December 6, 2006
Mochi
Mmm. One of the benefits of where I live is international delicacies on demand. Yesterday I had a hankering for mochi, which was one of my favourite treats when I lived in Japan. And so I just picked some up on my way home yesterday, and am snacking my way through the toil. I’ve been displaying strange side effects from an overdose of undergrad papers however: I’ve been preoccupied with Petula Clark all the live long day.
December 6, 2006
Difficult
From this article, via Maud Newton.
Marilynne Robinson says “Expect [writing] to be difficult. If you don’t encounter difficulty you’re probably not doing it well enough.”
December 5, 2006
Oh my
Take 75 undergraduate essays to be marked (though 33 are done!), one essay to write (though is 5 arguments in), a creative deadline for this Friday which has been severly not paid attention to, a multitude of Christmas things (not to mention the day I have devoted soley to Christmas baking). Please add two houseguests, who are apparently arriving Thursday, and who I’ve never met before. Oh my.
December 5, 2006
Anticipation
Claire Messud, whose recent book I so enjoyed is profiled in The Globe today.
There continues to be fun at the Guardian Books Blog.
33 papers are marked and 3 paragraphs on my essay are done (I’m writing one per day), and I am absolutely exhausted but so anticipating all the reading I plan to do over Christmas. Coming up, Heartburn by Nora Ephron, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, This is My Country, What’s Yours? by Noah Richler, Jane Eyre (I am Bronteing it up this year, on occasion of my trip to the moors in June), and of course The Sea Lady. Among others, I imagine. But at the moment it’s all quite far away.
December 4, 2006
Up there
Up there, she thought, and she patted her hair dry with a towel, the sky must be very cluttered. She remembered back a long time ago, when their house was being built, and her parents had taken her to see it. There was dirt everywhere, instead of a lawn, instead of the street and the house itself still just had its wooden bones, like the houses stopped in time over on the other side of the creek. There was no door yet— only a frame— and they went inside so Carmen could see the room that would be hers, up the wooden steps with muddy footprints. The room wasn’t finished yet, but still Carmen could see its shape and the space where the window would go once there was a wall. Carmen had lay down on the floor in the middle of the room, and looked right up through the roof that wasn’t there yet, and she thought, “So this is what the sky above my bed will look like.” She still thought about that sky sometimes, when she looked at her ceiling in the dark at night. The sky hadn’t looked cluttered then, as evenly blue as the ceiling was white, but then daylight can be tricky. When the night comes along with all its lights, then you can see what’s out there.
December 3, 2006
Star-Spotting
How exciting. Today Pat from EastEnders came into my mum-in-law’s shop! Unfortunately she decided to treat Pat like she was a normal person, didn’t ask for her autograph, take her picture, or tell her about me. This ability to stay cool in the face of stardom is admirable, but I can’t say I’m not disappointed.
December 3, 2006
Remarkable Voices
And so it continues. The papers are slowly getting marked, my essay is slowly getting written, and my creative work too. Everything is on schedule, plus I sent all my Christmas cards yesterday and my shopping is done except for Stuart, which is easy anyway. Today I am taking a lunch break and we’re going out for sushi with two lovely new friends we’re quite excited to see again. History of Love was magnificent, though the ending was not quite what I would have liked but the rest of the book was so amazing, I wasn’t really bothered. Oh, the voices she made. Quite remarkable, I think, and so remark I do. I’m starting The Remains of the Day and I’ve not idea what to expect. I am sorry that all of this is duller than even usual, but this is it at the moment.
December 1, 2006
Book Tip
I know there are a few of you out there who do follow up on my book recommendations, so this goes out to you, but everyone else– I beg you to take heed. I am reading The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, and it is breaking my heart in the most beautiful way imaginable. I’m sending out a blanket call for you to read this book.
November 30, 2006
The Uses of Enchantment
I don’t know what to do with Heidi Julavits’ The Uses of Enchantment. I mean, what a strange book. I’ve not read Julavits’ two previous novels, but the customer reviews I’ve read for them usually mention general weirdness and Julavits biting off more than she can chew. I get the sense that Julavits is chewing better now, but still, it’s quite a mouthful (this metaphor ends here, I say).
So, we’ve got the mysterious disappearence of a teenager, all right. Whose mysterious disappearence is repetitious of another teenager’s disappearence ten years before. Both girls obsessed with a seventeenth century story of a girl abducted by Indians, whose rescuer was subsequently hanged as a witch. And the first girl is apparently descended from a Salem witch. And she returns home fifteen years later after her mother’s funeral, in order to resolve what happened to her. And most of the narrative is played out through the rivalry of two psychotherapists with opposing missions. Incredibly intertextual, though the only text I was familar with was Dora. And that’s about it, I think. All in one book. It really doesn’t make sense until you read it.
And so I’m mystified, but I still enjoyed this book. There is a race to the end, and I think Julavits’ climax is worthy of the suspense she creates, and I found the ending satisfying. The main character (the derivatively disappeared girl, Mary Veal) is impossible to pin down, though this is created more by Julavits narrative than what the characters says or does. In fact, sometimes too much explanation is given and I wished the story had remained a bit more “enchanted”. Which is the problem. Julavits introduces so many fascinating avenues in her story, that of course many remain insufficiently explored. This isn’t completely annoying, because on a whole this book manages to function (I have no idea how though).
My confusion is somewhat akin to enchantment though. Whatever Heidi Julavits did, she did it right. I also like how when you remove the dust jacket of this book, in gold script on the black cover it simply says, “A Novel”. Indeed it is. Sort of.
