Book Review: Olive Kitteridge

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

This series of short stories revolves around life in a small town. There is no single viewpoint (some stories are told from Olive Kitteridge's point of view, some told by other residents) ... there is no set time frame (some take place when Olive is an old woman, some while she is still teaching junior high) ... and there is no central action (each story stands on its own and tells a different tale). The only unifying thing is the setting (Crosby, Maine) and Olive Kitteridge, who makes an appearance (or at least gets a mention) in each story.

Despite all this, it works. I enjoyed the book and felt that author Strout had at times really captured the essence of everyday human life with all its struggles. Life is messy and confusing (even when it's going well), and she didn't shrink away from that. She just wrote about it simply and honestly.

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Review originally posted to LibraryThing (LT review, 12/22/07) as part of its Early Reviewers program

Early reviewer copies

I got notified by LibraryThing that I will be getting 2 books through their Early Reviewers program. I got one a few months ago, but I lucked out to get 2 in this round.

• There's No Place Like Here by Cecelia Ahern
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

The requests for each book far outnumber the available copies, so many people go empty-handed each month. I'm not sure what I did to be so fortunate, but I'm looking forward to reading (and reviewing) them both.

Book Review: A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
As performed by Jonathan Winters

This audio adaptation of A Christmas Carol was done for NPR, I believe. (The cover blurb said that this version is a special performance edition created by Dickens himself.) It's well done, and I enjoyed listening to it. I admit I got distracted, though, whenever I noticed that the story line skipped over something.

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Review originally posted to LibraryThing (LT review, 12/4/07)

Quirky Blogs

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite "quirky" blogs. I still marvel at the myriad of topics that people find to blog about!

Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians ... http://menwholooklikeoldlesbians.blogspot.com/... The name says it all, I think.

Passive Aggressive Notes ... http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ ... Be careful about leaving notes for people who annoy you. They may get posted online!

Post Secret ... http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ ... Read the secrets that people share via anonymous postcards.

Book Review: Rethinking Thin

Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting… by Gina Kolata

I really enjoyed her book on the flu, so I had great expectations for this book. But it took me a while to get through this because I kept putting it down. It didn't always grab me, but when it did I thought it was good.

I liked the perspective that there are many factors involved in America's obesity rather than just "eat less, exercise more." There are many people (myself included!) for whom eating better and exercising more would make a huge difference. But that is not the whole picture for all people.

Overall, an informative read.

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Review originally posted to LibraryThing (LT review, 9/27/07).

Book Review: Gifted

Gifted: A Novel by Nikita Lalwani

This is the story of Rumi, a mathematically gifted child, at ages 10, 14, and 15. Her parents emigrated from India to Wales, and Rumi has lived in Wales her whole life with a couple of trips back to India. Her whole life revolves around her father's efforts to get her admitted to Oxford early (strict study schedules, practice exams, etc.). Her mother meanwhile tries to uphold traditional cultural values and roles within the home and is resentful of having to leave India.

I never really connected with any of the characters, and I found myself not really caring what happened to them. Outwardly Rumi seemed to struggle both with her parents' expectations and with normal adolescent nightmares, but I never got a clear sense of what she was feeling or thinking ... just how she reacted to a series of somewhat disjointed situations. I got much more of a picture of the mother's feelings and frustrations throughout the book than Rumi's.

It took me forever to finish the book because I kept putting it down ... and I'm not sure I would have picked it up again if it weren't an Early Reviewer copy. The last section of the book flowed much easier, though, and had me reading right along until the end.

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Review originally posted to LibraryThing (LT review, 8/15/07) as part of its Early Reviewers program.

Naming the Presidents

Can you name all the U.S. Presidents?

I ran across this article about forgotten Presidents, and it reminded me of the time several years ago when a friend and I tried to name all the Presidents. We couldn't do it. And I'm not just talking about getting the order wrong. We couldn't even come up with all the names. That bothered me, so I make an attempt (albeit shortlived) to learn them all.

Then about a year ago the same conversation come up with a co-worker. I did pretty well, but once again I couldn't come up with all the names.

Is naming the Presidents something you can do? Should you be able to? Or maybe it's just a nifty thing to know but not necessary in this day and age?

Cheating?

The New York Times had an article yesterday about audiobooks and whether it's "cheating" to listen to a book rather than read a hard copy. The prevailing opinion in the article seemed to be that it is cheating ... or at least something to be ashamed of.

I listen to books in the car all the time. I'm careful to get unabridged versions (because I'll admit I'm prejudiced against abridged versions), so I really feel that I've "read" the book. My mind may wander at some points, but that can happen when I read print books as well.

I don't understand how anyone can say that this type of reading doesn't count or is somehow "cheating." It's simply a different way of enjoying a book. Do people really think that a vision-impaired person who listening to an audiobook didn't read the book?

Missing in Inaction

Apparently I'm not very good at updating a blog. I marvel as I read other people's blogs that they come up with something to write every day. I suppose, like everything else, it's a matter of making something a habit. The more you do it, on a regular basis, the easier and more second-nature it becomes. I'll have to work on that.

Part of my problem is that I haven't focused in on what it is I want to write about. I'm very active at my church and interested in things religious ... particularly in the United Church of Christ ... so do I want to write about things that happen at church?

I'm also very involved in my local Republican party ... so should I comment on politics? Republican viewpoints? Conservatives?

I'm a book fanatic and spend way more time than I should perusing www.librarything.com ... but do I want to write about just books?

I suppose I'll try to write about anything ... anything at all ... at least until I get a bit more consistent. Once it's a habit and I've written more, maybe I'll see a natural tendency toward one issue or another.

Reading the Old Testament

For the last year, David Plotz over on slate.com has been Blogging the Bible. He started reading the Old Testament and making a separate blog entry for (almost) each book. I thought that was a brilliant idea and thought I'd read along with him ... yeah, right. That didn't happen. Apparently he's finished his read and has made his last blog post.

Virtual Villagers

I've been playing a game called Virtual Villagers. You basically have to train these stranded villagers how to gather food, build huts, have babies, and learn new skills. They learn as they go and progress from Trainee to Master along the way. The game also keeps playing even when you have the game closed or your PC turned off. (I learned the hard way that you have to pause the game when you're away from the PC. All my villagers died!)

So that's how I'm spending my evenings. I keep an eye on the villagers while I work on other things.

I am addicted to LibraryThing. I haven't cataloged all my books yet, but I'm getting there. For a while, I was buying books just for the joy of entering them in my catalog! Okay ... I've gotten over that a bit. But I still tinkering with the tags that I've added.

They're based in Portland, Maine ... right next door. Too bad I'm not a database guru in need of a job, huh?