I feel a bit silly writing this review, particularly because the author of "Queen of Babble Gets Hitched" is the same author who wrote "The Princess Diaries." But I am setting aside my apprehension, and thus the review begins.
Meg Cabot is synonymous with Princess Mia and the juvenile literature dynasty of which she is the queen. But for those of us who have graduated from high school (and, well, who have graduated to characters who have graduated from high school), Cabot also spins tales of twenty- and thirty-somethings who try (and fail and succeed) to make sense of their often self-complicated lives. In "Queen of Babble" (the first in what is a three-story arc, so far), the reader meets Lizzie Nichols, a struggling twenty-something with no career prospects and (gasp) no love prospects either. Naturally, as she journeys to France for the wedding of a good friend, she finds love and stumbles upon something solid in the professional realm as well. But her path is fraught with self-inflicted obstacles, which predictably dissipate as the story reaches its inevitable conclusions.
"Queen of Babble Gets Hitched" does not veer off the predictable path either. From the title the reader assumes Lizzie Nichols will, indeed, get hitched, but the question becomes: to whom? From the first chapter, where the complication is dutifully described, the reader embarks on her predetermined, expected roller coaster ride. But if a reader picks up a Meg Cabot book, she is not looking to be surprised. She does not want to shocked, to be forced to drag her jaw up off the floor with every turn of the page. Readers of Meg Cabot want to consume literary empty calories, to turn off their critical thinking abilities, to indulge in something completely mindless and fun.
Basically, it's the perfect end-of-summer read. I look a stack of intellectual books, of craftily-created stories and insightful nonfiction, and this is what I choose. For today. Tomorrow I will exercise my brain, I promise. But today, I just enjoy.
Happy reading!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Unaccustomed Earth- The End
Jhumpa Lahiri is fabulous, and Unaccustomed Earth does not disappoint. While the first 2/3 of the book is markedly better, the last piece is also poetic in Lahiri's seemingly-signature bittersweet way.
Unaccustomed Earth is a collection of short stories, and it concludes with a slightly longer story told from two first person points-of-view and one omniscient point-of-view. From an analytical standpoint, that makes it interesting. In fact, I read on the edge of my seat, waiting to see the paths of the two narrators cross in adulthood as they do in their childhood. However, I found the meeting anticlimactic, and the use of a natural disaster to end the story felt like a cop-out. I suspect that the intensity of the event in her real life impacted Lahiri so drastically that she was moved to include it in her story, to use it as a tool, to memorialize, somehow, the event. But it read as forced after a story of utter ease.
I recently purchased Interpreter of Maladies, the collection that first brought Lahiri fame. I am excited to read it, but I am moving on to Julie & Julia first. I want to read the novel before I see the film, and I have a sense that the humor in this book will be intoxicating. I look forward to that.
Until we meet again in the blogosphere, happy reading!
Unaccustomed Earth is a collection of short stories, and it concludes with a slightly longer story told from two first person points-of-view and one omniscient point-of-view. From an analytical standpoint, that makes it interesting. In fact, I read on the edge of my seat, waiting to see the paths of the two narrators cross in adulthood as they do in their childhood. However, I found the meeting anticlimactic, and the use of a natural disaster to end the story felt like a cop-out. I suspect that the intensity of the event in her real life impacted Lahiri so drastically that she was moved to include it in her story, to use it as a tool, to memorialize, somehow, the event. But it read as forced after a story of utter ease.
I recently purchased Interpreter of Maladies, the collection that first brought Lahiri fame. I am excited to read it, but I am moving on to Julie & Julia first. I want to read the novel before I see the film, and I have a sense that the humor in this book will be intoxicating. I look forward to that.
Until we meet again in the blogosphere, happy reading!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Unaccustomed Earth
Jhumpa Lahiri is an incredibly talented writer. I read "The Namesake" in the spring, and that beautifully written story flowed through my brain because of the ease of Lahiri's writing. Now, reading "Unaccustomed Earth", a collection of short stories, I can confirm that her talent is no accident.
When I finish the collection, I will write more. In the meantime, pick up a copy of anything she has written. You will not regret it.
Happy reading,
Fo
When I finish the collection, I will write more. In the meantime, pick up a copy of anything she has written. You will not regret it.
Happy reading,
Fo
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Made in the U.S.A.
Billie Letts is one of my favorite writers. Her first three novels-- "Where the Heart Is", "The Honk and Holler Opening Soon", and "Shoot the Moon"-- are peopled with characters straight out of reality, facing situations which (sadly) are straight out of reality. When I read her novels, I make friends. When I finish her novels, I am sad to let go. "Made in the U.S.A." does not disappoint.
I found the novel serendipitously. Every time I'm in Barnes & Noble, browsing, I check for a new one. But this time, i was in Target, looking for a book that wasn't yet out ("Shanghai Girls"), when I saw her name in white from across the aisle. I had to have it, even without reading the synopsis on the back.
"Made in the U.S.A." tells a familiar story, on the surface: teenage girl in the mid-west falls on hard times, and the drama continues to unfold, one grisly chapter at a time, until-- finally!-- something good happens. But what Billie Letts does with plot and character carries the reader from the lowest lows to the highest highs (much rarer, interestingly), with ease and unease simultaneously.
Her language is not confounding. In fact, she writes as people generally speak: colloquially, crafting metaphors her readers can easily understand and using details they have experienced themselves. But the ease of the language belies the unease, the feeling of anxiety in the pit of a reader's stomach. Because Letts' stories are swiftly moving, but the journey is often unsettling. I found myself cringing, shaking my head, trying to stave off disappointment and disgust and reproachment all at once.
But the story continues in the way that life continues: one pitfall after another, one night following one morning following one night. And when the reader gets to the end-- to the series of jubilant verbs on page 354-- she is glad she kept turning the pages.
I love Billie Letts. I think she is the quintessential American writer of the time. For readers of all ages she offers dynamic characters, sage wisdom, and quiet solutions to gregarious problems.
Happy reading.
I found the novel serendipitously. Every time I'm in Barnes & Noble, browsing, I check for a new one. But this time, i was in Target, looking for a book that wasn't yet out ("Shanghai Girls"), when I saw her name in white from across the aisle. I had to have it, even without reading the synopsis on the back.
"Made in the U.S.A." tells a familiar story, on the surface: teenage girl in the mid-west falls on hard times, and the drama continues to unfold, one grisly chapter at a time, until-- finally!-- something good happens. But what Billie Letts does with plot and character carries the reader from the lowest lows to the highest highs (much rarer, interestingly), with ease and unease simultaneously.
Her language is not confounding. In fact, she writes as people generally speak: colloquially, crafting metaphors her readers can easily understand and using details they have experienced themselves. But the ease of the language belies the unease, the feeling of anxiety in the pit of a reader's stomach. Because Letts' stories are swiftly moving, but the journey is often unsettling. I found myself cringing, shaking my head, trying to stave off disappointment and disgust and reproachment all at once.
But the story continues in the way that life continues: one pitfall after another, one night following one morning following one night. And when the reader gets to the end-- to the series of jubilant verbs on page 354-- she is glad she kept turning the pages.
I love Billie Letts. I think she is the quintessential American writer of the time. For readers of all ages she offers dynamic characters, sage wisdom, and quiet solutions to gregarious problems.
Happy reading.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Namesake
"The Namesake" is written by Jhumpa Lahiri, and I think she works literary magic crafting a tale about a single family. The parents were born in India and moved to Massachusetts. Their kids were born in the U.S. and never understood their parents' draw to Calcutta. Mixed in there are several love stories, a few heartbreaking losses, and many, many questions.
For whatever reason, I found myself, at times, empathizing with the main character. The way he views the world-- as a collection of places rich with memories, imbued with the past-- is how I see the world so often. When I go to a place, I remember the people I've been with there, the food I've eaten, the music I heard or things I experienced. Every place has a weight. Some of the weight is too heavy; some of the weight is just right. The movie theaters and classrooms and restaurants where I've shared time with people-- or spent time alone-- every place holds memories that inform my life, that let me know I have, at the very least, been around.
In the end, "The Namesake" left me a little unfulfilled. The last line does not have the power I was hoping it would have. But it does sort of remind me that life goes on-- that this story persists beyond the last page for the characters Lahiri so carefully constructed. And, so, I'm mostly okay with it. It's a story that feels real, a story that has been lived by millions of Indians (and immigrants) since our country was not our country. It is a story without which we do not exist as we are.
It is a story about Self, identity, family, love, place. It is a story about the known and unknown past, the wholly unknown future, and the brevity of the present. Beautifully written and hauntingly moving, "The Namesake" makes me pause, reflect, and, somehow, long for places past, present, and future.
For whatever reason, I found myself, at times, empathizing with the main character. The way he views the world-- as a collection of places rich with memories, imbued with the past-- is how I see the world so often. When I go to a place, I remember the people I've been with there, the food I've eaten, the music I heard or things I experienced. Every place has a weight. Some of the weight is too heavy; some of the weight is just right. The movie theaters and classrooms and restaurants where I've shared time with people-- or spent time alone-- every place holds memories that inform my life, that let me know I have, at the very least, been around.
In the end, "The Namesake" left me a little unfulfilled. The last line does not have the power I was hoping it would have. But it does sort of remind me that life goes on-- that this story persists beyond the last page for the characters Lahiri so carefully constructed. And, so, I'm mostly okay with it. It's a story that feels real, a story that has been lived by millions of Indians (and immigrants) since our country was not our country. It is a story without which we do not exist as we are.
It is a story about Self, identity, family, love, place. It is a story about the known and unknown past, the wholly unknown future, and the brevity of the present. Beautifully written and hauntingly moving, "The Namesake" makes me pause, reflect, and, somehow, long for places past, present, and future.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Empire of the Soul
I just finished "Empire of the Soul" by Paul William Roberts. I am left with an impression of India that lingers at the end of every personal narrative I've read about the nation: it is teaming with life. It is gleaming, and steaming, and screaming with life. But, in the midst of this apparent chaos (wrought, perhaps, by Siva himself), two simple notions persist: love and truth.
Always in these accounts of India, the author is able to pinpoint his truth. Always in these accounts of India, the author is able to pronounce deep love-- a love of the people, a love for the people. I am always left feeling like the author at the beginning of his tale: someone seeking something she can not yet define but with an inclination that it must lie in India.
"Empire of the Soul", unlike "Shantaram", is a work of complete nonfiction. Paul William Roberts visited India several times, in both the 1970s and the 1990s. He writes at times as a philosopher, as an historian, and as an outsider seeking that which lies within. He provides accounts from all over India: from Bombay to Tiruvannamalai, from Goa to Calcutta. He introduces the reader to the people he met, to the places he explored, to the obstacles he faced and usually overcame. He questions his own motives and those of the people around him, particularly Westerners apparently on their own quests. He visits holy men in his near-constant plight to understand religion for himself.
Over the course of the travelogue, the reader becomes accustomed to India. She climbs onto a camel, sees the sadhu standing on one leg for thirty years, speaks with Mother Theresa. Roberts gives his reader an almost scientific explanation of his experiences, but his lucid writing never confounds.
For those interested in India (and who crave a history lesson without a weighty textbook), Paul William Roberts has crafted a fantastic read.
Quotes from "Empire of the Soul":
The city had moved on, but the temple remained. In India, the past refuses to die, undisturbed by new realities... indifferent to God and man. (221)
Mighty opposites rule this world. In this clash of opposites, Calcutta is the most truthful city on earth, exposing all the wounds, the scars, the festering sores, the realities we in the West hide away as if they did not exist. (244)
I had never really doubted the wisdom I'd come to find and had found here I had no questions about the big issues. Even death no longer really scared me... I looked hard for what exactly did scare me. And I found it: I scared myself. Why had the wisdom my mind had absorbed so long before not moved into my heart, my body, my life? Reading a memo does not stop you starving. (326)
The reason so many wise and wonderful men and women have never ceased speaking Truth into deaf ears, I thought that dawn, is that Truth exists to bear the burden, carry the fright. It's not our problem. (350)
Always in these accounts of India, the author is able to pinpoint his truth. Always in these accounts of India, the author is able to pronounce deep love-- a love of the people, a love for the people. I am always left feeling like the author at the beginning of his tale: someone seeking something she can not yet define but with an inclination that it must lie in India.
"Empire of the Soul", unlike "Shantaram", is a work of complete nonfiction. Paul William Roberts visited India several times, in both the 1970s and the 1990s. He writes at times as a philosopher, as an historian, and as an outsider seeking that which lies within. He provides accounts from all over India: from Bombay to Tiruvannamalai, from Goa to Calcutta. He introduces the reader to the people he met, to the places he explored, to the obstacles he faced and usually overcame. He questions his own motives and those of the people around him, particularly Westerners apparently on their own quests. He visits holy men in his near-constant plight to understand religion for himself.
Over the course of the travelogue, the reader becomes accustomed to India. She climbs onto a camel, sees the sadhu standing on one leg for thirty years, speaks with Mother Theresa. Roberts gives his reader an almost scientific explanation of his experiences, but his lucid writing never confounds.
For those interested in India (and who crave a history lesson without a weighty textbook), Paul William Roberts has crafted a fantastic read.
Quotes from "Empire of the Soul":
The city had moved on, but the temple remained. In India, the past refuses to die, undisturbed by new realities... indifferent to God and man. (221)
Mighty opposites rule this world. In this clash of opposites, Calcutta is the most truthful city on earth, exposing all the wounds, the scars, the festering sores, the realities we in the West hide away as if they did not exist. (244)
I had never really doubted the wisdom I'd come to find and had found here I had no questions about the big issues. Even death no longer really scared me... I looked hard for what exactly did scare me. And I found it: I scared myself. Why had the wisdom my mind had absorbed so long before not moved into my heart, my body, my life? Reading a memo does not stop you starving. (326)
The reason so many wise and wonderful men and women have never ceased speaking Truth into deaf ears, I thought that dawn, is that Truth exists to bear the burden, carry the fright. It's not our problem. (350)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Life of Pi
I read "Life of Pi" this week, finally completing a book I've been told a million times that I must read.
It is an interesting book, its tone irreverent and conversational. My favorite moments were ones of humor. When Pi Patel changes his mind about Richard Parker getting onto the life boat, I laughed out loud. I also liked the vivid imagery and the philosophy Pi develops regarding animal behavior (including his own). The structure of the novel-- namely that it is a story within a story-- is not often seen, and it is done exceptionally well by Yann Martel.
I had been told the end of the book was a surprise, was, in fact, a reason to read the book. Perhaps because my expectations were so high, I was a bit let down. There was something to Pi's story that was fantastic, and I did not want that tainted by the real world. Maybe part of me wanted him to remain on the boat with R.P. Or for there to be some intricately tied ending (after all, Pi reveres endings). But the end did not satisfy me. Still, I am glad I read it, and it was an enjoyable read.
I am starting "Empire of the Soul" by Paul William Roberts-- another book about India. This is a travelogue, essentially, and it comes very highly recommended by an Indian friend, so my expectations are high. I'll keep you posted.
Happy reading!
It is an interesting book, its tone irreverent and conversational. My favorite moments were ones of humor. When Pi Patel changes his mind about Richard Parker getting onto the life boat, I laughed out loud. I also liked the vivid imagery and the philosophy Pi develops regarding animal behavior (including his own). The structure of the novel-- namely that it is a story within a story-- is not often seen, and it is done exceptionally well by Yann Martel.
I had been told the end of the book was a surprise, was, in fact, a reason to read the book. Perhaps because my expectations were so high, I was a bit let down. There was something to Pi's story that was fantastic, and I did not want that tainted by the real world. Maybe part of me wanted him to remain on the boat with R.P. Or for there to be some intricately tied ending (after all, Pi reveres endings). But the end did not satisfy me. Still, I am glad I read it, and it was an enjoyable read.
I am starting "Empire of the Soul" by Paul William Roberts-- another book about India. This is a travelogue, essentially, and it comes very highly recommended by an Indian friend, so my expectations are high. I'll keep you posted.
Happy reading!
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