by Pico Iyer

Review pending

by Patrick Dennis

I saw the movie with Rosalind Russell when I was a tween and I loved it.  I wanted an easy book to ready while I traveled to NYC and I thought this one would be a good page-turner without it being one of those typical airport reads like from Nora Roberts.  Auntie Mame does hold up really well.  Only a few references are obscure, but the locale mainly NYC put me in the mood for my destination.  It was fun, but without being silly.  And I liked how the main character got exasperated with his aunt, but all the while continuing to love her and vice versa.  

by Jimmy Carter

After I heard an interview with Jimmy Carter, I decided to read this book, because I wanted to know more about the kind of woman who goes to India with the Peace Corps when she was 70 years old.  It was a quick read and I learned just as much about him as his mother Lillian.

by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

I wanted an easy read for a beach-based vacation and this book was on the shelf of the Friends of the Library bookstore.  I had heard about it after the DaVinci Code frenzy.  While it has a similar premise–an old manuscript with modern consequences, it is set mostly at Princeton University among a set of undergrad friends.  It’s interesting and engaging enough, but I wouldn’t make it a must-read.  

I found a series of book reviews called “Fine Lines” from jezebel.com:

The Friday feature in which we give a sentimental, sometimes-critical, far more wrinkled look at the children’s and YA books we loved in our youth.

The choices take me way back, since I’ve read most of what she reviews.  Pure nostalgia.  See them here.

by Barack Obama

I decided to read this book before the whole election cycle heated up, or before I really started paying attention to it.  Besides, I wanted to find out about Barack Obama in his words before he even had a clue about running for the Senate or US presidency.  I liked his honesty about his teenage years–the confusion, the anger, the frustrations.

by Peter C. Brown

I couldn’t resist this book once I read it was set in Minnesota and Alaska.  It’s basically a love story set, but not horribly sappy or typical.  I like books about strong, independent women in a wild and adventurous setting.  In this case, it covers the gold rush in Nome in the 1900.    

by Madeleine L’Engle

I found this at a book sale. Although it’s book two of L’Engles Crosswick Journals, I read it anyway, because it deals with her ailing mother and a reflection on her mother and family and what it means to take care of a sick mother and the emotional toll of it. It’s not bleak. It’s just full of honesty and an appreciation of family and friends. I took my time reading this, because I didn’t want to reach the end.

by Laura Fraser

This is a perfect book for light reading.  It’s not as trashy or racy as the title may imply.  It would make a good book for a trip, or to the beach.  It’s a reflection on love, marriage, and relationships from a newly divorced woman around 36 years old.  She doesn’t reach any hard and fast conclusions about men.  I liked it, because she isn’t overly graphic, or gushy.  The author also does a good job of describing the landscape.

by Calvin Trillin

This is a very quick read. It’s only 78 pages long. It’s Trillin tribute to his deceased wife. Absolutely touching. A great example of a very loving marriage.

by Ian McEwan

I couldn’t put this book down, because I’m a sucker for a tale of star-crossed lovers. The key sentences that give this story its twist of events are shocking, but realistic. I could not sympathize with the main character Briony, but the description of her child’s mine was fascinating. I also think McEwan did a great job of describing the war from multiple perspectives.

by George Saunders

This collection of essays is incredibly funny.  Reading them provoked the kind of laughter David Sedaris’ writing can also induce.  I particularly enjoyed Saunders’ description of his trip to Dubai and his essay on the Brits. His first essay called “Braindead Megaphone” talks about how we easily absorb and repeat what the media dishes out.  It’s a scary reality in the same manner Mike Judge’s movie “Idiocracy” is.  He also writes about why Huckleberry Finn is an important book even if the plot is hokey and how reading Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbers inspired him as a boy.  All this is mixed in with a note from a dog to his owner.  No wonder he’s a MacArthur grant recipient.  Smart and witty.

Robin Langley Sommer, Jean Loussier, editors

This book has been on my mind for a decade.  I saw it in a used book store in San Francisco, but I never leafed through it.  I finally did recently.   I didn’t read the text.  I love the cover and the name, but it is hard to be interested when you don’t have any affection or deep knowledge about most of the places covered in the book.  They show what was lost.  It would have been helpful to have captured what is there now.

by Calvin Trillin

A Yale alumnus recommended this book to me. It’s the first work by Calvin Trillin I have ever read and I like his style. It was a completely engrossing book and quick to get through at only 209 pages in length. The topic intrigues me. It’s about Roger “Denny” Hansen – a Rhodes Scholar, a golden boy from California –who never lived up to his own and others’ expectations when he entered the “real world.” He had a dazzling smile. His friends and classmates thought he could be a US president. Life magazine even covered his graduation from Yale in 1957. But he committed suicide in 1991. Trillin talks to fellow classmates and colleagues and reflects on his own time with Denny, exploring what led to the fall of such an academic star. It’s honest writing. It doesn’t provide straight answers. It is an interesting look at expectations of a young man in the late 50s. It opens the question whether young scholars today feel that same kind of burden Denny felt to achieve and succeed.

“Goodbye To All That” - an essay by Joan Didion from 1967 talks about life in New York City when she first moved there and then her exit to southern California.

“My Misspent Youth” – an essay by Meghan Dauam about life in New York City for a 20something in the late 90’s. When I first read it in the New Yorker on October 18, 1999, I was blown away.

“The Coppola Smart Mob” – an August 2003 profile by Lynn Hirschberg about Sofia Coppola just before her movie “Lost in Translation” became a hit. This really made me appreciate Sofia Coppola’s talent.

“Alice, Off the Page” – an essay by Calvin Trillin about his wife. Originally published on March 27, 2006. He expanded the essay into a book called About Alice.

by Philip Pullman

This is the second installment of His Dark Materials trilogy. It’s one of my friends’ favorite books. It’s a solid story and a good follow-up to the first book. The writing felt more adult, even though the cover of the copy I read is an example of terrible children’s literature cover art. The connections are easier to understand and the worlds are making more sense. I also liked the focus was off of Lyra and we were introduced to her male counterpart, Will.

by Andrea Barrett

This is an early work by the author who wrote later on the most wonderful set of short stories, Ship Fever.  This novel is about a family on Cape Cod mainly set in the 80’s told from the perspective of the mother, the daughter, and the stepmother.  None of the characters are endearing, but it does capture the era well and gives realistic portrayals of women in passive, defiant, or breakdown modes.  It reminded me of Marge Piercy’s writings about women.

by Roxana Robinson

I read this biography in 2005. When I started, here were my thoughts on it:

I’m reading a wonderful biography about Georgia O’Keefe. It is really well-written and I like how the author puts her into the context of her external world. The pace has picked up. The beginning was slow. Now, she is 29. It gives me a great escape. I find it inspirational, too. It also makes me ponder. Is art infinite? Or do we constantly have to use new materials, or technologies to keep it fresh, or to go beyond borders that have not been explored yet. Can another canvas painter rise and inspire? Or is painting in that way dead? Who wants to be another art-fair artist lamely imitating the greats?

by Philip Pullman

I tried to read this book about four to five years ago, but I didn’t get too far into it. Now that I don’t want to watch the movie, even though it has Daniel Craig in it, I’ve decided to read it again. Nicole Kidman is enough of a deterrent for me to skip the film; however, after finishing it, I must say she would make a perfectly evil Ms. Coulter. I highly recommend this book, especially if you have liked The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, and the Lord of the Ring books. The heroine, a tween named Lyra, is not portrayed as cute at all. She’s defiant, gypsy-like, and a survivor. The Golden Compass is only the beginning of His Dark Materials trilogy.

The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America by Daniel Brook

Excerpts from the book:
“The system can contain all of the dissenters” (Key concept of Antonio Gramsci, Italian Marxist theorist)

Just as women balancing work and family waste energy relentlessly attacking each other for the choices they’ve made rather than questioning why the United States does not offer free universal child care until age five, so educated young people waste energy criticizing one another’s decision rather than questioning a system that imposes such wrenching choices.

In the 1980s, young people sold out to enjoy a life of luxury; now they sell out to stay afloat.

[On the popularity of Target, Ikea, and Trader Joe's]Together, they facilitate the retreat into domestic life that has become the standard response of well-educated progressive people to contemporary America…When fulfillment in the public sphere proves unattainable, searching for it in the domestic sphere is the natural reaction.

Way back n 1799, as Napoleon rose to power, Samuel Coleridge wrote a letter to his friend Williams Wordsworth suggesting he write a poem “to those who, in consequence of the complete failure of the French Revolution, have thrown up all hopes of the amelioration of mankind, and are sinking into an almost epicurean selfishness [disguised as] domestic attachment.”

Today is Georgia O’Keefe’s birthday–born in 1887. I appreciated her art more, since I read a really engaging biography about her called Georgia O’Keefe: A Life by Roxana Robinson.

[Photo source]

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

This illustrated book is a children’s book, but I found it very adult–about love and forgiveness. It’s about a robot that gets rusty. It’s a pretty sad story, but thankfully it ends well. I love the robot. He’s really cute with his round head and his lack of a nose.

The Planets by Dava Sobel

When I was growing up, I thought of becoming an astronomer. I also loved spending summers with my sister in California, because my brother-in-law owned a large telescope. It was during those vacations that I saw for the first time Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn and, of course, the Moon, too. I wasn’t especially good in the sciences in school, so I never pursued the childhood dream. However, this book reminds me of the past fascination and it’s also rekindled the interest as well. Every chapter is about one of the planets. She also includes a chapter about the Moon and the Sun as well. She uses mythology, astrology, history and of course science to tell stories about each of the heavenly bodies. She combines all the information in such a way that makes the science mingled with mystery and romance incredibly interesting and accessible to a layman. I never realized how many space crafts have been sent to the other planets and the information and images we’ve already received. She also inspired me to listen to Gustav Holst’s symphony to the Solar System called Opus 32, The Planets, Suite for Orchestra. Meanwhile I’m already looking forward to the next transit of Venus–June 6, 2012, since I missed the one on June 8, 2004. The best way to enjoy this book is to read a little bit at nighttime (of course!) right before bed.

One of my favorite authors, Madeleine L’Engle, died on Thursday. She was 88. Growing up I tried to read everything of hers I could find in the local bookstores. (Unlike now, I hardly went to the library as a child).  I liked the way she blended themes of family life, science, love, curiosity, and discovery.  Of course, she’s well known for her Time Fantasy trilogy that started off with A Wrinkle in Time. I liked the series so much that I’d held onto the books for over two decades. Only three years ago, I gave them away to a family with three girls.  As a teenager, I particularly liked the Austin Family series. It was also in her book A House Like a Lotus that I first saw an older lesbian couple as major characters. I was around 13, or 14.  I’ve read that L’Engle didn’t like to be categorized as a children’s author, but I have not read any of her books aimed at adults.  Yet, I think her books, especially A Wrinkle in Time, are a must for any age.  Timeless.

Related links:
An interview in 2001 by Charlie LeDuff

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

I enjoyed this book about a Bengali family named the Gangulis who live in Massachusetts. The story spans from 1968 to 2000. I also liked that the main character (Gogol) is male, even though the author is female. The characters are solid, guarded, contained and open as needed. I didn’t like Gogol’s character though, until he graduated from high school. At that point, he really gained his independence and voice. Lahiri also perfectly describes the upper middle class intellectuals and artists of New York City. And I like the passage about the parties held by the Gangulis, or their friends–the amount of people sitting wherever they could and the quantity of food served , compared to a dinner party thrown by a couple in Greenwich Village.

The Bottom of the Harbor by  Joseph Mitchell

I read about this book while reading a chapter called “Writing About People: The Interview” in William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. The book contains pieces focused in some way on the New York waterfront. The six essays appeared in the New Yorker the 1940s and 1950s. So far I’ve read one piece about rats (stomach turning!) and one called “Mr. Hunter’s Grave” about a small black community on a part of Staten Island. It’s sad to think of what Staten Island is like now compared to what was described in the 1950s when Joseph Mitchell wandered around there. Suburban tract homes and large roads now vs. a diversity of plants and trees and quiet country roads then .

“And I was thinking of the sadness when we divorce friends and they turn back into acquaintances who are less then strangers because they can never become future intimates.”

From the author’s note in Shakespeare’s Kitchen by Lore Segal.

Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price

It’s taken me over eight years to finally read a book by Reynolds Price. I heard him speak in 1999 and he was really funny, engaging and a smartass. You’ll only find one of those three qualities in this novel–engaging. It’s a story of a woman growing up in the South during the 1930s and 40s. I liked her. I disagreed with lots of her choices. I rooted for her. She annoyed me. At the same time, I couldn’t put the book down until I was finished, because the heroine was so real, so genuine, so human.

Issue: April 16, 2007

It’s rare for me to find a magazine I could read cover to cover and enjoy every single article. Lucky me. I did this spring. It was the “Journeys” issue of the New Yorker magazine–their version of a travel issue. Here is what I got to read:

• The author Orhan Pamuk talking about his first passport when his family moved to Geneva from Turkey. He never felt at home in Switzerland.
• A story about commuters, including a woman who commutes from Pennsylvania to NYC. It takes her 3 hours and 15 minutes each way!
• Taking the new train line from Beijing to Lhasa. It’s the highest railroad in the world, but it’s also another way for the Chinese to assert their culture onto the Tibetans.
• The art of parkour! I particularly like the comparison made between a jazz musician and a traceur:

Jazz musicians occasionally say that a novice needs to learn all about his instrument, then he needs to learn all about music, then he needs to forget everything and learn how to play, which is a paradigm that also fits parkour, especially because both activities at their most proficient are improvised. A jazz musician wants to be comfortable in any key. Similarly, a traceur wants to be sufficiently fluent so that he can cross any terrain in flight without compromise.

• Buying luggage.
• A linguist Dan Everett who studies an Amazonian tribe that “perceive[s] reality solely according to what exits with the boundaries of their direct experience.” When told stories about Jesus Christ, they ask, “Have you met this man?”
• I learned about Lincoln Kirstein, who brought George Balanchine to America and founded the School of American Ballet and the New York City Ballet. Those are just a few things on how he influenced the American art scene.

You can find the issue’s full table of contents here.