But What Of The Sea Monster?

I should be reading but I feel an obligation to 'blog', especially since I ought to have finished reading "The Sea, The Sea" last night, by the terms of my schedule, and I haven't. According to my KOBO I'm only 32% complete. I don't feel bad - it's a large book, and I've been busy. So there.

I've never read any thing by Iris Murdoch before, so I'm not sure whether this particular book is any indication of her natural writing style, but I kind of hope it isn't. It's divided into three sections (Prehistory, History & Postscript) with the Prehistory styled as a day-by-day memoir, and the History as recent events being recalled in a slightly more formal way. I, of course, have no idea what the third section is like and will not hazard a guess. So far the novel is entirely the first-person narration of Charles Arrowby, a recently retired director who has moved from London to a strange, isolated house on a rocky shore by "the sea" to repent of what he calls his 'egoism'. His peace there is disrupted by women (and some men) from his past, the gentle mockery of the locals, and an assortment of seemingly paranormal events.

The Prehistory has passages describing the sea which are deeply lyrical, with a beautiful rhythm that echoes the waves against the rocks. There are also many humorous segments relating meals, and there is mention of Charles having considered writing a four-minute cookbook. It was also exciting, with a sea monster and a 'haunting' - it really got my heart rate going at one point! Maybe I just scare easily, but it was good! I was really enjoying the Prehistory section, even though I kept thinking that it could probably have benefitted from a more thorough editing. I realize that the train of thought/meandering style was fully intentional, but I still found it slightly irritating.

Now that I'm into the History section, however, the tone seems to have changed completely - and not just because it is now being written by Charles in a reflective state. That is actually an improvement, because the story has a more directional flow to it (yay plot!). On the downside, the paranormal element seems to have been dropped (temporarily, I hope!) in favour of more of a Hallmark movie theme of angst ridden longing. The Charles of this middle section sounds to me like a fourteen year old girl, humming and hawing over what he should do and what did she actually mean. I really hope it's just a phase.

Completely random, non-content related thoughts - I'm annoyed with myself that I wasn't able to finish reading the library copy of this novel before it was due back. It's resulted in my having to purchase a copy on my aforementioned KOBO. I love my e-reader, but I feel like it's mocking me with it's "percentage read" indicator. I wish it would give me actual novel pages read and remaining. It's just a personal preference, and something I'm sure I'll get over. Although it does frustrate me when, for instance, 'Charles Arrowby' refers to "100 pages" ago and I can't just flip back. Oh well.

As it turned out the KOBO site also had copies of Stanley Middleton's "Holiday" and David Storey's "Saville" so I bought them, too. Whenever I read those two will now be out of chronological order, so I'm thinking of them as 'treat' books for myself. Writing that down I realize it sounds a bit (!) crazy, but I'm ok with that.

I set up a display of all the Man Booker Prize winning books we have in stock at work, thought you all might enjoy a look at it. (Pictures of books on KOBO are a bit dull.) There are 28 titles represented here, of the 46 current winners. Yikes! What was I thinking!

Happy reading!

Better Late Than Never

Ok, so obviously I'm quite far behind now. It took me 13 days to finish 'Staying On' - 13!! That's a crazy long time to finish a novel that was barely over two-hundred pages long. I have fantastic excuses, but none of them will help me to catch up on my reading list. Gaining an hour last weekend didn't even help me - I don't think I read at all last Sunday. At least it's still early days, and with luck I'll be able to catch up.

I really enjoyed Paul Scott's 'Staying On', in fact it's probably my favourite of the "Indian" novels so far. Scott's humour is much cruder, almost juvenile when compared to Farrell's. In addition to the social humour of class structure there was a heavy dose of sexual and toilet humour, which I felt made it an overall funnier novel. Which means it automatically gets high marks from me - yay comedy!

It was also a profoundly honest and sad story. I think I may have put off finishing it because I didn't want to reach that sad ending that I knew was coming. Even though the book opens telling us that Tusker will be dying, I was concerned that it may be a maudlin ending and I hate feeling that I've been coerced into tears. I was needlessly worried, as it turned out the balance of comedy and tragedy was perfect. Tusker and Lucy remind me of my parents, but their situation reminds me of my grandparents. I felt connected to the story in a very human way, so Yes I cried, but they were honest tears.

The supporting characters 'BillyBoy' and Ibrahim are both very fun, and it's nice that they aren't just stereotypes but unique and flawed individuals. As usual I'm sure that I'm missing the "real" or deeper meanings of the novel - particularly with these two characters, whose religious identities combined with their "sinful" flaws must be intended as allegory or some such thing. I really don't know what the subtext is, I just feel that it's trying to tell me something that is just outside my reach. I'm trying not to worry too much about that, though.

I attended the Calgary Public Library's 'Read Like a Writer' talk on the 6th, which was one of the events from the One Book One Calgary program of events, with Steven Galloway and Writer-in-Residence Naomi Lewis in discussion. I was slightly disappointed by the Q&A sessions, which seemed more focused on writing than reading, but that's the nature of a Q&A. What I liked, however, was Ms Lewis saying that the first time you read a novel you should suspend your disbelief, don't try to dissect what the author was doing, just enjoy the story. I'm going to try to do that more. It seems to me that our educational system encourages a constant analysis while reading, even with fiction, and while I never try to analyze the genre writing I love so much (that would take the fun out of it!) I automatically try to analyze 'literature'. Obviously literary analysis has it's place, but I'm beginning to accept that it is not during the first read through.

My next book is Iris Murdoch's "The Sea, The Sea" which is just over 500 pages. So I'm not going to make up any time this week, but I am going to try to relax and enjoy the book.

Happy Reading!

Oh Thank Goodness! It Is a Funny One!!

So, I'm only two chapters into Paul Scott's Booker winner, "Staying On", but so far I'm enjoying it. We're back in India for this novel, but this time with a retired British army couple. Who are very funny in a curmudgeonly way. I think I love them. The story is jumping around a bit in terms of timeline, but it's fairly easy to follow. Hurrah!

I'm feeling a bit stressed about my reading schedule today. I spent a little longer than I intended on "The Cellist of Sarajevo" and I'm going to lose about six hours of reading time to social activities this week. Normally I imagine I would just shrug this off, knowing that I'll be able to make up the lost hours and I should still be able to finish this novel by Monday, at the latest. However, I came across another book on my list yesterday, which I've never seen before. Have you seen "Sacred Hunger" by Barry Unsworth? It's a doorstop! And it's not the only Booker winner with an epic page count, either! How on earth am I going to keep on schedule when I come to these massive tomes?

I am, quite frankly, concerned. My only hope is to finish a few more of the shorter novels in less than 8 days, banking up days for the longer novels. In theory, this will work, it makes perfect sense - however, I know me. My psychology does not work this way. If I finish a book early, I will most likely reward myself with a non-Booker book, as I did last week. Chances are also good that finishing this non-Booker novel will take longer than the 'extra' time I banked by finishing early, as happened last week. All this means that I am having doubts about getting through all 46 Booker winners by next September. Hopefully facing the issue, being aware of it, will help to keep me on track. Admitting you have a problem is half the battle, right?

Happy Reading!

A Thoughtful Read

I finished reading "The Cellist of Sarajevo" on the bus home tonight. It is one of the most tragically beautiful books I've ever read, and I highly recommend it. I'm looking forward to attending a number of the One Book, One Calgary events over the next month and just wish my schedule allowed me to attend a couple more, because there are so many interesting events that will be taking place. I'm very impressed with the Calgary Public Library, for the book choice and the event schedule. If you're in the city, read "The Cellist of Sarajevo" and come out to some events, I think you'll find it's worth the time. I'm not going to say much about the story, because I think you should read it and experience it yourself, but I'll do my best to convey part of my experience of this reading.

Completely ignoring the content for just a moment, this novel was a really pleasant read. The language is clear and concise, and the organizational structure is straight forward, an absolute treat to read. I never felt the need to flip back and re-read a passage, and I never once felt that I was 'working' to read - it was pure experience for me. I think the word for this is probably 'accessible' but I feel that word has developed a negative connotation in the literary circles where they seem to think 'accessible' means a lesser artistic value. I, however, think accessibility in writing is a great thing. So, I really loved Galloway's writing style in this novel.

Now, that does not mean this was an 'easy read' - the emotion of this story is intense, and the deeper questions of humanity, hatred and civilization are very thought provoking. Normally, I'll think about whatever book I'm reading while I work on "mindless" tasks during the day - walking to the store or bus, while I'm shelving books, during commercials while I watch TV - but with this novel, I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was so intense it affected how I think about my daily activities. Emotionally, I've been a bit of a wreck - I can't think of another book that made me cry, not by a character's death but by their view of life. It was that beautiful. But, it's also sad, frightening, heartbreaking, and hopeful.

When you read "The Cellist of Sarajevo" - and really, you should. You must. It's fantastic. - I suggest getting yourself a nice recording of "Albinoni's" Adagio in G Minor to accompany your reading. It may seem a bit obvious, but I found it really enhanced my reading experience.

I'm back to the Booker tonight. Sadly, my beloved library seems to have lost it's only copy of David Storey's "Saville" which means I'm moving on to read Paul Scott's "Staying On". It also means I need to locate and purchase four books, but I'm going to hold off a bit and see if I need to order any more - figure I should save on shipping if I can.

Oh, and a quick confession. I actually read two books this week, because I felt I needed a little emotional break from the Cellist. I chose to read Helene Hanff's "84 Charing Cross Road" - it was a sweet nostalgic treat for a couple of mornings, a very quick and pleasant book. You like books? You've tried to find an elusive book? (Gosh, do I ever know what that's like!) You'll enjoy this sweet story of friendship.

Happy Reading!