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Oct
31
The Sunday Salon 10.31.10
2010 at 9am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
Oh, Sunday Salon, how I’ve missed you!
Okay, not really, since the reason you didn’t happen last week is that I was in Mexico, where I got hooked on mimosas made with pineapple juice and a beautiful concoction of frozen mango and strawberry daiquiri known as the Mango Tango. And where I read six books and soaked up the sun and spent hours basking in the spa’s hydrotherapy suite and had a full week of technology-free quality time with that husband of mine. I mean, this was the view. You wouldn’t want to be home, either.
Do you hate me yet?
Before I left, I showed you how The Book Lady does beach reading, and, in a flurry of pre-vacation productivity, I had a bunch of reviews and guest posts for you to enjoy in my absence.
I loved Erin Blakemore’s celebration of literary women in The Heroine’s Bookshelf, and her Bare Necessities post Classic Bitches I Have Loved was simply fabulous.
Tom Franklin’s Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter was my official spooky read for October and earned a spot on my best-of list for the year, then I recovered from dark and creepy by enjoying the warm and snuggly of You Had Me at Woof by Julie Klam, who shared her “desert island” dog books in a special installment of The Bare Necessities. Read more
Book Review: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
2010 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
Published September 2010 by Pantheon
This is one of those cases where I’m so in love with a book that, whenever I start to talk about it, I just ramble on and on about all the ways in which it is awesome. If you don’t believe me, just ask my husband, who had the pleasure of sitting next to me while I giggled my way through it on a three hour flight last week. In lieu of what would no doubt be a much longer than necessary synopsis, here’s how the publisher sums it up:
Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market, lonely sexbots beckon failed protagonists, and time travel is serious business. Every day, people get into time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician—part counselor, part gadget repair man—steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls or consoling his boss, Phil, who could really use an upgrade, Yu visits his mother (stuck in a one-hour cycle of time, she makes dinner over and over and over) and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. Accompanied by TAMMY, an operating system with low self-esteem, and Ed, a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog, Yu sets out, and back, and beyond, in order to find the one day where he and his father can meet in memory. He learns that the key may be found in a book he got from his future self. It’s called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and he’s the author. And somewhere inside it is the information that could help him—in fact it may even save his life.
Folks, in addition to being one of the best books I’ve read this year, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is tons of fun. I mean, what’s not to love about a story that is set not in a time and place but within the confines of a genre of literature and “narrative space?” Read more
The Book Lady’s Buzz: THE UNCOUPLING by Meg Wolitzer
2010 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
Set for publication April 5, 2011 by Riverhead Books
Brush off those volumes of ancient Greek drama, folks. Meg Wolitzer is breathing new life into Lysistrata, and it is fan-freaking-tastic.
In case it’s been a while since you snuggled up with good ol’ Aristophanes, the quick and dirty is thus: the men of Greece have been at it for years, but there’s still no end in sight for the Peloponnesian War. Enter Lysistrata, who knows that the way to a man’s heart isn’t so much through his stomach as in his pants. So she gathers the ladies, and they go on strike. A sex strike, that is. And they’re not getting back between the sheets until the men negotiate peace.
The Uncoupling isn’t so much a rewriting as a new story inspired by Lysistrata. Stellar Plains, New Jersey is rocked when the new drama teacher at the local high school selects the ancient work for the school’s big production. One by one, the woman of the town—sex-crazed teenagers and middle-aged wives alike—turn away from the men in their lives and lose all interest in sex. And they have no idea why.
Wolitzer’s take on sex and relationships is sharp, witty, and thoroughly engrossing in that perfect one-sitting read kind of way. And since it doesn’t come out for another 5 1/2 months, that’s all I’m going to say. Save the date for The Uncoupling on April 5, 2011, or order it from an independent bookstore now.
The Bare Necessities: Julie Klam’s “Desert Island” Dog Books
2010 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
The Bare Necessities is a series in which authors and book industry professionals share annotated reading lists of books they love.
Julie Klam is the author of Please Excuse My Daughter and the new “dogoir” You Had Me at Woof.
I’ve been asked a lot lately about the proverbial desert island picks: books, music, shoes (do you need Ann Demeulemeester lace up boots on a desert island? Because I’ve committed to mine.) Mostly the thought makes me very anxious. Really, I don’t want to be stranded, and if I was I think the only things I’d want were tools to get me off the island. But say I wasn’t stranded, maybe I was just visiting for a long weekend. Well, I’d want to have my dog books with me, but which ones?
I don’t like to read anything remotely like what I’m working on while I’m writing, because I’m afraid it will paralyze me either by saying something I had planned to say or being really good or just awful. But, sometime after I turned in the first draft of my dogoir, You Had Me At Woof, I thought it might be a good idea to see what else was out there. I knew I had some time before I got notes back, so I went to my bookstore and picked up a bunch. The ones I’d take with me to my desert island (let’s call it The Poconos) are below.
Dog Years by Mark Doty
Mark Doty is a National Book Award winner for his poetry, he is no slouch. I knew it wasn’t going to be a cash register dog book, but I had no idea how profound it would be. Doty writes about his dogs and his partner who is dying. It’s a beautifully written, heart breaking work with joyous surprises throughout. Read more
The Bare Necessities—Sandra Brannan (IN THE BELLY OF JONAH)
2010 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
The Bare Necessities is a series in which authors and book industry professionals share annotated reading lists of books they love.
Sandra Brannan is the author of In the Belly of Jonah, her debut novel and the first in a nine-book series featuring amateur sleuth Liv Bergen.
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve asked people who I admire, “What are your top five favorite books?” I wanted to know what shaped them into such interesting people and it was a great way to build my library. In business when I’m interviewing to hire, I ask, “What are the last three books you’ve read?” because I learn all sorts of things about a person through his or her answer. Now for the first time in my life, someone has asked me and I’m wondering how all those people came up with answers so quickly and confidently. So I’ll list the books, which came to mind immediately.
Loving the mystery/thriller genre, my SIX all-time favorite books may be a surprise to those who enjoy my Liv Bergen mystery/thriller series…
The Wizard of Oz series by L. Frank Baum… Bedtime in my home was a favorite memory, my mother tucking all of us into bed and reading from the Wizard of Oz series. My first love of mysteries was wondering if Cayke and Frogman would ever find the Cookie Cook’s magic dishpan or if Betsy Bobbin and Shaggy Man would ever rescue his brother or if Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, and Ojo, the Munchkin Boy, would ever find the cure to the magical spell that turned Uncle Nonkie into a statue. Mysteries from my mother’s loving words that sent me safely into a dream state of problem solving and creative thinking!
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand… My father handed me this book when I was fifteen and I have never found another to take its place. I strive every day to be unbreakable and productive like Dagny Taggart and to become living proof that my dad’s hard work, dedication, and love for mining will live on for generations.
Tuck Everlasting by Jay Russell… When my 9-year-old son gave me this book for Mother’s Day in 2001, I will always remember the excitement in his eyes, the day he discovered his love for books and the miracle of joy through storytelling. Read more
