NBA. (Not basketball)

Just Kids by Patti Smith

I wouldn’t’ve picked up this book if it hadn’t’ve won the National Book Award for nonfiction. But I wouldn’t’ve kept reading it unless I liked it.*

This is the kind of book that’s difficult to put down, and I’m still trying to figure out why that is.

Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe met when they were young and impoverished in New York, and they remained a couple, in their own way, for as long as they both lived. And yes, he was gay, and yes, she married another man. But, in a very real way, this book is about the way they each were the other’s person.

This book is a love letter to Mapplethorpe from his old friend, and it’s a memoir of a very unconventional life. Make that: two very unconventional lives.

It’s the sort of book that is true, yet seems like it must be make-believe. There are famous 70s counterculture figures popping up on every page, and they’re the minor characters in this story, which has Smith and Mapplethorpe planted firmly and fascinatingly at its center.

And this, from a reader who, before reading the book, would have failed any test that asked me to write one sentence describing their work.

In addition to describing a weird and wonderful (and true!) journey, the book is a pleasure to read. Smith’s writing is sheer loveliness; her sentences draw pictures.

Je ne sais quoi—it’s all over this thing.

* I also checked out the National Book Award for fiction, and made it about 5 pages before moving right along…

First great fiction book of the year

The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman

When reading this book (which I did all in one evening), I had that blissed-out feeling. Before I started, I wasn’t sure I was still in the mood for it. Just a few pages in, though, I was so darn happy.

First off, the book begins with Tess on bed rest during the final stage of her pregnancy. (Hello? How did I miss this news? Did Lippman just spring it on us, or was I really, really not paying attention earlier?)

And it’s totally an homage to both Rear Window (love it!) and The Daughter of Time, so complete happiness ensued.

Here’s how it starts: Tess is watching a woman in a green raincoat who walks her dog while talking with intensity on a cell phone each day, and then this scene happens:

“‘Is there anything else you need to make your haven perfect?’ Crow asked.

‘Binoculars,’ Tess said.” (p. 16)

It was then—on page 16—that I fell in love with this book. And I thought, Why can’t all books be this darn good?

Here’s the thing: This book is short (123 eBook pages, but 176 pages on paper apparently), and it’s a gorgeous little gem of a thing. It’s got the bedridden detective, the disapproving yet still helpful sidekicks, and the mysterious people she investigates from her chaise longue… none of whom is what s/he seems. Plus, there’s comic relief, such as the moment when Tess’s best friend Whitney buys Tess a diaper bag that has pockets for her two cell phones, gun, and pick locks. (“‘I have just the thing,’ Denise said, not the least bit phased by the mention of a gun. She truly was a pro.” [p. 67])

In addition to being a perfect diversion and a kick*** return by Tess, this great little mystery surprised me in the end.

Thanks to the good people of NetGalley for getting this ARC into my hot little hands.

Booking Through Thursday: Heavy

This week's question at Booking Through Thursday is:

What’s the largest, thickest, heaviest book you ever read? Was it because you had to? For pleasure? For school?

I'm thinking it has to be Gone with the Wind. I recall that it was over 1000 pages long in the edition I first read in high school.

At this very moment, I'm re-reading it for a genre study, and it's damn near killing me. That's a long heck of a book to re-read if you're not doing the re-reading of your own volition. (Frankly, Scarlett... I don't give a damn. I get it, Rhett; I do.)

But... when I'm not chafing from this experience, I'm finding that some parts of the book--most notably the parts that are excluded from the movie (a movie I loved, and many of whose lines I can speak even today, because I absorbed them while the movie ran in the background day after day while I did homework)--are really grabbing me.

On this forced re-read, I'm just wishing the darn thing were shorter. I'm not afraid of big books; I just want to choose them for myself!

Real Short Re-Cap: How Pleasure Works

How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like by Paul Bloom

Who knew a book about pleasure could be so unpleasant? Reading about cannibalism-by-choice really ramps down my sense of delight. Overall, this book was really interesting, but still I’m left with a sense of ick.

2011 Nonfiction Challenge

The Broke and the Bookish (love that name!) is hosting a fabulous Nonfiction Challenge.

The great thing about this challenge is that you are challenged to read across various types of nonfiction. All of that is explained below. Here are the rules, etc., from the mother ship:

Rules:
- The challenge runs from January 17th to December 31st 2011.
- Anyone who links a review up is eligible to be entered to win a book of their choice (under $15).
- Anyone can join. If you don't have a blog, you can link reviews on Goodreads or Amazon or wherever you have your reviews.
- You can join the challenge at any point throughout the year.

Here's the challenge:

Culture: Non-fiction books about different cultures, religions and foreign lands; memoirs & biographies count.

Art: Non-fiction books about anything art related (painters, music, architecture, photography, dance, literature, film, etc.). Memoirs/biographies of any people related to the arts count.

Food: Food memoirs, anything related to food industry, food lifestyles

Medical: anything related to the medical field--industry memoirs, memoirs about illnesses (mental included) /diseases, etc.

Travel: travelogues, industry memoirs, travel guides, etc.

Memoir/Biography: Self explanatory

Money: Anything related to finances, economics, history of money, financial improvement etc.

Science/Nature: Anything related to any scientific field, memoirs count.

History: Anything history related-- events, biographies of historic figures, etc.

Levels:
1-3 books from different categories: Master of Trivial Pursuit
4-6 books from different categories: Apply For Who Wants to Be A Millionaire
7-9 books from different categories: Future Jeopardy Champion

I'm going to participate at the "Future Jeopardy Champion" level, which means I'll read from all but 2 of the categories above. I strongly suspect I know which ones I'll avoid, but sometimes I surprise myself.

This page will be my home base for the project.

Books Read

1. Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism by Bob Edwards (memoir/biography)

2. Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books by William Kuhn (art)

3. Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts by Julian Rubinstein (culture)

4. The 10 Commandments of Money: Survive and Thrive in the New Economy by Liz Weston (money)

5. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson (history)

6. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach (science/nature)

7. Chocolate Chocolate: The True Story of Two Sisters, Tons of Treats, and the Little Shop that Could by Frances ark and Ginger Park (food)

Kennedy. Again.

The Kennedy Detail: JFK’s Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence by Gerald Blaine with Lisa McCubbin

First off, if you’re looking for scandal, skip this book. This guy is not spilling any of those kinds of secrets. Also, if you’re looking for conspiracy theories (which I find oh-so-tiresome), skip it.

If, however, you’re looking for the behind-the-scenes story of what it was like to protect the Kennedy family, this is your book.

The fellows assigned to protect the Kennedys were the first and only Secret Service agents to see a president assassinated on their watch. And really, there probably wasn’t a doggone thing they could have done about it. Kennedy himself said, on the morning of November 22, 1963, that if someone wanted to kill him, it would be easy to do from an upper-story window.

And—the part that the Secret Service did not speak of at the time (because they did not want to sound as though they were blaming JFK for his death)— is that Kennedy had asked, earlier that month, that the agents remain further away from his car so spectators could see him. This request had been passed through the chain of command, so that day in Dallas, the agents were not as close to the president as they would have liked to have been. (And yes, there’s all kinds of discussion of whether or not this is true. All right, already!)

The amazing thing is that the agents never talked about the assassination in the days and years following Kennedy’s death.

Since so much already has been written about the assassination, the thing about this book that will stick with me most is the information about the protection of Mrs. Kennedy and the children. The fellows on the “Kiddie Detail” seem like truly remarkable humans. Blaine describes how Caroline Kennedy rolled down the car window during the funeral cortege so she could hold the hand of special agent Bob Foster.

Even though this is just one more take on the old story we know so well, it’s fascinating to read.

Camelot rages on

Portrait of Camelot: A Thousand Days in the Kennedy White House by Richard Reeves

While visiting the Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum (witness flipped-out-with-bliss, wind-blown weirdo above) I saw this book in the gift shop (damn, I love presidential library gift shops!) And the DVD included with the book was running on the little TV screen there, and I knew I had to experience this thing.

This book is one of those timeless numbers. It’s completely a look book (that’s coffee table book in Unruly lingo), with photos by Cecil Stoughton, the president’s photographer (who was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa! It’s true! He was an Osky boy).

Small digression: On PBS, there’s a fully great documentary called The President’s Photographer, which follows President Obama’s photographer Pete Souza. At the time I’m posting this, the documentary can be viewed online. (I love that.)

Back to JFK—Cecil Stoughton was a master of capturing real moments; it’s really quite a lovely thing. And he’d become enough a part of the Kennedys’ lives that he was able to capture images of them that probably are about as natural as you’re going to get.

If you’re a Kennedy geek like me, here’s the thing to do with this book: Open to a page, do not look at the caption, and scan the photo to see how many people you can identify. Then check the caption to see how many faces you correctly identified. If you can correctly identify JFK’s sisters by name, you get bonus points. I tell you, it’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys (which has always sounded to me like no-fun-at-all, actually; why'd you put monkeys in a barrel, anyway?) For some of the speech photos and bill-signing photos, not all people are identified. But a person eventually recognizes McGeorge Bundy well enough to know it’s really him.

(photo credit: John F. Kennedy Library & Museum)

This book has a picture—or several—on every page. It is a feast for the eyes, and a veritable smorgasbord for the JFK geeks among us.

If I were a book buyer, I’d have to own this book. I actually may eventually break down and buy it, which is nothing short of a miracle—and very high praise for any book.

(Hey look! We're watching them watch Alan Shepard getting launched! [wild squealing commences] Look at how messy Evelyn Lincoln's office was! Look at Schlesinger, geeking out as only he could do!])

(photo credit: John F. Kennedy Library & Museum)

Real Short Re-Cap: Personality

First, this is the 1st of a thing. And it's posted on a date that, in its short version, consists only of 1s. (1/11/11, I like your simplicity.)

This is the 1st real short re-cap. (And yes, I know it should be "really short re-cap," but I like the sound of the incorrect version better. So that's what it'll be.)

I'll post these slacker blurbs whenever I feel like it, probably on Tuesdays--but not on every Tuesday, because I won't always feel like it.

Busting loose and being random and posting something lazy... that's what I'm talking about.

Aren't you excited?

Happy 1/11/11, everyone!

Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are by Daniel Nettle

Take the personality test at the back of the book first. Then read and learn about your weirdnesses. (Confession [necessary because I rate high on Conscientiousness]: I skimmed the introductory chapters and only paid attention to the chapters specifically related to the five characteristics.)

Remembering Diana

The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown

I’m still pretty darn honked off that Princess Diana died.

Years ago, I bought the book Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words by Andrew Morton. But I’ve never read it, possibly because I was not ready to deal with some of the ugliness of the truth, and probably because I was still dealing with the fact that she was gone. (And, actually, The Diana Chronicles tells which parts are fabrication, which is rather interesting.)

And now, over a decade later, with all of this new royal wedding stuff in the news, my love for biographies of the British royal family has been reawakened. Yep, I’m on a kick.

The Diana Chronicles is a big, gloriously gossipy book. And to listen to it requires 21 hours and 21 minutes. Good grief. It made me wish I could listen to this audiobook while reading another actual book, but multitasking doesn’t really work like that. Instead, an unusual amount of exercising and housework took place, as I listened to this book with a certain compulsion.

We see Diana here as an actual human being, which means that she doesn’t always do good things. But it also makes sense why she was the way she was; after all, there were, quite famously, three people in her marriage.

The other thing that becomes clear is that, despite having often described herself as intellectually “thick as a plank,” Diana was smart enough to outsmart the royal family more often than not. For example, in the divorce, she made sure they were playing for public opinion before she engaged in battle; that was a fight she could win hands-down.

There are charming things here, too, such as Diana’s loving to visit friends and do their ironing, just for the wonderful normalness of it. And sad things, like the speculation that all her life she was seeking—and never finding—a loving family life to make up for the broken family in which she was raised.

I really wished I could have stopped after the 15^th CD, because after that, she was gone. And it was as though the lights went out all over again.

Booking Through Thursday: Resolutions

At Booking Through Thursday, here's this week's question:

Any New Year's reading resolutions?

Usually I don't do the New Year's resolution thing because I think it's vaguely bogus. But this year, I'm jumping right on that bandwagon. Why the hell not?

When it comes to the bookish resolutions, I got a head-start on it (back before year-end, when I typically get all irritable about the whole resolutions thing), and I committed to some stuff during Book Blogger Appreciation Week. We were asked for our blogging goals for the year ahead, and I said I'd do some stuff.

Here's the succinct version:

1. Post photos of my bookshelves.

2. Read 100 books.

3. Do another reading challenge or two. (status update)

4. Host another reading challenge. (status update)

5. Post occasional super-short re-caps of books. (Watch for the first one next Tuesday!)

I'm calling that exactly enough.

3-year-old

I'm kind of in the mood for cake.

It's been 3 years of blogging, and a gal gets hungry, you know? And then she needs a fancy cake.

But probably I'll just celebrate by reading a book. Which, actually, sounds darn festive.

Here we go... Year 4, watch out, here I come!

Historical Fiction Challenge

Historical Tapestry is hosting the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011, and I am going to participate.

From their blog, here's the scoop:

After 3 years organizing the Historical Fiction Challenge, the girls of The Royal Reviews gracefully passed over this exciting event to our team at Historical Tapestry. We will do our best to continue doing a great job and create a wonderful place to share and discuss our favourite (and less favourite) historical fiction books for the next year.

Each month, a new post dedicated to the HF Challenge will be created. To participate, you only have to follow the rules:

• everyone can participate, even those who don't have a blog (you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish)

• add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review)

• any kind of historical fiction is accepted (HF fantasy, HF young adult,...)

• you can overlap this challenge with others kind of challenges

• During these following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

1. Severe Bookaholism: 20 books
2. Undoubtedly Obsessed: 15 books
3. Struggling the Addiction: 10 books
4. Daring & Curious: 5 books
5. Out of My Comfort Zone: 2 books

The challenge will run from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011.

I'm going to participate at the 10-book level. It will be good for me. It will!

Books Read

1. The President's Lady: A Novel about Rachel and Andrew Jackson by Irving Stone

2. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

3. Keeping the House by Ellen Baker

4. The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir

5. The Sun's Bride by Gillian Bradshaw

6. The Great Circle by Peter Prince

7. Women of Magdalene by Rosemary Poole-Carter

8. Christy by Catherine Marshall

9. The Alienist by Caleb Carr
10. Heart of a Lion by Gilbert Morris
11. A Place Called Trinity by Delia Parr

3Rs Challenge

One of the things I love about book blogs is discovering books other bloggers love. And that's what the 3Rs Challenge is all about.

Here's how the 3 hosting bloggers describe it:

The Three R's is a collaboration of the minds of Cheryl from CMash Loves to Read, Julie from Reading with Restraint, and Gina from Hott Books. The ideas, the creativity, and the technology - respectively. We're each putting forth what we can do to spring this to life.

It all started because Cheryl wanted to remember the bloggers who write the reviews that begin our journey to a new book, new series, or new author. Every day each of us reads the reviews of others shaping our TBR lists. Then we occasionally remember to note them in our post but, more often than not, we completely forget about the reviews that brought us to the wonderful book we've just read.

So this challenge is for them!

We'd like to link our reviews that mention the blogger that suggested the book we've read and are now reviewing.

How thankful are you?

• 1-6 Books (~1 review every 2 months)
• 7-12 Books (~1 reviews every month)
• 13-24 Books (~ 2 reviews every month)

Rules:

We're not making this a difficult challenge, actually, it's going to be very simple!

1. This challenge will begin on January 1, 2011 and end on December 31, 2011.
2. Write a starting post stating how thankful you plan to be in the upcoming year and link it to the linky we'll have on the starting post.
3. Read a book recommended to you by another blogger. (This book can be a crossover from another challenge.)
4. Review the book & Recognize the blogger who recommended it to you.
5. Recommend the Book in our Recommend linky by linking your review post naming the blogger who recommended the book to you.

Easy, right? Who wants to be in on the fun?

I'm going to participate at the "1-6 Books" level. I'm very excited about the books I'll find in 2011 by reading others' blogs, and I look forward to crediting them for their great recommendations.

1. The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe (recommended by Bybee of Naked Without Books!)

2. The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst (recommended by Gary of Book Group Buzz)