Va bene!

A few years ago my friend Elena got me Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr for a bridesmaid's gift. It was a great gift, and so personalized for me, since I studied in Rome while in college and she visited me there. The gift was a great symbol of our friendship. And I took approximately two years to read it.... but, better late than never, right?

The book was a memoir of sorts about an author who lives in Rome for a year struggling to write a novel with his wife and infant twin boys. In one sense, I loved the book-- the descriptions of the city made me feel like I could breathe in the essence of Rome. I could smell the fresh bread baking, and see the vivid colors of grafitti on trains, and hear the constant whir of motorinos flying through the city, but the book completely lacked a plot. Doerr wrote the book like one long list of things he encountered over the year. Each individual paragraph could be complete and beautiful as a poem providing a fragmented glimpse of a city, but the paragraphs together offered me nothing. I felt no connection to any characters, and I saw little (if any) development or growth of the characters-- including the city of Rome. There are so many novels where a city comes alive and grows like any other character, but other than a few exceptions the city was only described like a set of a play would be throughout this book.

I still enjoyed the book, and was also incredibly jealous of the author being around when the new pope was chosen. I was in Rome the year before the author, and had a papal audience with Papa Gianni Paolo II. It was an experience I will never forget-- the man glowed, literally, on stage. It was so apparent that he was a holy man, and it was really powerful to hear him speak and receive a blessing. I feel so lucky to witness that. A year later I watched from home as millions of people went to view the pope and waited for the announcement of his successor. From my living room I watched the eternal city grieve and celebrate the life of one man while hopefully awaiting a new leader. I ached to be there-- though after living in Rome I realized just how inadequately the city handles the normal number of tourists, and assume that trying to do anything while millions of Catholics made pilgrimages would have just been a nightmare. In any case, being able to appreciate this experience first hand vicariously through the words of Doerr was wonderful.



While reading this book, I gradually began to crave more and more Italian food. So, to celebrate completing the book, I made myself some Spaghetti Carbonara and caprese salad-- two dishes I miss most from Rome because they are just never quite as good on this continent. It was molto delicioso.

"mini" caprese

The cast of characters for my Carbonara

on my shelf

April's book club pick has been chosen by Tana-- she selected The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I'm only 80 pages in, but loving it!I am also reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, and per the recommendation of Timmy, The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva.

Hopefully announcing that I am reading these books will encourage me to 1) read them and 2) blog about it!

Next Sunday is the meeting for Halley's selection The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman and I cannot wait!

Fifth Meeting: Let the Great World Spin

I am such a bad blogger! We had a book club meeting a month ago and I still haven't said a word about the book or the meeting! Shame on me. Hopefully I can redeem myself.

The January meeting of Eat, Drink, and Literary was hosted by my lovely friend Mandy, and we discussed Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin. The novel is written like a series of short stories, but all (or most, anyway) of the chapters are intertwined to a degree. The novel begins with a description of Philippe Petit who tight-rope walked between the two world trade center towers on August 7th, 1974. The rest of the chapters were told from the point of view of people living in the city during that time. Some of them saw the tight rope walker, some didn't-- but all had a remarkable day on August 7th. The cast of characters ranged from wealthy Park Avenue ladies to Irish immigrants to prostitutes in the Bronx. I enjoyed the book for the most part, and when I read the afterward by the author, I think I figured out why. After 9/11, he saw how one event could connect an entire city of individuals. So, he wrote about another event that could offer a similar kind of connection. I am a sucker for the idea that we are all part of something bigger than ourselves. Even something like a "man on wire" can shed light on the fact that we are all connected.

My favorite two chapters were from the points of view of two very different women. First, was Tillie, the prostitute who reflected on her life in a matter-of-fact, hilarious, and inspiring way while she was serving time for her offenses. Second was Gloria, the college educated Midwestern black woman who lost her sons in the Vietnam War and ended up adopting Tillie's grand children. Though these women were incredible opposites in most parts of their lives, I could feel a similar conviction coming through both of their distinct voices.

The discussion of the book was interesting. Mandy asked some really interesting questions and was able to approach the book both as a novel and as short stories (one chapter or character at a time). Overall, the impression of the book was that it was good.... but not as good as we were all expecting.The two characters that seemed to be most central to the book, and the most connected to all of the chapters, were the two characters that we never actually heard from. In fact, they died almost immediately in the book. The fact that we could never get inside the head of the Irish monk Corrigan, and teenage prostitute from the Bronx, Jazzlyn was a puzzle to everyone. We couldn't decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing-- in some ways, we liked it. The main characters became more subjective and not knowing anything about them just made us want to know more. In other ways, we found it frustrating that we couldn't really see what was so important about these characters or why we were supposed to care about them so much.

Similarly, we had mixed feelings about the intertwining of the characters/stories. The chapters were not overly intertwined, which was nice, but in some cases we were left without closure.

The thing we all agreed on is that the last chapter was unnecessary. It was the only chapter told in a different time period (present day), and it just took a different tone entirely. The book would have been far better if it left us in the gloomier era of 1970's Manhattan.

Despite the sub-par ending and the minor grudges here and there, as a group we mostly liked the book. However, the book was NOTHING compared to the incredible spread. Mandy decided to host an afternoon tea so we had a selection of 50 plus teas, honey, sugar, and milk plus every goodie you can imagine with it. Two types of scones (I have yet to decide which was better-- the currant or the pumpkin. I am still dreaming about both), Devonshire cream, lemon curd, cheese straws, fresh fruit, a delicious tart, tea party cupcakes, and my contribution of cucumber sandwiches. Whether or not this was the best book we've read it was by far the best meal.

new book!

There is something incredibly satisfying about writing my name in the cover of a new book. I experienced this tiny joy today when I received a box from Amazon containing Halley's February(ish) pick for book club: The Imperfectionists: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle). 

I sadly won't be able to begin reading this book (another tiny joy in my life-- the first page of a new story) until I finish   Let the Great World Spin: A Novel. I am really enjoying it so far, and I will have to finish before next week's book club meeting, so The Imperfectionists are coming soon!

Fourth meeting: Confederacy of Dunces

Picking up a 400 page Pulitzer prize winner to read for a book club is a bit daunting. First off, the mere heft of the book can scare a person off, and secondly the pressure to not only understand but like a book that has been touted world wide as a masterpiece is immense. I picked up Confederacy of Dunces with these fears in mind. What if I don't finish? (I did, by the way, an hour before the meeting) What if I don't get it? What if I don't like it and everyone else does? Of course after the book club meeting I realized that picking a book like this and leading an intelligible discussion about it is an even bigger feat. Luckily, my friend and fellow Psychology grad student Josh is braver (or better at faking) than I, and pulled off another fabulous meeting of Eat, Drink, and Be Literary.

Entering the meeting, I mostly had negative feelings about the book, but the lingering idea that I was missing something that made others think this book was worth a Pulitzer made me suspend final judgment. As it turns out, other members of the book club tended to agree. Though we could recognize literary merit that we haven't seen in our club otherwise, nobody was that excited about the book and overall we just felt ambivalent. The main character Ignatius Reilly was disgusting in every sense of the word and hardly a sympathetic protagonist; described as obese with a "damp" mustache and yellow eyes, Ignatius lacked all social graces and had severe delusions of grandeur. The story dragged on and on seemingly without any character development, and I felt that the point of this novel could have been better expressed in perhaps a twenty page short story. Each chapter seemed to be the same-- a huge ensemble of characters dealing with life in New Orleans in the 1960's. No characters take charge of their own lives but rather just let life happen to them. And, like Ignatius, the entire cast of characters was some what despicable. (Though, even I have to admit that some of these "dunces" managed to make me laugh out loud a time or two).

It wasn't until one of the last discussion topics of the meeting that a positive opinion of the work was restored. Early on in the meeting, someone commented on the fact that the story behind the author and getting the book published was better than the actual book-- John Kennedy Toole made several attempts to get his masterpiece published, but it was not until after he committed suicide that the book (with the help of his mother) that the book was discovered and of course subsequently won the most prestigious literary award around. At first this comment sort of rolled past me. I agreed the forward was easier and more pleasant to read, but I didn't give it much other thought. However, when Josh asked us if we had thought about the point of view of the author when reading the novel, I was stumped. Somehow I hadn't thought about the depressed but brilliant man writing the novel and what his worldview must have been like-- an unsuccessful author, he probably felt helpless and like he had no control. This was obvious in the representation of the characters. At the meeting, several people pondered which characters might have been somewhat autobiographical, and some speculated that perhaps all were in some way. Thinking about the novel from this point of view caused me to suddenly shift my opinion of the entire work. Suddenly the disgusting and tedious "adventures" of the dunces of New Orleans seemed incredibly symbolic of a tragic and wasted life.

Overall, I am very glad that I can add Confederacy of Dunces to the ever-growing list of book club books. I got so much more out of the novel through the meeting than I ever possibly could have reading the book on my own. And in all honesty, this might have turned into a "never-ender" if I didn't have the idea of insightful discussion and a tasty pot luck (New Orleans themed, by the way-- beignets, Cajun potatoes, and red beans with rice) to motivate me.

Updates

I'm half way through Confederacy of Dunces for the November book club meeting, and I already I am looking forward to the December book club pick. Mandy has selected Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. I've never heard of the book, the author, or the real event it is inspired by (a tightrope across Manhattan skyskrapers?!) but I am excited none the less.

Third meeting- Little Bee

Last Sunday, Jamie hosted a lovely book club brunch meeting to discuss her book selection, Little Bee by Chris Cleave. 

I had a unique experience with this book. While reading it, I felt like I couldn't put it down. I opted to pick it up each evening instead of diving into the excessively long list of shows saved on my DVR, and that says a lot. However, immediately upon finishing the book I felt an overwhelming feeling of..... well, nothing. And as time went on, that nothingness turned into faint critiques, mild annoyance, and then slowly but surely, a confused feeling of dislike. Needless to say, I was anxious to hear a discussion about the book and come to a more definitive conclusion about its merits (or perhaps lack there of).

The other members (we had 7 in attendance) were varied in their opinions. A few felt confused like me or ambivalent, two liked it, and two despised it. This variance actually provided for some very stimulating conversation. But, before I tell you about our conversation, I will tell you about the book. The novel's jacket provides no description of the story other than a suggestion that the story is magical and shouldn't be ruined... well, for anyone who is concerned, I am about to ruin it. SPOILER ALERT: The story is told from alternating points of view: half of the time we are in the head of Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee seeking asylum in England. The other half, we hear from Sarah, a British businesswoman, recent widow, and mother to a four year old who believes himself to be Batman. As the story goes on, we learn that Little Bee and Sara (as well as Sara's late husband, Andrew) met on a beach in Nigeria where the poms were vacationing and Little Bee (along with her sister) were running from Nigerian oil company workers who were set out to kill them for knowing too much. And now to fast forward a bit: Sara cut off her finger to save Little Bee's life. Unfortunately, Little Bee's sister didn't make it. Sara's husband was distraught that he didn't to more, and two years later when Little Bee shows up in England, he kills himself. The rest of the story started there (and seemed unnecessary to most of us).

Even just summarizing the plot again, it is clear to me that this novel should have been powerful--tales of survival, of loss, of love, of terror, of resilience..... But most of us were in agreement that it was lacking in some major ways. First off, the writing was nothing special. As a group of academics who read day in and out we are potentially harsher than your average reader, but nobody was impressed. Secondly, the character development was almost non-existent. We were introduced to characters going through intense emotional situations, yet we didn't really know them and (at least personally) did not feel the emotions that we were "supposed to". There was just  no connection to the main characters... and there were supporting roles that seemed out of place. Finally, the book seemed to come to the climax only a third of the way in. The plot after the much anticipated beach scene was overly cumbersome and in some cases ridiculous.

It maybe obvious given the previous paragraphs that I didn't like Little Bee, but I still felt conflicted going into the meeting. After the discussion with the group I came to a careful decision that I didn't like the book (despite what my devouring behaviors suggested while reading it). In fact, I think all but maybe one hold out agreed by the end of the meeting that the book wasn't so fabulous. Ahh, group polarization, it's a beautiful thing (I love social psychology in action!!)

Perhaps more exciting to me was the selection of delicious treats we had. There was an apple baked french toast, some spinach quiche, roasted potatoes, and the masterpiece-- butterhorns. These little delectable gooey cookies were to die for. Sadly, I was not the person who created the masterpiece. In fact, all I brought was OJ. Despite my lousy contribution, and a less than perfect novel, book club meeting #3 was a great success!! Thanks to Jamie for leading a great discussion!