July-September books

 Wow, I really haven't posted in a while, haven't I? I didn't read any books in June.

I picked up triple threat & bicon Alan Cumming's memoir, Not My Father's Son, from the dollar store and read it in July. It's about his childhood under the thumb of his terrifying, abusive father, and about him learning about his estranged WWII veteran grandfather by going on a celebrity genealogy TV show, drawing parallels between both of these stories. This book was difficult to read due to the abuse, but it was so good, and it's clear Cumming is in a good place now and going to therapy and stuff. He's an excellent writer, and I'm glad I read this book. 4/5 stars, giving away. Trigger warnings for this book: child abuse, physical abuse, violence, suicide mention, emotional abuse, trauma, domestic abuse, alcoholism, PTSD mention, firearm misuse mention, infidelity, I can't remember any more

 

August's first book was Samantha Irby's We Are Never Meeting In Real Life. I've read her first book of memoir essays, Meaty, and this was just as good and gross and hilarious and sad as that. She writes about her relationships (including with her now-wife), IBS, her cat and her job which she hates, her father dying, and more. I follow Sam on social media and she is a delight. 4/5 stars, keeping (bought this one from Target). Trigger warnings for this book: death, alcoholism, gross body stuff, sexually explicit scenes, depression I think, racism I think

 

Next I read another dollar store book, The History of Food in 101 Objects. This book was very interesting, with a lot of food and food production facts and colorful photographs. I wish there had been a bibliography or reference list; as a librarian, I side-eye any nonfiction book that doesn't say where their information came from. You don't have to have in-text citations! Just throw a list of your sources in at the end! No one will read it anyway! There is also no listed author, which was weird to me. Another weird thing: I am not sure of the intended audience for this book. Is it for kids? Is it for adults? It works and doesn't work for both. Either way, it's a great bathroom book. 3.5/5 stars, giving away. No triggers that I can think of, unless you have food-based triggers

 

My September book (also from the dollar store) was Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler, which is a modern-day retelling of The Taming of the Shrew. They updated the story by having the main character Kate's love interest be her father's research assistant Pyotr who needs to get married to an American to get a green card. I thought this was incredibly selfish of her father to just offer her up just because she was single, even for someone who lived entirely in the world of the mind. It made me sad how he cared way more about his research than his daughters. Kate really isn't a shrew, just extremely honest/blunt and lacking in social skills (possibly on the autism spectrum, as well as her dad), and her 15 year old sister Bunny is pulled straight out of a 1950s teen dream movie or something. Her name is Bunny, for starters, which is in no way an actual nickname for Berenice or whatever, she's always on the landline phone with boys, and she twirls her hair around her finger and says stuff like "isn't it nice of you to say so?" to them. Nobody born after 1970 talks like that. She has an older boyfriend who is 19, and no one besides Kate sees how creepy and wrong that is. The dad does not care and does nothing. Kate decides to go through with the wedding because she wants a different life for herself and Pyotr says he'll put her through grad school. The wedding is completely disastrous, with Pyotr showing that he cares more about the research then anything else, even though the book was trying to convince us that he liked her. Kate's big "men should dominate women, actually" speech in the Shakespeare play is changed to "it's really hard to be a man because they can't talk about their feelings and aren't given social tools to deal with them like women are". Which, whatever. Overall, I mostly liked Kate and the way her work at a preschool was written about, as well as the observations about how people Kate knew became way nicer to her once they learned she's engaged. Society really loves it when women conform to its roles for them. Overall, kind of disappointed in the book, although the writing is good. I'd read more from this author. It may interest you to learn that the book is part of a series, Hogarth Shakespeare series, that is all modern retellings of Shakespeare plays. 3.5/5 stars, giving away. Cover notes: I like this one better than my copy. Trigger warnings for this book: parental neglect and selfishness, adult dating a teenager, one character punches another (but he deserves it), mention of death from heart condition (I think)

Books roundup: April & May books

April's book (I am not reading much these days) was The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli, which I got from a thrift store since I loved his Maniac Magee. Instead of a novel, it's a series of short stories about children/teens who have their lives changed by a magical library card that seems to follow them around, and by the public library or a bookmobile. Two of the teens (boys) are troubled, while one girl makes an unlikely friend, and another learns that her television addiction is keeping her from living life. The TV story was my least favorite. The adult up-in-arms anxiety about television rotting kids' minds or holding them in thrall is so outdated, even in the mid-nineties when Spinelli wrote this book. TV has been around since the late 1940s, for pete's sake. The internet/world wide web (since it's the nineties) should be the focus of that concern, if you must have one. Books are healthier for children to engage with than television, overall, but I'd rather have kids watching good television shows than reading crap like Twilight. Adults are always scared of the newest media, but the TV isn't even new anymore. It's silly and a waste of time to write stories like this. Your life isn't going to end because you watch a lot of TV. Just make sure your kids aren't watching trash and they'll be fine. 3.5 out of 5 stars, with half a star off because of the sadness and TV-scare nonsense. Giving away.  Trigger warnings for this book: violence, teen character beats up a child and breaks things, a character attempts to hold up a vehicle and threatens to hurt others with a knife, mental illness, character has history of self harm and has visible scars on her arms, anger issues, homelessness, shoplifting, vandalism

May's book was a small illustrated hardcover book called The Wandering Goose: A Modern Fable of How Love Goes by Heather L. Earnardt, with lovely illustrations by Frida Clements. This read, which I purchased at the dollar store, is very short. It's a philosophical kind of fable on love and the loss of love. A bug and a goose fall in love, but the goose has to leave to follow his wanderer's heart. I'm 99% sure that the bug and the goose represent the author and a significant other she had. The illustrations and prose are very lovely, but the ending is very abrupt and unsatisfying; it just ends with the bug's heartbreak. I was literally like, that's it? Usually when a character's heart gets broken, I want to read about them reuniting with their lost love, or finding a new love that is better than the one that broke their heart, or picking up the pieces and learning to become a strong independent bug who don't need no goose, but we don't get any of that. I will be giving this one away. 3.5 out of 5 stars. Trigger warnings for this book: none that I can think of, besides the oddness of a bug and a goose falling in love. Don't geese eat bugs?

long rambly 2020 post, mostly about a restaurant

 I miss Souplantation. My family ate there at least every other month, sometimes up to a couple times a month, ever since I was small. I know the layout of that restaurant--the buffet sections, the tables and chairs, the shitty bathrooms that were somehow untouched by the decor update in the 2010s--better than I know most of my relatives' houses. We sat at the corner round table in the side/front of the restaurant as often as we could, calling it "our table". Dad would sit with his back to the corner, mom would sit at his right with her back to the side parking lot, I would sit at his left, and my siblings would sit between me and mom. We usually had to forgo our trays, as there were six of us crammed at that table. I loved the muffins and cookie bars, the pizza and focaccia bread, the range of possibilities at the salad bar (even though I'd pretty much always get the same thing). Their ranch and blue cheese dressings are the best I've ever had. Even the dull plastic plates, cups and trays were familiar to me. I always seemed to get a fork with bent (inward) tines. 

When the pandemic began, I thought everything would go back to normal in a month; two, tops. I never dreamed that restaurant would close. Small indie mom & pop restaurants? Yes, sadly. But not successful salad bar chains like Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes. There was a Sweet Tomatoes in Walnut Creek, which we ate at a couple of times when visiting my brother and sister in law, and a Souplantation near the LA airport! I can't believe we're never going to eat at Souplantation again. We last ate there for mom's birthday in February, the whole family, including my siblings and their spouses who live far away. None of us had any idea. Nobody did, really. I honestly kind of feel like a family member has died. 

This is what I would get whenever we went to Souplantation: the Chinese wonton salad, because I only like salads other people have prepared for me, and all the other prepared salads had meat; peas and corn, cucumber slices; other vaguely ethnic side salads that were either cabbage-based or quinoa/other similar grains-based; the flavored croutons; and a little waxed cup each of ranch and blue cheese dressing. Then I would get pasta, usually macaroni and cheese or occasionally fettucine alfredo, or a different pasta if it sounded better than the mac & cheese; and a soup if it wasn't too hot outside (usually the unhealthiest vegetarian soup). I'd get four little slices of pizza, two little slices of focaccia bread, and a cup of water. We always got water because it was cheapest, but occasionally dad would have a coupon (we always used a coupon) that required one person to get an actual beverage. I had their strawberry lemonade a few times; it was delicious. I'd eat the salad first, to get it over with, then the vegetables, then the other salads (which were usually tastier). I'd dip the foccaccia bread and the pizza pieces into the dressing cups, alternating bites and dressings. For dessert I'd always get a brownie muffin, or the lava cake if we stayed until their dinner menu (lunch was cheaper so we often went right before the cutoff time), as well as a gluten-free muffin (mmm, coconutty) or occasionally a blueberry muffin with honey whip butter. I got ice cream a lot when I was younger, from a soft-serve machine that always had chocolate and vanilla; the middle one was always a choco-vanilla swirl. I can also recite my other family members' orders by memory, but I'll spare you that. When I heard the news, I panic-pinned a bunch of copycat Souplantation recipes, but it won't be the same.

This year has really taken a lot from us, hasn't it? I really didn't think it was a big deal, at first. I had lived through the H1N1, swine flu, avian flu, several other scares like that. I was actually excited to work from home in my pajamas, sprawled on my purple chaise lounge with my laptop. I enjoyed sleeping in, too; it is now kind of impossible for me to wake up before noon. I miss putting together cute outfits and doing makeup looks and shopping without worrying about contracting a deadly disease. I miss going to church and seeing my friends. I miss hugging my friends and family. I miss my extended family; I haven't seen them since my mom's birthday party. Some were sick and couldn't attend, so I haven't seen them for longer. I haven't seen my dad's side of the family since... maybe my dad's birthday? Did we drive up then? Or maybe my uncle's 60th bday party. One of my cousins and his wife had a baby, and I haven't been able to hold her because I was getting over a cold before covid. I haven't seen her since I dropped off a pasta dish a few weeks after she was born. She's 6 or 7 months old now, and doesn't know me. We used to get together with my mom's side of the family (the CA ones) every month or so, since there was always a birthday or holiday to celebrate. This is the longest I've gone without seeing them. 

I miss seeing my family without feeling guilty about it. I always drove to my parents' to have lunch with them every Saturday, and usually stayed until the evening (I stayed the night if I had laundry to do). I decided to socially isolate from everybody except them, but then my sister and her husband came to stay with our parents for the summer (which of course I'm happy about) and my aunt and other brother and sister in law come over and have lunch with us a lot and then my brother in law's sister will come over to hang out with him and my sister, and none of us are wearing masks or keeping our distance. This pandemic must be so hard on all the other latinxs and POC. I know people who hadn't seen their families in months, because they all lived in separate apartments/houses. I feel bad about that, but I don't want to wear a mask around my family, and I don't want to stop seeing my parents and sister & brother in law. My mom is going to start working with covid patients in September. I should probably stop coming over then, but I don't want them to be alone. My sister's working in a nursing home, and that's dangerous too, not to mention my brother and sister in law are doctors and work in hospitals. What can you do, though? To round up this paragraph of things I'm doing wrong during the pandemic, I've also eaten at restaurants a couple of times with my family (sit in, for my dad's birthday), shopped more than once a week almost every week since May, and had a pedicure a month ago.

If Lotus Garden closes down too, I'm going to lose it.

Daily routines I'm trying to develop

• drinking green tea every morning from a cute mug, using my adorable little lavender kettle to heat up the water for the aesthetic
• ripping off yesterday's sheet in my book-themed one-a-day calendar
• getting dressed instead of staying in my pajamas all day
• checking my Outlook inbox and dealing with emails instead of letting them pile up (I am absolutely letting my Gmail emails pile up)
• sitting at my desk to work from home
• eating salad for lunch/dinner 
• doing something creative, whether it's making a friendship bracelet, rearranging furniture, or reading a book
• lighting a candle in the evening
• doing my nighttime skincare routine
• journaling (ideally long-form but at least in my 5 year, 1 line a day journal)
• moisturizing my feet and using pillow spray before bed

Rest of March books

So the whole coronavirus thing happened, and I learned that I only blog regularly to procrastinate at work. I also have not been reading more, despite having all this time at home. I did rearrange my square cube bookcase though. It's now between my living and office spaces, and it's perfect as a divider because I have my rainbow books on one side, and my DVDs and CDs and other things on the other side that faces my office.

I purchased and read Daniel Lavery's memoir Something That May Shock and Discredit You in the same week (!!!), which never happens (I won and used an Amazon giftcard). I've loved Lavery's writing ever since the old The Toast days, and will read everything he writes. I loved all the Bible references which he used as descriptive parallels to his transitioning (Jacob wrestling with God and being given a new name, etc.). He also did several of his signature retellings/reimaginings of classical poetry and literature. This book was funny and poignant and I liked it very much. 4 out of 5 stars.
       Trigger warnings for this book: dysphoria, transphobia, Bible passages, depression and anxiety, I don't remember if he mentions his dad enabling a pedophile but if he does that's definitely one


I decided to get over my reading slump by reading an easy children's book, Oddfellow's Orphanage by Emily Winfield Martin (who also illustrated it). It's an early chapter book about a little albino girl who comes to an orphanage, and all the other children and staff that she comes to know there. It's a very gentle, retro and fantasy flavored story, with hints of sadness as of course the children are all orphans. I followed Winfield Martin's art blog, The Black Apple, for years, and I remember the individual portraits of the characters from years ago. She did all the portraits, then came up with a story to tie them all together. These portraits, along with a short biography, are at the beginning of each chapter. I don't actually know her, but I'm very proud of her for becoming a children's book writer and illustrator. I hope she writes more Oddfellow's Orphanage books, as I loved living in the world of the book. Highly recommended for children who can handle a bit of sadness in a book (some of the orphans' families were murdered, and the character bios say so in a non-descriptive but straightforward way). 4.5 out of 5 stars.
       Trigger warnings for this book: murder mentions, death mentions, grief, a character has a brief aggressive episode where he cuts off a girl's braid without her consent

Elders of the Internet

Love it! Nick Offerman is the best.

Sanditon miniseries, and books I've reread lately

I finished watching PBS's Sanditon miniseries, which is based on an unfinished novel that Jane Austen was writing when she died. It was pretty good, but I felt it was too soap opera-y. You already know that I don't like it when people insert random stuff into Jane Austen adaptations, especially if it's only for the drama. There are trysts! Kidnappings! A page is taken out of Cruel Intentions' book! There's a love triangle between two hot dudes and the heroine! There's a love triangle between the hero and two ladies who love him! There's at least one manipulative bitch who isn't afraid to use sex as a weapon! You know, a lot of stuff that does not belong in a Jane Austen adaptation (unless she already wrote it in there).
Also, I didn't like it that the hero walked around in stubble all the time, and that the heroine almost always wore her hair down despite being of Out age. They also did not wear hats and gloves in public/outside nearly enough. I also feel that there was too much obvious makeup on the women (I'm pretty sure ladies did not wear smoky eye makeup with crimson lips in the Regency era). I hate it when historical period pieces aren't accurate.
The heroine felt like a cross between Catherine from Northanger Abbey and Lizzie from Pride & Prejudice. The hero was definitely a Darcy type. The bitchy old rich lady was basically the same as she was in the book. One thrills to think of the frenemy relationship she would have with Lady Catherine de Bourgh. They really fleshed out the sole character of color, a young lady from the West Indies who is an heiress in the miniseries. I liked her and felt bad for her to be stuck in a town full of just white people who were often racist to her. The trips to London showed how diverse it was back then, which was nice and interesting. The ending was very abrupt and unsatisfying, which I thought was because maybe they ended the miniseries where Austen's novel did, but no! They fleshed it way out more than the novel, and just chose to end it that way! WTF. Despite all that, it was pretty good.

So obviously after I finished Sanditon, I decided to reread the book to see how similar the miniseries was to it. The answer is: not very. It was all right. It usually takes me a while to get into nineteenth century writing nowadays, thanks to the Internet and social media, and by the time I was hitting my stride, it was over. Anyway, my volume of Sanditon also has The Watsons and Lady Susan, and I decided to reread Lady Susan because I remember finding it so funny and scandalous. It... was fine. It did make me watch Love & Friendship, its adaptation that stars Kate Beckinsale, who is perfect, if a bit tamer than Lady Susan in her letters to her best friend. So random how they made her best friend American just because Chloe Sevegny (sp?) wanted it be in the movie for some reason. Anyway.

I organized more of my books, consolidating several piles into one megapile next to the stairs. This action of course revealed several books that I need to read and decide whether to keep or not.  I  reread Franny and Zooey for this reason. I wrote about it last time I read it, and I really liked it at the time. This time it was mostly just okay. I still liked the Jesus/religious stuff, but I guess there's something about reading a book where young people in their early to mid twenties have quarter-life crises when you yourself are in your thirties, that lowers the appreciation for the book. I last read it 9 years ago, when I was in my early twenties, so it makes sense that I liked it more then. Anyway. I'll be giving this one away.

Book review: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

I think most people have heard of this book, as it is a classic. Zora Neale Hurston was one of the Harlem Renaissance artists. This book has been sitting on my shelf for a long time, because I knew it would be sad. I think I originally got it from a thrift store.

Amazon summary:
One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of print for almost thirty years—due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist—Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature.

I was right, of course; this book is sad. Any book about any slice of the African American experience, especially during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, is going to be sad. Janie's family stories and first two marriages are very sad. But the writing! The writing is just lovely. This book has sentences like pearls. Even in describing things that may seem mundane, Hurston give them a glow. I could quote you like half the book, but I won't. Here are a few single lines from several different parts of the book.

There are years that ask questions and years that answer. 

Somebody near about making summertime out of lonesomeness.

He drifted off to sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place.

Anyway, a lot of sad, bad stuff happens to Janie, but she is able to retain her sense of self and what she wants out of life. And she gets the soul-affirming relationship she deserves. I really like books that deal with the interior lives of women and what they think, feel, and want. I highly recommend this book for teens and up. Halle Berry played Janie in the movie adaptation, and that sounds like a good choice. 

Cover notes: My cover, above, is fine, although not accurate as to Janie's skin tone (she is at least a quarter white and is described as being light-skinned). I like most of the other options better. My least favorite options are the ones where Janie's turning into a tree, and this one, because it looks too much like a fun middle-grade novel which it decidedly is not. 

 

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: February 19
From: thrift store?
Format: paperback
Status: giving away

Trigger warnings I'd apply to this book: rape mentions, period-typical racism, domestic violence, domestic abuse, period-typical and constant N-word usage, controlling relationships, a narrative about being enslaved and escaping slavery,  a minor is made to marry an older adult, period-typical sexism, period-typical misogynoir, physical violence, internalized racism, verbal abuse, colorism/shadeism, guns, a character dies by shooting, death, disease (especially rabies), descriptions of dead bodies, natural disasters/floods, period-typical racism towards Native Americans, alcohol mentions, tobacco use, animal deaths, gambling mentions, elder abuse of very minor character