1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Finally!)
I have been reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami FOREVER. I got it back in October, when it was released in the US and started it right away. But then I took a class that required some reading, and my book club picked a great book, and then I wanted to read something lighter, and jeez, seven months later, here I am.
This monster of a book (928 pages) was published in Japan in three volumes and I really wish that it had followed that formula in the US. I just felt that it was so much – so much to take in, so much to understand, so much to contemplate. I would have loved to have some time between volumes to digest it. But, I did read it in seven months, so I guess that is plenty of time to digest.
The book takes place in – you guessed it – 1984 and focuses on two main characters, Aomame and Tengo. Aomame is a fitness instructor who moonlights as an assassin of domestically violent men, while Tengo is a math teacher and an aspiring writer. The two went to elementary school together but haven’t seen each other since, and chapters alternate between both characters’ points of view.
Aomame and Tengo separately and inadvertently become involved with a religious cult called Sakigake and end up in a universe where, under two moons, little people weave air chrysalises that then hatch dohtas. Sound bizarre? Well, that’s when you know you’re reading a Murakami.
I really liked 1Q84 , and while there was a crazy alternate world, lots of food and music, and awesome characters, I felt that there was much more of a love story than we usually see in Murakami’s works. I didn’t love that (because I don’t love love stories), but I liked the characters so much and I was rooting for them for so long, that I guess it fit well with the story. I would of course recommend this novel – just make sure you have plenty of time set aside for it 
Wordless Wednesday
Attempting to organize my books by color. Not a complete success.
What’s your favorite poem?
A few years ago, my aunt, uncle, and cousins got our whole extended family together for a poetry night. Before the party, we all submitted our favorite poem, and then at the party, all the poems were read aloud and we guessed which poem was which person’s favorite.
I’d just about forgotten about this party, but while cleaning out some old books I came across the collection of poems that my aunt created for us all. I flipped through – sometimes skimming the poems, sometimes reading closely. Always thinking about the person who selected the poem. Some selections surprised me. Some were really telling. My aunt Nancy’s favorite was Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe. My cousin Mercedes liked The Tenth Try by Jim Carroll. Some were funny. Some were sad.
Somehow,
Thunder never frightened me.
I never hid beneath the sheets.
I never covered my ears
Or ran around the house
Crying and cowering.
Hell,
Anyone can be loud.
But on those days when
The sky was a clear blue,
And my father was cooking
On the grill;
When mom was setting plastic forks
And paper plates
On the table cloth over the picnic table;
When my brothers were all playing catch
And laughing.
God,
That really scared me.
Looking back, I think about what a random party this was. What other family gets together to chat about poetry? And then, what family submits poems written by other family members as their favorite? It just got me thinking – we get together with our relatives; we maybe call them on the phone; chat around the mashed potatoes and squash on Thanksgiving. But do you know what your grandmother’s favorite poem is? Do you know that your aunt loves Edgar Allen Poe? Did you even know that your uncle wrote poetry?
My family used to do random, fun things like this all the time, but we really don’t anymore, and it makes me a little sad. I mean, who else knows that their grandma loves James Henry Leigh Hunt?
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
I’m taking Bioethics this semester just for fun and this was one of the books on the syllabus. It is the first book I purchased using the awesome IndieBound app on my Kindle.
This book is so crazily interesting. I had seen it at the bookstore many times – I think there is something about the cover that people remember because whenever I talk about this book people inevitably talk about its design, whether they have read it or not. The title – The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures - pretty much sums it up.
During the Vietnam War, the US recruited the Hmong to fight a “secret war” in Laos, promising them that they would be taken care of after the war. When the war did end, the Hmong found themselves without a homeland and they were moved to a series of camps and settlements. The US eventually tried to make good on their promise and many Hmong came to Merced, California as refugees. The Lee family was among them.
Fadiman does an amazing job of detailing the culture clash the Hmong would have felt after leaving a farming life in Laos and arriving in tenement housing in an American city. When their daughter Lia is just a few months old and begins seizing, the Lees bring her to Merced Hospital. She is finally diagnosed as epileptic, but language barriers, cultural differences, misunderstandings, and distrust rapidly deteriorate the situation. Fadiman gives the reader both sides of the story, interviewing doctors who cared for Lia as well as Lia’s family, and tries to offer an understanding of what went wrong and what could have been done to make Lia’s medical journey better.
I had never thought much before about informed consent and how it relates to patient health in the US, but this book (and the bioethics class as a whole) have made me consider it. It’s a fascinating topic that I think most people don’t really think about, but reading this book will change the way you look at medical care, treatment, consent, and culture.
Breaking Up With God by Sarah Sentilles
The other day I decided to organize all our books by color. It was a ridiculous task that didn’t really turn out that well but it did lead me to discover all sorts of books on the shelves that I haven’t read. By the end of the project, I had a pile of books that were all next on my to-read list, and a shelf full of books that just looked jumbled and weird. Oh well.
I picked up Breaking up with God by Sarah Sentilles when I was still working at Borders, during the “final days” sale when every book was super cheap and had to go. I’m fascinated by religion, I think mostly, because religion plays no part in my life and I find it so interesting that it plays a huge role in other people’s lives.
Sarah grows up in a Catholic family and then becomes Episcopalian. Immediately after graduating from Yale she enters the Teach for America program where she is stationed in Compton, outside of LA. She sees terrible poverty and under-funded schools, all while making friends and trying to fit in. She finds an Episcopal Church called All Saints and says she “fell in love with God” there. She loves the people, loves being a part of the community, loves feeling loved, wanted and accepted. She continues to drive to All Saints even after she moves further away, making her frequent trips to church hour-long drives. It’s at All Saints that Sarah begins to think that she is called to be a minister. Everyone there tells her that she has a special gift and a special relationship with God. They encourage her to pursue the ministry, and she does.
Sarah loves being the person who is “going to be a priest.” She revels in the awe and interest it inspires in others; she feels special and priviledged. She soon heads to Harvard Divinity School, but it’s there that her faith actually begins to waver. She takes a class with much-loved professor Gordon Kaufman, who challenges conventional thoughts of religion. He says that theology doesn’t move from God to humans; it moves from humans to God. Sarah hears him saying:
There is no such thing as revelation. There is only what we make. God is not shooting arrows down at us. We are shooting arrows up at God, trying to reach God even as well know our arrows will never hit the mark. Theology is not about getting God right…It’s about looking around at the world and seeing what it needs. About confronting injustice and environmental degradation and poverty and racism and sexism and the possibility of nuclear annihilation and saying, ‘I can create a version of God that can respond to this.’
At Harvard she begins to love theology and really thinking about religion and its role in the world. She agrees with Professor Kaufman that “theology that does not contribute significantly to struggles against humanity and injustice has lost sight of its point of being.” And it is here at Harvard Divinity School that her faith breaks down. She sees the political, sexist, angry, and greedy side of religion and realizes that she cannot be a part of it. Her journey is heartbreaking but enlightening for Sarah, and is sad and inspiring for the reader.
Sarah travels a long road in this memoir, but in the end she comes through strong and happy, with a better understanding of the world around her and how she would like to fit into it.
Is no one buying books anymore?
The other day I stumbled upon an article about things you learn when you own a bookstore. At least two or three times in the article the author noted that people are throwing away their bookshelves. I hadn’t thought about it, but it must be true.
I just got a Kindle Fire for Christmas and Andrew got a Kindle. I was reading Murakami’s 900+ page 1Q84 and found myself never carrying it with me to work because it’s HUGE. So, I bought it on my Kindle (on the awesome IndieReader app) and I’m trucking through it. And when I went to Arizona for work recently, I grabbed the Kindle, loaded with 1Q84 and some other books and entertained myself for hours on the flight.
But my house is still overflowing with books.
Andrew’s dad just built us these awesome bookshelves, which are packed, and still our other bookshelf is overflowing. We decided it’s time to donate some of the less-read books.
So although I have a Kindle, and boy does it make reading 1Q84 a lot easier, I also have a hard copy (two in fact) of the book. Because I love the way books look in my home. I love bookshelves. I love leafing through a paperback. I love browsing bookstores. I love discovering new books. I love picking up a book I’ve read a million times. I love seeing notes I’ve left in the margins.
Our bookshelves will stay full. (But my Kindle is going to be packed too.)
Happy Birthday Judy Blume!
From Wikipedia
Today is Judy Blume’s 74 the birthday. No fourth grade class was complete without reading Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, meeting Peter, his friend Sheila, and his annoying little brother Fudge. And then of course we all to had to read Double Fudge and Superfudge to see what became of Farley Dexter.
And no girl made it through sixth grade without reading Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret or Just as Long as We’re Together. And what about Freckle Juice and Blubber? Or Then Again, Maybe I Won’t? Or Forever?
I didn’t realize it at the time, but Judy Blume’s books were some of the first for young adults that tackled subjects like racism, divorce, puberty, religion, and teen sex. Kudos to you Judy for being one of the first authors to write about important, controversial topics for your young adult audience. Her commitment to writing about these topics had led to some of her books being banned in some schools systems and libraries across the country. She’s considered one of the most banned children’s authors in the US and according to the American Library Association, Forever was the second most challenged book of 2005. Her experiences with censorship led her to write a collection of short stories about the topic, Places I Never Meant to Be.
Happy Birthday Judy!
If you only read the books…
This is my absolute favorite quote. It’s no surprise, really, since it’s no secret that I love love love Haruki Murakami. But I think this quote it amazing for a lot of reasons. Not only does it encourage reading new and unique things, venturing off the bestsellers list, and considering more than what Oprah recommends, but I think this quote expresses the idea that we should always be thinking and evaluating, deciding and wondering, and not sticking to our preconceived notions and formerly held beliefs. I just love it.
I’m going to try to read more unique books this year, books that other people might not pick up or that focus on things that interest me, but maybe not most people.
What have you read that is different, crazy, offbeat, unusual or weird?
Tina Fey’s Bossypants
Andrew and I recently went to New York City to see a taping of the Colbert Report, which was just about the coolest thing ever. We had such an awesome time, not only seeing the taping, but also just hanging around in the city. We drove down and that gave us plenty of time to listen to Tina Fey’s Bossypants audiobook.
Tina Fey reads the book, but I guess it would be totally weird if she didn’t. So, that makes sense. Anyway… She does a great job, because she’s funny and entertaining and really brings the stories to life. The anecdotes of her childhood are the funniest. Whether discussing her gay boyfriends at drama camp or a mountain climbing adventure gone wrong, she’s hilarious. When she begins working at Second City in Chicago, it’s interesting the hear the ins-and-outs of working in comedy and learn the behind-the-scenes tips and tricks of improv. She tells of traveling in a van, doing improv shows in cities all over the country. I actually pictured Tina Fey in a van like the mom in Home Alone, riding along with John Candy’s polka band. That cracks me up just thinking about it.
When Tina eventually makes it to SNL and 30 Rock, I all the sudden felt I was listening to a book designed for woman in management or to a commencement speaker at a women’s college lively graduation ceremony. It was kind of weird. It was still funny at times, but it was more like funny advice or something and not just funny for funny sake. And there was a lot of random naming of all the cool people she’s worked with and sometimes the names and names and names just made me feel like she was well, I guess name dropping would be the most accurate description. And I didn’t love that. But, I did really like listening to the book and it was hugely entertaining during the endless state of Connecticut. Now I have to go watch an episode of 30 Rock – I have a lot of catching up to do.
Just say no (to Amazon)
I knew it would happen eventually, but now that it’s here I am kind of surprised. I am the owner of a Kindle. And I like it. But what I don’t like is not buying books at my local independent bookstore. While at Porter Square Books the other day I saw a sign that said:
A bookstore the size of Porter Square Books employs 11.6 full time equivalent employees for every $1 million in sales. Walmart employs 5 people for every $1 million in sales. Amazon employs 1.
I don’t like supporting Amazon; I would prefer to spend my money at Porter Square Books or Harvard Bookstore or Brookline Booksmith. I am proud to say that I have not bought a book from Amazon for my Kindle Fire and now I know a way that I will never have to: the IndieBound Reader App saves the day.
The app is easy to download on your Fire (you just have to allow outside applications, which is easy to do). Once you have the app, you can shop with the awesome indie bookstore of your choice directly through the app. You can still highlight and add notes and change the display settings like font size and brightness. Step by step details on how to get the app on your Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet are here. If you have an iPad or another iOS device, there is an app for you too. Check out all the details here.
It’s really important that we support our local stores, so I shop local as often as I can. I know Amazon may be a few dollars cheaper, but it’s completely worth it to me to spend a couple extra dollars in order to support my community. Don’t you agree?
