Crane, Stephen:  The Red Badge of Courage

I’m not sure how I managed to miss reading this for so many years because it is one of the most well known American classics about the Civil War.  It was never a reading assignment for me in school for which I am now glad because I’m sure I enjoyed it more as an adult than I would have as a student.

This is an “interior” novel that emphasizes the thoughts and emotions of a young, idealistic boy who enlists in the Union army against his mother’s advice and prayers.  He goes off with ideas of the glory of battle after reading such classic accounts of war for which the ancient Greeks were renowned.  He quickly learns that the reality is nothing like the ideal of the classic wars.  Crane does a good job of giving us the ups and downs of the daily life of a foot soldier and excellent descriptions of battles.  However, the focus of the novel is Henry Fielding’s (often referred to merely as “the youth”) adolescent perceptions and reactions to the daily grind of the soldier and to his concerns about how he appears to the other soldiers.   This is a coming of age novel that takes place in the hellish conditions of armed conflict.  It deserves its classic designation but if it is assigned to students it should be read and discussed in small doses.  There is essentially no plot to keep a young person’s interest but it could make a great discussion book about dealing with the ups and downs of adolescent emotions.

While reading this book I also started reading a book of Walt Whitman’s Complete Poems.  I know he had written poems about the Civil War so I looked up some of them.  After reading this very realistic novel most of them seemed to me to be a too romanticized look at the war.  However, one of them captured well the feel of a scene described by Crane early in the book.  I know Crane never witnessed anything of the civil War; I wonder if Whitman did.

CALVALRY CROSSING A FORD

A line in long array where they wind betwixt green islands,

They take a serpentine course, their arms flash in the sun-

hark to the musical clank,

Behold the silvery river, in it the splashing horses loitering

stop to drink,

Behold the brown-faced men, each group, each person a

picture, the negligent rest on the saddles,

Some emerge on the opposite bank, others are just entering

the ford-while,

Scarlet and blue and snowy white,

The guidon flags flutter gaily in the wind.

(Walt Whitman)

Winspear, Jacqueline:  Messenger of Truth

I’m having a dilemma and so is my public library system about how to classify the Maisie Dobbs series.  Some of the local libraries, including mine, are putting these novels in the adult fiction area while others are classifying them as adult mystery (at least there is no doubt that they are “adult”).   Although I filed the previous reviews I’ve done on this series under mysteries, I have decided that they really do belong in general fiction.  The plots are more complex than most mysteries and involve more than one plot thread; although sometimes these threads overlap, they are not neatly tied into a tidy package at the end and usually there are things to ponder when the last page is read.  The “mystery” in each novel is not a puzzle to be solved but a story to be unraveled so that one or more characters can go on with his/her life.  There is character development within each story and not only with continuing series characters. One of the chief delights of the series is how Winspear takes us back to an historical time, the period between to two World Wars of the 20^th century in England.  We get to see the effects of this period across the entire social strata from the poor struggling to survive to the “last hurrah” of the peers of the realm who have no clue what is happening in the lower levels of society.

This entry in the series concerns the death of a famous artist on the eve of the opening of his largest exhibition.  While working on how he will exhibit his largest masterpiece, which no one has ever seen nor knows what it consists of, he accidentally falls to his death from the scaffold on which he is working.   His twin sister is not satisfied with the explanation of the police about his death and goes to Maisie Dobbs to have her investigate not only the death but what happened to the missing masterpiece.  Because the artist was a “war artist” there are memories of the war revived, in addition to a portrait of a once wealthy landed family dealing with not only artistic temperament but also how to cope with straitened circumstances.  Both Maisie and her aide, Billy, also have problems with which Maisie must deal.  This is a very satisfying if somewhat sobering story.  I highly recommend this series.

To me an interesting connection between this story and The Red Badge of Courage, which I also read this month, is that both novels have a scene where a cease fire is called so that the warring armies can go out on the battlefield to remove their wounded and bury their dead.  In Winspear’s novel there is poignant description of a meeting between soldiers from opposite sides who accidentally meet face to face amid the carnage and hug each other as they shed tears for their dead comrades.   This is followed by a horrifying account of what happens to one of the soldiers when he returns behind his own army’s line.

Haddon, Mark:  the curious incident of the dog in the night

This is an unusual but compelling story told through the viewpoint of the protagonist, an autistic teenager.  It is presented as a book that he has written and we get good idea of what goes on inside the head of a person with this condition.  He is extremely smart, especially in math and puzzles but finds it difficult to function-even to think-when his system is overloaded with too much stimuli.  The basic idea is that he has decided to try to detect who killed the neighbor’s dog with a pitchfork in the middle of the night.  He finds out more than he wants to which leads to a somewhat frightening adventure.  This is a great story well told-no wonder it was so popular.  This is a novel that would appeal to young adults as well as older readers.  It also gives the reader some insight into the difficulties that face people with autism and the people who love them.

Cowan, James:  A Mapmaker’s Dream

I find it difficult to describe this quirky little novel.  It essentially has no plot although you could argue that there is some character development as the one recurring character, Fra Mauro, seems to grow and develop as he processes the information that is brought to him.  The sub-title is “The Meditations of Fra Mauro, cartographer to the Court of Venice.”  The basis of the story is that Fr Mauro lives in a cloistered monastery on an island near Venice and he wants to draw a completely accurate map of the world including not just the boundaries and geographic features of the lands but also all the inhabitants, creatures, culture-in short, everything about each country.  Since he cannot and does not wish to leave his sanctuary travelers of all sorts come to him and describe what they have gleaned from their voyages.  Each chapter is the story a traveler tells and Fra Mauro’s impressions about what he has heard.  At first I found the book rather irritating-a mishmash of unrelated and often seemingly outlandish ideas.  I found, however, if I slowed down and read only one or two chapters at a time and tried to put myself into the time period of Fra Mauro-very early explorations and the making of the trade routes-that this was really fascinating.  Some stories were fantastic-but don’t travelers often have fantastic ideas when they see strange things?  Some resonated with me as ways in which I sometimes perceive the world.  Fra Mauro tried to keep an open mind when receiving all these ideas and images-and I did, too.  One of the thoughts that occurred to me is that in today’s information age we often feel bombarded with more ideas and images that we can process-much as Mauro must have felt.  We, too, are surrounded with a myriad of ideas and world views that need to be considered.   This is a book to expand your mind and to consider other ways of viewing the world-there is enough variety in these approximately 150 pages that every reader should find as least one idea that gives you that “aha!” moment.  There is also enough to disagree with that this would make a good discussion book-as long as your group can vehemently disagree about ideas without getting personal or having it affect your relationships.  Caveat:  if you prefer to read only ideas that support your own world view this is not the book for you.  If you enjoy expanding your mind to consider ideas foreign to you without feeling threatened by them, this is a delightful book-just take it in small doses.

Below are a few passages that caught my eye:

[spoken by a traveler who was exiled from his homeland] “Quitting the place that we loved means we are condemned to inhabit our loss forever.” (p. 27)

[this resonates with me because it summarizes how I felt-and in some ways still feel-about leaving Savannah.]

“…thoughts on the value of experience as being an important guide in our quest.  ‘A man knows the truth only when he has tried it himself and has not gained it by way of hearsay or reading.’  He was suggesting that we are obliged to make mistakes if we wish to attain any degree of knowledge.  Conceivably he wanted us to accept that every error we make is one more brick fired in the kiln of grace.”  (p. 53)

[I underlined this because it agrees well with what I have experienced in my life-but as I was thinking about this I was struck by a disquieting thought:  since each man's experience is different does this idea negate the idea of a universal truth? Not that we can ever know universal truth-but is the concept impossible?]

[Fra Mauro commenting on his visitors:]  “I was struck by the thought that their observations were not independent at all.  Rather, they were affected by sentiments that each of them held to be an expression of himself.   In the end, the world they presented me was reflected through them.”  (p. 59-60)

“It is true, sometimes men in harness to grace are more powerful than an army whose allegiance is suspect.” (p. 101)

“Who but someone who has quit home and journeyed to distant lands would understand?  ….They now know that it is impossible to find elsewhere a place consistent with their own inner world.”   (p. 133)

June 13-Friday

[note:  When I wrote this I didn't have a blog.  It was my difficulty being active in the challenge that prompted me start the blog.]

I’m really falling down on the job for journaling.  I’ve been struggling trying to get active in the Classics challenge I plan to do the last 6 months of this year.  Because I don’t have a blog site I’m experiencing a little difficulty getting my post on.  Also, I’ve discovered that they do not plan to actually discuss the books we are reading but just record them and get credit for them.  I’m disappointed about that because I thought this would be a chance to “talk” about books.  This was the post I left to answer a questionnaire they posted (I’m hoping it made the list):

My favorite classic?

Wow!  What a decision!  I probably have one for every day of the week.  The 2 classics I have reread the most are Pride and Prejudice (1st read in 8th grade and reread it probably every couple of years) and Lord of the Rings trilogy (1^st read during Easter vacation the 1st year I was married and have reread at least a dozen times–most recently in 2006 when I led a seminar at my church about it).

The classic I most wish to reread?

The Brother Karamazov: I read it in both HS and college (not assigned–I just wanted to) and loved it.  I would like to see how I would react now.

Classic I had the toughest time finishing?

The Three Musketeers–tried it several years ago and couldn’t get into it; tried it again this year and had the same problem.  Maybe I should read it for the challenge.

Recommendations for those who are concerned about classics:

There are lots of children’s and YA classics that are worth reading and go quickly-The Secret Garden by Burnett and A Wrinkle in Time by L’Engle come to mind.

I am not a fan of horror novels but there are three 19^th century classic horror novels that I have read and loved that are short–quick reads if you are concerned about getting bogged down.  This will give you another genre and also 3 countries are represented:

THE TURN OF THE SCREW by Henry James (American): Eerie and has an open ended dénouement.  This is thought provoking and the scariest of the three in my opinion.  Don’t read it if you demand closure; read it at the same time as a friend and you can have great discussions about it.  I read this in college just before the movie came out-now I’m motivated to read it again and see how it “wears.”

FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley (Great Britain/ England):–wife of the poet and written when she was about 19 years old-forget the movies; this is a great short novel.

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson (Great Britain/Scotland):  After seeing the musical a couple of years ago I wanted to read the original. Yesterday I finally did it so I could include it on this list. This is another one to forget any dramatized versions-this is classic good vs. evil.  I only wish I could have read it before I knew the secret.  That’s pretty hard to do now but the story still holds your interest especially as a psychological thriller of the 19^th century-pre-Freud.  It is short-more of a novella-but a great story.

If you want to read a longer 19^th century horror story I highly recommend DRACULLA by Bram Stoker.  I have avoided vampire stories all my life-definitely “not my thing!”  When THE HISTORIAN by Kostova came out a couple of years ago I had several people insist I read it so I decided I had better read “the original” Dracula novel first.  I was astounded at how much I liked Stoker’s novel-essentially a classic tale of good vs. evil told in a very riveting way.  (If you like WOMAN IN WHITE I think you would like this, also.)  I liked Stoker’s novel much more than I did Kostova’s.  One of my sons suggested I should have read them in the opposite order and I might have enjoyed Kostova’s more-it just seemed pale after DRACULA.

Stevenson, Robert Louis:  The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

After seeing the musical a couple of years ago I wanted to read the original. Yesterday (Memorial Day holiday) I finally did it.  This is another one to forget any dramatized versions you’ve seen-this is classic good vs. evil.  I only wish I could have read it before I knew the secret.  That’s pretty hard to do now but the story still holds your interest especially as a psychological thriller of the 19^th century-pre-Freud.  I wonder if Freud got some of his ideas from Stevenson!  It is short-more of a novella-but a great story.

Tolkien, J.R.R.:  The Silmarillion

This was interesting because it gives the background myths that Tolkien spent years working on and from these ideas came the germination of the idea of the Lord of the Rings.  This is not easy to read because there are many stories loosely linked as a mythology with so many names to keep track of you need a reference to keep them straight.  (Tucker says he couldn’t get into War and Peace because he couldn’t keep track of the names, yet this is one of his favorite works.  Go Figure.  W&P is a piece of cake compared to this.)   However it is interesting and enriches the legend of Middle Earth.  I will probably read it again so that more of the stories “sink in.”  It was definitely worth the effort although most of the stories are tragic.  For me, the geography, which Tolkien always emphasizes, was even more difficult than the names.  I could picture individual places as they were described (loved this part!) but had trouble visualizing the routes to get from one place too another.

Saroyan, William:  Essential Saroyan

This is an anthology of some of Saroyan’s best writing.  This year is the centennial of Saroyan’s birth and Fresno, California having been his home there have a flurry of activities celebrating his life and works which includes movies (”The Human Comedy” starring Andy Rooney is one of the best known) as well as novels, short stories and other writings.  Since I now live in this area I was able to take part in some of these events.  I don’t remember ever reading Saroyan before and I really loved this book.  He has a different style-often in his shorter works it’s more like he is talking to the reader rather than trying to write a formal essay or story.  He has a feel for the “common man” (whatever that is supposed to mean-I doubt if Saroyan thought of anyone as “common”).  He also writes with a great deal of humor and frequently with a touch of fantasy.  Often the reader feels that under the humor there is pain.  This book was given to me by my local library for the book discussion they sponsored.  Unfortunately I didn’t get word of the discussion until I had missed two of its meetings.  See the April General Reading section for my discussion of this book. My biggest complaint about this book is that some of the selections are excerpts from longer works and I find it disconcerting not to be able the read the entire work.  I would prefer to have more short stories and let the longer works be published separately.

Bohjalian, Chris:  The Double Bind

This was interesting, with a real twist at the end. Laura Esta Brook is a young social worker who works at a homeless shelter.  She is struggling with the after shock of an attempted rape attack on her when she finds a box of photos taken by a homeless man who has dies.  Many are pictures of celebrities and Laura becomes obsessed with trying to find out why a man who was obviously a successful professional photographer and spent time with celebrities became homeless. I don’t want to reveal much more because part of the fun is how we keep peeling away layers of the story as we read.  I will just say that I was glad I had recently reread The Great Gatsby because it was fascinating how Bohjalian used those characters in this book. I had a few questions at the end–I may have to read it again to see if the answers to my unanswered questions were just too buried for me to catch.  (The photos in the book were actual photos taken by a homeless man that Bohjalian.  You will recognize some of the people in them..  Of course that homeless man was not part of the novel.)

Saroyan, William:  My Name Is Aram

This is a collection of short stories about a young Armenian boy in Fresno, California in the 1930’s named Aram Garoghlanian.  They are deceptively simple and could be easily read by a student in middle school.  However, for the more mature reader there is a quality in Saroyan’s observations about people and about the simple situations he portrays that gives depth to the stories and helps us to a better understanding of humanity.  This book has been described as the Armenian Tom Sawyer, but the humor is gentler and sometimes masks hidden pain.  Saroyan’s love of his fellow man, and his tolerance, shine through these stories as much as in his more sophisticated writing.  He really thought man was basically good.

Chesterton, G.K.:  The Man Who Was Thursday

A fantastical story with more twists and turns than a labyrinth; this was a great read for the time we were in Monterrey for the wedding (2008). The story is about a man who has been recruited to track down a master criminal-but that is only the tip of the iceberg.  He infiltrates the ranks of the criminal by impersonating the person whose code name was Thursday-hence the title.  I was able to anticipate some of the “surprises” but that in no way diminished my pleasure and the ending  was magnificent-although many reviewers disliked it because it did not neatly tie up all the loose ends.  However, this book was not about answers but questions.  I will definitely reread this one, and next time I’ll read the introduction first to help me get even more of the symbolism.  Chesterton introduces some very profound ideas in this one.  It was a good choice for the BC-one I had been thinking about for years and finally got to–which was the purpose of the Challenge!

Winspear, Jacqueline:  Birds of a Feather

The second book in the Maisie Dobbs series, this story deals with a case of finding a young woman in her 30’s who runs away from her father’s house and the wealthy father wants her returned.  As Maisie searches for the girl she finds a connection with 2 murders that the police are investigating and also with a supposed suicide. The key clue is white feathers left at the scene of the crime.  When the significance of these clues is revealed I was curious if Winspear had invented the organization, The Order of the White Feather.  I should have trusted her-I googled it and not only did the organization exist but there was a picture of the advertisement for it that was mentioned in the book and a report from the daughter of one of the recipients that bore out Winspear’s “take” on the organization.  This series seems to be winner!

Winspear, Jacqueline: Maisie Dobbs

My friend Melinda recommended this book, the first in a series, to me when she visited us this month.  What fun to find a new mystery series, and from an author who isn’t dead so eventually there may be even more than the five already published. It’s also nice that there aren’t so many that it will take me years to catch up! This book does a good job of introducing us to Maisie Dobbs and giving her life history while still keeping up interest in the “mystery.” The novel is set in 1929 and deals with the effects of WWI on the lives of many of the characters. The middle section does a flashback to tell us about Maisie’s life and her rags to riches story.  There is also quite a bit about the war, especially the work of the medical personal who had to deal with the battlefield casualties—rather like MASH. Maisie is a very interesting character and I can see that character development will be a large part of the series.  With all this background I am anxious to see how the characters continue in the ensuing books.

Although Maisie has set herself up in business as a private investigator I would consider this a novel with a mystery in it rather than just a mystery story.  It’s interesting that some of the branches in our library system (which covers the entire San Joaquin Valley in central California–several counties) shelve this in fiction and others shelve it in mystery.  Even the librarians can’t agree!

Cooper, Susan:  The Dark Is Rising (#2 in The Dark Is Rising Sequence) 

See the review of the first book in January fiction.

This book, published about 7 years after the first one, is much more interesting and better written than the first.  It was a Newberry Honor Book the year it was published.

Will Stanton is celebrating his 11^th birthday on Midwinter Day.  At this time it is revealed to him that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to keeping the world from domination by the forces of evil, the Dark.  He is immediately sent on a quest for the six magical Signs that will one day aid the Old Ones in the final battle.  Merriman Lyon (aka Great Uncle Merry-and probably Merlin) is revealed as the first of the Old Ones and is there to aid Will as he discovers his destiny.  The quest takes place during the twelve days of Christmas and we discover that the Old Ones can move through time at will.

Cooper, Susan:  Greenwitch (#3in The Dark Is Rising Sequence)

This short book features both the Drew children and Will Stanton as they endeavor to redeem the scroll that in the first book Barney threw into the sea to avoid the Dark getting it.  The scroll is needed to decipher the message on the grail.  Another plot twist is that the grail has been stolen from the museum that was guarding it-while it was on display.  (You would think that the Old Ones could think of a safer way to keep it until they need it! -one of many plot holes in this series.  If Tucker was unhappy with the “plot holes” he found in the Harry Potter series I think he had better avoid this series altogether.)  The story was interesting but again, the Drew children sometimes detracted from the story.  Also, Cooper does not seem concerned with developing the characters of the children so they seem to be more deus ex machina to move the plot along rather than real characters.

Cooper, Susan:  The Grey King (#4 in The Dark Is Rising Sequence)

This was the Newberry Winner the year it was published.  One of its strengths is that the Drew children don’t appear.  It takes place in Wales and we get deeper into the Arthurian legend.  The new character, Bran, is interesting and you care about both Bran and Will.  Will’s task, with Bran’s help (who turns out to have a pivotal part to play in the contest between the Dark and the Light) is to wake-with the golden harp-the six who must be roused from their long slumber to be ready for the final battle between the Dark and the Light.  The Grey King is the spirit of the mountain determined to keep Will from succeeding.   This is the best book in the series so far.  It also gives such a good description of Wales that now I would like to go there.

Cooper, Susan:  Silver on the Tree (#5 in The Dark Is Rising Sequence)

The last and longest book in the series holds the reader’s interest and does not disappoint but it is not as tightly put together as the previous book-perhaps because there were so many threads that had to be pulled together.  All of the characters from the previous books have a part to play - for good or evil-in this final installment.  For younger readers there are probably more surprises than for older readers who pick up on “clues” that are dropped, whether intentionally or unintentionally I’m not always sure.  All in all it was a series which I enjoyed but will probably not read again.

Orwell, George:  Down and Out in Paris and London

This was the first novel that Orwell wrote and is seems to be more autobiographical than fiction.  Although the subject matter is definitely not a happy one this was a fascinating and compelling read.  In Paris we learn about the seamy side of working behind the scenes in restaurants (I may never want to eat in a French restaurant again!) and in London we learn about the life of tramps (homeless people who must stay on the move if they don’t want to end up in jail).  We see great misery and depression of people barely able to find enough food to keep themselves alive but we also see people who are trying to make the best life for themselves that the circumstances allow.  Even more important we see them as individual people with the same kind of attributes of goodness and evil that we all have.  I will never view a homeless person the same way again-they are each individuals as we all are.  Orwell developed a fondness for many of them which he transfers to us and although he had a “safety net” as much as possible he tried to experience the same experiences of the truly down and out.  I bought this book because it was recommended by Anthony Bourdain (formerly a chef on the cooking channel) at the Fresno (California) Town Hall lecture I went to last year.  I’m glad I did.