*Buying books in Italy

What does one do when one is an English speaker/reader and one travels in a foreign country? One buys books. One buys books.

For the past year I have been trying to resurrect my college Italian by taking classes and being tutored. One of my strongest desires is to be fluent in another language before I die. In fact, that is second only to my desire not to die. So when I stumbled across this bookstore in Venice I couldn’t resist. They had books in English but it seemed silly to buy any of those. Plus, some of the Italian language books were so interesting looking. So I figured that in order to make progress with my Italian language studies I would need something in Italian to read.

 

I left the country for two weeks with 13 books which totaled 2,625 pages of fiction to read. Since our trip was to Italy and Croatia, this might have seemed foolhardy. But we were also on a boat for much of that time and the flights to and from Europe…so maybe it wasn’t so stupid.

As it turned out, it wasn’t so stupid. I read a respectable 2,137 pages. But 3 of the 9 books I read were not even from the stack I took with me. And then there was one book I did not finish (and won’t–A Schilling for Candles by Josephine Tey–I just wasn’t interested in the 1930s Hollywood/West End actress milieu. So boring to me.). I also read a fair amount of Sebald’s Austerlitz on the plane over, but its lack of dialog started to make me really angry. To the point where I wanted to leave it behind on the plane. But I decided that it is probably a book I will like when I am in the mood for that sort of thing.

Anyhoo, here is the recap, and the winner of my contest.

6/9 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, 103 pages
What can I say about this other than it was just a boring drop of medicine to be gotten through before I could read something that was actually enjoyable.

6/11 The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis, 192 pages
I’m not sure why I loathed this gay coming of age story. Maybe because everyone in the book was loathsome?

6/12 Airframe by Michael Crichton, 351 pages
As you will see below for Skyfaring, and my overall obsession with Nevil Shute, that I have a thing for commercial aviation. So when I saw this in the ship’s library I couldn’t resist. I know from reading Jurassic Park (before the movie was made) and The Andromeda Strain (before I saw the movie) that Crichton writes fascinating plots. And this was certainly that. His writing kind of sucks and his characterization is straight out of the Hollywood playbook, but a fun read that is perfect for vacation.

6/13 The Tenth Man by Graham Greene, 157 pages
Almost a fairy tale–in the Grimm sense of the word. Very interesting.

6/15 Skyfaring by Mark Vanhoenacker, 329 pages
A memoir of sorts by a commercial airline pilot. Although the book is full of great details about all the stuff that pilots do, I wish there had been more of that sort of detail. At lunch sometimes I watch YouTube videos of air traffic control recording transcripts and I wanted more to feed that obsession. It was well written, I just wasn’t in the market for the author’s philosophical musings on space and air and time and place, etc.

6/16 Minnie’s Room by Mollie Panter-Downes, 125 pages
When I finished this all I could think was “It was fine, but I don’t get all the fuss about MPD–or at least this volume.” Then come to find out, I read it 5 years ago and didn’t remember anything about it. At no point in my re-read did any of it seem familiar. I know I am getting old, but I think this says more about how humdrum this slim volume is.

6/17 Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, 336 pages
Another book I found in the ship’s library. I was enticed to read it because it falls into the “everyone has read it and it is still fairly new” category which I rarely read. Hmm. I like Ng’s writing (and I like her as a human on Twitter), but I found the plotting really clumsy and hackneyed. This could be one of those books where I list out all of the many ways it made me roll my eyes. But life is too short. And that is petty. But not beneath me. But still, life is too short.

6/19 Open City by Teju Cole, 259 pages
Yet, another book I found in the ship’s library. I really enjoyed this story of a Nigerian doctor doing his residency in NYC. Quite poetic and full of interesting ideas. Because it was the ship’s book I had to leave it behind. But I liked it enough that I will probably purchase a copy for myself so I can read it again one day. I think I am also going to buy one for a friend who I think would like it.

6/23 Siracusa by Delia Ephron, 285 pages
Totally fun read. More of a film script. Made more fun by the fact that I read it while I was in Siracusa.

So who won my page count contest?

Ali from Heavenali, with her guess of 2,143

Not only does she win a novel of her choice from the Book Depository, she wins two novels of her choice because she came within 25 pages. She was only 6 away! What would I have done if she guessed it bang on the nose?

What is more exciting than buying a book on a hunch or a whim, knowing only what’s on the cover flap, only to find you love the book? When that book is an old one, by an author you’ve never heard of, and out of print, the excitement is a little bittersweet. It’s a fantastic feeling of  finding a needle in a haystack but it’s also frustrating because I always fear that I have the last known copy and if I don’t somehow do something to ensure its future survival that it will disappear forever and it will be my fault. It’s moments like this when I wish I had my own publishing house and could do a fabulous reissue. A Persephone or Capuchin Classics all of my own.

I don’t remember where I picked up my copy of Prairie Avenue by Arthur Meeker. I do remember that I bought it for the cover. Who wouldn’t be charmed by the illustration? And you know I love historical fiction that isn’t really historic fiction–or in this case historical fiction written by someone who can remember the time in which the book is set. Despite its cover and its promises about ye olde Chicagoe, I was a little worried that it wasn’t going to be very good. Either too dry or too twee. But it wasn’t either. This how Kirkus described it in 1949 when it was published:

Prairie Avenue, in the era of its grandeur, 1885 to the turn of the century, is really the hero of the story– Aunt Lydia, grande dame, whose past could not be unearthed is the heroine — and Ned Ramsay is merely the interlocutor, the interpreter of the passing scene. Ned had had no roots, his early youth was patterned by the good times and the bad times as his father’s fortunes ebbed and flowed. Only when he went to Aunt Lydia and Uncle Hiram, in one of the bad times, did he find that Prairie Avenue claimed him as her own. Wiser than his years, he explored the reasons behind the facade:- Aunt Lydie’s coterie of men was more than just “company”; and Mrs. Kennerly’s “nerves” had a less fashionable significance. But Ned kept his knowledge to himself, and became the staff on which the others- old and young alike- learned to lean. The novel takes the reader behind the scenes, and the mores of the bombastic young city of 1885 to 1904 become real. There’s nostalgia here for an older generation; there’s a march of time, American-wise, for those who would explore the not so distant past of bedizened splendor and easy wealth; and there are the stories of the loves and deaths that made up life on Prairie Avenue. Chicago was their monument; Prairie Avenue was their background; money their goal.

I really loved slipping into this story and picturing Chicago as it once was. As I alluded to earlier, the fact that Meeker wrote this from a mere 60-year remove, having been born into it in 1902, and having first hand background accounts from his relatives makes it so much more of a treasure for me. It allows me the freedom to trust the author and not second guess their research and dialog like I do with contemporary historical fiction. Even if Meeker’s 1949 mind got it wrong, his mistakes are less apparent (if at all) and carry their own historical charm. I realize with each passing day I love to live in the past. Not a very sophisticated approach to literature I agree. But it’s cozy there.

Also interesting is a throw away moment at the ice skating rink that made me think “This author must be gay!” It was a subtle moment but one that had me convinced that if the author had written Prairie Avenue 40 years later Ned’s love interest would have been a he not a she. Turns out I was right. Meeker’s Wikipedia page supports my notion.

Regular readers will remember my delight over finding the hitherto unknown to me novel Victoria 4:30 by Cecil Roberts. Although Prairie Avenue doesn’t quite thrill me as much as that one, it is definitely a delightful book.

And to that end, I have an extra copy that I am going to give away to a good home. If you live in the U.S. (sorry rest of world) and would like to be placed in a drawing for my extra (and somewhat smelly) copy, leave me a substantive comment below. Takers who just say “I’ll take it” or “Put my name in the hat” will not be eligible. You don’t need to be Scheherazade, but give me something, anything. Why you want to read it, what’s the last serendipitous book find you had, you’re favorite book, something. I love to talk about me, but I do like hearing what other people have to say.

It wasn’t until I started listening to Oracle Night that I realized how much I missed Paul Auster’s voice. After the 30-some hours of Auster reading 4 3 2 1 I came to see him as a close friend. And like 4 3 2 1, Oracle Night is fantastic storytelling. In Oracle Night, which was published in 2003, you can see the germs of 4 3 2 1, the layers of storytelling, stories within stories, a certain meta quality. And for me at least, Auster’s storytelling is fascinating and has real heart.

Sidney Orr is a writer recovery from a long, serious illness that no one expected him to live through. The discovery of a Portuguese notebook in a stationary shop provides Orr with the incentive/inspiration to begin writing again. Like “Sole Mates” in 4 3 2 1, Auster gives us a story within the story which I found totally captivating. I was dying to know how it would end but Auster plays a trick on the reader that is both plot and metaphor. As we go along and Orr becomes physically stronger all manner of things go wrong in his life. His work, his wife, his literary mentor, his security, his future. It all gets tossed around in ways that could seem outlandish but didn’t somehow.

The thing that amazes me about Auster is that his brain must be like the stacks of the New York Public Library. Vast, and full of interesting information.

Even if I wasn’t a big fan of this book (I am) the first scene in the stationary store is enough to make it worth the read for an officephiliac like myself.

And did I mention that it has footnotes? It has footnotes. Long ones. I loved it.

As I work my way through a chronological re-read of all 24 of Anita Brookner’s novels, it becomes harder and harder for me to write what passes for a “review” on this blog. I’ve never been very good at bringing any real light to the books I read, but when the  writing in a novel is so taut and precise and perfect, it just makes anything that comes out of my mouth seem like garbage. For as much as I love Brookner’s work I’ve not really read anything about her writing process. She was a bit reclusive so perhaps she never really shared that information, but I have to wonder, was Brookner like Mozart whose work allegedly came out of his head fully formed, or are her manuscripts illegible because of all the strike-throughs as she hunted for the most elegant version of perfection?

In the US Anita Brookner’s 13th novel is called Dolly. In the UK, and perhaps everywhere else, it is called A Family Romance. For those who know Brookner’s work, you could not be faulted for thinking that there was no way that she wrote a hearts and roses kind of romance. And you’d be right. This tale sits squarely on the less used, secondary definition of ‘romance’ that is synonymous with “wild exaggeration” and “picturesque falsehood”.

I first thought that the US title Dolly was far more descriptive given that the character Dolly is like a force of nature blowing her way across every page with hurricane force. But really, this book is about Jane Manning, the niece of Dolly’s late husband Hugo. Dolly would hate that I would take the spotlight away from her, and Jane would be appalled that anyone might think she was drawing attention to herself. But for all that Dolly dominates the book and Jane’s life, the fact that we see all of this through Jane’s eyes and we understand the impact Dolly is having on Jane one begins to realize that this has much more to do with Jane than Dolly. This seems particularly true somewhere along the way when Jane’s role of narrator takes on an omniscience that seems, upon reflection, to be much more about what Jane imagines than what we know for a fact Dolly actually does. One could suppose that Brookner got sloppy and couldn’t figure out how to convey the  action without making Jane omniscient. But I don’t think Brookner was capable of sloppy.

In terms of plot and setting, all of the Brookner hallmarks are there. A young woman of modestly independent needs (and that’s all relative, as Brookner even admits in the text) spends her time being lonely and wanting to be alone and at the same time. There is a francophone element, lots of walking through London, and lots of suppressed emotion. More specifically, Jane finds herself orphaned at 18 with only an aunt by marriage (Dolly) to call family. As the holder of inherited wealth she has also inherited the self-imposed responsibility to see that Dolly is financially secure.

And then there is Dolly. Raised by a single hard-working, but poor mother, Dolly never gets over being poor and she never gets over not belonging. Although Dolly finds security in Jane’s uncle Hugo (before Jane was born) his untimely death leaves her untethered and without an audience and status. Her need for financial assistance first from Hugo’s mother, then Hugo’s sister (Jane’s mother), and finally from Jane, has more to do with Dolly’s need to buy friends (and attention) then it has to do with economic security. With catch phrases like “Charm, Jane, charm!”, I had a hard time not hearing the voice of Penny from the British TV show “As Time Goes By”.

In the final chapter Jane is in America on a lecture circuit of women’s colleges where she has trouble connecting with the young female students whose every discussion focuses on gender. At first I had a hard time understanding the point of all of this other than an opportunity for Brookner to go after political correctness–which she does in a characterization of progressive male partners/husbands that could have been background for a character on Portlandia–but a closer read indicates that there is more to it than that. Just like Dolly’s abhorrence over Jane’s unmarried state, most of these young feminists have husbands, and despite their feminism, seem to have a hard time relating to her because she was unmarried. Jane has a hard time convincing them that she is “any kind of woman”.

It is not that they would necessarily want me to find love and marriage, in the sense of a happy ending. But if I were sharing household chores with some cheerful fellow in jeans and a shirt ironed by himself they could understand me better. How then to disappoint them by telling them that I prefer the fairy-tale version, and will prefer it until I die, even though I may be destined to die alone?

 

No doubt Jane would have an even harder time explaining that notion to Dolly whose quest for the fairy-tale version has resulted in less than fairy-tale circumstances over the years–and an old age that still has her dying alone.

Crossposted on the International Anita Brookner Day website.

This is the stack of books I intend to take with me on an upcoming vacation. Thirteen books, 2,625 pages, 15 days. That’s 175 pages a day. This is actually doable. Two transatlantic flights are involved and we will be on a ship for 12 days. This is a recipe for power reading. The last time we went on a cruise I took 12 books for 14 days and ended up reading 10 of them. Oddly enough, the last time we were on a ship, I also was doing ACOB.

This time, things are a bit different. On the pro-reading side of the ledger, we will be on a private ship (more on that in future posts) and there are likely to be fewer distractions. On the anti-reading side of the ledger instead of going to a beach for a few hours during the day, we are going to be in Italy and Croatia. Destinations bound to keep me busier than a lazy day on a Caribbean beach. We will also probably get Italian television on the ship. The only reason this interests me is because I have been diligently trying to resurrect my college Italian language skills in recent months.

Also, unlike a smattering of a few hundred books in the library of typical cruise ship, the library on this ship has about 2,500 volumes. I am bound to be distracted by this. In fact, I am going to make it my goal to read at least one book that is new to me from the library.

I can already guess which of these books will go unread, if indeed any do go unread. But first, the stack.

Only three of these will count towards my ACOB goals. But, since that is 100 books and I am on track to read at least 120 this year, I have about 20 that don’t need to meet the ACOB goals.

 

 

 

 

My guess is that I am most likely not to finish The Italians. Looks like a fascinating book but I tend to skip non-fiction if given the choice. I’m also a little worried about The Apothecary’s Shop. Although I know nothing about Venice in 1118 AD, I am bound to constantly be second-guessing the author’s research and dialog. The volume I am most likely to pinch my nose and be glad when it is over: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Overall, I predict I will read something over 2,000 pages, but it won’t be 2,625 pages. The person who guesses the closest (over or under) will get the novel of their choice from The Book Depository. (This will include all pages read, even if they aren’t in this stack, and even if I don’t finish the book.) To be eligible, guesses must be posted in the comments below by June 24th. In the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen at random from the winning answer. If the winner is within 25 pages she/he will get to choose two novels from The Book Depository.