what I’ve been reading lately:
-
Decreation by Anne CarsonBorzoi Books (A.A. Knopf), 2005
I read this book last month, quickly, and loved it, though I didn’t yet have anything to say about it. So I took a break, read some lighter things, and then picked it up again. On a second reading, familiar with the arguments and names and allusions, I was more able to grin at Carson’s
-
What Erika Wants by Bruce ClementsFarrar, Strous and Giroux, 2005
This is a well-written and engrossing story of a fourteen-year-old girl whose divorced parents are in the midst of a custody battle. Erika’s been living with her dad, but her pushy mom wants this to change: when the book opens, Erika parrots hollow phrases from her mother, like, “a girl should be home with her
-
Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam SelvaduraiTundra Books, 2005
At first, this book seemed too slow, too flat, but after a few chapters, I was entranced. Selvadurai’s descriptions of Sri Lanka, its streets and architecture and its climate, its trees and birds and foods, are precise and vivid, and then there’s also the sense of history, both personal history and the colonial legacy of
-
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha ChristieBerkley, 2004 (originally 1934)
Hercule Poirot is clever and amusing, and it’s such fun to watch the drama of this book unfold: to get little clues here and there, but not to realize the full picture until Poirot explains it all at the end.
-
Necklace of Kisses by Francesca Lia BlockHarperCollins, 2005
Weetzie Bat is all grown up (Cherokee and Witch Baby are in college!) and life with her secret-agent lover-man isn’t as perfect as it should be. So she packs a suitcase and heads off to the pink hotel, where, of course, she meets all sorts of interesting people, and all sorts of strange things happen.
-
Sad Little Breathing Machine by Matthea HarveyGraywolf Press, 2004
Poems filled with twists of meanings, wordplay that depends on the break of a line (“Little was left of the forest./Large was ten miles ahead.”). Images that resonate (ducks glowing softly in the night, snow falling between trains). Wit and subtlety and a little bit of sadness. As entire pieces, the prose poems are my
-
On Subbing: The First Four Years by Dave RocheMicrocosm Publishing, 2005 (2nd edition)
I was reading this on the train, and a man came over to me and asked something about the title. Internally, I rolled my eyes: no, it’s not that kind of subbing. In this slim volume, Dave tells of his experiences over the course of four years as a substitute educational assistant (EA) in special
-
Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West by Donald WorsterOxford University Press, 1985 (originally Pantheon, 1985)
In this history of the American West, Worster writes against the myth of the West as a place of rugged individualism, a place of democratic opportunity that existed in contrast to the hierarchically structured East. By focusing on the issue of irrigation, he aims to show that the West has (and has long had) a
-
My Father’s Dragon and Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles GannettScholastic (originally Random House, 1948 and 1950)
These two short books, both illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett (the author’s stepmother) are so wonderful and charming. In the first, young Elmer Elevator runs away from home to free a young dragon from wild animals who are keeping him captive. In the second, Elmer and the dragon head back towards the town where Elmer
-
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne JonesHarper Trophy, 2001 (originally 1986)
Clever and funny and all-around wonderful, exciting and perfect for reading aloud. (The movie, while quite different from the book, is excellent as well.)