The Yacoubian Building. Alaa Al Aswany

Aswany has woven for us a lush, rich tapestry of modern day Egyptians. Their struggles with religion, culture, sexuality and class explode into inevitable and sometimes surprising endings. This beautiful novel is both alluringly foreign and captivatingly familiar.

Guests of the Ayatollah, Mark Bowden

I'm only on page 25 but I'm hooked. Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down has brought us an over 600 page exploration of the Itanian hostage crisis. His 5 years of research is evident in his accessible narrative that is detailed enough to make you feel as though you are right there while providing you with historical and character background to a depth that makes it hard to believe he wasn't there as hostage, hostage-taker, everyday observer or politician. The timing of this book with regard to Iran's stalemate with the United States is uncanny. The mentions of the historical actions of the U.S. along with the cultural misunderstandings between the two countries is quite illuminating. And frightening.

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

I had the opportunity to read this in ARC form nearly 2 months ago. Or has it been longer than that even? Anyhow, I was so excited about this book. But I couldn't say anything because it wasn't coming out for awhile yet and I'm feeling rather cruel if I post about a great book that someone might read about and forget before it is actually on the shelves. That's not fair to you, dear reader, or to the writer who gifts us with literary feasts. This is one of those books. If I recall correctly, Water for Elephants received more bookseller reviews and ratings at Booksense than any other in the history of their picks lists. It will be #1 on their list for June. I can't say I'm surprised since this gorgeous novel deserves the recognition.

So first off we meet our characters in the midst of something chaotic. It sucks you in instantly. You have to find out what is happening! But alas, we have to meet our main character (Jacob Jankowski) as he is now: old, cantankerous, frustrated with being old and more than a little sad. We love Jacob. We hate how miserable he is and wonder what sort of life he had that makes this new change so hard to cope with. This exploration into a stage in his life that changed him forever explains to us precisely why being caged like an animal is extra hard for him. Because for Jacob, that is exactly what he feels like: one of the caged animals he tried to help when he joined the circus. Accidentally, of course.

The flashes between past and present both progress forward in seamless, parallell lines. There is no awkwardness or sense of being lost in either time. Instead, we relate bit by bit as we move forward. And moving forward at a compelling pace! Once I started this book, there was nothing (except work) that could keep me from reading it. I anticipate reading it again soon now that I know what actually happens, I want to satisfy my hunger for the luscious details. The descriptions are never laborious or too poetic. Yet they are so utterly vivid that you can smell the manure and the sweat of the workers and the food tent; you can feel the heat and hear the squeaky wheels of the train as it slowly pulls away or the shouts of the sideshow callers. As a result of Gruen's intense and careful research, the reader is completely transplanted into the fading era of train circuses cris-crossing the country.

What I love most about this book is that you really get to know each character. Flaws and all. You have a slight feeling of compassion for even the seemingly cruelest characters (well, all but one really). Gruen's ability to portray basic humanity in all its complicated glories of love, jealousy, greed, cruelty and kindness is fabulous. She never over-reaches. It is a natural progression for everyone involved.

The gritty, sumptuous, magnificent writing gives us a deeply satisfying read. This one is truly an unforgettable book that you will want to go back to time and again.

Brushes with Writerly Glory

I apologize for being so lacksadasial in my updates. I have been reading non-stop, but an increase in work hours as well as a brief illness has subdued my regular additions here. The increase in work hours was due to accepting a new position at my bookstore. I now get to host and coordinate all in-store author events. In April we averaged 3 a week - many of which brought in several hundred people! So it's been busy.

Needless to say, there are great perks in this new position. Mainly in being able to cavort with writers as brief as their visits to us may be. As a sampling: It has been an honor to host writers such as Christopher Moore, Paul Rusesabagina, Jonathan Safran Foer and DBC Pierre.

Last night when DBC Pierre came in for his reading and we had a light crowd, we decided after to step on down to a local pub for a drink and some highly stimulating conversation. A brilliant, genuinely cool guy that DBC Pierre is. Oh, and his latest novel, Ludmila's Broken English is ridiculously well written.

Also! Not only was I blurbed by BookSense for Ariel Gore's marvelous first novel The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show, but Ms. Gore nabbed my post from this blog and posted it on hers. It's always good to know that your impressions of a book/writer are accurate enough for them to share with the world.

Coming up next week in my hostessing duties? Sebastian Junger and Augusten Burroughs. Then Mark Bowden and Sean Wilsey in early June. I love this job!!!

ARC Angst

The frustration with the joys of Advanced Reader Copies of upcoming books: Loved it, can't wait for everyone to read it, must share about it now. Wait, can't. Isn't coming out until August. Shit. Never mind. guess I should read something that's already out on shelves.

Reading Group Resources

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Reading Group Links
The following publisher sites feature reading group discussion guides:
HarperCollins
Henry Holt and Co.
Houghton Mifflin Co.
Penguin Putnam
Random House, Vintage and Anchor
Random House, Ballantine Reader's Circle
more from Random House
St. Martin's Press
Simon and Schuster
Time Warner
W.W. Norton and Co.

Other useful sites:
See what our neighbors to the north are reading at the Random House, Canada web site.
NY Times Book Forum: You'll have to register with The New York Times (it's free and easy) before you can use their site, but they have some smart content about classic and modern works.
Rediscover the classics with Penguin books. This excellent web site is devoted exclusively to classic works, of which Penguin has been one of the world's leading publishers for over fifty years.
A one-stop-shopping site for reading group guides.
Book Reporter
Book Browse
Features some book recommendations and links to reading group guides, but the best feature is Reading Group Choices, an annually updated list of books that are great for discussion. Each recommendation includes a synopsis, author bio, and discussion questions.

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Source: Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops

What I'm Reading Now

More details to follow eventually. But, things I have just read, am reading currently, or will be starting within the next day or two:

The Hearing Trumpet Leonora Carrington
We'll Always Have Paris John Baxter
Ella in Europe Michael Konik
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Jonathon Safran Foer
History of Love Nicole Krauss

This doesn't count the GINORMOUS stack of galleys and finished books I have stacked by my desk that all need to be read...TODAY. Anywho. The only reason I'm neglecting you is that I'm reading too much, working more and not online enough. That's all for now.

Christopher Moore redux

The big Mooron himself on Talk of the Nation. After he is done with his current project, a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends, he mentioned he's thinking it is time to take on Shakespeare. I am having a near-post-orgasm shiver just thinking of that pairing. That would be bloody marvelous!

A Dirty Job, Christopher Moore

I have been in love with Christopher Moore since I read Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. I am ashamed to say that while I have read nearly every book he has written, I own zero. He is a writer you can read, relish and release. Kinda like fishing the eco-friendly way. What is interesting is that I read his books, including his latest, without ever really reading anything about him. I didn't go online and read interviews or even check out his website. I just loved to read him, laugh a lot, and wallow in the disturbingly quirky humor his books embody. But I didn't truly want to know anything about him. I wanted to be a fan of the books, not of the author. But since he is coming to my store and I have to interact with the man as a part of my job, I wanted to learn a little more about the actual author. I found this in an online interview which explained so much:

With a desire to do for the horror novel what the brilliantly belated Douglas Adams had done for sci-fi with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I love Douglas Adams. Have loved him for over a decade. Easily. And I also love Chuck Pahlaniuk, of the literary horror genre. Combine the two and you get Christopher Moore's writing. Slightly perverse, a little cynical, but honest and very, very funny. I don't want to say that he is highbrow writing, because he's really not, but you do have to have a certain perversity to "get" his humor, just like you have to be pretty dry to "get" Douglas Adams. Other things Moore finds funny? Mil Millington, My Name is Earl, Billy Collins and The Daily Show. None of which are surprising.

So in the latest Moore book, we have some repeat characters (like the Emperor of San Francisco and his dogs) and we have new ones fashioned in the usual vein of bumbling, slightly neurotic, totally genuine men and strong, sassy, sexy women. Our "hero" Charlie Asher is a man utterly devoted to his wife and while anxious about the birth of his first child, is eager to be a daddy. When his wife dies and a strange black man dressed in mint green (Minty Fresh) appears in the hospital room with his deceased wife, Asher realizes things are about to get really weird. Weirder than he could have ever imagined, even with his overactive, paranoid imagination. And on this journey we meet Death Merchants, hellhounds, the Morrigan, glowing red secondhand store items, ballroom-gowned squirrels (sort of), and try to save San Francisco (and ultimately the world) from the rising Forces of Darkness.

Typically Moore, typically paced so that you truly do not want to put the book down until you know what happens even with the sense that in Moore's books everything turns out well in the end (or at least, things turn out as they should) and typically laugh-out-loud funny to the point of wanting to read certain blurbs to random strangers even though you know that out-of-context it just isn't nearly as hilarious: like trying to explain an inside joke. And ultimately that's what Moore feels like: one big inside joke that you wish the whole world could "get."

Eat, Pray, Love redux

Elizabeth Gilbert on NPR about this delightful read.

Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert

Join Elizabeth on her post-divorce soul-searching journey through Italy, India and Indonesia. Honest and intimate: this part travel literature, part spiritual guide is packed with humor and in-the-moment emotional discoveries. Elizabeth doesn't skimp on baring her every thought and feeling as she traverses the geography of foreign lands...and of her own self. Though written by a woman, it’s all about universal, genderless places of the heart.

The Attack, Yasmina Khadra

Being translated into English and published in May, Khadra's latest novel has been nominated for the prestigious French award: the Prix Goncourt; and has even been optioned by Focus Features for film rights. Which is not surprising in the least. The plot alone is film-worthy these days. And Focus is the best film company to approach the movie. However, trying to remain as non-judgmental politcally and religiously as the writer will likely be difficult for a movie version.

The main character, Dr. Amin Jaafari, sees his wife off to visit family. The day she is due to return there is a suicide bombing at a restaurant and it appears his wife was the martyr. While the writing is simplistic with the occasional "big word" thrown in for good measure, the doctor's desire to unearth why his wife would do such a thing when there were no hints or signs that he saw, is a desire that is felt strongly by the reader. I'm not sure if the writing is a result of the translation alone or if Khadra is simply a simple writer. Either way, it is almost incongruous to have such easy reading mixed up with such a complex story and situation. Yet Khadra manages to give a clear account of what appears to the West as an unimaginable atrocity and to what the Middle East faces as a near-daily occurrence. While the reader doesn't find empathy for the "terrorists", the author paints a pitcure of them that puts one more in touch with the realities of these choices. You are given a clearer idea of why someone might make such a seemingly far-fetched decision. And this clarity comes through the eyes of a character who also struggles with the "why" of it all.

While not overly-impressed by this book, I loved that it was easy to get through, easy to access the greater questions of why there is such conflict and turmoil; to illustrate how complicated the Middle East conflicts really are. Westerners will never truly grasp the emotional urgency that drives the people we term "terrorists", people who live lives and dream dreams and aspire to being greater than themselves: concepts that are not unclear to Americans, regardless of religious or cultural background. And this is the hardest part of all to accept. That those who are encouraging and participating in terrible acts that destroy the lives of innocent people...they are not that dissimilar to ourselves.

The Attack asks the question: "But does that make it right?" Read and answer the question for yourself.

Last Chance in Texas, John Hubner

What happens when you take a state like Texas with one of the most brutal sentencing judicial systems in the country and match it up with the most progressive treatment programs for the most serious of teenage offenders? What happens when you take kids who have done horrendous things, the sorts of thing that people are never forgiven for (rape, torture, murder), and give them a true second chance? When you do these things you have arrived at the Giddings State School: the punitive holding place for the worst of the worst of Texas juvenile offenders. You combine kids from all types of vicious gangs and abusive backgrounds and give them such intense discipline that most of them understand quite clearly that if they don't obey and try to improve on themselves within these helpful, encouraging yet tough walls, they will go to prison for the entirety of their sentences. As adults. Which means they are more ruined for a future than they already were.

And so we have it. The author spends some intense time at Giddings, following along with a male and female group of kids going through the school's "Capitol Offenders Program" which takes the worst of the worst of the worst at Giddings and puts them through progressive yet very intensive therapy that involves going through their painful lives and confronting their terrible crimes. They have to learn tom come face-to-face with made them who they are today, learn how to fix their thinking, forgive themselves, understand their role as victim in their lives but then to face their crime, to feel the pain they inflicted upon others and come to grips with the fact that they have no excuses for what they did, they must take full responsbility for their actions, no matter how vicitmized they were as children.

The book is tragic and educational. It is disappointing and so hopeful. Even when you reach the epilogue and you learn where all these kids are today and you see that most of them will never end up where they hope to be; the point is that they are trying. They are making conscious efforts and decisions to avoid falling into old ways of thinking and behaving. And that is where the hope comes in.

The recidivism rates at Giddings are ridiculously low. Crazy low. So low that it makes us wonder why other juvy systems in the country aren't following their example. Part of the problem is cost. It is expensive to offer these types of programs with the sorts of trained and understanding, yet tough, individuals that run them. The other part of the problem is that it's always easier to put these kids away, labelling them as hopelessly criminal without a chance to truly change. It's easier to give in to fear than it is to think they might have a way of mending themselves and, in turn, mending our society.

So readable, so accessible, Hubner writes in a manner that makes you feel like you are with him behind the one-way mirror watching and listening as these kids go through the biggest struggle of their lives: confronting their real selves. I have a few complaints about the structure of the book: what went where and why -- and also the too-brief time spent with the girls' group. But even more important is that we need to read this book and champion ways of bringing this light and hope to as many of these hopeless juvy cases as we possibly can. Otherwise, what hope is there that things will continue to get better?

Plots? What plots?

Okay. So I realize I've been a little short on the whole reviewing part where you give a little hint at the plotline or basic point of a book. I'm so used to having to write reviews at work where I'm just supposed to have a few words of an impression without plot since people can just pick up the book and find that out from the back or inside of a book. But you, dear blog reader, cannot do that here. Duh. So from here on out I promise to give some sense of what the heck a book I'm talking about is actually...about!

The Meaning of Tingo, Adam Jacot de Boinod

Check out the website for this delightful little book: The Meaning of Tingo. I read an excerpt from it that was published in the March issue of Smithsonian Magazine on "The Last Page" of the magazine, a little column that is, in fact, on the last page.

It is difficult to explain without revealing the fun linguistic oddities that Monsieur Jacot de Boinod shares, but one must hear a few of these to get the picture of this collection. Essentially, think of all the unique emotions, physicalities, weather anomalies, expressions, etc. that we experience in life for which we have no words to encapsulate them accurately. Imagine being able to use ONE WORD to express any of the following:

Physical
the gap between each finger and toe
the excess weight one gains from emotion-related overeating
face that cries out for a fist in it
looking beautiful after a disease

Actions
to walk along in the water searching for something with your feet
to walk in windy weather for fun
the swinging of long earrings or the swishing of a dress as one walks

Emotions
to be swallowed like a postman's sock (hopelessly in love)
to sever one's intestines (broken heart)

Inexplicable
a camel that won't give milk until her nostrils have been tickled
to exchange wives for a few days only
to borrow things from a friend's house, one by one, until there's nothing left

To find out the words for these expressions, as well as the languages of origin, you'll just have to buy the book.

Slacker!

I am. I can't deny it.

OK. Brief bits.

Just recently read:

Floor Sample by Julia Cameron.
Memoir. Starts out strong and interesting. Carries on strongly but starts to taper out and feels more like a chronological listing of her mental state and correlating "episodes". Could have been truly a book about doing what you dream even when your own self fights you and despite poor past decisions. Sounds more and more like one big pity party with a lot of name dropping of the look-at-me-and-everyone-I-know kind. Too bad.

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
I should do a post just for this book but someone else is borrowing it at the moment. So, in summary: Fantastic read, very interesting subject matter (Train Circuses), brilliant characters and so utterly well-researched that you really do feel like the writer was there and is now taking you with her. I really, really, really liked this book. Once you read the first page you will not be able to stop until you finish.

A Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier.
Another book that should get more words. But I'm a slacker. Started this on Saturday afternoon. Finished it Sunday afternoon. It was all I wanted to do. The style of writing is known as "magical realism" for its slightly sci-fi leanings without being so...so....hard to believe? Yes, that's it. See, this was completely believable. In its pandemic that wipes out the population (except one lone female), the people who live in a city between earthly life and full-blown-gone-forever-death: both written in a way that you can believe that such situations and places do/could exist. Truly beautiful.

I'm trying to catch up on some books that are already out but we have Spring galleys coming soon. Eiiieeee! So I can't guarantee anything long, even if the book was stellar. Just a heads up!

Broken For You, Stephanie Kallos

I was a little late in actually getting around to reading this one. The life of a bookseller is fraught with advanced reader copies of books you need to read to push when they hit the shelves, re-discovering old books, stumbling across hidden treasures - and you must read them all!! Or at least identify them and learn a substantial bit about them from trustworthy resources. Argh! So, yes, I didn't read Secret Life of Bees until it had already been out in paperback for many moons and the author had already published another novel that was selling like mad. It's easy to get behind, needless to say.

So this last October at the Wisconsin Book Festival (mahvelous event!), I got to listen to Stephanie Kallos and Mya Goldberg speak and read bits of their works. I knew that Kallos' novel was a big hit with booksellers and readers alike. I knew I needed to read it. Listening to her read from the first chapter, I was smitten. Of course, it took until a couple weeks ago to actually start reading it. I went the audio-book route, however. I can read while going on walks or driving in the car (audiobooks are a GODSEND - audiobooks on iPod? Greatest combination of greatest inventions ever!). Kudos to the reader, first of all. She was a delight. ANd anyone who reads audiobooks knows that the reader can make or break a book.

I loved this book. There were turns in the plot and additions of character I had not expected. And they were believable, the twists and turns. The character development was so incredibly honest!! More prosaic than poetry, more of a character study than intricate plot. It is an experience worth having....letting these people into your lives and making their hopes and dreams yours. While I didn't leave it feeling wowed, it was so satisfying a read that I felt more in touch with my own humanness when I was done. I do fear that the author used every trick in her book to write this and that her next novel won't be nearly as splendid. Unless this was just the unlocking of herself novelistically (yes, I just made that up), being the emobodiment of the rule: "Write what you know", and the next one will surpass what she knows without losing any of its honesty about people and emotions.

I can only hope.

Empress, Shan Sa

Initially in french, this will be the first time Imperatrice has been published in English. Current date for publication is May 2006.

The narration style is very unique for a novel. I've read numerous works of fiction that have been translated from other languages so I do believe that the writing style was very deliberate and not a result of translation style. We trace the rise and reign of China's first female emperor, Empress Wu, who reigned for 50 years (think China's version of Queen Elizabeth). Empress reads like the annals of history must read. It feels like more of a listing of events and conversations that have been recorded by attentive poet-scribes than a flowing narrative. This does not detract from the book, but rather enhances it. It gives a sense of authenticity. We never leave the point of view of Empress Wu, starting with her birth and continuing after her death.

Works of historical fiction that look at the lives of great historical women can vary so greatly from the stunning, lyrical, yet well-researched writings of Anchee Min or Indu Sundaresan to the too-colorfully-painted, highly fictional accounts by Philippa Gregory or Sarah Dunant. It is difficult to tackle the lives of women in places where while there were incredibly detailed accounts of daily life down to conversations held in court, but the private points ov view of these women are, for the most part, hidden forever. We can only speculate based on these public records, private letters and even poetry. Shan Sa does an exquisite job of drawing you into a world that while brutal in its bloodshed, was decadent and virile. The arts thrived and wars virtually non-existent except for minor rebellions. Commoners were given a chance to get involved with their imperial government and women had freedoms unparallelled either before the tang Dynasty and, in many ways, since.

For a great article on this era, specifically with regard to women, see Women of the Tang Dynasty. It just goes to show that even when women have freedom, choice and even power....the tide can be overturned by political power, ego and religion and send women back to being submissive slaves of men for hundreds of years. No matter how it looks now, we must always be aware that things can change. Again.

Mostly Bob, Tom Corwin

Courtesy of an evil co-bookseller, I was forced to open this book yesterday. Then I was forcecd to read it. Then cry. Geez. As if John Grogan's Marley and Me wasn't bad enough in its heart-searing, gut-wrenching attack on your heart, mind, soul and any part of you that's ever even looked a dog fondly let alone be stolen away with affection and love for one. Tom Corwin's tiny little 5-minute-read is nearly as devastating emotionally without all the details. When done right, simplicity is a powerful tool. In a matterof pages you meet Bob, fall in love with Bob, being to realize what is happening, then lose Bob. All while looking at a little silhouette in the corner of...who else?....Bob. If this isn't worth purchasing to loan to every dog-lover you know, it is definitely worth a trip to the bookstore with a kleenex to honk your nose and wipe your eyes when you're done. Thanks guys. *sniff*

illness

I do sometimes think that I sholdn't be around books so much. Here's an example of my literary explorations as of, literally, today.

BOOKS PURCHASED TODAY



~Another blank book with the front and back covers featuring the artist Jean Michael Folon

GALLEYS PICKED UP TODAY

Empress: A Novel by Shan Sa

WHAT I'M READING