Book of the Week

Books of 2007 - Last updated 11/25/07

No wish lists or intentions this year (at least not in this particular blog). Just what I have read and/or started reading. The goal, however, remains a book a week.

1. Glass Soup by Jonathan Carroll -- Somewhat odd [surreal as opposed to the variety of urban fantasy involving the collision and/or interaction between magical and non-magical worlds] urban fantasy; in the same way that Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grill is odd.

2. Sex as a Second Language by Alisa Kwitney -- Mid-life chick lit with CIA operatives; picked up on a whim from the remainder pile because I was convinced that I saw it every time I walked into the bookstore, and I was sick of practically tripping over it. I read it one day.

3. The Bombshell Manual of Style -- For anyone who wears only Chanel No. 5 to bed, or at least daydreams about doing so.

4. Greywalker by Kat Richardson -- Richardson seems to be channeling a good bit of Paretsky, but she does it well. There's a strong heroine with an interesting supporting cast, including a feisty Irish witch and a slightly shady/mysterious handyman who's probably more of a computer geek. There is wonderful description of the surrounding city--although it's Seattle rather than Paretsky's Chicago--which covers weather and traffic patterns as well as geography. A little early Anita Blake or Harry Dresden mixed in to account for the paranormal bits. I am looking forward to Richardson's nest offering, Poltergeist.

5. Love Is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield -- A memoir about love, loss and music. It's kind of cheesy. It's kind of cute. It's a little bit awkward. It's definitely heartfelt and genuine.

6. The Tomorrow Log by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller -- High-tech sci-fi in a universe that has an Old World feel to it.

7. American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in New China by Matthew Polly -- In a nutshell, a college student spends a year searching for direction, discipline and enlightenment by studying kungfu with the Shaolin monks at a monastery in China, but such a description doesn't do the book justice. It is reading that is both serious and fun. What hooked me in was the Neal Stephenson quote in the front of the book. The author has a web site, and I enjoyed the book enough to drive 3 hours to Connecticut to see him.

8. Snake Agent by Liz Williams -- At its core, a murder mystery, but not one you should read if you don't like science fiction or fantasy. The setting is futuristic, but not too far into the future. Our hero lives on what sounds like a rather mundane house boat. Instead of having fairies, goblins, giants, talking animals and trolls, there are goddesses and demons. The demons are from Hell. Heaven and Hell through a lens of Asian philosophy, so they are more yin and yang than opposing forces. One cannot exist without the other. It's about balance. And the creatures of Hell are not completely unreasonable. Hell is remarkably practical in its way, and horribly beureaucratic, almost feudal.

9. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali -- The author is not someone I had heard of before I picked up this book, but I do remember hearing about the murder of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh. In the introduction to Infidel, Ali describes the murder. The man was shot and then stabbed. The knife which was left impaled on van Gogh's body went through a letter. The letter was addressed to Ali. I bought the book.

Her world and her culture are completely unlike anything I have ever experienced. Shocking and horrifying at some points, fascinating at others, educational and eye-opening no matter what. All of which make it an important book to read. The world is getting smaller or flatter or something. Cultural and political isolationism and ignorance are becoming less acceptable and less feasible all the time. If you want to be irate about the outsourcing of American jobs overseas, it would behove you to have some understanding of the culture to which those jobs are being outsourced. I'll warn you, however, it may make it more difficult to be intolerant.

10. Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez and Kristin Ohlson -- One of those books that is heartbreaking and uplifiting at the same time. The courage of Rodriguez and the Afghan women she meets is remarkable, and the standing and treatment of women in Afghan society is horrifying. Rodriguez's passion and determination to do something to help, to make a positive difference in her own small way is inspiring. She's funny, hardworking, down to earth, and forthcoming with her own faults, and she makes no apologies for being a brash American in the midst of a severely male-dominated society. In fact, she takes every opportunity to use it to her advantage and the advantage of her students and friends.

11. Flesh & Spirit by Carol Berg -- The first half of a story which will be concluded in Breath & Bone . . . which will not be available until next January! Grrr.

12. Slipknot by Linda Greenlaw -- The author of The Hungry Ocean makes a foray into the realm of genre fiction with a socially, environmentally and politically conscious murder mystery.

13. Temping Fate by Esther Friesner -- I found myself laughing out loud, much the same way I found myself laughing out loud at the first Artemis Fowl book. The moment when the protagonist realizes that she is temping for the Fates is priceless. It's a fun, light, summer afternoon, hanging out by the pool book, and I think that I read it in two sittings. The mythological references are wonderfully, humorously accurate, which gives the book a level of sophistication that is otherwise lacking. Even though the protagonist is at least sixteen (she's old enough to drive), I would say that the vocabulary and tone is aimed at a younger crowd, maybe twelve or thirteen. Now, it has been more than a few years since I have been sixteen, but Ilana's level of whining often seems out of character with someone who is mature enough to handle some of the situations she faces.

14. They Call Me Naughty Lola: Personal Ads from the London Review of Books edited by David Rose -- I feel compelled to simply quote the introduction, written by the editor: "The London Review of Books personal ads began in October 1998, with the simple idea of helping people with similar literary and cultural tastes get together. We hoped the column might be a sort of 84 Charing Cross Road endeavour, with readers providing their own versions of Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft finding love among the bookshelves. The first ad we received was from a man 'on the look-out for a contortionist who plays the trumpet.'"

Admit it. You're at least a bit intrigued.

These people skip the bits that might make them appealing to others and instead bravely reveal what makes them truly, essentially, elementally themselves. Rather than superlative descriptions and comparisons to celebrities, we have obscure literary and pop culture references. If you don't understand, you probably shouldn't reply. And if you aren't willing to be equally brave and honest, you probably shouldn't reply either.

I hope that it doesn't get me in trouble to include a few examples.

From the simple: "This ad may not be the best lonely heart in the world, nor its author the best-smelling. that's all I have to say. Man, 37."

To the fabulously bizarre: "My finger on the pulse of culture, my ear to the ground of philosophy, my hip in the medical waste bin of Glasgow Royal Infirmary. 14% plastic and counting--geriatric brainiac and compulsive NHS malingering fool (M, 81), looking for richer, older sex-starved woman on the brink of death to exploit and ruin every replacement operation I've had since 1974. Box no. 7648 (quickly, the clock's ticking, and so is this pacemaker).

To forthright honesty that gets right to the point: "Bald, short, fat and ugly male, 53, seeks short-sighted woman with tremendous sexual appetite."

Are you now more than a little intrigued?

15. The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer -- One of those titanic works of literature which has been on my "to read" list for years. I picked it up somewhat randomly as I prowled my apartment in a search for what to read next. I only got about 150 pages in before I decided I needed a break. All of the detail and background is good, but it can be tedious because the book and the story it tells are so famous, it is almost impossible not to know what the story is building up to. Makes the tension a little bit stale. I wonder how Norman Mailer feels about this book thirty years later.

16. Literacy and Longing in L.A. by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack -- The reviewers quoted on the cover were far more impressed with this book that I was. I won't call it a complete waste of time because the quotes used in chapter headings were literate and appropriate, and the book vastly improved after the first hundred pages of whining by our heroine. Once she actually has some real issues and conflict to deal with, she becomes much more human, and I found myself frequently forgetting that she runs in a circle of wealth (whether it be earned, inherited or married) which I will never achieve. It is definitely beach/poolside chick lit reading. The ending left a lot to assumption, and the authors really should have taken another five or ten pages to flesh it out.

17. The Last Chinese Chef and

18. Lost in Translation by Nicole Mones -- I bought Lost in Translation while I was still working for a bookstore, and it sat on my shelf for years until I read Nicole Mones’ newest book, The Last Chinese Chef, which was wonderful. Sublime even. The story was a bit on the happily ever after side, but the protagonist had endured enough hardship before the book even started to warrant it. It’s probably a good idea to reserve judgment until I finish reading, but Lost in Translation is even better, I think. It’s more complicated, more political, more historical, whereas The Last Chinese Chef is probably equally complicated but more social and cultural than political. Historical, yes, but with a narrower, more personal scope. The Last Chinese Chef only goes back to the Cultural Revolution. Lost in Translation is about archaeology, so the historical timeline is much longer. The Last Chinese Chef has two people, each with a foot in two different worlds, and even though they are the same worlds, they are foreigners in each for different reasons. He is Chinese but American-educated. He respects the old ways, but has been raised in modernity. She is American traveling in China to write an article, and to learn about her deceased husband’s past. She doesn’t feel as if she belongs in any world, except a world of well-prepared food.

19. A Cup of Light by Nicole Mones.

20. Spook Country by William Gibson.

21. Writing in an Age of Silence by Sara Paretsky - The mystery writer takes a moment as an essayist and, to some extent, memoirist, to powerful effect.

20. Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin

Book of the Week

Blog Archive

About Me

Monday, January 22, 2007

Tuesday, January 10, 2006