Bookish Chic: Recycled Book Journals

Just had to share these adorable, eco-friendly journals made out of drumroll....recycled book covers! They're fantastic and would make a great gift for a book-lover (hint, hint).

[ex libras anonymous book journals, $13]

[jack and janet journal]

Cute, huh?

Teeming with Excitement! If A Girl Can Be So...

As you all know I am a big fan of India writer Amitav Ghosh. His first novel The Glass Palace is never too far from my thoughts, and though I've tried delving into one of his other subsequent novels, The Circle of Reason, Ghosh's enormous imagination engulfed me to the point where I was exhausted by the language dealing with phrenology and had to stop. Recently, while listening to my favorite Internet radio site, NPR, I came across an interview Ghosh did for his latest book (drum roll please...) Sea of Poppies!.

I could spend forever just listening to him recount the process of writing this expansive novel, and you can too over here at NPR's All Things Considered Book Review with Amitav Ghosh. I don't quite know the gist of the novel, but NPR's introductory description "Imagine if Charles Dickens had signed on for a voyage with the Pequod" is enough for me. But if you're at all interested in the ties among India, Britain, and China during the opium trade in the 1800s then this novel promises to be a great read. An excerpt from 'Poppies' is also provided at the bottom of the NPR interview.

Okay, I'm heading out to Barnes & Noble to curl up with my copy and an apple crisp pouch. So good! Happy reading!

Nic

Election Fever, Literary Style

We Did It! Assuming all reader of this blog supported our President-Elect Barack Obama in the election (and if you didn’t I have no qualms telling you to leave now), this is certainly one of the best weeks in our lives. Being a complete bookworm, I immediately consulted Amazon to see what I should be reading up on as we usher in this new era of American History. This is what I came up with:

[Unbought and Unbossed, Shirley Chisholm]

Ms. Chisholm is a true black American icon. She was the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress and the first black person to run for president of the U.S. Obama’s win surely owes this woman some credit.

[The Audacity of Hope. Barack Obama]

Yes our dear leader penned books even before he took control of the ’08 election. Hope is a huge part of Obama’s plans for our country, so I’d love to get a crack at where the head man’s head is at.

[The West Wing: Complete Series]

I hope that you’ve heard that Obama isn’t wasting any time tooling up for the inauguration. He’s already hired former Clinton staffer Rahm Emmanuel as the Chief of Staff for the new administration. Interestingly, Rahm inspired a character on the politi-drama The West Wing.

Yes We Did! Visit the new administration’s webpage at www.change.gov.

--Whitney

Uptown Literatti Shows Love to the First Family

We congratulate President Barack Obama on a monumental campaign that he led with diligence, compassion, and humility. Let us all make this a catalyst toward continuing in the direction of our dreams!

And should any of you be in D.C on January 20th, please join UL and friends as we stand should to shoulder with fellow Obama supporters at the Inauguration of our 44th President of the United States!

'A Tree' Brings Forth The Early American Immigrant's Tale

I started A Tree Grows in Brooklyn standing in the middle of the aisle in Barnes & Noble, and by page 3 I found myself sitting Indian-style on a little wooden chair nestled between two Japanese comic book shelves, hovered over the book like a die-hard Harry Potter fan trying to burn through the pages of the latest novel. (*I know you love Harry Potter, Whit. I’m the same way with Lord of the Rings :). But I digress.

I thoroughly enjoyed Betty Smith’s cool, easy way of telling a narrative in a very plain spoken manner. Through depicting what during the early 20th century was an everyday slice of life for the poor, Smith uses the voice of a young but very perceptive girl to truly breathe life and color into her narrative.

Of all the themes throughout the novel, I would like to address the one I have an affinity for: the immigrant experience and the class system by which it was affected. Part of what makes A Tree Grows In Brooklyn so unique is that although these very human experiences happened in some form or fashion to millions of individuals every year, the immigrant experience in New York—Brooklyn in particular—was very different from an immigrant living in California or even the Deep South. There were certain commonalities, of course: the country’s transition into war in Europe, adjusting to the language and the politics of the culture, etc. The immigrants in cities like New York and Williamsburg, Brooklyn faced unique challenges such as tenement apartments, low rents and equally low safety regulations. There was the fact that you had no land with which to farm and cultivate your own foods as in your native country or even the broad spaces of the American West or Midwest. Bread, meat, and vegetables, though staples in many homes were often times luxuries that could not be afforded or had to be consumed in moderation. For example, the Nolan’s plan a weekend to buy meat not because they have a surplus of money in which to splurge but because now they have just enough to where they can afford to include it. These staples had to be bought from the store, and in many cases for immigrants they were recycled. Crusted bread was kneaded into more bread that had to stretch through the week by adding water and a little heat.

There was something unique to the experience of Eastern and Western European immigrant groups living on top of one another and not always seeing eye-to-eye. During the early 1900s all the way through the Red Scare of the 1950s, Irish-Americans were against Jewish-Americans and Soviets were against Irish-German Americans, etc. There was plenty of conflict amongst these groups living in such close proximity, and with that melting pot came some form of tolerance that perhaps more “affluent” individuals not accustomed to immigrant life did not always have.

Betty Smith included some very important undertones to the immigrant experience, one being how immigrant parents and children were sometimes taken advantage of by the school system and made to feel inferior, perhaps because they didn’t understand the language, or more importantly because the teachers out right ignored their entitlements. Simple things like acknowledging a child so that he or she can go to the restroom, or feeling that you can whip a child because he or she will never tell his or her parents both contributed to this broken education system. There was also the issue of ignoring the flagrant problem of overcrowding and being deficient of enough resources to allow each child a chance to learn properly.

Think of the characters you despised most. It wasn’t the store keepers who took advantage of their younger customers (i.e the neighborhood kids) by taking more of their pennies than they should, or the man who hurled a tree at Francie or Neely, or even Katie when at times when she appeared unfeeling towards Francie as a young girl. Why not feel some amount of disdain for these individuals? Because all of these characters understood that making a life for oneself on a limited means was hard. Anything you could do to protect yourself or your children towards the harsh realities of living was necessary. The shopkeepers are living on a fluctuating income, too. Their coaxing more money from a child isn’t out of spite for that child but rather a defensive tactic to preserve their own means of living.

The people I disliked the most was the doctor and his harsh words whose meaning he thought would be lost on Francie, and his weak-minded nurse. It was the teacher who made Francie burn her “ugly words” and declared that someday Francie “would be thanking her.” It was the teachers who, having come from a background of similar poverty, now find it pertinent to look down on their pupils with disdain, and worse, pity.

The grand irony to this novel is that the American dream was being denied to the very group of people—immigrants—who, in retrospect, defined the American dream of creating something out of nothing and having it grow from generation to generation. Smith was wise enough to know that poverty worked two- fold: you can be poor in character and full in your pocket, or you can be poor in pocket and become resilient despite being so. Like the tree that still grew from cement, one could continue to grow through one’s inadequacies, if they were strong enough. Smith didn’t view the immigrants themselves as bad or misfortunate. Throughout her narrative she does a beautiful job of showing how many of the immigrants fought to make it work so that their children didn’t always have to live on limited means.

Francie Grows in Brooklyn

[A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith]

Before it's all said and done, you'll tire of hearing me say how much I heart coming of age stories. Something about witnessing a literary heroine go from bookish nerd to awkward young adult just pulls at my heartstrings.

So, I really, really wanted to like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith instantly. But, I didn't. Francie Nolan, the book's protagonist, was so similar to so many other girls in other books. She read. A lot. She wrote. A lot. She daydreamed, she was teased. In other words, she was the type of girl that writers love to write about. A lot.

As a result, I was pretty bored with the first 50-60 pages, but then I began to love Miss Francie and realize why the book is heralded as a classic, great book. It wasn't her charm or intelligence, it was her love for and commitment to Brooklyn, and everything in it, including her great, big family.

An overview: The Nolans are a working class, second generation Brooklyn family. Mommy Katie's a beautiful, hard-working and practical Austrian while Dad Jimmy is a fanciful, loving and kind of lazy Irishman. They've got two kids: Francie, who's smart and shy plus Neely, who's more outgoing, but doesn't have the patience for more intellectual pursuits. The family's central struggle is with poverty and Jimmy's alcoholism, which costs the family precious dollars and constantly chips at the dignity Katie tries so hard to preserve.

The tree referred to in the title is a Tree of Heaven, suspiciously planted in the concrete jungle of Brooklyn, but still managing to survive. This is, of course, akin to the Nolan's. Like Ashleigh pointed out, so much of the book is about the will to live, and for that life to be meaningful/dignified, which I think makes it so relatable to nearly everyone.

Throughout the book, Francie grows from a little, awkward girl, freezing in threadbare clothes and feeling inferior to prettier, cleaner girls that manage to get the teacher's attention, to a similarly awkward teenager forced to leave school and work reading newspaper headlines after her dad dies and her baby sister is born.

All in all, it was a really good read. I enjoyed Smith's acute attention to detail in recreating everything about her beloved Williamsburg, Brooklyn. From the way it looked, to the way it smelled, sounded, felt and how it was able to nurture a small, poor immigrant family.

What did you think about the book?

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Okay, better late than never, right?

I finished reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn quite a while ago. Life (and a few other good books) has gotten in the way of me writing about it, but here I go. I absolutely loved this book. Admittedly, when I started out I didn’t think I’d make it through the hundreds of pages I was facing, but once I got into it, the pages flew by. I sometimes measure how much I like a book by the feeling I get when I know I’m close to the end. In those last few pages I felt myself trying to read a little slower to savor those last moments on Francie’s journey. She was just such an amazingly relatable character that I really didn’t want to leave her. During the five year journey through some very formative years in Francie’s life, Betty Smith takes her readers through the raw emotions of a little girl not only on her path to womanhood, but in a struggle to survive her daily life. With the added struggles of poverty, isolation, and family breakdowns, Brooklyn is a tough place to grow up. In midst of all that, Smith still created a character in Francie that is able to shine through; her courage, her passion, and her spirit allow her to make it through, and cause the reader to cheer her on throughout the novel. You see Francie come into herself as time goes on and there are so many scenes that stick out in my head (think the vaccination scene), but there is one quote that was so beautiful to me I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since I read the book.

"Let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere-be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost."

Now, my journey hasn’t been as much of a struggle as Francie’s, but the last five years of my life have been full of so many huge life changes, especially this past year and a half that really shook up my world and set me off on a completely different path. I’ve learned to appreciate life in such a different way and to really be present in the moment and truly living life. In this passage, Francie basically put words to thoughts I’d been having on how I want to live my life, and I’m grateful to Betty Smith for giving that to me. It is such a simple line of thought, but I think its simplicity that makes it great. She’s not asking to be delivered from the life that she’s had to experience. She doesn’t ask to be beautiful or perfect or rich (and considering her life, could you really blame her if she did?), she just wants to live. And to live in such a way that she is something and every experience is meaningful. Who wouldn’t want that?

I think I’ll leave it at that and wait for my fellow bibliophiles share their thoughts. And if you haven’t read it, do it!! This really is a great piece of literature that every woman should read. And if anyone knows where I can get a copy of the movie on dvd, PLEASE let me know. My days of tapes and vcrs are long gone and I want to see the movie!

National Book Festival

Just a heads up my fellow book worms:

The National Book Festival
Saturday, September 27, 2008
The National Mall, Washington DC
10am to 5pm

Man, the Mall is going to be crowded this day, with people checking out the new ocean exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History and more than 100,000 bibliophiles attending the Library of Congress's annual book love-in. The festival takes place between Third and Seventh streets.

More than 70 authors will be in attendance including Salman Rushdie, Bob Schieffer, Michelle Singletary, R.L. Stine, Paul Theroux, Neil Gaiman, Philippa Gregory, Kimberly Dozier and more.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1093050&categories=Book%20Events&venueid=1025752)

Meet Your Bloggers: Mademoiselle M.

Mademoiselle M.

Avid Reader, [insert: Slacker] Blogger

About me:

• I have subscriptions to more magazines than I can possibly read in a month (how stupid right)
• I have more books on my "to-read" shelf on GoodReads than I will probably ever finish, considering the fact that I keep adding like 15 new ones for each one I complete
• Somehow I still believe that I will one day finish reading all of those books
• My dream house will have a library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves
• Every morning you will catch me reading on the Metro as I make my way downtown to work
• Every evening you will see me reading on the Metro as I finally escape from work and back into my book of the week/month
• I love talking about the books I read!

Which book had the greatest impact on me as a kid?
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman was my favorite childhood book. It was about a young girl with a BIG imagination. One day she decides to try out for the role of Peter Pan in her school play. Despite being told that she could never get the part because she's a black girl, she goes on to get the role and proves that you can do anything you set your mind to. I loooved this book so much back in the day. And, it was a Reading Rainbow book (for those of you who remember those days... man I'm getting old)!

Top 5 books?
I have like 12 all-time favorites (aside from my #1), but I'll go with these five - with the last four in no particular order. Each of these have moved me in ways that no other books were able to do...

1. Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood - read my review here
2. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston
3. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
4. Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman
5. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

I love Uptown Literatti because...
I mean, do I really need to answer this for you? Where else can you find such intelligent, beautiful, fabulous, and witty ladies who are so passionate about reading? Pshhhh. Only on UL!

Oprah's Book Club Selects New Book: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Greetings fellow bibliophiles. For anyone interested in keeping up with Oprah's picks for her book club, I just received this in the inbox and thought you'd be interested to read. I haven't followed Oprah's book club save for her recommendation for "100 Years of Solitude" if I'm honest, but this story of a mute child enduring this life sounds pretty engaging. Take a look at the review, and feel free to read along with Oprah and book club members the world over!

Oprah, Barnes & Noble, reviewers, and readers all agree — The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is one of the best books of the year! Barnes & Noble recently picked the book as a Fall 2008 Discover Great New Writers title, and today it was named the newest Oprah's Book Club Selection. This sweeping debut novel about a sheltered mute boy thrust out into the world has been praised as "a big, mesmerizing read" (The New York Times) and "a literary thriller" (The Christian Science Monitor). Said Stephen King, "[It is] wonderful, mysterious and satisfying... Readers who pick up this novel are going to enter a richer world."

*Review courtesy of Barnes&Noble.com

Books + Life, Life + Books

I've made some ab fab book discoveries in the past month and think that you should know about them as well. They are:

Exhibit A: David Pearson-designed Book Covers. Imagine a book that's well-designed, precise and downright gorgeous cover was as much a piece of art as the words inside. I've found those books. David Pearson, an award-winning designer was commissioned by Penguin Books to design artful covers to some classic Great Ideas books which, to date, include The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, Common Sense by Thomas Paine and Where I Lived, and What I Lived For by Henry David Thoreau. All books available on Amazon.com.

[The Communist Manifesto's bold, artful cover, as visioned by David Pearson]

[Henry David Thoreau never looked this good on a bookshelf before...]

Exhibit B: The New Yorker Fiction Podcasts. I love books, but it is very (very) difficult to sit down and read as I get older. I always seem to think about the million other things that I need to do and get distracted. Melissa is obsessed with books on tape, so I decided to look into some book podcasts when I discovered these. They are a wonderfully curated collection of short stories that have appeared in The New Yorker available on your iPod or iPhone. Amazing!!! Right now I'm "reading" Head Cold by Harold Brodkey.

[The New Yorker, digitized]

Exhibit C: Persephone Books. This little printing house in London is the book-maker that could. Their venerable editors find little known literary works by women and re-publish them in classic, muted grey covers and vintage-inspired endpapers.

[Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day's Endpaper]

[Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day cover]

They have gotten up to 78 books published, all worth checking out. I plan to order Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson, a story published in 1938 about a Governess' wild day, which, coincidentally, is now a movie of the same title.

What cool/weird/fascinating ways have books become part of your life?

P.S. We're almost done with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, look for reviews soon!

Whitney

Will You "Bee" Ready?

The new trailer for "The Secret Life of Bees" is officially available! With this dazzling cast of young and veteran actors/actresses, are you as excited as we are here at UL to check out the film? I'm sure an exposition on both the book and the film's adaption will follow after the premiere, so keep an eye out for a future post :) And if anyone is interested in seeing the film with fellow UL members in D.C, NY, or Ohio feel free to shoot us an e-mail. The more the merrier!

Meet Your Bloggers: Nicole

Nicole, co-creator/Blogger

A little about me:

Aspiring photojournalist and foodie. Every day you learn something new so I’m taking on sign language and French in my spare time in hopes of being one step closer to communicating with as many people as possible.

First book I remember reading?

The Berenstein Bears: Stage Fright by Stan and Jan Berenstein! I remember Sister Bear’s pink overalls and tiny clawed feet, slightly curled, and I remember thinking to myself that I never want to speak in front of a large group of people. Years later I would face the horror known throughout high school as Speech class lol.

Besides books, I’ll talk my head off about:

Food and cooking! You'll find me at the farmer’s market trying to get the best herbs, fruit, or fish. I’m excited to hopefully experience every aspect of food, from Indian spices and seasoned fish in Ghana to salumi in Italy. I'm also obsessed with Jeopardy, photography, and movies. Watching amazing films all day on a Saturday wrapped in my duvet cover? Yes, please! :)

Favorite books:

Historical novels, short stories, essays, cookbooks, etc

Favorite place to read:

Cross country train rides—in the US or abroad—have been made that much more relaxing with a great book.

(with fellow blogger and co-creator Whitney, and friend Ashley. Everything is Illuminated by JSF in tow)

Loving UL because:

It’s such a great way to be connected to something that’s bigger than you, and to be a part of its growth is even more amazing. UL is a community of funny, passionate and dedicated readers who form an instant friendship through a love of books, and it feels like something lifelong.

Meet Your Bloggers: Whitney

Whitney, Co-Creator/Blogger

[Me with What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage]

About Me:
I'm a writer and aspiring editor in NYC that will read nearly anything. Seriously, anything. I'm also slowly realizing that I'm a bit of a feminist. But in a cute way :)

What I do on UL:
Wax poetic/pissed (depending on the mood + book) on books new and old. My unofficial job is also to try to get the other bloggers to join me in reading books by DWM (dead white men) that are labeled classics :)

Favorite Book:
The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank. I wrote lots and lots about it here.

Favorite Place to Read:
The subway, hands down. It's relaxing and it makes the fellow passengers think that you're smart.

[With Co-Creator Nicole in 2006]

Favorite Movie based on a Book:
Great Expectations with Gwyneth Paltrow

What I Like to Do When I'm Not Reading:
Writing, Watching anything on HBO or the Food Network, baking, planning on working out (but never actually going to the gym)

Favorite Websites (besides Uptown Literatti, of course):
Jezebel.com, Salon.com, Shopbop.com, FoodNetwork.com, NYMag.com

Favorite Thing about UL:
Everything! But definitely learning more about my friends through their book selections and insights.

Voices: Decide to Live as Veronika Decides to Die

I read this book because a lady, Gemma Bulos, on the Echoing Green website had it on her books to read about making the best of your life. Because I’m always trying to see what the world changers are up to, I read it. The author of the best-seller, The Alchemist magically weaves this tale about life, purpose, meaning and death.

From the first page (and the title) you know what the protagonist is thinking. One day she simply decides to die.

As the book continues, you understand why she chose to end her life or monotony and quiet desperation. For all those bored with the simplicity of their lives, take a cue from Veronika, a young, Slovenian girl who realizes too late all she wants is the one thing she was willing to throw away. Given one week to live she begins to live without the debilitating fear of judgment that ruled her life, she remembers the things, hobbies and places that had once brought her joy. I enjoyed this book though it was a little slow after Veronika’s initial decision to kill herself, because I could see the transformation from a person sleep walking through like to one with such a passion for it I almost forgot she was going to die.

Most of the book takes place inside an insane asylum where Veronika is sent after her attempt and the other patients represent the full spectrum from schizophrenics to healthy adults who enjoy the carefree, regimented shelter of the insane asylum life. The book has even more meaning as Coelho, having spent time in an Argentinian asylum himself, has hinted to it being loosely based on his life.

And to top it all off, drumroll please…its being made into a movie! I would definitely recommend reading this book first, but Buffy is to star as Veronika in the movie of the same name in early 2009! Jonathan Tucker, David Thewlis and Melissa Leo round out the cast. I’ll be back with the comparison as soon as it hits the big screen.

--Melissa Johnson

Voices: 'Love in the Time of Cholera'...and Melodramatic Movies

In keeping with the theme of great books and great movies, I recently watched the 2007 film adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera, soon after completing the novel. Let's start with the novel: beautiful, enchanting, compelling. I loved reading about the intense love triangle between the beautiful middle-class Fermina Daza, the awkward, poor Florentino Ariza and the confident, rich Dr. Juvenal Urbino.

The version that I read, translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman, featured lush details and memorable scenes and characters as it weaved the tale of Daza and Ariza's young love, courtship and engagement that is hindered by Daza's father's quest for his only child to marry a wealthy and important man. Dr. Urbino, a European-educated Cholera expert, is perfect and begins to hunt Daza endlessly until she gives in to his proposal. The story then follows Daza and Urbino's peaceful, if not exactly passionate, 50+ year marriage and Ariza's 50+ year pursuit of the woman he loves.


The film, to its credit, is painstakingly true to the book. However, the two mediums are so different and even with Marquez's brilliant scenes and dialogue, the adaptation falls flat. The characters, so complex and three-dimensional in print, become caricatures of themselves on screen, with Lorenzo Daza, Fermina's brash and curiously wealthy father, becomes a foot-stomping, cigar-chomping joke on-screen, played by John Leguizamo. Fermina, so fierce and smart and thoughtful in the book, becomes something of an annoying damsel in the film.

To his credit, the Spanish actor Javier Bardem, does Florentino Ariza (who kind of annoyed me in the book) a lot of beautiful, romantic justice. But one great performance does not a good movie make. There is a reason why Mr. Marquez protested to having his books made into movies...he knew they'd suck.

The book is wonderful, 5 stars. The movie, not so much. The entire time I kept feeling as if I was watching a really long Mexican soap opera, complete with overly expressive glances and long, drawn out gestures. But read the book and watch the movie to draw your own conclusions!

--Whitney Teal

Seduced by a Cover

You would think us bibliophiles would know better than to judge a book by its cover. But sometimes we just can't help ourselves. Nicole and Whitney have already confessed. Now I'm fessing up too. But then again I don't know many avid readers who wouldn't agree that sometimes the cover illustration screams "read me!"

For my graduation party in May I received many wonderful and thoughtful gifts from loved ones, the best of which included gift cards for Barnes and Noble! It seems as though my love for reading is as commonly known as my last name. Well I couldn't wait to get myself into a Barnes and Noble. I was so impatient, in fact, that instead of waiting until I had time to go to the nearest one (which is 30 min away from my house) I decided to peruse the website.

Mr. Barnes and Mr. Noble are officially my homies because I bought 17 brand new books for $60 bucks. Yes you read that right, 17 books. I just couldn't say "no" to any of them at the ridiculously low sales prices: $1.99, $3.99, and one for $5.99! I normally buy bargain books - used of course - on half.com, at thrift stores, and at the library's used bookstore but brand new!? You don't get that everyday my friends.

Take a peek at some of the ones that I bought because the cover and/or title was appealing. Luckily, many of them were on B and N's bestsellers list. Now I need to find a table to hide the books under (my mom and I hide books from my dad because we have bookshelves all over the house that are stuffed to the brim)!

ttyl dearies,
Mademoiselle

P.S. I also bought the Breakfast at Tiffany's DVD because I love me some Holly Golightly! I need to read the book someday.

P.S.S. I feel bad for the delivery man. That is going to be one heavy box...

Me & Barnes, We Think Alike

I've been on a hunt to find A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, our 3rd official UL selection. I wanted to take Mme. M's suggestion and get it from the library, but, if you can believe it, the New York Public Library only has 36 copies in circulating in all of their dozens of branches that spread across 2 boroughs. And, of course, they were all checked out. Go figure.

So I walked a couple of blocks north and found a Barnes & Noble (as ubiquitous in NYC as Starbucks) and went to search for the book. To my delight, no searching was required because I ran smack dab into a table marked "Summer Reading," that not only displayed our selection, but lots of other books that are on our To-Read lists like The Stranger by Albert Camus (it's on the Strand 80), To Kill A Mockingbird (which we want to eventually read alongside The Secret Life of Bees), and other classics like The Slaughterhouse-5, The Bell Jar (our first read) and Things Fall Apart.

(Note: You can see A Tree in the picture above, it's in the center, right under the R in Reading, on the front row.)

I walked away from the table with A Tree and Things Fall Apart (my copy from high school has long gone the way of the birds) and walked smack dab into yet another display, this one with a few first-time authors. I'm a sucker for a good book cover and I immediately went to grab a few before I remembered that they run about $20 each and can quickly add up. Plus, I'm currently reading 3 books simultaneously and I fear that adding more will fuel a combustion. But, I would like to eventually read these titles:

Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician by Daniel Wallace: Big Fish was a pretty cool movie (although I never knew it was also a book), so I feel pretty comfortable in the hands of Daniel Wallace.









The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein

I love anything by Amy Tan and completely fawned over Memoirs of a Geisha (book, not movie), so I'm not surprised that I was drawn to this elegant, simple story. Definitely on my To-Read list this summer.






Nicole finished one of her summer reads, Mademoiselle deviated a little from her list, and I'm steady adding to mine. What about you?

Whitney

Voices: Come Full Circle With Everything Is Illuminated

Jonathan Safran Foer writes a refreshingly rich and complex love letter to his ancestors and the people of the Ukraine in Everything Is Illuminated.

In short, Everything Is Illuminated is the story of a young Jewish American in search of his family’s history. Armed with a beguiling translator named Alexander Perchov, his grandfather and their dog Sammy Davis Junior Junior, Jonathan Safran Foer embarks on a journey through the Ukraine looking for Augustine, the woman in the photograph he carries who he believes helped save his grandfather during WWII. The novel seems to be broken up into three parts: the actual events of the family’s history from 1791-1942, Safran Foer’s reconstruction of these events in his unpublished novel, and the letters that he and Alexander share in 1997.

Everything is Illuminated introduces itself like a comfortable acquaintance, a foreigner you might meet by happenstance on a train who gladly shares the events of his/her life through slightly butchered English and deep, sad eyes. The most unmistakable element of this novel is its humor. Safran Foer encourages you to laugh at Alexander and his idolization of America and how he uses elevated words to express simple phrases. (I.e. “Amid Grandfather and I was a silence you could cut with a scimitar” or “I feel oblongated to again eat a slice of humble pie (my stomach is becoming chock-full)”. However, by book’s end you almost feel ashamed of laughing if for no other reason than your understanding of Alexander as a hopeful young man whose dreams have been deferred.

Safran Foer has an amazing command of language and literary techniques. His novel incorporates several of them, even becoming so bold as to create a few new ones by writing statements that seem to bleed into one another and comprise one streaming sentence, not to be confused with a run-on. I’ve highlighted several passages written with imaginative metaphors such as, “He left the oven door open, and would sit for hours and watch her, as one might watch a loaf of bread rise” or “He was someone whom everyone admired and liked but whom nobody knew. He was like a book that you could feel good holding, that you could talk about without ever having read, that you could recommend.”

The most difficult part about reading Everything Is Illuminated would have to be the complexity of the relationships and their overlapping. Staying cognizant of the chronology of events that happened in 1790-1942 and those happening in present day was no easy feat, either. Safran Foer has created a story within a story and a letter within a letter, revisiting the lives and trials of his great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother and grandfather. This, coupled with secret (and not-so secret affairs), makes the story’s plot even more involved and at times confusing, but nevertheless significant.

Through this effort to retrace his family’s history, Safran Foer illuminates the ills of human society as it relates to hideous hate crimes (particularly the Holocaust where Jews were pitted against Jews in the name of survival). What is also illuminated is the power of love to ripple through time and penetrate even the bleakest circumstances. Safran Foer does a lovely job of reflecting on forbidden love, unrequited love, and even the first fruits of love. The characters in this novel suffer through an overwhelming sense of yearning. They yearn for closeness, they yearn to forget or bury the tragedies of the past, and then there is yearning from Jonathan Safran Foer himself, as well as Alexander, for clarity and understanding all the secrets of their family’s past.

Everything is Illuminated is a mixed bag of all that is great about reading literature: history, love, tragedy, irony, exuberance, extreme sadness, imagination, humor, a distinctive style. If you are looking for familial story filled with humor, honesty, and an unconventional approach to a very conventional theme—trying to discover one’s family roots—I strongly recommend Everything is Illuminated.

--Nicole Crowder

Book Lovers Guide to Going Green: Starting with The Black Dahlia

I'm not big on this whole "going green" trend, but today I thought about one thing all book lovers can do to contribute to society: use your library card more often.

You probably thought I had something clever to say. Sorry to disappoint but let me explain. The following explanation is strictly for those analytically minded individuals such as myself. All others, feel free to scroll down to the summary.

Mademoiselle's Analysis of The Black Dahlia:

324 pages in the book

67 pages until the plot begins to unfold

300 pages before the book becomes unputdownable, as I like to call it

What does that leave us with?

...approximately 67 pages of wasted paper and 233 pages worth only borrowing from the library

... only 7.4% (24/324) of the book worth purchasing

Granted, I only paid about $5 for the book (thanks to half.com) technically I should've only spent like 40 cents. Plus think about how many trees that could've been saved if James Ellroy, the author, had simply gotten to the point.

But who's counting...?

The core of the plot is based on a 1940's Los Angeles murder mystery. The body of a young woman was found in a vacant lot mutilated, cut in half, and disemboweled. Two detectives, ex-boxers, take on the case and become overly obsessed with this young woman's life - and death - to the point where it literally destroys their own lives.

What I really struggled with while reading this book was the inclusion of random storylines as well as the excessive - and mostly pointless - details that made the book way longer than it needed to be. For instance, the first 67 pages of the novel are spent developing the relationship between the two detectives and describing their boxing past. The author also over-used police jargon which only made it harder for me to connect with the characters. The book's only saving grace was the last 30(ish) pages where the twisted plot came into focus.

In conclusion...

What I liked: the twisted mystery plot

What I disliked: Ellroy's inability to focus on what was important to me, the reader

While this book may be worth reading for you mystery/suspense lovers out there, I would strongly suggest that you save our trees and borrow The Black Dahlia from your local library. Don't let another wasted page get published.

Smooches dahlin!

Mademoiselle

Voices: A Very Snobby Awakening: 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'

This you must know before I tell you about my reading of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce: I'm a bit of a snob. I like snobby drinks, snobby restaurants, and, as evidenced by this blog, snobby books. I like the challenge of reading books that are difficult, full of hard to ascertain themes. I love the big words that I gleam from reading these books and the intimate knowledge of places that I've never been. But this book, that is ALL about the spiritual + intellectual awakening of Stephen Dedalus, is snobby, even for my taste. As one character puts it in chapter 5, "You're a born sneerer, Stevie," meaning, Stephen's as snobby as the day is long.

I'm a big fan of coming-of-age stories (see The Wonder Spot and The Bell Jar, two of my favs), but a coming-of-age story that, in my opinion, lacks any real connection to the main character is a hard pill to swallow.

Here's a re-cap: the book's hero, Stephen, is a smart, sensitive young Irishman. We find him first as the youngest student at an all-boys boarding school, being bullied and literally thrown into a cesspool by his peers. We follow him to another boarding school, where his heroism is evidenced by his willingness to stand up to the religious clergy that run the school for unfair treatment. He then attends yet another school and finally a University before making a decision to leave Ireland. In the midst of this we learn that his father is not well-off and kind of a traitor to the Roman Catholic church. Stephen is deeply conflicted (and deeply conflicted in a very academic, boring way, mind you) about religion, his sexual relationship with a young woman that he believes will send him straight to hell (and there's nearly an entire chapter devoted to the hellishness of hell) and about his country, which at the time is deeply conflicted about its relationship with Britain.

I am a lover of James Joyce's short stories (I read many from Dubliners as an English minor in school), but I don't love the lack of a real story in this book. I never felt like I was rooting for Stephen, nor that I really knew him. Consequently, the "portrait," that I was promised was more like a lightly sketched drawing...in black and white. You know how movies based on Shakespeare's plays are always translated into modern language? I'd love to see that happen with this book. I feel, unfortunately, that so much of the beauty is lost on my modern mind. As one in A Portrait said: "Even in literature, the highest and most spiritual art, the forms are often confused."

Join us as we four read through the undeniable classics of the Collegeboard's 101 Great Books List. We'll also be reading contemporary classics and writing our own list of Uptown Literatti Contemporary Great Books.

Our next book will be something more recent, so stay tuned!

With bibliophilic love,
Whitney

Summer Reading: Mademoiselle M

I’m personally not a big planner of my future reading unless I’m reading something for a class or book club. Therefore, I only have two planned books for this summer – aside from our James Joyce selection. However, I assure you that there will most be several more that I drown myself in before Labor Day hits!

Here goes the two that I do not plan on finishing my summer without having read:

The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke
By Suze Orman

Suze has been my new homie for a few months now. I’ve watched the DVD that goes with this book and I’ve read her other book Women and Money. I’ve also watched her show a few times. I love this woman’s style: very simple, straight to the point, and entertaining. Add this to the fact that I’m working my way into multi-millionaire status – starting early and going slow is the best method my friends – I am dedicated to learning all the personal finance knowledge I possibly can as early in my career as I possibly can.

The Art of Seduction
By Robert Green

A friend of mine has started a summer reading group and this is one of the books that she has chosen. It really appeals to me, not only because of the sexual context but also because of the benefits of this information in a professional context. Think about it: in any career you will need to master the art of persuasion. Seduction is probably the ultimate form of persuasion – which after taking a class on the elements of persuasion, I am completely intrigued by. I am fidgeting in my seat with excitement just thinking about how vibrant our group’s conversation will be!

The next several books I choose will be a toss up between those that appeal to me on my or my mother’s bookshelves at that moment and the top-rated books that I have on my “to-read” shelf at www.goodreads.com. I’ll keep you posted.

*bises*
Mademoiselle M

Summer Reading: Melissa

As the days grow hotter, I, too, am looking forward to reading (and re-reading) some great books and drinking tall glasses of lemonade.

Big Girls Don't Cry
by Connie Briscoe

Shortly after I read this novel I deemed it to be one of my faves but I haven't thumbed through it in a while. The story is revolves around Naomi Jefferson, flashing back to her teenage years in the 60's, her college days and political involvement in the 70's and her present decision to focus on her career because love and live can be fickle. Her life is shaped by a series of events and the story follows her responses to her beloved brother's death and love's betrayal. I don't want to say too much other than I picked up the book in middle school when I saw my sister reading it and finished it that weekend.


Everytime a Rainbow Dies

by Rita Williams-Garcia

This young adult fiction follows Thulani and Ysa, a young woman he sees being attacked from his roof top one day. Williams Garcia magnificently explores "loss and love, identity and self-determination" of a young Black immigrant boy in NYC as the story unfolds. I saw Nikita use an excerpt in a previous post and wanted to add one from the book's first page. I love the imagery from the description of Ysa's skirt to Thulani's hair and his birds. I felt like I was witnessing the story.

Everything is Illuminated
by Jonathan Safran Foer

I saw this book on Nicole's list and wanted to add it to mine. Thanks, Nicole!

And of course, our current group read: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. I won't attempt to sum up the book as I have yet to finish it and I don't want to spoil it. Read along with us!

What books are you waiting to sink your teeth into?

Summer Reading + Favorite Children's Book: Whitney

Even as I read our second UL selection, The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by the phenomenal James Joyce, I still have tons of books in my head that I want to read or revisit, including some awesome kiddie books and a couple of memoirs.


What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong with Washington
by Scott McClellan

I'm a simultaneous history buff and lover of juicy gossip, so these memoirs by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan will be a perfect summer read for me while I'm waiting at the airport or laying out at the beach.



The Audrey Hepburn Treasures
by Various Authors

Ever since I saw Breakfast at Tiffany's, I've been completely enamored with the life and work of Ms. Hepburn. I've seen this book for years at Urban Outfitters but this summer in NYC will be the perfect time to add this collector's item to my bookshelf.

Blubber
by Judy Blume

This was one of my favorite books as a kid. Linda is a 4th grader struggling with finding a balance between being well-liked and doing what's right and not teasing the overweight girl in class (who everyone has nicknamed "blubber"). I LOVED the book when I first read it and it, along with other Blume classics like Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great are defining pieces of my childhood.

Happy Summer!
Whitney

Summer Reading: Nicole

Hey everyone!

The Summer is upon us! Something about the idea of gathering a bunch of books to indulge in between hectic schedules and priorities makes me wriggle in my chair like a giddy child. I get really excited over book covers and designs, the chance to explore someone's perspective on life, or the chance to find a new hero(ine) with whom to identify. I'd love to share with you some summer reads that I hope help me achieve the aforementioned, whether on a plane, train, or beach chair :)

Fruit of the Lemon
by Andrea Levy

I first heard about this book though a review by Patrick Henry Bass of Essence magazine in 2006. I read the first few pages in B&N and really loved Levy's voice. At the time school (and my impending graduation) was a primary reason why I couldn't devote more time to the book, but this summer is my chance to make a more conscious effort.



Unaccustomed Earth
by Jhumpa Lahiri

It's no secret that I love Jhumpa Lahiri. And I love short stories just as much. Thankfully, Jhumpa has provided the best of both worlds again with another collection that focuses on the immigrant experience and spans from Seattle to India to Thailand. Family secrets are explored yet again through Lahiri's quiet and powerful voice.

Garlic and Sapphires
by Ruth Reichl

Articles on food rarely seem to warrant tears, but Reichl's food story entitled "Missionary for the Delicious" had me in tears in B&N late last week. It was a beautiful homage to the tradition of sincere and authentic food made by sincere and authentic people. Reichl achieves amazing depth and detail in her stories about her food adventures in only a few pages. I can't wait to curl up with her book in that warm chair that sits directly in front of the cookbooks, sitting Indian style.

Everything is Illuminated
by Jonathan Safran Foer

A former classmate did a great review of this novel, and I was convinced I had to read it immediately. However, a year would pass and I would have seen the film before having read the novel. The movie was great so I'm excited to experience the novel in the voice that Safran Foer wrote it.