I admit I am completely pathetic but this is so cute:
I want a cat!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Book 73: Paula
Paula by Isabel Allende
It’s hard to say how I felt about this book – when I first started reading it and she described her grandmother, I was afraid that I was basically going to get The House of Spirits: The Real Life Story. It didn’t quite go that far, but it’s definitely easy to see the characters that inspired others in her first novel which does have quite a few autobiographical elements.
I don’t know how to critique this book – after all, it’s a woman writing about watching her daughter die. Especially after reading the reviews, and knowing how much acclaim and response Allende got for this memoir, I expected something more. I honestly don’t feel like I ever really got to know Paula from the pages of this book (passing acquaintance, maybe, but not much deeper insight). It was Allende’s story, of course, telling her daughter about her family background and mixing it with scenes from the present, of Paula comatose in a hospital bed.
Allende has no problems portraying herself with all her flaws in this book, and poking fun at herself. I think my favorite passage was when Pablo Neruda told her she was the worst journalist in the country. It took me a few minutes to sort out all the grandparent figures. Many of the people in her life have since become the inspiration for characters in her novels, and as a result, I didn’t necessarily feel like I learned much that was new. I’m amazed by all the places Allende has been, partially due to the fact that her stepfather was a diplomat, making me wonder what his or her mother’s memoirs would be like. Also, I probably shouldn’t have read The Sum of Our Days until after this memoir. I might have enjoyed it more that way.
As a straight up memoir, it was entertaining, though Allende definitely came from a priviledged family even if they didn't necessarily have a lot of money. As a book on grief, well, I preferred Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking.
It’s hard to say how I felt about this book – when I first started reading it and she described her grandmother, I was afraid that I was basically going to get The House of Spirits: The Real Life Story. It didn’t quite go that far, but it’s definitely easy to see the characters that inspired others in her first novel which does have quite a few autobiographical elements.
I don’t know how to critique this book – after all, it’s a woman writing about watching her daughter die. Especially after reading the reviews, and knowing how much acclaim and response Allende got for this memoir, I expected something more. I honestly don’t feel like I ever really got to know Paula from the pages of this book (passing acquaintance, maybe, but not much deeper insight). It was Allende’s story, of course, telling her daughter about her family background and mixing it with scenes from the present, of Paula comatose in a hospital bed.
Allende has no problems portraying herself with all her flaws in this book, and poking fun at herself. I think my favorite passage was when Pablo Neruda told her she was the worst journalist in the country. It took me a few minutes to sort out all the grandparent figures. Many of the people in her life have since become the inspiration for characters in her novels, and as a result, I didn’t necessarily feel like I learned much that was new. I’m amazed by all the places Allende has been, partially due to the fact that her stepfather was a diplomat, making me wonder what his or her mother’s memoirs would be like. Also, I probably shouldn’t have read The Sum of Our Days until after this memoir. I might have enjoyed it more that way.
As a straight up memoir, it was entertaining, though Allende definitely came from a priviledged family even if they didn't necessarily have a lot of money. As a book on grief, well, I preferred Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking.
I Love Buffy
I believe when I first reviewed Twilight, I made a comment about how Buffy would kick Edward's ass - well, here's my proof:
I really enjoyed this - saw it over at The Film Experience a few days ago, and have been meaning to post it ever since.
I really enjoyed this - saw it over at The Film Experience a few days ago, and have been meaning to post it ever since.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Book 72: The House at Riverton
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
The premise of the novel is that Grace, a 98 year old woman in a retirement home, is contacted by a movie director, Ursula who is making a film about the 1924 suicide of a World War I poet, Robbie Hunter. At the time of the suicide, Grace was the lady's maid at Riverton, and her employer Hannah and Hannah's sister, Emmeline, both witnessed the suicide. While Grace doesn't tell Ursula what happened, she finds herself reminiscing about the past more and more, and begins recording her story to give to her grandson Marcus, a mystery writer who has disappeared following his wife's death.
So I admit I enjoyed reading the novel but I'm not sure if it was necessarily a very good one - some things were incredibly obvious from the very beginning that Grace apparently didn't figure out till much later in her life. Maybe part of the reason some things were so predictable had much to do with the fact that I've read this novel before. In this case it was told from the perspective of the maid, but other than that, much of the plot reminded me of The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (which Morton goes on to recommend in her "Author's Note") - the elements of the plot that weren't from that novel seemed like they were from The Thirteenth Tale. Between those two novels, you've pretty much got the story for this one without some of the darker themes. Here are the opening lines of the novel: "Last November I had a nightmare. It was 1924 and I was at Riverton again." Compare that to Rebecca's opening line: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." As I said, very derivitative.
However, even with her more or less copying plots from other novels, she still wrote a better story than I could have - it's hard to come up with an original idea these days, and there are definitely worse books to copy. For anyone that likes the mysterious past intermixing with the present (I guess these are called gothic novels :p ), I'd also recommend Shadows of the Wind. Unlike this one and the other two I mentioned, it isn't about sister relationships, but it still has a tragic love story at its heart.
The premise of the novel is that Grace, a 98 year old woman in a retirement home, is contacted by a movie director, Ursula who is making a film about the 1924 suicide of a World War I poet, Robbie Hunter. At the time of the suicide, Grace was the lady's maid at Riverton, and her employer Hannah and Hannah's sister, Emmeline, both witnessed the suicide. While Grace doesn't tell Ursula what happened, she finds herself reminiscing about the past more and more, and begins recording her story to give to her grandson Marcus, a mystery writer who has disappeared following his wife's death.
So I admit I enjoyed reading the novel but I'm not sure if it was necessarily a very good one - some things were incredibly obvious from the very beginning that Grace apparently didn't figure out till much later in her life. Maybe part of the reason some things were so predictable had much to do with the fact that I've read this novel before. In this case it was told from the perspective of the maid, but other than that, much of the plot reminded me of The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (which Morton goes on to recommend in her "Author's Note") - the elements of the plot that weren't from that novel seemed like they were from The Thirteenth Tale. Between those two novels, you've pretty much got the story for this one without some of the darker themes. Here are the opening lines of the novel: "Last November I had a nightmare. It was 1924 and I was at Riverton again." Compare that to Rebecca's opening line: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." As I said, very derivitative.
However, even with her more or less copying plots from other novels, she still wrote a better story than I could have - it's hard to come up with an original idea these days, and there are definitely worse books to copy. For anyone that likes the mysterious past intermixing with the present (I guess these are called gothic novels :p ), I'd also recommend Shadows of the Wind. Unlike this one and the other two I mentioned, it isn't about sister relationships, but it still has a tragic love story at its heart.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Book 71: Kinky Gazpacho
Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain by Lori L. Tharps
I read a review of this memoir over at Womanist Musings, and decided to get it. I'm not sure if there is much to add to that review, but I definitely enjoyed the book a lot. As Holly says, it is a easy, light read that addresses deeper issues.
Lori, the author, grew up surrounded by white people - she generally fit in, but every once in a while she would hear jokes that were racist - they were never directed at her, but it made her feel like she was somehow inferior. However, when she tries to fit in with the black community in college, it doesn't quite work out.
Lori has an idea that travel could change her life - she spends a few months in Morroco while in high school and studies abroad for a year in Spain. In Spain, she notices signs of racism in the culture, but her arguments are denied or ignored. After her marriage to a Spanish man she met during her study abroad, she spends her summers in Spain. However, she begins to feel more and more disconnected from the culture until finally she starts wondering if there is a history of slavery in Spain that has simply been forgotten in the hopes of finding a connection to Spain's past. She gets a magazine to pay for her research, and actually finds a few clues and articles about the forgotten blacks in Spanish history.
Living in Germany, every once in a while I'll see an older sign for a store that just strikes me as completely off - obviously, Germany doesn't have the same racial history so the concern over here is more about anti-semitism but it's definitely interesting to see. In that way, I can definitely see where Lori is coming from, even though I have on occasion been described as the "whitest white girl" he knows by a friend of mine. I haven't been in a music store in ages, but Germany used to have a section titled "black music" - not rap or hip-hop, but black music. Which included Janet Jackson as well as Blackstreet etc. It was based completely on skin tone and not at all on music genre.
She also addresses some problems her marriage and relationship with Manuel has experienced, between her sometimes feeling like she should be dating her "own kind," and being alienated from his homeland and culture. Additionally, she admits that Manuel can get frustrated when she turns everything into a race issue, but despite all the obstacles, they have managed to create a lasting and supportive relationship. Some of the points she brought up were also raised in the film Something New, so obviously she is not alone with some of her dilemmas.
I read a review of this memoir over at Womanist Musings, and decided to get it. I'm not sure if there is much to add to that review, but I definitely enjoyed the book a lot. As Holly says, it is a easy, light read that addresses deeper issues.
Lori, the author, grew up surrounded by white people - she generally fit in, but every once in a while she would hear jokes that were racist - they were never directed at her, but it made her feel like she was somehow inferior. However, when she tries to fit in with the black community in college, it doesn't quite work out.
Lori has an idea that travel could change her life - she spends a few months in Morroco while in high school and studies abroad for a year in Spain. In Spain, she notices signs of racism in the culture, but her arguments are denied or ignored. After her marriage to a Spanish man she met during her study abroad, she spends her summers in Spain. However, she begins to feel more and more disconnected from the culture until finally she starts wondering if there is a history of slavery in Spain that has simply been forgotten in the hopes of finding a connection to Spain's past. She gets a magazine to pay for her research, and actually finds a few clues and articles about the forgotten blacks in Spanish history.
Living in Germany, every once in a while I'll see an older sign for a store that just strikes me as completely off - obviously, Germany doesn't have the same racial history so the concern over here is more about anti-semitism but it's definitely interesting to see. In that way, I can definitely see where Lori is coming from, even though I have on occasion been described as the "whitest white girl" he knows by a friend of mine. I haven't been in a music store in ages, but Germany used to have a section titled "black music" - not rap or hip-hop, but black music. Which included Janet Jackson as well as Blackstreet etc. It was based completely on skin tone and not at all on music genre.
She also addresses some problems her marriage and relationship with Manuel has experienced, between her sometimes feeling like she should be dating her "own kind," and being alienated from his homeland and culture. Additionally, she admits that Manuel can get frustrated when she turns everything into a race issue, but despite all the obstacles, they have managed to create a lasting and supportive relationship. Some of the points she brought up were also raised in the film Something New, so obviously she is not alone with some of her dilemmas.
Book 70: A Drink Before the War
A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane
I didn't enjoy this novel as much as Shutter Island or Mystic River, but it's his first novel, so obviously he was still developing. Having said that, it was still entertaining and much more developed and thoughtful than other murder mystery series. I mean how many other detective series really have any attempt at racial analysis? I'm not saying he comes to any conclusions or draws the proper ones, but the narrator actually questions his actions at the end and asks himself if he behaved differently towards two people based on their race.
He acknowledges the beliefs of those around him that he in fact occasionally echoes without trying to make himself look better or justify himself. As far as the actual story, Patrick, the narrator, and his partner Angie are private investigators in Boston, and are hired to find a cleaning woman who has disappeared with certain documents. Of course there is a lot more to it than that, and the two quickly finds themselves involved in political intrigues and a gang war. With the gang war, some of the action towards the end of the novel got a little over the top for my tastes, but mostly it was an intelligently written mystery, which is impressive since so many of them tend to be fluff.
I didn't enjoy this novel as much as Shutter Island or Mystic River, but it's his first novel, so obviously he was still developing. Having said that, it was still entertaining and much more developed and thoughtful than other murder mystery series. I mean how many other detective series really have any attempt at racial analysis? I'm not saying he comes to any conclusions or draws the proper ones, but the narrator actually questions his actions at the end and asks himself if he behaved differently towards two people based on their race.
He acknowledges the beliefs of those around him that he in fact occasionally echoes without trying to make himself look better or justify himself. As far as the actual story, Patrick, the narrator, and his partner Angie are private investigators in Boston, and are hired to find a cleaning woman who has disappeared with certain documents. Of course there is a lot more to it than that, and the two quickly finds themselves involved in political intrigues and a gang war. With the gang war, some of the action towards the end of the novel got a little over the top for my tastes, but mostly it was an intelligently written mystery, which is impressive since so many of them tend to be fluff.
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