Spring has arrived?

And with the snow that defines spring in western NY I have been reading as much as possible as March draws to a close.

Finished reading Woe Is I:  The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O'Conner.  I will be keeping this book with me during all tutoring sessions from now on as it explains things concisely with user-friendly examples.  I tried to buy an electronic copy of the newer edition as it would be a useful reference; however, the only edition available as an e-book is for children.  That is an unfortunate oversight.

O'Conner. Patricia. Woe Is I:  The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English. New York: Riverhead Books, 1996. Print.

Also read a modern classic for children, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.  Babbitt's novel has called from the shelf several times but never with enough enthusiasm until this month.  A delightful, sweet, novel about accepting life as it is meant to be, family loyalty, and the desire to protect others that was first published in 1975.  I am very glad to have added this one to my reading memories.

Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting. New York: Square Fish, 2007. Print

Currently reading Words To Live By a memoir by William Whitehead and listening to Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  These two pieces of non-fiction will complete the month of March for me.

Two reviews this time...

I finished reading two novels back to back; Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane and Life Form by Amelie Nothomb.

Sometimes I do not know where to begin when reviewing a novel.  Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane has kept me thinking since I finished reading it two days ago.  It is a dark novel that leaves the reader wondering…that’s the kind of reading experience I love.

Set in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia in 1958, Red Dog, Red Dog tells the story of Tom and Eddy Stark, but the story line takes the reader back in time to understand their parents.  Told sometimes by an omniscient third person narrator and other times through the eyes of Alice, their dead sister, the writing flows effortlessly from one to the other sharing a horrible story of abuse, betrayal, and unrequited love.

I do not want to give away the plot; however, I will share this passage to give an idea of the beauty of Lane’s writing:

He heard the call of the loon and saw the fall of the snow geese onto the sloughs, the Canadas and curlews as they came in their millions down the sky onto the desolate prairie lakes.  Going north or south, blade after blade of birds cried down until the water was so weighted by their breasts he thought the lakes themselves would rise above the earth and drown the land forever.  He’d seen the dust walk the plains, a thousand-foot wall of earth moving across the fields.  He lived the drought years. I seemed at themes all he talked of was dust and roads. (152)

Patrick Lane is a Canadian poet; he has also published a memoir and has a marvelous web page.

Lane, Patrick. Red Dog, Red Dog. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2009. Print.

I discovered Amelie Nothomb and her novel, Life Form, on the Europa Editions website after reading 70% Acrylic 30 % Wool by Viola DiGrado.  Nothomb, born in Japan of Belgian parents, lives in Paris and has published multiple novels written in French.  Her novels tend to be under 200 pages, and this work of 124 pages is better described as a novella.  Life Form tells the story of an author, Amelie Nothomb and her correspondence with a soldier in the American Army serving in Iraq, Melvin Mapple. 

I read this novel in two hours and could have read it in one sitting, if life didn’t interfere.  It is mesmerizing.  Nothomb takes the unusual step of making herself the first person narrator in this epistolary novel; however, the reader is aware that this IS a novel…not a memoir.  I found myself feeling quizzical, repulsed, fascinated, frustrated, bamboozled, but never disappointed.  It is a stunning novel, and I plan on reading more of her works to better appreciate her style. 

Nothomb, Amelie.  Life Form.  translated by Alison Anderson.  New York: Europa Editions, 2013.         Print. 

What has my attention this week?

As I have not finished reading any book in the past week, this will be a brief update on what I am reading.

I am listening to Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  This book has been on my list of books to read since it was published in 2005, so when I saw it on the shelf at the library, the decision was an easy one.  Team of Rivals is really a biography of all the men who, although rivals of Lincoln prior to his presidency, served on his cabinet.  The writing is marvelous; the topic is fascinating; the narrator is excellent.  I think there are 36 CDs and would like to finish it by the end of the month. 

For those times when lighter reading is needed Woe Is I – The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner has proven to be a good choice.  I enjoy reading about writing and am always on the lookout for better teaching strategies.

The novel of choice is Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane.  Lane is a Canadian poet and novelist.  I will be posting a review of this novel soon, as I am about 100 pages from finishing.

And be watching for my upcoming appreciation of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

A Voice From the Attic by Robertson Davies

I doubt any Canadian writing today would refer to himself/herself as a "voice from the attic," but 1960 was a different world, and the cover says, "An invigorating exploration of the wonderful world of reading by one of Canada's most brilliant writers and critics." My copy is a paperback edition dated 1972 and labeled as #83 in the New Canadian Library Series. When I pulled this book off the "over the door paperback rack" in January, I hesitated a moment. Did I want to read a book that must be horribly dated and probably stodgy? I've read novels by Davies and loved them, seen plays of his works in performance and loved them, and enjoyed listening to him speak once even when I did not agree with some of his statements; however, I thought this would be a dry book to read. FAR from dry, never stodgy, and amazingly contemporary, A Voice From the Attic is a mesmerizing read from start to finish.

 

The first section of the book entitled “A Call to the Clerisy” is a challenge to those of us who read with a purpose beyond entertainment.  The American Heritage Dictionary defines clerisy as “educated people as a class” while Merriam-Webster online states “intelligentsia.”  Davies refines his use of the word:  “The clerisy are those who read for pleasure, but not for idleness; who read for pastime but not to kill time; who love books, but do not live by books” (7).  He goes on to discuss which readers would not fit into this description.  He frowns on the readers whose “…prize they seek is to have done with the book in hand” (9).  The goal should not be completion or how many books I have read; the goal is “…the actual business of reading—the interpretative act of getting the words off the page and into your head in the most effective way.  It is not the quickest way of reading…” (8). 

 

I have been reading with pen in hand since college.  There are times when I drop the pen; those are the times when I am reading for the joy of it (I refuse to call it killing time).  The Interceptor by Dick Wolf is a perfect example of this kind of reading.  Dick Wolf is the creator of the Law & Order series, and when I heard he had written a novel, I wanted to read it because of the television shows; it was a good read.  Will I read it again? No, but I enjoyed reading it once.  When I read as a self-proclaimed member of the clerisy, I am reading a book that remains in my home because I may want to read it again due to its use of language, connection with other works and other writers, multiple layers of meaning, etc.  There are books that fit in both categories: the Harry Potter series is a fine example.  I have read each of these books more than once and listened to them on CD.  I could write a scholarly paper on them if I so desired, but I do not have a desire to write about them.  I read them or listen to them for the sheer joy of the story line.  I will return to those books many times; they are the reading equivalent of comfort food.

 

I have digressed a bit, but this book has reinvigorated my love of reading in depth.  Davies has sections on books of self-help; on love, sex, and sexuality; psychology; reading plays; comedy; pornography vs. erotica, and the closing chapter addresses best sellers vs. what may become a classic. One other chapter entitled “From the Well of the Past” discusses the need to read novels of a time period in order to truly understand the time period; however, the recommendation he makes may surprise the reader:  “…we must look for that which has been thought and said most, and most heeded, in the segment of the past which is our choice…not the great fiction, but the popular fiction” (113).  He then goes on to give examples of best sellers from Victorian England.  At the time there were still people from the late Victorian age alive to answer questions and discuss the times; however, “The Victorians of a century ago were nearer in feeling to the eighteenth, yes, and to the seventeenth century than to our own; to have known them is to hold the key to an even more remote past” (113).  This concept of the time period he chose got me thinking about which time period would work for me should I address this task.  The 1940s and 1950s?  As I continue to read and reflect on my reading, I will continue to reflect on this idea and hope to return to it. 

He returns to the responsibilities of being a member of the clerisy at the end of the book:  “The first task of the clerisy is not to belabor others to read more, but to improve their own performance.  The influence which the clerisy can exert will come by doing, not by exhorting others to do” (293-4).   As he examines the writers of his time, Davies reflects on the changes the new millennia will bring and closes with one more message for the clerisy:  “It is for the clerisy to show themselves more alert, more courageous, and better prepared, so that when the first shafts of the dawn appear in our present night, they will know them for what they are” (351).

Robertson Davies died in 1995.  Prior to his death in addition to a revised edition of this book, he also published another book on books and reading.  I am searching for copies of these to see what else he had to say in the last 25 years of the 20^th Century.

 

Davies, Robertson. A Voice From the Attic. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1972. Print.