My Foray into Form-based RA, part I

I decided early on in the semester that I wanted to advise five readers for this project, and that I wanted to send "my" readers a questionnaire to gather information about their preferences.

The questionnaire I developed:

The questions below are meant to provide an insight into your reading experiences and preferences. I will use your answers to put together a list of 4-5 books (with descriptions) that I think you might enjoy. Most of the titles will be from genres you like, but I might throw in one book meant to stretch you a little.

1. On average, how many books do you read per month?

2. Who are your favorite authors? (Please list their names and say what it is you like about them.)

3. What authors do you least enjoy? (Please list their names and explain what it was you did not like about them.)

4. On a scale from 0 to 10 — where 0 means no interest and 10 means high interest — indicate your level of interest in the following genres:

Action/adventure
Bestsellers
Biography/memoir
Classic literature
Fantasy
Historical fiction (works of fiction set in a real time in history)
Horror
Literary fiction
Mysteries
Nonfiction
Psychological suspense
Romance
Romantic suspense
Science fiction
Suspense
Thrillers
Westerns
Women’s lives and relationships
Young adult
Other: _________________

5. Of these genres, which one(s) are you most in the mood to read right now?

6. Have you read any graphic books? (These are fiction or nonfiction titles that generally use comic book-style storytelling. Examples include American Born Chinese, Persepolis, and Watchmen.)

-- Yes

What was your experience like and would you read another graphic book?

-- No

Are you open to reading a graphic book?

7. Are you sensitive to book length? If so, what is too long and/or too short for you?

8. Nonfiction fans: Are there any particular subjects you’re interested in reading about at this time?

9. Do you frequent your local library or libraries? If so, what is the name of the one you use most often? (When I select books for you, I’ll place a priority on titles owned by your library.)

The Hotel Riviera / Elizabeth Adler

For those who dream of someday vacationing in the south of France, The Hotel Riviera is the ultimate escape. It's about an American named Lola who is the chef/owner of a quiet villa near Saint-Tropez. It's been six months since her husband, Patrick, mysteriously disappeared, and Lola is picking up the pieces of her life while trying to figure out whether Patrick is alive or dead. The latter activity is the basis of the suspense half of this novel.

The romantic half focuses on Lola's developing relationship with a man named Jack, who lives on a small boat docked in the bay behind the hotel. He is the rugged, hard-bodied type -- a boat-builder who has lived a life of adventure and somebody who would never settle down, or so it would seem. He's a consummate charmer -- the kind of guy who could attract any woman through his signature smile. But in Lola he finds a challenge, for she seems not to notice any of his charms.

Romantic suspense is tricky in that it has to juggle romance and suspense in a single narrative. Adler does this by leaving the suspense portion in the background until midway through the novel. The first half mainly sets the scene of the story and establishes all of the characters. But then the suspense picks up -- the police find Patrick's car abandoned in Marseilles -- and Jack ends up being one of the people who help Lola get to the bottom of her husband's disappearance.

I enjoyed this novel and could see myself reading more books by this author. Ultimately, what became the main appeal of The Hotel Riviera was its heartwarming qualities. Sure, the romance and suspense are engrossing, including a fantastic chase scene near the end, and you need only an ounce of wanderlust to appreciate the idyllic setting. But what this book is ultimately about is a woman rebuilding her life following a disappointing marriage, learning to love again, and finding herself in the process.

Briar Rose / Jane Yolen

This semester I learned I have to be careful about how much extracurricular reading I do. Adult Readers Advisory really opened my eyes to the fact that there are all kinds of interesting fiction out there. Whenever I would read the chapters in our textbook, I kept seeing books that sounded good, and several times I ended up reading those instead of doing homework for my other class. Case in point: Briar Rose by Jane Yolen.

The textbook talks about this novel in the "Fantasy" chapter: "In Jane Yolen's Briar Rose, the Sleeping Beauty story is reimagined in Nazi Germany." I'm really fascinated by Holocaust stories, so when I read that sentence I immediately placed a hold on the book and ended up reading it in one sitting.

The premise of the novel is this: A young journalist named Becca is losing her grandmother, Gemma, to dementia. Gemma had told Becca and her two sisters the story of Briar Rose on a continual basis while they were growing up, but near the end of her life she began insisting that she herself was Briar Rose.

"'I was the princess in the castle in the sleeping woods,'" she says to Becca on her deathbed. "'And there came a great dark mist and we all fell asleep. But the prince kissed me awake. ... Promise me you will find the castle. Promise me you will find the prince. ...'"

Becca promises, and begins her investigation following Gemma's funeral. I can't tell you too much more because it would ruin the suspense, but suffice it to say that with a small box of her grandmother's belongings, her investigative journalist skills, and help from her boss/love interest and a translator in Poland, Becca manages to figure out the mystery of her grandmother's past.

Briar Rose is a compelling read, a definite page-turner. As the reader, you get excited as Becca finds each piece of the puzzle and puts it in place. You get frustrated when she hits a dead end. And you are fascinated when you finally learn how the story of Sleeping Beauty played out in Gemma's life. Originally I was afraid that the parallels between the two stories would be cheesy or forced, but instead I ended up really admiring how the author handled this aspect. It actually was what I enjoyed most about the book. Well done, Jane Yolen!

I would recommend Briar Rose to any young adult or YA crossover reader, as well as to anyone interested in the Holocaust. This is a work of fiction, which should probably be pointed out in case a reader is only interested in stories of real survivors, but Jane Yolen did research the real-life setting of Gemma's fictional story, and these facts are weaved into the narrative and detailed in the "Author's Note" at the end.

The Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger

Whenever I read a classic, I always think about why it's a classic. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding why. But with The Catcher in the Rye, it seemed apparent from the first sentence. Those 63 words incorporate what I think are the main appeals of the novel -- a unique narrative style, sarcastic humor, and a compelling main character, Holden Caulfield:

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."

What he does feel like talking about is the substance of the rest of the book. The plot is fairly simple -- Holden gets kicked out of (yet another) prep school and his parents won't find out until they receive a letter from the school several days later, so he decides to leave his dormitory and kill time in New York City for a few days so he doesn't have to break the news to his parents himself.

The narrative style is intensely personal and refreshingly honest. Holden is inviting the reader into his life -- on his own terms, but with an implied promise that he will tell the raw truth instead of saying all the things one is supposed to say. The everyday language he uses reinforces the fact that he's going to tell it like it is.

The sarcastic humor is what I enjoyed most about the book. One of Holden's main observations seems to be that a lot of things and people are "phony." When one of his teachers tells him his parents are "grand people" in chapter 2, Holden says to the reader, "Grand. There's a word I really hate. It's a phony. I could puke every time I hear it."

Holden himself is the third main appeal; he's a really compelling character -- mostly because he's hard or even impossible to figure out. For instance, he's really smart but doesn't apply himself at school. Why? And he gets disgusted by so many things but has joy in a few others, like how a summer (girl) friend played checkers, and almost any detail related to his siblings.

And of course there's the bigger question -- what will happen to Holden? Well, like many good literary novels, whose endings are "often open or ambiguous" (Saricks 178), so too is the ending of Catcher. And that's a good thing. Because in a novel so intent on telling the raw truth, slapping on a Hollywood ending would seem utterly out of place. And Holden would not approve. As he says in the first chapter, "If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies. Don't even mention them to me."

A Little Bit Wicked / Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth is perhaps best known for originating the role of Galinda in the smash-hit Broadway musical Wicked -- a performance that earned her a Tony nomination in 2004. Prior to that, she had won a Tony for playing Sally in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. She has also appeared in numerous television shows and movies.

One review I read of this book questioned why Chenoweth released a memoir so early in her career, but from reading the book I can assure you she has accomplished enough and had enough life experience to make for a great read. What I most appreciated was getting to look behind the curtain so to speak, to see what the life of a performer is really like. It may sound glamorous, but it's hard work, day in and day out. At times it seems that Chenoweth takes care of herself and her voice in much the same way an Olympic athlete would take care of his or her body.

Another thing this book has going for it is Chenoweth's upbeat attitude and her sense of humor. This is a woman who knows how to turn lemons into lemonade. Like the hilarious "Cooter Smash" incident I read aloud in class, about how Chenoweth fractured her coccyx while performing at Opryland and ever since has had the ability to predict the weather with her "hoo hoo." You get a sense while reading this book that Chenoweth is quite the comedienne.

Lastly, there are some amazing stories of serendipity in this memoir. Like how she was placed in her adoptive family and how she ended up on Broadway instead of studying opera at a prestigious school in Pennsylvania. For people of faith (and Chenoweth is one), these are encouraging stories of how God puts everything together behind the scenes.

With all these appeals, this book is definitely one I would recommend, but probably only to Broadway musical enthusiasts at this point in time. Chenoweth has the potential to become a household name, but until that day comes, this book probably appeals only to a niche audience.

Dream When You're Feeling Blue / Elizabeth Berg

Recently, I've been interested in finding out what it was like to live in the 1940s, so when I read a description of this novel in our textbook, I decided I had to read it right away.

It's about an Irish family -- the Heaneys -- who live in the Chicago area during WWII. The story is told in third person from the point of view of Kitty, the second of the five children who all live together with their parents in a three-bedroom house, and the plot really focuses on Kitty and her two sisters, who range in age from around 16 to early 20s. The book begins with Kitty and her elder sister, Louise, saying goodbye to their men who are going off to war. Since letter-writing is a daily activity in their lives, the narrative includes numerous letters as the plot unfolds.

I enjoyed this book overall. It does provide a sense of the sacrifices people made during the war. Imagine having to go without sugar, for instance. Margaret (the mother) is as creative as can be, but at every meal there's an awareness that they miss the meat they used to have, etc. That so large a family lives in a three-bedroom is another period detail, as are things like nightly letter writing and adult women living with their parents. (I love my parents, but I've lived independently since fall 1998 and can't imagine living in a society where the norm is you live with your parents until you're married.) Oh, and receiving the label "spinster" even though you're still in your 20s. Yikes.

The book also has some great romantic elements. A soldier named Hank meets Kitty at a USO dance and begins pursuing her despite the fact that Kitty has a boyfriend. This wooing is a gripping story because it becomes clear that Kitty never was really "into" her boyfriend, but in getting to know Hank she has an awakening of desire that's exciting to witness.

However, I really felt gypped by the way this novel ended. I won't spoil it for you, but suffice it to say that not every character gets a happy ending. That's okay in certain kinds of books and when the author prepares you for it, but in this case what happened felt like a curve ball that hit me from out of nowhere. It was enough of a letdown that I sort of threw the book (tossed, more like) across the sofa when I finished it. So, in the end, I would not recommend this book to others.

Four to Score / Janet Evanovich

For the first several weeks of this semester, it seemed like the name Janet Evanovich came up every class. I had never read her, so I picked this book in order to see what all the fuss was about. I wasn't disappointed.

For the uninitiated: Four to Score is book 4 in Evanovich's mystery series starring bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. Following Stephanie's hunt for yet another person who's jumped bail is kind of like watching the Three Stooges on a paint crew -- you know it's going to be a big mess. Because this likable but not-quite-put-together heroine manages to get into one scrape after another. Her house catches fire, her car blows up ... you name it, it's probably happened to Stephanie. But she always manages to overcome such obstacles and snag her bail-jumper in the end.

This is not a gentle read -- it contains obscenities and some sex. I'm not easily offended, but I was not sure I was going to get into the book when on page 3 Stephanie describes having caught someone "bare-assed on my dining room table, playing hide-the-salami with my husband." That's not an image I want in my head. But it didn't take much longer for her sarcastic narrator voice to grow on me, and once I reached that point, I was hooked.

One of this book's big appeals is its humor -- I literally did laugh out loud several times while reading it. And it has a lively cast of characters -- like Lula the retired prostitute (a large African American woman), Sally the professional transvestite (a dude who looks like a lady), and Stephanie's 73-year-old grandma. You can imagine Stephanie and her entourage turning many heads as they look for bail-jumpers around Trenton, on the Jersey shore, in Atlantic City, and elsewhere.

Above all, perhaps, reading Evanovich is a great escape. Doesn't matter much what you're escaping from. So, for me, the next time I'm feeling tired of the tediousness of everyday life, I might just crack open a book and hang out in Stephanie's world -- because there's never a dull moment there.