You guys, basically Julia Child was a spy. Okay, not exactly, but that doesn't detract from the book. I love Julia Child, but to be honest, I mostly picture her as Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia and I didn't know a lot about her before I read A Covert Affair.
This book has a TON of really interesting tidbits about Julia (and Paul) and so many interesting characters, it's hard to believe it's nonfiction. I like to imagine Julia learned to debone a chicken from deboning communists during her spy days, but I suspect that's not the case
The Likeness is the second in the Dublin Murder Squad "series". I say "series" because, while it would be helpful to read them in order, it's not totally necessary. Some of the characters overlap, but I read the first book, In the Woods, several years ago and didn't really remember much about it and didn't have a hard time keeping up with the second. In general, it's a great whodunit mystery, full of murder and suspicions and fake identities and Irish grad students.
Plucky is one of my favorite adjectives and I don't get to use it enough. Nothing Daunted is the account of two very plucky society girls from New York who decided to become schoolteachers in northwest Colorado in 1916. (Little did they know, they were really accepted as teachers because they needed brides for the locals.) The author is the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff, one of those plucky society ladies, she began writing the book after finding her grandmother's letters. I bet there were a few things her grandmother wouldn't have wanted her reading...
I'm pretty sure I finished Ant Farm in about 8 minutes. It's only 160 pages and reads like a transcript of a stand-up show. Simon Rich is a twentysomething writer with just a few writing credits to his name. You know, just Harvard Lampoon, SNL, Mad Magazine, etc. Nothing big...And, if I may be so bold, he's a little reminiscent of David Sedaris. I think my favorite Ant Farm essay is "A conversation at the grown-ups' table as imagined at the kids' table." As one of the few unmarried people in my family, it's entirely likely that I'll end up at the kids' table at some family function. So what I'm saying is, I'm still wondering about what goes on at the grown-ups' table.
Writing might be on a little bit of a weird schedule for the next few weeks, I'm going to be traveling for work a bunch. Last week I was in Kodiak. (I didn't see a Kodiak bear. Unfortunately.) This week I'm back in the A-N-C then I'm off to southeast AK for 10 days.
This week's favorite thing is biographies. I like biographies for one reason - I'm nosy. I want to know all kinds of weird details about people, regardless of whether I know them or not. Right now I'm reading Kurt Vonnegut: Letters and I'm loving it. And I get to be doubly nosy. Not only do I get to read all about his life, but I get to read his personal letters.
My favorite part was his letter to his pregnant first wife, Jane. He sent her a contract (you can read the whole thing here) and it's genius. And heartfelt. And pretty adorable. Good work, Kurt.
I also really like reading his opinions on other authors."Example: T.S. Eliot. Fuck him. Everyone knows he's from St. Louis. Everyone but him." Tell me how you really feel.
I think the next biography I'm going to read is Autobiography of a Spy by Mary Bancroft. Kurt replied to a letter she wrote in 1972 and called it amusing and generous. If she can write an amusing, generous letter she can probably write a pretty good book about being a spy too.
It just occurred to me that a post about biographies is timely in light of this whole (utterly ridiculous) Gen. Petraeus scandal. That was unintentional.
Fact: Billy Joel is a the key to a healthy relationship. Hot jam of the week is Tell Her About It because it's good advice and the video features Rodney Dangerfield. Did you know Billy Joel and I share a birthday?
I somewhat unintentionally read 2 extra nerdy books in a row and I really liked them both. (Surprise, surprise.) So this week is a double book review week! Both books are extremely well written, AND written for normal human beings to read, not just science/math people. I promise.
1)Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 by Michio Kaku
Physics of the Future reads like a science fiction novel, but it's real life. Sort of. Kaku breaks down different scientific advances in 30 year increments. He talks about some serious science, but does it in a totally understandable way. Micro-chipped clothing, virtual doctors, and internet-enabled contact lenses will all play a part in our lives sometime in the next 100 year,s according to Kaku and the 300-some scientists he consulted with. Most of the ideas in this book blew my mind. Take the space elevator, for example. According to Kaku, in the next 100ish years, society will figure out a way to send an elevator cable made of carbon nanotubes into space where it will hang out unsupported thanks to gravity and the earth's rotation. Then that cable will be used to TRANSPORT HUMANS INTO SPACE. IN AN ELEVATOR. To quote Liz Lemon, "What the what?!"
2)Simon: The Genius in my Basement by Alexander Masters
I had never heard of Simon Norton before I read an article about this book on NPR. He is a British math prodigy who, by all accounts, was headed to greatness (crazy high IQ, college degree at 15, PhD from Cambridge, etc) for his work on simple finite groups, but instead left academia and became a reclusive, possibly crazy, public transportation enthusiast.
Author Alexander Masters (left) with Simon Norton
The book is less about Simon and more about the author's process of writing about Simon. He is quite the character (he eats a lot of canned fish and has a bit of a hoarding problem.) But it also includes lots of information about Simon's work on simple finite groups (which I still don't really understand) including something called The Monster, but it's done with cheeky cartoons and jokes. And even though I didn't get the point behind simple finite groups, I could still somewhat understand and appreciate his work. (It also made me really glad I'm not a mathematician.)
This week's hot jam is Single Spoon by The Mother Hips. I was recently flipping through some Pandora stations I hadn't listened to in awhile (I've been pretty exclusively listening to 60's Oldies Radio) and Single Spoon came on. According to Pandora, I had given it a thumbs up at some point, but I didn't remember it. I'm glad I got to hear it again, because it's great. I like the old-timey feel and it has some great lyrics. I particularly like this part of the chorus: "Single spoon/Are you stupid?/Don't you know/That it takes two/To do the spoon" I love that they refer to spooning like a dance move. I also the verse about a pager. Yes, there is a whole verse about a pager. (To be fair, the song was released in 1996.)
So I finally got around to tallying up my book list for 2011. I've been keeping a list of books I've finished for the past couple years and it turns out I must have had A LOT of time on my hands in 2011. I read a lot of books. I mean a lot. 64 of them. (6 were young adult so those don't really count, but 58 is still a lot.)
These are my favorites from 2011 in chronological order (there were actually a few more favorites, but no one wants to read that many book reviews, nor do I want to write them.):
This was my Christmas book last year. My mom was recommended it, and got it for me because it's long and she hates when I finish my book by 2:00 on Christmas day. The Forgotten Garden weaves together two stories taking place hundreds of years apart but in the same place. There's mystery and intrigue and self discovery. Not to mention, it's incredibly well written.
Mark Twain is the cleverist (yes, I realize that's not a word) guy around. The Diaries of Adam and Eve are clever and witty and an excellent love story. Several times while reading it, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I bet that would have been weird..." I mean, can you imagine suddenly being not only alive, but a grown-up, and having complex mental processes. That would have been very confusing. He humanized the first humans (if those are you religious leanings) and did so beautifully.
The Third Coast - Ted McClelland
I don't know what to say when people ask me where I'm from. I have a few "homes" and the Midwest has always felt like one of them. The Third Coast is a memoir-y nonfiction book that tells the story of the author's trip around all of the Great Lakes. He started in Chicago (actually near the Calumet River, so he was so far east he was practically in Indiana) and drove all the way around, exploring cities and meeting some very interesting characters. I've been to a good chunk of the places he went so reading it was a little like going home.
In the Heart of the Sea - Nathaniel Philbrick
I picked up In the Heart of the Sea because it was on a list of books about cannibalism on NPR, and I was intrigued. There was actually far less cannibalism than I thought there was going to be, but it was good nonetheless, so that's saying something. In the Heart of the Sea is the true story that Herman Melville based Moby Dick on, and the since I know the real story now, I don't feel like I have to read Moby Dick, so it's a win-win. It's non-fiction, but reads like a novel and makes you wonder what you would do if you were lost at sea.
Of Time, Space, and Other Things - Isaac Asimov
My friend Jonathan recommended Of Time, Space, and Other Things to me because it would make me feel smart. Not in a "Man, that Asimov is an idiot. I'm WAY smarter than him" kind of way, more of a "Holy cow, this book is blowing my mind" kind of way. Generally, one would expect a book like this to be dry and confusing. Of Time, Space, and Other Things may be a little confusing, but it's anything but dry. You can tell by Asimov's writing how passionate he was about history and science (and other things). It reads almost frantically, like he couldn't write fast enough for his ideas. Asimov is funny and clever and makes some deep concepts seem almost understandable.
The hot jam of the week is She's Always a Woman by Billy Joel. There a lot of things to love about this video, regardless of how you feel about the song. Just look at his hair. It would only be more amazing if he had a rat tail. I also really like the cheesy psuedo-surprised look after he checks, what I assume to be, the set list. But I happen to love both the video and the song. It's a great ballad about loving a lady for being tough as nails and not takin' nothin' from nobody, if you will. According to Wikipedia (which is always right, right?) he wrote it for his then-wife Elizabeth who took over managing his career and was known for being a tough and savvy business lady. (But the ended up divorced, so maybe a woman who will "carelessly cut you, and laugh while you're bleeding" isn't the marrying type.)
Bonus! A few people/bands have covered this song, but I really like this version by Copeland.
