Tag: book lust ii

Writing Dangerously

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Brightman, Carol. Writing Dangerously: Mary McCarthy and Her World. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1992.

Mary McCarthy was born on June 2nd, 1912. Hence my reasoning for picking up her biography by Carol Brightman this month.

Mary reminds me of my friend, Ruth. Beautiful, outspoken inasmuch as she says what she feels, means what she says. In addition, she doesn’t take sh!t from anyone, yet has a heart of gold. She laughs when anyone else would have crocodile tears. She can confront fights with fire. She’s popular with the men with a come-hither glint in her eye and has no time for sugar cookie lies. Need I say, independent yet fidelis. I think I would have gotten along with Mary had I been in her day or she in mine.

Mary McCarthy was an outspoken critic of practically everything around her. From her humble beginnings as a self-proclaimed abused orphan Mary quickly grew into a witty writer and reporter with a constant comment about the world around her. No subject was off-limits whether it be about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her uncle, her contradictory religious views, losing her virginity at age 14, a scathing look at her peers in academia, Communism or war. Carol Brightman often quotes McCarthy to support her biography using both McCarthy’s fiction and nonfiction. Two sections of photography round out an already very thorough account of the controversial Mary McCarthy.

Favorite word, “bildungsroman” ( a genre of novel of complete self-development).

Favorite quote: “One of Mary McCarthy’s legendary attributes is that no matter how much fire and brimstone she and her fictional heroines traverse before they see the light, they never seem to get burned” (p 58).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, Literary Lives: The Americans (p 145).

Confessions of Nat Turner

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Styron, William. The Confessions of Nat Turner. New York: Random House, 1966.

I have never run so hot and cold about a book before. On the one hand William Styron has a beautiful writing style. His descriptions of the Virginian south in the 1830s are breathtaking while his depictions of slavery are simultaneously heartbreaking. What I didn’t care for was the obvious artistic liberties Styron took with the plot surrounding  historical fact. Obviously, in order to fill an entire novel he needed to expound on the factual confession of Nat Turner which was less than a standard chapter in length. He had to assume supporting plots and characters, but was it necessary to have Nat Turner only lust after white women? Do we know this to be a true trait of Nat? His sexuality seems to be fodder for controversy. I saw The Confessions of Nat Turner to be the truth bundled by fiction. At the heart of Styron’s novel is Nat Turner’s confession, but what surrounds it is pure imagination and speculation. While the book garnered a Pulitzer Prize it was also banned in some parts of the south. That should tell you something.

Two lines that stuck with me: “They were in the profoundest dark” (p 17), and “I do not believe that I had ever thought of the future, it is not in the mood of a Negro, once aware of the irrecoverable fact of his bondage…” (p 171).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust and More Book Lust. From Book Lust in the chapter called, “100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1960s” (p 178) and from More Book Lust in the chapter called, ” Southern-Fried Fiction: Virginia” (p 209).

Happenstance

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Shields, Carol. Happenstance: Two Novels in One About a Marriage in Transition. New York: Penguin, 1994.

The very first thing I noticed about this book is how it is arranged. I understood that Happenstance had originally been two very separate stories, published with two very different names. The husband’s side of the story was the original Happenstance (published in the early 80’s) and the wife’s side of the story was called A Fairly Conventional Woman. The wife’s story was published sometime later. The version of Happenstance Nancy Pearl suggested was the combined stories of the husband and wife. So, back to the arrangement of the book – her side has a pink cover with a photo of a woman’s upper torso in a frame. To see his side you have to flip the book upside down and over. His cover is blue with a photo of a man’s lower legs in a frame. Clever. I started with the wife’s story because if the book were to sit on a shelf properly (spine displayed correctly) it is her cover you see first when you pull it off the shelf. I’m sure this is the way Shields meant it to be read even though the husband’s story was written and published first.

In the first 50 pages I couldn’t tell if I liked Mrs. Brenda Bowman. She seemed too persnickety to me. Too particular. Too fussy. I am prone to comparing characters to myself, especially if we have something in common like upbringing, hobbies, schooling, age, or certain circumstance. In Brenda’s case, it was age. We are almost the same age. So, by default her actions made me seem fuddy-duddy. I don’t act that old, do I? Her husband seemed more laid back in an odd, disconnected kind of way. Together, they made up a marriage that needed some waking up, some simultaneous letting go. Both husband and wife had the opportunity to cheat on the other. I don’t think it’s a plot spoiler if I say the wife comes closer to doing so than the husband, even though the husband has a better excuse.

The most honest line in the whole book, “You could become crippled by this kind of rage” (p 49). How true.

What I liked the best about Happenstance is the idea of two sides of the same marriage. Both husband and wife notice small things while separated: Brenda notices small accomplishments like going out of town by herself. Jack notices small changes in the family he has practically taken for granted.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Carol Shields: Too  Good To Miss” (p 197). I have to say I am sad that breast cancer took the life of this great author.

Zorba the Greek

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Kazantzakis, Nikos. Zorba the Greek. Trans. Carl Wildman. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952.

I will be the first to admit it wholeheartedly. I did not enjoy Zorba the Greek. There, I said it. I am beginning to feel I have a built in prejudice against translated stories because this is not the first time I have said this. Something gets lost in the translation. I am sure of it. Not only that, but this time I was bored. Supposedly, Nikos Kazantzakis’s Last Temptation of Christ is more exciting. I can only wait and see.

Lines I did happen to like, “And I’m making it snappy so I don’t kick the bucket before I’ve had the bird!” (p 36), and “The mischievous demon in the wine had carried her back to the good old days” (p 37).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter “The Alpha, Betas, Gammas of Greece” (p 9).

Wobegone Boy

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Keillor, Garrison. Wobegon Boy. New York: Viking, 1997.

It is strange to (finally) read something written by Garrison Keillor. For years and years and years I have heard wonderful things about Lake Wobegon Days and it seems,  for even longer, I have heard Keillor on NPR radio. Yet – nothing in print has been before my eyes or in my hands. Ever. Go figure.

John Tollefson is the manager of an academic public radio station. He has an idyllic life that is boring him to tears. His job, his home, his relationships, all are going well – so well that he no longer feels like he is in the drivers seat. Coasting through everything his life lacks depth and more importantly, it lacks meaning. John, with the help of his can’t-commit-to-marriage girlfriend Alida, sets out to make his life more interesting by opening a farm restaurant and other daring risks. John is perpetually guided by history, the life stories of his ancestors – a butcher, publisher, politician, among a wild cast of others, and a philosophical slant unlike any other.

While the plot of Wobegon Boy is a little slow and laborious, the voice is exceptional. As John Tollefson tells his story you cannot help but often laugh out loud. The sly wit and juicy humor radiate from every page. I wanted to quote line after line until I realized I what I really wanted was to quote the entire book.

Here are a few of my favorites: “Lake Wobegon was a rough town then, where, all on one block, for less than five dollars, you could get a tattoo, a glass of gin, and a social disease, and have enough left over to get in a poker game” (p2). See, by page 2 it’s funny! Here’s another one, “You could romp naked in periodicals and copulate on the carpet, and the librarians would be grateful if, after climax, you took down a magazine and thumbed through it” (p 7-8). Knowing the importance of circulation statistics, yes. Yes, we would be grateful.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Big Ten Country: The Literary Midwest (Minnesota)” (p 28).

You Make Me Feel…

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Newman, Judith. You Make Me Feel Like an Unnatural Woman: Diary of a New (Older) Mother. New York: Miramax Books, 2004.

There are three reoccurring themes in You Make Me Feel Like an Unnatural Woman. Judith likes to portray herself as an over-forty, unhappily married,  yet wealthy woman with a moral on parenting: be careful what you wish for. While she is extremely funny about it, she is constantly criticizing her husband, John, for not being around more to help with twins, born after seven years and & $70,000 worth of IVF procedures. As an over-sixty man living at a different address, what exactly did she expect? He’s not about to change. Judith handles the trials and tribulations of raising twins with more aplomb and name dropping than any new mom I know. Having a $250 a day nanny certainly helps!

Favorite funny lines, “If he’s like most men I’ve known he’ll spend the rest of his life thinking of his dick as a masterpiece anyway. “Yes, honey, that’s art,” I said” (p 215).

My only complaint? Newman tries so freakin’ hard to be funny all the time that the tenderness of what she has (supposedly) longed for for so long gets lost. There were glimpses of caring at times, like, when she describes thinking her babies are beautiful. But, on the whole, it was if Newman was constantly “on” all the time. I never really thought I saw the real mother because she was veiled behind a thousand jokes.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Nagging Mothers, Crying children” (p 172). Appropriate for Mother’s Day, don’t you think?

“Funeral II”

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Szymborska, Wislawa. “Funeral II.” New and Collected Poems. New York: Mariner Books, 2000. p 206.

This poem disturbed me to the core. To read it quite literally it is people standing around before (or after, or anytime in between) a funeral and gossiping. This sort of thing happens all the time. Events like funerals and weddings bring people together. Conversations are bound to happen, especially when people haven’t seen each other since the last milestone – wedding, or funeral…
I think what disturbed me the most is that I could identify with it so readily. I, too, have stood around making small talk; commenting on the people strangers around me. Call it catty. Call it human nature. It happens.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Poetry Pleasers” (p 189).

Downcanyon

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Zwinger, Ann Haymond. Downcanyon: A Naturalist Explores the Colorado River Through the Grand Canyon. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1995.

When I first heard about Downcanyon I was romanced by Nancy Pearl’s description of it in More Book Lust, “Even if you’re not actually doing down the rapids of the Colorado, this book will make you feel as if you are” (p 173). I don’t know what I was expecting after reading that quote. Something pulse-pounding and riveting, I’m sure. I was sort of disappointed.

Downcanyon is a wonderfully illustrated down-the-river adventure, but I would suggest using it as more of a reference book or guide than a white-rapids read. The map is fascinating and it was certainly fun to read the travels along it. But, my favorite parts were the rest areas, the stopping for the night. Zwinger took that opportunity to focus on the flowers, the reptiles, and the animals and the rock formations. It is here that Zwinger zeros in on the very nature of things (the foraging and nesting of bumblebees, for example).
Another pleasing point to Downcanyon was the addition of quotes from other explorers before each chapter. It’s as if Zwinger is giving a nod to those who went down the Colorado with far less in every sense. Less equipment, less experience, less education. Those who went before were more daring, more adventurous, and without a doubt, put themselves in far more danger. Downcanyon is the exploration of the Colorado River for Zwinger and Zwinger alone.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Nature Writing” (p 173).

“Kaddish”

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Ginsberg, Allen.”Kaddish.” Kaddish and Other Poems; 1958-1960 San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2001. 7.

This took me forever to read. I think part of the reason was I wanted to find the absolute right moment to read it. I know that sounds odd, but consider this: “Kaddish” is said to be autobiographical. That, in and of itself, is extremely interesting to me because of how interesting and controversial Ginsberg was and still is to this day. Secondly, “Kaddish” is about mourning the passing of Ginsberg’s mother, Naomi Ginsberg. She was schizophrenic and  Natalie Merchant’s line “praise a crazy mother’s son” (King of May, Ophelia – 2006) only eludes to Naomi’s troubled mind. Thirdly, there is the religious aspect of Kaddish to consider, and finally, the poem “Kaddish” is said to be Ginsberg’s finest work. Having said all that it should be obvious why I wanted to devote my complete and undivided attention to reading it.

At first read “Kaddish” seems to be all over the place with only two central themes running through it: the death of Naomi Ginsberg and the strain her mental illness put on Ginsberg as a child. After the second reading I began to see how much of an influence art and history also had on the author. He is haunted by his mother’s fears of Hitler and the inability to escape the past. Her history is his history. By the third reading I was so moved by the descriptions  Naomi’s “treatments” that I couldn’t read any more.

One of these days I will research “Kaddish” to the fullest. I will find out why Naomi was afraid of Louis. I will discover the answer to the riddle of the Key in the window. Someday I will know what phrases like “Grand Canyons of asshole” and ” Lung Stew, & Stenka Razin” mean. Someday soon.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter “The Beats and Their Generation” (p 17). PS ~ I should note this was not indexed in More Book Lust but since it was mentioned in the chapter I wanted to include it.

“The Welcoming”

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Hirsch, Edward. “The Welcoming.” Earthly Measures. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. p 54.

This was one of my favorite poems of the month. It’s not complicated in a tangle of words meter or rhyme, but rather complicated in a tangle of emotions. The pain of not being able to have children. The frustration over the red tape of adoption. the anticipation of bringing a newborn home. The hope of parenthood and perfection. The poem spans the duration of agony and heartbreak to excitement and hope. The travel is worth reading about.

My favorite line, “jet lag instead of labor” (p 54).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter “Poetry Pleasers” (p 188).

“Secret Life”

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Dunn, Stephen. “A Secret Life.” Landscape at the End of the Century. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991, p 72.

“A Secret Life” has got to be one of my favorite poems of the month. Stephen Dunn isn’t exactly explaining why people have secret anythings. He’s more of the understanding nature. He simply gets it – the idea that people simply must have something they keep to themselves. The line, “It becomes what you’d most protect” defines the secret life perfectly. It isn’t wholly formed from the start. It grows and progresses. It becomes. I think a secret life starts early in the way that an obsession starts without notice. There is no cause for concern when the hoarder furtively buys and smuggles home one china cat, but about the 1001th one when it comes tumbling out of a closet?

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter, “Poetry Pleasers” (p 188).

Affliction

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Banks, Russell. Affliction. New York: Harper & Row, 1989.

Wade Whitehouse could be an ordinary guy. He could be that small town, hard-working, have a beer with the boys, all-around nice guy. Except bad luck not only follows Wade like a hungry dog, it bites him when he’s down. No matter how caring Wade Whitehouse is on the inside, no matter how well-meaning he is, when things go wrong people know not to stand in his way. The smarter ones walk away. The entire tiny town of Lawford, New Hampshire knows Wade and his troubles. It’s no secret he has a mean streak that runs to the center of his very core. Alcohol and a nagging toothache only widen that streak until it takes over his whole being. In theory it’s not all Wade’s fault. Abused by his father during his formative years, Wade loses his wife, home and daughter when he himself turns violent. All he wants is more time with his daughter, a decent paycheck and a simple way of life. When none of these things come easily Wade sets out to unveil the truth and right the wrongs, using violence as the vehicle to do so. What makes Wade’s story so fascinating is that it is told from a younger brother’s perspective. Being in Massachusetts he is a comfortable distance from both his brother and the memories that have scarred him as well.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Oh, Brother” (p 180).

“Luncheon on the Grass”

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Phillips, Carl. “Luncheon on the Grass.” In the Blood. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1992. p 33

Art examining art. That is how I see “Luncheon on the Grass.” Carl Phillips is commenting on Edouard Manet’s oil painting of the same name. In Carl’s poem, two individuals are having lunch on deserted property. The speaker is in a similar state of undress as the woman in Manet’s painting, yet the unknown companion is fully dressed, same as the men in Manet’s piece. There is a sarcasm to the voice in the poem, “Luncheon on the Grass” that mimics the visual caustic attitude in the painting. There is a feeling of fake in both pieces. While Carl is comparing surroundings – poem to art – the voice is childish, “you didn’t remember I hate chicken salad.”

I found the poem funny because without knowing Manet’s piece you wouldn’t even begin to understand Carl Phillips’s poem of the same name.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter, “Poetry Pleasers” (p 188).

“Rebus”

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Hirshfield, Jane. “Rebus.”Given Sugar, Given Salt. New York: Perennial, 2002. p. 12

I took Jane Hirshfield’s “Rebus” quite literally. Picturing clay and honey to mean words like emotions. “You work with what you are given,” she says. I took that to mean your life is what you make of it. Feelings like grief and stubbornness are something to work with, an element of something bigger. I liked the imagery of a river best of all. The idea that we are what we make of ourselves and that are choices can go either way – much like the unpredictability of a river’s current.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter, “Poetry Pleasers” (p 188).

Belshazzar’s Daughter

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Nadel, Barbara. Belshazzar’s Daughter. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2006.

The pronouncement, “The Donna Leon of Istanbul” meant nothing to me, I am sorry to say. It didn’t make me like to book any better. Nor did the curious “icon” information. According to the publisher the icon of a gun meant I was holding a book from the “Hard Boiled” category, meaning the language was going to be stronger, the bad guys a little badder, the violence a little more graphic. An “R” rating, if you will – only I would give this book an “X” rating for the weird sex scenes. Natalia seems to like her sex with a gun and rough…and that’s all I’ll say about that.

The overall story of Belshazzar’s Daughter was a little tedious. Technically, there is no daughter of Belshazzar in the story. It’s the story of Englishman Robert Cornelius and his obsession with Natalia Gulcu. It is also about Inspector Ikmen and his quest to solve the brutal murder of an elderly Jew. Robert Cornelius happens to be in the area when the crime is committed and becomes a suspect due to his prejudice-laced past. The crime scene is overly horrific and obviously hate-driven with addition of a giant swastika, but Inspector Ikmen isn’t convinced. Using historical profiling, Ikmen starts to unravel the mystery of who killed Leonid Meyer. At the same time Natalia’s family history is revealed. Their history is stranger than even the murder.

With the addition of several smaller plots Belshazzar’s Daughter is a drawn-out thriller-mystery. The sex scenes are over the top while the characters are watered down to the point of stereotyping. First, I found myself annoyed with just the character of Robert and his blinded obsession with the heaving bosoms of Natalia, but by the end I didn’t care for any of them.

BTW: I didn’t find any quotes that jumped out at me.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter “Crime is a Globetrotter: Turkey” (p 61).