 |
J
gods in alabama
joshilyn jackson
|
|
| "There are gods in Alabama. I should know, I killed one." And so begins the mesmerizing tale of Arlene Fleet who left Alabama for Chicago ten years earlier vowing to stop having sex, stop lying and never, EVER return to Alabama. Unfortunately, Alabama shows up in Chicago in the form of an old classmate looking for answers in the disappearance of the star high school quarterback during senior year. Arlene has no choice but to head back home to her lily-white family - with her black boyfriend in tow - and set things straight. Or at least lie her way through it. A wonderful novel chock full of Southernisms, sweet moments and more twists and turns than the dirt road to your Me-Maw's house. As one reviewer put it: "gods in Alabama is crazy-good". |
|
|
|
reviewed by: lisa may |
September 2005 [link] |
recommend
|
the know-it-all: one man's humble quest to become the smartest person in the world
a.j. jacobs
|
|
A.J. Jacobs, editor at Esquire magazine and NPR contributer decides to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica just for the heck of it and he chronicles it in this book. It takes him a year to read the 32 volume set which has a staggering 65,000 entries! Jacobs arranges his book in alpabetical order beginning with "a-ak" and ending with "zywiec". Of course, he doesn't include every entry but there's quite a few. He lets us in on the most interesting facts (Descartes had a thing for cross-eyed women, the long list of people that married their cousins throughout history and ways to get into the Britannica as he sees it: get beheaded, explore the Arctic, write some poems or design a font) and basically drives his wife and family crazy for a year with his little encyclopedia tidbits. Throughout the book is a narrative of his life, he and his wife's fertility woes, side field trips to the Britannica offices in Chicago, an adult education class on speed reading, several Mensa events as well as the mother of know-it-all excursions - an appearance on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" (apparently, not Jacobs, since he leaves with only a thousand bucks).
An exceedingly hilarious read - I couldn't stop reading some parts outloud to anyone within 10 feet of me it was so funny. Of course, you know it's going to be funny since Jon Stewart wrote a blurb for the book jacket. Now, if I could only memorize it and get myself on Jeopardy!
|
|
|
|
reviewed by: lisa may |
October 2005 [link] |
recommend
|
climbing the mango trees
madhur jaffrey
|
|
Madhur Jaffrey, of Indian cookbook fame (and award-winning actress fame, which I didn't know) has written this memoir of her childhood in India. Lots of descriptions of all that lucious and spiced Indian food and a section in the back of the book with glorious family recipes like meatball curry and stuffed okra.
Jaffrey grew up in a very privilaged family where women went to college and servants cooked and cleaned for the huge extended family that resided in one large compound. She explains a lot of Indian history and the traditions surrounding holidays and customs, such as those concerning the care and cleaning of women's saris - all very fascinating. |
|
|
|
reviewed by: lisa may |
December 2006 [link] |
recommend
|
tongue first: adventures in physical culture
emily jenkins
|
|
| Emily Jenkins has shaved her head, gotten tattooed, gone to a nude beach, done heroin, taken a nap, been rolfed, taken sex lessons, gone to a public bath. Each of which has had their consequences. (People thought she had cancer when she shaved her head.) She writes about these experiences consequences and explores what they mean to us in this books short essays. |
|
|
|
reviewed by: liz |
November 2002 [link] |
recommend
|
literacy and longing in l.a.
kaufman and mack jennifer and karen
|
|
In this novel we meet Dora, named by her book-loving alcoholic mother for Eudora Welty, and her twice-divorced life in L.A. At 35, she lives in a luxe high-rise and is running low on her trustfund. Ever since she was a child, she read books to escape and even now will hole up in her bathtub for days on end just binging on books. Her saviours are her sister, Virginia (named for Woolf) and her crazy friend Darlene (a teamster who made a bundle off of selling porno vampire-themed movie posters on the internet) and a new flame in Fred, the local bookstore employee. Despite Dora's flashy lifestyle, she is down-to-earth and eventually learns to live life outside of her book binges.
I never can comprehend books written by two people - sometimes they seem disjointed to me but this book is seamless and well-written. There are tons of great book references (there is a list of books at the end of the book that runs to four pages) and literary quotes at the beginning of each chapter, including one of my favs from Oscar Wilde: "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." This story teeters on fluffy chick-lit but is saved by its intellectual bookworm side - sometimes I feel the same way. |
|
|
|
reviewed by: lisa may |
February 2007 [link] |
recommend
|
the known world
edward p. jones
|
|
| I finished this book two weeks ago (it won the Pulitzer in 2004 but I overlooked it all this time) and it has taken me this long to digest this complex and incredible novel. It is often compared to Toni Morrison's "Beloved" and while I think "Beloved" is an amazing book, that comparison does not do "The Known World" a bit of justice. This story differs from other slave narratives as most of the action revolves around Henry Townsend, a former slave who now owns slaves himself (which apparently is an over-looked phenomena of Southern history). His parents worked to free themselves, but under the tutelage of his former Master, Henry learns to be a slave owner and eventually builds his own plantation and stocks it with slaves. After his death, his wife tries to maintain peace on the plantation but fails and the reprecussions are felt with each character. Set in Manchester County, Virginia, the storyline often jumps back in time and into the future so sometimes you find out that someone is going to die or free themselves far in advanced of when the event happens. I found it difficult to sometimes keep the timeline and characters straight but the compelling narrative, historical references and rich prose make this a fantastic read. |
|
|
|
reviewed by: lisa may |
January 2007 [link] |
recommend
|
the effect of living backwards
heidi julavits
|
|
| I wanted this book to be great. I was intrigued early on by the author’s eye for detail but in the end the narrative got lost in those details. The story is told by Alice who is on a flight from Morocco with her soon to-be-married sister, Edith. The flight is taken over by a rag-tag group of hijackers lead by a blind man named Bruno. Nothing is as it seems and the book pushes the idea that you can never really know what is happening around you, with your sister who you have always rivaled and also with yourself. Alice has to decide if she will finally be who she really is or will she continue to follow the “good girl” role she has always played. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure which one she chose. |
|
|
|
reviewed by: rachel |
July 2003 [link] |
recommend
|
a death in belmont
sebastian junger
|
|
As a writer of non-fiction, it must be hard to follow up a book like "The Perfect Storm", Sebastian Junger's runaway bestseller-turned Hollywood blockbuster film. However, upon reading "A Death In Belmont," Junger's account of his family's personal connection to The Boston Strangler, one can't help but wonder how he chose to pursue other subjects before writing this book.
The book centers around a muder in the upscale Boston suburb of Belmont, when Junger was a small child – a sexual assault and strangling which to many seemed to fall in line with the numerous similar murders attributed to the elusive Boston Strangler. However, on that day, the victim had called upon a job placement organization to hire a man to help clean her home. That man, an African American by the name of Roy Smith, had of course met the victim, worked in the victim's home, and was subsequently charged and convicted in the murder. Roy Smith has never confessed to the killing, even upon his parole hearing when such an admittance, along with regret, is key to ever being free again.
That same day, Albert DeSalvo, the convicted Boston Strangler, was also in Belmont, working as a carpenter at the Junger home. Although DeSalvo never confessed to this murder, it bears many hallmarks of a classic Strangler murder.
Junger weaves a compelling narrative, alternately following Smith's and DeSalvo's personal histories, the accounts of the murder (as well as the other Boston Strangler murders), the state of race relations at the time, and accounts of both men's lives behind bars. Junger never comes right out and says that Smith was wrongly charged for a murder he didn't commit, but his intent is clearly to place a reasonable doubt in the mind of the reader.
The book is compelling on many levels: as a family memoir, as true crime, as a mystery, and as a meditation on race, class, and justice.
junger has done his homework here, as he includes a wealth of police and court transcripts, interviews with key law enforcement, medical, and correctional facility personnel, as well as interviews with acquaintances of both men, both inside and outside of prison. although the book does not serve to prove Smith's innocence or guilt, it asks the right questions, which in turn serve to underscore the fragility of justice throughout history and especially in present times.
|
|
|
|
reviewed by: ericS |
May 2006 [link] |
recommend
|
|
|
|
|
|
