Coupla classics
.
Not all classics are created equal is surely true but what's even more true is that no classic is for every person. One here was for me. One was not. Which is a theme of the poetry collection as well. And other stuff.
I'm fairly skilled at picking things I like and I've given myself permission not to finish what I don't, so the bias of liked is no surprise, but is it okay? Should I read more that I do not like? And if so, which dislikes should I engage?
Anyway, here's some stuff, most of which I liked:
110) A Cluster of Noisy Planets by Charles Rafferty, finished October 6
This is a pretty great collection of prose poems. One small paragraph per page. Lots of wonderful lines and juxtapositions. But sometimes an excellent one would be spoiled by a prosaic final sentence. Or a prosaic one would shock with a brilliant close. A couple would have been better served by being poem poems rather than prose poems. Sometimes an interesting rhythmic choice was murdered, intentionally or not, who can say?
Anyway. It's what he likes to write. And I liked reading them. That sees like enough.
a week
111) Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary, finished October 7
I love these books. The baby's getting impatient with my needing to pause to compose myself, but this volume had a funeral and a marriage and a baby. Tears are gonna flow!
The ones were reading have fresh 2020 illustrations which is good and all but these are definitely period pieces. I mean---the baby goes home from the hospital on Mom's lap! That feels criminal in a 2020 illustration!
Anyway. Beverly Cleary did a terrific job. These are certainly kids books but reading them as an adult you can sense the adult wisdom carried by the adults and the narrator, even though we're in Ramona's p-o-v. But Ramona does a lot of growing up in each book—and gets a whole barrelful of growing-up epiphanies in the final pages—and I imagine a child reading these books feels the seepings of wisdom as well.
like ten weeks
112) The Mysteries by Bill Watterson and Bill Kascht, finished October 10
What a delightful surprise to discover on my portch, months after ordering it then forgetting all about the glorious fact that Bill Watterson had a new book.
The book is strange and wonderful. And it's not about what, partway through, it seems to be about.
In the end: it is about mysteries.
a sit
113) The Sandman: A Game of You by Neil Gaiman et al, finished October 12
A returning character from A Doll's House stars in this story, another strong one. I do wonder how Gen Z responds to the trans woman in this story. I'm reminded of Just Julie's Fine because I would not be surprised by some Gen Z blowback, but what can I say except that is what 2005 was like? You can say something similar here. This is what the late 80s / early 90s were like. People did what they could.
I don't know, but I can't help but wonder if this was the first trans character I ever read. It's very possible.
The story is set up much like many of my favorite X-Files episodes where Mulder and Scully are minor characters. Thus it is here, for Dream.
a week
114) The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, finished October 13
I picked up this copy some time ago. I don't recall if I was aware of the book's reputation or just the author's (whom I know as a playwright, having read Our Town in high school and The Skin of our Teeth in 2017; incidentally, that review makes me believe I was on the lookout for the book when it finally turned up).
Anyway, I finally decided to read it when the great Margaret Blair Young blurbed the upcoming Just Julie's Fine like so:
Reading this lovely novel had me chuckling, nodding, and periodically gasping. Though BYU student Julie is the center (or at least an important context) of most of the action, we get to know the quirks and endearing phrasings of several others connected to her in some way. The book reminded me of Wilder’s Bridge to San Luis Rey, wherein we get glimpses of several lives about to end (the bridge will collapse as they cross it), and of the events that led them to the bridge. Just Julie’s Fine does not end with everyone’s death, but with the compelling initiation of the title character into a new life—not the one she had always imagined. [Th: I could stop here, but let's keep going!] Julie, who is perpetually pursued by young Mormon men in search of a beautiful and {parenthetically} good wife, realizes that she wants to be an engineer, even though she will lose many of her accumulated university credits. This may seem like a simple thing, but it is a true rite of passage, a change of trajectory, and emblematic of the cultural changes happening around all of the characters.
Just Julie’s Fine is also a fascinating time capsule in which we see BYU students grappling with the standard coming-of-age issues, but also with feminism, sexuality, faith, and duty.
I found every character to be likeable—except [one character who, alas, it based on a real experience I, Theric, had at BYU], who seemed vacuous. The clever dialogue felt real and inviting. The writing itself flowed beautifully.
This is a fun novel, and I think Jepson enjoyed writing it [I did]. The energy of FUN comes through in every page. It is not a comical novel, but the dialogue is often so witty that the reader will certainly smile. It’s not a sad novel either. It’s a slice-of-life novel wherein the reader gets introduced to a variety of fascinating characters who reflect their age and their time perfectly.Since this is appearing in the front pages, I felt I ought to've actually read Bridge in case anyone asked me about it.
The basic structure of Bridge is that a bridge fell and five people died and three chapters reveal these now-dead to us. They sometimes share connections (they do, after all, all live in Lima) or even know each other, and now they are dead.
But I knew that much coming into it. So far I see where Maggie's coming from.
As I read the novel (which I loved and kept wanting to return to even though I had library books) I tended to think the comparison to Julie made less and less sense. And then it ended and Bridge struck me as much more a mini Middlemarch than anything else.
And that's certainly true, but as I sit with Wilder's writing and accomplishment I'm starting, more and more, to see Sister Young's point. And she's right. And I am deeply, deeply flattered.
Anyway, it's a tiny masterpiece. You should knock this one out.
perhaps a month
115, 116) Cymbeline by William Shakespeare, finished October 16, 17
Fine to do with a class, but not as delightful as the most fun plays (Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Measure for Measure, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Titus Andronicus....)
What a weird one, too. Complicated and strange. Shame the Victorians decided it was no good and thus we've mostly forgotten it. Maybe then we would have enough dialogue to convince me.
over a week
117) Kaya: Book One by author, finished October 21
This is a fabulous new fantasy world people by simply drawn (metaphorically) characters that still have real depth and personality. Their adventures and situations are exciting. And, at least so far, it's all-ages, so share away!
two short bursts broken up by a couple weeks
118) White Noise by Don DeLillo, finished October 23
Don DeLillo is one of the midcentury male American authors I've never had any interest in reading, perhaps simply because I cannot distinguish among them (DeLillo, Roth, Mailer...).
But then Noah Baumach made a movie and I ended up reading quite a bit about it and the novel it's based on. This is the article that talked me into reading the book. And now I have. And I get all the praise and whatever but I didn't like it. I found it screamingly difficult to continue caring about page after page after page after page. Part of the problem is that the book is "funny," but the narrator is funny in the same way each funny character is funny. It's the same joke page after page after page. And while there are a couple transcendent moment, egad, it just goes on and on and on and one. It's only three hundred pages but I suspect I'll remember it as much, much longer.
That said, I think it will make an excellent Noah Baumbach / Greta Gerwig movie. I'm looking forward to watching it.
months