Seating Arrangements

Seating Arrangements (2012) by Maggie Shipstead. This is a light-hearted but piercing examination of a certain WASP family (the Van Meters) and the family they are about to unite with through marriage, the Duffs. As the novel begins, Winn Van Meter, the patriarch of the Van Meter clan, is on his way to the exclusive island summer home where his daughter, Daphne, is preparing for her marriage to the affable young scion Greyson Duff. Preparations for the wedding are mostly in the hands of Biddy, Winn's wife, and she is feeling somewhat overwhelmed. Complicating things is the lust that fifty-nine-year-old Winn feels for Agatha, an attractive young friend of Daphne. Also making things interesting is Winn's other daughter Livia, who is suffering from a recent breakup from a longtime beau. Winn Van Meter is a figure of both pathos and tragedy, as he aspires to a certain social status (membership in a golf club) which he just can't attain. At the same time, Agatha has made herself available to him, but he hesitates and when the crucial moment comes can't perform. The book is a delicious and nearly pitch-perfect examination of the foibles of people in a certain social stratum. It's definitely a good read, by turns amusing and sad. Grade: A-  

Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash: The Life (2013) by Robert Hilburn. The life of country music icon Johnny Cash was certainly interesting, and especially so if you are a fan of his music. I am not, although I enjoyed a few of his songs ("I Walk the Line," "Ring of Fire," "A Boy Named Sue"). Most prominent in this biography, perhaps, is Cash's addiction to pills (amphetamines). He abused his body for many years, and it is somewhat of a surprise that he didn't die young. He lived to be 71 years old, but he was in great physical pain for much of his life after the age of 50. He suffered from a catalog of illnesses, and it's amazing that he managed to keep going as long as he did. What struck me most about this book is its tendency to name as many as possible of his songs and albums and what he was going through at the time he made them. This might be interesting information to fans of Cash, but it got old for me. I did, however, manage to make it through the book. It's pretty comprehensive, and Hilburn writes with authority and first-hand knowledge of his subject. Grade: B

The Death of Santini

The Death of Santini (2014) by Pat Conroy. Conroy is the beloved author of The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline and The Prince of Tides, among other books. For anyone who isn't familiar with his work, Santini is his father's nickname for himself. Conroy's father was a Marine Corps fighter pilot, and Conroy has detailed in other books how Don Conroy, the father, abused his wife and children, physically and emotionally. The Death of Santini is an elegiac portrait of their actual, dysfunctional family, and as such it is autobiographical in form. "I hated my father long before I knew there was a word for hate," Conroy says early in the book. But in the course of this book, he also learns that, against his will, he also loved his father. This book covers years in the mature life of the Conroy clan, and Pat Conroy promises that it will be the last time he rakes over the coals of his childhood and adulthood as the son of The Great Santini. I found it to be a moving account, and riveting, and I was sorry when it ended. Conroy has become a master writer and this book represents the culmination of his art. Grade: A- 

Prairie Tale

Prairie Tale (2009) by Melissa Gilbert. If the name of the author sounds familiar, it's because she is the actress who played Laura Ingalls in the immensely popular TV series Little House on the Prairie. The show aired from 1974 to 1983, and those were some of the best years of Gilbert's life. She certainly recalls them fondly. The rest of her life, after Little House was over, was a real roller coaster ride. This book borders on soap opera as Gilbert describes her troubled love life, her alcoholism and drug use, and other problems that plagued her during her adult years. I sure wouldn't want to trade lives with her. Her writing is only passable, no great shakes, but the book is readable and stays interesting throughout. I enjoyed reading it, if only because I have such fond memories of Half Pint on the Little House show. Grade: B 

When You Lie about Your Age, the Terrorists Win

When You Lie about Your Age, the Terrorists Win (2009) by Carol Leifer. Carol Leifer is an accomplished stand-up comedian and an Emmy-nominated writer for her work on such shows as Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, Saturday Night Live and the Academy Awards. This book is an extension of her work as a comedian, and it doesn't fail to entertain. There are chapters on how she became a lesbian (after many years as a heterosexual), how she saw the Beatles at Shea Stadium at the age of 10 in 1966, how she is irritated by bumper stickers, what it's like being Jewish, and much, much more. It's an engaging, occasionally funny book to read, and I enjoyed it. I especially appreciated its briefness. No one wants to read 1,000 pages by a comedian. She keeps it succinct at 186 pages. Just the right length for a humor book. Grade: B   

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch (2010) by Alison Arngrim. The girl (now a woman) who played Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1983 tells all. For those who don't recall the series, or who never saw it, Nellie was the evil little girl who played the foil to Melissa Gilbert's lovable Laura Ingalls. This book's subtitle is "How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated." Arngrim gives several examples of how she was attacked in public for the role she played on Little House. It turns out that in real life she and Melissa Gilbert were the best of friends and genuinely liked each other. Arngrim's memories of the series and what it was like to play the villain are enjoyable and entertaining to read. This is really a fun little book. Grade: B+   

The Gin Closet

The Gin Closet (2010) by Leslie Jamison. The Gin Closet is told from two points of view: the niece, Stella, and the aunt, Tilly. Stella has journeyed from New York City, where she has been living, to the dusty and hot Nevada desert, where Tilly has ended up, alcoholic and living in a trailer park. Stella had not even known she had an aunt, and had felt compelled to go visit her and figure out what's what. She and Tilly end up moving to San Francisco together, where Tilly's son Abe lives. Strangely, Stella and Abe end up forming an incestuous relationship about which neither feels any shame. This is a rather eccentric little novel, and I rather enjoyed reading it. It is entertainment only, not great literature. Grade: B- 

The Execution of Noa P. Singleton

The Execution of Noa P. Singleton (2013) by Elizabeth L. Silver. Noa P. Singleton is on death row, six months away from her scheduled execution, when Marlene Dixon, the mother of her victim, comes to visit her in prison. To Singleton's surprise, Dixon offers to ask for clemency for her because she has come to believe that the death penalty is wrong. Hanging over the novel is the question, "What really happened?" Singleton is very reluctant to discuss the day when she killed Dixon's daughter, and she waits until the end of the novel to describe it for her readers. I found the big reveal to be rather anticlimactic, and the whole novel, while it was readable, left me feeling a bit let down. Grade: B

Klonopin Lunch

Klonopin Lunch (2012) by Jessica Dorfman Jones. In this memoir, Jones describes a couple of wild and crazy years in her life, in which she started pulling away from her husband, Andrew, took a musician named Gideon as a lover, experimented with a variety of drugs, and formed her own rock band called Throws Like a Girl. It was a period of tumultuous change in her life, and she describes it with verve and a little shame. The Klonopin lunch of the title is a chapter title, and it describes the lunch she had with her friend Edward, who fed her grilled cheese and calmed her down with a tablet of Klonopin, and then proceeded to set her straight. Jones has a spirited writing style and doesn't seem to hold anything back. Klonopin Lunch is a compulsively readable memoir that makes you wonder, "Can such things happen in this world?" Grade: B+  

The Rosie Project

The Rosie Project (2014) by Graeme Simsion. Don Tillman, a Sheldon Cooper-like scientist, has reached the age of 39 and decides he needs a wife. Thus begins the Wife Project, wherein Tillman designs a questionnaire which he hopes will eliminate the smokers, the drinkers and the late-arrivers among the aspiring wives. Meanwhile, Tillman's friend Gene introduces him to Rosie Jarman, who, according to Tillman's questionnaire, is totally unsuitable as a mate. But Rosie is also beautiful, intelligent and has a fiery personality. Although she has been eliminated as a wife candidate, Tillman decides to help her find her real father, in an endeavor known as the Father Project. Don and Rosie are thus thrown together, and, in a very amusing fashion, nature takes its course. This is a very entertaining, light-hearted novel, and I enjoyed reading it. Grade: B+

The Returned

The Returned (2013) by Jason Mott. Disappointing novel with an intriguing premise. The premise: All over the world, dead people are reappearing, still the age they were when they died. They are not zombies, they are just perfect replicas of the people who died, complete with memories, scars, birthmarks, etc. What Mott does with the premise is the disappointment. Rather than seeing the resurrections as miraculous, currently living people react suspiciously, and the Returned are herded into concentration camps where conditions are less than ideal. Religious fundamentalists see the Returned as a sign of the End of the World. Others, for no discernible reason, gather and protest and want the Returned done away with. It just seemed to me like Mott struck wrong note after wrong note in describing the world with the Returned in it, and then in the end the Returned just start disappearing. No explanation is ever given for why they came or why they are leaving. I was just really disappointed in this book. Grade: C

House of Cards

House of Cards (2009) by David Ellis Dickerson. The title is a play on words, for the book tells of Dickerson's tenure as an employee of Hallmark Cards in Kansas City. Dickerson loves jokes and word play, and he writes poems, too. He's also a reformed fundamentalist Christian, and a virgin until almost the age of 30. Contrary to Hallmark's reputation as a great place to work, Dickerson underwent many trials while he was working there, and at some points seems close to a nervous breakdown. Yet he still manages to tell his tale with good humor and insight, and we are privileged to witness his evolution from naïf to modern guy. It's a good read. Grade: B+