Book 4 - Motherless Brooklyn

Motherless Brooklyn

By, Jonathan Lethem

311 pages - 3.50 stars

This is another of those books that ends up on my Amazon wishlist and I have no real recollection of where I got the recommendation. In writing this post I did a quick search for the title and it turns out the book is not a new one - it was published back in 1999 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.

Huh, well look at that.

I picked it off my wishlist, got it as a gift for Christmas, and started reading it earlier this year with little to no expectations. Motherless Brooklyn tells the story of some low level, petty criminals who get involved in some larger schemes (inadvertently for some) and are thrown in to the crime family arena. It follows some standard crime novel, hard boiled, detective fiction plot paths and tricks but it's a good book. Even though it stays true to its genre, it's inventive enough that it doesn't feel like just another detective novel.

Lethem's characters are cliche in some ways but they still feel three-dementional and he throws the reader a curveball with his narrator - who suffers from tourette's - but manages to not become a caricature in the novel. For the most part, you know Lionel (the tourettic detective) through his inner narration, a 1st person's account of what's happening via the play by play in his head. His tourette's only makes itself known in his interactions with the others in the book and in this Lethem manages to make Lionel a vulnerable character that you identify with. Because you know him through his internal voice he never seems like the "freak show" that he seems to others around him so the reader builds an affinity and a loyalty to Lionel, wanting to shield him from the cruelty of everyone else; even as he's physically beating a suspect.

I'm not gonna spoil the mystery for you but only partially because I want to save it for you. The mystery seems almost secondary to Lionel's story in the book so months later what I remember is him and not the surprising ending.

An interesting tidbit: my google search also returned an IMDB listing for a movie "in development" of the same title. Slated for 2013, it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

Check out the Salon Review here.

Bob's Sandwich Challenge... Thwarted Again!

Alright, alright... I know. Here I am, talking about this weekly sandwich challenge and really, I'm only eating sandwiches every other week. Well, you have a point there... but to be honest, there's a lot of food out there and it's not all in sandwich form. Some of it comes in funfetti cake, some of it comes in the form of an entire pig (more on that later), and some of it comes... in beautiful, foil-wrapped packages of brisket.

That's right ladies and gentlemen. I said brisket. Nate decided it was time to give the ole smoker another turn on the dance floor and decided that this time, he'd give brisket a try. He's only used the smoker once to date (last fall - ribs) but I know he's been eager to break it out again. We picked up an 11 pound mother of a brisket at the Meat House in Arlington (an amazing meat shoppe BTW) which he trimmed and rubbed yesterday. Today, we started bright and early and after a few hiccups (i.e. starting the smoker on the 3rd floor porch only to have to move it downstairs) we were off to the races... you know, metaphorically.

Even with the hiccups, Nate did an amazing job with the brisket. It was succulent but crispy - amazing. I'm pretty sure I can't say it better than:

For the record, I wasn't sitting on my laurels while Nate was smoking the beef. I did some serious yardwork and pulled together some yummy sides (if I don't say so myself) for our impromptu BBQ - watermelon & strawberry salad, sweet & spicy coleslaw, baked beans, corn muffins, and rice krispy treats.

Nom.

Goal: Guest Post!

I know I've been a little slow in sharing my new goals with you - I'm using Day Zero (more on them later) to build a list of 101 goals to be accomplished in 1001 days. The site was down for awhile so I lost some time but I'm pushing forward and I'm happy to tell you that I've accomplished one of my goals - guest posting on someone else's blog.

This goal was a bit of a cheat since I knew I'd be doing it but... just the same, I'm pretty excited and it feels great to check something off. Last fall, Sara (blogger over at 2000 dollar wedding) put out a call for guest posts on her blog while she took some much needed mom time after the birth of her baby. I haven't used Quitsville for much wedding stuff but let's just say that I have a lot of things to share after my experience with getting married; some really happy things and some challenges, which I think don't get as much attention as they should.

So, voila! My guest post: Keeping Bridal Expectations at Bay

I'm pretty proud of my post and, all these months later, am happy to say that it remains true to my experiences and thoughts. I hope that it will help some brides to be to stay themselves and to take it all with a grain of salt.