Book Blogging for Beginner's

So one of the primary reasons why I began book blogging was my infatuation with the book blogging community. I stumbled upon book blogs toward the end of the 2008 and could not believe that there were so many people out there posting about what they read, what they liked, what they didn't like...and the challenges! Sheesh, the challenges were the coolest. (I'm still in awe of all the different types of challenges out there and have probably gone overboard!)

But what I've now realized with book blogging is I'm a perfectionist. And I don't mean a perfectionist as in "did I write the proper their/they're/there in my sentence" sort of person - I tend to type as I go, and my hands do their own thing sometimes. I know it's awful that I can admit that I'm careless with basic grammatical errors with such apathy being an English teacher, but *sigh* that's just me. I know the difference and I really do try to pay attention. I just sorta look at it in the same way as if I were to transpose letters by mistake.

But no, that's not what I mean by being a perfectionist. For me, it's a matter of finding a formula for blogging that I'm okay with. I mean, do I try to commit to reviewing all books? Do I try to categorize all the reviews? Do I keep the same format when I review, i.e. listing pub date, pages, genre like I have been trying to do?

And then, oh my, then, I'm so frustrated with blogger and using it to write my posts. The writing is okay. It's really when I'm inserting pictures. It's as though I have to finagle the pictures to insert in the desired spot. Which only causes chaos amidst my text. So yeah, I've been trying out different blogging clients to type up my posts outside of blogger-ville.

Oh, also while I'm on my BBfB rant - I'm also still trying to figure out how I want the darn thing to look. I've moved into a three column layout but I don't know if I'm feeling it. I like that I inserted my picture from a kayaking trip. There's just so many decisions.

Okay. Okay. I'm done now. I'm going to finish reading my Hornby book. After I fix my previous book review post because the blogging client I tested out with that one made it all wonky.

I'm a bit sleep deprived as well. Maybe that explains my irritable rant. *shrug* Will be heading out to the vet shortly so my night has only just begun.

Land of a Hundred Wonders by Lesley Kagen

Title: Land of a Thousand Wonders
Author: Lesley Kagen
Pub Date: August 2008
Pages:288
Genre: Fiction
Challenges: 100+
Rating: 5/5

"I'm knocked up," she says.
"I know how you favor those knock-knock jokes as much as Grampa," I say, swiping off eraser crumbs. "So I'm real sorry, but I don't have time to be honing my sense of humor right now. It's vital I get this story done."
"Being knocked up don't have nuthin' to do with a joke. It ain't funny."
"Well, what does it have to do with then?" I ask, fussy. Besides feeling like a full-out failure when I don't understand what something means, I fear Mama's gonna wear her pacing feet to the bone if I don't figure out who murdered Mr. Buster soon.
"Knocked up means" - Clever stops to hawk and spit - "I'm gonna. . . I'm gonna have a baby." (pg. 57)

Perhaps while you were reading that you chuckled to yourself and thought, that girl's just not quite right. See, that's Gibby talking to her best friend - Clever, and you were correct to make that assumption. Gibby has been NQR since the terrible car accident that left her orphaned and living with her grampa in a small Southern town in the 70's.

Gibby fancies herself an investigative reporter, and she's in luck, because she stumbled across a dead body, and not just any body, but the future governor's body! Gibby feels that this is her chance to become QR once again. She'll solve the mystery and her dead mamma will be proud and able to rest. 'Course, Gibby does tend to forget things. Like where that body was to begin with.

While solving the murder is the back drop of this lyrical novel, Gibby's relationships with her family, friends, and community all after this tragic accident.

Kagen is a wonderful writer. The novel is told in Gibby's point of view and she has mastered the voice of this young lady who struggles with her brain injury. I'm not familiar with anything else that Kagen wrote, and only picked up this novel because the cover was just oh-so-beautiful. I'm sure that it won't be the last from this author. I *highly* recommend this book.

Cheers!

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

Title: Handle With Care

Author: Jodi Picoult

Pub Date: March 3, 2009

Pages: 496

Genre: Fiction

Challenges: Support Your Library Challenge; 100+

Rating: 3.5/5

And an extra added bonus: Books & Cooks posted a recent article found in Newsweek that brought up Picoult.

Brief Summary (since I'm sure everyone has heard it already) Once upon a time there was a pastry chef named Charlotte who had a daughter, Amelia, and a pediatrician for a best friend, named Piper. One day Piper is speeding, dreamy cop gives her a ticket, and she immediately thinks he would be perfect for Charlotte. Sean, said dreamy cop, meets Charlotte, they fall in love and marry. And what comes after marriage? Yup, you guessed it, a baby Willow in a padded carriage. Ah, notice the padded added element? That's because little Willow has OI (osteogenesis imperfecta) which means she will essentially break - over and over again - the bones in her body. Drama ensues when Charlotte is introduced to the notion of suing her pediatrician and, that's right a quick reminder, her BEST FRIEND.

* * *

My thoughts

There's been a couple of conversation strands in the past couple of weeks about Jodi Picoult, her talent, her skills, and her formula. I think that it's pretty agreed (even by her fans like myself) that Picoult rights under a formula. I wrote that I compared Picoult's book to Lifetime movie specials (although I don't watch Lifetime, it just seems like the most accurate description). I know what I'm getting into when reading a Picoult novel and I genuinely like what I'm getting into. I know it's not literature; I don't think that the author ever really tried to market herself in that manner. And although I once was quite the book snob (it seemed like the given when earning your degree in Lit) I shed that snobbery as soon as I began teaching twelve year olds.

So here's the thing, yeah, sure, I totally wish one day Jodi Picoult would surprise me and maybe Willow could have been a bitchy unruly child...but ultimately, I still feel for the character, I was still pulled in hook, line, and sinker. I raced to come home and stayed up late read the chapters. And you know what, I'll do it again. (Haha, sometime this year even, since I have about three or four of her books on my TBR shelves).

Oh yeah, I also liked the cooking references and the recipes that were mixed in with the chapters.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Title: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Author: Alison Bechdel

Pub Date: 2006

Pages: 232

Challenges:

Genre: graphic novel, memoir

Rating: 3/5

Bechdel creates a candid portrayal of her family life: fearlessly revealing all humorous idiosyncrasies and morbid compulsions.  Oh, and topped with a sprinkle of pretentious literary allusions.  

Bechdel's graphic novel, in ways, comes across as a cathartic remembrance of her dead father.  It opens with her as a young child and ends with her as a young child, her growing up and discovery of Family & Self all interwoven within the pages. She presents her child neuroses in matter of fact dialogues: her counting compulsion in elementary school, or the post-modern crisis where she believed that all creation is perspective (thus forcing her to include an "I think" prior to any written statement) in her teens. 

Her story is also interwoven with literary allusions, which seemed a bit overdone, and quite honestly took away from the story in many ways.  It struck me as a psychological defense mechanism -avoiding the messy feelings of such trying life moments by presenting your life as a comparative lit assignment. 

Fun Home was not terrible. It just lacked emotion for me, nor was I engaged enough with the author as much as I anticipated I would be.  

Sunday Salon (04/12) - Easter

Good morning Sunday Saloners!  I hope everyone has plans to enjoy their Sunday.  Mine will be pretty busy - expecting nearly 20 people over for a BBQ and Easter egg hunt (there'll be six kids here!) I doubt that there will be much reading going on today.  Still, it's my hope that I find some quiet time in the evening (as a born introvert, crowds exhaust me, no matter how many people I love in the crowd *smile*). 

I finished Jodi Picoult's newest book Handle with Care this week.  I'm going to review it over the next couple of days but wanted to link to a strand discussing Jodi Picoult that Heather @ Book Addiction started with her review.  It's true - either you love her or hate her.  There's very little in between!

Also, I'd like to direct everyone over to Kiss a Cloud who is holding a phenomenal poetry give away for Nat'll Poetry Month - six books total!   

So that's about it.  I haven't been reading as much as I did in January & February.  March was a very slow month in comparison.  I never did post my stats, but I think that I only read six books.  I have a feeling April is going to be the same.  I'm not quite sure what started the slump.  I don't think that I've been any more busy than usual.  Gods know that I have a lot of books on my TBR shelf to plunge into.  

Happy Sunday everyone!

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Title: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Author: Lionel Shriver

Pub Date: 2003

Pages: 400

Challenges:

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 5/5

It's hard to tell someone that you really enjoyed a book when the book is as disturbing and discomforting as We Need to Talk About Kevin.

The novel is told in letters written by the narrator, Eva to her husband Franklin. We quickly find out that Eva is an independent, free-spirit, who has strong beliefs about the "establishment" (even though she's quite well off), and although she might be a good friend, does not appear to be very nurturing. Alternatively, we have her husband, Franklin, who through the reminiscent letters, is portrayed as being more American than apple pie - an all-around-guy who would love to be zapped right into a Leave it to Beaver episode.

So are we really surprised to find out that Eva is disinterested in her pregnancy? Of course not. And while at first, told in a different story, we might feel animosity toward this woman and how she interacts with her son, Kevin, in this story we partly understand.

You see, Kevin was always a little "off", a quite unhappy little boy who couldn't be pleased, bothered, or amused. His adolescent years are no different, but we begin to sense he's a bit "off" *and* malicious. Oh, and did I mention that he's sitting in jail for killing nine classmates, a teacher, and a cafeteria worker?

In a time when the press was perhaps becoming a bit desensitized with all of the school shootings, Shriver embarks on this incredible journey where we hear from not the mother of the victim, but the mother of the murderer. The novel is substantial, frustrating, and pulls the reader into questioning the roles of nature vs. nurture.

Sunday Salon (04/05) - NYC

This past week I spent in NYC.  It was my first time and I cannot even accurately share my excitement.  My mom and I attended two broadway plays (Mamma Mia & Phantom) and did *so* much shopping.  We had to sit on our suitcases in order to zip them up and were thrilled that the airlines didn't weigh them (there's a charge of $50 per bag if it is over 50 pounds - hey, books and purses start to add up!)

I don't know where to begin, yesterday was my first day home, and 

I'm still digesting the whole experience.

The Bookstores

Okay, I come from a place that is filled with B&N and Borders.  We have one independent bookstore in the city and it's not in a very convenient location so I've only been once. To be in a city that had three or four printed pages of bookstores made me want to swoon.  

For all of you New Yorkers, I am completely jealous of The Strand bookstore, which advertises itself as having 18 miles of books.  (I believe it!) Mom and I got off of the bus; she went to 

the shoe store and I crossed the street to the bookstore.  This is a fair representation of our uniquely different interests as she's not a reader AT ALL!  Outside the doors, the Strand was having a bookstore - each book a dollar!  Yup.  I couldn't believe it my luck.  I held back though, knowing that we had a long day ahead of us and eventually everything that I purchased would have to be packed. I ended up picking up one paperback, a cute messenger bag, and a blue tee.

The other bookstore that stands out is Shakespeare & Co. This bookstore isn't nearly as big as The Strand, but it has a wealth of cool books that the regular conglomerate chains generally don't carry.  (Plus there was the sweetest cat ever hanging out). The ambiance is appealing and I could have easily hung out for hours. I even picked up a copy of The Onion in the foyer. 

The Morgan Library

Because there was so much to do, I had to make a difficult choice: The Morgan Library and Museum or the MET.  The book nerd in me eventually won over, so on morning three Mom and I walked over to the MLM, paid admission and hung out in the glorious wall-t0-wall library owned by the late Pierpont Morgan's. I am sure that I missed out not going to the MET, but to be in the same room with manuscripts of Dickens, Austen, Bronte, Einstein, Lincoln, Thoreau, Steinbeck, and Milton...well, I just wanted to curl up with my own book and pretend that the study and library was my home. 

The Bar

After a long day of wandering around in the Village, Mom was patient with me while I attempted to find The White Horse Tavern - a popular bar for many literary figures that I've come to admire.  Our feet ached and we were a bit hungry, but our determination prevailed and we finally found it.  I was not disappointed.  It was exactly how I pictured it.  The bar area was small, a bit crowded, regulars at the bar, and dimly lit (there is a side room, "The Dylan Thomas" room where patrons can sit and eat as well, but it was awfully warm on that side of the bar). We stayed long enough for a beer ($6.50) and an order of fries (the bar had a minimum charge of $8 per person, oh and they only accept cash). Some of the really cool people who used to hang out here?  Hunter S. Thompson (it's said that he began The Rum Diary, whose opening line is: "My apartment in New York was on Perry street, a five minute walk from the White Horse.."); it is rumored that Dylan Thomas drank himself to death there (18 shots of whiskey!); Jack Kerouac would often get so drunk that he'd get kicked out of the bar;  Dan Akroyd walked in at closing time the night that Belushi died, closed the doors and bought everyone a round of drinks; and the list goes on and on - Anais Nin, Norman Mailer, Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, and James Baldwin. 

Books

All in all, NY was a real treat, and even though I just got back, I'm dying to go back.  Finally, the books that I picked up while in the city:

• Beautiful Children by Charles Bock - a 12 year old boy goes missing in Las Vegas which brings the lives of a teenage anarchist, a stripper, a comic book illustrator, a gutter punk, and a band of misfit runaways together. 

• Obedience by Will Lavender -a group of students in a Logic & Reasoning class at Winchester University are given a very disturbing assignment, using clues find a hypothetical missing girl by the end of the semester or she dies.  But is Polly really fake?

• Gandhi's Truth by Erik Erikson - I picked this up because I've always been interested in peaceful resistance and Erikson is one of my favorite psychoanalyst that I studied while earning my masters.  Here Erikson analyzes Gandhi and his success in leading the Indian people, politically and spiritually.

• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel - since reading Persepolis, I have an appreciation for graphic novels that I haven't in the past. I've seen a lot of bloggers review this g.n. and can't wait to start it.

• Pride & Prejudice and Zombies - how could I not pick this up, having just finished reading P&P and absolutely lovin' anything zombies!

• speak softly, she can hear by Pam Lewis - my dollar purchase!  The setting is NYC in the 60's at an all girls school.  Two girls make a pact to lose their virginity by the end of the year, but something goes wrong and one ends up dead.

Allrighty - I have a lot to do this Sunday.  It's not going to be as relaxing as I'd like.  Lots of errands and then I must figure out what I'm doing tomorrow with my classes.  I sort of put off lesson plans.  Didn't think about school once this week!  Hope all you Saloners have an enjoyable day.