Saturday, July 30, 2011

Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose.

Forgive me for indulging a bit. This has nothing to do with books I'm reading :)


I fell in love with Texas long before “Friday Night Lights”. I remember, vaguely, watching “Dallas” with my mom as a kid. Later, when I was about 18 or so, a country music cable channel started showing “Dallas” every morning at 10 a.m. I saw the whole series from beginning to end over a year or so. I loved the opening credits: everything really was bigger in Texas. I loved the idea of oil rigs and cattle and big glass buildings. I saw “Giant” with James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor and was enchanted. When I discovered Larry McMurtry (to this day, one of my favorite authors and “Lonesome Dove” remains my favorite book of all time) I thought I had found my place in life. When I grew up, I was going to move to Texas. Simple as that.
In January of 2005 I got to take a two day trip to Dallas, and it was literally a dream come true. I went with my boyfriend at the time, and he too liked the idea of moving to Texas once we had finished college. Everyone was so friendly and cheerful and it was wide open and flat--you could see forever. The cost of living was so ridiculously high in California, and everything was so cramped. We would have room to sprawl out in Texas, own a big home for a fraction of the cost that a similar home would set us back in California. We saw adorable little condos for sale for $60,000 with financing available. Financing? We laughed. We could buy one right now with what we had saved for a down payment. We even considered doing it, and using it as a rental property to generate some income to speed up our move to Texas. In the end we didn’t do it, but while there I bought a “Texan by Choice” bumper sticker, a Texas flag, and a “Don’t mess with Texas” tee shirt. I saw a license plate frame that said “I wasn’t born in Texas but I got here as quick as I could” and knew that I would buy one once we moved. It summed up how I felt exactly. I started collecting Texas quarters in a jar and still do, to this day. I have over $50 worth. All Texas. Who cares about the other states anyway?
By the end of 2006 the boyfriend was gone, but I was more determined than ever to move to the great state. I was getting my master’s degree and decided once I did I could move. After all, I really didn’t have too many ties to California. Sure, my parents and sister were there, but not *my* family. I wanted to get married, have kids. I saw Texas as the perfect place to raise a family. I dreamed about a small, dusty town, where everyone knew everyone else and it was safe. I would be the town librarian in charge of a little bitty library, and I would close early on Friday nights to go to the football game.
Of course the town would have a high school football team, and a good one. I looked forward to those games, and I would meet a wonderful man there who loved the game and Texas as much as I did, and we would get married and have babies and once our sons were old enough they would play football too. It would all be so, so perfect.
Once I graduated in 2008 I actually did look at jobs in Texas. The logistics of moving didn’t seem too daunting. I didn’t have any major furniture, just books. I would fly out for a job interview, find a little house to rent, move.
In the meantime, I fell in love with “Friday Night Lights”. I saw the movie first because Billy Bob Thornton is in it. Oh it was wonderful. If I could go back in time to be a teenager in Texas I would have done it in a heartbeat. They had the life I’d always wanted, where the football players ruled the halls with cheerleaders on their arms. I wanted it so bad I could taste it.
I knew I couldn’t go back in time, so the next best thing would be to give my kids that perfect life. I watched “Friday Night Lights” when it first premiered on NBC, and I loved that Kyle Chandler was playing Coach Taylor. I had adored him in the short lived but wonderful show “Homefront”, which only lasted for two seasons but was one of my favorites while it was on. The TV show was absolutely perfect and then some. The fictional town of Dillon, Texas was exactly what I wanted. If I’d woken up in the morning and been in the middle of Dillon I would have known exactly where to go. I knew that town. I knew where every thing would be. I would walk down the main street and people would smile and wave and ask me if the new James Patterson had come in yet. And I would follow the lights on Friday night to the game.
Every time I hear the theme song to the show my heart aches with a longing I can’t quite name, a longing of something that should have been but never was and now never might be. I followed the show all around the different times it was aired, but I never did make it to my dusty little town in Texas. But watching the show, and rewatching the show, and watching it again and again, fills me with an odd mixture of profound peace and bitter sorrow. Everything I’ve ever wanted and will never have.
It kills me that vapid, brainless reality television can garner higher ratings and stay on the air longer than an intelligent, moving, beautifully written and acted show like “Friday Night Lights”. I wonder what kind of society I live in that doesn’t value something as amazing as “Friday Night Lights”. It’s more than just television, it’s magic. It takes me to a time and a place that doesn’t really exist except in my head, where I live in that dusty little town with my husband and babies, going to the games on Friday nights. All while I live here by the beach in California, still single, still childless, still hoping someday I can follow the lights and make it home.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

My Korean Deli; License to Pawn; Peter and Max

In 2002 Ben Ryder Howe opened up a small convenience store and deli with his wife and mother in law. Howe, an editor for the "Paris Review", is vastly out of his comfort level in "My Korean Deli". He has a nice, easygoing writing style that was funny and charming, but the best parts of the book were when he talked about his iconic boss George Plimpton at the Review, who sadly passed away in 2003. I would actually have enjoyed a book just talking about his experiences with the magazine. The deli storyline seemed to get in the way.
"Pawn Stars" on the History channel is one of the few reality shows I actually watch. I don't even lump it in with reality TV because to me it's not about a group of talentless idiots acting stupid just to be on TV and be famous. "Pawn Stars" is about three generations of the Harrison family, running a pawn shop on the Vegas strip. I like the Harrisons--they're real characters, and come across on the show as being very down to earth, what you see is what you get, kind of guys. That's how they came across in Rick's book "License to Pawn". It was a quick read, like dropping by and having a chat with a friend. He has a million interesting stories about the people and things he's seen in his store over the last twenty some years, and it's incredibly interesting. Like he says on the show, every piece in the store has a story behind it, which is why I enjoy watching the TV show so much.
And finally, a Fables novel in actual novel not graphic form "Peter and Max" by Bill Willingham. It was a great story, although I'm not sure why he chose to tell it in the more traditional prose format rather than comic. Peter and Max Piper are brothers and flute players, and when their father bequeaths his magical flute to younger brother Peter rather than Max, Max becomes insane with jealousy and vows revenge. I love, love, love how Willingham weaves the old fairy tales we're all familiar with into these stories. So brilliant. It was an excellent read.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Anne of Avonlea; Unbelievable; The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Continuing with my Anne of Green Gables rereads, I took a lovely stroll through the second book in L.M. Montgomery's series "Anne of Avonlea". Anne is all grown up, sixteen, and teaching school in Avonlea so she can stay home and take care of Marilla, who is having eyesight troubles. She also takes in the orphaned children of a distant relative who have no where else to go; six year old twins named Dora and Davy, who provide much comic relief, along with tales of Anne's little pupils. Of course Anne herself gets into plenty of trouble, like falling through the rotting roof of a shed on a neighbor's property while trying to peer in their pantry window to see if they have a particular type of platter she needs to replace. Oh Anne, how I love your simple and happy little town and the people in it. Someday I'd like to go to Prince Edward Island. I hope it's still as pretty as Montgomery makes it out to be.
Pretty Little Liars book 4, "Unbelievable" by Sara Shepard finally reveals who "A" is. I guessed fairly early on in the book, so I felt vindicated that I was right. Before her death, Mona points the finger at Ian as Ali's killer, which I am a bit skeptical of. For some reason something about Spencer bothers me, the way she's always the last to see people before they die, and her mysterious blackouts. Hmmm...unfortunately there's a bit of a waiting list at the library for book 5, so I might have to go purchase it. Or see if my sister has a copy I can borrow. I'm not very good at waiting!
Steig Larsson's last book in the Millennium trilogy, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", easily could have been 200 pages shorter. He had a lot of information about Swedish politics that bored me to tears. It took me 11 days to slog through this one, nearly unheard of for me. But there were very good parts leading up to Salander's trial, which was great. Trials in Sweden are a bit more informal than trials here, but there was still a wonderful "Perry Mason moment" that I enjoyed. I liked the ending, too. He left it open, since he was planning more books before he died, but it was still a good ending. I had been hoping to learn more about Lisbeth's twin Camille, but maybe he was planning that for a later book.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Flawless; Perfect

So my sister's gotten me hooked on these damn Pretty Little Liars series. I finished the second and third. "Flawless" explained the "Jenna Thing", which was that Ali caught Jenna's stepbrother Toby sexually abusing her and accidentally aimed the firework that blinded Jenna. Toby took the blame for the firework in exchange for Ali not telling what he was doing to Jenna. Toby is now back and the girls think he might be the mysterious "A" who is sending them threatening texts and emails. Toby commits suicide near the end, so nope, he wasn't A. "Perfect" kind of throws Spencer's older sister, Melissa, in as a suspect for A, but in a fit of rage Spencer blacks out and nearly kills Melissa, putting her in the hospital, so she's out as a suspect. Hanna seems to have figured it out at the end and calls the other girls and asks them to please meet her at the park so she can tell them what she's found out. The girls gather but before Hanna can reveal who A is a car runs her over, and we are left to assume she has been killed.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Lamb; Anne of Green Gables; The Girl Who Played with Fire

I read Christopher Moore's funny and irrelevant "Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal". That subtitle pretty much sums it up. Biff grew up with Joshua (Jesus is the Greek translation of the word) and they spent their formative years together. Joshua knows he is the Messiah but doesn't know how to behave like one, so he and Biff set out on a 17 year adventure traveling to Asia, India, and elsewhere, tracking down the three wise men who were present at his birth in hopes that they can teach Joshua how to be the Messiah. They learn from the older native religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. It was pretty clever and I enjoyed it.
I reread L.M. Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables", which is like visiting with an old friend and sharing a cup of tea on the wraparound front porch. It made me feel safe and comforted and warm. Usually when I reread the Anne books I just read the ones from when she was an adult, so it was nice to go back and visit her when she was still a charming and vivacious girl.
Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy continues in "The Girl Who Played with Fire". He talks a lot about advanced math in this book, which was completely and utterly over my head. I liked that we learned more about Lisbeth in this one, sort of why she is the way she is and how unfairly she's been treated. The ending was a literal cliffhanger--I was so glad I had the third book already loaded and ready to go on my Nook so I could find out right away what happened. I still think these books are way over-hyped, but they're not bad. I can't see myself ever reading them again though.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

So I tried to read Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" a couple of months ago, got 100 pages in, was bored stiff, and gave up. My sister and several coworkers have been encouraging me to try it again ever since, and I finally relented and did. I powered past the beginning (which was still really boring, he spends a good deal of time giving the backstory of the characters, and since we haven't really met them yet I didn't care enough about them to find it interesting) and once I did the book got good and fast paced and I ended up enjoying it. There was a lot going on, and most people who want to read it already have by now (plus nobody reads this anyway, so hey, I can spoil all I want). Mikael Blomkist is a disgraced writer/editor/publisher who is offered an opportunity to redeem himself by a wealthy former CEO of a corporation, Henrik Vanger. Vanger wants Blomkist to investigate the disappearance of his niece, Harriett, back in 1966. Blomkist takes the assignment, knowing he probably won't be able to come up with any new evidence, but he does, and with the help of a slightly mentally unbalanced researcher/hacker named Lisbeth Salander, he solves the mystery and is able to clear his good name. There are of course two sequels, so I'm curious as to what those will be about, since he seemed to have tied up the loose ends in this one.
Ransom Rigg's built his fiction title "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" around a real collection of odd vintage photographs discovered over the years by various scouts who collect that sort of thing. The photographs in and of themselves were absolutely fascinating. Basic trick photography in the early 1900s is vastly different than PhotoShop now, plus some of them weren't trying to be tricky they were just...odd. What a great concept for a book, too! Rigg's brings the strange people in the photographs to life by building them a refuge, a home in a "loop" protected by time and from the Hollows, who like to eat peculiar children. Jacob's grandfather lived at Miss Peregrine's home, and he had the ability to see the evil monsters that were hunting them. Jacob has inherited this talent, and on his deathbed his grandfather asks him to find the home and warn Miss Peregrine about the danger coming after her and her wards. The story was great and the characters so fresh and lively. The ending leaves the way paved for a sequel, so I'm hoping there is more, if for no other reason than wanting to see more neat old time photos!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Pact; Warm Bodies; Smokin' Seventeen; The Long Journey Home; Not Dead and Not For Sale; Here We Go Again; Keeping Faith; Honey, Baby, Sweetheart; Black Sheep; Pretty Little Liars

Okay, I've been on vacation the last ten days so I've been reading a lot but not posting. So let me try to get caught up here!
"The Pact" by Jodi Picoult was not very good. At least, not as good as some of her others have been. Two high school sweethearts, Chris and Emily, who have literally grown up together as best friends, are found one night with a gun and Emily dead. Chris claims it was a suicide pact, but after Emily shot herself he couldn't go through with it and fainted and the cops showed up before he could kill himself. The detective on the scene convinces the D.A. that Chris actually murdered Emily and they arrest him and charge him and there is a big, emotional trial, very typical of Picoult's books. I didn't like the outcome I think mostly because I didn't like the Emily character. She just didn't seem believable, so I felt no sympathy for her and didn't understand why Chris cared about her so much.
"Warm Bodies" by Isaac Marion was a zombie book with a twist. It wasn't bad, actually. "R" (that's all he remembers of his former name) wants something more out of life than just wandering around eating brains and grunting. During a raid he ends up killing and eating Julie's boyfriend Perry, and his memories of her make R decide to rescue Julie from his zombie friends. R slowly becomes more and more human throughout the course of the book, as do some of his friends. It was an interesting take on the genre.
Janet Evanovich brings Stephanie Plum back in "Smokin' Seventeen" and boy it was hot! Lots of awesome Ranger action yummy yummy! Stephanie's mother tries to get her to date an old high school classmate who is recently divorced and back in town. Dave is nice and good looking and loves to cook, and since things obviously aren't going anywhere with Morelli or Ranger what could it hurt to date Dave? Stephanie resists, and it turns out for good reason. Meanwhile, dead bodies keep turning up in the lot where Vincent Plum's bail bonds office used to be and where they are trying to rebuild. Apparently number 18 is coming out in November, which means we don't have to wait until next June! Awesome, I'll take that.
Margaret Robison was introduced to the world in a most unflattering way in her two son's memoirs, Augusten Burrough's "Running with Scissors" and John Elder Robison's "Look Me In the Eye", so she sets out to tell her side of the story in "The Long Journey Home". I didn't care for it, mostly because I think I have so little patience with the mentally ill. I know it's a terrible thing to say, and working with the general public in a library the way I do I come across a lot of people who have problems and need help. I don't know, she just didn't come across as truthful and I didn't get the pain and sadness she claims she feels about her son's childhoods. It was just "woe is me" tripe.
"Not Dead and Not for Sale" by Scott Weiland was worse, though, a total waste of time. Like Betty White's book from a few weeks ago, it left me feeling cheated, like he didn't even try to tell a story and it only took me an hour and a half to read. It was just basic, dull generalities without details. I've got his ex-wife's book on hold, so we'll see how her's holds up.
"Here We Go Again" by Betty White was the bio I was looking for. This one was great. Betty was charming and classy and very funny in this story about how she and television have grown up together. At one point she was on TV for over 25 hours a week! Can you even imagine? The book was also full of lovely photos which really added to her story. Much better!
"Keeping Faith" by Jodi Picoult was better than "The Pact". Mariah comes home one day and finds her husband in bed with another woman. After their divorce is finalized their seven year old daughter, Faith, starts talking to her imaginary friend. No big deal, until Faith starts referring to Bible verses she's never heard before (her parents aren't religious) and Mariah discovers her imaginary friend's name is God. Faith then starts performing miracles, like bringing her dead grandmother back to life and healing a baby with AIDS. The media and the Catholic and Jewish churches are all out to discredit Faith, and all Mariah wants is for her little girl to be left alone when her ex, Colin, decides to sue her for custody. There was a lot going on in this book, but it wasn't nearly as torturous as some of her others. I enjoyed it.
Deb Caletti's "Honey, Baby, Sweetheart" was another good one. I really do love her books, how authentic and believable her characters are. In this one Ruby falls for bad boy Travis who turns out to be much too bad, a thief, and Ruby realizes she needs to get away from him for good but it's hard when you care about someone. Her mother Ann is going through a similar situation. Ann takes her to a book club that she moderates (Ann is a librarian whoo hoo!) full of seniors who call themselves the Casserole Queens. Both Ruby and Ann start to heal with the help of these fun loving older folks, and although it sounds hokey it really wasn't.
"Black Sheep" by Georgette Heyer was short but very sharp. I so love her witty repartee between the two main characters in this one. Abby's niece and ward, Fanny, who is 17, has fallen in love with a fortune hunter named Stacy Caverleigh. Abby is trying to convince her niece that he is only after the money she will inherit in 8 years without turning Fanny against her. Meanwhile, Stacy's black sheep of the family uncle, Miles, returns from a 20 year exile in India and he and Abby fall for each other. Wonderful dialogue and a happy ending. More please! :)
And finally, finally (whew!) Sara Shepard's first in the series "Pretty Little Liars". At first the book annoyed me because these 16 year old kids were buying and consuming alcohol in public with no problems, and that struck me as utterly false. After awhile though it didn't seem to matter as much and I got into it and must admit, now I'm hooked and want to know what happens next. In junior high five wealthy, stuck up girls who are friends share a terrible secret which is only hinted at in this book. When one of the girls, Alison, mysteriously disappears never to be found the other four girls drift apart. Three years later they're all receiving strange text messages and emails from someone signing off as "A", who knows secrets they only shared with Alison. The book ends when Alison's body is dug up in her old backyard, but the four girls are still getting the cryptic, vaguely threatening messages.