Why I read: The Serious Pleasure of Books by Wendy Lesser

First impression

On my first shopping spree at Book Outlet I saw this book; I liked the cover and the premise seemed interesting. Wendy Lesser is a critic, a novelist and also an editor so it was appealing to me to hear, or rather read, in the words of someone who is so into the field that is reading, why reading is such a pleasure and I will admit I was curious to see if we had similar points. From the beginning of the book I realised this was more about the serious part rather than the pleasure part, or at least that is what the book made me feel. From sentences such us "real literature" and "[…]to refer repeatedly to murder mysteries, a notoriously trashy form" to afirmations that frankly let me feeling (and I realize this is completely subjective) like the author was disapproving of my reading, I just couldn't find joy in this book.

Final thoughts

I will be honest: every time I thought about writing this review I cringed remembering how I felt reading the book. It read to me like a highbrow lecture that made me feel inadequate with my reading. I am not saying off course that this was in any way the intention of the author; I am just telling you how the speech in the book affected me.

From the beginning, when she used sentences such "real literature" it stroke me as disdain of some sort, disapproval of genres and even of certain readers and while I can be as much as a book as anyone, this just felt wrong. Then there was the situation with the examples she uses to show the alleged pleasure for the first chapter I could not recognize the books or for that matter the authors she was citing. This, I know, is my problem, not hers. Probably I would recognize authors that she wouldn't, and that's ok. But when in all of her examples there is not a single one you recognize, engaging with the book and saying:"Ah yes, I see what your point Mrs. Lesser". If you compare it with What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund you might see what I mean with this. I have never read Anna Karenina, but being such a wide known book I knew and understood what the author meant; this was impossible for me with Lesser's book.

Even in cases where I had read the book or at least part of it, this understanding of the author was not there. For example I tried to read Don Quixote (in Spanish mind you) I made it to chapter 12 I think where he starts having a monologue with rocks, once Sancho Panza has left him alone. I just couldn't go on; there was no pleasure for me reading it. I made it through Swann's Way and In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower but after that I no longer engaged in Proust's work. But even then, when she did use these books at examples I just couldn't see what she was pointing out in them and I would end up with the horrible feeling that it was my fault.

One thing we did agree on was translations and their effects on the reader. I am one of those people that would love to read all her books in the original language, but then again, I am not going to learn Swedish any time soon guys and my German won't allow me to read The Never ending Story any time soon, even if it is a book I already read. So it is important to find someone who manages not only to translate the sentence but the meaning of the sentence, and of course this is hard to do.

I was sad at the end, because I had very high expectations for the book, but it was just not for me.

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed

First impression

I decided to read this book by Shannon's recommendation. I have only one complaint, and that is that no one warned me that I shouldn't attempt to listen to it at work...10 or 15 minutes in I was already fighting the tears. The whole book is full of emotional and very touching subjects that will move you deep inside. If I could recommend this book in one line it would be: It is painful to read, but oh so beautiful!

Final thoughts

I never read Dear Sugar before and now I feel like I missed something truly wonderful. People would write to Sugar with questions that might be pretty straight forward at times and super obscure. She would answer them either way with the best advice she could think off. Sometimes, this advice came with personal anecdotes and when it did...that's when the waterworks came for me. Because you can feel how honest and brutally direct she was being about herself and about the issues on topic.

The fact that this particular version of the book was read by the author probable made it even more wonderful, because there was true emotion on each letter, on each answer. And listening to it goes deep in your heart and beautiful feelings, albeit sometimes sad ones too, nestled in there and after weeks of finishing the book I still choke up remembering certain passages.

I know this is a short review, particularly for a book that I loved, but I cannot put into words how this book makes me feel. It made me laugh, cry, laugh while crying, miss my family like crazy, made me tell people I love them and even took away weight from my shoulders. I would recommend this book to everybody, but get some tissues first. Now go and read it.

Nonfiction November: New to my TBR

I cannot believe that this month is almost gone! And I haven't even send my Christmas cards yet!!! Let's hope they make it on time.

But our topic today is "Which ones have made it onto your TBR?" Well, I have a bunch, and I mean A BUNCH, but I wanted to concentrate on 5 for now, just to keep it relatively simple.

FromTrish@Love Laughter and a Touch of Insanity: She had a great post on Nonfiction and Diversity and from it I got Spirit Boy by Paul Apowida:

[...]Ghana, Paul Apowida tells his story of his childhood amongst villagers who thought he was possessed by the spirit of demons and continually tried to kill him or rid their community of him. His story is not an isolated one and he is currently trying to raise awareness in his home village as well as with other Ghanan villages.

From Shanon  @ River City Reading: Once again from the Nonfiction and Diversity post; she had some kick-ass recommendations (she always does) but the one that I put in my TBR was Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay:

A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay.

Also from Shannon, but this time from my comment section, she  recommended The Emperor of All Maladies by  Siddhartha Mukherjee. I've already had this one considered for A, but I think I will give it a try for myself:

The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence.  

From Becca @ I'm Lost in Books and her post on "Being the Expert" I want to read The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam:

Born in a village deep in the Cambodian forest, Somaly Mam was sold into sexual slavery by her grandfather when she was twelve years old. For the next decade she was shuttled through the brothels that make up the sprawling sex trade of Southeast Asia. She suffered unspeakable acts of brutality and witnessed horrors that would haunt her for the rest of her life–until, in her early twenties, she managed to escape. Unable to forget the girls she left behind, Mam became a tenacious and brave leader in the fight against human trafficking, rescuing sex workers–some as young as five and six–offering them shelter, rehabilitation, healing, and love and leading them into new life.

And then I stumble by accident with Black Milk by Elif Shafak. I was looking for her book Honor and ended up putting both books in my cart. On Black Milk:

After the birth of her first child in 2006, Turkish writer Elif Shafek suffered from postpartum depression that triggered a profound personal crisis. Infused with guilt, anxiety, and bewilderment about whether she could ever be a good mother, Shafak stopped writing and lost her faith in words altogether. In this elegantly written memoir, she retraces her journey from free-spirited, nomadic artist to dedicated by emotionally wrought mother. Identifying a constantly bickering harem of women who live inside of her, each with her own characteristics-the cynical intellectual, the goal-oriented go-getter, the practical-rational, the spiritual, the maternal, and the lustful-she craves harmony, or at least a unifying identity. As she intersperses her own experience with the lives of prominent authors such as Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Alice Walker, Ayn Rand, and Zelda Fitzgerald, Shafak looks for a solution to the inherent conflict between artistic creation and responsible parenting. 

I am very happy with this selection because as you probably noticed it is quite diverse (something I want to work on during 2015) not only in the origins of the authors but also in the type of stories that are being told. It also scares me a bit, because they all touch very "heavy" subjects (well maybe not the Emperor, but it is a heavy book) but I think this is a good thing, I can't just read funny nonfiction.

So there you have it. What about you? did you get a lot of books in you TBR? Let me know in the comments :)

What We see When We Read by Peter Mendelsund

First Impressions

This book is so pretty! I got it with my BookRiot Quarterly box this September and I was dying to read, just because it is soooo pretty. Mendelsund nailed it with this book. From what we see to how we see it when we are reading a book, with gorgeous pages and amazing aesthetics, this book put into words what I haven't been able to when I try to explain my reading experiences to non readers.

Final thoughts

As a cover (or jacket) designer, Mendelsund has to put into images what a book might be about and boy he does a great job. If you check his profile at The Book Cover Archive for example, you will see what I mean. Gorgeous and interesting covers are his signature, and the one for his own book is not exception, being very simple and yet so full of meaning. This continues all over the book, where ideas are not only written by put into images, giving a whole new dimension.

The book is constructed in small chapters that all address the different parts that reading might have: Fictions, Vividness, Synesthesia, just to name a few of them, and then they all flow merging into the experience that is reading.

I was very lucky, as the copy that everyone received through Quarterly had post-its by the author with extra comments. But even without this, I can tell I would've loved the book just the same. I felt like a kid reading a picture book, except that this one was making me understand better what my brain did with books without pictures. At a times it even felt like someone else was reading the book to me and I was just there for the ride. This was actually nice, to get so immersed in a nonfiction book. 

Words made into pictures and pictures made into words and all of this weaved in a beautiful package to try to explain how our imagination fills the blanks that sometimes are there and how it utilizes the (sometimes) little information about imagery given by an specific author. 

I keep going back to it, sometimes just to look at it, sometimes to re read phrases or whole paragraphs that marked me in particular; those "aha" moments that your brain goes: "Yes, that's what it is like!"

This was a great read for me as a reader, but I think it would be great for designers as it is so rich visually. 

Nonfiction November: Diversity and Nonfiction

Week 3: Becca from Lost in Books asks: What does diversity in nonfiction mean to you? Is it about the topic or theme of the book? Or is it the race or ethnicity of the author? Do you have any recommendations for diverse nonfiction books? Are there any topics that you’d like to see written about and/or read more widely?

Guys, I am so ashamed, so so ashamed. I've spend several minutes looking at my nonfiction reads, fro the last 3 years (say since I started blogging regularly and actually having reviews) and you know what I found? Out of 28 books (which is already very low mind you) only 2 books was written by a non white person, and that is if we count the one that I haven't read yet.

Gender wise things are more even, but boy oh boy, it is a huge black star over my head to realize that I read so little diverse nonfiction. Is not even that I could compensate by saying that the subjects are a bit more diverse, because I don't feel right down so. 

Here is the thing. I have made a decision, an early new year resolution if you may: 2015 will be my year of reading diversely, both in fiction (where I am happy to tell you guys, I am doing much, much better) and in nonfiction. I am lucky to have discovered this event, because so many of you guys are giving a lot of fantastic recommendations. I had already thought about the fact that, since it might be my last year of PhD and hence I will have to actually start writing my thesis, the amount of books I will be able to read for leisure will go down, compared to later years. But I think as long as the quality and the spectrum of what I read improves I can't be sad about it, right?

So I am asking you guys to leave me a comment with the book you think I HAVE to read next year in diverse nonfiction. I can't promise I will read them all, but it would be nice to start with a strong list.

Thank you!!!!

Nonfiction November: Be the Expert

This week is the Expert Week, and I have chosen to be the expert, and hence give some recommendations to you for this Non-Fiction November. Being that I am a Science PhD student AND I saw how many of you seemed interested on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I decided to go with the science theme. All the books are already published and available ;)

If you have someone in your life that is starting their Science studies I recommend Letters to a Young Scientist by Edward O. Wilson. I read this book last year and as someone who is still a student I can tell you, frustration becomes a constant. However, this tiny book is full of words of someone who has done great things in his field and can tell you for sure why and how not to despair. It even made me cry a bit and I gave it to my little cousin who started her Biology Undergrad studies this year too. 

 

If you liked or want to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks because you want to know a bit more about cancer and it's history, I would recommend Pandora's DNA by Lizzie Stark. This book is focused on Breast Cancer, particularly the one that you can inherit. Part memoir, part research, this book will leave you with knowledge about how this particular cancer has been treated over the years, the advances in the science and other fields; as well as the touching humane part of a whole family affected by a gene mutation. 

If what you want to learn is...well, how is it that we learn, may I recommend How We Learn by Benedict Carey. While the subtitle might be a bit deceiving (The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens, I wasn't really surprised, sorry) it seems to me like a great introduction if you want to learn about this subject. It even has a couple of exercises that can be very fun. Again, it might not be very surprising with the info unless is your first time approaching the subject, but it is very well vulgarized, it is engaging and perfect to being to journey on how do we learn. 

Those are my suggestions. If you do read any of them, please come back and let me know what you thought. I you already did, even more so! Have a wonderful nonfiction week!!

My Year in NonFiction

Kim, from Sophisticated Dorkiness is kicking up the Nonfiction November event!. While the year is not officially over, part of NonFiction November is reviewing your Nonfiction year, and so here we are. Above you have the nonfiction books that I've read (or listen to) this year in no particular order.Now, let's answer some questions

• What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?

I have 2 books so far that I really enjoyed: Smarter than you think by Clive Thompson was enlightening and was a fun read too, both for me and my boyfriend. We are very different as readers, so a book that makes us both happy gets extra points. The second book would be Pandora's DNA by Lizzie Stark, it was touching, full of personal experiences and with a lot of information I didn't know about the prior treatments of breast cancer.

• What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? 

I have recommended The Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. While is not the book I have enjoyed the most, out of the books I've read so far is the one that I've mentioned the most to a lot of people looking for a nonfiction related to science. The author did a very nice job vulgarizing a lot of the subjects, and as first approach to science nonfiction books is a perfect one.

• What is one topic or type of nonfiction you haven’t read enough of yet? 

Ironically enough, reading! and that's why my selections for the event are both relating to reading :)

• What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

Well, so far barely 10% of my reading this year has been Nonfiction. The main reason to that guys is...when I get back home from the lab, I feel like reading things that disconnect me, that are very different from the scientific articles I read. However, the same way that I want to read more diversely, authors wise, I want to read more diversely SUBJECT wise and this is the main reason for joining the event, I want to fall in love once again with nonfiction :D. 

So there you have it, what about you? Leave me a link to your post, give me recommendations! And have a lovely week

Kicking Off: Nonfiction November

Becca from Lostinbooks is hosting Nonfiction November and thanks to Twitter (opening this account has turn out to be quite useful guys!) I heard about it!!. This will be my first ever Nonfiction November and yesterday I took a look at the books I already HAVE and that I am eager to read that fall in the Nonfiction genre: 

Now, as you probably remember, I still have the Sword and Laser book club, and I am participating in the Mara Dyer's readalong, and I have to Galleys that I need to check before November 25,  so I know I won't be able to tackle this six books...well, seven, there is one coming next week, but I didn't included in the list, since I don't have it yet. So, here is what I am planing to do: I will read for sure What we See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund, because I got it in my Quarterly box and it's been killing me that I haven't read it yet AND Why I Read by Wendy Lesser and that way I stick to reading Nonfiction related to reading! See what I did there? I know, I am quite witty...not.

Anyway, are you guys participating? if you are, leave me a link to your choices, I would love to get more future ideas. There will be post every week and you can see the list of subjects here. I won't be joining their readalong this time, but maybe next year. 

Happy Halloween!!