Snobs - Julian Fellowes

Snobs

Title: Snobs

Author: Julian Fellowes

Publication Date: 2004

Pages: 288

Genre: Chick Lit / Romance / Satire / Fiction

How I Found It: Julian Fellowes wrote Downton Abbey

Date Completed: 9/7/16

Summary: When Edith Lavery meets Charles, Earl Broughton and heir to even bigger titles, she seems to have met her dream. With Charles comes acceptance into the high-brow world of English aristocracy. But is it enough to make Edith happy?

What I Thought: This book was delightful. My Anglophilia was well sated. Think of this as Downton Abbey set in modern times. All the intrigue and colorful characters without the historical bent. After all, Fellowes was the writer and creator of that hit show not long after he wrote this book. 

I think what I enjoyed most about this book is how much it poked fun at the world. I love the idea of this world - my obsession with British royalty should have made that clear by now. And, because of the 100 Best Novels challenge, I have read so many books set in this world. Not the modern version, to be sure, but the antiquated Britain of Downton Abbey and the surrounding decades. If you've been following my progress on that challenge, you know I am bored to death with that genre at the moment. It's a genre I used to love, and yet the list is so saturated with it, the stories have become too familiar for me. Enter, Snobs. 

Zuleika Dobson - Max Beerbohm

Zuleika Dobson

Title: Zuleika Dobson

Author: Max Beerbohm

Publication Date: 1911

Pages: 252

Genre: Classic / Historical / Satire / Fiction

How I Found It: 100 Best Novels

Date Completed: 5/20/16

Summary: D-list celebrity of Edwardian Era, Zuleika Dobson arrives at Oxford to visit her grandfather. Her presence makes serious waves among the undergrads, most notably, the Duke of Dorset.

What I Thought: This is a fun little book. Zuleika is a detestable heroine, quite self-consumed and famous for...well, not a whole lot. She's technically a prestidigator (magician of sorts) by profession, but Beerbohm doesn't make her fame too convincing. Her character reminded me quite a bit of the Kardashian sisters - which makes sense. They are practically living satire in my mind.

Upon meeting Zuleika, young men everywhere seem to swoon and fall madly in love. It's quite ridiculous. Both the Duke of Dorset and his chum Noaks become enamored with her before even speaking to her. Dorset becomes so enthralled that he declares he shall commit suicide for her; this after she has spurned his advances. The rest of the undergraduate class pledges to follow suite, all in the name of the cold-hearted beauty. 

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

Catch-22

Title: Catch-22

Author: Joseph Heller

Publication Date: 1961

Pages: 453

Genre: Classic / Historical / Satire / Fiction

How I Found It: 100 Best Novels list

Date Completed: 5/13/16

Summary: Satire at its finest. America soldiers attempt to navigate the paradoxical elements of their lives and assignments in Italy during WWII.

What I Thought: This is one of the few from Modern Library's list that I had read previously. I remembered not enjoying it much, so I've put it off, despite the fact that it falls very early in the rankings. I was very much hoping to enjoy it more this time around. I figured, too, it deserved a second chance. It's on the list for a reason, after all.

I'm glad I gave it another shot. While I still was not blown away in awe or inspired to read more of Heller's work, I had a much greater appreciation for the novel this time around. I think there are a few reasons for that.

First of all, I'm not sure exactly when I read it before, but I am at least five years older than I was the first time around. That gives me a much stronger grasp of sarcasm and its virtues. Don't get me wrong - I've been employing sarcasm personally for decades, but it can be much more difficult in literary form. I got it a lot better this time around. I understood what Heller was trying to express through the absurd circumstances and foolish dialogue.

Texts from Jane Eyre - Mallory Ortberg

Texts from Jane Eyre

Title: Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters

Author: Mallory Ortberg

Publication Date: 11/4/14

Pages: 226

Genre: Satire / Fiction

How I Found It: Unabridged Chick

Date Completed: 5/5/15

Summary: Characters from literature of all eras (ancient to classic to modern) communicate in imaginative text conversations. 

What I Thought: This book is exactly what I anticipated, and delightfully so. It plays exactly to my sense of humor. To the chagrin of my husband, I prefer intellectual humor - anything where pre-existing knowledge is required to understand the joke. Ortberg delivers exactly that. If you are unfamiliar with the source material, these witty conversations will make little sense to you. If, however, you have read whatever literature Ortberg happens to be pulling from at that moment, then you may find yourself laughing out loud as I did. 

The Circle - Dave Eggers

The Circle

Once in a while, you read a book and you know it has something important to say. Those books don't seem to often come wrapped in a fiction package, but this is an exception.

The Circle by Dave Eggers could not have been more well-timed of a post for today. I swear, guys, I did not plan this to come days after Apple's latest release. It just happened and it's perfect.

The book centers around a company called the Circle. It's a tech conglomerate most easily compared to Apple or Google in our world. It seems to be taking place not all that far in the future. Everything presented is easily imaginable and most of it is probably already being discussed in research and development labs at real-life tech innovation companies.

The story is about a woman named Mae Holland. She gets a job at the Circle thanks to her longtime friend Annie, who is now a high-level employee herself. The company is a dream to work for and their campus is practically utopian. In fact, when I saw this article about Google's campus today, I almost laughed out loud because it reminded me of the book...sort of. From there, Mae gets more and more wrapped up in the company, eventually becoming their spokesperson for "transparency," a new way of living where you wear a camera around your neck and broadcast everything about your day to anyone online who is interested. 

Sound a little crazy? That's the thing. Eggers does such a great job of leading Mae and culture itself down a road of small steps to show how such an idea isn't so far off base and unrealistic as you may think. He also does a good job having his characters, Mae and the Circle founders in particular, argue in favor of the technology and other things in the same vein. 

Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five

As I mentioned on Monday, my posting schedule is a bit off this week.  Rather than the typical Tuesday/Thursday posts, I am spacing out three posts this week.  Hopefully you stopped by on Monday to read about The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.  Today, I am once again touching on a book from the 100 Best Novels list.  Before you raise your hand and complain that I am not delivering the variety I promised for this week, take heart in the fact that Slaughterhouse-Five is about as far from Brodie as one can get.

Back in high school, I remember being given a list of books to choose from for a project. Slaughterhouse-Five had made the list and one of my classmates chose it.  I remember having only a vague impression of Kurt Vonnegut's work; it was out there.  Don't ask what I picked; I'm sure it was something far from controversial.

Had I read Slaughterhouse-Five as a high school sophomore, I undoubtedly would have had a much different opinion of it than I do now.  The book is a bit "out there."  It is a satirical look at WWII and alien abduction.  Yes, both of those things. The aliens are what take it a bit off the rails for me.

I Am America (And So Can You!) - Stephen Colbert

I Am America (And So Can You!)

I did it!  52 books in one year!  There will be several wrap up posts coming as well as some ideas about 2013 and the future.  For now, though, I am content to celebrate meeting (and surpassing!) my goal.  I knew Christmas break would come through for me, and it has.  

It seems oddly appropriate to have reached the finish line on this ridiculous little book with its nonsensical, feel-good title.  While preparing this post, I struggled to even qualify what genre label it deserved.  It is not fiction, but I hesitate to call it non-fiction as Stephen Colbert's outlandish statements should be taken with more than a grain of salt.  I finally settled on creating an entirely new blog label just for this book: satire.  Nothing else fit quite right and Colbert is nothing if not satirical.  For those unfamiliar with Colbert, he hosts a "news" show on Comedy Central.  He plays an uber-conservative, right-wing version of himself.  You can't really understand unless you watch some clips of his show.