A Novel Idea...

Banana Yoshimoto

2006-09-04T21:48:10Z

Lizard
Banana Yoshimoto

I've been on a Banana kick lately, and I recently finished her novel N.P. and I'm one story away from finishing Lizard.

I first read Kitchen about a year or so ago, I think it was, and I quite liked it. It was made up of two stories, and she has an interesting style.

Anyway, I'm finding that her short stories are much easier to stomach than her novels, as the novels tend to be unnecessarily drawn out, and N.P. had a fairly depressing air to it. Lizard, and the other stories in the book of the same title was more interesting, and the little vignettes of stories felt more complete and satisfying, each kind of like their own little mug of hot tea.

I've yet to read Asleep, Amrita, and Goodbye, Tsugumi, but since I'm on this kick, I'm sure they will be next!

Working With You Is Killing Me

2006-08-18T23:17:15Z

Working with You Is Killing Me- Freeing Yourself from Emotional Traps at Work
Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster

I'm in the midst of reading this right now, and it has a lot of good solutions for dealing with the shitstorms that inevitably happen in the workplace.

Personally, I am currently dealing with some really really offensive people, and I'm finding this book to be somewhat helpful.

Check it out, anyway.

Spiral and Loop

2006-08-18T23:11:35Z

So I finished Spiral a couple weeks ago, I think, and Loop last week. They are parts II & III of the Ring trilogy by Koji Suzuki.

Spiral was the better of the two- it starts as Mitsuo Ando is doing an autopsy on good ol' Ryuji Takayama from the first tale, and goes on from his perspective exploring what seems to be a strange new virus relating to the Ring deaths. It was pretty good- a lot of revisiting of the previous story, but it was compelling nonetheless. Good stuff.

Loop is my least favourite of the three books. Our hero this time is a twenty year old named Kaoru who's learning about a huge project his father worked on, which was a huge computer simulated "earth" type thing where a bunch of scientists wanted to see if they created life, if it would evolve the same way as humans do, yada yada. I think this one was supposed to be super shocking, but it wasn't. And I wasn't particularly thrilled with the new sci-fi bent on what was originally just a creepy thriller.

The Wonder Spot

2006-06-20T19:21:07Z

The Wonder Spot
Melissa Bank

OK, I remember having a vague opinion of Bank's last novel "The Girl's Guide To Hunting and Fishing" and I have a similar opinion now. It was an alright read, but come to think of it, the whole formula of it being about a girl with stories from her life at various ages, mostly having to do with relationships is pretty much exactly like the previous book.

Oh well, I didn't really expect very much from it.

Dance Dance Dance

2006-06-20T19:15:33Z

Dance Dance Dance
Haruki Murakami

This was one of his better books. Another disappearing woman, and a guy who's in a weird rut, pondering his existence, etc. Webs of people and their connections. Interesting stuff, and also typical Murakami.

I'm not totally sure I love how he portrays females in his work, but I can't think at the moment of how to pinpoint what it's like. Hrmm.

Apparently, this is a sequel to A Wild Sheep Chase, so I'm reading that now.

Da Vinci Code

2006-05-15T21:12:11Z

The DaVinci Code
Dan Brown

Oh yeah, at some point back there I read The DaVinci Code and it was good and suspenseful, etc, but Angels and Demons was way better. I'm still going to check out the movie though!

mid-reading Eva Luna & Jpod

2006-05-15T21:09:06Z

I'm currently reading JPod by Douglas Coupland, as well as Eva Luna by Isabel Allende. Both are quite good so far.

What I'm really finding amusing in JPod is the mother of the main character, and how she has a grow op in the basement, and her prized plant is called The Dude. She goes to biker's places in Maple Ridge to "collect". Hilarious.

debutante divorcee

2006-05-01T18:39:59Z

The Debutante Divorcee
Plum Sykes

If you read some of the reviews on the Amazon page for this new release from Plum Sykes, who brought us the amusing Bergdorf Blondes, it will likely sum up what I'm about to say here.

I liked Bergdorf Blondes and found it quite funny and ridiculous. I was expecting Sykes' next release to be equally as entertaining, if not more. I was sadly disappointed.

The characters are completely flat- the most depth we get into Lauren Blount's character is that she's "the flakiest girl in Manhattan". And our narrator, Sylvie, doesn't seem compelling in any sense- she's an idiot newlywed who keeps pretending that her husband isn't treating her like crap because "they make such a cuuuuuuute couple!!!". GAG. This wasn't ironic at all- it was like Sykes was trying to set a trend with this piece of crap, like "OMG, DIVORCE IS TOTALLY THE NEW PINK!" or something like that.

Don't waste your time or money.

sophie kinsella

2006-04-15T05:08:18Z

I've just finished reading Shopaholic and Sister as well as Can You Keep A Secret?. Oh yeah, and just before those, I read Shopaholic Ties the Knot, as well.

I love Kinsella's writing because it's fluffy, fun, and incredibly hilarious. There's always an adventure to be had, and twists and turns all along the way. Great characters- I kind of liked Emma Corrigan a bit more than I like dear old Becky, but don't tell anyone I said so!

angels and demons

2006-03-08T19:00:33Z

Angels and Demons
Dan Brown

So I finished this one last night, and I was really impressed overall. It was very fast-paced and enveloping. It looked at the Vatican and a lot of art history in Rome, and that had me interested from the start. For some reason I love ancient spiritual relic-y type stuff. I would LOVE to go to Rome/Vatican City and actually see the statues and art, etc that Brown refers to in this book. I would love to do the Path of Illumination myself, and see everything.

Yes, so I'm converted, next I will read the Da Vinci Code, which I hear isn't as good as Angels and Demons. I'm interested now even more in the DVC movie that's coming out staring Tom Hanks. I think he will make a good Robert Langdon.

Dan Brown- Angels and Demons

2006-03-08T02:08:05Z

So I'm reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, and while I was totally absorbed in it during the path of illumination parts, but now it's just getting too ridiculous. Camerlengo's & Kohler's and helicopters, etc. Nuts.

I do like all the intense references to art history & sculpture and architecture and all that great stuff in Rome. But yeah, it needs to end soon because it's just crazy.

Ring

2006-02-01T06:58:10Z

I don't know how but somehow I forgot that I had this journal! Woops!

Anyway....

Ring
Koji Suzuki

This was the novel that inspired the movie "The Ring" starring Naomi Watts. When it came out, I was completely scared out of my pants by the movie, so I thought that the book might be worth a read. It turned out to be very compelling, and of course, even better than the movie. There were a few plot changes, and the main character was a male journalist. But some of the same ideas stayed intact. It wasn't as scary as the movie, I felt, because a lot of the edginess of the movie was from imagery and sound. I still felt a prickly chill each time I read a chapter.

Definitely worth reading, even if you have seen the movie before. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Spiral.

the lovely bones

2005-11-22T23:39:13Z

The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold

Susie Salmon is a murdered fourteen year old girl, who watches down on her family and what happens on earth after her death, from up in heaven. This is a beautiful story about family, life, and death, and I swear, I have never bawled nearly so much as I did during the last third of this novel.

Heartbreaking, and amazingly well-written, this book is battling for the spot of the best book I've read this year (it's currently equal with Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex). I love books that make me really feel something, and this one pulled me in to the story and had me riveted.

All I could think at the end was, wow. It made me value life, and my loved ones, and everything, just a little bit more.

You need to read it.

Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl

2005-11-07T07:21:14Z

Diary Of a Manhattan Call Girl
Tracy Quan

First off, I'm not really sure how I feel about novels depicting the so-called life of a call-girl, as it almost seems to be something exploitative, and unrealistic. However, I personally don't have any experience with the world of high class NYC call girls, so I suppose I can't really say what life is like for them either, but I hesitate at anything that really glorifies prostitution.

Anyway, the book was a quick read, and was a lot less flaky than the title suggests. The main-character call-girl is Nancy, who lives a split life of secrecy towards her fiance and family, and her work-life of being a hooker. She makes lots of money, but never saves it, and everyone thinks she's a copy editor (she figures it's a dull subject, so people don't really want to hear much about her job).

I'm curious if it's somewhat of an autobiographical tale, as the character's name is rather similar to that of the author... It's a light sort of read, nothing extraordinary, or particularly thrilling, however. A little bit graphic on the details of what the hooker-life entails, however.

The Secret Life Of Bees

2005-10-26T15:43:48Z

The Secret Life of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd

This was recommended to me by my dear friend Erin (jazzsociety) and I was certainly not disappointed.

It takes place in a town in South Carolina called Sylvan, where a 14 year old girl named Lily lives with her bitter and ornery father, T. Ray, as well as her housekeeper/nanny, Rosaleen. Her mother died in an accident when she was only four, and since then she has suffered T. Ray's abuse, with things such as kneeling on grits as a form of punishment.

One day, she and Rosaleen leave Sylvan (I'd go into detail about why, but that might be a bit of a spoiler) and find a group of black sisters who live together in a pink house, and making/harvesting honey. Lily and Rosaleen ask if they can stay before moving on to their next stop, and August, the beekeeper/head of the household welcomes them with open arms.

It's a beautiful story about families, and the power of self. It wasn't horribly sappy or girly, as a few people who saw me reading it said it must be. It touches on themes of racial separation, love, and motherhood. A truly heart-warming type of tale, it reminded me a little bit of the Ya-Ya novels by Rebecca Wells, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed those.

I finished it in something like two days which is a definite sign of a fantastic book.

Drawing From Life- The Journal As Art

2005-10-19T17:47:38Z

Drawing From Life- The Journal As Art
Jennifer New

This is a book composed of excerpts of people's journals that I picked up while visiting the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Being a fan of Dan Eldon's works, and journalling in general, I found it most fascinating! Basically, it's an overview of the role documentation plays in our lives, in the personal expression area, in terms of practice sketches for larger works, or just simple analyses of day to day life.

Some of my favourite portions include pages by a scientific illustrator who draws fish and sea life, as well as pages of maps created by a Japanese man. Another favourite is a daily photo record of the food one artist ate for a year or something like that.

Definitely a must-read for the avid journal keeper, or anyone who needs inspiration.

Vaginas: An Owner's Manual

2005-10-10T02:57:22Z

Vaginas: An Owner's Manual
Dr. Carol Livoti & Elizabeth Topp
Trade Paperback

I picked this up recently on a wander through the women's health section of a bookstore, and decided I needed to have it NOW. Written by the mother-daughter team of a gynecologist and a writer, this book covers things I, a well-read female, didn't know about my own anatomical gem. It's even more up to date than my own doctor! For example, it tells me on page 19 that Evening Primrose Oil capsules (which cost a pretty penny for a little jar, I might add) have been "conclusively debunked as a treatment strategy" for PMS. Time and money saved!

I wish I had this book when I was hitting puberty, in addition to the What's Happening To My Body Book For Girls by Lynda Madaras that I did have. This book explains the design, function, and everything else about vaginas from a female perspective. Quite enlightening, and something all females (and males for that matter) should read.

Unlubricated, finished.

2005-09-30T04:30:12Z

Unlubricated
Arthur Nersesian

Finished this one tonight. Really enveloping, couldn't put it down. I can't help but love Hannah, the main character, because she's fiery, a little crazy, and persistent as hell.

Read it! Especially if you're into stories that take place in NYC.

Next is probably Innocence by Kathleen Tessaro, since I'm already 1/3 into it.

Stay tuned!

mid-reading "Unlubricated"

2005-09-26T14:31:52Z

Unlubricated
Arthur Nersesian
(mid-reading)

I'm really liking this novel. It's about a 20-something actress in New York struggling to get different roles, in late 2001, which means, that's right, September 11th plays a role in the novel. Hannah, the main character, goes through a break-up with her first and last lesbian girlfriend, enjoys acupuncture, and discovers a lost script by an 80's icon that she decides she needs to produce.

The style of writing is easy, and clever. Hannah isn't girly, or overly masculine, but has a real practical feminity to her musings. The inter-splicing of the events surrounding September 11 aren't exploitative, or harped on unnecessarily, but shown in a real way, which you would imagine reading about in a journal of someone's everyday occurances. The smoke hanging in the air for ages afterward becomes a discussed topic, and it's something I hadn't even realized was such an issue.

So far, loving it.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

2005-09-25T02:54:51Z

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Haruki Murakami
translated from Japanese to English by Alfred Birnbaum

I'm a Murakami fan, having read Sputnik Sweetheart, Norwegian Wood, South of the Border, West of the Sun, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and most of The Elephant Vanishes. I found this addition to the list to be an interesting, but different one. It is composed of two parallel stories- Hard-Boiled Wonderland taking place in modern Tokyo, where our main character is a data shuffling agent guy, doing some risky work. The second story, The End of the World, takes place in a village surrounded by a large wall, where no one has memories, and all is peaceful for eternity.

The stories weaves the two worlds together, and touches on themes of self, life, isolation, the subconscious, and culture. While I found it interesting, I had a really hard time getting through reading it for some reason. Perhaps it was the translation (Alfred Birnbaum) that made it a bit more difficult to digest, but something left it a little dry.

Perhaps the merging of fantasy with sci-fi just turned me off, which would make sense, seeing as I'm not extremely interested in either category. Unicorns and mind-shuffling just isn't my thing I guess.

A running theme I seem to find with Murakami's female characters, is that they seem to lack the sort of depth his protagonists have. It would be interesting to see how he would depict a female protagonist, and if she would think the same ways, of have the same characteristics that he notoriously gives each of his male heroes.

All in all a decent book. I was very glad when I finished it, as I felt I had conquered a mighty beast, but given the chance, I wouldn't read it a second time.

Welcome!

2005-09-25T02:40:54Z

To start, a list of books I have read since January 2005.

-Skinny by Ibi Kaslik
-Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block
-Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland
-Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
-Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
-Bittergirl... by Annabel Griffiths, et al.
-Little Altars Everywhere by Rebecca Wells
-Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
-The Between Boyfriends Book... by Cindy Chupack
-Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
-Cunt- A Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio
-Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro
-Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells
-Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes
-Why Men Love Bitches... by Sherry Argov
-The Rules by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider
-Nellcott Is My Darling by Golda Fried
-Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
-Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella
-Necklace of Kisses by Francesca Lia Block
-The Classic Ten... by Nancy MacDonnell Smith
-The Girls' Guide To Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
-Echo by Francesca Lia Block
-Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami