Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls - David Sedaris

I feel like I should start every review of a Sedaris collection with, "Well, it's not as good as Me Talk Pretty One Day, but..."  So, given that caveat, no surprise, but I enjoyed this.  I had the pleasure of seeing Sedaris do a reading recently, and he read one of his essays from this book, plus one of the pieces he claims are meant for teenagers to memorize when they need to present monologues at school.  That explanation (while made slightly in jest, I think) made some of the pieces in this book a little more understandable, but in general, I didn't enjoy those ones as much as the personal essays he is known for.  What I love about Sedaris is his ability to go from completely inappropriate to completely poignant in a matter of paragraphs.  His recent piece in the New Yorker about his sister's suicide is a perfect example.  While there weren't any essays in this collection that stood out for me, for anyone who adores Sedaris, this is along the same lines of most of his work and certainly good for a laugh or two.

Afterbirth - Dani Klein Modisett

This is a collection of mostly humorous, but sometimes painfully heartbreaking, essays by Hollywood writer and actor types, about the joys of parenting. With that loose theme to bring all the stories together, the essays themselves actually cover an incredibly wide array of subjects - from infertility to adoption to accidental pregnancies to parenting like our parents to parenting nothing like our parents to huge mistakes to regrets to unimaginable happiness. This book will make you never want children while simultaneously making you smile at the wonder that children bring into this world and all our lives - even if they aren't our own children. I particularly enjoyed one essay about a woman who adopted a one-year old daughter from China - and the difficulties she encountered with attachments disorder. There were also a couple essays that dealt with the conflict between Ferberizing (allowing your baby to "cry it out") vs. sleeping indefinitely in an enormous family bed. In this day and age where there is a book about everything, and people are so quick to hand out definitive and judgmental advice about child-rearing and who should and shouldn't be having babies, this was a refreshing collection of evidence that there is no one way to do it right - and while there are many ways that seem wrong - in the end, we're all just experimenting and hoping to do our best.

Manhood for Amateurs - Michael Chabon

This book is a collection of Chabon's thoughts and musings on fatherhood. Given the subject matter, I had no real reason or interest in this book, but I am a fan of (some of) Chabon's fiction, so I figured I might as well read it. I thought it started out quite strong - Chabon tells a little anecdote about how he is at the grocery store with one of his four children, just waiting in the check-out line and not being particularly attentive to his kid. A woman looks over at him and comments something along the lines of, "You are such a wonderful father, I can tell." Chabon's response is to think that he wasn't doing anything to merit such a comment, and that mothers every day do a million times more and are never credited for their parenting skills. I'm definitely on board with this opinion, though I'm not sure I am on board with the direction Chabon then chose to take his book. The underlying acceptable position seems to be that men are clueless morons who love their children, but just aren't that well equipped (for myriad reasons) to be as competent as their female counterparts when it comes to raising them (huge overgeneralization and hetero-normative, I recognize). But Chabon's point in writing his pieces did not seem to be a recognition of this double-standard, or any attempt to equalize the primary care-taking responsibilities in his hectic household. It was just a random collection of his thoughts and experiences of being a son and a father. I did appreciate that the essays weren't completely self-deprecating, and that he didn't make his wife out to be a saint (one essay about his wife's bi-polar disorder or near suicide attempt was particularly heart-breaking), but after such a strong opening, I felt a bit let down from the hodge-podge approach he took with the rest of the book. Given the scatter-shot approach, I thought some of the pieces were funny/clever/entertaining, and others just fell flat. Definitely food for thought on the idea of what it means to be a parent and part of a family, and what it means to want to raise one's childrens differently (or perhaps similarly) to the ways in which they were raised. Insteresting, but nothing earth-shattering.

The Case for Books - Robert Darnton

With inventions such as the Kindle and the iPad, there has been a great deal of discussion about the future of books - meaning whether actual bound books have become obsolete, as well as how we as a society best store, obtain, digest, and process the written word. This book is a collection of essays about the digitization of literature. Some of the essays take the position that by scanning books and making information readily accessible, that we have a net benefit. How could anyone possibly argue against more information? Other essays question how decisions are made about what information is available, whether there is a monopoly on information dissemination, and whether laws (in whatever form) might somehow insert a level of distrust - or create situations in in which the information is simply lost down the road. The essays are varied and cover a wide variety of concerns about the changing nature of information dissemination. Given how quickly technology evolves, some of the concerns have already been rendered moot - or technology has advanced to a point that the potential fears raised by the essays have not only been met, but possibly surpassed. When it comes to books and technology, my interest lies in whether books themselves as objects are becoming obsolete - whether the next generation of readers will still love the thrill of turning an actual page. But, Darnton isn't particularly concerned with this question (despite the title of this book). His focus is more on how the written word in general (with a heavy focus on newspapers) is maintained and accessed - and whether storing information in digital media will allow for accurate retrieval down the road. This seems like it would be a good read for librarians and others who concern themselves with these types of ideas on a daily basis. As for regular readers like us who just want to keep reading, it wasn't quite what I had in mind.

Insecure at Last - Eve Ensler

This book has a terrible title and a terrible cover (in my opinion, obviously). But, I picked it up because of Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologue fame. I completely misread what this was going to be about. I thought it was about living in an increasingly insecure world - and what to do when the fear of terrorists and WMDs and incomprehensible world-ending catastrophes overtake us. I assumed it would be only of these hysterical threats are all around us viewpoints, with the ultimate conclusion that we all need to live our lives, so we need to learn to live with insecurity. Instead, this is a very powerful discussion of horrific abuses and violations of human rights (mostly against women) being committed around the world - often in the name of making our world "more secure." Ensler weaves in her own person story of the physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, with stories about the use of rape in mass genocide, public executions of women in Afghanistan, the hundreds of murders of unnamed women in Ciudad Juarez, and descriptive accounts of pure brutality. As with her Vagina Monologues, Ensler speaks absolute truth to power - she gives unnamable atrocities a voice and speaks out against actions others are too ashamed to acknowledge. In doing so, she empowers women and communities around the world to engage in a dialogue and to refuse to hide in isolation. Ensler is in your face and at times some of the stories were too shocking for me to finish in one sitting. But there is no question that she is inspiring - this is the kind of writing that I feel is such a call to arms - a reminder that even though we've come so far, we have so much further to go.

What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell's latest book is a collection of his New Yorker essays. Because one of the first things I do when I receive a new copy of the New Yorker is scan the table of contents to see if Gladwell has written anything for that issue, many of these were old hat. Gladwell has grouped his essays into three separate categories: those about great people, those about great ideas, and those about how we make such determinations. Mostly, it's a collection of Gladwell's best essays in getting his readers to think about an entirely new topic (such as why ketchup doesn't have as many varieties as mustard) in an entirely new way (such as why we - incorrectly - often equate genius with precociousness). Among my favorites was an essay about why people choke - or fail to perform at their peak potential. I also enjoyed the one about the man featured in the television program The Dog Whisperer. While I might not always agree with Gladwell's conclusions, I love his ability to look at the ordinary world and come up with the extraordinary. This was a fun read - I did not find each and every essay noteworthy or captivating - but I did like his explanation of how he comes up with what to write about, and more often than not, I find myself wanting to talk about his ideas and findings - most certainly a great indicator of a book well worth reading.

Ex Libris - Anne Fadiman

I sometimes fear that my obsession with books is abnormal. Obviously, I love to read. But, sometimes, it's not actually the reading - or the thought that I will never read everything on my to-read list - that causes me anxiety. It is the knowledge that I will never even know what all the books are that are even out there (in the categories of books that I even read, which are of course, just a small percentage of the actual books in this universe). Despite the fact that I have over 120 unread books on my shelves at home, I borrow books from the library by the dozen, and I allow myself the occassional trip to a bookstore to actually purchase books, as well as hiding my compulsive Amazon and Powells.com purchases from my husband. I troll magazines and websites for new books, and I hate nothing more than when someone mentions a book to me that I have not read - or even worse, one that I have not even heard of (at the same time I also love when this happens because it means there is even more out there for me to discover - so please keep the recommendations coming!). I have found that one way to ease my obsessive anxiety about books is to read books about books - these are books by other compusive readers. Sometimes they contain lists of recommended books. Other times, like with this book by Anne Fadiman (author of the amazing book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down), they are people writing about why they love books so darn much. Ex Libris is a collection of Fadiman's essays - all related somehow to her love of words and reading. In the opening essay, Fadiman discusses the merging of her library with that of her author husband's. While he stacks his books haphazardly this way and that, Fadmian prefers to alphabetize hers or arrange them chronologically, depending on the genre. I particularly enjoyed one essay about different types of readers. There are those who devour their books - scribbling notes in the margins, ripping out pages, writing irrelevant grocery lists on the blank fly pages- because, after all, it is the words that matter, not the book itself. Then there are those who treat their books with prisine care, always using a bookmark (never dog-earring pages). This description reminded me of my brother who used to barely open the pages of his really thick Stephen King novels for fear of cracking the spine. I think I fall somewhere in between. I hate when my books get wet or dirty, and while I love to highlight and keep track of important things, this was a taboo I had to work hard to overcome in college. I love booksmarks of all kinds, but there have been times when I'm at a loss and leave the book splayed open on my nightstand. Fadiman has essays about her outrageously large vocabulary and her love for words. Despite my life-long love of reading, I admit that I have a very small vocabulary. I always tell myself that I'm going to write down the words I come across that I don't know and look them up, but I never do - Fadiman's essays would have given me a very long list to start with! A couple of the essays were a bit too literary or esoteric for my tastes, but the majority were ones in which I recognized myself (though perhaps I am not quite as refined). Fadiman's essays were a reminder that my literary compulsions are not completely abnormal, and that more importantly, they make me happy and I look forward to many more years of reading, new discoveries, and of course, books about books.

Take the Cannoli - Sarah Vowell

Sarah Vowell is a regular contributor to NPR's "This American Life." Her collection of personal essays, in the tradition of David Sedaris and Dave Eggers, has received monumental praise. Her voice is hailed as "moving" and "wickedly funny." But, like so much in this genre, I think it takes just the right sense of humor to really click with a given writer. I just could not make the connection. I did like Vowell's writing - it was not pretentious or overly flowery - but rather straight-forward and casual - in part, I'm sure, a reflection of the fact that many of the pieces were written for the radio. But, I did not find many of her observations particularly clever, and I don't think I ever once smiled or laughed out loud while reading this. Vowell has some touching pieces about her family, and one I particularly enjoyed about the nature of the mix tape. But, mostly I found myself asking, "Who is this person, and why do I care about her daily life and her personal stories?" She did nothing to distinguish herself as someone about whose life I'd want to read. I assume Vowell has a loyal following of fans from NPR - and I'm sure those people would love this book. But for me, it just did not strike the right chord.

AIDS Sutra - Amartya Sen (ed.)

When I was in high school, I read a National Geographic article about HIV/AIDS in India. The article focused primarily on the sex industry, and I was horrified at the lack of education among the population, as well as the poverty and refusal for government intervention that forced people into such dangerous circumstances. Today, there are over 3 million people in India with HIV, but still the secrecy and denial about the disease plagues the nation. This anthology contains 16 essays by some of India's most prominent writers (including Vikram Seth, Kiran Desai, and Salman Rushdie). Each of the essays looks at a different segment of India's population affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic - expectedly, the focus is on various aspects of the sex industry. One of the most powerful essays, I thought, was Rushdie's exploration of Mumbai's transgendered population. The cultural taboos surrounding homosexual relationships, and the effect on these individuals, was heartbreaking. The spread of HIV within the sex industry is clearly a socio-economic problem, and a result of attitudes toward gender and sex. But, so much of this book was also about love and the need for acceptance. This book was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - and I would have liked to see a more lengthy foreword/afterword about the conrete work the foundation is doing to enhance healthcare and education, as well as to reduce poverty in India. In the past decade, I feel the spectre of HIV/AIDS has dimished in the United States because of a better understanding of how the disease is transmitted, and advances in medicine allowing those with HIV to live longer healthier lives. Yet, these acknowledgements of the need for public health education, access to medicine, and a fundamental acceptance of people for who they are - are clearly missing in so many cultures (and still in the US), and I hope that the need for continued dialogue about HIV/AIDS will not be forgotten, simply because better drugs have been created. This is a depressing collection of essays, but one that is a good reminder that these problems have not gone away, and that we need to work together globally to overcome the devastation they have caused.

Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris

I adore David Sedaris, but after finding his last couple books less than stellar, I feared that perhaps I have overdosed. But, then a couple months ago, Ashley and I went to hear him read at the Opera House in San Francisco, and I fell in love all over again. He read a piece from the New Yorker about undecided voters, an essay from his latest collection When You are Engulfed in Flames, and snippets from works in progress - which I found fascinating as he talked about what he thought did and did not work in the stories. He was funny and charming, and there was nothing I wanted more at the holidays than more David Sedaris! So, while browsing for others at Stacey's Bookstore downtown, I picked up Holidays on Ice, a collection dedicated to Christmas and the holidays. As well as the usual Sedaris autobiographical essays, he also includes a few fictional pieces - a mock-sermon with some high points, and a what if barnyard animals did their own Kris Kringle - but my favorite was a story about two families who keep having to one-up each other in their annual Christmas cards. With respect to the stories from Sedaris's own life/thoughts, my favorite was "Six or Eight Black Men" about beliefs in other countries that differ from our notion of Santa Claus (obviously theirs are ridiculous - ours makes so much more sense!) The stories were a bit hit or miss, but when they hit, I always laugh out loud in spite of myself. As you can imagine, Sedaris's holiday cheer is filled with sarcasm and irony, and accordingly it managed to put me in a very good Christmas spirit.

Shakespeare Wrote for Money - Nick Hornby

This is Hornby's third and last collection of his columns from Believer magazine. The first two, Housekeeping vs. The Dirt and The Polysyllabic Spree have been reviewed in previous posts. I didn't know this third one had beeb published and was positively ecstatic to find it among ornaments and stationery and other treasures in a small shop on Fillmore Street in San Francisco. Hornby's columns are about the books he's bought and the books he's read every month. Clearly, a column after my own heart. The difficulty is that I waiver between wanting to just sit myself on the nearest corner and devour every chapter, and wanting to just read one here and there so that they will seemingly last forever. And now that Hornby has announced his retirement from Believer to focus on his family of all things, I really did want to make this one last. Alas, it was impossible, and like a DVD of Lost episodes, I found myself saying "just one more," until sadly I'd reached the end. As with many Hornby novels, there are many football/soccer references. I could do without these. But, to my delight, in this series of columns, Hornby discovers the excitement of the world of young adult fiction. Given his recent book, Slam, written for young adults (which is on my shelves and I am saving for a very special occasion), Hornby has entered a world of literature that I have loved - ever since I was a young adult. I was happy to get some new recommendations, and to learn about something called the Alex Awards - which are given out every year to the 10 books written for adults that are found appealing to young adults. - or as Hornby calls them "The Non-Boring Book Awards." While encouraging young adults to expand their reading horizons and transition them to "adult" literature, they are no doubt a good place for adults to look for fun books! I took a look at past winners - which include some of my favorites: Into Thin Air, Caucasia, Plainsong, Peace Like a River, The Book of Lost Things, and Water for Elephants. So, needless to say, I definitely plan on mining the list for future reads. Hornby's essays, as always, are filled with humor and literary insight, and are a wonderful celebration of my favorite pastime. I'm sad that I won't have more collections to look forward to, but am sure that I will continue to go back and re-read his columns for more recommendations for a long time to come.

I'm a Stranger Here Myself - Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson is always good for a chortle or two...after living in England for nearly 20 years with his British wife and four children, he moves back to America to the quaint college town of Hanover, New Hampshire. He is contacted by a friend back across the pond to write a column for English readers about life in America. This book is a collection of Bryson's columns on that topic - accordingly, they are a bit random and haphazard - but on the bright side, each one is quite short and made for a good read while waiting here and there for my husband to check all the important messages he receives on his blackberry. The columns are a bit hit or miss and range in topics from Bryson's love of motels, to America's obssession with junk food, to sending his son off to college, to celebrating Thanksgiving. Bryson's laziness, cynicism, and luddite-ness - while present in many of the other books I've read comes at the reader in full force in this one. At times, it is charming, but I found myself more than usual wishing he would just stop complaining and get over himself. I would not recommend this book as an introduction to Bryson - it is not as well written or humorous or informative as A Walk in the Woods or In a Sunburned County. But for readers who are already familiar with Bryson and like his brand of humor, these are fun little anecdotes that are worth reading here and there - but probably not straight through in one sitting.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris

I learned this morning that there are over 100 people on the waiting list at the library for this book. I wonder how many of them will be disappointed. I have heard many people say about Sedaris - "well, once you've read one book you've read them all." I don't necessarily think that's true, though he does bring the same wit and charm to all of his autobiographical collections of essays. This collection mostly takes place in France (with flashbacks to earlier times), where Sedaris lives with his partner Hugh - who is always presented as a completely rational. I would love to read a book of essays about Sedaris written by Hugh (assuming he can write), as I can't imagine any sane person living in the same vicinity of Sedaris's madness. This collection is not as humorous as ones I've read before - though it was good for a few chuckles on the stairmaster. I think this a collection I would recommend to established Sedaris fans - people who want to get to know him a little better. For first time Sedaris readers, I don't think this one will explain his immense popularity. But, since Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day, Sedaris has won me over as a fan for life, and I will continue to read his book as quickly as he can churn them out. Assuming I don't have to wait too long in the library queue, of course.

Consider the Lobster - David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace is a genius. He knows it, but luckily, he seems to have a good sense of self-deprecating humor about it. Consider the Lobster is a collection of Wallace's essays about far-ranging topics from: whether lobsters feel pain when you submerge them in boiling water to an analysis of John Updike and why he's such a jerk to Senator McCain's bid for the 2000 presidency. I like reading books of essays because I feel like I come across topics I'd never otherwise read about - and if there are topics that I really don't want to read about, I can just skip them. It's even better when the essays are well-written - it's like reading a New Yorker without as much of the stigma. My favorite essays in the book were, "Authority and American Usage" about language and lexicons (this essay most prominently displays Wallace's literary superiority) and "How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart," about the popularity and banality of sport autobiographies. Like my experience thus far with Jonathan Franzen, I enjoyed Wallace's essays much better than his fiction stories in "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men." I am on the prowl for more Wallace essays, but I still have his fiction magnum opus, Infinite Jest on my shelves, so there is definitely more DFW in my future.

A Modest Proposal - Jonathan Swift

For some reason, this is on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. Not that it isn't worthwhile reading, but it's a five page essay, not a book. Nevertheless, I figured it was an easy way for me to get one step closer to the 1001 goal! I'm not a huge fan of Jonathan Swift. This disappoints me because he is a satirist, and he comes up with wildly crazy characters and stories - I usually love these qualities in a writer. But, he just doesn't work for me - maybe because he's so old (this was written in 1729), I don't quite get the humor/political statements. "A Modest Proposal" is Swift's solution to Irish poverty, and comment on England's tyrannical rule. I read it in college, and unlike most things I re-read, I think I probably understood it better back then. I think Swift was the Stephen Colbert of his time. Quirky and witty to some, simply lost in translation to others.

Songbook - Nick Hornby

This is, hands down, Nick Hornby's worst book. That might not really be saying much given that I absolutely adore all of the other novels and essays I've read by him (except for maybe Fever Pitch which was just so-so), but honestly, as much as I really really tried to like this one, I just couldn't. The concept isn't bad - Hornby, who is quite knowledgeable about music, writes a collection of essays about some of his favorite songs. The essays aren't about what he was doing when he heard these songs or the personal memories the songs evoke (necessarily), but rather Hornby tries to capture what is essential or life-altering in general about these specific pieces. I myself don't really know much about music. I know what I like, and I know what I hate. And, I tend to like songs that remind me of moods or good times in my life. I don't particularly care how innovative someone is, or what a given song has done for a genre or an industry. I suppose that means I don't much care about the history of music - and that's more a reflection on me, perhaps, than it is on the quality of this book. After all, I loved Hornby's collections of essays about the books he reads (The Polysyllabic Spree and Housekeeping vs. The Dirt) which is basically the same concept, just with books instead of songs, so perhaps it's just the subject matter. But, Songbook doesn't seem to have as much of Hornby's wit as I've come to expect, and well, I was just sadly disappointed in this one.

The Nasty Bits - Anthony Bourdain

http://www.anthonybourdain.com/ - This is a collection of essays directly and tangentially related to Bourdain's exploits as the chef of a fabulous restaurant in New York, and his travels around the world eating at Michelin rated venues and off-the-beaten path jewels. Bourdain's relentless rantings are often hilarious, sometimes exhausting, but always (in my opinion) entertaining. I loved his first book Kitchen Confidential, though I've never seen his television show on the Travel Network called No Reservations. I can see people hating Bourdain. He has an opinion about EVERYTHING and he's an arrogant unapologetic drunk. But, I just love the way he describes and enjoys food - from the dirtiest dives in Vietnam to the fanciest dining rooms in France. I wish his books had an index in the back with his favorite restaurants and dishes listed by city. My favorite parts of his book are when he gives "advice" to diners - there's lots of this in Kitchen Confidential - from when and how to order the right dishes on a menu, to how to treat your waiters, to how to send food back to the kitchen, to when to take appropriate smoking and bathroom breaks during the service of a meal. He's the modern day Emily Post of how correctly to eat out in a restaurant. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the magic of having other people prepare your food for you.

A Man Without a Country - Kurt Vonnegut

http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9781583227138-3 - A collection of excerpts from essays and speeches by Vonnegut during the last five years of his life. I noticed there is some overlap with God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian, but this is still worth checking out. Vonnegut can get a bit repetitive in his rants, but every couple pages there is a line that had me laughing out loud. He talks about American life, politics, religion, his time in Vietnam - I noticed that many of the reviews, while positive, have an undertone of "this is getting old." Perhaps it's a good thing this was his last hurrah before he passed on. His pessimistic humor, however, does make me want to go back and re-read some of the books I read by him in college. I have a feeling I'll get much more enjoyment out of them this time around.

How to be Alone - Jonathan Franzen

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780374173272-10 : Years ago I read Franzen's The Corrections after the whole Oprah Book Club debacle. I hated it. So, I was a little reluctant to read his book of essays. But, I was pleasantly surprised. It reminded me of how I really disliked Richard Ford's novel The Sportswriter, but I loved his collection of short stories Multitude of Sins. I guess some authors are just better to some readers in different genres. The 14 different essays in the collection explore the idea of being alone in a world full of people. The first essay concerning his father's Alzheimers is incredible. He has a number of essays, including his famed "Harper's Essay" that explore the fate of the modern novel and what it means to be a writer in an increasingly non-literary world. Franzen is pretentious and strikes me as a little too into his suffering as a genius the world can't yet appreciate, but he has some nice perspectives on the United States Postal Service, American prison culture, and technology. I wouldn't read these all at once, but piece by piece, Franzen is well worth spending some time alone with.

The Best American Non-Required Reading (2003) - Dave Eggers (ed.)

http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780618246960 : I received this as a gift from Ashley a long time ago and have picked it up every once in awhile to read a piece or two. It is a collection of essays, stories, commentary, articles and other types of writing edited by Dave Eggers ("A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius"). I really enjoyed this collection - it was fun to read all the different styles of writing from hilarious to heart-breaking. My favorite piece was Judy Budnitz's short story "Visiting Hours", from Harper's Magazine, which tells the story of a brother and sister from a not quite perfect suburban family. I also enjoyed James Pinkerton's "How to Write Suspense" from Modern Humorist, which satirically outlines the key factors to any successful suspense story (I actually laughed out loud while reading this in a dentist's waiting area). There are a wide-variety of "Best American" collections each year ranging from Short Stories to Sports Writing to Non-Fiction. I've found them to be generally fun to flip through - not necessarily reading the whole book in one shot. This one was no different, and most of the pieces were good finds by Eggers that were a nice change of pace from my usual reading.