Category Archives: Book Club

31 Days in Europe: Scarlett

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For my final European post in this series, I’d like to take you back to books and an Irish Halloween story for the ages.

Image via allgwtw.com

If you are a Gone With the Wind lover, you probably read Alexandra Ripley’s authorized sequel, Scarlett. If you didn’t, I don’t recommend it for its authentic follow-up to our checkered heroine’s past. I do, however, recommend it if you are open-minded and willing to see Scarlett through another author’s eyes. It was also made into a movie, which is available in DVD — maybe your library has it. The book got terrible reviews, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it.

Image via mercadotv.com.au

Joanna Whaley and Timothy Dalton are recognizable as Scarlett and Rhett, and the costumes and sets are as richly detailed as the first movie. We see Scarlett return to her Irish roots, purchase her family’s lands that had been lost, and establish herself as The O’Hara. This occurs within the loosely historical basis of the Fenian movement in Ireland. She pretends to be a rich widow, which of course the reader knows is a lie since Rhett has divorced her and married a sweeter and calmer (boring) new wife. Scarlett is devastated but still determined to figure out a way to get Rhett back.

Image via en.wikipedia.org

What the sequel doesn’t have is the rich plotlines of Mitchell’s original masterpiece. What it does have, however, is an eerie portrayal of Irish All Saint’s Eve customs. I have no idea if they are accurate or just stereotyping on the part of Alexandra Ripley, but Scarlett’s passage through her family heritage is great fun and rewarding in its own kind of way. You probably remember that the original Scarlett was a dichotomy of fear and arrogance and superstition and courage, and it’s good to see the real Scarlett reassert herself in Ireland.

I hope to visit Ireland one of these days, and I will definitely make the pilgrimage to the Hill of Tara to visit its mystical monuments. Maybe you’ll still be along for the Got My Reservations ride.

Ta-ta for now.

31 Days in Europe: Tuscany Revisited

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It’s Friday, Friday, and I can hear Rebecca Black’s stupid song in my head. I’ve had to erase recordings off of my DVR because I haven’t had time to watch the old stuff and the new stuff — Project Runway and Dancing With the Stars and The Sing Off and House — is much more important to me right now. Go Yellow Jackets!

So, tonight I’m taking the easy way out. Click here to read my second most popular post of all time and the one that continues to get more hits than any other. Since we have been in the Italy mode most of this week, let’s revisit Tuscany and one of my favorite authors, Frances Mayes.

Image via overstock.com

This post  linked up with hundreds of other 31 Day-ers. Join the fun and visit other bloggers as they share a piece of themselves. I’m still number 568, by the way.

P.S. If you’re reading, please “like” me on Facebook. I’m trying to migrate over to a professional page rather than my personal page and my daughter and her friends are getting lonely…

Book Club: True Stories

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I love memoirs and personal tales of motivation, achievement, and best of all, obsession. I also really love historical fiction, especially that which is so well researched that it’s hard to tell what is fact and what is fiction. That’s why my two most recent books really hooked me and why I think you should definitely read at least one of them.

E.L. Doctorow garnered a lot of attention following the publication of his 2005 novel, The March, which was awarded the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction and the PEN/Faulkner award. The March was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and nominated for the National Book Award. I read it; it was a cultural tour de force that gives new insights into the plight of the American South during General Sherman’s march to the sea. If you’ve been reading for a while, you probably already read Ragtime (1975), which has been consistently included on the lists of the 100 best English language books ever written. And, if you are one of my Ohio relatives, you will know that it is most likely Doctorow’s four years at Kenyon College that is bringing him all of his success :).

Image via literallife.wordpress.com

When our book club chose Homer and Langley (2009) for inclusion in our year’s reading, I thought it sounded interesting. The idea that the novel is based on the true story of the Collyer brothers of New York, men who were recluses and hoarders, seemed kind of interesting and ticked all my reading boxes. I figured that in Doctorow’s hands, a story of obsession could be worth reading. Boy, was that the understatement of the year! I devoured this delectable little morsel of New York lore as quickly as possible, given that I was listening to it in the car during my commute to work. After researching the Collyer brothers and reading some reviews, I found that Doctorow turned the somewhat sad story of the eccentricities of these men into a fantasia of historical allusion — kind of a Forrest Gump story that also puts the Collyer brothers in the path of American history. Unlike Forrest, however, America came to the Collyers rather than the Collyers going after it as Forrest did.

I don’t recommend that you learn the true details of the Collyers’ lives first; let Doctorow weave his spell around you before you go to Mr. Internet. I do recommend that you try listening to it as I did. Arthur Morey’s voicing of the two brothers’ story is spell-binding. I can’t imagine hearing them speak any other way. It’s probably at your library in CD version or you could do the free trial of Audible from Amazon.com (let me know how that works out).

And then there’s my other book for this week. Are you a closeted Laura Ingalls Wilder fan? Do you still have your box set of the Little House books that you are saving for your daughter? If so, you will absolutely adore The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie (2011) by Wendy McClure.

Image via wendymcclure.net

Although it’s probably difficult for anyone to believe, I did not grow up reading the Little House books, nor did I get interested in them when I began to read children’s book as a teacher. I did watch the television show occasionally, but all that earnestness wasn’t really my cup of tea.

That’s why it’s really hard for me to figure why I absolutely loved McClure’s book about tracing the path of Laura Ingalls and her family through their real homesteads. I just had this awesome connection with someone who could be so obsessed with pioneer living that she bought a churn on eBay and actually made butter in her Chicago apartment. How cool is that? Possibly running a close second to my obsessive visits to Tudor castles in England, but that’s surely not the same.

And then I actually went to Wendy’s website and found that she lives in our old neighborhood in Chicago and just got married to Chris. It must be serendipity and I’m going to have to figure out how to be her new best friend. Or not. Maybe that would look too much like stalking her.

If you loved Laura Ingalls and her family, you should definitely read The Wilder Life. If you don’t even know what I’m talking about, forget it and stick with Doctorow. Both are good reads and I recommend them both.

P.S. Just so you know,  I want to write this same book about following the path of Louisa May Alcott, which is my dirty little secret. I’ve read everything Louisa — we’re on first name basis — ever wrote, have of course communed with her ghost in Concord, and have stood in the street outside of her Louisburg Square house in Boston, just drinking in the literary air.

P.P.S. Wendy, if you’re reading this because you have a pinger on your web site, don’t steal my idea for the Louisa May Alcott book. It’s mine, even though you did a really good job hooking me into The Wilder Life. Message me, okay? Or comment — either would be good.

Book Club: The Secret Supper

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As I get ready to talk to my eighth graders tomorrow about how to choose an independent reading book, it struck me that perhaps I am not a good role model in this respect. I will read anything and I almost always read every book all the way through. I am a book omnivore.

Image via theaudiobookstore.com

I devour historical fiction about people and places that I have probably already met in hundreds of similar books. I’m always looking for the next best book about my favorite kings and queens.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a good book; I just love the subjects. For example, today I checked out Before Versailles, The Reluctant Queen, and Becoming Marie Antoinette.

I love trashy chick lit, especially when it is set in New York City or in London. The pinker the book cover, the better. I live vicariously through the plucky heroines of these books, since my generation was just starting to enjoy the professional and personal freedoms that young women take for granted today. I do wonder why I rarely encounter chick lit set in Chicago. Maybe that’s a hole in the market I should fill. Or are we just too wholesome in the Midwest to make a good trashy novel?

Image via barnesandnoble.com

(Mr. Internet always knows the answers to my questions; a quick search on Amazon brought me to an author that I don’t think I know — Jen Lancaster. It looks like I might like her books, based on their titles, and it appears that I will recognize the settings.)

I love novels with food and chefs in them. Even when the protagonists are weakly developed and the plots are unbelievable, it’s still fun to read about people who love to cook and people who love to eat, not to mention when the author throws in details about table settings. You already know how I feel about dishes!

I especially love books that take a famous art work and create a fictionalized story around it. One of my all time favorites is Luncheon of the Boating Party, based on Renoir’s painting of the same name. Susan Vreeland wove a fascinating story about the creation of this painting and how Renoir used his friends and relatives as models for the scene.

Image via renoirgallery.com

That’s why I was so very disappointed when I tried to read The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra. My reaction was similar to some of the reviewers — I couldn’t relate sympathetically to the main character, a Papal Inquisitor in 1497 who is sent to Milan to ferret out a heretic. That Leonardo Da Vinci is painting secret messages into The Last Supper doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

Image via jaydax.co.uk

Apparently the final reveal of the message comes at the very end of the book, but I didn’t get that far. This tale of politics and dissent in the Catholic church didn’t really interest me and —insert gasps of surprise here — I couldn’t finish it. I took it back to the library, but don’t let that stop you. There are lots of reviewers on Amazon who loved The Secret Supper.

Tomorrow I’m going to tell my students my own story. I’m going to tell them to try a book for about fifty pages. If they hate it, they should stop reading and return it to the library. There is likely to be someone else who will love it, since our school librarian only buys highly regarded or wildly popular young adult literature. And then — and here’s the kicker — I’m going to ask them to write about why they didn’t like the book. That’s the part that would usually separate me as the teacher from me as the reader, but here I am writing about books I liked and about books I didn’t.  Perhaps I’m an okay role model after all.

Book Club: The Fabulous Mr. Maupin and His Boys and Girls

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After I picked up an Armistead Maupin book from the “new book” shelf at the library and read it voraciously from cover to cover in practically one sitting, I learned that I was now part of an American subculture and apparently had been living under a reading rock.

Image via joemygod.blogspot.com

When I started mentioning this great book I’d read — Mary Ann in Autumn — friends would say, “Is that part of the Tales of the City saga? I read…” and they would tell me their Tales story. When I visited the famous City Lights bookstore in San Francisco and saw the number of Maupin books on the “recommended” shelf, I was probably already hooked. Then I read Tales of the City on the plane, and I knew I had a summer project. I was going to read the entire Tales of the City story this summer during my break from school.

Based in San Francisco, Armistead Maupin says that he was a gay writer when it wasn’t accepted to be openly gay. Now his books are slotted and designated on the trendy GLBT shelves, but they are so much more than that. I will warn you; the Tales story is mesmerizing and life-altering. As a straight-and-supportive reader, Maupin takes me several steps beyond what I thought I knew and loved. All of Maupin’s books are semi-autobiographical; the recurring characters in his novels carry fascinating stories from his own life and those of the people around him. The magic of Maupin’s tales lies in their basic humanity and compelling storytelling. The reader can’t help but be drawn into the web of the family at 28 Barbary Lane — and then there’s twenty years of San Francisco as a backdrop. I’m telling you, it’s hard to stop reading.

I’ve finished all but two of the Maupin novels (I ignored the short stories so far), and I’m going to the library today to see if they have the other two books and the mini-series starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney. Once you’ve read the first book, it will be clear to you who plays which role, and that’s part of the fun of the Tales series. You never know who’s going to show up again and in what guise.

I hope that I’ve intrigued you enough to try a Tales story for yourself. It’s either your cup of tea or it isn’t, but I encourage you to try; I think it’s worth stretching yourself a little to enjoy the fabulous Armistead Maupin and his cast of characters.

Book Club: Sideways Two Ways

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As a lover of wine, everyone encouraged me to watch the movie Sideways when it came out in 2004. I watched it, enjoyed it, and bought it for my personal library. Then I ignored it for a few years.

Starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, and Sandra Oh, the story follows the pre-wedding trip of two old friends to the Santa Ynez wine country in California. Miles (Giamatti) plans a laid-back week of golfing and wine tasting while Jack (Church) is looking for a final week of freedom before settling down in marriage. The two are clearly at cross-purposes and the story is full of poignant and hysterical incidents. Madsen and Oh are fabulous in pitch perfect portrayals as the objects of Miles and Jack’s romantic affection. Madsen’s pinot noir speech will convince you that you never want to drink anything else again.  

When school let out, I was looking in the library for something different to listen to in my car and found Rex Pickett’s original novel on which the movie was based. It was an excellent interpretation, but it was also amazing how well the reader (Scott Brick) matched the cadences and tone of both Giamatti and Church. Since quite a lot of the movie dialogue is straight from the book, I suppose it’s not surprising, but this book just seems to be destined to be a movie. In fact, some reviewers said that it made a better movie than a book. Director Alexander Payne and Rex Pickett worked closely together in developing the movie script, and it shows.

I think that both the book and the movie deserve a second look (or a first one if you’ve never read the book or seen the movie). The movie leaves out some interesting plot twists but compensates by deftly changing a few plot developments to make a slightly different story. Both versions are enjoyable. There’s a reason why the movie is rated R, including a lot of graphic sex and language, but it doesn’t feel gratuitous. It’s part of the story; just don’t watch it with your youngsters, including teenagers. (Talk to my daughter about how watching American Pie with her parents scarred her for life.)

Summer gives us an opportunity to relax and expand our horizons. I suggest you do it with a bottle of wine and Sideways. As for me, I’m looking for a copy of Vertical, Pickett’s sequel to Sideways that came out in October of 2010. I can’t believe my library doesn’t have it yet.

Book Review: A Good Year

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Tonight’s guilty pleasure is going to be to write about a wonderful book and and its not quite wonderful movie. I should be grading papers…

I have a love/hate relationship with Peter Mayle. I’ve read practically everything he has written and I regularly check out the delightful A Year in Provence video from the library, but sometimes I get tired of his similar plot lines. They are really “all about him” — or perhaps what he wishes he were.

After last year’s immersion in books about France, I’m pretty sure I don’t have what it takes to chuck it all and live in the French countryside, but I still love reading about those who do, and Mayle is a master at telling us about what it’s like to be a foreigner in the strange land that is France. That’s why I keep reading; maybe someday I’ll actually be brave enough (and fluent enough in French) to take the plunge into the Luberon.

Image via fantasticfiction.co.uk

I remembered with a certain fondness the movie A Good Year, starring Russell Crowe. I hadn’t watched it for a while and I started thinking about the whole Netflix thing; maybe I could instantly get it without actually having to go to the library…

That didn’t work out and I still don’t have Netflix hooked up, but I did decide to read the book first. Somehow, I had never read it during my Peter Mayle fixation.  The protagonist, Max Skinner, inherits his uncle’s estate in Provence where he spent his childhood summers. While trying to decide whether or not to sell the property and return to his life as a stockbroker in London, he falls in love again with the lifestyle of southern France. Along the way, he learns that his vineyard has been hijacked by nefarious wine merchants. It was a grand little mystery with stereotyped English, French, and American characters and lots of wine thrown in. What’s not to like?

Then I watched the movie. Although it’s a delightful little piece of Provencal love-story fluff directed by Ridley Scott, the full-bodied mystery was lost and the host of quirky characters were diluted to a pale white zinfandel. Russell Crowe is lovely to look at, and young Freddie Highmore is adorable as the young Max Skinner. If you’re not a reader, by all means watch the movie; you’ll enjoy it, but the book is better.

Isn’t the book always better?

Book Review: Me, Myself and Why?

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I can reliably say that I have never read a book quite like Me, Myself and Why?. That’s saying quite a bit, since I have read thousands of books in my lifetime. Maybe even thousands and thousands.

Photo via goodreads.com

Apparently MaryJanice Davidson normally writes in the “vampire chick-lit genre.” I suppose that puts her in the category of Twilight‘s Stephenie Meyers. It makes me cringe to think that there’s officially a vampire chick-lit genre that we gullible readers are actually buying to make MaryJanice a New York Times Best Selling Author. Gag.

That being said, Me, Myself and Why? was quite entertaining if you’re not afraid of reading-while-politically-incorrect, and it’s not about vampires. Davidson’s heroine, Candace Jones, has multiple personality disorder, stemming from a traumatic incident in her childhood. She works for a secret FBI division based in Minneapolis and all of the agents are recruited because of their “issues’ such as kleptomania and OCD. Candace and her “sisters” Shiro and Adrienne come in and out to play as they try to find a serial killer.

Each sister-personality has her own style, both of behavior and speaking, and the reader is introduced to the different takes on the crime-solving through shifting chapters in each voice. Several reviewers found it confusing, but I thought it made a somewhat obvious plot more interesting. There’s the reliable best friend, the red-herring, and then the obvious under-your-nose killer, but with a twist. I was disappointed with the abrupt ending; it felt as though Davidson ran out of steam, but apparently this was her attempt to set us up for a trilogy starring Candace and her two sisters.

If you’re interested but just not sure you want to invest time or money on this one, link up here. Amazon.com is offering a free prequel to introduce you to the characters. I don’t have Kindle set up yet (I know, I’m a loser but I like the real thing) so I’m not sure how this works. Just sharing…

Just looking back at the sentences above gives me the creeps. I’m sure you figured out that her name is not a typo; that’s how she spaces it on the book. Given my predilection for typo hunting, I probably would not have used MaryJanice incorrectly more than once. Gag again. What happened to naming one’s child something simple?

But that’s a post for another day.

Keep reading; it will keep you sane and sexy.

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