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July 15
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Mary
read and liked
Denise's
review of Breathing Lessons:
"This was a very quick read for me. I read it in two days - of course it helped that I was sick in bed. Let's see if I remember everyone:
I did like this book, I liked how the book took over the span of one day but kept bringing up past stories to ...more
This was a very quick read for me. I read it in two days - of course it helped that I was sick in bed. Let's see if I remember everyone:
I did like this book, I liked how the book took over the span of one day but kept bringing up past stories to keep the reader in the loop. But so much happened in the course of one day - car accident, road trip, argument, making-up, funeral, visiting their grand daughter, family dinner, another argument. I'm was exhausted just thinking about their day.
Maggie - Didn't like her at all. She had this way of convincing herself that she knew what was best. Everyone was wrong and she wasted so much time trying to convince them of this. I wanted to slap her and shake her into reality. I was exhausted just reading about her, imagine if I had to grow up with her. She actually bordered on cruel, in my opinion. She lied to manipulate people and then convince herself it was okay because it was for the best. Sometime you just need to step back and let nature take it's course. Instead she would look at the damage she did, shake her frizzy head and go on trying to change things to suit her. And she always jumped from one thing to another. When she got out of the car and walked back to the diner she had her new life already planned out and then dropped it as quickly as it came up. (as an afterthought, she reminded me of Lucy in I Love Lucy - always getting into one scheme or another. Only Maggie wasn't funny)
Ira - The perfect person for Maggie, he was use to being pushed around by his family and probably figured that it was normal to have someone other than him take charge. I also didn't like how he left Maggie there singing alone but when you are dealing with someone like Maggie, imagine how many things she would probably get him into if he bent over more. I don't think either one of them respected one another. Ira thought Maggie was too emotional (he actually was embarrassed when she started crying in the diner) and blind about the faults of their son. Maggie blamed him for splitting up the young couple and being too hard on their son. Were they still married because they loved one another or because that was what one did, stayed married until death?
Jesse - He was a loser plain and simple. Never even thought to visit his daughter, never thought to tell Fiona that he was sorry and that he loved her. The only time he did speak up was when he got angry. Never thought to make a better life for himself. He never took the time to know his daughter, buying her gifts that she wouldn't like and then blamed it on Fiona. Was he that way because of Maggie's constant interfering and Ira's lack of encouraging? And if so, do you still blame him for his faults?
Fiona - Her and LeRoy were the victims of this dysfunctional family. Used by Maggie to try and shape up Jesse. She was lied to by Maggie too many times for me to count. Jesse as well, he lied and cheated on her and constantly disappointed her. Maybe life wasn't much better for her at her mom's but at least there she had a fighting chance. The only problem I had, if she really loved Jesse, than she gave up too easily. She should have tried to get them out of that vortex of a house and on their own. Maybe if Jesse was forced to stand on his own two feet he would grow a back bone.
Serena - I have a cousin just like this person. Always on her own page, marches to the beat of a different drum. She always goes against the norm and persistent as anything. It's easier to shut up and do what she says because she will wear you down anyways.
You read about had three different stages of marriage, one ending (in death) one continuing on and one that didn't work. It gave an honest view of what relationships are. Everyone thinks that marriage is care bears and rainbows and if isn't they should walk away. Perhaps if the young couple grew up in different times they would still be together.
A few links -
This is a book review.
http://thebookhaven.homestead....
About the author, Anne Tyler
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/aty......less
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Mary
gave
 
to:
Breathing Lessons (Paperback)
by Anne Tyler
bookshelves:
read-pulitzer
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in July, 2008
Mary said:
"What seems really simple at first glance is often deeper than you realize.
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July 06
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Mary
gave
to:
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories (Paperback)
by Robert Olen Butler
bookshelves:
read-pulitzer
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
Mary said:
"Awesome. Strangely, I began almost every story being really irritated by the style or voice of the narrator, but I got sucked in every time anyway. Some of the stories are a little overly sentimental, but the imagery and details are so good that it d...more
Awesome. Strangely, I began almost every story being really irritated by the style or voice of the narrator, but I got sucked in every time anyway. Some of the stories are a little overly sentimental, but the imagery and details are so good that it doesn't matter. I loved these stories....less
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June 26
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Mary
gave
to:
Gilead: A Novel (Paperback)
by Marilynne Robinson
bookshelves:
read-pulitzer
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in June, 2008
Mary said:
"I feel the same way about this as I did after finishing Housekeeping. The writing is lovely, but it's slow. Philosophical meandering. I rarely wanted to continue to uncover more story--more often,...more
I feel the same way about this as I did after finishing Housekeeping. The writing is lovely, but it's slow. Philosophical meandering. I rarely wanted to continue to uncover more story--more often, I just kept pushing through to get to the end. ...less
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June 09
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Mary
gave
to:
In the Country of Last Things (Lernmaterialien)
by Paul Auster
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in June, 2008
Mary said:
"Every time I read another book by Paul Auster, I'm always disappointed when it's not as good as "City of Glass", but now I'm wondering if maybe I was wrong about that too, and that if I re-read that story now, I won't like that very much an...more
Every time I read another book by Paul Auster, I'm always disappointed when it's not as good as "City of Glass", but now I'm wondering if maybe I was wrong about that too, and that if I re-read that story now, I won't like that very much anymore, either....less
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June 02
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Mary
gave
to:
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (Paperback)
by Oscar Hijuelos
bookshelves:
read-pulitzer
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in May, 2008
Mary said:
"I started this a long time ago and stopped because I thought it was too sexist. I should try again. Sorry I haven't returned this Aaron. Ha. It must be about ten years I've had it.
Okay, finally re-read/finished it. So it wasn't "sexist"...more
I started this a long time ago and stopped because I thought it was too sexist. I should try again. Sorry I haven't returned this Aaron. Ha. It must be about ten years I've had it.
Okay, finally re-read/finished it. So it wasn't "sexist". It was just saucy--so saucy that I was probably beet-red the entire time I was reading it in public. This is the kind of book where I'm reading it on the train and half the time I'm trying to make sure nobody is reading it over my shoulder and then looking at me and winking.
The book is very readable, and the first section is engrossing, but after that the meandering nature of Cesar's thoughts is a little too much to bear. Each memory is bright and full of life, but wandering down memory lane with a broken old man in a failing hotel is something that you only want to do for a few pages--you get the idea fairly quickly, and then you're just uncomfortable until the end.
Turns out the thing I was most fascinated by in this book was the ephemera tucked into its pages, probably by Aaron's dad so many years ago. A bookmark from a bookstore that sold only mystery novels, and which closed a long time ago. A very plain and inexpensive ticket, compared to tickets now, for the Long Island Railroad. Two ticket stubs from a flight that had a choice of smoking or non-smoking. I like to leave things like that in all the books that I read, so someone reading it later, maybe even me again, can wonder about the book as an object, in addition to the story within.
...less
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New comment on Ileana's review of
The Road
(see all 3 comments)
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May 26
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Mary
gave
to:
Candy Freak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America (Paperback)
by Steve Almond
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Mary
marked as to-read:
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (Hardcover)
by A.J. Jacobs
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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May 24
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Mary
gave
to:
Nun: A Memoir (Paperback)
by Mary Gilligan Wong
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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