Catching Up with Books

No, I have not abandoned this place or dropped off the face of the earth. In all honesty, I am not sure why I have not spoken in this space for some time. I thought of posts, but nothing went from thought to typing action. Whatever the reasons may have been, I am here now writing, so here it goes!

People, I read Les Miserables, and I am pretty proud I finished it. I went into the book having never seen any of the movie or musical adaptations, so I had a pretty clean palate aside from the multitudinous Les Miserables movie previews from earlier this year. It has a great storyline that Victor Hugo weaves exceptionally well during the mid-1800s. However, somehow all my history education seems to have skipped this key moment in French history - never learned about Napoleon, and the only things I know about the French Revolution I learned from A Tale of Two Cities. Hugo does take asides throughout the book to explain the history around what is occurring or has occurred that concerns his characters, but they were so tedious to read! It was like watching Die Hard only to have a 30-minute aside on the history of the LAPD, then 20 minutes later an aside on Russian terrorism, then 45 minutes later one on the history of firearms. I skimmed/skipped over some of it -I know, sacrilege! The political commentary Hugo provided seemed incredible, but I had nothing to base what he was saying off of. However, the story compelled me to keep reading, and I am glad I did. Fantastic imagery, phenomenal characters, and morals and truths that are universal. So, read this book, but it is okay if you read an abridged version. All the plot is there, just not all the "history of..." Also, I would suggest taking a break midway and reading something easier over a weekend. I personally read Amsterdam by Ian McEwan.

In keeping with a history theme, another book I read since last we met was Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Fortunately for me, I am quite well-versed in Henry VIII and English happenings during this time period. I sort of accidentally majored in it, both the history and English literature side of it. Most of what I know of this time is from the perspective of Henry VIII and his various wives. Wolf Hall, however, takes the perspective of Thomas Cromwell, who served as chief minister to Henry VIII and strongly advocated English Reformation. Cromwell knows how tenuous a position with the king is, and knows to keep it he has to be a step ahead of everyone, or at least know enough dirt about key players to "encourage" them to agree with him, if need be. There are plenty of underhanded dealings, betrayals, and sacrifices throughout the book to keep one interested. I am looking forward to reading the next novel in the series, Bring Up the Bodies, which picks up the story as Anne Boleyn falls from the king's grace.

Now, to take a sharp left turn to baseball! The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach is a book I all but devoured. The story follows Henry Skrimshander, a college freshman and shortstop wunderkind, who had never missed a throw...until he does. His life, and the lives of those around him, are thrown into disorder in part due to this missed throw. If this is sounding too sports-centric for you, do not worry, this is not a book about baseball. Well, at least not solely about baseball. The Art of Fielding is about growing up, following your passion, and learning to be okay with who you are. How good is this novel? When I finished the last page, I was ready to start again at page one. 

A second book I may have actually devoured a little was Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson. Oh my goodness, what can I say about this book?! This book is extremely twisty and shocking, so do not go spoiling it for yourself by reading too many synopses or reviews. You will be sorry. What can I tell you about the book? It is the story of Christine who, due to an accident years ago, cannot form new memories. She awakes every day wondering where she is, who is in the bed beside her, how she was injured, and can she get her memory back. The novel is set up as her diary, something a doctor interested in her case told her to keep. Each day, as she reads what she wrote previously, she begins to learn more about her lost life. Or does she? Is what she is writing truth, or is it a fiction she made for herself? From one entry to the next, I had a new theory on who the "big bad" was, what happened to her, and what the conspiracy could be; but when the reveal came, I was shocked! After I read it, mouth agape half the time, Aaron read it while on a business trip. He stayed up until about 3 am finishing it. It is that awesome.

31 Before 31: A Year in Review

I did not do so great at accomplishing the goals on my 31 Before 31 List. Not outstanding at all. However, I would say that some of these list items were accomplished in a more abstract or unexpected way. Therefore, here are my reasons and justifications for not doing more of the things on my list.

Overall reasons: I/Aaron and I had a lot less free time than I assumed. And, as many of these involved him to some degree, it was harder to accomplish. Also, first year of marriage was not a walk in the park. With Aaron finishing his dissertation, us up-in-the-air regarding where/if/when we will move, and other things going on in our lives and those of our friends, life was stressed and strained. So, generally on the weekends we were happy just to be in the same room and not going anywhere. 

The List (how ominous!)

1. Ride a Roller Coaster - Not accomplished, unless you count this roller coaster of a year.

2. Go to a professional football or basketball game - Not accomplished, though I hope to do both while we are in Atlanta (more on that in a later post). I did go to a Carolina Railhawks soccer game, so I was not without live sporting events.

3. Go camping with Aaron for two nights - Not accomplished, but I did sleep on an air mattress for a bit during our move. Still does not count, does it?

4. Make Creme Brulee - like I would not do this one - accomplished!  I have my torch and am ready to make creme brulee whenever I please!

5. Read three books from my compilation "100 Best Books" list - I read two - Atonement and The War of the Worlds - but could not get that last one in. Admittedly, Anna Karenina  and Atlas Shrugged still frighten me with their heft.

6. Visit a state I have never been to - I can now cross Kentucky off the list, thanks to my cousin Katie getting married there. 

7. Take the Amtrak with Aaron for a weekend getaway - Not accomplished, but I did send Aaron off on his first Amtrak journey to Washington, D.C.

8. Train and then run in a 5K - not accomplished...again. One day, I will put my running shoes on and do this! 

9. Make my grandmother's rump roast for friends - not accomplished, the making it for friends or anyone.  I have lived a year without rump roast, how sad.

10. Throw a movie-themed party - not accomplished due to embarrassment about the perpetual state of moving in/moving out in our apartment. Have I mentioned that between Aaron and I we moved three times in a year? Yeah, not recommended.

11. Figure out how to play Wii Golf - accomplished! The Wii Golf demons are exorcised and, while I am not good, I am less frustrated when playing now, which was the point of this item.

12. Watch four movies from AFI's 100 Best Movies List - half accomplished? I think I watched two - Bringing Up Baby and Doctor Strangelove - but there is a chance another snuck in there and I forgot to take note of it. Not too worried, especially since I am further along in this list than my books list.

13. Go to the Outer Banks - not accomplished. Aaron and I decided to revisit Asheville instead of the Outer Banks. I still would like to go there, but it is a little farther to drive now.

14. Read the Old Testament in a year - dead in the water. I got way behind on this from the start. Since my goal in doing this was to read all the books I have not yet, maybe I will skip the first few books and jump to major and minor prophets, the ones I know I have not read.

15. Read the biographies of George Washington and John Adams - not accomplished. I barely finished His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis before the cutoff date. Largely due to the fact that the book was a little dry and I found I knew more about Washington than I realized.

16. Spend Christmas and Aaron's birthday with Aaron for the first time - accomplished! Yes, it took me seven years, but I finally saw him over the holidays. I think the fact we are married now helped a little.

17. Eat dessert at Hayes-Barton Cafe - not accomplish, but I think I found a better dessert place in Raleigh - PieBird!!  If you are ever in the Raleigh area, eat there. Great dinners (shepherd's pie is astoundingly good) and excellent desserts.  Salted Honey Pie for me and Bananas in Pajamas for Aaron!

18. Try one new recipe or dish a month - done! I found that I do this monthly anyway, so it was an easy list item to cross off. Group Favorite: Cowboy Caviar, Dinner fav: Fried Chicken Saltimboca, Dessert Favs: Oatmeal Pie and Salty Honey Pie

19. Read 26 Books - so very accomplished. I read more than I thought, so my 2012 reading goal is 30 books. I am currently five books ahead of my goal. I think I may need to increase it for 2013. Best Reads: Atonement by Ian McEwan, Zone One by Colson Whitehead, and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

20. Have people over for dinner four times - total fail. Although I did bring dinner over to other people's homes. Not the goal, though. Hopefully I will do better at this in the new place.

21. Floss regularly - nope. I do not like flossing. I know I need to do it, but nothing about it appeals to me...except the whole thing about fewer cavities and keeping my teeth. New place, new routines? Fingers crossed!

22. Reach 75 geocaches found - not accomplished. I think I went from 45 to 50 over the course of the year, and that is only because we went geocaching with a friend while in Indiana over Christmas. It was cold but fun.

23. Make different homemade breads six times - Well, I think I made four: quick breads, rolls, and muffins. Bread making is hard! Things don't rise correctly, are sticky or too dry, too dense, not cooked through. It is frustrating at times to bake bread.

24. Figure out a working monthly budget for groceries - done! I am still working on making a meal for dinner on a regular basis and not relying on sandwiches or (homemade) chicken nuggets, but I am getting there. Refrigerator pies (a more gender neutral way of saying quiche) have been a lifesaver.

25. Put together a jigsaw of over 1000 pieces - argh! Double argh! Over Thanksgiving, my parents set up a card table with a 1500 piece puzzle for Aaron and I to do. We worked on that thing day and night. However, we had to leave it with probably 100-150 pieces left. My parents said I should count it, the purist in me says no, so I will leave it up to your discretion as to whether I accomplished this goal or not.

26. Give blood - seriously, you thought I would actually do this? Ha! I get tunnel vision when I see someone with the colorful arm wrap after giving blood. It is not the blood, it is the needle. I am going to stop writing about this now before I faint or something.

27. Go to the Farmers Market once a month - nope. Did not go there at all!

28. Make a dish with mussels - Yes, I made a dish with mussels. Yes, it was the mussels you buy frozen in their own sauce and only have to reheat. Yes, I counted it.

29. Aaron's choice: Write a 6,000 word short story where the key plot point involves a chair - Sorry, bud, but I did not write it. I think I scared myself after making a list of chairs. Do you realize how many plot points there are involving a chair?! 

30. Make paella - I did not do this, but I am going to one day. I have the saffron and everything.  

31. Create an Easter Egg Hunt for Aaron - This was awesome to watch. I wound string around the apartment leading to the first Easter Egg that had a little treat (candy or Target dollar bin thing) and a clue to where the next egg was hidden. A dozen eggs later and Aaron received the grand prize - The Muppets movie! 

There is my list of mostly unaccomplished things. I have found over the past two years I have done this that goal-setting is great, but it is also okay not to have done them all. Some goals should be easy to do and some aspirational. Because, if you only set goals for yourself you knew you could easily accomplish, how would you grow? With that said, I am not doing a 32 Before 32 list. Instead, I am making a list of things I want to do while I live in Atlanta. Some will be about seeing and doing Atlanta-centric things (Coke Museum, Braves games, etc) while others will be about my own personal growth (books to read, 5K's to run, etc). And I am going to allow the list to flex and grow as I find out more about this city I am living in. 

Books, Reviewed

I recently finished reading Watership Down by Richard Adams. It was selected from a stack of books I was interested in but no one jumped out to me. Process of elimination and spousal input eventually narrowed the field to this novel. And I am quite happy that it did. For those, like me, who do not know what Watership Down is about, it followed a group of rabbits who decide to leave their warren (home) to find a new place to live that one of the rabbits saw in a vision. I know, it sounds strange, but it is really good! I explained it to Aaron as something of The Once and Future King, where Merlins turns Wart into various animals so he can learn about different societies. There is something of this in Watership Down, as the rabbits encounter different warrens along the way, each of which take something important to rabbits, like safety from predators, and skew it just enough so they lose something of their rabbit-ness. Another book I used to compare it to with Aaron was The Lord of the Rings, only in that it is an adventure story with dangers and strange lands. This is a book someone could read to their child, read as a teen, and again as an adult, and enjoy it at each stage. 

The other recent read that was a true surprise was one I picked from my Penguin Classics, which I now have the complete collection of - yay! The book was one of only a couple I had not heard of before, so it was high time I figured out what it was about. The book is Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell and, my goodness, is it a riot. This book is not a novel so much as a series of vignettes revolving around the lives of a group of older ladies in Cranford, a town with no men, as Gaskell writes. These women, widows or unmarried daughters of the town's "aristocracy" have, over their 60+ years, created an unwritten rule book of how long a  neighborly visit should last (15 minutes); that a dress in a fashion 30 years ago is acceptable, but the latest fashion in hat must be worn (at least they are led to believe they wear the latest hat trend); and that it may not be reasonable, but must not be spoken of, if one of the ladies decides to make a flannel jacket for her cow after it loses its hair. These ladies, in other words, are simply ridiculous, but they do it with the sweetest of intentions...mostly. It may take reading a sentence twice to understand the humor, but Gaskell ensures the pages are rife with subtle, and not so subtle, moments of delight. Aaron must have thought me mad with my random laughter throughout this book. If a gal wants to read something around Charles Dickens' time, with something like Jane Austen's more hilarious characters living next door to one another, this is an excellent book.

2011, in review

So, all my previous attempts at writing a year 2011 wrap-up stalled out.  Instead of a couple posts on my year, behold - the year in list! (In no particular order)


- I got married to Mr. Aaron-man, who constantly amazes me with how creatively loving a person can be.  And where one's love is located.  The metatarsal was the latest location of his love for me.    


- I surpassed my goal of reading 26 books in a year by two books.


- Some dear friends and family passed away.  Tim, Amy, and Nanny are dearly missed.


- Favorite dessert I did not make: Honey and Sea Salt Pie at Piebird


- Favorite dessert I made and can remember: Cookies and Cream Ice Cream.  It is AB's vanilla ice cream with a box (yes, a box) of crunched Oreos


- Favorite meal out: Tie between the Fried Shrimp Gnocchi at Top of the Hill and Chicken Saltimobocca at Tupelo Honey Cafe.  I totally won in ordering food while on the honeymoon.


- Favorite meal I made: Corn and Cheese Chowder...ooh, and Panko-crusted Salmon


- Least favorite meal I made: Any time I made chicken noodle soup.  I am beginning to think I just do not like chicken noodle soup. 


- Favorite book I read: Matterhorn, without a doubt. Even now when I am looking at the shelves for the next book to read, I pause on this one, tempting myself to read it again.


- Least favorite book I read: Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer.  This book, by an author whose work I love, made me so angry.  Krakauer let his personal opinions and beliefs cloud the story and Pat Tillman kind of seemed like a jerk.


- Favorite food find: Gyoza sauce from Trader Joe's


- Product obsessions: Aveeno lotion and Mighty Leaf Tropical Green Tea


- Kitchen tool addition of the year: My blender...and my mandolin...and my salad spinner...wedding presents are the best!


- Household addition: Aaron (duh!)...and our awesome bed of awesomeness, the Tempurpedic. 


- I have too many... Dish towels, wooden spoons, and blankets


- I do not have enough... Things to wear, comfy reading places


- Favorite spot: Caribou Coffee with Aaron after geocaching


- Cutest moment: Haydie-bug flirting with Aaron over Thanksgiving.  (It may have been my BIL being the flower girl at the wedding when Haydie-bug got stage fright, but I was waiting in the wings, and thus unable to see.)


- Least favorite place: Schmacy's housewares department - over and over again


There are probably large chunks of my 2011 year I am missing here, but I think I hit most of the high notes.  2012 is going to be another big year of big changes - graduations, new jobs, maybe new cities, and a whole lot of "who knows" thrown in!

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War

Without question, Matterhorn is the best book I have read all year. And I am debating whether it beats out last year’s favorite East of Eden. Focused on Second Lt. Mellas and Bravo Company’s actions on and around a small Vietnamese mountain named Matterhorn during the Vietnam War, Karl Marlantes unceremoniously drops the reader into the fray with Mellas as his eyes are opened to what war, politics, home, and the future are in the face of a war with no end in sight.

Matterhorn is a crushingly painful and painfully raw book to read. Good men die, bad men make wise decisions, and the ravages of war show no care as to who it takes or how. Beyond the tension of war itself, there are tensions between race, class, and rank. There were times in the book I became so angry at some of the enlisted men and officers for decisions they made. In one instance, a commanding officer volunteered Bravo to extend their mission, knowing full well they had no food and were low on ammo and would not get more of either in the foreseeable future.

I do not have detailed knowledge of the Vietnam War. It is difficult for me to discern if any of the scenarios Marlantes lays out is absurd or not, but they seem all a little too real from my point of view. The progression of the book is so seamless; I did not realize the subtle changes in perspective until well into it. As I read the book, much like Mellas, I began understanding how things worked and why, and feel the same swing from hope to hopelessness with Bravo Company. Marlantes knows when to gradually part the curtain to some awful truth, and when to rip the bandage off in the most painful fashion.

This is a book that I will continue thinking about far after I finish it. And it is one, too, that will remain on my bookshelf, ready to be reread, for many years to come.

The Great Exchange

A few months ago, over dinner with Aaron at Qdoba, we came up with an idea for a book exchange. We laid out ground rules and agreed to the terms and conditions of the swap. The challenge was to read a book of the other's choosing by a certain date. The rules:

1. The book giver had to have already read the book.

2. The book getter cannot have read the book.

3. The book must not be part of a series.

4. The book was to be fiction.

5. The book had to be able to reasonably be read in a month.

6. On the night of the book exchange, the books were to be wrapped so as to keep the mystery as long as possible.

7. The books had to be read by a certain date.

We agreed upon the rules and set off to figure out which book to give the other. I will not share my book selection, as I hope Aaron will not only finish it, but also write a post of his own about it. The great book swap night arrived and I opened the wrapping to...

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I had a suspicion this was the book I was getting...

After reading it over lunch for the past month, I finished it a week or two ago. Loved it! Although it feels exceedingly odd using love and exclamation points about Slaughterhouse-Five. As one review on the book said, it is a funny book you cannot laugh at, a sad book you dare not cry about. Broadly speaking, the book is an account of the bombing of Dresden in World War 2, but its layers go so much deeper than that. However, I hesitate to expound upon the themes and layers as it could cause some to shy from reading it. The book follows Billy Pilgrim, an American soldier in World War 2, as he is captured by the Germans and sent to work in Dresden until it is bombed by the Allies. The story also recounts Billy's childhood and adulthood through clever means. There are sad moments that I chuckled at because of the humor in them, and humorous moments that are not funny because of the misery of them. It is a juxtaposition that Vonnegut wields excellently from beginning to end.

I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did, and the first chapter had faint echoes of an author I have difficulties with. However, once I understood Vonnegut's approach to and structure of his writing, it was simple to follow. Thanks, Aaron, for selecting this book for me to read. And double thanks for helping me cross a goal off my 30 Before 30 list!

I See Dead People's Books

Sometimes I forget that people aside from Aaron may be interested in the neat things I come across on the internet. Thankfully, Aaron reminds me of this from time to time, and upon this occasion, I took action. Lately, I have been updating my LibraryThing library, which would explain why most of the "recent books from my library" are from my library circa 1992. In my updates and additions, I stumbled across quite the gem, a group called I See Dead People's Books. Users investigate famous readers' physical libraries and create a virtual library for them. Famous readers include Thomas Jefferson, e.e. cummings, Aaron Copland, C.S. Lewis, Emily Dickinson, Tupac Shakur, and Daniel Webster.

If you are a member of LibraryThing (free until 200 books in your library, then $10/year membership or $25 for life), you are even able to compare your library to the famous reader and see what overlaps there are. C.S. Lewis and I share 40 books while Tupac and I only share 3. Not only is "I See Dead People's Books" a unique way to see what influenced these politicians, thinkers, entertainers, and writers, but also another way to add a couple books to your own list to read. Perhaps you have a deep and abiding love for William Faulkner (ugh) and wish to see where he found his inspiration. Look no further than his library shelf!

A Year of Books in Review

Read any good books lately? I have been the asker and the recipient of this question many times over the years, as I am sure you have as well. I thought I would make a quick list of the best books I have read this year for all to see. And, in return, I ask you to add your own list of best books in 2010 in the comments to share with everyone. I am always hunting out good books, and this is a quick way of trading information and adding a few more titles to my ever-expanding list of books to read, which is well over 150 books right now. So go on and add some more to my list!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot - Excellent book that covers American history, science, privacy, medicine, and human drama. There has been a ton written about it, so I will no ramble on about it. Great book to read.

The Passage, by Justin Cronin - I am so shy about explaining this book because, yes, it kind of sort of is about vampires, the theme du jour of late. It is well-written, the story flows well, and it keeps the reader turning the page.

Freedom, by Daniel Suarez - First, read Daemon, then read this sequel. Michael Crichton with more technological focus, if I had to describe the style. A compelling topic that is both enjoyable to read and brings up questions for the reader regarding present day politics, technology and society.

The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman - I am a sucker for World War II books, and this one delivered. I enjoy those books that hone in on one specific moment in history, and this one does just that. It tells the story of a family who owned a zoo that they used to hide Jews fleeing the Nazis in Poland.

And, my favorite read in 2010 is...

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck - One of my high school teachers tries to read To Kill a Mockingbird every summer. Like To Kill a Mockingbird, I think East of Eden is one of those books that is worthy of reading and rereading. It is an epic and timeless story that is extremely enjoyable to read. Thank you, GANC, for bringing me this book!

Books You Can Wear

I have been ogling shirts from Out Of Print Clothing for months. I decided that I would purchase one for myself once I completed The Great American Novel Challenge. The challenge completed, and myself declared queen of the books, off I scurried to the site to select which shirt to call my own. Decisions, decisions. Do I opt for Moby Dick because, at that time, it was the only GANC book I had read that was also a shirt? However, I did not especially enjoy the book, and did not relish the thought of having passersby engage me in conversation about a book I prefer not to speak at length regarding.

I eventually narrowed my choices down to Hound of the Baskervilles and 1984. Difficult decision which was quickly made much easier when the shirt for Hound of the Baskervilles was changed. Sadness. So, I chose:

I love it! Some notes on the shirt itself. When the site tells you the shirt runs small, they are not joking. I got an extra large and it fits me perfectly - not baggy or too tight and fits through the shoulders. The fabric is super soft and it is my favorite weekend hang out shirt. I even wore it on Halloween to work as my "costume." Because, what is scarier than the world of 1984?

Presently, I am resisting the temptation to read all the books of the shirts I like. However, Atlas Shrugged is gaining ground on my list of books to read, and Brave New World may perhaps be my next shirt purchase. It is not that I enjoy reading about dystopia, I just like the book covers!

(And, since this is the season of giving, buying a book/shirt combo for the reader in your life would make for a pretty cool gift! As a bonus, for every shirt purchased, Out of Print donates a book to a community in need through Books for Africa. Two gifts for the price of one!)

Look, Look a Nook

For my birthday, Aaron bought me, among other things, a Nook. Yes, I am officially part of the e-book crowd. And you know, it is pretty nice. As Aaron will point out if I do not, I did not really use my Nook for books initially. No, I was pleasantly distracted by the sudoku games that come on it. It is an excellent thing to do while watching football! You cannot read and watch football, but watching football and not doing something else feels lazy to me. So, I played sudoku. Yes, this is still fairly lazy, but I am exercising my mind...and my right index finger.

For some time over the summer and early fall, Barnes & Noble was putting out 10 classic books in electronic format weekly - for free! Once I learned of this, I began purchasing them, which led to a virtual library of about 90 classic books...before I even had something to read the e-books on. Yes, it is hard for me to pass up free books. In Aaron's gift to me, he included a print out from our local library explaining where and how to check out e-books.

This sheet came in handy when I wanted to borrow an ebook. However, being that I have a Mac and people still do not realize how many people have Macs and therefore why it is a good idea to have software that works on a Mac, it was not that easy. The program I needed to get the ebook on my Nook was a pain in the rear. Several support forums later and I got my book! (This is not the Nook's fault in any way; it is the Adobe application I needed to get the book from the library, to my Mac to my Nook that was the issue.)

I decided to read The Passage by Justin Cronin as my first official e-book. It looked like a good book that would be enjoyable to read on paper and an excellent "fun read" to test out how the Nook works as a reader. All in all, I am impressed with it and I only saw a few minor things that could slow the reading experience. The hardest part is that if you want to refer back a few pages to earlier text, on the Nook you cannot just skip back to the desired page. You have to push the back button until you get there, which can be mildly annoying. However, as I did with a drawing in The Passage, you can easily bookmark pages that are kept in a list for quick referral.

I like reading in my Nook. It is more portable than some books I read and it is not difficult to read from at all. If I get bored of one book, I can quickly flip to another. And, as I expect over this Christmas flying season, it will help me reduce the weight of my baggage by a good 5-10 pounds. Books are not light, people, and carrying 5 of them with you on board because having them in the checked bag puts it over the poundage limit is a scenario I would like to avoid this year. Now, I can carry 111 books with me and it all fits in my purse.

An Obsession Confession

Confession time. For the past few months, I have fed an ever-growing obsession. One that Aaron has not only encouraged me in, but has partaken of as well. We are disciplined in our obsession, though, only indulging once a month. I guess it is time to out with it. Now, I will warn you, what I am about to show you may lead to your own obsession. Perhaps we could start a support group.

Aren't they gorgeous? I could stare at them for ages. The cover design is by Coralie Bickford-Smith for Penguin Classics. I wish I could remember where or when I first saw one of these books. It was probably wandering the rows of a bookstore and stumbling upon Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice. You know, it has kind of been like a relationship. I saw a book for a brief moment, and the first impression stuck with me. I started to look especially for them, seeing if we would happen to bump into one another at the store. I began to talk about them with other people, trying to make them see how amazing they were. Then there was that first date, the first dalliance. I purchased one.

I showed it to Aaron and we decided, then and there, that we were in a committed relationship with these books. But we did not want to take it too fast. We wanted this to be a long, smoldering relationship. So we decided that we would only buy one book a month each, and we had to be together to purchase them. The fact we only visit them once a month not only makes it something of a treat and a fun date, but also it feels like it is something we should not be doing, overly indulgent. Like eating cherry pie right from the pie tin, or watching a embarrassing to admit but secretly loved movie while eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's.

These are books that we aim to make a library of. Making a library is not putting all your old college textbooks on a shelf. Library making is the thoughtful acquisition of high quality books worthy of multiple readings and thoughtful reflection. Books whose readings will not go out of style, and whose premises, plots, and social commentary transcend writing styles and generations. And, if you are like me, something I call bookend books. A more accurate term would be book spine books, but that does not roll off the tongue as well. Books, like these, that stand out on a shelf, hardcover with a good solid spine.

I hope my obsession confession has not resulted in an immediate reduction in your bank account and a sudden increase in needed bookshelf space. Or, if it does, that you enjoy searching for and reading them as much as Aaron and I have.

Descriptive Jealousy

I am jealous. Jealous of a man. A man who was able to put into words what I have repeatedly failed in doing. Jealous of a man who put into words the thoughts I fail to express in written and spoken words about William Faulkner. Yes, him again. This author has taken up haunting me. I am afraid to turn a corner down a darkened alley lest I am confronted with a book of Faulkner's sitting there, glaring at me menacingly. Most books do not glare, but I imagine Faulkner's would. Anyway, I digress. I am jealous of not only of how well this man described his experience attempting to read Absalom, Absalom!, but also of how eloquently he presented his hesitation, confusion, and understanding of Faulkner's writing style. I believe he is spot on and only wish I had come up with his words when I attempted to explain and understand the book and the author.

(Thanks, Dad, for the link!)

GANC: My Thoughts

Ah yes, the final review. Just when you thought it was over, GANC comes back for one last hurrah. Kind of like all those Freddy and Jason movies. After writing the below commentary, I realized it is rambling, which is unsurprising if you know me. If in my rambling I do not explicitly say, I am so happy that Aaron thought this up, that I took part in it, and found books and authors at times off my beaten path of reading. It is reassuring and encouraging to know that with a little pressure from myself and from the challenge, I can push myself beyond my literary comfort zones and find a few jewels.

I am not sure if this was a subconscious effort on my part or there are more writers here or what, but most of my novels were written by an author from or a book about the South. Having never lived in the North, or really even visited there, I can only assume the North is a dull place with no novel-worthy conflict and a lack of imagination. I kid, I kid! To make a generalization, Southerners are a story-telling people; and slavery, plantations, Civil War, and segregation lend themselves easily to stories and fictional exploration of social constructs. Much of the large societal action in the North occurred in the 1700s and early 1800s, and from what I could find there are not a lot of books from around that time, at least not widely known ones. It is strange, in some ways you can see the shift of the writer concentrate from early America and North to established country and South as you move from the likes of Melville, Hawthorne, James Fennimore Cooper and Poe to Twain, Faulkner, Harper Lee, Capote, and Flannery O'Connor.

The early 2oth century is the place to go for some of the best known and most highly regarded authors. Henry Miller, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Carson McCuller, Capote, Norman Mailer. I have not done much research on this, but I assume part of this is due to FDR's New Deal which encouraged aspiring writers, through the Federal Writer's Project, to document folklore. What is remarkable is the excellence of the books. These authors wrote with purpose, depth and complexity during some of the most difficult days in our nation's history. I wonder how many excellent American books we have lost awareness and knowledge of from before that time, and where all the good books are today. Has America lost its literary creativity for the stable 40-hour work week? Has the creativity been transferred to different forms of written expression (magazines, e-zines, blogs, etc.)? Where are the novels that will transcend generations?

I made a conscious effort to include both female and minority writers. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have read Invisible Man over Their Eyes Were Watching God. Nothing against the latter, but Invisible Man is universally agreed upon as a must-read book. However, I in no way mean to imply that white male authors get all the praise and glory and it was my aim to bring minority and women writers to light. Each of the novels I selected are worthy to stand on their own. While the author's gender, color, and locale all lend themselves to the creative process, each book transcends whatever biases, prejudices and assumptions one may have.

Yes, I did allow myself two indulgences - Lonesome Dove and Giants in the Earth. While in the long run neither will likely be on a "Greatest American Novels" list, they are still worth reading and two I would absolutely consider reading again one day.

To readers who think what I did over 13 months is not possible for them, do not be afraid of challenging texts. Yes, Faulkner has become my literary whipping boy for examples of almost unreadable literature, but that does not mean I am never going to attempt him again one day. Reading some of these authors requires a different cadence, for lack of a better word. This is not John Grisham here; these authors at times used words I needed a dictionary for, paragraphs I had to read over again, and, yes, even a few sly looks at SparkNotes for translation from time to time. Some of these authors need more attention - reading slower, giving yourself more time to read so you can get into the flow of how they write. One of the best things I took away from high school was using a 3x5 note card to write character lists and relationships on for reference. This has saved me lots of time turning back pages trying to figure out if Sam is Susie's father, boyfriend, uncle or estranged brother. It also doubles as a handy dandy bookmark!

These American novels are patriotic, but in a far subtler way than I anticipated. Which probably means they work well as reading for the rest of the world. Probably the one that I felt was most overtly patriotic and stereotypically American was Lonesome Dove, but that could just be my Texan heart beating in time with the cowboys and cattle. East of Eden exhibited this, too, but more in a pride for the land and the bonding of community than "Johnny's gone off to war" sort of pride.

Working through History and English majors in college gave me a broader picture of the periods I was studying. History relays the facts and circumstances while literature shares the mood, society, and sentiment. I now feel like it is hard to have one without the other. Had I gone into The Bell Jar with no knowledge of women's suffrage and the evolving attitude toward women, I may have missed some of the underpinnings of the book. Almost all the books I read these past 13 months are a commentary of the author's view on local, national, and international events. In other words, do not read with blinders on. Supplement literary reading with a quick trip to Wikipedia to read about the author and the book, as usually context is given to the book. And, if it is a history you are reading, take a peek at contemporary authors and see if any books strike your fancy. Follow the bread crumbs and see where they lead.

This was not an easy challenge to complete. Some books I felt would never end as the approach of the 4th came steadily closer. I had to set aside most of my aspirations to read any other book during this time to devote my energies to GANC. Books like carrots dangled temptingly in front of me. In a small way, I can equate it to feel a little like someone on a diet and going out with friends, watching as they eat cheeseburgers, nachos and chocolate cake. Both Aaron and I agreed, after looking at other online book challenges, that we created one of the more time intensive, rule-riddled ones out there. It was the time intensive part that I struggled with more than the rules, though, once I realized there were plenty of great American novels left for me to read.

Challenges are fun! It was always a small competition for me to see Aaron's book before he saw mine each month. And to "beat" him on choices. Only once did we read the same book, and in the same month to boot! (For the curious, it was For Whom the Bell Tolls.) While I need a year off from mandated reading, I would do it again. In fact, Aaron and I already have a running list of ideas for the next challenge. All have easier buy in's, are shorter in length, and are far less constrictive on parameters. Stay tuned!

Thank y'all for reading my reviews. I know it is not everyone's cup of tea, and my posting on food and other things diminished significantly, but I am glad you stuck with me as I stuck with the challenge. Almost as much as finishing the book and posting each month, I looked forward to the discussion in the comments afterward. Finding out who else has read the book, what they thought, and even suggestions on other books I should read. It is nice to know in a time and place where distractions can be found with every keystroke and channel change, that people are still reading books, both old and new. I hope that my voracity for books never weakens and I look back on this past year as a milestone year, always remembering to step outside my boundaries, both with books and in life, and try new things. Sometimes Faulkner happens, but more often than not its Steinbeck and Hemingway.

GANC: The Almost Reads

Now that the reading is over, I can share with you those books that missed the cut. I may have read thirteen books, but there were several that made my GANC list but did not make the cut for reading. A little of this was due to my own reading preferences, but most of it is because of the "two books per decade" rule. By the time I realized my list was absent some big hitters, I had already exhausted a couple key decades, namely 1920-1970. In order to allow these books to be recognized for their merit, below is a list of what I almost read but did not. In some cases, books were recommended to me, and I will note who recommended where appropriate. I also may provide explanation on why I have the book on my list or why I did not read it. In other words, this is my blog and I will do whatever I want to. So there.

1830s
The Book of Mormon - Talk about starting off the list with a bang, huh? It is clear that this book has a large and ever-increasing footprint in America. It is somewhat controversial that it is on my list as a fictional novel. I do not know enough about The Book of Mormon to declare what it is or is not (myth, tall tale, blasphemy, fiction), but I believe it is not a writing inspired or written by God, Jesus, any of His angels, the Holy Spirit, or any of the previous speaking through the mouth and writings of Joseph Smith. It is a work written by a man, from the mind of a man, with no heavenly assistance whatsoever.

1840s
The Deerslayer, by James Fenimore Cooper - Having read The Last of the Mohicans, and wanting to have a book from the early to mid-19th century, this was a natural choice. And I actually started to read it one month for the challenge. However, I found it difficult to get into and not something I was excited to read, so I abandoned it for another book.

1860s
The Marble Faun, by Nathaniel Hawthorne - I love reading Hawthorne, so when I looked his works up to find a book to read for GANC, I found that I had exhausted all of his novels set in America. This one was set in Italy, so it did not rank high on my list of novels to read that could be great American ones.

1880s
The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James

The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain - I had already read his two America-centric books, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, so this one also fell on the list due to it not being set in the US.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain

1890s
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin

1920s
Babbit, by Sinclair Lewis - I was supposed to read this book in US History 2, but failed to finish it. Since then I have picked it up from time to time, only to be lured away by a more indulgent novel. This book was a victim of too many good books in one decade.

1930s
Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller - Victim of decade

The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck - This too was a victim of decade. Let me put it plainly, I misused the 1930s. Thankfully, Aaron owns this book and I will probably read it before he finishes it.

1940s
Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck - Poor Steinbeck. So many good books over so many decades, and I could not read them all.

Other Voices, Other Rooms, by Truman Capote - I have only read In Cold Blood and was interested to see how his fiction played out.

The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer - By the time I realized I was missing this author, it was too late. The 1940s were already spoken for.

1950s
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison

Wise Blood, by Flannery O'Connor

The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow - I wanted to read this book so badly, but it simply was not in the cards. Had I not taken half a month to decide not to read Invisible Man, I could have tried to read this. Oh well. I think Aaron has a copy, so I will add it to my pile of books to read.

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

On the Road, by Jack Kerouac

1960s
The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy

V., by Thomas Pynchon

The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon

Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut - I know! How did I make it through high school and college, while having this book on my list throughout, and still not read it!? I am happy with the two novels I did read from the 60s, so no regrets here. Just another book to keep on my list. Lock me away for a year and I may be able to finish half of this list I have.

1980s
The Executioner's Song, by Norman Mailer - This is a book that has a foot in both non-fiction and fiction, depending on where you look. A little like In Cold Blood - fictionalized account of a true crime

The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy - My uncle Tim recommended this book to me and said it was one of the greatest books of the 20th century. To place some perspective on this, Tim is an English professor at St. Edward's University, so his comment is not without merit.

A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving - Suggested to me by a friend. The '80s and beyond is a little too fresh and new for me to feel comfortable declaring a book that could be younger than me as a great American novel. I like a good 30 or 40 year buffer to see what books are flashes in a pan and which are here to stay.

The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan

1990s
The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis

2000s
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon

Some books that were considered for my "break the rules" month:
Dr. Seuss - various books
Emily Dickinson's poetry
Calvin & Hobbes
Books I have already read. Which brings us to...

Books I have read that I consider great American novels: (in absolutely no order)
The Wizard of Oz- Frank L. Baum
The Scarlet Letter- Nathaniel Hawthorne
The House of Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Call of the Wild - Jack London
O. Henry's short stories
Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane
Washington Irving's short stories
Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
The Hidden Hand - E.D.E.N. Southworth (Never heard of this book? Go ahead and add it to your book list. It is funny, light, adventure-filled, fantastical and melodramatic.)

So there you are. Are there any books I should have had on my list that are glaring omissions? Should I have thrown in some non-fiction to pick from for my break the rules month? How about a book written by a non-American author? Feel free to add your suggestions to my list via comments. I look forward to see what books I missed!

GANC: Good Ol' Charlie Brown

My fondness for Peanuts began at an early age, probably with A Charlie Brown Christmas, then a growing interest in the comics section of the newspaper. However, I became a true and faithful adorer of the gang when my family acquired some of my dad's old Peanuts books. Even more than Calvin and Hobbes, another comic my family likes, Peanuts echoed of my dad's childhood, perhaps I read these at the same age he did as a kid. Over the years I have returned to these books when I want something quick to read before bed, or am stir crazy after a series of days stuck indoors. And each time I marvel more and have a deeper appreciation for Charles M. Schulz's art. Schulz created children characters during and about a time when some say the loss of American innocence began. Much like Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts placed adult ideas, themes, questions and impasses in the minds words, and actions of kids.

Charlie Brown, the protagonist of the strip, is presented as someone who is faithful to his friends through thick and thin. He may be wishy-washy, but never does he fail Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy or the rest of the gang. He does not give up even though he constantly fails. For proof, look no further than him trying to kick that football, fly the kite, or win a baseball game. He is meek, self-conscious and unsure, which strikes a chord with people, making him instantly relateable. Among some of the characters, a highlight or two...

- Lucy has an ever-present desire for control and to be everyone's boss, whether they ask for said help and commentary or not. Charlie Brown and Schroeder are the two main focuses of her efforts.

- Linus has a need for security in the form of a blanket while being so secure in his beliefs, which makes him into one of the speakers of wisdom in the strip.

- Snoopy considers being a stereotypical dog below him which, along with his vivid imagination, leads him into adventures where he is a World War 1 flying ace, Joe Cool, a vulture, among other things.

Each person has their tiffs with others, likes and dislikes, but in the end they are friends who stick by one another, even if it means Lucy will always pull the football away before Charlie Brown kicks it and the baseball team rarely wins.

As for its influence in America, beyond what I touched on above, it established the way strips were printed in newspapers and was perhaps one of the first comics to have large success through merchandising and, as we all know, television specials. Some of the repeated phrases and key imagery from Peanuts has found its way into our lexicon. Charlie Brown's "Good grief." Mentioning "The Great Pumpkin" when speaking about someone with dogged persistence and belief in the face of logic and, perhaps, reality. The numerous dogs named Snoopy walking around these days. Snoopy as the mascot for MetLife. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloons of Charlie Brown chasing that football.

Charlie Brown and the rest of the characters are images now entwined with American culture. When watching football and a kicker misses the ball, Charlie Brown and Lucy are inevitably brought up as examples of failure. It is a testament to the strip and Schulz that 45 years after it debuted, A Charlie Brown Christmas is shown every Christmas season and people gather around to watch with family and friends. I know I will rearrange my schedule or tape it so I can be sure not to miss it. Heck, I own the soundtrack!

Charlie Brown is American as apple pie, a true icon of our nation and the American spirit of the everyman never giving up, despite the odds stacked against him. Good ol' Charlie Brown, how I love him.

Great American Novel Challenge Booklist:
July 2009: Absalom, Absalom! - William Faulkner, publ. 1936
August 2009: Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry, publ. 1985
September 2009: Moby Dick - Herman Melville, publ. 1851
October 2009: For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway, publ. 1940
November 2009: Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston, publ. 1937
December 2009: The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath, publ. 1963
January 2010: Rabbit, Run - John Updike, publ. 1960
February 2010: East of Eden - John Steinbeck, publ. 1952
March 2010: The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton, publ. 1920
April 2010: Giants in the Earth - Ole Edvart Rolvaag, publ. 1927
May 2010: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers, publ. 1940
June 2010: Short Stories - Edgar Allan Poe, publ. 1840s

GANC: Invisible Man (but not)

Invisible Man is without a doubt a great American novel. It makes many national and international "Top 100" lists. Which made my decision to include it on my list of novels a simple one. Then I began to read it and simple went out the door. First, this book is long, though not an insurmountable length for a month of reading. Ralph Ellison only wrote this one book, so I guess he got in all his books' worth of material at once. Second, Ellison also explores many ways of writing, telling a story that can go from straight narrative to blues-inspired riffs, which can get a little confusing, wordy and indulgent. Third, and this is to no fault of the book, GANC has left me maxed out on racial strife, and strife in general. Between blacks and whites not getting along, ranchers and Native Americans, Americans and Spaniards, Californians and the earth, sailors and white whales, me and Faulkner - I have had my fill of irreconcilable differences. I did not think I could endure one more tale of the same. So, I decided that Invisible Man would not be my last regular, rule keeping book. I am sure it is good, great even, just not for me right now.

What did I read instead? I decided to bend, but not break, the rules for this one. And, as I am the only person left on this GANC island, I declared myself queen of the challenge and allowed my small amendment to pass unanimously. Instead of reading a novel, I read a collection of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is one of America's more known authors, but aside from The Raven I am fairly certain the American public would be unable to name another of his works. I remember reading a few of his short stories in high school and maybe college, but could not summarize any of the plots with clarity. After a recent adventure to a used book store, I had a collection of his short stories close at hand. Onward, into the dark mind and art of Poe!

The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) and The Purloined Letter (1844)- While I read these stories, I had the growing sense I had seen this all before. It quickly became clear that this seems a whole lot like another famous detective, one Sherlock Holmes. Poe's detective, C. Auguste Dupin, is of the same strain as Holmes - detective with narrating sidekick uses logic and the power of observation to solve a crime when the police cannot. Actually, I should say Holmes is of the same strain as Dupin, as Poe's Dupin stories were written about 40 years before Holmes made his first appearance. Personally, I like Holmes more as Dupin's mysteries are too quickly resolved. It lacks the tension of the reader wondering, "Will this be the case Dupin/Sherlock cannot solve?"

The Tell-Tale Heart (1843) - This is Poe. It is dark, sadistic, Gothic, guilt-ridden and conscious of conscience. It follows the narrator as s/he (oh, to write an essay on how this story reads differently if the narrator is male or female!) murders an old man (father, grandfather, guest, servant - who knows!) and then dismembers the body, hiding it under the floorboards. Eventually, the murderer's guilt arises as s/he "hears" the victim's heart still beating, louder and louder, from under the floorboards. It is clear every word Poe uses is chosen with a great deal of thought. The story is tight; each phrase evokes a smell, sound, sight or emotion. What a great story to read on a dark night in a creaking home.

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar (1845) - This story is something of a exploratory look into mesmerism, known today as hypnotism. In it the narrator, again in the first person, investigates how far mesmerism can go. Specifically, what happens if a person is mesmerized at the point of death? The narrator successfully mesmerizes a man just before he dies, and yet he continues to speak for some time after death, finally begging to be let go so he may die fully. Once the narrator takes him out of the trance, his body disintegrates into an almost liquid form. What is unique about this tale is that Poe did not publish it with a note of is fiction. And, as mesmerism was something of a trend at the time, it is likely people did not immediately recognize it for the tale it is.

The Pit and the Pendulum (1842)- Another great Poe story. Again, first person, which brings the reader into the midst of the story. And what a story to be in the midst of! A man awakens in a dark room after being sentenced to death. He cannot see anything, is unsure where he is, or what is to come for him. Through a series of events, he finds the room he is in has a large pit in the middle that his accusers had hoped he would stumble into. However, he escapes that fate only to be drugged, strapped to a plank, and watch helplessly as a pendulum with a scythe attached inches closer and closer to him. The more into the tale I went, the more it felt like a 19th century version of Saw. The story features a great focus on the senses - what this man heard, smelled, felt and saw - all executed brilliantly. And yes, I shall leave you in suspense as the pendulum draws closer and closer to the belly of the accused.

There were a few others I read, but they are along similar lines as those above, so I will save some space by not rehashing each one. Poe is a write who explored different ways of presenting a story all under this mantle of dark, devious and a little demented. In his tales, something is perpetually out of balance. Deeply flawed characters, fantastical occurrences, and taking sin and misdeeds to extremes. It is not a world I would want to live in, but I am okay visiting it every now and then.

While this may not be a great American novel, Poe is most definitely a great American author. His writings can be read many times and each time a new facet is shown. His words, themes and plots have made their way into pop culture so slyly we probably do not even recognize it when it happens. Poe exhibits a different sort of American author, one that exposes the darkness of people unapologetically, but one who also seeks resolution and a moral at the end of his frightening tales. The Puritanical core still is in him, but he, like America, grew from that core to develop his own voice, opinion, and view of himself, America, and humanity.

If you would like to read some of Poe's short stories, check out Project Gutenberg. Enter his name and it should bring up just about all of his stories, poems, and articles.

12 down, 1 to go!

Great American Novel Challenge Booklist:
July 2009: Absalom, Absalom! - William Faulkner, publ. 1936
August 2009: Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry, publ. 1985
September 2009: Moby Dick - Herman Melville, publ. 1851
October 2009: For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway, publ. 1940
November 2009: Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston, publ. 1937
December 2009: The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath, publ. 1963
January 2010: Rabbit, Run - John Updike, publ. 1960
February 2010: East of Eden - John Steinbeck, publ. 1952
March 2010: The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton, publ. 1920
April 2010: Giants in the Earth - Ole Edvart Rolvaag, publ. 1927
May 2010: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers, publ. 1940