Books for Graduates May 13, 2012

Many of us know someone who is graduating – from middle school or high school or college. It’s a time of meaningful transitions for thousands of young people. It’s easy for me to decide on a graduation gift – a book, of course. The fun is trying to select the right book, one that inspires and celebrates without resorting to the standard bookstore display shelf featuring stacks of Oh, The Places You’ll Go! and books about Chicken Soup.

Here are ten ideas for books to delight the graduate in your life. None of them are about decorating dorm rooms or basic cooking skills or careers for the 21^st century. They are books to delight and passageways to some of the wonders the world.

This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, About Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace – This is my most obvious graduation-related book choice. The late essayist and novelist, David Foster Wallace, only gave one commencement address. This is it. Time magazine called This is Water “The Last Lecture for intellectuals.”

Abstract City by Christoph Niemann – Niemann is the illustrator of several children’s books and the person behind the very cool visual blog, Abstract City, which inspired this collection of 16 blog posts – observations of everyday life and his LEGO re-creation of New York City.

Waterlife by Rambharos Jha – I learned about this book from one of my favorite websites, Brainpickings.org, where Waterlife was described as: “without a shadow of exaggeration, the most beautiful book I’ve ever laid eyes on.”  There’s no one among us, young or old, who doesn’t need to see beautiful things. When the daily paper is filled with war and starvation and violence, a book of folk painting from the banks of the river Ganga can feed our souls.

Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan (exhibition catalog from the National Gallery in London) Perhaps an odd choice for my graduation list. It’s an expensive catalog from an art exhibit. But here’s the reason it’s on my list. Who better to inspire a young person than Leonardo da Vinci? An inventor, a scientist and artist, Da Vinci is often referred to as the most curious man who ever lived.

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall – This is a new book, but it’s on my summer reading list, and it would be a meaningful gift. It’s about one of the most basic human impulses – to tell stories. We tell stories to help us understand ourselves and others and to deal with our heartbreaks and setbacks.  Here’s my favorite blurb from the back of Gottschall’s book: “The Storytelling Animal is a delight to read. It’s boundlessly interesting, filled with great observations and clever insights about television, books, movies, videogames, dreams, children, madness, evolution, morality, love, and more. And it’s beautifully written—fittingly enough, Gottschall is himself a skilled storyteller.” Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology at Yale

And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman – One of my all-time favorite books and another one (like Abstract City) that began its life as a blog. Kalman, an artist and frequent contributor to the New York Times and The New Yorker, traveled to Washington,D.C.for the inauguration of Barack Obama. Her book is a tribute to democracy and our history. This is one of my bedside table books – kept there so I can look at it whenever I have a few extra minutes.

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury – I have not read this book in many years, but a good friend’s love for it inspired me to read it again. This book, along with Jim the Boy by Tony Earley, are coming-of-age stories about the joys of being alive. These two novels are not driven by plot, but rather by the power of memories.  

Jim the Boy by Tony Earley – See above, but this one has a sequel, The Blue Star….

Essays of E.B. White – A book that reminds us of the possibilities of language. Elegant and observant, White’s essays are desert island reading. If you wanted to give someone a gift that they can return to again and again, this is the one.

Keel’s Simple Diary – Different from the other books, this one is more of a do it yourself project. It’s a journal for those of us who don’t like staring at the blank page. Keel’s diaries come in a wide variety of colors and, most importantly, they have structure – giving the owner prompts that makes journaling a little less daunting.

Books on the Nook April 30, 2012

As I wrote in an earlier post, sometimes the “purchase” button on my Nook is like Staples’ Easy Button. It is way too easy to buy a few books without much effort and they look so cool when they are loaded on your virtual library shelves. I could feel guilty about buying five new books over the past few days, but here’s the thing – I don’t. My justification is that I don’t buy alcohol, cigarettes or Fruit Loops. I buy books. Summer is just around the corner which means more time for reading, and most importantly, I’m really excited about every one of them.

If you have an e-reader or more wisely, a library card, here’s what was on my shopping list. I haven’t read any of them yet, but it makes me so happy every time I see them in a straight and orderly little line in my Nook library.

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan – So many people talking about this book – the story of a ship that sank two years after the Titanic. A friend of mine just read it and loved it.  Between her recommendation and a story on NPR’s Weekend Edition, Rogan’s novel was first on my list.

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger – Freudenberger’s new novel is about a Bangladeshi woman who meets her American husband on the internet and moves to Rochester,New York. I’m actually going to spend some time in Rochester this summer which makes this a totally justifiable purchase. Also, The Newlyweds received a glowing front page review of yesterday’s New York Times Book Review.

Dangerous Waters: An Adventure on the Titanic by Gregory Mones – my second ocean crisis book…I can’t help it. There was so much coverage of the 100^th anniversary!  Really good reviews. Just added to Inly’s summer reading list which means it’s almost required reading.

Divergent by Veronica Roth – Part one of a trilogy that was recommended by one of my 8^th grade students who loved this book. A dystopian novel about a society divided into five factions. I trust this student – she’s a thoughtful reader, and her enthusiasm led me right to my convenient on-line bookstore.

Drama: An Actor’s Education by John Lithgow – This one might seem a strange choice for me, but here are the facts: Lithgow grew up in Ohio. He’s written many children’s books. And my aunt, whose opinion I trust completely, thinks I would like this book. If she says I should read it, I do.

Yes, I still read (and often prefer) “real” books. I’ve purchased a few of them over the last few weeks as well, but those are other stories – literally.

If You Have An Hour… April 21, 2012

I really enjoy listening to NPR’s weekly show, On the Media.  It’s as close as I get to “appointment radio,” and if my Saturday routine is disrupted, I listen to it later in the week. Today was that perfect combination – one of my favorite shows focusing on my very favorite topic – books and the publishing industry. If you want to catch up on Amazon’s mission to take over the world, the Pulitzer committee’s declining to select a winner, and the dramatic ways reading and publishing are changing, here’s the link to the show:

http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/apr/20/

Speaking of the Pulitzer…while this controversy was being debated by book lovers, I’ve been reading The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. It did not surprise me at all to read that Publishers Weekly named Otsuka’s elegant novel as one of their ”surrogate winners.”   Here are excerpts from some of the reviews of Otsuka’s follow-up to When the Emperor Was Divine:

 ”A delicate, heartbreaking portrait . . . beautifully rendered . . . Otsuka’s prose is precise and rich with imagery. Readers will be . . . hopelessly engaged and will finish this exceptional book profoundly moved.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“An incantatory and haunting group portrait . . . Drawing on extensive research and profoundly identifying with her characters, Otsuka crafts an intricately detailed folding screen depicting nearly five decades of change as the women painstakingly build meaningful lives, only to lose everything after Pearl Harbor. This lyrically distilled and caustically ironic story of exile, effort, and hate is entrancing, appalling, and heartbreakingly beautiful.” —Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
 
“Poetic . . . Otsuka combines the tragic power of a Greek chorus with the intimacy of a confession. She conjures up the lost voices of a generation of Japanese American women without losing sight of the distinct experience of each. . . . An understated masterpiece . . . The distillation of a national tragedy that unfolds with great emotional power . . . The Buddha in the Attic seems destined to endure. —Jane Ciabattari, San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Otsuka’s incantatory style pulls her prose close to poetry.” —Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review

I loved the book and totally understand why it is considered worthy of the Pulitzer, but reading it did remind me how much I depend on character – maybe too much. Because Ostuka’s novel is told from the point of view of a group of women, there is not one character with whom to connect. I was touched by the women’s stories, but missed having someone to “be with.” As the reviews point out, Otsuka’s sentences are like precious gems. I read When the Emporer Was Divine a few years ago, but after reading this new one, I plan to download them both on my Nook so I can read her books like poetry.

Unpacking My Library: Writers and Their Books March 24, 2012

I saw it across the room and it was love at first sight. Naturally, it was a book, and I decided to buy it without cracking the spine!  That’s rare, even for me. But I knew from the cover that I would love it, and I do – so, so much. The book is Unpacking My Library: Writers and Their Books. The cover is so beautiful that I want to walk around holding it. This book is definitely an argument for physical books. I would not enjoy this on my Nook.

Since buying it about a week ago, I’ve been treating myself to looking at one author’s book shelves every day. It makes the day sweeter just knowing that the book is waiting on my nightstand. Edited by Leah Price, Unpacking My Books is a peek at the bookshelves of 13 authors, including Philip Pullman, Junot Diaz and Alison Bechdel. The first line of Price’s introduction is this: “As a teenaged babysitter, I went straight for the books.”  Oh my gosh – Price is a soulmate! When I was a teenage babysitter, the car would not be down the driveway before I was looking at the parent’s bookshelves and writing down books I wanted to read.

Years ago, when I lived in Washington,D.C., I used to babysit for the children of a Congressman (from Ohio, of course) and his wife. I recall taking lots of notes about their bookshelves, thinking that whatever the Congressman was reading contributed to his success.  His young children used to tell me their dad “helped the President.” 

Back to Price’s book. There are so many fun things to look at. For example, each author is asked to name their Top Ten Books. Two (out of 13) name a Tintin book.  James Wood includes Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop which may (on some days) make it into my personal Top Ten. Philip Pullman has a cute old teddy bear on one of his shelves.  

Unpacking My Library is the perfect book for the bibliophile on your list. The pictures are stunning. The short interviews with each author are interesting. And most of all, since looking at what people are reading is much harder since the advent of e-readers, Price’s book allows us to, as she says, “read over the shoulders of giants.”

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje March 22, 2012

My first idea was to select the most lovely passage in Michael Ondaatje’s novel, The Cat’s Table, and copy it here to convey the beauty of Ondaatje’s writing. But, then I realized I would have to just copy the entire book. Every sentence is like a bright little gem.

Here’s a description, this one of a storm, that sent a shiver up my spine in recognition at not only the beautiful writing, but the way Ondaatje evokes a very particular feeling that accompanies a powerful storm.

 “There are times when a storm invades the landscape of the Canadian Shield, where I live during the summers, and I wake up believing I am in mid-air, at the height of the tall pines above the river, watching the approaching lightning, and hearing behind it the arrival of its thunder. It is only from such a height that you see the great choreography and danger of storms. In the house, a few bodies are asleep, and near them the hound, her ears tormented, shaking, as if her heart is about to collapse or be flung out.”

I can just picture the dog, tense and agitated, can’t you? 

The Cat’s Table is a coming-of-age story that takes place over three weeks in 1954 as a giant ocean liner travels from Ceylon to England. The ship is a contained world that serves as a metaphor for Michael’s (the 11-year-old narrator) own journey, but it is so much more than that. I love the way Ondaatje captures the freedom of being between two words – neither here nor there – so that the rules seem not to exist. The title of the novel refers to the Cat’s Table – the opposite of the Captain’s Table, where Michael, two other boys heading to boarding schools in England, and a variety of other complex and interesting passengers, have their dinner.

It’s a psychological, rather than plot-driven, novel which is what I loved about it – Ondaatjie makes such astute observations about people, their motives and desires. And because everyone is sharing such close quarters, all of their eccentricities are magnified.

Near the end of the book, Michael says: “We slipped into England in the dark.” I stopped reading there – until the next day – not wanting the voyage to end.

Add This One To Your List…. March 13, 2012

I love lists – writing them, checking things off, buying fun notebooks in which to write them. My love for lists is somewhat embarrassing actually.  What gives me comfort, though, is that some of my best friends are also list makers and they seem to get the same satisfaction from them that I do. And now I found this book – Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collections Thoughts and Other Artists’ Enumerations.  A book dedicated to lists!  The book by Liza Kirwin, the curator of manuscripts at the Archives of Amerian Art, came out in 2010, but it’s new to me.  I’m just glad I found it. Rather than add it to my “books to buy list,” I decided to buy it.

After looking at some of the lists in Kirwin’s book, I realized that list making can be an artistic endeavor. Many people’s lists are far more engaging than the ones I make. As you might expect, lists made by artists are especially beautiful.  Alexander Calder drew his list of the sculptures he wanted a friend to see in New York City. My favorite title for a list is by the artist Reginald Marsh who wrote: “Expenses in the Pursuit of Art” at the top of his page. I may begin titling my weekly list something like: “Things to Do to Keep All of the Balls in the Air.”

It’s time for me to write a grocery list – but maybe this week I’ll draw the pictures of what I want to get. Given my skill as an artist, I would probably end up with very different items than what I plan to buy!

This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman March 10, 2012

You know those blurbs on the back cover of paperbacks that say: “ I stayed up all night to finish this book.”  Or…”I read it straight through in one sitting.”  Frankly, I’ve always been cynical about those reviews. I know there is poetic license at work and the author is just making a point about how compelling the book is. But, to be honest, I always read them and think: how did they get up and go to work the next day?  Or…what’s wrong with me? Even when I love a book, I can usually put it down for a few hours. 

Over the past few days, however, I came close to getting it - as much as I’m going to. I still slept. But…this week I read Helen Schulman’s novel This Beautiful Life and even with other reading to do and going to work, I was staying up late to finish this amazing and sad and thought provoking novel. In Schulman’s novel, a perfect (from all outward appearances) family confronts a crisis when Jake, the teenage son, forwards a sexually explicit video to a friend. As a result of Jake’s naivity, the family, including the six-year-old adopted daughter, faces life-changing and complicated consequences. The novel is about privilege and happiness and morality, topics that have been written about for thousands of years. But Schulman’s novel is like watching a train wreck. You can’t stop looking – and then reminding everyone you know to wear their seatbelt. It’s also beautifully written and asks so many good (and sometimes uncomfortable) questions.

I could now write one of those blurbs and honestly say that I couldn’t put the book down.  I did put it down, but it has stayed with me from the first page.

New York Diaries, edited by Teresa Carpenter February 3, 2012

If you plan to buy a book for anyone between the ages of 16 and 96, I have just the book for you. But plan to buy two copies. You’ll want to keep one. New York Diaries is the coolest book – what Teresa Carpenter has done is to tell the story of New York City through diary entries written since 1609. The entries begin on January 1 and continue through the year. They are written by famous people and visitors, but every peek into someone’s diary makes you think about the passage of time – and how fast it goes.

On July 11, 1804 “Gouverneur” Morris wrote: “General Hamilton was killed in a duel this morning by Colonel Burr.”  And then 182 years later in July 1986, Andy Warhol wrote “Arnold Schwarzenegger was having a party for the Statue of Liberty at Cafe Seiyoken and I wasn’t even invited. And I wasn’t invited to Caroline Kennedy’s wedding either.” Because Carpenter’s book is organized by day, rather than year, it is especially enlightening to see how things have changed – or not – over time. An entry I read this morning “…a panic prevails which will result in bankruptcies and ruin in many quarters…” could have been written last year or in the 1930s, but was actually written in 1833.

There are also entries from diaries written after the events of September 11, 2001. “The World Trade Center doesn’t exist anymore. This is very weird,” writes a blogger.

Carpenter’s book will not be shelved in our house. I’m leaving it out so that my husband, son and I can pick it up anytime we want a reminder of how much we share with those who came before us.

Turning Emotion Into Art January 8, 2012

We were in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, and while we were there, we visited an old U.S. Mint Building which is now the Louisiana State Museum.  One of the cool things about it is that it’s the only building in America to serve as both a Confederate and United States mint. They had lots of exhibits about money and coins, and quite honestly, while I loved the building, I’m not that interested in money – except as a means to acquire books and keep my Starbucks card loaded.

What interested me the most about our visit was a quote I read. While my husband and son were walking around checking out the old coins, I began to wander.  I’m glad I did because I came to a wall that had these words engraved on it:

“The object of art

is to crystallize emotion

into thought, and fix it in form.”

I just looked it up, and the quote is attributed to Francois Delsarte, a 19^th century French musician.  I know nothing about Delsarte, but I really like this quote and keep thinking about how it applies to books. Books crystallize emotion, don’t they?  They certainly “fix it in form.”  The form may be the screen or a piece of paper, but that’s still “form.” 

This weekend I began reading The Submission by Amy Waldman. Talking about giving form to emotion! I’m not far enough along to write too much about it, but after reading the first 50 pages, I am kind of stunned by how much Waldman has taken on: the post-September 11 world, the purpose of art, patriotism and the ways we tell our own stories.  As you may know from all of the attention Waldman’s book has received, the novel is about the impact of selecting a Muslim architect to design a monument to September 11. It’s one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read, and I’m just glad to be reading it for a book club. It’s definitely a book that initiates discussion.

A New Year of Reading Begins January 3, 2012

Sorry about that. I truly meant to post on the first day of the new year – 3 days ago. I had no shortage of ideas, just a shortage of time. So…here we are. A new year. Lots of new books ahead.

I read a lot during the holidays. As much as I love reading books with my classes, it was nice to read whatever captured my interest.  I read four books…

Saint Louis Armstrong Beach by Brenda Woods (a young adult book about a boy and his best friend, a stray dog named Shadow, living in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The coolest part of reading this book is that I actually read it in New Orleans. I don’t usually go to such extremes to get into the setting of a book, but it was great!)

The Sense of An Ending by Julian Barnes (this year’s Booker Prize winner – a compelling and intense examination of aging and all of the questions and doubts that go along with it. I’m still thinking about it and am tempted to go back to page one and read it again.)

The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure  (a must read for fans of the Little House books. Part memoir, part analysis of American girlhood and part attempt to understand our tendency to romanticize the past. After reading this, I’ve added the entire Little House series to my 2012 reading list – it’s been too long, and McClure gave me so much to think about.)

Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin (I loved this book about a young boy’s devotion to Stalin and Communism – until his life begins to unravel – this one will be on the middle school’s summer reading list.)

I was just getting on a roll when I heard the school bell ringing from a few miles away. Luckily, my husband gave me two books of essays for Christmas which are perfect for the evenings when the school work is done before bedtime!