Books Left: 97
Days Left: 687
Current Book: The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

I don’t always read the Preface. This time I decided to read the preface, because I’d never heard of The Sheltering Sky before and I thought it would be beneficial to The Displaced English Major project for me to do so. It was also short. It also gave away an important plot detail that happens halfway thought the novel. Since I was spoiled by the Preface, I decided it wasn’t fair for me to have to read the author’s huge spoiler but not any of you:

The male protagonist dies halfway through the book.

Now that the giant spoiler is out of the way, let me express something else: I absolutely without a doubt am in love with this book. I am not halfway through yet (so I have not yet reached the point in which Port, the male protagonist, dies–just in case you missed that bit above in bold text) so I suppose it could be possible for the ending to dissuade me from continuing to love it so much. This is what originally happened with Special Topics in Calamity Physics, but eventually I decided I still liked the book despite the conclusion.

I doubt this will happen here, as in Special Topics I was drawn in by the plot while I like The Sheltering Sky for other reasons:

1. The setting. Children are often encouraged to read because books are like doorways to far away settings. Case in point:

This can be true for adults as well. The Sheltering Sky takes place in North Africa, which the author Paul Bowles spent a great deal of time exploring. I’ve always had a fascination with deserts and these places (particularly Morocco, although the book does not take place there specifically) and the other day while cold and irritated waiting for a metro train to arrive, I thought, “Forget this. I’m going to escape to the desert.” And so I did.

2. Paul Bowles’s characters are fascinating. I find Kit, the female protagonist, to be particularly well developed. She views the world as a series of omens, and is continually trying to counteract them in some way. But at the same time, she values logic and reason and sees her husband (the ticking time bomb of death, Port) as the human personification of these attributes. Their relationship is so fascinating. They both practice infidelity. But they do love each other and despite insisting on separate rooms in each hotel you can see them grow closer as the book gains momentum. However, they want this closeness for different reasons. I am still trying to figure out why they do not sleep in the same bed together. This boggles me.

3. More than anything else, I love this book because Paul Bowles has a way with words that is exeedingly rare. Allow a few examples to speak from themselves, starting with this one from the first chapter, which describes Port right after he just woke up in his hotel room:

He yawned: there was no air in the room. Later he would climb down from the high bed and fling the window open, and at that moment he would remember his dream. For although he could not recall a detail of it, he knew he had dreamed. On the other side of the window would be air, the roofs, the town, the sea.

This next brief excerpt explores Kit’s thoughts as she and Port have a similar reaction to the sunset while on a bike ride:

She did not answer. It made her sad to realize that in spite of their so often having the same reactions, the same feelings, they never would reach the same conclusions, because their respective aims in life were almost diametrically opposed.

This last piece I’m not going to provide a frame of reference for. I’m already spoiling you enough just by including it here:

She could no longer think, nor were there any more images in her head. She was aware only of the softness of the woolen bathrobe next to her skin, and then the nearness and warmth of a being that did not frighten her. The rain beat against the window panes.

I often read very quickly. I take in whole chunks at once, skipping forward on a page and then running my eyes back to see how the characters got to that point a few paragraphs before. Very rarely does a book come along that forces me to read every word individually and savor it like a rich velvety dessert. I fear this book may be spoiling me and that nothing else on the list will be quite this good.

Books Left: 99
Days Left: 706

Our antihero has now made himself wanted by two entities:

1) The police. Sebastian got himself into a bar fight by returning to a bar that had refused to serve him earlier on the grounds that he was too intoxicated. He broke some bottles and tried to beat up the bartender and stood on the bar and yelled and frightened people. He managed (to my shock and anger) to avoid the police and convince his mistress to let him into her apartment saying that the bartender had attacked him. The Ginger Man was originally banned in America, likely due to the sex scene between Sebastian and his mistress (Christine) earlier in the novel. Eventually the morning newspaper came and Christine read the story about the bar fight and wizened up to the fact that it was Sebastian who instigated the entire thing and kicked him out of her place.

2) His former landlord, aptly named Skully. Sebastian returned home to find all the furniture missing and a note from his wife (Marion) listing the new address where she now resides. At this point, I yell at the book. “You idiot! Why did you give him your address!” Luckily I was reading from home and not the metro. He sweet talked her into letting him live there. They made a shockingly wise decision to rent out one of the rooms for some extra money. Sebastian, not surprisingly insisted that the renter be a female. Her name is Miss Frost.

Anyway, Sebastian and Marion basically walked out on a three year lease from Skully, who seems like a very shoddy landlord. Marion’s intent was that Sebastian would keep the old place since he was the one who signed the lease. Somehow Skully found their new place (did Sebastian just leave Marion’s note in there for the landlord to find?) and starts banging on windows. Sebastian got him to leave by faking a British accent but he decided Miss Frost needed to hear a fake story about Skully so she doesn’t realize what’s going on. So he made up the most rediculous lie I ever heard:

Skully is an old acquaintance from the town where they used to live and is so messed up in the head that he thinks he’s their old landlord and they owe him rent but it’s just a figment of his insane mind.

Miss Frost buys the entire story. While I still think Sebastian Dangerfield needs to rot in jail, I’m finding The Ginger Man more and more amusing as I watch how he gets himself into, and out of, one crazy situation after another.

Books Left: 100
Days Left: 727
Current Book: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

I’ve gotten off to a rocky start. This weekend turned out to be busier than expected with social obligations and things I had to do for work. I managed to finish the first chapter of the book without having a copy of the book thanks to Librivox. It’s this amazing site where volunteers do recorded readings of books that are on the public domain. Public domain means that listening is free! I think volunteering might be a fun thing to do when my project is finished, but I’m getting ahead of myself thinking about it. Even though I have an actual copy of the book in my hands now I may still do some listening to this book or others in the future.

The first chapter of The Magnificent Ambersons is all description. It goes into great detail about the fashions of the time and looks at the Amberson mansion, and how the townspeople regard it. Given that most books today jump into the action without much description (or even in medias res if you’re familiar with the phrase) I find it refreshing sometimes to read these long drawn-out descriptions and get a good idea of where the story is taking place before the action begins.

This is one difference between English majors and the rest of the world. The rest of the world generally does not like long descriptions, unless they are particularly “poignant.” (I put the word in quotation marks because I hate it. More on that in a different entry, I’m sure.) I probably would have agreed with them before I actually became an English major. In the course of an English degree you learn to read for more than just story.

One of the goals I have for this project is to show non-English majors that digging deeper into the surface of a piece of fiction can be fun and rewarding and isn’t just asking yourself “what was the author trying to say?” But more on that later, too. I can’t put all my eggs in one basket and I can’t put all my topics in one post.

Tomorrow I return to work and the book is in my bag for the most opportune reading time of my day. No, not at the office, on the metro!

Books Left: 100
Days Left: 730

A few days ago I finished reading an incredible book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kasey. It was an old 95 cent paperback originally owned by my uncle. Once I finished it I put it down feeling incomplete. I wanted to talk about it and write about it. The English major inside me reared her ugly head.

We people with English degrees are a special breed, particularly those of us who decided not to take the usual routes of teaching English or going into the publishing industry. I’ve been working in the tech industry for the past year and a half. I read occasionally on the metro or before going to sleep at night. Still there are hundreds of books I haven’t read, classics missing from my repertoire. I needed a plan. I needed a goal and a deadline.

I chose this list (the one on the left) because the organization has been around for a while and I’d seen the list before. Most of the books on the list will be new to me, but a few I will reread. I’ve discovered that when you reread something you notice pieces that you didn’t last time. What’s currently happening in your life changes what parts of the story jump out at you.

Originally I was going to read them all in one year, but I didn’t realize that was 1 book every 3 1/2 days. (I’m an English major. Don’t expect me to be good at math.) I figured I could do it, but I didn’t want to have to rush through the books. I want time to enjoy them.

I decided to go up the list starting at 100 and save the best for last. My first book is The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. Since today is New Year’s Day the library is closed so I’m starting the book on Project Gutenberg. Reading on a computer screen is not my favorite so I will be trying to obtain an actual paper copy soon. Until then, happy reading!