?RUReadingRedux!!!!!
Okay, it's time to check in on what everyone's reading. Because why? Because the book festival is over and I usually celebrate by binging on books that have NOTHING TO DO WITH THE WEST! Actually, I came away from this year's event amazed at the quality of the fiction and history, especially. Novels by Jim Lynch, Kevin Canty, Benjamin Percy, a short story collection by Alyson Hagy, history by Tim Lehman, Verlaine McDonald, Susan Resnick, a memoir by Laura Munson were just some of the standouts.
But we're over that. What am I reading now? The New Yorker. What did I just finish? A lovely, lovely novel--Sunnyside by Glen David Gould, published 2009. And it actually is, to some degree, about the West. This is a sprawling, funny and yet deadly serious, portrait of early Hollywood and World War I. Starring Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and a cast of thousands! Gould manages to entertain while raising serious questions about art and the artistic impulse. Every major character is yearning to make a mark, rewrite experience, transform reality. All this is done with a light hand, and while some reviewers found it a bit facile, I was entranced.
What's up next? The big novel of the season. No I'm not talking about Freedom. To the End of the Land by David Grossman. Grossman has long been recognized as one of Israel's most important writers and a month or so ago Judy Klein (of book festival fame) recommended his work to me. And then his newest novel was released in the States to the kind of reviews that can only be described as "reverential." Which always makes me nervous. But in I'm about to dive.
Please help me add to my ten year reading list (I'll post it if I'm wheedled). Tell me what you're reading!
Tags: literature
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ken Egan on -
Freedom! The novel, not the emotion. I'll admit to being a sucker for Jonathon Franzen. Do I sound a bit defensive? Well, many of my best reading friends think he's way overrated--prosaic prose, too much exposition, not much in the way of original insights. I, on the other hand, recognize his hapless, very Midwestern characters who try to do all the right things according to the code handed them by American culture--and somehow end up in cul-de-sacs. Franzen's dialogue is often laugh-out-loud funny, and he sprinkles in enough meanness among these "nice" people to make for entertaining conflict. Besides, he's the master of the topical novel--the Berglunds (almost my exact age!) take us from the Iranian Revolution up to our very own moment. Yes, dear reader, I may be a bit of a narcissist (like seeing my self in that fictional mirror). Now for the rationalization part: I think maybe, just maybe, I gain wisdom through this exercise in self-flattery/analysis. For instance: Maybe we really do betray our deepest values when tempted by the big payoff. Or maybe it really is wiser to level about what you really want, early in life, rather than spend a life repressing, distorting, confusing. . . . But now I'm beginning to sound a little like Ben Franklin. . . . .
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Permalink Reply by Tim Lehman on -
For everyone who is, used to be, or wants to be a Mennonite, I recommend Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen. And even if you never wanted to be a Mennonite or even were never curious about what that might feel like, this book is wickedly funny. A fun read for all!
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Permalink Reply by Judy Klein on -
Don't be nervous Kim, you and David G will get on swimmingly. He's never easy, but he's incredibly rewarding.
Today I'm TRESSPASS-ing with Rose Tremain, a British writer impossible to pidgeonhole, thus US publishers struggle with her. She's inventive, complex, passionate and endlessly intrigued by the world around her. RESTORATION (17th Century England) is perhaps her best known novel and it was shortlisted for the Booker; MUSIC AND SILENCE (1629 Denmark) won the Whitbread and as some reviewer said, it's the best thing from Denmark since Hamlet; THE COLOUR (1800s New Zealand during the gold rush) was shortlisted for the Orange Prize ...and her list goes on.
Tremain always transports me and TRESSPASS will transport me, almost literally today, to the Cévennes region of southern France where two sets of siblings, from two very different worlds and cultures, are about to collide.
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Permalink Reply by Kim Anderson on -
Okay, Tim, I have to read "Mennonite" for the title alone. Is it an actual memoir??? And what made you chose it? Judy, shameful that I've never read Rose Tremain, and you've been recommending her for years. She's absolutely on my list now. Which one should I go for first? This is especially timely because I just did one of the favorite 15 authors in 15 minutes things on Facebook and was ashamed to realize that only 4 out of 15 were women.
I'm 60 or so pages into To The End of the Land, and let me tell you, this guy can write like nobody's business. Unlike anything else. Immediate, incredibly skillful use of an exasperating female protagonist. Wow! I won't say more until I've finished.
In the meantime, I wonder if others of you have the same thrill I get when it's time to chose a new book to read. It's one of my favorite moments. I spend a day or two, perusing my lists, my shelves, weighing my mood against other factors--will I have time to read deeply? Do I want an escape? Will I be travelling, in which case I want a paperback I can leave behind? Do I feel like contemporary satire, or a classic reread, or (and sadly, not often enough) a classic I should have read long ago, or science fiction or something big and baggy and comfy? As with so much in life, the anticipation is often half the payoff.
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Permalink Reply by Noelle Sullivan on -
I'm jumping into the new McGuane novel! The LA Times brushed it off, unfairly, I think, misunderstanding the man and his zeitgeist. Will we fellow Montanans and world travelers understand him any better?
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Permalink Reply by Kim Anderson on
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Noelle, the McGuane is freezing right now in my car. I heard him read from it on the first night of his tour, at Fact &Fiction and he was incredible, and the reading was really funny. He said something that struck me, that literary writers these days insist on being dour, and there's not enough humor in the world. I'm all for that. Let me know what you think!
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Permalink Reply by Kim Anderson on
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I just read for the fifth time the most amazing poem in The New Yorker. Sorry, subscription required, but if you can grab a copy of the Nov. 29 edition read Still Life by Linda Gregerson. Wow! Does anyone know who she is?http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2010/11/29/101129po_poem_gr...
Linda Gregerson: “Still Life” : The New Yorker
www.newyorker.com
His ears his mouth his…
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Permalink Reply by Noelle Sullivan on
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I thought the New Yorker poem fine, but there's an even more astonishing poem (to me) by Gregerson in the December issue of POETRY, with an analysis by the poet herself. It has to do with the south and the election of 2008. She's got such a great voice for speaking about news and humanity in the mix. Truly amazing; what a talent.
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Permalink Reply by Kim Anderson on
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Noelle, I'm going there tomorrow. I don't know her work, and look forward to reading more. Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by Ken Egan on
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This isn't necessarily the most famous "best of lit" list (that would be a certain publication in Manhattan), but it's my favorite: read 'em and smile: http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/best_of_2010/index.html?s...
And while I have the screen: Go out and read Perri Knize's Grand Obsession--I don't care if you play the piano (or any instrument, for that matter)--this is a story of love and the lengths we'll go to find the right tone. In other words, it's about all of our obsessive loves. And it's set in dear ol' Montana.
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Permalink Reply by Kim Anderson on
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Okay, I'm feeling totally blitzed by all the best of the year literary reviews. I've added 20 books to my reading list. Which probably had 100 or so unread books on it already. How will I read them all?????
Update on my progress with To The End of the Land by David Grossman. First of all this is an absolutely gorgeous book. On the surface an incredibly moving psychological study of one very particular woman and her attachment to the men in her life--sons and husbands/lovers. Hovering over it all, of course, is a sensual portrait of Israel the land itself, and the horrible political situation. The novel is dense but not heavy, full of beautiful scenes and language, and a very good read. It's taken me longer than usual because I got weighed down with New Yorkers (which are much better treadmill reading material).
And despite all those fabulous novels and histories and biographies calling out to me from my list, I'm afraid after I finish this I'm back to research for the kids book I'm working on. This is not a hardship. Who doesn't love reading about Renaissance Florence? Especially in the middle of snowy Montana winter.
So, essentially, what a great life!
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