you Ms. Ehrenreich for saying it's okay to not be positive all the time. That to have bad moments or negative thoughts is what makes us human. I have so many friends who have experienced challenges in life and the pressure they feel (and I too have felt) to keep up the happy facade is heartbreaking.
When we discussed the book at book club, I heard some differing views and it did alter some of my opinions about certain sections. There was discussion that Ehrenreich was still angry about the experiences she had when writing Nickel and Dimed and this was really a diatribe against the American class system.
I agree that there was an underlying feeling of frustration, but in the end I would still recommend the book to friends, especially those who have experienced some loss or adversity in life. I would hope they would experience what I did - a little understanding into why we as Americans encourage each other to "turn that frown upside down" and why that's not necessarily healthy or helpful to our development as people and a country.
Monday, June 07, 2010
Assorted Mystery Novels
Maybe it was the Stieg Larsson novels or the business of life and relatively mundane projects at work, but I've been consuming mystery novels voraciously as of late.
I started with Benjamin Black's Christine Falls. Black is the pseudonym for John Banville the Booker Prize winning author, so I had high hopes for his mysteries. But Christine Falls felt less like a mystery and more like delving into a strange family history to answer "why". Never are you on the edge of your seat - always a requirement for my favorite mysteries.
After taking Dead Ringer by Lisa Scottoline from my parent's house, I've read another of her mysteries (Lady Killer) and have two more on the shelf. Scottoline's characters are sassy, strong women which makes for fun reading. The first two I read featured Benny Rosato and the associates at her young law firm. It looks like Scottoline took the characters in different directions through four or five books and recently revisited those characters, so there could be more ahead.
Greg Iles' Dead Sleep is our June book club book. It's our departure from our usual literary fiction, but Iles is a great mystery writer and leaves you guessing along the way. Dead Sleep starts with Jordan Glass, a world-renowned photojournalist, happens on an exhibit of a series of paintings known as "The Sleeping Women," she is stunned to discover that one of the models--a nude who, like the other women in the paintings, looks dead rather than asleep--is her twin sister, Jane, who disappeared from her New Orleans home more than a year ago. Jordan becomes involved in the case with the FBI and is even used to lure the killer putting her life in danger.
I started with Benjamin Black's Christine Falls. Black is the pseudonym for John Banville the Booker Prize winning author, so I had high hopes for his mysteries. But Christine Falls felt less like a mystery and more like delving into a strange family history to answer "why". Never are you on the edge of your seat - always a requirement for my favorite mysteries.
After taking Dead Ringer by Lisa Scottoline from my parent's house, I've read another of her mysteries (Lady Killer) and have two more on the shelf. Scottoline's characters are sassy, strong women which makes for fun reading. The first two I read featured Benny Rosato and the associates at her young law firm. It looks like Scottoline took the characters in different directions through four or five books and recently revisited those characters, so there could be more ahead.
Greg Iles' Dead Sleep is our June book club book. It's our departure from our usual literary fiction, but Iles is a great mystery writer and leaves you guessing along the way. Dead Sleep starts with Jordan Glass, a world-renowned photojournalist, happens on an exhibit of a series of paintings known as "The Sleeping Women," she is stunned to discover that one of the models--a nude who, like the other women in the paintings, looks dead rather than asleep--is her twin sister, Jane, who disappeared from her New Orleans home more than a year ago. Jordan becomes involved in the case with the FBI and is even used to lure the killer putting her life in danger.
Steig Larsson Novels
I've become a Stieg Larsson fan in the past few months. I had read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last year and while I enjoyed it, the Swedish politics and economic details were a bit hard to slog through.
However, I liked it enough that when The Girl who Played with Fire came out in paperback I picked it up. I have to say, it was my favorite of the three books (yes, I'm giving it away - I've read the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest). Played with Fire has the quickest pace and the best plot and you learn answers to many of the questions about Lisbeth Salander you had from the first book.
Ending with a cliff hanger seemed so unfair, but it ensured that I was ready to buy the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest as soon as it came out - in hardcover - at the end of May.
Like the first novel, the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest contains a lot of details on Swedish politics and the legal system, yet it's easier to get through as you are pulled along to find out the fate of Salander and Blomkvist.
What makes the novels even more interesting is the after life of Larsson who died before they were published and without a will. Now the only question that remains is, will a fourth novel ever be published.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23Larsson-t.html?scp=1&sq=stieg%20larsson&st=cse
However, I liked it enough that when The Girl who Played with Fire came out in paperback I picked it up. I have to say, it was my favorite of the three books (yes, I'm giving it away - I've read the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest). Played with Fire has the quickest pace and the best plot and you learn answers to many of the questions about Lisbeth Salander you had from the first book.
Ending with a cliff hanger seemed so unfair, but it ensured that I was ready to buy the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest as soon as it came out - in hardcover - at the end of May.
Like the first novel, the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest contains a lot of details on Swedish politics and the legal system, yet it's easier to get through as you are pulled along to find out the fate of Salander and Blomkvist.
What makes the novels even more interesting is the after life of Larsson who died before they were published and without a will. Now the only question that remains is, will a fourth novel ever be published.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23Larsson-t.html?scp=1&sq=stieg%20larsson&st=cse
The Man in the Wooden Hat and Old Filth
I've been remiss in recapping my most recent reads. I wish I could say it was because I was reading too much, but really it's because I've had too much going on.
We read The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam for our May book club. I accidentally read Old Filth first, which features the same characters but is told from the perspective of the husband of the octogenarian couple. The Man in the Wooden Hat is told from the wife's perspective.
They were both well-written interesting books recapping the long marriage of Edward and Betty Feathers. They spent much of their lives in Hong Kong, returning to England for retirement. Neither Edward nor Betty are characters you feel deeply about, they are too reserved for that.
I was reminded of Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea while reading Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat. It had been a long time since I had read Murdoch's work, so I'm not sure if it was the elderly couple or the style I was reminded of.
In the end, I preferred The Man with the Wooden Hat over Old Filth probably because it was told from Betty's perspective which I was able to relate to a little more fully.
We read The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam for our May book club. I accidentally read Old Filth first, which features the same characters but is told from the perspective of the husband of the octogenarian couple. The Man in the Wooden Hat is told from the wife's perspective.
They were both well-written interesting books recapping the long marriage of Edward and Betty Feathers. They spent much of their lives in Hong Kong, returning to England for retirement. Neither Edward nor Betty are characters you feel deeply about, they are too reserved for that.
I was reminded of Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea while reading Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat. It had been a long time since I had read Murdoch's work, so I'm not sure if it was the elderly couple or the style I was reminded of.
In the end, I preferred The Man with the Wooden Hat over Old Filth probably because it was told from Betty's perspective which I was able to relate to a little more fully.
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