May 11 2007
The Week in Books I
I think that for the summer, I will set up a goal of posting once a week about the books I read.
Of course, I’ve been so sick that I can’t remember…oh wait, it’s coming back to me. Okay, I know where to begin now.
The first book I read this week was PopCo, by Scarlett Thomas. I LOVED this book. If you take the pretension out of Bret Easton Ellis, if you take the don’t-I-shock-you grossness out of Chuck Palahuik, you have Scarlett Thomas. The plot is so engrossing that I hate revealing any of it, but I think I can say a little and not give away a lot: This story is about Alice Butler, a twenty-nine year old who works for a toy company called PopCo. She makes her way–oddly–to a work retreat, only to find herself in the middle of something mysterious. Alice is bizarre, and one of the reasons it’s so easy to get into this book. She’s the most fascinating female heroine I’ve read in a long time, since Jessica Darling perhaps. But it isn’t just the heroine that makes the book work; there’s an actual plot. I have to say, I read far too much chick lit, and I’ve been living light on plot lately. The mystery is wonderful–reveals itself bit by bit in such a way that I rarely put the book down in the 2 days it took me to finish over 500 pages. I would suggest this book to anyone, really.
Then I went on to The Clock Winder, by Anne Tyler. This was a reread, but it’s hard to keep the Tyler books in order in my head because they’re quite similar, although all very good. This one is not one of her strongest books, but if you’re a Tyler fan, you’ll read it anyway. I love the realistic quirks in the characters. They are cranky and odd the way people can be cranky and odd, although of course the traits are much bigger because they can be, in fictional characters. The story itself isn’t one of her best, and wanders a bit, but it’s a good, quick read.
After that, I moved on to another reread, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. This book is amazing, and terrifying. It’s set in an alternate future where, because of Islamic terrorism (although it was still called “fanaticism” in the time it was written), Christians have taken over–or at least, it seems that they have–to create a “better world” that strictly enforces gender roles. Man-made pollution has caused a huge drop in fertility rates, so when the country (the US, now called “The Republic of Gilead̶ 
is restructured, women are set into classes: Wives, Handmaids (fertile women), Marthas (maids, housekeepers), and then the others: Econowives, secret prostitutes, etc. Women no longer are allowed to read: all the signs are converted to symbols only. It’s terrifying because, quite frankly, it seems possible. A move to credit/debt cards makes it possible to freeze all women’s accounts so they cannot run on the day that the law is passed that they can no longer have jobs. Men quickly settle in. Older women applaud the return to a more conservative world. It’s horrible. I think it’s possible. It also makes such repression in other countries more understandable, how it could occur, and why people continue despite the fear. I love this book so much. I wait for the day my daughter is old enough to read it.
Then, for a change of pace, I read Amanda Quick’s Lie by Moonlight. Jayne Ann Krentz (her real name, or close enough) is the kind of writer you don’t give up so much as pick up her books occasionally, because they’re always good for one or two giggles. And that’s really it. There’s been such a formula to the Quick books that they’re getting kind of dull. Take one oddly-named Heroine, plus one Something Mysterious Hero, some Mystery that makes the Heroine INSIST on joining up with the Hero, and they solve it together. When the Heroine is in peril, the Hero realizes he loves her and that’s that. Krentz also abuses the HELL out of the words “masculine” and “feminine.” “His masculine pride.” “Her feminine smile.” Ugh. But again, still not BAD…not bad enough to give up. Good beach reads when you don’t want your brain to do much of anything at all.
Then, on my daughter’s suggestion, I read The Anybodies by N.E. Bode (Julianna Baggott). It was totally cute–the kind of book you want your child to read. It’s a little Harry Potter, a little Alice in Wonderland, etc etc. It’s not the greatest book in the world, in the sense that it will be The Classic to End All Classics, but it’s got a bit of that feel to it, a touch of magic. I want to read the other two now. 
I also read Catwoman: The Replacements at some point, but I can’t remember if that happened during this week or the end of the last one. I think it was Sunday. It was good, but Pfeifer isn’t Brubaker. Fortunately, he’s not Dixon either. It can be difficult for male comic writers to pin down a female voice, but Catwoman, I think, makes it easy. She’s a mystery to EVERYONE. So long as she isn’t, you know, talking about ice cream in a very cliched way with Holly (I’m lookin’ at YOU, Dixon), it tends to work out. I am completely spoiled about the father of her baby, though, and color me disappointed.
So that was my week. Looking forward to another one, just as paper-packed. Coming soon: My first Picoult! (I have a deal with a librarian.)