Another step toward clearing the backlog of unreviewed books. I read this back in January:

Late Night at the Lobster by Stewart O’Nan

From the jacket: “Perched in the far corner of a run-down New England mall, the Red Lobster hasn’t been making its numbers and headquarters has pulled the plug. But manager Manny DeLeon still needs to navigate a tricky last shift. With only four shopping days left until Christmas, Manny must convince his near-mutinous staff to hunker down and serve the final onslaught of hungry retirees, lunatics, and holiday office parties. All the while, he’s wondering how to handle the waitress he’s still in love with, his pregnant girlfriend at home, and where to find the present that will make everything better.”

My take: I first read about this book from Maggie more than a year ago. Learning that it was set a few towns over from where I used to live in Connecticut, just up Route 9, immediately earned it a place on my To Be Read list. So when I finally remembered to request it from the library, I was hoping for a nostalgic look at my home state through the eyes of a peer — even if that peer was the pot-smoking manager of a chain restaurant.

What I got, though, was a novella so depressing that I still can’t believe I actually finished it. It is, I would assume, an accurate portrayal of blue-collar workers being downsized at the holidays, many without prospects of attaining new employment quickly. The main characters (including Manny, who cheated on his girlfriend with one of the waitresses, who agonized over which of his employees he could take with him to the Olive Garden in the next town when the corporate office let him “save” five employees, and who is particularly kind and gentle to his old high school basketball coach and to a developmentally disabled employee) were well-crafted and well-rounded (as were several of the secondaries), but, although likable, I’m not sure I’d actually want to know them in real life. The fact that this tale is set in a familiar locale and that I could actually envision this happening there did not serve to make the story seem less bleak.

Well-written, but a true downer. Avoid if you want to be able to hold out hope for a better future for the characters you read about.

Pages: 146 pages

Since it’s June, I thought it high time I join some book-themed challenges. Unfortunately, the one I need most, which is to review all the books you’ve read to date this year, seems not to be offered anywhere. In the meantime, I’ll just add some new books to the pile.

Last year, I signed up for Maggie’s summer reading challenge and failed miserably — I neglected to read any of the three books I’d planned on. This year I plan to succeed in my goal of reading three Southern books before August 15 for the Southern Reading Challenge Three.

(Maggie’s challenge does have some possibility of getting me to review the books in a timely fashion, as she has deadlines for posting each review.)

My intention will be to read:

• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
• Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
• Flush by Carl Hiaasen

But I admit I may substitute based on library availability and sustained interest levels once I start.

If you have any Southern-themed suggestions, I’m open to them.

From today’s Booking through Thursday:

“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

1. Horton Hears a Who
2. Little Women
3. Richard Scarry’s Please and Thank You Book
4. Women in the Global Factory
5. Anne of Green Gables
6. Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone
7. Pride and Prejudice
8. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
9. A Tale of Two Cities
10. To Kill a Mockingbird
11. Jane Eyre
12. The Eyre Affair
13. The Bean Trees
14. The Secret Garden
15. Heidi

What would yours be?

Remember when I used to write about books on a fairly frequent basis? Remember when I wrote I was going to start writing entries about books individually in an effort to get me back in the habit of reviewing them? And then I stopped writing about them altogether?

Um, yeah. Here’s an effort at starting to catch up. I read this back in January…

The Heroines by Eileen Favorite

From the jacket: “Although a true lover of books, Anne-Marie Entwhistle prefers not to read to her spirited daughter, Penny, especially from the likes of Madame Bovary, Gone with the Wind, or The Scarlet Letter. These novels, devoted to the lives of the Heroines that make them so irresistible, have a way of hitting too close to home — well, to the Homestead actually, where Anne-Marie runs the quaint family-owned bed and breakfast…. Penny and her mother encounter great women from classic works of literature who make the Homestead their destination of choice just as the plots of their tumultuous, unforgettable stories begin to unravel. They appear at all hours of the day and in all manners of distress…. Knowing that to interfere with their stories would cause mayhem in literature, Anne-Marie does her best to make each Heroine feel at home, with a roof over her head and a shoulder to cry on. But when Penny begins to feel overshadowed by her mother’s indulgence of each and every Heroine, havoc ensues and the thirteen-year-old embarks on a her own memorable tale.”

My take: The concept of the story — a 1974 middle-America home set during the hear of the feminist movement where female protagonists from across the realms of literature stop for some rest and relaxation in the home of three women (the Entwhistle mother and daughter and their German-born housekeeper, Gretta) — is a strong one.

Add to that back story, though, the fractious coming of age of a teenage girl, and things start to unravel. Penny runs off into the woods to escape a mother who simultaneously pays too much and not enough attention to her. While there, she encounters a wild, unknown stranger who piques her interest. She knows he’s in search of one of the Heroines. No one quite knows how to reasonably explain that to the police her mother called in her fright — and a hospital visit and incarceration in a mental facility ensue.

Combining these overlapping tales felt awkward and didn’t work for me. While I understand the intent of the author, it felt like the book lost momentum after Anne-Marie allows Penny to be locked up. I’d give this one a pass.

Pages: 233

You may have noticed: My plan to wrap up reviews of books read in 2008 and begin on those I’ve read so far in 2009 derailed before we got out of the train yard. I still plan on catching up… Here’s hoping it’s sometime soon.

I read many of these stories in December and finished up early last month:

Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, by Connie Willis

From the jacket: “This enchanting group of eight tales … begins with the title story, ‘Miracle,’ in which an office worker hopes that her handsome colleague will finally notice her at the company Christmas party. But her carefully devised plans go awry when her guardian angel takes it upon himself to show her the true meaning of love…. A treasure to cherish anytime of the year, this collection boldly reimagines the stories of Christmas and serves as a testament to Connie Willis’s unique genius and skill in bringing the extraordinary to life while conveying the power of human compassion and love.”

My take: I’m pretty sure Connie Willis was a recommended author by some of you way back when, so when I discovered a brand new copy of a collection of holiday short stories by her on the freebie cart at work, I snapped it up.

Generally, I’m not a huge sci fi fan. I find it trends too much toward the dystopian, which I find bleak and depressing. But if this collection of Willis’ is any indication of her other work, I may have to seek more out. These stories, which (mostly) took place in modern time where the supernatural (generally) isn’t expected, tended far more toward the hopeful than I had expected.

The book was comprised of eight stories, and I liked five of them. Three just weren’t my speed, rather than being bad. “Cat’s Paw,” a Sherlock Holmesian murder mystery features talking apes and a biotech lab on Christmas Eve. “In Coppelius’s Toyshop” is about a mean fellow who gets a deserved, if dark, punishment for his outlook on life at an FAO Schwartz-like store. And “The Pony” also seemed a little creepy — making Santa seem more like a stalker than a kindly elf.

Luckily, those three were overshadowed by the other pieces. “Adaptation” is about a divorced bookseller whose seasonal colleagues include Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. “Newsletter” takes on a much mocked Christmas tradition. In it, Nan boasts of the month she’d just had, when everyone around her (except a coworker or two) became eerily cheerful — and started wearing hats. “Miracle” is another office drama. At the office, Lauren is pining for some attention from the hunk down the hallway, hoping he’ll finally notice her at the annual Christmas party. In the meantime, at home, she’s being terrorized by a surfer dude guardian angel, sent by her sister, who wants her to toss her pre-printed holiday cards and prewrapped generic gifts and find the joy of the season embodied by her favorite Christmas movie.

The two best stories, though are “Inn” and “Epiphany.” Oddly enough, both are religious stories. In the former, a choir member at a rehearsal for the Christmas Eve service finds herself at odds with the associate minister of her church on the issue of the homeless and the definition of charity. The story follows what happens when she lets in two young drifters.

In “Epiphany,” Mel, a minister, has abandoned his congregation because of a sudden insight that Christ has arrived for the Second Coming and is in need of him. He battles his own doubts, his agnostic best friend’s concern, winter blizzards, and traffic woes, as he heads west on his pilgrimage. His journey is made only more absurd by the unseasonal caravan of carnival trucks he seems to be following. Yet, “Epiphany” is the story that sticks with me the most. That could be because it’s the final story of the collection. Or because its own ending is the most ambiguous of the bunch. But I think it’s because its characters’ quest parallels our own quest for meaning in the modern world.

A great collection. I’ll be keeping this to re-read during future holiday seasons.

Pages: 328

Hillary invited folks to discuss books by posting a survey result and a meme on her blog. It was about books. How could I resist?

It’s true. They do.
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