Books & writing – Page 15 – Pop Culture Nerd

Book Giveaway: Ben Sherwood’s THE SURVIVORS CLUB

It’s Monday. Do you think, “Damn, it’s gonna be another long week”? Or, “Hey, I survived my weekend”?

According to Ben Sherwood’s The Survivors Club, how you look at life can determine whether or not you live or die in a catastrophe. This book gave me anxiety because it constantly spouts statistics about one’s chances of dying in a myriad of ways. But I couldn’t stop reading because it also shares fascinating survivor stories and tips on how we can increase our chances of surviving unfortunate events, big and small.

Sherwood interviews people like the woman who lived after falling from the sky (she was a flight attendant on a plane that exploded), the man who didn’t die after his suicide jump from the Golden Gate Bridge (he changed his mind on the way down), the woman who survived a knitting needle through the heart AND breast cancer. Reading this book was like watching an episode of the ’80s show That’s Incredible!

Sherwood also talks to doctors and empiricists about the many variables that influence a person’s chances of survivability. Are you an optimist? You might die first in an extreme situation! The book contains instructions on how to take an Internet test called the Survivor Profiler to determine your Survivor Personality.

There are 5 types:

The Fighter attacks adversity head-on
The Believer puts faith in God
The Thinker uses his/her brain to get out of a bad situation
The Realist accepts life isn’t always rosy and knows how to adapt
The Connector draws strength from family and friends

We’ve all survived one thing or another, so which type are you? Answer this question in the comments section and I’ll enter your name in a random drawing for 1 of 5 paperback editions of The Survivors Club I’m giving away, courtesy of Hachette Book Group.

Rules:

You must be a subscriber or Twitter follower of this site (see sidebar on right)
Per HBG’s request, only U.S. and Canada residents are eligible (they’ll ship books directly to winners)
If you tweet about this giveaway, I’ll give you 2 extra entries
Contest ends Friday, February 5 at 5 p.m. PST, with winners announced only here and via Twitter. Winners will have 48 hours to reply with mailing address before alternate names are chosen.

Now, tell me what kind of survivor you are!

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Nerd Chat with Robert Crais Plus Giveaway of THE FIRST RULE

Though he’s busy gearing up for the release of The First Rule next month (January 12), Robert Crais generously took time from shopping for loud socks to do an e-mail interview with me.

If you’re already a fan, you know the basics. If not, visit his website for all the dish, then check out his tour schedule.

I’m giving away some goodies, with details below the interview. But first, read on as we discuss Joe Pike, who’s center stage in The First Rule. The novel is a blood-pumping, rocket-paced adventure with all the usual Pike-isms, but it also reveals an unexpectedly tender side of him that makes your chest clench a little.

PCN: Since there’s a heartrending twist in TFR that I don’t want to spoil, I’ll just ask vague, possibly irrelevant questions. Hopefully, this will entice people even more to pick up the book to see what the hell I’m talking about.

Pike goes where we’ve never seen him go emotionally and it changes him. How will that affect his future actions?

Robert Crais: Maybe it won’t. Pike has been Pike for a long time, so he’s good at repressing his feelings.

PCN: Does he repress his, um, urges, too? I don’t recall any girlfriends since Karen Garcia in L.A. Requiem and even she was in flashbacks. When’s he gonna get some again?

RC: You offering?

PCN: I’d ruin him. He’d start knitting me sweaters and calling me “Pumpkin.” Who would want that? Could he remain an interesting character if he were in a happy relationship?

RC: I doubt it. Part of Pike’s appeal is his “other-ness.” He’s a strange cat and readers like those aspects of his character. If he were “normal,” I don’t think people would find him as interesting. Could Pike be in a happy relationship? I don’t know. He probably wants to be in a happy place, but I don’t think he knows how to get there.

PCN: I could draw him diagrams but I don’t really want him to go there. Now, some actors do Method Acting. Ever do Method Writing as Pike?

RC: That’s how I write. I put myself in his place, feel what he feels, share the moments with him. If I don’t feel what Pike feels, if I’m not there in the moment, the scene won’t work.

PCN: What does putting yourself in his place entail? Knocking heads, eating vegetables, then running at night with coyotes?

RC: Pike does those things to put himself in MY headspace.

PCN: When he’s not on a case with Elvis, at the gun shop, working out or cleaning his Jeep, what does Pike do? Pottery? Watch Glee?

RC: Decorative macramé. It’s all the rage. And Pike loves Glee. You going to make fun of him for that? Go ahead—I dare you.

PCN: Nah, I like him more for it, especially if he does the “Single Ladies” routine to warm up before a run. You excel in showing how Pike feels about people and things through his actions so I’m happy with the third-person perspective. Hypothetically, though, could you write him in first person?

RC: Of course. I am the World’s Greatest Writer.

PCN: What kind of book would that be?

RC: Short. He doesn’t say much.

PCN: In TFR, Elvis goes to eat at the Sidewalk Café in Venice. I’d bet he’s there to sample the Robert Crais pizza. Why does your namesake pie have way more meat than the Cormac McCarthy pizza?

RC: Have you eaten me yet? I’m pretty good.

PCN: I have, and thought you were cheesy and meaty. And cheap!

RC: You should tell your readers the Sidewalk Café in Venice is a real place. They named a pizza after me, so I like them a lot. Also, they make a dynamite pie.

PCN: I see you’ll be signing at a Costco on tour. Which aisle is your favorite place to sit?

RC: Big screen TVs. There’s something to watch after the crowd thins.

PCN: Right, once you tell people where to find hams and batteries. What’s the next book about? Is it an Elvis? Standalone?

RC: Another Joe Pike book. I want to write something else, but Pike won’t let me.

PCN: Have you publicly announced that anywhere else? Can I claim it as a world exclusive due to my intrepid scoop-breaking abilities?

RC: Probably, but you can tell everyone I’m announcing it here first. I won’t tell.

And that concludes my world exclusive scoopy interview. Deep, massive thanks to Robert for chatting and not telling. (To see and hear him read excerpts from TFR, click here.)

Now, for the giveaway…

Prizes and Rules:

Up for grabs is an ARC of The First Rule, which will come gift-wrapped from Lydia at Putnam, who has mad wrapping skills. The winner will be randomly selected.

A second name will be randomly chosen to receive a set of four picture cards, autographed by Robert. (See closeups below.) They feature locations from the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books—including Elvis’s house!—with text from the novels in which they were mentioned.

Robert Crais, happy to see me

These aren’t available anywhere else because I made them, then ambushed Robert at a restaurant and got him to sign. (If the pictures look familiar, some were used in the video “Elvis Cole’s Los Angeles,” which can be viewed here.) They can be used as postcards, bookmarks, coasters, refrigerator art, etc. I haven’t even offered them to my own mother but will give a set to one of you.

Temporary red arrow tattoos might also be included with the prizes if I can resist putting them all over myself first.

In The First Rule, Joe Pike goes to great lengths to defend the name and memory of his friend, Frank. To enter, answer the following question:

What’s the most heroic thing you’ve ever done for a friend? This includes acts big and small.

You must also be a:

U.S. or Canada resident
subscriber or Twitter follower

New subscribers/followers get 1 entry, current ones get 2, people who tweet about this giveaway (and let me know) get 3 entries. Giveaway ends Dec. 14, 5 p.m. PST.

Winners will be announced only here and via Twitter; no e-mail notifications will be done. If winners don’t respond within 48 hours, alternate names will be chosen.

Good luck!

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Holidaze

I was in Sonoma most of last week for Thanksgiving and went more or less unplugged, lazing about in a tryptophan stupor and elastic-waist pants, catching up on reading and pie-eating. (I also saw G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra but prefer not to talk about that.) If you celebrate Thanksgiving, hope you and yours had a brilliant one.

Just got home, plane was delayed, it’s late, so I’ll make a few bullet points and call it a night.

I’ll be taking entries for the Precious script giveaway contest until 5 p.m. PST today so leave a comment here if you haven’t already. You’ll want to read it if the movie isn’t showing near you or if you’re an aspiring screenwriter and want to see how it’s done. For those who have already left comments, thank you for sharing your incredible stories about the precious people in your life.
Coming up this week, I’ve got book reviews of The Lineup and Sue Grafton’s U is for Undertow, and a movie review of Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones.
And a don’t-miss-post: an interview with Robert Crais and giveaway of an ARC of The First Rule, plus autographed postcards featuring locales from the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books not available anywhere else!

Hope your week/post-pie-orgy diet is off to a good start and I’ll see you online soon.

Sonoma © Pop Culture Nerd

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Book Review: Jon Krakauer's WHERE MEN WIN GLORY: THE ODYSSEY OF PAT TILLMAN

Rarely has a book impacted me on such a visceral level as Jon Krakauer’s Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. While reading it, my heart was palpitating and my insides were roiling with dread to the point it gave me a stomach ache. I finished the book weeks ago but it’s taken me this long to fully process its effect on me.

As the subtitle says, this is the true story of the former NFL player who famously turned down millions to enlist as an Army Ranger after 9/11, only to be killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. That alone is devastating enough, but another tragedy occurred afterwards when the truth about his death was knowingly kept from his family and the American public for weeks while he was used as a poster boy to bolster support for the war. To this day, the Tillmans don’t have all the answers.

Depending on whom you ask, everyone from high-ranking Army officials to top members of the Bush administration either engaged in a cover-up or made a series of phenomenally stupid mistakes. Why did a lieutenant colonel send a fellow Ranger to Tillman’s funeral to lie to the family when the Army already had conclusive evidence of how he died? Why did a captain order a young sergeant to burn the uniform and body armor Tillman was wearing when he was killed, plus a journal he kept in his pants, when protocol dictated the clothes be left on the body for forensic examination? You can decide for yourself if these and many other actions were sinister or simply boneheaded but either conclusion is greatly disturbing.

Krakauer’s research included trips to Afghanistan, interviews with Tillman’s family and thousands of redacted documents generated by numerous investigations, but the most striking details are in excerpts from Tillman’s own journals. (Krakauer received access partly because Tillman had a copy of the author’s Eiger Dreams in his backpack in Afghanistan.) They reveal a conflicted, imperfect but highly principled man who was constantly striving to better himself and the world around him. After returning from a tour in Iraq, Tillman had opportunity to be honorably discharged and go back to playing football for millions of dollars, but he turned down the offers because he had given the Army a three-year commitment. Despite his growing disillusionment with the war in Iraq, he wouldn’t even consider breaking his word.

Glory isn’t all good. Krakauer takes too long in the beginning detailing the history of the Taliban and how al-Qaeda was formed. I had no interest in reading about Osama bin Laden’s rise through the ranks; I picked up this book because the cover said The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. As long as Krakauer stayed focused on his cover subject, he had me by the throat. I was holding my breath and white-knuckling the book during the recreation of the firefight in which Tillman was killed. As with his previous works, the author has the uncanny ability to put the reader right in the thick of the action. When he recounts another battle in which U.S. planes dropped bombs on Marines they mistook for enemies, killing 17 friendlies within minutes, Krakauer practically gave me PTSD.

Ho/Reuters

But the reason to read Glory is to get the real story behind the complex man who was reduced to war propaganda in the aftermath of his death, something he actually feared. Tillman wasn’t just a jock; he studied philosophy. He wasn’t a blind idealist; he knew what evil could do but tried to fight it anyway. He couldn’t be swayed by money and therefore was almost incorruptible. He made me re-evaluate my own values: How hard do I fight for things I believe in? How much am I willing to sacrifice for the good of others? Do I attack all injustices head-on, or do I sometimes turn a blind eye for the sake of convenience?

I was still pondering these questions as I wept, thinking about what more this man could’ve accomplished if he’d had more time. But then I realized he’s still spreading good in the world by inspiring readers like me to be warriors in our own lives, every day, however many we have.

Nerd verdict: A heart-crushing Odyssey

[Note: Pat Tillman’s family and friends established the Pat Tillman Foundation to give out scholarships and continue his dedication to leadership and civic action. For more info, click here. I’m not affiliated with the foundation in any way.]

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The Art of Writing Bios & Acknowledgments

I don’t know if you’re like me but before I start reading a book, I love reading the author’s bio and acknowledgments. I think you can tell a lot about writers by what they include in their bios, who they thank and how they do it. Sometimes, I know right away if I’m going to like an author just from these things alone. It’s part of the reason I first became a fan of Harlan Coben and David Rosenfelt—they write hilarious acknowledgments.

But some authors barely include any details in their bios and their acknowledgments are nothing but a laundry list of names, resembling an acceptance speech an Oscar winner is reading from a sheet of paper without any passion or enthusiasm. I think, Come on, these people contributed something so significant that you needed to mention them but couldn’t drum up the energy to say why? Would you send a thank-you note without mentioning what it’s for? And while you’re at it, isn’t there something interesting you’d like to say about yourself besides where you live?

To be fair, privacy could be a factor. Perhaps someone gave the author insight on living with venereal disease and would prefer that fact not be broadcast. Or maybe the writer would like to thank someone for bailing him out of jail but doesn’t want to include too many details about that rough time before he became a published author. Or it could be the reason he’s grateful to someone is so precious he doesn’t want to share it with the world (and shouldn’t have to).

Too much information is a turn-off, too. I once picked up a book with four pages of breathless acknowledgments of everyone the author had ever met since exiting the womb. By the time I got to top of page three and the mention of third cousin Jody’s brother-in-law’s unbelievable generosity in once giving the author a glass of water, I was considering seppuku. I never made it to the rest of the book.

I say all this knowing that being on the flip side isn’t easy. I’ve had to write bios and struggled with how to strike the right tone and how much detail to include without sounding like a pompous windbag or hermit with no life. I usually ended up with something random like, “Elyse likes soup and the Bee Gees, not necessarily in that order. Due to a childhood incident, she’s scared of walking over manholes, even when they’re covered, and was once propositioned by a prostitute in Berlin.” (All true.) I hoped these personal details were more interesting than a dry list of accomplishments but it’s possible people just thought I’m a moron.

So I pose the following questions to you: As a reader, how much do you like to know? If you’re on the fence about trying a new author, is there something that person can reveal in a bio or acknowledgment that would push you over the edge? That s/he loves dogs? Knitting? Is an Ultimate Fighting champion? Knows Oprah? Conversely, could they turn you off by telling too much?

Am I the only nerd sitting around thinking about this stuff?

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Scariest Book I've Ever Read

Since tomorrow is Halloween, I thought this would be a good time to tell you about the first and last time I ever read Dean Koontz.

I’d been in L.A. for only a few months and about to move into a new apartment with two other people. The lease didn’t begin until first of the month, which was also when phone and electricity would be turned on, but the landlord said we could move in early. My roommies said they’d wait but I thought I’d be a badass and moved in three days early.

I’ve never had trouble being alone for long periods of time as long as I have a book. So, I went to a used bookstore in North Hollywood to look for a cheap paperback I could kill three days with. A copy of Koontz’s Whispers was sitting in the bargain bin. I’d never read him but a friend was always recommending his books (I should’ve considered that my friend loved scary movies with guys named Freddy and Jason in them) and the dollar-price was right. I took it home with me and attacked it that afternoon. What else was I gonna do? Nobody to call and no TV to watch.

I sat on the floor of my new bedroom—I had zero furniture, not even a bed—under a window and read. For hours. And hours. I remember being vaguely aware of shadows passing by the window above me as the day got long and the sun started descending. But I kept reading. Because it was getting really good and scary. I didn’t even stop for lunch.

Suddenly, it was dark. I only noticed it because I could no longer see the words. I went to turn on the light and belatedly remembered there was no electricity. I also realized the temperature in the room had dropped precipitously. With the sun on my back from the window, it had been sufficiently warm in the apartment during the day. But now it was evening in February and my clothes felt too thin.

And I was sitting in the dark, alone, with a creepy-ass book in my lap. I had no cell phone to call anyone (this was early ’90s), nowhere to go. I don’t remember specific details about the book but the plot had something to do with a stalker who shows up at a woman’s house to kill her. A woman who’s alone, exactly like I was that night.

I wanted to go downstairs to get something to eat but looked at the dark chasm that was the winding staircase and thought, Forget it. Did I mention I didn’t own a flashlight? I was sure someone would grab me on the landing and no one would hear me scream.

After cowering in the dark upstairs for another half hour or so, I decided to try and sleep since there wasn’t much else to do. Plus, I needed relief from the escalating Whispers-induced paranoia in my head. I curled up on the floor with my blanket, certain my roommates would show up in a few days and find me as a corpse, cause of death being an actual intruder or heart attack from massive fear.

Don’t remember how I managed to quiet my brain enough to sleep but next thing I knew, I opened my eyes to a bright shiny morning. I’d never been so happy to see sunlight and all my limbs still attached. Went downstairs and ate a sandwich like a lion in the wild on a downed gazelle. Newly energized, I went back upstairs and finished Whispers because I don’t like leaving things unfinished. But after that, I never read Koontz again.

What’s the scariest book you’ve ever read? Happy Halloween!

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OD'd on PC

This past weekend, I wore my nerd badge proudly and indulged my reading, TV- and DVD-watching, M&M-eating, CD-listening, pop culture-loving tendencies. Here’s what I covered.

DVD — Chéri

Michelle Pfeiffer stars as Lea de Lonval, an early 20th-century Parisian courtesan who takes Chéri (Rupert Friend), the teenage son of a former rival, under her wing to teach him the ways of the world. A weekend turns into a six-year affair which ends when the boy’s mother (Kathy Bates) arranges for him to marry a girl closer to his age. Lea and Chéri pretend they’re okay with moving on until they realize they can’t.

Pfeiffer is as radiant as ever, showing the vulnerability beneath the proud and elegant facade. Friend’s titular character, however, comes across as a spoiled rich brat and borderline stalker. I didn’t get a sense of true love from these two; it’s more like Lea just doesn’t want to grow old alone and Chéri only wants what he can’t have.

Lea’s gowns are resplendent and Alexandre Desplat’s score is melodious as always, but I expected more from director Stephen Frears and screenwriter Christopher Hampton (adapting stories by Colette), both of whom had worked with Pfeiffer on the superior Dangerous Liaisons. Nerd verdict: Respectable in parts but not that endearing.

CD — Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson’s Break Up

Last month, my friend Tomas made me aware of this album over at his blog, make.see.eat.do, and I finally had a chance to listen to the whole thing. If you were envious of Johansson before because of her bodacious looks and acting skills, you’ll positively want to push her down the stairs after hearing her sing. Because she can, quite impressively. Her retro smoky tones blend well with Yorn’s emo voice on this album of mostly catchy, toe-tapping, folk-rock tunes. This isn’t some misguided star trip a la Don Johnson or Bruce Willis; Johansson (who was asked by Yorn to collaborate) is better than some “singers” out there and should do more albums.

Don’t believe me? Watch the video below for the first single “Relator” (you’ll need surgery to get it out of your head afterward), then go to www.lala.com and register to listen to the entire album for free by entering the actress’s name in the search window. (This only works for U.S. visitors. If you’re overseas, search YouTube for other videos like this one.) Nerd verdict: A recommended Break Up.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRtydnIycCY]

TV — White Collar & Grey’s Anatomy

White Collar, USA’s latest original series, stars Matthew Bomer as Neal Caffrey, a convict who excels in the kind of crimes for which the show is named. In order to stay out of jail, he makes a deal with the FBI agent who finally nabs him to let him help solve cases, using his expert criminal mind. Bomer is handsome with his piercing blue eyes and does a capable job, but he lacks the extra oomph that makes an actor a breakout star. Tim DeKay is solid as Agent Stokes, the straight-up guy who’s frustrated by and a little envious of Caffrey’s lifestyle. The show doesn’t offer anything new but I might tune in again if I’m home on a Friday night and there’s nothing better to watch. Nerd verdict: Lightweight criminal.

Over on ABC, this week’s Grey’s Anatomy episode had the kind of action-packed, pulse-quickening drama that called to mind the show’s best episodes from seasons past (i.e. the “Into You Like a Train” crash ep in which two people were impaled on the same pole and the doctors could only save one). A patient dies amidst the chaos in the ER after a nearby fire and Chief Webber interviews the doctors to determine who’s responsible. The camera swirls like a Tasmanian devil through the scenes, throwing the viewer into the confusion and leaving no time for the kind of angsty stuff that can drag the show down. The Rashomonian element of the doctors telling conflicting stories about the same events made it fun to try and figure out who made the fatal mistake. It also made me hope that Izzie never returns. I didn’t miss her at all and found Alex’s repeated phone calls to her super annoying. Nerd verdict: Heart-poundingly good.

Book — Daniel Judson’s The Violet Hour

This noirish thriller, set in the Hamptons, unfolds over three days as auto mechanic Cal tries to hide his pregnant former boss from her abusive husband while searching for his friend, Lebell, who has gone missing after leaving a trail of blood in his apartment. Cal wants nothing but an orderly life to prove he didn’t inherit criminal tendencies from his father and brother, but as he gets more involved in his friends’ crises, he wonders how far he’s willing to go to keep them out of trouble and even save their lives.

Hour grabbed me from the first minute with its mysterious opening paragraphs about a deadly female assassin. The pace is non-stop, the language rat-tat-tatting through one plot development after another. This book reminded me a little of Charlie Huston’s debut, Caught Stealing, another crime noir with a lean style in which an innocent bystander is driven to violence after inadvertently crossing paths with bad guys.

The novel isn’t perfect; it’s a little too coincidental that all the bad stuff happens to different friends of Cal’s on the same weekend. Judson also has a tendency to overuse commas by inserting adverbs and prepositional/adverbial phrases in awkward places, disrupting the flow of his sentences. Witness:

Closing her eyes, she held still for a moment, or tried to, ended up, despite her efforts, wavering a little.

And:

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, and when they did, she saw, beside the house, in its shadow, both the motorcycle and the Lexus.

But Judson’s characters are dynamic and his plot riveting enough that I was willing to overlook this quirk. Not only that, I now want to read Judson’s other novels, too. Nerd verdict: Hour goes by fast and is time well spent.

What did you read/see/hear this weekend?

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Winners of Michael Connelly's 9 DRAGONS & BRASS VERDICT

Thanks to Random.org, the following 5 winners were selected:

Ybnorml
Jonnie H
Carol M.
Eddy
Beth C

Each person will receive one hardcover copy of 9 Dragons and one paperback of The Brass Verdict. Click on “contact” in the top right corner and send me your snail mail info. Please do this even if you’ve won something from me in the past because I don’t keep your addresses on file (I just sell them to spammers—kidding!). Hachette Book Group will ship the books to you directly.

Thanks to all for participating. If you didn’t win this time, don’t fret. Stay tuned for other giveaways coming up soon!

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Video Interview with Michael Connelly & Giveaway

Yesterday was pub date for Michael Connelly‘s Nine Dragons and the beginning of his tour (complete schedule here). Despite having just gotten off the plane, in the rain, Connelly graciously sat with me for an interview before reading to an SRO crowd at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, CA.

He already has an informative Q & A about Dragons on his website in which he explains the name and inspiration for the book, as well as his research in Hong Kong. So, I asked about other things like Matthew McConaughey and mystery authors playing strip poker. Well, there were serious questions, too. Just watch the video below.

Afterwards, I know you’ll want to get your hands on this book, so how about I give you some? Thanks to Miriam from Hachette Book Group, I can give away 5 copies of 9 Dragons AND each winner will get a paperback of The Brass Verdict thrown in, too! Details below the video.

Eligibility requirements for the giveaway:

be U.S. or Canada resident
no P.O. boxes

To enter, leave a comment with a 9-word sentence telling me why you’d like to win these books. (Connelly recently ran a contest asking people to describe Harry Bosch in 9 words; see winners here.)

I’ll take entries until October 22, 5 p.m. PST. Winners will be chosen by Random.org, announced here and on Twitter only, and have 48 hours to claim prizes before I pick alternate winner(s). Good luck!

Full disclosure: I stayed up until 3 stinkin’ 30 in the morning to edit this even though I had to report for jury duty at 7 a.m. And I didn’t receive one red cent for it, okay, FTC? I did it because I think Connelly is cool. The end.

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Book Review: Lorrie Moore's A GATE AT THE STAIRS

Written by Thuy Dinh, contributing writer

My children, ages 11, 8, and 6, are discovering the Beatles for the first time. Not only do they listen to the songs endlessly during the rides to and from school, but they also play some of the Beatles’ simpler melodies on their piano keyboard almost 24/7.

It might have been a simple case of osmosis, then, or it could have been just a quirky coincidence that I heard the whole message of Lorrie Moore’s most recent novel, A Gate at the Stairs, summed up in “All You Need is Love,” but with double negative lyrics:

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be UNdone

Nothing you can sing that can’t be UNsung

Nothing you can say but you can’t UNlearn how to play the game

It’s NOT easy….

There’s nothing you can make that can’t be UNmade

No one you can save that can’t be UNsaved.

Nothing you can do but you can’t UNlearn how to be you

in time…

Though the message is unflinching, it’s affirming in that it holds the reader in high regard and tries to portray the world in a complex way. Told in the voice of Tessie Keltjin, a 20-year old college student, Stairs begins in the fall of 2001, shortly after 9/11. Right away, Moore sets the stage for the polarizing forces of her novel: faith versus faithlessness, love versus the absence of love, life versus death.

Tessie comes from the rural town of Dellacrosse (of the cross) and she goes to college in Troy (like its Greek antecedent, a liberal, cosmopolitan town somewhere in the Midwest). Soon, Tessie is hired to be the nanny of a mixed-race child adopted by the Thornwood-Brinks, a white, upper-middle class, progressive couple who live and work in Troy.

While working as a nanny, Tessie becomes involved with a darkly handsome but vaguely dangerous classmate in her Introduction to Sufism class. The man may or may not be Brazilian and only speaks or sings in Italian. The third plot strand is Tessie’s relationship with her family, most notably her close connection with her younger brother Robert, who plans to join the U.S. Army after high school. Moore takes her time getting to the heart of the story so at first it’s challenging, but once it speeds up, she covers impressive ground in a take-no-prisoners way.

The title of Moore’s novel is both literal and elusive. A Gate at the Stairs may simply mean a baby gate to prevent Tessie’s 2-year old charge, Mary-Emma, from reaching the stairs, or it could mean Babygate, Watergate, or even…Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (The novel, which was clearly written before Professor Gates’ July 2009 incident with the Boston police, has a character in a consciousness-raising group casually mentioning a story about a black youth being accidentally shot by the police in his own home). A gate, therefore, can be something shameful and secretive, an impediment to progress, barring the stairway to heaven, blocking the path to true understanding.

Stairs is streamlined and layered, more like a Chinese shadow box, or a Vidalia onion as opposed to a messy head of radicchio (vegetables are also prominent in Moore’s novel, as Tessie’s father is a gentleman farmer who cultivates organic “pearl” fingerlings for yuppie consumers). The various gates in Moore’s novel are variations on the same theme: love and/or the lack of, and loss of love. Her characters are either recklessly in love or reckless with love. Lust, hunger, lack of faith, neglect and/or mistreatment of children, and racism are simply manifestations of love’s absence. Tessie poetically compares a decadent meal to an empty experience that leaves “the spirit…untouched,” “a condition of prayerless worship,” or an “endless communion” that offers no grace or salvation.

Moore’s cast of passionate yet lonely characters, like her punning/cunning use of language, have names that aptly describe them, yet at the same time may not represent who they really are. Like doomed figures in a Greek tragedy, Moore’s characters misinterpret events, or misinform each other, to escape from their oppressive fates. Tessie always complains of “not hearing things right” or “not believing what she hears.” Language in Moore’s universe is itself a shape-shifting, subversive character. In church, Tessie thinks she hears “Our Father” as follows:

Our father who art a heathen

Hollow be thigh name

Thigh king is dumb

Thigh will is dun

on earth as it is

at birth.

Stairs is the feminine, and feminist, answer to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. (Incidentally, Holden Caulfield’s yearning to save the young children who run too close to the cliff of a rye field is also a deliberate misreading of a literary source. Robert Burns’ 18^th century poem, “Coming Thro’ the Rye,” is sexually provocative and has nothing to do with saving children.)

At the end of the novel, after undergoing many forms of personal losses, Tessie becomes “nobody’s sister” who literally stares death in the eye. Wiser, sadder, but still at heart a romantic, Tessie concludes, “Love is the answer…It was OK…as an answer. But no more than that. It was not a solution; it wasn’t really an answer, just a reply.”

Just a reply, but it was way moore than enough for me.

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BABY, GONE Again As GIRL Arrives

Photo by Rose Lincoln

Hearing huge news about two of my favorite mystery series on the same day almost made me pass out from too much joy. The Boston Herald reports that Dennis Lehane, who last year told Entertainment Weekly “it’s highly unlikely” he would ever write another whodunit, much less another Patrick Kenzie/Angie Gennaro book, will be bringing back the Boston P.I.s for another go-round. Not only that, it’s a sequel to Gone, Baby, Gone. If you’ve read the book or seen the movie, you know this case really messed up Patrick and Angie. Can’t wait to see how they’ve handled the fallout and what happens when the case rears its ugly head again.

Swedish actress Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth

The other exciting news is that, according to Variety, the Swedish movie version of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (called simply Millenium) will finally get a U.S. release early next year. Lisbeth Salander is one of the most arresting figures in crime fiction today and I imagine she’ll be just as badass on screen.

You excited about these news or is it just me? (UPDATE: Read my review of the Tattoo movie here.)

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Winners of Sara Angelini’s THE TRIALS OF THE HONORABLE F. DARCY

The winners of Sara Angelini’s modern version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice are:

Jen Forbus, for claiming Austenian spinsterhood (though that term hardly applies to her nowadays!) and her passionate determination to hold out for the right man. How can I not pick her?

Patti, because I want to help alleviate her plight of possible booklessness in the next few months.

Congratulations, Jen and Patti! Please click on “contact” in the top right corner of this page and e-mail me your address. I’ll forward it to my Sourcebooks contact, who will send you each a copy of The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy.

Thanks, everyone, for entering. If you didn’t win this time but would like a chance to win another book, enter this giveaway here by sharing your nerdy stories. Have fun!

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