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Monday, January 31, 2005
January reads
Books read in January:
Title (bold indicates first-time read) -- Author -- Rating (out of 5)
- finished Mistress Pat -- L.M. Montgomery -- 4
- Most people know about Anne of Green Gables, and most girls have probably read it at some
point. It's one of my very favorite books, one that, humble
"kidlit" as it is, has even changed my life in many ways. What
most people maybe don't know
is that L.M. Montgomery wrote around 20 other novels -- seven more in
the Anne series, an Emily series (probably her second-best-known
books), two Pat books, two Story Girl books, a few standalone
children's books, and two books written for adults; all these books are
well worth reading. Mistress
Pat is the sequel to Pat of
Silver Bush; these novels were written late in Montgomery's
life, and are darker than the Annes -- notably, Mistress Pat is
possibly the darkest of Montgomery's novels and was written under the
influence of a deep depression which clouded the second half of her
life. I definitely recommend this pair of books, although you
will pretty much need to read Pat of
Silver Bush first. Pat in the first book is in close
contention for the position of my favorite Montgomery heroine.
Also, this short series has the distinction of containing one of
Montgomery's two actual knowable male characters, in the young
Hilary. He'll disappoint you by pretty much disappearing till the
end of the last page of the second book, however, as Montgomery's
romantic heroes were wont to do once she got out of her depth with
them. "Write what you know", for this author, sadly didn't
include strong men or normal romantic relationships. - finished Jane Eyre -- Charlotte Brontë -- 5
- I always have a very difficult time choosing a favorite
book. However, when I am forced to make a short list (I never can
just come up with one),
Yes, it's dark and gloomy and has a very gothic feel. Yes, it has
its preachy moments. But what a wonderful story, what
sigh-worthy romance. (sigh). - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
-- Mark Haddon -- 4.5 - I was in love with this book from the first page.
Literally. And like any love relationship, it ran into a few
snags, but was overall a deeply enriching experience. Haddon's
first novel is a deft handling of the story of a teenaged boy with
Asperger's Syndrome, told from his point of view. Amazing that a
book "told" by a person who doesn't understand humor can be so funny --
but the humor comes in with his emotionless, dry discussion of
situations that are sometimes, honestly, not funny at all. And
the book isn't all laughs, either; as the mother of a person with
Tourette Syndrome, a disorder which manifests itself in some ways that
are similar to the autism spectrum, I found that this reading was
peppered with insights and "YES!" moments. - finished A Tale of Two Cities -- Dickens -- 4
- I started listening to this on CD in December while I was
sewing, and then I listened to it some more while I was painting my
bedroom, and then I couldn't wait to get to the end, so I read the last
half-dozen chapters from my copy of the book, in bed one night. I
love Dickens, and this book is no exception; bonus points for teaching
me more about the French Revolution than I learned in school, while
managing to also maintain an individual human scope. Most of the
characters are perhaps less "Dickensian" than usual, although there are
notable exceptions (Mr. Cruncher as a messenger who "moonlights" as a
grave robber and chides his wife for "flopping" is probably the
doesn't have a 150-year-old reputation as the master of verbiage and
characterization for nothing; what more can I say? - Until The Real Thing Comes Along -- Elizabeth Berg
-- 3 for content, 5 for style - Like I do with most Bergs, I read this in one day. Her
poignant, feel-it-in-your-spine observations were thick on the page, as
they are in all of her books. I was especially touched by the
descriptions of babies as the main character struggled with singleness
and the ticking of her biological clock. I was less thrilled with
her solution to the problem (becoming pregnant by her gay
ex-lover). It was an interesting idea, and the author is honest
about the emotional difficulties involved, but it just didn't resonate
with me, and I didn't want her to go through with it.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book, and Ms. Berg certainly didn't miss
her mark with her trademark raw, emotional descriptions that make you
realize that you've thought the same thing your whole life but just
never thought to put it exactly that way. - Good Grief
-- Lolly Winston -- 4 - I had a hard time really getting into this book at first; I
sort of got off on the wrong foot with it and it seemed amateurish and,
I don't know, untouchable is
a word that came to mind. I definitely felt like I was on the
outside of the book looking in. I can't put my finger on the
point at which that changed, but it did, and I enjoyed the second half
of the book much more than the first. This is Winston's first
novel, and her handling of the loss of a husband seems so skillful
(from my position of inexperience, at least) that I found myself
wanting to look her up and find out if she's a widow herself. As
far as style, that was where my main problem was with the book early
on; it seemed like something I could have written. Then I started
to notice some phrases that sang out at me in an almost
Elizabeth-Bergish sort of way, and then there were more and more of
them, and before I knew it, whether it had been my mood at the
beginning of the book causing the problem, or whether the style really
improved so much for the second half, I found myself fully enthralled
by the end, rooting for Sophie like she were my best friend. - Villette
-- Charlotte Brontë -- 3.5 - I've had this book on my shelves for years, and I finally plowed through it this month. It took almost four weeks, which is a long time in book years, for me, anyway. I just had such a hard time getting into the protagonist's head for the first three-quarters of it or so, and I disliked most of the members of the "supporting cast", with one exception, that being Mrs. Bretton. Finally, however, Lucy Snowe really clicked for me, and the rest of the book was quite enjoyable. It wasn't Jane Eyre, but on the strength of those chapters the book was able to stand alone on its own merits for me. I was touched by the growing relationship between Lucy and the man she loved; I was glad to see some of the uselessly annoying characters come to have a raison d'être before the last page. I won't mention the one thing that really bothered me about the story, even after I really began to enjoy it, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but if it weren't for that one thing I'd probably have given this book a better rating.
- Truth and Beauty: A Friendship
-- Ann Patchett -- 2.5 - What merit I found in this book was due almost entirely to Patchett's narrative style. The author of two of my most-often-recommended books, Bel Canto and The Magician's Assistant, doesn't disappoint on that score in this -- what does one call it, a memoir?
And therein lies the main problem -- it's not a memoir, but it's told with too much almost-voyeuristic detail to be a respectable biography. I suppose that what it's supposed to be is a memoir of a friendship, as well as a memorial tribute of sorts, but it would have been better, in my opinion, as an essay, without spending what amounts to a large part of a book going into so many sordid personal details. If someone writes about her own (appalling, really, in this case) promiscuity and drug use, you feel that she has the right to do so and that she's given you the right to read it -- whether one is interested in that sort of thing or not, she's putting the choice in the reader's hands. But no matter how close Patchett was to Lucy Grealy, the other half of the titular friendship, I felt like she was overstepping her rights. It was like she was giving us Lucy's diary to read, without her consent. I enjoyed reading about the more innocent aspects of their shared life -- their inside jokes, for example, and their trials and successes as writers -- but it seemed like a page couldn't go by without a shot of the kind of details that I personally think would have been better kept between Ann and Lucy, especially since Lucy wasn't the one telling the story.
I do realize that she was probably trying to avoid the standard "triumph of the human spirit" biography -- indeed, Ann and Lucy had a running joke about the various attempts people would make to turn Lucy into that kind of lesson. But somehow going too far in the other direction was even worse, for me, anyway.
Obviously Patchett cared deeply about Lucy and had reasons for writing about her life the way she did. And not being on the inside, so to speak, I really don't have anything to say about whether this story should have been written or not. But as a reader, a looker-on, I can say that I do wish I had been able to leave Lucy some respectful privacy. Had I known how deeply private this story was, I'd not have chosen to read it.
Posted by Rachel on January 31, 2005 01:11 PM in nose in a book
