Continuing to read Luckiest Girl Alive, but haven't gotten that much farther. Have mislaid Rebecca Mead's A Life in Middlemarch (feeling very Bridget Jones now), have read first ten pages of The Paris Architect (chilling right from the beginning), but I picked up The Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl - and while I would really like to get away from reading yet another historical fiction mystery, I have to say it's charming from the outset. The narrator recalls when, as a 19-year-old, he worked as a waiter on the train and his favorite part of his work was when the book vendor came on the train. Is it embarrassing to find yet another "book for book lovers only" with a high degree of twee on my reading list? Yes, it is embarrassing and all I can say is that I have known embarrassment before.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
I'm reading Great Kitchens and I'm really enjoying it. I found out about it from a co-worker who said she really liked it.
From early in the novel:
Adam held out the pack for Mitch. "You don't need to be in the kitchen?" Octavia asked, preemptively crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Dirty little secret," Mitch said. "Eva has saved my life. She does everything I can do and people can't tell the difference. I'm actually writing a book now, I have time to write a book."
"What's it called?"
"Tapas Girls and Bottomless Sangria: Hot Times in Spanish Kitchens. You know anyone who can help with a book proposal?"
This book, especially its opening, reminded me so much of Anne Tyler. I ran through the first 100 pages. The phrase that comes to mind is "the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie." These modest, unpretentious people are very funny and sweet.
I read an article about the author, J. Ryan Stradal, and I got the impression that "food culture" wasn't that important to him personally - it was just the setting for the book. However, talk about food is constant in this book, whether it's venison, lemon bars, heirloom tomatoes, artisanal bread, or lutefisk. I'm amazed I haven't gone to get something to eat already!
From early in the novel:
Adam held out the pack for Mitch. "You don't need to be in the kitchen?" Octavia asked, preemptively crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Dirty little secret," Mitch said. "Eva has saved my life. She does everything I can do and people can't tell the difference. I'm actually writing a book now, I have time to write a book."
"What's it called?"
"Tapas Girls and Bottomless Sangria: Hot Times in Spanish Kitchens. You know anyone who can help with a book proposal?"
This book, especially its opening, reminded me so much of Anne Tyler. I ran through the first 100 pages. The phrase that comes to mind is "the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie." These modest, unpretentious people are very funny and sweet.
I read an article about the author, J. Ryan Stradal, and I got the impression that "food culture" wasn't that important to him personally - it was just the setting for the book. However, talk about food is constant in this book, whether it's venison, lemon bars, heirloom tomatoes, artisanal bread, or lutefisk. I'm amazed I haven't gone to get something to eat already!
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand
I enjoyed The Rumor. I thought it was slight, however.
This is the first Hilderbrand novel I've read. She lives on Nantucket Island, and I assume that her novels, like this one, are set there.
Nantucket sounds like a very nice place; I enjoyed imaginatively hobnobbing with its citizens.
This is a book about friendship as much as anything. Two friends, Madeline and Grace, are at the heart of the novel. Each of them is in a rocky patch, in very different ways. Madeline is a novelist, and one who has known real success but who is under contractual obligation to deliver another novel and she's got writer's block. Her friend Grace seems to have it all: beautiful house, beautiful garden, two pretty and accomplished teenage daughters.
Grace is someone who came from money and who has refined and artistic tastes. She loves her garden, and she loves to cook. Her daughters are somewhat distant, especially the older one, who aspires to a modeling career. Her husband is a successful real estate agent, and he is gone a lot - he's never far away, since they live on an island, but his hours as an agent mean that he's not around.
Grace does all the work herself on her garden, but she has a landscape designer and he visits the garden almost every day to talk to her about the design.
Grace and her husband, Eddie, pay a publicist to get a paper or magazine to do a spread on her garden, of which she's rightly proud.
Eddie is a realtor, and he's facing pressures in his business. Business is slow. He's always been a hard worker, and someone who needs to be available when his clients are available. He feels that he has to be in the office so that he can be there when clients walk in. As a result, he's never home during the day, and is often gone in the evening as well. Of course, weekends are his busy time.
Meanwhile, Grace has developed a crush on her gardener, Benton Coe. He's been gone for the winter, visiting Morocco, and when he comes back, he brings her first a tea set, and then macarons for the mint tea Grace makes with the tea set.
I felt that the Rumor was slight and fun - superficial in that, in part, it was about surfaces. For instance, Grace has a potting shed, which is described several times. It's as if the potting shed is a symbol of a certain kind of middle class aspiration and attainment, a token of "having arrived," and, of course, while Grace is proud of her garden and her potting shed, her lifestyle, which is an act of creativity on her part, is supported by her husband, who is not only struggling to keep his business profitable (and support Grace's lifestyle) but the stress is causing him chronic heartburn. Grace is a wonderful cook, and Eddie can't eat the beautiful food she prepares because his heartburn is so bad. She creates stylish and delicious meals using the fresh produce from her garden, and she feeds her husband cheese and crackers because that's all he can digest. Is it obvious that there's a disconnect here?
In her acknowledgements, Hannah mentioned that she had been fighting breast cancer while she was writing this book. I wonder if that influenced the plot -- or the tone. I wonder if her other books are a little big lighter, a little bit more whimsical.
I often wonder what are the purposes of the fiction novels I read. Obviously, one is escape - both in the sense of escaping from one's daily reality and demands and also, in the sense of being allowed to see how the other half live, and where they live, and how and where others unlike ourselves live. Obviously, some books are art, or attempts at art, whether conscious or not -- and, equally obviously, most of the books I read do not fall into this category. But what about a novel like The Rumor? Some might dismiss it with a wave of the hand, saying, "It's just escapist entertainment." But why this particular escapist entertainment? Why not Nancy Thayer, or fantasy or science fiction or crime fiction or any one of another kind of novel by any one of a number of authors.
This is the first Hilderbrand novel I've read. She lives on Nantucket Island, and I assume that her novels, like this one, are set there.
Nantucket sounds like a very nice place; I enjoyed imaginatively hobnobbing with its citizens.This is a book about friendship as much as anything. Two friends, Madeline and Grace, are at the heart of the novel. Each of them is in a rocky patch, in very different ways. Madeline is a novelist, and one who has known real success but who is under contractual obligation to deliver another novel and she's got writer's block. Her friend Grace seems to have it all: beautiful house, beautiful garden, two pretty and accomplished teenage daughters.
Grace is someone who came from money and who has refined and artistic tastes. She loves her garden, and she loves to cook. Her daughters are somewhat distant, especially the older one, who aspires to a modeling career. Her husband is a successful real estate agent, and he is gone a lot - he's never far away, since they live on an island, but his hours as an agent mean that he's not around.
Grace does all the work herself on her garden, but she has a landscape designer and he visits the garden almost every day to talk to her about the design.
Grace and her husband, Eddie, pay a publicist to get a paper or magazine to do a spread on her garden, of which she's rightly proud.
Eddie is a realtor, and he's facing pressures in his business. Business is slow. He's always been a hard worker, and someone who needs to be available when his clients are available. He feels that he has to be in the office so that he can be there when clients walk in. As a result, he's never home during the day, and is often gone in the evening as well. Of course, weekends are his busy time.
Meanwhile, Grace has developed a crush on her gardener, Benton Coe. He's been gone for the winter, visiting Morocco, and when he comes back, he brings her first a tea set, and then macarons for the mint tea Grace makes with the tea set.
I felt that the Rumor was slight and fun - superficial in that, in part, it was about surfaces. For instance, Grace has a potting shed, which is described several times. It's as if the potting shed is a symbol of a certain kind of middle class aspiration and attainment, a token of "having arrived," and, of course, while Grace is proud of her garden and her potting shed, her lifestyle, which is an act of creativity on her part, is supported by her husband, who is not only struggling to keep his business profitable (and support Grace's lifestyle) but the stress is causing him chronic heartburn. Grace is a wonderful cook, and Eddie can't eat the beautiful food she prepares because his heartburn is so bad. She creates stylish and delicious meals using the fresh produce from her garden, and she feeds her husband cheese and crackers because that's all he can digest. Is it obvious that there's a disconnect here?
In her acknowledgements, Hannah mentioned that she had been fighting breast cancer while she was writing this book. I wonder if that influenced the plot -- or the tone. I wonder if her other books are a little big lighter, a little bit more whimsical.
I often wonder what are the purposes of the fiction novels I read. Obviously, one is escape - both in the sense of escaping from one's daily reality and demands and also, in the sense of being allowed to see how the other half live, and where they live, and how and where others unlike ourselves live. Obviously, some books are art, or attempts at art, whether conscious or not -- and, equally obviously, most of the books I read do not fall into this category. But what about a novel like The Rumor? Some might dismiss it with a wave of the hand, saying, "It's just escapist entertainment." But why this particular escapist entertainment? Why not Nancy Thayer, or fantasy or science fiction or crime fiction or any one of another kind of novel by any one of a number of authors.
Monday, November 2, 2015
What I'm Reading Now
I feel a need to clear my palate, so to speak. I started reading Jessica Knoll's Luckiest Girl Alive, and I saw right away at least three of the similarities to Gone Girl: a) the author is a magazine writer; b) the protagonist is a magazine writer; c) the protagonist is concerned with the need to appear perfect and to disguise her true feelings.
I felt I was looking for something else, so I picked up The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand. I found the opening pages breezy, light and entertaining. However, as the plot thickens, it seems a little less light.
I'll continue with it for now.
I felt I was looking for something else, so I picked up The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand. I found the opening pages breezy, light and entertaining. However, as the plot thickens, it seems a little less light.
I'll continue with it for now.
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