As promised, here are a couple of book reviews:
Thunder and Lightning by Natalie Goldberg. As I mentioned in a previous post, in the past I have been very moved by Natalie Goldberg's books about writing. This one ... not so much. I got through the first couple of chapters, but I am having a hard time wanting to pick it up to read. It might not be the book at all. It might be -- gasp -- me. Her writing is striking me as utterly too self-absorbed this time around. I'm wondering, "Who in the world has the time to sit in a café and fill up notebooks with writing practice?" I suppose one could say the same thing about blogging, or even incessant knitting. (She cuts her eyes from side to side, nervously.)
If you are interested in sampling Natalie Goldberg's work, I heartily recommend starting with her classic, Writing Down the Bones. If you want to read more about the writers' craft, get hold of Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott. It will both inform and make you laugh, always a good combination. Save Thunder and Lightning for a time that you really get on a Natalie Goldberg kick.
A Mercy by Toni Morrison. I confess, I've never before read anything by Toni Morrison. Not Beloved. Not The Bluest Eye. I must have missed taking those Women's Studies classes in college. A Mercy is the story of Florens, a slave girl whose mother gives her up to pay off a slave trader's debt. Florens bears the scars of that abandonment for the remainder of her life. It is also about Lina -- an Indian woman who takes Florens under her wing, Sorrow -- a mysterious young woman who has survived some trauma at sea, and Rebekka -- the wife of trader Jakob Vaark. Set in 1680, it paints a stark portrait of early American life.
I'm about 4/5ths of the way through the book, but I don't think I can finish it. The writing is good, but the story is relentlessly depressing with -- so far -- no redemption or transcendence. It is not that I am indifferent to reading about the hardships people faced, but I am in need of something more upbeat right now.
I am going back to my old standby. You guessed it: Terry Pratchett. I need to laugh at the human condition right now, and nobody does that for me quite the way he does. First, The Hogfather, in honor of the holiday season that is quickly receding behind us. Then I think I will start reading a subgroup of the Discworld series, about the Watch of Ankh-Morpork, starting with Guards, Guards.
Interested in trying Terry Pratchett? I recommend either The Wee Free Men (written for young adults, but slyly suggestive in parts) or Going Postal about the birth of Ankh-Morpork's postal service. You might also enjoy The Monstrous Regiment. Those are three of my favorites.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Nice Hank the Cowdog reference in that first review!
I just finished The Hogfather and Monstrous Regiment and am now starting on Thud, the last book in the Watch series. You forgot to suggest Wyrd Sisters, the first book in the Witches series, as a possible starter book. Then there's also Small Gods, a very thoughtful and funny book about organized religion.
I've reviewed Wyrd Sisters before. So mind your trumpet and skittles!
Well now, this is a goldmine of a post. I'll take your advice on Thunder and Lightening. I'll look for Anne LaMott's book (eyes cutting to the unfinished Gatsby's Girl and How Fiction is Made).
And I was just going to email you and ask which Pratchett book I ought to start with (they have a ton of them at the library) and voila! you answered my question before I asked it! Thanks!
Suzy,
Knitting, you say?
Hie thee to this site:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/at-email/trends-extreme-knitting-073567
and if you can get tired of knitting, you can use the needles to hunt mastodons.
Toni Morrison is generally very bleak and dark. When I read her books, I have to concentrate on the lyricism of the writing; which she is so very brilliant at. Beloved is probably the most incredible contemporary novel I've ever read.
Bleak? That is an excellent descriptor!
Post a Comment