The Storied Life of A J Fikry

THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY, Gabrielle Zevin published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in 2014. The life of A. J. Fikry told by using bits and pieces of short stories, novella's and novels to write letters about his life to his adopted daughter Maya. Mr. Fikry is a bookseller on an Island only reached by boat. He is a widow and would rather not deal with the public. His wife makes him a slogan for the Island bookstore "No man is an Island, every book is a world." She had modified a quote by John Donne. The store was his wife's idea.  After her death he definitely wants to become an island and live in the world of books. I think his introverted character sets the tone at the beginning of the book.

Out of his life goes a rare book and into his life comes Maya. There are many layers to the story and I think my only criticism is that the book seemed to be in chunks. One of my book club members reckoned it being like a series of short stories inside of a novel. I think the book could have been expanded as we jump from Maya as a two year old and the next chapter we jump three years. This made me have to go back at the end of the book and figure out exactly how old she was and how long she had been with her adopted family. 

Also in this book was the e-book versus a handheld book, and bookstores having to change in order to stay up-to-date with the current trends in reading. I am a person who likes to go into a store browse all the books, read the first pages, feel the book and make my decision. It is the same thing I do in the library. But I do have an e-reader and when I am looking at a book that is rather large, it is nice to have it in a smaller format, where I do not need to hold a heavy tome in my hand. Both forms have there place but my favorite form and that of A.J. Fikry is the book. That is until later in his life, when he found the e-reader helpful.

Again as I said there are many layers in the book and I was not pleased with the ending but it was a good story. It is a life and I want to go and read all the short stories and novellas that he referenced in his letters to Maya. I have already read one and will read the others if I can find them in the library. 

Dracula- still in process

Though I seem to have been reading this book for a long time, I only started reading it in October, and then lost the book while my husband was recuperating. It was going to be my must read while he was recovering. Now all the goblins, vampires and werewolves have put away their costumes and I feel like I should stop, but I cannot. I have left our first narrator on a precipice and have now entered into the letters his fiance is writing. This means I am not far into the book. However, the book is very cleanly written, though I do not care for the drawings in the book. Maybe, I have seen too many debonair vampires to envision the character drawn in the book I am reading. If I had seen his face I would have run at the first chance. It is my main read this week, so I should be finished by weekends end, unless the book vanishes again and hides in a room seldom used.

Review: On The Road

ON THE ROAD  by Jack Kerouac, published by Penguin Books in 2011. This book was first published by Viking Press in 1957, but the copyright is dated 1955. Jack Kerouac is in his twenties when he went on this adventure with his friends, whose names were changed in the book.  These were friends he met in college, and along his journey's with 'Dean', who was really Neal Cassady.

My comments on the book would be WOW. This book is manic. I was not born until 2 years after this book was published. I grew up with the beat movement in the background, but not in my life. It was a different time and it shows in this book about adventures. Looking at our current society where everything is in place, kids go to college, life is structured around teams and taking off and doing your own thing is not widely accepted. Though in my twenties, I had a mini adventure, traveling with my friend to Europe, riding on the train to sleep from one town to the next. We stayed in Europe for 1 month, leaving everything behind. I was enamored by just carrying around a suitcase and a bunch of traveler checks to see Europe. My daughter spent 6 months in Europe and the British Isles, traveling and working through out the country. That amazed me and made me happy to know I had the means to save her if she got stuck.

In this book Sal (Jack) has his aunt who helps him out when he gets stuck, but he is always on the move. Traveling by foot, bus, hitchhiking and sometimes by the car that Dean has procured to get him. They travel back and forth to California and New York. In the last part of the book they end up traveling to Mexico, where once again Sal is abandoned by Dean.

Dean is the manic component of this trip, just talking and feeling and saying whatever comes to mind. Enjoying the ability to roam, see people in his own personal way. Looking for things lost like his father. I kept thinking he is going to crack and drive off the road, he is so manic sometimes. I think I would get tired really fast and driving that fast may have had me get off at the next stop. But they had so much fun, partying all the way, breaking hearts and connecting with people.

Different times, different feelings, a new movement called the Beat movement, that celebrated life. Good book, full of history between the manic parts. I really enjoyed the book.

Working on Three

I am still working on ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac, so far I find it fascinating, especially the way he traveled. I am hoping to be finished by the end of the week. I have currently started THE STORIED LIFE OF A J FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin, this is my book club pick. It means I get to have book club at my house, yeah. I love October book club, I get to decorate. The third book is another 100 book challenge book DRACULA by Bram Stoker, which I love so far, it has great characterization of the towns folk.

So those are my three for this month, I hoping to finish DRACULA by Oct 31, just in time for the ghouls to come out.

Review: Sycamore Ridge by John Grisham

SYCAMORE ROW, by John Grisham, published in 2013 by Doubleday a division of Random House books.

How do you connect to a book that starts off with a suicide in the South, that leaves a black maid over 24 million dollars and cuts off his own children? I knew this book would be full of southern drama. The main character is a white lawyer, Jake, who recently had his house burned down by white supremacists because he won a case for a black man. He is quickly thrown into a new case by a handwritten letter and a handwritten will that the man who committed suicide sends to him through the mail, that reaches him the day after the man kills himself. Jake is not happy because he is not sure he likes the fact that this man gave nothing to his children, but he knows that it would mean a case that may bring some money his way. All he has to do is make sure that the will is accepted and that the first will is thrown out, the one that leaves all the money to his children.

The story weaves in several facts, the prevalence of lynchings in the south, the suppression of blacks even though it is 1989, the hate crimes, such as burning down houses, making threats, and the portrayal of blacks as poor, alcoholic and conniving. The latter is not a fact but it is how the characters are portrayed and falls into the way racists see the African Americans.

I had a hard time with the book. Having just experienced death in the family and children of the deceased acting snarky, I wanted to see if justice prevailed. The whole book was centered around Lettie Lang a black woman who was the aide and maid to Mr. Hubbard when he was dying of cancer. Did she influence his changing of the will? Did she do this with special favors? Did she know about the will changes? In one part of the book, she is happy to be mentioned in the will but did not expect that she would receive it all. All she wanted to do was give the majority back to the family, but it was not up to her. The main focus was Seth Hubbard's mind working or was he muddled the day he made the new will.

I have to admit I am not into the ins and outs of tricks, games and tactics that lawyers use to skew the facts. At one point I was thinking can we please get this book moving. I just want to get to the end. About halfway through the book it starts to get interesting again. But I felt that some things were drawn out way to long. All in all a good book, not sure about the very ending. I did like the trial outcome and subsequent events that lead to a good resolution, but the last chapter was somewhat kitchy.

NO Posts

Sorry about the lack of posts, I have fallen once again behind in my reading. But, I am hoping to catch up on my reading in the next few days. As a reminder, I am reading ON THE ROAD, by Jack Kerouac and SYCAMORE ROW by John Grisham. It is a rainy day here and though I am substitute teaching today, this afternoon may be the perfect time to sit back and relax with a book. At least, I am hoping that this is a good day to relax.

Books Left to Read

I have 20 books left to read in the 100 book Challenge sponsored by Facebook and I think Random House books. I have finally grabbed a copy of ON THE ROAD by Kerouac. I did have to purchase it so it is the next book on the list to read. I also own a copy of DRACULA by Bram Stoker, so I am going to read that in October, Halloween is the perfect time to read this book. I am going to try to read 10 books before the end of the year, but there may be a problem with length and time, DON QUIXOTE for example is huge.

Books Left to Read of the 100:
ON THE ROAD
DRACULA
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED
CATCH-22 (for some reason I think I have read this)
DON QUIXOTE
FAHRENHEIT 451
A FINE BALANCE
THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK (I started this but did not finish, will retry)
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
HAMLET
IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME
LES MISERABLE (Read excerpts in my French class)
LOLITA
NATIVE SON
THE SECRET HISTORY
SLAUGHTER HOUSE FIVE (Again I recall reading this but will read again)
TROPIC OF CANCER
ULYSSES
UNDER THE VOLCANO
AMBASSADORS (Another book I started and had a hard time getting through, I will try again)


My Book Club book for this month is SYCAMORE ROW, by John Grisham. This is one that definitely needs to be read before the end of the month. I also started two books at the end of August, so I will be reviewing those as well.