heartburn. nora ephron. (217)

i requested heartburn because i was under the impression that when harry met sally was originally a book.  the library didn't have it, so i requested heartburn instead.  i later discovered that when harry met sally is simply a screenplay, thanks alot goodreads for getting a girl's hopes up!

anyway, i felt it was about time that i finally read some nora ephron.  i, unfortunately, was not aware of her until she passed away.  i mean i loved the films she wrote and directed, sleepless in seattle, michael, you've got mail, i just didn't know she wrote them.  i also discovered that the female celebrities i adore, adored her, mindy kaling and lena dunham for example.  when she passed away, i remember looking her books up at the library but didn't commit to anything because i wasn't sure where to start.  well two years, later, i finally sorted it out, i started with her first and only novel.

heartburn, was the story of rachel samstat, a cookbook writer and tv personality, which in my head closely resembled rachel ray (including the critiques of not being a real cook).  we meet her at a very low point in her life.  she just discovered that her husband mark, a syndicated columnist, was cheating on her.  rachel was pregnant with their second child and discovered the affair via an inscription her husband's lover, thelma, left in a baby book!  how disgusting right!?!?! the message was horrible and mentioned mark and thelma as a couple singing to rachel and mark's children!!!! seriously some people are disgusting, i would have gone apeshit, if i read that.

the novel then covers rachel struggle with what to do.  does she take mark back and work through it?  or does she leave him.  it sounds heavy, which it is, but the story is actually funny.  as ephron writes via rachel, 

of course i'm writing this later, much much later, and it worries me that i've done what i usually do--hidden the anger, covered the pain, pretended it want there for the sale of the story.

she goes in to explain:

because if i tell the story, i control the version.

because if i tell the storyif i can make you laugh, and i would rather have you laugh at me than feel sorry for me.

because if i tell the story, it doesn't hurt as much.

because if i tell the story, i can get on with it.

this then confirmed my suspensions that heartburn was one of those memoir-ish novel (the second trend of this year of reading).  and sure enough, wikipedia informed me that heartburn was based on ephron's second marriage to carl bernstein.  the cheating bastard!

how horrible that ephron really went through all of this but kudos to her for turning her misfortune into a funny little novel and a movie!!

and can i just add, what a bunch of sluts in washigton d.c. though i am not surprised.  i don't trust politicians.

in the end, rachel made the right choice and leaves mark but not without throwing a pie in his face.  she took her two sons, the second child nathaniel was premature after she fell spying on mark and his lover, to new york to embark on next chapter of life.

this was an enjoyable little read and was even filled with recipes!  i want to try the cheesecake, linguine alla cecca, and potatoes anna.  so look for that happening too!

of course their are hilarous bits, rachel's jewish prince routine, her therapy group being robbed and of course, her starting the thelma has an STD rumor.  

and i loved that rachel's obstetrician helped her realized that she did believe in love.  as her thoughts to herself share:

sometimes i believe that love dies but hope springs eternal.  sometimes i believe that hope died but love springs eternal.  sometimes i believe that send plus guilt equals love, and sometimes i believe that sex plus guilt equals good sex.  sometimes i believe that love is as natural as the tides and sometimes i believe that love is an act of will.  sometimes i beige that some people are better at love than others, and sometimes i believe that everyone is faking it.  sometimes i believe that love is essential, and sometimes i believe that the only reason love is essential is that otherwise you spend all your time looking for it.

this is why ephron's romcoms are the best.  a sweet little book, short and worth a read.  i look forward to reading more of her works and course watching everything she made as well.

the lottery and other stories. shirley jackson. (216)

after reading we always lived in the castle, i decided to check out shirley jackson's other works.  i am too chicken shit to read the house on haunting hill, so instead decided to check out her short story, "the lottery".  wikipedia claimed it as "one of the most famous short stories in American literature", so i decided to give it a read.  it did take me a while to build up the courage to read it.  though we always lived in the castle was more creepy and demented then outright scary, i was still weary of reading "the lottery". i wasn't sure what to expect.

if you have never read "the lottery", stop right here and go read it.  it won't take you long.  also stop here if you plan on reading it because a there are spoilers.

***spoilers****

turns out, i was worried for nothing.  "the lottery" though demented did not scare me like i had anticipated.  in fact, it was a little lackluster, though i blame the hunger games for my lack of shock, i knew someone was going to die.  "the lottery" is the story of a lottery; every year, in order to reap a good harvest of corn, the village, as all villages do, gather for the lottery.  there was talk among the villagers that some villages had stopped it, but their talk disapproved of the breaking of tradition.  the whole village gathered and all the heads of the family, picked a piece of paper from a black box (sounds like the katniss and her story, right?).  the family with the black dot must then picked again.  then the family member with the black dot is  . . . stoned to death.  shocking and demented, but not that surprising since in the hunger games someone is elected to die to benefit the collective.  i wonder if collins was inspired by "the lottery", i mean as i read, i felt like i was reading the hunger games.  but jackson, the better writer, had the guts to kill the person, sending home the message of how dangerous outdated traditions can be.  i feel like every analysis that i read about jackson's "the lottery" and her a handful of other short stories, mentioned her call against conformity, and that is clearly seen in this story.  a great story, and i think i would have found it absolutely brilliant, if my mind had not been tainted by the hunger games first.

i ended up reading the rest of the stories in this collection (it is the year of the short story).  i was expecting them to be dark and scary like ghost stories, but they really weren't.  i mean they were dark, jackson is american gothic (though i am not truly sure of what is meant by the term because i never finished flannery o'connor's collection of short stories).  they were enjoyable reads and many contained very important morals.

one of the darker ones i enjoyed was "the daemon lover", which i discovered takes its name from scottish ballad about a man james harris (the name harris also appears in alot of stories, i am not sure why, i almost felt like jackson's stories came from the same universe, think pixar universe, and so harris' mentioned were all the same person!) who lures a lover away from her family and husband.  in the short story, a woman, was waiting for her lover, jamie or james harris.  they are to be married that day but he never shows up.  she then went on a wild goose chase after him.  at first, you feel bad for her because she can not find him, but then you start to question if she is sane.  she ended up outside of an apartment where she hears voices.  it is then shared that she returns to the apartment every day trying to find him.  so yes in fact, she was crazy.

another i loved was "charles". i knew the ending before i read it, simply from having to deal with kids all the time.  the story is told from the perspective of a mother, whose son has just started kindergarten.  the son came home every day with outrageous stories of a little boy, charles.  charles was constantly in trouble.  in the end, the mother learned from the teacher that there is no charles!!  i really wish that this short story could be included in parent handbooks for every school year! so many times parents do not realize that their kids are the troublemakers.

"the seven types of ambiguity" broke my heart, since i am a book lover.  the setting of a story is a bookstore.  there was a very well-educated and well-read young man that wanted to purchase a beautiful copy of "the seven types of ambiguity."  on this visit, a man, who was less educated but rich came into the store to purchase books to start reading since he never had a chance to before.  the young man recommended books to him.  the young man left the store, and at the register, the rich man inquires about the book he was looking at.  i hoped he was purchasing it for the young man but he purchased it for himself!  i was so upset at the owner for allowing him to buy it, it was obvious the young man loved the book and the rich man was buying it for vanity purposes.  it broke my heart.  demonstrating how some seek knowledge for personal betterment and others for vanity sake's.  another story that shared this same lesson was "afternoon in linen", in which a grandmother attempted to brag about how well rounded and educated her granddaughter, was embarrassed when her granddaughter confessed to copying a poem out of a book.

the other two stories that i enjoyed touched upon racial prejudice.  the first, "after you, my dear alphonse",  was the story of a little boy johnny that brought home his friend boyd for lunch.  boyd was black and johnny's mother though trying to be kind, was extremely ignorant and racist.  she inquired about boyd's family but all of her questions are based on black stereotypes.  she asked if his father worked, he did.  she assumed he was a factory worker, but he was a foreman.  she questioned his mother not working, but then her son johnny pointed out that she didn't either!  her questions continued in this vein, she assumed he had many brothers and sister and that his family was poor.  she went so far as to try to send used clothes home with him.  boyd politely explained that he did not need them, johnny's mother then became upset for her refusing his charity.  thankfully, the boys saw her actions as being a bit "screwy".  there are two lesson in this story, one that we should believe stereotypes and secondly, our charity should be for the benefit of the individual, it should not be a means for the giver to the feel superior for helping others.

the other story "flower garden", was the story of a woman, mrs. winnings and the neighbor that moved into a house she loved.  mrs. winnings came from a well-to-do family that i would describe as uppity but a better term would be traditional.  at first, she was desperate to be the new neighbors' friend.  but after an incident in which winning's and the neighbor's son harassed a half-black child, their friendship diminishes.  the neighbor apologized for the her son's behavior and asked the boy to help her in his garden.  the boy's father did not allow him but he began to work in the garden.  since he was black, the neighbors began to shun the new neighbor when at first they were so kind to her.  the most disappointing was mrs. winnings, who completely abandoned the new neighbor due to tradition and the community's discrimination against blacks.  the story ended sadly with the new neighbor wanting to move.  though i guess to really understand how racism can destroy lives, lives must be destroyed.  again in this story, we see the destructive nature of conformity, especially in relation to upholding traditions of racism and discrimination.

these are the stories that i enjoyed the most.  not all of them are winners, for example, i was bored with "elizabeth"(though i know how it is to wake up one day and wonder how you ended up where you are in life, see: mid-life crisis), "the renegade", and "pillar of salt" (though i think this was to demonstrate how destructive new york can be.)

a good collection, i would pick it up for the stories that i mentioned and pass over the rest.

everything leads to you. nina lacour. (215)

i can't remember how i first heard about nina lacour's everything leads to you. i searched flavorpill and the huffington post websites.  i even went over all the facebook pages i like, book riot, penguin paperback, random house, but could not find anything.  i finally decided upon penguin's first to read program. i must have read a blurb and decided to check it out.  i stressed out about how i found it because initially i hated it.  i hated it so much that i stopped about 60 pages in and decided to return it.  i couldn't do it, it was just so horrible.  i even planned writing about how much i did not enjoy it.  but i gave it a second chance and it turned out to be okay.  extremely predictable and cleaned up too nicely but then again it is a young adult novel.

i hate to come across like some book snob like ya novels should not be read about adults, i read ya novels all the time.  the issue that i had with this novel was that characters did not seem their age.  the situations they were in did not seem plausible for high school students.  i mean the main character emi and charlotte are intern for movies which would be more of a college thing.  it is addressed way later in the book that she started off in job via her brother but still it made no sense initially.  it would have made more sense if they were college students (even first years would have made more sense) versus high school seniors.  i felt like they were placed in high school simply so it would qualify for a ya novel.  so this judgement which occurred early on made it difficult for me to get into the book.

secondly, emi being naive and silly when it came to love.  i mean i can barely handle love in adult novels so i having to read about a high school senior being taken advantage of by her older ex didn't feel like my cup of tea.  i also couldn't take emi seriously due to it.  i mean i get that part of the plot is her growth in terms of understanding love but still teeny bopper romance not my thing.  though i will add kudos for lacour having emi be a lesbian.

thirdly, not that i ever been in the movie industry but all of that seemed far fetch too.  their jobs just seemed too perfect.  i mean the occurrence that starts off the story was so unrealistic.  also regardless of how much money their boss spent a record and belt buckle would have never just been given away like that.  i have seen enough of pawn stars to know that that buckle was more valuable esp since if was in a movies.   and also i just felt for being so young they had so much responsibility.  

the first 60 pages all i could think was, this would never happen in real life.  i am not sure what came over me but i decided to finish this book.  and it turned out to not be that bad.  i mean it was pretty predictable but it was sweet.

the story starts off with two friends, emi and charlotte, discover a letter written by deceased hollywood icon, clyde jones, in a record from his estate sale.  they decided to return the letter to the addressee.  they then discover that jones had a secret daughter.  however his daughter died so they go in search of his granddaughter. 

they find her ava, who is beautiful and a struggling actress.  they help her learn more about her past and help her come into her fortune.  emi also became a production designer for a movie which ava gets the lead!  and then emi and ava fall in love!  oh and toby and charlotte admit love for each other.  it all cleans up so nicely in the end just like a hollywood movie!!

i am being sarcastic now but high school senior me would have problem loved this.  i mean i did read nicholas sparks back then.

i should add that part of the reason i wanted to finish it was because  everything leads to you is set in los angeles.  i love reading about la.  and though i loved la as its backdrop, it was obvious the author was not a la native (the back flap said she is a norcal girl.) first of all, she spelled silverlake as silver lake.  and seriously everyone was way too willing to drive around everywhere.  i mean for morgan to just zip up to pasadena like that from what i am is assuming weho (actually where do lesbian brunch) okay maybe echo park seemed like a lot.  though it was work-related.  but la drivers hate actually having to drive outside of their neighborhoods.  also driving out to the deserts means driving out on the 10 to palm springs.  driving up the 405

to leona valley would be driving up the 405 to leona valley.  but the directions to the bev center was correct! 

all in all, an enjoyable read if you are 16.  if you aren't find something else to read.

boy, snow, bird. helen oyeyemi. (214)

i had seen helen oyeyemi's boy, snow, bird on amazon and the cover caught my eye.  later, i saw it as an ebook when i downloaded the app the library used.  however, i finally considered reading it when my friend juliana got a copy at bookcon.  then while browsing the beale library while waiting for my aunt and uncle i was surprised to find it with their new releases, i figured it would be out on request. i decided to amazon it's description, and came across this:

As seen on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, where it was described as “gloriously unsettling… evoking Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, Angela Carter, Edgar Allan Poe, Gabriel García Márquez, Chris Abani and even Emily Dickinson,” and already one of the year’s most widely acclaimed novels

garcia marquez!!!! haruki murakami!!! toni morrison!!! i had to check it out!!!

though i will say it did have some elements of the authors mentioned the writing did not fill me with whimsy like garcia marquez and murkami.  nor did i connect emotionally like i did with morrison's characters.  however, this was still an enjoyable read, my expectations had been raised due to the review.

*****spoilers beyond this points stop if you plan on reading this!!!!******

boy, snow, bird is set in the 40's, the first part is the story of boy novak who at the age of eighteen ran away from her (yes, she is female) abusive father.  her father worked as a rat catcher and was demented randomly hitting her and once leaving her to be attacked by rats in the basement.

boy ended up in a small town, flax hill.  at first boy was complete out of place in flax hill but soon made it her home.  she ended up marrying a widower, arturo whitman.  initially, they did not like each other but eventually he fell in love with her.  boy, however, married based on a strong connection she felt with his daughter, snow.  snow was a beautiful little girl and boy was entranced by her until boy became pregnant.

if you go on goodreads, a lot of reviewers bitched about boy, snow, bird, not being a worthy play on snow white.  i can see the strings that connect the fairy tale to the novel and those that want more, go watch abc's once upon a time.  

after the new baby is born, bird,  boy became a wicked stepmother.  with the birth of bird, arturo's family secret was revealed.  they were black, they had been passing as white in town though some individuals knew the truth.  bird did not have fair skin like her sister, snow.  as a result, the family treated her differently, they did not revere bird like snow.  also their reverence for snow came to light, it was not simply her beauty but the fact that she looked white.   boy began to resent snow for her whiteness and eventually sent her away to live wuth her aunt clara.  clara, arturo's sister, like bird, had a darker complexion and to avoid her revealing the family secret, she was sent away.  boy unable to deal with bird's complexion called clara so that she could send . . . snow away!  i was surprised by this, i thought boy was going to send away bird (which isn't any better).  boy sent away snow becaming an evil stepmother, she started to loathe snow based on the way everyone catered to her, just like snow white's evil stepmother!  

what broke my heart was that even though snow was revered this did not change how she treated bird.  snow was the only one that loved bird unconditionally.  it was so sweet to see snow being loving and affection toward her sister.  boy and arturo's mother, olivia, did not truly love bird and kept her at a distance.  snow was sent away because boy was jealous of the treatment she received and knew that her daughter would never be an equal.  this placed olivia as the enemy but really it was boy because she did not see bird as worthy of anyone's love.  snow was a constant reminder of bird's "otherness" and so boy had her sent away.

the middle part of the book was told from bird's perspective, who is now in middle school. from her we learn just how self-loathing olivia whitman was, not only racist towards blacks but also distant from her granddaughter.  bird was aware of her grandma's dislike for her, but thankful she was not completely damaged by it.

in this middle section, bird discovered that snow wrote to boy and later bird but boy never passed them on.  bird decided to start writing to her sister and they exchange a handful of letters between each other.  in their letters, we see the magical realism of garica marquez and murakami.  bird shared how she spoke to spiders and calmed them down once they heard humans knew the stories of ansai.  they also shared fairy tales back and forth about la belle capuchine.  bird sharing the story that her grandmother, olivia, fired for telling her.  it was the story of a slave that looked like her owner.  the slave was given privileges due to her likeness and this made her turn against the slaves.  one day a man came to free the slaves and locked the family up, when he came to release the slave, he mistaken the owner as the slave.  the slave asked another slave to help identify her but he turned his back on her.  while snow's la belle capuchine is beautiful but dangerous.  she has a garden that is deadly.

the girls also discovered that both are not always in mirrors.  boy also had issues with mirrors, always captivated by herself in them.  mirrors are utilized to symbolize identity.  snow can not see herself because her completely self is never seen by others, everyone thinks she is white but she is not.  bird can not see herself completely for the same reason, people take her only for her exterior and not her interior.  the reason for boy's mirror obsession is not revealed until the end.

in the second section, snow finally returned home and the tension and stress of this was discussed.  a surprise visitor also appeared in this portion.  frank, boy's father, came and took bird not realizing she was his granddaughter. he then told bird how boy almost did not live, for after birth she was sick.  he also told her that boy was evil.

the last section has a crazy surprise ending.  mia, boy's friend, discovered that frank is actually boy's mom!  it is discovered that frances was a lesbian and raped by a man.  she became pregnant and lived in a shelter but was eventually kicked out.  then one day as explained by mia, she looked in the mirror and there was frank.  she then became frank.

i was not anticipating this at all, i was expecting boy's mother to turn out to be black, not that her father was transgender.  i admired oyeyemi for this plot twist drawing parallels between racial prejudice and sexual orientation prejudice.  though it was disheartening to see people on goodreads bash the ending though i think it's their own fear of  transgenders.  a surprise twist was not unexpected, as mentioned i was anticipating her mother being black so it's not like a twist could ruin it.  the negativity has to be the fact that her mother was transgender.  most people thought it was ridiculous and unbelievable but i think it is plausible, transgender people have existed thoughout all of history, but it's just that now with the lgbt community being more visible that everyone is coming out of the closet.  i mean time magazine recently did a cover about transgender with the cover title "the transgender tipping point". i thought it was an interesting twist and did not lessen the story.

in the end, boy decided to rescue her mother.  boy enlisted snow, bird, and mia to help her save her mother.  the story ended with their leaving flax hill for nyc.  though these is no resolution i believe that they save frank.  having a family that sees you for who you truly are and accepts and loves you, fixes everything. 

the group. mary mccarthy. (213)

mary mccarthy's the group was listed as one of the books to fill the girls-shaped void in your life.  the cover (different from the one i read) had a blurb from sex and the city author candace bushnell, which i found a little silly since the group was written back in the 1950s.  however, i learned via wikipedia that an editior had suggested that bushnell write an updated version of the group which became sex and the city.

sex and the city is very reminiscent of the group.  unfortunately, with all the progress that women have made, we are still fighting the same battles as the generations before us.  one likes to think that our mothers can not understand what we face today but in fact they faced the exact same issues (this was demonstrated in the novel with dottie and her mother.)

the group is set in the 30's and follows the lives of a group of women, kay, dottie, helena, norine, libby, priss, polly, pokey and lakey, who became friends while at vassar college.  the novel spans 10 years of their lives, opening with their attendance of kay's wedding and sadly ending with her funeral.  throughout the ten years, they encounter all sorts of issues related to love, family, career, and sex, and as mentioned before the issues are not outdated and are still relevant today.

before i go on, i want to clarify that the group is #richwhitepeopleproblems, which is it is clearly aware of.  the characters are aware that they have money which results in very different experiences from most people. there is an attempt to have a poor character, polly, her being on scholarship was always mentioned, but her family used to be wealthy, so she doesn't really count.  she did donate blood for money but the fact that she was able to get a line of credit, demonstrated that she wasn't that badly off.  this critique can also be made of sex and the city and it was made about girls.  however, as i have defended girls in the past, some female issues transcend class and i, as a women, have always been able to identify though i am a women of color and poor.

the first issue that made me laugh due to it's relevance to today was dick's talk with dottie about sex and love.  dottie, a virgin, was warned by dick brown, the man who she lost her virginity to not fall in love with him, because women always do.  it made me laugh to read it because times have not changed because this myth is still around today.  i was virgin when i entered college and it seemed like every guy i ever hooked up and that i considered losing my virginity to, always seemed hesitant because they didn't want me to fall in love with them.  looking back there are two of them i am glad i didn't lose my virginity to either one of them. one of those two i did eventually sleep with and for the record there was nothing he did that would result in my loving him forever.  lol.  and for the record, i did not fall in love with the man that i lose my virginity to.  he is a swell guy (all of a sudden i'm from the 30's too) and interesting, and am glad i lost my virginity to him but i did not fall madly in love with him because of this act.  so there goes that.  we, women need to put an end to this myth!  i mean in the end, dottie did reveal that she loved dick, but she wasn't in love with dick brown but the idea of dick brown and that is something i am guilty of doing.  i spent the greater part of my twenties in love with someone but realizing now that i wasn't in love with the true him but this ideal him i had created in my head.  women turning men into myth is not a myth but we, women, always falling in love with our virginity takers is a bunch of bs.

the other thing that i found interesting from dottie and dick's relationship was how birth control was capable of implying so much about a relationship.  it was shocking to see how kay's husband, harald, explained how dick's requesting and keeping her diaphragm at his home could define their relationship status.  it is ridiculous that dottie was fitted and everything yet she couldn't store her diaphragm in her own home for fear of it being found by a roommate.  it was also crazy to consider how when people were infidel, their lover usually stored the diaphgram at his home.  imagine having a man in control of something so personal.  thank god today women can hold onto their own birth control, i can't imagine living in an era in which a man would be responsible for something that i use to regulate my body, oh wait, i take that back, because birth control is still an issue for women today.  (see:  hobby lobby)  but it is nice that we can keep our birth control in our homes, bathrooms and purses.  and it is progress that we women can hold condoms in our purse, no need relying on the man to ensure safe sex, we can do it ourselves!

another issue that the group covered was breastfeeding. when priss was in the hospital with her son, she had to deal with the her husband who wanted her to breastfeed and the hospital that wanted to give the baby formula.  priss' husband, a pediatrician, explained the reasons for the baby being breastfeed and he was right, the baby was putting weight on at a good rate.  also it would be good for his immune system.  however, the hospital wanted to put the baby on formula because he wasn't sleeping through the night and waking up hungry and thus disrupting the maternity ward.  poor, yet weak, priss feeling pressure from the doctor and nurses ended up giving her son formula.  i found myself frustrated for priss not having a backbone, but i mean hospitals are intimidating.  i'm always lost with hospital jargon and usually just go with what the doctor says because it's less confusing that way.  so i can sympathize with priss there.  however,  i for one plan on breastfeeding my child, i don't know if its the generation i am apart of it but i can't imagine giving my child, formula.  i don't have children so i'm not sure what the world's stance is on breastfeeding, i mean it should be widely accepted right?  though formula companies are still in business.  the current issue we have is people being upset about women breastfeeding in public.  this is the current hot item when it comes to breastfeeding, but i think most people agree it should be done, just in private.  i also want to add that i will allow my child to cry because as my grandma always told us, it's good for their lungs.  grandma bea would have agreed with priss' husband on that one!

last but not least it was great to see a lesbian in the story and of all people, lakey!  the most glamorous of them all.  and kudos to her for finding herself a lover and staying abroad so that she could live the life that she wanted without judgement.  i was not expecting her to be a lesbian but it was a nice surprise.  it was also nice to see the group not being too judgmental and treating lakey and her partner like any other couple.

aside the women issues that were covered, it was a interesting read just in terms of drama.  we, women, like to fill our life with drama, that is not a myth!  though it isn't gender exclusive, my friend peter, is a shining example of a male that loves drama.  lol  (i doubt he reads my blog but if he does, sorry.)  but there was drama in this book.  i for one, could not stand nordine!  i can not believe that she slept with kay's husband?!?!? and her justification for it was ridiculous!  i also couldn't believe the psychiatrist's explanation that her husband's impotency was because he could only get it up for "fallen women".  and as much as i was upset with nordine for sleeping with harald, i can't believe that helen didn't say anything.  what a bad friend!  if someone was cheating on me, i would want my friend to tell me!

also before i go on, i have to address the psychoanalysis mentioned in the novel.  i am all for people seeing a psychologist because mental health is important. however, it was a different beast back then.  it was disgusting to see how nordine used it to justify her affair.  and polly's lover's estranged wife used it to manipulate him back into a relationship.  also it was shocking to read how the girls stopped polly from marrying a boy because his family had a history of mental illness since her father was bipolar and they were worried due to that.  i mean its nice that they were so considerate but it seems odd for that to be an issue.  sex and the city did touch on this when carrie dated her high school sweetheart (played by david duchvony) while he was in a psych ward, but i feel back then you were considered ill for the lost ridiculous reasons (see:  girl, interrupted.)  though i will add i know someone that was dating someone who had an episode with mental illness and i advised against them dating unless he got help.  so yeah i guess i don't know, maybe the girls were right.

back to the novel, the group is timeless and a must read for women of all ages, though probably best to be read in your twenties.  however, it is filled with experience and lessons that are relevant at any age.

and as for filling my girls' void i couldn't imagine hannah in this world because she is too neruotic, maybe she would be nordine. lol  but marnie and shosh would definitely be comfortable in this world.  oh and jessa would definitely be lakey.  

this is new york. m. sasek. (212)

i checked out this is new york to read with the girls i baby-sit.  i had found these random new york coloring fans at the goodwill and needed a book to go along with coloring the fans.  i decided upon this is new york.

this is new york was originally published in 1960 and this new edition was published in 2003.  the book shares the sights and sounds of new york back in the 1950's.  some things are outdated is the empire state building being the tallest building in new york, but thankful most has stayed the same. 

it's a delightful book that i recommend you check out if you love the big apple.  the illustrations are great!! one day i hope to take my future child to new york and share this book before the trip.

here are my favorite illustrations:

of course, times square!!

macy's!

trinity church which is the oldest church in nyc.  (on my to-do list.)

harlem.

park ave.  this reminded me of my friend ivan, last time i was in nyc, he took me on walking tour which included park ave and grand central terminal.  he explained to me that he wants the MetLife building torn down because it ruins this view.  i agree with him and this drawing just reinforces my support!

i love the water tanks!

the guggenheim.  which i have yet to go to!

but yes check out this book, it's a delight!

a story lately told: coming of age in ireland, london, and new york. anjelica huston (211)

last weekend, after a trip to la, i decided to stay with my auntie trace and uncle karl.  while awaiting for them to pick me up from the amtrak, i decided to check out the used book section at the beale library.  i didn't find anything to buy but did come across anjelica huston's memoir, a story lately told:  coming of age in ireland, london, and new york.  i love her because of her work with wes anderson, and of course the witches, so decided to check it out.

i wasn't sure what to expect, i mean, she is etheline tenebaum!  the lost mother of darjeeling limited and morticia adams!! this memoir had to be extraordinary!! but sadly it wasn't.

this memoir lacked heart. it is almost as though huston wrote it simply to make money versus sharing her life.  could she be doing that bad? i mean i did just look up her imdb, she has been voicing tinkerbell movies, maybe she is hurting?  it also seemed like she didn't want to be outdone by her sister, allegra, who she thanked in the acknowledgements for inspiring her.  if it was personal growth, she needs to try digging deeper.

the one thing that i took from this memoir  is that huston likes to namedrop.  if feel bad (due mostly to this memoir) but didnt realize that huston's father was a famous director, like the african queen famous.  and due to this huston's childhood was very glamorous filled with hollywood's elite always randomly dropping by their home.  i would say 50% of the time discussed about ireland was just names of celebrities.  so many people were named, all minor characters, that i lost track and could not keep everyone straight. (though i must admit that i was impressed by the namedropping of john steinbeck.) the remaining 50% of the ireland era was spent discussing the description of their mansion and their horses.  it lacked funny little anecdotes one has as a child.  the only one i can remember is huston being embarassed while performing macbeth but that turned out to be peter o'toole's memory and not her own.

the london era was filled with the same namedropping.  marianne faithfull was mentioned.  also the fact that the director of romeo and juliet was interested in casting huston as juliet but her father wanted her in his film. i hate to be mean but can not imagine her as juliet that film as it was made is perfection.  also i felt like huston's #teenageproblems about doing the film were an excuse for her poor performance.

the london era was also when huston lost her mother in a car accident.  it was a tragedy that huston discussed without any feeling.  maybe it was too difficult for her to discuss honestly, but if she wanted to pay tribute to her mother, she missed her chance. it was a very distant discussion of a very tragic event in her life.

the new york era covered her absuive relationship with bob richardson, who is terry richardson's dad!  while googling for photos of a young anjelica huston (she was gorgeous), saw one of terry and huston which seemed odd but now after reading this it's even odder.  richardson, a successful photographer and like twentysomething years her senior was crazy and controlling for lack of a better description.  she was young and sadly put up with it until she realized how horrible her life was on trip to mexico and finally left him.  again, the lack of emotion of heart was even seen in the discussion of this relationship.  

i must admit i did find myself romantizing the gritty new york scene huston was apart of, ie living at the chelsea hotel (yes even with its creepy stories).  also all of her modeling in europe sounded so glamourous as well, though she seemed a little thin-skinned initially, crying at a nyc go-see.

as i mentioned before this memoir was not that interested and read more like a who's who of hollywood.  i was looking forward to reading funny little anecdotes about her growing up and coming of age, but every story just seemed like the means for her to brag about something.  

though i should add, by reading between the lines, one can find the inspiration for her amazing performances in wes anderson films.  for as glamourous her parents were they were absent from most of her life.  they were also more concerned with their own love affairs then the raising of her children.  perhaps it is this lack of parenting growing up that huston drew as inspiration for the messed up mothers she played in anderson films.  to take it one step further, she is also channeling her mother with her depictions of ex-wives of insensitive yet creative men in anderson's films.  though this epiphany is not enough to justify reading the memoir, just watch a wes anderson film instead to see huston at her finest.

oh and i will add, i also learned through photos that huston dated jack nicholson (hich i didn't know), now that is memoir i want to read!

god bless ozzy osbourne

i checked out god bless ozzy osbourne after darlene told me that she and her husband watched it one night. and she was right.  it is an excellent documentary and i learned a lot about the osbournes.

to start, i have to explain that ozzy is coherent in this documentary!  he talks and he makes sense!  i know it's shocking to hear, especially those who watched the mtv series the osbournes.  it turns out that what we saw on that show was not the effects of alcohol and drug abuse, but rather someone on drugs and alcohol.  i had no idea, here i thought ozzy was just getting old, but it turns out that ozzy was just fucked up.  it was great to see him functioning like a normal person in this documentary, so watch it just for that.

also aimee, the sibling that did not want her face to be shown on the tv series is gorgeous!  at first, it hought kelly had just lost some weight, i mean they look like twins.  but it turns out that was aimee.  she really is quite beautiful.  no offense, but kelly must have some secret hatred/jealousy of her sister based on her looks. 

also ozzy has two children from a previous marriage, i did not know that.

sharon also shared what happened with dove biting and the bat bitiing.  he thought the bat was fake, and it wasn't.  

all in all, it's a really great documentary, tommy lee shared some crazy story about ozzy osbourne which was gross and entertaining.

if you have showtime, you should definitely take the time to watch it.  it's great to see his life and to now see him sober.

also i have to add, ozzy was super hot when he was younger!  and boy did he have some amazing outfits.  i especially loved all the fringe that he wore.  as seen below: 

relish. lucy knisley. (210)

i firrst heard of relish on flavorpill.  i was actually going to buy it, a graphic novel about food, of course i would love it.  however, it sat on my amazon wish list for a while, actually where it still is. i am not sure what prompted me to finally check it out, i think it was a post about foodie books.

anyway, so relish is actually not a graphic novel but a graphic memoir.  and its an adorable little book that features stories from lucy knisley's life and recipes to go along with it.  and of course the illustrations are adorable as well.

knisley came from a family of foodies, her mother was a caterer and was all about farm fresh before farm fresh became a thing, and her father just liked good food.  also her godfather was a food critic and her uncle joined a food store in nyc.  all her life knisley was surrounded by good food.  

the graphic memoir is a handful of stories and as i mentioned recipes that go along with the story.  well except for one, knisley shared how in venice she had these delicious croissants that were filled with apricot jam.  she tried her best to recreate them but couldn't do it.  instead of having a croissant recipe there was one for sangria!  

the memoir is short so i won't go into too much detail on the stories.  though i will add that i really enjoyed the story about her coming of age in mexico and seeing all the fun things she ate in japan!  

and though i don't cook, i was excited about the recipes.  maybe i will make something one day, the lamb sounded delish,  maybe i can get my sister to make it.  i will add that i did learn that you shouldn't wash your mushrooms!  you should brush them clean or if you do, make sure to let them dry before they are sauteed.  i love mushrooms so will start doing that.

all in all a delightful little book, i mean it ended with a bradbury quote from dandelion wine!!

i also decided to include some illustrations, since it is a graphic memoir.

this will be my to-eat list when i am in chicago (i really need to plan a trip there, maybe next year?)

a recipe for carbonara, i should really try to make it!

and i just loved this little quote:

so if you love food, you should check this out.  and if you make anything from it, invite me over!

the other language. francesca marciano. (209)

flavorpill listed the other language as a must read for april.  i thought the cover was cute and the jhumpa lahiri blurb was a positive sign so i decided to check it out.

and glad i did, you can judge a book by a cover!  it's a wonderful collection of short stories that made me want to travel to italy. well more like buy a home in an old italian village like "the presence of men".

like other collections i have read and loved this year, every story felt complete like a collection of mini novels.  they reminded me of lahiri's short stories as well.

my absolute favorite was "quantum theory".  it's the story of two people that keep on randomly running into each other.  and it's random, the last time they met is in new york.  they originally met at a party, but things didn't head anywhere.  however, that first encounter is often looked upon with regret based upon their chemistry when they randomly run into each other.  it's a beautiful story of what could have been, though in the end they recognize all that they do have and find the most value in that.  they also learn that "love has many faces."

i also enjoyed "chanel". the story of an up-and-coming film director that decided on a whim to buy a chanel dress for an awards ceremony she was attending.  however, the ceremony was not televised so she did not wear the dress and sadly her career never took off.  the dress sat in her closet, as a reminder of what she never achieved in life.  in the end, she was going to sell but ended up saving it as a reminder of all the greatness she had in life:

perhaps she just needed to remind herself more often how that gold was still floating above her head, it's minuscule particles visible only when pierced by a certain light

i loved the ending of the title story, "the other language". after reading about summers spent in greece and meeting up with long-lost friends, in the end it was simply a wife recanting her childhood to her husband.  she returning to her memories yet only telling him parts she wanted to reveal.  the other language was a coming-of-age story in which emma, the main character, learned that life is not always as it appears and that not all that glitters is gold.  after the death of her mother, her father took her and her siblings to a small greek village where they recover and have an enjoyable summer, intrigued by the people they encounter.  emma, after being unable to communicate with two english boys, learn english when she returned to rome. on the next trip, the return back to greece wanting to create their previous summer, but sadly it is not the same.  emma, in fact, lost her virginity to one of the english boys (sadly not the one she liked and it was more like rape) but the worse was discovering that her mother had committed suicide.  its tough lesson knowing that the world can be a source of suffering versus pleasure.  though tragic she did see the silver lining that her learning english helped her end up where she was today.  

i loved "the italian system" and would read it in the book within the story was a real book.  i wonder if marciano toyed with the idea of actually writing it but then just used it in this short story instead.  it's the story of a woman that is writing about how italians stay so chic only to return to italy to see how americanized it is.  boo americanization!  (this is my sediment not the author's.)

all the story are truly wonderful.  and this is an excellent collection of short stories.  and the cover would make any bookshelf look cute! (i have actually debated buying it just to display on a bookshelf.  lol)

a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. dave eggers. (208)

i have discussed this before but i do have hipster tendencies.  so when the huffington post listed the most hipster books of all time, and i had only read a handful of them, i decided to check them out.  i started with dave eggers' a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.

i feel horrible for saying this, especially considering it's premise, a memoir about raising a younger sibling after both parents passing away, but i hated this book.  it took everything i had to actually finish it.  ironically, i should have listened to the rules and suggestions for enjoyment of this book (which is listed at the beginning) it suggested that "the first three or four chapters are all some of you might want to bother with.  that gets you to page 109 or so, which is a nice length, a nice novella sort of length."  i thought eggers was being cheeky when in fact he was just being honest, he knew the second half wasnt' worth it. 

 

a heartbreaking work of staggering genius covers eggers' early twenties and what he encountered raising his little brother, tophe, after having lost both their parents within three months of each other.  they lost their mother to stomach cancer, and the father to what i am assumed was a heart condition  (i feel eggers really didn't share what happen to him, other than his sister finding him kneeling in the driveway one night), since he was a heavy drinker and smoker.  due to the title and the premise, i imagined myself having an emotional connection to the book having just lost my grandmother.  i was actually very hesitant about reading, worried that it would stir up too many memories and thoughts that i was not ready to revisit.  i will admit that reading about their mother is icu was difficult to read, i did cry, reminded of being in icu with my grandmother. and later in the book when eggers discussed his speaking at this mother's memorial service (their parents donated their bodies to science so there wasn't a formal burial), i understood what he went through.  i do recall when my grandmother first entered icu, i thought about what i would say at her funeral.  one feels bad for thinking such thoughts but its something that needs to be considered.  i also identified with egger's uncertainity when it came to speaking at the service.  i was the same way, wanting to share but not wanting too.  though i will add, i didn't want pity like he did but to honor my grandmother.  but that was as far as my identification and enjoyment of the book went.

my enjoyment, seriously only went up until page 109, because that is the only part that truly discussed tophe.  the rest was pretty much about the magazine, he and his friends started, which i did not find interesting at all.  to be completely honest, the only real take away i had from the remainder of the book, was that eggers wasn't casted on mtv's real world: san francisco and that puck came to do a photo shoot for them.  well not for a feature on puck but he was a model, they needed nude models for a piece about humans being the same.  but yeah that is all i really remember.  oh and i would have appreciated the innovativeness of the real world "interview" being a means of eggers discussing his childhood, but then when he had to let the cat out of the bag, recognizing that it was a made up interview to allow for this exploration, so i started to lose interest.

i really hated it.  it was seriously just about the magazine.  it could have been a work of staggering genius if he focused on the issues that he confronted while raising his brother more than whether or not he could still get laid. 

i also think that i may have missed the mark on this book.  had i read it 2000 (though i was in high school, i maybe have been to young) this would have been revolutionary.  maybe if i read it fresh out of college, i would have enjoyed it more.  i don't know what its right, i just know that it bored me.

i also want to add that i see how the book is hipstery.  i mean this is the publishing page!

its very tongue-in-cheek and clever and i would have praised it if i loved the book.  but since i did not enjoy it, i find it excessive and annoying. 

furthermore, there is the "rules" for enjoying the book that i mentioned earlier.  in addition to that there is a preface, contents page, acknowledgements (which runs for like 10 pages and includes diagrams and a random drawing of  a stapler, seriously?!?!?!) all of which i did not read because i did not want to give this book, any more time in my life.  though i will add that in the acknowledgement section, eggers says that the first 200 people that take a picture of a book and your receipt can receive a $5 check from him.  i wonder if people really did that, i would have done that and still felt robbed because the book was horrible.  you can also send it for a fictionalized version of the book on floppy disk, i might look into purchasing that if i still can.  but yeah, i can see the coolness in this, but like anything hipster, if it sucks, one does become annoyed but it.

if a heartbreaking work of staggering genius is on your to-read list, just read up to page 109.  i can tell you the story about real world and puck so you don't have to read the rest.