Friday, August 30, 2013

Cruising along...

A much easier read than either of the first two books on the list.  I am still in awe  of the fantastic imagery that F. Scott portrays.  There is no part of Gatsby's house that cannot be picture perfectly as he wrote it.  He paints such a vivid portrait that there's no way not to be running a movie in your mind.  Can't you just picture it, old sport?

Thursday, August 29, 2013

The nitty gritty...

That was quite the reunion between Daisy and Gatsby.    Gatsby's sheer glee at seeing Daisy again up, close and personal, is evident - the first time in the book so far that he seems truly alive. Why are these two, clearly so much in love at one point, not together?  What secrets will time reveal?  Reading on...

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The plot thickens...

I couldn't help myself - just got done with chapter four as well.  Things are definitely heating up.  All the subterfuge just to be near an old flame.  Coming up with the story line for this book - I wonder what Fitzgerald lived through or overheard to be able to come up with such a plot.  Most authors say that they write what they know, but it could be that Scott was just an old romantic at heart. 

Livening Up

Chapter three down.  It's no wonder this book has been made into so many movies - Fitzgerald's's imagery is amazing.  When you read this chapter, you get a really vivid picture of everything and everyone in it.  I have not seen the latest flick, but I think I will make an effort to do so, just so I can see if I agree with the casting and scenes.  The precise description of Gatsby and his house is just like set directions in a play - there is no way anything should be out of whack as long as a close reading of the material was made.  I hope so, or I will be sorely disappointed.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Class Tonight

I had to go to class tonight, so no time for F. Scott.  Had to spend my time learning about Freud and Jung and the different ways they figured out just how messed up people were and are.  Pretty sure I'm going to write my paper for the class on Lolita and Freud's concept of the id.  I looked a little tonight, but I'm not finding much on the subject.  That could be a good thing - is this an original idea on my part?  We shall see.

Monday, August 26, 2013

And another damn thing...

And a common thread throughout these books is violence toward women.  Nobody even bats an eye when Tom breaks Myrtle's nose - that sort of thing was just accepted.  H.H. did a little of that is Lolita as well, and don't even get me started on the way the women were treated in Catch-22.  Guess it's true what they say - we really have come a long way, baby.  No way that shit would fly now.  In an apartment with six people in it, at least three would be on their cell phones calling 911 if Tom tried that today.  Amen, sister!

Amazing

Too funny that I thought Fitzgerald was writing about traffic jams, in 1925.  Actually, that passage was about TRAIN cars - I just misread it the first time.  Made myself laugh at least.  I also laughed about the magazine Mrs. Wilson bought - it was about "moving pictures."  Those were still the days of silent films - everything we take for granted was so new then.  At this point, can you imagine no sound in the movies?  Just a few placards strategically placed and everything else left to your intuition and imagination.  Sounds like fun - kind of like Mystery Theater 2000 where they made up their own dialogue for movies.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Chapter One

One chapter down, a mere eight more to go.  Such a short little novel but so full of life.  Just getting through the book's setup, who the players are going to be, no hint of what the action will be.    Onward to chapter two.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Rest of the Best

Now on to the last book that was on 10 of the 11 "Best of" lists - The Great Gatsby  by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  This book was first published in 1925 and has been turned into a movie at least five times (according to IMDb), with the most recent being just this year.  Not sure if that last listing shown here was an actual movie or not - I might just check it out to find out for sure.




As can be seen from this list, the first film was released just one year after publication, showing how popular the book was when it first came out, and its popularity has not waned in the almost 90 years hence.






I have read this book before, and I am looking forward to rediscovering Fitzgerald's unique voice.

Finally...

I am done!  I finally came to the best part of the book - the end.  Not really - it was really the author's note AFTER the end.  I found Nabokov's voice very refreshing, and while I commend his reasons for writing this book, I still find its subject matter very distasteful, and I think most people would agree with that assessment.  that being said, he did have a wonderful command of the English language, despite his misgivings on that front.  I would love to read some other works by him that he wrote in English - I am sure I would find them very entertaining. 

My personal feeling is that this book is on so many "Top 100" lists because, much like Faulkner, people think they should be reading it because it's on so many "Top 100" lists.  I did enjoy it better than the Faulkner book I'm going to have to reread to get through my list, so that's something (not a surprising something if you know me at all, but still something).

Onward through the list - and the fog.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Favorite lines

This was my favorite line (it occurred very early in the novel):

"I am just winking happy thoughts into a little tiddle cup."

Hilarious stuff.

And now, I came across this "nonsense" verse (Nabokov's word, not mine) that I like a lot as well:

"The Squirl and his Squirrel, the Rabs and their Rabbits
Haver certain obscure and peculiar habits.
Male hummingbirds make the most exquisite rockets.
the snake when he walks holds his hands in his pockets..."

Been trying to picture a snake with hands in his pockets ever since.

Loving language

What makes an author go gaga over all that alliteration?  Is it the phonics phrasing?  The mastering of metaphors?  The craning for clarity?  Whatever it is, it is a favorite literary tool of mine, so euphonic.  It has been the one bright spot of this novel, finding different degrees of depth in Nabokov's natterings.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

The light at the end of the tunnel

I am getting near the end, and what I have to look forward to (besides the end) is the part where H.H. becomes incarcerated.  He states that he is not even sure what the charge is, so that tells me it is not statutory rape as it should be.  I am left wondering, therefore, what they actually arrest him for.  The runaround that the narrator gives the reader is not specific enough to tell me , so I may be left wondering forever.  I will hurry up and find out for sure.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Can't wait...

Over 2/3 of the way through this book, and I can't wait to be done with it.  The forward to the book best describes the main character, for he definitely is "horrible, his is abject, his is a shining example of moral leprosy...He is abnormal.  He is not a gentleman."  Solid description.

So what I would really like is to hear from someone who might disagree with my assessment of this book.  Can ANYONE give me a plausible reason why this book is near the top of so many lists?

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

All I can say is "Wow!"

I am still having serious issues with how many "Top 100" lists this book is on.  I just don't get it at all.  The main character wants to get his 14-year-old child lover pregnant so he can eventually rape his biological daughter as well, and this would ultimately culminate with the rape of his own granddaughter as well.  I will finish this book in order to fulfill this obligation that I have set for myself, but I guarantee that I will never read it again nor would I EVER feel comfortable recommending it to anyone.  I am far from a prude, but even the best writer in the world cannot make this subject matter acceptable or worthy of reading. 

Monday, August 19, 2013

Heading home

Going to spend 12 hours on the road tomorrow driving back to Texas. It won't be too bad - since Ralph is going to do the majority of driving, I will have plenty of time to read. I am just now getting to where H. H. is hoping to see his machinations come to fruition - I hope all his plans go straight down the tubes.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

As I suspected...

Just as I was thinking - for the majority of scholars I looked at, the draw of this book is in the way Nabokov writes.  It is his command of the English language (even moreso because it was not his native language) that has people praising this book on the rooftops.  I, however, cannot share their enthusiasm.  The subject matter is too distasteful to me.  This may be simply because I have a daughter the same age, so I cannot get past the subject matter to enjoy the book for other, more literary reasons.  I do appreciate his command of the language and the way that he writes, but deserving of 10 of 11 "Top 100" lists?  I think not.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

More of the same

About 1/4 way through the novel now, and I still can't figure out why this book is so high up on so many lists.  Nabokov did have a wonderful vocabulary and an excellent writing style, but the subject matter is just SOOO distasteful (at least so far) that I can't see the draw.  I think I'll look up some criticism on the book and try to get a better handle on it.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Slightly off

Spent all day with the parental uniit and my bro's family, so no time to read before now.  Time to get to it.  Gotta find out why this guy is incarcerated and why I should care.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Right so far...

So far, it appears my initial perceptions were right - the main character is a flat-out, self-professed pedophile who gets off on prepubescent girls.  As a general rule, this is not a subject I care to read about, especially when the perpetrator is so Still wondering where this book is going to go to make it worthy of all those "best of" lists.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Initial Thoughts

After just a couple of chapters, I have to wonder why this book is on ten of 11 "Top 100" lists.  I can't imagine all that many people like reading about a grown-ass man lusting after children.  I will reserve final judgment, however, until I'm done with the novel.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Final Thoughts on Heller

I just realized that I neglected to give my final assessment of Catch 22.  It's a tough thing to articulate.  I didn't not like it, but for the most part, I prefer books with plots, and this book did not have one.  It has a purpose, but no plot.  Its purpose is to point out the futility of war and how everything about war catches you in a vicious cycle of circular reason that eventually lead you back to where you started, which is nowhere anyone wants to be.  The most striking theme of the book is the plight of the unknown soldier, visualized primarily by the soldier in white, which I believe Heller is asserting is really every soldier fighting in a war that has no real winners (i.e. every war).  That, I believe, was his purpose in writing this book; a plot; however, would have been nice.

Next up to bat...

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.



First line:  "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins."

Of course I know the basic plot of this novel, but it is another I have never read.  I don't know if I've ever heard if there are steamy sex scenes in the book, but I kind of hope not since I believe it's about having sex with an underage girl.  Guess I'm fixin' to find out for sure, right?

Done and Done

This book is now toast.  One down, 25 to go.

Always a Catch


Monday, August 12, 2013

Victory will be mine

As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly...whoops!  I mean, as God is my witness, I will finish this book tomorrow.  It's not one of those books that you just have to keep reading to get to the climax - mainly because there isn't going to be one.  I am on page 398 of 463, so it's looking good (and only two days over my original time frame).  The antiwar sentiment is very strong, but the book is still not about anything.  It's just so postmodern with its nonlinearity and intertextuality and no real plot, sometimes it's hard to wrap your head around things.

My two favorite quotes from what I read today:

About the safety of airplanes (remember - this was written 50 years ago):  “What preposterous madness to float in thin air two miles high on an inch or two of metal, sustained from death by the meager skill and intelligence of two vapid strangers.”

The efficiency of the military (or any bureaucratic entity):  “That’s the way things go when you elevate mediocre people to positions of authority.”

A Way with Words

This sentence really caught my eye today, and I wanted to share it:





Although it was not meant to be, I just thought it was a perfect description of this entire book so far.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Moving right along...

Now I am about two-thirds of the way through this book - I got to read quite a bit today obviously.  I am enjoying Heller's writing abilities as that man really did have a way with words, but sometimes I feel like I'm in a Seinfeld episode.  I'm pretty sure I'm reading a book about nothing.

Halfway Point

I am now exactly halfway through the novel (so it's obviously going to take me more than 2 weeks to get through this first novel - I will have to "catch up" with the next one).  Dr. Pressman once told me that something big often happens at the exact halfway point of a novel, but I don't see that here.  Just more of the same old circular rhetoric that Heller has such a gift for.

I do still, however, want to know what's up with the beginning of the book.  With a beginning like, "It was love at first sight.  The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him," the reader would expect that statement to play an important part in the book.  After all, Heller deemed it important enough to start the book off that way.  So why did he choose to do that?  I am halfway through the book, and nothing more regarding that subject has come up.  There was even an entire section on the chaplain, and still nothing.  Zip, zero, zilch, the big goose egg.  What's up with that?  Will my curiosity be relieved or am I doomed to wonder forever?  Only time will tell.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Feeling Okay Today


People Pleaser

A frog's life would suit me fine
They hop around from time to time
They're always moving - no dust on their boots
Can't stay still long enough to grow any roots

Or perhaps a chameleon is what I should be
Always changing my looks and trying to please
You don't like this color? I've got several more
Do you think I look better with three stripes or four?

I know!  I know!  I'll become a mouse!
I'll slip around silent all over the house
You won't even know that I'm still around
You'll look high and low but I won't be found

But after I stretch and pull and tie myself in a knot
Trying to show you I'm something I'm not
When, at last, I realize the way I should be
Maybe, just maybe, I'll finally be me

And now...the true heart of the matter

Heller's prose is rife with anti-religious sentiment, and although I do not believe he was an atheist, I believe I have discovered the root of his apathy. Hypocrisy in religion (no doubt exacerbated by war) clearly troubled Heller, and he spelled out that sentiment here:

"It was one thing to maintain liaison with the Lord, and they were all in favor of that; it was something else, though, to have Him hanging around twenty-four hours a day."

In other words, a little religion goes a long way.  How many Christians today live this same way.

Friday, August 9, 2013

50 more pages down

Some memorable quotes I came across today while reading Catch-22:


“You know, that might be the answer—to act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of.  That’s a trick that never seems to fail.”


“Up to his own ass in the…excruciating dilemma of duty and damnation.”


“He could start screaming inside a hospital and people would at least come running to try to help; outside the hospital they would throw him in prison if he ever started screaming about all the things he felt everyone ought to start screaming about.”


All good lines, but this one was by far my favorite:

“Just for once I’d like to see all these things sort of straightened out, with each person getting exactly what he deserves.  It might give me some confidence in this universe.”  

Some confidence in the universe would be nice.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Somebody's getting big

No time to read today - Rebecca had her middle school orientation.  She is so excited about this next step.  I pray all goes well for her.  She's got the right attitude, so I know that's 90% of the battle already.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

I've Been Here Before

Heller's novel is familiar to me in a way.  There is, of course, the obvious comparison to Kurt Vonnegut, but I I also think Richard Hooker must have been inspired by this novel to write M*A*S*H.  I see a lot of the same sentiments about war that I saw in Hooker's novel (and the subsequent movie and television show)..  Satire is such an upper-level mode of thinking that I think I will have to read more by Heller, just as I was hooked on Vonnegut from the first few pages of Cat's Cradle, my first foray into his crazy worlds.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Say What?

When Joseph Heller died in 1999, there were naturally many newspaper articles touting his genius (especially in regard to Catch-22) and mourning his passing.  One in particular caught some people by surprise as the author loved this iconic book even though he was a graduate of the Naval Academy, a veteran of the Vietnam War, and a former Secretary of the Navy.  For some reason, the author of the journal article I read was shocked that a vet would appreciate the dark humor and satire of Heller - apparently no vets are supposed to have a sense of humor.  Just so you know.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Oops

So I sent my husband and daughter to the library yesterday to pick up the book I had put on hold, which is the next book on my list - Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov.  I go to look at it today, and this is what I saw:






Oops!! Luckily, I am not ready for the book yet as I will obviously have to get a different copy - preferably in a language I actually speak.

Ah, there's the rub

On page 112 of my edition of Catch-22, it seems I have gotten to the heart of Joseph Heller's opinion about war:

"That was the only thing anyone every did know about all the unknown soldiers--they never had a chance."

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Happy Cooking Camper Today

I've spent the entire day in the kitchen, making:

Chorizo Breakfast Bake

Easy Cheese Danish

Sugar-Free Brownies (two batches because the first ones were kind of weird)

Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers with Battered Fries

No time to read today - feeling fat and sassy.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Major Major

Chapter nine is all about Major Major Major Major, and boy, is that guy messed up!  It starts with his sadistic father, who gives him the name Major Major Major.  That'll start your life in a hole, won't it?  When he gets promoted to Major, after only three days in the service, it's obvious that he's doomed to failure forever.  Heller spends this chapter still talking in circles, all the while painting a picture of the perfect diplomat - useless and ineffective in all his endeavors.  What else would you expect from a man with a name like that?

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Mild Bouts of Confusion Happening

I can see why this book is on so many "best of" lists, but it's driving me.  The way Heller has his characters talking in circles is, I assume, supposed to be a commentary on the futility of war, but I'm beginning to wonder if anything ever really happens in this book. And there's something else - I'm quite a few chapters in, and I haven't seen another reference to the chaplain - something I figured was important since Heller decided to start the novel off with this revelation.  Really wondering how this book is going to progress.