Ti | Book Chatter

A few weeks back I took a chance and asked if any of you had any questions to ask me. I enjoy getting to know a blogger through some personal tidbits. Not too much, mind you, but enough to know they are real flesh and blood and not just some troll posting as a reader. Ahem, went off a bit there.. so here we go with the first set of questions. There will be three parts unless I receive anymore questions between now and the final post.

Rhapsodyinbooks asks:

What I want to know is, how do you find time for reading between work and kids and husband and taking care of the house? Do they let you read undisturbed or do you need to hide out somewhere?

For the most part, the kids are fine. They know reading is my thing and they are old enough now to feed themselves (just kidding). It’s The Hub who is the problem. He does not get it, and never will so I endure endless comments about my reading. As far as the house is concerned, I am an organization freak so I cannot read until the house is in order. This leaves me time to read at night and I read a lot while at work (before work and at lunch). Sometimes I can sneak away to my room if they are all watching a really good movie. I have been known to do that.

Helen Murdoch asks:

You may not want to share this with us, but I seem to remember you had a post about medical stuff that was going on. I’d love to know how you’re doing!

I was diagnosed with lupus a few years ago. Lupus is frustrating because you look perfectly normal and in most cases quite healthy but your body is essentially attacking itself. It’s an auto-immune disorder and manifests itself in many ways. For me, it’s mostly food allergies, skin rashes and problems with inflammation of my vocal cords. The vocal cord thing actually caused me to change job roles because I used to do a lot of public speaking and I am not able to do that anymore. On top of all that, extreme exhaustion. Most days I am running at about 80% which is much better than when I was first diagnosed.

Sandy says:

You know, I remember you doing a list of things about yourself that I totally LOVED. Random things. I know you have alluded to the fact that you didn’t necessarily have the happiest childhood, so we are going to avoid that unless you want to talk about it. I would love to know about your reading life as a child.

I turned to books for escape. At age 5, I would spend as much time as I could in the school library before going home and when I finished with those, I forged my mother’s signature to obtain a library card from the public library. I’d spend hours there, going through the Nancy Drew books (my fave!). There was a librarian who took me under her wing. She’d hide all the Nancy Drew books for me and then turned me onto other books once I had read all of those. I loved Encyclopedia Brown, Beezus and Ramona, and Victoria Holt which is strange since I was only 7 or so at the time.

In case anyone is curious, the random list Sandy refers to is under the About tab, above.

BermudaOnions asks:

I do think knowing more about the blogger helps you form a connection and also helps you realize if their tastes are similar to yours. I remember reading about your childhood and I’m wondering where you grew up.

I was born in Manhattan but only lived there until I was about two. Although young, I do remember Central Park and the zoo and the subway. Oh, the subway scared me to death. Then we moved to California and I grew-up in Hollywood. We moved a lot during this time but it was always just a few blocks from where we lived before, so the streets of Hollywood were my playground.

Lisa asks:

How is it that you are able to read so many books?! What kind of work do you do?. Does it have to do with publishing and you are reading for work and pleasure? I think it is amazing that you read so many books and I love that you review them for us here.

I don’t think I read nearly enough. Not at much as some other bloggers, that’s for sure. Lisa, I am a technical writer/web developer who specializes in instructional design. Although working for a university means that my job is always changing, it always hovers around those duties. Because of my work, I am always online which makes it easy to stay connected. There was a short moment in time where I managed the Facebook and Twitter accounts for my department but they decided they didn’t want a social networking presence, so those accounts are just sitting out there…so lonely. Nope, I just read for pleasure.

Well, that’s it for today. If you missed a chance to ask me a question and still want to, just post it in comments. I will post the other parts over the next couple of weeks.

The Raising
By Laura Kasischke
(Harper Perennial, Paperback, 9780062004789, March 2011, 496pp.)

The Short of It:

I found myself eagerly picking it up although I felt absolutely no affection for any of the characters.

The Rest of It:

I can’t say too much about the plot or I’ll give something away but this was an odd, little book. It was odd in the way it made me feel. The Raising is about the death of a sorority girl and how she continues to live on in the hearts of those who knew her. Except there are details of her death that are beginning to come out and all is not what it’s cracked up to be.

Essentially, the story is simple but it’s about so much more than what you see on the surface. It’s about obsession and the power of memory. How much are we willing to admit when perfection is at stake? It’s also very much a book about death and dying, but not in the traditional sense. The sense of mourning you feel while reading this novel is not what a grieving parent would feel. It’s different. Part of that is due to the story itself, but some of it has to do with the tone of the novel. If I had to describe it artfully I’d say that it was like a B&W snapshot with torn edges. Stark. Blemished.

I think if I were to focus on plot alone, I’d be rolling my eyes. It was a bit “out there” in places and not terribly realistic in others but I tend to focus on characters and although these characters would never be my friends, I found them wildly amusing. No, I can’t say that I ever felt sorry for any of them or that I could even relate to their particular circumstance, but I could easily relate to the sorority life that Kasischke created. This coming from a “sister” who was blackballed from hers. Seriously, Kasischke nailed that aspect of it.

I also liked the fact that these characters were not who they appeared to be. The human condition is often not what we expect it to be once you carve away gender, race and class. I was often frustrated with these characters but fascinated with them, too. I think this is why the story worked for me. I’ve been reading some other reviews and many have not liked the book. I suspect that those folks had issues with the plot. I can certainly see where they are coming from, but because I enjoy reading about characters who are less than desirable I was willing to let go of reality for a short while.

If any of you’ve read Kasischke’s In a Perfect World, and recall it taking quite awhile to get a feel for the main characters, you will experience the same thing here. The character development is not handled as delicately as In a Perfect World, but The Raising is its grittier sister. The stories were completely different in each but there are some similarities as far as the writing goes.

Overall, I actually liked this one a lot more than I thought I would.

If you’d like a chance to win a copy, check out the details below.

Source: Review and giveaway copy provided by the publisher.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

This giveaway is for one copy of The Raising and is open to the US and Canada. A winner will be chosen randomly by me. The book will come directly from me. Only one entry per person. Giveaway closes on April 29, 2011 (pacific). I will contact the winner for his/her mailing address.

To enter the giveaway, please click here. (This giveaway is now closed!)

Chatting with friends about books and life…