Category Archives: readalong

#readbyatt Chapters 14-19

By Lu Posted in Books, readalong Tagged , , , 2 Replies

byatt

I apologize for the delay in getting this post out! Sunday totally got away from me and now Monday night has, too. Truthfully, though I’m not entirely sure I have much to say about this section. I went through to see what I bookmarked and I apparently found something interesting on page 364, but reading through it I have no idea what I found to be interesting enough to mark the page. I should really underline things.

So! What is going on in Possession. Well, Roland is still miserable. Maud is still reserved and quiet. They both dream of a white room with nothing in it but a white bed where they can go and be away from the noise and dirt of the world. It sounds silly when you write it out like that and I almost want to make fun of it, but it is touching and passionate when they talk about it. We find out a big secret about Christabel through her cousin Sabine’s journal.

Everyone talks about the letters being their favorite part, and I suppose in terms of literary accomplishment I agree with that. But in terms of juicy excitement, I liked Sabine’s journal even more. It’s scandalous and dramatic, but I agree with Kim in that it’s not shocking. I don’t know that it’s meant to be shocking to the reader, since we know that at the heart of this novel there are two love stories, but instead it is all about how Maud and Roland react and how their world changes because everything they thought they knew was incorrect.

As different as Maud and Roland are in their back story, they are fundamentally the same in the way they hold onto their own “normal.” Maud, after a disastrous relationship, is reserved and unwilling to trust. Roland has been in an unhappy relationship out of a sense of duty and because he can’t imagine life any other way. Neither is capable of shaking their lives up on their own, but maybe they can do it together. I don’t know – we’ll have to see if they get there.

Mindy commented on Kim’s blog that she thinks it is a good thing we’re reading Possession slowly and I have to agree with her. There’s been something leisurely about this readalong that’s given me time to really sit and think about the book. I’m not rushing to the end, but savoring each section slowly throughout the week. It’s been really lovely and while I’m excited to get to the end next week, I also know that I’m going to miss having a story like this to sink my teeth into week after week. It’s good to read things slowly sometimes.

#readbyatt section 1: me | Kim
#readbyatt section 2: me | Kim
#readbyatt section 3: Kim

 

#readbyatt Chapters 7-13

By Lu Posted in Books, readalong Tagged , , , 3 Replies

byatt

Now for the next installment of the #readbyatt readalong with Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness! When we last left our scholars, Maud and Roland, they were both somewhat miserable, but they were on the brink of discovering something great about the two poets they study: Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte. They discovered that the two poets not only knew each other, but were possibly in love and probably influencing each other’s work. Juicy stuff for scholarship on Victorian poets that hasn’t changed in eighty years or so.

This section was more primary source than narrative. Chapter 10 is an epic back and forth between RH and Christabel, where they go from platonic letter-writing friends to being scandalously in love. It’s very well-done, though there were parts that were difficult to get through, the payoff is worth it.

There are poems and letters and biographies of the fictional poets that are all interspersed throughout the main narrative featuring Roland and Maud. I mostly enjoy the story when it focuses either on Christabel and RH together or Roland and Maud together. The rest I enjoy less, like the biographies of RH or the sections that focus on other scholars.

I am interested in the way Byatt seems to focus her descriptions of the women on their physical appearance. She spends so much time talking about how large Beatrice Nest, a scholar who studies RH Ash’s wife, is. Take this passage:

If people thought of Beatrice Nest — and not many did, not very often — it was her external presence, not her inner life that engaged their imagination. She was indisputably solid, and nevertheless amorphous, a woman of wide and abundant flesh, sedentary swelling hips, a mass of bosom, above which spread a cheerful-shaped face [...]. (125)

In fact her thoughts about her own sexuality were dominated entirely by her sense of the massive, unacceptable bulk of her breasts. [...] Another woman might have flaunted them, might have carried them proudly before her, moulded grandly about a cleavage. (130)

I don’t know what to make of these passages, honestly. I can’t think of a male character that is described in such detail in connection with their physical appearance, other than the descriptions of Maud’s hair. Which is another passage I’d like to leave here for consideration:

Maud put up her hands to her head, and hesitated between unpinning the brooch and pulling off the whole head-binding. Finally, awkwardly for her, she did both, putting the scarf on the counter, and then unpinning its carefully constructed folds and handing the large black knobby thing to the old woman, who trotted away to hold it up in the dusty light from the window.

Roland looked at Maud. The pale, pale hair in fine braids was wound round and round her head, startling white in this light that took the colour out of things and only caught gleams and glancings. She looked almost shockingly naked, like a denuded window-doll, he first thought, and then, as she turned her supercilious face to him and he saw it changed, simply fragile and even vulnerable. He wanted to loosen the tightness and let the hair go. He felt a kind of sympathetic pain on his own skull-skin, so dragged and ruthlessly hair-pinned was her.s Both put their hands to their temple, as though he was her mirror. (282)

I bring up both of these passages because they seem to uncommonly focus on physical appearance in a way that other portions of the book do not. Since I think that Byatt is doing something very intentional here, I’m going to leave them for now without passing judgment. It was just something I happened to notice.

It’s really too soon for me to have any sort of opinion at all, other than am I enjoying it or not and the answer is yes, I am. But I did find a few more lines and passages that I thought were noteworthy:

A moth’s wing scaly like a coat of mail,
The sharp hooked claws upon the legs of flies -
I saw a new world in this world of ours -
A world of miracle, a world of truth
Monstrous and swarming with unguessed-at life.
- from Swammerdam, by RH Ash (223)

And after that — a rain — of Ash –
Ash the sheltering World-Tree, Ash the deadly Rain
So Dust to Dust and Ash to Ash again –
I see whole bevies of shooting stars — like gold arrows before my darkening eyes — they presage Headache — but before the black – and burning — I have a small light space to say — oh what? I cannot let you burn me up. I cannot. I should go up — not with the orderly peace of my beloved hearth here — with its miniature caverns of delight, its hot temporary jewel-gardens with their palisadoes and promontories — no — I shall go up — like Straw on a Dry Day — a rushing wind — a tremor on the air — a smell of burning — a blown smoke — and a deal of white fine powder that holds its spillikin shape only an infinitesimal moment and then is random specks – oh no I cannot –
- a letter from Christabel to RH (213)

Our next section is Chapters 14-19 for next Monday. I hope to see you there! As I mentioned last week, please be sure to leave the link to your #readbyatt posts and I’ll be sure to include them at the bottom of this post. What did you think of Chapter 10? Do you have a favorite character yet? Were there any quotes that you loved? Hated?

#readbyatt – Chapters 1-7 of Posession by A. S. Byatt

By Lu Posted in Books, readalong Tagged , , , 6 Replies

byattWhenever I think about Possession by AS Byatt, I think about how many people have told me that this book is their favorite. Then I think about all of the times I have cracked the spine and tried to make it my favorite book. That’s why I wanted to do this readalong with Kim, because I have tried to read this book so many times and so many readers I trust can’t be wrong!

And this time, I really felt like I understood why people love this book. The beginning is still difficult to get through. The first 40 pages or so, I was painfully aware that I was reading. I couldn’t get lost in the story without seeing exactly what Byatt was trying to do. It felt forced. Eventually, though, I got caught up in Roland and Maud’s quest to find out if Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte were in love.

When I wasn’t struggling with Byatt’s prose and how it sometimes felt forced, I was in awe of it. She has created such a complex narrative here, with fictional poets, who have fictional biographies, and the scholars who are fascinated by them. When it works, it’s amazing. In the first six chapters, we meet Roland, a Randolph Henry Ash scholar who has made an unusual discovery: an unfinished letter that the poet wrote to Christabel LaMotte, a somewhat obscure poet from the same time period revered by feminists for her unusual style and ambiguous tales. He visits a Christabel LaMotte scholar named Maud and the two of them end up discovering something important about their poets. They know that their scholarship is changed forever.

Roland is involved in a long-term dead-end relationship with a failed scholar he met while getting his PhD. The economy is miserable. His apartment is miserable. Roland is, all around, quite miserable. The discovery of this letter is his chance to make something of himself. While Maud doesn’t seem quite so miserable, not yet anyway, the thought that there is a whole element to LaMotte’s life that she doesn’t know about changes her scholarship and excites her, too.

And that’s where we are, sort of on the cusp of things to come. We know this is a romance, so I suspect that Maud and Roland will follow in the footsteps of their Victorian subjects. We ended this with a chapter that focuses mainly on Mortimer Cropper, the rival scholar from the US. I’m not entirely sure where this narrative turn is going and, until this chapter, I didn’t mind the literary asides. I am actually very taken with Christabel LaMotte’s poetry and fairy tales. I did find it difficult to focus on Chapter 6, though. Hopefully it picks up soon!

If you’re participating in your readalong, please leave a link in the comments and I’ll be sure to add it to the end of this post. You can read Kim’s reactions here! What was your favorite part of Possession? Before you started reading, were you as intimidated by it as I was? If so, do you feel a little less intimidated now?

March Reading – Possession Readalong #readbyatt

By Lu Posted in Blogging, Books, readalong Tagged , , 9 Replies

byattIt’s officially March, which means two things: spring is almost here and the Possession readalong is here. Kim and I have been chatting about doing a readalong for Possession by AS Byatt for a few weeks now, because we have both tried to read this book on our own, but never made it through. I even convinced my book club to read it, but then I couldn’t go to the meeting that month!

This isn’t a very stressful readalong. You can feel free to join in on your blog or Twitter, using the hashtag  #readbyatt. (It was surprisingly difficult to come up with a short enough hashtag that made sense!) We’ll also post once week about the book. Here’s the schedule we came up with:

March 11: Chapters 1-6
March 18: Chapters 7-13
March 25: Chapters 14-19
April 1: Chapter 20-End

I know March 11 is soon, but we made the first section a little bit shorter, so you can hopefully  join in. As Kim mentioned in her post, we’re not doing official sign ups for this one, but we hope you’ll let us know in the comments (or on Twitter!) if you’re joining in.  If you’re like Kim and I and you’ve had Possession on your TBR for as long as we have, I hope you’ll be able to read along with us!

RIP VII – What I’ve Read So Far

By Lu Posted in Books, readalong Tagged , , 7 Replies

September is over and October is here! Well, it’s been here for over a week. In fact, it feels like October is speeding by. Like soon it will be my birthday and then it will be Christmas and then suddenly it will be the long slog from January to May, my least favorite time of the year. I just want this good part to slow down. To remind myself that there are still nearly three weeks of RIP reading ahead of me, I’ve decided to chronicle what I’ve read so far. I’ve actually read a decent number of books that fall into the RIP categories of mystery, suspense, thrillers, dark fantasy, gothic, horror, and supernatural.


Iron-Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill - I wanted to love this dark fairy tale about a young princess in a kingdom that is in a parallel universe (a common theme, you’ll see) to ours. In this world, there used to be dragons. And there also used to be a powerful god named the Nybbas, who controlled the dragons by controlling their hearts (I think). You see, I read this one over a span of 5 months. I picked up a copy of the book at BEA and started reading it almost immediately. I wasn’t wild about the format of the story, told by a narrator who was fairly far removed from the story. But I liked the concept so much that I kept reading hoping it would get better.

The problem was really that this book was meant for middle grade readers, but the plot was rather complex. This combination of complex plot and more simplistic story telling didn’t work for me. I wanted this book to be so much more than it was. I’m not sure who the audience for this book really is.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt - I have never really reread a book so quickly after reading it, unless you count Harry Potter and Ella Enchanted and A Wrinkle in Time, which I know pretty much backwards and forwards and used to start reading again immediately after finishing them. I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to get as involved in the story or that I would find nitpicky narrative issues that I didn’t notice before. And I did find those things. There were certain narrative techniques that drove me nuts, but eventually, my interest in the story completely erased them. I reread this for my book club and we had a good time discussing the book. Most of the people who attended enjoyed it or at least appreciated it. I also realized after attending this book club meeting that I love reading books about awful people. No redeeming qualities necessary.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn – Now I’ve read all three books by Gillian Flynn and, of the three, this book made me feel the most uncomfortable. Sharp Objects is about a young journalist named Camille who returns to her home town to investigate the deaths of young girls who appear with their teeth meticulously removed. Camille’s relationship with her mother is abusive and lead to a lifelong obsession with cutting words into her skin. I would say it is the least enjoyable than the three. I read them in reverse order and by then, you kind of know what Flynn’s typical twist is. Though this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it was easy to see who was committing these crimes from the beginning, though I didn’t want it to be true because it is just too horrific. This book gave me nightmares and in general just made me feel awful. I don’t think I could ever recommend it to someone, but it was a quick, engaging read. 

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - So, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would! I read quite a few negative reviews after last year’s RIP of readers I trusted who were disappointed by this story after how much it had been hyped. So, with a healthy dose of skepticism, I decided to wait until this RIP to read it and I’m really glad I did! I was prepared for the pitfalls of the story (a plot that seemed guided by the pictures, rather than organically integrating them) and just enjoyed it for what it was. It’s not perfect, but it’s a solid read that kept me entertained for a few hours. I also think the set up for the sequel sounds much more interesting, so I’m actually more excited for the sequel than I was for this one.

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley - I didn’t know that this was a book that would qualify for RIP, especially with a cover like this. This is a book that sounds like something I would love. There is a mystery, it’s quirky, the characters are funny and realistic. And honestly, I can’t even describe what made me dislike it so much, except that it felt… sad for no purpose? The crime is committed for reasons so random, so ridiculous, that it was painful to read. I’m sure there’s something here about randomness and obsession and how things don’t necessarily happen for a reason, but reading this book just left me feeling so bleak and sad.

Books don’t need to have happy endings, but I’m not sure I’ve ever so desperately wanted a happy ending. There are two intertwining storylines and they eventually converge, but they mostly just took me out of the story. I don’t know. I know there are a lot of people who loved this book, it even won the Printz, but I just didn’t care for it.

After this book, I really felt like I needed a break from RIP books, so I took one and read a lot of random things, like Ask the Passengers, which was lovely, and Moonwalking with Einstein, and In the Shadow of the Banyan, which was horrifically sad. Then I started reading RIP books again.

Here (On the Otherside) by Denise Grover Swank – Spoilers below! Such a good RIP cover, right?! Except… not really. This book was so weird guys. And not the good, unexpected weird, like the this really makes no sense, but I’m going to keep reading because I can’t stop weird. I am sure I bought this on a Kindle Daily Deal for $0.99 and I just realized that it is self-published, making it one of the few self-published books I’ve actually read. The whole time I was reading this, I was sure it was going to be a ghost story. Or maybe a fairy story, because there are Celtic love knots involved. Anyway, I’m going to spoil the surprise here, because I can’t leave this one hanging, but if you don’t like spoilers and you think you might read this, STOP READING NOW!

Anyway, there aren’t fairies, there aren’t ghosts, it’s a parallel dimension.  But there were so many plot holes in that parallel dimension that it was really hard to take seriously. Like any paranormal YA romance, you run into the issues with the main character being SUDDENLY AND MADDENINGLY in love with the male lead. Also, there were two male leads and it was really difficult to tell them apart. One day, I’m sure I will find a self-published book that I can wholeheartedly recommend, but it’s not this one.

Now, for the books I’m currently reading:

Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield – I think I saw John Green mention this book on Twitter or Tumblr and it caught my eye. So far, I’m very intrigued by the mystery and the writing is actually lovely and doesn’t read like most YA books, except for the fact that it is about two young adults. In this story, Becca’s story about how she wants to leave her hometown for something better is intertwined with the story of a local college student, Amelia Anne, is found dead on the side of the road. Somehow their stories are connected, but I don’t know how yet. I don’t even have any suspicions. I borrowed this one from a friend at work who enjoyed it and thought the mystery was well done, so I’m eager to get to the end and figure out how the two story lines are connected.

Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay - This is totally not my usual read, but Memory was lovely and grabbed a few titles at BEA for me when I couldn’t get away from work. This was one of the titles she picked up and sometimes it’s nice when you read something you’d never usually read and this book has some stellar blurbs. I’m a sucker for a good blurb. I’m really enjoying this book. It’s a thriller and it is thrilling. I care about the characters and I can’t wait to see how it plays out. I’m about a third of the way through and I think the action is about to start.

As for the next few weeks, I plan on rereading The Night Circus and Something Wicked This Way Comes as soon as they arrive in my mail box and hopefully one or two more books for RIP. As promised, I jumped headfirst into RIP this year and I’m so glad I did!

(Unless otherwise mentioned in their mini-review, I purchased these titles.)

Standalong!

By Lu Posted in Books, readalong Tagged , , , , , , 15 Replies

When Trish first suggested reading The Stand, I wasn’t convinced. Not because I wasn’t interested in reading The Stand, but because it is so long and I have a horrendous track record with readalongs and books I “have” to read. But it’s been a long time since I successfully read a Stephen King book. If you had asked me when I was 14 who my favorite author was, I most likely would have answered Stephen King. (Or if I thought you weren’t the kind of person to judge me, I would have most certainly said JK Rowling, because Harry Potter wasn’t cool yet and I was still hiding my fan fiction and obsession binders under my bed.) I tried to read Under the Dome when it came out, but I was underwhelmed and never finished that beast of a book. So, I thought, it’s probably time to try Stephen King again.

The thing about reading an author that you once loved unconditionally is seeing their flaws for the first time. I don’t know that, as a 12-14 year old, I was reading anything critically. I just read voraciously, anything I could get my hands on. I also traveled a lot and Stephen King was the only thing that I found worth reading in most gas stations.

This isn’t to say that Stephen King isn’t a good writer, because he is. Sometimes, he’s a downright brilliant writer, and I live for those amazing moments when you realize how good he is. This also isn’t to say that I’m not enjoying The Stand, because I am. Even though it’s one of the longest books I’ve read in a long time and I have barely read anything else for the entire month of June. There is no getting around the length of this novel. It will take you a good chunk of time to read and, since I’m only about 60% of the way through, I can’t quite yet tell you if it’s worth it.

With a book this long, sometimes I forget how much I really loved the beginning, despite how horrifying it was. Essentially, a government-created flu begins infecting people in Texas. It’s the end-of-the-world type flu. A flu that leaves everyone dead, except for one or two people in each town. The people who are left begin traveling and trying to find each other, which becomes much easier when they all start dreaming of Mother Abigail, an elderly black woman who knows that she has been chosen by God to lead the “good” people to Colorado.

The thing is, they’re not only dreaming of Mother Abigail. They’re also dreaming of “the dark man,” named Randall Flagg. People are gathering around him, too, but they are the least savory sort of folks: escaped convicts, drug addicts, and the technically inclined.

So, I just looked up what year this was published to try and figure out what decade it was so I could say, “Look it was the _____. Having a well-rounded cast of characters that didn’t perpetuate stereotypes wasn’t the norm yet.” Or at the very least, you probably weren’t being called out for it by every reader with a blog. I had no idea that The Stand was originally published in the 70s and then rereleased in the 90s and King changed the dates of the novel. What a strange decision! And, finally, it makes sense that the characters were saying “You dig?” and expecting me to really believe that relatively hip people said that in the 90s. Because they didn’t. I’m assuming. I was young then.

The way Stephen King approaches race has been addressed again and again. I think this article by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu about the presence of “the magical negro” in King’s books is a really great place to start. Like me, Okorafor-Mbachu is a fan of Stephen King, but it’s important to point out the flaws in the things you love.

Right now, I’m grateful for a little break from The Stand. I’ve been reading it with no breaks since the first week of June and I’m about 800 pages in, so I’m a little ahead for the readalong. I don’t want to be sick of this story, so I think that it will be good to take a short break and come back to the story excited to finish and eager to get back to the story.

(Also, I have told so many people that I’m reading The Stand and all of them have kind of given me this look, one eyebrow raised, and said, “Really? You?” To all the people who think that I think I am too good for reading The Stand: You have no idea how many really cheesy YA novels I read. Not that The Stand is a cheesy YA novel, but that is just an example of how non-snooty my reading choices are. If I had said I was reading Nicholas Sparks, then that reaction would have been acceptable.)

 

Moby Dick — Conquered! Chapters 94-Epilogue

By Lu Posted in Books, readalong Tagged , , , , , , 11 Replies

One day last week, while riding the subway home from work, I finished Moby Dick. I wanted to turn to the stranger next to me and say, “Look! I finished this book! I read it!” I was proud and excited and, if I’m honest, a little relieved.

What a strange thing to be so pleased that a book is finished. Is it strange to feel like a better person for having read a classic like this? A classic that is so important to contemporary literature? American literature? I feel more complete, like I’m one step closer to understanding the beast that is American literature.

As I mentioned, my only hope was to finish Moby Dick feeling like I had read a book that, for the most part, I enjoyed. That did happen. The last twenty chapters or so were enthralling. My heart was racing and I couldn’t read fast enough. I had to know what happened to Ahab and his crew.

I thought finishing Moby Dick would provide me with some sort of insight into everything I highlighted, but I’m not sure it did. I’m still left with a lot of the same questions that I had at the end of the first section. Why is religion so important? Why are the details so important? Why are there hundreds of pages in the middle of this book with little to no plot development? Why is Ahab so obsessed with finding the White Whale?

I think that word is key: obsessed. Obsession is the heart of Moby Dick. There is, of course, Ahab’s obsession with finding and exacting his revenge on Moby Dick, but there is also Ishmael’s obsession with the details, with the need to know and explain everything about whales and whaling. Ahab is emotionally exhausted of trying to defeat the whale, but he is inseparable from the fight. He knows nothing other than whaling and eventually he even, literally, becomes one with his ship when the carpenter makes him a leg out of his wrecked whaling boat. There is no turning back at that point. Starbuck asks him to stay, but he knows his fate.

“For the third time my soul’s ship starts upon this voyage, Starbuck.”
“Aye, Sir, thou wilt have it so.”
“Some ships sail from their ports, and ever afterwards are missing, Starbuck!”
“Truth, sir: saddest truth.”
” Some men die at ebb tide; some at low water; some at the full of the flood: — and I feel now like a billow that’s all one crested comb, Starbuck. I am old; — shake hands with me, man.”
Their hands met; their eyes fastened; Starbuck’s tears the glue.
” Oh, my captain, my captain! — noble heart — go not — go not! — see, it’s a brave man that weeps; how great the agony of the persuasion then!” (543)

As much as Ahab would like to listen to Starbuck and simply give up the chase and return home to his family, he cannot. Starbuck tells him it is not really his destiny, it is his choice. Ahab always had the choice to turn around, but he is never stronger than his obsession.

I’m not sure Moby Dick is something I’ll be obsessed with any time soon, but I’m so glad I read it. I kept finding things within Moby Dick that I had seen elsewhere: lines or phrases or images that had really been in allusion to Moby Dick. Now Moby Dick seems to be everywhere. I opened a book of poetry and read Robert Lowell’s “The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket,” a poem all about The Great White Whale. This is why we read classics, to know a little bit more about ourselves and our world.

Thank you to the women over at The Blue Bookcase for hosting this readalong! I don’t know that I would have finished without someone else reading along with me.

January Roundup — Read More/Blog More Poetry Event

By Lu Posted in Blogging, Poetry, readalong Tagged , , , , , 8 Replies

I’m thrilled to announce that we had an excellent turn out for the first month of the Read More/Blog More Poetry Event! I’m so glad that everyone took the time to participate in this month’s event and it was amazing to see so many people posting about poetry on their blogs. I just can’t stop smiling! Part of the goal of this event is to make the blogs that are posting about poetry more visible, so my lovely co-host Kelly and I decided to do a detailed roundup of all the participating blogs each month!

Hosts

Kelly went through some of the poems on the list that started it all and talked about each one. I loved reading her reactions!

I chose the first month of the event to talk about why poetry is so important to me.

Participants

Lizzy Siddal @ Lizzy’s Literary Life shared the poem ‘The Book of my Enemy Has Been Remaindered’ by Clive James. He is an Australian author that also tied in with Australia Literature Month.

Serena @ Saavy Verse & Wit shared the Naked Muse 2012 Calendar. It is a great way to see poets for who they really are.

Jeanne @ Necromancy Never Pays shared the poem ‘The Idea of Order at Key West’ by Wallace Stevens.

Jillian @ A Room of One’s Own wrote all about Emily Dickinson. She considers Emily her favorite poet to-date and shares a biography and a list of poems she has read by her.

Julie @ Read Handed decided to share her favourite poetry books in her post.

The Parrish Lantern shared the book The Best British Poetry 2011 and the poem ‘Three Wishes’ by Kate Potts.

Unfinished Person shared a poem she wrote herself, simply titled ‘Poem.’

Care @ Care’s Online Book Club shared a poem that she wrote herself that is about her day and bread baking.

Gavin @ Page247 posted the poem “A Note” by Wislawa Szymborska, who passed away on February 1, 2012.

Snowball @ Come, Sit By the Hearth shared some of her experiences taking poetry classes in graduate school.

Carrie @ Books and Movies reposted a review of Wendell Berry’s Collected Poems.

Trish @ Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity responded to all my prompts. Impressive!

Debbie @ ExUrbanis posted about Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream.

kaye @ The Road Goes Ever Ever On posted Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Paul Revere’s Ride.

Sara C @ Wordy Evidence of the Fact wrote a review of Kingdom of the Instant by Rodney Jones.

Josh’s Mom/Sue @ Grief Journey to Reading Journey wrote about how poetry helps her process her grief. She shared a poem she wrote called “No Answer.”

Thank you so much, everyone, for participating! See you in February! The Mr. Linky will be hosted by Kelly and we will be posting on February 28th.

January — Read More Blog More! A Poetry Event

By Lu Posted in Poetry, readalong Tagged , , , 18 Replies

Since it is officially Tuesday, January 31st somewhere, I’m going to go ahead and publish this post now. I accidentally scheduled two posts to go up on the 31st, so I apologize in advance if you had any difficulty finding your way here! For this first month of the Read More/Blog More Poetry Event, I wanted to share with you why poetry is so important to me.

I found a love of poetry the way most high schoolers do: by writing it. Yes, my high school poems were angsty. I’m the first to admit that. They were often about who didn’t ask me to Junior Prom and family drama and all sorts of things that I’d probably be embarrassed to share with you now. Each year that I wrote poetry, from age 13 on, I also read more poetry. I read more poetry by other teenagers who were writing it, I read more classic poetry, I read more contemporary poetry. I was obsessed with it, and I still am, though perhaps not as fervently as I was in high school.

In a lot of ways, it’s difficult to explain what about poetry makes me so obsessed. There is, of course, the use of the English language in unexpected and clever ways. That is certainly part of it. There are the poems that describe something in a way you’ve never thought of before. I do enjoy that. Then there are the poems that tell a story and I love those as well. None of that, though, really describes what it is about poetry that I love so much.

It’s hard to get into a discussion of poetry without falling into the trap of comparing it to other forms of literature. Poetry is not like a short story and it is not like a novel. It is the concentration of story, language, mood, theme into a small package. Let’s forget about epic poems right now and just think of poetry being everything that a novel or short story is in only a few lines. There are whole stories behind poems, but the poet only lets us glimpse this tiny peek. How much of the whole story we are able to glean from those sparse words is totally up to us and what the poet will let us see.

More than anything, poetry has always been a kind of therapy for me. Reading it, sharing it, writing it has meant a lot to me over the years, through moments of great happiness and sorrow. Reading poetry can often be like recognizing yourself in a character in novel, but instead between the lines of a poem. It’s a way to feel like you are part of something.

Poetry can be beautiful, it can be bad, it can be life-changing. If anything I hope this project will bring people who are already avid readers of poetry closer to the poems they read and I hope it will bring those who are trying to read more poetry the same kind of life-changing connection that reading an amazing book can.

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Thank you for reading and, hopefully, participating in today’s Read More/Blog More Poetry Event! Please link to your post using the Mr. Linky below.

Moby Dick Readalong Chapters 27-93

By Lu Posted in Books, readalong Tagged , , 5 Replies

I made it!

I am so surprised that I actually got through chapters 27-93. I was so excited to be reading Moby Dick, because I was actually enjoying it. I’d only heard about how boring the novel was, but I found the first 26 chapters to be engrossing and, actually, hilarious. Then chapters 27-55 happened.

I missed last week because I just couldn’t catch up. I had my book club meeting, which meant a lot of time I usually would have spent reading Moby Dick was spent reading How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive. I finally caught up this week, though. Those hour-long subway rides are good for something. Mainly making yourself read something that makes you want to fall asleep. Not that I haven’t fallen asleep on the subway before, but still.

That’s not to say that all of those chapters were dull, because they weren’t. I enjoyed some parts and still did quite a bit of highlighting and laughed a few times, but for the most part, Moby Dick lost a lot of its charms for me. There was so much information dumping and so little character development, it was difficult to keep my attention for long stretches of time.

Like I said, though, there were a lot of things I did like. The descriptions of whaling were particularly interesting, especially since you’re taught from a very young age that whales are practically sacred. I loved Free Willy when I was a kid. Whales and dolphins and manatees are animals that you just want to save, so reading about how to kill them and how to take them apart bit by bit was unnerving. As boring as some of the discussions on whaling could be, I was also fascinated by them. Ishmael’s obsession with whales and whaling brings you out of the narrative completely. The story seems to have little meaning anymore; the only thing important is describing the whale as completely as possible before continuing with the actual plot. Every inch of the whale is discussed. Every known type of whale is detailed. Drawings of whales are described and critiqued. If not necessarily the most entertaining, the structure of Moby Dick is interesting. I can see why, as our hosts pointed out in their introductory post over at The Blue Bookshelf, Moby Dick has been described as the first modern novel. It really does incorporate many different styles and techniques.

At the same time, I desperately missed the Ishmael I had come to love, prone to long rants about religion, yes, but also focused on describing his surroundings and moving the story forward. Up until the last ten chapters of this big chunk, it felt like the plot was going no where. That’s a lot to read without really learning much about the characters or the story.

My favorite quote from this section actually comes from the very end of chapter 93:

“[...] and the miser-merman, Wisdom, revealed his hoarded heaps; and among the joyous, heartless, ever-juvenile eternities, Pip saw the multitudinous, God-omnipresent, coral insects, that out of the firmament of waters heaved the colossal orbs. He saw God’s foot upon the treadle of the loom, and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him mad. So man’s insanity is heaven’s sense; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is absurd and frantic; and weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent as his God.”

There’s the Ishmael I missed from the first section! At this point, though, I’m not sure I feel comfortable talking about what anything means. I have to get to the ending first. I have to see what happens.

And that’s all I really have to say about this section. I’m hoping that there’s a little bit more action in the last 150 pages and I hope I connect with Moby Dick more than I did in this middle section. I want to finish Moby Dick feeling accomplished, but also like I read a classic that I was surprised to find I really enjoyed.

To think! This time next week I’ll have finished Moby Dick. That’s awesome!

Moby Dick Readalong – Chapters 1-28

By Lu Posted in Books, readalong Tagged , , , 23 Replies

Whoa, there, guys. If someone had mentioned that Moby Dick was both hilarious, insightful, blasphemous, and beautiful, I would have picked this book up a lot sooner. All I’d really heard about Ishmael was that he was a long-winded, confusing narrator, but the truth is, I absolutely adore him.

I think a book like Moby Dick comes with a lot of preconceptions and I spent most of Chapters 1-10 unpacking them. Here’s a list of everything I knew to be true about Moby Dick:

1) Matilda read it at the end of Matilda, the movie.

2) The first line is “Call me Ishmael,” because that’s the line Matilda read.

3) It’s an allegory.

4) There was someone named Captain Ahab in it.

5) As ridiculous as this is, I may or may not have thought Ishmael and Captain Ahab were the same person. You know, he was just getting friendly at the beginning of the book. “Oh, don’t bother with that silly Captain business. Please, call me Ishmael.” Why thanks, Captain Ishmael Ahab, I will!

Here is what I now know to be true of Moby Dick:

1) Matilda read it at the end of Matilda, the movie.

2) The first line is not ”Call me Ishmael,” it’s “The pale Usher– threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see him now. Was he ever dusting his old lexicons and grammars, with a queer handkerchief, mockingly embellished with all the gay flags of all the known nations of the world. He loved to dust his old grammars; it somehow mildly reminded him of his mortality.”

3) The religious metaphors and references are fascinating.

4) There is someone named Captain Ahab in it and he is Mysterious with a capital M.

5) Ishmael and Captain Ahab are most certainly not the same person.

All joking aside, I was not prepared for how much I would truly enjoy Moby Dick. It’s a fascinating novel so far, that has never felt too wordy, difficult or boring. Ishmael is a hilarious narrator, but Moby Dick is surprisingly beautiful. Take this passage for example:

Why is almost every robust healthy boy with a robust healthy soul in him, at some time or other crazy to go to  sea? Why upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now out of sight of land? Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all. (3)

I found myself with highlighter ready, marking up every page with funny, beautiful or possibly important lines. I remembered why people carry a pen with them when they read in the first place. I know I keep repeating it, but I just had no idea. What other classics are sitting on my shelves that I haven’t picked up because I think they’ll be boring? If nothing else, the classics I have read recently have shown me that I love reading them. So why don’t I read more classics?

Anyway, back to Moby Dick. I am a fan of short chapters! And really, who isn’t? Is Moby Dick the first postmodern novel? I don’t know about that. Plot-wise, Herman Melville does a lot of interesting things, but I’m not sure the right word is postmodern. It’s difficult to really form any opinions after only 120 pages. There is still so much to come! They only just got on the boat after all.

I’m endlessly fascinated by the narrator’s religious opinions. I know that religion and religious imagery will play a large part in Moby Dick, but I don’t know how, exactly yet. I’ve managed to stay quite ignorant of the classics I haven’t read. I hate spoilers. I know some people don’t mind them, but I like to come into a story with nothing but myself. I prefer having no expectations. I mean, you saw the kind of expectations I had going into Moby Dick: they were almost all wrong. Anyway, I don’t know how Moby Dick is going to play out, though I imagine there’s a whale in there somewhere. All I do know is right now, our friend Ishmael says some very interesting things about religion. This is one of the most interesting quotes:

“All our arguing with [Queequeg] would not avail; let him be, I say: and Heaven have mercy on us all – Presbyterians and Pagans alike – for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending” (79).

The relationship between Queequeg and Ishmael was also very interesting to me. It just never played out exactly like I expected it to. While there are definitely aspects of his portrayal that border on caricature, his description as a cannibal and a savage for one, he is also a very interesting character and Ishmael shows him genuine respect. Their relationship often leads Ishmael to discuss religion, and I fear that this may be his primary importance. I wonder if he’ll still be as important a character once Captain Ahab and the great white whale take over.

Moby Dick continues to be a very enjoyable read and it is never quite what I expected. I’m excited to keep reading and I’ll see you back here for a discussion of chapters 29-55 on January 19!

This Moby Dick readalong is being hosted by The Blue Bookcase. I will be updating this page with links to fellow participants blog posts this evening. 

A Moby Dick Readalong for Your Winter Blues

By Lu Posted in Books, Challenges!, readalong Tagged , , , 5 Replies

So when I posted my TBR Dare/Challenge post, I cheekily listed Moby Dick on there, thinking there was little chance I’d actually read it. But then so many people commented saying that they loved Moby Dick and that I should start of 2012 with that particular novel. Of all the books I listed, more people mentioned Moby Dick. Then it seemed to be everywhere. People were writing blog posts about it, saying how much they loved or hated it. Finally, I just decided that Moby Dick will be one of the first books I read in 2012. Someone (Jillian, perhaps?) pointed me toward the Conquering Moby Dick Readalong by The Blue Bookshelf and I’m thrilled to join in.

I’ve already started reading and let me just tell you, I love it so far! It’s so interesting and actually funny in some parts, though I’m not entirely convinced it’s supposed to be funny. Most of all, though, I love the narrator and his voice and I think there are some truly beautiful passages about the sea. I can’t wait to keep reading more. So if you think you might like to join in, the first post goes up on January 12! I know it’s soon, but I’m surprised how quickly I’ve been reading Moby Dick. We’ll see if I still feel the same way when I’m 200 pages in, but so far, so good.

Thanks for convincing me to read Moby Dick, y’all!