Become book smart

A powerful and moving study of the immense cultural changes wrought in 19th century Africa by white Christian missionaries.

Having skipped May, when I picked up Mallison to refresh my memory of my June choice (Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart), I found that she recommends reading Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness first, for the comparison. Who am I to disagree? It’s less than 100 pages, so no reason to think I’d fall behind again. I may have to go look for the Spark Notes on this one (they did help with Moll Flanders) as I found the overall theme seems to escape me. I have to agree with Achebe’s “bloody racist” description of Conrad, but I also don’t doubt that better than 90% of his contemporaries were. Although some of the phrasing is elegantly descriptive, other bits seem enigmatically obfuscatory.

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

uh – it took 6 weeks and caused me to skip having a May selection – I forgot how hard that Dickensian style of English is to slog through. Dickens makes it far more worthwhile. I objected to (and do so prejudicially) a male author writing about female main characters. Although I’m not able to judge the 17th century in any way, the treatment of Moll’s emotions and motivations seems stilted and shallow.

I seem to have neglected to make an entry here, but I read Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain. Hmm, what did I think or learn; that was a while ago…

I found it better than most war stories, being not at all a fan of war stories. I did appreciate the “odyssey” nature of the story and believe it to be excellently descriptive of its place and time.

Who am I kidding? It doesn’t take a month to read a good book. Julian Barnes’ book Flaubert’s Parrot was delightful. Mallison categorized it with the biographies, although it’s fiction, for a good reason. I never thought I’d have so much fun learning about a French author I’d previously had no interest in at all. Now, I’ll probably have to at least look for Bouvard and Pecuchet, if not Madame Bovary.

two weeks left before I move on to a February, biography selection

I unexpectedly enjoyed Beowulf; it reminds me of the “historical” fiction, especially Arthurian novels, that have long been a favorite genre of mine.

Seamus Heaney’s translation, published 2000

started today

it was the only one recommended by mallison that my library carried; purely a bonus that it’s the shortest of her ten January picks, since I’m chronically over-scheduled in January

book smart by jane mallison jumped off the table at the bookstore today while I was spending my Christmas gift card

mallison divides 120 books into twelve groups of ten and recommends one per month; I would like to follow just that regimen and read twelve “of the most compelling books of all time” during 2008

now, to choose a january selection among the “towering works to read in translation”...

Now lets start reading about Gurdjieff