How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I am in awe of blogs that have weekly summaries. Apparently, some people not only read a book a week (OR MORE,) but do other things, such as buy new books, take part in memes and challenges, and even blog. My pace is a little slower, but the end of summer feels right for an update and a look ahead.

How I Spent My Summer

Vineland

You will have acid flashbacks. Even if you never did acid.

  • I updated my About page. Now with more about my awkward teenage years!
  • I added a Book Blogs and Websites page. These are the websites I visit on the regular, all focused on modern and classic literary fiction. I even found a few 1,001 Books readers!
  • I updated my 1,001 Books list. I’ve only finished three list books this year, but two of them were doozies. See my reviews of The Magic Mountain and The Idiot.
  • You may recall that I made some grand plans for my summer reading that involved reading some local books. See my review of Americas, including a brief summary of magical realism in the 1,001 Books. I would like to read from From Away by local author Michelle Ferguson, but I’m  learning the hard way why you should not lend books, ESPECIALLY SIGNED COPIES, to anyone, even your mom.
  • I read my books swap picks, which are also 1,001 Books (convenient!) Reviews are coming soon(ish). SPOILERS: The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul was okay. Vineland is blowing my mind; about 100 pages to go.
  • I met a bunch of Edmonton Book Bloggers for coffee, and nabbed a few books in the process. Thanks to Kristilyn for organizing our little group!
  • I posted my birth stories. I know most of you aren’t in to that. That’s okay. Moving along.
  • I wrote something for Make Jen’s Day. If you have kids, you may relate to this. If you don’t have kids, this may scare you off of having any. Either way, check out the site, it’s a very cool way to promote random acts of kindness.

What’s Up Next

It was motivating to have an end-of-year goal in 2011, even though I didn’t quite make it. This year, I’m on maternity leave, so I should have plenty of time to read, right? Hah! I have a very high-energy two year old who screeches when I’m not in his sight, and a six month old who doesn’t sleep. I’m in survival mode right now, and am lucky to read ten pages per day.

I recently came to an interesting (obvious?) realization; when I don’t read, I’m not happy. A few weeks ago, I was feeling burnt out to the point that I though I had postpartum depression again. I was also going days without picking up a book. Am I unhappy because I’m not reading, or am I not reading because I’m unhappy? Either way, I need to make reading a priority, but without a lot of pressure.

So, my 2012 goal is to read everyday. That’s it. Could be a chapter, a page, or a sentence. 

Finer Things Club

It’s very exclusive.

Well, okay, there’s a little more to it than that. Here are some specific plans and goals for the rest of the year.

  • Read one more from the 1,001 Books list.
  • Write a guest post for Reading in Winter. I’m really excited about this one. I’m participating in “4 Weeks of Bookish Things,” and my theme is paranormal. I’m thinking of an overview of the paranormal in classic lit… beyond the obvious Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Watch for my post on Sept. 28!
  • Join The Classics Club. The concept is simple, but I’m really excited to join the community and meet new people. Each member chooses 50 (or more) classics and commits to read them over the next five years. I’m basically doing this anyway with the 1,001 Books, but it’ll be a good exercise to put some thought into what I want to read. Plus, it’s as close as I’ll get to joining The Finer Things Club.

What are your reading goals for Fall? 

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Confessions

Image

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I am inspired by Eat Books and the many others who participated today. I’m going to try to slip under the wire here, as there are only about 30 mins left of Tuesday!

1. I used to steal my mom’s Harlequin Romances and secretly read them. I was so scandalized! I’m glad 50 Shades wasn’t around in the 90s.

2. I don’t have much attachment to my books. I mostly read library books, but even the ones that I do own, I wouldn’t care if someone borrowed and didn’t return, or spilled something. I feel like the words are still “out there,” so the physical copy that I own doesn’t matter too much.

3. I am HARD on my books. I put glasses of water on top of them. I break bindings. I fold pages. They fall down the side of my bed and get squished. This sort of goes hand in hand with #2.

4. I’ve never listened to an audio book.

5. I resist reading anything that’s too popular (see my post Book Snob.) Sometimes I break down and enjoy myself (The Help) and sometimes want to poke my eyes out (The DaVinci Code.)

6. I read in the bathroom. I have a drawer that always has a few books. Growing up, we always had books of quotations in our bathroom, and so did my grandparents. I kind of want to buy one for this purpose, even though those books must be pretty archaic, as I gather everyone gets their inspirational quotes from Pintrest these days.

7. I didn’t read for six months after my first son was born. I think it was a symptom of postpartum depression. Thinking back, I have no idea how I didn’t read for that long.

8. I judge people who don’t read. I’m sure this surprises no one.

9. My husband was a non-reader for a long time. He’s set a goal of a book per month this year, but he’s reading mostly non-fiction. I do not get how anyone can no read fiction. Gah!!

10. I’m reading about ten pages per day, due to wild children and sleep deprivation. It kills me, because it’s really hard to keep a story straight at this pace, but it’s what I can do for now. I cannot wait until I can read like a normal person again.

Okay, this was far too easy. I could probably write 10 more. Anyone else want to share?

Keepin’ it Real. Magically Real.

Jason Lee Norman’s short story collection Americas was brought to my attention on Twitter. When I found out that Norman is a local author, I was inspired to write a post about reading local.

Americas

I really had to restrain myself from calling this post “Americas! Fuck Yeah!”

I read Americas right after a three-month slog through The Idiot, and didn’t know what to expect. I knew it was a collection of short stories, with one for each country in North, Central and South America. I didn’t expect to find magical realism. I associate magical realism with South American authors, and with epic novels that follow a family across generations. It was surprising to find it here, though the opening quote from Jorge Luis Borges should have been my first clue.

For those who didn’t study magical realism in school (thanks Mr. Jefferies of Grade 12 IB English), here’s the wikipedia definition:

…an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the “real” and the “fantastic” in the same stream of thought.

Americas starts with Canada and works south. Canada was my favourite, because it was so familiar. Those “A Part of Our Heritage” commercials play a prominent part. I had vivid memories of sitting on my couch at home, watching The Simpsons after school. A nice, safe feeling.

From there, things get weird. Magically weird! By the time I got to Venezuela, I knew something was up. It starts with “In Venezuela, all the children are adopted from South Korea.” In my sleep deprived brain, I actually wondered for a moment if there was some adoption agreement between these countries. Each chapter begins this way;  “In [country], [absurd statement].” There’s something really disarming about such a simple structure, and such short stories, taking on the magical realism genre. Chile’s story mixes real life (the Chilean miners who got stuck underground) with the fantastic (window washers stuck in the sky at the same time) and gets it just right.

The stories are really, really short. They’re more like scenes or maybe dream sequences. You will finish this book in one sitting.

Read this if you’re a fan of magical realism. Read this if you want to try magical realism, but are scared of long, translated-from-Spanish family sagas (I don’t blame you.) Four stars!

Further reading: Here are my favorite magical realism books from the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die:

House of the Spirits

Maybe I didn’t like it because the cover is so ugly.

Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This is in my top five books EVER. I have read this multiple times, and will read it many more. It’s that good. See my post about it here.
100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I was forced to read this in grade 12. Everyone in this book has the same name, which is a challenge, but it’s worth it.
Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel. I read this last year in my bid to make it to 100 of the 1,001 books read. It was much quicker, easier, and less dense than the Marquez books, but still has that elusive magical quality.

The House if the Spirits, Isabel Allende. I think I read this for high school English. Mr. Jefferies was kind of into South American literature. This was my least favourite of the bunch, but upon reading the plot summary, I think I need to revisit it. Lots of pregnancy and child birth symbolism!

The Invisible Women

The Idiot

Seriously, every cover of every edition of The Idiot and The Magic Mountain feature some brooding, intense looking dude. Where the ladies at?

Two of my major reads of the past six months were Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot. I knew very little about either going in, and was surprised to find they have similarities beyond the obvious (long, difficult, written by dead white dudes.) Both stories are written from the perspective of a young, naive male protagonist on the fringes of society. Both young men have a complicated relationship with a beautiful, mysterious, and morally suspect young woman. And of course, no one lives happily ever after.

Months after finishing these books, I’m still thinking about those mysterious women. They are mysterious because we never hear their side. They come and go from the story as needed, and with little or no explanation as to where they’ve been. They are both notably absent from large sections of the story.

Were these characters merely there to move the plot along? To help the hero reach his goal? To personify the usual madonna/whore view of women? Remember, both books were written in the 1800s. Feminism wasn’t really a thing.

Whatever the authors’ intentions, they left me wanting more. In particular, I want to know what happened to The Magic Mountain’s Clavdia between leaving the mountain and returning as the mistress of the equally eccentric and mysterious Mynheer Peeperkorn. She`s married, too, so presumably she`s juggling a husband in addition to her lover(s).

Oh god. I just realized this is probably how fan fiction started. Well, that, and the need to make various characters have sex with each other. Don’t worry, I have neither the time nor the inclination to write Magic Mountain fan fiction. Can you imagine?

Is there a character who left you wanting more? Have you ever wished a book was written from another character’s perspective? Have I just rationalized the existence of fan fiction? 

PS: While Google image searching for an “invisible woman” picture, I discovered that a movie about Charles Dickens’ secret mistress will be released in 2013. A post about literary movies is coming soon!

Words With Friends

Book blogger extraordinaire Kristilyn (@readinginwinter) wrote a fantastic piece about making bookish friends. She inspired me to write about last month’s yegbookswap.

Credit for yegbookswap goes to Andy (@agrabia) and Vanessa Grabia  (@vgrabia). From the event website:

Time for an old-fashioned book swap. Here’s the lowdown:

1) Everyone brings three books. One they loved as a child. One they loved as a teenager. One they loved as an adult.

2) Used or new paperback books are encouraged, to keep down costs. Just make sure the used copies are in decent, readable shape.

3) All the books go on a table, we socialize and talk books for a while, and then everyone goes home with three new books.

And that’s that.

I was super excited to have a few hour’s worth of adult conversation. Meeting fellow book lovers was just a huge bonus. I had my four-month old in tow, but he’s pretty docile. I wisely left the two-year old at home. Apart from picking up some great new books for free, I met up with friends old and new, online and “real life”, and met people who I had no connection to at all. A huge thanks to Andy and Vanessa for putting this event together.

The books I brought to swap

Kind of like TLC’s CrazySexyCool except FunnyCrazyDepressing

  • Child pick: Bart Simpson’s Guide to Life
  • Teen pick: Wuthering Heights
  • Adult pick: Mercy Among the Children

The funny thing about my child/teen/adult choices is that I read them all in my teens. I remember buying Bart Simpson’s Guide to Life when I was 13, I read Wuthering Heights for English in grade 11, and I read Mercy Among the Children when I was 19. I was a late bloomer and pretty much a child at 13, and though certainly not mature at 19, I remember thinking that this was such an “adult” book. Meaning I didn’t really understand it. I’ve reread it a few times since then.

The books I took home

Books I took home: Where the Wild Things Are, The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, and Vineland

A mixed bag!

  • Child pick: Where the Wild Things Are
  • Teen pick: The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul
  • Adult pick: Vineland

I had never read Where the Wild Things Are. I looked through it before reading it to Benjamin, and thought, huh, what’s the big deal? But Benjamin was taken with it right away. He calls it “The Jungle Book,” and I suppose one day he’ll learn about the other Jungle Book, but for how, he loves reciting the lines and talking about the “monsters.”

I’m nearly finished Douglas Adam’s The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, and it’s a perfect, light, funny book with a wild plot that I can’t imagine being resolved in the 50 or so remaining pages!

I know nothing about Thomas Pynchon or Vineland, except that it is actually one of the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die! Bonus!!

So? Do you have a good group of bookish friends? How do you make more?

And, If you were at yegbookswap, I would love to read your review of the event!

Attack of the 11 Pound Baby: VBAC Edition

A conversation on Twitter inspired me to write Henry’s VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) birth story. Reading positive VBAC stories was really helpful for me, so I hope I can help someone, or at least entertain those of you “birth nerds” who are into this sort of thing! For the “AC” in “VBAC”, see Benjamin’s birth story. 

Short Version:

Feb 14

  • 4:30 am – Wake up for the day. Irregular contractions
  • 8:00 pm – Contractions nearing 5 min apart. Leave for hospital
  • 9:00 pm – 4 cm, admitted

Feb 15

  • 4:00 am – 6 cm, epidural
  • 8:00 am – Water broken, 8cm
  • 3:15 pm – Start pushing
  • 6:42 pm – Henry Keith Frey born, 10 lbs 14 oz 23.5 inches

Attack of the 12 Pound Baby

A conversation on Twitter last night inspired me to write Henry’s VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) birth story. While I work on that, here is “AC” part of that equation, Benjamin’s c-section birth story, as written in April 2010 and originally posted on a parenting forum. Lots of TMI, mentions of mucous plugs, poop, etc. etc. – fair warning for those of you who don’t usually read this sort of thing!

Continue reading →

Read Local First

You eat local. You shop local. Do you read local?

When I’m not reading from the list, I usually come across books by accident – browsing the library or used book store, or a random recommendation – but I love it when a theme emerges. The idea of “reading local” has come up a few times lately:

  • Might need to plan a trip out East after reading this…

    I won a copy of  From Away by Edmonton author Michelle Ferguson from local book blog Eat Books. From Away is about an outsider in a small Nova Scotia community. I have family on Cape Breton Island, and have heard the expression “from away” used to describe not only visitors, but anyone not born on the island, even those who have lived there for twenty plus years.

  • A random person tweeted me with a recommendation for Americas by Edmonton author Jason Lee Norman. Americas is a collection of 22 short stories, one for each of the countries in the Americas. This is another case of a local author writing about “away.” I’m looking forward to this one, as short stories sound like the perfect antidote to months of dense Russian drama.
  • Another way to read local is to connect with local readers. Fellow book lover Andy Grabia (@agrabia) is organizing a book swap on June 26th where each person must bring a book they loved as a child, a book they loved as a teenager, and a book they loved as an adult. Henry and I will be there, for the first hour or so anyway. Bedtime must be observed. Check it out, sign up and maybe I’ll see you there.

And with that, my summer reading is set. From Away, Americas, and whatever I pick up at the book swap will keep me reading local for the next few months. I’m interested to see how the themes of being “local” versus “from away” play out in these books.

Do you read local? Does a book’s setting or author’s origin influence your reading choices? 

More Snobbery

I came across this article satirizing book clubs on Jezebel. The article had me chuckling, but the comments are even better, and are in the same vein as my “Book Snob” post the other day. Hunger Games, Twilight, Fifty Shades; it’s all there. And Franzen, who I seem to talk about a lot, judging by my “most used tags.”

My feelings are summed up by an article title, referenced in the comments: “Can 35 Million Book Buyers Be Wrong? Yes.” It’s a review of Harry Potter by Harold Bloom, full text here. A great moment in book snobbery!

I had better finish The Idiot if I want to have any book snob cred. I ordered a Kobo reading light which should help that cause considerably. In the meantime, I added the full list of the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (see “The List” tab up top), with the ones I’ve read crossed off, for your perusal. I love crossing items off lists, so pressing Alt-Shift-D one hundred times (to format the strike-throughs) was quite enjoyable!

Book Snob

“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” Henry David Thoreau

(A bit of humility before I go into why I’m so good at reading and you’re not: I spent half an hour searching for the above quote. I could remember the jist, but not the actual words or the author. Then I noticed that it is literally the first thing I ever posted on this blog.)

This about sums it up. Via Perez Hilton.

I’m a book snob. I’ve been feeling extra snobby lately, and I blame Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s all I hear about on forums, Facebook, and Twitter. But wait – isn’t it a fan fiction of a young adult novel, not to mention very poorly written and edited? Okay, it’s racy, but so are lots of novels, from romance to erotica. That’s nothing new. So, what gives? And why does it bother me?

“Fifty Shades Fever” feels like the culmanation of a bigger trend towards adults reading “young adult” and/or just plain *bad* novels. And I do not mean “so bad it’s good.” I lurk in a few book challenge discussions online (people trying to read 25 or 50 books in one year), and lots of them are reading chick lit after chick lit book. Why bother? What’s the point of a challenge if it’s not challenging?

I realize that these feelings make me a snob of the worse kind. Why do I care what people read?  Who am I to decide what’s worthy of a reader’s time? But… I can’t help myself! As the Thoreau quote suggests, there are SO MANY good books. More than anyone will ever read. I’ve been working at the 1,001 books list for FIVE YEARS and I’ve read 10% of it. And I started at around 5%. I get that people are looking for a fun read or escapism, but it’s unfathomable, and even offensive, that people spend so much time reading terrible books!

The bad book by which all other bad books will be judged.

Of course, like most snobs, I think it’s okay to go slumming as long as it’s done ironically. Some work colleagues are running a fantastic bad book club. I was lucky enough to sit in on a discussion of “Flowers in the Attic”, that classic and horribly overwrought  ode to family dysfunction (and incest.) But, most of us read it for the first time as children, not adults. (Which, upon reflection, is pretty messed up – due to all that incest!)

It will probably surprise no one that I’m also a music snob, and in a former (pre-kids) life a clothes and bag snob. What can I say? I appreciate quality. And I’m judging you. Sorry. But, if you must read bad books, at least William Faulkner’s got your back:

“Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read!”

What do you think? Do you consider yourself a book snob? Why are people freaking out about Fifty Shades and the like?