Groff

I am seriously dying here - I requested that the library purchase Lauren Groff's latest, Arcadia, forever ago, and it still hasn't come yet, and reading really positive reviews of the book aren't helping!

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/books/review/arcadia-by-lauren-groff.html

Lauren Groff!

Her second novel, Arcadia, is releasing tomorrow - have requested the library get it, but I don't know if I'll be able to wait...anyhow, yay!

Happy Books (For V)

Was talking with V last night, and the subject of happy, or at least not-depressing, books came up, and I started trying to think of some.  So, the list I came up with as I walked home, for her & for me when I need a good but not-depressing read is:

The Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff (which I literally stocked up on copies of)
The War of the Saints, Jorge Amado (one of my favorites of all time)
Sea of Poppies, Amitav Ghosh (wrapped me up and swept me away; only hesitation in recommending it is that we're still waiting for the next installment of the Trilogy to come out)
The Good Thief, Hannah Tinti (I seriously almost cried, on the f***ing T, because it was so darn heartwarming)
Shark Dialogues, Kiana Davenport (it's not great lit, but I really enjoy it, and it's not crap)
In the Woods, Tana French (darker than the others - it's a murder mystery, after all - but so engaging)
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde (Fforde just makes me laugh, and giggle, and snort, and laugh some more...)

Chick-lit follow-up

So, last night I had a really wonderful time doing absolutely nothing with T, my dear, dear friend and former roommate.  We sat around on my couch and talked about serious matters and inconsequential fluff, watched the season premiere of America's Next Top Model, and had prosecco & creamcheese brownies from the Black Sheep (yes, I brought them from Amherst to Boston, and it was totally worth it!).  F***ing phenomenal.  And, of course, with a friend who knows you as well as T knows me, and who you are as open & comfortable with as I am with her, the serious things can be dealt with in a light way that makes them easier to process, and serious insights can be found in the fluffier chats.
I also finally got to give her her Christmas present, which included The Monsters of Templeton, which I have already declared my love for in this blog.  I am so excited for her to read it, and I was also really happy because she told me how much she had liked The Flamenco Academy (which, again, I originally read the same weekend as Monsters of Templeton), and even passed it on to a friend.  Some books I read and never think about again, or they're just good for a break from real life once in a while, but some books have a bigger impact, and I think the best sign of a book is if you recommend it to someone you care for and respect.  I've said it before, but these are two books I just thought were fantastic, and I am so, so excited that someone I love thought so too!
They're both novels by women, about women, and both - in some ways - about growing up and finding your (female) self, but if they're chick lit, they're chick lit in the best way.  I was thinking about them again last night, because I gave one (so now both) to T, but also because I have been really bothered by this currently chronic leg/back pain that I assume is a result of the surgery I had in December.  At first I was trying to escape the pain by reading really "light" books, thinking I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything too serious or well-written, but these were two books that I thought were very well written, and end up dealing with some quite serious emotions and situations, but they're so compelling and real that as a reader you just get dragged in, and that makes a real escape possible.  Heresy's really not cutting it for me in that sense right now (although a combo of prosecco & chocolate-coma, Heresy, tylenol pm, and CVS-brand muscle rub are somewhat helpful - minus the fact my apartment now smells minty/mentholy-fresh all day long!), but I am going to try to scope out my shelves for a weekend winner. 
Have La Salle, by John Vernon, with me today: I needed to bring a book because I am going to the doctor's to get checked out, and need waiting room reading, but I'm too close to the end of Heresy, and it's too heavy, to bring it with me and finish it in ten minutes, so La Salle was the lightest book I could grab quickly.  Don't even remember when I took it out from the library or why, but at least it will be a surprise, even if it's not great!

Great "chick lit" for a rainy, lazy weekend indoors

So, this year I went on a little single-book-shopping spree and bought 4 copies of the same book: one to keep for myself, and the rest to give away as Christmas presents.  I first read The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff, as a library book last fall.  I adored it, and devoured it curled up under my big down comforter one rainy weekend.  I loved the little nods to history (the town, Templeton, is clearly inspired by Cooperstown, NY) and literature (lots of references to  James Fennimore Cooper character, as well as his stories).  It also had several great characters who were fully, and finely, drawn.  When I saw it on the remainders table at the Harvard bookstore around the holidays I knew it was meant to be - a great book that I would be happy to read again and had no hesitations about recommending, on sale???  Of course, I was simultaneously thrilled to be picking up each copy for around $5 and totally pissed off that such a great book had ended up on the remainder table at all - in my world, this book should be flying off shelves everywhere. Only problem is that I haven't seen half the people I intended to give the book to, so I still have multiple copies on my shelf.  Need to remember to do something about that soon.

I remember being especially pleased with Monsters of Templeton because the other book I had taken out of the library that Friday, and started on the bus on the way home from work, was Sarah Bird's The Flamenco Academy.  That one had been an incredibly engaging (for me) exploration of personal growth and how we construct, and re-construct our identities...complete with a hot Flamenco guitarist, yum.  The exotic lure of flamenco music, dance, and culture for the main character translated to the reader too, and I got sucked in.  I loved Flamenco Academy, just as much as Templeton, albeit for different reasons.  When I was done with it I actually regretted that the experience of reading it was over, and worried that the next book I had to read (Templeton) would be tainted by its predecessor's awesomeness - like when you eat a really delicious peach, juicy and ripe, and then bite into another one and it's all hard and flavorless, or you have a perfectly crisp, tasty apple, and then the next one is mealy and gross.  But Templeton more than held its own, and the two made for a really fantastic rainy weekend.


They may not really be "chick" lit in so much as pink-covered novels, and an engagement ring is not the heroines' goal, but they have wonderfully drawn female main characters, and both explore the way women grow up and how they veiw the world around them as they do so, so I think they are chick lit in the best sense of the term.