Betty Friedan, 1921-2006

I've really been out of the loop...
Betty Friedan died on February 4th, on her 85th birthday. Such an important and influential woman. The Feminine Mystique radicalized so many women in the '60s and '70s, making it possible for women like me to have all the wonderful opportunities I take for granted. She left her indelible mark...

latest Sue Grafton I've read

I just finished reading "Q" is for Quarry this weekend and I have to admit, I am continually amazed by Grafton's ability to keep writing such engaging, deep and well-written mystery novels. "Q" is much longer than many of the previous alphabet series, and its interesting to note that this novel is rooted in an actual unsolved homicide which took place over thirty-five years ago. Kinsey Millhone is asked by two former Santa Teresa detectives to help with an unsolved investigation going back to 1969 -- a young woman was found stabbed, with her hands bound, and her body in a state of rapid decomposition. The case went nowhere, mostly due to lack of identification of the body and no leads. Eighteen years later and the two detectives are still curious about the girl and want to close the books on the case. Kinsey is asked to step in and help them solve the "cold case".
Coincidences aside, the seventeenth novel in the series is engrossing and revelatory -- the reader is slowly learning more and more of Kinsey's cloudy family history -- at much the same time as Kinsey herself. This novel is much like a jigsaw puzzle. Clues are introduced at the beginning, many of which don't seem like clues until later on in the story. Grafton is a superb storyteller, much of it due to the three-dimensional nature of her characters. Kinsey reveals more of herself in this book than ever before, giving us a glimpse of the soft inside.
Highly recommended and I would add, one of the best in the series so far.

After a long silence...

What a crazy past couple of weeks! I'm hoping to start posting again with some regularity. My life has been pretty chaotic with my job interview, uncertainty about my position, and a whole lot of teaching and web work -- life should be a little more stable soon! Keep reading...

National Book Critics Circle finalists...

The National Book Critics Circle finalists were announced last week -- Andrea Levy is nominated for Small Island, Mary Gaitskill for Veronica, and William Vollmann for Europe Central are some of the authors included, so it should be an interesting awards competition...

love story?

Just finished reading The Pact: a love story, by Jodi Picoult. I usually love Picoult's books -- big, plot-driven novels usually appealing to women, with some good character development (see Plain Truth or Keeping Faith). So, understandably, I was extremely disappointed after finishing the novel. The novel is a story of two teenagers (Emily and Chris) who grow up next door to each other. Their parents are best friends and naturally, the two are encouraged in their growing romantic relationship. Until something goes horribly wrong and Emily is found dead, from a gunshot wound to the head, with Chris next to her, bleeding and unconscious, but still alive. Thus begins the novel of "what went wrong in Perfectville?". What bothers me are a couple of inconsistencies: one, the reason for the suicide is so vague and clouded in mystery and ultimately, never solved. Although I suppose you could make the argument that this is the case for so many suicides, it just didn't seem to ring true. Second, the mother of Emily reads her daughter's diary, then burns it. It never comes up again, which seems like a huge waste of an interesting plot twist. Third, the actual circumstances surrounding the actual suicide and Chris' attempts to save Emily from killing herself are seriously flawed. The scene and the characters' actions in it, felt false. All in all, it was an highly entertaining novel, but not one of her better ones, plot-wise. I did like the character of Jordan and his private investigator, Selena -- both were interesting and I wanted to find out more, but the parents of both teens seemed contrived. If you have not read Jodi Picoult before, try one of her other novels before this overly melodramatic work.

liar, liar, pants on fire...

James Frey has some explaining to do. Frey's bestseller A Million Little Pieces and an Oprah Book Club pick, is drawing attention for alleged lies he told in the book...

America's most literate cities

Imagine that -- Seattle, WA is considered America's Most Literate City. Well, it doesn't really surprise me considering that it is also the home of Starbucks, and as such, is probably coffee capital of America. 'Cause if you are reading a good book, you also need a good cup of joe...

New Year "books-to-read" resolution

So Alice and I discussed our New Year's resolutions and agreed to post them - mine are a few days late, but here goes...
The books I am determined to read and finish in 2006:

1. Empire Falls and Straight Man by Richard Russo
Richard Russo is one of my favorite authors -- his books are funny, intelligent, and poignant. The first book I read was Nobody's Fool -- the story of Sully was pure pathos, his whole life a failure and his attempts to make some peace with it darkly comical. Russo is a gifted writer.

2. I'm hoping to finish a few mystery novel series this year:
John Rebus novels by Ian Rankin
V.I. Warshawski novels by Sara Paretsky
Kinsey Millhone novels by Sue Grafton
Kathy Mallory novels by Carol O'Connell

3. Some classics on my to read list...
Anything by Thomas Hardy!
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

4. On Beauty by Zadie Smith

5. Godless by Pete Hautman

6. The Rabbit Factory by Larry Brown

7. The Right Nation: How Conservatism Won by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge
...because I don't want to believe its true :)

8. The New Media Monopoly by Ben Bagdikian

9. The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Terrorism by Haynes Johnson

10. Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich by Kevin Phillips
Published in 2002, but even more important today. Still at the top of my nonfiction reading list, as soon as I get through those information architecture texts for work...

movie date

Alice and I went to see The Squid and the Whale at the Little Theatre in Rochester last night. Fantastic movie! Who knew writers could be such self-absorbed jerks? Jeff Daniels was terrific in a superbly understated performance as a washed up writer struggling with his wife's own literary success. It was funny and sad at the same time...

new bio

Happy New Year! Today I read an interesting book review for a new biography of Joseph Smith -- founder of the Mormon religion. A few months ago I linked to a blog posting about Jon Krakauer, the author of Under the Banner of Heaven, (a book I listened to on tape) which is about the violence of the fundamentalist Mormon sects. Mormonism has roots in the Rochester area, with Palmyra, NY (Joseph Smith's childhood home) within driving distance of the city. What peaks my interest is the adulation and respect heaped on him -- a man who "found" golden plates and proclaimed he spoke to God and Jesus and was the new Prophet to lead the fallen to the true church. Of course, what is more amazing is the lasting power of his words and deeds -- 200 years later and the church is still thriving with 12 million members worldwide. I'm a skeptic, so I tend to fall on the disbelief side of the fence when it comes to Mormonism...

Summer Reading

Its that time of year again! Geneseo is getting geared up to select a book for the freshman Summer Reading program. Here are the recommended selections so far....
It is also the year SUNY Geneseo marks the centennial of Susan B. Anthony's death, with a college-year celebration, "Susan B. Anthony: Women's Rights, Women's Power" (2006-07). We are looking at reading a book which will integrate with the celebration. Any suggestions?

End-of-year list of books...

What do your end-of-year-book lists say about you? According to blog of a bookslut, quite a lot!

Berenstein Bears author

Stan Berenstain, co-creator of the beloved "Berenstain Bears" series for children, has passed away at 82. Read his obituary in The Boston Globe, The New York Times, LA Times, The Washington Post, AP, The Seattle Times, The Miami Herald...

looking for a series book?

Finding a book in series order is always a pain in the neck. The Nebraska Library Commission solves this problem! For major authors, they have produced a Books in Series database, which can be searched by author, book title, or series title. My search was using Peter Danielson, author of the Children of the Lion series, which, by the way is a pseudonym for multiple authors who wrote the books in this series.

historical fiction

If you are a fan of historical fiction, you may want to check out the Historical Novel Society website. Their aim is to " ... review every new work of adult historical fiction released in the USA or the UK. Selected titles from Canada and Australia are also reviewed, as are selected children's/young adult titles, for a grand total of over 800 reviews per year" Ambitious, but they publish the Historical Novels Review which does just that.

2005 Notable books

Read about the The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year here...
(Note: registration to the NY Times may be required)

NBA winner -- Poetry

W. S. Merwin, author of Migration: New and Selected Poems, is the winner of the 2005 National Book Award for poetry. Merwin is a poet's poet -- he lives and writes in Hawaii and is not affiliated with any college or university -- just writes! When I worked at the downtown public library I stumbled onto a collection of his poems, Finding the Islands; a collection of three stanza poems like the following excerpt from the poem "At Home":

As the ants know
where the honey is
I know the way to you
____

where we live
we look far out to sea
and our clothes are behind us in the bedroom

His poetry is beautiful and evocative.

NBA Winner -- Fiction

The National Book Awards were finally announced this past week. William Vollman won the Fiction award for his novel, Europe Central...

classic

Just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird -- about time! I still don't understand why this book wasn't required reading when I attended school. Perhaps too controversial? Although this doesn't seem right, considering the book's themes could be just as applicable today. Racism, bigotry, violence -- all still relevant topics which need to be addressed and discussed in public schools.

Anarchist in the Library

Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan is coming to Geneseo! An NYU Professor of Culture and Communication, Dr. Vaidhyanathan is going to be the keynote speaker at our annual SUNYLA (SUNY Librarians' Association) Conference. Author of The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash Between Freedom and Control is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System, Dr. Vaidhyanathan is a former journalist and cultural historian and media scholar. His previous book was on copyright and intellectual property. He will be speaking at SUNY Geneseo on June 15, 2006. Can't wait!