So at this rate, I'll finish these 100 books some time in 2014. This is not quite the pace I was hoping for, but there have been... uh... mitigating circumstances. I finished reading this book several weeks ago, so my memory is starting to haze over some of the details, but I still got the gist of it. Anyway.
All the King's Men is a miserable book about miserable characters living out their miserable lives while attempting to make each others' lives more miserable. I loved it. Jack Burden is, in my opinion, a character with a depth you don't see very often. His motivations, his habits and history that are alluded to but never outright addressed, his thinly veiled arrogance and sharp tongue, his casual mid-conversation change in dialect from good ole southern boy to highly educated Guy You Should Take Seriously, his incredibly unlikely relationship with Willie Stark (who, with the possible exception of Tom Stark, I found to be the least interesting character in the whole story - hell, I was more interested in Sugar Boy)... All this adds to the fact that he's just a miserable, self-loathing bastard. I love books about miserable, self-loathing bastards.
I think the thing that stood out most to me about this book was the very real sense of closure I got upon finishing it. It's rare that I'll be completely happy with any endings. There's always another adventure, or some unresolved tension between characters, something that makes me think this story is not yet over. Not so with this one. The stories of these characters (for the most part) end within this book, or are at least, well, sort of directed. We may not know the specifics, but we know the strengths and weaknesses of the characters well enough to know where they're going. I was stunned with Adam Stanton. The progression of his character just floored me. If the story had focused more on him, it probably would have been easier to see what he was going to do, but the way it was presented, in the end, I was quite shocked.
The one thing that frustrated me about All the King's Men was the section in the middle where Burden is explaining the papers that he was organizing and cataloging for (iirc) his doctorate. While it was an interesting narrative in its own right, and did serve a purpose in explaining Jack's inner workings and the things he hides in, as well as the fact that you could draw parallels between the story in the papers and the story of Burden's own parents, it was very lengthy and felt too out of place in what was otherwise a very tidy and tightly put together story.
In my opinion.
Hey, it was good and I enjoyed it. :thumbsup:
I am skipping ahead to read Watchmen next because I will be seeing the movie in a few days and I'd like to read the original first so I can bitch about how bad the movie is after the fact.
March 8, 2009
February 10, 2009
Ground Rules
Since I will be chronicling my reading here over the next couple of years, I think it's necessary for me to mention a couple of things.
First, there are several books on the list that I have already read. Whether or not I read them again is dependent on how long it's been since I read them, how well I remember them, and whether or not I enjoyed them the first time around. I'm really just gonna play it by ear, so bear with me. I'm not sure I can justify reading Lord of the Rings yet again, as I pretty much have the damn thing memorized. I read Snow Crash fairly recently (and was actually very pleasantly surprised to see it on the list; I think Neal Stephenson is super), but since I'm doing these (mostly) alphabetically and it'll probably be a good long while before I get to it, it might be worth it to read through it again at that point in time.
Second, if I severely dislike what I am reading, I will put it aside and forget it ever existed. I've tried to read Dostoevsky's Notes From the Underground five or six times now, and about twenty pages in, I get so irrationally depressed that I momentarily consider burning my book collection and gouging my eyes out with the tab from an aluminum beverage can. I will never finish that book. This may happen with one or more of the books on this list.
Third, I will copy sections of text as examples of things I like or dislike from these books, and while I will fully acknowledge the authors, I will copy as much as I damn well please unless a publisher contacts me to shut me down.
Fourth, I will do my best not to read any reviews or allow anybody else's opinion to color my own about the books. I want to read these things with as fresh and objective a perspective as I can. Feel free to tell me I will like or dislike some book on the list before I get to it. Try not to tell me why.
Finally, just to clarify, this will not be a purely literary blog. I will post about whatever is on my mind. I will not, however, regardless of my opinion or the importance of the situation, ever, ever, ever post about politics. Ever.
Alright. First impressions.
I picked up All the King's Men last night, because the bookstore I went to didn't have Augie March. Half a hundred pages in, I'm really enjoying the narrative style, but am constantly finding myself a little shocked by, well, the racial norms of the time. I fear that this is something that will come up again and again for me when I read things from 70 or 80 years ago, and in truth I know I really should not be as surprised as I am by it, but it's still strange to me to see the utter differences in race relations between then and now. I mean, the book won the Pulitzer in 1947, and tells a story set in the 20's and 30's, and I am well aware of how minorities were treated back then, but it's still mildly shocking when I'm actually confronted with it.
Even for that, however, I'm quite enjoying what I've read so far. Warren has a very vivid way of describing scenes, images, and emotions.
I mean,
"For this is the country where the age of the internal combustion engine has come into its own. Where every boy is Barney Oldfield, and the girls wear organdy and batiste and eyelet embroidery and no panties on account of the climate and have smooth little faces to break your heart and when the wind of the car's speed lifts up their hair at the temples you see the little sweat beads of perspiration nestling there, and they sit low in the seat with their little spines crooked and their bent knees high toward the dashboard and not too close together for the cool, if you could call it that, from the hood ventilator. Where the smell of gasoline and burning brake bands and red-eye is sweeter than myrrh. Where the eight-cylinder jobs come roaring around the curves in the red hills and scatter the gravel like spray, and when they ever get down in the flat country and hit the new slab, God have mercy on the mariner."
Just to describe the feel, the atmosphere of driving down this stretch of country highway. I like this book so far. Let's see where the character of Willie Stark goes.
First, there are several books on the list that I have already read. Whether or not I read them again is dependent on how long it's been since I read them, how well I remember them, and whether or not I enjoyed them the first time around. I'm really just gonna play it by ear, so bear with me. I'm not sure I can justify reading Lord of the Rings yet again, as I pretty much have the damn thing memorized. I read Snow Crash fairly recently (and was actually very pleasantly surprised to see it on the list; I think Neal Stephenson is super), but since I'm doing these (mostly) alphabetically and it'll probably be a good long while before I get to it, it might be worth it to read through it again at that point in time.
Second, if I severely dislike what I am reading, I will put it aside and forget it ever existed. I've tried to read Dostoevsky's Notes From the Underground five or six times now, and about twenty pages in, I get so irrationally depressed that I momentarily consider burning my book collection and gouging my eyes out with the tab from an aluminum beverage can. I will never finish that book. This may happen with one or more of the books on this list.
Third, I will copy sections of text as examples of things I like or dislike from these books, and while I will fully acknowledge the authors, I will copy as much as I damn well please unless a publisher contacts me to shut me down.
Fourth, I will do my best not to read any reviews or allow anybody else's opinion to color my own about the books. I want to read these things with as fresh and objective a perspective as I can. Feel free to tell me I will like or dislike some book on the list before I get to it. Try not to tell me why.
Finally, just to clarify, this will not be a purely literary blog. I will post about whatever is on my mind. I will not, however, regardless of my opinion or the importance of the situation, ever, ever, ever post about politics. Ever.
Alright. First impressions.
I picked up All the King's Men last night, because the bookstore I went to didn't have Augie March. Half a hundred pages in, I'm really enjoying the narrative style, but am constantly finding myself a little shocked by, well, the racial norms of the time. I fear that this is something that will come up again and again for me when I read things from 70 or 80 years ago, and in truth I know I really should not be as surprised as I am by it, but it's still strange to me to see the utter differences in race relations between then and now. I mean, the book won the Pulitzer in 1947, and tells a story set in the 20's and 30's, and I am well aware of how minorities were treated back then, but it's still mildly shocking when I'm actually confronted with it.
Even for that, however, I'm quite enjoying what I've read so far. Warren has a very vivid way of describing scenes, images, and emotions.
I mean,
"For this is the country where the age of the internal combustion engine has come into its own. Where every boy is Barney Oldfield, and the girls wear organdy and batiste and eyelet embroidery and no panties on account of the climate and have smooth little faces to break your heart and when the wind of the car's speed lifts up their hair at the temples you see the little sweat beads of perspiration nestling there, and they sit low in the seat with their little spines crooked and their bent knees high toward the dashboard and not too close together for the cool, if you could call it that, from the hood ventilator. Where the smell of gasoline and burning brake bands and red-eye is sweeter than myrrh. Where the eight-cylinder jobs come roaring around the curves in the red hills and scatter the gravel like spray, and when they ever get down in the flat country and hit the new slab, God have mercy on the mariner."
Just to describe the feel, the atmosphere of driving down this stretch of country highway. I like this book so far. Let's see where the character of Willie Stark goes.
February 9, 2009
A Sort of Journey
I like to read. A lot. I regularly get my ass chewed out at work for taking too long on break because I just have to finish this stupid chapter/page/novella before I go pick up more heavy things. Still, for all I consume, it has been very pointedly brought to my attention that I haven't read many of what most people consider to be "the classics." Most of the greatest novels of all time, the most important, culturally significant, best written, most compelling, most shocking books have never found their way onto my bookshelf. While I don't personally give much of a shit, as I read what I enjoy, I feel I owe it to the myriad of authors who have entertained, frightened, provoked, or sometimes even angered me to broaden my horizons.
Yeah, alright, I'll read some of the shit.
Now, the big question is, who has the definitive list of books I need to read? Shall I use Time Magazine's list of the 100 Greatest English Language Novels 1923-present? One of Random House's Modern Library lists? Should I try to make a run on the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die? (Hey, they also have movies and albums and paintings. Neat).
Ah, decisions. I think I'll arbitrarily choose Time's list, because it's the first one I found.
Starting at the top of the list. I hope to update and share my thoughts on each novel, if anyone can be bothered to ever pay attention to anything I have to say. Off to buy Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March and Warren's All the King's Men!
Yeah, alright, I'll read some of the shit.
Now, the big question is, who has the definitive list of books I need to read? Shall I use Time Magazine's list of the 100 Greatest English Language Novels 1923-present? One of Random House's Modern Library lists? Should I try to make a run on the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die? (Hey, they also have movies and albums and paintings. Neat).
Ah, decisions. I think I'll arbitrarily choose Time's list, because it's the first one I found.
Starting at the top of the list. I hope to update and share my thoughts on each novel, if anyone can be bothered to ever pay attention to anything I have to say. Off to buy Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March and Warren's All the King's Men!
February 1, 2009
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