5. Drown by Junot Diaz

I always know that I really enjoyed a book when it makes me want to write a novel myself (that will probably never happen, unless I make it next year's resolution?). Anyway, that's the way Junot Diaz's books (this one and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which I could not recommend enough) make me feel--like if I could write a book that was even 1/10th as great as either of his, I'd be happy. This, like many of my other dreams, will probably never happen (these dreams include hosting SNL, being on an episode of Sesame Street, and recording a hit single with Ben Folds). But let me get back to the topic at hand--the overpowering brilliance of Junot Diaz.

Diaz has an amazing power to weave that which I don't know--what it's like to live in the DR, what it's like to be a Dominican immigrant in the tristate area--with what I do--what it's like to have annoying brothers, to feel the weird pressures of love, to feel indebted to the experiences of your relatives before you.

Drown is encompassing. It's a short story collection, not a novel, but the stories focus essentially on one main character. It's sad, but not in the boring, dragging way that Freedom was. I could not read it fast enough. Diaz is just brilliant.

Diaz's books remind me of In the Heights, the Broadway musical about the Hispanic community in Washington Heights written by the effervescent Lin Manuel Miranda. In the Heights is definitely less depressing, but is also about the "ambivalent promise of the American dream" (as the San Francisco Chronicle is quoted on the copy of Drown I borrowed from the lovely Medha). Both Diaz and Miranda tell stories that ought to be told, the stories of new immigrants that the mainstream consciousness often ignores, and both tell these stories splendidly (now that I think on it, the importance of storytelling is a major theme in both Heights and Diaz's works).

That's all I really have to say. This book is marvelous, but I'm definitely not the first person to say that, nor will I be the last. It's more depressing than TBWLoOW, and less uplifting, and I think that novel was more refined and focused than this collection. But this book was just raw and powerful. No garbage, no sugar-coating, but it was not exploitatively depressing. Just honest, and honestly beautiful.

In my English class sophomore year of high school (one of the best English classes I ever had, for a whole bunch of reasons that need not be elaborated on right now), someone asked my teacher why we always read depressing books. My teacher said that one of his college professors had hold them something like "Great literature comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comforted." Diaz creates great literature.

Next up: Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shytengart, which I'm reading for a book club (friends + books = awesome). I'm still looking for a new good love story, and this book's title is at least promising something love-related. If this doesn't work out, I want something sappily romantic for Singles Awareness Day (I can't believe I just used that term, a term that apparently has a Wikipedia page).

Also, give me your book suggestions, s'il vous plait. Merci!

4. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

First, let me say how much I really want to make a chocolate lemon cake now. In general, this entire book left me with a strong desire to make an elaborate meal, and pour my love (of food) into it.

The premise of the book is that on her 9th birthday the main character, Rose Edelstein, has a piece of the lemon cake her mother makes her, and can taste all her mother's emotions. But it's more than that--the little girl is completely rocked and horrified by her mother's sadness, a hollowness she has never felt before.

The book doesn't live up to its promise, I think, or, at least, it did not at all go in the direction I was expecting. After the last two very depressing books I read, I wanted something light and romantic, and this book was neither of those things. But that's not really why I wasn't crazy about it. The plot was kind of lacking--it was more about the falling apart of a family, with strange bits of magical realism that seemed to lack purpose.

At the end of the day, it was a book about coping mechanisms, about the way we suppress things, or try to suppress them, and the simple (and not so simple) actions we try to take to make life survivable. It was enjoyable, and a fast read, but I wish it has been longer. The characters lacked a certain amount of depth that a "sad" book sometimes needs (this may have happened because half the book took place before Rose turned 13). Bender hints at a lot of interesting things, but many of the most interesting threads never get picked up and turned into the wondrous thing they could be.

This book made me think about what the food I cook would say if it could talk (it's a big moment for Rose, the first time she eats food made by herself alone: a scary confrontation with her own emotions). Most of the time, I'm cooking not just for myself, but for others, and my food would probably say something like "I really really really want you to like this (and by proxy, me) and say what a good cook I am." My food would be just as needy as I am. Though that's the other thing--in the universe of the novel, most times your food contains the emotions that you don't recognize immediately in yourself, that you're very busy suppressing.

Then again, I'm honestly not one to suppress my emotions. I'm the type who'll tell any of my friends all my emotions about everything (and they usually don't mind hearing it...I hope). I'd be surprised if the lemon cake that I'll be making very soon was full of emotions I didn't know I had.

Next up: While I'm still searching for something light, cheesy, and romantic (like, a well-written Nicholas Sparks novel?), I think Drown by the wonderful Junot Diaz will be next.

Comment with all your book suggestions! I like those! :)

3. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Well, that was overrated. don't get me wrong--it was mostly enjoyable, and mostly an interesting novel, but it is not the best book I've ever read (not even close), and I think the Times' declaration that it's "A masterpiece of American fiction" is just wrong.

This book took forever to read. It's a long book, nearly 600 pages, but I dedicated a lot of time to reading it. Halfway through the book, I wondered how I had just hit that mark. It drags. The characters were also inconsistent--depending on which character was the main focus in a particular chapter, the other characters were presented differently. It's possible that this was the point, that we all view other people and their actions differently than others do and the way those people do themselves, but it was poorly executed. At the end, I don't know what I could tell you about the characters, except that they all suck in different ways. It was sort of just 570 pages of depressing, with 30 pages of hope, which seemed out of sync with the rest of the book.

Franzen's pretty great at descriptions, and had lots of astute observations about Washington, DC and funny one liners about Republicans and college students. My favorite was when Walter was saying that he hated DC because everyone wanted to be close to power: everyone knows how far away they live from John Kerry. True life, but, unlike Walter, I just think it's sort of funny.

So, I wouldn't read it again, and I wouldn't recommend it simply because I think it took too long for such a low payoff, but I don't doubt that other may love it.

Next up: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. After all the sadness of The Goon Squad and Freedom, I need a fluffy break.

A Small Update

100 books seemed like way too much, since I'm already slightly overcommitted, so I downsized to 52 and renamed the blog. But here we go. Commitment!

Started Freedom today. Enjoyed the first 22 pages. Stay tuned.

2. A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

I had very few expectations going into this book, which is weird for me. I mostly wanted to read it because it won the Pulitzer Prize and some people I know enjoyed it. Everything I knew about the plot I'd learned from the very vague summary on the back of the book, which uses words like "brilliantly" and "exhilarating" and "redemption," which honestly didn't make it sound too appealing. But the book really was wonderful.

Last night I watched Blue Valentine, which made me think of this book, and reading the book today reminded me again of the movie. They're two very different pieces--the film is a long, painful look at one couple, and the book is full of short chapters about many different characters whose lives are painfully connected. I guess what links the two in my mind, besides the short period of time between my consumption, is their sadness. It was a very particular type of sadness--not the uplifting kind that makes you feel good to cry about like Toy Story 3 or Up, or the kind that is kind of cathartic (I'm not going to list all the books I've cried over. Just know it's a lot).

A Visit From The Goon Squad is just sad. There's nothing uplifting about it. There are inevitably some characters you like more than others (for me it was Sasha, which I feel might be typical), and you read the whole book hoping that things will work out for them, for all the characters really, but you know that it probably won't, because that's life and it hurts. In the end, very few characters achieve the "redemption" promised by the back cover. And the last chapter just gives a very dim hope for the future. It imagines a future where everyone (even babies) is addicted to some portable, iPad like device, and we all wRt lk thS n txTs. The amazing thing is that by the end of the chapter you can understand everything they're saying.

This is really a great book, even if it is a downer. It's not overly sentimental, and Egan doesn't try too hard to be different. She's an amazing writer with amazing stories to tell. I almost wished that every chapter was its own book--I'm dying to know more about these characters. But that's the way I am with a lot of books--greedy for more.

Next up: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen because sometimes you have to keep reading critically acclaimed books.

1. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

I've been meaning to read this book for a while; I was so excited that I preordered it on Amazon, which was something I thought people only did for video games. Anyway, I'd planned on reading it during my Thanksgiving train rides, but then I remembered that I had real work to do if I didn't want to fail out of school, so I delayed my reading until today.

I knew I would like this book as soon as I saw the title, which is a legitimate fear that I sometimes have. Also, there was an excerpt online somewhere over the summer that totally sold me on it.

Anyway, Mindy's book (it's one of those books that makes you think you know a person, which is weird) reminded me a lot of Tina Fey's book, Bossypants, which I read this summer. Both books are hilariously relatable, and had me reading passages aloud to my little brother, who did not understand.

Between all the funny stories of life in Brooklyn (lyfeeee), being a super nerd growing up (which was my actual life), loving romantic comedies (guilty), and being absurdly scared of jumping off the diving board (I wrote a really "deep" poem about that in high school. Pun intended), Mindy made me think about something I've been contemplating ever since I read this article on Jezebel. In it, the author talks about how we try to convince girls, especially smart girls, that caring about clothes or hair or makeup is dumb and frivolous.

In her book Mindy doesn't explicitly talk about this. But she presents herself as she is--a really smart and successful woman who also likes romantic comedies and makeup. Liking the last two things doesn't affect her intelligence or her worth--she's awesome the way she is.

Alright, this wasn't really intended to get this feminist this soon, but there you go. I wouldn't even say this book is feminist--it's just awesome. I totally want to be Mindy's best friend.

So, if you like funny women, the Office, and/or making fun of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, you should read this.

Next up: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. Trying to get through all these awesome books that Santa brought me for Christmas/I brought home from school.