Summer Reading List: The Story of a Marriage

"Even a diligent reader will be surprised by the revelations twisting through this novel and will probably turn back to the beginning pages to find the oblique hints hidden in Greer's crystalline prose. In San Francisco in 1953, narrator Pearlie relates the circumstances of her marriage to Holland Cook, her childhood sweetheart. Pearlie's sacrifices for Holland begin when they are teenagers and continue when the two reunite a few years later, marry and have an adored son. The reappearance in Holland's life of his former boss, Buzz Drumer, propels them into a triangular relationship of agonizing decisions. Greer expertly uses his setting as historical and cultural counterpoint to a story that hinges on racial and sexual issues and a climate of fear and repression. Though some readers may find it overly sentimental, this is a sensitive exploration of the secrets hidden even in intimate relationships, a poignant account of people helpless in the throes of passion and an affirmation of the strength of the human spirit" (From Amazon).

Sometimes when I think of this book I like it...sometimes I do not.  It was not the most exciting book on my Summer Reading List....I mean I had a few doozies this Summer (The Alex Cross series, Catch Me If You Can *coming soon*, The GodFather *coming soon*, etc).  It was boring, at times, however it was an ok read. 

I enjoyed that it was in San Francisco....but not in the part I visited last summer.  I enjoyed the time period it was in...but not in what I could relate to from past study.  I enjoyed that it was about a marriage....but not one that I have lived.  I think what I might have enjoyed the most was it had a hint of things I could relate to (except what happens in her marriage) and was different enough to keep part of my attention.

There were a few surprises, to me.  I did not see a few plot twists coming.  If it was not for these little surprises, the boredom I would have suffered would have been unbearable.  This is not your Leave it to Beaver post war, 1950's.  Think more like .... Far From Heaven...but on the other side of the tracks.

It is not a long book...so it has that going for it, too.

I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was more about the husband....but then it would have been an entirely different book.

If you are looking for a different kind of book, set in an interesting time period...I will recommend this one to you.  Oh heck...like I said, it is not a long book, go ahead a read it.

Tiffany

Summer Reading List: Along Came a Spider

I am so far behind on my Summer Reading list REVIEWS...but I am in no way behind on actually reading these books.  I do not have a schedule or a "have to" of books....but I am plowing thru them none the less.  I love to sit at the water park and read while soaking up the sun.  Since I have not felt the desire to go down the slides one after the other, I have plenty of time to do this in between lazy river jaunts, splashing int eh wave pool, going down the few slides I like, and taking lots of photos of the girls doing their "thang".  I also enjoy reading before bed...helps me wind down from the day.



Ok...so without further fanfare....the next book was actually written before my last book and was the first in the Alex Cross series from James Paterson.  It is Along Came a Spider.  I am finding that I really get into these books, I did not think I would...I read Kiss the Girls because I enjoyed the movie.  Now I want to read all of the book in the Alex Cross series...and there are so many and they are all a fast read, so far...just what I need during the summer months.

"A missing little girl named Maggie Rose.

A family of three brutally murdered in the projects of Washington, D.C.

The thrill-killing of a beautiful elementary school teacher.
A psychopathic serial kidnapper/murderer who calls himself the Son of Lindbergh.

He is so terrifying that the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police cannot outsmart him — even after he's been captured.

Gary Soneji is a mild-mannered mathematics teacher at a Washington, D.C., private school for the children of the political and social elite. He's so popular that the kids all call him "Mr. Chips." And he's very, very smart. Growing up, he always knew he was smarter than the rest of them — he knew that the Great Ones always fooled everybody. He kidnaps Maggie Rose, the golden-haired daughter of a famous movie actress, and her best friend, Shrimpie Goldberg, the son of the secretary of the treasury, right out from under the noses of their two Secret Service agents. But Gary Soneji is not surprised at his skill. He's done it before. Hundreds of times before.

Alex Cross is a homicide detective with a Ph.D. in psychology. he looks like Muhammad Ali in his prime. Cross works and lives in the ghettos of D.C. He's a tough guy from a tough part of town who wears Harris Tweed jackets and likes to relax by banging out Gershwin tunes on his baby grand piano. He has two adorable kids of his own. They are his own special vulnerabilities.
Jezzie Flanaganis the first woman ever to hold the highly sensitive job as supervisor of the Secret Service in Washington. Blond, mysterious, seductive, she's got an outer shell that's as tough s it is beautiful. She rides her black BMW motorcycle at speeds of no less than 100 mph. What is she running from? What is her secret?

Alex Cross and Jezzie Flanagan are about to have a forbidden love affair-at the worst possible time for both of them. Because Gary Soneji, who wants to commit the "crime of the century," is playing at the top of his game. The latest of the unspeakable crimes happened in Alex Cross's precinct. They happened under the protection of Jezzie Flanagan's men. Now Soneji is at large again, still wreaking havoc.
Alex Cross must face the ultimate test as a psychologist: how do you outmaneuver a brilliant psychopath? Especially one who appears to have a split personality — one who won't let the other half remember those horrific acts?

Soneji has outsmarted the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police. Who will be his next victim?
Gary Soneji is every parent's worst nightmare. He has become Alex Cross's nightmare. And now, reader, he's about to become yours."  From James Patterson's Official Website

I do not know about this man being MY nightmare but he was rather scary.  He had a motive to kill some (in his own mind) and other he just killed because he could.  He was a fun villain to read about.  If he was real, of course it would not have been fun in any way. shape. or form...but I do enjoy a good villain.  He was not as good as Casanova, however.... 

I get a bit irritated with Alex Cross...sometimes I just do not know why he is "there".  Patterson tries to hurry through an explanation of why Doctor Detective is working these cases but still...I have to just move on and try not to think about it too much. 

What keeps me coming back are the "bad guys" in these books.

I have not seen the movie but will be looking for it.  There is also a movie coming out soon with Tyler Perry as Alex Cross.  That just blows my mind because as I read the books, all I can hear is Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross.  IDK what to think about that just yet but since Cross is a younger man than Morgan Freeman, I guess they have to cast what makes sense...but Tyler Perry?  Why not Will Smith...or Terrence Howard ?  Maybe this movie will not be a big budget or expected to really make a statement?  It will be from a book I have not read called "I, Alex Cross" one quiet far into the series...so I better get off blogger and get to reading...LOL.

I am a bit out of order with the Alex Cross series....I have a list now that I have made, in order, of what comes next.  I will leave this series until I am able to get the right order from the library.  I have read one other and I am afraid I am find out bits and pieces of a book I have skipped...and I want to be surprised as I am reading.  So...since I am leaving this series on the book shelf I have decide to read The Godfather.  OMG..so far I am really liking this and I have a few that I have not reviewed to also share in the meantime.

I hope you are staying cool as the summer winds down.  We were almost at a record, here in Dallas, Texas, for the most days with over 100 degrees...but we missed it by one day.  We had a short break and are now above 100 again...but not as high as it was so no worries...it will cool off soon.

Tiffany

Summer Reading List: Diary of a Mad Housewife

Next on our Summer Reading list is Diary of a Mad Housewife: A Novel by Sue Kaufman.  I enjoyed and disliked this book at the same time.  Here is a little synopsis:

"Tina records in her diary the conditions of her everyday life as a housewife in New York City, with her nagging, climber of a husband Jonathan, and her two girls, aged nine and seven, who so completely take after him that Tina hardly recognizes them as her own. They live in a cavernous apartment on Central Park West that she can barely keep in order. As a form of therapy, Tina begins a secret diary. The self-awareness she gains propels her into a new set of experiences, most notably, an extra-marital affair. She discovers that this man is as hateful as her husband, but she has good sex for the first time since her early married days, and it gets her out of the house one afternoon a week. This sophisticated, entertaining novel casts a cool eye on middle-class mores, the so-called liberation of the 1960s, and the coping mechanisms that often failed the large majority of women who saw themselves and were seen as housewives." from Amazon 

Kaufman's novel came out as the Feminist Movement was getting underway and supposedly "hit a nerve".  Can you imagine living then?  How confusing it must have been.  You might THINK you are happy being a homemaker, mother, and in the feminine sphere of the home...but here are these authors, commentators, etc saying you are not supposed to be happy with JUST that.  Well first of all...you should never be JUST that.  I think you should diversify.  Get a few hobbies, community involvement, your own interests....no need to be JUST one thing, now matter what that may be.  What you "do" should not be the definition of  "who you are".  Of course it is a part of you but not all there is, right?  I love being a homemaker, creating a comfortable environment for my hubbie to come home to.  But there is more to me than that.....with all my multiple personalities...there is LOTS more.  LOL.  I think this was Bettina's downfall.  She really did not have anything of her OWN going on.  She supervised the household, the maid, the cooks and catering, the babysitters and after school activities, the wall washers (really?  Someone came in to wash her walls?)...she really did not do the housework herself, even.  She was bored...and depressed.

The title, "Diary of a Mad Housewife", can go a few ways.  "Mad" can mean CRAZY, it can mean ANGRY, but in my thoughts, with Bettina, it means SAD....DEPRESSED.  Depression can cause havoc on a gal.  SO besides boredom, why else should Bettina be depressed? 

The most obvious is Johnathan, her husband.  A husband should be one who is there for companionship, love, and support.  Of course Johnathan was there for financial support, but that is because he HAD to be as the provider and because he is VERY concerned with what others SEE.  What he was not there for was emotional support.  He was mean, angry, rude, just a plain grade A JERK.  "Jonathan makes it all too clear, as the diary reflects, that he is working to mold Bettina as the perfect wife, hostess, and mother. He earns the money and doles it out to her; he runs her life" from enotes.

Johnathan is a bad character.  Social climber without the social skills or class needed to actually get to that top wrung.  He has a bit of new money, so the "right" people may use him a bit to get their plays produced, art shown, etc etc...but they do not necessarily LIKE him.  They use him and he can not see this...but Bettina can and that causes her to lose respect.  When you can not respect your spouse, that is good way to become depressed with your marriage.  So much more to say about this louse but I, as usual, do not want to give too much away....

Betinna is a mother of 2 young girls, nine and seven.  At one point she realised they are so much like their father that she can not imagine them as her own.  Now I am not a mother....but how sad is that?  Here are two beautiful children that you are raising, that came from your body, and yet you feel no connection with them.  Since they are so much like Johnathan, you can imagine how bratty they are.  The smart things that come from their mouths.  UHG.  I have known some bratty kids in my days, but they have been just everyday normal bratty.  The things these children say to their mother are way beyond their young years...so they are obviously mimicking someone else's behavior (JOHNATHAN?).

Ok, I think I have given you enough to make the decision if you want to read this novel.  It is a short read and gives enough skin crawling thought to keep you interested.  I hope you do read this...you will read about these gross characters as well as quiet a few others, adultery, lavish drunkenness, New York upper middle class entertaining...etc etc.  And it all takes place in the mid 1960's. It gave me such thought of gratitude that I have a supportive and loving husband.  Also, I am grateful to live in a time that I have the freedom to choose what I want to be, thanks to the Feminist Movement, I am sure...but sometimes I wonder if that had to of occurred for my choices?  My Grandmother (who I call "Mawma", Margaret) was my age before this movement and seemed to have choices.  I knew women from the Assisted Living community that lived before the movement and had choices....so while it did help, some were fortunate to have the encouragement and freedom to be who they wanted.  Well that is another post waiting to be thought out...LOL.

There are many other thoughts I have about this book but I just wanted to give a brief review and recommend it for y'all to read.  I really do not like giving the ending of something away and I am always afraid I may do this with my thoughts and reports.

By the way...there was a movie, as well.  I read that it was never released on DVD but you might can snag a VHS copy on Amazon or eBay for a pretty penny.  I would love to see the film and will be looking for it.

Also, I have not found another copy of this to give a way, unfortunately.  They do have it on Amazon, however.

Tiffany

Summer Reading List: Winner of Revolutionary Road Give-a-Way

My oh my...I have been a blog neglector the last few weeks.  When the sun is shining, I want to be in it...getting burned to a crisp, evidently.  Not too bad, actually...I have been caking on the sunscreen that is made for a baby's bottom.  I usually am quiet tan by now since I have had a Palm Beach Tan membership since BIRTH...ha ha not really but for a very long time.  I gave my membership up since I had skipped so many sessions and this year I am starting from scratch with the tan.  I know...I know...get on with it Girlie Girl.  We did NOT come here to read about your lack of summer glow so far.

SO without further ado....ATOMIC MAMA will be receiving a copy of Revolutionary Road.  Please send me your mailing addy and I will get that out with my next trip to the PO.

And incase you missed my thoughts on the book...just hop on over to the post.  I see my thoughts are not the in line with most, but I am who I am....and most think I have a very backwards old fashioned or just plain MESSED up since of what is what...we will talk more on that when I post about living a Fascinating Womanhood (Helen B Andelin)...but that needs to wait until I can give it a good go...and to do that I need to re-read the book and make sure I get everything nice and flipped around.  LOL.

Another reason I have been so neglectful of the blog is my "Summer Reading List".  I have been plowing thru books and now need to fight to keep up with posting about them. 

The next book on the list is .... Diary of a Mad Housewife: A Novel.  I hope to get this posted this weekend, if not sooner.

Tiffany

Summer Reading List: Revolutionary Road (and a copy to Give-a-Way)

Revolutionary Road  by Richard Yates

"April and Frank Wheeler are a young, ostensibly thriving couple living with their two children in a prosperous Connecticut suburb in the mid-1950s. However, like the characters in John Updike's similarly themed Couples, the self-assured exterior masks a creeping frustration at their inability to feel fulfilled in their relationships or careers. Frank is mired in a well-paying but boring office job and April is a housewife still mourning the demise of her hoped-for acting career. Determined to identify themselves as superior to the mediocre sprawl of suburbanites who surround them, they decide to move to France where they will be better able to develop their true artistic sensibilities, free of the consumerist demands of capitalist America. As their relationship deteriorates into an endless cycle of squabbling, jealousy and recriminations, their trip and their dreams of self-fulfillment are thrown into jeopardy." (synopsis from GoodReads.com)

I always search the book section of thrift stores, when collecting things for my Etsy and Ebay listings, and when I spotted Revolutionary Road I was reminded that I enjoyed the movie, so I picked it up.  I like to idealise things and that is what I did when thinking I would enjoy this book.  I forgot that the one of the main characters, April, disgusted me.  I remembered that the movie was based in one of my favorite times in history, 1950s.  I remembered that it dealt with a young actress turned housewife and thought I might identify with April ( I studied and worked as an actress and am now a housewife)....but I forgot she is NOTHING like me.  She is a sad SAD S A D woman.  A shell of a human who feels sorry for herself and went into a marriage and became a mother when she had no business doing so.  I hate that one of my favorite actresses played her in the movie because it is hard to remember I did not like her...funny since I seem to have such a strong opinion of April....but Kate Winslet is such a good and attractive actress.  Maybe I am being hard on April because she is obviously depressed and emotionally sick.  But it is easier to just not like her and since reading is supposed to be something I do to relax, it should be easy.  However this book is not easy, it is a very "thinking" book (you know a book that makes you THINK even after you are long done with it).

So maybe Frank is not such a good guy...he is pompous and a bit self involved....but he did not do, what I consider, a terrible thing in the end....so he gets away with being an arrogant 1950's man (sometimes brute).  And besides Leonardo DiCaprio plays him in the movies and I loves me some Leo.  I am not excusing this character but .... well it is what it is in my mind. ~shrug~

Besides the drama of the book, it is set in the 1950s.  Frank and April live in a typical suburban neighborhood, Frank commutes to New York for his job.  Frank is an up and comer despite he is bored with his job and life...and really does nothing at work.  He does enough in the "eleventh hour" to get noticed.  Frank takes long Martini lunches and has an affair with a secretary. The Wheelers have cocktails with other suburban couples and try to be involved with their community and cultural events.  April tried to make an effort and dresses in pretty dresses and frilly aprons at times.  The movie is pretty on the surface and the book describes a nice "scene"....but that is only surface.  Richard Yates paints a nice picture....and then we get into trouble because we might not expect such ugliness in his characters.

So....if you would like to read this book, even after all this...just leave a comment and I will draw a name.

Tiffany