Sisterhood Everlasting

I read all the Traveling Pants books years ago and loved every moment of them.  Each girl had her unique personality and they all eventually ended up back together and back on the same page no matter what obstacles got in their way.  I guess I identified most with Carmen as I read the books.  I saw this new one on the shelves and had to pick it up.  The girls have grown up and are 30 now?  I'm 30 now.  What are these ladies up to?  I had to know.

I will say this.  I was shocked as I read the first few chapters.  I couldn't believe the girls had let themselves go.  No one had kids yet.  Each had a career.  But they'd lost touch.  So when Tibby reaches out from Australia to bridge the divide finally, I was just as excited as Bee, Lena, and Carmen to get a ticket to Greece for a reunion.  However, the reunion isn't what they imagined.  From early on Brashares throws you a curve ball with this book.  For the longest time I wasn't sure what to think, but I went with it and I finished the book.

I can't really say too much more, but I can say that you get a look into each girl's life, of course.  Each of these sisters has faced challenges that many of us young ladies face every day:  questions about life, marriage, children, career, balance, etc.  It's hard.  It's hard for the.  I appreciated what I saw each woman working through because I did think that their problems were real.

I did have a few issues with the characters, though.  When I first met back up with Carmen, she's a famous actress on a crime show and she doesn't eat and she's a size 2??  I seriously wondered if this really could have happened to her?  Carmen was proud of her curves.  She didn't let people bully her around, and now she's just a robotic actress mindless attending premiers and parties with her executive producer fiancee??  I didn't buy it.  Bee's store made sense to me, and Lena's too, as well as Tibby's, but I think I was most disappointed in Carmen when I saw where these girls were years later.

It was a fast read, and I did like it.  I wanted to get to the end and piece everything together.  And of course, like all the other books in the series, what matters here is friendship.  Life will bring us changes.  Life will disappoint us.  Life will shock us.  Life will lead us places we didn't imagine going.  But in the end, we have friends to help us on that journey.  These girls always end up back together and they pick up where they left off.  That's what real friends can do.  They can forgive and move on.  They can start over every day if they have too.  As a young mother, wife, teacher, friend, daughter, sister, everything - I know how it can feel like you are not meeting the needs of everyone in your life, but you just gotta do your best.  And you must find some people to lean on.  Real friends are hard to come by, so you must reach out and try again, even if it's been a while or even if life seems too busy.  It'll be worth it in the end and sharing life's moments with those you love is the most important thing of all.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

It took me a bit to get in to this one, but in the end it was definitely worth it.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is about a nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell whose father was killed in the 9-11 terrorist attack.  When Oskar accidentally breaks a vase in his parents' bedroom, he finds a mysterious little key in a small envelope.  Determined to find out what the key meant to his father and what lock it opens, Oskar journeys all over New York city meeting people from all walks of life and asking questions about his dad and his feelings and life and the universe and so much more.

Oskar is a peculiar child to say the least.  Not a huge fan of child narrators, I was a bit annoyed with him at first.  He'd say things that, in my opinion, didn't sound like a nine-year-old at all...even a very strange one.  However, as I continued reading the book, I did get to know him as a character better, and I felt that perhaps some of his strange behavior was ok because of what he'd been through.  It was clear to me that he was a strange kid before his father's death.  I liked him in the end, and as you read the book, no matter what you think of the narration or style....you feel for the kid.  He's been through a horrible tragedy and I think we'd all be allowed to do whatever it took in order to deal with those feelings.

The book has an interesting subplot involving the Oskar's grandparents.  I enjoyed this plot line but didn't feel that it really connected to Oskar's story in the end.  To me it just all seemed a bit much.  Unrealistic.

What I can say, though, is that there are some heartbreaking moments in the novel.  Oskar's mother struggles daily to understand and move on from her husband's death.  As a reader, it hurt so much to see how strained and awkward the relationship between Oskar and his mother was at times.  They are a new kind of family now that Thomas (the father) is gone, and it broke my heart to see them struggle with finding ways to feel and think and be without their dad.  It's been ten years since the tragedy, yet it seems like we are all still figuring it out.  Yes, people move on.  Yes, the smoke and dust settle, but lives are never the same.  After reading this book I was reminded of the importance of family.  Every day on the news we see that people have been hurt or killed.  By weather, storms, tornadoes, accidents, terrorists, gunmen who kill people in public places...it doesn't really matter what gets you in the end.  Death comes for us all.  People are left behind by their loved ones every day, and it's never easy.  We do what we can to deal with the loss and hopefully we are surrounded by a few others who can help us through the days that follow.

As we approach the tenth anniversary of September 11 and as I digest this book, I feel like we need to simply remind ourselves how lucky we are to be here living and learning in this country.  Each day is a gift.  It's so easy to get swept up into the business that is life and school in America.  Yes, we must work hard.  Yes, we must do our jobs.  Yes, we must read books and complete assignments and write papers.  But let's always remember that people and relationships matter and that the books and papers and discussions help us to understand ourselves and our world better.  Let's remember that life can change in an instant and it won't matter what score you got on your last Calculus exam or English essay.  I count myself blessed that I am not Oskar, that I did not lose someone I know in the terrorist attack.  By reading his story, however, I am reminded of what I must do.  I must love my family as much as I can each moment because you never know what each day holds.  So, I do recommend this book.  It's different, but moving.  I am glad I read it and my heart goes out to all who lost loved ones ten years ago and those who lose loved ones at any time.  Life is never the same, but love is still here on earth for those who are left behind if we hold on to the people around us and make the most of every moment.

Beauty Queens

I started this book and got stuck moving to a new city in the middle of it, but I finally finished just the other day.  This book is just hilarious and I loved every moment.  Bray pokes fun at everything under the sun related to reality television, beauty products, girls' self-image, Victoria's Secret catalogs; you name it, she's got a witty remark about it.

If you haven't heard about the book yet, basically the contestants for Miss Teen Dream are on a plane and it crashes on a "deserted" island.  The girls hold out hope for a while, but realize eventually that no one is going to come save them.  Taylor Renee Krystal Hawkins, Miss Texas, takes over and insists that the girls continue practicing their pageant routines, but other girls aren't quite agreeable to that.  They make huts and figure out how to get fresh drinking water and learn about who they really all are.  What they don't know is that the island isn't deserted and just down the shore in an underground volcano lair, the Corporation has some business happening.

Part Lord of the Flies, part Miss Congeniality, part Austin Powers, this book is extreme fun.  I loved the unique personality of each girl.  Each young woman had her own "issues" she was working through, and what young woman doesn't?  These girls were smart, fit, and tough, but they weren't perfect.

What I do appreciate in the end, though, is that for all the silliness and obvious hits that Bray makes at the issues and messages bombarding young women today, what's underneath is a good message.  No these girls aren't perfect, but they are who they are.  They embrace themselves the good and the bad.  I really loved  every page and I think most girls will get a kick out of this book, but really appreciate that they can be who they want and take control of their own lives and self images.  Tons of fun, this one!

State of Wonder

So I won't be teaching freshmen this upcoming school year.  What this means for me right now is that the "direction" of my reading will be shifting a bit.  I still will keep up with all the great YA books, but I will also be reading and posting about more literature and some adult reads as well.  Most of the adult book I will read/review will be related to the literature that I will be teaching in my senior English classes or just stuff that is on many "great books you must read now or before you die..."  You get the picture.

With that said, I just finished (finally....I've said it before, my reading has slowed significantly since my little girl was born, but it's ok :) Ann Patchett's State of Wonder.  I am a big fan of Heart of Darkness, so I was really interested to read this book.  I heard a review on NPR and picked it up.  I was immediately drawn in to the story.  Dr. Marina Singh works for a pharmaceutical company in Minnesota.  Her company funds the work of Dr. Annick Swenson who is in the Amazon researching a tribe and creating a drug, but no one has heard from her in years.  She's there but not really in communication with anyone.  The company sends Marina's coworker, Anders Eckman, there to find Dr. Swenson and check on the progress of the research and the drug that is in development.  Anders, an avid bird-watcher, is excited about the opportunity to see new life and experience all the forest has.  However, Marina finds out that Anders has died - in the Amazon and is buried there.  Burdened with the job of telling Anders' wife, Marina doesn't know what to think about her friend's death, her mentor's (Dr. Swenson's) work, her company's goals, or anything.  Encouraged by Anders' wife, Marina goes to the heart of the Amazon to finish what Anders started and find out about his death for his family.

The books starts off with "Anders is dead," and I really appreciated that.  While some background is given about Marina and Mr. Fox, her boss, this information unfolds throughout the novel in good time.  I liked that you got pieces along the way but were given the main conflict right upfront.  I felt compelled at each stage of the novel to know what would be happening next.  I felt that the overall flow of the book was great.

A fan of Heart of Darkness, as I said earlier, I enjoyed seeing the setting here.  The Amazon was rendered alive and breathing by Patchett.  There were bugs and snakes and fishes galore and you felt every single one of them.  The river's opaqueness is mystifying and terrifying and enchanting all at once.  I felt like I got to be on this "vacation" of sorts along with Marina.  I loved seeing how the Lakashi lived and seeing how the doctors at the research station lived in these new conditions.  I enjoyed all the characters.  I liked learning a lot about Dr. Swenson.  She's no Kurtz by any means, but it was interesting piecing together bits of her from Marina' memory and from the interesting things she shows readers about herself.  The medical part of this book was great and the mystery part was good too.  I would definitely recommend this read for anyone.  I didn't have a huge reaction to the end.  This wasn't one that I held to my heart and sighed with when it was over, but I was glad to have read it and experienced a new, wild place and way of life. 

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

I enjoyed this book.  I really got in to the chapters at the beginning, buying everything that Foster said.  Obviously, he's the professor, and I can say that I feel like I learned a lot.  But what I really left with wasn't having memorized all the topics of his chapters, but having understood that there's a lot more going on under the surface of "great" stories and novels and poems.  I was happy that at the end of the book, Foster tells you just to read to the best of your ability.  And he says throughout that practice makes better, so anyone can read the best books and think about them, though we will all do this on our own level.

Foster admits that the topics covered in this book are just the beginning.  He discusses rain and water in literature, for example, but not fire.  We all know that fire can be an extremely symbolic and powerful metaphor in a work, but it's not included in this book.  To include everything, Foster states, would make this work a gargantuan literary encyclopedia, and who wants to read all of that.  Instead, he shows the reader many of the patterns that readers can notice in literature and then sets you free.

My only concern about this book is how well a high school student would like it.  I enjoyed many of the chapters (though some better than others), but I also am a thirty-year-old-English-teacher-English-major-lady who was willing and interested to read this book.  I knew most of the stories, poems, and novels about which Foster wrote.  But how many of those works would even your best high school English student know.  Would it make the book harder to read if the reader didn't know the works being referred to?  I'm not sure.  I felt that way when reading.  If I knew the work he was talking about, then the chapter was definitely more interesting to me.  If I didn't know the work, I appreciated Foster's plot summary and explanation, but the chapter didn't mean as much.

Overall, I like the main idea of this book - look for patterns.  Literature works on many, many levels, and you can become a really good reader of literature if you read often, read great works, and think about the works you're reading.  I will be very interested to see what my students thought of the work.  I feel like English majors would love this book, but every student who signs up for AP Literature isn't necessarily going to be an English major, so well see what the kids think soon.

Summer and the City

Really fun.  This second book in the Carrie Diaries was a fun beginning to my summer reading.  The Carrie Diaries was set in Carrie's hometown, and this book picks up when Carrie arrives in the Big Apple for her summer writing classes at The New School.  She gets her wallet and purse stolen the minute she walks off the subway and has to get help from Donna LaDonna's cousin - the one, the only - Samantha Jones.  If you know anything about SATC, then you know, once Carrie meets Samantha - wild times are ahead.  I really enjoyed this second book.  It was fun.  I was a bit annoyed with Carrie for obsessing over boys, but you know, it is a Carrie book.  Anyway - I will say that this book definitely has "the sex" in it.  The first one wasn't too bad, but I'd consider the second book to have way more about relationships and sex than the first one.  A fun read but definitely for high school readers only.

Summer Reading List

So I haven't read nearly as much as last year.  I don't want to blame it on the baby....but I'm going to blame it on the baby.  It's definitely harder to find time to read now that there's a little one in the house, but I think I've done pretty good.  Nine books in 2011 so far, and I'll have even more time during summer because I won't be planning lessons or grading papers.  With school ending and summer vacation beginning, I thought I'd set my summer reading goals.  This list is waaaaaay to long, but it's good to aim high, right?  Here's what I would like to read this summer:

Post Cards from No Man's Land

Jellicoe Road

Fixing Delilah

The Burn Journals

Blankets

Desires of the Dead

Summer and the City

Beauty Queens

The Mockingbirds

Tender Morsels

Fins are Forever

The Truth About Forever

This Lullaby

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Lolita

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Going After Cacciato

Song of Solomon

 

The Help

Catch 22

Ambitious, yes.  Will I read them all, no.  I know I won't get through every single one of these, but it's my goal.  I have been reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor and was inspired to add more classics to my list than usual.  I've really read tons of YA, but I might be teaching only AP Lit and English IV next year, so I might need to take a break from YA this summer and beef up my literature reading for my AP classes.  Well, I have great hopes for my summer reading list, so we'll see....