currently reading

Cruising through Ann Patchett's State of Wonder, which has a rich setting (the Amazon), well-drawn characters, and a pleasantly complex but not dense plot. Perfect summer read for fans of Bel Canto.

Also started reading Unfamiliar Fishes, which is Sarah Vowell's latest book. I've never read Vowell (her radio voice and smugness annoy me), but I find the subjects she tackles to be interesting. This book is about Hawaii. I like the history interspersed with personal stories and laced with humor.

I'm about to add Ben Aaronovitch's Moon over Soho to the mix. This is his follow up to Midnight Riot, which I found such a treat.

summer reading program

When I was a kid, the best thing about summer was participating in the summer reading program at the local Carnegie library. As with most of these programs, you were required to read a minimal number of books to earn a prize. My library asked for a short oral report, to be given to a librarian, which was fine. I never minded talking about the books I was reading. I remember the librarian filling an index card with the titles I read. It would be fun to have those cards now.

My childhood library is pictured above. It's one of my favorite places in the world. I learned to love books here. The stacks and every volume they offered were such comfort to me. The entry is new. I think its really attractive and welcoming. The clerestory windows undoubtedly provide a clean, well-lit place, which seems oh so fitting.

The prize each summer was a bus trip. Most of the destinations were frontier-oriented, but I’m fairly sure that’s what you get in eastern SoDak. One year we visited Ft. Sisseton, which was a defense for the eastern Dakota Territory. Another year we traveled to Prairie Village, a living museum near Madison. And, for this prairie girl and #1 Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, the piece de resistance was a visit to the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet. Regardless of destination, the trips were fantastic opportunities to run around without parental supervision and to see cool corners of the state. I feel super fortunate that my mother enrolled me and that she allowed me to take the end-of-summer trip.

For the past few summers, I have been participating in a reading challenge that is part of my favorite online community. I set my own goal. It’s always the same—20 books. I have only hit this goal once, and to do it, I read three books over Labor Day weekend. That was fun. The summer is just past the halfway point between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and I have read twelve books. Currently, I’m looking for a few good, quick reads to get me closer to my goal. Of course there is great satisfaction in reaching 20, but perhaps I should treat myself to a Minnesota literary road trip—Sauk Center (Sinclair Lewis), Walnut Grove (LIW), Mankato (Maud Hart Lovelace), or here in St. Paul (F. Scott Fitzgerald).

books on display

 

Earlier this year, I read about Thatcher Wine in the New York Times. His business, Juniper Books, embraces two of my favorite pursuits: books and design. Wine specializes in creating libraries for customers, often covering books to emphasize a theme or a color. From a reader's point of view, the books aren't necessarily pick-up-able, but from a design perspective, the effect is crisp and organized and very appealing. I find his work very inspiring.

Books were wrapped in orange paper, then stamped with letters that define the theme. Imagine cookbooks or travel books or mysteries done this way.

Books wrapped in complementary colors could enliven a shelf.

The potential for themes is endless. Here is a sports car; below is wine.

currently reading

Finally, I have finished Freedom, Jonathan Franzen's overly long novel of an epically dysfunctional family. I am relieved to have that monkey off my back. I started reading Freedom on the September day it was published, and I paid full price. For the most part, I found the characters ugly and nearly nonredeemable. I was never sure where the story was going, and yet found myself blown away that Franzen could pull off nearly 600 pages of dense writing, moving his novel along at a snail's pace and that it would be a bestseller and critically acclaimed. Baffling. BTW, I adored The Corrections.

Still working on Ben Aaronovitch's Midnight Riot, which is the first mystery in a funny supernatural series. I haven't read much in this subgenre, so I may not be the best judge, but I do think it's super fun and has been the perfect anecdote to bloated literary fiction.

We took another trip to SoDak over the July 4th weekend and so had another opportunity for a read-aloud--Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, the story of ultra-marathon runners and the Tarahumara, a super secret Mexican tribe of ultrarunners. We're enjoying the book. The author is a sports journalist and the writing is easy-going.

June statistics

June has been a great month for reading! I have had glorious swathes of time to sink my teeth into books, particularly during those two glorious weeks when the boys were still in school. Finishing five books in a month is an accomplishment, to be sure, but I also managed to pick up Freedom right at the place where I left off in April. At the rate I am going, I may actually finish this door-stopper--608 pages, feels like 1,200--before the pub year is over.

Sojourn was covered here. The only thing I’d like to say about it now is that it is still one of the leading candidates for Favorite of 2011.

A couple of short reads improved my overall statistics. On son Simon's recommendation, and in anticipation of attending a Neil Gaiman event, I read Odd and the Frost Giant. This is folklore at its best. For one, it’s not updated in some ridiculous contemporary way meant to capture the short attention spans of the modern child. Brett Helquist's woodcut illustrations ground the story so it is approachable and transporting.This beautiful story pays homage to Norse gods and giants in a very pleasing way. I cannot wait to re-read.

Wither is a first novel, and the first book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy, by Lauren DeStafano. As a YA novel, this book was a quick read, which was, perhaps, the best thing about it. I didn’t connect with any characters, and I’m only mildly curious about what happens to them. Catastrophic illnesses have been bred out of the gene pool, but the trade-off is that people don’t live into adulthood. Girls—some as young as 13 years old (which I found disturbing)—are plucked off the street and forced to marry and reproduce. Rhine Ellery, an orphan, is the victim of such a kidnapping. Her husband is wealthy and young. He falls in love with Rhine after his first wife expires from a very messy death. Rhine may have feelings for husband, but she has stronger feelings for Gabriel the servant boy. Mostly she’s plotting her escape from the mansion-prison in which she’s held so she may be reunited with her twin brother. The plot follows predictably as well as makes allusions to experiments conducted in the creepy basement by the scary father-in-law. Yeah, the stereotypes are heavy. It seems as if the publisher—and author—are trying to capture the Hunger Games audience, but I think Wither falls far short. I think I can predict the progression of each of the three books. Also, I found a lot of inconsistencies with the circumstances under which the world has gone to hell and couldn’t suspend enough disgust for the child brides and trafficking. Not recommended.

Foiled, however, was a delightful read. Jane Yolen wrote the story and Mike Cavallaro illustrated this sweet graphic novel about a teen girl who fences. There’s romance and magic (of the fantastical sort). Our lead character is feisty and passionate and competitive and trying to figure out life. I wish more books like this had been in print when I was 14.

The most transporting book I read this month was An Embarrassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof. This travel memoir details the epic year (plus) that the author and her husband spent sailing from their home in Toronto to the Caribbean. They quit their day jobs in publishing, rented their house, bought a 42-foot sailboat, and set off for points south, covering 47 individual islands. I loved reading about the water, the sand, the sun, the food, and the people (cruisers and islanders, alike) that the couple met along the way. And, I fantasized constantly about taking a leave from my studies, renting the house, pulling the kids out of school, and having an unforgettable adventure. I also have a wicked craving for conch fritters.

Sadly, I was forced to abandon Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, which I had been listening to in the car. Half of the story focuses on Daniel Burnham, the architect who designed the grounds for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The other half of the story focuses on a serial killer in Chicago who was active during that same period. Clearly, the character's lives intersect. This past semester, my architectural history class spent a lot of time on international expositions and on Chicago’s post-Great Fire growth so this book has been high on my list for summer reading. No sooner had I returned the book than I learned a friend was reading it and another is searching for a copy. Ah, the power of backlist (Larson has a newhardcover out). Try, try again.

the sojourn

When I’m feeling up to it, but more likely as time permits, I like to write quick and dirty reviews of the books I read. More typically, though, I let book review posts slide until the end of the month. But I just read a book that I can’t stop thinking about. In fact, I’m becoming an evangelist for it. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I read a book that moved me this much.

Last night, my book group met and discussed The Sojourn, a first novel by Andrew Krivak. We all loved it. This elegant, taut novel (191 pages!) is a first-person reflection from a Czech sharpshooter in WW1. The novel has a rather dramatic beginning, but I think it sets up the story nicely. I found that I really cared about the main character and most of the minor characters, which is more than I can say for the other novel I am currently reading. Unlike other war stories, there are minimal battle scenes. Blood and gore and heavy-handed moralizing are also missing. It was, in a word, amazing, and I highly recommend it.

The Sojourn is currently available in trade paperback. It will be the best $15 you spend this week. Remember, the book is only 191 pages. Really, not a big commitment, at all. If you’d like further convincing, read this review.

may stats

Finished: 

Crunch Time, Left for Dead, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

Abandoned: 

At Home

May has been quite an epic month. Pardon the drama, but I can find no other way to encapsulate a long month that encompassed final projects, tests, and papers. In fact one of those final projects involved a 96-hours stretch in which I got only 10 hours of sleep and three meals. Plus, it culminated in a mondo work session of 24 consecutive hours. I strove all semester to avoid getting myself into this situation, but, in the end, found it unavoidable. And, now, I am working toward acceptance that design school is insane that way—overly detail oriented and not enough time to attend to everything. So all I can do this summer is recover and reposition myself for fall. I’m digging deep to make myself smarter, faster, more confident than ever.

Naturally, part of my self-improvement will involve reading as much as I possibly can, for pleasure and for learning. As soon as finals were done, but before I’d caught up fully on lost sleep, I made a trip to the library. Then I hefted a thick mystery—Diane Mott Davidson’s Crunch Time—for pure entertainment. Crunch Time is the sixteenth novel in Davidson’s series, which features caterer-sleuth Goldy Schulz. I find that these mysteries (or novels of suspense as the jacket proclaims) are becoming increasingly overplotted. In fact, this book is over 400 pages, and I thought it was a little long. I know that the fictitious Colorado town where these stories are set is small and that Goldy must know everyone, but the relationships, particularly to the victim, are becoming more convoluted. It is clear, however, that Davidson intends to write more mysteries in this series—she dropped a bit of intrigue into Goldy and Tom’s personal life with a definite cliffhanger. Here’s more about the plot.

Over Memorial Day weekend, John and I took the boys to my parents’ house, which is a four-hour drive. We used to listen to audio books but now I read aloud, which I really enjoy. On this trip, we read Beck Weathers’ Left for Dead, which had been a recent Mother’s Day present. My dear husband has done his best to keep my adventure book section stocked with climbing dramas.

Weathers’ story, for the most part, was satisfying. He was a member of the 1996 season on Mt. Everest during which there was a record number of deaths. This is the climb that Jon Krakauer captured in Into Thin Air. Weathers didn’t summit because he was having unexpected side effects from a radial keratotomy and lost his ability to see. His limited vision also made it difficult for him to make it back to camp during a snowstorm so he hunkered down with a fellow stranded climbers and waited to be rescued or die. When his rescuers arrived, they left Weathers for dead since he was in a hypothermic coma and there was little perceived chance for survival.Who knew that Weathers would become conscious, pry his frozen body out of the snowfall, and walk back into camp.

In Left for Dead, Weathers tells the story of the clinical depression he “treated” with the physical exertion and with the ego boost of success that comes from climbing tall mountains. He tells about how the depression, his absences, and the excessive risks he took as a father and husband nearly destroyed his marriage. And, Weathers describes the injuries that he suffered from Everest and the long, long road to physical recovery. But, he doesn’t spend much time addressing how he worked on his marriage. Still, enough of the book appeased my craving for adventure writing that I enjoyed it.

Finally, I listened to David Sedaris’ latest book, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. I truly believe his books are best on audio. Sure, I can hear his voice in my imagination when I read, but it’s so much more satisfying. Sedaris is a performer and listening to him on audio is like having him in the car, telling me a story. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk is a delightful and wickedly funny, modern set of Aesop’s-like fables, some of which don’t have happy endings. My favorite story was “The Parenting Storks” in which two sisters dispel myths about where babies come from and discuss parenting philosophy.Very, very funny stuff.