ZimWex Family Blog

Book #18:: The Night Circus

Just yesterday, I finished reading Erin Morgenstern's book, The Night Circus. I read it because our book club chose it; I am not sure I would have picked it up otherwise, but I really enjoyed it. The book is sort of like a Salvador Dali or Magritte painting; highly visual, teeming with gorgeous, evocative imagery. The Night Circus tells the story of Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair, two young gifted illusionists, living at the turn of the 20th century. They are the proteges of two competitive illusionists. As such, they are required to "Compete" to see which magician is superior. However, the venue, time frame, and rules of the competition are unclear and never stated. Celia and Marco live only to be pawns in this competition. Their childhoods are spent training and their adulthoods spent competing. Though Celia, in particular, is billed as "an illusionist", her skill is far greater. She can in fact actually manipulate the world around her with her mind. She veils her astonishing talents in "illusions" that could be seen as slight of hand, but her powers are phenomenal. The venue is "The Night Circus" a fantastical, magical circus that travels the world. The circus is unlike any you have ever seen, and the rich descriptions of the various tents are part of what makes "The Night Circus" such an enjoyable read. There is a rich cast of characters who create and perform in the circus, and also another plotline involving a young farmer's son who becomes intoxicated by the circus' powers. Not surprisingly, the two competitors take an interest in each other, and may even fall in love (though both are suspicious of the other's motives). The plot picks up especially in the second half of the book, as it seems that these lovers may be doomed. There is a dramatic conclusion to it all, which I won't spoil here! I would solidly recommend The Night Circus for its rich imagery, imaginative characters, and intriguing plot. I had to keep reminding myself to go back to the book throughout the first half, but by the second, I was definitely finding it to be a page turner. Onward to Book 19! AZ

Book #17:: The Elegance of the Hedgehog

I read this one a few years after most of my friends. Finally got around to it last week.  And I really, really liked it.

Written by Muriel Barbery,  The Elegance of the Hedgehog is the story of the inhabitants of an apartment building in Paris--specifically two characters, a 12 year old girl named Paloma who is eerily intelligent and has decided that she will commit suicide on her 13th birthday, primarily because her extraordinary intellect means that she has already glimpsed many of the secrets of the adult world--decay, decline, and disillusionment.

 The other main character is the building's concierge, Renee, a widow in her 50s who was raised in poverty.  Her intelligence, however, is just as remarkable as Paloma's.  She keeps the fact that she reads Shakespeare and Tolstoy and appreciates Rembrandt and Art films from Japan strictly secret, worried that in some way she will be upsetting the natural social order by being smarter than the rich people she serves.  Instead, she consciously dumbs down her responses before speaking, turning rich thoughts into monosyllabic grunts.

When a newcomer moves into the building, a fashionable and wealthy Japanese man named Mr. Ozu, he somehow sees directly what no one else has seen about Renee, and the two form an unlikely friendship and connection that changes what she believes is possible.  At the same time, they both befriend Paloma, and Paloma begins to see hope for her own adult future.

The book is highly intelligent (I had to look up lots of words in the dictionary!!), but somehow never felt super pretentious, although at moments it was hard work  The chapters are very short--3 to 5 pages, ish, which made it a very good read for a constantly interrupted Mom.

Definite recommend.

AZ

Book #16: The Solitude of Prime Numbers

I just finished The Solitude of Prime Numbers, which was my book club book for this month.*

This book, which is a debut novel by a young Italian novelist named Paolo Giordano, is unquestionably well formed and well written.  It is the story of two young people, Alice and Mattea, whose lives are informed by early tragedy.  They grow up as solitary misfits.  Alice develops a serious eating disorder that is one way she keeps anyone from getting close.  Mattea is a genius more interested in numbers (prime numbers specifically) than in human relationships.  They recognize a kindred spirit in each other and become friends.  However, ultimately this book is not a romantic book. Instead it truly is a book about loneliness, lack of connection, and what separates us. 

Therefore, while it is well written, I found it a bit depressing. In addition, in the same way that the characters themselves are unable to connect, I found myself unable to connect to them, or fully care about them.  

Am awaiting a really good book!! If you have any recommendations, please send them my way!

AZ

*Book Club in this case equals my Mommy friends from nursery school who eat, chat, and yes, eventually, get to some book discussion.

Books #13, 14, & 15: Fire Season, Swamplandia!, & Composed

Obviously, it was vacation and I finally got a chance to read a LOT!

So, here's the recap.

I read Book #13, Fire Season, because a good looking, very intelligent-seeming British Man eating dinner at the next table to Tanya and I recommended it to me.  He was bright and personable.  However, I did not like this book.  Maybe it was just too...male...but for some reason I wasn't that impressed.  The most interesting part of it is the set-up.  It is a memoir about a man who spends five months of every year as a lookout in the Gila Wilderness of the Southwest, looking for forest fires.  The idea that this happens, that hundreds of people actually do this job every year, is sort of astonishing.  From April-August, he lives on his own in a small cabin at the base of a tiny glass lookout tower in which he spends his days.  That concept was pretty intriguing, but something about the writing was just too "Man and Wilderness" for me to get into.  If that is your thing, you may very well find this to be a good addition to the collection.  If its not, I think this is one you can skip.  Which I guess goes to show that a British accent alone doesn't guarantee a book recommendation.

The next book, Swamplandia!, was a bit better.  It is the debut novel of Karen Russell, and it is richly imaginative and very evocative.  Its protagonist is a 13 year old girl named Ava who lives on a remote island in the Everglades.  After the death of her mother, her whole world starts to fall apart. First, her family's livelihood, a third rate themepark called Swamplandia! which specializes in alligator wrestling, begins to fail due to some new competition in the way of a themepark called World of Darkness.  Her father leaves his children alone on the island to try and find some money to keep the park open.  Then her brother runs away, defecting to World of Darkness.  Her sister elopes with someone who may or may not be mortal, and finally Ava embarks on a quest to save them all. Unfortunately, she sets out on a journey with a questionable character named the Bird Man and it all looks like it may go very very badly.  It was absolutely interesting and original, yet for some reason I never felt like I could fully connect with any of the characters, so my interest remained at a remove.  Not bad, but not a MUST read, in my opinion.

Finally, I read Roseanne Cash's memoir, Composed.  This was a quick read and would have been immeasurably more interesting if I knew or cared about any of her music.  I don't especially know her music or follow her career.  Nonetheless, she writes elegantly about the life of a musician, and the life of a child of a very famous man.  I really enjoyed reading it. For any country music or Roseanne Cash fans out there, this is probably a must read.  

All in all, it wasn't the best week of vacation reading ever....But glad I got to read so much!

AZ

A girl of adventure...

I got to attend Ruby's 2nd Grade Publishing Party last week.

Below is the text of her latest story...Not at all lacking in imagination!

"Lucky lived in a mountain with her mom, dad, two sisters, and a brother.  She lived a peaceful life, but also, Lucky is a girl of adventure.  She's gone to every place you can think of right now.  But there is one place she didn't go: NYC! She really really really really really wanted to go to NYC. Tomorrow she can go!

She packs and packs, then goes to bed.  In the morning she put her luggage and a zipline on her g-i-a-n-t giant flying c-a-t cat, Then she jumped on her cat and was off!  She saw a lot of buildings.  then...she was hovering over Manhattan. She smelled hot dogs. She saw pretzels.  She saw cars zooming by.

Plop! Lucky and her cat landed in Central Park! Lucky got into a boat nearby and she rode and rode.  The she saw a duck.  She docked her boat and chased after the duck.  Then she crashed into a bush in the z-o-o zoo.  Click! She was locked in!!

Then she remembered she had clipped the zip line to her belt. Then she said "excuse me, sorry for chasing you." "That's ok" said the duck.  "Can you fly out and tie one end of the line to the tree near the giant cat?"asked Lucky.  "Sure" said the duck.

The duck flew out and tied the rope to the tree. Then Lucky zipped across.  Then she leaped on her cat.  A cat named Kala with a  giant head. Lucky took Kala home. She knew that she couldn't keep Kala because she kept trying to eat her goldfish.  So she donated her to Julie Case, her detective friend."*

She then does a tie-in with her friend Polly's book about a girl detective...

She made a little clay figure of Lucky (who I think is so very cool).

But this girl is cooler...

Proud of my girl.**

AZ

*Okay, so it doesn't really end.

**And wishing I could buy her a portable clip-on zip line.

Book #12: Poser: my life in twenty-three yoga poses

I picked up Poser; My Life in 23 Yoga Poses  by Clare Dedingham last week, on the recommendation of my friend Julie, and am so glad I did.

Poser is a very funny book.  You will be sure to love it if any of the following things are true:

a. you have spent a lot of time practicing yoga

On her first entry into a yoga class she writes, "Little did I know that only very occasionally in yoga do you stumble into a room of people who are good at it.  And when you do, they often turn out to be assholes.

b. you have been raising children in the past 10 years

"Weaning wasn't allowed until at least one year.  This was by the consensus of who, exactly? Us.  We were mothers with books.  We looked things up.  We knew stuff, like, for example, that the American Academy of Pediatrics said that at least one year of nursing was optimal for the baby's immune system and brain development.  For the kind of mothers we were, optimal meant mandatory, and one year meant a few. Seattle at that time was a town where little dudes strolled up to their mothers at the playground for a quick top-off, said "Thanks, babe" and rejoined the soccer match. 

Lucy wasn't yet ten months, and I wasn't supposed to quit nursing until at least a year. If you think this sounds like a frivolous dilemma, or not worth losing sleep over, then that just goes to show you were not a new monther in a liberal enclave at the end of the last century."

C. you were raised in the 60s or 70s, particularly if your parents were divorced.

I don't have a perfect quote for this one, but its all throughout...

D. You have tried to understand what it means to be married, while raising small children

"We were not in the mood for a night out, but there we were, huddled over a table at Cafe Campagne, celebrating that vaunted American custom, date night.  When you are married, date night buzzes irritatingly on the periphery of your consciousness, the way New Year's Eve does for single people...Date night, like any kind of enforced fun, bore little resemblance to actual fun.  Our best date nights came when we resisted the orbital pull of the restaurant dinner...I thought I was supposed to like restaurants.  And restaurants were supposed to mean romance.  The whole thing was like a strange Ponzi scheme of obligation."

If none of these apply to your life, you may still find it enjoyable because it is well written and funny.  However, if like me, all four of these apply, you will certainly want to pick this book up.

She uses her discovery of yoga, slightly after the birth of her daughter about ten years ago as a frame for her life story, told partly in flashbacks, and partly in real time, as she becomes a mother and raises her children.  Each pose has some metaphorical or philosophical significance that informs that chapter.  Its not the most clever concept, but it works.

Essentially it is a story of a woman learning to overcome her own perfectionism, and deep need to do everything "right" and "good" by letting things be a little more real and a little more messy.  At the end she muses, "I thought I would do yoga all my life, and I thought that I would continue to improve at it, that I would penetrate its deepest mysteries and finally be able to perform a transition from scorpion directly into chaturanga.  But here's the truth: The longer I do yoga, the worse I get at it.  I can't tell you what a relief that is."

A nice, easy read. And boy does it make me want to go back to yoga class!
AZ 

 

Book #11: Going Solo

I was so excited to read Going Solo, which was written by our friend and fellow Kindergarten Parent, Eric Klinenberg.  I probably would not have picked this book up if I hadn't known him, but I'm so glad that I did.

Eric is a Sociologist and Professor at NYU.  His book is entitled Going Solo:  The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone.  He starts out with these facts:  "In 1950, only 22% of American adults were single.  Today, more than 50% of American adults are single, and 31 million--roughly one out of every seven adults--live alone. People who live alone make up 28% of all U.S. Households, which makes them more common than any other domestic unit, including the nuclear family".  

He goes on to explore the rise of solo living and to look at its impact on our culture.  He upends the idea of people living in loneliness or isolation, and instead points to a group of people who, as a whole, are actually more engaged in the social life of their community.  He takes a look at the challenges of being single, particularly for the poor and elderly, and proposes a few ideas of ways that might make things easier for them.  Perhaps most importantly, he approaches his subject matter with an open mind, dropping his prior assumptions about living alone, and lets it go from there...

I found it totally fascinating.  If you are someone who is living single, this is particularly interesting, but even if you are not, it is well worth the read, because at the end of the day it is basically about how and why we create the family units that we do.  Not to mention the fact that at some point in our life, most of us will live alone for some segment, and our parents and kids will, too.

Importantly, Eric is not single, but rather married with two kids, so his interest in this is not a personal one.  On the other hand, as I walked around reading this book for a week, everywhere I went, people inquired as to WHY a married mother of four would be reading a  book like this. Was I planning some kind of dramatic change? I found it kind of hysterical to watch people's reactions.

So, do do pick up Eric's book!

AZ

Book #10: Moonwalking with Einstein

So, I just finished reading Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer. My friend A had recommended it to me, and said it was one of those books that really changed the way you think about things. It was a very interesting read.

As described on its book jacket, Moonwalking with Einstein "draws on cutting edge research, a surprising cultural history of memory, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human remembering. ".  Foer, who is Jonathan Safran Foer's brother, embarks on a massive study of the importance of memory in our culture, but he also undergoes his own private experiment.  Over the course of a single year, he goes from being someone who he and others describe as having a fully average memory, to winning the US Memory Championship.*  His experiment proves what most of the memory champions say--anyone could do this, if they trained for it.  Memory isn't just something that some people have and some people don't (though of course we all know anecdotally that some people seem to have much better access to their memories than others), rather it is something that you can cultivate and train much in the same way you go to the gym and use the elliptical.

So, as he trains, we as readers learn a few things.  For one, we learn some of the techniques he uses to train.  They are pretty interesting, much more creative than what you might think, and things that I think might help my kids tremendously when studying for history exams!  To give you a totally random example, in one chapter he describes the process for remembering a random list of items.  It was supposed to be a list of things someone had to do before they left town.  I won't tell you the system, but I will type the list from memory here**

1. Pickled Garlic

2. Cottage Cheese

3. Salmon, pref. peat smoked

4. 6 Bottles White Wine

5. Socks x3

6. 3 Hula Hoops

7. Snorkel

8. Dry Ice Machine

9. Email Sophia

10. Skin colored Cat suit

11. Find Paul Newman film--Someone up there likes me

12. Elk Sausage

13. Director's Chair and Megaphone

14. Climbing Rope and Harness

15. Barometer.

And, though I have a pretty good memory, this was a totally different way of memorizing, and one, that the memory experts predicts "sticks", meaning I should be able to come up with that list, in that order, in a year, or two, or five. We'll see.

In addition to learning how to train his own memory, Foer explores the role of memory throughout human history, and also lots of case studies on people who are amnesiac or have extraordinary memories.  Really interesting stuff.  One of my favorite quotes from the whole book, however, was this bit on some early written languages:

"In Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates describes how the Egyptian God Theuth, inventor of writing, came to Thamus, the king of Egypt, and offered to bestow his wonderful invention upon the Egyptian people. 'Here is a branch of learning that will...improve their memories,' Theuth said to the Egyptian king. 'My discovery provides a recipe for both memory and wisdom.'  But Thamus was reluctant to accept the gift. 'If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls." he told the god. 'They will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful; they will rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks.  What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminding.  And it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples, but only its semblance, for by telling them of many things without teaching them anything, you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they will know nothing.  And as men filled not with wisdom but with the coneeit of wisdom, they will be a burden to their fellow-men.'

Socrates goes onto disparage the idea of passing on his own knowledge through writing, saying it would be 'singularly simple-minded to believe that written words can do anything more than remind one of what one already knows.'  Writing, for Socrates, could never be anything more than a cue for memory-- a way of calling to mind information already in one's head.  Socrates feared that writing would lead the culture down a treacherous path toward intellectual and moral decay, because even while the quantity of knowledge available to people might increase, they themselves would come to resemble empty vessels. "

Um, hello? Remind anyone of people's concerns about our reliance on technology, the internet and the iphone???

Fascinating, right?

 There are definitely some moments when the book seems a little slow, but for the most part this a thought provoking read that is well worth it.

AZ

*No, I didn't know this existed either. 

**You'll have to take my word for it. :)

Book #9: Caleb's Crossing

I just finished reading Caleb's Crossing, by Geraldine Brooks.  I have been mixed on her past novels...really loved People of the Book, but was only so-so on March, which was the one that won her the Pulitzer Prize.

Caleb's Crossing wasn't my favorite book ever, but it did grow on me.  Brooks takes as her subject the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University in the 1660s.  She bases her story on the few historical documents that surround this event, but then richly imagines the world of early Colonial America.  Caleb, who was the Native American Scholar, grew up on Martha's Vineyard, and that is where most of the action takes place.  It is told from the perspective of a young English girl, Bethia, whose father is the minister on Martha's Vineyard, and who befriends Caleb as a young girl.  Both Caleb and Bethia are uncommonly smart, and therefore out of the social norm.  Bethia is one of very few girls who has learned how to read, and also has picked up Wampanoag (the Native language) from living on the island.  Caleb has learned English.  Together they become secret best friends and teach each other about their cultures, religions, and languages.

Ultimately, her family takes in Caleb (not knowing about their friendship), educates him, and sends him, along with their own son to Cambridge for prep school and then college. 

I won't reveal any more of the plot, in case you read it.  But the book is primarily concerned with how these two cultures interact, intersect, and make sense of each other's religious beliefs (or not).  Bethia's father considers it his job to convert as many Native Americans as possible, and he is almost completely successful in this quest.  The book's other main theme is looking at outsiders who are pushing at the edges of what is allowed for them, given the station, gender, and ethnicity that they are born.

The most interesting part of the book, to me, was her richly imagined historical detail.  The early Martha's Vineyard she paints is beautiful, savage, and very interesting.  To them, Boston was a dangerously long boat ride away, and most of the English there were there because they found the Puritans to be slightly too strict.  In all my times visiting Martha's Vineyard, I had never considered this period, or the early Native Americans there (though with names like Chappaquidick, I really should have...)

Solidly recommend, especially if you enjoy historical fiction, or Geraldine Brook's work.

AZ

Book #8: How to Be A Woman

I read this book thanks to Tanya Wexler, who discovered it in England and is loving it.  How To Be a Woman is a book by a British woman named Caitlin Moran, who is a journalist in England and f&*$ing hysterical.

Reading How To Be a Woman is like reading a combination of Tina Fey, Bridget Jones, and Germaine Greer.  Caitlin is an avowed feminist, but a feminist for a new generation.  She is wildly funny, self-deprecating, and hugely perceptive.  She takes on everything from waxing to botox to bras to sexism, as she writes her own story.

On the lighter side, check out this excerpt from the chapter, "I Get Into Fashion".

    Here is what I have learned about clothes...

    1. Leopardskin is a neutral.

    2. You can get away with nearly anything if you wear the thing with black opaque tights and boots.

    3. Contrary to popular opinion, a belt is often not a good friend to a lady.  Indeed in many circumstances, it acts merely as a visual aid to help the onlooker settle the question:  'Which half is fatter--the bottom or the top?'

    4.  Bright red is a neutral.

    5. Sellotaper is NOT strong enough to mend a hole in the crotch of a pair of tights.

    6. You should NOT buy an outfit if you have to strike a sexy pose in the changing room mirror to make it look good.  On the other hand, if you immediately start dancing the minute you put it on, buy it, however much is costs;  unless it's lots, in which case you can't , so don't.  Fashion magazines will NEVER say 'Actually, don't buy it if you can't afford it.' Neither will your friends.  I am probably the only person who will EVER say it to you. You're welcome.

    7. You should never describe your look as being a mixture of High street and Vintage.  Remember how angry it makes you when Fearne Cotton says it.  Don't let the abused become the abuser.

    8. You are very, very unlikely to look bad in an above-the-knee, fitted 1950s-style dress with sleeves and a cardigan.  Have you seen what Christina Hendricks--the stacked, hot Joan Holloway in Mad Men, the woman Vanity Fair  recently christened 'The Body'--looks like in modern combat trousers and a top? Awful,  there's a lesson for us all there.

  ...

It goes on. 

I recommend this book highly for anyone who wants a good laugh and also to think about things a little differently. She has a great take on many "women's issues".  Unfortunately, its not available in the US yet, but you can order it from amazon.co.uk.  Also, Caitlin tweets, if anyone wants to follow her, her handle is @caitlinmoran.

Back to you next week with more!
AZ