Book Challenge Results

This past year I took part in two book challenges: The Year of Reading Dangerously and Orbis Terrarum.

The Year of Reading Dangerously was all about taking on books that you have been avoiding. Books that you deemed too difficult, not your preferred genre, or, as it turned out in my case, didn't interest you at all. While I didn't finish this challenge I did get through a few books that I wouldn't have otherwise, plus I have a few that are now on my "To Read" list.

Finished:

• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (loved it)
  
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (hated it)
  
• Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood (not my usual pick, but enjoyed it mostly)
  
• Transformations by Anne Sexton (strange, don't know why it was published, interesting)
  
• Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman (excellent)
  
• The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (long, but good read)
  

Didn't Read:

• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (not going to)
  
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier (tried the first few chapters and have no interest)
  
• Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote (started it, became overdue, will probably try again some day)
  
• The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy (have to buy it since our library doesn't have it, "To Read")
  
• The Human Stain by Philip Roth (want to try it)
  
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (need to read it for Great American Literature's sake)

Orbis Terrarum challenged me to read books from authors around the world. Highly interesting to me and the only reason I didn't finish is because I had to buy some of the books (which didn't happen) and the last half of the year was entirely not reading conducive. Every book on the list that I didn't read, I will get to as soon as possible. (Some books doubled for both challenges, I've only listed the ones specific to the OT challenge.)

Finished:

• Dubliners by James Joyce (okay read the first time, want to read it again to understand it better)
• The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom (the most impacting book I read this year, hands down)
• Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (sad, heart-wrenching, inspiring, makes you want to help change the world)

Didn't Read (but really, really want to):

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino
• A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe
• The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes

So what did I learn? I'm a very "of the moment" reader. What I mean is that I'll only read what interests me at the time. If I can pick out the books, then I'm more excited to read them. If I have a chosen-for-me list, I'm not. I am not going to read a book that I don't like when the only reason is to mark another down on the "Finished" column. Life's too short to read crappy books. (and by that I mean crappy to me)

And that is my reflection on my undertaking of these two challenges.

The End.

The Portrait of an Arduous Read

I was completely unprepared for summer, at least as far as blogging goes. In the winter, especially in Oregon, it is so easy to blog. Nights start early and the weather is hardly conducive to outdoor excursions. The perfect combination for ample blogging.

Then summer hit. Glorious, mostly rain-free, lots-of-sunlight summer. Road trips, motorcycle classes, camping, warm evenings, home improvements...talk about distractions. But here I am. At least today.

And believe it or not...I've got myself some reading done on top of it all. We've been driving a lot. Well, to be honest, Dug's been driving a lot. We've discovered that our family does road trips well when Dug is the driver and I'm the child liason/nav center controller (CL/NCC). As the CL/NCC I get to read a lot.

The last book my book club read (we're on hiatus until Fall) was The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. We were supposed to read it in May. I, literally, just finished it. Yep, took me 2.5 months! How ridiculous is that?

Since it was such a bear, I've decided to include it as one of my books from the Reading Dangerously challenge. Technically, this is my book for November. Obviously, I'm not doing things in order...

So what did I think of it? Well, it was set in my favorite literature period: late 17th/early 18th century Europe, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately, I found it to be something that I had to force myself to pick up. I don't know if it was the change of seasons or the fact that I wasn't in the mood for that genre or that the book really was just a difficult piece. Whatever the reason, I can say that while Portrait is not my favorite, it did get me by the end.

The story follows Isabel Archer, a young American woman, recently brought to England by her rich, eccentric aunt. Isabel is quite the independent and refuses marriage proposal after marriage proposal in order to protect that freedom. She doesn't exactly know what she wants, but she definitely can see what she doesn't. After a series of events, Isabel finds herself with the means to be completely independent and in charge of her life. We follow her through her decisions and ultimately see the results of her choices. (As well as discover how artfully one can "help" another make a choice without the decision-maker being aware.)

While it took a lot to push though, I found myself by the last tenth of the book really hooked. Yes, you read that right. It took 9/10 of the book to capture my attention. I know that this is considered a classic, (I read "The Modern Library Classics" edition, for heavens' sakes.) but I've got to tell you, I don't know that many would push through 90% of a book for the gripping last 10%. While I loved the characters, I can tell you that I wouldn't have finished it if not for the two following facts: #1 it was one of my book club books and #2 my lovely friend, MamaP, said it was worth it.

So there you go. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, it's worth it, if you can hack it.

Short But Not Sweet

After the long, formidable Cat's Eye, my next book from the Reading Dangerously challenge was the short, formidable Transformations by Anne Sexton.

As a book of poetry and having only 112 pages, it was a refreshingly quick read. (It took me an hour or so.) Anne Sexton chose seventeen of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales and put them to verse with such a distinct voice, having never read Sexton before, I can imagine that I would be able to recognize her work. I found the poems engrossingly entertaining, but also knew that I was missing a lot with only a first reading.

The format is this: you are given the title, Anne gives a sort of intro about whatever she feels is the poignant aspect of the tale (in verse, of course) and then you read her poetic transformation of the well known story. Before Snow White she speaks of virgins, before Iron Hans she describes how people can not bear the insane, before The Little Peasant she paints lust. As far as being a novice poetry reader goes, I felt that this allowed me to better understand her poetry. The stories themselves were easy enough to understand, it was the intro verses that, without knowing they were discussing the tales, would have been far more difficult to "get."

And this stuff ain't light, either. Sexton is funny, sarcastic, disturbing and blunt. I loved how she treated certain aspects of the stories. For example, in Rumpelstiltskin, we already know the same scene is re-enacted between the little man and the princess on three consecutive nights. Sexton cuts to the chase,
"Again she cried.
Again the dwarf came.
Again he spun the straw into gold."
No embellishment, no descriptors, just the facts. It's like she's saying, "Yeah, yeah, we know, let's get on with it." I also enjoyed how she would comment on certain aspects that only occur in fairy tales. For instance, in the White Snake she writes,
"At the next town
the local princess was having a contest.
A common way for princesses to marry."
I couldn't help but smile.

Even though it is funny, it's not. She's pretty biting and cynical, in general, with some pretty disturbing ways of looking at Rapunzel (the old witch was her lesbian lover) and The Frog Prince (insinuates a bit much went on when the frog shared the princess' bed). You can see her disdain for the common ending of these stories:
"So, of course,
they were placed in a box
and painted identically blue
and thus passed their days
living happily ever after --
a kind of coffin,
a kind of blue funk.
Is it not?"

So what did I really think? While I don't agree with her, it was an interesting view on the Grimm Brothers' work. Enough so that I want to reread them and really dissect what she was trying to say. While her opinions are mostly obvious, there were some things that were just too abstract for me to "get." So I guess, in the end, I didn't so much like it, as I was intrigued. (And, to be honest, disturbed. But mostly intrigued.)

How do you feel when you finish a marathon?

Finally...FINALLY...I finished Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.

In order to review this honestly, I didn't read any other review of it. That can be scary. For what if I missed the main, obvious premise of the book and I look like an idiot? I'm trying to be brave here and hopefully give a one-of-the-normal-folk type of reviews as opposed to a literary one.

How do I describe this book? Hmmmm...let's see...I guess there are two ways.

1. If it didn't satisfy two reading challenges: My Year of Reading Dangerously and Orbis Terrarum, I wouldn't have finished it. It took until page 126 for me to even care about the main character and finally by page 328 (of 446 total) I found that I was intrigued and wanted to know how it would end.
   
2. Difficult to finish, but once it is over, you want to have a discussion with others who have read it so you can figure out the many things that you don't quite get. Great, great book for a book club to discuss.
   

Elaine, is our main character. The story hops back and forth between the present and her past, working from her young childhood in the '40's, until the two merge in the "now" of the '80's. The problem is that she is never happy. Never. Nothing makes her happy. Her childhood girlfriends terrorized her and from that point on...nothing but this gray film on life. She goes through the motions but every thought is cynical and every smile suspected.

The ringleader of these "friends" and subtle-tactic bully, Cordelia, oddly enough ends up being Elaine's best friend later on. It is her relationship with Cordelia, specifically, and her childhood home, Toronto, in general, that torments Elaine onward through adulthood.

I really enjoyed Atwood's style of writing. The hopscotch forward/backward in time method that she used was a perfect medium for telling this story since Elaine's present is so entwined with her past. A bit confusing at times, but a brilliant move.

Atwood has an amazing way of describing things without being verbose. Reading a lot of classics, I'm always skimming and skipping whole paragraphs of descriptions. Not so with this book. The things she describes are not only important to the story, but are done in such a way as to keep my interest. One of my favorite lines from this book is conveyed in just this sparse way.
"This landscape is empty now, a place for Sunday runners. Or not empty: filled with whatever it is by itself, when I'm not looking."

I find myself wanting to dissect this novel with someone else. I want to bounce ideas of what I think the different symbols mean off of another. In that sense, I feel that this book was extraordinary. It evokes discussion and I think that is one of the necessary components of a good book.

Just be aware: this book is gray. By that I mean that when I think of how I feel when I read it, I could only envision the characters in black and white. Different items were in color but the people are all gray. My feelings were gray. I felt that Elaine was walking around dusted in gray.

For what it's worth...the above is what I came out of Cat's Eye with. It was difficult to get through, but in the end I'm glad I did. Not sure if I would attempt it again, though. Sort of like finishing a marathon.

PS - Yes, you do understand the cover picture by the end of the book.

PPS - Anyone who has read this before: When Elaine is arguing with her then-husband Jon, he says,"Trisha, Monica is just a friend." Is this a typo or was she going by Trisha before this? See, my name is Tricia and I'm pretty sure I would have seen another one previous. Please relieve my anxious confusion...EDIT: I feel pretty silly now. After talking it over with my husband, I realized that Jon was answering her question. She asked if he was going to see Monica. His response was misinterpreted by me. I thought he was calling Elaine Trisha like some sort of nickname and then letting her know she was being paranoid because Monica was just a friend. But in actuality he is answering her question that he is going to see Trisha and that she got the "other woman" wrong because Monica is just a friend. Funny how you can read the printed word in different ways isn't it?

February...check! The Bluest Eye

February's book in the Reading Dangerously Challenge, was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Saturday morning I finished Anna Karenina - the behemoth - and started The Bluest Eye. I finished it Saturday night. It was such a quick and gripping read.

I'm not sure how I feel about it though. The book is about young Pecola Breedlove, a very poor, young black girl living in Ohio in the '40s. Although she is the central character, you only meet her from everyone else's point of view: her parents, her classmates, her neighbors. Morrison gives each a chapter or so and we are allowed to see their painful lives in intimate detail. And even though Pecola is the connection between all these people, the author purposely keeps her from being the focus of everyone's attention. Because that's who Pecola is. She lives on the fringe. The book is about her and yet it doesn't feel like it. She's the result. Not the intent.

It's dark. Very dark. The ever-present racism and discrimination of that time pulls all the characters into this mire that they can never escape. There is no hope.

And this is where I'm stuck. I don't know how to respond to this book. On the surface, it is a fictional piece about the truth of racism. But what is its purpose? Why tell me this dark story including everything from death, rape and incest (Think "the dad is his grandchild's father" kind of stuff.) when there is nothing I can do about it? Why craft a story that leaves me feeling that I'm impotent to reverse anything, especially considering that this is all taking place sixty years in the past?

Anyway, that's where I am. Morrison is a very talented author and her writing is incredible. The Bluest Eye was superbly written and almost impossible for me to put down (I think I only did twice.), although saying I enjoyed it wouldn't be entirely accurate. I just wish I knew what to do with these thoughts and these feelings she left me with.

Any ideas?

January...check! Great Expectations

In February I signed up for "The Year of Reading Dangerously" Challenge. Unfortunately the challenge had started in January so I was already behind a month and a half. The good news was that my trip to Africa included about 40 hours of flying. During the trip I was able to finish January's book, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I'm just now able to get my review in.

What did I think of it? If you have not read it before, you must! Dickens was amazing. I love his characters. I had watched the movie years before(you know, the one with Gwyneth) and knew some of the storyline, but I was so unimpressed (and subsequently forgot a lot) with the movie, and the book was so much more complete in its story, that I enjoyed and was surprised by most of the plot twists.(I just reread that sentence and I'm not sure it's intelligible, sorry.)

I've read quite a few of Mr. Dickens' novels and I don't know if I just missed it before or if Great Expectations just had an extra handful, but it is so sarcastic. I found myself laughing out loud on the plane in a few parts.

I'm not going to critique the book or offer any sort of literary discussion. If you want a literary study, google "great expectations analysis" and you'll get 1.8 million hits.

I'm just going to say that I loved the story. I loved the quirky specifics he gave to the characters. I closely followed the choices of the hero, Pip, finding myself smiling at times, wincing at others and even wanting to smack him in the head with one of Joe's blacksmithing tools (or at least wishing Joe would). I even loved the ambiguity of the ending.

With Great Expectations, you can read one of literature's classics and thoroughly enjoy it. You don't have to "power through" or skulk in the knowledge that you just couldn't finish. It's an enjoyable read and I hope you give it a try!

I love Newbery winners!

For the last couple years I've been checking off my list, reading every winner of the John Newbery Medal. This is an award given by the American Library Association to the author of the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." I'm 22% done so far. I love to read them because they are excellently written and generally pretty short. I can enjoy a complete story in one day if I so choose and it tends to be of great quality and completely lacking in the morbid depressing gray-ness that permeates much modern writing of today. Not that I don't enjoy a great piece of literature with controversial arguments and discussion-causing themes. I just like to intersperse them with something a little more encouraging and morally rejuvenating. That's when these Newbery's are perfect. So, without further ado here are three for you to consider:

1974 Newbery Medal - I finished Slave Dancer by Paula Fox and it is almost a painful read. It is the story of a boy who is press-ganged (kidnapped and forced to work) onto a slave ship. His job is to play his fife so the slaves will dance. This exercise keeps them healthier throughout the voyage. "Healthier" being a very, very loose term. The subject matter is obviously unhappy and almost unbearable. Even though it was disturbing, I recommend it. The author does an amazing job of describing the range of emotions the boy, Jessie, goes through. From fear, to hate, to disgust, to sympathy, it's all there and very real. The end is what I would consider, "as happy as you can expect." That sounds depressing but I don't mean it to be. It can't be wholly happy considering the subject, but it does have some happiness. Written very well and with the difficult sailing vocabulary, only the age of the hero and the length of the book would give indication that this was written for children. Fox excellently writes through the boy's eyes, giving him no more understanding than a thirteen year-old of that time would have.

1924 Newbery Medal - I also read The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes. Didn't mean to do a bunch of sea stories, but that's what the library had for me. In this book, Philip Marsham, a nineteen year-old raised on the sea, is taken ill and is left with his father's friend who is an innkeeper. While recovering, an accident forces him to run away and join the crew of a sailing ship. Of course, the ship is overtaken by pirates and it's "join or die." So Philip is now a "pirate" by association and if found, would get the gallows. A pretty fun read. Actually had me concerned for poor Philip at a few points. It was written in 1923 and I've been noticing that vocabulary increases in difficulty the older a Newbery winner is. Is that an indication that we are getting stupider? (Yes, I know, I wrote it on purpose.) Either way, I liked it. Wouldn't hurt you to read it.

1985 Newbery Medal - Latest read: The Hero and The Crown by Robin McKinley. Loved it! I am a sucker for swords and dragons and misunderstood heroines. Aerin is the daughter of the king. Her mother from the "Wild North" was never granted title Queen, so Aerin feels the uncertainty of her place in her father's household. This book is basically her "coming of age" story, but with a whole bunch of fantastic crap I didn't have to deal with when I was her age. McKinley has created an entire land that has touches of the familiar (dragons, horses, kings) but is wholly new and exciting. (And this was written in 1984!) I really liked it. As I was reading, it was full of such imagery I kept thinking, "They should make this into a movie." Everything from the talking dragon's skull to the stairs that take a hundred years to climb to the royal plant that can let you see the future or kill you, all of it was completely engrossing to me. I'm a sucker for that kinda story, though. If you want a good fantasy story that includes an outcast princess with a lame war horse that are "reduced" to fighting dragons, this one's for you. I can't wait to read the sequel, The Blue Sword.

Two more down...

I just finished two books, The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron and Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata.

I'll start with Lucky, winner of the 2007 Newbery Medal. Meh. That's the best I can do. To me, this story is what people think of when I tell them I read children's novels. It's a cutesy story but that's it. It's about a girl, Lucky, trying to deal with her mother's death and her father's abandonement. She eaves drops on AA meetings and not fully understanding the twelve step process, is trying to find her "Higher Power." Hence, the title. The subject matter is worthy of an award-winning book, I just didn't think the story was. It was an entertaining, very quick read, but in the end, I wouldn't care if I never read it again.

Next up, Kira-Kira. This book is a batch of pretty amazing writing. Believe it or not, I've seen this book numerous times and never read it because I didn't like the cover. How juvenile is that? Anyway, the story is about Katie, a daughter to Japanese immigrants, and her life. Her parents work extremely hard to provide for their children, when their oldest daughter, Lynn, gets sick. Not only is it a look at life for immigrants in the 50's, it is a glimpse into a young girl's incomplete understanding of life. I'm amazed at the author's ability to write this story without dumbing it down since it is told through the eyes of a kindergartner. She does an amazing job of only letting you see what Katie sees. This book was pretty long and I had to actually force myself to read it at a couple spots, but it was good in the end. The Newbery people got something right when they picked this one.

Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze

I just finished this book. It was excellent. (except the end, more to come on that)

Young Fu is the 1933 winnner of the Newberry Award. It follows the youth of a farm boy who comes to be a coppersmith apprentice in Chung-king after the death of his father. The book gives an intriguing look into pre-Communist China during the early years of the 1900s. I really enjoyed it, all but the ending. I just finished reading a chapter and turned the page to start the next one, but the only thing on the next page was an appendix of pronunciation. It wasn't that the story hadn't eneded, it was that the writing didn't finish the story. I don't think that's exactly clear. The story was at a perfect place to end, the author just didn't get the actually ending words nailed down. Instead of feeling resolution, you feel abandoned. Like you had to leave in the middle of the conversation.

Oh well. I still liked it. If you want an interesting, yet light read, check out Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze.

I'm 15% done!

I've read 15% of the 86 Newberry Award Winners. That just doesn't sound as impressive when it's typed out.:-(

I just finished Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon. The pigeon's name is actually Chitra-Giva which means "neck painted in gay colours." They just shortened it to "Gay Neck." Considering the times, with the completely different connotation of the word gay, and that nowadays things tend to be very ethnically correct, I wish they had called it "Chitra-Giva: The Story of a Pigeon. Oh well, que sera.

This is the 1928 Newberry Award winner. Since it's based on the life of a 12 year-old boy and his flock of pigeons, you get a lot of insight into life in India. (At least 1928 India.) I had no idea the all-encompassing pasttime of pigeon-rearing in India. It was (don't know if it is still going on) such a normal thing for everyone to raise and train pigeons on their rooftop.

Interesting to note: at the time this book was published, no one had yet scaled Everest. The Indian prayer was that no one would ever conquer it. It was a symbol of divinity that would be best left untainted by man's footprint. It is such a different viewpoint than that of the western world where we are always trying to conquer the next "unconquerable" thing.

This story follows Gay-neck's birth, training, trials and eventual drafting into World War I. While I wouldn't describe it as fascinating, I would say it was an interesting read. Not gripping, but you wouldn't be wasting your time.

Note: The entire thing is saturated with Hinduism ideals and values. Very educational.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

I finished this today. On the toilet. Seriously, it's one place where I can read in peace. Sometimes I don't even have to go, I just lock myself in there and sit on the toilet lid. Need to change the subject. On to the book...

Good story. Interesting viewpoint of rats and their take on humans. Totally different than the movie, but just as good. The movie is called The Secret of Nimh. The funny thing about movies is that they aren't joking when they say inspired by the book. I think they should just say "We read the book and took some main points out of it and used them for this movie that has a completely different story line." It would definitely be closer to the truth. Because from about halfway through The Secret of Nimh, the only things that stay true to the book are the names of the characters. A good consequence of this is that the story was new and fresh. I really had no idea how it was going to end despite the fact that I've watched the movie at least a dozen times.

The story was pretty gripping and I really wanted to finish it. All in all, it will go into the pile that states, "To Recommend."