Sometimes I feel like the luckiest reader ever

The Fiddler in the Subway: The True Story of What Happened When a World-Class Violinist Played for Handouts… and Other Virtuosic Performances by America’s Foremost Feature Writer by Gene Weingarten

If you were to be within, say, 20 feet of me this fall, here’s what would happen: Within 5 minutes, I’d’ve finagled a mention of this great book I’ve been reading. And then I’d’ve started to rave.

I might even have whipped out the book and read aloud to provide proof. (Actually, only two of my nearest/dearest have been so afflicted. But they thanked me for it. I think.)

Before I begin doing the raving thing here, a disclaimer: Yes, I made the conscious choice to select the deadly, utterly pukey combination of “Laughed Out Loud” and “Made Me Cry” when tagging this sucker. It almost makes me recoil. But I’m telling you the truth here. (Prepare to disengage the gag reflex. Here it comes…) I laughed. I cried. Sometimes during the same blasted article. (“Yankee Doodle Danny”—I’m looking at you.)

Gene Weingarten is a writer for the Washington Post, and he rocks my world.

And here’s one more ginormous reason to love the Post: They’ve got lots of his articles available on their web site. (Thank you!)

Including the title article from this collection (which includes a recording of Joshua Bell’s subway performance, which makes me love the Post even more today than yesterday).

Weingarten’s writing is simply brilliant. By which I mean: simple and brilliant. While these articles are easy to read, it’s because each word is perfectly selected.

And besides that, Weingarten seems to truly like people. And this makes him a delightful companion as he visits the town designated “The Armpit of America,” when he accompanies a man who is a beloved performer at children’s parties, and when he writes about the man who wrote the Hardy Boys mysteries. (I confess: He had me on page v, in the 2^nd paragraph of the Acknowledgments, in which he includes “Franklin W. Dixon” among the authors he thanks.)

If you want to test out the “laugh/cry” thing in this book--or just plain read something perfect--I recommend turning to page 155: “If You Go Chasing Rabbits…” This is one of those things I read and know that I’ll always remember. Can’t stop thinking about it, and don’t really want to.

I'm doing the Reading Madly challenge!

Yup, I'm hosting it, and I'm participating, too.

Man, if this were a party, I'd have to be one heck of a hostess to actually have fun at my own soiree.

Actually, I suck at hosting parties, so it's good that this thing is virtual.

So -- I've got a whole bunch of Mad Men-related books in mind to read next year, so I've selected the "TV Ad" level and will read 7 books, of which at least 2 will be fiction and 2 nonfiction.

I've already read the most obvious choice, which is Mad Men Unbuttoned. So I'll be heading in different directions.

Some of the books on my virtual Reading Madly nightstand (which may or may not get read, depending on my mood):

Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy

Letters to Jackie: Condolences from a Grieving Nation by Ellen F. Fitzpatrick

Fifth Avenue, 5 A. M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman by Sam Wasson

The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s by G. Calvin Mackenzie

I may also attempt Robert Caro's 3-volume biography-- or Robert Dallek's 2-volume biography -- of LBJ.

This page will be my home base for my own progress on this challenge. See you back here next year!

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Updates

1/23/11 -- OK. This thing is starting out with a bang. Just realized I read the wrong book. I'd meant to read Letters to Jackie but instead just finished Dear Mrs. Kennedy. You can see why I got mixed up. Anyway, I think I'm not going to read them both. Dear Mrs. Kennedy was pretty sad, and I think that's all I can take of the condolence letter books.

I've read two books I considered adding to the list for this challenge, but I'm going to refrain from doing so. Their link to Mad Men is not as strong as some of the other stuff I want to read for the challenge, so I'm going to consider these to be bonus, semi-Mad books:

Dylan in America by Sean Wilentz

[Dylan was in New York during the early 60s; I think maybe Peggy Olson mentions him once. Maybe?]

Hey Buddy: In Pursuit of Buddy Holly, My New Buddy John, and My Lost Decade of Music by Gary W. Moore

[Buddy Holly died in February 1959, and his music continued to be released into the 1960s. Plus, he was a huge influence on the Beatles and the Stones, so Buddy raved on even after he was gone.]

2/12/11 -- Two more books finished (#2 and #3 below). Reviews coming soon. I'll link 'em after I post 'em.

2/16/11 -- OK. I'm actually *not* going to write about one of the books I just finished. I enjoyed it, enough, but I ain't got nothing else to say about it. (I refer to #3 below.) That's all.

3/23/11 -- Just finished The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe last night. Am still stunned by how much I liked it! Thanks to Bybee for recommending it on her blog.

9/22/11 -- Added The Path to Power by Robert A. Caro to the list. I read it in May. It's volume 1 of the 3-volume (so far) biography of LBJ, and it is nothing short of amazing.

10/27/11 -- Finished After This by Alice McDermott, which was a really good choice for Reading Madly.

11/2/11 -- Another one! Just finished listening to Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy: Interviews with Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., 1964. 

  

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Books Read

1. Dear Mrs. Kennedy: The World Shares Its Grief: Letters, November 1963 by Jay Mulvaney and Paul De Angelis (nonfiction)

2. Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy (nonfiction)

3. 5th Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman by Sam Wasson (nonfiction)

4. The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe (fiction)

5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (fiction)

6. The Path to Power by Robert A. Caro (nonfiction)
7. After This by Alice McDermott (fiction)
8. Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy: Interviews with Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., 1964 (nonfiction)

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Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Jackie!

You are a Jackie. "I do everything the right way."
Jackies are realistic, conscientious, and principled. They strive to live up to their high ideals.

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Reading Madly Reading Challenge

If you’re a Mad Men person, this reading challenge is for you!

The challenge: Read books related to Mad Men.

And when I say “related,” the relationship can be tangential… You get to choose.

Think:

- books read by characters on the show

- books published in the late 1950s and early/mid-1960s

- books about the early/mid-1960s: JFK, LBJ, feminism, race relations, space race, Cold War, Vietnam War

- books about advertising

Anything that you can tie in to Mad Men qualifies. If you can justify it to yourself, you’re all set.

Choose your level of participation:

TV AD: Read 7 books—at least 2 fiction and 2 nonfiction.

FULL-PAGE AD: Read 5 books—at least 2 fiction and 2 nonfiction.

HALF-PAGE AD: Read 3 books—at least 1 fiction and 1 nonfiction.

Rules:

1. The challenge runs from January 1 – December 31, 2011.

2. Participants may join anytime before December 31, 2011.

3. Re-reads, audiobooks, and overlaps with other challenges are fine.

4. No need to list your books beforehand, and no need to write reviews. We’re keeping this simple, people.

5. Create an intro post linking to this blog.

6. Then sign up here via Mr. Linky (below), using your intro post’s address.

7. The graphic is yours to lift to use on your site—go ahead and take it.

8. Pour yourself a libation, grab a book, and enjoy!

Technolust: Satisfied

Frugalista pays top dollar for self-indulgent bookish purchase

Here's what happened:

A few weeks ago, the urge to own an eReader overtook me. It came upon me like the flu.

And then I learned that the nook color was due out at the end of November. All self-control: lost.

And so this week I hightailed it over to B&N and bought me one.

For a noted cheapskate, it was quite a moment. But I swear, I nearly was squealing with delight at the thing.

And there are many beauties of the thing. (prepare for full-blown ad-like behavior)

Book Stuff

It can hold thousands of books. This could help reduce my tendency to pack over-the-weight-limit luggage when traveling. (As if.)

It's backlit, which, yes, apparently is harder on the eyes than e-ink, but... I can read in the dark. (Can anyone say superpower?)

[squealing commences]

This puppy is compatible with the eBooks available free from my library, so theoretically I can continue to go through life book-purchase-free.

eAudiobooks (also free from my library! Actually, I'll probably still use the iPod for these guys. It's my only other fancy gizmo, and I can't imagine life without it.)

Also, can get ARCs via NetGalley, given that I'm a book blogger and all

Other Stuff

In wifi hotspots, I can look at the interwebs. In full glorious color, peoples!

Music: my own stuff, plus Pandora

There are hella cute covers available. (I'm all about the gizmo accessories. It's a flaw in my character.) I was this close to buying the hot pink cover, but then reason returned and I went with the brown leather one. Nothing like wrapping your eReader in a dead cow, right?

Fiction Bonanza, Part 2

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

With all the hoopla about Franzen, Picoult, and Weiner, and their nasty little literary feud--plus Oprah and Franzen having that little tiff a while back--I probably’d’ve dodged this puppy. Why buy into the drama, right?

But then President Obama picked up an advance copy of Franzen’s Freedom while on vacation, and I am quite apt to buy into that kind of thing.

So I placed a hold at the library, and one lovely day my book came in.

And I gotta tell you: I liked it from the start. I was just wrapping up The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass, whose The Whole World Over bowled me over, and I found that Freedom was its equal in character development, plotting, and expressive language. Without being too full of itself or seeming to try to hard to impress. (Lord, deliver me from that.)

And it was filled with sentences of delight, like this one: “Merrie, who was ten years older than Patty and looked every year of it, had formerly been active with the SDS in Madison and now was very active in the craze for Beaujolais nouveau.” (p. 7) That’s the sort of thing that keeps a person reading through 562 pages. (562 pages, yes, you read that correctly.)

Probably the central figure is Patty Berglund, a St. Paul housewife. There’s also her husband Walter, an environmental activist type, plus their kids (mainly son Joey, because daughter Jessica is too well-adjusted to get much airplay). And then there are the people surrounding them: Walter’s minor rock star buddy, Richard; Walter’s doting assistant Lalitha (who is not-so-secretly in love with him); and neighbor girl Connie, who is in love with Joey.

And, with 500-some-odd pages to fill, lots of crap happens.

At one point, I was given to wonder which characters were actually worse humans: the ones with a strong conscience, or those who completely lacked such an inconvenience.

Since the book is called Freedom, I was on the lookout for mentions of the word, which appeared often throughout the book.

Here’s my summary: This book is about the freedoms enjoyed by Americans in the early 21^st century, and the ways that many, many, many of us use that very freedom to royally screw up our lives.

Earlier this year, I wrote about messed-up marriage books. We can add this one to that pile.

Fiction Bonanza, Part 1

The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass

With Julia Glass books, I’m a hit-or-miss reader. This one, like The Whole World Over, hit me. (This is a good thing, this hitting.)

Like The Whole World Over, it’s an ensemble cast sort of thing.

The widower of the title is Percy Darling, a retired Harvard librarian. He seems mostly likeable, though I could see that he might be hard to take in real life—a bit too impressed with his own cleverness. But altogether a decent sort.

And then there are his two daughters, who are as different as night and day.

And a teacher at the new preschool that’s erupting out in Percy’s barn (which he endures only because it will benefit the prodigal daughter).

And his college-age grandson, the apple of his eye.

And an immigrant gardener who enters the fold.

And then Percy—who’s in the autumn of his life—starts dating! So we get Sarah and her young son, too.

A big old cast, which is what Glass does best.

And then there’s a plot, too! There’s the conflict between the daughters and the resulting family angst, and there’s a group of covert environmental activists (terrorists?) on the loose in Percy’s historic and upscale New England town, and Percy’s life is changing in some big ways for the first time in years (and some of it ain’t good).

A big old-fashioned, yet new-fangled, novel.

Booking Through Thursday: War Stories

From Booking Through Thursday...

It is November 11th, known here in the U.S. as Veteran’s Day, formerly Armistice Day to remember the end of WWI but expanded to honor all veterans who have fought for their country, so…

Do you read war stories? Fictional ones? Histories?

Why, yes, I do.

In fact, among some of my colleagues, I've become notorious for always talking about war books.

Not sure what that's all about, but I just can't seem to get enough.

Here's a short list of some of my favorites:

Best novel: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Best recent nonfiction book: War by Sebastian Junger

Best science fiction novel: Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein (I know this sounds weird, but this book gave me a strong sense of what it must be like to be a soldier)

Best historical novels:

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (the book that launched me into years of reading Civil War books and tromping through battlefields)

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (I'm very grateful to both teachers who assigned it)

Flash! Newspapers in Trouble

Morning Miracle: Inside The Washington Post: A Great Newspaper Fights for Its Life by Dave Kindred

The Washington Post is the newspaper that brought us the Watergate story, which is one of my most favoritest tales of all time. So I have a serious soft spot for the Post.

So the second subtitle of this book made me not want to read it. I really don’t want to think about the Post going up in flames. It’s truly disturbing.

But, knowing that the book’s due date would arrive before I knew it, I cracked it, and I got all sucked in.

Here’s the first reason why: The author begins the book with a cast of characters that provides about a half-page blurb about each journalist/editor/owner. (The list starts with Ben Bradlee, so I was a goner.) The anecdotes are sheer perfection.

But then we got into the “newspapers are dying” stuff, and it got rather more serious.

It’s no news that newspapers are screwed because of the interwebs. So they’re trying to figure out where they fit, and meanwhile, many of the thoughtful pieces of news analysis that took, say, five days to write, now are going the way of the dodo bird. So we just might be left with crappy writing, shallow analysis, and a crumbling fourth estate.

This is not good news.

This book, however, is rather a delight to read. The author is a journalist, so he can write. And the stories—and the stories behind the stories—provide insight into what’s going on in the administrative offices and in the newsrooms of the Post. Much of it ain’t pretty. And the consensus seems to be: The Washington Post of the past ain’t coming back.

I’m entering my mourning period by checking out The Fiddler in the Subway by Gene Weingarten and Herblock: A Cartoonist’s Life by Herbert Block.

Lehane book: On the street

OK, yes, it's election day, and I'm voting and you should do it, too.

But, guys, there's another big thing happening today.

Yes, I'm talking about the release of Dennis Lehane's long-awaited Kenzie/Gennaro mystery, Moonlight Mile.

If I hadn't already been given an ARC (oh, joyous day!) I'd've had a copy pre-0rdered at Amazon. This, from a woman who dudn't buy books.

Get thee to your polling place, and then to the nearest bookstore. I'm serious. You'll thank me.