Saturday, May 31, 2014

A New Song



Strong Spirit (05/31/14)

A broken down Airstream / Three tires flat, up on blocks
Faded curtains in the windows / Faded love letters in a box
Waiting tables at night / And in classes all day
For the sake of her children / Striving to make a better way

She’s got a strong spirit even when the chips are down
Fighting for her family, never backing down
It’s the spirit of America; it’s been tried red, white, and blue
There’s nothing that can silence it, and it’s born in me and you

He’s planted fields of wheat / Against a blue Midwest sky
But there’s no one who’s buying / Still he’ll continue to try
Each year a bigger struggle / In making ends meet
For the sake of his heritage / Striving to keep on his feet

He’s got a strong spirit even when the chips are down
Fighting for his livelihood, never backing down
It’s the spirit of America; it’s been stamped red, white, and blue
There’s nothing that can silence it, and it’s born in me and you

In a foxhole in a foreign land / She reads his latest letter
Giving all for God and country / Striving to make this world better

We’ve got a strong spirit; it’s alive in every town
Fighting for our country, never backing down
It’s the spirit of America, and it shines red, white, and blue
There’s nothing that can silence it, and it’s born in me and you

And Now for Something Completely Different

With 80 pages left, Henry Miller has kicked into his stream of consciousness phase.  It's not as bad as Faulkner (since I think Miller's prose is much better than Faulkner's), but it not my favorite style of writing.  Please, Henry, within the next ten pages - get to a point.  Thank you.  You may now return to your regularly scheduled program.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Not Sure I Can Take It

If Miller goes on and on about the clap for any more pages than he already has, I may just scream out loud and scare everyone in this house!  It may just be me, but I don't see how is this great literature.  There are definitely some parts when his prose is stunning and evocative, but it's not worth wading through the crap it see those few minutes of sunshine.  Only 80 pages left, so hopefully I can wind this up tomorrow and get on to the next book on the list.  I'm pretty certain it will have different (but I cannot guarantee better) subject matter.

Reflections



"Reflections"
A decorated bedroom, frilly curtains on the wall
The woman who chose me wants to give me it all
But that doesn’t stop the questions of how I came to be
Does she have brown or blue eyes? Does he have a nose like me?

How could she?  Why did she?  What are her thoughts now?
Did she just want to give me my best shot somehow?
God used her as the vessel to bring my life to you
So neither blame nor sanctify her, for she’s got her story, too

Pregnant alone in New York City, desolate as a winter sky
Taking on this grown-up world even though I’m still a child
Not sure I could get myself on the right path
And with two mouths to feed, not sure we could last

How could I? Why did I? What are my thoughts now?
I just wanted to give you your best shot somehow
So I let you go and kept up hope your life would be worthwhile
And the woman who chose you helped your inner light shine

Everybody involved is just trying their best
The heart of the child outshines the rest
I thank the ones who made you and allowed you to be mine
They have given me such endless joy and a love that outlasts time

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Last Day

I have to head home later today, and I am a little sad (but a little glad, too). It has been a lot of fun, and I want to get to some creative writing now that this camp has helped me get in better touch with my muse (or whatever it is that sits on my shoulder sometimes and gives me ideas and words).  I hope that inspiration stays with me over the weekend - I really want to finish this new song! And I will have to do that between helping my son transfer the car to his name, doing my work at the court, and buying some groceries (since I know they have been eating mostly Ramen since I have been out of town). Off to my last day of camp!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Busy, busy, busy

Not much time yet to read today - been working on a song all day with a woman at the camp.  It will be great when it's finished!

I did read some today, and all I can think is that Henry Miller never had sex because it seems to be all he thinks about! If this book were not on the list, I would not be finishing it.  I cannot find a point to it, and that is never good.  Just about halfway through (and I will not go to sleep until I am), and that's the best thing I have to say about this book today.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Okay, I get it

Some of the subject matter may be objectionable, especially at the time it was originally written/published in Europe, but the man wrote like poetry.  This paragraph especially stood out:

"I have been ejected from the world like a cartridge. A deep fog has settled down, the earth is smeared with frozen grease. I can feel the city palpitating, as if it were a heart just removed from a warm body."

Wow - that is some powerful imagery. You can't write an entire novel like that (for much like this one, there would be no plot), but sections like that show the true gift and genius of a writer.  Thank you for that, Henry Miller.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Getting down to it

Just got to my motel room after a long, exciting day at songwriting camp.  I learned a lot today, and hopefully I can put a lot of into practice.  Not sure how much of Miller I will get read since I am so tired, but at least I remembered the book, right?

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Little Bit Further

Got a few more chapters done, and I am really wondering if there is a point to this novel.  He just seems to go along sponging off everyone and having random sex that gives him and those around him the clap.  Not much of a life, but I guess we all have to get along as best we can.  I'll just keep reading and hope something more interesting happens.

New Song Idea

"From Waltzing Matilda to Two-Step Sheila"

Think I'll work on that this week in Kerrville at my songwriting camp.  It starts tomorrow, and I am SO EXCITED!!!  Thanks, Matthew, William, and Martina for buying this for me for Mother's Day!

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Not Surprised

Wow.  Only one chapter into Tropic of Cancer, and I can tell you I am not surprised that this book was banned for so long.  With the way things used to be censored, all Miller's talk of cunts, pricks, bedhopping from women to fairies (his word choice), lice, and bedbugs would certainly not have gone over very well.  I do hope a semblance of a plot shows up so this will be a long, boring read for me.

Friday, May 23, 2014

And there you go

Bob Dylan and Jackie Robinson - the ultimate question and the ultimate answer.

How many roads must a man walk down?
42.

So simple, and yet, so profound.

Douglas Adams wrote this wonderful satirical farce of a novel, but it opens up the mind so much.  If a man must walk down 42 roads in his lifetime, does that mean he take 41 wrong turns before he hits on just the right one?  Or are there 41 short paths before you hit the long one that will lead you to your true self?  So many questions, and only one answer.

In finishing up this latest novel, I find that there may be just one answer, but there are definitely infinite questions.  But I have not had enough wine for all of them, so I shall move on.

To the next book, that is.  Which happens to be Tropic of Canter, published in France in 1934 by Henry Miller (due to banning, it was not published in the U.S. until 1961).  This is another book which I have not read, and the only thing I really know about it is that is was banned due to things related to sex.  Published 80 years ago, that definitely peaks my interest.  Sounds like my kind of book!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Just a line I wrote



I ate half a sandwich, smoked half a cigarette, drank half a bottle of wine, and walked halfway across the house to go to bed.

Easy Peasy

Just started and already one-third of the way through.  This book is such an easy read, and it's short to boot.  It's fun reading it again, and it makes me want to go get the movie and watch it again as well.

Couple of things that caught my attention: Everything is all meaningless coincidences - God, I hope not!  But sometimes it does feel like that, right?

The other was the fact that the book within the book is an electronic book - way before that was a thing.  I love when authors are prophetic like that.  Wonder what else will come up that wasn't around 35 years ago when this was written?

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Another one down!

Well, I'm done (again).  This book is such a downer, but it does have many good points as well.  I think I am going to use it for one of the three essays I have to write for my comp exams (for my Master's in English).  I plan on writing about silences in the novel, both figurative and literal ones.  Should be interesting (to me, at least!).

My favorite quote from this part of the novel makes me think of Garry and how much I miss him:

"How can the dead be truly dead when they still live in the souls of those who are left behind?"

That is how I think of Garry - he is still here, in the hearts of his family and friends.  If I did not think that way, I would probably go insane.

I cannot believe how quickly I went through that book - just itching to get down with this list, I guess.  And now on to the next victim - 1979's  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.  This was the first of the five books in Adams' Hitchhiker trilogy, and it is one of my favorite sci-fi novels of all time.  Looking forward to reading it again!

H2G2 UK front cover.jpg




And make sure to remember: 





Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Okay, Okay

So I know it's wrong, but it's been a really slow day at work, so I read my book - a lot of it.  I am now on page 345, and when I stopped reading last night, I was on 162!  I mean it's been REAL slow around here!

Anyway, a few of my favorite quotes from today:

"He's so fat, he hasn't seen his privates for twenty years."  'Nuff said there.

"Life was only a matter of intake and alimentation and reproduction."  True enough.

"Look what has happened to our freedom.  The men who fought the American Revolution were no more like these D.A.R. dames than I'm a pot-bellied, perfumed Pekingese dog.  They meant what they said about freedom.  They fought a real revolution.  They fought so that this could be a country where every man would be free and equal."  I don't disagree with the concept stated here, but everyone who ever says something like this in these book only means white males - never minorities or women.  Maybe one day that will change.

Only 80 pages left, but I have class tonight, so it will probably be tomorrow before I get to finish up - then there will be only FIVE BOOKS LEFT on the list!  That is just too amazing to me - just a few weeks ago, I was discouraged, but now I believe I'm actually going to make my goal.  Cool!

Monday, May 19, 2014

Moving Along

Already done with part one and two chapters into part two - a total of 100 pages read today (all at home and interrupted by a one-hour phone call with my ex!).  The plot, such as it is, is still moving along somewhat slowly, but the book is not uninteresting.  For example, I love how Mick gets so into music - to be able to feel Mozart and Beethoven deep down in your soul must be such a wonderful feeling.  Classical music never does that to me - maybe that's why "Composers" is such a bad Jeopardy category for me.  I also wonder about Brannon uneasy feeling about Mr. Singer - is he just being paranoid or will that lead to something?  Guess I will find out more tomorrow.

A Short Poem

I know how to laugh
And I know how to cry
But I just don't know how to live without you

Three Chapters In

And so far, there's not much of a plot.  I guess this has been about introducing the main characters, but it's a very slow start to the book, which makes it harder to get into it.  Don't know how much I'll get read today (damn people think I work there!), but hopefully 60 more pages (okay - I'll wait until I get home).  If I read 60 pages a day, this book will take a week, so that's pretty much my goal.  I know I should be getting a little more out of the books now, but I'm getting so close to the end of the list that it's all that's on my mind right now.  Don't get me wrong - I am enjoying reading all these classics, but I have decided to read them for pleasure rather than analysis, and as Frost said, that has made all the difference.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

#20 Down

That was the fastest I've read any of these, but it's not really that surprising - it's not that long (322 pages), and it's fun subject matter, not depressing at all.  The most insane part is when Tom is making it so complicated to help Jim escape.  It comes down to the difference between Tom and Huck - Tom is fanciful, and Huck is practical.  If they were to attend college, it's like Tom would be a philosophy major and Huck an engineer.  In the real world, which one do you think would get farther in life? 

Anyway on to #21 - the most depressing book to date - 1940's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.  As Wikipedia says, this is McCuller's first book in a line of them that "give voice to those who are rejected, forgotten, mistreated or oppressed."  I have read this before, but it's been many years, so I think it'll be like reading it for the first time, and I don't know if that's good or bad.  Guess I'm about to find out.

HeartIsALonelyHunter.jpg

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Breezing Along

Already two-thirds of the way through this book, and it is such a joy to read compared to many others on the list (like the next one!). The writing is just fantastic throughout this book, but here is my favorite line so far:

"Jim said bees wouldn't sting idiots; but I didn't believe that, because I had tried them lots of times myself, and they wouldn't sting me."  Kind of says it all, doesn't it?

I would finish up with Twain today, but I have 150 pages to read for class Tuesday night, and those pages are a damn sight harder to get through - 16th century British stuff that will just bog you down, but I need the Renaissance course to graduate, so I just have to buck up and do it.  And here I go.

Friday, May 16, 2014

And...done!

Another one gone - believe it or not, there are only seven more books on the list!!  So excited - I might just make my goal!

Anyway, some last thoughts.  This book was crazy - and completely drug-addled and pointless.  Kerouac could, however, turn quite the phrase.  A couple favorites from what I read today:

"Driving across the world and into the places where we wold finally learn ourselves."

"Just across the street Mexico began. We looked with wonder. To our amazement, it looked exactly like Mexico."

And my personal favorite, from the book's last page: 

"Tonight the stars’ll be out, and don’t you know that God is Pooh Bear?"

There are so many other horribly poetic sentences in this book, that I believe that alone makes this book worthwhile reading.  300 pages of hitchhiking/driving back and forth across the country for no apparent reason - sure, why not?

But on to bigger and probably better things.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the next book.  Written by Mark Twain and, interestingly enough, it was originally published in the United Kingdom in December 1984, three months before being released in the United States.  I wonder why?  Anyway, I have read this before, but that will definitely not spoil me for another go-round.

1st edition book cover

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Missed it by that much...

I was trying to get through this book today, but that's just not going to happen.  I do, however, only have 60 pages left, so I will spend a total of three days on this book, which is pretty good, if I do say so myself.

The best word to describe this book is frenzied - everyone is always running around like crazy people, trying to bottle all of life into a couple days' partying.  Thoughts of the future are few and far between, for sure.  Because of that, I am quite curious as to how this book will end.  I will find out tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Part One Down

My son told me it took him about two years to finish reading On the Road, but I'm bucking for two days.  I am already one-third of the way through, so it's possible - especially since we're having our retreat tomorrow (for work) and I'll have plenty of spare time to read while we're there.

So about the book - interesting so far.  Not something I would normally read, but I am glad to be experiencing it.  If I remember correctly, Jack Kerouac really did bum around the country like Sal, so as a fictional autobiography, it does give a good portrait of the Beat movement in that time. I myself spent some time hitchhiking across the country, so it's giving me some interesting flashbacks at least!

And Just Like That...

Done with another one!!  Yay for me!!  I believe that leaves eight books left on the list, and around the same number of weeks before my year is up, so it is iffy at this point, but I will soldier on and do my very best to make the deadline.

Next up - On the Road by Jack Kerouac.  Yet another classic I have not read, but that will be remedied shortly. Originally published in 1957, the New York Times characterized the book as, "the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat,' and whose principal avatar he is."  High praise, so I hope I am not disappointed.  And now I continue on my own journey - the literary one I have chosen to undertake.  May my journey be as successful as Kerouac's was.


Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Parts Two and Three Finished

But to be honest, part three was very, very short, so it wasn't that much of a struggle.  I'm two-thrids of the way through the book now, and two more sections to go.  Jim has been through farm life, town life, and some college town life - now her's off to the big city life in Boston.  His journey through these various stages has allowed him to grow as a person, but in some ways, he is still that small boy headed off to his new life in Nebraska - always looking for a place to call his own.  Let's see if he gets there.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Past the Halfway Point

Really getting through this book quickly - I hope the library the next book on the list ready for me tomorrow.  I put it on hold, and it says "in transit," so it seems like it will be.

One thing of note is how often Cather uses color (or should I say colour?) to talk about what is happening in town and in nature.  I also find it interesting that she uses the British spelling of words like neighbor and color - even though she was American.  I wonder why - it's not like she was writing about Britain either, so it really makes no sense to me.

(Belated) Mother's Day Poem

Mama -

I wish I had the opportunity
To say what's in my heart
I miss you unbearably at times
I thought we'd never part
To use somebody else's words
You're the wind beneath my wings
You never strayed away from me
No matter how I messed up things
When I didn't have a friend to care
I knew you'd be beside
And when I felt the heat too much
I'd come home a while to hide
But I didn't have to take a trip
All I had to do was call
Just to hear you one the other end
Would make up for it all
I'll never get the chance again
To thank you for loving me
Or to thank you for being my solid rock
Always there in stormy seas
Even when I didn't merit it
You never failed to stand by me
And now when I have my darkest days
I'm glad you're watching over me

(Written less than two years after my mother died, I still feel this way every day.)

Sunday, May 11, 2014

First Thoughts on Cather

I am about halfway through My Antonia already, and my biggest thought is that it is such a vivid portrait of a particular moment in the golden age of farming in the American Midwest.  With Cather's descriptions, you can see the wheat blowing in the wind and feel the cold winds of winter on your face.  I also find it interesting that at that time, the farmers considered themselves better off (not better than, just better off) than those who worked in town for a weekly wage, and I don't believe that has been the feeling of farmers for quite a while now.  It is a shame to have lost that agrarian feeling upon which much of this country was built.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Determination Pays Off

I had decided I would finish this novel today - and here it is done, with 20 minutes to spare!  Very proud of myself for knocking this one out so quickly.  Anyway, a couple of things that stick out to me - one is Rushdie's apparent fascination with hair.  I would love to research the symbolism of hair and what it means, in particular, to the Indians.  And the other thing is that I have always thought that Indira Ghandi was revered for being a good president, but I definitely need to research that as well, since Rushdie's portrayal of her was not at all flattering.  I found that very interesting, and I am going to learn more about that time of India's history.

But, for now, I will move on to the next novel on my list, which is My Antonia by Willa Cather.  This book was originally published in 1918, and as with other novels by Cather, this is set in Nebraska during pioneer days. It is the final book in her prairie trilogy - the first two were O Pioneers! and The Song of the Lark.  I have read this before, and while (again) not the genre I generally read, if I recall correctly, it was an interesting enough story.  Guess I'll soon find out if I remember correctly.

Part Two is History

And just like that, I'm almost on page 400 and done with Part Two.  What tragedy Saleem has had to deal with - along with all the other things that have happened to him in his short life, to have practically the entirety of his family wiped out in one fell swoop.  I'm not sure how that leads to his purity (as he calls it), but nonetheless, the last section of the book will have to be somewhat different than the other two, which while focused on India's first two decades as a nation free of British rule, also focused a great deal on familial relations in all their glory and sadness.  It will be interesting to see how his life as an adult plays out.  Guess I better get to it.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Darn you, Rushdie!!

For some reason, I find it totally upsetting that Rushdie decided to do his own analysis of his own book - and right in the middle of it, no less!  In the "Kolynos Kid" chapter, he does exactly that - spelling out all the comparisons with Saleem's life and the life of an independent India.  Many English majors have probably read this book, reveling in the thought of writing their paper on that very topic, and there he does, spoiling all their ambitions by doing it himself!

And there certainly are a lot of comparisons to point out.  I do love the way Rushdie put this book together.  I may even be tempted to read something else by him, perhaps the fatwa-inducing Satanic Verses.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

How Interesting

Here I am at the middle of the book, and an interesting middle it has been.  I have mentioned before how Dr. Pressman says that, very often, something interesting happens at the exact middle of a manuscript, and here is Rushdie talking about the exact middle of his manuscript and what will happen there.  In a chapter entitled "Alpha and Omega," Rushdie comes to the middle of his story which is all about beginnings and endings.  It all sound so postmodern, doesn't it?

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

More Progress

A few more chapters down now.  Still struggling with really "getting into" the story, which should have happened by page 220.  It's not that he's not a good writer, because he is, and there are some interesting parts, but the story just isn't doing it for me.  But I will persevere!

A couple of lines I like:

"A race of pink conquerors" (it's all about the colonialism, isn't it?)
"Pearl-testicled children" (that's just hilarious)

And I was particularly interested to learn that one of the languages of India, Malayalam, is stated by Rushdie to be the only palindromic language in the world.  Good to know - it could come up on Jeopardy some time, right?

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Pity Party

Well, you certainly have to feel bad for Saleem.  Anyone who must endure that much mental abuse and bullying deserves to hear a few voices.

A couple more chapters gone, and I am finding this section dragging a little.  Not much going on with anyone's life, but the racetrack stuff was quite amusing.  Hopefully the book will pick up soon

Monday, May 5, 2014

1/3 of the way through

Being gone from work for over a week means I had no time to sneak a chapter or two in today!  Boo!!  I did manage to read a couple of chapters here at home, however.   Not much happening - just Saleem's musings of all the crazy stuff that happened in his first years of life.

Since I haven't done this for the last couple of books, here are a few of my favorite quotes so far:

"To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world."

"Nobody can face the world with his eyes open all the time."

And as Saleem's mother says, "What can't be cured must be endured."

Have you ever noticed that, in all of these books (and many, many others), men tend to just curl up in a ball when trouble hits, and the women are the ones who can always manage to suck it up and do what has to be done.  All I can say to that is, "Story of my life."

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Finished with Part One

Well, that certainly was an interesting finish to part one.  All kinds of crazy stuff going on there.  Between independence and personal bombshells, I am quite interested in where this book will be heading.

There are books of fiction that have a specific goal - like a mystery.  Someone dies (or some other crime is committed), and you spend the rest of the book working towards finding out whodunnit.  Other novels have a different purpose - like romances.  If you pick up a romance, you read along until two things happen.  First, there will always be sex.  Second, most likely. someone gets married. 

There there are the books that do not really come to any sort of conclusion - they are written to describe a specific moment in time.  There is no real climax, no denouement, no resolution.  These always seem to be the type that become the classics.  Of the books on this list that I have read, I think only two have had real "conclusions" - those would be An American Tragedy and To Kill a Mockingbird.  I am sure this book will be the same, but that will most likely not lessen my enjoyment of it (as it has some of the others). 

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Too Funny

This book is a collection of stories about the protagonist's ancestors and how he came to be who he is.  And some of the stories are absolutely hilarious - like what the name Padma means.  I assume it's true what the narrator says, but that does not make it any less funny.  Not as funny are the parts about being under colonial rule and how hard India was striving to get out from under that thumb.  The insertion of Ghandi into the plot was something I should have expected, but I did not.  It will be interesting to see how much the lineage of this family was influenced by Ghandi.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Phew!

Finally home!  It is always fun to leave, but it also always nice to sleep in your own bed.  And the library has Midnight's Children waiting for me - excited to pick it up tomorrow and really get going on it.  Only ten more books on this list, and I think I can still do it within a year!  Aah, that's me - ever the optimist!! ^_^

Thursday, May 1, 2014

A little more

With the Amazon preview, I was able to get through most of chapter two as well, but that's all, folks, until I get home and get the book from the library.

The first part of this book has been quite different from most of the books I read.  I like the way Rushdie jumps around so much in time, and the story of his grandparents' courtship may have been one of the funniest things I have ever read.  It seems this will be one of those books that doesn't really go anywhere - just chronicles a particular moment in time - and while that is not my norm, I believe I will enjoy this book immensely.