BOOK CLUB CLASSICS!

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

photo credit: a4gpa

Well, I’m afraid I’m really veering from my original intent to choose writers born in their chosen state since this week’s author was born in Pennsylvania and lived in Arizona for a while, but my friend Eve suggested him for the state of Utah, and I’m afraid I simply do not have another writer in mind for this glorious state.  I had not heard of Abbey before, but am certainly intrigued after doing a little research.  From the AbbeyWeb:

Edward Abbey became known as an “environmental writer”. This title was not of his choosing, nor to his liking. He preferred not to categorize his style at all, but rather to “let his prose do his talking for him.”

 Placing a label on Edward Abbey’s style would be akin to picking up all the grains of sand in the desert South-west, putting them in a large glass container, and labeling that container “Desert”. What Ed wrote about was the Earth, and his deep love of it. Whether he was writing about two snakes engaging in a mating ritual in Utah, or about a slow train ride across the Australian desert to Alice Springs, the Earth itself functions as the medium, and not something made up or manufactured by the author. To begin to understand Abbey, you must first take his advice to heart:

“Do not jump into your automobile next June and rush out to the Canyon country hoping to see some of that which I have attempted to evoke in these pages. In the first place you can’t see anything from a car; you’ve got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the…cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you’ll see something, maybe.”  Kent Duryee

photo credit: illryion

Here an excerpt of Abbey’s writing:

“Benedicto: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets’ towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you — beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.”   Edward Abbey

Half-way there!  Curious about what states we’ve done so far and which ones are on deck?

Photo by marxchivist

First, from Melanie Jones:

Alabama: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (check out my To Kill A Mockingbird Sample Kit!)

Michigan: The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides

Alaska: The Man Who Swam With Beavers by Nancy Lord

Arizona: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

North Dakota: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Vermont: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Hawaii: Heads by Harry by Lois-ann Yamanaka

Georgia: Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones

And I went out on my own for…

Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Nora Zeale Hurston

Minnesota: In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien

Wisconsin: When Madeline Was Young by Jane Hamilton

Louisiana: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells (Jones’ pick) and The Awakening by Kate Chopin (my pick)

Colorado: Plainsong by Kent Haruf

Maryland: Anything by Anne Tyler

Georgia: Awakening by Kate Chopin

Ohio: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Arkansas: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Virginia: John Grisham

Idaho: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

North Carolina: Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

Tennesee: Run by Ann Patchett

New Jersey: Anything by Janet Ivanovich

Texas: Anything by Elmer Kelton

Connecticut: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

Montana: The Big Sky by A. B. Guthrie

Wondering where your state is? Coming soon… In the meantime, weigh in on future picks!
 

What are your favourite first sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its first sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the first line?

When I read today’s BTT topic, I immediately thought of

David Copperfield: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

Pride and Prejudice: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

Mrs. Dalloway: “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.”

I imagine there are many more, but every time I read the above sentences, the entire novel rushes back to me.  I love the abject sincerity of Dickens, the wicked irony of Austen, and the pompous self-assurance of Woolf.

I have always been fascinated by the opening sentence and paragraph of literature — it’s the author’s best shot to grab the reader and, as they say, you only have one chance to make a first impression!

Whenever I design a kit for a book club, I write at least question asking readers to revisit the first sentence or paragraph of a work after they have finished reading it.  I love re-visiting first impressions and discussing whether those expectations were realized or not. 

I guess this is like any new relationship – can a negative first impression be overcome…  or a positive one realize its potential?

What about you?  Favorite first lines, anyone?  (No need to look them up, by the way… I happened to have mine handy…)

photo credit: Georgieporge

It appears today will be a “catch-up day” without my usual Wednesday review / give-away…  I had hoped to finish Chris Meeks’ short story collection (which I am enjoying immensely) and review it today, but it deserves more than a hurried, rushed review… so look for it soon!

In the meantime…  check out my post on a Mother - Son Book Club…  

photo credit: Georgieporge

Last week, while playing cards with my girlfriends (the game was 500 — a cross between Bridge and Euchre), Eve mentioned a feature in Newsweek that asks people what 5 books they believe have been most influential in their lives so far.  Notice the category is not “favorite” or “best” books, but “influential.”  So, while we were shuffling between hands, we decided to give it a whirl.

Now that I’m home again, I thought this might be an interesting question to throw out into the lit blogosphere!

My picks were:

• A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle since it has reformed and continues to shape my thoughts and relationships.
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen because it was the first “chick lit” that really made me think about compatibility in marriage and the idea that it is more important to be smart and independent than to find a man (and that it is possible to accomplish both…)
• Shakespeare (especially King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, and Romeo and Juliet) demonstrated how it is indeed possible to express the inexpressible.
• Beloved by Toni Morrison was such a painful journey that I thereafter had a visceral experience of injustice, rather than a merely intellectual one.
• Emily Dickinson and Rumi taught me the power of a single word and of silence, and reminded me of what Shakespeare had already taught me, but later in life (and with much fewer words).

Now my three friends each went in very different directions, although agreed upon The Bible (and Shakespeare, too, for the most part).  Donna has a deep and abiding curiosity for science, and specifically for physics; she chose:

• Chaos by James Gleick
• The Quantum Self by Danah Zohar
• Future Shockby Alvin Toffler
• The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Nancy’s passion for social justice was apparent in her selections:

• March of Folly by Barbara Tuchman
• Food First
• Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
• Canterbury Tales by Chaucer  

And as the conversation continued into the night, other choices that were suggested were To Kill A Mockingbird, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Medea and Oedipus, The Ugly American, All the Kings Men, and Freakonomics.

So, what 5 books have been most influential thus far in your life?  Drop me a comment or link to your post!  And if you love lists, check out this new site:  pollthepeople.com

photo credit: terren in Virginia

Last week on NPR, Nancy Pearl highlighted 9 books that she believes are perfect carry-on books.  Here are her selections with a snipet of why she chose them!

The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread, by Don Robertson, paperback, 224 pages

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll totally delight in meeting 9-year-old Morris Bird III (whom some classmates unkindly call Morris Bird the Turd) as he decides to skip school one autumn afternoon in 1944 and walk across Cleveland to visit his best friend, Stanley Chaloupka.

The Arrival, by Shaun Tan, hardcover, 128 pages

My next recommendation manages to tell a compelling story without using any words. Shaun Tan’s book, The Arrival, is a picture book — but not one intended for young children. Author/artist Tan shares with us the wonder, excitement and fear that accompany a recent immigrant when he leaves his homeland and family to make a new life far away.

The Thin Place, by Kathryn Davis, paperback, 304 pages

Kathryn Davis’ novel is a mesmerizing and mysterious tale that opens with three adolescent friends on an aimless walk… The town’s denizens seem ordinary enough: Helen Zeebrugge copes with the various indignities of old age; ex-hippie Andrea Murdock researches the past; Buddy the dog does his doggy doings; Gigi the cat works on fully experiencing every one of her nine lives; and 12-year-old Mees tries to understand the strange gift she’s been given. But Varennes is a “thin place,” a shimmering, permeable division between the real and the inchoate, between the living and the dead, and strange things happen almost as a matter of routine.

An Infamous Army, by Georgette Heyer, paperback, 512 pages

Georgette Heyer took the title of her novel about the epic defeat of the Emperor Napoleon at Waterloo from a remark attributed to the Duke of Wellington. Wellington famously (and ruefully) described his understaffed, undermanned and under-equipped troops — which included the remnants of ragtag armies from all across Europe — as “an infamous army.”

Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton, by Sara Wheeler, hardcover, 320 pages

Remember Robert Redford in the film Out of Africa? When I finished Sara Wheeler’s engrossing and fluent Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton, I realized what a terrific choice the casting director made with Redford.

This novel moves Redford’s character, Finch Hatton (1881-1937), into the spotlight, illuminating this complex, dashing, non-conforming man. Wheeler takes us through his childhood in a once-wealthy family, his happiness at Eton and his fascination with the wide open spaces of East Africa, where he spent both his happiest and most bitter days.

Bangkok 8, by John Burdett, paperback, 336 pages

If you like your suspense novels set in exotic locales and you have a high tolerance for grisly and gruesome crimes, then you won’t want to miss John Burdett’s Bangkok 8.

Chester, by Mélanie Watt, hardcover, 32 pages

In literary criticism circles, you often hear the term “metafiction,” which the Encarta Dictionary defines as “fiction writing that deals, often playfully and parodically, with the nature of fiction, the techniques and conventions used in it, and the role of the author.” Well, when I read Mélanie Watt’s Chester, I figured that I had come across perhaps the world’s very first meta-picture book.

Sunshine, by Robin McKinley, paperback, 416 pages

I have never been a fan of novels with vampires in them. In fact, until recently I’d never read horror fiction at all — I’ve always felt that real life is scary enough before you add the supernatural to the mix. But I’ve always loved the novels of award-winning fantasy writer Robin McKinley, and a friend whose book smarts I respected recommended McKinley’s novel Sunshine, so I (somewhat hesitantly) picked it up, started reading and found — to my surprise — that I couldn’t put it down.

Metzger’s Dog, by Thomas Perry, paperback, 336 pages

Perhaps all you need to know to decide whether to read Thomas Perry’s thriller Metzger’s Dog is that Dr. Henry Metzger happens to be a cat. … So, if you’re hankering for a humorous crime story, you can’t do better than this one.

I haven’t read any of these picks, but I am surely requesting Too Close To the Sun ASAP…  Out of Africa is one of my very favorite movies…  What looks good to you?