January 2010

Reading List

The Shadow of the Wind :: Carlos Ruiz Zafon (2.5 stars)
A Good Man is Hard to Find & Other Stories :: Flannery O'Connor (4 stars)
The Road :: Cormac McCarthy (4 stars)
The Mysterious Benedict Society :: Trenton Lee Stewart (3 stars)
I Capture the Castle :: Dodie Smith (5 stars) [anything goes book club selection, TG]
The Polysyllabic Spree :: Nick Hornby (4 stars) [essays, 1/6]

Best - I Capture the Castle :: Dodie Smith

Worst - The Shadow of the Wind :: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

As a whole, January was an auspicious start to a promising year of reading. Within the month, though, not so much. After dragging my feet for awhile, I finally finished Carlos Ruiz Zafon's popular novel, The Shadow of the Wind, right after New Year. At its core, it's a mystery about a book-loving boy trying to uncover the truth about what happened to a long-missing, little-known, genius writer. But unlike more successful mysteries, the unraveling doesn't come from clever plotting, but - unsatisfyingly - through Zafon's over-the-top exposition. In general, I had a lot of trouble with the author's prose style (so flowery at times my eyes got tired from rolling). I wondered how much of the 'color' I disliked was a matter of inferior translation. I was happy to hear from a Spanish-reading friend (you know who you are) that it was NOT more effective in its native form. Phew. I hate feeling like I'm missing out just because I'm monolingual.

Anyway, all this said I can sort of see why so many people like the book: it's richly drawn, moderately intriguing, etc etc. But the telling lacks subtlety and refinement and, to me, made the book ultimately put-down-able. Not a total waste, but far from a gem: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

The best read of the month was the latest book club choice, Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle. The eccentric Mortmain family are tried by the issues that plague many a period-novel family: sororal rivalry, near financial ruin, unrequited love, adolescence, etc. But, what sets this novel aside is the refreshing and charming voice of Cassandra Mortmain, who records a year or so of her family's story in journal form. For aspiring writer Cassandra, her diary is both a repository for her thoughts AND a writing exercise. It is a pure joy to read as Cassandra balances innocence and curiosity, precociousness and self-awareness. While the novel's plot is engaging and interesting in and of itself, the true victory of the novel is in Cassandra's evolution as both a writer and a young woman, demonstrated so brilliantly through her charming voice. Sweet, earnest, bright: 5 out of 5 stars. Loved.

Despite my boycott, I found a $4 copy of Cormac McCarthy's The Road this month and figured, why not? It only took a couple of hours to read and I always love to read a book that has been adapted into film. Especially films with Vigo Mortensen. Roarrrr. While I enjoyed both the film and book a lot, it definitely left me feeling all bleaky inside. I'll give the book 4 stars, but I'm a little shy to recommend it. It was so sad it made my body hurt. For some reason, I thought seeing the movie immediately would help even me out. Obviously, it just made me sadder.

What I can unequivocally recommend is A Good Man is Hard to Find & Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor. Prior to this collection, I had never read any O'Connor. Didn't even know she was a woman. The stories are darkly beautiful and precisely written and usually about, you know, damaged people in difficult situations. I know that's what all short stories are about, usually, but it's so rare to see them executed so well. If there are more like this, I'd like to read them all, please.