First the music:
If you know me, you know I am also a singer/songwriter in the contemporary folk genre. Naturally I am a fan of female singer/songwriters and I have a new love. Kasey Chambers' CD, "Wayward Angel" is the kind of new record I just don't want to stop playing. Remember when you were young and you would get a new album and you would listen to it everyday, over and over, until you knew all the words and could sing along with every song? That is what happened to me with this CD. Then my husband stole it out of my car and I had to fight to get it back.
I don't know anything about the artist and I almost don't want to, because now I have my own idea about her from the songs. She has one of those voices which can go from thin, little girl to soulful to rockin' to warm and sensitive. The styles are contemporary, country, bluegrass, folk and even a hot, sexy blues. Lots of angel imagery, some angst, love, family and just fun. Hot musicians, including the incredible Steuart Smith on electric guitar. Kasey wrote all the songs and the recording was done in Australia.
I don't care. It is just great music.
Rodney Crowell: one of my songwriting heros. I even mention him in my song, "Solstice". Last night we saw him live at The Mint in Los Angeles. His band was amazing with Will Kimbrough and Jed Hughes on guitars. They did a bunch of songs from his new CD, "the outsider" plus many of my favorites from earlier albums. The sound was the usual atrocious mix that The Mint is infamous for. Rodney even stopped the second song and tried to communicate with the soundman. Then he accepted what he obviously had to work with and rocked on.
I haven't seen a band have so much fun performing in a long time. He also did Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone", complete with singalong and we all knew all the words and lost our voices. In between verses he introduced the band, they did blistering solos and oh my god. It was fabulous. Then I bought the new CD and got him to autograph it. What a night!
On to the movies: Two weekends ago we saw "The Four Brothers"; me, my husband and my son. It is set in Detroit, where we are all from, so that was great right there. The "brothers" are foster kids who were adopted by their foster mom. Two are black, two are white, they are now grown and pretty much hoodlums but as their mom says, you should have seen them before she got them. They reunite at their mom's home after she is shot to death in a convenience store in the neighborhood and decide to avenge her death.
Naturally a whole can of worms is opened and it gets to be a crime thriller with plenty of gratuitous violence and blood, but these brothers are so fearless and cool with each other and it is so exciting right up to the end, that I wasn't bothered by it. Plus these boys just really love their mom. Under all that bravado and toughness they are softhearted mama's boys. Charming really. If you aren't afraid of blood, I highly recommend it.
"Word Wars" is an amazing documentary about Scrabble. Made in 2004, it follows four obsessed Scrabble players on the way to and participating in the ultimate Scrabble tournament in San Diego, CA, sponsored by Hasbro who makes the board game. I mean, we play Scrabble fairly often and feel good if we get over 100 points. These guys study the official Scrabble dictionary and memorize hundreds of words (using flash cards!) and get over 400 points regularly. Each one is a special kind of geek. I wouldn't want to be one of them, but I could appreciate the obsession, because I am like that about reading. If I was offered a hugely paying job that would take away my reading time, I would no way take that job.
I've been working my way through all the movies in which Jessica Lange plays a part, from earliest to current. (What would I do without Netflix?) Finally got to 1995 and saw "Losing Isaiah". It has a very young Halle Berry, who was a great actress even then. I thought the screenplay was weak and somewhat unrealistic. Halle plays a crack-addicted teen who has a baby and leaves him in a trash can, finds a fix, passes out, etc. Isaiah is the baby. Jessica Lange plays a social worker who adopts him. The druggie Mom goes through rehab and wants her baby back. Big drama.
Finally I saw "Spanglish" with Adam Sandler and an actress who is famous in Mexico and who reminded me of Penelope Cruz. It is a look at a Mexican single mom in LA, who takes a job as a maid with a rich family and almost loses her daughter to them. Hm. Similar theme to "Losing Isaiah" in a way. The acting is really very good and the daughter gets the best of both worlds because of her mother's commitment to her values and the exposure to the American Way which speeds up her assimilation. Probably not very realistic, in fact very idealistic, but entertaining and not bad, as movies go.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
ABOUT A BLOG
Now I see that my post from two days ago is there plus a new one I wrote tonight, both about the same book. Well I just have to get over being embarassed about not knowing squat and move on. It is an interesting study in how I can write about the same thing on two different days and it comes out differently. You, my faithful readers, get to observe the phenomenon.
Yes, I can do it. I am moving on.
Yes, I can do it. I am moving on.
ABOUT A BOY
OK, so I haven't posted for a while due to many things. I know one person noticed because she sent me an email about it. If anyone else has been checking for new stuff, thank you for your patience.
I have been reading and have lots of books to write about. I tried a post two nights ago but blogger was having personal problems and it didn't show up on the blog. To their credit, I sent a help (!!!) email to blogger and they answered with their apologies.
On to the books:
About A Boy, by Nick Hornby, was made into a funny, heartwarming movie with Hugh Grant playing the main character, Will. I've seen the movie twice and liked it very well, recommended it to others, but the book is so much better.
As I began reading it, I kept seeing Hugh Grant, which is why I hate seeing a movie before I've read the book. It actually took about 100 pages before I was really in the book and not the movie. In the book, Will's childhood and the reasons for his being the shallow guy he is are explained. Marcus' mom is not such an over the top character but a believable person. Hornby does an excellent job of portraying Marcus as a pre-teen boy who is emerging from the world of his parents and finding his own identity and views. Will does actually grow and change as a character into a guy who is facing real life. It happens because someone needs him and he is able to be of use. That also happens in the movie, but the emotional impact of the book is so much stronger and deeper. And it doesn't have that stupid school talent show stuff AT ALL. Who was the screenwriter and what was he thinking?
Now I have realized that I need to read High Fidelity, because I liked that movie a lot also, but maybe there is more in store for me in the book.
I have been reading and have lots of books to write about. I tried a post two nights ago but blogger was having personal problems and it didn't show up on the blog. To their credit, I sent a help (!!!) email to blogger and they answered with their apologies.
On to the books:
About A Boy, by Nick Hornby, was made into a funny, heartwarming movie with Hugh Grant playing the main character, Will. I've seen the movie twice and liked it very well, recommended it to others, but the book is so much better.
As I began reading it, I kept seeing Hugh Grant, which is why I hate seeing a movie before I've read the book. It actually took about 100 pages before I was really in the book and not the movie. In the book, Will's childhood and the reasons for his being the shallow guy he is are explained. Marcus' mom is not such an over the top character but a believable person. Hornby does an excellent job of portraying Marcus as a pre-teen boy who is emerging from the world of his parents and finding his own identity and views. Will does actually grow and change as a character into a guy who is facing real life. It happens because someone needs him and he is able to be of use. That also happens in the movie, but the emotional impact of the book is so much stronger and deeper. And it doesn't have that stupid school talent show stuff AT ALL. Who was the screenwriter and what was he thinking?
Now I have realized that I need to read High Fidelity, because I liked that movie a lot also, but maybe there is more in store for me in the book.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
ABOUT A BOY
I am back home in Los Angeles. I am no longer sick. I have started a new job as a teacher of at risk kids in a very cool private school, just 10 miles from my house (in LA, this is huge. No long freeway drives to get to work.) So that is just to fill in the missing weeks. Meanwhile I was, of course, reading and have lots of books to blog about. I don't know if anyone is reading this because I have not had a comment in a while. If you are reading, please at least say HI.
So About A Boy, by Nick Hornby was made into a successful movie, which I liked very much. ( I am a sucker for stories about people who help messed up kids, because that is my profession. ) I must say though that the book is so much better than the movie. At first, as I was reading, I kept seeing the movie in my head, with Hugh Grant featuring in my mental image pictures. The movie follows the book pretty faithfully at first, with all of Will's sick tactics for getting women, all his shallow ways, etc. But once we meet Marcus's mother, it all veers into a much better and more real vein. The portrayal of Marcus as a pre-teen who is emerging from the world of his parents and finding his own identity is so well done. Will also does actually grow and change as a character into a guy who is facing real life.
The emotional impact of the book is stronger and deeper than the movie. It does not have that really stupid thing with the school talent show at all. Amazing what they do in Hollywood. I am glad I read the book and must give a shout out to the lone male in one of my reading groups who recommended the book.
So About A Boy, by Nick Hornby was made into a successful movie, which I liked very much. ( I am a sucker for stories about people who help messed up kids, because that is my profession. ) I must say though that the book is so much better than the movie. At first, as I was reading, I kept seeing the movie in my head, with Hugh Grant featuring in my mental image pictures. The movie follows the book pretty faithfully at first, with all of Will's sick tactics for getting women, all his shallow ways, etc. But once we meet Marcus's mother, it all veers into a much better and more real vein. The portrayal of Marcus as a pre-teen who is emerging from the world of his parents and finding his own identity is so well done. Will also does actually grow and change as a character into a guy who is facing real life.
The emotional impact of the book is stronger and deeper than the movie. It does not have that really stupid thing with the school talent show at all. Amazing what they do in Hollywood. I am glad I read the book and must give a shout out to the lone male in one of my reading groups who recommended the book.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
HELLO FROM THE ROAD
I have been silent here for far too long. I have excuses. August was the month from hell for me. I took on way too much work, the most upsetting aspect of which was that I hardly got to read at all.
Then on August 18, my birthday, I got the flu and was in bed for two days. After that, all I could do was go do the tutoring I had booked and go back to bed. That went on for a week. This was all preceded by taking on first a geometry student and then an algebra student, both of whom were in summer school and going at triple speed. I was completely rusty on geometry and not that swift on algebra either, so every minute I wasn't tutoring I was crash coursing myself thru a highschool geometry and then algebra text.
There was a rather amazing outcome for me after all that math study. Usually as I am falling asleep at night, I think about the book I am reading. Sometimes the characters are in my dreams and doing things that they don't do in the book. (Does that sound like it is really time for me to write a novel myself? I think so.) Other times I have realizations about life and people and society. Well, after studying theorems or linear equations or whatever for hours and doing the problems, I started having blinding realizations about life and people and society that looked like advanced math problems applied to life. It was kind of weird. I wondered if that is how the mind of a genius works. The only thing I did wrong is not getting up and writing them down.
On August 26, still coughing and sneezing and blowing my nose, I boarded an airplane and flew to Cincinnati, OH, to visit my son, his wife and my three grandchildren. But my trials and tribulations were not over. Hurricane Katrina was headed for the Ohio River last Monday plus some bonehead had left a tanker car full of styrene (the chemical that is used to make styrofoam) on a siding east of Cincinnati. It went past its use-by date and started venting styrene into the atmosphere. (Highly toxic and carcinogenic and prone to exploding is styrene.) So we were faced with possible evacuation orders. My very sensible son turned to me and said, "Maybe you should just go to Michigan tonight."
The rest of my family lives outside Ann Arbor, MI, so I headed to my Mom's house that night, two days ahead of my scheduled plan. It was for the best. She let me sleep all I wanted, put no demands on me and cooked all kinds of great food. We had fresh tomatoes, zucchini, peppers from the garden and lovely cool weather. I finished getting better.
Tomorrow I fly home and start a new teaching job on Tuesday. It is all good. I will teach at a very small private school which takes kids who have fallen behind grade level and brings them back up where they should be. I will have a class of 10 students of all different ages, just like the one room schoolhouse teachers I used to read about when I was a young girl dreaming of being a teacher someday. And after a 5 hour day, I can go home and READ!!! And then post on my blog. Best of all, they are going to give the geometry and algebra kids to the other teacher. Whew.
So check back soon. I will have more book reviews plus my musings about movies and music. Whatever you do, don't get the flu. Take your vitamins, get enough sleep and think good thoughts. If you used to live in New Orleans, my prayers go out to you.
Then on August 18, my birthday, I got the flu and was in bed for two days. After that, all I could do was go do the tutoring I had booked and go back to bed. That went on for a week. This was all preceded by taking on first a geometry student and then an algebra student, both of whom were in summer school and going at triple speed. I was completely rusty on geometry and not that swift on algebra either, so every minute I wasn't tutoring I was crash coursing myself thru a highschool geometry and then algebra text.
There was a rather amazing outcome for me after all that math study. Usually as I am falling asleep at night, I think about the book I am reading. Sometimes the characters are in my dreams and doing things that they don't do in the book. (Does that sound like it is really time for me to write a novel myself? I think so.) Other times I have realizations about life and people and society. Well, after studying theorems or linear equations or whatever for hours and doing the problems, I started having blinding realizations about life and people and society that looked like advanced math problems applied to life. It was kind of weird. I wondered if that is how the mind of a genius works. The only thing I did wrong is not getting up and writing them down.
On August 26, still coughing and sneezing and blowing my nose, I boarded an airplane and flew to Cincinnati, OH, to visit my son, his wife and my three grandchildren. But my trials and tribulations were not over. Hurricane Katrina was headed for the Ohio River last Monday plus some bonehead had left a tanker car full of styrene (the chemical that is used to make styrofoam) on a siding east of Cincinnati. It went past its use-by date and started venting styrene into the atmosphere. (Highly toxic and carcinogenic and prone to exploding is styrene.) So we were faced with possible evacuation orders. My very sensible son turned to me and said, "Maybe you should just go to Michigan tonight."
The rest of my family lives outside Ann Arbor, MI, so I headed to my Mom's house that night, two days ahead of my scheduled plan. It was for the best. She let me sleep all I wanted, put no demands on me and cooked all kinds of great food. We had fresh tomatoes, zucchini, peppers from the garden and lovely cool weather. I finished getting better.
Tomorrow I fly home and start a new teaching job on Tuesday. It is all good. I will teach at a very small private school which takes kids who have fallen behind grade level and brings them back up where they should be. I will have a class of 10 students of all different ages, just like the one room schoolhouse teachers I used to read about when I was a young girl dreaming of being a teacher someday. And after a 5 hour day, I can go home and READ!!! And then post on my blog. Best of all, they are going to give the geometry and algebra kids to the other teacher. Whew.
So check back soon. I will have more book reviews plus my musings about movies and music. Whatever you do, don't get the flu. Take your vitamins, get enough sleep and think good thoughts. If you used to live in New Orleans, my prayers go out to you.
Monday, August 08, 2005
READING GROUPS
I am a member of four reading groups. This is a little crazy but it is working out pretty well. I joined the first one because I wanted someone to talk to about books. Then one thing led to another and I ended up being in four. It is good because a) I read books I would otherwise have never read (actually a mixed blessing. I had to read one by Nicholas Sparks a few months ago-yuck.) and b) I read books on my to-be-read pile that I otherwise was not getting around to. Also, as a budding writer, it is fascinating to me to hear all the different reactions from actual readers, not critics, to the same book. Being in four groups means I have a meeting about once a week which is a bit challenging but not impossible.
This month so far, I read Little Scarlet, by Walter Mosley and The Jane Austen Book Club, by Karen Joy Fowler together with Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen. I had been meaning to read The Jane Austen Book Club ever since it came out. The story involves five women and one man who read and discuss all of Jane's books over a six month period and I thought I would read the Austen books first, but reading a Jane Austen book just doesn't get me excited so I never got around to it. I did read Pride and Prejudice while I was reading Reading Lolita in Tehran last fall and it wasn't bad once I got used to all that stupid dialogue that she puts in to make fun of how people talked in those days. At least now I know what people mean when they talk about Darcy.
Anyway, The Jane Austen Book Club was a disappointment. It is the second book about book clubs I have read. (The other one was a reading group pick as well, entitled Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons.) I always think I will like this type of story because I love reading and I am in reading groups, but in both books, there are too many characters and you never really get deeply into any one of their lives. Plus this one was just too much like any other modern book about modern women and all their issues. She obviously was drawing comparisons between these women's lives and the women in Jane Austen's books, but the fact is that Jane Austen does it better.
So part of the plan this month was to also read Northanger Abbey in combination with the other book. (I will be interested to see how many group members managed to read both.) I finished the Fowler book yesterday and the Austen book tonight. Catherine is the heroine in Northanger Abbey, and she is the most likeable of Austen's women so far, in my opinion. She is a bit ditzy and unaware, mostly because she is young and also because she doesn't realize, as all the other women do, that getting a husband is THE THING. She suffers agonies over the stupid things she does and has a lovely sense of what is right socially, but has not a duplicitous bone in her body. And of course, in the end she gets her man.
Well, that is enough of Jane Austen for now. I am going back to the William Faulkner book I interrupted to read these two.
This month so far, I read Little Scarlet, by Walter Mosley and The Jane Austen Book Club, by Karen Joy Fowler together with Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen. I had been meaning to read The Jane Austen Book Club ever since it came out. The story involves five women and one man who read and discuss all of Jane's books over a six month period and I thought I would read the Austen books first, but reading a Jane Austen book just doesn't get me excited so I never got around to it. I did read Pride and Prejudice while I was reading Reading Lolita in Tehran last fall and it wasn't bad once I got used to all that stupid dialogue that she puts in to make fun of how people talked in those days. At least now I know what people mean when they talk about Darcy.
Anyway, The Jane Austen Book Club was a disappointment. It is the second book about book clubs I have read. (The other one was a reading group pick as well, entitled Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons.) I always think I will like this type of story because I love reading and I am in reading groups, but in both books, there are too many characters and you never really get deeply into any one of their lives. Plus this one was just too much like any other modern book about modern women and all their issues. She obviously was drawing comparisons between these women's lives and the women in Jane Austen's books, but the fact is that Jane Austen does it better.
So part of the plan this month was to also read Northanger Abbey in combination with the other book. (I will be interested to see how many group members managed to read both.) I finished the Fowler book yesterday and the Austen book tonight. Catherine is the heroine in Northanger Abbey, and she is the most likeable of Austen's women so far, in my opinion. She is a bit ditzy and unaware, mostly because she is young and also because she doesn't realize, as all the other women do, that getting a husband is THE THING. She suffers agonies over the stupid things she does and has a lovely sense of what is right socially, but has not a duplicitous bone in her body. And of course, in the end she gets her man.
Well, that is enough of Jane Austen for now. I am going back to the William Faulkner book I interrupted to read these two.
THE BEGINNING AND THE END
Well I am still on 1949, but I am getting close. Lots of reading getting done, but some of it is for reading groups. My eyeballs are not burning yet though, so I know I can do more, if only life would let me.
The Beginning and the End, by Naguib Mahfouz. He is Egyptian and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. This is a good thing because then his books got translated into English. I am a big proponent of reading fiction by writers from other countries. I think it is a perfectly plausible road to world peace. Fiction by foreign authors is always a surprise to me, sometimes difficult to read, has viewpoints that are refreshingly not American and Mafouz did not disappoint me. He is one of the first Egyptians to write novels and he began writing them in the 1930s.
In this story, a family falls into poverty after the father dies. They were only barely middle-class when he was alive. The mother stoically keeps the family going. The daughter must go out and earn money as a seamstress, a source of dishonor for a woman in 1930s Egypt. Two of the sons finish school and assume positions. A third son has always been a reprobate, but he finds income through unsavory connections with crime and drug dealing and is the one who puts up the money to get the other boys started in life.
All of the children have various love interests but it is the middle son, who sacrifices his own wants to help his younger brother yet finally finds a wife, while all the others' lives end in tragedy. The whole book is a study on the degrading effects of poverty on otherwise fairly normal people. Each one has a character trait that becomes emphasized all out of proportion by circumstance, which makes the novel universal rather than local.
The book was published in 1949 and marked Mafouz's change from writing historical fiction to contemporary stories. I started to wonder, after I read this book, about Egypt. I've read countless books about ancient Egypt and two books by Mafouz about 20th century Egypt. What happened in between? Does anyone know of a good book about Egyptian history? What I would love is a James Michener or Edward Rutherfurd type of book that traces the whole history of the place.
The Beginning and the End, by Naguib Mahfouz. He is Egyptian and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. This is a good thing because then his books got translated into English. I am a big proponent of reading fiction by writers from other countries. I think it is a perfectly plausible road to world peace. Fiction by foreign authors is always a surprise to me, sometimes difficult to read, has viewpoints that are refreshingly not American and Mafouz did not disappoint me. He is one of the first Egyptians to write novels and he began writing them in the 1930s.
In this story, a family falls into poverty after the father dies. They were only barely middle-class when he was alive. The mother stoically keeps the family going. The daughter must go out and earn money as a seamstress, a source of dishonor for a woman in 1930s Egypt. Two of the sons finish school and assume positions. A third son has always been a reprobate, but he finds income through unsavory connections with crime and drug dealing and is the one who puts up the money to get the other boys started in life.
All of the children have various love interests but it is the middle son, who sacrifices his own wants to help his younger brother yet finally finds a wife, while all the others' lives end in tragedy. The whole book is a study on the degrading effects of poverty on otherwise fairly normal people. Each one has a character trait that becomes emphasized all out of proportion by circumstance, which makes the novel universal rather than local.
The book was published in 1949 and marked Mafouz's change from writing historical fiction to contemporary stories. I started to wonder, after I read this book, about Egypt. I've read countless books about ancient Egypt and two books by Mafouz about 20th century Egypt. What happened in between? Does anyone know of a good book about Egyptian history? What I would love is a James Michener or Edward Rutherfurd type of book that traces the whole history of the place.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
THE SEASON OF COMFORT
I read The Season of Comfort, by Gore Vidal, as part of My Big Fat Reading Project (see post of this title from early July.) It was published in 1949 and is Vidal's fourth novel. It was just OK. I think he was trying to write a bestseller in the style of the time but it just didn't have that zing.
It is a family story. The head of the family is a Virginia politician who was once Vice President under Wilson. He is no longer in office, but his daughter is having her first baby as the book opens. It is actually this child's story and you watch him grow up and break free of his overbearing and slightly crazy mother. But just as he finds himself and decides to pursue a career as a fine artist, he goes off to fight in World War II and the story ends. It was not a bad story, but did not enlighten me in any way.
All of the four Vidal novels I've read so far concern young men finding themselves, but the best one was the first, Williwaw, which had some actual excitement in it. Of course Vidal went on to write many books including some lengthy historical fiction. It will be interesting to see how he develops as an author as I read through the years.
Speaking of which, I am very close to finishing the reading for 1949. I am excited. I will finally move into a new decade; the decade which most shaped my life. I started this project reading books from 1940, so this will be the ninth year I've finished. Every time I get to the last few books of a year, it seems that time slows down or all kinds of stuff comes up in life that keeps me from reading. I wanted to finish the last five books last week and only got through one of them. I get a bit frantic about it. Well, I get very edgy whenever I can't get in the amount of reading time I want to. I realized yesterday that reading is what I use to create space in my life. All the daily stresses and issues press in around me, but when I am reading I feel free of all that and am off to other lands, other lifestyles, other viewpoints and new ideas. I wonder how it is for other people who read lots of books.
It is a family story. The head of the family is a Virginia politician who was once Vice President under Wilson. He is no longer in office, but his daughter is having her first baby as the book opens. It is actually this child's story and you watch him grow up and break free of his overbearing and slightly crazy mother. But just as he finds himself and decides to pursue a career as a fine artist, he goes off to fight in World War II and the story ends. It was not a bad story, but did not enlighten me in any way.
All of the four Vidal novels I've read so far concern young men finding themselves, but the best one was the first, Williwaw, which had some actual excitement in it. Of course Vidal went on to write many books including some lengthy historical fiction. It will be interesting to see how he develops as an author as I read through the years.
Speaking of which, I am very close to finishing the reading for 1949. I am excited. I will finally move into a new decade; the decade which most shaped my life. I started this project reading books from 1940, so this will be the ninth year I've finished. Every time I get to the last few books of a year, it seems that time slows down or all kinds of stuff comes up in life that keeps me from reading. I wanted to finish the last five books last week and only got through one of them. I get a bit frantic about it. Well, I get very edgy whenever I can't get in the amount of reading time I want to. I realized yesterday that reading is what I use to create space in my life. All the daily stresses and issues press in around me, but when I am reading I feel free of all that and am off to other lands, other lifestyles, other viewpoints and new ideas. I wonder how it is for other people who read lots of books.
Monday, August 01, 2005
LITTLE SCARLET
I saw Walter Mosley speak at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this spring. He talked about making the experience of black people real to other people. He read from the first chapter of Little Scarlet, his latest Easy Rawlins book. He is an excellent reader and I could still hear his voice when I began to read the book.
The setting is the Watts District of Los Angeles, 1965 in the aftermath of the riots there. A woman has been murdered and the only suspect is a white man. The Deputy Police commissioner does not want that to be true, as it will only cause a new eruption of violence. He summons Easy to help smooth the waters. Easy does more than that. He finds the real murderer.
This was the first I read about Easy Rawlins. He is quite a guy. Born dirt poor in Texas, he came and lived in the ghetto of LA but raised himself up. He owns a house outside of Watts, has a family of sorts and besides his job as a school janitor, he has a sort of private eye service for his people in Watts. He is serious about the evils of racism, but he is no prude. He does what he has to, to get the job done. He has a heart of gold and a chest full of anger towards the white establishment, including cops.
I thought the book was great. It works on many levels and does what I think fiction should do, which is put into words what people feel and know but cannot always express. But I read the book for a reading group discussion and was amazed to find that about half of the group disliked the book. They felt that it was too sympathetic towards violence and crime and could not see why blacks should still be so angry when slavery has been abolished for all these years. Why don't these people just get an education and get a grip and move on, was the attitude of this part of the group. Geez! I was dismayed at the blindness. I suppose that a writer can write the truth, but can never be sure it will be heard.
The setting is the Watts District of Los Angeles, 1965 in the aftermath of the riots there. A woman has been murdered and the only suspect is a white man. The Deputy Police commissioner does not want that to be true, as it will only cause a new eruption of violence. He summons Easy to help smooth the waters. Easy does more than that. He finds the real murderer.
This was the first I read about Easy Rawlins. He is quite a guy. Born dirt poor in Texas, he came and lived in the ghetto of LA but raised himself up. He owns a house outside of Watts, has a family of sorts and besides his job as a school janitor, he has a sort of private eye service for his people in Watts. He is serious about the evils of racism, but he is no prude. He does what he has to, to get the job done. He has a heart of gold and a chest full of anger towards the white establishment, including cops.
I thought the book was great. It works on many levels and does what I think fiction should do, which is put into words what people feel and know but cannot always express. But I read the book for a reading group discussion and was amazed to find that about half of the group disliked the book. They felt that it was too sympathetic towards violence and crime and could not see why blacks should still be so angry when slavery has been abolished for all these years. Why don't these people just get an education and get a grip and move on, was the attitude of this part of the group. Geez! I was dismayed at the blindness. I suppose that a writer can write the truth, but can never be sure it will be heard.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
A WEEKEND OF MUSIC
This past Friday night I was taken by my son to see Beck at Universal Ampitheatre here in Los Angeles. It has been a while since I've been to a concert with that many people. Usually it is a coffee-house or bookstore venue. I was glad to have my son as an escort, but really it was a fine crowd of people. Even though there was a mosh pit, we had seats, though no one sat in them. We just all boogied where we stood.
I thought it was a great show. I don't really know his songs except for "Loser" and "Two Turntables and a Microphone" (which he did perform) and yet it all sounded familiar somehow. In the middle of the show, he did an acoustic set while the rest of the band sat at a table on stage and ate a meal. Whatever. But then I realized that actually the guy is a folk based singer/songwriter just like me, except he can scratch on those turntables and rap and he rocks. It was fun. The best part was the next day, when my son called to say that he didn't know too many Moms you could take to a Beck show and have such a good time. I was honored.
Saturday morning my husband and I drove up to Paso Robles, just north of San Luis Obispo, in the heart of the new wine country. (Apparently the Sonoma area was struck by a grapevine worm some years back and growers went to this area south of San Francisco to escape the worm.) At the Castoro Vineyard, we saw Laurence Juber play under the setting sun and then the stars. He played a varied selection of his original pieces, some Beatles and Wings tunes, some blues and standards. Domenic Genova on bass and Steve Forman on percussion were the perfect back up musicians for Mr Juber's virtuoso finger-style guitar. Somehow we missed dinner that night and also decided to pass on the wine, but my hunger was filled by the scenery and the music.
It was fitting for this musical weekend that I had just finished reading Bob Dylan's memoir, Chronicles, Volume I. I think you might have to be a Dylan fan to fully enjoy the book. I have been a fan for a long time, ever since I performed and knew all the words to some of his ten minute songs, such as "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." Also, I've read at least three biographies of the man, so it was almost a relief to get Bob's side of the story. He writes prose the way he writes lyrics. In fact, I could really hear the Woody Guthrie influence. The writing rambles and lurches along in the same way Guthrie does in Bound For Glory.
I thought it was a great show. I don't really know his songs except for "Loser" and "Two Turntables and a Microphone" (which he did perform) and yet it all sounded familiar somehow. In the middle of the show, he did an acoustic set while the rest of the band sat at a table on stage and ate a meal. Whatever. But then I realized that actually the guy is a folk based singer/songwriter just like me, except he can scratch on those turntables and rap and he rocks. It was fun. The best part was the next day, when my son called to say that he didn't know too many Moms you could take to a Beck show and have such a good time. I was honored.
Saturday morning my husband and I drove up to Paso Robles, just north of San Luis Obispo, in the heart of the new wine country. (Apparently the Sonoma area was struck by a grapevine worm some years back and growers went to this area south of San Francisco to escape the worm.) At the Castoro Vineyard, we saw Laurence Juber play under the setting sun and then the stars. He played a varied selection of his original pieces, some Beatles and Wings tunes, some blues and standards. Domenic Genova on bass and Steve Forman on percussion were the perfect back up musicians for Mr Juber's virtuoso finger-style guitar. Somehow we missed dinner that night and also decided to pass on the wine, but my hunger was filled by the scenery and the music.
It was fitting for this musical weekend that I had just finished reading Bob Dylan's memoir, Chronicles, Volume I. I think you might have to be a Dylan fan to fully enjoy the book. I have been a fan for a long time, ever since I performed and knew all the words to some of his ten minute songs, such as "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." Also, I've read at least three biographies of the man, so it was almost a relief to get Bob's side of the story. He writes prose the way he writes lyrics. In fact, I could really hear the Woody Guthrie influence. The writing rambles and lurches along in the same way Guthrie does in Bound For Glory.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Movies: A Study in Contrasts
I saw two movies last weekend, which couldn't have been more different from each other.
Sideways, 2004, was an Oscar nominee. Two guys go on a California wine country weekend. They were best friends in college; now they are at least 10 years older. One is a fading actor about to get married to a rich girl. The other is an aspiring novelist waiting to hear if his novel has been picked up by a publisher. They are very different personalities and the only thing between them is that old college relationship.
They meet women, shit happens. In fact, they are both so male! Completely opposite viewpoint from a chick flick. I wanted to hate these guys, especially the actor character who is so shallow. But the acting was great and I was entertained in spite of myself. My husband did not fall asleep this time.
Next we go to Africa for Hotel Rwanda. Intense, gruesome, moving. Don Cheadle is stunning in his role as an African working in a white man's world who must then become the leader of his countrymen as they try to survive civil and tribal war. Heaviest of all was the message that the white world deserted this country in its time of trouble. I found a similarity to the way we turn our backs on the killing and gang wars in the slums of this country.
Sideways, 2004, was an Oscar nominee. Two guys go on a California wine country weekend. They were best friends in college; now they are at least 10 years older. One is a fading actor about to get married to a rich girl. The other is an aspiring novelist waiting to hear if his novel has been picked up by a publisher. They are very different personalities and the only thing between them is that old college relationship.
They meet women, shit happens. In fact, they are both so male! Completely opposite viewpoint from a chick flick. I wanted to hate these guys, especially the actor character who is so shallow. But the acting was great and I was entertained in spite of myself. My husband did not fall asleep this time.
Next we go to Africa for Hotel Rwanda. Intense, gruesome, moving. Don Cheadle is stunning in his role as an African working in a white man's world who must then become the leader of his countrymen as they try to survive civil and tribal war. Heaviest of all was the message that the white world deserted this country in its time of trouble. I found a similarity to the way we turn our backs on the killing and gang wars in the slums of this country.
Call to teen readers
If you are a teen and you read, I want to hear from you.
I want to know what books you are reading, what books you love, what books you dislike or even hate.
I am a tutor of teens and I encourage them to read books. But I think it is silly to read book reviews written by and for adults. I think teens should review the books they read.
So PLEASE, comment here or send me your reviews by email and I will post them here on this blog.
BTW, I just read King of the Wind, by Marguerite Henry. It is a horse story about an Arabian horse, his faithful horseboy and a cat named Grimalkin. They travel from Morocco to France to England. Sham, the horse, becomes the sire of a whole line of race horses which still win races today. It was pretty good, even though it was written in 1948. It won the Newbery Award in 1949, which means it can be found in any library.
I want to know what books you are reading, what books you love, what books you dislike or even hate.
I am a tutor of teens and I encourage them to read books. But I think it is silly to read book reviews written by and for adults. I think teens should review the books they read.
So PLEASE, comment here or send me your reviews by email and I will post them here on this blog.
BTW, I just read King of the Wind, by Marguerite Henry. It is a horse story about an Arabian horse, his faithful horseboy and a cat named Grimalkin. They travel from Morocco to France to England. Sham, the horse, becomes the sire of a whole line of race horses which still win races today. It was pretty good, even though it was written in 1948. It won the Newbery Award in 1949, which means it can be found in any library.
THE HEAT OF THE DAY
I discovered the author Elizabeth Bowen while browsing in a bookstore in Galway, Ireland last spring. We had gone to Galway because it was purported to have a lively music scene. Perhaps because we were there mid-week, we found little music and lots of rain. But the first day we were walking Eyre Square, the main area of the old town; no cars, just cobblestone walks and lots of shops. Actually there was quite a street music scene, even in the middle of the day. I met a singer/songwriter from S Carolina, who had gone to Ireland to seek his music fortune. A very nice guy who let me sing a song with his guitar.
But I was missing my reading time and longing for a bookstore to hang out in. I found a wonderful store with three stories crammed with books, new and used. I picked out a nice pile of used books, including A World of Love, by Elizabeth Bowen, which I started but never finished. She was born in Ireland, but moved to London as a young woman, as many Irish writers do. The Heat of the Day was written in 1949, which is why I read it now. Most of the action takes place at night and the weather is not hot, but I think the title refers to the times. It is mid World War II. Stella is a divorced woman with a 20 year old son and a lover. She learns that her lover may be a spy for the enemy. You don't find out until near the end of the book whether or not he is.
The writing is very exquisite. I had to read slowly because the parsing of the sentences was so British and literary, but when she was good, I loved the way she put things. The characters were well defined and each had a distinct voice. The setting of London during bombings, black-outs and food shortages is well described.
Still, I was left feeling unsatisfied at the end. I think the trouble is that I wanted to admire Stella, but she is not really admirable. She is a woman trying to survive in that time and place, wanting love but not all that strong. The point of the story seemed to be the odd relationships that can come about during the upheaval and uncertainty of war.
But I was missing my reading time and longing for a bookstore to hang out in. I found a wonderful store with three stories crammed with books, new and used. I picked out a nice pile of used books, including A World of Love, by Elizabeth Bowen, which I started but never finished. She was born in Ireland, but moved to London as a young woman, as many Irish writers do. The Heat of the Day was written in 1949, which is why I read it now. Most of the action takes place at night and the weather is not hot, but I think the title refers to the times. It is mid World War II. Stella is a divorced woman with a 20 year old son and a lover. She learns that her lover may be a spy for the enemy. You don't find out until near the end of the book whether or not he is.
The writing is very exquisite. I had to read slowly because the parsing of the sentences was so British and literary, but when she was good, I loved the way she put things. The characters were well defined and each had a distinct voice. The setting of London during bombings, black-outs and food shortages is well described.
Still, I was left feeling unsatisfied at the end. I think the trouble is that I wanted to admire Stella, but she is not really admirable. She is a woman trying to survive in that time and place, wanting love but not all that strong. The point of the story seemed to be the odd relationships that can come about during the upheaval and uncertainty of war.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Rivers of Gold
Call me naive, but I still get a thrill out of meeting people on-line. One day I was googling an author (F VanWyck Mason) who wrote a 1949 bestseller called Cutlass Empire. The second item I got took me to blog called Rough Edges which is written by James Reasoner. Turns out Mr Reasoner is an author of westerns, historical fiction, adventure stories and is also a big pulp fiction fan. He had some interesting biographical info about Van Wyck Mason.
So I sent James Reasoner an email and one thing led to another. He now has one of my CD's and I have one of his books, Rivers of Gold. Not only does he have his own series of books, but he also co-authors books with his wife Livia. Then they call themselves JL Reasoner and that is the case with Rivers of Gold.
It is a story of Gold Rush days in California, when everybody and his brother headed for the hills with dreams of untold riches. All we have left of that spirit is the lottery (and maybe the dreams of young musicians.) Rivers of Gold has adventure, mayhem, love and even riches, although they are made by a savvy woman from Boston who opens a store in San Francisco which supplies miners. You really get the feel of the times and the chaos of a new adventure in American history.
I am sorry that I haven't yet figured out how to put links into this blog, but you can visit Rough Edges by going to www.jamesreasoner.blogspot.com. Be sure to tell him I sent you
So I sent James Reasoner an email and one thing led to another. He now has one of my CD's and I have one of his books, Rivers of Gold. Not only does he have his own series of books, but he also co-authors books with his wife Livia. Then they call themselves JL Reasoner and that is the case with Rivers of Gold.
It is a story of Gold Rush days in California, when everybody and his brother headed for the hills with dreams of untold riches. All we have left of that spirit is the lottery (and maybe the dreams of young musicians.) Rivers of Gold has adventure, mayhem, love and even riches, although they are made by a savvy woman from Boston who opens a store in San Francisco which supplies miners. You really get the feel of the times and the chaos of a new adventure in American history.
I am sorry that I haven't yet figured out how to put links into this blog, but you can visit Rough Edges by going to www.jamesreasoner.blogspot.com. Be sure to tell him I sent you
Thursday, July 14, 2005
The Known World
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2004, The Known World, by Edward P Jones is a beautifully written book. It is the story of a black family living in a fictional county of Virginia in pre-Civil War times. It presents slavery in America in a personal way, sweeping away misconceptions and simplistic views and digging deep into the effects of slavery on individuals, both black and white. It also deals with the various results of white slave owners begetting children on female slaves, creating "Negroes" that are of mixed race.
Slavery is both a physical reality and a state of mind. It has been practiced for so long on this planet that I believe it has created a slavery state of mind in some people, not to mention a slave-holder state of mind in others. In my opinion, that is the theme of The Known World.
Jones uses a little known and infrequent practice from those times to play out this theme. Before the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves could buy their freedom after years of additional slaving. Then they could buy other family members, either out of slavery or as slaves from white plantation owners. So you have a situation of a free black man owning slaves.
Such is the case with Henry Townsend, the book's main character. He was purchased out of slavery by his father, married a free black woman and owned more than a dozen slaves and a fair amount of land. You might ask why a freed slave would turn around and own slaves. This is only one of the questions I found myself asking as I read this story. Henry dies early in the book and as his wife tries to take over, the whole place begins to fall apart and slaves begin to disappear. Many just walk away to freedom, but some face a darker future.
In one of the reading groups which I attend, we read and discussed The Known World. I like reading groups because it is fascinating to me to hear the different reactions to the same book. Some readers objected to Jones giving the impression that blacks owning slaves was a common occurrence. Others were bothered by the story moving back and forth between past, present and future. One reader said the book left her feeling depressed. Yes, it is not an uplifting subject, but I feel the story could lift people out of their "known world" and create a higher level of understanding among people of all races. This is not an angry anti-White book, but it is an anti-slavery book.
"They say, 'Sing while you slave,' and I just get bored." Bob Dylan
"Who's gonna do the dirty work, when all the slaves are free?" Joni Mitchell
Sunday, July 10, 2005
A Good Week at the Movies
Saw two good movies this week. I picked P.S. because of a write up in the Los Angeles Sunday Times Calendar section. It was released in 2004 and I got the idea it was about a writer. It is not but was still a fine movie. Laura Linney plays Louise, a college admissions officer in Columbia University's Art School. She is divorced, 39 years old and lonely.
One day she sees an application from someone with the same name as her boyfriend of 20 years ago. She calls this person in for an interview and you learn that the boyfriend died tragically way back then. The current guy shows up and looks and talks just like the original Scott. She immediately takes him home and they have eager, passionate sex, which is done really well and is convincing but also funny.
Well the plot thickens, of course. Louise has a girlfriend and back in the day, this "friend" stole Scott from Louise. Also the ex-husband turns out to be a pervert doing a 12 step program to stop being a pervert. Poor Louise.
But here is what is great about this movie: First of all, Topher Grace who plays the current Scott is an amazing actor. I am a bit older than Louise, but if (big if) I were to seduce a younger man I would want him to be just like the Topher Grace character. Second, the relationship between Louise and her girlfriend is so real, so way beyond anything I've found in a chick lit book, so much like the way women friends actually are with each other.
P.S. is probably not a guy movie. My husband fell asleep during it, but he had had a margarita earlier. My theory on chick flicks though is that guys should watch them if they are really serious about understanding women. Unfortunately, most of them aren't.
Last night we watched The Incredibles, which I found to be incredible. I generally am not a fan of animated movies. (I never liked comic books either, which is so not with it these days, but oh well.) However, to be totally not consistent, I do like superheros. The Incredibles is about an entire family of superheros, who have been put out of work and into obscurity by some bone-headed government program, but who come back to save the world from a psychopathic madman.
Everything is great in this movie; the plot, the dialogue, the animation, the humor, the exactly right hipness of it all and especially the superhero kids.
One day she sees an application from someone with the same name as her boyfriend of 20 years ago. She calls this person in for an interview and you learn that the boyfriend died tragically way back then. The current guy shows up and looks and talks just like the original Scott. She immediately takes him home and they have eager, passionate sex, which is done really well and is convincing but also funny.
Well the plot thickens, of course. Louise has a girlfriend and back in the day, this "friend" stole Scott from Louise. Also the ex-husband turns out to be a pervert doing a 12 step program to stop being a pervert. Poor Louise.
But here is what is great about this movie: First of all, Topher Grace who plays the current Scott is an amazing actor. I am a bit older than Louise, but if (big if) I were to seduce a younger man I would want him to be just like the Topher Grace character. Second, the relationship between Louise and her girlfriend is so real, so way beyond anything I've found in a chick lit book, so much like the way women friends actually are with each other.
P.S. is probably not a guy movie. My husband fell asleep during it, but he had had a margarita earlier. My theory on chick flicks though is that guys should watch them if they are really serious about understanding women. Unfortunately, most of them aren't.
Last night we watched The Incredibles, which I found to be incredible. I generally am not a fan of animated movies. (I never liked comic books either, which is so not with it these days, but oh well.) However, to be totally not consistent, I do like superheros. The Incredibles is about an entire family of superheros, who have been put out of work and into obscurity by some bone-headed government program, but who come back to save the world from a psychopathic madman.
Everything is great in this movie; the plot, the dialogue, the animation, the humor, the exactly right hipness of it all and especially the superhero kids.
The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles spent more of his life as a composer than as a writer. The Sheltering Sky, published in 1949, is his first and best known novel, based on his own travels in North Africa and his version of existentialism.
Port Moresby and his wife Kit leave New York City after World War II to travel through North Africa and the Sahara. They are young and their marriage is in trouble, but they are in Africa for different reasons. Actually Port doesn't quite know why he is there, but Kit is following him for the sake of love.
I did not like the book for the entire first half because they are both such weak and confused people, besides which there seemed to be no point except pointlessness. That is not my understanding of existentialism and Port has no reason, or at least there is none given, for his despair.
I did like the author's explanation of the difference between a tourist and a traveler, given in Port's voice on page 14: "Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, a traveler, belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly, over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another."
In the second half, called Book Two, it becomes Kit's story and then it gets better, even exciting. The underlying sense of dread, present from the first page, becomes life experience. Kit is a more developed character, though still a bit flat.
The ending is ambiguous. Tragic perhaps but possibly a breakthrough for Kit. The issue here is the clash and difficulties of coexistence between Westerners and non-Western people, clearly still a world issue in 2005.
Port Moresby and his wife Kit leave New York City after World War II to travel through North Africa and the Sahara. They are young and their marriage is in trouble, but they are in Africa for different reasons. Actually Port doesn't quite know why he is there, but Kit is following him for the sake of love.
I did not like the book for the entire first half because they are both such weak and confused people, besides which there seemed to be no point except pointlessness. That is not my understanding of existentialism and Port has no reason, or at least there is none given, for his despair.
I did like the author's explanation of the difference between a tourist and a traveler, given in Port's voice on page 14: "Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, a traveler, belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly, over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another."
In the second half, called Book Two, it becomes Kit's story and then it gets better, even exciting. The underlying sense of dread, present from the first page, becomes life experience. Kit is a more developed character, though still a bit flat.
The ending is ambiguous. Tragic perhaps but possibly a breakthrough for Kit. The issue here is the clash and difficulties of coexistence between Westerners and non-Western people, clearly still a world issue in 2005.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
My Big Fat Reading Project
I am a maker of lists. I like to organize the things I do into plans and
programs. So when I found myself reading more than ever a few years back, I felt I needed a way to approach the vast body of fiction that I was
attempting to devour.
At first, I used what I call the Alphabet System. I stole this from Francie,
the main character in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. (One of my all time favorite books, because it is the story of a girl in Brooklyn who rises out of poverty through reading.) Her habit was to go to the public library every day, take out a book and read it. She just started at the letter A and went on. This was a pretty good method for me because I
discovered many authors I liked (such as Richard Adams, Edward Abbey and Joan Aiken) as well as a few I didn't like (Kobo Abe and Alice Adams, to
name two.) I didn't know it at the time, but I was developing taste.
Then I started researching the whole American Literature scene and also
learning about current literary writers who had deeper things to say and
were thus not appearing on the bestseller lists. OK, I will admit, Oprah had
an effect on me. I also read a few biographies of writers and learned that
many of the best learned how to write by reading, not by going to college.
Finally, a few years ago, my sister sent me a book called Legacy, A
Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Personal History by Linda Spence, 1997, Ohio University Press. She thought I should write my story and the story of our family, at least to hand down to our children and grandchildren. I had
another book I was using to get up to speed on modern fiction writers, The
Reading List, Contemporary Fiction by David Rubel, 1998, Henry Holt and
Company, and was working my way through the complete books of Toni Morrison,
Barbara Kingsolver, Margaret Atwood and others.
One day I was surfing the web on all things about books and came across a
curriculum posted by a professor at some Southern college. It involved
reading the top ten bestsellers from each year, decade by decade and writing
papers on how books and literature were both a sort of report on culture and
an influence on its direction.
Suddenly it all came together. MY BIG FAT READING PROJECT. I would read the
top bestsellers of each year of my life and relate these books to what went
on in those years and how I was influenced by it all as I moved through my
life. So I printed out the bestseller lists which this professor had so
kindly put together and off I went. I was born in 1947, but I decided to
start my reading in 1940 to get a feel for the world I was born into. I also
added about 10 other literary books to each year.
I began this project exactly three years ago. I am now about half-way through
the reading for 1949. That means it has taken me three years to read ten
years worth of books. It is a looooong project. Could last me the rest of my
life. That is fine because I have discovered something about being a
middle-aged woman. My kids are grown, my music career flopped, my marriage
is 30 years old (it is good and he is my grand passion but I am really used
to him) and I need a project that gets me excited everyday and will go on
for years; that has new and unknown factors to look forward to each day;
that is creative.
I have learned so much from this reading: more than I ever knew I didn't
know about World War II; how earnest and wholesome people were in the 1940s;
that family was the true glue that held society together; that Christianity
made for bestsellers back then; that the war and the Industrial Revolution
and Communism/Socialism were all beginning to erode all those values and to
create chaos. It is a fascinating study made through fiction.
I read other things as well, which you will hear more about later. Sometimes
I just can't stand to read another book from over 50 years ago and go off my
plan to read the hot books of today. But I wanted to explain why I will be
writing about all these old books I am reading.
programs. So when I found myself reading more than ever a few years back, I felt I needed a way to approach the vast body of fiction that I was
attempting to devour.
At first, I used what I call the Alphabet System. I stole this from Francie,
the main character in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. (One of my all time favorite books, because it is the story of a girl in Brooklyn who rises out of poverty through reading.) Her habit was to go to the public library every day, take out a book and read it. She just started at the letter A and went on. This was a pretty good method for me because I
discovered many authors I liked (such as Richard Adams, Edward Abbey and Joan Aiken) as well as a few I didn't like (Kobo Abe and Alice Adams, to
name two.) I didn't know it at the time, but I was developing taste.
Then I started researching the whole American Literature scene and also
learning about current literary writers who had deeper things to say and
were thus not appearing on the bestseller lists. OK, I will admit, Oprah had
an effect on me. I also read a few biographies of writers and learned that
many of the best learned how to write by reading, not by going to college.
Finally, a few years ago, my sister sent me a book called Legacy, A
Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Personal History by Linda Spence, 1997, Ohio University Press. She thought I should write my story and the story of our family, at least to hand down to our children and grandchildren. I had
another book I was using to get up to speed on modern fiction writers, The
Reading List, Contemporary Fiction by David Rubel, 1998, Henry Holt and
Company, and was working my way through the complete books of Toni Morrison,
Barbara Kingsolver, Margaret Atwood and others.
One day I was surfing the web on all things about books and came across a
curriculum posted by a professor at some Southern college. It involved
reading the top ten bestsellers from each year, decade by decade and writing
papers on how books and literature were both a sort of report on culture and
an influence on its direction.
Suddenly it all came together. MY BIG FAT READING PROJECT. I would read the
top bestsellers of each year of my life and relate these books to what went
on in those years and how I was influenced by it all as I moved through my
life. So I printed out the bestseller lists which this professor had so
kindly put together and off I went. I was born in 1947, but I decided to
start my reading in 1940 to get a feel for the world I was born into. I also
added about 10 other literary books to each year.
I began this project exactly three years ago. I am now about half-way through
the reading for 1949. That means it has taken me three years to read ten
years worth of books. It is a looooong project. Could last me the rest of my
life. That is fine because I have discovered something about being a
middle-aged woman. My kids are grown, my music career flopped, my marriage
is 30 years old (it is good and he is my grand passion but I am really used
to him) and I need a project that gets me excited everyday and will go on
for years; that has new and unknown factors to look forward to each day;
that is creative.
I have learned so much from this reading: more than I ever knew I didn't
know about World War II; how earnest and wholesome people were in the 1940s;
that family was the true glue that held society together; that Christianity
made for bestsellers back then; that the war and the Industrial Revolution
and Communism/Socialism were all beginning to erode all those values and to
create chaos. It is a fascinating study made through fiction.
I read other things as well, which you will hear more about later. Sometimes
I just can't stand to read another book from over 50 years ago and go off my
plan to read the hot books of today. But I wanted to explain why I will be
writing about all these old books I am reading.
Monday, July 04, 2005
THE SHADOW OF THE WIND
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Penguin Books, 2005, 487 pp
So I am immediately entranced because it is a book book and that is exactly what I do when I read a book that I love. I look for more by that author. But Daniel's search opens up a mystery which becomes an epic of murder, madness and hopeless love. The successful mixture of genres is only one of the wonders of Zafron's writing. He also now and then drops in philosophical, political or humorous bits that are clearly his views, but done with such a deft touch that you hardly notice. The characters are excellent, the mystery is gripping and the descriptions of Barcelona are truly stunning.
Then he pulls off a great ending. I want more books by this author.
Independence Day
Happy 4th of July
I feel we have a lot of things to fix in this country (starting with literacy), but I also feel very blessed and proud to be an American. With all our freedoms and privileges comes a large amount of responsibility to increase understanding amongst the peoples of the world, to free people from oppression (without using violence, thank you very much) and to set an example of the ability of human beings to govern themselves.
There! That is my speech; it didn't cost you a dime; you didn't have to drive or park; but there will be no fireworks.
I feel we have a lot of things to fix in this country (starting with literacy), but I also feel very blessed and proud to be an American. With all our freedoms and privileges comes a large amount of responsibility to increase understanding amongst the peoples of the world, to free people from oppression (without using violence, thank you very much) and to set an example of the ability of human beings to govern themselves.
There! That is my speech; it didn't cost you a dime; you didn't have to drive or park; but there will be no fireworks.
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