Too much Britishness?

So, perhaps I should stop reading British books for a while. They are starting to annoy me.

I read Ian McEwan's Atonement, because I found it for $1 and another of his books (My Sweet Tooth) is on our book club list this year.  Someone has even made a movie of it. I wonder how.

The story is in three parts. The first part was very tedious to read and I kept waiting for some sign of plot or motivation. The second part was much more interesting, and did have some plot, but not much. The last part theoretically resolved the plot points, but then there was an epilogue that cast some resolutions into doubt. I did not like it. I feel that my dollar and my days were wasted.


Then I turned to some much older BritLit: G.B. Shaw's Plays Unpleasant, which consists of three plays and two long, long introductions (one of them is 30 pages long!).

I admire Shaw, but he can be tedious, too. I plowed my way through most of the Preface and the first play, Widowers' Houses, went along well, although the characters' names kept confusing me, the social conventions he was mocking are now obscure, and Shaw's special simplified spelling often attracted my editorial eye--not in a good way.
The second play, The Philanderer, had a one-page introduction (Prefatory Note) but the play itself was quite unreadable!


The third is the one I expected the most of, as it is the best known of the three, Mrs. Warren's Profession. After skimming the 30-page Preface, I plunged in. Here, only 2 characters had similar names, and there were not too many characters coming and going.
Apparently, it was scandalous when first presented, but time and shifting language have lessened its impact. And while the characters apparently believe they are being very clear about what Mrs. Warren's profession is (she's a high-class madam), really, Shaw does more suggesting than naming. For all the unsuspecting audience can deduce, she manages some international hotels!

 Really, I need to find something more entertaining and accessible!

A word-nerd's delight

I found this one in an eclectic bookstore in Stratford, Ont., near the Avon Theatre.  It is not a book to read straight though! 
It's best dipped into and digested in small doses.
Using the alphabet as a jumping-off point, the authors cover many, many aspects of Roman, pre-Roman and modern society, presented with a humorous twist. I learned a lot of interesting but nearly-useless facts and I had a good time doing so.

I include the store's bookmark for any book lovers passing through Stratford. 
I recommend it.

Treasure in a plain brown cover

This hardcover, plain brown with no fancy dust cover, turned out to be fascinating.
I've read some of Janice Kulyk Keefer's short stories and perhaps novels, and I know she has a reputation for good writing. The title, Thieves, gives no indication of what it might be about.
In fact, it is about the life--or biography--of Katherine Mansfield, novelist (of whom I was only distantly aware) and about the scholars who want to know more about her. There is a theft or two, and some kind of mystery, but the mystery is vague and the thefts minor.

What is wonderful about this book is the writing. The descriptions of landscape and emotions immerse the reader very directly. At least 80% of the book charmed me utterly, although towards the end, I was caught myself thinking, "so just die already", because we know she did, and her death is not a mystery.

This book cost me nothing, and gave me lots of food for thought. I think our book club should put it on the list.

Two more from the Science Fiction Bin

The first was a "classic" SF tale from 1979.  Philip José Farmer has written a lot of very popular SF, and I've read some of it.
Part space opera, part picaresque adventure and quest, lots of strange beasts and weird names and languages.The story went along pretty well, but the descriptions of the peculiar characters were too hard to follow, swallow and imagine. The green leafy centaur (half-plant) in the cover picture is rather like the description. The sentient rock, an alien, was too much for me. The human characters in the picture are too muscly for 15-year olds, but SF cover art has never been realistic.

I thought the story lacked internal logic in parts. I didn't like it much, really, but it was free and occupied a few hours.








The second was much better. Also free, but worth at least a few dollars. I've always been fond of "Year's Best" collections. Short stories suit my summer attention span, and there are so many different styles and ideas. This was the 2006 crop of stories, published in 2007, so really pretty recent. Some were better than others, but all were very good and thoughtfully entertaining.

Old (1973) Montréal

A little Québécois Canadiana: Marie-Claire Blais's Un Joualonais, sa Joualonie translated (byRalph Manheim) as St. Lawrence Blues.
I had never heard of this novel before, and, despite the long, learned, serious preface by Margaret Atwood, I don't think it made the top of anyone's lists. Apparently it is a satire--but in parts it could be a faithful contemporary portrait--of the poor and marginalized in Montréal in the era of revolution. The 1970s seem like such a long time ago!
I think the translation was adequate, but I'm not sure it was worth the bother.
 Interesting factoid: Mari-Claire Blais mostly lives in Key West.

A chilling mystery for a summer day

Giles Blunt-- how British! Well, not exactly. He was raised by Very British parents in North Bay, Ontario, and now lives in New York. He has changed the name of North Bay, but otherwise not changed much about a small city in our near north. The winter weather is a huge factor in the story, and nearly a character itself.
 Forty words for sorrow is structured as a typical police procedural murder mystery; it is a well-written one. This is the first of six novels with the same setting and characters, and I'm looking forward to reading more of them. Blunt's experience as a film and TV writer is evident in his descriptions of scenes. In fact, this mystery series is likely to become a TV series, with Blunt as one of the writers.