The Christmas Story

Trolling the shelves for last minute Christmas gifts, I ran across Jean Sheperd's A Christmas Story, which was the inspiration for the movie that is ran back-to-back on TBS every holiday season. I rest the pulse buy, but I could not get the little gem out of my mind. A couple of days after Christmas with gift card in hand, I went back to the story to purchase the book.

Summary

The little collection of short stories contains the Red Ryder BB Gun story, the Little Orphan Annie decoder ring story, the leg lamp story, Grover Dill (Scut Farkas in the movie), and the Bumpuses.

My Criticisms

The book is a little more edgy than the movie. The character talks of picking up girls in the beginning of one of his stories at the Musuem of Modern Art. The Leg Lamp poured fourth electric sex, etc. Not one that you could read to the kiddies without some editting.

Overall

I loved this little collection. I found myself laughing out loud several times at the Old Man finghting the furnace, Old Man with his Major Award and The Bumpuses (a much longer story than in the movie).

It is well worth the two hours I spent reading it, but a note of caution, I have always said that you have to be of a certain age to appreciate the nostaglia of the movie. I think the same is true of the book. I remember hating the movie when I was a kid. Now that I am a little older, I love the movie, and I enjoyed the book.

Memoirs of a Geisha

I have always loved the cultures of Japan and China. I have a particular affinity for books about those cultures, like Lisa See's novels, Amy Tan's Bonesetter's Daughter, and Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha.

I saw the movie several years ago and found the story to be absolutely remarkable, so this last summer when I ran across it at the library book sale I could not pass it up for a dollar. I have decided the dollar investment to be one of the best that I have ever made.

I spent two days savoring the story of Sayuri.

Summary

Sayuri shares the story of her humble beginnings as a fisherman's daughter,who sold her into bondage to becoming one of the top Geishas in Japan. The word Geisha does not mean prostitute in Japanese - but artisan. And I have to admit that I never thought of Sayuri as a prostitute once in the novel. Sayuri learns the art of being a geisha in a small community full of geisha that are in constant competition for the attention of powerful men that will vow to take care of them for a life time. Sayuri knowing that she will never have a say over who will become her patron, never gives up hope that it will be the chairman. But will it be Sayuri's beloved chairman or his best friend?

My Criticisms

At times, the novel dragged, but I still loved it! I also wished that the book would have followed Sayuri's geisha sister a little more. I was intrigued with her and would have loved to have a look inside her head, especially when the chairman asked her to help Sayuri and then when Sayuri attracted the attention of her patron.

Overall

This book is so worth the hours that you will take to consume it. I loved this novel. It will have a place on my book shelf for years to come.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

If you know me very well, you know that I love Young Adult literature. I also like to read the classics. To satiate my hunger for both, I picked up one that I was saldy never assigned to read, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Living so close to Hanibal, I have read the companion The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn every year for the last 10 years, but I was never read the first.

Summary

Tom Sawyer, a young orphan boy, living with his Aunt Polly in St. Petersburg (Hanibal), Missouri, is a very mischieveous character. This book follows his daily adventures from whitewashing his aunt's fence to getting lost in the cave with Becky Thatcher (his love interest).

My Criticisms

I have none. I love Tom! Even in Huck Finn, I wish that Tom had more of a role. I love the fact that he is educated enough to be dangerous. He starts the book a bad boy, and he finishes the book much the same way.

I love the wit, humor and satire that has become Twain. It comes through in this book so well. I find the subtle humor in this book easier to understand, and I wonder if we are not doing our students a huge disservice by not making them read this first. So much of the humor and satire is lost on students in Huck Finn.

Overall

Take an afternoon to read this book, if for no other reason to remember your own childhood adventures and mischief.

The Book of Ruth

I remember when Oprah Winfrey first started her book club. She would select a somewhat obscure book, and instantly it was on the bestseller's list (every author's dream). I have to admit that I was one of the people that flocked to the local book dealer and purchased the chosen one.

Several years ago, I purchased Jane Hamilton's The Book of Ruth on the good advisement from Oprah, herself, that this was a great book. I did not read the book at that time, but picked it up a couple of days into the new year and spent several hours reading.

Summary

Ruth Grey is the much abused child of May Grey, a single mother (thanks to WWII) of two children. Growing up in a small Illinois community, Ruth's prospects are meager. Her brother, however, garners most of the attention because he is a genius and will get out of the small town.

Ruth's only source of love is her lovely Aunt Sid, who her mother loathes for no more of a reason that she has not had to struggle. But Ruth soon meets Ruby, a slow-witted man in her town, who also seems to have anger managment issues. She marries Ruby, and they live with her mother, the hateful May.

It quickly becomes clear that May and Ruby will never get along, and with the birth of Ruth's first child, they each have a pawn to use against the other. What will bring this story to an end is easily predictable.

My Criticisms

Probably, my greatest criticism is of the character of Ruth, and I am going to go ahead and state that I am not entirely sure that this is deserving. (Some believe that Ruth is mildly mentally retarded, but I believe that Ruth is a child that has suffered from an overbearding, abusive parent, which has rendered her without any sort of self-esteem.) I see Ruth as weak. I hate weak women, and I think that she really does nothing to try to help herself from that situation. Weak women are weak because they like being the victim. It is confortable for them.

The other characters in the story are not well developed, and I really cannot stand the character of Matt, Ruth's brother. If she is mentally retarded or if she is just a victim of abuse, he has a duty to help her through her circumstances, but he chooses not too. Why? Is he selfish?

Overall

I just did not get this book. I don't have a clue why it made Oprah's list, but I am very disappointed.

The Year of Fog

The first novel that I tackled on New Year's Day was The Year of the Fog by Michelle Richmond. I was attracted to the book by several of the critic lines on the cover. The lines describe the book as "gripping, compulsively readable, and grade: A." But the clencher was discovered on the top of the back cover: A Kirkus Reviews "Top Picks For Reading Groups.

Abby Mason, a photographer, is walking on a beach in San Francisco with her fiance's (Jake) six-year old daughter when she becomes distracted by a dead seal pup. In the twenty seconds she is consumed, Emma goes missing.

Abby, crumbling under life-crippling guilt, realizes that the key to find Abby is reconstructing the day in her memory and never giving up hope. Jake doubts her abilities and choses to believe the police department's grim statistics about abducted children.

Abby never gives up on trying to find Emma, on reconstructing her memory of the day, and on putting her relationship with Jake back together. Will she ever find young Emma? I will never tell.

My Criticisms

The novel is incredibly slow. The story is slow to develop, and at times I could see where readers would ant to give up on the novel. But the days would move slowly after having a child abducted, and this gives us an accurate account of that time.

I was a little disappointed by the reaction of Jake, but again once placing myself in that situation, I realized that Jake's reactions are spot on. I would not expect anything more from him.

Overall

I think that this is a very good spohomore novel from Michelle Richmond and worthy of a couple of hours of your time. Maybe read from a beach chair, under an umbrella, sipping a Mai Tai.

The Beginning

Last year I challenged myself to reading as many books as possible. This was inspired by finding Shelfari online. I believe that this incredibly user-friendly website was designed for people like me who secretly want to work in a library or in one of those swanky bookstores/coffeeshops that was popping up all over the place during the Friends years.

I read 134 books last year. Many were young adult novels, as I am a teacher and was looking for new material for a class. But there were others. I took an incredible journey through the world using literature. This year I decided to share my journey. This is 365 Days of Reading.