What I read for TWO months: February & March

Purchased:
I Love Yous Are For White People- Lac Su
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- Rebecca Skloot (ebook)
Terrorist- John Updike (audio book)
The Journals of Lewis & Clark- ed. Anthony Brandt (Inspired by our trip to Long Beach. Technically, I bought it for Ryan so it doesn't count)
The Polysyllabic Spree- Nick Hornby
The Year of Magical Thinking- Joan Didion
The World is Flat- Thomas Friedman (audio book)
Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not- Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert
The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life- Laurie Notaro
Pugetopolis: A Mossback Takes on Growth Addicts, Weather Wimps, and the Myth of Seattle Nice- Knute Berger (From MOHAI for the first of our "Museum of the Month" tours)
Death & Life of the Great American School System- Diane Ravitch

Read:
Nine Tailors- Dorothy Sayers
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- Rebecca Skloot
Sh*t My Dad Says- Justin Halpern
I Love Yous Are For White People- Lac Su
The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life- Laurie Notaro

March
In the Woods- Tana French
The Body in the Library- Agatha Christie
Murder at the Vicarage- Agatha Christie
The Big Sleep- Raymond Chandler
The Polysyllabic Spree- Nick Hornby

Attempted to read:
Terrorist- John Updike (audio book)
The World is Flat- Thomas Friedman (audio book)

Yeah, so I didn't accomplish much reading this month. For one, I haven't been reading Dorothy Sayers & Agatha Christie mysteries that I can blow through in a couple of days. For another, I've been simultaneously reading several different books, the result being that I have finished none of them. I kept putting off writing this post because I thought that I'd finish at least one of them so that I could add it to my February (and now March) count, but it never happened.  Oh well. On with the show:

Terrorist- John Updike: I would really have liked to listen to this book this month--but when I got ready to put it into the CD player and listen I discovered that I was missing CD #3 of a 9 CD set. I realize I bought it off the clearance rack, but it could at least have all the CDs! Now it's riding around in my car until I go back to Seattle to either return it or get that missing CD.

The World is Flat- Thomas Friedman (audio book). This my second audio book failure in recent history. I picked up The World is Flat as a substitute to Terrorist because of the whole missing disc issue. I only made it through two of TWENTY-TWO CDs because this book was literally putting me to sleep during my commute--and here when I say "literally," I'm not exaggerating.

Supposedly this book was going to share all the secrets of the 21st century. Yeah, no. Just lots of obvious statements and mixed metaphors. Like the title (Friedman spends a lot of time defending his stupid title too--maybe he should listen). Turns out lots of people hate this Friedman guy with a fiery passion. At least I know that I came by my dislike honestly and I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon!

Nine Tailors- Dorothy Sayers: This was the last of the Wimsey books I wanted to read. There are still a couple more in the series, but they're generally said to be kind of lame. I really wanted to savor this book because it was one of my last Wimsey encounters. The setting (a small moor village threatened by overflowing channels) was especially engaging, as was the mystery. "Nine Tailors" refers to the church bells of the village, and apparently Sayers researched campanology so thoroughly that experienced bellringers were shocked to learn that she had never actually rang a bell or studied formally.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- Rebecca Skloot: I have no idea what possessed me to select this book, but I'm glad I did. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of--obviously--Henrietta Lacks. What is less obvious is that Lacks was one of the most important contributors to modern science--without her knowledge or even consent. Lacks was a poor Black woman who died of an aggressive cervical cancer in the the '50s. Her cells, named HeLa, were the first human cells successfully grown & reproduced, and are still in use today. Skloot takes the story from boring science history to engaging nonfiction by sharing the story of Lacks' family. HeLa cells helped create the polio vaccine and other products patented by the drug companies, but the Lacks family cannot afford healthcare for themselves. The story follows their shock at learning that a portion of their wife/mother was still living and being experimented on and their struggle for information. Even more intriguing was the discussion about biological rights US citizens do (or do not) have today.

Sh*t My Dad Says- Justin Halpern: I was a fan of the twitter way back in the day, but I didn't have much hope for the book. Books that come from Twitters/blogs usually turn out not to be much good, and they usually take the quality of the blog down with them. In this case the Twitter account has become practically inactive (understandable, since Halpern is busy writing for a TV show and all), but the book was actually better than expected.

Instead of being a bunch of regurgitated posts like most of these books was actually some real story-telling involved. Halpern balanced humor with serious stories to sketch a picture of his gruff but loving father. Actually worth reading!

The Body in the Library & Murder at the Vicarage- Agatha Christie: There's really no need for me to write anything new about yet more Agatha Christie books. We should just assume that anytime I've read Agatha Christie I've had a tough week. Mysteries like these are like junk food or reality TV are for some people. There's really no reason for me to write a separate review of each--nothing I've read so far has matched up to my two favorites, And Then There Were None, and Murder of Rodger Ackroyd.

The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life- Laurie Notaro: I am a big sucker for short, humorous, self-deprecating essays, and Laurie Notaro fits right into that category. I can't say that I identify with the essays in the same way I do with Sloane Crosley--I mean, Crosley has an entire essay about having a weird first name!--but Idiot Girls' read like a humorous cautionary tale about drinking, drug use, bad boyfriends and bad credit.


I Love Yous Are For White People- Lac Su: This is one of the reasons it's taken me so long to write this post--I didn't know what to say about this book. Lac tells the story of escaping from Vietnam with his family & settling in the rougher neighborhoods of LA. While his father succumbs to mental illness he turns to the streets for a family. It's both heart-wrenching and heartwarming. I couldn't put it down.

The Big Sleep- Raymond Chandler: So much old-school '30s gangster language! Practically needed a translator. Also, mildly to highly offensive in several parts by today's standards. The overwrought similes were probably the highlight of this book for me.

(yeah, these summaries keep getting shorter. Turns out writing this many gets boring after awhile--and takes away from my reading time!)

In the Woods- Tana French: This seems to be one of the most popular mystery novels out there right now. Set in Dublin, it centers around the murder of a young girl and the disappearance of two children many years earlier. I enjoyed that it was both a well-constructed mystery and well written. However, in the end--no closure! No promise of closure! Be warned!

The Polysyllabic Spree- Nick Hornby: Fiiiiinally, I read the book that this blog is based on. Hornby does things quite differently--and a whole lot better. HILARIOUS, first of all. I literally laughed out loud over and over, and kept having to restrain myself from say to Ryan over and over "listen to this!" What's awesome is that through his humor Hornby still manages to convey his love of writing & reading. It's hard not to be a tiny bit jealous that his job involves a whole lot of reading (NOT reading of freshman essays), but his books entertain me so much that I forgive him.