Category: 1001 Books
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
I am in awe of blogs that have weekly summaries. Apparently, some people not only read a book a week (OR MORE,) but do other things, such as buy new books, take part in memes and challenges, and even blog. My pace is a little slower, but the end of summer feels right for an update and a look ahead.
How I Spent My Summer
You will have acid flashbacks. Even if you never did acid.
- I updated my About page. Now with more about my awkward teenage years!
- I added a Book Blogs and Websites page. These are the websites I visit on the regular, all focused on modern and classic literary fiction. I even found a few 1,001 Books readers!
- I updated my 1,001 Books list. I’ve only finished three list books this year, but two of them were doozies. See my reviews of The Magic Mountain and The Idiot.
- You may recall that I made some grand plans for my summer reading that involved reading some local books. See my review of Americas, including a brief summary of magical realism in the 1,001 Books. I would like to read from From Away by local author Michelle Ferguson, but I’m learning the hard way why you should not lend books, ESPECIALLY SIGNED COPIES, to anyone, even your mom.
- I read my books swap picks, which are also 1,001 Books (convenient!) Reviews are coming soon(ish). SPOILERS: The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul was okay. Vineland is blowing my mind; about 100 pages to go.
- I met a bunch of Edmonton Book Bloggers for coffee, and nabbed a few books in the process. Thanks to Kristilyn for organizing our little group!
- I posted my birth stories. I know most of you aren’t in to that. That’s okay. Moving along.
- I wrote something for Make Jen’s Day. If you have kids, you may relate to this. If you don’t have kids, this may scare you off of having any. Either way, check out the site, it’s a very cool way to promote random acts of kindness.
What’s Up Next
It was motivating to have an end-of-year goal in 2011, even though I didn’t quite make it. This year, I’m on maternity leave, so I should have plenty of time to read, right? Hah! I have a very high-energy two year old who screeches when I’m not in his sight, and a six month old who doesn’t sleep. I’m in survival mode right now, and am lucky to read ten pages per day.
I recently came to an interesting (obvious?) realization; when I don’t read, I’m not happy. A few weeks ago, I was feeling burnt out to the point that I though I had postpartum depression again. I was also going days without picking up a book. Am I unhappy because I’m not reading, or am I not reading because I’m unhappy? Either way, I need to make reading a priority, but without a lot of pressure.
So, my 2012 goal is to read everyday. That’s it. Could be a chapter, a page, or a sentence.
It’s very exclusive.
Well, okay, there’s a little more to it than that. Here are some specific plans and goals for the rest of the year.
- Read one more from the 1,001 Books list.
- Write a guest post for Reading in Winter. I’m really excited about this one. I’m participating in “4 Weeks of Bookish Things,” and my theme is paranormal. I’m thinking of an overview of the paranormal in classic lit… beyond the obvious Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Watch for my post on Sept. 28!
- Join The Classics Club. The concept is simple, but I’m really excited to join the community and meet new people. Each member chooses 50 (or more) classics and commits to read them over the next five years. I’m basically doing this anyway with the 1,001 Books, but it’ll be a good exercise to put some thought into what I want to read. Plus, it’s as close as I’ll get to joining The Finer Things Club.
What are your reading goals for Fall?
Keepin’ it Real. Magically Real.
Jason Lee Norman’s short story collection Americas was brought to my attention on Twitter. When I found out that Norman is a local author, I was inspired to write a post about reading local.
I really had to restrain myself from calling this post “Americas! Fuck Yeah!”
I read Americas right after a three-month slog through The Idiot, and didn’t know what to expect. I knew it was a collection of short stories, with one for each country in North, Central and South America. I didn’t expect to find magical realism. I associate magical realism with South American authors, and with epic novels that follow a family across generations. It was surprising to find it here, though the opening quote from Jorge Luis Borges should have been my first clue.
For those who didn’t study magical realism in school (thanks Mr. Jefferies of Grade 12 IB English), here’s the wikipedia definition:
…an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the “real” and the “fantastic” in the same stream of thought.
Americas starts with Canada and works south. Canada was my favourite, because it was so familiar. Those “A Part of Our Heritage” commercials play a prominent part. I had vivid memories of sitting on my couch at home, watching The Simpsons after school. A nice, safe feeling.
From there, things get weird. Magically weird! By the time I got to Venezuela, I knew something was up. It starts with “In Venezuela, all the children are adopted from South Korea.” In my sleep deprived brain, I actually wondered for a moment if there was some adoption agreement between these countries. Each chapter begins this way; “In [country], [absurd statement].” There’s something really disarming about such a simple structure, and such short stories, taking on the magical realism genre. Chile’s story mixes real life (the Chilean miners who got stuck underground) with the fantastic (window washers stuck in the sky at the same time) and gets it just right.
The stories are really, really short. They’re more like scenes or maybe dream sequences. You will finish this book in one sitting.
Read this if you’re a fan of magical realism. Read this if you want to try magical realism, but are scared of long, translated-from-Spanish family sagas (I don’t blame you.) Four stars!
Further reading: Here are my favorite magical realism books from the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die:
Maybe I didn’t like it because the cover is so ugly.
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This is in my top five books EVER. I have read this multiple times, and will read it many more. It’s that good. See my post about it here.
100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I was forced to read this in grade 12. Everyone in this book has the same name, which is a challenge, but it’s worth it.
Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel. I read this last year in my bid to make it to 100 of the 1,001 books read. It was much quicker, easier, and less dense than the Marquez books, but still has that elusive magical quality.
The House if the Spirits, Isabel Allende. I think I read this for high school English. Mr. Jefferies was kind of into South American literature. This was my least favourite of the bunch, but upon reading the plot summary, I think I need to revisit it. Lots of pregnancy and child birth symbolism!
The Invisible Women
Seriously, every cover of every edition of The Idiot and The Magic Mountain feature some brooding, intense looking dude. Where the ladies at?
Two of my major reads of the past six months were Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot. I knew very little about either going in, and was surprised to find they have similarities beyond the obvious (long, difficult, written by dead white dudes.) Both stories are written from the perspective of a young, naive male protagonist on the fringes of society. Both young men have a complicated relationship with a beautiful, mysterious, and morally suspect young woman. And of course, no one lives happily ever after.
Months after finishing these books, I’m still thinking about those mysterious women. They are mysterious because we never hear their side. They come and go from the story as needed, and with little or no explanation as to where they’ve been. They are both notably absent from large sections of the story.
Were these characters merely there to move the plot along? To help the hero reach his goal? To personify the usual madonna/whore view of women? Remember, both books were written in the 1800s. Feminism wasn’t really a thing.
Whatever the authors’ intentions, they left me wanting more. In particular, I want to know what happened to The Magic Mountain’s Clavdia between leaving the mountain and returning as the mistress of the equally eccentric and mysterious Mynheer Peeperkorn. She`s married, too, so presumably she`s juggling a husband in addition to her lover(s).
Oh god. I just realized this is probably how fan fiction started. Well, that, and the need to make various characters have sex with each other. Don’t worry, I have neither the time nor the inclination to write Magic Mountain fan fiction. Can you imagine?
Is there a character who left you wanting more? Have you ever wished a book was written from another character’s perspective? Have I just rationalized the existence of fan fiction?
PS: While Google image searching for an “invisible woman” picture, I discovered that a movie about Charles Dickens’ secret mistress will be released in 2013. A post about literary movies is coming soon!
Don’t Wanna Be A 19th Century Russian Idiot
The Idiot is #861 on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.
First things first. I know that I never post regularly, but this time I have an excuse. An adorable excuse!
Henry Keith Frey, born February 15th 2012.
With my first son, I didn’t read one word (other than baby books, which, yuck, that’s a whole other post) from about eight months pregnant to six months post partum. I also suffered from a severe case of mom brain. I used to think the whole baby brain/mom brain concept was sexist, but having experienced it, I can say that it’s true – pregnancy and child birth makes you dumber. That’s why I was so determined to reach 100 books, and to make #100 a doozy, before baby #2. I was afraid that this time, it would be worse. I might never read from the list again. I might have to start reading chick lit. Or The Hunger Games. Or 50 Shades of Grey. *shudder*
After triumphing over The Magic Mountain, I put the list aside, and ended up reading some great books (Half Blood Blues, Slammerkin, The Lover’s Dictionary) and some so-so books (The Virgin Cure, The Happiness Hypothesis, Juliet Naked, The Help). (Psst: Hover over titles for mini-reviews.) All this while in the end stages of pregnancy or with a very demanding newborn. And all thanks to TECHNOLOGY!
Not a great shot, but I will not risk him waking up to take another. That’s “The Idiot” on my Kobo. Trust me.
And I don’t even like my Kobo. The buttons are clunky, it’s slow to load, it’s a base model with no wireless and no touchscreen, and the free books don’t work. It doesn’t have the look and feel and smell of a real book. It makes Jonathan Frazen cranky. BUT I CAN READ WITH ONE HAND. And that has made all the difference in the world.
FYI, if you use Spark Notes, be prepared for spoilers. Yes, it’s still a spoiler even if it was written 150 years ago!
There is NO WAY I would be reading a heavy, thick book like Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot in traditional form. The only time I get “to myself” is while nursing (if you classify having another human being attached to you as time to yourself) and now I can read!
Until I started The Idiot, I was pretty smug about the mom brain thing – not this time, reading will keep my mind sharp. But the Russian names and complex plotting and character development are throwing me a bit. I’m having a hard time keeping the characters and their motivations straight. So now, I’ve got my Kobo in one hand, and SparkNotes on my phone so I can refer to the character list and read plot summaries. I’m not proud that I need this much help, but, I’m working on the list… on very limited sleep… and feeling pretty good about it.
I need to finish before I can fully comment, but, I’m finding similar themes as in The Magic Mountain – a naive young man meets and unconventional woman; corruption through drinking and disease; you know, light stuff. But more important that the ins and outs of this book – I won’t be an “idiot” on this maternity leave. I’m excited to get through even more great books in between Curious George and Little Critter’s adventures.
“A fool with a heart and no sense is just as unhappy as a fool with sense and no heart.”
One Hundred
The Magic Mountain is #706 on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and #9 on the Novel 100.
They made a movie! In Germany, I guess.
Finishing Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain” means that I have read 10% of the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Okay, 9.99%. Still. I’ve read 100 of the best books ever written. According to some people, anyway!
I’ve been choosing short books for months now to help me reach my goal, so this 850 page clunker was daunting. It took me nearly two months to read, and I was glossing over some of the boring parts.
Yes, even great books have boring parts. My sister just finished “The Count of Monte Cristo” and now claims that every book written before 1940 has a bunch of boring , wordy crap in the middle. It does feel that way sometimes.
“The Magic Mountain” has a series of philosophical debates between two supporting characters. It was reminiscent of the asides in Atlas Shrugged. This is not a good thing. They come out of nowhere and leave you thinking “What?? What about the characters, what’s happening to them?”
The introduction (by one of my favourite authors ever, A.S. Byatt) addresses these issues. What happens to the characters isn’t really the point. This book is about personal discovery, it’s about Europe, it’s about time and space and sickness and health and on and on. I would have loved to write an essay on this book, you could pick any topic you wanted!
I *wanted* more of the love story, but the female lead sort of fades away near the end of the book. Apparently Thomas Mann himself said that you must read this book twice to truly understand it. I’m not sure if I’ll take him up on that.
For now, my big push for 100 of the 1001 books is done. Baby #2 is due in about two weeks, so the coming months are going to be about survival, in general, and in reading. I’m stepping away from goals and plans and will consider ANY reading to be great success. After baby #1, I didn’t read for six months. I’m hoping to keep reading and keep my sanity this time.
While I sit at home on sick leave, I’m reading another book about Germans, Half Blood Blues. I’ll get back to the list sometime, but till then, I’m reading what I want! FREEDOM!
I’ve leave you with some dirty talk, Thomas Mann style:
“The body, love, death, are simply one and the same. Because the body is sickness and depravity, it is what produces death, yes, both of them, love and death, are carnal, and that is the source of their great terror and magic… Consider the marvelous symmetry of the human frame, the shoulders and the ribs arranged in pairs, and the navel set amid the supply belly, and the dark sexual organs between the thighs… Let me take in the exhalation of your pores, and brush the down – oh, my human image made of water and protein, destined for the contours of the grave, let me perish, my lips against yours!”
It’s Good to Have Goals
Reading is bed is dangerous. I called this blog “Reading in Bed” after an Emily Haines song, and also because I do 99% of my reading in bed. Most nights I read in bed until my eyes begin to cross and words start to blur.
The danger is that I forget at least the last page or two of what I’ve read, and, that I never blog about my reading because I lose consciousness immediately after I’m done. I often think to myself “oo! Must blog about this book/chapter/passage/line” but when I wake up, the motivation is gone.
So, I haven’t been blogging, but I have been reading. I am on #94 in my quest to read 100 of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die before the end of the year. And I’m really excited about what I’m reading now (The Grapes of Wrath) and what I’m going to be reading soon:
Good reads coming up!
I’m going to be really proud of myself if I reach 100 books by the end of the year. When I set my goal I didn’t count on getting pregnant, with the attendant exhaustion and stupidity. I didn’t count on us moving and all the craziness that will (hopefully) ensue. It’s going to be a tough go but maybe I can save my hormone-addled brain with a few- say, six- good books.
Emo Quotes
“There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself”
Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye
The Long Goodbye is full of fantastic one-liners. This is my favourite so far. I love this because it’s completely spot on for the character, yet it’s something I could have written in my diary as a fifteen-year old. You know, had I been a brilliant writer.
Library Fail
I used to wear this on a t-shirt in my “gifted” classes. AND NOW IT’S ALL TRUE.
The Age of Innocence is #726 in the 2007 Edition of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.
So, I finished my “had to read” book, and went to the library to get back on track with The List.
I went to my neighbourhood branch, so the selection isn’t that great, but I perused the shelves looking for classics. You can usually spot them by their rather boring covers!
First I selected “Child of God” by Cormac McCarthy. Never heard of the book, but he is the author of “All the Pretty Horses”; a book I have heard of, and was made into a movie. So, I gave it about a 75% chance this other book would be on The List.
Then I spotted one of my favourite books, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Pure soapy drama, but devastatingly sad and funny and rich. I thought I’d grab another of her books, The House of Mirth, as I was 100% is was on The List, AND I really want to read more by her.
I get home, and lo and behold – poor Mr. McCarthy is not on The List at all! The book sounds intriguing, and it’s fairly short, so I may give it a shot anyway, after The House of Mirth… but… on closer inspection… I grabbed The Age of Innocence by mistake in my excitement.
And so, I am reading Aesop’s Fables for free on my Kobo. That will be a whole other post, but man, do I feel stupid. Does “baby brain” have an expiry date? This doesn’t bode well for me actually breaking 100 out of the 1001 books this year!
Writing in the Margins
Heart of Darkness is #780 in the 2007 Edition of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. The Stone Angel and Mercy Among the Children are not on the list, but should be.
I’m reading a book right now because I have to. Not because it’s on The List, but because I have to, for work (I`m going to an event where the keynote speech will be about Clay Shirky’s `”Cognitive Surplus”).
It’s a been a long time since I “had” to read something. It got me thinking about reading for pleasure vs. reading for school or for work. Sometimes, I think analyzing a book to death can ruin the experience. I read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad in Grade 12 English, and years later, I can’t just read it; I can only see it in bits and pieces – oh, yeah, here’s an example of racist colonial attitudes. Here`s an example of the untamed jungle symbolizing… whatever (it`s been a while). I *know* it`s a great book. But I just can`t see it.
But, I read Wuthering Heights in the same class and it`s stuck with me as one of my all-time favourites, despite endlessly cataloguing the ways in which weather parallels the character`s personalities. Seriously… it rains a lot, and everyone is depressed, and I GET IT. I also remember reading The Stone Angel by Margret Laurence in Grade 11, but I don`t remember writing the paper. I don`t really remember much about that English class at all, except for the day that the teacher told me to “be the heroine of [my] own life” (like the main character, Hagar is – she’s the model of a tough broad). That encapsulates the whole novel for me, and I thought it was super profound at the time. Okay, I still do!
Then there are books I wish I’d read in school. I just don’t have the time or brain power to really think them through anymore. I would have loved to have heard what an English teacher thinks about David Adams Richard’s Mercy Among the Children. It’s in my top ten, and I still don’t fully get it. Gist of the story: man makes a pact to never do harm to another human being. This simple choice destroys his life and the lives of his family, but he can’t let go of his promise. But what does it all *mean*?
Sigh!
And I really miss highlighting and making notes in the margin! I can’t be the only one. I pretty much read library books now, and it makes me sad that I can’t mark them up. I’m probably dating myself. Do “kids these days” even mark up books? How is this going to work with e-readers? So many questions!
Anyways. Did English class ruin books for you? Or did it give you a chance to really get into them in a way you can’t today? Or did you skip out and go to the mall?
I probably used this quote in my Grade 12 HoD paper. Descriptions of nature *always* symbolize something. “Nature herself had tried to ward off intruders; in and out of rivers, streams of death in life, whose banks were rotting into mud, whose waters, thickened into slime, invaded the contorted mangroves, that seemed to writhe at us in the extremity of an impotent despair.”
Wuther or Not…
Wuthering Heights is #902 in the 2007 Edition of 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.
So, I watch Coronation Street. There’s a b-list plot about obsessive-compulsive shopkeeper Norris going on a Wuthering Heights themed holiday with girlfriend/stalker Mary. (A-list plots include a teenage lesbian relationship and a Great-grandmother falling in love with a gigilo. I love this show).
Norris and Mary head for the moors
It got me thinking back to reading Wuthering Heights for the first time, many years before “The List” was around. I read it for Grade 12 IB English, and it was good timing – I’d just come out of my first super-dramatic relationship. And Wuthering Heights is ALL about the drama.
I mean, Cathy and Heathcliff don`t just break up like me and my then-boyfriend did. [SPOILER ALERT] She *dies* and haunts him! And he goes crazy! And then their kids fall in love and go crazy! Multi-generational drama at it`s finest. It helped my put my problems in perspective, that`s for sure.
Wuthering Heights stands up to repeated readings. It`s just so rich in imagery and character and symbolism and all that good stuff. Even though it`s dense, it`s also really accessible. It`s easy to picture those windswept, desolate moors and realize that they`re the perfect setting for Heathcliff, who is left with nothing after losing his Catherine and exacting his revenge on everyone around him.
What books can you read over and over again?
Heathcliff bringing the drama: “And I pray one prayer–I repeat it till my tongue stiffens–Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you–haunt me, then! The murdered DO haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts HAVE wandered on earth. Be with me always–take any form–drive me mad! only DO not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I CANNOT live without my life! I CANNOT live without my soul!’
Reading in Bed 