JUN - The Rosie Project

June review for Eclectic Reader's Challenge 2015: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, 2013. [Contemporary Romance category]

I picked this book up on a whim from the Little Free Library I found recently near my new house. Originally I had been reading On The Verge, a book about a twenty-something writer (like me) set in 2002-era NYC where meeting a guy at a bar meant he gave you his pager number too, and while I found it interesting, it was not wholly arresting. Alternatively, when I began The Rosie Project, I read the first few pages with a bit of skepticism, unsure if I could get behind Don's tone or his character. But somehow, the pages kept turning, like my hands didn't listen to my mind's uncertainty. The Rosie Project indeed captured me, and I decided to see where it took me.

Don Tillman is a genetics professor who has a "number of unconventional mannerisms" to his name, including a recently-begun endeavor called The Wife Project, in which he creates a comprehensive questionnaire for potential partners to fill out in order to determine overall suitability. With the help of his Don Juan supervisor, Gene, who is attempting to sleep with a woman from every country (don't worry, he's in an open marriage), Don hones his questionnaire until the arrival of Rosie. Rosie was sent to Don by Gene under the pretense of being a WP applicant, but she is everything that the WP not: dyed hair, messy clothes, and a smoker, to name a few. But somehow they're drawn together and Don begins to learn things about himself and his worldview that never before occurred to him. One of the things I was unsure of when I began this book is the fact of Don as narrator and the Wife Project as plot. I feel my uncertainty was merited, but that Rosie mitigated every misgiving by her sheer character. Hell, I think I fell in love with her by the end. (Spoiler alert: he falls in love with her at the end).

There were a number of discussion questions in the back of the book, one in particular that I ruminated on during my read, which I'd like to touch on here. I love when books have reading questions nestled away in the back, it makes me feel like I'm back in my favorite classes in college once again, where we just talked about books every day and everyone had something insightful or revelatory to say. I especially enjoy discussion questions that hit upon feelings I had during my own reading of the text, as with the following question:

13) Do you feel happy for Don when he eliminates a "number of unconventional mannerisms" in order to win Rosie, or has he lost something?

 Toward the end, after Rosie denies his advances, Don goes about redefining his life, changing some of the core ideologies and patterns that make him who he is. The Reform Don Project, he calls it.  It could be called adaptive, that he is attempting to "better himself" for the sake of the relationship, but it worried me that it did not seem to be predicated on any sort of "I want to change these things for me," but instead "I want to change these things about myself because I know these things are how Rosie likes things to be done." It is a very fine line, but one that I think is highly important for any relationship to be successful. It is also an interesting corollary to the idea of the Wife Project in general: Don has a very rigid list of attributes, and he views it as the most logical method to find the most appropriate partner, and he does not allow himself to deviate at the inception of the project. After a number of trials, Gene helps Don realize that compromise can be appropriate, and he relaxes his guidelines a fraction. I think it would be safe to say that The Rosie Project is about Don learning about relationships and ultimately that compromise is the best way to care for the people that you love. I should note that (SPOILERS!) Rosie at first rejects Don's redefinition, shattering his worldview, but he returns with a new sense of purpose and realization and regales her (and Gene and Claudia and the entirety of the University Club) with the following speech:

"I haven't changed my mind. That's the point! I want to spend my life with you even though it's totally irrational. And you have short earlobes. Socially and genetically there's no reason for me to be attracted to you. The only logical conclusion is that I must be in love with you." (p283)

Don realizes that there are things that Rosie loves about him and things that are serving no purpose for the furthering of his social relationships, and he decides to make choices and sacrifices and learn to adapt to this new convention of sharing everything with one person. I have been learning the same skills in my own life, and I don't think I've ever been happier. I think it is a beautiful ending to the story, and a message every human could stand to pay attention to.  

MAY - Veronica Mars: Mr. Kiss and Tell

May review for Eclectic Reader's Challenge 2015: Veronica Mars: Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham, 2015. [PI crime category]

For PI crime, I decided to go with the quintessential badass PI of my heart, the unmatchable Veronica Mars. Mr. Kiss and Tell is the second foray of Ms. Mars into the world of literature, following Thomas's debut Mars Investigations novel The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line, which served as a follow-up to the Kickstarter Veronica Mars movie last year. I listened to Tan Line as an audiobook narrated by Kristen Bell herself, and I really enjoyed losing myself in her familiar tones, almost as if the voiceover narration for which the show was so lauded had carried over into my own personal read-aloud. It was glorious, and I one hundred percent enjoyed this new chapter in Veronica's cultural saga, and it felt almost like candy to be able to write about it and think hard about it for this post. I *may* have thought a little too hard, as this post is significantly late, but behold it in its finished and unpolished glory now.

Over the past year, I've gotten into crime novels, some for this challenge, some just because. I read In The Woods by Tana French obsessively and Harvest was for last year's challenge, and it helped me to think how these books dealt with crime differently. The specificity of this genre choice, "PI crime," made me think about PI crime versus police procedural and how they're different. I considered reading The Poet by Michael Connelly, because the main character, Jack McEvoy, is technically a reporter and works on his own investigation similar to a PI, but I decided I should stick to bare bones and see how it worked for me before I departed. (Still going to read The Poet, of course, because it boasts Edgar Allan Poe inspirations in the murders and I'm obsessed with Poe and his tendrils into pop culture.) So the gist of Mr. Kiss and Tell is Veronica's investigation of a case brought to her by the Neptune Grand Hotel, the embodiment of the monied and manipulative in Neptune. A girl named Grace Manning has been found half-dead in a field miles away, a girl who was last seen at the Grand and has accused a Grand employee (conveniently no longer in the country) of rape and assault. The girl is someone from Veronica's past whom she helped before when Grace was a child but was unable to ultimately save, entrenched trust issues between Grace and Veronica. When Veronica clears the implicated employee of alleged criminal wrongdoing and she is released from the case, Veronica cannot help but feel that she must continue on. She hasn't found Grace's attacker, and although the Grand was only paying her to disprove Grace's story, Veronica feels compelled to continue on her own dime. "No, I'm not working for them. Not anymore," Veronica tells Grace. "As far as they're concerned I've done my job and I'm off the case. Which means right now they're probably on the phone with your lawyer, telling him your suit is falling apart. But I still want to figure this out, Grace. And if I'm going to help you, I need to know the truth" (page 111, emphasis added). One of the defining characteristics of Neptune--and a major subplot to the novel's story--is the fact that those with the money hold the power and subsequently the justice. The police department is providing Veronica with little to no help on this case, and it is this, seeing the clear line between police and PI and the rules that bind each party, that truly showcases how Veronica operates differently. However, shortly after Veronica tells Grace she wants to keep going, Grace gets angry, telling Veronica she's "just like those cops, aren't you?" This, more than anything, seems to be a catalyst for Veronica's quest to end the Manning case and find justice for the girl she couldn't save.

Veronica is a PI in every sense: she fights for Grace's case even when the Grand (who hired her originally) is done with it. Her priorities are clear from the beginning: even when she takes the case, her response to Mr. Hickman's proposal is '"I'll do my best to find out what happened to this girl"' (page 33). Not that she would work to disprove her story, as was her technical job description, but that she would find out what happened to this girl. Veronica has crystal-clear, razor-sharp memories of her own rape case being denied credibility because of her circumstances, and the way Grace's case is presented by this man gets her hackles up. She fights tooth and nail for what she believes in, sometimes compromising for outside-the-box methods in order to get justice. It's in her blood: her dad, Keith Mars, is the original PI, and Veronica grew up at the reception desk of Mars Investigations, taking the cheating-husband tails her dad didn't have time for as soon as she could focus a camera:

Veronica in the pilot of the TV show, staking out a seedy motel (2004).

The visceral pull Veronica feels back to the life of a PI is focused on in the 2014 film, and the tension between her father's pride in his daughter and his desire for her to have a better life, away from this danger, makes up a significant portion of Tan Line, all adding up to one single fact: Veronica is intoxicated by the search for the truth, the plight of the underdog, and the fight for a moral and just end to any story. Which brings me to my final point in my discussion. It is not until the Manning case hits almost a standstill that they find out Grace was (spoilers!!!) an escort, but to me this is an essential point in the story . Grace responds with vitriol when Veronica confronts her about the omission: '"So because I'm a whore that means I can't be raped?" She spat the words, her panic breaking suddenly into fury.' (page 200). When Veronica brings this particular addition to the Neptune PD, Sheriff Lamb sneers in her face, much like his brother did when Veronica brought her own complaint in, all those years ago: 'A slow, ugly smile spread over Lamb's face. "Yeah, but, I mean, if she's a prostitute, it's not rape so much as shoplifting, right?"' (page 241). Reading this line felt like a dozen punches to the gut, and writing about it again makes me want throw up and flip tables, but it is so important, important to discuss this with a level head and a passionate heart and basically just to discuss this at all. When Grace is confronted about this, she explains her choice, the crushing student loans a classical stage actress would never make enough to pay off, ticking the boxes methodically and apologizing for no action. She is a human being who is being written off because of her decision concerning the way she wanted to take care of herself and her finances for the rest of her life, and it is abhorrent. Rob Thomas has consistently dealt with complex relationships such as these and darker themes than your typical high school TV show, and he has continued this track into Veronica's maturity, for which I am eternally grateful.

If I talked about every thread in this book and the Veronica Mars universe that I wanted to, it's possible this review would be longer than the book itself. There are so many themes I wanted to touch on, like the corruption of the police in this text, the failure of the justice system to provide legitimate justice to those below a certain paygrade, the politics of money and power in Neptune, the way these themes seem to be ever more sickeningly echoed in current events, but I do not have the space or the heart at this particular moment. So I will add them to the forever-growing grocery basket of ideas that are crawling to get out of my head and end by saying that this text has allowed me to think deeply about a book that did not profess itself to be particularly deep or world-changing. But like Veronica Mars has for my entire life with her, she has continually inspired me and catalyzed my own personal growth.

APR - The Professor and The Madman

April review for Eclectic Reader's Challenge 2015: The Professor and The Madman by Simon Winchester, 1998. [Microhistory category]

In college, I took a class called History of English, where the incredible Anne Curzan took us through the entire story of the English language, and I was first introduced to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). We were required to utilize the OED pretty much on a daily basis, which I had no problem with, except for the fact that I would often delve too deep and get focused on something else entirely and forget about my homework! (I have been trying to find a way to spin this obsessiveness into a positive for job search purposes: Initiative! Hunger for knowledge! Self-motivation!)

This book was chosen as an example of a microhistory, a study of a single thing or event in history, namely the Oxford English Dictionary. As such, I truly enjoyed the part of it as the definition of the lives behind an event. As a writer, I have always gravitated towards the stories rather than the cold facts, and this was no exception. The Professor and The Madman describes two men and the significant roles they played in the creation of the OED: James Murray was the Professor who spearheaded the actual compilation of the majority of the dictionary, and Dr. W. C. Minor is the madman who sent in thousands of slips with words and definitions and usage examples per Mr. Murray's request. The book does not start with either of their lives, for the creation of the OED was sparked much much earlier: it starts with an introduction to both men at the pivotal point in their lives, the point that made them each into who they were required to be for the dictionary's creation, and then begins again at the inception of the dictionary as an idea. I enjoyed the pace of the story: it felt very deliberate and comprehensive, two adjectives I am sure are often used to describe the OED itself.

Similarly, I noted how the definitions that set off each chapter almost act as identifiers of the subject or theme of the chapter. In addition, they serve as evidence of that which the microhistory is describing, the dictionary itself. They are tangible evidence of the staying fact of the OED as well as examples of its entries, and this lends a sort of fullness to the book that I don't believe there would be otherwise. Some entries, like that of "elephant" (chapter 5, page 101), are referred to in the text, with descriptions of the actual process of defining the word for the OED, but others serve  a more abstract purpose, such as the definition of "lunatic" in chapter 3, when Dr. Minor's manias are picked apart. It would be remiss not to include examples of what makes this subject great, and Winchester does a quality job of not only providing examples, but providing definitions that add to the texture of the story.

A final thought. My generation grew up with encyclopedias and reference guides and the internet, all these myriad ways of accessing reams of information with the click of a finger or the flick of a page. It is truly the information era, where everyone has access to as much or as little knowledge as they so desire. In this way, it is difficult to imagine a time when we did not have these things, which is precisely where and when this book is set. It is hard to think about the actual original creation or compiling of these behemoths of intelligence when we are so programmed to use them to find any information at all. It is wholly refreshing, however, to think back to such a time, and while Winchester makes a number of references to his present and his future, such as describing the total number of volumes of the OED at its completion or its conversion to a web-based dictionary, he also allows the reader to stay firmly established in the world, which is not something many nonfiction writers can do.

#30/30 - 2015

[Since my roller derby name is Sonnet Boom, I figured I should probably endeavor to write one myself for this 30/30. It's exciting! Here's some background info on the sonnet if anyone was wondering! I had a difficult time coming up with something entirely organic so I ended up rewriting Shakespeare's famous Sonnet 18 but trading the idea of his lover for the role of poetry in my life. I kept the first two and last two lines generally as they were in his sonnet, just with slight tweaks. I think it works?]

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art a worthy equal in my mind,
The gleam and freedom easy in your way--
I do declare the two alike in kind. 

Might I adopt a more familiar tone?
Since you and I are such a noted pair.
I've felt for you as long as I've had bone,
And known your heady presence in the air. 

But such is not my comparison to make,
So I will just say this: you are my breath,
There's a thirst in me your words do slake;
I think I'll breathe as such until my death.

So long as I can breathe and I can see,
So long live you, and you give life to me.


[Oh man, it would've been cool to do Sonnet 14, as 14 is my derby number....oh well. Planning for next year!]

#29/30 - 2015

[I keep getting emails after I follow up with jobs I applied for, and they all have pretty much said the same thing. The italics are actual parts of an email I got today, the regular font is my burnt-out subconscious. Trying something weird with the layout and opening parentheses but not closing them. Hrm.]

The rejection letter burnout is a very real thing.

After sixty-four days of searching, they all begin to run together.

Thank you very much for your interest in this position.

      (You applied, great job.

We interviewed a number of excellent candidates for this position, 

      (sorry you weren't one of them.

and while we were impressed with your qualifications and skill set, 

      (we weren't impressed enough to talk to you in person about them. 

we have chosen to move forward with another candidate at this time. 

      (presumably having your skills but 100 years of experience, which you lack

We appreciate your interest and wish you well in your job search.
      (Again, sorry about not being the best.

We hope that you will continue to consider other possible career opportunities in our department. 

      (Keep applying. Keep applying. Keep applying. Keep applying til your fingers fall off from overtyping.

Again, thank you for your time and your interest in joining our staff.

      (Take a deep breath. Tomorrow we cast our line once again. 

#28/30 - 2015

Alphabet leggings 

are wildly hard to come by. 

They say you can find anything on the internet,

if you know the magic words,

but somehow I cannot get there this time.

All I want

is to display my typographical predilections

across my muscled thighs

for all the world to see.

I don't want cats on my crotch

or celebrities' faces

I don't want a galaxy that looks like vomit

or any food descriptor on the butt.

I just want letters

jumbled around like I dipped myself to the hips

into a dictionary

for a nice relaxing soak.

Is that so much to ask?

#27/30 - 2015

[Dedicated to Scargyle, because her status today about this made me feel all the things.]

Why did you make that?
someone asked the artist.
A seemingly simple question, but it carries
weight here.
Why would you ask that?
Would you ask that of an accountant? Or an engineer?
An artist makes
because she needs to
there is a compulsion as second-nature as breathing
for her
a meeting of the mystical and the mundane
in that which she creates.
Why did you make that?
Because I wanted to.
Because it wasn't there before.
Because I needed to.
Because making is in my blood.