Recreational Reading

TITLE: The Namesake

AUTHOR: Jhumpa Lahiri
STARTED: September 24, 2009
FINISHED: October 4, 2009
PAGES: 304
GENRE: Fiction

FIRST SENTENCE: On a sticky August evening two weeks before her due date, Ashima Ganguli stands in the kitchen of her Central Square apartment, combing Rice Crispies and Planters peanuts and chopped red onion in a bowl.

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies established this young writer as one the most brilliant of her generation. Her stories are one of the very few debut works -- and only a handful of collections -- to have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Among the many other awards and honors the book received were the New Yorker Debut of the Year, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the highest critical praise for its grace, acuity, and compassion in detailing lives transported from India to America. In The Namesake, Lahiri enriches the themes that made her collection an international bestseller: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the conflicts of assimilation, and, most poignantly, the tangled ties between generations. Here again Lahiri displays her deft touch for the perfect detail -- the fleeting moment, the turn of phrase -- that opens whole worlds of emotion. The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of their arranged marriage, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle together in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

An engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name. Lahiri brings great empathy to Gogol as he stumbles along a first-generation path strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. With penetrating insight, she reveals not only the defining power of the names and expectations bestowed upon us by our parents, but also the means by which we slowly, sometimes painfully, come to define ourselves. The New York Times has praised Lahiri as "a writer of uncommon elegance and poise." The Namesake is a fine-tuned, intimate, and deeply felt novel of identity.

THOUGHTS: I still don't know what to make of this book. My book club met last night and we discussed The Namesake and, even then, I still don't know how I feel. Nothing terribly good or terribly bad jumps out at me. Also, nothing about this books screams about it being mediocre or a middling text. I enjoyed reading it, but only in the way that one likes a book while they are reading it and sees no reason to put it down.


The pacing of this text is very deliberate. There are long pauses and the story moves slowly, but I never felt like I had to slog through the work. In some ways, it felt like I was reading a British play or movie. Something about it just said to me that the work moved at a set pace and I should be happy.

Also, the text felt very passive. The characters just let things happen, they never seem to act. Gogol is the subject of the story and he seems inert. There are no real dramatic upswings in the story even when emotional and life changing events are occurring.

Only one scene sticks out in my mind. In that scene Gogol is dealing with a death in the family, and I cried. My grandmother passed away earlier this year and something about the emotion in that particular part of the book touched me. So, I cried. At the same time, I knew my tears were more about me than they were connected to the book.

I guess, in the end, it's hard to feel a connection one way or another with a book when the characters therein do not connect with each other. They felt like set pieces, not communicative and emotional human beings.

RATING: 5/10 [Meh.]

Labels: 5/10, fiction, jhumpa lahiri

TITLE: A.D.: New Orleans After The Deluge

AUTHOR: Josh Neufeld
STARTED: September 24, 2009
FINISHED: September 24, 2009
PAGES: 208
GENRE: Graphic Novel

FIRST SENTENCE: [I returned the book to the library before I remembered to grab the first sentence. Whoops!]

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge is a masterful portrait of a city under siege. Cartoonist Josh Neufeld depicts seven extraordinary true stories of survival in the days leading up to and following Hurricane Katrina.

Here we meet Denise, a counselor and social worker, and a sixth-generation New Orleanian; “The Doctor,” a proud fixture of the French Quarter; Abbas and Darnell, two friends who face the storm from Abbas’s family-run market; Kwame, a pastor's son just entering his senior year of high school; and the young couple Leo and Michelle, who both grew up in the city. Each is forced to confront the same wrenching decision–whether to stay or to flee.

As beautiful as it is poignant, A.D. presents a city in chaos and shines a bright, profoundly human light on the tragedies and triumphs that took place within it.

THOUGHTS: This book is quite stark - their was anger and fear and overly saturated colors, but the work never came across as melodramatic. The stories are real and, instead of feeling narrated, the characters feel as if they are reliving the horrors of what they went through in Katrina. Neufeld does a particularly good job about making the story about what happened and not just dumping on what went wrong. He set out to capture what people lived through, and he succeeded magnificently.

The images in this book are not complicated - the art itself is nothing to write home about. The colors, however, help to tell the story. Images are saturated and, on many pages, are monochromatic. Each color on the page helps to shape the mood of the story. Neufeld also includes just enough recognizable images that were prevalent in the news to make this story connect with all readers.

Neufeld has created the insider's story without turning it into a Dateline investigation.

RATING: 8/10 [Terrific]

Labels: 8/10, graphic novel, josh neufeld

TITLE: The Virgin's Lover
AUTHOR: Philippa Gregory
STARTED: September 8, 2009
FINISHED: September 23, 2009
PAGES: 442
GENRE: Romance

FIRST SENTENCE: All the bells in Norfolk were ringing for Elizabeth, pounding the peal into Amy's head, first the treble bell screaming out like a mad woman, and then the whole agonizing, jangling sob till the great bell boomed a warning that the whole discordant carillon was about to shriek out again.

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] As a new queen, Elizabeth faces two great dangers: the French invasion of Scotland, which threatens to put Mary Queen of Scots on her throne, and her passion for the convicted traitor Robert Dudley.

But Dudley is already married, and his devoted wife Amy will never give him up, least of all to an upstart Protestant Princess. She refuses to set her beloved husband free to marry the queen; but she cannot prevent him from becoming the favorite and the focus of the feverishly plotting, pleasure seeking court.

Others too oppose the marriage, but for very different reasons. William Cecil, the queen's wisest counselor, knows she must marry for policy; her uncle hates Dudley and swears he will be murder him first. Behind the triangle of lovers, the factions take up their places: the Protestants, the priests, the assassins, the diplomats and the moneymakers. The very coin of England is shaved and clipped to nothing as Elizabeth uncertainly leads her bankrupt country into a war that no-one thinks can be won.

Then someone acts in secret, and for Elizabeth, Dudley and the emerging kingdom, nothing will be as planned.

Blending historical fact with contemporary rumor, Philippa Gregory has created a dark and tense novel of Tudor times, which casts Elizabeth I in a light no one has suggested before. Passionate, fearful, emotionally needy, this is a queen who will stop at nothing.

THOUGHTS: I did not like any of the characters in this book because they were all plain whiny. Dudley is selfish, arrogant, and pouts when he does not get his way. Elizabeth is an idiot, lacks a backbone, and as no regard for her actions. Dudley's wife just broods and pouts. It was all very annoying.

This period in English history is full of interesting characters and drama - Gregory turned all of that into a melodramatic soap opera. The only reason I'm rating this book a 3 is because I enjoyed the writing. There were some prettily described scenes and I do so love description.

RATING: 3/10 [Poor, Lost Interest]

Labels: 3/10, fiction, philippa gregory

"Cataloging can normally be overcome by some combination of chocolate, angry grunting, and sending things back to Technical Services."

A friend and fellow librarian giving me valuable advice.

Labels: That's What She Said

TITLE: The Ordinary Princess
AUTHOR: M.M. Kaye
STARTED: September 7, 2009
FINISHED: September 7, 2009
PAGES: 112
GENRE: Juvenile

FIRST SENTENCE: Long and long ago, when Oberon was king of the fairies, there reigned over the fair country of Phantasmorania a monarch who had six beautiful daughters.

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] Along with Wit, Charm, Health, and Courage, Princess Amy of Phantasmorania receives a special fairy christening gift: Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, she has brown hair and freckles, and would rather have adventures than play the harp, embroider tapestries or become a Queen. When her royal parents try to marry her off, Amy runs away and, because she's so ordinary, easily becomes the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace. And there, much to everyone's surprise, she meets a prince just as ordinary (and special) as she is!

THOUGHTS: My roomie pestered me to read this book. And by "pestered" I mean "asked with puppy dog eyes while saying it was awesome." And it was. In fact, it was so awesome I read it in one sitting. Kaye is a genius for coming up with a story where a princess is ordinary. Plain and human. That's it. Said Princess, however, also has a brain and feelings. It's because she is so perfectly ordinary, that this book becomes one of my favorite reads of the year.

Kaye includes all the classics of a fairy tale princess story, but gives them all a new twist. An ornery fairy godmother, a feisty prince, and a princess whose willing to work. Throw in some cute animals and secondary characters and you have a gem of a book. Kaye also rights with a even hand - nothing is too flowery, but there is just enough description to make the story vivid. The illustrations (also by Kaye) are lively and utterly adorable.

This story is a must read for any young girl. The story is close enough to a Disney princess fairy tale to be in the comfort zone, but with a much better store. Every ordinary girl can be something special.

RATING: 9/10 [Excellent!]

Labels: 9/10, juvenile, m.m. kaye

TITLE: French Women Don't Get Fat
AUTHOR: Mireille Guiliano
STARTED: September 1, 2009
FINISHED: September 5, 2009
PAGES: 263
GENRE: Food

FIRST SENTENCE: Whatever the state of Franco-American relations - admittedly a bit frayed from time to time - we should not lose sight of the singular achievements of French civilization.

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] Stylish, convincing, wise, funny–and just in time: the ultimate non-diet book, which could radically change the way you think and live.

French women don’t get fat, but they do eat bread and pastry, drink wine, and regularly enjoy three-course meals. In her delightful tale, Mireille Guiliano unlocks the simple secrets of this “French paradox”–how to enjoy food and stay slim and healthy. Hers is a charming, sensible, and powerfully life-affirming view of health and eating for our times.

As a typically slender French girl, Mireille (Meer-ray) went to America as an exchange student and came back fat. That shock sent her into an adolescent tailspin, until her kindly family physician, “Dr. Miracle,” came to the rescue. Reintroducing her to classic principles of French gastronomy plus time-honored secrets of the local women, he helped her restore her shape and gave her a whole new understanding of food, drink, and life. The key? Not guilt or deprivation but learning to get the most from the things you most enjoy. Following her own version of this traditional wisdom, she has ever since relished a life of indulgence without bulge, satisfying yen without yo-yo on three meals a day.

Now in simple but potent strategies and dozens of recipes you’d swear were fattening, Mireille reveals the ingredients for a lifetime of weight control–from the emergency weekend remedy of Magical Leek Soup to everyday tricks like fooling yourself into contentment and painless new physical exertions to save you from the StairMaster. Emphasizing the virtues of freshness, variety, balance, and always pleasure, Mireille showshow virtually anyone can learn to eat, drink, and move like a French woman.

A natural raconteur, Mireille illustrates her philosophy through the experiences that have shaped her life–a six-year-old’s first taste of Champagne, treks in search of tiny blueberries (called myrtilles) in the woods near her grandmother’s house, a near-spiritual rendezvous with oysters at a seaside restaurant in Brittany, to name but a few. She also shows us other women discovering the wonders of “French in action,” drawing examples from dozens of friends and associates she has advised over the years to eat and drink smarter and more joyfully.

Here are a culture’s most cherished and time-honored secrets recast for the twenty-first century. For anyone who has slipped out of her zone, missed the flight to South Beach, or accidentally let a carb pass her lips, here is a buoyant, positive way to stay trim. A life of wine, bread–even chocolate–without girth or guilt? Pourquoi pas?

THOUGHTS: I did not know that this was a diet book until I started reading. If I had known that, I probably would not have read this. (Note: Blogger bragging about to ensue.) I recently lost a lot of weight (and have kept it off, woot!) and find the premise of most diet books to be sketchy. Thus, I eschew them. Boy am I glad I read this one. French Women Don't Get Fat is not so much a diet book but more a book on how to few and interact with food. All Guiliano's tips (save for the leek soup kick-off) I agree with, for they are common sense. Even if I did not agree with the book, I think I would still have enjoyed it. Guiliano's writing is thoughtful, friendly, and, most of all, realistic.

I'm not going to rehash Guiliano's tips, that's for her to do. What I will say is that every reader should walk away from this book with a new understanding of how a culture of women interacts with cuisine. This is a food book and it's a lifestyle book. In many ways, Guiliano comes across more like an anthropologist than a dietitian. It is incredibly interesting to see how a culture is born and raised to interact with food, walking, cooking, family, etc.

As for Guiliano's writing, it's friendly with a bit of sass thrown in. I want to sit down to dinner with Giuliano and just chat with her - she comes across as down to earth, intuitive, and respectful. It also helps that her descriptions of food cause me to smack my lips and desire croissants. I will certainly be trying several of the recipes she includes.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who has always wondered why French women don't get fat. Sure you can follow the diet tips, but it's the interplay of culture and cuisine that makes this book soar.

RATING: 9/10 [Excellent]

Labels: 9/10, food, mireille guiliano

TITLE: If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
AUTHOR: Laura Numeroff
STARTED: August 31, 2009
FINISHED: August 31, 2009
PAGES: 32
GENRE: Juvenile

FIRST SENTENCE: If you give a cat a cupcake, he'll ask for some sprinkles to go with it.

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] If you give a cat a cupcake, he'll ask for some sprinkles to go with it. When you give him the sprinkles, he might spill some on the floor. Cleaning up will make him hot, so you'll give him a bathing suit . . . and that's just the beginning!

THOUGHTS: Victory! I actually read a book I said I would in a previous post. Numeroff's books are always adorable and this edition of her series is no exception. The illustrations are incredibly detailed and lively as well as being colorful and utterly adorable. Besides, cupcakes (with sprinkles!) make anything awesome.

RATING: 8/10 [Terrific]

Labels: 8/10, juvenile, laura numeroff

TITLE: A Countess Below Stairs
AUTHOR: Eva Ibbotson
STARTED: August 26, 2009
FINISHED: August 31, 2009
PAGES: 383
GENRE: Romance

FIRST SENTENCE: In the fabled, glittering world that was St. Petersburg before the First World War there lived, in an ice-blue palace overlooking the river Neva, a family on whom the gods seemed to have lavished their gifts with an almost comical abundance.

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] After the Russian revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian countess, has no choice but to flee to england. penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family, armed only with an outdated housekeeping manual and sheer determination. Desperate to keep her past a secret, Anna is nearly overwhelmed by her new duties—not to mention her instant attraction to Rupert, the handsome Earl of Westerholme. to make matters worse, Rupert appears to be falling for her as well. As their attraction grows stronger, Anna finds it more and more difficult to keep her most dearly held secrets from unraveling. And then there's the small matter of Rupert's beautiful and nasty fiancée

THOUGHTS: This is a romance novel? For a book that is supposed to be about a couple falling in love, the two lead characters spend a remarkably small amount of time together - like 10 pages worth. I didn't see the romance, the spark, the lust. There was nothing there that actually portrayed Rupert and Anna falling in love, except for when she comforted him after a bad dream. Say wha? To me, a romance novel needs spark and this lacked that feeling entirely.

Also, stop making the lead characters perfect. I like my leads to be human - you know, flawed in some way. These people were too good for my taste.

The only reason I am not completely panning this book is for the following reasons:

   1. The secondary characters rock. They're not set pieces and the seem to have emotions, unlike the leads. I particularly enjoyed Olive. She was a hoot.
   2. The writing. The vivid descriptions, pacing, and tone were just right.
   3. The setting. I have not read a book set in this place and time, ever. That made the book a little bit more interesting than it would have been otherwise.

RATING: 5/10 [Meh.]

Labels: 5/10, eva ibbotson, romance

TITLE: American Widow
AUTHOR: Alissa Torres
STARTED: August 25, 2009
FINISHED: August 25, 2009
PAGES: 224
GENRE: Graphic Novel

FIRST SENTENCE: The World Trade Center was just hit by a plane!

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] On September 10, 2001, Eddie Torres started his dream job at Cantor Fitzgerald in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The next morning, he said goodbye to his 7½-months-pregnant wife, Alissa, and headed out the door.

In an instant, Alissa’s world was thrown into chaos. Forced to deal with unimaginable challenges, Alissa suddenly found herself cast into the role of “9/11 widow,” tossed into a storm of bureaucracy, politics, patriotism, mourning, consolation, and, soon enough, motherhood.

Beautifully and thoughtfully illustrated, American Widow is the affecting account of one woman’s journey through shock, pain, birth, and rebirth in the aftermath of a great tragedy. It is also the story of a young couple’s love affair: how a Colombian immigrant and a strong-minded New Yorker met, fell in love, and struggled to fulfill their dreams. Above all, American Widow is a tribute to the resilience of the human heart and the very personal story of how one woman endured a very public tragedy.

THOUGHTS: I did not expect to cry while reading this book. I knew it was about a widow - a woman who was 7 months pregnant when she lost her husband at the World Trade Center. I knew that and, yet, I was still convinced that I would not cry. I cried. At some points during the story, I held myself back from sobbing. This book is raw - completely and utterly. The stark illustrations only enhance the emotions of this graphic novel. American Widow is a heartbreaking story that is nothing but emotion.

I don't particularly like Alissa Torres - which is weird to say because she is a real person. Still, I don't particularly like her, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying her story. The text seems like a first draft, but in a good way. The lack of editing makes it all the more real. The part of the story where I lost it was while Alissa was giving birth to their son. That page is mostly text and it just grabbed me and would not let go. While that moment stands out, the whole book is just one ball of emotion and it makes you feel.

American Widow does not seem to be a graphic novel with a purpose. It just is. And I think that is what makes it so endearing.

RATING: 8/10 [Terrific]

Labels: 8/10, alissa torres, graphic novel

TITLE: A Great and Terrible Beauty
AUTHOR: Libba Bray
STARTED: August 21, 2009
FINISHED: August 25, 2009
PAGES: 403
GENRE: Juvenile / Fantasy

FIRST SENTENCE: "Please tell me that's not going to be part of my birthday dinner this evening."

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

THOUGHTS: I read this book again for my next book club. I was going to link to my previous review and leave it at that... but apparently I read this book before I started Recreational Reading. Who knew!

I recall this book being different. Not different as in my enjoyment, but different in plot. Apparently I'm mixing all three of the books in the trilogy together. Oh well. I enjoyed re-reading A Great and Terrible Beauty, but it felt like cheating. I know how it all ends, so this time around the story was not nearly as exciting.

The lack of plot revelations allowed me to focus on the nuances of the emotions that Bray puts into the story. She gets teen girls. Which could be expected. What I was surprised by was how real the historical emotions felt. I believed every sentence. The tag line for this book is all about repressed sexuality. Its there, omnipresent but not oppressive. The varying levels of "sex" are throughout the book and it comes out in so many ways that I can't believed I missed it the first time around.

I'm really looking forward to discussing this book with the girls to see what they all thought about it. Book Club = Awesome.

RATING: 7/10 [Very Good]

Labels: 7/10, book club, fantasy, juvenile, libba bray