Random Monday

Today's number was 26. The book: Eating People is Wrong by Malcolm Bradbury.

I read this book a number of years ago. I found it on the shelf at an Oxfam bookstore in Lancaster and thought that it sounded rather interesting and so I bought it on a whim. I'd never heard of Malcolm Bradbury and so I had no idea what to expect. Well, lo and behold, this was his debut novel that I had picked up and let me tell you what a treat it was to read.

Stuart Treece is an English college professor at a provincial British university.  He is a liberal minded humanist who is discovering that his ideas are no longer fitting in with the times and is struggling with figuring out a way to make them fit.  We follow Stuart as he navigates the twists and turns of life during the academic school year.  He deals with his students on all different levels: academic, romantic, and rivalrous.  Oh, and he is a bit of  counselor to the student who keeps locking himself in the bathrooms all over campus.  Plus, there are the academic/social functions which he throws together: a tea for the undergrads and a sherry party at his house for the postgrads - both are complete failures.   And there is that pesky driving test which he just can't seem to pass.  All in all, not quite the year that Treece had hoped for.

This book by Bradbury was such a great read, that I still find myself chuckling at the thought of Treece and his bungled efforts to romance his postgraduate student, Emma.  As far as describing this book, I would have to say that it's a satirical take on campus life - its both amusing and witty.  The writing is strong and the cast of characters are easy to sympathize with and laugh at.  Overall, one of my favorite reads during my time in grad school.  I even went out and bought the rest of Bradbury's works, because I enjoyed Eating People is Wrong so much.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes to read farcical accounts of life in academia. Oh, and I do believe that the title refers to a song (which unfortunately I do not remember - sorry). 

Happy Reading! I'm off to finish The Lost Symbol.

Random Monday

Today's number was 53.  The book selected was Woman Hollering Creek: And Other Stories by Sandra Cisneros. 

I read this book years ago when I researching texts for my MA thesis and absolutely wound up loving it. I knew I would, considering that I fell in love with Cisneros' writing after reading her debut novel, The House on Mango Street.  Cisneros' books are filled with vivid descriptions, colorful characters, and intriguing story lines.  For me, relating to the stories on a personal level was so easy, because of the fact that I'm Latina (just like Cisneros and her characters).  It felt comfortable reading her works, because what she described was so familiar to what I had experienced growing up that I finally connected with an author's work on a personal level based on my ethnicity; which was both surreal and awesome.  I had never really read any works by Chicana authors before, which was crazy to me. How could I not have read books about my own culture? Instead I just read about everyone else's.  Oh well, I had finally come home and that was just icing!  Once I read Cisneros, I moved on to Anzaldua, Moraga, Chavez, Lopez and so many others. Cisneros definitely opened the door for me to a new batch of writers and worlds that were both familiar and different.  Makes me smile just thinking about it. Also makes me realize how long its been since I've read anything by these writers lately - too long!  Hmmm. I'm going to have to rectify that.  Perhaps a re-read of something old and wonderful or the purchase of something new and exciting will do the trick. 

As for this book in particular. Well, it is a wonderful group of short stories focused on the social role of women, specifically within relationships.  Cisneros utilizes the stereotypical archetypes of men and women in order to examines the ways in which these social roles affect and influence womens' issues (identity, sexuality, race, class, etc.).  Her writing is powerful and mesmerizing and takes you on a journey through these women's lives via their personal struggles to achieve their dreams of freedom and love.  The book is divided into three sections: childhood, adolescence, adulthood.  Her tone and style is poetic and easily captures the readers' attention.  She also integrates the Spanish language into her text in order to demonstrate the fluidity and combination of both cultures within each other.  All I can write is that Cisneros is an author that should be read and whose work is an important part of contemporary literature because of its ability to cross borders creatively, linguistically and intellectually.  Her feminist passions are evident throughout the book, which for me was not a problem (of course I'm a feminist who studied Chicana feminism) - I think it just demonstrates how Cisneros utilizes her writing as a way to not only describe her culture, but also as a means of presenting important women's issues to a broader audience.  All in all, a great piece of fiction.

Happy Reading!!!

Random Monday

Its another Random Monday! (Using the random number generator I select a book from my GoodsReads library and write about it). The number today was 70 and the book selected was Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.

This is truly a magical book that embraces culture, language, food and emotions. Each chapter contains a recipe at the beginning; which is in reference to Tita's (main character) special connection with food. From birth, Tita was literally swept away by food and provided with a gift for cooking. Her culinary skills are legendary, because of her ability to manipulate the flavors to reflect her emotions. For example, if Tita were to weep into the soup she was making, her family would feel Tita's sorrow and cry their own tears as they ate the soup. It is through her cooking that Tita is able to entice her beloved Pedro, manipulate people's emotions and express herself fully.

Tita de la Garza is in love with Pedro and he is in love with her. Her mother Elena rejects Pedro's request for Tita's hand in marriage, because she subscribes to the following tradition: the youngest daughter must remain unmarried and stay at home caring for her mother (until the mother passes away). In a bid to remain close to Tita, Pedro reluctantly marries her older sister, Rosaura. Devastated by this marriage, Tita buries herself in her cooking and longs for Pedro (who is still in love with Tita). Elena gets Pedro and Rosaura to move away, which results in the death of their son Robert. Tita blames her mother for her nephew's death and Elena beats Tita in return. Unable to deal with her mother, Tita holes herself up away from her family. She eventually winds up living with Dr. Brown, who takes care of her and loves her. The two make plans to marry. However, her love for Pedro remains alive. In fact, Tita and Pedro do finally get together. They have one wonderful night together - so full of passion that it literally consumes and kills Pedro. Filled with grief and sadness, Tita manipulates a fire into engulfing the entire De La Garza homestead, including herself. At last reunited in death, Tita and Pedro are finally able to spend an eternity together.

Talk about a love story that spans a lifetime. Esquivel has created a book so charming and original that it is truly a must read. Her writing is full of emotion and dripping with meaning. The characters are representative of all types of women and their capabilities. And the magical realism used within the text adds an extra punch to the book that truly brings it to life.  Definitely one of my favorite reads. 

Hope everyone has a fantastic week filled with lots of wonderfully, interesting reads. Cheers!!

RANDOM MONDAY

Hello everyone and welcome to Random Monday (an idea I stole from Kirsty of Other Stories - Thank you, Kirsty!!). Basically, you go to random.org and the number it comes up with you match to one of your bookish cataloging sites, like LibraryThing or GoodReads, and write a post about the book that's been randomly selected. The number I got today was 69.

Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis

Alright, so I read this book a few years ago when I was living in England and for some reason had fallen into a Bret Easton Ellis kick. I had just gotten two films via LOVEFiLM : Less Than Zero and American Psycho - and became really interested in reading the books that these two films had been based on. So, I went off to Waterstones and bought several of Bret Easton Ellis' works, and Lunar Park was one of them.

From what I recall, the book creeped me out. There was a toy in the book that the main character was convinced had come to life and he described it as one of those Firby-like toys - the furry little alien looking pet-like toys with big eyes and I think they made noises. Anyhow, that image alone freaked me out - don't know why, because I have seen Child's Play and that didn't spook me. I suppose it was the hysterical, frantic-ness of the character's tone that really jolted me with a touch of fright.

Basically, the book is about the character, Bret Easton Ellis (aka the author), as he tries to regroup after having dealt with the excesses of fame/celebrity at such a young age. He is now married to an actress and has a son and is living in the suburbs, where he is trying to write his new book. Things begin to go terribly awry. Ellis is convinced he sees the character, Patrick Bateman from his novel American Psycho, at a Halloween Party; he is convinced that the Firby-like doll is trying to kill him and that there evil spirits in his house; a string of kidnappings of young boys catches his attention as it reminds him of his young son; the plot of American Psycho seems to be coming to life; and Ellis appears to becoming mentally unglued. All in all, a tale of how Ellis' own personal demons are besting him once again and ruining the life he has tried to build for himself.

What I remember enjoying about this book, (because though it spooked me, I simply couldn't put it down) was the writing. It reminded me of Ellis' earlier work, Less Than Zero - which I have always considered to be a must read book - for the ways it captures the affluent, drug addled culture of the 80s so astutely. I found Lunar Park to be a refreshing piece of work that truly engages with the reader, especially fans of Ellis. The way he inserts himself into the book is done so fluidly that you truly begin to believe that these events in the book were happening to Ellis as you read about them, because they feet urgent and very recent. Definitely another great book by a truly talented writer.

Alright, well, I must get back to my current reads: The Brothers Karamazov and The Book Thief. Hope everyone has a terrific Monday. Happy Reading!!