Tag Archives: literature

My First Guest Review!

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I’ve been hosting my ‘little blog that could’ as Book Club Babe since July 2011, and although I’ve reached quite a few milestones and gained some fantastic followers who share my love for all things literary, I’m always overjoyed to use my blog in new ways and share it with contributors. Blogging is an awesome vehicle for collaboration and insightful discussion, and I would be remiss if I didn’t enthusiastically participate!

Thus, I’m pleased to announce my first guest book review! Claire is a talented writer whom I met in the Classical Studies program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. This week she passed her comprehensive exam with flying colors and received highest honors in the major! I’m positive that after she graduates, we’ll be seeing more great things from her! And don’t forget to check out her own blog: http://clairemariedavidson.wordpress.com/

Please give Claire a warm Book Club Babe welcome and share your opinions of her review! I hope that you also feel inspired to submit your own!

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed (2012)

Review by Claire Marie Davidson

Rating: 5 out of 5

Cheryl Strayed’s Tiny Beautiful Things, an anthology of pieces from her popular advice column on The Rumpus, Dear Sugar, is so much more than an advice column. In place of reductive suggestions, Strayed offers expansive meditations, multi-layered stories, and humor, all with a spirit of “radical empathy,” as Steve Almond puts it. She doesn’t distance herself from pain; instead, she embraces it entirely in her work, exploring loss through her responses. In this way, she problematizes the conventional question-answer format of advice columns, turning the reader’s attention instead to the process of a person’s “becoming.”

By connecting the letters to her own life experiences, Strayed localizes and familiarizes pain, wrestling with it on the pages and uniting herself with both the reader and the letter-writer.  In one letter, a father whose only son was killed by a drunk driver writes to her in a list format, which starts, “1. It’s taken me many weeks to compose this letter and even still, I can’t do it right. The only way I can get it out is to make a list instead of write a letter.” His letter ends with the question, “22. How do I become human again?” Strayed responds in a numbered list, which begins:

1. I don’t know how you go on without your son. I only know that you do. And you have. And you will.
2. Your shattering sorrowlight of a letter is proof of that.
3. You don’t need me to tell you how to become human again. You are there, in all of your humanity, shining unimpeachably before every person reading these words right now.

Strayed’s response transcends advice– it offers an intimate, emotional reaction. She suffers with the dad. She acknowledges how infinite the dad’s sense of loss is and, at the same time, delves into the multi-faceted, form-evading reality of humanity and mortality, memorializing his lost son through her words. Her poetic response offers both precision and complexity. This is the magic of Strayed’s writing: through her journey of loss, she creates something beautiful.

 

Claire Marie Davidson is a student at UC Santa Cruz, where she is pursuing her B.A. in Classical Studies and Creative Writing. She loves to read, write, and run. You can check out her blog at http://clairemariedavidson.wordpress.com. 

She is super excited to be a guest blogger for Book Club Babe!

4 Literary Archetypes You Shouldn’t Love IRL

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If you’ve been living under a rock since 2012, you’ve probably woken up to find said rock covered in pink glitter and heart confetti, because today is Valentine’s Day. Many book bloggers have been discussing the best or worst romances in literature, but I’d like to talk about the sorts of characters that are totally swoon-worthy in novels, but I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole in real life:

The Age of Innocence: Nothing says danger like an affair with your wife’s cousin!

The Bad Boy/Girl

You’ve always been warned against them: the rough-around-the-edges type that will get you into trouble and break your heart. You wouldn’t bring them home to your parents, and that’s exactly their allure. Whether it’s taking you to that seedy bar on the back of a motorcycle or convincing you to get a tattoo, everything about them is exciting and a wee bit dangerous. Unfortunately, that adrenaline rush of passion only leads to equally explosive fights and breakups.

Heathcliff: Convincing women around the world to ignore red flags–like hanging your beloved’s dog!

The Angsty Outsider

Unlike the bad boy/girl, the angsty outsider might have a heart of gold. At least you hope so, because their moodiness is downright depressing. They blame their me-against-the-world attitude on their parents’ divorce, school bullying, or impoverished upbringing, and since they’re just so pitiful, you want to be the one to bring  joy back into their lives. All that pressure to be their beacon of light will eventually drain you so much that you’ll abandon them–giving them yet another reason to believe the worst in people–or you’ll end up just as dark and gloomy as them. Misery sure does love company!

Missing: One glass slipper and one actual personality

The Prince(ss) Charming

They’re stunningly good-looking, intelligent, and kind-hearted. They have a lucrative job and a gorgeous home. They really listen to what you say and can always make you laugh. Perhaps their spare time is spent helping the elderly across intersections and taking in stray kittens. All your friends and relatives love them and are counting down the days until your nuptials. But…you want there to be a but. All this perfection is driving you crazy and feeding into your worst insecurities. You wonder what’s wrong with them, what’s wrong with you, until your paranoia sabotages the whole thing. Beware of people who never have bad hair days or get flat tires. They might actually belong in the next category…

Vampire love: When you want to kiss and kill someone at the same time!

The Mythical Creature

Vampires, werewolves, elves, merpeople, even zombies have been re-imagined in literature as lover material. I had no idea that blood-sucking and brain-devouring could be considered sexy but books have come a long way since Dracula. If monsters started appearing in our daily lives, here’s how it would play out: (1) Only you would know their secret, making you feel oh-so-special, until your loved ones start to wonder why your mate doesn’t have a reflection…or a pulse. (2) Someone spills the beans, and you spend the rest of your life keeping your mythical creature away from greedy scientists and rival demons. Don’t worry about it too much, as odds are, your life isn’t going to be very long anyway now.

Any other tropes I’ve missed? What’s a turn-off in books that would be a turn-off IRL? Sound off in the comments!

The House of Mirth (Book Two)

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Cover of "The House of Mirth (Signet Clas...

Cover of The House of Mirth (Signet Classics)

Rating: 3 out of 5

I’ve finally finished my 25th book of the year! I’m so happy to reach my 2012 reading goal, as well as cross another novel off my “5 Classics I Really Want to Read” list (which leaves Anna Karenina and Catch-22 for next year). I posted my review of the first half of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, so today I’ll offer my thoughts on Book Two:

Book One left off with Lily Bart slipping down the social ladder due to her increasing debt and failed attempts of nabbing a husband. Book Two begins with a cruise around the Mediterranean, where Lily joins the Dorsets and Ned Silverton. This is all the master plan of Bertha Dorset, who wishes for Lily to keep her husband George distracted while she pursues Ned.

When Bertha humiliates Lily by kicking her abruptly off the yacht for allegedly having an affair with George, Lily’s reputation is ruined. Her ego becomes even more bruised when her aunt dies, leaving her a fraction of what she originally was to inherit. Facing a life of poverty, Lily desperately seeks salvation by assimilating into a new social circle and revisiting suitors she previously snubbed.

Eventually, Lily finds herself cast aside into the working class, suffering from financial trouble and emotional turmoil. Her attitude that she was more superior to less beautiful women and less promising men backfires as people of lower rank surpass her, gaining prosperity and happiness where she could not. And although the ending is ambiguous, the reader learns that Lily’s fate is as much due to her own follies as the elite’s oppressive and alienating conventions.

Unlike other female protagonists created by Austen or Chopin, Lily is characterized as a woman who realizes much too late the consequences of believing that she could always do better and marry richer. When your motive is not directed by personal happiness, tragedy is bound to ensue, and Wharton paints that harsh reality. The House of Mirth is obviously titled ironically, because it’s not some fairy tale where a knight rides in to rescue the damsel in distress.

Rather, it’s an apt depiction of social Darwinism, where only the most handsome, charming, wealthy, and powerful individuals survive. For females of the human species, according to authors of this time period, marriage is the key to successful social mobility–another way of looking at cultural “evolution,” one might say.

There’s so much more to this story in regards to themes, motifs, and symbols, so I recommend it to someone who is a fan of the “fallen woman” genre. However, for those who are new to experiencing these types of classics, I believe that The Age of Innocence, The Awakening, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights portray the battle between love and money just as well, but also offer a more emotionally investing read because of their characters.

I’ll be making a nice transition into next year, since my first novel in 2013 will be a modern adaptation of The House of Mirth, called Gilded Age by Claire McMillan. How will Wharton’s tale play out over 100 years later? I’ll have to read and see!

Favorite Quote: 

Lily: “That’s unjust, I think, because, as I understand it, one of the conditions of citizenship is not to think too much about money, and the only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it.” 

Selden: “You might as well say that the only way not to think about air is to have enough to breathe. That is true enough in a sense; but your lungs are thinking about the air, if you are not. And so it is with your rich people–they may not be thinking of money, but they’re breathing it all the while; take them into another element and see how they squirm and gasp!”

Book Review: Animal Farm

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Cover of "Animal Farm: Centennial Edition...

Cover of Animal Farm: Centennial Edition

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

I’ve crossed yet another novel off my 5 Classics I Really Want to Read list! After 1984 became my favorite book of last year, I knew that I had to get my hands on more of George Orwell’s work. Animal Farm (1945) was an easy choice, given how popular it is in the Western canon. Plus, I had already seen the 1999 film version in high school, so I was not new to the story.

But for those of you who still are, I’ll summarize the tale: One day, a boar named Old Major shares his harsh thoughts on the human race. He passes away soon after, but the rest of the farm animals create a philosophy called Animalism based on his beliefs.

Unhappy with their master, Mr. Jones, the animals decide to revolt. They run the farmer off Manor Farm and rename it Animal Farm. They also establish the Seven Commandments of Animalism, which forbid them from imitating humans by wearing clothes, sleeping in beds, and drinking alcohol. The most important commandment was that “All animals are equal.”

In need of leadership, two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, are quick to take charge. At first the animals enjoy their freedom and autonomy, but soon the pigs become power-hungry. Napoleon turns the farm against Snowball, then proceeds to overwork and underfeed the animals, killing those who he deems as threats.

The years go by, with Napoleon changing the commandments to suit his own desires. The uneducated, brainwashed farm animals are easily manipulated into submission, even when the pigs move into Mr. Jones’ house, drink his beer, and start walking on two legs. “All animals are equal” gains an amendment, “…but some are more equal than others.”

I guess that was more than just a summary, but of course it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Orwell wrote Animal Farm as an allegory for the Russian Revolution. Animalism is analogous to Communism, with Old Major as a representation of its philosophers Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Therefore, Snowball and Napoleon are Trotsky and Stalin, respectively.

As seen with 1984, Orwell is a master of intertwining literature and history, telling a fantastic story while conveying strong political messages of his time. He was extremely critical of Stalin’s regime–how the tyrant corrupted socialist ideals and oppressed his people.

However, Orwell’s novels remain in the echelon of literature because their themes are timeless. The never-ending cycle of working class and elite is not merely seen in Communist nations. Orwell demonstrates that people with the best intentions often get so consumed with greed that they become the very enemy that they revolted against in the first place.

Call this struggle what you will–proletariat vs. bourgeoisie, the 99% vs. the 1%–but take heed of Orwell. Our politicians may say that they have our interests in mind, but are they really serving their constituents, or are they just pigs in suits?

Favorite Quote: “No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” 

Masterpiece Monday: The Trial

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Rating: 2 out of 5

BEWARE: SPOILER ALERT!

It took me almost a month, but I’m finally done with Franz Kafka’s The Trial (1925). Unfortunately, it did not enthrall me like his short stories, but at least I can cross it off my 5 Classics I Really Want to Read list.

The story follows Josef K (referred to mainly as “K.”), a bank official who is arrested on his 30th birthday for a crime unknown to both him and the reader. For an entire year, K. must seek legal advice from lawyers, relatives, love interests, and fellow accused men.

All this effort proves worthless, however, since K. is captured the night before he turns 31. Dragged to a quarry outside of town, he’s placed on a butcher block. Aware that he is supposed to grab the two men’s knife as they pass it back and forth to commit suicide, he refuses and lets them stab him in the heart–in his words, “Like a dog!”

It was not the subject matter which made me dislike The Trial. Kafka’s morbidity is intriguing, and his prose is engaging. Like many existentialists, Kafka’s life was so influential on his work, and therefore extremely fascinating to literary critics.

Born to a middle-class, German-speaking, Jewish family in Prague, Kafka suffered from alienation and self-loathing. His relationship with his father was strained, and his five siblings all died prematurely, his two brothers when Kafka was a child, and his three sisters during the Holocaust after Kafka had died of tuberculosis.

Much of Kafka’s personal life has been left to interpretation, with theories ranging from schizophrenia, anorexia, and homosexuality. A deeply private and troubled man, Kafka never intended to gain fame from his writing. In fact, he explicitly told his closest friend, Max Brod, to burn all his work after his death.

As much as I empathize with Kafka’s wishes, I am glad Brod ignored them. Otherwise, we would have no record of one of the greatest writers of all time. While I don’t consider The Trial Kafka’s best work, I appreciated its reference to another of his stories, “Before the Law.”

Kafka’s own legal background inspired his occupation with the machinations of the government and justice system. If he was not a man without a niche, struggling to find his place in the world, his insights would not be nearly as powerful. It’s simply amazing to think that this novel foreshadows the horror that is to befall Europe in World War II. Although his life could never be described as peaceful, I’m actually glad it ended when it did, rather than witness the tragedy that would take the rest of his family.

Favorite Quote: “Are people to say of me after I am gone that at the beginning of my case I wanted to finish it, and at the end of it I wanted to begin it again?”

What’s the [Really Disturbing] Story, Wishbone?

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The cutest Robin Hood! (Image via Buzzfeed)

Three days ago, comedy website FunnyOrDie.com posted yet another amusing video (And yes, those who know me remember that when this site was launched, I thought that it was pronounced “Funny Ordy.” I still stand by my thought that comparing adjectives to verbs is confusing, but whatever. Glad my friends and family enjoyed mocking me!)

Anyways, the video is called “Wishbone Reboot,” and since I can’t embed it here, click the link! It imitates the introduction to “Wishbone,” one of my favorite TV shows as a child which used classic novels to teach life lessons.

What’s hilarious about the parody is that it includes books which would never had made it on the kid’s show, such as Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, and The Road. It got me thinking just how many novels in the literary canon are simply too graphic for the elementary school demographic.

But what if “Wishbone” had an adult version? Which masterpieces would you love to see acted out by a Jack Russell Terrier?

Here’s my top 10 picks:

  1.  Medea by Euripides
  2. Bacchae by Euripides
  3. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  4. The Stranger by Albert Camus
  5. Lysistrata by Aristophanes
  6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  7. 1984 by George Orwell
  8. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
  9. Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories: “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “Hop-Frog,” “The Cask of Amontillado”
  10. Franz Kafka’s short stories: “Metamorphosis,” “The Judgment,” “In the Penal Colony”

Now I don’t read extremely horrific tales, so let me know what other stories could make the cut for an R-rated “Wishbone.” Go crazy!

Best and Worst Fictional Commencement Speakers

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I just got back from celebrating a family friend’s graduation from culinary school, and while I was listening to the honorary speaker, I thought about who in literature would make the best commencement speeches, who can give inspiring words from the heart and incite passion in their audiences. On the other hand, who would make you just groan and look for the nearest exit?

Well, after giving it a lot a thought, I have made my decision!

Eric Bana as Hector--even better!

Best Fictional Commencement Speaker: Hector from Homer’s Iliad

Now most people associate Iliad with Achilles, but what the Greek warrior has in fame, he lacks in people skills. After all, he threw a major hissy fit during most of the war after Agamemnon stole his slave-girl Briseis. But Hector acted like the  noble Trojan prince he was, and although he was killed by Achilles, he possessed great power in motivating his troops.

Here’s one example from my Lombardo translation:

“Trojans, Lycians, Dardanian soldiers, remember to fight like the men that you are. Zeus I know has decreed glory for me and victory–and for the Danaans defeat. Look at this puny wall they’ve put up. It will never withstand the force of our attack, and our horses will easily jump this ditch. Once I get to their ships, get me some fire so I can burn the fleet and kill dazed Greeks in the smoke.” (8.176)

Confident, powerful, memorable–just what the class of 2012 needs to put a fire under their own butts. Hector was a leader with both military expertise and the respect of his soldiers. Graduates could use someone like him.

Runners-Up: Dumbledore from Harry Potter, Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, Marc Antony from Julius Caesar

Hoom, boom, burarum...zzzz

Worst Fictional Commencement Speaker: Treebeard from Tolkien’s The Two Towers

Let’s ignore for a moment that a tree shepherd would automatically make an unusual graduation guest. I can’t think of anyone who would give a longer, duller speech than this Ent. When your catchphrase is “Don’t be hasty,” you know it’s going to be a long night! Check out the beginning to Entmoot, the gathering of the Ents:

“After a long time (and the chant showed no signs of slackening) [Pippin] found himself wondering they had yet got further than Good Morning; and if Treebeard was to call the roll, how many days it would take to sing all their names. ‘I wonder what the Entish is for yes or no,’ he thought. He yawned.” (Ch. 4)

Days??? No one in their right mind would listen to a commencement speeches lasting days. I love Ents as much as the next Ringer, but come on!

Runners-Up: Big Brother from 1984, Hamlet from Hamlet, Mersault from The Stranger

So anyone else you can brainstorm that would make one of these lists? Let me know! I’ll be counting down the days until my own commencement!!!

Masterpiece Monday: Fahrenheit 451

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Cover of "Fahrenheit 451: A Novel"

Image via Amazon

Rating: 4 out of 5

So after reading Orwell’s 1984, I continued with the dystopian theme with Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Published in 1953 and named after the degree at which book-paper burns, this short novel has become synonymous with the fight against censorship.

Set in a futuristic America in which our vehicles travel over 100 miles an hour and our home’s walls convert into televisions playing 5-minute shows in rapid succession, Guy Montag is a fireman who burns down houses that harbor any books. At first he enjoys his occupation, but after a woman chooses to die with her books instead of face her impending arrest, Montag questions the world around him.

Montag meets mysterious comrades Clarisse, a inquisitive high-schooler, and Faber, an ex-English professor, but his life is forever changed after he is caught stealing books.  The rest of the novel follows his life on the run as a fugitive trying to make sense of everything.

Although not nearly as chillingly timeless as 1984, Fahrenheit 451 is still an exquisite warning against society’s dwindling attention span. As the internet dominates our lives and offers endless entertainment in minutes-long YouTube videos, people are devoting less and less time to absorbing the wisdom we can gain from literature. In the age of the Kindle, sadly even paper books are becoming obsolete.

Yes, the novel disapproves of how extreme political correctness can limit free expression in books, but more importantly it points out how if nobody’s reading books in the first place, they won’t be missed. It is up to future generations to keep reading and reciting these literary tales so as to preserve their messages. Montag learns that you never know when you’ll need those stories to shape the world for the better.

For fans of 1984, this novel will be harder to comprehend at first, since Bradbury does not spell everything out like Orwell. Characterizations of various beast-like creatures, such as the Hound, the salamander, and the beetles, are often symbolic. The ambiguity between the residents and the people they watch in their parlors blurs the line between fact and fiction.

So even though Bradbury himself wrote the novel in a mere nine days, don’t blaze through it like a bonfire. Instead enjoy the words slowly and without distractions; take comfort in reading for pleasure, because when the world is obsessed with faster speeds and instant gratification, it’s good to live in the moment of a masterpiece.

Favorite Quote: “Let you alone! That’s all very well, but how can I leave myself alone? We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”

Book Review: 1984

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Cover of "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

Image via Amazon

Rating: 5 out of 5

BEWARE: SPOILER ALERT!

Published in 1949, 1984 was George Orwell’s final novel–a masterful foreboding of what could come should the world continue its thirst for power and hegemony. While many critics might write off the book as merely an allegory for the totalitarian regimes of Hitler and Stalin, it is so much more than that because it warns that it only takes enough torture and brainwashing to turn a man into an empty shell devoid of emotion and independent thought.

Winston Smith lives in London, which has been absolved into the great superpower of Oceania. Given that he’s not even sure if it’s really the year 1984, his memory of the past is sparse: after the nuclear war of 1950, science and prosperity have been abandoned in exchange for militarized mass production.

As an employee of the ironically-titled Ministry of Truth, he must change the facts of historical documents so that the past always matches the present. Oceania is, has always been, and will always be at war with Eurasia (unless it decides to fight Eastasia instead).

And Big Brother, the ubiquitous face of the Party, exists, has always existed, and will always exist. Anyone who denies this or disapproves of the Party will simply disappear, vaporized by the Thought Police.

It’s not the ever-watchful telescreens or the mob mentality behind the Two Minutes Hate that’s most terrifying about 1984. It’s the concept of “doublethink:” the psychological contradiction that can make you believe that war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, and two plus two equals five. Not only can the Party control your every movement, they can also re-program your mind.

You go in knowing that Winston and his lover Julia can never break free of the Party’s despotism, that all their secret rendezvouses will only lead to capture, but you still remain foolishly optimistic just like them.

So when the inevitable happens, and they are broken down into submission in Room 101, you feel just as broken. Their hope is your hope, their pain your pain, and their nothingness your nothingness. I find it hard to think of a more cathartic reading experience.

This is the dystopian masterpiece. Everyone owes it to themselves to read 1984. Absorb it, love it, and–most importantly–learn from it. Because if we don’t wake up and band together to preserve individuality, encourage critical thinking, and further scientific progress, we will succumb to the same inhuman fate.

Favorite Quotes:

“To hang on from day to day and from week to week, spinning out a present that had no future, seemed an unconquerable instinct, just as one’s lungs will always draw the next breath so long as there is air available.” (Part II, Chapter 5)

“The best books, he perceived, are those that tell you what you know already.” (Part II, Chapter 9)

Want free books and a Kindle? Watch this video!

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The Guardian and Observer Books Season 2011 is hosting a contest on famous first lines in novels. You watch a video with six first lines, then provide your contact info below the video with your answers. Three winners will receive those six books, and the grand prize winner will also get an Amazon Kindle!

The catch is that you have to be a UK resident (sorry I tricked you fellow Americans!). But if you are one, the deadline’s Nov. 6. For the rest of us, it’s just fun to watch a beautifully animated video with some of the best sentences in the literary world. I personally knew 4 out of the 6 books, so I’m pretty pleased!

What are some of your other favorite first lines? Here’s my list from books I’ve read–Can you guess where they’re from?

  1. If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
  2. If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.
  3. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
  4. As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
  5. Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
  6. The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
  7. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
  8. I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids–and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
  9. Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.
  10. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (Yes, I only read 50 pages of this one, but it’s still an excellent opening!)