#ReadWomen2014 Non-Fiction: 'The Sisters' by Mary S. Lovell

A few weeks ago, the youngest Mitford sister, Deborah (aka the Duchess of Devonshire) passed away after a long and impressive life spent in dedication to the restoration of Chatsworth, an English manor house she lovingly preserved. Her life, and the lives of her five sisters, were like something straight out of Downton Abbey.

Deborah (the youngest) led arguably the most traditional life for a member of the English aristocracy, becoming a duchess while simultaneously revolutionizing the business model of the English manor. Nancy Mitford, the oldest, was a very successful fiction writer and took a French military captain for a lover, natch. Diana married a fascist party leader and spent three years imprisoned during World War II as a result. (The sisters' cousin-by-marriage Winston Churchill eventually helped her get released). Unity Mitford moved to Germany, became enamored with Third Reich culture and was even an acquaintance of Adolf Hitler. When Britain declared war on Germany she attempted suicide with a handgun in a Berlin public park. Jessica "Deca" Mitford ran away and eloped with a cousin who was fighting in the Spanish Civil War, and following his death moved to America, where she became one of the most prominent female leaders of the Communist Party. There is one more, Pamela, who didn't do much of interest.

Now explain to me why you wouldn't want to read more about these ladies?

What I'm Reading: 'Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?' by Roz Chast

You knew I was going to read this eventually, given my big graphic novel kick and the number of awards this thing has been up for this year. Plus there's my New Yorker addiction...Roz Chast is a very funny and talented writer and cartoonist and you've almost certainly seen her work before. She recently published a one-volume graphic memoir about the death of her parents called Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? and its being long/short-listed for all the prizes.

I would call it tragicomic except that the tone can often be uncomfortably ambiguous, which is exactly what Chast wants. Her relationship with her parents was fraught with anxieties and baggage, and their slow physical and mental deterioration complicated an already tense situation. Chast is able to write about it with such grace and honesty, and her unflinching willingness to share her entire experience is really admirable.

This Week in Books Jess Mariano is Josie Pye

The finalists for the National Book Award were announced, and there were some no-brainers like Roz Chast and Marilynne Robinson, but also some surprises like Emily St. John Mandel. Even so, Robinson is going to win the fiction award, right?

The Toast created a Definitive Character Guide to Stars Hollow and Avonlea. I am deep, deep into Gilmore Girls these days, and Anne of Green Gables and I go way, way back, so this is pretty much everything. I particularly appreciated the Tristan DuGrey/Jen Pringle match-up analysis, "Garden-variety bitches."

#ReadWomen2014: Alice Munro

I feel a bit exposed recommending Alice Munro, because I've only read one book of her short stories ( there are fourteen original collections). I was really delighted and surprised, as were most interested parties, when she won the Nobel Prize for Literature last year, but it only further validated my shame at not having read enough of her writing. If ever there were proof that you missed the boat on a writer, it's when they are awarded a prize that is notoriously slow to validate women who write in English.

But! I did read Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage and really enjoyed it. I had to read it slowly to savor each and every story, but also to mitigate how much her stories made me feel. The titular story is my personal favorite, but each one is a small treasure full of impact. 

I was especially excited to write about her this week as I travel to Montreal, QC for a long birthday weekend. She's from Ontario, but close enough.

Book Trailers: 'Cloud Atlas' by David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas is a really terrific book, and an utterly garbage movie. Nevertheless, I feel that this trailer describes the content and its structure very well-- that is, Cloud Atlas is sprawling, ambitious, and is structured into six stories within one another like a Russian nesting doll. There are shared characters and many through-lines, which the directors tried to replicate by having a small group of actors play all of the major characters. That is not a bad idea in theory, and I think for the antagonist roles it works rather well. But for some reason they decided that this should involve a lot of race-swapping, which is never a good idea. So by all means, watch 'Cloud Atlas' if you want to see Halle Barry in Twilight-style whiteface (you don't), or better yet, read the novel, which is brilliant and stunning and riveting and has no race-swapping of any kind.

Canadian Women Writers

Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving and I'm ending the week with a trip to Quebec, so let's take a moment to appreciate our favorite Canadian women writers. I am obviously a huge Margaret Atwood fan, counting her in the Bookhive Pantheon, and I have a post on Alice Munro coming up later this week.

But what about some more contemporary/younger/lesser-known Canadian authors? Check out this nice round-up from CBC.

This list from National Post includes the usual suspects (AM and MA) along with men, but it has a different perspective as it lists authors to be read by Canadian students. It skews a bit younger and has a few I'd never heard of before, along with a very old-school pick, L.M. Montgomery.

What I'm Reading: 'Play it as it Lays' by Joan Didion

My summer of Joan Didion has turned into my autumn of Joan Didion as I tucked into Play it as it Lays, the first work of fiction of hers I've read to date. I was able to get through it in one or two sittings, which is something I really love about all her writing. The prose is sparse and the page count low, but that does not in any way diminish its impact; if anything its economy only enhances the emotional impact, especially in this case.

Play it as it Lays gave me visions of the most recent season of 'Mad Men,' with so many characters out in Los Angeles, and the action of the novel and the series are only separated by about six years. Maria is an aging-at-30 actress, a mild sociopath and a barbiturates addict, who seems to powerlessly drift from one unfortunate sexual encounter to another. Her love for her hospitalized 4-year old Kate seems to be her only purpose in life, and yet is never enough to force her to act in her own best interest, and we learn from the first page that Maria is in a neuropsychiactric hospital

I read this book immediately following a tense and disappointing visit with my own doctor, which sounds like a terrible idea, but I found it oddly cathartic. 

This Week in Books I Forget My Obligation to Write About Books

This post is going up rather later than usual; apologies to Tracy, the only person who likely checks in on Bookhive every morning at work.

Emma Thompson wrote more Peter Rabbit stories because she is the greatest human alive. And when she was invited to read the stories to a bunch of children at a bookstore, she brought a tiny blue jacket as proof that Peter Rabbit is real and asked her to write the stories. This reminds me of an amazing idea I had for a running app; instead of having Olympic athletes chiming in with motivational talk, like the Nike app, mine would have women like Emma Thompson and Beyonce and Hilary Clinton sayiing their motivational catch-phrases. Emma Thompson could get me to do anything, even run 3 miles. 

I just a copy of Changing My Mind, Zadie Smith's book of essays. I've always enjoyed her nonfiction more than her fiction, and just in time, she published a new essay about New York for the NY Review of Books. 

Finally, the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Patrick Modiano; I am not too proud to admit that I had never heard of him, and I enjoyed the Twitter reactions from folks in writing and publishing industry in the US immensely. 

#ReadWomen2014: Barbara Kingsolver

How did I make it to October of 2014 without a post on Barbara Kingsolver? She is certainly one of the most significant American women writing today and has been since the publication and critical-acclaim of her first novel The Bean Trees, which I read as a junior in high school for an AP Language class.

The next year, in AP Literature, I had to read The Poisonwood Bible, a novel that has stuck with me as one of my all-time favorites for over ten years now. My copy got so dog-eared and worn out I had to replace it. I loved it so much that I did a presentation on it for class that required limping around the classroom and pretending to be a mute (if you've read it, that makes a lot of sense). I have read and re-read it, and every time it surprises me and I am reminded again of Kingsolver's incredible talent as a storyteller.

More recently I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, her nonfiction book on local and sustainable food. It was a very smug reminder that her life is not like your life, and at times I found it to be incredibly frustrating in a Gwyneth Paltrow-type way. But, I also found it infinitely more enjoyable than anything else I've read on the local foods movement, not only because Kingsolver is a writer first and a sustainable gardener second, but also because it was so deeply personal and forthright.

My book club read The Lacuna last year, and I'm very embarrassed to admit that it is the only book club selection I didn't read, and not even for any good reason (I did only partially read Delta of Venus, but that was a very deliberate choice). I just had too many other good books to finish up, and I neglected it for too long and then suddenly a month had gone by and it was time to discuss it. When I realized I wasn't going to finish it in time, I put it back on the shelf, but I have every intention of getting it back out and trying again someday.

Book Trailers: 'Norwegian Wood' by Haruki Murakami

The 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced later this week and Haruki Murakami is by far the favorite. The Japanese author published an extraordinary new novel in August, and just recently dropped a new short story, just for the heck of it; that only adds to his already impressive oeuvre, including the blockbuster IQ84, one of the most talked-about novels in recent years. 

My experience with his writing goes back quite a bit further to Norwegian Wood, his first novel that skyrocketed him to literary fame in Japan, so much so that he left the country in order to work in peace. When a friend started dating a girl from Japan, I interrogated her immediately on its popularity, and she confirmed that just about everyone reads it as a teen, maybe comparable to The Catcher in the Rye in America. Although she admitted, it's not exactly age-appropriate because of all the sex and suicide and whatnot. I saw the trailer for the film adaptation via Hollister Hovey and was struck by the incredible aesthetics of it, along with the Johnny Greenwood score (of Radiohead fame, and the composer/musician responsible for the scores of 'The Master' and 'There Will Be Blood,' two of my favorite movies). So I read the novel, with the primary objective of seeing the movie afterward, but also because Murakami was very much "on my list" and this seemed as good a reason as any to check it out.

It makes for a quick but emotionally intense read; I'm reading Alice Munro these days and her stories remind me of the Norwegian Wood experience of diving head first into a very intense but short-lived narrative. It is considered to be Murakami's most straight-forward narrative, so it is not necessarily indicative of what to expect from his more recent novels. I should mention also that he is very involved in the translation of his work from Japanese to English, so this is not one of those instances when your college friends tell you that it simply isn't the same if you can't read it in Japanese (Gabriel Garcia Marquez read French and Russian literature translated into Spanish and it didn't hurt him any, just sayin'). 

If melancholy and teenage suicide and manic pixie dream girls aren't really your cup of tea, this might not be for you, but it is really beautiful and sad and gorgeous, and if you're like me, it will make you crave good noodles constantly.

Books for TV Lovers: Gilmore Girls

Last week all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls went up on Netflix, which has been a cause for celebration across the more feminist reaches of the Internet. I will admit, I couldn't stomach that clippy, preppy dialogue one bit, and people have always told me I resemble Rory Gilmore, which I resented, so I never got into the show. I was a major convert to the cult of Amy Sherman-Palladino, however, with the tragically short run of 'Bunheads' (RIP), so I'm ready to give 'Gilmore Girls' a chance this time around. It helps that I can pick and choose whatever seasons/episodes I want, and have access to the whole trove at once. I've also been feeling a lot of nostalgia for the WB network these days, probably a result of my Keri Russell fixation which reached alarming levels after 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' (which is so much better than you probably think it is; it's worth it for Keri Russell's hair/wardrobe alone), so I'll be digging in to 'Felicity' and 'Dawson's Creek' this winter also. 

So apparently Rory Gilmore is quite bookish? She is constantly reading (or holding books, pretending to read them), throughout the series, and someone took the time to list out every book referenced on the show. It is so obviously a list made up for a fictional character because she's "reads" a lot of stuff that teenage girls, no matter how intelligent, could not slog through, like Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. That's not a book, it's six books, so please don't hold yourself to any standard of completing this list. For the record, I've read about 100 of 339.

What I'm Reading: 'The Group' by Mary McCarthy

I am not at all embarrassed to admit that I started reading The Group because I read a Vanity Fair article on the book and its subsequent film adaptation starring Jessica Walter (Lucille Bluth of 'Arrested Development') and Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown of 'Murphy Brown' and one of my spirit animals). The sexual content was considered to be at least titillating and at most revolutionary, and even as a very jaded 21-century woman who had seen every episode of 'Sex and the City' before college, I still manage to find it entertaining, though certainly more funny than romantic.

The titular "group" is a clique of Vassar graduates coming of age in early 1930s Manhattan. They experience love, sex, marriage, babies, jobs, money troubles, and death. A highlight for me has definitely been the incredibly detailed descriptions of their contraceptive efforts, as well as their dabbling in psychoanalysis. 

Its cultural impact in 1963 can't be overstated, especially given how little of an impact it seems to have today, when most young women have never heard of The Group or Mary McCarthy, which is a shame. I think it probably suffered from being so sex-centric, and was thus seen as being kind of trashy, along the lines of other popular novels like Valley of the Dolls. There is a reference to The Group in an episode of 'Mad Men,' which is not surprising as it remained on the bestseller list for two years and would have been viewed as significant book for someone like Betty Draper, who would easily fit right in with The Group ladies. I've really been enjoying it so far, and I can't wait to finish it off so I can dive into the movie, which I have a feeling is going to be right up my alley.

This Week in Books I Forgot Two Important Posts

Marilynne Robinson's new novel Lila was published this week, to almost ridiculous critical-acclaim. I haven't read any of her fiction yet, but Gilead and Housekeeping are in the pile next to my bed, so expect a post on her soon. In the meantime, enjoy this engrossing profile from the New York Times Magazine.

My personal favorite podcast, NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, did an episode on fall books last week, and it featured two of their all-star guest contributors, editor Barrie Hardymon and librarian/super-fan Margaret H. Willison, who recommended their favorite books and authors for the latter half of 2014. I strongly agreed with many of their picks, and I took their recommendations very seriously, hence my immediate purchase of a book by Sarah Waters. I can't imagine ever being the type of person who struggles with finding my next book to read, but if you are that type of person, NPR is the best place to look. Their book coverage is really fantastic, consistent, and thoughtful. Plus, they are never judgmental and cover genre fiction and literary fiction with equal fervor.

This Week in Books Lena Dunham talks to Roxane Gay

It's been a huge week for Lena Dunham, whose book Not That Kind of Girl was published on Tuesday (I already finished it and enjoyed it). She also had a mild scandal regarding her book tour which is a much larger and more extraordinary event than most authors get to participate in, but I'd prefer to focus on the positive. She got a pretty overwhelmingly positive review in Time Magazine by Roxane Gay, and then Gay and Dunham had a convo for Vulture.

Speaking of Roxane Gay (when am I not?), The Toast announced this week a new vertical called The Butter that will be edited by Gay and include cultural criticism and personal essays, with a distinct focus on writers of color. If you haven't spent any time with The Toast before, I highly recommend it. They do some of the best writing for women on the Internet, and they are decidedly bookish.

I normally try to keep things light around here, but some weeks I just can't deal, and admittedly, this is one of the biggest news stories in the publishing world this week. Ed Champion is a misogynistic jerk in the publishing industry who last gained notoriety by attacking writer (and delight) Emily Gould on Twitter. When she responded in kind, he made some vaguely suicidal threats, so everyone left him alone. He resurfaced last weekend, this time attacking a new female author, Porochista Khakpour.  Don't go fight with him on Twitter (his account has been suspended anyway). Instead show your support by purchasing books by Gould and Khakpour and keep in mind that dumb garbage like this is why #readwomen2014 is so important.

#ReadWomen2014: Caitlin Moran

I didn't include Caitlin Moran in the earlier post on funny women writers because although she is a bit of a celebrity, she's a journalist and writer first and foremost. I just finished her amazing pseudo-memoir How to Be a Woman in which dispenses sage wisdom based on her extremely hilarious and often crass personal anecdotes (In response to being called "Fatso" as a teen: "I'm fat because every time I fuck your dad he gives me a biscuit"). It's fairly filthy but really funny and very endearing and sweet, a bit like if Georgia Nicholson grew up to write a book on feminism and growing up. I especially love the image of her on the cover; she could be a hip witch character from Harry Potter.

Her new book How to Build a Girl is a coming-of-age novel that seems largely autobiographical. The heroine Johanna grows up in a very bohemian family and becomes a music writer at 16, much like Moran herself. I haven't read it yet because I'm on a very long wait list at the Public library for a copy, but I can't wait to just devour it.

Books by Funny Women

Lena Dunham's memoir Not That Kind of Girl follows in a long and illustrious (albeit recent) tradition of famous, funny women publishing essays and memoirs. Part of the reason she received such a publicized advance on the book was because of the incredible (and somewhat surprising) successes of her predecessors. Below are some of my favorite funny lady books, including some titles to watch for in the coming months.

Bossypants by Tina Fey -- The O.G. of books by funny ladies in the modern era. I like how seamlessly she blends autobiographical stuff with funny essays, and then somehow manages to give you really profound advice about feminism without your realizing what just happened.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling -- Another classic, which you've likely already read. If not, got on that, and also watch her show on Fox, 'The Mindy Project,' and then join me in anxiously awaiting her second memoir, which she's currently working on.

I Don't Know What You Know Me From by Judy Greer -- I cannot abide this one because she claims to be from Detroit and then reveals she actually grew up in Livonia. This is simply too much for me, but I still love her in everything, but mostly 'Arrested Development.'

 I Hate My Neck by Nora Ephron -- She's an incredible wit, a strident feminist, and a very sweet lady, whose personal voice as a writer is probably the strongest of this group. When you read her essays, you feel like you're reading something written by a friend or a very hilarious mother. This particular volume is focused on aging and womanhood, but all her writing is excellent.

Yes, Please by Amy Poehler -- Forthcoming in October! She earns the very high praise of being worth saving my next Audible credit for, as I'm hopeful she'll be the reader in her own audio book version. She's talented and funny and if her presence in Bossypants is any indication, she has plenty of sage feminist wisdom to dispense with as well. Additionally, if you're not already enjoying her incredible media empire that is 'Smart Girls at the Party,' go remedy that.

#Readwomen2014 Non-Fiction: 'Not That Kind of Girl' by Lena Dunham

Do you really need me to tell you that this book drops today? You shouldn't. It's arguably the biggest book release of the year, and quite famously, resulted in one of the biggest book advances on record. It's crass to talk about money, but it bothered me enormously when so many people made a stink about it; why does anyone begrudge a talented young woman for her successes? This seems to be a recurring theme for Dunham, who so many people hate for really unfair or arbitrary reasons. Her publisher gave her a huge advance because she is a proven, critically-acclaimed writer, a very hard worker, and worth every damn cent of it.

Moving on, excerpts and previews from this collection of essays have been circulating for a few weeks now, along with plenty of positive reviews. There is now a well-formed genre of smart, funny women writing memoir/essay collections (more on that tomorrow), and this will certainly take its place in that pantheon. Particular kudos to Dunham, however, for earning the coveted text-only cover; this might have something to do with the constant public debate over Dunham's physical appearance, but I choose to take it as a sign that famous women won't always have to splash their faces on their covers. I've enjoyed Dunham's contributions to the New Yorker for quite awhile now, and I'm a devotee of Girls, frustrating as it can be at times, so I'm really looking forward to digging in to this. If you live in a major city, look up her book touring schedule, because she's doing really major events at huge venues with other funny, talented women, and they look awesome. I was so disappointed that she was making so few stops in the Midwest.

What I'm Reading: 'Outlander' by Diana Gabaldon

I thought that this would be the best week to talk about Outlander since the series wrapped up its first half of season one on Saturday evening. If any of you are as swept up in the world as I am, it was a tragic day indeed. But! While you suffer until it comes back on Starz in April, you can satiate your love for the Scottish Highlands with the novels upon which the series is based (all eight of them!). 

I started the book a few weeks ago and then set it aside in favor of other things, until the series reached an impending big moment (I won't spoil it, but those of you who watch the series know what I'm talking about), which motivated me to pick the book back up again, and then I managed to voraciously consume it in a manner of weeks. It is, at its core, a book about time travel, so naturally things get a bit crazy, but Gabaldon does such an excellent job of transcending any genre that it could possibly exist in (fantasy,  historical fiction, romance, adventure). I would liken it to the Game of Thrones series in that way; i.e., it is ideal for people who never read historical fiction or romance or fantasy, myself included; unlike GoT, however, the Outlander books have been written for a female audience. so you can read them without feeling guilty and recommend them without apology. If I had a teenage daughter I would definitely try to get her hooked on them as a passive way of teaching essential feminine/ist values and sex ed.

Bookhive Afield: Up North with the Book Club

I spent a restorative weekend Up North with my book club, and even found time to squeeze in some reading. We talked about Wolf Hall (our September selection) for less than five minutes and enjoyed some incredible rambles through nature, along with lots of food, booze, and extreme canoeing. I share this not because I assume it's of particular interest to anyone, but because I think it makes for a really good excuse for my blog neglect. Look how relaxed I am in that hammock! That lady has no time for Squarespace metrics...