Sense and Sensibility - Review

I think this is one of the shortest of Austen’s novels. I made the mistake of reading this book right after Emma. So many of Jane Austen’s novels involve love triangles, confusion and mixed messages that I felt as if I was rereading Emma for the first 30 chapters of the book. The storyline did finally go on its own path, and became more interesting as the characters became more unique.

This is one book where female superiority reigned. It reigned over men, and over situations. All the women were powerful and in control at all times. Austen likes her heroines to be strong and unique and clever, with the exception of Fanny Price. I have developed an appreciation for Fanny as I read more of Austen’s works. As shy and timid as she is, she is a breath of fresh air, a change of pace from the usual characteristics Austen bestows on the female gender.

The thing that got to me, was how timid and hollow the men were in this novel. Usually there are one or two strong male characters that you use as a standard to judge all other men by. Not in this novel. The men were weak, easily manipulated and indecisive. The women made all the decisions through every step of the novel.

The Dashwoods are an interesting blend. Fanny Dashwood, sister in law to the Dashwood sisters Elinor and Marianne, is selfish, spoiled and manipulative. Every time her husband tries to do something nice for his sisters, she manages to talk him out of it. This dynamic is apparent with all the relationships in the novel, as the women control all the decisions of the men through some kind of flowery verbiage.

Elinor Dashwood is the most sensible of all the characters, leaving her sister to be the most emotional extrovert of all the characters. Other than Fanny Dashwood, there was no single villian in the form of an elder, rich and much doted upon respected woman. There is Mrs. Ferrars, Edward’s and Fanny’s mother, but she only appears once, and is only lighted talked about elsewhere in the novel.

Throughout the entire novel, Elinor and Marianne’s mother is nowhere to be found, as the daughters have left to go visit family friends for the duration of the novel. Its a testament to the girl’s intellect and emotional strength to be able to go through so many emotional rollar-coasters with only themselves for support. The bond between sisters is extremely potent in this novel, as they are in all of Austen’s works. Sisterhood is the high revered form of relationship, then followed with the bonds of family and lastly by the bonds of marriage.

I feel like my common complaint with Austen’s novels is that they are always about 10 chapters longer than necessary. The first half of the book lacks in dialog and is filled with very lengthy paragraphs of description interspersed with shorter paragraphs of description. This one, being only 50 chapters, is a quick read, and if you can get past the first half with mild interest in the characters, then your patience will be well rewarded.

Sense and Sensibility

By Jane Austen

270 pages

ISBN: 0679601953

 

Book Expo America

I suppose this can be labeled the Mecca for all bookworms. This traveling tour of books, authors and amazing workshops coming to an area near you!

The schedule:
May 29 – June 1, 2008 - Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA
May 28 – May 31, 2009 - Jacob K. Javits Center, New York City, NY
June 3 – 6, 2010 - Washington DC Convention Center, Washington DC
June 9 - 12, 2011 - Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV

I wish I could go this year, its only an hour plane ride from where I live, but finances and timing get in the way. Neil Gaiman is going to be there early Friday morning, he’s the author I want to see the most. Other notables include: Cheech Marin, Judy Blume, Philippa Gregory, Alec Baldwin, Magic Johnson, Christopher Buckley, and John Hodgman. Well, those are the notables that I would seek out personally.

Book Expo America is geared towards anyone in the book industry; publishers, booksellers, librarians, retailers and rights professionals from all around the world. The tagline for the event is “Where the world gathers to get a great READ on the industry.” I’m going to be in Chicago the weekend before, and therefore all my funds will be tapped out. But I should start saving to go New York next year, or Washington DC the year after that. Might as well make the trip well worth it and do some sight-seeing while I’m at it.

But, on a lighter note, the Book Group Expo will be coming back to San Jose in October. I volunteered to help out at the registration booth last summer, and it was a really fun experience. A convention for book groups from all around the US. There were so many different authors and groups, my head was swirling. I was even able to get into a couple of the seminars and different workshops. The exhibit hall is fun to browse. Last year I talked to a number of local independent publishers and bookstores and managed to walk away with a few books from the tables. Once I can figure out my work schedule for the fall, I’m going to volunteer for the Book Group Expo again this year. The founder, Ann Kent, is really friendly and this October is going to the 3rd year (Chapter Three) of the Expo. Its a great idea and gathering of book lovers to support. I also have the California Library Association Conference coming up in November 2008.

My boyfriend always marvels at how I always want to buy books. I work in a library, and yet, that’s not enough for me. I need a steady supply of unread books in my own house, I need to constantly poke my head into every second hand bookstore and library that I see when walking down the street. I usually have decent will power and restraint to walk away with only a couple of items, but unlike every little girl at the tender age of 8, when I saw Disney’s Beauty and the Beast I made a solid promise to myself to one day own a library the size of Belle’s library at Beast’s castle.

 

T minus 15…

15 minutes until my 2nd interview for the San Jose Public Library System. Pre-interview butterflies never go away do they?

As much as this interview is on my mind, my thoughts keep drifting back to this passage that I read in the I Houdini biography last night. Namely that Harry Houdini was staying in a hotel during one of his tour, and while he was using the public phone in the phone booth, another hotel patron quietly got a hold of the key and locked Houdini in the phone booth, and sat around to see if Houdini could get himself out! According to the biography “Houdini was not amused.” I find that line and story so hilarious, and I’m not sure why.

 

Currently reading

Does anyone else ever get to that point in reading, where you just want to finish the book you’re reading because you found another really interesting read, and can’t wait? Add to that, really enjoying the book you are reading right now, and want to take your time reading, to fully enjoy it?

This is my “inbetween a rock and hard place”. All three books are wonderfully written, full of life, and characters that I wish I could meet in real life. But in the wings I have so many other books crying out for my attention. What’s a girl to do? I don’t want to rush through my books, but my mind keeps drifting back to those unread books.

I’m in the midst of reading 3 books, all taking much longer than I had thought they would. I have no books to review probably for another week. But I’m really enjoying my books, if that helps.

I’m reading Sense and Sensability, I Houdini (a biography) and City of Falling Angels.

Of the three books, I Houdini is one that I enjoy the best. Just saying the name Houdini brings up so many images of magic and straight-jackets, escape tricks and a world where magicians and their traveling groups were the most talked about and most popular show on the road.

City of Falling Angels is the next runner up, only because John Brenedt is one of the most talented writers I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I think if I were ever put in a situation where I met him, I would freeze up for fear of saying something idiotic.

 

Lars and the Real Girl - Movie Review

Lars and the Real Girl came out around the same time as Juno. For one reason or another, I never had a chance to see either in the movie theaters, so I rented both over the past couple of weeks. As far as indie films go, I have a tendency to feel very naive because I never really understand the point. I never see what is so progressive and edgy. To me, a film is a film, a story is a story. All that matters is that it is done and presented well.

I feel alone in saying this, but I did not see the appeal and attraction of Juno. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t find it original, the dialog was too witty and sarcastic to be realistic and the characters were somewhat annoying and shallow.

Lars and the Real Girl had everything that Juno didn’t. It had a heart and soul. A more realistic vision of life in a small town. The characters were approachable and although the situation wasn’t exactly “normal” the emotions were something all people go through.

**warning** There might be spoilers, skim with caution.

Lars is a quirky, quiet, sweet guy who I think is on some level autistic. He has his routines, he doesn’t like it when people touch him, and he was living alone with his father before his father died. That being said, he’s not the most emotionally available guy out there. He stays to himself mostly. One day, He pops up at his brother’s door and says he has a visitor, a girlfriend. This girlfriend is a life-like blow-up doll that Lars ordered over the Internet.

The commercials and trailer made the movie seem like more a comedy than it really is. What it is about, is a man with a huge emotionally gap between himself and his community. He’s depressed and alone and he doesn’t know how to reach out for help. Bianca (the girlfriend) is a vehicle for him to bridge this gap. The small town love for Lars is reflected in how the community accepts Bianca as real and indulges Lars in his delusion. They accept Bianca in their lives because they want Lars in their lives.

Its a very touching story of people being good people, of being patient, understanding and full of love and support when it is least expected.

Ryan Gosling is amazing in this role. Its nowhere near the standards set by Leonardo Di Caprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, but Gosling’s performance is still really good. The supporting cast had a fantastic chemistry, and it didn’t feel as if anyone over-acted or overshadowed each other.

I’m not one to buy DVDs, (I only have 5) but I think this one is worth getting. Its right up there with Garden State and Eternal Sunshine.

 

Kid in a candy shop

For the past year and a half, I’ve been lucky enough to be working on a revolutionary Collection Development project for the San Jose Public Library System in California. Through a bond measure that passed in 2000, all the current branches will be renovated and expanded, and 2 new buildings will be built(between 2000 and 2010), creating a total of 24 branches in the San Jose network.

Well, my assignment is based on the last 6 branches that will be opening between this summer and 2010. These 6 branches are empty shells, that will be receiving brand new collections, titles. Its a pretty incredible undertaking, trying to create a core library collection for 6 huge branches all at once.

I post this now, because we are finally so close to the open date, and I am working on the invoices right now, looking through all the different titles we’ve ordered. Its hard to believe that I’m helping stock these libraries with over 40k titles in all formats (print, media, etc).

Since I’m not officially a librarian, (I do have a 2nd job interview on Monday! Keep those fingers crossed for me!), I didn’t get to choose specific titles for each branch, but hopefully I will be able to for the next 4 that open up in the next 2 years.

Its just funny how quickly a year can pass. Last year I was conducting a community assessment survey to see what the 6 neighborhoods receiving these collections are looking for in their library, and now we’re at the title selection and processing phase. I doubt an opportunity like this will pop up in my life anytime soon, so I’m grateful I have a hand in this right now. I can’t wait until opening to just walk into the libraries and say “I helped create you”.

The little rewards in life. =)

 

Banned Books

Not sure what list to post, there are too many to choose from. Go to the ALA website here to get all the banned book info. Here’s a snippet of the 100 novels of the 20th Century that are most frequently banned or challenged. For fun, I put an (x) next to all the titles that I’ve read. Ah…the fun passive away to be a rebel.

The following lists were found at this website:

 

Harry Potter - Always a controversy

Harry just can’t stay out of trouble, either at Hogwarts or with the millions of avid readers that argue whether there is any value in reading the HP series.

The New York Times Book Blog (Papercuts) had an article about how HP finally fell off the Bestseller list this week. The article is ok, but the fun part is the comments section with people going back and forth about whether or not HP is worth reading.

Any HP reader has had this discussion with at least other 10 people who, most often, have not read Harry Potter and therefore, try to break it apart because of its mass appeal to people of all ages. I don’t push HP onto anyone and I’ve stopped defending HP. If you haven’t read the book, then I don’t want to listen to your criticisms. Give me one good reason why I should listen to your unqualified opinion over someone who did read the book and did not enjoy it?

Since its birth, HP has been a controversy in schools and in churches because of the alleged promotion of paganism that most conservatives seem to think run rampant in the books. What’s wrong with a little imagination? How is this any worse than all the violent video games kids play like Grant Theft Auto?

Its that age old formula that the more you try to ban a book, the more attention you bring to the book and the more it circulates. The American Libraries Association has a handful of lists of banned and challeneged books from libraries all over the US. I should scout those out and post that list on this blog. =) Those are the best To-Read books.

 

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Review

A fiction book that teaches a history lesson through love triangles, political tyranny with storytelling all circled around one Honore Balzac.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie is an endearing story of two city boys sent to the mountains for China’s Re-Education program during the infamous Cultural Revolution, which ran from 1966 to 1976. I found an excerpt from an online article indicating how this revolution started:

“In 1964, Mao drew up a list of thirty-nine artists, writers, and scholars, and branded them ‘reactionary bourgeois authorities’. The list included many people who had been leaders in their fields like Wu Han who wrote “Dramas of the Ming Mandarin”. The list was not open to the public, so these thirty-nine people were not purged then. But Mao ordered the communists working in every region to expose other ‘reactionary bourgeois authorities’”

More information on the Cultural Revolution can be found at this website

Books have been banned, citizens are being picked off as enemies of the state for minor infarctions, for just trying to enlighten their lives. In this Big-Botheresque world, the two main characters come across a suitcase full of banned books that open their eyes, their hearts and minds to new worlds, and new people. Along they way, they met a little Chinese seamstress, a country girl that both men fall in love with.

I chose this excerpt from the book because it seems to sum up the changes seen in the characters:

“Picture if you will, a boy of nineteen still slumbering in the limbo of adolescence, having heard nothing but revolutionary blather about patriotism, Communism, and ideology and propaganda all his life, falling headlong into a story of awakening desire, passion, impulsive action, love, of all the subjects that had, until then, been hidden from me”

There is a series of revolutions taking place throughout this novel within the characters. You see them change as they bring new philosophies into their lives. Its an honest portrayal of the impact and the power of literature on the oppressed. How, for some people, we read for enjoyment, and for others, reading is a survival skill, to mentally survive mundane routines and oppressive, moody governments.

I’ve only done a brief reading of the Cultural Revolution in China, and this book has definitely sparked my interest in wanting to learn more about such a troubled time in such a powerful nation.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

by: Dai Sijie

ISBN: 0-385-72220-6

184 pages

 

The Liar’s Club - Review

I finally buckled down and made myself finish the 2nd half of this book. My review of this book is really mixed up and I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it. Its weird reviewing a memoir. You can’t review a person’s life and put a seal of approval on it. That’s not for me to judge. So, I shall review the technical aspects of the book, namely the writing style.

Mary Karr’s childhood is frightening, inspiring, and just plain crazy. I discovered whole new levels of crazy. The strength to survive was so primal, yet progressive in her sister Lecia. Her dad was the solid foundation of sanity and security, and the time when he wasn’t there, proved to be some of the worse moments of her childhood. The whole family worked well with each other, balancing each other out in some way that only makes sense to them. They work as counterparts to each other, supporting, humbling and always willing to die for each other.

My major complaint about this book, is that there was too much going on. Each page was filled with dramatic episode after dramatic episode, and Karr has a very blunt perspective on her childhood, which I admire. It takes a lot of courage to say “this is what happened, I own up to it”. People always make excuses for their childhood, blaming everyone but themselves. But I didn’t feel that she expected to draw pity out of her readers. She just wanted to share her story.

My other complaint, is that her transitions between stories in chapters were awkward, jumpy and just left me confused. She would spend pages and pages detailing her duck-hunting trips with her father, yet would only tersely jump from pissing off a parent, to being sexually abused by some unknown, unnamed babysitter. Obviously, one incident is more traumatic than the other, and I can understand why she wouldn’t want to spend too much focusing on the latter incident. It just struck as very out of the blue they way it would take place when most of her stories would have a full set-up.

She is a funny writer though. Her sense of humor made some of the worse scenes easier to read. Those are the two aspects of the memoir that I enjoyed the most. Her sense of humor and the incredibly strong family loyalty. Whether its driven by fear, or just plain love, this is one family that starts storms and fights them off together.

I’m not sure who I would recommend this book too. All I can say is pick a random chapter somewhere in the book and read it. If you like what you read, keep going, if you don’t…well, just put it back on the shelf and keep moving. This book takes some dedication to read though, it deserves a lot of time and energy to plow through the 312 pages.

The Liar’s Club

Mary Karr

ISBN: 0-14-303574-6

320 pages