Greetings bibliophiles,
Summer is almost here, which means that the season of extended beach, pool, and/or outdoor reading sessions is upon us, therefore I have a few extra selections to help sate your literary cravings.
As usual, I'll be offering up options which might help you complete the 2017 Read Harder Challenge.
Isabel Allende's debut novel, The House of the Spirits, is a grand family saga which tells the story of three generations of the extraordinary Trueba clan and of the nation to which they are indelibly bound. Allende is a natural storyteller and her narration slips between third and first person, almost as though the family patriarch, Esteban Trueba, were looking over her shoulder adding his own perspective. For a related short-read, persue this short interview in which Allende explains the possible origin of Latin American 'magical realism'.
June is LGBTQ+ Pride month and the next three books are both written by LGBTQ+ authors and feature LGTBQ+ characters.
Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz is a moving bildungsroman about two Mexican-American teenagers who meet and discover themselves in the El Paso of the late 1980s. Sáenz does a wonderful job of fleshing out his characters; both main characters and their families are drawn with enough humor, pain, and tenderness to feel real. You can listen to a short interview with the author here.
Next up, Christopher Isherwood's The Berlin Stories: two related novels, Mr. Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye to Berlin, that capture the spirit of Berlin in the last days of the Weimar Republic. Isherwood was arguably the first openly gay author to be read widely, and these two novels, published in 1935 & 1939, respectively, are considered to be modern classics. Also, these are the basis for the many iterations of Cabaret.
Lastly, for fiction, is Alexander Chee's Edinburgh, the story of a young Korean-American and his struggle to overcome childhood sexual abuse while also wrestling with his identity. Chee sits in for Dennis in the last episode of the season of Food4Thot and describes the process of getting this novel, his debut, published.
For nonfiction readers, I'll also be reading Adam Phillip's Unforbidden Pleasures, a collection of essays loosely connected by the theme of everyday desire and pleasure.
Fiction
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (debut novel, South American book by SA author)
Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (YA Fiction by LGBTQ+ identifying author)
The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood (novels published between 1900-1950)
Edinburgh by Alexander Chee (debut novel, all POV characters are POC)
Nonfiction
Unforbidden Pleasures by Adam Phillips
Feel free to comment, email, or set up a date with me if you'd like to discuss any (or all) of these.
Happy reading!
RP
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Review: Swing Time by Zadie Smith
Greetings bibliophiles,
I stayed up late Thursday night finishing Zadie Smith's Swing Time, a sprawling rumination on privilege and appropriation and the complicated dance between the two.
The story is told from the point-of-view of an unnamed narrator, a biracial thirtysomething disgraced former personal assistant, and weaves through her past and present relationships with a cast of complex characters. There's her mother, a fiercely intelligent, but aloof, black woman whose political aspirations take precedence over her personal relations. Talented, self-assured, but ultimately tragic, Tracey, another biracial girl with an indulgent mother from the housing estate across from the narrator's, whom the narrator meets and begins a complicated friendship in a community dance class. International pop superstar, Aimee, who believes that if all of the world's woes were met with her determination and focus, they'd be easily solved, and therefore founds a girls' school in a rural village in an unnamed (The Gambia) West African country. And vibrant, loquacious Hawa, a teacher who is charged with helping the narrator assess the needs of the girls in this village. In each of these relationships, the narrator is the Ginger to the more decisive woman's Fred; influenced and led, rarely making decisions on her own.
These characters also seem to complement each other, as dance partners should. The bright, but insecure narrator who is a mediocre dancer, but has a lovely voice complements Tracey, who is a confident, natural dancer, but cannot sing and consistently struggles to move beyond the estate despite her talents. They even are opposites in parentage; Tracey's mother is white and devoted to her, but her black father is an abusive criminal while the narrator's mother is a black woman driven to change her community and her father is a loving but unmotivated white man.
The two maternal figures, the narrator's mother and Aimee, also seem to be two sides of the same coin. Both are driven, somewhat aloof, determined to make changes in the world around them, but at the expense of forming loving, lasting relationships with those around them.
Smith also raises the issue of appropriation. In the first chapter, the narrator stops by a theatre to watch a famous director talk about a clip from the 1936 film, Swing Time, in which Fred Astaire does a solo dance, "Bojangles of Harlem," in blackface. In another scene, the narrator and Tracey are filmed at a childhood birthday party mimicking the lascivious moves of Aimee, who is sort of a mishmash of Madonna, Kylie Minogue, and other 80s pop divas. Aimee, in turn, appropriates the local dance moves of the community in which she builds her school while the locals show off televisions and smartphones (in various states, working and broken).
What does it mean to appropriate and is it ever acceptable? Who owns cultural artifacts? These are some of the questions Smith seems to want us to ask ourselves.
Smith's writing is tight and engaging, and it's easy to see that she's been influenced by the great authors of the past (e.g. Dickens) whose works were serialized; her chapters are succinct and propel the reader forward at a good clip. At over 400 pages, I was a little hesitant to get started but ultimately finished the book in just four days.
Swing Time is my first Zadie Smith novel, and I will definitely be reading others. I found her writing to be very engaging, the characters multifaceted and complex, and the plot compelling and layered. While there are several issues being addressed, Smith is never preachy. Multiple perspectives are given, and it's up to the reader to really address their own feelings and rationalize them.
If you give Swing Time a read, let me know, I'd love to discuss it with you.
Happy reading!
PS The thots over at the podcast, Food 4 Thot discuss Swing Time in episode 7. Follow the link to give it a listen.
I stayed up late Thursday night finishing Zadie Smith's Swing Time, a sprawling rumination on privilege and appropriation and the complicated dance between the two.
The story is told from the point-of-view of an unnamed narrator, a biracial thirtysomething disgraced former personal assistant, and weaves through her past and present relationships with a cast of complex characters. There's her mother, a fiercely intelligent, but aloof, black woman whose political aspirations take precedence over her personal relations. Talented, self-assured, but ultimately tragic, Tracey, another biracial girl with an indulgent mother from the housing estate across from the narrator's, whom the narrator meets and begins a complicated friendship in a community dance class. International pop superstar, Aimee, who believes that if all of the world's woes were met with her determination and focus, they'd be easily solved, and therefore founds a girls' school in a rural village in an unnamed (The Gambia) West African country. And vibrant, loquacious Hawa, a teacher who is charged with helping the narrator assess the needs of the girls in this village. In each of these relationships, the narrator is the Ginger to the more decisive woman's Fred; influenced and led, rarely making decisions on her own.
These characters also seem to complement each other, as dance partners should. The bright, but insecure narrator who is a mediocre dancer, but has a lovely voice complements Tracey, who is a confident, natural dancer, but cannot sing and consistently struggles to move beyond the estate despite her talents. They even are opposites in parentage; Tracey's mother is white and devoted to her, but her black father is an abusive criminal while the narrator's mother is a black woman driven to change her community and her father is a loving but unmotivated white man.
The two maternal figures, the narrator's mother and Aimee, also seem to be two sides of the same coin. Both are driven, somewhat aloof, determined to make changes in the world around them, but at the expense of forming loving, lasting relationships with those around them.
Smith also raises the issue of appropriation. In the first chapter, the narrator stops by a theatre to watch a famous director talk about a clip from the 1936 film, Swing Time, in which Fred Astaire does a solo dance, "Bojangles of Harlem," in blackface. In another scene, the narrator and Tracey are filmed at a childhood birthday party mimicking the lascivious moves of Aimee, who is sort of a mishmash of Madonna, Kylie Minogue, and other 80s pop divas. Aimee, in turn, appropriates the local dance moves of the community in which she builds her school while the locals show off televisions and smartphones (in various states, working and broken).
What does it mean to appropriate and is it ever acceptable? Who owns cultural artifacts? These are some of the questions Smith seems to want us to ask ourselves.
Smith's writing is tight and engaging, and it's easy to see that she's been influenced by the great authors of the past (e.g. Dickens) whose works were serialized; her chapters are succinct and propel the reader forward at a good clip. At over 400 pages, I was a little hesitant to get started but ultimately finished the book in just four days.
Swing Time is my first Zadie Smith novel, and I will definitely be reading others. I found her writing to be very engaging, the characters multifaceted and complex, and the plot compelling and layered. While there are several issues being addressed, Smith is never preachy. Multiple perspectives are given, and it's up to the reader to really address their own feelings and rationalize them.
If you give Swing Time a read, let me know, I'd love to discuss it with you.
Happy reading!
PS The thots over at the podcast, Food 4 Thot discuss Swing Time in episode 7. Follow the link to give it a listen.
Monday, May 8, 2017
May Update
My dear bibliophiles,
This month I'll be continuing to work on the 2017 Book Challenge.
The Marquis de Sade's controversial The 120 Days of Sodom has been challenged or banned in a variety of places, and while it was written in 1785, it went unpublished until 1904, therefore qualifying it as a book published between 1900-1950.
Over the past couple of months, I've really been enjoying Food 4 Thot, a podcast created by 4 hilarious queer writers who chat about books, sex, race, and identity over rosé. On 14 May they'll be discussing Zadie Smith's Swing Time which is narrated by a woman of color.
Modern Japan: a Very Short Introduction is just a little preparatory reading for my upcoming relocation.
This month's selections:
Fiction
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade
Nonfiction
Zadie Smith's Dance of Ambivalence by Dayna Tortorici (article)
We translated the Marquis de Sade's most obscene work - here's how by Will McMorran (article)
Modern Japan: a Very Short Introduction by Christopher Goto-Jones
If you'd like to meet and discuss any or all of these at the end of the month, give me a shout.
Happy reading!
RP
This month I'll be continuing to work on the 2017 Book Challenge.
The Marquis de Sade's controversial The 120 Days of Sodom has been challenged or banned in a variety of places, and while it was written in 1785, it went unpublished until 1904, therefore qualifying it as a book published between 1900-1950.
Over the past couple of months, I've really been enjoying Food 4 Thot, a podcast created by 4 hilarious queer writers who chat about books, sex, race, and identity over rosé. On 14 May they'll be discussing Zadie Smith's Swing Time which is narrated by a woman of color.
Modern Japan: a Very Short Introduction is just a little preparatory reading for my upcoming relocation.
This month's selections:
Fiction
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade
Nonfiction
Zadie Smith's Dance of Ambivalence by Dayna Tortorici (article)
We translated the Marquis de Sade's most obscene work - here's how by Will McMorran (article)
Modern Japan: a Very Short Introduction by Christopher Goto-Jones
If you'd like to meet and discuss any or all of these at the end of the month, give me a shout.
Happy reading!
RP
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