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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 8, 2013 3:27:55 GMT -5
IntroductionOnce upon a time... I come from a family of voracious readers, and my parents facilitated their children's passion for books by gifting them with their own mini libraries. While gender labeling might be silly and even harmful (if it keeps one from a great story), you wouldn't be wrong to say that these libraries were stocked with what could be defined as "boy" and "girl" books. I was a madman and gobbled up every hardback in sight. I quickly consumed my library and -hungering for more- I stole into my sister’s room and borrowed her ‘girl’ books. Today I can't name one title that sat on my boyhood shelves (probably had a Hardy Boy and something about robots) but I fondly remember two from my sis’ stash: The early Trixie Belden mysteries and the Little House series. Little House was a bit broader, in that I think it was okay for a boy to read them, but Trixie Belden was (to my young mind) clearly and specifically for girls. I imagine I was a bit sheepish about admitting my love for them. But mostly I remember being a weird kid, an outsider and loner who really didn't care what others thought. And it gave my sister and I something to bond over. I preferred Trixie to the more popular and widely known Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries because she was more true and relatable to me. She was like a real teenager; she could get testy and find herself in trouble with the adults. She was a feisty tomboy that had a great group of pals who had fantastic adventures. It just seemed like a dream life to my young mind. And the covers were so evocative. They helped establish the mood before I’d turned a page. If Trixie was a ‘dream world’ come to life, Little House was reality preserved. Wilder instantly drew me into a time and a place so unfamiliar and fascinating. I had my safe, clean modern life and couldn’t imagine living in the world Laura Ingles was born into: One without fast food, The Beatles, or the Green Bay Packers? I enjoyed exploring and learning about this world, I thought the situations and character were clearly and colorfully defined. It was these books that inspired the title of this thread. I didn't want to presume to forge a list of the "greatest" of all time, nor was I really interested in a mere countdown of favorites. Though these titles qualify under both categories IMHO. I wanted to share something a bit more personal. I wanted not just great books, but books that meant something to me -- one's that moved me intellectually and emotionally. These stories struck a nerve. I'm not sure how much life is left in these forums. But once I finish my list I encourage one and all to contribute their own countdowns and lists. But remember, you have to make it personal.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 8, 2013 3:36:36 GMT -5
15. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham“Until then I had always thought of loneliness as something negative—an absence of company, and, of course, something temporary... That day I had learned that it was much more. It was something which could press and oppress, could distort the ordinary and play tricks with the mind. Something which lurked inimically all around, stretching the nerves and twanging them with alarms, never letting one forget that there was no one to help, no one to care. It showed one as an atom adrift in vastness, and it waited all the time its chance to frighten and frighten horribly—that was what loneliness was really trying to do; and that was what one must never let it do...” I've never been a huge sci-fi aficionado -- but I did like the (original) film adaptation of Wyndham's Midwich Cuckoos, so when I saw his name at the used bookstore on something about mutants, titled The Chrysalids, I picked it up. The book blew me away due to its heart and its characters (I've always related to outsiders). Sadly I felt it stumbled at the end with a mixed message (you know darn well Stan Lee had to have read the book. When he created his X-Men he took that mixed message and split it into 2 mutant factions, one lead by Professor X, the other by Magneto). After The Chrysalids, I read something even better, one that didn't flounder down the stretch. Day of the Triffids is also marked by sharp character work. I know some science fiction diehards complain that there was too little monster battling action and too much character, and romance. But that's what I liked most about the book. It opens with an eerie bit where a cataclysmic event leaves many in the world blind, and the Triffids (plant creatures with killer stingers who have been around for a while) take advantage of this mess and run amok. All of that is exciting -- but then the male protagonist in our story, stumbles out of the hospital and helps an enslaved woman -- that became the center of the universe for me. And when the two are separated my inner mantra throughout the entire novel was "find the girl!"I don't know how it reads today. Is the love story too old fashioned? I dunno. All I know as that when I was in my 20s the monsters and the different human factions that would pop up to bedevil the duo took a back seat to the romance. Because to me that relationship signified sanity: The world could go to hell, but as long as you had someone at your side who gave a damn about you, you could carry on, you could get through this mad world. I guess that says a lot about who I am and what moves me. The human element – the characters and the drama mean more to me than the scary monster stuff. Author John Wyndham
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 8, 2013 23:46:20 GMT -5
14. Beowulf“In off the moors, down through the mist beams, god-cursed Grendel came greedily loping.”I have a vague memory of reading this in the car while on a family trip. Did I pick it up from the library, or Churchill's, a used bookstore we frequented in my youth? What I remember clearly is being enthralled by the narrative poem. I thought Beowulf and his battles with Grendel, his mother and finally, a dragon, was the most amazing thing I'd ever read. And it was written by… well no one knew. What a mystery? And I was curious why no one spoke of this book, why it wasn’t hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread. I thought I’d made some secret discovery, shared by only a select few. Of course I was wrong on that front. From CliffsNotes: “Beowulf was written in Britain but is set in Scandinavia, and is known only from a single manuscript which dates from close to AD 1000. It is the oldest surviving epic poem in British literature.” Beowulf became a constant throughout my life and it popped up in many forms: from a Marvel comics Graphic Novel, beautifully illustrated by artist Jerry Bingham- to major motion pictures. There have been several translations and each garners my utmost attention.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 9, 2013 23:36:48 GMT -5
13. The Inferno by Dante Alighieri "Through me you go to the grief wracked city; Through me you go to everlasting pain; Through me you go a pass among lost souls. Justice inspired my exalted Creator: I am a creature of the Holiest Power, of Wisdom in the Highest and of Primal Love. Nothing till I was made was made, only eternal beings. And I endure eternally. Abandon all hope — Ye Who Enter Here"Another great epic narrative poem. Confession? I never finished the Divine Comedy – I got half way through Purgatory and lost interest. That middle ground just wasn't as fascinating (even if the poetry was strong) – Inferno though, captured by attention to the very last page. With its tercet rhyme scheme, this is a difficult one to translate into English and it's imperative to locate a good version. I thought John Ciardi’s adaptation was brilliant. He maintained the integrity of the meaning, the striking imagery and rhythms of the piece. It was also nicely annotated so I had a great history lesson. I also got to learn who Dante disliked in real life, because he throws them all in hell! Ha Ha! Is it all right to only include first part of this 14th century poem? Though they are often sold as separate entities, and series books are critiqued as individual, most listings couple the trio as one: The Divine Comedy. Yeah, I need to get to it and finish the other books. But for the purposes of this thread, Dante's Inferno is included because it stimulated my brain, with its history and politics and style. It was incredibly imaginative, horrifying, but also funny at times. (Musically: God gets a choir of Angels, while the Devil has farting demons)
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 10, 2013 23:13:24 GMT -5
12. The Stand by Stephen King"The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there...and still on your feet."It was September 1978 and the red-hot Stephen King dropped a colossal brick of a page-turner in our laps. It was huge and set the book reading world on fire. In September of 1978 this was all we bookworms talked about, each chapter read was the stuff of water cooler conversation the next day. The characters, the landscape… the super flu that wiped out a nation, which then became an epic battle between God and the Devil. The utter scale of the thing took your breath away. The entirety of my family and friends read and gushed over the novel. As much as we enjoyed King's previous offerings, we felt he had just gifted us his greatest work. One that he would be hard pressed to surpass (and in my opinion, he hasn't) Now, I don't care for some of the changes he made in his uncut version. The clumsy way he shoe horns in 90s pop culture, and I dislike that Flagg survives (I know that was part of King’s philosophical intent, that good can’t exist without evil. But I’ve always found that a bullsht notion). But even the original cut had me scratching my head at the end. (The sacrifice makes no sense. What did it serve; they didn’t save the day… the hand of God did) Despite these nit picks, the Stand left a lasting impression. I'll never forget that September simply because I associate it with King and this gigantic widescreen novel. I agree with what Fiona Webster wrote for Amazon.com… There is much to admire in The Stand: the vivid thumbnail sketches with which King populates a whole landscape with dozens of believable characters; the deep sense of nostalgia for things left behind; the way it subverts our sense of reality by showing us a world we find familiar, then flipping it over to reveal the darkness underneath. Anyone who wants to know, or claims to know, the heart of the American experience needs to read this book.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 11, 2013 23:53:31 GMT -5
11. Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh “Frankly," said the Doctor, "I am at a loss to understand my own emotions. I can think of no entertainment that fills me with greater detestation than a display of competitive athletics, none - except possibly folk dancing.”Decline is black humor/social satire and its lead figure; Paul Pennyfeather is one of Waugh’s greatest, hapless creations. I guess it helps to understand the era Waugh is teasing, but even without every detail I think I got it - and I damn well laughed as hard as I ever have. This was Waugh’s first published book (he destroyed an earlier attempt) and he shows right out of the gate that he has a gift for biting, witty dialog and a deft hand for characterization, I was completely entertained and delighted. The follow up to this didn’t resonate as strongly with me, but Decline and Fall is one that I always recall fondly, and that recollection always leaves me with a wide smile on my face. The books summary: Expelled from Oxford for indecent behaviour, Paul Pennyfeather is oddly unsurprised to find himself qualifying for the position of schoolmaster at Llanabba Castle. His colleagues are an assortment of misfits, including Prendy (plagued by doubts) and captain Grimes, who is always in the soup (or just plain drunk). Then Sports Day arrives, and with it the delectable Margot Beste-Chetwynde, floating on a scented breeze. As the farce unfolds and the young run riot, no one is safe, least of all Paul. Taking its title from Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Evelyn Waugh's first, funniest novel immediately caught the ear of the public with his account of an ingénu abroad in the decadent confusion of 1920s high society The author photographed around 1940
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 12, 2013 16:08:13 GMT -5
10. Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman In truth this is for the Navajo mystery series in whole. I’m not sure if this is my favorite from that series, but it is memorable. Hillerman had previously written 3 novels a piece for tribal policemen Chee and Leaphorn. With this, his 7th book, readers finally got what they were clamoring for: The pairing of the duo on a case. And it did not disappoint. The ever-building suspense in this ‘witchcraft shaded murder mystery’ made it a page-turner, and I enjoyed learning about the culture and folklore of the Navajo people. Hillerman is a clear and descriptive storyteller; he was able to place me right there amongst the inhabitants and the landscapes that surrounded them. The characters have their own distinct traits and voices. You can’t help but be interested in Chee, Leaphorn and the rest. The plotting is tight as drum. For those who miss Tony’s characters, his daughter has taken up the mantle. She has published a story from an idea she and her father discussed before his death. I don’t know if it’ll be any good, if she has the talent to tap into the same magic. But I have it in my library Que and am hoping she does her dad –as well as Leaphorn and Chee- proud.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 13, 2013 17:48:42 GMT -5
9. The Power and Glory by Graham Greene “But I'm a bad priest, you see. I know--from experience--how much beauty Satan carried down with him when he fell. Nobody ever said the fallen angels were the ugly ones. Oh, no, they were just as quick and light and . . .”This is a gripping tale of a Roman Catholic ‘whisky’ Priest, on the run from authorities in Mexico, where Catholicism is outlawed. As with many Catholic based novels there is a theme of self-sacrifice and that nothing will cause the Church to fall. The story is detailed, characters and terrain come to life – I could almost tastes the dust in my mouth and the stones digging into the soles of my feet. Greene, as he is wont to do, injects the novel with a certain weary cynicism. He seems to be saying that while idealism is fine, it can also be misused when in the hands of a powerful, arrogant leader, ala the Lieutenant. Whereas the Priest recognizes that suffering and trails are a part of life. Green also suggests that opposites, such as love and hate are no so opposite but are entangled, it’s a theme that pops up constantly. From sparklenotes… In the lieutenant's case, for example, his hatred of priests originally stems from a love of and a concern for poor people. Both feelings stem from the same strong emotions—the desire to protect the innocent and the rejection of injustice in any form. The priest often discovers the beauty of life in the moments of greatest suffering and hardship. The author
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 14, 2013 23:14:53 GMT -5
8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen "I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine."If, as some accuse, Austen is merely a writer of cheap TV soap opera level romances, then Michelangelo was simply a prankster who scrawled graffiti on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I could give credence to such sentiments were her works only formal and neat and deathly serious, soppy ‘manners driven’ melodrama. But Jane is cutting deeper than that; she's more skilled than that. Her romances are wise and resonate with honest feeling. They are marked by a sharp humor (1) that poked at the stifling rules of etiquette and deportment ( for example: the "Handsome letter" paragraph in Emma. Should not be taken straight, its intent is humorous). And, as Vivien Jones wrote in her notes in the 1996 edition of Pride and Prejudice, Austen had a "precise, and satirical, eye for mechanisms of social mobility."I love Austen for her witty and finely discriminating use of language, and of course, for her colorful female characters. Even though Jane was making observations about the social decorum of a particular period, her stories are timeless and easily translated to the modern era (as seen in the film, Clueless). Her greatest and most lasting achievement is Pride and Prejudice. And within its pages lives one of her greatest creations: Elizabeth Bennett, a smart, independent, strong willed woman who nonetheless suffers from the ‘prejudice’ side of the title. She is as notable today as she was when she was first presented to society. The writing in Pride is effervescent; the words have a palpable joie de vivre. The book bubbles with life and passion, pathos and longing. Mr. Bennett with his ironic, cynical sense of humor, Mrs. Bennett, the flighty social climber who buzzes about trying to marry off her (5) daughters to someone who can provide them a decent life (the Bennett's are part of the pseudo gentry. Not rich, but aspiring to hobnob and act in accord with those above them). The interplay between this duo had me laughing out loud several times. And Elizabeth has a keen and clever tongue as well. There is romance and the drive to find a suitable spouse at every turn. There's heartache, and the idea that people are not always what they appear at first. Like my favorite director Alfred Hitchcock, Austen addressed and explored certain themes, sometimes tweaked the idea (as in Emma). Pride was the writer and her style (free indirect speech) in peak form – the language, the tempo, and the well-defined characters and situations are simply a joy to read. If I have a difficulty with Austen it's that I can't keep track of all the people that populate her stories. I need a flow chart or map!” Like this…. (1) Austen sometimes uses esoteric and cultural references in her humor. Some of which will go right over the modern readers heads, should the volume they’re reading fail to include notes. Makes me think of MST3Ks reference material. I wonder what riffs will no longer be comprehended by viewers of the show a hundred years from now?
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 16, 2013 0:15:45 GMT -5
7. Ghost Story by Peter Straub“What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?
I wont tell you that, but I will tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me… the most dreadful thing…”I wasn't familiar with the name, Peter Straub, not much of us were at the time. But there was this ground swell of admiration for his current novel, Ghost Story. Family members were passing around the book, "You gotta read this!" My Aunt gave it to my mother, my sister called dibs next, but because she was busy she passed it on to me. It was a night that I'll never forget. We’ve all heard the cliché about not being able to put a book down, well that wasn’t hyperbole with Ghost Story. The moment I opened the first page, from the very first sentence, I was hooked. The characters were so beautifully fleshed out and their spooky stories crawled inside me, wormed its way through bone and sinew heart and brain. I don't know that a novel has ever truly frightened me the way this one did. I’d go through a few chapters and think "just one more and then I’ll stop." Only I didn't stop. At around 3 am and having School in the morning, I made the attempt. I closed the paperback, settled under my bed covers… and thought and thought about the tale. I thought about the Chowder Society, Alma, Eva and that creepy Fenny Bates… …and then the spring popped in my rocking chair I'd been sitting in all night and I jumped out of my skin "Fenny Bates is here!"That's it -- sleep wouldn't come after that. So I read. Through morning light, through the sounds of family getting ready for the day’s work or school. "To hell with classes", I thought and stayed in bed and read. I’ve never pulled an all-nigher on a novel before, never finished one of that length in one sitting. Ghost Story is the only yarn that can lay claim to that. At the end I was completely spent. Bleary eyed and wowed by this tale of 4 old men who were haunted by a secret from their past. Though Ghost Story put him on the map, Peter Straub never quite gained the same level of popularity of his contemporaries, Stephen King or Dean. Koontz. I think perhaps Straub confounds a lot of readers; he’s not as comfortable or easy a read. He can be too subtle, too measured in his pacing, too dense structurally - and he’ll often leave many questions unanswered. He has also become very meta fictional. So to truly appreciate him, you have to be committed to his world and his works. But I always come back for more because he creates such an atmosphere. His horror is a slow dread rather than King or Koontz’s bitch slaps in the face. And I usually get deeply involved with his characters, he draws me into their lives, makes me care. After GS I went back and read his previous works. If You Could See Me Now was equally as haunting. Later, I eagerly grabbed his follow up titles, Floating Dragons and Shadowland but found them lacking by comparison (in an interview Straub spoke about rushing through the second part of Shawdowland (to meet deadlines?) and it shows. The first part was tight as a drum, wonderful. The 2nd half of the story suffers from plot holes and a scattershot narrative). The author rebounded with titles like Mystery, The Throat and others. He has even co written material with his friend Stephen King. But of them all, it’s the memory of Ghost Story that seizes me with fear and trepidation. That’s the novel and reading thereof that troubles my sleep. The Author
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 17, 2013 0:12:33 GMT -5
6. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky“Existence alone had never been enough for him; he had always wanted more. Perhaps it was only from the force of his desires that he had regarded himself as a man to whom more was permitted than to others.”Crime and Punishment is claustrophobic in setting but huge in idea. It upset the liberals and radicals and well, pretty much everyone in Russia, because the writer was taking on what he saw as certain nihilism in Russia. He also was attempting to expose the dangers of both utilitarianism and rationalism, found in the current political arena. From the Wiki summary: Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov argues that with the pawnbroker's money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime, while ridding the world of a worthless vermin. He also commits this murder to test his own hypothesis that some people are naturally capable of such things, and even have the right to do them. Several times throughout the novel, Raskolnikov justifies his actions by connecting himself mentally with Napoleon Bonaparte, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.The ending is problematic, seen as a cop-out, for some. I don't have a problem with it as I believe it reflects Dostoevsky's core Orthodox religious beliefs, which are woven through the narrative. Sonya: a self-sacrificing Christ like figure who was always there, patiently, no matter often Raskolnikov rejected her. She represented eternal life. The self-indulgent Svidrigaïlov, represented the path Raskolnikov was heading towards. He was sin and death. Joseph Frank wrote of Dostoevsky’s view of modern man in this way, “Not to believe in Christ and immortality is to be condemned to live in a senseless universe, and the characters in his great novels who reach this level of self-awareness inevitably destroy themselves because by refusing to endure the torment of living without hope, they have become monsters in their misery.” Considering that, I don’t think Raskolnikov is choosing Sonya, as much as he is ‘not choosing’ Svidrigailov. Portrait of the Author
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 18, 2013 0:05:04 GMT -5
5. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh“I felt that I was leaving part of myself behind, and that wherever I went afterwards I should feel the lack of it, and search for it hopelessly, as ghosts are said to do, frequenting the spots where they buried material treasures without which they cannot pay their way to the nether world.”From the books summary: “The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly-disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognize only his spiritual and social distance from them.” If Decline and Fall is Waugh’s funniest book, Brideshead is his most profound. The novel is for me, simply perfect. I guess there is some debate on that point (even Waugh soured a bit on it later in life) and maybe I’m blind or too stupid but all I see is perfection. A recent movie got the Catholicism all wrong (it became the enemy) but in the book it is about how it endures, even when it seems it has lost its way - or becomes twisted, cruel and hopeless - in the end God’s efforts are not in vain. But aside from that, the character interaction, the relationship between Charles Ryder and the Flyte's makes for compelling reading. Waugh had a keen talent for characterization. The people who populated his stories were so meticulously and fully rendered they became real people to me. I empathized with them and was moved by their lives. And they continue to linger in my memory.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 19, 2013 0:22:22 GMT -5
4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy“We are all created to be miserable, and that we all know it, and all invent means of deceiving each other. And when one sees the truth, what is one to do?”… or as I like to call it “Konstatine Levin”. As much as I love the novel, I loved it more for Levin’s story. Anna? Well Anna is a difficult character. She is selfish, duplicitous and often cruel. Though Tolstoy began to feel sympathy for her as he wrote the novel, so she becomes more pitiful than detestable. The question with her is whether the hearts desire should be seized at any cost? Is the momentary gain worth all you lose? The book is about contrasts: Anna and many in the circle she associates with are superficial: They wear false faces and are bound by petty rules on decorum and dress and balls and finery and even affairs of the heart. Levin on the other hand –for all his rough edges, for his maddening propensity to jump from one epiphany or cause to another– was at least motivated by a desperate search for authenticity and substance. He’s earnest in his hunger for an alternative to slick city life and the hypocrisy of social class. This was a very personal story for the author (Levin is obviously his stand in). If Dostoevsky’s Christianity was founded on grace, works fueled Tolstoy’s. Which you see reflected in Konstantine ever striving to do good, to find good. So along with the intimate relationships, Tolstoy was also casting a wider net, which spoke to religion, ethics, politics and nationalism. By the novel’s end Anna is rejected by society, which cuts her deeply and –coupled with other personal loses- pushes her to madness. Kitty discovers societies games are a fraud and becomes a fuller, more caring soul. Levin is awkward and gruff and grumbles, “To hell with this snobbery!” Any rejection or scorn they heap on his person holds no sway because he aspires to something greater than their esteem. His love is not founded on lust/passion, but on respect and character. Tolstoy photographed at his Yasnaya Polyana estate in May 1908 by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky. The only known color photograph of the writer. (wiki)
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 19, 2013 17:02:54 GMT -5
3. The Second Coming by Walker Percy “How did it happen that now he could see everything so clearly. Something had given him leave to live in the present. Not once in his entire life had he come to rest in the quiet center of himself but had forever cast himself from some dark past he could not remember to a future that did not exist. Not once had he been present for his life. So his life had passed like a dream. Is it possible for people to miss their lives the way one can miss a plane?”Percy is a cynical Southern Catholic existentialist (who uses language in the book that would make a Nun blush). Second Coming is a sequel, but you can ignore the muddled Last Gentleman. Seriously. It makes SC a little difficult at times, more mysterious, but watching that mystery unfold is marvelous. The premise: A man searching for God, who feels that life is worse than death - and who can’t escape his past, meets a female escapee from an insane asylum who can only live in the present. (She has taken refuge in a green house near the golf course he frequents and is nursing him back to health after his failed suicide attempt) This is very Southern, very languid – it takes its time and for a spell I was losing my patience with the pacing. But as it went on I found myself drawn to the protagonists, and identified with these two broken people who belonged nowhere but with each other. So moved by it I wrote a song inspired by the novel, titled "Allison's Dance". (You can hear it here… soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10822413) The Author
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Post by Mighty Jack on Oct 20, 2013 16:01:28 GMT -5
2. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at School. She was Delores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.”It was those opening 2 paragraphs. Quoted by a character in an adults-only comic book written by Matt Fraction. That led me to read Nabokov’s classic. I’d seen the Kubrick film decades ago -- never thought to read the book. Until I’d read that quote and fell in love with the way the words tripped and danced and percolated. I soon discovered the entire novel was like this. It burst with language that was vividly alive; it winked playfully with it’s mixed up phrases, word games and multiple meanings. And it beguiled despite my efforts to resists its charms (the distasteful protagonist was an obvious hurdle). Eventually I set aside my discomfort and allowed myself to be swept away by the author’s masterful prose -- the tempo and structure of the piece, and the humor he employed. The POV is Humbert’s. This is his account. Lolita herself –aside from our narrators reflections- is bit of a mystery (a “Haze?”) She is given no inner voice, and while she finally speaks her piece at the end, we don’t know what she thought of these events in the pit of her heart mind and soul (would her version of the tale differ from Hums?). Humbert even later laments that he didn’t really know her mind. As the story crashes headlong towards its conclusion it becomes more hallucinatory and forlorn. It shifts from comedy to tragedy (though both traits are present to some degree throughout) The controversial novel sparks all kinds of interpretations and I find it funny that Nabokov’s Afterward directly contradicts the Forward. Saying that, “Despite John Ray’s assertions, Lolita has no moral in tow.” Perhaps we ascribe morality and such in order to excuse ourselves for enjoying the book, for laughing, maybe even for going along with Humbert at times. As for myself I find the work disturbing, intensely interesting, sad and funny. And it impresses with its textural descriptions, it’s brilliant form, style, and voice. It’s the most recent addition to this list. And through the week, as I finished my days reading, I would pause and stare off into the void, enveloped in a fog of rumination. It had been years since a book left me gobsmacked like that.
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