death by legume

Welcome back, dear readers (all three of you)! Don't let the lack of recent posts fool you: I've been reading up a storm, just haven't had additional downtime to blog about it. So now, I diligently set fingertips to keyboard to fill you in on the latest books to take their leave of my "to-read" shelf.

Mr. Peanut
Adam Ross

Every so often, a novel comes along that's a complete game changer, surpassing your expectations and taking you to places you'd never have dreamed of (or had at least forgotten existed), and as you turn the final page of the story to find blank space and the back cover on the other side, all you can do is release a breathless, blissful "wow."


This is one of those novels.



Deftly weaving fact and fiction, Ross puts on an elegant display of the infamous (and exhaustively researched) Sam Sheppard murder case infused with his own insightful conjecture beautifully mirroring the marital strife of two fictional couples in the narrative. Pull the old "novel within a novel" out of Ross's bag of authorial tricks, and you're left with a metafictional masterpiece.


If thoughts of unreliable narrators, the theme of illusion v. reality, and/or metafiction turn you on, I think you're in for a treat. If, on the other hand, that previous sentence made you want to cry/scream/vomit/hide under the covers whilst sucking your thumb... it's probably not the book for you.

Life
Keith Richards


Listened to this on audiobook actually, and all the narrators did an excellent job (although I'd recommend listening at 2x speed for the most part (even 3x at the end)). Some really interesting stuff in here for any music fan: the backstory of how Keith and Jagger first met, the Rolling Stones' various influences, the progression from tiny clubs in the U.K. to the playing support on the first U.S. tour to headlining to super stardom and beyond. Plus you get to hear Richards' first-hand account of his gradual descent into/out of/into/&c heroin addiction, and he even addresses some of the larger-than-life myths surrounding him.


My favorite parts are probably those that deal with the relationship between KR and MJ, the interspersed first-hand accounts of the myriad characters the Stones have encountered along the way, and especially the glimpses behind the scenes of the band's songwriting and recording process. Kudos to Keith for being honest about his history as a parent as well.

Go the Fuck to Sleep
Adam Mansbach


Another audiobook, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. If you haven't heard of this by now, you more likely than not live under a rock as it's been all over the Faceyspaces and YouTubez. Anywho, the long and the short of it: six minutes of sheer bliss.


I have no offspring to speak of, but something tells me that this hits the nail on the head of what it must mean to live the life of a parent. I laughed so hard I almost cried, my misgivings about the potentiality of my future reproduction were once again solidified, and I laughed a little mischievously as I thought of all my friends with children, you poor bastards.


Personally, I would let my child read this book once they hit an age where they could recognize the truth of it and actually get the joke. So seven or eight probably. But possibly younger if they were precocious enough.


And that's why I probably shouldn't be allowed to have kids.

Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book: A Primer for Adults Only
Shel Silverstein


I actually read this for the first time in December when my boyfriend and I coincidentally got each other matching copies for xmas (love you, baby). But I had fallen woefully behind in my Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge, so I reread it. Because I'm not above cheating sometimes. So sue me.


In case you can't tell from the subtitle, the beauty of the book is that it's a children's book for adults (or an adults' book for children (either way, it's hilariously inappropriate humor)). If you're familiar with Shel Silverstein's Dr. Demento/Playboy stuff, then you already know what's in store. If not, but you're a fan of Silverstein and Roald Dahl (especially his darker stuff), then you really can't go wrong with this.


I would most likely let my child read this at six, possibly five.


See above.

Bossypants
Tina Fey


Another audiobook (my commute feels productive again!), thanks to which I finally realized that, just like me, Tina Fey has a slight lisp. I feel newly bonded to her, like kindred spirits, and I am reminded that one of my very best friends has at times referred to me as her Liz Lemon (as we are both smart, funny, and utterly hapless).


I expected to enjoy this book, but I ended up getting a lot more out of it than I thought I would. I hadn't realized that Fey's quite the feminist, and while I don't self-identify as such, a lot of what she has to say resonates in a way I can appreciate. Far from simply a strong female voice or an entertaining woman's perspective, hers is a strong voice. Period.


If I had a daughter, I would encourage her to read it in the hopes that she might find a role model of her own gender early on. If I had a son, I'd encourage him to read it so that he might empathize with women in seemingly male-dominated professions, as well as working mothers. Plus, it's really funny, and my kids will enjoy reading, dammit, or I shall disown them.


See above.


Also, the stuff about the 2008 election is pretty fantastic.

Gigi & Jacques' Adventures in Paris
Maureen Edgecomb


The art... meh. The story... the same. My ever-supportive mom picked this up for me while on vacation one year because she knew I was working on a children's book for a pregnant friend of mine, and she wanted to encourage this new creative outlet. It's sat on my to-read shelf ever since, and I finally decided to plow through it (again, I was behind on my Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge, and kids' books are by and large super quick reads (you say "cheating," I say "playing smart")). I wish I could say I liked the book, but I just didn't.


I must, however, give credit where credit's due: The book has educational merit. As you've probably inferred from the title and cover art, the book takes place in Paris, and as such, it features a smattering of French. If you want to encourage polyglot tendencies in small children, this book could be a good way to go about it, but you'll have to catch them young. I doubt this would fly for anyone beyond kindergarten, first grade tops.

Burn This Book
edited by Toni Morrison


There are some interesting essays in this collection about the power of words, writing and politics, author as witness, the role of art and literature in society... nothing particularly earth-shattering, but some thought provoking stuff nonetheless. I also got some good book recommendations out of it, things a contributor might reference that I'd never heard of before that sound remarkably interesting, and some great points about censorship and banned books.

Akbar & Jeff's Guide to Life
Matt Groening


I was first introduced to Akbar & Jeff in 1996 by my high school drama teacher. Along with School Is Hell, Life Is Hell, and Work Is Hell, Akbar & Jeff's Guide to Life provides us with a glimpse of Matt Groening's genius in the pre-Simpsons days. In fact, some of the characters are clearly the nascent versions of America's favorite yellow family. And as a bonus, the fez-wearing, Ziggyesque pair are homosexual partners. Sold!

Who the Hell Is Pansy O'Hara?: The Fascinating Stories Behind 50 of the World's Best-Loved Books
Jenny Bond & Chris Sheedy


I was really excited to read this book, as nonfiction books about books are one of my new favorite obsessions. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a letdown. It's a good, entertaining enough book, I just had unfairly high expectations for it. A lot of the anecdotes are stories I'm familiar with from high school and/or college (Frankenstein, Charles Dickens' father in debtor's prison, &c), so there just wasn't enough new information for me to take much away from it. Still, makes for some fun light reading.

Ender's Game
Orson Scott Card


I'm not a big consumer of genre fiction, so it's rare that I delve into sci-fi, but I'm so glad that I did this week to meet Ender Wiggin. It'd be hard for me to talk about the book at length without giving some of the goods away, so I won't. Suffice it to say, the book does just about everything a well-crafted sci-fi story ought to do: Envisions futuristic (yet ultimately realized) technology a few decades early (read: iPad!!), paints a realistic picture of a thoroughly alien world, calls upon the reader's imagination to help create the fabric of this alternate reality, and then uses this supposedly "other" landscape to provide astute and biting commentary on contemporary society. A unique take on standard coming-of-age fare with occasional homoerotic and incestuous leanings. Interesting to say the very least.