The Ugly Truth

February 28, 2016 peaadmin 1 Comment

A week or so ago, I referenced Matt Ruff’s Lovecraft Country, and how it deals with some of the more unsavory aspects of H.P. Lovecraft’s personality and writings, and I promised we’d be dealing with this more in the future.

So here goes. H.P. Lovecraft was a virulent racist. And was also exceptionally prejudiced against Jewish people, women, and homosexuals. He wrote in letters to friends that he supported the beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as the Nazi Party, even if he wasn’t exactly in support of their actions. He supported the eugenics movement, which advocated exterminating “undesirable” people from the human population. He wrote poetry comparing non-white people to animals, which you can find very easily. I’m not posting the them here, because they make my skin crawl.

Last November, the World Fantasy Awards (finally) agreed to change their awards from a caricature of Lovecraft’s face (the award is colloquially known as a ‘Howard’) as a result of a petition begun by Daniel José Older.* The petition came after several years of protest from fantasy and horror writers around the world–especially recipients of ‘Howards’. Nigerian-American writer Nnedi Okorafor (photo at left), who won for her stunning novel Who Fears Death, wrote a blog post about having Lovecraft’s face in her home:

Anyway, a statuette of this racist man’s head is in my home. A statuette of this racist man’s head is one of my greatest honors as a writer…Do I want “The Howard” …replaced with the head of some other great writer? Maybe…What I know I want is to face the history of this leg of literature rather than put it aside or bury it.

Free-For-All favorite author China Miéville (also left) has also weighed in on this debate. There is no doubt at all that Miéville’s work is deeply inspired by Lovecraft, as well as plenty other greats of the ‘weird fiction’ genre. But he also has acknowledged that “Yes, indeed, the depth and viciousness of Lovecraft’s racism is known to me…Lovecraft’s oeuvre, his work itself, is inspired by and deeply structured with race hatred.” He goes on to say:

…I was very honoured to receive the award as representative of a particular field of literature. And the award itself, the statuette of the man himself? I put it out of sight, in my study, where only I can see it, and I have turned it to face the wall. So I am punishing [Lovecraft] like the malevolent clown he was, I can look at it and remember the honour, and above all I am writing behind Lovecraft’s back.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of people who agree with Lovecraft’s biographer, S.T. Joshi, who bashed the decision as “a craven yielding to the worst sort of political correctness.” There are plenty of people who say that Lovecraft was a product of his times, and that his opinions were the result of an insulated upbringing, or poor education.

But to cling to this argument utterly overlooks people’s inherent ability to grow, to change, and to empathize. Lovecraft showed a remarkable inability to do either of these, which makes him a man worthy of scorn and pity at the same time, not a figure to be revered.

But then, what do we do about his books? Lovecraft was not well-known or well-liked during his own time–he died penniless in Providence, Rhode Island in 1937 at the age of 46 as much a victim of the Depression as the intestinal cancer that claimed his life. He wrote to a friend about eating expired canned food to survive, and acknowledged that “I have no illusions concerning the precarious status of my tales, and do not expect to become a serious competitor of my favorite weird authors.” His afterlife, however, has been nothing short of miraculous. There are region of Pluto named after Lovecraft’s elder god, “Cthulu“. His face, and his creations, appear on everything from craft beers to clothing to jewelry. A number of credible and venerated institutions hail him as a father of science fiction, and the “King of Weird“. Lovecraft’s influence in literature is unquestionable.

In large part, this is because he was exceptionally good at harnessing the very human reaction of fear. At the heart of all his wildly camp, ridiculously over-the-top stories is Lovecraft’s belief that “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” And in emphasizing human’s incredible smallness within the vast scope of a terrifying world (and a terrifying universe), Lovecraft opened up a world (and a universe of wild creatures, gods, and magical powers that have kept our imaginations spinning for generations.

But the other truth is that, when we stop getting all excited about those elder gods and the potential of all those worlds he describes, the fear that Lovecraft is describing is the fear of other human people. His fear was that of a very ordinary, very nervous white man who blamed his lack of financial and social success on other people, for no other reason than that they didn’t look like him. As Alan Moore (author of the League of Extraordinary Gentleman) wrote, “it is possible to perceive Howard Lovecraft as an almost unbearably sensitive barometer of American dread….in his frights and panics he reveals himself as…the absolutely average man, an entrenched social insider unnerved by new and alien influences from without.”

So yes, if Lovecraft’s descriptions of ancient civilizations inhabiting Antarctica makes your imagination sizzle, then by all means, read it. And enjoy it. I know I did. But we can’t afford to pretend that he wasn’t a really reprehensible human being, and we can’t afford to overlook his irredeemable qualities because we like his books. What we can do it realize that literature isn’t like a wall. It doesn’t have to follow straight lines and right angles. It’s more like a tree. Branches can bend and twist, and, eventually, the weak and dead spots can be replaced by new, healthy growth. There are any number of authors who have used Lovecraft’s ideas and used them to make the science fiction genre into a stronger, brave, and more inclusive place. Some of them are listed above. There are a load of others at the Library, and we’ll be talking about them this week. Feel free to read them, too. Fearlessly. That is the best thing we can do to make sure that Lovecraft’s legacy is better than his life. And better, ultimately, than him.

* A note: The World Fantasy Award is accepting suggestions for its new award until April 2, 2016.

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

February 27, 2016 peaadmin

ct-prj-0721-unread-books-20130719-001 — Image: Chicago Tribune

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:

I’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:

Alice’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 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.

War 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.

The 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).

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Five Book Friday!

February 26, 2016 peaadmin

Happy Friday, dear readers, and Happy Birthday to long-time bibliophile, and father of some of the longest sentences in literature–Victor Hugo!

Aside from being a great, empathetic, and engrossing author, Hugo was also a champion of human rights around the world. He spoke out in favor of freedom of the press and self-government for Poland, and, though he was elected to the French Parliament as a Conservative, he broke with his party to speak out on behalf of the poor, advocating for universal suffrage, free education for all children, and the abolition of the death penalty. After being sent into exile by Napoleon III, he moved to Britain, where he not only helped spare the lives of six Irish Republicans who were on trial there, and also helped abolish the death penalty in Columbia and Portugal. He waited until the death of Napoleon III to return to France in 1870, and remained there until his own passing in 1885 (at the age of 83). When it was opened, it was discovered that his will contained only five sentences:

“I leave 50,000 francs to the poor. I want to be buried in their hearse. I refuse [funeral] orations of all churches. I beg a prayer to all souls. I believe in God.”

So, while you are toasting the literary and personal heroics of Victor Hugo today, why not check out of a few of his books–or perhaps these new works that made their way onto our shelves this week?

Native: Dispatches from an Israeli-Palestinian Life: This collection of satirical articles written by Sayed Kashua for the the Israeli newspaper Haaretz are phenomenal for their bone-dry wit, droll observations, and also their utterly sympathetic humanity. In documenting his own life, as well as the lives of his children, neighbors, and friends, Kashua is able to speak to a common humanity living in the midst of some often inhuman circumstances, and bring to light a place that many of us have heard of, but have seldom come to understand. Publisher’s Weekly has hailed this collection as “Startling and insightful. . . . Kashua conveys devastating social critique through dry wit, precise metaphor, and seemingly innocent subjects. . . . Kashua’s subtly shaded, necessarily complex, and ultimately despairing account of the tensions within his homeland, ‘so beloved and so cursed,’ is bound to open the eyes and awaken the sympathies of a new swath of loyal readers.”

And After Many Days: Nigerian author Jowhor Ile’s debut is both a personal story about one family’s loss and a broad, searching history of Nigeria’s past that works beautifully on both levels. When seventeen-year-old Paul Utu disappeared from the busy town of Port Harcourt, in Nigeria, his family is not only forced to deal with the loss of one they dearly loved, but also to search their own past for answers. Traveling to their ancestral village, the family, and, in particular, Ajie, the youngest of Paul’s siblings, relive the myths of their people, and the scars of past conflicts that still affect life in the present day. Kirkus Review loved this book, saying “The story gracefully weaves back and forth in time from the siblings’ early childhood to the present day in their Port Harcourt, Nigeria, neighborhood, and suddenly, every little thing is imbued with deeper meaning, made fateful through retrospect…This engrossing novel, couched in poetic, evocative language, creates a suspenseful yet sophisticated narrative from the first page.”

Free Men: Katy Simpson Smith’s latest novel is as much about a time and a place as it is about the four men who inhabit its pages, and her blend of historic detail and narrative insight have delighted critics and readers alike. Set in the American South in 1788, this novel tells the story of Cat, a white man from South Carolina, Bob, a black man on the run, and Istillicha, who has been forced out of his Creek town’s leadership, who meet in the woods of Alabama, each on their own quest. Within a few days, the men commit a murder that brings the force of the law on their heels in the person of a French tracker named Le Clerc, who is as intrigued by these three unlikely comrades as he is repulsed by their actions. Publisher’s Weekly calls this searching novel for its willingness to probe “connection and isolation, forgiveness and guilt…this novel evokes the complexity of a fledgling America in precise, poetic language…it is rich with insights about history and the human heart.”

Ginny Gall: Charlie Smith’s work also deals with race, murder, and the American South, but this time, the setting is the Great Depression, and the heo is Delvin Walker, a young man abandoned by his mother after she murders a white man. As racial tensions around him escalate, Delvin realizes that to survive, he has to flee, and takes to riding the rails across the United States, until another murder pulls him into the prison system himself, falsely accused of the murder of two white girls along with several other young black men. But Delvin is a man whose strength only grows through adversity, making this novel a fascinating, grim, and powerful tale that is creating quite a buzz. The New York Times Book Review wrote that this book is “An intricate examination of the coming-of-age of a young black man caught in the cross hairs of American racial history… A story that is equal parts-and often simultaneously-moving and harrowing… The quotidian country world is full of magic in [Smith’s] hands.”

The Plague of Thieves Affair: This fourth entry in Marcia Muller’s and Bill Pronzini’s historical detective series set in late 19th century San Francisco, and featuring Sabina Carpenter and John Quincannon sees the two detectives facing their most quizzical case yet: Sherlock Holmes–or, rather, the man who is pretending to be him, and who insists on meddling (albeit helpfully meddling) in their cases. While Sabrina begins a hunt for this Holmes’ real identity, John finds himself on a case that will put his reputation on the line, as several brewmasters are found drowned in their own vats of beer. This story is more like two novellas, but both author’s bring such a sense of fun and professional acumen to their work to keep readers enthralled. The San Francisco Chronicle has loved this series thus far, saying “Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini have brought together the distinctive personalities and differing investigative styles of their fictional snoops. The result is a team that is as memorable as Nick and Nora Charles…. When they combine forces, they double our pleasure.”

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading!

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A Wanderlust Reading List

February 25, 2016 peaadmin

I think it’s pretty safe to say that we here at the Free For All are huge fans of traveling…whether from the safety of our armchairs (or blanket forts), or in reality. We’re also fascinated by the worlds that books can open for you, whether it’s through reading travel guides, or tales of the adventures of others, or journeys through time, space, and across fantastical words, we’ve logged more literary frequent flyer miles than most.

So I thought it might be fun if we started assembling reading lists from various, specific places, and offer you a selection of books that will allow you vicariously explore a country’s past, present, people, and scenery through the books and films available at the Library. Fiction is often a surprisingly helpful source for exploring new places–authors can make commentary on social issues and culture that non-fiction works can’t always incorporate, and the way that people tell stories are often deeply influenced by the world in which they were brought up. So these reading lists are going to feature a good deal of fictional works, as well as an non-fiction. This way, you’ll be able to explore both the terrain and the soul of a place–all without the jetlag, or the risk of having your suitcases mangled or lost!
Our first stop is Belfast, a city I’ve talked about here in the past. Though it is making a concerted effort to present the best possible face to tourists and to its people, Belfast is still a city with a dark history, and a very long memory. Because of The Troubles (sectarian violence between Protestants, Catholics, and forces of the British government), Belfast was, for a number of years, the most bombed city in Europe, and the scars can still be seen on a walk around the city. Perhaps this is why crime novels set in Belfast, or featuring Belfast citizens, are so popular, and so darn good. Authors who truly engage with the history inherent in the city can make stunningly beautiful observations while telling a ripping good tale–the perfect combination for someone looking for a bit of an escape. So here, without further ado, is our Wanderlust Reading List of crime novels set in (and around) Belfast, Northern Ireland:

The Cold Cold Ground: Adrian McKinty has lived in many places, and his novels feature a number of diverse locations. My favorites, however, are still the Sean Duffy mysteries, set in 1980’s Belfast, during some of the most frenzied years of The Troubles. Sean Duffy is a Catholic policeman in the Protestant-dominated Royal Ulster Constabulary. He lived in a mostly Protestant neighborhood, and, as a result, doesn’t take a single day for granted. Nevertheless, he still manages to keep a fairly level head on his shoulders, and remains devoted to his work in spite of the many complications and prejudices that stand in his way. In this, his first outing, Sean is forced to confront the fact that there has never been an Irish serial killer…until now? When two bodies are found mutilated in a way that intimately links them together, Sean realizes that his first case in Belfast may be the most important–and deadliest–of his career. Adrian McKinty does a sensational job capturing the near suffocating tensions of his city, especially in this novel, where young IRA prisoners are dying in British prisons of a hunger strike, ensuring that tensions between Catholics and Protestants are treacherously high. Sean’s love of music only adds to the atmosphere–and provides a sensational soundtrack for those who are interested.

The Journeyman Tailor: Gerald Seymour rose to become one of the best known thriller-writers in Ireland, thanks to this book and Harry’s Game, which both deal with British intelligence operatives and their desperate attempts to infiltrate the IRA. This book, however, deals much more with the politics of rural Northern Ireland, and the effects of the Troubles on women–those married to IRA leaders, those married to British civil servants, and one remarkable, enigmatic woman at the heart of British intelligence. Getting into this story is a bit of a struggle, as Seymour shifts perspectives without warning, but once you get used to his style, this is a book that will keep you up at night–even after it’s over.

The Ghosts of Belfast: I mentioned this book in my last discussion of Belfast books, but I think it deserves to be mentioned once again. This book is a thriller, yes, in that it deals with a former hitman with a vendetta, and on the run from British spies and his own comrades alike, but more than anything, this book is a memorial to the Troubles, to the impossible decisions that people were forced to make, and to the unimaginable pain that they caused so many people. Couching his work in fiction allows Stuart Neville the necessary perspective to talk about life in Belfast, but make no mistake–none of the stories here are entirely false. For those that want to read more from Neville, be sure to check out Ratlines, which is set in the Republic of Ireland right after World War II.

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Always bring an extra axle….

February 24, 2016 peaadmin

I remember when I was in third grade, our computer teacher brought out an 8-inch floppy disk (yes, you read that correctly), and told us that we were in for a treat. We were about to learn all about American history with this computer, by experiencing the trip that so many settlers made into the western frontiers.

It was the first time any of us had played The Oregon Trail, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. I am fully aware of how much I am dating myself, but honestly, there were few things we anticipated more than getting to go to computer class (which we had once every two weeks, kids…back in the dark ages) and watch those little pixelated oxen trudge across the utterly unremarkable pixelated green landscape for an hour. Every once in a while, one of us would commandeer the mouse and go hunting–I’m pretty sure we were solely responsible for wiping out the bison population of the continent several times over in our zeal.

Technology, needless to say, has come a long way since we watched that dopey little oxen shuffle to Oregon, but I don’t know if I’ve ever had quite as much fun as I did then with a game. It was a form of magic to us–a learning tool that forced us to use our imagination and patience, rather than skill, in order to win (or, at least, survive). In fact several media outlets refer to my cohort as The Oregon Trail generation…which may explain an interesting trend literary trend….

Recently, a number of us Library Folk have begun reading “Fantastical American West” novels–that is, books that are set within the 19th century, and deal with all the themes of a traditional western–everything from brushing horses to encountering Natives–but also involve magical elements as a central point of the plot. Some books invoke demons and ghosts, while other bestow otherworldly talents on their characters that develop over the course of their journey. The possibilities are as vast as the Old West itself.

But that magical element serves another purpose, especially for readers, and especially for those readers of the Oregon Trail Generation. It helps us reclaim that sense of not knowing what might happen next; to explore imaginatively; to wonder, purely and simply.

What is also remarkable about this emerging genre, is how prominently it features strong, unique, and powerful heroines at the forefront. There are not your typical westerns by any stretch–but that might just be their strongest point. The original Oregon Trail game was democratic–anyone could lead a wagon train, and anyone could be struck down with a broken leg, or typhus. The Fantastical American West returns that sense of democracy and equality, giving male and female characters alike the power to change their destinies and make the journey that will change them forever.

If you grew up playing the Oregon Trail, I can’t recommend checking out the Fantastical American West genre, starting with the selections below. Oh, and for those of you who would like to revisit the Good Old Days, click here to access the Internet Archive…..where you can play the 1990 version of Oregon Trail for yourself.

Silver on the Road: I’ve mentioned this book before in a different context, but, having just finished it myself, I can say that this book is absolutely worth your time, whether you were (are) a fan of the Oregon Trail, or a fan of magic in literature, or both. Isabelle has spent all her life in a saloon run by the Devil himself, on the edge of the great, unknown west. When she turns sixteen, she agrees to become his left hand–without knowing quite what that entails. So, in order to learn her task, she is sent with Gabriel,a seasoned rider, out to explore the territory, and see what powers are at work there. Laura Anne Gilman has a remarkable talent for crafting a setting–I genuinely felt the dust of the trail on my skin while reading. Best of all, because none of the characters are fully aware of what is going on, the reader is kept somewhat in the dark, as well. Thus, though the pace of this book isn’t rapid-fire, the compulsion to keep reading, to explore, and to understand just what Isabelle is meant to do on her journey, is almost irresistible. I loved that, even in her darkest moments, Isabelle remained the strong, capable, and incredibly determined heroine that she was, and I cannot wait to see what happens in the next installment of this series, due out in October.

The Curse of Jacob Tracy: The cover of this book may look like that of a traditional western novel (expect for those bats, of course…), but don’t let that fool you. This is a book as steeped in history as it is in magic, and presents a wholly unique perspective on the idea of a ‘frontier’. Ever since he nearly died at Antietam, Jacob Tracy has been able to see the dead. At first, it nearly drove him mad (especially as he was studying to be a priest before enlisting), but lately, he’s simply been trying to ignore the spirits who cross his path, traveling west with his business partner, Boz, in order to escape the spirits lingering around his home in St. Louis. That is, until his path crosses with the enigmatic Miss Fairweather, a woman as talented as she is infuriating. Miss Fairweather knows about Jacob, and all that he can do, and promises to cure him…for a price. Holly Messenger’s debut is a wildly imaginative–and genuinely creepy one–again, because Trace has a hard time telling the real from the ghostly (and ghastly), it’s often a bit tricky for the reader to tell who is spectral, and who is real. But that only makes Trace’s adventures more intriguing, and his work with Miss Fairweather (who is a force of nature in and of herself) that much more enjoyable.

Walk on Earth a Stranger: The Fantastical American West is also a prominent setting for YA novels, as well, offer the later subset of Millennials a chance to savor all the wild and wondrous things the West has to offer those who chose to explore. In this adventure, Lee Westfall is making that journey along with her family and best friend, in the hopes of making it to the Klondike, and gold that is reported to found there. But Lee has a secret gift–she can sense gold. And while that gift has helped her keep those she loves safe, it also opens her up to a world of danger. Because Lee lives in a world where gold is the be all and end all, and there are plenty who would kill to know how to find it . This opening of Rae Carson’s Gold Seer Trilogy is a fascinating and richly detailed gem of a book that not only treats its setting, but also its heroine with an enormous amount of respect.

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Sad Days…

February 21, 2016 peaadmin

I think T.S. Eliot might have been mistaken. This year, February has been the cruelest month. Particularly, the nineteenth of February, which was the day the world lost both Harper Lee and Umberto Eco, two giants in the literary world, and both truly good human beings, who did much to make us all better human beings.

harper-lee-06-large — Harper Lee, courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk

Pulitzer Prize winner Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, AL, which severed as the model for Maycomb, the home of Scout and Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. It was in Monroeville that Lee not only learned to love reading, but through reading develop the beautifully simple, honest empathy that marked her book, which remains one of the undisputed classics of American literature. In a letter to Oprah in 2006 (excerpted here from Letters of Note), Lee described how the children of her neighborhood shared books, since they were all too far from a library or store to get new ones–and what a privilege that was:

Books were scarce. There was nothing you could call a public library, we were a hundred miles away from a department store’s books section, so we children began to circulate reading material among ourselves until each child had read another’s entire stock. There were long dry spells broken by the new Christmas books, which started the rounds again….

We were privileged. There were children, mostly from rural areas, who had never looked into a book until they went to school. They had to be taught to read in the first grade, and we were impatient with them for having to catch up. We ignored them.

And it wasn’t until we were grown, some of us, that we discovered what had befallen the children of our African-American servants. In some of their schools, pupils learned to read three-to-one — three children to one book, which was more than likely a cast-off primer from a white grammar school. We seldom saw them until, older, they came to work for us.

We covered the enormous international interest (and speculation) over the release of Lee’s second novel, Go Set a Watchman last summer; there were many who believed that Lee was coerced into publishing, and others who were horror-struck by the evolution of the characters that generations of readers who had grown up loving Atticus and Scout.

The book’s release has indubitably changed Lee’s legacy, mostly in a way that strikingly mirrors her two published works…Just as the heroic, the untouchable, and the incorruptible Atticus Finch was revealed to be shockingly human, so was Harper Lee herself revealed as a writer of enormous talent, and human shortcomings, whose work was both time-stoppingly haunting and, it has to be said, somewhat clunky and awkward, at times, too. But, in this past year, what we learned about Harper Lee was not that “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy”; but that their voice–her voice–can make us accept the humanity in ourselves, and work ever harder to see it in those around us, too.

SPETT.UMBERTO ECO A NAPOLI (SUD FOTO SERGIO SIANO) — Umberto Eco, (SUD FOTO SERGIO SIANO)

Meanwhile, in a seemingly different world altogether, Umberto Eco was born on January 5, 1932, in Alessandria, Italy. Though perhaps best known for his ground-breaking, genre-defying work, The Name of the Rose, and Foucault’s Pendulum, Eco was also a veteran, an essayist, an historian, and a polyglot writer, producing books for children as well as novels, literary theory, thrillers, and more. He was also a beloved and respected professor, most recently at the University of Bolonga. He also, apparently, had a library of over 30,000 books, most of which he hadn’t read, believing that an unread book was infinitely more valuable than a read one.

In addition to giving us a wealth of books to read, Eco also made him name by helping us learn how to read. His work on Interpretation helped change the way that scholars read texts, and his surprisingly approachable lectures continue to open our eyes to how writing and reading can change our lives and our world. In this excerpt from a lecture given at Columbia University in 1996, for example Eco makes the startling and brilliant point that books–specifically printed books–can teach us more about life than any other medium:

Let me conclude with a praise of the finite and limited world that books provide us.

Suppose you are reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace: you are desperately wishing that Natasha will not accept the courtship of that miserable scoundrel who is Anatolij; you desperately wish that that marvellous person who is prince Andrej will not die, and that he and Natasha could live together happy forever. If you had War and Peace in a hypertextual and interactive CD-rom you could rewrite your own story, according to your desires, you could invent innumerable War and Peaces, where Pierre Besuchov succeeds in killing Napoleon or, according to your penchants, Napoleon definitely defeats General Kutusov.

Alas, with a book you cannot. You are obliged to accept the laws of Fate, and to realise that you cannot change Destiny. A hypertextual and interactive novel allows us to practice freedom and creativity, and I hope that such a kind of inventive activity will be practised in the schools of the future. But the written War and Peace does not confront us with the unlimited possibilities of Freedom, but with the severe law of Necessity. In order to be free persons we also need to learn this lesson about Life and Death, and only books can still provide us with such a wisdom.

We’ve discussed this very topic here–that sometimes, books end in ways that make you sad. And while I railed against cruel fate, and retreated to a world where book endings grew like wildflowers, Eco’s insight teaches us that sometimes, life–and death–is beyond our control. And learning to accept that lesson through the act of reading, and in the safety of a book, may make us better an wiser than the text of that book ever could.

There aren’t good words to sum up what these two human beings did with their lives, or what their lives have meant to all that they touched with their words and their ideas. But those words and those ideas are far more durable than flesh, and for that, we can only be grateful.

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A Saturdays @ the South Bibliophile Confession: When book lovers don’t love your book back…

February 20, 2016 peaadmin

I’m guessing by now that readers of Free For All recognize that we here at the blog love books, and reading and clearly, we love talking about books. For a while (OK, still, but we’ve managed to control ourselves recently) blogger-in-chief Arabella and I couldn’t stop talking about Susanna Clarke’s wonderfully magical tome, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and its equally wonderful and magical BBC television adaptation. So imagine my reaction when in my bookish wanderings on the Internet and on a podcast I happen to love, I found people who didn’t love Jonathan Strange.

Shocked — Yup, that was pretty much the reaction.

I understand that an 800+ page book isn’t necessarily everyone’s cup of tea and people who don’t have the time or the patience for such an undertaking wouldn’t find it enjoyable. I had reasonable expectations that not *everyone* would love the book as much as I did and there are plenty of people to whom I wouldn’t have recommended this book, no matter how amazing I found it. But the people I discovered who didn’t like this JS & MN were bookish people, people whose opinions of books I respect and admire, people who have similar taste in books as I do! So what happened? Where did we go wrong?

While some might consider my reactions odd, there are perhaps a few of you who sympathize with the brief moment in which I went into a sudden, gasping paroxysm, mentally screaming Blasphemy!, it’s natural to become attached to something about which you feel strongly, and just as natural to want others to feel the same way you do. So what to do when you find yourself at odds with someone over a favorite book?

We’ve offered some bookish counseling on what to do when books turn on you and when they offer unsatisfying endings. We’ve guided you through love triangles and encourage you to freely indulge in romance and other genre fiction. So I think the time has come to offer some tips on what to do when your fellow book lovers don’t love your favorite book in return:

– Breathe– This is generally a good step for any stressful moment (and yes, books can cause stressful moments) as it allows you to take a beat and regroup.

– Remember the good times – This goes for the book in question and for your relationship with the offending bibliophile. There were reasons you love this book; relish those (also see the next step). You may also want to re-read the book to bring those memories flooding back. There are also reasons why you originally valued the opinion of whoever it is you happen to disagree with at the moment. Maybe they led you to some great reads or you’ve shared many books in common in the past. It’s good to remember why you’ve come to value that person/blogger/voice’s opinion in the first place.

– Never defend; never excuse – There’s no need to defend your book choices because, as we’ve already discussed here on the blog, you have the right to read whatever you choose and the right to enjoy whatever happens to ring your individual bell. Just because someone else doesn’t like it, doesn’t mean that your enjoyment of the book should be diminished in any way.

– Don’t forget empathy– While someone’s dislike of one of your favorite books may feel like an affront to your very soul, remember that there may be books you don’t like that cause contention with those who respect your reading opinion. Remembering this affronted feeling can help you understand the other side of things. A dear friend and I enjoy many of the same books, but are consistently at odds about J.R.R. Tolkien . She adores him and I have no good things to say about what I’ve read of him. We just consider this difference something that keeps our friendship interesting . After all, how boring would life be if everyone agreed on everything?

– Move forward – This can be difficult if you consider a book you particularly love as part of intellectual and/or emotional makeup, but finding new common ground with your fellow book-lover shows that you have the courage to accept someone’s difference of opinion and still find other ways to consider his/her input valuable.

The truth is that books and reading are intensely personal experiences, so it’s perfectly natural to find attachments to them. Brian Kenney recently encouraged the revival of libraries as places for books and reading recommendations (amongst all of the other wonderful things libraries do) in his Publisher’s Weekly “Libraries” column. Part of his reasoning was because of the power of reading; he said “When a reader engages with a text, her own experiences interact with the narrative to create something entirely new. This is what makes reading so rewarding: we each create our own distinct versions of the books we read.” This means that even the people who share a deep love for the same book, may still do so for different reasons. Part of the reading experience is being exposed to different points of view and those points of view, even if you don’t necessarily agree with them, can broaden your horizons and bring new perspectives to your reading. You never know, you might even find new reasons for enjoying one of your favorite books!

This week, dear readers, instead of recommending new books, I recommend you re-read your favorite book and rediscover why you love it (or maybe find more, new reasons to love it), so the next time someone doesn’t love your favorite book back, you can still hold on to why that book is so dear to you in the first place.

Free for All

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

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A Wanderlust Reading List

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Sad Days…

A Saturdays @ the South Bibliophile Confession: When book lovers don’t love your book back…

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." ~Frederick Douglass