This is a really fun book, from the non-continuous narrative, to its sprinkling of obsessions (ears, sheep, whiskey, cigarettes, coffee), to the fact This is a really fun book, from the non-continuous narrative, to its sprinkling of obsessions (ears, sheep, whiskey, cigarettes, coffee), to the fact that it may well be the only film noir detective novel about a magical sheep that has ever been written. That description on its own would have been enough to make me read it. The humorous main narrative is supplemented with interesting observations about dating, divorce, and the contrast between cities and countries in modern Japan. But I found the two most interesting things about the work to be the main narrator's voice, which is a pleasant blend of coolness and sentimentality, and the way that Haruki Murakami so effortlessly weaves together the present with the past. In addition, I read it after a break-up and it was a nice way to reflect on a break up without getting too heavy about it....more
There are many books out there that you're "supposed" to read. You know, the books that were assigned to you in high school, or the books that were poThere are many books out there that you're "supposed" to read. You know, the books that were assigned to you in high school, or the books that were popular in their day, or enormously influential for the history of literature. I usually have a large list of these in the back of my mind that someday I'll get to. Cervantes Don Quixote has been on that list for some time; after all, it's often claimed to be the original modern novel. It's difficult to be more influential than that! Anyway, I taught a writing class in which we read parts of the work, but I just never felt like sitting down and reading the whole thing. Well, I did that this past month.
And you know what, like other books that you're "supposed" to read, it turns out to be a really amazing book. The curious thing is that it reads like a postmodern novel, and in this respect it reminds me a lot of contemporary Italian fiction. Not bad for a work written in 1605. For instance, look at the complexity of the narrative: in the ninth chapter Cervantes presents the work as if it was the product of a translator who copied it from an Arabic original version by Cide Hamete Benengeli, who probably lied and distorted the truth. But what "truth" is being distorted if it is actually a work of fiction that is being written by Cervantes? There are even further levels of fiction in the book, since characters themselves tell stories that contain stories, and so on. The complexity of the narrative levels underscores the farcical nature of the work, and makes it seem rather postmodern in the way it deconstructs truth.
The work is also a farce in terms of its subject matter. The basic premise of the story is that Don Quixote reads so many works of fiction that he begins to believe them, and wanders out into the world as a knight errant seeking to save maidens and defeat knights. But as the story repeatedly emphasizes, there are no such things as knights errant during Don Quixote's day, and so nearly everyone in the book thinks the hero is completely mad. And even though there may be some 鈥渞eal鈥� precedents for some of the things Don Quixote does (after all he does have a suit of armor in his house, and some of the stories in the work are understood to be "real"), they are in the far distant past. This gives Cervantes the opportunity to reflect on a previous genre of literature, in much the same way that postmodern authors take apart the works of modernist authors. And he carries out some of this criticism with ridiculous detail.
One thing that is certain is that Don Quixote is a long book: 982 pages in the English translation. I admit that sometimes I needed to take a break from it. But I always went back. Highlights that come to mind from the first part of the book include the opening with the famous windmill scene (1-8), Sancho's amazing deconstruction of the literary form (Chapter 20 - maybe not everyone's favorite part, but when you hear his story, think about what you鈥檝e been reading throughout), the Tale of Inappropriate Curiosity (Chapters 33-35), the amazing cadenza to the first part when the travelers go to the inn (Chapters 32-52). In the second part of the book the story of Camacho's wedding (Chapters 19-21) The adventure of the bray (Chapters 25-27), the fact there is a jet-propelled horse (Chapter 41), and Sancho's governorship (Chapters 44-53). Anyway, a lot of these won't be as much fun without the context and development, so the work really is one that pays reading from the beginning. If you can't make it to the end of the whole work, at least make it to the end of the first part (479pp). The way all the plot lines come together at the inn is really overwhelming.
I'm sure the work is even better in the old Spanish. Perhaps someday I'll make it through that. In the meantime, the story is sophisticated and creative enough that the genius of the work is apparent even in an English translation. I wonder what it was like in the original Arabic? :-)
A number of friends recommended this book to me over the years, and a few days ago around midnight I decided to give it a try. I can't say I was terriA number of friends recommended this book to me over the years, and a few days ago around midnight I decided to give it a try. I can't say I was terribly impressed with the book, but perhaps if I read more books in the series I'd be more impressed. At the moment I think of it as a bit of a light book, a fantasy that seems to attempt the depth of Tolkien, but never attains it, and is generally written in an oddly uneven style. As an example of the last comment, [WHAT FOLLOWS MIGHT BE A SPOILER FOR SOME PEOPLE, SO READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK] the book spends several chapters navigating the reader through a complex labyrinth under a magical castle, in which Eilonwy takes a sword. After they emerge into the forest, we find the following series of sentences:
"The sword? You said you needed weapons, didn't you? And you took one, so I thought I might as well, too." In a violent explosion that seemed ripped from the very center of the earth, Spiral castle crumbled in on itself. The mighty stones of its walls split like twigs, their jagged ends thrusting at the sky. Then a deep silence fell. The wind was still; the air oppressive. "Thank you for saving my life," said Eilonwy. "For an Assistant Pig-Keeper, I must say you are quite courageous. It's wonderful when people surprise you that way."
Alexander writes in such a casual style here that I had to reread the sentences to be sure that the castle had actually been demolished. And in all my reading I have to say I have never seen a castle so thoroughly demolished with clich茅s. If it were intentionally clich茅, I would think it was brilliant, but unfortunately it too accurately reflects the sentences of the rest of the book to be a vehicle for irony.
But with all my negative critiques, the book is still memorable, the world Alexander creates is richer than a lot of other fantasy books, and it does deserve extra credit for having some unusual features: an assistant pig-keeper is the star, a magical pig the goal for much of the story, and the emphasis on the limits and strengths of individuals paints an interesting, if at times, simplistic philosophy. Let me end this critique with a philosophical question. One of the most striking things about a lot of fantasy is the emphasis on limits. Heroes can do amazing things, there are amazing powers to be had, but it is so often the case that only specific people can do these things or use these powers: in this book the assistant pig-keeper almost perishes when he tries to draw a sword that is intended for a person with different credentials. As much as fantasy stretches the domain of the possible, isn't it striking how often this is accompanied by a reinforcement of class roles and a limitation on the possibilities of the common man or woman? Just a thought.
Lately I've been reading a lot of mysteries. They are a fun way of spending an evening at home when there is nothing good to watch and the secondary lLately I've been reading a lot of mysteries. They are a fun way of spending an evening at home when there is nothing good to watch and the secondary literature in my academic discipline begins to seem a little tedious. *The Five Red Herrings* is a fine example of the genre. Unlike other Dorothy Sayers books, the mystery was done in the form of character sketches: every chapter focused on a single character, and the chapters were even named after the theme character, and the style of writing changes in many of them to reflect the person that Sayers is describing. I think I saw a movie of the book a few years ago, and it completely skipped this important structural element. I suppose Sayers got the idea to do this from the premise: the five red herrings seems to suggest multiple takes on the same situation. Admittedly, some of these takes were not as well done as others, and some chapters didn't carry out the large scale trends, but it seemed an interesting approach to a murder mystery. The story was also structured sort of like a fugue, except with contrasting motifs, that all reach a climax in the later chapters where you get multiple stories and multiple names in the chapter titles. I also really liked the opening: the fact that Sayers deliberately withheld the key fact, which even though I vaguely guessed it (I can't give up on a challenge!), added a sort of excitement to the book, since I was strongly motivated to find out if I was right. I also admit that I liked the Scottish setting, the fact that it involved painters (how many murder mysteries are there of painters?), and the key clue was unique, and the fact that it was so ingeniously constructed. I mean it takes real skill to come up with a plot that is so complicated, so consistent, and allows at least four or five equally persuasive versions of events. It is masterful. The only qualm I might have is that it doesn't emphasize any of the standard relationships that one finds in Sayers' books: Bunter and Wimsey, Harriet Vane and Whimsey, and it is even lacking some of the relationships within the Wimsey family, all things that most Sayers fans probably depend upon. But I suppose that this added a certain charm. Like Jane Austen's *Mansfield Park* it is a different sort of Sayers, and variety, after all, is the spice of life....more
So, this is a book that my mother read to me almost every night while I was growing up. It was read to me so often I practically memorized it, so it nSo, this is a book that my mother read to me almost every night while I was growing up. It was read to me so often I practically memorized it, so it naturally is a book I feel a profound connection to. But, apart from my indoctrination, it is a really great children's book. I suppose it is particularly interesting since it's a book you could read a four year old, and yet at the same time the sentences and vocabulary are rather advanced for a children's book. How many children's books come up with rhymes like "One by one his brave fleet disappeared/While the roar of the cataract burst on his ears," or that will describe the water pouring out of a bathtub faucet as a "wild foam cloudland," and make it fit the meter? Well, I suppose there are others, but this one is a good one. And even to this day I think about the last picture and quotation when I head off to bed: "And on his desk were the maps and plans/For the next time he might find some time on his hands."
If you like children's books, you should have this one....more
This is one of my favorite books, although I admit that is has been a few years since I read it last. I was first introduced it in college by one of mThis is one of my favorite books, although I admit that is has been a few years since I read it last. I was first introduced it in college by one of my favorite professors, Clark Rodewald, who unfortunately is no longer with us. In the one quarter course we read all the works of Eliot and Jane Austen, except for a few that we didn't have time to get to. Rodewald described Eliot in a way that has sort of stuck with me: "She seems so smart in her books." It may be a bit of an understatement from a woman who translated Spinoza, read more languages than some countries, and was easily one of the most accomplished women of her generation. But one gets the constant impression that she's thinking about everything: from her sometimes magnificent sentence structures, to the details of her vast historically-grounded settings, to her completely apropos epigraphs, to her juxtaposition of perspectives. She may well be one of the greatest epigraph users of all the nineteenth century novelists. Further, when you read the book you should look out for random scenes in which characters view the actions of others -- the fact that she doesn't present the material in chronological order allows her to do these wonderful things with perspective. And finally, perhaps the most remarked about feature of her books is the way that she takes on the views of her characters, and lets the personalities she creates shape the world that she constructs. Think of the richly nuanced view she presents of Dorothea and her attempts to live like a saint despite the reality of the world around her, or the dry Mr. Casaubon and his desperate project, or the relationship with her sister, Mr. Brooke, and so on. A list of all the characters would easily run several pages. Anyway, I realize that George Eliot may not be for everyone, but if you are going to read just one book by her, this is the one to choose....more
At this point, with his television show, and all the attention he generates in the press, Anthony Bourdain has achieved a kind of celebrity that few cAt this point, with his television show, and all the attention he generates in the press, Anthony Bourdain has achieved a kind of celebrity that few chefs have attained. His reputation has not been established so much by his cooking as by this irreverent and hilarious book. Like David Sedaris, Anthony Bourdain has a unique no-nonsense style, a clear and distinct writing style, and he has the ability to sum up important or interesting observations about the world in single pithy sentences. One of the great things about this book is that it is full of such moments, and I can say after having been raised by a chef, and having worked ten years in the food service industry, that most kitchens work exactly in the way that Bourdain describes them. It is really a laserclear portrayal of what it is like to work in the average restaurant kitchen 鈥� far better than the absurd world that one finds on Hell's Kitchen or other similar "reality" shows. Since I read the book I often think about the rite of passage that the formally blue attired chef had at his first job in Provincetown (One of my hometowns - I may have actually eaten at the restaurant when Anthony was there), the character of Adam, and the alleged secret of cooking pasta. And although I disagree with Bourdain on several points, in general I find his recommendations on how to cook food, what equipment to use, and how to work in a kitchen to be quite sound. A further feature of the book is that although he can be irreverently funny, he obviously treats food and cooking with a great deal of respect: from his time growing up in the south of France, to his observations of what makes Alain Ducasse and his pupils such great chefs. I would recommend this book to anyone going into the food service industry, to people who like Sedaris, and to people interested in the movie Ratatouille: Bourdain was consulted during that movie, and although the recipes in the movie show the obvious hand of Thomas Keller, some of the dialogue was right out of this book....more
Ok, so it's a book about a bunch of rabbits traveling through a small stretch of English countryside. As such, it doesn't seem like something that wouOk, so it's a book about a bunch of rabbits traveling through a small stretch of English countryside. As such, it doesn't seem like something that would appeal to anyone but a preteen. But the fact of the matter is this is a great story, full of rich characters, a deep (if occasionally erroneous) understanding of things lapine, and it can reach moments of depth and profundity that the movie of the same title does not even begin to hint at. I was actually introduced to this book in one of the best ways I can imagine: a friend recorded the entire book on tape, and for a couple months I played the tapes of her reading a chapter or two just before I fell asleep each night. My slow exposure to the book under ideal circumstances may have influenced my perceptions, but I can say on each subsequent rereading of the book I've come to appreciate it more. You can read the book just for the story: apparently, the author wrote the book from stories he would tell his children, and it still can easily serve that purpose. But the richness of his characters lead to many interesting analogies to human life. For instance, from Hazel you can learn profound things about leadership. Throughout the book you feel that Hazel is the natural-born leader of his group of rabbits, but Richard Adams was very careful to develop this impression through character features rather than power-relations. The contrast is clearly intentional since the other leaders of the book achieve leadership status through very different means. Many people think the book takes a strong stance against a particular kind of authoritarian rule, but it is important to recognize the book gives this impression not through structured diatribe or through argument, but rather it evolves out of character considerations, and out of the story itself. This means that the result is far more complex than a simple argument. For instance, although General Woundwort may be seen as the main enemy that Hazel has to deal with, and the authoritarian rabbit is portrayed rather negatively at times, Adams quite intentionally adds some details that make him admirable to the other rabbits, even to the very end. A diatribe would not be so complex. Fiver is another great character. He adds an element of magic to the story, and it allows Adams to link the rabbits he describes to a mythical world that enters into the story quite frequently. One can almost see Fiver as a manifestation of imagination in this world. Big-wig is another likable character, and the story of this rabbits experience in Efrafa is one of the highlights of the story. Besides the characters, the descriptions of England are also quite acute. You can actually track the course of the rabbits on maps, since Adams was careful to describe real places and things. That attention to detail is often missed in reviews of this book. Finally, the thing that brings all these features together and makes the book more than a mere story, or an account of human characters, or a diatribe against fascism, is the fact that Adams is quite conscious of the fact that he is telling the story from the perspective of rabbits. The challenges they face are rabbit-sized, the ideas about the external world are rabbitlike, the philosophical insights seem rabbitized, and Adams brings many of our anthropomorphized ideas of rabbits together with the reality of rabbits in a surprisingly coherent fashion. I suppose the book can be seen as a cultural study of an imaginatively rich but realistic rabbit world. I realize as I write this review that many other readers may not feel the same way about the book as I do. It does have some shortcomings. For instance, female characters only make a few appearances in the book, although I think Adams does show some sensitivity in their depictions. But, even with the limitations, I would recommend the book to anyone who likes a good story and who is willing to think deeply about a children's story....more
This is one of the most beautiful books that I own. The book gives a description of the native flora of Britain, and the nearly 500 pages provide a weThis is one of the most beautiful books that I own. The book gives a description of the native flora of Britain, and the nearly 500 pages provide a wealth of detail about the different sorts of plants, their most remarkable features, and how they have been perceived through the centuries. I actually first checked this book out from the library when I was working on a present for a friend of mine. She's a fan of Watership Down, and I wanted to paint her a picture of the different flowers associated with the rabbits in that book. This book provided me with photographs of several of them. But I liked the book so much that I just continued to renew it from the library for probably about four years, until my sister bought me a copy (thanks Jill). I learned a lot of interesting things from this book, such as why English oaks are so magnificent, and the history of specific plants such as mistletoe and holly are told in fascinating detail, complete with references to famous poems, farmer's observations, and ancient sources such as Pliny. I also found the discussions of flora in place names and in different regions of England to be fascinating. I suppose I'm unusually interested in the landscape of particular places: the way that landscape, people, plants, animals, language, weather, and so on, all come together to make a unified thing such as a particular district or parish in the British Isles. Or more generally, you can learn about some of the important roots of western culture, speaking literally. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in plants, or the way plants and culture are intertwined....more
I thought this was a very amusing book. I definitely laughed outloud at several points while I was reading it, and Sedaris kept me amused throughout. I thought this was a very amusing book. I definitely laughed outloud at several points while I was reading it, and Sedaris kept me amused throughout. For a writer he has very nice timing, and he can pull off a certain kind of casual sentence structure that a lot of other writers try to but just can't. The other great thing about Sedaris is that he can occasionally come up with uncannily acute observations about specific places and things and wrap them all up in a pithy phrase or two. For instance, you can learn something profound about New York in the following two sentences: "In other parts of the country people tried to stay together for the sake of the children. In New York they tried to work things out for the sake of the apartment." (p. 114) I think this book is actually full of gems about NYC, but some of the other moments in the book have stuck with me as well, like his description of teaching in Chicago, or of the contrasts between France and the United States....more
This was a book I picked up at the airport on one of my trips back and forth between Chicago and New York. It was a good read. Tenzing Norgay was defiThis was a book I picked up at the airport on one of my trips back and forth between Chicago and New York. It was a good read. Tenzing Norgay was definitely one of the great mountain climbers of this past century, and you do learn interesting things about his life, his beginnings in the mountains, the changes to the Sherpa community, what it was like climbing mountains in that day, as well as the life of his famous partner Sir Edmund Hilary. The author takes a nice perspective on the two great climbers who are often viewed as competitors, since people argue back and forth about who actually was the first to reach the top of Everest. The book seems to me to take the best angle on it: it's a silly question since both of them did, and one of them couldn't have done it without the other. The details about how they climbed to the top, and how they had to prove themselves in the weeks leading up to their climb were very interesting. There are also moments of tragedy, although I read the book a few years ago, I particularly remember Louis Mary Rose's death. It also is great to have a book focusing on Tenzing, since I am under the impression that his name is not as widely known as it should be. The book takes a realist stance on Tenzing's life with all the positive heights and all the negative lows. A few good pictures too. I think it should be required reading for any mountain-climbing enthusiast....more
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