books – Page 4 – Rae Nudson

2014 book releases

My real life book shelf.

There is so much to read. There are wonderful new articles on the internet every day that stretch my mind and teach me new ways to think about things. There is a never-ending supply of celebrity outfits to critique with the Fug Girls. There are already too many fantastic classic books out there. I feel like I spend most of my time trying to catch up on reading one thing or another–a book everyone says I should read, a classic I haven’t picked up yet, or an article making the rounds on the internet.

But one of my goals this year is to read more new releases. Part of the fun of reading is talking with people about what you read, and it’s a little easier to do that if everyone is discovering it for the first time at the same time. Here’s what I’m looking forward to coming out this year:

March 6: Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi (Kindle here). I read Oyeyemi’s Mr. Fox (Kindle) last year for book club, and it was an interesting, fun read. It’s magical realism with some folk tales mixed in, and it told of Mr. Fox’s relationships with his girlfriend and wife by weaving different tales of their interactions. Boy, Snow, Bird is based on Snow White. But like Mr. Fox, I’m sure there will be crazy twists in the story–and in reality.

May 13: To Rise Again At A Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris (Kindle). I love, love, loved both Then We Came To The End (Kindle) and The Unnamed (Kindle). Ferris writes beautifully, finding the humanity and beauty of life in stories that are unexpected, funny, dark, and heartwarming. Then We Came to the End is one of my favorite books–I hope to write more about it here at some point. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is about a man whose identity is stolen online. Not just credit cards, but Twitter and Facebook. And he faces the possibility this impostor is living his life better than he is. Everyone should jump on board the Ferris train, as far as I’m concerned.

June 3: Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (Kindle). A Stephen King book? About a high stakes mystery with a retired cop trying to stop a disaster? I’m in.

Aug. 5: The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman (Kindle). I’ve read the first two books in this series about a boy who goes to magic school. But this is no Harry Potter. Quintin and his friends live in a harsh, modern world with drugs, dead end jobs, and big mistakes. This is the last book in the trilogy, and I’m excited to see where everyone ends up. [First two books are The Magicians (Kindle) and The Magician King (Kindle)]

All of these are new this year, but they are all authors I have read before. Does anyone have suggestions for other books I should be looking forward to? Holler at me in the comments or on Twitter.

(I picked these books on my own and am not being paid to write about them. These are affiliate links though, so if you buy through my links I’ll receive a little bit of money.)

superhero, supervillain, superself–a look at NOS4A2

I’m about three-quarters of the way into Joe Hill’s NOS4A2 (Kindle here). I picked it up when I was waiting forever at a doctor’s appointment and realized I had it already on my Kindle. Usually I’m too nervous to focus on anything longer than a tweet at the doctor’s–even just for a regular check up, which this was–but an hour into my wait I was ready to try any distraction. And it worked. I was so absorbed that my nerves and the time melted away.

We are introduced to a frightening man, Charlie Manx, who wakes up from a coma just long enough to talk about children going to Christmasland–a place that should sound fun but instead sounds horrible. Manx does terrible things to children–things I can only guess at–with the help of the Gasman, his sick sidekick.

Children from all over and their parents have been disappearing for years, presumably at the hands of Charlie Manx. But one kid is out of Manx’s reach. Vic, short for Victoria, can travel through reality, but not without a price. And when she dips into Manx’s world, neither ever forget it.

While parts of Vic’s life slowly fall apart, we learn bits and pieces that, together, make up the Gasman and Manx. Like Superman, the Gasman steps away, though not into a phone booth, and reappears as a different version of himself. With his gas mask and the misguided belief he is saving the people he tortures from themselves, he is armed with all he needs to fulfil his mission. In his head he is a superhero, but to the people he hurts, he is a terrifying villain.

I have very little in common with the Gasman and for that I am grateful. But I do use clothes and tools to turn myself into the person I feel I need to be.

I might be ready to work without heels and my glasses, but it would be a lot harder to be a super-editor without dressing the part. When I have a date, it’s an entirely different costume to make me into super-girlfriend. And when it’s just me and #fatcat at home, I am a master at being super-cat-lady.

Continue reading “superhero, supervillain, superself–a look at NOS4A2”

goldie the gargoyle (embroidery no. 17)

It kills me when adorable things show up in comic books. Here I am, reading about a nightmare/King of Dreams/contract killers/reimagined biblical characters and WHAM, something cute drops in the frame.

I’ve been reading through The Sandman–the first issue is just a little younger than I am–and though it took me 25 years to catch on, I’m finally getting up to speed and loving every minute. Along with Death, one of the most fun characters I’ve ever met, I’ve also enjoyed spending time with Dream and his other siblings. And mixed in with the twisting, dark, interesting story lines are hilarious moments of fun. Like a super cute gargoyle called Goldie (aka Irving).

I’ve been thinking of a way to incorporate Sandman into my project of embroidering books and quotes that I enjoy, and Goldie is a perfect representation of what I love about this series: unexpected fun.

You can’t see dark without the light, or cruelty without kindness, and this epic storyline that takes us in and out of worlds and dreams is all the stronger by including some (adorable) levity.

As you can see on my to-read list, I’m just through volume 7, so if anything terrible happens to Goldie in volumes 8-10, don’t tell me.

I am working on a project to sew some of my favorite quotes and images from books. You can see the other pieces of my embroidery project here:

(I bought this comic book on my own and am not being paid to write about it. I just like it!)

top 10 books I read in 2013

I’m on track to read 29 books this year. Maybe a few more if I can sneak them in before the clock strikes 12. Not a huge amount–I do have a day job, which is coincidentally also reading–but I’ll take it. My top 10 favorite books this year, in no particular order, are:

Saga
Written by Brian K. Vaughn and illustrated by Fiona Staples, Saga was the first comic book I’ve read, and, man, was it a great introduction. The characters are sharp and funny, the art is gorgeous and modern, and the story focuses on relationships–that just happen to be during a war in space. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to try out graphic novels but isn’t sure of making the jump. It convinced me to dive into the medium, and I’m so glad it did… [see saga related posts here]

The Sandman
…because then I picked up Sandman. Neil Gaiman’s epic is a tremendously fun journey that I’m still reading–two volumes left to go. It’s not too late to pick this up. In fact, now might be a great time to get started because there are reports Joseph Gordon-Levitt wants to make it into a movie. [see sandman related posts here]

Where’d You Go Bernadette (Kindle here)
Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple was a delight. It’s a funny, touching look at a family’s relationship with a struggling woman who disappears for a while–like I’m sure we’d all like to sometimes. It’s a compilation of (fictional) letters and documents that Bernadette’s daughter puts together to try to track her down, but it reads like a charming story from beginning to end. [see bernadette related posts here]

The Gift of Fear (Kindle here)
I recommend this book to everyone. It is a brilliant read and it helps me understand and feel better about fears that I and most women (and men!) face every day. Each chapter showed me new ways to look at fears, process them, and live safer. It focuses on women’s safety but can be helpful for anyone–it has chapters on the workplace and schools, as well as regular scary places like parking garages. Gavin De Becker also shines a light on men’s actions that can be scary without them realizing it, which can promote more understanding and safer lives for everyone. Seriously, read this book.

Boy’s Life (Kindle here)
Boy’s Life, by Robert McCammon, was possibly the best book I read this year. (But…so is this whole list.) It encapsulates feelings and the imagination of childhood and could connect with even the most hardened adult. I live as a grown up in a big city now, but reading about Cory’s life in a small southern town still resonates. [see boy’s life related posts here]

The Revolution was Televised (Kindle here)
I have loved getting more into television. I am devouring show after show–most recently Orphan Black–and Alan Sepinwall’s book on some of the best shows from the past decade (or so) was excellent. Even for the shows I haven’t seen, hearing his analysis gave me a fuller picture of the medium and more appreciation for the storytelling that I am able to watch. He is passionate about the subject, and hearing his views on show after show was like talking to my friends about great shows I just saw–and that’s one of my favorite parts of watching TV.

Joyland
Stephen King is one of my favorite authors, and Joyland was not as scary as the thrillers he is usually known for. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less quality. To me, Joyland was a perfect summer read about a young man’s summer love–with an amusement park. It has enough love and mystery to keep things interesting, but it’s not too scary or saccharine.

Never Let Me Go (Kindle here)
This novel, by Kazuo Ishiguro, is technically about a strange boarding school and a twisted reality I’m thankful we don’t live in. But it’s more about basic humanity than almost anything else I’ve read this year. This book touches on what makes us human and the importance of basic decency, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Its first-person narration was easy to read and felt so real and true to the young woman Kathy C. that I was shocked to remember it was written by a man. [see never let me go related posts here]

Under the Dome (Kindle here)
Stephen King again. And a story about a small town again, like Boy’s Life, but this time in the Northeast. Although King often uses scary monsters in his books, the true horrors are what we face in real life: jealousy, anger, substance abuse, insecurity, power. These terrors can take hold of anyone, and they invade a small town that finds itself trapped under a dome. [see under the dome related posts here]

Salvage the Bones (Kindle here)
Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward, was not what I was expecting. I heard this was a book about Hurricane Katrina, but the hurricane doesn’t make an appearance until the memorable closing scenes. This story follows a poor family as it prepares for a storm no one could prepare for while Esch, the only girl in the family with three brothers, faces a storm of her own. It’s touching and heartbreaking, and though they live a life very different from my own, Esch’s emotions are all recognizable.

(These books are my own choices, and I’m not paid for them. I am part of the Amazon affiliate program, so if you buy through my links I’ll receive a teeny bit of money for it.)

a to-read list for 2014

I don’t have a strict schedule to read books on Rae’s Days, but next year (and the tail end of this year) I am going to be keeping a list of what I’ll likely read next. I’ll plan on going down the list in order, alternating between novels and comic book volumes. But the list is flexible and I’ll add/delete/change the order whenever life calls for it. Like The Stand, for instance, I might bump down the list until I’m totally ready to commit, but I do plan on reading it during the year.

Books:

Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King (Kindle) [This is a #familybookclub pick]
S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst
The Haunted Bookshop by (Kindle)
The All of It by Jeannette Haien (Kindle)
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (Kindle)
The Stand by Stephen King (Kindle)

Comic books:

The Sandman (I’ve read 1-7 so far, 8-10 to go)
Y: The Last Man (10 volumes)
The Preacher (9 volumes)

Got any suggestions? Let me know! Leave a comment, tweet at me, or email me at raesdays [at] gmail [dot] com. If you want to see what I’m currently reading (or what I have read), you can check out my Goodreads. The list will have a permanent spot here that I’ll keep updated throughout the year.

(These book selections are my own and I’m not paid for them. If I ever am, I’ll let you know. I am part of the Amazon affiliate program, so if you buy through my links I’ll receive a teeny bit of money for it.)

never let me go

(The, um, situation that Kathy and her friends are in is slowly and smartly revealed throughout the book. The reader is a bit in the dark, just as Kathy was herself. I had no idea what this book was about before I read it, and I truly enjoyed going in blind. It’s several years old, so I expect most of you know what makes Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth different. But if you don’t know and don’t want to be spoiled, go read it and then come back and read this post because I talk about it up front right away.)

Just be yourself.

Such simple, honest advice. It’s easier said than done, but being honest with yourself and true to who you are is one cliche we all should want to follow.

But for Kathy H. in Never Let Me Go, being herself also meant being another person. Because Kathy, the narrator of Kazuo Ishiguro’s ghostly beautiful novel, was a clone made for the sole purpose of growing organs to donate to people who needed them.

Kathy was created to give body parts to humans.

Let’s try that again: Kathy, a young girl in love, was forced to have operations until she died so that other people–people who she never met, who were deciding her life–could live instead of her.

The worst horror in this book wasn’t about clones. It was about how people could treat other people as less than human. As a separate species, like a lab rat. That slow despair creeps in like poison fog* until you can’t feel anything else. And when it existed, hope–hope for a different destiny, hope to find out where you came from, hope your life means anything at all–was almost as cruel.

Our story starts when we meet a grown-up Kathy reminiscing about her time at a boarding school, Hailsham. She tells stories of her friends, Ruth and Tommy, that could be anyone’s stories while they are away at school.

But something is a little off. No one ever mentions parents or siblings. No one seems to have a last name. No one has any money, and no one ever seems to leave school grounds.

But the kids there are like any other kids. They fight and gossip and play. Ishiguro does an incredible job getting into the minds of young girls. I recognized myself and my friends–and sometimes people I didn’t like. He captured the insecurity of growing up, and what it’s like to fight with a close friend. Kathy can see Ruth’s hope, fears, and passive aggression as well or better than her own. And when they get older, they grow and learn, and try to fit in just as we do.

Except I imagine it’s much harder to feel comfortable with yourself when you have no family and no history. I kept trying to imagine what it would be like to not have anyone to help ground you, and I couldn’t. To have no idea where you came from or why. No one to care where you end up. And not even the knowledge that you were born because two people somewhere out there came together–if only one time, to make you.

So it’s no surprise, really, that the students at Hailsham became obsessed with finding their “originals.” This story is full of jargon to make it easier to swallow the horrors of this life: “donations” were operations to give organs, “completion” was dying from these procedures, “donors” were the people undergoing operations. But searching for your “original,” the person you were created from, is the scariest one of all. Can you imagine not being the original you?

Favorite character: Kathy, I think. Tommy was sweet but broke my heart so much I can’t think of him without cringing.

Subtly saddest line: “It would have made a nice spot in the summer for an ordinary family to sit and eat a picnic.”

Would I recommend it: Yes! Go read it right now and let’s talk about it.

Movie?: Yes! And I watched it right after I finished the book. It was also quite good, and I just really like Carey Mulligan.

New obsession: I guess I’m into clone stories now. I read this, immediately watched the movie, and I just started watching Orphan Black on TV, which also has to do with clones. Except they call them “genetic identicals,” which I like. Are clones the new vampires? You decide. (No, probably not.)

*I saw Catching Fire last week. It was good!

(I bought this book on my own and am not being paid to write about it. But I am a part of the Amazon affiliate’s program, so if you buy through my links I’ll make a little bit of money off of it.)

characters’ christmas trees

One year in college I left our Christmas tree up so long it became an Easter tree (complete with Easter egg lights). For a few years in New York I lived in a 400-square-foot apartment, but I always made sure I had room for my boxes of Christmas ornaments.

Right now I have a small fake Christmas tree that’s roughly three feet high. The lights built into it burned out last year–I might need to retire it soon. For now, I just added extra strands of lights (including the Easter egg ones).

I don’t know what I like more: the twinkling lights, the bulbs of bright colors, or the sparkly garland.

My tree is a Doctor Seuss tree. Its ornaments are too large, and too small, and the giant glitter star at the top makes it a little lopsided. I use (and save every year) the tackiest, most colorful garland I can find. I only wish I could fit more ornaments and lights on my tiny tree (and figure out how to take a better picture of my narrow tree in my tiny narrow living room).

I love my little Christmas tree, and I think it does a good job of representing my unique brand of Christmas cheer–more is more and the brighter the better.

After all, your tree is a reflection of your style. Are you traditional? Modern? Minimalist? Tell it to me in Christmas tree. I love seeing my friends’ (ok, and strangers’) trees. It’s a peek inside their holiday brain–and sometimes there’s a bit of personal history in the branches. I assume this is true for fictional people, too, so what would some characters I’ve met this year have on their Christmas trees?

Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. Jon Snow’s tree on the wall would be pretty sparse. They’d have crow decorations and black ornaments. Some books might be under the tree as a gift to Sam, and it would definitely be covered in snow.

Delirium from the Sandman. Delirium’s tree would be a delight–at least at first glance. It would be rainbow, like her speech bubbles, and it would have whimsical ornaments. I have a feeling Delirium decorated until something else came up, and then she promptly deserted her tree in favor of a new distraction. Or maybe she hit the eggnog a little too hard before she got started.

Bernadette from Where’d You Go Bernadette. Once Bernadette was a great architect. She used recycled materials and wasted nothing. Her tree would be made of materials found around her Seattle home, and the blue glass would be a tribute to her daughter Bee’s trip to Antarctica and the glaciers she saw there.

So how do you like your Christmas tree? Whimsical like Delirium’s? Or maybe upcycled like Bernadette’s?

family book club: house of leaves

A house with a dark secret. A creeping sense of foreboding. A story told through documents, footnotes, and scraps of paper.

House of Leaves is like nothing I’ve read before. How this story is told is as much a part of the experience as the story itself. In a committed storytelling device, we meet our narrator–of a sort–Johnny Truant. Johnny has come across a trunk full of documents and photos after a man he knew, Zampano, died mysteriously at home.

The book wades through these documents as a story unfolds about what Zampano was studying through all this information: a house with a deep, dark, twisty universe inside it and the family who lives there.

Think Poltergeist + Paranormal Activity + the Labyrinth.

The text itself tells a story. How it’s laid out on the page feels like wandering through a maze. The footnotes take you on a different path that can leave you confused, a bit lost. It’s a trip (figuratively of course) to read, but during family book club we felt talking about it was more fun than actually reading it. It was a lot of work to wade through this book, but the payoff is there, if you want to delve in (much the opposite of the house itself). There are secrets on secrets on secrets to learn, if it interests you. Unfortunately, it didn’t interest us too much.

But storytelling always interests me. How we do it, and why. So much of our lives are digital now, this book might look very different if it came out today instead of 2000. So what story does your life tell, only looking at scraps of paper, images collected, messages sent here and there? Here’s some from my life. Nothing unusual.

As I said, nothing unusual.

Our next family book club book is Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King (Kindle here). We’ll be able to do this book club in person when we are all together for Christmas. Won’t you join in?

izabel from saga (embroidery no. 16)

I feel like I come late to the game to a lot of things. I just discovered Sandman–only 15 years after the first one came out. I am furiously trying to catch up on the Good Wife, which just started season 5. Last year I got really into Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, and the first one came out five years before I was born. I guess I can’t help being late for that one.

But I am into the comic books series Saga. And Saga is coming out right now. (To be fair, I did only read it after the first two volumes were complete.) Issue 15 came out on Oct. 30, and that issue is the inspiration for this embroidery of Izabel.

I like so many of the characters in Saga. Alana is a badass. The Will and Lying Cat really love each other. And Izabel is so nice and fun. Izabel may be dead, but she’s still a great babysitter to Alana and Marko’s daughter Hazel. She seems like a spunky teenager who cares for the family she is now working with. I really like Izabel’s fresh voice and positive attitude. Marko’s mom, on the other hand, may never warm up to her.

Saga has kept me on my toes and in love with the characters and stories. The next one comes out Nov. 27. I’ve been reading on my iPad, but if you can, swing by your local comic books store to check out Saga and see what else looks good!

I am working on a project to sew some of my favorite quotes and images from books. You can see the other pieces of my embroidery project here:

(I bought this comic book on my own and am not being paid to write about it. I just like it!)

what would death wear

Death is my favorite of Dream’s siblings.

Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series has me saying nonsensical things like that and meaning every word.

In Gaiman’s universe, our hero Dream has six siblings. I’ve met five of them: Death, Desire, Delirium, Despair, and Destiny.

Destiny is the oldest, and he seems like a little bit of a wet blanket. Delirium sounds like she’d be fun, but she’s gone a little mad since the days she was known as Delight. Desire is a tricky scoundrel who takes the male or female form as he or she feels fit. Desire’s twin is Despair–and she just sounds exhausting.

Which leaves us with Death. She is spunky and kind. And eventually we all belong to Death, no matter how much time we spend tangling with her brothers and sisters. I like Death’s attitude and I like her style. Here she is in formal wear, for a family meeting.

I’d like to pick up a lot of things from Death: how to be kind to people in a time of need, how to be dependable to your friends and family, and how to rock your own personal style.

If Death were in real life instead of comic book life, here’s what she might wear:

Death can dress up, when the situation calls for it. But I bet her personality still shines through and you know she has some fun jewelry.

If she’s heading out for a date night (does Death date??), I could see her throwing on some jeans and a cool blazer.

And of course, she knows how to keep it simple and true to herself. You can read what I thought about Sandman Vol. 1 here. I’m on volume 6 now and I can’t wait to keep reading.

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