The Bookhive List: 'The Dream of a Common Language' by Adrienne Rich

I came to Adrienne Rich via Cheryl Strayed and Wild and while that is not necessarily something to brag about, I do think it would make Cheryl Strayed incredibly happy. Wild was about literature and grief as much as it was about hiking and recovery and her inclusion of the books that were meaningful to her at that point in her life seemed incredibly deliberate. Especially because she left her favorite quotes as her signature in all of the trail books, suggesting a desire to share her favorite authors with the world.

Anyway, I read The Dream of a Common Language because she made it sound so entrancing, and it was a rich and rewarding experience that I've already indulged in a few more times. Like Strayed, I feel a strong desire to take it with me. This is a book that will probably go on some camping trips this summer. It is deeply personal but somehow manages to be very political, a feat it pulls off so gracefully. If you haven't spent much time with contemporary or feminist poetry, this is the essential text (in my humble opinion) to get you started.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

Books For TV Lovers: 'Portlandia'

Season 5 of IFC's 'Portlandia' premiered on January 8, much to my delight, especially now that I've visited Portland a few times. Please enjoy this ten minute long feminist bookstore sketch compilation, and then read the following books, which will help you fully immerse in 'Portlandia':

Wild by Cheryl Strayed - I'm just going to keep recommending it, so get used to it. Strayed is a notable Portland resident these days, and the movie includes an Art Alexakis cameo.

Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon (out February 24) - In lieu of a book about/by Sleater Kinney's Carrie Brownstein, this should more than suffice.

Any book you buy from Powells, Portland's awesome new/used bookstore. They have a great website, by the way, and are one of the nation's best alternatives if you're anti-Amazon.

A Beverly Cleary novel - The much-beloved children's book author grew up in Portland. My favorite is the epistolary novel Dear Mr. Henshaw.

Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey - Kesey is a pretty famous Oregon resident and University of Oregon alumni, and this novel is about - what else? - the logging industry.

A Few Thoughts on 'Wild'...

It's no secret that I really enjoyed and admired Cheryl Strayed's Wild and I took every opportunity to endorse and recommend it. I'm not the type of purist who gets upset over every film adaptation of a good book, and I was actually pretty excited to see 'Wild' when I heard Reese Witherspoon would be the star. I had the opportunity to see it over my holiday vacation and I was pretty happy with the results. 

My biggest concern going into it was that it would become too much of a "feel-good" movie; part of what I really loved about the book was that it narrated a very inspirational story while simultaneously exploring an incredibly dark and difficult time in Strayed's life, and the writer/director did a great job of never allowing the film to indulge in those 'Eat, Pray, Love'-type moments. The hike through the Pacific Crest Trail was about healing, not redemption for Strayed, in real life and as a movie character. 

My husband, who had no exposure to the book, found the timeline a bit confusing, which I agreed with although I thought it was effective in that the flashbacks weren't functioning just as narrative pinpoints but also as Strayed's inner dialogue while hiking, which made the somewhat chaotic and even repetitive nature of them work, at least for me.

I'll add an additional big kudos to the film for maintaining the really important literary references in the book, which were another thing that I absolutely loved about it. There is a crazy number of shots of Reese Witherspoon reading books, and even more discussions about books between her and Laura Dern, who plays Strayed's mother. It could easily have been dismissed as not translating well to film and been left out, which would have been a missed opportunity to develop those characters and their relationship, and I was impressed with how organically it was incorporated.

The Gift of Books: At the Movies

Most people use their Christmas vacations as an opportunity to go see all the Oscar-bait movies of the year. Show those people how much you judge them by giving them the gift of the book upon which the movies are based, which are inherently better.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed -- Fucking duh, guys. This book is fantastic and the movie looks especially great. Reese Witherspoon is a definite favorite for the 'Best Actress' categories, plus, thanks to 'The Mindy Project,' a "Wreath' Witherspoon is a new holiday tradition

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand -- The Daddest Dad that ever Dadded. Your dad probably already keeps this book next to the toilet, but just in case he's unaware of books written by women, get him this one. It's this year's version of Team of Rivals (the book that inspired 'Lincoln').

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon -- I'm not officially endorsing this because I hate Thomas Pynchon, but I love Paul Thomas Anderson more than I hate TP, so I will be seeing this movie, and skipping the book, like a true American.

"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" by Raymond Carver -- A bit of a stretch, but the characters of 'Birdman' are working on a theatrical adaptation of this short story. The whole thing is very meta, and I have no idea if reading the story will enhance your understanding of an otherwise confusing but great film.

Honorable Mentions: 'The Hobbit' by JRR Tolkein and 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay' by Suzanne Collins -- It is extremely likely that everyone has already read these books, but just in case they haven't, this is the final opportunity before it is officially too late to get in on these cultural touchstones.

This Week in Books Ursual K. Le Guin Breaks the Internet

The NYT asked authors Gillian Flynn and Cheryl Strayed to discuss women authors and women characters and the experience of having your runaway best-seller optioned for a movie adaptation by Reese Witherspoon.

Usual K. LeGuin was the recipient of an award for her distinguished contribution to American letters at the National Book Awards (hence her inclusion in this week's #ReadWomen2014) and she used the acceptance speech to throw shade at the literary community for largely ignoring writers of genre fiction, like herself. She also is not a fan of Amazon, apparently.

Meanwhile, there were some surprises in this year's National Book Awards recipients; I was very pleased to see Louise Gluck and Jacqueline Wilson win for poetry and young people's fiction, respectively, and was very surprised that Marilynne Robinson didn't take home the prize for Lila, which is certainly still a contender for every other major literary award for 2014.

This Week in Books: Upcoming 2014 titles, Southern reads, and a 'Wild' trailer

The Millions has a thorough preview of upcoming book releases for 2014, and the list is ridiculous. What I especially noticed was how many authors were defying their normal genres and expectations-- a children's book re-telling by Lydia Davis, a very straightforward narrative novel by Murakami, and short story collections from Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood. There is so much on the list to get excited about. I'll be waist-deep in essay collections from Amy Pohler, Roxane Gay and Lena Dunham

I found this lovely discussion on favorite Southern novels by Southern independent bookstore staffers, and thought it was a nice follow-up to my Flannery O'Connor/ Carson McCullers binges.

It's pretty lucky that the official trailer for 'Wild' (based on the book by Cheryl Strayed), came out this week, a few days  after I posted about how much I loved it. The adaptation looks excellent, and I think Reese Witherspoon is a great choice for the role, but I'm still going to strongly advocate reading the book. Normally I'm not a big stickler about literary adaptations, but the book is so great and very bookish, that I think some of its magic will naturally get lost in the translation. I bought my mom a copy of this book last year, so this might have to be a mother-daughter trip to the movies.