The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer
Jul
'08
This was my first Norman Mailer book. Popping in and out of book forums around the Internet I discovered that a lot of people hold this author in very high regard. Some people even have related handles, and to create an alias from a living person (well, living at the time) must imply a certain degree of admiration. So I decided I would read a Norman Mailer book sometime, and it was when I was trying to decide which one looked interesting to me that The Castle in the Forest came out. Enamored as I am with European history of that era, the contest ended. This was going to be my first Norman Mailer book. It would decide whether or not I’d continue on to another one.
This is not for the weak of heart. The Book Thief, as I said in my review, may be too painful a work to read especially for those who find the events to be too close for comfort. This, however, is a vivid illustration of an Austrian family ridden with incest, hatred, fear, apprehension, manipulation, and above all, a mother’s love. This is not just the story of Adolf Hitler’s childhood; it is an explanation of the seeds which created his evil and a portrait of the mother and father who nourished him.
The narrator, a devil, possesses the body of an SS man named Dieter. He tells the reader of a pre-Adolf world; the bulk of the book seemed more about his father than about him, but his mother certainly holds a strong role in the play. As do his brothers and sisters - in fact, every character is so fully explained in this book that it makes one feel like it is not at all about Adolf but more about “the Hitlers.” Though the devil was assigned to follow dear Adi, he somehow managed to sink into much more familial detail.
No matter. It strengthened the painting to have such details intensified. This, as I’ve said, is not the story of the man you and I think of when we hear the name “Adolf Hitler.” Just the same, I say it’s not for the faint of heart. Nothing in this book excuses Adolf’s decisions, but as the narrator works for Satan, you can’t imagine the narration to be all too pleasant. I couldn’t put it down, but others may be offended by the language. To be sure, there wasn’t a lot of cursing, but intricate description of less-than-attractive subjects are certainly present. And the smells! There are so many smells described in this book that the reader finds herself shivering on more than one occasion.
So, against the rules of his kind, this devil in the form of an SS in service to Heinrich Himmler has decided to write down his research into Adolf Hitler’s history. It is only in the end where he explains the title of the book, another reason I would give caution to anyone jumping into the idea of reading this. It’s good - very good, actually - and I am more prone to purchase other Norman Mailer books and read them now. I will probably recommend this more often than not. But it throws a curve ball at you. It reminds you that you cannot blame one single individual for such abominable crimes.
Some people, I know, would not like to admit this. They would like to single out one name, something that sounds particularly evil, and blame just him for the acts of many. I would not suggest this book to those people.
Ach, so it makes you think. There are a few scenes which are implanted on my brain right now, though I don’t know if it’s because they were particularly sweet and disturbing, or because they were so well described. This is one of those books which, after you’ve read it, you wish you knew someone else who’d also read it so the two of you could talk about it in some depth. There isn’t much in the way of politics here, except perhaps Alois’ (Adolf’s father) desire to climb up the social ladder. You don’t even meet Adolf until half the book is already in your memory, and when you do meet him it’s with varying degrees of hatred and pity. It isn’t one of those books that falsely makes you want the character to succeed. It doesn’t claim you so much that you feel the devil is inside you also. It’s merely a narrative well and fully presented. The story of a family and the struggles each individual in that family had to face.
The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the tangents the devil would go into. He’s helpful with it - lets you know the exact page he’ll be getting back to Adolf’s life, if you wanted to skip his tangents - but I still can’t figure out why it was necessary to include a whole section on the Tsar of Russia and his involvement with a massacre. If this was about that devil and his experiences influencing and inspiring his clients, yes, then it would be understandable. It made me wonder if perhaps this was more the story of that devil and the powers that devils have in this world rather than simply a narration about a well-known historical figure. It’d be interesting, I think, but probably not so interesting without Norman Mailer.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Exciting Things
Jul
'08
Since I started working in used books I haven’t been keeping up with what’s new. Sure, I’ll pay attention to the bookshelves in a new books bookstore if there’s a title by a favorite author that I haven’t seen before, but I won’t usually be in the bookstore the moment it comes out. Actually, since last April, I hadn’t been excited about a new release except for JR Ward’s latest. I only knew anything about that because a friend reminded me several times.
So I’ve decided today to immerse myself in new releases, and lucky for you, I’m going to share this new-found excitement.
What I Talk about When I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami
Release: July 29, 2008
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0307269191
Because it’s coming out in hardcover I probably won’t read it right away… The trade paperback is so far off there isn’t even a date for it yet (usually the case). I can’t just go and buy this one in hardcover while all my others by him are paperbacks; it just wouldn’t work out so well. They’d fight. The others would be jealous of this one’s sturdy posture, whereas this one would feel left out for being so large and clunky next to his brothers. In any case, I’m still looking forward to it, as it is the memoir of my favorite author. I don’t generally go out looking for information on my favorite authors, but I have a feeling this is going to be a winner.
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008 edited by Dave Eggers
Release: October 8, 2008
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN: 061890283X
Yes, yes, I’m very excited to add to my collection of Best American books. I have some of the comics ones and I have the Nonrequired Reading ones from 2002 to 2007. No, it’s true, I haven’t read from any of them yet, but they do look exceptionally pretty on my shelves.
Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
Release: October 7, 2008
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0439866286
I am already getting ahead of myself here; I don’t even know if I like Inkspell yet. I haven’t even bought the book, and I’m looking forward to the next one. Still, I have an inkling (get it?) that I’ll really enjoy this series even if it takes me forever to get around to reading every book in it. Hey, at least I’m not putting Brisingr on this list. I haven’t read Eragon or Eldest but I own both… Can’t say it wouldn’t be exciting to have all three books next to each other all shiny and dragony though.
Called Out of Darkness by Anne Rice
Release: October 7, 2008
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0307268276
I’ve only read about half of her released books but I’ve enjoyed every one of them. They’re long, sometimes gruelling, and I wanted to stop halfway in many of her books, but I didn’t and never ended up regretting it. I also had little understanding of her decision to stop writing the vampire novels; I didn’t look too deeply into it but on my outskirts of interest I couldn’t really figure out why a new-found faith in Christ would make someone give up writing about supernatural - fictional - beings. So I’m excited about this memoir because apparently it goes into a bit of depth on why she started writing and what has affected her writing over the years.
Conspirata by Robert Harris
Release: November 4, 2008
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0743266102
This is something I’m just now discovering in my search for new releases. I bought Pompeii as soon as I saw it and loved it; when Imperium was coming out I was the only person to buy it on its release date (oh, how dedicated I am). After I moved bookstores, however, I fell out of the loop (as I mentioned previously) and didn’t quite follow him the way I’d have liked to. Now Conspirata is apparently the second book in the Cicero series (Imperium being the first). My goal now is to complete Imperium before Conspirata comes out, buy that one in hardcover (gasp! shock! but my others are also in hardcover) and actually start following a series of books for once in my life.
The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward
Release: October 7, 2008
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 0451225007
Right around this time I am going to be totally desperate for any taste of BDB ongoings, as the next actual book in the series comes out sometime in 2009. I’ll start lurking the message board again, adding my stupid little comments (when I add comments as a lurker I feel like that person with the “hurr-hurr” laugh who doesn’t realize she sounds really frightening), and generally poking at my friend who reads these books about how I miss them. What perfect timing for a compendium to come out, complete with explanations, questions answered, and mini stories about the brothers!
So, what I have learned from making this list is that I am far behind in my reading… Sure, recently I have been progressively getting through my TBR pile, but I tend to pick up new books before getting through older, more desired ones. (For example, that whole Gena Showalter thing? Those books were brand new! How strange that they didn’t sit on my mass market paperback pile for a year before I got around to reading them.)
Also, clearly, the beginning of October is going to be very busy for me, because that is when the majority of my books are coming out.
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Jun
'08
This is one of those books that I’ve been meaning to read for quite some time and now having read it I can’t figure out why I put it off for so long. (This, I suppose, is something you could say about all the books I read, because I have quite a large TBR pile and I rarely ever pick up books as soon as I buy them.) However, this book is all about escaping into the story, or rather, accidentally letting the story escape into your life, and I’ve lately needed a distraction. I’ve been trying to read two other books but they didn’t draw me in the way this one did; this one I couldn’t put down until I was done, and now I can only think of all the things I shouldn’t have recently purchased so I’d have enough money to buy the sequel! Anyway, suffice to say that this one was very well written.
There were only slight few things I didn’t like about this book. One, the quotes from other books at each chapter head. I’m not a big fan of this thing that authors like to do, whether it’s because they feel the quote explains a bit more about a theme in the chapter or because they derived some inspiration from that particular quote for a scene that would follow. I don’t mind if there are a few quotes starting or summing up a book, but to have them at every turn started to get rather annoying. Some of them didn’t even seem to tie into the following words, and I started to feel like they were only there to encourage younger readers to pursue the books being quoted. Of course, I am all for spreading the literary love, but it was distracting and, in my opinion, unnecessary.
Continuity errors abounds in this book! Most of them were towards the end, though, so I can’t explain them without giving anything away, but I did have to go back and read a few things and still didn’t find why that backpack was still there or where that character suddenly disappeared to (and it wasn’t one of the ones that fell into a book, else I’m sure the characters would have mentioned it as they did every other time). It’s frustrating to have to go back two steps and read something I’ve already read, especially in such an engrossing book. I felt I was inside this one, right there on the sidelines watching as Dustfinger did, but that every so often time had to reverse so that events could be played out again for more clarity. It definitely took away from the experience.
All that said, however, Inkheart is full of loveable (and hateable) characters, each of whom touches the reader in some way. Meggie, the daughter of Mo/Silvertongue, who loves her father so dearly that she would do anything to be close to him. Mo, the bookbinder who possesses a special gift - when he reads aloud, characters and objects jump out of the pages. Even Dustfinger, who I understood much better at the end but was completely unsure about throughout the book, was a man who loved his pet marten with the horns Gwin even if the little rascal bit him one too many times. He was slippery and silvery in this book, sometimes hated, pitied, and loved, but in the end found himself a special place. Others included Farid, a boy sprung from One Thousand and One Nights, Elinor, a strong-willed and equally bold-hearted woman who finds value in more than just her old books, and the mysterious Teresa, Meggie’s mother who disappeared into Inkheart the day that the villains came out of it.
The villains, of course, were as strongly developed characters as the heroes. Another thing to be admired about this book is how strongly woven the characters were. Some extras were included who didn’t have quite interesting backstories, but those who mattered were clearly thought out and brought into the world as kicking, screaming, perfectly functional characters. Capricorn was the main villain, a man so full of evil that he cared for nothing and no one but his own rise to power - not even his mother mattered to him, though he mattered very much to her. Basta, the oddest character in my opinion, was a heartless killer who was also very superstitious. I say he was ‘odd’ because I inevitably found him to be one of my favorite characters, even though I generally agree with the masses and like the “good” characters more than the “bad” ones. There was something spectacular about him that I can’t quite put my fingers on, though I suppose I have all of the next book to explore that.
The most intriguing part of this book was the inclusion of the author of Inkheart. No, I don’t mean Cornelia Funke; there is a book within a book here - the book Mo reads from called Inkheart from which springs Capricorn, Basta, and later more henchmen, and thus there is an author within the book as well. Fenoglio is a funny sort of old man, “turtle-faced” as the book describes him many times. He initially doesn’t think any of his characters can harm him, but quickly changes his mind once he is face to face with his most dreaded characters. What a strange twist to bring the author into all of this - there are plenty of books about books, books about the characters within the books, but when does the author ever appear? Do you meet the author in The Neverending Story? It does make one wonder about the authors of such books. I hope they’re all quirky old men.
Inkheart was overall extremely satisfying and I realize that’s not very descriptive. At the moment, it’s hard for me to put into words everything I liked about it without having to quote passages from it. One moment I felt my heart constrict, the next my mouth was watering for some apricots, then I found myself feeling extremely triumphant as one of the characters defeated her demons and shone brightly. It was engaging, thoughtful, and very significantly full of books. I love books about books, and so far this one takes the cake. Books are everywhere you turn in Inkheart and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one.
I Like Food, Food Tastes Good!
Jun
'08
I Like Food, Food Tastes Good, a cookbook with recipes from some of my favorite bands (and not so favorite bands) compiled by Kara Zuaro, has been sitting in my various kitchens since last year. (I say “various” because I’ve had three since I got the book.) I purchased the book as soon as I saw it; the appeal, of course, being that I’d actually heard of the cooks. It’s all well and fine to buy a Food Network star’s cookbook, but since I only watch cake competitions on the Food Network, Rachael Ray doesn’t really do much for me.
When I saw the Soup’s On challenge, I knew that this would be the first cookbook I’d use. It’s not the one I’ve had the longest, nor does it seem like it’d be the most fun (not much baking in here), but it is one of the more “well rounded” ones, offering recipes for breakfast, soups and starters, sandwiches, main courses for meateaters and vegetarians, drinks, and desserts. All from bands I admire! I also expected the ingredients relatively inexpensive to gather and the recipes quick to whip up, as I am not sure a lot of bands have tons of money and time to make dinner.
Before I continue on to what I made and what I enjoyed, I’m going to get something out of the way for this review and all others concerning cooking: My boyfriend is a picky eater. He won’t eat seafood, he hates most things that are green, and tofu is not even an option. (Seriously, even though tofu only tastes like whatever you’re eating it with, he won’t touch the stuff.) That in mind, I was unlimited in choices for what I’d try, but I had to be very particular about sharing this experience with him.
So! “I like food, food tastes good” is a lyric from a song by the Descendents called, appropriately, “I Like Food.” It’s a short song without a lot of flavor, but it’s catchy. Actually, it mostly consists of greasy things and ketchup, maybe a teenage girl here or there… But I was happy to see that overall the book named after the song was not full of such disgusting habits. I found quite a few recipes to be healthy and appealing, full of protein and just the right about of veggies, though the book is lacking in various fruit-related dishes (there are a few, but as I tend to like my reds and oranges more than my greens, I had hoped for more).
My first recipe was a breakfast selection, which I actually ended up eating for lunch. It was delicious and filling; I may have used too much tofu and not enough spinach, but I don’t have a lot of experience cooking. In fact, this is sad - I had to look up the word “saute” to see what the hell I was supposed to be doing with all those diced onions and squash. I’m hoping that this cookbook challenge will help me familiarize myself with cooking terms so I can some day be a good wife. Anyway, my Tofu Scramble recipe was submitted by Calexico, whom I’ve never heard, but who are a Tucson-based band that “zigzag” between indie rock, Latin music, country, blues, and jazz. I had to take out some of the ingredients I didn’t like (like the red bell pepper) and thus took out some of the color I’m sure this recipe would have flourished with, but overall I was pretty satisfied with it. Took about 20 minutes to prepare, though now that I know what “saute” means it’ll probably take less time when I make it again. Yellow onion, tofu, squash, zucchini, garlic cloves, and spinach all combine to make what the book calls an “alternative to scrambled eggs,” but which I call a very yummy meal. The recipe serves 2-3 people, but since I am only one person it was more than enough for a day or two of leftovers.
I made another selection just for Richard, because as I said, I didn’t want him to miss out on the fun of me actually cooking stuff. Well, I only kind of cheated on his, because it didn’t require doing anything which we don’t normally do – cooking Ramen. Suggested by a member of the band Strung Out, a band which I listened to for one or two minutes in the mid 90’s, the Rock’N’Ramen dish had a lot of appeal due to its name. It also involved two different kinds of Ramen, and it made Richard’s day. A winning combination! I didn’t eat any of it (it has pepper and Tabasco sauce, which are among the few ingredients I won’t eat) so I can’t give a personal account, but he wouldn’t have been able to put it down if I begged him after he took that first bite! Combining Creamy Chicken Ramen, Roast Chicken Ramen, Tabasco sauce, butter, pepper, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, and just a bit of milk apparently makes something worth ignoring your girlfriend!
From the dessert menu we tried the Oatmeal Cake suggested by Pelican. I wasn’t sure about this one - I like oatmeal and I like cake, but would I like them together? (Note: I am one of those sorry folks who does not think mixing great things always makes even greater things.) However, from years of experience in eating dough and batter, I knew it was going to be delicious once I had licked the spatula. It’s been ages since I’ve made a cake from scratch (ages, literally - I was probably about 10 the last time) but the effort was definitely worth it. It’s definitely a different texture in a cake than I’ve ever had - it’s gooey and soft and very thick. I whipped some cream cheese frosting on the top; there was a recipe for a topping but it involved coconut and evaporated milk, both ingredients which I didn’t happen to have lying around and thus couldn’t use on a whim. The cream cheese frosting complemented it quite well, though. This is a new favorite!
Though I only tried three recipes from this book, it was overall a rewarding experience. The food was good, I learned a bit about each band and why they recommend the recipes, and better yet - I had a successful first try at cooking meals that don’t come from a package! (Don’t mention the one that had Ramen in it, beacuse it also had other stuff, okay?) Just from browsing through I can see that the foods in this book will be relatively inexpensive and effortless, quick and easy, and most important of all - flexible. I made my Tofu Scramble into a Boca Scramble after my leftovers were gone and loved it almost just as much. I’ll be making fine use of this cookbook and I only have high hopes for the next.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Jun
'08
As amazing as this book turned out to be, I almost put it down shortly after I started it. Well, no, that’s a lie. I probably wouldn’t have put it down even if the world was shaking; I would have held onto the book and rescued it, along with my bunny, just so I could soak the words in the next day. What bothered me most about this book, however, was the writing style. I’ll get to that in a moment.
The book is narrated by Death, someone whom we all know very well, weather it be through relatives, parents, friends, or stories. It doesn’t matter which shape he comes in; he is as familiar to us as life the life we live every day. Death, in this particular title, has taken an interest in a little girl named Liesel Meminger. She’s a foster child who came to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann, who found herself a best friend (Rudy), and who later discovered a talent for stealing books.
At first I found the “Death thing” to be a bit goofy, but then I started to see how necessary it really was. Set in Nazi Germany, death colors the world in this book. It isn’t strange that I say it in that way, for if you’ve read this book you’ll know how Death sees the world in colors. When thousands of Jews die, Death sees a murky grey sky with splotches of footprints in the sky. Through his narration, Death evokes so many images involving deep, vivid colors, that the distortion is illustrated. Did you ever see the movie 300? Remember how everything was sort of “burnt” - darkened, crispy, extremely sharp? That is how I imagined this book through the colors that Death described.
Liesel becomes a book thief right off the bat, though she doesn’t get the nickname for quite some time. Her brother’s death is an underlying reminder in this book; he stays with Liesel and helps her, scolds her, holds her hand and haunts her. Her first book evoked memories of him; The Gravedigger’s Handbook had significance in that she stole it after her brother’s death. In fact, all the books that Liesel stole were more than just words. They all had meaning, memory, significance attached to them which Liesel fully knew and understood. She took a book from a burning pile of Jewish literature and Nazi propaganda, another few found their ways into her hands through an open window and a dusty library.
The books had words, sure; all books do. They had stories and meanings of their own true to their authors and readers. For Liesel, however, they signified time, place, and events. She learned to read from The Gravedigger’s Handbook and used that skill later to comfort friends and townspeople in a basement while the booms of the bombs rolled through their ears. She formed an unlikely friendship with the mayor’s wife after stealing a book written by a Jewish author; it burned her skin to take it just as the woman’s eyes burned into her while she watched, but Liesel carried it home painfully just to have it. It wasn’t merely the satisfaction of stealing (though that was also apparent throughout); it was knowing it was hers, keeping it, holding it, and reading it.
She later finds it in her to write. Her inspiration, I think, was Max, the Jew her family hid in the basement. I held back tears throughout most of this book, but I couldn’t hold them in when it came to Max. The final pages talked of what happened to every character, the gut-wrenching realities and heartfelt moments soaked in adding potential to my tear ducts, but nothing came out until Death told me about Max. (It may not be what you think, but it made me cry nonetheless.) Max with his feathery hair and leather skin asked Liesel to tell him about the weather. He wrote her a book; in this book, she found the importance of words.
This is one of those books that leaves you feeling conflicted. Some people tell me they can’t read Holocaust fiction because they hate the feelings that come with it. They hate being sad while they’re reading, they hate getting to know a character whose entire family dies, who wakes up one day and realizes that the world she/he lives in is full of death and sadness. They would rather engross themself in “lighter” literature - even that of a fictional war would be better. Personally, however, I relish the thought of reading a book which touches me so deeply that I cry unexpectedly after merely four days of reading. I can only imagine the thoughts Zusak must have had while he was writing this; perhaps even he was crying during the bombing of Himmel Street.
I promised I’d mention this again, so here I am: the writing style. It reminded me of my seventh grade stories. Sometimes I’ll write reviews in the style that the book was written to show what an effect it had, but it’d be difficult to write this one as it was so utterly annoying. There were words. They were in sentences. The sentences were short. Short like this. Sometimes things repeated. Repeated as if you didn’t know what was said. But I knew, oh yes, I knew. And soon you will know too. Then there was the boldness and the asterisks; whenever Death had an announcement to make, there would be huge bold letters announcing the announcement and a small group of words in explanation. It could have been just as easily stated within a paragraph, no bold letters, no centered text, but instead it was necessary to draw attention to these things. I didn’t like it! My eyes kept averting to those bold letters; sometimes I’d read them before I got to them, and sometimes I’d go back and reread them even while in the middle of a paragraph on the next page. It never ended.
That said, I read through the book quickly, and most people I’ve talked to about it have said that they finished it in one sitting. It wasn’t that easy, but it was that good.
A powerful book. I usually keep the books I love on my bookshelves to stare back at me and smile, but this one I loved so much that I’m resigned to bringing it into my used bookstore. I want other people to read it, to feel what I’ve felt, and to sit and think for a while. This book should be passed from hand to hand, read several times over; The Book Thief should give meaning to lives just as Liesel’s books gave to her. These aren’t merely words.
