The Red Leather Diary

Here's the most interesting part of this book:
Lily Koppel was a gossip columnist for the New York Times when she found the red leather diary in a dumpster outside her building. She decided to track down the owner, who miraculously was 90 years old and still alive.

Here's the rest of the book:
The owner of the diary, Florence Wolfson, grew up among the Manhattan elite in the '20s and '30s. For Florence, life was all about art, plays, music, literature, and sexual experimentation with both men and women. She was self-centered, moody, and melodramatic. Florence grew up with virtually no parental guidance and no religious or moral conviction.

It showed.

I thought in the intervening 70 years that maybe Florence would have learned what life is really about. Instead, when the diary was brought to her, she said she felt that during the rest of her life she had not been true to the "real" person she was--the person from the diary.

Ick.

Unaccustomed Earth

I've read both Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake and I loved both. This one, not as much.

This is a collection of short stories, although the last 100 pages or so is three interconnected stories. Lahiri's stories and her novel all carry a pretty consistent theme: Indian-Americans who immigrate and the effect it has on their kids and their subsequent relationships among themselves and among others. I find it interesting because I've been there. Even I know what I've been through isn't as drastic, the way parents and children react to living in a foreign land is very different. So, I certainly feel like I can relate.

I felt a little let down at the end of the stories. The whole book had a pretty melancholy feel, and I didn't like the way I felt totally dumped off at the end of a story. Mostly they were great stories and well-written, but I think I would have liked them better in a full-blown novel. It was all just a little samey for me and I feel like she's going to have to mix things up a little bit to keep me interested. If you've never read Lahiri before, read one of her other books first.

P.S. And I totally have to nit-pick on a point of bad research. She had one character who was born in England secure a passport there later in life based on her birth. However, England is not like the U.S. Just because you are born there doesn't mean you are automatically a citizen, and it has been that way since 1982.

Six Random Things

I've been tagged by Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? to come up with six random things about me. This was harder than I thought! Here goes:

1. I need to be warm. I hate being cold. It's depressing, it's dark, it's gray, it's....cold. I have lived from England to California, New Jersey to Florida, and I've decided that where I live now is as far north as I'm willing to go...willingly. My husband and I refer to it as the NTL, or No Tricia Line. It's one of those imaginary lines on maps like the Equator (and being as near the Equator as possible is preferable).

2. I have four kids, but I despise "Mommy Talk". You know, where moms stand around and talk about what parenting book they've just read, how amazing and gifted their child is, why breastfeeding is wonderful, and on and on. Here's the deal: I haven't read a parenting book in five years. End of story. All kids are amazing and gifted. Please don't waste my time convincing me. I'm glad breastfeeding worked for you. It didn't for me, and my kids are still amazing and gifted, just like yours. Can we move on?

3. I loathe paying full price for a book. I almost never buy a book from a book store, though I love to browse. If I'm desperate for a book, I'll buy it online where I can find it cheaper. I prefer using the library, The Book Lady (my local used bookseller), or library book sales. I don't see the point in spending money on books because I will probably never read it again. Life is too short. But, I do love loaning a good book out to friends! It's a catch-22.

4. I've got a bad habit of buying homes and cars. We move on average every two years, and I've gotten a car at least as often. We are coming up on two years for this house and this car and I'm feeling surprisingly settled. Still, sometimes there is that little niggling feeling that I'd like to pack it all up and start over again. I find moving very refreshing.

5. I love reality television. The Amazing Race, Survivor, Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance, and American Idol are my favorites. I've been known to watch The Apprentice, America's Next Top Model, Beauty & The Geek, and The Bachelor too. I especially love analyzing the shows to death with my husband, my mom or sisters afterwards.

6. I hate to eat if I'm the one who has to make it. Thinking about what to have and making it are just the most annoying parts of my day. Going out to eat = relief and happiness all the way around.

Now I'm supposed to tag six people. Do six people really read this blog? Um, OK, let's go with Corinne at The Book Nest, Booklogged at A Reader's Journal, Becky at Becky's Book Reviews, Irish at Ticket to Anywhere (thanks for the Weekly Geek link!), Danielle from A Work in Progress, and Nymeth from things mean a lot.

Here are the rules:

• Link to the person that tagged you
  
• Post the rules somewhere in your meme
• Write the six random things
• Tag six people in your post
• Let the tagees know they’ve been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog
• Let the tagger know your entry is posted

Dreamers of the Day

This is one of those books you really shouldn't judge by its cover. I was totally sucked in and completely fascinated. It probably helped that I wasn't very familiar with the history. Still, the way the author weaved the historical details (which are very accurate) in and out of the plot was just plain skillful.

The story follows Agnes Shanklin, a middle-aged single woman from Cleveland, who decides to travel to Egypt alone after WWI. Her journey happens to coincide with the Cairo Conference of 1921, and she comes in contact with many of the notable figures of the day including Winston Churchill, Gertrude Bell, and Lawrence of Arabia. As Agnes tours through Egypt, Lebanon and Israel, you get a real taste of the stickiness of politics in the Middle East and a lot of background as to why things are the way they are today.

If you have any interest at all in this time period, or you just love historical fiction like me, I highly recommend this.

The Book Thief

This book was apparently the "most talked-about book of 2006", so I must have been asleep that year. This book has won numerous awards, including the Printz for 2007. I don't know that I can say that the book was "life changing" like the NYTimes said it could be. But, I will say that I am forever enriched because I read it.

I should say up front that I loved it even though I didn't find it particularly "fun" or easy to read. I knew next to nothing about the book before I started reading it, and I know I won't do it justice trying to tell you about it anyway. But, I think it is useful to know what kind of a book you are getting yourself into because you need to be in the right frame of mind before you start reading it: The story is narrated by Death and is set in WWII Germany. Death follows the life of Leisel Meminger (the book thief), her foster parents, and other members of the town of Molching (near Dachau) during those horrific years.

The book was just extraordinarily well-written. Zusak's use of foreshadowing, irony, imagery, and figurative language were awe-inspiring. I definitely think this will be on my Top Ten list for 2008. Highly recommended.

Everything Bad is Good for You

This was another book for my social software class. The subtitle is How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter. Basically, the author argues that video/computer games, the Internet, TV and movies are not just feeding stupidity to the masses. Instead, they have important upsides including developing our logic and problem-solving skills.

Here's the thing: There are still only 24 hours in every day. When you add in all the things you "should" get done during the day--sleeping, eating, working, reading and what ever else you have going on in your life, the question remains--how much time do you really have left over for popular culture? I have a few hours a week. And, quite frankly, if I'm being fed stupidity during that time or intellectualism I really don't care. I just want to enjoy myself.

I think this is one of those books that while I'm not convinced about everything the author has to say, the arguments were interesting and it was a good exercise to think through how quickly we dismiss popular media as "bad". An easy read for nonfiction and certainly very relevant.

A to Z Author Meme

This meme has been going around the book blogging world so I thought I would throw my two cents in.

A - Archer, Jeffrey - Kane and Abel
B - Brooks, Geraldine - People of the Book
C - Coelho, Paulo - The Alchemist
D - Diamant, Anita - The Red Tent
E - Earley, Tony - Jim the Boy
F - Fforde, Jasper - The Eyre Affair
G - Green, Terence - Shadow of Ashland
H - Hale, Shannon - Book of a Thousand Days
I - Ihimaera, Witi - The Whale Rider
J - Jacobs, AJ - The Year of Living Biblically
K - Krauss, Nicole - The History of Love
L - Llewellyn, Richard - How Green Was My Valley
M - Meyer, Stephenie - Twilight
N - Napoli, Donna Jo - Zel
O - Orwell, George - Animal Farm
P - Piccoult, Jodi - My Sister's Keeper
Q - none
R - Ragen, Naomi - Sotah
S - Smith, Dodie - I Capture the Castle
T - Turner, Nancy - These is My Words
U - none
V - Vanderbes, Jennifer - Easter Island
W - Winspear, Jacqueline - Maisie Dobbs
X - none
Y - Yezierska, Anzia - The Bread Givers
Z - Zafon, Carlos Ruiz - The Shadow of the Wind

Which Twilight Character Are You?

Thanks Rae for the link.

Which Twilight novel character are you?

You're Rosalie - Image is important to you, you want to show off your best assets, and you have a lot of them- you think! You are also intelligent, which many people might not expect since you seem to be all about looking pretty. But deep down you're caring person that wants what most people in life desire: to be loved. Take this quiz!

Bloggers and Readers Unite!

Hi everyone!

I would like to formally invite you to come and join a social network for book bloggers and book readers. You'll find the link here at http://bookblogs.ning.com. I set this up using Ning where anyone can create their own social network for just about anything. Why not books?

Advantages of joining:

• Meet new bloggers
• We can hang out in one centralized location
• By double posting your blogs, we can use the search bar to search all of our content in just one search. e.g. I want to know who has read Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and what they thought about it. Type "Pettigrew" into the search bar, and a list of all the bloggers who have mentioned it with their posts will appear.
• Increased exposure of our blogs
• Authors/publishers can find us in one spot
• People who love to read but don't want to maintain a blog consistently, can keep a log with their thoughts on their Book Blogs page.
• It's free and it's fun!
  

Please feel free to leave any thoughts or recommendations on how we can improve the site. Come check it out and feel free to spread the word!

View my page on Book Blogs

The Miracle at Speedy Motors

Can you believe this is the ninth installment of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency? I just love Precious Ramotswe and the supporting cast of characters in Alexander McCall Smith's series set in Botswana. There is nothing earth-shattering about these books. They are relaxing, enjoyable, and entertaining. I feel transported to another place when I'm reading, and yet despite the marked cultural differences, the problems that plague all of us are the same.

There are three or four main plotlines to this book. One thread revolves around the foster daughter, Motholeli. We get further development into the impending nuptials between Mma Makusti and Phudi Radiphuti. Mma Ramotswe is sent threatening letters. And of course, there is a case to be solved.

I highly recommend this series. It makes for great light reading. Has anyone read of any of his other books? I haven't and I'm dying to know if they are just as good.