Book of Mormon Girl

Joanna Brooks' The Book of Mormon Girl:  A Memoir of an American Faith, is an interesting and easy-to-read look at life growing up Mormon. 

Brooks begins her memoir with her childhood, in which she describes drawing comfort from the routine, practices, and even the rigidity of her faith.  For example, she recalls often being singled out in school and community as the only kid to drink decaffeinated beverages, or worse, labeled the anti-Christ by some Evangelicals.  But nonetheless finds solace that she has a unique and well-knit support system who shares her values.  One particularly humorous chapter, entitled "Marie Osmond's Guide to Beauty, Health & Style" (named after an actual book written by Marie Osmond), demonstrates the depth of this support system:  even as a popular American cultural icon, the Osmond's, Brooks felt, spoke directly to her and other Mormons, in subtle ways only Mormon believers would understand. 

Eventually, however, Brooks grows into adulthood and, while attending BYU, begins to wrestle with many of the social positions of the church, including its stance on the rights of women and homosexuals.  She witnesses, first-hand, the excommunication and firing of many of her female professors.  And admirably, Brooks, herself, eventually returns her diploma to BYU in protest. 

Brooks' writing is solid, even if it does wax poetic, at times.  Nonetheless, her work includes some fascinating historical points, and is appropriate for any individual who's ever struggled with faith, Mormon or otherwise.   

Best Fiction of 2012

This week, Kirkus Reviews released its 2012 Best of Fiction list.

Glamour + Camping

Okay.  I'm not a camper.  But I love cute, vintage, domestic type stuff.  So, when I was at the Country Living Fair this year, I was giddy to tour a series of "glampers" (glamorously decorated 50s and 60s style campers).  I decided that not only do I want one of these things, but I'd be content to put it up in my back yard and use as a child would a playhouse.  They're just so darn adorable.

If you're not familiar with the term, it's called "Glamping" (a combination of "glamour" and "camping").  And the creator of the magazine MaryJane's Farm has written a book all about the newish and increasingly popular hobby, entitled Glamping With MaryJane.  Of course, the book has all of the vintage photos and camper re-dos you'd expect.  But it's also very useful--providing suggestions for purchasing, renovating, and using your vintage camper trailer.  A must-read for the domestic diva in all of us.

And while you're waiting to borrow a copy from your library, check out these fun glamping blogs and sites:

International Glamping Weekend

Glamping Hub

Glamping Blog

Vintage Trailer Supply

Say Nice Things About Detroit...Or Else

Say Nice Things About Detroit isn’t a book that will foster much buzz, even though it’s received solid reviews from critics.  It’s simply not popular fiction.  What it is, rather, is smart, spare, prose, about very real characters living in a very gritty Detroit, Michigan. 

Say Nice Things… centers around David Halpert, who returns to Detroit after the death of his son, and the failure of his marriage.  David proves to be a rather successful attorney and good citizen, and is dismayed by the perpetual economic and social decline of his hometown (the very reasons he left in the first place).  These feelings are compounded by the murder of Natalie, his highschool girlfriend, and her black half-brother, Dirk, a retired FBI agent.  But something within keeps David rooted.  He purchases Dirk’s old home in a mostly black neighborhood, and befriends a young man who it turns out may have been responsible for Dirk and Natalie’s murder. 

Along the way, Lasser paints a clear portrait of the city and streets in which these characters live, which serves as a backdrop to the crime, poverty and racial tensions that seem to pervade.  Gritty, yes, with some realistic moments of tension; but also hopeful, revealing glimmers of humanity in unsuspecting places.  Well worth reading.

The Paris Wife

I've always loved fiction and poetry which gives voice to interesting, often voiceless, historical characters and imagines their most private lives.  So it's no surprise that I enjoyed Paula McLain's The Paris Wife:  a story told from the perspective of Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway's first wife.  Though written as fiction, the author does her research and mostly accurately traces the lives of this couple from their first meeting, through their time in Paris, and long after their divorce.  There's a lot here that's spot on, and that makes the fictional intricacies of their story all the more believable.  McLain imagines all that we may not glean from biographies, letters and interviews:  the interior monologues, the feelings, the juxtaposition of a solid, supportive woman living in Paris with a man as temperamental and eccentric as Ernest Hemingway.  Enjoyable and engaging, even for those who know nothing of the great American author.

Fall Fiction Preview

Kirkus Reviews recently revealed its 2012 Fall Fiction Preview. 

Beautiful Ruins

Beach reading doesn't get much better than Jess Walter's playful literary genius.  And his newest novel, Beautiful Ruins, serves to feed the escapist, gossip, and dreamer in all of us.

The story begins in 1962 in a resort town along the Italian Rivera. Young hotel entrepreneur, Pasquale, hosts a beautiful American actress named Dee on hiatus from her filming of Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.  As it turns out, Dee is pregnant with Burton's baby, and one Hollywood agent, Michael Deane, tries his best to keep that fact hidden from the world.  From this point onward, the novel moves seamlessly between the past and present day, weaving together the stories of these (and other) characters as they progress through their lives and their art.  Walter's writing is sharp, and his storytelling original.  Highly recommended.

NPR's Critics' Lists

Whatever your reading interests, you'll find something on National Public Radio's (NPR) Critics' Lists: Summer 2012.

Canada

Paced, subtle and thought-provoking, Richard Ford's newest epic novel, Canada, easily positions itself as a Pulitzer contender. 

The novel opens by revealing what appears to be the narrative climax:  the committing of a robbery, followed by a multiple murder.  In this sense, Ford sets up the story as a mystery, the details of which the novel slowly unfolds.  But what distinguishes this story from a traditional mystery is that our narrator, Dell, is ever-present as an innocent victim in both crimes.  Further, the initial robbery, committed by Dell's parents, serves as a catalyst for the circumstantial events that thereafter define his life--transforming this work into a sort of character autobiography.  Dell, a well-functioning adult, gathers the pieces of his memory, his mother's prison journals, and his own curiosity to recount the events from his childhood which ultimately lead to his tormented self-actualization.

Ignore the quiet, unassuming cover; Ford's storytelling, and his narrator's philosophizing, will stick with you.

Oprah's Reveal...

Oprah recently posted her list of 2012 beach reads:

O Summer Reading:  6 New Beach Reads to Blaze Through

11 Summer Beach Reads

Goodhousekeeping Magazine recently released its list for 11 Summer Beach Reads.  All are current titles. 

Garden & Green Beach Reads

The Huffington Post announced its "Best Beach Reads 2012:  Green Home & Gardening Books for the Summer" (May 30, 2012).

An Unexpected Guest

Anne Korkeakivi's first-time novel, An Unexpected Guest, is one of those great reads that confines itself to the parameters of a single day.

The novel's main character, American Clare Moorhouse, is wife to a British diplomat living in Paris.  The novel beings as her day does:  planning a dinner party critical to her husband's political career.  Literary readers may harken on Mrs. Dalloway, as Clare goes to great lengths to perfect all party details (she even buys the flowers herself).  And like Mrs. Dalloway, the novel turns from the surface, inward, as Clare's fears and insecurities from one particular, life-changing event begins to haunt her as she considers the implications of her past behavior on her husband's political future.

Unlike Mrs. Dalloway, however, Clare's world is contemporary; and her domestic realm includes dealing with her youngest wayward son, who becomes a force equally capable of destroying his father's career.  In many ways, the novel acts equally as domestic fiction and political thriller. Engaging and well-written.

Summer Reading

National Public Radio (NPR) got a jump-start this week on summer reading.  Check it out:  Nancy Pearl Unearths Great Summer Reads.

More summer reading lists forthcoming.

Bringing Up Bebe

You don't have to have children to enjoy Pamela Druckerman's newest work of non-fiction, Bringing Up Bebe:  One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting. 

Druckerman is an American, married to a Brit, living in Paris, and like most first-time parents, trying to figure out the basics of raising a healthy happy family.  However, upon becoming pregnant with her first child, she notices there are some big differences between American and French philosophies on the matter.  For example, she observes that French children, as a whole, are much better behaved than their American counterparts:  they eat healthily, they sleep through the night around 3 months of age, and they pleasantly engage with other children, as well as their elders.  Loads of research, combined with Druckerman's own personal narrative of parenting in Paris, makes this an informative, eye-opening, significant work.  Most importantly, she demonstrates what's possible when you think outside your own culture.  Parents, grandparents, and readers interested in cultural contrasts will find much to think about.

Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

Anyone interested in American political history, the military, or current events must read Rachel Maddow's fascinating new book, Drift:  The Unmooring of American Military Power. 

Maddow may be most well-known for her hosting of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, than she is for her academic prowess (she has a PhD in politics from Oxford).  But that last fact makes this work all the more intriguing:  the work extends well past her usual political commentary to a more in-depth, well-researched and well-written thesis on the current state of the American military that people on all sides of the political spectrum should appreciate.  In Drift, Maddow provides a detailed history explaining how far current military policy, beginning with the Vietnam War and continuing through present day, has strayed from the ideals of our Founding Fathers.  From granting the President the power to go to war without calling on Reserves and the National Guard, to outsourcing and contracting for military services, rather than using our own men to carry out the same work, Maddow argues that such policies have escalated our national debt, undermined our national security, and altered our perception of war.  Smart, thought-provoking work.  Highly recommended.

Last Night at the Lobster

Last Night at the Lobster is a brilliant and timely novella that examines the last night before a New York based Red Lobster closes its doors, as told through the eyes of store manager, Manny. 

Author, Stewart O’Nan (The Odds; Emily Alone), has an uncanny ability to create a microcosm of a world that completely absorbs its readers.  In Last Night…, he exposes us to the hidden workings of the restaurant business, from kitchen prep, to the inner circles of the wait staff.   And he highlights the various recognizable characters who dine there, from the coupon clipper to the annoying child who won’t stay seated.  It’s because of this raw glimpse that readers will likely find themselves empathetic to the wait staff, despite their many flaws.  Of course, the book isn’t only about business.  Manny is a very real narrator, and his closing of the Lobster parallels his closing of many other metaphorical doors, as well.  To add to the whole ambience is the backdrop of a blizzard, complicating Manny’s expectations for his last night at the Lobster, and creating a growing sense of isolation.  Loved every minute of it.

American Dervish

In American Dervish, first-time novelist, Ayad Akhtar, tells the story of a young American boy of Pakistani heritage growing up in the Midwest during the 1970s.

Our narrator, young Hayat Shah, is in love with his "Auntie" Mina:  a friend of his mother's who has escaped an abusive marriage in Pakistan to live with her young son in the Shah home.  During that time, she and Hayat develop a complex and endearing relationship that resembles many others:  mother-son, teacher-student, religious guide-follower.  Beautiful Mina is also an unknowing catalyst for young Hayat's budding, though innocent, sexuality.  Eventually, however, Mina meets and falls in love with Nathan, a friend of the Shah family.  According to religious law and the rules of her parents, Mina may not marry Nathan unless he converts from his long heritage of Judaism to the Muslim faith.  Is is this very circumstance, in addition to the subtle triangle between Mina, Nathan and Hayat, that sets up the heartbreaking events which follow.

American Dervish is a beautiful and beautifully rendered story that will leave your heart stuck in your throat in at least a few of the novel's scenes. Highly recommended.

The Odds

I love falling in love with an author I've never before read.  Stewart O'Nan, author of The Odds, is my newest crush. 

O'Nan's latest work takes the form of a love story, stripped bare, void of the usual cliches.  It focuses on a long-married couple, nearly bankrupt, Marion and Art Fowler, who take their life savings to Niagara Falls to see if they can beat the odds at their hotel-casino, win enough cash to save their home, and salvage their relationship.  O'Nan paints both Niagara Falls and the Casino beautifully, and the Fowler's relationship with a realism that readers (especially those married) will undoubtedly find themselves relating to on some level.  He gets the subtle ways couples can simultaneously pick at, resent, support and adore. And he does so with a conciseness that leaves readers wholly satisfied.  Highly recommended.  I can't wait to read his other work.

The Year We Left Home

The Year We Left Home is a beautifully rendered portrait of an Iowan family from 1973 to 2003.

With the conflict in Vietnam, the Farm Crisis and the Persian Gulf War as the novel's backdrop, the narrative focuses on character development over three decades, in the form of what some readers may see as disconnected chapter-vignettes.  As the title suggests, however, these characters are tied together not merely because they leave home in some form or another, but rather, because they are forever connected to both their family and, thus, their native Iowa. 

While impatient readers may not appreciate Jean Thompson's narrative approach, or fully comprehend the scope of her theme, they must certainly admire her intelligent and lucid prose.  Recommended for readers interested in realistically, yet sensitively, rendered family dynamics.