17. The Bookshelf Project

So, for this blog I am starting a new project I like to call "The Bookshelf Project." I am "weeding" my bookshelf. I have too many books. Yes, I said it. TOO MANY. My books overflow my bookshelves onto mountainous piles on my floor and other parts of my home.

Call me a simpleton, but I don't plan on ever living in a space much bigger than the one I'm living in now. Maybe slightly, but not much. What I have now, will be what I have then, if that makes any sense. I don't NEED a space bigger than this. The size of my current living situation is highly satisfying. A spacious one-bedroom apartment (Proabaly between 1,000 and 1,200 square feet of space). This place is LUXURIOUS in comparison to other places I've lived and also in comparison to spaces that most people around the world occupy. I refuse to rent or buy a larger living space to satisfactorily store all of my accumulated "stuff." So, the "stuff" has got to go.

My library is one place I could definitely downgrade. Holding a random book in my hand I ask myself: Could I find this book easily at a library? Yes? Then, it's got to go. Donate it to a library, to a school, to Goodwill--wherever! It has to go nonetheless.

I have a large amount of books in my library that I haven't read or haven't read all the way through. So, "The Bookshelf Project" involves reading and rereading the books in my library. I plan to only keep books that are hard to find (i.e. can't be found at a public library), and books that I love and will read over and over again.

So far from my collection I have read:
"Ceremony" by Leslie Marmon Silko
"Emma" by Jane Austen

"Ceremony" was a keeper; "Emma" had to go. I sent it off to Goodwill. I'm sure some poor teenager/college student is going to be required to read that and will be happy to purchase it for $.25 at Goodwill rather than $20 at the bookstore.

So, if you notice, on my reviews I have added a section under the rating that indicates whether the book was a "keep" or a "donate". I will continue this process until I've made it through every book on my shelf...and floor, and desk, and coffee table. Yep, I've got a lot of reading to do!

16. "Emma" by Jane Austen

Austen, Jane. Emma. New York: Washington Square Press, 1963.
430 pages
Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

Since I started studying literature, I have begun to read in a very calculating way. I read looking for certain things like theme, feminist and queer discourse, post-colonial rhetoric, tropes, plot devices, errors, holes, flat characters, etc. I can’t remember the last time I just read a book forgetting about all these very academic forms of reading. Studying literature has certainly added a new dimension of thought to my reading but it has sucked the life out of the characters for me in some ways. No longer are they there for me to feel connected to, but for me to pick apart and analyze.

I started reading Emma over a year ago and, at first I thought it was this exact form of calculated reading that has kept me at a distance from this novel’s characters. For the first half of the book or so, all I could think about was how boring they were—rich, British snobs sitting around doing nothing but gossip about each other. To me, they held little depth and caused each other nothing but trouble.

So, I tried to put aside my literary “training” and just read the novel for pleasure. I tried to get to know the characters, to become involved in the plot.

It didn’t work.

As much as my academic peers will give me crap for it, I don’t like this book and I couldn’t finish it. It was a little bit like literary torture trying to read to the end. I stopped at 2/3’s of the way through. I could go no farther.

I am a very plot-oriented reader. I like a good story. Emma’s plot bored me. The characters gossip from one party to the next and poor widdle Emma meddles needlessly and unproductively in other people’s lives. Maybe I would gain a better appreciation of the book if I read it through to the end. Maybe there is some mind-blowing plot twist on page 400 that I’ve missed. The thought still wasn’t enough to get me to keep reading.

1 dart out of 5
Bookshelf Project Status: DONATE (donated to Goodwill)

15. "Ceremony" by Leslie Marmon Silko

Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. 1977. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.
244 pages
Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko documents the life of Tayo, a veteran of the Vietnam War. Tayo, who lives on a Native American settlement, suffers from severe shell-shock. In order to heal, he must complete a ceremony initiated by Betonie, one of the medicine men of his settlement.

Betonie begins the ceremony and it is up to Tayo to finish it. Interestingly enough, in the introduction to the book, Silko writes about how the writing of this book was her own healing ceremony. At the time that she began writing Ceremony, Silko was suffering from depression and homesickness. She and her family had moved far from her home and she was having a difficult time adjusting to the change. Silko suffered physically from depression with headaches and fatigue. By writing the novel, Silko was able to heal herself emotionally, and physically.

I have a deep love and appreciation for this novel. I was fortunate enough to read it at a time in my life when I was in need of healing myself. I found solace in Silko’s narrative, plot, imagery, characters, and poetry.

This novel is truly a masterpiece (and I’m not just saying that because of my own attachment to the characters and story). Silko weaves poetry into her prose and makes the theme of hybridity quite visible. Often, the poems take the shape of their subject—a poem about warriors is shaped like a downward pointing arrowhead, for example.

The plot is thickly layered and nonlinear. It holds readers’ attention and all the pieces come together quite nicely by the end.

Ceremony’s characters are deep and unique. I couldn’t help but feel compassion for all of them, even the antagonist(s). This is one of Silko’s gifts to her readers. She drives home the point that we are all connected, we are all imperfect, and our choices affect everyone. She humanizes the antagonists to break down the wall between “us” (the supposedly “good”) and “them” (the supposedly “evil”).

As I said in my last post, these reviews are not meant to judge those of you reading them. They are simply a way for me to express what value the books I read hold for me. In this case, Ceremony holds immeasurable value.

5 darts out of 5
Bookshelf Project Status: KEEP

14. A Note from d'Artagnan "On Elitism"

"On Elitism"

I am not going to post a book review as scheduled this week because the past couple of weeks have been insane and I just didn’t get to it. I will though, offer some thoughts on art, music, and literature and my book reviews in general.

Elitism in the creative arts pisses me off. I really can’t stand it when people confuse preference with status. I see and hear it happening a lot in my line of work. If Person A prefers a certain genre of music but Person B prefers an entirely different genre, Person A seems to automatically judge Person B. Suddenly Person B’s self-worth is mixed in with what music they listen to and whether or not that music is “cool” or “lame” according to Person A.

The same thing happens with literature. Certain books are devalued and therefore, anyone who likes those books are devalued as people. Preference or taste becomes a status game.

I HATE THIS CRAP. (Excuse my language.) I find it absolutely ridiculous.

It is my understanding that one of the main purposes of art, music, and literature, is to reach people. The creative arts are a means of self expression and connection. Just because a piece isn’t preferred by one person, doesn’t mean it can’t hold value to someone else. Just because Person A values a certain type of music, doesn’t make Person A somehow superior to Person B.

It is a matter of SUBJECTIVE PREFERENCE. One is not better than the other; they’re just different!!!

Reasons for connecting to or enjoying a song or a book or a painting are different for every single person. Maybe they like the lyrics to one song. Maybe a certain character reminds them of someone they loved. Maybe a brushstroke reminds them of who the hell knows what else.

My point is, people should be able to like the music, literature, and art of their choosing without that preference leading to some sort of judgment of their character, intelligence, or worth. The creative arts are meant to be enjoyed and discussed. They’re meant to be provocative and being elitist about any art form defeats its purpose entirely.

I hope that my reviews are not perceived as elitist.

Anything I express in this blog is ALWAYS up for discussion, contradiction, etc. I don’t claim to be the ultimate judge of ANYONE’S writing. In doing these reviews, I am not passing judgment on readers but expressing what value the books I read hold for me. Feel free to disagree as much as you would like. There is a good chance you’ll be right because I think that, ultimately, the only person that can truly judge the quality of a piece is YOU.

Ok, I’m done now. Hopefully I’ll have the Ceremony review up for you next week.

d’Artagnan

13. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Orlando: Harcourt Inc, 2001.
319 pages.
Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

“This book was born as I was hungry,” writes Yann Martel of his novel, Life of Pi. Hunger is only one of the many sensations the protagonist experiences after he is shipwrecked in the Pacific. Life of Pi won the Man Booker Prize for fiction in 2002. Film director Ang Lee is also reported to be interested in directing a film adaptation due for release sometime in the year 2011. (This is according to his comments at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival).

In Life of Pi, Piscine Molitar Patel, known to world as Pi Patel, spends his childhood in Pondicherry, India. He grows up in a public zoo surrounded by exotic animals thanks to his father’s work as a zookeeper.

Pi, as a child, is passionate about God and religion. He is a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Christian all in one package. He finds God in everything—in the animals he tends to in the zoo, in the wind, in each of his places of worship, in his relationships. In the first part of the novel, he is truly saturated in a desire to know God and the nature of universe.

In Part Two of Life of Pi, Pi and his family have been hit with hard economic times. They decide to move to Canada where they plan to start a new life. The ship intended to take them to their new life in Canada unexpectedly sinks in the Pacific Ocean. Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with an orangutan, a Bengal tiger, an injured zebra, and an assortment of “pests”—rats, flies, etc.

Pi tells an incredible story of survival and faith. He managers to keep himself and Richard Parker (the tiger), alive through many different resourceful means from catching fish and turtles, to training the tiger like a circus performer, and finally, to discovering a mysterious floating island. He survives at sea for 227 days.

This text takes the reader to the brink of survival. The middle section becomes long and is filled with intricate details. It feels like the middle section will never come to an end, giving readers a taste of the desperation Pi, himself, might have felt during his ordeal.

Written to appear as nonfiction, the story becomes addicting. The characters are vivid, lovable, and real. Readers travel with Pi, cry with him, are afraid with him, become desperate with him.

The way the novel ends tests readers' faith on many levels. The ending’s twist makes readers question the difference between truth and fiction. Life of Pi will leave a lasting impression on all who are willing to join Pi on his journey.

3 darts out of 5

12. "Between the Acts" by Virginia Woolf

Woolf, Virginia. Between the Acts. San Diego: Harcourt Inc., 1941.
219 pages
Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

Between the Acts was the last book Virginia Woolf wrote before her suicide in 1941. It is a story about a family in England who hosts a play at their country home to raise money for the church. The plot covers the play itself as well as the interactions and happenings, as the title suggests, between the acts. There are several unhappy characters making connections with other equally unhappy characters and a lot of implied scandal that never comes to fruition.

I am usually a huge Virginia Woolf fan. She is my favorite writer, and this is the first of her novels that I’ve been disappointed by. Keeping in mind that she died before she was able to make revisions, the characters seemed to lack the motivation and depth Woolf had so frequently achieved in her earlier novels. The plot moved slowly, very slowly, and nothing really seemed to happen. The depiction of character interactions was dull and simplistic.

Maybe this is the effect Woolf was going for. Maybe she wished to illustrate how mundane life can be. If that was the goal, it sure didn’t make for good reading. This is not her best work and I would recommend Orlando or Mrs. Dalloway over Between the Acts in a heartbeat.

1.5 darts out of 5

11. "HOWL and Other Poems" by Allen Ginsberg

Ginsberg, Allen. HOWL and Other Poems. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1956.
44 pages.
Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

HOWL is the first book of poetry I’ve ever tried reviewing. This collection contains work by Ginsberg while he was in Berkeley, California and some from his earlier years as well. Originally meant as performance pieces, his poems explore themes of nature, love, God, spirituality, sex and sexuality, industrialism, materialism, and politics. HOWL’s publisher was actually put on “obscenity” trial because of the text’s graphic nature.

His poems are written in a Walt Whitman-esque style and in the poem “A Supermarket in California”, Ginsberg actually addresses Whitman directly. It is quite obvious that he was inspired by Whitman’s long and repetitive phrases. If you are a Walt Whitman fan, you will probably be able to appreciate this text.

My personal favorite poem from this collection was “America.” In “America” Ginsberg’s voice drips with ironic sadness, disappointment, and confusion. There is a certain intimacy about it that I greatly appreciated.

This text is worth a read if you are at all interested in poetry or queer writing and writers. He celebrates bodies and sex as something holy and doesn’t shy away from the darker parts of life in America in the 1950’s.

3 darts out of 5.