Another Reason to Hate Jonathan Franzen

(Thanks to Linda)

From the Chron:

In August 2010, the cover of Time hailed Jonathan Franzen's new novel, Freedom, and called him a "Great American Novelist." The book is about a birder who declares war on "feline death squads" and calls cats the "sociopaths of the pet world," responsible for killing millions of American songbirds. The author told a Daily Beast interviewer this month: "With songbird populations falling all across North America, I think it's time for a movement to keep cats indoors."

Books for May and June Available at the Booktique

For May: Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead (fiction)

From the book jacket: From the award-winning author of John Henry Days and The Intuitionist: a tender, hilarious, and supremely original novel about coming-of-age in the ’80s. Benji Cooper is one of the few black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. But every summer, Benji escapes to the Hamptons, to Sag Harbor, where a small community of African American professionals have built a world of their own. The summer of 1985 won't be without its usual trials and tribulations, of course. There will be complicated new handshakes to to fumble through and state-of-the-art profanity to master. Benji will be tested by contests big and small, by his misshapen haircut(which seems to have a will of its own), by the New Coke Tragedy, and by his secret Lite FM addiction. But maybe, just maybe, this summer might be one for the ages. A New York Times notable book. One of the best books of the year: The Washington Post and The Christian Science Monitor. A PEN/Faulkner Award finalist.

For June: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (fiction)

From Publishers Weekly: Starred Review: Lauded for his sensitive memoir (My Own Country) about his time as a doctor in eastern Tennessee at the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s, Verghese turns his formidable talents to fiction, mining his own life and experiences in a magnificent, sweeping novel that moves from India to Ethiopia to an inner-city hospital in New York City over decades and generations. Sister Mary Joseph Praise, a devout young nun, leaves the south Indian state of Kerala in 1947 for a missionary post in Yemen. During the arduous sea voyage, she saves the life of an English doctor bound for Ethiopia, Thomas Stone, who becomes a key player in her destiny when they meet up again at Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa. Seven years later, Sister Praise dies birthing twin boys: Shiva and Marion, the latter narrating his own and his brothers long, dramatic, biblical story set against the backdrop of political turmoil in Ethiopia, the life of the hospital compound in which they grow up and the love story of their adopted parents, both doctors at Missing. The boys become doctors as well and Vergheses weaving of the practice of medicine into the narrative is fascinating even as the story bobs and weaves with the power and coincidences of the best 19th-century novel. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ford Madox Ford on Literary Criticism

(From Linda)

“Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.”

The Writer, Sheila Schwartz

Here is a link to a tribute Dan Chaon wrote to his late wife, Sheila Schwartz.

Meeting Wrap-Up, March 5, 2011

This afternoon, the Readers Roundtable met in the Trustees room at the San Leandro Main Library. Geri having unexpectedly called out of town, Peggy very ably facilitated the discussion. The book for this month was Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon (per Peggy, pronounced "Shawn" not "Chay-on" or "Chah-on"). The book comprises 3, seemingly disparate but related stories: A young man being rushed to the hospital by his father, a young woman leaving town with her high school science teacher immediate after graduation, and a man approaching middle age putting his life on hold and rushing to the edge of the Arctic Circle to answer a frantic SOS from his twin brother whom he hasn't seen in 10 years. Much of the discussion centered around the structure of the book, the switching back and forth between the 3 stories. I thought that the switching back and forth was very effective and helped to draw me into the story and made it very difficult to put down the book. Several others present, though, felt that the switching around was manipulative and annoying and felt that the payoff wasn't worth all the suspense built by the book's structure.

Other major topics of discussion were the theme of shifting identities and the theme of internet swindles and stolen identities. Many also felt that no individual character was particularly well drawn or sympathetic, so it was hard to care about the book's eventual payoff. Some the book because it was dark and not all sweetness and light, and others disliked it because it was dark, and there is already enough darkness in real life. Of those present and voting, 3 liked the book, 4 disliked the book, and 3 were indifferent.

When I got home, I realized that we hadn't talked about the father of the twins and his influence on their personalities and the directions their lives took. I actually found him one of the more interesting characters in the book, although we only really know him through the memory of his son. Did anyone else like Mr. Cheshire? What about the name "Cheshire," like the cat who disappeared all but his smile? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Book Report

Wizard of the Crow, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, 2006, Pantheon Books, 768 pages, available at the San Leandro Library.

I didn’t know how long this book was when I proposed it as a book group selection. It probably never would have worked out. On the other hand, I was able to read it in two weeks, so I know it is doable. The book takes place in a fictitious African country, the Free Republic of Aburĩria. The second Ruler of Aburĩria has just announced the launch of a grandiose new project, “Marching to Heaven,” to begin just as soon as he can get funding from the “Global Bank.” Kamĩtĩ, a poor but highly educated job seeker, meets Nyawĩra, a privileged and highly educated political activist, in the office where she works as the administrative assistant of the man chosen to head up “Marching to Heaven.” From there, events snowball to transform Kamĩtĩ and Nyawĩra together into the Wizard of the Crow, a wizard and healer, and just in time too. Right after the appearance of the Wizard of the Crow, as it turns out that the Ruler himself is in need of some magical help.

This book has all the things I like in a book, rebellion, adventure, political intrigue, magic, and satire. I particularly enjoyed the dynamics between the Ruler and his ministers, how he plays them off against each other, and the lengths to which they are willing to go to abase and mutilate themselves to win the approval of the Ruler and gain advantage over each other. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, the author, was imprisoned and then banished from Kenya, his native country, due to the political content of his writing, and it is easy to see how he offended the mighty. You can read more about his life and his writings at his website. As harsh as he is in his portrayal of the mighty, the author is sympathetic and affectionate toward the ordinary people caught up by the regime’s cruelty and greed, especially one character who turns out to be (in my opinion) the hero of the book.

Like I say, there are magical happenings in the book, and I know that will steer many people away from the book. A lot of people do not like “magical realism,” and who am I to argue with them? In defense of the magic in this book, it seemed to me like it was aided and abetted significantly by people’s need to believe in magic. The powerless believe in magic because it is the only hope they have, and the powerful believe in magic because they believe they deserve it.

Interesting—Litigation Over “The Help”

(From Linda)

Stockett gets sued by Ablene Cooper, whose story features in The Help, but it isn't as simple as it seems.

Link from article in Salon.