Polysyllabic Spree – October 2010

Books Purchased:

The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis by Lydia Davis
And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman
The Autobiography of Mark Twain edited by Harriet E. Smith
Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People by Amy Sedaris

Books Read:

Great House by Nicole Krauss
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling (Audio, Re-read)
Everything is Going to be Great by Rachel Shukert
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling (Audio, Re-read)
Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman

This post is long overdue – I’ve been a very absent Blogger lately. So I don’t have very extensive things to say about most of these books, since I read them a while ago. But I’ll attempt to share a few thoughts about each one anyway.

Great House by Nicole Krauss was a good read. Her novel The History of Love is one of my favorites of all time, so anything else she wrote would have a hard time living up to that. But it was an interesting novel, and I do like her writing style quite a lot.

I didn’t really know what to expect when I started Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, a new collection of short stories by David Sedaris. I was wondering how his easy, personable style and his humor would translate into fiction – since I’ve only read his non-fiction essays. Effortlessly, it turns out. This was an enjoyable and fun collection. He personifies animals and turns them into human stereotypes that are very funny to read. A great read that goes very quickly.

In October, I listened to two more Harry Potter audio books: Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince. Jim Dale is such a masterful performer, I’m not sure that many (any?) other audiobook narrators can live up to him, but I’m going to explore anyway, because I adore listening to audiobooks. I listen whenever I’m cleaning or walking anywhere – it’s fun to be read to, and it greatly expands the amount of time you can spend ‘reading.’

Everything is Going to be Great: I liked reading about Rachel Shukert’s adventures abroad, and she has a way (like the best memoir writers) of telling her humiliating stories with humor that makes them endearing.

I found Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography while browsing through the graphic novels section at the Hoboken Public Library. It’s a fantastic graphic novel biography and I recommend it to anyone interested in Anne Frank. I really enjoy reading biographies in graphic novel form and hope that there will continue to be more written & published.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic that I’ve been meaning to read for years. I finally set my mind to it and I’m glad I did. I thought that the beginning was rather dull, with Lord Henry droning on and on. But then once the narrative switched over to Dorian it picked up a lot and I really enjoyed it.

And the Pursuit of Happiness is the second collection of Maira Kalman’s New York Times online columns. Maira is one of my favorite artists, and I love her whimsy and insightful art & writing. This collection, and her first (The Principles of Uncertainty) are often re-read and gifted to others by me.