My Week in Books: April 3-16

My Week in Books

Welcome to my weekly Saturday feature here at Erin Reads, where I highlight new books that have entered my life, what I’ve been reading, and what’s happened on Erin Reads over the past week.

New Acquisitions

I acquired books from a few different sources over the past two weeks:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTB7V_Fgapc

For review from Atticus Books, I received The Great Lenore by JM Tohline.

From the Half Price Books clearance section, I picked up The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham.

From the library, I checked out a number of audiobooks:

  • The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama (a member of my book group recommended this author to me)
  • The Imposter by Damon Galgut (I don’t know anything about this one, but Humphrey Bower, who read Shantaram, reads it!)
  • Gould’s Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan (also unknown and read by Humphrey Bower)
  • Surrender by Sonya Hartnett (a third unknown but Bower-narrated audiobook!)

TBR Additions

  • Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon, seen on Linus’s Blanket
  • The Open Road by Pico Iyer, which was already on my list because of Eva but of which I was reminded by Jill

Read This Week

Since it’s been two weeks since the last My Week in Books, and I’m not sure which books I read during which week, here’s my last two weeks!

I finished and rather disliked The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon for my book group. I got to the end of The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness for Reading Buddies and immediately tore through The Ask and The Answer; now I’m working on Monsters of Men, the final book in the trilogy. I also started The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen for Reading Buddies. I’ve got Miss New India by Bharati Mukherjee going on my Sony Reader and The Hill of Devi by E.M. Forster started for my Classics Reclamation Project. Whew!

And then there was the Readathon, during which I read Nazareth, North Dakota by Tommy Zurhellen, Made for You and Me by Caitlin Shetterly, and Hush by Eishes Chayil.

On audio, I listened to A Passage to India by E.M. Forster and am now working on Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt.

Erin Reads Recap

Since it’s been two weeks, I’ll recap a little differently:

Your Turn!

How was your reading week? Do tell!

Reading Buddies Discussion: “The Corrections” by Jonathan Franzen

Reading Buddies Button

Welcome to our discussion of The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen! I’ve gotten as far as page 238 in my edition, the beginning of the section entitled “At Sea.” If you’re not reading along but have previously read The Corrections and want to share your two cents, that’s fine by me. Please warn of spoilers (if there are any in this book) if you include them in your comment.

The Corrections is my first experience reading Franzen, and I didn’t entirely know what to expect. I’ve read lots of passages from Freedom lately that bloggers have included in their reviews, but I think Franzen comes across differently in novel form than he does in a few short lines. There are things I’m liking about The Corrections, but also things I’m not liking.

I have to give Franzen credit for his ability to capture in words with astonishing precision the actions and thoughts of his characters, the nature of their interactions, and the state of their surroundings. I was struck by this ability from the beginning, in the “St. Jude” section in which Franzen describes Enid and Alfred’s home. The language he uses is just spot-on.

But the characters themselves feel, to me, like stereotypes. They might be subtly nuanced, but they’re subtly nuanced the way you’d expect their sort of characters to be. You might not be able to predict what, exactly, will happen, but you know how each character will most likely react because that’s what his or her character type always does in similar situations.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (cover)I also don’t like any of the characters. Not a single one. Rather than caring about one or several of them and rooting for them, when reading The Corrections I feel a bit like I’m watching an ant farm with a spectacularly articulate running commentary. On top of that, I don’t get the feeling Franzen cares at all about his characters. He’s like the kid shaking up the ant farm and poking at its inhabitants just to see what they’ll do, and then narrating the whole thing for the reader.

Finally, I’m kind of annoyed by the lack of breaks. No chapters, fine, but at least throw in a convenient stopping point every ten or twenty pages! I’ve taken to using a sticky note to mark where in the text I’ve stopped.

So yes, mixed feelings so far. I’m happy I’m finally reading something by Jonathan Franzen, as I feel it’s something I need to do. At this point, though, I’m not sure I’ll end up being a Franzen fan.

How is The Corrections going for you? If you’ve read Freedom, how does it compare?

CRP: “A Passage to India” by E.M. Forster (Audiobook) (Part 2)

The Classics Reclamation Project is my personal challenge to read and enjoy the classics. Each Wednesday, I post about the classic I’m reading at the moment.

The Classics Reclamation Project

Last week I’d only just started listening to A Passage to India by E.M. Forster, so I gave a little bit of background on the novel along with my initial reactions. Rather than recap that information here, I’ll refer you to my earlier post and move on to my thoughts on the novel overall.

The novel is set around a pivotal event involving an alleged encounter between an Indian gentleman and a British lady during a social excursion. The first part of the book deals with the circumstances leading up to this event and the last part deals with the repercussions, the middle dealing–of course–with the event itself. Yet the way Forster writes, the novel’s focus isn’t necessarily this troublesome event; the beginning, middle, and end are all interesting for their own reasons and are given, I felt, equal weight. A Passage to India is more about the characters and how they interact in and respond to these various situations than it is about the big event as an isolated occurrence.

Forster spends time exploring each nation’s conception of the other, examining stereotypes, attitudes, cultural and religious differences, and more through the lens of his characters. I found it quite interesting to observe relations between the British and Indian characters and societies at each stage of the book. Forster populates his novel with characters along a broad spectrum, from those who openly embrace the other culture’s way of life and seek to befriend its members to those who scorn and even fear the opposing race. As the central event and its consequences ripple through Chandrapore, the novel’s fictional setting, they elicit a wide range of reactions from Forster’s characters. Forster does a wonderful job expressing these varying viewpoints through dialogue, private thoughts, actions, and narration. The situation isn’t general, black and white, British versus Indian, but rather subtly varied and highly personal.

Passage to India by E.M. Forster (audiobook cover)Not long ago I talked about The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark. The novel bounces back and forth between an American woman and her family in India in the 1940s and two young British ladies in the same Indian village nearly a century earlier. The Sandalwood Tree and A Passage to India echo one another, dealing with the similar themes of culture clash and the British Raj. Yet where Newmark’s novel is a colorful roller coaster ride always moving toward a resolution, Forster’s felt more even and realistic to me, if less sensually textured. Part of this difference may have been the authors’ choices of narration: The Sandalwood Tree is told by a first person narrator, while A Passage to India is told in the third, the result being that Newmark’s novel only tells one perspective while Forster’s tells many. I felt the authors focused their attentions differently as well, with Newmark evoking a rich sensory world while Forster delved into interpersonal and intercultural relationships. Still, the novels reminded me of one another overall.

I’m left musing about the title. I spent the whole book waiting for someone to travel to India instead of away from it, yet that never seemed to happen. I’ve since considered perhaps Forster’s title refers less to a trip to the physical country and more to a journey to its metaphorical heart. If anyone else has read A Passage to India, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The audio version I listened to was read by Sam Dastor, who did a very nice job. His pacing was good, and his accents were diverse and believable. However, this is a novel I might read in print the next time I encounter it; there were times when I felt Forster’s observations were passing too quickly for me to grasp.

As I mentioned last week, Forster wrote a nonfiction account of his time in India entitled The Hill of Devi. I have it on order at the library now and hope to have it in time to make it my next classic. Having read his novel, I’m very curious to hear about Forster’s own experience with India!

Thoughts on “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts (Audiobook)

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is a book about which I’ve been curious for a while. My husband mentioned it; my sister was reading it. Then, several months ago, I read Diane’s review of the audio version–all 43 hours of it–on Bibliophile By the Sea. I decided to go that route and borrowed Shantaram from the library in late February.

About the Book:

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (audiobook cover)Shantaram is, at least partly, autobiographical. I read it without knowing much about the author’s life, only later finding out how much of it was blended into the novel. It’s the story of a nameless man who arrives in Bombay after escaping from an Australian prison. He assumes the identity on the passport he’s using, but the name–Mr. Lindsey–is quickly shortened to Linbaba (or just Lin) by Prabaker, the delightful guide Lin encounters shortly after arriving.

What follows is Lin’s journey through Bombay’s underworld–the slums, the mafia, the drug trade, the violence–with a generous smattering of reflection and philosophy. His friends are Indians and foreigners. He learns Hindi, Marathi, and Urdu. He falls in love with India and carves out a life for himself amongst its people. Shantaram traces his progress.

My Thoughts:

I have different opinions with regards to each aspect of Shantaram on audio. The reader, Humphrey Bower, is quite possibly the best narrator I’ve ever encountered. On the other hand, though, I didn’t find myself reveling in particularly stunning passages as many of Shantaram‘s readers have. I didn’t like Lin and wasn’t much compelled to care too deeply about him. But I’ll start with the positive.

Humphrey Bower is simply amazing. In fact, he was so good I’m considering listening to other things he’s read, even though I’ve never heard of them, just because he reads them. The book’s in first person, and Bower’s Australian, so Lin’s accent comes naturally to him. But in the course of the book, he does at least ten other accents impeccably: French, German, American, Canadian, Italian, Spanish, British Arabic, and more, not to mention several accents from around India. Shantaram is brimming with characters, yet Bower managed to distinguish them magnificently. I could identify the important characters just by the voice Bower used for each. He even had a different way of speaking for when Lin was conversing with other characters versus when he was narrating. It was amazing.

The book itself was fine. Surprisingly, I rarely felt bored or like the story was dragging, despite its length. I did get tired of all the physical descriptions of people. Every person Lin encountered had to be described, which got a bit annoying, as rarely did his or her appearance have anything to do with the story. Every woman he met was “beautiful.” There were long passages that I think were meant to be soul-searching and introspective but which struck me as cliched and insincere. (Which might be due to my dislike of the main character; I’ll get to that next.) Overall, though, the story kept moving at a good clip. I especially liked the first half, where the characters were more likeable and Lin’s activities less dubious.

Most of my issues with Shantaram lie with Lin himself. I didn’t trust him. I didn’t like him. He portrays himself as being a very good, loyal, principled, humble, and so on, but I never saw those qualities in him. I didn’t believe his revelations. I didn’t feel emotionally involved in his journey. He’d make a mistake and I’d think, “Serves you right.” He’d atone and claim he’d learned something, and I’d roll my eyes. There were certainly characters in Shantaram that I liked very much–Prabaker, especially, and the bear–but Lin, unfortunately, wasn’t one of them.

So. Bottom line? If you’re an audiobook listener and love good narrators, check Shantaram out (or at least Humphrey Bower). If you like a wild ride of a story, I think you’d enjoy Shantaram in either print or on audio. If you need to like your main character, or if drugs and violence are issues for you, I would not recommend Shantaram. Oh, and if 43 hours sounds overkill to you, there is an abridged version available through Audible.com that comes in at just over 18 hours!

Those are my thoughts. Check out Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts on GoodReads or LibraryThing, listen to an Audible sample, or read other bloggers’ reviews:

Did I miss yours? Please let me know!

Your Turn!

What books have left you with opposing reactions? If you listen to audiobooks, are there narrators you’ll listen to no matter what they’re reading?

Readathon Wrap-Up: April 2011

ReadathonWhew! The Readathon is over, and after a few hours’ sleep, I’m awake. I made it to hour 22 before I fell asleep in my reading chair; when I woke up, I threw in the towel and climbed into bed. I could’ve kept going, but I was reading at a snail’s pace and wouldn’t have remembered a thing I read anyway, so really…what would the point have been? I had a great time during my 21 hours of participation, though, and already can’t wait for the next Readathon!

One more big thank you to all the cheerleaders out there, both official and unofficial. You guys rock! I appreciate your energy, enthusiasm, and endurance so much. And thank you to those who had a hand in planning the Readathon! It’s a wonderful event, and it would never happen without all your hard work.

Event Summary

  • I finished 3 books (listed below in question #2) totaling 797 pages
  • I read for 14 hours and 10 minutes
  • I didn’t listen to any audiobooks!
  • I cheered for 1 hour and 25 minutes
  • I completed 12 minichallenges and 3 memes (counting the one below)
  • I won two fabulous prizes!

I’d hoped to get one more book read, but alas, no such luck. The three I did finish were all reading commitments, and it feels good to have them read! I really enjoyed reading all three, and they were different enough that I didn’t feel bored.

Next time, I think I’ll do a couple of things differently. First, last time I went for a walk with an audiobook in the evening, and I think that helped wake me up and keep me going. I’d like to do that again. Second, I’m thinking next time I’ll try taking an hour nap or so around the hour 16 mark. I have a feeling surrendering an hour to sleep would make my final reading hours much more productive!

Sleepy LOLCatEnd-of-Event Survey

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Hour 22, when I discovered I’d inadvertently taken a nap in my reading chair. It was the beginning of the end!
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I loved all three books I read this time around: Nazareth, North Dakota by Tommy Zurhellen, Made for You and Me by Caitlin Shetterly, and Hush by Eishes Chayil. Last time, Something Missing by Matthew Dicks and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster were great for the Readathon.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Not at this moment!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I liked how Facebook was utilized; I think the Readathon reached more people that way. I also liked the Google form where participants could submit the books they’d read; I can’t wait to see the list!
5. How many books did you read? Three
6. What were the names of the books you read? See question #2!
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Honestly, all three.
8. Which did you enjoy least? Hush went the slowest for me, just because I was so tired, but I still really enjoyed it.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? Schedule blocks of time for cheering. I find it’s easier to take an hour break from reading and check in with people than to pick a few blogs here and there. Also, take a moment to at least skim update posts. I know there are a lot of them, but if you can personalize your comments just a little, it’s even more exciting to get them!
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Very, schedule permitting. I’ll definitely read and cheer; I might also look into hosting a minichallenge or something.

Your Turn!

Did you participate in the Readathon? How’d it go for you?