Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

She talks about her love affairs and the daughter she loves, but is constantly afraid of disappointing, since she can’t always manage her depression. Anyone that’s traveled on the bumpy road of life will relate and should read this book. Fisher makes you laugh and cry. The dark moments she shares with her all to receptive audience turn endearing.

Wishful Drinking is fresh and vibrant. I’ll never look at the Star Wars in quite the same way. Did you know that Lucas envisioned that space had no underwear? He did. Fisher makes us understand that her mood swings, family life and being the offspring of famous parents made here a unique and vibrant actress.

It’s a great read.

The Elements of Style by William Strunk & E.B. White

It’s condensed, well written and smart. Every time I get through it, I feel a slightly better grammatician, which is saying something. I’m wonderfully creative, yet the technical side of my writing often needs improvement. Constantly working on this, I try to consume a few pages of this book whenever time allows. 

That’s the best way to read this book. In small nuggets. On the train or waiting for someone.  Each time I read it, i’ve learned something new. The largest challenge for me as a writer, mastering the technical side, is Dyslexia, I have it in a mild form. Yet, enough to trip me up, more often then I’d like.  So rules help me cope. 

As a blogger, or someone addicted to twitter, we often forget that The Elements of Style are quite important, often given up when typing at the speed of light.

The reason I wanted to bring this to your attention, is because there are still people that don’t know about this wonderful little book. Check it out and get your copy today.

 
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon starts with murder most foul and dreaded. The lose of life, at first misunderstood. Then Christopher John Francis Boone must understand why someone would want to take away his friends life. All complicated questions for the smartest and most spiritual. 

The author never wavers, he doesn’t use one more word then’s needed, he’s steady and mettered easy to understand and thoroughly enjoyable. This book does accomplish that rare ability of literature that only books possess, it allows you to walk around in the body of another, seeing with another’s touch, smell, and vision. Ever so perplexing and bewildering as is this child’s autistic understanding. He lives in a world of numbers, patterns and only certain recognition.  We feel his trauma. 

The curious incident was recommended by a friend. With the words, “this will change your life.” I wouldn’t go that far, yet it has changed the way I see point of view. How the author handles it. He spent much time observing children with behavioral problems. Bringing that voice to the young Christopher. In my latest “crappy day job” I worked with a mildly autistic person in the mail-room, this novel gave me a greater understanding of his life and challenges. 

You’ll surely enjoy this novel. It’s a quick fast read, you won’t be able to put it down, give it a try.

Turning Tables by Heather & Rose MacDowell

Unlike The History of Love, a book which holds itself in high esteem, Turning Tables is a well written story that doesn’t take its’ self to seriously. Something quite hard to accomplish.

I’ve been yelled at by many chefs in my day, at fancy five star places and have been blessed to have cracked open and tasted $500 wines. This book, does a wonderful job of showing the reader the fantasy world of hospitality, drawing away the curtain – it’s hard to put down. 

Not enough books, or I haven’t found them in any case. Focus on the servers that perform the smoke and mirrors of luxury, the smile that’s never worn even after many hours of polishing silver and crystal just so. When Erin dangles, having to clean a chandelier in a harness. I can almost picture the old Lespinasse or the much to decadent Le Cirque (when it was in the Palace Hotel).  With owners to cheap to hire a proper cleaning crew.  When the authors describe the fine dinning table, a table that’s usually just plywood with much padding to muffle the silver.  The table transforms when the lights are dim and the many thousands of dollars of china and wares guild it.  

This novel is captivating as it is well written. Fine, it won’t rock your world. It’s not going to shake you to the core. It’s never going to win prizes. Yet, it’s a fun fun read, I cared for Erin deeply in the end. In a genre dominated by Candace Bushnell who’s one good book was Sex in the City itself.  Turning Tables makes me happy that I dipped into my memories as a server and made me resolute to do everything in my power, to avoid that profession ever again.  

The writers capture the frenzy of the restaurant owners, the macho self-confidence of the chef. Sex in the wine cellar and the many other habits of people that work much to much at a job they self-destructive passion for.

Overall it’s a fun quick read. Get the book and do tip twenty percent next time you’re out. You’ll be glad you did. 

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

I don’t want to seem too disgruntled (I know, to late), yet this novel is one of the few, that I’d like to send back to the agent and editor to ask, “What were you thinking?” The characters are endearing, in the beginning, yet never grow, or grow to slowly. The loneliness of the old man with his famous estranged son, is palpable. 99% of this novel reads like a Lifetime Movie. I was expecting the Golden Girls to thank me for being a friend as I turned the page. 

This is literary chick lit at it’s worst. I don’t want to smack down the author to hard, because she does have a sense for the written word and spacing, there is much good inside these many pages. Yet overwhelmingly, it’s a young voice, new and untested, trying to fit an old mans nature. I can’t help wondering, not about the story itself, yet how the book made it through the many hurdles of the publishing industry. 

Read The History of Love, only if you want to test your patience. Do check the 5 star reviews on Amazon and the 1 star for comparisons sake.

Do leave a comment if you disagree.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling

For witches have the power to change their world, yet are bound to the limitations of their power. The paradox of witchcraft and wizardry, are explained to their children. Yet Rowling herself shows no such constraints as she manipulates her universe.  While most writers burn-out on their supplementals and extras, there’s no doubt that the Harry Potter franchise has been pushed to the brink of over-saturation. The Tales of Beedle the Bard is still fresh. 

I can’t help wondering, if this wasn’t the first book she’d ever written, the original notes, the stories she told her children at bedtime before she cast her spell on the rest of us. Rowling focuses on Dumbledore’s notes more then on the creation of another tale, I wanted less notes and more story, the footnotes and annotations made me laugh. 

A quick read, that’s sure to uplift. This somehow is my favorite of all the books, in it’s heartwarming brevity it captures what resonates with Harry Potter to begin.

Perfume is the story of a murder most sadistic and magnificent.  At times I felt like I was watching Six Feet Under. At other moments I was mesmerized by the smell of France wafting through my nose. In other moments I knew I was reading a poet at work, someone who instinctively knows how to string words as they create the allure of fragrance both foul and artful.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind

Patrick Suskind has written Perfume with the utmost sensibility and understanding of pleasure, from words and nostril. He has crafted Jean-Baptiste Grenouille to be at the same time saint and mad man.

This novel creates just that, olfactory sensation, its immaculately researched and true to turn of the century Paris, in all of it’s stink. From the odor of the poor to the ladies in amazing dresses using cloth napkins to keep the cities smell under control.

The story is about love and what turns a monster into a glorious criminal. It’s about the human need for affection, I couldn’t stop wondering about the path Grenouille was set upon; and with such certainty accepted, since he knew no other road to take, as a Parisian foundling. He reacted into the human need to demolish each other. The main character is, at the same time lovable and horrific. I felt immersed in the era, I was thankful for our current times of apparent “civility”.

I don’t want to spoil this review with detail of the book itself, it’s rich with plot and memorable characters, yet I’m sure the commentors at Amazon have done better then I possibly could. I was simply addicted to this book and have instantly fallen in love with the author. I hope you can pick up a copy; the book will not let you go. 

I found this book while poor on a Barnes & Noble table. I like to read when I’m impoverished.  I’m sure you’ll love it, even if you aren’t into the morbid subject matter of murder most foul, you’ll be blown away by the shear prowess of the author.

I found myself connected to the book in two ways. His childhood,  he lived and was raised by a father in the throws of alcoholism and a mother unable to deal with breaking away or finding independence from the abuse. That was the first. The second was the adoration of youth.

The novel parrelles many straight and similer stories, not just in the days before Stonewall. Re-telling his own personal journey through the gay experience. 

Young Man from the Provinces: A Gay Life Before Stonewall by Alan Helms

I was struck by the way Alan Helms documents his fear, as he grows up in his alcoholic family, how he tries to escape into his own life.

How the memoires’ plain and certain truth, mentions his shame and desparaging family. He clearly shows how addiction affects childhood. I saw my own family; my father was not addicted to alcohol, but to the paranormal and to the surreal. Just like Alan Helms, who’s father disappeared and spent money on alcohol instead of food. My father spent it on psychics and UFO workshops. He shares the arguments and the heartache.

I was touched by the author’s honesty.

The novels second theme focuses on body worship and our youth-centric gay society. Its value and how truly fleeting it is. How we prey and try to achieve perfection, once that perfection is achieved we are never quite satisfied. The author admits to the constant search of the physically perfect partner. How quickly it fly’s away. Alan Helms ties the desire to be loved and perfected to his early life, his manic search for anonymous sex.

I was hoping that Young Man from the Provinces would focus more on the society around the gay bars. How the world treated gay people at the time. After all, we’ve come a long way, yet are still second class citizens. Not simply the isolated world behind the locked doors of the gay speakeasy and its’ illicit parties.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

The stories about his father, his time in Paris are delightful. We truly feel his anguish to adjust to the culture. His love for Hugh, for relocating and his dysfunctional affection for his family are all transparent. This is a truly an American book. It also shows how Sedaris has matured as a writer.

Naked still remains my favorite, check out the ratings and other comments on Amazon.  Get the book, you be the judge, but David Sedaris is an amazing American writer.

Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

The stories are caught in moments of pure fantasy with very timely celebrities of that era, I constantly found myself questioning, “Who is that?” I actually skim read through Parade and just didn’t want to read about Glen’s Homophobia.  In some ways, I understand why Sedaris never again focuses on the short story form.  In his later books, everything is essay. 

The essays are of course brilliant. We see the David Sedaris we know and love. The Christmas story makes me laugh out loud, I will never look at the Macy’s Christmas display in the same way again. As a writer I find great joy in reading first books – because they are just that, the first. The author is still fresh and trying, it’s a literary sandbox.  

Naked is much better, with consistent good writing, I never wrote a review for Naked, since I was hospitalized and just didn’t want to revist the grim time, yet that work gave me must needed diversion.  I’ve also read Me Talk Pretty Some Day, it’s delightful.  Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is an ode to the dysfunctional family.

This book chronicles his fresh voice, When You Are Engulfed in Flames documents that oversaturation and redundancy.