Winter Break Reading

Winter Break tends to be my time to catch up on all the books I meant to read but couldn't over the last few months. After an excellent night's sleep (such a rarity), I grab a book and stick with it. In the afternoons, I spend an unhealthy amount of time at the local coffee shop, sipping my frothy mocha, chatting with the baristas, and flying through whatever book I'm working on. So here's the three weeks.

Fifth Avenue, 5 AM by Sam Wasson

Anyone who knows me at all is familiar with my obsession with Breakfast at Tiffany's (Exhibit A). When my friend Renata visited this summer, she brought along this newly-published book as a gift. Although more about the movie than the novella, this nonfiction book was a delightful read. Chapters were grouped well, the writing was colloquial, the story was fascinating, and the whole thing read a bit like a Hollywood gossip magazine. I would recommend it highly to fans of Audrey Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany's, the movie.

On a side note, the top floor of Tiffany's Fifth Avenue location should be transformed into a breakfast café/tea house.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

I made a bit of a game out of finding (and fixing) typos in my copy of the book (not the one linked here). Du Maurier's style is sumptuous and superb-- her descriptions, sublime. I have an annoying habit of attempting to guess the outcome of stories. This book stumped me. Most of the plot points were a surprise. "Romantic suspense" is the category in which the book is most often placed, which is entirely correct. It shouldn't be confined to the category, though; it's an exceptional work of literature in its own right. The characters are well drawn, each with his or her own triumphs and faults. The protagonist, a young wife who feels unprepared for her role as matron of a house and society hostess, repeats her notions of low self-esteem, which can get a little repetitive. Max de Winter was a likeable, if enigmatic character; it is he who truly drives the story. The book is a true masterpiece of literature that should be read at least once.

It's Not About the Tapas by Polly Evans

This was the wildcard of my Winter reading. I bought this book several years ago for my father, who enjoys bicycling. The book is travel nonfiction, detailing a frazzled and stressed woman's bicycle trip around Spain. I found it to be enjoyable overall. It was witty, interesting, and smart, with great historical tidbits throughout; it made me want to read more books on Spanish history, in which I'm rather poorly versed. The chapters were short and revolved around the individual cities she visited. I'd recommend it to those traveling in Europe, particularly in Spain (obviously), and to anyone who would like to commiserate in the pain of bicycling up hills (yours truly included).

Currently reading: Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl. At six-hundred pages and with the return to school fast approaching, I'm not sure when it will be finished.

Books Books Books

This site makes me die.

And especially this photo.

Schiaparelli (the name on the hatboxes) is perhaps my favorite designer. I have a beautiful couture jacket of hers (circa 1940s) that my grandmother found at the American Cancer Society store for $8. Greatest steal of our lives.

I am a little obsessed with my own bookshelves. They are organized systematically and no one but me is allowed to rearrange them. My 400+ books don't all fit in my room, which means that some are stored elsewhere.

An old photo (the shelves have since been reorganized) of my main bookshelves.

September 2009-May 2010

This afternoon, I finished the last of my assigned reading for my first year of college. Somewhat fittingly, I began and ended the year with Henry James: The Ambassadors (September 29, 2009) and The Turn of the Screw (May 29, 2010).

I thought I'd compile a list of the books I've read this year. The few I did not read for school will be marked with an F (for fun). They are largely in order.

The Ambassadors- Henry James

A Room With a View- E.M. Forster

Dubliners- James Joyce

Portraits- Gertrude Stein

In Our Time- Ernest Hemingway

L'Étranger- Albert Camus

Banjo- Claude McKay

The Last September- Elizabeth Bowen

Hedda Gabler- Henrik Ibsen (F)

Nightwood- Djuna Barnes

Goodbye to Berlin- Christopher Isherwood

Portraits and Observations- Truman Capote (F)

Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen

Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte

White Swan, Black Swan- Adrienne Sharp

Great Expectations- Charles Dickens

The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde

Mrs. Dalloway- Virginia Woolf

Lucky Jim- Kingsley Amis

The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao- Junot Diaz (F)

The Philosophy of Andy Warhol- Andy Warhol (F)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky (F)

The Monk- Matthew Gregory Lewis

The Italian- Ann Radcliffe

Mother Courage and Her Children- Bertolt Brecht

The Castle of Otranto- Horace Walpole

The Lesson- Eugene Ionesco

Northanger Abbey- Jane Austen

Waiting for Godot- Samuel Beckett

Frankenstein- Mary Shelley

Zoot Suit-Luis Valdez

Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte

Dracula- Bram Stoker

The Turn of the Screw- Henry James

I think that's it.

Review: Great Expectations

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

I must confess, I am not a huge fan of Dickens. I do not enjoy the holiday ritual of A Christmas Carol (the movie version starring Donald Duck scared me as a child) nor did I particularly enjoy reading it in 10th grade English. It should be no surprise then that I trudged through Great Expectations. Assigned in my Masterpieces of English Literature course, I was given four days to complete the monstrosity. The first sentence of the novel screams Bildungsroman. The pacing of the entire first volume is irregular; Pip is reportedly seven on page 1, then suddenly 14 when he encounters Estella. Many of the pacing issues probably derive from the novel's form, which is that of the serial novel. It was published in 1-2 chapter installments purchased at a set interval for widespread consumption. As a result, the more Dickens wrote, the greater his profit. In addition to the time and pacing, I had issues keeping track of characters. Although perhaps representative of the number of people that become part of one's shaping, it got to the point that I no longer recognized names. Some seemed to have little or no influence on Pip. Relating to the whole cast of characters, the detail and length of the novel made it difficult to discern what was important. True, Dickens touches on many complex and vital themes and issues of his time, but his manner of doing so made reading feel like a duty instead of a joy.

The College Book List

Seeing as I've accumulated a library of over 300 books (the number's somewhere between 320-380 right now), deciding which would be accompanying me up to Stanford was an arduous and heartbreaking feat.

I've settled on just around 30 (less than 10% of my total) and thought I'd post them here. Some are old favorites, some are books I haven't read and am planning on reading imminently. I'll indicate those not yet read with an "(NR)". All of those that have been read are highly recommended.

Fiction and Poetry:

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Answered Prayers by Truman Capote

Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor (NR)

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (NR)

Kensington Gardens by Rodrigo Fresan

The Mentor Book of Major American Poets edited by Oscar Williams and Edwin Honig

Les Fleur du Mal par Charles Baudelaire

L'Etranger par Albert Camus

Nonfiction:

Portraits and Observations: The Essays of Truman Capote by Truman Capote (almost done reading)

The Kings and Queens of Britain by John Cannon and Anne Hargreaves

The Making of a Poem by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland

The Novel Volume 1: History, Geography, and Culture by Franco Moretti (NR)

The Novel Volume 2: Forms and Themes by Franco Moretti (NR)

A Handbook to Literature by C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon

Littérature Francophone par Nathan (publisher) (NR)

The Art of the Surrealists by Edmund Swinglehurst

The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt by Eleanor Roosevelt (NR)

The Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath (foreward by Ted Hughes) (NR)

Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir

Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker (NR)

Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan Culler

Linguistics: A Very Short Introduction by P.H. Matthews

Stream of Consciousness in the Modern Novel by Robert Humphrey (NR)

I suppose I loaded up pretty heavily on the nonfiction. It makes sense, as I think the majority of my library is nonfiction (although I've read more fiction). And the nonfiction books are much more useful for reference, just in case I need them.

Kaitlin

Recent Reads

Although I haven't gotten through much of my summer reading list (unfortunately), I have been reading since I last updated (obviously).

In reverse chronological order:

My Own Country by Abraham Verghese- This was part of my assigned Stanford summer reading, which has been fun largely. A work of nonfiction, it explores Verghese's early years as a doctor treating AIDS in a small town in Tennessee where residents were largely ignorant of its existence within their community and the stigma Verghese encountered simply for treating the disease. It's not riveting if one's not interested in infectious disease, but I do enjoy reading about the subject so I found it fascinating. The story is told through personal anecdotes and individual patient stories. It is a long and heavy read though.

Also by Abraham Verghese: Cutting for Stone (fiction)

The City of Fallen Angels by John Berendt- I read this on the recommendation of my dad and loved it. Technically a work of nonfiction, I like to call it "nonfiction with some creative liberty". In fact, it has sat on my fiction shelf for several months (oops). It did read like a work of fiction and was absolutely fascinating. He made me want to travel to Venice and encounter all these characters (real people) myself. I have now added "Venetian Palazzo" to my list of dream homes.

Also by John Berendt: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (highly recommended)

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino- I read this on the enthusiastic recommendation of Jane who always has great taste in literature. Calvino both enthralled and frustrated me (in a good way) and truly made me think about the connection between writer and audience since the point of the novel is to draw one's attention to that relationship. It's an absolute must-read for any lover of books. Highly literary and ultimately satisfactory. His craftsmanship of plot, chapter, paragraph, sentence etc. is extraordinary.

Also by Italo Calvino: Invisible Cities, many more, all translated from Italian.

I'm positive I've forgotten a few, but I will try to post those reviews soon, along with more (and varied blog posts). Hopefully, I can make updating a little more regular.

Stay classy,

Kaitlin

What I've Been Reading

First, the books that have kept me occupied recently.

The Family That Couldn't Sleep by D.T. Max
Nonfiction, but wonderful. The book is an exploration of prion diseases, which, if one's a genetics nerd as I am, are absolutely fascinating. Prions are misfolded proteins that can turn malignant and can turn other proteins malignant even though they contain no DNA. In simpler terms, they defy everything we know about disease and how diseases are spread. Max's storytelling skills, even in nonfiction, are superb. He covers a wide number of prion diseases from both an anthropological and biological perspective, though a bit heavy on the anthropological side. It's a fabulous read for anyone interested in medicine, disease, and genetics.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
I haven't read Gladwell's other books, but I took this recommendation from my psychology teacher. This was another great nonfiction book I read recently. It examines success and factors leading to success. It analyzes data such as birthdates, connections, and cultural differences. One of the most fascinating chapters was on airline communication and the cause of the many crashes Korean Air experienced in the 1990s. It was very straightforward and easy to understand, so one need not have any previous knowledge of anything pertaining to the subject matter.

Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote
As I have stated many times, I am a Capote fanatic. I cannot get enough of his work. Music for Chameleons was no exception; in fact, it was one of my favorites. The book is a collection of short stories and essays that were wonderfully, beautifully, perfectly written. The novella (short for even novella standards) Handcarved Coffins, left me completely in awe all over again. If you can only read one though, choose "A Beautiful Child", his exquisite and highly sensitive portrait of Marilyn Monroe. After that, I understand why she was his first choice to play Holly Golightly.

Answered Prayers by Truman Capote
Capote's last, unfinished novel. Had he finished it, it would have undoubtably been a masterpiece and one of perhaps most respected works in the English canon. It is absolutely incredible. I only wish it had been finished. The protagonist is nearly positively Capote himself, and the secondary characters he encounters shallow incarnations of the society people with whom he associated. I only wish he had finished it.