(no subject)
Peeking in (I'm doing better at reading other LJs on a semi-regular basis but not so good with actually blogging myself ....):
1. I recently read (and was appalled and outraged by) an article in Texas Monthly about a controversy at a prestigious Austin high school over some books on the required reading list for seniors, including Brokeback Mountain. The school stood its ground (yay!), despite losing a $3 million pledge (they found the funding through other sources).
The Texas Monthly article is subscription-based, alas.
This blog is perhaps a more concise summary that still does it justice.
I was reminded though of how violently opposed I am to any form of censorship. I do agree with the above commentator that students should have the intellectual freedom to articulate opposition to a particular subject-matter and select a suitable replacement. But, I'm sooooo against banning books whole-sale.
I was also amused to remember one of my college literature classes that had The White Hotel as assigned reading one semester. One of my friends (a guy) met me for lunch one Saturday, before we were due to begin discussing it that Monday. We both kept sneaking glances at each other and asking subtle questions about whether we'd done any reading for that class this weekend. Finally, broke down and admitted that we'd both read the first few chapters and were shocked that it was erotica that bordered on fairly hard-core porn (I wonder if I would still consider it hard-core? Hmmmmmm......). The story doesn't continue in that vein, btw .... I recall the passages/chapters in question were very early-on though. It was a great book as I recall ..... I really ought to see about getting another copy (must have loaned it out to someone who thoughtlessly never returned it, which is why I no longer lend books to anyone, ever).
2. I'm in a quandary with my book club. I've been a member for 11 years or so now. I've become increasingly disenchanted with it over the years, but out of inertia and lack of a better alternative, have stuck with it. It's really more a social club ---- most of the women are either grads of UT Law School (90% of whom no longer practice) in my year or close friends of the former. Very affluent, hip crowd. We drink wine and chat for about an hour, have a nice dinner and more wine, spend anywhere from 2-20 min discussing last month's book (20 min being extremely rare) and then proceed to "sell" the crowd on books we want the group to read and then there's the voting on next month's selection. The other variable is that I never hung out with these women in law school -- my closest friends from law school are all in other cities.
Most of the books we read are "trendy literary" reads OR memoirs (this group is *very* keen on memoirs, most of which I detest) OR beach reads. We have one "classics" month per year, and I find it endlessly amusing to hear all these women who are soooooooo pretentious that they wouldn't deign to read something so low-brow as a "children's book" like Harry Potter ("I'm waiting until my kids are old enough to appreciate it and then we'll read them") are generally so very Not well-read with respect to the classics (I was astounded at the number of people who'd never read *anything* by Jane Austen for example).
Anyway.
I recommended a slew of classics to the group via email, since I was going to be at Lumos during the July meeting. One of my suggestions was French Lieutenant's Woman, and apparently one of the other members had read it and talked it up to great effect. I think my disillusionment with the group may have reached an all-time high with the August meeting. Very few people had read the book, but the ones who had read it didn't like it at all. They couldn't grasp that the *wonder* of this particular book isn't the story at all (who cares about Charles and Sarah or Ernestina for that matter) ----- the *great* thing about it is the style, the technique. The way Fowles talks directly to the reader throughout the entire book, commenting on what he knows and what he doesn't know about the characters and their motivatations and what they might or might not do next, is just brilliant. And I am particularly enamored of the long passage where he writes himself into the narrative and discusses his options as the author, his uncertainty about what his characters want. I *LOVE* that. This book has hugely affected the way I've read every novel since that time.
"Now the question I am asking, as I stare at Charles, is not quite the same as the two above. But rather, what the devil am I going to do with you? I have already thought of ending Charles's career here and now; of leaving him for eternity on his way to London. .... and I preached earlier of the freedom characters must be given. My problem is simple -- what Charles wants is clear? It is indeed. But what the protagonist wants is not so clear; and I am not at all sure where she is at the moment. Of course if these two were two fragments of real life instead of two figments of my imagination, the issue of the dilemna is obvious: the one want combats the other want and fails or succeeds, as the actuality may be. Fiction usually pretends to conform to the reality: the writer puts the conflicting wants in the ring and then describes the fight -- but in fact fixes the fight, letting that want he himself favors win. ANd we judge writers of fiction both by the skill they show in fixing the fight (in other words, in persuading us that they were not fixed) and by the kind of fighter they fix in favor of: the good one, the tragic one, the evil one, the funny one, and so on. ..... The only way I can take no part in the fight is to show two versions of it. That leaves me with only one problem: I cannot give both versions at once, yet whichever is the second will seem, so strong is the tyranny of the last chapter, the final, the 'real' version."
I completely adore what he's saying about fictional characters and free will and narrative strategy and ........ I just can't *BELIEVE* that these women just shrugged it all off. Polite nods at my passionate defense of the book and soon a "Well, are we ready to create a list for next month?"
I really need another book club. Perhaps this is just the kick in the pants I need to get started finding one.
OTOH, the owner of Blue Willow Bookstore (indy shop) comes once a year to sell us on "hot new reads," and it's because of her that I found Stephenie Meyer. I suppose I could persuade her to come to whatever book club I eventually land up in though. :)
3. Why do children move at 2 speeds: running or dawdling?
4. I really, *REALLY* need to write comprehensive reviews of both Twilight and New Moon. I'm still, *still* STILL completely unable to enjoy reading anything else.
I know this too shall pass. I've had this same reaction once before, so I do *recognize* the symptoms. :::coughHarryPottercough:::
Ah yes, the question is not when I will be able to read something else again (soon probably), but will I continue to resist becoming too immersed in yet another fandom? I do NOT have time for another fandom. I'm still resisting and telling myself that once I spout all my New Moon theories and squee some more with heart_of_wine about Edward, maybe then I can walk away and get some distance. I hope so. Maybe writing full-fledged reviews will help too.
Since my books icon is far more appropriate for this particular post, I am exercising great restraint in NOT changing to one of my Twilight or New Moon icons. Such restraint! :)
Wow, I think I've written a lot. Go me!
1. I recently read (and was appalled and outraged by) an article in Texas Monthly about a controversy at a prestigious Austin high school over some books on the required reading list for seniors, including Brokeback Mountain. The school stood its ground (yay!), despite losing a $3 million pledge (they found the funding through other sources).
The Texas Monthly article is subscription-based, alas.
This blog is perhaps a more concise summary that still does it justice.
I was reminded though of how violently opposed I am to any form of censorship. I do agree with the above commentator that students should have the intellectual freedom to articulate opposition to a particular subject-matter and select a suitable replacement. But, I'm sooooo against banning books whole-sale.
I was also amused to remember one of my college literature classes that had The White Hotel as assigned reading one semester. One of my friends (a guy) met me for lunch one Saturday, before we were due to begin discussing it that Monday. We both kept sneaking glances at each other and asking subtle questions about whether we'd done any reading for that class this weekend. Finally, broke down and admitted that we'd both read the first few chapters and were shocked that it was erotica that bordered on fairly hard-core porn (I wonder if I would still consider it hard-core? Hmmmmmm......). The story doesn't continue in that vein, btw .... I recall the passages/chapters in question were very early-on though. It was a great book as I recall ..... I really ought to see about getting another copy (must have loaned it out to someone who thoughtlessly never returned it, which is why I no longer lend books to anyone, ever).
2. I'm in a quandary with my book club. I've been a member for 11 years or so now. I've become increasingly disenchanted with it over the years, but out of inertia and lack of a better alternative, have stuck with it. It's really more a social club ---- most of the women are either grads of UT Law School (90% of whom no longer practice) in my year or close friends of the former. Very affluent, hip crowd. We drink wine and chat for about an hour, have a nice dinner and more wine, spend anywhere from 2-20 min discussing last month's book (20 min being extremely rare) and then proceed to "sell" the crowd on books we want the group to read and then there's the voting on next month's selection. The other variable is that I never hung out with these women in law school -- my closest friends from law school are all in other cities.
Most of the books we read are "trendy literary" reads OR memoirs (this group is *very* keen on memoirs, most of which I detest) OR beach reads. We have one "classics" month per year, and I find it endlessly amusing to hear all these women who are soooooooo pretentious that they wouldn't deign to read something so low-brow as a "children's book" like Harry Potter ("I'm waiting until my kids are old enough to appreciate it and then we'll read them") are generally so very Not well-read with respect to the classics (I was astounded at the number of people who'd never read *anything* by Jane Austen for example).
Anyway.
I recommended a slew of classics to the group via email, since I was going to be at Lumos during the July meeting. One of my suggestions was French Lieutenant's Woman, and apparently one of the other members had read it and talked it up to great effect. I think my disillusionment with the group may have reached an all-time high with the August meeting. Very few people had read the book, but the ones who had read it didn't like it at all. They couldn't grasp that the *wonder* of this particular book isn't the story at all (who cares about Charles and Sarah or Ernestina for that matter) ----- the *great* thing about it is the style, the technique. The way Fowles talks directly to the reader throughout the entire book, commenting on what he knows and what he doesn't know about the characters and their motivatations and what they might or might not do next, is just brilliant. And I am particularly enamored of the long passage where he writes himself into the narrative and discusses his options as the author, his uncertainty about what his characters want. I *LOVE* that. This book has hugely affected the way I've read every novel since that time.
"Now the question I am asking, as I stare at Charles, is not quite the same as the two above. But rather, what the devil am I going to do with you? I have already thought of ending Charles's career here and now; of leaving him for eternity on his way to London. .... and I preached earlier of the freedom characters must be given. My problem is simple -- what Charles wants is clear? It is indeed. But what the protagonist wants is not so clear; and I am not at all sure where she is at the moment. Of course if these two were two fragments of real life instead of two figments of my imagination, the issue of the dilemna is obvious: the one want combats the other want and fails or succeeds, as the actuality may be. Fiction usually pretends to conform to the reality: the writer puts the conflicting wants in the ring and then describes the fight -- but in fact fixes the fight, letting that want he himself favors win. ANd we judge writers of fiction both by the skill they show in fixing the fight (in other words, in persuading us that they were not fixed) and by the kind of fighter they fix in favor of: the good one, the tragic one, the evil one, the funny one, and so on. ..... The only way I can take no part in the fight is to show two versions of it. That leaves me with only one problem: I cannot give both versions at once, yet whichever is the second will seem, so strong is the tyranny of the last chapter, the final, the 'real' version."
I completely adore what he's saying about fictional characters and free will and narrative strategy and ........ I just can't *BELIEVE* that these women just shrugged it all off. Polite nods at my passionate defense of the book and soon a "Well, are we ready to create a list for next month?"
I really need another book club. Perhaps this is just the kick in the pants I need to get started finding one.
OTOH, the owner of Blue Willow Bookstore (indy shop) comes once a year to sell us on "hot new reads," and it's because of her that I found Stephenie Meyer. I suppose I could persuade her to come to whatever book club I eventually land up in though. :)
3. Why do children move at 2 speeds: running or dawdling?
4. I really, *REALLY* need to write comprehensive reviews of both Twilight and New Moon. I'm still, *still* STILL completely unable to enjoy reading anything else.
I know this too shall pass. I've had this same reaction once before, so I do *recognize* the symptoms. :::coughHarryPottercough:::
Ah yes, the question is not when I will be able to read something else again (soon probably), but will I continue to resist becoming too immersed in yet another fandom? I do NOT have time for another fandom. I'm still resisting and telling myself that once I spout all my New Moon theories and squee some more with heart_of_wine about Edward, maybe then I can walk away and get some distance. I hope so. Maybe writing full-fledged reviews will help too.
Since my books icon is far more appropriate for this particular post, I am exercising great restraint in NOT changing to one of my Twilight or New Moon icons. Such restraint! :)
Wow, I think I've written a lot. Go me!