Subway Line: Any, All and Every

Title: First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria

Author: Eve Brown-Waite

Why this book, Meaghan?

Ok, ok, I know that memoir is supposed to be a bit passé, and trust me, I don’t typically think of myself as much of a memoir reader but my newest subway read is really different.

For one thing, it’s one of the first titles I ever worked with in publishing.  And for another, I liked it.

Well, I guess it’s not that different in that it is still, in fact, a memoir.  But what typically turns me off about this genre is that its just people sharing their memories, thoughts and impressions.  This is ok for some people but as for me, I am addicted to story telling; arcs, plot lines, beginnings, middles, and endings.  I need them, I crave them and for better or worse, memoir just has never delivered for me.  About ½ way through any given memoir I think “Who cares if it’s true? It’s not a story!”

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria by Eve Brown-Waite is kind of like chick-lit meets literary memoir.  The fun voice and narrative style carries you through Eve’s rather weighty and even intense experience in the Peace Corps in Ecuador and then having and raising a family in Uganda.

Here’s the book description (available via the author’s website)

Eve Brown always thought she would join the Peace Corps someday, although she secretly worried about life without sushi, frothy coffee drinks and air conditioning.  But with college diploma in hand, it was time to put up or shut up. So with some ambivalence she arrives at the Peace Corps office–sporting her best safari chic attire –to casually look into the steps one might take if one were to become a global humanitarian, a la Angelina Jolie.  But when Eve meets John, her dashing young Peace Corps recruiter, all her ambivalence flies out the window. She absolutely must join the Peace Corps – and win John’s heart in the process. Off to Ecuador she goes and – after a year in the jungle – back to the States she runs, vowing to stay within easy reach of a decaf cappuccino for the rest of her days.

But life had other plans.  Just as she’s getting reacquainted with the joys of toilet paper, John gets a job with CARE and Eve must decide if she’s up for life in another third world outpost. Before you can say, “pass the malaria prophylaxis,” the couple heads off to Uganda, and the fun really begins–if one can call having rats in your toilet fun. Fortunately, in Eve’s case one certainly can, because to her, every experience is an adventure to be embraced and these pages come alive with all of the alternatively poignant and uproarious details.

With wit and candor, First Comes Love, then Comes Malaria chronicles Eve’s misadventures as an aspiring do-gooder. From intestinal parasites to getting caught in a civil war, culture clashes to unexpected friendships, here is an honest and laugh-out-loud funny look at the search for love and purpose—from a woman who finds both in the last place she expected.

So check it out and let me know what you think!

And don’t forget, tell us: What’s Your Subway Book?

_________________

SUBWAY READER: RITA

Various Covers of Julie and Julia and The Kindle on which Rita was reading the book

Subway Line: G

Book Title: Julia and Julie

Author: Julie Powell

What’s the book about?

With the humor of Bridget Jones and the vitality of Augusten Burroughs, Julie Powell recounts how she conquered every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and saved her soul. Julie Powell is 30-years-old, living in a rundown apartment in Queens and working at a soul-sucking secretarial job that’s going nowhere. She needs something to break the monotony of her life, and she invents a deranged assignment. She will take her mother’s dog-eared copy of Julia Child’s 1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she will cook all 524 recipes. In the span of one year.

At first she thinks it will be easy. But as she moves from the simple Potage Parmentier (potato soup) into the more complicated realm of aspics and crêpes, she realizes there’s more to Mastering the Art of French Cooking than meets the eye. With Julia’s stern warble always in her ear, Julie haunts the local butcher, buying kidneys and sweetbreads. She sends her husband on late-night runs for yet more butter and rarely serves dinner before midnight. She discovers how to mold the perfect Orange Bavarian, the trick to extracting marrow from bone, and the intense pleasure of eating liver.And somewhere along the line she realizes she has turned her kitchen into a miracle of creation and cuisine. She has eclipsed her life’s ordinariness through spectacular humor, hysteria, and perseverance. **

**Description available at amazon.com

How did you come by this book, Rita?: I want to see the movie and I thought the book would be fun

Would you recommend it? Yeah, it’s pretty good

Why?: It’s pretty entertaining

RITA’S RATING: 4/5 stars *****

Check out the Blog!  Or the Movie Site!

OUTSIDE REVIEWS

ONE

and

TWO

***Thank You RITA to From the G Line!!!***

What’s YOUR Subway Book?

You know, prior to six months ago, I probably would not have cared that I saw someone reading DFW in the subway.  But thanks to the world’s awesomest (yes, that is a word) advisor, I now know just what is was that I have been missing (and the appropriate level of excitement for seeing someone else read it). Though I’ve never been much for essays and non-fiction, Wallace had one of the best voices I have ever come across and an incredibly funny  insight. When my classes are done, this DFW might just rise to the top of my infinite reading list.   Check him out, he’s pretty entertaining:

Subway Line: L

What’s the Book About:

David Foster Wallace’s first novel, The Broom of the System, earned comparisons with the work of John Irving, Thomas Pynchon, and Tom Robbins. But no comparison could prepare us for what is surely one of the most original and adventurous novels of the decade: Infinite Jest.

Infinite Jest is the name of a movie said to be so entertaining that anyone who watches it loses all desire to do anything but watch. People die happily, viewing it in endless repetition. The novel Infinite Jest is the story of this addictive entertainment, and in particular how it affects a Boston halfway house for recovering addicts and a nearby tennis academy, whose students have many budding addictions of their own. as the novel unfolds, various individuals, organisations, and governments vie to obtain the master copy of Infinite Jest for their own ends, and the denizens of the tennis school and halfway house are caught up in increasingly desperate efforts to control the movie -as is a cast including burglars, transvestite muggers, scam artists, medical professionals, pro football stars, bookies, drug addicts both active and recovering, film students, political assassins, and one of the most edearingly messed-up families ever captured in a novel.

On this outrageous frame hangs an exploration of essential questions about waht entertainment is, and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment interacts with our need to connect with other humans; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. The huge cast and multilevel narrative serve a story that accelerates to a breathtaking, heartbreaking, unfogettable conclusion. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human- and one of those rare books that renew the very idea of what a novel can do.

**Description available on the 1996 Hardcover Edition of the book

Click Here to Read a Review

Today’s book sighting is a chance for me to revel in my dorkdom.  Not much, but a little.

On a random trip on the F line today, I saw someone reading Shanghai Girls (I know, how can you tell?) and I nearly jumped up out of my seat to get an interview.  Instead, I settled for staying seated and grabbing the picture below.  Before I could grab ahold of my new reading heroine.  So, booksighting fun.

Subway Line: R

Whats The Book About:

In 1937, Shanghai is the Paris of Asia, full of great wealth and glamour, home to millionaires and beggars, gangsters and gamblers, patriots and revolutionaries, artists and warlords. Twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister May are having the time of their lives, thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s

Reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

prosperous rickshaw business. Though both wave off authority and traditions, they couldn’t be more different. Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid. Both are beautiful, modern, and living the carefree life … until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth, and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from Los Angeles to find Chinese brides.

As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and May set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the villages of south China, in and out of the clutch of brutal soldiers, and across the Pacific to the foreign shores of America. In Los Angeles, they begin a fresh chapter, trying to find love with their stranger husbands, brushing against the seduction of Hollywood, and striving to embrace American life, even as they fight against discrimination, brave Communist witch hunts, and find themselves hemmed in by Chinatown’s old ways and rules.

At its heart, Shanghai Girls is a story of sisters: Pearl and May are inseparable best friends, who share hopes, dreams, and a deep connection. But like sisters everywhere, they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. They love each other but they also know exactly where to drive the knife to hurt the other sister the most. Along the way there are terrible sacrifices, impossible choices and one devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel by Lisa See hold fast to who they are – Shanghai girls. **

**Description Available at Author Website

Click Here To See What People Are Saying About It!

_____________________                                   _____________________

SUBWAY READER: KENNA

Subway Line: Q

Book Title: Cesar’s Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems

Author: Cesar Millan and Melissa Jo Peltier

What’s the book about?

There are at least 68 million dogs in America, and their owners lavish billions of dollars on them every year. So why do so many pampered pets have problems? In this definitive and accessible guide, Cesar Millan reveals what dogs truly need to live a happy and fulfilled life.

Cesar’s formula for a contented and balanced dog seems impossibly simple: exercise, discipline, and affection, in that order. Taking readers through the basics of dog psychology and behavior, Cesar shares the inside details of some of his most fascinating cases, using them to illustrate how common behavior issues develop and, more important, how they can be corrected.

Filled with fascinating anecdotes about Cesar’s longtime clients, and including forewords by the president of the International Association of Canine Professionals and Jada Pinkett Smith, this is the only book you’ll need to forge a new, more rewarding connection with your four-legged companion.**

**Abridged version of description available at author’s site

How did you come by this book, Kenna?: My father lent it to me

Would you recommend it? If you have a dog, yes.  If you don’t it’s probably a waste of time.

Why?: It seems pretty useful so far  (she’s about ½ way through)

KENNA’S RATING: 4/5 stars *****

OUTSIDE REVIEWS

ONE

and

TWO

Check’em both out and see what you think!

***Thank You KENNA to From the Q Line!!!***

What’s YOUR Subway Book?

Subway Line: 7

What’s It About?

It is September 1968 and the Mexican student movement is about to run head-on into the repressive right-wing government of Mexico: hundreds of young people will soon die.

Amulet being read on the 7 Train

When the army invades the university, one woman hides in a fourth-floor ladies’ room and for twelve days she is the only person left on campus. Staring at the floor, she recounts her bohemian life among the young poets of Mexico City—inventing and reinventing freely—and along the way she creates a cosmology of literature. She is Auxilio Lacouture, the Mother of Mexican Poetry.

Auxilio speaks of her passionate attachment to young poets as well as to two beloved aged poets, to a woman who once slept with Che Guevera, and to the painter Remedios Varo, recalling visits which never occured. And as they grow ever more hallucinatory, her “memories” become mythologies before completely transforming into riveting dark prophecies.

Hair-raising and enthralling, Amuletis a heart-breaking novel and another brilliant example of the art of Roberto Bolaño, “the most admired novelist,” as Susan Sontag noted, “in the Spanish-speaking world.”  **

**Description available at amazon.com

What Are People Saying About It?

In honor of the results of that poll, today I am introducing a new segment BOOKSIGHTING.

Unidentified Subway Reader At the 6 Platform

Now, as you might imagine, getting interviews on the subway is a little tricky.  Gauging when people will have the time and inclination to, you know, actually talk to me isn’t as easy as it seems.  Even worse, the highest volume of book sightings is also rush hour commute time when the general volume on the trains are the highest and people are at their most cramped and cranky.

So, I have devised this segment to bring you some of the most interesting
books and readers that I see on a daily basis, but for what ever reason, don’t get the chance to talk to.

So without further ado :

______________________________________________________

Booksighting #1 : American Wife

By Curtis Sittenfield

What’s it about?

A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice Lindgren has no idea that she will one day end up in the White House, married to the president. In her small Wisconsin hometown, she learns the virtues of politeness, but a tragic accident when she is seventeen shatters her identity and changes the trajectory of her life. More than a decade later, when the charismatic son of a powerful Republican family sweeps her off her feet, she is surprised to find herself admitted into a world of privilege. And when her husband unexpectedly becomes governor and then president, she discovers that she is married to a man she both loves and fundamentally disagrees with–and that her private beliefs increasingly run against her public persona. As her husband’s presidency enters its second term, Alice must confront contradictions years in the making and face questions nearly impossible to answer.  **

**Description available on amazon.com

What People Are Saying About It

~~~~~~~~~~~~~THANK YOU!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, so I missed last week on account of screwy accounts.   But this week I have a great Friday Five for you.  The list title may not sound like anything special, but the books on the 5 this week are a good rollicking time.  And even better—there’s something for everyone.

So what is the theme of the 5 this week, you ask?  Like you don’t already know! Here they are (in no special order):

MY SUPER AWESOME SUMMER READING LIST PICKS

1) ~ Jewels of the Sun, Tears of the Moon by Nora Roberts~

Ahhhh… there’s nothing in the world like the first time you fall in love — with a fictional character in a romance novel.  Yes, these books were my first ever romance novels.  Up until this point in my life, I thought all books were stories with lessons and symbolism of some kind. Then one summer, on a softball road trip to Ohio, I discovered I read through all of my books before the trip was over.  That’s when it happened- my grandmother said “I’ve got some books, why don’t you try one of them?”

And I did.  And I liked it. A lot.

Jewels of the Sun and Tears of the Moon are the first two books of a trilogy and though I didn’t much care for the third of the series, these two books have been my favorite, tried and true romantic stories for as long as I can remember.

In a small town in Ireland (which I and my best friend will one day visit), an uptight, anxious and recently divorced young woman takes refuge from the confining walls of her life and her self-disappointment.  Enter handsome Irish rogue with an awesome name?  I think yes (Aiden).  And his sexy musician brother who will be the focal point of the next book when he get courted by the tomboy next door?  You bet!!! And don’t forget a healthy dose of Celtic myth and faerie magic.  It’s the element that brings everything together.

Ok so if that description didn’t make any sense to you whatsoever I am really sorry—I’ve just read these books so many times it might just be impossible to make sense of them to anyone else any more.  But trust me. Great (and more importantly, plausible) plots, great character chemistry and laughs mixed in with family and community together make two books that will keep you company on the beach or on the train and that you will read over and over again.

2) ~ The Forever King by Molly Cochran and Walter Murphy~

Five words for you:  Best. School. Assigned. Reading. Ever.

Yes everyone has their favorite classics, the ones in lit class you actually enjoyed reading and can feel all proud of yourself for liking and telling people you like  *cough, cough* To Kill a Mockingbird **cough, cough* because it makes you look/feel/sound smart. But really, was there ever anything assigned in school that before you started reading it you thought to yourself  “I would totally have picked that up at the bookstore anyway.  I’m wicked excited to read this?”  One glorious summer, I did get one of those books.

Colloquial expressions aside nothing made my summer like this book (wow- when I put it that way it kind of sounds pathetic… well just ignore that).

Today many schools are trying to make summer reading something enjoyable, to keep teens and tweens engaged in something non-brain melting over the summer months.  In many school systems there are options and genres from which to pick your favorite, albeit pre-approved, reading material.  In my day this was not so.  It was “Here you go sucker, toil away reading these depressing and/or suck-tastic books that we will never discuss in class but that you will have to do a project on and your parents will quiz you on the day before school starts. Have a good summer and keep reading!”  Then they made us run uphill barefoot to school.  Both ways.

The point is, this book was like a shining beacon of reading taste compatibility.  It’s King Arthur, but contemporary.  Magical and mystical but not corny.  A fresh theory about the origins of the Holy Grail (doing what Dracula 2000 did for the vampire myth- just with less cheesy dialogue).  And it had Excalibur.  Oh gooood times.

That year I read my other 3 books before July was even half over (and when you still get out of school in June, that’s no mean feat) so that I could have as much of the summer to revel in the excitement of reading this one book (did I mention yet- I’m kind of a loser?  Just a smidge).  And it was worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself from beginning to end. And my paper on it wasn’t half bad… I think.

There are sequels but I’ve never read them.  I bought both of them, but I’ve just never gotten into that same state of anticipation.  Maybe someday though.

3) ~ The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver~

Ok so there isn’t really a fun personal anecdote for this one (Awww, shucks!).  A friend of mine lent it to me one year, insisting that if I wasn’t going to try Anthem, Atlas Shrugged, or anything by Chuck Palahniuk, I must get through The Poisonwood Bible.

The esteemed Rev. Price relocates his wife and four daughters from their comfortable life in 1950’s Georgia to a mission in the Belgian Congo.  The book is mainly narrated by the four girls and their mother narrates the introduction to each major section.  The book follows their lives in Africa as they deal with each other, their father/husband and the religion that brought them out there.

I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t this a bit heavy reading for a summer read?  Well, no its not. It’s actually perfect for summer because while it does confront some very heavy issues, the story flows from one piece to another seamlessly- so it barely takes any effort to read.  And yet you come away, not just with having read something new, but with having really taken on a new perspective.

4) ~ Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton~

And now, representing the awesome book/awesome movie category for your summer thrills: Eaters of the Dead.

Creepy title, awesome story, (based on Beowulf but easier to read) Antonio Banderas movie.  If that doesn’t say spectacular summer reading, I just do not know what does.

Get it.  Read it.  Watch the movie with your friends (again).  Summer = Complete.

And the final installation of the Friday 5:

5) ~ The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher~

What would summer reading be without an aWEsoMe fantasy series? Well … it would still be summer because the changing of the seasons does not bend to my will, but it would be a far less satisfying and entertaining summer, trust me.  My boyfriend picked the first one up because of the crazy cool cover design and loved them so much he bought the most recent one in hardcover (spoiling his nice matching set of smaller paperbacks- the mass market versions).

Then he made me read them.  Now, I know you are shocked- I liked them so much I’m reading them again (I tend to do that a lot).

The Codex Alera is an elemental-based fantasy series.  Alera is the other world in which it is set.  In this world everyone has something called ‘furies’ which are personified elements that bond with humans.  Everyone is bonded with at least one, sometimes multiple, if he or she is a powerful furycrafter.  Life and civilization are based around the basic functions of these furies.

And then there is Tavi of Calderon, who is almost a grown man (sort of) but has no furies at all.

When crisis strikes Calderon, the fate of Alera falls to this kid who has learned to rely on nothing but himself.

Maybe a tad cliché sounding on the surface (young resourceful kid relies on his wits to save the world, etc.) but this series is anything but.  With a fresh voice and a truly fun cast of characters to follow, (and even an excellent bro-mance in later books) and twists and turns that will keep you up through the night, this series is for fantasy fans everywhere.

Just an upfront- there are a total of 5 books in this series that are currently published and the sixth and final one is due out in December of this year (but 5 books should keep you occupied for a good long while, right?).  The titles give away some of the story so do yourself a favor and start with Furies of Calderon and don’t get ahead of yourself.  Take it one book at a time

What’s Your Five?

Come up with your own summer reading books and share them in comments below- or email me and I will do a post featuring your book!