May 2007 - Book Read

Books Read
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner
The Chocolate War – Robert Cormier
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
City of Glass (part 1 of New York Trilogy) – Paul Auster
Ghosts (Part 2 of New York Trilogy) – Paul Auster
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil – George Saunders


I went through literary burnout at the beginning of the month. I read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which I had never read before. In all honesty I hadn’t enjoyed it as much as I thought I would. The book that I was reading also had Through the Looking Glass within the same binding. My intentions were to read both, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I had started reading Looking Glass and found that I was coming up with other things to do to get away from reading it. Considering that most of my reading time is in the mornings while waiting for and riding the bus, as well as riding the buses and metro in the afternoons, my other option was to play solitaire on my cell phone. That was a good inclination that it was time to put Lewis Carroll away.


I had tried to read The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner two summers ago. I was too easily distracted by other things that were going on, so I had to set it down. I haven’t yet picked it back up, but I will eventually. Instead I went for As I Lay Dying. I liked the idea behind the novel, it is about a woman who dies in the first few chapters. She is to be buried in family plot in a different town. The progress of the story is narrated through the perspective of different characters who are carting her over to the burial plot amidst the only bridge being washed out by a flood and the inevitable rotting of the corpse. The body herself even makes an appearance or two to let us know what is going on. I didn’t do this book the justice that it needed. From what I can figure Faulkner books need to be written in. I needed to make notes to keep characters straight as well as subtle characterization clues that were thrown in. However, being a library book and riding while reading with some 20 odd screaming teenagers and toddlers didn’t serve this book in the way that it deserved. I should probably toss this one onto the re-read pile.


I am trying to catch up on my young adolescent reading. I’ll be teaching 7th grade again next year and I’ve got plans for them to do quite a bit of reading beyond the specific assigned texts. I’ve found that the best way to battle the resistance and complaints is to have prepared a handful of books to recommend. Regardless of whether I’m in Spain or the States, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series is always a safe bet, with boys especially (Nat turned me on to the series when I was in sixth grade). This book The Chocolate War did a good job of not being predictable like most other young adolescent books are. The ending of this book might be one of the more bad-ass endings I’ve read. The main character gets his ass handed to him in a fight. He is beat senseless. Yet, there is no retribution or forgiveness, the main character doesn’t fight back or win, he essentially lays there bloody and knocked out as the book ends and that’s it. Seriously, that’s bad ass.


Their Eyes Were Watching God saved me from my burnout. This was a fantastic book that I couldn’t put down. This was one of those where I found myself turning in early so that I could read it before falling asleep. The story is told through flashback as a character is telling the story of her absence upon returning to her hometown. She tells her story in three main parts that coincides with the three men in her life.


I like Paul Auster, but I’m finding that I like his later books over his earlier works. I really like Brooklyn Follies and Oracle Night. Leviathan was alright and I had a hard time staying focused on City of Glass, Ghosts was better. City of Glass and Ghosts are parts 1 and 2 of the New York Trilogy. Eventually I’ll go back and read The Locked Room (part 3), but more out of obligation to finishing the trilogy than out of interest.


The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil was another fantastic book. It is only 130 pages and I finished it in an afternoon. The narration is satirical, innocent and almost child-like. The story focuses on a fictitious nation of robots and assorted aliens who see Phil, the local bartender’s, rapid tyrannical rise to power and genocide of a neighboring nation which eventually ends in a mass smiting. I don’t suppose the story in and of itself is innocent or child-like, but that’s where the satire comes in. If that doesn't do it for you then you should at least pick it up and look at the pictures.