September, 2007
September 1st, 2007, 1:35 p.m. - Insert unavoidable "fierce" joke here
Apparently at any hour of the day anywhere you are in America, at some point, there will be an America's Next Top Model marathon on TV. Seriously, about seven times a week you can see an episode from any given season. (So basically, the girls who try out for the show have no excuse for never having seen the show before.)
September 2nd, 2007, 9:48 p.m. - Deborah Rodriguez is flipping awesome
27. Kabul Beauty School (Deborah Rodriguez)
Up next: The Raw Shark Texts (Steven Hall)
September 4th, 2007, 11:17 p.m. - Whatever, I'm sick of these people
September 6th, 2007, 8:55 a.m. - If only it'd been Howie BEFORE Tre
September 8th, 2007, 12:07 p.m. - We're gonna need a bigger (theoretical) boat
28. The Raw Shark Texts (Steven Hall)
Up next: Ivy Briefs (Martha Kimes)
September 11th, 2007, 11:36 p.m. - If it's between the Big Brother house with Dick and the sequester house with the cool people and the water slide, I'm definitely going for the latter
September 13th, 2007, 9:14 p.m. - Sniff!
September 15th, 2007, 8:47 p.m. - What Legally Blonde didn't tell you
29. Ivy Briefs (Martha Kimes)
Up next: Fun Home (Alison Bechdel)
September 16th, 2007, 5:32 p.m. - Yeah, I read it in a day. Shut up
30. Fun Home (Alison Bechdel)
Up next: Here If You Need Me (Kate Braestrup)
September 18th, 2007, 10:16 p.m. - I want the last 81 days of my life back
September 20th, 2007, 5:28 p.m. - It's a Survivor prediction roundtable, and I helped! Also, Top Chef
September 22nd, 2007, 12:46 p.m. - Wow, I've read a lot of books already this month
31. Here If You Need Me (Kate Braestrup)
Up next: Lottery (Patricia Wood)
September 26th, 2007, 11:31 p.m. - It's not as mean as it sounds
"'We Don't See You in Food at All'"
Also, Project Runway returns November 14th! Yay!
September 27th, 2007, 9:20 p.m. - Can't buy me love
32. Lottery (Patricia Wood)
Up next: Autobiography of a Face (Lucy Grealy)
September 30th, 2007, 8:33 p.m. - A sad end to a sad life
33. Lottery (Lucy Grealy)
Sadly, Grealy died a few years ago. But Ann Patchett (who wrote the great Bel Canto and the recently-published-and-not-so-well-received-but-I'll-probably-try-it-anyway Run) chronicled their friendship in Truth and Beauty (a big theme in Autobiography of a Face), so I'll have to read sometime.
Up next: The Year of Living Biblically (A.J. Jacobs)
Rodriguez went to Kabul as an aid worker but wound up helping out more by doing what she'd been doing most of her life - working as a hairdresser. Eventually she cmae up with the idea of the Kabul Beauty School, an educational salon that would train women in Afghanistan how to beautify one another - and become more self-sufficient, in some cases even taking care of their families without needing anything from their husbands. In a country where women are rarely treated as if they're useful, Rodriguez not only made her dream a reality, she helped dozens of women who otherwise would have been stuck in horrible lives forever. Like I said, she's flipping awesome. (Oh, and she's a great writer, too.)
That was...weird. I can't even describe how weird. Go read the Amazon description, then add about 50 pounds of weirdness and you'll be a little closer. Also, Hall? Fire your proofreader and learn the proper care and feeding of commas. The errors are really distracting.
If Kimes ever decides to get out of law (unless she already has), she'll have a good career as a writer to fall back on - she's a terrific storyteller. Despite having mediocre grades from a state school, little money, and no real desire to actaully be a lawyer, Kimes applied to Columbia Law School and, thanks in great part to her spectacular LSAT scores, was accepted. In Ivy Briefs, she details her three years there in all their obsessive, sleep-deprived, nerve-wracking glory. She's extremely honest and gives an insight into law school that I've never heard before. Also, she's hilarious. The most interesting transformation, however, isn't Kimes' change from small-town so-so student to big-city lawyer, but from uncertain beginner to near-elitist snob (though she reels herself in before it gets too out of hand). If you're thinking about law school, this book may change your mind, but it will also give you an honest view of exactly what you'll be in for.
Think a graphic novel can't be deep? Think again.
Before Braestrup's husband, a state trooper, died in a car accident, his plan was to someday become a minister. Braestrup decided to fulfill his dream for him and became a chaplain with the Maine search-and-rescue service. Here If You Need Me is part memoir and part rumination on spirituality; it reminded me a lot of Anne Lamott's non-fiction. And Braestrup not only brings a beautiful voice to the story, she also writes wonderfully. I hope she writes more in the future.
I can't remember which reviewer said it, but it's pretty much true - Lottery is what would happen if Forrest Gump won the lottery. Perry L. Crandall (the L stands for "lucky," and you'll hear that over and over) has an IQ of 76 (which is NOT retarded - you'll hear that over and over, too) and a ton of money in the bank. His estranged family wants the cash, but his friends/co-workers (two very awesome people) want to make sure Perry doesn't sign away anything. So basically, only innocent people should have money, and only selfless people should help them take care of it. (The world would work a lot better if that were the case.) Lottery can get kind of quirky, but in the end it shows that no matter how much money you have, it can't stop you from experiencing pain.
Until just a few days ago, I'd never heard of Lucy Grealy or this memoir, which I found out about while looking up something else on Amazon.com. After a childhood battle with cancer, Grealy had part of her jaw removed and spent the next ten-plus years dealing with operations, the cruelty of her peers, her self-consciousness, and the search for true beauty, love, and identity. She was never quite satisfied, and it seems that she just wound up settling rather than accepting how things had turned out. I can't blame her, though - how would anyone react to the realization that he or she will never be the ideal he or she hoped to be?