Books?

So it feels like I'm at the doctor's office like every day now, but it's only once a week. Normally it's pretty quick too---pee, get my blood pressure done, get weighed, listen to Baby Meow Meow's heart, and go home. It's not weird for me to be the only person in the waiting room. Another 10 pts for NH. But today felt like I was back in the New York. It was crowded y'all and I had to wait an hour! I was so mad at myself for not bringing my library book---it's very slim pickings in the waiting room and only a National Geographic that I've already looked at in the office itself. Anyway, I got to thinking how I've been reading a lot lately. I think I'm trying to get it all in although I'm hopeful it won't take me quite as long to get back to reading as it did with The Bean.

So here's an update of some of the recent books I've read.

Amy Bloom's Where The God of Love Hangs Out: I just finished this collection of short stories but a bunch of them are connected and I like those ones best. Bloom is a good writer and this was a quick read. The stuff is heavy but in a lightish way: affairs, older people ailments, parental rage. I took a class with Bloom back in the day and she was so self-involved that it's kind of marred by opinion of her. But still. She knows how to write a story and she's especially good at endings.

Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed: I took this out because I was so surprised that my little library had it and like almost every other white chick in America I dug Eat, Pray, Love. This book is also non-fiction and while I wasn't really all that interested in the "history" of marriage (I was more interested in Gilbert's story about remarrying after an awful divorce) I surprised myself by reading it all and reading it quickly. When I was done with it, I didn't have any insight into my own marriage, but I do think it's interesting how different cultures view marriage. Love marriages are great, but it's the arranged ones that historically work.

Julia Child's My Life in France: This was a lot of fun, actually. Julia Child was a really funny, kooky, lady. I liked reading about her life with Paul and the beginning of her love affair with food/cookery.

Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge: This is a great book. You should read it right now. It's interconnected stories about elderly people in coastal Maine. The writing is so good and the characters are believable and interesting.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but I can't remember. Also, there are no books by men up here either. Oh well. I just bought Michael Lewis' The Blind Side, which is about football so that should balance something out. Except "Real Simple" came today and it's all about organizing your life, which may take over everything.

A Book Review?!

So I read Lorrie Moore's The Gate at The Stairs and well, of course it was readable because Moore is a great writer, but overall I give the book a B and that's only because I'm feeling generous after slogging through my students' terrible research papers. I have two more, but I'm a tad murderous, which means I should quit while all persons are still living in the house.

Anyway, Moore's book. If you're planning on reading it, you should stop reading this now because there are some minor spoilers. If I had to sum up in one phrase why it didn't work for me I would say that it doesn't gel. It just doesn't come together in any cohesive or particularly riveting way. It's about a 20 year old college student in Wisconsin who goes to work for an eccentric woman (the husband is pretty secondary) when she adopts a half-black toddler. It's also about Tassie's brother and parents, race relations, college life, terrorists, 9/11, and the bass guitar. And potatoes.

Maybe Moore's point was to take all these seemingly disparate things and loosely connect them because life tends to be more loose connections that well gelled pieces of the puzzle, but I wanted to be lost in the plot, it's a novel for goodness sake. Instead of feeling lost though, I felt distant.

Like, Tassie, the main character, is all involved with Mary-Emma, the adopted toddler, and then SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAPPENS, and she's no longer in Mary-Emma's life and Mary-Emma isn't mentioned again for more than 50 pages. I think that's weird. Maybe it's the mama in me, but wouldn't Tassie think about this poor 2 year old? Also, it bugged me that the toddler was so perfect. I just don't buy that someone whose been in foster care would so quickly and happily adapt. I hope I'm wrong, but most two-year olds who live in stable environments from day 1 have issues and tantrums and meltdowns in large public gatherings. It bugged me that Mary-Emma never did any of these things.

Also, Tassie plays the bass so every 30-50 fifty pages she whips it out and there's a paragraph about what she's playing, but it just didn't feel real to me. It felt like Moore giving her CHARACTER SOMETHING TO DO. Inorganic I guess is the word.
Oh, and there are pages of dialogue chunks about race and kids and I found it so boring! And finding Moore boring is so sad.

So yeah. Those are my quickie little thoughts. Ms. Kakutani felt quite different though.

Friday Books!! (Really!)

First, a very happy birthday to the even older Old Man!

I finished Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson a few nights ago. It took me almost two months to read and it's not a hard or boring or bad book. If I had to describe it with one word that would be: quiet. It's Scandinavian so I guess that makes sense. It enjoyable, but not exactly thrilling. In fact, I'm not really sure what I have to say about it and I'm feeling lazy. This guy had more so read this if you want more details. Happy weekend.

Friday Books: Please Kill Me and The Ten-Year Nap

Actually, Boris, I have been reading. While in NH, I began reading N's Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. The book is a series of interviews with people in and around the 1970's Punk scene. I found it interesting, easy, and light---the kind of book you can pick up here and there without losing any plot points. It was a good to read when I was up in the middle of the night since it's pretty much gossip about all the boozing and sex that went on back in the days of Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Television, MC5, The Velvet Underground.

Man, those people could party. At nine months pregnant with nary a memory of the last time I stayed up past 1 AM, I felt pretty removed from the scene. But it was fun to read about.

Closer to home, I finished Meg Wolitzer's The Ten-Year Nap. It's her most recent book and I enjoyed it. I don't know if it's because I took a break between her novels or if I just found the topic more interesting. My problem with The Position was that I wasn't sure if it was supposed to tragic or comedic. I found The Ten-Year Nap a solidly good summer novel.

The book is about these four mothers raising young kids who aren't young enough to necessarily warrant them still staying at home. The kids are in school and a lot of the women and their families struggle financially in New York City. Yet, something holds them back from returning to the working world. The chapters dealing with the four women---a failed painter, a lawyer, a failed academic/film producer, a math whiz /econ person---are intersected with stories about their mothers--many women who had to work or truly enjoyed working. These parts tended to be shorter and at first I felt they were gimicky, but by the end, I enjoyed them more and recognized why Wolitzer needed this device.

Wolitzer remains, in my opinion, a terrific, line by line writer. She really nails the human condition and has a great sense of endings. Read this book but get it from the library. I don't see why you'd need to own it.

Best of Brooklyn: (More!) Pizza

It's hard to believe that I would have anything more to say about pizza considering the breath and depth of the previous pizza post, but I do.

Last Sunday, N. and I went with our friends to Lucali over in Carroll Gardens. The owner/pizzailio was influenced by Dom at DiFara. Well, the influence is in the pies. Three or four cheeses, thin crust, fresh herbs. In terms of the ambiance, Lucali couldn't be more different. It's low-key but charming and has waiter service, which is kind of nice considering getting a pie at DiFara's is a waiting game. We did get to Lucali about fifteen minutes before they opened, which is key, but once we got seated the wait wasn't bad at all. All they have are pies and calzones; the toppings change depending on the day. We got a plain pie with basil, which was very similar in its tastiness to DiFara's. If DiFara does anything better, it's probably only that the pies are a little hotter. But that's pretty minor. Four of us shared a pie and a calzone. The calzone was truly amazing. I know, calzones got gross back in 8th grade. I don't think I've eaten one since then but the one at Lucali is really good. Ours had mushrooms and basil. What's really good about the calzone is that it's light and airy--not like the heavy, oily ones that are just dough filled with processed mozzarella cheese. At Lucali there are several different cheeses and it doesn't make you feel sick or cheesed out afterwards. N. and I would definitely go back to Lucali for the calzone. It's the only place we'd ever eat one.

To top off our pizza eating, N. and I spontaneously shelpped out to Coney Island yesterday and made the pilgrimage to Totonno's. I think we got lucky because there wasn't a wait. In terms of ambiance Totonno's falls somewhere between DiFara's and Lucali. It's on a pretty dingy block, but the place is bright and clean and there are tables with waiter service. The order came very quickly too. N. and I shared a plain small pie. I think that's the way to try a pizza place. Toppings can make things weird. I do have to say that the pepperoni on the pie next to us did look pretty good and I don't even like pepperoni. At first I found the slice disappointing; I even put a little salt on it because marinara sauce tasted a little bland. But after another few slices (they were thin crust and small) I got into it and didn't salt again. Totonno's is good but different from Lucali and DiFara's because the sauce isn't all about the herbs and spices. I also think the slices got better as the cheese and sauce solidified. N. and I left happy and satisfied without feeling too sick or cheesed out.

If I had to give out grades I'd say Lucali gets an A and Totonno's gets an A-.

It's back to the leafy greens this week. Our arteries have been working overtime.

Best of Brooklyn: Pizza

During our years here in the Borough of Kings, N. and I have eaten a lot of pizza. I've probably had around 2,300 slices, while N. tops with me 453,211.

The best Brooklyn pizza, as of this writing, is DiFara's out on Ave J in Midwood. Dom uses makes each pizza very slowly. You have to go when you're hungry but not starving. If you're starving when you get there, you'll have a breakdown since there's always a wait. Even if there are only three people ahead of you, you'll have to wait an hour. In addition to really working slowly (as artist should, of course), it's never clear that Dom has heard you place an order. If you've even gotten to the placing an order stage. Sometimes you just wait, which can be good for working on your zen goals. We were there in the spring and Dom's kids sort of helped keep their dad current with the orders but sometimes it's just him. When the kids are there, they might take an order or your money but they never touch the pies. Dom does it all--from making it, to putting it in and taking it out of the oven with his bare hands, to adding clippings of fresh basil on the just-out-of -the-oven pie.

Everyone should eat at DiFara's at least once. Get a plain pie--those are the best. Even if you just want a slice, get a pie, wait for it to cool off, eat what you want there, and then take the rest home. It won't be nearly as delicious but it's more time effective to get the whole thing. And you really do have to wait a few minutes to take your first bite It's so hot, olive oily, and three cheesy that it needs to solidify. Plus, you'll scald your mouth if you eat it too soon.

While DiFara's is this fairly dingy, non-descript hole in the wall, Franny's in our neighborhood on Flatbush Ave is just the opposite. It's pretty hip with menus, an impressive and expensive wine list, and actual servers. The critics went wild for Franny's when it opened a few years ago because it's brick oven and there's a list on the menu of where each product comes from. While N. and I think Franny's is tasty, we agree that the pizza never really fills you up and that there can be a lack of variety. Once N. and I got two different marinara style pies and they tasted pretty much the same. Plus, Franny's is expensive. I don't think going out for pizza should be expensive.

Although I'm not sure why, N. likes Antonio's at 318 Flatbush Ave. I've always put it in the barely mediocre category since I find it too greasy, too cheesy and the sauce non-descript. I should mention that N. would eat pizza 3-5 times a week if he could, which probably explains why he is the undisputed, undefeated pizza champion in our household. I like pizza too, but since it's fattening and not exactly good for you, I don't like to have these vices on mediocre pizza. And that's what Antonio's is. Very mediocre. At least the delivered stuff is. In the pizzeria itself, the slices are just slightly better. But I'm not sure why you'd be eating in Antonio's when your apartment is 4 blocks away.

Gino's further down on Flatbush, I think, is much better than Antonio's. It's not overly cheesy and the sauce has more character. It's exactly what you want on a Sunday night when you're too involved with Battle Star Galatica to make dinner.

Grimaldi'sunder the Brooklyn Bridge has been famous for years. Why? N. and I have eaten there a few times and while it's good, it's not the be all end all. Nothing about the pizza itself really stood out to me. The only thing that really stands out was the long line we waited on to get inside one Friday night only to remember that it's cash only. Of course, we had no cash and there are no ATM's in that part of Brooklyn so we had to grate 1,000 pounds of mozarella before they let us leave.

Back in his swinging bachelor days, N. lived in Williamsburg where Fornino's was. That was good pizza--more gourmet than DiFara's, but less pretentious than Franny's. Plus, the menu is a lot bigger than Franny's. I've always thought the options at Franny's were somewhat limiting. I've always regretted that N. and I always got Fornino's to go. Eating there, I'm sure the very good pizza would have been closer to great.

A few years ago, I took N. on a surprise trip to L&B Spumoni Gardens out in Bensonhurst. I feel like this is what the hardcore Italian Brooklynites think of when they think of pizza. L&B is known for Scillian slices, which were good, but N. and I prefer triangle pizza. Scillian slices tend to be too dough heavy for us. If you're going to take an out of towner on a schelp for pizza, we'd recommend schelping to DiFara rather than L&B. I'm sure we had the spumoni, but I can't remember it at all.

N. and I don't like the name The Brooklyn Pizza Factory that recently opened up on Vanderbilt Ave, very close to our house. We don't think factory just shouldn't be used in restaurant names. Or baby names, either. Nonetheless, the pizza, at BPF, is quite good and we're happy it's so close. They have very tasty regular slices and also some more intriguing gourmet pie options that I'm sure we will sample once the Bean comes and we're not cooking. The other day, the heat and 36 weeks of pregnancy nearly did me in on our walk in Prospect Park, but I'm happy to save I was revived with a Sprite and BPF slice. I guess the real test will be to get a pie delivered, but since it's so close I'm optimistic.

Across the street from BPF is Amorina. This is a family-friendly, more of a sit-down kind of place. The pies are a little more gourmet than BPF. N. and I are fans of the Tricolore pie, but when you're in the mood for pizza I think you want the standard NYC style like BPF. Amorina is more like you're too lazy to cook and too lazy to walk more than three blocks to go out to dinner. It's the kind of place where you might get the Puttanesca pie or, just as easily, the spaghetti with meatballs. It's not a bad place, but for being so close and calling themselves a pizzeria, N. and I have gone there surprisingly few times.

On our list of NYC things to do before moving to NH is eating at Totonno's out on Neptune Ave near Coney Island. This place always gets mentioned in lists that include DiFara's and Franny's so we're excited to check it out. I've heard, and this could be a rumor, that they make 100 pies a day and then they close no matter what time it is.

Whew. Posting about pizza has made me hungry. Where do you get your slices?

TWO! Friday Books: Julie and Julia and The Wife

What do you know, kids? I read myself 2.5 books this week. It might have something to do with the fact that I've had about 7 minutes of work for the past week and half.

I really enjoyed The Wife. I never read Meg Wolitzer before but now she's on my A list. I'm currently 100 pages into The Position and took out her most recent novel The Ten Year Nap. The Wife is funny and serious at the same time. In many ways it's a spoof of writers and marriage. The basic plot is that the narrator marries her creative writing instructor just before he becomes a writing star. Her own life is completely built around him and their family and at age 64 she decides she's had enough. I've been told spoilers are not fun so I'm keeping it a little vague. The book is funny in the sense that you can easily imagine the egotistical writer (Jonathan Franzen comes to mind) and the woman who has to live with that/him. The main character in the novel is really likeable and smart; Wolitzer is a terrific writer, especially when it comes to nailing the details of marriage and human interaction.

I also read Julie and Julia because my high school English teacher recommended it when I was in a serious lack of reading. The premise of J and J is that Julie Powell is about to turn 30, might have trouble conceiving a child, is stuck in a secretarial job, and has a miserable commute to a crappy apartment in Queens. Her big idea is to cook all five million recipes in Julia Child's seminal Mastering The Art of French Cooking in a year.

I was curious as to how Powell would go from blog to a book. Unlike her blog, which I didn't read, I assumed she couldn't go detail every recipe every day. In the book she picks and chooses the recipes by using chapters with specific days. What I liked was how she didn't only write about the cooking; there's also her marriage, crazy friends, and Texas family, and her terrible day job working for a government agency that makes her miserable since it's filled to the gills with Republicans. Her humor is what I most enjoyed. What I didn't like and what I skipped were the intermittent fictionalized sections where she imagines life between Paul and Julia Child. I found this boring and unnecessary and after the first two I didn't even feel bad about not reading them.

It's hard not to be jealous of the success Powell got. Not only did she get a book deal from her blog (hey! I could do that!) but it sold really well and got optioned with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in the role of Julia and Julie respectively. The movie is supposed to come out in 2009. Not too bad. But because she's funny and seems nice you don't want to hate Powell too much.

So yeah. Two books. Other than this highly literary post, what are you reading?

FRIDAY BOOKS 2.0

I had to speed read The Book of Dahlia by Elissa Albert because it was from my mom's library--the non-Brooklyn branch and she didn't want a fine. I hadn't heard of it; she got it because she read some great review of it or something. She lent it to me because she didn't get past the first twenty pages. I know why. It seems geared to people more my age than hers. It turns out I took a few yoga classes with Albert back when I was doing community yoga down on Atlantic Ave.

The book is as non-Jhumpa Lahiri as you could ask for. Not that I want every book to be like Lahiri, but Albert's writing is cool and cute and snappy with tons of pop culture references while Lahiri's feels more timeless and classic. Albert is a good writer but I didn't love the book. I found it readable because of the snappy writing but the characters were so unlikeable that I found it a bit tedious.

I'll admit that the conceit of the book is interesting: Dahlia Finger, 29 year old fuck up, who spends her father's money, smokes tons of pot, sleeps around, watches old movies religiously, gets diagnosed with a brain tumor. A serious, going to kill you, brain tumor. The first chapter is terrific--extremely tight in executing the plot and establishing the character. But while you sympathize with Dahlia for her illness, you never (ever) like her. I kept wanting her to change in some way and she never does. In a way this is interesting since one of the rules you often hear in writing workshops is that your characters need to change--even if the change is seemingly minute. I read somewhere that Dahlia is the anti-heroine of the novel and while I guess it's an interesting conceit and explains why she wouldn't change, I found her frustrating and tedious. Her relationship with her brother is a good example. They're best buds till he's a teenager and then he becomes a total asshole. From page 20 on, it's Dahlia's futile attempts to make her brother like her. Maybe 150 past that she realizes he's not going to change and from then on it's just this verbal diarrhea of what an ass he is. His assholeness is true, sure, but it's so extreme that he doesn't even feel real.

The same can be said for Dahlia's mother. She's so selfish that at some point around page 75 I felt like okay, how long do I have to spend with these awful people. But the writing is good and I guess that sort of saves it.

I read online that Albert's own brother had a brain tumor and it did make me feel a little differently towards to the book. Maybe more sympathetic. I'm not sure that this information should effect my reading of it but it did put it in a new light.

Now, I have nothing to read, which is a bit of a bummer. Luckily there's always Net Flix and TV.