Tag Archives: Friday Reads

You may be familiar with Elizabeth Bennett and her sisters Jane, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia; their mother desperate to make them good matches, and their father smart enough to try to stay out of the way.  But what if Liz Bennett was a magazine writer, Jane a yoga instructor, Mary focused on her online degree, Kitty and Lydia into CrossFit, and the family lived in Cincinnati circa 2013?

Meet Curtis Sittenfeld’s 21st century Bennett family.  In this retelling, Liz and Jane have moved to New York City to pursue their careers, but the rest of the girls still live at home in Ohio, where Mr. and Mrs. Bennett belong to the local country club and ignore the decay of their Tudor home, their rapidly dwindling fortune, and the failing state of Mr. Bennett’s health.  After their father ends up hospitalized, the older daughters return home, and Mrs. Bennett wastes no time in trying to set up one of her girls with reality television star-slash-ER-doctor Chip Bingley.

While a romance blossoms between Chip and Jane, Liz finds herself fending off advances from tech-whiz Cousin Willie and trying to save her family members from themselves.  Enter neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy and…well, if you’ve read Pride and Prejudice, you already know how this one goes…

Sittenfeld, Curtis. Eligible. New York: Random House, 2016.

They tried to create a teleportation machine (a transporter, if you’re familiar with Star Trek), but after much study, came to the realization the present technology can’t support the theory. So they moved the project and attempted a different approach.   This team of  DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) scientists in the California desert who believe they have created a portal that “folds” dimensions so a traveler may move hundreds of miles with one step. At budget time the agencies involved aren’t getting the information they believe they should. And even the head of their project in Washington is getting some odd vibes from the group, so he sends his own form of investigative team in to check on everything. A high school English teacher, Leland “Mike” Erikson, who looks like Servius Snape, college edition.

Mike, as he prefers to be known, had an eidetic memory, and an extremely high IQ. The combination makes him a perfect fit for the  Sherlock Holmes role. Mike is interesting, and the way he handles his memory makes the concept approachable. It also adds an interesting dimension to some of the things we take for granted, like forgetting painful experiences, and the immediacy of grief.

And yet, even for Mike, it’s hard to see what’s wrong with the Albuquerque Door, as they’ve named this machine that fold space. There have been nearly 400 human tests, without an injury. “Nine people, two hundred and sixteen rats, six cats, and a chimpanzee,” (p.49) have been through the door, and not one lost. And yet all the scientists, engineers, and programmers, who have been the test subjects are uneasy, and want to continue to do tests. Until something does go wrong. Of course, it goes so badly wrong that everyone is stunned, and someone dies.  This group is small, again, just six people, who outsource for medical or any other services.

Oh, yes the secret comes out, and the situation goes downhill fast. This becomes on of those Nantucket sleigh rides, and with very interesting twists. Just as you think you understand what’s going on, Mr. Clines throws you a curve, some from left field. And in the end, some logic, luck, and fast thinking saves the day. Just not neatly, cleanly, and with some odds and ends.

It is definitely an adult work of Science Fiction, Fantasy/Horror, some parts are not for the squeamish, and it is thriller territory. But it is a fun, and satisfying read, with quips, humor, and interesting characters.

No one would seek out a bad meal. If you heard a friend rant about an awful vacation, you wouldn’t check prices for the next flight there. But art is different: it can entertain and stimulate even when it fails to accomplish its goals. Sometimes especially when it fails. “Bad art” is not always bad—under the right conditions, it can be sublime. And if it’s entertaining, is it really bad?

The Room has been called “the Citizen Kane of bad movies”. Written and directed by Tommy Wiseau, a shadowy character of unknown origin, the film is essentially a tragic love triangle involving a banker, his unfaithful fiancée, and the banker’s best friend. It seems to be standard fare, but The Room delivers this routine story through a narrative that’s full of quickly-dropped disease and drug subplots, continuity errors, and astonishingly incoherent dialogue (“You don’t understand anything, man! Leave your stupid comments in your pocket!”). If aliens who had never interacted with humans tried to stage an episode of Melrose Place, it would feel like The Room. One early review described it as “like getting stabbed in the head.” Some films leave you with questions about existence, ethics, art—the first question that comes to mind after viewing The Room is “how could this happen?”

This book explains how. Some things are outlined in more detail than others, as Sestero respects Wiseau’s famous reluctance to discuss his past. In fact, the book’s strongest moments capture the friendship between Sestero and Wiseau. I was concerned that The Disaster Artist would be full of jabs at Wiseau’s hubris and that sometimes happens, but the book generally presents him as a sometimes kind and warm, if very naïve and very, very strange, person. It’s rather analogous to the Tim Burton biopic about Ed Wood in its loving treatment of an outsider. And it’s surprisingly well-written, given that it’s ostensibly a book about a baffling cult film. The narrative is split between Sestero’s real life adventures with Wiseau and a day-by-day account of the film’s production, but its back-and-forth structure never becomes confusing. Unlike The Room itself.

It’s the perfect time to see The Room and read this book, as there are two related films set to be released this year—a mockumentary starring most of the original cast and a posh studio adaptation of The Disaster Artist featuring Bryan Cranston and Sharon Stone, among others. You will probably never surpass me in terms of Room fandom (so don’t worry), but you will be ahead of the curve if 2016 turns out to be a year of Room fever. And you will also know all about the flying vampire car that didn’t make into the final version of the film. Yes, really.

In my opinion, a bad film is a boring film (oh, hi, The English Patient). The Room and its brethren (like Troll II and Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam) are endlessly entertaining and rewatchable. The Disaster Artist captures the energy and atmosphere that make these films unique. They’re surreal and special. Not bad.

Sestero, G., & Bissell, T. The disaster artist: My life inside The Room, the greatest bad movie ever made.

Talk about “johnny-come-lately,” just last week I picked up a paperback copy of this title at a used-book sale at Greenwood Public Library. I had gone there on a trip back from Papillion to see the renovation completed in Greenwood, partly with money from the Kreutz Bennett Donor Advised Fund. I’d been meaning to read something by Maeve Binchy for years but hadn’t, fascinated as much by her name as anything. I’m sure Binchy fans are probably appalled that I’d waited so long. Now, as it turns out, this title is the very last one she wrote; she died shortly after finishing this book.

A Week in Winter tells the charming story (actually many stories) of a host of eventual guests at Stone House, a new guest house located in what had been a run-down mansion on the west coast of Ireland, high overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Three elderly sisters, had lived a “beans-and-toast” existence there, with Queenie the only survivor. The proprietress of this venture is a former resident of Stoneybridge, the town in which the place is located. She has returned from a long stay in the States with some money to invest in her hometown. Her story is that she is returning following the death of her spouse in a car wreck. As with many of the characters in this story, however, her biography is not quite as presented to the world.

A cast of characters descends upon Stone House during its first week in business, from many venues – the U.S., Sweden, England, Ireland (of course), and so forth. The author sets the scene with each one coming to this “restful place for a holiday by the sea” for quite different reasons. One guest couple wins second place in a travel contest (and they’re not happy about not going to Paris instead). One of the staff is sent there following a reform school stint. Another guest arrives following a devastating affair. (She’s the librarian!) Another received her stay as a retirement gift from teaching. (She is probably the only character who is not rejuvenated by her stay.) Still another — the one from Sweden – is faced with taking over his father’s button-down business, while he’d rather be playing music in local Irish pubs.

My guess is that Binchy fans will love this book. It felt to me a bit like what one of the characters says: “Problems don’t solve themselves neatly like that, due to a set of coincidences.” It does appear that the circumstances in which each character finds herself or himself are too easily “wrapped up” in the story. However, the author is such a good writer that I think I’ll try at least one more title. Any suggestions out there about which of her other nineteen titles is worth a go?

If you know me, you will not be surprised to hear that I’m obsessed with a book about yoga. The thing is, it’s not just a book about yoga; it is THE book about yoga. I’ve borrowed it from (several) libraries dozens of times, bought it for myself and others, and talked about this book to so many people that, frankly, people are starting to drift away at cocktail parties when I bring it up. But since I assume that most of the readers of this post are librarians, I’ll continue on.

If you’ve appreciated the proliferation of yoga classes in contemporary culture, you might have this author to thank for it. Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja (B.K.S.) Iyengar is considered the father of modern yoga and the teacher that opened the door to yoga to the Western world. Called “Guruji” by millions of devoted followers, he was honored with a Google doodle showing him in yoga poses last year on what would have been his 97^th birthday to celebrate his practicing, teaching and writing about yoga for more than seventy-five years. It has been said that B.K.S. Iyengar could hold a headstand for nearly half an hour well into his eighties. He died in 2014 at the age of 95.

This book provides concise information on the history and philosophy of yoga, but the bulk of the book is devoted to photos and text on how to practice the classic yoga postures (asanas). The book promises: “Yoga is for everyone. You do not need to be an expert or at the peak of physical fitness to practice the asanas described in this book…This book focuses on techniques, so that even a beginner will have a thorough understanding of how to practice the asanas in order to obtain the maximum benefit. By using a few simple props, students with different capabilities can gradually build up strength, confidence, and flexibility without the threat of strain or injury.” And it delivers on this promise with step-by-step instruction on each asana, featuring photos from different angles. The instruction stresses proper alignment and breathing, with variations from beginner to advanced practitioner. The section on Yoga Therapy offers specific asanas to treat specific ailments by rejuvenating the body and then addressing the cause of the ailment. I can attest to the fact that I have come to the mat with a backache and left without it, but the book stresses the importance of steady, consistent, sequential practice—no quick fixes here.

Whether you only have one book on yoga in your collection, or dozens, Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health, by B.K.S. Iyengar, is one you’ll want to review. And the best way to review it is to try it out on the mat. Namaste…mjr

PS: If you wonder why I have had to borrow it from several libraries, it’s heavy (large format, 400+ pages, 4.2 pounds) and I don’t take it with me when I travel—but I can’t seem to go more than a few sessions on the mat without referring to it. So wherever I travel, I have to have it. Thank you public libraries across the country for loaning me this great book.

As a fan of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series I was curious to find whether David Lagercrantz’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web would be a worthy continuation of Larsson’s work. Labeled as the fourth book in the series, Lagercrantz, in my view, extended the series with notable success. While a number of readers have posted comments that the book doesn’t have the suspense of Larsson’s books, among other things, I wasn’t disappointed in this one.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web includes a mix of high level intellectual property theft, corruption, Lisbeth Salander’s evil twin sister, a Mikael Blomkvist perceived as a no longer revered investigative reporter, a rogue National Security Agency security chief, the usual police suspects, and an autistic child with a genius for math and drawing. Add in a number of familiar characters from Larsson’s earlier works plus several new ones, and plenty of bad guys. Most interesting is always the girl – Lisbeth Salander – a legend among hackers, fearless, clever, fiercely independent, and unhinged.

I borrowed both hard copy and the audiobook from Lincoln City Libraries. Now I’m ready for the movie. Noomi Rapace or Rooney Mara?

Lagercrantz, David, and George Goulding. The girl in the spider’s web. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf). 2015.

I have had this on my list for a while. Since I am not a dog person, nor a car person, I overlooked it until now. I have already recommended it to friends of the 2-legged variety (dog-owning, car-driving or otherwise) because it isn’t a dog story or a car story…it’s a life story.

Enzo, a Lab-Shepherd-Doodle mix and the narrator of the story, would agree he is man’s best friend. When up-and-coming racecar driver Dennis brings him home as a puppy, their friendship and Enzo’s life lessons begins. As the mostly silent partner in the relationship, we are taken inside Enzo’s head to analyze the action taking place as Denny meets and marries his wife, Eve, and they add little Zoe and they struggle with the curves in their road of life. As the old boy ages, he looks back in this memoir of a 4-legged friend who is more compassionate then some humans, understands more than you realize, and looks forward to a applying the lessons he learned in a future life as a man.

“Here’s why I will be a good person. Because I listen. I cannot talk, so

I listen very well. I never deflect the course of the conversation with a

comment of my own. People, if you pay attention to them, change the

direction of one another’s conversations constantly. It’s like being a

passenger in your car who suddenly grabs the steering wheel and turns

you down a side street…”

Enzo’s listens and learns from all his humans as well as the television, which Denny leaves on for him during the day. All this information will help prepare himself for his next life on two legs. As Denny shares his successes or losses on the track, and they review race video, his dog learns how the art of racing and navigating life lessons overlap.  Humor of life as a dog is interwoven with these because, of course, a dog can’t know everything and be everywhere. The author cleverly inserts that fact into Enzo’s stream of consciousness as he tries to share with us what he has pieced together about life and about the story’s action involving his family for which he wasn’t allowed to be present.

I am an audiobook reader and have recently discovered the art of downloadable collections from my local library. One of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much was hearing Enzo “speak,” given voice by actor Christopher Evan Welch (1965-2013); you are just listening to a friend share his trials and tribulations. I hope you will love it as much as I did, and maybe you will learn some lessons along the way that you can apply in your next life—as a dog.

PS—Garth Stein, the author, has also adapted this for youth under the title Racing in the Rain.

I discovered The Library of Shadows, by Mikkel Birkegaard, while browsing the shelves of a Borders store that was having a Going Out of Business sale. Of course, it caught my eye because of the word Library in the title. And the cover looked kind of supernatural, which definitely made it even more attractive to me. I wasn’t completely sure about it though, when I saw that it was translated from the Danish. But, I’m glad I picked it up, because it ended up being a really good story!

As it turns out, there are people in the world who, when they read books aloud, can control how others feel and think – manipulating listeners and immersing them completely into the story. They are called Transmitters. On the other side, there are also people who can connect with a Transmitter, called Receivers. They can focus the energy of a Transmitter, enhancing their storytelling ability, making the effect of their reading even stronger. Together, they are part of a secret society who’s original goal was to help people develop a better enjoyment and understanding of literature. But, as happens with powers like these, there are other factions who have used these abilities for nefarious purposes.

As you read the book, you are discovering this strange new world along with Jon Campelli, who has inherited a bookshop from his father, which just happens to be a secret gathering place for people with these talents. Jon’s father has most likely been murdered and then the shop is fire bombed, forcing him to explore this mysterious society as he tries to solve his father’s murder and find out what the shadowy group who committed these crimes is really up to.

Since Jon knows just as much as you do about these people, meaning absolutely nothing, a reader can easily identify with him and understand his confusion and awe as he learns more about them. It’s a very original story concept, at least I’ve never heard of anything like this. In between the fast-paced action scenes, and many cliffhanger chapter endings, the history and workings of this ancient organization are very well developed. If you are a fan of mysteries, magic, and reading, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

This book is a first for the author, who is known by her short stories, according to the book blurb. This tale, is one of redemption in a postapocalyptic world set far, far in the future, of, I would guess, Earth, since there are familiar species of birds. But it’s the juxtaposition of the familiar birds with the strange that makes it so compelling.

Humans live in towers of living bone, the higher in the tower, the higher your social status, and as the towers grow, the lower levels are abandoned, since they get more crowded by the growth of the bone.  Travel between the towers is allowed, and is accomplished by flying with one’s own set of wings, which one is tested for at a certain, young age. Travel inside the towers is accomplished by ladders.  But the outcasts of the culture are also left in the lower levels of the tower to live or die. It is a very rule orientated way of living, where the main character, Kirit, longs to be a trader, like her mother, attain the right to fly to other towers and trade and also bring medicine. She is close to earning the right to fly free, as well as earn her apprenticeship as the story opens, when she and her once closest friend Nat, break the Tabu/Law, she goes outside during an attack, and he doesn’t let her back in. So they are equally at fault, and get caught by one of their officers, called a Singer. But in being caught outside, Kirit displays a unique skill that the Singers need. But the skill gets in the way of her dreams.

In another story, she might have simply gone with the authority figure, but not this one. She and Nat both work to get through their punishment in time for both to take their flight tests. To get done in time they meet and receive help from one of the cast off citizens of the towers, Tobiat, old, with injuries badly set and healed, and mind a little scattered.  He turns out to be key to many of the mysteries  come to face.  The tests seem to be passed, but the Singers have skewed them, and both Kirit has to go with them to their tower. She learns secrets that turn many of the things she’s learned in the towers inside out, and finds that the strange creatures that attack their towers were once much different. Not only does so much she has learned about her family change, but also about her culture.

So much happens in such a short pace of time. But it changes so many lives of this small  civilization on the edge of survival.  The disruption spreads from one life, to a family, to an order keeping service type organization. It’s interesting to see, after reading the book, how the character of one actor, can serve as a catalyst to expose the wrongdoing of an entire organization.

Reviews

Book Review by Julie Novakova, in Fantasy Scroll Mag

The Illustrated Page blog

Bibliosanctum blog