palace of winds

Love Me, by Garrison Keillor. I got a Nook for my birthday! It is awesome and I love it. This was the first interesting-sounding book I found that was available immediately on my library website. (They actually have a pretty good collection of ebooks, but lots have a waiting list.) I don’t listen regularly to Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion radio show, but I always enjoy it when I do. I like his style and sense of humor, and I really enjoyed this book. His usual dry wit shines through here, and the book is packed with lots of Minnesota, particularly St. Paul, which I loved.

B is for Beer, by Tom Robbins. I’m normally a big fan of fairytales for adults, or adultish books for kids. I checked this out from the library along with Love Me, expecting something whimsical, fun, cheeky. I enjoyed Robbins’s Jitterbug Perfume — but I did not enjoy this. I found it by turns boring, laborious, preachy, and silly/absurd (and not in a good way). I’d give it a miss.

The Magician King, by Lev Grossman. This is the sequel to Grossman’s The Magicians, which I read in June. I liked it even better than the first one — maybe because I knew what to expect, style-wise. I knew to be patient, that everything would twist in the end and all the curious little pieces that didn’t quite fit before would all join up. I feel like Grossman lays out lots of – not quite clues, but little things, moments and references, and you gather them all up as you’re reading and then at the end you say Ah-ha! But it’s not something you ever would have guessed. It’s not a mystery novel where you’re trying to solve something; instead it’s a wonderful, dark, at times dreadful ride. I don’t know if he plans another novel in the series, but if he does I will be in line.

The Griff, by Christopher Moore & Ian Corson. I really like Christopher Moore, and I really like graphic novels, but I didn’t really like this. Meh.

2011 Book Count: 35
January: 6
February: 2
March: 7
April: 3
May: 3
June: 3
July: 4
August: 3
September: 4

The Book of Merlyn, by T. H. White, read by Neville Jason — This is the last book in the Once and Future King compilation. It brought back some of the whimsy of the first, with Arthur being transformed into other creatures — but it mostly felt like a long political treatise. Que sera. On the whole I really enjoyed this series.

The Savage Girl, by Alex Shakar — I don’t remember how I found it, but I read this fascinating article about an author selling his first book for big bucks — the sudden change in his fortune, the whirlwind of fame, the eager anticipation as the publication date neared. Everyone involved feels it’s going to be the Next Great Thing: a novel about consumerism, marketing, irony. It’s set in New York; it has captured the zeitgeist. And then, a week before the book hits the shelves: 9/11. And the book is suddenly irrelevant. Or so goes the tone of the article. I’m not sure how I would have felt reading it almost a decade ago — hard to say. I liked it now — it’s edgy, interesting, the characters all sort of strange and otherworldly. I think I would have felt more or less the same back then — but I don’t live in New York, so I don’t think it ever would have spoken to me the way it did to the publishers and editors and marketers living in the heart of the city. It would never have been my story the way it was theirs.

A Cupboard Full of Coats, by Yvvette Edwards — When the 2011 Man Booker Prize longlist was announced at the end of July, I requested all of them that my library has (some haven’t been published yet). This was my first read of the batch. I found the story and characters compelling, but there were a few times I found myself daydreaming about how the author will write after she has a few more books under her belt (this is her first). Still, definitely recommended.

2011 Book Count: 31
January: 6
February: 2
March: 7
April: 3
May: 3
June: 3
July: 4
August: 3

It’s weird how memory works. How some little idea can sit in the back of your mind and untended become more or less important than it was, can quietly morph what really happened.

Take, for instance, music playlists. I had this idea quite a while ago that I should start making note of my favorite music — that I should pick a song or two a month that really encapsulated that time for me, and at the end of the year put together a playlist. I find it fascinating how certain songs can instantly wind back the clock: I listen to “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails and I am tucked away in the privacy of the top-floor lounge of Ryle Hall with my ancient walkman and a pair of crumbling headphones, engrossed in a textbook. I listened to the whole Downward Spiral album a lot while studying, actually; for some reason having Trent Reznor pouring out all his angst and anger and desperation made me feel incredibly calm and centered. When I hear “Strong Enough” by Sheryl Crow I am driving west through Long Lake in my red Corsica and I am broken suddenly by sorrow for my dying grandfather, crying until I can’t breathe.

Anyhow, I thought I had actually managed to put together an annual playlist at least a couple years running, but looking back I can only find one for 2008. I wish I had playlists for the last two years too — but if I had to guess, I would say I started listening to Iron & Wine in 2009, which is as good an excuse as any. (Though I’m browsing back through playlists on Rhapsody now, and I see so much great music I also listened to in 2009 and 2010: Kings of Convenience, Meiko, The Gaslight Anthem, Horse Feathers, Fleet Foxes, Mumford & Sons, Portishead, Kings of Leon, 30 Seconds to Mars, Florence & the Machine, Sufjan Stevens, etc etc.)

My 2011 obsessions have been The National, John Vanderslice, Jason Isbell, The Decemberists (King is Dead album), Fleet Foxes (Helplessness Blues), Jessica Lea Mayfield, and Bright Eyes (Cassadaga. Especially “Cleanse Song” – a lot. Ridiculously a lot). A week or two ago I abruptly found myself in need of a music change. I couldn’t listen to any of the old songs any more, any of those things that reminded me of feeling sad, fighting back, waiting for good again. I still love all that music and I know I’ll circle back around to it, but right now I am head over heels for The Vaccines, Grouplove, and Frightened Rabbit. My summer anthem is “Wetsuit” by The Vaccines; I’ve had it on repeat all morning.

Anyway, I’m hoping this will be enough of a reminder that I’ll be able to do a 2011 playlist in five months — and that in five years I’ll be able to listen to it and come back here, to this year, and think how strange and wonderful life is.

Goodbye, Columbus: and Five Short Stories, by Philip Roth. — I must have requested this one alongside the Nemesis audiobook I finished in June. Safe to say at this point that Roth isn’t really my author, though there are lots of people who think he’s a genius. I never got swept away in the stories or felt much for any of the characters. Just not my thing.

The Finkler Question, by Howard Jacobson, narrated by Steven Crossley. — This was the 2010 Man Booker Prize winner. Normally I’m a big fan of Booker books, but… I don’t know if it was a problem with listening to it versus reading it, but my mind kept drifting, and — confession: I totally lost the plot during one of the first discs. I kept listening anyhow, but just never settled into the book. I didn’t care much for the characters and it didn’t bother me at all that I didn’t really know what was going on — which is the opposite of my usual careful, close reading style. Both this and the Roth stories wrestle primarily with questions of Jewishness, and maybe I’m just not in the right frame of mind for that right now… I’ve also read other Booker winners that are primarily end-of-life reflections (maybe the Booker panel favors them?), and they’re typically not my thing. I’m sure they will be one day, but I think I’m a good many years away from that resonating for me.

The Ill-Made Knight and The Candle in the Wind, by T. H. White, read by Neville Jason — These are the third and fourth books in the Once and Future King compilation (I had a bit of a wait to get the audiobook back from the library, then was mired in The Finkler Question for a while). The entire collection is the story of King Arthur — these continue the quirky, fun style to an extent, though as they progress into the Guinevere/Lancelot/Arthur triangle and the treachery of Arthur’s son Mordred they naturally lose a lot of the light-heartedness of the earlier books. Still enjoying them, but the Questing Beast thread from the second book is still my favorite.

2011 Book Count: 28
January: 6
February: 2
March: 7
April: 3
May: 3
June: 3
July: 4

Thanks especially to January and March, I finished my 2011 reading goal a full six months early. Apparently I need to be a little more ambitious with my numbers next year…

Nemesis, by Philip Roth, read by Dennis Boutsikaris – Nemesis is set in 1940′s New York, during a polio outbreak. The main character is a playground director, who watches helplessly as his kids begin falling victim to the paralyzing disease and the neighborhood is overtaken by fear. I did listen to the whole thing, but found it pretty meh. The narrator uses a very thick New York Jew accent that I found rather distracting (even though it was appropriate), and I just didn’t find the main character very interesting or likeable. I’d give this one a miss.

Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut – Loved it. I’d never read any Vonnegut before this, and had somehow escaped having any actual clue what he’s like as an author. Somewhere along the way I’d picked up the impression that he wrote Literature and was expecting — I don’t know what. Maybe a high poetic style, or something overtly philosophical, or..? Whatever I thought I was going to get, this was not it. It is literature, and it is thought-provoking, but Sirens of Titan is also a quirky sci-fi romp. I finished it quickly and wanted to read it again right away.

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon – A friend of mine lent this to me a while ago, and I was a little hesitant to crack it open because it’s massive. I read it ridiculously quickly, though, and loved it. It’s a time-travel romance, set just after WW2 and then 200 years prior. The main character is feisty and fun, and — honestly, if the phrase “time-travel romance” does it for you, pick up this book. I’m really excited to read the next one.

Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, read by Simon Slater – This, sadly, is one I just couldn’t get into. I requested it from the library, but when it came in I couldn’t remember why or what it was about or anything — which actually happens to me quite a bit. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not. In this case, not so much. I had high hopes when I put the first disc in; I liked the narrator and was really intrigued by the story. Turns out that it’s all about Thomas Cromwell, though, and while I normally find the whole King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and etc era interesting, I just couldn’t keep my mind on this one. Lots of politics. Lots and lots. I don’t like to quit on books, but I had to with this one; I like to be absorbed in my book or music while I’m driving, especially lately, and this one just wasn’t doing the trick. I slogged through over half of it, but I’m not counting it toward my total.

2011 Book Count: 24
January: 6
February: 2
March: 7
April: 3
May: 3
June: 3