#the vanishers

Several people told me to read The Folded Clock, so I did. It’s both immensely pleasurable and also really interesting when read as a companion to the author’s previous book, The Vanishers. While I also admired that book a lot– and enjoyed it in a certain way– I found it to be immensely UNpleasurable to read. The Vanishers is a work of fiction (of the mostly fantastical type) and The Folded Clock is a supposedly non-fictional diary but both are convincing portraits of the type of person prone to supernatural episodes and, more importantly, PSYCHIC ATTACK.

(Many people probably find this type of person to be very obnoxious but I don’t, at least not to read about.)

August 2012

I’m counting what I read during Labor Day weekend here because it just feels more summerish that way. You understand, right?

#31:The Defining Decade by Meg Jay, PHD - I was prompted to read this by a few friends and let me tell you, I pretty much disagreed with everything. You don’t know me Meg Jay, PhD!!! You can’t tell me what to do with my twenties!! When I checked this out at the library, the librarian first complimented my blue nail polish and then asked me how much of my 20’s I had left. That experience was the only happy part of reading the book. If you want to read two completely different books, read this and How to be a Woman within a few weeks. I think you’ll see soon which really resonated.

#32:Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff - Whoa! Not what I was expecting! I’d heard of Groff’s other books, but this was the one available at the library so it’s what I got. The short stories are well written, but they seemed to leave more undone than resolved. It wasn’t my favorite book of the last little while though I’m curious to see what Groff’s novels are like.

#33:The Vanishers by Heidi Julavits - You know why it’s good to have a librarian for a friend? Let me explain. I was telling my friend Ryan about the show Disappeared on Investigation Discovery and how I couldn’t stop watching it on Netflix, then without skipping a beat he said, “I know a book you’d like!” Sure enough, this book was SO my kind of book. In fact, I still don’t really understand what happened in it. It’s sort of a psychological, thriller mystery, but that doesn’t seem to quite cover it. If you want to be simultaneously confused and entertained during a beach weekend then check it out. Plus, Julavits is an editor of The Believer which a really smart publication I enjoy!

#34:How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran - First, thank you Stephanie for lending me your NOOK when I ran out of real pages to read. Second, thank you for already having this book. It was perfect for early morning recliner reading and even more perfect to read when stuff like this matters more than it should. If you are a woman, or were maybe birthed by one, or maybe thinking of becoming one, I’d put this on the list of Important Things To Read. It has impeccable humor mixed with perfectly timed feminism. And it’s the kind of feminism we all need - the kind where we hear that women should do what they want, how they want, and be awesomely decent humans while doing so. Even though I had done absolutely nothing productive for the entire weekend, I finished the book proud of myself and all the other women I love. So there’s that.