It's been a
long time since I've been able to get out a review. I could blame it on
the death of my computer, or trying to juggle a full-time job with a
full-time garden (& now trying to salvage the seemingly endless
harvest...), or I could blame it on the heat of the summer. But one
thing I can't blame it on is the books... I've read some amazing books
this summer. So here is my long-delayed Summer of Reading List:
The first book I read this summer was In One Person by John Irving.
Honestly, it's been a while since I read John Irving, and after reading
this one, I don't think I'll wait too long to go back and revisit him.
This first-person tale of Billy, who tells the reader the story of his
life. Billy went to private, boarding schools in New England, grew up in
academia and the theater, and was something of a sexual outlaw, being
on the surface bisexual. But since this is John Irving, it's not really
that cut-and-dry. This is a fascinating story told in such a living
voice I am still thinking about some of the situations in the book,
almost as if they happened to a friend of mine. There are truly
unforgettable characters in this book: the librarian, first and
foremost. Kittredge, the boyhood crush of many, who even as an adult
still titillates and frustrates. Elaine, the girlfriend turned best
friend. And Billy's Grandpa, who runs a lumber mill during the day, and
acts in the community theater by night - as a woman. This is a novel
that tackles issues of gender, and our perception of those who do not
fit in as we might think they should. This is a novel of small-town
America, and how those in larger cities might discount as being
parochial and backward. This is a book about the love of books and
theater... Humorous, melancholic, and touching, this book is also about
growing older and learning to embrace, without apology, who we truly
are.
The next book on my list was Victory by Linda Hirshman. It's subtitled
"The Triumphant Gay Revolution - How a Despised Minority Pushed Back,
Beat Death, Found Love, and Changed America for Everyone." As the title
suggests, this is a generally positive, incredibly fascinating look at
the Gay Revolution. She traces it from it's infancy around World War II
through late last year, and the mixed gains on the Marriage Equality
front. While much of this history has been written about before, I don't
think I've read such a widely-scoped approach to it. Hirshman really
shows how this despised minority banded together, pulled in allies, paid
attention to other civil rights movements, and kept on fighting. She
also shows that the gay movement has not always been a unified movement
of gays, lesbians and their allies. She discusses the conflicting
thoughts within the movement, between assimilation and flaunting their
otherness. The dramas between women and men, and the inclusion of
bisexuals, transgendered, and allies. On top of all that, there were
racial and class tensions, and still the differences between city folk
and rural folks. Not only is this a thorough and readable history of
GLBT America, it's ultimately a breathtakingly hopeful book... A must
read!
The next book I had was something like my vacation book. Only I read it
during my lunch hours, and every free moment I had otherwise, because I
just couldn't put it down. Beautiful Ruins is one of those books that
is the ideal vacation book... not necessarily to read while on vacation,
but perhaps to read in lieu of vacation... But that's minimizing it.
This book blew me away, made me laugh out loud, made me clap. Yes,
actually clap with excitement while sitting on a park bench reading it
one day this summer. If you are a friend of mine and happened to run
into me while I was reading it, there was a 100% chance I was going to
be reading you something from this book. Jess Walter has written what I
think is an absolute masterpiece. Gripping, funny, sad, true-to-life,
elegantly written, vivid... I couldn't get enough of it and really had a
debate with myself once I finished it whether to just start it over
again. Beautiful Ruins is a story that starts in 1962 in essentially a
backwater Italian town when an American movie star comes to town,
saying she's dying. The keeper of the inn where she stays becomes
involved in her life, bringing us to modern day Hollywood, where we
enter the world of screenwriters and producers... Trust me, it's going
to suck you in. You're going to love every single word of it, and you're
not going to want it to end. Even writing about it makes me want to sit
back down and delve back into the incredible worlds Walter brings
alive. I think it's going to be hard for another book to top this one
this year for me.
Which brings us to Capital by John Lanchester. I started this book
while I was actually on vacation, which coincided with the start of the
Summer Games in London. Capital takes place in the City of London a
few years ago. Specifically, the bulk of the action takes place on Pepys
Road, one street in London, whose residents have been receiving
increasingly disturbing postcards, dvd's and letters saying "We Want
What You Have" and each being a photograph of the recipient's home. John
Lanchester tells this story through the lives of each of his main
characters, a cast of about a dozen. It's actually quite easy to keep
track of these characters, as Lanchester does an amazing job of telling
the story through their own voices. It's a big book, and thankfully
so... there's so much more to the story than the blurb on the back
suggests... Truly a wonderful novel.
--Joe
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