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My Week In Books: Bloggers and Mobsters

On May 19, 2014

Bloggers versus Mobsters:

Bloggers occasionally write for hire and mobsters kill for hire. Ideally, both get paid.
Bloggers have their tools of choice (laptops, tablets, desktop computers and cameras) and mobsters have their tools of choice (gun, knives, machetes … I don’t know about the last one but it sounds badass).
Bloggers make an insular group online with lots of incestuous relationships formed by cross-posting and interacting virtually while mobsters have their own insular group made of genetics or initiations including murder, stealing, etc.

Okay, so my mobster knowledge is limited. And Kings of Brighton Beach Episode #1: Part One: Gangsters with Guns by D.B. Shuster didn’t really help the situation as the words gangsters and mafia were thrown about as though related. They aren’t, are they?

But first things first. You’ll note I didn’t share any books last week and that’s because it took me so long to finish Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson, also known as the Bloggess. By all accounts, I should have loved this book. Her writing style is not dissimilar from mine, though she cusses a heck of a lot more. She did include a photograph of a raccoon wearing jams (do you remember jams from the 90s … sort of ugly shorts) and that made me laugh. A story about the five-foot-tall metal chicken waiting for someone at their front door had me laughing out loud at the gym. But, and I don’t want to spoil anything for you, those were the only two times I laughed. At this book that I’ve been told is hysterical. Meh.

Next up I read Kings of Brighton Beach Episode #1: Part One: Gangsters with Guns and I’ll freely admit that part of my motivation to read it was because the author, D.B. Shuster, sent me a signed copy accompanied by a handwritten note. Shuster has written two books – Kings of Brighton Beach episodes1 and 2 – and I have this thing I’ve been doing lately when I read new authors. I think to myself, “How would I feel about myself if I wrote this?” It’s a horribly condescending, insulting thought process I have because basically I am cutting people slack for being new. And yet. So would I be proud if I had written this book? Heck yes. Do I love that it’s all about Russian mafia and makes me feel like I am back in the 1980s? Definitely. Is it a book I’d recommend? I’m not so sure.

And there you have it. My week in books. I’m grateful to the upcoming week off of work where I’ll be reading tons of books and am sure to have a few winners about which I can write!

Late to the Table

By Kate

On May 12, 2014

In books, rock

If I want to play the role of a hipster, I can do my part okay. I reviewed advanced copies of Chutes to Narrow by The Shins and Youth & Young Manhood from the Kings of Leon. I saw the White Stripes play to an audience of maybe 20 people, right before they blew up. I usually have a good eye on what new books and movies are out there. What I want to establish here is this: When it comes to pop-culture consumption, I can hold my own.And yet.

I arrived varying degrees of late to Friday Night Lights, The West Wing, Doc Martin and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. I discovered His Dark Materials long after publication and started the Bones series by Kathy Reichs after she’d already published a good 14 books. Music is a constant game of catch-up so when I’m not actively participating in the conversation, I’m playing like I know what’s up (“They sound familiar. Tell me more.” “Yeah, I think I remember hearing them.”) and hoping you don’t catch on.

Most recently I’ve been trying to catch-up midway through things. At one dinner party everybody was Mad Men this and Mad Men that. On our drive home that evening, Wonder Boy and I made the immediate decision to find out what the show was about. Through a combination of Netflix and on-demand TV, we’ve caught up. We recently did the same with Scandal (!) and I’m in the midst of listening to back-episodes of the Pop Culture Happy Hour and Professor Blastoff podcasts.

In the grand scheme of things, I know none of this matters. But the world in which I circulate is full of pop culture references and I like to keep up. Even where I have the obvious blind spots (Star Wars, LOTR movies, Harry Potter), I can usually follow along in the conversations well enough.

Every day I am sifting through so many things – books, magazines, movies, music, podcasts, articles, blogs, websites, social media… I have to pick and choose and I’m usually pretty confident about the choices I make. And then you attending a dinner party where you (and maybe your date) seem to be the only ones not in the know.

This Week In Books: When I Give Up and Teenage Love

By Kate

On May 5, 2014

In books

Last week I started and quickly gave up on The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction by Linda Gordon. I so rarely give up on books and yet I only made it about 30 pages into this one. I’m not sure where I heard about the book – I assume either NPR or Real Simple – but whatever I heard or read made me add the book to be To Read list. The text was so dry and the type so tiny. I couldn’t take it. A book should be something I am excited to open. Not something that feels like homework.Fortunately, the next book I tried was the absolutely lovely Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. This is definitely a Young Adult book but because it is set in the 80s and so heavily references 80s music, it’s the perfect young adult book for not-so-young adults, like myself, to read.

So many of the YA books that are popular now feature a stereotypically attractive (even if they try to imply otherwise) females in their teens opposite slightly older, very hunky males. The protagonists in Eleanor & Park are portrayed as completely normal. Not beautiful but not ugly. Just … normal.

Park feels like he’s on the outside of things at school and among his friends thanks to being half-Asian and into comic books and alternative music. Eleanor hides her poverty and rough home situation with wackadoo outfits and a back-off attitude. The two share a love story that stands out from the standard YA books.

I think Eleanor & Park would be a great summer / beach read for people who haven’t yet checked it out.

A book review of Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.

My Week In Books: Digital Dating and the War in Iraq

By Kate

On April 28, 2014

In books, reviews

This past week was an odd one in terms of reading. I read (and reviewed) He Texted: The Ultimate Guide to Dating in the Digital Era by Lisa Winning and Carrie Henderson McDermott (2014). That was a pretty fluffy book and one I initially only read because I was sent a copy to review.I also finished The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (2012). These two books are so far apart from each other in style, topic, feel. The reason many books slip under the radar in terms of what I choose to review and what I skip are ones like The Yellow Birds. So important, but so, so heavy. But it’s important to expose ourselves to things that cause us discomfort. How else do we evolve our thinking and grow as people?

The Yellow Birds was nominated by the National Book Award in 2012, but lost out to The Round House by Louise Erdrich (on my To-Read list). NPR describes The Yellow Birds as a book whose “poetic language gives intimacy and intensity to the conflicts of war, and the conflicts within ourselves.” I rely on their words because I am sort of at a loss on how to aptly describe Powers’ book.

In theory I am against war. I hate the idea of the political maneuvering that exists to get one country ahead of another, to make one world leader more powerful than another, to get one elected official in office instead of another… And I know it’s more complicated than that and that war and violence are often used to end other wars and violence. But the loss of life… What The Yellow Birds illustrated for me is that loss of life takes many forms and sometimes it’s just a matter of losing yourself and all that you use to be while you are in the middle of a horrible situation, such as one where death and the smell of rotting flesh becomes normal.

It’s a terrible read. It’s a wonderful read because I think it, or something similar, is a necessary read. Without it, I don’t know how to have any perspective on what soldiers experience and on the decisions our leaders make for us.

Book review of The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers.

On Love and Science: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

By Kate

On April 22, 2014

In books, reviews

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, was a book club selection and I one I’m very glad I read. It’s light and fun but has stuck with me. An unusual combination.I reviewed this book for Nudge and would describe it as a sort of wonderful mash-up of Somewhere Out There (episode #374) from This American Life and the character of Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory.

In the Rosie Project, Don Tillman, a genetics professor, is a man of precise order. He schedules his days to the minute, literally, and he constantly looks for ways to streamline daily activities. For instance, rather than waste time deciding what to make for dinner each evening, he eats the same thing every Monday, every Tuesday and so on. Further, he has his pantry shelves organized by the day of the week so his weekly Monday dinner ingredients are all together, same with Tuesday, etc. No variety but maximum efficiency.

As the book continues, Don works with the same scientific efficiency to find a wife. Repeatedly he is confronted with the reality that science doesn’t work that way. Or is it love that doesn’t work that way?

You can read my complete review of The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion on Nudge.