Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls By David Sedaris

When I first read David Sedaris’ Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day (many years ago now), I recall that I laughed out at least once per essay, and often more. His candor was refreshing, and the comedy he milked from the travails of his youth and family was raw and hilarious. Maybe the well on that has been tapped, because I don’t think I did more than chuckle once or twice in this whole book, and certainly never laughed so hard that my sides hurt.

In this book he plumbs the banalities of book tours, trips to the dentist, and why he walks around picking up trash all day. To be honest, I even skimmed several of the chapters. Maybe this is my fault and not his – maybe his writing is the same and I am just no longer amused by it. I will have to go back to Me Talk Pretty One Day to confirm. But unless you are a die-hard Sedaris fan and need to read everything he ever writes, I’d give this one a miss. His latest article for the New Yorker, Stepping Out, is a better (and shorter option).

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

This is the second novel by Robert Galbraith, aka she-who-will -not-be-named. I’m curious as to why, after the truth about the author’s real identity was revealed, they didn't just plaster her real name on the cover of this one, but the deeper I dig, the more confused I become. Robert has his own website … you can even follow him on Twitter and Facebook. No joke! And “he’s” tweeting! Though “he” only has 18.4K followers and 2K Facebook likes, whereas Ms JK has an equal 3.5 million on both platforms. So what’s the point? I don’t get it. Maybe it helps her with her process, but for me it’s just a distraction from what I do like, and that’s the books!

Rowling’s standard form is on full display in The Silkworm. Interesting (and over the top) characters, a sweeping and drawn out plot, and thorough descriptions that carry you into another world, only this world is London and not Hogwarts. Cormoran Strike is on the case of a missing writer, and in the process of trying to find him he uncovers all sorts of oddities and perversions in the publishing world. You can’t help but wonder if this is JK’s own bit of “revenge” against some of the people she undoubtedly had to deal with over the years.

The tone of this novel is a little dark, even more so than the first one, and there is a gruesome murder straight out of Silence of the Lambs/Seven, but it’s still classic gumshoe, with Strike and his gal Friday Robin unearthing bits of the literary puzzle that eventually leads to the missing author and his (spoiler alert) killer. Towards the end it does feel like Rowling is writing to form. There is a little too much of the keeping-the-secrets-til-the-big-reveal-at-the-end, and it gets a little annoying, but I guess that’s the standard detective novel playbook for you. Speaking of which, I’m not usually fan, but I will continue to read this series, as let’s face it, the woman, I mean, man… whatever, can write  

Life Drawing by Robin Black

Life Drawing is an intricate tale about marriage, infidelity, and death. Robin Black takes a risk with this novel by informing the reader in the first sentence that the narrator’s (Augusta, Gus, Augie) husband (Owen) is dead, and then allows the rest of the book to chart the course of his demise. There are no hints at first as to whether his death is natural, at his own hands or from violence, and it seems as though their new neighbor, Alison, is somehow involved, but that is also unclear. So why keep reading if you know how it ends? This is no mystery novel, but instead an intimate look at a marriage and the effects of infidelity and betrayal on it. Halfway through you might even forget that Owen, a novelist, is going to die at some point, but then the tension begins to build and build until he does, and it’s hard to put the book down. Gus is a painter, and Black herself draws (haha) you into the detailed world she’s painted (hahaha) with excellent writing and compelling characters. There is no fairy tale ending here, but many memorable passages like this one:

 “There are often two conversations going on in a marriage. The one that you’re having and the one you’re not. Sometimes you don’t even know when that second, silent one has begun.”

Your Perfect Life by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke

Summer beach read season is upon us, and Your Perfect Life, written by dual authors Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, was made for a relaxing day working on your tan. It follows life-long best friends Casey and Rachel to their twenty-year high school reunion, where they switch bodies thanks to a supernatural shot concocted by a cute bartender. The most exciting thing that happened at my 20-year high school reunion was that anybody even showed up! (Seriously—I think there were about a dozen people there out of a class of 120… lame!)

While the premise of the book is not quite original—I can think of three books and movies about this very thing—the authors’ treatment of the idea was funny and fast paced. Casey is an entertainment television host and Rachel a stay-at-home mom, each seemingly living only half a life. When the switcheroo happens they get to experience the other side: a career for Rachel and a family for Casey.

This book is full of many laugh-out-loud moments as the ladies navigate the tricky world of living in their BFF’s body. I mean, what would you do if your bestie’s husband wanted to sleep with you thinking you were his wife …? Yuck! And going from changing diapers all day to interviewing celebs would leave my head spinning too. The body switch comes with an important lesson; by the end of the novel they realize that they were both missing out on important aspects of their life. Casey admits that she wants a family and Rachel wants to work outside the home.

This caused my feminist panties to get tied into a bit of a knot for a moment. Are the authors suggesting that a woman can’t just be a stay-at-home mom and be fulfilled, or that someone who chooses a career over children is only living half a life? But when I think about my own life and my venture back to work after five and a half years at home raising babies, I relaxed a little. It is nice to have interests again besides all-kids-all-the-time, and my brain needs the exercise. Conversely, once I did start having children I realized that this fulfilled a side of me that was missing before as well. Finally, this is a summer beach read—best not to read too much into it and just enjoy the ride J

This is the first dual-authored I have read in a while. I was wondering if I’d come across a time where one person’s style stood out distinctly from the other, but that wasn't really the case. My personal theory is that one wrote in one character’s voice and the other author wrote in the other, but ultimately it was well written and  flowed nicely, so who cares?! Read it with your BFF and contemplate how weird it would be to take over their life for a month or two. 

The Fable of Bing by Tim Sandlin

I’ve been reading a lot of new (to me) authors lately and this week’s read was no exception. The Fable of Bing by Tim Sandlin is a hilarious novel about a young man, Bing, who was raised by bonobos in the San Diego Wildlife Park. This book falls into the Absurdist Fiction category along the lines of Tom Robbins and Christopher Moore. Talking cans and spoons anyone? A new look on the life of Jesus Christ from the perspective of his crass and crude childhood pal? You get the idea.

Bing, who is seemingly invisible inside the zoo and goes undetected for many years, has amazing healing powers that, once discovered, have people heralding him as the New Messiah. Absurd. But in a totally good way. Bing gets discovered by a young woman, Rosemary, who works for a New Age radio station. The head of the station, Turk, is an ego-maniacal fame-seeker who sees Bing as his ticket to glory, as according to him to only worthwhile endeavor in our current society is the pursuit of fame and fortune.

Turk sets Bing up for a massive public healing miracle involving Rosemary’s ill sister. When things don’t go as planned, everyone, including Rosemary, turns on him and he is cast out of favor (and into Tijuana!). Sandlin gets a lot of mileage out of Bing’s ignorance to the ways of our world, and what his reaction to our culture and norms are. There are many things that he cannot ‘fathom’, and by the end of the book you can’t blame him. Overall we are a pretty nasty society, and ultimately Bing chooses his ape family over (most) other humans.

The book is full of satire and comedy, and will leave you contemplating if whether we weren't better off before we descended from the trees and started walking upright. 

Stay by Allie Larkin

I bought this book on recommendation from my sister, and started it one night after putting my sick five year old to bed. I read for a couple of hours, fell asleep for a few more, and then was awoken at 2 am by said child getting even sicker. After some medicine and a cool washcloth I lay down next to him and proceeded to read until dawn. So yes, I stayed up all night reading this book, something I haven’t done in a long time. (Motherhood exhaustion has made it easy for me to fall asleep most nights no matter how great the book is.)

While I can’t say it was the most original plot idea (Savannah ‘Van’ is in love with her best friend’s boyfriend and her life is stalled out, funnily enough a side plot in my previous read The Husband’s Secret), Allie Larkin writes in a clear and fast-paced way and makes you want to find out how Van breaks out of her rut to find true canine and human love.

One night, while drunk and in despair that her best friend and secret love are on their honeymoon, Van orders a $6000 dollar German Sheppard ‘puppy’ off the internet. Hello! Who knew a dog could cost that much? Much hilarity ensues when the puppy arrives fully grown and extremely large. Van’s never owned a dog before and ends up taking him (frequently) to the local hot single vet guy. You can guess the rest.

Parts of the plot are predictable (Van “breaks up” with bestie and new hubby, they make up. The hottie vet breaks up with Van, and they make up as well), I still wanted to keep reading to see how all the pieces would fit together. There is also a touching backstory about the loss of her mother and the sacrifices she had made for her Van.

This book is a great example of ‘chick-lit’ at its best: Funny characters, fast-paced and easy reading. I’m surprised it hasn't been turned into a rom-com, yet. I’ll definitely be adding her second release, Why Can’t I Be You, to my reading pile.    

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

I read this book recently for my book club. I hadn’t heard of it or Liane Moriarty before, and when my friend Meredith sent out the group text informing us that this was our next selection, I shuddered due to the title. I shuddered even more when I saw the disintegrating rose petal on the cover.  Something about the title and the cover just threw me off from the get-go. I procrastinated buying and reading the book, and was formulating my get-out-of-book-club excuse when my library request came through in the nick of time. With only three days to read it before the next meeting, I went to work.

So, while I began the book trepidatiously, once I actually started it I jumped right in and devoured it in those three days. What a lovely surprise was waiting for me between the off-titled/pictured cover! The intertwined world of several Sydney families harboring secrets and tragedies unfolded in a delightful way. Sure that the "secret" would be infidelity, I was surprised to find that it was a different (though much darker) secret. Infidelity is still a theme in the novel though.

Once the secret(s) are revealed, the questions arise. Can life ever return back to normal? Are we better off not knowing? Moriarty used the toppling of the Berlin Wall as a metaphor in the novel, and at the end suggested that some people would have preferred the Wall to stay up, their lives not great but at least predictable. Some of the characters in this novel most certainly would have preferred the secrets to stay buried, as once the truth came out there was no way to erase it and go on about their daily lives in the same easy-going way.

The idea that someone you know, trust, love, lived with for 15 years and have three kids with could be harboring dark secret is fundamentally disturbing. It’s also easy to pass off as only belonging in the realm of fiction but the reality is this stuff happens in real life all the time. This might be classified as contemporary fiction but in some ways it’s a horror novel!

The only part of the book I wasn’t thrilled about was the ending, as circumstances took a predictable ‘karma-is-gonna-getcha’ turn.  But overall (cover excluded) I thought this was a great read and very well written, which brings me to the book club discussion. Several other members echoed my thoughts about the title, but when we asked ourselves “What would you call it?” no one could satisfactorily answer.

I was left wondering what would be a better title for this book? Since I have never had to come up with a book title before, I asked author Catherine McKenzie what she would have called it. She suggested simply Secret in accordance with her preference for one word titles. I thought even just The Secret would have been better but I guess that’s already been taken. It's probably a good thing I don’t have to name books for a living.

So in this case the case the old adage is true—never judge a book by its cover! I've learned my lesson.   

(Final note—the UK cover of this novel is GORGEOUS!! They must know what they’re doing over there.)

Spun by Catherine McKenzie

I loved Catherine McKenzie’s first novel Spin. It was one of those novels that leave you wondering what is going to happen to those characters afterwards. Well finally 4 years later we find out!

The sequel (a novella) is told from Amber Sheppard’s point of view. I have to admit that I didn’t always have a favorable opinion of her in Spin. She came across as an immature spoiled actress and it was hard to feel sorry for her. Boy did that change for me! This time we get an inside look at who Amber really is, and yes, she’s messed up, but also a really tender soul.

The story picks up 2 years after Amber and Katie left rehab. Amber is still white-knuckling her sobriety and has broken up with Connor Parks for good, maybe. She goes to visit him when he starts texting her again in their secret language, and then SPOILER ALERT, he dies. Well, I guess it's not too much of a spoiler if it happens in the first 2 chapters.

The rest of the novella deals with the aftermath of his death and how it impacts her life, even though he wasn't technically 'in her life' at the time. There are many ways to lose the love of your life, and Amber lost hers, and then lost him again. I might have cried, a lot! Katie and Henry also make an appearance along with some new and funny characters.

Spun raises all sorts of questions about our celebrity-obsessed culture and the price that people pay for fame. The stars (both fictional and real) bemoan the paparazzi, and yet need them to promote certain (but not all) aspects of their lives. I was reminded of Linsday Lohan and those 'is she or isn't she' drunk photos of her that appear in magazines all the time. The extent of our own participation in their demise is also raised. Are those of us who have ever picked up a gossip rag or watched Entertainment Tonight complicit in their self-destruction?

I've read all of Catherine McKenzie's novels now and I'm continuously surprised by how well she takes on her character's voice. I'm pretty sure she's never been a drug-addicted former child star who lost the love of her life, and yet she embodies that persona completely. This is what great fiction writers do, and she's one of them.

You don’t need to have read Spin to read Spun (though I highly recommend it on its own right), and once you read it you will want to read it again and again, and again.

The Serpent of Venice is Here!

So excited to read this book! Stay tuned for a full review soon!

Welcome to my new blog!

Thanks for tuning in to my mish-mash of book reviews, personal essays, and author assistant services!