Book 24: Finished.

I won't say that I hated it, but I can't say I liked it either. Quite honestly, I have nothing good to say about The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Perhaps it is because I read it too quickly, thinking that if I kept going it would suddenly grab my attention. And while I find that there are a lot of things in the novel itself that I loved, the book left me feeling nothing.

Perhaps I went into read this with the wrong frame of mind. Or, perhaps my mind has been spoiled by older classics that this felt too normal to me. I mean, part of the reason why I am reading the classics is that I really wanted to learn something from each and every book I picked up. Each of these 250 are seen as a classic for a certain reason and I want to know why.

I just think that this modern classic left me feeling empty, where perhaps if I read it a few more years down the road, I could have appreciated it more.

But let me talk more about the book and leave your own mind to determining whether this is a worthy read or not.

Like I said in yesterday's post, The Shipping News is about a man named Quoyle, who is a newspaper man almost by accident. After the death of his wife, his crazy aunt comes to visit and convinced him to move with her and his two daughters to Newfoundland, the land of his ancestors. He agrees and they go. Once they are back, Quoyle lands a job working for a crazy newspaper run by a random grouping of men.

At the same time that Quoyle is trying to learn that his wife really was a little crazy (and horrid to him), his daughter is also coming to terms with the meaning of life and death. As they both heal, they move on with their lives.

It really is a touching story and I do admire the writing style. Proulx turns this big man, who is described as a big, unattractive man, into someone I actually began to like at the end of the novel. The daughters are also wonderful, but the men at the newspaper stole the show. I loved their personalities and the focus of the newspaper as a whole (most of the paper was comprised of the darker side of news-sexual abuse stories, car wrecks, etc). I also loved that Quoyle eventually came into his own as a writer and really turned his portion of the newspaper, the shipping news, into something extraordinary.

The history of Newfoundland was also well done. It is a part of the world I hadn't given much thought to, or hadn't learned about in school. Unfortunately a history degree these days doesn't account for much, as there are large parts of world history I know nothing about. Proulx gave the history of the people life by integrating it as oral history in the eyes of the older characters. It was their history and it felt very real as I was reading it. It was well done.

So why do I feel no connection to the book?

I felt that the ending fell flat. I didn't like her little twist at the end, or how everything wrapped up so easily. In my opinion, the ending didn't fit with my own interpretation of the characters' lives and I was disappointed. It also took me a long time to warm up to Quoyle. In the beginning, it felt like he had no personality and was a "no one." I couldn't picture him in my head and I couldn't understand him or his decisions. That was frustrating for me, especially since I generally warm up to characters and scenes rather quickly.

In all, I think that this is a book I will have to read again, once I have more distance from it. I often say that there is a right and a wrong time for each book we read. I think that is why some times I cannot always get into a book-it is just not right for that moment or where I am in my life. So yes, I will try this again, along with some of the other books I have felt this way about. Perhaps more life perspective and experiences is what I need.

Anyway, I must move on to bigger and better things (hopefully).

Happy Reading.

Book 24: First Impressions.

Well.

I'm not sure what to think.

I am currently about 50 pages into The Shipping News and I am not really sure what I am thinking.

I was expecting some great things, considering this is a rather new novel (1993) and is already being considered a "classic" on some lists, so why do I feel like I have nothing to say?

Sure, the book is interesting, but I am still waiting to be bowled over with an amazing story.

So far, I have gotten this: Quoyle is a large man who not really bright. He falls in love with a loose woman and has two kids with her. She hates her kids and often abandons them. He works for a newspaper, even though he has no knowledge of writing.

That's about it. And I am feeling like I am missing something. Perhaps I am not far enough into the book to be grabbed yet by the story. I am enjoying the writing. Obviously, I know that a main part of the novel is the fact that Quoyle works for a newspaper. Some of the writing seems written in that short, choppy style that I associate with news articles. So that, in and of itself, is interesting.

I also like the characters...except Quoyle. To me, it seems as if Quoyle is just going through the motions of life and I am finding it hard to like him. I do like his crazy aunt and his daughters, and some of the other minor characters, but I hope he grows on me, because right now I think he's an idiot.

The structure of the novel is also different. Each chapter is titled with a type of nautical knot and a short excerpt from a book of knots always follows. The chapter is always related to the knot and the description, which really adds a lot of depth.

Anyway, I am going to keep plowing through in hopes that Quoyle begins to amaze me.

Book 24: Book Stats.

Title: The Shipping News
Author: E. Annie Proulx (1935- )
First Published: 1993

Awards Won: National Book Award (1994) and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1994)

My Edition: Scribner Paperback
Pages: 337

Other Works Include: Heart Songs and Other Stories (1988-short stories), Postcards (1992-novel), "Brokeback Mountain" (1997-short story), That Old Ace in the Hole (2002-novel)

Her short story, "Brokeback Mountain" was turned into a film in 2005 starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. The Shipping News was turned into a film in 2001 starring Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench, and Cate Blanchett.

I have not read anything by Proulx before and I have not seen either film adaptation, so I will be diving in. This is the only novel by Proulx on my list.

And I understand that this novel being included on the list is questionable. Besides The Poisonwood Bible (1998), this is the newest book to grace this list and might not be considered a "classic." I will remind you that when I started creating this list, I consulted the AP English Literature list, as well as various classics lists online. The Shipping News popped up often, so it was included.

Sunday Salon: February 21, 2010.

Wow. What a week it has been! Matt and I have been busy with a few things around the apartment. Even though we've been here for a few months, it is finally starting to look and feel like home. We have pictures up and it looks a little more relaxing.

I've also been busy learning some new recipes this week. I've been trying to keep us on a food budget so we aren't spending a ton of money on food we won't eat. It is actually pretty easy to do with just the 2 of us and we've found some things that we really like to eat.

I also went to substitute teacher training on Thursday to get readmitted to the system so I can start getting some sub jobs. Only working 2 days/week gets old pretty fast and while I have lots of time on my hands, I don't get a whole lot accomplished. Hopefully I get some steady work and can balance some subbing with the parks job (which goes back to full time hours and more pay at the end of March!).

I managed to sneak away to the bookstore the other night, which was the first time I had been in a bookstore in a long while! I have been trying to avoid going in because I inevitably want to buy something, if not everything. Since it had been a bit, I made sure to walk around and look at everything. There are a lot of new titles out (especially in sci-fi and fantasy) that I want to read RIGHT NOW, but I'll be patient and wait. The YA section was depressing.

Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE YA and I read a lot of it, but I feel like amidst all the good books with original ideas are 50 others that don't do a good job. I get it that vampires and werewolves are "in," but I would love to see something different on the shelves. Granted, I haven't read any new YA in about 6 months, so I don't really know. These are merely my impressions from looking at the shelves.

I was also disappointed to see the following on a big display with Twilight and the vampire books that are booming in popularity:




It really just made my stomach turn. It is not that I am against teens finding these books and loving them as much as Twilight....it is the clear marketing ploy. Granted, it is clever, but I feel it takes away from the value of these great works. Try as I might, I cannot hold Twilight in comparison to Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, and Pride and Prejudice and call them equal.

Anyway, I hunted through the used section last and found a few more titles on my TBR list that I don't own. I finally picked up one of Graham Greene's novels, The Power and the Glory, as well as the other Hemingway that I need to read, The Sun Also Rises. I also found a great collection of some of the Greek tragedies. I haven't even gone near any of the Greek stuff since The Odyssey, so I thought I should get on that. The last book I found was a really cool edition of The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison.

I went looking for one of Richardson's two novels on my list: Clarissa and Pamela but found neither-not even in the fiction section! There were also no copies of Gone with the Wind to be found, or some of the Virginia Woolf titles on my list! And while it looks like the store is rearranging, I hope that they restock. I was sorely disappointed, especially since it is my favorite bookstore in the area.

In reading news this week, I finished not only The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, but also Animal Farm by George Orwell. Orwell's book only took an hour or so since it is so slim, but I enjoyed it anyway. I am in the middle of The Shipping News by Annie Proulx...which is an odd novel and newer than most of the books on my list (it was published in 1993). It stands as one of the "modern" classics I am reading.

I also made some new cosmetic changes to the blog. There are links at the top to an introduction to why I am doing this, the list of books I am going to read, as well as the list (in order) of what I have finished already. In the finished list, I also have the titles linked to my personal favorite post about that book. Enjoy!

I have some great things planned in the coming weeks. There is a giveaway that I am waiting to launch once I hit Book 25! Keep an eye out for it in the next week or so.

This week I am planning on finishing The Shipping News as well as Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, so it should be another good reading week.

Happy reading everyone!