Rachel’s Comments (group member since Apr 22, 2008)

Rachel’s comments from the UC San Diego Libraries Summer Reading! group.

Claire wrote: "Do we have to check out the books from the UCSD library? I am not in San Diego right now, so I'm getting my books from other places."

Hi Claire,
You can get your copy of the book anywhere you like. The only stipulation is that UCSD libraries have to own a copy of the book you're reading.

Rachel

I have to agree wholeheartedly with the open book policy. My favorite part of summer reading is reading people's reviews and finding new books to add to my reading list. It's easy to get into a rut (however literary) about the kinds of books I tend to read. When someone absolutely raves about something I generally wouldn't think to pick up, it's real incentive to try new genres!

I have to admit I love Nick Hornby. He's one of my fluffy, fun, not-so-guilty pleasures. I haven't actually read the two that are now movies, High Fidelity and About a Boy, but How to Be Good is absolutely a hoot and I'm currently reading A Long Way Down, which is the hysterical account (written in 4 voices) of 4 strangers who meet on a rooftop on New Year's Eve, all intent on killing themselves. As the first two negotiate over a stepladder that the original potential suicidee has had the perspicacity to bring along, two more appear, one a pizza delivery guy with pizzas. Hornby's style is charming without verging too far into being precious, and I must admit to laughing out loud several times while reading this one.

Ooops! I just reread this along with the whole string of correspondence and hey, I wrote almost the same thing last year! I guess some things haven't changed too much. Maybe I need to get a life. Would you believe, PG Wodehouse?

Marge wrote: "I have written two reviews of two novels. One is a historical novel and the other an American classic. I am now reading a book about Edwards I, II and III of England. It doesn't seem fair that s..."

I agree that last year graphic novels became all the rage as people tried to up the number of books to compete for the "most read" prizes. There are other prizes to acknowledge great reviews and content.

I do, however, have to note that I've been reading quite a few graphic novels lately, not for the contest (in fact, likely supporting your point, I hadn't even considered using them for the contest, hmmm), and want to say that the content of some of these has as much literary/historical/political value as many things I've read that are more traditional books. Try Fun Home by Alison Bechdel or Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I think Persepolis was every bit as good as, if not better than, Reading Lolita in Tehran. Fun Home, with allusions to authors ranging from Camus and Proust to Henry James and James Joyce (actually maybe that isn't so much of a range, but still), is a witty, insightful, literary, and beautifully drawn exploration of Bechdel's childhood, her relationship with her father (who might or might not have killed himself) and her own self-discovery and coming out as a lesbian. No, it's not like reading Winston Churchill's wartime correspondence. But for me, it's much, much better!

Hi Colleen,
Here's a novel suggestion: I'm reading a Nick Hornby book that has me in stitches. Though not quite the same as Sedaris (I hear his sister, Amy, is pretty funny, too), he'll keep you amused. I've been meaning to read his novels for years and finally picked up How to Be Good. I'm hooked and will be moving on to High Fidelity and his first novel soon.

Adam Gopnick's essays in the New Yorker are always fun and he has a book of essays--From Paris to the Moon (at least I think that's what it's called) which is supposed to be very, very fun. Essays and short stories always seem like better bus reading to me...I've read some of the Gopnick esssays in this anthology, but haven't picked up the book itself. It's on the list, too. Other than that, I've been either reading my daughter's YA novels this summer or more heavy-duty nonfiction, neither of which are suited to bus reading particularly unless you either are either completely oblivious to what anyone thinks (a man next to me on a plane in May was clearly dying to start a conversation and I was resolutely reading a Richard Peck book geared toward ages 9 and up. I finally deigned to talk to him during landing and discovered that he was a new to the area linguistics professor teaching at San Diego State and he might have been fun to chat with for longer. His remark to me, after a bit, was an incredulous, "Is that a children's book you were reading???" The other end of what I've been reading takes too much concentration, at least for a bear of little brain such as myself, to read on a bus.

Speaking of Richard Peck, try A Long Way from Chicago. Hysterical short stories set in the late twenties about a brother and sister who are farmed out (literally) from their city home in Chicago to spend the summer with their very, very iconoclastic granny. I think it got, or was up for a National Book Award, so despite the juvenile audience, no embarrassment involved and perfectly suited for adults.

Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty Someday is my favorite, except for the elf essay in Barrel Fever, which is must-reading. I haven't gotten to the new one (or gotten the new one yet). Let me know what else you're enjoying!

rachel