Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox, Ms. Foxe

Mr. Fox

Mr. Fox
Helen Oyeyemi

Several weeks ago I featured Mr. Fox in a Book Beginnings post. I had good intentions about finishing the book and quickly posting my review. Well, I did finish the book shortly thereafter. The review…not so much. But here it is now!

This was my first book by Helen Oyeyemi, who I heard of through Eva over at A Striped Armchair. If you aren’t following her, you absolutely should be. She reads a ton and recommends super interesting books.

In Mr. Fox, the title character is a writer who has a penchant for killing off the women in his stories. His muse, Mary Foxe, appears and attempts to take him to task for this. They begin a game of stories, back and forth. Mrs. Fox is not amused. She feels her husband slipping away to this conjured woman. How can she compete?

The story is great, and the writing is beautiful. For example, I love this excerpt. It makes me want to give up my laptop and switch to an older method of writing.

I look inside my typewriter. There’s a city in there. Black and grey columns and no inhabitants.

And later, when a character is describing Egypt:

Nut crane her neck over her long, lithe, blue back to kiss Geb, and Geb cradles her, careful, because she is nothing, less than nothing, but if he should drop her it would be the end of everything.

Nut & Geb

Fortunately, Oyeyemi has written three other books so far, so there’s more of her work for me to discover.

Looking Back: May

A Graduation. Not mine.

May was the month of my last round of law school finals, the beginning of bar review, and the joy of hosting my family as they visited me in preparation for graduation. Oh, how I miss those days. Yeah, right.

May also brought some rather eclectic reading. I read three books that I heard about through Three Percent, an organization dedicated to promoting literature in translation. I first heard about them when I was looking at reviews for Visitation, which I read in April and loved. However, I also read two young adult books and an autobiography that was out of my normal comfort zone.

Total: 8 books
7 fiction                          88%
1 nonfiction                   13%
4 female authors           50%
3 work in translation     38%

I Curse the River of Time, Per Petterson***I lovedlovedloved Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses, so when I saw he had a new book out, and it was longlisted for the 2011 Best Translated Book Award, I had to give it a try. Unfortunately, it just didn’t do it for me. Reading about an overgrown man-child quickly loses its charm.

Circle of Magic: Briar’s Book, Tamora Pierce****This was the final book in the Circle of Magic quartet that I read earlier back in February. It was a very quick read, and was very good, just like the others in the series.

The Last Brother, Nathacha Appanah*****This was excellent. The story of a poor family living on the island nation of Mauritius. All the sad stuff a reader like me could want: child abuse, death of siblings, sad WWII Jews being held in limbo. Depressing, and just what I go for.

The Tiger’s Wife, Téa Obreht***Overrated. I know this won the Orange Prize, and it had its moments, but I just felt Obreht was over reaching. This review sums it up (even if Ms. Fisher doesn’t know it’s “Newbery”) “She writes like she’s trying to please the grown-ups, and in so doing produces the good student’s notion of what constitutes a good book.”  Of course, someone could probably say similar things about The Last Brother, but that one worked for me while this one didn’t. I’m sure there are plenty of people that feel the opposite.

True Deceiver, Tove Jansson***This is exactly the type of book I’d normally like. Cold, close kept, emotionally stunted characters, secrets, mysterious motivations. It won the Best Translated Book Award. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood. I’ll have to give Jansson another try. Maybe The Summer Book?

Kiki: Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime, Albert Maori Kiki**Honestly, I don’t remember what it was that I didn’t like about this, but I just couldn’t get into it.

The Stepford Wives, Ira Levin***The book makes more sense than the movie. Other than that, meh.

The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman***
The second book in the His Dark Materials trilogy. We meet new characters without losing track of the old ones, and the mystery is expanded. Good times.

Stumbling Along this Path

The Pathseeker

The Pathseeker
Imre Kertész

I spent the majority of this book thinking “I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on, but I CAN’T BE SURE AND IT IS DRIVING ME TO DISTRACTION.”

Yeah. It’s like everything is a secret. Only one character has a name, you’re not told where the story is happening, you don’t know what’s being investigated, or on whose orders. Fortunately, my Melville House edition comes with a handy afterword by Tim Wilkinson, which answered some of my questions.

Of course, there is a distinct post-WWII Eastern European feel to everything, so you can make an educated guess or two. 

At one point, the commissioner and his wife are telling each other an old folk tale. His wife recounts the version she was told. The commissioner shrugs, making it clear that he’s not convinced at the story’s accuracy. The wife asks: 

“Well, wasn’t that what happened?”

“That is what they want us to believe, at any rate,” he responded.

That sense of foreboding permeates the entire novella. It’s certainly worth taking the time to slowly immerse yourself, as it does not unravel as you might expect.

Disclosure: Melville House sent me this book after participating in the Art of the Novella reading challenge.

A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches
Deborah Harkness

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I mean, as much as I’m a fan of “literary” fiction and the classics, I still like a good vampire & witches story every now and then. And this one started off strong.

Diana Bishop is descended from a long line of powerful witches, but she’s rejected her magic when it didn’t save her parents from a horrible, violent death. Now she’s turned to academia. She’s researching alchemy, which means she’s poring over old must books in gorgeous libraries. Turns out one of these books holds some kind of secret regarding witches, vampires, and demons. Now every magical creature wants to get its hands on it, but it’s protected by some sort of spell. When Harnkess is describing the details of the ancient texts, it’s like magic (ha). You know that she’s done these things, and she has a love for the written word. As a book lover myself, I was totally drawn in.

Unfortunately, Harkness seems to want to describe everything she loves. I do not need a wine lesson every 50 pages just because you’re an expert on it. Vampires, demons, and witches do not need to form a supernatural yoga club just because you like yoga. It’s just a bit much.

Also, Diana, hunter goddess witch extraordinaire – how many times do you have to be swept up and rescued? It’s like she’s a wilting violet one moment and an unstoppable force of nature the next. It doesn’t make for a very believable character.

Speaking of unbelievable characters, wow, Matthew Clairmont. Wow. I cannot believe that a 1,500 year old vampire has not learned to keep control over his emotions. He’s about to rip people’s throats out because they tease him about his fashion choices (okay, maybe I exaggerate a tiny bit).

Don’t get me started on the cheesy romance aspect. Just don’t.

Bottom line: discover something else.

Death is Sloooooooowwwww in Coming for the Archbishop

Death Comes for the Archbishop

Death Comes for the Archbishop
Willa Cather

I keep seeing Willa Cather mentioned as one of those female authors that you “should” read. I’ve never read anything by her before, so I thought I’d giver her a try.

Death Comes for the Archbishop is the story of two French Catholic missionaries, Bishop Latour and Vicar Valliant, who come to America’s western frontier to minister to the population. Set in the mid to late 1800s, the book describes, in episodic format, an isolated landscape in which these two men must carve out an existence.

The men deal with uncooperative fellow clergymen, the traditional beliefs of the Native American tribes, harsh elements, and criminal activity. Cather’s characters take everything in stride. In that way, they seemed a bit unrealistic. It’s like she describes their personalities and backstories and makes them very different from one another, but at the same time they are both simply do-gooder missionaries who never get ruffled because God blesses their pursuits. Both men worry about how to spread their faith while no insulting the Native American people, but at the same time they dismissively call their trusty guide “boy,” even though he’s a grown man with a family.

That said, there are some really gorgeous passages.

She advanced in a whirlwind of gleaming wings, and Tranquiliano dropped his spade and stood watching her. At one moment the whole flock of doves caught the light in such a way that they all became invisible at once, dissolved in light and disappeared as salt dissolves in water.

Minor spoilers ahead: 
Another thing that bothered me about the book was the “death comes for the archbishop” part. I mean, he’s not even an archbishop until way towards the end of the book. You keep wondering when death is coming, but it is a long way off. The bulk of the book takes place over a fair number of years, where the men are settling into their new territory. Then suddenly, in the last part, we jump forward like 40 years, Latour is an archbishop, and now, okay, he can die (according to out title). But he STILL manages to hang on for what seems like an endless amount of time.
/End of spoilers.

Cather certainly has a way with words, but I can’t say I’ll be reading more of them anytime soon. There are just too many other authors to try out first.

Mockingjay: The Hunger Games Concludes

Mockingjay

Mockingjay
Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games trilogy conclude with Mockingjay, and I have to say I was impressed by this book’s strength. Katniss is no linger a tough young girl trying to protect her little sister. She’s a solider, fighting a war that has serious, continent-wide repercussions.

Mockingjay picks up right where Catching Fire left off. Katniss is plucked from the arena and deposited in District 13, where the rebels expect her to willingly embrace her role as the symbol of the revolution. Katniss isn’t going to go along with the plan unless she secures the safety of her loved ones, including Peeta – who is trapped in the Capitol.

I won’t write anymore about the plot. I will say that it was a satisfying conclusion to a gripping trilogy. Collins isn’t afraid to upend the reader’s expectations – and not just about the love triangle storyline. With Mockingjay, Collins asks probing questions about society, power, and control. This is much more than child’s play.

Discussion of part 1 and part 2

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…

To all those that celebrate, Merry Christmas!

Source: imgfave.com via MJ on Pinterest

I can’t decide my favorite thing about this picture – the book tree, the floating shelf, or the awesome teapot lamp.

Did you get (or give) any bookish gifts today?

A Christmas Murder Mystery

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
Agatha Christie

Who said this is the time of peace on Earth, goodwill towards men? Not in the Lee family, certainly.

Agatha Christie spins a tale of a crotchety old man, Simeon Lee, who calls his offspring to him to celebrate Christmas. Only Mr. Lee’s idea of fun is to threaten to rewrite his will, reduce his children’s allowances, and insult their wives. Since he can no longer leave the house to cheat on his long-dead, long-suffering wife, get into business feuds over South African diamonds, or otherwise traipse around getting people to hate him, he’ll just bring the drama to his house. Awesome!

So, of course, he winds up dead. There are no shortage of suspects, between his family and a house full of servants. But no matter! Hercule Poirot, armchair sleuth extraordinaire, happens to be visiting the area and will solve this case in no time at all.

This was a fun read, and when I’m feeling the stress of family overload this weekend, I’ll remember that we haven’t actually  killed each other – so far.

Lookalike Covers

I know that avisannschild over at She Reads and Reads has a similar covers feature. I never realized that the same stock photos were used for different book covers. Of course, after discovering this, I stumbled across my own example. I was on Goodreads trying to find my edition of The Optimist’s Daughter when I saw this cover:

I immediately recognized it as the same picture used on the cover of The Well and the Mine, Gin Phillips’ debut novel, which I read several years ago. Here it is:

Same photo, same overall color scheme. I have to say, it fits much better with the story in The Well and the Mine. The main character in The Optimist’s Daughter does have flashbacks to her childhood and visiting family in Appalachia, but that’s not really the focus of the book.

Have you noticed this similar cover thing? I know my eyes are going to be peeled for them in the future.

Looking Back: April

Margaret Atwood, David Levine

April showered down some quantity, even if the quality was a bit lacking. I only gave two books out of eleven more than three stars. How did I manage 11 books? It must have been my cold, rainy, Spring Break.

Total: 11 books
9 fiction                          82%
2 nonfiction                   18%
6 female authors           55%
1 work in translation     9%

The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin**
I never read this as a kid, and I heard it was great, that Turtle (the main character) was brilliant, yada yada. I just found it kind of annoying.

Chaka, Thomas Mofolo**
This is a retelling of the mythic leader Shaka Zulu. Violent, disturbing, not my thing.

A Respectable Trade, Philippa Gregory*
I had read another Gregory book, The Queen’s Fool, and thought is was a fun, light piece of historical fiction. This, on the other hand, was AWFUL. I just can’t even explain how wrong it was on so many levels. I threw this book down twice while reading it (into a laundry basket full of clothes, but still. Literally threw the book across the room.) But hey – I bet if you liked The Help you’ll like this, too. Something for everyone.

The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman***
I wanted to compare this series with Harry Potter. Although I rated them  the same, the edge went to Pullman. I think that just may be that he had a more sophisticated storyline.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling.***
Yes, this was my first time reading this. It was a fun book, and I can see why it is so popular. Action packed story, lots of great imagery, and who doesn’t want to believe that they’re secretly a wizard?

The Gangster We are All Looking For, Lê Thi Diem Thúy***A family of Vietnamese immigrants tries to make life work in California.

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth, Xiaolu Guo****
Story of a modern young girl growing up in China, told in twenty fleeting fragments.

Stiff, Mary Roach***
Quirky, respectful, and straightforward look at what happens to our bodies after we leave them.

The Surrendered, Chang-Rae Lee**
I’ve blocked out a lot of this book, because it contained some of the most brutal scenes I’ve ever read. Deals with the Korean War and its aftermath.

King Leopold’s Ghost, Adam Hochschild***
I had been wanting to read this for years, and finally got around to it. I thought it was pretty good, but the author has romanticized Joseph Conrad a bit too much for my tastes. Most people probably wouldn’t be bothered by this, but it distracted me.

The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood*****
Oh, wow. This was so good. Margaret Atwood at her best.