Books: Another Catch-up Post
Here are some recent reads:
The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls's memoir of growing up with two wildly dysfunctional parents. From the desert Southwest to the hills of Southern West Virginia, dodging bill collectors, sometimes scrabbling for food, Walls and her siblings somehow survive. Hilarious and heartbreaking at once.
Empire Rising -Thomas Kelly's novel of Depression era New York is in part the story of the Empire State Building and the men who built it. It's also a story of Tammany Hall and of the corruption, bribery and deal-making that were part of Jazz Age New York politics. Michael Briody is a WWI veteran, recent Irish immigrant, steelworker, semi-professional boxer, and sometimes IRA gun runner who loves his new city and proudly works the high iron. Briody is not only entagled in the political complexities of the Irish 'Troubles'; he also becomes romantically involved with fellow immigrant Grace Masterson, an artist who is the mistress of Johnnie Farrell, Mayor Jimmy Walker's corrupt bagman. Kelly's love for New York and his respect for the working men shine through. If you're as afraid of heights as I am, you'll certainly experience some moments of stomach twisting terror reading about these brave men, casually going about their work as the building rises further and further into the sky. (I was in our library's Book Cellar the other day - where they sell used books to raise money - and came across a copy of one of Kelly's earlier novels The Rackets which I picked up for 25 cents. Sweet!)
Lush Life - It's no surprise that Richard Price was hired to write for The Wire. His novels have always covered the same gritty urban territory. In this, his latest, Eric Cash manages a restaurant and is coming to the realization that his dreams of becoming a screenwriter or novelist will probably come to nothing. One night, after a round of bar-hopping, Eric and his companions are accosted on the street and someone is killed. Eric is initially a suspect but even after he is cleared he has difficulty dealing with the repercussions of the event and his life slowly begins to unravel. Lush Life is populated by the same crowd as The Wire - cops, perps, politicians, victims, project dwellers, citizens. A good one from one of my favorite writers.
Madame Bovary - At #7 this is the highest I've gotten on Burt's Novel 100 list. A bit slow but worth the effort. Emma's romantic fantasies and her efforts to escape the banalities of rural life lead to her doom. Flaubert handily skewers the clergy and the bourgoisie. The novel was controversial in its time because it deals with - gasp! - adultery. In fact Flaubert was dragged into court on obscenity charges. From Wikipedia:
Madame Bovary, on the whole, is a commentary on the entire self-satisfied, deluded, bourgeois culture of Flaubert's time period. His contempt for the bourgeoisie is expressed through his characters: Emma and Charles Bovary lost in romantic delusions; absurd and harmful scientific characters, a self-serving money lender, lovers seeking excitement finding only the banality of marriage in their adulterous affairs. All are seeking escape in empty church rituals, unrealistic romantic novels, or delusions of one sort or another.
Vanity Fair - currently reading - I knew relatively little about this book before I started it. I'm only about half way through at this point, but I'm already sure it'll be one of my favorite Novel 100 reads. Thackeray injects his wry wit and sarcasm into the proceedings in a thoroughly modern way. Very funny.
The Silver Swan - John Banville wrote one of my favorite novels of the past few years, The Sea, which won the Man Booker prize in 2005. The Silver Swan is Banville's second mystery written as Benjamin Black, a follow up to last year's excellent Christine Falls. Set in 1950's Dublin, the novel marks the return of the crusty pathologist Quirke, who can never seem to leave well enough alone and who, once again, finds himself investigating the death of a young woman, an apparent suicide.
The Spellman Files - Recovered screenwriter Lisa Lutz (Plan B) has written a delightfully wacky novel about a family of crazed private detectives. Just hilarious. Can't wait to read the next installment, The Curse of the Spellmans.
