May was perhaps the most diverse month of reading I have ever done. Young adult fiction rubbed shoulders with Shakespeare, who led into sociological essays and an American classic, all to be wrapped up with one wickedly entertaining and one wickedly depressing novel. The contrasts between these various works made me appreciate each one more deeply. I have been overwhelmed, during this project, by the reality of just how much there is to read. There are times when I have considered slowing my pace, when I just don’t feel like reading, but what always keeps me going is the knowledge that there is still so much out there I have not read. Since beginning to consciously consider my reading choices and expand my horizons at the start of the year, it has become abundantly clear to me that I have been missing out on an awful lot. My prejudices and preferences would have kept me from reading so many of the books I have read already this year, including some of the ones I have enjoyed the most.
If you are at all interested, I would encourage you to make a list of the last 10 books you read, and see if you have fallen into similar patterns. Are you a niche reader, as I have been? Do you tend to stick with what is comfortable, what is familiar, and avoid the unknown? As you pick out the ever-popular “summer reading list”, I would encourage you to make at least one BOLD choice. Take a risk. Read dangerously. It just might be the best choice you can make.
Here are the books I read in May, in order, and the words therein that stayed with me:
#19
“Truth be told, I liked that blurriness. That line where reality and fiction jutted up against each other. And when Dobson had said those ugly things, I’d lunged a him because he’d dragged Holmes kicking and screaming into this world, one where people left litter on the quad and had to leave a conversation to use the toilet, where assholes tormented a girl because she wouldn’t sleep with them.” – A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
The bottom line of Brittany Cavallaro’s Sherlock Holmes send-up is that it is just a lot of fun. It is a quick and easy caper with likable heroes and engaging twists, not too deep and never taking itself too seriously. But as with all good Young Adult fiction, there are moments of really fine writing and observation, which serve to add relevancy to the visions of idealized adolescence. One of the main themes running through A Study in Charlotte is one which has been addressed in many contemporary YA novels; that being the divide between the way we imagine the people in our lives and the reality of who they are. In this passage, Cavallaro sums up so well the ways in which we idealize the other, and also the ways in which real life forces us to confront that idolization.
I also appreciated Cavallaro’s obvious respect and love of her source material, that being Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Holmes stories. I have stressed in this blog before how strongly I feel about truth and honour in adaptation. The author does an exceptional job of building on the universe and expanding the fiction without denying the original. I will be looking for the sequel!
#20
“There are no faces truer than those that are so washed. How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping!” – Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
I felt a little guilty counting Much Ado as a book towards my goal of 50; I have read the Complete Works a few times, and a play is rarely the length of a proper novel. But I will not take it back. I read it, so it counts!
Lifting one line or one quotation from Much Ado proved difficult. It is not as “quotable” as many of the Bard’s plays, for the simple reason that much of the script’s brilliance comes from lengthy battles of wit between Beatrice and Bendick. To explain why the play is hysterically funny and holds up brilliantly 400 years later would get lost in the telling. Rather than extract a full scene (Act IV Scene I comes to mind), I will simply remark that I was stirred by the line above. I got engaged recently, and since have been blessed to be privy to many tears of joy. Leonato’s observation rings true to me. A face washed by happy tears is the truest face you will ever see.
#21
“Frequently when we see great performers doing what they do, it strikes us that they’ve practiced for so long, and done it so many times, they can just do it automatically. But in fact, what they have achieved is the ability to avoid doing it automatically.” – Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin
As I remarked when I read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, I do not set much store in sociology. I found Colvin’s book more engaging than Gladwell’s, certainly, though the margin was not wide. I will not delve into my dislike for sociology again. That has been well covered, I think. Talent Is Overrated redeems its inherent flaws, however, by covering a subject that is genuinely very interesting. How some people become prolific at one thing while thousands of other fail is a very intriguing premise. Colvin’s answer is what he calls “deliberate practice”, practice that is specifically designed for performance improvement. More intriguing to me was his definition of greatness, as in the quotation above. I had never given it much thought, but it is true: the GREATEST people at any task are not the ones who are so accustomed that they can do it in their sleep; they are the people who approach each instance with the freshness, effort, and attention of the first time, considering each detail and striving for excellence.
#22
“You can read every day where a dog saved the life of a drowning child, or lay down his life for his master. Some people call this loyalty. I don’t. I may be wrong, but I call it love–the deepest kind of love.” – Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
It has been 13 years or more since I read this book in elementary school. It is even sadder than I remembered. It is deceptive in its simplicity and brutal in its honesty. I will let this one speak for itself.
#23
“You can lie to yourself, say that you never had a choice, that you weren’t cut out for this. But deep down you’ll know. You’ll know that humans aren’t cut out for anything. We cut ourselves out. Slowly, like a rusty knife. Because otherwise, here’s what’s going to happen: you’re going to die and you’re going to stand at the gates of judgement and you’re going to ask God what was the meaning of it all, and God will say, ‘I created the universe, you little shit. It was up to you to give it meaning.'” – Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong
Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits was a RIDE. The pacing is lightning fast, the humour is biting, and the writing is sharp and precise. It is a dystopian novel in the same way that Die Hard is a Christmas movie; it doesn’t follow many (if any) genre tropes, but instead uses dystopia as a backdrop for one of the most exciting, page-turning action stories I have ever read. The characters are larger than life – they exist almost beyond the point of empathy. But you don’t necessarily need to feel for them because you are too busy holding on for dear life as the plot races forward. It was utterly different, and I loved every page.
The quotation above demonstrates what was perhaps most refreshing about the book. So much of contemporary fiction is concerned with discovering the meaning of life, the meaning of love, and the meaning of suffering. It was an amazing change of pace to have an author essentially say, “Forget all that.” Life may not have inherent meaning. Maybe it is just what you make it. Instead of asking why bad things happen to good people, maybe we just need to accept that they do, and figure out what we are going to do to stick it to the bad things that come our way.
#24
“Yet there was something else, something different about her this time, like a room where someone has thrown out all the flowers while you were gone: a change in the interior you don’t even notice at first, not until you see the stems sticking out of the garbage.” – The Dinner by Herman Koch
Finally, a book about the brokenness of people and the base instincts that lie dangerously close to the surface of our society that doesn’t try to make it seem like it will all be ok. Sometimes it won’t all be ok. Some people go to extreme lengths to make peace with the darkness. Some people’s lives are irreversibly changed in the blink of an eye, and the rest of their lives are spent coping with that one moment, one decision that could have made things different.
Koch’s book is the ultimate in voyeurism. It gives the reader a glimpse into the private lives of people who are uncomfortably everyday, uncomfortably relatable. “This could be you. Aren’t you glad you are sitting one table over, listening in on their private horror instead of living it yourself?” I will say no more, in case you haven’t read it. But you should absolutely read it. Wow, should you ever.
*****
Five months down. Seven months and 26 books to go! Check back every month for more Words on Words and other thoughts on An Awfully Big Adventure!
An Awfully Big Adventure 