Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

“What does it take to crack open the secrets we hide from ourselves? Dante Quintana ran trustingly toward life, arms and heart wide open and vulnerable. He was the only child of his loving and demonstrative parents, and his father was the only professor of Mexican descent at the university in El Paso. He taught English literature. Dante wondered if it was possible to be authentically Mexican if he couldn’t speak Spanish. He was eager to read and discuss everything.

Aristotle Mendoza lived his life inside himself as much as possible, but suffered from recurring nightmares. Ari’s much-older brother was in prison, and no one would tell him why. Ari had been four years old at the time and had been sent away while the turmoil was going on. Now, Ari nurtured a smoldering anger against his parents for keeping him in the dark about the brother he had idolized, and he buttoned all of his feelings inside so tightly that they burst out in his dreams.

The summer they were fifteen, these very different boys met at the public pool. Dante suspected that Ari couldn’t swim, and he offered to teach him. Thus began a complex and evolving relationship that we follow for the next few critical years of the two young men’s lives. We experience the story through Ari’s perspective, except for the letters that Dante writes when they are apart for a year.

Ari is much more in tune with his Mexican heritage, loves wearing the same Carlos Santana t-shirt day after day, asks for a ’57 Chevy pickup for his birthday, and teases his mother that he will put low-rider hydraulics on it. Dante is like a whole new universe for him. Dante uses words Ari’s never heard before, and he insists that Ari read great books and talk about them. One day, a group of boys shoot a bird for fun, and Dante is devastated. Ari wants to flatten all of the boys, but Dante is shocked by Ari’s eagerness to fight and his total lack of fear. Ari cannot admit to himself that his desire to defend Dante is anything more than friendship.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz gathered up all kinds of awards for this painful and beautiful young adult novel at January’s ALA Children’s Media Awards ceremonies. Besides a Printz Honor medal, it also won the Stonewall Award for the best LGBT book of the year, the Pura Belpré award for best work affirming the Latino culture, and was a Top Ten choice for the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list.  Highly recommended for older teens and adults. This review originally appeared on www.eatreadsleep.com.

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Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina is a great novel, sweeping in scope and intimate in detail.  Set in the Russian aristocracy under the czars, the first sentence proclaims its theme:  “All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”  With the next sentence we are plunged into the confusion of Stepan Oblonsky’s household, where his adultery with the governess has just been discovered by his wife.

Adultery and the devastation it causes to both perpetrators and their families rages like a wildfire through this novel.  Anna, Stepan’s sister, has what she describes as “a nice life, a life to which I am accustomed” with her husband, a well-respected diplomat, and their young son.  However, she is pursued (nowadays we might even say “stalked”) by the handsome young officer Vronsky, who is obsessed with her beauty and determined to obtain her.

Anna tries to resist his advances, but she is led, step by step, toward her downfall.  It is agonizing to see her gradual disintegration as former acquaintances shun her until all she has left is what Vronsky has to give.

The “happy” family of the novel centers around Levin, the owner of a large country estate, who is a thinly-veiled representation of Tolstoy himself.  In contrast to the dashing Vronsky, Levin is shy and clumsy in his attempts to mix with society.  He is plagued with self-doubts, but he is a great innovator and thinker who successfully runs his estate while treating the peasants who work for him fairly.  His marriage to Kitty, the sister of Oblonsky’s wife, is a beautiful love story, but it does not come without much patience, perseverance, and self-searching, as well as Levin’s own temptations and trials.

In the words of a peasant who works on his estate, Levin is a good man because he “remembers his soul.”  Levin, who thinks of himself as irreligious, is surprised to hear himself thus described.  However, Tolstoy is helping us see throughout the novel what the “soul” is and what it means to remember and care for it.  These words of Jesus might be seen as a final summation of the novel:  “But what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

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Greatest Hits: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Join us the next five days and kick off the new year with The Book-A-Day Blog’s most popular posts of 2012!

 

“What if you could skip ahead ten years, and spend time with your future self?  Would you recognize who you’ve become?  This is the premise for Liane Moriarty’s novel What Alice Forgot.

 

One morning while in a step aerobics class, 39 year old Alice falls and hits her head.  When she wakes up, she believes it is 1998, and she is care-free, kind, in love with her husband, pregnant with their first child, and just beginning to restore their dream home.  The reality is that her 39 year old self doesn’t match up with that Alice – 2008 Alice has a beautiful home, three children, a marriage that’s crumbled, and a personality that is nothing like her former self.

 

As the story unfolds, Alice learns not only who she has become, but how and why she’s changed so dramatically.  She must figure out who Gina is, what has happened to her relationship with her sister, and why she and Nick have gone from happily married to fighting over everything, all the while trying to recapture her memories, and manage her busy life and children.

 

There’s also the story of Elisabeth, Alice’s sister, woven throughout the novel – told through letters to her therapist, as well as through letters that Frannie, Alice and Elisabeth’s grandmother, writes.  While seemingly two different stories at first, they cleverly help expand upon the novel’s exploration of the way in which time, and our experiences fundamentally change our personalities, subtly, until we’re forever altered by them.

 

What’s lovely about this book, which appears from the start to be a light-hearted read, is that it develops slowly in depth as one reads it.  It lends itself to reflection on the reader’s part, all the while continuing to be an engaging, fun read, with equal parts drama and comedy.  The epilogue is one of the most eloquent I have read – wrapping up the story in a few beautifully written pages.  I look forward to reading more by this Australian author.”

 

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Best New Books in 2012: Amy W.’s Picks

This year was a great year for books! I am pretty sure I say that every year. I read anything and sometimes everything. I don’t really have a favorite genre or type of book; however, there are a couple of qualities that make me a happy reader. I love a sassy character that can role with the punches. Many times these characters become my friends (ok, that is probably just a little sad) and I find myself reflecting on the fun times we had together. I also love books that are sparsely written in which every exacting word creates layers of meaning. These sentences are like tiny, savory poems read again and again until I am sated. My favorite books this year share at least one if not both of these qualities.
Drum roll please! Here are my favorite new books published in 2012:  – Amy W.

We Sinners by Hanna Pylväinen  
We Sinners follows each member of the twelve member Rovaniemi family in the day to day struggles with a life as part of the Laestadian sect of Lutheran Church. When two siblings fall prey to the temptations of popular culture, everyone reacts, and the author gives us each family member’s perspective. Delicately written, We Sinners explores the need to be at peace with the world, with our community, with our family and with ourselves.

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed
Tiny Beautiful Things is a collection of letters written to the online advice column Dear Sugar. Look, these letters aren’t pretty; they are depressing and this book is tough to read cover to cover. What is beautiful is the advice Sugar (Cheryl Strayed) gives them. It is not enough to say her advice is from the heart, rather from the often dark depths of her also difficult life, artfully crafted into a gift.

Tell the Wolves I Am Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
It is 1987 and fourteen year old June grieves for her Uncle Finn, the only member of her family with whom she truly connected,  who passed away after a mysterious illness. Everyone is privately grieving for Finn. Left to her own devices, June sets out to discover the real Finn. What she discovers changes everything and changes nothing in this wonderful debut novel.

The Rook by Daniel O’Malley
Myfanwy Thomas (pronounced Miffany, according to the author) wakes up in the rain surrounded by dead bodies and she has amnesia. No longer tethered to her former personality, Myfanwy cracks wise and tries to solve the mystery of her existence while defending Britannia from supernatural threats. The Rook is a fun genre-bending page turner! Don’t just take my word for it, though, see what my colleague Dan wrote about this debut novel earlier this year.

Where’d You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple
Bernadette Fox , the mysterious wife of a Microsoft elite engineer and mother to insightful 15 year old Bee, is missing. Bernadette is no longer able to meet demands of that life, in fact, unless you want a mud slide crashing through your house or to live in decrepitude while your living space is consumed by the earth, you should probably stay out of her way. This book is hilarious as Bernadette expounds on the absurdity of happy homemaker. Told through emails, letters and faxes, this is book is fun to read or to listen to as an audio book.

By the way, my absolute favorite book of 2012 is The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. It seems my co-workers agree with me – Pam W. and added it to her top 5 of 2012, and Janet L. reviewed it earlier this year. Great minds think, and read, alike!

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

I am back with another blog about Tayari Jones’s latest book. My last first blog was about her debut novel, Leaving Atlanta.  Silver Sparrow is told through the eyes of half sisters, Dana Yarboro and Chaurisse Witherspoon. The first line in the book reads, “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist.” Who can resist an opening sentence like this?

Dana’s mother, Gwendolyn and father, James married in Alabama after she was born, but they are a well-kept secret. James’s friend, Raleigh is the only one who is aware of their existence. Dana and her mother know about Chaurisse and Laverne, yet they have no clue that they exist. Dana and her mother live a modest life and manage to get by without James being a permanent fixture in their household. Wednesday is James’ “poker night” and he and Raleigh always have dinner with Dana and Gwendolyn. James does his best to make sure Gwendolyn and Dana avoid Laverne and Chaurisse. Because of this, Dana is often told she cannot participate in the same activities or attend a particular school because Chaurisse will be doing so.

Chaurisse’s mother, Laverne married James when they were in high school. Laverne runs a hair salon and James owns a small limo service. Laverne is under the impression that her life is close to perfect, yet does she know her husband has another family on the other side of town.

This intriguing story follows sisters, Dana and Chaurisse, from kindergarten through high school. Even though the same blood flows through their veins, the girls lead very different lives, eventually their paths cross and they form a friendship. The anticipation of wondering if or when the cat will be let out of the bag will keep you engrossed to the very end.

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A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster is a poetic and insightful look into the lives of the British upper class at the turn of the century.  The story is familiar to many through the beautiful Merchant-Ivory film, but the book elucidates many details that are unclear in the film and shows the complexities of the characters’ motivations.

Lucy Honeychurch is the product of a nouveau riche upper-class family who, while still retaining some of their middle-class common sense, are nevertheless anxious to act properly and, of course, to associate with the “right sort” of people.

On a trip to Florence with her cousin and chaperone, Miss Charlotte Bartlett, Lucy meets an English father and son who are, unfortunately, the “wrong sort”—solidly middle class.  They are also refreshingly truthful people, which greatly appeals to Lucy, who is, without quite being aware of it, tired of all the polite falsehoods of high society.

With a clear-eyed vision unhampered by class consciousness, young George Emerson falls in love with Lucy, who returns his feelings against her will.  Abetted by her stuffy spinster cousin Charlotte, Lucy sees George’s advances as “insults” and actively resists them.  Once Lucy returns home to England, the situation is further complicated by her engagement to Cecil Vyse, a “proper” English gentleman with impeccable credentials and no true feelings for her.  When the Emersons end up renting a house in Lucy’s town and becoming friends with Lucy’s brother, things get even more confusing.

In short, young Lucy is “in a muddle,” and the interest of the novel lies in seeing how she manages to work her way through it in spite of all the forces arrayed against her.

The novel is filled with pithy, picturesque descriptions, such as this one of the world-weary conversation in Mrs. Vyse’s drawing room:  ”One was tired of everything, it seemed.  One launched into enthusiasms only to collapse gracefully, and pick oneself up amid sympathetic laughter.”  I love the description of the informal way the Honeychurch family related to each other:  “So the grittiness went out of life.  It generally did at Windy Corner.  At the last minute, when the social machine was clogged hopelessly, one member or other of the family poured in a drop of oil.”

I’ve loved the film for years, but I am glad I finally decided to read the novel.  It explains several things that are somewhat glossed over in the film, such as what Lucy meant at the end when she said, “Everybody knew we were going away in the spring.”  George and Lucy have a conversation at the end, reviewing their relationship, discussing what kept them apart and what finally brought them together.  In fact, Charlotte, for all she seems to hamper Lucy, actually proves to have done her part to bring George and Lucy together, perhaps consciously, perhaps not.  All in all, this book is a fascinating and complex picture of how love can transcend societal barriers.

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Every Last One by Anna Quindlen

The cover of this novel should come with a warning for potential readers – don’t read anything that will give away the plot of this book. Every Last One, by Anna Quindlen, opens into the life of the Latham family, as told through the voice of Mary Beth, mother of three teenage children, wife, and landscape designer. What appears for the first 100 pages to be domestic fiction – a narration of the complex, but typical lives of an American family, is in reality building to a dramatic, devastating event.

Preoccupied with her teenage son Max, and his ongoing depression, Mary Beth struggles to balance her efforts to help him with attention to her other children. Alex, his twin brother, is outgoing and athletic – the opposite of sensitive, shy Max, but dealing with his brother’s struggles while establishing his own social circle. Ruby, Mary Beth’s teenage daughter, is in her last year of high school, and a brilliantly talented writer who is troubled by the unraveling of her long, complex relationship with a boy who has been a part of their family dynamic for years. New Year’s Eve comes, and the family is scattered – one son on a skiing trip, the other at home with his favorite Christmas present, and Mary Beth, her husband and daughter at a party. What happens that night divides Mary Beth’s life permanently into “before” and “after”. The captivating way in which Quindlen develops her characters make the tragedy hit the reader harder than in most fiction. The Latham family feels like one which could be our own, making their experiences all the more real.

This is a novel about facing the things we fear most, and finding ways to travel roads we never intended to travel. The second half of this novel explores what it’s like to live a life we never dreamed we’d have to live and have no choice but to be brave enough to try. Rarely do I read a book which evokes a physical reaction, other than laughter or tears. Every Last One left me feeling like I’d gotten the wind knocked out of me. This isn’t a book for anyone who prefers light-hearted fiction – there are raw, dark parts of this novel that are hard to read. But Quindlen is a masterful storyteller, and in this novel she’s crafted a story which is nothing short of memorable. Full disclosure – I read everything Pulitzer-prize winning author Anna Quindlen writes. I can always count on her novels to be ones which I become so engrossed in I neglect everything else around me. Every Last Thing may just be my favorite of her novels.

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What Alice Forgot by Liane Morarty

“What if you could skip ahead ten years, and spend time with your future self?  Would you recognize who you’ve become?  This is the premise for Liane Moriarty’s novel What Alice Forgot.

One morning while in a step aerobics class, 39 year old Alice falls and hits her head.  When she wakes up, she believes it is 1998, and she is care-free, kind, in love with her husband, pregnant with their first child, and just beginning to restore their dream home.  The reality is that her 39 year old self doesn’t match up with that Alice – 2008 Alice has a beautiful home, three children, a marriage that’s crumbled, and a personality that is nothing like her former self.

As the story unfolds, Alice learns not only who she has become, but how and why she’s changed so dramatically.  She must figure out who Gina is, what has happened to her relationship with her sister, and why she and Nick have gone from happily married to fighting over everything, all the while trying to recapture her memories, and manage her busy life and children.

There’s also the story of Elisabeth, Alice’s sister, woven throughout the novel – told through letters to her therapist, as well as through letters that Frannie, Alice and Elisabeth’s grandmother, writes.  While seemingly two different stories at first, they cleverly help expand upon the novel’s exploration of the way in which time, and our experiences fundamentally change our personalities, subtly, until we’re forever altered by them.

What’s lovely about this book, which appears from the start to be a light-hearted read, is that it develops slowly in depth as one reads it.  It lends itself to reflection on the reader’s part, all the while continuing to be an engaging, fun read, with equal parts drama and comedy.  The epilogue is one of the most eloquent I have read – wrapping up the story in a few beautifully written pages.  I look forward to reading more by this Australian author.”

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The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

Imagine if your whole family disappeared, and you were the only one left. Or maybe it was your best friend who was suddenly gone, or that kid you went to elementary school with, or your mailman. It might have been The Rapture that took them, but there’s no real way to know. They’re gone, and you’re still here. You’re one of the leftovers.

On October 14th, thousands of people suddenly disappeared from earth, leaving their friends, families, and worldly goods behind.  The Sudden Departure, as it came to be known, changed the shape of things across the world – religious groups were sparked, new philosophies and movements ran rampant, and the “survivors” had to learn to cope with losing their loved ones, and also with not being chosen themselves.

Tom Perrotta’s most recent book (named one of the best books of 2011 by NPR, the New York Times, and Kirkus, among others) takes you inside the lives and minds of the Garvey family and portrays the aftermath of the Sudden Departure on each family member. Although the events of October 14th didn’t directly affect the Garveys (parents Laurie and Kevin and their two teenage children, Jill and Tom, are all survivors,) they will never be the same. Laurie joins a cult of silent “watchers,” who are tasked with (silently) reminding those around them of what has happened. Kevin, now effectively a single parent, does his best to care for Jill and her friend Aimee (whose mother is among the missing.) While searching for love and companionship to help ease his pain, Kevin finds Nora, who has lost a husband and two young children – her entire family.

And then there are the kids.  Jill is an “Eyewitness” — she was there when her friend Jen disappeared — and has filled in her sadness with drugs and alcohol and sex. Tim is absent from the rest of the family after dropping out of college and not returning home, but has joined another sort of cult and traveled the country spreading their word. Now unsure about the choices he has made, Tim begins to question what he should do next.

I’ve read some criticism about The Leftovers lacking a real ending, but the way Perrotta closed the book left me feeling hopeful and excited for each character. He doesn’t complete the individual story lines, but shows the direction their new lives are heading.

The only other Perrotta book I’ve read is Little Children , which I also really enjoyed. Next I’ll pick up either Election  or The Abstinence Teacher – any recommendations on which is the better?

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Lucia,Lucia by Adriana Trigiani

Adriana Trigiani’s novel Lucia,Lucia opens with Kit, a young and ambitious playwright, accepting an invitation from her elegant, elderly neighbor for a cup of tea. Kit expects a dull and boring afternoon with Lucia Sartori, what unfolds is the story of “the most beautiful woman in Greenwich Village”.

It’s 1952 and Lucia has her own dreams for the future. She is the very talented apprentice to a couture designer at the famous B. Altman’s department store. Walking into the store each day brings Lucia great joy.  She has an eye for beauty and is surrounded at work by beautiful clothing and objects. New York City presents Lucia with many possibilities for career, love, and excitement.

Lucia,Lucia is the classic story of young women of the time who had to choose between career opportunities and traditional family obligations. Unlike now, this was not an era when you could have it all.

Adriana Trigiani’s writing has so many strengths which I adore. Her marvelous descriptions allow the reader to genuinely feel the story unfold. The smells of spicy prosciutto, the tastes of tangy Chianti and sweet sesame cookies combine with the sensuous touch of the silky fabrics and luxurious furs of Lucia’s world.

Trigiani’s characters are complex, but very human and charming, resulting in the reader having great empathy for them. She brings tears to your eyes with tales of heartbreak and loss. Yet, you laugh and smile at the joys of a large, loud and loving Italian family.

I strongly recommend this book to readers who enjoy the Miss Julia series, the Big Stone Gap series or Julie and Romeo. Reading Lucia, Lucia guarantees a very pleasant afternoon, especially, if you include a cup of espresso and a slice of coconut cake.

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