My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro, edited by Jeffrey Eugenides, benefits 826 Chicago.
Here are the authors you'll find in the collection: Stuart Dybek, Denis Johnson, William Trevor, Eileen Chang, Anton Chekhov, George Saunders, Richard Ford, Isaac Babel, Gilbert Sorrentino, Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro, William Faulkner, Harold Brodkey, Milan Kundera, Miranda July, Bernard Malamud, Deborah Eisenberg, Raymond Carver, David Gates, Mary Robison, James Joyce, Guy de Maupassant, Grace Paley, David Bezmozgis, Robert Musil, and Vladimir Nabokov. Plus an introduction by the editor, Jeffrey Eugenides.
What a powerhouse of incredible authors, both classic and contemporary.
I was lusting about the book as soon as I heard rumblings about it last year, and in love with the book as soon as I held it in my hands. Like everything that has anything to do with Dave Eggers and McSweeney's, its design is impeccable and striking.
While the book's theme is Love, Eugenides warns that not all of the stories are about traditional love, nor will they all have a happy, mushy ending. Eugenides, and the authors he's selected, are more interested in Love as a powerful human emotion that arrives in many different ways and often has many unusual stories to tell.
I've read a few of the stories so far, and was familiar with a few before buying. It's an incredible collection, and worth owning.
They both took questions from the audience, which were mostly great except for the first question from a woman who anxiously asked why Jeffrey decided to kill all five sisters in The Virgin Suicides. He politely answered that five suicide attempts would not make a very interesting book, which cracked us all up. (If you haven't read the book yet, I promise that wasn't a spoiler, he tells you they are all going to do it on page 1.)
It was amazing to meet Jeffrey Eugenides and hear him read and speak. People from Michigan take a lot of pride in him, and love that he's set his first two novels in our great mitten state. He also doesn't tour very much, and generally shys away from public appearances.
But the real treat (probably a surprise for many there who had never heard of Saunders before) was listening to George Saunders read from "Jon." First of all, the story is great, and he explained how he came up with its tone (basically the beginning of a paper one of his students wrote that used a lot of important/big words to say something not very intelligent). And his reading voice for the story was hilarious and perfect. My sides hurt from laughing. The friend I went with hadn't heard of him before that event, but is now a big fan, plans on reading much more of his work, and wants to go to more of his events.
The concept of this collection is interesting. According to Zadie Smith in the introduction, "The instruction was simple: make somebody up." The cool thing about this one is that all of the contributions are original, done especially for this collection. It includes many of my favorite authors: Dave Eggers, Vendela Vida, George Saunders, Nick Hornby, and Jonathan Lethem. And many more that I can't list because I don't have the book in front of me.
Just like My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead, The Book of Other People has a great cover, with art similar to covers from The Believer, by Charles Burns.
One in four American adults read NO books last year. How many did you read?
I heard this a while ago, and I still have trouble believing it. I don't think I know anyone who didn't read a book last year.
I read 70 books last year, which I wrote about here. I also made a flow chart of my favorites.
In a previous post, I mentioned that I was working on a time-consuming year end books read project. Well, it took a lazy 3 day weekend of below-freezing temperatures to actually stay in, focus, and finish it. I'm very excited to have finished this before the year 2014, which was looking like a bleak reality.
At the end of last year I was trying to think of a way to creatively present my own "best books of 2007" list. My list wasn't limited to books published in 2007, just a list of books I loved in 2007. In fact, there aren't many books published in 2007 on the list. A few of the books are books I re-read this year, rather than read for the first time.
While reading New York magazine I came up with the idea to make a flow chart. (They do a lot of very cool flow charts.) I went through my list of 70 books read in 2007 and highlighted the ones I loved. I then had a list of 33. (It would seem I either love a book too easily or am very good at selecting books I will love. I think it's both.)
I've tried to structure the flow chart so a user can navigate through a few questions to determine which of my favorite books they might enjoy too. This is far from a perfect science, and isn't trying to be. It's just for fun. There's no guarantee that you'll like the book that you reach at the end of the flow chart, or that you haven't already read it. You can always start over and pick a different path.
Some of the determining questions are lame and all are oversimplified. As I said, it's just for fun. Also it's much better for you than those medical flow charts that lead me and other anxiety-ridden hypochondriacs to think they're going to die of an aneurysm.
That being said, I hope you find it enjoyable. If you decide to try it, I'd love it if you would drop me a comment and let me know what book the chart said you should read.
The best way to view the flow chart is to follow this link: (make sure you magnify it to the full size if your browser shrinks it to fit in the window)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2302/2211239856_903712e2ae_o.jpg
I've also posted it as a picture here, but it will be much too small to read unless you open it up full size.
Better late than never?
Books Purchased (or in this case, received as gifts!):
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (gift)
Penguin by Design by Phil Baines (gift)
Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls by Danielle Wood (gift)
Portraits and Observatios: The Essays of Truman Capote (gift)
At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays by Anne Fadiman (gift)
A Good Man is Hard to Find, and other stories by Flannery O'Connor (gift)
The Gathering by Anne Enright (gift)
I Sailed With Magellan by Stuart Dybek (gift)
Books Read (most of my books read this month were library books that had to go back to the library before I left for
vacation, hence the two photos):
Allegra Maud Goldman by Edith Konecky (library)
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (library)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (library)
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis (library)
Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi (library)
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
It was a good month for reading as well. I was a little disappointed with Allegra Maud Goldman, but only because my expectations were set way too high. (Nancy Pearl compared Allegra to Haven Kimmel's Zippy, only Jewish and set in the 70s.) Allegra Maud Goldman was a great young adult book, but I've learned I should not begin a book with the hopes of loving it as much as A Girl Named Zippy, that's setting myself up for huge disappointment.
I loved Persepolis and Persepolis 2. These were the first graphic novels I've ever read. I'm excited to see the movie Persepolis, I've heard it's excellent.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao was great. I don't think I loved it as much as other people have seemed to, but it was a very enjoyable read. I wish I could think of more to say about it. How about a favorite quote? "That's life for you. All the happiness you gather for yourself, it will sweep away like it's nothing. If you ask me I don't think there are any such things as curses. I think there is only life. That's enough."
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree was excellent. It's a kid's book whose spunky, precocious star reminds me a lot of my favorite literary friends when I was young: Ramona, Veronica the Show-Off, Alice, etc.
Something Rotten made me sob. I wasn't expecting that. It's by far my favorite book in the Thursday Next series, so far. My crying wasn't because it was sad, but because it was so affecting, in a very unusual way. I wish I could say more, but it would spoil it.
"At the end of my life, I know I won't be wishing I'd held more back, been less effusive, more often stood on ceremony, forgiven less, spent more days oblivious to the secret wishes and fears of the people around me. So what is stopping me from stepping outside my habitual crap?
My mind, my limited mind."
-From The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders
Show us a photo of a place you love.
I feel a bit behind on my year end posting, especially since I've already read so many wonderful year in review posts by other Voxers and bloggers, including many fabulous reading recaps.
Here's my attempt at a summary of all things literary in my life last year. I'm also still working on the big post (believe it or not, this isn't it) in which I'm trying to creatively present my favorite books read last year. Other ideas for year end posts are churning in my head as well, so please bear with me.
So here it goes:
2007 Books and Reading Recap
70 books read
36 by male authors
34 by female authors
38 new to me authors
9 re-reads
3 audio books
Fiction: 50
Non-Fiction: 20
By Genre: (some books may be in more than one category)
Memoir/Auto-Biography: 11
Short Stories: 4
About Reading: 5
Essays: 6
Contemporary Fiction: 26
Kid's or YA Lit: 20
Classics: 4
Pages read: 21,190 (does not include unfinished books)
Most books read by the same author:
JK Rowling: 7
Jasper Fforde: 4
Nick Hornby: 3
Kurt Vonnegut: 3
Frank McCourt: 2
Sara Pennypacker: 2
Jhumpa Lahiri: 2
Ian McEwan: 2
Augusten Burroughs: 2
Jeffrey Eugenides: 2
Marjane Satrapi: 2
Some of the books I started in 2007, haven't finished yet, but intend to:
What is the What by Dave Eggers; I am America (and so can you!) by Stephen Colbert; Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls by Danielle Wood; Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
Award
Books Read in 2007 (not a complete list of the many different book
awards out there, just the ones that regularly capture my attention and influence what I read)
Man Booker Prize (nominated or winner): 6
Atonement
The Blind Assassin
The God of Small Things
On Chesil Beach
Mister Pip
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Pulitzer Prize winners: 5
Interpreter of Maladies
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Angela's Ashes
Middlesex
The Age of Innocence
Newbery: 1
The Higher Power of Lucky
Top 5 Favorite Fiction books read in 2007:
1- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
2- The Namesake
3- Water For Elephants
4- The Reluctant Fundamentalist
5- Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Other books I wish would fit in the top five: Franny and Zooey, The Eyre Affair, Middlesex, Atonement, No One Belongs Here More Than You
Top 5 Favorite Non-Fiction books read in 2007:
1- Principles of Uncertainty
2- How Proust Can Change Your Life
3- Look Me in the Eye
4- Reading Like a Writer
5- The Polysyllabic Spree
Book I wish would fit into the top five: Ex Libris
Top 5 Favorite Covers of books read in 2007:
1- No One Belongs Here More Than You
2- The Mysterious Benedict Society
3- The Principles of Uncertainty
4- Look Me in the Eye
5- Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Books
read that were made into movies in 2007: 6
Three that I've seen so
far: The Namesake, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and
Atonement; and two movies (from three books) that I haven't seen yet:
The Kite Runner, and Persepolis (combination of Persepolis 1 and Persepolis 2)
150 books purchased or acquired (does not include titles I bought that I already owned or kid's picture books)
The Year in Book Events: 19 events
January 25 - Norman Mailer, The Castle in the Forest, Barnes and Noble Union Square
March 12 - Jhumpa Lahiri and Mira Nair, The Namesake, Barnes and Noble Union Square
March 21 - Jonathan Lethem, You Don't Love Me Yet, Barnes and Noble Union Square
May 2 - Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Barnes and Noble Union Square
May 9 - Marisha Pessl, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Chelsea Barnes and Noble
June 7 - Cynthia Kaplan, Leave the Building Quickly, Greenwich Village Barnes and Noble
June 16 - Chuck Palahniuk, Rant, Strand
September 15 - Mo Willems, Knuffle Bunny Too, Books of Wonder
September 18 - Garrison Keillor, Pontoon, Barnes and Noble Union Square
September 19 - Dave Barry, Dave Barry's History of the Millenium, So Far, Barnes and Noble Union Square
September 25 - John Elder Robison & Augusten Burroughs, Look Me in the Eye, Barnes and Noble Union Square
October 4 - Haven Kimmel, The Used World, Chelsea Barnes and Noble
October 16 - Nick Hornby, Slam, Barnes and Noble Union Square
October 20 - Hilary Knight, The Circus is Coming, Lincoln Center Barnes and Noble
October 23 - Bill Bryson, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Columbus Circle Borders
November 1 - Yann Martel and Tomilsav Torjanac, The Illustrated Life of Pi, 82nd Street Barnes and Noble
November 7 - Maira Kalman, Principles of Uncertainty, Chelsea Barnes and Noble
November 12 - Frank McCourt, Angela and the Baby Jesus, Barnes and Noble Union Square
November 15 - Philip Gourevitch & Peter Carey, The Paris Review Interviews, Vol. II, Barnes and Noble Union Square
Favorite Book Sites:
Two books I read in 2007 had exceptionally great websites dedicated solely to the book:
No One Belongs Here More Than You
Special Topics in Calamity Physics
As always, the complete list of books I read and purchased can be found here.
My books and reading goals for 2008:
- Read at least 71 books (one more than last year seems like a reasonable goal)
- Read David Copperfield
- Read 3 Vonnegut books
- Visit 10 bookstores in the city that I haven't been to yet
- Attend at least 20 book events
An important quality of a good essayist is their ability to write about a topic you (the reader) have no previous history of caring about and yet still manage to captivate you with the subject matter.
An even better essayist will not only hold your attention long enough to finish reading their essay, but spark a newfound interest in the subject and even lead you to pursue more information on your own.
My first Anne Fadiman book was Ex Libris, which was an absolute treat to read. Subtitled "Confessions of Common Reader" - it's clear that this is a subject I can relate to and enjoy. And I did... I loved this book and recommend it to everyone who enjoys books and reading.
In At Large and At Small, Anne Fadiman is even more brilliant. This collection of Familiar Essays covers a wider range of interests, each masterfully written. The topics include Collecting Nature, Charles Lamb, Ice Cream, being a Night Owl, Culture Wars, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the pleasures of Mail, Moving, the American Flag, the Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Coffee, and an important realization. It would be hard to pick a favorite, but both "Mail" and "The Unfuzzy Lamb" were particularly wonderful.
An important thing to explain about Anne Fadiman is her meaning behind the term "Familiar Essay," of which she is an enthusiastic advocate. In her own words:
"Familiar Essay" isn't a term one hears often these days. The genre's heyday was the early nineteenth century, when Charles Lamb was dreaming up The Essays of Elia under of the influence of brandy and tobacco and William Hazlitt was dashing off Table Talk under the influence of strong tea. The familiar essayist didn't speak to the millions; he spoke to one reader, as if the two of them were sitting side by side in front of a crackling fire with their cravats loosened, their favorite stimulants at hand, and a long evening of conversation stretching before them. His viewpoint was subjective, his frame of reference concrete, his style digressive, his eccentricities conspicuous, and his laughter usually at his own expense. And though he wrote about himself, he also wrote about a subject, something with which he was so familiar, and about which he was often so enthusiastic, that his words were suffused with a lover's intimacy.
I loved this book so much that halfway through I stopped and ordered Best American Essays 2003 from Amazon, the volume she guest edited. I decided that I have complete faith in her ability to select other brilliant essays for me to read as well. I already own and need to read Rereadings - another book she edited. I also yoinked my mom's copy of The Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb and brought it back to discover its charms for myself.
The only thing that makes going back to work on a Monday after a 2 week vacation fun is learning that your favorite author has a new book coming out on April 1, despite the fact that he died last year.
Even better, there is an author event on April 1 featuring his son, Mark Vonnegut, who wrote the introduction. I could not be more excited about this. Well, on second thought, I could... if Kurt Vonnegut was still alive and going to attend the event himself. But I'm super excited nonetheless.
From Putnam's Spring/Summer 2008 Catalog: (pages 11 and 12)
Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve new and unpublished writings on war and peace. Imbued with Vonnegut’s trademark rueful humor, the pieces range from a visceral nonfiction recollection of the destruction of Dresden during World War II—an essay that is as timely today as it was then—to a painfully funny short story about three Army privates and their fantasies of the perfect first meal upon returning home from war, to a darker, more poignant story about the impossibility of shielding our children from the temptations of violence. Also included are Vonnegut’s last speech as well as an assortment of his artwork, and an introduction by the author’s son, Mark Vonnegut.
