People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry (2012)

Subtitled: The True Story of a Young Woman who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo and the Evil that Swallowed Her Up.  If you aren't sold already, just based on that awesome title and subtitle, here's what the book is about:  In 2000, a young British woman named Lucie Blackman was working as a hostess in a club in Tokyo when she disappears completely.  I mean, completely.

This true crime novel is fascinating on a number of levels.  First of all, it's got great literary credentials as Richard Lloyd Parry was the Asia editor of the Times of London.  Parry explores the 'water trade' and the complex hostess and hospitality culture in Japanese society.  He gets in depth with the complex relationships between Lucie's parents and family and friends.  He also provides an interesting look at the Japanese criminal process, and how very different it is from the American process.  And the book is just flat out suspenseful and gripping.  It's one of the best true crime books I've ever read.

Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979)

Written in the mid-1970s and set in contemporary times, Kindred is about Dana, a black woman in her 20s who is mysteriously pulled back in time to the antebellum South to keep saving the life of a man she eventually finds out is one of her ancestors.  Dana keeps getting pulled back and forth in time--sometimes alone, sometimes with her white husband--and her life keeps intertwining with that of her ancestor and the slaves he keeps on his plantation. 

Provides a fascinating look at the lives of slaves, as well as life for any black person in the antebellum South.  In addition, it's a very interesting look at the relationship between Dana and her husband and their life in the 1970s.  Although it sounds a bit grueling, it's also compulsively readable and amazingly well told.

In the edition I read, there was a fascinating critical essay by Robert Crossley that provided more context.  Despite being so much of its time period, the novel itself does not seem dated at all.  It's still a fascinating novel with a lot to say.

In the Bag by Kate Klise (2012)

As light and fluffy and delicious as cotton candy, this is a novel told from four perspectives: A mother and daughter traveling to Paris, and a father and son traveling to Madrid to work on an art installation. A glass of spilled wine, and two similar looking bags lead to a note left in a carry-on, mixed up bags, surreptitious email conversations, faking sickness, and planned meetings in Paris and Barcelona.

Dishy and light and fun, with realistic, charming characters.  Klise will definitely be an author I'll keep an eye out for again. 

Wallflower in Bloom by Claire Cook (2012)

A lovely novel--from the author of Must Love Dogs--about a woman who works for her famous guru brother and campaigns to be on Dancing with the Stars instead of him.   She has an extremely close, sometimes uncomfortably so, family and the familial relationships are realistic and touching. I love that she's pretty self-obsessed, which is a fine line to take with a character, and tricky to make a character like that both realistic and likeable, but Cook pulls it off beautifully.

Along with her own personal struggles, this is an interesting exploration of the inner workings of celebrity life (on a number of different levels). I loved this line by her dancing partner, Ilya, who is trying to get her out of her funk:  "He shrugged. 'Whatever comes at you, it's all energy. You have to take it and make it work for you. My best dances come from that place.'"  A great, realistic novel about a woman in transition with just enough humor to make it endearing as well. 

Carry the One by Carol Anshaw (2012)

A strange, meditative, but quite engaging, novel. 

A group of friends and family are involved in a car accident that results in the death of a young girl. This is not a "I Know What You did Last Summer" sort of novel, but more a novel that takes this crucial act as the springboard for following these friends and the paths their lives take after the incident. Explores their work and artistic lives, and their romantic lives as well.

Lovely, with some wonderful writing on life. I loved this quote, as divorced Carmen rejects a man who hasn't even approached her yet:

"The social road ahead looked like a bleak highway, post-apocalyptic, overblown with dust, gray and lifeless except for mutants popping up here and there." 

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (2012)

Fascinating young adult novel about a young woman working as a secret agent who is captured by the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied France, and her friend, a pilot working with the civilian air force.

Divided into two parts, the first unfolds as a written confession, but all is not as it seems. The second follows the pilot after crash landing in France. Gripping, suspenseful, and chilling, this is a great story of friendship, but also of parts of World War II that we don't necessarily always hear about.

How to Get Divorced by 30 - Sascha Rothchild (2010)

Surprisingly engaging memoir (subtitled My Misguided Attempt at a Starter Marriage). Outlines in chapters the various steps she semi-unwittingly went through to get divorced by 30 (including "Keep Your Belongings Separate", "Include Your Spouse in a Performance Where You Read Off Your List of Sexual Partners", and "Marry an Actor."

Rothchild, a struggling writer living in L.A. who married a struggling actor, has a lovely, dry sense of humor, and a realistic, healthily critical self-image (she includes quotes from her "self-indulgent" diaries).

 What I loved about this book, besides its insightful look at love and romance and what we tell ourselves we want and need, is that I ended up actually wanting to know more about her. Often, with memoirs, I'm like, enough already--I don't need to know any more about your grandmother, your birth or your sixth-grade teacher.  But her home life (as well as her romantic life) is really fascinating, with a strangely detached mother and siblings who we don't get to know well enough. And we only get little glimpses of it, as well as her semi-turbulent childhood. I love leaving a memoir wanting more! Plus, it is really funny.

The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty (2011)

Liane Moriarty is one of those authors that just speak to me.  She has such wonderful insights into character and relationships and builds such compelling, believable characters.

This novel is about Ellen O'Farrell, a hypnotherapist in her mid-30s, who just met a promising new man.  Things are going well until he tells her that he has a stalker--a woman he broke up with three years ago.  The story is told in alternating sections from Ellen's (3rd person) POV and Saskia's 1st person POV (the stalker).  Slightly quirky and very endearing, I think Liane Moriarty is a great readalike for Maeve Binchy.  Just change the setting from Ireland to Australia!  But keep the compelling characters and relationships and satisfying plots.

"I was stunned.  I'm not sure why.  I think I just never expected him to be important enough to make any significant changes in his life, but of course, he doesn't know that he's only a minor character in my life.  He's the star of his own life and I'm the minor character.  And fair enough too."

See also:  What Alice Forgot and Three Wishes.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (2012)

I adore Gillian Flynn and I loved this book.  Her third novel, and an immediate bestseller, lived up to all of the hype, and to my fond memories of reading her other two books. 

The story is told by a husband whose wife goes missing, and also through journal entries of the wife previous to the disappearance.  And yet we don't know the whole story.  Chilling and surprising, and includes some really great, insightful and often funny writing.  See below:

"I am not interested in being set up.  I need to be ambushed, caught unawares, like some sort of feral love-jackal.  I'm too self-conscious otherwise.  I feel myself trying to be charming, and then I try to be even more charming to make up for the fake charm, and then I've basically turned into Liza Minnelli: I'm dancing in tights and sequins, begging you to love me.  There's a bowler and jazz hands and lots of teeth."

"Mainly, I will admit, I smile because he's gorgeous.  Distractingly gorgeous, the kind of looks that make your eyes pinwheel, that make you want to just address the elephant--'You know you're gorgeous, right?'--and move on with the conversation.  I bet dudes hate him:  He looks like the rich-boy villain in an 80s teen movie--the one who bullies the sensitive misfit, the one who will end up with a pie in the puss, the whipped cream wilting his upturned collar as everyone in the cafeteria cheers."

 A page-turning novel that absolutely refuses to get off the bestseller lists.  Good for Flynn!  Write more books!

I Want My MTV by Craig Marks and Rob Tennenbaum (2011)

Just like a great documentary, there's something so satisfying about a really well-written, perfectly edited oral history.  I Want My MTV: The Uncensored History of the Music Video Revolution is a perfect example, since the people interviewed are outspoken, honest and often hilarious. My copy of this is stuffed with post-it notes marking hilarious quotes from various performers. It's really well done. My only complaint is that there are so few photos--I'd like to see a few more photos of the people behind the scenes at MTV and the VJs, who were the face of MTV. Definitely inspired me to go to YouTube and look up videos, including the ones commonly described as the best (A-ha's Take On Me) and the worst (Billy Squier's Rock Me Tonite -- sorry, Billy.  No one can deny you still looked good even in a pink tank top.)  Fun and dishy.

And so many fantastic quotes (a totally random sampling):

Stewart Copeland: "We would tease Stingo that he couldn't walk past a mirror without primping. And he would say, 'Fuck off, it's my job. And yours, too, by the way.'"


Billy Gibbons: "I still sign autographs for girls who say, 'I was just thirteen and I couldn't wait to dress up like the girl in "Legs.'"  (So me.  That outfit was awesome.)

Joe Elliot: "When we were kids growing up in Sheffield, there were only two types of clothing shops--men's and women's. And you were never going to find stage wear in a men's shop. So nearly everything we wore, from the waist up, was female. Blouses and T-shirts with loud patterns, designed for big ladies."

John Landis: "One of my guilty pleasures is that when I see a group of people try to do the 'Thriller' dance using the record, they have to wander around like zombies waiting for the goddamn music to start, because the recorded version begins with all these sound effects that aren't in the video."

Lionel Richie: "The funniest story about 'Hello' is that I kept going back to Bob over and over again, saying, 'Bob, that bust of me does not look like me.' 'Bob, the bust does not look like me.' Finally, Bob came over to me and said, 'Lionel, she's blind.'"

Stewart Copeland: "I grew to understand that videos were mainly about getting our singer's face out there. Because it was so pretty. That's the way it goes. Drummers learn that lesson pretty early in life. Guitarists never quite learn that lesson. Drummers and bass players, we're over it."

Sebastian Bach: "Dude, when they talk about 'hair metal', whose hair do you think they're talking about? I've still got it. I'm looking at it right now. And it's so flaxen!"

Awesome and deliciously fun for anyone who grew up on MTV (or Friday Night Videos, for that matter).

What I Hate from A to Z by Roz Chast (2011)

I adore Roz Chast's drawings, and I adore a good rant and this book brings both of those things together in one.  Although, as Chast explains in the introduction, it's really less things she hates than things that make her anxious. But that's not as snappy of a title. One of my favorites is her entry on balloons: "When I look at a balloon, all I see is an imminent explosion. Where's the fun in that?"  Amen.

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson (2011)

If you like the films of Wes Anderson, you'll love The Family Fang.  They share the same quirky family relationships, eccentricities and attention to detail.  Even the cover art is reminiscent of The Royal Tenenbaums.  In this novel, the parents (of the family Fang) are eccentric performance artists, dedicated to creating unusual and unexpected public scenes.  As the book begins, the parents have gone missing.  Their two children, often unwitting or unwilling participants in their parents' art, now grown and finding their way in the world have to figure out where they parents have gone.

This novel has a strange, eccentric, and funny charm.  And as much as I liked the novel, I LOVED the cover, and kept looking back at it as I read the book.  Shout out to book designer Allison Saltzman and artist Julie Morstad for an amazing, compelling cover.  See also Bookslut's interview with Kevin Wilson that discusses the art (and a whole lot more.)

Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis (2010)

A total case of the right novel at the right time, these two novels appeared on a friend's best of 2011 list, and the subject coincided with a post-trip obsession with fiction set in London, with a particular emphasis on the Blitz. In the first, Blackout, historians from the year 2060 are routinely sent back through time to witness and report upon various major historical events, safe in the knowledge that they cannot change the events in the past. Historians Polly, Merope and Michael are throughly immersed in their visit to the London of the Blitz, surviving bombings, evacuations, and major battles until they realize they may not be able to get back to their time. At 500+ pages, it's a substantial read, albeit a little repetitive. The portrayal of life in London during the Blitz, however, is fascinating, as are her characters. Which led me to immediately pick up the sequel.

All Clear is an excellent sequel. Where the other novel meandered a bit and set up the situation a bit too fully, this novel starts off with a bang and keeps going. Having gotten to know the characters over 1100+ pages (in the two novels), I found it incredibly gratifying to have this concluded so beautifully. Gently in many ways, but beautifully. Subtly romantic and so wonderfully evocative of what is must have been like living in London during World War II. A delight.  (See also her wonderful collection of Christmas short stories: Miracle and other Christmas Stories.)

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (2008)

Staggeringly good Australian novel about a group of friends and family and the aftermath when one of them slaps another's child at a backyard barbecue. Each chapter is about a different person in the group and their perspective on the event, and the story unfolds as each character is explored (not in a Rashomon way--the story just keeps progressing through the book). Amazing character writing--incredibly insightful into so many characters and their relationships. Just beautifully written and fascinating. 

 Also, loved the multiculturalism of the characters and how much of their characters are linked to their cultural heritage--an idea that doesn't come up that much in American literary fiction (not without making a big stinking deal about it). Amazing, absorbing, insightful.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (2009)

Absolutely adored this novel about a woman who falls down at the gym, hits her head and wakes up with amnesia. Her last memory is of being pregnant with her first child, happily married, and a new homeowner. But it's actually ten years later, she has three children, and is in the midst of a messy divorce. Not only that, but her sister is oddly distant. The beauty of this book is in Alice's slow discoveries of what has happened in the past year, how she (and others) have changed and why. Wonderful, vivid characters, and Moriarty is wonderful with relationships, particularly sisterly relationships. Delightful and humorous but full of insight and complexity as well.

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman (2010)

Charming young adult novel about Elizabeth, who gets a job as a page at the New-York Circulating Material Repository, which lends out objects rather than books. It's also home to the Grimm collection, which contains magical objects that inspired the famous fairy tales. When items (and pages) start disappearing, Elizabeth and her fellow pages have to use everything they can to solve the mystery and get them back. This book is fabulous for anyone who loves libraries and fairy tales. It's subtle and charming, mysterious and romantic and a little funny. Great characters. So yay!  Shulman also wrote the witty young adult Pride and Prejudice-inspired Enthusiam.

Feathered by Laura Kasischke (2008)

A teen novel about three girlfriends who travel to Mexico for spring break, and something awful happens to one of them. Beautifully descriptive of Cancun and at the same time, wonderfully eerie and spooky and tense in the events leading up to the drama. I actually had to put the book down at one point, I was so worried about these poor girls. And the author's description of the girls walk through a debauched spring break party at Club Med is more horrifying than almost anything else in the novel.  Chilling.

Fire and Rain by David Browne (2011)

Subtitled: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970. Incredibly absorbing story of a really pivotal year in music. Alternating chapters explore the lives and works of each of these musicians during this time.  As the music industry is a small world, these stories are constantly intertwining.  Lots of fascinating behind-the-scenes stories with larger than life performers all kept in context with the times as Browne explores the social and political events of the time as well.  Terrific look at a fascinating time in music.

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (2006)

Searching for readalikes for Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, I came across this Swedish novel set in a dystopia where single, childless men and women of a certain age (50 and 60) are sent to 'the unit', a compound where they are studied for scientific research and provide 'donations' for the public. Very interesting and compelling look at a society that values having children above all else.   A fascinating exploration of relationships, considering that the main character's primary romantic relationship in her adult life was with a married man.  Also, there's a beautiful thread about the main character's great love for her dog.  Very unusual, but very well done.

The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman (2007)

A lovely little sketchbook of a book by the artist Maira Kalman. Each page features a drawing or photograph and some small, quiet musing. Somewhat memoir, somewhat philosophy, but lovely and an excellent reminder to appreciate what is around us--whether it be a painting or a stranger's hat.  A few quotes:

"The opera was Eugene Onegin, by Tchaikovsky. From the story by Pushkin. The characters had so many troubles, don't ask."

I also liked this:

"This is a painting of a photo taken in London in 1940. It is a library that was bombed in the Blitz. And then the all-clear sounded. And people returned, hope undiminished. They returned, so elegant and purposeful to the books."

The Raising by Laura Kasischke (2011)

Compulsively readable novel about a boy returning to college after being involved in an accident that killed his girlfriend. But here's the weird thing: he keeps seeing glimmers of her around campus and his memory of the crash still hasn't returned.  Kasischke skillfully weaves together chapters from the present with chapters from the year leading up to the accident.  Eventually the threads meet in such a way that I may have actually gasped out loud.  Beautifully written, suspenseful, and unbelievably absorbing.  I liked this so much I sought out the rest of Kasischke's novels and read them all.  I love the moody, thoughtful, elegiac, but spooky tone of her novels.  See also Feathered and Boy Heaven, two YA novels by Kasischke.

Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell (2009)

Subtitled: A Witchcraft Mystery, this is a charming light mystery about a woman with some witchy powers who runs a vintage clothing store in San Francisco. I loved the mysterious back story of the main character (it's so refreshing when an author doesn't give you all the information right away). It also features handsome romantic interests, evocative San Francisco setting, and a really serious treatment of the seriousness of magic that you don't see in your usual paranormal novel. An unexpected treat.

Slightly Single by Wendy Markham (2002)

Each of the characters in this book is given one defining characteristic.  The heroine of this book, Tracey, is fat. That's it. No physical description other than that, no personality traits whatsoever—she's just fat. The rest of the characters in this book can also be summed up in one word. Unfortunately, for most of the characters, that word is based on their ethnicity or sexual orientation. Her best friend Raphael? Gay. Her coworker Latisha? Black. Her best friend Kate? Rich. Her boyfriend Will? Actor. Her new love interest Buckley? Nice. Her entire family? Upstate New York/Italian-Americans. 

Tracey Spadolini is one of the least likeable characters ever to grace the pages of chick lit. She's fat and unhappy and has a job she hates and has no interests other than brooding about the fact that her boyfriend is leaving her to act in summer stock for the summer. She has nothing good to say about anyone, nor should any of her friends or family expect her to be interested in their lives in any way, except as it pertains to Tracey herself. Not only is she incredibly annoyingly obsessed with her weight (Bridget Jones would tell her to get the hell over it), she's completely clueless about her failing relationship with her attractive actor boyfriend, she's horribly condescending to her entire family, and to top it all off, she's a big old bigot.  

And not only is Tracey a bigot (and not in one of those imperfect anti-heroine kind of ways), but the overall attitude towards gay people in this book is worrying. Tracey has a gay best friend named Raphael (whose defining personality characteristics include wearing tight cutoffs to brunch and having one night stands with sailors) and yet she constantly uses the term "faggy" (and this book was written in 2002!). Every single gay man she comes in contact with is "flamboyant and effeminate" (her words, not mine). Here's Tracey meeting one of Will's housemates at summer stock: "Oh, shut up, Will," says Theodore with such a flouncing flourish that I'm immediately aware that he isn't competing with Will for the fair Esme's attentions . . . as if his name, gold earring and Barbara Streisand concert T-shirt weren't evidence enough." And then he offers her a "limp-wristed handshake." Nice.

Then, when she meets a guy at Raphael's birthday party who seems "low-key and well—normal", she assumes that he's gay, even though he gives her no indication of such, for "would a straight, reasonably adorable guy be at a party like this? In New York? No way." What city, no—what century does this author live in where gay and straight people do not freely commingle? The weird thing is that both Tracey's boyfriend Will and her new love interest Buckley (!) seem way more gay than any of her stereotypical acquaintances. Will is a good-looking actor, who works out constantly, lives platonically with a gorgeous model or something and is dating schlumpy Tracey. Buckley, who uses casually uses words like "minx", "hottie", and "saucy" is prone to the following type of behavior: "He launches into a hilarious description of fellow beach-goers, doing accents and dialogue. He's got me laughing so hard, I'm straining my newly developing abs." When she responds with "I haven't laughed this hard since the first Austin Powers", you know Hepburn and Tracy better watch out.

And just when you think maybe this stereotypical characterization is limited to gay people, along come Tracey's coworkers, including Latisha, who has poor grammar, begins and ends every sentence with "girl" and "wags a finger at [Tracey] in her sassy, don't-give-me-any-crap way." Oh, and five seconds later Tracey remarks that "my troubles pale next to Latisha's. She's a single mother trying to raise an adolescent daughter in a rundown neighborhood where her teenaged sister was shot in a drug-related drive-by shooting a few years ago."   That's quite a lot on anyone's plate.

Long story short, this is a chick lit book with a headache-inducingly dreary (and underwritten) main character.  Not only that, but it shows a worrying tendency towards bigotry. Eek.  Not a fun read at all.

Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs by John Bowe, Marisa Bowe and Sabine Streeter (2000)

I unequivocally loved this book. It's a series of first-person essays based on interviews with Americans about their jobs. Fascinating look at people and their jobs, where sometimes the job itself is fascinating, sometimes the actual person is the fascinating part. The essays are beautifully done and imperceptibly edited--so conversational, just like you're sitting down with someone and they're telling you a really interesting story. LOVED. Provides amazing insight into people's everyday lives.  Some of my very favorites were the husband and wife truckers, the bus driver, the buffalo rancher, the barbecue cooks, and the prison guard.  So many gems of wisdom that can apply to a number of jobs--even a librarian:

 "I wish I had more good days than I do. Because the good days are very good. And it's a good job, overall it is. It's just kind of up and down sometimes, you know? So when you have a good day, you save those days. You hope to have more days like them than you do. My last good day was about two weeks ago. Nobody said anything. Everybody paid. I didn't get cussed at, nobody tried to pull a fast one over me. Everything went real smooth. No traffic, no accidents, no hazards, That was precious." (p. 187 - bus driver)

"If they get excited, they get in trouble. They'll run into a fence or break it down, so be patient. Slow. Keep your mouth shut. Best way to handle them is to put some duct tape over your mouth. If you get excited, they'll get lost or get away, you'll scare them. When you sort them, be quiet. Patient and slow." (p. 225 - buffalo rancher)

"Other than that, you basically just hang out. You don't really work, you just enforce rules and make sure they don't fight and aren't killing each other." (p.549 - prison guard)

High Season by Jon Loomis (2007)

Funny and suspenseful mystery novel starring Frank Coffin, a homicide detective from Baltimore who saw one too many crime scenes and fled for the beach town of Provincetown. However, a series of murders are livening up the town considerably, which is already lively due to its wild and varied gay population. The best elements of this novel are the vivid and unique setting of P-town, the affectionate portrayal of the gay community, and the well-drawn, often eccentric characters. Great female characters, including Frank's girlfriend, a yoga instructor who can take care of herself, as well as Frank's partner Lola. Also, there's a light, dry humor that runs through the entire book that is most enjoyable.  Here's a fascinating description of the "tall ships" in town:

"The straight cross-dressers were harder to figure out--the just plain transvestites everyone in town called tall ships. The tall ships tended to be large men who strode up and down Commercial Street in plus-sized tweed skirts, support hose, and pumpkin-colored lipstick; craggy-faced and lonely-looking men with dispirited wigs and five o'clock shadows poking through pancake makeup."

Later, Frank is showing the photo of the cross-dressing reverend who was found murdered: 

"Oh my God," the drag queen in the sequined dress said. "Look at that sad little outfit. It's just heartbreaking."

Good fun!

My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe (2010)

Subtitled Risking it all for a Convenience Store.   This is a fascinating story about an editor at the Paris Review who buys a deli in Brooklyn with his wife for their Korean in-laws.   He spends his time between working to make the deli a success (and get along with his in-laws) and working in Manhattan at George Plimpton's townhouse for the Review.  Interesting inside story into how a deli is run, and all of the interactions with customers, vendors and the community.  Much struggle and some hilarity ensue.

I listened to this on audio, read by Bronson Pinchot.  Pinchot's reading is fabulously expressive, and he does a dead-on George Plimpton.   His narration made all of the characters so endearing and hilarious--even when I got a big impatient with Howe.  One of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to, ever.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (2003)

Unbelievably gripping book written as a series of letters from a woman to her estranged husband. The subject of the letters is her relationship with him, but primarily the subject is their son Kevin--a very troubled young man who shot up his school. The strange thing about this book is that the subject matter is so very shocking and horrific, which is normally is found more in pulpy, mass market novels, and yet it's written at an incredibly high level, vocabulary-wise and structurally.  It's incredibly compelling, and almost like a more literary The Bad Seed.  So creepy. For a nonfiction take on a similar subject, check out Columbine by Dave Cullen.

Too Close to the Falls - Catherine Gildiner (1999)

Memoir of a young girl growing up in the 1950s in a New York town close to Niagara Falls. Being precocious and hyper, she started working at her dad's drugstore at age four, delivering prescriptions with Roy, one of the most memorable characters in a memoir I've ever encountered. Roy is black, illiterate, completely hilarious, wise and sweet. Interesting exploration of her kooky family (like her mom who never cooked a meal in her life) and her education in a Catholic school.  Unique and endearing.

What You See in the Dark by Manuel Munoz (2011)

Fascinating, spare novel that tells the story of a few inhabitants of Bakersfield, California, from a young singer, her handsome boyfriend, and his hotel owning mother to the Actress and the Director, who are scouting locations for a new film. The film is clearly Psycho, and the story of the singer, her beau and his mother has some interesting parallels to that film. Quiet, melancholy and deliberately written.  From the Director's musing:

"The Americans were always good at dying, but not death. Good at plot, but not fatalism. Good at cowboys shot down from the backs of horses, but not the finality of writhing in the dust. Good at the cars roaring lustily into each other as if no one were in them, but not the full horror of a boy hurtling into the rigidity of the steering column. Good at the beautiful Radcliffe heroine succumbing to cancer in her bed, but not the ugly business of the night nurse wiping her clean at two in the morning. What they didn't know is that you take the little glimmer of the truth of death when you see it, and then have the nerve to give it light."

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (2011)

Lovely novel about three sisters, daughters of a Shakespearean scholar, who return to their home to nurse their mother through a bout with cancer. Great characterizations and complex relationships, but what makes this book truly unique is the narration, which a blending of the voices of all three sisters.  Tricky, but it works.  I also love the strong focus on the love of reading--so many charming asides about reading and I've never read a book where so many characters actually spend time reading. Plus, the family constantly peppers their conversations with Shakespearean quotes. Very charming.  Great quote:

"We were never organized readers who would see a book through to its end in any sort of logical order. We weave in and out of words like tourists on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour. Put a book down in the kitchen to go to the bathroom and you might return to find it gone, replaced by another of equal interest. We are indiscriminate."

Grand Opening by Jon Hassler (1987)

This is a lovely, character-rich depiction of small-town life during World War II. A family pursues their dream of moving to a small town in Minnesota to open a grocery store.  Wonderful characters and relationships, and challenging situations.  Complicated and lovely.  For me, Hassler is the male Maeve Binchy, with wonderfully written 'good' characters and just as well-drawn 'bad' characters, who ultimately end up with some comeuppance for their sins.

Remember Me by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen (2006)

Subtitled: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death.  Time writer Cullen explores some of the stranger customs emerging around death, including modern mummification, green burials, and even making diamonds out of your loved ones' cremains. Well written, and includes lovely sidebars about each person's life and death (inspired by Vows in the NYT, according to the author). Reminded me in the best way of Susan Orlean.

Dangerously Funny by David Bianculli (2009)

Subtitled: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Fascinating inside look at the television show that only lasted three years, but had a huge impact on television and comedy. Plus, an interesting look at the culture of the late sixties as viewed through the prism of television, and what wasn't being said on television. The Smothers Brothers themselves are interesting characters, as are the amazing cast that made up their writing and acting teams.  Only a few of the sketches they refer to are available on Youtube.  I hope they're not lost to the ages.

Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon (2007)

Unexpectedly charming novel about a woman whose married beau leaves his wife for her and she finds out that's not what she wants after all. She hatches a complicated plan to get him off of her hands which includes making up a new persona to befriend his wife and convince her to take him back.  Surprisingly good character development, this novel successfully avoids many of the cliches in chick lit. Very enjoyable!

Life Sucks by Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria and Warren Pleece (2008)

Great graphic novel about unenthusiastic vampire Dave, who works at a convenience store and falls in love with a goth girl. Very much like The Last Man in its humor and charm. Crying out to be made into a movie. I'd love to have seen John Cusack (years ago) play Dave, Matthew McCononaughy play Wes and Jeff Bridges play Merle. Maybe Tony Shalhoub as Radu?  Very witty and fun.

Just Kids by Patti Smith (2010)

Fascinating, beautifully written memoir about Smith's life in New York City in the 1960s and 1970s and her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, as well as her discovering her artistic passion. Beautifully evocative of New York City in that time period--one of the best books about New York I've ever read.   Photographs and artistic illustrations are sprinkled throughout the book like little treasures. Lovely reminiscences including one about a moment with a bunch of legendary people but how she couldn't recognize it because she was too young and self-involved. Love her encounter with Salvador Dali, as well as her complex relationship with Sam Shepherd (aka Slim Shadow). And did I mention the writing?

"The Chelsea was like a doll's house in the Twilight Zone, with a hundred rooms, each a small universe. I wandered the halls seeking its spirits, dead or alive. My adventures were mildly mischievous, tapping open a door slightly ajar and getting a glimpse of Virgil Thomson's grand piano, or loitering before the nameplate of Arthur C. Clarke, hoping he might suddenly emerge....I loved this place, its shabby elegance, and the history it held so possessively....So many had written, conversed, and convulsed in these Victorian dollhouse rooms. So many skirts had swished these worn marble stairs. So many transient souls had espoused, made a mark, and succumbed here. I sniffed our their spirits as I silently scurried from floor to floor, longing for discourse with a gone possession of smoking caterpillars."

Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan (2009)

Excellent haunted house story set on the Upper West Side of New York City. It's a hidden gem--a quality trade paperback hidden in the pages of a mass market paperback.  Good, complex characterization (the ex-fiance and shrewish boss are not painted as black and white bad guys), as well as an unusual, complicated backstory (chaotic naturalism!) and many scenes that just cry out to be filmed.  This is a great fit for fans of the contemporary gothic of Gillian Flynn.

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai (2011)

I loved, loved, loved this novel about a children's librarian who gets mixed up in the life of one of her favorite young patrons as he runs away from an unhappy home life.  I loved this for the charming, quietly hilarious writing; the excellent characterizations; and her unbelievable insight into the true, realistic life and mind of a modern librarian. So many delightful literary allusions and references, but none of it gets in the way of a truly compelling story. This is an easy sell to librarians, but hopefully loved by others as well!  How can you not love a book with these introductory words: 

"These are the settings and main characters. We are nestled into our beanbags: let us begin. (Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern.)"

More quotes I love:

"[Loraine Best, the head librarian] came downstairs some Fridays just to smile and nod at the mothers as they dropped them off, as if she had some hand in Chapter Book Hour. As if her reading three minutes of Green Eggs and Ham wouldn't make half the children cry and the others raise their hands to ask if she was a good witch or a bad witch."

And of course: 

"..and there were at least three stacks of books I personally loathed but held onto just in case someone asked me to loan them ....I'd hate to have to say that I knew the perfect book, but I'd just given it away. Not that people often asked. But once in a while my landlord, Tim, or his partner, Lenny, would invite themselves in to peruse the stacks and ask the world's best question: 'Hey, what do you think I should read?'  It was nice to be prepared." 

A little librarian fun:

"Once a year all the librarians in the county wedged themselves into high heels, tried to pull the cat hair off their sweaters with masking tape, and smeared their lips with an awful tomato red that had gone stale in its tube, all to convince the benefit set of the greater Hannibal region that libraries do better with chairs and books and money."

(See also chapter 8 for "If You Give a Librarian a Closet.")

"I am the mortal at the end of this story. I am the monster at the end of this book. I'm left here alone to figure it all out, and I can't quite. How do I catalogue it all? What sticker do I put on the spine? Ian once suggested that in addition to the mystery stickers and the sci-fi and animal ones, there should be special stickers for books with happy endings, books with sad endings, books that will trick you into reading the next in the series."

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2010)

Amazingly gripping non-fiction book about Henrietta Lacks, a poor black woman whose cells were used for scientific research (and still are). The skill in this book for me is the depiction of her family, as well as mixing the science in in a very palatable way for the non-scientifically inclined. Skloot skillfully makes herself a part of the family, but only as she has to in order to accurate depict her relationships with Lacks' family.  The issue that she's a white woman talking about this black family's experience is raised early and well. Very well done, gripping book. I totally welled at the end. Love the slightly supernatural bits where the family attributes events to Henrietta and her cells.

Gimme Shelter by Mary Elizabeth Williams (2009)

Subtitled: Ugly Houses, Cruddy Neighborhoods, Fast-talking Brokers, and Toxic Mortgages: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream, this is a personal story of the author's search for a home in New York City. Williams has an engaging, endearing, self-deprecating tone that makes the whole book a pleasure to read. Plus, she has a wide circle of friends with different experiences in the housing market all across the country, so it helps broaden the focus. She pops in facts here and there, but they're well woven into the narrative and she has lovely turns of phrase. Just a great book that goes through all of the many dramas and joys involved in becoming a homeowner.

Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell (2008)

Subtitled: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney, This is an amazing, amazing, amazing book on leadership. Cockerell worked in the hospitality industry for years and managed the Disney World Resort operations. Amazing insights into leading and managing and lots of real-world strategies for anyone who's interested in encouraging happy, motivated employees and customers.

My Antonia by Willa Cather (1918)

Okay, so explain to me why we make eighth graders read this book? What on earth do we think they're going to get out of it except a loathing for literature and literature analysis?   I read this for a book club, and it was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be.  Essentially, I've hated it for years based on my experience reading it in Ms. AnderSEN's English class.  (I bear grudges enthusiastically.)  The novel is actually rather beautifully told--after all, it's a classic.  The elements that spoke to me most--the midwestern setting, the lives of children and their relationship to nature--I could not have possibly appreciated them when I was in my early teens.  A couple of my favorite quotes:

"The pale, cold light of the winter sunset did not beautify--it was like the light of truth itself.  When the smoky clouds hung low in the west and the red sun when down behind them, leaving a pink flush on the snowy roofs and the blue drifts, then the wind sprang up afresh, with a kind of bitter song, as if it said:  'This is reality, whether you like it or not.  All those frivolities of summer, the light and shadow, the living mask of green that trembled over everything, they were lies, and this is what was underneath.  This is the truth.'  It was as if we were being punished for loving the loveliness of summer." 

And from Jim's irrepressible friend Lena:

 "Well, it's mainly because I don't want a husband.  Men are all right for friends, but as soon as you marry them they turn into cranky old fathers, even the wild ones.  They begin to tell you what's sensible and what's foolish, and want you to stick at home all the time.  I prefer to be foolish when I feel like it, and be accountable to nobody."

Yeah!

The Loving Dead by Amelia Beamer (2010)

Never underestimate the power of a good blurb.  I picked up this zombie novel because it was blurbed on the front by Christopher Moore as "really kind of hot, in a very creepy way." Truly a modern novel, with really realistic dialogue and believable young characters. You have to love a zombie novel that starts out at a Trader Joe's.  Ooh, and here's an interesting slant:  the virus is spread through sex and kissing.  Which is the zombie world seems like a recipe for some pretty dodgy situations, but Beamer handles them all in very realistic and not at all exploitative ways.   Fun and original.

You Say More Than You Think by Janine Driver (2010)

Subtitled:  The 7-day Plan for Using the New Body Language to Get What you Want.  Fascinating book about the 'new' body language. Outlines a number of principles about how we express ourselves through body language and how to read other's body language. As a former ATF agent, her examples are from real life (not just the corporate world). Also, she points out the fact that not every body language signal necessarily means something. Amazingly useful book for anyone who is interested in human nature and professional and personal interactions with others.

Nancy's Theory of Style by Grace Coopersmith (2010)

This is the thing I love about reading. You pick up a book off the shelf, it looks like a hundred other books (this one is chick lit, so even more so) that turn out to be utter crap, and all of a sudden, you're pleasantly surprised by a great book.

Nancy is a party planner, living apart from her husband in San Francisco while they work out their marriage. As she's getting her company off the ground, her errant cousin swoops in and drops off her child for Nancy to look after. Nancy also hires a fabulous British gay assistant. The characterization in this book is amazing. Quirky but well written characters abound like the elderly neighbor who calls Nancy "Girl Carrington." Even the family members we don't meet are intriguing.  Not just charming, these characters are SO well drawn. Nancy has a penchant for fun wordplay and the charm of Auntie Mame. So very good, but it could never be turned into a movie--it would never translate. It's all in the writing.  Yay books!

Stuff by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee (2010)

Subtitled Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, this is a fascinating look not just at the world of compulsive hoarding, but at the basic attachments we have to our stuff. Explores the research into the roots of hoarding, including OCD and other obsession disorders. Includes case studies and the (sadly, often ineffective) treatments for hoarders. If you've ever watched television shows on hoarding with mouth agape, or looked with a critical eye at your storage shelves, this is the book for you.

My Life Uncovered by Lynn Isenberg (2003)

Where to start? Whew, this is some bad chick lit. Okay, plot: Chick is a screen writer, well, she wrote one screenplay and no one will produce it, so she starts writing adult films and her career takes off. And some other stuff happens, but not much. I read half and skipped to the end. Trust me, nothing happens. What makes this book so bad? First of all, I've seldom read such clunky dialogue. Filled with clumsy exposition and long speeches, this is so remotely not how people talk. Oh, and in case you were wondering what her original, legit screenplay was about?

"My college summers were spent as a podiatric assistant in my dad's, Walt's, officer where I had come to adore Lily. During her ritual footbaths, I came to understand the sacrifices she made in her life, the dreams lost in self-recrimination and the vast love gained in the sweet solitude of surrender. I was deeply touched by her story, steeped in loss and self-renewal."

And the old chick tells writer chick to tell her story. What story? Plot much?

This book is abysmally written. In addition to the clunky dialogue and awkward exposition, she loves her some adverbs and has a knack for turning such a bewildering phrase that I wondered if perhaps English was not her first, or even second, language. She has literally no character development and after reading half the book, I could barely tell the characters apart. Clearly this is why there's a character list in the front of the book. The author also seems to have an odd sense of how things work in the real world. I don't care how great a writer this chick is, if the adult film producer generally pays $500 for a script and he pays her $3500, there's something really wack there. Especially since she's had nothing produced. Plus, allegedly the character had worked at an agency for three years and she's never heard the term "units" (used in a video context)? Weird.

But what's REALLY weird is the content of this book. Chick lit is about chicks, for chicks, written by chicks, right? After reading (half) this book, I think Lynn Isenberg is a man, baby, and an old one at that, who lacks any insight into the female mind. Example A: She refers to the naked women in the posters lining the adult film producer's office as "stacked." I've never heard a woman use that phrase (nor a man, for that matter, after 1964). Example B: Dressing to go to a party, "I sift through my wardrobe trying to compose a hot outfit I can put together in a hurry—I know, the black Tara Jarmon pantsuit with a sheer top, a charcoal leather duster and black leather calf-high boots that Bennett gave me last year." If that's not convincing enough, a few weeks later she dresses for a party in her go-anywhere black cocktail dress and black loafers. Loafers! And it's not like being fashion-challenged is part of her personality. Everyone thinks she's wonderful and beautiful, so clearly that's just some wrong writing. Example C: She writes a film for the adult film industry that centers on two girls who are dating until one decides she wants to be heterosexual and the other hires a guy to date her and dump her so she'll come back to her. Not only was this already a movie (Three of Hearts, I think, and there might be a Baldwin in it), but the vast majority of the movie centers on girl on girl action. Not only that, but when our heroine goes to Victoria's Secret to watch her sister try on lingerie for her wedding (??), the adult film star (female) and her girlfriend get busy in the next stall, while our heroine listens in. Then, she meets a film producer (female) who invites her to dinner and hits on her in a big way. "And then my mind races with competing thoughts, emotions and questions that go something like this: 'Oh my God, a woman is kissing me.' 'Hmmm, I can't believe how nice it feels.' "What am I doing? I'm not gay!' 'This is wrong for me.' 'God, I miss the arms of a man, a man who loves me.' 'What is the meaning of this?'"

It goes on for quite a while in that fashion and women keep coming on to her. Then she goes on blind dates with men and acts sex-crazed and licentious and actually scares them away. She's on a first date with a guy at Cirque du Soleil and can't understand why he drops her off right after the show. After all, "during the entire performance I whispered to him how I couldn't wait to duplicate all those contortions for him in bed." On a first date! Who behaves like this? (A man's fantasy, that's who.) Her second date is with some guy who she goes to see sculptures with "where I couldn't help but see, and express, something sexual in every object we looked at." He runs away, though clearly, this is another's man's (the author!) fantasy.

But anyway, this is supposed to be chick lit and the guy she ends up with isn't even introduced until more than halfway through the book. The author spends no time on him, seemingly only including him at the end because someone reminded the author that this is supposed to be chick lit. Whew! This book sucked. It's amazing that stuff like this gets published. Red Dress Ink should really stick to importing Brit chick lit.

One Day by David Nicholls (2001)

British, witty and charming novel about two friends who hook up after university and then have a Harry and Sallyish friendship. The novel checks in on their lives on the same day every day for twenty years. Great characters, insightful, realistic relationships. Really, really well written and lovely. Love this quote: “At the best of times she feels like a character in a Muriel Spark novel -- independent, bookish, sharp-minded, secretly romantic.”

Girl, 15, Charming But Insane by Sue Limb (2004)

Absolutely adorable young adult novel about a young British girl living with her mum and struggling with all the usual teen troubles--boys, friends, etc, but the dialogue (mostly in the voice of the heroine Jess Jordan) is beyond witty. Plus, Mom's a librarian! See awesome quote.

“Unfortunately she met her mum by the gate, and she could tell by her face that Mum had had one of those days. Occasionally people came into the library and peed, pooed, or got drunk and starting shouting abuse. Drunks and vagrants went to sleep in the reference section. Once a very old man who lived on the streets had died on the Oxford English Dictionary. You might think that being a librarian would be a quiet, cushy job, but sometimes it seemed that the library was really a nightmarish extension of the mean streets and that librarians were just cops and paramedics disguised in tweedy cardigans and long dangly parrot earrings from the charity shop.”

Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier (2005)

Compelling young adult novel about a young girl in Sydney on the run with her mother. When her mother is committed and she goes to live with her grandmother, she learns some truths about her family, her life, and the reality of magic. Split between Sydney and NYC, it’s filled with Aussie slang (glossary included!) and a refreshingly diverse cast of characters. Followed by two sequels: Magic Lessons and Magic’s Child.

Tuscany for Beginners by Imogen Edwards-Jones (2004)

Enchanting novel (by the author of Hotel Babylon) about a woman who runs a B & B in Tuscany and models herself after Frances Mayes. For those who read Under the Tuscan Sun and found Mayes insufferable, this clueless character is especially hilarious and delightful. Great characterizations all around especially the expat community (Derek and Barbara) in her valley, her long-suffering daughter, and the American who moves in to start a hotel of her own. Plus, hilarious recipes—yes, hilarious recipes! So witty, so British, and such dishy, soapy fun!