The Quotable Vera Wright

(Muahahaha - I will now distract you with profound quotes until I manage to finish and review The Vera Wright Trilogy by Elizabeth Jolley, which is both very long and very good.)

My father used to say that learning something was not really of any use unless it was fitted to some other thing which had been learned. Perhaps a better way of saying this is to say that facts should be linked and everything should then be applied to where it belongs in human life. This is true about fiction, he said then, fiction places people where they belong in society. There is no such thing he said as a dated novel. The novel set in a particular time gives a picture of that time with all the details of life as it was lived then. In any case he said human beings have not changed except outwardly in fashion where clothes and food are concerned and in the equipment they have learned to use. Love and hate and revenge, ambition, jealousy and grief are all as they have always been.

- The Vera Wright Trilogy: Cabin Fever - Elizabeth Jolley

On Willpower or the Lack Thereof

I meant to have a book review for you today, but as usual, things didn't go quite as I planned. Instead, I've composed this bookish acquisition post in an effort to convince you that I need an intervention and someone to commit me to book addiction rehab.

It's library book sale season here in Nowheresville, PA, and for the first time in years, I skipped one. It was right after BEA, and I knew I didn't need a single book for years to come. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to skip two. I exercised some restraint in not being there for the very first hour on the very first day in hopes that by the time I got there, it would be all picked over and I wouldn't get much. Again, failure.

I spent about $20 less than usual, but then I usually spend around $40 at this particular library book sale which always seems to have nice, barely used copies of surprisingly new books. Now, if you've been to a library book sale recently, and I suspect that perhaps you have, you'll know that 20 bucks will get you an uncommon amount of lightly used books.

Without further ado - my secret shame, emerging for the first time from the box that I've been trying to pretend I didn't actually bring home with me (with occasional commentary):

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - a book I can't believe I don't already own.
America, America by Ethan Canin
The Age of Shiva by Manil Suri
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - a book that caught my attention when it won the Man Booker Prize in 2008.
Coventry by Helen Humphreys - to feed my need for World War II fiction.
The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd - because I've got the first book in the Dublin Saga, so obviously I need the next one, right?
Unveiled by Francine Rivers - One of a series of novellas about women from the Bible. If I like this one, there's more where it came from!
The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly - Because I think this got some Orange Prize attention at some point, and I heart me some Orange Prize.
Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk - See above. I think.
Let Me Finish by Roger Angell - Even if this didn't sound really interesting, my shallow heart could never pass up the awesome cover on this book.
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith - I seem to recall the blogosphere being abuzz about this a while ago...
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo - See above.
Bucking the Sun by Ivan Doig - I've had such a thing for stories about people in Montana ever since I went there and didn't stay like I was supposed to.
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman - Same author as Downsiders which was a pretty good book.
The Schwa was Here by Neal Shusterman - See above.
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis - I'm pretty sure I've read about a zillion good reviews of this in one place or another. Despite it's not being my normal thing, I certainly have to try it, no?
The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis - I've always loved a good Newbery book, and this one is a Newbery Honor.
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck - See above.

Only, uhm, 19. That's good right. Hardly any really. But where will I put them?

Have you read any of them? Which one should I read first? Discuss while I attempt not to mysteriously vanish for a week. Really. ;-)

BEA Plunder the Vlog Part 2

Yes. It's me. Vlogging again. I considered the comments on the last post to be sufficient encouragement to try my hand at this again. If that wasn't your intention, dear commenters, do accept my apologies.

Here's the thing. I attempted to upload it to YouTube, two different ways and the video and audio still doesn't seem to me to sync up quite right. It's better than the last one, I think, but definitely still not quite right. Then I uploaded it to Photobucket and it came out quite nice, but it won't embed in this post. Then, in keeping with my M.O., I got frustrated and quit. The end result is that today...we have options. You can A) watch the not quite right version here if you're pressed for time and/or don't like having to do that extra click or B) click over to Photobucket and watch the better version there (unfortunately, I am also in the "better" version, but at least the words match up with the movements my mouth is making!). Of course, there is an option C) don't watch it at all, but who would want to do that when you have this golden opportunity to hear me awkwardly talk about books? Who knows when I'll get frustrated for good with all this video stuff and wander off to look at shiny things, never to be seen on your computer monitor again?

Also, if you choose options A or B, you might have to crank up the volume a little. I was A) making this at night when my whole household was asleep (it was late - which might also explain why I'm a little weirder in this video than the last one) and B) still learning how the webcam and accompanying microphone work without having the time to remake the same 9 minute video a dozen times.

I think that concludes all the apologies and disclaimers.

So now, either watch it here...



...or on Photobucket - definitely the better option.



Or, I suppose, you could just consult this list of the books I've rambled on about.

Let's Take the Long Way Home - Gail Caldwell
Dust - Joan Frances Turner
Cleopatra - Stacey Schiff
Molly Fox's Birthday - Deirdre Madden
If I Were You - L. Ron Hubbard
Salvation City - Sigrid Nunez
Oogy - Larry Levin
Voice of America - E.C. Osondu
The Last Princess and the Cup of Immortality - D.R. Whitney
The Gendarme - Mark T. Mustian
Saint Training - Elizabeth Fixmer
The DUFF - Kody Keplinger
Foxybaby - Elizabeth Jolley
The Sugar Mother - Elizabeth Jolley

Broken Glass Park by Alina Bronsky

Sascha Naimann is not like the rest of the people who live in her broken down apartment building in Berlin. They don't have dreams, or if they do, their dreams are stupid and shallow. Sascha, however, has two dreams, two important goals in life. One is to write a book about her mother, the other is to kill the man who murdered her mother.

Broken Glass Park is Sascha's story. It's obvious right from the start that Sascha is a different sort of narrator. She's not soft or sympathetic. Despite the bad hand life seems to have dealt her, Sascha isn't looking for pity. She's prickly at best and, at worst, downright cruel to the people who have the misfortune of stumbling into her path. Yet, she is intelligent. She is her half-brother and sister's fierce protector and a determined force in seeing that they are educated and brought up properly. She loves her mother as much as she hated her mother for her weakness and foolishness. She claims to loathe men, yet can't stop herself from wanting to be desired by them. Sascha is a study in contradictions and a narrator that is hard to understand and even harder to love.

Told from Sascha's first person point of view, Broken Glass Park is brutal. Bronsky doesn't shy away from uncomfortable subjects. She gives us glimpses of a certain sensitivity and nobility in Sascha, but never long enough for us to forget the narrator's angry, cruel streak. Just as Sascha doesn't let anyone in her life get too near, we, the readers, aren't allowed to get too near either, just stand to the side reading as Sascha battles her way through the remainder of her deeply troubled youth.

Broken Glass Park is a story that is undeniably well-told. Sascha's character, whether you like her or not, is vividly created in Bronsky's spare, straight-forward prose nicely translated from German by Tim Mohr. All her contradictions and her confusion are laid bare for us and despite being unable to love her, as a reader, you can't help but hope for a redemptive end to Sascha's story.

Unfortunately, however, I didn't love the book. While I read the whole thing and found the narrator's voice unique and at times captivating, I felt as if I were never fully engrossed in the story. The rough nature of the story and the narrator's prickly, cruel, self-destructive personality were often off-putting which kept me from being entirely taken in by it. More than once I found myself frustrated and perplexed by Sascha's actions, which inasmuch as it may be indicative of a strong well-written character, didn't make Broken Glass Park a particularly rewarding reading experience for me. It was real, and it was gritty, perhaps, a bit too gritty and real for my tastes.

(Thanks to Amanda at Regal Literary for a copy for review.)



Read some other reviews at...

The Boston Bibliophile
Jenny's Books
Alison's Book Marks

Get Outta Town!

Ugh. It's been one of those weeks. A week filled with work and obligations and distractions. A week that demands that you sneak in a little reading in between sleeping and working and appointments and disappointing social engagements. The sort of week, even, that wears you down a bit because even when you have the time to sit and read or write a book review or whatever, you find that you you don't quite have the energy and your foggy mind precludes you from reading intelligently or writing anything of worth, so you just go to bed and get up and go to work again. Have you had this week? (Have you seen this week? $500 reward for the capture and permanent removal of this week! And yes, I'd offer a better reward if I had it....)

Nonetheless, it's been quiet around here this week, and it's going to stay quiet for a little longer because...I'm getting outta town!

That's right. I'm getting out of here, and I'm taking this....



and perhaps this....



and maybe even this (the summer fiction issue - YAY!)...



and possibly even some other things that have pages to turn.

I'm not taking my TV, my dog, my computer, my phone, or most of the people I know. I'm going to enjoy a weekend of reading without all the distractions and diversions that come with living life as a grown-up now. I'm going to relax and really read until next week comes to call.

See ya Sunday. If I come back.... ;-)