Book Blogger – Page 5 – …on the B.L.

Autobiography of Us

June 22, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 304
Quick Review This is a great summer read about female relationships changing through the years.

Aria Beth Sloss tried to tackle the incredibly complex topic of female friendship in her book Autobiography of Us. Set in the 1960’s in Pasadena, two friends, Rebecca and Alex, live on the same street becoming close friends as children. The story is told through Rebecca’s perspective. She starts telling the story to someone as a reflection upon her past. It is evident that her best friend, Alex, has passed away, which is the catalyst for the story. She begins her narration when Alex moves into the neighborhood. There is immediate tension building between the two. Rebecca deals with an inferiority complex the entire book. Alex was the daughter of extravagantly rich parents, while Rebecca’s family struggle to maintain their wealthy facade. Alex was pretty, and Rebecca was less so. Alex had an air for the dramatic and always pulled everyone’s attention. Coming of age in the sixties, Rebecca was pressured by her family to fulfill all the traditional roles; however, she fought an internal battle contradicting her family and the times she lived in.

Sloss draws attention to the times by often using Rebecca to reference how different the times were then for girls. Usually making the statement about how young she was and naive. Though making some feminist statements throughout, this self-infantilization undermined the attempted message of female empowerment.

Sloss likes to bring characters into scenes without naming them. Integrating them into the action and conversation for paragraphs if not a page or two creates a bit of confusion instead of mystery. I had to look back a few times just to make sure I hadn’t accidentally missed it.

Autobiography of Us is a story about female friendship, familial relationships, societal pressures, and marriage. Sloss adds a few more twists than the usual story, but, in general, she sticks to a generic storyline.

Memorable Quotes
“There are years she meant more to me rush anyone, years our lives besides into each other’s so neatly I’m not sure, to be honest, they ever came undone.”
“How little we know the ones we love. How little we know of anyone, in the end.”
“I believe injustice eventually gives way to justice,” he said ““Slowly, perhaps. With great effort, and too often through the unfortunate medium of violence.””

Title: Autobiography of Us
Author: Aria Beth Sloss
Publisher: Picador
Copyright: 2013
ISBN: 9781250044051

Books

White Teeth

June 13, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Read
Length 448
Quick Review A funny, smart glimpse into the melange of cultures residing within London and the young people growing up among them.

I am ashamed to say, this is my first Zadie Smith novel. I’ve been hearing fabulous things about her for years, and yet I never got around to reading anything by her. I bought this book a few months back, and it had sat on my shelves untouched. I read her short story in The New Yorker and knew I had to read her book immediately. If you can’t tell by the Memorable Quotes section, I loved this book.

White Teeth follows the lives of two men Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal in suburban England, and their children as they struggle to find their place. Archie Jones is a white man who marries a young black Jamaican women; together they have a biracial daughter. Samad Iqbal is a Bangladeshi married to a woman from also from Bangladesh; they have twin boys. Archie and Samad served in the war together, and reconnect when Samad emigrates to the UK from Bangladesh. Their children deal with the difficulties of being mixed and Bangladeshi in a society predominately white.

Smith dives into issues of race, religion, assimilation, and even hair products with depth, insight, and a sense of humor. She writes each character with so much profundity and sincerity it is easy to sympathize with even the least likable people.

I can’t wait to read more of her works.

Memorable Quotes
“This was a decided-upon suicide. In fact, it was a New Year’s resolution.”
“No matter what anyone says, suicide takes guts.”
“…making sure they didn’t get too close, scared they might catch religion like an infection.”
“Samad, when the male organ of a man stands erect, two third of his intellect go away.”
“If religion is the opiate of the people, tradition is an even more sinister analgesic, simply because it rarely appears sinister.”
“I think I have been cursed with two sons more dysfunctional than Mr. Cain and Mr. Abel.”
“Greeting cards routinely tell us even-handed deserves love. No. Everybody deserves clean water. Not everybody deserves love all the time.”
“Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.”

Title: White Teeth
Author: Zadie Smith
Publisher: Vintage Books
Copyright: 2000
ISBN: 9780375703867

Books, Fiction

The Luminaries

May 18, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Eh
Length 848
Quick Review A story and a mystery about gold mining in New Zealand during the 1800’s.

I am biased on this review for sure… Like every other review because we either like, dislike, or other sentiments about something. In this case, I did not like The Luminaries. I personally could not get emotionally invested into the story, and so it took me a great amount of time to wade through the text.

Eleanor Catton is incredibly talented in coming up with a complex and intricately planned out plot. She writes exceptionally well balancing description and action with prowess. Her characters have depth and roundness, which can only be accomplished through experience.

It was a technically brilliant novel. I did not find it pleasurable to read due to personal tastes. I know many people who did find it wonderfully entertaining, so please do not take my experience as the epitome of all experiences.

Memorable Quotes
“It was a strange thing to behold a whore in mourning – rather like seeing a dandified cleric, or a child with a moustache; it gave one a sense of confusion”

Title: The Luminaries
Author: Eleanor Catton
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Copyright: 2013
ISBN: 9780316074315

Books

The Little Paris Bookshop

April 1, 2017 RaeAnna

Read No
Length 392
Quick Review A quick easy read that will pull at your heartstrings while providing hope for the future in a formulaic way.

The Little Paris Bookshop is a quick read full of romance, sorrow, and hope. Falling in line with a Sparksian – Nicholas Sparks – formula of how romance transpires, Nina George does provide the reader with some highly poignant moments, quotable phrases, and a creative idea.

A middle-aged bookseller pines after a love lost for two decades. Ignoring the world around him, he is the owner and curator of the Book Apothecary or book barge where people in need go to have their souls cleansed through books they may not want but desperately need. The idea of a Book Apothecary or book barge was really the only interesting aspect to capture my attention in this novel.

The narrator waffles between feminist and woman blaming by saying men do not deserve women while also blaming women for stringing men on. I get it you’re heart broken, but make up your damn mind. Are we better than you? Or do we make a game out of breaking hearts?

The writing was adequate to fit the story. It lacked nuance or anything particularly special. There were moments of slight mystery and quick answers. If you’ve ever read a book with a basic storyline, the ending screams itself from page 15.

I doubt this book will last the tests of time, but it does suffice as a lovely beach read. It was a New York Times Bestseller and an International Best Seller, so it does have its appeal. I would never read it again, but, like I said, it is a great read if you don’t want to soul search, deep think. I would put this under the category of ‘mindless read.’

Memorable Quotes
“The bookseller could not imagine what might be more practical than a book.”
“It’s amazing how unimpressed people are by being loved when it doesn’t fit in with their plans”
“Damn church! Heaps misery on any who haven’t already given up hope.”
“Personally, I don’t believe that any question is too big; you simply have to tailor the answer.”

Title: The Little Paris Bookshop
Author: Nina George
Translator: Simon Pare
Publisher Broadway Books
Copyright: 2015
ISBN: 9780553418798

Books

What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding

March 9, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 291
Quick Review I am in love with this book. It is the perfect story all wanderers will lust after whether single or coupled.

I am completely in love with What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding. The best way I can describe it is: If there were ever a book that could be a mirror of my soul’s desire, this would be it. (There are only two differences between Kristin Newman and I: 1) She saw herself getting married and having children, and I don’t. 2) She had a career at 26… Yeah, nope.)

Newman is hilarious. I don’t laugh out loud often while reading, but I did. She is able to give words to feelings I have had for a very long time. The biggest theme throughout this book is when things get rough, she takes a trip. Which, now that I think about it, sounds like running from her problems. Anyways, it did end up working out for her, and I am jealous.

The book follows her through a decade or so worth of trips around the world both solo and with girlfriends. Through telling her travel stories, she lets the reader into her life. Allowing the world to see her deepest fears, her desires, her heartbreaks, her aspirations, and her inadequacies. With an almost too honest narration, she shows the world it’s ok to be alone and be both happy and sad about it.

It is the narration of a woman who won’t settle for less than awesome. When awesome comes along, it’s ok to be sad when trading awesome for awesome. Her unique brand of feminism screams “This is who I am, and I’m not that ashamed of where I’ve been.”

Memorable Quotes
“I didn’t think being in a relationship with someone I didn’t want to marry was a problem, mostly because, as I’ve said before, I had never really wanted to get married, period.”
“…as tempted as I would be by the completeness of his love in the face of a new world surrounded by men who seemed to see me as some sort of little brother, something deep within me was screaming that I wasn’t ready to be half of a whole.”
“I realized they didn’t look at travel the way I looked at it, like medicine, like my chance to right all the wrongs that might exist in my life.”
“ I think that, generally, most of us have a total of about twenty thoughts. And we scroll through those thoughts, over and over again, in varying order, all day every day.”

Title: What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding; A Memoir
Author: Kristin Newman
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Copyright: 2014
ISBN: 9780804137607

Books, Fiction

The Handmaid’s Tale

February 8, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 311
Quick Review It’s a remarkable work of dystopian fiction, which has been talked about for decades. It’s a highly influential book in the world of contemporary fiction.

I have been hearing about The Handmaid’s Tale for a long time now. It’s been on my to read list for just as long. Amazon has created a TV show of the same name, and I wanted to read the novel before watching the show. So that was my shallow push to finally get around to reading it.

To be honest, it’s a book I read because it is so widely talked about, and not out of pure love for the genre. As a reader, I do not like Atwood’s style throughout. It’s odd and difficult to follow at times. Nor does it follow grammatical rules at all whatsoever. I majored in Literature in college, and have experience with textual analysis. From a scholarly standpoint, the style is incredibly compelling and fully supports the plot. More importantly the style gives credence to Offred, the protagonist, as well as help the reader understand where she starts and her evolution. The style changes throughout the story as Offred progresses taking steps to reclaim her previous self. I won’t say more, so I don’t ruin it for you. The style is intrinsic to the story. I do not think it would be such a compelling work of fiction if the style were more traditional.

It was a difficult book to read, at this point, for me. I live in a country which is experiences a lot of upheaval and frankly illegal/unconstitutional actions. These are the first steps towards societies depicted in dystopian fiction. For me it was difficult to read because there were points where the novel was not depicting a fictional world, but things I see happening right now today.

I was entirely uncomfortable reading The Handmaid’s Tale because of how women are treated. As a self-proclaimed feminist, I was uncomfortable and at times a bit queasy. Although, these are all intended by the author, I’m sure; no one writes dystopian fiction saying: yes this is the perfect world.

I had a hard time getting into the novel because of the style, but once I got used to it, I really enjoyed it. For me, the ending was both perfect yet entirely unsatisfying.

Read it. It’s fabulous and deserving of the hype surrounding it. It ranks high within my list of interesting dystopian novels.

Memorable Quotes
“It’s good to have small goals that can be easily attained.”
“They blamed it on the Islamic fanatics, at the time.”

Title: The Handmaid’s Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Publisher: Anchor Books
Copyright: 1986
ISBN: 9780385490818