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Friday, October 15th, 2004

🦋 Thoughts about Moomins

So as of today I have read all the Moominfamily books except maybe three of them which are out of print for a long time and hard to locate. I love them. Picking up Finn Family Moomintroll back in July was one of the best things I've done in a long time. These are the books in (as near as I can determine) order by original publication date:

• Comet in Moominland (1946)
• Finn Family Moomintroll (1948)
• Moominsummer Madness (1954)
• Moominland Midwinter (1957)
• Tales from Moominvalley (1963)
• Moominpappa at Sea (1963)
• Moominpappa's Memoirs (1968)
• Moominvalley in November (1971?)

The two starting points I would recommend to people are Finn Family Moomintroll, and Moominvalley in November -- I think either one will suck you right in and that it will be impossible not to want to read the entire series. Finn Family Moomintroll is really good for reading aloud to a very young child, the others not so much. The only two that do not stand up so well are Comet in Moominland and Moominpappa's Memoirs -- you will want to read them just to fill in some details of the Moomin world, but they will not demand to be reread.

The first five books and Moominpappa's Memoirs are quite suitable for any child old enough to read them; the other three demand a little more sophistication and I would not give them to a child younger than about 9, at least not unless I were reading the book with the child and helping her understand some of the nuance. I have described the style of the later books as "a cross between A. A. Milne and Beckett."

posted evening of October 15th, 2004: Respond
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🦋 Moominland

Today I am reading Moominland Midwinter, so I have now read the whole Moominfamily series though not in order and excluding the first book, The Little Trolls and the Great Flood, which has not been translated into English.* This evening if all goes according to plan I will write up and post my thoughts about the series. Just as a quick note, if you just wanted to read one, Finn Family Moomintroll is an utterly fantastic, magnificent book. Moominvalley in November, Moominpappa at Sea, and Tales from Moominvalley are similarly fantastic but not, I think, well suited for young children. Moominsummer Madness and (tentatively) Moominland Midwinter are good books with moments of greatness but some uneven bits. Comet in Moominland and Moominpappa's Memoirs are fun fluff.

* And I just now saw Jansson has a moomin-related book called "Who Will Comfort Toffle?" which I had not heard of before. Update: Also there is a book called "The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My"; one called "The Summer Book" which is not about Moomins but about a girl and her grandmother; one called "The Coal Man and other stories"; and she has illustrated Swedish editions of "Alice in Wonderland", "The Hobbit", and "The Hunting of the Snark".

posted afternoon of October 15th, 2004: Respond
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🦋 More Birthday Pics

Here are some more pictures from Sylvia's 4th Birthday, courtesy of Miriam: READIN Family Album

posted morning of October 15th, 2004: Respond
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Monday, October 11th, 2004

Sylvia and I spent the evening at a neighbor's house, watching the finale concert of the Vote for Change tour and writing letters to voters in swing states. For me, the musical high point of the evening was the first song I heard, which was John Cougar singing "In my Time of Dying" -- I had no idea he sang that song, he does it very well. Sylvia was shy and stayed on or next to my lap all evening, not talking to people but smiling.

posted evening of October 11th, 2004: Respond
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We ate the rest of the pumpkin pie at the guitar jam yesterday, everyone liked it, especially Bob. I mentioned The Plot Against America to Janis, who grew up in Newark; turns out she grew up in the Weequahic section, and her mother was in high school with Philip Roth! (And to answer a question that I had while reading the book, it's pronounced "WEEK-wa'ək".)

posted morning of October 11th, 2004: Respond
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Sunday, October 10th, 2004

I read Moominpappa at Sea today, really enjoyed getting to know Moominpappa. In the other books (excluding Moominpappa's Memoirs, which I have not yet read), he doesn't really emerge as a fully developed character, just serves as a foil for Moominmamma and other characters. I could really empathize with his frustration and his ill-defined desire to be making something meaningful.

I think the events in this book occur simultaneously with Moominvalley in November, although neither book says so explicitly.

posted evening of October 10th, 2004: Respond
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Saturday, October 9th, 2004

Finished The Plot Against America -- what a page-turner! It's been a while since I found myself drawn so strongly back to the book every time I put it down -- all day today I've been either reading it or intending to read it while I do something else. Next on my list is Moominpappa at Sea.

I made pumpkin pie today, from the recipe in Sundays at the Moosewood, and it came out very well.

posted evening of October 9th, 2004: Respond
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Friday, October 8th, 2004

The Plot Against America becomes totally mesmerizing and difficult to put down, about half way through. Also it loses the annoying quality of predictability that I was complaining about last time.

posted afternoon of October 8th, 2004: Respond
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Thursday, October 7th, 2004

With Sylvia the other day, I dropped by Bank Street Bookstore, my favorite place for children's books. (Right down the street is Labyrinth Books, my favorite place for philosophy books -- Pomander Books, my favorite (in NYC) used bookstore, used to be nearby but no more.)

We picked up some more Moominfamily books, and an Olivia jigsaw puzzle -- The next level of difficulty up from the jigsaws she has been doing, this one is 63 pieces and a wider variation of shapes.

posted afternoon of October 7th, 2004: Respond

Wednesday, October 6th, 2004

My attempt to re-read J.R. is now officially interrupted -- I did not get even as far into it as I did on the first reading of it. And let me say this about that book: it is beautifully written and often uproariously funny; but the plot is way too dense for my puny understanding to encompass. But. I will read it again in a few years and perhaps everything will fall into place.

The agent of disruption here is Philip Roth's new novel, The Plot Against America. I have been seeing articles about this for a while now and thinking, it sounds like an interesting premise; then there was a long review in Sunday's Times Book Review that really intrigued me; and whaddaya know, Monday afternoon found me in Coliseum Books handing the clerk my money.

And it's an interesting book, so far (about a quarter of the way through). Very readable and engaging, though I was thinking this afternoon the scenes move kind of predictably -- like I can see Roth setting up the scene and deciding what is going to happen in it. This is the first book I have read by Roth since I was in college, indeed since I was in my first year of college, when I read Portnoy's Complaint, Our Gang, and (I believe) Goodbye, Columbus.

posted evening of October 6th, 2004: Respond

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