fortune smiles. adam johnson. (312)

i picked up fortune smiles after seeing it on carrie brownstein's instagram and i am glad i did.  it's a wonderful collection of short stories, all heartwrenching yet witty.  i had never heard of johnson prior to this, even though he is a pulitzer winner. however, i now plan on reading his pulitzer-prize winning novel, the orphan master's son. this collection was that good.

johnson is an excellent storyteller, and though each story was enjoyable, my favorites were "interesting facts", "nirvana", and "dark meadows".

"interesting facts" was interesting because i wasn't sure if it was autobiographical. the novel opened with the narrator had a book reading and being obsessed with breast.  initially, you assume he was some pervert, but it turns out she was a woman that had lost her breast to breast cancer.  it is then revealed that the narrator's husband was a pulitzer prize winner for a novel about north korea, just like adam johnson! i had to google to see whether or not his wife battled cancer, it turned out she did.  i also discovered that johnson explained in an interview that this story was a "violation of his family".  and knowing that his wife had cancer made this story a little difficult to read.  the reason being that it's a little sixth sense, in the way that you realize that the narrator was a ghost. if written by johnson's wife, it would be a sad yet beautiful story that demonstrates the stress and worries a mother has when her death comes earlier than expected in the form of a disease like cancer.  however, written by johnson himself, it seems awkward for him to imagine her dead and then as a ghosts however, one can see it as an exercise in which he deals with the possibility of losing his wife and how he would move on yet still remain loyal to her.  a beautifully written story and my favorite of the collection.

in "interesting facts", the wife was angry because her husband stole a character that he helped developed for her novel and turned him into the narrator for his own story, "dark meadows". "dark meadows" was another favorite of mine, disturbing yet intriguing.  "dark meadows" was about mr. roses who reminded me of dexter.  he was filled with knowledge of computers and child pornography. though he didn't out right destroy sexual predators, he did help a cop figure out a way to track down people that downloaded child pornography.  he also helped protected his neighbors, two young girls, from a peeping tom, though he also had to safe them from himself.  though creepy, at his very essence, mr. roses was not a bad guy, he too was a victim, raped as a child by his sea scouts leader.  his child

pornography obsession fueled by the need to find photos that his rapist took of him.  this story was disturbing yet hopeful, kind of like watching an episode of law and order: svu, you are exposed to sick and twisted crimes, yet are hopeful that these people will be stopped.  mr. roses was a tragic character that i hope got help and started using his computer skills to help

stop child pornography.

in "dark meadows", there was this great moment when the girls sing themselves a lullaby, though mr. roses did not recognize it initially, i saw it was nirvana's "where did you sleep last night?"  this was kurt's second appearance, in this collection, his first came in the story, "nirvana".  in this story, a man's wife was suffering from guillain-barré syndrome, which left her bed ridden and immobile.  the only comfort she found was listening to nirvana and smoking pot.  the husband was plagued by a promise he made to help her commit suicide when it all got too much.  to help him cope worn this, he created an app, he reconstructed a recently assassinated president that could converse with him and was a hologram via an iprojector.  the hologram was able to talk via a library of speeches and interviews.  he then decided to create one of kurt cobain for his wife.  this technology seemed like the opening of pandora's box, though comforting, it would do more harm, in the long run. it's seems amazing to think that our love could live forever, but it's not really them, just the shell of the person they once were.  we are currently a society obsessed with recording our lives, but the technology in this story is too extreme for me.

all in all, this collection of stories was great and i highly recommend it.  and i definitely plan on reading more books recommended by carrie brownstein.

me and earl and the dying girl. jesse andrews. (277)

i picked up me, and earl, and the dying girl, because there will be a panel about the movie based on it at bookcon.  but unlike the other ya novels that i have read for bookcon, i absolutely adored this one.  and if you are going to watch a movie based on a ya novel this summer, make it this one!  screw paper towns!  team me, and earl, and the dying girl!  i have to add that the movie did really well at sundance and nick offerman is in it!

so the novel.  i feel like i have read something with a similar premise or maybe saw a movie (?), but basically this novel is an admission letter by greg gaines (the me in the title) to explain why his grades went south his senior year of high school.  i love that novel ended with greg saying that he would not turn this book into a novel, but maybe that was jesse andrews way of saying that he wanted it to become a movie.  lol

i don't know what to write, other than you need to read it.  its a ya novel, so it shouldn't take you long.  and its sweet without being sappy.  i also loved the realness of the characters.  earl grew up in a troubled home with gangster brothers.  greg is a bit of a dick.  these kids are not goody two shoes but regular teens.  i also admired how it was very realistic with its dealing of leukemia.  i, for one, appreciated "the moron's guide to leukemia", because you always read about it, but never really know what it is.  also i loved that greg didn't know how to comfort rachel (the dying girl) except to make her laugh, because most of the times we don't know what to do in those situation.  it was nice to see greg struggle with that instead of always saying the right thing.  i know i for one am always lost for the right words though my heart is filled with good intentions.  greg struggling to comfort rachel was refreshing, he's a teenage boy, what does he know about death?

though i will add that i was shocked how abruptly rachel died, but i guess that is how it is.  also her death wasn't stretched out but the again, this was greg's story, not hers.  and like novel warned us, this wasn't like other books that deal with cancer and teens.

and of course, i loved their movies!  i did have to look up most of them online. i have to admit that i have no desire to see aguirre, the warth of god that did not look interesting to me, but to each his own.  this part of the novel reminded me of michel gondry's  be kind rewind.  as i read about their remakes, i had visions of mos def and jack black remaking movies. 

i also loved the different forms of writing that andrews used, ie the stage directions and dialogue, the bullet points in that one chapter.

i really enjoyed this book and wish that it was around in high school.  and out of all the ya novels i read for bookcon, i have to say this may have been the best.

birds of america. lorrie moore. (188)

after reading lorrie moore's self-help earlier this year, i decided to read the rest of her works.  i then saw that bj novak mentioned birds of america in an interview, so decided to start there for my next read.  and yes bj novak aka @picturesoftext totally liked my picture on instagram (he follows me!)

i must admit that birds of america did not wow me right off the bat like i had expected.  i was really wow-ed by self-help, and though the writing is great but spoke to me.  

i valued the mother-daughter dynamic of which is more than i can say about some people, i allowed me to step back and see my mother as a person versus an annoyance.  that sounds harsh but it is true, we are often overwhelmed by our parents that we forget that they are human too with fears and needs.  we, children are so selfish assuming that they are their simply to provide for us since that is the role they have had since birth, we never think of their life before their title as mother.  

i enjoyed the raccoon story of dance in america:

"we have raccoons sometimes in our chimney," explains simone . . . "and once we tried to smoke them out.  we lit a fire, knowing they were there, but we hoped that the smoke would cause them to scurry out the top and never come back.  instead, they caught on fire and came crashing down into our living room, all charred and in flames and running madly around until they dropped dead." simone swallows some wine. "love affairs are like that," she says.  "they are all like that."

so true about love affairs, sometimes people tell us they don't want us and yet we go crashing full head into heartache and rejection.  i am usually the raccoon, professing my love that someone doesn't want, but still tries to pursue them and ending up killing my heart.

i adored the introduction to community life because up until high school, i would mispronounce library.

"when olena was a little girl, she had called them lie-berries--a fibbing fruit, a story store--and now she had a job in one."  and how cute, a story store!  i also enjoyed the tom swifties (which i had never heard of prior to this story) that olena and her co-workers came up with:

"i have to go to the hardware store, he said wrenchingly."

"would you like a soda? he asked spritely."

"this hot dog's awful, she said frankly."

"she's a real dog, he said cattily."

"i like a good sled dog, she said huskily."

so clever!

real estate was an odd little story but i did love that one of the characters sang "you are my lucky star" from singin' in the rain which is my favorite songs from that musical!

great writing but nothing that truly wow'd me . . . until i read people like that are the only people here.  a tragic yet beautiful story of a mother and father dealing with their infant son's cancer.  throughout the story the father tells the mother that she should take notes since she is a writer.  due to this, i googled to see if this was based on moore's actual life (i know, i know, all novels and stories are semi-autobiographical) and it was based on her life.  after i learned this, i recognized that the beauty of this piece is due to its honesty.  the mother, father and baby are called just that which makes the story relatable and less specific to moore though it is a story straight from her life.  she captured the confusion, pain, stress, and emotions of having a loved one in the hospital.  i had flashbacks to when my grandma bea was in the heart hospital as i read.  it really makes you wonder why we suffer so much as humans, how god can put anyone through any of this.  not only the person that is ill but their family members as well.  it seemed insensitive when the surgeon's explained that the mother would suffer more than the baby during this time, but it is true.  i am not a mother but was able to empathizes with the mother in the story since moore did not shy away from all the thoughts that a mother in this situation, good and bad.  thankfully the baby comes out of this story well.  though i did feel as though moore sold her soul a bit with the ending, in which the story closes with "there are the notes.  now where is the money?"  which i mean if moore was being completely honest, let her sell this story for money for her son, i would contribute.  and though it is difficult for anyone to be completely honest, i am glad that moore shared this story.

all in all, an enjoyable collection and look forward to reading more from moore.