The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels by Doris Lessing

I have just read Doris Lessing for the first time! I picked up The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels at my local library and finished it in just two days.

Lessing's writing is every bit as delightful and moving as I had been led to believe. So much so that I think I'd like to read some of her more famous works such as The Grass Is Singing, or The Golden Notebook.

The little I've read about Lessing makes her sound like such a remarkable woman: born in Persia (now Iran) in 1919, raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature, and still actively writing!

The four short novels in The Grandmothers (published 2004) are:

The Grandmothers 1
Two women, close friends, fall in love with each other's teenage sons, and these passions last for years, until the women end them, in their respectable old age.

Victoria and the Staveneys 57
A poor black girl has a baby with the son of a liberal middle-class family and finds that her little girl is slowly being absorbed into a world of white privilege and becoming estranged from her.

The Reason for It 131
Certain to appeal to fans of Shikasta and Memoirs of a Survivor, it describes the birth, growth, and decline of a culture long ago, but with many modern echoes.

A Love Child 191
A soldier in World War II, during the dangerous voyage to India around the Cape, falls in love on shore leave and remains convinced that a love child resulted from the wartime romance.

Here are some discussion questions I found about this book:

• Did Roz and Lil do something wrong in loving each others' son?
• Why is Victoria wary about Mary receiving the life she, herself, always wanted?
• Does the final note by the archaeologist vindicate the narrator?
• What is the significance of James' final thought?
• In the title novel -- The Grandmothers -- an adult Tom briefly refers to his life with his mother, her closest friend, and his closest friend in these terms: "Down there, I'm not free." Discuss the idea of personal freedom in the novel -- who is free to do what, and what choices are the characters "free” to make?
• The tone in the title novel is noticeably cool and analytical. Why do you think Lessing chooses to tell the story in this way?
• For a novel so focused on the personal, there is great care given to describing the physical worlds of these people. Discuss the importance of geographical elements in the story: the rough sea and the calm bay, the orderly, "perfect" land around it. The arid climate to which Harold and briefly Tom moves, and the brush thorns that litter the ground outside of the desert town.
• In Victoria and the Staveneys, the author chooses to withhold the fact that Victoria is black until the fourth page (after much physical description). Why do you feel she delays this revelation?
• One is tempted to level scorn on the Staveneys, and yet Lessing also shows them to be oddly touching, moral even. What are we meant to think about them? Do you find your response is of a personal, emotional nature of more removed? Furthermore, who is "good" in the family?
• Does the action of Victoria and the Staveneys feel determined, or proscribed? If this is social commentary, then what are we taught; if this is simply the hand of the author, what does this reveal about her own social vision?
• Victoria, Thomas and Edward are obviously products of their respective environments. How are they the results of their parentage? Does this parentage play into the above-mentioned notion of determination or fate?
• What parallels do you see between the world of The Reason for It and our own?
• The protagonist of A Love Child, James, goes through several transformations, the first, from England to South Africa; the second, from Africa to India. What precipitates these changes? Does James feel like the same person with Daphne as he was with Donald back in England? Is this change believable to you? What is Lessing trying to say about one's mutability, particularly as a result of one's caring and compassion for others?
• What themes connect these novels?

Enjoy!

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Last week I re-read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, one of my all-time favorite books.

If you haven't read this beautiful inspirational novel, first published in the early 1990s in Portuguese, you are missing out.

It is a simple book that reminds us to listen to our hearts.

If you loved Daniel Quinn's Ishmael, you will love this book too.

Interestingly, before coming across an old copy of The Alchemist and re-reading it, I started reading Lynne McTaggart's The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World; both remind me of the importance of being in tune with yourself, something I need to be reminded of about once a year.

Which is why I like to re-read The Alchemist and Ishmael at least once every two years. I think I last read the former in 2002 and the latter in 2004 so it's been some time now. I will have to make time to re-read Ishmael in 2009.

Each time I read my favorite books, I also feel like they teach me different things. The quote that stood out to me from this re-reading is this (supposedly a proverb): "Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time."


Click here to read an excerpt.

Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I found myself thinking about Milan Kundera's modern classic novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being today.

No reason really, it just came to mind.

I read this a few years ago because I'd heard so much about it, and because I'd enjoyed Kundera's Ignorance with its themes of memory, loss, and homesickness.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Kundera's novel of love and politics in his homeland -- communist-run Czechoslovakia -- between 1968 and the early 1980s.

It's a must-read, in my opinion.

Click here to read an excerpt of The Unbearable Lightness of Being and here to read an excerpt of Ignorance.

I didn't read either of his books for book clubs but I think they would be fascinating to discuss. In fact, I think I'll suggest one or more of his books the next time I'm supposed to lead the discussion!

Here are some discussion questions for The Unbearable Lightness of Being, in case your looking for some for your book club:

1. What kinds of being carry the attribute of lightness? How is the "lightness of being" of the novel's title presented? In what ways is it "unbearable"? What is the difference between "the sweet lightness of being" that Tomas enjoys in Zurich, after Tereza's return to Prague, and "the unbearable lightness of being"?
2. How does Nietzsche's myth of eternal return, with which Kundera opens his book, function in the novel? What does Kundera mean when he refers to "the profound moral perversity of a world that rests essentially on the nonexistence of return"? How does what he calls the unbearable burden of eternal return contrast with the "splendid lightness" of our daily lives?
3. How would you describe the three central relationships of the novel--Tereza and Tomas, Tomas and Sabina, Sabina and Franz? How do they embody Kundera's primary concerns and themes?
4. In what ways does Kundera explore what he calls "the irreconcilable duality of body and soul, that fundamental human experience." In what ways does he show this duality to be fundamental?
5. Both Tereza and Tomas repeatedly think of the series of fortuitous events that brought them together. What is the rule of fortuity, chance, and coincidence in their lives and the lives of others? What does Kundera mean when he writes, "Chance and chance alone has a message for us"?
6. In what ways may Sabina's description of her dual-level paintings--"On the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth"--apply to every aspect of the characters' lives and relationships?
7. What meanings and importance do each of the main characters ascribe to fidelity and betrayal? In what instances, for each character, do fidelity and betrayal have either positive or negative qualities?
8. Kundera insists that "the criminal regimes were made not by criminals but by enthusiasts convinced they had discovered the only road to paradise." What visions or versions of paradise are presented in the novel? By whom? How does each vision/version of paradise affect the lives of its enthusiasts and the lives of others?

And here are some discussion questions for Ignorance:

1. As in his previous novels, Kundera isn't content to merely tell a story; he also comments on it, via digressions on themes ranging from history to etymology and music. What is the effect of this method? Does it emotionally distance you from the narrative and characters or cause you to see them in a different light? Would you describe Ignorance as a realist novel?
2. When her Parisian friend Sylvie urges her to go home to her country, Irena replies "You mean this"--meaning Paris -- "isn't my home anymore?" This exchange suggests that "home" may be a relative phenomenon, that today's home may not be tomorrow's. How is this theme developed elsewhere in Ignorance? Can any of Kundera's characters be said to have a true home, or is home in this book always changeable, unreliable, and perhaps even illusory? And is going home a guarantee of happiness?
3. Even as Ignorance questions the permanence of home, it also raises doubts about the authenticity of the self, as in this moment when Irena glimpses her reflection in a department store mirror: "The person she saw was not she, it was somebody else, or…it was she but she living a different life." [p. 31] How would you sum up this novel's view of identity? Have Kundera's characters chosen their identities or have their identities been imposed on them by outside forces?
4. Early in the novel Kundera draws a series of correspondences and oppositions: between homesickness, nostalgia, and ignorance; between the longing for a place and the longing for a vanished past or a lost love. How does he develop these themes? Is Irena's nostalgia, for example, merely an expression of ignorance? Conversely, what is the reason for Josef's "nostalgic insufficiency?" [p. 74] When do these characters confuse homesickness with other types of longing, and with what consequences?
5. What is the significance of Ignorance's frequent references to The Odyssey? Do any events in this novel parallel those in Homer's epic? Is Josef's devotion to his deceased wife, for example, meant to recall Odysseus's devotion to Penelope? Compare the way Kundera uses The Odyssey in this book to the way Joyce uses it in Ulysses.
6. "Our century is the only one in which historic dates have taken such a voracious grip on every single person's life." [p.11] In what ways are the characters in Ignorance shaped by history and their personal destinies determined by it? Are they ever able to resist history? Does Kundera's view of historical forces hold out any hope for the freedom and dignity of the individual?
7. How would you describe Irena's and Josef's relationships with their families and old friends? Why are these so often marked by suspicion, incomprehension or outright hostility? In contrast, Irena and Josef seem to share a frictionless instant intimacy, even though they are little more than strangers. Is Kundera suggesting that the intimacy of strangers is somehow superior to the stifling, conventional closeness that prevails within most families? Are some of the characters' relationships more genuine than others?
8. What role is played by Irena's friend Milada who, unbeknown to Irena, was once Josef's girlfriend? Does Josef's past treatment of Milada predict his future behavior toward Irena? Is he morally responsible for Milada's mutilation or has Milada merely sacrificed herself for a sentimental fantasy? What do you make of Kundera's use of coincidence? Does he seem to view it the way Irena does -- as an expression of fate?
9. Are you surprised by the sexual encounter between Irena's mother and her boyfriend? Does it strike you as a betrayal of Irena, who at the time is betraying Gustav with Josef? Is Josef himself guilty of betraying Irena by his silence? How would you characterize this novel's attitude toward sex?

I should probably pick up some of Kundera's other books -- any suggestions?

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - Message from David Wroblewski

Just received this message from David Wroblewski, author of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel, through one of my book clubs:

Message from the author David Wroblewski

In my earliest memory—earliest of any kind—I am kneeling on the couch in the living room of our house in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, looking out the picture window. Our collie, Princess, is perched on the cushion beside me, and together we are watching three women coming up the sidewalk. I can't be much more than 2 years old, and I don't recall our visitors' purpose, but I must have set my hand against Princess as we looked out the window, for I can vividly recall the warmth and reassuring mass of her body and the texture of her fur against my fingertips. I suppose that moment is the beginning of my interest in the canine world, though who can pinpoint such things? Perhaps I was just born with a kind of certainty about dogs and our relationship to them. What I know is this: in my memory of that instant, there is no boundary between us. I am me, yes, and she is her, but we are also somehow the same. We are connected as we watch the women approach. They are talking and laughing, swaying along in a friendly, triangular formation. Then they are at the door. They are wearing woolen coats: It must have been spring or fall. Fall, I think. It may have been my birthday, because they are carrying something, and there must be some reason this otherwise ordinary afternoon has stayed with me all these years. One of the women reaches out. The doorbell rings.

When I was about 12 years old, someone abandoned a half-grown pup on the road near our farm. This pup ran wild through the woods for I don't know how long, appearing to us periodically as a flash of orange and white bolting through the field. One morning, my father spied him eating the gravel off the road. In time, we were able to coax the dog into the yard, and he become "my" dog, though, considering that he refused ever to come into the house or even allow a collar to be put on him, it was difficult to know who was adopting whom. We guessed he was half collie, half German shepherd. I named him Prince. For some reason, during those years, there was an explosion in the skunk population, and Prince took it as his sacred duty to corner any skunk that trundled into our yard, keeping the animal trapped (often under the bathroom window) with what was to me a mortifying and fascinating single mindedness, an electric ferocity in his movements. My father, worried about rabies, forbade us from going outside when this happened; he would go to the gun case and fetch his shotgun and trudge out the back door. Long before he arrived on the scene, however, Prince would have been soaked with scent, repeatedly. I spent many summer mornings making Prince stand still for a bath, scolding him. I remember his response: an unrepentant, almost prideful, gaze, which seemed to say, "No regrets. I can see what's right and wrong."

A final memory: one afternoon, now years ago, as I was struggling to revise a draft of Edgar Sawtelle, my partner, Kimberly, gave me this advice: Imagine someone reading Edgar's story on a long train ride home from work. That was all she said, nothing more, yet it is probably the single most useful bit of writing advice I've ever gotten. Before she turned away, I'd already filled in the details: that person was a man, and he'd had a dispiriting day at work; he'd grown up in the country, but now he worked in the city, and on that particular day he was feeling as if he'd lost his way in life—that his life had been reduced to a train ride from here to there and back, over and over again. I understood that the man was not me, exactly, but rather some version of me, and because this was so I could remind him: you were once connected to the wild world. Don't forget what that was like. I could see him, alone in his train car. As the fluorescent ceiling lights gradually superseded the dusk outside, the window glass became a long, black mirror. The man's head was bent over his book. I badly wanted to talk to him, but it was impossible, and eventually, when I had watched him long enough, I turned my attention back to the manuscript and got to work.

These memories reflect, I'm sure, some of my lifelong preoccupations, one being the extraordinary quality of our relationship with dogs, because The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is unabashedly a dog story. A love story, in fact. Writing it has given me a chance to consider how intertwined our species have become. How, over millennia, we've changed dogs and how dogs, in turn, have changed us. How the rituals and obligations of animal companionship also grant moments that transcend human experience. Another preoccupation of mine, not unrelated to the first, has to do with the nature of wildness in the human character. We glimpse it in ourselves every day, from the surge of emotion that rises from nowhere to the flash of inspiration we can't explain. Even memory itself, the very core of our identity, remains slyly feral, heedlessly retrieving all manner of incident and image, indifferent to whether its discoveries are burdens or gifts.

Since the book's publication, readers have occasionally turned to me with questions. While it's true that I love talking about Edgar's story, I've also found myself admitting that I don't want—and don't have—any final answers, any overarching, ambiguity-smashing point of view. Writing a novel may not absolutely require losing perspective, but I nonetheless have. Edgar, Almondine and the people in their world feel as real to me as anyone I have ever known, and thus, by turns transparent, inexplicable and fascinating. It is as true for the writer as for the reader that any novel worth its ink should be an experience first and foremost—not an essay, not a statement, not an orderly rollout of themes and propositions. All of which is to say: stories, too, are wild things.

Will post some additional discussion questions from my book club over the next week.

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie

Just heard that Hugh Laurie -- of the FOX tv show House MD -- published a comic spy novel in 1996: The Gun Seller. It's supposed to be a spoof of the spy novel genre, inspired by authors like Robert Ludlum.

I did enjoy actor-writer Ethan Hawke's Ash Wednesday and Steve Martin's Shopgirl: a Novella (one of my all-time favorite books) so I'm willing to consider reading Laurie's The Gun Seller -- and not just write it off as another actor's attempt at being a writer.

Click here to read an excerpt and click here to read Christopher Buckley's New York Times book review published June 8, 1997 titled "Bertie Wooster Meets James Bond."

Hopefully my library carries it!

Blindness by Jose Saramago

I read Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago's modern classic Blindness in 2005 and am happy to hear that Fernando Meirelles (who directed City of God and The Constant Gardener) has made into a movie -- just read Terrence Rafferty "Descending Into Blindness to See the Light" published September 19, 2008 in the New York Times comparing the movie to other apocalyptic science fiction movies.

I would guess that Julianne Moore is well cast as the doctor's wife, given her work in other eerie movies like The Forgotten, Freedomland, and Children of Men.

Also in this movie are Mark Ruffalo (as the ophthalmologist), Gael Garcia Bernal, Danny Glover, Sandra Oh, and other stars.

I hope that this film, shot in São Paulo, Ontario, and Uruguay, does justice to this book.

Which reminds me....I wonder when the movie version of The Road comes out.

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

Last weekend, I also finished reading Walker Percy's The Moviegoer, just in time for my book club's discussion of this piece of classic Southern literature (my book club started it's discussion a bit later than planned).

I'm happy to report that I liked this novel! It was a bit slow to start, but Binx Bolling's search for meaning is timeless.

Given that this was written by a Southern writer, I was surprised to find a few references to Buddhism. Here's one: "My aunt likes to say she is an Episcopalian by emotion, a Greek by nature, and a Buddhist by choice."

Here are a few other quotes I liked from The Moviegoer:

Only in time of illness or disaster or death are people real.

I do believe the South has produced more high-minded women, women of universal sentiments than any other section of the country except possibly New England in the last century. Of my six living aunts, five are women of the loftiest theosophical panBrahman sentiments.

By heaven she is just like the girls in the movies who won't put out until you prove to them what a nice unselfish fellow you are, a lover of children and dogs.

And considering the title I was surprised to find references not just to movies but also to many books:

• A Shropshire Lad by A. E. Housman
  
• Arabia Deserta by Charles Doughty
• Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud
• Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
• The Greene Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine
• The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• What is Life? The Physical Aspects of the Living Cell by Erwin Schroedinger
• The Universe as I See It by Albert Einstein

Of course a fair number of movies were also mentioned:

• Panic in the Streets
• It Happened One Night
• Red River
• The Oxbow Incident
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Dark Waters
• The Charterhouse of Parma

I've haven't seen any of the movies mentioned and read only a few of the books mentioned. I think I would like to read Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet and I've been meaning to read Grace Metalious's Peyton Place. And of course I have to make it a priority to read Tolstoy's War and Peace.

All in all, I liked this book a lot more than Carson McCullers’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (click here to view my posts on that book).

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

A few days ago, I finished reading Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.

Even though it was well written and the plot was captivating, I had a hard time reading The Jungle. You just felt so sad for all the characters; Jurgis & Ona Rudkus; Marija Berczynskas & Tamoszius Kuszleika; Teta Elzbieta; Dede Antanas; and all the little children.

The graphic descriptions of the inhumane working conditions, of the disgusting meatpacking industry, of the problems of non-English speaking immigrants, it just made me want to stop reading.

I can see how this book outraged the public when it was published in 1906 and led to the passage of pure food laws.

Even with the pure food laws, it is clear from reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore’s Dilemma that we still don't know what goes into our food. We think "free-range" is a clear enough term but most of us don't what it really means. We can read the ingredients of a product, but how many of us know that citric acid, lactic acid, glucose, fructose, malodextrin, ethanol, sorbitol, manitol, xanthan gum, dextrins, and monosodium glutamate (among many other common ingredients) are corn-processed additives!

Even though it did not succeed in converting Americans to socialism, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle continues to ring true today. Can you imagine the public outrage and the call for change that would happen if we all knew the truth of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO)?

I am eager to read Steven Greenhouse's The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker (a non-fiction book about the problems facing American workers -- click here to view all my posts about this book), to learn about the problems facing the modern poor and the middle class alike.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

I'm still reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and thought I'd publish a few discussion questions to think about:

1. What are some of the ways in which Dickens parallels the personal and the political in A Tale of Two Cities.
2. One of the novel's most important motifs is the figure of the double. What is the effect of Dickens's doubling technique? Does he use doubles to draw contrasts, comparisons, or both?
3. What are some examples of Dickens's use of foreshadowing in A Tale of Two Cities.
4. How sympathetic is Dickens towards the French Revolution?
5. The first paragraph of this book is widely quoted -- "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." -- why is this?
6. Some critics charge that Dickens, in much of his work, failed to create meaningful characters because he exaggerated them to parodic extremes. Is this a fair assessment of his characterization in A Tale of Two Cities? Does the author's use of caricature detract from his novel's ability to speak to human nature?
7. Dickens relies heavily on coincidence to fuel the plot of A Tale of Two Cities: letters are found bearing crucial information, for example, and long-lost brothers are discovered in crowded public places. Do such incidents strengthen or weaken the plot and overall themes of the novel?
8. Based on Dickens's portrayals of the villainous characters in his novel (particularly Madame Defarge), what conclusions might the reader draw about the author's notions of human evil? Does he seem to think that people are born evil? If so, do they lack the ability to change? Or does he suggest that circumstances drive human beings to their acts of cruelty?

And since I plan on re-reading Dickens's Great Expectations soon, I'm including some discussion questions for that classic as well:

1. In this novel, Great Expectations, things are often not what they seem. Discuss how the theme of "expectations" is illustrated by and through the various major characters in this book. How are Pip's expectations different and similar from those of his surrogate father, Joe (the blacksmith), Miss Havisham (the eccentric recluse), Estella (the daughter of a convict and murderess) and Pip's benefactor, (the convict) Magwitch?
2. Why do you think it is one of Magwitch's principal conditions that Pip (his nickname) "always bear the name of Pip" in order to receive his financial support?
3. If Pip had not received his "Great Expectations" and never left Joe's forge, how do you think his life would have been different? Are the lessons he learns during his physical and emotional journey necessary for him to arrive at the wisdom he evinces as the middle-aged narrator of this tale? In what ways?
4. Why do you think Miss Havisham manipulates and misleads Pip into thinking she is his secret benefactor? What, if anything, does she derive from this action?
5. Given Dickens's portrayal of Estella, what do you think attracts Pip to her in the first place and what, when he learns of her cold-blooded manipulation of men such as her husband, keeps Pip devoted to her until the end, loving her, as he says, "against reason, against promise, against peace?"
6. In the final chapter Estella says to Pip: "Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching." Discuss the theme of suffering in this book—specifically how it instructs Pip, Miss Havisham and Estella.
7. In Chapter 49 Miss Havisham confesses to Pip that in adopting Estella, she "meant to save her (Estella) from misery like my own." Do you believe this, given Dickens's harsh characterization of Miss Havisham throughout the novel?
8. And in the same Chapter (49) when Miss Havisham is set afire, do you believe that, given her state of mind, Dickens intends us to read this as an accident or a kind of penance/attempted suicide on her part for her cruelty to Pip and Estella?
9. What do you think makes Pip change his opinion of his benefactor Magwitch from one of initial repugnance to one of deep and abiding respect and love?
10. In Chapter 59, when Pip places Joe and Biddy's son (also named Pip) on the same tombstone that opens the novel, what do you think Dickens intends to tell us with this image? Given the novel's theme of how the sins of others are visited upon us, do you view this image as a foreboding one in any way?

And in case you're a teacher looking for materials to help you lead your class through A Tale of Two Cities, click here to view a Teachers' Guide (provided by Penguin Group).

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

I've just started reading The Moviegoer by Walker Percy for a book club.

I've been so busy this summer I found myself with just a few days to read this book club selection, which won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1962.

The Moviegoer concerns the life of the searching and rootless Binx Bolling, a young stockbroker in post-war New Orleans.

It is said to be a classic piece of Southern Literature, like Carson McCullers's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter -- which I also read for a book club and did not particularly enjoy (click here to read all my posts related to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter).

So I am keeping my expectations for The Moviegoer low.

I'll write more once I finish and again after my book club's discussion.

If you are also reading this for a book club, you may be looking for discussion questions:

Discuss why John feels that everyone around him is dead, although they are obviously still living. What makes him feel this way?

How does the title of "The Moviegoer" relates to the theme of the book?

What is the root of Kate's depression? What terrifies her the most in life?

Explain the significance of Aunt Emily's home, Elysian Fields?

Got to finish this book quick!

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

I've been slowly plodding through A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, which I first read when I was a kid.

I had forgotten that this classic piece historical fiction depicting the French Revolution was printed in serialized format in the twopenny periodical All the Year Round -- and I was thrilled to find an edition (by Penguin Classics) that publishes the full text of this story as it appeared in 1859 and includes the original illustrations by H. K. Browne ('Phiz').

I had also forgotten how easy it is to get confused about the plot, so I was thrilled to see that this edition includes a timeline of Dickens's fictional events and historical French Revolution events.

I've included the timeline here for easy reference as I continuing reading this masterpiece.

This timeline represents two kinds of events. Fictional events, involving characters invented by Dickens, are represented in plain type; historical events described or alluded to within the novel in italics. This timeline excludes famous events of the French Revolution not described or alluded to by Dickens; in other words, it is designed to suggest what parts and aspects of the Revolution the novelist works to make visible and to intertwine, and to a greater or lesser degree, with the private, invented action of his narrative.

• 1756-63: The Seven Years War (II.2)
• 5 January 1757: Robert Damiens attempts the assignation of Louis X V; two months later, Damiens is executed, as described by the mender of roads in conversation with the Defarges and their revolutionary associates (II.15)
• 22 December 1757: The twin Evremonde brothers hire Dr Manette (III.10)
• 29 December 1757: Death of the elder sister of the future Mme Defarge - seduced by the uncle of Charles Darnay (III.10)
• 31 December 1757: Dr. Manette arrested and confined within the Bastille (III.10)
• 1766: The Chevalier de la Barre accused, tried and executed (I.1)
• December 1767: Manette starts to write his confessions (III.10)
• 1775-83: The American Revolution (I.1)
• November 1775: Manette released from Bastille (I.4-6)
• March 1780: Darnay tried at Old Bailey (II.2-3)
• June 1780: Lorry, Darnay and Carton attend a gathering at Dr Manette's Soho house and sense (in Carton's words) 'a great crowd bearing down upon us' (II.6)
• July 1780: Monsieur (the uncle of Darnay) attends Monseigneur's reception in Paris; returning to the country, he receives Darnay at his chateau and, the morning after, is found dead (II.7-9)
• Summer 1781: Lucie Manette marries Darnay; Manette reverts temporarily to shoemaking; Jerry Cruncher participates in the 'funeral' of Roger Cly and later tries to dig up his body; the Defarges consult with the mender of roads and visit Versailles (II.10-20)
• 1783: Lucie Darnay's daughter born (II.21)
• 14 July 1789: Storming of Bastille, recovery by Defarge of Manette's confession (II.21)
• July 1789: The first emigration (II.23)
• Late July and early August 1789: The Great Fear, Evremonde chateau destroyed (II.23)
• 21 June 1792: Prussians issue the Brunswick Manifesto, threatening revenge on Paris and the Revolution. Lorry very worried about integrity of documents at Tellson's in Paris (II.24)
• 13 August 1792: Louis XVI and family imprisoned in the Temple (III.1)
• 14 August 1792: Finally receiving Gabelle's letter, Darnay leaves for Paris (II.24)
• 15-18 August 1792: Darnay arrested and imprisoned (III.1)
• 2-6 September 1792: September massacres in Paris (III.2-3)
• 3 September 1792: Lucie and Manette follow Darnay to Paris (III.2-3)
• September 1792-October 1793: They live in Paris, while Darnay languishes in prison (III.4)
• 21 September 1792-20 September 1793: The Year One of Liberty - l Vendemiaire to 30 Fructidor (III.4)
• 23 October 1792: Condemnation to death of returning emigrants (III.6)
• 21 January 1793: Execution of Louis XVI (III.4)
• 24 February 1793: 300,000 men recruited for armies, to combat internal rebellion and threat of invasion (III.4)
• 17 September 1793: Law of suspects (III.4)
• 16 October 1793: Execution of Marie-Antoinette (III.4)
• 31 October 1793: Execution of Girondins (III.4)
• November-December 1793: Lucie's vigils outside the prisons of La Force (III.5)
• 9 November 1793: Execution of Madame Roland (III.15)
• December 1793: The Terror in Lyon (mass drownings in DIckens's 'rivers of the South') (III.4)
• December 1793: Darnay's first trial; he is acquitted and rearrested; Carton arrives in Paris (III.6)
• December 1793 or January 1794: Second trial of Darnay; Darnay saved by Carton (III.9-15)

George Orwell Blog

George Orwell. Famous writer of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Down and Out in Paris and London, and Animal Farm. But a blogger?

“I think he would have been a blogger,” said Jean Seaton, a professor at the University of Westminster in London who administers the Orwell writing prize and thought up the idea of publishing George Orwell's copious diaries every day in blog form, exactly 70 years after they were written.

Noam Cohen's August 24, 2008 New York Times article "What George Orwell Wrote, 70 Years Later to the Day" writes, "The scholars behind the project say they are trying to get more attention for Orwell online and to make him more relevant to a younger generation he would have wanted to speak to.

A similar blog is made up of transcripts from Harry Lamin's letters from the first World War, posted exactly 90 years after they were written by Bill Lamin a retired mathematics teacher in England and grandson of Harry Lamin.

I'd never heard of this concept before but it intrigues me. I wonder if there will be a flood of similar blogs in the next year.

And while I may not read the Harry Lamin blog or other blogs in this format, I plan to follow the Orwell blog.

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes - Book Club Discussion

Last month I read Julian Barnes's Arthur & George for one of my book clubs (click here to read all entries related to this book) and we've just started discussing it.

While I enjoyed the book, my lit sisters were less than impressed with it. Generally, they thought the book was well constructed, well researched but tedious to read.

My book club found George's character and his family incredibly boring, though most did feel sorry for him once Arthur became involved in his defense.

However, I was in agreement with the group that George Edalji's father's refusal to defend his son against the terrible accusations made against him, the family's bizarre sleeping arrangements, and their total denial about any racial motivation behind the strange persecution they lived with for years were baffling.

The discussion continues this week . . .

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

Last week I finished Arthur & George by Julian Barnes for one of my book clubs (click here to read all entries related to this book).

This novel is moving, intelligent and thoughtfully deals with issues of race, class, morality, honor, spirituality, friendship and love. Barnes's elegant prose is compelling, particularly the riveting dialogue, and carefully crafted characterizations.

Arthur's voice is saturated with that of Sherlock Holmes and the contemplations of Alfred Wood (Arthur's assistant) that he is to Arthur as Dr. Watson is to Sherlock Holmes add a light-hearted nature to the miscarriage of justice that George Edalji suffered.

I smiled when Barnes had George read "a tattered cheap edition" of The Hound of the Baskervilles in prison and "judged it excellent."

I felt uncomfortable reading about Mam's developing relationship with Brian Waller, just six years older than Arthur.

I read with mixed feelings about Arthur's affair with the young classically trained mezzo-soprano and accomplished horsewoman Jean Leckie and Mam's subsequent approval of the relationship. The flirtation would be so delightful if not adulterous:

He looks down into her hazel-green eyes. "Are you flirting with me, young lady?"

She looks straight back at him. "I am talking to you about skiing." But those, it feels, are only her nominal words.

"Because if you are, be careful I do not fall in love with you."

He barely knows what he has said. He half means it entirely and half cannot imagine what has got into him.

"Oh, you are already. In love with me. And I with you. There is no doubt about it. No doubt at all."

I was outraged when Mam went so far as to give Jean a small pale cabochon sapphire ring (which had once belonged to her great-aunt) because Arthur chivalrously wished for Jean to wear a ring to symbolize their love.

And I was saddened to read of Jean's introduction to Arthur's dearest sister Lottie and even to his wife's mother with assurances that Touie will "be shielded at all cost from knowledge, pain and dishonour" and it pained me to read of the heated disagreement between Arthur and his sister Connie and brother-in-law Willie regarding Arthur's impropriety.

I laughed out loud at the use of the chess term zugzwang (a player whose turn it is to move whose every possible move would worsen their position is said to be in zugzwang) to describe what Arthur's life feels like and I read with curiosity Arthur's deepening interest in "spiritism" and mysticism:

"If you look at what it actually says in the Bible, if you ignore the way in which the text has been altered and misinterpreted to suit the will of the established churches, it's quite clear that Jesus was a highly trained psychic or medium. The inner circle of the Apostles, especially Peter, James and John, were clearly chosen for their spiritist capabilities. The 'miracles' of the Bible are merely -- well, not merely, wholly -- examples of Jesus's psychic powers."

And as I mentioned before, I was disgusted by the descriptions of animal mutilation and saddened by the racism endured by George Edalji at the hands of policemen and others.

Ultimately I felt joyous reading about the Courts proclaiming George innocent and about Arthur's work in this verdict help lift Arthur out of his depression.

It is because this novel evoked such emotion in me that it was so captivating.

I'm looking forward to my book club's discussion of Arthur & George!

And I must borrow a copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles from my local library to re-read.

More Library Books

I went to the library yesterday to return a few books, and I could not resist borrowing a few.

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
• Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Bernd Heinrich

You've probably heard of the first two and the third was a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year (click here to read David Quammen's review titled "Bird Brains" and published August 1, 1999). Heinrich, who I am not familiar with, is a well known science writer who focuses on animals.

Lately, I've been feeling like it would be good to re-read some of the classics so expect to see me read books like Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe this summer.

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

I've written a few times about Julian Barnes's Arthur & George, which I'm reading for one of my book clubs.

This wonderful piece of historical fiction is a joy to read; I can see why it was shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize!

I'm 50 pages into Part II, Beginning with an Ending, which is about one quarter of the way through Part II and I am hooked.

I feel quite sad for George Ernest Thompson Edalji, newly educated solicitor-at-law and author of Railway Law for the "Man in the Train," and the racist persecution he endured at the hands of menacing strangers and the police and the graphic descriptions of animal torture disgusts me.

In the meantime, Arthur Conan Doyle's literary career has taken off at the expense of his medical career while his wife, Louisa (Touie) has been diagnosed with tuberculosis (known as consumption at the time).

The contrast and similarities between the lives of these two men makes you wonder how their paths will cross later in the book.

Can't wait to find out!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I had heard rumors that The Road by Cormac McCarthy, one of three books I recommend for Earth Day 2008, was going to be made into a movie so I was thrilled to read Charles McGrath's "At World’s End, Honing a Father-Son Dynamic" (published May 27, 2008 in the New York Times) about filming the movie version!

Filming started in late February mostly in and around Pittsburgh with its "deserted coalfields, run-down parts of Pittsburgh, windswept dunes."

I'm glad to hear that the script is faithful to the book and I hope that Viggo Mortensen portrays the father well (Charlize Theron is set to play the wife and Robert Duvall and Guy Pierce also have minor roles).

The son will be played by Kodi Smit-McPhee, an 11 year of Australian who is known for his masterful American accent!

The Road has great cinematography potential and I will definitely see it when it comes out in theaters!

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

By the way, last week I finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, and sadly it did not live up to my rather high expectations.

Perhaps it's because I'm not from the South and have never lived in the South, but I couldn't relate to many of the characters and their situations.

I found the book dreadfully sad and I though McCullers's writing thoroughly impressive for a 23 year old author (at the time).

Anyway, I read this for a book club and will post more after our discussion.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

I finally finished The Forbes Book of Great Business Letters: Memos, Missives, Pitches, Proposals and E-Mails (edited by Erik Bruun) and am on to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

I haven't read any of her books before and am excited to read this one, McCullers's first novel published in 1940; I'm reading it with a book club. Critics call it a classic unforgettable tale of moral isolation in a 1930s small Georgia mill town; Tennesee Williams called McCullers "the greatest prose writer that the South [has] produced."

If I enjoy The Heart is a Lonely Hunter as much as I expect to, I'll have to read some of her other works such as: Reflections in a Golden Eye, Clock Without Hands, and The Member of the Wedding.

Here are some of the discussion questions I'll keep in mind as I read:

• The title of the book comes from a poem by William Sharp, with the lines "But my heart is a lonely hunter that hunts / On a lonely hill." What is the significance of the title? Is each character in the novel hunting the same thing, or is each in search of something different? McCullers's original title for the book was The Mute. Why do you suppose the change was made?
• McCullers describes John Singer as "an emotional catalyst for all the other characters." What does his presence inspire in others? Do you believe that he remains inert, as a catalyst by definition should, or is he himself affected by his interactions with the others? Why or why not?
• McCullers once described the central characters in the novel as "heroic, though ordinary." How does each character show elements of heroism? Is there a character you find more heroic than the rest?
• In the book's first section, Biff's wife, Alice, quotes Mark 1:16–18: "Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." How does this quote resonate throughout the novel? What role does spirituality play in the novel? Do the characters strive for communion with a higher spiritual force or unifying principle, something greater than themselves?
• Music has great importance in the book, from Mick's aspirations to become a pianist to Willie's ever-present harmonica. McCullers, who had once hoped to study music at Juilliard, even described the structure of the novel as a three-part fugue, and explained, "Like a voice in a fugue, each one of the main characters is an entity in himself — but his personality takes on a new richness when contrasted and woven in with the other characters in the book." In what other ways does this musicality assert itself in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter? What does music symbolize in the novel? How, too, is silence used?
• The novel has been widely praised for its ability to illustrate how social, economic, and racial factors serve to isolate people from one another. In what way is each character isolated? What efforts does each make to overcome this alienation? Are the efforts successful or ultimately futile?
• John Singer dreams he is kneeling before Antonapoulos, who stands at the head of a set of stairs. Behind Singer kneel the four other main characters: Mick, Biff, Jake, and Copeland. How does Singer's dream reflect the relationships among the main characters? To what extent is Singer's love of Antonapoulos similar to the attention paid to Singer by Mick, Biff, Jake, and Copeland? Are these characters capable of loving one another? Of receiving love? Are some characters better emotionally equipped than others? Why or why not?
• Mick Kelly is considered the most autobiographical character McCullers ever created. Mick's tomboyishness, her musical aspirations, and her dream to escape small-town life parallel the author's own. When Mick realizes she cannot afford a violin, she tries to build her own. What does the violin symbolize? What does this act tell you about Mick's character? Do you have sympathy for her when she fails? Do you feel closer to Mick than you do to the other narrators?
• Mick compartmentalizes her thoughts into what she calls an inner room and an outer room. Why does she do this? Do other characters show this same type of duality? How does it manifest itself?
• When Jake Blount finds a Bible passage written on a wall, he responds with his own message and then searches for the person who wrote the original message. Why is it important to him to find that person?
• Dr. Copeland has great dreams for his family and for his community, but he is unable to gain much support for his ideas. Do you think Copeland's self-perception that he is a failure is valid? How many of his frustrations are a result of racial bias in society? Why do you suppose his relationships with his children are fraught?
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter has been praised for its sensitive and realistic portrayal of racial tensions in the Depression-era South. What relevance does the novel have today? How much has changed since the 1930s?

Check out Oprah's Book Club for specific discussion questions for each Part of the book.

Library Book Sale

I just got back from my local library's Annual Book Sale and wow, I got 24 books in almost new condition for $1.00 each (except for two hardcovers for $2.00 each). What a deal!

So these are the latest additions to my large personal library:

• The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama


• The Best American Spiritual Writing 2005 by Barry Lopez (Introduction) and Philip Zaleski (Series Editor)


• The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis


• Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America by Thomas J. Fleming


• Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert


• Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship by Jon Meacham


• God In All Worlds: An Anthology of Contemporary Spiritual Writing by Lucinda Vardey


• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy


• High Tide: The Truth About Our Climate Crisis by Mark Lynas


• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer


• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison


• The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker


• The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards


• Naked by David Sedaris


• Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces


• Personal History by Katharine Graham


• Prodigal Summer: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver


• Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi


• The Road by Cormac McCarthy


• Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs


• The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology by Robert Wright


• The One Thing You Need to Know: ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success by Marcus Buckingham


• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.) by Betty Smith


• Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

That's about $440.00 worth of books for just $26.00! Can't beat that, even at the local used bookstore!