March Book Events

I've just decided on a new New Year's resolution (yes, I know it's March).

Inspired by my friend Kate, who decided to make a concerted effort to see one live music performance each month, I've decided to attend one live literary event each month. "Literary event" can be broadly defined; it doesn't have to mean strictly author event/book signing. For instance, in February I attended the Bookbuilders of Boston's first 2011 Spring Forum (on children's publishing, had a great time, nice to see familiar faces and meet new people).

For the month of March, I'm turning to the great Harvard Book Store to see what their events calendar offers. Would anyone care to join me? Here are the two (2! Ambitious!) events I'm hoping to attend:

Ron Rash, author of Burning Bright, on Thursday, March 24

Burning Bright
9780061804120, Ecco Press (HarperCollins), $12.99

Having greatly enjoyed reading and recommending Serena (for my review, click here), and being a huge fan of short stories, what's not to love (price point included!) about this new paperback original from a brilliant Southern writer. Here is the Harvard Book Store description:

In Burning Bright, the stories span the years from the Civil War to the present day, populated by raw characters mined from the landscape of Appalachia. In "Back of Beyond," a pawnshop owner who profits from the stolen goods of local meth addicts, including his own nephew, comes to the aid of his brother and sister-in-law when they are threatened by their son. The pregnant wife of a Lincoln sympathizer alone in Confederate territory takes revenge to protect her family in "Lincolnites." And in the title story, a woman from a small town marries an outsider; when an unknown arsonist starts fires in the Smoky Mountains, her husband becomes the key suspect.

For information on this (free!) Harvard Book Store event, click here.

Sarah Vowell, author of Unfamiliar Fishes, on Friday, March 25.

Unfamilar Fishes
9781594487873, Riverhead Books (Penguin), $25.95

I've been reading Sarah Vowell on-and-off since 2006, and there's absolutely no denying that she's smart, witty, and not only makes sense of history but really brings it into context for today. In my personal opinion, in addition to all of Howard Zinn's works, high school students should be assigned Sarah Vowell for an alternative, true, perspective of American history.

Here is the new book's description from the Harvard Book Store website:

Many think of 1776 as the defining year of American history, when we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self-government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as defining, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded first Cuba, then the Philippines, becoming an international superpower practically overnight.

Among the developments in these outposts of 1898, Vowell considers the Americanization of Hawaii the most intriguing. From the arrival of New England missionaries in 1820, their goal to Christianize the local heathen, to the coup d'état of the missionaries' sons in 1893, which overthrew the Hawaiian queen, the events leading up to American annexation feature a cast of beguiling, and often appealing or tragic, characters: whalers who fired cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their God-given right to whores, an incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband, sugar barons, lepers, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the last Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode "Aloha 'Oe" serenaded the first Hawaiian president of the United States during his 2009 inaugural parade.

This event is ticketed and costs $5, but if I can swing it, so can you. For more information, click here.

Now for some clips:

Sarah Vowell reads an excerpt from her new book.



Sarah Vowell on The Daily Show talking about one of her previous books, The Wordy Shipmates

The Daily Show - Sarah Vowell
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Book Review: Nice to Come Home To by Rebecca Flowers

Nice to Come Home To

by Rebecca Flowers

9781594483561, Riverhead Books (Penguin Putnam), $15

This post was originally published here in May 2008. It has been edited from the original version.

Keeping up with all the great new children's books out there hasn't left me much spare time to sit down with something more appropriate for my own age and reading level. I admit it was the cover of this book that made me pick it up, and when I actually read it (4 weeks later) I was glad I did.
 
As the title may give away, this is a novel about finding love (that someone it's "nice to come home to"), but it's also a novel about finding yourself. What I liked best about this book, and I mean this in a complimentary way, is that the novel doesn't take itself too seriously while exploring that vein. I admit to being a deep thinker; I tend to apply everything - books, movies, music - to feelings and situations in my own life (often way overdoing it!), and it was really nice to read something that spoke to me without taking me too deep.

The main plot involves Prudence Whistler - Pru for short. She's in her mid-to-late 30s, has just lost her job, and is about to lose her boyfriend. Unexpectedly, she sees herself reflected in a stranger - a woman full of children, husband, and her place in life as mother/caregiver - and Pru is catapulted into uncertainty about where her own life is taking her without any of those things. Prudence Whistler is a woman of lists and plans. The plot unfolds as Pru struggles to find what it is she is really meant to be doing, really wants to do, and how any sort of romantic entanglement fits into all of that.

A sub-plot involving her younger sister, Patsy's, romantic life only serves to underscore the things Pru is finding out about life, love, and herself. The subplot was well-done, adding some familial substance to the character of Pru, forwarding the plot just enough, without overwhelming Pru herself.

Even though I began this post by saying I'm glad things didn't get too hot and heavy into a discussion of topics such as life philosophy and the feminist female psyche (or as I put it earlier, "deep"), I admit to being a bit disappointed by how things worked out so well for everyone in the end. I won't write a spoiler, but I will say everything ends up as it should. Though on the surface Pru suffers - lost job, boyfriend, spoiled second romance, struggling career options - I really didn't feel Prudence taking enough charge of her own life. She went with the flow a bit too much for me, the universe threw a few too many good coincidences her way, and when she finally did stick up for her emotional well-being, the moment quickly became anti-climatic (which may have been the point, but really only served to take the wind out of my reading sails). As a list maker and planner myself, I didn't see enough determination, enough drive, enough (yes, I'll admit to it) ambition from her regarding her own life. Things sort of happened, she dealt with them, accepted them or didn't accept them, but there was something lackluster in her character, some missing spark or spirit that kept me from getting 100% behind her and fully celebrating for her at the end. Real life just isn't that pat of a story.

What held the book for me was the solid writing. I consistently went back for more. Rebecca Flowers has a way of putting together a sentence that gets to the heart of the matter and makes you want to know what's coming next (even if it the event itself is slightly predictable). Overall, a good, light read, well-written and meaningful, without the headache of too many unanswerable life questions. A great summer beach read.