And April springs to a close...

Back in September I read How To Write a Sentence and How To Read One by Stanley Fish. I enjoyed his approach of practicing formats and began using it with my college students. Fish cites wonderfully written sentences from many authors, but it was an aside about The Good Soldier that stopped me in my reading: "...a novel nearly every sentence of which merits a place in this book." And so The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford was added to my reading list. I quickly found it in Hinkle Library at Alfred State College and borrowed the lovely, unread book. It became part of my temporary collection until end of the semester due dates demanded it be read. Now I need to buy my own copy.

In his introduction to the novel, Frank Kermode focuses on the unreliable narrator and the non-chronological approach which was apparently unusual for the time; The Good Soldier was published in 1915. This was the first time I was reading a novel recommended for its quality of writing. Approaching this novel, I did not think about the story line; it was an interesting experience reading a novel with the thought of the writing...not the story.

Because I read the introduction, I expected the novel to be a difficult read; however, that was not the case. And following the storyline was not as confusing as Kermode led me to believe, but the idea of telling a story out of chronological order is no longer new. The story involves the unreliable narrator, Dowell, his wife Florence and their relationship with Edward and Leonora Ashburnham. From the back cover:

Handsome, wealthy, and a veteran of service in India, Captain Edward Ashburnham appears to be the ideal “Good Soldier.” But for his creator, Ford Madox Ford, he also represents the corruption at society’s core. Beneath Ashburnham’s charming, polished exterior lurks a soul well-versed in the arts of deception, hypocrisy, and betrayal.  Throughout the nine years of his friendship with an equally privileged American, John Dowell, Ashburnham has been having an affair with Dowell’s wife, Florence.  Unlike Dowell, Ashburnham’s own wife Leonora is well aware of it.

John Dowell is telling the story in retrospect; he does not tell it chronologically.  The issue of unreliability is another twist in the story.  Is he truly naïve?  The reader must make a decision on that point.

I connect this novel with the writings of Edith Wharton and, perhaps, Henry James.  It is an American narrator written by a British author covering that time period of the Gilded Age with its privleged people living off family wealth.  This novel deserves a second read; I will have my own copy when that day comes.

 
Ford, Ford Madox. The Good Soldier. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2005, Print.

Two more excellent novels...

I finished reading two novels over the last few days.  Both of them are keepers for different reasons.

 

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea is the 2013 choice for If All of Rochester Reads One Book.  The premise grabbed me immediately; however, it took me about 50 pages to get into it.  I love the epic qualities of this novel.  Into the Beautiful North offers all the aspects and traits of a classic epic.  I would consider teaching this novel with my college classes or in a high school. 

From the book jacket, “…at a showing of the movie The Magnificent Seven at the village’s decrepit theater, Nayeli has a vision:  she will go north and recruit a group of men to return to the village.  She will bring back her own “Siete Magnificos” to protect—and repopulate—her home.” 

And with this goal, Nayeli begins her epic quest.  Along the way she encounters examples of the temptations and assistance found in epics dating back to The Odyssey.  But as Nayeli travels north and across the United States, she also experiences the realities of life for illegal immigrants.

This darkly comic epic is an accessible example of classic literature for the 21^st century.

Urrea, Luis Alberto. Into the Beautiful North. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009. Print.

As I finished reading Into the Beautiful North, I was thinking about all the possibilities for this novel:  both how and where it could be taught and the possibilities for Nayeli and her village.  I did not want to dive into another novel requiring serious reading and concentration and looked to my collection of YA novels.  What jumped into my line of vision?  The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan – it is a quicker read; however, it deserves and received, concentration from the reader.

This novel tells the stories of 20 students in one high school in their own words.  Twenty narrators, using free verse and/or prose, speak of their lives and the lives of the people they know.  The narrators are presented in groups of four, but sometimes the lives overlap the groupings.  These are coming of age stories, coming into awareness stories, stories that represent pain, love, and all the other possibilities of life.  Many stories with many words but as one character says, “The words that matter always stay” (143). 

This entire novel pulled me into the lives of these students.  Charlotte finds words exploding from her head onto the pages of her notebooks, the desks, the walls.  She wonders what others think when they find these messages.  Another student will find these messages threatening and take them personally.  But there are also shared love stories, and the clever style of writing is amazing.  I will read this book again because once is not enough.

Levithan, David. The Realm of Possibility. New York: Alfred K. Knopf, 2004. Print

Weekly Check in...

No completed reading to report; sorry about that!  I am halfway through Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea.  I love the premise: a young Mexican girl lives in a town that all the men have left.  After viewing The Magnificent Seven, she decides to go to the United States and bring back seven Mexican men to defend her town from the banditos and drug pushers.  Humor and reality are are both ingredients for a good novel.  Enjoying but not loving this one.

Good Omens...yes, indeed.

I first read this novel sometime earlier in this century but have not had the time to check my records for an accurate date.  It was a gift from Bob & Cris Riedel who just said, "Read it."  I did and have loved the works of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett ever since.  What brought me back to this particular book for a second read?  World Book Night, a wonderful program that began in England and provides books to be distributed to people who do not usually read.  This is the first year I am participating.  There are specific books available and when signing up, participants may give three choices.  I do not remember my two other choices; I am thrilled to be sharing Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

I do not give away plot in my reviews, but attempting to sum up this novel would be particularly difficult.  What I love is the humor and the way both Gaiman and Pratchett play with language.  Here's the copy from the back cover:  "We hear the world will end on a Saturday.  Next Saturday, in fact.  Just before dinner.  Unfortunately, Sister Mary Loquacious of the Chattering Order has misplaced the Antichrist.  The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles. And the representatives from Heaven and Hell have decided they actually like the human race..."

If you are not laughing yet, how about this warning on the copyright page:

CAVEAT

Kids!  Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous.

Do not attempt it in your own home.

The humor in the writing may stem from Terry Pratchett; I reviewed his newest novel, Dodger, here in my entry of 20 January 2013.  Neil Gaiman has, in my limited experience, a darker creativity: The Graveyard Book and Coraline.  So if you have not yet experienced either of these authors, why not start with a novel that gives you a taste of both?  You will not be disappointed.

Gaiman, Neil and Pratchett, Terry. Good Omens. New York: Ace Books, 1996. Print.

A March of serious endings...

I finished out the month of March with non-fiction, and though I thoroughly enjoyed every book I read this month, these two may be my favorites: Team of Rivals – The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin and Words To Live By a memoir by William Whitehead.

I listened to Team of Rivals in an unabridged edition with excellent narration by Suzanne Toren and augmented my listening by borrowing the actual book from Hinkle Memorial Library at Alfred State.  With less than 300 pages to go, I was thrilled to actually read the book and have access to the maps and illustrations.  This book was riveting and readable.  It really is a multiple biography of Lincoln’s rivals and his incredible ability to pull these men together into his cabinet.  I learned so much about men whose names meant nothing to me and enjoyed seeing the connections between politics in the 1850s and 1860s and politics today: nothing has changed.  Partisan politics was the issue then, and it is worse now.  But I have a greater appreciation of William H. Seward, Edwin M. Stanton, Ulysses S. Grant, and Abraham Lincoln because of this book.  The importance of other men and their contributions did not escape my understanding, but Grant, Stanton, and especially Seward emerged in my mind as men who understood and respected Lincoln when others were playing politics.  Goodwin also demonstrates that Mary Lincoln was an intelligent multi-faceted woman.  Even today people faced with chronic migraines are misunderstood; Mary Lincoln was institutionalized.  I will definitely read other books by Doris Kearns Goodwin and plan on adding a copy of this to my permanent library. 

 

SIDEBAR:  One other historical biography stands out in my memory:  Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose.  These two books taught me so much more about specific times/issues in United States history than I ever learned in school.

 Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. Print.

  

William Whitehead’s memoir is a delightful romp through the life of a man who started out a child afraid of bugs, majored in entomology, was an actor, wrote scripts for an iconic CBC show, The Nature of Things, and shared 40 years of his life with Timothy Findley.  What makes this memoir so delightful is Whitehead’s love of words.  He ties his life together with the memories of the humor he has always found in words…especially at his own expense.  Here’s one example:  In the late 1950s he and other friends were invited to an elaborate evening party.  Upon arriving at the estate where it was being held, Whitehead saw two friends – Marigold Charlesworth and Jeannie Roberts, who were a couple – Roberts was wearing “A gorgeous silken print dress, silk stockings, high heels, beautiful make-up – with her auburn hair fashioned into a Dutch-boy bob.”   He was overwhelmed by the transformation and immediately thought of the famous childhood story about the little Dutch boy who saved his country.  Whitehead blurted out, “My God, Jeannie.  You look just like you should have your finger stuck in a dike!” (101).

 

There are also poignant moments.  The last section of the book is titled “Words to Die for.”  The closing left me speechless for several hours:

What will my experience of death be like?  By then, will I still have words to express what I feel?...Now, with a lifetime of images and memories, I could live without words.

And, if need be, I could die without them, too.

Complete.

And contented.  (248)

 

Thank you, William Whitehead.

 

Whitehead, William. Words To Live By. Markham, Ontario: Cormorant Books, 2012. Print.