Chapter One Hundred-Ninety: My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues

Now that I'm nearly done with grad school, and therefore almost human again and possessed of time to do more leisure reading and write about it, I can get back to this blog!  Fittingly, I'm making my return writing a book that was both a graduation gift (thanks, Grandma!) and a memoir of another avid reader.  Pamela Paul, now editor of The New York Times Book Review, has kept a diary in which she lists what she's read (her Book of Books, a.k.a. Bob) since her late teens.  This book is the basis for this very readable* memoir, which focuses not so much on the books she's read but on how her reading habit has shaped her as a person and the course of her personal and professional life.  (Hint: you don't end up editor of the NYT Book Review by not reading.)  If you like memoirs, or if you like books about the power of reading, I'd definitely recommend My Life with Bob.  (See also Chapters Fifty-Five (2/14) and One Hundred One (11/14) for two other readers' memoirs that I particularly enjoyed.)


*Except for the chapter on children's literature--all I could hear were my many children's literature professors' voices (and, I'll admit, sometimes my own critical voice, too) asking all sorts of piercing questions about Paul's blithe assumptions about children's books.

Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Nine: The Martian

I just have to tell you all as emphatically as possible how much I adore Andy Weir's The Martian.  (Get ready for lots of exclamation points in this post.)  I know I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but--wow!!--is it great!!  I listened to it as an audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed it!  By turns hilarious and nerve-wracking, I couldn't wait to hear what would happen next, and I also really appreciated the main character, Mark Watney because he's resourceful, optimistic, and has a great sense of humor.  I thought a book about a guy who gets stranded on Mars would be super depressing and dark and grim, but in this case it really isn't.  I mean, it has its moments, for sure, but generally Watney is going to give it his all to see if he can find a way to survive, which keeps the tone from being hopeless or too heavy.  If you're looking for a funny and clever adventure story, definitely try The Martian.  

Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Eight: Auggie Wren's Christmas Story

Let's call this post my contribution to the festivities...  I decided today was probably the right day to dip into an early Christmas present from my grandmother, so after breakfast I sat down and gobbled up Auggie Wren's Christmas Story by Paul Auster.  My edition of this very short story--it was originally published on the op-ed page of the New York Times in 1990--is also accompanied by delightful illustrations by Isol, which add some warmth to this self-described unsentimental Christmas story.  And, actually, as these things go, it is pretty unsentimental, though it's a nice little story.  I can't say much more without telling the whole story myself, other than to note that I was almost tempted to believe it by the end and that it was a refreshingly different Christmas story than the ones I'm used to.

Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Seven: Britt-Marie Was Here

I enjoyed A Man Called Ove so much when I read it this summer that I knew I'd want to read some of Fredrik Backman's other novels, but I didn't want to gobble them all up at once.  Still, when I needed something that I knew would brighten up these dreary December days, I decided it was time to read another of his books, and I chose Britt-Marie Was Here.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, although--or perhaps because--it's fairly similar to A Man Called Ove, though with an undertone of female empowerment as our hero, a woman in late middle age, decides to leave her cheating husband and get a job.  But the only job she can get takes her to Borg, a small town that has been crushed by the global financial crisis.  Despite her misgivings and peculiarities, Britt-Marie, as one might expect, finds herself connecting with the people in the town and learning about herself as a person on her own, not just as someone's daughter, sister, and wife.  It's an empowering story about a woman finally deciding to recognize and go after what she wants in life, and I really enjoyed reading it.  If you liked A Man Called Ove or are looking for a character-driven story, give Britt-Marie Was Here a try.

Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Six: The Princess Diarist

So I wanted something potentially fun to listen to in the car, and I'd say the audiobook of Carrie Fisher's newest memoir, The Princess Diarist, fit the bill just right. Fisher reads it herself, mostly, except for the actual excerpts from the diary she kept while filming Star Wars: A New Hope, which is read by her daughter, Billie Lourd. While a good part of the (relatively short) book is devoted to her affair during the filming with Harrison Ford, Fisher never goes into too much detail--as she says, this isn't soft porn for hardened science-fiction fans. (And if that line doesn't convince you that this is a book worth listening to or reading, I don't think anything else I can say about it will!) Of course, Fisher also muses on her unique relationship with Princess Leia, ranging from weightier feelings like being overshadowed by her to funnier consequences, like having countless men tell her she was their first crush--and of course, no discussion of Princess Leia could be complete without a mention of the infamous golden bikini. And a good portion of the book considers the realities of celebrity, especially of doing book signings, with several pretty funny tales of interactions with the fans.  The Princess Diarist is an interesting glimpse into Fisher's life during Star Wars--she was only 19 at the time, so prepare for some angst--and offers both serious reflection and a hearty dose of humor. If you're a fan of Star Wars or just looking for an interesting memoir, I'd definitely recommend The Princess Diarist.

Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Five: Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

So after years of meaning to read Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, the true story of a library cat in Spencer, Iowa as written by his loving library director, Vicki Myron, I decided I would listen to the audiobook by way of having something cheery and wholesome to enjoy while in my car.  In this regard, Dewey was an excellent choice!  A quick listen (only four discs long), this memoir of an abandoned kitten's transformation into a well-loved and world-famous library cat is heartwarming without ever quite veering over the edge into sentimentality (though it sometimes comes perilously close).  Like any cat, Dewey gets up to plenty of antics, and this book is peppered with them, which cat-lovers will surely appreciate.  It was definitely worthwhile to violate my general ban on books with animals on the cover to listen to this one.  Now obviously, if you're looking for a deep and serious work of Great Literature, Dewey is not the book for you, but if you're already pre-disposed to having your heart warmed, look no farther than Dewey.

Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Four: Vinegar Girl

So Vinegar Girl, by Anne Tyler, is a modern retelling of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew (one of my favorite Shakespeares, incidentally) from Hogarth Shakespeare, a publishing company committed to commissioning modern retellings of all the Shakespeare plays.  Many elements of The Taming of the Shrew had to be adjusted to make sense in modern context, and it was interesting to see how Tyler chose to do so.  I particularly liked her choice to reimagine the reason for Kate's marriage as a plot to get her father's research assistant American citizenship since his visa is about to expire.  While many people may dislike The Taming of the Shrew as an example of misogyny, I've never read it that way.  (I'll email a copy of my tenth-grade English essay to anyone who wants to know why, upon request, but basically I've always seen it more as a commentary on the importance of behaving kindly, for both women and men, although I can certainly see how it could be interpreted as a play about the proper (ie subservient) role of women.)  Anyway, Vinegar Girl is quite short and what it lacks in sweetness (not that sweetness is altogether lacking) it makes up for in humor.  I found the end both satisfying and slightly discomfiting--an odd combination, to say the least, but I won't say more for fear of spoiling the book.  If you enjoy The Taming of the Shrew, I definitely recommend checking out Vinegar Girl, or if you're just looking for fiction that's both entertaining and thought-provoking, give Vinegar Girl a try.