May Reading

Seeing as how I successfully managed to finish my last book club selection on time, I'm now going to post my initial thoughts on our newest book for the month of May: Atonement.

Shocking, since I haven't yet cracked open the book. In fact, I don't even have the book in my possession! This month, I'm leaning towards a digital read. Yup, I'm going to go ahead and purchase it online and read the book on my Sony Reader. Either that, or see if I can find a PDF of it for free online and then read it on my Sony Reader. Either way works for me :)

Without having read the book, I'm going to compare titles since I saw the movie twice now - once on the plane on my move back from France to the U.S. in 2008, and then on Netflix sometime last year.

When living in France, a book (and movie) called Reviens-Moi kept popping up everywhere and I really was interested in picking it up at a French librairie (don't be fooled, that's a book store, not a library). Unfortunately I never actually went out and purchased the book or saw the movie in French.

Oddly enough, a few weeks later I went back home and lo and behold Antonement was showing on the flight! It wasn't until I flipped through the airplane's magazine, that I noticed the movie poster was the same exact image as the French book I'd been eyeing:

Which brings us to the topic of translation. In French, the book/movie is entitled "Return to Me," while in English, we're all very familiar with the title "Atonement." I don't want to ruin it if you haven't seen/read it but I just want to discuss the subletities between the translation and the original.

The English title makes the movie seem about a wrong-doing throughout the film that eventually is confessed. Whereas the French title sounds like the movie will follow the pair of lovers, who at some point become separated, and their journey back together.

If you've seen the film or read the book, it's amazing how different each of these storylines are, and how one language chooses to make one storyline the focus of the plot instead of the other. Honestly, I don't know what to think! I'm not sure which storyline I find more predominant. I'm definitely going to have to be aware of the two while reading and hopefully come to a consensus as to which should be the title!

If you'd like to join us, go right ahead, the more the merrier (and also, more engaged the conversations can be) :)

Happy reading, everyone!

My Rhetorical Life

Well, I have to say I could not stop laughing reading Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life. Again, it was a recommendation from a co-worker and I picked it up at the trashiest place I could think - the Las Vegas airport - back in December.

Well it did not disappoint - initially. Her stories are littered with irony, sarcasm and flat out shamelessness, almost to the point that I'm not entirely sure I believe all of Handler's escapades. For example, hooking up with a tequila midget at a party in Mexico, or getting roughed up by an acrobatic Carnival cruise employee? Really? What about the slew of black men she brought home only to freak out her father?

Some of it, I believe. I just am perplexed as to how a woman could sleep with so many men and be so open about it. Or even as to how she could have slept with so many men.... Why have none of these guys come out of the woodworks about her stories??

Let's think about it here, if you pay attention to her humor, I mean really pay attention, the woman does stand-up for a living! Her main job is to get people to laugh at all costs, even herself. So does anyone else think that she took a wealth of creative liberty to poke fun at herself to a.) sell books and b.) get people to laugh and possibly increase her fan base?

I mean, I haven't done the research on her personal life (and maybe I should) but a LOT of her dialogue is extremely sarcastic. That's how she is. I am therefore ascribing to the belief that this isn't all entirely truthful.

For those of you who read My Horizontal Life, what do you think?? Do you believe all of her male exploits are serious? Did you enjoy the book?

As I've said, I could not stop laughing. Some of the shit she says is absolutely ridiculous (as in her beliefs on black women, alcohol, pissing off her father, her Mormon sister, etc.). Nothing is off limits and I find that HYSTERICAL. But just one part of the book did disappoint me. There wasn't much cohesiveness found in the book. And it just abruptly ended. I mean, I get the subtle hint of irony at the end but wasn't ready for it to just end like that. And I want to know, did she actually change?? Or did her life continue along this path once she hit celebritydom?

I might just have to do a little bit of research now. Either way, I liked the book enough to follow Handler on Twitter and I'm really eager to pick up her next two. Also, J.D. read what I believe is the male counterpart of this book last summer. It's called I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Max Tucker. I'd like to contrast his stories as part of a He Said/She Said type of perspective :)

Phew, it's only been two books but we've already covered historical murder and sex-crazed alcoholic humor. Man, how do you follow that up?? I'm open to suggestions, but I think it's time to take a turn towards fiction!

Currently reading

Michelle and I started reading Devil in the White City last month, well I guess that was in February, and honestly, I barely had time to finish it. I'm terrible at this "book club." Well, we've grown by two thanks to Michelle! Our guilty read of the month is Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life. Yes, it's as dirty as it sounds and yes, it's HYSTERICAL. Again, I'm struggling finding time to read it but it goes by quick and easy - much like Chelsea's self-depiction in this book (duh-duh, chhhhh).

Interestingly enough, I can post here that I'm reading it, but I'm way too nervous to read it in public! You'd think the six-to-seven hour bus rides on our baseball trips would suffice, but being the only female in a party of 40, I REFUSE to let them see me reading this one!!!

I'm loving her prose by the way. She's soooo tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic it's ridiculous. I find myself thinking that I could write like this because it's my exact humor (though my stories aren't even close to hers). I tried dabbling in David Sedaris, but he never really caught my interest. I'm fairly certain that she's found a life-long fan and I'll continue with her other books. I even caught Chelsea on the Rachel Ray Show and DIED laughing, so great.

Anyways, if you're interested in joining (I'm only 30 pages in) some of us blog about it and we all have joined a book club group on Good Reads. Always looking for more people to engage, motivate me to read and bring new suggestions/ideas!

And now, I'm hoping to go buy some frozen yogurt down the street and get back to reading my trash novel. And YES, I will be blogging about it, so parental guidance suggested in future entries ;)

I'm 2-for-2

...Just like our women's basketball team. We lost seven straight and now have won two in a row since the Christmas break. And tonight, I got to broadcast a super exciting overtime victory down here in Northridge (for you non-Californians, Northridge is in the Valley... of "Valley Girl" notoriety). P.S. I love it here. 75 degrees in the dead of winter? Yes, please! After our 76-70 OT win, we bussed down to Orange County tonight and have the entire day off tomorrow! I can't wait. I'm moving down here some day.

Again, I've managed to start things off with a tangent.

Well, in my quest to blog every day in January, I'm going to start with the book Michelle and I are reading for our "book club" (feel free to join us so we seem more legit, otherwise I'm just another babbling English major here!): Devil in the White City, which follows The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago back in 1893. It takes an interesting point of view, tracking one of the main architects of the exposition and the murder behind the dark ending to the Exposition. However, I've only gotten as far as the background information and narrative about the main architect.

I'll get into the book the further I get into the reading, but I couldn't help but think when I first opened the book, "What the heck is an exposition and why don't we have them anymore??"

Now, I don't claim to be an expert since reading this by any means, but I did take the time to do a bit of Internet research on the topic.

Prior to reading Devil, I only knew one thing really about the World Expositions. They gave us probably the most notable, visited, recognized, amazing structure of all (that is in my subjective opinion):


But really, what else do I know about World Fairs/Expositions?

Essentially, the phenomenon began as a way of flexing a country's might, power, wealth and affluence during the highly developmental period better known as the Industrial Revolution. Ironically, the first large-scale expo to take place was the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in Hyde Park, London, 1851. Even this was not the first, but the first at the level to which the British took it.

In 1844, the French Industrial Exposition was part of a larger display of French national industrial expositions aimed at improving national output in areas such as agriculture, technology, etc., beginning in 1798. The Exposition included the construction of a highly-visible temporary structure located on the Champs-Élysées.

As for the Exposition in London, the Crystal Palace was erected in Hyde Park to draw attendance and spark interest, and exhibits ran the gamut from precious gems found by British explorers, to modern lock technology, to improvements to the structure of the piano and even included the chance to rub elbows with some of England's greatest poets/novelists of the day. A veritable Who's Who of England, visible on a global scale.

Not to be outdone at their own celebration of nationalism, the French then returned the geographical rivalry in 1889, trying to top England with the Exposition Universelle (a universal expo, in just the name alone, must be greater than England's mere world expo).

Hidden behind the guise of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille in 1789, the Universal Expo spanned widely throughout the center of Paris, to what would become one of the largest cultural centers in the world. Constructed to attract fair-goers was the arch entrance and proclaimed as one of the largest eyesores in the history of construction, or more fondly known today as the beacon of the City of Lights, The Eiffel Tower (And to think, it was originally designed to be placed in Barcelona).

Needless to say, the Universal Expo was the best yet. It included world-renown opera, talents and concerts of the top composers, "Wild West" gun displays and an even larger, more brilliant diamond than the one previously on display in London.

With France and England duking out their cultural and industrial progressiveness, the United States did not want to miss out on the arms race going on across the Atlantic Ocean. Each exposition got bigger and better, leading to the birth of the skyscraper in Chicago, during the 1893 expo to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the New World.

So that's all in the glorious, murky, industrially-clouded and sooten past. But have you ever heard of world fairs since the Industrial Rev?

Supposedly, into the Cold War, San Francisco and Stockholm took their shots at becoming "the (cultural) centers of the universe" for a brief period of time. Montreal held the Expo 67 (thus lending its name to the now defunct Montreal Expos baseball team), which set the single-day record for a world fair's attendance. And beginning in the 1980s, world fairs transformed to become a vehicle for city improvement on a global scale (let's be honest, as if that hadn't always been the case??).

In the contemporary period, the Olympic Games have invariably morphed to take on the same characteristics as the world fairs, but under the guise of healthy, athletic competition (which is a different means, same end result, world "dominance"). For example, Spain held the Expo 92 as well as the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. How could one not argue Spain's monetary dominance over the world that year?

In my lifetime, no big deal has been made over a world exposition. Perhaps the Olympics have taken over in that realm? Well make the case for China being THE world power right now, after hosting the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they are the next country to host Expo 2010 in Shanghai which will run from May to October this year. Shanghai is trying to exert its prowess as the world's major economic and cultural center in the new decade. Currently plans for a new train and transportation networks are in the works.

Although the world fairs may not be as grand and as much of an arms race as their heyday in the 19th century, wouldn't it be great to witness such an event in a lifetime?

Ok, back to my reading.... :) Hope you all enjoyed your history lesson for the day.

The Book Club Blogs

The image is a link, click on it to see the rules if you want in!

Book club.... how about a book blog?

So I just had this interesting idea this morning. Whether or not people latch on to it will be a different story.

But everyone knows how much I love to read, right? I know some of you enjoy reading as well. So, why not start an international, online book club??! (This is so dorky, I know, but bear with me.)

Here's my idea: We get a group of people willing to read the same book each month, pick a date every month, and then we all blog our thoughts on the book, or comment on each other's book blog entries.

I sort of searched the Internet for something like this, but came up empty-handed. So if you already know of something like this, maybe you could guide me to those sites and we could latch on to an existing blog?

Or what the hell, enough people should (hint, hint) respond to this..... then we could start our own! (I'm a big dreamer, aren't I?)

UPDATE: I'm going to try and start a webring... if I can figure it out :) Spread the word!