Hour 4

Start Time: 3PM Friday
Time Now: 7PM Friday
Total Time Spent Reading/Blogging: 3 hours and 20 minutes
Currently Reading: Alcatraz Versus The Scrivener's Bones (104/322)
Total Books Finished: 1
Total Books Reviewed: 1

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Two Parties, One Tux, And A Very Short Film About The Grapes of Wrath (YA)

Goldman, Steven. 2008. Two Parties, One Tux, And A Very Short Film About The Grapes of Wrath. Bloomsbury. 307 pages.

We are standing at a party, a still, quiet eddy in the swirl of motion and noise. David is holding a can of Diet Coke as if it could be a beer, but his facial expression and confident stance make it clear that he wants it to be a Diet Coke, and who are you to question that. I am holding a beer, sort of wishing it were a Diet Coke. We aren't talking, but not because we're not talking. We aren't talking because this is what we do at parties. We stand here.

David and Mitchell are friends. Best friends. (Mitchell is our narrator.) They've been friends since the start of the year (junior year), they hang out a lot. And David is always there to help out, to give a ride, to share a laugh or two. But when David shares with Mitchell the fact that he's gay, there's some squirmy tension between the two. Does David like him like him? Were all those Friday nights spent together dates in his mind? That's what Mitchell would like to know.

This sometimes-funny, down-to-earth novel is about more than friendship, more than coming to terms with your best friend coming out. It's about life itself, coming to terms with the awkwardness and strangeness of high school. Mitchell hates school. It's not that he's horrible at it. He's not. He's a good kid, mostly. It's that he doesn't like it. And that is one reason why Mitchell makes for a great narrator. He's easy to relate to. He's likable. He's understandable.

You may be wondering about the whole Grapes of Wrath reference. (Okay, maybe you're not. But stick with me!) This novel is one of many that Mitchell (and David, by the way) are assigned to read in Honors English. For whatever reason, Mitchell is having a difficult time giving Steinbeck a go. His descriptions of trying to read this assigned reading are just right.

I do not pick up the book. I do not want to read the book. I feel a surge of anger at having been asked to read this book. Isn't wrath a kind of anger? Do I have to read the book? I have to write a paper on this book, but does that mean I actually have to read it first? (18)

His reasoning digresses,

I took really good notes in class; surely I could just fake this one through. Maybe my notes weren't that good, but I took notes; that has to be enough. Okay, my notes suck, but I wrote down words in my notebook and mostly listened. How much do I need to know to write this paper? I'm pretty sure I remember most of the characters' names. (18)

Several chapters later we have,

I should have read this book over the weekend. And I really tried. At least I sort of tried. I opened it twice. It's not like it was the only assignment I had to finish. And Monday, there was a chem test to study for. What was I going to do, blow that off?
Last night I sat in front of the computer and held my hands over the keys. I typed my name, the date, and the title of the paper, erased it, typed it again. I changed the font from Times New Roman to Courier to Arial. I considered adding my middle name, added it, changed my mind, deleted it. After several hours of not writing the paper, I set my alarm and went to bed, telling myself I would deal with it in the morning. Now it is morning. To be specific, it is 5:36. (50-51)

I enjoyed this one. It was the right blend of funny and quirky and right.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

And Now I'm Starting...

I'm starting the challenge at 3PM.
I'll be doing updates often. (So, sorry for those subscribed to my feed by email!)

Hour One Update: Spent 50 minutes reading Two Parties, One Tux, And A Very Short Film About the Grapes of Wrath by Steven Goldman. 13 chapters, 102 pages.

Hour Two Update: Spent 40 minutes reading. Still on Two Parties. Just finished chapter 21, 195 pages read so far.

Hour Three Update: Spent an hour reading and blogging. Finished Two Parties and wrote review. 1 book finished, 307 pages.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Library Loot: First Week in June

I'm typing this up while happily listening to the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers soundtrack. It's been in my head since my friend, Julie, mentioned that the auditions for the (local) musical start this weekend.

I went a little crazy at the library. At least compared to the last trip...
and it's the kind of 'crazy' that will either be crazy good or crazy bad. I took a chance on a lot of new authors. Well, new-to-me authors.

What did I get? A little bit of everything:

Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Confession: I've never ever read Faulkner. Never even tried to read Faulkner. I've always been rather intimidated by him actually. Even more so than I was of Steinbeck. But since I was brave and ventured forth and tried Steinbeck earlier this year, I thought I could give Faulkner a try too. If I don't like him, nothing lost. I don't have to finish even one. But if I do like him, then I will have gained something.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (large print)

For the record, I do own a copy of Grapes of Wrath. A copy I picked up for a little under a $1. But the print is teeny tiny. And its pages are a questionable color. So I chose to check this copy out.

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty

I *think* I might have read one or two stories of Eudora Welty back in my college days. But it's been at least twelve years. So I can't say for sure. And I've definitely never tackled all of them. Can you tell I'm trying to give myself some choices for the Southern Reading Challenge?

The Wedding by Dorothy West

This is completely an impulse choice. I saw the title and got a flashback of watching the mini-series. (It's probably been close to ten years now.) I haven't thought of the movie or the book in ages. But I saw it and thought I'd give it a try.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

I did like The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. So I chose this one to give Heinlein another go.

Two Parties, One Tux, And A Very Short Film About The Grapes of Wrath by Steven Goldman.

I *think* Renay is responsible for this one. I'm not 100% But I know I saw it somewhere on a blog...if it's not her...I'm not sure who is to blame.

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

The second I found out there was a sequel/companion novel to Howl's Moving Castle, I knew I *had* to get my hands on it.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Not heard much about it. But I'm looking for titles to read for my It's The End of the World Challenge.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.

(See above with one minor exception...I've seen this one pop up on blogs I love. (Like Semicolon and Fyrefly)

Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.

A possibility for the Southern Reading Challenge.

To Be A Slave by Julius Lester.

Curious about this one. I've read some Lester before, but not this one.

Dull Boy by Sarah Cross.

I've seen this one pop up on several blogs and it looked good.

The roundup is either at Out of the Blue or A Striped Armchair.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

48 Hours...But NOT Quite yet...

I am going to be joining the 48 Hours Reading Challenge. But I don't plan to start until later today--I'm thinking late afternoon.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews