15 posts tagged “reading”
Lisa See contrasts sprawling filth, decadence, poverty and glamour against each other in the early chapters of Shanghai Girls, creating an often-shocking picture of Shanghai in the late 30s. “The Paris of Asia” is home to two sisters; May and Pearl, and as the book opens they are living a high life of modelling, boozing, boys, clothes and freedom. See perfectly captures both their complete acceptance of the poverty around them, and the essence of life in Shanghai during this time period, when she describes them as they depart from their rickshaw dressed in handmade, silk cheongsams, pay their shoeless, shirtless rickshaw driver and step around a dead baby on the street as they make their way to sit for a painting.
But their luck turns; soon their father sells them off into arranged marriages to pay off his gambling debts, and later the Japanese attack. The sisters journey from Shanghai, to Hong Kong, to and immigration detention centre called Angel Island, before finally meeting their husbands in America, though not unscathed.
Shanghai Girls is a gripping historical novel that spans so many interesting aspects of World history, from Japan’s attack on China, to the evolving place of Chinese in American society, rise of communism in China, the Korean War and the Red Scare in America. According to See’s afterward, while none of the novel’s main characters are real, some may recognise certain plot points as many events in the books were based on interviews with people living in Shanghai or America during the book’s time frame.
Through See’s books I have learnt about what life has been like for Chinese women in society throughout history; from the 19th century in The Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, back to the 17th century in Peony in Love and now the mid 20th century in Shanghai Girls. The novel is yet another engrossing addition to See’s works of historical fiction. Towards the end of Shanghai Girls I felt her writing became a little repetitive, but for the most part it is taut and highly engaging.
Links:
Michelle’s review of Peony in Love by Lisa See
Emily’s review of Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
Not a lot happens in this book so I don't have a lot to say about it. I enjoyed it though, it's very French, contains a lot of accessible philosophy and is mainly about friendship and the power of literature, film, music and art to bring people happiness.
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Review: here.
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
The first three books in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I'm hooked now and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next few I ordered from Book Depository, but I still think the TV show True Blood is better. Each book represents one series of the show, but the show has taken a lot of liberties with the series by creating lots of new sub-plots. Hmmm I don't have much else to say about the books I'm afraid, except that they're very light reading, but so full of sex, violence and drama that they're not dull. Perfect for me at the moment since my uni workload has gotten so heavy.
Currently Reading:
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
I'm about halfway through, it's really great so far. I think I might even prefer it to her other books Peony in Love and The Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.
I wish I’d had the time to review Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates immediately after reading it because now, a month later, it’s nowhere near as fresh in my mind. At the beginning of the year I bought a copy after watching the movie left me in tatters, for months after that it sat untouched on my shelf because I knew it would be a heavy going experience emotionally so I was waiting for the right mood. I was right, it did turn out to be an oppressive and upsetting read. But it was definitely worth it, Yates’ writing is so beautifully crafted and he depicts the characters in such a realistic way, to the point that at times his descriptions are downright nasty.
The story revolves around the Wheelers’ tragic marriage in 1950s American suburbia. From the outside everything seems perfect; Frank is known for his cleverness, April is a beautiful housewife and together they have two young children; a boy and a girl. But they’ve both always assumed they were destined for great things and are bitter at the turns their lives have taken. They plot an escape to Paris to save themselves from a life of mediocrity, and from there things start to crumble for the Wheelers.
I’ve read a few reviews of the book and many readers seem to find all the characters completely repulsive and can’t empathise with them at all because of the abhorrent, selfish things they do. But to me they felt like real people and I can’t help but feel an incredible sympathy for them all, trapped by society, their choices and their own shortcomings and ultimately meeting a tragic end through attempting to change their lot in life. To me Revolutionary Road is a critique of 50s society, a study of a marriage and a warning against conventional gender roles and the importance of women having other options in life than getting married and starting a family. I finished it at midnight one night and felt so shaken by it I had to watch a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother in order to get to sleep. It really falls into the “books that wound and stab us” category Kafka so highly recommended.
Here are some of my favourite passages from the book:
“Our ability to measure and apportion time affords an almost endless source of comfort. “Synchronize watches at oh-six-hundred,” says the infantry captain, and each of his huddled lieutenants finds a respite from fear in the act of brining two tiny pointers into jewelled alignment while tons of heavy artillery go fluttering overhead: the prosaic, civilian looking dial of the watch has restored, however briefly, an illusion of personal control. Good, it counsels. Looking tidily up from the hairs and veins of each terribly vulnerable wrist; fine: so far, everything’s happening right on time.”
“I had this idea there was this whole world of marvellous golden people somewhere ahead of me as the seniors of Rye when I was in sixth grade; people who knew everything instinctively, who made their lives work out the way they wanted without even trying, who never had to make the best of a bad job because it never occurred to them to do anything less than perfectly the first time. Sort of heroic super-people, all of them beautiful and witty and calm and kind, and I always imagined that when I did find them I’d suddenly know that I belonged among them, that I was one of them, that I’d been meant to be one of them all along, and everything in the meantime had been a mistake; and they’d know it too. I’d be like the ugly duckling among the swans… It’s the most stupid, ruinous kind of self-deception there is, and it gets you into nothing but trouble.”
“Oh for a month or two, just for fun, it might be alright to play a game like that with a boy; but all these years! And all because, in a sentimentally lonely time long ago, she had found it easy and agreeable to believe whatever this one particular boy felt like saying, and to repay him for that pleasure by telling easy, agreeable lies of her own, until each was saying what they other one most wanted to hear – until he was saying “I love you” and she was saying “Really I mean it; you’re the most interesting person I’ve ever met.” What a subtle, treacherous thing it was to let yourself go that way!”
My mum and my sister have been telling me for years that I MUST read The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. “Oh yeah? What’s that one about again?” I would ask, with one of them replying with something along the lines of “Well it’s about killer plants...” before quickly insisting that this didn’t mean it was silly. I finally picked The Triffids up in August and found myself totally captivated, finishing it in one day.
Killer plants are a large part of The Triffids, but it’s far more multifaceted than that. A supposed comet causes a spectacular light show, only to plummet the world into darkness; the intense light has left the majority of the population blind. The sightless stumble the streets in hysterics, desperate for food. At first many die in the ensuing violence, are killed in tragic accidents, like mistaking windows for doors, others, not willing to live in perpetual darkness, suicide. The seers and the blind that survive the first few days find themselves in perpetual danger from a new and unusual threat. Without the power of sight mankind is left at the mercy of the triffids, plants that were created via genetic engineering in Russia and prior to the disaster were harvested commercially across the globe for their oils. The triffids are not your average plants, they are about six-feet tall, able to hobble along on their roots, and are equipped with poisonous, whip-like stingers that lash out at high speeds and reach several feet. Once a triffid has stung it will sit by its victim for days as the body decays, digesting bits of rotting flesh. The novel follows Bill Masen, one of the few whose sight remains intact, and his struggle to survive.
The Triffids was first published in the ’50s, and true to its era it oozes heavy themes of Cold War paranoia. Not only are the Russians responsible for the creation of the triffids, but Masen reveals that prior to the disaster people were living in constant fear of weaponry satellites circling the earth, created as a part of the arms race: “It was by no means pleasant to realise that there was an unknown number of menaces up there over your head, quietly circling and circling until someone should arrange for them to drop – and there was nothing to be done about them. Still, life has to go on – and novelty is a wonderfully short-lived thing. One became used to the idea perforce.”
Despite the heavy contextual impact of the Cold War, The Triffids has stood the test of time because Wyndham’s story is one of human nature and survival; ageless themes contemporary authors continue to wrestle with. It has influenced post apocalyptic writers for the past five decades and as a result its traces can be seen in many modern works (The Happening, I Am Legend, The Handmaid’s Tale…). Wyndham might have been preoccupied with the events of the ‘50s, but he also managed to foreshadow modern concerns about genetic engineering and bio warfare, increasing the text’s longevity even further.
All of this aside, The Triffids is simply so well written. Wyndham paints a vivid, thrilling, disaster story that successfully walks the line between frightening and funny without ever becoming overwhelmingly dark; a fate many post-apocalyptic works often succumb to.
I’m dying to read more of Wyndham’s works, next on my list is The Chrysalids, which, according to Wikipedia, some fans consider his finest work.
I loved this book, here's my review of it.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
So many people have told me to read Water for Elephants over the past few years and when I finally got around to it this month I wasn't disappointed. Gruen held me captivated the entire way with her portrayl of American circuses during the Great Depression. I'm going to keep my eyes out for some of the circus photography collections from the period that Gruen said inspired her.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
It was a little heavy going wading through this story told entirely in letters for the first 50 pages, but once the plot took shape I really enjoyed it. Despite the storyline being rather predictable in places, the quirky characters of Guernsey and their stories of friendship during the German occupation kept me captivated for an entire day while sick in bed.
Once Upon a Time in Beirut by Catherine Taylor
An interesting memoir by an Australian journalist on her few years living in Beirut. Like most travel memoirs it got a bit bogged down at times with facts and many different characters, but overall it was a good read. I'd recommend it to fellow journos and travel-writing buffs, but others might not be so into it.
This book first crossed my path at work a few months ago when I had to write some promotional copy about it. The cover was striking; teal set off by gold embossing and contrasted against black, silhouetted sparrows, itroused my curiosity. But the novel’s weird name combined with the blurb describing it as about a 12-year-old mapmaker put me off, it struck me as possibly enjoyable, but equally likely to be tedious and dull. Weird book names seem to have that effect on me, I had a similar reaction to Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl prior to knowing anything about it. I actually remember looking at it in a store and thinking, “who’d be interested in that?” A few months later I picked it up and couldn’t put it down again.
But trusted voxer Emily pushed me from uncertainty into book lust when she posted a rave review of it in May. I’m such a sheep when it comes to reading, it's so time consuming that often I’m not interested in something unless I know someone who liked it.
The first thing readers will notice about The Selected Works is its innovative design, it contains extensive margin notes, which are often beautifully written and include intricate illustrations and maps. At times the margins contain major plot points so it’s important readers persevere with them. It was a bit difficult to get into the habit of reading the notes at first, but I soon got the hang of it and quite liked their inclusion in the novel.
I absolutely devoured the first part of The Selected Works, in which T.S is at home on his ranch in Montana. Most of all I think I loved the contrast between quirky, nerdy T.S and his tough-as-nails, reticent, cowboy Father who just doesn’t understand him. The conflict between their two utterly different characters has been exacerbated by the death of T.S’ brother, it’s indicated early on that he died in mysterious circumstances involving T.S somehow. T.S and Father are beautifully drawn characters. Words from Father are rare but Larson manages to bring him to life, through his physical characteristics; his half-cocked, once broken pinky, his leathery smell, T.S’ perspective on his personality; introspective, at times cold, and his love of the wild west; embodied in “The Sett’ng Room”; a shrine to the wild west full of dark leather furniture, classic western movies, and Indian horse-hair rugs. I adored “The Sett’ng Room”, this is one of my favourite passages about it, since it's quite long I've put the best bit in bold:
“Layton used to think the Sett’ng Room was the greatest thing since grilled cheese. After church on Sundays, Father and he would sit together all afternoon watching Westerns that played continuously on the TV in the southeast corner of the room. Behind the set there was a vast yet carefully selected library of VHS tapes. Red River, Stage Coach, The Searchers, Ride The High Country, My Darling Clementine, Who Shot Liberty Valance?, Monte Walsh, The Treasure of the Sierre Madre – I was not an active watcher like Father and Layton, but I had been exposed to these films so many times through osmosis, they felt less like feats of cinema and more like my most intimate recurring dreams. I often returned home from school to the muted rattle of guns or the sweaty canter of hooves on this strange television, Father’s version of the eternal flame. He was too busy to watch it during the middle of the day, but I think he took comfort in knowing that it was on in here while he was out there.”
T.S is an equally wonderful character. The book is told in first person from his perspective, and by using T.S’ point of view Larson manages to present the world from the highly intelligent, analytical view of a talented mapmaker, but with all the innocence and naivety of a child. I think it’s quite a feat that he’s pulled that off so well as in my experience it’s very unique to this book.
Larson’s writing is yet another factor that made The Selected Works a joy to read, it’s so poetic that it’s really hard to choose just one quote to illustrate it’s fabulousness. But this paragraph really struck me as great writing:
“We pounded along, my father’s hand on top of the wheel, his weak pinky cocked slightly upward. I watched the bats crackle and plunge against the sky. Such light things. Theirs was a world of reflection and deflection, of constant conversation with surface and solid. It was a life I could not endure: they never knew they were here; they only knew the echo of there.”
But as the novel progressed it became increasingly different to my expectations. It became increasingly surreal, to me anyway. (Beware, some spoilers start here) I’m not sure how I feel about the direction the book took once T.S arrives in Washington. The deranged hobo stabbing him, the secret society, and a whole lot of other plot points threw me. Admittedly it was never a realistic plot in the first place, but it seemed to merge further into fantasy as it went along. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t love it. Not as much as when it was set in Montana. I think I also really missed the counterpoint of Father and the ranch to balance out T.S’ quirky character.
But never-the-less The Selected Works is a highly imaginative, enjoyable debut novel from Larson and I'd definitely recommend it. It's one of the most interesting reading experiences I've had this year.
Ok so áfter reading Michelle and Kristie's plans to do it, I've also decided to sign up for the Everything Austen Challenge.
So here's my list of Austen related things I'm planning on doing before December as a part of the challenge, but keep in mind it's pretty tentative I might do different things if the mood takes me.
1. Read Pride and Prejudice. I actually have never read it. This is because I've seen so many movie and television adaptations of it that I FEEL like I have.
2. Read Sense and Sensibility. The only other Austen book I have yet to get throught.
3. Rewatch Bride and Prejudice. I really enjoyed this the first time I saw it so it will be great to have an excuse to watch it again.
4. Read Pride and Prejudice with zombies. Just cos it looks like a lot of fun!
5. Read Mr Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll.
6. I've already read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell within the time constraints of the challenge, an industrial rewriting of Pride and Prejudice. I wasn't sure if this one would count, feel free to dispute it.
I've just finished The Shifting Fog, or The House at Riverton which seems to be its title for the US. I really enjoyed it. An old woman looks back to her employment as a servant to a wealthy English family in post World War I and then II.
One evening at a Riverton party poet RS Hunter shoots himself in the head. The only two witnesses are sisters Hannah and Emmeline who never speak to eachother again. Grace, Hannah's lady's maid recounts the little known story of how that fatal night came about and uncovers a dark secret kept hidden for over 50 years.
It's one of those light holiday reads full of dark secrets lurking beneath the facade of a proper English family. It reminded me a lot of the movie Gosford Park because that was also told from the perspective of servants.
I didn't get much reading done this month considering I'm on holidays, other than The Shifting Fog I finished Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, Curious Pursuits by Margaret Atwood and Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg. I spent a lot of time trying to decide what I felt like reading and starting things only to put them down again.
I'm in the mood for some more light historical fiction so I might keep my eye out for something like that to start next.
I've got a bit of spare time at work today so I thought I'd share with you the books I enjoyed most this year.
1. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I found the prose in this book achingly beautiful and was captured by it's passionate depiction of an unrequited love. It follows Florentino Ariza courtship of Fermina Daza and her rejection of him and marriage to another man, and their following long lives apart. He never gets over his love for Fermina, obsessing about her throughout his life and trying to escape the pain with a multitude of liasions with other women. Love in the Time of Cholera is a fantastical romance containing thoughts on love, rejection, life and old age. I read this book in anticipation of the film but enjoyed it so much I haven't been able to bring myself to watch an adaptation of it which I'm sure will disappoint me no matter how good it is.
2. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
While Meyer is definately not in the same league as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, this was one of the most addictive impossible to put down books I read this year. Her writing may be simplistic and plot driven and her depiction of females in both this book and her Twilight series has copped a lot of flak but as far as trashy, compulsive, holiday reading goes this is up there with the best. Meyer blends sci fi and romance in this tale of an Alien worm posessing a human and becoming entangled in a love triangle with her boyfriend. Essentially an interspecies love triangle but involving only two bodies.
3. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Having seen the Hitchcock movie first and fallen in love with it I was determined to get around to reading this classic in 2008. Despite already knowing the books twist I fell in love with it. It's overtones of anxiety and horror appealed to my gothic loving tastes immensely. My copy had a very interesting forward on the book from a feminist perspective too which was so fascinating.
4. Peony in Love by Lisa See
It's difficult to describe why this was one of my favourites without giving away it's twist, so I'll just say I enjoyed this trip through traditional China from the point of view of a young girl and it's interesting but entertaining look at traditional Chinese funeral rites and spiritual beliefs.
5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Being the book lover that I am I was beginning to feel a bit guilty to have never cracked open the covers of this classic, or even seen the movie. This year I got around to it, more to see what all the fuss is about than out of actual interest in it. It's so effective in creating a child's point of view and so gripping and thought provoking that it's one of my new all time favourite books.
6. Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah McDonald
Of the three travel memoirs I've read this year (also A Season in Red by Kirsty Needham and 90 Day Geisha by Chelsea Haywood) this was my favourite. It details Australian journalist Sarah McDonald's few years living in India with her foreign correspondent boyfriend. It's funny, pretty fast paced touching and informative. Sarah's spiritual journey as she researched all the different spiritual paths in India was incredibly interesting. I really recommend it to anyone who is into travel writing.
Other Books Read in 2008:
7. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan.
8. Animal Farm by George Orwell.
9. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
10. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.
11. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.
12. Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
13. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan.
14. A Letter to D by Andre Gorz.
15. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
16. Emma by Jane Austen.
17. The Boat by Nam Le.
18. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer.
19. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Kahled Hosseni.
20. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.
21. The 90-Day Geisha by Chelsea Haywood.
22. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.
23. Rebel Angels by Libba Bray.
24. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray.
25. Brick Lane by Monica Ali.
26. Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran.
27. A Season in Red by Kirsty Needham.
28. Enduring Love by Ian McEwan.
I was hoping to get more books read this year but unfortunately uni is getting harder and harder! All in all I think it was a pretty good effort!
How many books did you read this year?
What were your favourites?
Anyone disagree with my choices?
My web presence has been shamefully absent from this vox this year so far, so this is a part of one of my upteenth resolutions to post more regularly. Last month was a really poor reading effort - nothing was finished. This month things are looking up: so far I've finished:
Mansfield Park was my first Jane Austen. I quite enjoyed it but it isn't one of my favourites now or anything. I'm looking forward to getting into discussing it more at Rory's Book Club. I won't go into it too much here but Fanny really reminded me of the character Jane Eyre in some ways.
I enjoyed this and it was a very fast read. It didn't have the same subtlety of Atonement and On Chesil Beach that was part of what made those novels so good though. I thought the its main theme about the consequences of human selfishness was really interesting. I wonder if all of McEwan's novels end in tragedy? The three I've read all do. Maybe he's a tragedian (non-sequitor but that reminds me of Stranger of Fiction - good movie!)
Currently reading:
My friend Emma leant me this one as she thought I'd really like it. At first I'll admit I wasn't too keen - it didn't look like what I was in the mood to read. But I perservered and started it anyway and it instantly gripped me. I'm only 50 pages in and I'm totally hooked. It's basically about three people living in Nigeria whose lives intersect. That's all I've got so far, I'll update as more happens.
Next up on my tbr list:
I have to review these two for Vibewire
But it's really annoying me that I haven't read any of Allende's better known work so I've also added House of Spirits to my list.
After which I want to FINALLY read:
