"the ravine" by paul quarrington

poor phil mcquigge. once a successful television writer and producer, he now spends his time drunk-dialling and writing an autobiographical novel. his wife is leaving him, he can't connect to his daughters and he feels guilt over the mysterious death of his former show's star. he narrows his life's misery down to a childhood incident in the titular ravine and embarks on figuring out the missing pieces of the event.

paul quarrington is incredible. his writing is effortless, flowing seamlessly from past to present. he has an uncanny ability for dialogue, directly transporting his readers to a specific time and place. the aspect of meta-fiction is also interesting as quarrington is writing about a writer who is writing a book.

a great and quick read. definitely recommended.

"when you are engulfed in flames" by david sedaris

when i discovered david sedaris a few years ago, i was almost livid that no one had introduced me to his work before. here was a writer i wanted to be; how easy, i thought, to simply write funny moments from your life, turning them into stories that are as enjoyable as they are intelligent. i attempted to write my own personal anecdotes, but i never came close to sedaris' brilliance and realized that he has a superhuman talent for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

his newest collection of essays suggest a wiser and more mature sedaris. he's settled down, stopped smoking and recalls his days of drinking and drugging rather than living them. while his sardonic wit and wonderful observations are in tact, i found myself not often laughing out loud or smiling as i had when reading his other books. as i sped through this book in a few days, there's no question it's immensely readable, hilarious and entertaining, but perhaps this older sedaris is mellowing out, preferring subtleness to extravagance. and i'm ok with that.

"the glass castle" by jeannette walls

"the glass castle" is another one of those jaw-dropping hard-to-believe-it's-true memoirs. however, it's compelling and moving and well-written and easy to read.

jeannette walls' childhood involved getting severely burnt at the age of 4 when cooking hot dogs for herself, making her own braces, colouring her legs with markers in an attempt to hide the holes in her pants, sewing a gash in her father's arm with needle and thread, eating food found in trash cans at school and sleeping in a cardboard box. to say her parents were laissez-faire would be an understatement; the walls' believing in self-sufficiency and learning from your mistakes. often full of tales of neglect and abuse, jeannette never plays the victim and the story comes off as a unique and entertaining memoir overflowing with life lessons and truths.

"water for elephants" by sara gruen

this book had a quote comparing it to john irving on the front. if that's not a prelude to disappointment, i don't know what is.

90something jacob jankowski recalls his days as a vetrinarian in a circus during depression-era america. he makes good friends, mortal enemies and falls in love with the star of the equestrian act, marlena, and a polish-understanding elephant, rosie.

the story took me a while to get in to, but i commend gruen for the painstaking research she evidently required to realistically portray not only the 1930's, but a travelling circus in the 1930's.