Literary Blog Hop

A new weekly meme hosted by The Blue Bookcase.

This week, it asks:

Please highlight one of your favorite books and why you would consider it "literary."

Wow, what a great idea!  I try to read literary fiction more than anything else because I feel that it has merit in the global reading community and gets me thinking about its value to my ongoing independent education as well as that of the world.

I understand the meaning of literary fiction as a concept, however it is certainly subjective in terms of what books "count."  Many of my favourite books are popular, which doesn't discount them as literary fiction, however they may not be considered art but merely entertainment.  There is certainly nothing wrong with that (you can see by my reviews & TBR lists that I have an eclectic taste)!

An example of literary fiction that is one of my favourite books is The World According to Garp by John Irving.  It is a modern classic, nearly 40 years old, and is written in such a fascinating style.  There is so much happening over a single character's life that you become absorbed in him as well as everyone he encounters.  Irving writes intelligently, uniquely, and personally, making his mark on the literary world distinctly his own.  I think a true sign of literary fiction is an author who cannot be mistaken for anyone else--you can read his/her work without a cover and know exactly who wrote it.

Book Blog Hop & Friday Fill-Ins

Happy Friday!

A weekly meme hosted by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books.

This week's question is from Vicki @ The Wolf's Den.

What are your feelings on losing followers?  Have you ever stopped following a blog?

Oh dear, that's such a travesty!  According to my Google FriendConnect widget, I haven't lost any followers and hopefully never will if I update my posts enough :)  As for myself, I have stopped following about 3-4 blogs, but continue to follow more than 70!  My reason for not following a blog anymore would be if they haven't updated in a month's time without prior notice, say for taking time off or whatnot.  But if I ever come across their blogs again & they're back online, then I will be too :D

A weekly meme hosted by Janet @ Friday Fill-Ins.

My fill-ins are underlined, the rest is given:

1. Sometimes, I feel like a nut and sometimes I don't!

2. Tell me about the whole thing.

3. Small and white, clean & bright, you look happy to me (The Sound of Music).

4. Reading is very enlightening.

5. I keep meaning to keep in touch with old friends.

6. I haven't read Moby Dick...yet.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to nabbing a cold I feel coming on, tomorrow my plans include an afternoon football game and Sunday, I want to watch The Simpsons Hallowe'en episode and finish Her Fearful Symmetry!

Have a great weekend :D

In Her Shoes- Jennifer Weiner

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Published:  2002
Length:  448 pages
ISBN:  9780743418201
Genre:  Chick Lit

Start Date:  Summer 2008
Finished Date:  Summer 2008

Where Found:  Public library
Why Read:  Loved the movie and wanted to try Jennifer Weiner’s novel to see if I would like the author.

Summary:  Two sisters, one a successful lawyer with self-esteem issues, the other jobless & unable to read who hides this with her beauty, struggle to keep a relationship despite their bond since their mother’s death until a career change and tracking down their long-lost grandmother begins to mend ties.

Review:

Jennifer Weiner is not your typical “chick lit” author. She writes women characters with moxie, brains, heart, and often with a little meat on their bones.  In Her Shoes is an enjoyable, fresh read with characters that ring true, but oftentimes experience or break through less believable situations.

Rose Feller is successful and brainy, finding love where she left it, yet somehow wants (and can afford) to leave her position at a law firm to become a local dog walker. It doesn’t seem plausible to me that she would aspire to this area of work, especially through such an odd transition and her lack of sympathy to the dog her sister Maggie takes in (and Maggie’s memorable gushing of their childhood dog versus Rose’s indifference to it). However, Rose was the most relatable character versus her wild, unfocused, and largely unemployed sister Maggie who still relies on pipe dreams of fame to bypass her lacking job skills due to an untreated childhood learning disorder. While Maggie’s past is undoubtedly sympathetic, the shallow attitude she has built around her personal issues is harder to pity. When Ella enters the picture, the story truly begins to unfold and as we witness her distant relationship with her granddaughters get closer and stronger, we notice Weiner’s golden touch as the writing becomes more natural and even lovelier to read.

Overall, I prefer the movie, which I saw before reading the book, as it improves on the story in a number of ways—it cuts out Maggie’s implausible stay-over at Princeton where she snuck into English lectures & stowed away in the library to improve herself (the movie has her befriending a blind retired teacher who helps her read); it improves on the shoe motif (“shoes always fit”), which is otherwise lost in all the subplots of the novel; and the supporting characters at the retirement home provide humour & strengthen Ella’s role.

The novel is a fun, summery read that I recommend for a light, breezy experience. The movie is a sweet entertaining piece, an even better option for a relaxing evening.

Rank:  (B)- Good, Recommend

Audacity of Hope- Barack Obama

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Published:  2006
Length:  362 pages
ISBN:  0307237699
Genre:  Nonfiction, Political

Start Date:  Sometime in 2008-9
Finished Date:  Sometime in 2008-9

Where Found:  Chapters-Indigo
Why Read:  I originally bought this for my Dad for Xmas 2007 and after he read it, I took it on.

Summary:  A compelling manifesto of then-Senator Barack Obama with an historical and social democratic lens on issues such as health care, education, economy, and political leadership.

Review:

On the event of the midterm elections in the U.S., I feel compelled to offer this review. I am Canadian and cannot vote, however I encourage all Americans to register and execute their right to vote.

Prior to being elected to the Oval Office, Obama had a plan and this book is the best guide to his mission as President. It is a wise voter who wishes for the government to be run by individuals with more education, integrity, and enthusiasm than is found in the average person—in other words, a true leader comes from an extraordinary place.

Obama’s use of political science jargon may go over the heads of the general public, but the structure soon gels from Chapter 3 on, and coasts from there, creating excitement in his ideas on many hot-button issues. There is tremendous respect for his Presidential forefathers, a breadth of knowledge about political and cultural history, and a passion for strong leadership that resonates long after the last page.

Shortly after the book’s release, Obama announced his candidacy for President. You know the rest.

Rank:  (A)- Highly recommended

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- Ken Kesey

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters



Published:  1962 Length:  272 pages
ISBN:  0451163966
Genre:  Classics

Start Date:  Sometime in 2007-8
Finished Date:  Sometime in 2007-8

Where Found:  Chapters-Indigo
Why Read:  Love the movie and heard the book was equally good or better.

Summary:  A mute Aboriginal patient in a 1960s mental hospital narrates his encounters with a rebellious con who trades in jail time for treatment and his interactions with other inmates and the cold, authoritarian Big Nurse.

Review:

Ken Kesey, along with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, represent the countercultural Beat generation of writers who infested their writing with the live wires of rebelliousness and mayhem. Their similar styles of prose influenced the postmodern era that culminated into some of the world’s greatest literary fiction.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is Kesey’s most ambitious, accomplished work. The language bursts with vivid, otherworldly imagery unlike any other I’ve read. The characters at first appear caricatured, only to surface as complex human beings each contributing a strand to the narrative that intertwines into a complicated mass of madness and sanity. As to who is really crazy, it is not as cut & dry as you may first believe. Randle MacMurphy arrives on the scene, boldly defining the rigid, vegetative state of the mental hospital he is sent to, defying the sterility of the Big Nurse and cracking a veneer that has not quite settled over her patients. Witnessing the unraveling of her calculated, often detrimental, system of treatment is both terrifying and marvelous.

The ironic narrator of the mute Aboriginal patient nicknamed “Chief” is acutely focused, deeply insightful, and, most important for readers, trustworthy. By remaining mute in the company of fellow patients and hospital staff, his voice is precious and we reap every word. His backstory is a sympathetic, horrifying one that recalls the mistreatment of Natives with a vision that emanates an incredible energy.

One misstep that many readers are critical of is Kesey’s depiction of black orderlies in the mental hospital as cruel and despicable with racist stereotypes in spite of his obvious sympathy to the whitewashing of Aboriginals. It is not the focus of the novel but is nonetheless hard to ignore.

The movie is an incredible adaptation that I encourage you to watch. Jack Nicholson is amazing as Randle MacMurphy and Louise Fletcher’s Nurse Ratched was surprisingly sympathetic to me at first, but gives an icy edge to her treatment of the patients that gives you chills. The ending is one of my all-time favourite movie scenes.

I guarantee that you will never forget this book after you read it and it will stay with you for a long time after.

Rank:  (A+)- A must-read!

Top Ten Tuesday

A weekly meme hosted by Jennifer @ The Broke & the Bookish.

This week's topic is:

Top Ten Books That Made You Cry

An interesting topic...It's somewhat difficult for me, as I can feel sad while reading but rarely cry.  I cry more at movies & an occasional commercial (ever seen the Alzheimer's awareness ones?  Hoo boy).  So, these choices may be more related to sadness than full-blown sobbing.

*SPOILERS MAY ENSUE*

1)  Anne of Green Gables- L.M. Montgomery
When Matthew died.  Even in the TV movie version, I cried at the same part.

2)  Annie John- Jamaica Kincaid
At the end as Annie's mother runs alongside the train waving goodbye to her.  Such a poignant moment.

3)  The Book of Ruth- Jane Hamilton
The end is so shocking and sad, I felt it down to my core and it stayed with me so long afterward.

4)  The Color Purple- Alice Walker
When Celie is reunited with her family at the end.  The same part in the movie was just as tearful.

5)  One True Thing- Anna Quindlen
I knew how it would end as I saw the movie prior to reading it but I couldn't help it anyway!

6)  Marley & Me- John Grogan
I figured the book would end this way but I sobbed anyway.

7)  Death of a Salesman- Arthur Miller
At the end, you feel like you've lost a strange yet happy-go-lucky friend.

8)  Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe
At the end, when the colonization occurs & the white missionaries write off the entire tribe's history is just devastating.

9)  The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
I cried a bit throughout this book given the circumstances of Susie Salmon and her tragic end, but also at the end because a little bit of hope lives on through Lindsay's baby girl.

10)  The Lord of the Flies- William Goldman
When Piggy dies and at the end when the young boy mouths "help me" to the rescuer.

When the Bough Breaks- Jonathan Kellerman

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Published:  1985
Length:  448 pages
ISBN:  9780345466600
Genre:  Mystery/Suspense, Alex Delaware series (book #1)

Start Date:  Sometime in 2007-8
Finished Date:  Sometime in 2007-8

Where Found:  Used bookstore
Why Read:  After exhausting all the John Grisham & James Patterson novels I could get my hands on, I decided to try out a new author the salesgirl recommended.

Summary:  A psychologist treats a young girl who is the only witness to the murder of a corrupt child psychiatrist.

Review:

It’s great to read a mystery that doesn’t centre around a cop or lawyer. What’s refreshing about James Patterson’s Alex Cross and Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware series is the perspective that a psychologist gives to homicide cases and the murderous criminals behind them.

The characters are deliciously atypical, similar in style to Sue Grafton, sculpting a central protagonist who we want to learn more about over time (hence, the creation of an ongoing series).  The plot is intricate, fast-paced, and ends with a terrific twist.

If you enjoy James Patterson, you will like Jonathan Kellerman’s series with psychologist Alex Delaware. I have only read the 1st book and have been taken with other titles since (isn’t that always the way?), but may return to the series in the future.

Rank:  (A)- Excellent

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

A weekly meme hosted by Sheila @ One Person's Journey Through a World of Books.

Hope everyone had a great Hallowe'en!  We didn't get many trick-or-treaters (seems to be a trend over the last couple of years) but we had a few cuties, the most impressive being a family of Toy Story characters (dad as Woody, mom as Mrs. Potato Head, one girl as Jessie, and one as Little Bo Peep)!

I dug out my black & gold witch's hat, black velvet cape & slathered on the makeup.  It took lots of scrubbing with cold cream to get it all off but you only get 1 night a year to go crazy dressing up, so why not? :D

As for reading, it's a bit of deja vu from yesterday's monthly wrap-up, but maybe retyping it will get me cracking on it :D

Currently Reading

Her Fearful Symmetry- Audrey Niffenegger--up to page 131

Love, Stargirl- Jerry Spinelli--up to page 51

My Life- Bill Clinton--up to page 244

Next to Read
The Handmaid's Tale- Margaret Atwood
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson

Reviews This Week
None :(  I'm going to post some "retro read" reviews this week.

What's New
~Added My 100 Favourite Movies page.  That was fun to compile but excruiating to format :D

~I'm hosting an "honourable" giveaway until November 13 to celebrate my 50th follower milestone.  I don't have anything tangible to give away (call it lack of funds & lack of willingness to give away books!) but I'm offering exploitative advertising for your blog (he he) and a guest post exchange for posting about "what reading means to you."  Hope you'll participate :)

Have a great reading week :D