Capital

I'm accustomed to reading books that I've known about for months, even years. This summer, I did something I don't normally do - I read books by authors that I'd never heard of before and did not research. I had such an influx of fresh blood books that each one was a surprise - I very quickly forget the plots of books, so it's almost impossible for me to remember the plots of books I've only read a few sentences about. This reading style might be normal for other people, but it felt very foreign and exciting to me.

Perhaps that's why it took me so long (nearly a month!) to finish Capital - I had no idea what to expect. Here's the good news: I enjoyed most of my reading experience. Lanchester did a stunning (as Gordon Ramsay would say - yes, we're still obsessed) job of creating diverse and complex characters, intricately weaving their stories together. What impressed me most was that his characters also had varied roles in the novel, but Lanchester wrote each as though he had just finished writing the gaps of her story in his head, even when the reader hadn't heard from her for a hundred pages or more. I'd be so happy to discover how he maps out his plot, because I'm really astounded he could remember enough about his characters to recreate their specific moods.

Of course, there were some things I didn't like so much about Capital. My aforementioned venture into reading books I don't know much about is wonderful because I feel I'm expanding my literary territory, but also means I read some books that aren't as much my style as others. This book was great - I really enjoyed it - but it lacked the strong authorial presence I love (found in my beloved Confederacy of Dunces, Dead Souls, Vonnie's and Twain's books, and The Master and Margarita). It's not quite a narrator, but more like a guide - someone who explains what's happening more than a detached writer or involved character would. I would have liked to have a stable voice in Capital to direct my attention.

Hi!

I'm still around.

I've been transitioning from The-Job-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named to working more at my old old job, which means less time for reading. That's not entirely true - a more accurate explanation would be that instead of reading in my spare time, I have been adding books to my wish list. Also, our life is generally too "boring" to blog about. Except actually we recently discovered Master Chef, which is hilariously over the top and sometimes mean. It's our rebound tv show - we finished Seinfeld.

Moxie is getting better at cuddling - TWICE today she clambered over the furniture (which is adorable right now, but might result in some broken couches if she tries to do it full-sized) to fall asleep right next to me!!! That's my favourite thing that she does. My least favourite? She's very good at communicating with us through barking - maybe too good. It's difficult for a little puppy to discern the distinction between helpful barks (I need to go outside!) with annoying barks (you are eating and I also want some food! You are cuddling with each other instead of paying attention to me! You abandoned me to check the mail!, etc.). She really is just darling on the whole, though. We lucked out.

Our house!

Yep. It's finished. D has been ridiculously antsy for me to post this all day. He actually harrumphed when I rejected the one we filmed last night as being too dark to share with family and friends. Try to ignore this one's being too nasally, shaky, and repetitive.

What Kind of Book Reader Are You?

From here, addendum here. D and I are both "it's complicated," though I am more complicated than he (of course)! We have totally different reading/buying styles for books, which makes it amazing that we can stand to read books together.

Moxie is The Dog. She noses around the house all day surrounded by items her owners sometimes unabashedly strokes (ooer)/ignores her to enjoy. She sees them mostly as toys, to either paw over a buried bone or gnaw on while David "looked away for just a second." (Mmhmm. Sure.) Thankfully, she's only chewed up one book so far - Bush at War by Bob Woodward. I am interpreting this to mean she is a Democrat and dislikes Bush as much as her people do. :)

How to Get Into the Twin Palms

I left the book cover medium- rather than small-sized so you can see this little guy's tattoos. Aren't they wild? I especially love his epaulets. Idk what he's doing here - he doesn't fit the description of Lev, the only man described in detail in this novel - but I like him anyway.

This is a book about Anya, a Polish immigrant to the US who desperately seeks entry to the exclusive Russian nightclub, the Twin Palms. It is short, but weird, and reminds me of movies like Drive that everyone obsesses over but I don't really understand. It also reminds me of Mary Martha Maeby May Marlene or whatever, which is a movie I begged David to watch with me and he quit after "nothing had happened" for 30 minutes. It's one of those books you read for the writing and story itself, not because it's an action thriller or something. I'd enjoy seeing a film version of Twin Palms - the writing is so rich and evocative that it would very easily translate, I think.

 I'm sure there's a literary word describing writing that heavily describes the senses - it's on the tip of my brain - and if you can think of it, this novel is rich with it. I winced, wrinkled, and evinced other outward signs of disgust after reading her descriptions of all she smells. She often literally scrubs her skin away to rid it of smells. There are also obvious signs of her self-consciousness about her identity, like constantly dyeing her hair. I liked how often the author wrote about Anya's changing her physical appearance or scent to illustrate her desire to shed her identity.

I liked this book, and I can see why it was on that list of best summer 2012 reading. It was nice to read something in vogue. I don't think I liked it enough to buy a copy to read in the future, but we'll see.

The Fault in Our Stars

John Green is one of the authors whose careers I follow, so I've been excited for this book for months. His characters' sense(s?) of humour remind me a little bit of Sarah Dessen, but they also use tasty words like hamartia (which this lexophile loved). This book is about Hazel, who was diagnosed at 13 (she's either 15 or 16 in the book) with terminal cancer. She meets Augustus Waters at a support group and the book follows their relationship. It's deliciously nerdy (what more would you expect with a book whose title hails from Shakespeare?) and often simultaneously funny and heart-rending.

Though he's widely known within the genre, I'm hesitant to identify John Green as a YA author for a few reasons.

• It's difficult to place Green in a genre. While his books are fast reads and based around teenage characters and issues, they are very mature. 
• His novels deal with issues that are not confined to adolescence, like a close friend's death. 
• I sometimes feel sheepish when my current book is from the teen section and I don't want others to judge this book as unworthy because it's YA lit. (I then feel sheepish for feeling sheepish. Twilight and its cronies have tarnished the genre's reputation.) Regardless, some books, while meant for a primarily teenage audience, are unequivocally well-written. This is one of those books.

If The Fault in Our Stars has a hamartia, it's that the characters are unbelievably funny and intelligent - which is hardly a flaw at all.