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Saturdays @ the South: Celebrating 400+ Years of Shakespeare!

“There was a star danced, and under that was I born” -Much Ado About Nothing

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MIT has a great resource of all of his plays collected electronically. Click the image to find them.

Happy Birthday, Bard!

I’m a Shakespeare nerd. This is less a bibliophile confession and more a statement that anyone who has known me for more than a day can pretty much figure out for themselves. My desk has had a perpetual Shakespeare-Quote-a-Day calendar on it since my mom gave it to me in high-school and it has been on every desk I’ve ever had since IMG_0973(here it is, now home at the South Branch and turned to a favorite quote).  An acquaintance in college professed her love for Shakespeare telling me she had a collection of *all* his sonnets. I countered by telling her I have four different editions of Shakespeare’s complete works (don’t judge me: they use different folio editions for their source material; there are different footnotes; some have illustrations!, i.e. they’re all different and, therefore, each is completely necessary.) Essentially I have lived my life believing that one can ever have too much Shakespeare.

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Shakespeare in Love with Shakespeare brilliantly played by Joseph Fiennes *sigh*

So I’ve been delighted that the quadricentennial of Shakespeare’s death is being celebrated in myriad ways and will continue to be celebrated pretty much throughout the year. I have had no dearth of Shakespeare articles to fuel my unending quest for more Shakespeare knowledge, lists are surfacing with extensive options for modern retellings of Shakespeare’s plays, and Goodreads declared this past week “Shakespeare Week” with some very cool bonus features of “deleted scenes” from Shakespeare plays imagined by authors who have reimagined Shakespeare in their own ways.

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I also recognize that not everyone is on quite the same level as I am in terms of Shakespeare fondness (obsession/mania… I’ve heard it both ways). So here are a couple of fascinating and delightfully quirky Shakespeare-related articles, not written in iambic pentameter, that have surfaced over the past few weeks:

  • In which a “new” first folio is discovered in the fairy-tale-sounding Isle of Bute in Scotland.
  • In which copies of the first folio take a rock-star tour of all 50 states.
  • “…and cursed be he that moves my bones…” In which Shakespeare “loses” his head…
  • In which NPR celebrates Shakespeare Week by relating him to his food culture.
  • In which London rearranges their Tube map to represent Shakespeare characters as subway stops.

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Part of the fascination for Shakespeare with me is that, despite his fame, we know so little about the details of his life.  Fortunately, there are wonderful books out there that try to suss out those scant, mystifying details with some historical sleuthing. A few of my favorites include:

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Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt

Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson

Shakespeare by Michael Wood

These books manage to illuminate different parts of Shakespeare’s life while further understanding the time in which he lived. They work to reconstruct Renaissance London and Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. They rely less on the text of the plays, avoiding the trappings of assuming that an author has no imagination and couldn’t possibly write about things which he hasn’t himself experienced, and focus more on historical records, comparable situations and analysis of the London theatre scene in engaging narrative-styles.

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If this blog post has whet your whistle for things Shakespeare, but you’re not quite up for reading the plays themselves, here are some Shakespeare-inspired reimaginings that are particular favorites of mine or ones that I’m absolutely dying to read:

2667645Fool by Christopher Moore

This book was, in a word, hysterical. Moore did his research into Shakespeare’s works, and then proceeded to throw it out the window in the best possible way, to create the character of Pocket, a tiny, spry and nimble fool in the court of King Lear and detail his daring misadventures. Loosely based King Lear, using characters from the play, but illustrating them in modern and sometimes subversive ways, this witty, sarcastic (and -fair warning- somewhat raunchy) tale kept me laughing raucously. I listened to the audiobook and got some very strange looks while I was driving because I was laughing so hard – which automatically places a book high in my esteem. It also has a nearly-as-good sequel featuring many of the same outlandish characters, but two additional Shakespeare-based premises: The Serpent of Venice.

3643266The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson

This is the first in a series published by Hogarth who contacted authors and told them to pick whichever Shakespeare play they wanted and re-imagine it into a novel. Winterson picked Shakespeare’s weirdest play with the famous stage direction: “Exit, pursued by a bear” and explained her reasoning to the New York Times in this fascinating article. I loved  A Winter’s Tale as it’s the closest of Shakespeare’s plays that reads similarly to genre fiction and can’t wait to read this adaptation. Other authors that have signed up for this project include: Jo Nesbo, Gillian Flynn, Margaret Atwood and Tracy Chevalier and several of these books are being released this year and next. (Hooray!)

2986586The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

This New York Times bestseller follows the Andreas sisters, whose father is a Shakespeare professor and named the girls after the Weird Sisters (often called the three witches) of Macbeth fame. Books are a family passion (with a motto like “there is no problem a library card can’t solve,” I’m already predisposed to like them immensely) but they don’t always help the family, particularly the sisters, communicate with each other. This is a particular patron favorite here at the South Branch and comes highly recommended from several of our regulars!

1653696The Late Mr. Shakespeare by Robert Nye

Goodreads’s description for this book includes the adjectives: “rich, strange, and wonderful.” Sign me up! This book is told from the perspective of Pickleherring, a now aging (and fictional) actor in Shakespeare’s original troupe and claiming he originated most of the female roles in Shakespeare’s plays. He recounts the raucous and bawdy times he spent in the troupe and with Mr. Shakespeare using far-fetched sources and myths and rumors to create this recreation of Shakespeare’s (possible) life.

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I hope this week you have been able to enjoy something pertaining to Shakespeare Week. You’ve still got a whole day left to do/read/listen to something Shakespeare-related (including this blog post, so mission accomplished!) If you’d like to tackle one of his original plays, Goodreads has a fantastic infographic (you know how I love those!) helping you determine “What Shakespeare play should I read next?” Till next week, dear readers: “To thine own self be true…”

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Saturdays @ the South: A Bibliophile Confession on Book Anxiety

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Spoiler alert!!

SpoilerAlert

I pre-read the endings of books.

Yup, that’s right, with many of the books I read, I flip to the back of the book to get a sense of the ending, often before I’ve finished the first 50 pages. Sometimes it’s the last chapter, sometimes only the last page or two, but book endings get read out of turn fairly often with me. While there are many of you who I’m sure are gasping in horror right now, I find this practice to be comforting, sound and in no way affects my enjoyment of the book overall. In fact, I find that it enhances my enjoyment of the book. For those of you who haven’t closed your browsers in disgust by now, allow me to explain.

If this is you, I understand. Stay with me on this one...
If this is your reaction right now, I understand. Stay with me on this one… (NBC/Universal. Friends)

I get book anxiety. I consider the characters in many of the books I read to be as real to me as the wonderful patrons that visit the South Branch. Book characters may not be flesh-and-blood, but they invade my heart and mind nonetheless and I feel engaged and empathetic towards these author creations. This makes for a wonderfully enriching reading experience, but it has a downside. When I start getting attached to a character, I start to worry for them as they enter into trials, tribulations or (often in my case) dangerous magical encounters. Because I’ve grown attached to them, I feel like I need at least some sense of assurance that they can come out of the situation OK (or if they don’t give myself time to prepare and/or grieve). For those who read to find out the ending, this may sound like utter blasphemy. But for someone who enjoys reading classics in which the endings are generally known in advance, having a sense of the ending of a story doesn’t preclude my enjoyment of it.

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Most people don’t read Romeo and Juliet in high school only to be surprised by the fact that the two lovers die in the end. But it’s still read in schools because Shakespeare’s language, plot structure and other elements of the play still hold up despite knowing the ending. The same goes for re-reading a favorite book. Knowing the ending allows the mind to free up and notice elements of the book that may not have been noticed before because of preoccupation with the plot. The same ideas apply to me, even just reading a book once. Knowing the ending frees up my mind to enjoy the plot’s movement forward and possibly notice other elements in the book that I might have missed because I was so stressed about this character making it or missing clues in a mystery because I’m too busy trying to figure out who the killer is. While it may not work for everyone, in the end, I end up appreciating the author’s work more once my anxiety has been eased somewhat. For me, the joy’s in the ride, not necessarily the destination.

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For the longest time, I thought I was the only one who disrupted the “natural” order of books. I encounter so many people who are protective against hearing spoilers and would never even conceive of looking at the last pages of a book prior to reading all that had come before. But then I had one of many wonderful bookish conversations with our blogger-in-residence Arabella and discovered that, no, I’m not the only one who does this. There are others who have book anxiety and simply need to know that a particular character makes it through until the end, or an animal comes through unscathed (a phenomenon so common, in fact, that there is an entire website devoted to knowing whether or not an animal dies in the movies) or even just to clarify a point that was suggested at the beginning and isn’t making sense partway through the book. So if you’re like me (and Arabella) and you sometimes just need to know that a character is OK, here are some (spoiler-free) suggestions where I’ve definitely taken a peek at the end.

3717690Death Descends on Saturn Villa by M. R. C. Kasasian

This is the 3rd installment in Kasasian’s Gower St. Detective series and I’ve enjoyed them all. Kasasian has created a delightful tongue-in-cheek Sherlockian-type London with a strong but flawed heroine (my favorite kind!) and a curmudgeonly misanthropic but brilliant anti-hero. The effect is engaging, entertaining and occasionally hilarious. However, this book had an introduction that completely threw me for a loop, compelling me to double-check the ending. My fears allayed, I ended up enjoying this book a fair amount because Kasasian changed the format a bit from the previous two books, keeping the series from getting stale.

3595130A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Despite the fact that when I read this book I knew full well that a sequel was coming out (it came out in March- woo hoo!), I still needed to flip to the end of this book to see how the characters fared. This book is well-structured with peaks and valleys of action and excitement while still creating characters with depth. Oh, and Deliliah Bard is another of those amazing female characters.

3540369Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

When the Lynburn family returns to the small English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, the sleepy state of the town gets wildly disrupted with magic and Kami Glass finds out that her “imaginary friend” is actually a flesh-and-blood person. This is one of those books that, even after I peeked at the ending, I still couldn’t believe it and despite knowing it, the reasoning behind it took me by surprise.

3639955The Clasp by Sloane Crosley

Crosley’s biting wit, usually demonstrated in essay form, is used this time in a novel that’s a modern take on Guy de Maupassant’s short story “The Necklace.” While I didn’t find the characters so well drawn and empathetic as to be nail biting as many of the other books I read, the action in the novel came together so quickly, I almost didn’t have time to flip to the end, but I still felt I needed to get a sense of the ending in order to appreciate the characters and the plot more.

As we have said before in different ways, all readers have the utmost right to read whatever they choose. But this not only applies to reading material, but also to the way a reader chooses to read books. Whether you like to take a sampling from the beginning, middle and end of a book so you know what you’re getting into, or you just like to flip to a few pages to ease your mind or if you hold the ending of a book as sacrosanct, never to be arrived upon until its appointed time, you have the right to read however you choose. I will always respect a reader’s right to be surprised just as much as I respect the right of the reader to take a sneak peek. Till next week, dear readers, I’m off to spoil another ending for myself…

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Saturdays @ the South: Wanderlust – Paris

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Today is the first Saturday in April, the month I most associate with Paris. I’m sure it’s at least partly because the Cole Porter song “I love Paris in the springtime” has wended its way into our culture, it’s but also because my vacation in Paris several years ago took place during April. There were daffodils and tulips in bloom (ironically, many more so than when I went to Amsterdam several springs later), trees were starting to bud in that pale green we associate with the earliest moments of spring and somehow the city was decked out in primrose with a concerted effort usually put into action in Disney parks.

I’ve written about my love of Paris before on the blog and those who know me well (and even some who only know me a little), are well acquainted with my fondness for the city. What often surprises DSC01268most people is that I’ve physically visited Paris just once.  This isn’t to say that I won’t find my way back there, hopefully many times over the course of my life, but my admiration has stemmed from more than just my limited in-person experience. In a way, I feel like I’ve been to Paris dozens of times, mostly through books.

I’m addicted to travel memoirs; I find that few other reads can take me away quite like living vicariously through someone else’s experiences, wherever they may be. Naturally, I’ve read several books in this vein about Paris that make me feel like I’ve traveled DSC02088there myself. The best thing about books like these is that they can make you feel like you’ve transcended both time and space. Reading
Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Co., took me not only to Paris, but to the 1920s as well. I spent Christmas with a family in Paris by reading A Paris Christmas: Immoveable Feast by John Baxter. I enjoyed lunch, romance and the desire to uproot and move to Paris in Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard. Emile Zola took me into the Belly of Paris in the late 1800s and Clotilde Dusoulier brought me into the modern belly of Paris in Chocolate and Zucchini.

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My appetite for Paris never seems to diminish and fortunately, neither have people’s appetite for writing about this city. My Goodreads list is filled with books about Paris that I haven’t read yet, but I’m looking to change that. This month, I’m planning on making a dent in that list and make April my month of Parisian reading. In case you’d like to read along with me, here are a few books that I’m hoping to enjoy in the coming weeks:

3636798Five Nights in Paris: After Dark in the City of Light by John Baxter 

Native Australian John Baxter has lived in Paris with his French wife since 1989 and has written several books on the topic. I mentioned his Immoveable Feast above which was delightful and while I’m not immediately jumping into his more popular work The Most Beautiful Walk in the World, I still expect to enjoy this as Baxter wanders through five iconic Parisian neighborhoods during a time when most tourists are asleep. Books like this are always intriguing to me because they seem to invoke the sense of everyday life, not the romance of a whirlwind vacation, while still managing  to find beauty and excitement.

2681069Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris by Clotilde Dusoulier

Blogger Dusoulier has written several books about Parisian food and the discoveries she’s found. A native Frenchwoman, she knows her way around the Paris markets and, fortunately for us, is happy to share what she’s learned in her local travels. Her books are complete with recipes so that readers can create their own little part of Paris in their kitchens.

3594945The Little Paris Bookshop by Nine George

How can I possibly resist a book that puts books and Paris (two of my favorite things!) together? Monsieur Perdu appears to have an innate sense of bibliotherapy, as he prescribes books for visitors to his floating Seine bookstore with a sense of exactly what they need at that moment. This is a fiction book, but I firmly believe that fiction can be every bit as transportive as non-ficiton, and this book seems to have a solid sense of what makes Paris, Paris.

2341301The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism by Ross King

I’m a bit obsessed with Impressionism and the paintings that were the result of that movement and I took great pleasure in visiting as  many museums that had great Impressionism collections as possible. This book puts that movement into historical perspective as King discusses the upheaval that was taking place in Paris during the decade when Impressionism was beginning to gain ground as a movement. Using the Salon des Refuses in 1863, the scandalous exhibition of the Paris Salon “rejects” and the first Impressionist showing in 1974 as benchmarks to explore the time when Paris was the center of the world for art and revolution.

Till next week, dear readers, whether it’s Paris or some other wonderful, fascinating destination, I wish you wonderful bookish travels, be the in person or on the page!

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Saturdays @ the South: A Bibliophile Confession Gets Graphic

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Last week, I waxed about on and took a walk down memory lane over Susie Derkins because she was the first female character I encountered in my young reading life that was complex and relatable. In reflecting over last week’s post, I also thought it was significant that some of the most memorable of my early reading experiences, the ones that shaped my views of what reading could be were brought to me through a medium that many don’t even consider “real” reading. I learned valuable lessons about reading through a comic strip, a medium that is more pictures than words. Yet somehow, those experiences with comics still left an indelible mark on me and my future reading life (not to mention a lifelong soft-spot for stuffed tigers).

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Yup, this pretty much sums up my childhood Sunday mornings. Thank you, Bill Watterson!

I feel like this would be the perfect time to perch myself up on the soap box and talk about how comics are good for kids, good for readers, just plain good. And they are. There are studies that show kids reading graphic novels and comics are still engaging their minds in the complex thought processes in order to understand the text no less than they do in picture books. Librarians have often pushed for graphic novels in the collections as it has been used a successful method to engage reluctant readers. There are even those who believe that readers who have a difficult time comprehending text can gain confidence by reading graphic novels and comics because the images reinforce what’s happening in the text and aids comprehension. Therefore, this would be a great opportunity to talk about graphic novels and how they are amazing segues for people (both adults and children) who simply don’t always think in linear terms, about how the artwork represents a story in and of itself and can lead to an appreciation of so-called “higher art”. This would be a great time for all that except for one small problem… I have the hardest time reading graphic novels.

What is a graphic novel?
See all those curvy lines? They make my orderly reader-self VERY uncomfortable. Image from Drawing Words and Writing Pictures

For me, it may be that for a long time, I associated graphic novels and comic books with topics that I had no interest in, such as superheroes or galactic battles. So when I was a kid, I went straight for traditional books and never really “learned” to read graphic novels. I’m also very much a linear thinker; I think in terms of cause and effect and in step-by-step processes to reach a goal (no matter how many steps there may be in that process). So as an adult, with linear thought processes and linear reading experiences, I’ve found myself somewhat cut off from the ever-expanding world of graphic novels, despite their now having extensive content that does interest me.

Similar to our blogger-in-residence Arabella (who apparently linked minds with me this week on the topic of graphic novels – seriously this similarity was completely unplanned), I have made some attempts to rectify this in recent months because now I feel like I’m missing out on something. There are just too many graphic novels out there with amazingly cool concepts, characters, themes and stories for a bookworm like myself to remain segregated from this wealth of possible reading material. I’ve started with things similar to what I know and are familiar with, including books that are more like compiled comics, hearkening back to the bound Calvin and Hobbes collections of my youth. This has at least gotten me back into the groove of reading panels and words together. Also, much like my recommendations of easing past metrophobia, I also started with graphic novels designed for kids. Soon I hope to break down the barriers leading into some more content-heavy graphic novels.

If, like me, you’re looking to start somewhere to test the waters of more graphic formats of books, here are some options that might guide you:

3496473Hilda and the Troll by Luke Pearson

This may be intended to be a graphic novel geared towards children, but this book is AMAZING, regardless of your age. Hilda is a little blue-haired girl who encounters magic in her intrepid adventures to explore her world. Pearson has turned Hilda into a series which are all equally amazing. This is a great introduction to graphic novels as it’s straightforward in terms for story, but visually detailed and engaging without getting too disorienting in terms of varying format. And if you get courage from this series, you might want to give Luke Pearson’s adult work Everything We Miss a try, because that looks pretty amazing, too.

3699749Poorly Drawn Lines by Reza Farazmand

This book is decidedly adult, dealing with themes and language that children should not really be entertaining, but it’s also decidedly funny in an absurdly poignant way. If you’re a fan of The Oatmeal, this collection will most likely appeal to you. This is more on the comfort level of those whose forays into comics have been, like me, largely the Sunday funnies. But while most of these comics are episodic, some of them have storylines spanning pages, which means you have to get a bit more involved than the usual 4-panel strip to hit the punchline, so you’re getting a bit more practice in reading in a longer graphic format.

3654366Step Aside Pops by Kate Beaton

Beaton also writes comics, so this is less of a graphic novel and more of a bound collection of comics. However, Beaton’s illustrations (which are wildly detailed and yet still “cartoony” black-and-white sketches) easily have as much detail as some graphic novels, so it’s a good way to ease into detailed illustrations where there’s a lot going on, but in a familiar format. Her comics are often historical or feminist-based but they are all pretty hysterical. Plus, they have the added side-benefit of making you feel smarter for reading it because she takes actual, historical situations as material. So you either feel smarter for having recognized the historical characters, or feel smarter for now having the most basic introduction to talking about that historical situation.

3453223Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Based on the brilliant website of the same name, Brosh’s book is a collection of wildly poignant essays that manage to be laugh-out-loud hysterical while being exceptionally heartfelt. These essays are more text punctuated by absurd images, but there are some graphic novel elements here as well, particularly when it comes to dealing with incredibly deep subject matter in a visual way. Her depiction of clinical depression is easily one of the most spot-on, heart-wrenching, genius depictions of the disease in literature to date. It’s worth picking up this book for that alone, but there’s a lot of great stuff in here and this could easily be someone’s foray out of “comics” and into other more graphically based books.

18594409Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast

I’ve talked about this book before, mostly because it was an incredible reading experience. This was the first “official” graphic novel I read (even though it’s technically a graphic memoir). This takes the graphic format away from the episodic and into an extended narrative told with pictures and words. Chast’s honest and open discussion of the last few years of her parents’ lives is amazing to read and experience. Be prepared to laugh, cry, question and more.

I hope this tentative dip into the world of graphic books is helpful to easing you into the graphic novel format. For me, I feel like it’s built my confidence up enough to tackle something like Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series or Scott Snyder’s Wytches sometime soon. If you’ve had some great (or not-so-great) experiences with graphic novels, we’d love to hear about it in the comments! Until next week, dear readers, I hope you’re able to ease your way into something out of your usual comfort zone.

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Saturdays @ the South: On indelible female characters

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Susie Derkins, dreamed up, illustrated and make amazing by Bill Watterson

Today I’d like to talk about Susie Derkins. Remember her? She was the sometime playmate, sometime arch-nemesis of Calvin from the beloved and brilliant comic strip Calvin and Hobbes created by Bill Watterson. I’ve already expressed some of my deep-seated adoration for Calvin and Hobbes, and there are a lot of reasons why Watterson’s comic resonated so much with me. It was one of my first vividly remembered reading experiences and it was also the first reading experience I had that I could truly share with someone else.

My grandfather, who was quite possibly one of the most voracious readers I’ve ever known, had the BEST sense of humor and would read the Sunday funny pages (along with every single page of the Boston Globe) before he passed them along to me. After I read them, we would talk about our favorite moments in the comic strips and the punchlines we thought were the funniest. Calvin and Hobbes was our mutual favorite and I think those discussions represent the first time I understood that people could have the same reading tastes and actually talk about what they read as something they shared and enjoyed in common. As a result, pretty much every gift-giving holiday I would get my grandfather the latest Calvin and Hobbes book collection which he would promptly read and then pass along to me. It was reading these books that I remember encountering Susie Derkins.

NEVER underestimate a resourceful, aggravated girl; just one of the lessons Susie taught me.
NEVER underestimate a resourceful, aggravated girl; just one of the lessons Susie taught me.

Susie was the first female character I remember being strong, amazing and completely relatable as Susie and I had a lot of the same ambitions (and some of the same flaws). She was smart and not afraid to show it (hence why Calvin usually tried to cheat off of her )susie+derkins and she had plans. I remember specifically the moment I realized that kids could not just dream about education beyond college, but to actually plan for it and work towards it. Calvin had gotten Susie in trouble and they were outside of the principal’s office awaiting their fate. Susie was panicking that this incident was going to go on her permanent record and affect her future when she turns to Calvin and says:

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I’m not exaggerating when I tell you this was a defining moment in my young reading life. Susie was bossy and demanding, but she was so because she didn’t want anyone getting in the way of her plans for being a high-powered Wall Street executive. ch4I was a little girl watching a resourceful, take-no-crap little girl stand up to bullies, get bullied and go through all of those normal childhood ups and downs, but doing so with the understanding that she was going to make something of herself and be more than what those experiences (particularly the downs) added up to. In essence, Watterson created the first strong, complex female character that I related to. For me, Susie Derkins came before and remains above Ramona Quimby, Alice, Nancy Drew or many other female heroines I encountered in childhood.

So in honor of Susie, I’d like to share some other strong female characters that I’ve encountered as an (alleged) grown-up. These women are not always likable (let’s face it, Susie had her moments, too…), but they do represent a (hopefully) burgeoning trend of women being portrayed as complex and working towards taking charge of their lives.

23291596Eustacia Vye – Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy 

Eustacia Vye is not the most likable character in the literary canon. She can be called conniving, manipulative and even whiny. She is, however, a Victorian woman (in a novel written in Victorian times) who is doing what she can to be in charge of her own destiny. In a time when women didn’t really have much of a choice in the matter of their own lives, Eustacia does what she can to secure a future for herself on her own terms. Because she tries to accomplish this under any means necessary, it makes her somewhat less sympathetic but infinitely more complex.

3711443Westie Butler – Revenge and the Wild by Michelle Modesto

This book is a wild ride with a fascinating female character taking the lead. Westie is flawed both emotionally and physically. She has a mechanical arm fashioned by her adopted father after it was cut off by cannibals while her birth family was in a wagon train heading West to California. (Did I mention this is a steampunk western? Just trust me on this one… This is definitely one of those “Fantastical American West” novels.) Since that traumatic incident, Westie has channeled her trauma into productive (though fairly un-ladylike) pastimes. She’s an expert hunter, is talented with weaponry (her father also fashioned her a parasol whose tip is a rifle barrel and whose stem is a sheathed sword), is an accomplished rider and is fueled by revenge. She is also, however, intelligent, crafty and resourceful, able to adopt the mannerisms of a “proper lady” when necessary and is fueled not only by revenge, but by love and loyalty for her adopted family. This book hit all of my buttons and I found, even when Westie was making some impulsively rash mistakes, I still rooted for throughout the entire book.

17912498Lilliet Berne – Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee

This book was twelve years in the making, but I think it might have been worth the wait. Lilliet Berne is a Paris opera sensation in the 1800s having a talent that few are born with and even fewer can cultivate and sustain. She is a falcon soprano. She also has a checkered past that is marked by resourcefulness unlike I’ve seen in any character, man or woman, in literature in a very long time. An orphan who loses everything at a young age, survives solely on her wits to travel across the US and through much of Western Europe, Berne has an intuition into human nature and a sense of self preservation that takes her through decades, identities and situations most people would never have survived. While the theme of fate is woven throughout the novel, Chee doesn’t really portray Berne as “lucky.” She has survived because she is a survivor and wants to see what else the world can hold for her and this, I find, makes not only Lilliet Berne, but also Queen of the Night, remarkable.

Since our wonderful blogger-in-residence Arabella loves recommendations, has eloquently railed against the categorization of “women writers” earlier this week, and reliably follows and reports on the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, I thought it fitting to inquire after some of her recommendations for strong, complex women characters. She didn’t disappoint. Here are her selections:

3209695Libby Day – Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

I really respect the fact that Gillian Flynn creates “unlikeable” female characters, by which I actually mean women who acknowledge their own shortcomings/vices/issues and don’t try to be hide those for anyone, but I really really came to respect Libby.  She hasn’t really moved on from the horrific night when her family was murdered (mentally or physically…she’s, like, 4’10” or something).  But she has no money and no options until a local “murder club” offer to pay her to investigate that night.  Libby is spiteful and nasty and angry and a drinker and a kleptomaniac, but she’s also deeply empathetic, smart, honest, and, eventually, comes to realize all of that.  I was stunned by how much I enjoyed this book, and the fact that I kind of miss Libby now.

2664707Hero Jarvis – Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris

I really love this historical mystery series because it’s so firmly rooted in history, and still so compelling–and because C.S. Harris totally blindsided me with Hero.  I started off thinking that she was a stereotypical, blue-stocking [and] cranky…, but in this book, we begin to see how angry she is at the world and all those who refuse to take her seriously, and how far she’ll go when those people she cares about are put in jeopardy.  I truly never, ever expected her to become the heroine of this series, but I am so glad she did.  She makes the hero an infinitely better guy, and I loved that she continues to prove me wrong all the time.

Thanks so much to Arabella for her input! I’d like to note that these great, complex, interesting women were written by both men and women writers, proving that anyone who cares to can write engaging, believable characters. Till next week, dear readers, I hope you are able to cozy up with or recall a character that you relate to or find fascinating. If you have a favorite female character that you think falls into this category, feel free to mention in it the comments. It will combine two things we love here on the blog: learning about great, new characters and hearing from our patrons!

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Saturdays @ the South: Books on Vacation

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I’m not going anywhere. At least, not in the near future. But one thing I love doing when I’m planning a vacation is deciding what book(s) to bring with me. As a matter of fact, whenever I start to think about where I might take my next vacation (or even just fantasize about less reachable vacations I might take on that ineffable *someday*), I always think about what books would best accompany the journey. Do I want to bring something light and engaging? What will keep me entertained on the plane? Will this book give me weird dreams if I’m reading it before bed in an unfamiliar place? (Yes that’s really something I have to consider.) More often, however, I’ve begun to ask myself what books will enhance the sense of place to wherever I’m going.

2908964I wish I could have read a blog that talks about issues like wanderlust, because in the past because I’ve made a few errors in judgment when it came to bringing books on vacation. Some were because I had little choice in the matter, for example bringing books related to homework when I went on vacation while I was in school (the professor who scheduled his midterm the day after spring break will forever have a black mark on my list…). Others were made because I had just started a book and what better time to finish it then on vacation? This led to the somewhat ill-advised (though incredibly memorable) experience of reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos, the story of an ill-fated cruise ship that crashes and gets stranded, while actually on a cruise. Another less-successful pairing was reading a book about travel mishaps There’s No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled while traveling. I had a lot of laughs reading that book, but I don’t think they were quite as hearty when there was the real possibility of those mishaps actually happening to me.

After these memorable missteps, I started thinking more carefully about what reading material to bring on vacation. With the advent of e-readers and reading apps my choices are no longer as limited as they once were because I’m not limited to physical books. Don’t get me wrong; I love physical books and always make sure at least one “real” book accompanies me when I go away. But I no longer have the oppressive feel of finishing a book too quickly and <horrors!> being stuck without something to read. When it comes to picking that physical book I try to think of something that relates to my destination in some way; something that will make me feel even more immersed in where I am.

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Everyone has their own ideas about traveling with books and my strategies are not necessarily the same ones as others who enjoy taking books on vacation. Josie Leavitt of Publishers Weekly writes of the struggle to choose what to bring on vacation and also of her friend who has the incredibly admirable goal of coordinating  reading material among the people who will be vacationing together. Ernest Shackelton ensured he had plenty of material to read on his voyage to Antarctica and took a surprisingly diverse selection with him (though one might question the wisdom of bringing a set of Encyclopedia Britannica; the set I had growing up was heavy!). There is also the much more serendipitous strategy of letting the book you read on vacation find you. The charmingly intriguing Book Crossing website allows you not only to trade books in set, public locations while you’re away, it lets you track whatever book you leave and see where it ends up. Readers can print out a label for books they intend to trade “leave a penny, take a penny” style and they can check the website to see where any books they’ve picked up have been.

While I love a book that has its own backstory, hence my years of trawling library book sales and used book stores all over New England, I like to bring the books I travel with home again. That way, I can use the book as a reminder of my travels and hopefully attach some fond memories whenever I see it on the shelf or go to read it again. For your perusal, here are some books that hold wonderful travel memories for me and have enhanced my sense of place immensely. If you’re going the same places, maybe they’ll do the same for you!

3706122Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

My worn paperback of this book is actually both Alice’s Adventures and Through the Looking Glass and made a delightful accompaniment to an adult trip to Walt Disney World. I would highly recommend this or any story that Disney has adapted as a way of understanding where the movie/park ideas came from and how they differed in order to appeal to a wider audience. Different takes on fairy tales would also work pretty well here.

1959597Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

This book made a great pairing with a trip to the “low countries,” the Netherlands and Belgium. Maguire’s vivid descriptions of the Netherlands and historical basis for his take on the Cinderella story was transportive, and while it makes a great home-based read, it really enhanced the beauty and culture I found on my trip.

2017925The Falls by Ian Rankin

This book makes modern Edinburgh come to life. You can retrace the steps of Inspector Rebus’s as he hunts down clues across the entire city. This book was recommended to me on a reading list of Edinburgh and I was not disappointed. Rankin has an amazing way of representing his native Edinburgh on the page and writes an engaging, suspenseful mystery while he’s at it.

31PG+Rye8SL._BO1,204,203,200_Shakespeare and Company by Sylvia Beach

Delineates the Parisian art scene as Beach sets up Shakespeare and Company, the English language bookstore and writers’ haven that still has a prominent place in Paris today. Why not Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, you might ask? Because I wanted to purchase my copy of the Parisian memoir at this beloved bookstore. Mission accomplished.

I hope this week’s entry as given you some food for thought on what to take on your next trip somewhere. For more suggestions about books that have a good sense of place, for wherever you’re going, feel free to stop by the library for suggestions! And for all of you die-hards who refuse to read anything but a physical copy of a book, here are some tips for packing books and fitting them into a suitcase for your next vacation. Till next week, dear readers, I hope whatever you’re reading takes you places.

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A(nother) Saturdays @ the South Bibliophile Confession: Unread Books

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Psst…Are you alone? I have a secret to tell you.

Come closer…

Closer… I need to whisper this one.

Are you ready for this? Here goes:

harry-potter-audiobooksI’ve never read Harry Potter. Seriously, any of them. I know, I know. It’s become a beloved classic not just for children, but for adults, too. This is one of those book series that’s merged itself into the fiber of our reading culture. Sure I’ve seen a couple of the movies which has kept me versed on the character names and the basics, but I’ve never so much as cracked the spine of the first book.

Honestly, i’m still not 100% sure how they got by me. My best guess is that when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone first came out, I was too old to reach children’s books, but still young enough not to want the stigma of reading a kid’s book when I clearly has moved on and matured past them. (A stigma I’ve happily shed and encourage others to do so, as I’ve already discussed here on the blog.) Then, when the books completely exploded and started becoming a genuine phenomenon, I was too much of a contrarian to want to ride the bandwagon just because “everyone else was doing it.” Thus, the dear wizard boy has never ended up on my book shelf and somehow continuously gets relegated to the deep end of an ever-expanding “to read” list.

I’m sure this is a sensation that most readers have at one point. You’ve either let slip that you’ve never read something only to hear gasps or be met with stunned silence and weird looks. Or you’ve hidden this secret deep within the recesses of your heart, ashamed that you’ve never quite had the gumption to pick up what “everyone” seems to be talking about. I fall short of lying about never having read the book, but I will not pass judgement on those who have, because this is apparently a very common phenomenon that’s been reported on by the Huffington Post, the Telegraph, The Federalist, (who quotes the delightful poem by Joseph Bottum called “Reading by Osmosis” about this seemingly universal issue) and even the more popular-based BuzzFeed.

'Books of the Century' "Hey they're all in the pile of unread books by the bed!"
‘Books of the Century’ “Hey they’re all in the pile of unread books by the bed!”

These lists are surprisingly similar and focus largely on classics, which tells me that people aren’t necessarily hiding a reading shame, but a shame about not having done schoolwork at some point. There’s an assumption that certain books must have been read in school and surely we must have read them, no? I’ve actually been in some very interesting conversations, however, when people start comparing these school lists. Whether the “classics” have been read or not, it’s very interested to see the differences in curricula across the country and what some schools consider classic vs others. It wasn’t until the London Telegraph published an article at the beginning of this month, that they started taking into account kids’ books and more popular books. This list includes none other than the Harry Potter series (at # 12) and while it’s a survey of UK residents, I think it’s interesting that this more recent survey considered “non-school” reading as well as “classics.”

One day, I will fill my Harry Potter knowledge gap and will likely enjoy the experience. When that day comes, I look forward to being able to connect with a new group of people, and possibly connect with my usual circle of readers on a deeper level. If you’re looking to fill your particular reading gap or maybe you just want to finally finish that reading assignment from 10th grade, the South Branch (and, in fact, the entire Peabody Library) can help you out with that:

3706122Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: This is one of those books people can probably fake having watched one (or several) of the many film or TV adaptations (just don’t call is “Alice in Wonderland;” it’s a dead giveaway you haven’t read it). But many of those adaptations conflate this book with Through the Looking Glass. If you really want to know what’s what, you can read them both.

Moby DickMoby Dick by Herman Melville: A Classics group favorite that was elucidated by one of the library’s favorite lecturer’s Prof. Theoharis of Harvard. Even if you missed the lectures, I highly encourage giving this book a(nother) try. Most people just don’t realize how funny Melville is, even amidst all the transcendental angst.

2927319War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: This one seems to have made it onto every list I mentioned, but with the popularity of the new miniseries on TV, maybe it’s time to give the original text a go. Plus the South has a shiny new copy of an excellent translation so the book might feel fresh and new, even though it’s just new to you.

2224920The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling: When I decide to fill this particular reading gap of mine, at least I’ll know where to find it!

 

If your reading gap consists largely of classics, consider joining the Library’s Classics book discussion group, which is coming up on its 10th anniversary. However, just like you should never be shamed by what you have read, you should also never be ashamed of what you haven’t read. Everyone’s lives take different paths, and that includes reading lives. Till next week dear readers, I’m off to read again (but still not Harry Potter…. not yet).