The Big Payback

Admit it: we all love the big payback. You know, someone wrongs us, and said wrongdoer gets his comeuppance. And while we ourselves may not be the agent of vengeance, all that matters is that the dirtbag eventually gets what's coming to him and gets it good. But think about it. If you've ever been on the wrong end of an injustice (and most of us have), would you take matters into your own hands? And if so, how far would you go to right the wrong? Washington Post journalist Laura Blumenfeld bravely tackles these questions and many more in her book, Revenge: A Story of Hope. In Laura's case, when she was a student at Harvard College, her father was shot in the head by a member of a PLO death squad and left for dead. Luckily, the wound was only superficial and her father survived, but the scar it left on Laura haunted her for the next twelve years, culminating in her decision to find and confront the gunman. She also wanted to understand her own obsession with revenge and to find an answer to the question of why some people hit back and others don't. Beginning in Israel under the cover of an extended honeymoon in Jerusalem, Laura's quest led her to interview people all over the globe, some victims of violence, others perpetrators, and in between trips she tracked down and befriended the imprisoned PLO gunman's family in the West Bank in an effort to arrange a meeting with him. You've got to admit that this woman is brave beyond words--foolish, perhaps, but undeniably brave, and it was her love for her father that gave her such tremendous courage. So where exactly can hope be found in all of this, you wonder? And what did Laura do when she finally met her father's assailant face-to-face? Read the book. You won't be disappointed.  

When it's all said and done, revenge is serious business in some parts of the world. Some even consider it a sacred duty to be allowed, encouraged, and demanded. Make the wrong move, say the wrong thing, and you could be inviting a blood feud upon yourself and your family. So be careful, and if you should ever find yourself in Albania, you'd better be on your best behavior!

In the Queue

La’s Orchestra Saves the World
by Alexander McCall Smith
In the shadow of the war in Europe, Lavander has moved to a small town in Suffolk to escape memories of her shattered marriage. It’s there that she forms an amateur orchestra to entertain the locals, keep up morale, and soothe her broken heart.

Noah’s Compass
by Anne Tyler
Liam is concerned these days because he doesn’t remember what happened the first night in his new condominium, so he hires a “rememberer” to help him with his memory. His efforts take him to an unexpected detour in his life.

The Lady In the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn
by Alison Weir
The second wife of Henry VIII will never make the Best Wives list. She was vilified by history and her contemporaries. As if that’s not bad enough, committing adultery while you’re married to the king also gets you charged with treason!

The Ultimate Chicklit Collection

I have a list of web sites and blogs focused on books.  It is a list that I must keep hidden from myself, buried five folders deep in my inbox.  If I don't hide these book blogs, I can get sucked in and am lost to the world.  One of the websites that has the ability to wipe away five hours of time with one click of the mouse is The Chicklit Club. 

To celebrate the end of the decade, The Chicklit Club is compiling a list of the Ultimate 100 chicklit books that define the genre.  They're announcing the top 100 in December.  Bridget Jones's Diary will undoubtedly be at or near the top of the list, but I've been wondering what else will be on the list.  I imagine there will be something by Marian Keyes, an Irish writer known for her chick-lit sagas of family dysfunction.  If I were picking one of hers, I think I would go with Watermelon, one of her trio of books about the Dublin-based Walsh sisters.  The queen of chick lit, Jennifer Weiner, will probably also appear at least once on the list; I imagine both Good in Bed and In Her Shoes will be on there. 

Some of the others that I'd like to see on there include:

Jemima J : A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans by Jane Green
just about anything by Katie Fforde
Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews
The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne
and
Enchanted, Inc by  Shanna Swendson

What would your choices be?  You can still vote by emailing the Chicklit Club here.  I'm curious, too, so share your thoughts with a comment!

National Book Awards

The 2009 National Book Award Winners were announced on Wednesday evening.  The event, sponsored by the National Book Foundation, was held in Manhattan.  Here is the winner and finalists for the award in Fiction.

Winner- Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Finalists- American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
Far North by Marcel Theroux
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin


Visit this site for more information on the National Book Foundation and the other award categories.

A book far cooler than I am

Every once in a while, I find a book that sounds so different from anything else I've seen that I can't help but read it.  Enter Going Bovine by Libba Bray.  The title alone had me a bit curious... and then, I heard the description.  To put it in a nutshell, a teenager with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (aka "Mad Cow Disease") goes on a quest to save the world with a death-obsessed dwarf and a Norse god cursed to immortality as a garden gnome as travelling companions.  He gets his guidance from a punk angel only he can see.  Oh, and the key to saving the world is at Disney World's "It's a Small World" ride.  Okay, Libba Bray, just stop...you had me at garden gnome/Norse god.  This I had to read.

I'd never heard of Libba Bray before, probably because I haven't read a lot of YA lit.  In fact until a few years ago, I didn't even realize that there was an entire section devoted to Young Adult literature.  Did this designation even exist when I could be classifed as part of it?  In the past few years, though, a lot of YA lit has made a big impact beyond the teen set (and if you don't think I'm right, how many people do you know over 30 who've already bought their tickets for the next Twilight movie?).  Recently, I've read several YA books, not intentionally seeking out books in that category, but just because they sounded good.  In the way of all good books, regardless of the demographic to whom they're targeted, YA books often address deeper issues in an artistic and thought-provoking way.  In Going Bovine Bray, tackles mortality, the importance of friends and family, and being true to yourself in the materialistic reality-world driven culture we're surrounded by.  Not bad for a book with that'll get "It's a Small World After All" stuck in your head. 

Cooler weather, cozier reading

I'm never sure how to answer the question, "What's your favorite book?"  Maybe I just have an indecisive personality, but I find that the books I enjoy are dependent on a variety of factors: What mood am I in? What have I been reading recently?  Where am I?  What's the weather like?  You might think I'm being flip with the last one, but now that the leaves have fallen and the weather is getting chillier, I'm find myself leaning toward books that are a little cozier.  After a plan to read only "beachy" books during the past several months failed spectacularly, I'm a little weary of heavy, literary turmoil and angst.

I can't bring myself to read authors like Rosamunde Pilcher or Maeve Binchy in the summer because reading them, to me, requires being cuddled up in a blanket with a big mug of tea.  (Nevermind that I won't drink the tea because no matter how much I think I will, I don't like tea...it's just a necessary part of the experience.)  That's what makes them perfect for this season: the blanket and untouched cup of tea make more sense in November than in July. I  knew I had reached my cozy stage recently when I started to read Lionel Shriver's The Post-Birthday World, which came highly recommended to me.  I admire Shriver's writing, but to say that her style is a little heavy is like saying Wile E. Coyote doesn't love the Roadrunner.  Her book, We Need to Talk About Kevin had me a nervous wreck for days.  When I recently tried to read the newer book, it sat there untouched for days.  It reminded me of a cup of tea in July.

So, for now, I'm sticking to the cozier fare.  I  might revisit an old favorite, The Shell Seekers, since it's been years since I read it.  Of course, there are several Katie Fforde books I've not yet read, and those would be perfect for the cozy mood I'm in.  She writes in the chick lit genre, but rather than the fast-paced world of London or New York publishing houses, her books tend to take place in the English countryside, with comic misadventures following the heroines back to their homes heated by the Aga range.  Perfect for a blanket a cup of hot tea.

In the Queue

100 Heartbeats: A Journey To Meet Our Planet’s Endangered Animals & Save the Heroes Working To Save Them
by Jeff Corwin
Corwin, the host of The Animal Planet series, takes readers on a trek around the world and through the wilderness, jungles, and deserts that many endangered animals call home.

Too Much Happiness
by Alice Munro
This group of stories shares difficult, complex, even harrowing emotions and events that people face and how they handle them.

No Less Than Victory: A Novel of World War II
by Jeff Shaara
In this 3rd book of his trilogy, Shaara tells the story of the Allies’ push through Europe to destroy the Nazis once and for all. Following the success of the Normandy landings, they are surprised when German forces break through the American position at the Battle of the Bulge.