Oh lordy am I behind. I've sort of been losing a lot of myself lately, I feel like life is coming apart at the seams and I'm scrambling to hold onto the strings. I actually contemplated giving up on this, but I think I might regret it someday if I do, so along I'll plod. Here goes.
Two by Jen Lancaster, which were really funny and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of her books. First was "Bitter is the New Black", about how she and her fiance both lost their high-paying, high-powered jobs and in their poverty discovered the important things in life. It sounds sentimental and sappy, but it really wasn't. "Such a Pretty Fat" was her account of how she set about losing weight and getting into shape. It wasn't quite as funny, because it's a topic that hits entirely close to home for me, but I have to give her major credit for talking so openly about such an intensely painful subject.
"Destination Morgue: L.A. Tales" by James Ellroy was sheer masterpiece. I saw him a few months ago at the L.A. Times of Festival of Books and he is such a dynamic speaker. I've read a few of his books (highly recommend "My Dark Places") and I've wanted to read more. "Destination Morgue" was an intriguing mix of nonfiction and fiction, starting off with a few short stories of unsolved L.A. murders and how they've affected him, and the last half of the book was a collection of short fiction staring an L.A. detective and his lady love. He skillfully wove real life characters into the fiction and his abrasive style and hardcore slang make Ellroy second to none.
"The Sound and the Fury: Faulkner and the Lost Cause" by John T. Matthews was a short little critical interpretation of Faulkner's masterpiece. If I'm not reading Faulkner then I want to read more about him and his brilliance, and this one was very good, highly readable and he had some interesting insights as to the Compson household. Nothing I haven't read before, obviously, since I've read so much about "The Sound and the Fury", but interesting nonetheless.
"Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties" by Lucy Moore was a fun little read about the decade that defined excess and opulence before it all came crashing down. History seems to always repeat itself, even if we do our best to remember it. Her stories about what was going on in the '20s, everything from Jack Dempsey to Charles Lindbergh, drew parallels to what was going on over the last decade before we lost it all.
And finally, "Roses" by Leila Meacham. I've heard really great things about this book: a sweeping, grand epic about love and revenge set in the lush background of my favorite locale: Texas. It was good, but it fell short of my expectations. I was thinking more like "Giant" by Edna Ferber (I should have known better) but it was pale and weak in comparison.
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