decemberthirty: (seamus)
I finished Dan Savage's The Commitment last week, although I don't remember exactly when. It was pleasantly quick, especially after spending so much time lately wrestling with Henry James, but it seemed somewhat heavier than I remember The Kid being. It was still a very funny book, but it had more politics, more personal history, more introspection than The Kid. That could just be faulty recollection on my part, or it could be due to the fact that some of the heavier parts of The Commitment hit rather close to home: Savage spends a lot of time talking about his grandparents' marriage, which is both utterly depressing and nearly identical to the story of my grandparents' marriage. Regardless, the book is good, and worth reading even if it doesn't add anything particularly new or revolutionary to the gay marriage debate.

After finishing The Commitment, I started in on Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane. I'm about halfway through, and I like it quite a bit so far. It's strongly reminiscent of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha--both are narrated by young Irish boys who are just beginning to figure out their families and the rest of the world, both are told through short, vivid vignettes and have almost no plot structure in the traditional sense--but it's still definitely its own book. Deane's narrative voice is quite different from Roddy Doyle's; Doyle told Paddy Clarke's story strictly through his own voice, but Deane's narrator uses words that Paddy would never dream of. This sophisticated vocabulary also makes it hard for me to pin down the age of Deane's narrator. He says things like, "Most of the time, the water looked metallic, but on occasion, when the sun shone, it became less burnished and softened to a sexual velveteen," yet his perceptions are clearly those of a child... It's a bit strange, but I find that it doesn't bother me. The whole book is mysterious and atmospheric, preoccupied with the supernatural, and this little disconnect seems almost to contribute to the feeling of strangeness.
decemberthirty: (henry)
After a weekend of speed-reading and (yes, I'll admit it) some skimming, I finished The Ambassadors in time for the book club meeting on Sunday night. And, my god, was I glad to be done with it! That makes it sound like the book was terrible, and I don't think it was, but by the time I got to the end it had dragged on so long that it was impossible for me to get any sort of enjoyment from it. I'm sure it didn't help that I had a very hard time connecting to the story. The entire plot revolved around intricate social strategies that I found difficult to understand. It was quite clear that every character had an agenda and that everything they said and did was an attempt to further that agenda, but Henry James never made clear what any of the agendas were. Also, James's style, I couldn't help but notice, was a peculiar one in that he appeared incapable, or perhaps just unwilling, of ever finishing a sentence, or, in some cases, even a clause, without interrupting himself so many times that all, or nearly all, of the book read like this tortured sentence. Navigating my way through hundreds of pages of such mazy prose was exhausting, to say the least. I'm curious as to how The Ambassadors compares to some of James's earlier, better known work -- stuff like The Wings of the Dove or Daisy Miller. I'd be willing to pick up more James some day, but not for quite a while.

So, as I mentioned, I went to the book club meeting on Sunday, and I was the only one who went! Well, besides the woman who was hosting it, of course. So I sat around and talked books in a general way with her and her boyfriend (who seems to be a well-read and interesting guy--I wish he'd join the club), ate the dessert that I brought, and talked a little bit about The Ambassadors. I was relieved to learn that she had exactly the same problems with The Ambassadors that I did, because I was beginning to wonder if I was just a moron and that was why I couldn't figure out all of the oblique social intrigue. It ended up being a nice time despite the poor turnout, and we're going to try advertising for some new members just to see if we can't breathe some new life into the club. Also, for those of you interested in my French dessert quandary, I ended up making an orange-cranberry gateau with orange glaze. It's not terribly French, except for the word 'gateau' in the title, but that was enough for me. I figured I could justify the inclusion of the oh-so-American cranberries by saying that the book is about Americans in Paris, so it's only fitting that I have an American ingredient in my French cake.

I got home from the meeting very eager to read something that wasn't Henry James, so I picked up the least James-like thing I had in the house: The Commitment by Dan Savage. And it's just what I was looking for. Light, funny, and very quick -- I'm half done with it already.

I've got just one last, book-related note. [livejournal.com profile] 39orangestreet pointed me in the direction of this interesting site, and now I share it with all of you: Debbie's Idea. It's a website for people who are trying to decide which book to start with when exploring an unfamiliar author. The interesting thing about it is that all the information about the authors is provided by the users of the site. You can add your favorite authors, submit bios, comment on their books... It appears that the site is fairly new, so there's lots of information still to be added. It has the potential to be an excellent procrastination tool, for those so inclined...
decemberthirty: (Default)
Well, it's been awhile... I am typically absurdly busy during the summer and that has prevented me from posting a whole lot.

Anyhow, Speak, Memory has finally gotten a little bit more interesting. Nabokov has finally left his early childhood, and is now dealing with more exciting subjects like his family's flight from the Bolsheviks and subsequent exile. I didn't realize that he never went back. It helps explain why he seems so intensely interested in relating all those childhood memories.

While reading Speak, Memory, I did a rather unusual thing. I took a break from it and read another book! It was The Kid by Dan Savage. It was pretty light, but interesting.

Also in unusual reading news, I'm helping a friend from work start a book club. I'm not really sure how I feel about the whole book club thing, since I'm pretty attached to being able to select my own reading material, but I thought I'd at least give it shot.
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