Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

I mean not try to analyze everything to death for once, if possible, especially me. I love you.

If, like me,  you love dialogues & smart arguments you will probably enjoy Franny and Zooey, although they  aren’t the most sympathetic characters and I found them rather annoying.

The story originally appeared in The New Yorker magazine and was first published in book form in 1961.

The book is made of two parts, the first focuses on Franny Glass, the younger sister, who is in the middle of an existential crisis. Franny is sick of everybody that wants to get somewhere, do something distinguished, be interesting.

A feeling I understand far too well, but Franny herself is concerned about distinguishing herself from the college crowd and therefore not less shallow than those people she judges.

The second part is set in the Glass’s household, it focuses on Zooey Glass, Franny’s older brother, but Franny is right there curled up on the couch with a little book The Pilgrim Continues His Way (sequel of The Way of a Pilgrim) . The aim of both books  is to wake everybody up to the need and benefits if saying the Jesus Prayer.

Franny and Zooey are the youngest of seven precocious and genius children, who grew up on academic tests and for a while were celebrities  on a radio quiz show known as “It’s a Wise Child.”

They are smarter than most of the world around them or this is how they obviously feel.  I found them a little too pretentious and ultimately they didn’t strike me as human beings but rather a fake portrait of youth that Salinger employees to make a few  points (on religion mainly).

The second part could be described as a philosophical debate about religion.

I am one of those who always finds herself in the middle of  the most animated discussions, especially about Catholicism. My family has a certain degree of variety on the subject ranging from my mother who teaches catechism and belongs to a very committed community to my brother who declared himself agnostic years ago, with me right in the middle. I lost my dad a few years ago but he would have been on the “I don’t really care but if it makes you happy I will make an effort but please lets enjoy our food now” side.

I spent years trying to extricate my rational opinions from all those messy feelings masterfully consolidated into my soul.

In my life I learned that  nobody is objective when it comes to Jesus, sooner or later we all say something like Zooey “I don’t think you understood Jesus when you were a child and I don’t think you understand him now”.

And every time I see that happening I can’t help thinking “not again” , I have very little patient when writers or regular human beings engage in those sort of topics without having done their homework on the subject.

As philosophical considerations go those  weren’t impressive, I found them superficial  but I spent two nights on them and don’t regret the experience.

Other reviews:

August Turak

Culturazzi

Musings: reverie as my reality

My grade: mixed feelings / very confused

Em

This side of Paradise by Francis Scott Fitzgerald

Ever since I read The Great Gatsby in high school Francis Scott Fitzgerald has been my literary crush, my favorite writer, the material proof that opinions that freely wander into my brain can be put on paper and it doesn’t have to be non-fiction.

Fitzgerald finished only four novels This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the night and The Great Gatsby. I am planning to review them all and I would like to start from the beginning.

This side of paradise is Fitzgerald’s  semi-autobiographical debut novel (published in 1920, you can read it online for free):

To keep things simple we could say that plot is about the education of  Amory, a romantic  egotist who excels physically due to his exceedingly handsomeness, socially as he is magnetic and impossibly charming, mentally where his superiority is undisputable. Not the most sympathetic character but he will evolve.

Amory’s  life is traced from childhood all the way through his entire adolescence, a time frame that spans right across the fronts of World War I.

There are many aspects in this novel that could be taken into consideration in a proper review but mine doesn’t mean to be a comprehensive one (I am no literary critic)   I just want to explain what appeals to me.

Above everything else is the pessimism on life combined with a strong desire of living at full speed.

Amory Blaine starts as a young boy enrolled in a Prep School, St Regis, where he doesn’t fit in, after that he enters Princeton (Fitzgerald also was a student here) where he develop real friendships and starts experiencing life.

At Princeton he meets  Burne Holiday and Thomas Park D’Invilliers, both have a special influence on Amory and a relevance to the story.  When the war breaks up and most students enroll in the army Holiday is a the one that chooses to be a pacifist, a radical decision for those times  that’s analysed and argued in the book.

D’Invilliers introduces Amory to many writers such as Yeats, Wilde and under his influence Amory begins writing poetry. I throughly enjoyed each single conversation between Amory and Tom, especially those about american literature.

One of my favorite chapter is titled “The End Of Many Things” ,  it marks the line between Princeton and After-Princeton:

And what we leave here is more than this class; it’s the whole heritage of youth. We’re just one generation—we’re breaking all the links that seemed to bind us here to top-booted
and high-stocked generations. We’ve walked arm and arm with Burr and Light-Horse Harry Lee through half these deepblue nights

After Princeton Amory starts working in advertisement, his friend  Alec Connage introduce him to his sister, Rosalind Connage.

Amory and Rosalind fall deeply and passionately in love, they are talking marriage until she realizes that “the very qualities I love you for are the ones that will always make you a failure” and chooses a more reasonable and wealthy  companion breaking Amory’s heart in the process.

The break-up has a huge effect on Amory’s personality, the dream of love is broken and it will never be repaired again,  Amory will never be the same again.

Towards the end Amory uses the expression “scrap-book of my life” I really like it because this really is a beautiful coming-of-age story where  dialogues, poems, experiences, reflections come together to tell us of Amory’s life and, I admit, I learned a little about myself in the process.

I believe that part of the reason why I love Fitzgerald so much is that I relate to themes he deals with, the restlessness of youth, the illusion of a dream, the disappointing reality. It speaks to the troubled soul that doubts everything.

I also like  the way he creates novels that question our society  while focusing on individuals.

Plus no other writer creates an atmosphere the way Fitzgerald does, his prose has a delicate touch that needs no long descriptions, if you close your eyes you feel right there.

Other reviews:

Bookshelves of doom

World Through Books

Beattifickid89

‘One blow after another … and finally something snapped’

Em

Norwegian Wood The movie!

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite books,  I am excited because right now the movie adaptation by Tran Anh Hung is competing at this year’s Venice Film Festival (September 1-11).

Here it’s the teaser:

and here it’s my book review. It’s a perfect coming-of-age novel, if it was an american book it would belong here (banned books reading challenge hosted by Stephen Su). It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful. Read this book.

I can’t wait!

Em

Sharing is Caring: Chick Lit September Giveaway

September is a very special month, I have a wedding anniversary (1 year!), a birthday (I’ll be turning 29 ), a possible relocation… I am excited and I thought I would share some of the fun by organizing my first  giveaway ever.

I selected two chick lit that I loved but don’t seem to have gained much popularity:

If Andy Warhol had a girlfriend by Alison Pace

The Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz

Contest is open almost internationally (if BookDepository delivers to your country …).

If Andy Warhol had a girlfriend talks a lot about art, contemporary art especially,  to enter leave a comment telling me the title of your favorite painting, why you love it and a way of contacting you.

Here it’s one of my favorite paintings (Gare Montparnasse. The Melancholy of Departure by Giorgio De Chirico):

I am fond of this painting for its simplicity, the implicit tension, its shadows and lights, its subtlety.

Contest is open until September, 16th (that’s my birthday) , Hope you enjoy!

Em

How I live now by Meg Rosoff

Things Happen and once they start happening you pretty much just have to hold on for dear life and see where they drop you when they stop.

A while ago I read What I was by Meg Rosoff and I was enchanted by Rosoff’s writing style, there was one passage that I will never forget (ever) but the plot itself was weak and its magic faded away as the narration progressed. I approached How I live now fearing a similar response, I shouldn’t have worried, I loved it.

From Goodreads:

Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy. As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.

The writing is superb, I immersed myself in the streaming consciousness of Daisy’s narration and breathed after 10 hours or so.

When Daisy described nature I could feel the touch and the smell of it, when Daisy described her auntie’s house I was right there, the food made me hungry, I  rejoiced for her love  and suffered for her loss.

Daisy  is a sharp sarcastic new yorker whose only weapon against oblivion is food-deprivation,  when she visits her cousins in England she senses that everything is different there, she lets herself be one of them, she loves them, little Piper who  is impossible to resist (I smiled every time she appeared on page) and her cousin Edmond, who she is irremediably  attracted to.

Daisy is overwhelmed by their attention, their intensity and pureness:

Edmond : “he turns the car up onto this grass and then drives across to a sign that says Do Not Enter and of course he Enters and then he jogs left across a ditch and suddenly we’re out on the highway”

Piper: “...the presence of Piper with her big eyes and pure soul made hims feel like all he wanted was a chance to die to protect her”  “Piper could smell wild garlic and onions in a meadow and she came home with armfuls of the stuff” “I came across Piper deep in conversation with Jet one afternoon and when I asked what they were talking about she shrugged and said Dog Things”

Isaac: “At times I thought he was more animal than human. For instance if you were walking in town on market day and there were tons of people milling around, you would never have to worry about losing him in the crowd even if you totally forget we was there and got separated for ages”

And then  War Happens.

And Rosoff is  super smart because Daisy’s voice stays fresh and consistent. This is not so much about the war itself,  it’s about Daisy and Piper, how they survive the war and how it affects them.

The story is simple, there is very little action (and a relationship of sexual nature between cousins. It didn’t make me uncomfortable) , the ending is gut wrenching,  it’s perfect, it filled my heart with tenderness, compassion, understanding. This is what love is all about.

You won’t read another story like this, not in a while.

Other opinions:

Things mean a lot

The Book Smugglers

Book Harbinger

Write Meg!

My grade: 5/5

Em

A Good Book is a Good Book Forever

Yesterday I came across an excerpt of The Thief on the Harper Collins website.

When you reach the end there is a very interesting EXTRA titled “A Good Book is a Good Book Forever“:

I think a good book is a good book forever. I don’t think they get less good because times change. If I said that about an adult book , most adults would agree. Look at Shakespeare. What’s funny is that people might not think that it is true for children’s books as well.  I think that readers get pushed toward newly published books. Of course the bookstores want you to read the newest books – they need to sell them to you. But look at the library and you will see faced out on the front shelves the new books. It only makes sense to show you what has been added since the last time you were in the library. If you don’t know what is already in the collection and you want to find out, you need to ask a librarian. Say, “I liked Harry Potter, what should I read next?” The Librarian can show you new books and old ones. The disaster comes when the librarian isn’t there.Everybody should have a good librarian in his life, but not everyone does. So what those people see are the new books in bookstores and the new ones in libraries. When I want to buy someone a present, what do I get? Usually a new book, unless I know them really well. Obviously, I want to get them something they haven’t already read. So new books push the old ones aside. I’d like to make an argument for some great old books. It astonished me that some books last as long as they do.

I love it, it’s so simple and so truthful and so well written.

Em

The girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I am taking a break from reading while waiting for Mockingjay.

Reviewing The girl with the dragon tattoo it’s a good way to get ready for Mockingjay.

The original title is Men who hate women and I find it more powerful and better suited to this story, a history of violence inflicted by men  upon women.

A middle-aged journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, publishes the magazine Millennium in Stockholm. In the opening courtroom drama, Blomkvist loses a libel case brought by accused Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström, and this has serious repercussions for the future of Millennium. In disgrace, Blomkvist agrees to be hired by Henrik Vanger, the aged former CEO of the Vanger companies, owned by a wealthy but dysfunctional dynasty. The old man offers not only to help his financially strapped magazine, but also to give him information to prove that Wennerström is corrupt. Officially, he is to spend a year writing the Vanger family history.

Blomkvist’s real mission, however, is to solve a cold case—the disappearance, some forty years previously, of Vanger’s niece Harriet when she was sixteen. Blomkvist encounters “the old Miss Marple closed-room scenario” with all the rich suspects marooned on the family estate on an island.

[From the  Wikipedia article]

I personally enjoyed the first part of the story in which Larsson focuses on building Blomkvist’s credibility as a character analyzing a corruption scam that sounds far too real to be only fiction. I do understand that most readers would have appreciated a lighter book with 120 pages or so less.

I  admit that as soon as Lisbeth Salander appeared on the scene no other character existed for me, she was the one I wanted to read about.

And there was never a better casting than Noomi Rapace in the original swedish movie:

Lisbeth is a 24-year-old pierced and tattooed computer hacker who works as a researcher for a security company. Lisbeth is cursed with a photographic memory.

Pathologically antisocial, uncompromising, bisexual, resilient, Lisbeth has been under court ordered guardianship since she was a teenager. Her family has failed her and so has the system that was supposed to protect her but Lisbeth is a survivor who can now take care of herself.

Lisbeth has very few friends, she doesn’t trust anybody, slowly she  finds herself trusting Mikael, his easy manners, his outgoing personality, his open smile.

The central theme in this first book is violence against women , Larsson states that “46 percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to violence by a man” and I am sure that figures are probably close in the rest of the world.

What Larsson does is building a thriller that revolves around the problem, once it gets started the thriller itself it’s brilliant (although you won’t understand what’s going on if you watch the movie without reading the book first).

Blomskiv and Lisbeth find a link between their investigation and passages from the Book of Leviticus (Old Testament),  I like a touch of esoteric as much as the next person but I believe Larsson’s choice wasn’t casual and only for action’s sake.

There are strong visual scenes of violence (sexual violence especially): women who survived their past, women who chose to fight back, women who succumbed.

I didn’t really mind those scenes, someone with the right skills could achieve a brilliant graphic novel from this book.

Is it disturbing? Yes, maybe, not really. American Psycho I define as disturbing.

What I really liked:

* the swedish landscape. This is not your stereotypical candid Scandinavian landscape, inhabited by peaceful people, it’s a creepy place soaked with ambiguity and corruption;

* Stieg Larsson used to be a journalist and he takes this fictional opportunity to express a few considerations on “ethics”, the social role of a reporter and unveil those kind of compromises usually required by the profession;

* Lisbeth, I don’t know if Larsson himself was aware of what he did but Lisbeth is one of those characters that surpasses writer and plot. She is unique, one of those characters that I will never forget;

* it’s though provoking. This is not just  a thriller, it’s one of those crime novels that must be read;

My grade: 5/5

Em

One for the money by Janet Evanovich

I honestly don’t know why it took me so long to consider reading Janet Evanovich, encouragement came from  “casting call” on Lit Snit and I am glad I read this one, it was fun.

The movie is also coming up soon and Katherine Heigl has been chosen to play Stephanie Plum:

I love Katherine Heigl but she wouldn’t have been my first choice (while reading this I kept thinking about Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich).

From Goodreads:

Stephanie Plum is so smart, so honest, and so funny that her narrative charm could drive a documentary on termites. But this tough gal from New Jersey, an unemployed discount lingerie buyer, has a much more interesting story to tell: She has to say that her Miata has been repossessed and that she’s so poor at the moment that she just drank her last bottle of beer for breakfast. She has to say that her only chance out of her present rut is her repugnant cousin Vinnie and his bail-bond business. She has to say that she blackmailed Vinnie into giving her a bail-bond recovery job worth $10,000 (for a murder suspect), even though she doesn’t own a gun and has never apprehended a person in her life. And she has to say that the guy she has to get, Joe Morelli, is the same creep who charmed away her teenage virginity behind the pastry case in the Trenton bakery where she worked after school.

Recipe for a bestseller: feisty sexy heroine aka Stephanie Plum, childhood crush turned into hot cop maybe also a dangerous murderer aka Joe Morelli, a grandmother that could be on stage in a stand-up act, a psycho boxer, a mystery plot, a pinch of sarcasm, a generous amount of sense of humor,  blend them together and voilà your summer read it’s ready-to-go.

It actually works, regardless of characters’ predictability there is a certain freshness in this story, Evanovich can write, she manages to create compelling characters that don’t take themselves too seriously, follow their lead and enjoy the ride, start questioning and the whole thing might collapse into a flabby soufflè.

Stephanie Plum might be a clueless bounty hunter but you can’t argue with her determination, I for instance respect a girl who toughens up and faces dangerous criminals.

I read this on vacation and it was great fun. I don’t know if I will embrace those others 15 books in the series but I have already booked the second one.

My grade: 4/5

Em

My Soviet Kitchen by Amy Spurling

I received a free copy of My Soviet Kitchen , as soon as I opened the package I was intrigued because I found a book, a small compendium guide and a tiny bottle of vodka (a welcome addiction in my cabinet).

From Goodreads:

Memory loss, homo sovieticus, and a wandering phD student. This is Neo-chick lit. with a darker side, a vodka twist and a generous slice of post-Soviet living. It’s 1994 and English Ph.D student, Ivy Stone, wakes up in a Moscow flat with a hangover and a vague sense of unease…
Unable to remember what she did last night or why there is a cryptic Post-It note on her fridge, she begins an emotional, alcohol-fuelled journey via an Uzbek wedding, an Estonian sauna, and a Georgian serenade. What dark past haunts her new Russian man? And will she ever find the author of the mystery Post-It note?

Although I am not sure that we could label this as chick lit I found this novel very interesting, it’s not overly romantic, it’s not that funny, I couldn’t really relate to Ivy Stone and I found her relationship with K.K. as cold as Ivy’s empty sovietic fridge but it’s intriguing, ironic, witty:

“Previous love history: teenage fumblings in the dark followed by a couple of relationship with academia types. The first was volatile soul-searching and state of the nation talks with a classicist, which got pointless after a while; the second was a more predictable biologist, but he was the type that Russians call ‘stiller than water and lower than grass’, i.e. insignificant and small, and we became like Grandma and Grandpa about sixty years too early“

Plus I know nothing about Russia , Uzbekistan and Georgia but after reading this I am considering a trip in this mysterious and resourceful land.

Each chapter starts with a catchy title (“They Keep secrets” “Conversation with a maniac” “A slap in the face”…)  and a food reference like a russian recipe or just an observation, there are pictures, illustrations , a compendium guide and lots of booze (gosh at some points I experienced a literary induced  hangover).

Spurling manages to build a story that also revolves around Vladimir Mayakovsky‘s personal life (it focuses on Mayakovsky’s relationship with Lilya Brik) although I must admit that the storyline is not exactly fluid.

The ending wasn’t exactly a surprise but my issue with  this book revolves around characters, Ivy is an enjoyable character but doesn’t really build relationships with other characters and somehow I never get attached to her or any other character in the story.

It’s not what I would define a heart-warming novel, it’s not exactly swoon-worthy material but I highly recommend reading this because it’s very peculiar in a good way and you might learn a few things on the way.

Other reviews:

West End Extra

Novel Insights

My grade: 3,5/5

Em

Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

Yesterday I attended the gay pride in Dublin, Oh Boy It was great fun, a huge party!

The book that it’s on my mind right now it’s Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block, this novel was originally  published in 1989 and it’s the first in the Dangerous Angels series (there are four more books in this series).

Weetzie Bat describes gay marriage, children out of wedlock, abortion, common-law marriage and the AIDS epidemic, the story is set in an almost dream-like version of Los Angeles, referred to as Shangri-L.A., in an indefinite time period.

Weetzie is a bleach blonde punk pixie who is looking for love, she becomes BFF with Dirk and sort of falls in love with him, Dirk is gay, owns a black mohawk and a sweet red 55 Pontiac named Jimmy.

When Dirk’s grandma dies leaving him her bungalow in Hollywood , Weetzie and Dirk start living together while they keep looking for their perfect ducks until they find them. Weetzie falls in love with a movie maker,My Secret Agent Lover Man, Dirk falls in love with Duck.
“Any love that is love is right” A new family is born.

The story is all funky details and pop culture, it’s glamorous and surreal, it’s an urban fairytale that made me smile and gave me a mild headache, interesting because of its very peculiar style and also because it deals with controversial  issues:

* deception & forgiveness: Weetzie wants a baby but  My Secret Agent Lover Man doesn’t want one, I must admit that the way Weetzie deceits her lover really bothered me and I found her character less likeable precisely because of her behaviour on the matter;

* definition of family: Weetzie’s traditional family is broken, her parents’ divorce caused her pain and unhappiness, above everything else Weetzie is looking for happiness and you can only be happy if you are surrounded by love, when Weetzie’s time comes she creates a “non conventional” family that proves to work better than her traditional one;

* homosexuality;

* death and disease (aids);

* drugs and substance abuse;

As charming as this short, fast-paced story is I would put a “handle with care” disclaimer on the cover, what I mean is that it requires some post-debate because it deals with a crucial concept such as the definition of family itself.

Family it’s not only about personal choices but it’s about making choices that will necessarily affect other people life, either wholeheartedly agree or wholeheartedly disagree with Weetzie Bat would be wrong from a reader’s prospective, you might reach a full agreement or disagreement but stop and THINK ABOUT IT.

The Soundtrack (chosen by Francesca Lia Block):

X – Los Angeles
Ladies of the Canyon – Joni Mitchell
Iggy Pop – Lust for Life
Winter – Tori Amos
Wild World – Cat Stevens
Dancing Barefoot – Patti Smith
Free Falling – Tom Petty
Electricity – OMD
Wild Thing – The Troggs
Real Wild One – Iggy Pop
Secret Agent Man – Agent Orange
I want your hands on me – Sinead O Connor
Emperor’s New Clothes – sinead O’ Connor
Thank you – Alanis Morisette
Breathe me – Sia
Think pink – the fabulous poodles

My grade: 4/5

Em