I Take This Book

I am attending a wedding this weekend and I have some wedding-themed literature lined up to read. I'll probably only manage to read one of the following but I thought I would share the ones that I have in mind. Do you like to theme your reading around things you are doing or places you are going? It isn't something that I do frequently but I thought it would be fun and weddings make me happy.

The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers: With delicacy of perception and memory, humour and pathos, Carson McCullers spreads before us the three phases of a weekend crisis in the life of a motherless twelve-year-old girl. Within the span of a few hours, the irresistible, hoydenish Frankie passionately plays out her fantasies at her elder brother's wedding. Through a perilous skylight we look into the mind of a child torn between her yearning to belong and the urge to run away.

Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker: Cassandra Edwards is a graduate student at Berkeley: gay, brilliant, nerve-wracked, miserable. At the beginning of this novel, she drives back to her family ranch in the foothills of the Sierras to attend the wedding of her identical twin, Judith, to a nice young doctor from Connecticut. Cassandra, however, is hell-bent on sabotaging the wedding.
Dorothy Baker's entrancing tragicomic novella follows an unpredictable course of events in which her heroine appears variously as conniving, self-aware, pitiful, frenzied, absurd, and heartbroken—at once utterly impossible and tremendously sympathetic. Cassandra reckons with her complicated feelings about the sister who she feels owes it to her to be her alter ego; with her father, a brandy-soaked retired professor of philosophy; and with the ghost of her dead mother, as she struggles to come to terms with the only life she has.
First published in 1962, Cassandra at the Wedding is a book of enduring freshness, insight, and verve. Like the fiction of Jeffrey Eugenides and Jhumpa Lahiri, it is the work of a master stylist with a profound understanding of the complexities of the heart and mind.

The Wedding by Dorothy West: Set on the Elysian isle of Martha's Vineyardm among an insular community of proud and prosperous black families, Dorothy West's first novel for nearly fifteen years centres around the marriage of Shelby Coles, daughter of the community's foremost family to a struggling white jazz musician. Not just the story of one wedding, but of many, this thought-provoking and deeply interesting novel offers insights into issues of race, prejudice and identity while maintaining its firm belief in the compensatory power of love.

I also have The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty and The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood to hand but those are only wedding-themed in their similar titles only. I want to read all three of the books detailed above but I am leaning towards the one pictured and the one I know most about, Cassandra at the Wedding. Verity read this thematically over the summer and I have been saving it to read until I had a wedding to attend also.

Of course, it being the first weekend in December, I am also preparing a pile of Christmas reads but more on that another day...

Trip home

I'm going home for a long weekend next week to visit family and friends; I have a friend visiting from overseas so it will be a busy time with a belated Thanksgiving dinner surrounded by lunches, coffees and drinks plus some quality time with my parents, sister and my cat, Mandoo. I probably won't have much reading time except for when I'm at the airport and flying up but nonetheless that does not prevent me from planning which books I am taking with me. Whenever I venture out, I have a book in my bag as I like to be prepared for all eventualities and potential reading time. For four nights at home I am conservatively packing two books -preferably chunky ones- but I have books at home, some of which I am planning to bring back with me.

Now this is where you come in. I have a shortlist of potential reads to take with me but I am having difficulty deciding between them. Which would you recommend/suggest travel with me?

What is the What by Dave Eggers: this comes highly recommended by Claire of Kiss a Cloud. The copy I have is from the library so reading it is time-sensitive. 560 pages.

Synopsis: At the heart of this astonishing novel is a true story of courage and endurance in the face of one of the most brutal civil wars the world has ever known. Valentino Achak Deng is just a boy when conflict separates him from his family and forces him to leave his small Sudanese village, joining thousands of other orphans on their long, long walk to Ethiopia, where they find safety - for a time. Along the way Valentino encounters enemy soldiers, liberation rebels and deadly militias, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation. But there are experiences ahead that will test his spirit in even greater ways than these...Truly epic in scope, and told with expansive humanity, deep compassion and unexpected humour, What is the What is an eye-opening account of life amid the madness of war and an unforgettable tale of tragedy and triumph.

Manja by Anna Gmeyer: the latest Persephone to pique my curiosity, a reader very kindly sent me a copy of my own. 552 pages.

Written in London by a young Austrian playwright in exile, Manja opens, radically, with five conception scenes one night in 1920. Set in the turbulent Germany of the Weimar Republic, it goes on, equally dramatically, to describe the lives of the children and their families until 1933 when the Nazis came to power. 'What is so unusual,' wrote the playwright Berthold Viertel in 1938, 'is the way the novel contrasts the children's community - in all its idealism, romanticism, decency and enchantment - with the madhouse community of the adults.'

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan: Frances of Nonsuch Book sent me a copy of this collection of short stories after I won a give-away on her blog. This is garnering a lot of attention on the blogosphere and otherwise just now, not least because it is the latest choice of Oprah's Book Club. I actually had a copy borrowed from the library but was so glad that I could return it when I received my own copy. 384 pages.

Synopsis: 'Nothing interests Maman today, not even Jean, her favorite child ...She acts dumb, bewitched, like a goat that the neighborhood children have fed sorghum beer.' This extraordinary collection ranges from the depiction of a street family's poverty in Kenya, illegal trading of children in Gabon to inter-religious conflicts in Nigeria and Ethiopia and the terrible situation faced by a mixed Hutu-Tsutsi family in Rwanda. Say You're One of Them is fiction with real emotional punch and told from the viewpoints of children - the innocent victims - is powerful, vivid and deeply moving. Uwem Akpan's ability to capture a child's imagination and his skilful portrayal of the situations they have to endure makes this a truly compelling read.

This book comes with both a caveat and a concern. JoAnn of Lakeside Musing recommends taking this collection slowly, perhaps a story at a time, as it is emotionally draining so perhaps it is not the best choice for a short break. Furthermore, I would prefer not to read this consecutively with What is the What due to similar subject matter.

The Bell by Iris Murdoch: I have been meaning to read Iris Murdoch for some time and she comes highly recommended by Naomi of Bloomsbury Bell (the "bell" of her blog name is taken from this title) who suggested I start here. 352 pages.

Synopsis: Dora Greenfield, erring wife, returns to live with her husband in a lay community encamped outside Imber Abbey, home to a mysterious enclosed order of nuns. Watched over by its devout director and the discreet authority of the wise old Abbess, Imber Court is a haven for lost souls seeking tranquility. But then the lost Abbey bell, legendary symbol of religion and magic, is rediscovered, and hidden truths and desires are forced into the light.

Kieron Smith, Boy by James Kelman: I have been wanting to read this book for several months and seeing as I am going home to Glasgow, it seems a perfect choice. 432 pages.

Synopsis: Rejected by his brother and largely ignored by his parents, Kieron Smith finds comfort - and endless stories - in the home of his much-loved grandparents. But when his family move to a new housing scheme on the outskirts of Glasgow, a world away from the close community of the tenements, Kieron struggles to find a way to adapt to his new life. Kieron Smith, boy is a brilliant evocation of an urban childhood. Capturing the joys, frustrations, injustices, excitements, revels, battles, games, uncertainties, questions, lies, discoveries and sheer of wonder of boyhood, it is a story of one boy and every boy. It is James Kelman at his very best.

There are a couple more contenders -including a book or two that may or may not turn up before I go- but these are the front-runners. Any opinions either way? If this is me planning for a long weekend, think what I'll be like in the lead-up to Christmas when I'll be spending two weeks at home!

A mish-mash of book related things

I hate hay fever. My head hurts and I haven't made much headway in my leaning tower of to-be-read books this week. I could catch up on some overdue reviews but my thoughts are too fuzzy. I am struggling with two books that I do need to finish: one is Lady Chatterley's Lover for book group next week and the other is a review copy that I need to finish reading and write up for the end of the month; the former I have barely made a dent in and the latter I am enjoying but do not seem to be progressing with at any great rate.

To give myself some semblance of reading achievement this week I have started to read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a book that I have been meaning to read for some time. When I read "breathing the finest pollen in the world, book dust, with which to develop literary allergies" in Bradbury's preface to the novel, I knew I had made a good choice. Fahrenheit 451 immediately ignites the imagination and I look forward to reading more and sharing my thoughts. I need to finish it quickly so that I can return it to the library and collect a few requests but I don't think that will be much of a problem, providing my head allows me. Perhaps I should be relieved that I only have hay fever and not a bout of Swine Flu since it seems to be spreading at an almost alarming rate in my home city...

Season 2 of the HBO series True Blood based on the Sookie Stackhouse Vampire Mysteries series began this week and upon watching the premiere I tried to request the second book in the series (I read the first at the beginning of the first series last Autumn). Regrettably the library don't stock it but when lamenting that to a friend he very generously offered to post it down to me and it arrived today along with the next two in the series! He thought that they would keep me occupied and they certainly will; this series is my guilty pleasure and pure addictive fun (um, a bit like Twilight ... so you could say I have two guilty pleasures). This is also the friend who introduced me to the Armistead Maupin Tales of the City series two summers ago so you could say that he is a great friend indeed, and he really is. He is also off to San Franciso tonight, of which I am very envious, and will be taking photos of famous locations from Tales of the City.

Oh, that reminds me of one of the most obscure book-related anecdotes that I have to share... as I was reading one of the books from the series, on a train home after work one night and immersed in the fun of 28 Barbary Lane, I was interrupted by somebody asking "are you in love?" I looked up startled to find the train conductor looking at me oddly and as I was too busy checking for the exits and calculating my chances of survival if I jumped from a moving train I didn't answer in a hurry (even though, yes, I am very much in love). Perhaps noticing my panicked state he elaborated, "I mean with Michael?" Ah... strange conductor on train is actually engaging me in literary conversation and is asking if I am in love with the main protagonist of the series, Michael Tolliver, I realised and sighed with relief. I managed to find my breath and squeak "Yes". Later on as he passed through the carriage again he apologised after realising that he had freaked me the hell out.

Lastly, did anyone read this article on today's Guardian online? I actually have a copy of ANONthology that I picked up from my local bookshop recently but you can download a copy for free from the website. This makes for an interesting experiment and I look forward to participating. Now back to the reading and taking of painkillers.

May Retrospective

May was such a wonderful month for reading that it bears blogging about. I read sixteen books (well, I finished two in June, but April's reading filtered into the first days of May so it all evens out); sixteen is a huge record for me - last year I averaged six a month and earlier this year it was nine, but I do have more time on my hands just now. Here are the sixteen books read:

1. Loitering with Intent, Muriel Spark
2. The Blue Fox, Sjon
3. Equal Rites, Terry Pratchett
4. Mort, Terry Pratchett
5. The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett
6. Some Prefer Nettles, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
7. If I Stay, Gayle Forman
8. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery
9. The Woman in Black, Susan Hill
10. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, Julia Strachey
11. Miss Chopsticks, Xinran
12, Sheconomics, Karen Pine & Simone Gressen
13. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, Eva Rice
14. Little red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Other Classic Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, Angela Carter
15. The Snow Goose, Paul Gallico
16. The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters

Of the sixteen, a number were stand-outs. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and The Uncommon Reader were all library books but they were so thoroughly enchanting that I have to add them to my collection now at some point so that I can re-read them ALL. Mort is now one of my favourite Discworld novels and that is quite the endorsement as I am passionately attached to the Watch novels. If I Stay was such an unexpected enjoyment and a book that I would not have discovered if it wasn't for blogging (the same applies to The Lost Art and Elegance). A battered Penguin copy of The Snow Goose was picked up for 90p and was a heartbreaking read; it is also one of the 1000 Guardian books. There's a sprinkling of disappointments amongst the sixteen but overall May was such a joyful month for reading that those can be overlooked.

Reading Notes

I was having an email discussion with my friend this morning about what we were currently reading (prompted by an email from me to say that he must read Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie - blog post forthcoming). He happens to be currently reading four books and I thought that my reply would make for a good blog post today.

Normally I read one book at a time but, coincidentally, I am also reading four books at once just now:

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
Something Childish But Very Natural by Katherine Mansfield
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman (I am listening to the audiobook -read by Neil- and reading along.)
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

How unlike me to :

1. Be reading more than one book at once
2. Be reading such a lot of short stories (I love short stories but sometimes I struggle with the form ... I think because they are so short (go figure) and, unless written by a great writer, fail to grasp my attention. Katherine Mansfield is the first short story teller who I recall enjoying, in 3rd year of secondary school, and I love Neil Gaiman, whose short stories are fabulous.)
3. Be reading non-fiction. I love reading about books though and I am particularly into my writing just now, so this book is of great assistance (and prompted me to pick up Katherine Mansfield again as it's been a wee while since I read any). This book was a birthday gift from my boyfriend last year and is proving to be practical, interesting and invaluable. It also tickles me that the author of this guide has the surname Prose, hee.

Diversity in Reading Meme

I borrowed this meme from Danielle and thought it would be interesting to complete. I don't have a "comfort zone" when it comes to reading; I read for the pleasure of reading and, consequently, the books I pick up can be wide and far-reaching.

Name the last book by a female author that you've read.

The last book I read (finished yesterday): Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie. Funnily enough, a shortlisted title from the only all-female literature prize, the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Name the last book by an African or African-American author that you've read.
James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room in January and immediately preceding that, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

Name one from a Latino/a author.
Love in the Time of Cholera in February.

How about one from an Asian country or Asian-American?
Burnt Shadows can also be categorised here.

What about a GLBT writer?
Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith, this month.

Why not name an Israeli/Arab/Turk/Persian writer, if you're feeling lucky?
Egyptian: The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif in January. Prior to that that, last year I read The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak (Turkish); The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani (Persian); Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (also Persian) and The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. As I said, I can be a versatile reader although patterns in my reading at a particular time can often be traced.

Any other "marginalized" authors you've read lately?
Hmmm, I don't regard any of my recent reads (including the ones above) as "marginalized". I've read a lot of English writers recently, a lot of women writers, a number of classics and of translated work, Russian and French. If I was on my soapbox then I would suggest that Ali Smith is also marginalised because she is a Scottish novelist (who lives in England) but I'm not, so I won't.

Answering some of these questions makes me feel uncomfortable and even guilty. I don't read "marginalized" writers because they are marginalised or because I think I have to; I read these books because I want to, because there is something about the book that interests me and/or excites me and I often discover a great book, a great writer, and, yes, sometimes a rich, marginalised category of literature.