books, the universe, and everything

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Muriel Barbery

This is the second novel by Muriel Barbery, and was translated from French by Alison Anderson.

I saw this book frequently for over a year, and for some reason never picked it up before now. That was a mistake.

It’s a warm, beautiful book. It’s funny, entertaining, and best of all it gives you a lot to think about. It might make you cry.

If you would like a little taste, here’s a small passage I posted. There’s also an excerpt posted on NPR.org.

Even before I had finished this book, I had the urge to run out and buy copies for everyone I know, and poke them until they read it. Even more so now that I have finished it. (Look out, friends!)

I highly recommend The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I think if you read it you’ll agree - it would also make a great gift and an excellent choice for a book club.

Muriel Barbery’s first book - Gourmet Rhapsody - has been translated and is coming out in the US on August 25th. I will definitely be buying a copy as soon as it’s released.

THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG BOOK DESCRIPTION:
 

"Renée Michel is the dumpy, nondescript, 54-year-old concierge of a small and exclusive Paris apartment building....

"Paloma Josse also lives in the building. Acutely intelligent, introspective and philosophical, this 12-year-old views the world as absurd and records her observations about it in her journal...

"These two characters provide the double narrative of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and you will -- this is going to sound corny -- fall in love with both....

"Tender and satirical in its overall tone, yet most absorbing because of its reflections on the nature of beauty and art, the meaning of life and death.... The intelligent Muriel Barbery has served readers well by giving us the gently satirical, exceptionally winning and inevitably bittersweet Elegance of the Hedgehog."

—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
 

So, we mustn't forget any of this, absolutely not. We have to live with the certainty that we'll get old and that it won't look nice or be good or feel happy. And tell ourselves that it's now that matters: to build something, now, at any price, using all our strength. Always remember that there's a retirement home waiting somewhere and so we have to surpass ourselves every day, make every day undying. Climb our own personal Everest and do it in such a way that every step is a little bit of eternity.

-Page 128-129, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction

J.D. Salinger

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction by J. D. Salinger is the second book I've read from my Summer Reading List.

It's also the last of Salinger's books that I had not read.

This book is actually two Novellas published together. The first, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, is an account of Seymour Glass's wedding day - told by his brother Buddy Glass. Seymour Glass himself never actually makes an appearance in the story. It's an excellent story, and made me love Salinger's writing even more.

The second story however, is quite different. It's an essay, pretty much, written by Buddy Glass. It attempts to be, just as the title says, an Introduction to Seymour Glass. At first it mainly focuses on Seymour's poetry but then gets more general and talks about Buddy's relationship with Seymour, and Seymour as a person.

I think Seymour an Introduction is possibly the best example of why I love Salinger so much, and how talented he is. I mean, goodness. Here's a novella "written" by one of Salinger's fictional characters, about another fictional character, and their fictional family. Nothing particularly sad happens. Seymour's suicide is mentioned in almost every account of the Glass family, and is not the focus of this piece at all. It's just a tribute to his "life" - who he was and what he was like. And the darn thing had me in tears while reading about Seymour and what sort of person he was. It was incredible.

I've now read his four published books, and I've read Catcher in the Rye twice. Now I'd like to go back and read them all again. If forced to choose a favorite, I'm not sure I could at this point. All I know is that it isn't Catcher, though I do really like it. I love the other three so much I can't imagine choosing a favorite. Maybe when I re-read them all it will help me make up my mind.

As much as I wish Salinger would release some new work, since it's been nearly 50 years, I also am sort of ok with just the work that's out there. I like the idea of re-reading his four books many times, and getting to know them very well. I like the idea of trying to track down his uncollected works, as M-----l did. (A few will be on my complete New Yorker DVDs, so I'll start with those.) He has definitely become one of my top five favorite authors.

The Long-Winded Lady: Notes from The New Yorker

Maeve Brennan

I saw this book in several bookstores in April, when Emma and I were out book shopping. I had never heard of it before (it’s a new edition, originally published in 1969 and has been out of print for a long time), but I knew immediately that I needed it.  

Here’s the description from the back cover:

From 1954 to 1981, Maeve Brennan wrote for The New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town” column under the pen name “The Long-Winded Lady.” Her unforgettable sketches - prose snapshots of life in small restaurants, cheap hotels, and crowded streets of Times Square and the Village - together form a timeless, bittersweet tribute to what she called the “most reckless, most ambitious, most confused, most comical, the saddest and coldest and most human of cities.” First published in 1969, The Long-Winded Lady is a classic celebration of one of The New Yorker’s Finest Writers.

Except in our minds, there is no connection between the little American Farmhouse and the Hungarian cats and the Hungarian pigeon, but in our minds these stories remind us that we are always waiting, and remind us of what we are waiting for - a respite, a touch of grace, something simple that starts us wondering. I am reminded of Oliver Goldsmith, who  said, two hundred years ago, “Innocently to amuse the imagination in this dream of life is wisdom.”  (page 48)

In the period since my first visit there, Philippe had passed from being a distressing ghost to being the skeleton who rattles and will not get into the cupboard and be still. I was sorry about that. I thought it might have been a good idea for Philippe’s old colleagues to greet every returning old customer with a glass of champagne in which to toast their dead friend, but since this was not done, I can only hope that Philippe’s long and dreary wake will soon be over. I think he would have hated it. I hope that his next incarnation, when his bones cease their rattling, will be amid pleasant things that would have been familiar to him, amid sounds - the sounds of a prosperous and friendly restaurant at its best hour, the sounds from the kitchen when it is busiest, and the sounds of corks being drawn from bottles and of ice being shaken and of knives and forks and of waiters’ questioning voices and of customers in cheerful conversation over a good dinner, sounds that we all know and that signify perhaps the most amiable moments of our days, wherever we are, or, as we all happen to be, in the midst of life. (pages 191-192)

Even if you bought nothing, you came out much better off than you were when you went in. (page 194 - in a description of the International Book & Art Shop)

This book is perfect for anyone who loves New York, or who is interested in a first hand account of life in New York in the 50s and 60s, when the city was a little rougher and more interesting.
 
It’s also a great book for anyone who likes essays - Maeve Brennan is an excellent writer and it’s lovely to read her portraits of every day life in New York. She writes about simple, every day occurrences and yet with her skill they are beautiful and moving.

I was sad when this book ended. I looked on my complete New Yorker DVDs to see if there was anything else by her that was not in this collection. It looks like this is a complete collection of her essays, but that there are still some short stories to read and discover. 

First of all - a big thank you to everyone who entered my Summer Book Giveaway and helped to spread the word!

I will definitely do more giveaways in the future, and will explore other ways for people to enter, since I hate that Vox makes you register to leave a comment.

Without further ado, here are the winners of the Summer Book Giveaway!

Bookgiveawaywinners

(click here to see this image full size)

1. Maria - Water for Elephants
2. carapiccoladiva - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
3. Ubi Caritas - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
4. Morgan - Peony in Love
5. Dominique - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Congrats to the winners! I'm excited to send you your books. I'll send a direct message to all of you to get your mailing address. Except Morgan, since I'll see her soon! :)

Thanks again to everyone who entered! Stay tuned for the next giveaway - I'm thinking it might be an ARC giveaway.

Good morning! I just wanted to post a reminder that you have until 8pm ET tomorrow to enter my Summer Book Giveaway!

Here are the books you could win:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Peony in Love by Lisa See
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Read more details and enter here!

Please feel free to spread the word to anyone who would be interested - thanks!

I am very excited to be posting my first book giveaway!

When I went to the Friends of the Hoboken Library book sale last weekend (where books are for sale at incredible prices), I saw several books that I loved, in good condition, but that I already owned. A lot of times I'll buy them anyway, and give them to friends or family. This time I thought it would be a lot of fun to have a book giveaway on my blog.

The books I'm giving away are all books that I've read and enjoyed, and that I think could make great summer reads. They are:

Summer Book Giveaway!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Peony in Love by Lisa See
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

The books are all used books, but they are in incredibly good shape, with clean pages, nice covers, no broken spines, etc.

There will be 5 winners - one book per person. Here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment to enter. I apologize that Vox makes you create a (free) account to leave a comment. When you comment, please list the books you would like, in order. So if you're only interested in three of them, you'd list those three, 1 through 3, in the order you'd like them. If you'd like any of the five, then just list them in the order you'd like. This way, I can try to match the five winners up with the books they'd actually like to read. One entry per person, except for the extra opportunities described in number 2 below.

2. For up to two extra entries - tweet this and/or blog about it, with a link back here. To keep things simple and fair with the number generator, please leave a new comment with a link to your tweet or post for each of the two extra entries. (I've shortened the URL as well - http://bit.ly/fXQ6u)

3. This is open to any book lover across the globe. I will ship internationally.

4. Since Vox also doesn't number the comments, I'm going to keep track of the entries in order in an excel document. Then I'll use Random Number Generator to pick the winners, and I won't have to manually count the comments.

5. You must enter by 8pm Eastern time on Friday, June 19th, 2009. Winners will be drawn that weekend, and I'll post a new entry with the results. The winners will receive a direct message through Vox (which also sends an email to the account you used to register) and you'll need to reply with your address within 4 days, or I'll pick a new winner.

So - remember - leave a comment to enter, rank the books in the order you'd prefer, and tweet or blog for up to two extra entries!

And just to be totally clear - if you only list three of the books, and you're the 4th or 5th name drawn, and if those 3 books were claimed ahead of you, I'll go on to the next winner.

Ok, that's it! I'm excited for this first giveaway - if all goes well it will be the first of many more! :)

Mrs. Dalloway

Virginia Woolf

Mrs. Dalloway was the first book I read from my summer reading list. This was the first Virginia Woolf book I’ve ever read, and I’ll admit - I struggled a bit. It was hard for me to adjust to her style. I had to re-read many sections over again because my eyes glazed over while I was reading and I didn’t remember what was going on.

However, I am glad that I read it. There were parts that were incredibly beautiful. I’ll try To the Lighthouse by her as well. I’d also like to read The Hours soon, and see the movie.

Here are my favorite lines:

For they might be parted for hundreds of years, she and Peter; she never wrote a letter and his were dry sticks; but suddenly it would come over her, If he were with me now what would he say? - some days, some sights bringing him back to her calmly, without the old bitterness; which perhaps was the reward of having cared for people; they came back in the middle of St. James Park on a fine morning - indeed they did. (page 7)

And it was awfully strange, he thought, how she still had the power, as she came tinkling, rustling, still had the power as she came across the room, to make the moon, which he detested, rise at Bourton on the terrace in the summer sky. (page 47)

Well, I’ve had my fun; I’ve had it, he thought, looking up at the swinging baskets of pale geraniums. And it was smashed to atoms - his fun, for it was half made up, as he knew very well; invented, this escapade with the girl; made up, as one makes up the better part of life, he thought - making oneself up; making her up; creating an exquisite amusement, and something more. But odd it was, and quite true; all this one could never share - smashed to atoms. (page 54)

(Page numbers referenced are from my edition, the Harcourt edition copyright 1981.)

If you’ve read it, I’d love to know what you think of it!

I forgot to post this right after I got back from Michigan & Milwaukee - but here's my favorite video I took on my trip: Emma and I finding out that Mars Cheese Castle is, in fact, not made of cheese.