Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh

Now playing in the ipod while I run, which I am not doing much since Winter just won't quit in Northeast Ohio. This is a beautiful story of a family in a mining town after WWII. The language is almost too lovely to listen to. I want to see these words on the page.

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood

This book sounded like a fun read, but it took me by surprise. It was more like a Nicholas Sparks novel than what I expected. Charlie had died once in a car accident which killed his brother, but the fireman on the scene brought him back to life. Now as an adult, Charlie works at the cemetery where his brother's spirit still lives. The plot twists when he meets Tess, a woman who may or may not be a spirit. I will be recommending this one to female students. It even had a little bit of a Lovely Bones feel to it. And the best part was it reminded me of an e. e. cummings poem I knew once upon a time.

dive for dreams

dive for dreams
or a slogan may topple you
(trees are their roots
and wind is wind)
trust your heart
if the seas catch fire
(and live by love
though the stars walk backward)
honour the past
but welcome the future
(and dance your death
away at the wedding)
never mind a world
with its villains or heroes
(for good likes girls
and tomorrow and the earth)
in spite of everything
which breathes and moves, since Doom
(with white longest hands
neating each crease)
will smooth entirely our minds
-before leaving my room
i turn, and (stooping
through the morning) kiss
this pillow, dear
where our heads lived and were.

silently if, out of not knowable

silently if, out of not knowable
night's utmost nothing,wanders a little guess
(only which is this world)more my life does
not leap than with the mystery your smile
sings or if(spiralling as luminous
they climb oblivion)voices who are dreams,
less into heaven certainly earth swims
than each my deeper death becomes your kiss
losing through you what seemed myself,i find
selves unimaginably mine;beyond
sorrow's own joys and hoping's very fears
yours is the light by which my spirit's born:
yours is the darkness of my soul's return
-you are my sun,my moon,and all my stars

Little Children by Tom Perrotta

We had a snow day today. Yippee!!! So I woke up and finished the last hundred pages of Little Children. It was a fun book about suburban playground moms and former jock dads. I really liked the part where the book group in the novel is discussing Madame Bovary. Near the end, I thought the book was going to end tragically, but luckily it did not. I enjoyed this read.

Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z by Debra Weinstein

I thoroughly enjoyed this book but I wonder whether it would be very appealing to someone who had not read much poetry. There are numerous references to Emily Dickinson, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and others. The characters read more like caricatures of writers and literary wannabes. I would recommend this book to English majors and would-be poets.

More Thoughts on Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress

I have had three female students read this book in the last two weeks since I began recommending it. They each read the book in a few days and have already asked for recommendations of more books of this type. I think there is something in this book that speaks to fiesty young women. I really enjoy seeing a book ignite conversation the way that this one seems to be doing.

The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek

Oh my - oh my. This book was disturbing in a Lolita-sort of way. I thought I ought to read something by the latest Nobel Prize winner and since I had seen the cover of the video several times in the aisle at Blockbuster, I knew I should read the book before I rented the movie. I began reading the book on Friday night and finished it in almost a single sitting on Saturday, then watched the movie Saturday night. It is a very compelling, yet disturbing story about a sexually repressed piano teacher who lives alone with her stern mother. When a young male student falls in love with her, she places sadistic and unusual demands on him as a lover until their romance careens out of control in the end. I felt slimy after a day of this, but I have to say the writing was lovely. Metaphor upon metaphor upon metaphor.

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

I had read Atkinson's first novel a summer or two ago and really enjoyed reading a contemporary British novel with all of the vernacular. I looked forward to this one because it had been getting such favorable reviews. It reads almost like a detective story - three separate cases presented in the first three chapters with unrelated characters - so you have to keep track of each separate story line until they all come together through the private investigator who handles all of the cases. I enjoyed the mystery, which kept me interested until the very end.

Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman

Yesterday, David and I found a new bookstore in Peninsula called the Blue Heron Bookstore. It used to be a mangy antique store and it has been fixed up with beautiful wooden shelves and a great display area with a fireplace and big chairs. It has a two story tree house in the kids bookroom. But the store is small, and independent and has a feel of warmth and luxury. I saw this book on a display stand and it looked like something I should get to remember our stop at this lovely store by. Plus, it had a recommendation blurb on the cover from Frank McCourt. I started it this morning and have not put it down. I have been laughing out loud. David has already had to listen to me read enough of it that he is advising I finish it quickly since he feels like he is living with the narrator. I love it.

Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Thank goodness I have a daughter in the 5th grade who still allows her mother to read to her at bedtime. Without her I would not have been exposed to the magic of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Incidents, which we devoured before going to see the excellent movie. Now with another movie on the horizon, we are reading Because of Winn Dixie.
We had read Tale of Despereaux last year and loved it. I am loving the narrative voice of young Opal. And the movie stars both Cicely Tyson and Dave Matthews. I can't wait.

Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost

This is the book club selection for February for our book club. It is really a travelogue by a guy who went with his girlfriend to live on an atoll in the Pacific without any of the comforts of home. There are pages about the natives using the ocean as a toilet and pages about having nothing to eat but fish. And pages about not having beer. It is quite funny. No real pages about sex lives, though.

Our Kind by Kate Walbert

The winter the way it has been here in Ohio, I read this book in one evening by the fire the very day it came from Amazon in a shipment with my daughter's new Lemony Snicket book. The story of middle aged women in the 50's didn't touch me directly but I like the use of different narrators for different sections of the novel.

The Last Song of Dusk by Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi

This beautiful book took me by surprise. I was initially intrigued by the cover and then when I read that the author has been compared to Allende, Marquez and Roy - three of my favorites - I knew I had to buy it. I couldn't put it down. It is a tale of love and terror, full of magical realism and almost too lush prose. The author claims to have read a lot of Rilke when he was young, and I picked that up too. I wanted to start reading it again the moment I finished, and that happens very rarely.

Gilead by Marilynn Robinson

Another Christmas present from David, this book has taken me a while to read. It is beautifully written but very slow and meant to be savored. The narrator is an aging minister who writes a long letter to his young son about his past and his faith. I was particularly interested in this book because of all of the ministers in my family. When he talks about boxes of sermons that represent a lifetime of thought , I think of my grandfather, who I have only met through the words he left behind. Robinson teaches at Iowa Writers Workshop and was one of Salvatore Scibona's instructors when he was a student there. He gave me a copy of Robinson's Housekeeping. This makes her a special writer in my mind.

The Full Cleveland by Terry Reed

This was such a fun read for someone who grew up in Cleveland in the 1970's. I enjoyed the naive narrator and the escapades on the Rapid and through town. Best line - "Shaker Heights isn't a community, it is a realm."

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - Read this book NOW

David gave me this book for Christmas and I read it straight through. It is AMAZING and the new must-read suggestion on my list. It is a story of friendship and family set against the backdrop of political events in Afghanistan. I was enlightenend and reminded that children are children everywhere. My son's best friend is named Amir, and so is the main character in this book. I wish I could get both of them to read this book.

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

This was my December audio book choice. I listened to it while I ran in the park as the snow fell on a lovely Sunday morning and finished listening to it through headphones on the couch next to the Christmas tree on December 22 while sleepover kids were raising a ruckus elsewhere in the house. I haven't seen the movie, Christmas with the Kranks, yet, but the book was fun.

How I Paid for College

This book is so, so funny. I really enjoyed his sense of humor, especially since I know many high school aged drama dorks who have similar interests and styles. The author is hailed as the "gay Dave Barry" on the cover flap. His plot concerns a kid who wants to get into Julliard. He and his friends spend the summer before college trying to raise money to make their dreams come true.

The Usual Rules by Joych Maynard

I liked this novel so much better than I thought I would. I bought it at the National Council of Teachers of English National Conference in Indianapolis. Joyce Maynard was at the conference signing copies of her book, which has a 13 year old protagonist whose mother was killed in the attacks on September 11th. The story revolves around the way she reshapes her life and definitions of family. She leaves her stepdad and brother in New York to live for a time with her father in California. I love the way Maynard weaves titles of books into the novel. By the way, Maynard lived for a short time with novelist, J.D. Salinger when she was a teenager and he was in his 50s. She has a great website with links to information about her life.

After by Claire Tristram

This is a book I ordered from the library way back in the summer. It is written by a Salon contributor and it is her first novel. The plot concerns a woman whose husband was recently murdered by Muslim extremists. She decides to cleanse herself of his memory by taking a Muslim lover, so she meets a stranger at a trade show and they plan to meet at a motel. The narration alternates between the point of view of the man and the woman. It is very erotic and very disturbing. I read it in two nights.

Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl

I am rereading this book because David gave it to me for our second anniversary last week. It is a food memoir, told through the eyes of a little girl whose mother was a terrible cook (from the "taste this and tell me if it is spoiled" school) but whose life was blessed by the presence of wonderful servants who cooked. The book is full of recipes, too. Right now I am looking forward to a time to try making Baked Apples. Actually, the sequel to this book is called Comfort Me with Apples.

The First Desire by Nancy Reisen

This is an interesting novel told from the perspectives of various family members. Each is trying to piece together the reasons for their sister's disappearance. It is a novel about love and loss and separation.

Our Lady of the Lost and Found by Diane Schomperlen

I had read about this book a long time ago in the book catalogue Bas Bleu. It is about a visit from the Virgin Mary paid on an average woman in the suburbs. There are large sections of historical Mary background in this novel, but it is cute and the main character is a writer. Mary makes her promise she wil never write a book about her visit.

Stranger Than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk

I read this book of essays over the long NEOEA weekend. The book includes Palahniuk's family stories, and some background on the writing of FIght Club as well as a hysterical story about his trip to Los Angelos to work on the movie, when his head was infected from using a men's dipilatory product.

The Motorcycle Diaries - Ernesto Che Guavara

David and I went to see the movie of The Motorcycle Diaries this weekend - in keeping with David's plan to only see movies that have motorcycles in them. It is the story of Ernesto Che Guavara and his friend who took a motorcyle trip across South America. It is based on Che's diaries. The story was very moving and it was beautifully filmed. Plus we got to go to the Cedar Lee theater, which is an experience in and of itself. Oh, and the movie is in Spanish.

Americas Women by Gail Collins

I bought this book a year ago and had read bits and pieces. It is the history of the country told through the changing roles of women. I actually had my students read about 6 pages of the section about the women of Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials. The more I read, the more I am convinced this is a great book for women of all ages.