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I read because I must. It's like breathing to me. And I love talking about books. But I'm also an Arsenal fan, a wine drinker, a music lover and weirdly obsessed with pop culture. I mostly blog about books, but sometimes about things I'm thinking or doing. When I'm not on the blog, I'm scoping deals for a professional services company, hanging out with friends, or seeing some live theater.

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Revisiting “Starring In The Movie Of My Life”

Posted on 30 Jun 2011 In: Reading

I first read Laurel Osterkamp’s Starring in the Movie of My Life and reviewed it back in February.  Today, I’m excited to be a part of a blog tour through Chick Lit Plus celebrating the book.  What follows is the original posting, and below that, a few (brief) additional thoughts.

Original Post:

Laurel Osterkamp’s new novel, Starring in the Movie of My Life, is one of those rare reads I come across where I’m so enthralled from the first page that I can’t stop reading and nothing else gets done until the book is finished.

The novel centers around three people, eighteen year old Melody- cold, calculating, and driven to better her circumstances; Samantha- thirty-five, flighty, generous, but lost and confused about her own life; and twenty-five year old Nate- Melody’s English teacher and Samantha’s husband.

Nate saves Melody from being raped, and she turns her affections to him, creating her own real-life drama in which she stars in order to find the attention and affection she’s never felt from anyone else.  Meanwhile, though Samantha loves her new husband, she’s still hung up on her ex, and confused  about potentially becoming a mother. She relates to life through movies she’s seen, and after making an impetuous decision to support a friend, Samantha begins work on a documentary in which she truly is one of the stars.   As Melody and Samantha both battle for Nate, he finds himself torn between the two of them.

The story narration alternates between Melody and Samantha. This works very well. It allows the reader to understand the motivations and emotions of both characters.  I found myself really not liking Melody. After all, she’s self-centered, manipulative, and doesn’t care that she’s trying to destroy a marriage. I also found myself feeling a bit sorry for her.  She learned manipulation from her mother, who only relates to Melody in terms of what Melody can do for her. And towards the end of the story, we see Melody evolving, growing. I don’t want to give away anything, but Melody does learn to see things from points of view other than her own, realizing that while she may be the star in the movie of her life, sometimes the rest of the cast is valuable.

Samantha, too, is flawed, although in different ways than Melody. She’s sort of fallen into her life, never taking big chances and going after what might be the best thing for her. Part of this is the pull of her ex, for whom she still has lingering, albeit conflicting feelings.  Things start happening, though, when Samantha impulsively volunteers an enormous favor to her best friend and is forced to confront her past, her commitment to her marriage, and what is best for her in the long run.

Throughout the book, I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.  I couldn’t wait to turn the page, yet at the same time, I sort of dreaded it.  I cared enough about all the characters that I didn’t want to see anything irreparable happen to them.  I didn’t want Melody to “win” because I didn’t like the way  she was manipulating so many people. But at the same time, I didn’t want her to become so damaged there was no hope for her redemption.  Similarly, at times I wanted to shake Samantha so she’d have to face her past.  We all have to do that at some point. We’re just running aimlessly until we do it. And we won’t be happy, be able to forge our true path until we do it.

Without giving away anything, I think Osterkamp wraps up the story nicely. It’s a satisfying ending, although not what I expected at the beginning of the book.  I’ll definitely be reading more of Laurel Osterkamp.  You can find links to her books in ebook formats here and you can read more about Laurel Osterkamp here.

Additional Thoughts

When I was first reading this book, and enjoying it so throughly, I contacted Laurel Osterkamp on a whim and shared with her how much I was enjoying the book.  Since then, we’ve interacted a fair amount on Goodreads and on this blog’s companion Facebook page.  After seeing a few authors self-destruct over reasonable reviews in the blogosphere, it’s been quite nice to interact with Laurel and get to know her just a tiny bit.  I’m now reading another of her books, Following My Toes, and the same quirkiness that was so endearing in Starring In The Movie of My Life appears present in this one as well. So when you’ve finished Starring, go pick up Laurel’s earlier book, too.

 

A Visit With My Father

Posted on 19 Jun 2011 In: Thinking

‘Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?’- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

A few days after Christmas last year, I had a visit with my dad.  We talked in the middle of the night, in my living room.  Aside from the strange timing, this visit is odd only because my dad died in 1998.

Something woke me in the dead of night. It wasn’t the animals.  I didn’t hear anything unusual that I could identify.  But I knew suddenly, and with absolute certainty, that I was not alone in my house, as I should have been that evening.

I came downstairs and saw him, my dad, standing there by the back door, looking into the back yard.  He was wearing what he always wore around the house- jeans and a polo-style shirt; navy windbreaker, tennis shoes.

Ever practical, I asked him how he got here, how he knew where I lived.


He told me they let him come back, for just a little while. He had brought me Christmas presents.  I was strangely embarrassed that I had none for him, but this was an unexpected visit.

He wanted to know if I am happy. I thought for a moment about all the ways my life is not like I had always planned it would be. Yet I was still able to tell him, truthfully, that yes, I am happy.

I asked him about heaven.  He’s rather ambivalent on this point. It’s OK, he told me. Not like what he expected from all the hoopla about it that we hear, here on earth. In fact, it’s not much like that at all. But he’s there with my grandparents and other relatives who have died; with Freddie and Beau, our beloved dogs from my childhood. So it’s happy, because the ones we have loved here are with him in the afterlife, and it’s like- or even better-  the best of times he had with them here.

He told me then that he would have to go. That these visits aren’t granted often, and they’re regrettably short. But since I wasn’t there the morning that he died, he wanted to see me. But he still needed to go see my mom. He had gifts for her as well.

I told him to come back whenever he can, no matter where I am. I will always be glad to see him.  And then, for the first time in twelve  years, I hugged my father, and told him- knowing for certain that he heard it- that I love him.

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

If music is my religion, then U2 is the church at which I unfailingly worship. Much like the special edition U2 iPod a few years ago, I am the target market for a memoir by someone who also loves my favorite band.

In I’m A Fan, Eric Shivvers’ recounts his introduction to and subsequent love affair with U2, their music, and legacy. I downloaded an electronic copy of the book to read after hearing about it on Twitter.   Gear up, y’all. This post is a bit lengthy because I’m talking about the book and a bit about my own love for the band here.  And of course, U2 is playing in the background as I write.

Let’s get the few things I didn’t love about the book out of the way first, because the good in this one, for me, far outweighs the bad. There were a number of typographical/grammatical and spelling errors in the book that were a bit distracting. These were largely misplaced commas, your/you’re and their/they’re/there type issues. A subsequent editorial review may have caught these, so don’t let that stop you.  The only other big gotcha for me was Shivvers’ seems to use pseudonyms for many people in the book, and I didn’t realize that. I was a bit confused when his wife went from being “Jessica” in the main part of the book to being “Amy” in the epilogue. Finally, I thought a few places in the book dragged. But these were obviously important parts of the memory to the author so those parts were easy to overlook. Again, though, this is minor stuff, and if you, too are a U2 fan, then none of these things should deter you from reading the book.

Now, on to what spoke to me in I’m A Fan, and why ultimately I recommend it to any other fans. I said it earlier- if music is my religion, then U2 is my church. I think for many fans the hardest thing to articulate is exactly why we love this band, these four lads from Ireland who’ve been bandmates, friends, and brothers in all ways but blood for nearly as long as I’ve been alive. Shivvers gives it his best shot, his own unique perspective, and in doing so captures some of what it means to love this particular group.

U2 hit Shivvers at the right time.  His earliest exposure to them happened in 1983, through a friend, while he was in high school. Shivvers’ parents had divorced when he was very young. Music became an outlet for him as he moved from country to country with his mother and stepfather all the while trying to maintain some sort of relationship with his father. Eric was introduced to U2’s music by his friend Chad.  It wasn’t love at first listen for Shivvers, and that was one of the first things I was able to relate to in the book.

My own first real exposure to U2 was when The Joshua Tree began to get a lot of air play in 1987. I loved the video for “Where The Streets Have No Name” but at the time, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “With or Without You” did little for me.  Then, my sophomore year in high school my friends and I decided to skip our cafeteria-based Homecoming dance to go see the film Rattle and Hum on opening night. I didn’t have much interest in the movie. I just wanted to hang out with my friends.  But watching that much-maligned film is when I fell in love with U2. I can’t tell you if it was the utterance of  “Fuck the Revolution” when the band spoke of the Troubles in Ireland, or if it was understanding, just a little bit, what it meant to see them perform live. But after that movie, I was a FAN.

It was this ability to relate to Eric’s experiences that kept me turning pages in the book. I know what it’s like to find meaning in the lyrics at the most unexpected yet most needed times in life. I could completely related to how anxious Shivvers gets when it’s time to procure tickets to a show. I know what it’s like to be in that arena or stadium and fill that god-shaped hole fill up when the band take the stage (seriously, hearing them live is THE BEST way to get U2).

I can also relate to the place that U2 holds in Eric’s heart and their importance in his life. Some of my friends call me borderline obsessed with the band. I can talk about them, and why I love their music, for hours.  Like Eric, I can’t tell you my favorite album or song or even lyric- those are numerous and change depending on what is going on in my life.  There’s something that happens when I hear U2’s music- especially live- that I really don’t have words to describe. It’s a feeling in my soul.  Perhaps what religion is to many people, but a sense that I’m part of something bigger than me. A sense of love, and hope, and occasionally anger and aggression that also needs an outlet.

Now, Eric’s experiences as a fan have taken a far different path than mine. He’s had much more intimate encounters with the band than I have- autographs, brief meetings, Oprah’s couch when Bono was on to promote Project RED- but he can look critically at the band, and I think for him U2 is a bit like coming home.  They are as much a part of his life as they are of mine.

Really what Eric Shivvers has done here is write his own love song to U2. And any fan will enjoy reading it, remembering their own great moments of fandom. Maybe they’ll even break out the catalog and listen to songs with a fresh perspective, and fall in love with the band all over again themselves.

Family Pieces

Posted on 11 Jun 2011 In: Reading

Today I’m participating in the ChickLitPlus.com Blog Tour for Misa Rush’s Family Pieces.

What do you do when you when you find out there’s a hole in your family, and you’re not sure that it can be filled?   As a family tradition started by her grandfather, each member of Karsen’s family has a puzzle piece charm. Each charm links to the rest of the pieces in the family. After the unexpected death of her mother, Karsen learns that these puzzle pieces don’t exactly fit together perfectly- a pieces is missing.  Can that missing piece have anything to do with the secret revealed by magazine editor Addison Reynolds, miles away in New York City?

This discovery of the missing charm is just the beginning of the change that besets Karsen’s once-charmed life. She’s faced with a number of seemingly imperfect choices and embarks on a journey that changes her life forever.

I don’t want to say any more about the plot because I’m afraid I’ll inadvertently give away something crucial, and I hate to do that.

Family Pieces was not what I expected- but in a good way. The story did not unfold as I thought it might, which keeps it from being predictable. Misa Rush gives us complicated characters facing some gut-wrenching choices.  She explores themes about what constitutes a family and the lengths we’ll go to in trying to keep that family intact.

Some of Karsen’s decisions- like jetting off to New York City on the spur of the moment-  may seem implausible, but who’s to say really what any of us would do if we found ourselves in Karsen’s position?

One thing I’ve thought about a lot since finishing the book is if the resolution came together too neatly. Without giving away spoilers, Rush could have gone down the path of cliched angsty drama. She chose  not to, and while that may take away from the story for those who love melodrama, I don’t think the story loses anything for the tidier tying up of loose ends. In fact, I think it’s more realistic in some ways than obstacle after obstacle after obstacle diverting the characters.

I think Family Pieces has something for all chick lit readers- the drama of a family tragedy, curveballs thrown by life in general, humor, romance, and friendship.  It’s another read that’s perfect for the summer. And now I want a puzzle piece charm of my own.

 

 

Click: An Online Love Story

Posted on 8 Jun 2011 In: Reading

I had to travel last week.  Part of the reason I bought an iPad is so that I can travel with lots of books loaded up and ready to go.  But there’s that pesky time during taxi, takeoff, and landing where you just can’t use the electronic devices. Normally, I pack magazines and catch up on back issues during this time, but last week, I packed  Lisa Becker’s debut novel, Click: An Online Love Story.

And I’m glad I did.

I was entertained from the beginning. Just in the time we were on the tarmac on the outbound portion of the trip, I read a little over half the book. Coming home two days later, I finished it during that same “no electronics allowed” time. It was that entertaining.

Renee Greene is about to turn thirty. She always thought she’d be married by now, and at this point, she’s not even dating.  She makes a pact with her best guy friend to try online dating.  Becker takes a fresh spin on things by revealing the story through a series of emails, between Renee and best-guy-friend Mark and her girl friends Ashley and Shelley, as well as some of the guys she encounters in the online dating world.

It’s obvious that Lisa Becker spent some time in the world of cyberspace relationship hunting.  The emails and encounters- both the good ones and the painfully awful- ring with authenticity.  If you’ve ever tried online dating, with all its pitfalls, pleasures, and funny (at least after the fact) stories, then you can identify with Renee and her experiences.

The obvious plot to pursue in this scenario would have been for Mark and Renee to find each other online and decide they are perfect for each other. Becker doesn’t choose this route. Instead, she throws in a twist that I thought was pretty cool, and adds an unanticipated emotional depth to the story.  I say that because I don’t know any woman who hasn’t done what Renee does and I’m not sure how I would react if I found myself in her situation.

Although they aren’t developed to the extent of Renee’s character, I felt like I understood well how Mark, Ashley, and Shelley fit into Renee’s life- why they are her friends, and I think they play their supporting roles well.  And I swear I’ve encountered some of Renee’s dates in my own life.

I found myself chuckling a few times throughout the book, and pulling for Renee to find her happiness. If you like Chick lit, and you’re looking for a fun read- perfect for vacation- then check out Lisa Becker’s Click.