The Sweetest of Thursdays

Not surprisingly, I greatly enjoyed Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday!  I would not say it was one of my favorites of his novels, but it is always a treat to see how Steinbeck describes a place, crafts dialogue, and introduces a motley cast of characters.  Considered a sequel to Cannery Row, the story follows Doc, who works in his homegrown lab named Western Biological to learn about various creatures he finds in tide pools, and Suzy, the new gal in town, as well as an extensive supporting cast including Hazel, Whitey No. 2, Mack, the Seer, and Joseph and Mary (one person!) all who populate Cannery Row in Monterey, CA.  What I love about Steinbeck is his unique way of telling a story - he invents phrases like "tom wallager" and has chapter names such as "There's a Hole in Reality through which We Can Look if We Wish" and "Oh, Woe, Woe, Woe!"  This is a story about our basic humanity that focuses on classic themes such as love, loyalty, friendship.  While not much happens on a grand scale, Cannery Row shows off Steinbeck's way of infusing lyricism into the most regular of human activities - throwing a party, playing matchmaker, helping out a friend, and even and most importantly, making brownies.

Boyd's Brazzaville Beach

I was such a fan of William Boyd's novel Waiting for Sunrise that I decided to read one of his earlier novels, Brazzaville Beach, as my first book to read in 2013.   Boyd did not disappoint!  Brazzaville Beach's protagonist is the gutsy Hope Clearwater who lives and works in Africa, studying the behavior of chimpanzees.  After making a game-changing and unsettling discovery about her subjects, this sets into motion various forms of intrigue.  Complete with love stories, civil strife, kidnappings, and sabotages, the story moved at a fast pace and was full of the bright and dark sides of humanity. 

This was a very engrossing, smart, easy to read novel, and shows off just how versatile Boyd is as a writer, having picked a totally different subject matter, era, and backdrop than Waiting for Sunrise.  Highly recommended, and might be interesting to pair with Ann Patchett's State of Wonder as another far flung tale featuring a female protagonist navigating her career and relationships. 

How Did it Take Me So Long to Discover William Boyd?

Waiting for Sunrise was a flat-out outstanding, page-turning, brilliant novel. I was riveted from the first page onward.  Set against the backdrop of WWI in Vienna and London, the book follows the life of Lysander Rief, a young man who is an actor and becomes ensnared in a passionate love affair.  The book then takes a sharp turn as the protagonist enters the war and becomes involved in a special mission.  This book was intriguing on many levels and while I thought the parts about the war dragged on a bit, it held my interest and was quite riveting.  I will definitely be reading more by William Boyd soon!  It delights me to have stumbled upon a new author. 

You Can't Beat a Classic

Written in 1877, Black Beauty is a tale of a horse's life told through its perspective.  The author, Anna Sewell, grew up with horses and wrote the novel as a treaty to encourage people to treat horses humanely.  The story reads as a memoir of Black Beauty's life and follows him from his birthplace and then from owner to owner, some of whom are kind and compassionate while others are inhumane.  While the story does not have a climax, it nonetheless held my interest throughout.  The book does an excellent job at conveying the importance of treating animals with kindness and compassion, and was a very easy to read and smartly written.  This is a true classic!

A Romp with Capote

While I greatly prefer In Cold Blood and Music for Chameleons to this unfinished novel, I will still read anything by Truman Capote because it is all a demonstration of sheer brilliance.  Answered Prayers is less plot driven than it is an over the top romp through the high society that Capote moved through once he was famous (the work seems largely autobiographical).  It wasn't particularly cohesive as a narrative nor are any of the characters particularly memorable, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  Here is an example of how Capote packs a punch in just a few sentences:

To all these people, the living among them, I must by now be the merest memory.  If that.  Of course, Boaty would have remembered me, but not with pleasure (I can well imagine what he might say: "P.B. Jones?  That tramp.  No doubt he's peddling his ass to elderly Arab buggers in the souks of Marrakech"); but Boaty is gone, beaten to death in his mahogany house by a heroin-crazed Puerto Rican hustler who left him with both eyeballs dangling down his cheeks.

Way out in Wenatchee

I was delighted to learn about Amanda Coplin's debut novel The Orchardist right around the time I had planned to visit a local orchard to do some apple picking.  Also, having lived for many years in Seattle and been to Wenatchee, I was interested to read a book about the beautiful part of Washington state east of the mountains.   In many ways, The Orchardist was a great book for the fall season.  It was a book that took its time, with many lush and vivid descriptions of the natural landscape and life on the orchard.  The story centers around Talmadge, a man who lives in solitude on his orchard until he unexpectedly becomes intertwined with two young women, Della and Jane, who escape difficult circumstances.  This was a well written, engaging first novel from Coplin, but it tended to drag on and ultimately I felt the book focused more on the depressing elements of the character's lives without enough focus on the redemptive spirits of the protagonists.  The descriptions of hardships and emotional challenges seemed to be more finely written and believable than the moments of happiness and connectedness. 

Two Debuts

The possibility of discovering a fresh voice in fiction is why it is exciting for me to read debut novels.  For example, I instantly became a fan of Amy Greene after reading her first novel Bloodroot.  Now, I can't wait for her next book.  I recently took on two other debut novels penned by women.  

The Age of Miracles, written by Karen Thompson Walker, tells the story of a young female protagonist, set against a backdrop of a world being slowly but forever altered.  Set on the California coast, the story explores an interesting concept the author calls "the slowing" wherein the days grow longer and longer, throwing off the number of daylight and evening hours contained in each day.  This affects crops, animals, tides, and of course, humans.  The humans are affected both physically as well as in their relationships with others.  While this was a smartly written, easy to read novel, it missed the mark for me.  I think the novel tried to do too many things - part coming of age tale, part sci-fi apocalypse tale, and part straightforward novel, by trying to do so many things I think this diluted the story overall.

Shelter, by Frances Greenslade, was a really wonderful book.  Set in rural British Columbia, Greenslade tells the story of two sisters raised off the grid by a loving mother and father.  After their father is killed in a logging accident, the girls are then abandoned by their mother.  Left to fend for themselves, the girls forge different paths and discover the strength to navigate a different world than the one in which they were raised.  I found the story to be very believable.  Very well written and an easy read!

Discovering Richard Ford

I picked up Richard Ford's latest novel, Canada, curious by the sweeping title.  After reading the first two pages, I was hooked.  Canada is a tale of a middle class family in Montana.  The narrator, Dell Parsons, tells the story of his parents (his mom a Jewish erudite quiet woman, his dad a loquacious Southerner) who decide to rob a bank.  After the robbery, Dell and his twin sister go in different directions, with Dell being driven across the Canadian border by a neighbor.  I was riveted by the plot and the taut language, and was captivated until the last page.  I loved Canada so much that I checked out another Ford novel published in 1990 called Wildlife, which I also really enjoyed.  Similar to Canada, Wildlife explores a middle class small nuclear family in Montana.  The insights of the teenage son as well as the dialogue between the family members were written in very simple but beautiful language.  Both of these books are highly recommended!

Re-reading In Cold Blood

Truman Capote is one of my top ten favorite writers of all time.  I remember reading In Cold Blood for the first time several years ago.  It was haunting, beautifully written, impossible to put down.  A "non-fiction novel," In Cold Blood tells the true story of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Texas.  Capote spent six years researching the book, which included extensive interviews with the townspeople and the murderers.  The result was a great masterpiece, riveting in its intimate view of a close-knit small town community as well as of the histories of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock.  While a very depressing story, I think this is a must-read in the canon of American literature. 

Revisiting Dave Eggers

I remember when I first discovered Dave Eggers and how much I loved A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and What is the What.  Thus, it was with great excitement that I picked up Eggers' newest novel.  While A Hologram for the King is an easy and unique read, I found several elements to be lackluster, including the dialogue, which is usually one of Eggers' strengths.  I commend Eggers for taking on so many disparate topics and settings in his novels, but I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as his earlier works. 

Into the Wild

This engaging new memoir by Cheryl Strayed captivated me from the first scene in which she movingly describes her relationship with her mother who was dying of cancer.  It was interesting to learn about the author's background and what drove her to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) alone.  As an avid hiker myself, I was curious to hear what the day to day experience is like when doing long solo adventure backpacking.  I liked that the book did not sugar coat the experience.  For example, as Strayed points out, while nearly everyone she met along the way was kind, this was not universally true, and it was refreshing that she highlighted both the triumphant moments as well as the unpleasant ones.  The pace of the story was very good.  Strayed provided enough detail to keep my interest without overloading on hiking technicalities.  On top of the captivating tale itself', Strayed is a skilled writer.   Recommended!  Plus, you'll have a new found appreciation for your toenails.  

A very (t)winsome tale

Dorothy Baker, a Californian writer, wrote only a handful of novels and plays, but I happened to stumble upon her 1972 novel Cassandra at the Wedding, and it was both brilliant and highly  entertaining.  The novel follows one weekend in the lives of two sisters, twins, who are twenty four years old.  Cassandra, who lives in Berkeley and is working on her thesis, drives to the San Joaquin valley to her family's ranch to attend her sister Judith's wedding.  Familial antics ensue, and Baker infuses equal parts wit and tenderness into this very readable book.  Here is part of one of the conversations between the two sisters, that I just loved:

"Me?  You remember the place we called from when you forgot your vaccination certificate?"

"You're there?" 

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes, really.  It's all full of waltzing mosquitos and I just fell off a ladder." 

"What?" she said, quite a lot like granny.  Concerned.  I loved the sound of it.  Loved it.

"Also," I said, "one of my ears has been sluiced."

A really good book!  Add it to your summer reading list.

Ode to Introverts

As an introvert, I appreciated Susan Cain's book Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.   She points out that there are many different definitions of the introvert/extrovert dichotomy, but she mainly focuses on the belief that introverts and extroverts differ with regard to how much stimulation they need to function in their environments.  Cain points out some interesting trends in American culture, such as shift from what she calls a culture of character in which private, inner virtue was valued, to a culture of personality in which charm and gregariousness are now valued. She points out that introverts are not anti-social; rather, they are "differently social."  Cain also discusses how introverts and extroverts differ in terms of leadership as well as how they navigate the innovation process in business culture.  Rather than suggesting that introverts try harder to be more outgoing and in the spotlight, Cain points out that introverts are capable of acting in an extroverted manner for topics and people that they value.  She also points out the importance of creating what she calls "restorative niches," or places introverts can go to feel more comfortable after being in an overstimulating setting, and even says that if introverts try too hard to act in extroverted ways that are not natural to them, this can actually compromise their immune systems. 

She also makes some specific recommendations for how to support introverted children, such as exposing kids gradually to new situations and people, or bringing kids to parties early so that they can feel comfortable in the space.

Overall, this book is certainly an ode to introverts, and the particular qualities they bring to different situations in life and work.  It resonated with me immensely!

Yates, Yet Again

Having really enjoyed The Easter Parade, I decided to read Yates' third book, published in 1969, called A Special Providence.  The novel explores the relationship between Alice Prentice and her son, Robert Prentice.  Alice is a somewhat delusional artist who often thinks that she is on the cusp of her one-woman art show which will finally bring financial stability, and Robert is a young soldier struggling to find his place and his sense of identity during WWII.  Yates is a wonderful writer who is an expert with dialogue and exploring the intimate relationships between family members.  While I will probably read everything Yates has written because I like his writing style, this was my least favorite work of his that I have read thus far.  However, I have two more Yates novels sitting on my bookshelf that I look forward to reading soon.

On the High Seas

Jack London's The Sea Wolf, published in 1904, was an awesome novel!  I recommend you read it very soon.  It's a good old-fashioned nautical adventure, complete with brutish sailors, a beautiful woman, an enigmatic captain, a desert island, and stormy weather.  That isn't to say that it is a formulaic tale, because what makes the writing so rich is that it is a psychological exploration of the protagonist, Wolf Larsen, and his thoughts on mortality and morality.  It was captivating, and was both accessible and intellectual.  This was the first book I have read by London.  I look forward to reading more. 

Gone With the Wind

Gone With The Wind, published in 1936 and the only published novel by Margaret Mitchell, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937.  I was intimidated by the size of the book and I'll admit it took me two months to read, which is surprising given that it is quite a page turner.  Set in Georgia during the American Civil War and Reconstruction, it is the story of a spoiled plantation owner's daughter, the Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, and her romance with the brooding Rhett Butler.  It is epic, sweeping, and peopled with many characters.  It is a book that many people have strong associations with, and is widely criticized for its portrayal of African American people in the South during the 19th century.  It is a problematic book which perpetuates many stereotypes.  It is also one of the best-selling, most widely read books of all time.  Very dichotomous, and that alone makes it an interesting book to read and discuss. 

How Mr. Fox Made My Head Spin

I saw a great handwritten review of Mr. Fox, by Helen Oyeyemi, at a local bookstore and a few days later I dove into Oyeyemi's complex, captivating, charming ,and chilling book.  Oyeyemi, a young British author and the daughter of Nigerian immigrants, is the author of four novels.  Mr. Fox is a writer who consistently kills off his female protagonists, and Mary Foxe, his muse who walks the line between real and imaginary, tries to get Mr. Fox to think of other ways to end his stories without the recurring violence against women.  But the plot thickens and twists, as Mary writes her own stories, as does Mr. Fox's wife, Daphne.  Oyeyemi wrote some very beautiful and inventive stories within stories, which I appreciated and enjoyed as individual vignettes. I'm still not sure how it all works cohesively as a novel, but it is probably because I haven't wrapped my head around it yet.  It's deceptively simple and yet complicated at the same time!

Don't hesitate to read Yates

Revolutionary Road, Yates' most acclaimed novel, was one of my favorite books that I read in 2010.  I decided that I should read more Yates, so I picked up The Easter Parade from the library.  Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.  In fact,  I went on a long walk in San Francisco and picked quiet, tree-lined streets where I could walk without the possibility of bumping in to people.  That is how absorbed I was.  This is because Yates immediately draws the reader into the story, with witty dialogue and pitch-perfect scenes.  His writing is snappy and smart.

Set in the 1930's, the novella follows the lives of two very different sisters, Emily and Sarah Grimes, as they grow up and navigate relationships with men, with each other, and with their off-kilter mother Pookie.  Yates is a master of describing intimate and emotional moments between his characters, and he fines a balance between the tragic and the comic. 

Some of my favorite quotes:

"Oh dear, the way they're breeding," Pookie said on hearing of the third pregnancy.  "I thought only Italian peasants did things like that."

"There was learning not to be stricken dumb when you walked into a party full of older, certified intellectuals - and not to make the opposite mistake of talking your head off, saying one inane or outrageous thing after another in a hopeless effort to atone for whatever inane or outrageous thing you'd said two minutes before."

"God!" he said when they were back on the train for New York.  "Every time I go out there it takes me days to recover - whole days just to get to the point where I can breathe again..."

Spring with Steinbeck

I decided to ring in spring with Steinbeck, of course!  Interestingly, Tortilla Flat is considered by many to be the novel that put Steinbeck on the literary map, as it was his first commercial success when it was published in 1935.  Set on a hillside in Monterey, the novel centers around the lives of a group of "paisanos," men of mixed heritage, who come to live together after WWI as a result of Danny inheriting a house from his grandfather.  Danny and his friends, who are portrayed ironically as modern day knights, pursue adventure, love, lust, camaraderie, and jugs of wine.  The paisanos reject and resist social mores by living outside of mainstream society, without regular jobs or commitments.  It is an interesting book, with many themes based on King Arthur's Knights of thre Round Table, but it was not my favorite of Steinbeck's work.  That said, there are some great lines and images, such as when Danny refers to his friend as "my little dumpling" and when Steinbeck describes a new day by saying, "It is a time of quiet joy, the sunny morning.  When the glittery dew is on the mallow weeds, each leaf holds a jewel which is beautiful if not valuable.  There is no time for hurry or bustle.  Thoughts are slow and deep and golden in the morning."  And, my favorite, "It is astounding to find that the belly of every black and evil thing is as white as snow." 

In contrast, To a God Unknown, Steinbeck's second novel that was published in 1933, two years before Tortilla Flat, was one of my favorite Steinbeck novels to date, behind East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath.  This slim novel follows the life of Joseph Wayne who leaves Vermont after his father dies and establishes a farm in California.  Joseph is portrayed as a man of conviction with an almost prophetic quality.  The book explores man's love for and relationship with nature, and examines the sacred and profane.  It is written in an accessible yet lyrical manner, and I think it is the best entry point into Steinbeck if one is not ready to commit to his longer works.  My favorite quotes were "....an indescribable heat came into my heart," and "If ever there's need to lose some plaguing thing, that will be the place to go."  This book is classic Steinbeck - beautiful descriptions of the natural world, sparse but beautiful dialogue, and great storytelling.

Re-reading Fox's Desperate Characters

I just couldn't resist reading Paula Fox's Desperate Characters again after all these years.  Even though the book was first published over 40 years ago, the writing still feels fresh.  This novella follows a few days in the lives of Sophie and Otto Bentwood, a well-to-do couple living near Brooklyn Heights.   It all begins when a stray cat bites Sophie on the hand.  This is the first of many assaults from the outside world that can't be avoided, no matter how cloistered and privileged a life one might try to lead.  A rock thrown at a window, the sound of bongos from the street, the knocking of a stranger at the door, all are ways in which the equanimity that the protagonists seek are disturbed.  This is a witty book that blends the tragic and the comic, the mundane and the existential.  While the characters are hard to like, perhaps it is only because we find something of Sophie or Otto in ourselves in our efforts to lead lives that keep any kind of desperation at bay!