classics

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Perfectly Compatible – a Classic and a Current Book

May 21, 2010 in classics by Kim | 2 comments

One of the most common desires I hear from readers is “I wish I read more of the classics in school.”  Possibly due to not paying attention in English classes, inadequate teachers, or an emphasis on non-literature subjects, many adults feel that they’ve missed out by not reading the stars of western literature.  Yet, sitting down with War and Peace can feel intimidating.  One of my favorite reading adventures is to pair a classic with a modern literary work can create a dialogue between the two books.

Pairing modern books with classics casts a new light on both works.  I thought of this again after reading The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O’Connor McNees. It would be fun to read with Little Woman, it casts the Jo and Laurie story in a new light while also emphasizing the choices Jo, and Louisa had to make.

My favorite recommendation is to read The Great Gatsby, then The Double Bind by Chris Bohjolian and/or Netherland by Joseph O’Neill.  The Double Bind plays with the plot of The Great Gatsby; the main character in Bohjolian’s book meets the Gatsby characters and discusses their post-novel life.  Then, the book ends with a blindsiding kicker.  Netherland is often referred to as the “new” Gatsby because it deals with a similar underlying theme of achieving the American dream, whether it is possible, and at what cost.

Reading a book that updates a classic for a current audience adds meaning to both works.  Philip Roth’s Everyman is a modern re-telling of The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy.  Both books reflect their authors; the scene with the main character flirting with the woman runner on the beach is pure Roth.  Lovers of Tolstoy would pick up on his style within the first few paragraphs of Ivan Ilyich.  The similarities in the views of two aging writers who are, shall we say extremely self-confident, are thought and discussion provoking.  These books can be read in any order, but I found I understood Tolstoy’s book better having read Roth’s first.

Switching to the other end of the age spectrum, Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld gives a 21st century female take on The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.  Many readers are familiar with Salinger’s classic since it is on most Read the rest of this entry »

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Mrs. Nelson’s Toy & Book Shop – LaVerne, CA

March 17, 2010 in book review, bookstore, childrens, classics, food, young adult by Kim | 1 comment

These are the Books I Give for Every Baby Shower or Birth

I first heard of Mrs. Nelson’s Toy & Book Shop when it won the Parnell Award last year.  The Parnell Award is given to bookstores that excel in promoting books to young people.  After stopping by last month, it’s clear why they won.  The store is stocked with great books and toys for newborns to YA readers.  I enjoyed walking through the picture book section, it brought back memories of wonderful hours spent reading to my kids. I noticed that since my kids have passed this stage, I tend to gravitate toward the books that were our favorites rather than explore any new books.  So I’ll use this platform to pitch my two favorite children’s books, the ones I give at every baby shower:  Time for Bed by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr., John Archambault and Louis Ehlert.

Time for Bed is a story of parent animals lulling their babies to sleep.  The singsong rhyme was perfect for calming down my sleepy, but squirrelly, toddlers.  Although primarily a bedtime book, we read it all through the day.  Each page gave me the opportunity to weave in animal noises for more rousing readings.  Between the stunning illustrations (I bought every book illustrated by Jane Dyer after this one) and the fun rhymes, neither my kids or their incredibly wonderful parents (somebody needs to say it) tired of reading it.

I can still recite most of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Oddly enough, what I tend to forget is the title.  Several times I have asked a bookseller, do you have “A told B and B told C, I’ll Read the rest of this entry »

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Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

March 2, 2010 in book group, childrens, classics, poetry by Kim | 5 comments

I noticed on my twitter feed this morning that it is Dr. Seuss’s birthday today.  Just his name makes me smile.  All day I tried to think of any other author who has accompanied me throughout my life, couldn’t come up with one.

My mother can still recite secctions of Green Eggs and Ham because she read it to me so many times when I was young.  I don’t remember that as much, but the phrase “I don’t like green eggs and ham” was a constant refrain in my childhood. Someone in the family said in response to something unpleasant.  Brussel sprouts comes to mind.  As an adult, attending a fancy dinner party when someone turned up his nose at the latest, fancy food concoction, I reacted with “I don’t like green eggs and ham.”  The response was smile, we all understand Sam-I-am.

A lawyer down the hall from me during my early law associate years collected Dr. Seuss books.  Without having any children of his own, he signed up for the monthly mailing of two new book and had them delivered to the office.  I loved them.  More than once after a long day when it felt like everyone in the world was already home, I snuck into his office, pulled a brightly colored book off of his shelf, and rhymed my way through a personal pity party.  It’s hard to mope when The Cat in the Hat is your companion.

When my son was born, I signed up for the requisite monthly delivery.  I had no idea there were so many Dr. Seuss books!  And who was P.D. Eastman anyway?  When reading to a toddler, Read the rest of this entry »

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Franny and Zooey and Me

January 28, 2010 in RIP, book review, classics, short story by Claire | No comments

Why I Love JD Salinger

Kim gets news before I do.  So she shot me an email a few minutes ago, to tell me that JD Salinger had just died.  I’ve said to her in the past that his Nine Stories is probably my favorite book in the whole world, so she asked me if I wanted to write something about him, and maybe include my reasons for loving that book so much, since she didn’t have the same passion for it.  Salinger isn’t about Catcher in the Rye for me, I should be clear on that.  I read it once, didn’t like it, haven’t reread it.  But Nine Stories . . .

Best. Book. Ever.

How do you tell someone why a book gets to you on some deep emotional level?  It’s something both Kim and I have struggled with, I think, as we’ve written this blog and also tried to persuade each other to read certain books.  She loves Atonement; I couldn’t finish it (not because I didn’t like it, but because it was clearly going to be about someone making a false accusation and ruining someone’s life and I can’t bear that kind of a story.  The writing was beautiful).  Anyway, she tried to convince me to finish that and I never did.  So how can I convey to her how Nine Stories is more than just a collection of words to me?

It’s one of the books that made me want to be a writer, I know that much.  And I know that every time I write a patch of dialogue that feels real to me (not as often as I’d like), I think about JD Salinger and how no one has ever written more realistic dialogue, dialogue which sounds like what people might actually say–but resonates in ways that stay with you for a long time.

And then there’s the Glass family.  Or should I say, first and foremost, there’s the Glass family, who are more real to me than most of the people I know.  Seymour and Buddy and the twins and Franny and Zooey and Boo Boo.  Did I leave anyone out?  Probably.  They weave in and out of Nine Stories, sometimes front and center (“A Perfect Day for Bananafish”) sometimes off to the side but still influential (“Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut”).

Oh, god.   “Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut.”  What woman can read that story and not weep for what she thought her life was going to be as opposed to what it is?  In that story, Eloise remember being in love with Walt Glass (who died during the war) and then looks at her life now, married to a guy who’s nowhere near as sensitive or smart as Walt was.  Miserable, drunk, disgusted with what she’s become, she is suddenly, savagely cruel to her own daughter.  And then she says to her friend, desperately, tragically, “I was a nice girl . . .  wasn’t I?”

Well, now I’m crying.  Salinger has that affect on me.  Seven words, that’s all it took.  Seven words–something someone might actually say–and an entire tragic life is summed up, right there. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dudley’s Books Shares an Example of “Community”

July 25, 2009 in bookstore, classics, giveaway, used books by Kim | No comments

One of the reasons independent bookstores are so important is that they 320_6447399provide a place to build and support community, more so than almost any other type of retailer.  We’ve discussed this various times on the blog and posted a list of what some stories around the country are doing to promote a sense of community.  Last week, Terri Cumbie of Dudley’s Bookstore and Cafe in Bend, OR shared this story that typifies what lovers of bookstores mean when they describe community:

I had something amazing happen in the shop last week….  I found a leather-bound copy of the Collected Works of Thoreau at a thrift store and put it in the window of my shop.  Some guy came in the store and was having coffee when a young woman came in and said she wanted to buy the Thoreau book but didn’t have any money today.  She wanted to know if I would hold it for her until the next day, which was no problem.  After she left, the man came up to the counter with the book in his hands and said he wanted to buy it for the young woman so she would be surprised the next day.  I asked him what I should do if she didn’t come back for it.  He said to give it to the next person who inquired about it.  Well, the young woman didn’t come back, and on the 4th day, I put it back in the window.  A young man came in with a dark cloud over his head, and asked about the Thoreau book.  I told him he was welcome to take it, as it had been bought as a gift by a previous customer.  He was so shocked!  He told me that he’d just gotten back to the States after spending a year in Peru with Patch Adams, painting/repairing some slums in a town along the Amazon River, and when he returned to the States, he was distressed at our wealth and how we seemed not to appreciate it.  And then he was given this book by a complete stranger.  He was so thankful and wrote a note to the man (who remained nameless).  I was so very honored to witness this.  It’s all about community, isn’t it?

Yes it is all about community!

If you have any bookstore stories you’d like to share, please tell us!

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