book broads • The Reading Life of a Bookseller

by Portia Turner
Being a bookseller, especially at a small indie store, can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to reading. I am constantly receiving free copies of books, mostly galleys from the publishers so we can read books before they come out, and my book nerd heart is just exploding with happiness.

That said, reading when you are surrounded by all of those books can be stressful. I know, boo-hoo, you have too many books. Hear me out.

When it comes to reading, I don’t always have a choice about what I want to read. Sometimes I look over at the stacks on my shelves and think, “Oh, my precious books, how I want to read you.” But there is so much more that goes into making those decisions. The first priority for my reading has to do with events we are doing. I don’t always read the book before the events (because we have tons of events and there is no way I could possibly do that).

Take my last few months, for example, which have been especially event book heavy. For example, we had an event with Augusten Burroughs followed by an event with Brendan Reichs and Veronica Roth in March so I read their books and then we divided up the books for our YA Fest right after I finished those books and so I had six YA books that I had to read in a month. Half way through the YA Fest reading, I went on a trip and decided to take no work books with me so I took a Jane Austen which helped me with my reading challenge with my roommates. (More about that later.) I returned to work and found that there was a brand new galley from one of my favorite YA authors who was also going to be at the fest so I picked that up and added it to the list. 5 of the 7 YA books in, my brain couldn’t handle teenagers anymore so I picked up We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby and started to read that but then got overwhelmed by the fact that I wasn’t reading the YA books I needed to for work. So I started reading an essay from that book followed by a YA book. ALSO, all this time, I had a galley of the new David Sedaris (my all time favorite author) staring at me, asking why I wasn’t reading it. So I was sneaking around with it, reading bits and pieces here and there and feeling like I was cheating on the other books. Finally, I finished the YA books in time for the fest and had time to read two whole books for fun before event reading for May started up. In fact, it snuck up on me cause who knew it was already May? So now, here I am having just finished Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig for an event we had last Tuesday and madly trying to finish Cork Dork for an event that is happening this week. After that I have one more event book and then I can read for fun some more, that is until the June schedule comes out.

And don’t even get me started on backlist! (For those not in the book world, backlist are books that have been out for a while. They are usually in paperback and, if an author has many books, includes the older books by that author.) My roommates decided that we were going to do a reading challenge and both of them said, “Oh this will be so easy for you.” But when I looked at the list, I started to panic. There are multiple items on the checklist that include old books. While I have more than enough ideas of what I want to read to check that off, I can’t begin to imagine when I will have time to read those books. I bought Middlemarch last year because I want to read it and I haven’t picked it up since I bought it. Every time I see it I think about how much I want to read it but then I get overwhelmed thinking about all of the books that are coming out and why haven’t I read them yet and oh crap there are so many events coming up and three different books came out last week that I wanted to read oh no I’m falling behind and then I find myself in a puddle on the floor. From there I crawl away and pick up the book I am currently reading and try to forget the whole thing.

So yeah, reading can be stressful as someone working in a bookstore. And this doesn’t even take into account that publishers are constantly telling us what is awesome and coming out soon and the fact that we are going to author dinners and getting to talk to authors about their new books and why we should read them. And then we get Publishers Weekly and Kirkus and the boxes of galleys arrive everyday. I can’t even keep a TBR list anymore because everything would be on there.

All of that said, I still love reading. Nothing lives up to the feeling of hanging out with a good book. I absolutely love working in the book world and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I just really wish there were more hours in a day and more days in a week so I could just read everything.

Thank you, Portia! Read more about Portia and the other Broads as their bios fill on here. Stay tuned for more of the Nerd Phone Chain :) -Elis

book broads

I decided to enlist some of my friends who are definitely more avid reads than I am these days. I wanted to still keep a book component, but didn't want to delve into stale topics. So I enlisted some other broads to be part of the Nerd Phone Chain Book Corner. We all became friends when we worked together at a book store. As we've been away from that place for about two years, we've developed a group chat dubbed Nerd Phone Chain (NPC). We're drawn together by our love of books, quirky humor, old fashioneds, fried cheese, and our pets. Also, I love them ❤️ I will be introducing them once we get their photos situated, but for now, I wanted to write a little bit on why I have been a terrible reader lately.

When I worked at the book store, I tore through books as though we were running out of books. Essentially, there were too many books and I wanted them all. Hell, I still want them all. Matt and I have shelves and bins of books we have yet to read, not to mention we read each other's books. I think it's safe to say I love books. I love talking about them and I'd love to write someday. But things have shifted and I don't read as often as I do.

I began a new job almost two years ago at a small local natural food grocery. I still hung onto reading then, but I recall a depressive episode completely sidelined any and all of my interests. I watched a playlist of Jimmy Fallon playing games with his guests to make myself laugh. I was buried deep in the depressive darkness. It's hard to get back into a book that you abandoned during that episode, no matter how much you wanted to finish it. Things seemed to decline from there.

I would pick up a book, get half way, and put it back on the shelf. I continued buying books that I hoped would intrigue me. Only a couple managed to make me to feel like to voracious reader I once was-- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng; Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein; The Girls by Emma Cline; The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine N. Aron; Will You Please Be Quiet Please? by Raymond Carter. Lots of starting and stopping books. I don't know. I just became preoccupied by work and other hobbies. But, that's about to change.

I'm in the middle of reading South and West by Joan Didion. It will be my first contribution for the NPCBC. I look forward to it and to sharing the brilliant minds of my fellow book broads.

on the shelf: making room

I was supposed to do a month to month update of the books I have read, but those would be terribly short posts. I'm really taking my time, despite upping the challenge this year. Hopefully, I'll have another productive July and read ten books. When I think of all the books I have to read, it's a bit overwhelming. I've had to put my read books away in boxes. My room is overrun with books. Piles here and there, bookshelves two rows of books deep. I can't stop! I'm trying to get a handle on the books I have before I get anything else, although sometimes, who can resist?

Americanah: A fantastic read. It's not only about Ifemelu and Obinze's love. Ifemelu leaves for America to pursue higher education. She encounters racism she never experienced at home in Nigeria. This racism and feelings expressed by the oppressed confuse Ifemelu, frustrates her, and makes her homesick. Such an amazing book, such an incredible read. Others should read it as well, and not just because Lupita Nyong'o is going to star in & produce the movie, but because the story is incredible. That's why she's starring in and producing it. Duh.
Show Your Work!: The follow-up to Austin's Kleon's Steal Like An Artist. The process is just as important as the result, and just as important to share. There are many parts that are worth highlighting, but the entire thing is worth a read for creative folk out there.
Blue Nights: Joan Didion succeeds at pulling you into her memories once again. This memoir opens July 26, 2010, which would have been Quintana Roo's wedding anniversary. Didion goes on to vividly describe memories of Quintana's childhood. While John and Quintana are suspended in the age they were when they passed, Didion has continued to grow older, an underlying theme. One thing I loved about this book was that Didion addresses those critics that complained of her "flaunting" her privileged life. It brought a smile to my face. She's such an amazing lady.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: My very first Raymond Carver was purchased for $1. Such a steal for a masterpiece of short stories. They read as though someone is telling these stories, haunted by them, and needing to purge them from within. They were short, yet powerful in their delivery.
Sex Criminals, Volume 1 One Weird Trick: Matt was excited about purchasing this so I thought I could finish it in one afternoon. It's very interesting, funny, and quick. These two can stop time when they have sex and decide to use this ability to rob banks. It's crazy, yet imaginative.
Annihilation: This is the first in the Southern Reach trilogy. A novel about a mysterious Area X that has been cut off from the rest of the "continent." This twelfth expedition is all women and contains an anthropologist, a biologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor. They are sent to explore and bring back any data they gather. They discover a structure not mapped, and explore its depths with extreme caution. Previous groups have committed suicide, returned and died from a mysterious illness months later, and turned on one another. We quickly learn that not everything is as it seems.
Ask the Dust: Charles Bukowski worshipped Fante, and I see many similarities in their writings. Arturo Bandini comes to LA after his first story is published. He thinks he's a god. He falls for a waitress, becoming so obsessed with her, he abuses her every time he gets near. It's easy to get lost in his head with this novel.

on the shelf: the first quarter

The way I have done books on here has evolved quite a bit. I never find a format that I really like or that I can do quickly and consistently. Since I'm doing the 50 book challenge this year, I thought that maybe I could do a round-up of the books each month. Actually, I can't really take credit for that idea. Matt reads an insane amount (he's knocked out 48 books this year!) so he was coming up with better ways to keep track of his reading. That was one of them. I am a little behind, in my reading and keeping track of that on here. Every time I sit down to do it, I come up with something else to blog about. Not today. I will finish this.

My last post touched a little upon my reading of Factotum by Charles Bukowski. This was my second Bukowski novel, the first being Post Office. It's hard for me to describe why I thoroughly enjoy reading Bukowski. I just do. Chinaski isn't necessarily a character that was created to be likeable. As the reader, you're just along for the ride.
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson was another fairly gritty read. Once again, you're along for the ride. These stories are told as if you're the barfly of some dive this guy is just traveling through. Denis Johnson has a different command of the English language than Bukowski does (topics are similar, that's why I bring up this difference). I enjoy both of their styles of writing. It made for reading such similar topics of addiction and hopelessness back to back interesting.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is a love it or hate it book. I knew the ending. Whatever. I suspended my knowledge and plowed through this thing in a couple of days. I can't wait to see how certain elements occur in movie-form.
I own and have yet to read Damned, which I was dumb and didn't realize preceded the latest release Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk. It was fairly easy to follow along. Damn, I was on a gritty kick for a while. I made a lot of horrifying faces while reading this book, but Chuck Palahniuk does that to me. He seriously can make me want to puke with the way he describes everything so vividly. All in all, I really enjoyed it, though not for the faint of heart.
Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes was pretty awesome. A time traveling serial killer. I mean, seriously! I needed something new to read, perused Matt's e-books and was immediately hooked. it was very enjoyable. I don't want to give things away, but I think the time traveling serial killer angle should draw some curious readers. They do describe the deaths, yes, but it seriously is very interesting.
I thoroughly enjoyed this year's Best American Essays edited by Cheryl Strayed. I like reading one star reviews because I tend to feel the opposite of them. I really enjoyed this collection. Very inspiring and my favorite of the Best American series this year.
When I found out BJ Novak had written a collection of short stories, I was intrigued. One More Thing is a wonderful collection of funny and thoughtful stories. They are of varying lengths, which I have learned I enjoy a lot. As a fan of The Office, I knew I would love it. If you don't know, BJ Novak was a writer and actor on the show. He did not disappoint me and I cannot wait to own this.
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell makes history fun. History is enjoyable, but I feel as though these points in American history are talked out to the point where one has to wonder,"What else is there?"Quite a bit, actually, as Vowell explores different locations significant in three presidential assassinations. She punctuates these essays with little anecdotes about her sister and nephew, who were dragged along on this wild ride. Interesting American history punctuated by funny personal stories? Yes, please.
A little warning about Tampa by Alissa Nutting: the paperback cover is a little...wow, and the book itself is very explicit. You are inside the mind of a hot young female teacher, set on seducing one of her young, thirteen year old students. It's insane. It's clear, though, that from her thought process, she knows what she is doing is wrong, but makes it clear that this isn't something that will go away. This sexual predator behavior is an illness. This character makes that very clear. The urges will keep coming back unless she does something to sate them. Even then, though, they'll come back again and again. How does one fix this psychologically? If you can get past the initial discomfort, on a psychological level, this book is very fascinating.

I've had this in my drafts for the last few days. I thought I'd post what I have now, finish up the rest of my reviews to add on to my April round-up. Writing short reviews is very difficult when I have so much to say about each book.

books books books!

I decided to up the ante on my book challenge this year. I wanted to finish 50 last year, although my official goal was 35. I crushed that. I managed to read 40 books last year. That's not bad. I know a woman who did just over 200 last year. That takes dedication! That's at least two a week! I just finished reading Factotum by Charles Bukowski. That was interesting. I like reading books in different genres. Sometimes I want to read fiction, other times I'm in the mood for essays, maybe a biography.
The ladies over at A Beautiful Mess started a book club. Oddly enough, I've already read the first book. I really like Meg Wolitzer and am glad to have discovered her in 2013 because of The Interestings. There are a few authors I'm grateful to have started reading in 2013. Two others are Alice Munro and George Saunders. Both are thanks to Matt. He actually did an entire write-up of his books of 2013. He had very interesting book tastes as well. At the moment, he's really into reading presidential biographies. He doesn't understand where this has come from, but he's decided he'll probably read one biography a month. That's a good way to tackle them all eventually.

meeting junot díaz and little things

Yesterday, I got the chance to meet Junot Díaz. I didn't anticipate my shyness or inability to speak. Apparently, when he asked how to say my name, I replied. He touched my elbow! He read two excerpts from This Is How You Lose Her, answered many questions, signed books, and took photos. He introduced himself,"Hi, I'm Junot." I shook his hand. It was delightful. It seriously was the perfect way to end my birthday weekend. He had this way of ending his sentences with something that was halfway between "y'know" and a grunt. It's really hard to put into words, but was completely endearing. Matt and I learned that we need to go to more author signings. They are fun, that's for sure.
Today was my first day back to work. Rather than thinking being awake before the sun was out felt wrong, I thought to enjoy the sunrise. Funnily enough, it ended up being a rainy and cloudy day, but I got to see some beautiful colors/clouds this morning. I've been trying to find little things throughout my day that make me appreciate each day. They can be certain interactions, things I witness, a sentence I read- the littlest thing. It's nice to take a step back and enjoy the little things. You may not have everything you want in life right now, but if you pause to appreciate what you do have, you value each day more.

on the shelf : lost girls

I have a lot of books to still write up, but I just finished this one and it's stuck in my head. I need to get it out. Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker is a true crime book about the Long Island Serial Killer. Actually, no, let me rephrase that. It is about the women that were victimized by this killer. I know the story of the supposed Long Island serial killer fairly well. I wasn't going to read this book. Matt was actually the one who wanted to read it, but I ended up picking it up instead. However, this book was different than the tv shows that have told the story of the discovery of bodies along a stretch of highway.
Whenever I start a book lately, I've gotten into the habit of reading the 1 star reviews because these are people who completely miss the point of the book or haven't read it and just give their half-cocked conspiracy theories. People wanted more of the police investigation and not a lot about the women, but if you just read the title, it's not about the police investigation. Read the description- that is not what Robert Kolker was trying to do. His intent was to make these women more than their profession and I believe that he did an excellent job at that. It's unfortunate that this case is still unsolved, but the women aren't just prostitutes or sex workers. They were daughters, sisters, mothers. They are forever lost and the pain is real for their families. Society tends to write off these women because of how they earned a living, but they're more than that. Kolker wanted to make that clear. (3.5/5)

on the shelf: my 2013 challenge so far

It has been four months (yikes!) since I have done a book post. It is certainly not for lack of trying. My book review notebook was MIA for about a month until I found it under my bed last week. I was very happy because I had a lot of reviews in it and quotes that I need in order to do these posts. I'm going to try to do a handful of books each week (I've complete 28 of my 35 book goal this year; 8 ahead of schedule, BOOYAH!) with briefer, less structured reviews than I've done previously. Who knows? Maybe I'll enjoy this format even more. I'm always changing, evolving, and dammit, so should my blog!

Age of Miracles Karen Thompson Walker: Told from the perspective of 12 year old, Julia, she chronicles what happens when the earth's rotation begins to slow. Not only is the length of days changed, but people's personalities begin to change as well. Julia's pre-teen mind is forced to process things she shouldn't have to at such a young age. Quick, engaging, and a real thinking book. Would you stick with the way clocks work in a 24 hour period or would you be a Real-Timer (awake when the sun is out, asleep when it's dark)? (4/5)

Open Heart Elie Wiesel: I'll admit it- I'm a total fangirl when it comes to Elie Wiesel's work. I read Night four times my junior year of high school. His experience during the Holocaust has most certainly changed how Wiesel deals with life and death. He faces emergency heart surgery and revisits his experience during WWII, as well as his life leading up to his surgery. Here are a few quotes that really resonated with me: At the time of the liberation of the camps, I remember, we were convinced that after Auschwitz there would be no more wars, no more racism, no more hatred, no more anti-Semitism. We were wrong. This produced a feeling close to despair. For if Auschwitz could not cure mankind of racism, was there any chance of success ever? The fact is, the world has learned nothing. Otherwise, how is one to comprehend atrocities committed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia...? | A broken friendship results in deep sadness, deeper even than what we may feel at the end of love. (4/5)

The Dinner Herman Koch: As readers, we have a tendency to grow used to the hero-narrative- we root for the good guys in the book because that's what you're supposed to do, right? This book gives you no good guy to root for. Other's who read the book had a hard time liking the book because they didn't like the characters. The author does such a good job creating such hateful people that my co-workers forgot about the rest of the book. It's a really quick read. It's very good. Don't let the lack of a good guy to root for turn you away. This is a very well written book. (5/5)

Play It As It Lays Joan Didion: The chapters of this novel are like vignettes that could easily stand alone, but are put together to show Maria's full collapse in the end. I pitied her and her inability to overcome her insecurities. It did not seem as though anyone around her was emotionally equipped to save her. Surprisingly, Didion's fiction is not all that different than her essays. She has a strong voice that truly resonates. (3/5)

f scott fitzgerald month

Not very many people know this about me, but I am a huge fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald. I read The Great Gatsby my junior year of high school. I read it three times in the one month we were studying it. When I heard that there was going to be a movie coming about based on Gatsby, I was so excited, I could not wait to see it. Rebecca of The Clothes Horse said it pretty accurately when she said she was sure that they were never going to release The Great Gatsby movie, they were just going to keep showing trailers to it. I've wanted this movie since I first heard about it, so probably about a year ago. We got these Penguin classic cover mugs in at work. Gatsby was one of them. I of course own it. So Yes, I'm a huge F. Scott Fitzgerald fan. I decided that in celebration of the release for The Great Gatsby that I'm going to read nothing but Fitzgerald books all of May. This is my list:

This Side of Paradise

The Beautiful and Damned

The Great Gatsby

F Scott Fitzgerald Collected Stories

The Crack-Up

And yes, I'm still excited about the movie. I just hope that it does not disappoint.

on the shelf: marbles

Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me by Ellen Forney
ISBN-13: 9781592407323

Synopsis: "Cartoonist Ellen Forney explores the relationship between “crazy” and “creative” in this graphic memoir of her bipolar disorder, woven with stories of famous bipolar artists and writers.
Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Flagrantly manic and terrified that medications would cause her to lose creativity, she began a years-long struggle to find mental stability while retaining her passions and creativity.
Searching to make sense of the popular concept of the crazy artist, she finds inspiration from the lives and work of other artists and writers who suffered from mood disorders, including Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O’Keeffe, William Styron, and Sylvia Plath. She also researches the clinical aspects of bipolar disorder, including the strengths and limitations of various treatments and medications, and what studies tell us about the conundrum of attempting to “cure” an otherwise brilliant mind.
Darkly funny and intensely personal, Forney’s memoir provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on an artist’s work, as she shares her own story through bold black-and-white images and evocative prose."
Review: Graphic Memoirs are some of my favorite memoirs. Off the top of my head, Maus by Art Spiegelman and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi are wo that shape my opinion of graphic memoirs. Ellen Forney's is a little bit different as it chronicles her journey once she discovered she had bipolar disorder shortly before her thirtieth birthday. In order to cope with this diagnosis, Ellen researches other creatives whose art thrived in spite of their illnesses. Or were they successful because of their mental illnesses? Despite these unanswered questions, Ellen finds comfort in learning more about these creatives and their illnesses. It's a comfort for her to know that she is not alone. She even coined the Club Van Gogh whose members were the likes of Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Jackson Pollock, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Georgia O'Keeffe, and of course, Van Gogh.
She discusses all of the medicine she took trying to help her day to day with her disorder. She describes her ups and downs so vividly that you, the reader, are also taken there, right along side her.
As a graphic memoir, it was a quick read. I believe I finished this one in two days as well. Ellen ends up becoming stable enough to accept herself and her illness. This book is a reflection of her journey and it is done with honesty and vulnerability.

on the shelf: brain on fire

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
ISBN-13: 9781451621372

Synopsis: "A gripping memoir and medical suspense story about a young New York Post reporter’s struggle with a rare and terrifying disease, opening a new window into the fascinating world of brain science.
One day, Susannah Cahalan woke up in a strange hospital room, strapped to her bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. Her medical records—from a month-long hospital stay of which she had no memory—showed psychosis, violence, and dangerous instability. Yet, only weeks earlier she had been a healthy, ambitious twenty-four year old, six months into her first serious relationship and a sparkling career as a cub reporter.
Susannah’s astonishing memoir chronicles the swift path of her illness and the lucky, last-minute intervention led by one of the few doctors capable of saving her life. As weeks ticked by and Susannah moved inexplicably from violence to catatonia, $1 million worth of blood tests and brain scans revealed nothing. The exhausted doctors were ready to commit her to the psychiatric ward, in effect condemning her to a lifetime of institutions, or death, until Dr. Souhel Najjar—nicknamed Dr. House—joined her team. He asked Susannah to draw one simple sketch, which became key to diagnosing her with a newly discovered autoimmune disease in which her body was attacking her brain, an illness now thought to be the cause of “demonic possessions” throughout history.
With sharp reporting drawn from hospital records, scientific research, and interviews with doctors and family, Brain on Fire is a crackling mystery and an unflinching, gripping personal story that marks the debut of an extraordinary writer."
Review: I was hooked from the very beginning. If a book can snag me, it will only take about two or three days for me to finish such was the case with this book. Despite working full time, I managed to finish within two days. I have become a pokey reader so that is a great feat.
The story moves rapidly and, in my opinion, the subject is so fascinating that it makes for a quick read. It's like an episode of the show Mystery Diagnosis in book form. Susannah Cahalan is rapidly changing from your typical twenty-something into someone who seems to have a psychological disorder. During her most blacked out state in which she has no memory, her family comes to her rescue.Not only do they rotate shifts so Susannah is never alone, they never give up. A lot of the doctors say they consulted seemed to want to just write her off as someone who has shown signs of a psychological disorder. Her family was not so willing to accept that answer.
Their determination in not giving up on Susannah proved to be detrimental to her recovery. After many different doctors were consulted, in was one neurologist who took a chance and tested for a rare, recently discovered auto-immune disease. Once she was diagnosed properly, Susannah could begin her healing process. That included going over the lost month that she has no memory of, which was recorded on video by the seizure ward she was in and her father's journal he kept to deal with the difficulties that their family was going through.
She reflects on how her solid, familial support system helped her through this difficult time. She also is concerned for the hundreds of people out there with her debilitating disease that have been misdiagnosed as schizophrenics. What about those unlucky people?
A great, fast-paced read with very little medical jargon. Probably not for hypochondriacs.

on the shelf: runaway

Runaway by Alice Munro
ISBN-13: 9781400077915

Synopsis: "The incomparable Alice Munro’s bestselling and rapturously acclaimed Runaway is a book of extraordinary stories about love and its infinite betrayals and surprises, from the title story about a young woman who, though she thinks she wants to, is incapable of leaving her husband, to three stories about a woman named Juliet and the emotions that complicate the luster of her intimate relationships. In Munro’s hands, the people she writes about–women of all ages and circumstances, and their friends, lovers, parents, and children–become as vivid as our own neighbors. It is her miraculous gift to make these stories as real and unforgettable as our own."
Review: This is another great collection of stories by Alice Munro. There are three stories within this collection that are related. It puts you through the ringer. She is able to weave threads through life, friendship, love, and death. In one fell swoop, she slashes them, leaving this reader thinking about what I read long after I read it. I'd read before bedtime and would lie awake for a while, thinking about how much Alice totally messed with my head.
I wish I could write a much better review of this book, but I read it a few months ago. At this point, I don't think I am doing this book any justice with this review. I can honestly say that it took a lot longer to finish this than when I read Dear Life. I attribute that to the fact that these stories are longer and a little bit more involved than the quick glimpse-of-life type stories in Dear Life.
If someone was looking to get into Alice Munro, I would suggest the order in which I read them (Dear Life, then Runaway). Dear Life is like a sample of how amazing Munro is and Runaway allows you the delve deeper into her amazing words.

on the shelf: dear life

Dear Life by Alice Munro
ISBN-13: 9780307596888

Synopsis: "Alice Munro’s peerless ability to give us the essence of a life in often brief but always spacious and timeless stories is once again everywhere apparent in this brilliant new collection. In story after story, she illumines the moment a life is forever altered by a chance encounter or an action not taken, or by a simple twist of fate that turns a person out of his or her accustomed path and into a new way of being or thinking. A poet, finding herself in alien territory at her first literary party, is rescued by a seasoned newspaper columnist, and is soon hurtling across the continent, young child in tow, toward a hoped-for but completely unplanned meeting. A young soldier, returning to his fiancée from the Second World War, steps off the train before his stop and onto the farm of another woman, beginning a life on the move. A wealthy young woman having an affair with the married lawyer hired by her father to handle his estate comes up with a surprising way to deal with the blackmailer who finds them out."
Review: This is the first time I have read anything by Alice Munro. I'd heard good things about Runway, which I will review in the future, but I wanted to read her latest. Alice Munro literally reaches into your chest and pulls your heart out. That is how power she is at storytelling. I was hooked from the very beginning. I was in awe at how much of a story she could tell in as little as thirty pages. It's hard to describe the way she writes, except that it is very straight forward. The words aren't necessarily the most sophisticated, but the way she utilizes common vocabulary to weave an intricate web of a story is something unique that I have never before read. She has quickly become a favorite author after reading this and Runaway. I purchased Vintage Munro and am waiting for Selected Stories to come in (just ordered it yesterday). If one book of short stories can influence me in such a way as to declare her one of my favorite authors, than this is a powerful read. Read it and have your heart ripped out, too!

on the shelf: a separate peace

A Separate Peace by John Knowles
ISBN-13: 9780743253970

Synopsis: "Set at a boys’ boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world."

Review: This book had been on my radar for years. Ever since I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower in 2003, just before my freshman year of high school. The book mentions A Separate Peace and I was intrigued. I finally got around to reading it earlier this summer. That's eight years later! Well, the book held up its reputation in my eyes. There were certain things that shocked me about the boys at the boarding school and just to what lengths they would go to in order to be on top. I was shocked with the ending. I recall finishing up this book in the break room and gasping out loud. I got glares from a couple of co-workers, but isn't it a good sign when a book pulls you in so deep as to evoke such a strong, audible reaction? I think so. If you have not read this for school, I suggest running out to the nearest bookstore and purchasing a copy. It's a good summer read, but I also think it evokes some autumnal/wintery feel as well. I guess it's a good book for all of the seasons. I clearly highly recommend it.

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Do you have a Goodreads profile? I've been working towards the goal of reading more. I kept crushing my small goals so I set a larger one: 40 books by the end of 2012. I'm almost there! Check out what else I have read and what I've rated at my Goodreads.

on the shelf: slouching towards bethlehem

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
ISBN-13: 9780374531386

Synopsis: "The first nonfiction work by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era, Slouching Towards Bethlehem remains, forty years after its first publication, the essential portrait of America— particularly California—in the sixties. It focuses on such subjects as John Wayne and Howard Hughes, growing up a girl in California, ruminating on the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, and, especially, the essence of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, the heart of the counterculture.

The classic collection of essays in social change -- from Haight-Ashbury to our own inner landscapes -- by the author of A Book of Common Prayer, Salvador, and Miami."

Review: This is the first Joan Didion that I bought and read right away. I'm so glad that I did because I flew through it. Joan has a way with words that they're rather straight-forward, almost journalistic in its matter-of-fact manner, but it's also got personality. It's as if Joan revealed parts of herself in each essay. I enjoyed the book as a whole, but I think I'm going to wax poetic about my two favorite essays: Slouching Towards Bethlehem and On Keeping A Notebook. Slouching Towards Bethlehem reminded me a bit of On The Road. Not necessarily the subject matter, but the way it was written. Haight-Ashbury is thought to be a paradise of love, utopia for the counter-culture of that time. However, Didion points out some of the seedy, hellish things that plague this supposed utopia.

On Keeping A Notebook followed Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Once I finished that, I didn't think the book could get any better. On Keep A Notebook. She says she's never been able to be the person to record the days events, but instead records little bits of the day in her notebook. When she looks back on these notebooks, memories and questions are stirred up. She's able to recall a fully formed memories from short sentences. She also muses over the fact that some of these recordings in her notebook are irrelevant pieces of information. For example: ...do I really need to remember that Ambrose Bierce liked to spell Leland Standford's name £eland $tanford" or that "smart women almost always wear black in Cuba," a fashion hint without much potential for practical application.

This book is wonderful and really great if you want to get into Didion. I haven't read her biographies yet, but as soon as I am done with her novels and essays, it is right into the biographies.

on the shelf: the sweet life in paris

The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz
ISBN-13: 9780767928892

Synopsis: "Like so many others, David Lebovitz dreamed about living in Paris ever since he first visited the city in the 1980s. Finally, after a nearly two-decade career as a pastry chef and cookbook author, he moved to Paris to start a new life. Having crammed all his worldly belongings into three suitcases, he arrived, hopes high, at his new apartment in the lively Bastille neighborhood.
But he soon discovered it's a different world en France.

From learning the ironclad rules of social conduct to the mysteries of men's footwear, from shopkeepers who work so hard not to sell you anything to the etiquette of working the right way around the cheese plate, here is David's story of how he came to fall in love with—and even understand—this glorious, yet sometimes maddening, city."

Review: Ah, this book. What a delight. I rarely read in public, but I made the mistake of reading this book in waiting rooms and while catching a cup of coffee alone. It's one of those books that makes you laugh out loud because you're not expecting the little quips David Lebovitz lobs at you. Each chapter is followed by a recipe or two. I bookmarked several, yet have only tried one. It was the chocolate spice bread and it was the most rich and delicious chocolate confection I have ever made. I look forward to making the carnitas (technically not French, but there was a chapter about the lack of burritos in Paris that preceded this recipe).

Not only were there wonderful recipes, but the book also taught me a few things about Parisian culture. What mannerisms are frowned upon and to always greet everyone when entering a shop. Those little things are something that will warm a person up to you. I think I enjoyed this book quite a bit, not only because there were recipes in it, but it also showed how life changed for an American as he moved to Paris. Of course, there are adjustments, but it's interesting to see just how different things can be.

on the shelf: office girl

Office Girl by Joe Meno
ISBN-13: 9781617750762

Synopsis: "No one dies in Office Girl. Nobody talks about the international political situation. There is no mention of any economic collapse. Nothing takes place during a World War.
Instead, this novel is about young people doing interesting things in the final moments of the last century. Odile is a lovely twenty-three-year-old art-school dropout, a minor vandal, and a hopeless dreamer. Jack is a twenty-five-year-old shirker who's most happy capturing the endless noises of the city on his out-of-date tape recorder. Together they decide to start their own art movement in defiance of a contemporary culture made dull by both the tedious and the obvious. Set in February 1999—just before the end of one world and the beginning of another—Office Girl is the story of two people caught between the uncertainty of their futures and the all-too-brief moments of modern life."

Review: I breezed through this book. I loved every minute of it. It just moved quickly, especially since some chapters were just a paragraph or sentence long. There were little illustrations and photographs. I enjoyed it immensely. It kind of made the reader feel in on their movement. The only other Joe Meno book I have read is Hairstyles of the Damned. That was about seven years ago, but I do remember enjoying reading what he wrote. I enjoyed the second book I have read by Meno and look forward to possibly going through all of the things he has written. It should be fun since I've heard good things about The Boy Detective Fails.

on the shelf: wild lost & found on the pacific crest trail

Wild: Lost & Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
ISBN-13: 9780307592736

Synopsis: At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.

Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

Review: Once I started this book, I didn't want to put it down. The very first day I started it, I plowed through the majority of it and realized that it was 3am and I had to wake up at 6am. That is how good this book is. I like how she wove all the stories together so that it's not one part life before the trail and one part life on the trail. It is all life on the trail with anecdotes and memories that are stirred by the vistas and hardships. I guess I could relate to Cheryl in the sense that she felt like everything in her life was collapsing around her. She didn't know how to regain control of her life and was struck by the idea when she ran across the book Pacific Crest Trail Volume I: California at an REI. It takes her a while to come back and buy the book, but the seed had been planted.

In the beginning, she only wanted to be alone. She thought that being alone was key to her putting herself back together. I can understand that. I usually don't like to burden the people around me with my thoughts, so I take to my room and do art or read. Sometimes, being alone is all that you need to bounce back. She proved to herself and everyone else that she had the endurance and mental capacity to achieve her goals, despite never having done long distance hiking. That reminds me of when I started running; I never ran distance and now I love it. She follows up with a little bit about her life after the trail and her life now. It's a wonderful story about solitude and finding yourself when you feel like all hope is lost.

on the shelf: The Rules of Attraction

The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis
ISBN-13: 9780679781486

Synopsis: Set at a small, affluent liberal-arts college in New England at the height of the Reagan 80s, The Rules of Attraction is a startlingly funny, kaleidoscopic novel about three students with no plans for the future—or even the present—who become entangled in a curious romantic triangle. Bret Easton Ellis trains his incisive gaze on the kids at self-consciously bohemian Camden College and treats their sexual posturings and agonies with a mixture of acrid hilarity and compassion while exposing the moral vacuum at the center of their lives.
Lauren changes boyfriends every time she changes majors and still pines for Victor who split for Europe months ago and she might or might not be writing anonymous love letter to ambivalent, hard-drinking Sean, a hopeless romantic who only has eyes for Lauren, even if he ends up in bed with half the campus, and Paul, Lauren's ex, forthrightly bisexual and whose passion masks a shrewd pragmatism. They waste time getting wasted, race from Thirsty Thursday Happy Hours to Dressed To Get Screwed parties to drinks at The Edge of the World or The Graveyard. The Rules of Attraction is a poignant, hilarious take on the death of romance.

Review: The second book I have read by Ellis actually features a relative of the infamous Patrick Bateman. It is his little brother, Sean. The story revolves mostly around Sean Bateman, Paul Denton, and Lauren Hynde. At certain points in the book, Paul was an unlikeable character. I dreaded his chapters because he was such a drag. Everybody else, it seemed, had issues that shaped their characters. Paul was just there to stir the pot with a little bit of crazy, but other than that, he was kind of useless.

Player Sean had some redeeming qualities. He seemed mysterious. As the reader, though, I got a good sense of what kind of guy he was. He wasn't terrible and of the three main characters, he was the most thought out and likable.

Lauren was kind of scattered and erratic. She changed majors every time she changed boyfriends! However, she always pined for Victor as she bedded other men. Victor seemed like a weiner so I don't get Lauren's fascination.

All in all, this was another good book by Ellis. I am excited when the time comes to read American Psycho. I know a tiny bit about it, but I've never seen the movie so it'll all be fresh.

on the shelf : northern lights

Northern Lights by Tim O'Brien
ISBN-13: 9780767904414

Synopsis: Originally published in 1975, Tim O'Brien's debut novel demonstrates the emotional complexity and enthralling narrative tension that later earned him the National Book Award. At its core is the relationship between two brothers: one who went to Vietnam and one who stayed at home. As the two brothers struggle against an unexpected blizzard in Minnesota's remote north woods, what they discover about themselves and each other will change both of them for ever.

Review: My first Tim O'Brien book was The Things They Carried. I thought I would try something that wasn't set in a combat zone. In a sense, it was a combat zone...of the mind. I had to will myself to finish. I can't lie about that. I have a horrible habit of not finishing books I end up not being too thrilled with. I wanted to find out what the great revelation was that they had while stuck in the wilderness. It wasn't anything that jumped out at you. When I finished the book, I was unsure if the book delivered what the synopsis promised. Upon closer inspection, in a quiet way, the book did fulfill the discovery of self and each other. It also fulfilled an unexpected mission, which was to leave a lot of loose ends. I don't feel like Northern Lights had the same impact as The Things They Carried. The latter, I devoured. I couldn't get enough of his writing. Since this was his debut novel, I won't hold it against him. I even bought a different title of his to try again because I want that feeling I had when reading The Things They Carried. So, if you want a Tim O'Brien title to read and not sure where to start? Don't start with this one. Maybe leave it until the very end of your venture into the world of Tim O'Brien. Definitely start with The Things They Carried.

SIDENOTE: I know it's supposed to be "Wordless Wednesday", but I'm not prepared (fail) and I have too many words . What that means is I have a backlog of books I have read and have yet to review so I'll be trying to catch up on that.