Only half worth it

Hotel World is made up of six interconnected tales about women. A dead girl, a street person, a sick woman, a liar, a lost girl, and a chance encounter. I wish the second through the fourth stories had been cut. I loved the opening piece told by the ghost. It felt like a good whimsical modern day Our Town. However, the next three women's stories don't add anything great.

Then comes the sister's piece, and it is touching. The last story is wonderful in so many ways. I loved the snippets of people's lives in the end piece. Had we given those three in-between stories a miss, this would easily be a 9. The three women feel like small parts made big for filler, and pissed me off so well that I can only rate this one a 5.

As it is, this is a Booker finalist and short stories so I'm counting it towards 100 Shots of Short and my 101 list.

Devastating and brutal and beautiful

I'm telling you right off, that this collection gets a 10 on the Claire scale. I adore it - as harsh as it is. This is the collection that Brokeback Mountain came from (a movie I love), but so many other stories in here would make great movies too. I'm using this as a jump off point for yet another challenge - 100 Shots of Short. And now the stories:

Half-Skinned Steer - Brothers Mero and Rollo raised on a ranch with their father and his girlfriend. This story revolves around one brother returning to the ranch after being long gone for a very long time. The story within a story that everything revolves around is absolutely nightmare-inducing.

The Mud Below - About a teenage boy who gets into bull riding. The ending - particularly the last two paragraphs - are beautiful. A poignant look at how we get to where we are in life.

Job History - This story was one of my favorites. A rushed telling of a man's life from beginning to end. Everything is told emotionlessly in just highlights and snippets. I loved this partially because it reminded me of sitting on the porch of one of my mother's closest friends. I was elementary school aged, and the lady's house was just down the street from my school in a tiny tiny one street township. Nothing happened in that little pocket of the word without everyone taking note. I would sit on the floor of that beat-up rickety porch and listen to my mother and her friend gossip about any and everyone - their whole lives reduced to just a few instances and decisions. This story took me right back there.

The Blood Bay - This is a fun bit of a punchline at the end of a gruesome bit of a story.

People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water - The most powerful one in the whole book. It tells the story of parents dealing with the prodigal son who is disfigured by a terrible accident. This one is going to haunt me for a long long time. If you read any of these stories, make it this one.

The Bunchgrass at the End of the World - This one ventures into a bit of magical realism. (I swear every time I turned to a new story, Proulx managed to surprise me with her skill in storytelling). This story is about a couple living on a ranch with the husband's difficult father as well as their lonely, plump daughter. There is a beautiful bit in here about a wedding where the guests, unable to afford rice, shower the couple with wheat. The imagery made my fingers ache to pick up a paintbrush. (I so need some more art classes so I can give into this sort of ache more often).

Pair of Spurs - This is the only story of the bunch that I didn't adore. I liked all the components to the story - the characters, the situations, and so on. I just didn't feel that it all came together that well.

Lonely Coast - Another gorgeous story that could have been plucked out of any small town. The mood of boredom and desperation that swirls around the main characters is perfect.

The Governors of Wyoming -

55 Miles to the Gas Pump - Never have I been so chilled by so few words.

Brokeback Mountain - The movie stays so true to this brief little tale. It's gorgeous and spare and absolutely heart-wrenching.

I finished this book convinced that Proulx can do anything with her words. It's a hard read. There's so much brutality. At first, I was concerned that I wouldn't make it through; it seemed that every story contained malevolence towards women. And things aren't pretty for most of the women in these stories, but neither are they so great for the men. She paints Wyoming, both is past and its present, as an amazing, beautiful and harsher than can be imagined place. It really is a gorgeous and stirring read.

In which our valiant blogger is struck dumb

After out trip to the gorgeous city of Savannah, me and the bubs both read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. We both mostly liked it too. Now usually, the mister sticks to history books - generally presidential history concerning the founding fathers or Abraham Lincoln. He's what you might call a "buff." I read all over the map, and, while I have increased my nonfiction reading thanks to my 101 list, I tend towards more fluffish nonfiction.

I had a (I thought) genius idea. My husband and I could start our own two person bookclub. We'd alternate choosing that month's book. This would expand both our readings and give us something extra to discuss. I graciously gave the mister the first choice.

After an onnoxiously snowy weekend, we ventured out to the bookstore on Sunday. Not to buy the book since I'm an avid library card user, just to browse and for him to pick said book. After some wandering around, he admits that he'd actually made his choice a few days before.

"Oh," asks me all innocent and brightly, "What are we reading?"

"There's a book by Grant that's supposed to be really good. His memoirs!"

"Ullysses S. Grant," I ask thinking that I'll never get this boy outta the Civil War.

"Yep, it's supposed to be really good Here it is."

And the man holds aloft a fricking brick of a book triumphantly. I wait for him to crack a smile and laugh himself silly. It doesn't happen.

"That's enormous. Does it cover everything?"

"His whole life. He didn't really want to write it, but had to cause he was broke."

"Was he paid by the word?"

Glowering looks from my boy.

I try again, "So you really want to kick off our little project with an enormous book by a long dead man who was not a writer who didn't want to even write his book?"

More glowering looks. "I thought I had the first pick."

"But this book is like 5 books! I'll never stay awake to read the entire thing!"

"So you'd rather I picked something like that?" he asks, pointing at a book titled The Civil War for Dummies.

At this point, I wallop him and grumblingly, we leave the store.

This morning, I looked the book up via the library's website. It is 1,199 pages long. I made one last emailed plea to my husband to come up with another pick. If I can't convince him, you can bet I'll be spending many painful weeks cursing this man:

2009 Book Challenges

After a dismal 2008 in which I didn't finish a single challenge, I'm buckling down for 2009. Here's what I'll be participating in.

First my own particular goals:

- Read the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
- Finish my 50 nonfiction books for my 101 list. (Currently with only 13 to go!).
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
- The Scarlet Pimpernel
- The Mitford Girls

Now for some challenges!

- A Striped Armchair's World Citizen Challenge. I find this extremely intimidating. Precisely why I'm doing it. This challenge requires reading the following categories but not about my own country:
1. A book on politics or foreign policy
2. Economics
3. History
4. Culture or Anthropology/Sociology
5. Worldwide Issues
6. Memoirs/Autobiographies

This will take some serious research to pick the books I want to read.

- The Read Your Own Damn Books Challenge. For this I'm planning on reading:
1. The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
2. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
3. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
4. The first three Anne Rice vampire books.
5. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
6. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
7. The first two Robert Jordan books

- Continue to participate in book groups. Two of which are Endicott Mythic Fiction & The Classics.

- Audio Books Challenge - listen to 12 audio books in 2009.
1. The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
Haven't decided on the others just yet.

- Start a mini book club with my husband. We've discussed both reading a nonfiction book a month. We'll take turns picking the book, and I'm expecting a heavy slant towards the history of American presidents.

- Political History Challenge

- A Hundred Shots of Short - planning on reading a hundred short stories.

The Line Between

I read The Line Between by Peter S. Beagle for the Mythopoeic Award Challenge. This is the second book I've finished out of the seven I agreed to take on. Its a book of short stories so how about I review them individually?

1. Two Hearts is the sequel to The Last Unicorn. Apparently Mr. Beagle is working on a sequel. I'm probably the only person in the world who's not looking forward to this. I like how the characters were left in the last book thank you very much. The story isn't bad but it didn't do it for me. Probably because I'm a grouch.

2. Four Fables. Meh.

3. El Regalo I adored. Make this one into a book instead! A sister discovers that her annoying little brother is a witch - a very powerful one. Of course, that doesn't stop him from being a typical obnoxious little brother. It makes for a really good story.

4. Gordon the Self-Made Cat - all about a mouse who decides to become a cat. Too cutesy for my taste.

5. Quarry is a prequel to another book of Beagle's that I haven't read. It was really good though - all about two outsiders running from some scary folk. I may have to pick up "The INnkeeper's Song just to discover what follows.

6. Salt Wine was good and creepy. All about the dealings with a male mermaid which are apparently called "merrows" and are as ugly as the mermaids are bewitching. Very well done.

7. Mr. Sigerson is a Sherlock Holmes-ish tale. Not a bad story really. It deals with an investigation into some strange dealings with a cellist and his wife. However, had the notes not said that this was him playing with the Holmes character, I never would have realized it. Maybe I need to add some. Holmes and Watson into my reading.

8. A Dance for Emilia - really touching and lovely. I want to dream of the kind of dance that takes place in this story.

So it was a bit of a mixed bag. Enchanting in some places and a pure slog in others.

Chunkster update - Misfortune

I recently finished book #2 for the Chunkster Challenge. Misfortune by Wesley Stace clocks in at a hefty 544 pages. The premise sounded so interesting that its been on my to-read list for a while, but the idea of lugging this monster back and forth with me for lunchtime reading everyday put me off a bit.

The novel starts in 1820 and revolves around a baby found by a garbage heap by the wealthiest man in England. Although the baby is a boy, the man has never gotten over the loss of his sister and so decides to raise the child as a girl. Hooked yet?

When explaining the idea of the book to my husband, he declared it creepy sounding, but it isn't at all! I loved so many of the characters in this book. There's Rose Old who grows up believing herself to be a girl, her childhood playmates, the adopted librarian mother so geniusly named Anonyma, and her caring but obviously not-all-together father.

It took me about 100 pages to get really hooked on the story. Thankfully, the blizzard of '08 hit just as I got to the point that I couldn't bear to put it down. The book is an interesting mix of Possession and Fingersmith as well as its own delightful and odd originality. I really really enjoyed this one.

Cleverness is a quality a man likes to have in his wife as long as she is some distance away from him.

I neglected to post my review of Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad that I read for the Mythopoeic Award Challenge.

More than a little clever, I really enjoyed this book. I listened to it on tape at work and sadly, due to some loudmouth obnoxious coworkers (bitter much?), there were some parts that took more than one listen to catch. I really enjoyed the unexpectedness of the storytelling and the less than reliable narrator. The singing maids were quite enjoyable. And who can resist classic stories told from alternate points of view?

I adore Margaret Atwood's books. Isn't it the best feeling to finish a book by an author you've greatly enjoyed before and know that they still have plenty more books you still haven't read?

Chunkster Challenge Update - Two for One

Remember when I posted that I was going to participate in the Chunkster Challenge? Well I read my first quarter book and actually a bit more than that.

My first choice was Zelda by Nancy Milford, and at 467 pages it seemed to fit. I should have done some further checking. See the book was those probably all those pages in hardback and including the glossary. Oops! My paperback tiny print book was just at 402 pages including glossary.

As for the book itself, I enjoyed it. I really knew very little about the Fitzgerald's beforehand other than I really like The Great Gatsby. The story of their courtship was fascinating. Zelda was a true free spirit and had the run of her hometown and more admirers than she could keep track of. The relationship between Scott & Zelda was intense and flawed and codependent and so ever-changing. I was stunned by Scott's possessiveness of their history as fodder for only his writing. I was equally amazed by Zelda's fragile mental state and how in the world a child was raised among the two of them.

The author obviously has to discuss both of their writings in the book, but it got a bit repetitious for me in parts since both of them wrote very autobiographical novels. I prefer Nancy Milford's biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay over Zelda, but I really like the way this Milford writes so I can't wait to read her next book (which will apparently be about Rose Kennedy according to wikipedia).

So what's a girl to do when her challenge book doesn't live up to the challenge? Why, pick up another book of course!

At 819 pages, Libba Bray's The Sweet Far Thing easily fit the challenge requirements. The last of Bray's books about Gemma Doyle, this YA novel was really enjoyable and hard to put down.

First off, I have to say though that book one had the loveliest cover, book two was prettyish, but this cover really didn't do much for me. Meh.

As for the story, I have to rave. For one, it isn't all predictable. I was as confused as Gemma about who could be trusted and who couldn't. Also the author doesn't shy away from some pretty adult themes and idea. And best of all its a trilogy and not a never-ending series looking to milk every last bit out of the idea and the readers' pocketbooks. (Can you tell who recently visited the bookstore and was horrified by all the never-ending YA series that looked like cheap knockoffs of Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?)

I'm sure to send this to my niece. She'll love the mix of strong female characters, magic, adventure, and a bit of romance. Plus the themes are a perfect mind expanding stretch for a girl in her early teens.

Also - wow! Being part of one of these challenges forces a girl to write a real review rather than just my too easy "liked it" or "didn't much like it." I feel as if I'm back in school a bit.

Bookishness

I've resisted participating in one of these reading challenges, but a fresh new year has me prepared to throw myself headfirst into two of them. I always have to overdo everything.



The first I'm doing is the Mythopoeic Challege to read 7 award winners this year. Mostly chosen cause I love mythic lit. My list is:

1. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (which I've been meaning to read forever.)

2. Something Rich and Strange by Patricia McKillip

3. The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye by A.S. Byatt

4. The Porelain Dove by Delia Sherman

5. The Line Between by Peter S. Beagle

6. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (Adore everything she ever wrote)

7. Mortal Love by Elizabeth Hand



And two just-in-case-I-hate-something substitutes are:

1. Summerland by Michale Chabon

2. Giant Bones by Peter S. Beagle




The second challenge I cannot resist is the Chunkster Challenge.

I have to read 4 books of 450 pages or more regular type. Sounds like fun!

Here's my picks:

1. Zelda: A Biography by Nancy Milford (just edging in at 467 pages)

2. The Mitford Girls by Mary Lovell (624 pages)

3. Misfortune by Wesley Stace (544 pages)

4. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (at a whopping 900+ pages)

Alternates:
1. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (640 pages)

2. Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose

Oh my! Better keep my library card handy!