No Frigate

I'm back!

Today, I couldn't remember the name of a book that I read more than a year ago. I putzed around, poured another cup of coffee, and then I remembered. I used to blog about my books! I pulled up my blog and got all nostalgic. Between the Vox-Typepad switch and Goodreads, I let myself drift away from the blog, but I had a lot of fun with it, back in the day! So maybe I'll try to make a comeback. The baby of the old blog is now a strapping two-year-old on a mission to destroy, so I doubt I'll summarize everything that I've read during the past year. I just finished A Visit from the Goon Squad which I'll describe as a diamond: brilliant and multi-faceted, but cold.

My favorite recent author discovery is Tana French. For those missing Ian Rankin's Rebus novels, the police of Dublin give those books a run for their money.

What I'm reading

I'm loving Super Sad True Love Story right now. While I've loved Gary Shteyngart's other books, the imagination and hubris in SSTLS really takes his work to the next level. On the to-read list? Alain de Botton in Heathrow, as well as The Brothers K and Crooked River Burning.

Cheating on the blog . . .

I've been cheating on the blog a bit with Goodreads.  I know there's some way to sync the two, but I haven't yet mastered it.  I've had quite a reading binge lately, but most of it of the trashy/middlebrow variety.  That said, at least the tween stuff I've been reading has been validated by the New York Times Book Review, so maybe I'm not that trashy?

 

My main focus has been on:

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

 

 I devoured the whole trilogy, in fact.  I also succumbed to the summer's other big temptation:

 

 

One Day (Vintage Contemporaries Original)

David Nicholls

 

Indeed, I read it in one day.  It's a fun read and all -- perfect for a plane -- but I agree with Jennifer Weiner's comment that if it had been written by Danielle Nicholls rather than David Nicholls, the critics would be calling it chick lit and not be showering it with accolades.

The best literary fiction I have read recently was Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News?  The Jackson Brodie books just keep getting better.

When Will There Be Good News?: A Novel

Kate Atkinson

How amazing does this sound?

I wish I weren't too cheap to buy hardcovers, because Christopher Buckley's review of The Imperfectionists has me drooling.  Journalism and Rome -- what's not to love?

Anglo-Mania of different sorts

I bet I was the only person at the Ricky Gervais show last night who had Margaret Drabble's A Summer Bird-Cage in her bag . . . 

 

Admission

Admission

Jean Hanff Korelitz

College admissions is a quagmire of race, sex, and class issues, and Jean Hanff Korelitz does an admirable job of exposing what it's like to be an Ivy League admissions officer while also creating a credible narrative with characters who are interesting and believable. One recurring problem I had with the novel, though, was the speechifying. Yes, sometimes the main character had to make speeches because it was part of her job to do so (i.e., she'd go to a prep school and give a presentation) but even her casual conversations sounded like they needed a powerpoint. Still, an enjoyable read -- particularly if you know anyone who went to Princeton.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

Was it as good as the first two?  No.  Did I occasionally ignore my child to keep reading it?  Yes.  Did it leave me wanting more of Salander?  Hell, yes.  Stieg Larsson, you are so missed.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (Millennium Trilogy, 3) [Import] (HARDCOVER)

Stieg Larsson

A Disappointment

After all the accolades that A Short History of Women received, I was thrilled when I got my reserve copy at the library.  But then I started reading . . . And the idea that seemed so compelling -- an inter-generational story of women beginning with a nineteenth-century suffragette -- just didn't translate well to the page.  The characters that sounded fascinating when described in reviews were dry ciphers, and because of the immense degree of separation between the characters, there was not much of a plot.  The characters did warm up as the novel progressed, but I never felt really vested in any of them.

 

A Short History of Women: A Novel

Kate Walbert

The Northern Clemency

Between the job and the baby, I've been busy, and "The Northern Clemency" is relatively long, so I'm not that ashamed that it took me a while to finish it.  Excuses aside, though, I think the reason the novel was slow going wasn't entirely related to my lack of sleep or time.  This Booker Prize nominee was blurbed as being like "The Corrections" and "The Emperor's Children," but its plot lacked the momentum that kept me enthralled by both of those novels.  Moreover, I found one of the central events entirely lacking in credibility.  In considering this event, I shook my head at the antics of the female character and thought, "This was obviously written by a man, because a woman would never really do that."

That said, there are certainly portions of "The Northern Clemency" that are interesting and true, and some of the characters make choices that are unexpected, but in a believeable way (unlike the mystery event I'm referring to).  I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone besides the most committed Anglophile, though.

 

The Northern Clemency

Philip Hensher

. . . And a pleasant surprise

After reading A Gate At The Stairs, which was set in a college town obviously modelled on Madison, it was very strange and serendipitous to start reading You're Not You, which is set in the real Madison, Bascom Hill and all.  I don't konw how You're Not You made it on to my list, but I'm thrilled that it did.  It's the college-girl-coming-of-age novel that Lorrie Moore should have wanted to write -- no crazy, timely terrorists or hipster lingo, just an original, thoughtful story of a student growing up.  The characters are unique and true without being performatively quirky, and the job that the protagonist finds herself in and forces her to grow up is, unlike the job the student holds in Moore's novel, thoroughly credible.  As I think about it, the many similarities between the two novels pile up; fancy restaurants and cooking play a prominent role in both, too . . .

 

You're Not You: A Novel

Michelle Wildgen