Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

On the eve of the Second World War Charles Ryder, a man without money or powerful relations befriends Sebastian Flyte, the wealthy son of an aristocrat. Sebastian takes Charles home to visit the old family house at Brideshead and gradually, Charles is introduced to the whole family and is drawn into the complicated threads of their relationships.

Evelyn Waugh was quite disparaging of Brideshead Revisited, saying that "the book is infused with a kind of gluttony, for food and wine, for the splendours of the recent past, and for rhetorical and ornamental language which now, with a full stomach, I find distasteful". In a way I guess it's true. There is a clear nostalgia for the England that had been destroyed during the second world war. The aristocratic families that had for so long existed without cause for concern were selling their houses and forced to take greater notice of the world around them. There's one bit in particular where someone (Rex Mottram I think) bemoans the way that Julia's family do business. That of course all changes by the end of the book.

There's a lot to like about this book. I was fascinated by the relationship between Sebastian and Charles - well, Charles' relationship with everyone really - but Sebastian's tendency to just float along made him both endearing and irritating. To be fair the whole family were like that though - they were all lovely people, but all living in a fantasy world. My favourite character though was Anthony Blanche. He was delightful, and for a relatively minor character he steals the show a bit.

My most favourite part of all, and the reason why I recommend this book to everyone, is something Sebastian says on page 26. When I read it, I sighed.

"I should like to bury something precious in every place I've been happy and then, when I was old and ugly and miserable, I could come back and dig it up and remember."

PS - I've been putting off Bleak House for far too long. Anyone else have it on their horizon?

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

I read this book out loud to my nine year old son. At first he was annoyed that I was reading a "bunny kid book" to him, but after the first chapter he was hooked (and so was I). I love it when an author can take a simple object, somewhat "kiddish" and give it a dynamic personality.  Edward's journey starts with a little girl who loves him dearly, yet he doesn't love her back. He then gets lost and finds himself with an elderly couple.  His journey leads him from one owner to the next...all love him dearly and he began to love them back.  I loved the progression of how he changed from a non-caring being to someone who knew love.  The descriptions were so vivid.  You could see the frilly dress that was made for him, the hobo and his dog, the garbage, and the very sick child who smiled the moment Edward was given to her.  You wondered at every twist and turn if Edward would come out ok...because he was a china rabbit, easy to break. And then when he did break, the twists and turns of his redemption were page turning.
This is a great read aloud book for elementary kids. But, I found it to be a fun read as well.

E. Annie Proulx/THE SHIPPING NEWS

In 1993, Quoyle--unemployed (again), borderline-obese, devoid of all self-esteem--finds himself a single father when his wife, who never loved him anyway, runs off with another man and then gets into a fatal car crash. With no direction in life and a modest chunk of life insurance money, Quoyle packs up his girls, reunites with his aunt, and heads north from New York to the Quoyle family's ancestral home, the merciless coast of Newfoundland.

This remote, drooping community, where everyone's father, son, or brother seems to have drowned on a tragically unprofitable shipping expedition, where everyone is barely scraping by, family sexual abuse is a shared community history, and the industries that have kept the region alive are gradually dying--here, somehow, for the first time, Quoyle finds himself beginning to live his life. He gets a job writing the Shipping News column for the local paper, and over the course of a year comes to terms with his family's history, his own sorry story, and what he actually wants in life.

The Shipping News made my Gaps list because it won the 1993 Pulitzer. I knew absolutely nothing about it before dipping in (well, except for that the author was also the author of Brokeback Mountain).

At first, I found the book very inaccessible--for the first fifty pages or so, I couldn't get beyond what I thought was a fairly pretentious narrative tone, and I was afraid I was never going to become engaged by the story. But I definitely did--in spite of the stodgy beginning, the book is really beautiful to read, a careful meditation on a life that seems remote to most readers but which was a very real life path, a hypnotic piece of the North American cultural experience. The book makes much use of maritime devices (including a symbolic series of knots to open chapters), which added a certain charm for me--I grew up in New England where this harsh lifestyle was very much romanticized. Furthermore, the book is full of inventive imagery, so if you are a sucker for fresh language you'll have much to enjoy.

The Woman in White ~ Wilkie Collins (audio)

I am quite behind on reading and posting my reviews. This review was published on my blog a couple of months ago:

About the book:    Set near London around the mid-1800’s, an artist is traveling to his latest work assignment. On his way he sees a disturbing woman in white on the highway. He attempts to help her but is mystified when she disappears. Her connection with his life becomes apparent over time after he arrives at his destination. There he falls in love with one of the nieces of the household owner. She however is to be married shortly to a man who appears less than genial, creating conflict and angst. Things become convoluted as the plot is conveyed by different individuals that are involved in the happenings in this tale of deceit, murder, and apparent madness.

My Thoughts:    I did not realize that this edition was abridged until after finishing it, and perhaps would not have chosen this version if I had realized. I really enjoy listening to classics when exercising since they are often difficult for me to focus on when actually reading.

This audio version was lovely nonetheless. The narration was excellent - done by various speakers that had the gender, age, and class accents appropriate to the teller of each section; and they were of course done with wonderful English accents.

I was out of breath and shocked at some of the scenes, thought about the book between listens, and I did not guess what was going to happen next which is always a good sign. I also did not feel that the book was edited.

Audio Book Data:

• Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks; Abridged edition (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9626348631
• Genre: Classic Mystery

Challenge Update: I will be posting an updated list in the next few weeks;  have abandoned Pride and Prejudice (sorry Jane); finished Dracula (actually a year ago) but have not put a review together yet. I am hoping to include a few pictures from Whitby – we took when visiting a few years ago. Also I am in the process of listening to Lolita, which is incredible!  If it weren’t for this challenge I probably would have given it a miss.

I better get “crackin” here or I will be reading 3 books a month to complete this challenge. *sign*

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

Book trailers work, folks. I saw the Super Sad True Love Story book trailer and liked it because it mentioned my alma mater and was pretty funny. And then Shteyngart came to Politics and Prose and I figured, "Why not?"

Verdict: I liked the book but didn't engage with it emotionally.

Love can be difficult to define but love, like pornography, is something I think I can recognize when I see. In Super Sad True Love Story, I don't see love. I see desperation, selfishness, delusion--which is sad, but hardly super sad. An argument could be made that it's not Shteyngart, but rather, the people in the book who deem this story "super sad" and that their lack of emotional depth means that this is the deepest sadness they are capable of comprehending, but in our world, I dispute the assertion by Mary Gaitskill that the "love" story is "super sad."

Even though I find the "love story" designation to be emotionally false, I think the book is well-written. Shteyngart invents phrases that are both surprising and familiar. Irony and satire in the novel are so tightly bound and balanced that even though I find myself unmoved, I also think that everything that happens in the book is how it should happen. The story isn't fixable. There's nothing that can be done to it to make it better. It's perfect the way it is. Which is sad.

Basically, if you like good writing, liked the structure of The Handmaid's Tale (Super Sad True Love Story is also diary-based, with the conceit that the diary was published subsequent to the events of the book and was considered at the time of publication to be emblematic of a fallen society), and feel like spending hours in the company of neurotic, superficial, unreliable narrators, then read this book.

Stephen Crane/Red Badge of Courage

*** Warning a few plot spoilers ***

The story is about Henry Fleming, a recent recruit to the Union army during the Civil War. As his regiment waits to see warfare, he becomes increasingly obsessed with whether or not he has the courage to stand his ground. He doesn’t know if he’ll run.

As it turns out, when he first encounters a battle, he’s so surrounded by fellow solders and confronted by the enemy that he can do nothing but fight. The second time her faces battle, however, he flees. He convinces himself that he was right to save himself.

He later makes it back to his regiment and fights bravely. He’s deeply ashamed of his earlier behavior, but by the end of the book manages to make peace with himself.

For a classic, the book was pleasantly shorter than I thought it was going to be. Still, I was sometimes annoyed by all of Henry’s self pity and castigation. But if not for all that, I wouldn’t have gotten such a deep understanding of Henry’s feelings.

And, I’m glad to finally know that a “red badge” of courage is a wound received in battle, according to Henry.

Overall, it was a good read, with good characterization and excellent descriptions of battle, the poverty of war, and death.

Note: This book wasn't on my original list, so I'll likely be dropping some other classic off...

Baby by Joseph Monninger

Baby has run out of chances. At fifteen, she's used to running away from foster homes and living on the street or in temporary housing with her boyfriend. When her social worker moves her into a foster home with the Potters, she tells Baby that if she messes this one up, the next stop is juvie.

The Potters are different. They raise sled dogs. Baby loves the dogs and takes naturally to sledding. But when her boyfriend shows up to take her away, she can't help going with him.

This book was incredibly well-written. I loved the details of sledding and the dogs. I could tell the author, Joseph Monninger, wrote out of experience and love, an irresistible combination for me. I love when an author has passion for his subject. 

Baby was a believable character. She was flawed, but by the end of the book, I loved her, because she was valiant at the core. She made certain heroic decisions that I wondered if I would have the guts to make.

Another great YA read I would highly recommend.