Way back in April, I posted my summer reading list. How'd I do? Read some of 'em. And a bunch of others. Here's what I accomplished along with very short reviews.
Read (from the list):
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
Read it if you have the time. Won the somethingerother prize. Enjoyed it, but didn't love it.
Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhague
Read it, read it, read it! Got off to a slowish start, but by the fifth chapter, I couldn't put it down.
Oh, Play That Thing by Roddy Doyle
Don't bother. Very disappointing. Crackling prose, as usual, but a plot that would put General Hospital to shame. I mean, how many things can happen to one person?!? Sheesh.
Read (not from the list):
Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen by Anna Lappe and Terry Bryant
Read it, read it, read it! Straightforward and sage (haha) advice about that most important subject – food. Plus lots of yummy recipes. Also check out their website.
Reviving Ophelia by Mary Bray Pipher
Read it if you have daughters or were ever a girl. Some scary stuff about growing up female in these media saturated times, but for me, it was better than going to a therapist. And cheaper. Worked out a lot of issues left over from my terrible teens while pondering the author's words of wisdom.
Madame Zee by Pearl Luke
Read it if you have nothing better to do. Interesting story based on the real-life mistress of a Canadian cult leader, but not super writing and the ending was a bit unsatisfying.
Out: A Novel by Natsuo Kirino
Don't bother. Loved this book, got totally sucked in to the grim and gritty tale of four Japanese women who work the night shift in a box lunch factory. One murders her husband, and the other three help her dispose of the body. Then things get crazy. A novel about alienation and the low status of women in Japanese society. But the last chapter was so terrible that I was literally shrieking. How can ten pages totally ruin an entire novel? Read it only if you want to find out.
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Read it if you have the time. Not generally big of faux biographies (though this is the second one I read this summer), but so little is known of Dinah, the biblical daughter of Jacob (ya, the guy who wore the amazing, technicolour.... ), that I found myself really enjoying “her” story.
6 comments:
Wow! You have been busy. I can't remember the last book I read. "What to Expect when you're Expecting" TOTALLY doesn't count... sigh.
Honestly, I'd be happy to see a movie these days...
well done my friend!! everytime i hit the market i have been picking up grub, putting it down, picking it up. will buy it next. (still have reviving... by the bed. still scared to start it!)
I came across an article on the recent popularity of faux-biographies on biblical characters - the author said it stemmed from the success of The Red Tent, which was apparently a big hit among evangelical women. And I have seen it being sold at Hull's.
Supposedly this was a bit odd, since Diamant is more pro-matriarchal-pagan than pro-Yahweh. But the evangelical women loved it anyways, even if they didn't always agree with it.
I've heard about Reviving Ophelia... could you explain it a bit more?
T - don't buy Grub. Just wait another 6 weeks or so and a copy will magically arrive in the mail, wrapped in red and green (recycled) paper. :]
E - Hmmm. Not sure about Diamont. Don't know much about her, but there was definitely both points of view in the book. She acknowledges that there were lots of tribal religions, and there is an overlap between the 4 daughters of Isaac, who start out pagan and convert to Judaism when they all marry the same guy. Of course, they retain many of their former practices. I found that the book tried to be more historical than religious (keeping in mind that it is a novel).
Reviving Ophelia is about the transition from girl to adolescent and how our culture sends very mixed messages to young women, despite 4 decades of modern feminism and equal rights legislation. It is aimed at parents, but I found it really helpful because much of what she describes are things I went through. Has profiles of young women with various problems and suggestions on how to help them find their way.
Interesting! Well, that rings true - there's at least one mention in the patriarchal Genesis stories about a woman hanging on to the statues of household gods, without a huge deal being made of it.
Re: Reviving Ophelia, I'll mention it to Melissa, methinks!
Reviving Ophelia is fantastic! I should reread it.
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