I know that you’ve been missing my book review posts.  It’s ok.  Today, you shall finally have one.  And hopefully at least one of these books will appeal to you   After my last book post, I actually spent some time rereading the Harry Potter series, but I believe I’ve sung its praises more than enough times to review it here for you.  So we’ll just pick up after that

1.  The Sacred Romance – Brent Curtis & John Eldredge. So, I really really really enjoyed this book.  The general idea is that our lives are part of a larger narrative than just the individual story of our lives.  In this narrative we encounter both the Hero, who desires to romance us (God) and we are also attacked by Arrows, that try to keep us from living our lives as fully as we can.  These Arrows can be large, direct wounds that cripple us, or they can be small Arrows lodged deep inside that we carry daily and live with.  Unfortunately, since it’s been like a full month since I’ve read this book, I can’t remember all the details; but, I do remember that pretty much every part I read was dead-on applicable to my experiences so far.  It was one of those books where I’d read a paragraph and have to put it down to really process what I read.  And it truly does help you appreciate the way things have a way of weaving together, the good & the bad.  At any rate, I highly recommend it.

2.  There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America – Alex Kotlowitz. So.  This book was very good…but very, very heavy.  And wearing.  But still, very well written and insightful, as well as a revealing look at the derth of the environmental problems that keep people living in poverty and violence.  While many of the stories in the book were shocking in and of themselves, the aspect I found the most shocking was simply that, while this book was published in 1992 or so, I don’t believe much has changed.  I am still hearing stories like this.  Or, where there has been progress, it has not been the amount of progress you would expect for over 20 years (while the book was published in the early 90s, the research & interviews took place in the mid-1980s).  I do believe any socially responsible person should most definitely read this book.  It is a travesty that anyone has to live in this environment, and I see the effects of extreme situations like these in the kids I work with.  However, because I work with kids who are facing such difficult experiences, it was extremely hard to read this book.  I mean, it just kind of reinforced how deeply mired we are in these societal problems, and how complex the solutions are.  Which further illustrates how difficult it is to enact change in individual lives…which is pretty much my job lol.  It was extremely emotionally exhausting…but, I pushed through.  And it was worth it; I would just advise reading it when you have time to get righteously angry and everything else in your life is going relatively well lol.  Otherwise, it’s a bit much.

3.  Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

This book completely lived up to the hype.  Ok, well, as much hype as there is about classic Latin American literature.  But in terms of it being my first Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, he totally lived up to the hype.  And the book was great.  Beautifully written, and extremely sensuous.  I loved his approach to the love story, and I thought it was a completely believable account of people’s behaviors.  However, it was another book that required a lot of effort to read.  I’ve heard it described as a “journey” to read, and I have to agree with that representation.  It was quite the journey, and one that definitely weighs heavily on your emotions.  It wasn’t like a tearjerker or anything (at least, I didn’t think so) but it certainly carried a healthy dose of melancholy with it.  Beautifully written.

4. The Sookie Stackhouse Novels (1-9) – Charlaine Harris.  So, after alllllll that heavy reading (even tho it was all extremely good and thought provoking) I was pretty much done.  I was ready for a break.  I had been ambivalent about reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels/beginning the series because while I love the show that’s based on the books, True Blood, I knew the books would be different.  And I didn’t want to hate the books, or begin to hate the TV show.  But, for my birthday, I decided I would begin the series and just give it a chance, as well as give myself a break from the heavier side of writing.

It became a long break.

I started the books on a Thursday, and had read all of the 9 that are currently released by the following Saturday.  I could not put them down.  I had been thinking of True Blood (and thus the books) as the adult version of Twilight…and by adult I mean basically some soft-core action and involving people who are actually grown.  While this is true, I think these books are simply better.  The plots & mysteries are better, and Sookie is a much more kick-ass heroine than Bella.  I mean, shello, she actually thinks for herself. Praise God.  Also, she’s funny and not melodramatic.  And instead of constantly *being* saved, she’s always saving everyone else.  Much much better.  Also, she is not totally and unhealthily obsessed with one man.  Granted, there were some points when it was difficult to count up Sookie’s various love interests (I think at one point there were 6 different men who were ready to be exclusive with her).  But actually, I was surprised by how little of the series was focused on the romance aspect.  I mean…the first couple of books were guiltly delicious, don’t get me wrong.  But I was most impressed by Harris’ seemingly seamless blend of the genres of romance, mystery, and science fiction.  I can’t wait to read the 10th one (altho, I hope the series does end soon…I can’t keep being dragged back & forth between Bill & Eric…).  As for the differences between the TV series & the books…definitely obvious.  But good changes on either part.  The TV show works, and the books work.  The only um, concern? I have is the Bill-Sookie-Eric triangle, because I feel like the show (so far) definitely biases you towards Bill, whereas I’m kind of on Eric’s side in the books.  But hey, since Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin are engaged, I guess I can forgive them that.  It is, at least in this case, nice to have the visuals of the actors to match with the characters.  But both the books and the show maintain their humor and light-heartedness at the same time that they weave compelling mystery and gratifying action sequences.  With beach season approaching, I definitely recommend these to enjoy in the sun.  Phew.  That was a long one to write on, but to be fair, it was nine books.

And there you have it!  That’s what I’ve been up to reading-wise the past couple of months.  Happy reading to all for the coming summer season (after all, where did spring go??)

Well, time for a book review post!  As I gathered together the books I’ve read since last time, I realized that 4 out of 5 of the books I just finished reading provide some form of satire or societal critique.  So, it’s been an entertaining reading season, and probably explains why my cynicism has increased just slightly   I think I’m going to try out the quote-style book review once again, because there are some truly fabulous quotes that just need to be repeated.  Annnnnd…begin.

1. Love in a Dead Language – Lee Siegel. 

This book is…difficult to explain.  It’s kind of like 3 or 4 books in one.  It’s a fictional story (even though the author inserts himself as an active, albeit it minor, character) of a professor who falls in love with one of his students, and is murdered.  In honor of his lover, he has been translating the text of the Kama Sutra, and providing commentary.  After he dies, the completion of the translation and the other matters of the academic estate are left to one of his doctoral candidates, who then annotates the professor’s translation/commentary.  Sooo yeah.  There’s a lot of playing with language, which is awesome, and in some places it’s just ridiculous; definitely a funny & entertaining read, even if occasionally confusing.
“We were, nevertheless, not so happy that she had convinced Isaac that being a poet was a good career choice.  In Vatsyayana’s time the profession promised fame, fortune, the love of women, and the respect of men, not to mention a higher birth in the next life.  But no longer; we live, as everyone has surely noticed, in tawdry times in a banal world.”

2. Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger.  Ah, Holden Caufield.  I guess I heard a lot of hype about this book, because I wasn’t completely bowled over or anything by it.  I guess at the time it was written it was most likely a truly transformative writing style – very innovative.  And it is incredibly stream-of-consciousness, and Holden is an engaging character, whether or not you like him (which I found him pretty sympathetic).  Good read.

“You could tell he wasn’t tired at all, though.  He was pretty oild up, for one thing. ‘I think that one of these days,’ he said, ‘you’re going to have to find out where you want to go.  And then you’ve got to start going there.  But immediately.  You [Holden] can’t afford to lose a minute.  Not you.’  I nodded, because he was looking right at me and all, but I wasn’t too sure what he was talking about.  I was pretty sure I knew, but I wasn’t too positive at the time.  I was too damn tired.”

3. The Mermaid Chair – Sue Monk Kidd

So.  This book is the only one that wasn’t somewhat satirical.  It was also probably the one I enjoyed the least out of this batch. I like Sue Monk Kidd – I *loved* The Secret Life of Bees.  But I don’t know, I just found this one kind of meh.  Predictable; not in terms of plot (which is pretty interesting) but just in terms of message I guess.  And delivery/voice.  Same old thing.  True, it’s an interesting premise – a woman falling in love with a monk, plus the additional mystery of what’s going on with her mother and how her father died – but it really just kind of fell flat for me.  It was also a little too romance-novel-esq…mushy.  But there were still some enjoyable parts, and the ending was a little surprising in some ways.  An easy read to pick up and put down from time to time, I think (what my former yoga instructor called “a good bedside book”).

“After I’d learned how my father had died, there was a lifting away of sorrow.  I can’t explain that, except to say there’s release in knowing the truth no matter how anguishing it is.  You come finally to the irreducible thing, and there’s nothing left to do but pick it up and hold it.  Then, at least, you can enter the severe mercy of acceptance.”

4.  Mumbo Jumbo – Ishmael Reed.  I enjoyed this book quite a bit; it really pushed me to think and examine it in a literary way (as had Love in a Dead Language).  Reed’s composition of the novel was stimulating and drew from a number of different means of presentation.  The novel presents the “Jes Grew” movement in the 1920s and the ensuing conspiracy by the “Wallflower Order” to depose it.  Essentially it looks at the way Western Civilization seeks to control its members of society and, specifically, the relations between blacks & whites throughout history.  Highly satirical and definitely requires that you pay close attention to what you’re reading.“What it boils down to, LaBas, is intent.  If your heart’s there, man, that’s 1/2 the thing about The Work.  Even the European Occultists say that.  Doing The Work is not like taking inventory,  Improvise some.  Open up, PaPa.  Stretch on out with It.”

5. Nightlight: A Parody – The Harvard Lampoon.  I absolutely LOVED this book.  Like more than words can say.  As most of you know, I’m a bit ambivalent when it comes to the Twilight saga…this book picks up on all of those aspects which caused me to take issue with the books.  And it’s just so dead-on and hilarious.  Please go read it.  I can’t say it enough.  Also, you’re going to have multiple quotes on this one cause it cracks me up…It’s enjoyable whether or not you’ve read the Twilight books, or seen the movie, but it’s even more amazing if you have read the books…

“Why did I have to beware?  Was Edwart going to hurt me?  What hadn’t he hurt me yet?  Was I not worth the trouble of hurting?  No.  I was being insecure.  I was worth a lot of hurting, elaborately planned to take place in an old ballerina room with easily shattered mirrors to complete the gloriously gory spectacle.  If Edwart didn’t think I was worth that, I’m sure some other vampire would.”

“‘So is it awkward if I ask what our status is?’ I asked quickly.  Not that I cared either way.  I just wanted to know, you know?  ‘Not at all.  We’re a couple now.’  Hmm. I wondered how I’d express that on Facebook.  I’d have to change it from what it was before: ‘It’s complicated with a vampire.’  But then I realized that worked pretty well with the new scenario.”

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been reading for the past monthish.  Onto new books…happy reading all!