Fasciknitting is reading in 2011!

*waves*

Hi Everyone. My name is Katie and I'd like to join this community! I have been somewhat active in LT in the past, but last year I stayed very quiet. I have been reading, but not with the same furor as in the past. While I don't expect to read a ton of books this year because I'm back in school, I still love being a part of LT communities and enjoy all of the recommendations and the support that these types of communities give.

I'm excited about this group because it will allow me to log all of the reading I do, even if it's for class! We all know how time consuming those dang articles are!

As for books, this year I have read:
1. Faithful Place by Tana French
2. The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg
3. The Stone Cutter by Camilla Lackberg

I'm currently reading A Discovery of Witches and am enjoying it! I don't usually enjoy books about vampires, but I adore stories about witches, libraries, and drinking tea... so this book is so cozy and I have sighed so many times while reading.

Tonight I downloaded Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen onto my ipod for morning walks. I've heard mixed messages about this one. Has anyone here read it yet?

List of 2011 Books:
1. Faithful Place by Tana French
2. The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg
3. The Stone Cutter by Camilla Lackerg
4. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
5. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
6. The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston
7 &8. The Spiderwick Chronicles, Books 1 & 2
9. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
10. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
11. The Tattooed Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
12. What Now? by Ann Patchett
13. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber
14. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
15. The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy
16. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Welcome, Katie!

Thanks Lois! It's good to see you again :)

I read a fascinating review today at the NPR website; the review can be found HERE. The author, Margaux Fragoso wrote a book titled Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir in which she chronicled an ongoing relationship with a 51 year old man that she met when she was only 7. This relationship was violent and sexual in nature - quite disturbing and way too much for a young girl of only 7 to fully understand, I would imagine.

What is most interesting to me is that is seems as though the reviewer doesn't believe Fragoso's story. His argument is that the dialogue from Fragoso's childhood is too descriptive. He does add that maybe she is able to "recapture the spirit of of hundreds of conversations," but he seems somewhat skeptical. What seems to bother him the most is the quotation marks she used, which he appears to be taking quite literally.

This was difficult for me for me to sit with, because as a social worker and a victims' rights advocate, all of my training has taught me to trust women and their experiences. And how many memoirs have been published that contain quotations that are probably not 100% correct? I'm wondering if anyone else had the same reaction as me?

4 - I read a review of the book in NY Magazine which made it sounds like an extremely uncomfortable read, but didn't seem to distrust the story.

I read the review in the NYT Magazine as well. It really sounds like a valuable book, especially for other women and men who have been molested, and while I felt uncomfortable that it may be read by some people for the wrong reasons, the author sounds extremely courageous.

Hi, Katie! I see that you read Faithful Place--how did you like it? I loved French's first two books so very much, but I wasn't as into this one. I am wondering if it was just my mood at the time or something, though, and maybe I should try again.

That review of Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir sounds a little disturbing, actually. When people read an account of abuse and focus on nitpicky details, it is so dismissive. It's like they are saying that if everything in the story isn't absolutely accurate, it must all be wrong (without coming out and saying that). I think that some people do things like that because they have trouble with the idea of such horrific abuse, so they have difficulty accepting that it is true. Part of me is enraged that they then feel the need to belittle the account, and part of me is glad for them that they don't have the experience to know that it is all too likely to be true.

So, what else are you reading these days?

Susan - I agree with you. I loved the first two, but it took me forever to finish this one. I couldn't quite figure out why I was having such a hard time with it.

I have been reading, but slowly. You may notice a trend in my "comfort reading," haha. Here's more of my list, with just a little of my thoughts. I promise to do better as the year goes on!

4. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - I genuinely loved this! As I said earlier, I'm not generally a fan of vampire love stories, but I enjoyed reading about witches, libraries, and drinking tea. I can't wait until the next installment is released.

5. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen - Listened to on my ipad during my drives back and forth to school. Definitely a love story, but I'm telling ya: the witch thing pulls me in every single time!

6. The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston - Although cozy, I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as previous witch books. I did enjoy the gardening and spellmaking aspects, but I can't really put my finger on what put me off.

7 & 8. The Spiderwick Chronicles Book 1 and The Spiderwick Chronicles Book 2 - I listened to these with just one ear while doing housework. I probably shouldn't even count them, but I do intend to finish the series on tape!

9. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen - I listened to this one on my way to school on Friday nights and Saturday mornings as well. Fun supernatural story.

10. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan - I try to read and/or watch one food related book or movie every couple of months. It keeps me eating local and organic and away from fast food restaurants! This one was fabulous and definitely has good rules to try to live by.

11. The Tattooed Girl by Joyce Carol Oates - I picked this one out after I saw JCO do a book reading in Portsmouth, NH. It was fabulous. I read it too long ago to write a proper review, but there are interesting concepts about "throwaway" women and the specific powers that women I have (I thought, anyway. You may take away something different!). JCO was fabulous at her reading, by the way. It renewed my energy of wanting to read everything she's ever written!

12. What Now? by Ann Patchett - Bummed because I bought this electronically for about $10 books only to discover that it was less than 100 pages long! Inspirational, but get it at the library!

13. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber -- Loved, loved, loved this. I was actually inspired enough to write an actual review on the book's page on LT. Feel free to check it out. In short: the story of a prostitute in Victorian England named Sugar. She is trafficked into the business at a young age by her cold, heartless mother and is very good at what she does. She yearns to be a novelist and writes stories about a prostitute that brutally kills her customers. The story gets interesting when a young businessman "saves" her and we slowly watch Sugar give up her ferocity and independence as she comes to rely on him. Long read, but totally worth every second!

The class that I'm wrapping up now is called the Implications of Racism, so I have been reading a ton of critical race theory articles and books. The topic is so interesting to me and I've enjoyed reflecting on my journey of understanding race and racism. My final paper is due this weekend, and it is a review of Feminist Theory: from Margin to Center by bell hooks. I'm almost finished with it and am looking forward to researching other racism/sexism articles to write this paper. As much as I'm enjoying this assignment, I cannot wait to curl up with books that I pick out for myself! No classes this summer and I'm elated about that!

Tonight I am curling up to the thunderstorm with I'll Take You There by Joyce Carole Oates - of whom I cannot seem to stay away from for too long!

14. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton - I think Kate Morton can see into my soul and know exactly what I'm looking for in a book because I haven't been disappointed yet! I would describe this book as gothic because it has all of the makings: family secrets, a castle, the idea of ghosts, and tragedies. Edie is a young woman who works in the publishing company and is directly connected to Milderhurst castle, an old place owned by the three reclusive Sisters Blythe, although she has no idea. She discovers her connection when her mother receives a long-lost letter in the mail from Juniper Blythe, the youngest of the sisters. Her mother, Merry, reveals that as a child during WWII, she was evacuated from London into a local village. Juniper chose Merry to live at Milderhurst castle with the Sisters Blythe and their father, Raymond Blythe, the author of a children's book that would go on to inspire Edie's love of literature and her calling to the publishing industry. The origin of the story (The True History of the Mud Man) becomes a 75 year old mystery in the book-world, which Edie sets out to unravel.

Emotionally, this book reminded me how connected we all are and how important people's stories are. Unless you're the first occupant of your home, someone has lived there before you. That person had a story, a life, and their own form of tragedy. This book reminded me that a little piece of that person lives on in that home and we brush up against it daily.

Morton always does an excellent job of creating characters that have essences of the person that I want to be. She is skilled at jumping back and forth in time, but allowing the reader to easily follow and understand. I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves books about castles, family secrets, WWII, and eccentric old women!

15. The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy - This book was set in my favorite time period and favorite location: Europe during WWII. More specifically, it begins on Guernsey Island right as German soldiers are beginning their occupation. It is the story of Vivienne, a mother of two daughters, who is taking care of her children, aging mother in law, and her home as her emotionally distant husband is away at war.

I loved reading about the life on the island - Vivienne works hard around the home to make sure her daughters are provided for by planting vegetables in place of her beautiful flowers, getting creative in the kitchen with the rations she has, drinkings lots of tea, and eventually chopping down her fruit-filled orchard in order to have fire for heat. Vivienne's youngest daughter befriends a man who is captive in the concentration camp on the island and, although it is very dangerous, Vivienne works hard to keep him fed and as safe as possible. This book reminds us that we are all connected in the world and we mustn't be complacent about what happens to others around us. Excusing ourselves with, "I was just doing my job," or "I had no idea what was really going on" is not good enough. It is particularly relevant with the wars that the US is fighting now and with the political/economical climate the US is facing.

What I didn't enjoy about this book was the love story. Vivienne has an affair with a German soldier that took over the house next door. Moving beyond the fact that she slept with a Nazi is the feeling that this storyline didn't need to be added - I think there was enough opportunity to add drama and unpredictability to the story of life on the island. We didn't really need the predictability of a doomed relationship. Another piece that bothered me throughout the book was the choppy sentence structure, but I believe the author was intending the book to read as though we were witnessing Vivienne's day to day thoughts and not reading artful, thoughtful prose.

All in all, I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for an easy, quick summer read or who enjoys reading about Europe in WWII. 3.5 stars.

The Implications of Racism class sounds amazing.

Thanks for stopping by Alison - it was amazing. The biggest downside, though, was that the class was only 4 weeks (my entire program consists of 4 week graduate classes - it's challenging for me, to say the least!) so I don't feel like I had the opportunity to peel back the onion as much as I would have liked. However, the articles and course reading were excellent and it was a good opportunity for self reflection.

I hope you continue to include your class reading also; it's very interesting. What were your texts for The Implications of Racism, if you don't mind my asking.

Oh, I think being a graduate student and working full-time qualifies you to read all the comfort you want in your off-time!

Thanks! I never want to bore others too much :) The two texts that were required were:

Delgado, R. & Stephancic, C. (2001) Critical race theory: An Introduction. New York: New York University Press.

Miller, J. & Garran, A..M. (2008). Racism in the United States: Implications for the Helping Professions. Belmont CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

And I have a ton of articles saved on my computer - please let me know if you're interested and I'm happy to email them out to you. The best part of the class was our online reading responses - we were required to post 1x/week on at least one reading. The responses were not necessarily meant to be academic, but to take one thought or point that the author was making and apply it to our lives. I found it so useful and it was interesting (though time consuming and hard to fit in) to see where others in the class went with the readings. Since the class was so rushed, it helped create discussions that we just wouldn't have had time to have in class.

Last night I finished We Need to Talk about Kevin. I think I can say that I am in the "liked it" camp for this book. I hated it the first 50-or so pages - I found the narrator self indulgent and I thought, "well of course her son would be a murderer." But I became more sympathetic as the novel went on - Eva's gut belief that there is something not quite right about Kevin was constantly being pushed aside by her husband, Franklin. "Boys will be boys;" "What did that incident have to do with my son?" He seems as though he could never truly believe the horrors that his son was capable of until the day he shot and killed his classmates. It brought up a lot of nature vs. nurture questions that I still don't have answers to.

I don't usually talk to coworkers or friends in real life about the books that I'm reading because I don't want to bore them, but I found myself bringing this one up at random points. Little things that would happen throughout the day would remind me about something in this book. I think that's why I liked it - there were glimmers of reality throughout the book and I could compare it to the work that I do. 4.5 stars.

cross-posted to my Orange July thread.

Katie, so true that WNTTAK will haunt you. No book has had such an impact on me recently as that one. --so glad you liked it! -- Jenny :o)

Thanks Jenny! It definitely sucked me in although I spent much of the time pretty disgusted either with Eva or Kevin.