Amy Rutten

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Between, Georgia
by Joshilyn Jackson (Goodreads Author)

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Amy Rutten rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Tenth of December
by George Saunders

read in April, 2013

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Tenth of December (Random House, 2013) is George Saunders’s fourth collection of short stories, although the first full book of his I’ve read. I should have read him sooner.

While many of these stories exhibit his characteristic ‘one-step-away-from-r...more

Amy Rutten rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
by Susan Cain (Goodreads Author)

read in March, 2013

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“Everyone shines, given the right lighting. For some, it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamplit desk.” - Susan Cain

In Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a Society That Can’t Stop Talking (Crown Publishing, 2012), Susan Cain writes a meticulousl...more “Everyone shines, given the right lighting. For some, it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamplit desk.” - Susan Cain

In Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a Society That Can’t Stop Talking (Crown Publishing, 2012), Susan Cain writes a meticulously researched and well-argued plea for equality. Not for women or for minorities, but for introverts. In a society that values extroversion, she believes, we need to look closely at the value that introverts bring to the equation. That value, according to Cain, is vast. If invention is ninety nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration, then the introverts are responsible for the ninety nine percent, in essence. The introverts are largely the ones who work on their own, hashing it all out, putting it together and taking it apart again until it works. What they lack in flash and dazzle, they make up for in persistence. Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gandhi: all examples introverts who avoided the bright lights in order to pursue their true interests and beliefs, and we all benefitted from the results.

The true beauty of this book lies in the permission it grants: Cain, an introvert herself, is resolute on the idea that introverts are much healthier and happier if they are allowed to remain introverts. Cain demonstrates that introversion is much more accepted in the east then the west, and reassures fellow introverts that it is not only alright to stay home and read on a Friday night, it is a right. It is necessary and productive and totally normal.

If you are not a closet (or overt) introvert, this book is just as valuable. Cain speaks directly to parents, teachers, bosses, and spouses of introverts. How do you best teach and parent introverts? How do you make sure that introverts are heard and involved in decision making? Cain makes a great argument for valuing introverts in the workplace, even suggesting that the recent economic market collapse in the U.S. could have been avoided if more “risk-averse” introverts had spoken up during board meetings. Cain urges us to find a balance between the extroverts and introverts in our society, and within ourselves.(less)

Amy Rutten made a comment on her review of Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

"All it took to get me hooked on the ‘Dear Sugar’ advice column on The Rumpus was reading one essay. In that one essay ‘Sugar’ (a.k.a. Cheryl Strayed)...more All it took to get me hooked on the ‘Dear Sugar’ advice column on The Rumpus was reading one essay. In that one essay ‘Sugar’ (a.k.a. Cheryl Strayed) ripped me apart and drained my wounds and licked them clean again. I cried so hard I had to close my office door. By the end of the column, I felt like something trapped had been released, some fear had been faced. It sounds dramatic, but it really did go something like that. After that first column, I found a quiet corner of my world (preferably not my office) in which to read my weekly dose of Sugar. With the publication of Tiny Beautiful Things in July of 2012, you can now read the best of these columns (or essays, as I think of them) in your own happy place, preferably with a Kleenex handy. They aren’t always sad, just profoundly powerful.

Not only is Strayed one of the best writers out there, her life experiences have honed her sense of compassion to a fine point. When she taps into those experiences, which she always does, it’s powerful stuff, indeed. Sugar takes you to the heart of her own hometown, (or schoolyard, or office cubicle, or marriage) and says: ‘Look, this is what happened to me, here is how it broke me, and this is how I healed. You can, too.’ She tends to take the scenic route to arrive at her point, but she does have a map and never lifts her foot from the gas. When we arrive at the door of her distinct brand of deliverance we are shaken and a little woozy, but clear eyed and transformed.

We all know that there are no black and white answers to the toughest questions, those of love, sex, infidelity, jealousy, pain, loss, and addiction, that’s why they are so tough. What Sugar is able to do so eloquently is to address the question behind the question, the question that muddies the water in the first place. Tiny Beautiful Things is a call to consciousness for an emotionally numb society. Sugar says, over and over and in many different ways: ‘Wake up! Take responsibility for your actions. You can change this. You can rise above your circumstances.’ This is a message that all of us who are trying to hold on to our humanity in this increasingly inhuman world need to hear again and again.

Cheryl Strayed knows what’s important. Tiny Beautiful Things lays it out for those of us who need to be reminded.(less)"

Amy Rutten rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
by Cheryl Strayed (Goodreads Author)

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Amy Rutten wants to read

Arcadia
by Tom Stoppard

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Amy Rutten rated a book 4 of 5 stars

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce

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Amy Rutten wants to read

The Antagonist
by Lynn Coady (Goodreads Author)

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Amy Rutten rated a book 4 of 5 stars

The Night Circus
by Erin Morgenstern

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Le Cirque des Rêves (The Circus of Dreams), as imagined by Erin Morgenstern in The Night Circus is both real and imaginary at once, an illusion that tempts all the senses and mesmerizes its patrons (and readers) with a seemingly endless array of curi...more Le Cirque des Rêves (The Circus of Dreams), as imagined by Erin Morgenstern in The Night Circus is both real and imaginary at once, an illusion that tempts all the senses and mesmerizes its patrons (and readers) with a seemingly endless array of curiosities and spectacles. It is a circus unlike any other. It appears and disappears in the night, and is only open from dusk to dawn. Everything in it, down to the dirt on the ground, is rendered in shades of black and white. Its marvels include contortionists and mazes and blooming gardens of ice. But Le Cirque des Rêves is not just a circus; it is a battleground. The story opens with two aged magicians each choosing a child as a champion, each of them to be set against each other in some mysterious ‘challenge’. Le Cirque des Rêves is the arena.

Like the circus Morgenstern describes, her novel is an astonishing feat of magic. If J.K. Rowling and Steven King (both influences cited by Morgenstern) collaborated on a novel, the result might feel like this. Immediately reminiscent of Harry Potter, with young sorcerers as protagonists, it quickly morphs into something completely original. It is both dark and light, as is the concept of a circus that shines in the night, but there is no childish demarcation of good or bad here. Those lines are blurred, and the reader is immersed in the grayness of the in-between. Morgenstern’s vision is more subtle than good and evil, she aims instead to pit passion against apathy, idealism against calculated effort for personal gain, and, of course, love against anything that might stand in its way.

The Night Circus is so deep and gorgeous - so wildly imaginative - it took my breath away. The fantastic details that Morgenstern uses to paint this very vivid and strange world are like tiny jewels on a Fabergé egg – a perfect world in miniature. Morgenstern seems to know instinctively how to use words to create the very atmosphere within which the circus and its characters live. The scenes and language Morgenstern uses to paint them are evocative of dark streets and pools of lamplight and slithering things just out of sight. The sense of wonder is there, but so, too, is the sense of spectacle, and the sense that just underneath all of the showmanship is a rotting corpse, a stinking thing that we are all afraid to look at.

Morgenstern is relatively young, and this is her first novel. At 34 years old, her writing is hip, edgy, and dark. The Night Circus is a joy to read, and would be appropriate for young adults, as well as the rest of us, although the darkness that simmers below the surface might be lost on the youngest reader. Fall under the spell of The Night Circus – it’s worth the price of admission.(less)

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Amy Rutten wants to read Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 12, 2013 06:39am
Amy Rutten rated a book 4 of 5 stars Tenth of December by George Saunders read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Tenth of December (Random House, 2013) is George Saunders’s fourth collection of short stories, although the first full book of his I’ve read. I should have read him sooner. While many of these stories exhibit his characteristic ‘one-step-away-from-r...more
Apr 13, 2013 07:33am · see review
Amy Rutten rated a book 4 of 5 stars Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (Goodreads Author) read in March, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
“Everyone shines, given the right lighting. For some, it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamplit desk.” - Susan Cain In Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a Society That Can’t Stop Talking (Crown Publishing, 2012), Susan Cain writes a meticulousl...more
Mar 30, 2013 07:55am · see review
Amy Rutten made a comment on her review of Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar "All it took to get me hooked on the ‘Dear Sugar’ advice column on The Rumpus was reading one essay. In that one essay ‘Sugar’ (a.k.a. Cheryl Strayed)...more "
Mar 29, 2013 10:44am · see review
Amy Rutten rated a book 4 of 5 stars Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 29, 2013 10:42am
Amy Rutten wants to read Arcadia by Tom Stoppard	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 20, 2013 03:48am
Amy Rutten rated a book 4 of 5 stars The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 01, 2013 04:46am
Amy Rutten wants to read The Antagonist by Lynn Coady (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 31, 2013 02:22am
Amy Rutten rated a book 4 of 5 stars The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Le Cirque des Rêves (The Circus of Dreams), as imagined by Erin Morgenstern in The Night Circus is both real and imaginary at once, an illusion that tempts all the senses and mesmerizes its patrons (and readers) with a seemingly endless array of curi...more
Jan 26, 2013 06:16am · see review

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