Sunday, August 30, 2009

Irish Hell

Angela's Ashes: A Memoir Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I took an almost instant dislike to this book, and I'm not sure why exactly. I suppose it was like approaching an over-hyped movie. Titanic or whatever is never going to live up to the way it's been talked about, so there's sort of no way to enjoy it. But it didn't help that virtually everyone in the book was a child abusing ass. Aside from a priest the author met once, an uncle, and a kindly hospital janitor, everyone McCourt encountered--his parents, clergy, teachers, employers, doctors, relatives--were constantly screaming at him, beating him with sticks, neglecting him, blaming him, taunting or witholding. I suppose it's a simplistic way of appreciating a story, but it's hard to care about it when you're wishing all the characters straight to hell.

Meanwhile, McCourt's description of it all struck me as sort of flat. That's probably not surprising, but it makes it difficult to relate to him, too, despite his having almost no one on his side. My feeling is that if you're going to write the book of your ghastly childhood filled with unrelieved misery and neglect, that you should be offering us some perspective about it. This seemed to me just an unenlightened reliving of the damned thing, which serves no one but McCourt's therapist. Maybe he got some relief from just writing it down. I at least hope he is resting in peace now.

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The Magic of Summer

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a long but very enjoyable book. It tells the story of two men who are trying to bring "practical magic" back to England during the time of the Napoleonic wars. The author lends the story a sort of biographical credence with footnotes on the history of magic (within the world of her novel) and descriptions of one magician's service to the Duke of Wellington fighting the French. It's a fun read and I'd definitely recommend it.

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Saturday, August 1, 2009

Target Women

Talking with a coworker yesterday about Sarah Haskins reminded me how much I lurve her. Check her out:



She does ones about yogurt commercials, jewelry commercials, cleaning product commercials. She's a lady-ist delight. Search "Target Women Sarah Haskins" for all the awesomeness.