Book review: Curly Girl: The Handbook, Expanded Second Edition, by Lorraine Massey with Michele Bender

I was incredibly psyched when a representative from Workman Publishing contacted me to review an advance copy of the second edition of Curly Girl. I devoured the first edition and it became my Bible for curly hair care. I read this expanded edition more thoroughly than I did the first--and allow me to say, it's much more comprehensive, detailed, and illustrated than its predecessor.

Allow me to compare some of the differences:

• In the first edition, author Lorraine Massey wrote about three types of curly hair: corkscrew, botticelli, and wavy. In this new edition, there are seven types of curly hair. I appreciated this because I always felt that I fell between corkscrew and botticelli. Massey includes more detailed descriptions of each type of curl, and, better yet, photographs of each one.
• There is a DVD included with this edition. In the DVD, you can watch how one cleans and cares for curly hair, depending on your curl type. This is the portion of the book that I appreciated the most, because I could see firsthand how I should specifically care for my hair, as opposed to just reading the text and deciphering photographs.
• Massey has added several new chapters to the book. My two favorite ones were about curly-haired men and "chemo curls." I was grateful that she included the chapter about guys and curls, because when it comes to hair care, the male population is sorely neglected. And Massey tackles the sensitive topic of losing hair from chemo treatments, then growing it back, with gentleness and aplomb.

I learned all about proper curly hair care from the first edition of Curly Girl. But with the second edition, I learned that I was still doing some things wrong, particularly when it came to washing my hair. I have heeded Massey's advice by using only sulfate-free products, but when it came to wetting my hair in the shower, and then applying the gel après-shampooing, I was not doing it correctly. Thanks to the DVD, I was able to learn the proper techniques.

According to one of the statistics in this book, over 65 percent of the population has some form of curly hair. One would never know it, though, since there are so many who invest in products to straighten, blow dry, and get rid of their curls. I must confess that I was one of those girls. But I am here, as a ringleted sista, to implore you to embrace your hair's natural texture. My curls are a part of who I am; it's one of my personal fashion signatures. It took me awhile to get there, but thanks in part to Curly Girl, I was able to do so. I am grateful for Lorraine Massey's help, and I hope that she helps you in the same way that she did for me.

Book Review: Heidi's Inbox: Scandal in the City, by Holly Denham

Holly Denham, the befuddled London receptionist who gave us all a glimpse into her life--and her inbox--is back with a brand-new book full of more scrapes and hilarity.

Holly is still at the bank, and is doing very well for herself. She is successful in her job and is madly in love. And now she's up for a promotion. Things couldn't be better for Holly--and then scandal starts to edge its way back into her life.

Like it's predecessor, Holly's Inbox: Scandal in the City is told entirely in E-mails, with the exception of one chapter, which consists of Holly's texts to her best friend, Jason. I really liked this format because you really got to see the entire contents of her inbox, which include E-mails from family and other businesses. The correspondence from members of Holly's family, in particular, shed some light on her quirky personality, from a meddling mother trying to get Holly to change her career, to a nutty grandmother who is trying to get Holly's mother to stop meddling in her affairs.

And then there are the E-mails from the "Unknown Angel," which pop up sporadically throughout the novel. This lends a little bit of mystery to the book. Just who is this person, and why is she sending Holly E-mails?

At over 500 pages, one may seem a little intimidated to start reading a book so big. But this book is written entirely in E-mails, and it goes by very quickly. I managed to finish it in two sittings. It's one of those novels where you stumble upon a plot element that may seem subtle, but turns out to be a plot changer in the end.

Oh, and that scandal that the book's title refers to? You're just going to have to read the book to find out what it is!

Book Review: About Alice, by Calvin Trillin

This is the latest in the string of memoirs that men have written about their late/critically ill wives. I assure you, kittens, that it was purely coincidence that I read three of these books in a row. But this volume was in the bargain bin at Borders, and I had heard a lot of good things about it, so I picked it up.

About Alice is a loving, affectionate memoir about Alice Trillin, who was the muse, editor, and chief critic/confidante to New Yorker magazine writer Calvin Trillin. Alice, he writes, was the one who ensured that her family ate three square meals a day. She was the one who insisted that a parent attend every single performance of their child's play, no matter how poor it was. She was Calvin's biggest critic, reading over every draft of a piece that he wrote for the New Yorker. He knew the minute that Alice frowned that he would have to rewrite, most likely several drafts worth, of his story.

Mostly, About Alice is a story of courage. Alice Trillin was diagnosed with lung cancer when her daughters, Abigail and Sarah, were very young, seven and four, respectively. She wanted to beat the disease in any way she could, in order to see her daughters grow up. She ultimately survived, and watched her daughters marry. Calvin Trillin writes admiringly about Alice's determination, especially during her final years.

I was not familiar with Calvin Trillin's work before I read this book, and I am not sure if I would pursue his works any further. While About Alice was a very touching story, it was very dry at times. This had nothing to do with the subject matter. Sometimes Trillin can get on a tangent and ramble on about topics that have nothing to do with the main plot. This is where I found the book to be tedious. However, you can't deny the affection, admiration, or love that he had for his wife. That is really what makes the book worth reading.

Book review: Jan's Story, by Barry Petersen

CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen had an idyllic marriage to one-time local TV news anchor Jan Chorlton. They were the couple known as "Darling and Darling." They spent many happy years traveling the world together, as CBS News sent Petersen on assignments in such places as Tokyo, Moscow, and London.

Yet over time, subtle changes occurred with Jan. First there was the depression, the unwillingness to leave the apartment. Then came the memory lapses and the strange behavior, ranging from leaving the stove on to wearing street clothes to bed instead of pajamas. Finally, Petersen contacted a neurologist back in the States (he and Jan were living in Tokyo at the time), and after a phone consultation, Jan was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's. She was 55 years old.

At first, Petersen was Jan's sole caregiver, but the role soon became physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing, as Jan's behavior and emotions became more difficult to handle. He then hired a live-in nurse to become Jan's caregiver, but her emotional outbursts became more difficult to handle, especially in public. Finally, after much painful debate, and careful consultation with Jan's friends and family, Petersen made the difficult decision to place Jan in assisted living. At the time, the Petersens were still living in Tokyo, and Jan was sent to a nursing home in Bellevue, Washington. Even after Jan was placed in assisted living, Petersen was still unprepared for the continued taxation that this decision took on his mental and physical state.

Jan's Story is an incredibly honest, candid look at the repercussions that friends and family face when dealing with Alzheimer's. This is one of those books where you really experience the emotions along with the storyteller; I found myself feeling angry, sad, and pained as Petersen wrote about losing his beloved wife. He refers to Alzheimer's as "The Disease," something that has taken his Jan from him--even though her physical presence is still there. At one point he writes that it is like going to the same funeral, over and over again.

This book is a quick read, something that most readers may be able to finish in one sitting, because the storytelling is very engaging. However, the emotions are so raw and strong that I had to put the book down after a few chapters before I felt ready to read it again.

I was inspired to read Jan's Story after watching this segment on CBS News Sunday Morning, where Petersen serves as a correspondent. As painful as it was to watch, and as painful as the book could be to read, it is still a moving testament to the struggles that Alzheimer's families face every day.

Book Review: The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery

A friend of mine had read this in her book club, based upon a recommendation I had made. I was quite surprised; I don't even remember recommending the book when I was in said book club! (I had to drop out due to work commitments). But I guess someone had seen it on my bookshelf, and thought it would be a great book to read.

I had picked it up at Borders because of the subject material. It takes place in Paris, at an apartment building at 7, rue de Grenelle. Renée Michel is the building's concièrge: a modest widow who goes to great lengths to conceal her intelligence. On the outside, she is poor, homely, and aloof. But take a look inside her apartment and you'll see copies of works by Proust, Marx, and other great philosophers. She quotes from such works of literature as Anna Karenina, and is very familiar with classics of the American cinema, especially Gone With the Wind.

Paloma Josse is a twelve-year-old girl living in Madame Michel's building. She is a member of France's upper class, la bourgeoisie. Her father is a member of parliament, her mother has an advanced degree in literature, and her older sister, Colombe, is a philosophy student at the École Normale Supérieure. Like Madame Michel, Paloma strives to conceal her intelligence, but, unlike Madame Michel, she is not always successful; she still earns high marks at her school. Paloma is a withdrawn child, one who plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday, and then burn her family's apartment.

The first half of the book alters its narrative between Madame Michel and Paloma. Each character has their own unique way of looking at the world. Madame Michel was born to a family of poor laborers, and her upbringing has greatly affected her perception of people. Paloma was born under opposite circumstances; however, she is not very fond of being rich. She is almost embarrassed by it. Her narratives, while slightly tinged with the sort of drama only a twelve-year-old can provide, are still very deep and profound, and very mature for her age. Both Madame Michel and Paloma quote philosophers to support their opinions, and use colorful metaphors to describe what they see. For example, here's Paloma's first impression of Madame Michel:

Madame Michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside, she's covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that on the inside, she has the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary--and terribly elegant. (p. 143)

Neither Madame Michel nor Paloma interact with each other much, if at all, until a wealthy Japanese man moves into the building. Karuko Ozu soon befriends both ladies: Paloma, because of her love for Japanese culture (especially manga), and Renée, for her love of Tolstoy. Their friendship with Karuko helps them through some difficult times: Paloma, through her adolescent struggles, and Renée, with an incident that has haunted her since childhood.

The friend who had read the book before I did advised me to have a dictionary next to me as I read the text. While I didn't have it next to me the whole time I read the book, it is still a good thing to have on hand. I learned lots of new vocabulary just from the first half of the book alone.

Additionally, the first half is packed with lots of intellectual and philosophical material. You will need to pause after reading a few chapters. Fortunately, each of the chapters are very brief. Once you've digested what you've read, keep going, but slowly. The Elegance of the Hedgehog is like a rich chocolate dessert; you can't gobble it up within five minutes. The pace of the book picks up in the second half, though, and once it starts, you don't want to put it down. The characters in this book are very well-developed, and their eloquence and ability to articulate is amazing.

So far, this is the best piece of fiction I've read all year. I like any book where the protagonists stay with you for a long time, and I certainly will keep Renée, Paloma, and Karuko very close to me.

Book Review: This Time Together, by Carol Burnett

I have been a huge Carol Burnett fan since I was seven or eight years old. I'd watch the old episodes of Carol Burnett and Friends at my grandparents' house, and later in life when cable finally came to my hometown. In college I was known to tape episodes of Carol Burnett and Friends on the Family Channel. It drove my roommate crazy. She didn't get it, but BFF, whom I met in college, did. We'd go to each others' dorm rooms and watch Carol Burnett together. That's one of the things that has bonded our friendship.

I have her first book, One More Time, which is a detailed memoir of her childhood, growing up with alcoholic parents, a hypochondriac grandmother, and living in poverty in a one-room apartment one block north of Hollywood Boulevard. You can find my review of it here, and you can read other posts I've written about Carol here.

I had pre-ordered this book last October, almost as soon as I heard that it was going to be published. When it finally arrived in my mailbox this past April, I put aside the book that I was reading at the time and dove right in. I finished in about two hours.

As Carol writes in the foreword, this book originally started out as a collection of show business anecdotes that she had wanted to write for her grandchildren. Many of these recollections came from questions that audience members would ask at her touring Q&A show (you can read about my experience here).

Lots of the anecdotes are humorous. For example, she writes about the time she first met Jimmy Stewart, her idol, and was so flustered when she talked to him that when she left the studio, she stepped in a bucket of whitewash and walked out with said bucket still on her foot. There are several stories about the cast of The Carol Burnett Show, particularly about Tim Conway and Harvey Korman. There is one story involving Tim Conway and a stuffed sheep that had me laughing out loud--something that doesn't happen often when I read.

Some of the tales remind us that even celebrities are human, and get starstruck. Carol describes living in the same New York apartment building as John Steinbeck, and how they first met in an elevator going to their respective floors. There is a very funny story about renting her beach house to Sir Laurence Olivier. And there are two particularly funny stories involving meeting Cary Grant for the first time, as well as an Iranian princess who had the same physician as Carol.

At times, some of the stories that Carol told were touching and heartbreaking. There are a couple of sections in the book about her late daughter, Carrie Hamilton, and the play that they wrote together, Hollywood Arms. Carol writes in a style that makes you feel as if she's sitting next to you, having a conversation with you, and you can really feel the mother's grief as you read through these chapters. Carol also writes about the time when she met a very young cancer patient, and how this patient came to the set of The Carol Burnett Show to meet her. Again, the sense of grief and sadness that you get when reading these sections is incredibly palpable.

This book is not a tell-all book in any sense. In spite of some sadness, Carol generally keeps the tone light and conversational. Not only does she recall some moments of her career, but she recalls some humorous life moments, too, such as the time she had to take her dog to the vet in the middle of a New York City blizzard. There are a few stories about her daughters when they were growing up. And there are some tales about living a normal life as a celebrity. Not only do you get a sense of Carol Burnett as a performer, but you get a sense of Carol Burnett as a person. Both personae make her that much more connected to the reader.

I am going to make an unusual recommendation here: By all means, read the book. But I also want to tell you to get the audio book, especially if you're a fan. Carol herself reads the book, and the conversational aspect of the text takes on a whole new different meaning. Yes, she is there in the same room with you, because she's reading her own stories, but she's reading it as if you're the only person who's listening to the text, as if she's giving a performance just for you. She sings, she does different character voices, and at times, becomes emotional. I don't know how I stumbled upon it while I was in iTunes, but I'm a big enough fan that I purchased it, even though I had a hard copy. And I don't regret it at all.

While I finished This Time Together in one sitting, I found myself going back at random occasions and re-reading some of the anecdotes. You may find yourself doing the same thing. Because while you appreciate the time you had together with Carol, there are times when you just want to have a little more.

Book Review: The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner

How many of you have ever thought about happiness? I mean, what does it mean to be happy? How does one remain in a state of contentment and never let anything bad happen to them? Or, rather, how does one deal with both the good and the bad in their lives?

Eric Weiner wondered just that. As a foreign correspondent for NPR, he had been to places such as Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Iraq--places not exactly known for happy people. Unhappy people and places, Weiner reasoned, make for good stories, because they inspire people, and they are more newsworthy.

After reporting so much, though, on the doom and gloom of the world, he thought about taking one year off to study the happy places of the world:

Places that possess, in spades, one or more of the ingredients that we consider essential to the hearty stew of happiness: money, pleasure, spirituality, family, and chocolate, among others. Around the world, dozens of what-ifs play themselves out every day. What if you lived in a country that was fabulously wealthy and no one paid taxes? What if you lived in a country where failure is an option? What if you lived in a country so democratic that you voted seven times a year? What if you lived in a country where excessive thinking is discouraged? Would you be happy then? (introduction, page 2)

Weiner starts his journey in the Netherlands, where he visits the World Database of Happiness, an institution which attempts to collect data and statistics on this state of being. In other words, happiness is something that can be measured. Along the way, he attempts to find his own brand of Dutch happiness by ordering from the many offerings at one of Rotterdam's famed hashish bars. Did he find happiness in that bit of Moroccan hash he smoked? Well, just for a little while.

That is just one of many little experiments that Weiner conducts during his year-long voyage around the world. He visits ten countries in all, including a study on American happiness, written after he returned to the Mother Land. I won't include details on everything that he learned (since I'd really like you to read the book), but there are some interesting little revelations throughout the work. In his visit to Switzerland, Weiner figures out exactly why Swiss watches are known for their punctuality--Switzerland itself is obsessed with being on time, right down to the second the trains and planes leave the stations and airports. In Bhutan, the king has implemented something called the Gross National Happiness, a national priority/mandate. (NPR actually covered this recently on Morning Edition; you can read more about this report here.)

In Iceland, happiness can be found in one's failures--in fact, failure is encouraged in Icelandic culture. This is a lesson that I believe Americans need to learn desperately. In our culture, failure is seen as something terrible, and many spend their lives trying to avoid it. In Iceland, one is a failure for not experiencing failure. This chapter, for this very important lesson alone, is one of the most valuable in the book.

Another chapter I found really intriguing was the one about Qatar, a nation that is full of money and riches--but no national culture. It's interesting to read the reasonings behind how a nation can be content with all of its riches, but still lacks such a self-awareness about something to call its own. This is something that Qatari expatriates pick up on very quickly, but something that the natives are, almost blissfully, unaware of.

The chapter on India is also especially interesting. This is a nation where poverty and misery are profound, yet this is a nation where many foreigners travel to find contentment in one of its many ashrams. Weiner does indeed visit an ashram, but it is not where he obtains perspective on the Indian philosophy behind happiness.

I picked up this book on a whim one day, at Borders, during one of their "buy one, get one 50% off" sales. It, like many of my purchases, made its way to my bookshelf for about a year. I finally retrieved it from "Bookshelf Hell" when I decided to embark on my own little Happiness Project. This was the first book I decided to read, and I am--pardon the expression--happy that I did. The Geography of Bliss really gave me a lot of perspective on my own definition of happiness and contentment. Not only that, it helped me get perspective on balancing happiness with sadness. Down times are inevitable in anyone's life, and to see how different cultures deal with life's ups and downs help me deal with mine.

More importantly, it helped me examine the overall American attitude towards contentment. There is a general American perception that one needs to be happy and content all the time. Sadness, failure, and depression are too often seen as weaknesses. If this book does anything for our national culture, I hope it's teaching the lesson that sadness, failure, and depression are not weaknesses, but character builders. I'm going to stop short of saying that The Geography of Bliss should be required reading in psychology courses, but it should be something for people who are going through their own Happiness Projects should read. If anything, it provides so much perspective.

Stay tuned over the next few months, kittens, as I read more books I've chosen for my Happiness Project, along with an explanation--coming soon--as to why I've decided to launch this.

Book Review: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, by David Foster Wallace

I brought this book with me on my cruise in February. I had been wanting to read David Foster Wallace's works for a very long time, and thought I'd start off small, before perusing his pièce de résistence, Infinite Jest (which tops off at over 900 pages).

I didn't realize until after I started reading the book how academic it is in nature. Wallace, after all, was a journalist who wrote for such diverse magazines as The New Yorker, Esquire, The Paris Review, Harper's, and Playboy. The book was composed of seven essays that were once published in magazines such as these. Some of the essays are very interesting. And some, if you don't have the background knowledge in order to appreciate what Wallace is writing about, can be difficult to read. I had to go back and re-read several paragraphs at a time in cases like these in order to fully absorb what I had read.

For example, the first essay, "Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley," was a memoir of Wallace's days as a competitive junior tennis player. Apparently he was once one of the best high school tennis players in Illinois. When he got to college, however, he realized that he could burn out very quickly, and gave up the sport. As a kid who was never an athlete, and never competed fiercely in any high school competition, I couldn't relate personally to some of his experiences. I liked the metacognition, or schema, that was needed in order to fully appreciate this essay. (My high school English teachers would be so proud of me for writing that last sentence!)

However, that first essay prepared me for the second to last tome of the book, an essay about a rising tennis star named Michael Joyce. At first I wondered who Michael Joyce was, since I had never heard of a tennis player with that name. And then I looked at the publication date of the essay: 1996. I decided to do a Google search to answer the "where are they now" question; however, I'll let you do a Google search, if you wish, once you finish reading this post. I don't want to include any spoilers.

The essays, while cerebral, are quite enjoyable, but not something you can read in one fell swoop. This is one of those works where you have to read a few paragraphs at a time, allow some time to absorb the information, and then continue. My friend Chantal, who went on vacation with me, would look over at me and pronounce that my book "wasn't beach-reading material." She is right; this is not something you can take with you to the beach on a lazy, hazy afternoon and breeze right through.

However, I read portions of the last essay to her, and she had to laugh at it as much as I did.

Why?

It was about the then-fledgling cruise industry.

That was a fitting conclusion to the book, given the environment. Next time I go on a cruise, though, I'm leaving the David Foster Wallace at home. This is good middle of the day reading, when your brain is functioning at its peak, but not just before bed reading when you're in the mood to relax. That having been said, I'm going to give him another chance; I just haven't decided which book it's going to be, yet.

I know it won't be Infinite Jest, though. Not yet.

Book Review: Happens Every Day, by Isabel Gillies

Could it be...that the Bookkitten has actually written a book review for the first time in months? Yes, it is true--and I am soooo happy to be finally writing a review!

We're getting back into the book reading groove with this selection--which I read while I was on vacation in February:

I had originally picked up this book back in April 2009, during a random trip to Starbucks. This was one of the coffee chain's monthly book selections, which they put right next to the register. The cover itself looked appealing enough for me to pick up a copy. As I waited for my latte, I skimmed the summary on the left flap of the dust jacket:

Isabel Gillies had a wonderful life--a handsome, intelligent, loving husband; two glorious toddlers; a beautiful house; the time and place to express all her ebullience and affection and optimism. Suddenly, that life was over. Her husband, Josiah, announced that he was leaving her and their two young sons.

When Josiah took a teaching job at a Midwestern college, Isab el and their sons moved with him from New York City to Ohio, where Isabel taught acting, threw herself into the college community, and delighted in the less-scheduled lives of toddlers raised away from the city. But within a few months, the marriage was over. The life Isabel had made crumbled. "Happens every day," said a friend.

There are many, many stories out there about this exact plot. Woman thinks she has the ideal marriage to a smart, handsome man, and has the house with the white picket fence, the dog, the mini van, and the 2.5 children. And then, suddenly, it all goes wrong. It's a story we've all heard before. However, I was intrigued because this was a true story. Additionally, Ms. Gillies is an actress (she played Detective Stabler's wife on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit), and I wondered how much of her dramatic training would lend itself to the storytelling.

It takes awhile for the memoir to build up to the climax. She writes, in vivid detail, about meeting Josiah one summer in Maine, where their families vacationed. She was instantly attracted to the scholar, who eventually earned a Ph.D. in poetry. Josiah's ultimate goal was to obtain a full-time professorship, teaching poetry.

That opportunity arrived when Josiah accepted a position at Oberlin College in Ohio. Isabel threw herself into her new life, and eventually became an adjunct drama professor. They purchased an old house near campus, and everything seemed wonderful.

But soon, Isabel suspected that her husband was cheating. There were the late nights in the office, and the deepening friendship with a female Oberlin colleague. The fights between Isabel and Josiah increased. Isabel wanted to save the marriage, but Josiah kept telling her it was beyond repair. She had very mixed emotions: On one hand, she knew she had to leave, but on the other hand, didn't want to give up the life she had.

Happens Every Day is a no-holds-barred look at a deteriorating relationship. Isabel Gillies is raw, honest, and unapologetic towards her now ex-husband. The further I read this book, the more I thought of Josiah as an ungrateful, self-centered man who really didn't care that he was abandoning two children. I was especially affected by the descriptions of "keeping up appearances": giving friends and family the perception that everything was normal, and there was a happy family life, without providing any detail of the tension that lied within.

So how was this book different from other tales of marriages ending? Well, unlike the movies, Happens Every Day does wrap up its plot in a great big bow, with all of the plotlines neatly tied up. It's like having a conversation with someone who is going through a similar breakup, and just needs to vent, in order to get all of the emotions out. It's like being witness to a therapy session, and you're the therapist, listening to it all.

This is one of those books that begins where you read it in one fell swoop, but then, you have to put it down for awhile before you pick it up again. That is not because of lagging storytelling; rather, you have to sit back and process all of the emotions that Ms. Gillies has laid out on the page. It's as if you have to get over being angry at certain parties (namely Josiah) before you can continue.

There are no wasted emotions in this story; Ms. Gillies makes no attempt to try and cover up any biases towards her husband and his mistress. She is very honest, which is what makes this book such intriguing reading.

While this book is painful to read at times, Happens Every Day is hardly a woe-is-me type of tale. Not once did I feel any pity toward Ms. Gillies, but rather, admiration for her strength and determination. She does not, at any point, make herself out to be a victim, which is probably the biggest strength of the book.

And that's the main thing that makes Happens Every Day different than the typical "perfect marriage suddenly ends" story: The woman doesn't have any self pity, and doesn't make anyone else feel sorry for her.

Upcoming book reviews (!!!)

Yep, you've read that title right...I actually have some book reviews coming up soon! I finally managed, albeit slowly, to work out of the little rut I had gotten myself into. OK, it was a majorly huge rut. I hadn't really read or absorbed myself in a good read since...last July? September? Anyhoo, it's been at least six months since I finished a book cover to cover and felt completely satisfied and non-stressed. I'll be posting these reviews sometime within the next two weeks. I've got some time off coming up, which will give me an opportunity to write some posts.

But first, I am going away, once again. I'll be going on a quick trip to Niagara Falls this coming Monday, and will be returning home sometime Wednesday. I'll probably be posting sometime next Thursday or Friday; yo no se.

But I will give you a hint as to one of the books I'll be reviewing...it has something to do with one of the two red-headed comedians I'm going to see in the upcoming weeks...(look at the countdowns to the left of your screen to see whom I'm talking about)...;)

Travels with Kitten: A visit to The Strand

Finally, a night to kick back, relax, and chat with my darling kittens! How is everyone out there in the blogosphere? I've missed you guys!

There really isn't much going on right now, except to report that I've never been busier professionally. And never more satisfied with my job. The honeymoon continues, and I hope it lasts for as long as possible.

I must tell you, though, that I went to the city (that's NYC for those of you who don't live locally) over Labor Day weekend and made a booklover's pilgrimage to Mecca...in other words, I went to the Strand Bookstore, more commonly known as "The Strand".

Now for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, the Strand is the oldest and largest independent bookstore in the city, specializing in old and rare books. They also sell new books at roughly 10% cheaper than cover prices. (I'm not entirely sure about the discount; I don't speak math). Yes, it is a used bookstore, but when they say they have 18 miles of books, they're not kidding.

I couldn't decide, truthfully, about going to the city. Then, that Friday, I saw Julie and Julia with a friend of mine. There is a scene where Julie Powell and her best friend are searching through the carts of $1.00 books in front of the Strand. I took it as a sign.

Anyhoo, there are several carts of books in front of the store that have books that sell for $1.00. They were mostly travel guides from the 70s, locally published poetry books, and other various slim paperbacks. However, it was a lot of fun to dig through these carts and see what you could find. There were old, outdated dictionaries in languages ranging from Polish to Gaelic. There were lots of children's books. You never know what treasures you'll find in those carts.

After searching through the $1.00 bargains, I stepped into the store. Oh. My. God. It was three floors of heaven. When I die, I hope that my heaven is very much like the Strand. There were shelves of books everywhere. There were tables and tables of bestsellers and staff favorites. I found a copy of The DaVinci Code for $4.95, hardcover, first edition, prime condition. I bought it immediately.

I kept browsing and discovered a huge wall of cookbooks of every genre you could imagine. Every type of cuisine was represented there. Of course, there was a huge display of Julia Child cookbooks, given the Strand's brief appearance in Julie and Julia. The store was running a special where, if you purchased the two books that the movie was based on, you got a free Strand apron. I already owned both books, so I did not need to do this.

The main floor housed the fiction section, as well as biographies of film and television personalities, world history, and more. The ceilings were so tall, and the shelves so immense, that in many cases, you had to ask an employee to climb a ladder to get the book for you. (I would have taken pictures, but A), I wasn't sure if they were allowed, and B), I was having camera problems). But I digress.

I ventured down into the basement. This is where they house their technology and foreign language collections. But the best part of all is--ok, brace yourselves, kittens--there is a very, very, very extensive collection of advance review copies of books--hardcover ones--that are sold for 50% off the cover price. There were many recent bestsellers there--I think I saw the latest Sophie Kinsella--and other past favorites. Oftentimes authors will visit the Strand to promote their latest work, and whatever leftover copies there are, get shipped to the basement where their price gets cut in half. If I had a bigger budget, I would have delved into some of treasures.

The second floor houses a rather impressive, extensive collection of children's books. I didn't allow myself enough time to thoroughly browse this floor, but I did go to the third floor--the one which the Strand is most famous for.

The third floor houses the rare books. I'm talking first-edition, leather-bound rarities that can sell for thousands of dollars. Books so rare, you need to be escorted to the cash register to pay for them. Again, I didn't take much time to browse through this section, but the atmosphere itself was worth the visit. It reminded me of the quietest of college libraries, with that wonderful old book smell. I can't quite describe the scent, for words won't do it justice, but it was a heavenly aroma.

I must have spent about an hour at the Strand, and even though I budgeted for my purchases, I still spent slightly more than I wanted to. Still, it's a place I plan to return to again, this time with some fellow bibliophiles. I want to spend more time on the children's floor and on the rare books floor. Hell, I want to spend more time in that store, period. If I lived in Manhattan, I'd try and get to the Strand as often as I could!

But enough of me babbling about this glory of a store. Click here to visit the Strand's official website. And if you're in Manhattan, and you're a book lover, make sure you pay a visit. Take the subway to Union Square (the 4, 5, or 6 lines will get you there). Then cross Broadway and proceed on East 12th Street; the Strand is not that far down. You won't regret this, ever! I'm already planning my next trip there!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Just found this via J. Kaye's marvelous book blog, and I'd thought I'd share with you what I'm reading right now.

I'm currently in the middle of four books, all of which are very good. Here's a quick summary on each one:

Little Men: I started this this morning, and am two chapters in. It's got the same warm, gentle tone that Little Women has, and I am enjoying it.

Outliers: I've read Malcolm Gladwell's first book, The Tipping Point, and really liked that one. I like the way he thinks.

Beginner's Greek: I'm already casting Cameron Diaz in the role as the female protagonist.

Holly's Inbox: This is a book told entirely through E-mails. Because of this, it's proven to be a very quick read.

More detailed reviews of each of these books will come once I finish them. Kittens, what are you all reading?

The Second Assistant, by Clare Naylor and Mimi Hare

I was craving some, as I put it, "light, fluffy reading" after reading a series of nonfiction books, as well as a heavy-duty chunkster. I actually found the sequel to this work at Barnes and Noble, then got that, along with this book, from Paperback Swap.

It is, indeed, light, fluffy reading at its finest. A great, groovy beach read. It's a very quick read, but it's not so absorbing that you can read it all in one sitting.

The Second Assistant is the story of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Miller, a Rockville, Maryland native who moves out to California to become a second assistant at a powerful Los Angeles talent agency. Show business is a culture shock to Lizzie, who spent the first couple of years out of Georgetown working in Washington, DC for her local congressman. Her job ends when it's discovered that her boss has embezzled campaign funds.

However, at a major DC party, Lizzie meets Daniel Rosen, president of The Agency (the aforementioned talent agency), who is so impressed with her that he slips her his business card. Lizzie doesn't take up this job lead until her own job with the congressman fizzles. Soon enough, she ends up in LA.

Lizzie is very naive, and the authors get her in the most embarrassing situations. For starters, during her first week in LA, she gets accidentally hit with a hockey puck, and a man takes her back to his house and nurses her back to health. It turns out that the man is Jake Hudson, known around town to be a sleazy producer who has slept with every woman in town. Lizzie wasn't aware this man was when he came to her rescue, but when she does find out who he is, it's too late. She starts to lose the respect of the other assistants who work at The Agency.

Then there's the situation where she has to organize a major Hollywood party for Daniel Rosen, gets drunk, and ends up naked in a pool with another sleazy Hollywood producer. She ends up, at her boss's insistence, going on another date with this guy--which also ends in disaster.

Lizzie's boss, Scott Wagner, is a drug-addicted online poker player who is crushing his Ritalin tablets and then snorting them. She is not entirely sure whether to trust him or not, but she is fiercely loyal to him, and he to her.

Within the context of this story, Lizzie is also trying to help her barista friend Jason get a deal with a major studio for a screenplay that he has written, Sex Addicts in Love.

Lizzie weighs her options at various points of the book. Does she want to go back to politics, or does she want to stay in Tinseltown? Who can she trust? Who could she have as a friend? What does she value? What are her morals?

At times I got so frustrated with Lizzie's naivete that I put the book down and walked away from it. But some of the anecdotes were so bizarre that I kept coming back to it. One agent, for example, has Lizzie dry clean the clothes on the Barbie dolls she keeps in her office. Mimi Hare, one of the book's co-authors, was, "at twenty-three, the director of development for a Hollywood production company where she worked on feature films such as Jerry Maguire and As Good As It Gets," according to the author's summary.

Still, in spite of her naivete, I found myself cheering for Lizzie. I was hoping that she, in the words to an old tv theme song, "was gonna make it after all." She works hard, she's honest, and she's trusting. She doesn't want to do anything behind anyone's back. Lizzie is a very likable character, and I often sympathized with her.

As beach season approaches, consider adding The Second Assistant to your tote bag. In spite of its shortcomings, it really is a lot of fun. And pick up the sequel, too. I just started it and am curious to find out how Lizzie's doing in Hollywood.

This is the latest entry in my 2009 100+ Reading Challenge, my 2009 1st in a Series Challenge, my 2009 A to Z Challenge, as well as my 2009 Read Your Own Books Challenge. Click on any of the buttons in the right sidebar for archived lists of all of my reads!

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers

When a friend of mine told me about this book, she said that it was a memoir about a young man whose parents had died of cancer within weeks of each other. It was a book about a twenty-something man from Chicago who was raising his eight-year-old brother.

"Okay," I thought when I borrowed this book from the library, "then why am I finding this book in the fiction section?"

I soon found out. In the preface, Dave Eggers discloses that "this is not, actually, a work of pure nonfiction. Many parts have been fictionalized in varying degrees, for various purposes." (p. ix) All of the dialogue has been reconstructed, and in certain parts of the book, the characters often break out of character and talk about their place in the book itself. In other words, they acknowledge that they are a part of the book, and critique Eggers for the dialogue he is writing for them.

Additionally, some names have been changed (although Eggers used his siblings' real names), and there has been some switching in the chronology of certain events. Eggers acknowledges all of the fictionalized text, and maintains that it was based on a true story. For these reasons, this is why it's treated as a work of fiction, and not strictly as a memoir. (The preface made me immediately think of A Million Little Pieces, and how James Frey didn't admit he took artistic liberties until well after the Oprah controversy).

Anyway, Eggers takes many artistic liberties during the course of the book, starting with the acknowledgements, which continue for twenty pages. In order for you to truly understand what I'm talking about, you'll have to read the book. I can't really accurately describe it online, but let's just say that he includes such people as NASA and Simon and Schuster. He also does his own analysis of the book using common themes in literature, such as loss of parents, a man finding himself, and siblings raising each other (here he makes a few references to the old show Party of Five. However, this book is nothing like Party of Five).

The novel opens in Chicago, where Eggers and his older sister, Beth, are caring for their mother, who is dying of stomach cancer. Their father, an alcoholic lawyer, died from lung cancer weeks before. The Eggers clan, once their parents' estates are settled, pack up and move out to the west coast, where the oldest sibling, Bill, works for a think tank in Los Angeles, and Beth starts law school. Eggers settles in Berkeley with his eight-year-old brother, Toph, and starts working a series of temp jobs before he starts a magazine with several of his old grade school friends.

Might magazine, which is geared towards twenty-somethings, is based out of San Francisco. The city, and the magazine, figure prominently in the middle of the book. This portion of the book deals with mid to late 1990s twenty-something angst. Eggers writes about how he and his friends at Might are going to change the world, that they don't want to ever feel that they have a job, that they don't ever feel that they have to work, that they don't ever feel that they have to listen to what society tells them what to be. Those who were neither in their late teens or early twenties during the latter half of the 1990s, as I was, won't understand this portion of the book. I totally got it, since Eggers was writing about people of my generation.

I especially liked the chapter of the book where Eggers auditions for The Real World: San Francisco. He doesn't get cast, but makes friends with Judd, who became a part of the cast, and tries to get Might Magazine as much exposure on the show as possible.

I had to smile while I read this part. The Real World: San Francisco was a prominent part of my freshman year of college. We had Real World parties in our dorm rooms. I remember Pedro, and how much we all loved him, and how crushed we were when he succumbed to AIDS. I especially remember how Puck was kicked out of the house.

Speaking of Puck, he makes an appearance in the chapter, and makes quite an impression on Mr. Eggers and the Might staff.

Oh yeah, and I'd call home, and talk about The Real World with my mother. She and my then-sixteen-year-old sister would watch it together. Interesting mother-daughter bonding, considering Mama Cat hated MTV. But I digress...

Much of the novel, of course, is devoted to a twenty-four-year-old man raising his eight-year-old brother. Eggers is not your "father knows best" type of parent, but is more of a buddy than anything else. He tries to keep things light between him and Toph, mainly because he doesn't want the boy to be completely traumatized by his parents' deaths. Speaking of their parents' deaths, Eggers doesn't fully explore his feelings about them until the second-to-last chapter in the novel. When he does, his emotions are strong, raw, and tangible. I found it very touching.

Scattered throughout the novel are tales of typical male twenty-something exploits, such as dating, having fun, going to bars and hanging out with friends. As I read about these exploits I thought about how shallow these were. And they are. But there are enough tales in the book that make up for this shallowness, such as Eggers' friend John's suicide attempts, and the fallout from those, as well as his friend Shalini's accident and subsequent coma.

I really enjoyed this book, and would like to read it again sometime. However, I think it's one of those books that older people, such as those of my parents' generation, won't understand. That, and you can tell that Eggers has a bit of an ego. If you get past this, though, and understand the mindset that was the mid-1990s, heck, today's early-to-mid twenty-something, this is a really fine, well-written book.

This is the latest entry in my 2009 100+ Reading Challenge, my 2009 A to Z Challenge, as well as my 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge. Click on the buttons in the sidebars for the archived lists!

The College Board's 101 Books College-Bound Students Should Read

I saw this over at Meg's, and thought I would give it a try.

All of the books I have read are highlighted in bold blue. If I've highlighted the author only, that means I haven't read the work listed here, but another work off the list.

NOTE: I didn't read some of these works until I was actually in college, not before I entered college.

Ready? Here we go!


Author Title
– Beowulf
Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart
Agee, James A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul The Adventures of Augie March
Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert The Stranger
Cather, Willa Death Comes for the Archbishop
Cervantes, Miguel de Don Quixote
Chaucer, Geoffrey The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen The Red Badge of Courage
Dante Inferno
Defoe, Daniel Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo Selected Essays
Faulkner, William As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Faust
Golding, William Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest A Farewell to Arms
Homer The Iliad
Homer The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik A Doll’s House
James, Henry The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair Babbitt
London, Jack The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur The Crucible
Morrison, Toni Beloved
O’Connor, Flannery A Good Man is Hard to Find
O’Neill, Eugene Long Day’s Journey into Night
Orwell, George Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allen Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel Swann’s Way
Pynchon, Thomas The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William Hamlet
Shakespeare, William Macbeth
Shakespeare, William A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Shakespeare, William Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles Antigone
Sophocles Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Swift, Jonathan Gulliver’s Travels
Thackeray, William Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David Walden
Tolstoy, Leo War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard Native Son

Out of the 101 books listed, I've read 44. Not bad. That's not to say that I liked them all--I didn't like 'em all. But that's another post for another time.

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Parliament, by Paul Gallico

Kittens, think back to when you were in high school. Was there ever someone that you nominated for class office as a complete joke, thinking that that person would never get elected? And what happened when that person wound up getting elected anyway?

Such a thing happens in the third book in the "Mrs. 'Arris" series, Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Parliament. Once again, we visit London, and the escapades of a truly remarkable charwoman, one who went to Paris to by a Dior gown, and one who went to New York to reunite a young boy with his father.

The book opens with our heroine engaging in a Thursday night "tea-and-telly" session with her best friend, Mrs. Butterfield, and her gentleman friend, John Bayswater, who was introduced in the novel Mrs. 'Arris Goes to New York. The three friends are watching a political roundtable show, and Mrs. Harris is absolutely appalled at what some of the Parlimentarians are saying about the state of their society. She then starts ranting and raving about the state of political affairs in London, and how Parliament members forgot about poor people like her.

The next day, Mrs. Harris is cleaning the flat of one of her clients, Sir Wilmot Corrison. Sir Wilmot is at home with an illness, and Mrs. 'Arris, in addition to cleaning the flat, takes care of what ails him. During this session, she once again launches into her rant and rave about the state of society, based on what she saw on the political roundtable show, and concludes her speech by saying, "Live and let live!"

Sir Wilmot happens to be a politician himself, one who is trying to find a candidate for Parliament. He puts up Mrs. 'Arris's name as a joke, as part of a conspiracy to get another party more seats in Parliament, figuring that no one would ever vote for a charwoman.

He brings Mrs. 'Arris's name to the committee, who offer her the candidacy, and she gleefully accepts, thinking about how she would set the Parliamentarians straight. She is completely naive to Sir Wilmot's plot.

Meanwhile, Bayswater, Sir Wilmot's chauffeur, overhears details of the conspiracy, and decides to reduce any embarrassment his friend may face, by doing a little campaigning of his own.

Long story short, both Sir Wilmot's and Bayswater's ideas backfire badly.

Mrs. Ada Harris, charwoman, gets elected to Parliament.

But it's what happens post-election that makes the book interesting. Roughly half of the book is devoted to Mrs. 'Arris's adventures in Parliament, but they are not very detailed. Gallico's description of the Parliamentary experience is rather vague at best. Still, it's easy to put oneself in Mrs. 'Arris's shoes, as one who thought she was ready to conquer the world, but realizes that she was not really prepared for the job.

As with the other two books, Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Parliament is a quick read with some wonderful characters. Although the idea of a charwoman getting elected to Parliament is quite far-fetched, Gallico makes it believable. And as always, you'll want to root for Mrs. 'Arris all the way to the very end.

***This is the latest post in my 100+ Book Challenge, as well as my Support Your Local Library Challenge. Click on the buttons in the sidebar for all of the latest updates!***

"Street Gang" follow-up

Two weeks ago, I reviewed the book Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. It generated a lot of buzz in the comments section, and for that, I thank you all! I'm glad y'all had interest in it.

I wanted to follow-up on this review. First of all, Michael Davis, the author, has a website devoted to the book: streetgangthebook.com. Click here if you wanna take a look at it. It includes a bonus chapter that's only available online; it's all about the origins of Gordon, as well as the actors who portrayed him.

Also, CNN.com posted an awesome review of Street Gang. Click here if you wanna read it.

This has been a busy week in the life o' Kitten, and I haven't had much time for reading (yet plentiful time for blogging--go fig!) I'll post a book review soon; the one I'm reading right now is going by pretty quickly!

TTFN! Ta-ta for now!

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to New York, by Paul Gallico

This is the second installment of the Mrs. 'Arris series. If you would like to read my review of the first installment, Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris, click here.

The story opens in the London flat that belongs to Mrs. 'Arris. She is having tea with her best friend and fellow charwoman, Mrs. Violet Butterfield. They are enjoying their beverages when they hear loud cries and wails at the Gussets' flat next door. The Gussets took in a seven year old boy named Henry Brown, shortly after the lad was abandoned by his mother. They abuse the boy, physically and emotionally.

Both Mrs. 'Arris and Mrs. Butterfield know that the mother abandoned Henry shortly after she remarried. Henry's father is a GI in the American Air Force, who, as far as Mrs. 'Arris knows, is still in America, having moved there shortly after Henry was born. (Henry's mom did not want to make the trip across the pond).

Mrs. 'Arris and Mrs. Butterfield are horrified of Henry's living conditions and the treatment that the Gussets bestow on him. Mrs. 'Arris wishes fervently that there was some way that she could bring Henry to America with her, track his father down, and reunite the duo. She believes that Henry's father is noble, respectable, and responsible, and will be delighted to be reunited with his son. After all, Mrs. 'Arris reasoned, he was a member of the Air Force!

Alas, Mrs. 'Arris knows down deep that she won't be able to save so much money in order to go on a trip to America and back.

But fate intervenes. The Schneiders, Joel and Henrietta, are Americans living in London. Joel works for a motion picture company, and Mrs. 'Arris is their char. Joel gets promoted to the company's presidency, and needs to move back to America. Henrietta is uncomfortable with the idea of having brand new servants in her new apartment on Park Avenue in New York, so she offers Mrs. 'Arris a job as her New York housekeeper. Mrs. 'Arris agrees, but only if Mrs. Butterfield is hired as the Schneiders' cook. Mrs. Schneider hires both women, and so our journey begins.

When Mrs. 'Arris accepts the job, she decides to come up with a plan to get Henry out of the Gussets' house. She decides to kidnap him and sneak him on the ship to America. Mrs. Butterfield is against the idea, and is so nervous that something is going to go wrong. Henry does sneak on the ship, but does so in a way that would be impossible to accomplish in this day and age. (Keep in mind that this novel was published in 1960. There are various references to President Eisenhower throughout the book).

Problems start to arise shortly before they come to America. Henry was able to get on the ship successfully, but how will he be able to get past American immigration? You will find out when you read this book; all I will say is that it's a fanciful, and unlikely way that he got across the border, but it's an idea that only Mrs. 'Arris could create.

Once in America, Mrs. 'Arris gets settled, then starts on her search for George Brown, Henry's father. She meets many George Browns. Wait until you come to the moment when she learns the identity of the George Brown in question. You can almost predict it.

This sequel dealt with a lot more serious matters than its predecessor: kidnapping, family, the differences between fantasy and reality, just to name a few. It's still a very sweet, touching book. As far-fetched as some of the plot elements are, you'll still find yourself rooting for the characters to pull through.

***This is the latest installment in my 100+ Reading Challenge, My 2nds Challenge, and my Support Your Local Library Challenge. Click on the buttons in the sidebars for reviews of the other books I've read in my challenges!***

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris, by Paul Gallico

I found this, and its three sequels, in the January book reviews section over at J.Kaye's. I recognized the title of the first book, for it was a made for TV movie starring Angela Lansbury. I love Angela Lansbury, and I loved the movie when I first saw it back in high school (and haven't seen it since, since there's no DVD).

This book was published in 1958, and a lot of the language used is very much 1950s England. Some of the customs I did not fully understand, such as the reference to the football lottery. However, as the novel progressed, I was able to overlook details such as this.

Ada Harris is a widow who makes her living as a charwoman, or as Gallico puts it, a "char." She cleans the flats in a wealthy section of London known as Belgravia. She lives very modestly, in a basement flat. Her best friend, Violet Butterfield, lives next door and is a fellow char.

Mrs. 'Arris (Gallico is very good at spelling out the Cockney accents) is cleaning the flat of the Lady Gant one morning when she starts to tidy up her wardrobe. She opens it up, and sets her eyes on the most exquisite creation she's ever seen: a red Christian Dior dress. She is so enchanted by the beauty of the dress that she resolves, that day, to own a Dior gown of her very own.

And so begins the period of scrimping, saving, and sacrificing. Mrs. 'Arris goes without her fresh cut flowers, she goes without her weekly pub visits, and even goes without her tea. (Well, she does keep some, but not as much as in the past). After nearly three years, she has enough money to buy her Dior gown.

So Mrs. 'Arris goes to Paris, thinking that the House of Dior is another department store like Marks and Spencer, or, in our country, Macy's. When her taxi cab drops her off at the famed style center, Mrs. 'Arris is a little bewildered. Where are all the racks of dresses?

At first, the employees of Dior don't know what to do with this London char who is not the typical figure to come and purchase a Dior dress. But as Ada 'Arris spends more time in Paris, they start to grow fond of her.

The relationships that Mrs. 'Arris forms with the employees is such an important part of the book, a part that transcends the original storyline. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris is about much more than the simple act of buying a couture gown. The determination of a poor London charwoman to buy something so luxurious, something that she never thought she'd possess, is really touching. But I was more moved by the compassion that the Dior employees showed this woman. This was human nature at its best.

All in all, it's a very charming book, a very quick read, but one that will stay with you for a long time afterward.

**This is the latest entry in my 100+ Reading Challenge, my 1st in a Series Challenge, and my Support Your Local Library Challenge. Get a look at my lists of books by clicking on the buttons in the sidebar!**

Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, by Michael Davis

I found this book at Borders the night I bought New Moon. Since I only had enough cash to buy the paperback, I wrote down the title, went to my library's website, and immediately put the book on reserve.

I got it the other day; it was such a new book that it was a 14-day loan. Still, when I saw the cover, I knew I had to read it.

I grew up during the Golden Age of Sesame Street. I loved the show so much, my childhood teddy bear is named Radar, after Big Bird's. I had a little Ernie doll that went everywhere with me, including Sister Kitten's baptism (I was three at the time). I also had Bert and Ernie finger puppets, as well as a plastic, full-size Bert puppet.

I loved the human actors as much as the Muppets. I grew up with Bob, Gordon, Susan, Maria, Luis, David, Olivia, and Buffy. My 3rd grade class got to see Bob perform live at the Bushnell. It was a sold-out performance, and the way all of those grade-schoolers acted, you would think that Springsteen was there. (BTW, yesterday's halftime show? AWESOME!)

Anyhoo, with that spot of childhood nostalgia in my heart, I picked up the book late Saturday night. When the author says that it's a complete history, he really means it. Years of research went into this book; Michael Davis not only poured over various magazine articles, he studied an extensive oral history of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW). He conducted many detailed interviews with many of the actors who have starred on Sesame Street through the years, and they were all very happy to give the project their blessing.

More importantly, Street Gang received the blessing of who many consider to be the mother of not only Sesame Street, but children's educational television as we know it today: Joan Ganz Cooney, co-founder of CTW.

The first few chapters provide not only a fascinating history of Sesame Street's origins, but also a very interesting tome about the fledgling first years of public television. So much was involved: government funding, endowments, private donations, and research, just to name a few of the factors that went into even getting a pilot approved for the program. The parts about PBS, funding, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are a little dry, but are absolutely essential in understanding how revolutionary an idea Sesame Street was back in the mid-1960s, when Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, who worked with the Carnegie Corporation, came up with the following question at a dinner party:

"Could television be used to teach?"

From there, Davis tells the story of how the Sesame crew came together, and the way it did was almost serendipitous. A few original producers once worked for Captain Kangaroo, and as I read their recollections of working with Bob Keeshan, the Captain himself, another part of my childhood died. I won't reveal too many details, but let's just say that Keeshan was not the easiest man to work with (as was another childhood icon, Buffalo Bob Smith, who also merits some recollections in this tome).

This book is very thorough in dissecting Sesame Street's history up until the 1990s, when various other children's programs started to air. (Barney? Blue's Clues? Dora the Explorer, anyone?) Davis almost glosses over the tumultuous period that CTW faced once counterprogramming to Sesame Street became popular. Still, at 379 pages, and with 40 years of history, this period may best be explored in another volume.

At various times this book brought a smile to my face, as Davis wrote about the events leading up to the episode where Luis and Maria were married. Yet there were also times when I found myself biting my lip. I remember, very clearly, the episode when Big Bird learns about Mr. Hooper's death. I was seven years old, and sobbed throughout the whole show. It aired on Thanksgiving day, and I also cried at various points during the turkey dinner.

Davis devotes a lot of this book, and rightfully so, to Jim Henson's role in the production of Sesame Street. I got the most emotional during the chapters that recalled Henson's death and subsequent funeral.

This was a very, very interesting book, and one that was written in very thorough, caring detail. Davis makes it very clear that everyone who ever worked on Sesame Street was passionate about the show and its role in educating children. I was left with a much greater appreciation about the hard work, research and development that goes into this show. I didn't realize as a kid that I was learning the ABCs, or even another language. I just viewed this show, as well as The Magic Garden, as a time to be among my favorite playmates.

And to me, Big Bird will always be the prominent symbol of Sesame Street. Elmo?!?! Elmo who?

***This book is the latest installment in two of my challenges: My 100+ Book Challenge, as well as my Support Your Local Library Challenge. Click on the buttons at the sidebar for all of the latest updates!!!***