Please note that my edition of this book is 20 years old. I have to imagine that -- based on the subtitle -- it's high time that this book get a rewrite (if it hasn't already). A lot has happened, technologically speaking, in the last 20 years.
We'll see if the first version holds up over time, and just how prescient our author was back then.
Kathy Niccolo, a newly-single recovering addict, loses her house to the county for unpaid taxes. It's bought at auction by Massoud Behrani, an Iranian immigrant, formerly a colonel in the Iranian military. It turns out that the tax sale was an error, but Kathy didn't know that because she couldn't be bothered to read her mail. The third major character is Les Burdon, the police officer who initially puts Kathy out of her house but later can't seem to leave well-enough alone.
The structure is interesting; it's told in the first person from the perspectives of Kathy and Massoud, and third person regarding Les. This arrangement leaves it open to the reader to pick a side as between Kathy and Massoud. I know who I picked, and if you read it, I'd be interested to know your selection.
If you've seen the movie, it it worth watching?
Overall, I didn't love the book though. I usually don't mind dark material, but this story just had such a miserable, hopeless quality to it that it wasn't terribly enjoyable. But, despite that, I'm now 1/12 of the way through my 2023 Reading Challenge, so that's something.
I remember hearing about the movie of the same name based on this book when it came out, but I haven't seen it. However, because of it's publicity, I have some general idea that this book is about two people who think they own the same house. I'm about to get the full story.
K and I are in it for another year of reading! (It helps to have a buddy.) I'm sticking with the same rules that I have previously identified for my picks:
1. It has to be a book I already owned;
2. It has to be a book I had not read yet (or at least haven't finished yet);
3.
Though I can go out of order, some of the months are clearly themed
(e.g., February, December), so I will try to read those books at
least close to the month they are selected for; and
4. As with last year, I had
initially planned to carry over some books from last year, but didn't. But it remains a possibility
for the future.
Here's the list that we picked for the year, as well as my selections:
January: a book with a "home" word in the title
House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III
February: a book with red on the cover or spine
Our Own Devices, by Edward Tenner
March: a book recommended by a friend
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton DiScalfani
April: a book with at least five words in the title
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers
May: a book you should have read in high school
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
June: a book with an animal on the cover
Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, by Alexandra Horowitz
July: a book that starts with the first letter of your first name
Morning Poems, by Robert Bly
August: a book in a series
Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon
September: a translated book
If On a Winter's Night A Traveler, by Italo Calvino (translated from Italian)
October: a book set in a country other than your own
Ali & Nino, by Kurban Said
November: a book with a night scene on the cover
After Henry, by Joan Didion
December: a book with a winter element on the cover
Solo Faces, by James Salter
I have to say that I didn't pick many short books or gimmes this year. My shortest book is a book of poetry, which makes for complicated reading in its own right. It's going to be a tough go to get through this list, but I will give it the old college try. Wish me luck!
2022 was a good reading year for me! I finished nine of the books on my 2022 Reading Challenge (plus a few others), started and quit on one, and started but have yet to finish another one. Here's the run-down:
January: Winter Wonderland (set in a wonderful place - somewhere beautiful, with a rich culture, or magical)
The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey
READ
February: Seeing Red (with "red" in the title or a red cover; bonus points if it has both)
Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier
READ
March: Sub-Genre Sound Off (a sub-genre of your favorite genre)
Jack: A Life Like No Other, by Geoffrey Perret
Note:
I struggled with what my favorite genre was. Eventually I fell back on
history, because I was a history major in college and at one point it
was definitively my favorite. Plus, it was the category I could
easily divide into sub-categories on my bookshelf: history >>
American history >> the Kennedys.
STARTED AND QUIT. JUST NOT GOOD.
April: Classics or Currents (published before the year you were born or within the last year)
The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Note:
technically, the edition of this book that I have was not published
before I was born. However, the original was, so I'm going with it.
READ
May: Author Introduction (an author you've never read anything by)
The High Adventure of Eric Ryback, by Eric Ryback
READ
June: Name or Number (with a name or number in the title; bonus points if it has both)
The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley, by Jeremy Massey
READ
July:
Around or Out of this World (set in a country other than where you
live, or by an author from another country, or set in space or on
another planet)
Muddied Oafs: The Last Days of Rugger, by Richard Beard (British)
READ
August: Creature Feature (has a creature - mythical or real - on the cover)
Good Dog. Stay., by Anna Quindlen
READ
September: When Text Isn't Enough (includes more than just text - a map, illustrations, a family tree, letters, etc.)
The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Note:
I picked this one because it has so many special additions: maps, six
family trees, a pronunciation guide, and an appendix.
HAVE NOT STARTED
October: Thrills and Chills (ghost stories, haunted houses, true crime, murders - anything that keeps you on the edge of your seat)
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
READ
November: Dynamic Duos (with characters that make the perfect pair)
The Reading Promise, by Alice Ozma
STARTED BUT HAVE NOT FINISHED YET
December: Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice (holiday themes, love stories, happy cries, comedies - anything that makes you feel good)
The Incredible Journey, by Sheila Burnford
READ
K and I have selected a list for next year's reading challenge as well, which I will post soon!
I am proud to announce that, upon my third attempt, I have read Dracula in its entirety! Any, as I expected, I liked it. It's dark and creepy, but well-told. I can see why it became a classic, any why it has inspired so many later iterations in other forms of media. Maybe next year around Halloween I will undertake to watch some of the films inspired by the book. Among the better ones appear to be Nosferatu, the 1931 version of Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, the 1979 version starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier, and the 1992 version starring Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder.
Back to the book though. I very much enjoy stories that are told in an unconventional fashion. Dracula comes to us in the epistolary style, mostly through journal entries of the team that's fighting the vampire, plus a few letters, telegrams, and other documents. I wonder when I read a book like this if the author knew all along that it would take this form, or if the tale began as a straight narrative but the author later decided that a different telling would be better. And this is not just one person's journal; several of the characters journal entries are incorporated, as well as correspondence with other folks who play only a small, passing role but which is vital to move the story along. This multi-voice format requires the reader to integrate each person's perspectives in order to put together the full picture on the appropriate timeline.
I'm not sure that this is one that I'll go back and read again, but I sure am glad that I gave it the third try after so many years. Highly recommended!
