Book Seventeen

Just finished Another Country by Mary Pipher. Mary is one of my top three authors (Quindlen, Pipher & Glass) and an individual I would most like to meet someday. Her book Reviving Ophelia had a huge impact on what I want to do with my life and her instructive Letters to a Young Therapist has helped me discover exactly how I want to approach my professional life.

I loved Another Country in most respects. My favorite chapter was The Weariest River and included a good deal of poetry and metaphor concerning the subject of death. Pipher talked about the Japanese word wabi-sabi which captures the intensity of feeling two strong emotions at the same time. Wabi-sabi is the perfect way to describe the experience of death - feeling beauty and sadness simultaneously.

Whenever I read Pipher's material, I feel smitten with the world she describes. She quotes my favorite people (Willa Cather, Wallace Stegner, Eleanor Roosevelt, etc.) If I must find a fault with Another Country, it would be in its length. The editor could have pared it down quite a bit as the same themes were addressed again and again. There were a few typos that were a bit jarring for the reader.

And yet, Pipher did it again. She is a rare gem and I wish I knew her better.

Book Sixteen

Full speed ahead! Finished Valley of the Dolls over the weekend. There really is NO better beach book. I was able to read over 400 pages in less than 48 hours. Found my mom's copy of the book and took a bit of a detour from the reading stack that has been slowing me down. This book really is the best soap opera lit yet to be written. Like Sweet Valley High for grown-ups.

This book confounds me. I can't imagine reading it during the era it was published (1966) and how provocative it must have been (lesbian relationships, drug addiction, questionable mental health treatment, yikes . . . ) I squirmed at the characters while I was reading - how feeble and dependent Anne was and her terrible yearning for romantic love at all costs. Jennifer's vanity that ultimately ends in her suicide. Neely - Ugh! The characters seemed to get under my skin in such a bothersome way. The only character that was somewhat endearing was Kevin Gillmore. Oh, how I ached for him when Anne fell (yet again) for the slimy Lyon. I always feel kind of icky when I finish a book like this. Such a departure from my life but not a path I would want to walk whatsoever.

This is the second time I have read Valley of the Dolls. It was a hit at the Vanaheim book club and stirred a very interesting discussion. I'm a little wary and curious of how it will review at the Stillwater Book Club. I want to hear others' thoughts about how well this book reflects the era. People either love or hate this book. I really like it FOR what the book is. Not great literature but PERFECT for laying out at the beach while downing Cheez Curls and baking in the sun.

p.s. The movie is God awful. Stay away. I've heard that the Group is another cult classic. Hoping to add that novel to next year's summer reading list.

Book Fifteen

I realized this week that I have to finish 22 books in the next month to have any prayer of making my goal. Yikes! Luckily our TV has broken down which has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It has been a very productive start to the week.

I started the book Admission when I was at the Harvard Institute on College Admissions. It seemed to fit the theme of the week. I liked the book all in all. It was a bit descriptive and predictable and long. That said, the author depicted the college admissions world true to form. When I read the acknowledgments I noticed that several of the deans who attended the Harvard Institute were mentioned (including Janet Rapelye at Princeton).

The whole process is a bit sad. And Portia, the main character, has a good deal of sympathy for the problem at hand. Plainly, there are too many extraordinary applicants applying to extraordinary schools. What I liked about the book was the author's ability to put the reader right at the table. I felt as if I was reading the very applications and sitting down to the final process.

Portia's admission? Well, it was easy to see that coming. The love story didn't exactly grab me but was merely a vehicle to bring Jeremiah into the story and reveal that there were cracks in Portia and Mark's relationship. Obviously. I agree with this review from a reader: "Predictable from the get go and you'll have it figured long before the book ends. Jean Hanff Korelitz not a bad writer, just needs a more critical editor." I'm eager now to read Gatekeepers and compare.

Would I recommend this book to the Power Mom's at large? Maybe, but it might just get them even more riled up . . . if that's possible.

Book Fourteen

In The Scenic Route (yes, it's a road trip novel), Sylvia and Henry meander by car through the new, boundaryless Europe. Sylvia shares her store of memories with Henry -- of growing up in Westchester, where the neighborhood bully killed her turtle with a hammer; her hatred for her brother Joel, her mother's death, her father's reunion with a former girlfriend her mother had hated, his later accident and loss of long-term memory.

This book was laugh out loud funny in parts (Can I have your pickle? I haven't had a vegetable all week) but also sad. Sylvia's remembering of her mother's death and sorting through her belongings was a bit too close for comfort.

It will be interesting to process this with my friends at book club - provided they actually have read the novel. Some reviewers felt that Sylvia had gained insight by the end of the novel. I agree with Publisher's Weekly that "What's crushing isn't Sylvia's secret-it's how knowledge hasn't made her wiser." She seems lost (perhaps still grieving her mother's death) and the ending left me utterly frustrated.

"we were cowards, and that was the end of that."

Book Thirteen

This was an interesting book. Selected by Kate, the book was a total bomb at our last Vanaheim book club. I had not finished unfortunately. I loved the book. Kate also loved the book. But others, not so fond.

Never Let Me Go is like the Giver with a little twist of Handmaid's Tale combined with a smidge of Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. It will be a fantastic movie someday, of this I am sure. Washington Post declares "It is almost literally a novel about humanity: what constitutes it, what it means, how it can be honored or denied." I'm bummed that book club could not delve into this book further as this is exactly the type of book that needs to be discovered, devoured and torn apart with like and unlike minds.

I "completed" this book but did feel complete. May have to read with another book club down the line. Good one, Kate.

Book Twelve

The most fun I've had reading all year . . . maybe the most fun I've had reading in years. Molly Wizenberg is pretty much my hero and I only wish I could have her pantry and know what to do with it. I'm extremely bummed that she is taking time off from her blog Orangette to open her husband's restaurant. I would love following her days on the internet. After reading A Homemade Life, I feel like she's a good friend. And now that I'm finished with the book, I'm miss her.

The book is so precious and revealing as she talks about her chance meeting with her now husband via her blog and the death of her beloved father. I made the first recipe, Burg's Potato Salad, and Matt Loved, Loved, Loved it. Molly's Dad and my mother had a similar passion for potato salad. The difference would be, of course, that my mom poured in dijon mustard and made it without a recipe. Burg used Ranch Dressing. I'm glad I can make potato salad now. I feel like a real adult.

I'm hoping to go back through the book this summer and try out all the recipes. And the book makes me yearn for Paris, baguettes, salad and soup. This book is oh so much more than meets the eye. I would recommend it to all my friends. If my friends don't like the book well then . . . serious problems.

Read a better review below:
Molly Wizenberg has written a beautiful tribute to her family, her father in particular, and to the soothing, comforting, exciting power of food. She starts by introducing us to her family, and before long you feel like one of them, in the kitchen late at night stirring, tasting, and baking Fresh Ginger Cake with Caramelized Pears. She takes us to Paris and Seattle and we meet all her friends along the way. Molly gently leads us through Christmas with Espresso-Walnut Toffee, her father's battle with cancer with Italian Grotto Eggs, and to the French Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon that changed everything. Her stories are simple, like her food, but comforting and filling too. Molly Wizenberg is absolutely one of the best food writers I have read. She has a way of drawing you in, making you feel a part of the story, and she makes me itch to get in the kitchen and try her recipes! This is a book I will use often, mostly when I have the urge to cook, but can't decide what. I'll give this book to friends and family and hope they get the same feelings of contentment and joy from this book as I did.

Book Eleven

There's a little something wonderful about Ann Patchett in the way that she writes. It feels honest and approachable and very non-Jodi Picoult ish. I feel like I might want to be her friend if I met her in real life. And yet, her writing doesn't quite grasp hold of me the same as Anna Quindlen or Julia Glass. Almost, but not quite.

Run was a difficult book for me to finish. The characters were developed but not enough that I cared about them in the morning when I woke and at night when I tried to read ten pages before bed. I wanted to know more about Sullivan, the young man who killed his girlfriend in a car crash and derailed his father's political ambitions. He was a minor bit character unfortunately and this was Tip's story. But all Tip wanted to talk about was the science of fish. Boring.

Patchett says the topic of the book is politics. To me, it is and always will be a book about family. Kirkus Reviews sums it up by saying "Compelling story but thematically heavy-handed." I concur. I might recommend this book to Patchett lovers but I won't sing its praises.

Book Twenty One

Saturday
By Ian McEwan

Oops. I forgot this one. Will blog later.

Book Number Ten

Losing serious momentum coming into the summer. 52 books is a long ways off but I remain realistically optimistic that my goal shall be achieved.

I picked up this book for a penny (or so) at the Barnes and Noble sale rack. I have read many, if not all, of Tracy Chevalier's novels thus far. Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Lady and the Unicorn, Falling Angels, etc. Chevalier's characterization did not disappoint. By the story's end, I felt a part of Georgian England and the Piddle Valley. I especially loved the character of Maggie. She was the perfect ratio of vulnerability and rough edge for my taste. The references to Blake and Songs of Innocence were lost on me. Completely. Another BNoble reviewer suggests that Blake is by far the most aloof, vaguely written about character in a novel. I concur.

The ending also left me unhinged. It took 200 or so pages for me to fall in love with this novel and the last twenty pages felt like an afterthought for me. I don't enjoy when all the loose ends are tied up in a pretty little bow but Chevalier's ending this time around just felt lazy.

There are moments in this book that will stay with me. When the kids find themselves lost in Bedlam after following William Blake's funeral procession, the hysteria surrounding the French Revolution and the declaration of loyalty to King George AND when Maggie blows her nose and residue from the mustard and vinegar factory become quite apparent. And YET, I'm left with just moments and not a novel that changed me. And isn't that the novel we are all looking for?

Book Number Nine

This is the book that got wet. I was absolutely distraught when my entire Sigg bottle of water dumped on the new hardcover by one of my favorite people I have yet to meet. I have loved Mary Pipher since the day she published Reviving Ophelia. That book was the reason I entered the profession of school counseling and became so interested in young women's issues. I may never get to meet Mary Pipher and let her know the impact her writing has had on my life (Letters to a Young Therapist, Another Country etc.) Knowing her through this book was the next best thing.

After the surprising success of Reviving Ophelia, Pipher was overwhelmed by the attention and demands on her time. In 2002, after a personal crisis, Pipher realized that success and fame were harming her, and she began working to find a quieter, more meditative life that would carry her toward self-acceptance and joy. Her book explores all these issues. I love her chapter titles: The Glad Game, Avalanche of Roses, A Bigger Container and Stopping for Joshua Bell. When she writes about her sixtieth birthday party and the creative presents she received from family, I wanted to sign up as her daughter right then and there. I'm not sure I want to move to Nebraska but her life is one I want to lead: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Pipher could easily be a carbon copy of myself. Pipher describes her scattered nature perfectly as "going meta." "While my laid back, slow talking husband finishes a sentence, my mind jogs three laps around town and gerenates a dozen new observations and plans." After reading her self descriptions in the preface, I just knew the entire autobiography would be about ME.

My reading of this book was less than optimal. It traveled with me to San Diego Marine Camp and then endured the aforementioned flood. I will try to re-visit the book again down the road as I know Pipher's quest for peace and embracing of meditation could be quite meaningful in my life. This is a deeply personal, courageously honest, and ultimately very inspiring book.