Septemb-Eyre: Roll Call!

After years of owning but not reading Jane Eyre, I'm finally taking the plunge. Like the good little blogger I am, I've managed to (somehow!) find 15 fellow bloggers and reviewers to read it along with me. So, here goes nothing!

First things first, it's not too late to sign up.
New readers, re-readers, Classics Club members, non-CC members... the more the merrier.

Schedule
September 2nd: Kick-off post, introductions, why you're reading, etc.
September 9th: Chapters I-XI
September 16th: Chapters XII-XXI
September 23rd: Chapters XXII-XXIX
September 30th: Chapters XXX-End

In my edition (the Penguin Classics Deluxe paperback), that works out to about 110 pages per week. We can so do this. Since there are some of us who haven't read the novel yet, please try to avoid spoilers past the section we're talking about each week.

And Introductions
Since there are so many new and new-to-me bloggers participating in this event, I'm hoping we can kick off with a little introduction -- who are you, where can we find you on the interwebs, why are you reading (or re-reading) Jane Eyre?

I'm all over social media myself, but of late, am most active on Twitter (@ofabookworm) and Tumblr (ofabookworm.tumblr.com). I'll be tweeting my reading with the hashtag #SeptembEyre.

I've owned Jane Eyre for years, and when my husband and I merged our book collections, we realized that we owned no less than four different editions of the novel--despite the fact that I've never read it and he hates the book. I decided to finally read it after approximately 1.2 million people on the Twitter were horrified that I hadn't read it, and told me all the reasons I should. It's also one of the books on my Classics Club list, so I consider this one of those multiple-birds-one-stone situations.

Besides some vague rumors (something about a man named Rochester, and someone living in an attic, I think?), I actually know very little about the book, so I'm hoping to go in with an open mind and see what all the fuss is about.

Here we go...

If you're participating, link up to your intro post here, and happy reading!

Book Review: Lookaway, Lookaway, by Wilton Barnhardt

This review originally ran in the Tuesday, August 27th issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. If you don't already subscribe, sign up here to receive a bi-weekly dose of readerly goodness in your inbox.

Wilton Barnhardt's touching, often laugh-out-loud funny Lookaway, Lookaway probes the history of a clan so mired in Southern tradition even the darkest family secrets cannot knock them from their high-class pedestals. Barnhardt's large, ambitious novel covers everything from date rape to racism to religion, but never makes the characters feel distant or undeveloped. Instead, by shifting among the Johnstons--from Jerilyn, searching for a husband at the University of North Carolina, to Gaston, the somewhat estranged alcoholic brother who has made millions writing Civil War-era romance novels--Barnhardt skillfully reveals each character's motivations along with the skeletons in their closets.

The portrait Barnhardt (Gospel) paints of Southern families and Southern culture is not always pretty. Abortion discussions abound even at the Christmas dinner table; racist comments are made with little thought for their consequences; arguments about religion are rampant. The honest portrayal of all that is lost in the translation between reality and propriety serves only to amplify Barnhardt's underlying respect for Southern culture as a whole, from the legacy of the Civil War to discussions of true North Carolina barbecue. The result is a novel that gives readers not only a fresh take on the classic subject of dysfunctional families, but a refreshing look on the long-lasting role of the South in shaping our culture today.

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Lookaway, Lookaway | Wilton Barnhardt | St. Martin's Press | Hardcover | August 2013

Reading Recap: August Highlights

Daaaaaaayyyumm, kids. August was a fine month for reading (a weekend of #24in48 and a solid week at the beach didn't hurt, of course). Here's just a few of the best books I read this month:

      

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt: It's probably not fair to include this here because it's not out until October, but I took it with me on vacation and devoured all 770 pages in three days. It is that good. Fans of The Secret History will, I'm sure, already have this one on their radar, but anyone who loves big, hefty novels (both in page count and in subject matter) about family, relationships, growing up, art, curation, preservation, history, and a million other things will want to read this too.

Night Film, by Marisha Pessl: I've already reviewed this title in detail, but I won't miss an opportunity to reiterate what a fabulously creepy book this is. Read it. Really.

The Bone Season, by Samantha Shannon: I'm actually only halfway through this book, but I'm including it here anyway because it's an August release. First things first: disavow yourself of any notion that this book may be at all similar to Harry Potter. Because it isn't--and it doesn't need to be. Shannon has created a detailed, complex alternate reality that stands quite well on its own, complete with aliens, clairvoyants, British history, abusive governments, and a heroine who won't back down.

Lookaway, Lookaway, by Wilton Barnhardt: A big, ambitious novel of a Southern family steeped in tradition and proper Southern etiquette. Barnhardt has a knack for family drama, humor, and the long-lasting impact of Southern traditions on the United States today, and enough writing chops to blend all three together. My full review ran in Shelf Awareness for Readers this week.

Lexicon, by Max Barry: I'd had my eye on this one for a while and purchased a copy at Politics and Prose while browsing with Rachel from Home Between Pages (note to self: browsing a bookstore with a fellow book blogger is dangerous). I read the whole book in a day, and it's just as smart as I hoped it would be. Part X-Men Academy, part ode to the power of language, part action novel.

The Engagements, by J. Courtney Sullivan: Wowwwweee. I read and enjoyed Sullivan's 2012 blockbuster, Maine, and had been looking forward to The Engagements even before seeing Sullivan speak in DC last month. It's an ambitious novel, relaying the stories of four people and their very personal takes on marriage, and draws on the history of diamond advertising to shed new light on the big shiny ring so many brides wear these days. It's a lot to pack into one novel, but Sullivan pulls it off.

Happy Blogiversary to Me! (And a giveaway...)

Yesterday, I stumbled (quite by accident) into the fact that it was my 5-year blogiversary. Five years. I started this little corner of the internet to be a place for me to consolidate all of the book news, thoughts, and links I was otherwise emailing to my friends and family on a weekly, if not daily, basis. From my very first book review, this has grown to be so many things--still a place to talk about books and reading, but also a place where I have met new people, challenged myself, and grown as a writer and reviewer.

I'm celebrating by treating myself to a new, to-be-selected clothbound hardcover from Penguin's collection of Coralie Bickford-Smith designs, and as a thank you to the community who has helped me grow this little blog from a small nothing to a small something, I'm giving one away, too. To enter, simply leave a comment below letting me know which classic you'd like to win (and make sure to include your email address so I can contact you!). Earn one extra entry for following; pick your follower poison: RSS, Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr.

Winner will be entitled to select one clothbound hardcover from this collection of beauties, provided it is in print. US and Canada only, please (sorry, I can't afford the international shipping at the moment!). Enter to win until Monday, September 2nd at 8PM.

Septemb-Eyre Update: Logistics!

A few logistics for the Septemb-Eyre readalong...

Join us!
It's never too late to sign up. If you'd like to read Jane Eyre with us over the month of September, you can sign up for the readalong here.

Schedule
I was apparently looking at an August calendar when I picked dates for this, not a September calendar, and I'm guessing most people don't want to run posts on Saturday. How does Monday sound instead? That gives us all the weekend to catch up on reading and respond with thoughts on each section. That moves our schedule a bit and takes us right up to the end of the month...

September 2nd: Kick-off post, introductions, why you're reading, etc.
September 9th: Chapters I-XI
September 16th: Chapters XII-XXI
September 23rd: Chapters XXII-XXIX
September 30th: Chapters XXX-End

(That said, if a different day of the week works better for you, feel free to post whenever and just link up to the appropriate linky... this is supposed to be fun, not work.)

Hashtag Central

Join me on Twitter (@ofabookworm) and Tumblr (ofabookworm.tumblr.com) with the hashtag #SeptembEyre as we read along. 

What am I missing?

Audiobook Review: Fin & Lady, by Cathleen Schine

This review originally ran in the Tuesday, August 20th issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. If you don't already subscribe, sign up here to receive a bi-weekly dose of readerly goodness in your inbox.


Fin first becomes aware of Lady, his half-sister, when he overhears his parents discussing her in hushed voices. Child that he is, he is convinced that she is literally one half of a sister (the bottom half) and is unreasonably surprised when he meets her and realizes she is, in fact, an entire person--a beautiful, interesting, fascinating person. Following his parents' death, Lady takes Fin from his family's quiet Connecticut farm to her house in Greenwich Village. Surrounded by Lady and her lovers and the culture of 1960s New York, Fin begins to grow up, but as he does so, he realizes Lady needs as much looking after as he does.

Fin & Lady, Cathleen Schine's ninth novel, is a perfect pick for audiophiles: though the narrator seems to be an uninvolved third party at first blush, subtle clues reveal that she is, in fact, a confidante of Fin's, relaying the story to listeners after hearing it from him directly. This person, brought to life by Anne Twomey's gentle voice, succeeds in capturing at once the innocence of Fin's youth, his loss of innocence as a teenager and his growth into adulthood--all while breathing life into a striking era of New York City history. Ultimately, both unnamed narrator and listener become invested in Fin and Lady and their growth--both as a family and as individuals--as they fight to be free and happy in their lives.

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Fin & Lady | Cathleen Schine, nar. Anne Twomey | Macmillan Audio | July 2013 | 8 CDs, 9 hours

Review: Night Film, by Marisha Pessl

Night Film, the much-anticipated second novel from Marisha Pessl (Special Topics in Calamity Physics) has been hailed by many as one of the breakout novels of the summer--and it just came out today. The hype, though, is not misplaced; Night Film really is as good (and as creepy, and as mind-bending, and as haunting) as everyone and their mother says it is.

The premise sounds simple at first glance: when Ashley, the daughter of notorious filmmaker Stanislas Cordova, is found dead in an abandoned Chinatown warehouse in New York, the police deem it a suicide and move to close the case. Veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath thinks there is more to the story than that and takes it upon himself to find out what really happened. 

What sounds like a relatively straightforward is-it-a-suicide-or-it-is-murder case, complete with the somewhat stereotypical disagreements between police and nosy journalist, is really anything but. The Cordova family is strange at best, reclusive and secretive at worst. Cordova himself has not been seen for years; his films, many of which are so dark that studios refused to release them in theaters, are available for purchase on a kind of dark-film-black market (who knew?) and to say his following borders on the occult is the understatement of the century. The more McGrath learns, the more he gets in over his head, with the lines between the rational and the supernatural, the reasonable and the insane more and more blurred as the pages turn.

Night Film is not a short book, coming in at over 600 pages, but it goes fast; 100 pages in, I was thoroughly haunted, 200 pages in I contemplated sleeping with the lights on, and by 400 pages, I decided I could only read this one during daylight hours with other people around me. It's the kind of creepy that you can't point to directly--no one element is scary in itself (at least not at first), but combined, they crawl under your skin and sit there in an unsettling kind of way. Is it the terrifying recaps of Cordova's films*? The apparent curse on anyone who comes near the family? The shadows that seem to be following McGrath and his companions on their exploits? 

What makes it all the more eerie is Pessl's incredible ability to blur the lines between what is real and what is imagined. The myriad "real" articles, news clippings and websites scattered through the pages push the boundaries of traditional storytelling; McGrath's growing uncertainty of what has really happened to him versus what he has only imagined leaves readers with a questionable, if not downright unreliable, narrator; very particular clues that all tie back to Cordova's films make it unclear whether the horrors there were acted at all, or reflected the casts' real terror; parallels between Cordova's film style and McGrath's own story hint that McGrath himself may have been manipulated into Cordova's next project without his knowing it.

It's a big, messy, brilliant mind-fuck, and if you have any interest in films, innovative novels, horror, journalism, and/or the power of storytelling, read it now. Then come back so we can talk about it.

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*According to Pessl's interview in Shelf Awareness, she concepted the full stories for each of Cordova's films to keep them from ever feeling "general." And it worked--I feel like I've seen the movies myself. See what I mean about blurring the lines between real and imagined?

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Thanks to the publisher for providing an e-galley of this title for review.

Night Film | Marisha Pessl | Random House | Hardcover | August 2013 | 624 pages