I've been reading a lot lately, and not updating my list on the left. I read very few books in June and the first part of July, but in the last few weeks I've been whipping through 'em. I have a notebook in which I keep a list of what I read, and what I want to read, and of books I check out from the library but don't get to (but want to read in the future).
I wish I could say that I write down my thoughts of what I read, a kind of critique, but I don't. I should. I'd like to. Maybe I will! But it's not too likely.
So here's what I've read, with only brief comments.
Population: 485 -- Michael Perry
Truck: A Love Story -- Michael Perry
Both non-fiction, memoir-type books by Wisconsin-native Perry. The first is about his hometown and his work there as a paramedic (and writer). The second is about a truck, yes, but also about romance, marriage, community, writing, and gardening.
Mr. Perry will be in Smallville next week for a reading, but I'll miss him -- I'll be in Wisconsin. Maybe I'll wave to him as we pass each other on I-94. I liked both of these a lot. Great writing about small town and rural communities without the usual idealization ("the real America!") or patronizing tone. (I could write a tome on how irritated I get by the "it-won't-play-in-middle-America" idea, and the belief of some coastal types that we're all ignorant rednecks. Only some of us are ignorant rednecks.)
Waiting for Daisy - Peggy Orenstein
A woman's journal through infertility hell. Happy ending, though -- she eventually had a daughter. I'm sure a lot of women with similar issues can relate to this. But I found Orenstein to be a bit irritating, and her comment that she didn't want to adopt in the US because she might end up with a child with disabilities rubbed me the wrong way. (Hey, Peggy! It can happen the biological route as well. And it's not the tragedy you seem to think it is.)
The United States of Arugula - David Kamp
A history of the gourmet and organic food movements in the US. Really fascinating, and something that's been on my mind a lot lately. I like to cook, but I'm not a gourmet, and oftentimes the food I see in, for example, "Food & Wine" has about as much to do with my kitchen as runway fashions have to do with what I put on in the morning. Someday I'll write a longer entry re. my thoughts and criticisms of the "buy organic/buy local" idea. I liked this book a lot. And it lead me to read...
My Life in France -- Julia Child
Julia's memoir of her time in France with her diplomat-husband back in the 1940's and 1950's. I love Julia. She was witty and profane and must have been a stitch to be around. Lots of background on how she learned to cook and how her famous cookbook (Mastering the Art of French Cooking) came to be.
The Stand -- Stephen King
Whoa, where did this come from? It's summer, and I wanted a good read. I read this years ago when it first came out. This is an updated version, with some of the original cuts restored. I didn't really notice these too much -- it had been too long since my first reading of it. King updated the time period to be more present-day (rather than 1980's) and some of it didn't quite make sense. (A character born in 1967 remembers the Watts Riots of 1965.) But it's still a good read.
The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million -- Daniel Mendelsohn
Another nonfiction book: the author's search for six relatives killed in the Holocaust, with parallels to the Old Testament. Literate and sad. Obviously not a "beach read." Wait until November.
Another future entry: the list of books that I've read about the Holocaust. There are so many excellent works to chose from.
Gilead -- Marilynn Robinson
This won the Pulitzer Prize, and I understand why. It's told from the point-of-view of an elderly minister in the form of a letter to his very young son. A quote from the Amazon description: "Robinson takes the story away from being simply the reminiscences of
one man and moves it into the realm of a meditation on fathers and
children, particularly sons, on faith, and on the imperfectability of
man."
It's profound, but its profundity seemed to come so gradually, so subtly, that it didn't feel like a "difficult" read. Still, I'm going to re-read it. It's a work that would be even better, I think, read slowly and more closely. I loved her book Housekeeping as well, though these are two very different books. She's an amazing writer.
Waiting: the True Confessions of a Waitress -- Debra Ginsberg
A memoir of Ginsberg's years as a waitress. Anyone who has worked in a restaurant can relate to this. (My years at Perkins still haunt me.) Not merely restaurant stories, but Ginsberg's take on how our culture views food, restaurants, and waitresses and what a sexually-charged atmosphere restaurants can be. It's strangely true! The only people gettin' more than restaurant workers have to be theater people.
Ginsberg has also written a book about her autistic son, Raising Blaze: Bringing Up an Extraordinary Son in an Ordinary World. (The book came out before this diagnosis was given. From what I've read, it's her account of dealing with the school system and advocating for her "different" son.) This is on my "to read" list.
A Cure for Gravity: A Musical Pilgrimage-- Joe Jackson
A memoir by the composer/singer about his childhood, adolescence, and years at the Royal Academy of Music in London. I've always been a fan of Jackson's, and it doesn't surprise me that he is as good a writer as he is a musician. (His first love, in fact, was writing -- comic books in particular.)
Little Children -- Tom Perrotta
I saw the movie last week. There was some voice-over narration in the movie, a sure sign that it came from a novel. Two days after I saw it, I found the book in a Goodwill. Typically, the novel has more character development and a different ending than the movie. But Perrotta worked on the script, so that change must have been approved. I liked both movie and book. They both had a rather uncomfortable undercurrent of creepiness to them, with a layer of satire on top. Perrotta also wrote Election (which was made into a movie with Reese Witherspoon a few years ago).
I'm going on vacation next week, and I splurged and bought a brand new hardcover book (unusual for me): The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown. In my mind there is no better vacation reading than celebrity biographies. (And true crime. And horror.) The hard part is waiting until I'm actually on vacation. The book sits on my desk like a big ol' bowl of potato chips, salty and oily, waiting to be devoured.
Though I used Amazon links for all of the above (I like to read the excerpts and reviews), my favorite internet bookstore is Abebooks -- a network of independent bookstores across the English-speaking world. It's a great place for bargains, as well as new, used, out-of-print, rare, and children's books.
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