#olive again

Food Person, Adam Roberts - Fiction for foodies! I had fun reading this debut novel about a 20-something food writer clumsily navigating her career and love life in NYC. I had even more fun at the book launch at Brooklyn Heights Library, where author Adam Roberts was in conversation with Joanna "Cup of Jo" Goddard. Not to brag, but I appear in not one but two photos on her recap blog post.

All of It Singing, Linda Gregg - I decided to make an effort to read more poetry collections, probably because of all the recent articles that were like, "People used to memorize poems. Now everyone's a fucking idiot." I always like Linda Gregg poems when they come across my social media feeds, so I borrowed this collection of new and selected poems. The book contains the hottest dedication I've ever seen: "For Jack Gilbert: It was like being alive twice."

Olive, Again, Elizabeth Strout - A masterpiece. I maybe loved it even more than Olive Kitteridge, which is one of my favorite books. A story that stands out in my mind is when Olive's adult son visits her with his young children; it really captures, in brutal detail, the expectations vs reality of a family visit.

Exit Zero, Marie-Helene Bertino - A short story collection from today's reigning queen of magical realism. I always love Marie-Helene Bertino, she's just so great!

Heart the Lover, Lily King - Holy lord, Jesus Christ, mark your calendars for September 30 and buy this book. I am not exaggerating when I say it's perfect. It made me cry on the train and on the beach; I could cry again just thinking about certain sentences. I loved it so much that I'm now rereading Writers & Lovers—I simply can't get enough Lily King! Thank you to my coworker Jack for bringing home this galley from the ALA conference in Philly. :)

Photo by Beth Novey/NPR

Ten years after her Pulitzer-winning Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine and her beloved, ornery main character. Critic Heller McAlpin says the second go-round is just as wonderful as the first -- check out her full review here.

I bought ‘Where The Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owens for my friend, and a picture-book for my godson, and then for myself I ‘accidentally’ bought Flea’s memoir ‘Acid For The Children’ and Megan Phelps-Roper’s memoir ‘Unfollow’ about leaving the Westboro Baptist Church. Random purchases. I should have resisted. 

My mum gave me ‘Olive, Again’ by Elizabeth Strout at Christmas. I’ve read a couple of Elizabeth Strout’s books before and really liked them (and love how they are bound and printed)

The last couple of books I’ve read were ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’ by Sherman Alexie and ‘Three Women’ by Lisa Taddeo. I’m kind of conflicted about both of them. I loved parts of them, and other aspects jarred with me.

I picked the Sherman Alexie book up in NYC when I was there a few weeks ago. I’d never heard of him though I believe he’s very well established in the States. He’s a Spokane/Couer d’Alene American and the book is a memoir of growing up on a reservation. and coming to grips with his relationship with his mother after her death. It’s written in both prose and poetry. It’s sometimes really, really funny, sometimes heartbreaking, mostly angry. I liked it, it was really interesting and blunt and brutal. 

After I read it I googled Alexie because I was interested in his previous works and his reputation, and was horribly disappointed to see that he had been accused of sexual harassment by several women the year after the book was published, and admitted fault. That sort of soured my feelings about it. The brutal ‘honesty’ of his memoir had limits, clearly.

I’m still thinking about ‘Three Women’, I only finished it yesterday. I spent the first half of the book slightly irritated. The writing is often bad, sloppy. The author claims that the stories belong to the three women who shared them with her, but  she self-inserts herself frequently in a way that kept taking me out of the story. I felt like it was condescending at times. But there are definitely passages that feel very real, raw and recognisable. The whole book is kind of a demand for understanding, like -  look into these women’s interior worlds, see what they grapple with and how they suffer, and don’t judge. I dunno if I’d recommend the book to men first, or to other women. I’m not sure if I’d recommend it at all actually, other than to be able to discuss it with someone else. I’ll keep mulling on it!

Welcome back, Olive!

I just finished reading “Olive Again,” in which author Elizabeth Strout reprises Olive Kitteridge, the grumpy old woman of Crosby, Maine.

The book is a called a novel, but it’s actually a collection of loosely-connected short stories about the prickly Olive and her quirky take on life and her fellow pilgrims.

Even Olive’s creator says she can’t explain why readers like Olive so much. Well, in the hands of a fine writer like Strout, Olive’s crankiness is, if not exactly endearing, then certainly intriguing. We can all identify, to some extent, with Olive’s dim view of humankind.

I was surprised at how contemporary some of the stories are. Consider this passage: