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Bookish Habits has a new home - Read Run Breathe. Join me there!

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer: Read This If

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer is an audacious but ultimately successful worst-case-scenario novel a la The Circle - though darker and funnier and more complex. It's really not genre-able, but it is a great deal of fun. Techno-dystopia-lite? Ish? It is a book that lives up to its title.

We've got corporate conspiracies at the highest level; global corruption; awkward 30-somethings, each lost in their own way; secret rebel groups with crazy protocols; government infiltration; and, of course, unlikely heroes. Also: no one seemed to have chosen the moniker Lee K. Bottoms. Or Claire Voyant. Maybe in the sequel?

I think I'm having trouble writing about this one because I'm afraid to give anything away. I really want to write about the end, but that would just be cruel, wouldn't it? It also reminded me somehow of Infinite Jest, at least the first 300 pages, which is all I managed to read before wandering off into another novel. It might have been all the addiction stuff.

Either way, you should make this your next read. Or, well, read this if:

• You're looking for a novel that is both character and plot driven. 
• You like fiction that can't be easily classified. 
• You don't entirely trust all this information "sharing" and wonder how it might play out. 
• You like wordy, evenly paced thrillers. 
• You've had "Airstream Driver" stuck in your head lately.
• And really, you can't go wrong with a title like Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Can you?

Don't ready this if:

• You are absolutely no fun. 
• You fully trust every site and technology to which you "give" your information. Wait, scratch that. That's a reason to read this.
• You believe the government/aliens/they/the bats is/are out to get you. This will only fuel that fire.
• You are looking for a very fast, very easy read. This one's complicated - you should probably pay attention or you'll be easily lost.
• You need everything explained to you fully, and all threads tied together neatly at the end, which is not open-ended.

*Thanks to Netgalley and Mulholland Books for my ebook copy, though I also enjoyed the audio. And the physical copy I checked out of the library. Apparently I need to read in all formats. 

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith: Read This If

There is no doubt about it: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, AKA JK Rowling, is a tightly written piece of detective fiction. While lengthy, the tone and pace were just right to keep me engaged. I did switch back between the text and the audio versions - on that note, the narrator, Robert Glenister, is fantastic.

Cormoran Strike is your typical disillusioned detective in many ways - he's gruff, smart, down-on-his-luck, and walks just this side of the moral line. But he's also a one-legged, giant veteran, unhealthy and as such not terribly attractive. His accidental side-kick, Robin, is your typical 25-year old beautiful smart blonde. Not classically beautiful, but girl-next-door pretty. She comes complete with a jealous fiance. (I may have felt something more could have been done to make her character interesting, but...alas. Maybe later. I did have to quell the eye-rolling the juxtaposed duo induced, but I did grow to appreciate both characters in the end, despite the stereotypical implications).

Whatever your opinion on pretty girls and not pretty boys, you should read this if:

• You can't get enough of Tana French novels - this isn't as gritty, maybe, but it was similarly compelling.
• You're looking for a good cold-weather novel - either because it's winter, or because you need to cool off from the heat wave through which you're currently suffering.
• You're an Anglophile, and admire London, specifically.
• You've been on a Hall & Oates kick lately, with "Private Eyes" being one of your go-to songs.
• You loathe the Paparazzi despite never having been famous yourself.

Don't read this if:

• You don't read books over 300 pages. 
• You are in a lighter, more whimsical mood. 
• You're looking for an adult version of Harry Potter.
• You expect your mysteries to double as thrillers, moving at an unpleasantly neck-breaking speed.

*Disclaimer: While I enjoyed the first 3 Harry Potter books that I read, I never made it to book 4 because it was in hard cover at the time, and it was the size of a law text book. I did not want to lug it all over the city on the subway. So. Too bad there were no books back then.

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh: Read This If

I admit, I requested The Weight of Blood purely based on its title. Well, okay, not purely - its title coupled with the fact that it's set in the Ozarks, a nearby region that's always intrigued me. What do people do out there, anyway?

Apparently, a whole lot of nothing good. That's not to say it's all bad, but the meth and other trafficking are rampant among those that have too much control in the communities. The Weight of Blood is a powerful debut novel by Laura McHugh, a self-described insider-outsider. Those from the Ozarks don't like outsiders, and outsiders can never understand native Ozarkians, not really. Lucy, the main character is also a little bit of an insider-outsider herself, having been born to a mother from Iowa (might as well be France) and a father native to Henbane, the small town in which Lucy grows up after her mother disappears mysteriously when Lucy is only a year old.

The novel opens with another mystery, the murder of one of Lucy's high school friend/acquaintances, a girl that had disappeared a year earlier. What follows is intense like a hot, humid Midwestern summer - slow, lurid and burning.

You should pick up this novel this summer if:

• You're looking for an atypical read perfect for the waning heat of summer.
• You like well-paced and -plotted reads. 
• You like mysteries but are not necessarily a fan of the crime fiction genre. 
• Your have been listening to "Cruel Summer" on repeat for days. 

You may want to skip this if:

• You have some trigger issues (trigger warning). 
• You can only be pulled in by Dan Brown pacing.
• You prefer to remain blissfully unaware of what might be happening outside your urban fortress.
• Your soundtrack to Grease is stuck on "Summer Nights."

 *Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for a complimentary ebook in exchange for an honest review.

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell: Read This If

If you've been having a little Gatsby withdrawal this summer, The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell may be just the novel to quell your roaring 20s thirst. We've got speakeasies, bobbed hair and self-entitled young adults with a dash of murder, and (here's where the similarities depart) possibly a side of Fight Club, but that's up for debate. (Any takers?) 

Rose is a self-righteous, uptight and rather clueless young woman working as a typist in a New York City police precinct. As such, she's privvy to gruesome details of all sorts of heinous crimes. Life continues along, until the glamorous Odelie joins the complacent group of typists, raising havoc with her mysterious, confident, modern nature. Rose, despite herself, is easily drawn into Odelie's bootlegging, back alleyed, money-is-no-object world, and gets to know a side of herself she can barely admit to having.

Overall, it's a quick, captivating read, even if ambiguous in the end - but that can be half the fun, right? 

You should read The Other Typist without further ado if:   

• You feel you should have been born a century earlier.
• You're looking for something that resembles noir but isn't quite.
• You like unique takes on familiar subject matter. 
• You don't mind strong, possibly amoral, female characters. 
• You prefer The Third Man to The Thin Man. Or not. Perhaps your in a The Third Man kind of mood.

You should not read this if:

• You prefer your novels to be lighthearted and wrapped up with a neat little bow at the end.
• Your misogyny has got you down.
• "Moody" should describe your cantankerous coworker but never novels or films.
• You just can't imagine a world without the internet. 
• You've never even heard of The Third Man or The Thin Man. 

I did have the pleasure of meeting Ms. Rindell at a lovely event in, as luck would have it, an old city police station, and she's just delightful. I'll be looking for her next book, which is rumored (by her) to take place in the village during the beatnik era. 

Half Marathon: Run this if

You may have noticed I've been a little MIA and sporadic with the posting. (One day, every post will not start with a similar sentence, I swear!) Well, it's been a rough winter, and when I wasn't working (or whining about work or snow or ice), I was mostly training for this half marathon thing I just did, and then too tired to concentrate much on reading or blogging. (Lame, I know.) A year ago I could barely run a 5K - what on earth made me sign up for a half marathon?? I have no idea. Probably just to see if I could really do it. (The answer is: Yes, I can. Woohoo!) Or maybe just to have a goal to work toward. Or maybe because it seemed like a worthier goal for raising money for the wonderful Stray Rescue. (If you are a softie for rescue critters, you can still donate even just a small amount over to the right! It'll be live until the end of April. No pressure at all; it's the place that united us with our ridiculous canines and they are really a fantastic organization.) Or maybe just so that I could officially be "a runner." (I now proclaim myself "officially" a runner.) 

I was not very fast, but I was much faster than my what now seems pitiful 5K last year, and this was more than 4 times as far, and with wonderful IT band issues to boot! I say that as if it's a good thing... it's not. Now for the stretching and foam rolling and exercising to get the leg back into form so I can... keep running. I'm already planning my next half. 

So, should you, dear reader, sign up for a half marathon as well? I don't know. Ask your doctor, as they say. And stuff.

Run a half marathon if:

• You're looking for some good 'me' time or some social time - it's great to train both alone and with groups. Note: Long runs can be easier with a group. 
• You need another 'r' to fight having the body of a heavy reader - that is, the idea of an R&R weekend appeals to you in the reading & running sense.
• You've a playlist already geared to 170-190 bpm to get your cadence just where it should be. 
• You like listening to audiobooks while exercising. You'll have plenty of time to listen while training.  
• You just need something to keep you sane. 
• You want to see what all the fuss is about. 
• You are not totally and completely repelled by the possibility of removing your shoes to discover that your toes have been bleeding and some toenails may not be sticking around for the summer. (Ladies, apparently you just paint the nail bed, and voila! Sandals anyway.)

Do not run a half marathon if: 

• Your doctor said no, don't do it. 
• You think you can just grab any pair of sneakers and go with no plan. You're likely going to injure yourself. 
• You are afraid of dogs and pedestrians.
• You are not willing to risk, ahem, runner's trots. 
• You don't want to get addicted to races. The entrance fees really start to add up after a while... it might eat into your book budget!
• Your doctor said no, absolutely under no circumstance are you to do any amount of running.

At any rate, go me! Ha. Kidding. But really, I never thought I'd ever run that far, continuously. And no, I am not (currently) thinking about a full. That just seems completely insane. 

Hope all is well, and I'll be back w/ more reads shortly! 

For Immediate Release: Books to Remain Closed Until Further Notice

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO: A terrifying phenomenon is sweeping the nation: books everywhere, when opened, spill their guts - literally. That is, literature-ally - after a book is opened, the words actually float off the pages and scatter into the air, never to be retrieved again. 

The anomalous book behavior seems to have begun sometime in waning hours yesterday evening. "I didn't know what was happening!" said 9-year-old Timothy Sassypants of Big Stone Gap, Virginia. "I opened my history text book, and nearly choked on the words as they sprang into my mouth and everywhere!" 

Sassypants eventually managed to spit out the offending words, but, tragically, they were gonners. Chapters of his history reader were left completely blank. "I don't think Mr. Sideeye is going to believe me when I tell him why I couldn't finish my homework." Until, that is, Mr. Sideeye opens a book for himself. 

Everything from classics to trashy fodder to dictionaries is susceptible to this text loss disease - except, interestingly, user manuals and the Bible. Textualists and librarians have begun experimentation to see how they might replicate this immunity and inject it into susceptible books. 

Librarian Ms. N. O. Sinabuk of Cripple Creek, Colorado, has locked the doors of the town's library in an effort to save the books from the curious and the devious. "They'll not have the chance to witness the text-floaty-craze from our precious books," she said. "Someone's got to protect the books until they can get this thing under control."

Some theorize that this text-annihilation book disease was developed by an underground book-banning organization. Others speculate a higher power is at the heart of this "letter flood." 

Whatever the cause, dear readers, if you care about books, keep them closed for now. "Experts" hope to have this issue resolved in the near future. Some even say it is likely similar to the 24-hour flu, and we can expect book life to return to normal by tomorrow. 

Giveaway! THE UNCHANGEABLE SPOTS OF LEOPARDS by Kristopher Jansma

Last year, I wrote about the wonderful novel The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards. This year, I have the opportunity of offering you the chance to win a copy! If you have not yet read the book, you should. I am re-posting last year's review below. Please enter by 11:59pm Monday, March 3rd. Only those with a US street address are eligible. Winner will be notified by March 5, 2014.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Originally posted April 11, 2013:

Kristopher Jansma's debut novel, The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, is anything but unchangeable. The chameleonic narrator is about as unreliable and changeable as they come, or, at least, that's what he'd have you believe. He insists that he is a liar, a teller of tall tales, and someone other than himself. He'll never tell you his *real* name (or will he), or the names of his trio of friends - which keep changing from one chapter or story within a story to the next. He seemingly seamlessly (say that ten times fast) slides in and out of various characters, from student to writer to journalism professor to plagiarizer for hire to editor, but always he is a writer, or he would be if only he could write something he recognizes as real, and good, and true. Although, he does believe there is an art to - and a hunger for - lying:

The truth is that I actually have the greatest respect for those fantastic liars. Someday I'd like to teach a class entirely about them. "Late Great American Fakes." My humble thesis will be that America no longer desires truth, only the reasonable facsimile thereof. Like battered lovers, we're willing to settle. Our sense of values still holds us to dismiss that which we know, outright, to be blatant lies, but we avoid the truth with equal intensity. We wish to remain in the gray interregnum of half believe, when at all possible. 

Of course, as he later admits, most of his lying is really to himself, and he wonders how much he can change, and how much he has changed, if at all. He muses about such capabilities when he comes across the son of his former lover, his to-date lifelong obsession. The boy is the same age as the narrator when he wrote - and lost - his first book.

Someday he'll see that he can't have one without the other. He can't know he is the same unless everything around him has changed. It's like black spots on black fur - you can't see them, but they're there, all the same.  

He'll think he's moving in zigzags, getting anywhere but where he meant to go. But there are edges to the board, and someday he will reach one, and it is only then that life will place a true crown onto his head. It's only then that he'll be able to turn around and see for the first time a glorious path back from where he came. 

The leopard and chess motifs pepper the novel, and this quote nicely brings them all together.

I'd definitely recommend reading this if:

• You enjoy contemporary novels that play with form. 
• You don't mind it when your narrators might be lying to you. 
• You covet explorations of the hazy lines between perception, truth, fiction, and lies. 
• Your current theme song could be "You Can't Always Get What You Want." 

Don't read this if: 

• You are easily confused and believe everything the media tells you.
• You like your plots and characters to be pretty straight-forward. 
• You don't like novels that make you think about stuff.
• You love How I Met Your Mother and hate Mad Men.

Night Film by Marisha Pessl: Read This If

What a trip! I just finished Night Film by Marisha Pessl, and it was a fantastic novel with which to start the year - a good fall/winter read. I read Special Topics in Calamity Physics last year, and I thoroughly enjoyed that novel, too, but this is a much different type of mystery.

Without further ado, read this if:

• You are looking for a unique and compelling page-turner with intellect and some depth. 
• You enjoy novels in which a city, here, New York, is a major character. 
• You are looking for a read that matches the weather, and you live where it is winter now, and winter where you are is cold and grey or brown. 
• You are a fan of quirky characters and caricatures and intricate plot lines. 
• You've had Prufrock whispering in the back of your head somewhere since that fateful day in high school.
• Sometimes your theme song is "A Night Like This" by The Cure. 

Pass on this for now if: 

• You are looking for a slow-paced saga about quilting. 
• You can't read yet another story centering on a stunningly beautiful genius misunderstood girl because without the whole beauty thing no one would give a damn. In fact, most of the women with multiple appearances are apparently drop dead gorgeous. Except the ones that are cartoonishly ugly. There really is no in-between. 
• You can't help but think New York needs to get over itself already. Or the people that live there need to stop acting as if it's a badge of honor to 'survive' New York. It's a city. It's 'survivable.' People come and go. Talking of Michelangelo. 
• You would just die if the smartphone app doesn't work seamlessly. 
• You need everything wrapped up and tied neatly with a bow at the end. 
• Your current theme song is "Walking on Sunshine."

Despite my few misgivings, I would completely recommend reading this novel as soon as you have the chance. It might even make a good book club read, honestly. There is plenty of fodder for discussion. 

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert: Read This If

I admit this freely: sometimes I look back on the time in my life when I devoured Eat, Pray, Love with a cozy, amber-tinged nostalgia. A particularly touchy feely, kum ba yah (in a very sweet, good way) friend gave it to me with flushed READ THIS IMMEDIATELY instructions, and I did. I was insanely jealous of this Elizabeth woman who managed to convince someone to fund her year of travel-the-world self-discovery, which, yes, can seem totally self-indulgent, but do NOT tell me you wouldn't seize the chance to explore different modes of being and living, given fully-funded the option. And Gilbert managed to produce a book that was raw, honest, and fully relatable. 

The Signature of All Things is a completely different animal, but in an amazingly good way - 500 sweeping pages covering the long, unlikely life of one Alma Whitaker. Told in a style that befits the time period during which it is set (the 1800s), this historical tale takes us through the age of great geographical and scientific discoveries, when the entire world seemed new and ferociously beautiful, with newly found peoples (non-white peoples, of course, who managed to exist just fine without the meddling patronizing whiteys came along with their ugly diseases and 'civilized' ways, but, well, 'discovery' happened) and newly discovered (by white people) species of plants and animals finding their way into the modern world. 

Gilbert does subtly tackle the issues of race and conquering, though they are not issues at the forefront of the novel. Its heroine, Alma, is a large (6 feet tall!), uncomely woman with a brain and education to more than match any man's, and one can imagine the issues that can be expounded upon with such a character, during such a time period, when a good marriage was supposed to be the main goal of all women. Alma was a woman obsessed with botany, and, eventually, with mosses specifically. She was privileged beyond measure, especially for the time, but she was not haughty, and was only somewhat clueless. She made quite an interesting character. I could keep rambling, but I've already broken my keep-it-short-and-sweet rule, so: 

Read this if: 

• You highly enjoy or are not offended by well-researched, well-written historical novels.
• You wonder if women did much of anything besides marry and/or take direction from men in the 1800s (they did).
• You're looking for an atypical read with an atypical story arc. 
• You want to go on a fantastical adventure all from the safety of your cozy couch. 
• You are looking for a departure from the plight of the beautiful, misunderstood woman. 
• For you audiobook junkies, the audio is highly recommended. 

Don't read this just now if: 

• You are looking for a fast-paced, highly suspenseful read. This is epic-esque, not high-adrenaline. 
• You are a misogynist. You would only enjoy a small portion, and would miss the point entirely of many descriptions. 
• You are at a highly distractible point in your life - I seem to always be in such a state, and it took me a few weeks to finish this one. 
• You are stodgily religious - you might find some of the presentation and subject matter offensive. 
• You are looking for a a cookie-cutter, predictable plot. 

Oh, and full disclosure: I received this book courtesy of Penguin and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. 

My Education by Susan Choi: Read This If

My Education by Susan Choi was my favorite read this summer, and possibly one of my favorites for the year so far...

...And I started writing this in AUGUST so it was still going to be summer when I posted this, but now it's nearly WINTER (WHAT? WHAT?) and I thus prove my bum-ness in book blogging in 2013. Apologies.  Between the co-conspirator's workaholicness and my semipromotion that involves a whole lot more talking to people (sucking out all my introverted energy reserves) and the needy critter posse at the home, I just haven't had the time & inclination simultaneously.

Still, despite the dropping temperatures, you should pick up this book. Probably. Well:

Get thee to a book store or library and pick up a copy to read if:

• You can relate to the passion of young, obsessive love but have attained enough distance from it that gives you maturity and clarity.
• You don't mind (or possibly are looking for) a little sexiness in your literature, but in a well-written, non gray-shaded sort of way.
• You're looking for some smart, mostly likable but tragically flawed intellectual characters to befriend in your imagination.
• You find yourself nostalgic for your university days & want to relive a little of your experience without the hardship, or you want to feel better about not totally destroying your life while you were at it.
• You just want to read something contemporary, frank and smart, pre-social networking.

Perhaps avoid this one if: 

• You are looking for a high-stakes espionage thriller. This is not that.
• Gay marriage makes you queasy. Which likely means gay makes you queasy. Which probably also means
• You're really prudish, or maybe you're trying to maintain your prudish image despite the fact that you're actually human. 
• You prefer your plots like some people prefer their whiskey: neat and to the point.
• You hate intellectuals.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ebook copy to review, though I enjoyed it so much I did go out and buy it. Because I have a book-owning sickness. 

Late Lights by Kara Weiss: Read This If

Late Lights by Kara Weiss is a novella of interwoven stories following the lives of three teenagers, Monty, Erin and B.J., with three very different backgrounds. It's set in the Brookline neighborhood of Boston. A little background: Monty is an only child with an abusive father, and finds himself in and out of juvie. B.J.'s brothers are also trouble-makers, with her oldest having served time in prison, where her other brother will undoubtedly end up one day as well. Erin is the only daughter of a well-to-do attorney couple, and grows up best friends with B.J. and Monty, until they inevitably drift apart during adolescence. Still, their underlying bond is never fully broken, and each is fully capable of making some serious mistakes.

I found B.J. to be the least fleshed out and most perplexing character for me, perhaps because she was only the focus of one story, while the other two characters each get two - I would have liked to have had a little more insight into how she dealt with the issues brought up in her story.

Overall, Late Lights is very tightly written, its vivid descriptions fully bringing the reader into the lives of the three characters. It is not a pretty world, and nothing is sugar-coated, but it is a realistic world not without hope for the future.

I'd recommend reading this if:

• You have a 2-3 hour plane ride and want something you can read start to finish - this will engage you from the beginning.
• You enjoy stories told in snapshots. 
• You like characters you can imagine as real people. 
• You appreciate books that are not afraid to talk about the baser aspects of life, and that are explicit in a realistic way - not for shock value.

Don't read this if: 

• The slightest bit of violence or sex offends you.
• You'd rather not know what your teenager might be up to.
• You're looking for a light and fluffy read.
• You have triggers to do with rape - there's one small scene that could bring things up.

*I received this book courtesy of the author and TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review. See what others have to say.

Happy Book Lover's day

Illustration by Ghergich & Co.

I may not have time to grab a great book, a cup of coffee and relax into a fantastic story, but hopefully you do! Happy reading.

Bookstore Loot & Oh By The Way I'm Still Alive

Why, hello! It's been quite some time since we've visited, has it not? Rest assured, I have not disappeared into the oblivion. At least, not quite yet. Or, not entirely. I make no promises for the future - that pesky oblivion - just like The Nothing - threatens to swallow me whole, or in parts, at any instant, but, as of this writing, it has not yet happened. That sounds much more depressing and dark than I meant it to be. Apologies.

So! Just what have I been up to, you ask? Or maybe you don't. Either way: it's been One Crazy Summer, and not in a Moore-Cusack kind of way (alas). The Spouse, aka The Coconspirator, has been working 2 jobs this summer (he's just so sought after!), so not only do I never see him, I have to pick up all the domestic slack as well. I am not good at domesticity. At all. It's a bit like living with a ghost roommate that leaves messes while I sleep. We also have 2 dogs, one of them quite new, who are untrained, unruly, and more than a handful. But super sweet and fun, when they're not trying to kill me.

Speaking of dogs trying to kill me, I was attacked just this morning, whilst on my run. Poor thing was afraid of me and his claw punctured my abdomen. It was a little shocking, to say the least. H2O2 & Neosporin to the rescue! I also did not manage to finish my run, which was really the worst part. Oh, and that: I've kind of picked up this running habit, quite regularly in the morning. Nothing crazy. Just 20-30 minutes in the mornings, mostly, as I'm just not that fit yet. I'm still waiting for that runner's high to strike. Any day now.

Remember how I mentioned the disappearing Spouse and his 2 jobs? Well, a couple weeks ago, I seem to have ended up with 2-3 jobs of my own, due to strange comings and goings at the company at which I work. That's still working itself out. It might mean a promotion and a raise. It also might mean the oblivion will swallow me up completely. Or not. Stay tuned.

Despite the craziness, I have still been reading. In fact, the book club I started has had 3 whole meetings already. Also, I just finished this absolutely exquisite book called My Education by Susan Choi, which I hope to have featured here shortly (possibly with a giveaway - again, stay tuned). Hot and well-written? Yes, please. Especially this summer. I also managed to use my birthday bookstore gift certificate finally, results above. I may have contributed a few of my own dollars. Just a few.

Oh, and, I finally got a proper camera, with interchangeable lenses and everything. I love it. But my "hobby" list is growing too much. Running, photos, reading, dogs, etc? That's quite a bit to do, with errands and work too. Let's just hope I win that amazing powerball this Wednesday. Of course, I'll have to remember to buy a ticket.

I hope you've had a more relaxing summer than I, and I'd love to hear about it, should you have the time!

Fake Bookish Neurosis: Schizobibliosis

So Many Books (by ~Minnea~)

Lately, you may have noticed, I've mostly disappeared. Where did I go? You see, I got stuck. I'm buried under ALL THE BOOKS. (And other stuff. Like work, and dogs, and cats, and running, and spouses (well, just the one), and chores, and errands, and family, and, you know, stuff.)

How did this happen? Well, I accepted too many books to review, for one, so, that needs to change, or slow down, or something. The pressure to read the small pile on the review shelf is tying some seriously painful knots under my shoulder blades. I also started a book club in which we have a set day and time to meet every month, and, gasp, actually read and discuss the book,* and we had our first meeting, and it was grand. But since I started the thing, I actually have to be prepared! What? Add to this the fact that there are just so many interesting-sounding books out there. Lying in wait. To be read. By me. At some point. Maybe. Optimistically. Tragically?

All of which has resulted in me being in the middle of about 5 books at once. That's 2-3 too many, for me, really, which leads me to suffer from the dreaded, dreadful schizobibliosis. Too much jumping back and forth between plots and characters and comedy and tragedy and add to that that one of these is Infinite Jest, which is about 170 plot lines rolled up into one complicated, verbose novel that is often awesome and sometimes boring (sorry die-hards), and sometimes both at the same time. I mean, I couldn't pass up this whole Summer of Jest thing, even though I did miss the first call in, and am already behind the proposed schedule. But that's okay. I'm not terribly worried about that. It's The Spouse's favorite book ever, so, I guess it's time. (Although, I've said that before. Ha.)

See? I can't even stay on topic. What's the topic? Oh. Wait, what?

Luckily, schizobibliosis, unlike it's phrenetic (he he, see what I did there?) cousin, has a cure: I just need to finish some of these books before I start the rest of them. That's totally doable, yes? Don't you think? Yes. I think so. Probably. Most likely. We'll see. Or will we...

*The other book club that I'm casually, occasionally still attending can't seem to meet regularly or set a reasonable time to meet, every meeting scheduling shenanigan beginning with an email thread to check schedules and trailing off until a time is suddenly decided upon often less than a week ahead of time, 2 if we're lucky. This leads to the book often not being read (even by me, with such little notice), and discussions that tend to go off subject. Add to that, the off-subject subjects of discussion more often than not are topics that disallow my participation almost completely as a childless, non-Catholic non-teacher, since said discussions tend to revolve around (you guessed it) teaching, teaching politics, birthing, parenting, child behavior generally, and the goings on in a parish of which I am not a part and of which I have no desire to be a part, not being Catholic and all. The members are all smart, lovely ladies, but sometimes the prevalence of cliquey estrogeny teachiness can be a little overwhelming. So I call that my Wine-Drinking Catholic Teaching Moms That Occasionally Read and Might Discuss a Book, a Little, Sometimes Club, of which I am only an honorary member, my only qualifications for membership being that I can read and drink wine.  

Appointment In Samarra by John O'Hara: Read This If

In a break from form, I'm going to introduce this novel (one that I can't believe I'd never heard of let alone read) with the description on the inside cover:

In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, PA, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction. Brimming with wealth and privilege, jealousy and infidelity, O'Hara's iconic first novel is an unflinching look at the dark side of the American dream--and a lasting testament to the keen social intelligence of a major American writer.

Appointment in Samarra is a more frank, less stylized novel touching on the same themes as Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby - not that The Great Gatsby isn't fantastic - it is - this novel just presents its characters with more raw humanity than a novel as tight and stylized as TGG could possibly allow. The title, too, is quite clever - as a member of my book club pointed out, it's not only a metaphor for Julian's own fast demise, but, as the novel is set in 1930, a year after the crash of '29 that set off the Great Depression, it's also a metaphor for the rapid disintegration of a particular way of life. (Luckily O'Hara changed it from it's original - The Infernal Grove.)

You should definitely read this if:

• You enjoyed The Great Gatsby and are looking for something set in a similar time period following a similar crowd.
• You love realistic dialogue. (O'Hara was apparently accused of writing his dialogue TOO realistically.)
• You want to know what the inside of an alcoholic's mind looks like. (I'm told it's quite realistic, so, beware.)
• You wondered what the Jane Austen style of marrying off upper class men and women might look like in 1930s small town America.
• You're looking for a short, fast read.
• You have always wondered what might happen if you acted on some of your lesser impulses. (Answer: Nothing good.)

You might want to steer clear of this novel if:

• Straight forward writing about sex and sexuality offends you.
• You require happy endings. (If you know the story of the appointment in Samarra as retold by W. Somerset Maugham, which serves as an epigraph to this novel, I'm not giving anything away here.)
• The crazed haze of alcoholism hits too close to home for you at this particular moment.
• You are easily depressed.
• You can't stand novels in which you're often silently pleading with the main character to make better choices.

Make better choices, all. Read this novel.

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. (I'm so glad I did - I wouldn't have known to read this otherwise.)

Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli: Read This If

Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli is a beautifully crafted  novel that I'm surprised I haven't heard much about. At all. It's compared to The Help on its paperback cover, but it's really nothing like The Help, except that it takes place in the South and deals with issues of race and class. That's where the similarities end. (Not to knock The Help, which I also thoroughly enjoyed - they are just two very different novels.)

Glow follows the lives of a few interconnected families in Hopewell County, GA, over the course of more than a century, from about 1834 to 1941, which covers slavery to freedom and all the fraught issues before and after the Civil War, including the rise of of the Ku Klux Klan. Not only does the novel deftly explore the race relations between blacks and whites, but also Native Americans, who were basically considered savage non-persons, especially after being kicked off their land in Georgia. The characters' tales are full of horror and humanity and authenticity and soul with a dash of ghostly haunting and redemption. The language captures the lilting dialect of the time and place (or so I imagine). (I listened to a good deal of the audio version, and it is superb.) I may even have shed a tear or two. That doesn't often happen these days. That's not to say it's sentimental - it's not.

You should read this novel. Seriously. This is a book I'm going to be running around telling everyone to read. I'm not saying it's the best book ever written, but the magic and vividness of the stories make them well worth reading. It's more like a novel of intertwined novellas, and be aware that it does not follow traditional or formulaic plot lines. It's more of a meandering, lilting set of tales, told with poise and heart.

Okay, you should read this novel if:

• You are human. 
• You can read. 
• You think you've heard all angles of all tales of the south and slavery and racism and class (you haven't). 
• You appreciate good prose and storytelling and strong characters.
• You also appreciate stories that show the depth of our flawed human characters. 

Don't read this if: 

• You can't read (in which case, learn to read, or listen to the audio). 
• You hate books. (In which case, what are you doing here?)
• You need formulaic, fast-moving, straight forward plots. 
• Your soul is a crispy, burnt thing. 

*I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. 

The Burning Air by Erin Kelly: Read This If

Hello, dear readers, it's been some weeks since my last post. I finished The Burning Air by Erin Kelly some weeks ago, and just haven't been able to disseminate my thoughts on the novel adequately. The novel certainly builds suspense with a slow, steadily growing heat. It grows on the reader in the same way - what seems like a reluctant, meandering plot jumps into focus after a change in perspective. The characters are all normal, average English people who happen to cross paths with a boy who anything but normal or average, and who refuses to accept his shortcomings.

This is not a formulaic story arch. The MacBrides, the central family in the story, are actually the flattest characters of the bunch - it's the villains of the story that have a fair amount of life to them, to the point that you might find yourself rooting both for and against the main scoundrel at the same time - though in the end, you will definitely pick a side. His revenge plotting is so all-consuming that he cannot see anything beyond its realization. That alone lends the novel its most disturbing quality.

The Burning Air was a different sort of thriller for me - its pacing was much slower than the Tana French novels I managed to fly through in the earlier part of this year. It's a gradual build, but its psychological mind games and its haunting, creepy atmosphere is sure to stick with you long after you fini

You should pick up The Burning Air if:

• You like seeing your story from the perspective of the villain. 
• You crave psychological suspense in your novels. 
• Your life has just seemed too sunny and happy lately, and you need some creepiness to shake it up. 
• You can't get the song Private Eyes out of your head. (Ha! NOW you can't! You're welcome.)

You should skip this if: 

• You just had a child and might be suffering from post partum depression. You're probably not reading much at all if that's the case, so I'm not too worried.
• You are prone to anxiety and paranoia and already find most people creepy. This will just feed al
• You are in the market for a light read akin to Bridget Jones Diary (I'd suggest Wife 22 or Domestic Violets to satisfy such a mood). 
• You're looking for a more traditional fast-paced mystery.

*I received this book from the Penguin Viking in exchange for my honest review.

The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma: Read This If

Kristopher Jansma's debut novel, The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, is anything but unchangeable. The chameleonic narrator is about as unreliable and changeable as they come, or, at least, that's what he'd have you believe. He insists that he is a liar, a teller of tall tales, and someone other than himself. He'll never tell you his *real* name (or will he), or the names of his trio of friends - which keep changing from one chapter or story within a story to the next. He seemingly seamlessly (say that ten times fast) slides in and out of various characters, from student to writer to journalism professor to plagiarizer for hire to editor, but always he is a writer, or he would be if only he could write something he recognizes as real, and good, and true. Although, he does believe there is an art to - and a hunger for - lying:

The truth is that I actually have the greatest respect for those fantastic liars. Someday I'd like to teach a class entirely about them. "Late Great American Fakes." My humble thesis will be that America no longer desires truth, only the reasonable facsimile thereof. Like battered lovers, we're willing to settle. Our sense of values still holds us to dismiss that which we know, outright, to be blatant lies, but we avoid the truth with equal intensity. We wish to remain in the gray interregnum of half believe, when at all possible. 

Of course, as he later admits, most of his lying is really to himself, and he wonders how much he can change, and how much he has changed, if at all. He muses about such capabilities when he comes across the son of his former lover, his to-date lifelong obsession. The boy is the same age as the narrator when he wrote - and lost - his first book.

Someday he'll see that he can't have one without the other. He can't know he is the same unless everything around him has changed. It's like black spots on black fur - you can't see them, but they're there, all the same.  

He'll think he's moving in zigzags, getting anywhere but where he meant to go. But there are edges to the board, and someday he will reach one, and it is only then that life will place a true crown onto his head. It's only then that he'll be able to turn around and see for the first time a glorious path back from where he came. 

The leopard and chess motifs pepper the novel, and this quote nicely brings them all together.

I'd definitely recommend reading this if:

• You enjoy contemporary novels that play with form. 
• You don't mind it when your narrators might be lying to you. 
• You covet explorations of the hazy lines between perception, truth, fiction, and lies. 
• Your current theme song could be "You Can't Always Get What You Want." 

Don't read this if: 

• You are easily confused and believe everything the media tells you.
• You like your plots and characters to be pretty straight-forward. 
• You don't like novels that make you think about stuff.
• You love How I Met Your Mother and hate Mad Men.

A little fun bit from Viking Penguin: pictures and metions of the book in instagram, twitter and the like with the hashtag #leopardspotting. It's silly book fun! My editions:

You can see Mr. Jansma's own instagram here.

*I received this book in exchange for my honest review from NetGalley courtesy of Viking Penguin.

Nothing But Flowers

"Botanical Garden" by Lori Nix

Last week I mentioned my ever growing dystoparanoid tendencies  and posted a lovely picture of a dilapidated library diorama by Lori Nix. The above, from the same gallery of photographs, was another of my favorites, one that easily brings to mind the Talking Heads song "Nothing But Flowers" (embedded below for your listening pleasure).

For the record, dear totalitarian overlords of the near future, I'm mostly okay with the sort of dystopia (utopia? eye of the beholder, I'm sure) lamented in the song, though winter probably would  beg me to differ, unless I turned out to have some sort of mad tepee-iglooing skills (unlikely). And as long as there are still books and stuff. (Also sounds unlikely.) Never mind then. As you were.