"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." -Scout Finch

One of my all time favorite books To Kill A Mockingbird turns 50 this year and, according to a recent New York Times article 'A Classic Turns 50, and Parties Are Planned', there are celebrations going on around the country this summer. We'll be reviewing this fantastic book at a later date (when I get around to rereading it for the gizillionth time, I'll probably cry again too) but until then if you haven't read it yet get out there and do it! This is the time, you won't regret it I swear. I'll even loan you a copy (I have three). And if anyone wants to head down to Alabama to read it on the steps of a courthouse, while we fan ourselves in the hot sun, I'm in.

The 100 Best Books: Movie Edition #1--The Quiet American

After reading The Quiet American by Graham Greene we decided to watch the 2002 movie based upon the book. Now, first of all, I love Michael Caine who plays Thomas Fowler and, second of all, I'm not a huuuuge fan of Brendan Frasier who plays Alden Pyle (for those of you who are lost refer to our reviews of The Quiet American below). Does this really pose a problem though? I liked the character of Fowler in the book and disliked Pyle so it should actually be beneficial that I felt the same about the actors playing them. Michael Caine rocked it (although I personally think he should have smoked more opium) and Brendan Frasier actually did a decent job, even though he didn't get across the naivety perfectly.

Overall, we felt that this was a decent adaptation of the book. It changed details here and there, like all adaptations must do, but with a few exceptions they were not harmful to the overall feel of the original content. One thing we did have a problem with was in the movie Fowler does not speak French. This cut down on the awkwardness of some key scenes. The combination of two characters from the book into one in the movie was also unsettling (for reasons I can't divulge, you'll just have to read the book to find out why...).

One way in which the movie actually improved upon the book was in the character of Phuong. She actually seemed to have a say in what happened to her in the movie, even if Pyle did try to turn her into an America. Some sort of affect of modern girl power? Maybe. It also had amazing scenery. Kinda makes you want to go to war torn Vietnam. Almost.

Finially, I would like to leave you with one of my favorite Michael Caine quotes:
"There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch."

Sons and Bummers

"Paul loved to sleep with his mother. Sleep is still most perfect, inspite of hygienists, when it is shared with a beloved."
Sons and Lovers; the story of one man's (Paul's) strangely possessive relationship with his mother and how that leads to the ruin of the lives around him. Since he cannot be with his mother he treats the other women in his life horribly because they are not her.

Readability: Prose wise this book is readable enough. It's a pretty quick read also, if the subject matter doesn't keep putting you to sleep like it did to me. It's long though, ooh god, so very long.

Enjoyability (is that a word?): I wanted to enjoy this book, I really did. I'd never read any D.H. Lawrence and this book had been sitting on my shelf for years (I believe the result of one of my frequent Goodwill book binges). It started out promising enough, seeming similar to many turn-of-the-century British novels about working, family, changing society etc. etc., and I was secretly hoping for a few Victorian style naughty passages, but alas this was not to be! Soon I became slightly concerned because nothing much seemed to be happening and eventually this concern turned into despair when I realized I still had hundreds of pages of this book left to read. Characters are introduced willy nilly and then are, just as suddenly, dropped, only to reappear hundreds of pages later, giving you no time to form an emotional attachment to them, the narrative just wanders with no sense of purpose, everything takes longer than it should and few of the characters have positive qualities. To sum it up...I did not enjoy this book.

Favorite quote(s): "To be rid of our individuality, which is our will, which is our effort-to live effortless, a kind of curious sleep-that is very beautiful, I think; that is our after-life-our immortality."--Not 100 % sure what that means but I kinda like it.

"Whatever spot he stood on, there he stood alone. From his breast, from his mouth, sprang the endless space, and it was there behind him, everywhere. The people hurrying along the streets offered no obstruction to the void in which he found himself. They were small shadows whose footsteps and voices could be heard, but in each of them the same night, the same silence. He got off the car. In the country all was dead still. Little stars shone high up; little stars spread far away in the flood-waters, a firmament below. Everywhere the vastness and terror of the immense night which is roused and stirred for a brief while by the day, but which returns, and will remain at last eternal holding everything in its silence and its living gloom. There was no Time, only Space."

Favorite character: No one. Seriously, all of the main characters are horrible.

Least favorite character: Paul, the main character, and Mariam, one of his love interests. They are horrible for/to each other, they know it and yet they keep torturing each other for years in a crazy love-hate relationship. Neither of them ends up with what they want (if they even knew) and neither of them ends up happy. It's just depressing.

Social impact: The back of my copy claims this book is, "the most widely-read English novel of the twentieth century." I don't know the accuracy of this statement, but I feel sorry for all those twentieth century readers if that's the case, because there are sooooo many better books out there. The greatest social impact I can see from this book is the way in which it deals with domestic abuse and the long lasting affects that can have on a family. All these characters are unlikeable and some of them can blame it on the way abuse manifests itself upon them. I suppose this is also a relatively confessional semi-autobiographical book. But what really happened and what was made up? And why do autobiographies often suck so very much?

Greatest impact: How much I disliked it. D.H. Lawrence wrote many 'classic' novels and this makes me question if I'll ever want to read any of them. Maybe Lady Chatterley's Lover is better eh? Anyone? Opinions?

Recommended for: People who enjoy well written narratives where nothing really ever happens and none of the characters are particularly likeable. It's like the movie Closer, on all accounts a well made movie with good acting, but I hated all of the characters and their actions and so I hated the movie.

Overall: This book is getting booted off of the list. I won't say I'm heartbroken because I'm sure there are far better contenders out there, bring 'em on!

PS. This picture of D.H. Lawrence looks creepily like I pictured Paul.

Sons and Lovers, take 1

Well well, Sons and Lovers. This is one of those books that has been sitting on my to-read shelf for a long, long time, and not I can't quite remember why. Let me be honest: if it weren't for this project, I probably wouldn't ever have finished it. That said... Sons and Lovers is a story that is many things: history, family saga, autobiography, and a passionate tale of love between... mother and son.

Readability: Not too bad, really. The language isn't too difficult, except for when Mr. Morel opens his mouth. Good thing he's so irrelevant, because if he talked more I'm not sure I could have handled it. Example: "You'll be havin' th' roof in, one o' thse days.' An' I says, tha'd better stan' on a bit o' clunch, then, an' hold it up wi' thy 'ead. So 'e wor that mad, 'e cossed an' e' swore, an' t'other chaps they did laugh." Okay, so he's a miner, but the colloquial bits are hard to get through.

Enjoyability: I would give it 2 of 5 stars. I thought it was repetitive, somewhat boring, and I didn't really like any of the characters.
And seriously, every other minute Lawrence describes someone as 'and then he loved her,' and then 5 seconds later says 'and then he hated her.' The characters are all petty and cruel to eachother, even when they're in love. Redeeming qualities? I did really like the last few pages, when Paul is coming to terms with being alone in the world and is having to make the ultimate choice between life and death. The writing is just lovely, and it made me wish there had been a bit more of that earlier on.

Best quote:
"Where was he?--one tiny upright speck of flesh, less than an ear of wheat lost in the field. He could not bear it. On every side the immense dark silence seemed pressing him, so tiny a spark, into extinction, and yet, almost nothing, he could not be extinct. Night, in which everything was lost, went reaching out, beyond stars and sun. Stars and sun, a few bright grains, went spinning round for terror, and holding each other in embrace, there in a darkness that outpassed them all, and left them tiny and daunted. So much, and himself infinitesimal, at the core of nothingness, and yet not nothing."

Favorite/least favorite characters: This is going to sound sexist, but I basically hated all the male characters. Mr. Morel is an abusive alcoholic, William is a bully, Paul is a jerk and a self-centered baby. I wasn't super fond of any of the women, either - Mrs. Morel loves her children but is super clingy and cares more about herself then about them being happy. Clara intrigued me - a suffragette! But she too lets Paul treat her badly and then goes back to her jerk of a husband. Poor Miriam also allows Paul to treat her badly and is kind of pathetic. Annie is one person I wanted to hear more from - she is barely mentioned, except at the very end. I know this is sometimes considered a very modern model for it's time, but the gender roles are as entrenched here as anywhere.

Modern day equivalent of the Morel family: Arrested Development's the Bluths, of course. Mr. Morel is George Bluth, the figure head, but who actually doesn't have the most power in the family. Mrs. Morel is Lucille, the person who actually holds the power, and clings obsessively to her children. William is Michael, the eldest and most ambitious. William, for obvious reasons (no spoilers here though!), can't "keep the family together," and is actually quite an ass. Annie is Lindsey, Arthur is Job (rash, terrible decision maker, not bothered about much by the family), and of course Paul is Buster. The comparisons are endless - Paul is in love with his mother, refuses to commit to either of the age-appropriate women in his life because of his mother, etc. etc. The best example? Paul says "No, mother - I really don't love her. I talk to her, but I want to come home to you!" Okay, Paul, we know. If there was a 'Motherboy' dance in 1900, you would have been there.

Social impact: At the time Sons and Lovers first came out, it was one of the first books to look at the lives of the lower classes and I agree it does a good job showing us what their lives were like. It also examines sexuality much more openly than other literature of the time, although I'm not sure this is a strength - parts of this read like a bad romance novel.

A second look at Nine Stories

I should probably preface this by saying that I plan to name my first child Seymour. Yes, as in see more glass. So I will try to be objective in relating my thoughts on Nine Stories, but… don’t you say that I didn’t warn you.

Readability: Think a good book is always dense and full of long sentences and extra adjectives? Wrong, and this is the book that proves it. This is a book to read on a long rainy weekend, and it won’t take much longer because you won’t want to put it down.

Enjoyability: Extraordinary. I feel like some short stories are sort of hard to get into, and then by the time you have they are over. But with Salinger’s stories I feel in it, right away, and then I’m just sad when they’re over. These stories make me happy, sad, wistful, hopeful, laugh (yes, out loud… and I’m not being facetious, they really do). This is a book that I want to re-read often, and have, and will.

Best quotes:
"The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid."
- de Daumier-Smith

"I want them to have a nice time while they're alive, because they like having a nice time.. but they don't love me and Booper - that's my sister - that way. I mean they don't seem agble to love us just the way we are. They don't seem able to love us unl3ess they can keep changing us a little bit. They love their reasons for loving us almost as much as they love us, and most of the time more. It's not so good, that way."
- Teddy

"I remember wanting to do something about that enormous-faced wristwatch she was wearning - perhaps suggest that she try wearing it around her waist."
- X

Favorite story: Hard to choose… I love ‘Down at the Dinghy,’ ‘Bananafish,’ and ‘For Esme – With Love and Squalor’ so much I hardly know what to say about them. That they are charming and sad and perfect, I suppose. But in this re-reading of Nine Stories I was unexpectedly struck by ‘The Laughing Man.’ I love picturing a bus full of adoring ten-year-old boys, listening rapturously to their leader as he tells stories about a renegade hero whose hides his hideous face (smashed in a vice by kidnappers when he was a young child, of course) behind a red veil. And then being stunned and heart broken when… well, I won’t give it all away. Call it a microcosm of growing up, maybe. Weird and wonderful.

Least favorite: Hands down, ‘Pretty mouth and green my eyes.’ Suffice to say it leaves me feeling let down and a little cheated. Although it must also be said that being my least favorite of this bunch isn’t saying much.

Favorite character: Seymour, Boo Boo, and the Chief… I think what makes Salinger’s writing about children so poignant is that he treats them like they are actually people, and that’s what I like about his best characters, too.

Least favorite: It’s a tie between that jerk Muriel (I know you liked her, Seymour, but she wasn’t good enough for you) and Teddy’s parents (also enormous jerks). We’d all have been better off without them.

Recommended for: people who liked Catcher in the Rye, people who like children, people who want to like short stories and so far just don’t, people who live in rainy places.

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

"Life is a gift horse in my opinion"--Teddy

While not a novel but instead a collection of short stories I would like to contend that, combined with Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roofbeams Carpenters and Seymour the combination of stories about the Glass family, the family of geniuses, constitute a novel. Nine Stories is simply the best introduction to these compilations.

Many of these stories are centered around interactions between adults and children and how those interactions help the adults see something in themselves--sometimes positive, sometimes negative. The adults are either flawed and insecure (check) or those other people, you know, the ones you like to make fun of. The kids are, for the most part, some kind of uber-intelligent, precocious and yet fragile combination and only those flawed but sensitive adults can really communicate with them.
The physical and psychological affects of war also lay heavily on many of these individuals.

Readability: Personally, I'm a big fan of of the dialogue in these stories (especially that of the children), the rather sly humor and the way he describes people's simple movements, "He folded the robe, first lengthwise, then in thirds. He unrolled the towel he had used over his eyes, spread it out on the sand, and then laid the folded robe on top of it. He bent over picked up the float, and secured it under his right arm. Then, with his left hand, he took Sybil's hand." Unnecessarily long description, maybe, but do I want to know that he grabbed her hand with his left hand, yes.

Enjoyability (is that a word?): All the stories are enjoyable in their own way, I like to pick it up and read the story that best fits my current mood.

Favorite quote(s):
"Twenty minutes later they were finishing their first highball in the living room and were talking in the manner peculiar, probably limited, to former college roommates"--Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
"She put her hands and wrists further forward on the table and I remember wanting to do something about that enormous faced wristwatch she was wearing--perhaps suggest that she try wearing it around her waist"--For Esme--with Love and Squalor
"It was a long time before X could set the letter aside, let alone lift Esme's father's wristwatch out of the box. When he did finally lift it out, he saw that its crystal had been broken in transit. He wondered if the watch was otherwise undamaged, but he hadn't the courage to wind it and find out.--For Esme--with Love and Squalor
"This was the sort of question Mrs. Snell slipped into as if it were an ermine coat." --Down at the Dinghy
"Her Joke of a name aside, her general unprettiness aside, she was--in terms of permanently memorable, immoderately perceptive, small-are faces--a stunning and final girl." --Down at the Dinghy
"I'll exquisite day you, buddy, if you don't get down off that bag this minute. And I mean it."--Teddy
"Yes, sure, I love Him. But I don't love Him sentimentally. He never said anybody had to love Him sentimentally,' Teddy said. 'If I were God, I certainly wouldn't want people to love me sentimentally. It's too unreliable."--Teddy

Favorite character: Seymour mainly because of his impact in other Salinger stories, Teddy, Bo Bo (really anyone in the Glass family), Esme and her brother, Sergent X, Lionel...aaand I'm stopping before I mention every character.

Least favorite character: Muriel's mother in A Perfect Day for a Bananafish. Its a fantastic story but I just can't stand her.

Social impact: The greatest social impact of Salinger's writings seems to have come from his status as a mad man recluse for the last 40 or so years. Ooh, and that he also wrote that book Catcher in the Rye that everyone was FORCED to read in High School. I'd hate to think this would deter anyone from reading his other work, cause it's really worth a look.

Greatest impact: Be ready for some ending shockers but also some great connections between people and surprising one-liners that come out of nowhere.

Best Stories: A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, Down at the Dinghy, For Esme--with Love and Squalor, Teddy

Recommended for: Fans of rainy days, Belle and Sebastian and Wes Anderson (I stole this from someone else but...any of these characters would slip right into the Tenenbaum family...) but, you'd better not be a phony.

Overall: Sigh, I just really love this book. It's always been comforting to return to and read a story here and there over the years and I find myself mentioning things from it in everyday conversation (slightly embarrassingly). A good introduction to Salinger's short stories, but really, they're all pretty great.


Salinger had many more stories published in various magazines over time but they were never put into book form. Someday I will search out these stories, but until that day comes, here's some information on them and where they can be found.

http://www.deadcaulfields.com/UncollectedList.html http://www.deadcaulfields.com/Unpublished.html

Also, since the death of Salinger, there have been rumors of a possible treasure trove of written work hidden in his home written after he became a crazy recluse. Does it make me a bad person that I was a little excited when he died?

http://theweek.com/article/index/105708/JD_Salingers_unpublished_work_What_now

The Quiet American

Readability: Not one of those books that starts out with a bang... from the very beginning people, places, and things you've never heard of are involved, and it's a little tough to get into. Get through the first 30 pages or so though, and things start to get interesting.

Enjoyability: Liked it. A lot (this surprised me a little). Good story, great writing (doesn't use unnecessary adjectives, I appreciate that in a person). What I liked best was that the characters were like real people, people who have good qualities but are also flawed, people I felt conflicted about.

Favorite quote(s):
"We all get involved in a moment of emotion and then we cannot get out. War and Love - they have always been compared." That's deep, Mr. Greene.

Favorite character: Thomas Fowler. First let me say that by "favorite," here, I don't mean that I would want to sit and have a drink with Mr. Fowler. I sort of picture him as one of those morose old guys you'd see sitting in a corner at the pub (probably throwing dice and drinking a vermouth cassis, whatever the hell that is) who would probably be as likely as not to strike up a conversation about how much he hates England or how he'd rather die than be alone when he's old. It would not be cheerful. That said, he's definitely my favorite character in this book. Fowler is not, by outward appearance, a likeable person: he is jaded and cynical, drinks, smokes opium, and cheats on his wife. He repeatedly claims to be disengaged, impartial, and univolved, and takes pride in this. What we find throughout the book, though, is that he's anything but unengaged. Fowler turns out to be the character who is willing to see the realities of War rather than being satisfied with the "safe" official Press Conferences, and ultimately the one person who is willing to take action to support his principles. I respect that.

Least favorite character: Pyle, the quiet american himself. Just thinking about him makes me mad. Here comes this young American guy who doesn't drink and doesn't sleep around and is such a romantic and is... innocent. Fowler says "What's the good? he'll always be innocent, you can't blame the innocent, they are always guiltless... Innocence is a kind of insanity." And though I respect Fowler, on this particular point I completely disagree. I think you can absolutely blame the innocent... just because Pyle happens to be bumblingly innocent doesn't mean he's not culpable for his actions, no matter the good intentions he walked in with. At one point Pyle and Fowler are standing together looking at the chaos after a bomb explodes, which Pyle had a role in creating, and he looks down at his shoes at says, 'What's that?' and Fowler goes 'Blood... haven't you ever seen it before?' I admire his control... I think I would have punched Pyle in the eye. I seriously don't like that guy.

Social impact: A commentary on colonialism, with haunting foreshadowing to the United States/Vietnam war. Interesting also that in a novel written 55 years ago featured an American who got involved in a conflict overseas that he didn't really understand which then led to some pretty negative consequences... remind you of anything?

Person I felt bad for, but who I wished would just grow a backbone already: Phuong, of course, the Vietnamese woman who lives with Fowler and then with Pyle and then with Fowler again. I just feel bad for her. Here's her country, being meddled with by all these foreign powers, and she's got this guy who kind of loves her but kind of treats her like a dishrag, and then she finally leaves him and what does he do? Well, I wouldn't want to spoil it for you, but that doesn't end well either. Kind of sad, but she doesn't put up enough fuss to really make you feel much about at all.

Recommended for: People who like the Jason Bourne books/movies but can handle a little less action, people interested in colonialism or Vietnam, Americans who can handle a little bit of criticism (I agree that this book could be considered a bit anti-American... but on the other hand, it's not really pro- any other nation or people, either).