The Reading Quest Or, 26 books in 52 weeks 32. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray I haven't read the book since high school, and I barely remembered the plot. I picked it up figuring I'd read it and then go see the movie. I never managed to get to the theater, so I'll have to wait until it comes out on video. But having finishing the book, I can't see how they managed to fit the book into a movie. Whe I was in college I labored under the misperception that if a book wasn't 200 years old and written by a Brit, it wasn't worth reading. I spent more hours than I care to think about immersed in the Brontes, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and the like. It wasn't until I went to graduate school that I discovered there's so much out there. I've tried, over the years, to go back and read some of the old classics, and I've found myself bored to tears - especially by Jane Austen. All of her books now run together for me. Mostly people sit around and talk to each other a lot. So I started Vanity Fair with the same expectations, and I ended up being blown away by how good it is. It was a page-turner, which I had not expected. I live in awe of good fiction writers. It is beyond me how they can start out with a group of characters and have them all show up at the right place in the end. And books like VF, with more characters than I can count, especially baffle me. I found myself laughing out loud at Thakeray's descriptions of people and society - and at the ridiculous names he gave people. His views of how the world works are still accurate, even 200 years later. And while it's a novel "without a hero," I did end up rooting for poor William Dobbin, even though Amelia did not deserve his love and attention. What I liked most about the book, however, was its ending. In most books of the era, "bad" women - ie women who don't live by society's standards - die in the end as a punishment for their supposed misdeeds. They either fade away from disease like consumption or kill themselves by taking poison. But not Becky. She winds up with a comfortable pension from her son, living as she sees fits. Now I'll have to wait for the movie to come out on DVD. 31.Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Sophie Kinsela Rebecca really annoyed me in this one. She gets way too caught up in the nonsense of a big, society wedding. Of course, it all turns out right in the end and she saves the day, but goodness, how many near misses can one woman have. I'll probably still read the fourth one, but I think I can wait for it to come out in paperback. 30.Shopaholic takes Manhattan, Sophie Kinsela I had loaned the first Shopaholic book to my neighbor, and she loved it so much that she went out and bought the next two. It was hard to wait for her to finish this one and pass it along. As with the first, I got very frustrated with Rebecca's shopping. I just can't understand taking somehting to such an extreme that you end up almost losing family, friends and loved ones over it. I did cheer for her at the end, even if I saw it coming from a mile away. 29. Confessions of a Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsela I picked up a copy of the book on a whim. My college roomate, Chiayu, had mentioned that she had read the book and enjoyed it. I got so frustrated with Rebecca, the main character, that I was prepared to hate the book completely. I just wanted to shout, "Stop shopping, already" at her, even though she couldn't hear me. But by the end, I was rooting for her. And I decided to take a chance on the next book. 28. Mr. Popper's Penguins I've started reading more kids' books to get ready for reading them to Ella. I picked this one up at her school's annual garage sale. It's a cute story about a man named Mr. Popper who ends up with a whole family of performing penguins. I've started reading it to Ella, and I think she likes the absurdity of a penguin living in the refrigerator. Maybe she'll actually get to the end of this book, unlike Alice. 27. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mom sent me the book to read, and I was hesitant. She told me it was about an autistic boy who finds a dead dog in a neighbor's yard and sets out to solve the mystery of who killed the dog. It sounded rather grim to me, so I set it aside in favor of all the new books I had. I finally ran out of new books, so I picked it up. It turned out to be one of the most gripping books I've read all year. The narrator is a 15-year-old autistic boy, and he provides a fascinating glimpse into how the mind of an austistic person works. The mystery of the dead dog turns out to be just a small part of the story. The author worked with austistic students for many years, so he has a good insight into how they function. I wouldn't have trusted the point of view otherwise. 26. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carol Ella has fallen in love with the Disney cartoon of Alice in Wonderland, so I figured I'd pick up the book and read it to her in chapters. We tried it with the first Harry Potter book, but much of it was over her head, and she got bored. I figured maybe Alice was a little closer to her reading level. Just to make sure that there wasn't anything objectionable in the book, I read it before I started reading it to her. I don't think I've read the book since middle school. I had forgotten how strange it is. Brandon read a chapter to Ella, and afterward he commented that "it ran on and on, like some opium addict wrote it." We had a good laugh about that. At any rate, Ella lost interest somewhere around the croquet match, and she hasn't asked for us to read it to her in weeks. 25. Pure Drivel, Steve Martin I'm not sure I should even get to count this as a whole book - it's so short. But I guess maybe it balances out the weeks and weeks I spent on Napoleon. I've read many of Martin's essays in the New Yorker, so most of these were famliar. And I can't say that many of them were all that funny. My favorite is the one about a shortage of periods in a certain font. He writes the whole essay with only one period. It's writer/editor humor. The rest of them didn't seem that clever, which makes me wonder if he could have gotten the book published if he wasn't Steve Martin. Don't get me wrong - I think he's one of the smartest, funniest people on the planet. I just didn't much like the book. 24. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert Two books I've read recently, Skinny Dip and Little Children, referenced this one, so I figured it was a sign I should read it again. I don't really understand the big deal. Maybe I'm just too jaded by the age we live in to think that a woman having multiple affairs and ruining her family is all that shocking; it's in the news all the time. However, the mother bear in me cringed at the treatment of Berthe, Emma's daughter. How could a mother send her daughter away to a wet nurse and then not even pay much attention to her when she moves back the house. The poor child ends up sent to work in a factory when both parents are gone. Knowing that Berthe was headed for that fate (the introduction to the book mentions it) ruined the rest of the story for me. Emma was a terribly selfish woman, and I never managed to find much sympathy for her or the situation she placed herself in. 23. Camille, Alexandre Dumas, fils Again, it must be a sign of the times that I didn't understand the fuss. It's the plot line of so many movies these days - lovely courtesan throws over lifestyle for the love a penniless clerk who is willing to give up his family in exchange. Of course, the courtesan has "consumption" and dies elegantly, looking more radiant in death than she did in life. And to make things even more dramatic, she throws over the penniless lover to save his family name. Maybe I need to get back into an academic mindset to appreciate the historical and literary significance of these books. 22. Rats, Robert Sullivan I had heard so much hype about the book, including an interview with Sullivan on NPR that I just had to read the book. My former boss said she wasn't that impressed, but I really enjoyed it. It's not so much about the actual rats Sullivan observed during his nights camped out in an alley, but more of a history lesson on rats and New York City and the plague. I like any book that teaches me things. We had a rat problem at our old house, thanks to a neighbor who let his backyard become a jungle and his garage become a rat-breeding house. The rats would climb up in our attic and roll pecans around. They got so bad that we had to call in the pros and block up all possible rat entrances. Our dog, Mollie, became very adept at killing the rats as they crept through the fence from the neighbor's yard. Fortunately, we've been rat-free here. Although our cat, Badoop, has killed a few mousies lately. Sullivan says there's no mistaking a mouse for a rat, and having seen both in close proximity, I can attest to that. 21. Little Children, Tom Perrotta I received this book for my birthday. It's about parents of pre-schoolers and the lives they lead. The scenes from the pool and playground are all too familiar, especially the little catty mom-groups that tend to form at each. But the rest of the book was just so sad. The parents were all sad, or frustrated by their life choices, or considering divorce, or actively cheating on a spouse. I hope I never end up like any of the mothers in the book and that Brandon never ends up like any of the dads. 20. Deception Point, Dan Brown I know I said that I wasn't reading any more of his stuff, but this one is Brandon's fault. He bought it at the airport while he was traveling and brought it home with him. I liked it better than Digital Fortress, but it still isn't as good as Angels and Demons. Fortunately, this is the end of the line for now. Mr. Brown hasn't published any other books, yet. I hear he's working on a sequel to DaVinci Code. 19. The Devil Wears Prada It was on sale at Target, so I figured I'd pick it up. It's frightening how many books I choose based their being on sale at Target. At first I thought it was a fun read, but then I realized how much stress it was causing me while reading it. I had a very difficult boss at one job, and I could very much relate to the lead character's situation. I became tense while reading about Andrea's stress and tension. I'm glad it had a happier ending than The Nanny Diaries, which made me cry. 18. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, David Sedaris David Sedaris has the ability to make me laugh out loud while reading, which few writers do. Me Talk Pretty One Day is by far and away my favorite book to pick up when I need a laugh. So I had high hopes for his new book. While it's fun, it's not as laugh out loud funny as Me Talk Pretty. There's an air of sadness to it, especially when he's writing about his family. But there are still some wonderful stories and very funny moments. My favorites are "Nuit of the Living Dead" and "Possession." I was lucky enough to hear him give a reading at Book People a few weeks ago, and his work is always better when he reads it. Part of his reading included excerpts from his diaries, and they were hysterical. Sedaris should definitely publish them next. 17. The Bounty, Caroline Alexander There was an excerpt of the book in the New Yorkera few months ago that was excellent, so I bought the book. Most of it was very interesting. I never really knew the story of the mutiny, and Alexander tells a very different version from the one everyone knows. She had access to the logs of the various people involved and the transcripts from all the courts martial that resulted from the mutiny. Unfortunately, she spends too much time just giving dry recitations of family lineage of the men involved and word-for-word accounts of the courts martial proceedings. The story of the voyages and the mutiny were interesting, but the end became a slog. Now, however, I want to read more about Pitcairn island. I remember seeing an article in an old National Geographic in some doctor's office and being fascinated by the idea of a closed society in the middle of nowhere. 16. The Perfect Mile, Neal Bascomb It's like Seabiscuit, but for the running set. I gave a copy to my dad for his birthday and figured I'd give it a read, too. It's a fascinating account of the chase for the first four-minute mile and the three men who were in contention for the record. The most interesting parts to me were the training schedules the men put themselves through in their quest. Two of the men trained alone, while going to school, late at night. It's unbelievable what they were able to accomplish given what information they had about running and training. It makes me wonder what they might have been capable of with today's training techniques. 15. Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer Krakauer, as usual, does more than just report one story. He starts with the murder of a young mother and her 15-month-old daughter by two of her brothers-in-law, who believed God had told them to commit the murders, and then it goes from there. It's a very interesting look at the history of Mormonism, which I knew next to nothing about, and the history of the fundamentalist Mormons and their beliefs. My only complaint was that he didn't include a family tree in the book. So many of the people are related through second, third or fourth marriages that it's hard to keep track of who is the great-great-uncle of whom. Interestingly enough, several days after finishing the book, our paper ran an article about one of the Fundamentalist Mormon leaders Krakauer discusses in the book. He and several of the elders of his church have been accused of molesting young boys. Apparently this particular sect is building a compound out near El Paso, and the El Pasoans aren't too please about it. 14. Swimming to Antarctica, Lynne Cox Cox is an ultra distance swimmer. At age 14 she swam the Catalina Channel, and at age 15 she broke the men's and women's records for crossing the English Channel. Her book recounts her start in long-distance swimming and some of her most important swims. The writing is very uneven, but the stories are fascinating enough that I didn't much mind. She attempted one swim in the Nile despite having dysentery and swimming through water that was so polluted she couldn't see her hands. She was also the first woman to swim between the north and south islands of New Zealand and the first to swim around the Cape of Good Hope. Her most recognized swim, however, is the one she made between two islands in the Bering Strait. It took her years to gain permission from the Soviets, and she didn't know until the day before the race whether she'd even get it. What's most amazing to me isn't the distances she swims, but rather that she swims without a wetsuit or other protection. There's something about her body's makeup that allows her to generate heat when she swims in extremely cold water. She can avoid hypothermia when the rest of us would die from the cold. Since I'm a wimp about cold water, I just can't even fathom swimming in water that so cold it's almost ice. Brrr. 13. Skinny Dip, Carl Hiasson This is the first work of fiction I've read in months and months. It's classic Hiasson - Miami is a scary place, the Everglades are dying, etc, etc, etc. Even the story is a bit formulaic; you know pretty much how things are going to work out in the end. But it's still fun to read. I'd rate it as a good airplane book. 12. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I confess, I've read this one before. And I started reading it before I made this resolution. I was about half-way through when I decided to keep track of what I read over the year. When I picked it up, I was looking for something quick and easy to read. I've been muddling through the third of Robert Caro's volumes on LBJ, and it's been tough going. I needed something that was purely escapist, and Harry Potter definitely qualifies. 11. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown I succumbed to the media hype around The DaVinci Code (DC) in December. I saw it on sale and picked it up. And then I had trouble putting it down. One reviewer described it as the worst book he ever loved, and I'd have to agree. The plot had holes you could drive a truck through, and the dialogue was simply terrible. But there was something about it. I saw Angels and Demons on sale at Target, so I bought it. I liked it better than DC. It's slow to get started, but once it does, it's a lot of fun to read. I stayed up way too late one night reading it, and then I ignored the girls at breakfast the next day while trying to finish it. However, the suspense at the end was muted a bit since I already knew that Robert Langdon, the main character, survives and goes on to solve the DaVinci code in the next book. All in all, the writing in this one is better, and the plot, while bordering on the unbelievable, has fewer holes in it. Just like in the DC, there's a plot twist and a character is revealed to not be who he or she seems. Knowing this, I kept trying to figure out the twist and which character would turn out to be THE ONE, but I failed. It wasn't a great book, but it was a fun one. I may pick up one of Brown's other books some time when I need a quick read. 10. Operating Instructions, Anne Lamott I first read Anne Lamott when my friend Liz gave me a copy of Bird by Bird, Lamott's book on writing. It's a well-written little book on the art of writing. I turn to it every once in a while when I need some inspiration. I've been reading Lamott lately on Salon.com. She's had a regular column over the past year. Invariably, they are funny and touching and wise all at the same time. I lean her direction politically, and I like her views on religion. I've always thought she'd be someone I would like to meet. Liz loaned me her copy of Operating Instructions so that I could take a break from the Napoleon biography I'm currently bogged down in. The book is a journal of the first year of her son's life. I read half of it in one sitting. Through most of it, I wished I had had the book when my older daughter, Ella, was tiny. It would have been nice to know that other mothers felt the same stress, anxiety and overwhelming love for their child. Granted, Lamott's son was far more of a challenge than Ella ever was. But I found myself nodding my head in agreement and understanding. But the second night of reading changed my opinion. While I was reading I thought back to why I've given up on a daily journal - it mostly turns into a litany of the things that have gone wrong that day. Her entries were filled with complaints about Sam's crying, her exhaustion, their lack of money, etc. etc. etc. They are all valid things to write about, but I have enough going on in my life without taking on someone else's worries. Then I started thinking about how wearing it must be to be her friend. She writes about friends who come daily to watch after Sam or weekly to bring food and do laundry. I consider myself to be a good friend to others, but I'm not sure I would last with someone who needed that much maintenance. Lamott has wonderful passages in her journal entries, but sometimes they get lost among the problems. Her insights into motherhood are interesting, but I think that maybe she's better in smaller doses. I haven't read any of her fiction. Perhaps I'll try that next. Now I've finished the book and changed my opinion a bit. It's not nearly as grim as I thought. Perhaps I was having a bad day during the second sitting with it. The last section has her returning the care her friends have given when one is diagnosed with breast cancer. Her thoughts on life and god and faith are pretty insightful. She's still someone I would like the chance to meet. 9. Digital Fortress, Dan Brown OK. I'm over my Dan Brown phase. Without the religious history included in both DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons, Brown's books are similar to those by Tom Clancy or Michael Crichton. Except it feels like he's trying too hard to take the reader by surprise or throw in plot twists. It's a good airplane book, but that's about it. 8. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd I was skeptical about this book at first. I figured it was another one of Oprah's Book Club weepers about a poor, disadvantaged woman. And in a way, it is. But it's also not. I see it as a love story - the love Lily has for the women who shelter and teach her, the love the women have for her. There's also a strong element of faith in the book. I'd love to join the Daughters of Mary and learn from them about love, acceptance and forgiveness. The racial aspect of the story is almost an afterthought. I forgot while I was reading that Lily was white and the women were black. They were just a family. 7. The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B 6. Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe 5. The Last Great Dance on Earth These are all in the Josephine Bonaparte Collection by Sandra Gulland. They tell the life story of Josephine Bonaparte, starting from her childhood on Martinique through her death. They're written as her journal entries, chronicling her life in her "own" words. I'm always a little suspect of historical fiction because you never really know what's true and what's not. The major events of her life are real, but her reactions to them are all Gallund's creations. However, the books were an interesting counterpoint to the rather dry biography of Napoleon that I'm struggling through. The biographer doesn't seem to like Napoleon much, so reading about him from a very sympathetic point of view was a change. I'm not sure I buy Gulland's portrayal of Napoleon, especially her account of his actions after he divorced Josephine. The biography claims that they never saw each other again and that the he stopped writing to her after a while. Gulland has him visiting Josephine secretly. All issues of veracity aside, the books were very absorbing. I couldn't put them down, and I spent several nights reading much later than I should have. 4. Napoleon Bonaparte, Alan Schom Hallelujah, after more than two months, I've finally finished this monster. Although, I must confess that I skimmed some of the chapters describing yet another of Napoleon's battles. There were so many, and I just didn't care about which general marched in which direction. The book was frustrating in more ways than one. First, the editing was awful. I had to re-read sentences because I couldn't make sense of them. The whole mess would have benefited from some extra commas here and there. Second, the author really didn't seem to like Napoleon much. It's hard to stay engaged in the story if there's nothing about the man to sympathize with. I know he was not a nice person and was responsible for the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people, but if you're going to devote close to 800 pages to him, find something good about him. The author also wandered off on tangents way too often. He'd spend twenty pages giving a biography of some person who never appeared again in the book. The only way I got through it was to not allow myself to start another book until I had finished. I have gotten to a point where I will give myself permission to not finish books I don't like. But since this was the first book I started as part of my reading quest, I figured I had to finish. 3. Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris I've read it before, but I needed something light and silly to recover from Napoleon, and this was the perfect book. I like this book best of his works, mostly because it's all essays. His fiction tends to be a bit too strange for me. Given that his essays are all about his odd family, that's saying something. I always laugh out loud while reading Sedaris, and it seems that I find something new to laugh at each time. 2. Devil in the White City, Erik Larson The book caught my eye when it first came out because of the author. I had read his book about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane and enjoyed it. So when I saw it in paperback, I picked it up. I really enjoyed the book, which is about the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and a mass murderer, Dr. H.H. Homes, who lived right down the street from the fair. Oddly enough, I was more interested in the sections about the building of the fair. I'd like to find a book about the fair itself, if one exists, preferably one with lots of pictures. The murder story was pretty interesting, too, especially considering no one seems to ever have heard about it. This man killed at least nine people and no one's heard of him, while Jack the Ripper killed only five and is world famous. The end of the book was a bit abrupt. After all the detail in the book, Larson makes short work of Holmse's capture, trial and execution - devoting only three pages to those events. It seemed rather anti-climactic. 1. How To Be Good, Nick Hornby I picked it up at the SafePlace thrift store. I had just dropped off a carload of stuff and was browsing through the store. I've never read Hornby before, but High Fidelity is one of my favorite movies. I've heard his books are witty and funny. Boy is this one not. It's about the failing marriage of a middle-aged couple. The wife has an affair, and the husband falls under the spell of a sort of faith healer. Things get worse from there. I kept reading, stubbornly hoping that things would turn out all right in the end, but they don't.