Week In Review – 3/7/10
by Jenners • 03/07/2010 • Book Talk • 27 Comments
Things are looking up weather wise. The snow is almost melted, and it was actually kind of sunny and a little bit warm today. Keep it up Mother Nature!
And I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but I deleted my Twitter account (due to some problems with unwanted contacts and direct messages) and decided to limit my Facebook account to just people I know in real life. No offense to any of you lovely people … I just think it was time to take preemptive measures before I experienced a serious problem with unwanted attention from creepy people. Why do some people have to ruin the Internet for everybody?
What I Read This Week
Although I read like a speed demon, it still took me almost all week to devour Steig Larsson’s The Girl Who Played With Fire. I loved finding out more about Lisbeth Salander and have become quite obsessed with trying to cast a movie version for this series. What do you think of Winona Ryder as Lisbeth? She seems too delicate and soft-spoken, I’m thinking. Anyway, it was a rollercoaster of a book, and I was seriously frightened that my dear Lisbeth was a goner at one point. And talk about leaving me hanging! Now I need to somehow get my hands on the third book without defying my book buying ban. I’m actually thinking of trying to introduce Mr. Jenners to this series; he might love it and then will buy the third book for himself. On the other hand, I could see him getting annoyed at all the Swedish names. (Was it just me or did you have trouble keeping some of the names straight?)
After the craziness of the Larsson book, I returned to the tranquility and beauty of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. It amazes me how beautifully she writes and how she can provide such a complete view of a moment in someone’s life in just a few pages. My friend Michael5000 just read this book too and wrote a great review of it. I pretty much agree with his assessment, especially that the stories set fully in India weren’t as effective as the ones dealing with the immigrant experience in America. I’m not sure if I thought this book was as good as Unaccustomed Earth though, but that is like saying “this gorgeous silk sari is not quite the precise shade of peacock blue that I imagined.” The book is still lovely and amazing and wonderful. I think I was so stunned by Lahiri’s talent when I read Unaccustomed Earth that this one suffered by comparison because I was expecting her genius this time around.
In yet another abrupt change of pace, I flew through Norman Ollestad’s memoir Crazy for the Storm. I’m a huge fan of books dealing with real-life survival, so I was really excited to read his account of how he managed to survive a plane crash on a mountain in California when he was 11-years-old and how all the things his dad pushed him to do when he was young helped prepare him for that moment. I was actually a bit disappointed in the book, but I’m still not entirely sure why. Part of it was that I had a tough time visualizing his survival trek and wasn’t on the edge of my seat during it. (This might be due to the fact that each chapter alternates between his ordeal on the mountain and his life before the crash that lays the groundwork for his relationship with his dad and how his experiences prepared him for survival). The other part of it was that his survival story kind of paled in comparison to some of the others I’ve read. Not to take away from what he went through, but it wasn’t nearly as riveting as Jon Krakauer’s account of the Everest disaster or the story of the Andes plane crash survival described in Alive. In many ways, this is just as much a memoir about his relationship with his father as it is about survival. I’ll have to think more on this before writing my review.
Giveaways Won and Awarded
Can you believe that I won yet another giveaway? The book that arrived this week was Home Is Where The Wine Is by Laurie Perry. I won this from Sandy over at You’ve GOTTA Read This! and, based on Sandy’s review, I think will be a fun, frothy read. Too bad I don’t knit though as the book includes some knitting instructions at the end. All you knitters get ready for my inevitable giveaway once I’m done with it. Thank you, Sandy.
It is also time to announce the winner of Catherine O’Flynn’s wonderful book, What Was Lost. The winner is Avid Reader at Avid Reader’s Musings. I hope you like the book as much as I did! As part of the entry, I asked everyone to tell me their favorite boy or girl detective. If I had a dime for everyone who mentioned Nancy Drew… (Well, I’d probably have about $2.50 but still, a lot of you mentioned Ms. Drew. I was hoping to score a lead on another Flavia de Luce type detective). Avid Reader’s response was:
Obviously Harriet the Spy and Nancy Drew are favorites, but another more obscure one came to mind as well. I loved the books about “Freddy the Detective” by Walter Brooks. Freddy is actually an incredibly intelligent pig and I used to love reading those books.
Wow, thank you so much for considering my suggestion to do a reading with little one meme. I see that you didn't get too many comments about it. I will continue to look for and read those posts on your site. You do a wonderful job. I decided to try my own weekly kids book post. I call it Picture (book) Perfect.
Thanks again,
Kathy
Wow, thank you so much for considering my suggestion to do a reading with little one meme. I see that you didn't get too many comments about it. I will continue to look for and read those posts on your site. You do a wonderful job. I decided to try my own weekly kids book post. I call it Picture (book) Perfect.
Thanks again,
Kathy
I feel you on the "there's too many people I don't know in my life" front. I just deleted half of the people that I was connected to on FB. I'm like I don't even talk to them! And then there are also blogs and Twitter for everyone else, though I am not sure of keeping the Twitter account either. I am not really using it much anymore.
I loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and look forward to The Girl who Played with Fire. Winona Ryder is not right for the part but I am not sure who would be. Winona Ryder is definitely too delicate I think. She was even delicate in Girl, Interrupted.
I was blown away by Interpreter of Maladies, and was just a tiny bit disappointed by Unaccustomed Earth (still loved it). I think which ever you read first is just so startlingly wonderful that it's hard to beat.
Also, boo on Winona as Lisbeth. I really like Winona, but she's just not bad ass enough for that role.
I won the same book
Looks like fun.
I've kept my FB acct just for people I know in person too.
Jenners, what you wrote about Crazy for the Storm is exactly how I felt. I couldn't visualize his survival journey at all. It was just all over the place and I couldn't get a grasp as to what was going on. And I didn't think it was that great of a survival story in general either.
You know what I want to read??? That book (not sure of the title) about the pro football players who went fishing in Florida and their boat capsized and only one of them survived. A friend said the story was on Oprah the other day and I also remember when it happened. Anyway, I want to read that
(Wow – I should read the other comments before leaving my own – LOL)
I'm just about to start The Girl Who Played With Fire and I can hardly contain myself. There is a movie filmed in Swedish of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – which you can apparently find subtitled in English but I have not been able to get my hands on it. I'll give Winona some thought ….
Another great week of reading! The Stig Larsson books have already been made into films.. the first two have been released and the third one is in full production.
They are in Swedish but no doubt will be subtitled… so might be worth looking out for.
Awww, and I just joined twitter yesterday! I'm stepping into it slowly, though.
I still need to get back to "Interpreter of Maladies", myself. You keep reminding me of that! I've only gotten as far as the first two stories.
Did you watch the video footage of Norman right after he did his rescue thing? It's here: http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/35404/Norman_Ollestad/index.aspx
It makes a difference when you see how tiny he was!
My husband is now reading the Larsson books. He is loving them – the Swedish names don't seem to be bothering him – at least, he hasn't complained! He did grouse a little about the locations, and I pointed out to him that there are maps at the translator's website, here: http://reg-stieglarssonsenglishtranslator.blogspot.com/2009/09/maps-of-hedeby-island-in-english.html
You and I are so alike when it comes to what we look for in a book. I can't wait to pick up Larsson's books (don't ask me WHY I am waiting!), I LOVE Lahiri's beautiful prose, and I am drawn to the adventure stories too (Krauker's Everest story blew me away).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts…I nodded all the way through them
okay…I looked on imdb and according to them there is a US production of the first book set for 2012. However, you can only access the info on it with a premium account which I don't have. I did see on Wiki where George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp had all expressed interest in the Blomkvist role. I'd pick Depp from those three.
Guess we just have to wait and see.
I refuse to do FB or Twitter. Blogging is enough for me.
My husband read and enjoyed the first Larsson book. I told him to wait on this one until the third comes out. He hates to be left hanging. Btw… I read something recently (can't remember where) talking about film versions of the first book. They did mention names being considered for the American version, but I can't remember who.
I'm a little bit over halfway through the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and I still can't keep all of the names straight! I love Larsson's brain patterns in creating the crazy beautiful mess and I'm surprised I can keep up with the plot through the three…I think I'm going to have to make a character map at some point…
You have a busy busy week. Crazy for the Storm is one of the books that has seemed to get mixed reviews. I can't really comment as I have not read it it, but sorry it was somewhat disappointing.
They've been showing the trailer for Girl with a Dragon Tattoo here. I don't know if they plan to make a US version of the movie but right now the foreign one is making the rounds.
If they made a US version, I would choose Natalie Portman as Lisbeth. Winona Ryder would also work. I see Liam as Blomkvist.
I tend to limit my online interaction outside of the actual blogs as well. Obviously this doesn't help with making blogging buddies, but it does keep down the amount of crazies and viruses. It's always the few bad eggs that ruin it for the rest of us, isn't it?
I have a facebook account as Beth Fish so I can participate in some publisher's promotionals but I don't use it otherwise. I did notice you weren't on Twitter anymore!
I have read Girl Who Played with Fire yet and I have Crazy for the Storm too! I need more time….
That's exactly why I've never signed up for Facebook – well that and I remember the days when you had to have an edu email to be on it.
It sounds like you've had a great week reading wise and winning wise!
What a great reading week for you! I loved Interpreter of Maladies, and have Unaccustomed Earth on my shelves, so I'm excited that the second one is even better than the first. And Larsson's books! People are a little bi-polar on them, but I love them to pieces, especially on audio. My sister said that one of her movie critic friends saw the first book's Swedish movie rendition, and said it wasn't very good. Which really stinks. I wonder if I would like it better just because I know the story and am invested?
I love Jhumpa Lahiri's short stories – she is excellent in that genre! Her treatment of the immigrant experience is her signature and her stories that deal with that issue really shine. I hope she'll be writing more soon!
I was also disappointed with Crazy for the Storm. Is it sick that I wanted more of the storm/crash and less of his life before? The students at my high school love those survival books!
I haven't had a problem with twitter, but that's exactly why I quit Facebook. It felt creepy to have people I haven't seen since 6th grade suddenly showing back up in my life.
And you won yet another book…This Book is Overdue is sitting here waiting for you to claim it.
I don't know how you read so much…in the evenings, it's all "Hey, Mom!", with Animaniacs or some other annoying DVD playing in the background.
Maybe once tax season is over…no, then the husband is home all day, too.
It's hopeless.
I am still on the fence about twitter; I don't think I have the hang of using it and often days go by before I check in…..
I LOVE your idea of introducing the book series to Mr. Jenners so that he will want to buy the third book. Too funny!
Looks like another great reading week for you. I wish I were more of a speed reading demon
Another busy, not to mention lucky week. Yes we have sunshine today so it won't be too long before we're all complaining how hot we are.