Week 32: Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris

I borrowed this book from a friend, not really knowing much about the television series, True Blood, that it spawned. I knew that it had to do with vampires, and because of that, I was a tiny bit apprehensive about reading this. But let me tell you, it did not take long for me to get over it, because I really enjoyed this book! It such a fun read. The gloriously-named main character, Sookie Stackhouse, is a young woman living in Northern Louisiana. She lives with her elderly grandmother and makes a living waiting tables at a local diner. The story takes place in a time in which vampires are acknowledged members of society. Nowadays, they feed on synthetic blood, as opposed to killing people, but they still struggle against the prejudices and disdain of humans (this could be an allegory for a few different sociological groups facing similar struggles in our society today). Sookie meets a vampire named Bill, and she soon saves his life when she finds him in the hands of malicious people who are trying to drain his blood. (Vampire blood is quite rejuvenating for humans, and therefore, in high demand on the black market.) Once Sookie saves him, Bill is indebted to her, and the two become friends. Sookie learns that vampires are not that different from humans, although through Bill, she does meet some other shady vampires. Their relationship blossoms and they begin a romantic affair, but it seems that simultaneously, a number of murders are breaking out in their small town. Sookie must defend Bill from the masses as the tries to get to the bottom of the crimes that are turning their lives upside down. Sookie is a great character. She’s funny, and she’s independent and tough, but also kindhearted. The whole novel is steeped in a Southern flavor that is a delight to read. The dialogue is peppered with regional slang. It’s entertaining to read how Sookie and Bill’s relationship progresses just like a “normal” relationship between a man and a woman. The author gets it and is able to convey it onto to the page. In other words, it’s not just a vampire story – it has engaging characters that will make you smile and want to keep reading.

Week 31: The Hakawati, by Rabih Alameddine

I picked up The Hakawati on a whim because it had gotten a lot of great reviews, but primarily, I wanted to read it because it is about a Lebanese family, and I am part Lebanese. As soon as I started reading it, I knew I loved it, and by the time I finished it, it had become my favorite book. Of all time. It’s that good! I suppose that some might find the “frame tale” structure too convoluted or too meandering, but I can’t imagine not being utterly consumed by this book. Hakawati means “storyteller” in Arabic, and the entire tale is a tribute to the art of storytelling. It sets the tone immediately with its opening lines: “Listen. Let me take you on a journey beyond imagining. Let me tell you a story.” The central story revolves around Osama al-Kharrat, a young Lebanese man who lives in Los Angeles, but has traveled back to Beirut to be at his dying father’s bedside. There, he reunites with his large family as they all keep vigil and help support each other. The family immediately charms the reader, as we meet various characters, from Osama’s father himself, to Osama’s sister and cousins and cantankerous aunts. Each family member is captured perfectly, has their own sparkling personality and their own story. On top of this, more stories are interwoven. We follow the story of Fatima, a slave girl who seduces a demon. We are introduced to Baybars, a boy who grew up to become a prince and war hero. We learn the history behind Osama’s parents’ origins and the diverse ethnic background that comprised his ancestry. It’s stories on top of stories on top of stories, but through it all, the common thread is the bond that brings families together. Did you ever have nights with your own family in which you stayed up late, recounting funny stories from your childhood? This book is like that. It employs a heavy dose of magic, as many of the stories would qualify as fables. The reader will come across imps and trolls, magic spells, and carpet rides. It’s a fairy tale in that it will transport you into a different world. However, it is tethered to the present, as other stories recount the wars that have devastated Lebanon, or Osama’s journey to the States to look at UCLA. It’s all a fantastic tapestry. It will make you ache for the days when people told stories and kept a verbal tradition, as opposed to being steeped in our culture of digital nonsense. There are so many characters who will make you laugh and make you cry.  There are so many bewitching elements of Middle Eastern culture, so many beautiful, poetic sentences, so many strong female characters, so much romance and honor. It’s timeless and it was a joy to read.

Week 30: Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzucchelli

This book was my book club’s most recent selection. I was really looking forward to it, because it’s our club’s first graphic novel choice. We have a pretty relaxed book club, and I’m proud to say that we’ve read a lot of different types of books, from autobiographies to historical accounts to short stories. I’m not very well-read when it comes to graphic novels, but I enjoy them, and my intrigue peaked when I’d heard that this one had taken ten years to finish. Asterios Polyp is the main character of this story. He’s an architecture professor abruptly uproots his life when his apartment burns down. He gets on a Greyound bus and sets out for a small town called Apogee, where he meets a friendly car mechanic named Stiff. Stiff is kind enough to let Asterios stay with him and his wife and young son. As the story unfolds, we learn more about Asterios and his past. Through flashbacks of sorts, the reader is introduced to Asterios’ ex-wife, Hana, and we see the progression of their relationship. It is also revealed that Asterios had a twin brother who died at birth. Although Asterios is in a very different environment in this small town, his character is illuminated by these peeks into his earlier life. He isn’t all that likable – watching the decline of his marriage makes that clear. There’s a palpable sadness in observing how his initial love and happiness with Hana slowly dissolves. The author adeptly captures the feeling of watching a relationship slip away, something most people can understand. His lost twin figures heavily into the story, and one might wonder if Asterios can ever overcome his feeling of being incomplete. The book’s greatest strength is its illustration. It’s very clever. Unyielding, unemotional Asterios is portrayed in linear blue strokes, bringing to mind a blueprint. Hana, and artist, is often drawn with sketchy, cross-hatched lines. All of the characters have different fonts for their own dialogue, creating visual voices for each of them. It’s obvious that a lot of thought went into the rendering of these pages. The story dredges up themes from philosophy and Greek mythology, and there is a lot to chew on. I think it would take multiple readings to absorb most of the content of the book. I definitely enjoyed it.

Week 29: Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach

OK guys. This book is effing weird. Like, I think it might be propaganda for some weird cult that believes in some weird seagull god. It's trippy. I mean, I enjoyed it, it was sort of an epic mind journey. But I don't really get it, per se. It's about a seagull named Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Yeah, he's got three names. He lives in a flock of seagulls but feels as though he doesn't fit in with the others. He loves to fly, and wants to spend all of his time flying. The other seagulls fly, but only to catch food. They don't love flying the way Jonathan Livingston Seagull does. He continues to fly around all night, flouting all the seagull rules, and before he knows it he is in hot water. He's forced to stand before the seagull council who rules that he must be banished from the flock. Off he goes, into the sky, far away from his flock. He starts a new, solitary life. Then, some other seagulls from outer space come get him and bring him away from Earth to meet their seagull leader, Chiang. People, I am dead serious here. So Chiang basically extols Jonathan Livingston Seagull (I'll refer to him as JLS from now on, like one of those Hollywood celebrities) and tells him that he has a special gift, his love of flying and his flying skills. They teach him how to fly better. Then he returns to Earth and helps other seagulls who have been outcast by encouraging them to be themselves. It's an interesting story in the sense that I was not bored reading it. I was, at times, confused - is this a children's book? Was the author high? Is this an allegory for some bigger tale? Then I looked it up online and found out that not only was a movie made of this book, but it inspired an album. An album by NEIL DIAMOND. I feel like I'm missing something. I'm so confused! I welcome JLS's life lessons, but perhaps I'm not ready to receive them yet. Perhaps one day I will be.

Week 28: Tour De France for Dummies, by Phil Liggett, James Raia, and Sammarye Lewis

I got this book to complement my aforementioned annual Tour de France bender. Although my mania for the Tour puts my knowledge of the event way out of the league of "dummies", I purchased this book with the hope that it might acquaint me with some of the nitty-gritty rules and regulations that I wanted to become more familiar with. One of the authors, Phil Liggett, is the premier announcer for the Tour. He's charismatic, enthralling, and beloved by cycling fans. Also, the foreword of the book is written by Lance Armstrong. So, I figured that these all must be good signs, right? Well, kind of. The book, as its name implies, is indeed for dummies. Dummies who make spelling and grammatical errors (Editing for Dummies, anyone?). It's not especially consistent, and manages to be boring at times, yet never really gets into the minutiae and details that I was craving. It seems to glaze the entire event with a thick layer of mediocrity. It's not terrible, and it's certainly a good primer for someone who truly doesn't know anything about the Tour. Parts of it are interesting, such as the rundowns of the most dramatic Tour moments, or the best climbs. But there's just something goofy about it. I enjoyed reading this book and found it fun, but in terms of information, I think the Tour de France Wikipedia page has Tour de France for Dummies beat.

Week 27: Boy Racer: My Journey to Tour de France Record-Breaker, by Mark Cavendish

So here I sit, reflecting on this year-long reading challenge, realizing that updating the blog on a regular basis is proving more tricky than the reading! The reading is just a given - the blog takes more of a concerted effort. But I do enjoy having this evolving documentation of the whole process, so it's worth it, to me. At any rate, here come a few rapid-fire book reviews! First off is Boy Racer, by Mark Cavendish. Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that bikes are a pretty big part of my life. That being said, I love the Tour de France. I mean, I LOVE it. Jamie and I don't have cable, but every July we get cable for one single month in order to watch the Tour coverage. Last year, I was in Paris for the final stage on the Champ-Elysees, and it was an experience I will never forget. I thought I would commemorate this very special time of year by reading a couple of books that are related to the Tour. Cavendish is a great cyclist, with a big personality, so it seems natural that he would write a book documenting his rise to fame. At a young age, this sprinter is already closing in on the all-time record of the most stage wins in the Tour de France. He's got an incredibly healthy sense of self-esteem, and is often brash and unrestrained in interviews. He's prone to swearing as well as breaking down in tears, prompting me to refer to him as Crybaby several times over the years. He reminds me in some ways of Lance Armstrong, in the sense that he's got this persona that sometimes overshadows his cycling. His book chronicles his upbringing in the Isle of Man (his nickname is "The Manx Missile") and his introduction to cycling. We learn about his constant struggle with authority as well as his difficulty with controlling his weight. The reader starts to understand that Cavendish's main motivation is the intense pressure he puts on himself. He's a perfectionist, of sorts, and very self-effacing - he's the first one to admit how stubborn and volatile he can be; additionally, he often refers to himself as "fat" and details rides in which he is struggling to keep pace. His accounts of key Tour moments is totally engaging and exciting. Certain details had me holding my breath as I read them. The man can write, and I think that anyone who is even remotely interested in professional cycling will find this book to be a delight.

Week 26: American Skin, by Don DeGrazia

American Skin is a novel loosely based on the life of its author, Don DeGrazia. It’s the story of Alex Verdi, a teenager who finds his life completely uprooted when his hippie parents get busted for dealing pot. In a single day, finds the family farm ransacked and one of their dogs shot, and his parents and little sister are nowhere to be found and presumably in police custody. He makes a split decision to run away from the bucolic Illinois town he lives in and head for Chicago. Alex is a smart, savvy kid, and he quickly gets a factory job and moves into the Y. Just as quickly, he is indoctrinated to city life by way of multiple muggings. He manages to learn from them and becomes incrementally more street-smart. One day on the subway, he is on the verge of a tussle with a few thugs when a group of skinheads come to his aid. Alex spends a night hanging out with them and they take him under his wing. He befriends Timmy, who helps manage a local music venue/club that provides a living space for many of the skins. Later on, when Alex loses his job, he takes Timmy up on his offer to move in. And so begins Alex’s initiation into skinhead culture – not Nazi skinheads, but the skinheads who listen to punk and ska music and are proponents of racial equality. These “good” skins are constantly fighting with the “bad” skins (the ones that are more into white power and all that). A brief history of skinhead/punk history ensues, and it’s pretty entertaining to read about it all playing out at the club with its cast of colorful characters. Alex’s current adventures are subtly shaped by his upbringing, as the reader sees how snippets from his past influence him in different ways. His longing for his family, or any family, is touching at many points. He silently carries around his past, never sharing the whole truth with any of his new friends. As life circuitously brings him from the club to the Army (enlisted by force after breaking the law) to Northwestern University (pretending to be a student to impress a girl), one finds his evolution from boy to man half inspiring and half sad. The reader will undoubtedly be rooting for Alex’s sweet yet tough persona, as well as all of the other hysterical, realistic characters. The book is slightly campy, but always entertaining; a great summer read.