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Wednesday, March 15th, 2006
Yesterday I started reading the stories in Close Range by Annie Proulx. This will bring my Proulx-reading arc full circle in a way, since I got interested in her by reading "Brokeback Mountain", which is in this book, and the first book I read was Bad Dirt, to which this is sort of a sequel. My early reaction to the book is that the stories are good, but don't blow me away in the same way that the stories in Bad Dirt did -- with those there was a sense of immediacy and freshness that I'm not getting as much here. But that may be because I know what to expect a little better. Also I am missing the thread of connection which was one of my favorite features of Bad Dirt -- at least half the stories there had characters and setting in common, whereas here all that seems to be shared is that the stories occur in Wyoming or feature characters from Wyoming.
posted evening of March 15th, 2006: Respond
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Monday, March 6th, 2006
My current reread of V. is officially over, bogged down in the course of reading about Fausto Maijstral. Over the course of this chapter my relationship to the book went from loving it, to sweating my way through and hoping that the next chapter would be easier going, to reading the sentences for sound with no comprehension. I put a bookmark in on Thursday and haven't picked it up since. So, better luck next time through.
posted evening of March 6th, 2006: Respond
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Monday, February 27th, 2006
Lots of good V. stuff from last February at Josh Blog.
posted morning of February 27th, 2006: Respond
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A question: are the dreams of 1904 which Mondaugen undergoes at Foppl's Siege Party, based on experiences that Foppl had in 1904? Or is that even what's going on? The story switches out from what's happening to Mondaugen, into the dreams -- there's no direct statement that Mondaugen is the dreamer, and there are constructions like "Firelily's rider" to keep him masked -- but I'm pretty sure it is Mondaugen. Ad first I thought the experiences were Godolphin's, but now I don't think that would make as much sense as if they were Foppl's. Update: Yes, the dreamer is definitely Mondaugen -- I found this passage at HyperArts: "His horse drowsed and collected dew while Mondaugen squirmed on the seat, trying to control anger, confusion, petulance; and below the farthest verge of the Kalahari, that vast death, the tardy sun mocked him."
posted morning of February 27th, 2006: Respond
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Tuesday, February 21st, 2006
I left this comment to Roy's fine post on reading Swann's Way: Here's a thought: many of the very best books I have read, I have come to in the same way that you came to Swann's Way (which I have not read or even made any serious attemt to) -- as Everests to be clumb, as adversaries to be bested. With all of them that I consider "very best books", there was a metamorphosis at some point, where the reading project turned into something my heart was really in, that I was really enjoying. Frequently I have given up on a book halfway through because this metamorphosis has not yet occurred; and frequently I have gone back to the book in question years later, and found that I enjoyed reading it -- sometimes this has taken multiple cycles of putting it down and coming back to it. Books that I finish without ever feeling like I was digging it, I'm pretty unlikely to go back to. And even as I typed it I knew I was proving myself wrong -- I am now rereading Pynchon's V., a book which I slogged through to the end of despite losing the thread of, and -- well: I started the reread last week, and early in the book I remembered how my reaction when I was first reading it was, the storyline set in the present tense, featuring Benny Profane, is a lot of fun though not particularly substantial; and the storyline set in the past, featuring the elder Stencil and any number of other oddball characters, is totally mystifying. And I felt all set to recapitulate that experience of the book when I read the chapter set in Egypt and could not understand what was going on. But as of this evening's reading (the chapter set in Florence) I have gotten in the groove and am loving the book. (It was kind of cool to be reading the scenes in and around Florentine landmarks, after a few nights ago Sylvia and I were reading her children's tour of Florence book, which we bought while we were there this summer. Also: Florence is where I started playing with yo-yos!)
posted evening of February 21st, 2006: Respond
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Wednesday, January 11th, 2006
At the beginning of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the narrator introduces Lucy and says that she had already gotten to visit her magical country twice (referring to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian). Sylvia thinks about this for a while and points out that it was actually three times, referring to the three separate visits in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
posted evening of January 11th, 2006: Respond
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My Proulx jag continues: last night I finished Postcards (loved it), this morning I started The Accordion Crimes -- I was thinking after Postcards almost anything would have to be a letdown, but it looks like I was wrong based on the beginning of The Accordion Crimes. Update: Er, just now I looked at the book and noticed the title is actually Accordion Crimes.
posted evening of January 11th, 2006: Respond
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Monday, January 9th, 2006
Something else about Annie Proulx -- it is amazing to me the way time passes in her stories. I am 3/4 of the way through Postcards and the story has spanned about 30 or 40 years so far; but I have no sense that I have missed parts of the story skipped over, or that I have been rushed along. Instead I feel like I have been listening to the story for 30 or 40 years. (Which is not to say the story is dragging -- it's not, it's gripping -- it seems to me like a huge accomplishment for her to be able to hold my attention for virtual decades.)
posted afternoon of January 9th, 2006: Respond
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Tuesday, January third, 2006
Today I started reading another Annie Proulx book, Postcards -- this one is grabbing me right away, pulling me into the story. I'm really liking the way she leaves key bits of the story for you to fill in -- something I have found annoying elsewhere. Something I have been thinking ever since reading Bad Dirt -- Proulx is incredibly versatile! In each story and each book, there is a new stylistic attribute.
posted evening of January third, 2006: Respond
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Friday, December 30th, 2005
We are in Boston until tomorrow. Today Sylvia and I walked around town while Ellen visited with her friend Deedee and worked on her writing. The day's itinerary: breakfast with Ellen at Faneuil Hall (if that's how you spell it), then split up. We went to the aquarium (lovely jellyfish exhibit and interesting turtle activities) where we stayed until about 11:30. Took the T to Massachussetts Ave. where we had a slice of pizza and went in to the Mary Baker Eddy library to look at the Mapparium. Had not done any research and was expecting from the name, a kind of museum devoted to maps; instead it turns out to be a huge stained-glass globe, which you view from inside while they shine lights in and play a tape recording about the world. Kind of neat but not as much so as a map museum would be. From there we took a long walk down Commonwealth Ave. to the Boston Public Garden, to see the pond from Make Way For Ducklings. Walked through the park, then stopped in at Borders to have a snack and look at the children's books. Happened on a very nice used bookstore across the street from there, where I bought Postcards by Annie Proulx. Then back to Faneuil Hall (which Google seems to think is the proper spelling), picked out a Hanukkah present for Ellen, and back to the hotel, where we are now waiting for her to get back. Nice times -- as walked back to the hotel we speculated about what would happen if (as we were walking from Faneuil Hall) we were to go back to the aquarium, and then out to the Mapparium, have lunch, etc.
posted evening of December 30th, 2005: Respond
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