It's Halloween!

So, I decided to feature a spooky story today in honor of the holiday! My selection is "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. Although this is one of the classics everyone should have read, I still haven't to my shame. But, of course, it's on my ever growing "to read" list.

Happy Halloween!

Eating: A Memoir

When I saw this article on the New York Times Web site, I couldn't pass it up. Especially not when it's about a book entitled "Eating: A Memoir." I love books, and I love food, so this is just my cup of tea.

Jason Epstein's novel may have to wait a little bit though until it finds itself on my bedside table since I'm still working on "The Peabody Sisters." It's fantastic so far and I'm only about one-fifth of the way through! I already know I'm going to love it.

A Confession..

Well, I have done what all book-lovers fear (possibly) most: I have lost a book. The said book was All in the Dances: A Brief Life of George Balinchine by Terry Teachout.

I had only gotten about a third of the way through, so I cannot give it a full review. I will say that, being a dancer myself, I found a lot of the information to be common knowledge, but that may not the case for all of you non-ballerinas out there. If you're interested in getting a brief overview of one of the most celebrated choreographers the dance world has ever known, I would suggest you check out the book. Personally, I wasn't heartbroken not to finish it because it read a little dry and contained a lot of facts I already learned in my dance history class.

Now, I get to read "The Peabody Sisters" by Megan Marshall, a biography that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Don't expect to see this review for awhile though since the book is 602 pages (which includes more than 100 pages of footnotes).

Life According to Literature

So, I just found this quiz on Stuck in a Book's blog and thought it'd be fun to try. You have to answer the questions only using books you have read this year (2009) and have to try not to use the same title twice. Feel free to leave me comments on what your answers are!

Describe yourself: Same Kind of Different as Me (Ron Hall and Denver Moore)

How do you feel: Fire in the Blood (Irene Nemirovsky)

Describe where you currently live: A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Paris to the Moon (Adam Gopnik)

Your favorite form of transportation:

Your best friend is: Everyman (Philip Roth)

You and your friends are: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Jonathan Safran Foer)

What's the weather like: Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)

You fear: 1984 (George Orwell)

What is the best advice you have to give: Annette Vallon: A Novel of the French Revolution (James Tipton)

Thought for the day: Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

How I would like to die: Foreign Affairs (Alison Lurie)

My soul's present condition: An Irresistible Revolution (Shane Claiborne)

Favorite Book?

I knew eventually I would get to broach this fun subject, and the day has finally come to discuss our favorite books! Above, I listed a few of my favorites: Wuthering Heights, The Last September, Little Women (also a wonderful movie with Susan Sarandon, Claire Danes, and Christian Bale), and The Great Divorce.

I've always had trouble pinning down what book is my "most favorite." I actually think that might be impossible for me because my favorite book would just keep changing. How about you? Do you have a favorite book, or just a lot that are favorites?

I'd love to hear your comments!

Where the Wild Things Are

My fiance and I just saw Where the Wild Things Are based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak. Although "Where the Wild Things Are" was never one of my favorite books as a child, I thought that the movie did an excellent job of telling this story.

The actual book is only ten lines of text, so the director Spike Jonze (who also directed "Being John Malkovich," one of my favorites) was presented with a challenge in making it a full-length movie. Although he took some liberties with the plot to fill out the length, Jonze still stayed true to Sendak's bizarre story. Sendak apparently loves the movie, saying in an interview that it "enhances, enriches my book."

Despite some poor reviews, I think that "Where the Wild Things Are" is worth seeing. It kept me entertained for the entirety of its hour and a half, and I especially enjoyed the soundtrack, which was an original score by Karen O (from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and the Kids.

And hey, the author's stamp of approval is enough for me.

Gawker

A little disclaimer before I begin- I am not a fan of gossip. Not in the form of tabloids, Web sites, Access Hollywood, whatever. But Gawker does occasionally amuse me.

After reading two of Foer's books (as I said in my last post), I decided to find out what other people had to say about his work. I knew some people didn't like the author but I figured it might just be because he had two bestsellers and they were jealous.

This article by Gawker shed some light on the situation. I was really surprised by the fact that he's bought a new 6.75 MILLION dollar home in NYC with his wife (and fellow author) Nicole Krauss. Is that really necessary for two people??? Gawker followed up with another piece claiming that Krauss explained they needed this new place because they were planning on having two kids and "...obviously we all need our own floor."

Um, actually, that's not very obvious. In reality, Nicole, kids share rooms and parents are lucky if they get a floor to themselves. Welcome to the real world.

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel"

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel"
by Jonathan Safran Foer
2006
368 pages



Anyone who has read "Everything Is Illuminated," Foer's debut novel, knows to expect amazing work from this young author. He has a style all his own and truly is one of the most unique writers of the 21st century. Through his innovative work, Foer has redefined how we read and relate to novels.

"Extremely Loud" is about a precocious nine-year-old boy named Oskar whose father died in the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11. Soon following that tragic day, Oskar discovers a key in his dad's room inside an envelope with the word "Black" written on it. He then makes it his mission to find out what the key belongs to and if it is somehow connected to his dad's death. Along the way, Oskar makes new friends and discovers unrevealed family secrets.

Although this book really is centered around Oskar, the parts I enjoyed most were letters scattered throughout the book titled "Why I'm Not Where You Are" addressed "To my unborn child" from a mysterious man whose identity and reason for writing these letters is later revealed. It is obvious immediately that this man has experienced great pain in his life, which causes him to lose his ability to speak. At one point, he writes, "It's the tragedy of loving, you can't love anything more than something you miss."

"Extremely Loud" is filled with photos from Oskar's book of pictures that he calls "Stuff that Happened to Me." This makes for a different kind of reading experience. I am not used to reading serious books with large pictures taking up pages and pages so this was a rather novel yet fun idea for me.

Overall, "Extremely Loud" was a very good book, but not an equal to the brilliance of "Everything is Illuminated" in my opinion. I remember finishing "Everything" completely taken aback by its beauty and simple poignancy. After finishing "Extremely Loud" though, I was left feeling somewhat disappointed. It is hard for me to pinpoint exactly why this is as hard as I have tried. I am going to have to read "Everything" again to really figure out the difference between these books.

On another note, the similarity I found between Foer's two works was his excellent use of developing a believable backstory. The characters I found the most intriguing were not the "main" characters but those whose lives shaped the outcome of the protagonists. It was these sections of the novels that I looked forward to the most.

Now, I'm curious to hear the opinions of people who've read both of these books. Which is your favorite- "Everything is Illuminated" or "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"? Let me know!

Kindle

Riding the bus, I see all forms of entertainment for commuters: iPods, newspapers, magazines, books, and now- Kindles. It is still a rare sight to see someone with this expensive electronic reader in tow (starting at $259), but it is definitely becoming more prevalent.


Which leads me to the question: Is Kindle going to cause the death of print books?

Amazon now offers almost every book imaginable in Kindle form with hundreds of thousands of options on its online site. Soon, every book that was ever printed will be available on your handy Kindle. Does that mean people will turn in the printed word for an electronic screen?

Personally, I will read books, REAL books, until I die. I will never replace the weight, smell and feel of the pages of a book for a generic computerized screen. Yes, Kindles may be efficient (as my fiance says). But I agree with a woman I heard on the bus commenting on a fellow commuter's Kindle when she said, "I think I would miss holding a book."

Man Booker Prize

The winner of the Man Booker Prize has been announced and it is Hilary Mantel for her book "Wolf Hall" set during the time of Henry VIII's reign of England.

I used to be practically obsessed with this time period, reading anything about Henry VIII and his wives that I could get my hands on. Although this book seems to be more about the court and the king's advisors than about Henry himself, it still intrigues me. Another one to add to my extensive "Want to Read" list!

Closure of Libraries and Bookstores

Libraries and bookstores aren't doing too well in Pittsburgh. According to this Post-Gazette story, the Carnegie Library is now going to have only 14 branches instead of its original 19 after its funds have been drastically cut. This also means that the hours of the branches will be changed and there will be a 30 percent cut in the staff. The story says that this is the first time in the history of the Carnegie Library that branches have had to been shut down.

As far as bookstores go, they continue to shut down as well. Barnes & Noble closed its Downtown location in early 2007 when I was a freshman. Having just moved to the city, I was surprised by the lack of bookstores in Downtown Pittsburgh. In my small home town, there were two bookstores within a block of each other, but Steel City still doesn't have ONE in the downtown area. And Barnes & Noble just announced another closure, but this time for its Squirrel Hill chain.

What is happening? How can we let our public libraries just close? And why are big chains like Barnes & Noble shutting down locations? Could it be that people are losing the love for the written word?

I hope not! I believe that when libraries close, that is a sign that we as the people aren't doing enough to make it clear that they are necessary components of a healthy society. No state budget can ever change that. I encourage you to write to your state representatives and let them know what you think about this. At most of the Carnegie libraries, they have paper and pens available for just that and all you have to do is write what you think and put it in the designated bin.

For all of you book-lovers out there, I made a map of a few of my favorite libraries and bookstores in the Pittsburgh area. Enjoy!


View Pittsburgh Libraries and Bookstores in a larger map

September 11, 2001

I am currently reading "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the excellent novel "Everything is Illuminated" (which I highly recommend).

So far, the book is about a nine-year-old boy who lost his father on September 11. He loved his dad so much and it really is heartbreaking to read some parts. It got me thinking about that day and all of the people who were directly effected by it. At the time, I was 13 years old so I understood what had happened but I don't think it emotionally registered in me. Since then, I've come to appreciate even more the preciousness of life and the fact that it can end at any moment for any of us.

We will never forget.

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

"Heart of Darkness"
 by Joseph Conrad
 Originally published 1902
 132 pages




I have to admit that this book was a struggle for me. Yes, it exposes universal truths about mankind. Yes, it is written by a man who didn't learn English until he was 21 years old and amazingly wrote this masterpiece of the English language. Yes, it is a classic. But I still struggled. The reasons for this I will get to later.

"Heart of Darkness" is told from the perspective of Marlow, a man about to travel the seas to work on a riverboat in Africa. The book is highly auto-biographical, based on Conrad's own experiences traveling as a seaman. The entire time that Marlow is in Africa, he continues to hear about this man named Kurtz who is respected and feared by all for his shrewd business tactics and ability to relate to the natives. But when Marlow finally meets Kurtz, he is not as he expected him to be.

The book is broken into three parts, the first two of which are slow-paced with the plot only really thickening in the last section. Conrad's writing style is descriptive, using long paragraphs that are easy to get lost in. I found myself having to reread the same few sentences over and over. Don't let the brevity of this story fool you. It is quite dense and definitely not easy reading.

I feel as though I missed out on most of the meaning in this book just because I was bogged down by trying to understand the plot and where it was going. I have heard that this is the sort of story you must read more than once to fully appreciate. Even though I didn't completely comprehend most of it, "Heart of Darkness" did leave me with a sadness for the people of Africa in the time period this was set. Colonialism robbed Africans of their rich heritage and resources with white men coming and taking everything as if it was inherently theirs. Conrad exposed something that must have been shocking at the time.

In the introduction, there is a quote from Conrad that struck me. I will leave you with this:

"Art itself may be defined as a single-minded attempt to render the highest kind of justice to the visible universe, by bringing to light the truth, manifold and one, underlying its every aspect."