I Want a Tattoo of the Skyline Chili Logo, or: Eligible, by Curtis Sittenfeld

Genre: Fiction

Rating: ★★★★

Pages: 512

Published: 2016

Publisher: Random House

Like many Americans, I felt that I needed a little pick-me-up following Election Day this year. Alcohol didn't do me much good, break-up songs hit waaaay too close to home, and the platter of calamari I stress-ate Election Night was not sitting well with me. 

So I did what any decent, red-blooded American capitalist does with emotional (and calamari-induced) pain — I dealt with my feelings by shopping. 

Fifteen minutes and several enticing promises by Amazon Prime later, Curtis Sittenfeld's Eligible was purchased and en route to my house. The fact that it was there before I got home was the surprisingly delicious icing on the dumpster fire cake that has so far been 2016. 

I've been meaning to read Eligible for a while, but I didn't get serious about it until I read Sittenfeld's essay on The New Yorker, titled "My Friend Sam." Something about Sittenfeld's writing style reminded me of one of my good friends, Kiernyn, to the point where I decided that I just had to get my greedy little hamster hands on this book. 

Eligible is one of six novels the Austen project (link), which seeks to pair Jane Austen's six novels with a contemporary (and critically-acclaimed) author in order to prove the timelessness of Jane Austen's stories. While several of the novels have so far received mixed reviews (Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Northanger Abbey), Sittenfeld's Pride and Prejudice contribution was highly anticipated due to the blockbuster status of Pride and Prejudice within the literary world and Austen fandom. This New York Times article is a pretty solid interview with Sittenfeld about the project and about how she feels taking up the Pride and Prejudice mantle, so I'd recommend y'all reading it if you have a free minute (or 10).

*swats away background and baggage* K, let's get to the review.

Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her older sister Jane (a yoga instructor) lives in New York City. When their father suffers a heart attack, the two women fly home to help around the house as their father recovers. Liz, usually the most perceptive Bennet of the bunch, is shocked at the state of things: their home is run down, their family's finances are perilous, their mother has an online shopping addiction, and her younger sisters — left to their own devices — are running amok. 

Liz and Jane's return to Cincinnati is also marked by the appearance of Chip Bingley, a young doctor fresh from a wildly successful (and infamous) run on a reality television show (not-so-coincidentally named Eligible). Mrs. Bennet (always the meddler) decides that Chip Bingley is destined to marry Jane who, nearly forty, is practically a spinster (my heavens). Of course, as Jane and Bingley hit it off and their relationship heats up, Liz comes into contact with Chip's good friend, the ever-obnoxious and ever-handsome Darcy. And from there, as the reader and Liz learn, is how misleading first impressions can be.

The New York Time's Sarah Lyall says in this review of Eligible that Sittenfeld's decision to set the novel in the United States "let[s] the air in," in regards to interpreting Austen's classic story and characters, and I totally agree. As opposed to setting a modern-day retelling of P&P in England, I think that moving the Bennets to Cincinnati highlights the universality of these characters, their problems, and their faults.* 

I loved Sittenfeld setting the novel in Cincinnati for a couple of reasons. First of all, as a Midwestern transplant, I always like to see a little more Midwestern love in the literary world.** Second, the Cincinnati setting is prefaced by a Mark Twain quote: 

"When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always twenty years behind the times."

Via.

This quote establishes Cincinnati as the stand-in for the backwater town Meryton where the wealthy Bingleys and Darcy find themselves. Darcy's discomfort with Cincinnati is what initially pits him against Elizabeth, as Liz overhears him talking about grading Cincinnati/Midwestern women "on a curve." Naturally, Liz is insulted, and uses this as the springboard for her dislike/hatred. This chip-on-the-shoulder attitude is familiar, I think, to Midwestern transplants who frequently feel that they have to defend their cities, towns, states, etc., on a regular basis. If nothing else, Sittenfeld's nearly anthropological statements about the Midwestern state of mind (she makes an especially salient point about what it means to ask someone where they went to high school) got me on her (and Liz's) side as the reader. 

Like with the setting, Sittenfeld makes other ~~artistic choices~~ which modernize certain plot elements. Such as: the Bennet sisters being aged up (because not a lot of people consider themselves spinsters at 20 these days); the Meryton ball where Darcy and Elizabeth meet becoming a July 4th barbecue; and the infamous George Wickham being split into two characters, Jasper Wick (who has considerable baggage left over from his time at Stanford and has been leading Liz on for more than a decade by the start of the book) and Ham (the owner of a CrossFit gym who becomes Lydia's boyfriend). 

I really liked Eligible. Even though it clocked in at over 180 chapters (!) and over 500 pages, I found that time flew by as I read it. Some of the shorter chapters made the actions a little choppy, or didn't contribute much to the overall plot (although they did arguably reveal bits about the characters), and some of the Cincinnati references were frustrating because they went over my head  (like, "they ran to this neighborhood, and then this one, and then went to this famous Cincinnati restaurant for lunch"). But overall, I think that Sittenfeld did a really, really good job at bringing the Bennets (& Co.) into the modern era while being true to the spirit of the book. It didn't feel forced — the characters' interactions felt natural and true to form, even if there was 100% more CrossFit in this book than the original. 

(Bottom line: You should read this book.)

You've probably seen this one before. Image (c) Kate Beaton, Hark! A Vagrant

*The Lizzie Bennet Diaries does a really good job with this setting as well. Link here. And if Emma is more your speed, here is Hank Green and Bernie Su's second foray into Austenland with Emma Approved. (It took a while for EA to hook me, but once it did, boy was I in.)

** s/o to my short-lived Midwest Monday series.

Where the Hell I've Been

Me, back from the frozen depths of undergrad. Via.

I'll be the first one to admit that this is a bit of a ~vanity post~ since literally no one follows me and cares where I've been or what I've been doing in the year or so it's been since I've updated this here blog. But I figured a little bit of an icebreaker post might be a good way to get back into the arrhythmic world of book blogging. (RIP my book Tumblr)

So, what have I been up to?

1. Graduating! (shout out to the honors thesis that consumed my life like TB)
2. Trying to find a job (unsuccessfully)
3. Moving to Virginia
4. Finding a job!
5. Trying to learn immigration law (aka, my job)

OK, yes, it's nothing glamorous, but now for the first time ever I'm not in school and can read uninterrupted by homework. And, since graduating, I've read 18 books! Which has been terribly exciting and also gives me hope that I'll get through the mammoth pile I carted to Virginia in...three years? So, not to worry - I've got more than enough material for This Here Blog. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, peaches - keep your heads up through any family drama y'all might have.

Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel

Genre: Fiction, Romance

Rating: ★★★

Pages: 222

Published: 1989/1993

Publisher: Black Swan

I picked up Like Water for Chocolate at a fantastic English-language bookstore in Sofia called the Elephant Bookstore. It was recommended by one of the girls in my group, so I decided to get it in order to counteract all of the Yugoslavia nonfiction I had with me. 

Like Water for Chocolate is about a young woman, Tita, living in revolutionary Mexico. Tita, as the youngest daughter of the De La Garza family, has her fate decided for her: she is forbidden to marry by family tradition, and must instead care for her mother until she dies. When Pedro, Tita's sweetheart, asks for her hand, he is swiftly rebuffed by Tita's mother and redirected towards her sister, Rosaura. Pedro agrees to marry Rosaura, if only because that will allow him to remain by Tita's side. Over the course of the next 22 years, the two circle each other in "unconsummated passion" (according to the back description) that inspires passion in the lives of those around them. Each chapter also begins with the name of a dish and the ingredients for said dish. During the following chapter, the food is somehow woven into the narrative. 

Like Water for Chocolate reads like a folktale, and so there are some extreme exaggerations regarding activity and imagery (ex: losing 65 pounds in a week, having a blanket that covers an entire ranch, etc.). Because this was my first "magical realism" book (and magical realism utilizes hyperbole and mythology), it was definitely something I had to get used to — I took a few hyperboles quite literally and was left going "what?" a few times in the beginning of the novel. 

Continuing on the "magical narrative" trend, the food that Tita cooks assumes a large role in conveying Tita's emotions to others and influencing events in the book. While Tita doesn't often show her true emotions to others (such as anger, lust), other characters pick up on her feelings through her cooking, although their sudden emotional outbursts confuse them. 

I think I was more into the first half of the book, but lost steam afterwards. I guess I just had a harder time sympathizing with Pedro and Tito? I didn't really care for Pedro, and thought that Tita could have done better than him. Like Water was also a little unusual in that the tone would go from being very clinical and detached to being super technical and "whatever" about sex and lust. The book was described as containing "unbridled passion," and I guess my takeaway is that I don't really go for that. (One review on the inside described the ideal reader as one who likes their wine "full-bodied" and their food "zesty." I don't really fall into either category.)

I ended up finishing this book faster than I thought I would; it's very accessible, and — due to its monthly format — felt unimposing and gave me a good sense of how far along I was in the story. While it is somewhat unfortunate that the romance plot fell a little flat for me, there were other comedic parts of the book that I really liked, and one character in particular — Gertrudis — that was by far my favorite. I recommend it to anyone who likes cooking or is interesting in magical realism novels.

(Oh, yes — and """passion""")

Safe Area Gorazde, by Joe Sacco

My cover looked cooler, but this is the best image I could find.

Genre: Graphic Novel, Memoir

Rating: ★★★★

Pages: 229

Published: 2007

Publisher: Jonathan Cape

This rating has a trigger warning for blood/gore imagery, war mentions, and the like.

Hello again, peaches! I'd apologize for the radio silence, but I'm really not that sorry about it. Study abroad has been pretty neat so far, and this past month I spent my Spring Break on (as one guy in my group put it) a "tour of the Ottoman Empire." 6 countries (Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Turkey) in 10 days. My takeaway? The Balkans are beautiful and awesome and I wanna go back like nothing else. (As my friend, E., "I could make a life here!")

Because I'm me, and I was surrounded by enabling poli-sci majors, I found time during my trip to go to a few bookstores and picked up some """relevant reading.""" (Book haul post to come later. If I remember.) One of the books I got in Bosnia was Safe Area Gorazde ("Gorazde" pronounced like "gor-AJ-da"). I picked it up after visiting the Gallery 11/07/95, which is a permanent gallery about the Srebrenica massacre (or genocide, depending on who you're talking to). 

Real talk: the Gallery is super depressing and kind of awful, but in a good way? It was very informative and powerful, and definitely impacted my stay in Sarajevo. It was kind of surreal walking around the Balkans and examining the scars that the war left on both buildings and people. 

Building in Belgrade, Serbia.

Inside the Gallery

 

  

The building next to my hostel in Sarajevo.

(But this review is about Joe Sacco's time in Bosnia, not mine.)

Safe Area Gorazde details the time that journalist Joe Sacco spent in Gorazde, Bosnia, from 1994-1995. The book's material is largely based off of his interviews with Bosnian Muslims in the Muslim "enclave" of Gorazde, but also includes historical information and Sacco's opinion on the war. Safe Area Gorazde is meant as a memoir, but delivers Sacco's own brand of self-reflection and political observations. 

I was kinda familiar with Sacco's art before reading Safe Area Gorazde, and had some prior knowledge about the Balkan War. Gorazde was mentioned briefly in the Srebrenica exhibit as a UN Safe Area, but wasn't really elaborated on. My interest was piqued, then, when I saw Sacco's book in Sarajevo (it was one of the titles consistently available in English throughout the city) and I decided to purchase it. I didn't recall seeing Sacco's work in many stores previously, so I thought it would be a worthwhile buy. 

I enjoyed reading Safe Area Gorazde for its writing and art, and was appreciative of how Sacco established the book as his personal narrative during a portion of the conflict, as opposed to a definitive telling of the entire war. Sacco wrote about the privilege he enjoyed during the war (such as being able to travel relatively freely whereas people from Gorazde were stuck in the city). National privilege is an uncomfortable thing to admit when traveling, and I sometimes think that some writers, despite operating outside of the host society as foreigners, tend to over-identify with their subjects to the point where they believe they face the same challenges and restrictions as them.

Page from Safe Area Gorazde detailing the 1994 offensive. Copyright Joe Sacco.

Panels from Safe Area Gorazde. Copyright Joe Sacco.

I would absolutely recommend Safe Area Gorazde to anyone interested in learning about the Balkans War, the intersection of nationality and ethnicity, modern nation-building, and how international government organizations operate. It's a powerful book, a compelling memoir that Sacco shares with other individuals about a dark period in European/world history. Although dark and depressing, the story that Sacco tells does not stand for willful ignorance. 

My Wishlist, Myself (pt.1)

Despite my current study abroad status and the fact that I should probably be saving my money for travel and food and other """basic necessities,""" I've been lusting over potential books to buy for my Kindle. I thought I'd share my top "wanna buys" here in an attempt to distract me from actually buying them. (This is also part one of I don't know how many because I am a greedy little hamster.)

(so, in no particular order:)

1. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee —Dee Brown
For a girl who loves history and who studies the intersection of identity and politics, I am super uninformed about Native American history. I don't know what else to say about this book, other than that it seems like a good place to start learning.

2. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
The first time I saw this book (probably in elementary school), I thought that this was a World War I or II book that featured rabbits on the cover; needless to say, I wasn't very impressed with it then and was a little confused a few years ago when I found out that Watership Down was being marketed as a famous fantasy book. About rabbits. Rabbits? What the hell would that even look like? I wondered. I read the intro when I was thinking about getting it with some of my Christmas $$$, which actually made me more interested, but ultimately decided that I'd rather have it in paperback as opposed to my Kindle. (It has a map in the front.)

3. Understanding Comics — Scott McCloud
I was about thisclose to buying Understanding Comics earlier this week, and the only reason that there isn't a copy sitting and waiting for me on my bed right now is that my internet crapped out on me as I was in the middle of pressing the "add to cart" button.

Understanding Comics is one of those books that, if you're interested in comics (like me!) and art (also like me!), you can't really escape. It's cited by artists and writers (and non-artists and non-writers) as a super important piece of writing and analysis about comic books and comic techniques. Since I'm trying to "broaden my horizons" as a person or whatever, I figured that I should finally, finally read this book. This book isn't available on Kindle right now, but I figured that since I would probably get a lot out of it, I could live with having a physical copy of it on my bookshelf. (I know; my life is just so hard.)

4. The Arabs: A History —Eugene Rogan
So, I'm an International Relations major (in case you didn't know) with a focus on the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. Despite my junior standing, I always feel like I should know way more about the region than I do. I have a running list of "MENA books" that has a little over seventy titles on it that I've been meaning to read. I'm sometimes a little wary of books that proclaim to be histories of an entire ethnic group or society, but one of my professors last semester (whom I loved) recommended it, so I decided that this might be a good place to start some of my extracurricular reading.

5. My Uncle Napoleon — Iraj Pezehkzad
This is another book I found at my school library (seriously, bless you Beloit...), and I was first drawn to it because of its rad cover art. When I perused the back cover, my interest was totally piqued. My Uncle Napoleon is a hugely successful book in Iran, and even inspired a (super popular) television series. Napoleon is about a young man who lives with his extended family, the patriarch of which is his uncle, Napoleon. The narrator opens the novel by despairing over falling in love with his cousin, Napoleon's favorite daughter. Napoleon is an extended family drama that delves into post-colonial psychology as frequently as family conflict. I alllllllmost bought this book last semester, but demurred because I thought I was going to get it for Christmas. (spoiler: I didn't.)


I'm in the middle of a pretty serious nonfiction kick right now, so let me know if y'all are reading anything similar or what. I love love love love love book lists and book recs, so leave a comment down below!

Currently Reading

Is anyone else guilty of reading multiple books and sometimes.... forgetting one or two of them?

(Because this is the internet, and we're only human, I'm going to assume "yes.")

I'm technically reading like six books now — although, if I'm being totally honest, I haven't picked some of them up in almost a year. I keep them on my list, though, because it A) makes me feel a little less guilty about abandoning them and B) reminds me that I'm meaning to read it/like it enough to keep reading it. I figured that I'd write about my "currently reading" books here because it might compel someone else to read them while I continue ignoring them.

(so, in no particular order....)

1. Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? — Michael J. Sandel
This book was assigned reading for my legal studies class last year, and I'm probably... halfway through it? Maybe a little less. I can't bring myself to abandon it because I don't see any reason why I should — it isn't hard, I didn't hate it, I just... wasn't required to finish it for class. This book is more philosophical than any of the other books on this list, but manages to apply theories (pertaining to equality, justice, etc.) by putting them in real-world context.

2. A Tale for the Time Being — Ruth Ozeki
A Tale for the Time Being was a "new addition" at my college's library last spring, and because I had seen it popping up a lot on the internet, I decided to pick it up for fun. I got about halfway through with it before the school year ended and I had to return it, but I liked it a lot and I definitely intend on finishing it the first chance I get. (Also, the cover art is, imo, gorgeous.)

3. Imperial Life in the Emerald City — Rajiv Chandrasekaran
I picked this book up last semester from the library because I was bored with my classes and wanted to read something that I could relate to my coursework while still...not being my coursework.

Since then, I've probably recommended Imperial Life to three people since I started reading it. I probably would have finished this book, but I let a friend borrow it because he had to write a paper about Iraq and — ugh. It got away from me. I'm going to pick up a paperback copy of this when I get home as opposed to reading it on my Kindle. Imperial Life is a book I like being able to flip back and forth through in order to refer to the index or earlier chapters. (I started making a reference sheet of characters for my personal use, but I lost that. :/) I'd definitely recommend this book if you're interested in American foreign policy — specifically in the Middle East, Iraq, or in the George W. Bush era. Chandrasekaran is a journalist, and also a really clear and concise writer. I think he does a really good job at explaining things in this book so that you don't need to have an intimate knowledge of Iraq to understand what's going on.

4. A People's History of the United States — Howard Zinn
OK, so I'm ACTIVELY READING this book. While it's been neglected a little bit since I've arrived in Jordan, I wouldn't say that it's been abandoned. The only problem that I have with this book is that it's so long and so dense that I can tell it's going to take me forever to finish it. I'm really enjoying it so far though, and I'd recommend picking it up for a more comprehensive understanding of American history. I can understand why so many people enjoyed it/recommend it. I've also gotten compliments on it, which hasn't happened to my reading list, like... ever. (This is the one book I brought to Jordan with me (besides my Kindle), and I think it was a good move on my part.)

5. The Secret History — Donna Tartt.
I started reading this book on the recommendation of one of my good friends, G., who, when telling me about it, got so excited that she started yelling. It was then that I figured I should read it for myself and see why so many people seemed to be nuts for this book. I'll admit that it took me a while to get into it (some of the characters really annoyed me in the beginning, and it took me a while to get used to the writing style), but by the time I left for Jordan I was totally hooked. I decided not to bring it with me because I figured, since I only had maybe 100 pages left, I couldn't really justify bringing it along with me on the plane because, if I finished it, I didn't want it to be a dead weight. I'm hoping that it won't be too hard for me to pick back up when I get home.

6. Abarat #1 — Clive Barker
I got the second Abarat book a little over ten years ago for Christmas. It's been with me for maybe three moves, and I finally decided that if I was ever going to read it, I should maybe start with the first book in the series. I had to drop Abarat for the usual reasons (going to school, leaving home & not wanting extra baggage, etc.), but think that if I had maybe gotten it a week earlier than I had, I would be finished with it. It's a fast, easy read, and I think that it's a really interesting concept. Asides from my forays into Discworld and Percy Jackson, it's the first fantasy I've read in a long while.



Is there anything you've been reading but putting off? Any books you've accidentally abandoned?

Kindle Reads: A Once Crowded Sky, by Tom King

Genre: Fiction

Rating: ★ ★ ★

Pages: 336

Published: 2012

Publisher: Touchstone

A Once Crowded Sky is the sort of thing that I adore — superhero meta. I've spent hours on Tumblr, Fanfiction.net, whatever, reading introspective fic about superheroes and how they operate within their own world. You can probably imagine how pumped I was to see this book — like, how could I not read this? 

A Once Crowded Sky takes place in a world where superheroes used to roam the earth. You read me right — "used to." The superhero community is left reeling after a disaster (you know the kind, one where the world is about to end and the world's heroes must team up to save the planet from certain destruction) not only ends the life of perhaps the most powerful superhero alive — Ultimate, the Man with the Metal Face — but also with all superheroes losing their superpowers. Permanently. For a group of people whose lives are essentially "cycles of violence" (periods of peace interrupted by periods of war/fighting, rinse and repeat), and never really experience change for long (one character remarks that his wife and daughter have died five times but have always come back), the idea of permanent power loss is beyond destabilizing and debilitating. 

King uses this formula to explore the idea of what makes a hero when death is a nonissue — when you and everyone you love always come back. I mean, if you can be sure that despite whatever evil you might face you'll make it out alright, what are you really risking? King also examines the possible psychological effects of living such a life. (His conclusion is mixed, I think.)

A Once Crowded Sky was definitely a fast read for me. I liked how each character's "voice" came through in their respective chapters and in the broader narrative. (I'm such a sucker for that.) As a writer, King has a firm hold on who his characters are, through and through. He's also obviously versed in superhero lingo. Despite the fact that he builds this superhero universe from scratch, it all sounds plausible — like, I wouldn't be surprised to see comics about these people. Sky doesn't sound like some kind of superhero parody, which I appreciated. 

Via.

I did have a few issues with Sky, however — namely with the female characters and how they were handled. I feel like they were largely one-dimensional; they were frequently described through their relationships with various male characters and were (outside of the wife of the protagonist) infrequently mentioned.

I think that King tried to tackle the issue of "fridging" in comics and how a rational person should react to it ("My wife/SO is dead and that is NOT OKAY and that does NOT motivate me as a superhero but is instead AWFUL for both me and her), but its delivery was kiiiiiiinda weak in that I didn't feel like I had a good understanding of Anna's character. (Anna being the main character's wife.) I am, however, REALLY GLAD that he addressed this issue and called it out on its bullshit.

My final issue was with another female character, Mashallah. I know that her relationship with her religion was supposed to be complicated thanks to her superhero past and previous relationships, but I didn't really see her talking about it in depth or actively working through it. It was more often referenced as an issue or a roadblock for other characters to overcome. (But yo, I am happy that King included a Muslim hijabi superheroine.) Kind of a missed opportunity to really explore a potentially interesting character. 

So. Besides these issues, I did like the A Once Crowded Sky. Each "part" included pages of comic art that provided backstory/character analysis, which was awesome. I'm interested in checking out similar books (because seriously, superhero meta is my crack) and King's other work. I would personally recommend this book to anyone who likes superheroes/comics or likes to dabble in superhero meta themselves.

(If you know of any similar books, PLEASE let me know in the comments.)