Category Archives: Books

Game of Thrones [Review]

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Does anyone even remember my announcement that I began this book?

That’s because it was in September…why do you insist on reminding me of these things?

Thing is…it’s really, but awesomely, long.

And I am really, not awesomely, short on time.

Game-of-Thrones(source)

I began worrying I’d never finish, that those who came for my body would find my fingers desperately gripping page 697, never having made to the end.

But addiction had other plans…suddenly, the book was on my lap during subway rides…falling out of my purse when I went looking for chapstick…and hiding under my pillow when I got into bed…

It went where I went, pulled me in, and whispered violently persuasive lies [more than once] that the political turmoil in Winterfell was far more pressing than the extra hour[s] of sleep.

George R.R. Martin has a secret sauce of sorts, one he spoon-feeds us at the turn of every page–fancy to find out what it is?

Sure?

Really?

Alright lean in close, then…its his complete, utter, shocking lack of loyalty for any one [not.even.ONE!] character.

Small children? Why not cut off their heads? Family pets? ‘Bout time they were strung up and cut open, don’t you think? Princesses, princes, and the neighborhood cobblesmith live in equal danger, making getting through just one more chapter a stressful, but undoubtedly necessary, endeavor.

Maddeningly brilliant.

I’m going to take a bit of a break before book 2…the holidays are upon us and the last thing any party needs is the Madison caught up in the peril of a [fictional] battle for the crown…

I highly recommend those who’ve got a bit of time [or just a general disregard for time...] pick up book 1, burrow under the covers, and begin.  I’d usually qualify that statement or offer comparative titles…but Martin is a uniquely masterful storyteller and I’ve a hunch no one can resist his tale.

Need a Christmas present for your favorite reader? Why not get the complete set? I’m secretly mad I’ve begun the series and disqualified myself from potentially receiving it…

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

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What a wonderful, wonderful title.

What could be better, you wonder? The book. And the movie.

(source)

I read it in high-school, right after I read Looking for Alaska. The past 6 [6?!?] years, I’ve remembered it, ever-so-wistfully, as a great book for that unique time in my life.

But I saw the movie last week (which was heart-breakingly wonderful) and with tears pooling in my lap, I realized it plucks at the same heartstrings now as it did then.

New city. New job[s]. New friends. New roommate…the list goes on and really, Charlie (the main character) says it best: “So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.”

I hate when people throw sentences like this around [undoubtedly signaling that I am about to], because…seriously…what do they mean? How have we continuously failed to think of a more creative expression? But…alas…here it is: It’s a book about wanting to be known. Not known of, not known about, but very simply (and perhaps impossibly), known. Understood. Accepted.

It’s a kitschy and overdone sentiment, I know. But I also know I’m not the only one who loves this book and mine weren’t the only tears [or laughs, or squirms, or sighs...] in that theater.

We all want comfort: “And I closed my eyes because I wanted to know nothing but her arms.”

We all want friends [like this one, y'know]: “Sam and Patrick looked at me. And I looked at them. And I think they knew. Not anything specific really. They just knew. And I think that’s all you can ever ask from a friend.” 

And, I think, most of all, we all want to find people who’ll scour the earth to accomplish the same goals, see the same sights, and find the same truths as us: “And then Patrick started running after the sunset. And Sam immediately followed him. And I saw them in silhouette. Running after the sun. Then, I started running. And everything was as good as it could be.”

So…I guess it’s about life. The good, the very good, the bad, the very bad, the awkward [oh god...the awkward], and the wonderful and perhaps not-so-wonderful people we surround ourselves with along the way.

Read it, see it, love it [promise!].

A Sad, Sad Tale

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It all started with a slightly cracked, but still hard-working iPhone.

It was resting, ever-so-peacefully, on my lap the other night when an arm from across the table accidentally knocked over a preposterously large glass of wine….which flooded right on over and into my phone.

The cracks lapped it up as quickly as we all had been and despite a bag of rice and every prayer and incantation I know, it is sufficiently fried.

Which means a few things…1. If I haven’t responded to a phone call or text, don’t take it personally and 2. No (original) photos today. Apologies in both regards.

So when I want to tell you how I’ve been sucked into George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones…this copy will have to do.

                                                                                                                                         (source)

Despite all the madness surrounding it, I’ve held off watching the HBO series so that my imagination might fill the kingdom of Winterfell with images of horses and castles and battles and peoples of my own liking (and, perhaps, because I don’t actually get HBO…) and I do declare, it’s worth it.

Here’s what it’s about: Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

                                                                                                                                         (source)

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones. (source)

I’m not saying I’ve made definite plans to move to Winterfell and join the Stark family in their battle…except I’ve thought about it and surely, if (when?) they invite me, I’ll pack my bags in a minute.

If you’re looking for a world to escape to for a while (book 1 is 900ish pages…) and you fancy the likes of Lord of the Rings,  The Hunger Games, or the suspensful Dragon Tattoo series, go pick a copy up!

If you’re looking for something a bit less time consuming…Rolling Stone just publishing their list of the top 100 Albums of the 2000′s, you can read it here.

Gone Girl

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Well Gillian Flynn…you win. On page one your hands coiled about my neck, ever so slyly, and held tight until the very end. And if we’re being honest (for this is a place most suitable for honesty), you’ve still got a bit of the upper hand.

That twisted, sordid, perfect end hasn’t left me, not in the least.

Gone Girl is an excruciatingly well done thriller.

It’s about, well it’s about everything you think it’ll be about…except then it also isn’t (don’t you hate trying to make sense of phrases like that?). A girl, a woman really, goes missing and we’re left to sort through the pieces–of their marriage, their families, their town…

Except the pieces don’t come in order. Nick, the husband, comes in real-time. He unfolds with the story. But Amy, the missing wife, arrives in snippets of past diary entries; entries recounting how they fell in love, how they married, and how they came to despise each other as much as their own selves.

Did Nick do it? I mean…it’s always the husband, right? He had to. What about that high school stalker living nearby? Too convenient, if you ask me. Or what about the hysterical housewife down the street? Her reaction is a bit over the top, you know.

With a wry smile and chilling prose, Gone Girl, confounds you at every turn and my, my is it delicious.

Go read it! I’ll make it easy: buy online here and then wait, ever so patiently, nearabouts your front door until a lovely UPS man arrives, package in hand.

Then dart off, dive under the covers, and don’t come up for air until you’ve turned the last page.

In the Shadow of the Banyan

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It’s over.

I finished Vaddey Ratner‘s In the Shadow of the Banyan sometime last week and my imagination has been pining for something even half as magical ever since.

The prose was, well, simply remarkable. Certainly, it is among the best writing of any debut author. The care taken choosing each word, the twist of each phrase…it’s beautiful, really. It positively envelopes you into a tale and space wrought with emotion.

Despair and hurt are, of course, prominent given that the plot centers on the Cambodian genocide.But there’s also the overwhelming admiration a seven year old holds for their mother, the unhurried love of an elderly married couple, and the profound connection between the living and the dead.

It’s all there.

The pain and bloodshed.

The struggle.

And most poignantly, the uncertain, desperate hope to bear witness to just one more sunrise on the might Mekong River.

I refuse to give anything away (and this time I mean it!), but quoting the old adage, “the best things in fiction are always true” is appropriate. This is Ms. Ratner’s personal book of memories; that fact never leaves the page.

I believe she does justice to them, her family, her country and inadvertently, the astonishing strength her seven-year old self possessed.

If you’ve got even the slightest gap on your reading list…make room for this one! Surely, you won’t regret it (pinky promise!).

All photos from my trip through Cambodia.

In the Shadow of the Banyan

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Last summer I lived, worked, and traveled in Vietnam and Cambodia…have I mentioned that?

It was amazing. No, it was life-changing. Wait, no again, it was the best thing I’ve done yet with my life.

I worked with the most beautiful children, I ate the most delicious food, and I woke up to a sunrise over the river that never ceased to amaze.

Given their shocking histories of terror, war, and genocide…the peaceful people, overwhelmingly willing to open up their homes and lives, are true testaments to the human spirit.

Those moments, of actually hiding in the shadow of the banyan (hello, 105 degrees and 95% humidity) has made the ongoing experience of reading Vaddey Ratner’s book about the Cambodian genocide, In the Shadow of the Banyan, an incredibly visceral experience.

I know those towns. I’ve met those people. And I’ve seen the damage still reeling from a genocide that ended over 30 years ago. Reading her childhood memories, tarred by the Khmer Rouge violence, is awe-inspiring.

Here’s the book description:

“You are about to read an extraordinary story. It will take you to the very depths of despair and show you unspeakable horrors. It will reveal a gorgeously rich culture struggling to survive through a furtive bow, a hidden ankle bracelet, fragments of remembered poetry. It will ensure that the world never forgets the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979, when an estimated two million people lost their lives. It will give you hope, and it will confirm the power of storytelling to lift us up and help us not only survive but transcend suffering, cruelty, and loss.
For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours, bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Soon the family’s world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus. Over the next four years, as the Khmer Rouge attempts to strip the population of every shred of individual identity, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of her childhood— the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father. In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness and justification for execution, Raami fights for her improbable survival. Displaying the author’s extraordinary gift for language, In the Shadow of the Banyan is a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience.”I haven’t finished it…and I hope that doesn’t make this post irrelevant for you.I simply wanted to share that this novel has rather decidedly plucked my heart straight from my chest and hidden it between its bindings, and I want it to do the same for you! So read it with me!

Here’s a link if you’d like to buy online, but of course it’s also being sold in any and every major bookstore you might have nearby!

And because I only get so many opportunities to do so, here are some of my favorite photos from my trip :-)

Heading to the river market, where farmers bring their bounty to sell by boat, at sunrise on the Mekong River.

One of the temples (wats), described by locals as having been “taken back by the forest” (I could wax poetic about translating foreign phrases indefinitely…).

Painfully beautiful temple walls.

And of course, delicious fried roaches for snacking!

The album only goes on from here and if I don’t stop now there’s no telling when I will!

So…review to come! But if you’re debating on a new read, start this one. Then we can find out what happens together ;-) .

Summer Reading List

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As July is quickly getting underway, most of us are dusting off our suitcases and filling them with as much clothing as they’ll handle for various vacations.

And while I personally am not jetting off anywhere particularly fun, the city sure is starting to clear out. So what better time for a Summer Reading List? You’ve got just enough time to dart to your favorite bookstore and pick up a couple to finish before summer does!

Here are some of my favorites from over the years…

1. The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield

(buy here!)

I love this book. It was Setterfield’s first novel and certainly set her bar high. Suspenseful, gripping and beyond all else, intriguing, The Thirteenth Tale envelopes you in its mysterious folds.

It’s set around Margaret Lee, whose profound preoccupation with reading stories of the long-since-dead has inspired a career writing them. Arriving home one day, she finds a letter on her doorstep from one of the most famous authors of her time, Vida Winter, inviting Margaret to writer her biography.

Vida is a charming enigma. Deciphering between her truths and lies is a tireless endeavor…for the reader and Margaret, alike. She does discover the truth, eventually…about Vida, herself, and both their families.

I’ve recommended this book to many, many people (nearly everyone who asks for one) and have yet to hear anything but the highest remarks!

2. An Inconvenient Wife, Megan Chance

(buy here!)

I read this book ages ago but it’s stuck with me all this time. It’s a wholly absorbing historical novel (if you’re the sort of person who finds historical novels absorbing, I suppose) about Ms. Lucy Carelton, who’s born of one of New York’s most prominent families in the 1880s.

Lucy is positively undone by her nerves and her ambitious husband, desirous of a socially acceptable wife, drags her from one doctor to another in hopes of a “cure”. They both think Victor Seth, a neurologist, might be their solution.

He’s a pioneer hypnotist and wants to free Lucy from the social constraints causing her unhappiness. He spends their sessions encouraging her to explore various creative outlets and release her passions (you should be picking up on a slight sexual undertone here ;-) ). Seth is sure he’s acting in the name of science, but even he’s caught completely off guard by the Lucy that emerges–a fiercely passionate, amoral creature.

The frank, simplistic prose and over-the-top plotting effectively combine in this diabolically clever and outrageously entertaining take on female liberation.

3. Little Bee, Chris Cleave

(buy here!)

I really don’t want to give too much anything away about this book, it’s that magical. Undoubtedly however, seeing as how I’m recommending it, you’ll want to know something.

So I’ll say this: It’s the story of two women. Two very, very different women from two very, very different worlds. They collide in a dramatic and violent fashion and one has to make a painful choice, one you’ll hope you never have to make.

Two years later they meet again, in equally surprising circumstances. That’s where the story starts…

They’re three of my all-time favorites and I hope at least one will become one of yours!

Any other recommendations out there? I’m almost finished with my current read (and cannot wait to tell you all about) and am on the hunt for something addicting.

Cutting for Stone

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I finally did it.

I finished Cutting for Stone, all 658 incredible pages.

But let’s back up. Back to when and why I plucked it from the shelves of Barnes & Nobles and carried it to the check-out.

Like here, I was wandering aimlessly between the “Noteworthy Fiction” and “Summer Reading List” tables, utterly lost and overwhelmed by the choices. So I did as any girl would and called my mom to ask (begging and whining were also involved) for help.

Her answer came quick and immediately sent me on a treasure hunt through the fiction section.

I’ve lost count of how many book clubs my mother participates in, how many paperbacks floating around our house are traded property between the neighborhood or how many time she has sent my grandmother home from dinner with something “she just has to read”.

She’s a reader, and an enthusiastic one at that, so when she told me this was now on her “Top 10 Ever” list…I went running for a sales assistant.

The back cover declares, “Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles–and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.”, and I have to agree.

It is unforgettable. I found myself crying over the betrayals between brothers, lovers, friends and colleagues as often as the characters. And the miracles? Well they’re the stuff of dreams, really.

I love that this book is written by an Ethiopian-born doctor (Abraham Verghese) about a community of Ethiopian doctors. An intimacy with the setting that probably couldn’t have existed otherwise pervades the story.

Now…I could give you a plot summary, really, I could; how it’s about two twins born of a tragic romance between an Indian nun and a British surgeon at Mission Hospital in Addis Ababa, how the nun dies in childbirth and the surgeon abandons them in a fit of hysteria and how this shapes the course of the twins’ lives indellibly. But the website for the book probably does it better.

And what I thought about more, throughout the entire book, was why do my mother and I both love it so? What draws us to the subject, the people, the story?

I wondered if my mother somehow related to Hema, the fierce Indian woman who adopts and loves the twins as if they were her own? But that couldn’t be…Hema is an unlikely mother and my mother, well she’s not. She’s a natural, meant to be a mother probably long before she ever was.

Could it be the incredible connection between the brothers Shiva and Marion? My mother and her brothers are certainly close, as are myself and my sisters… but there’s no wedge between any of us.

What I settled on what the name that came up each time we discussed the story: Ghosh, our favorite character. He loves his wife, Hema, in unparalleled ways. He’s a father to all who come near and he flourishes every conversation with tidbits of wisdom sure to burrow in the recipient’s mind for future use.

Truly, he’s the literary manifestation of my grandfather, a man I miss very, very much. Four years ago, he left us in similar fashion to Ghosh: “without fanfare, with characteristic simplicity, fearless, opening his eyes that last time to make sure we were fine before he went on.” 

It’s a book for anyone who has ever loved, lost, cried or laughed… or perhaps more succinctly, everyone. Humanity is contained between the bindings of this book, anyone can (and should!) relate.

(Want in on the action? Buy here!)

What a Combo

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Books and clothes. Does it get any better? (excluding the food partnership detailed in my last post, of course).

You could have knocked me over with a feather at the Book Expo today, I was so numb with happiness and surprise!

And apparently I wasn’t the only one excited for an invite…

Really the most appropriate word for the three hours I spent bobbing and weaving between publishers, publicists, buyers and sellers is… overwhelming. 

So, so many books. So many names, titles, stands, booths, things and people to see (not to mention Kirstie Alley, though who knows which category she falls under).

For one who loves words as much as I do, I’m having a bit of trouble coming up with the proper way to communicate just how lovely it was to be surrounded by so many who are equally attached to the book industry and the prospect of new reads. It was a new experience and I’ve got my fingers crossed that it happen again.

What else did I love? This one is slightly more obvious.

Swag bag.

A few blocks, a train ride and one exhausted shoulder (from carrying the books!) later and I was home for a quick nap and wardrobe change to dart off to a Johnny O’s Pop-Up shop.

It was tiny and crowded and quite literally overflowing with every color polo and beach towels known to man…this is not an exaggeration.

If “west coast prep” is your thing, click here and enjoy shopping! Unless you’re in NYC and are an undergrad or grad student, then by all means…wait!

This isn’t the last pop-up of theirs and you’ll get a 50% discount off with a proper I.D. at the next one. Check in for updates!

One margarita later and it was, once again,  time to pop back on the subway…this time for home. Plotting tomorrow’s outfit and a bit of homework were nipping at my heels and I’ve been doting on them ever since!

What’s the plan for this weekend? I know I could use a break!

Fifty Shades of What the Hell?!

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A little over a week ago I teased you with this…in all fairness I was teasing myself as well, what with buying a new book in the middle of finals week and all.

(Buy here!)

So nearly the second I was free from studying’s deathly grip I hopped under the covers, flicked on my reading light and began.

The back cover describes it as, “Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.”

Seeing as how the next time I looked up 135 pages had flown by…the advertisers aren’t far off. Gripping is perhaps an understatement. In the same way that the two characters, Christian and Ana, are drawn to each other, your eyes are glued to the page.

It’s partly out of shock, because the other bit…you know, the one about it being erotic, is a ridiculously dramatic understatement. If that sort of thing makes you uncomfortable, turn and quite literally run from the table at Barnes & Nobles piled high with the series. This book is not the book for you (not really mine either).

I’d be lying if I said the idea of someone reading over my shoulder didn’t make me nervous because it did. It’s  incredibly explicit, but as the story deepens, the nature of their physical relationship becomes so obviously integral to understanding the complexity (another understatement) of their emotional one. It becomes more about the politics of sex rather than sheer carnality.

Note: that does not mean I liked this book.

Christian Grey fascinated me. I’m notorious for brain-picking and he would usually be a perfect enigma to draw me in (if the writing was good…but…it isn’t). He’s irrationally complex. He’s intelligent, controlling, beautifully damaged, intimidating, and largely incomprehensible. Side bonus…he’s incredibly good-looking (don’t pretend like this doesn’t matter). His ornate complexity somehow manifests into very singular erotic tastes, figuring out why and how becomes an honest mission of Ana and the reader.

I really don’t want to give too much away, given how popular the book is I have to assume other people have/are/plan to read it.

In some ways you really have to pick your poison…if you admit you like it people scream, you don’t know good writing! But claim you hate it and suddenly you’re an elitist snob. Fact is, both are kind of true. It’s not “good” writing and I want to rip the thesaurus out of E L Jame’s hands. But its intense, entertaining?, and a decent way to pass time if you’ve got it.

Any other readers? What do you think? Worth reading the next two?