Friday, August 01, 2003
What I'm Reading
Finishing up: Used & Rare, a book about book collecting by a couple who get caught up in old books. It's a very good book, although honestly I don't know how anyone as fond of reading as these two managed to get through life without having EVER gone to a used-book store. I suspect a bit of literary license here; it adds a good narrative flow.
Starting: East of Eden. I broke down and bought the new Penguin paperback edition, but thankfully someone else had already removed the banner proclaiming it "THE BOOK THAT BROUGHT BACK OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB!" It's not that I dislike Oprah, but I do have a bone to pick with her. She almost singlehandedly convinced America that writers like Billie Letts were even in the same ballpark as writers like Toni Morrison, which had the effect of encouraging publishers to snap up every inane bit of fluff that wafted over the transom or emerged, dripping purple ooze, from the slush pile, in the hope that Oprah would pick it up. Then a few years later (after Jonathan Franzen turned her down when she wanted to lump his amazing novel The Corrections in with the bizarre mix of tried-and-true classics and sappy tearjerkers that was her book club) she announced that there were no good books being written anymore (take that, Franzen!) and ended the book club.
So now the book club is back, but only featuring classics, or so I hear. Whatever. If it puts East of Eden back on the bestseller list and gets Penguin to publish a hefty new edition of it with thick paper and cover stock worthy of the name, more power to Oprah.
Finishing up: Used & Rare, a book about book collecting by a couple who get caught up in old books. It's a very good book, although honestly I don't know how anyone as fond of reading as these two managed to get through life without having EVER gone to a used-book store. I suspect a bit of literary license here; it adds a good narrative flow.
Starting: East of Eden. I broke down and bought the new Penguin paperback edition, but thankfully someone else had already removed the banner proclaiming it "THE BOOK THAT BROUGHT BACK OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB!" It's not that I dislike Oprah, but I do have a bone to pick with her. She almost singlehandedly convinced America that writers like Billie Letts were even in the same ballpark as writers like Toni Morrison, which had the effect of encouraging publishers to snap up every inane bit of fluff that wafted over the transom or emerged, dripping purple ooze, from the slush pile, in the hope that Oprah would pick it up. Then a few years later (after Jonathan Franzen turned her down when she wanted to lump his amazing novel The Corrections in with the bizarre mix of tried-and-true classics and sappy tearjerkers that was her book club) she announced that there were no good books being written anymore (take that, Franzen!) and ended the book club.
So now the book club is back, but only featuring classics, or so I hear. Whatever. If it puts East of Eden back on the bestseller list and gets Penguin to publish a hefty new edition of it with thick paper and cover stock worthy of the name, more power to Oprah.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Summer reading
This weekend I finally read I Capture the Castle, a novel by Dodie Smith that I've been curious about for years. When I heard there was going to be a movie of it, I decided the time had come to read it, and went looking for it in the usual online bookstores, but didn't find a price I liked. Then over the weekend I was up in the attic and found the sack that had my AAUW book sale haul in it. Digging around for something to read, I found this very strange edition of I Capture the Castle from the 60s that apparently caught my eye at the book sale. This cover is astonishing: it would be far more appropriate for, say, Go Ask Alice, or perhaps I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, than it is for this dry, witty little English country romance from the 40s. Maybe that deranged woman on the cover is Dodie Smith (also the author of 101 Dalmatians), but I doubt it.
It's the story of an eccentric English family with two daughters of marriageable age, one of whom, at least, is in search of a husband to save the family from poverty. When two young American men and their mother arrive on the scene as the family's landlords, their situation improves considerably. And I'm not really understating it. It's not exactly a barnburner, but it's a good solid read (except for a scene in which one of the girls is mistaken for a bear, thanks to an ugly coat; that's just silly).
I had forgotten how much I enjoy books like this. Granted, this one is a little sharper and a little more cynical than the ones I'm thinking of, by people like Margery Sharp (who, in addition to light, witty romances, also wrote a few animal books--including one that was made into a Disney movie). By the end of the first chapter I was pretty well hooked. The Mortmain family is quirky and interesting, and although it's difficult to believe that the narrator is only 17, who cares? Her voice is crisp and young, and the writing is absolutely timeless. Other than a few latter-day anachronisms (the first time I came across the word "wireless" I actually wondered about the spacing of communications towers in the English countryside for a split second before my vintage reading sensibilities kicked in) you could believe it was written this year by Helen Fielding or maybe Wendy Holden (except that it's better than any of their recent efforts).
Definitely good summer reading, and I'll catch the movie too. Tip: if you like I Capture the Castle you'll probably like Cold Comfort Farm, in either book or movie form. And vice versa.
This weekend I finally read I Capture the Castle, a novel by Dodie Smith that I've been curious about for years. When I heard there was going to be a movie of it, I decided the time had come to read it, and went looking for it in the usual online bookstores, but didn't find a price I liked. Then over the weekend I was up in the attic and found the sack that had my AAUW book sale haul in it. Digging around for something to read, I found this very strange edition of I Capture the Castle from the 60s that apparently caught my eye at the book sale. This cover is astonishing: it would be far more appropriate for, say, Go Ask Alice, or perhaps I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, than it is for this dry, witty little English country romance from the 40s. Maybe that deranged woman on the cover is Dodie Smith (also the author of 101 Dalmatians), but I doubt it.It's the story of an eccentric English family with two daughters of marriageable age, one of whom, at least, is in search of a husband to save the family from poverty. When two young American men and their mother arrive on the scene as the family's landlords, their situation improves considerably. And I'm not really understating it. It's not exactly a barnburner, but it's a good solid read (except for a scene in which one of the girls is mistaken for a bear, thanks to an ugly coat; that's just silly).
I had forgotten how much I enjoy books like this. Granted, this one is a little sharper and a little more cynical than the ones I'm thinking of, by people like Margery Sharp (who, in addition to light, witty romances, also wrote a few animal books--including one that was made into a Disney movie). By the end of the first chapter I was pretty well hooked. The Mortmain family is quirky and interesting, and although it's difficult to believe that the narrator is only 17, who cares? Her voice is crisp and young, and the writing is absolutely timeless. Other than a few latter-day anachronisms (the first time I came across the word "wireless" I actually wondered about the spacing of communications towers in the English countryside for a split second before my vintage reading sensibilities kicked in) you could believe it was written this year by Helen Fielding or maybe Wendy Holden (except that it's better than any of their recent efforts).
Definitely good summer reading, and I'll catch the movie too. Tip: if you like I Capture the Castle you'll probably like Cold Comfort Farm, in either book or movie form. And vice versa.