Julia's Bookshelf

Two Books Not Technically "Read"

When I drove to Northern California after my sister's last chemo treatment in January, I bought a couple of books on CD to listen to during the drive. I love long solo drives when there is a good story to be listened to. Both books were non-fiction and the first one was Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman. Mr. Klosterman reads the book himself and made me laugh out loud so many times. He is my age/generation (Gen X, if we must be specific -- ooh we used to be so hot!) and uses examples from our popular culture to make his points about our general culture. The Empire Strikes Back is the best section and really made me laugh though the part about Saved By The Bell was not quite as illuminating as I never watched that show (ironically or otherwise). If you are a Gen X-er, I recommend this book highly. If you are not, I recommend this book highly.


The book I listened to on the way back was John Adams by David McCullough. I worked on the HBO mini-series a few years ago (in prep mode) and read and re-read the scripts many times. I knew very little about our 2nd president and was amazed to learn about all that he did for the founding of our country. It made me want to read the book, and I bought it a while back but never really launched in. I realized a long drive would be perfect and I am glad I listened as hearing the story told was so much better then sitting down to read it. As much of a reader as I am, some stories come through better that way. (I saw Patrick Stewart do a one man version of A Christmas Carol years ago, dressed only in a regular suit and with just a stool and lectern on stage. Blew my mind. I never wanted to go and read the book as I felt it would lack the power of what I had seen and heard live.)

Alas, Mr. McCullough doesn't read his work on this one. Edward Herrmann reads it admirably though, so no problem there. If you love history, haven't read this yet and are going on a long road trip, I'll loan this to you!

Holy Cow! It's Been Over A Month--Sorry

I know I have my core/hero readers who come here from time to time to check my updates and I apologize for not updating in ages. There are plenty of excuses, the best ones being I've been writing a lot more on my Mexico City blog and at Metroblogging Los Angeles. I know you all read both of those other blogs regularly as well. (Right? I knew it.)

In the mean time, what have I been reading? I have many magazines all the time and have subscribed to a new one: Domino. This is my kind of fashion mag. It's focus is modern home and lifestyle, fun, hip, not too expensive home and lifestyle. Their latest issue was all about greening your home (Well, let's be serious and say who's latest issue isn't?) and there were plenty of great resources I've looked up and bookmarked for future reference.

I still plow through the New Yorker and am halfway through the latest Oprah and Sunset Magazine. Sunset has a good veggie gardening article and their recipes are always worth a try. Budget Travel is really my favorite magazine at the moment as it is A) about travel and B) actually offers affordable suggestions. I was getting Travel + Leisure but am letting it go without renewal. I love to aspire to what they offer, but for the moment get frustrated by their "Rome Hotels on a Budget" articles where the hotel rooms are only $395 per night! Someday, I know I'll be able to afford that if I want to, but for now, um, not quite.

I will be getting National Geographic Traveler in the not too distant future. (Thanks for that hot tip, Lisa!) These travel magazines are all part of my research into travel photography. Oh and I love to travel so that doesn't hurt too much either...Oh and as part of my new subscriber sign up, I got two free maps -- one of the world (which I already have a copy of on my wall from before -- thought it will be interesting to see what has changed.) and one of Italy. Perfect!

Of course there are the weekly magazines, Time and Entertainment Weekly which get read pretty quickly as they come in. Entertainment Weekly has Stephen King as a monthly contributor and his columns I always love. Diablo Cody (she of oscar-winning fame for Juno) is also a monthly writer and at first I wasn't sure about her style, but I have warmed up to it and am inspired by her.

Books you say? Oh books yes. I watched (via Netflix) The Jane Austin Book Club one cloudy Saturday and had to immediately reread Sense and Sensibility. So I did. Then I had to reread Pride and Prejudice, which I did. I'm a history nutjob and read these books for the time and place as much as the characters and story. I know these stories backward and forward and yet still surprise myself by having feelings of "what's going to happen??" It's the 11 year old reader, still in me, and I love that feeling.

Reading those books this time got me really really really in a mood to visit England and tour the very rustic countryside to see the tiny towns like Meryton, or the great estates with villages attached like Delaford or Longbourn or Rosings Park ("What condescension!"). Yes I know these places are fictional, but there are places all over England like this and I want to see them, live in them, (well stay in them for a night at least) and explore. I've been to a few in 1992. With Mom and Jack and Lori and Javi we went to Castle Combe. Click the link, then click into the "photos of the village" link. (This is one of the photos from their site.) Gorgeous! Full of tourists, yes, but so pretty. We had lunch in the old crooked beautiful pub there before heading to Bath. (Writing about how much I love Bath would take up WAY TOO MUCH TIME AND SPACE! Ooooh I love Bath.) I would love to go and stay in a cottage like this one: Stable Cottage. Wake up and take long walks in the countryside, just like Lizzy. Though I wouldn't want to dress like her, Empire style just doesn't flatter me...

We also spent time in Rodmell, Bourton-on-the-Water and Corsham. At Corsham we toured the manor house attached to the village. The man himself, Lord Methuen still lived there and actually showed us a few rooms indoors and part of the garden. The curator, Mr. Peach (shouldn't that be a character in a Dickens book?) showed us the art and furniture and his wife, Mrs. Peach (!!!) also came to chat and be a bit catty about our B&B owner who had lost some recent election. All very local and gossipy, just what you want in an English country manor tour!

Can't wait to book the Jane Austin village tour. Can't wait for the dollar to get stronger (ahem) and for us to hit the road.

Recently Purchased and Read

I finished reading The Book Of Vice by Peter Sagal and it was the perfect, light, palate cleanser between serious fiction. I like and admire Mr. Sagal and hope to follow in his writerly footsteps.

I had a coupon for the book store that I just HAD to use the other day. I bought three books, almost four, but then put one back. Here's what I came home with -- Rule the Web by Boing Boing founder Mark Frauenfelder. I love his site and his style and attitude. He seems creative and fun and ever curious about many things. I've read just a few pages of his book and it is so accessible. I might know a little bit about the interwebs, this series of tubes, but I know there is so much simple stuff I don't know. I look forward to learning and then applying what I've learned, then I look forward to ruling the web.

I also bought Controlling People by Patricia Evans. My mom recommended this book and I as part of my personal growth, I like reading books like this. I'll say no more.

Spunk and Bite by Arthur Plotnik caught my eye in the reference section. He plays off of the classic "Strunk and White" that many of us have sitting on our desks or at least on a nearby bookshelf. Mr. Plotnik blasts the "old school" ideas in the book for more modern styles. I have read the intro only and look forward to much inspiration on my writing path.

January Reading

Upon return from my sister's house, I put down "Secret Ingredients" and read through a few magazines that had piled up. I also read a few more chapters of "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" but find I'm not drawn to it to finish. I probably will, but I'm in no rush.

I read a few long articles that I had printed out. One was called Unhappy Meals by Michael Pollan and was in the NY Times a year ago. Fascinating read about food and nutrition and "nutritionism". It came out a year ago but is really good information. The guy who wrote the article wrote "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and more recently "In Defense of Food." The article is about how we have come to pay more attention to nutrients than food and how that turns out to be not so good for us.

Then I read How America Lost the War on Drugs by Ben Wallace-Wells in Rolling Stone. I had heard him NPR's Talk of the Nation and it's amazing how stupid our government can be. Not that this is a big surprise, but still.

Sarah loaned me the book "The Book of Vice" by Peter Sagal. Mr. Sagal is the host of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! (also on NPR) and you will find me laughing my head off while on my morning walks, listening to this as a podcast. Wow I love that show. This book is a lot of fun and really gives you some insight into things you might not ever have wanted to actually find out about on your own or even ask someone else. Peter is the Everyman (and with his wife, the Everycouple) that stands in for our own curiosity.

Thanks for the loan, Sarah!

Happy New Year!

The Holidays have come and gone in a flurry of travel, chemo treatment, more travel, family, wrapping/sending gifts, opening gifts, being grateful for all the wonderful gifts, beautiful New Year's Eve party, sleep, whew. Now, let's get back to it!

I did receive some books for christmas. The best were from Kurt who gave me one I asked for--Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink:

It is a collection of food writing that has appeared in the New Yorker over the many years. I've read about 4 essays so far and each one makes me stop and just breath in the smells described. Somehow food writing makes me want to travel to these amazing places, though not just for the food, but for the atmosphere the food and people and cities convey. Can't wait to keep reading this one. (To go along with the Food Writing was a 2008 Zagat Guide for Los Angeles.)

The book Kurt gave me that was unexpected was Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, The Image, The World.

This book is gorgeous and overwhelming and inspiring! Mostly I am touched that Kurt thinks of my photography somewhere within the same universe as Cartier-Bresson. That makes me want to keep taking more and more and more photographs. It also makes me want to buy a digital Leica...simplicity in these hi-tech days. But that's for another blog post on another site.

Other books I received were from Sarah:

Which I'm reading every day of this new year to be inspired and learn more about myself and the true meaning of wealth.
and

Which intimidates me a little bit, but I'm also intrigued! Especially by the DVD included...!!
and Finally,

Which only whets my eternal appetite for travel. MMMMMmmmmmm travel. Can't wait to plan our next pleasure trip -- don't even know what or where or when, but there will be something!

Great gifts. I'm excited by all they have to offer.

The Road

I finished this book pretty quickly and it was brutal.

The only other book by Mr. Macarthy that I've read is All The Pretty Horses and his style is spare. I finished that book and felt parched for days afterward, his writing is so minimal and dry as a bone. So a story about a father and son alone in a post-apocalyptic world fit his style to a t. It is a full length novel but such a page turner, and minimal, that I felt like I read a short story when I was done.

Hard to recommend this book as it is not easy or fun or happy. But it is fascinating and you never ever know what might happen next.

I think next I'm moving onto The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.

It is wondrous to be back into novels again. It's been a while.

Short Attention Span

It's been a while since I've written here as I have not been doing much in the way of reading! Well, I've been reading all the magazines that come to my house. I can't seem to settle down with a good novel quite yet. I find that when I allow myself to ease into that kind of imagination and emotion, I get overwhelmed, what with all the overwhelming things going on in my life right now.

So what magazines do I get?
Entertainment Weekly
The New Yorker
Budget Travel
Oprah
Sunset
Time
Los Angeles

I used to get Vanity Fair, but needed a break, so I switched it for the New Yorker. I also used to (ages ago) get fashion magazines, but realized they just annoy the crap out of me. I needed information to feed my head and soul and to teach me something positive and relevant. I don't miss them at all. Sometimes I leaf through them when in a doctor's office or other waiting area and am glad they don't get delivered to me anymore.

I have put "The Road" by my bed and am almost going to start reading it. Seriously. Soon. I swear.

Ooops, I Forgot One

I also bought this book at Bookshop Santa Cruz:

I love reading Dan Savage. He is a sex advice columnist--but be warned! His material is not for the faint of heart! He makes me laugh out loud with his honest observations. He is faaaaaaaabulous. This book is about how he and his partner/lover/boyfriend/husband adopted a baby.

I read the book while at my sister's and on the way home. Fast, fun, touching read. I look forward to reading more of his books.

Books Can Save Your (Emotional) Life

What with my sister's cancer and chemo treatments (I go to be with her for each treatment and a couple days after every 3 weeks), us redoing stuff on our house (plaster dust sucks), the holidays approaching and me switching over to Typepad, it's been a wild time.

What has kept me sane? Buying and reading books. Not that I need to buy new books, but it's soothing to move slowly through a new bookstore, in this case Bookshop Santa Cruz, looking over new titles and images and tables loaded with books. Heaven. I sometimes eat for comfort but I shop for books for comfort always.

When I was last in that part of the world visiting Jen, I spent about 40 minutes buying books for her, for her kids and for her husband. I figured everyone needed some laughter so, for the kids (17 and 19) I bought David Sedaris (Holidays on Ice and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Demin). For Peter, I bought The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. (Secretly, I'm hoping he'll let me borrow it when he's done.) For Jen I got one of my all time favorites, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. (We are going to see her speak with Anne Lamott in March at UCLA for my mom's birthday and I'm really excited.)

What did I buy for myself? Let's see, just a couple more:

Because aside from stories I've read of Ms. Gilbert's in magazines, I have not yet read her fiction. Debra even loaned me one called Stern Men but I haven't gotten to it yet. I figured short stories would be handy.

This looks, uh, dark, but hey, there will be a time when this will be just what I want.

I kept reading about this book so I thought I better just get it.

But what is keeping me laughing through my tears and helping me to go to sleep with a big smile on my face is this:

You will pee yourself, be prepared. Check out James Lilik's site for more on what he does best -- make hilarious comments about the U.S.A and our glory days of eating gone by. Good times.

One of my links (over there, to the left...) is to a site called Do What Now? which is a similar site. Jim Dunn is a disciple of Mr. Liliks and does him honor.

Thank you very much Sarah for giving me this book! Laughter IS the best medicine.

Welcome To My New Shelf

I will be slowly unpacking my widgets and side bar info, please come back for updates on the site itself and my latest reads.

It's Been A While

For those sweet few readers who have checked in and seen that I have not update in almost a month, thanks for your loyalty and patience! It's been a challenging month as my sister started chemotherapy and I have been up to No. Cal to help out with the first treatment. I'll go up again next week for her second treatment. She's doing very well, so far the side effects have been fairly mild. Her hair has started to fall out just this week so hats will be the new Fall hairdo. She's positive and upbeat and doing well. I'm doing pretty well also, still get overwhelmed by the seriousness of cancer, but having been to the first chemo treatment, I feel better. There are not so many unknowns in the whole process now and for control freaks like me, that is good.

I bought a book for my sister called Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips by Kris Carr. Ms. Carr has a website about the film she made of the same name: CRAZY SEXY CANCER.

I have found many helpful tips and info in this book. I also sent her the Livestrong notebook:

to keep all the info in one place. The website for the Lance Armstrong Foundation has tons of helpful information and support for anyone with cancer or anyone who knows people with cancer. I hope you never need to go there.

With the traveling to my sister's and also we are having work done on the house so the place is a shambles, I haven't been reading much long form material. Mostly I've been reading magazines. I did finish one book called The World Without Us by Alan Weisman.

It is a fascinating read about what would happen to all things manmade if we were to disappear tomorrow. He describes how long the subways in NYC would last, how long houses, buildings and cities would last. Amazingly, it wouldn't take long for nature to take back what we've done. Except for the plastic. Oh the plastic! This book made me really see how much plastic is EVERYWHERE in our lives and how none of it will ever go away. Well, ever is a long time, but really, plastic will be here a long long long long time. I'm making small changes to reduce plastic in our lives, and it's a challenge. But as Gandhi said, "whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it."

New Yorker Cover

This is the October 1, 2007 cover of The New Yorker by Philippe Petit-Roulet:

I love it.

More Catching Up

I realize that I start books, write about them halfway through, but never finish discussing them.

The Gordon Ramsay book -- I enjoyed it very much. He clearly wrote it because it is his voice. It's pulp non-fiction and interesting to continue to learn more about how top chefs live and work. Brutal! I don't want to be one.

Still working my way through the 9/11 report. It's a page turner, but daunting as there is so much information to process.

The New Yorker is great for short bursts of reading. I read the "Food" issue while I was in DC. Great stories and memories.

Rereading High Fidelity was fun. Like a palate clenaser. I have not reread Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet. I've been too busy and distracted to open it up again. But I will.

Catching Up!

I'm reading a bunch of things at once.

Wait, it's been a long long time since I've written about what I'm reading. Things have been happening out here in the real world that have been quite intense and distracting. My sister has cancer and that came about quite quickly and shockingly. So I've been traveling to see her plus traveling for work. I am on my way back from Washington DC as I write this after two weeks on a movie shoot.

Okay, but I have been reading.

Hang on...I decided that since to load all the books I have sitting on my actual shelves at home into Shelfari would be too much work, I'm adding to Shelfari every time I buy a new book (be it a gift or something for me to read). So that's my shelfari plan. I like it and I like the little widget that goes with it. You can see what I've purchased lately and have been reading lately.

Okay okay, back to the reading.

I'm in the middle of Revolutionary Characters which was recommended by a friend who lives and works near/in Washington DC. My love of history, specifically American History, makes this an easy one to plow through. My recent flirtation with John Adams also helps a lot. What that means is, I almost was the VFX Producer on John Adams mini-series in 2005, but HBO put the show on hold for a year and so I had to move on. But I enjoyed learning about one of the most ardent revolutionaries and our second president through that project and it inspired me to read more about these men who changed the world.

While in DC I went to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Seeing the documents, the actual, for real, signed by John Adams himself (et al) blew my mind. People risked their lives to write up these ideas an ideals and here were the very documents, right in front of me. It brought a tear to my eye. I'm not ashamed to say I'm a sentimental softie and quite an American patriot, in the truest sense of the word.

Have you read the Constitution lately? Read it. It's not long. It's very straightforward and clear. These days, you want to pay particular attention to Article I, Section 9. Also, listen to This American Life's Peabody Award winning show "Habeas Schmabeas".

And I highly recommend reading Revolutionary Characters because it gives you an insight into these men. Not gods or icons as we learned them in elementary and high school, but flawed, brilliant, multi-faceted, men.

The other book I'm in the middle of is The World Without Us. The hook is, all humans are gone from the earth tomorrow (all of us, just gone) -- how long would nature take to reclaim what she had before we came along? The answer, in some cases, might astound you. The subways in NYC would be flooded within just a few days without anyone there to control the pumps. The book is more than that, the author talks about what us humans have put into nature and how hard some of it will be to get rid of. Plastics, for example. Personally, this is the first time I've really understood what plastic is and how it will be in and on the earth forever.

I have been doing a good job of using my personal grocery bags every time I go shopping and therefore no longer get plastic or even paper bags. Sometimes I forget, but even then, if I can carry what I've bought without a bag, I'll not take a bag. Small changes, yes, but changes. Plastic isn't going away for a long long long time. And I mean thousands upon thousands of years. This book really opened my eyes.

The World Without Us is entertaining and eye opening.

Finished One, Started Another

I finished Gordon Ramsay's book, Roasting In Hell's Kitchen, and it was entertaining. Pulp Non-Fiction. I appreciated that this book was very clearly written by Mr. Ramsay and Mr. Ramsay alone--that was his voice on the page. With his pursuit of perfection and control freak nature, his tv persona makes so much more sense. He has a passion to make great food and his number one reason to do so is for the customer, not for himself. He's fascinating and unbelievably successful and inspires great loyalty from his staff. More power to him.

While I was finishing that book, I started reading The 9/11 Commission Report

And it is F A S C I N A T I N G! A complete page turner. Gripping. Riveting. For a government report, it is well written and clear. I'm only on about page 40 and it starts with what happened on each flight, transcripts, technical aspects, etc. Then it moves on to the FAA and the Military and what was "supposed" to happen in the event of a hijacking. But this situation was so insane, so above and beyond just about everyone's imagine at that point, that things got very confusing. And you can't really blame anyone on the ground for doing or not doing something exactly right. So far, I can highly recommend you buy this (available at any bookstore for about $10) and give it a read.

Do you think 9/11 was a giant government conspiracy? This site made me laugh -- just at the title! There is no 9/11 conspiracy you morons. There is also this article: Debunking The 9/11 Myths.

Odd moment for us six years ago: Sunday, September 9, 2001, Kurt and I flew home from Boston/Logan Airport on United Airlines Flight 175. Two days later, in the comfort and safety of our living room, we watched, along with the rest of the world and my mom who was visiting just then, as the day's events unfolded. When we heard what flights they were, we looked at our ticket stubs, still sitting on a table and shook our heads about that same flight. Strange strange day.

New Books

I decided I like Shelfari better. Better graphics and I'm all about the visual. I also decided it that if I'm going to use it, that it makes sense to add to it from books I buy from now on.

So what have I bought lately? Two books, one practical, one just for fun, both about food.

First is Gordon Ramsay's memoir. I have to admit I'm a fan of Hell's Kitchen and also his BBC show Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. He's loud and rude and swears a lot, but down deep there is a guy who wants the people he works with to do the very best they can and never give up. Not condoning this as a way to run things, but it certainly makes for good television. I mean, you know the guy has a big heart, offering to pay for Julia (different Julia) to go to culinary school!

This looked great and I already made one recipe out of it. I used to get the magazine but since they come with so many great recipes, I had to stop it because we just weren't getting to them all. And this cookbook is just like the magazine -- great recipes, easy, fast, delicous. And it has a picture for each recipe and I like that. (I'm just like Jen this way)

I'm still in the middle of my New Yorker, so I haven't started the Gordon Ramsay yet, but soon.

Internet Thingys

I have been emailed twice now about Library Thing and went and tried it. Even added a nice widget to both my blogs. I had started on Shelfari a while back but hadn't updated in months. (And put one of their widgets on this site as well. I think the Shelfari ones are cooler...)

I guess the idea is interesting in an Online Social Networking Group sort of way. It's not so thrilling overall, and quite frankly, too much work! I think I'd rather just blog about them darn books. This site is my library site. I'll probably play around with them some more...I'm not an early adopter...

New Yorker

My new New Yorker subscription arrived today with the August 6 issue. I'm very pleased to have it again. It's been about six or seven years since I last took it. They can pile up, as they come weekly and sometimes issues are chock full of "just the thing I want to read." Sometimes it's a quick flipping of the pages, read a review or two and all the cartoons.

Moving On From Harry (For Now)

I read the HP and now I'm resting before re-reading it. So in the mean time, I'm re-reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. I was in a book club ten years ago and this was the second or third book we read. Niel suggested it and I really enjoyed it. I was not sure what the hell anyone was thinking making a movie with it all being in Chicago instead of London, but then, I saw the movie and was pleased. Jack Black such a great surprise. (I didn't really know who Tenacious D was at the time.) (Alert: music starts blasting when you click through to the site.) And John Cusack did the character justice. We own that DVD and watch it occasionally. Great soundtrack too, as you must imagine.

Oh that book club! I miss it. It was Debra, Niel, Sophia, Lawrence and me. Occasionally others would pop in and out, but that was our core group. I was in the middle of the hardest job of my life and while working six days a week and too many hours, needed something that had nothing to do with work at all. And so we made a book club--Thanks again Debra! Reading the books and going to our monthly meetings was like hiking up a hot dry trail and then reaching the cool blue pond fed by a small waterfall and diving in. Refreshing to my mind body and spirit! The group trailed off after a while and I didn't need it so much anymore, but wowee, I'm so glad I had it. That book club saved my soul.

Harry Reviews

I have been reading online reviews of the book and while most don't get that specific, they are fun to read. No one I know has read the book yet so I have no one to talk to about it!

The review from Lev Grossman at TIME.com ends with this paragraph:
The sadness is more an instant nostalgia for the unironic, whole-hearted unanimity with which readers embraced the story of Harry. We did something very rare for Harry Potter: we lost our cool. There is nothing particularly hip about loving Harry. He's not sexy or dangerous the way, say, Tony Soprano was. He's not an anti-hero, he's just a hero, but we fell for him anyway. It's a small sacrifice to the one that Harry makes, of course, but it's what we, as self-conscious, status-conscious modern readers, have to give, and we gave it. We did and do love Harry. We couldn't help ourselves.

And I wholeheartedly agree with it and appreciate that he called us all out. I LOVE these books and these characters and will read them again and again.