Opening Sentence ofthe Day: Saving Stanley

"When the cat was sick and slowly dying, Hannah canceled vacation plans, dinner parties, hair appointments, a manicure."

Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories by Scott Nadelson (Oregon Book Award winner; Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award). 

I was immediately sucked into the first story in this interconnected collection of stories about the Brickman family because my own cat recently died of old age. I know just how Hannah felt! I ripped through the whole story in one sitting. It was excellent -- subtle, tense, funny, sad, and gracefully written. I can't wait to read the rest. 

This is one of the beautiful Hawthorne Books editions that make you re-think the idea of "paperback" because they are taller and skinnier than a typical trade paperback and feature "acid-free papers; sewn bindings that will not crack; heavy, laminated covers with double-scored French flaps that function as built-in bookmarks."  Hawthorne is a Portland-based, independent publisher specializing in literary fiction and narrative non-fiction. 

Review of the Day: Small Island

In Small Island, Andrea Levy examines what happened when volunteers from Jamaica came to England to fight for the British military during World War II and then stayed. She tells the story from the points of view of Queenie, the English wife of Bernard, her Jamaican tenant Gilbert, his new wife Hortense, and Bernard. The narrative moves back and forth in time from before the war to after, and from Jamaica to England to India, where Bernard was stationed.

The varying voices allowed Levy to pull in several different threads, but the central theme of the book is race relations in the 1940s in England. Until WWII, many English people in England had never seen or interacted with black people. Levy is a bit ham-fisted in her portrayal of American soldiers and their segregated ranks, but the contrast with the English is interesting. While the Americans were blatant with their discriminatory Jim Crow rules, the English prided themselves on how the British Empire supposedly led to racial tolerance.

Levy shows that this tolerance was more theory than fact. As black soldiers returned to England as black immigrants, they were treated as unwelcomed foreigners, despite being British citizens. Neighbors resent Queenie renting rooms to Gilbert and Hortense. Although Gilbert planned to go to law school, he is relegated to driving a truck. And college-educated Hortense is told that she will never be qualified to teach in London. Levy makes her point with subtly and humor as Gilbert and Hortense learn to find their way in England and in their marriage.

Levy skillfully weaves the small island theme throughout the novel. Geographically, Jamaica is a small island, but Levy makes it clear that limited ideas about culture, race, marriage, and opportunities made England just as small.

OTHER REVIEWS

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NOTES

Small Island won both the Orange Prize and the Costa (Whitbread) Book of the Year Award. My book club read it and it was a enjoyed by all. It counts as my Orange Prize choice for the Book Award Challenge. It would also count for the Typically British Challenge if I had not already read more than my quota for that one. 

Opening Sentence of the Day: This Is Water

"There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, 'Morning, boys[, h]ow's the water?'"

-- This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace.

When the senior partner at your law firm hands you a little book and tells you that you should read it, the only response is to smile and say, "Oh, yes. Certainly. How lovely."

Does this mean I don't have to read Infinite Jest?

BOOK BLOG HOP

I will be hopping around today because we settled a big child sex abuse case last night (after a long, long day of mediation) and I am celebrating.



The BBH question this week is whether you listen to music when you read and, if so, what songs?

I can't listen to any music with words while I read. I can have music without words playing -- in our house, this means classic, Mid-Century jazz like Ben Webster, Charlie Parker, or Dexter Gordon -- but I don't hear it. I tune out everything when I read.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Peaceful Places, New York City

"I have lived in New York City all my life, and I am convinced that it is the most vibrant, fascinating, creative, diverse, and, sometimes, frustrating place on earth."

-- Peaceful Places, New York City: 129 Tranquil Sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island by Evelyn Kanter.

I laughed when I read the acknowledgment section at the beginning of this book because the author thanked GM and Ford for loaning her cars to use to get to the places she wrote about. Having no car is such a quintessential New York thing -- I feel like I will be in good hands with this woman.

Although I have been to Manhattan several times, I have never explored the other boroughs.  We are planning a trip to New York this fall -- maybe this will be my chance to venture farther afield. And maybe this will be the book that inspires me to do so.

Review of the Day: Valley of the Dolls

Valley of the Dolls may be the most famous of all "trashy" novels, which is why I've always wanted to read it. I have never even seen the movie, so I never knew what it was about. I had a vague, misconceived notion that the book was about women (dolls) . . . who lived in a valley? Maybe in Connecticut?

How do these ideas take root?

Jacqueline Susann's novel is actually about three young women who come to New York City after World War II, looking for fame and fortune. Anne comes from a well-off but stodgy New England background, gets a job as a secretary to a high-powered attorney-for-the-stars, and exercises extremely poor judgment in her choice of men.  Neely is a 17-year-old vaudeville trouper who dreams of becoming a musical star. Jennifer is a no-talent bombshell who builds a career around her enormous boobs.

The story rips along through two decades, following the careers, love affairs, break-ups, crack-ups, and tragedies of the three until they start to lose their youth, beauty, health, and sanity.  As life gets tougher, all three eventually turn to sleeping pills (red "dolls) to get through the night and pep pills (green "dolls") to get through the day.

And there is no happy ending.

Which is why I now  wish I hadn't read it. I don't mind sordid during the story, but I like a happy -- or at least hopeful -- ending, with the bad guys getting their comeuppance and the good guys prevailing. What with the booze and pills and adultery and abortions and back stabbing and general ugliness, I just wanted a good scrubbing by the time I got to the end. 

OTHER REVIEWS

(If you would like your review posted here, please leave a comment with a link to your review post and I will add it.)

NOTES

I read this for the Birth Year Reading Challenge hosted by the Hotchpot Cafe. So at least I get a candle!