reading

Book Review: One from the road

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The Mill on the Floss
George Eliot

Not sure I will have the time and opportunity write all of my travel reading reviews from the road, but since I have a moment I thought I would give it a whirl.

This was my first go reading George Eliot (née Mary Ann Evans). For the most part I found it quite enjoyable. It was much more readable than I expected. Usually I need something fluffy and easy for the plane, but I ended up reading two thirds of this over the Atlantic. It is supposedly the most autobiographical of her novels with the main character Maggie being the stand-in for Eliot. Given the ending, it cannot cleave too closely to her own life. It is also supposed to be a tale of the limited choices that women had in the mid 19th-century. And the book certainly does focus on that, but I was surprised at how much the first part of the book was about Maggies brother Tom.

SPOILER ALERT: I could not believe the ending. I wanted a happy ending in the worst possible way. Ultimately the way Maggie meets her end seems more a result of, dumb luck, her own martyr complex, and her overweening love for her brother than a result of her limited choices in life. If Eliot really wanted to say something about the lack of, and consequences of female independence in her life, she could have come up with many other possible endings that would have made her point more effectively.

Still, definitely worth reading and encourages me to read other books by Eliot.

And no, that is not me along the banks of the Floss. But it is me reading my beat up copy of The Mill on the Floss on the banks of the River Cher on the grounds of Chenonceau.

Look Out France and Switzerland, Here I Come.

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In no time we will be wending our way through the Loire Valley, Provence and the Bernese Oberland. We plan to eat lots of good food (that is until we get to Switzerland where I am not sure if the food will be too good), drink lots of wine and enjoy not being in the humid, humid environs of Washington DC in August.

When I travel long distances I like to buy used pulp paperbacks to read along the way so I can leave them behind when finished, and so they take up as little room and weight as possible. With that in mind I had to set aside the enormous “to be read” pile and actually go buy some good pulp editions to take with me on the trip.

So what do you think, will 8 books be enough for 16 days? Part of me thinks yes and part of me thinks no. Certainly the long plane ride and a few train journeys will give me ample reading time. I always over pack on the book front. It is not like I will really read 8 books in 16 days. I am just always worried that I won’t have the right book for the right mood. Stuck on a plane for 8 hours with a good book, but one I am not in the mood for. So I overcompensate by bringing a little of everything.

The other thing is that reading is a great way to soak up a place. It doesn’t matter what you read, it is just the fact that it slows you down enough to sit and experience a place. When I first met my husband he thought I was crazy. Whenever we went somewhere beautiful (Grand Canyon, Tuscany, Paris, etc.) I would want to sit down and read. But then he realized that I would read for a bit, looking up now and then, maybe move to another vantage point, stop and read a little more. It turns something that might have ended up just being a too-quick photo op into something a little more meaningful. Kind of like the touristic equivalent of slow food.

I toyed a bit with doing a French and Swiss thing when choosing books, but that was a little more effort than I cared to take. So, without further delay, here is the Summer 2009 literary cast that will be travelling with me:

The Mill on The Floss by George Eliot
I have never read anything by George Eliot and felt like this might be the right time to start. I have already primed the pump and am about 80 pages in and am quite enjoying it. Not sure what I expected, but it is more amusing than I would have guessed.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Another classic I have never read. Thankfully I never saw the Demi Moore film version. I heard it was terrible and that if she had adapted Moby Dick for the screen Ahab would have killed Moby instead of the other way around.

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
I haven’t had much luck with Henry James. I had to read Washington Square twice in school, but other than that I haven’t been able to get through a James novel. I feel like I really should like him. I love Edith Wharton and folks tend to mention the two in the same sentence fairly frequently. But I have never really been able to get into James. But I thought I would give it a go. And with an opening line about the ceremony of afternoon tea, Portrait of a Lady seemed like it might the one to break through my aversion to James. Here’s hoping they have lots of tea to sustain my interest.

A Weekend with Claude by Beryl Bainbridge
I know nothing about Bainbridge, and I really hate the cover image on this edition, but there was something about the first paragraphs that made me decide to give it a go. Fingers crossed. In any case it is nice and short.

Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym
I have read a few other Pym and found that she can be relied on for an amusing time. Very English, very right up my alley. According to the book jacket, this was her first novel published in England but the last one of hers published in the USA. Another shortish book.

Fly Away Home by Marge Piercy
I have read two other of Piercy’s books and really liked them. They have been contemporary, easy reads that have female protagonists getting their lives sorted out in one way or another. I love a good personal transformation story and I got sucked in by this synopsis: “Successful Boston cookbook author Daria Walker, whose greatest pleasures are her home and family–and who loves her husband deeply–is devastated to learn he wants a divorce. Now she must put her life back together…”

Cheri and The Last of Cheri by Colette
This is my one French book. I read The Ripening Seed earlier this summer and enjoyed it, so I thought I would give Collette another try.

The Summer Before Dark by Doris Lessing
Yet another author I haven’t read. Since she won the Nobel in 2007 I figured she was worth looking into.

There wasn’t much method to my madness in choosing these books. Most of the used bookstores near me specialize in trade or hardcover fiction and don’t have much in the way of literature in pulp editions. So I took what I could get. But I actually think it is a good, diverse bunch o’books that I am looking forward to reading.

How about you?
How do you choose your travel books? Do you take too many when you travel? Do you try to match your book choices up with your destination? Have you ever “found” a book where you were staying that became one of your favorites?

Book Review: Romance in Switzerland

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A Perfect Waiter
Alain Claude Sulzer
I can’t remember where or when I bought A Perfect Waiter. I came across it on my bookshelves the other day having had completely forgotten its existence. I had been prompted to pick it up at the bookstore by the striking cover image–surely the dapper waiter on the cover must be gay. Reading the synopsis on the inside flap of the book jacket confirmed my literary gaydar. Even though, gay lit helped me come to terms with being gay back when I a teenager in the 1980s, I am not one to spend much time looking for fiction with gay themes. What piqued my interest in A Perfect Waiter is that the book is set in the 1930s and 1960s. I am always interested to read about how same sex attraction played out in the days before the Stonewall Riots.
In this case, the protagonist Erneste, working in a Swiss resort town in the 1960s, gets a letter from Jakob, someone he hasn’t seen since 1939. The novel is a series of flashbacks that tells the story of Erneste and Jakob who were roommates and co-workers who shared an intense but short relationship. The 1960s Jakob is in trouble and writes to Erneste for help. But helping Jakob means that Erneste needs to confront his past and seek help from the person he least wants to talk to. But there isn’t much more I can say without spoiling the plot.
Although the book presents a totally believable snapshot of what life would have been like for a homosexual in the 1930s, that isn’t really what the book is about. It is more a tale of love and betrayal set against the formal, regimented backdrop of a Swiss resort. As I get ready to go to Switzerland for the first time, Sulzer’s evocation of the era and setting is bound to shade my expectations of what I will find when I arrive in Interlaken and environs. Images of steamer trunks and dressing for dinner will, no doubt, be quickly replaced with the reality of backpackers, unruly families, and my own casual way of traveling. But a little part of me will be imagining, perhaps even looking for, Erneste and Jakob–living their personal drama out behind the scenes and under our noses.

40 by 40 Update: #23 Finish the Rest of the Modern Library’s Top 100

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(Back in May of 2007 I noticed that a bunch of people in the blogosphere had created lists of 101 things to do in 1001 days. I was intrigued by the notion but felt I needed to change the parameters. So I created my 40 by 40 list. 40 things I wanted to do before I turned 40. Well on August 17th I turn 40, and I need to give $10 to charity for every uncompleted item. So it is time to see how I did.)

23. Finish the rest of the Modern Library’s list of 100 top novels of the 20th Century (except for Faulkner and Joyce-I just can’t do it) – NOT COMPLETED
Running Tally: $110.00 to charity.

Back in the late 1990s, the Modern Library compiled a highly controversial list of the top 100 novels of the 20th century (in English). My goal was to read the whole list (except for Faulkner and Joyce who I think are too excruciatingly difficult and boring to read). The good news is that I have read about 65 of them since the list came out, but the bad news is I don’t have too much interest in finishing the rest. I will definitely finish more of them over time. And then others I won’t. Some may be brilliant books, I am just not interested in them. I had this to say back in November of 2007 about this goal:

I may even abandon another goal (#23) on the 40 by 40 list. What is my problem you ask? Why am I such a loser that I can’t achieve these simple goals? Life, I tell you, life. Not in the sense that life is overwhelming me and I can’t possibly achieve these goals. But LIFE, as in I am loving every minute of it. As in, life is too short to not enjoy every minute of it. As in, Philip Roth’s American Pastoral, as award-winning as it may be, is just too damn boring for me to care about even though I am 2/3 finished. The irony is that the big things on my list (quitting my old job and
starting my new one) have given me a fabulous new lease on life that makes caring about the little things on my list (reading a book I find boring just to make myself a better person) far too tedious. I still have a book in my hands every free chance I get, and I am still going to check out and enjoy the giants of the literary world. But I no longer feel the need to impress myself or anyone else by finishing “important” but ultimately unfulfilling books. The same goes for my life. I will still take a stab at the important goals and even those that aren’t fun, but I won’t force myself to finish something just for the sake of crossing it off of a list.

40 by 40 Update: #22 Read the First Volume of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time

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(Back in May of 2007 I noticed that a bunch of people in the blogosphere had created lists of 101 things to do in 1001 days. I was intrigued by the notion but felt I needed to change the parameters. So I created my 40 by 40 list. 40 things I wanted to do before I turned 40. Well on August 17th I turn 40, and I need to give $10 to charity for every uncompleted item. So it is time to see how I did.)

22. Read the First Volume of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time – NOT COMPLETED
Running Tally: $100.00 to charity.

Kudos to Proust for helping me reach $100 in my charitable giving. I am about 80 pages into Swann’s Way, the first volume of one of the seminal works of literature in the 20th century. I actually kind of like it, but I just know I am not going to finish it by Monday. It is low on plot and high on atmosphere, which I generally don’t mind. But it is the kind of book that you need to savor to truly enjoy. Reading it on deadline is making me dread it. Of course if I had started a year ago, instead of a month ago, everything would be groovy. I probably will continue this or pick it up in the future. But for now, it is a no go.

40 by 40 Update: #19 Release 25 Books Into the Wild Through Book Crossing

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(Back in May of 2007 I noticed that a bunch of people in the blogosphere had created lists of 101 things to do in 1001 days. I was intrigued by the notion but felt I needed to change the parameters. So I created my 40 by 40 list. 40 things I wanted to do before I turned 40. Well on August 17th I turn 40, and I need to give $10 to charity for every uncompleted item. So it is time to see how I did.)

19. Release 25 Books into the Wild Through Book Crossing – NOT COMPLETED
Running Tally: $90.00 to charity.

I gave this one up back in July 2007. As I blogged back then:

If I could figure out how to do a strikethrough on this blog I would cross
this one out. I thought I would love this particular challenge. The idea is that
you tag books you have read with a Bookcrossing label, register them online, and
then leave them somewhere for someone to find in hopes that they will pick them
up, see the tag, go online to note where they found it and what they thought
about the book and then release it back into “the wild” for someone else to
find.I loved the idea of people connecting through books, but the process of
leaving them out in the wild gave me more stress than joy. Maybe because you
don’t really get to connect with people this way, and maybe because the kinds of
books I read aren’t going to find a broad audience, or maybe it is because I am
sure that most if not all of the books I have left out in the wild were probably
thrown away. In any case, I didn’t find anything edifying about the process and
it was stressing me out. So I am abandoning this one which means at least $10
for charity when I hit 40.

My All Time Favorite Books

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When I made the chart below showing the distribution of my book ratings I noticed that 23 of the 646 books I have read since 1995 fell into the “All Time Favorite” category. Keep in mind these are not in any order, and they don’t necessarily equate to “great books”. They are just books that were my favorites. And please keep in mind they don’t take into account anything I read before 1995, so not all of my all time favorites are listed here.

It was interesting to see what showed up on the list. Although I am not a huge fan of non-fiction, six putative works of non-fiction showed up:
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank – Thad Carhart
Ex Libris – Anne Fadiman
The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
84, Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff
Comfort Me With Apples – Ruth Reichl

There were two that can be considered “juvenile” books:
Harriet the Spy – Louise Fitzhugh
Heidi – Johanna Spyri

Five that could be considered “classics”:
A Room with a View – E.M. Forster
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

And the rest are just novels that I really liked for one reason or another:
Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood
The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
The Uncommon Reader – Alan Bennett
Entries From a Hot Pink Notbook – Todd Brown
The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
The Seven Sisters – Margaret Drabble
The Student Conductor – Robert Ford
Under the Net – Iris Murdoch
As for Me and My House – Sinclair Ross
Tepper Isn’t Going Out – Calvin Trillin

Not surprisingly to me, 13 of the 23 books were written by women.

The Rose Garden by Maeve Brennan

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I just finished reading a collection of short stories called The Rose Garden by the Irish American Maeve Brennan. Normally I am not a big fan of short stories. As my friend Kelly says about short stories: If I like them I want them to be longer, if I don’t like them I don’t want to read them. Plus, I think short stories are often a little too abstract for my tastes. Little puffs of ideas that leave a lot of unanswered questions. Brennan’s stories are no exception, but I liked them a lot. About five of the stories take place in Ireland, with the rest taking place in New York. Several of the latter are linked stories that take place in Herbert’s Landing a fictional community north of the city on the Hudson River based on Brennan’s real experiences in Snedens Landing. The stories, written in the 1950s and 1960s, are interesting little vignettes of times and places long gone.

And I must admit, I originally bought the book because I loved the cover photograph. Both Brennan and the apartment look fabulous. Subtract the cigarette and I would love to be transported into that picture for an evening.

Finding Small Treasures

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As any regular reader of MyPorch will know, I have a particular penchant for the past. I will be the first to admit that my fascination for the “olden days” is highly romanticized and pretty darn selective. When I imagine walking the streets of pre-war London I edit out the car exhaust and cigarette smoke. When I fantasize about living in the LP days of the superstar classical conductor and packed concert halls I filter out the pre-Stonewall reality of gay oppression. And when I write myself into an Edith Wharton or E.M. Forster novel, I rarely think of the hot, scratchy clothes I would have to wear, or the fact that my socio-economic class wouldn’t really permit me a very satisfactory role in these Edwardian dramas.

One of the the manifestations of my fascination with the past is that I love finding old pieces of paper in used books. Tram tickets, photos, letters, shopping lists, business cards, prayer cards, you name it. Not only is it fun to ponder who left the item in the book but it can also give some clues as to where the book has been. Recently when I was reading The Ice Age I came across a receipt. Big deal right? What makes this receipt special is that unlike so many others I have found in used books, it is clear that the receipt is actually the original receipt for the book when it was newly purchased in 1978. Often times the receipts I find will be for something else like lunch or maybe one from the secondhand sale of the book. In this case the price and date match the price and date on the book itself. This in itself is very interesting to me. That the receipt has stayed tucked in the book since the day it was first purchased 30 years ago. But even more interesting is the fact that the book was purchased at Kramerbooks here in Washington, DC. So not only is the receipt 30 years old, the independent bookstore that sold it is still in business and is within walking distance of where I live.

Now I just wish I could remember where I got this used copy of The Ice Age. I thought I got it on our peregrinations around New England last summer, but I don’t remember. The existence of the Kramerbooks reciept inside leads me to think I got it locally…but where I don’t know.

(And for those that might not remember, Kramerbooks is the place where Monica Lewinsky bought Nicholson Baker’s Vox, a novel about phone sex, the purchase of which was part of Ken Starr’s ridiculous investigation. )