A New Juliet

I don't like Juliet Capulet.  

There, I said it. 

I want to, but I don't like her.  Also, her name rhymes. 

That girl whiiiiines.  And she is needy.  And spoiled.  And a bit dense at communicating.  I know, star-crossed lovers, destiny, missed opportunities, true love, blah blah blah.  But couldn't she just be a bit more awesome in the process a little less, well...Juliet-ish?  C'mon kid.  Step up.  And MAKE SURE THE GUY KNOWS YOU ARE GOING TO DRINK SLEEPING DRUG. 

And...awkward internet silence.  

Sorry 'bout that.  I just don't love her.  

Also -- great cover.  

So when I read The Juliet Stories by Carrie Snyder, I actually started in really, really hoping that it would have nothing to do with Shakespeare's teenage concoction.  Thankfully, our little 10 year old protagonist was nothing like her Elizabethan counterpart and was a fabulously real, growing girl.  Struggling through the turbulent political and personal settings her parents fling her into, Juliet's stories are experiences of seeing people and their short-comings over and over again.  She learns, as we all do, that life is hard, that we are often only getting glimpses into people and that no one, not even our parents, are perfect.  But more than that, she learns how she will react and how she will hold her own story together.

The writing itself is a dance.  The moments are simple and complex, hot and cold, sticky and clean. Snyder moves you through time and place with an ease that is almost elusive -- I felt like I was trailing behind Juliet for the whole book, like I was along for the ride of her every day.  Snyder tells her story through moments: you are rarely hearing about big pieces of plot movement outside of Juliet experiencing them or simplying naming them.  The moments tell the story, lend pieces to a puzzle that you work out as you go.  Not everything is offered up front, but you get enough.  This book was a good reminder of how limited anyone's perspective is, including our own; no matter how much we want to think we 'get' things, we simply only see what we can see. 

I absorbed this book -- really, it absorbed me.  I felt like I wanted to keep holding it, get closer, read it again.  It was a quick read -- not too long or too dense, but so very, very full.  

I recommend it wholeheartedly.  So if you look for it check out your local, independent bookstore, ideally (mine is www.wordsworthbooks.com).  The author is from my hometown, so I was happy to support her and local business in the process.  

Read on, friends!

Spies. Food. Weddings. Marriage. Kids. 100 Year Old Men.

Friends!  It's been such a long, long time.  I've been sorting out life with two ever-growing but still pretty small guys as well as diving back into my (paid) job.  It has been a crazy, lovely winter and spring.  And now summer is fast upon us and I realized how long I had gone without spending time with all of you.

I've gone through blogging/reading slumps before, but this slump was really just blogging.  I've been reading devouring books.  Lots and lots of books -- reading 2 or 3 at a time.  And it has been amazing.  I've loved having my world filled out by characters both real and fictional, and some in between.  I've been reading books with friends, books with book club and books with my kids.  I've spent time with my Bible and been reading work-focussed books.  And you know what I found?  That I speak more aptly, respond more slowly and think more clearly when I am reading.  Such a good thing.  So here's a very brief overview of some of what I've been reading (and the settings I've been reading in!):


Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Eric Metaxas) This book fully rocked my world.  I'm a bit of a history nerd (and here and here) and so I like reading about history.  Not everyone does.  But my book club, whom I read this with, all agreed that it was pretty epic.  Epic in the way that you watch a man decide he is going to help assassinate Hitler without (somehow) compromising his deep set faith.  I really loved this book.  I actually had bought the e-book and then got the paperback (kind of unheard of for me) because I wanted to hold the book and flip the pages and remember significant things.  




The 100 Year Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared   (Jonas Jonasson).  Yup.  Most Descriptive Title Ever.  And that is what the book is about.  Light and lovely, this book weaves a magnificent tale through history while matching it with a fun and present story line replete with characters that you can't help but like, no matter how rough their edges may be.  Also, I totally quit on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, so this book redeemed Swedish lit for me...which sounds pretty flaky, but 'tis true. 

My Life in France (Julia Child)  I am perfectly, perfectly aware that Julia Child has died.  I am.  I knew that it was coming.  Nonetheless, after finishing her jaunty and endearing memoir, I was unprepared for her death.  (Bonhoeffer from above also dies, which I knew, but I finished both books in one week and it was painful.)  I really wanted some of these people to live because their lives were so very real to me and I want to know them.  Julia's story is full of foie gras and friends and France, all lovely and jumbly and delicious.  At one point she talks about how she and her husband had decided that people were more important than time.  I loved that.  What a brilliant starting point for making decisions.  Choosing people first and then busy-ness second. My compliments to the chef. 

Wedding Night (Sophie Kinsella) I've admitted before to Sophie as one my guilty pleasures.  And I did really like I've Got Your Number which she released last year.  But Wedding Night wasn't that good.  I'd even say weak -- disappointing!  I'm definitely prone to like her; yet this novel was thin on plot and character.  A little piece of me grieved that I might be outgrowing Sophie -- but I'm not willing to give up just yet.  

The Meaning of Marriage (Timothy Keller)  I'm reading this one in company of my husband and four other married couples.  Together, we are walking through some of the issues and ideas around marriage so that we can grow in our marriages and our relationships with one another.  Marriage should be our priority relationship and so we need to manage it like it is.  The book is good but the conversations and people are better.  If you are married, or thinking about it, find people to be with who will challenge and encourage you.  Marriage can do incredible things but it can also hurt incredibly.  Find places and people who will help you (and your spouse) on the journey. 

Knuffle Bunny (Mo Willems)  Yes, a children's book, but my oldest son love loves this book.  He loves the family running through New York and he loves the search for Knuffle Bunny.  I like to read it as though I am auditioning for different kinds of movies -- romantic, scary, funny, drama, gangster, etc.  It's incredible how much one book can change.  And I love watching my kids grow to love books -- they remind me each day how significant a little time with our imaginations can be.  And I just keep learning.  

That's a quick overview -- some highlights (and a few lowlights). 

I'm off to try to pace my reading of Juliet Stories by Carrie Ann Snyder.  Her prose is magical.

Happy reading,

sw

The Classics

I have always wanted to be the very well-read person who has read all the classics.  Well-versed, well-spoken, well-aware of literature both past and present: that has always been a dream for me.  But, in reality, there is so much to read that I certainly don't get to it all.  And some classics have gone beyond me -- Middlemarch was more than I could handle, Vanity Fair did me in as well.  But Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Bronte sisters are all people I get a long well with.   In Canadian literature, I love Robertson Davies and Lucy Maud Montgomery, Jane Urquhart and many others. 

But how do you keep up with the classics?  Some of them are really tough slugging.  Tonight at Book Club we are discussing four staples of literature: Nabakov's Lolita, Henry James' Daisy Miller, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.  I have read all of them now (not all in this past month!) and find such disparity of experience.  I do have a long lasting love for Pride and Prejudice but Lolita, I could certainly do without.  I guess I'm not sure what makes something a classic and what causes a short lived literary life.  And what I consider to be a classic is such a creation of my culture, my setting, my exposure.  What are the books that trascend these societal constructs?   And do I have the literary stamina to endure stories that have been considered timeless but seem tiring to me? 

What are your classics?  What books would go with you to a desert island?  What makes them so important? 

Top 5 Books of 2011

2011 was a funny reading year for me.  Having my first child in January meant that  sometimes I was reading a lot and other times, not so much.  Now that I’m expecting my second child, I’m reading a lot – as bed time calls around 9:30 and I like to wind down with at least a few pages of something good.

Based on what I read in 2011 (rather than what was published this year), here are my top picks:

#5

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

I really liked this book—I actually found myself shoving it in my purse or diaper bag *just in case* I ended up with time to read.  Well-written, with a poignant modern edge on the life of a staid older man, made for lovely read that left you with thinking not only of how you would want to spend the second half of life, but about what happens with cultures collide.  Are we really ready for a truly global world?

#4

The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou

I’m actually surprised I am putting this book at number four, because I LOVE IT.  Really.  I borrowed it from the library and ended up buying it, that’s how much I LOVE IT.  I’m not exactly sure why—it is the story of two athletes as they journey to the Sydney Olympics and I’m not so much an athlete (hence the blog on books!).  But something in the foreignness of the athletic mind fascinates me—the focus, the drive, the blinders to everything else—so different from my own multi-levelled-ever-changing ambition.  So interesting! And the story has a sweetness to it, almost a sweatiness to it, that draws you in.  I like reading a book that makes me want it to be longer and yet somehow satisfies.  Simple, sweaty and sweet.

#3

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I would love to just have the first two books in here as Mockingjay was a disappointment and, yet, I think you have to read them all so I’m holding them together.  That means that the first two were good enough for me to overlook the tragedy of the third.  Thematically, these books challenge our consumer culture (as I greedily consumed them all!) by highlighting the wastefulness of wealth and the unstoppable corruption of power.  Any book(s) that can tell a compelling story while shining the light on present day human follies without seeming preachy is right up my alley. 

#2

Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver

Okay, so I’m that person who also reads cookbooks.  And while I have come across many great cookbooks this year (also check out Canyon Ranch’s Nourish), the one that I think stuck with me the most in terms of learning about food and understanding cooking is Jamie Oliver’s teaching book Cook With Jamie.  He has great explanations and lots of interesting information and yummy recipes.  I made his berry meringue—still leaves me drooling!

#1

The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak

This might actually be not only the best book of the year but one of my top ten best books ever.  I almost don’t want to describe it; I just want you to read it.  I have never read anything so well written, so captivating and so powerful.  Granted it might take a minute or two to get in to the writing style, but please oh please, do not let that stop you!  I’m not even scared of overselling it, that’s how good it is!