Book Beginnings On Friday: Shutter Island

"I haven't laid eyes on the island in several years."

Page 1, Sentence 1 of Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.

Because I don't want to leave you there, I'd rather supply you with the entire first paragraph, which was certainly enough to get my attention and make me interested in reading more of the book. While not the strongest first paragraph of a book I've ever read, the imagery is quite nice.

"I haven't laid eyes on the island in several years. The last time was from a friend's boat that ventured into the outer harbor, and I could see it off in the distance, past the inner ring, shrouded in the summer haze a careless smudge of paint against the sky."

The first paragraph (of the prologue) gives you a definite feeling for the tone of the book, and the entire prologue really made me want to continue reading. A fairly good start, all in all.

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

Book Review: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Title: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Author: Fannie Flagg

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback

Genre: Chick Lit

Star Rating: 4/5

Network: Shelfari | Goodreads | Librarything

Buy: Amazon

My Summary: A very character-driven book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe follows the story of the people who live in Whistle Stop Alabama from the late 1920s all the way through to Birmingham in the 1980s. The story is told in second and third person, going back and forth between conservations between Evelyn Couch and Ninny Threadgood.

Themes: Racism and race relations before the civil rights movement and after; vague GLBT themes; small town life

My Thoughts: I loved it! This book is a new favorite of mine, which took me by surprise.

I really enjoyed reading about the various lives in Whistle Stop, Alabama and the stories that were threaded throughout the novel. I also felt that this was well-accomplished and neatly done by Fannie Flagg, though there are many others who disagree (see reviews on any of the networking sites listed above).

If you haven't seen the movie (and I hadn't, would you believe it?), please be aware that this book jumps around in time quite a bit, from the twenties to the thirties, to the eighties to the forties to the twenties and back again, over and over. Sometimes story lines drop off entirely only to be picked up again much later in the book. This worked for me, but I can see how others might have struggled with this.

I hear the movie is better than the book -- it's going to have to work hard to do that for me when I get a chance to see it!

I got an Award! The Prolific Blogger Award!

I haven't been blogging at this site for especially long, so you can imagine my surprise when I checked my e-mail and found this! The award comes from Bethany at Words, Words, Words. I haven't been following her blog for all that long, but I'm really glad that I am. What roped me in was her love of Anna Karenina. This is a book I've read twice, and now want to fully absorb as an adult. I have to say that I really poured over her thoughts on this book.

She's intelligent (like all the bloggers I follow!), and I appreciate her taste and thoughts on the books that she reads, most especially because so much of her personality comes through.

A prolific blogger is one who is intellectually productive, keeping up an active blog with enjoyable content. After accepting this award, recipients are asked to pass it forward to seven other deserving blogs.

I had a really tough time deciding who to give this award to. I wanted to give it back to Bethany, but she'd already given it to fifteen people (which is a lot) and I didn't want to make her choose seven more people :)

So, without further ado... I chose eight of the blogs I follow! 

1. Juju at Tales of Whimsy

2. Chris and Jess Park Benches and Book Ends

3. Miel Abeille at Reminder List

4. Cat at Tell me a Story

5. Rosalind at The Vanishing Lake

6. Sarah at Loving Books

7. Emily at Emily's Reading Room

8. Shan at Curled up with a Good Book and a Cup of Tea

The Reader's Lens

Since finishing my review of Revolutionary Road yesterday, I've had some time to do some thinking, and of course some time to explore other reviews of the book (I've learned not to do this while I'm reading a novel or I will become distracted and sometimes find it affects my enjoyment of a book.

For the most part, I don't filter my reading. I read virtually every genre (though I prefer not to read sci-fi or books that are driven by a political agenda -- you'll see a few from me, but not a lot). However, I do tend, as I believe we all do, to read through the lens of my personal experiences with life and different situations.

So, for example, when I'm reading Revolutionary Road, I'm not looking for a hidden agenda. I'm not looking for a deep message and meaning that will alter my life as I know it. In this case, because the book is so character-driven, I allowed myself to connect to the characters, but I also went a step further: I allowed myself to, in theory, learn from the mistakes that they had made. That, I suppose, is my "lens." My lens said "possibility" and from reading reviews, others wore the lens of "futility."

I find this interesting. At this point I can't say what Yates' intentions were, but I know what I took away from the experience of reading this book. My lens makes it no less incredible, though I wonder if the opposing lens will reveal such a beautiful book.

Book Review: Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates

Title: Revolutionary Road
Author: Richard Yates
Pages: 463
Format: Paperback
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Star Rating: 5/5
Network: Goodreads | Shelfari | LibraryThing
Buy: Amazon

My Summary: April and Frank Wheeler, along with their two children, aren't really suited to suburban life in 1955 America. Frank has a job where he doesn't really have to do (much of) anything, and April was never really suited to the life of a house wife. They want something bigger, and something better. There's only one thing standing in their way....

My Review:  This book is amazing, and you should read it. This book challenged me to think about my preconceived ideas of what it must have been to live during the 1950s and I have been changed by a fascinating and skillful narrative that I will never forget. I know, finishing this story, that April and Frank Wheeler will stay with me.

Revolutionary Road is undeniably a sad book. You may feel horror, revulsion, disillusionment when reading this novel. I believe that is how Yates intended the story to be read. But if you let it, this is the kind of book that comes along so very rarely: it is a book that will take you along with it, based purely on the reality of the story and the people in it.

More after the jump! (May contain spoilers!)

Teaser Tuesday: Fried Green Tomatoes (4/27/2010)

From Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg, page 61:

"She knew she couldn't go through any more days waiting for test results, and decided that she really did not want to know if anything was wrong, and preferred to drop dead in her tracks, never knowing."

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read

* Open to a random page

* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Internet Problems cause Blogger Frustrations

I'm having a lot of trouble with my Internet for the past few weeks. Although we had someone come by to fix it, the problem has not been resolved and as you may already have guessed, my husband and I are more than a bit furious. We're both bloggers (he has a political site) and the entire mess puts a huge strain on both of us. I've been doing less and less serious blogging.

While this means more time for books, it also means that I'm spending less time cultivating my writing (and lately, "cultivating" is almost all I do with my writing).

The good side of all this is that Revolutionary Road is getting all of my attention. I find that often I read in a distracted way, trying to figure out what is going to come next. What will I be reading next? What kind of review am I going to give this book? Will people judge me based on my opinion of this book? These are all regular concerns of mine when I'm reading for an audience (and isn't that what we do as book reviewers?).

A few things have happened: the first is that I have realized that I won't always be able to publish a review immediately upon having finished reading a book. If it is raining outside or Google is having a funk, I don't get a chance to publish diddlysquat. The other thing that has occurred to me is what a great bunch book bloggers are. It isn't always the same on Amazon, or any of the social networks, but YOU (my audience and fellow book bloggers) are amazing. A couple of you have really made me smile by commenting on my blog when I thought nobody was paying attention. I won't name names right now, but I can assure you that credit will come in due time. I appreciate you VERY much!

My review of Revolutionary Road should be up by Thursday. I am hoping to receive The Heart Mender in the mail on Wednesday, which will allow me to hopefully go right from one book into the next. If the book is late in the mail, I'm planning on picking up To Kill a Mockingbird. I haven't been able to get a hold of Anna Karenina yet.

One last thing: Earlier today Stay a Little Longer caught my eye. I wasn't in a position to purchase the book today, so was rather pleased and surprised that Yvonne at Socrates' Book Reviews is hosting a giveaway of this very book! Join me in entering the giveaway, if you like!

Thank you again to all you great followers. I thought I would leave you with this photo I captured the other day. Not the best in the world because I'm no photographer, but I thought it was cute!