Quote Round-Up: January 2013

"Life itself is a quotation."  Jorge Luis Borges

For years and years I have "saved" quotes. In journals, Word documents, on napkins, whatever. I would jot down passages and sentences that struck my fancy. And there it would be. Sitting there. Not being read by anyone and honestly, just cluttering shit up.

Well, now I have a BLOG. Finally, somewhere to harness all of those passages, sentences, thoughts, jokes, statements, that I carry around. I have decided that on the last day of every month, I'll have a quotes round-up. Now instead of me saying to myself, "Wow, that was lovely/horrifying/interesting," everyone can say it!

You people are so lucky.

Happy Birthdays to:

Carl Sandburg, January 6

I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.

Zora Neale Hurston, January 7

Sometimes I feel discriminated against, but it doesn't make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me.

Moliere, January 15

Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, then for a few close friends, and then for money.

Lewis Carroll, January 27

We're all mad here.

Anton Chekhov, January 29

What a fine weather today! Can't choose whether to drink tea or to hang myself.

The Bartender's Tale, Ivan Doig

People come and go in our lives; that's as old a story as there is. But some of them the heart cries out to keep forever, and that is a fresh saga every time. p.86

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce

It must be the same all over England. People were buying milk, or filling their cars with petrol, or even posting letters. And what no one else knew was the appalling weight of the thing they were carrying inside. The inhuman effort it took sometimes to be normal, and a part of things that appeared both easy and everyday. The loneliness of that. p. 89

He had learned that it was the smallness of people that filled him with wonder and tenderness, and the loneliness of that, too. The world was made up of people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simply because the person living it had been doing so for a long time. Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that this was the dilemma of being human. p.158

The kindness of the woman with food came back to him, and that of Martina.They had offered him comfort and shelter, even when he was afraid of taking them, and in accepting he had learned something new. It was as much of a gift to receive as it was to give, requiring as it did both courage and humility. p.201

The Patrick Melrose Novels, Edward St. Aubyn
Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother's Milk

During lunch David felt that he had perhaps pushed his disdain for middle-class prudery a little too far. Even at the bar of the Calvary and Guards Club one couldn't boast about homosexual, paedophiliac incest with any confidence of a favorable reception. p.71

The interesting thing about Caligula, is that he intended to be a model emperor, and for the first few months of his reign he was praised for his magnanimity. But the compulsion to repeat what one has experienced is like gravity, and it takes special equipment to break away from it. p.89

The claim that every man kills the thing he loves seemed to him a wild guess compared with the near certainty of a man turning into the thing he hates. p.305

All I can say is the Great Barrier Reef is the most vulgar thing I've ever seen. It's one's worst nightmare, full of frightful loud colours, peacock blues, and impossible oranges all higgledy-piggledy while one's mask floods. p.395

Once you got words  you thought the world was everything that could be described, but it was also what couldn't be described. In a way things were more perfect when you couldn't describe anything.  Once you locked into language, all you could do was shuffle the greasy pack of a few thousand words that millions of people had used before. There might be little moments of freshness, not because the life of the world has been successfully translated but because a new life has been made out of this thought stuff. p.460

Too Bright to Hear, Too Loud to See, Juliann Garey

I close my eyes and breathe in one more time. And then I know- the church smells just like our dogs' feet, like the warm, soft spaces in between their toe pads. I never would have known the pleasure of that particular comfort except that once Willa made me put my nose there. After that, I did it all the time. When no one was around. Dog huffing. p.26

And most of all, I liked how her wide, deep laugh reverberated in me. How it bounced around in my empty spaces. I liked the kind of man she made me. p. 132

Once we get you stable...you might get the chance to experience those unexpected minutes or days or, if you're really lucky, weeks of honest-to-God happiness. And Greyson, if you think the rest of us so-called normal people get any more than that, I obviously need to prescribe you a stronger antipsychotic. p.283

Happy February!

Screw You, Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Downtown Pittsburgh from the North Shore, in the summer
Photo credit: Me, ya'll.

I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And I mostly love living here. It's a beautiful city, there are tons of things to do, greats restaurants, bars, cultural attractions, parks, bike trails, awesome sports teams, blah, blah, blah. But you know what? Pittsburgh is the worst place on Earth in the middle of winter. As I type this the current temperature is 6. (That is what we call bullshit.) The HIGH for the week is 25. By the time February arrives, Pittsburghers haven't seen the sun in two months. We're all a little depressed* (like, the entire city) and weird and longing for spring. Oh, the things I would do for a fresh-picked tomato or snappy green pepper or basil not from a tube. Exercise helps, but I miss riding my bike and walking in the snow sucks.

Let's read some books based in nice, warm climates!

Island Beneath the Sea, Isabel Allende

Music is a wind that blows away the years, memories, and fear, that crouching animal I carry inside me.

Island Beneath the Sea begins on the island of Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti), with the child of an African slave mother and sailor father, Tete. As she grows up amid the brutality of slavery and sugarcane plantations, Tete finds comfort where she can, including through music and voodoo. Purchased by the complicated Frenchman, Toulouse Valmorain, ostensibly for his wife, Tete ends up being intertwined in Valmorain's for over four decades. Decades that include their flight from Saint-Lazare plantation, a slave uprising and the raucous streets of New Orleans. I loved reading about life on the island, but it is the story that happens in New Orleans (my favorite city, besides my own) that is fascinating. And New Orleans in the early 1800s was clearly something to see!

Latin American Trilogy, Louis de Bernieres

At last the time came for them to make the arduous journey to Valledupar, a city so frivolous that the natives hung pineapples on lemon tress to confuse the tourists, and the same place that General Fuerte's donkey had once given birth to kittens.

Some of the words used to describe this trilogy: luxuriant, ebullient, joyful, lunatic, derivative, spellbinding, passionate, innovative, astonishing, a rare gem, humorous, magnificent, sly, and quirky. Each book takes place in the same fictional South American village, yet are very different tales. The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts is about diverting a river to fill a swimming pool. And crushing poverty. Senor Vivo and the Coco Lord is about South American drug trafficking , murder, corruption and love. And a professor who can talk to jaguars. The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman is about a violent, Inquisition-like feud between the Catholic clergy and the "heretics" in the countryside. And the climatic scene involves several hundred friendly black jaguars. All three books are at turns magical, riotous and moving- and a ton of fun.

Molokai and Honolulu, Alan Brennert

What's it like? Being married?

Cold feet. Middle of the night you're sleeping, suddenly, wham, you've got ice cold feet warming themselves on the back of your legs.

Winter reading from Hawaii. Okay, so one of the books is about a leper colony. Hey, I said the books were from warm climates, I didn't say they were cheerful. Moloka'i follows the life of Rachel, who is sent to Kalaupapa on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i when she is 7 years old. Kalaupapa is leprosy settlement made famous by (Saint) Father Damien. Rachel is fostered, educated and eventually married- building a whole life while watching loved ones die from the dreaded disease. Honolulu tells the little known story of "picture brides" or young girls from Korea sent to Hawaii for arranged marriages. As you can imagine, these didn't always work out as planned. Shit, plenty of un-arranged marriages are train wrecks. But I digress. Aside from beautiful, exotic locations, both of these books benefit from Brennert's encyclopedic knowledge of Hawaii- particularly it's history and culture. (He has a new novel coming out in April, but it's based in New Jersey so it has no place on this warm weather list.)

The Book of Night Women, Marlon James

Homer was the mistress' personal slave and many of the evil things that happen to her was because the mistress was so miserable that she make it her mission to make everybody 'round her miserable as well.

More sugar plantations! It's kind of depressing that so many books about the islands focus on slavery. I was kind of surprised that The Book of Night Women didn't get more attention when it was published in 2009 because it is intense, the writing is raw and a little vicious. This time we are in 18th century Jamaica with the darkly powerful slave Lilith. When a group of slaves planning to revolt recognize this, a chain of dramatic events are set off, changing the island and the women forever. The descriptions of plantation life, the intricacies, manners, secrets and rules are intriguing and unimaginable.

Life of Pi, Yann Martel

I have a story that will make you believe in God. 

In the interest of full disclosure, this is my favorite book. Ever. Of all time. Whenever I'm feeling down, I reread it; it's that book for me. (It is also the very first movie I saw in 3D. Welcome to my vacuum.) I also met Yann Martel and he's as lovely as his writing. Basic story: Pi Patel grows up in Pondicherry, India where his family owns a zoo. Due to political strife, they decide to take themselves and their zoo to Canada via boat (you know where that's going, right?) Yes, the boat sinks; leaving Pi to fend for himself on a life boat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Adrift on the Pacific Ocean for 227 days, Pi survives by writing, by battling with Richard Parker, and accepting or at least figuring out his own place in the food chain. I finished this at a public swimming pool, literally sobbing in public. Because I'm cool like that. Go see the movie, too. Ang Lee did an amazing job.

Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Tell him yes. Even if you are dying of fear, even if you are sorry later, because whatever you do, you will be sorry all the rest of your life if you say no. 

This is my second favorite book. It's a love story that spans 6 decades! In an unnamed port city near the Caribbean, a young man, Florentino Ariza falls in love with the warm, beautiful Fermina Daza; and she with him. But alas, despite her passionate love for Florentino she takes the safe route, marrying the wealthy doctor Urbino. And so the devastated Florentino waits and waits and waits. He waits for over 50 years. In the meantime, he does "succumb" to 622 short-term affairs, but never takes his eye off the prize of Fermina. Marquez himself warned readers not to fall into his "trap" of considering this simply a sentimental love story. It is also about the sickness that love can cause, aging, dying and the perils of marriage.

The Seamstress, Frances de Pontes Peebles

The chatterer reveals every corner of her shallow mind.

Set in Brazil during the 1920s, The Seamstress really is a delightful read. Two sisters, Emilia and Luiza dos Santos, are raised in poverty as seamstresses. Instead of accepting their lot, they take completely unexpected (and opposite directions) in life. One sister marries a rich landowner, another sister marries a Brazilian Robin Hood. Scheming politicians, society women, murderous landowners all have turns in this historical gem. However, at turns exploited and betrayed, the true story of The Seamstress is about the sister's bond- their courage and loyalty and their commitment to each other.

The Dancer Upstairs, Nicholas Shakespeare

He was neither good looking nor ugly, and while he would not have turned a young girl's head, someone older might have been struck by his face and the evidence of passion which had left its traces.

Based on the true story about the hunt for the leader of The Shining Path, Peru's notoriously murderous guerrilla organization, The Dancer Upstairs reminds a lot of readers of John LeCarre and Martin Cruz Smith, but I think Shakespeare's writing is more graceful and tense. Essentially, there are two stories happening. One (kind of hackneyed) is about a British journalist (John Dyer) interviewing  military policeman Augustn Rejas about the capture of President Ezequiel, the leader of a guerrilla warfare organization that terrorized Peru. The other story is about the actual search, the fight between the repressive government and the violence organization- which included murderous children, and Reyas' love for his daughter's ballet teacher- a women with secrets of her own. The Dancer Upstairs was also made into a movie, directed by John Malkovich and starring Javier Bardem. I've never seen it, so I can't say yea or nay. I also think the book cover is one of the sexiest I've seen.

The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman

You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad thing.

This is for my Australian readers. Because I am *big* in Australia. I know from my online photography group that it's beautiful in Australia right now. Because those jerks keep posting pictures of the beach. The Light Between the Oceans is about a couple living in an isolated lighthouse on Janus Rock (half a day from any civilization.) Tom and Isabel Sherbourne are much in love and very much want to have children. They get a child, but not quite in the way they anticipated. So begins a moving tale of adults making bad decisions. Isabel finds a baby (and a dead man) washed up on their shores. For her, there is no question that it's a gift from God, meant for them. Tom, on the other hand, wants to report the boat to the authorities. The Sherbournes do eventually return to the mainland, where they discover the consequences of their actions.

This post could also be titled "Magical Realism" or "Latin America, but Hawaii too." Also, as I finish this post (late, sorry) we have four-goddamn-inches of snow on the ground. *sigh*

*My little PSA for this month. As someone who has suffered from crippling depression in their life (hey there, 0.0 GPA) I know how alone you can feel. There's no reason to suffer. And there is absolutely no reason to ever hurt yourself. Sometimes you can't do it alone. That's all right.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
National Institute of Mental Health

OMG 2013 Rocks. Nonfiction Edition.

Trying to read more non-fiction in 2013! (For the rest of my 2013 resolutions, read this.) I know it's heavy on European History, but it's my blog and I like European history. You'll also notice there are no cookbooks or books on parenting. Hmm.

January 8
The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South, Bruce Levine
Everyone obviously agrees that ending slavery was an excellent thing. Duh. And this book certainly doesn't argue that. It does talk about the profound effect the end of slavery had on every person in the south- not just the former slaves, but the rich plantation owners, the poor whites, religious figures, women of every color and all the folks in between. Because ending slavery didn't suddenly make the South a Utopia. Levine uses journals, letters and public documents to show how painful the initial change was and how hard some people pushed back.

January 15
Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States, Bill Bryson
Reviewers aren't exactly thrilled with this book. Some say it's a little like listening to that guy at the bar who knows everything about one boring subject. But hey, he explains why Hollywood has neither holly or woods and the origin of the G-string. Give the guy a break.

January 23
Sugar in the Blood: A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire, Andrea Stuart
Ever since I read The Rose of Martinique (about Josephine Bonaparte) I have been fascinated by the early sugar traders and the islands where they built their huge plantations. Sugar in the Blood tells the story of George Ashby, who traveled from England to Barbados in the late 1630s and became a (very wealthy) sugar plantation owner. This is actually the author's family's story and she uses personal stories to illustrate how sugar trading (and other forms of trade) interconnected the whole world and continues to connect us all to this day.

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, Jeanne Theoharis
Rosa Parks didn't just wake up one day and decide to start the modern Civil Rights movement. She had worked for years as a political activist, working against racism in education and elsewhere. But Mrs. Parks wasn't a fame hound, so we don't know about it. Publisher's Weekly writes, "Theoharis submits a lavishly well-documented study of Parks’s life and career as an activist.”

February 4
Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them, Besty Prioleau
Betsy Prioleau wrote Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love, which was fabulous and brought out the tiger in me. Roar. In Swoon, she talks about their male counterparts. First of all, did you know Casanova was a librarian? Well, he was because librarians are sexy mofos. Second of all, I might as well admit right now that I am a total sucker for charismatic men, particularly of the "player" variety. Prioleau makes the argument that the best "seducer" is actually not a "satanic rake or slick player," but a man who genuinely cares about women--and makes the effort to find out what they want. (Let's just file that under No Shit.) But Prioleau is a fun writer and this should be a interesting read. Oh and I love the word "swoon."

February 5
A Grand Complication: The Race to Build the World's Most Legendary Watch, Stacy Perman
I will never understand why watches are considered status symbols. I hate having anything on my wrist, let alone a heavy-ass expensive watch. Plus, I mostly don't care what time it is. But for over a decade in the early 1900s, two very, very rich men (James Ward Packard and Henry Graves, Jr.) competed to see who could have the "Mona Lisa" of watches created by Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe. Did you know that watch collecting is a very secretive hobby? And, did you know that in 1999 this "Mona Lisa" of watches sold to an anonymous collector for $11 million? See? You have already learned two interesting things from this book.

February 12
The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century, Paul Collins
Kirkus Reviews said, "Who knew the Tenth Century could be so interesting?" Covers the crumbling of Charlemagne's empire, the Moorish conquest of Spain and the (petty, papal) feuds of Rome. There you go.

February 19
Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing, Po Bronson
Interesting character flaw of mine: I'm intensely competitive. I'm so competitive that I refuse to compete because it turns me into a psycho bitch. This book will help you identify your "competitive style" and tip the odds of triumph in your favor. (I wonder if "psycho bitch" constitutes a style?) Using neuroscience (one biochemical can apparently predict a winner,) education, the military and a slew of other professions, Top Dog wants to "reveal the size of the fight in all of us." This is the only book on here that is even remotely self-help (hey, I'm perfect just the crazy way I am.) I included it because the scientific factors of competing are fascinating and because Bronson compares Italy's domination (who knew) of the packaging business to the Harvard-Yale football rivalry. I need to know what that means.

February 26
Blood Sisters: The Women Who Won the War of the Roses, Sarah Gristwood
For part of 2011 I was obsessed with War of the Roses. Margaret Beaufort, Cecily Neville, Elizabeth Woodville- I felt like I knew them. I am honestly not sure what new information I will get from this biography, but I'll happily read it. I am very interested in reading about the war(s) with eye on the influence of the women, especially those Tudors. Incidentally, there is now a video game based on the various battles of the 40 year conflict.

March 1
Body Geographic, Barrie Jean Borich
Some books get on my list because of the cover. This would be one of them (It's all very scientific, I assure you.) Borich is also the author of My Lesbian Husband which won the American Library Association's Stonewall Book Award and should be required reading for anyone who is married or getting married. Body Geographic seems to focus more on Borich's life- and the life of her ancestors- in the mid-west, looking at changing demographics and attitudes. The "official" book description says it is an, "inspired reflection on the points where place and person intersect, where running away meets running toward, and where dislocation means finding oneself." Got that?

March 5
Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell, Phil Lapsley
Oh, those crazy Phone Phreaks! I confess, I have a soft spot for computer criminals. I've known a few and it was never malice that drove them, but a stupid, kitten-like curiosity. I'm the worst criminal in the world and even *I* knew the "secret" phone number to get free phone calls. Kevin Poulsen from Wired writes, "The definitive account of the first generation of network hacks...At turns a technological love story, a counter cultural history and a generation-spanning epic." Lapsley's website is full of fascinating information (like an interview with Joybubbles, a famous blind, whistling phone phreak) and he uses the word "needn't" so I instantly like him.

March 12
Math on Trial: How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom, Leila Schneps
For someone that sucks at and hates math, I sure read a lot about it. As someone who does monthly statistics, I can understand the impulse to manipulate and massage math. And in this particular instance, math can mean the difference between freedom and prison. Covering ten different court cases:  famous (Amanda Knox) and little known (Sally Clark), Math on Trial illustrates the importance of understanding the proper application of mathematical concepts, as well as understanding forensic mathematics, especially if you are a judge about to send someone to the chair. Then you should probably know what the hell is going on.

Gypsy Boy on the Run: My Escape from a Life Among the Romany Gypsies, Mikey Walsh
What I know about actual Romany Gypsies could fill a thimble. I've read about the (insane) show Big Fat Gypsy Weddings in the Daily Mail. That is where my knowledge ends. This is apparently the short-awaited (2009) sequel to Gypsy Boy and picks up exactly where it left off. Walsh has broken ties with his family, only to find out his father has put a contract out on him. So, a heart-warming family tale.

March 19
Lina and Serge: The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev, Simon Morrison
Serge Prokofiev was probably one of the most brilliant composers of the twentieth century; he was definitely one of the douchiest husbands. Holy shit, what a self-absorbed dick. Lina Prokofiev, an aspiring soprano, married Serge Prokofiev against her family's wishes, and devoted her life to his art. She later inexplicably followed him into Stalin's Russia (she was raised in BROOKLYN, so you can imagine that shock.) In short order, she lost her singing career, was abandoned by her husband and ultimately shipped off to a GULAG for 8 years. Morrison is the first author to have access to the family's papers and has reconstructed the whole tragic marriage.

The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century, Joel F. Harrington
So everyone remembers the scene in Braveheart when William Wallace's entrails were pulled out, right? Well, that was someones job. Like, I come to work and help people find books and do statistics; that dude went to work and pulled out people's intestines. For 45 years, a Nuremberg man named Franz Schmidt kept a journal. Schmidt was an executioner who during his tenure killed 361 people (and maimed, tortured and disfigured plenty more.) Author Harrington uses Schmidt's journal as well as medical and public records to create a portrait of an efficient and surprisingly humane executioner.

March 21
Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now, Douglas Rushkoff
This blurb is precisely why I included this book: "Sure to be loved by readers who enjoy telling kids to get off their damn lawn, but unlikely to gain traction with a wider audience." Oh yeah? I am constantly telling kids to get off my damn (metaphorical) lawn! When Rushkoff asks if we are in danger of squandering the extra time (oh sorry, "cognitive surplus") we have because of technology, I want to testify. He introduces us to the concept of "presentism"- a society that is always on, live and updating. Rushkoff also thinks The Simpsons are brilliant and hates reality television, so I'm cool with him.

April 2
The Deadly Sisterhood: Eight Princesses of the Italian Renaissance, Leonie Frieda
It should probably alarm my husband that I have read extensively about female poisoners of the Renaissance. Alas, he is blithely unaware, eating whatever I cook without a care in the world. Here, eight of the most inspiring and corrupt women of the 14th century are introduced and studied. They include Medicis, Borgias and Sforzas and all their evil secrets.

April 9
How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain's Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate, Wendy Moore
You know that old saying about assuming? Well, I assumed this was about something totally different (Internet dating, no kidding.) When I finally went review-hunting, my reaction was, What. The. Fuck?" Englishman Thomas Day knew exactly what kind of wife he wanted (virginal, pure, subservient, blah-fucking-blah.) So, instead of making himself appealing in the least, he adopts two young girls and attempts to raise/train them- using the principles of the Enlightenment- to be perfect wives. Clearly he knew a lot about the nature of women. LOLOLOLOL. It obviously backfired, but Moore documents the whole experiment and sweetens the deal with some Georgian English history.

Defiant Brides: The Untold Story of Two Revolutionary-Era Women and the Radical Men They Married, Nancy Rubin Stuart
The is the dual biography of Peggy Shippen (wife of famous traitor Benedict Arnold) and Lucy Flucker (wife of Revolutionary War hero, Henry Knox.) Both women went against their family and society to marry the men they loved and ended up with a totally unexpected life. Author Nancy Rubin Stuart is the author of The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of Nation which won the 2009 Historic Winslow House Book Award and has written extensively for the New York Times, American History Magazine and many others.

May 14
Wedlocked: A Memoir, Jay Ponteri
Ponteri writes about how he nearly destroys his marriage by writing about his desire for another woman. As I write more and more, I completely understand his conundrum. How honest can I be in my own writing? Will I piss off my husband/mom/dad/family/whomever? Natalie Serber, author of Shout Her Lovely Name said, "Equal parts confession, fantasy, meditation and rant, his deeply private memoir is fearless in its exploration of dark and uncomfortable corners in his marriage. These beautifully crafted pages shine a light on loneliness, marriage, fatherhood and how we sustain ourselves in our lives of perfect ordinariness."

As I proof-read this, I see this list is all over the place. I am a dilettante. At least you won't get bored. And I'm always, always looking for recommendations; especially history, anything to do with Russia and biographies of awesome women. Or...you know, anything.

OMG 2013 Rocks. Fiction Edition.

2013 is a rocking year for fiction! And this is a tiny, tiny fraction of the new stuff coming out in the first six months of this year.

January 2
The Death of Bees, Lisa O'Donnell
Debut novel by Scottish author Lisa O'Donnell. Early reviews are excellent. Two girls bury their parents, but tell no one because they do not want put in the foster care system and separated. A neighbor discovers their secret, but keeps quiet. Sounds like a sort of modern-gothic novel about adults making poor decisions.

Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved.

January 3
White Dog Fell From Sky, Eleanor Morse
The story has been compared to Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (which I finished reading in my driveway, crying,) with a setting (Botswana) reminiscent of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. A young medical student, Isaac Muthethe, is forced to flee South Africa and is hired as a gardener to an American woman (Alice) in Botswana. When he goes missing, Alice's search for him takes her on an unexpected African journey. Also, for those interested in novels set in Africa during apartheid, A Blade of Grass by Lewis DeSoto is extraordinary.

January 8
The Last Runaway, Tracy Chevalier
Oh, Tracy Chevalier, how I love thee! Vermeer, William Blake, tapestries, fossils, historic cemeteries...you're all over the historical map and it's fabulous. The Last Runaway is the first of her novels set in the United States. It tells the tale of an English Quaker (Honor Bright) who emigrates to Ohio in 1850 to help runaway slaves. I see it on the bestseller shelf today, so I may snag it and have a review soon.

January 15
The Aviator's Wife, Melanie Benjamin
Benjamin is the author of Alice I Have Been (great cover, so-so story) and The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb (never read; heard it's good.) The Aviator's Wife tells the story of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of the famed aviator, explorer, and adventurer Charles Lindbergh. Despite her own major achievements in aviation, she is always known as merely Charles Lindbergh's wife. It's a story about a complicated marriage, made more so by publicity, tragedy and fame.

February 5
See Now Then, Jamaica Kincaid
Kincaid is the author of the short story collection At the Bottom of the River, which was nominated for a PEN/Faulkner award. This is her first book in 10 years and I have heard her writing described as cool, fierce, brilliant, and evocative; and I feel like her new book will be no exception. It's the story of a couple and their children living in New England and the joy and despair of domestic life.

February 12
A Week in Winter, Maeve Binchy
I have not read too much Binchy, just the basics: Circle of Friends, Light a Penny Candle, and Echoes. This is her last book before her death in July 2012 and that's why I included it. I'm not a huge fan of her books, but I liked her. Her books are always warm and full of great characters and A Week in Winter seems to be no exception. A bunch of strangers are at a beach house in the middle of winter, all with their own secrets and expectations.

I'd like people to think I was a good friend and a reasonable story-teller and to know that thanks to all the great people, family and friends that I met, I was very, very happy when I was here.

February 26
The Storyteller, Jodi Picoult
I sometimes find Picoult a little too "precious." Like gag me with a spoon My Sister's Keeper. But then she went and surprised me with Nineteen Minutes. The Storyteller seems to be a bit of a departure from her usual work. A former Nazi SS guard living a quiet life in a small community asks his neighbor, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, to kill him for his crimes. A lot of reviewers (professional and amateur) are saying this is her best novel ever.

March 12
A Thousand Pardons, Jonathan Dee
I am working on a post tentatively called, "Characters I Hate." The couple from Jonathan Dee's novel The Privileges (Adam and Cynthia Morey) are on that list. Yes, I know the book was nominated for a Pulitzer and is a "searing portrait" of American greed and materialistic absurdity, but they were so perfect and smug and bleeech. Anyhoo, A Thousand Pardons reenters that world of privilege, but this time from the side of unraveling. Not that I'm huge believer in professional reviews, but Kirkus said it's, "A page turner without sacrificing a smidgen of psychological insight." Well.

April 2
All That Is, James Salter
This is Salter's first book in 7 years and publishers were talking about it 6 months ago. So there is some excitement. All That Is follows the life of Philip Bowman, a WWII veteran and now book editor. There are marriages, divorces, betrayal, while all around him the world is rapidly changing. I'll confess, I've never read any of his books. The over the top reviews ("the author of some of the most esteemed fiction in the past three decades" and "master" of fiction) have me convinced.

April 9
The Interestings, Meg Wolitzer
The Interestings follows the lives of six kids who meet at an art camp in 1974. Some become wildly successful in their art, some not so much. Wolitzer explores the meaning of talent, art, envy, fate, and class in what seems like a departure from her normal female dominated casts.

April 23
Maya's Notebook, Isabel Allende
It's Isabel Allende. She could write a car manual and it would be compelling and moving and be nominated for a Pulitzer. Maya's Notebook is new for Allende, who is best known for her magical realism. It is set in present day and includes the drug trade, the FBI and assassins- all on an island off the coast of Chile.

April 23
The Childhood of Jesus, J.M. Coetzee
I want to like Coetzee so much. He's won the Booker twice (for The Life and Times of Michael K and Disgrace) and even has a Nobel Prize for freaking Literature. And yet I have never successfully finished even one of his novels, including Disgrace which sounds fantastic and is only 218 pages long. But no. The Childhood of Jesus has an almost dystopian feel to it, so maybe this is the one!

April 30
The Woman Upstairs, Claire Messud
I have started The Emperor's Children so many times that I could probably recite the first 10 pages of it. Was never able to get into it, even though it was nominated for and won a boatload of awards and is easily considered her best work. The Woman Upstairs appeals to me in a different way. An artist-turned-schoolteacher falls in love with a family that moves into her New England town.

May 7
Dead Ever After, Charlaine Harris
The END of the Sookie Stackhouse series! *tears* I'll admit, the last few books have been a little stale and Harris has sort of jumped the shark (She's probably busy sleeping in her wheelbarrow full of cash.) However, the pure delight of taking the first ten books to the beach and devouring them means the series will always have a warm spot in my heart. I will be super-pissed if she kills everyone. I want my goddamn vampire happily-ever-after. (I also like the television series, True Blood. It has almost nothing to do with the books, but they nailed Eric Northman with Alexander Skarsgard, who is one year older than me; this means I don't feel like a child molester thinking he's hot.)

May 21
And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini
Finally! Hosseini is the author of the brilliant novel The Kite Runner (made into an equally as brilliant movie) and the breathtaking, tragic A Thousand Splendid Suns. And the Mountains Echoed is a multi-generational family story about siblings. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it has something to do with Afghanistan.

June

Joyland, Stephen King
Joyland is about a student who takes a job at a North Carolina amusement park, a tragic (old) murder and a dying child. I do love Stephen King; there are certain things only he can write.

Big Brother, Lionel Shriver
Okay, so I gave a bunch of people PTSD by recommending We Need to Talk About Kevin. I am pleased to report that the movie was just as fucked up. Not too much information about Big Brother yet, but so far I have read that it is about the obesity epidemic and the compromises you make in marriage. Sold.

Fall
The Restoration Artist, Lewis DeSoto
I cannot find any information about this book! I'm frustrated because I LOVED A Blade of Grass (see above) and I am looking forward to something new from him.

Imagining Alexandria, Louis de Bernieres
de Bernieres is one of my favorite writers. If you saw the terrible, terrible movie Captain Corelli's Mandolin, try to unsee it and read the book. It's one of the best books about WWII that I've ever read. No info on the newest book, but I'm sure it will be fantastic.

Diane Setterfield coming out with a "ghost story" novella in the Fall!

2012 Greatest Hits.

2012 was a good year for books. Some favorite authors published, I found some new authors, and I am once again grateful for the public library because there is no way I could buy all the books I read.

Without further ado, my top 10 for 2012.

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

There is an unfair responsibility that comes with being an only child- you grow up knowing you aren't allowed to disappoint, you're not even allowed to die. There isn't a replacement toddling around; you're it. It makes you desperate to be flawless, and it also makes you drunk with the power. In such ways despots are made.

Gone Girl is one of those books where you are constantly yelling, "No fucking way!" One of the readers in my online book group referred to the husband as a "twit" and I was super-confused because he was a murderer. Briefly: On the eve of her five year wedding anniversary, Amy Dunne disappears. All signs point to her evasive, affair-having husband Nick. But did Nick do it? Now, I can be a treacherous bitch, but Amy Dunne is the most diabolical character I've ever seen in print. Hands down, pure evil. Of course I immediately read Flynn's other two novels, Sharp Objects and Dark Places- both ingeniously plotted and psychologically twisted. I wouldn't mind seeing all three of these novels as movies.

Broken Harbor, Tana French

People you knew when you were teenagers, the ones who saw your stupidest haircut and the most embarrassing things you've done in your life, and they still cared about you after all that: they're not replaceable, you know?

Broken Harbor is number four in the Irish Murder Squad series. You should definitely read the first three (In the Woods, The Likeness and Faithful Place) but each novel does stand alone because it's based around a different character. Broken Harbor features Detective Scorcher Kennedy investigating the Spain family. Pat Spain, a victim of the Irish recession, killed his two children and himself and attempted to kill his wife, Jenny. All is not what it seems in the deserted housing estate outside of Dublin, however. Not only the murders or Pat Spain's obsessions with rodents; for Kennedy Broken Harbor recalls a devastating childhood he'd been happy to ignore.

Heading Out to Wonderful, Robert Goolrick

If your heart is broken and there is no visible wound, no sign of sickness, what else is there to do but go on, act the way you're supposed to, do what has to be done? No use to say it hurts. Everybody knows that already, everybody can see it, and they know as well that they could never in a million years touch or soothe the place where the hurt begins.

I wrote about this amazing book in my second post. Elegant prose, excellent, old-fashioned story-telling, at turns lovely and shocking. Robert Goolrick is an interesting dude, too. Check out his website for some interviews. The essay What Happened to You? is fascinating and unexpectedly moving.

A Working Theory of Love, Scott Hutchins

It's like, there's me and then there's this animal that's like in me. And I'm just living my life, walking around, going to work, but I know this animal can take over. Just for a second. But I get that feeling a lot- that I might say or do anything.

I was fortunate enough to meet Scott Hutchins and hear him read from A Working Theory of Love. Nice guy, fantastic-odd- love story. The novel opens with a pitch perfect description of living alone. Although written from the point of view of a man, Neill Bassett, I felt he was describing me exactly when I lived alone (I was, um, not tidy.) Hailed as a thoroughly modern love story, Working Theory has something for everyone: artificial intelligence, a mid-life crisis and the perils of love, grief and surviving adulthood.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce

People were buying milk, or filling their cars with petrol, or even posting letters. And what no one else knew was the appalling weight of the thing they were carrying inside. The inhuman effort it took sometimes to be normal, and a part of things that appeared both easy and everyday. The loneliness of that.

Everything Harold Fry does annoys his wife. They sleep in separate bedrooms and he can't even butter his toast to her satisfaction. One morning he receives a letter from a long lost friend. She's dying from cancer. Thus begins his pilgrimage to save Queenie Hennessey. Armed with a light jacket, yachting shoes and a profound belief that while he walks Queenie will live, Harold embarks on a 600 mile trip from Kingsbridge to Berwick-upon-Tweed. Along the way he meets a compelling cast of characters, all carrying their own memories and regrets. I was charmed by this book and it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, attributed to Plato, Philo of Alexandria and/or Ian Maclaren:

Be kind, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver

A certain feeling comes from throwing your good life away and it is one part rapture.

I received an advance reading copy (ARC) of this at the American Library Association annual conference. I *attempted* to save it for my summer vacation. Instead I read it on the plane ride home (I had a lot of time in the Denver airport.) In reading reviews, so many people said it's nothing like The Poisonwood Bible. It's time to get over this Poisonwood thing, people. It's an awesome book, but you can't expect an author to rewrite the same freaking book. Kingsolver could write a car manual and I'm sure I'd read it and love it. Flight Behavior, like Prodigal Summer, deals with the environment. Instead of ecology as a science, Flight Behavior confronts ecology as a political movement. However, Kingsolver wasn't afraid to include issues of faith, miracles and what nature means to each of us. Twenty-seven year old Dellarobia Turnbow is on her way to cheat on her husband instead discovers a valley filled with monarch butterflies. Butterflies that are definitely not supposed to be on an Appalachian mountaintop. What happens changes not only Dellarobia's life, but the lives of the people in her town, the town itself and the wider world.

Siberian Education: Growing Up in a Criminal Underworld, Nicolai Lilin

First of all, you had to respect all living creatures- a category which did not include policemen, people connected with the government, bankers, loan sharks, and all those who had the power of money in their hands and exploited ordinary people.

There is question about how "biographical" this novel is. I don't care, I liked it, extravagant violence and all. The author of Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh called it, "Marvelous and illuminating...Forces us to reassess our notions of good and evil." Born in an area between Ukraine and Moldova called Transnistria (which I had to look up because I didn't believe it existed. It does) Lilin grew up among a tightly knit group of exiled Siberian criminals. Living by their own set of rules, outside of and against the government, these "honest criminals" valued respect and ritual above all else. Frankly, they all (even the children) seemed a lot more put together, truthful and organized than the U.S. government. His second book, Sniper, is also just as compelling (if not even more unbelievable.) But again, combine tattoos, gratuitous violence and biography and I'm sold.

Little Star, John Ajvide Lindqvist

It is impossible to say why we love something or someone. We can come up with reasons if we have to, but the important part happens in the dark, beyond our control. We just know when it is there. And when it goes away.

I wrote about this book in another post, so I won't repeat myself. Suffice to say that I couldn't put it down and read it in two sittings. And it made me (more) afraid of teenage girls.

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern

You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.

I confess, I picked up this book because I liked the cover. Isn't that a great cover? I also have an abiding interest in circus fiction (Geek Love, Katherine Dunn, A Son of the Circus, John Irving.) Because of course I do. The Night Circus arrives with its black and white striped tents and arresting cast of performers without warning. The circus itself is more of a character than an actual location. Two young magicians, trained since childhood for a harrowing competition instead fall in love. A love so intense that lights flicker and rooms grow warm when they are together. Extravagant and romantic, The Night Circus asks of its performers the ultimate sacrifice for their art.

Bereft, Chris Womersley

When everything else is in ruins, family is all we have. And God, of course.

My online book group has several people from Australia in it (And boy, they get screwed with Kindle books. Spendy!) Thanks to them I've discovered a bunch of new authors, but Chris Womersley is my hands down favorite. I especially enjoy all of the little Australian details: something smells like a "sodden wombat" and a little girl saves a rock because it's shaped like a kangaroo. Moody and atmospheric (almost gothic,) with a location (Flint, New South Wales) that is a character in itself, Bereft tells the story of Quinn Walker's search for redemption. Returning from the Great War, Walker arrives to find his country being ravaged by Spanish Influenza, including his mother. But he has bigger problems: A decade earlier, he was discovered covered in blood, holding a knife over the dead body of his beloved sister. With the help of a mysterious orphan girl, Sadie Fox, Walker searches for justice in a town that already has him convicted. It's a tough book to read, but completely worth it simply for the beautiful writing.

Onward to 2013!