Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

Think you have nothing in common with Mennonites? Think again.  Did you ever bring weird lunch to school? Did you ever wear ill fitting/out of style clothes? Were you ever forbidden (even if it was for the best) to participate in a school play? Has your mom ever tried to fix you up with your cousin? Despite all that, do you still love your parents? Rhoda Janzen's memoir, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress was like Eat, Pray, Love, but the food is borscht, the praying happens in her family's Mennonite community in California and the love...is her family.

After her heart is broken by her husband leaving her for a man he found on gay.com and her body crushed the same week in a car accident, Ms. Janzen returns home to recuperate and write.  She weaves hilarious and poignant stories from her childhood alongside stories of her more recent past (now over 15 year marriage) and her parents' past.  She reminisces with her sister and finds herself at odds with her brothers. But despite having broken with the traditional ways of the Mennonite, she holds no bitterness.  We're allowed to laugh not at her family, but with them, and that makes all the difference.

This memoir gets 5/5 netflix stars in part because I'm easy with the stars but mostly because it was a wonderful read and made me want to shove it in the hands of several friends right away.

The Shadow of the Wind

It's been rainy the past several days, even though we've had an overall sunny summer. When we were growing up, my sister and I would go to the neighborhood pool almost every afternoon. Unless it was raining and then we would go to the library and check out as many books as we could carry.  The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon reminded me of a book I would have checked out on one of those rainy days.  Our hero, Daniel, is taken to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books at a young age by his father, and encouraged to "save" a book.  He chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax and begins a lifelong love with the rare book, it's author and the women who also love the book and it's author.

This was a really pleasant book-- it read quickly, had memorable and well developed (male) characters, provoked nostalgia and was a good reminder of why we love to read novels.

4/5 netflix stars

Forever

A few weeks ago NPR ran a story from their Guilty Pleasures series.  The book is Forever... by Judy Blume.  J. Courtney Sullivan recalls reading "the dirty parts" of books with her girls' book club in elementary school, which in turn reminded me of my own furtive reading of romance novels (only the historical ones!) in middle school.  A few friends and I would exchange books, usually in brown paper bags, at the movies.  I would curl up under my covers and read the books and then hide them under my pillow afraid of my mom finding them (looking back, I'm sure the least of her worries was having an adolescent daughter reading romance novels on the sly).  So like Ms. Sullivan, I decided to give this banned book a go.  I checked it out from the library (thanks, Boston, for being generally progressive) and curled up under the covers to read it.  I loved it.  It's written simply but honestly, and Katherine and Michael talk through EVERYTHING. Katherine talks frankly with her mom, and her grandma, an attorney and Planned Parenthood advocate, acts as her confidante.   Who wouldn't want their daughter to read this book? In fact, it might be a good idea for couples of all ages to read this book.

netflix stars: 5/5

The Show I'll Never Forget and The Girl Who Played With Fire

When I moved to Boston in 1996, I was thrilled with all the shows I could see-- musicians and bands that wouldn't come anywhere near Wichita regularly played in Boston and Providence.  I could see The Violent Femmes, or The Lemonheads, or the Mighty, Mighty, Bosstones!

Once we were old enough to drive, my friends and I would see any show that came through The Cotillion and would venture to Kansas City and Tulsa as well.

The Show I'll Never Forget edited by Sean Manning is collection of writers who recall, obviously, the show they'll never forget. Some are first concerts and some are just really iconic concerts (Woodstock).  Some read like braggarts (so, yeah, I saw Hendrix...) and some are extremely personal (a high school benefit concert for an ill student).  The shows run the gamut from Patti Smith to Nirvana, from Nina Simone to the Beastie Boys.  In some cases, I would be just as mesmorized to see the writer (Jennifer Egan, Chuck Klosterman) as the concert (The Stones, Miles Davis, James Brown!).  I was disappointed by only a few essays- by and large each writer evoked a time and place (watching a Red Sox game with The Pogues at Fenway).

Two shows came to mind for the Show I'll Never Forget.  For my 18th birthday my mom got me four tickets to see The Cranberries in Kansas City.  When I look at the pictures from that trip, I remember how excited myself and my three friends were and also think what a great mom I have. She drove us to KC and took us to an early dinner, then waited in the parking lot during the whole show while we were inside (well, outside).  I know concerts are about smoking pot, but we were good kids, and since it was my 18th birthday I did two things: I bought a legal pack of cigarettes and I registered to vote at the Rock the Vote tent (the voting stuck, the smoking didn't).

The second show I really remember was seeing Pavement in 1997.  I'd just finished my first year of college and my friend Caron and cousin Jenny came into Boston and we saw them at the Roxy.  We were SO EXCITED!!  I remember Jenny had to use a fake id to get in, because she wasn't 18 yet and I remember the opening band sucked (Shudder to Think) and I remember just being thrilled that they played everything I wanted to hear.  We could see them pretty close and I was just in love.

 

I read the 2nd book in Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy-- The Girl Who Played with Fire.  You're either going to read this book or you're not (or you already have) and it's no use giving details.  Needless to say it was captivating and I can't wait to read the third and final book.

 

netflix stars: 4/5 and 5/5

Lit

I had a recent foray into reading my old journals and found them beyond cringe-worthy.  So I'm pretty much amazed by writers who can squeeze more than one memoir out and even more amazed when those memoirs are not completely filled with self hate.  Mary Karr had a childhood made picture perfect for memoir writing: sometimes absent and flighty mother, poor and drunk father, small town in Texas. 

Lit could best be described as Drink, Pray, Love, with Ms. Karr describing hitting rock bottom after the birth of her son, finding support from various AA chapters and sober friends and ultimately having enough love for her parents, husband and son to not just continue living and writing, but to do so with grace.

I've been trying to write this for weeks and there's no way I can do it justice; Lit isn't preachy, it isn't predictable and it is, in short, inspiring. Lit was Trail of Crumbs without the blame and Crazy Love with more self confidence.

5/5 netflix stars.

Never Let Me Go

It is a good time of year to reflect back on school days. School is letting out and as I see kids waiting for the bus to camp, I have some fond memories-- getting "pop privileges" in 5th grade for doing good work (I always bought a Barq's for $0.40), slumber parties with my girlfriends, going to Dog n Shake for lunch in high school and summers filled with part time working and lazy afternoons at the local pool.  I'm sure there are buried memories that aren't so pleasant (maybe all of 8th grade?) but overall I had a pretty peaceful childhood, have kept some really close friends and consider myself to be successful.

The childhoods of Kathy, Ruth and Tommy in Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro seem outwardly as idyllic as any childhood-- cliques were formed, friendships made and lost, and lessons and classes taken in a posh English country boarding school.  We learn quickly that Kathy, as the narrator, is years past school and is working as a "carer" for "donors" although it's not immediately clear what that means.  There is a slow,unraveling twist throughout the book that reveals a childhood (or at least adulthood) that is in reality anything but idyllic.

I felt kind of bewildered reading this since Ishiguro seemed to use cheap techniques to keep the reader engaged ("...which is why what happened next was so surprising...") and the things which were important to Kathy, Tommy and Ruth seemed extremely trivial to me.

Never Let Me Go is like a cross between Prep and Murakami. It was a quick, compelling read, but I never felt attached to the characters.  I'll give it 3.5/5 netflix stars.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Kindle is finally making its way into the mainstream-- it's almost as common to see one as to see professional women reading the New Yorker on the 39 bus at 8 am.  I'll admit I'm one of those people who likes the feel of a real book in my hands but I'm also easily swayed by new technology.  Before my recent trip to Turkey, wanting to make sure I wouldn't ever run out of reading material, I downloaded the Kindle app for my iPhone and purchased The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. 

It turns out I was busy enough in Turkey that I didn't have time to read, but a few lazy days rolled around last week and I decided to give it a try.  In short, I'm hooked.  Partly on the app but mostly on the book.  Larsson creates two mysteries; one a case of a disappeared girl from a closed island decades earlier and one a corporate scandal.  Mikael and Lisbeth, our hero and heroine respectively, team up in an effort part Clue and part Nancy Drew, but with enough adult thrill to remind you that you aren't actually on summer break...even if you do waste an entire sunny weekend day inside reading, just like you did when you were 12. 5 netflix stars