11.04.09
Bookworms musings
First attempt at this blogging thing. Don’t really consider myself a luddite, but I am far from tech savvy.
Just finished the latest book by Alex Kava called “Black Friday“. I double checked my book diary and I hadn’t read anything by her before, and I am now wondering why? It appears as though her earlier books, specifically, “Exposed”. Have the same cast of characters in it. Yea! My favourite type of writer, one who carries her characters throughout a series of trials and tribulations. Makes me feel like I know them, though I won’t get all “Annie Wilkes/Misery” on anybody I promise.
Kava’s FBI profiler, Maggie O’Dell, the smitten Nick Morelli, and Maggie’s newly found stepbrother, Patrick are all on hand for this book which takes place on the most dreaded Friday of the year for those people who loathe shopping. The Friday after Thanksgiving, at the largest Mall in the United States, is where the action take place for most of the book.
It was a very quick read for me, kinda left me wanting for more. But she leaves one character in the book, and I have a feeling that Miss O’Dell will be chasing him for books to come. Since it was my first Kava read, and I enjoyed it so much, of course I found myself at Schuler’s again this afternoon looking for previous novels. I only found one. Not a problem, now I can have Pierre print me up a copy of the older ones on the new Espresso Book Machine. Sweet concept, if they can get it running, and keep it running.
Trying to decide which book to tackle next…
Krys the Bookworm.
10.23.09
One Man’s Trash…: The Distant Lover
Digressions Abound Avoiding Inevitable Insecurity In Christoph Hein’s Novel
I’m on top of the world. My one arduous online class has come to an end, the holiday season is fast approaching, and I just got my first piece of new NHL-spec goalie equipment, a steeply discounted full-right Itech 9.8 catch glove. Could life be more perfect, you ask? Heh heh h-NO. But before some wiseacre can deflate my exaggerated sense of self-worth, I’ve made it a healthy habit of doing so myself. But understand, it wasn’t intentional that I synced my purchase of The Distant Lover to perfectly coincide with my first screening of Drag Me To Hell, which although ridiculously hilarious still required a calm-down reading period that lasted until 3:45 in the morning!
There’s probably one grad student who’ll tell me I have it all wrong about Christoph Hein’s novel, that I’m missing the ‘whole point’ and that my ’shallow mis-interpenetration,’ which I’ll ‘predictably’ mistake for misinterpretation, of the central conflict (which I’ll now spell like konflicht because the author’s German like me and it looks cooler) has me ‘proving the insipidity of western hypocrisy’ and making a ’studio audience judgment call’ I ‘can’t be blamed for, having been influenced for decades before my birth by an ignorant and inadmissibly boorish political arena that can’t admit to defeat.’ So you should all feel sorry for me, because I can’t see the beauty of sexual depravity.
But you can’t feel sorry yet, because I have yet to read the book and you can’t offend a grad student until after you’ve insulted his idol (ha ha, that was a joke, everything offends them). Really, I don’t expect The Distant Lover to be bad, just incredibly depressing. Read the rest of this entry »
10.13.09
… is Another Man’s Treasure: An Outcast of the Islands
Big gap between posts here, so hang on… things are gonna get rusty.
Didn’t think it’d take this long. I observed Joseph Conrad’s An Outcast of the Islands like I would have picked up a mouse, with its tail pinched between my fingers. It weighs in at a modest 224 pages, and is his second novel (‘unabridged’ boasts its Vietnam-era publisher: “He made a long stride and dropped both his hands on the Malay’s shoulders.” We don’t need that sentence do we guys? No, absolutely not, sir. It’s implied. It is implied, isn’t it? What did Eliot see in this guy? Who’s Eliot? A sprinter, I think. Anyway, with the changes we’ve made, we’ll save 0.004 cents of ink per copy in addition to the quarter of a page we’re cutting off the end to recycle. Okay… do it. What’s next? Nabokov, sir. Something called Ada. He Russian? Yes, s- Forget it. What’s next?). But I’ve been a bit busy, what with school work, other reading and projects, and interning (I’ve fashioned a key for my shackles out of my boss’s barrette!).
Haha, you’re ensconced now. But what better way to shirk your Tuesday morning responsibilites than with a healthy dose of Joseph Conrad adoration? Read the rest of this entry »
10.09.09
Audrey’s Door nods to haunted house classics
In honor of my favorite month and holiday (Halloween – duh!), I’ve got a number of eerie, nerve-wracking tales to review, and for once, I won’t worry that people will be annoyed that I recommend so much horror. We’ll start with this fresh twist on the classic haunted house genre, Audrey’s Door, written by Sarah Langan, a direct descendant of all that we loved about Stephen King’s glory days.
In her preface, Langan acknowledges her debt to classics like The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, The Shining by master King, and Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby. Huge shoes to fill, and Langan steps up with bravado, weaving a creepy sense of foreboding from the first pages. No simple ghost story, the haunted history of a New York City apartment building (built in Langan’s brilliantly devised philosophy of Chaotic Naturalism) is made palpable by superbly crafted characters that breathe air as real as that in your lungs.
Check out the video trailer for the book (my new favorite thing – book trailers!)
New Releases this week:
The Maze Runner by James Dashner — For fans of The Hunger Games or The Inferior!
The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks by Max Brooks — a grapic novel adaptation of Zombie encounters from the author of World War Z (who also happens to be the son of my hero Mel Brooks!), just in time for World Zombie Day this Sunday, October 11!
The Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe — a collection of old and new essays by the revered author of Things Fall Apart. His first book in over 20 years!
–Whitney
10.03.09
9 Dragons – Michael Connelly
Detective Harry Bosch’s life isn’t perfect, but he’s got some steady points he can work with: he’s got his job with the police, he’s got his daughter (and ex-wife) in Hong Kong, and he’s got that one, little problem with confined spaces left over from his time in Vietnam.
He’s also got a sense of duty above and beyond what it says on his shield, which is why the death of an asian store owner hits him so hard. Some time ago that old man did Harry something of a favor, and now that he’s been shot at the till by persons unknown – probably Triad, Harry thinks – he’s wanting to solve this one to square away that debt. And Harry’s going to do it, no matter how badly his old partner is dropping the ball, and no matter how amateur the guy from the Asian Gang Unit is turning out to be, because that’s what he does – slow and steady, winning the race.
09.29.09
Get Quirky with Jane Austen
One of my little bookselling joys this past year was the extreme success of Quirk’s monster-classic mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which spent multiple weeks on the New York Times’ bestseller list. As a zombie and Jane Austen aficionado, it seemed like it was made just for me, so I threw my full weight behind it, hand-selling it to anyone who would stop to listen. At the same time, when I read the book, while finding it fully enjoyable, my final though was “I could have done that better.”
Well now they’ve released Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and this book was done better. While sea monsters probably don’t have the immediate kitschy appeal of zombies, and “P&P” is definitely the more beloved of the two Austen books, I really hope people will give this a shot. It’s written much better, the new material is more smoothly integrated, and it’s got pirates. Big scary ones.
Jane had a sense of humor, and I think she’d approve.
–Whitney
09.11.09
One Man’s Trash: Bonus Booker-Prize Winning Book Booty Number Two
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
I must be a follower of the Booker Prize without having known it. The award has only once been poorly placed in my experience, but its recipients regularly impress me at least a little. It’s like having woken up one morning to find Anne Hathaway brushing her teeth in my bathroom and complaining about my disappointment with Rachel Getting Married. Being a fan of some things can really sneak up on you.
But hey, the Booker is following me around, because it will find no company in the dozens of reasons that led me to read The Remains of the Day. Reasons like its having a native Japanese author, Anthony Hopkins in the movie version, the guy that plays Mace in Atonement watching it in RocknRolla, and most of all, it’s about a butler. Nobody thinks about the butler. They are one of the most stereotyped (and perhaps accurately, too) groups of people on the planet. Men of such stodginess, they need all the smugness they can muster to compensate for the disrespect doled out to them. What a vicious cycle. Author Kazuo Ishiguro moved to Britain when he was 6, and was maybe overly intrigued by the stolid and starchy collared servants he found there. But whatever his inspiration, he wastes not a paragraph on his take on The English Butler, cracking through the porcelain exterior to show us the human flesh beneath. That’s right. Ew.
The novel is narrated by Stevens (that’s all we get), an English butler who begins his story sharing the challenges of working for a newly arrived American employer in postwar Britain. He’s older now and unpracticed in the informal interaction Mr. Farraday expects from him after having served under an English Lord for the majority of his life. The narrative takes off from there, Mr. Farraday having recommended Stevens take time off as he is out of town. So Stevens makes plans to visit an old colleague, Miss Kenton, and how better to spend time reflecting upon his life in the service of Lord Darlington?
ROOOAADDD TRIIIIIP!
Stevens’ narration is gloriously stuffy. And he delves with such detail into the most tedious matters of his life that it becomes at turns comical and concerning. His preoccupation with improving his witticisms to please Mr. Farraday serves as comic relief alongside his drawn out explanation of dignity. Stevens knows no separation between his private life and his profession. He is able to defend his every action, for every action was in service to his old employer, who he believes beyond a doubt was of the highest order of gentlemen. He recounts even the greatest upheavals of his past with perfect coolness and once, when almost completely overwhelmed in the present, detachedly states his present emotions as if they were an obstacle to the perfect execution of his work.
Ishiguro gives us exactly what we need to hear about butlers, a character we want to mock, pity, revere, befriend, and help. Stevens lives in an environment that makes it hard to know where to draw the line, and out of an incorrigible pride, he decides not to draw one at all. And believe me, the book does not bore. Filled with wartime intrigue, scorching social commentary (‘k, maybe not, but it’s enlightening), and unrequited love, The Remains of the Day stands as a great literary achievement and a profound examination of our spirit to achieve perfect success.
-Patrick, Schuler Books
09.09.09
Michigan Author Pens Mennonite Memoir
men
Michigan author Rhoda Janzen will be promoting her new memoir Mennonite in a Little Black Dress as part of the Girls’ Night Out author series at Schuler of Lansing, at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 29. The book comes out on October 13 — check out our review for a little pre-pub buzz!
“I read this book on my vacation, and was enthralled to learn about a faith with which I was completely unfamiliar. Throughout this memoir, Janzen shares her momentous trials and tribulations of growing up, falling in love, and running to and from her Mennonite faith.
Janzen’s wit kept me up at night wanting more stories of her trulyendearing family. For me, this book is a reminder that no matter which paths you blaze in your life you will always have a home base to which to return – physically or metaphorically. Expertly written, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is a delight to read – and thank goodness it wasn’t a cookbook.”
-Emily S., Grand Rapids
09.03.09
I’m a sucker for dark humor.
I felt a little weird when I realized that I’ve reviewed two books published by Villard in the past month or so, and both had an abbreviated “f*#%” in the title, but such is my humor. (Our general manager Rhoda actually gave me a copy of the F Word Dictionary for Christmas the first year I worked at Schuler. Best educational gift ever.)
Anyways, my new blog-turned-book love is F U, Penguin by Matthew Gasteier. I simply couldn’t resist this one, an absolutely hilarious send-up of all my beloved adorable animal sites (think CuteOverload and LOLcats).
Billed as “a rallying cry for those who choose to fight these power-hungry cute-mongers,” “F U, Penguin” is exactly that – an “F U!” to all those cute little animals and the wussies like me who simper with delight whenever their tiny noses grace the computer screen.
From observations (“Egotistical deer always think they are making your day”) 
to life lessons (“Puppies always leave”) to downright rants (“This bear is essentially raping my soul”), 
each photo and passage is accompanied by little-known, entertaining, if completely inaccurate, facts about animals. Made me cry (with laughter) like the little sissy I am.
–Whitney, Lansing
09.02.09
Tech-avvy Book Nerds Unite!
Sorry I’ve been slacking – we’re back in the busy season for the promo dept!!
Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don’t Float by Sarah Schmelling
Subtitled ‘Classic Lit Signs On To Facebook,’ this book was written precisely for people like me: complete book nerds who are completely addicted (likely with all the requisite guilt of a guilty pleasure) to the fabulous time-suck that is Facebook.
From Shakespeare’s group attempting to draw together all the authors who are “let’s say, borrowing liberally from [his] INESTIMABLE FOLIO OF CANONICAL MASTERPIECES,” (Shakespeare’s caps-lock, not mine!) to the Frankenstein newsfeed, this book is a hilarious “what if” proposition. What if Miss Havisham had a profile? Would her favorite show be Bridezillas? What would it look like if Dante and Milton played Scrabulific, or if the author of Beowulf completed that lame 20 Questions post?
Down to sponsored ads and quizzes like “Which Dystopia Are You In: 1984, Brave New World, or Social Media,” this book intelligently spoofs all that we love and hate about Facebook. And since it is essentially about Lit with a capital L, you can cross out the guilty and just call it a pleasure.
Oh, and be a fan of Schuler Books on Facebook!
–Whitney, Lansing
