Author Archive
Central Library’s book group met last Wednesday night and discussed The Believers by Zoe Heller. Almost right out of the gate came one of the central themes of the meeting: can you like a book with unlikeable characters? Zoe Heller’s take (from an interview on NPR): “lots of people in the world behave just as unpleasantly as my characters do, and I’m slightly irritated by what I think is a kind of modern demand for characters you can root for, be friends with.” You GO Zoe!
Now, this book centers on a family thrown off kilter by the stroke of the patriarch, himself a towering figure– a NYC socialist lawyer fighting against injustice. He’s so well known that his court battles are covered often in the newspaper, and we are led to believe early on he’s got an outsize ego to go with this celebrity. But really, we don’t know too much about him, because the story is really about his wife and three adult children. Lenny is a drug addict; Karla is a social worker in a marriage that is right on paper but wrong in reality; and Rosa is a do-gooder looking for some spiritual grounding. Wife and mother Audrey is the real tough one to like: she’s in a screechy state of denial about Lenny and about her husband, and a scold and nag to her daughters.
So what’s to like? The title illuminates what is beneath the surface here: each character is working on what they believe– and struggling with it: politics or religion or drugs or one’s ideals. And if you are a fan of black humor, it’s here in spades. For fans of The Corrections, Then We Came to the End and those who think no orthodoxy is infallible.
April 27th, 2010
Liz - Central Library
Central Library’s book group met Wednesday March 17th to discuss A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick. Despite a raft of positive reviews in the professional reviewing press (Publisher’s Weekly, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post) there are quite a few Reliable Wife haters on the internet. And that usually means we’ll have a good discussion.
Most in our group really liked the book and found it a page-turner and compelling. Many also liked the gothic setting of early 1900s winter in Wisconsin. Two of us literally detested the book.. and one was me. One of the problems I had with the book was its problems with time. Too much happened in too little time. And yes, winter goes on far too long around here… but not quite THAT long. Many loved the plot twists and the creepy psychology of the main characters. One called the book compulsively readable.
As Kylee said in her review here on MADreads, there is lots and lots of sex here. Some in our group thought is was well written sex– erotic, in fact, which can be hard to pull off. We also talked quite a bit about the author’s background, as he has written a well-reviewed and well-publicized memoir of his horrid upbringing (alcoholic parents, abuse) and his own decade of addiction. In one interview about both books on the Powell’s website he tells us that the three main characters of A Reliable Wife are all facets of his own personality. And when (or if) you read this book that will be an even more shocking statement.
Next up for us is The Believers by Zoe Heller.
April 2nd, 2010
Liz - Central Library
Are you, like I, married to someone who’s traffic style is totally different from yours? If so, you might be interested in delving deeper into the psychology of it all via Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt.
First off, it seems traffic congestion has been around since the time of Caesar’s Rome (yikes!) when roads around the Temples of the Gods were closed to carts and chariots during daytime hours, unless said carts were transporting building materials. Makes you think we might not solve this thing in our lifetime (ahem.)
Perhaps only frustrated passenger like me would care to read about the various methods people use to merge…and what’s right and wrong with each. But, many more, I’m sure, would be interested in how Los Angeles handles traffic lights the night of the Oscars (and let me tell you– it involves an underground bunker and walkie talkies!) Or what happens cognitively when you are talking and listening on a cell phone while driving (not good.)
One of my favorite conversation starters from the book involves how we park. ‘We’ spend longer driving around parking lots looking for a closer-to-the-door place to park than the time it would’ve taken to merely park at the first sort-of close spot and walk. And, we think spots in the aisles closer to the store, no matter how far down the aisle, are superior to the spots in side aisles, even when we can get a spot much farther up. Pay attention next time you’re at Target: it’s all true.
This book is essentially a Freakonomics on traffic and driving, but maybe a wee bit too long. No problem– just quit when you want and browse and read at your discretion.
December 4th, 2009
Liz - Central Library
The World Below is a story that moves back and forth between a granddaughter (in her 50s) going through her now deceased grandmother Georgia’s belongings– including diaries– and the actual life her grandmother really lived, way back when.
Granddaughter Catherine had of course always known her Grandfather was much older than Grandmother. She didn’t know that he was also her doctor, and the one who sent her to a sanitarium recuperate from TB. As Catherine reads the short, veiled diary entries, we readers get to turn the page and read a first person account of what ‘really’ happened.
Life in the sanitarium was much different, and shall we say more ‘liberal’ in its codes of conduct, that the outside world at that time. By moving her there, her doctor thought he’d get her away from the overwork of running the household following the death of her mother. What he didn’t know was that romance bloomed there, regularly, and those who might be dying approached their current insular life sometimes with abandon (over-abandon?)
What worked here for me was the idea, well realized by author Sue Miller, that what you know from living in a particular family your whole life is different from what may be in a diary, which is surely an abridged version of what really happened. And we adults all know our parents and grandparents were once young and foolish… but it can still be a shock.
As usual, Miller handles the interweaving of the storylines well. Very engaging!
April 23rd, 2009
Liz - Central Library
American Farmer: The Heart of Our Country is one of the few books I’ve encountered that couples truly outstanding, huge, pictures with essential reading. Photographer Paul Mobley traveled around our fine land for a couple of years, spending time with the farmers that grow our food and raise the meat we eat. Here they are, in their own words, sometimes describing the farming lifestyle, sometimes the actual work they do, and often how their family works together to have success at farming.
I was interested in the book when I saw the cover in a magazine. I ordered a copy when I saw the author on Martha Stewart with a few of the featured farmers. I was thinking I’d enjoy flipping through the pictures. But once I got started I became committed to reading all the essays (though I eventually gave up on reading every ranching essay.)
I couldn’t put my finger on why this was such a compelling book to me until I read his afterword. In many cases, Paul stayed with the family for a day or two or three: eating with them, walking the land, and just visiting. He believes (and I believe he is right) that those conversations and time spent together improved the pictures. Now that I’ve been made aware (thanks Ms. Tabori!) of the efforts of Katrina Fried, author of the text, I’d say perhaps these trips also allowed her to capture a more personal style of essay from the farmers.
I’ve edited this review since its posting, at the site editor’s request, to reflect that I now know what I didn’t while reading: Katrina Fried interviewed, transcribed, and edited the conversations with the farmers so well it just sounds like they are talking directly to you.
Its really a wonderful book, and I suspect readers in Madison, who are already so committed to supporting local farming, will find it enthralling.
February 23rd, 2009
Liz - Central Library
You know how there are books that ‘everyone’ has read except you? That you’ve meant to read…probably when it came out…but never got around to?
For some reason I read these types of books while on vacation. A couple years back I read, finally, Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner while at a northwoods cabin, and it was awesome…definitely lived up to the hype. Then the next year I read Carol Shields’ The Stone Diaries and talked on and on about it when I got back from…the same northwoods cabin.
This Christmas/New Year’s season it was Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. Close readers of this blog know I swooned (seriously) over her newest book American Wife. I suppose that’s what got me choosing Prep this holiday period.
Frankly, it was kind of a tough read. Not as in difficult language. Not because horrible things happen to people in the novel. (they don’t) Just that the main character was both sweet, innocent and intensely irritating.
The novel takes place at a boarding school on the East Coast. Main character Lee Fiora is there on scholarship, and is full of social anxiety. So much so that she plans conversations in advance, debriefs in her own mind after each one, and even avoids people she’s just had a GOOD conversation with so she won’t run into them and disappoint them if the 2nd conversation isn’t as good as the first.
Nearly all of us had anxiety and social awkwardness issues in high school, but Lee’s are at such a high level that I felt alternatively sorry for her; irritated by her; disgusted by her; and exasperated by her. Which, I suppose, is really saying something. Lee does do better as the years progress. But not lots better…just some. She does find a super supportive roommate in Martha, but then I wondered exactly why Martha kept hanging around with such a needy friend. Probably to an author a strong reaction in a reader is far better than a reader’s boredom. But I’m not sure that’s the emotional arc I’m looking for personally in a book.
Still two out of three is pretty good odds in my catch-up reading so the trend will probably continue.
January 16th, 2009
Liz - Central Library
… is the title of the latest Kate Atkinson novel. And you may be asking yourself the above question as the book progresses.
Why? Mayhem, murder, kidnapping (maybe), train wreck, life threatening injuries: its all here in sort of a pile-on fashion. So why didn’t I find it to be grim? Its the tone of the main characters. They seem to just take it as it comes. Roll with it. Survive and thrive. Carry on. Even when their lives get more difficult. They’re both admirable and realistic.
Dr. Joanna Hunter is the lone survivor (at age eight) of a major act of violence that killed her siblings and mother. She’s married now, with a baby of her own. Her babysitter Reggie is a 16 year old smarty whose mother has recently died and who’s brother is a criminal. She’s plucky (and loves Dickens) and has found a way to get support via Dr. Hunter (’Call me Jo’), the Pakistani family that runs the corner store, and her former English teacher that’s prepping her for college. And neither Jo nor Reggie has told the other of their losses. They keep that to themselves, as it isn’t what either of them wants to be ‘known for.’
Add to that mix the duo of Louise and Jackson, an Inspector and a Private Eye, who’ve appeared in two previous Atkinson novels, and you’ve got a great cast of characters. When the dark forces listed above come after Jo and Reggie (separately), you feel quite sure Louise and Jackson will ultimately sort it all out.
Did I mention this book (and the others starring Louise and Jackson) are set in Scotland? I loved the culture references that are so different from our own (Tesco and Topshop stores), Paddington station, the Paki corner store. Another winner from this outstanding author.
November 10th, 2008
Liz - Central Library
The novel American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld just absolutely knocked 
my socks off. Seriously, it is SOOO GOOD that I’m considering writing her a fan letter.
American Wife is an account of a young Wisconsin woman who meets and marries a man very different from her. He’s rich, he’s a partier, he’s intellectually beneath her. But she loves him. She finds him fun. And she probably needs some fun.
By setting the book in Wisconsin and changing some details– Charlie Blackwell is part of the family’s meat business until he buys the Brewers baseball team — Sittenfeld is fictionalizing the lives of George Bush and his wife Laura. But…the way she describes him (George/Charlie) especially, lets you know this is absolutely the Bushes, just tweaked.
Why did I love this book so very much? Because it is really about Laura/Alice and their marriage. I didn’t really know, until I began reading, why a smart, quiet librarian who never wanted to give any speeches would marry a snarky, heavy drinking, not-intellectually-vigorous man. And here Sittenfeld imagines why. And how a marriage of very different people can work because, frankly, of the power of love and attraction.
Most of the novel takes place in the years before Bush/Blackwell was governor or president. Especially fun for our readers will be the accuracy with which Sittenfeld portrays Madison (where a BIG chunk of the book is set) and Wisconsin.
Love or hate the Bushes– surprisingly I don’t think it matters here. The deeper insights into marriage and partnership and the interior life of a woman who never ran for anything but ended up on the global stage is completely engrossing.
October 29th, 2008
Liz - Central Library
The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block is one such novel. It follows two threads, one an aging man stuck in his farmhouse homestead, which over the years has become surrounded by subdivision. He and his house are the last of a dying breed, and he stays and stays due to family unhappiness and tragedy.
The other story thread involves a young-ish mother experiencing early onset Alzheimer’s. Her husband stays in denial longer than her teenage son, and when they ultimately must put her in a care center, the son goes detective– searching for details on his mother’s mysterious past.
Between these two threads are fake ‘factual’ (and semi-factual) notes about the history of early onset Alzheimer’s and a bedtime story-like tale of an alternate world called Isidora.
That sounds like alot. And it is, especially for a slim book. But I’m always amazed when an author so young (still in his 20s) can chronicle heartbreak that takes years in real-life to process and learn from. His portrait of early onset Alzheimer’s certainly reads as emotionally true. If the bedtime story sections get a bit tedious, or the fake ‘factual’ sections too arcane, the two narratives that ultimately come together (don’t they always? And isn’t that why we like multiple thread narratives?) are so satisfying in their emotional impact that I have to recommend this book.
October 9th, 2008
Liz - Central Library
Were you a huge fan of The Wire on HBO? If so, then you’re probably aware that one of the great strengths of the show was the writing– done by authors such as George Pelecanos and Richard Price.
I’ve read Richard Price before, but this latest novel Lush Life gets closest to the style of The Wire. The book starts off strong, with a lengthy, manipulative interrogation of a homicide witness and probable suspect by detective Matty Clark and his partner Yolanda. Turns out [spoiler alert] they’ve gotten it all wrong, and now are a week into the investigation with no good leads.
The routes up and down the food chain within the NYPD are fascinating. The maneuvers to get extra manpower on the case and the ways in which they are deflected is classic Wire stuff. Perhaps if you’re reading this for plot-plot-plot you might be a bit dissapointed. But, if what you like is authentic dialogue and an insider’s view of a huge bureaucracy, you’ll adore this book.
September 5th, 2008
Liz - Central Library
The Facebook Book by Greg Atwan was designed, supposedly, as a humor book. But it actually had some real-life conundrums and their potential solutions. It was kinda funny too, but mostly useful.
If you have a Facebook profile, then you know that people want to be your ‘friend’, and that there’s a limit to the number of ‘friends’ you can have (something massive like 250) This can this get a bit like high school: some people are actually more interested in collecting quantities of friends than they are in your life (and those types you’re definitely not interested in yourself.) But…what to do? ‘Ignore’ them? Add them as a friend, but dial down the information you get from them?! It is the stuff of Dear Abby in a way, but also ridiculous and such small stuff to be concerned with in the grand scheme of things.
If you are on Facebook, you may want to check this out, merely to go ‘oh YEAH!’ to the etiquette dilemmas.
August 15th, 2008
Liz - Central Library
Oooh…what an unusual read. David Guterson’s new novel The Other follows two very different friends who first are introduced at a track meet. John William is from a wealthy family and an elite private school. Neil Countryman is being raised by a single dad, and leads a more ordinary life. Both graduate and move on to different colleges, and that’s when John William REALLY starts to change.
A rant-and-raver always, he starts to turn against society, and especially his privleged upbringing. He drops out of school and moves to a trailer in the woods. Neil visits him there, bringing supplies at each visit, and continues to make the trek even after John William moves to a cave deep in the woods.
I love this novel for its mega-outdoors angle (how refreshing) and its exploration of male friendship. Neil continues to really make an effort to support and provide camaraderie to a friend who seems to be really going off the rails. Guterson has structured the novel to shift back and forth in time, which gives it some suspense…as we know some of what happens to John William, but not why or when. Another outstanding novel from the author of Snow Falling on Cedars — another long-time fave of mine.
July 1st, 2008
Liz - Central Library
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