Book Report #128 - The World According to Bertie

The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith

Part of the 44 Scotland Street Series, this book is essentially a celebration of life in Edinburgh. Each chapter was once a column in the newspaper in Edinburgh so they are short and skip around to tell what is going on with different characters.

The title is promising because it includes the little boy who is so engaging. Six year old Bertie desperately wants to be average while his mother insists on his achievement. Also having problems are the dashing Bruce who has recently moved back to town, Pat and Matthew who are unsure of why they are in a relationship and Angus Lourdie whose true love, his dog Cyril, has been accused of a crime he didn't commit.

General consensus: Charming and set at a relaxing pace this is an enjoyable read that occasionally made me laugh out loud.

Book Report #127 - Body Surfing

Body Surfing: A Novel by Anita Shreve

Poetic with a mesmerizing light hold on the characters, this story feels simple while every word is charged with intensity.

It is the story of a woman who is divorced and widowed. Now in her late twenties she takes a job looking after a girl in a family's summer house on the Northeast coast. She falls in love with the older brother and anything more said would be a spoiler.

General consensus: Ends with a horrible downer. Be warned.

Book Report #126 - Resistance

Resistance: A Novel by Anita Shreve

I was pleased to find that my assumption was wrong--there still is a way to put a new spin on World War 2. Shreve proved it with Resistance.

An English bomber bound for Germany crashes in a town in Nazi-occupied Belgium. The pilot survives. A married couple in the Resistance takes him in and the wife nurses him back to health in the attic hideaway.

The different perspectives Shreve shows through the characters give the story a unique feel. However, I was dismayed to find that in the second half of the book it turned into a torrid love affair. I was so hoping she would leave that out and still tell a gripping story.

General consensus: Decent but could have been a stamp on the soul.

Book Report #125 - The Palace Thief

The Palace Thief: Stories by Ethan Canin

These four novellas are written by someone who not only knows all the rules of writing but knows exactly how to use them to create perfection. Thank God he teaches at the Iowa Writers' Workshop--the best writing school in the country. It seems almost irresponsible not to share this level of skill with others.

Each story is different but the style remains the same. Each narrator explains the defining moments of his life that shaped his character. It is so personal that the reader can't help but feel genuine care and compassion for each of them. Perhaps this is because Canin seems to know things about life that most of us don't, especially when it comes to loss and grief experienced by older men.

General consensus: Not one word is wasted or misplaced in these four engrossing stories that each become part of us.

Book Report #124 - Born Standing Up

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin

I love Steve Martin for Father of the Bride. But then again, I just love Steve Martin. There's something about him....his off-beat, often earnest humor. Now I know he didn't come out of the womb that way. He put in 10,000+ hours to get as good as he is.

Born Standing Up is the fascinating story of Martin's life up to the end of his stand-up comedy career. Did you know that he spent his childhood perfecting his magic act that he later used in shows along with his banjo? Or that he worked at Disneyland and then at Knott's Berry Farm? There is so much to read about and be amazed at, especially his heyday on the road when his loneliness was at its peak.

General consensus: Enlightening, engrossing and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.

Book Report #123 - Flipped

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

I used to badger this writer I knew that we should write a book about falling in love together but he should write the guy part and I should write the girl part (or maybe vice versa). The goal was to show how differently each gender interpreted the same experience.

Now I don't have to do it because Wendelin already did! She did it in that impossible to put down, Wendelin Van Draanen kind of way too and it's so great that Rob Reiner's been busy making it into a movie. Read the amazing story here.

Bryce Loski and Juli Baker are seven years old when he moves in across the street from her. She's instantly sucked in by his beautiful blue eyes but Bryce wants nothing to do with clingy, dirty, nerdy Juli. Even into high school she pines away for him but it's not until a tree she loves is knocked down that Bryce can see her as anything other than a nuisance. Unfortunately for him it's the same time she loses all interest in him because of a jerky mistake he made. That's when things flip.

General consensus: I loved the ending! Refreshing and shows the skill of a master craftswoman.

Book Report #122 - About A Boy

About a Boy by Nick Hornby

Will is a mid-thirties guy living in London who has never had a job because he's lived off the royalties of his father's famous Christmas song. He's comfortable in a life of easy entertainment and prides himself on how he's skirted emotional depth. Then he dates a single mother and realizes it's not so bad. In fact, it's kind of interesting. He'd like to meet more single mothers but can't figure out how to do it until he discovers that it would work best if he was a single father. Easily done. He invents a son and starts attending a single parents' support group.

The rest of the book is about how he propagates his lies and the connection he makes with a troubled high schooler named Marcus. As his relationship with Marcus and various single mothers grows he realizes that depth may not be the enemy after all.

GENERAL CONSENSUS: It's obvious Hugh Grant played Will in the movie, right?

Book Report #121 - Franny and Zooey

Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger

Brother and sister in a family of seven kids have decided that while they are the most beautiful they are also the most screwed up of the lot. They're both too philosophical for their own good. Franny has a meltdown while she's in college reading a couple books about a religious practice that's quite interesting, actually. Zooey is an actor still living with his parents who is sarcastic and laugh out loud funny. Let him go enough pages and he'll say something fantastic.

This reminded me of The Catcher in the Ryea lot:

• Took place in New York
• About young adults
• Misanthropic
• Full of streams of consciousness
• Same charming cursing
  
• Surprisingly optimistic at the end

I was surprised at how much Salinger wanted to discuss religious and spiritual beliefs. It was like he was bursting with it.

General consensus: Salinger must be a miserable guy.

Book Report #120 - Zen and the Art of Intimacy

Zen and the Art of Intimacy: The Simple Path of Passion, Fidelity and Love by Arthur Samuels, M.D.

This was a beautiful read. First we are taught how to love ourselves and given a simple yet highly effective meditation to get there. Then we are led through an intimate relationship from start to finish and shown how it is really possible to not get angry and instead celebrate your partner so that true intimacy can be shared. I have so much hope.

General consensus: Reading that felt like the best hug ever.

Book Report #119 - Who Moved My Cheese?

Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life bySpencer Johnson

There are these two mice and these two dinky human-like creatures and they all run around in a maze and find their cheese. They return every day to eat their cheese. The mice keep their running shoes tied around their necks and check out the scene for change before eating while the human-like creatures just dive right in. The human-like creatures grow more and more complacent until the cheese is no longer there. The mice were prepared and run off in search of new cheese while the human-like creatures sit around and bemoan their luck. They are slow to adapt and one doesn't make it.

It's pretty obvious stuff but for some reason it really resonated with the world.

General consensus: Insipid.