Accidental Southern Belle: Sick of Being Away

I woke up in the middle of the night with my laptop and my cellphone scattered all over the futon that I have been sleeping on in the empty apartment for over a week now...it might be two weeks. I don't know. But that made me feel kind of like I am insane. An empty apartment that I pack up every day so that it doesn't look like I live there. Today it is packed in the hope that I can actually LEAVE IT. A computer straining for internet access. The Gilmore Girls season 7 on DVD. It all seems so sad.

I can't believe that I am still here. It has been fun seeing everyone, but I am TIRED of driving around like a lunatic trying to find internet access and I miss my boyfriend and my house and my bed and my life. Although yesterday's post (was that yesterday) might have made light of this situation, I miss more than cable TV.

You know how Thomas Wolfe said that thing about not being able to go home again. It's true. Even though I lived here, it is not my home. Maybe one day Parker's Collision Center will allow me to return to my actual home.

August 2008

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Jonathan Franzen: Strong Motion: A Novel
I think this book should be required reading for everyone graduating from college, and everyone who has ever felt lost, small, identity-less and powerless. So, anyone smart should read this book. And spend lots of time with it. I am notoriously impatient and I have spent the last month with this novel to great effect.
Susannah Felts: This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record
A fun and sometimes poignant story about finding yourself and what it means to be friends in high school. I have to admit that I think featherproof is a very cool new indie publisher with good taste.
Nina de Gramont: Gossip of the Starlings
Just divine! The perfect combination of gorgeous writing and a fun plot. Plus, it's a boarding school story! Fantastic. Highly recommend!!!
Philip Roth: The Ghost Writer
I loved EXIT GHOST last winter and I recently discovered that it was a sequel to THE GHOST WRITER. So, kind of Star Wars Episode I-esque, I read the first book AFTER the second...which is kind of fun. I just kept thinking "I know what happens to you when you get old." Anyway, it's an interesting book in that nothing actually really HAPPENS (Zuckerman has a drink with his hero, Lonoff and crashes in Lonoff's study). BUT, it is still completely suspense-ridden. AND I had already read the sequel. Plus, there's the amazing section in which it appears that Anne Frank is not really dead, but is just hiding out and watching herself become an icon of her generation. Needless to say, it's very anxiety inducing. Check this one out if you are interested in reading about really neurotic people.
Marisa De Los Santos: Belong to Me: A Novel
This one is smarter and more complex than the first, although the plot took a while to get going, the characters are deep and compelling. I would maybe have cut one point of view. But that's just me. Ok, I liked the first one a lot better.
James Patterson: Against Medical Advice: A True Story
This is a fascinating (true) account of one family's experience with a son who has Tourettes, OCD, and the worst possible cases of all. Anyone who has ever had a medical condition that made doctors scratch their heads, or has known anyone who experienced that or if you are looking for a moving true story, this is oddly fabulous.
Clyde Edgerton: The Bible Salesman: A Novel
Amazing. Obviously, we must all buy this and read it and tell the world about Clyde.
Jhumpa Lahiri: Unaccustomed Earth
Really gorgeous. If I was teaching this fall, I'd have my class read the title story.
Marisa de los Santos: Love Walked In
About two years ago, my sister told me that I would really like this book and even sent me a copy and I was disdainful of it because of its girly cover. But, I've been carrying it with me for a while, through two moves, so I picked it up off my shelf (in search of something silly after the brilliant Divisadero) and realized that this girl can write! True the book is about relationships, but I think it is really smart and well-written. I will definitely read her second one.
Michael Ondaatje: Divisadero (Vintage International)
Oh my god. Every once in a while and this happens like maybe once a year, I find, you read a book that is just the RIGHT BOOK at the right time. And this is it. Amazing. Gorgeous. It's hard to even say. Because there is also a roughness to it, to the characters that is almost gripping. That and, ta-dah it is so intricately structured. I love structures that I want to think about. And this is one. I want to just turn it over and read it again and again. It also makes me want to go back and read The History of Love which was that most perfect book about two years ago. Sigh. Now I have to read something very silly otherwise I will be sorely disappointed. Everyone who hasn't read this one must read it right away. You will be awed and amazed.