The Bookhive List: 'Love in the Time of Cholera' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

A big part of the reason that I love this novel is that it was very difficult for me to get into it and to finally finish it, which is particularly embarrassing because someone I know had the same problem with One Hundred Years of Solitude and I gave them a lot of grief about it. If you are already a Gabriel Garcia Marquez fan, you probably already have read and love this novel, but if not I urge you to read all of it -- short stories, novels, and non-fiction. And this is not the novel to start with; you have to build up to Love in the Time of Cholera, but it is such a rich and rewarding experience, when you finally get there.

What I'm Reading: 'Watch Me' by Anjelica Huston

Anjelica Huston has lived the most incredible life I have ever encountered in either fiction or non-fiction, and a moment of your time spent reading anything else is wasted. Her memoirs are an absolute treasure trove of amazing life lessons. She clearly didn't intend it this way, but I've taken her memoir up as a book of advice for young women, and will strive to live more like Anjelica Huston in everything I do. This likely will mean more horseback-riding, more drinking, more general cavorting around the world, and more instances of being wildly successful at my every endeavor, partially to spite the haters (hence the title, "Watch Me," meaning - Don't think I can act, direct, etc? Watch me). I have never read juicier gossip and she is so incredibly candid about her life and most importantly her lovers. If you go the audiobook route, you'll get to enjoy her completely strange and beautiful pronunciations of ordinary words, probably the result of an Irish upbringing and a French education.

The Bookhive List: 'Little Dorrit' by Charles Dickens

Last year I made an effort to read one Dickens novel per month -- I made it to June, which was my Little Dorrit month, and then I ran out of Dickens novels under 800+ pages, so that resolution fell apart completely. However, I definitely accomplished my goal, which was just to get better acquainted with an author I had somehow managed to dodge through all of high school and college, and who up to that point I thought I hated. I still don't love Dickens, and some of his books were painful at times, to finish, but I really loved Little Dorrit. Happy endings were had by all the characters I cared about, there was plenty of mystery and suspense and creepy Victorian weirdness, and many moments of comic relief, including one of the best descriptions of the British colonial government and its bureacracy I've ever read. It is definitely an under-appreciated DIckens novel, and if you're feeling lazy, check out the Masterpiece Classic version, starring Clare Foy (Anne Boleyn in Wolf Hall, which speaks to her enormous skill as an actress in that she manages to play both women incredibly well). 

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

What I'm Reading: 'The Iliad' by Homer

Re-reading has been my theme lately, so I'm tackling The Iliad, a favorite book from college and my time as a student of the Classics department. This time, I'm letting Dan Stevens of 'Downton Abbey' do the heavy lifting, via Audible, which I think has really helped me more clearly define my rules of audiobooks: I would never use an audiobook as a substitute for reading a real book -- but it is totally okay for re-reading literature. It is also okay if it's a celebrity memoir read by the person themselves, because the vocal performance really enhances the book. Dan Stevens has the loveliest voice I've ever heard and he does an excellent job of deftly managing the voices of dozens of characters while maintaing the rhythm and meter and tonal shifts. It's surprisingly engaging and relaxing, for an epic poem about non-stop violence.

The Bookhive List: 'Surfacing' by Margaret Atwood

Choosing a favorite Margaret Atwood novel is no small task, but Surfacing is really strange and special to me. It feels more distinctly Canadian than many of her others, especially because it largely takes place in very rural Quebec. Many of the recurring themes of Margaret Atwood novels (feminism, environmental concerns, sci-fi/fantasy elements) are present in Surfacing, and I found it to be one of her most overtly feminist novels, with the central character traveling further and further into the literal and metaphorical wilderness as the novel progresses. This summer I went on a very satisfying camping trip on which I managed to finish H is for Hawk while swinging in a hammock, and the thought struck me that if I had a copy of Surfacing as a follow-up, some kind of Platonic ideal of women in the wilderness would be achieved. 

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

What I'm (Re-)Reading: 'The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

I truly love the indulgence of re-reading a beloved book. The entire experience opposes my normal mental state when reading or selecting books, which is something along the lines of, there is not enough time for me to read everything I want. And yet, I spent something like 11 hours re-reading a novel I already love. Or more accurately, I let Claire Danes read it to me via Audible, which was even better. It really helps that one of the promotional images for 'Homeland' shows her swathed in red robes, in a sea of people wearing black, because that is so very "Offred" of her. She has a lovely, deep voice that really suits the material and the narrator. I highly recommend it if you have 11 hours to kill, whether you've read it before or not.

What I Did When I Wasn't Reading: 'Wolf Hall'

My adoration for Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall series is quite well-documented, but I didn't get around to watching the BBC/Masterpiece Classic adaptation of the first two novels until this week. What finally inspired me was the fact that the changing weather reminded me of the experience of reading Bring Up the Bodies last fall, which got me deep into a Hilary Mantel mood. Since I couldn't justify starting any of her other books until at least reduce the size of the ridiculous stack of books next to my bed, I decided to cheat a bit and watch the tv miniseries instead. It's only six hours long, and only includes the action from the first two novels; I have no idea if BBC will produce a follow-up after the publication of the third (and supposedly final) novel in the series, but I would hope so. Based on the level of excitement expressed my grandparents, PBS devotees, 'Wolf Hall' was quite popular. 

The Bookhive List: 'Treasure Island' by Robert Louis Stevenson

The magic of Treasure Island is that it is very sophisticated book for young people that feels like a book for adults; as a result, a twelvish-year old me managed to read the whole thing in one sitting in front of the fireplace on a very cold day in Alaska, and as a result, I felt like some kind of genius. As an adult, revisiting the adventure novel, I realized that I was actually just your typical above-grade level reader, and that Treasure Island is distinctly a kid's book. But it is an excellent and fun book, either way, and the original is far better than any of the myriad bad adaptations and abridged versions, with the exception of Muppet Treasure Island, which remains one of the greatest films of our lifetime.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

Big Fat Book: 'War and Peace': Week It Doesn't Matter Anymore

Over a long, cold, rainy weekend, I quietly and with little or no fanfare, finished War and Peace. The conditions were ideal for hours spent reading in a cozy chair, so that's exactly what I did. I feel a natural sense of accomplishment, but I can't help but notice that my life has been profoundly changed in the past by much shorter books, and this time around, 1200 pages later, I don't feel very different. It was good, and it is worth the effort, and Tolstoy does not waste a single one of those 1200 pages. But that said, Anna Karenina was better, at least for me. When I finished Moby Dick, for example, I felt exhilarated, and like I had finally learned the meaning of a universal truth about Melville and that novel, but with War and Peace, I feel no such thing. Maybe it doesn't help that basically no one I know has ever read War and Peace because it is so absurdly long, and maybe it was never going to live up to the time it took to finish. I wouldn't really recommend reading it to anyone, but I will go ahead and endorse the upcoming BBC adaptation, which looks really lovely. No official trailer yet, but I'll share it when it comes out.

Now on to the most important issue: what should be my next big fat book?

What I'm Reading: 'A Little Life' by Hanya Yanagihara

I've taken a bit of a break from blogging recently, though not a break from reading, obviously. I don't really have a specific reason why I needed a blog-vacation, but I know I'm growing increasingly apathetic about it the longer I do it. It's been well-over a year now, and every time I write something, I wonder why I keep going.

Hence, A Little Life, a book I can only manage to read with the support and input of a community of readers. Never have I read more reviews of any book that interested me, and I find it so completely necessary for two reasons: 1. to prepare myself for the stomach-churning descriptions of abuse and trauma peppered throughout the novel and 2. to remind myself that the pain is worth the pleasure of this really intimate, beautiful novel.

What I'm Reading: 'Swamplandia!' by Karen Russell

This, along with A Visit From the Goon Squad, is one of those contemporary novels that even I can't believe I haven't read yet. I adore Karen Russell's short stories and initially this dragged along for me because I wanted it to be the same bite-sized narrative I was used to, but now I'm really settling in and loving it. It's always fun to pick apart a universally-beloved novel that is overrated, but this is not one of those times. It is as good as everyone said it was.

What I'm Reading: 'Dare Me' by Megan Abbott

This is another example of my reading a book strictly because I'm anxious to read something newer by the same author -- I'm dying to read Megan Abbott's The Fever, so I'm forcing myself to read her earlier novel in preparation. I also recently found out she's from Grosse Pointe and went to the same high school as my husband, so that really adds to her appeal.

I've always been kinda ambivalent about the teen girl novels -- maybe it's because I was one and couldn't wait to grow out of it -- but I just don't share the general titillation people get from it. I mean, I "get" it, but I find it uninteresting. They're young and virginal but also quite manipulative and generally evil, so to me, it seems like low-handing fruit. That said, I'm not going to pretend like I'm not engrossed by this very pulpy, macabre story about high school cheerleaders. It's a fun little noir that is just disturbing enough to be unique. Also, 'Bring It On' is celebrating its tenth anniversary, so obviously I'm going be watching it, and this has been a nice coincidence to read alongside MTV's oral history of the film.

What I'm Reading: 'The Optimist's Daughter' by Eudora Welty

Summer is over, and I finally managed to slip in one Southern Gothic novel before I inevitably turn to the big depressing books of autumn and winter. As it turns out, this one was also pretty depressing, but I still enjoyed it and I managed to read the whole thing in an afternoon, which is always immensely satisfying. This was also my first experience with Eudora Welty, an author I will definitely be turning back to, as I've already got her collected short stories on my shelf, although I don't think I'll be getting around to it any time soon. In some ways it seems unfair to compare her to Flannery O'Connor and Carson McCullers, just because they are all Southern women, but there are startling similarities to their prose, although of the three I'd say Eudora Welty is the least macabre. 

The Bookhive List: 'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote

I used to think that true crime was not at all my bag but recently I've realized that it totally is -- I really enjoyed God'll Cut You Down and I've mainlined the entire 'Paradise Lost' documentary trilogy this year, and I just consumed an entire 12-episode run of the podcast 'You Must Remember This' on the Charles Manson murders. When I list all of these in a row, I suddenly worry that there's something seriously wrong with me...? Anyway, In Cold Blood is the Truman Capote book most people read, which is fine because it's undoubtedly his best, but I strongly endorse his novels and short stories as well. But the excellence of In Cold Blood is indisputable, and as tough as it was to get through, it was such an incredibly great book.

What I'm Reading: 'Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay' by Elena Ferrante

Book Four of the Neapolitan novels drops this week amid as much fanfare as can be expected for an author who shuns the spotlight and rarely grants interviews. The whole marketing campaign has provided an interesting counterpoint to the promotion of Jonathon Franzen's new novel Purity, which has been nothing less than a farcical publishing juggernaut.

I gulped down the first two Neapolitan novels very quickly, but I've dragged number three out all summer, in some ways to delay the pleasure and also to make sure it lasted all the way to September, when I knew another Elena Ferrante novel would auto-download on my Kindle. When I'm finally finished with this series I'm going to feel an immense sense of loss, but I'm already looking forward to the luxury and pleasure of taking the time to re-read them

The Bookhive List: 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S. Lewis

Everyone has read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which is all well and good, but if you haven't explored the rest of the C.S. Lewis series, you are truly missing out. After having read the entire series several times, I would say that TLTWANTW is far from my favorite, which is why I will now definitively rank them and include just enough of a description to entice you to read them:

1. The Magician's Nephew -- The origin story of Narnia, and something you can completely enjoy if you've only ever read TLTWANTW; it still confuses me why C.S. Lewis published this one so completely out of any logical chronology (it is actually book #6), but it really manages to outshine the others.

2. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader -- Again, it's not totally necessary to read any other books in order to love this one. Two characters from TLTWANTW make an appearance, and everyone basically sails around in a ship having adventures on their way to the end of the world, which turns out to be an actual place. This one is very whimsical and imaginative.

3. The Horse and His Boy -- A pretty random stand-alone story about a kid who lived during the reign of the TLTWANTW characters. There are talking animals and orphans so no further explanation needed.

4. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -- The first book published in the series and by far the most popular. Four siblings escape the bombing in London by staying in a country estate, and accidentally discover a portal to another world with talking animals. Pretty much the best thing ever, and worth re-reading as an adult if you've got a free hour or two.

5. The Last Battle -- This final book is a bit weird because all the previous characters come back to battle for Narnia, which they end up destroying but in the end it's not really destroyed? I don't know, but it's a nice fan service book that gets the whole gang back together.

6. The Silver Chair -- This one is very dark, with two kids searching for a missing Prince. I just remember being grossed out a lot when I read it, and there are some nasty giants and also their travel companion is some kind of frog man.

7. Prince Caspian -- This one is by far the lamest because it has the least amount of talking animals. It takes place in the Narnia far-future when talking animals have disappeared, and the original kids come back and mostly argue amongst themselves because they are going through puberty and are not kings/queens anymore. A general bummer.

As a final note, the Disney movie adaptations are really excellent; Ben Barnes is hot and completely redeems Prince Caspian as a character, and they manage to navigate the special effects of talking animals and so forth quite nimbly. It feels just realistic enough to have some narrative stakes, but it remains very aesthetically whimsical and cozy. They only did the first three, and it wouldn't surprise me if they never get around to The Silver Chair because it is so incredibly weird.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

August's Attempt at Poetry: Sappho

Like all good Michigan honor students, I had a thorough grounding in Classics, very little of which I actually remember. But more importantly, I shared a department, albeit briefly, with Anne Carson, poet/novelist/translator/Classics prof. at the University of Michigan, which has drawn me to her translations over anyone else's, including all those I got to know in college. I was really delighted to find her new translation of Sappho's fragments, something I read as a freshman but never really took the time to enjoy.

There is an inherent flaw to reading them now -- they were intended as recitations, not written poems, first of all, and they exist in very small fragments, which means we're only able to read a tiny portion of Sappho's work. All the same, there is such an obvious elegance to what remains that despite something getting lost in translation, it still yields such riches. I think this is quite possibly the most rewarding volume of poetry I've read this year, and serves as a reminder of why I set out to read more in the first place

What I'm Reading: 'How to Be a Victorian' by Ruth Goodman

This made an appearance on NPR's Best Books of 2014 (which is my go-to place for book recommendations), and I hinted heavily that I wanted it for Christmas, but my friends and family, who are the blog's only dedicated readers, missed the hint, so I had to get it at the library like a friendless orphan. This doesn't change the fact that it is funny, insightful, and a really terrific approach to history. I'm so much more interested in history books that deal in domestic life rather than sweeping military conflicts, and this is infinitely satisfying. Ruth Goodman's approach is to structure the book around the chronology of a typical day, and her meticulous research is interrupted by her hilarious insertions of personal experience -- because she's been a history consultant for historic estates, she has done most of these activities, exactly as the Victorians did them. So when she describes using the indoor privy or brushing her teeth with cardamom or walking with a hoop skirt, she is actually talking about personal experience. The funniest thing about it is how many Victorian practices, especially in regard to personal hygiene, are becoming popular again -- every woman I know is smearing coconut oil on her split ends, which is precisely what women were doing 150 years ago. This book also makes a great companion to a good Victorian novel, like Dickens or Disraeli.

The Bookhive List: 'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt

This book hits all my quadrants, so to speak: college students, New England, Classics majors, and un-ironic Bacchanalia that somehow manages never to feel smutty. The weather is turning cooler (at least in Michigan), and all I can think about are apples and pumpkins, so now is the time to get your hands on The Secret History, a novel meant to be read fireside, wrapped in Pendelton wools and Aran sweaters, with a steaming mug of grog or hot toddy in hand (I'd give you a recipe but I'm a spoiled jerk who married someone incredibly good at mixing drinks, so I just shout "Toddy, please!" like a woman with a butler and it magically appears in front of me). Many people loved Tartt's more recent novel The Goldfinch; even more people hated it -- I still haven't read it and probably won't get around to it anytime soon -- BUT! -- either way, don't let that stop you from The Secret History, which is incredible and is probably the real reason why she won the Pulitzer Prize. 

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

Self-Help Round-Up, Part 2

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo; This book is ridiculously popular right now, which really speaks to something I do not understand at all. I am very clean and neat by nature, so I read this as a fellow tidier and really agreed with everything Kondo writes about. There are definitely some things that get lost in translation -- such as the need not to hold on to too many charms from shrines, not a problem for many messy Americans. The thrust of the book is basically to get rid of as much of your stuff as possible and only keep the essentials. When you get rid of a sweater that you never wore, you shouldn't feel guilty, you should thank it for teaching you an important lesson about what doesn't work in your wardrobe, and then you should wish it well as you put it out into the world where it will find a new owner. Since finishing this book, I have packed up ten boxes of stuff to donate, which felt amazing. This book is a delight but it will not change your life and if you are intrigued by the thought of getting rid of everything, I'd advise skimming it. Under no circumstances is this a book you should own.

It's All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow; Not a self-help book per se, but a GOOP publication about eating healthy, so close enough. Those damn freckles on her nose were what convinced me to get this book. I will eat anything that gives me adorable freckles like that. So there are some legitimately good recipes in here, but I'm not someone who needs recipes for things like smoothies. Also, she gives a lot of weird pseudo-medical advice about cutting everything out of your diet in order to self-diagnose food allergies or pseudo-allergies, and I find that highly suspect. All things in moderation, including Gwynnie. I should maybe mention that I am generally very pro-Gwyneth and I find her particular brand of highly aspirational authentic living to be as close to a religion as I can muster. She got me to drink almond milk and do Pilates, two things I don't regret.

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg; This book got way too much attention for the wrong reasons. It's a great book of career advice, for men or women, and it also makes a very deliberate point of illustrating the ways in which the American political and economic systems in place are generally impeding women's careers. Some people are mad that she's rich and wrote this book, which makes no sense because I don't want career advice from anyone who isn't rich...? She never asserts that being rich is the solution to anyone's problems -- I think she just felt the need to qualify over and over again how lucky she is/was to have a support system that allowed her to accomplish everything that she did, and to further contrast her experience with that of so many women who lack her resources. I feel the same way about this as I do about Lena Dunham -- if you're going to have an opinion anyway, at least read the book/watch the show.