STEELE ON ENTERTAINMENT

Eating Animals: book review

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:49:00 +0000

Title: Eating Animals
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
ISBN: 978-0316069908
Pages: 352 (hardcover)
Release Date: November 2, 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: non-fiction
Review source: publisher
Rating: 5/5

At age 12, I stopped eating red meat. Before then I ate raw hamburger [you know, rolled up in a ball] and the chicken livers that my Nana cooked. At 18, I gave up all other meat. I ate fish off and on until a few years ago. Now I’m a non-dairy vegetarian. I’m not vegan because I cannot afford to be. It is a complex and complicated undertaking and can be very expensive. If Alicia Silverstone wants to come to my apartment with a personal chef, I’m more than happy to go vegan.

Here’s a list of some famous vegetarians:
Alicia Silverstone Abbie Cornish
Portia de Rossi J.M. Coetzee
Benjamin Gibbard Zooey Deschanel
Alanis Morissette Shania Twain
Jim Carrey Pamela Anderson
Morrissey Dennis Rodman
Chris Martin Liv Tyler
Casey Affleck Kristen Bell
Chelsea Clinton Billie Joe Armstrong
Emily Deschanel Lisa Edelstein
Kevin Eubanks Traci Bingham
Natalie Portman Nastassja Kinski
Sir Paul McCartney Stella McCartney
Cilian Murphy Damon Albarn
Kate Bush Jane Goodall
Thom Yorke Julie Christie

As my son began life and I began this book, it seemed that almost everything he did revolved around eating. He was nursing, or sleeping after nursing, or getting cranky before nursing, or getting rid of the milk he had just nursed. As I finish this book, he is able to carry on quite sophisticated conversations, and increasingly the food he eats is digested together with the stories we tell. Feeding my child is not like feeding myself: it matters more. It matters because food matters (his physical health matters, the pleasure of eating matters), and because the stories that are served with food matter. These stories bind our family together, and bind our family to others.

Eating Animals reads as a cross between a memoir and an investigative journalism expose on factory farming, the humane treatment of animals, and making wise choices in the food that you eat. In between the plethora of facts, Jonathan Safran Foer mixes in his own memories of food, his decisions to become a vegetarian, and his thoughts on the entire United States food industry. Eating Animals is an ambitious undertaking and Safran Foer spent three years researching the book, interviewing all kinds of people and traveling throughout the United States in his quest for knowledge. He goes on a rescue mission to a turkey farm with an animal rights activist. He visited Paul Willis’s hog farm in Iowa and also “heritage” poultry farmer Frank Reese. He wanted to become an educated consumer. Safran Foer is clearly anti-factory farming. And honestly, who wouldn’t be? Is Eating Animals going to be a vegetarian manifesto for some? Sure. Many people will not pick up this book because they do not want to know about the food that they are putting in their mouths. I read a passage to my mother and she didn’t want to hear it. Ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes. If people go around not thinking that the food on their plate once roamed a verdant pasture or was crammed into a minute stall just so that they could have tender meat to eat, maybe they’d think twice.

This is why when fully conscious cattle at the (then) largest kosher slaughterhouse in the world, Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa, were videotaped having their tracheas and esophagi systematically pulled from their cut throats, languishing for up to three minutes as a result of sloppy slaughter, and being shocked with electric prods in their faces, it bothered me even more than the innumerable times that I’d heard of such things happening at conventional slaughterhouses.
To my relief, much of the Jewish community spoke out against the Iowa plant.

Ultimately Eating Animals is for people to read who know little about our agricultural business and want a brisk, thoughtful, exhaustively researched book. It lacks preaching and serves to deliver the goods and let the reader debate the pros and cons of factory farming and food production and to purchase and consume food with a conscious state of mind. Do you know how that chicken got to your table? Did that lobster feel anything when it was thrown into a boiling pot of water? Is the slaughtering of cows as painless a process as the meat industry claims? The reader will find these answers in Eating Animals. If you’re at all squeamish and love your veal, lamb, foie gras, pate, juicy steak, hamburger and just plain old chicken, Eating Animals is not going to be a pleasant or palatable read for you. However, do not let that deter you. The wonderful, sensitive approach of Safran Foer eases the reader into each topic, one toe at a time. It’s an important topic. Along the way, you will also find out about Safran Foer’s own journey to vegetarianism. He writes with honesty, humor, and straightforward clarity.

I’ve restricted myself to mostly discussing how our food choices affect the ecology of our planet and the lives of its animals, but I could have just as easily made the entire book about public health, worker’s rights, decaying rural communities or global poverty—all of which are profoundly affected by factory farming. Factory farming, of course, does not cause all the world’s problems, but it is equally remarkable just how man y of them intersect there. And it is equally remarkable, and completely improbable, that the likes of you and me would have real influence over factory farming. But no one can seriously doubt the influence of US consumers on global farm practices.

Let me share some of the highlights:

Ten million land animals are slaughtered for food every year in America [pg. 15]

Many scientists predict the total collapse of all fished species in less than fifty years—and intense efforts are underway to catch, kill, and eat even more sea animals. [pg.33]

Most male layers [chickens that lay eggs] are destroyed by being sucked through a series of pipes onto an electrified plate. [pg. 48]

Perhaps the quintessential example of bullshit, bycatch refers to sea creatures caught by accident—except not really “by accident,” since bycatch has been consciously built into contemporary fishing methods. . .The average shrimp trawling operation throws 80 to 90 percent of sea animals it captures overboard, dead or dying, as bycatch. [pg. 49]

A University of Chicago study recently found that our food choices contribute at least as much as our transportation choices to global warming. [pg. 58]

Fish build complex nests, form monogamous relationships, hunt cooperatively with other species and use tools. They recognize one another as individuals (and keep track of who is to be trusted and who is not). [pg. 65]

Killing chickens: The conveyer system drags the birds through an electrified water bath. This most likely paralyzes them but doesn’t render them insensible . . .The next stop on the line for the immobile-but-conscious bird will be an automated throat slitter [Netflix Food Inc. and it shows this clearly]. [pg. 133]

In 2004, a collection of the world’s experts on emerging zoonotic diseases gathered to discuss the possible relationship between all those compromised and sick farm animals, and pandemic explosions. [pg. 138]

In parts of the world where milk is not a staple of the diet, people often have less osteoporosis and fewer bone fractures than Americans do. The highest rates of osteoporosis are seen in countries where people consume the most dairy foods. [pg. 147]

Killing pigs: After getting stunned and hopefully rendered unconscious on the first, or at least the second, application of the stun gun, the pig is hung up by its feet and “stuck”—stabbed in the neck—and left to bleed out. [pg.155]

conservative estimates by the EPA indicate that chicken, hog, and cattle excrement have already polluted 35, 000 miles of rivers in twenty-two states (for reference, the circumference of the earth is roughly 25, 000 miles). [pg. 179]

According to The Handbook of Salmon Farming: Six sources of suffering for salmon are: (1) water so fouled that it makes it hard to breathe; (2) crowding so intense that animals being to cannibalize one another; (3) handling so invasive that physiological measures of stress are evident a day later; (4) disturbance by farmworkers and wild animals; (5) nutritional deficiencies that weaken the immune system; and (6) the inability to form a stable social hierarchy, resulting in more cannibalism. [pg. 190]

--review by Amy Steele

Ewan McGregor: Feminist- YES

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:31:00 +0000

As mentioned at Feminist Themes

Ewan McGregor had this to say to Craig Ferguson:

“Women are always expected to be naked, and I like to try to be naked in films and have the woman not be naked… It’s a feminist thing that I do.”

It's about 5 minutes in on this YouTube clip:

Solo Exhibit by Cynthia von Buhler at The Nassau County Museum of Art

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:23:00 +0000

directly from Cynthia von Buhler's web site:

In addition to having written the story, Cynthia von Buhler was also the painter, sculptor, interior decorator, mason, gardener, and plumber of the sets. The rooms were built by hand from wood. The stone walls were formed from plaster. The floors are handmade from inlaid wood, mother-of-pearl, and plaster. The characters were painted in oils on gessoed paper, then cut out and placed in the sets. The scenes were photographed by Cynthia with a Nikon D300.

The MiniArtMuseum at The Nassau County Museum of Art's MiniArtMuseum for Children in New York will be featuring these miniature sets and characters from But Who Will Bell the Cats? and The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside in a solo exhibition from September 20, 2009 through January 3, 2010.

for more information visit the museum site

It's Monday: What Are You Reading?

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:27:00 +0000

This is from J. Kaye's Book Blog

I've hit my 100 books read mark for the year. When I'm depressed I guess I read a lot. Although for a few days I was too drugged up to see straight!

Books I completed this week:
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan [unabridged audio]
--I love to listen to Ian McEwan books on audio and I'm working my way through all of them this way. This one won the Pulitzer. I wasn't that fond of it to be honest.
Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi
While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky
Perfect Life by Jessica Shattuck
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer-- review to come

Books I am reading/ listening to:
A Courtesan's Scandal by Julia London
Veronica by Mary Gaitsill [unabridged audio]
The Promised World by Lisa Tucker
Deenie by Judy Blume [shelfawareness challenge]
Restless Virgins [Women Unbound challenge]

On Deck:
LIT by Mary Karr
The Secret of Joy by Melissa Senate
The Writing of Fiction by Edith Wharton
While I'm Falling by Laura Moriarty
mennonite in a little black dress by Rhoda Janzen

Happy 41st Birthday Parker Posey

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:26:00 +0000

I adore Parker Posey and first noticed her [along with Nia Long] on As the World Turns. She stole her scenes and didn't last long.

She's a chameleon. She can play an uptight yuppie in Best in Show, a Jackie-O- & incest-obsessed hyperactive in House of Yes, or a bored temp in Clockwatchers

STEELE's list of must-see Parker Posey films:

Broken English [2007]

It is the story of Nora [formidable, immensely talented Indie Queen Parker Posey], a 35-year-old who seems stuck in a rut-both personally and professionally. Nora has become complacent and settled at her hotel job. She is beginning to delve into the Bell Jar after years of seeming to know what she wanted and now being at the age where she feels she should already be there. She’s the ultimate urban over-educated, under-utilized 30-something woman. So relatable. Date after date leads to further frustration until she meets a French man, Julien [Melvil Poupaud]. He might really like her or just be another guy leading her on. Is it a merely a charming facade or is he being honest with Nora?

Posey turns out a tour-de-force performance under the direction of Zoe Cassavetes. At times darkly reminiscent of Looking for Mr. Goodbar and steps above Sex and the City type single girl stories, Broken English does not look through rose-colored glasses but tackles Nora's issues head-on. Her best friend Audrey [a solid performance by Drea de Matteo] is happily married and is supportive, understanding and concerned about her friend. Their conversations and connection are aptly real. Nora's chemistry with Julien is palpable, enviable and genuine. The film does not gloss over anything from Nora's morning-after bed head hair to her depressive, insecure moments. Nora and Audrey travel to Paris in hopes of finding Julien and Nora discovers herself, as cliché as that may sound. She lost his number.

In one scene, she is sitting with the French guy who she has spent a few days with and suddenly a look of intense fear washes over her eyes as the color drains from her face and she looks like she's going to cry, shake and/or explode. It is a heart-pounding portrayal of that wave of anxiety that starts to erupt inside. She bolts out of the café and into her nearby apartment and lunges for the bottle of pills in her medicine cabinet, downs a few and then gets in bed. "I'm okay. I'm not going to kill myself or anything," Nora says to this guy who has followed her back, confused.

Parker Posey, one of my favorites, is a brilliant actress. The film is raw, real and honest. Cassavetes's spot on, direct, honest script captures this woman's fears, disappointments and frustrations. This is one of the best, most resonant, films of the year.
--Amy Steele

Party Girl [1995]

The OH in Ohio [2006]

Parker Posey gives another brilliant performance in Oh in Ohio. Here she plays Priscilla Chase, the well-to-do, self-proclaimed "frigid" businesswoman. She woman that "has it all." The perfect job (just got a promotion), a fantastic wardrobe, house and handsome husband. She's just never had an orgasm. EVER. Priscilla loosens up after attending a sex seminar (run by a very entertaining Liza Minelli, acting in the same vein as her Arrested Development performance. She buys a vibrator (and is earnestly propostioned by the ever-spunky Heather Graham) to which she grows too attached to the disappointment of her husband (Paul Rudd) who goes looking for sex with a student (Mischa Barton, who plays her character so unappealingly: dry, as if she's reading lines from a promper, emotionless and even more dull here than on the O.C.).
The pool guy ends up steering her away from her "appliance addiction" and we wonder is it sex or more than that? Danny Devito is sexy, heartfelt and real as "Wayne the Pool Guy." This film is well-written, funny and pretty true. Finally someone is addressing this issue of women in their 30s, or for all women. Guys assume it is so easy for us. Parker exudes warmth and passion and energy and is a delight to watch in whatever role she chooses. Luckily, she is so talented that she can do anything.
The Oh in Ohio is not perfect but it is a fantastic indie film with one of the Queens of the indies in a plum role.
--Amy Steele

Waiting for Guffman [1996]

Best in Show [2000]

For Your Consideration [2006]

Personal Velocity: Three Portraits [2002]

Recent Book Readings

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:21:00 +0000

Mary Karr, November 5, Brookline Booksmith for LIT

Here's some things she had to say:

--I don't care about living on as a constant in time.

--I don't think of myself as a Dickensian orphan. I think of myself as lucky.

--I felt so lonely that reding other books made me feel less lonely. When you're in books you're feeling cathartic.

--on memoir: You remember through the filter of who you are NOW.

Sunday Recipe: easy Quinoa with black beans

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:57:00 +0000

As a vegetarian Quinoa [pronounced Keen-wah] is a staple for me. It's a grain and a complete protein (win-win).

This is an easy dish to make and you can add all kinds of beans (sometimes I use chickpeas) to it.

1 c. quinoa (I buy in bulk at Whole Foods as it's much cheaper)
2 c. vegetable broth or water (I like the flavor from the veg. broth)
1 can black beans
2 cans mandarin oranges

Boil the veg. broth and quinoa and then lower to simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes until all liquid is absorbed. Let cool a bit then add the can of black beans (rinsed) and the 2 cans of mandarin oranges.

Delicious and nutritious.

Modified from a recipe from Veganomicon.

Shop Indie Bookstores

Book Blogger Holiday Swap

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:45:00 +0000

I signed up and so should you. Here is where to go.

Compliments from Writers [and a publisher]

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:37:00 +0000

Jonathan Lethem:

On Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 8:31 PM, Jonathan Lethem wrote:

Amy, thanks, I think it came out very well. Excellent questions (and transcription!), thanks. Jonathan

Chris Bohjalian:

Dear Amy,

This note is briefer than it should be but I didn't want another moment to
pass without thanking you so much for your faith in my work and posting
that interview with such speed and elegance and grace.

I was thrilled with it all -- I AM thrilled with it all!

In any case, I am off to meet with a book group. . .after three
appearances the last three days and MANY more to come before Concord (NH
again, Houston, Phoenix, and Austin).

But I did want to thank you. You're the best.

Sincerely,

Chris B.

Martin Shepard on A Year of Cats and Dogs [The Permanent Press]:
I love it when a critic brings personal experience into a review, for it not only adds depth and relevance, but amplifies what the book is about. So my hat is off to you on this one. It humanizes a review--as opposed to those dry, cerebral, academic reviews that fail to engage the emotions. I also think you extend this gift in your signature (About Me), where you describe yourself as a "Complex, moody Bostonian and Gen-Xer who analyzes everything" has the same effect. It's not only charming and funny, but also revelatory.

Martin Shepard

How I Get My Interviews: no guts, no glory/ the Tom Brady approach

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:25:00 +0000

Having a journalism degree, I love to interview people.

Would my BU journalism professors be proud of me? They should be. I've improved as a writer and I'm scrappier when it comes to asking for what I want.

How have I wracked up all the interviews I've done this year? Not by waiting for a publicist to offer one to me [despite my exemplary writing & interviewing skills].

I sent personal emails to the following [sometimes their publicists then jumped in but I don't expect to hear from them again-- I'd be surprised]

Chris Bohjalian
Jessica Shattuck
Katherine Howe
Courtney Sullivan
Dick Lehr [BU Prof, how could he refuse me?]
Matthew Pearl [he's going to do a guest post for me soon]

Contact via Twitter:

Allison Winn Scotch
Emily Mandel
Barbara Delinsky
Augusten Burroughs [rejection: too busy and probably way too big for little me]

RANDOM:

Jonathan Lethem [Chronic City]: I sent him a request via Facebook. Got a reply via email from him. He told me to talk to him at his book signing at Brookline Booksmith. I thought, "Sure, okay." So I bought book and waited in line and reminded him who I was. He said, "So how do you want to work this." I gave him my email and cell #. The next day, he sent me an email! I then suggested he just call me in about a week.

Mary Karr [LIT]: Another Brookline Booksmith event. Do I mention how much I adore the store? I asked her if I had to do something crazy to get an interview with her (there was group of Beaver Country Day Student who posted a video on her Facebook page explaining why she should visit there school-- of course she's going!]. She said that she'd just give me her publicist's email. So I emailed the publicist and I'll be interviewing her on 17 November.

Darin Strauss [More Than it Hurts You]: emailed me! He saw that I mentioned his book on my site. So I decided to do an interview. Why not?

Of course in the past I've interviewed: Rose Byrne, Aidan Quinn, Guy Ritchie, Andie MacDowell, Damon Albarn (Blur), Doves, Klaxons, Ben Stiller, Rose MacGowan, Donnie Wahlberg, Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, Claire Danes

STEELE READS around the WEB

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:56:00 +0000

Oprah.com: Are you a feminist or feminine?
Deeply Prolematic

Gabrielle Union on gang rape in Richmond and her own rape at 19

FEM Flick: Obamas’s body language
The Feminista Files

The Undomestic 10: Gail Collins
she’s the author of: When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present
The Undomestic Goddess

The Death of Newsroom Swagger
The Root

Books I want to read after these reviews

Sunflowers by Sheramy Bundrick
Booking Mama

Interview with Diane Haeger
author of The Queen’s Mistake: in the Court of Henry VIII
Booking Mama

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Raging Bibliomania

The Interrogation
RabbitReader
--I have another book by LeClezio that I haven’t read yet and perhaps I should

STEELE Q&A: Jessica Shattuck

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:01:00 +0000

Title: Perfect Life
Author: Jessica Shattuck
ISBN: 9780393069501
Pages: 336
Release Date: August 2009
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Family Life
Review source: publisher
Rating: 4/5

Here was this woman whom he had once loved, and whom he had, in a way, come to despise. A woman who had embraced the lowest common denominator of the American dream—the pursuit of wealth, at the cost of any more complex ambitions. When Neil had dated her, she had wanted to be a lawyer at one of those nonprofits that advocated for women. She had been passionate about creating opportunities and broadening the horizons of children growing up in the kind of forgotten, working-class nowheresville she and Neil had. Had that all been a pose—a stepping-stone to achieving financial success? And outcropping of the unapologetic pragmatism he both hated and envied?

Jenny, Laura, and Elise are former college roommates who now lead very different thirty-something lives. Laura has two daughters and avoids her husband most of the time. Elise is a transgenic scientist and lesbian. Jenny works in marketing at a pharmaceutical company and wants to start a family with her impotent husband. She asked her ex-boyfriend, Neil Bank, to donate sperm and give up any parental rights to her child. Though he once was a promising PhD candidate, Jenny now considers him a slacker. Neil shows up at the baby’s christening and wants the child because he despises Jenny’s materialistic lifestyle.

Jessica Shattuck and I met at a cute little coffee shop in Brookline Village to talk.

STEELE: How did you get the idea for the book?

I had two kids and I think something about having two kids and being in a totally different place in my life—the creation of life was very front and center for me. And there are so many different ways we create life. Living in Cambridge, Mass. (I just moved to Brookline, Mass.), there are so many different kinds of families. I’ve had friends who’ve used sperm donors. I have friends who use egg donors. You’re just in the midst of something that used to be a very standard man-woman-child sort of set-up. I also came across this article in the New York Times Magazine about using sperm donors and one of the women profiles was going on a vacation with other women and their children all from the same sperm donor. But the sperm donor wasn’t a part of this. He was anonymous. There were like 10 of them going on this Caribbean vacation and I just thought that was so interesting. And there’s a lesbian couple in the book and the tension between them is that the biological parent is really interested in meeting the child.

Once I starting writing it, I wrote very fast for me. My first book took almost 2 ½ years to write and this just was about a year. Once I was in it it just took on a life of its own. There are some serious issues but it was much lighter to write.

STEELE: Why did you include the Donor Sibling Registry in the book?

JS: I was introduced to the idea in that (NY Time Mag) article and to put myself in the shoes of wanting to know your child’s biological parent but also not know that, I could completely imagine both sides. It gets to the core of a lot of what people are grappling with to define the meaning of family and how to preserve some of the old archetypes of family and at the same time accommodate new direction. It seems very central to that so that’s how that ended up in there.

STEELE: What was the greatest challenge in writing this novel?

JS: It’s a boring answer but finding the time. And once I was in the time and would have a chunk of a lot of time, I found that I really loved the process. I didn’t have some of the moment with other things I written where you’re sort of batting your head against the wall and trying to sort out a complicated plot problem. I feel like the central theme of this sperm donor, in Perfect Life, who’s an ex-boyfriend who has agreed to complete anonymity deciding that he wants back in, was one that really helped keep the book centered for me.

STEELE: One of the characters in the book is a transgenic biologist. Why did you pick this profession and can you explain it some more?

JS: You take the genes of one species and insert them into the genes of another. Elise is working at a pharmaceutical company lab. I think that’s a more controversial field. Certainly on book tour in the Q&A after readings, some of the more interesting conversations came from that subject and how I’d gotten into it. Many people aren’t aware that it’s such a brilliant field with so many applications. I had started doing research on that for another book and it seemed more complimentary to the other facets of the book. You become so much more powerful in the realm of creating life.

STEELE: So you have three different friends with very different lifestyles how did you decide to go in that direction?

JS: It was very organic. I did think a little with the woman who works in marketing and pharmaceuticals. Her values needed to be different from that of her ex-boyfriend the sperm donor. She lives in this corporate, valueless work culture. Everything comes up against his jaundiced eye. I felt they had to be these polar opposites.

STEELE: You named the novel Perfect Life. Do you have a definition of the perfect life?

JS: I definitely don’t have a description of a perfect life. That would be nice. These characters are all in their own ways pursuing and trying to get their own perfect lives. I like the biologically perfect life too because the transgenic work is after that too.

STEELE: Laura has two daughters and her husband avoids her. Elise is a lesbian. Jenny has an impotent husband. Why did you portray the men in such weak (or non-existent) roles?

I tried to make Jenny’s husband hopefully a sympathetic character. And Laura’s husband maybe less.

STEELE: It’s probably more about the women.

Although one of the main characters and one I enjoyed writing the most was Neil. It’s not a book about the women but in their lives the men tend to be secondary.

STEELE: What is most important to you in writing a novel?

JS: I think it’s more important to me to write something that people want to read. I want them to be moved by it and get sucked in by it. Basically I want it to be what I want from a book. I like books that are page-turners that make me want to keep reading. I like books that raise interesting questions but aren’t’ all about the author’s cleverness.

STEELE: Why do you write?

JS: I just always wanted to write. I used to write poems.

STEELE: Did you go to school to learn to write?

JS: I did. I went to the Columbia MFA program after I had been out working for a few years. Something in me has always wanted to write. I don’t know if I can explain why.

Perfect Life is available Shop Indie Bookstores.

Friday Finds

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Went to Mary Karr reading at Brookline Booksmith last night. She's wonderful and also agreed to an interview with me.

Bio on Anne Sexton will be Perfect for Women Unbound Challenge.

Restless Virgins, another good one for Women Unbound and I wanted to read it because it's about a sex scandal that took place at a Boston-area prep school

Friday Finds hosted by: Should Be Reading

Giveaway: While My Sister Sleeps

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0000

While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky

Anchor sent to me [so BRAND NEW] but I had already read it from the library.

To Enter: leave name/email in comments

+1 if you follow me in RSS feed

STEELE Q&A: my literary crush Jonathan Lethem

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:56:00 +0000

Title: Chronic City
Author: Jonathan Lethem
ISBN: 9780385518635
Pages: 467
Release Date: October 13, 2009
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Literary
Review source: own copy
Rating: 5/5

Chronic City follows the pot-laced bonding of Chase Insteadman, a former child actor and his new buddy Perkus Tooth, a Marlon Brando aficionado who once garnered some acclaim as a music critic. An odd pairing? Perhaps. This makes Chronic City a darker, ironic and hilariously brilliant criticism of Manhattan’s wealth and excess. Chronic City is flush with descriptions, observations and dense with detail. Yes, it can intentionally be pompous, meandering and verbose. If it wasn’t, then it wouldn’t be a Jonathan Lethem novel. And this makes it good.

While reading Chronic City one might come to a point where you question what is going on. Just settle into the labyrinth of situations and structural arrangements of the novel. Sometimes with Lethem it is less about the story and more about the characters and indeed with Chronic City, this is a character study of the utmost kind—it is bursting with cerebral reflections on Manhattan’s lavishness. It’s extravagance at a time where it’s gauche. Lethem has mastered writing craftsmanship. For him, writing a sentence is like composing a song. In Chronic Cityone will appreciate his stylized use of language.

STEELE: How have you changed as a writer in the past decade? I know you were in California for a while, so you wrote your first few novels out there, but now you are living back in Brooklyn where you grew up.

Jonathan Lethem [JL]: Actually I lived in Berkeley for a decade which is really where I spent the whole starving artist part of my growth curve. I worked in bookstores and wrote most of four novels there and now it seems very far away. I’ve been back in New York City for more than a decade and because the better known books are grounded in New York City it all seems strange and almost impossible that I was there. In fact, I was a Bay Area writer for a while. The early novels are fantastical. So there’s an unreality to their setting but my first three have all Bay area/ west coast settings and I’m very fond of that place. Ultimately I was a New Yorker in some way. There were people and social temperatures, ways of living out here in New York that I missed too much. So it’s made a lot of sense to me that I’m back.

STEELE: What do you do differently now that you didn’t do when you first started?

JL: Well, I’m an old writer by now. I’ve been at this for 25 years and in a way I could say I do everything differently. I was blundering around in the dark at the start. I was 19, 20 years old and I wrote three novels on an electric typewriter, which isn’t very common anymore. I think that I was trying to learn how to tell a story and so in a way the storytelling is the most prominent part of my early work. I didn’t have time to be as devoted to language or deeper structure as I would have liked to be and I certainly eventually have become. I was desperately trying to keep the balls in the air: to keep the story alive and to make the characters mean something at all. And so that’s very prominent in the first couple of books and by the time of Girl in Landscape, which as always felt like a watershed book for me, I began to relax that eagerness to be a storyteller and became much more committed to the characters and to the language. And I think those are the commitments that have defined what I have done ever since.

STEELE: Your books are very filled with details. How do you keep track of all the details?

JL: Yeah, no, I don’t really have an answer except what may sound like a flippant one. I don’t keep track of them. I just dwell inside them. Especially with a longer novel like Chronic City or The Fortress of Solitude which seem overwhelming like an ocean of detail. You know I always think that the idea that you can hold all the novels’ contents in your mind either as a reader or as a writer is quite silly and quite mistaken. Actually a novel is an immersive medium. You can’t back up, like you can with a painting, and look at the whole composition simultaneously. Anywhere you’re dropped into it you’re at sea in the details and they mimic the world’s sensory overload that way and that seems to me a good thing. One of the things I like about Chronic City is it’s got a way of mimicking the world’s overwhelming endlessness. It’s not a two-hour movie and it’s not a painting with a frame around it and it’s not a poem you can see. It’s maybe more like some long opera or something where you’re punched into it and you’re just in that moment. So the details organize themselves into a thematic shape by an unconscious process but if you try to orchestrate that yourself in a super-conscious, deliberate way, you’d probably go crazy immediately.

STEELE: One thing when I read your novels is that you have this sort of way to arrange words that are almost like arranging a song—structural arrangements—it’s really wonderful. You look at a sentence and it’s really WOW!

JL: Well thank you for that. It’s taken me along time to get to the point where I would boast about my language. It’s become a primary commitment in the work. That’s where the action is. The fiction is made of sentences and that is where all the music energy is going to reside. And so I’m very consciously trying to keep a sense of a verbal or musical sense of anything I write down. I want it to be alive to the ear. That seems to be the basic sense of anything I’m doing. Nowadays it’s the basic standard of what I’m doing.

STEELE: When you write are you approaching as a participant-observer or do you feel that you are an outsider looking in?

JL: Well, when it’s going well, I feel like I’m a participant-observer. That’s a great description of the ideal result. You live in fear of those days where you’re an outsider looking in. When there’s something you can’t recapture or re-inhabit. For that reason I like to work very persistently. I’m not that fast a writer but the one rule I have per day is that I try to never stop, like the tortoise in the Tortoise and the Hare, I just keep writing every day. I make a total mental connection to the life of the book.

STEELE: Why Chronic City? Why did you want to write about a former child actor? How did you come up with the characters of Chase and Perkus?

JL: I’ll take this backward. Well, I had Perkus before I had the rest of the book. The whole social milieu. He was a very emblematic character for me. You could say I’ve done characters like him before: cultural obsessives, and just plain obsessives, impractical types and I’ve certainly done Bohemianism before. In a way it’s where I come from. I write about characters who are artists or dissidents or who want to be part of a sub-culture. This book really came to life for me when I realized I had an urge to write about something I don’t know very well and I’m not very comfortable with. I feel a lot of hostility toward it. Glamour and money that attaches upper stratum of Manhattan life these days and suddenly Perkus was much more alive to me because I saw him against that backdrop. And Chase arrived almost simultaneously because I need one of those sensitive, close-observing but also shape-shifting types of narrators. He could bridge between Perkus’s obsessive position and the place that Manhattan has become in this book. When you invent a narrator in a book he becomes interesting himself and becomes a subject. Chase’s motives and his complicity in what was going on in the story almost became the main subject.

STEELE: What do you feel is the role of women in Chronic City?

JL: Well I’m very proud of Oona who is maybe not a terribly likable character but she’s one of the most interesting and complicated women I’ve ever written. Her voice makes me laugh a lot too. I think I made a character who’s funnier than I am. In a way she’s the only really strong woman in the book by its design. The greatest surprise in writing this book, the character I hadn’t planned at all was Georgina. Given that all she was meant to do was be a walk on in the party scene, and then she ended up sticking and ending up as a foil and a kind of tonic to the masculine nature to the guys who hang out so often. She really moves me a lot. I find myself quite endeared to Georgina and I haven’t had a character announce themselves out of the backdrop and walk into the foreground of the book that way in quite a long time. She’s meaningful to me. I wholly have to say it’s fairly a boyish book. The male friendships take up a lot of the foreground. But I’m going to make up for that in my next book which has a lot of strong mothers and daughters in it. [Writer’s note: excellent. cannot wait to read that.]

I miss the female characters when I don’t have them around.

STEELE: Is there anything else? I think that’s pretty much it.

JL: Well great. Those were great questions.

STEELE: I have to say I was very, very, very nervous to interview you and I’ve interviewed hundreds of people. I know you’re married but I have a literary crush on you.

BUY CHRONIC CITY: Shop Indie Bookstores

Women Unbound book update

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:50:00 +0000

Found a few books I may read.

One I own and two I bought at a used book store today:

The Female Thing: Dirt, Sex, Envy, Vulnerability by Laura Kipnis

Anne Sexton: a biography by Diane Wood Middlebrook

Restless Virgins: Love, Sex, and Survival in Prep School by Abigail Jones and Marissa Miley [this sex scandal took place at a prep school in Mass.]

Too Late to Say Goodbye: LIFETIME MOVIE

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:05:00 +0000

In this original film based on a best-selling true crime book by Ann Rule, Jenn [Stephanie Von Pfetten] and Bart Corbin [Lowe] seem to have the perfect marriage. Bart is a successful dentist. One day, Jenn discovers Bart’s affair with a co-worker (it figures!). She seeks solace in the Internet and meets a mysery man. Jenn soon turns up dead and it looks like suicide. Heather, Jenn’s sister refuses to believe that Jenn would kill herself leaving her children without a mother. Too Late to Say Goodbye tackles the questions: Did Jenn really commit suicide? Was she killed by the Internet stranger or was her husband Bart involved?

Dr. Corbin filed for divorce which makes him appear very guilty. [“I wanted to save my marriage.”] The movie backtracks to when Jenn and Bart met and fell in love.

During the investigation, Bart denies having an affair with the woman he works with but Jenn’s internet affair is brought out into the open. Of course she cannot defend herself. One message said something about love though. Seems pretty serious. [Heather: “I don’t like it Jen. You get caught up in things too fast.”] Oh, and guess what? The internet guy, Chris, is actually a woman name Marion! Oh no. Bart finds out that she’s “seeing” a woman and he’s worried about his reputation. So what does he do? He has Jenn’s body cremated.

Rob Lowe plays it stoic and the beginning and gradually turns very creepy and increasingly creepy, sneaky and culpable. He checks his wife’s cells phone messages which is such a breach of privacy even for a married couple. Bart has a huge temper too. I really like Lauren Holly as Jenn’s sister. She’s strong, determined and refuses to admit that her sister would ever commit suicide.

Too Late to Say Goodbye is pretty predictable but entertaining. There are some twists as typical with Lifetime movies that I don’t want to give away! It’s not a bad way to spend a Saturday night.

The movie premieres on Lifetime TV on Saturday, November 7, 2009. Check listings for times.

Grade: C+

review copy provided by Lifetime TV

You Know He Doesn't Love You When . . .

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:40:00 +0000

He will not read any of the reviews you write

He does not regularly read your blog or web site

He will not read the relatively short children’s book you spent many hours researching and writing (but he will give you plenty of advice on marketing and telling you it will not sell)

He says things to you like: “I like you but I think you’re going to collapse and die. You’re going to be eating out of dumpsters in two years.”

He tells you: “your actions can always disappoint me.”

He can list all the jobs you were fired from better than you can.

He always walks five paces ahead of you and refuses to slow down. Instead he insists you catch up to him.

When you say, “I love you,” he remains silent or says, “I know.”

He doesn’t list you as an emergency contact.

You are not programmed into his cell phone (or email) address book.

He does not remember your birthday although he’s known you for more than five years.

He cannot remember how long he’s known you.

When you start to talk he walks away if you don’t get right to the point in three minutes or less.

He compartmentalizes his life: family/work/you. Nothing blends/mixes/no one crosses paths.

He gets popcorn at the movies and doesn’t offer you any and also only gets a drink for himself.

You color your hair from red to dark brown and he doesn’t notice

You get your hair cut and he doesn’t comment/ notice.

He calls you a drug addict and you take prescription pills for depression/anxiety.

He goes away for a week and doesn’t call or email you the entire time he’s gone.
When he picks you up, he sometimes doesn’t even say hello right away.

He tells you you have too many crises. You are depressed!

He’s not affectionate with you. No hugging and definitely very few kisses.

To Brian who Broke my Heart

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:13:00 +0000

Please send emails to Brian@schofer.net

PART ONE:

Can she write?

Is she creative?

Or does she fit right in with the rest of the "pack"?

Is she urban and cool?

How boring is an insurance job?

Does she like to drink as much as you and eat chicken?

Does she have blonde hair?

Is she thinner than me?

Would you write you thank you notes and notes "just because"?

Has she written a children’s book?

Has she been published in the Boston Globe, WBUR, The Boston Phoenix and more?

Is she sarcastic?

Does she have a masters degree?

did she graduate from a women’s college?

is she a feminist?

does she wear green suede shows and green vegan Doc Marten boots?

Did she introduce you to the MFA, Huntington Theatre, ART, Charlestown Working Theatre (guess we’re not going to see Odyssey you will take a date)?

Are your aunt and uncle you dropped the dead weight that is Amy Steele?

Does she have wavy burgundy hair?

did she ride horses and grow up in middle class Acton?

Is she a feminist?

Has she worked on more than seven political campaigns?

Has she volunteered as women’s shelters?

Does she volunteer for AIDs events?

Can she give a shot, perform venipuncture and take a BP?

Does she have an HIV-pos best friend?

Did you take he to a restaurant we’ve been to?

Could she scrub the pubic hair off your toilets? Would she do it happily?

Does she know boston like the a Cab Driver like Amy Steele?

Is she a suburban vs. urban girl (but I think that makes you happier)? The big bad city is an enigma to you.

is she a non-dairy vegetarian?

Are DC4C, Coldplay, The Decemberists, St. Vincent, A Fine Frenzy, Snow Patrol, Camera Obsura, Au Revoir Simone, Dido, Doves, Howling Bells, Goldfrapp, Keane, MGMT, Sia, Wilco, The Shins, The Weepies, The Raveonettes, The Shins, Elliot Smith, Nirvana, Conor Oberst, She and Him, Jem, Nick Drake, Block Party, The Thermals, Little Joy, Duffy, Lily Allen, The Gossip—fave bands or bands she’s even heard of?

Has she interviewed Guy Ritchie, Aidan Quinn, Claire Danes, Damon Albarn, Juliana Hatfield, Roberto Benigni, Chris Bohjalian, Jonathan Letham and 100s more?

Has she followed a UK band up and down the E.Coast?

(these are reason you dated me. I am CREATIVE but if you want to be safe with a n insurance rep. yeah. )

Your actions can always disappoint me—Brian (2.18.08]

I like you but I think you are going to collapse and die. You’re going to be eating out of dumpsters in two years – Brian@Schofer.net [Feb 6, 2008]

How nice that you'll never ever have to learn about depression and anxiety.

Are you taking her to Maine for Thanksgiving. If you do, I will KILL MYSELF. I'm personal non grata b/c I got nervous and threw up, one TIME.

Don’t you feel so smart about me. good to get away now I suppose.

Midsomer Murders: DVD review

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:02:00 +0000

Title: Midsomer Murders, Set 13
Starring: John Nettles, Jason Hughes
Running time: 400 min.
MPAA: Not Rated
Release date: September 29, 2009
ASIN: B001V7YZD4
Studio: Acorn Media
Review source: Acorn Media
Rating: B+

Set in a fairly small English village where most people know each other, yet rural enough that you can hide out or manage discretion; Midsomer Murders pairs Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby [John Nettles] with a youthful protégée Detective Sergeant Ben Jones [Jason Hughes]. The series has that creepy vibe that British mystery writers have mastered fairly well. It must have something to do with rainy days and buttoned up, long-standing traditions. Because behind those rolling fields and long driveways, flower-filled patches in the midst of the woods and lovely landscapes lies some strange behaviors, obsessions and truly evil doings. But Barnaby and Jones aim to get to the bottom of it all. As long-running as our Law & Order is here, Midsomer Murders has aired since 1997 in the UK. The series and mysteries are inspired by novelist Caroline Graham.

Four episodes are featured [I cannot say too much without giving anything away]:

Dance with the Dead
When a young man, Simon Bright, asphyxiates in a vintage automobile, Barnaby and Jones search for his enigmatic girlfriend, Laura Sharp. The scene, with romantic music, a bottle of wine and two wine glasses, looks like that of a Romeo and Juliet suicide pact but only the young man is found in the car. And he’s been whacked on the head. As the two detectives question the villagers, you think it’s going a certain way and then, surprise! Excellent detective work.

The Animal Within
This one starts out strong: Faith arrives from Philadelphia to visit her uncle. She’s greeted by the groundskeeper: “You’re supposed to be dead,” he exclaims. “What is the old badger up to now?” She then tells them all that no one in her family has seen Rex in 40 years. Rex had told everyone that Faith and her entire family had died in a plane crash. Now he’s disappeared. When Rex turns up dead with four different wills then everything begins to unravel and turn topsy-turvy, to say the least. Secrets about Rex are revealed and strange events occur. This is definitely my favorite of the bunch. So darkly secret and wickedly strange.

King’s Crystal
Shanghai, China. Two brothers. One dies in an explosion. He seems to have been the popular one among this wealthy King family. The family business? Oh, that cut-throat artisan glassworks. I like this one because the family is very posh. The Estate is gorgeous. I expect everyone to go off on a hunt (on horses—it’s Britain!). The kids are mad at mom. The business is not doing as well as one thought. This one is a bit slower paced.

The Axeman Cometh
Choice quote: “Gary, when I was 13 and welded to a pony and you’d fled Midsomer to become the new gormless ape on the rock scene we were still friends, right?”
This is a funny one. Aging heavy-metal rockers have taken over the town for the Midsomer music rock festival. They’re lounging around by a pool in shades and 70s attire-- long hair, leather, flowy clothes. Barnaby reminisces about various concerts. He’s even looking through his old albums and playing air guitar. [Barnaby’s daughter: “Dad please try and maintain the gap between the generations.” The vibe sours though when someone is killing the rock stars.

Features: Caroline Graham biography and cast filmographies

Embroderies: book review

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:55:00 +0000

Title: Embroideries
Author: Marjane Satrapi
ISBN: 978-0375714672
Pages: 144
Release Date: April 18, 2006 (paperback)
Publisher: Pantheon books
Review source: library
Rating: 5/5

And why is it the women who have to be virgins? Why suffer torment to satisfy an asshole? Because the man who demands “virginity” from a woman is nothing but an asshole! Why don’t we behave as Westerners do!? For them, since the problem of sex is resolved, they can move on to other things! This is the reason they progress!!!

Embroideries is the first graphic novel that I’ve read and it was quite fun and brilliant. I’d seen the film Persepolis so had an inkling what to expect from this memoir by Marjane Satrapi. Embroideries recounts an evening when nine very different Iranian women gather over tea [or samovar] to discuss men, marital relations and sex. She also describes it as “a long session of ventilation of the heart.” I adore that turn of phrase. It expresses so much. The information revealed turns out to be ridiculous [It’s true that I had four kids. Four!! But I still have never seen the male organ.], sage [You must pay close attention when choosing your future husband. Don’t marry with your heart but with your brain.], shocking [a 13 year-old girl betrothed to a 56 year-old man], heartbreaking, endearing, honest [advice from women who are experienced to others who are not] and lovely. Embroideries refers to an old-fashioned custom of sewing up the vagina [it is still done in many cultures and leads to infections] to ensure that women remain virgins. In one of the first stories a woman advises a woman to use a razor blade when she has sex with her new husband so that he thinks she is a virgin [so she will bleed—this too does not always happen with virgins]. The woman is so nervous that she cuts the man’s testicles instead!

Satrapi has a bold, unique, satirical and witty style in the way she allows the women’s stories to unfold. Embroideries is a must read! I highly recommend it.

*also my first book completed for the Women Unbound Reading Challenge

Shelf Discovery Challenge: my picks

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:12:00 +0000

The Shelf Discovery Challenge is a chance to read or re-read books that inspire teenage readers. It is hosted by Julie P. at Booking Mama.

Details:

The Shelf Discovery Challenge will run for six months (November 1, 2009 - April 30, 2010). To join me in this challenge, all you need to do is grab a copy of SHELF DISCOVERY and pick out what six books you want to read (of course, you can read more than six!) Then, after you read a book, just write a "book report" to share your thoughts with others!

Julie adds: As a mother of a middle grade daughter, a member of a mother-daughter book club, and a lover of middle-grade and young adult fiction, I was just thrilled when I "discovered" a new book by Lizzie Skurnick called SHELF DISCOVERY: THE TEEN CLASSICS WE NEVER STOPPED READING. If you haven't seen this book yet, then you are definitely missing out because it's a wonderful read. SHELF DISCOVERY is a book that takes me back to my childhood because it features many of the books that I loved as a young girl -- you know, those books and authors that defined our youth such Judy Blume, Laura Ingalls Wilder, etc.

My six picks-- three re-reads that I have not read in 20 years and three new:

1. The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O' Dell
2. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
3. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
4. Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews [this always looked really creepy to me]
5. Deenie by Judy Blume [I don't think I read this one]
6. My Darling, My Hamburger by Paul Zindel [because I remember the teacher in Dangerous Minds, played by Michelle Pfeiffer being horrified that this was what the sudents were reading in English class]

STEELE on film: AMELIA review

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Finally saw Amelia tonight in the Fenway with my friend Robert. It's only showing at four theatres in Boston. The film has had little promotion and has had mixed reviews but I still needed to see a film about a pioneering woman that stars two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank [Million Dollar Baby, Freedom Writers] and is directed by Mira Nair [The Namesake, Vanity Fair].

The script is weak at times but the scenes of Amelia flying are expansive, lovely and sometimes frightening. During her last flight, though you know the outcome, you cannot help but be at the edge of your seat with your heart racing. Nair has done an excellent job directing the landscape views but she's not as strong in the more intimate moments.

Hilary Swank is phenomenal per usual as the daring, unconventional and trailblazing pilot. She delves into this role as Amelia Earhart and through her eyes we see her attraction to flight: the adrenaline rush, the freedom, the independence and the power. Amelia tells George Putnam [a terribly miscast Richard Gere] that she's not the marrying type. That she wants freedom. He's jealous of her and wants her for himself and she ends up marrying him and they have an unusual love and marriage. It works for them. Amelia does have a long-term love affair with the charming West Point graduate Gene Vidal [a swoon worthy Ewan McGregor] who with Amelia's help became Commerce Department's Bureau of Air Commerce. Putnam is the ultimate PR rep for Amelia and at times quite smarmy. There's too much focus on their relationship and not enough of Amelia's professional life in Amelia and that is a massive detriment to the film and to Swank's talents.

Overall we enjoyed the film and would give it a B+.

the feminist and the gay: three burning bras and three zebra snaps

Robert: a big O for Oh my, Richard Gere is sexy in bed.

Amy: the Helen Reddy I am Woman, I am Rock solid BOD to Hilary Swank

STEELE SAYS: SEE IT IN THE THEATRE

The Female Brain: quickie book review

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:37:00 +0000

This is a book that all women should read. All men should read it. There IS a difference between male and female brains and the scientific research has been done to back that up. The Female Brain contains a plethora of information. I didn’t intend to write a formal review. I just thought I’d post some of the information I highlighted as I read this.

The principal hub of both emotion and memory formation—the hippocampus—is also larger in the female brain, as is the brain circuitry for language and observing emotions in others. This means that women are, on average, better at expressing emotions and remembering the details of emotional events. [pg. 5]

If you’re a girl, you’ve been programmed to make sure you keep social harmony. This is a matter of life and death to the brain, even if it’s not so important in the twenty-first century. [pg. 21]

During puberty, a girl’s entire biological raison d’être is to become sexually desirable. She begins judging herself against her peers and media images of other attractive females. [pg. 31]

Connecting through talking activates the pleasure centers in a girl’s brain. . . Dopamine is a neurochemical that stimulates the motivation and pleasure circuits in the brain. Estrogen at puberty increases dopamine and oxytocin production in girls. Oxytocin is a neurohormone that triggers and is triggered by intimacy. [pg. 37]

In short-term couplings, for example, men are chasers and women are choosers. That’s not sex stereotyping. It’s our inheritance from ancestors who learned, over millions of years, how to propagate their genes. [pg. 59]

Many sex therapists say that, for women, foreplay is everything that happens in the twenty-four hours proceeding penile insertion. For men, it’s everything that happens three minutes before. Since many parts of a woman’s brain are active at once, she must get into the mood by first relaxing and reconnecting positively with her partner. [pg. 82]

Gut feelings are not just free-floating emotional states but actual physical sensations that convey meaning to certain areas in the brain. [pg. 120]

--Amy Steele

Title: The Female Brain
Author: Luann Brizendine, M.D.
Pages: 269
Release Date: 2006
Publisher: Broadway Books
Review source: my copy
Rating: 4/5

STEELE Q&A: author Barbara Delinsky

steele85@gmail.com (writergal) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:21:00 +0000

Title: While My Sister Sleeps
Author: Barbara Delinsky
ISBN: 978-0767928953
Pages: 384
Release Date: October 27, 2009
Publisher: Anchor (paperback)
Review source: Concord Free Public library
Rating: 3.5/5

Molly wondered if Robin had known what was happening to her out there on the road. The thought that her sister might have felt a pain in her chest, sensed what it was, and realized that she was all alone gave Molly a chill. Worse, though, was the shutdown that might have followed—lights snapped off, everything black. Brain dead. It was too much.

While My Sister Sleeps is a moving novel that focuses on two sisters: Molly and Robin. Molly is five years younger than Robin and has lived in the marathon runner’s shadow for years. Now within a split second, the dynamics have changed for the Snow family. Robin, who had cardiomyopathy [a damaged, enlarged heart], has a heart attack during a run and is now brain dead. While the family rallies at her side in the hospital, no one wants to admit the truth; there’s not much that can be done any more. No one knew that Robin had this condition. Why did she keep it a secret? Robin wanted more than anything to run in the Olympics. Perhaps if her family knew, they would stop her. Her mother is overprotective of Robin. Molly feels left out by the closeness that her mother and Robin share. The Snow family runs a lucrative horticulture business, Snow Hill, on forty acres on New Hampshire’s border with Vermont and Robin is the only one who never became part of the family business. As the days tick by more details are revealed about Robin’s true feelings about her family and about running through her journal and other objects found in her home she shares with her sister. While My Sister Sleeps examines the threads that can tear a family apart or weave one closer together.

--Amy Steele

Barbara Delinsky recently answered my questions via email.

STEELE: Why did you decide to focus on two sisters for this novel? What is it about that relationship?

Barbara Delinsky [BD]: My niche as a writer is focusing on family issues. In my mind – and my personal experience -- sibling rivalry is a biggie there. Siblings compete when they’re kids, and the competition doesn’t end when they’re grown. That makes sibling rivalry a timeless issue with which a huge number of my readers will identify.

STEELE: Why do the sisters have such different relationships with their mother?

BD: Some of it has to do with birth order; as the first born, Robin is the beneficiary of the same high parental energy as many first children are. In her case, there are also other reasons why her mother is so heavily invested in her, though I can’t say much more without giving away a chunk of the plot.

STEELE: What did you want to illuminate about relationships between mothers and daughters in While My Sister Sleeps?

BD: Communication is key. This is the bottom line of the book. On the surface, we have a situation where the oldest daughter can’t speak, her mother, father, and brother are paralyzed, and there are crucial decisions to be made. It is left to the younger sister, my main character, Molly, to speak for this sister with whom she has had a love-hate relationship for years.

STEELE: The men seem to be in support roles here. What was your intent for Charlie and David and even Nick?

BD: I build my plots in layers. The top layer in While My Sister Sleeps is definitely the issue of communication between sister and sister, and mother and daughter. But the men have communication issues as well. These issues simply give the reader more to think about on the subject.

STEELE: Why did you choose such an unusual profession for Robin?—a marathon runner in the United States cannot make that much money.

BD: Money is never an issue for Robin. The issue is fame. Robin needs to achieve on a very high, very elite and unusual level. Being an Olympic marathoner would give her that opportunity – and she is close, so close. This makes the stakes for her future all the higher.

STEELE: While My Sister Sleeps addresses two medical conditions—cardiomyopathy and anorexia-- that people tend to keep very secret. Why did you choose cardiomyopathy for Robin? How did the anorexia/ Alexis storyline come about?

BD: My books are nothing if not realistic. I chose cardiomyopathy for Robin because it is a real and serious condition for elite athletes. The anorexia storyline is simply another of those layers I mention above. In this instance, there is a parallel between Alexis’s parents’ denial of their daughter’s condition and Kathryn’s denial of Robin’s condition.

STEELE: You’ve involved some really personal and controversial issues: brain death, advanced life support, living wills, organ donation. How did you research these issues to address them in the novel?

BD: These issues are sensitive ones, and the kicker is that protocol varies by hospital, by state, by region. Since my book is set in New England, I worked with nurses here in New England, ones who deal with these issues every day. They gave me reams of information both on the medical and the psychological ramifications of these issues. I shot them emails with further questions right through the end of the book. [writer’s note: kudos for working with nurses for information. They are really on the frontline and amass intimate knowledge of their specialty areas.]

STEELE: What has been the response from readers out on your book tour?

BD: Amazing. This book tapped a nerve. Readers identified with this story, whether the medical issue, the one of sibling rivalry, or the one of communication. Most humbling for me were notes from readers who said they had reached closure on some of their own issues during their reading of the book. I often get this from my readers, validation of fiction as therapy!

STEELE: I just have a comment. Another issue with medicine is that of privacy. I actually was quite surprised that Molly suggested her landlord call the hospital to verify that her sister was really in there [so that she might get an extension]. Then the family didn’t know that Robin was an organ donor but knew ever other facet of her life. She lived with her sister etc.? You have to have two signatures to become an organ donor [I am one]. But then you were good about Nick and his need-to-know access as a reporter with HIPAA. [writer’s note: I expected a response but this is email after all]

STEELE: What element is most important to you for a good story?

BD: Emotional reality. I write about everyday women facing not-so-everyday crises. I want their responses to be real.

STEELE: What is your favorite part of While My Sister Sleeps?

BD: The end. Robin gave her family a gift of seven days to be together, to learn things about her and each other that they’d never known, to forge a better future. I find it to be totally uplifting.

STEELE: What is in your to-be-read pile?

BD: Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout. My book group will be discussing it. [writer’s note: How cool that a New York Times best-selling author is in a book group! Not that I should be surprised.]
AS: Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions Barbara. I will see you at the breakfast. I’ll be bringing my mom.

Barbara Delinsky will one of the featured authors at the Breakfast with the Authors as part of the Concord Festival of Authors on November 7.