The Classics

I have always wanted to be the very well-read person who has read all the classics.  Well-versed, well-spoken, well-aware of literature both past and present: that has always been a dream for me.  But, in reality, there is so much to read that I certainly don't get to it all.  And some classics have gone beyond me -- Middlemarch was more than I could handle, Vanity Fair did me in as well.  But Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Bronte sisters are all people I get a long well with.   In Canadian literature, I love Robertson Davies and Lucy Maud Montgomery, Jane Urquhart and many others. 

But how do you keep up with the classics?  Some of them are really tough slugging.  Tonight at Book Club we are discussing four staples of literature: Nabakov's Lolita, Henry James' Daisy Miller, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.  I have read all of them now (not all in this past month!) and find such disparity of experience.  I do have a long lasting love for Pride and Prejudice but Lolita, I could certainly do without.  I guess I'm not sure what makes something a classic and what causes a short lived literary life.  And what I consider to be a classic is such a creation of my culture, my setting, my exposure.  What are the books that trascend these societal constructs?   And do I have the literary stamina to endure stories that have been considered timeless but seem tiring to me? 

What are your classics?  What books would go with you to a desert island?  What makes them so important? 

The Game...

So I was hoping The Game would be great.  I was sceptical, yes, but I was hoping to be wrong.  I like it when books/movies/events prove me wrong (confession: I might have a *slight* leaning towards scepticism).  But I am always good with learning to appreciate something new and I was truly ready to be surprised by the hockey book.  But, alas, I have not been.  It has been slooooow going.  Slow.  The book claims to be the best hockey book ever written.  That must be a very, very low bar.  Hopefully hockey writing has improved since 1983. 

But I won't quit.  I will see it through.  The last twenty pages I read have been the most interesting so far--talking about the shift in sports from athlete to celebrity and the impact of big business on the game.  This little section has been quite compelling and thought provoking.  But it is half way through the book and I'm not sure twenty pages of good reading justifies 300 pages of writing. 

Also, goalie masks from the 1970's are a little scary.  Just saying.  I think I'm a bit afraid of Ken Dryden now. 

To e-read or not to e-read?



My favourite!



I love books!  I love the smell of books, the feel of crinkly library coverings in your hands, the satisfying moment a book is opened for the first time.  I also love the feel of an old, worn book that's like a friend who always makes you feel comfortable and at home. 

I love kids books, with bright colours, soft paints and important messages.  I love cookbooks with tasty looking food.  I love the glossy pictures in the middle of biographies and history books.  I doubt that I will ever not love the feeling of a book.

But, I'm realistic.  I no longer use a Beta VCR, my DVD player is on the way out and will likely hang out in the same technological purgatory as my walkman, discman and early iPod.  That's the way we do life--progress.  And I can't ignore the progress of the e-reader and the tablet.  To imagine that we'll do away with these nifty hand held devices and will stick with large desktops seems a bit  a lot naive.  BUT, will we do away with books?

I don't think we will--even people with e-readers and/or tablets still have books.  I do, however, think most of will end up with some combination.  I'm still not entirely sold on the e-reader.  One of my cooking favourites, Alton Brown, always admonishes single-use kitchen utensils.  That's kind of how I see the e-reader--a single-use tool.  However, e-readers now have much higher functionality along with all the reader-friendly features we are just starting to see on the more standard tablets (like battery life and lighting). 



I am all ears for ideas, opinions and ways to engage this technology.  What do you think?  Do you love your e-reader? Why?  Do you read on your tablet?  Why or why not?

I'm guessing at some point, we'll end up with a version of a tablet in our home.  I'm hoping it will be good for books (actually, that might be the tipping point on which one I buy).  I'm well aware that while I love reading books, lugging around The Game is a bit heavy, especially when you are also lugging around a small person (or two!). 

I'd love to hear your thoughts! To e-read or not to e-read? 

Canada Reads #2...and I'm Sceptical.

Hockey.  Really?  Hockey.  I have to read about hockey.  My next Canada Reads book is The Game by Ken Dryden and I have committed to the Canada Reads books, so I will stay committed.  But, really?  Hockey?  I know it is a national past time and all that jazz, but do we have to read about it too?  Isn’t a nightly viewing and day-long televised unpacking of each play enough?  No? 

I do like some hockey.  Playoff hockey is great.  So is international hockey (bigger rinks, cleaner plays) and I generally love watching Olympic sports.  But everyday (and in Canada it is everyday) hockey is more than I can handle.   This book better be about some good hockey.  My husband B tells me it will be, but I am sceptical.  Super-duper sceptical. 

Then again, I never thought I’d enjoy reading about the Middle East but I have learned otherwise. 

So, Canada Reads book #2 is coming home from the library today – Ken Dryden’s The Game.   It’ll be good, right?  I am really, really hoping to be surprised.  And to be wrong about my hockey-book-based-scepticism (which has happened from time to time).

To console myself (and offset the hockey-ness), I’m also going to start reading The Food of Love by Anthony Capella which comes recommended by a fellow food lover.  Good books about food make you hungry.  I’m hoping for some cooking inspiration to flow from this one!     

Top 5 Books of 2011

2011 was a funny reading year for me.  Having my first child in January meant that  sometimes I was reading a lot and other times, not so much.  Now that I’m expecting my second child, I’m reading a lot – as bed time calls around 9:30 and I like to wind down with at least a few pages of something good.

Based on what I read in 2011 (rather than what was published this year), here are my top picks:

#5

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

I really liked this book—I actually found myself shoving it in my purse or diaper bag *just in case* I ended up with time to read.  Well-written, with a poignant modern edge on the life of a staid older man, made for lovely read that left you with thinking not only of how you would want to spend the second half of life, but about what happens with cultures collide.  Are we really ready for a truly global world?

#4

The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou

I’m actually surprised I am putting this book at number four, because I LOVE IT.  Really.  I borrowed it from the library and ended up buying it, that’s how much I LOVE IT.  I’m not exactly sure why—it is the story of two athletes as they journey to the Sydney Olympics and I’m not so much an athlete (hence the blog on books!).  But something in the foreignness of the athletic mind fascinates me—the focus, the drive, the blinders to everything else—so different from my own multi-levelled-ever-changing ambition.  So interesting! And the story has a sweetness to it, almost a sweatiness to it, that draws you in.  I like reading a book that makes me want it to be longer and yet somehow satisfies.  Simple, sweaty and sweet.

#3

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I would love to just have the first two books in here as Mockingjay was a disappointment and, yet, I think you have to read them all so I’m holding them together.  That means that the first two were good enough for me to overlook the tragedy of the third.  Thematically, these books challenge our consumer culture (as I greedily consumed them all!) by highlighting the wastefulness of wealth and the unstoppable corruption of power.  Any book(s) that can tell a compelling story while shining the light on present day human follies without seeming preachy is right up my alley. 

#2

Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver

Okay, so I’m that person who also reads cookbooks.  And while I have come across many great cookbooks this year (also check out Canyon Ranch’s Nourish), the one that I think stuck with me the most in terms of learning about food and understanding cooking is Jamie Oliver’s teaching book Cook With Jamie.  He has great explanations and lots of interesting information and yummy recipes.  I made his berry meringue—still leaves me drooling!

#1

The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak

This might actually be not only the best book of the year but one of my top ten best books ever.  I almost don’t want to describe it; I just want you to read it.  I have never read anything so well written, so captivating and so powerful.  Granted it might take a minute or two to get in to the writing style, but please oh please, do not let that stop you!  I’m not even scared of overselling it, that’s how good it is! 

And in other Non-Fiction...

So really, I'm not a non-fiction girl.  I'm just not.  Some days I wish I could be, but I just love me my fiction.  I love stories that take me far away and it always seems a bit harsh to spend my escape time having to read about someone else's reality.  But, recently, I have been coming around on the whole non-fiction thing and have finding some great reads.  I even voluntarily wander the biography aisles at the book store now.  Chalk it up to growth! 

You'll also notice a theme--most of them are about situations in the Middle East.  Not an intentional theme at all.  I have always found the situations of Iraq, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank a little (okay, a lot) daunting because the history is long, the situations complicated and the way forward is unclear.  The varying realities of these places are hard to understand and even harder to unpack.  For many years, I just ignored them (even though I worked in International Relations).  These books have offered great insights into situations that I felt it was easier to ignore.  Unintentionally, I have now begun to get a much better grasp on the Middle East.  All I've learned, however, is that things are deeply complicated.  The authors of the books below each offer his/her own insights and experiences, but there are many stories to hear and many options to weigh.  If you figure any of it out, please let me know! 

I also noticed another theme...all the books are written from the perspective of the powerless: women in Iran and Palenstinians in Israel.  It is worth recognizing that there are many people who would not consider these the voices to listen to.  For me, they are a integral part of the story who deserve to be heard. 
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
I think this might be the first non-fiction book I stuck with all the way through.  Maybe because it was about a girl who loved reading or maybe because Nafisi has a compelling way of telling her story.  Using four classic Western novels, she weaves a tale of life for women in the Islamic regime in Iran.  Forced out of her work and her life, Nafisi encourages other young women to keep reading and to keep hoping for change. 

Some have suggested this book is a bit too academic.  That wasn't my experience and I really didn't know anything about Iran.  I did, however, know about some of the books she refers to (Pride and Prejudice, Lolita, Daisy Miller, The Great Gatsby).  I would suggest reading the classics before reading this book, if you have time and the patience for Henry James and Vladimir Nabokov. 

Sometimes I feel like reading fiction might be a waste of time.  After all, there are so many great, true stories out there that seem to hold more water than ficticious tales.  But Nafisi's book is a reminder that fiction can tell great truths about humanity that are otherwise hard to hear.  If we let the books read us, we might get more than we bargained for.

If you like Nafisi, her second book, Things I've Been Silent About is a much more personal look into her life.  She has issues with her mother (lots and lots).  She also has a lot to say about how we grow and begin to understand those around us.  This book might be a better introduction to her person, but as someone who loves reading, I'll stick with Reading Lolita.

Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour
I should admit that this book came to me through work.  However, it is one of those books that I took into my heart.  I have never come across a more poignant tale of the Israel-Palestine conflict than this story.  Chacour's heart and hope shine through every page.  As someone who knew even less about Israel than I did about Iran, this book provided a clear and concise history of the relationships between the two nation-states (and the broader world).  Although Chacour is Palestinian, his love for his Jewish and Israeli brothers and sisters is so strong that it hardly feels biased (although, inherently, it is).  If you are at all interested in this part of the world, read this book.  Chacour will make you want to grow a fig tree and change the world all in a few short pages. 

I Shall Not Hate by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish
When his daughters are killed by an Israeli bomb, Dr. Abuelaish (a Palestinian) decides not to hate, but to tell his story. To ask for change--specifically for the empowerment of women.  This tale of Palestinian-Israeli relations is a bit harder to engage with than Blood Brothers.  Still a great read, this book gives you a more day-to-day sense of the depth of the strain and struggle between these two nations.  Dr. Abuelaish's heartbreaking story is captivating because he endures when most would give up and he hopes when most would despair. 

Likely I'll stick to reading mostly fiction.  But these books are almost enough to change my mind!

Prisoner of Tehran

Canada Reads Book #1: Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat

Sometimes, when you read a book, you reflect on your own life and realize how trivial it all might be.  The little obstacles I overcome on a daily basis, the small victories or sadnesses that daily life brings, they seem huge to me because they are my experiences, but after reading this book, all I can think about is perspective: getting some and keeping some.  When I was through with this book I realized that the spectrum of my own emotions was limited.  Nemat's greatest sufferings are so much worse than mine have ever been but, I would guess, her greatest joys are so much greater because of the perspective her pain has given her.  Not that I'm looking for pain -- just that I have to remember, all the time, the bigger picture of life, suffering and joy. 

The foundation of the books is Marina's experience in Iran's notorious political prison, Evin.  Moving between her prison experience and the story that brought her there, Nemat paints a picture of a life loved, disrupted and regained.  Her's is a tale of orientation, disorientation and reorientation--stages we all find ourselves in as we cycle through life.  But Marina's story is so  profound because she manages to maintain and promote the dignity of all people despite having every reason not too.  In a world trying to delineate between good and evil, she inhabits murky space between the two and seeks to find goodness.  It is all any of us can do -- seek to find goodness in a world that doesn't make sense.

Her suffering, her stubbornness, and her sacrifice are all beautifully written and captured, yet clearly only being shared so that others will not have to suffer the same fate.  It is a painful story to share but her humility comes through.  I appreciate this sincerity as other memoirs I've read have seemed self-congratulatory.

But, truly, I only gained perspective on the very last page of the book.  I was eagerly devouring every morsel of this woman that I could--I was even reading the "Acknowledgements" to see who she thanked (this section is my little guilty pleasure because I love seeing how people use it).   And, if I read it correctly, Nemat works at a Swiss Chalet. Swiss Chalet. The woman who has undergone profound suffering, forced marriage and international immigration is the same woman who might have served me dipping sauce.  Not a professor, not a journalist, not a politician, doctor or professional (how could she be?  She was imprisoned from 16 - 18.)  Reading her story, I realize that I am barely worthy of listening to her give a lecture on how to love and be human despite the most inhuman circumstances.  And, yet, when I sit at any given Swiss Chalet, I am rarely considering the server's experience and, certainly, no one expects me to.  That's what I mean about perspective -- getting some and keeping it.  Because there is no reason for me not to wonder about the life experiences of any person I meet, but society creates space between us that is often hard to cross.   To be honest, I am not entirely sure it matters if I read the Swiss Chalet line correctly or not -- it was a lesson I needed to learn. 

This book made me realize many things -- the most important of which is my own ability to silence the experience of others by allowing this culture to create voids of listening between groups of people.  Who else's story needs to be told?  Nemat's story is a gift and I am sure there are many others out there.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would happily recommend it.  I have read other perspectives on the experience of women during the reign of Ayatollah Khomeini but I found this one to have a freshness and an intimacy that made it a worthy read.  

I'll save my Canada Reads vote until all the books are read, but we are off to a good start!