despite the cheese....

Ok, has anyone noticed how much blatant cheese has found its way onto prime time lately?

And I'm not talking about Glee (eee!). Rather, tonight Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was on. And I maybe sort of got pulled in. Pulled into a movie that stars the Bee Gees, and the only speaking part belongs to George Burns.

So bizarre.

I also watched Some Kind of Wonderful the other night. Sometimes, Gilmore Girls episodes make you think a movie (written by John Hughes) is a must-see cultural touchstone. And sometimes that's completely wrong.

(Even though my heart totally melted on this closing line: "You look good wearing my future.")

Anyway.... You probably came here to read about books.

And so I offer you something you might think would be cheesy, like Sex and the City but in Riyadh (not Abu Dhabi).

But Girls of Riyadh is more than chick lit fare. It pushes the edges of your expectations on several levels -- to read it is to learn about a completely different culture, and to re-evaluate romance and fairy tales.

On its surface, it's not well written. I blame this in part on the translation -- in fact, the author notes before the start of the novel that the original text incorporated classic Arabic with so-called "mongrel Arabic," language that would encompass Saudi turns of phrase, Lebanese-Arabic and English-Arabic. I can't imagine that's easy to translate to English, and so I can see why some of the phrasing is not only awkward, but actually reaching to sound cool and modern.

I also blame it on the mix of styles; Rajaa Alsanea asks you to imagine each chapter is an e-mail being sent out to young Saudis by an anonymous writer each week. So the bulk of the chapter is told in a traditional story-telling manner -- and this is the part that draws you in. But the start of each chapter is a message from the writer, mildly taunting, sometimes including excerpts from the Koran. I see the magic of what Alsanea is doing; she is setting the scene, signalling how closed and secret a society she is discussing. (But getting what she's doing doesn't mean I like the way these intros are written.)

But seriously, I recommend this novel to anyone who wants to learn something new and also enjoy a book like you'd enjoy a fairly good dessert.

remember who you are

Ok, this might be my favourite book dedication ever:

Mom and Dad,

I could never have done this without your faith, support, and constant encouragement. Thank you for teaching me to believe in myself, in God, and in my dreams.

This book...aside from the nine F-words, thirteen Sh-words, four A-holes, page 257, and the entire Warren Beatty chapter...is dedicated to you.

You might want to avoid chapters twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, anything I quote Mom saying, and most of the end as well.

Sorry. Am I still as cute as a button?

Love,

Elna

Cute, right? It's from The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance. So far, hilarious.

I'm in the mountains for a few days, and have a pile of books to read. Literally, a pile. Think Cameron Diaz in The Holiday. Yes, I watched that movie. What of it?

My get-relaxed-quick readings include:

Margaret Laurence's The Fire-Dwellers (a companion, it appears, to Laurence's A Jest of God);

Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman;

Michael Ignatieff's The Russian Album;

Rajaa Alsanea's Girls of Riyadh;

Lizzie Skurnick's Shelf Discovery;

Karen Blixen's Out of Africa;

Joseph Boyden's Through Black Spruce;

and Elizabeth Hay's Garbo Laughs.

Yes, lugging this many books through an airport does land you in a conversation with security folks who have novel suggestions. (Apparently I should read Cormac McCarthy.)