Veronica by Mary Gaitskill (#36, Contemporary Literature)

I am starting to come to the conclusion that I have way too sunny of a disposition to ever enjoy "dark" books. Two in a row I have read that could have been works of nonfiction and neither one of them did I enjoy.

Veronica is a story about a young girl who becomes a model and it basically just follows her through her life. She is retelling the story as an older and ill woman. What is sad about it is that she meets many people who at the time she thinks are so important, but when she is remembering them, she can't remember why she thought they were important. And the even sadder part is that in the end I don't even know that she had realized what was important, or even found anything she considered important.

Veronica isn't the girl who the story is about, Veronica is an older woman she befriends who ends up dying of AIDS. There was supposed to be some deep connection between the two, which there was to a degree, but I found it lacking and never really understood what the author was trying to get at. I suppose the message it is supposed to send is that external youth and beauty are fleeting. Maybe?

Something Happened by Joseph Heller (#35, Contemporary Literature)

Apparently everything that happened happened either before page one or after page 560. What I think happened in between was a lot of annoyingness. Yes, that is a pretend word I am going to use.

To give some credit to an amazing author, I can see why the book would be considered read worthy, and I can see what is special about Joseph Heller. But, with that said, I spent over 550 pages reading about a man and his family. A man who regularly cheats on his wife, a man who hates his job, a man who wants to kick his daughter in the shin under the dining room table, a man who constantly wishes his mentally disabled son would disappear.

There was no happy ending, there was certainly no silver lining, I suppose the story could be considered "real" life and some people may relate to it. But thank you very much I do not relate in any way. I have no sympathy for people stuck in unhappy lives. As my roommate and friend Shawn likes to say, "Do something about it." Because that is one of my basic philosophies in life I generally don't enjoy reading books where the characters continue to chase their tail in circles, getting absolutely nowhere.

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max (#35, Nonfiction)

Where do I begin? Tucker Max's I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell is offensive, hilarious, and downright scary. I wonder if I am stupider for having read his stories. Yes, some of them were extremely funny, but not in a good way. While some stories featured Max himself as the butte of the joke, most of the time the joke was on whichever slutty, fat, dumb whore he found himself hooking up with at the time. And I use those particular words only because they are the ones used by him most of the time. I feel like every girl should read this book, in hopes of somehow making them wiser about what drinking alcohol with low self-esteem can actually result in. The fact is, there are guys out there, waiting to pounce on you and then turn around and exploit it. If I ever saw Tucker Max out at a bar, I'd kick him in the balls.

I am skeptical of Max though. I don't know if I quite believe that every single thing he writes about in every single one of his stories is true. How can someone have that many crazy stories? Becky and I were discussing it, and while the things he writes about can happen, like shitting yourself in a hotel lobby and then getting banned for life or any of the other crazy, vulgar, inappropriate stories that I won't even mention on here, I doubt that one person can be the master of them all. And also, how can someone who is as drunk as he is for most of the book, recall every single detail? It just seems too much. But alas, the guy is making a living off these crazy stories and who can blame him for it? It's just too bad most of the stories come at the price of another person's dignity.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (#34, Nonfiction)

Hello David Sedaris. I have been meaning to read this book for about two years. I bought it at the used book store on Congress that went out of business and just never got into it until I needed something funny after my last three depressing books. Sedaris is as funny as they say. One particular chapter had me busting out laughing at 11:30 at night alone in my room, wishing I had someone nearby to share his comic genius with. The next day I made at least three people read the three page chapter and enjoy the good belly laugh that comes from reading about fecal trouble at a party. And that is all I will say about that. Grab this book and read it, if only for that one chapter. I guarantee laughter.

The other chapters were amusing, if not laugh out loud funny. I am eager to read more of his books and probably will at some point in the near future.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (#33, Classic)

My second foray into the world of Faulkner, I enjoyed As I Lay Dying. For some reason I was craving the stream of consciousness writing, the strange familial relations, and the meandering narrative. The story is told by 15 different narrators, which was kind of confusing but this is Faulkner. I was looking for a challenge after White Ghost Girls and this book didn't disappoint. I enjoyed trying to figure out what was really going on between the members of this family. There was teenage pregnancy, an illegitimate son, mental illness, a loveless marriage, and sibling rivalry. What more can you ask for?

Are you waiting for me to analyze this using the skills I spent four years of undergrad developing? I don't know if I have it in me right now. Clearly, As I Lay Dying begs to be analyzed. Why not delve into the issue of reliable and unreliable narrators? Faulkner works with this throughout as the novel's most reliable narrator becomes the unreliable one and vice versa. This shift comes after the debacle when they try to cross the river, but it happens gradually. I am ashamed to say that Oprah had this as her summer book club pick, along with two of his other novels, The Sound and the Fury and A Light In August. For some reason, Becky and I just can't stay away from Oprah and her book club. Not only does she discover contemporary literature by up and coming writers, but she also has her hand in the classics cookie jar. We should do an Oprah book count at the end of this year to see how many we actually read even when we began this challenge vowing to avoid books that grace her list.

The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (#34, Reader's Choice)

Maybe if I had given my undivided attention to the Red Sox/Indians game the Red Sox would have stopped sucking so bad, but once again I couldn't put down the book. I tried to leave it at home, but I actually turned around and came back and grabbed it. What is more important, being social or finishing 50 books in one year? Unfortunately I was way too social all summer, which is why I am many books behind, so now my social life pays the price. I will not back down on a challenge.

I picked The Virgin Blue because I really liked Girl with a Pearl Earring. The Virgin Blue didn't disappoint, yet it still lacked something that I can't put my finger on. I guess I have a hard time when a love story materializes out of nowhere, and an even harder time when a marriage unravels out of nowhere. You may be surprised in real life when what you believe is the perfect marriage falls apart, but in a book you are in the person's head, I should have seen it coming. But I suppose I should give the author some leeway when there is a supernatural twist to the book and the unraveling of a marriage fits in nicely with the creepy coincidences.

Sometimes I really dislike the switching of narrators, but Chevalier does it with ease and clarity. Also, turns out I am a sucker for historical fiction. It is always more fun when something could have happened, right?

Flight by Sherman Alexie (#33, Contemporary Literature)

Talk about a quick, yet powerful, read that hits on violence through the decades. "Zits" is our narrator and time traveler. A young boy, half native American, who has been shipped from foster home to foster home, he is struggling to fit in when he meets Justice. Justice teaches him that sometimes "hate can be empowering." Zits then finds himself with a gun in a crowded bank about to do something truly horrible.

I guess I will stop giving a synopsis of the book, but it's hard to explain without some background info. Basically, at the point Zits is about to shoot up the bank he instead is sucked through time and put into the body of various individuals in other times of hate and violence. He then sees the violence through his eyes, as well as the eyes of the body he is inhabiting.

At times it was hard to read because it really hits on how violent people are, and even more so who is right and who is wrong? When is revenge acceptable? If someone comes and kills your family are you justified in turning around and killing their innocent five year old daughter?

If you have a couple hours it is worth the time.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (#32, Reader's Choice)

Probably since about the day I met Steph, over two years ago, she has been eagerly awaiting the day that I read her precious "Outlander Series." She was convinced I would like it as much as her. And the verdict is . . . I liked it, well the first book at least. Unfortunately, I don't think I will ever hold it as dearly as she does. This is how I see it--she read the series back when she was in High School. When I was younger I read a lot of books, I thought The Babysitters Club was the bomb. But if I went back to read it now I don't think it would quite live up to my expectations--because turns out I have a life now and don't really need to live vicariously through Stacy or Claudia or Mary-Anne anymore ;)

Outlander is what I would call a good beach read. I don't think I have read a book since Harry Potter that I find myself thinking about when I wasn't actually reading it. It is one of those books where you really want to know what is going to happen so you just keep reading, even though you realize it is three in the morning. For a beach read it has exceptional writing, but just a little too much soft porn for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I was immediately won over by Jamie and think he sounds like a hottie, but I can only take so many "love" scenes.

If you want to be transported to another time and become fully engrossed in what you are reading, Outlander is the way to go. I am absolutely curious about the continued fate of Claire and Jamie so don't be surprised if the second book of the series pops up on Booknymphs sometime soon.

White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway (#32, Contemporary Literature)

After reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, it would appear I was on a China kick, interested in reading books set in China. Randomly browsing the shelves at the library this Tuesday White Ghost Girls caught my eye and when I found out it was set in China, I had to get it. I expected more Chinese culture, better writing, a more riveting story. What I got was an attempt at magical prose that fell short of its goal.

I wouldn't recommend Greenway's novel to anyone. There really weren't any redeeming qualities about it. Her prose was too dependent on vapid lists of things like joss sticks, clove hair, lychees, rattan birdcages. The characters weren't real to me, and her over usage of the second person grated on my nerves. Her writing reminds me too much of my own style when I wrote memoir pieces for a class freshman year back at St. Lawrence. I expected immersion in the story but was instead forced to muck through overly showy verbs and adjectives, a writer struggling hard to be writerly. I hope when I write my first novel, it doesn't read like this.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (#31, Contemporary Literature)

While Becky has been plugging away throughout the month of October catching up to my non-impressive five book lead, I have been strangely absent on this blog since the eighth of September. What gives? Had I given up on the lofty task of reading 50 books in one year? Did it just get to be too much for me? Did I throw in the towel and resign myself to reading horoscopes, fitness magazines and myspace about me sections? Do not despair loyal Booknymph fans. I am back from an annoying stretch of bad book choices. Nothing kills the desire to read than picking up the wrong book.

Which book set me down the road of no reading? I must say it was a recommendation from my sister, The Terror. She raved about it, and I thought it would be like Ahab's Wife, another recommendation that I ended up loving. But for some reason The Terror didn't excite me. I got to about page 200 and abandoned ship. Then I started another book and quickly abandoned that one as well. Not until I raided Sarah's bookshelf did I find a suitable book.

Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was just what I needed. It provided an escape into 19th century China and the lives of the women who struggled to survive in a crushingly patriarchal system. No, it isn't nonfiction, but See did base it on actual practices. I can tell you with all honesty that I would not have wanted to have been born a girl in China. The process of foot binding is horrific enough, but then to have to go through life believing that your sole purpose in life is to produce sons and to serve your husband would be all too depressing. But it goes so far beyond that, as the entire system was built upon women being seen as base creatures and burdens to the families who had to raise them.

I liked how this book's central theme was the friendship between Lily (our narrator) and Snow Flower, her laotong. Women may have been forced to endure hardships beyond our what our modern day imaginations can comprehend but as long as they had a woman friend, they could use that friendship to make it through. I think that still rings true today. As Toni Morrison once said, "The loneliest woman in the world is a woman without a close woman friend."

Spoiled Rotten America: Outrages of Everyday Life by Larry Miller (#31, Nonfiction)

Before reading Larry Miller's book I couldn't have told you who he was, and I still can't really place him, other than on the back flap it says he was in Pretty Woman. But who? I could picture his face but was unable to place his character, so I looked him up. Want to take a guess? This is his main line, "Just how obscene an amount of cash are we talking about here? Profane or really offensive?" Remember now? How could anyone forget?

He is clearly a funny man. I am guilty of giggling out loud in public multiple times while reading the book. The book is basically a collection of 17 short stories, which he often refers to as "crankys" or something like that. Each standing alone would probably be funnier than reading them all in one place, at least that is my take. I found him rather cynical and a bit holier than thou. I don't really have all that much to say. I didn't hate it or love it. But I laughed quite a bit, and that is always good.

The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky: A True Story by Ken Dornstein (#30, Nonfiction)

I just happened to be passing by the "new arrivals" shelf at the library when I saw this book. It wasn't the title, but more the color of the book that caught me, but after about two sentences into the inside flap, I knew it was a book I was going to regret reading. All I had to see were the words "Pan Am flight 103" and I knew I shouldn't read it, but I knew that wouldn't stop me.

Other than the fact that prior to reading the book I couldn't fly without boozing it up beforehand and now I may need some horse tranquilizers to coax me on board, the book was actually really good. It is the story of Ken Dornstein, a young man who lost his brother David in the Lockerbie plane crash of 1988.

Memoirs always make me hesitant. In this case the tragedy of the situation is apparent, but initially I wondered what story did Ken have to tell about his brother that wasn't the same story of every other unfortunate soul on that flight? Turns out he could have written a book without the plane crash.

The story, although not nearly as horrific, reminded me at times of A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. After David's death Ken spends the next decade reading through hundreds of notebooks that David used to document his life. David didn't want to just live, he didn't just want to attend Brown University and be another student, he was unable to complete simple class assignments because anything he wrote, or did, had to be "brilliant". He lived his life in a sort of bohemian way never really having a job, never paying regular rent, I think that he thought to live a "standard" life would be selling out, and that wasn't something he was willing to do.

The book is gruesome-- with more facts about the plane crash than I cared to know, it is troubling--including Ken finding out his brother was molested as a child, and it is incestuous--Ken ends up marrying his brother David's first love.

If you don't have a crazy fear of flying like I do I would recommend reading the book. And even if you are like me, I am still hoping that reading such intimate details about my greatest fear has in some way helped me get over the fear . . . yeah, probably not.

In the Heart of the Sea--The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick (#29, Nonfiction)

I am a lover of classic novels, a fact that has been well established by my likes and dislikes of my choices so far. It seemed "classic" was going to be my only tried and true category, but alas, then there was In the Heart of the Sea. A well written, nonfiction, novel that deals with the elements is my other clear pick. I read Issac's Storm, the story of the tragic hurricane in Galveston, Texas in 1900, years ago and loved it. Not only are nonfiction novels teaching you something, but In the Heart of the Sea, like Issac's Storm, is a true adventure. I am a sucker for a good action movie or book, so when it is a true story that is well told, all the better! Of course it was also extra interesting to read about the history and the people of Nantucket, an island that I have visited and adored.

Philbrick is an amazing storyteller. He was able to mesh together various accounts of the survivors of the Whaleship Essex along with historical data from dozens of other sources. He did his research, and it shows. Often times when I am reading a nonfiction novel and the author digresses from the main topic for some sort of background history lesson my attention is lost, but not with Philbrick. He hooked me from the first pages of the preface--how can you not be hooked by the description of a whaleboat happening upon two emaciated, near dead, men sucking the last of the marrow from human bones?

The story of the Essex is a tragic one, but it happened and I am glad I am slightly knowledgeable of it now. What amazes me most about the end of the story is that many of the survivors, who spent three months floating hopelessly at sea with hardly any food or water after a spiteful whale capsized their ship, went straight back into the whaling business! I think I would have a major fear of the ocean, and whales, after the whole ordeal. Apparently they are strong folk, those Nantucketers!

Wicked by Gregory McGuire (#28, Reader's Choice)

Two posts in October about Witches . . . hmm, what should I be for Halloween? I will get back to you on that one. It was interesting though to go from one withchy book to another. Totally different themes and characters but an interesting theme nonetheless, maybe I will look into the Wiccan religion next for one of my nonfiction picks . . . are you on the edge of your seat yet?

Prequels are a phenomena all their own. Throughout the whole book I continually kept going back to The Wizard of Oz in my head wondering if Gregory McGuire was right, and the Wicked Witch of the East really did live the life he gave her in Wicked. It is quite a feat to take the epitome of an evil character and make the reader feel bad for her. McGuire also turns the frightening childhood movie (that some of my adult friends still refuse to watch!!!) into a joke. The characters you once believed were strong and heroic are turned into blubbering buffoons. And did the tin man really need to decapitate all the dogs? They were just coming out to greet Dorothy and her gang! The book was tongue in cheek funny. While I was reading I wasn't particularly interested in really thinking about his political statements and deeper themes, but they were definitely there.

The book was clever, funny, imaginative and it made me think when I had the energy. I can't wait for McGuire to ruin every childhood fairy tale. ;)

The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike (#27, Contemporary Literature)

Forgive this post from the start. I finished reading The Witches of Eastwick about three weeks ago and have read almost two books since then. I think that is one of the problems with our goal, I am so concerned with getting to the finish line that I am starting to look at the books as numbers rather than enjoying them for what they stand for. Rather than reading books I want to, I find that I am often picking books just to have the next book waiting. Don't get me wrong, the majority of the books I have read, whether I liked them or not in the end, I wanted to read. But the reading is not the only difficult part of the challenge. Once you start reading a book and you realize it is a dud, do you put it down? What about all that time you have lost on a book that will not be one of your 50? What to do. For me I generally push through because I always like to know what happens regardless of whether I think it sucks or not.

Enough of the digression. I am behind, we all know this. I will read 50 books though. If I have 10 left to read during the last week of December you can be guaranteed I will plow through ten books, and ten quality books at that!

Back to The Witches of Eastwick. I had heard of the book, I had heard of John Updike, but I knew nothing of his style or content. While I was reading I was surprised by lots of "nasty" language. Nothing like The Crimson Petal and the White, but there was a fair share of "husband sharing" and naughty hot-tub scenes. Definitely not what I expected in a book about three middle aged "witches". After marinating in my mind for almost month I give the book two thumbs up. It is a book about chicks, and chick power, and it is written by a man. Props to Updike.