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Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Franzen and Ishiguro
Great, or just media hype? Everywhere I look, I see something about Jonathan Franzen’s
new book, Freedom, which had had some glowing reviews and is an Oprah Book Club pick. Isn’t he the author
who rejected her stamp of approval on his last (or first?) book Corrections? I didn’t read that
one, either, and I don’t think I know anyone who did. In an environment where all sorts of books are constantly
being published, enjoying their moments on the best seller lists, and then disappearing into oblivion, I would just like to
know that it wouldn’t be a total waste of time and money. Well worth reading And. on another subject, I see that Never Let Me Go, a disturbingly haunting book by Kazuo Ishiguro,
has been made into a movie with Keira Knightley, among others. The sci-fi story is told in Ishiguro’s elegant
prose and in the matter-of-fact voice of the main character, Kathy H. I have no idea about the film, but the novel
is hard to forget. Comments: I heard Jonathan Franzen interviewed by Terri Gross a month or so ago; I have twice gone to my Kindle store
to download the book and have failed both times to follow through! I may get it this weekend! I just watched the Swedish version
movie of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (subtitles in English). I really liked reading the book and was so struck by how
shallow so many movie versions are.....the movie really did not develop the character of Lizbeth nor the "supporting"
team at the Millineum magazine very well. Characters become so real for me in a book and I think about them (good or bad)
for some time after completing a book; I am glad to read your comments about the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Lisbeth is such an interesting character,
better developed even than Smilla (Smilla's Sense of Snow), another strong female protagonist. I am not sure any movie could
do Lisbeth and the other characters justice and capture the intricacies of the plot. I will probably pass on the movie.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
(Not) Guilty Pleasures
I keep hearing and seeing the term guilty
pleasures, in reference to reading. Every book site that I am familiar with publishes a list of supposedly guilty
pleasures. Reading over these lists, I conclude that guilty pleasures are the books that one really enjoys reading,
the books that one hates to put down, might sit late into the night reading, the books that offer total escape, but the books
that one might be embarrassed to be seen indulging in; in short, the book equivalent of a triple scoop ice cream cone.
No wonder electronic books have become so popular. No danger of the people across the room raising an eyebrow at the
title. I am just not sure how to classify a guilty pleasure. I am finishing up the second book in the Millennium
Series by Stieg Larrson. Guilty pleasure? I am told that the third book in the Ken Follett saga is due out this month.
Is that a guilty pleasure? In addition to The Girl Who Played with Fire, I am currently reading Memoirs
of a Book Snake, Sacred Games (a long term project) and a ‘cozy’ mystery set in a bookstore.
I cannot seem to drum up the slightest feeling of guilt about any of those. Comments: I will not share my guilty pleasure reading on this blog. :) I favor light non-brain-taxing
books for most of my reading. There are degrees of guilty pleasure though. Chelsea Handler's book, "Are You There Vodka,
It's Me, Chelsea" falls into a lesser degree category. I found it hysterical, but would probably not recommend it to
the vast majority. People who get into the cheap bodice ripper stuff...that's a higher degree of guilt. (If we are assuming
that the scale is 1-10, one being the least guilty, and so on.) After all, every book on one's shelf can't be Austen... True. We wouldn't want to eat gourmet at every meal. Every time I read one of your blogs, Elizabeth, I am struck by two things--the
ease and fluency of the writing, and the very broad scope of your reading. I have yet to join the Ascension Parish Library--first,
have no idea where it is, though that could be easily corrected--and second, am not certain it would begin to match the riches
at the Bluebonnet Library, where I went to so long. Maybe I should use a relative's address as people do to get their children
into certain schools! I have just finished a pleasure that to others might be guilty, but to me is pure delight. A REMORSEFUL
DAY by Colin Dexter is the last of the Inspector Morse novels, for the obvious reason that he dies at the end. Dexter's classical
education is always put to good use in this series, and it is a pleasure to come across lines from Thomas Gray's ELEGY IN
A CHURCHYARD, a favorite of mine, Housman's A SHROPSHIRE LAD, and others from Virgil, Homer, and, as one of my girls would
say, "The usual literary suspects." Flying home from Westchester I perused books available in the Atlanta airport,
where I had a longer layover than I thought, but found nothing that appealed. However, as I am finally writing an essay on
my friendship with Walker Percy, which will include a transcription of a conversation we had about THE SECOND COMING, I am
now reading THE MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE and will move from that to LOST IN THE COSMOS. And then I'll re-read THE SECOND COMING,
and probably work backwards to THE MOVIEGOER. I found THE THANTATOS SYNDROME very dark--given the subject, no surprise!--but
after the hope in THE SECOND COMING, it was disappointing to see evidence that his life-long depression maintained to the
end. Bless him, he was an amazing writer and a most compassionate fried. (Same applies to you, ER.) Beth 9
Sep 10 @ 2:52 PM
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