Chris took Beau along with him recently on one of his long bike rides. In case you can't see it well, Beau is wearing his sweater I knit him a while ago--it was a cold day!
Here's a round up of books I've been reading since the last book posting:
Jhumpa Lahiri: Unaccustomed Earth, 2008. A collection
of longish short stories, usually about Indians living in the US. The writing
exactly captures the characters’ situations, motivations and emotions—it’s easy
to get lost in the world each story creates. This is lovely, lovely writing,
and I will definitely read more by this author.
Margaret Drabble: The Millstone, 1965. Drabble belongs to
the group of “witty British female writers,” and she is wonderful. This is the
story of a single, working academic mom in the 1960s, before being that was
well accepted. It’s hard to put this one down because you get immediately
involved and want to see where it’s all going. I will also read more by this
author.
Ari Shavit: My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel, 2013. I wanted
to know more about Israel, and this was recommended to me. It is a very
personal story about Israel’s history and reason for being. The author, born
and raised in Israel, is a thoughtful Zionist who struggles with the brutal and
aggressive way that Zionism plays out. Sometimes the writing is repetitive, but
I didn’t mind that too much, and I learned a lot from reading this book.
Bigit Vanderbeke: Das Muschelessen, 1990. This story is told
from the perspective of a teenaged girl in a family from East Germany, now
living in the West, with a domineering and boorish father figure. It is
probably meant to be a metaphor for the East German state, but it is
nonetheless absolutely hilarious, sad and brilliant! It has recently been
translated into English as The Mussel
Feast.
Joseph Roth: Hiob, 1930. Roth tells the story of a modern day Job. His Eastern
European Job lives around the turn of the 19th century in Russia and
immigrates to New York City. He has to bear unbearable tragedies and loses his
faith in God until the miracle at the end. The thing about Roth is that he is a
marvelous storyteller, and his prose has a mesmerizing rhythm. I think some
English translations do capture this. This is my second reading of this book,
and the effect was the same each time. I cried tears of joy as I read the
ending, even though it’s not mystery how it will turn out!
Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island, 1883. I haven't read a
lot of this sort of classic literature, so I thought I should try it. I
actually enjoyed this a lot—it’s an exciting story about a young boy who goes
along on a treasure hunting expedition and has to fight pirates on the island
to win the booty.
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, 1816. Mary Shelley was so
young when she wrote this—one wonders how she knew the things she did. I found
myself writing down memorable passages a lot during the reading of this classic
tale, like this one: “Alas! Why does man boast of sensibilities superior to
those apparent in the brute; it only renders them more necessary beings. If our
impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might nearly be free,
but we are moved by every wind that blows, and a chance word or scene that word
may convey to us.”
Volker
Weidermann: Ostende: 1936. Sommer der
Freundschaft, 2014. Brilliant and wonderful writers were exiled early on during the
Hitler years, and several of them were good friends and met each other
regularly, often at Ostende, a seaside resort in Belgium. Especially Stefan
Zweig and Joseph Roth kept up their friendship for a long time and spent a
productive summer in 1936 together at this resort. This is a historical novel,
based on letters, journals and biographies of these famous authors. It is fascinating
to read if you like these authors and this period and perhaps also if you don’t
but want to know more about them and this time period.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Love in the Time of Cholera, 1985.
Well-written and beautifully translated by Edith Grossman, so precise, but I
don't love it. The characters seem like caricatures and it's hard to relate to
them.
Stefan Zweig: Schachnovelle, 1936. I read this before
and already wrote about it here.
It was still great the second
time through!
Robert
Seethaler: Ein ganzes Leben, 2014. This novel tells about the life
of a simple man living in a mountain village in Austria from about 1900 to
about 1970. He experiences both World Wars and monumental changes and
modernization that took place in the early to mid-twentieth century. The man
remains oddly unchanged or unaffected by his experiences. I think I missed the
point of this, although the reading was pleasant and interesting enough.
Joseph Roth: Radetzskymarsch. This is a long and rambling tale about the decline
of a family and the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At times Roth’s
storytelling genius shines through, but often the writing seems repetitive and the
plot is predictable. It is considered one of Roth’s great novels, but Hiob is so much better (imho). Of
course, Hiob is also predictable, but
the mesmerizing writing really makes it a page-turner.
Helen Dunmore: The Lie, 2014. A World War I story about
a young man who returns to his village in England after serving as a soldier
along with his best friend from childhood. The friend dies in battle, and the
protagonist is wracked with survivor guilt. We learn about their friendship
growing up, and there is also a story going on in which the young man is living
a lie. It surprised me that this turned out to primarily be a ghost story. It
is definitely worth reading, but there were some disappointments. I don’t want
to say too much more! If you read it and want to talk about it, let me know!
