Rereading a Few Favorites

I rarely reread books anymore. I used to when I was a kid, eagerly, excitedly, as though I were trying to absorb the words and stories into each fiber of my being.

As an adult? I think I've felt as though there are always new books to discover, and that is where my excitement has been going.

But here I am, rereading a few favorites. I went to Powell's last week with my daughter and I bought two books that I used to own and I want to reread.

I found out that I will be the (lucky!) recipient of a book through librarything's Early Reviewers program, Christopher Moore's next, called Secondhand Souls. Yay! Secondhand Souls is the sequel to A Dirty Job, which I loved. It's been several years since I read it, so I want to read A Dirty Job again before I read Secondhand Souls.

I'm really enjoying reading this again. Poor Charlie Asher, Beta Male, right after his wife dies in childbirth, finds out that he's a death merchant and has to collect soul vessels and pass them on to their new owners. That sounds kind of heavy, but, in usual Christopher Moore style, it's smart and funny. And in addition? The cover glows in the dark.

         

And the other one? A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

Recommended by good friends when I was living in a book desert (before the internet I lived in a rural area where there was one small, sad little bookstore that stocked mostly Harlequin romances). When I got my hands on Bryson's book I devoured it, and began a love affair with all things Bryson.

     

And it's going to be a movie with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte!

As my partner has wisely taught me, books and movies based on said books are different things. Most of the time it isn't even right to compare them. They are different animals. I agree with this. I loved Gone With the Wind the book AND Gone With the Wind the movie, even though the movie left out a lot that was in the book.

Have I been disappointed in a movie based on a book? Sure. Mostly because I was watching the movie with book eyes, the eyes that I wanted it to be the same, or rather, I wanted to have the same experience that I had with the book, which isn't really fair to the movie.

Will A Walk in the Woods movie be as good as the book? It will be different. Is it silly to reread the book before the movie comes out? Shouldn't I just enjoy the movie for what it is and not compare the two? Maybe. And I don't care. I am looking forward to enjoying the book again.

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Passing Books Along...

I now work at a new location after applying for and receiving a promotion. I've been there just over a month. There is currently a fund-raising drive going on. One of the things we're doing to raise funds for this most worthy cause is a used book drive. We've all been asked to bring in books.

I knew I could help with that.

I tasked myself with the job of going through our bookshelves and getting rid of books we don't need to keep (and of course having my partner go through them as well, making sure I don't get rid of any of her favorites!)

I used to keep all the books. But I've moved across the country several times, shlepping boxes and boxes of books hither and yon, oftentimes not even unpacking all of them. It got to be too hard. Books are heavy. It was a waste of time and energy to keep all of them. It was hard at first to let books go, but it's gotten easier. It makes it even easier when I think someone else will be able to enjoy and appreciate them.

One way we get rid of books is to pass them onto friends we think might enjoy them. That's fun, having a great book and giving or sending it to someone specific, pretty sure that they will appreciate it.

Another way is that we pass books along is through Bookcrossing. My partner and I have been members of Bookcrossing since before we met (we actually met through Bookcrossing!). Bookcrossing is a website where one can register books with a unique ID #, and then "release" them, so other people can "catch" them, read them and release them again. (You can check it out here: www.bookcrossing.com. My page there is under 2of3Rs...you can see the books I'm currently reading on my profile.)

The thing is, even with bookcrossing and passing books along to others, they do build up. The shelves felt full. We hadn't really gone through the bookshelves thoroughly since we've moved here, almost 6 years ago. Because even though we pass some books along, books are also coming INto our lives!

It's been said that seeing books on a shelf can be like seeing old friends. And in a way this is true for me. What's also true for me is that many of the books I've kept are reflections of certain times in my life. Books that were touchstones for me at pivotal points. The key word there being were. As I went through the books, I remembered (usually fondly) those times, remembered reading those books, remembered what I was thinking and what was going on in my life.

Jean Shinoda Bolen's books, GODDESSES IN EVERYWOMAN and GODS IN EVERYMAN, brought up the period in my life when I was doing the Myers-Briggs assessment (and anything else I could get my hands on), trying to decipher myself and my relationships. And there was Harriet Lerner's THE DANCE OF ANGER, which I read when I was struggling through an angry period in my life. Also THE ARTIST'S WAY and other excellent books on writing - Natalie Goldberg's WRITING DOWN THE BONES, Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD, Stephen King's ON WRITING, which I read when I was trying to unleash and validate my creativity. A few of these I kept, most of these I let go.

And then there was Bill Bryson's SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING. I love his books anyway, but this one I happened to get right before my mother had a stroke. My brother and I traded off reading it when we were tag-teaming stints in the hospital. I also kept Marilynn Robinson's HOUSEKEEPING, a book I devoured much too quickly when I was in high school, and want to read again, more slowly, to savor and enjoy. I kept TIME AND AGAIN by Jack Finney, another book from high school, recommended by a good friend, though I did pass along two of his books of short stories. Also excellent, but it was time to let them go. Another keeper is Bryson's A WALK IN THE WOODS. Two long-time friends recommended it to me when I was feeling particularly book starved when living in a literary desert - a rural area where there was just one painfully small used bookstore in the entire county.

Sorting through the books was good. A few months ago I went through journals I'd kept for years. Most of which I decided not to keep. Yes, in them were many thoughts and feelings (so many feelings! teenage angst!), but most of them were not all that insightful to my older and hopefully wiser self. They were important for me to write, not important for me to keep. Sorting through books and getting rid of even some of the ones that were pivotal was much the same process for me. I didn't have to keep every reminder of every phase I've gone through.

Having the bookshelves lighter makes me feel lighter too. The used book sale will also be fun, as I may be able to see who selects books I donated!

                        Books from Amazon


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Recommendations...light, short and funny

One of Therapist's co-workers is in a book group and asked for some recommendations. One of my favorite questions! Her parameters were that it be "light, fairly short, and FUNNY." Here's the list I sent...


Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors for funny and light...A WALK IN THE WOODS is his chronicle of his attempt to hike the Appalachian trail (over 2000 miles) with his buddy, neither of whom have any business being out of doors. One of my other favorites of his is his collection of essays called I'M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF, his observations about the U.S. after living abroad for 20 years. Some of the essays are poignant, some are laugh out loud funny, some are insightful. (non-fiction)

            

Christopher Moore...I love him. Some of his books are really wacky and out there (Roberto the talking fruit bat is a recurring character in a lot of his books...and that's not one of the really wacky characters), and he also has books that are 'about' something...LAMB is about Christianity...A DIRTY JOB is about death...FLUKE has environmental themes. COYOTE BLUE is one of my favorites...and yes, he is funny. Warning, he can be raunchy. (fiction)

                  

I recently read DOMESTIC VIOLETS by Matthew Norman. It is fairly new, and is only available in paperback. It's pretty funny and fun...you can read my blog post about it here... (fiction)
http://notthenewyorktimesbookreview.blogspot.com/2011/09/domestic-violets.html

      

In that blog post I mention Jonathan Tropper...I really like him as well...his books can also be a little raunchy, so another warning. His main characters tend to get into bad situations and make bad choices...In THE BOOK OF JOE, his main character writes a best-selling novel based his people from his hometown. He did not paint the people in his novel in a very favorable light. He never intended to return to his hometown ever again. Then his father had a stroke and he had to go back. He was did not receive a very warm welcome home. Chaos (or close to it) ensues. (fiction)

      

Nora Ephron, I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY NECK: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman is one suggested by one of my co-workers. She said it might be funny if there are women in the book group of a certain age...or it might be funnier to woman of a certain age, as it's Ephron's reflections about aging. (non-fiction)

      

FUNNY IN FARSI by Firoozeh Dumas... This was also recommended by one of my co-workers who liked it. She said that the author says things like, "I'm the one they call to do an author event when they can't get that guy who wrote The Kite Runner." Funny in Farsi is the author's memoir about being Iranian in America. (non-fiction)

      

THE BRIEF AND FRIGHTENING REIGN OF PHIL by George Saunders was suggested by another co-worker. He said it was biting and funny. I've started to read it a couple of times (and it's really short!) and couldn't get into it...it wasn't my cup of tea, but might be someone else's! (fiction)

      

You can't really go wrong with David Sedaris...he is often on NPR's This American Life, and hewrites about his life. One of his first was HOLIDAYS ON ICE, where he talks about one Christmas where he was a department store elf during the Christmas season. ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY and WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES are two of my favorites of his...absolutely laugh out loud funny. In WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES, he talks about his quest to quit smoking. To do so, he moves to Japan for a few months, you know, to change his routine. (non-fiction)

                  

Sarah Vowell, another NPR veteran, has several books. My favorite of hers is her first, TAKE THE CANNOLI. They are essays with her unique take on the world. Her more recent books are about history, she's definitely done her homework about the history, and makes it more accessible, but like I said, her first is my favorite of hers. (non-fiction)

      

Chuck Klosterman started out as a rock music reviewer. I first read his SEX, DRUGS AND COCOA PUFFS which are essays about all sorts of things. Music, pop culture, religion...he's great. (non-fiction)

      

Lots of people love THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams. It is the first in a series. I read this first one, and liked it all right. It's wacky (I don't always love wacky). It is set in space...didn't do it for me, but lots of people think it's great. (fiction)

      

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster is one of my all-time favorite books. Yes, it's considered a kid's book, and I think it's brilliant. Milo is bored. He comes home one day and finds a tollbooth and a little car. He starts out on a journey, accompanied by a Watch Dog, Tock. Milo discovers all sorts of things about the world and himself. It's clever and fun...this is a masterpiece. (fiction)

      

HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS Francois Lelord...I just saw this on the shelf yesterday and don't know much about it. I'd never heard of it. The cover has kind of 60's artwork on it. Hector is a psychiatrist. I liked how it looked and how it started. I don't know anyone who has read it. (how's that for a recommendation?) (fiction)

      

Lynne Truss is a British columnist. She has a collection of columns called MAKING THE CAT LAUGH which is absolutely hilarious. (non-fiction)

      

HAPPINESS by Will Ferguson is another fun one...in it, someone writes a self-help book that WORKS. Everyone's problems are solved after reading this book, relationships are fixed, financial problems are no more...which causes all sorts of problems, since so much of our society is built on the problems and fixing them. Ferguson is Canadian, so this book may be a bit harder to find, though it still is around. It was originally published under the title GENERICA. (fiction...Ferguson also has a few non-fiction titles, which are also good)

      

What would you recommend?

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A Bryson Kind of Day

It was a Bill Bryson kind of day.

My first two customers asked about a book by Bill Bryson. The first, a woman maybe in her 60's, short, very black hair, asked about his new book. She owned (but hadn't read) A Walk in the Woods. I told her about his older books (which she didn't know about), took her to the travel writing section where most of them are, told her that my favorite of those is I'm a Stranger Here Myself. She told ME that he is coming to town as part of the visiting author series. Tickets are going fast. I'd love to see him someday.

The second customer wanted Bryson's newest book, At Home, which I'd just finished reading that morning.

At Home describes the history of houses, but not just the structures and things in them, there is much, much more...

"What I found out is that whatever happens in the world - whatever is discovered or created or bitterly fought over - eventually ends up, in one way or another, in your house...So the history of household life isn't just a history of beds and sofas and kitchen stoves, as I had vaguely supposed it would be, but of scurvy and guano and the Eiffel Tower and bedbugs and body snatching and just about everything else that has ever happened. Houses aren't refuges from history. They are where history ends up."

The Eiffel Tower? Well, indeed. In his chapter about building materials used to make houses he talk about iron. For a short while (a very short while), iron was used as a building material. It was sturdy. It was also very very heavy, so it didn't last long as a construction material. The Eiffel Tower is made of iron. An incredible feat of engineering, it is the largest and one of the last structures ever made out of iron.

"The Eiffel Tower wasn't just the largest thing that anyone had ever proposed to build, it was the largest completely useless thing.

"It wasn't a palace or a burial chamber or a place of worship. It didn't even commemorate a fallen hero...even he (Monsieur Eiffel) admitted that mostly he wished to build it simply for the strange pleasure of make something really quite enormous."

Chock full of facts, At Home doesn't feel like a history lesson, just as his Short History of Nearly Everything didn't feel like a science lesson, because of Bryson's own delight in what he's learning and sharing with us. Putting his own engaging style on what he's learning, Bryson has, as my dad would have said, done his homework...

"Eighty-four percent of people who die in stair falls at home are 65 or older. This is not so much because the elderly are more careless on stairs, but just because they don't get up so well afterword...People in good shape fall more often than people in bad shape, largely because they do a lot more bounding and don't descend as carefully and with as many rest stops as the tubby or infirm."

                

Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors. At Home is another entertaining addition to the Bryson compendium.

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