I'm back!

I'm back! My conference was more draining the usual since we had a much smaller even crew than normal, and I had a TON of work waiting when I got back to the office, so I've barely had time to breathe much less read or blog this week. And my Google Reader is out of control, although I've tried to read through some of them and make at least a couple of comments this week, but that's about the extent of my reading in general this week. Things are going really well at work, I'm just mentally drained from answering questions and writing and proofing at work this week to do much of anything except watch the Olympics and night and catch up on my shows from last week. The massive amount of Olympic hockey games this week hasn't helped either.
But, I did manage to read one book on the way to San Diego and one on the way back, and I have a review I didn't write of a book I finished right before my trip, so I'll get that written as well. By the end of the weekend I plan to have those three posts written, finish and write about the Lord of the Rings (which I should be posting tomorrow but will not be finishing that quickly), finish at least two of the library books I'm in the middle of, make a dent in my laundry and actually unpack, clean out my work inbox and catch up on my Google Reader. Yikes! Or maybe I'll just lounge on the couch with my cats! Especially since I'll have four more hockey games to watch. I really want to catch up though, and I really want to clean up my library pile because my goal is to finish this current stack and then try to read my own books for a while instead of being distracted by all the library books. I do not need to have 20 books checked from the library when I have a ton of unread books at home. My goal is to read through most of my unread books by the end of the year. I realize "most" is a rather vague goal and I should probably be a little more concrete, but I don't really want to count the number of books I own that I haven't read. I've gone to too many library book sales!
Anyway, welcome back, and I promise I'll have real posts by the end of the weekend!

Missing in Action

My husband called just a little while ago and told me our wireless internet router died. And we won't be able to get another one until Sunday due to his work schedule. So, no blogging for me until Monday. :(
Then I head to San Diego on Tuesday and won't be back until the following Sunday, so I probably won't be blogging much for the next week. I just didn't want to you to think I've disappeared.
Don't be too jealous of my trip to San Diego. It's for business, and I'll be on the event crew working 14-hour days (at least) most days. Downstairs at 6:00 a.m. and not wrapping up until 8:00 p.m. most days. And Saturday we have a big gala at night, so I work until somewhere between 10 and midnight after starting my day at 6:00 a.m., with a couple of hour break in the middle of the day for a quick nap and getting ready for the formal that night. It's fun overall and I enjoy seeing all of our company's franchisees, but it's a bit tiring so the blogging probably won't happen much. People who think event planning is glamorous are wrong! :) It's a lot of aching feet and putting out fires. I'm glad I just help with our events and am not a full-time event planner.
Anyway, I will rejoin the blogging world as soon as I can! Happy reading in the mean time.

Plum Bun

I was a little jealous of the people getting to read Their Eyes Were Watching God, one of my favorite books, for the Classics Circuit's Harlem Renaissance bonanza. But I wanted to read something by someone I was unfamiliar with, and selected Plum Bun by Jessie Redmon Fauset, written in 1929. And I am so glad I did. It was wonderful. It definitely shot up my list of favorite books and will be one I buy for myself, as the copy I read I borrowed from the library. (The copy had a library print out in it from 2005. I hope that doesn't mean I'm the only one to read it since then. And we have only one copy in my library's system, and it's at the "black" library, the Ralph Ellison library. That's tragic people.)
This book would be outstanding to teach to high school students, or at least college students. It's about race, but it's also about sexism and what is was like to be a woman in 1929, it's a love story, it's about right and wrong, and integrity. There is so much to discuss, I'm not sure how to cover it all in one post, or choose what to leave out. So go read it for yourselves!
Plum Bun is the story of Angela Murray, a girl in a middle-class black family in Philadelphia. Angela and her mother can both pass for white. Her father and sister cannot. First and foremost, I came to care greatly for both Angela and her sister Virginia, and to a lesser extent their parents. I connected to them almost immediately and couldn't wait to find out what happens to them. The book starts with Angela at age 14 and goes until she's 27, or at least that's the last year that's mentioned, but she may actually be about 30 at the end. I completely identified with her, which is a wonderful testament to Fauset's ability, since I'm a white girl from modern-day Oklahoma.
As someone who can pass for white, Angela has a unique set of challenges and choices. When she meets new people, they assume she is white, and when they learn she is not, they usually recoil and demand to know why she didn't tell them. When she is younger, it never occurs to her to tell people this. What, should she wear a sign on her forehead? And if the person liked her five minutes ago when they thought she was white, why do they dislike her now? Eventually, she realizes the advantages to being seen as white, and decides to move to NYC, where no one knows her and therefore can't discover that she's not. This opens up opportunities to her she would not have as a person who looks black. The novel makes you question those choices and wonder about what you would do in each situation she faces. I could completely understand why she would try to pass for white and try to create a successful career that way. I'm not sure that that's right, but I can't say it's wrong. What's interesting is that it's hard to tell what Fauset thinks exactly. They do discuss race in the book, and a character at one point says that when a black person succeeds, whites see it as an exception, something was good about that individual, and if they have any mixed blood they attribute that to the white blood. But if a black person doesn't succeed, it's a representative of their whole race. I think Angela takes that to heart and feels like if she announces she's black, people will credit any good she does to her white blood anyway, and it will limit her opportunities. So why not do what she can for herself?
Of course, this leads to another set of challenges. Does she start a relationship with a rich racist white male? How does she treat her sister? How far exactly will she go?
Another aspect of the novel addresses the challenges of being a woman during this time. Even passing for white leaves her with a set of challenges. She's a young single woman navigating a new terrain. In the 1920s, it becomes more common for people to have sex outside of marriage, for virginity to be less valued than it was, and for women to discuss their sexuality. For an innocent young girl, this can easily lead to trouble.
However, I was surprised at the relative independence Angela had. She had her own place and a job. She had people over, including men alone in her apartment. That just surprised me a little. And that opens up other choices - does she have an affair with a man because she can gain materially from it? Is that better or worse than selling out her race? Again, Fauset doesn't guide the reader to a judgment.
Finally, at its heart Plum Bun is also a love story. You aren't sure if it's a tragic love story or a happy one until the very end. There are layers of relationships intertwined the above situations that complicate everything. Angela questions the very nature of love and if it's just something to use to gain what you want or if it's something more.
The subtitle to Plum Bun is "A Novel without a Moral." I find that ironic, because it's full of moral issues. Every page screams with choices that can be hotly contested with both sides taking what they feel is the moral high road. But it's an appropriate subtitle because Fauset refrains from inserting her opinion. I can guess at what she felt, but that's my reading my own views into it. She leaves everything with shades of gray, which is an interesting description since so much of the novel is about black and white and what's in between. But you can apply the principle to other issues, for example, is it okay to use your looks to get what you want? What attractive person hasn't used their looks to get something? Isn't that what Angela does? But does that demean yourself? It happens every second. Yet I think we would be quick to judge Angela because she's betraying her race. Personally, people often underestimate me because of my size. If I round up I'm 5'1". But I can't even begin to count the times I've used that too my advantage. I just found that fascinating.
I adored this novel overall and encourage you to give it a try. It really made me think, and I know it's one that will stick with me for a while, and color my choices in the near future.
Make sure to check out the other posts on the Harlem Renaissance this month at the Classics Circuit.

Shakespeare Wrote for Money

Shakespeare Wrote for Money made me fall a little bit in love with Nick Hornby. I knew nothing about him before reading this, but for some reason I had the impression he would be rather pretentious and literary in an annoying way, like he's trying to hard. Instead, I loved it! He wasn't like that at all. This is actually what I thought I would feel about Ex Libris, which is I was really looking forward reading, and I almost took this back to the library unread. I am so glad I didn't!
Shakespeare Wrote for Money is a collection of essays from Hornby's Stuff I'm Reading column in Believer magazine. Hornby is not at all stuck up and was actually quite funny and entertaining. And he likes books that are also entertaining. They may also be literary, but he prefers the non-boring books. My favorite part of the book was when he talks about the Alex Awards, which are awarded to the top 10 books each year that were written for adults but that would appeal to young adults. In Hornby's words, they are therefore not-boring books. And shouldn't everyone want to read those? Then he rattled off some titles of his own favorite not-boring books, and he included I Capture the Castle, one of my all-time favorites.
I also enjoyed the first essay, where he talks about his desire to move to Oxford, MS, and sit on a veranda and walk to Faulkner's house. My advisor for my undergrad degree specialized in Faulkner and studied at Ole Miss, so with that and the picture of this Londoner wanting to move to Mississippi was quite funny.
The good and not-so-good part of this book was that I kept adding more and more books to my want-to-read list, which is already stuffed full at the moment. And I want to read them all RIGHT NOW. I think that's why I tend to read so many books at once, because I want to eat them all up and make sure I don't miss one and it makes me feel like I'm making more progress.
Hornby mentions a friend of his who takes a few days between finishing books to let the book sink in. I was immediately horrified - think of all the wasted time! Apparently Hornby agrees: "Those of us who read neurotically, however - to ward off boredom, and the fear of our own ignorance, and our impending deaths - can't afford the time."
I think that explains my need to read so many books at once - what if I need that random fact on page 34 of the book about the Tolkien tomorrow, and I make myself finish The Lacuna first? What if I die tomorrow without having read a word of Hilary Mantel? Shouldn't I at least start Wolf Hall so I have at least read a little bit? What if there's something better out there than the book I'm reading right now and I miss it because I'm struggling through this one? And so I end up reading 10 books at once. I have done a much better job of this so far this year though. Until last week I was limiting myself to two at once, but I couldn't seem to focus last week and kept hopping around. It's mainly non-fiction so it's not a big deal, but I'm still trying to not let myself reach double digits. It got so out of control at one point last year that I stopped to count how many books I was currently reading (and had read something of in the last six weeks) and once I reached 20 I stopped counting. I made myself sit down and go through one at a time to finish them all quickly and get that calmed down a bit. Since I finished Shakespeare Wrote for Money this morning, I'm only in the middle of three right now - Plum Bun, Enchanted (about Audrey Hepburn), and Orlando. Oh. And Inventing English. So four. I guess I got up to five yesterday, but I'm finishing Plum Bun tonight so I can review it tomorrow for the Classics Circuit and then I'll be back down to three.
Anyway, I adored Shakespeare Wrote for Money and look forward to reading many of the books he discussed and more Hornby.

Ex Libris

I expected to love Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman. I think that I assumed that since she loves reading enough to write a book about it, I would feel an immediate affinity with her. But I just didn't connect with her. Something about her writing made me feel like I was being held at arm's length.
I did enjoy a few things, for example, when she talks about people who treat books as precious objects never to be marred in any way (courtly lovers) versus people who physically love their books, making notes in them, leaving them on pause by placing them open, face-down until you return (carnal lovers), I am like her and am a carnal book lover. Spines, in the case of books, are meant to be broken. You can tell my favorite paperbacks by their well worn spines. And until recently I never used real bookmarks. I'd leave the book open or grab whatever was at hand, usually a tissue, a scrap of paper, a pen, another book.
I also enjoyed how she talked about owning books, and was good at creating images of houses overflowing with books. That's how I want my house to be.
I also appreciated having a book of essays to read this week. I've been slammed at work, preparing for my company's annual conference in two weeks and shooting four commercials on top of my regular duties. I've been too drained to concentrate on much at a time at home because my mind keeps flickering to all I need to do. I'm hoping to spend the day reading tomorrow to help relax and be refreshed.
But despite this, I found myself skimming some of the essays and feeling disconnected.

Drood

Okay, so I'm 200 pages into Drood and it's due back at the library and my renewal limit is up. Do I finish it anyway and pay a small amount in fines? Or should I just abandon it?

I really want to like this book, and it has lots of wonderful elements, but I feel like it's a bit off. Something isn't keeping my interested. I think Louis Bayard hits in this review. Simmons needs a better editor. Condensing would have been nice here. I'm not put off by large books on their own. I enjoy Dickens himself, Gone with the Wind, and War and Peace. But those books keep me interested. I keep losing interest in Drood after a few pages, which is why it's due back and isn't finished. But I want to know what happens. And I really want to like it because Wilkie Collins is the narrator and it stars Dickens, but it's actually not giving very favorable impressions of either one.

I think writing this has convinced me to just turn it in. But, has anyone finished this and loved it? Any arguments for why I should finish it?

Made in the U.S.A.

It's funny that I read Made in the U.S.A soon after reading Summer. Summer is a departure for Wharton from her usually setting of NYC, and Made in the U.S.A. is a departure for Billie Letts from her usual setting of Oklahoma (although she makes it there eventually). I guess I should read the covers/flaps before diving in so I'm not so thrown off at first by these things!
Letts wrote Where the Heart Is, and several other books that take place in Oklahoma. As this is where I'm from, this is exciting for me because we don't get many books set here, so I think it's nice that Letts writes about her home state. What's funny though is that they're always about rural areas and I've always lived in the city and am not actually that familiar with a lot of the rural areas. They do make me think of the stories my grandparents told me about growing up in rural Oklahoma, and help that come alive for me, since they've lived in the city the entire time I've been alive.
Anyway, this Letts novel was quite different, and not just in the setting. If you've never read Letts before, I would start with Where the Heart Is (don't let the movie steer you away if you haven't read it, although I actually enjoyed the movie). What made this book so different for me is that I didn't like the main character. I know she's 15 and has had a rough life, but I would think that would make you closer to your sibling, not cause you to be mean to them. And she's horribly selfish at first. It's oddly not until she starts a downward spiral during their life in Las Vegas that I feel like she's trying to be selfless and do something for her brother. The things that happen in Vegas are dark, especially since they're happening to a 15-year-old girl. I was surprised at where Letts went, but I think it made sense in the story. I think it speaks of Letts' skill that she was able to make you understand Lutie, and grow to like her more after her reprehensible choices.
If you've read Letts before, I think you need to let go of what you expect from her novels before reading this. I think that's part of the reason why reviews of it were pretty negative. But, even though I wasn't sure about it at first, I ended up liking it and read it pretty much in one sitting, so it held my interest.