Nicole

If you have read the novel "Tender is the Night" (and I'm sure you haven't...poor, ignored blog), Nicole is probably the most fascinating character. If we ever get around to discussing this novel, her character is were I want to start.

In the meantime, a picture of the beach right outside Montpellier!

A New Suggestion for the Summer

This blog should be called the Rare Things Book Club seeing how little we use it. Summer is approaching and I have a suggestion for a book that is a step above chick-lit. It's Fitzgerald's lesser known masterpiece, Tender is the Night. I just finished it actually, but that means I'll be ready to discuss when I return from my own French adventure June 13th.
Now here's why:
1) it takes place on the French Riviera. What says summer more than rich 20-somethings on a beach in the south of France?
2) it eerily forecasts the Fitzgeralds' descent into alcoholism and madness. And still manages not to be extremely depressing.
3) I thought it was better and more complex/rewarding than Great Gatsby.

So how about it?

Odds & ends

The NY Times has an article on book clubs. You can read it here.

By the way, who has finished The Wordy Shipmates? I'm still reading.

Any other ideas for this book club blog to keep it active?

In these times

I think we're reading this book at a particularly telling time, with the election and issues of leadership, civic duty, freedom swirling around. You can't help but think of our current climate when reading, or at least I can't. I was really struck by how much literature, writing, and knowledge were emphasized by the Puritan colony Vowell focuses on, basically our founders. It's sad to think how far we've gotten away from that. Especially when the love of knowledge, learning, traveling, writing, literature, complexity, and attending the very same Ivy League schools that the Puritans founded is referred to as 'elitist.' Just thought I would share.

Sarah Vowell on Letterman

In case you missed it, like I did:

Out today

The Wordy Shipmates is now officially out, so pick up a copy at your local bookstore or library. I did. I'm pretty sure Kate did. So I hope you all resort to peer pressure and do your part to boost our economy. Buy it. Or check it out. Just do it.

More Puritan Fun!

Even though I'm usually not a fan of books written in, well, the last couple of decades, I'll give "The Wordy Shipmates" a try if simply because I'm taking an American Literature class that focuses on Puritan Lit. Puritan Lit is as boring as hell (Puritans, if they were reading, would take offense not only because I dissed their literature but because I swore. That's why I did it). Winthrop is an abstract bore with one good catchphrase (Sarah Palin, it was Winthrop who coined "city on a hill" first, not Reagan. Although it is quite possible that ole Reagan knew Winthrop back in the day, Winthrop still deserves credit because frankly it's the one claim to fame he'll ever get); Jonathan Edwards inspires anger in even the meek with such classic imagery as spiders over cauldrons (sinners in this case being the spider and the cauldron...I'm sure you get what the cauldron represents); Bradford is a killjoy who even manages to make a trial over bestiality boring. All in all, I think I've done the most research for Vowell.

Rest In Peace

Phoenix rising, ship sailing

Perhaps we should dust this thing off and reconvene for the upcoming Sarah Vowell book The Wordy Shipmates. I think that could be a fast, informative and engaging read that everyone could agree on. You really can't go wrong with Sarah Vowell. What do you all think? It comes out October 7th. That way we also have time to finish any books we're currently reading and get all pumped up for our thrilling and participatory discussion on this very blog.

Who's with me? (Feel free to respond Aye, aye Captain!).

Come On Guys!

Wow, talk about disappointing. After my intial gushing over "To The Lighthouse" nobody seemed willing to follow it with a discussion of any kind. Well, I am currently reading "Jacob's Room," an early work of Virginia Woolf, which leads me to this blog. "Jacob's Room" is Woolf's first stream of consciousness novel, a work of art in its own right, which would seem more startling and noteworthy if not for the greater successes of "Mrs. Dalloway" and "To the Lighthouse" after it. It also uncovers similar themes of family, art (in this case history and the Greeks in place of To the Lighthouse's painting and literature), and of course, WWI. For as much as WWII dominates the History Channel and occupies about all the shelves in a bookstore's history section, WWI has produced a greater extent of literature and in my mind still remains the Great War. It disillusioned; it maimed if it did not kill first; it stunned and shell-shocked. "Jacob's Room" introduces these themes to a small extent, but if we were to get a discussion going on "To the Lighthouse" we would scratch the surface of what lies beneath the war that nobody talks about, the war that nobody remembers.

Finally--I Have My Vision! (Lame inside "To the Lighthouse" joke)

Finally, Lindsay, you realized the only way to entice me into writing on this blog was to pick a Virginia Woolf book! Okay, so first topics I suggest that we discuss for the first third of the novel ("The Window"):

-- Permanence (Mrs. Ramsay wants to preserve moments like the 'perfect' dinner party to fight Life, her enemy; Lily wants to finish her painting but is having trouble; Mr. Ramsay wants to at least get to R so his legacy can live on)

--The Windows/Frames of all the characters (Bankes sees things through a scientific frame, Lily through the aesthetic) --we talked about this in class and I'd be intrigued to hear your ideas

-- How effective is Woolf's "cubist prose?"'

When we get to the end of the novel I'd also be interested in hearing your answers on its meaning. I wrote a paper on it last week.

Happy reading! Enjoy the miracle that is Virginia Woolf!

moving along...

Just to let everyone know, I have finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (I think I already mentioned that), and I think I am going to go on to read To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. So if anyone would like to join me in my next reading adventure, that would be great.

I mean we could officially make it our next selection, but our discussions haven't been so lively, and I'm not sure if everyone is finished with Oscar Wao, so I thought I would just start in the meantime and whoever wanted to as well could, and if we wanted we could discuss both (if anyone is still interested in discussing Oscar Wao).

And some of you have already read To the Lighthouse (Cynthia, Erin, anyone else?), so you could participate in the discussion already.

Cool?

Hurrah for Junot!

I was just about to leave a post about our very own selection winning the prestigious pulitzer! It actually made me feel very proud, very intellectual and like our club really lives up to its name. I also felt happy that the pulitzer recognized this young, fresh, somewhat unconventional use of voice and language - very exciting and progressive and hopeful. now if we could only get this convo going....

i do think that the issue of voice and perspective is a very rich topic in this novel and could inspire much discussion (as noted in my original comment to lindsay's post on the topic). I still have some reading to do, but i am at the section after Beli's story, where we have returned to the somewhat present, the first-person narrator has emerged and is college roommates with Oscar. This is a bit off topic, but i was started to be very curious about how closely aligned our narrator is with Junot himself. I cannot help but thinking that i am really hearing Junot's voice through our narrators, though i know this is a common fallacy. Nonetheless, i like to indulge it. My latest theory is that Junot is actually a mix between our narrator and oscar - or that they represents the two different sides of his personality/experience, or maybe even a fantasy/reality junot, like the narrator is more like a shadow figure to oscar/junot (a la Brad Pitt to Ed Norton in Fight Club). Food for thought.

Pulitzer

Erin has just informed me that our very own book club book has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Go Oscar and Junot!

I'm done!

What's our next one? Just kidding. I'm ready to discuss stuff if we're so willing. Just thought I would let you all know.

Back on the bandwagon

Okay, gang. Let's get this thing going again. I propose our first topic of discussion: voice/point of view. Diaz has a distinctive style of writing - influenced by dialogue/dialect and slang. Now discuss!

Did it take anyone a little while to get into it? Do people not like the style of writing? Other thoughts, comments, observations?

The winner is...

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao! Start reading!

Should we have kind of a structure as far as postings/discussion? Of course, people should feel free to be able to post whenever on whatever, but maybe we should have some kind of plan so that we stay on course and have more of a discussion than we did for Atonement.

What do you think?

my vote...

ladies, i'm actually so excited about this e-bookclub. linds, i never thought i would see the day you became an IT fanatic! alright, i have to say i'm having a hard time deciding between Pollitt and Diaz. both books sound interesting, but i think i'm most attracted to "The Brief Wonderous Life" because of it's discussion on multiculturalism (maybe i'm a bit biased :-)) so, i guess that's my vote.

Decision time! Vote 2008!

Okay, so we've discussed our options here, and it also seems like people are excited about all three of our choices: Learning to Drive and Other Life Stories by Katha Pollitt, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. All being great choices, I think we should aim for reading all three - although I'm sure there will be more books to add to our list. Now we just have to figure out the order. Shall we take a vote?

Even if you don't mind which one we read first, can everyone just choose one (even if it has to be at random...draw from a hat if you'd like)? Or from those of you who judge a book by its cover, see above. After we hear from everyone all of the members (and I am not averse to harassing those who have not yet voted), we will tally them and hopefully there will be no ties. In the case of a tie, since I do not know how any of those novels begin, we will choose the one whose first letter (of the text, not the title) comes earliest in the alphabet. Does this all seem fair? Man, democracy is a lot of work.

My 2 Cents

Well i am encouraged by the newfound enthusiasm to keep this little project of a multi-city virtual book club alive! and i love everyone's suggestions. Now, in the spirit of honesty and democracy (and not just to be contrary), i'd have to say that my first choice would be: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, a book I have heard a lot about and am very excited to read. That being said, i am a major Virginia W fan and would happily read or re-read anything of hers and Erica's non-fiction selection sounds great too! I guess i would say that a contemporary novel would be my #1 right now, and then i think we could move into the classics and non-fiction reads. but i am open and know that we should make a decision soon. Oh, and Rakiya, i am glad that you are now a member. For more reference on this book club, please see Office Episode, Branch Wars, featuring the original Finger Things Club, the inspiration for this esteemed group effort.