Week 34: Forever... - Judy Blume (224 pages)

This project has been quite a journey. I have discovered new authors, new genres, and new outlooks. But I have also revisited some books from my past - just to see how they hold up. Sometimes a book makes such an impact on you that you are afraid to go back and re-read it for fear that it may mean something entirely different, or worse - you realize that your young brain did not realize that it was just a poorly written book. So, after receiving a book recommendation from favorite author Judy Blume a few weeks back - I decided to go back to my youth and check out FOREVER...

This book, written in 1975 when I was a mere 4 years old, was a controversial one from the start. It is a frequent target of censors and it appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number eight! So to get your hands on this book as a teen or even a pre-teen was a coup. Alot of my friends had to sneak to read this one. I was lucky to grow up in a house where we were able to read pretty much what we wanted. I thank my parents for that gift and it is one that I am trying to pass to my daughter.

The story follows Michael and Katherine making sense of young love and their first sexual encounters. Katherine is adamant that she wants the act of losing her virginity to mean something - she doesn't want to lose it purely for the sake of physical satisfaction or for curiosity. The thing that drew my attention then and got my attention again as I read the book was how much Katherine and Michael discussed their decision. They talked to each other, they talked to friends, their friends talked to each other. There was so much communication. When the decision is finally made to go forward - Katherine quickly learns that her idea of "Forever" would quickly fade.

If you didn't read this one as teen, please take a few hours to get absorbed in this world. If you have a daughter over the age of 14 - suggest that they check it out as well. This is a book from my youth that definitely stood the test of time.

Week 33: Dead As A Doornail - Charlaine Harris (295 pages)

There is something about the vampire genre, it should be studied by scholars to understand just what appeals to the modern American woman and why. Truly, it is totally ridiculous that I and hundreds of thousands of others not only bought this book but have made the entire series into best sellers and are riveted by the HBO series. I heard an interview with the series creator who said something along the lines of: they're about the conjunction of sex and death, of course everyone's obsessed with them. 

The book is fine.The plot is crazy (someone is shooting shape shifters, Sookie is saved again by her fairy godmother, her ex-boyfriend(s) are still after her, and there is a battle to the death for pack mastership). The characters are the same ones you saw before. Sometimes you laugh out loud (Sookie wonders if her hot boss's shirt really needs all those buttons). Sometimes you cringe (Sookie matched her nail polish to her coat in one scene and her lipstick to her earrings in another). And sometimes you wish the author would keep her opinions to herself (no, Ms. Harris, staking a vampire should not be used as an analogy for lynching; the first is cartoon-ish, the second a deep and painful American tragedy that should never be made light of by anyone who doesn't understand it). 

This is not the best book I have ever read. It's not even the best in the series. But it's funny and engaging and not terribly insulting and I am not going to feel embarrassed about reading it. 

Week 32: Dead To The World - Charlaine Harris (291 pages)

So this is the fourth Sookie Stackhouse book that I have read and this is the best of the series so far...in my opinion. Sookie finds herself in the position of protecting Area Five Sheriff (vampire) Eric Northman as he has somehow lost his memory and forgotten that he is generally an ass. He is being hidden at Sookie's for a fee (negotiated by her wily brother, Jason) and they become close.

At the end of book three, Sookie was so upset with the vampires and their issues that she had banished her then boyfriend Bill and Eric from her home. But finding Eric by the side of the road brings out the compassion in Sookie. This book is interesting in that some of what goes on in this book is happening currently in the TV Series, but other - more compelling stories have not been told and may not ever be told.

Jason's story is an attention-grabber and looks as if it may lead to new and different complications for him and the residents of Bon Temps. These stories are relatively well-written and are fun to read in the summer months. Next week I will be reading number five in the series - not because I want to read back to back vampire stories, but because the way this one ended...I can't wait to see what happens. These books are like the best potato chips - though less fattening!

Week 31: This Is Where I Leave You - Jonathan Tropper (352 pages)

This project leads me to many different sources when choosing books. I get recommendations from friends, from websites and from articles. But this book recommendation came from a social networking site - TWITTER. I follow many people on Twitter, athletes, entertainers, musicians and even authors. Favorite author, Judy Blume, raved about this book when she was travelling this summer. She tweeted that this was a truly laugh out loud book that had some weight and depth as well. With such a glowing recommendation from a wonderful author - how could I not pick this one up?


This story is told from the point of view of main character Judd Foxman. He is at a crossroads in his life, his wife is sleeping with his boss and his father has just passed away. If that is not enough to deal with, his father's last request was for the family "sit shiva" (a seven day mourning period that begins immediately after the funeral of a loved one). This was going to put Judd in direct proximity with his three siblings Paul, Phillip and Wendy and his famous mother Hillary - people that he works his hardest to spend as little time as possible. 


Judd is in a dark place and the last place he wants to be is in his mother's home while going through his issues. The book is broken up by days with chapters broken up by hours within those days. The author really evokes the time spent in the shiva situation and you can feel tensions between family members. As you can imagine, going back to your home town - old friends are re-introduced, secrets are revealed and self-discovery is gained.


This could have been a downer of a book, but Tropper is genius at making us laugh at situations we would not traditionally call laughable. Judd is not wholly lovable and I really liked that about the character. He has a sarcasm that borders on the hilarious, but really he is just trying his best to be the best man that he can be. This book follows his journey. 


The language in the book is harsh and their are some surprising situations, but it is so worth the time that you put into it. I highly recommend it. 

Week 30: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares (352 pages)

This is a book that has been sitting on my bookcase since about 2002. I am not even sure where it came from, since I am pretty sure I didn't purchase it. I would glance at it and think to myself that I should pick it up, but I never did. Then for a while in 2008, HBO showed the movie nearly everyday and I wound up seeing various bits and pieces - so I thought there was no need to read it as I had basically pieced the whole story together. This week was a busy one, with my daughter's 10th birthday celebration and lots of extra work activity...I had a book lined up - but I thought that it might be too heavy for this week. I scanned the bookshelves and I saw this book staring me in the face. I decided to roll the dice. I am glad I did - this was a fun coming-of-age story.

Intially this was a hard book for me to get into - it took a while to determine the narrator of the story and the story of the traveling pants and how they came to be was a little rushed, but once that was sorted out - it was fun to take the ride with these four 15-year-old girls and their summer antics. Each girl has a distinct personality, Lena (aloof), Bridget (implusive), Carmen (thoughtful), and Tibby (rebellious and snarky) - and as each comes into possession of these magic jeans that fits each one of the fabulously (even though some are larger than others) we explore their adventures.

The jeans travel across the world from Greece, to Baja California to South Carolina and even to their home state of Washington, DC. Each of the girls have a life-changing encounter in this summer of the pants and the reader is invited on the journey.

Brashares does a fine job of character development, although I felt that the Bridget character was the weakest of all of the girls. This was a lovely story and when I looked up the author online, I noticed that there were four of these books, narrated by each member of the group, I assume. I am not sure that I am compelled to run out and buy subsequent books, but this first book was a great summer read.

Week 29: Bite Me (Love Story #3) - Christopher Moore (309 pages)

Don't moan, this is yet another vampire story. I think I mentioned a few books back that I really have been interested in the genre for quite some time. This was a very interesting book with a lot of kooky characters. This is the third book in the series, a series that I have never read, but was still able to get into.


The basic premise of this book is that the city of San Francisco is being terrorized by vampire cats! I was intrigued and a little scared. Though this was a funnier vampire book, it also had more elements that creeped me out and slipped into my dreams. Compared to the Twilight (2 on a 1-10 fear scale) and the Sookie Stackhouse (6 on the same scale) series of books, this one book rates about an 8. This is also a much more "modern" book. The main character, Abby Normal, is a typical teenager that speaks in text speech (OMG, TTYL, and more explicit varietals) and is blatantly disrespectful of authority figures (mom and police specifically). 


Abby is the narrator for most of the story and I will say that it took a little bit of time to get into the story because I had to adjust my reading voice to that of Abby's. So much slang, so much chatter - sometimes, so much distraction. Once I was able to get into the rhythm of her speech, I was able to enjoy the book.


Having not read the two books preceding this one, I did not feel at all out of the loop. Moore does a handy job at giving a bit of background without re-telling the previous story. I liked this book enough that I will likely pick up another of Moore's novels. He has an irreverent point of view that I find intriguing. 


This is not a book for everyone - but if you enjoy a bit of gore and some raucous sexual humor, this may be the book for you. 

Week 28: Robert Frost's Poems - Robert Frost (288 pages)

I was introduced to poetry by my 6th grade teacher, Mr. Tom Reichert. He was my toughest teacher and he was my favorite. We were in a hybrid honors class so we had social studies, English and other topics in one class and then we traveled to another class for math and science. Mr. Reichert was a Vietnam vet and looked the part. He was also very intelligent and expected lots from us as students. He taught us discipline and fun. He could quote Chaucer, then slip into his version of "Cat Scratch Fever"! Clearly the man left an impression. Early in the school year he told us that, amongst all of the other things that were required for his class, we would be memorizing a poem a week and reciting them in front of the class!! This struck fear in the heart of most of the 12 an 13 year olds in this class. We freaked out! What type of poems? Do we choose? What if we get stage fright? We all thought that this was some form of torture - that Mr. Reichert thrilled in the torture of youngsters. Little did we know, he had bigger plans for us.

How does this story tie into my choice for reading this book this week? Well - the first poem that we had to memorize was ROBERT FROST's "Fire and Ice". I still remember this poem, some 27 years later. I am going to write it out for you - and of course there is no way of knowing whether I copied this from a book or not - but I didn't! If you know me - call me and ask for an impromptu recitation.

Fire and Ice - Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire

some say in ice

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those that favor fire

But if I had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To know that for destruction ice

is also great

And would suffice

At 12 years old I had a vague idea what I was reciting, but it was later revealed to me as an adult, that Mr. Reichert was not so concerned about us knowing the meaning of what we were reciting. He wanted us to face our fears and get up in front of people with confidence. He wanted us to take this skill with us as we grew up and went to high school and college and our future careers. He felt that making us get up in front of our generally rude peers (God help you if you forgot or stumbled - we were merciless) would give us the skills to face anyone and anything. I have to say that he was right, at least for me, he was. I can comfortably speak in front of a crowd with little to no prep, because - the people in the audience can never be as horrible as we 6th graders were!

Of course this book of poems has all of Mr. Frost's poems both obscure and well known - I decided to speak about this one since it holds so much meaning to me. Maybe there is a special one for you in this collection. Check it out.