Author: onehappybookworm

Love With a Chance of Drowning

On By onehappybookwormIn Memoirs, Nonfiction, TravelLeave a comment

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To be perfectly honest (and petty), I’m immensely jealous of Torre DeRoche after reading her memoir. Actually, if I’m going to be really honest I’ll say that I was immensely jealous about twenty pages in, and my envy only grew throughout the remainder of the book. I mean, she walks into a bar, approaches an attractive guy that just so happens to be a sexy Argentinean man, and not only does their drunken hook-up turn into a real, meaningful relationship but she ends up sailing halfway around the world with him! For me, personally, I would be completely and totally happy with about one of the above, let alone all of them! Torre DeRoche is one lucky woman, and I would do anything for her to show me her ways!

Okay, but all silliness and pettiness aside, I was very inspired by her story. And not just in the I-would-love-to-quit-my-job-and-travel-the-world way. Much of “Love With a Chance of Drowning” was about overcoming fears, or at the very least learning to live with them. And it was a very good examination of relationships, and how sometimes it’s not easy to reconcile the long term goals and dreams of two different people. Also, I think it was a good lesson on how to determine when you’re ready- for a move, for a job change, for whatever.

So in this book, Torre DeRoche tells the story of how she ended up sailing across the Pacific Ocean with her boyfriend, Ivan. Not only is this incredible by itself, but it’s made more incredible by the fact that Torre was very afraid of deep water. That’s right- a woman who was afraid of water spent two years sailing on the ocean! If that’s not the definition of overcoming fears, I don’t know what is. For Torre, the one thing holding her back was herself and her own trepidations. She talked a lot about how her experience was something she would tell her grandchildren about. Basically, she was presented with an opportunity of a lifetime, and she could either take advantage of it or turn it down because she was afraid. Obviously, she chose to embrace the adventure. But her fears didn’t end with her decision to go; her anxiety and stress were present throughout the book. Sailing across the Pacific Ocean sounds glamorous, but in reality it can be very dangerous. Over and over again Torre found ways to face down her fear and enjoy their adventure together, despite the risks. I think that was one of my favorite takeaways: you don’t have to be fearless to go on an adventure, you just have to be brave one day at a time.

Tied into Torre’s fears about the trip were her feelings for Ivan, her boyfriend. The relationship seemed to move at lightning speed: they met, then they were dating, within months they were living together, and almost within a year they were sailing the open seas together. I’ve had some experience being in a relationship that moves at hyper-speed, and in my case it didn’t work out. I had jumped in with both feet before I was ready to accept that his dreams were vastly different from mine. In my situation, he broke up with me because he was afraid that I wouldn’t be happy in the long run. It was brutal at the time, but looking back on the experience I think it was the right thing. I think I would have become miserable a few years in, and would have caused a lot more pain for everyone if it had continued. In a sense, Torre’s experience started out the same way. She committed to the trip knowing that Ivan had dreams of spending his life on the ocean. By comparison, she was a city girl with ties to civilization and people, and had plans to live out her life in Australia, her homeland. This dichotomy between the two of them was apparent throughout the book, and in some ways contributed to Torre’s stress and anxiety. It was proof that relationships aren’t easy, and that they often require sacrifice from both parties. This true story of a couple’s experience was evidence that love isn’t the fairytale that fiction pretends it is.

Aside from lessons on fear and relationships, I was most impressed with how and when Torre and Ivan knew it was time to let go and begin their journey. They had spent months living in the sailboat as it was docked in Los Angeles, and doing everything possible to prepare for their trip. For Torre, that meant learning how to sail as well as helping Ivan improve the boat so it was in its best condition. They received some frightening “advice” from some of the people they encountered. Sometimes they were told they would die at sea. Other times people said they were crazy and inexperienced, and it was too dangerous. But one woman told them that if they kept trying to prepare for the journey, then they would never leave. She said that it was impossible to ever be ready for such a trip, and it was just a matter of waking up and deciding to go. This stuck with me. It reminded me of a John Green quote from Paper Towns, which I’ll try to loosely quote here: “Leaving is the hardest thing to do, until you go. Then it’s the easiest damn thing in the world.” This quote, and Torre and Ivan’s experience, shows that we’re never really ready for what’s coming. There is no way to ever be completely prepared for what’s ahead. It’s just a matter of making a decision and sticking to it, and figuring it out along the way.

I wasn’t really expecting all of these important life lessons when I started reading this book. I was expecting it to be a light and comical read, without the philosophy lessons. However, I’m happy that these messages were there along with the humor. In a way, this was just what I needed to read at this point in my life, and I’m pleased that I had the notion to pick it up one day.

Faithful by Alice Hoffman

On By onehappybookwormIn Coming of Age, FictionLeave a comment
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Faithful- the latest novel by Alice Hoffman

A few weeks ago my friend and I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by author Alice Hoffman.  (This is the same friend who recommended Girl Underwater this past spring).  Our local library regularly hosts authors for lectures, but I had never attended one before.  Though I hadn’t read any of Alice Hoffman’s books I thought it would be something different to do, and an interesting experience as well.  And it was- I took a lot away from the hour that I spent there.

She talked about how books have had an impact on her life, both as a reader and a writer.  She referenced books that were significant to her throughout her childhood and young adulthood.  One of the most memorable things that Ms. Hoffman said was that she feels that books you read in your middle school and early teenage years stay with you throughout your life, and become a part of who you are.  This is something that I completely agree with, though I’ve never thought about it before.  Looking forward, I think this is a topic that I’ll elaborate more on in a later blog post.

Much of the lecture was about Hoffman’s development as a writer, and how she came to be a successful author.  As someone who has wanted to be a writer since the time I could read and write, I enjoyed this part of the discussion.  It inspired me to focus more on my writing (which is partly why I’ve been slacking on my reading list and blog updates).

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My signed copy!

Before opening up the discussion for questions, Alice read aloud an excerpt from her latest book, Faithful.  From reading the book jacket of the signed copy I had purchased, I knew that the story was about a young woman who was struggling to move on with her life following an accident that involved her best friend.  The section that Alice read aloud from was a scene in which the main character’s mother visited her on her birthday.  It was also the first time she saw her daughter’s apartment in New York City.  The main character, Shelby, was worried about the state of her apartment and what her mom would think of her life in the city.  She had tried putting off the visit, but her mother insisted.  I almost laughed aloud; I’ve lived out this scene a number of times in my own life.  For that scene alone, I couldn’t wait to start reading the book.

The novel begins post-accident, at the height of Shelby’s depression.  It spans about ten years, mostly centering on Shelby’s personal development.  But it also examines her relationships with the important people in her life: her mother, her boyfriend, her friends.  As someone who has felt a little bit lost at different points in life, I appreciated the way that Faithful presented Shelby’s mental health.  She wasn’t perceived as whiney or ungrateful, which I’ve experienced in reading other books about young women going through a tough time.  The novel never shied away from the fact that she was in a dark place, and it provided a pretty accurate depiction of someone trying to put their life back together without having any real idea of how or what to do.  It was realistic in showing that not everything comes together all at once, and sometimes moving forward means you have to backtrack a little bit first.

I enjoyed reading about Shelby’s journey in Faithful.  It was a welcome surprise coming from a lecture that I originally signed up for just because I wanted something different to do.  And as an added bonus, it opened me up to another author whose books I plan on adding to my (ever-growing) reading list.  I’m looking forward to reading more from Alice Hoffman someday soon.

 

On Trails by Robert Moor

On By onehappybookwormIn Nonfiction1 Comment

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As a hiker, I was intrigued by the concept of On Trails. Written by Robert Moor, the book’s origins started out as musings during Moor’s thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2009.  He began wondering where trails came from, why people follow them, and what makes people set off on their own.  On Trails is the result of his journey over the next seven years to attempt to find answers to these questions.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book is that it’s hard to categorize into one genre. It’s part autobiographical, covering not only his quest for answers but also pieces from his past.  But it also includes elements from science, history, and even philosophy, all interweaved with a tone and voice that felt poetic to me.  A lot of information was packed into 336 pages, yet I was captivated by it without feeling overwhelmed.

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Trail to Wolf Rocks, PA

I found myself reflecting on this book more than any other that I’ve read recently. It made me anxious to get into the woods and go hiking, to see trails with new and enlightened eyes.  My mind started churning on my way to work in the morning, wondering how the highway I drive every day became a major road and if maybe it had once started out as a deer path or Native American trail.  I especially focused on the philosophical parts of the book.  I’m at a point in my life where I’m questioning where I am and where I want the course of my life to go.  It was rewarding to read about those metaphorical paths in relation to the physical trails I encounter every day.

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Bridge in Bear Run Nature Reserve, PA

One of the interesting facts that stuck with me was the revelation that “on average people who are lost, without external navigational cues, will typically not travel farther than one hundred meters from their starting point, regardless of how long they walk.” I’ve had some experience being mildly lost, and in my case I feel this is true.  This past February, I took advantage of a sixty-degree day and went on a solo hike.  Somehow, near the end of the hike, I found myself off the trail with no map and a dead cell phone, and dusk fast approaching.  I was close enough to the road that I could hear cars passing so I knew which direction I needed to walk.  But I couldn’t find a clear path and my way was obstructed by a creek too wide to jump across.  Even though I was so close to the road I can’t deny the panic that was starting to build; it’s not a good thing for a young female to be alone in the woods on a winter night with no food or shelter.  Instead of following the creek to where I most likely would’ve met up with the trail at the point it crossed over the water, I kept retracing my steps backward and trying a new direction.  I was so sure that there was a sign I missed.  In the end, I found a private footbridge that went to somebody’s house, and I crossed through their backyard to the road with my hands in the air, paranoid that they would think I was trespassing or trying to rob them.  The lesson from that (now slightly comical) experience was to carry more emergency items in my daypack (and be more careful), but I couldn’t help but think of that day while I was reading On Trails.  With the exception of finding the private footbridge, I think I mostly stayed within one hundred meters, so I fell into the average.

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About 2 hours before I lost the trail in Laurel Hill State Park, PA.

Throughout the book, Moor provided a history of the land the United States emerged from. The way it’s presented here is unlike any class I’ve had in school; it focuses on the land and how it’s affected by the people that live here, and also on how the land changes the people.  Nature, and the land itself, was a way of life for the Native Americans that lived here for centuries.  Then as settlers from Europe arrived, the wilderness was viewed as something to be tamed and farmed.  During the industrial revolution, the farms turned into factories as natural resources were harvested to earn money.  And now, in the technological age, there is a rediscovered respect for nature.  As Moor put it, “With the advent of industrial technology we began to see wilderness less as a landscape devoid of agriculture and more as a landscape free from technology – and thus the wild went from being a wasteland to a refuge.”  That passage hits home for me; in times of stress or unhappiness I always seek the outdoors to find peace and contentment.  I know I’m not alone in this sentiment; there are countless articles and blogs that tell of the benefits for personal health and well-being that come from going outdoors and experiencing nature.

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Fall at Frick Park, PA.

I’ve been seeking refuge in the wild a lot lately, and not just because it’s autumn and a beautiful time to be outdoors. In many ways I feel like I’m in limbo, and being in the woods provides a sense of grounding for me.  I’m trying to find answers to some big questions I have for myself about where I want to go and what I want to do over the next few years.  My way forward is a bit hazy, and it’s hard to make out the details and see what’s ahead, but I trust myself enough to know that I’ll figure it out along the way.  In On Trails, Moor says, “In the end, we are all existential pathfinders: We select among the paths life affords, and then, when those paths no longer work for us, we edit them and innovate as necessary.  The tricky part is that while we are editing our trails, our trails are editing us.”  For me, this observation is a new way of looking at things, and it’s a satisfying conclusion to everything that On Trails offers.  It gives me a lot to think about the next time I find a trail and explore the wilderness.

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Nature at its best- Parker Ridge, Banff National Park, Canada.

 

 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, TravelLeave a comment

I love Harry Potter. I really do.  I could probably go into detail and devote a whole post to why it’s my favorite and what it’s meant to me over the past 17ish years, but instead I’ll try to stick to just one topic: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

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I first heard of the play during what I would consider an emotionally charged time. It was almost a year ago, and I had just gotten back from a spontaneous trip to Germany for Oktoberfest.  I was still coming to terms with a rough break-up (the reason why I booked said spontaneous trip to Germany), I had recently moved to a new neighborhood and was still adjusting, and I was dealing with some serious post-travel blues.  To me, traveling is a double-edged sword.  The feeling I get when I’m experiencing something new in a place I’ve never been is exhilarating, it’s addicting.  But each vacation exposes me to people and places that inspire even more trips, and I end up coming home with a bucket list that’s much longer than when I left.  It can feel a bit discouraging when you start thinking about time and work and money, and how you’ll probably never cross off everything on your list.  So that was my state of mind when I saw a post on Facebook that J.K. Rowling had co-written a play that was a sequel to the Harry Potter series, and it was going to premiere in London the following summer.  I talked to my friend Michelle who I hadn’t seen in a while, she jumped on board to go with me, and then all of a sudden I was waking up at 5:00 AM eastern time to participate in the pre-sale, and then I got the email confirmation for the tickets and that was how the base of our London & Iceland trip was planned.

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On the way to the Hogwarts Express!

 

Flash forward ten months to about one month ago, and we were on our way to London! We had planned the trip so that the play was on our last day, so we had lots of time to explore the city.  There’s a lot to do and see in London, and I think we checked off pretty much all of the major stuff.  We saw the Tower of London, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Platform 9 ¾, Abbey Road, the Globe Theatre, and a lot more.  We even managed to squeeze in a day trip to Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Oxford.  There is so much history in London (and in England in general), and I’ve added quite a few books to my reading list.  Since the trip I’ve been binge-watching The Tudors on Netflix, but I want to read about that time period too.  I’m also interested in the British monarchy in general.  And after this trip, I definitely want to clear the dust off my Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes collections.

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Palace Theatre

But then came the day of the play! I was super excited to see it.  I had bought the book when it came out, but I had decided not to read it until after watching the play.  My theory was that it was created to be watched, not read.  And since we ended up spending a lot of money on the tickets and trip, I wanted to experience it in the element it was intended to be.  We picked up the tickets in the morning, and there was an almost-crisis when I didn’t realize the tickets had fallen out of my bag.  Thankfully there was a very kind woman who saw it happen and picked them up for us so we were in the clear (Dear God, please bless this woman and her family).  We ate lunch in Chinatown (where I successfully ate fried rice with chopsticks) and then it was play time!

I’m not going to give anything away here, but I have to say that the play was amazing! The special effects alone were incredible; I honestly don’t know how they did it.  The music was perfect, too, it helped to really create the right atmosphere.  If you’ve read the book, you know that there is at least one scene with dementors, and I have to admit that I was legitimately (though only slightly) afraid during that part.  But overall I thought the acting was incredible, and that’s what really brought the story together.  The cast was so talented, and they did a great job of bringing these much-loved and well-known characters to life in a different format.  For me personally, the star of the show wasn’t Jamie Parker or Sam Clemmett (who play Harry and Albus respectively), but it was Anthony Boyle (who played Scorpius) that stole my heart.  He brought a lot of personality to the role, and looking back on the experience I have to say that he helped to make Scorpius my favorite character in Cursed Child.

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When it comes to the book itself, most of my friends had read it as soon as it was released, so they knew the story before I did. When I talked to a few of them about it, the general consensus was one of slight disappointment.  Some of the best things about the original Harry Potter series are the background descriptions and character insights, things that are lost in a screenplay.  I think they felt that it was hard to really get into the story because for the most part they were only reading the dialogue.  I read the book after I got back from my trip, and I have to admit I understand where they’re coming from.  I found myself drawing on my memories of the play when I needed help visualizing a scene, and I could see how it would be difficult to become absorbed in the story without having seen it performed first.

Regardless, I loved Cursed Child, though in a different way from the original Harry Potter series. It’s bittersweet to admit it, but I think it was a fitting end to the Harry Potter story.  Mostly, though, I’m just grateful that I had the opportunity to see the play performed live.  It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience, and it formed the base of what is now one of the best vacations I’ve ever had.  This is definitely something that I’ll be talking about for years to come.

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Including this because it’s one of my favorite pictures ever!

 

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

On By onehappybookwormIn FictionLeave a comment

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I always feel recharged after a Stephen King novel, sort of like the mental version of the way your body feels after a good, hard workout. Stephen King novels are long and intense, full cover to cover of drama, love, fear, wit, mystery, and much more. The plotlines are addictive, and for me that means pushing aside daily activities so I can finish the book as fast as possible in epic, marathon reading sessions. Bag of Bones was no different.

My friend recommended this to me a few weeks ago after we were discussing the pros and cons of Girl on the Train. With my vacation in mind, I decided that Bag of Bones would be a good book to add to my iPad and read on the plane. I mostly prefer to read physical books, but I own both a Kindle and an iPad (both were Christmas gifts). I mostly use the Kindle when I’m in the mood for a “fluff” read and don’t want to spend extra money on a physical copy, and I really only use the iPad when traveling. The added benefit of the iPad is that it allows me to read in the dark without turning on the lights (yes, I know that is terrible for your eyes).

Anyway, I started Bag of Bones somewhere near the end of my flight from London to Reykjavik, but I didn’t become addicted until my flight back to the States from Iceland, when I actually was able to get past the first few chapters. Three days later I was so hooked that I was reading online on the Kindle Cloud Reader at work (another benefit of the Kindle). I would not recommend reading at work, but in my own defense it was the Friday before a holiday weekend and by the time I started most people had already left for the day. I finished the book later that night, while decidedly ignoring messages from my friends who wanted to celebrate the long weekend and hear about my trip (sorry friends!).

Bag of Bones is about an author who suffers from severe writer’s block and is also struggling to come to terms with his wife’s death four years prior. He moves to his old lake house in rural Maine, and begins having delusions and encounters paranormal activity within the house, and also becomes involved in a custody battle over a charming, three-year-old girl in town. The plotlines seem tangled and separate in the beginning, but I love the way Stephen King brings them together in the end. Everything is connected in some way, and I feel like there was no detail that was insignificant or didn’t matter. It’s hard to go into detail without giving too much away, so I’ll just say that this book got my heart rate pumping at times. There were a few instances where I was extremely happy to be reading in the safety of a crowded airplane and brightness of my office rather than alone in my apartment at night.

Also, I loved when King went into detail about the “writing zone,” and how it feels when you’re completely absorbed in what you’re writing. I love to write, and if I could do one thing only that’s what it would be. Over the past few years it’s been difficult to find time, and there have been many moments where I’ve been discouraged and felt like I lost the talent I used to have. But that zone, that feeling, that complete unawareness of reality- I understand it. I can still get there, and in a weird way I felt encouraged when I read those scenes.

Bag of Bones was the perfect plane read, it brought me back from my trip and now I’m ready to tackle my fall reading list. If you’re a Stephen King fan you’ve probably already read it, but if you haven’t you should go for it. Though I would recommend reading during the daytime- I at least found that comforting!

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

On By onehappybookwormIn Memoirs, Nonfiction, Our Shared ShelfLeave a comment

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To be honest, I couldn’t really get into this book. Partly it was because of the subject material, but I think my biggest issue is that I’ve had so much other stuff going on, and my interest just wasn’t there.  As I mentioned in my previous post, my vacation is coming up.  In fact- I leave for New York this afternoon and we fly to London tomorrow!  So needless to say, I’ve been rushing around and doing some last-minute shopping and attempting to pack and prepare for everything.  The trip has been the main thing on my mind, but I’ve also been busy with the young professional networking group I’m a part of, and I’m also trying to line up everything at work while I’m gone.  There were so many points over the past two weeks where I wanted to just stop reading this book and devote my energy to something else, but I promised myself I would finish it before I left.  So I pushed through.

I had never heard of Carrie Brownstein or Sleater-Kinney before, so I really had no idea what I would be reading about when Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl was announced as the July/August book for Our Shared Shelf. Looking back at my progression through music, I think I was too young for the Riot grrrl movement and the whole indie-punk scene in general.  I was around seven years old when I got my first CD, which was the first Backstreet Boys album.  I spent the next few years in the mainstream pop music world, listening to not just Backstreet Boys but NSYNC, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera too (such a diversity).  My older brother might have listened to some punk bands, but his music never made it outside his bedroom or headphones or anywhere that I would be exposed to it.  In my early teens I started gravitating toward more “emo” bands, and the trend stayed throughout high school.  New Found Glory, Dashboard Confessional, Bowling for Soup, and Fall Out Boy were some of my favorites (enough so that I still listen to them today when I’m feeling nostalgic).  College was mostly about Top 40 and whatever was playing at bars and parties, and then after graduation I discovered Spotify.  Nowadays, I would say 50% of my music library is made up of singer-songwriter acoustic type artists, then split evenly between classic rock, country, electronic pop, and Top 40.  So, reading about a feminist punk rock band from the nineties was unlike anything I was familiar with.

The beginning part of the book, when Carrie talks about her childhood, I could relate to. She talked about putting on plays and performances for her family, and I kept smiling because I used to do that too.  My best friend and I always had a performance ready for our parents after sleepovers.  I think our best one was about two girls who lived by the beach.  The worst was when we created a band called Blue Ice, and our opening song was “We’re Blue Ice, we’re so nice, we’re Blue Ice and we’re so nice.”  The most entertaining one was the video we created of my Beanie Babies competing in a game show, complete with me using different voices for each contestant (this video still exists somewhere).  But then she started to grow older and had to deal with serious issues.  Carrie’s mother began suffering from an eating disorder, and as a reader you could see how that affected her.  Her life took a darker turn, and it was more difficult for me to relate to.

As Carrie described how music began to become more and more important in her life, I began to lose interest. She referenced bands I had never heard of, and feelings I had never experienced.  When she wrote about seeing bands live and discovering new music at record stores, I began to wonder if it was an age thing.  Would I be able to relate more if I had to hunt for good music, if it wasn’t as simple as opening an app on my phone?  And as for Sleater-Kinney’s experience touring and recording, I just couldn’t garner any appeal for it.  Sleeping on borrowed and possibly dirty mattresses, practicing in confined places that smelt bad, struggling to get by; it all repulsed me.  Maybe I’m too mainstream or protected or snobby (I seriously hope not) but I just couldn’t connect with it.

Despite all that, there were two important aspects of Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl that I really enjoyed and appreciated. The first is Carrie’s complete openness about her struggles with depression and mental health.  It takes a certain kind of bravery to be that open and honest with the world, and I have so much respect for her.  I wish others (myself included) could be more open about our personal vulnerabilities.  In the world today, I think people are so exposed; there’s no break in attention.  It requires us to be “on” all the time, and it takes effort to maintain the image that’s out there, the image we want people to view us as.  So for someone to basically strip that image away and open up about such personal details, it’s amazing.

The second aspect that I appreciated were her thoughts on being a female musician, and why the word “female” shouldn’t really make a difference. A musician is a musician, regardless of gender, yet Carrie (and the other band members of Sleater-Kinney) faced countless questions about what it’s like to be a female musician, and they had to deal with so many gender stereotypes throughout the band’s career.  It’s frustrating.  As Carrie wrote in Chapter 15, “Anything that isn’t traditional for women apparently requires that we remind people what an anomaly it is, even when it becomes less and less of an anomaly.”  I mostly feel the same way about my job.  Being a woman in business is still something I have to explain; it’s like I have to constantly justify myself.  In reality, my job would be the same if I were a man, but it’s the perceptions and attitudes of others that make it different.

Despite my struggles connecting to Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, I’m glad I read it. So far, the books discussed in Our Shared Shelf have pushed me and expanded my knowledge about a number of different subjects.  This is definitely a book that I would never have considered reading if it weren’t for this book club, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to get outside my comfort zone and try something new.  And I’m happy to have learned about Carrie Brownstein and Sleater-Kinney.  I’m definitely planning on checking out the band on Spotify, and I’ll probably try to catch a few episodes of Portlandia as well.

 

The Saga of the Volsungs

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, Travel1 Comment

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It’s amazing how time can get away from you! It seems like just yesterday I sat down to create my summer reading list, but it also feels as if it’s been much longer than two months since my last post! There has been a lot going on in my life, and I’m kind of amazed at how much I’ve packed into these last two months. I’ve been on a trip to Philadelphia to visit a friend, a trip to Cleveland for work, two separate trips to visit my brother in upstate New York, I’ve celebrated the 4th of July here at home, celebrated a friend’s birthday, celebrated the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup, started rowing practice again, I sprained my wrist while hiking, attended a few retirement parties, watched as my company sold the division that I work in, congratulated three different couples on their pregnancy announcements, planned my own birthday celebration (taking place later today!), and throughout it all I’ve been finalizing details for my upcoming trip to London and Iceland. So, yeah, life has been a little crazy lately. I’ve definitely been feeling a little overwhelmed, but looking at my calendar things should slow down after my vacation, which is only two weeks away!

This trip has been in the works for almost a year, so there’s a lot of pent up excitement. I’ll be traveling with a friend to London for five days, and then to Iceland for five days. It’s funny thinking about it now, because a year ago today I was making an impromptu decision to go to Oktoberfest in Munich by myself, and that trip set the ball rolling for this upcoming vacation. Basically, I came back from Munich in the beginning of October last year and was feeling the inevitable post-travel blues. Soon after I got back, the announcement about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child came out, and since I was missing Europe like crazy I came up with the idea to see the play live in London. I enlisted my friend, Michelle, to join me, even though it had been a year since we had seen each other. She also loves to travel, and is a huge Harry Potter fan too. We bought the play tickets last October, and suddenly our “just a few days in London” turned into traveling around more and deciding to go to Iceland because it’s off the beaten track and neither of us have been there. Ten months later, here we are.

In Iceland, we’ll be renting a car and driving along the southern coast of the island. Since we know next to nothing about tourism there, I bought a guidebook a few months ago to figure out a general plan of where we should stay, what we should do, and all that fun stuff. I bought the Rough Guides to Iceland, and I think it has been generally helpful in planning, but we can’t really put it to the test until we get there. As I was flipping through the book, though, I noticed a section at the very end called “Books and Sagas.” As a reader, my interest was piqued. It provided reading recommendations for books on Icelandic history, modern literature, travel and wildlife, and the sagas.

I’ve never heard of the Icelandic sagas before. According to my guidebook, they were written anonymously between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. They cover a wide range of subjects; some are biographies of individuals, others serve as histories of the early Commonwealth, and often contain elements of folklore, Norse kings, and Viking-era adventures. In preparation for my upcoming trip, I decided to read two or three of these sagas to try to get a flavor of the culture and history of the country I’ll be visiting.

I started with The Saga of the Volsungs. According to my guidebook, this saga is said to have inspired The Lord of the Rings (which I’m a fan of) and Wagner’s Ring Cycle (which I don’t think I’ve ever heard). The description said that it more or less follows the adventures of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, and contains elements of unrequited love, greed, and vengeance. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to read this.

To be honest, I’ve never read anything quite like this before. The beginning of the saga describes Sigurd’s genealogy. He was a descendant of Odin, the Norse god of war and wisdom, and the first few chapters describe the battles and adventures of his forefathers. Then the saga goes into Sigurd’s own brave adventures: how he avenged his father’s death, slayed the dragon Fafnir, and obtained more treasure than any other man. Following this section, the saga becomes less mythical as it describes the marriages and alliances (and ultimate betrayal) of Sigurd, his wife, Gudrun, her brothers, and Brynhild, a wise and beautiful queen.

One of the things that struck me about The Saga of the Volsungs was that the prose was straight to the point. There weren’t many metaphors or overly poetic lines, and the scenes describing battles were very blunt. I realize that part of this could be due to the translation into English, but I think the overall bluntness is just one of the aspects of the sagas. While I was reading, in my mind I kept picturing Viking-era men sitting around a fire and telling this story aloud. I like that image, and if the prose was different I don’t think I would get the same picture.

Throughout the saga, I definitely picked up on elements that could have inspired Tolkien. The most obvious was a cursed ring that would bring doom to all who had it. Some names also looked familiar, and I wonder if some of the characters in The Lord of the Rings were inspired in part by Sigurd and his contemporaries. There were also a few things that reminded me of A Song of Ice and Fire, and I would be willing to bet that George R.R. Martin has read this saga as well. Namely, a pair of incestuous twins brought Jaime and Cersei Lannister to mind. Also, Iceland is often referred to as the land of ice and fire, and that was in the back of my mind as well. Overall, the themes and battles described in this saga were similar The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire, and I’m tempted to re-read both series (even though that would set me way back on my reading list).

This was my first saga reading experience, and I’m glad I managed to fit it in before my trip. I’m hoping to finish a second one (Laxdaela Saga) as well, but I don’t know if I’ll have enough time. I’m glad I got a taste of the sagas, though, and the parallels between this and other fantasy series are obvious. I would recommend this to anyone who is into those types of books, or anyone who is interested in Norse mythology or Viking-era tales in general.

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, RomanceLeave a comment

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I was super excited to read Eligible this month. Originally, I was planning on reading it before I read The Argonauts, but I was afraid that if I pushed The Argonauts back then I would never actually read it. Like I mentioned in my previous post, The Argonauts was a struggle. And I’m not going to lie- part of the motivation pushing me through was knowing that I had Eligible waiting for me.

I guess I should start by saying that I loved Pride and Prejudice. I was in middle school when I read it for the first time. It was one of the assigned summer reading books for my older brother’s English class, and I had always loved to read, so I found myself picking it up one night when he ignored it for the umpteenth time. It’s hard to describe how I felt reading it that first time, because it seems now as if I have always known and loved the story. I’m thumbing through my copy now, and the pages are yellow and musty (don’t you love the smell of old books?!) and most of the pages have creases where I folded them down, and there are most definitely coffee stains, and the careful underlining of passages in pen made by my brother, and my handwritten notes in pencil when it was time for me to read it for school… I can’t count how many times I’ve read this book, curled up in the corner seat of my parents’ couch or in my college dorm room or first apartment. It’s like an old friend, a well-worn companion that has been with me for over twelve years now.

Needless to say, I was excited when I first heard about Eligible. I was anxious to see how Sittenfeld would modernize the story. How would the Bennets and Bingleys fit into the crazy, modern world we call the 21st century? Pride and Prejudice had always seemed timeless to me, but was it really? I was also a bit nervous- part of the appeal of Pride and Prejudice was Austen’s voice, satirical and clever yet also proper and enchanting. With a different author, there would be a different voice, and would part of the appeal of the story be lost in the change?

Well, I needn’t have worried. Eligible was as perfect as I think it possibly could be. Somehow, Sittenfeld was able to keep the witty tone that Austen had mastered. And the characters were just as dear as they always had been, just a little different. The characters are older (or at least the Bennet girls seem to be about ten years older than their Pride and Prejudice counterparts), Bingley and Darcy are doctors (Darcy’s a neurosurgeon!), and Kitty and Lydia are seemingly egocentric millennial. Eligible also managed to include many aspects of modern society, from seemingly trivial topics like the Crossfit craze and online dating to more serious subject matter like the in vitro fertilization process and transgender relationships.

One of the changes between Pride and Prejudice and Eligible was the portrayal of Lydia’s story. In Pride and Prejudice, it seemed like she never really grew up and continued to be the immature and selfish young girl throughout the whole story. In Eligible, I was happy to see that she did change throughout the novel. She definitely didn’t make a major transformation, but there were some small changes that I identified as character improvements. As I’m writing this now, though, I’m wondering if I’m reflecting on Lydia more positively in Eligible because it’s easier for me to relate to the modern version. It’s not that I identify more with Lydia; I think it’s just a matter of having a better understanding of her experiences.

Probably the most notable difference between Pride and Prejudice and Eligible (other than the time period) is the setting. Eligible takes place in present-day Cincinnati, which really sets the tone of the novel. It felt like Liz spent just as much time and effort trying to defend the city as her hometown as she did trying to stand up for her family in the eyes of Darcy and the Bingleys. Personally, I loved that aspect of the story. I’m from Pittsburgh, so I understand what it’s like to grow up and live in a former industrial city that’s not quite as glamorous as places like New York or Los Angeles. It can be annoying (and sometimes pretty infuriating) when people are quick to judge and criticize the place that I call home. It was nice to read that Liz, despite living in New York for so long, still appreciated Cincinnati for what it is, and felt the need to defend it when necessary.

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Pittsburgh- I can’t resist a little bit of hometown pride 🙂

Basically, I loved Eligible. I really did. I’m trying to think of a nice way to wrap this post up and summarize my thoughts, but all I can think is that I just liked this book so much. There really isn’t much more I can say other than it was absolutely great and if you liked Pride and Prejudice then you would probably like Eligible. Curtis Sittenfeld deserves a lot of credit for writing such a superb modern version. This book is definitely being added to my list of favorites, and I know that I’ll be re-reading it sometime soon.

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson

On By onehappybookwormIn Memoirs, NonfictionLeave a comment
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Reading outside by the river!

The Argonauts was the May book choice for Our Shared Shelf. I was very excited to read it because it was so different from my normal reading material. If I had to describe what kind of book The Argonauts is, I would say that it’s a memoir blended in with essays on love, gender studies, and family (among many other topics!). It’s Maggie Nelson’s very personal account of her relationship with her fluidly gendered partner, and the experience of going through a pregnancy.

I struggled a lot with reading this book. I think it was a combination of the format and some of the subject material. The book is not divided into chapters, or any sections really. To me it reads like a stream of consciousness, with Nelson’s thoughts and insights and memories blending with references to theorists and scholars. Because there was no break throughout the book, I found myself becoming completely absorbed in her writing because it was very intense and powerful. But after 10 pages or so I would have to stop because it was so much information to take in, and I just needed a break. Also, I had to look up many of the references that she made, which made it a little more difficult and ultimately slowed my process. Overall, I think the book is very intellectually written, and I’m just not as familiar with some of the topics and references, and needed to get myself up to speed.

I think the thing that completely amazed me was how frank and honest Nelson was about such personal details of her and her family’s life. She held nothing back in writing this, she was herself openly and completely, regardless of opinions that others might have. I thought it was a beautiful piece of writing in that regard. That level of honesty is so rare, I felt very connected to what she was saying, and the experience kind of blew me away.

The Argonauts also expanded my awareness and understanding of gender fluidity. I haven’t had any experience with gender fluidity in my life, meaning that I don’t personally know anyone that would identify in that way. To be completely honest, I found it incredibly difficult to wrap my head around. I think the concept of “male” and “female” is so ingrained in my mind that I felt like I had to unlearn something, though I’m not exactly sure what it is that I unlearned. I just found myself questioning things a lot. For example, I was confused on what pronoun to use to describe Harry (Nelson’s partner), and eventually I reached a point where I was asking myself why I had to choose, and why couldn’t I just accept Harry as Harry and leave it be? This probably isn’t a good analogy because it’s so basic, but I remember telling people in high school that “I don’t believe in labels.” At the time I was referring to the loose classifications of preps, jocks, geeks, etc. I would tell people that I didn’t believe in labels because I felt like I belonged to more than one group. Is it such a stretch to apply the same logic to gender, even though the logic is so incredibly basic? I don’t know the answers to these questions, or even if there are answers. I’m just enjoying being challenged by the reading material. This is the first book in Our Shared Shelf that I felt motivated to participate in a discussion board, so it’s clear that the book is making me think. And however confusing or challenging that is, I like it.

Maggie Nelson also spent a significant portion of the book discussing motherhood, and how being a mother relates to and impacts being a woman. I thought these parts of the book were very interesting and eye-opening because it made me think about motherhood in a new light. I’m not a mom, and I have no plans to become one anytime soon, so a lot of the theories that Nelson discussed were basically unknown to me because motherhood just isn’t on my radar right now. It made me think a lot about my own mom, and some of my friends that have recently had children, and I wonder what they would think if they read this book. In that regard, I think they would have gotten more out of the reading experience than I did. I already want to re-read The Argonauts at some point, just because it is so much to digest, but I want to make a mental note to myself to pull this out if and when I ever have children. I wonder what I would think about it then.

Reading The Argonauts was definitely an experience. It was a struggle- both in the structure of the book and the subject material. Even though it’s only about 140 pages long, I was challenged enough that it took me over a week to read. But I’m not complaining about it. It was such an eye-opening book; it was just a really good learning experience. In a weird way, I’m kind of proud of myself for completing it. If it weren’t for Our Shared Shelf, I would’ve never felt compelled to read The Argonauts. It’s something I would’ve passed over in a bookstore without a second glance. So the fact that I went outside my reading “comfort zone” and that I finished it despite the struggle… it’s just a good feeling. It serves as a reminder to me that you can always learn by reading.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, RomanceLeave a comment

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Earlier this year, on “Galentines Day,” I went to see the movie How To Be Single with my friend Elizabeth. It was a classic girls day out- we had brunch then split a bag of extra-butter popcorn at the movie theater. Now you should know that I don’t go to the movies often (one of my exes insisted on going every week, and I’ve been mildly disinterested ever since). I also don’t watch cable TV; and my Internet time is pretty much limited to reading the news, scrolling through my Facebook news feed, and updating this blog. So when I do actually go to a movie theater, I LOVE the previews. Usually the previews are the first time that I’ve ever heard of upcoming movies. So when Elizabeth and I went to see How To Be Single, one of the first previews was for Me Before You.

I have to admit, the preview made it look great. Daenerys Targaryen (aka Emilia Clarke) as the main character, an attractive (in my opinion) male lead, set in England, and an interesting plot- I mentally added it to my Movies I Might Actually Want To See list. When I went home after How To Be Single (which I highly recommend, by the way) I googled Me Before You and learned that it was based on a novel by Jojo Moyes. I added the book to my reading list right then, and I vowed to read it before the movie hit theaters. Since the movie is going to be released at the beginning of June, I included it in my May reading list so that the story would be fresh in my mind when I go see it.

I was really excited to read Me Before You. With the movie coming out, and so much hype around it, I had kind-of-high expectations. It sounded like the perfect romance novel, and I thought I was bound to like it. Unfortunately, however, it wasn’t what I thought it would be. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the book, because I did devour it over the course of 24 hours and I still plan on seeing the movie as well as reading the sequel. I just didn’t really love it. It may be because there was so much hype; maybe I was expecting it to be a lot better than it ever really was. Or maybe it’s because for the most part I dislike mainstream contemporary romance novels. (As mentioned in a previous post, I really don’t enjoy anything by Nicholas Sparks, which is what I consider the standard for modern romance). Me Before You just wasn’t what I wanted it to be, and I wanted to like it so much.

I think one of my “issues” with the novel was that if you have any basic understanding of context clues you pretty much know the major plotlines from just the book summary and the title of the sequel. The details were well written, and for the most part I liked the characters, but it felt like I already knew what would happen, which I found kind of boring. It seemed like the climax wasn’t really a climax at all, just another chapter in the novel.   Before I read this, I think in my head I was expecting it to be a bit like My Sister’s Keeper by Jodie Picoult. My Sister’s Keeper was similar in the sense that you felt like you already knew how it would end, but then it completely throws you for a loop. The plot twist in the book (not the movie, the movie was appalling in the sense that it completely changed the plot) left me reeling, and it was one of the only books that I’ve ever shed a tear over because it was just so unexpected. I think I was waiting for something monumental like that in Me Before You, but it never happened.

One of the good things about the book was the main character, Louisa. I thought she was very likeable, but also very ordinary and normal. One thing that makes me roll my eyes is when female characters are described as ordinary but in actuality they’re super smart, or incredibly beautiful, or experience an unrealistic turn of luck, or basically anything that makes them not ordinary. Characters like that give real-life ordinary girls a bad rep, and it’s not fair. But Louisa Clark wasn’t like that; she was just ordinary, and that’s why I liked her. She never really tried to be anything but herself, and I think throughout the novel you were really able to see her grow as a character. I think Jojo Moyes did a great job in the development of her character.

Long story short, I wasn’t really impressed with Me Before You. I felt it was lacking in a lot of ways, but I’m sure I’m a minority in that camp. However, I’m still interested in reading the sequel; I made the mistake of reading the first chapter that was included in my copy and now I need to know what happens. And I’m still hoping to see the movie, as long as I can secure Elizabeth for another girl date. And even though I didn’t love the book, I know that this genre isn’t one of my favorites which is probably a major reason why I wasn’t thrilled with it. It was a relatively quick read, and it kept me company on a miserable Friday night, so I can’t say that reading it was a bad experience. It just wasn’t my cup of tea, but I’m glad I gave it a try.