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Surprise, surprise

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I had extremely low expectations for this book. In fact, at first I was against reading it at all. Not only is Amy Schumer someone I could give or take, but 300+ pages of her raw and self-deprecating humor seemed trivial, uninteresting and not worth the time it would take the read the book. So it’s a near miracle that I say now that not only do I not think this book was a waste of time, but I liked it. Like, really liked it.

“One of the first times I was paparazzied, they caught me stand-up paddleboarding in Hawaii. I didn’t even recognize myself. I saw the shots in magazines and thought, Oh, cool, Alfred Hitchcock is alive and loves water sports.”

Non-fiction short stories aren’t even really my ‘thing’ either. I don’t usually choose this genre. But I found this book to be not just funny (as one would expect), but relevant, empowering, even moving at times. I have an entirely new outlook on who Amy Schumer is and where she comes from. I see a woman who’s been through a series of very low lows and very high highs. And those experiences have created a successful, strong, self-aware woman who you can’t help but relate to… maybe that was the biggest surprise of all? I didn’t think there’d be much to relate to, but she is so vulnerable and presumably authentic that it’s hard not to respect where she’s been and what she’s doing with her life. She writes so candidly about her experiences with abuse, family, gun control, sexuality, feminism, relationships, body image, career, etc and does it with such uncensored humor that you can’t help but grow to like The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo (book and person).

“I know my worth. I embrace my power. I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story. I will. I’ll speak and share and fuck and love, and I will never apologize for it. I am amazing for you, not because of you. I am not who I sleep with. I am not my weight. I am not my mother. I am myself. And I am all of you.”

Granted, this book’s not perfect. I still struggle with some gross-out factor of a few things (like when she goes into detail about various odors of the human body). And although I liked the book, I didn’t love it… but I think it’d have to be an entirely new genre to get beyond like. So if you’re on the fence, definitely give Amy Schumer a chance. She might surprise you like she surprised me.

 

April Book

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All these April showers and exponential lack of vitamin D has us craving something happy, funny, and endorphin-releasing. A pick-me-up if you will. And who better to pick us up than Amy Schumer with her semi-autobiographical book and collection of personal essays The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo. This New York Times Bestseller, released in 2016, addresses some serious subjects such as gun violence, sexual assault and consent, domestic violence, Schumer’s troubled relationship with her mother and her father’s multiple sclerosis… but all from her raw and humorous perspective, of course.

Schumer has dealt with a lot of criticisms for her stand up comedy and some subject matter from her show Inside Amy Schumer. Criticisms that her male counterparts may not face? But her seemingly inappropriate sense of humor and her willingness to tackle of sometimes taboo topics (see essay topics above) put her in the category of ground-breaking. And although she insists that this book should not be categorized as memoir, autobiography, or self-help, she offers some very personal stories and some very relevant advice (i.e. money, self-employment, sex, love, etc).

“Blending such insights with her signature vulgarity and openness, ‘The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo’ is fun, thoughtful, and very funny, just like the rest of her output. And like her other material, Schumer is revealing and vulnerable, but it’s her willingness to be unapologetically herself that makes the book such a wonderful and engaging read. By the time she addresses the titular lower-back tattoo, she’s provided a spectacularly fleshed-out self portrait, showing herself as powerful and flawed and human as anyone else, in a way that women are taught never to be. It’s one more ‘fuck you’ to the gendered expectations from a woman who crafts stories and jokes out of them better than anyone else.”

— The A.V. Club

We hope you’ll read with us this month, and she your thoughts and progress using #booklymark. Happy reading! And just in case you were wondering, no, this is not an April Fools joke.

Annihilation and Southern Reach

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I read Annihilation about a year ago. It was a great first read to get me back into books after having my second daughter. A short book (only 200 pages or so) and a great page-turner. I loved it… although it’s a bit bizarre. OK. A lot bizarre, especially toward the end. But I enjoyed that it was unlike anything I’d read before… a cast of all female leads, an unearthly terrain, a mystery with an unforeseeable solution, and a layered writing style that kept me wanting more.

So, for this month I read Authority, the sequel to Annihilation and the second in James VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy. I had hopes of finishing Acceptance as well (the final book in the trilogy), but as I type I’m still less than 100 pages into it… thanks to Authority. It was a bit of a drag to be honest. I blew through Annihilation but Authority left something to be desired. It’s set at the Southern Reach; the headquarters of the Area X initiative where we follow a new protagonist and interim director John Rodriguez (aka “Control”). SPOILER ALERT it’s revealed that the Psychologist from Annihilation was formerly the director of Southern Reach, and all scientists from the 12th expedition have “returned” except for her. Hence Control’s new role. The biologist is involved in the second book, but as those of you who finished Annihilation know, it’s not quite the real biologist.

OK, spoilers over. Anyway, from what I’ve read so far it seems that Authority could be skipped altogether. Acceptance is more where I thought Annihilation would pick up… you get more details into the past and present of each character and into the history of the forgotten coast / Area X. Each chapter is told from a different character’s perspective (but not necessarily from the same point in time); the lighthouse keeper, the biologist and Control, and the Director/Psychologist. Granted, I’m not that far into Acceptance, but I have hope for the trilogy overall. I think if you’re interested in the series, which I still am, breeze through the second (bleh) and dive straight into the third. Authority could have been 100 pages max, but instead it dragged on for 341+ pages. Acceptance is the same length but so far a lot more has happened in the first 89 pages than it ever felt like happened in Authority. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted. I just hope the trilogy ends the way it began… a rivetingly bizarre mystery unlike anything I’ve read.

Questions, Questions, and More Questions

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I finished Annihilation yesterday. Before I started (the day before yesterday), I told my husband, “I think you would like this book.” So when I finished, he asked if I thought he would like it. I responded, “ummm….” and he responded, “WOW! That’s a glowing recommendation.”

But here’s the thing, I really liked this book. I couldn’t immediately recommend it to him because I have no standard of comparison. It’s very different from any book I know that he really likes. It reminded me of a book I read a long time ago, but I honestly can’t remember what book it was (mom brain). The way I found to describe it to him was it’s like if Jurassic Park was not about dinosaurs, but just about some unknown creepy stuff. Descriptive, I know.

I loved that the narrative was told through the biologist’s journal. I love that at the end you’re sort of free to decide where the rest of her story goes (and, spoiler alert, the second book in the series does not pick up with her story). I love that you get to see the biologist in her element, really coming alive in Area X in a way that she was not able to do in her life outside.

But, holy moly, do I have a lot of questions. And stop here if you haven’t read the book, because spoilers abound. What happened to cause Area X to form? Is it really the lighthouse keeper in the crawler? Does everyone who comes to Area X get reincarnated? Why was her husband a shell of himself when he came back? What is at the other end of the tower – was it an exit? Was she being watched by people from the Southern Reach? What is the moaning creature in the reeds? Was her husband the dolphin or did he make it up the coast? Why didn’t he reach the border when he walked up the coast? And lastly, what the F is going on here?!

Based on the brief description of book two, it sounds like I might get some of my questions answered, so of course I’m going to read it. And really, was there any doubts that I would? I can’t resist a series.

The bottom line is: I read this book in four hours over the course of two days and it was totally worth it. Go forth, my friends, and devour.

The Year in Review

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Another year on the books! This month marks two years since we first started The Bookly Club. Thank you to all of you who have joined us here. This year we enjoyed reading a diverse group of books, which we mostly liked. Here’s our year (2016) in review:

March: Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church
In 2001 a group of reporters for The Boston Globe started a series of reports on the Catholic Church’s management of sexual abuse. This group of journalists methodically and publicly uncovered the church’s decades-long neglect, denial and deliberate coverup of sexual abuse committed by numerous Boston area priests.

Our thoughts …
“The crimes committed by the abusers are only equalled (if not surpassed) by the Church’s complete and abject failure to protect its children from repeated, horrific, sexual abuse. As grotesque as its subject matter may be, this book is important to read.”

April: One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories
Novak’s book is a series of fictional short stories born from his creative imagination. Just a few of the short stories include: a boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of Frosted Flakes; a woman sets out to seduce motivational speaker Tony Robbins; and a new arrival in Heaven, overwhelmed with options.


Our thoughts …
“I was consistently and repeatedly impressed with how intelligently written all of B.J. Novak’s stories were. They are all based in that intellectual, thought-provoking humor that manages to still be just a little silly and a little absurd. I really enjoyed it. It’s also an incredibly fast read.”

May & June: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Set in the early 1990’s, this book tells the story of Charlie, who narrates through a series of letters written to an anonymous recipient as he treks through his freshman year of high school. The book’s powerful representation of a niche time in life has gained the book (and film) a cult following.


Our thoughts…
“Full of all the angst and humiliation that comes with adolescence, this short and sweet book packs a punch that will leave you feeling all the feels.”

July: On The Run
This book is author Alice Goffman’s ethnographic account of the six years she spent living in West Philadelphia observing the impact of mass incarceration and policing on low-income, urban, African-American communities.

 

Our thoughts…
“The book read a bit like separate articles without a magic thread piecing it all together. That in combination with the heavy topic made it difficult to tear apart. I will say that with all the sorrow and tragedy that has befallen this planet in the past few months, I wish for us all to find a little more understanding and a little less fear. Perhaps its publications like Goffman’s that can help in that movement.”

August: We Are Called to Rise
It tells the story of Avis, Bashkim, Luis, and Roberta. Four very different people living very different lives in Las Vegas. These lives—a young immigrant boy, a middle-aged housewife, a military veteran, and a social worker—all converge into one uplifting story.

 

Our thoughts…
“I liked the book but I didn’t love it, and I think I was expecting to love it. There were just a few things in the way of me falling in love with it: the story was interesting, but a little predictable, and the characters were well-written but I didn’t feel like all of their stories were fully told.”

September: To Kill a Mockingbird
It was published in 1960 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. This book has become a leading American classic, receiving numerous awards. The story it tells is based on an event that Harper Lee observed in her hometown in 1936. Overall it deals with public attitudes toward race issues in the 1930’s.


Our thoughts…
“The book, so beautifully written, allowed the imagery of a child’s vantage upon a sleepy town to jump out. I felt like the humidity of Maycomb was all encompassing. While the pace is slow, it was the poetic text that drew me into the book.”

October: Descent
This thriller of a novel, put simply, is about a small family who travels to the Rocky Mountains for vacation when tragedy finds them. The son and daughter take an early morning trek through the local trails, but only the son returns. This story has so many layers that it reads like a classic, page-turning, beautifully complicated, mystery favorite.

Our thoughts…
“I love when a writer can tell you so much in just a few words. And that’s what it was like reading Descent. Johnston constructed so much emotion and suspense with just a few well-chosen words. And speaking of suspense, the story itself was like the best law and order SVU episode you’ve ever seen.”

November: Flowers in the Attic
The first in the popular Dollanganger series, this disturbing tale tells the story of the Dollanganger kids. Hidden in the attic because of a family fortune, Chris, Cathy, and the twins are prepared to stay in the creepy alcove for a few days. But soon those days turn into years, and they are forced to adapt to this new life, isolated and with very little to survive.

Our thoughts…
“Ok so I’m disturbed. Which is, I guess, the point of this book. But if the only point of the book is to disturb people, then I guess it is a success.  I’m not sure that tawdry is a driving force enough for me in my reads.”

December & January: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
For 2,000 years, cadavers have been involved in some of science’s greatest advancements and weirdest experiments. “Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem.”

 

Our thoughts…
“Roach’s writing is engaging, the topic is (admittedly) interesting, and I even found myself chuckling more than just a bit – she seems to have a delightfully dry, witty sense of humor and it comes across clearly in her writing. I truly do understand the value in using human cadavers to study most of the things Roach wrote about, and it really is fascinating what important information and learning can come from the science of the dead.”

February: Pride and Prejudice
Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s five unmarried daughters find themselves in uncharted waters when two eligible bachelors move into their town. And of course, misunderstandings, gossip of all kinds, missed opportunities, and many romances ensue. It’s one of the most popular books in English literature with over 20 million copies sold.

Our thoughts…
“I expected to enjoy it, but given the language, the time period and already-seen-the-movie plot line I thought it’d be more of a labor to get through. It wasn’t. Even though I knew how the story played out I found myself looking forward to picking it back up at the end of the day. I’d been charmed by each and every character and their quick wits. I eagerly stepped into the world.”

 

March Book

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We’re very excited about this month’s read! In March, post awards season, we like to pick a book that’s been (or will be) made into a movie. Did you notice that of the nine 2017 Best Picture nominees, five were based on books: Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion, and Moonlight? marchWell this year we’re getting ahead of the game and reading a book that’s being made into a movie as we speak and set to be released in September of this year.

The book is the first in Jeff VanderMeer‘s Southern Reach trilogy. In fact, Katherine C. read it earlier this year and said it’s a can’t-put-it-down, unlike anything she’s read, must-read! And, well, that’s a pretty big sell so we couldn’t resist. This month we’re reading Annihilation.

covers

Annihilation was released in 2014 and describes a team of four women (bonus points for Women’s History Month) who set out into an area known as Area X. All you have to do is read the dust jacket and you’ll be instantly hooked …


jeff“Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation […] we join the twelfth expedition. The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.”

This novel won the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Shirley Jackson Award for best novel. Salon.com named it book of the week while The Washington Post said it was “successfully creepy, an old-style gothic horror novel set in a not-too-distant future. The best bits turn your mind inside out.” And Jason Sheehan of NPR captures this book’s novelty perfectly when he says, “I hated it from the start. Didn’t come up for air again for three hours, and finished the entire thing in less than a day, knowing it finally for the strange, clever, off-putting, maddening, claustrophobic, occasionally beautiful, occasionally disturbing and altogether fantastic book that it is. Annihilation is a book meant for gulping — for going in head-first and not coming up for air until you hit the back cover.”

Basically, it’s unlike anything you’ll read this year. Or ever?

But wait, it gets better.

Soon after the book’s release Paramount Pictures acquired rights to the novel with writer-director Alex Garland (of Ex Machina and 28 Days Later fame) set to adapt the script and direct the film. Natalie Portman stars as the biologist, Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez co-stars, and Jennifer Jason Lee stars as the psychologist. Garland revealed that his adaptation is based on only the first novel of the trilogy, saying;

annihilationfilm

Director Garland with cast member Oscar Isaac

“At the point I started working on Annihilation, there was only one of the three books. I knew that it was planned as a trilogy by the author, but there was only the manuscript for the first book.” Given the film’s heavy-loaded talent on both sides of the camera we expect to see it get a lot of notice come awards season 2018.

 

Intrigued? We hope you’ll join us in taking the advice of many and reading this book. Oh, also, you may be wondering; if Katherine C’s already read this book what can we expect from her review? She’ll be reading the second in the trilogy this month, Authority. So if any of you are interested in continuing with the series after Annihilation, you’ll know what to expect.

Keep us posted on your thoughts and progress using #booklymark! As always, happy reading.

My Pride and Prejudice

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I’m surprised I’d never read Pride and Prejudice until now. Not even in school. But I never really had the urge to until I saw the 2005 movie. Ever since it’s been high on my to-be-read list. But sometimes classics don’t always live up to those long-standing expectations. I thought I’d be disappointed after waiting so long to read such a classic. I wasn’t.

I expected to enjoy it, but given the language, the time period and already-seen-the-movie plot line I thought it’d be more of a labor to get through. It wasn’t. Even though I knew exactly how the story played out (the 2005 film was very true to the book) I found myself looking forward to picking it back up at the end of the day. I’d been charmed by each and every character and their quick wits. I eagerly stepped into the world. Maybe part of it was that I’m in a place where a story about the potential good in this world is welcome and needed.

I also found it to be surprisingly feminist for its time, and the banter between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy was very reminiscent of the dynamic my husband and I first had / have. Lizzy is kind of a badass if you think about how tactfully she dissents from the rules of propriety and decorum of the time, and prospers because of that resistance.

And I thought Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s love story was genuinely romantic. He pursues her without any ulterior motives and with complete acceptance of her unpopular strengths and weaknesses. And their story is reaches outside of time in a way that’s so relatable. We all possess the basic vices of pride and prejudice and they too often are our biggest hurdles in committing to true love. Happily Lizzy and Darcy overcome.

I definitely thought this book lived up to the hype. It’s a timeless, romantic, comical, classic. If you haven’t read this one, don’t be too proud or prejudice to add it to your list (see what I did there? who’s got the quick wit now?). It’s worth all 300+ pages!

Eligible: An Updated Pride & Prejudice

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As an all-around Jane Austen fan, I have read Pride & Prejudice more times than I can count. So as much as I would happily read it again, I thought this would be a good opportunity to expand my horizons, though admittedly not very far, and read Eligible.

If you’re not familiar with the Austen Project, it is a Jane Austen update – pairing  six bestselling contemporary authors with one of Austen’s complete works to retell/rewrite/reboot it for the modern age. Curtis Sittenfeld, who also happens to be one of my favorite authors (Prep and American Wife are particular favorites though you really can’t go wrong!), was tasked with retooling Pride & Prejudice.

I DEVOURED this book (confession: I read the book in less than three days at the end of January and wrote this immediately afterward, so hello from the past!). It was, in my opinion, the perfect reimagining of Pride & Prejudice. It stayed true to the plot and the characters, but with appropriate updates for 2017. She perfectly married the language of P&P with contemporary language, creating a sort of high brow “chick lit” (though I hate that term, I really don’t know that there’s another one that fits – if there is and I am not aware of it, please enlighten me).

Is it a bit silly? Yes, absolutely, but only in the most lovely and appropriate way. I also thought Sittenfeld did a great job of introducing relevant topics of today into the story in a logical way. I don’t want to give away any big secrets, but I think she successfully updated the Lydia/Kitty story lines and I thought her take on Mary (particularly the final chapter) was just perfect: Mrs. Bennet was as frustrating as ever; Mr. Bennet as droll; Caroline Bingley Part II just as awful as the original; Jane just as sweet.

Despite the fact that I know the plot of P&P quite well, and Sittenfeld did not deviate much from the major plot points, I could not put this book down! I wanted to know (though I already did know) how Elizabeth and Darcy’s story would unfold, how Jane and Chip would find their way back to each other, etc.

In short: If you loved Pride & Prejudice, you’ll love Eligible (plus, who can resist a book with a plot point that includes a fictionalized version of The Bachelor?!?).

 

The Quick and the Dead

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I will be honest – I was not looking forward to reading this book, but I have been on an unintentional hiatus and I just didn’t want it to last any longer. So here I was, holding my Kindle, Stiff on the screen, simply dreading reading a book about dead bodies when I so recently had to confront the reality of death in my life.

That being said, here’s the good side. Roach’s writing is engaging, the topic is (admittedly) interesting, and I even found myself chuckling more than just a bit – she seems to have a delightfully dry, witty sense of humor and it comes across clearly in her writing. I truly do understand the value in using human cadavers to study most of the things Roach wrote about, and it really is fascinating what important information and learning can come from the science of the dead. Also, it was a fast read – just what I needed to break the hiatus.

And here’s the bad side. Not really bad, I suppose. More like… uncomfortable. As it turns out, I am no good at “objectification.” I had an extremely difficult time reading about dead bodies and the things being done to them. I realize that they aren’t alive, and I realize that (in most cases) this was their choice and their families understand that. But, BUT I just couldn’t help but feel a little queasy reading about decapitated heads sitting in roasting pans.

I contemplated giving up multiple times, but made myself go on. So, having gone on, all the way through, here are some final, brief thoughts in the form of superlatives:

  • Grossest chapter: Life After Death
  • Least Gross Chapter: Dead Man Driving
  • Most Informative (Interesting?): Holy Cadaver AND How to Know If You’re Dead
  • Chapter I Just Couldn’t Read: The Cadaver Who Joined the Army (not too scary or gross, just… not that interesting to me)
  • Chapter Most Likely to Be Confused with an Episode of Criminal Minds: Eat Me
  • Chapter that Scared the $#!+ Out of Me: Beyond the Black Box (why oh why did I do this to myself?)
  • Chapter I Wish I Didn’t Read: Just a Head (too much puppy experimentation – no thanks)

 

February Book

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Image by Katherine C.

The only thing getting us through this month is the promise of chocolate (whether bought by someone else, or yourself. No shame). The weather’s not great. Awful, actually. We’re months away from spring. And we’ve just said a long goodbye to the Obama’s.

img_0877So, let’s embrace February as a month of romance. Whether Valentine’s Day is your favorite or least favorite holiday we can all agree there’s no better upper than a good love story. So we’re taking you back to a classic romance to end all romances (well, no, that wouldn’t be good… but you get what we mean).

 

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is a world-renown classic. First published in 1813, and set in the early 19th century, it tells the story of Elizabeth Bennet (and her family) and her struggles with English manners and upbringing styles of her time.

Jane Austen

We’re probably telling you what you already know, but for those of you who haven’t read this one, we’ll go on with our basic summary. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s five unmarried daughters (Elizabeth, or Lizzy, being one of them) find themselves in uncharted waters when two eligible bachelors move into their town. And of course, misunderstandings, gossip of all kinds, missed opportunities, and many romances ensue. It’s one of the most popular books in English literature with over 20 million copies sold. So if you haven’t read this one already you’re a rare find.

That being said, a few of us are the rarer types who haven’t yet read this one yet. But, a few of us have. So, this month, for those of us (and you) who’ve already read Pride and Prejudice, may we recommend Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld? It’s a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in present-day New York City /Cincinnati.

Pssst.  If you’re just looking to cheat and watch the movie instead of read the book, definitely watch this version. SO good:

We hope you’re read with us, either book will do! Share any updates, thoughts or pictures using #booklymark… see you around.