A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Summary: This novella by English author Charles Dickens was first published by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visitations of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. 

The tale has been viewed as an indictment of nineteenth century industrial capitalism and was adapted several times to the stage, and has been credited with restoring the holiday to one of merriment and festivity in Britain and America after a period of sobriety and sombreness. A Christmas Carol remains popular, has never been out of print, and has been adapted to film, opera, and other media.  (image from virgin media and summary from Wikipedia)

My Review:  Not only is this A Christmas Carol, it is THE Christmas Carol...a story that most Americans have seen in multiple movie recreations or plays and one referred to at Christmas time as often as any bible story or tale of reindeer.  But, have you read it?  I hadn't until it was the book club pick for December.  If you haven't read it, forget about picking up this year's NYT bestselling holiday tearjerker - get this instead.

At 100 pages this book is easily adapted into a movie.  The script is generally taken directly from Dicken's words and you will probably find no surprise plot twists.  It is simply the act of reading that gives this story a greater depth.  In fact, because the visual "imagination" of reading it is unnecessary (I pictured a cross between Mickey's Christmas Carol and Muppet's Christmas Carol...judge me as you may) as I read my mind wandered instead to the whys of the story.  Why did Dickens include certain details?  Why did the ghost of Christmas Present phrase it that way?  And of course the most interesting question of all...how does this apply to me?

The book club discussion was an excellent way to start to the holiday season.  Our discussion focused less on the caricature of hard hearted Scrooge and more on the reasons that young Scrooge turned away from life and towards money.  You see, not many of us are extremely wealthy and frugal business men.  If we are wealthy we spend the money, mostly on ourselves and family, and if we are poor...well, we may be frugal, or we may just be envious and equally self-serving.  And so we talked about how to avoid becoming obsessed with money and about how incredibly blessed we are to live in our luxurious 1st world homes (I say this with no sense of irony as I sit in my 850 sf condo after two years of my husband being partially employed).  We talked about how giving a gift gives you more dopamine than getting a gift.  We talked about wealth as a curse...or not.  We discussed the merits of Santa verses parents as the prime gift giver.  We talked about a lot more questions.  All of this, from 100 pages; from a story I've heard at least thirty times in my life.

This is a story you should READ once in your life...if not every year.  And then discuss it. 

Merry Christmas.

My rating: 5 Stars

Sum it up:  Discuss it over the Thanksgiving table next year in order to influence your gift giving and general Christmasy attitude in 2011.

Under the Jaguar Sun - Italo Calvino

Summary: Taste, hearing, and smell dominate the lives of the characters in these witty, fantastical stories. In “Under the Jaguar Sun” a couple tours Mexico to discover a startling combination of sublime and erotic love in the cuisine of fire-hot chiles and exotic spices. In “A King Listens” the enthroned tyrant is prisoner not only of his power but also of his ear, as echoes in his huge palace carry contradictory messages of deliverance, love, and betrayal. In “The Name, the Nose” a man of the world consults a fashionable Parisian parfumerie in search of a scent worn by a mysterious masked lady, while in London a drugged rock musician is lured into the crazed pursuit of a female whose odor has inflamed him. (Summary from book - Image from amazon.com)

My Review: These three stories are part of a series of five, each centered on a different sense, that was left unfinished by the author’s death. Before reading them, I hadn’t realized what a loss two unwritten stories could be. Each of the three existing stories, though very different in tone and style, is a small, multifaceted masterpiece.

One of the startling aspects of these stories for me is the effect they have in the hours, days, and weeks after I’ve read them. The first story—in addition to making me crave spicy foods—has forced me to re-evaluate the way I handle myself in my close relationships. Who would have thought that cannibalism could be inspiring as well as entertaining?

The second story is a sort of existential nightmare, a shifting minefield of meaning and identity. If modern philosophy—from Hegel’s dialectic to Foucault’s critique of power relationships—were a tragic love story, this would be it. Or perhaps it’s the story of an ego divorced from its id. Either way, you don’t need to know, or care, about philosophy or psychoanalysis to get caught in this story’s mad web of words.

For me, the third story was the weakest, but that might be because I have a nonfunctional sense of smell, so it’s hard for me to relate to characters who live through their noses. Like the sense that it centers on, this story seemed a bit muddled, lacking the crispness of the other stories. But perhaps that was the point. Regardless, Calvino’s off days would be another writer’s strokes of genius, so perhaps I’m just jealous.

Star Rating: 5 stars. Contains mature themes maturely handled.

Sum it up: Three of the most entrancing short stories I’ve read; whoever let Calvino die before he finished the other two should be shot.

Musings on Minutiae - Weston Locher

Summary: Humorous Essays, Anecdotes, & Childhood Memories

Welcome to Weston Locher's Musings on Minutiae where the author offers up hilarious observations and insights on topics of great importance such as...

Living in an urban apartment complex - "...if I become an admitted pet owner, then I have to pay not only a several hundred dollar deposit to the apartment complex, but I'm pretty sure that they also reserve the right to harvest some of my bodily organs..."

Living with felines - "...as I'm walking anywhere in my apartment. They scamper in front of my legs, causing me to fall and face plant into whatever furniture is closest. They especially like to play this game when I'm carrying piping hot coffee."

Childhood Memories - "Our family was nearly torn apart on several occasions by arguments started when the refrigerator door was open for what my father deemed as 'too long.'"

Chock full of humorous essays and personal anecdotes, Musings on Minutiae will keep you laughing for as long as you have a pulse.
cover photo from http://musingsonminutiae.com and summary from the back of the book

My Review: I was thrilled to receive this book comprised of short, humorous tales free for review. Within this small publication, Locher finds humor in everything from childhood to work to relationships to apartment living and even his pets. It promises to keep the reader laughing.

Musings on Minutiae is composed of several types of comedy. There are those stories that are easy to relate to leaving the reader laughing out loud. While other tales are more the "you-had-to-have-been-there" variety which merely induce a smile. Sprinkled throughout are everyday accounts in which witty Weston is able to portray immense amounts of humor by skewing the angle. Life's most mundane moments would be delightfully entertaining with Weston Locher around.

This book is ideal when consumed in small doses. The three to five page chapters make this the perfect bathroom book. Just don't be surprised when you hear chuckling behind that closed door.

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

To Sum it up: A fun, easy read guaranteed to leave you with a smile.

My Little Red Book - Rachel Kauder Nalebuff

Summary: My Little Red Book is an anthology of stories about first periods, collected from women of all ages from around the world. The accounts range from lighthearted (the editor got hers while waterskiing in a yellow bathing suit) to heart-stopping (a first period discovered just as one girl was about to be strip-searched by the Nazis). The contirbutors include well-known women writers (Meg Cabot, Erica Jong, Gloria Steinem, Cecily von Ziegesar), alongside today's teens.

Ultimately, My Little Red Book is more than a collection of stories. It is a call for a chang ein attitude. By revealing what if feesl like to undergo this experience firsthand and giving women the change to explain their feelings in their own words, My Little Red Book aims to provide support, entertainment, and a starting point for discussion for mothers and daughters everywhere. (Image from twelvebooks.com - Summary from back of book)

My review: The Unwelcome Visitor. The Curse. The Crimson Wave. The Rag. Aunt Flo.

Call it what you will, this book is about periods.

My Little Red Book is a rather unique compilation of essays that, through a series “first period” accounts, stresses the lack of communication as women and between women about our bodies. Women, in general, have always tended to shy away from discussing topics like sexual development-- which has led to a wealth of misinformation among younger generations as they hit puberty. These first-period narratives come in a variety of forms, from poetry to rant to the purposely fictionalized. Many of the experiences are tragic, some mortifying, and others riotously funny. The further I read, the more I began to embrace its' message and feel comfortable delving in to another woman’s life on such a personal level. Each narrative was deeply moving in its’ own way and offered a meaningful connection through the page—from me to them—and a sense of solidarity among all women with a similar experience.

Overall, I thought that My Little Red Book was interesting. Note the italics. Perhaps it’s greatest gift was the opportunity for introspection. It was thought-provoking and insightful. It made me reflect on society’s tendency to keep things quiet, to make perfectly natural things seem shameful. I ached for the girls who thought they were dying, or that they couldn’t tell anyone or perhaps worse still, when they did, received little support during this changing time in their lives. Finally, it made me dig through my own memories and reflect on how I would like to broach this topic with my own daughters. How open do I want to be? Answer: Very. However, I promise here and now not to announce it at the dinner table.

I wouldn’t recommend this book to everyone (hence the rating). But I would recommend it to most women and mothers with young daughters in an effort encourage openness and communication about this important rite of passage. I also feel that My Little Red Book would make for an interesting book club pick as well (and it comes with a reading group guide).

My Rating: 3.9 Stars. For the sensitive reader: As you might imagine, this book is entirely open about periods and the female body, but was tactful and informative without being vulgar.

Sum it up: A thoroughly unique and insightful book. Period. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)

Matchless - Gregory Maguire

Summary:

Each year, National Public Radio asks a writer to compose a story with a Christmas theme. In 2008, Gregory Maguire offered a new twist on a classic tale, reinventing the Hans Christian Andersen classic "The Little Match Girl."

When the story was first translated from Danish and published in England in the mid-nineteenth century, the match girl's dying visions of lights and a grandmother in heaven were often interpreted as metaphors of religious salvation. In Matchless, Maguire adds a different dimension to the story, intertwining the match girl's tale with that of a young boy, Frederik, whose own yearnings are the catalyst for a better future for himself and his family. Maguire uses his storytelling magic to rekindle Andersen's original intentions and to suggest transcendence, the permanence of spirit, and the continuity that links the living and the dead. (Publisher comments as posted on Powells.com)

My Review: First things - before reading this review, but more importantly, the book you should familiarize yourself with the story of "The Little Match Girl." The easiest way to do so is by watching this short Disney peice - The Little Match Girl.

The beauty of this book is its pacing. Though the content of the story is at minimum, young adult level, it is a short, quick read and told with one or two sentences a page, accompanied by a simple illustration. If it were printed out with no page breaks I would have begun skimming immediately - thats the curse of a speedy reader. However with this story the process was much more cathartic and delightful. Read a few words, glance at the picture, turn the page; repeat. I realize now that perhaps this is why I liked "Tale of Despereaux" as well. Telling a story with few words takes infinitely more talent than using as many as possible.

I was unfamiliar with the Hans Christian Anderson story this tale was based on but after brushing up on my fairy tale knowledge I think that the original story and this expanded version merge seamlessly, although in a heartbreaking way. The story has the typical Maguire-esque crisp realism, colored with sadness as well as hope.

My Review: 4.5 stars

Sum it up: It's not the usual sugarplummy Christmas story but rings true if your life is filled with both heartbreak and hope.