Kids These Days: A Novel

Yeah. Right. Seriously, though, what's up with them? Kids These Days by Drew Perry.

Walter and Alice, after finding out they are pregnant and Walter getting laid off, move to Florida upon the promise of family close by. They have a place to live and Alice's brother-in-law, Mid, hires Walter on. Only it's not a real job--Walter is supposed to drive around and "check in" on things. Before long this seemingly ideal job starts raising eyebrows--IRS agents trying to shakedown Mid, a pot operation running out of the back of the pizza place, a stolen ice machine, and a teenage daughter running off with a 19 year old. In the midst of this, Walter is scared out of his mind to become a father.

I found myself having a very good time with this book. It is narrated in first person by Walter, and I found it strangely easy to relate to his fear of the upcoming change. It ran as an undercurrent to everything that was happening in this story, whether he was in the passenger seat of a yellow Camaro running from the cops or on a boat to an obscure island location to pick up his runaway niece. Everything informed Walter's fear of the unknown and very near future.

Then there's Mid. We have all met someone like Mid. He's a business man with his fingers in so many pots that it seems legitimate until you get a bit closer. You realize that he is just the same hustler you see on the corner only in a better shirt and nicer shoes. When the fire comes on, however, Mid bolts from the kitchen because he can't stand the heat. In true hustler fashion, I might say.

I found this book to be entertaining and enjoyable for my commuting time. It also helps to imagine being someplace warmer than here, as New York City in the winter is bordering on unbearable. I was able to sit back and live vicariously in this crazy Florida world that Perry has created that seems unbelievable until you look a little more closely and realize--you know these people.

Kindle version on left, hard copy on right.

In the Blood: A Novel

Lisa Unger's In the Blood sounded intriguing, so I picked it up. I was knocked off my feet just a few pages in and was addicted right away.

Lana has a secret. One held so deep down inside that it transforms her as a person, so much so that at times she is unclear about what is the truth and what is a lie. When she takes a job as a babysitter during her college days for a troubled boy, Luke, who is a student at the local school for difficult children. Before she knows it, Lana is mixed up in a sinister scavenger hunt designed by Luke that will lead her to face her demons and find that there are even more than she could ever imagine.

Lana plays chess often with Luke, and the chess board is a perfect metaphor for this story. It is a calculated game of smarts, where you never really know who is winning until someone calls "check." Even then it's not the end--can you outrun your opponent? For some there is a fine line between fact and fiction, but this story isn't one of them. Lana is clearly hiding her past to not be defined by it, but living a lie is ultimately what owns her in the end.

I was completely taken aback when I put the puzzle pieces together; all of the sudden down became up and left became right. I absolutely loved that about this book--that you are following along on what seems to be a clear storyline until you ultimately realize you aren't. Nothing is as it seems. Unger pulls away layers of the story like an onion, just waiting until you think you are with her to reveal one more piece of the story that it turns out you desperately need to know. Lana feels that the Matryoshka dolls, the Russian nesting dolls, are the perfect metaphor for her own life. She is right. They are also the perfect metaphor for this intricately woven thriller.

At one point I felt as though this story was a little fantastical, far from reality. There is no way this could happen. But then again, truth is stranger than fiction. Either way, I realized as I was racing through the book that I didn't much care about realism, that I was enjoying the spiderweb of a story too much to be concerned about how real this could be. There was enough realism in the desire to move away and start over with a new identity. Haven't we all, at one point or another, wanted this? And in the end, aren't we all hiding pieces of ourselves?

Kindle version on left, hard copy on right.

Promise Land: My Journey Through America's Self-Help Culture

I couldn't resist the subtitle! This is Promise Land: My Journey Through America's Self-Help Culture by Jessica Lamb-Shapiro.

Jessica grew up in the world of self-help. Her father is a psychologist and self-help writer, and her mother died when she was young, making her childhood all about being in touch with her feelings and working through the hard stuff. As a journalist, she decides to seek out what makes people so attracted to the self-help industry and what makes some self-help writers successful while others work years for naught. Her journey takes her to a seminar on The Rules and how to rope (and keep) a man; a camp where she finds herself mentally strong enough to walk on coals; and on a search to find out what The Secret helps you accomplish.

I was initially attracted to this book because I have always found the self-help genre fascinating. Who reads this stuff, and for things like The Rules and The Secret, who actually buys into it? More than quite a few people, obviously, as these are bestsellers and have been for years. I love Lamb-Shapiro's framework in this book; she approaches all of these chapters with a bit of hesitancy and more than enough skepticism for us both. I appreciate her candidness on both her initial feelings and the process through which she found that, occasionally, a little self-help never hurt anyone. I particularly loved her exploration of the vision board with a friend--where you put everything you want on a board and manifest it.

This treatise made me strongly consider how I feel about "authors" who view their success as a business rather than as a service. ("Authors," not writers, as Lamb-Shapiro says, because not every "author" actually writes their self-help advice in anthologies with which you might be familiar, yet they are still billed as the "author.") I have never bought into things like The Rules or The Secret, but then again I am one who doesn't believe in wallowing in what I don't have. I am single? Well, let me rock the &$#@ out of being single. I will just go on a two week trip to France this summer. I am not wealthy? Not a problem. I will just pinch my pennies in one area of my life so that I can have that new dress. I am a believer in the power of positive thinking, but I do not believe that my thoughts will manifest, for instance, a subway train. You know one will come eventually, right?

I will be the first to admit that I loved the Chicken Soup for the Soul series as a kid. After all, who doesn't love uplifting stories? I had my fair share of these books on my shelf. They fit perfectly in the self-help cubby hole, and this book had me thinking critically as to why I was so attracted to them in my pre-teen years. It wasn't that I needed so much self-help, I think, as it was about my identity search and my seeking out of a positive future that would one day come through. I realize now, especially after Lamb-Shapiro's book, that it is all staged, hokey, and formulaic. But it served its purpose at the time as I am sure it serves a purpose now in many lives around the world. So, at the end of the day, it's not about whether or not it is empirically based, comes from a genuine place, or matters in the larger sense of the world. If it works for you, even as a placebo--rock on.

Kindle version on left, hard copy on right.

If Only You People Could Follow Directions: A Memoir

I read the title of Jessica Hendry Nelson's memoir, If Only You People Could Follow Directions and I was sold. Because I feel this way all the time.

Putting together a series of essays to tell her story, Jessica Hendry Nelson tells the tale of her mother, her brother Eric, and herself. Her addict father dies when she is young, her brother becomes an addict himself when he is only just a child, and her mother is driven to find ways to keep her children out of harm's way. Jessica finds the drive to go off to school, let her best friend go when he becomes a danger to himself, and to push herself in ways she has never been driven by others before. Ultimately, though, it's family that brings us back.

I really enjoyed the format of this book; Nelson took each relationship and explored it in depth within the confines of a chapter. It was so easy to understand her care and her frustration with those who were throwing their lives away; what I felt was so outstanding about Nelson's writing is that you can feel the fog she has placed over this history in order to protect herself from such personal pain that could be so overwhelming if she would let it. I think each of us can understand that fog, that sheen that we put over the past because if we had to go through that level of hurt again we might just not make it.

I particularly loved Nelson's essay on her grandmother and how complicated her relationship was with this matriarch. I find it so interesting how families are made and how tenuous these relationships can be; I felt Nelson really explored that in describing how much she loves her grandmother yet how frustrated she could be with her. Family is complicated, y'all. We all know that. At the end of the day it's really just about the love, isn't it?

Hard copy below:

Unremarried Widow: A Memoir

I jumped at the chance to read this memoir--and I... This is Artis Henderson's Unremarried Widow.

Artis never imagined she would end up here, married to the Army and living in Texas, madly in love with her soul mate. She always thought she would marry later in life after traveling the world and becoming a writer. Miles, though, changed her life. When he deploys to Iraq less than a year into their marriage, she moves home to Florida to be with her family. She never expected that he would be killed in action and she would become what the military terms an "unremarried widow"--at age 26.

This. Book. Killed. Me. I cried. Aloud. I was laying in bed, absorbed in the story, and I found myself in the deepest depths of grief when word came that Miles had been killed. I knew it would come--it's the premise of the book, for crying out loud. But I loved Miles, and I loved Artis, and I loved their relationship so much it hurt. I was rooting for them and for Miles to live even though I knew that it just wasn't possible. If I just think right, though, maybe he won't go away. I can change the events of the past, right?!?

Henderson is a beautiful writer whose pathos runs down to the depths of the ocean. She is so human in her writing and so purposeful in her prose that reading her work has the soothing feel of lying in a hammock on a warm spring day. She bares it all for us--fights, loving moments, pain--and in the process she makes herself raw and real, allowing the reader (i.e., ME) to relate to her on such a deeply and intensely personal level that when she hurts, we hurt. When she rejoices, we rejoice. When she heals, we heal.

This book is beyond affecting, and the joy that comes out of the pain will make you feel alive. This book was a gift to us from Artis Henderson, and I feel honored to have been let into the fold of readership of a tale that holds such love, heartbreak, and healing.

Kindle version on left, hard copy on right.

Bingo's Run: A Novel

I will admit, I was a bit skeptical when I picked up Bingo's Run, James Levine's novel. I was beyond surprised at how badly I needed this storytelling and the beauty of finding care.

Bingo is the greatest drug runner the slums of Kenya has ever seen. He runs "white" all over the place and holds the records for the most runs ever done in a day. He calls himself a growth retard; others call him, "meejit." One night his boss gives him a very important run--only when Bingo decides to disobey, he finds himself witness to a life-changing event. He is sent away to an orphanage for safe-keeping only to find himself suddenly being adopted by a wealthy American woman who he believes is trying to rob him of millions.

In truth, I giggle when I read that description because it is so outrageous to read, yet so believable on the page. First of all, I both loved and hated Bingo. More love than hate, and not "hate" exactly. I was frustrated with Bingo at times because I wanted him to take advantage of what was being handed to him. He believes the worst in people, and rightfully so. It's not as though his life has shown him that people are inherently good. His mother was murdered before his very eyes--by the man who would become his boss, no less. Bingo is a complicated boy and I was rooting for him so hard.

I found myself laughing aloud at times and wholly moved at others. I wavered on whether or not I though Mrs. Steele, the wealthy American woman, was actually trying to steal Bingo's (not so much) millions, and I ultimately wanted Bingo to go to America and start and new life and be grateful he wasn't dead, dammit. I loved the story arc; I loved following it through until the very end, laughing and loving and excited. I particularly love that at the end, the moral of the story is that we are all hustlers in one or another--trying to make it through, day by day, minute by minute. However, if we choose to let love into our lives, we can hustle together.

What a great lesson to embrace.

Kindle version on left, hard copy on right.

The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives

I picked up a copy of Katie Couric's The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives at the internship I ran from this summer, and I read it over the holidays this year.

This book of collected essays offer the best advice given to them by such luminaries as Maya Angelou and Jimmy Carter, such successes as Mario Batali and Meryl Streep, and such insightful people such as Gloria Steinem and Whoopie Goldberg. Each essay is short and sweet, giving readers the opportunity to take in advice that others who have been so successful have been given and have taken to heart.

Honestly, I picked this up as a fluff read to kill some time while I was home over the holidays. I ended up being knocked off my feet by the book. I found it to be incredibly moving and intelligently insightful. I found myself busting out my highlighter and dogearing pages in order to come back to the advice. I nodded in agreement to advice I have (thankfully) already heeded, and I made a mental note of the advice I still need to follow.

I left it at home for my mom to read with the strict instructions to put it right back on my night table when she finished. Ok, it's technically the guest room night table seeing as how I live several thousand miles away, but the point is that I am keeping this book around. I was so pleasantly surprised with the heart and the thought that was put into each essay. I will come back to this book time and again when I need a reminder that I can get there--just take my time and push on forward.

Kindle version on the left, hard copy on the right.

The Empty Chair: Two Novellas

There is a lot to talk about today, kids. This is Bruce Wagner's The Empty Chair. 

In these two connected novellas, an author that has collected people's stories comes across two that are strangely connected. In "The First Guru," a gay man searches for inner peace after the suicide of his young son. "The Second Guru" is a story that temporally occurred before the first but must come second, according to the author, in order for us to understand the connection. In this story, an aging woman named Queenie found herself in more than a few jams as a young woman and sets out on her own spiritual journey in her later years. When the connection between these two emerges, it is simple yet powerful.

I was incredibly taken by the first story, that of a man whose name we never know but whose story is lovely and devastating all at the same time. The phrase "the empty chair" refers to so much both physically and metaphorically, and it comes across so clear in this first novella. I felt that the man was speaking with me in the interview and not with the fictional narrator, and that was the most wonderful part of this novella. While the story is being told in just one place and time, I was able to witness the character arc fill the space fully and deeply. It was a wonderful piece of writing, and I found myself really contemplating my own beliefs while reading this section. A good piece of work will make you think.

I did not find myself quite as happy with the second novella; I found it to be meandering and unclear at times and when I got halfway through the section I realized that I just wasn't getting it. I pushed through, but ultimately decided that I would focus my energies on the beauty of the first section of writing.

Kindle version on left, hard copy on right.

Running with Scissors: A Memoir

I had yet to read Augusten Burrough's Running with Scissors, and I thought this past summer would be a perfect time to pick up the paperback version and indulge in a little kookiness.

Something is wrong with Augusten's family. His mother is crazy and his father could care less about anything. When his mother announces that Augusten will soon be under the care of her therapist Dr. Finch, Augusten is unsure of what will happen to him. The Finch's, after all, are even crazier than his mother. In his years in their home, Augusten discovers he is gay and takes a much older lover, finds his best friend, and gets into shenanigans he would have missed otherwise.

This is the kind of summer beach read that I love. It was wild and out-there and a devil of a read--one where I found myself smiling and having a ball of a time. I especially recommend this book in paperback because it is the perfect indulgence of a vacation read. (I personally find paperbacks to be like the private chocolate stash you don't tell your family about that is in the back of the junk drawer in the kitchen. Shhh...) It is on the light side, meaning that you can read it in a few days, but it still has the substance you look for in a summer book.

I did find myself often wondering how true this story could actually be. Upon further thought, though, I realized I didn't care because it was exactly what I want in a story. A little exaggeration, a lot of memory, and a sprinkle of crazy. Well, okay, never mind--it's a cup and a half of crazy. It didn't require me to make a flow chart of characters--they came off the page themselves and lived in life. I was able to take a ride-along on the crazy train for a few hours. 

And let me tell you--it was a blast.

Kindle version on left, hard copy on right. 
 

The Harry Potter Series

A beautiful, lovely, merry Christmas to you all! For those of you who do not celebrate this particularly holiday, I hope your season is merry and bright. To celebrate my love of book reading today, I am bringing you J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, but not in the usual way. 

I came to this series as an adult. I was just a little too old for the first couple of books when they were released, and by the time they caught my attention in college my tastes skewed away from fantasy. I always wanted to read them, but I was always distracted by the gazillions of other books I wanted to read. 

Finally, this summer, the Museum of Modern Art did a showing of all 8 movies in the course of a week. At this point I had read Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and Prisoner of Azkaban. I was definitely interested in finishing the series, but again, I was distracted. I had even tried racing the 3rd grader I was babysitting to finish the series--she won.

So I took on the challenge of 8 Harry Potter movies in 7 nights. The first two movies mimicked the feel of the first two books--almost children's lit and children's movies, and I appreciated that the director was able to hold on to that feeling of whimsy and danger but still staying safe. By the time I reached the fifth movie, Order of the Phoenix, I got it.

Half way through the movie, it hit me like a ton of bricks: "I get why people love these stories." I get how meaningful they are, the fight between good and evil although it is only as clear as you understand it. I get the protectiveness that fans have over this series, and why they hold it so close to their hearts. It's not just because Harry is a great character--he certainly is, but that's not just it. These stories are epics in the most literal sense; they are one long, narrative poem that tells the story of a flawed hero and his incredible, strong, growing, loving companions fighting for what they believe is right and just. It is classic in every sense--it's what we as humans have been drawn to since the dawn of the story.

So I decided to make the last four books happen before the end of the year.

This will not be a post as per usual. I will not be synopsizing the books; many other websites will do these books justice where I can only scratch the surface. Wikipedia is just one of many. Head there if you need a catch-up before continuing. I will wait.

Ok, then. Good to go? Me too.

The first two books were very YA, and I liked them for what they were. It was Harry's childhood and it is hard not to love him and his raggedy group of friends. These are classic stories of good versus evil, whether that evil is as simple as a bully (Draco Malfoy) or as complicated as You-Know-Who.There is a certain simplicity about these first two stories, and arguably the third, that resembles what an ideal childhood should be--for a wizard, or a boy. The reality is that we all have simple evils

and complicated evils, even if they aren't wizards and witches. Moving forward in life is necessary if we want to keep living. There is also a certain simplicity in Harry's ignorance as to the enormity of his role in the world that is heartbreaking. He is a child, and there is no reason he should know what he must come to know at the end of Order of the Phoenix. The larger truths and complications with which he must wrestle as he matures are a part of his identity formation and begin to define him. I am specifically thinking of the mental wrestling Harry does in Half-Blood Prince when dealing with the weight that comes with being chosen rather than Neville. (You didn't think you would get out of here without some psychobabble, did you??? Nonsense, my friends.)

There is, though, a certain weightiness that comes with reading these books for the first time as a fully-formed (I think, anyway) adult. The

questions that loom over me in these books are not ones that I could formulate as a teenager, let along grapple. What if you were asked to sacrifice yourself for the greater good? Dumbledore's choice was of a great magnitude, one of which I am not sure I could ever understand nor do. I can sit here and say I would, but to know your death and to accept it so readily is heavy stuff. Harry's willingness to put his life on the line to save Sirius in the Ministry, and even more than that, his friend's willingness to possibly sacrifice their own lives, is enormous. It shows a kind of love that is only possible when given wholly and selflessly. That is a hard thing to grasp if you have never felt it, but Rowling dives deep and gives you it.

Moving away from the story for a moment, I was astounded by the gift of watching Rowling's writing grow over the course of a decade and seven books. I think she is a beautiful writer (see

her newest here), and it is clear how much she cut her teeth on these beloved characters. She is talented to begin with, but her growth with Harry and the crew is just beautiful. Stunning, even.

I find that I want to spend more time in the world of Hogwarts and Harry more as an adult than I would as a child. I think I would have sped through these books and loved them for their story, but as a grown woman I want to sit and ponder on their greater meaning. The battle in Deathly Hallows is soul-crushing and soul-satisfying; the build-up, though, in Half-Blood Prince might have been my favorite. We live in this day and age in a world filled with fear of the unknown, be it terrorism, disease, or the economy. I found this resonating with the inhabitants of Rowling's world while they were lying in wait for Voldemort to return. No one knew quite what to expect, only that the other shoe had to drop. It was, after all, prophesied.

This post has not been to sell you on reading the books; in truth, you have probably already read them and found your own reality within them. This was a coming of age story of such depth, breadth, and beauty that it is hard to not sit down with them and judge them each on their own merits.

I am glad I finally came to these books, but it had to be in my own time, in my own way. These are a joy to experience, but it has to be when you are ready. They hold so much within their spines, and the journey must be your own.

I have links below to purchase the books in all forms. If you haven't yet made the journey, choose your time and crack them open.

Meet you on platform 9 3/4.