Fiction | Tales from the Typing Pool

On February 14, 1953, Valentine's Day, Caroline Bender received a dozen long-stemmed red roses from Paul Landis with a humorous card. Mary Agnes Russo received a box of chocolates in a heart-shaped red box trimmed with white paper lace from her fiance Bill. Gregg Adams didn't know it was Valentine's Day because she had a hang-over and she was trying to revive herself sufficiently to attend a general audition for the ingenue lead in a forthcoming Broadway play, a role requiring a girl with clear eyes and a winningly fresh face. Barbara Lemont stopped on her way to work to buy some heart-shaped candies for her daughter Hillary. And April Morrison fainted on the sidewalk in front of Rockefeller Plaza.

Rona Jaffe's The Best of Everything is sort of considered a best-selling classic. I read it once back in high school when it had a first "resurgence" as a readalike for fans of Sex and the City—independent women surviving in the big city...ok, I can see it. It's had a more recent second resurgence as a readalike for Mad Men—different appeal factor (historical setting) but still relevant. In fact, I'm pretty sure I was reminded of this book by a Mad Men list on NPR long ago, but it actually took NINE MONTHS of waiting on the NYPL hold queue to finally get this book. (Note to NYPL: consider purchasing additional copies, also because the single one in your system is completely falling apart.)

Though I had read this before, I remembered nothing from it except that I was pretty sure I liked it the first time around. The Best of Everything is set in 1950s New York City and focuses on the often-overlapping lives of five young women. They can all be considered "modern" women, because they're in their early- to mid-twenties...and not married. They've chosen, for one reason or another, to join the work force, and it is that one you often see on Mad Men—secretaries in typing pools. In this case, it's a publishing house that bring these girls together.

What really gives the characters some depth is that they're going against the grain for women of the era. but they're not necessarily okay with it. For some, it's not so much a choice to be single and working, rather a necessity—or at least a natural consequence—of some past experience. Caroline's fiance broke off their engagement; Barbara has divorced her husband and is raising their young daughter. While being a single girl in the city is beyond common—maybe even the standard—in today's society, all of these characters are experiencing life at a time when the norms are changing but haven't quite changed yet. There's a lot of conflict and tension you can feel between these girls and the world they live in. They're not quite sure where they fit in, and you, the reader, start to feel a little out of place as well.

However, don't get the impression that all of these characters are all strong, independent women that deserve resounding applause. Sometimes, they are terrible. And pathetic. And you want to yell at them because they're actually taking a step backwards for women everywhere. But one of the fascinating things about this book is how relatable it can be. In this regard, it is sort of like Sex and the City, because something that someone does is probably going to strike a chord. As Jaffe was writing this, she shared pages with girls like her characters who were dying to read more, because finally, this was a story that felt true to their own lives.

So while you can finish this and say, "Thank god I don't have to live in a world with such expectations," the relationships, the loneliness, the uncertainties, and conflict between self and society—and all the emotions involved in finding one's place—are still there. And you realize, there are more commonalities than you may want to admit!

YA Reading, Round 11: Romance

This is it guys—THIS IS IT! This is the last YA Reading post, concluding my semester-long review of the YA books I read for my YA materials class in the fall. I have to say, though—while I am enjoying now getting to read what I want, my reading count has dropped drastically since I no longer have to cram in 3-4 books a week!

After all the sci-fi and adventure, I was really happy with the concluding genre of this class—romance! Finally! Light-hearted, cheesy, teenage angsty puppy love!

Sarah Dessen is very well known in the YA community, but Along for the Ride was my first encounter with her (not counting one day when a food truck outside of the Union Square Barnes & Noble was giving out free cupcakes in promotion of her then-newest book). In Along for the Ride, Auden is a quiet, somewhat haughty intellectual teen spending the summer with her dad and his new family in their quaint little beach town. Auden's new stepmom is the exact opposite of the motherly figure Auden is used to. Where Auden's mom is a serious feminist academic, Heidi owns a fashion boutique drowning in pink. Auden has put herself in an environment that is the opposite of everything she's used to, and has usually judged with disdain, but the new environment is healthy; her summer experience is sort of opening her eyes to all she's missed out on as a teenager—crushes, girlfriends, summer jobs, parties, etc. After befriending Eli, a fellow insomniac loner, Auden begins a quest to live like a teenager and open herself up to new experiences.

This is just the kind of book I would have loved as a teenager (ok, yes...and still as a 27-year-old). It's a realistic story, with characters who are just learning from their experiences and trying to figure themselves out. Sort of made me miss the teen years. (Am I the only one that ever misses high school?) I get the feeling that Dessen's books are fairly formulaic (feel free to refute if this is an incorrect assumption), but this can be good for many readers—easy to recommend their next read!

Ni-Ni Simone is an author who seems to have a similar repertoire as Dessen, but I guess she's the more "urban" voice, as publishing defines "urban" (really, it's just a racial/cultural difference). In Upgrade U, Seven has just started freshman year at Stiles University. Her roommate situation is great—her best friend Shae and new friend Khya; and her high school boyfriend Josiah is already a hot man on campus. Seven quickly learns, though, that college is not high school; life changes and people change. Her friendships are tested, and she's starting to wonder if she can trust Josiah when she sees the same girl constantly hanging around him. The introduction of a hot new stranger, Zaire, leaves Seven questioning if what she has is what she wants of if it's time to move on.

Hey, I liked this one too. Same kind of story format as Along for the Ride—simple, character-driven story that teens can really relate to. I think Upgrade U addresses that really awkward and emotional transition from high school to life after high school when you're not really sure who you are or where you should be. The dynamic between Seven and her roommates was the most enjoyable part. Like Dessen's books, if a teen likes this, the author has many more to read.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is one everyone has read by now, right? A lot of our class discussion on this book revolved around how you would describe, or pitch, this book to a teen. You don't want to open with, "Well, it's about two kids who have cancer..." because who wants to read a book about cancer? Guaranteed depression. Here's essentially what we came up with: "Hazel and Augustus have a lot of similarities: they feel like outsiders, and they both really want to experience life and love. Their meeting begins a journey of discovery and experience, exactly as both had wished. Oh, and they both have cancer."

I was expecting to read this one with more judgment than I could just because I'm usually that jerk that doesn't want to like what everyone else does. But, I actually really liked this one. It wasn't sappy; it wasn't contrived; it wasn't garnering sympathy by dealing with the big Cancer. Hazel hated cancer sympathy, and that attitude carried throughout the rest of the story. The two teens in the story have had to face more serious questions than most teens, but they're still relatable to anyone—the feeling of isolation and loneliness and the desperate hope that you'll find someone who just gets you. So yes, while it's a book that has cancer in it, it's not about cancer. Clearly the teens approve.

Revisiting Anne, Part 4: Anne of Windy Poplars

From what I remember of my high school reading of the Anne series, book four, Anne of Windy Poplars, is the most unique in style. At this point in Anne's life, she has finished college and is working as the principal of Summerside High School, living in a quaint, cozy house with a couple of quirky old widows. She's finally engaged to Gilbert who is a medical student in Kingsport. Anne of Windy Poplars starts as a series of letters from Anne to Gilbert during their three-year courtship apart. The voice switches back and forth between Anne's letters and the third-person narrative we're used to in the Anne books.

If you've seen the Anne of Avonlea movie, a good deal of the plot is taken from this book. Anne, as principal, finds herself up against the influential Pringle family that seems to own the way of the town. For the first time in Anne's life, she's up against folks that definitely could not be considered "kindred spirits." They give no reason for disliking Anne; they just don't like her. And she doesn't understand that. So Anne is having her first brush with an attitude that resides outside of her optimistic fantasy-world. (Granted, it seems to happen a little late in life for her. In reality, that's called adolescence!) It's just the next step in Anne's journey as she becomes a part of the world around her. Her world has been expanding throughout these four books, but this one has little connection to her comforts of home. (Never fear...Anne, of course, eventually wins them over as usual.)

This book, to me, feels a lot like Anne of Avonlea. You have your usual cast of quirky characters, while Anne faces challenges and naturally solves their problems; and the plot feels very episodic as she's sharing snippets of life with Gilbert through her letters. I enjoyed this one more than Anne of Avonlea, but it's almost to the point where Anne just seems too perfect for words. Aside from the episode with the Pringles (which is resolved in the first half of the book anyway), everyone worships Anne. Everyone loves her and she solves everyone's problems. She almost doesn't seem very realistic anymore; she's described more akin to a saint than a human being! I find that frustrating after I spoke so highly of her character development in Anne of the Island. (Though I do still like the Katherine Brooke story.)

A little investigation tells me that this book was, in fact, written much later than the rest of the Anne stories, which perhaps explains the feeling that it's simply filling in some of the gaps of time between the big events in Anne's life with small, inconsequential anecdotes. (Book six, Anne of Ingleside, was actually the last one published, 31 years after Anne of Green Gables. I'll have to keep that in mind and see if that's obvious.) Ultimately, though, I guess these little episodes aren't completely inconsequential because it's the experiences that define the person. I just hope in the proceeding books, she's painted as a bit more realistic person.

YA Reading, Round 10: Sci-Fi

This is one genre I definitely thought would be the least interesting, but it actually turned out to be one of my favorite weeks of reading. I really enjoyed these two books, but I'm still don't think I can apply that reaction to all of sci-fi. Maybe it's only coincidence that I happened to like both of these, so I'm going to say jury's still out on me and sci-fi...

Scott Westerfeld is the author of a few well-known YA series, Leviathan being one of them. The series is steampunk in aesthetic, taking place in a semi-fictional society leading up to World War I. A lot of the history is there—the leaders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire have been murdered, but its prince has escaped and is on the run. Meanwhile, Britain's Air Service has an intruder—Deryn is our heroine, disguised as a boy, because all she wants to do is fly...and she's brilliant at it. Naturally, our two protagonists meet and are thrown into an adventure as the world itself is on the verge of chaos.

There's no Allies versus Central Power in this war; rather it's the Austro-Hungarian/German Clankers, with their mighty steam-powered iron machines, versus the British Darwinists, who have employed fabricated animals to do a machine's work. This is what's so fascinating about this book—it takes these schools of thought from a real point in history and just runs with them, creating this big what-if scenario. It's based on enough factual history to keep the reader feeling realistically connected to this fictional world, but it let's imagination run free to consider a new way of thinking. Leviathan is the first in a trio, and I, myself, can't wait to keep reading, because this one ends without much resolution.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi is definitely not a book I would have thought I'd like. Even for the first couple of chapters I wanted to put it down, because it starts off a bit slow. Ship Breaker is dystopian in style and is set in the Gulf Coast region sometime in the future, when hurricanes have pounded the area to the point that cities have been ruined and civilization is primitive at its best. Nailer, our main character, is a light crew worker, meaning he hops aboard shipwrecked boats and oil tankers, stripping them for copper wiring to make quota. This is the work-driven society he lives in—just trying to survive, scrapping metal for an unknown boss somewhere up the line, wishing and hoping for his big break.

By chance, Nailer may have hit his jackpot when he finds a beautiful clipper ship (essentially, a yacht) beached by a recent hurricane. As he hops on board, he finds the entire crew killed...except for a beautiful, wealthy girl who may be worth more to him dead than alive. This is where the character of Nailer really begins to shine, showing signs of humanity, as he becomes a person rather than just a scavenger like the rest of them. Ship Breaker is an adventure with a main character who faces a moral dilemma, and the reader is presented with scenarios that demand consideration.

One of my favorite things is the descriptions of the world "as it was," or, as it currently is now. Reading a fictional future that so clearly links to the past makes you feel, as I mentioned above, so connected to the story and setting. This book is also the first in a series, though so far, there are only two. Recommended to dystopian fans or readers looking for adventure or uncertainty.

Nonfiction | One funny girl

Fact about myself: my childhood was filled with hours upon hours of Nick at Nite, and I fully credit them with my extensive knowledge of retro TV shows, often singling me out amongst my peers as the one who "knows all this old stuff." Among my childhood favorites: Happy Days, I Love Lucy, Mary Tyler Moore, and Laverne & Shirley.

This, I believe, is the reason that Penny Marshall's memoir, My Mother Was Nuts, ended up in my NYPL hold queue. I must've read about it on NPR or something, and months later, it finally landed at my library for pick-up.

First of all, I have to say, Penny Marshall and her brother Garry Marshall are two people that just pop up everywhere. I remember them being two of the first actors that I started to recognize here and there—the most notable childhood reference obviously being their Hocus Pocus cameo. But, to tell you the truth, I have never known much about them. (As a kid, I remember thinking they were married, because that's the relationship between all men and women who are always together and share a last name, right?)

From what I read in her book, Penny Marshall has actually done much more than I ever knew. Did you know she, in fact, directed both Big and A League of Their Own—-two movies on my all-time top 10 list? Because I sure didn't.

Penny's book starts out like most memoirs in which a person of fame is reflecting on their life--looking back to where it all started. Sometimes, that's kind of boring, depending on the person. And when you start to read, "I grew up in [blank] town with my [blank] siblings and a mother who [blank] a father who, God love him, never really [blank]," you just kind of suck in air and say, "Oh boy..." But Penny is funny. And she tells those stories about her loud dance instructor mother and quiet accountant father, and somehow, you're interested because she makes it so.

I really enjoyed My Mother Was Nuts much more than I expected to. I keep reading these celebrity memoirs, always hoping they will turn out like this one—not overly serious and with enough anecdotes and experiences that will entertain you, the reader, and not just the reminiscing author. I think about these in terms of storytelling; would the content of this book be good if she was telling me the stories over a beer? And yes. Yes, it would.

YA Reading, Round 9: Mystery/Horror

So, truth be told, I obviously finished my epic semester of YA back in December. But then you know how  December is...things got busy. And I still have a few more genres to post about, so I'm just going to pretend like we're still going.

Two things I have to say about this group of books: 1) It wasn't my favorite week. I think there are stronger horror stories and mysteries out there; 2) During this week, I actually listened to an audiobook for the very first time. This may or may not have influenced my opinions.

When you take a look at the cover of The Killer's Cousin by Nancy Werlin, it's like a flashback to 1993. Seriously, this book looks on par with I Know What You Did Last Summer and similar other teen horror covers. And it sorta reads that way too. I mean, it's timeless...but in a dated way, if that makes sense. In the story, David is trying for the second time to get through his senior year. The year prior, he was on trial for his girlfriend's death, and now he's avoiding the frenzy by staying with his aunt and uncle who seem to hate each other. He's also got a creepy younger cousin, Lily, who is really trying hard to ruin his life. And then there's the ominous memory of his older cousin Kathy who died years ago, but something's not quite right about the story. In the case of this book, audio was not the way to go. The narrator was boring, making the story drag. And his "annoying little girl" voice actually made me cringe from awfulness. The ending was fairly predictable (once you're into the story, you'll figure out how the author was trying to be witty with the title of the book), but it wasn't terrible to get through. It's probably much better reading on paper than spending 6 hours listening to (seriously, could've finished it in about 2).

Andrew Smith's In the Path of Fallen Objects is a different story. Now this book is creepy. I also listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator was better (though not great), and my only real complaint was that it lasted like 11 hours or something absurd. The story follows two brothers, Simon and Jonah, as they leave their home behind in Texas (which isn't much of a home since their absent mother left for good) to hunt down their older brother Matthew who supposedly returned to Arizona after leaving Vietnam (yes, this takes place in that era). Along the road, they're picked up by a couple of seemingly normal kids not much older than their 14 and 16. Mitch and Lilly are clearly running away from something, but they're laid-back enough that it seems okay. Well, it is not. Jonah quickly figures out that Mitch is a psycho. His new mission is just survival. Protect Simon and Lilly and get the hell away from Mitch. Naturally, it's not that easy, and Jonah is in for quite a battle. Most of this story is frightening and suspenseful, but it's actually got quite a bit more to it; family, trauma, relationships--survival in every sense of the word. As eerie as this story is, I quite enjoyed it.

The Final Four Mysteries are a series of sports stories by John Feinstein. They follow two young aspiring sportswriters, Stevie and Susan Carol, as they cover some of the biggest events in sports and inevitably solve a great mystery along the way. I read The Rivalry, which covers the annual showdown between Army and Navy football. This is the fifth in the series, but it's not totally necessary to read them in order; you just miss out on a bit of background on the characters. The story is light and easy to follow. Non-sports fans will probably be bored by this series, because there is a lot of jargon and detail. However, it's a good series for sports fans because they move fast with continuous actio, which make it a good series for boys and reluctant readers.

Hello? Are you there?

In case you haven't noticed ("you" being anyone out there who may or may not still be reading this little blog space on the Internet), the past few months have been swarmed with YA reading and lots of other generally busy busy things. In real life, my job has gotten busier than ever as we just keep releasing more and more material that I have to market. And, did you know that I am getting married in June? To Colin, one time contributor to the very blog you are reading.

So there are those things on top of all that reading. And though January–June are looking to be just as busy with wedding planning and thesis writing (ugh), I hope I can have a little more time to read as I like reading—to relax and drop off the earth into another world.

With the start of 2013, we're approaching this little blog's 4-year blogiversary. But in much of that time, thanks to many of the things mentioned above, I have almost completely dropped out of the bloggy community. And that saddens me. I don't have time to read what other people have to say, and not too many people seem to stop by here to say much of anything anymore either. And that is exactly opposite of why this was started in the first place. I wanted to encourage discussion, promote books I love (or don't love), and basically just talk about books with other book-minded folks. 

So, dear readers, what do you like to hear about? Would you like me to shutup about YA books forever (I promise I won't bore you with them much longer)? Do I need to be reading whatever is the best-selling follow-up to 50 Shades of Scandal (just kidding, I'm not gonna hop on that bandwagon so quickly)? 

What's your favorite thing to read about and explore? What gets you excited? What's going to make you sit up a little straighter in your chair with piqued interest?

But in the meantime, hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a great start to 2013. Happy reading!