Deep Lie, by Stuart Woods

Another what-do-I-read-while-I-am-out-of-library-books book. Always interesting political points-of-view, though the characters read kind of woodenly sometimes, particularly his women.

The Interloper, by Antoine Wilson

Hmmm. An interesting book. Kind of a look at one man's descent in to a little bit of madness, and how actions can have unintended consequences. Not great, but good.

Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

This a re-re-re-re-re-read, or something like that. This book is my, "oh, no, I don't have a book, what do I read?" book. It's one of the only books that can hold my attention every time I read it and elicit a strong emotional response. I'm not much of a sentimental crier, but I have cried over this one. Not this time, though.

I also love how much the music and pop culture references are just right for me. I imagine that's not true for everyone, but it matches pretty well for me.

There's a TV show on NBC called Journeyman, that we are enjoying despite its flaws, and I feel certain that the creators read The Time Traveler's Wife at some point. Similar set up, though obviously you don't get as deep with the characters in 50 minutes of network television.

The Almost Moon, by Alice Sebold

I really liked Lucky and The Lovely Bones, both, and was so disappointed in this book. I didn't like the characters, found their actions implausible and unmotivated. The narrator was so distasteful I never got behind her at all. So grumpy when I finished this one. It read a little bit like she was saying "F*** you," to the whole literary world.

Eyes of Prey, by John Sandford

The "Prey" title gimmick gets a little old, though, and some of them don't really make much sense. Still fun to read.

Shadow Prey, by John Sandford

Excellent passing-the-time reading. Lucas Davenport is always fun, the books are always just barely plausible, but I love them.

Now & Then, by Robert B. Parker

Pretty much like all of Parker's books, and entirely entertaining. A quick read, and a visit with favorite old characters.

Firestorm, by Iris Johansen

Awful. Ridiculous story, wooden characters. I'm not sure why Johansen is so popular. I won't be reading any more.

The Hanged Man's Song, by John Sandford

I've read this before, it turns out. I enjoy Sandford's books, and Lucas Davenport is one of my favorite literary cops. I imagine him and Harry Bosch having drinks and talking about their respective cases. This one's a Kidd book, though, so about computers. It's kind of neat to read a book about computers and see how it was both ahead of its time and now completely dated.

Blood Memory, by Greg Iles

Southern gothic thriller. Very diverting. Not great art.

Slummy Mummy, by Fiona Neill

Sort of British chick-lit, Bridget-Jones-has-a-family. Entertaining, completely preposterous, but fun. Enjoyed the dialogue particularly.

The Bourne Supremacy, by Robert Ludlum

Just as I remember it. Thick and dense and so different from the movies. I like the movies; I think they retained the spirit of the books while changing a great deal about the story and characters.

Long Time, No Post

It has been some time. Oops. Back now though, at least for a few posts to wrap up what I've read since the last time, before we head back east for the holidays. Most of the following will be one-liners, I expect.

Pilates Milestone

So, it's been a long time since I've written about anything but books, but I had a kind of cool moment today that seems worth recording.

I teach a Pilates class every Thursday afternoon that has, so far, mostly been made up of other Pilates teachers. This is intimidating, but they've been loving it, and making me feel like a bad-ass teacher.

One of the teacher-training program students was in the studio today observing for class. We were chatting afterwards, and he told me how great it was to watch, how much he learned, how smoothly I taught, etc. It makes me think back to watching other teachers teach when I was in training, and thinking how they really had it together, and wondering how long it would be before I could do that, too. It made me feel really good.

Gemma, by Meg Tilly

This is a truly disturbing and graphic book about child sexual abuse. It's pretty horrifying, and also compelling. Mainly told from the child's perspective, but with glimpses of the abusers' attitudes as well. And it does have a "happy" ending, or at least as happy as one can expect. It reads hard and fast; I read it in one sitting. If that kind of stuff freaks you out, or stays with you for weeks, I would skip this one.

Shadow Prey, by John Sandford

Another "prey" book. Pretty much like the rest of them, though in this older book, Lucas Davenport is a little rougher around the edges than more recent ones.

Monday Mourning, by Kathy Reichs

This is one of the series of books that the TV series "Bones" is based on. The main character is very much like Patricia Cornwall's Kay Scarpetta in temperament and profession, but these books still make sense, unlike Cornwall's. Sort of mystery/thriller/procedural all rolled into one. Fun reads.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay

This is the first in the series of books that Showtime's television series "Dexter" is based on, and right now I really wish we had Showtime. I am a big fan of serial killer books, but this is maybe the first one that's told from the serial killer's perspective rather than a cop's or a victims. And Dexter is a curiously selective serial killer, one whose urges have been channeled, in a way. It did get a little over the top at times, but that's part of the fun of serial killer books, right?

The Manny, by Holly Peterson

Kind of a Nanny Diaries in reverse, chick-lit kind of thing. Entertaining, but not substantial, and I found myself questioning character's motivations a lot. Still, made me laugh a few times.

Crazy Eights, by Elizabeth Gunn

So-so cop thriller/mystery. I won't seek her out again, probably, but if I came across another one of hers on an overnight trip, it would keep me entertained for a while.

Dream When You're Feeling Blue, by Elizabeth Berg

The worst Elizabeth Berg book I have ever read. So disappointing. Super shallow, two-dimensional characters, not-particularly-well-realized historical setting, and a truly ridiculous "twist" at the end. I like to read Berg's sentimental books every now and then, but this one just had no substance at all. It's my least favorite book in some time.

Invisible Prey, by John Sanford

Ah, the "prey" books. Dumbest titles ever, but engaging characters and intricate plots. Good for a palate-cleansing read.

The Next Thing On My List, by Jill Smolinksi

Total chick-lit fluff. Girl redeems self, finds love in the end (it's been right in front of her the whole time, can you believe it?), everyone lives happily ever after.

The Oldest Sin, by Ellen Hart

I think this is the last one of these I'm going to read. She's written a lot. It's enough to make me want to start writing mysteries.

Vital Lies, by Ellen Hart

This one is basically the same as the others, but with a different main character. She has a different name and profession, anyway.

The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum

I read this years ago, and have since seen the movies, which are so different in detail (though they retain the spirit of the books really well) that I had forgotten almost everything. If you liked the movies, read the books. They're really different, but equally interesting, and, as books are, more detailed. This one does get bogged down in those details every now and then, but the payoff is worth it.

And despite the fact that Bourne is so different in the movies, I still picture him as an older, more time-ravaged Matt Damon, and who could complain about that?

Hallowed Murder, by Ellen Hart

More. Same.

Stage Fright, by Ellen Hart

Another one. More of the same. It's like a literary snack.

Superfoods HealthStyle, by Stephen G. Pratt, M.D., and Kathy Matthews

I'm not a big reader of diet and lifestyle books, but for some reason this one caught my eye. It does a nice job of distilling the science into easily understandable ideas, and includes ideas about how to use the Superfoods, as well as a few recipes. I'm sure they're saving the rest of the recipes for a separate cookbook. It sort of reinforces how absolutely awfully we eat these days without being alarmist.

Absurdistan, by Gary Shteyngart

This is a really, really weird book. I read his first novel, The Russian Debutante's Handbook, which was also weird. But I like them. Absurdistan feels a little more self-conscious to me (there's a character based loosely on the writer in the book who functions as a remote nemesis of the protagonist), and the satire is not the most subtle I've ever read. Really engaging, though, and politically comic.

Also, it was given to me for my birthday by my brother, and reading a book given to you as a gift is always a richer experience, I think. I love books.

Exiles, by Michael Arlen

Isn't it odd how you read something about people you've never heard of, and all of the sudden, those people start popping up in references all around you? I enjoyed this book, and it's internal view of family life, but since I read it, I've run across mentions of these characters, the books that they wrote, anecdotes from their lives. It's so weird. How does that happen?

Acceptance, by Susan Coll

The cover of this book promised something like, "laugh out loud satire," and while I admit I'm not prone to outbursts of laughter while reading, I didn't really find that it delivered. Somehow, there was too much, AND not enough happening throughout, and while I did enjoy the characters and their interior monologues, I'd rather read Jane Smiley.

Beware of God, by Shalom Auslander

I have to confess that I didn't read all of these quirky stories. They were interesting, but very repetitive in subject matter, and frankly, it got boring about halfway through. I'm generally pretty fascinated with Judaism, so I'm not sure what that says. I really like his writing style, though, and I'm still eager to read his novel. It was a preview of said novel that got me to get the short stories in the first place. And, it must be said, I am not a huge short story fan. Or, at least not a huge fan of short story collections. One short story is okay to read, but a bunch together is just unsatisfying for me.

The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls

This book is just fascinating. It's a memoir about growing up with, um, unconventional parents who sometimes veer to the abusive, but seem to genuinely love their children. Walls seems to write in the mindset of whatever age she was at the time she's chronicling, which is just wonderful. Somehow, she manages not to impose too much of herself now on the descriptions of earlier parts of her life, leaving us to draw the conclusions. As she (the character) becomes more aware, so does her writing. A really interesting book. It's not often I zip through non-fiction as fast as I do through fiction.

The Border of Truth, by Victoria Redel

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It's part mystery, part history, part family-drama, but none of the characters ever rang completely true for me, and the parallels between the main character's work in translation and what was going on in her real life was so over-done. This book allowed me no conclusions; it was all laid out for me.

Robber's Wine, by Ellen Hart

These are totally fluffy, but fun.

A Small Sacrifice, by Ellen Hart

Another Hart book. More of the same.

Hunting the Witch, by Ellen Hart

Another by Hart...fun, silly.

Wicked Games, by Ellen Hart

A fluffy detective/thriller, and a new writer for me to enjoy. Very silly books with over-the-top characters, but fun to read.

A Meeting By the River, by Christopher Isherwood

This is another of my Aunt Susan's recommendations, and it was a really interesting read. It's kind of an exercise in point-of-view. You get the story of two estranged brothers coming back together as one becomes a Hindu monk, but you get the story mostly in letters from the two to each other and others, as well as a few journal entries by the monk-to-be. It's fascinating how Isherwood establishes, and allows us to discover, the character of the two men by their different voices when they write to each other, to their mother, to their wife, to their secret lovers. Very engaging.

Enigma, by Thomas Harris

So this has been my "car book" for the last few months. It's the book I leave in my car for when I forget to bring a book, so that I always have something to read. I've read it before, a long time ago. I read it in little chunks over a long time, but it's an engaging story about WWII code-breakers at Bletchley. Just enough math to make it interesting, without making it unreadable.

My Story, by Marilyn Monroe w/Ben Hecht

Now, I'm not the kind of Marilyn Monroe fan who has MM pajamas, and a MM coffee mug, and pictures of MM on her walls, but I am kind of fascinated with her. I've read a slew of Monroe biographies and fictional accounts, and I think I have seen nearly all of her movies by now. This one has wonderful photographs in it, though the writing is not stellar. It's interesting, though, and the closest to hearing it from her, I guess. I wish she had gotten farther.

The Well-Rested Woman, by Janet Kinosian

I have a long, love-hate relationship with sleep and a vivid history of insomnia, so whenever someone writes a book about sleep, I read it. Hasn't made a whole lot of difference, but I like Kinosian's set-up. She presents a wide variety of variables, and possible fixes/treatments. I still have trouble sleeping, but this is the best book about sleeping I've read.

Charmed Circle, by Susan Ertz

This is a book recommended by my wonderful Aunt Susan. I have a list of books she recommends, and I'm working my way through them. This one was lovely, a really detailed portrait of a not entirely functional family. Ertz creates such a vivid sense of place, time, and family.

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

So, I reread this after reading Pamela Aidan's books about Mr. Darcy. Just as simple and wonderful and light as ever.

These Three Remain, by Pamela Aidan (#3 in the Mr. Darcy series)

See below.

Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan (#2 in the Mr. Darcy series)

See below.

An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan (#1 in the Mr. Darcy series)

A wonderful idea: write the story of Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's point of view. You get very little of him in Austen's book and Aidan does a nice job of staying true to the language, the tone, and the character of Austen's original. I don't think she needed to write three books to do it, though I'm sure it made it more lucrative for her. I found some of the passages where we were in Mr. Darcy's head pretty tedious. I'm a big fan of the show over the tell. But I really enjoyed the books, I just wish they had cut the fat out and made it just one novel.

Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen

So, I was on a game show! Merv Griffin's Crosswords, to be exact, and I am contractually prohibited from sharing the outcome. But I think I can admit that it was a lot of fun, and that I spent a lot of time sitting around and reading.

I read this Jane Austen on the set of the game show, and around the same time as the Mr. Darcy books and Pride and Prejudice. Very clever little book, though not as engaging as her others, to me.

No Good Deeds, by Laura Lippman

Jury duty PI thriller. A good one.

The Cabinet of Curiosities, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Another ridiculous thriller. Passes the time.

Darkest Fear, by Harlan Coben

Jury duty thriller. Enjoyable; I like Coben's books

The Surgeon, by Tess Gerritsen

I had jury duty, so I got a bunch of fluffy paperbacks at the library, in case I needed to kill a lot of time. As it turned out, jury duty lasted about 3 hours. By the time they had the case, they realized it was going to be about 6 weeks (who can do that?) and, in a surprisingly generous way, released all potential jurors who were self-employed. No fighting necessary, and I was ready to throw down, if need be.

Anyway, The Surgeon: good, solid thriller/murder sort of thing.

The Last King Of Scotland, by Giles Foden

Great book. Not surprisingly, much better than the movie. The early changes made in the adaptation are good, and still serve the story, but the drastic changes made to the end unhinged the film a bit, and now that I've read the book, I understand why we were not as happy with the movie as we expected to be. I'm now wanting to read some more about Idi Amin and see how true this story is to real life. Very interesting.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell

Writing non-fiction, particularly science-based non-fiction, is a really impressive talent. Gladwell is one of the best. I loved The Tipping Point, and this one achieves what Gilbert was trying to do with Stumbling on Happiness, I think. He organizes ideas and stories in such a way that the connections are easily made, and I feel like I understand human nature a little better.

Stumbling on Happiness, by Daniel Todd Gilbert

There was so much fuss about this book, and I liked it, but it didn't read to me so much about happiness as about how we make decisions, and I liked Gladwell's Blink better. This one is an interesting collection of studies and anecdotes, but Gilbert's tone verges on smug for me.

Helpless, by Barbara Gowdy

This one reminded me of the Lovely Bones a little bit, though it's told from a broader perspective, and there's no dead narrator. The tone is similar, though, and I think less effective. I don't have a problem with being asked to consider the point of view of an "bad" guy, but it has to be done just right, or it seems like the writer is making excuses for their behavior. I'm not sure I bought this "bad guy" character. I also recognize that kids can be very precocious, but the child's behavior didn't ring true for me, either.

The Skin Type Solution, by Leslie Baumann

If you have trouble with your skin, this is an excellent book to read. It helps you understand your skin type (one of 16 that she has identified) with a detailed survey, and gives very specific recommendations for treatments and products. Very user-friendly.

The End of the World As We Know It: scenes from a life, by Robert Goolrick

A book I couldn't put down. Goolrick's memoir is so detailed and tragic, it kept me riveted. He grew up in what appeared to be a perfect family, but his childhood was marred by a tragic event at age four, which continued to affect his life in extremely negative ways. A truly sad, but involving story.

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

We saw the LA production of the Broadway show for my birthday, which was a lot of fun. I had read the book about a hundred years ago and remembered very little in the way of details, which is good, since they would have marred the experience.

Every time I mentioned that we were going to Wicked, people gushed like you wouldn't believe, which actually made me just a little nervous, considering how critical Chris and I often find ourselves of things that everyone else just adores. We thought the show was fun, but not great. The story didn't hold together in the end, and in really basic ways, like the timing didn't come close to matching the source material, The Wizard of Oz.

As it turns out, after reading the book again, I see that bad adaptation is the root of the problem. Significant features of the story were changed, and not in what I consider ways that served the story. The book itself gets a little dense and overdone at the end, but is still really fun to read.

It's also pretty racy, as far as violence and sex go, and I wonder how many of those pre-teens at the show have been encouraged to read it after seeing the show.

The Discomfort Zone, by Jonathan Franzen

I have to confess that I have still not read The Corrections, though I did hear the beginning of it on an audiobook a few years ago. It's on my list, I promise.

This is a memoir about Franzen's youth and early adulthood, and it was really fascinating. I was skeptical about it, but it kept me really engaged, and was appropriately short. Now I feel like when I read the Corrections, I might be able to draw parallels or something.

The Grotesque, by Patrick McGrath

Sort of an English horror story. Another of my thrift-store-leave-at-the-hotel books for the trip to Seattle/Yakima. It passed the time.

An Invisible Sign of my Own, by Aimee Bender

This goes right along with the damaged-girl genre I was in last month with My Happy Life and Other People: A Mystery Story. Not as interesting to read, and somehow less plausible-feeling, though I can't put my finger on why, exactly. The main character is a nineteen-year-old, somehow tapped to teach math to second-graders in the local school. She's super-weird, and it's not clear whether she's mentally ill or just loopy. Her students are unconvincingly weird, too, and precocious beyond my belief. Everyone in the story seems kind of insane, frankly, and as a result, there was no baseline to measure their actions by.

But, I got the book for a dollar at a thrift shop so that I could leave it behind on our recent trip to Washington state, and I did just that. If you're ever in the Yakima Oxford Suites, you may find it in the dining room on a shelf with a bunch of scientific encyclopedias. If you have nothing to read, have at it, but I'd save it as a last resort.

Tales Of The City, by Armistead Maupin

You know, I have heard so much about these stories over the years, and the miniseries and all, I'm surprised I'm only just getting to them. I just read or heard something about the recent "update," so I thought I would check it out, starting at the beginning.

It was a fun book to read, and really quick. I was surprised at how elementary the prose was, for all the love given to it. It read a little like a time capsule; even the language was really time-specific, but familiar enough that it was kind of fun. Pretty basic stories, and simple characters, but still engaging.

The Overlook, by Michael Connelly

Standard Michael Connelly, though shorter and less-finished-feeling than his other books. I love reading these excellent procedurals, and it's even more fun living in LA and knowing the places Harry goes. The next time my parents come to visit, we're going to do a Harry Bosch tour of LA, though several of his haunts are places we go regularly. It's neat, kind of like seeing LA stand in for a slew of other cities in films, and recognizing lots of places around us.

Cold Truth, by Joel Goldman

Standard legal thriller. Diverting, but not so much that I will seek out this author again.

Other People: A Mystery Story, by Martin Amis

See My Happy Life entry.

My Happy Life, by Lydia Millet

I read this back-to-back with Martin Amis' Other People: A Mystery Story, which was a really interesting, totally unintentional pairing. Both books follow a female protagonist of questionable sanity and wherewithal, who both seem almost emotionally retarded. Terrible, terrible things happen to both of them, repeatedly, but they both maintain an unusually sanguine outlook on things.

In My Happy Life, the narrator is the last inmate in a mental institution scheduled for demolition which has been cleared out. She has been left, forgotten. She tells the story of her life through her meager possessions: a feather, and piece of paper, etc. It's unclear whether her mental malady is congenital or acquired, but it makes her frighteningly naive and amazingly happy, almost no matter what is being done to her.

In Other People: A Mystery Story, the protagonist is a young woman with amnesia caused by some kind of accident. We meet her as she is being released from the hospital, and follow her. Like the character in My Happy Life, she has an emotional numbness and and an amnesia-induced naivete that lead her to truly terrible people who do unspeakable things to her. She begins to figure out who she is later in the story, which was the least interesting part to me.

But, how cool is it to read two books that go together thematically so well? And total chance (and the vagaries of the LA public library hold system) led me to them.

Also, the Amis book goes well with Remainder (which I read in June), as both are amnesia books.

Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World, by Donald Antrim

This is a weird one. Kind of dystopian, but not in a dark way like Children of Men. More satirical, but not quite funny. And rather than looking at the whole world, it's more a suburban dystopia, I guess. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it was a quick and sometimes entertaining read. The protagonist gets less and less reliable as the story goes on, which was kind of neat.

The Pale Blue Eye, by Louis Bayard

Bayard takes recognizable figures from literary history, both fictional and real and explores them through complex mysteries. I read his Mr. Timothy a while back, in which Dickens' A Christmas Carol gets the treatment, featuring Tiny Tim as the protagonist, and reluctant investigator. In The Pale Blue Eye, Edgar Allen Poe's time at West Point is the focus. He is brought in to assist a retired investigator in a series of ghastly murders.

The fun of these stories is all the references to the original works, or in this case, author. The mysteries themselves are a little heavy and convoluted, and if they stood alone, would probably not succeed nearly as well. With the literary allusions and whatnot, they're fun, but might be a little mystifying if you're not familiar with the source material.

Brimstone, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

See below, once again.

Still Life with Crows, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

See post below.

Reliquary, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

You can pretty much scroll down and look at the entry for any of the books by these guys. Still fun to read, despite overflowing with ridiculousness.

Remainder, by Tom McCarthy

This is a quiet book, but fascinating. I've never read a book with a premise quite like it. The narrator receives a huge settlement for an accident in which something fell from the sky and gave him serious amnesia. Don't worry, it's not one of those amnesiac-gets-life-back thrillers. It follows him trying to become a functional person again, until he has a vision and decides to use his newfound wealth to recreate it, down to buying and rebuilding an entire apartment building, and hiring actors to live in it and re-enact moments he remembers (or at least has visions of). It's surreal...he uses a facilitator--someone he hires to make the things he imagines happen, down to incredibly minute and mundane details. It's a if he is sidetracked from his attempts to return to normalcy, and uses the re-enactments to keep real life at a distance. A really neat book, and written in lovely, spare prose.

The Good German, by Joseph Kanon

I picked this one up because of the movie, which we haven't seen. Based on what we've heard, we may not bother, though now that I've read this unbelievably convoluted book, I'm dying to know how they tried to simplify it into a 2-hour story.

I liked this WWII-aftermath story, mostly, and I thought it was a good choice to make the protagonist a reporter rather than a soldier...a little less cliched, and easier to relate to for most readers, I figure. I'm a sucker for WWII stories, anyway, and this one would have been really good except for the weird, squeeze-everything-in, tie-every-character-back-in ending. I could tell what was happening, so I more or less skimmed the last 40 pages or so to confirm.

Still worth reading, though. Really interesting war details and nicely drawn characters.

The Uses of Enchantment, by Heidi Julavits

A great title, but I don't know about this one. I kept thinking, this is going to get good, and it did that jumping back and forth between the present and the past, but...it was really boring. It never did get good, and the end was unsatisfying, and felt forced.

Whiffleball In The Park

Friday afternoon Chris and I loaded up beer, chairs, and whiffleball equipment (we have bases and everything!) and headed over to Griffith Park, where we passed a lovely afternoon and evening playing hard-core, serious, whiffleball with some friends. We were basically playing in the shadow of the area of the big fire a few months ago, which was kind of surreal. Green, green, grass under our feet and burnt out trees on the hill above us. Chris and our friend Will gave me a lesson in pitching, which I did respectably at. It's all about the grip and the release, like so many things in life. I never played any of those hand-eye coordination sports, so this is all new to me, but boy is it fun! And hard work. I pitched one inning and sweated like a racehorse.

We followed up with dinner at Palermo's, a cute Italian place in Los Feliz. All in all, a very satisfying start to the weekend, which has continued to be fun. Saw Knocked Up with a friend last night, and it's very funny. Working today.

Relic, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

I think this is the first one in this series of books by then, and is by far the most plausible (at least in relation to the other crazy stories) that I've read by these guys. Spooky, but still pretty darn silly. More of these guys' books await me on the hold shelf at the library.

The Majority Rules, by Eugene Sullivan

Not a good book. Unmotivated, unlikeable characters, a really dense story. Bleh.

The Book of The Dead, by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston

Utterly implausible, ludicrous stories, ridiculously unmotivated characters that I don't buy at all, and yet I sort of enjoy reading these guys' books. They're so off the wall and conspiracy-laden, they're sort of fun, especially when you need a literary palate cleanser. I'm reading a bunch of these to catch up on the most ridiculous of the ridiculous characters. They're very diverting (which I'm realizing is the word I use when I don't actually think a book is very good, but I still like to read it).

The Prestige, by Christopher Priest

This one was really fun to read. We saw the movie a few weeks ago, and its fascinating how they conflated characters and shifted events. The book is framed with a contemporary setting, which was really cool, but would have made the movie unwieldy, I think, so they were right to excise that. It's a whole bunch of twists inside of twists and kept me highly engaged, and reading at odd times to try to finish as soon as possible. Always a good sign in a book.

Interesting Things I've Seen On The Highway

So, in the last few weeks, I have seen:

A load of rubber gloves scattered all over the highway. Strangely interesting. A man on the side of the road was out of his car, as if to collect them back up, despite typical heavy LA traffic. He looked really sad.

Also, on the exit to our neighborhood someone had lost a load of those tablecloths you see at picnics and Italian restaurants. Red ones and blue ones. It was the prettiest, most festive exit ramp I've ever seen.

Dust, by Martha Grimes

A new Richard Jury book. I love British mysteries, and Grimes' are full of interesting characters, even if the premises seem to be getting a little more out there.

The Vatican Connection, by James Brant

Standard DaVinci Code style thriller. Good diversion.

Shadow of A Doubt, by William Coughlin

Standard legal thriller. A good diversion.

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood

I haven't read any of her stuff in a while, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I really liked this one. It was that kind of post-apocalyptic, dystopian thing, like Children of Men, and also like Children of Men, it seemed pretty feasible to me that this is where things could go, in the extreme. It starts of with a kind of weird, sci-fi vibe, which did not excite me, but quickly starts to jump back and forth in time, revealing small pieces of story as it goes. Really interesting.

Calling Out, by Rae Meadows

A weird book. One of those books where you cringe all the way through, the characters are so intent on their own destruction and unhappiness. I don't know if I liked it, but it kept me engaged.

Night Class, by Tom Piccirilli

Awful, awful book. Terrible writing, terrible inconsistent characters that I didn't care about at all. I only finished it to see how bad it really was and it was really bad. I don't say that about books very often, but this one really sucked.

The Runner, by Christopher Reich

Classic WWII thriller. Good fun.

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

I had thought I read this in high school, but it rang no bells. Really fun to read, and full of beautiful, clever language and vivid characters. I believe there was a movie made; I need to see it. Seems like a hard one to adapt.

The Enemy, by Lee Child

Highly diverting reading. Good for insomnia.

Tyrannosaur Canyon, by Douglas Preston

More dumb, completely ridiculous, and yet somehow compelling reading. Sort of like a really bad movie sucks you in sometimes, because even though you recognize the ridiculousness of the characters, premise, and story, you still want to know how it ends.

Stern Men, by Elizabeth Gilbert

I actually read this fictional book by Gilbert before I read the two non-fictions. It's a good story with vivid characters, but the coolest thing about this book for me was that I was certain I knew exactly how it came about. I've always loved books that are framed with really specific information (in this case, lobster-fishing), and I can totally imagine how she came to it. I have the inclination to make stories out of really interesting new bits of information myself, and maybe someday I'll actually write one down. In this one, she takes arcane bits of lobster lore and uses it as the framework for the life of Ruth, and child of a lobsterman, and at its heart it's basically a coming-of-age story.

Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert

This one kept popping up on my radar...aside from the play it's been getting in the press (many reviews, Kathryn Heigl is reading it!) my acupuncturist recommended it, 2 friends have recently read it and declared it amazing, so I got it and 2 others of her books from the library. It is pretty amazing. Her style is so conversational, and even what I consider the fruity spiritual stuff comes off believable. The book is in 3 sections, following her travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia after suffering a nasty divorce and a tragic love affair, not to mention a lifetime of worry and an inability to be still. It will be interesting to people who are seeking their own spiritual path, but also to the general population, which is a testament to her facility with language and storytelling.

The Last American Man, by Elizabeth Gilbert

This book was a fascinating portrait of a really complex man, written from the interesting perspective of a kind of friend. Eustace Conway is sort of a mountain man/naturalist, but has also been intent on sharing his way of life, sometimes fairly aggressively. Gilbert's style of writing is laid back and casual, like friends talking at brunch or over beers, and is extremely easy to read. I read two of her other books along with this one, one fiction and one memoir, and it's cool to see how her voice changes or stays the same as she works in different styles. Some of her themes overlap as well. More on the others to come.

Catching up, losing sleep

Have I really missed an entire month? That's no good. It's 7 am and I've slept for an hour, so don't expect miracles of eloquence here. Terrible insomnia this week, despite everything I've tried, including sleeping pills. You know it's bad when the hard core pharmaceuticals don't even work. I just cancelled my two morning appointments, since while I'm awake, I'm hardly feeling logical. We'll see how it goes.

In my sleeplessness last night I read one entire book (The Last American Man), finished the second half of another (Eat, Pray, Love), and began a third (The Enemy). I think since I'm so far behind I'll just start with where I am, and then go back and catch up on what I read in May, and notable events.

Tennessee

Clearly, I have not posted in a long time, and I have some catching up to do. I think I am now caught up on books, but life...not so much.

The weekend of the 15th, we went to Tennessee for a wedding, with a stop in the small town of Dyersburg to visit my husband's relatives. It was a wonderful, but exhausting trip; we went non-stop pretty much the whole time. Chris has been very into the genealogy thing, and had some cemeteries he wanted to explore and see if he could find ancestors. We found quite a few; it was really neat. We also got a digital voice recorder and he recorded 5 or 6 hours of various relatives telling stories.

And everyone was so nice, and they fed us extremely well...maybe too well. Barbecue everywhere we turned, and Aunt Hester made Chris' favorite strawberry cake. We did get separated by gender at dinner that night, which was disconcerting at first, but turned out okay...I connected with the female relatives while Chris got the men talking history.

We also got see two of our really good friends from Atlanta, who are married. We just don't laugh as much with anyone else in the world. Such fun. The wedding itself, not so much fun. It was on the river in an unenclosed tent and under normal circumstances would have been gorgeous. Sadly, it was unusually cold, maybe in the 40s. I never took of my coat, my scarf, etc., and I'm really glad I bought a pair of gardening gloves in a drugstore to keep my fingers warm. They weren't pretty, but I attribute my withstanding the night to them.

The Dark Wind, by Tony Hillerman

This one's been kicking around the house for a while; I think I got it at the charity shop for a quarter. Standard Hillerman police procedural crossed with Native American myths and cultural stuff. Good one.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman

What an amazing piece of non-fiction. I don't read a ton of non-fiction, and I am not ashamed to admit why: most of it is very boring. Fadiman knows how to tell a story, even if it's not made up. She alternated between stories of the family of the sick child, the history of the Hmong people, and the medical and political communities involved. She doesn't assign blame so much as point out where things might have made a difference, and her cultural sensitivity extends to both the Hmong family and the medical community. A wonderful book.

Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh

I got this book because it was featured in another book: Rereadings, Anne Fadiman's collection of essays by authors revisiting favorite, or significant books and examining the process of re-reading. I was really excited to get Rereadings, but when I picked it up at the library, I realized I had not read very many of the books the writers were writing about. So I copied down a list, and I'm working my way through them.

This is the first, and I enjoyed it very much. Sort of dense and ponderous, but not in a bad way, it follows one family's history through the device of a friend of the son. The dialogue is wonderful and quick.

Absolute Friends, by John LeCarre

I love LeCarre, but I can only read him every now and then. The books are so dense with detail, it's a little exhausting to keep track of it all. This one is no exception. He did a nice job of connecting the whole Cold War thing with contemporary politics, and he did it with wonderful, complex characters.

The Hard Way, by Lee Child

Utterly implausible, ridiculous characters, overwhelmingly interconnected stories. And yet, so fun. A basic thriller with a tough guy protagonist and lots of conspiracies. Nothing is as it seems, etc., etc. I've enjoyed Lee Child's other books, too.

The Patron Saint of Liars, by Ann Patchett

Now this Patchett book I really liked. All of the characters were relatable for me, and I enjoyed her use of three different narrators at different times in the book. The themes of truth and how we do and don't tell it to different people in our lives (including ourselves) were interesting and well-explored.

Taft, by Ann Patchett

It's kind of refreshing to read a book with a black male narrator written by an unapologetic white woman. I've never understood that attitude, that you have to share your narrator's voice.

I enjoyed this book a little, but it kind of hung together awkwardly for me, if that makes any sense. A couple of themes, scenes, etc., seemed kind of shoe-horned in, and oddly enough, one of the female characters didn't ring true for me. I guess that proves my point.

The Children of Men, by PD James

We saw the movie a few weeks ago and really liked it (minus a few flaws, of course) and I was really eager to read it. It was a wonderful book, and they did an excellent job of achieving the tone of it in the movie. Some of the plot points and character conflations I wish had been handled differently. The fact that Theo (in the book) killed his own child accidentally, for instance, goes so far to explaining how morose he is. Anyway, very dark and creepy and it does make you think.

Walking In Circles Before Lying Down, by Merrill Markoe

Oh, I nearly stopped reading this one, but I really hardly ever do that. I have a weird optimism that it HAS to get better. This one was pretty weak...talking dogs, neurotic owner, requisite cast of wacky characters. Now none of that is essentially bad, but I didn't care about any of it. Nada. Boring. Quick, at least.

April News

In local events....Center Studio is officially kaput. I figured it would happen soon, but it's done. None of the trainers have been paid in three weeks. For me, that means I'm out about $300. Significantly less than some of the other girls, not to mention to teacher trainees, who paid $3000. The owner of Pilates Sports Center called me today to offer her help to anyone who needs it, which I was expecting. They're great over there. I'm so happy to have gotten hooked up with them.

I had a sad conversation with my one regular client from Center (whose husband is a lawyer, conveniently) who just bought a package. I might try to find a closer place that would consider a rental deal for her, but since I have been pulling away from Center since they closed the PT dept. in October, it's no great loss (though I really liked that client).

Other than that, things chug along. The only recent dark news is that my uncle has prostate cancer, but they caught it early, the prognosis is good, etc., etc. Still very challenging for the family.

Hard Evidence, by John Lescroat

Another one where one book is much like the last, but the characters are interesting, the situations intriguing, and the legal drama compelling. Another fun series for escaping everyday life.

Hundred-Dollar Baby, by Robert Parker

Same good stuff. Nothing new with Spenser. He does his thing, and I enjoy it.

Charlotte's Web, by E. B. White

Another re-read from childhood, and this one holds up remarkably well. A good, simple story with vivid characters, a challenging vocabulary (with excellent, non-dumbed-down explanations). Fun.

Election, by Tom Perrotta

So interesting to read this. It's been a while since I saw the movie...I'll have to see it again soon while the book is fresh. Here he writes in alternating first-person voices, giving us multiple perspectives on the story, something I often find is gimmicky, but in Perrotta's hands, is a wonderful tool. Again, his characters are complex, and no moral judgment anywhere.

The Wishbones, by Tom Perrotta

A fun book that reminds me of musicians I have known.

Joe College, by Tom Perrotta

Interesting to read all the Tom Perrottas at once. It seems really clear to me that he does what writers should do...write what they know. As a result, the novels all taken together seem almost like a memoir of one guy's life. That is, of course, a vast oversimplification, but there you have it.

I really like his writing. Vivid characters (stronger men than women, but his women are good, too), engaging stories, and he manages to leave conclusions and judgment up to the reader. His characters are all good and bad and ugly and human.

Ages and ages....

...since I posted last. Things have been pleasantly busy. Here are the highlights of the last few weeks, books to come in later posts:

1. Quit my one day at the chiropractor's. Very sad to miss my ladies there, but a huge weight off my shoulders.

2. Project .22 is over. Good fun had by all. Began by the end to recognize the weaknesses in the players I had mythologized a little. Interesting.

3. Storysets class continues. I am in my late-rehearsal panic that the show will suck. Hopeful that this is my own shit, and not a reflection of actual fact.

4. Working to balance the healthy living thing, as always. Turning up on the healthier side most of the time.

AND!!!!

5. Chris is doing 10 episodes of Passions! My husband, the soap star. His first day of shooting is tomorrow. He's charmingly nervous, and I know he will do a bang-up job.

Oops

So, I managed not to transfer an appointment change in my book from the studio's book, and got a call from the studio that my client was there just a few minutes before I planned to leave home. Arghhhhh. I hate when things like this happen. I know that they do, and I'm not above it, but I work really hard to avoid those moments. I felt awful. My client was really understanding, and I added a session to her card as an apology, but gosh, I thought I might throw up; I was shaking. Ugh. Just ugh.

Must Be Better About Transferring Appointments To Own Book. MUST.

The Archivist, by Martha Cooley

An interesting book about how we "archive" our lives, and how sometimes some of the archiving is done for us. Many-layered, there are stories of the present and past, parallels between the lives of the main characters and the life of T.S. Eliot, and a large section is the journal of the narrator's wife. It reads like a very old book to me (and not in a bad way) despite being published in 1998. It's a very literary book, and dense (also not in a bad way), and I enjoyed it.

Mommies Who Drink, by Brett Paesel

Highly entertaining, a little self-indulgent, and quite funny. She's a very self-deprecating writer, and her tales of growing into motherhood without losing her identity are fun, and a quick read.

The Return of the Tao

I thought I'd just pick this up and see what today is all about. It turns out it's about Interpretation:

All the we experience is subjective.
There is no sensation without interpretation.
We create the world and ourselves;
Only when we stop do we see the truth.

Apparently, we are unable to be objective because we are "each condemned to our particular vantage points." Can't say that I disagree with that, but "condemned"? Really? Is it that bad? I would venture that it might be nicer to think about being lucky to have our own vantage points. Now that I think about it, objectivism sounds pretty unpleasant. Like if everyone was nice and happy all the time. Sounds good, but suddenly the color goes out of everything.

The rest of the entry is about meditation, I guess. If we can manage to shut off our interpretation (that we are condemned with, remember) we can get to a place of nothingness. Seems a little extreme to me.

So, for me, I will take this: no one can be objective, because we are all blessed with our particular view points. The real magic is in remembering that everyone else has a particular view point, too, and finding a way to respect that and keep things in perspective. Walk in another man's shoes and all that.

And while I don't think I'll ever aspire to achieving nothingness, it can be nice to quiet the inner voices and just be every now and then.

In The Company of Liars, by David Ellis

This book is written in reverse chronological order. Sounds kind of gimmicky, but it sucked me in really quick. Partly, the story is good, but partly, I was just fascinated to see if he could pull it off. How do you allow the reader revelations as your characters know less and less?

Make the entire story a cover-up, is how, so the reader uncovers as the characters cover. It was a really engaging book, though I have to admit I never cared too much about any of the characters. They were more like devices than people.

Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen

Another movie I've seen recently. Have to say I didn't love the movie so much; it was just kind of okay. The book is a quick little read, which includes many of the actual papers from Kaysen's hospital stay. The structure is kind of neat. More stream-of-consciousness than literal narrative, with some pretty big leaps here and there, but it manages to convey some of her sense of disconnection and disengagement while she was hospitalized.

Little Children, by Tom Perrotta

This one is continuing my kick of reading the book and seeing the movies and comparing. We'll move the movie to the top of our Netflix list as soon as it's available, and I'm planning to place holds on Perrotta's other books (including Election, which was a terrific movie) soon.

When I picked this book up from the library, I had an eerie moment of recognition, which I explained away as simply recognizing the cover from the LAPL website. It's pretty distinctive: a field of perfectly manicured grass with two smiley goldfish crackers looking at each other. Then I started to read it.

I have read this before. I can't remember exactly when, but certainly in the last two years. I tend not to retain large parts of the stories, though, so it was almost like reading a new book, but with lovely moments of remembering.

I really liked this one, and I'm eager to see what the movie is like. It seems like adapting it wouldn't have been too difficult; it's a fairly contained story, with a minimum of characters and locations. The characters are marvelously complex, and easily recognizable. There are scenes early in the book of mothers gathering at a park and more or less judging each other, which I remember from my nannying days.

Highly recommend this one.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

So, I am now able to accept credit cards at the Sports Center, on my own account. Now, if they'll just get my address correct, we'll be in business. My plan is to call tomorrow and check if it's been corrected, and if it hasn't, I'm going to send the customer service people a fax every chance I get until it's corrected. And the process of getting it set up, which they say will take 15 minutes, ended up taking almost 90. I was about to pull my hair out by the time we were done.

Anyway, it makes me feel like a real live grown-up. It's crazy.

Young Storytellers Success!

Last night was The Big Show, the final culmination of the work we've been doing at Coldwater Canyon Elementary, mentoring kids through the process of writing short screenplays. For 6 weeks, we met every Thursday for an hour and play games and write with the kids. Then, for the Big Show, we bring in 10 actors to perform them, and they did a bang-up job. The kids were entirely tickled. Aaron, my mentee, was so absorbed in the performance of his story that he didn't even notice a rogue child who had made it to the piano and was banging away. It took one of our actors improvising a line about a piano in response to make him notice. And his parents were incredibly nice and so appreciative. Very, very cool.

More on Pilates: Three In One

So I taught my mat class today, using a whole bunch of the theraband exercises in the third section of this book, and it was fantastic. I also mentioned it to a one-on-one client this morning, as a really nice home workout explanation, and it's got three full workouts. She's going to check out the bargain section at B&N and see if she can find it, too.

Best $7.99 I've spent all year.

Born on a Blue Day, by Daniel Tammet

This is a really fascinating story, directly from the perspective of an autistic savant, with Asperger's Syndrome. Tammet, who wasn't diagnosed until he was 25, tells his story from birth. He's a fairly high-functioning guy, and it's pretty amazing how he manages to negotiate life. Especially vivid are his descriptions of his synesthesia, meaning he experiences numbers and words as colors and shapes, which is one of the reasons he is so fluent at languages, and incredibly good at math, a la Rainman.

A fast read, and really interesting.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards

I have to say, I had read and heard so much good about this book that I was a little disappointed in it. It reminded me of 100 other books I've read in that families-living-with-secrets vein, and I liked this one, but it didn't blow me away.

Two Weeks of Healthy (Mostly) Living

Inspired by my acupuncturist, I have almost completely cut out caffeine and soda for the last two weeks. I did have one Coke at the movies, with popcorn, but as a whole, I have been eating a much wider variety of fruits and vegetables, and aside from a rainy day stop at In-N-Out Burger, have been eating all fresh, real food. Trying to be more consistent about vitamins and supplements, too.

And, shocker, feeling really good. Sleeping better. Someone asked me today if I had lost weight, too. Just trying to keep it up, and practice moderation when I do indulge. Tonight for instance, after the show, the cast congregated at Little Toni's. I had a salad and one slice of pizza, and just water to drink. Very reasonable, and as I'm about to go to bed I feel pretty good. A later night than usual, but some nights just go that way.

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee and Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, by Charles J. Shields

My aunt had suggested the biography of Harper Lee, and I always take her book suggestions. I started to read it, and then realized that I needed to read To Kill A Mockingbird itself, too. And since I was on the kick, I also picked up the movie from the library, too. God, I love the library. I still have moments when I gleefully think, how can this all be free?

First, what a wonderful book. I guess I read it sometime in high school, though I can't say I have any memory of it. I am trying to read some of the books I either didn't read or wasn't equipped yet to understand or appreciate in my teens. Tom Jones is waiting for me next, and I have such fond memories of reading it in Mr. Loyd's AP English class, and of seeing the movie, with its wonderfully sexy, comical eating scene. But more on that when I finish that one.

Lee evokes the small southern town so perfectly, and Scout is such a perfect narrator, whether it's Scout the child or Scout the grownup. It was interesting to read these books, too, after having read In Cold Blood, and seeing the movie Capote not too long ago. I'd like to read some more of his work, too, especially after reading Mockingbird.

Lee was notoriously shy of interviews, so the book is put together based on other people's perceptions of her, which might actually be more interesting. Also fascinating is the recounting of her relationship with Capote, which becomes severely strained as time goes on.

The movie was also fun to watch. Much more emphasis on the trial and fewer of the townspeople, but it really captured the feeling and tone of the book, which to my mind, makes for a good adaptation. I've always been fascinated with the adaptation process, and I really enjoy reading the book and seeing the movie together.

I should also say that I accidentally chose the large type version of the book, and kind of liked reading it. I hope that's not a bad sign...

Pilates, by Rael Iscowitz, and Pilates: Three In One

So far I have avoided buying Pilates books, generally, since the ones that seem the best also seem to be ridiculously high-priced. This one was just under $20, and is written by one of the old guard of Pilates. It's a really nice, very clear book that takes you through all the different apparati, and includes helpful suggestions of complete workouts in the back. Pretty cool.

Also picked up (from the bargain bin) a Pilates book targeted more at Joe-Schmoe-Home-Workouter. It's called Pilates: Three in One, and has three sections which could each stand alone as a book, focusing on exercises that can be done at home. The first two sections are simple mat work, but it was the third that convinced me to buy it. It's alot of really interesting work with a theraband, which I'm hoping to incorporate into my class tomorrow.

Life Sentence, by David Ellis

Standard legal thriller. Strangely enough, it shared a character name with one from Michael Connelly's latest, Echo Park. Curious. One of those where you know constantly that there will be a twist at the end. A really, twisty twist. Good time-passing reading, though.

Coming Out of the Grump

This week, while exhausting, has been so much more pleasant than last. I had a lovely session of acupuncture of Wednesday, and I am newly invigorated to take care of myself, and eat right, and exercise, etc., etc. My Pilates shifts are filling in nicely, and I'm managing to carve out more free time for myself. I still have a ways to go to have a perfect, well-balanced life (I'm rolling my eyes here), but things are looking up.

One of the things the acupuncturist (who is like a sweet, slightly older Jewish big sister--very caring and cute) encouraged me to do was work toward some kind of meditation or spiritual practice. I've never had much luck with this sort of thing, but while I was lying on the table full of needles, I reflected on how nice it was to have a few minutes in which I did nothing. Generally, sort of like the heroine in the book I read a few weeks back, I tend to fill in empty spaces in my day with books. So, I'm either doing things, or reading. It was nice to be forced to just be quiet and still. So, we'll see how that goes. I'm starting small, like 5 minutes a day, maybe.

The Tenth Circle, by Jodi Piccoult

Not bad...an interesting new take on her tortured everyday people. The main character is a comic-book creator and illustrator, his wife is a scholar of Dante. Interspersed throughout the story are chapters of his comic book, and sort of journey through hell to save his daughter (mirroring real life, as you might imagine). Very much like her other books, but not a bad way to pass a few hours.

Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz

One of Koontz's better books, as far as I have read. Otherworldly stuff, battle between good and evil, and a main character who sees dead people (including Elvis) and tries to help them.

Grumpy Weekend

Hmmmphhh... That's how I've felt for the last few days. I had a dream that woke me up in a funny place on Friday morning, and I haven't been able to shake it. Ever have a dream like that? And Friday was a fine day, long, but uneventful until my show, which was unsatisfying, to say the least.

I abjured the company of husband and fellow players and went directly home to bed. I felt in a fog all day Saturday, maybe the start of a cold? Again, things went fine. I had 2 private Pilates sessions in the morning, and my mat class had 10 people in it! 10! I know it's partly that beginning-of-the-year, resolution crowd, but it's also a lot of repeat students, and they seem really happy when we're done. I'm really enjoying it so much. And then massages, and a lazy night at home with the husband.

Two massages this morning (when I was expecting only one, so that's a nice bonus!) with nice, new clients, with 2 lovely small daughters and a lovely house in a lovely area. That always makes me a little wistful, but I know we're on the path to all of that.

Anyway, the fog is clearing now, and I think we will take a walk in the fresh, just-rained-on air this afternoon, and start the week fresh.

Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murders, Mark Nelson and Sarah Hudson Bayliss

I have to confess, I didn't actually read this book so much as skim it and look at the pictures. It's interesting, and would probably be more so if I knew (or cared) a little more about art. The supposition of the book is a link between surrealist art and the grisly murder of Elizabeth Short, The Black Dahlia. I checked it out of the library because another Dahlia book I read recently referenced it. It includes a slew of photographs of both the Short autopsy and crime scene, and various surrealist works.

Jury Of One, by David Ellis

Standard legal thriller, but an engaging one. I will seek this author out again.

Literacy and Longing in L.A., by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack

I enjoyed this one, mostly because I can relate to the protagonist and her near-addictive love of books. Dora, child of a literary mother and absent father, has a tendency to use books to insulate her from the world at large, which I have been guilty of before, I confess. She goes on book benders the way other book heroines drink, have sex, and do drugs.

As with most books set in Los Angeles, the city itself functions as kind of a character, which is so neat to read, now that we're living there. I'm working on reading more L.A. writers, especially ones I read before we moved here. Michael Connelly is my favorite of these.

The story is pretty standard chick-lit fare. Dora is a pretty neurotic, but mostly good person, who reads herself into a hole of sorts at the beginning, and works her way out of it by building relationships with actual people as she goes, finding love again, etc., etc. It was a really fun read, despite being slightly predictable. Predictability is interesting, since it doesn't necessarily equal a bad book. The Kite Runner, which I read last year, was one of the most predictable books I ever read, but I was glued to the story anyway.

The book teems with interesting literary references; in fact, I began making a list of books and authors Dora mentions. Luckily, I gave up on this gargantuan task quickly, since there is a 9-page appendix listing them. My plan is to copy the list before I return the book and see if I can't make some headway. Reading this list, and considering my reading history has made me aware of some of the gaps in my literary life, so I'd like to try to fill it with a few more classics, some books that I should have read and haven't, and books that I did read, but so long ago I wasn't equipped to make any sense of them. So in a sense, Literacy and Longing in L.A. is an inspirational book for me.

Playground, by Jennifer Saginor

A memoir of a girl's early years growing up in/near the Playboy Mansion.

The trouble with memoirs is that they tend to be so self-indulgent. This one has a few interesting tidbits, celebrity sightings, and the standard sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, but it comes across mostly as a whiny little girl working out her daddy issues on paper instead of with a therapist. A quick read, at least, but not one I would recommend highly.

Shotgun Opera, by Victor Gischler

Assassins (both retired and active), lunatic sisters, wimpy nephews, dangerous criminals--your basic thriller. Not a great read, but an okay way to pass a few hours. Weak characters, though; hard to believe that any of them would do the things they do.

Echo Park, by Michael Connelly

Pretty much like every other Michael Connelly/Harry Bosch book, but I love them. They've become particularly rich to me since we moved to Los Angeles, and the places in the book are places I've been, or could go really easily. Chris and I both read (I re-read) the whole series in our first few months here, and it was pretty neat. We loosely planned to take my parents (also Connelly fans) on a Harry Bosch tour of LA, and didn't really do it. We had a grand plan, to make a soundtrack using music Harry listened to, and eat at his favorite restaurants. Maybe this summer we'll manage it. It would be really cool.

Test.....OUT!

Way behind on my book reporting, obviously, but today it is more important to report on my Pilates progress. I am now officially certified (no paper yet, though, who knows how long that will take?) as a Pilates instructor. After multiple frustrating rescheduled test-outs, we finally managed to do it. And it doesn't matter how confident you are in your skills, having people watch you changes everything.

I got a lot of very positive feedback on my style of explanation and my rapport with the client, but was encouraged to think more globally, as it were, taking in more of how the client's body reacts, not just at the primary sites, but everywhere. Makes a lot of sense to me, and that's something that I feel has been improving steadily over the last few months. I also got a couple of criticisms that I think were due to the unnatural nature of the test-out itself, so I'm confident that those things will work themselves out. It was also a really nice thing to get some feedback, which doesn't happen very often in the professional Pilates world.

But, mostly...I'M DONE! It was largely a formality, but it feels really good to get it out of the way.

A Very Good Week in Pilates

Excellent, in fact. Several new clients, including an exisiting massage client, who couldn't need to do Pilates more. I'm very excited about working with her. Also thrilled to be working with a pregnant client. Everyone bought packages, and all is well. I'm so happy to have things building up at the Sports Center. Lovely place to work, and the money is significantly better there than any of my other three Pilates jobs.

I also had a tremendously good Mat class yesterday. It was nearly all magic circle work, some of it taken from a handy little video I borrowed from work, about how to incorporate small apparatuses into your Mat work. I had seven ladies, mostly pretty healthy and eager.

It was also a small victory for me: I had a general plan (lots of magic circle work), but no specific list of exercises. For the first time, I really felt like the flow came easily and naturally, the way my favorite teachers of the past have seemed to work.

Spine twist with circle at base of ribs
Spine twist with head aligned
Spine twist with alternating head
Spine twist with circle in extended arms
Bicep presses with circle at side
Small presses while crowning head with circle
Small chest presses with circle parallel to chest
Bridging with circle between knees (inner thigh squeezes at top)
Bridging with heel and toe lifts (together and alternating)
Stretching with circle (hams, outer leg, outer leg flexed foot, inner thigh)
Calf presses with circle
Bridging with circle outside of knees (outer thigh presses at top)
Side-lying work
Roll-downs with circle in hands
Figure Four Stretch
Psoas Stretch

A Real Live Day Off

Today is my first entire day off since the first day of the month. Feels nice. Happened kind of by accident, and I now resolve to try to make it happen on purpose more often than twice a month.

Now, don't mistake me. I am not a workaholic, and we're not talking 12-hour days here. The kind of work I do doesn't put me at a desk for hours on end. For example, this week I worked 24 actual hours (not including transit time). Not bad, really, but I think we all know that even if you only work 3 hours in a day, it's not the same as having 24 full, unscheduled hours to yourself.

Here's what I did today:

Got up at 9 am, had coffee and oatmeal
Caught up on e-mails, myspace
Showered leisurely
Got a lovely pedicure
Had a nice lunch out (garlic sesame chicken bowl)
Grocery shopped for and made vegetable soup
And now I'm catching up on this here blog and watching football

Tonight our friend Will is coming over and we will watch more football and eat take-out from our favorite new find, a mediterranean/middle eastern/Armenian restaurant called Araz. I might also do some laundry, which I actually don't mind at all. I had notions of being a little more active, maybe going on a hike or something, but I have to say, I don't feel guilty at all.

Movie: Casino Royale

Good fun. Nice to see a slightly edgier Bond. I was never one of those who was against Daniel Craig, though I did find the choice a little surprising. I liked him a lot, and not just because he takes his shirt off a few times. He's kind of craggy, and good-looking, but with some years on him, and some experience. An excellent Bond.

Had all of the ridiculous action-movie necessities: evil villains, fantastic settings, and the ill-fated love affair (you can see her betrayal coming a mile away). But it is what it is, right? All in all, an entertaining night at the movies.

The Tao is Dead. Long Live The Tao.

Well, so much for that. I've lost my way, literally, I guess. I may still check in, but I'm no good at the every day thing. That's almost certainly a reason why I should do it, but I just don't care enough, sadly.

Today's entry is about skills, and how they are eternal parts of the soul. So if you learn to play the zither, I can take away your zither, but you'll always know how to play it. I can kind of relate to this one, in that I make my living from skills (massage, Pilates), and as such, they're eminently portable.

A Great Deliverance, by Elizabeth George

Ah, Elizabeth George. Dense, twisted, very-British mysteries. So much fun. I've read them all, but picked up A Great Deliverance, the earliest of the Lynley-Havers series, at the library on a whim and read it again. So nice to be reintroduced to the characters. Great reading. It's always nice to have to look up a word every now and then.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

I knew this book would be good before I even undid the ribbon and unwrapped it. My Aunt Susan gives me a wonderful, interesting book every year, and somehow manages to give me one I've never read. Sometimes they're new, and sometimes quite old, but all books that I clearly should read.

The Book Thief is the story of Liesel, a young German girl who travels to live with foster parents during WWII. What makes this book unique, among the many stories of Nazi Germany, is that the narrator is Death, and in a way, it's Death's story, too. Liesel learns to read in her new home, with the help of her kind foster father, and along the way, does in fact steal several books, beginning with a gravedigger's manual, stolen from the graveside of her younger brother. Her brother's death is Death's first encounter with her, and she captures his attention. He follows her story from there, in the midst of his regular death-duties.

I love books about books, and words, and how comforting words can be in trying times. I've always found it true in my own life; A book can make you happy when you are sad, keep you from dying of boredom or despair. The act of writing can keep you sane in the most difficult circumstances, and I certainly credit the act of writing with helping me be the person I am. Zusak conveys all of this subtly and beautifully.

The format of the story is a bit stylized, and includes the rough drawings and stories of Max, the Jewish man who is hidden in her basement for much of the story. It also contains small bits of exposition, given directly by Death, instead of worked into character dialogue: definitions of words, explanations of moments just to come, character sketches, and warnings of tragedy. The style reminds me of Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close, both lovely books. This technique, of embedding pieces of the story into the book, draws the reader in so well. I was so eager to know what was in the stories Max wrote, and so full of gratitude to be able to read them for myself, instead of having them described by one of the characters or the narrator.

Yes Man, by Danny Wallace

An excellent book for the New Year. It's a comic memoir of one man's attempt to say "Yes!" to life. As an improviser, this notion is familiar. In improv, we have a rule of "Yes, and-ing" everything. This is a way to be in constant agreement with your fellow players: you agree with them, then add something new. This isn't a literal, "yes, and it's my birthday!" You can agree with something in improv without being verbal, or necessarily agreeing with your partner's character's attitude.

Danny Wallace's brand of yes is substantially more literal. He attempts to say an actual, verbal "yes," to any question he is asked, whether it's advertising ("Why not say it with flowers?"), invitations ("Want to have a pint?), job offers (Want to do this job you're not remotely qualified for?), or spam e-mails (Please kind sir, will you help a man from Somalia trying to get 4 million dollars out of the country?), no matter the cost or effort required.

This results, as you can imagine, in wonderful comic moments, near disasters, travel to the opposite side of the world, and in a funny way, true enlightenment. My husband read it first, and I was constantly asking him what was so funny. And as I read it, he kept asking me where in the story I was, everytime I laughed. I can highly recommend it for a good laugh, and perhaps a little think about how often we say "No," without thinking.

The Black Dahlia

Pretty boring. Didn't look so much like a proper period movie, but kind of a weak facsimile. They did a good job of adapting the book, though. In fact, I think that the only reason I was stayed engaged with the movie is that I was assessing how well they adapted the book. My fellow movie-watchers were bored, and one of them even fell asleep toward the end. So much for an exciting climax. The acting was uneven and, well, boring.

Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls was good fun. Not a great movie, not really a great musical, and not a consistent cast, but a lot of fun. It amazes me how many people don't realize it's a musical, though.

Jennifer Hudson lives up the the hype, and she and Eddie Murphy were really the only ones who managed to sing and act at the same time. Murphy's portrayal of a James Brown-like soul singer is really wonderful, and Hudson sings circles around other girls.

Beyonce and Jamie Foxx were both pretty flat.

My Dark Places, by James Ellroy

Whew. This book was compelling, but exhausting. In the last few months, I have read a recent non-fiction account of the Black Dahlia murder, re-read Ellroy's own Dahlia novel, and saw the movie over the weekend. One of my fellow New Year's Eve revelers told me about My Dark Places, so I put it on my hold list at the library (more on that later) and just finished it yesterday.

It's a pretty dark memoir of his life, changed forever after the unsolved murder of his mother when he was a boy. Convincing himself that he was happy to be away from his drunk, whore mother, he lived with the father he idolized. He led a pretty dissolute existence until his late twenties, when he nearly went mad from drugs and drink. His temporary descent into madness shook him out of it, and he eventually became a critically acclaimed novelist.

In the 90s, he realized how much his mother's death affected him and began to work with a detective to unravel what actually happened. The retelling of their quest sometimes gets a little tedious, with long lists of people who weren't able to tell them anything, and places then visited to learn nothing. But they put together little pieces of her life, and that helped him to come to terms with it, on some level.

The most interesting part of the book to me, given my mild fascination with the Black Dahlia case, is how his mother's murder got twisted up in his mind with the Dahlia and other murders during his child- and young adult-hood. It's a little creepy, and very disturbing, but totally fascinating.

The Day of the Literal Pain in the Neck

Ouch. Ouch. And more ouch.

Yesterday I woke up with a little twinge in my right shoulder blade, which built and built until the entire right side of my torso up to my neck and the base of my skull was on fire. It's somewhat better today, but I can still make myself dizzy with pain just by poking the back of my head (I know, don't poke it, then). I don't think I slept more than an hour at a time last night, since everytime I shifted, I woke up.

And to top it off, today was an extraordinarily long day...I worked from 7 am to 7:30 pm (with a few hours at home for lunch). 8 hours of Pilates clients, none of whom I had met before, so I was creating the workouts as I went. Good day for money, though, and I actually enjoyed most of the clients, and with a few exceptions, didn't find myself at a loss for exercises. In fact, this is my longest Pilates day ever! It's historic, and I hope it never happens again.

In other exciting news today, we got a DVR, which is kind of fun, though a totally different remote to learn. I've been fast-forwarding and rewinding like mad....just because I can...Chris is totally tickled by it. He's been jealously slavering over DVRs whenever we visit someone who has one.

We Are All Welcome Here, by Elizabeth Berg

I love Elizabeth Berg. Her novels are sentimental and sweet and so very girlie, but I love them. I'm not an emotional-response-crier kind of girl, but hers almost always get me, and We Are All Welcome Here is no exception. It's a departure for Berg, in that she based it on the real life of the mother of one of her readers. The reader sent a letter suggesting this, a thing that Berg was initially against, but then was won over by the sheer force of the mother's story. She states in the introduction that it's a fictionalized version of the woman's story, but the grounding in reality is perhaps one of the reasons the book is so good.

It was a pretty quick read, with a young girl as narrator. Her mother, Paige, who contracted polio late in her pregnancy, delivered the baby in an iron lung, and then lived to come home and raise her, albeit from a paralyzed state, able only to move her head. Paige is determined to focus on what she can do, not what she is unable to do anymore, with the help of a special caregiver, whose boyfriend is caught up in the civil rights movement. We follow her daughter as she hits puberty, pushes boundaries, and begins to understand what love is and isn't.

Berg has such a skill at capturing the almost excruciatingly unbearable moments in life, whether of tragedy or love, and I think this is why I like her books so much. It's so easy to identify with those moments where you think you just can't stand whatever it is, whether it's good or bad.

The first Elizabeth Berg book that made me cry is Range of Motion, which I highly recommend, along with this one.

The Ice Curtain, by Robin White

First let me say something about the way I read. I read everything, and often finish uninteresting books with little hope of their improving. But with some hope! But I find it's pretty rare that a book improves on its first half. The Ice Curtain was one I almost didn't get into at all, but due to its being the only paperback I had handy, and not wanting to lug a heavy hardback around, I stuck with it.

I must also admit that I was taken in a little by its cover: a shadowy silhouette of a man surrounded by diamonds. I do, in fact, sometimes choose books by their covers. When you are blindly reaching out for books at the library, it seems a good a way as any, and works as often as it fails, if not more often. Because most books have something good about them, I find. It's pretty rare that I feel a book is an entire waste of time, that I'm angry when I finish it, because I'll never get those 4 hours back (or however many). It's happened, certainly, but I seem to have wiped the authors and titles from my mind. If I think of any, I'll add them in.

Set in Russia and Siberia, and concerning the shadowy world of diamond mining, it was dense and fairly confusing, and just a little exhausting. By the end, I had finally started to to care a little about the main characters, but all in all, it is not one I would recommend, unless you find yourself in a guest room somewhere with no books to read but this one. That sounds harsher than I actually feel, but so it goes.

Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co., by Maria Amparo Escandon

I enjoyed this book the way I enjoy Chinese food. I'm so happy to be consuming it, but I'm hungry again not too much later. A fun read, definitely engaging, and with a little touch of magical realism (which I enjoy), but not much meat to it. I will try to get her other book, Esperanza's Box of Saints, which I seem to remember reading about somewhere.

Resolution Progress

Exercise is going well so far. Just got back from a trip to the gym, where I've started running a little again. I'm on-again, off-again with running, but lately I just had the urge, and it has felt really good. Just doing little 2-minute intervals in 5-minute sets, so nothing marathon-worthy, but enough to feel a little bit challenged and work up a good sweat.

To recap the week:
2 trips to the gym for interval running
2 sessions of Pilates, one with trainer, one on my own
2 short walks around the neighborhood
1 Pilates mat class

Day 5 of 365 Tao

Today's entry is Sound:

Wind in the cave:
Movement in stillness.
Power in silence.

The general idea is that thoughtful stillness reduces the chaos of life around us and allows us to experience our own state, and the world around us, more deeply. Makes sense in an abstract way, but I'm not finding it easy to apply to my own life. I'm going to have to think on this one.

Day 4 of the Tao

Day 4 is Reflection:

Moon above water.
Sit in solitude.

Still water reflects the moon perfectly, while turbulent water mars the image. So, I take this to mean that stilling the mind can allow you to find a level, and reflect perfectly. Interesting, as I had two, count 'em, two no-shows this morning at the Pilates studio. No-shows are never fun, but if you just rolled out of bed at 7 am to get to work, not working the first 2 hours is pretty grumpifying. And yet...I managed to keep my cool. I still get paid partially, so it's not a crisis, but still, I'm proud that I stayed calm and used the time to read and catch up on phone calls. Good for me.

Back to Pilates

First Pilates session after the holiday madness...not as bad as I thought it would be. Lots of muscles are very tight, but they were letting go and relaxing a little by the end of the session. Great session, and as I'd like to use some of it myself, I am recapping it here (all done on the Cadillac):

--Stretching
--Reverse footwork
--Monkey w/heel drops
--Hip openers
--Lat pulldowns at tower end (double- and single-arm)
--Reverse push-through
--Roll-downs
--Crescent stretch
-roll-down
-move right hand to center of bar
-left hand to outside of tower bar
-hips to side
-trainer pulls tower bar away
--spreadeagle

Excellent workout...just right for the way my body felt.

The Resolutions Themselves

This list is perhaps a work in progress.

1. Exercise consistently, including regular Pilates, cardio, and weight training. Keep your body strong and ready for anything.

2. Eat better. More veggies and fruits, more whole grains, less processed food. More potassium, less sodium. Plenty of water and other liquids.

3. Cook more. Cook different stuff. Figure out ways to cook healthy "convenience" foods rather than buying them.

4. Regulate schedule: work, sleep, play. Enjoy downtime, but keep active.

5. Do more. Participate in more activities, including improv, continuing education for Pilates and massage.

6. Write more. You've started a blog, now actually make entries in it. Keep up with things. Write about reading, about improv, about work and play and family.

7. Think more. And not in the worrying, anxious way. In a quasi-meditative, spiritual way, but retain your pragmatism.

365 Tao: Daily Meditations (Days 1-3)

This book was given to me by one of my teachers from massage school. He's a funny contradiction of a guy; he's very average-Joe-like when you talk to him, but he's into all this new-agey stuff, too, and manages to make it more palatable than your average hippie can. I'm pretty left-brained, but over the last few years, I've incorporated some of the more intuitive work into my massage and life in general, I'd say. At any rate, his bodywork is equal parts physical and emotional, and he prescribed a little more spiritual work for me. So...a book with an easily digested bit of taoism for each day of the year. It's also a book that he's loaned me for the year, and I love having books on loan. It makes them richer, somehow. I'm not usually a big fan of this kind of stuff, but I will take it for however it's useful to me, and I will try to be consistent about it. Consistency is a big challenge in my life, so if nothing else, I'll work on that.

Day 1 was, predictably, labeled The Beginning:

This is the moment of embarking.
All auspicious signs are in place.

It goes on about commitment to transformation, meditation, etc. Sort of like New Year's resolutions, it's all just talk unless you actually do it.

Day 2 was Ablution:

Washing at dawn:
Rinse away dreams.
Protect the gods within,
And clarify the inner spirit.

This one is about cleansing, and goes into a bunch of mumbo-jumbo about the body containing 36,000 gods, which is where my eyes glaze over a little, so I will paraphrase: Wash away the old, the unrealistic, the unnecessary so that you can focus on your goals.

Today's is Devotion:

Make the crooked straight,
Make the straight to flow.
Gather water, fire, and light.
Bring the world to a single point.

Faith + devotion = natural momentum. This one really resonates, as I find that most of the low points in my life can be traced to a lack of momentum. And momentum is fairly useless without a place to focus it, like the single point of the world, which requires that you simplify things a bit. Everything is connected and essential. Maybe?

Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir, by Janice Erlbaum

I''m never sure what to expect from a memoir...some of them are dry and boring and some are so scandalous and dirty that I find them hard to swallow. Girlbomb is a quick, interesting glimpse of a girl in the 80s who walks out of her mother's apartment because of a horrible stepfather. She's never really homeless and details her experiences in shelters and group homes and the high school she still attends. Fairly predictably, she does drugs, has promiscuous sex, etc., but the writing is engaging, and she never sounds smug, which is a common weakness in memoir. She seems to recognize herself as being sort of pathetic, sort of lovable, and definitely flawed.

Blue Screen, by Robert Parker

I love Robert Parker. I got into him through the Spenser books, and have followed him to Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall. I love the consistency of his characters, how they're all basically the same, with different outward appearances and backstories. It tickles me that Stone and Randall are becoming an item, and it gives me a litle thrill of recognition when Susan Silverman appears as Sunny's therapist. The story is insignificant, really. Great dialogue and banter and occasional highbrow references. A good, quick read.

3 days, 4 books

Another year, complete with all the good intentions and resolutions that accompany new years. Writing more is one of mine, and this is one way to achieve it. Since one of the things I do the most is read, it seemed like a nice gateway. I'm on my fourth book of 2007, if that is any indication of the sheer volume of my reading. I'm pretty democratic, however; I read just about everything. So far this year I've logged a hard-boiled lady P.I. novel, a memoir of a young girl's life on the street, a taoist meditation-for-the-day book, and a sort of fantastical Mexican prison novel.

Woman does not live by books along, though, and I find myself sometimes in danger of completely falling into my books and ignoring the world of action and people. I intend this also to be a record of the things I do, such as they are. Another resolution of mine this year is to do more. More exercise, more outdoor activities, more Pilates, more massage, more improv, more performing, more time with friends and family, more making new friends. More things I will think of later, I'm sure.

Everything starts somewhere, and this is a good a place as any.