All Rileyed Up

13… hours I’ve spent the past two days spent reading Twilight and New Moon

12… hours I’ll likely spend over next two days reading Eclipse and Breaking Dawn

11… dollars spent to acquire the book, Twilight

10… times my teenage niece asked me if I had read the book yet after I bought it

9… pages it took to get me hooked on the first book

8… times I thought to myself “Edward sounds dreamy”

7… times I’ve spotted missing quotation marks – who edited these books?

6… errands I blew off today to finish New Moon

5… times I exasperatedly thought “how could Bella have not yet figured out Jacob’s problem?” while reading New Moon

4… times I have eyed Eclipse, debating on whether or not to start reading it now or this evening

3… position on my Netflix queue for Twilight, even though the DVD won’t be out til the end of the month

2… other books I should be reading instead of these, Loving Frank for book club next week and Song of the Lark which is due back to the library

1… time I will read these books because while the story is quite intriguing, I daresay I won’t gain much more from a second reading.

So what about you? Have you fallen into the trap that is Twilight?

***

This post contributed to Thursday Thirteen.

Who among you have read a book and wished it was real?

I want to see Inkheart for the premise alone. Inkheart offers the type of storyline that is so simple and appealing, I am jealous I didn’t think of it myself. I’ve spent a lifetime reading books wishing certain characters were real (Mara Jade) and thankful others weren’t (Hannibal Lector).

Inkheart is a family friendly fantasy adventure about a man and his daughter reading books and bringing the characters to life, you know, that old chestnut. It stars none other than everyone’s favorite family friendly fantasy adventure star, Brendan Fraser (been crushing on him since School Ties).

Over the holidays, I had the opportunity to watch two Brendan Fraser movies: The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Journey to the Center of the Earth. They were about what you’d expect: quick action sequences, seemingly indomitable obstacles overcome with surprising ease, and witty words from Mr. Fraser. And I have to admit, I loved every minute of them. Let me just say, any movie that brings in a team of fighting yetis without any explanation whatsoever is top notch entertainment in my book. That is what all movies need: more yetis.

Inkheart may not have yetis, but it does have unicorns and ferrets. In other words, Inkheart is giving me the two animals my third grade self wished to have as pets rolled up into one big happy film, with a shirtless Paul Bettany playing with fire to boot. Along with Brendan Fraser and Paul Bettany (and the unicorn and ferret), Inkheart co-stars Helen “The Queen” Mirren and Jim “Bridget Jones’ dad” Broadbent, as well as Andy “Gollum” Serkis as the bad guy.

Inkheart comes out January 23, and I can already tell you, Inkheart is awesome. Lack of yetis notwithstanding.

Official Inkheart website here.

Enjoy the preview:

So, for those of you still looking for a good book to buy for your loved ones, here are eleven books by Literary Mama editors and two more that I give the Riley stamp of approval to (it’s kind of a big deal on certain small islands):

1. Mama, PhD: Women Write About Motherhood & Academic Life
Edited by Elrena Evans and Caroline Grant
A literary anthology of deeply-felt personal narratives by women both in and out of the academy, writing about their experiences attempting to reconcile bodies with brains. These essays voice stories of academic women choosing to have, not have, or delay children, and make recommendations on how to make the academy a more family-friendly workplace. Candid, provocative, and sometimes with a wry sense of humor, these essays speak to and offer support for any women attempting to combine work and family.

2. Literary Mama: Reading for the Maternally Inclined
Edited by Amy Hudock and Andrea J. Buchanan
This unique collection features the best of Literary Mama. It celebrates the voices of the maternally inclined, paves the way for other writer mamas, and honors the difficult and rewarding work women do as they move into motherhood.

3. Peeking Under My Skirt
by Stephanie Hunt
From intimate peeks at marriage to ruminations on candlelight, to an expose of the mayhem surrounding the annual extended family beach trip, Peeking is both lyrical and light-hearted.

4. A Ghost at Heart’s Edge: Stories and Poems of Adoption
Edited by Susan Ito
Fifty short stories and poems reveal the sometimes heartbreaking, often affirming tales of adoption, written by birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoptees.

5. The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan
Edited by Suzanne Kamata
This collection of short stories is an absorbing look at the Outsider in a nation that does not absorb foreigners easily.

6. Losing Kei
by Suzanne Kamata
Jill Parker is an American painter living in Japan who must choose between freedom and abandoning her child. Told with tenderness, humor, and an insider’s knowledge of Japanese family life; an exceptional expatriate voice.

7. Love You To Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs
Edited by Suzanne Kamata
The first collection of literary writing on raising a child with special needs, Love You to Pieces features families coping with autism, deafness, muscular dystrophy, Down syndrome and more. Here, poets, memoirists, and fiction writers paint beautiful, wrenchingly honest portraits of caring for their children, laying bare the moments of rage, disappointment, and guilt that can color their relationships. Parent-child communication can be a challenge at the best of times, but in this collection we witness the struggles and triumphs of those who speak their own language—or don’t speak at all—and those who love them deeply.

8. Generation
by Sharon Kraus
Generation maps the survival of a traumatic childhood. Kraus masters the toxic fall-out of abusive experiences by rendering them fiercely meaningful, almost as a dance or a biblical drama.

9. Strange Land
by Sharon Kraus
Chronicling the life of a woman embarking on marriage and contemplating motherhood, these poems wrestle with the narrator’s violent childhood and work to reconcile her past with the course of her future.

10. Real Life and Liars
by Kristina Riggle
As a wilted flower child, Mira Zielinski has never been one to follow orders. Not from her husband, not from her boss - not even from her oncologist. Mira has her own idea about handling her newly diagnosed breast cancer, and it does not involve hopping up on the operating table. Her grown children will no doubt object — when she gets around to telling them.

11. The Maternal Is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change
Edited by Shari MacDonald Strong
Exploring the vital connection between motherhood and social change, The Maternal Is Political features forty-four powerful, hard-hitting literary essays by women who are striving to make the world a better place for children and families—both their own and other women’s—in this country and globally.

12. One Bird One Stone: 108 American Zen Stories
By Sean Murphy
Amazing collection of stories and interviews with Zen masters living in America.

13. A Thousand Dollars for a Kiss
by Cindy Bokma
Dark chick lit comedy about what happens when a celeb-obsessed gal ignores everyone in her life to pal around with her favorite music star.

Here’s the list of books I’ll be reading for book club this year. Feel free to join in. I’ll try to post reviews as I read them:

January: “The View From Mount Joy” by Lorna Landvik

February: “Behind The Tortilla Curtain” by T.C. Boyle

March: “Loving Frank” by Nancy Horan

April: “One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd” by Jim Fergus

May: “The Lace Reader” by Brunonia Barry

June: “Ahabs Wife” by Sena Jeter Naslund

July: “The Island” by Victoria Hislop

August: “The Secret Between Us” by Barbara Delinsky

September: “The Life of Freya Stark” by Jane Geniesse

October: “A Gesture Life” by Chang Rae Lee (my choice! I’ll probably read it before October)

*Alternate Books:
“The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larson & Reg Keeland
“A Case of Exploding Mangoes” by Mohammed Hamif (also my choice, which I STILL haven’t gotten around to reading)

On another note, look for yours truly in Literary Mama’s Essential Short Story Collection list. Anyone else a Roald Dahl fan?

With a little help from Random.org, Kristen of Frugality in the Making was declared the winner of my Amazon.com gift card.

Kristen told me “I always have to have a book to read. If I run out, I will read my 12 yr old son’s books.” So naturally, when I told her she was the winner I asked her what book she is reading right now. Mother of Pearl is her current book, though before that she was reading her son’s Alex Rider book, and there you have it — she is a woman of her word. I hope she uses the gift card to buy herself a new slew of books.

In honor of Kristen’s love of books, here is an old post of mine, from way back in 2006:

The Written Word is a Wonderful Thing

Well, I was visiting the lovely Toddled Dredge and saw a meme that I couldn’t pass up.

1. One book that changed your life: Animal Farm by Orson Welles. (EDITED SINCE 2006: I feel the need to leave it as Orson Welles, because that is how I originally typed it. I always mix him and George Orwell up, because, well, I’m an idiot). Because without this book, I would have had no idea that animals could so cruelly mistreat and brainwash one another to unlimited degrees. That’s exactly why we should continue to support the meat industry. Allegory? What’s that?

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. I don’t really like the movie, but the book is total horrid fascination.

3. One book you would want on a desert island: The complete comedies of William Shakespeare. Perhaps you think I should go for something more thought provoking, but frankly, if I’m all alone on a desert island, the last thing I’m going to want to ponder is life, the universe, and everything—I AM ALL ALONE ON AN ISLAND. I’m pretty sure my answer would be life sucks, the universe is rotten, and everything is against me. I’d rather have things to laugh about.

4. One book that made you laugh: Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Those people know how to throw a mad, swingin’ party, yo.

5. One book that made you cry: A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. The problem is, I don’t know if I was crying at what we’ve done or what I’m not doing now.

6. One book that you wish had been written: The Greatest Novel of Our Time by Me. I’d settle for A Novel by Me.

7. One book that you wish had never been written: It’s a toss up between Scarlett, the Sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind and Babywise. Probably Babywise, because nobody ever took Scarlett seriously.

8. The book that you are currently reading: Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman. Fooking hi-larious. Stop what you’re doing and go buy it and read it. No, I’m serious. Do it.

9. One book that you have been meaning to read: What are you doing still reading this????? I just told you to stop! Go read Killing Yourself to Live. Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!

Meet Daniel X, a 15 year old alien hunter ridding the earth of incorrigible aliens. The Dangerous Days of Daniel X is book one of a series, and this particular, um, episode gives us a glimpse of Daniel’s life and family history as well as his encounter with Seth Ergent, number six on The List of Alien Outlaws.

According to the Young Adult Library Services Association, boys more often than girls don’t like to read because they find it “boring,” they “like other activities better” and they “can’t get into the stories.” I checked in with Beth Patin, head librarian of The Holy Cross School in New Orleans, an all boys school grades 5-12, who said, “Boys do read. They just don’t associate themselves with the type of books that most English teachers suggest. Teachers often assign classic novels that are perceived as uninteresting. It would liven things up if a teacher would assign a current story, that maybe has an Ipod in it.”

She encourages her students to read by “Finding out what they are interested in and then making a connection with a book in that subject area. Boys love technology: audio-books, the Amazon Kindle, and electronic books are great formats for guys.”

So will Daniel X make the cut?

I asked Patin to help me out in a completely unscientific survey and asked all the students who stopped by her library during lunchtime whether or not they would read this book based on the description above. Out of ten students, seven said yes, one asked for more details, one said he’d read it already (nerd alert) and one, interestingly, repsonded “I don’t read.”

James Patterson, the father of a ten year old boy himself, aims to give boys something they’ll want to read. Seizing on the facts that boys like action and are more inclined to read comics and graphic novels over other forms of fiction, Patterson included in The Dangerous Days of Daniel X all the action, dialogue, drama, aliens, and superpowers one might expect to find in a comic book or graphic novel, replete with jokes and gross-out material (think scum, ooze, earwax, and the word “spaghetti-like”). Surprisingly, no skateboarding, which I had fully expected.

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X is quick reading and does feel like I’m reading the thoughts of a boy. Some of the dialogue gets a little silly for me, but then again, I’ve overheard boys’ conversations and they sometimes sound silly too (and yes, I’m sure they think I sound ridiculous). As a mother, I give this the mom-stamp of approval for boys. It’s clean and it follows all the basic elements of novel writing, so it’s a good starter book to interest boys in reading before they move on to heavier stuff. All in all, I’ll pass this copy on to my nephew and I think he’ll enjoy it.

Things to know:

Buy the book here.

The book’s website here.

Want to read and review books like this? Go here.

P.S. On another note, congrats to Beckie, who won the CD giveaway.

Okay, so there is NO WAY I am going to actually read all of these book in August. But better have to have too many on the list than not enough, right?

1. A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif. I saw this title on one of those bookstore emails and loved it immediately. The storyline sounds good too.
2. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. I love Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake so much. I had no idea this book had come out until last week when a friend mentioned that she thought she’d heard Lahiri had come out with something new. I went home and ordered it.
3. Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Jatterson’s. His latest YA. Reading this for a Mother-Talk review. Post forthcoming.
4. A Friendship Test by Elizabeth Noble. I have no idea what this book is about, but it’s my book club selection for August and I’m leading the discussion, so best be prepared (see #10).
5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I get that I’m a couple years behind everyone else, but I never got around to it. I recently read A Thousand Splendid Suns and it renewed my interest.
6. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I bought this book years ago after reading an interview with the author and it has sat on my shelf collecting dust. A friend mentioned she was reading it, and I like to read books with other people are so we can talk about them, so I told her I’d try to read it before the next time we see each other.
7. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Another one of those bought-it-and-shelved-it books. I kind of feel like I’m losing street cred in the writer’s world by admitting I still haven’t read this.
8. Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger. Lawyer Girl loves Salinger and I found all his books at the used book store for cheap and thought, you know, I should finally get around to reading them since she loves so much.
9. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. This has been recommended to me a few friends as and I do like the title.
10. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by David Oliver Relin and Greg Mortenson. Technically, I should have read this for book club last month, but I attended the meeting without having read the book, and participated in the discussion anyway. It was like I was in college, only I said “I have kids” instead of “I was at the bar” as to why I didn’t do my reading.
11. A Gesture Life: A Novel by Chang Rae-Lee. I heard about this through a writing class. WWII, comfort women, Japanese soldiers… it sounds like the book I wanted to write, but set in another country.
12. When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. Ever since I read an interview with Pema, I’ve been enamored with her. And this is her biggie, but I still haven’t read it.
13. Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. I bought this book for the title alone. Yes. I am a title junkie.

More lists of thriteen here.

More Than It Hurts You is about the Goldin family, Josh, Dori, and their infant, Zack. Zack has been brought to the hospital a couple times for ailments from unknown causes. Dr. Darlene Stokes determines that the mother is hurting the child to gain attention, and alerts child protective services. Drama ensues.

Here is the opening line:
“Fifteen minutes before happiness left him, Josh Goldin led his summer intern by the elbow to share in the hallelujah of a Friday afternoon.”

Chills, much?

Strauss’ line is destined to outlast many things that take up space in my memory. It stayed with me through the course of this riveting novel because I kept wondering, why did the author begin it fifteen minutes before the start of the *real* story?

Was it pointless exposition on office politics that should have been cut in the editing process or was it an opportunity to draw a parallel between office politics and life politics. I’ve known many a person to utter the words, ‘I can’t stand office politics.’ But perhaps office politics are no different than the politics of life, of living, or making a living, of watching lives, and of interacting with them. So many people think of office politics as some foreign world where people interact with one another on a superficial level and that none of them truly know one another. They appear to be friends, they even know certain details about their lives, yet in the opening chapter, Josh’s office comrades witness the moment of happiness leaving him, and they are concerned for, oh, say, a minute? And truly, more uncomfortable than concerned, wanting to immediately give him space, not be seen still enjoying their Friday afternoon. I don’t think this was not to say that work is a cold, cruel place, but to say, people are only truly hurt by their own individual circumstances, hence the title More Than It Hurts You.

I think it was Dale Carnegie who said people care more about their hangnail than your life-threatening cancer. Is Darin Strauss suggesting any less? If you are hurt by something, can no one else feel your pain? Do you think anyone truly understands your pain? And furthermore, do you care if they do? Particularly, do you even care about their pain if you are trying to relieve yours? And where does blame come in? And why, in this country, does blame share a direct link with race and religion? She’s black! They’re Jewish! Let’s immediately jump to those easy-to-label words because we’re desperate to relieve our own pain.

Strauss has turned out a beautiful novel about a family and a doctor’s pains, and their attempts to live through them, only to have fingers pointed and the looming words of race and religion, the general slap in the face that America has unfortunately delivered in the past.

Interesting read. Thanks, Darin, for the food for thought.

Things to know:

Buy the book here.

Go to Darin Strauss’ website here.

Strauss is blogging about his book tour on Newsweek.com. This latest is an amusing post because, well, any story that involves Debbie Reynolds and leftover Chinese is a story indeed.

Want to read review books like this? Go here.

The Cure for Modern Life is Lisa Tucker’s fourth book. And for the fourth time, I’ve enjoyed reading a novel by her.

The Cure for Modern Life is the story of Matthew Connelly, a top exec at a pharmaceutical company and several of his friendships: Amelia, the only woman he ever loved, who is determined to take down pharmaceutical companies in general, for their manipulation of the medical industry and pushing of prescription drugs (hey, who can blame her); Ben, his best friend and a skilled scientist who, shall we say, isn’t so good with the ladies—or for that matter, anything that isn’t science; and Danny and Isabelle, the sweet children of a heroin addict who enter Matthew’s life one random night on the Walnut Street Bridge.

I first learned of Lisa Tucker when I signed up for a Beginning Novel Writing class with her through the UCLA Extension. One of the first things she emphasized was the importance of the first sentence, the first paragraph, the first three pages, and finally, the first chapter, all of which we submitted in increments.

So let’s look at her first chapter. The opening line? “Was Matthew Connelly a bad man?” Does it set the stage for the novel? Yup. This novel goes around and around on the question, “What constitutes ‘good’? That could keep you up every night for the rest of your life: what is good? What is doing good? Who are you to decide what is and is not good? When a drug can heal some but hurt others, what does that make it? Good? Bad? Neither? How do you answer the question do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (cue the ending to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn)?

I love that this novel begins with such a simple sentence, and a question too. Because you will read this whole book wondering if Matthew Connelly is, in fact, a bad man. Which brings up another interesting aspect of this novel, and another thing they like to teach in beginning writing classes. Is your protagonist likeable? What about the supporting characters? Are they likeable? Do you root for them? These characters all have such strong flaws, there are times when I just want to reach into the book and wring their necks, but then they come back and remind me that hey, you’re not perfect either. We’re all only human. They get rash when they shouldn’t and over-reflective when they needn’t. I love how human they are.

There are few authors that I can say I’ve read everything by them. I’m glad I came across Lisa while she still had only two books out. It was easy to get up to speed and now I can read along with her. Her books have gotten better with each one. I feel like her characters’ complexities get more in-depth with each book. They always revolve around hardships experienced during childhood and the need for love—sometimes giving it, sometimes rejecting it. The Cure for Modern Life is another fascinating journey into the human desire to be accepted for who they are, problems and all.

So go on and read it. Love Lisa. I sure do.

Things to know:

Buy the book here.

Go to Lisa’s website here.

Lisa’s other books: The Song Reader, Shout Down from the Moon, Once Upon a Day .

Want to read review books like this? Go here.

Short Summary: Josh Ryder is hurt in a bomb explosion and begins reliving past lives. As he tries to work out the anxiety he feels from these past life moments, he encounters other people with past lives who intersected with his own past lives. Through the course of this book, you will meet power-hungry rich folks, devout archaeologists, lusty pagans in Rome circa 391 A.D., and jumped up New Yorkers at the turn of the century living out their own Hamlet-inspired life.

Oh yeah, and a kid.

Hmm, and romance.

Ooh, it also has—oh forget it… this book has a little bit of everything.

I used to read thrillers all the time. Now, I generally read them when I’m flying or if I’ve heard a lot about it. When the opportunity came up to review this book, I signed up because the idea of a past life in Rome sounded interesting. As far as airplane reading goes, this book lives up: a compelling weave of plotlines, action, adventure, and characters to create drama and excitement for me while I’m sitting in between two strangers in my cozy Southwest Airlines seat, chugging Ginger Ale and eating cracker sticks and cheese dip. There is a scene where a man strategically places large gemstones on a woman before making love to her, and let me tell you, when you’re reading that, you do not care that the thigh of the somewhat overweight woman next to you is resting on your own thigh and making movement virtually impossible (heh, I had the last laugh, though, because she had NO IDEA how dirty my jeans were).

Basically, the book is entertaining and interesting. She could have sped up the beginning a bit. If I had been in a library and only read the first couple chapters, I might not have checked it out and brought it home, but since my only other option was to cheat on the middle level crossword puzzle in Spirit magazine, I kept reading. I’m glad I did, because it really picked up.

In some parts, I thought it made too much emphasis on HOW IMPORTANT THE DISCOVERY IS. I honestly tried to go with this idea that “the Church” (if the book ever becomes an audience participation movie, you would all say “booooo” right now) would explosively lose their minds and world chaos would ensue if it could be proven beyond scientific doubt that reincarnation does exist (GASP!!!!!), but alas, I wasn’t biting. Ms. Rose could have removed the entire Church-vs-reincarnation and the book would have been fine for me. In fact, if she had removed all the Church-vs-reincarnation bits and replaced them with sex, it probably would have been much better (cue the 9 1/2 Weeks score).

So, there you have it. A book to read on your next airplane ride. Hope you’re going somewhere fun. And give me a call if your rental car floods. I know how to handle that now.

Things to know about this book:

Buy the book here.

More on the author here.

Want to read books like this? Go here.

I end with a spoiler/warning: superfluous rape scene on p. 13. Only a few sentences a long. I hate reading them, especially when they’re thrown in for no good reason.