New York City Fiction, Love, War, Magic and Guts

Hamill's entertaining novel, Forever,  delves into the history of New York City starting in 1740 and concluding with the fateful day of 9-11-2011.

To show us the history of the city, Hamill most cleverly created an immortal Irish character, Cormac O'Connor.  The story starts in Ireland where Cormac is a child living under English Protestant rule, but secretly schooled in the Gaelic religion.  This part of the book was absolutely fascinating, taking me into a world I have never read of before this time.  Cormac comes to New York City, and at that time is granted eternal life provided he does not leave Manhattan.  This contrived situation acts as a great setting for the author to share the history of New York City with his readers.

This book was imaginatively constructed, entertaining and educational.  Hamill wove his tale with care.  It was quite fun to be introduced in a fictional setting to indentured slavery, the black slave trade, the American Revolution, the cholera epidemic, Boss Tweed and his group of faithful political crooks and even more.  The book seemed a bit choppy as it went from one sub plot to the next, with the setting moving forward in time often in great leaps and bounds, but if viewed as a collection of time glimpses into NYC, it was quite nice.

Other acclaimed books he has written that aren't quite such a reading commitment (this was a 640 pager) are A Drinking Life and Snow in August, though he has twenty books under his hat! Snow in August would be my choice for a good reading group discussion book due to its length and clearer material focus (as opposed to Forever which was focused on the history of NYC, and took forever to read!). Set in post WWII Brooklyn, this coming of age novel is rich with moral, racial and ethic issues as the relationship between an Irish Catholic boy and a Rabbi are developed into a tale. 

Hamill has a nice web site, http://www.petehamill.com/, where you can catch some video and get to know a little more about this prolific author and his latest works. He knows NYC, and writes about what he knows!

Women, Stand Up for the Right to Work! Fired When Married!

This book completed with a bang.  Vreeland's Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel finally brought some historical excitement into her tale in the last third of the book where, finally, the historical woman's right to work issue was addressed!

"It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less"  Susan B. Anthony


Our book meeting revealed that I was not the only person that felt that Vreeland may not have researched the common Victorian behavior in the early 1900's with respect to Clara's character.  We questioned such actions such as:

• Would it be considered proper in a boarding house to have men come in and sit on your bed? 

•      Is it OK to keep the company of men without an escort?

•      Is it OK to retire to bed with a man in your bedroom?

•      Is it OK to spend the weekend at a beech house with your male and female friends?

Vreeland painted Clara as a very discrete and proper lady, which seemed to be at odds with some of her behavior in the novel.

The end of the book concluded with some meaty topics that were presented beautifully.   I wish these topics such as the relationship between unions, business and woman's work rights with supporting historical stories would have been described throughout the book rather than concentrated at the end of the tale.

The author did an awesome job describing the struggles of the immigrants.  Most everyone enjoyed the historical setting and the sprinkling of American history in the telling of the story.  We had an interesting discussion with respect to the male/female love relationship within the workplace which is as applicable then as it is now, as often married employees find themselves attracted to coworkers.

Though not the best book of the year, it was an enjoyable book club read, and lead to a pleasant discussion.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany, Susan Vreeland

We are going to meet on Saturday to discuss this book, and I wanted to solicit opinions.  I am looking forward to seeing the Tiffany exhibit at the museum.  Matter of fact, I think that it will be awesome, and I praise the book club member who came up with that idea!

First, for anyone who needs to catch up, this is a fictional account of Clara Driscoll who was director of the Tiffany Studios' Women's Glass Cutting Department in New York City around the turn of the century. Clara and her team of women chose the colors and type of glass to be used in the studios' famous glass items.  Women did not have the right to join the union, and were fired if they married, making this era interesting to discuss.  This well written book is a comfortable trip into Clara's life.

I am still reading this, but should be finished by Saturday.  So far, I am finding this OK, but not compelling to read.  Granted, it is historical fiction, but it isn't thick with plot, which is why it is a bit slow for me.  Pretty much, I'm seeing Clara seeing color and beauty in something, and then translating the art into glass as she matures one chapter at a time.  Her bohemian existence in a boarding house filled with other eccentrics and artists is interesting, but not compelling.  Discussion about women's issues will be interesting, but again, not page turning material.  The setting in the early 1900's is very attractive, but still, I'm not on the rail with this book (yet).

So, what do you think?  I'll summarize comments if anyone wants to make any to share on Saturday.

Later, K.

Unrequited Love, Mystery, Criminals, Hangings, 19th century London

My great expectations, that is to read a great classic, have been dashed in the reading of Great Expectations, written by Charles Dickens.  This has been a CHORE to read, though not without humorous moments, surprising twists and amusing characters. Turns out, this soap opera like book was written in a series of short chapters to be published in serial form.  This restricted the writing of the tale to installments of "roughly thirty-two pages of fifty lines per page.  ... To achieve so many cliffhangers, plots had to be large and complex with a lot of action" (CliffNotes, Great Expectations by Debra Bailey, 2000 Wiley Publishing, Inc.).  

Additionally, the writing style is difficult to adjust to, and many sentences remain undecyphered to me, usually referring to some context of the era.  However, after the first few chapters, it becomes quite readable with the understanding that some sentences one just stumbles over, yada yada yada,... even with footnotes.

I do not recommend this book for a book club read.  It isn't without value, heavens knows it has been parsed and analyzed ad nauseam.  It is quite worthy a read in a study of Dickens, London in 1860, and the social problems of this time.  Many students are strong armed into reading this.  I'm sure they learned something; I did.  The setting is magnificent, and Charles Dickens spins a good tale. The bottom line for me was that it was interesting, but it just wasn't fun.  Perhaps if I was living in 1860 England, I would be first in line to buy the magazine containing the next chapter.  After all, I do like a good serial story (Dallas, Weeds, Breaking Bad, Dark Shadows, to name a few old and new). Alas, it is 2011, this isn't my language, and when put into a chapter/novel format, the connections between the characters are unbelievable.

I would recommend watching the movie.  If you do want to read the book, it is available on-line for free at the Gutenberg Project.  I own the Penguin Classics edition, and would rather curl up with a book, carry it, eat lunch over it, and scribble notes than read it on-line.

What did you think of this book?  I'm now off onto the book club discussion book, Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel.  Happy reading!  K.

A Con Artist, Comedy, People Falling off of Towers, Clay Men with Firey Eyes, Pigeon Dung

I stumbled upon this book at the library, and what a gem it is!  Going Postal written by Terry Pratchett is the 33rd of the Diskworld novels, and I know I will need to read some more!  I've not read fantasy for quite some time, but this is delightful.  The story is set in a mechanical world (Diskworld) with believable characters in an environment where magic, time warps, vampires, golems (clay men who never sleep and are programmed to serve) and more exist.  What really sold me on this book though was the humor, in site into human behavior, and a mechanical email system (called the Clacks).  The Clacks is a system where people relay twitter length messages across many miles across the Grand Trunk (in our world the Internet) by moving a mechanical bit flipper (states are on or off, binary code).  The people in the next clacks tower (in a high and dangerous position) visually pick up the message and relay it, and in that way the message travels, like the pony express galloping mail across the US.  There was even the concept of a Clacks virus (there is no equivalent for Norton anti-virus) along with hackers.

I haven't stopped laughing.  Even the characters names are funny - lets see, Moist Von Lipwig (the protagonist and a very cunning con man, who is trying to make the post office 'work'), Adora Belle Dearheart (a smart woman whose kiss is like kissing an ashtray, who runs a golum rental service, and who Moist would like to date) Reacher Gilt (the bad guy and head of the Grand Trunk), Tolliver Groat (a hardworking postman who smells like cough medicines and old potatoes), and my favorite, Mr Pump (a clay man who is Moist's parole officer, but used to be a pump in a very deep well for many centuries).  Oh, and pigeons (and their dung) are prolific in the wreck of the post office, and there are other wonderful characters.

The final treat is that there is a UK DVD series dramatized, http://sky1.sky.com/going-postal.   This is quite a fun web page to explore.   And now, a trailer so you can see first hand what a golum looks like!

Suspense, Excitement, and Just A Little Bit Outrageous!

That is what I want to read next!  Enough literature, it is time for drugs, sex and rock and roll!  So, I shall look at my stack.  I'm winding down on a delightful fantasy/science fiction book by Terry Pratchett,  Going Postal, and am (finally) almost finished with Dickens's soap opera like tale, Great Expectations (Penguin Classics),  which I would like to say is available for FREE download via the Gutenburg Project. 

Every devoted reader has "the stack", that top heavy menagerie of books collected over many garage and library sales that beg to be read, but I'm wondering, what shall sate my mood....  What would your vote be?  Lets see, this is what I shall consider.  After spelunking through the book pile, I found the drugs, sex and rock and roll pickings slim, so perhaps Western vs Horror is the pick of the day.....

Deadwood , a western based on Deadwood, Dakota Territories in 1876.  To quote the back of the book (recently bought at the Deadwood SD museum), "Legendary gunman Wild Bill Hickok and his friend Charley Utter have come to the Black Hills town of Deadwood fresh from Cheyenne, fleeing an ungrateful populace...."  That should be good for alcohol, sex, guns and murder...

I found a Dean Koontz (a cleaner horror than the Steven King variety), By the Light of the Moon, collecting dust in the book case.  Koontz tends to focus his tales on good vs evil, where the good guys often include pets, children, a man and the woman he loves. Evil is chance, often of the science fiction flavor, and is always conquered in the end.  The stories don't require a lot of emotional expenditure on the part of the reader and are exciting to read.  So, I think the suspense and excitement will be rated high.  The cover states "... a novel of heart stopping suspense and transcendent beauty, of how evil can destroy us and love can redeem us..." 

Lastly, Steven King's Dreamcatcher has been sitting in the book case unread, and I'm starting to see why.  The story takes us back to Derry, Main, where friends struggle with "a creature from another world where their only chance of survival is locked in their shared past..."  Sounds A LOT like It .  Now I know why I haven't picked this up in the last ten years it has been collecting dust.  It was a very long novel, that should have been told in around half of the pages it took King to spin.  Shall I risk boredom? 

So, what do you think?  Which would you pick, or would you just go to the library and browse?

Good Harbor, Anita Diamant

Breast Cancer, The Virgin Mary, A Child's Death,  Illicit Love, A Female Rabii

Some years back, our book club read and discussed The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant.  It was good, interesting story, fun to discuss, but not very memorable (the red tent was the holding place for menstruating Jewesses in the ancient days of the Old Testament) - or should I say I can't remember the story, so that means it wasn't memorable to me.

This newer creation of Diamant, Good Harbor,  shows her maturation as an author.  The story is more like a walk in the everyday changing life of a middle aged women.  I can attest, what we have to go through is insane, everyone having difficult but separate problems that are so twisted that you can't share them with your spouse (umm, an affair would be an example), or your children and often not even your friends.  They eat away at you, bother you, and make you absolutely mad while you are trying to hold together your family and your own sanity. And, if you don't think your friends are having these problems, then you are just not telling you about them.

Anita Diamant makes the best of this middle aged situation by weaving a dual female friendship into the everyday drama of two Jewish woman, Kathleen Levine and Joyce Tabachnik.  This is a good discussion book for middle aged female friends, probably not so great for the young woman who don't have a clue what being a middle aged mother is all about.  This book was not heavy in plot, but heavy in subplots.  It was more like a detailed painting of two woman's lives, beautifully done and easy to read.  I think the point is that woman need each other to survive middle life.

As for the statue of the Virgin Mary, she too ties into this story.  I think she is the female friend that one of the less important characters needs to survive her own middle-motherhood, but that would be up to discussion.  So, what do you think this statue of the Virgin adds to the story?  Recall, this was a young Mary, solid in concrete and worshiped by a secret following.

Well, to help you out, here is a link to a reading guide from one of my favorite book browse sites, http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_G/good_harbor1.asp but they totally missed the Virgin Mary question. 

If you would like to learn more about Diamant, here is a link to her web page and a list of all of her books: http://www.anitadiamant.com/books.asp?page=books.
She also has a blog.  You can view this by clicking here: http://anitadiamant.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html