The Room

The Room Jonas Karlsson 4/5	Published February 2015 First Sentence "The first time I walked into the room I turned back almost at once."
Publisher's Description: Funny, clever, surreal, and thought-provoking, this Kafka-esque masterpiece introduces the unforgettable Bjorn, an exceptionally meticulous office worker striving to live life on his own terms. Bjorn is a compulsive, exacting bureaucrat who discovers a secret room at the government office where he works--a secret room that no one else in his office will acknowledge. When Bjorn is in his room, what his coworkers see is him standing by the wall and staring off into space looking dazed, relaxed, and decidedly creepy. Bjorn's bizarre behavior eventually leads his coworkers to try to have him fired, but Bjorn will turn the tables on them with help from his secret room. Author Jonas Karlsson doesn't leave a word out of place in this brilliant, bizarre, delightful take on how far we will go--in a world ruled by conformity--to live an individual and examined life.
Dear Reader, Quirky, that is the perfect word for this book. If The Room lasted any longer (approx. 125 pages), I would have picked a less pleasing adjective to describe it. I want to thank the publisher greatly for sending this ARC to me, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Bjorn, the main character, is completely on the spectrum and the reader is fully aware of this after a few pages in. He clearly likes to do things a certain way and can't understand why people may live in separate realities from his perfect one. A great example of this was when he sees a drawing his coworkers child has made (primitive drawing of a sun and mound of grass), but he can't understand why she has posted this for everyone to see. He feels completely baffled as to why someone would subject others to looking at something so deplorable. This should give you a little insight into the kind of character Bjorn is, this is also a great way to determine if you want to read this book. Does Bjorn sounds like someone you can spend 125 pages with? For me, it was a resounding YES. I love reading behind the eyes of someone so different from me, even IF they do infuriating things. The whole book is set in Bjorn's workplace, has a cast of characters only from THAT workplace and focuses on only the relationships within that office. Again, this might not be for everyone but I really liked it. I thought it brought a little lightness to the topic and was a great setting for someone with OCD/Autism to be driven to the brink of despair. I felt terrible for Bjorn and how his coworkers treated him, he obviously can't help himself... but at the same time, his uniqueness was also the thing that had me laughing for much of the book. I wouldn't call this a comedy or a drama, maybe a dramady? Anyways, I don't have much more to say other than I really enjoyed it, nice and short but completely for me. I like novellas like this and I wish I would come across them more often. Happy Reading, AmberBug

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Girl Defective

Girl Defective Simmone Howell 3.5 / 5	Published 2014 First Sentence "The song 'Wishing Well' by the Millionaires (Decca, 1966) was as rare as it was weird, and my dad named his record shop after it."
Publisher's Description: In the tradition of High Fidelity and Empire Records, this is the literary soundtrack to Skylark Martin’s strange, mysterious, and extraordinary summer. This is the story of a wild girl and a ghost girl; a boy who knew nothing and a boy who thought he knew everything. It’s a story about Skylark Martin, who lives with her father and brother in a vintage record shop and is trying to find her place in the world. It’s about ten-year-old Super Agent Gully and his case of a lifetime. And about beautiful, reckless, sharp-as-knives Nancy. It’s about tragi-hot Luke, and just-plain-tragic Mia Casey. It’s about the dark underbelly of a curious neighborhood. It’s about summer, and weirdness, and mystery, and music. And it's about life and death and grief and romance. All the good stuff.
Dear Reader, This is definitely a case of me partially choosing a book by its cover - I loved the blend of record-bin vintage and cartoon drawings. Turns out this book was also nostalgic in another way, too: it felt like a more modern, Australian, novelized version of My So-Called Life in a lot of ways. Which of course I loved, MSCL being an old favorite. I could see the main character, Sky, as Angela Chase, and her tough and reckless friend Nancy as Rayanne. So that was pretty great. Plus, Sky's dad was a drunker version of Rob Fleming, which brings back another sort of nostalgia for me. Sans Championship Vinyl and top-ten lists. The book itself was enjoyable - another one I probably would have latched onto and loved were I still in high school (or anywhere NEAR high school age...hah!). As it was, it was an enjoyable story about misfits and family and friendship and love. And about finding yourself, and "your people" as Sky's mother puts it. I felt, though, like at times I was "out of the loop" because a lot of slang and local jargon was used in the book, and I have no familiarity with Australian-isms. So, that made the book a little rougher to read than it otherwise could have been. Not that I blame the author! I just wish I got more of the references... Overall, though, a fun and touching book about how everyone defines (and interacts with) family in different ways. Sky is "saddled" with the caretaking of her oddball younger brother because her father is usually too busy with running the record store - or too drunk. Luke wishes he had been able to take better care of his own sister. Nancy continually runs from whatever family she might have once had, opting instead to forge temporary (and often unhealthy) connections which she will forsake for the opportunity to "travel the world" (read: escape over & over again to other places). I did like the connections Howell built between Sky's father and his old friend, and how Sky's yearning for her estranged mother didn't become too cliched. Things didn't work out perfectly in this book; it wasn't intended to. But I like books where people figure out how they can find a way through. Ultimately, the entire Martin family is able to move forward in one way or another. No, this doesn't promise blue skies and rainbows forever. This isn't a sanitized Grimm tale. It's just a small slice of life, and one to learn from. A fun side note: the name of the record shop where the Martins live and work is the Wishing Well, named after the following (rare and elusive) tune: Yours, Arianna

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The Interestings

The Interestings Meg Wolitzer 4/5	First Sentence "On a warm night in early July of that long-evaporated year, the Interestings gathered for the very first time."
Publisher's Description: From bestselling author Meg Wolitzer a dazzling, panoramic novel about what becomes of every talent, and the roles that art, money, and even envy can play in close friendships. The summer that Nixon resigns, six teenagers at a summer camp for the arts become inseparable.  Decades later the bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed.  In The Interestings, Wolitzer follows these characters from the height of youth through middle age, as their talents, fortunes, and degrees of satisfaction diverge. The kind of creativity that is rewarded at age fifteen is not always enough to propel someone through life at age thirty; not everyone can sustain, in adulthood, what seemed so special in adolescence.  Jules Jacobson, an aspiring comic actress, eventually resigns herself to a more practical occupation and lifestyle.  Her friend Jonah, a gifted musician, stops playing the guitar and becomes an engineer.  But Ethan and Ash, Jules's now-married best friends, become shockingly successful--true to their initial artistic dreams, with the wealth and access that allow those dreams to keep expanding.  The friendships endure and even prosper, but also underscore the differences in their fates, in what their talents have become and the shapes their lives have taken.  Wide in scope, ambitious, and populated by complex characters who come together and apart in a changing New York City, The Interestings explores the meaning of talent; the nature of envy; the roles of class, art, money, and power; and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and a life.  (Published 2013)
Dear Reader, There were parts of this book that I loved, and parts that were very good.  Ultimately, it didn't earn itself status in my Favorite Books Ever category, but I really enjoyed the read.  (Well, actually, the listen - the narrator was great at creating and maintaining distinguishing voices for everyone!)  It's interesting how identifiable I found it, despite that the characters were graduating from high school in the early 70s, not the late 90s. This book recalled to me the sweeping, multi-generational epics of a John Irving novel, complete with the way smaller stories were told in amongst the larger ones.  All of the characters were enjoyable to read about, and it was fascinating to watch as their lives collided, moved apart, and then wove back together, again and again.  I suppose "The Interestings" was an apt title, since the characters' lives were certainly interesting - I didn't want to put the book down, because it was very well-written.  However, naming the entire book after a group that called itself that only once or twice over decades, that was a little odd.  I suppose it really was the one thing that tied them all together - and pretty loosely, at that.  I recall at one point the author having Jules ponder whether they would have all been friends in their adult lives, not having met when they were teenagers.  That's always an interesting thought to ponder, as our friendships progress through years. That reminds me: I have to say, part of what I loved about this story was the nostalgia factor!  I too attended a summer arts camp when I was a teenager, and forged some extremely strong friendships of my own, there.  The memories Jules has of her last days at camp, with everyone upset to be leaving this place that was so theirs - I remember that feeling vividly.  While we'd only spent 5 weeks together, it was an experience that had changed our young lives, and one which we didn't want to end.  So, part of what I loved about this book was the common feelings I could share with Jules, in her long-lasting nostalgia for a place and time which she could not ever truly return to. The characters themselves were quite distinct and strongly written.  Their stories became the reader's stories, and you truly cared about what happened.  Did Goodman truly rape their now-former cohort?  Did his connection with Ash really help Ethan skyrocket to success, while Jules and Dennis struggled to make ends meet?  And Jonah, poor, sad Jonah - what could his life have been without the marring influence of a has-been folk singer? I think this book is a great study in characters and friendships as they grow and change from adolescence through adulthood.  The push and pull of relationships, of envy, of conditional and unconditional love.  I think it will ring true to anyone who has reached adulthood, but feels like maybe they never really did. Yours, Arianna P.S. Reading the Publisher's Description of the book over again reminded me that I kept thinking throughout the book of another book I read this year, called Generation Me. It was a non-fiction work about how children these days are encouraged to pursue their dreams, even if they don't necessarily have the talent or the luck for it.  This seemed to kind of be the case with this group of people; some had "it" and others did not.  And their lives worked out quite differently than they had thought they might when they were young.  Granted, this often happens whether a person is told they are "gifted" or not, but this book strongly reminded me of the arguments Jean M. Twenge makes in her book.