Just a few more books to tidy away before I make ready to dive into the new reading year. Since this has become my reading journal of sorts (though next year I hope to go back to a paper journal in some form or other), I have wanted to try and write about all my reading even if it is only a brief mention, teaser or review. I have not done such a good job as I would have liked writing about my reading right when I finish, but I think I have made a pretty valiant effort in the last few weeks to catch up.
It is not an easy thing to write about a book I read earlier in the year--the more time and distance from finishing a book the blurrier it becomes, yet at the same time revisiting a story through writing about it also imprints it a bit better in my mind and makes for a nice place to go back to and see what I thought of a particular book much later. If nothing else it is a record of what I was reading at any given time. So, one of next year's 'goals' will be to write about my reading in a more timely manner. But goals and wishes and dreams (and lists!) in a day or so. (Can you believe we are almost at the end of the year? I want to be finished with 2016 yet I am a little afraid, too, what 2017 will bring).
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Working in reverse order, I read Pat Barker's Life Class way back in April. It is the first book in a trilogy, of which I read the second book first (back in 2014!), but that won't stop me thinking about it now. All in anticipation of reading the last book, Noonday, next year. Life Class begins in 1914 just before the start of the Great War and follows a trio of art students attending the Slade. This love triangle: Elinor Brooke, Paul Tarrant and Kit Neville will shift over the course of the story, unresolved at times but ultimately coming together in a potentially satisfying manner in the end. Kit Neville is already finding success as an artist. Elinor is trying to make her way in a world (read that as her family) which sees her art as a hobby she'll give up upon marriage. She's talented and serious and sees art as a way of life and a way of looking at the the world and making sense of it. Paul is the one most at swim unsure of his talent and uncertain in his determination.
Then the war comes, each man goes off to fight his own war, or serve it in his own way--Kit as an ambulance driver and Paul as a medic. Elinor keeps on with her art, keeping the war at arm's length not quite convinced of its worth and value. Both men at some point are pursuing Elinor, but the war throws a wrench in their work and love. War has a way of shifting sensibilities about and reordering the world. And none of them will come out of it unscathed. It's interesting to see how the war affects each character and how they view the world and each other. For Paul, portraying the war through his art allows him to come into his own. The horrors will change all their perspectives. It is an interesting novel--looking at the question of how war affects art and the artists work and interpretation of the world. It's a little bit of a disservice to try and write about the story now, and perhaps, too, to read the books out of order. However, I think her Regeneration trilogy, which I have not yet read remains her masterpiece.
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My very first Philip Roth novel, Indignation, is his twenty-ninth! I feel like there should really be more fanfare for finally having read him. It is a slip of a book but still chock full of interesting things to think about. Perhaps not his best and maybe not what you might consider 'classic Philip Roth' (than again since I am a newbie in terms of Roth's work, I'm not entirely sure), but I think it likely touches on number of Roth's preoccupations in his writing. Do you know what sticks with me even now, four or so months after reading it? I think Roth has a fixation with writing about sex. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but curiously it sticks with me in particular in thinking back on this reading experience. The other thing that sticks with me--he dropped hints all along, from the very first about what happens to the protagonist, Marcus Messner, and I missed most of them until almost the very end when it all becomes obvious.
This is a coming of age story, I think. Marcus Messner is the only son of working class Jewish parents from New Jersey. His father is a butcher and works hard so Marcus has the better things in life, yet he worries incessantly over his son. So much so that Marcus decides to get as far away as he can and finds a most idyllic college in Ohio where he wants to simply fit in with everyone else (not be seen as a working class Jewish boy). He falls for a beautiful but troubled young woman who is not Jewish and is seemingly forthcoming with her favors. All this set against the backdrop of the Korean War. There is more here than meets the eye, and all in all I quite liked the story. The film adaptation was beautifully done by the way.
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I loved Dorothy B. Hughes's In a Lonely Place. Loved it, but it did take some time to get into and effort to find the writer's storytelling rhythm. But the more I read the better it got, and now I am reading the very informative afterword which was included in the Feminist Press edition I have (which is apparently, and sadly, out of print now). It is a novel that is very much deserving its own review and one that should take into account the feminist interpretation (of which I am now reading) but I wanted to mention it now in case it ends up on my 'best of' list this year. I can see why this is a crime novel classic. It would seem that this is a novel full of 'firsts' and takes nothing for granted. Hughes gave her novel its own very progressive (considering the period it was written--it was published in 1942) twists setting it well apart from the pulp of the day.
This is the story of a serial killer when America didn't even know what a serial killer was. Dix Steele, a former airman who served in the war, is living in LA on the generosity of a friend who has gone abroad. He's telling the story (the first novel of its kind with the murderer narrating the story?). He's an angry man, though we can only assume it's thanks to the way, and he murders women. Though over the course of the story there are not many and the murders always take place off stage. He's cocksure and skilled at working the system. This is how sure of himself he is . . . one of his best friends, a friend from his war days, happens to be a cop for LAPD. Brub Nicolai, isn't just a cop, but he is the detective who is investigating the murders, and he won't ever let the cases go cold. He wants a result even if it takes a long time. Dix takes on the persona of a writer and he falls for a beautiful blonde, Laurel Gray, who lives in the apartment above him. Laurel is every bit as world wise as Dix and knows how to work the system equally as well.
The atmosphere and tension just ooze in this story. It is a slow burn of a novel. It literally just seethes with suspense. You expect something awful to happen, but Hughes is so subtle about it, which makes it all the suspenseful. This is a psychological portrait of a killer at its best. It is very Ruth Rendellian really, but all the more impressive since it seems to be one of the first of its kind. Now I want to read all her books!
Maybe when I finish reading the rather lengthy afterword I will share more about the feminist interpretation. And I do still hope to finish two or maybe even three more books, but I will save all those for the new year. Now it is time to do a little tallying and pick a few favorites. And I have already been thinking about my reading next year, too.