If you'd like to learn how to read...

How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster is a riot...

well, maybe just for English nerds. Foster brilliantly uses his expertise in teaching college literature to compile chapter after hilarious chapter of practical reading advice.

The book is divided into sections, such as "Every Trip is a Quest (except when it's not)" and "Nice to eat you: Acts of Vampires," that take critical themes and writing devices in literature, explain why and how they are used and give the reader examples designed to help them learn how to look for them on their own. Far from pretentious or pompous, it is written in a tone that makes the reader feel like they are one of Foster's students, having a comfortable conversation in a book-and-paper strewn office.

One of the chapters I found especially helpful was "Now Where Have I Seen Her Before?". It defines "intertextuality"--the connections that are constantly being made between pieces of literature and poetry, the motifs of character and plot and symbolism being repeated over and over again. It explains that the more a reader reads, the more they understand about what they read because they will be able to recognize these things, and that this is true because writers do it too--they write what they know from what they've read. Sound confusing? It is! yet, Foster is able to divulge these literary secrets in a truly accessible way.

I have thoroughly enjoyed a leisurely pace through this book and look forward to reading his next book, published this year, entitled: How to read Novels like a Professor.

I've been too busy reading to write about it...

Poor excuse, I know, but let me update with a recap of some good stuff I've read lately:
1. Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan
This is an AMAZING collection of short stories set in Africa, and told from the view point of children. Akpan's writing is wonderful, and the choice to tell children's stories was perfect. Their voices give hope that an adult narrator couldn't, but it's also literally heartbreaking to realize that you know what is happening around the characters when they can't even see the looming danger. The stories deal with family, poverty, immigration, religion, and ethnicity issues. Be forewarned that there are disturbing scenes.

2. A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue by Wendy Shallit
Philosopher-journalist Wendy Shallit writes a very readable and often humorous book detailing the ways gender roles have changed over the last few centuries. Her research takes a look at these questions and more:
Has women's liberation freed us? Why do we have so much to fear now (date rape, sexual harrassment, eating disorders, rampant sexually transmitted disease, depression, and other ailments)? Why am I always so embarrassed? Why am I so clingy when it comes to men and relationships? What's wrong with me?
Of course, this won't appeal to everyone, and she openly admits that.

3. The Color of Water by James McBride
I just finished this one today. It's a wonderful memoir with one chapter in McBride's mother's voice, and the next in his own. Through this stepping stone format he tells the dual stories of his childhood and of his polish jewish immigrant mother who fled her family, married a black man, and raised twelve children. Amazing.

hello back, we are here, Laura!

I am currently reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is a #1 best seller in the nation right now, which usually turns me off , but I wanted to read this the moment I heard about it because I had just gotten back from Italy and am in love with India. The book takes place in 3 different countries; Italy, India, and Indonesia. I don't really have a thing for Indonesia, but maybe I will once I read that part of the book.

I am about half-way through the book and... its okay. Usually when a book gets a lot of hype I expect it to go above and beyond, so I am let down. If I just found this book and randomly read it, I would probably think it was amazing. But, because it is a #1 best seller, it needs to be more than amazing and it isn't. I am really into memoirs right now and "Eat, Pray, Love" is a memoir of sorts. Her writing style is okay, more than once she has used a cliche and said "I know this is a cliche and I HATE writing in cliches." That bugs me because if writing is your profession and you don't like a certain technique then you can choose not to use it, but she chooses to use it and states afterward that she hates the technique that she just used. Okay I'll stop whining about this now.

The narrator talks too much about how terribly heart-wrenching, yet inevitable her divorce is. She is a whiny narrator, but I keep reading it because when she describes the city of Rome and it's little secrets I get hooked. She is wonderful at describing the setting of cities, the looks of people and the little characters that come into her life. So sometimes she can be a good writer and that is why I keep reading... and because it is cool to read about Rome and think "oh yea I remember seeing that fountain and she is right about the way the sunlight hits it."

Oops...

I confess I forgot about this blog but I am going to update it now with my past and current reading choices so Laura won't feel quite so lonely :)

Let's see, after Three Cups of Tea I read:

The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning: Interesting but I found it hard to follow him sometimes because it seemed like the book was kind of randomly put together.

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey: Really really powerful. I know that there was the whole controversy on Oprah about the legitimacy of the story but it was really good just the same. I had to get used to the style of writing but I really felt awful for the main character the whole time because of all the stuff he went through in drug rehab.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett: A great book. It's set in England in the 1100s and follows the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge. Even though it was over 900 pages I never felt like it was too long. It constantly had some struggle going on between church and state which was interesting. The ending was NOT my favorite, though.

Zorro by Isabel Allende: GREAT! I love any of her writing anyway but this was interesting and a very different story line then what she normally writes. It makes me want to see the Zorro movies now!

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini: I'm currently reading this and love it although I'm not that far into it. I am a huge fan of The Kite Runner, though, because it started my current interest in Middle Eastern people and culture so I'm really excited about this book!

Unfortunately, school starts Monday so my reading choices are about to head downhill into the realm of boring textbooks.

three books later...

hello??? *echo*
helllllllllllllooooooooooooooo???? *echo, echo, echo, fade out*

well, anyway, im here to tell whoever reads this that...
i just finished reading "the shack."
obviously, ive veered a bit off the proposed reading list, but i got some interesting books this summer that i couldnt help but read. before that, i read another holocaust-genre book called "everything is illuminated" that was interested but has some sexual stuff that i found uncessary and distasteful. it was a fresh way, however, to look at the guilty conscience of a non-German who was used to do terrible things by the nazis. the characters were fairly interesting. there's a movie out with elijah wood in it but i havent seen it yet and dont know if im gonna.

theeeen i read the shack and it wasnt quite what i expected. actually, my expectations were really high after all the hype, and i was prepared for what it really was. i agree with my aunt, who says that it would have made a lot more sense going into it KNOWING that william p young wrote it to be a kids book--a way to explain God to his children as they grew older. if i had known that, i would have understood why people were so enthralled with a book that wasnt very impressive from a literary standpoint. it did bring up some very interesting ideas about God that i was eager to embrace, but unsure if i should. i just longed for some biblical support so that i knew i wasnt being pulled in to just someone's opinion or personal view of God. but i guess that's the challenge: remember what he said about God and his relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit and ourselves and put it to the test of the Word. a good excuse to dive into the Bible. there were several scenes at the end of the book that were worth reading the whole book, for me. i was crying pretty hard near the end, i guess my heart longing for such peace and reconciliation. it WAS a pretty amazing portrait of relationship and God as love.

so, right now i'm reading Red Moon Rising, which is a book about the creation of the 24-7 prayer movement that began in England. so far, five chapters in, its just a personal story about how the idea came into being and then started becoming reality. it is really inspiring to read about this man's journey of true faith, and it has been bringing up some real questions in my heart and mind about prayer, and about my prayer life. its been fun to journal about them, dialogue with God about them, and ponder them. maybe when im done ill remember to write some of my new thoughts on here.

what's everyone else reading? anything good?

the final judgement of suite francaise, by me!

I finished Suite Francaise and it was amazing! it was broken into two sections--"storm" and "dolce." the first one dealt with the war and evacuation. the second was focused on occupation. there were to appendices that were translations of irene's handwritten notes on the novel. they indicated that she meant to write several other "sections" to add, that focused on other parts of the war (i remember one was to be called "captivity"). tragically, she was killed in Auschwitz before they--or any other fantastic works--could be completed.

before reading irene, i had never considered before that a book could be effective, and beautiful, by simply writing characters, moments, descriptions, rather than making a fluid plot the focus. but she achieves plot nonetheless, and i love the way her characters cross paths and contribute in some way to one another.

in addition to her talent and imagination, she is also ironic and intelligent. she makes her point about the depravity of man and the destruction of war by hardly making mention of it. in her notes, she writes "if i want to create something striking, it is not misery i will show but the prosperity that contrasts with it...it must be done by showing contrasts: one word for misery, ten for egotism, cowardice, closing ranks, crime. wont it be wonderful! but its true and its this very atmosphere im breathing."

i especially got caught up in Dolce in the character of Lucile, who tastes true love but is kept from it by war and its complications. the story was unraveled so that i felt the hope and despair of Lucile as she met love and then unexpectedly was deprived of it.

irene nemirovsky wrote several other books before the war and her deportation, so even if you arent interested in the subject of this particular one, check out her other books! she really is a delightful writer and a rare find.

What's in a Name?

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri is the story of a name. We follow this name throughout the novel, there is a sort-of love-hate relationship with the name that the characters develop with the name. Gogol. Yes folks, the name is Gogol. Gogol Ganguli in fact. This is the name of Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli's first-born son. In Indian culture everyone is given 2 names; a "good name" (the official name) and a familiar name, a sort-of nickname. Gogol was supposed to be the familiar name of Gogol Ganguli, but because of certain circumstances (you need to read this book!) it becomes his official name. Ashima and Ashoke marry by arranged marriage and immediately move to the United States where Ashoke (the husband) had been living for many years. Ashima has to adjust to life, and weather, in New York after living her whole life in India. This book is really the story of the Ganguli family. Their whole life unfolds, from the beginning of their marriage to the birth of their 2 children, to death. It's a beautiful story, an intimate look into the lives of Indian-Americans and the struggles they face living so far away from home(Americans can be terribly ignorant and misunderstand Indian culture). The interesting thing about this novel is the way the journey of this family is centered around the name Gogol: why it was the name given to their first born son (it is a Russian name, not an Indian name), how it became his "good name", how Gogol grew to hate his name, and then later how he regretted changing his name to Nikhil (aka Nick-- nice and American nickname).

If you love Indian culture like I do,
If you have any interest in immigrant life in the U.S.,
Or if you love a good story, read this book!