Just fantastic. In the vein of "What is the What" Eggers tells the harrowing story of family in Pre and Post Katrina New Orleans in the family's own voice. Eggers' ability to take on the voice of the people he profiles amazes me. I find his style to be quite distinct, i can always see him reading to me in my head. Honestly, I wasn't able to get through his pseudo memoirs, they were too cloying, but his non-fiction work is great.
Zeitoun follows the adventures of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian immigrant who chooses to stay in New Orleans when Katrina hit. It's such a remarkable story, I don't want to say more.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
To warn those who have not read the full trilogy, this post does contain spoilers about the first two books. The first book I ever read by Christopher Moore was "You Suck: A Love Story" the sequel to "Bloodsucking Fiends" The first two books of Moore's own vampire trilogy, with "Bite Me" being the third entry. The first two are funny and engaging entries to the vampire literary canon. He made being a vampire sound fun and completely kick ass. There was very little mooning over the loss of their humanity and many, many jokes. I was entertained throughout and really grew to care about all the characters.
The trilogy follows the exploits of a new vampire - Jody - in San Francisco. After always feeling lacking and too dependent on men, she relishes being a creature of the night with the ability to kick the ass of anyone who would dare to cross her. she quickly realizes she needs someone to take care of things during the day, and enlists Tommy Flood, a young writer who moved to the big city to see if he can make a living at writing. For now, he works the graveyard shift at a grocery store with The Animals, his coworkers and friends. While Tommy and Jody's romance blossoms, we learn the old vampire Elijah is skulking around causing trouble for the new couple and their friends.
**SPOILER ALERT***
In the third book Tommy is now a vampire as well, forcing the two lovers to take on their own minion, Abby Normal. Although Abby does not really think about consequences and has cast our two leads in metal trapping them as statues.We follow their misadventures once released, and the accidental unleashing of a vampire cat army that is slowly killing the citizens of San Francisco.My problem with this book is mainly with Abby Norma, The entries in her voice are grating. It just didn't work, and I don't really buy her as an actual person. I get that teenagers are impulsive and being a vampire is way cool, but it was all just a little too light for me. Whenever we jumped to the other characters, especially the cops following the vampires things picked up and I was back in the upside down world Moore created without reservations. The action is still entertaining and her bff who is a little too in love with his pet rat is quite funny. All of Moore's books involve a willing suspension of disbelief (a phrase borrowed from my Playwright Professor), but I just wasn't buying it this time. I would only recommended this book to those that have read the first two and need to know how the story ends.
The trilogy follows the exploits of a new vampire - Jody - in San Francisco. After always feeling lacking and too dependent on men, she relishes being a creature of the night with the ability to kick the ass of anyone who would dare to cross her. she quickly realizes she needs someone to take care of things during the day, and enlists Tommy Flood, a young writer who moved to the big city to see if he can make a living at writing. For now, he works the graveyard shift at a grocery store with The Animals, his coworkers and friends. While Tommy and Jody's romance blossoms, we learn the old vampire Elijah is skulking around causing trouble for the new couple and their friends.
**SPOILER ALERT***
In the third book Tommy is now a vampire as well, forcing the two lovers to take on their own minion, Abby Normal. Although Abby does not really think about consequences and has cast our two leads in metal trapping them as statues.We follow their misadventures once released, and the accidental unleashing of a vampire cat army that is slowly killing the citizens of San Francisco.My problem with this book is mainly with Abby Norma, The entries in her voice are grating. It just didn't work, and I don't really buy her as an actual person. I get that teenagers are impulsive and being a vampire is way cool, but it was all just a little too light for me. Whenever we jumped to the other characters, especially the cops following the vampires things picked up and I was back in the upside down world Moore created without reservations. The action is still entertaining and her bff who is a little too in love with his pet rat is quite funny. All of Moore's books involve a willing suspension of disbelief (a phrase borrowed from my Playwright Professor), but I just wasn't buying it this time. I would only recommended this book to those that have read the first two and need to know how the story ends.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Reality Television Part 1
So Reality Television. Let's break it down. There are different categories of Reality Television.
When I began writing this post I tried to fit it all in one, and it started to look like a novel. So this one's going to be a multi-parter.
When there is an emphasis on skill over "personality" the more discerning TV viewer will deem reality "watchable." I would place the Bravo reality offerings (with the big big exception of the real housewives franchise and that awful fake gossip girl i like to pretend never happened) and CBS ones (especially the Amazing Race which is also totally travel porn) into this category. For me these are almost not reality shows and more very complicated game/competition shows. Sure, we have reality show staples like story editing, villains, and confessionals, but they (usually) don't just focus on drunken fights and schadenfreude. Although there are some drunken interludes and ill-advised romances, though they tend to be distractions with the competition being the main focus. With the bravo series you even come away from them thinking you learned something. My favorite seasons tend to have more bombastic personalities such as Santino on Project Runway, but I still cared more about the most talented designer winning. What is most appealing is a sense that these shows are meritocracies and (hopefully) contestants aren't kept around just to keep the drama going. Although, well, you never know. There is an elite element here - these are the shows you openly admit to watching.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Great book by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
I like to think of it as Jane Austen meets Saving Private Ryan.
If you want to pull me into a story the best way is to have your heroine, Juliet Ashton, throwing something into a crowd of annoying people-tells you all you need to know about her. She's sarcastic and defensive and hilarious and amazing. She is Elizabeth Bennet grown up and living on her own, in post world war II bombed out London.
Juliet has written a successful book in post war London, and while on her book tour she ends up corresponding with basically the entire island of Guernsey when one man writes to her inquiring about a book he came to own that was once hers. The entire story is told through correspondence, and takes on a mystery of whatever happened to the originator of the Literary and Potato Peel Society, Elizabeth. During the war, Guernsey was occupied by the Nazis and rationing and curfews were imposed on the islanders. One night, one islander managed to roast a pig for her neighbors and on there way home three were stopped by a Nazi guard. To save their asses Elizabeth made up the literary society and once in the clear, they decided to actually form the society and meet on a regular basis.
The characters are delightful without being too quirky and you fall in love with the residents along with Juliet. It was a lovely read. I originally thought a story told through letters would be less compelling, too dry, but the authors did a great job crafting the voices of the different characters. There is love, intrigue and heartbreak, a worthy descendant of Ms. Austen.
I like to think of it as Jane Austen meets Saving Private Ryan.
If you want to pull me into a story the best way is to have your heroine, Juliet Ashton, throwing something into a crowd of annoying people-tells you all you need to know about her. She's sarcastic and defensive and hilarious and amazing. She is Elizabeth Bennet grown up and living on her own, in post world war II bombed out London.
Juliet has written a successful book in post war London, and while on her book tour she ends up corresponding with basically the entire island of Guernsey when one man writes to her inquiring about a book he came to own that was once hers. The entire story is told through correspondence, and takes on a mystery of whatever happened to the originator of the Literary and Potato Peel Society, Elizabeth. During the war, Guernsey was occupied by the Nazis and rationing and curfews were imposed on the islanders. One night, one islander managed to roast a pig for her neighbors and on there way home three were stopped by a Nazi guard. To save their asses Elizabeth made up the literary society and once in the clear, they decided to actually form the society and meet on a regular basis.
The characters are delightful without being too quirky and you fall in love with the residents along with Juliet. It was a lovely read. I originally thought a story told through letters would be less compelling, too dry, but the authors did a great job crafting the voices of the different characters. There is love, intrigue and heartbreak, a worthy descendant of Ms. Austen.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Television is Awesome
You hear a lot about how Television rots the mind. How if you watch hours and hours of it you will actually get dumber. (Dumber? More Dumb? I don't know, I watch too much TV) And that is bullshit. Sure. there are tons of dumb reality shows, but even they have their place in the well-balanced pop culture diet. When it comes to detailed, intelligent, thoughtful story telling, television is the best medium. You have time to slowly develop characters and story lines. Characters change incrementally, the way they do in reality. Story lines can develop over seasons, and for those that forgo hand holding, something from season 1 can pop up late in season 2.
And I don't think this is limited to dramas. One of my favorite current shows is "How I Met Your Mother". They've taken the time for the characters to mature and i really care about them as if they were friends of mine. The show's not perfect by any means, but when a comedy does a decidedly unfunny episode and I am moved to tears and not pissed that I didn't laugh they are doing something right. Many, many shows cover that weird time when you're growing into adulthood, and now that I am about to be the same age the protagonist was in the first season I see myself more and more in the show. I think about how I would have done things differently, or in some cases, done the exact same thing. And how does that detract from my intelligence? A good television show is like a good novel, it takes you to a different place, acquaints you with some interesting characters and makes you think. It may be something as simple as, well, she shouldn't have dumped him for that, but its still thought provoking. And I believe that is the purpose of art. To get you thinking.
And I don't think this is limited to dramas. One of my favorite current shows is "How I Met Your Mother". They've taken the time for the characters to mature and i really care about them as if they were friends of mine. The show's not perfect by any means, but when a comedy does a decidedly unfunny episode and I am moved to tears and not pissed that I didn't laugh they are doing something right. Many, many shows cover that weird time when you're growing into adulthood, and now that I am about to be the same age the protagonist was in the first season I see myself more and more in the show. I think about how I would have done things differently, or in some cases, done the exact same thing. And how does that detract from my intelligence? A good television show is like a good novel, it takes you to a different place, acquaints you with some interesting characters and makes you think. It may be something as simple as, well, she shouldn't have dumped him for that, but its still thought provoking. And I believe that is the purpose of art. To get you thinking.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The help
Just finished reading "The Help" byKatheryn Stockett. Read it in about two days and it just pulled me in. She completely sucked me in to early 60s Mississippi. For the most part, the characters are compelling and human, although I did find the villain too one dimensional. She's not only racist, but will shove her mother in a nursing home and attempt to ruin your life for embarrassing her. I'm sure there are people like her out there, but she just stuck out a bit in an otherwise well drawn world. But besides that, really loved it
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Well I Suppose I Have a Blog Now
So this is something I have been contemplating for a while. Having a blog. Seems like an interesting thing to waste my time on. So of course I don't have the slightest idea as to what to say. Except that Parks and Recreation is coming back! Finally. Off to watch Season 2 again on netflix. Also my office smells like old coffee. I should probably do something to fix that.
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