January 30, 2011

Literary Pick (***)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -Mark Twain

















Two years ago I set a goal to read as many classics as possible. I even started a "Classic's Challenge" thread on Goodreads in order to prioritize which classics I wanted to read first. About every four to six months this list of "classics" was revised and edited with items often being removed or added on. But in all these revisions I've never once added anything by Mark Twain, which surprises me, because Mark Twain is obviously a colossal name in literature. In fact, William Faulkner called him the "father of American literature". When I try to understand why I never added Mark Twain to my classics list, although I subconsciously intended to, eventually, all I could come up with is that I didn't feel like reading about little boy adventures and rascalities. Mark Twain has always seemed a bit too wonder-breadish to me. I've always compared him to Walt Whitman, don't ask me why. I enjoyed Walt Whitman, but Whitman has always been white-breadish to me too and I wasn't sure if I was ready for another yeasty dose of that kind of literature. So, you ask, what made me finally add Twain to my list? Well, it was the press Huck Finn received about the inclusion of the "N" word into the new revised copies of the book, and since Tom Sawyer is the precursor to Huck Finn, I felt I had no choice but to read Tom Sawyer first.

My first impression upon reading the first chapter of Tom Sawyer was rather refreshing, especially after having finished reading something very challenging and strenuous.. but just as I expected, halfway through the story of Tom and his Shenanigans, I got a little bored. Little boys wreaking havoc has never appealed to me, and although Mark Twain is a lovely writer, because I do recognize his talents and appreciate his style, it was not sufficient enough to make me love it. However, I can see why Twains composition appeals to mature audiences. It's cheerful and carefree with episodes of warmth. It'll be interesting to see how Twain developed Finns character in his next novel.

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January 28, 2011

Literary Pick (**)

Labrynth -Jorge Luis Borges

















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January 24, 2011

Quote of the Day

"I haven't any right to criticize books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.
-Letter to Joseph Twichell, 9/13/1898"
— Mark Twain

January 23, 2011

Literary Pick (**)

Catch-22
Joseph Heller





















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January 18, 2011

Photograph of the Day

Salvador Dalí

January 17, 2011

Literary Pick (**)

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
-Vladimir Nabokov





















Considering Lolita is my favorite novel in the entire world, I expected to feel somewhat of the same magic and enchantment reading Nabokov's The Real Life Of Sebastian Knight, but I had difficulty even making out Nabokov at all. But what do I know? out of all of his novels I've only read Lolita, and now Sebastian. My mistake was that I assumed that all of Nabokov's works would seduce me. I'll have to read some more of his novels and see what happens. The tale of Sebastian Knight is appealing enough to want to finish and see what the big mystery is behind his last romance and his life, but overall it was rather dull, mostly because it felt like it was more about his brothers ego and unresolved relationship with Sebastian (his brother) than about Sebastian himself.. I have to say that I loved the way it ended. It focused more on Sebastian the way it should have from the beginning. Plus there were some brilliant sentences and passages that are worth noting.

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January 14, 2011

Literary Pick (**)

The Story of Art -E.H. Gombrich

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Although I didn't enjoy this book as much as I would've enjoyed it a few years ago, I appreciated Gombrich's enthusiasm and excitement to share the story of art through the ages. I think what turned me off most about it was the attention given to architecture, which I understand is an enormous part of art. I'm simply not that interested in architecture. I gave it two stars not because it was ok, but because I respect it as a textbook.

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Photo of the Day






















Picasso and Bardot

January 13, 2011

Literary Pick (**)

Drown
-Junot Diaz
I didn't enjoy Drown nearly as much as I did The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The last chapter (Negocios) was more of what I expected of the whole book. I'm still glad I read it.

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January 10, 2011

Literary Pick (**)

Chairman Mao Would Not Be Amused
edited by Howard Goldblatt
A collection of short stories by 20 chinese writers. A genre (scar literature) that emerged after the death of Chairman Mao and the fall of the cultural revolution. The stories lacked. There was only one story I enjoyed and that was "The Brothers Shu".

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January 3, 2011

Literary Pick (****)

In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry





















Amazing story about Varian Fry's heroic efforts to help many anti-fascist artists, writers, and Jews escape from France during WWII. Fry helped about two thousand refugees escape Nazi occupied France.


Shame on you, Andre Breton.

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Picture of the Day















Julien Levy, Frida Kahlo, New York, 1938. Vicente Wolf Photography Collection. © 2001 Philadelphia Museum of Art

January 2, 2011

Literary Pick (**)

Where The Wild Things Are
-Maurice Sendak

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Literary Pick (****)

The Savage Detectives
-Roberto Bolano

















I would have loved to read this book in Spanish. I bet there are minute, yet significant expressions and details lost in the translation that you can only experience reading it in it's original language. This novel is like the love-child of Marquez and Murakami. Perhaps. one day I will read it in Spanish. I think I will have to, because I enjoyed it so much.

I know readers who didn't enjoy this novel accuse it of being cliquey and haphazard, but perhaps it's because they were constantly anticipating something grand to happen, and that is exactly what Bolano meant when he referred to readers who buy into the "exotic stereotype"-style narrative. Although, I have to admit, Bolano himself falls into this trap with The Savage Detectives, with examples of ghosts, whores, and just a dab of magical realism, but I loved it all!

The story begins in a diary format, and later moves on to an interview format, in which many poets are questioned about the whereabouts of Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, later Cesaria Tinajero. Each account is like a short story. Bolano rarely writes within quotation marks, but the dialogue flows smoothly like real-time conversations and interviews. I enjoyed all of the stories. Each character had their own fascinating tale to tell, and all so full of intrigue. How talented to be able to write so many short stories with so many different plots and scenarios. That takes an incredible amount of skill and talent. I even read one of the stories aloud to hear the words, and I chose a good one too, the one by Pablo Del Valle from Madrid. By coincidence that one sounded more like poetry than any of the other stories and it sounded so beautiful to hear it spoken out.

I wish Cesarias poem would've been made more clearer. I know it was suppose to be a joke, but I'm not clear on why since Cesaria was a serious and reserved character. I wasn't 100% clear on the ending but I guess Miguel and Lupe got caught by the police and when he was asking, "what's outside the window?" it meant prison cell window because he made a reference to a star. That would make a lot of sense. I'm not sure. But I loved this story. It was a long book but there wasn't a moment where I found myself bored. I could see reading it again down the road.

Favorite Passage:

"He whispered that he loved me, that he would never be able to forget me. then he got up (twenty seconds after he'd spoken, at most) and slapped my face. The sound echoed through the house. We were on the first floor, but I heard the sound of his hand (when his palm left my cheek) rise up the stairs and enter each of the rooms on the second floor, dropping down through the climbing vines and rolling like glass marbles in the yard. When I could react , I made a fist with my right hand and hit him in the face. He hardly moved. But his arm was fast enough to hit me again. Bastard, I said, faggot, coward, and I launched a clumsy attack, punching, scratching, and kicking. He didn't even try to dodge my blows. Fucking masochist".

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