The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1), Rick Riordan (#5)

Disclosure: I read this book because I know I want to see the movie, which comes out soon.  I don’t think I would’ve just picked up the book to read it. That being said, I’m really glad that I read it, because it could be the most fun series I’ve read since Harry Potter.  Rick Riordan’s saga, about an adolescent boy who discovers he is a demigod fathered by Poseidon, has all the makings of a good series: a clear narrative voice, intriguing storylines, and an enjoyable supporting cast.  What this book has that other series lack is a strong presence of teaching.  Teaching the mythical stories and histories of various mythological characters, that is. I’m not trying to argue that Percy Jackson’s story is based on facts, but that Riordan finds a way to give the information of the myths without making it feel like you’re sitting in a classroom.  I think this book is great for its intended audience in that way, because finding interesting ways for young people to learn is a serious challenge.  But, if you’ve never taken a class on classical myth or anything like that, it’s still a really enjoyable book because you get the one line synopsis of the various characters, and the story flows so you don’t even realize you’re learning.  Love the story, love Percy Jackson, and am really excited to read the next book in the series (which I immediately went out and bought).

Lezioni americane (Six memos for the next millennium), Calvino (#4)

Calvino’s collection of essays, written as lectures and published posthumously and unfinished, examines different aspects of storytelling: Lightness, Quickness, Exactitude, Visibility and Multiplicity. The sixth one, which was actually supposed to be the eighth one, is entitled "Cominciare e finire" (Beginning and Ending).  The collection was to be presented in New York, and Calvino's wife worked with his translator to bring these five essays to his English-speaking audience.

One interesting aspect of these essays is the fact that they also examine the opposite quality that each of these essays implies, and Calvino praises both equally.  One of my favorite lines from Lightness (which I include in English since I think more people will understand it): "Above all I hope to have shown that there is such a thing as  a lightness of thoughtfulness, just as we all know that there is a lightness of frivolity. In fact, thoughtful lightness can make frivolity seem dull and heavy."  I have returned to these essays many times over the years, and they highlight Calvino's awareness of his legacy as an author, a person in the publishing world, and a critic. 

Calvino says, in Quickness, that the function of literature "is to communicate between things that are different simply because they are different, not blunting but even sharpening the differences between them, following the true bent of written language."  Well said.

In ricerca delle radici (In Search of Roots), Primo Levi (#3)

Primo Levi, along with other various Italian authors of his time, was asked to compile and anthologize various writings that shaped him as a thinker, writer and man.  He pairs classical and contemporary, scientific books with fictional ones, and somehow it all makes perfect sense. Levi was not solely a writer. He was a chemist first, but always a reader. It was his experiences during the Holocaust that made him become a writer.

The project was unfulfilled by the publishing house (and, incidentally, Primo Levi is one of the only writers to take the task to heart), but the book speaks volumes about how Levi creates himself.  The passages from the books he chooses are not the most recognizable in all cases, but they are all very telling. Levi wrote that the project was not that diffcult for him, at least finding the passages, because they were the ones he had already marked up over and over.

The book is definitely helpful as I go into the dissertation, but it also made me think about the books that I would say have shaped me as a reader.  I've been thinking about it, and when I have an idea I'll share it.

The Likeness (#1)

The Likeness is Tana French's second novel, and it kind of takes Cassie Maddox, Rob Ryan's partner from In the Woods, and gives her a story of her own. The Likeness is much richer, both in characters and in story, than its predecessor.  As in French's previous work, the protagonist is possibly too connected to the case she is trying to solve, but Cassie's story is almost more intriguing than Rob's was, because she is more willing to let us in to what happened to her than Rob was.  Sure, there were still some minor hiccups in the story, but overall the book was a much better read.

Where In the Woods failed to give a collection of well-created, multi-dimensional characters aside from the two principals, The Likeness is full of them.  Most of the characters manage to get under your skin and pull you into their narratives, even though we only get these narratives in bits and pieces.

Maybe part of the reason I enjoyed the book so much is that the core group of characters are all literature grad students, but I think that was just part of it. The ending was appropriate for the rest of the story, French never lost sight of the end game throughout the novel (one of her mistakes in the first book) and the unfolding of the mystery was also well thought out and well-written.

Where I was a bit hesitant to recommend French's previous book to friends, I have no reservations with this one.  A good friend and fellow bibliophile/gradstudent/bookworm, who had recommended I read In the Woods, when she found out I was about to read The Likeness, said, "Let me know what you think of it. I need to talk about it with you." We both reached the same conclusion: the second book was just, at the end of the day, way better than the first.

The Likeness, Tana French (2008)
Writing: 9.5
Story: 9.5
Overall: 9.5

New Year, new location...

Someone once said, "You can't go home again." And someone responded with, "Home is the place where they always have to take you back." So, who was right?

My husband and I recently moved across the country. Since I'm not taking classes anymore, and he received a job offer that was exponentially more lucrative than the dried beans they pay in graduate school, we packed up everything and moved. He moved before I did, as I was teaching and taking classes and needed to be in the Midwest long enough to experience the first snow day in university since I've been there (and much before, as well, actually).  When he moved, he moved in with my parents for a number of reasons: because they live closer to his new jobs than his parents; I didn't want him to rent an apartment without me there; I thought that saving that first month's worth of paychecks would be a good idea, since I didn't know what my job situation would be when I moved out west.

We spent a day last week looking at apartments, and found one that we really liked, that was in our price range and was even closer to his work and therefore wouldn't involve living with my parents any longer than necessary. We were thinking about moving in late January / early February. Two days later he springs on me the idea to just save up money and live with my parents. A lot of people are doing this these days. One of the people showing us apartments was doing this, even, with his wife and infant.

I'm trying to make it as different from the last time I lived here (10 years ago) as possible, but it is really challenging, because there is so much past in this place. I'm trying to make space for the present - writing, researching, being not-just-your-daughter-anymore - but I can't seem to get through to the other side. I'm attempting to make something that resembles a workspace, but am finding that every place I sit to work makes me feel like a teenager again.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to sound ungrateful. I'm very lucky that my parents have the space for us, that they are willing to let us live here and are enthusiastic about letting us make as many changes as is necessary for it to work for us. But I think that the dueling quotes about home are only accurate when they are taken together. You can return to your home, to the place where you grew up, and be welcomed back with open arms. At the same time, however, you can't expect to be able to completely break from the past. Nothing has changed, really, except for me. And it's changed a lot.

In the Woods

Tana French's debut novel is well-written and grabs the reader, but the storyline leaves something to be desired.  The story of Rob Ryan is intriguing, but ultimately left me feeling a little unsatisfied with the ending. His relationship with his partner, Cassie Maddox, runs a different course than expected and starts to take the principal narrative spot.  As the narrative unfolds, the crime becomes more engrossing but French does not allow the reader to be sucked into the crime the way the protagonists are; rather, she insists that the reader focus also on the relationship between Ryan and Maddox.
In the end, neither the arc of their relationship nor the outcome of the case end well, and the book leaves the reader questioning both.

I don't know if I would go out of my way to recommend this book to a friend, but I would tell them that I enjoyed reading it, for sure. It was an easy read, I read the majority of it in one day of cross-country travel, and the story is quick-paced enough to keep the reader engaged in the story throughout.

In The Woods, Tana French (2007)
Writing: 9
Story: 8
Overall: 8.5

An Echo in the Bone

Honestly, I don't even know where to start in this review.  Diana Gabaldon is one of my all-time favorite authors, and her Outlander series is one of my favorite book series of all time, if not my favorite. I could read her books again and again, and the sheer volume of the books is not a deterrent.

An Echo in the Bone is the seventh book in the series.  The saga of Claire and Jamie, as well as Bree and Roger, really grabs the reader and brings you into their story, which by now is in the middle of the Revolutionary War. Gabaldon clearly does her homework, as is evident by the fact that there usually elapses about three years between each book and also by the number of historically accurate nuances throughout it.  She is a researcher, after all.

Clocking in at over 800 pages means that the plot is too involved to discuss, and I wouldn't want to give anything away. But, as I was finishing the last hundred or so pages while my students were taking a final exam, I found myself about to cry more than once, and had to remind myself that I was in public.

The book ends on a note that basically ensures there will be another book in the series.  Even if I have to wait for three years, I'm happy to do it with characters like these ones and a story that is completely brilliant, unique, and well-developed.

An Echo In the Bone, Diana Gabaldon (2009)
Writing: 10
Story: 10