surfacing

enough about babies. let’s talk about books. i’m midway through the cellist of sarajevo and YOU HAVE TO READ IT. [sorry, i rarely yell... ]

look over to your right. see? i’ve chosen it for the book trail in march. i know we’ve been on something of a hiatus, but enough with that. i smelled mud today: spring is on its way. the sun is out. the babies are born. let’s read.

and to tempt you–this book [wow! this book!] is one of the absolute best i’ve read in a long time. it reminds me a little of the book thief. but, whatever it is or isn’t, it is wise and wonderful and you won’t regret it. so put it on reserve at the library and meet me back here the end of march.

[and don't feel shy about leaving me a little positive reinforcement. like, "even though your boobs hurt like *&!*, it's going to get better."]

sheepish

i haven’t finished a tale of two cities. yet. i’m a few hundred pages in. really. i am. for some reason (is it the 39 week belly?) i’m having a really hard time keeping track of the characters. and there’s something about the french revolution that always makes me feel uncomfortable. (or maybe the guillotine makes everyone feel uncomfortable…?) the more i read about the reign of terror, the more i feel like i’m back in my high school ap european history class praying that the teacher won’t call on me. something about the whole of european history never made sense to me. go figure. anyway. i’m going to finish. you should finish too. it will make you smarter.

and just for kicks, here’s a conversation i overheard between henry and his pacifier as i was visiting the little girl’s room in the wee hours of the morning, “oh. hi binkie. hi. you’re so silly. so silly.”

book trail: my cousin rachel

i have to admit the truth. i spend most of my time laying on the couch eating chocolate chips. not even reading books and eating chocolate chips. just staring into space and eating chocolate chips. but, for those of you whose life is not as exhausting as mine, here is our book trail discussion for this month from our delightful hostess, rebecca.

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier:  A story set in England about a man (Ambrose Ashley), his younger cousin (Philip Ashley) whom the man raised, and the woman (Rachel) the man marries.

Some of the characters and story lines I thought were interesting:

Ambrose - what a cool cousin!  He took Philip in when Philip’s parents died and treated him as if he were his own son.  He taught him everything he knew and even did away with Philip’s nanny because he thought she was too harsh with Philip.  Downsides to Ambrose are that he didn’t know much about the outside world.  He lived in his home with only male servants and only Philip.  Maybe if he had known more of the ways of women, he wouldn’t have fallen into the ‘trap’ set by Rachel.  I wonder why Ambrose didn’t mail out the letters himself to Philip warning him of what he thought Rachel was trying to do to him.  I know he was sick, but if he was that worried, surely he could have found some way to get the mail to his cousin.

Philip - In the beginning of the story, he seems very naive to the things of the world.  While he had spent time at college, he still didn’t seem to understand the workings of human nature.  He just couldn’t see that Louise liked him or that his godfather was pushing a relationship with Louise upon him.  It took Rachel pointing these things out to him for him to realize what would have been plain and clear to most other men.  When Philip first learns of Ambrose’s death, he wants to destroy Rachel.  How quickly - I think it took a night? - his perspective changes when he finally meets Rachel.  Throughout the book, I find myself thinking right along with Philip, though.  At times I hated her, at times I loved her.  Like most men, he didn’t really know how to convey his feelings to Rachel and took answers she gave him as more than they were.  Could you tell from their conversation the night of his birthday that he was proposing?  How would you like a proposal like that?:

  “I told you once,” I said, “that I had all the warmth and the comfort that I needed within four walls.  Have you forgotten?
“No,” she said, “I have not forgotten.”
“I spoke in error,”  I said.  “I know now what I lack.”
She touched my head, and the tip of my ear, and the end of my chin.
“Do you?”  she said.  “Are you so very sure?”
“More sure,” I answered, “than of anything on the earth.”

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t see a proposal there.  I saw hintings, but you really can’t and shouldn’t hint at a proposal.

Rachel - Along with Philip, at first I hate Rachel and can’t believe someone would try to poison the person they are married to.  However, when she comes to stay at the house, along with Philip, I am intrigued by her.  I am in awe with how easily she seems to fit in somewhere she has never been.  She is able to charm anyone who is unsuspecting.  It’s interesting that she was never able to charm Louise though.  Louise always just puts up with Rachel being there as it seems to make Philip happy.  She has a way about her.  Nowadays, Rachel would be called a very good flirt!

Louise - She was born in such a different era than we live in nowadays.  She should have just told Philip from the beginning that she liked him.  She is a great friend, though, and doesn’t desert Philip even though Philip doesn’t treat her very well.  Louise is smart, probably too smart.  It seems she knew all along that Rachel only liked Philip for his money.  But is she correct?  What of Rinaldi’s last letter to Philip where he tells her that if she can’t let go of Philip when she returns to Italy to just bring him with her.  Does Rachel hold true feelings for Philip?

Nick Kendall - Another of those trying to look out for Philip.  He also should’ve been looking out for Ambrose, but I guess being a country away made that impossible.

Rinaldi - I could just see the long, thin fingers.  I’m not sure if it said it or not, but to me he even had a long, pointy nose.  I see him as an evil man, dressed in black, playing the part of marionette master.  Maybe it was Rachel who played him though.  That to me is the magic of du Maurier’s work…I never know who is really in control or in charge of a situation.

I thought this book was very well written.  It was definitely a page turner.  Did Rachel try to poison Ambrose, or did he really just die from a brain tumor?  Did she really try to poison Philip, or did he just have meningitis and she tried to nurse them both back to health?  The ending is so ambiguous, at least to me, and I find myself thinking of it long after I finish the book trying to figure out what Rachel’s true motives were.

Did you enjoy the story?  What more do you have to say about our characters…there is so much more than what I said.

the book trail: how reading changed my life

happy halloween! the only thing better than candy, is a good book. hope you got a chance to pick up this slim little book of essays. here’s our guest host emily’s view on things.

I thank our inspiring hostess for her persistent invitation to review a book.  It gave me the swift kick in the glut I needed to open and finish something worth discussing. I selected Quindlen’s book with the hope that she would give me additional momentum to push me to read her manageable book lists. In her extended essay, Quindlen weaves her evolution as a reader from a young girl to a middle-aged woman with contemporary literary issues.  The End.

The teacher in me can’t help but form discussion questions when I read.  This non-traditional ‘book review’ addresses the foremost themes through quotes and question format to engage you in a conversation.  I am dying to know what you think about Quindlen’s ideas and hope that regardless of whether you picked up the 70 page essay, you will offer your two bits.

Chapter 1

“Perhaps restlessness is a necessary corollary of devoted literacy.” p. 4

1. What causes restlessness? How does reading relieve it? Is reading merely an escape for the discontent?

Anna seems to have been inconvenienced as a child by having to interact with others.

2. Can our passion for reading impair our interactions with others? p. 5-8

In response to this question, I remember a reading experience I had several years ago. Even though I am not a Harry Potter fanatic, when the last volume was published, I found myself using every spare minute and hour to rip through the chapters.  I recall feeling peevish when my reading was interrupted by a hungry baby and husband.  I was startled by being so perturbed, yet was too engrossed in the suspense to slow my pace until I had finished the text.

Reading for pleasure v. reading for purpose. The former represents snobbery. p. 9-10

3. Do your perceptions of others change based on their reading habits?

Chapter 2

“The act of reading, the act of seeing a story on a page as opposed to hearing a story told - is infinitely more complex…” p.16

1. How have audio books impacted reading?

2. True or False? Women read more than men for intellectual exercise and companionship. p. 29-31

Chapter 3

She introduces the infamous concept of the Canon and suggests that reading literature ‘is not simply for personal growth, but for cultural and societal growth as well.” p. 39

1. What are your views on the Canon?

2. Have you experienced censorship of book lists or thought that a book should have been removed from a required reading list?

Ch. 4

Quindlen addresses the dynamics of the symbiotic relationship between reading and writing.

1. Have you felt inspired to write after reading? What did you read? Will you share what you wrote? p. 53

She shares her first memories of watching her parents read. p. 56

2. Do you have memories of your parents reading on their own/with you? How has their attitude towards literacy impacted your own reading identity/habits?

“But a computer is no substitute for a book. No one wants to take a computer to bed at the end of a long day, to read a chapter or two before dropping off to sleep.” p.64

3. Has the computer detracted from the joy of pleasure reading? Is technology killing or promoting literacy?

Case and point: I made a conscious choice to bury myself in my comforter to finish the essay last night instead of reading and taking notes on the computer .

Chapter 4

Books, words, authors, characters are immortal.

“Through [books] we experience other times, other places, other lives. We manage to become more than our own selves. The only dead are those who grow sere and shriveled within, unable to step outside their own lives and into those of others. Ignorance is death. A closed mind is a catafalque.” p. 69

1.  The meaning of catafalque - discuss.

For anyone else like me who could only guess at the definition of a catafalque: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catafalque

Book Lists

1. Which of these do you love/cherish/recommend?

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott  Doesn’t everyone think they are the independent, creative, and adventurous Josephine March?

2. Are there any books that you have passed by for the last time and feel motivated to read now?

Middlemarch by George Eliot

emily recently relocated from solon, ohio to utah. she holds a masters degree in english as a second language and is busy awaiting the arrival of daughter number two.

i assure you, emily, that i am going to answer all of your questions, but first i am going to the halloween parade.

oprah buries the book

i hope i’m overreacting.

this afternoon, sprawled on the couch, trying to ease the braxton-hicks contractions, i started flipping through the channels. and there was larger than life oprah (maybe this is why we need cable) telling the entire world that the amazon kindle was the most amazing gadget EVER.

the minute she uttered those words, i saw books dropping off shelves, wounded and fluttering to the ground with their pages shattered.

why this one woman has so much power to dictate american taste, i do not know. but i do know that i rarely agree with her. and today she has me absolutely seething. i wish she would stick to housewares or giving away cars or helping people find their better selves and leave books alone. i wish she didn’t have a book club. i wish she had never dealt nonfiction writers and their genre such a blow with her reaction to james frey. [not that frey wasn't incredibly naughty... but oprah bypassed an intelligent discussion on nonfiction's (especially memoir's) inherent problems, ignoring that most nonfiction writers have been dealing with and discussing "truth" since the genre's inception.]

trust me, i like trees as much as the next gal, but is that a reason to replace the very real, very tactile experience of book-reading with a screen?

i have this horrorific picture in my mind of little children holding the kindle on their lap and tapping through screens instead of holding in the night kitchen or caps for sale. agh!

reading is so essential. so vital. we don’t need to read and carry 4000 books at a time. just one book. one book that smells like a book. and hefts like a book. and let’s us leave notes in the margins and hot chocolate stains and memories along its pages. just one book at a time.

which reminds me, if you haven’t started how reading changed my life by anna quindlen for this month’s book club–start! it’s short (92 pages) and keeps discussing some of these very issues.