The Miles Between by Mary E. Pearson
Henry Holt, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Book #23:
Veronika decide morir(Veronika Decides to Die)
by Paulo Coelho
(translated by Margaret Jull Costa)
HarperCollins, 2006
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Book #22:
Promby Laurie Halse Anderson
Penguin, 2006
Maybe Speak was a fluke? This is only the second of Anderson's work I've read, and from the outset I struggled to accept that I was reading the same author. Speak is so popular that it appears, the Penguin group has named a YA imprint after it: Speak Books. That book was among those that got me back inot reading YA fiction. It was original, well-constructed, real, affecting. Like the YA books I most favoured as a teen (those Robert Cormier, Robert O'Brien, SE Hinton, Paul Zindel), Speak had that lasting quality, I felt, that meant it would transcend generations. It was just one of those stories, with a lead character finding her voice, something we all realte to as teens straddling the line between wanting to fit in and stand out.
Prom, however, lacks that originality... more to come.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Book #19:
Wake in Frightby Kenneth Cook
Allen & Unwin, 2009
(originally published in 1961)
Grant felt himself exposed in no man’s land. There was no avenue of retreat and the enemy was invisible and unassailable. His supports had been dissipated, his arms were lost. He could not even burrow into the ground to hide.
It’s perhaps a rite of passage for any Australian reader to endure Wake in Fright, the 1961 condemnation by Kenneth Cook of the outback and its inhabitants. It’s harsh, unsettling, a new (at the time) insight into the coastal vs. inland cultural disparities inherent in the so-called Australian way of life.
In the novel, John Grant, a Sydney-sider unhappily teaching primary schoolers in an outback town 1200 miles inland and consisting of little more than a pub and a railway station, is excited to be heading back to the coast for a six-week holiday. His journey home involves a stop-over in Bundanyabba, a small town in the middle of nowhere, yet with pubs, hotels, people, enough to get by. Happy to check out the local scene for his one night in town, Grant hits the pubs – confident, content, ready for his break to begin. And then, on a gambling whim, Grant loses everything. He finds himself trapped in this outback wasteland the locals call the ‘Yabba.
Grant, we learn early on, deplores the outback lifestyle, and the people that, by choice, populate and thrive within it. Soon, though, reliance on those people becomes his only means of survival. But at what cost? Grant’s ‘Yabba stay becomes a trek into his own personal hell – educated and well-to-do, Grant soon finds himself shooting ‘roos, drinking endless slabs of beer, skinning his own wildlife catches for food, and contemplating what to do with the last remaining bullet in his rifle – the gun a gift of the locals.
It’s a wonderful set up – stranger in a strange land goes to extremes to get by, discovers his weaknesses, battles his demons while flailing in hell. And Cook puts Grant through the wringer. It’d be giving too much away to describe exactly what fun amounts to for the local ‘Yabba yobbos who befriend Grant on his second night in town. Grant’s most horrific experiences, though, occur in the company of Doc Tydon, an educated man rather like Grant himself, an incongruity central to the book’s themes of class and culture, freedom and choice. Tydon is aware of Grant’s outback prejudice, and stirs up the snobbery in him whenever he can, cleverly using it to draw Grant into some seriously awful undertakings. Grant endures it all; ultimate desperation, you know, can make us do crazy things.
The book is a rite of passage because it’s a view into a different part of Aussie life, the other, other side of the Sun, Sand, and Surf mystique. Or even the croc-hunter, man on the land ideal. It’s key, though, the distinction Cook makes between those lifestyles, and how so many of us don’t experience those other sides, at least not fully enough to grasp the customs of each. As a rural dweller most of my life, I can’t claim to know the first thing about the surf culture in Sydney or the fun park paradise of coastal Queensland. I’m as lost as Grant in such places. On the other side, too, I’ve smiled to myself at the awkwardness of the city dweller in the sticks.
These distinctions aren’t specific to Australia; everywhere has its Otherness – north and south, east and west, city and country. Cook’s observations of these differences in this country give his book authenticity. He gleaned much as a journo in rural Broken Hill, the town on which Bundanyabba is said to be based. Grant, for instance, is consistently surprised when men offer to buy him beers – this is the ultimate favour in outback Oz, and Grant feels he owes these men who give and give for no reason other than to quench another man’s thirst (one of his first mistakes). And when Grant, drunk or tired or just plain full refuses the offer, his refusal is met with disdain. Country folks, apparently, take a refusal to be bought a beer as the ultimate dismissal. I laughed at this notion because it’s so, so true. But while the book aptly describes the isolation and inwardness of such communities, it is still a dramatization in the extreme. As a rural Australian, it’s difficult not to want to defend the tight-knit-ness of such a community, and the informal approach to, well, everything, as a sign, perhaps, of a freer existence, not a stupid one that knows no better. Or perhaps, I just don’t want to know if the outback indeed has such power to utterly destroy a man and his sensibilities. Everyone’s version of hell is their own, I guess.
Still, the book managed to scare me – I finished it the day before a scheduled flight across that mighty expanse from southern Melbourne up to Darwin, at its tippy-top. With no idea what to expect from that rural city smack bang in its own middle of nowhere, I wondered what I might do if my friends didn’t collect me from the airport, if somehow I left my bag on a bar counter as I once did with my Passport in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. What would I do? Where would I go? I’d figure it out, no doubt, after a beer or two… Someone’d get the tab, that I know for sure.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Book #11:
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: The Murder at Road Hill Houseby Kate Summerscale
Bloomsbury, 2008
I blogged a few months back about this book's taking out of the Samuel Johnson Prize and have been desperate to read it ever since. The handful of bookstores in my region either didn't have it or wanted to charge me $30 for it in times of financial drought. The other day, however, on a giant book-buying road trip for which I saved mucho dollars, I found it, stuffed haphazardly in the true crime section at Bendigo's old fire station-turned-secondhand bookstore.
I believe I may have squealed.
Summerscale's book is exactly what you might call "my thing". It's crime in the Capote style, a rich, true account written in the form of a novel, with revelations plotted throughout to create storytelling over basic retelling. Not only that, as the detective investigating the crime at hand was the inspiration for characters in the works of Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and others, it's also a history of English literature. True crime and a lesson in literary history -- what could be more perfect?
And it was just as I suspected -- educational and utterly thrilling. I knew very little about the murder at Road Hill House going in, so the twists and turns gripped me exactly as they should have. I read compulsively, especially the second half as the mystery began to unravel.
It begins, in 1860, with a murder, that of Saville Kent, the four-year-old son of Samuel and Mary Kent of Road, Wiltshire. As Kent is a private man with an unpopular profession, his home and family, including maids, nurses, and the children of his former marriage, are securely locked up at night in their large home. The security assumes the murderer resides within. Celebrated detective Jack Whicher is brought in to find the culprit. Yet with so many suspects and a range of plausible motives and means, Whicher's job is difficult. The call he eventually makes as to the perpetrator of the crime is unpopular and costs him his reputation (in the US, the book is subtitled, A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective).
But Jack Whicher has a reputation for a reason, and he stands by his suspicions as the crime goes unsolved for a number of years. When the answers finally come, most everyone is surprised. I was, too. My keen eye and marked understanding of the personalities involved proved entirely, wholeheartedly wrong. (But I was so sure!)
Summerscale is just a dream to read. She sticks to the fact, digressing into detail only at key moments. Her insight into the players and the era is convincing. And her conclusions are shocking -- Summerscale admits that in her verve to tell her story, she lost sight of its centre -- a dead child. Funny, too, that in my race to read the book and the joy I received while doing so, deep in the shadows of Victorian England, peeping through the keyholes into the lives of this private family, I, too, lost sight of little Saville and the horrors that occurred to create this entertaining, spellbinding read.
I don't really know how to reconcile that thought. Might delve into that another time.
Still, it's a marvellous, historical tale with great insights into the origins of detection and detective novels. It's also the story of upheaval in the lives of the Kent family, and just how they dealt with the everlong aftermath of one horrible event.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Book #10:
Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty by Scott Turow
Picador, 2004
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Book #9:
Deceptionby Philip Roth
Knopf, 1997
Superb book. I might post some of my favourite quotes soon. I copied down lots.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Book #8:
You've Got to Read This Book!: 55 People Tell the Story of the Book That Changed Their Life by Jack Canfield and Gay Hendricks
Friday, January 30, 2009
Book #7:
He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding GuysAuthor: Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
Simon & Schuster, 2006
My sister said to me the other day, "If you had a magical genie on your shoulder that could offer you anything and it would happen right away, what would you want?"
I couldn't give her a straight answer. I came up with a few scenarios, but everything seemed to involve hardships or complications I wasn't willing to face. She let me think about what I wanted, but allowed me to see what it meant to get it. I stumbled and mumbled and contradicted myself. I swore a fair bit. So what, she ended up saying, do you really want?
Her point was to remind me of the realities of life. That nothing is so simple, and that pinpointing what we want, what we truly, ultimately desire for ourselves, comes with a road that's not always easy to follow. A road -- oh God how I hated this discovery -- that is not always even possible. She wanted me, really, to see the bigger picture. And to be more realistic about that picture.
Ugh -- doesn't it suck when someone cracks you out of your fantasy world? When someone is able to counter every fantasy-based notion you have? You say one thing, they counter it with solid arguments. You argue, they argue back. And they keep arguing until you sit silent and fold, because they're right. "You can't start," my sister says, "until you know where you want to finish."
I complained: But I can't do it!
She came back with: "Of course you can. You have no other choice,"
My point? My sister, turns out, is like my very own Greg Behrendt, just a text message away from ultimate, uncompromising truth. This is the way it is -- see it now. Greg's book with Liz Tuccillo does not contain the advice I need just at this point, but even if you're not looking for guy-advice, Greg's no-bullshit style is a great motivator to get yourself together and start separating the good from the bad in your life. That's what I got from this one, anyway. And I decided just how useful the thing would have been ten years ago when I was wrapped up that "does he love me" cycle of girlie crap. Greg's advice: If he does love you, you'll never be asking that question. It's so true, too. Greg lets us know that a dude that wants you will let you know evey way he can. And if you've ever been loved, ever been pursued, ever known what it means to really be wanted -- you'll understand the truth of that.
I enjoyed that -- Greg's breaking down of Guy Behaviour. And it's really not that complicated. If he's into you, he'll show it. Full stop. The book is written mainly in Q&A, with a deluded woman asking Greg if her abusive/non-committal/busy/married/sick/scared/rich/poor/young/old man is into her. And Greg tells it like it is -- he's doesn't want to go out with you, calls you fat, has a wife, says he's scared, forgets to ring, never makes dates, sleeps on the couch... then he's not that into you and a fox like you deserves more.
Well, you wanna say, if it were only so simple, but then you realise it is.
Downside? It's assumed in the book that women are perfect. Greg goes out of his way to remind us chicks of how hot we are and how wanted we are and how wasting time on non-committal men is just wasting our foxy energy. So the book misses when it comes to looking at women themselves, and their complexities. Not every woman is a smart, sexy, successful Liz Tuccillo. Some of us come with scars. I don't think it's entirely fair to blame male behaviour solely on maleness, which I feel this book at times does. But then Greg's not a psychologist, and I think his audience here probably is women like Liz Tuccillo who have much of their shit together already and just need the man part of the puzzle to slot in and fit.
It's a small criticism, though, because this is, essentially, a lighthearted look at truth in dating and romance. And Greg's forthrightness is addictive. He won't let you wallow, he won't let you question and back answer and excuse. He'll just give you fun, straightforward truth.
He should write a book with my sister.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Book #5:
The Will to Whatevs: A Guide to Modern LifeAuthor: Eugene Mirman
HarperCollins, 2009
Reading this for review / interview.
Okay, so I elected to read this for review because Eugene Mirman is in Flight of the Conchords, but I had no idea it would actually be funny. And not just funny, but so funny, I spat chocolate milk at one point. It happened during Eugene discussion about naming his band Guy Whose Face Ate Sex. It's just that mad.
It's been ages since I've been forced to read passages from a book aloud to people because something is just so funny it has to be shared. You just have to pass on the gift of funny to someone else. Eugene Mirman is like that. It's silly, innocent humour that just had me excited to pick up the book each night.
And the advice wasn't too bad either. See my upcoming review and interview at PopMatters. Link to come.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Book #4:
The Energy of SlavesAuthor: Leonard Cohen
Jonathan Cape, 1972
Of all the pieces collected here, this one hit me hardest. Seems I have a new favourite every time I read the book.
Welcome to these lines
Welcome to these lines
There is a war on
but I'll try to make you comfortable
Don't follow my conversation
it's just nervousness
Didn't I make love to you
when we were students of the East
Yes the house is different
the village will be taken soon
I've removed whatever
might give comfort to the enemy
We are alone
until the times change
and those who have been betrayed
come back like pilgrims to this moment
when we did not yield
and call the darkness poetry.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Book #3:
The Wave Author: Todd Strasser (writing as Morton Rhue)
Man, oh man. I grabbed this out to read because, at work, I received a preview screener for a brand new film version of the story, only this time set in Germany. To see the originally American story (it's based on an incident at a Palo Alto school) that centres heavily on Nazi conditioning during World War II suddenly set in actual Germany -- well, that I had to see, and fast.
But I needed a new familiarity with the story. While the book is very much a work of young adult fiction, it's still quite heavy, and still full of adult themes and ideas. A rebellious teacher of the John Keating variety, Ben Ross, decides to try out an experiment with his class. The kids don't think a Holocaust-type event could ever occur in contemporary society because Hitler's brand of conditioning would never fly with a modern army. Ross subtley begin to run his class as if training soldiers and before he knows it, and before the kids know it, they're standing to attention when he says so, reading their homework every night in order to answer questions rapid-fire when called upon, and even saluting their fair teacher in the hallways. It's all part of the "Wave".
The experiment works a little too well, and problems begin to arise when the entire school becomes "Wave" mad. The kids want in, and those that don't find themselves in creepy trouble. Clearly, setting the same story in Germany is going to bring new and different, and difficult, themes to the fore. I am halfway through the movie at the moment, and already it's more complex than it's YA starting point.
It's rather a tame book for the big themes it investigates. I thought the climax was a bit watery, and would have enjoyed Rhue taking the kids and their madness to the sorts of places Robert Cormier was never afraid to go. The end of The Chocolate War, for instance, is a hard read. This book isn't so much. You know Ross will win out, and that's fine, but how he gets there isn't nearly as confronting as it could be. But then it is based on fact, so if the depiction of the final moments of the "Wave" is as it happened, then I shouldn't really complain.
Still, it's a creepy book. And creepier still that it actually happened. You can read more about the real-life "wave" in this interview at Ron Jones' website, or at the Guardian.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Book #2
Black WaterAuthor: Joyce Carol Oates
Penguin, 1993
As Steve and I are both reading Let the Right One In, and often both want to read the same copy of that book at the same time, I picked something else for those times when he gets to the little vampires first.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Book #1
Let the Right One InAuthor: John Ajvide Lindqvist
Quercus, 2008
First book down for the year. I've started on a high note, too, with a book that quite literally kept me up nights thinking about just how it's author successfully mixed such graphic images and sweet-natured romance. Okay, so, it was the images of plasma-leaking eyeballs and bodies in bathtubs that had me jumping at every midnight noise, but still ...
The gist: Oskar feels the rage of any bullied schoolkid, fantisizing about getting his own back against the baddies in putrid, violent ways. Eli moves in next door, and her first encounter with Oskar is following one of his fantasy attacks. Eli is an outsider, too, and she and Oskar forge a connection. Eli, we learn, is a vampire, and her caretaker, Hakan, exists to satisfy her bloody needs. He kills for her and is eventually caught, leaving Eli all alone, and in need. Oskar and Eli get closer, while Eli's "influence" on the community gets a bit, well ... out of control. And there's much more going on -- bullies wanting revenge, kids wanting guidance, a dead man with a acid-burned face refusing to stay down. It's so heavily layered that as each story nears it's end, the tension becomes almost unbearable as they begin to converge.
This is a horror story and a love story. And the blending of those elements is very clever, if not slightly schizophrenic. There were moments I felt bile rising in my throat, closing the book and my eyes to shake away some ultra-confronting images. Other times, though, I dropped my cynical shoulders and sat back in awe as Lindqvist's characters so valiantly declared love through unthinkable acts of loyalty. Loyalty is probably at the heart of the story, love and horror aside. Characters risk their lives to help one another, enter dangerous situations to save one another, kill to be closer to each other.
And while vampires abound, the book does not feel like a supernatural tale. Lindqvist recreated his life in 1981 Blackeberg, and comments frequently on the political and social climates, the social concerns of a small town, and some alternative family structures (two key characters in the book, Oskar and Tommy, do not have fathers at home). There's a reality to the story, even if Sweden itself has an otherworldy air for an outsider like myself, that makes you believe vampires exist here, brought in to shake up the middling status quo. All romanticised vampire lore is scrapped for the very basics, and so Eli's struggle feels real. We're not sidetracked by garlic necklaces and stakes through hearts -- she lives and dies, for the most part, as we do, and because of this, we feel for her even as she bites into the necks of characters we come to love.
I grabbed the book because I was so gripped by the movie trailer. And I'm so happy I did that as the film, which I watched almost as soon as I finished reading, centres itself so firmly on Oskar and Eli that those layers I mentioned pretty much don't exist. The film is beautiful, though I found it slightly flawed (Hakan's character remains almost unexplained, for instance). Its beauty has much to do with its portrayal of Oskar and Eli's relationship. I worried that due to their ages, their romance might not translate so well, but it does.
So, all in all, not a bad start to my reading year.
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