NOVA this week (May 18, 2022)

NOVA this month actually. It’s been a while since I posted, and even longer since I reviewed anything. That is partially due to not enjoying my current read, Midnight’s Children, which always slows me down, but more significantly due to major life upheaval.

But in a good way.

My bride and I sold our house at the beginning of May, and downsized to a one bedroom apartment. Lest that sound like economic constraint, I will declare quite the opposite. I plan on retiring in early 2024, and then moving to Michigan to be near our grandchildren. With that life-change on the horizon, we decided to take advantage of the housing market, thinking the recent home buying frenzy was not likely to last much longer; we may have timed it nearly perfectly. We’ve done alright selling before, but I’ve always dreamed of selling in an extreme seller’s market, with buyers in a bidding war, and selling as-is for more than original asking price – and dreams do come true. Our house was on the market two days, before we had a contract at a premium price. We are very thankful.

But, this blessing resulted in a rather hectic period of yard sale, packing, shipping to storage, setting up the apartment, inspection, appraisal, and closing. All in just over a month.

All done now ***deep breath***

We are quite comfy and content in our new digs, though I do miss my library. Most of my books are in storage for a while. 

I will soon get back to reviewing books. A few of my long-time followers will recall that this blog was originally about my quest to read the 100 Greatest Novels. Midnight’s Children will be #198, so I should close out the second century of great novels this summer. 

Cheers

The Wanderer

 

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Tis Speaketh like Shakespeare Day

So bethought I wouldst deign to speak a verse or twain as bard.

First, I shall agnize t’is not talk nay soliloquy, but rath'r scribing hard.

Moreso, as I suff’rst the words so fearfully imposing;

I shouldst eke agnize t’is not verily scribing, but more composing.

Alas, I seeth readily, yond 'twill beest some plus a line or two,

T’is haps most wondrous I attempt anew.

 

Bethought I deign to composeth lines the bard might proffer.

I plight to fall upon some worthy thought, for to my readers offer.

T’is more ease have said than done;

E’re good intent and faithful act are one.

Is't vain to muse my thoughts anon could’st of value be,

To thee lief reader seeking serendipity?

 

Haps not, for how thee chance ‘pon blog o’mine but from some erstwhile wander

Dids’t liketh, followeth, subsribeth, bookmarketh, finding points to ponder?

Alas, no foul, may I right claim thy goodly fav’r;

Rightful prize of all here’s lack and lustered labor.

Thus with my willful intent now full affirmed and free all fear;

I meet the mark, to wit, composeth like Shakespeare

 

Anon

 

The Wand'r'r

Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth (novel #197)

Whew! Have I got grievances! Do I harbor hatreds I didn’t even know were there! ~ Alexander Portnoy

 

I vaguely remember the scandal over this book when it was published in 1969, which made me a bit wary of it now. But I enjoyed Roth’s later novel American Pastoral, so I decided to give Portnoy’s Complaint the benefit of the doubt.

 

Which turned out to be too beneficent.

 

I came very close to putting it in the DNF bin, but I kept hoping for something redeeming, or at least poignant, but no. Just a long, coarse, narrative of Portnoy complaining. 

 

At least it was well titled.

 

Jewish-American bachelor Alexander Portnoy describes to his analyst his upbringing, promising career, and excessive masturbation habits. Portnoy’s monologue describes the repression in mid-20th Century Jewish-American families, his struggle for identity in Christian, Anglo-Saxon America, and the inner turmoil caused by public respectability and private shame. I suppose these themes resonate with some, but they did very little for me.

 

I’m not in favor of banning books, but I am in favor of ignoring some. I think the scandal in 69 created notoriety for a book which is merely outrageous; some would say avant-garde. It’s a fine line in my opinion.

 

My rating 2 out of 5 stars

 

 

 

 

As I mentioned I liked American Pastoral, so I’m on the fence with Roth. I’ll read more, but with discretion. How do you feel about Portnoy’s Complaint? Philip Roth?

 

This was my SPIN book for TheClassics Club Spin #29.

 

Excerpts (all by Portnoy):

 

And then, of course my father is a man who has a certain amount of worrying to do each day, and sometimes he just has to forego listening to the conversations going on around him in order to fulfill his anxiety requirement.

 

Could I really have detested this childhood and resented these poor parents of mine to the same degree then as I seem to now…

 

The freak I am! Lover of no one and nothing! Unloved and unloving!

 

One rare bright spot…loved this:

Oh, and there is really nothing in life, nothing at all, that quite compares with that pleasure of rounding second base at a nice slow clip, because there’s just no hurry any more, because that ball you’ve hit has just gone sailing out of sight…

 

 

 

 

The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen (novel #196)

The Death of the Heart is a modernist novel set mostly in London, between the first and second world wars. Elizabeth Bowen called it a “pre-war” novel, but apart from that, I find it difficult to categorize.

I’ve read of Bowen 

…her novels masquerade as witty comedies of manners

 

Which is pretty fair, but please mark the word masquerade. I don’t think Bowen intended witty comedies. I’ve also read that her stories

…mine the depths of private tragedy.

 

Yeah, that’s about right.

 

It is the story of 16-year-old Portia Quayne, orphaned and sent to live with her half-brother Thomas and sister-in-law Anna. The three are never quite comfortable with each other. Portia falls in love (I would say, thinks she falls in love) with Eddie, a friend of Anna’s and employee of Thomas’.

 

Eddie is a cad, a loafer, and a narcissist. And Portia is just too 16, to realize it.

 

When Portia told him she thought he was very good looking, he responded…

 

Well, I am, you see, and I’ve got all this charm, and I can excite people. They don’t really notice my brain – they are always insulting me. Everyone hates my brain, because I don’t sell that. That’s the underground reason why everyone hates me.

 

When he thought he told a witty joke, and asked Portia if she thought it was funny, and she said no, he replied defiantly…

 

Well, it was: it was very funny

 

Despising Eddie was my main investment in this story.  I just wasn’t all-in for the others. I worried for Portia, but that was about it. Thomas and Anna evoked even less emotion.

 

So, it’s rather sad. It doesn’t come to a satisfying ending, though perhaps a crisis that may force Portia, Thomas, and Anna to be more honest with each other.

 

I give Bowen high marks for her writing though. She had an elegant way of describing the mundane, and a knack of capturing funny little feelings that are rather unimportant, and yet somehow resonate. Such as when Anna realizes she has been spotted from outside the house, herself looking out a window. 

 

She knew how foolish a person looking out of a window from the outside of a house looks – as though waiting for something that does not happen, as though wanting something from the outside world.

 

I like it when authors can do that. 

For the writing more so than for the story…

My rating 3 ½ out of 5 stars

 

 This novel satisfies “classic that’s been on my TBR the longest” in the Back to the Classics 2022 Challenge.

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The Classics Club Spin #29

It is time for the29th edition of the Classics Club Spin – List 20 books from my Classics Club TBR, the moderators will pick a random number between 1 - 20, and I then have until April 30, 2022 to read the corresponding book.

 

I only have 16 novels left on my Round III list, including a trilogy that I intend to read as one, so I will list several of these twice.

 

I’m hoping for The Princess Bride or the The Last Unicorn.

 

My spin list

 

1. Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov

2. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens

3. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

4. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

5. Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

6. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

7. Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

8. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock

9. The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery

10. Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris

11. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth

12. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

13. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

14. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

15. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock

16. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

17. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

18. A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul

19. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

20. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

 

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The Naval Treaty – a Sherlock Holmes short story

"The Naval Treaty" is a Sherlock Holmes short story also known as “The Adventure of the Naval Treaty” in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes collection. According to The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, it was Holmes 24th case chronologically.

This is a case of stolen State Secrets, ruin and shame to their custodian, and grave peril to the British Empire. The government official who has the treaty stolen from under his nose, is an old school chum of Watson’s, who manages to convince his old friend to enlist the services of the World’s Greatest Detective.

 

And all is well.

 

This was a very intriguing case, much better than the last I read, but it still lacked the witty
banter between Holmes and Watson; or Holmes’ deadpan to Watson’s astonishment and oblivion. no quotable excerpts. There were more illustrations than usual, such as the one displayed here, with Holmes to the left, Watson second left, with the victim and his fiancée, all rendered by the preeminent Holmes illustrator Sidney Paget.

 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or Dr. Watson if you prefer, did not publish Holmes’ adventures in chronological order. However, The Annotated Sherlock Holmes attempts to put them down in order, based on contextual clues in the stories themselves. This adventure was one that was very revealing to that end, as Watson, identifies it as one of three that “immediately succeeded my marriage…” and he then puts those three in order. It isn’t always this clear, so I’m sure the researchers of this version, appreciated Watson’s details in this instance. 

 

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Six Degrees of Separation: from The End of the Affair to City of Glass

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme hosted by Kate @ booksarmyfavouriteandbest.

 

This month’s chain begins with The End of the Affair by Graham Greene which I’ve not read, but it is on my TBR.  I often get this title mixed up with…

 

The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen, which I am currently reading. Good so far, but I haven’t reached the main conflict. But isn’t the title almost synonymous with the previous title? And in turn, this title reminds me of…

 

The Heart of the Matter, also by Graham Greene, which I have read. And since I’ve developed a trend, I’ll just stick with “titles” as the connecting thread, leading me to…

 

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Very good; very sad. The title leads me to…

 

The Bee Hunter by James Fenimore Cooper. Wonderful and underappreciated tale. Next…

 

The Glass Bees by Ernest Jünger, on my TBR, and finally leading to…

 

City of Glass by Paul Aster, also on my TBR

 

And that is how you get from The End of the Affair to City of Glass.