WRP 10: Australia

World Reading Project, Book #10

Australia

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Andrew Barton "Banjo"  Paterson, 1895

Clay read these poems and suggested this book to me for good reason; I mean, look at that cover. It's in the public domain, so you can read it for free on Gutenberg.org! This is the first book of poetry I've picked for my project. Banjo Paterson's most famous work is the bush ballad "Waltzing Matilda". He wrote lots of poetry about the outback, sheep shearing, cattle drovers, and lots and lots of horses. I enjoyed this book because there were so many poems about good trustworthy horse friends, and a love of the land. It's clear that Banjo really had an affection for horses. Here's a snippet of the title poem, describing the game horse who saves the day and runs down the escaped colt of a famous racehorse:

And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast,

He was something like a racehorse undersized,

With a touch of Timor pony — three parts thoroughbred at least —

And such as are by mountain horsemen prized.

There was courage in his quick impatient tread;

He was hard and tough and wiry — just the sort that won't say die —

And the proud and lofty carriage of his head.

And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye,

WRP 9: Sweden

World Reading Project, Book #9

Sweden

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson, 2005

This was the first of the books I've chosen because they made a big splash in the US. I think in the future I will avoid this strategy as they have not been my favorites. Honestly I was surprised that this became such a crazy seller because the first half (?!) of the story is really boring. Way too much financial crap at the beginning. Also, what's up with the stupid descriptions of exactly what kind of computers everybody has? It feels very dated, but I bet I would have hated that even if I'd read it when it first came out. Another thing that feels dated are the repeated description of Lisbeth's clothes and tattoos; it seems very "ooh, look how weird she is" in a stupid old man sort of way. But once the story got rolling it was very enthralling and hard to put down. The sexual assault and violence was sickening. That's about all I have to say.

WRP 8: Croatia

World Reading Project, Book #8

Croatia

Adios, Cowboy, by Olja Savičević, 2016

This book was not exactly my cup of tea because of the style. The author is also a poet and the writing has the greater need for interpretation that I associate with poetry. The first part of the book is told from the perspective of Dada, the main character, and it's a bit all over the place. I couldn't tell if certain sections were in the present or if they were flashbacks. And the dialogue was not always clear. But it was engaging enough to continue. The content of this book was also rather dark.

Dada has come home to Split to help take care of her mom and also to investigate her brother's suicide. He had gotten involved with some unsavory characters and she's sort of trying to figure out if he had become violent/bad like them. The title, Adios Cowboy, comes from the fact that a lot of westerns were shot in Croatia. Dada's brother adored westerns and at the end of the book there's a surreal scene on the set of a new movie being filmed. There's also an Iroquois family that lives in town, I'm assuming who immigrated there to work in the movies. Before I understood that it was rather confusing. Dada talks about playing "cowboys and indians" as a child and it was hard to tell if the Iroquois family was actually Iroquois or if it was part of the make believe. The reviews on the back of the book said that this was a funny book, and I don't really agree. But it was interesting.

I guess I said the writing wasn't really my cup of tea, but I did love these two quotes: 

"There’s a storm out at sea and perhaps all the houses and trees in the town will be destroyed, perhaps a real catastrophe will occur, something important and elemental, that will spin me round like a forceful slap, but not even that would shake me out of my inability to turn something round in myself, to make a quite small movement, like breathing, without collapsing."

"She listens to the underground shifting beneath the surface of the soil- down there nothing has changed. Under the earth there is abundant life and death: tubers and bulbs turn into humus and a mole scratches its crisp crust, ants grind grains of red soil into friable granules, and in the deeper layers fat white worms munch the hearts of the dead, an underground stream bursts its way through the clay; in the dense saturated darkness silver and gold veins explode, minerals crackle, mandrake roots scream, while dead occupiers rearrange their bones. Everything that falls onto the earth becomes nourishment, which someone on the underside of the pavement reheats, melts, and sucks up through little straws. If you don’t believe this, ask yourself where all those fruits and large or small animal corpses, which no one collects or buries, disappear. And if you still don’t believe it- leave a dead dog in a field and in sixty days you will find only a dry tail. That’s why Maria listens and never lies on the earth for long."

WRP 7: Russia

World Reading Project, Book #7

Russia

Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy, 1878

UGH. This is the second time I've read Anna Karenina. The first time I was maybe 17 or 18? And I think I remember really loving it. I've liked Russian literature for a long time, probably inspired by my dad, whose favorite book is The Brothers Karamazov. And I reread it fully expecting to love it again. WRONG. I hated every male character, and probably hated Levin the most, and I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be the sympathetic one? In my personal notes of books I read I started with "REMIND ME NEVER TO READ THIS AGAIN!!!". Okay, so the things I hate about Levin were specifically how his love is so special and so above what everyone else feels. And it's such a misogynistic attitude because he places such little importance on women's work and the preparations that need to happen for home life.
"Just as Levin had disliked all the trivial preparations for his wedding, as derogatory to the grandeur of the event, now he felt still more offensive the preparations for the approaching birth, the date of which they reckoned, it seemed, on their fingers. He tried to turn a deaf ear to these discussions of the best patterns of long clothes for the coming baby; tried to turn away and avoid seeing the mysterious, endless strips of knitting, the triangles of linen, and so on, to which Dolly attached special importance. The birth of a son (he was certain it would be a son) which was promised him, but which he still could not believe in—so marvelous it seemed—presented itself to his mind, on one hand, as a happiness so immense, and therefore so incredible; on the other, as an event so mysterious, that this assumption of a definite knowledge of what would be, and consequent preparation for it, as for something ordinary that did happen to people, jarred on him as confusing and humiliating." 

And how dare someone allude to his love: 

"Darya Alexandrovna too, as she said good-bye to him, gave him a sort of congratulation, saying, “How glad I am you have met Kitty again! One must value old friends.” Levin did not like these words of Darya Alexandrovna’s. She could not understand how lofty and beyond her it all was, and she ought not to have dared to allude to it."

I also read a bit about Tolstoy's life while I was reading Anna Karenina, and boy that did not help at all. He was a horrible jerk to his wife, and a lot of the things I hate about Levin seem to be Tolstoy's own thoughts and attitudes. When I read, my emotions can really determine how I feel about a book, and increasingly if I learn things about an author that disgust me, it's hard for me to enjoy reading their work. It's not really a conscious decision and I'm surrounded by academics who decidedly do not read books this way, and can make me feel self-conscious about how I read books. But then frequently they're not really reading for pleasure anyway.

I kept reading because even though I grew to really really detest the characters,

Tolstoy's writing about inner life just amazes me. I think he's a master at writing the shifting nature of human emotions and thoughts, and especially of making plans and resolutions that are then forgotten, or waste away. "He felt himself, and did not want to be anyone else. All he wanted now was to be better than before. In the first place he resolved that from that day he would give up hoping for any extraordinary happiness, such as marriage must have given him, and consequently he would not so disdain what he really had. ...And all this seemed to him so easy a conquest over himself that he spent the whole drive in the pleasantest daydreams. With a resolute feeling of hope in a new, better life, he reached home before nine o’clock at night."

And this made me laugh: "There happened to him at that instant what does happen to people when they are unexpectedly caught in something very disgraceful. He did not succeed in adapting his face to the position in which he was placed towards his wife by the discovery of his fault. Instead of being hurt, denying, defending himself, begging forgiveness, instead of remaining indifferent even—anything would have been better than what he did do—his face utterly involuntarily (reflex spinal action, reflected Stepan Arkadyevitch, who was fond of physiology)—utterly involuntarily assumed its habitual, good-humored, and therefore idiotic smile."

In relation to my mail hobby, I'll leave you with some lovely quotes about writing letters:

"Countess Lidia Ivanovna usually wrote some two or three letters a day to Alexey Alexandrovitch. She enjoyed that form of communication, which gave opportunity for a refinement and air of mystery not afforded by their personal interviews."

"Folding the letter and smoothing it with a massive ivory knife, and putting it in an envelope with the money, he rang the bell with the gratification it always afforded him to use the well arranged appointments of his writing-table."

WRP 6: Canada

World Reading Project, Book #6

Canada

Split Tooth, by Tanya Tagaq, 2018

Tanya Tagaq is an Inuk throat singer and author from Nunavut in Canada. This book has really stuck with me and I think about it frequently several months after reading it. I think she's an incredible writer. I've added several quotes at the end of this post because I can't pick a favorite.

Split Tooth was another hard book to read because of the subject matter: sexual abuse & trauma. It was very empowering though. It's a mix of prose and poetry, and one phrase I keep thinking about from one of the poems was "I do not forgive and forget / I Protect and Prevent." There's some really crazy stuff happening which I read as an alternative to acknowledging the horror of what she's gone through. The Northern Lights impregnate the main character, and when she gives birth... damn, what a vision! One of the strangest scenes I've ever read.

"Lichen smells sweet. The green lichen smells different from black. In the spring you smell last fall’s death and this year’s growth, as the elder lichen shows the young how to grow.The freeze traps life and stops time. The thaw releases it. We can smell the footprints of last fall and the new decomposition of all who perished in the grips of winter. Global warming will release the deeper smells and coax stories out of the permafrost. Who knows what memories lie deep in the ice? Who knows what curses? Earth’s whispers released back into the atmosphere can only wreak havoc."

"The simple truth is we are simply an expression of the energy of the sun. We are the glorious manifestation of the power of the universe. We are the fingertips of the force that drives the stars, so do your job and FEEL."

"I realize that birds see in a completely different way than we humans do. We are slow and lumbering, our language is deep and muddy. Our confinement to the ground elicits pity. They look at us as we look upon the trees, slow but full of longevity. The trees look at the rocks that way. Rocks look at the mountains that way. Mountains look at the water that way. Earth looks at the sun that way. Everyone has an elder."

"A strange feeling washes over me, something predatory. I have caught the scent of fear. I can smell fear and it excites me. Bloodlust but more like Spiritlust. The fear talks to my teeth and wants them to grow large and pointed. The fear talks to my spine and tells it to be near to the earth, because you can hide your belly that way. The fear talks to my eyes and tells them to see food in the veins of necks."

"What keeps you alive in crisis can kill you once you are free."

WRP 5: Barbados

World Reading Project, Book #5

Barbados

Redemption in Indigo, by Karen Lord, 2010

The story is about Paama, an amazing cook who marries a man so gluttonous he's stealing and disgracing himself. The djombi have been observing Paama, and impressed with her, they give her the Chaos Stick, which has the power to manipulate probabilities, making unlikely things happen.

Oh my God, I loved this book. It's been one of my favorite books of the year.  I loved the spider trickster character, who was both creeeepy and funny. This book kept surprising me in the directions that it took. There's a lot of compassion in it and by the end of the book my opinions about the "villains" were transformed. I also enjoyed the story telling voice of the narrator, who frequently gives opinions or breaks into the story in other ways. I got this out from the library, but if I ever see it in a bookstore, I'll definitely purchase it.

This is one quote that made me laugh out loud: 

"I know your complaint already. You are saying, how do two grown men begin to see talking spiders after only three glasses of spice spirit? My answer to that is twofold. First, you have no idea how strong spice spirit is made in that region. Second, you have no idea how talking animals operate. Do you think they would have survived long if they regularly made themselves known? For that matter, do you think an arachnid with mouthparts is capable of articulating the phrase ‘I am a pawnbroker’ in any known human language? Think! These creatures do not truly talk, nor are they truly animals, but they do encounter human folk, and when they do, they carefully take with them all memory of the meeting."

WRP 4: United States

World Reading Project, Book #4

United States

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker , 1982

What a beautiful, beautiful book. I loved the spirituality of the book and connection to nature. Shug's explanation of God being everything and feeling that connection was so beautiful. Coming into this book I knew it was a classic of African American literature, but I'd never heard that it was a queer book. It reminded me of reading Proust, and all of a sudden it's gay! I guess I purposefully avoid learning a lot about books before I read them, but I still wonder how it is that that was filtered out of all mentions I'd heard. This book made me cry, and also feel so uplifted, hopeful, and grateful for my loved ones. There were so many beautiful quotes. I'm copying an extended quote below. 

"She say, My first step from the old white man was trees. Then air. Then birds. Then other people. But one day when I was sitting quiet and feeling like a motherless child, which I was, it come to me: that feeling of being part of everything, not separate at all. I knew that if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed. And I laughed and I cried and I run all around the house. I knew just what it was. In fact, when it happen, you can't miss it. It sort of like you know what, she say, grinning and rubbing high up on my thigh.

Shug! I say.

Oh, she say. God love all them feelings. That's some of the best stuff God did. And when you know God loves 'em you enjoys 'em a lot more. You can just relax, go with everything that's going, and praise God by liking what you like.

God don't think it dirty? I ast.

Naw, she say. God made it. Listen, God love everything you love- and a mess of stuff you don't. But more than anything else, God love admiration.

You saying God vain? I ast.

Naw, she say. Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.

What it do when it pissed off? I ast.

Oh, it make something else. People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back."

WRP 3: Equatorial Guinea

World Reading Project, Book #3

Equatorial Guinea
La Bastarda, by Trifonia Melibea Obono, 2018

This is the first book by a woman from Equatorial Guinea to be published in English. I thought it was great. The writing feels very spare, or plain, and I think that at first I overlooked some of the themes and meaning because of that. The afterword to this book was really good and helped me think about it more deeply.  

The book is about a young girl whose mother died in childbirth and whose father has not formally recognized her as his daughter. Therefore she is considered a bastard. She lives with her grandparents but is trying to find her father. She makes friends with the outcasts in her village, her gay uncle and a group of lesbian girls. It was really interesting to see this perspective from queer Equatorial Guinea. In the end she finds solidarity with this group. 

I loved role of the forest in the story. In a lot of books the forest is a scary place, where danger lurks, but in this book the forest is their haven. Whenever she travels through the forest she notes that the animals are watching her, but it doesn't feel threatening. As someone drawn to the woods and nature I loved this aspect of the story.

WRP 2: United Kingdom

World Reading Project, Book #2

United Kingdom
My Man Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse, 1919

This project is partly to stretch my reading experience since previously I did not read many books from outside the US. This book was not a stretch for me because I've read and loved Wodehouse before, but I let myself have this hilarious and cozy read. The book is a series of short stories, mostly about Bertie Wooster and his inimitable butler, Jeeves. The formula is: Bertie is constantly getting into scrapes, everything goes wrong with no possible solution in sight, and Jeeves saves the day at the end with some very clever fix. I find that reading the whole book through in one go can even get a little tiring because this formula is repeated over and over. But, BUT... you get lines like this: "I was in bed, restoring the good old tissues with about nine hours of the dreamless, when the door flew open and somebody prodded me in the lower ribs and began to shake the bedclothes." I find his writing style hilarious. I wish I could incorporate expressions like that into my everyday. "What ho!"

World Reading Project 1: Norway

World Reading Project, Book #1

Norway

The Wreath, by Sigrid Undset , 1920

The first book I read for my World Reading Project was The Wreath, the first book in the Kristin Lavransdatter series by Sigrid Undset. Clay gave it to me as a gift, for my birthday I think.

Published in 1920, this is a historical fiction novel about a young woman, Kristin Lavransdatter, growing up in 14th century Norway (I didn't know much about Norway- this is after the Viking Age, when Norway has been Christianized). It's the first book in a trilogy that follows Kristin through her life.

Amazon's description of the book begins with "Kristin Lavransdatter interweaves political, social, and religious history with the daily aspects of family life to create a colorful, richly detailed tapestry of Norway during the fourteenth-century." The book was way more dramatic that this description would lead you to believe. Some kind of crazy things happen. I don't really want to give things away, but I really liked this book and am very intrigued to read the other two books and see how Kristin's decisions pan out and how the rest of her life goes.