Greetings. I hope those in the U.S. had a very Happy Thanksgiving. We did not travel anywhere but instead plan to visit family in California over Christmas.
Meanwhile all is well here. I went to my first lecture and visit of Calgary’s new Central Public Library at left, which recently opened here. It’s quite a state-of-the-art facility (inside and out) and who other than author Susan Orlean — whose new book “The Library Book” pays tribute to libraries — should be one of the first author speakers at the place. It was quite wonderful to attend and hear her speak about her book, which is partly about her love of libraries as well as the circumstances surrounding the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library that destroyed so many books there and shut the library down for seven years. I have not read it yet, but I surely plan to check it out — as well as more of our new library.
Also I want to give a shoutout to Esi Edugyan who won Canada’s top literary award — the Giller Prize — last week for her novel “Washington Black.” Wow, this is her second time winning the Giller (her previous win was for her novel “Half-Blood Blues”) and she’s just 40 years old. I think only Alice Munro has ever won the prize twice since it started being awarded in 1994. I have just started “Washington Black,” which follows the journey of an 11-year-old boy who escapes slavery at a Barbados sugar plantation, and so far I’m really digging its storytelling. I was stoked when the author came here in October and I met her and got a signed copy of her book. Very cool. Meanwhile I’ll leave you with a couple of reviews of what I finished lately.
Both the books this past week I was able to read the print versions of as well as listen to them as audiobooks read by the authors. It’s sort of neat to do both or a combination of both. You get to process the words in two different ways. I just so happened to get both versions from the library at the same time, go figure. The first one “Vi” by Vietnamese-born Canadian author Kim Thuy is a short novel that sort of reads like an autobiographical memoir, while the second book — Beck Dorey-Stein’s debut “From the Corner of the Oval” is a memoir that at times reads a bit like fiction. So I guess that’s the genre-bending ways of the book business these days.
First off, Kim Thuy’s novel “Vi” follows the story of a girl named Vi, the youngest of four kids, whose life along with that of her family’s is changed forever by the Vietnam War. She manages to escape with her mother and brothers as “boat people” to refugee camps before Saigon falls. Eventually the family makes its way to Canada to forge a new life. But while her mother and brothers set down roots, Vi proceeds on a different path despite her mother’s disapproval, following a boyfriend to Montreal where she studies for degrees in translation and law that leads to international aide work abroad — and to Vincent, the love of her life.
It’s a story quite lyrically told in short episodes, which I found powerful as refugee lit along the way. I might not have understood exactly everything in it due to a cultural gap or the way she tells it, but still the novel left me with an impressionable picture of Vi’s journey — and how her mother never really approves of her despite Vi’s hard work to make something of herself and find her place in the world despite all the obstacles. Vi travels to Hanoi after the war doing aide work and other countries, which is interesting, and towards the end it becomes a bit of a love story between her and a man named Vincent, who is a naturalist. Unfortunately the ending felt a bit abrupt and left things sort of a mystery with me wanting to know more. Grrr.
This is the second novel I’ve read by Kim Thuy (the first being “Ru”) and each seems to be autobiographical in nature. She herself left Vietnam at the age of 10 with her family as boat people to Canada, settling in Quebec, and she’s worked as an interpreter and lawyer among other things before becoming a writer. So much of the novel seems to be her own story that it left me wondering which parts were fiction. Hmm. Will she be writing a memoir someday or is this her way of doing it? Already she’s written three novels (“Ru,” “Man,” and “Vi”) that all seem to compliment the one before and tell of the refugee experience such as the one she has had. The impressions in them get me a bit each time — as I’m still fascinated by the Vietnam/boat people story and what happened to such people’s lives after they arrived in their new country.
Next up, I finished Beck Dorey-Stein’s debut memoir “From the Corner of the Oval” about her five years as a White House stenographer during the Obama administration. Many bloggers have already written about this book so I was appropriately geared up for it and I was not disappointed. I flew through the thing and found it quite entertaining. It’s like cotton candy for the politically Young and the Restless. Okay maybe not exactly that but other people have likened it to “Bridget Jones goes to the White House” or “The West Wing” meets “The Devil Wears Prada” or even “C-Span meets “Sex and the City.” You get the picture …. it’s not too heavy. It has enough twenty-something mojo in it to cut through a wonk’s briefing book in no time.
You probably already know — but the memoir tells about a lackey who comes to work as a stenographer for the president and travels with him on Air Force One domestically and internationally. I mean no disrespect. I liked Dorey-Stein, her vibrant youngness and openness. She seems bright, albeit naive, along with those she hangs with though she’s far from perfect. I couldn’t believe how she first applies for the stenographer job — through Craig’s List? Oh my. She thinks it’s for a law office so she skips the interview: but then she’s later told ‘you might want to come — the job will have you traveling with the president.’ The president? The president of what? Ohh you mean … that president. Holy smokes. You can’t make this stuff up.
Much of it depicts the typical DC story about young politically minded staffers who work around the clock and don’t make much money but live the life working for big wigs. They work hard and party harder. Stories like these are often hard to resist. I once worked on Capitol Hill so it’s a bit relatable. And Dorey-Stein has a funny sense about her that moves the story along. I liked how the memoir combines the professional side of politics and current events with her personal life. It’s amazing too how she travels to 45 different countries with the president and shares her eye-opening experiences along the way. It’s neat just being a fly on the wall to her conversations and I liked what she had to say and reveal about President Obama.
But man, are there boy troubles for her that dominate the book! A fair warning to all: the author falls for a senior staffer to the president who’s a total womanizer. I just wish he went by the wayside much earlier in the book, but unfortunately he has a hold on her pretty much throughout it. Gosh the endlessness of this part and all her boy troubles gets a bit tiresome and crazy, but still I floored it to the end … to hear what happens when the Trump administration comes to town and she flies the coop along with her close group of work friends. It made for a quick and engaging read, whether she drives you a bit crazy or not.
Lastly we’ve been watching the new AMC TV series “The Little Drummer Girl” based on the John le Carre novel about a team of Israelis who seek to put an end to the increasing number of bombings thought out by an elusive Palestinian. The Israelis end up hiring a British actress as an agent to infiltrate the Palestinian network and so far that is where we are now with plenty of episodes left to watch. Apparently the series first ran in Britain on BBC One. The one American actor recognizable in it is Michael Shannon, who as the head Israeli honcho, delivers a pretty good foreign accent for a guy born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. You might remember him as the bad guy in “The Shape of Water.”
That’s all for now. What about you — have you seen this series or read either of these books and if so, what did you think?
I saw an article on the Calgery Library. It seems so impressive. I also saw Susan Orlean I On Book TV, The Library Book sounds so good. Vi sounds very good. Though it was about a different situation, the situation with refugees is so relevant these days. You have also convinced me that I want to read Thuy.
Thanks Brian. It interesting you read about our new Calgary Library. The architecture of the place is quite something. I want to go in daylight to take a better photo of it for this post. It’s a huge building. I’m looking forward to The Library Book.
I just finished Becoming by Michelle Obama and think maybe From the Corner of the Oval might be a good follow up. I think I’d like Vi too.
Hi Kathy, I look forward to hearing what you think of Becoming. The Oval audiobook is well done by the author but the Vi audiobook is a bit too foreign narrated perhaps & not expressive enough in how it’s read. I think the Vi book is better read in print. Just fyi.
That library looks awesome! 🙂 Vi sounds powerful and From the Corner…fluffy enough. I’m not into those political memoirs but this one seems interesting despite the boy troubles. I would like to watch The Little Drummer Girl. There is a movie of it with Diane Keaton that I have on my movie wishlist to see someday.
Hi Carmen: The new library is awesome — I’m trying to get a better photo of it to show its immense artsy structure. We’ll have to see the movie of the Little Drummer Girl after we finish the TV series. I wonder if it’s still available. I’ll look around. These Cold War spy series are pretty interesting to watch.
I think you can find the movie via Google Play.
Thanks Carmen. We will get to it.
Your new library and Susan Orlean. Wow! I want to read her book.
I have Washington Black on hold. I think she is quite an amazing writer.
Your two books both sound like ones I would like. I can see why you would want to read From the Corner of the Oval. I will go for that when I finish Becoming. In these times it is good to read stories about immigrants who conquer their new lands and I like when they go back to help in their former lands, so I must check out Kim Thuy. Good that you are honoring your new land’s authors!
I read The Little Drummer Girl in 90s. I think it was my second le Carre. I remember being confused but I didn’t know squat about Israel at the time.
Hi Judy: yes I’m liking reading Canadian authors and mixing them in with everything else. Though I still have a long ways to go. I’m sure the Little Drummer Girl book is a bit confusing. I’m just getting a hang of the TV series. Glad you have Washington Black on hold. So far it’s swept me up.
I am almost finished with The Library Book. It is a lovely, easy read and very good. I’m most impressed with how much information it holds without seeming dense, mostly because it is told anecdotally, with Orlean’s personal love of libraries at the core. It is a crime investigation tracking the 1986 fire that destroyed the better part of the LA Central Library and its aftermath, but it is also a history of Los Angeles and the library, itself, and the stories of the library staffers and their great love of books. A great cast of characters!
I hope to see your new Central library in person someday. It looks incredible!
Great to hear about The Library Book. Thx for letting me know. I’m geared up for it even more now. It was neat to hear Susan Orlean talk about the whole thing. I haven’t read much nonfiction this year but I should read more. You can visit the Library here anytime. Ha. I’m going to take a few photos of it — in daylight & post them since it’s a pretty neat structure.
That library looks amazing. The new trend for libraries is to be big, spacious, meeting places for the community. I do miss the quiet nature of libraries of the past. Now they have talk zones, group zones, cell zones and coffee shops and those espresso machines are very noisy. BUT, it’s nice to see young people flocking to them for Wi-Fi. Anything to get them into the building.
You are coming to California soon. We are about to have three days of rain although not a drop has fallen and it’s hours overdue. We are hitting Disneyland this Saturday. We don’t mind the rain but driving in it is another thing so I hope we don’t have to.
I admit Ti — that I most often only go to a small branch of the Library closer to my location so I don’t hang out in the new Central Library which to me is huge. I just get my books on Hold and then I’m gone. The old quiet nature of libraries sounds good to me. I hope you get some rain there — but not mudslides! Enjoy Disneyland – maybe there will be less crowds due to the weather?
First off, the new library is stunning! I imagine the interior must be just as spectacular. My daughter went to a talk by Susan Orleans in NYC last month. I’d wanted to go with her, but it was after we left for Florida. Still on the waiting list for The Library Book.
Vi sounds very good and I’m also interested in the Vietnamese boat peoples’ stories. I just finished a refugee/war memoir, The Girl Who Smiled Beads, about the Rwandan genocide… first I’ve read on the subject. It was an intense book, but I wish it had been told chronologically instead of back and forth between the US and refugee camps.
From the Corner of the Oval might be a good follow-up to that heavier nonfiction.
Thanks for your comments JoAnn. The library’s interior is pretty awesome. I still need to explore it more. I usually just go to my small branch of the library nearby. The story of Vi could’ve been more a bit more focused too — it jumps around a bit, but I’m glad I read it. I’d like to read the Bead Girl story. The Oval book is an interesting, light audio, worth checking out.
That library looks stunning! I just got Orlean’s book but haven’t started it yet.
I loved Ru, so need to check out Vi. I thought her writing was so beautiful.
And yes, you nailed it about From the Corner. I wanted to shake her. Who would go back to a man like that over and over again? I also really want to know who he is! I wonder if Obama read it?
Hi Catherine: I’m guessing Obama hasn’t read The Oval — but who knows. The author’s definitely crazy for the womanizer. I kept wondering who he was too! The Library book sounds good / packed to the gills it seems. Vi does have some beautiful writing in it like Ru. Thx for stopping by.
I am liking the sound of From the Corner of the Oval…and really enjoyed your description of it as cotton candy for the politically Young and the Restless.
And all those other comparisons were fun, too.
I am also curious about Vi.
Thanks for sharing…and for visiting my blog.
Thanks Laurel: The Oval story is a quick staffer read. You’d probably like it. Since you’re reading the HRC book …. I’m wondering a bit if she’ll run again??
So cool you got to see Susan Orlean. I just checked out The Library Book and I can’t wait to read it. I’ve heard so many good things. That Calgary library looks stunning.
Thanks Laila. I hope you enjoy the Library Book. Susan Orlean was a great speaker to hear – so glad I went. The new library is indeed quite a building!