Reading Frenzy

Written 22 Februray 2012

I have read 6 books in five days.  Truth be told I had read ¾ of The Historian before I landed in Junin.

Here is what I read:

Gilead  By Marilynne Robinson.  She wrote also Housekeeping.  A mesmerizing writer of faith and theology all within a compelling story.  Doesn’t sound great I  know, but believe me she can spin a tale, and in this book she writes in the person of a 77 year old man.  That’s always so amazing to me when a writer writes in a voice so clearly and it cant possibly relate to their own self.

Parrot and Oliver in America   Excellent writing by Peter Carey (The Kelly Gang, Oscar and Lucinda).  A funny although at times desperate historical epic.  A bit like Tom Jones (Henry Fielding novel not pop singer) or even a funny Dickens story. Vivid characters and detailed and well drawn look at NYC in early 1800’s.

The year we left home  by Jean Thompson.  Short story collection within a narrative.  Well written but yet another depressing look at getting old and parents dying on you.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. A good book for a long vacation.  It’s worth the investment of 700 pages but I am definitely over the vampire genre.

A Visit from the the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.  Another set of short stories that are connected.  I am not sure how satisfying I find this genre although this was well written. I understand why as a writer you would want to write this way.  Lots of meat, not so much filler.  But as a reader I sometimes want the narrative to flicker through my brain like a movie.  Maybe I am lazy but there are times I am not up for a puzzle.

Atlas of Love  by Laurie Frankel.  Mediocre cliché chick book.  I am not sure what attracted me to it.  I think the title.

Here is where I read:

Stylist Intervention

Metropolitan Home or Museum?

I like a good shelter read.  Living in Argentina I have very much limited access to good design glossies.  Fortunately, the internet is a pretty decent substitute.  And I am not talking Lonny... yawn.  I am talking interior design blogs that edit out the boring crap and feature beautiful, provocative and sometimes insane interiors.  Some of these people are designers, moms and dedicated bloggers (you like making me feel inadequate?) and some are people that have a strong P.O.V due to a related vocation and some are documenting their own home projects.  These blogs are human, funny and educational.  And while I read a lot of these blogs I could never do what they do, the passion doesn’t run that quite that deep. Need to leave room for rabid political opinions and high carb cooking.

But I thought it would be funny and lazy to once in awhile feature what is a real pet peeve of mine, over stylized interior photos. Stylized to the point of stupidity, to the point of not selling the space, to the point of laughter.

Here we go:

Is that a kleenex box and a spliff?

Too much stuff+faux vintage+chalkboard paint = YUCK

Who needs counter space?

what can you say?

Missed a spot!

Here is a shout out to some of my favorite design blogs that I learn from and laugh with.

Kitchen and Residential Design:  Paul knows his shit, has a great passion for mosaic, and has a honest and biting sense of humor

If the lamp shade fits : I dont know what I like more about Raina, her great modern bohemian style or her unapologetic snarkiness

The house that A-M built :  I delightfully sweet and funny mom/business woman who was the general contractor on her own brand new family house in Brisbane, Australia

Ugly House Photos :  In the same genre as Awkward Family Photos,  not really educational but funny!

What the hell is going on?

There are news cycles when stories just telescope on each other and things get weirder and wilder.  The last few weeks have been like that, so action packed with political revolutions, coups, a slew of celebrity deaths including one super icon and another, regular icon, and then for dessert you get an extremely large serving of inept republicans bordering on bizarro world.  Its enough to make your head spin and while exciting, as a voracious news consumer, its exhausting, and I am watching/listening to  a Yankees baseball game almost everyday too! Not to mention, as well, several meals a day for the childrens.

So I was looking forward to the weekend when not only is there generally less content but its the weekend for God’s sake and a long weekend in the States.  Since I am living in Argentina, and the one Fourth of July celebration that was happening in BA was canceled because of the swine flu (another post), I don’t have picnic and parades to keeping me off the internets… Sarah Palin resigned!

What is it about Sarah Palin people  see her as a viable political leader?  I just don’t get it.  When she opens her mouth its beauty pageant Q&A..no substance AT ALL….  I see her personal story compelling and soap opera like at times so I get the media’s interest in her, but how does that translate to a politician with policy credentials.  I think our society is getting dangerously close to equating a telephotogenic person with a buzz,  as a leader.   OK, sounds a bit like Obama.  But please, he has cred, street and policy.  He did not need to be jacked up by some Eliza Doolittle operation to make him substantial.  I think that’s what we are looking at here.  I think Bill Kristol needed a job and now he has one as Henry Higgins.  This would all be so delicious if it wasn’t so frickin scary.

Paul Begala, me hearts him, wrote a piece that nails it.   I love reading him because he witty without being satire.  This is a solid opinion editorial that understands the historical and political context of what he writes.  Excellent and Funny.

Here is a thoughtful and measured  piece by a student on the ground in Tehran, while clearly depressed about the lull in participation by the masses, clearly this isnt over.

Bob Herbert  wrote this interesting op-ed about how Michael Jackson’s weird reality is analogous to our culture’s inability deal with society’s real problems head on.

And finally, the Yankee’s play of the week, chosen, by Owen, the O’Connell Family’s MLB expert and archivist of all obscure baseball stats.

The Sun has set on Twilight

It is not something I am proud of, but I am happy to say I have finish the last installment of the Twilight Quartet, Breaking Dawn.

It should be clear, if you have read any of my other posts, I am not a fifteen year old girl.  I am a 47 year old woman with 4 kids, not the demographic these books are targeted for.  But I am voracious reader living in Argentina where there are no Barnes and Nobles to pop into and pick up the latest best seller or classic.  An afternoon of fondling books and snacking on Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the things I miss most about living in the States.

But I am connected to a English reading (not all native speakers, show-offs!) community and we have a book group.  Not the typical book group where we all read a piece of literature during the month and meet to discuss the book with someone burdened as the facilitator of this discussion.  We just simply share books.  Some of the books are beach reads, some are thoughtful and provocative contemporary literature, some are biographical and a little of it is total garbage.  However, we all agree that when confronted with either another Paulo Coehlo translated from Portuguese into Spanish (a smidge of foie gras) or less than great literature in English, we go for the bowl of spaghetti. Well, this teen vampire romance series is a really big bowl.  Clocking in at 2379 pages, there has to be something compelling in these mediocre books.

The Sunday Paper

I always go first to Frank Rich, this week is no exception.  Which came first  torture or the Iraqi War?

In case you havent heard, Wednesday is the 100th day of Obama’s administration.  There are lots of articles about what he has done and hasnt done.The Nation has a series of articles.  Its obviously complicated, they like him and they dont…their editor has her say.

A funny from the Atlantic Monthy.

Those who like to portray Obama as the Marxist Boogeyman should read this.

John Dickersen at Slate writes a balanced article about developments this week in torture.

Happy torture reading!

I dont have the words

Since Tuesday, I have been reading a lot of post game analysis of the primaries, the speeches from Tuesday and the aftermath.  There is a lot of speculation on the battle ahead against McCain, the VP selection and how do we get Hillary’s most rabid supporters to support Obama.  But I will let the better writers and experts tell you.  Here is the best of the best giving you a look at whats happened and what is ahead.

Frank Rich this Sunday says it better than anyone could.

Andrew Sullivan, who was never a fan of Hillary, has a few kind words and some hard truths.

This is very much relevant to my experience.

Mark Penn is gross.

A little sometin funny:

And the inane.

What do George Bush and Charles Manson have in common?

OK, I am guilty of sensationalism. But just a minute, there is a connection and it is not that they are both guilty of drug induced, grizzly mass murders. That would be hyperbole.

When I was 7 years old, Charles Manson was busy committing horrible, terrorizing bloody murders in Southern California. We were living in San Francisco when, at around the same time, the Zodiac Murders began. I do remember conversations in my house about it, especially by my older siblings. It is any wonder I was able to get a goodnight’s sleep. In college, I took a comparative non-fiction class and together we read the highly stylized In Cold Blood by Truman Capote and Vincent Bugliosi’s tome Helter Skelter . The latter is a detailed-filled, must read, retelling of the the cult, the murders and the trial of Charlie and the “girls”. Both books are chilling, but only one has body location maps and bloody police photos of the crime scenes. It really is a great, but frightening read.

What do George Bush and Charles Manson have in common? Vincent Buglisosi has written well researched, and reviewed books about their respective crimes against humanity. Published next week, Buglisosi makes the argument that if George Bush, lied, and/or withheld information to make the very public argument for war, he is guilty of the murder of hundreds of thousands Iraqi people killed in the military operation. If the brown people’s lives don’t have value, then how about the thousands of dead and disabled military personnel from the coalition of the willing?? The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder