the two kinds of decay by sarah manguso

at twenty-one, just as she was starting to comprehend the puzzles of adulthood, Sarah Manguso was faced with another: a wildly unpredictable autoimmune disease that appeared suddenly and tore through her twenties, paralyzing her for weeks at a time, programming her first to expect nothing from life and then, furiously, to expect everything. in this captivating story, Manguso recalls her struggle: arduous blood cleansings, collapsed veins, multiple chest catheters, depression, the deaths of friends and strangers, addiction, and, worst of all for a writer, the trite metaphors that accompany prolonged illness.

i loved her style of writing - it is very different from a typical memoir - the story is written in poetic prose - at least that's what it felt like to me. it was beautiful, tragic, and somehow, i felt quite distance from the writer and her story. i wanted more. although her questions and her thoughts makes us think, i felt an arm's length away from her story.

a quick read, and i highly recommend it.

Crossing to Safety

My first classic author during this reading comp. I loved this book. It was complicated and beautifully written. It was about four friends who met young and immediately fell into friendship together. They were young and promising and nothing had happened to them yet. They were in eden. And then things began to happen to them, hard things like polio and losing jobs and nervous breakdowns and they weren't in eden anymore. How they handled their lives as they maneuvered through their pain was different for each character, but the constant was love and friendship. For some there was also a learned gratitude, that they had what they had. There were ideals in this book like staying instead of leaving, like the importance of friendship and love to keep you okay during the tragedies of life. It was about crossing to safety throughout life, whether you are rescued or rescue yourself or rescue each other.

yoga schmoga

finally finished the tree of yoga by b.k.s iyengar...his thoughts are interesting i guess...there are some kernels of truth that will sink somewhere and come to me when i need them. something was definitely lost in the translation...and i don't know that this made me love yoga any more or less...what a terrible review i'm giving this book...just one of those days. i would say, unless you are full on yogi, skip it.

Witches

I read the Physick bk of Deliverance Dane. Loved it. Want to be witch even more so now. Wondering how to signal that I am ready to accept my powers now. Am researching natural remedies and herbs and such. Will keep you posted about powers. Smooch.

Glass Castle Indeed

This book was sad. I read it in two nights. It felt like fiction. The way she approached her family and childhood with love and tolerance, anything less than anger and grief, was mouth opening. It was like watching a train wreck. It was painful to see the transition as they grew up and understood more and more that what was happening actually shouldn't. I was so glad to read the part where they ended up saving each other, pulling each other one by one out of that hell and into New York.

What is the saying about glass houses? That you shouldn't throw stones if you live in one. I guess judging anyone's life or parents leads you back to your own and makes you vulnerable to the same sort of judgements. Still, they were such over the top wretched parents. Anyway, I am eager to read her new book that is coming out soon.

chick lit...love it or hate it

the late, lamented molly marx by sally koslow definitely fits into this category - i was sucked in by the description of the book and thought it was going to be something it wasn't. it was ok, but so much of the plot we are familiar with, and i don't know if ms. koslow did any better. there are some sweet moments of her thoughts about her daughter (the narrator of the story is molly marx, and she tells her story as she sees it unfold from some place in the afterlife). i'm still puzzled as to who it was that caused her to have the accident that killed her, and i'm annoyed by that. it was ok - probably best saved for a flight or day at the beach - and definitely wait for the paperback, or better yet, borrow it from the library.

the physick book of deliverance dane by katherine howe

i enjoyed this book about witches - who doesn't love a good story full of witch craft? the book was good - well written, and fairly formulaic...i won't spill any secrets but you won't be surprised, really. there are some true historical facts weaved in, which doth make us feel more learned. i miss you too and sometimes i think we could be good witches.

I am always right about hedgehogs

Yay. I am so glad you stuck with it. It was one of my favorite books last year. I was mesmerized. And when I finished with it I just wanted to talk and talk. I am so glad you stuck with it. I owe you a stick with.
Anyway, I finished Hardball by Sara Paretsky. I'm conflicted. When I had the flu last year I read these books constantly. They are not easy or stupid. It is good story telling with a great character. But the character is somehow better than the stories, so sometimes they leave you feeling like the big picture is better than the individual books. And that is kinda how I felt about this one - I think it comes out in September or something. Anyway, I am on to A Short History of Women which I have decided to read to my mom and Glass Castle, my own read. Hopefully I will love them more than just like them.
I miss you sweetie.

you were right...about the hedgehog

you were right. i stuck with it, and it took me awhile, but in the end, i loved this book. it broke my heart and it mended it. the first half i struggled through, that we know. the second half, i don't know whether it was the writing or the circumstance in which i was reading it. but i got it, finally. and i will pick up her next book.