Reading Roundup: October

Persepolis and Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi

I reread Persepolis because I decided to recommend it for our book group next month. I hope people like it; I had forgotten that the story is fairly dark and there are a few violent parts. That said, it's still one of my favorite graphic novels. I wasn't that impressed with Chicken with Plums, however. The story wasn't very engaging and it just didn't capture my interest as much.

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

I haven't ever seen this movie or read the book, so I decided to fix this problem for myself. Now I really want to see the movie, because the impression I had of the story was quite different from the book. I think I liked it, but I liked the short stories included in the volume even more.

Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje

The author does a fairly daring thing by suddenly switching stories in the middle of this book; sometimes that works, but this time it really didn't. I liked the first part of the book and I liked the second part, but I would have liked them better as separate novels and with a bit more resolution. Also, this book did that annoying thing where the time setting was so ambiguous. At first it felt like the story was set in the 1960s, but then suddenly they were talking about the Gulf War after just a few years had passed. And then it was suddenly contemporary but the characters hadn't aged fast enough. I hate that.

The Professor's House by Willa Cather

This was our bookgroup pick for the month; I enjoyed it, but it wasn't a favorite. The writing felt a little flat and character motivation was not always very clear. It reminded me of the novels of Sinclair Lewis, but I prefer his more obviously sarcastic style.

By the Hand of Mormon by Terryl Givens

This book took me several weeks to get through. I would read part of it, then have to put it back down to digest for a while. It was worth the effort, because I feel like I learned a lot about the early history of the Book of Mormon. I've never been very interested in early church history, but this book and Rough Stone Rolling have been working to change my mind. I particularly agree with Givens' central thesis that the Book of Mormon itself is the signifier and not its content; arguing about the veracity of its content will get us nowhere because the book itself is mean to serve as proof of the truth of the church.

The Book that Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books that Matter Most to Them by Roxanne J. Coady

I love to read books about books and I mostly enjoyed this one. It also reminded me that I'm probably the only person left in America who hasn't read The Catcher in the Rye or The Great Gatsby. I think I should do something about that. I thought some of the "remarkable writers" that were picked were kind of lame, and some of their choices were even lamer. But it was still a quick, fun read and gave me some ideas of even more books to add to my list of things to read.

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams

This is a beautiful book. The writing is stunning. It's also really difficult to describe. It's about the flooding of a bird refuge as well as the death of the author's mother. But it's about so much more than that, really. It's about accepting the cycles of nature, and fighting against what is unnatural. I had thought of recommending it for book club, but worried that some of the unorthodox things she says about Mormonism might turn people off. I think it's harder to accept members saying unusual things about the church and about their lives than it is to accept them from nonmembers. That is a shame because it's a book that everyone should read.

Austenland by Shannon Hale

I thought this book was pretty funny. While I like Jane Austen, I don't consider myself obsessed in the same way the protagonist is. But the idea behind the book was clever and the main character was appealing so I enjoyed it.

Lucky by Alice Sebold

I've mainly seen the paperback edition of this book in stores lately. It has a yellow cover with a rabbit's foot on it. It's a nice cover and it coordinates well with The Lovely Bones. I understand that the popularity of the novel has revived interest in Sebold's earlier memoir, but I prefer the older cover from the edition I got from the library. It has a background of trees and this quote: "In the tunnel where I was raped, a tunnel that was once an underground entry to an amphitheater, a place where actors burst forth from underneath the seats of a crowd, a girl had been murdered and dismembered. I was told this story by the police. In comparison, they said, I was Lucky." I like this quote so much better because it sets up the tone of the book. This is not a happy, sunshiney book. The first chapter recounts her rape in graphic detail. The title is ironic, because as she points out several times in the book, surviving sexual assault doesn't feel very lucky. This is a well-written book and an excellent portrayal of trauma and recovery. At the same time, it's pretty brutal. I would recommend reading it, but only if you know what you're getting into.

Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner

This book was most interesting to me because of its setting in 1960s Japan. I enjoyed the story and the mystery of figuring out the life of a woman who had survived the bombing of Hiroshima. There is also a love story that I didn't enjoy as much because I really couldn't understand the love interest or what drew him and the protagonist together. Nevertheless I thought it was good book and was very well-written.

Penny From Heaven by Jennifer Holm

This was a quick, fun little YA read (or maybe it's even juvenile fiction, since the protagonist is 12). I liked the story and the characters, and even though things veered somewhat towards stereotype I think that aspect of the story was redeemed by the epilogue with photos and information about the author's family that the story was based on.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

This is one of the trendier books to read right now and I had to wait several months to get it from the library. That said, I still enjoyed it a lot and agree with many of his central points about food and eating in our country today. I still went out the next day and bought five pounds of hamburger at Costco, but at least I felt guilty about it. Anyways, I think it is good to be aware of many of the issues that Pollan addresses and to think more consciously about how our food choices affect our health and the health of our environment and economy. If you want to get a feel for the book, you can read this.

Movies

Chinatown

I'm not a big fan of recent Jack Nicholson. But vintage Jack? He's awesome. So is this movie, although the ending is pretty brutal. It's Chinatown, after all.

Lost in Translation

I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I would. It's very post-modern, but I liked it's commentary on dislocation and isolation. It was a touching movie about relationships their importance in our lives.

The Terminal

Another movie about isolation and cross-cultural misunderstanding. I didn't like this one as much I thought I would. I didn't really like Tom Hanks or Catherine Zeta Jones in their roles but I liked most of the supporting characters.