a sky is so small

Aside from being a total fox, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, or just Colette as she is known, was an amazing writer. I first read My Mother's House and Sido and just wanted to curl up in this world with these beautiful french provincial characters. There is not a whole lot going on plot wise in these stories, the main thrust is characters. As I am a seriously character-driven reader, I adored her writing. I scoped out the local Half-Price books and found her collection of short stories, The Tender Shoot, and dove in.

The first of the short stories, "Belle-Vista",  follows Colette at a provincial hotel as she waits for her house to be worked on by contractors. The hotel is run by a lesbian couple that befriends Colette. They have another guest, a man named M. Daste, who provides special intrigue for Colette. 

"If I observed M. Daste more carefully than he deserved, it was because I am always terrified, when chance throws me among unknown people, of discovering some monstrosity in them. I search them to the core with a sharp, distasteful eye as one does a dressing-table drawer in a hotel bedroom. No old dressings? No hair-pins, no broken buttons, no crumbs of tobacco? Then I breath again and do not give it a second thought."

The second short stories is "Gribiche". Colette spent some time in theatre productions and ran into many interesting characters there. Gribiche was a young woman who worked there and had an acident. While bringing flowers and a collection of money for her, it becomes apparent that Gribiche is having an abortion aided by her mother (who does this for a living) and no doctor's aid. This is a great example on how unsafe abortions can be when they are no provided by trained medical professional and I will give you two guesses as to how young Gribiche fares. 

"These memories are distant, but precise. they rise out of the fog that inevitably drowns the long days of that particular time, the monotonous amusements of dress rehearsals and suppers at Pousset's, my alternations between animal gaiety and confused unhappiness, the split in my nature between a wild, frightened creature and one with a vast capacity for illusion. But it is a fog that leaves the faces of my friends intact and shinning clear."  - "The Kepi"

"The Rendezvous" is a story that does not have Colette as a character but rather follows a group of four on a vacation. One of the men and woman ,Bernard and Rose, are in a covert affair and arrange to met at night through meaningful looks. However when they reach the meeting point, a young man who was their guide earlier is there bleeding profusely. Bernard wants Rose to run back for help while he stops the bleeding but Rose is appaled by the fact that people will know she was out there with him and what a scandal that will be to her family. This causes Bernard to see her in a new light and he is left with the decision to help a man he does not know who is bleeding to death or to escort the woman he loves back to the hotel. 


I am going to skip a few short stories in this collection, not because I did not love them, but because I don't want this blog post to be to long to handle. "Rainy Moon" is a beautiful story about Colette interacting with two sisters who live in the house that she used to live in. One of these sisters is going through a severe breakdown and the other thinks she is using sorcery to kill her estranged husband.  In "Green Sealing Wax" we get another slice of Colette's parents and I just adore Sido and was so happy to see her again. The last two stories, "The Sick Child" and "The Photographer's Missus", both compliment each other well I think. In both we get a inside glimpse into two people who are eager for death and come face-to-face with it. 

"'What do you expect?' said my mother. 'She's an old maid.'

'But Mamma, she's married!'

'Do you really imagine,' retorted Sido acidly, 'people stop being old maids for a little thing like that?'

I really, really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read more of Colette. Apparently she is best know for her work Gigi which was taken and turned to a play and musical, so I think I need to check that out. 

I could lift it alright

I have never seen or read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest but I knew that it was one of those classics and frankly after drowning myself in a lot of science fiction I threw this little paperback in my bag and tore through it.

The book takes place in the 1960's in mental institution. We see this world threw the eyes of Chief Bromden, a Native American who is a giant of a man and yet pretends to be deaf and mute to get through life in this institution ruled by Nurse Ratched, who is a horrible as her name sounds. A new, and presumably mentally stable, man named McMurphy comes into the ward and proceeds to turn things on it's head. He fights against the system, and yet the deck is so stacked against him that we know he will not succeed.

"He's shown us what a little bravado and courage could accomplish, and we thought he'd taught us how to use it. All the way to the coast we had fun pretending to be brave. When people at a stop light would stare at us and our green uniforms we'd do just like he did, sit up straight and strong and tough-looking and put a big grin on our face and stare straight back at them till their motors died and their windows sunstreaked and they were left sitting when the light changed, upset bad by what a tough bunch of monkeys was just now not three feet from them, and help nowhere in sight."

Bromden sees society as a great Combine that chews up those that do not function as "normal" people. Through him we see the way that other patients were unable to fit due to a myriad of issues and who have their spirits raised and dashed by the coming of McMurphy. McMurphy uses them at the same time tries to help them, and although his motives seem to be almost all selfish, he does seem to be working for the good of those on the ward. In the end McMurphy cannot escape the Combine now that he is in the ward anymore than the rest of them can.

"Yes. This is what I know. The ward is a factory for the Combine. It's fixing up the mistakes made in the neighborhoods and in the schools and in the churches, the hospital is.When a complete product goes back out into society, all fixed up and good as new, better than new sometimes, it brings joy to the Big Nurse's heart; something that came in all twisted different is now a functioning adjusted component, a credit to the whole outfit and a marvel to behold."

I really, really enjoyed this book. I think that I like most books about how society treats those that are mentally unbalanced (the Bell Jar, Girl, Interrupted, Fingersmith, and others) and this one had me right there with the patients. Nurse Ratched is so realistic that she could be prowling the wards today, albeit she would have to use much more tact to not get caught condoning orderlies raping patients. The lack of control of the patients and the absolute tyranny of the staff makes for a fascinating and terrifying environment.

There is a reason this book is on lists of great books. I highly suggest it. I really want to check the movie out and see how it compares up. Has anyone seen it?

I had made something out of my own voice

First book of the year!

I picked up Good Eggs a Memoir by Phoebe Potts after a review from Bitch Magazine. The story follows Pheobe and her hubby as they try to have a baby, using all of our medical advancements. The graphic novel also shows Potts' journey to her current career, her journey in religion,  and battles with depression over the years.

I am a big lover of graphic novels, but I had a hard time reading this one for a couple of reasons. The text was off putting and there was a little too much white-girl whining

The text was hard to read, squished and some of the letters looked so strange that I had to really focus to figure out what was being said. The art was interesting, nothing breathtaking but cute and funny.

Potts' volunteer work has her set up as a martyr to public good, but I just kept thinking, "Yeah it sucks that your job stinks, but you have an easy out anytime you want - you just go spend a year in Panama to learn to speak Spanish and then live at your parents for months without a job"  I cannot relate to this. Yes, real life is hard, especially if you are trying to please other people and dealing with depression, however, I could not understand a lot of these choices. You have great insurance that helps with infertility procedures while desperately trying to get pregnant and you just quit because you need art? Maybe I am being too harsh.

I know nothing about the troubles of getting pregnant and it was interesting to learn just how many hoops some people have to jump through just to have a kid. I also felt that Potts dealing with depression was handled very truthfully and well. I wish that there had been more humor; some choice moments come through for me but with all of the heavy problems in her life (I haven't even mentioned her father's cancer) story-wise it would have been nice to have more balance. I needed to smile more, and the drawings of sperm just were not enough.

It's worth checking this book out - especially if you are interested in stories of artificial insemination and like stories that end differently than you expect them to.

First book of the new year checked off. I'm wrapped up in A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin right now and it is roughly three million pages so we'll see when I finish.

2012

I realize that I have not updated this blog in forever, but I want to let you know that this year one of my goals is to blog about the books I read more. So look forward to it!

Right now I just finished the Adolescent by Dostoevsky and am currently reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's  Nest by Ken Kesey and the Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano. Both are amazing so far.

Any recommendations for this year's reads?

Consider our fight begun

Having seen and fallen in love with the movie, I picked up the firs two books of the Scott Pilgrim series. I tore through them both super quickly. The art has that distinct manga feel, yet I feel less embarrassed to be reading these as opposed to my old Sailor Moons.

"Okay, this might sound vague, but do you know this one girl with hair like this?" 

Scott is twenty-something, no job, in a band, living in a shitty apartment with his gay friend, Wallace. Also he is dating a high schooler. But then he falls for Ramona Flowers.

Getting his shit together enough to date Ramona is one thing, but she comes with her own baggage. Seven evil exes that Scott must defeat in order to be with her.

"this song is for the guy who keeps yelling from the balcony, and it's called 'we hate you, please die." 

The book goes into much more detail than the movies and includes fun things like guitar tabs for Sex Bob-Omb songs and a recipe for vegan shepard pie.

I think this comic is extremely well put together and I cannot wait to read the rest of them.

Also, hey I am back again. Guess i just don't know how to quit this blog. More updates to come!

Wisdom has no need of violence

That's right. I finally finished War and Peace, this master work by my man, Leo Tolstoy. Having read and loved Anna Karenina, I was excited about reading this book that seems to sit atop best classical book lists, daring anyone to actually read it. 

"The solitude exhausted her, tormented her; but it was necessary for her."

This book is dense and complicated and at times annoying and at other times beautiful. I love Tolstoy when he is showing the characters interacting with each other and their world and I want to smack him when he is rambling about grand ideas all on his own. 

War and Peace is about Napoleon's was in Europe that Russia got involved in and Napoleon's subsequential war on Russia, which did not end so well for him. 

"Such is the inevitable fate of all men of action, and the higher they stand in the human hierarchy, the less free they are."

There are basically two families that we follow, the Rostovs and the Bolloskys and those that are their friends, foes, and acquaintances. The Rostovs have four children, Vera (who I forgot all about until I looked at my notes, Nikolia, Natasha, and Petya and one rather mopey cousin, Sonya. Nikolia and Petya end up serving in the wars while Natasha and Sonya are more focused on battles of the heart.

"Natasha fell in love from the moment she entered the ball room. She was not in love with anyone in particular but with everyone. She fell in love with whomever she looked at, the moment she looked at him."

Andrei Bollonsky and his sister Marya are much richer and while Andrei begins married, he later becomes involved with the beautiful Natasha. Andrei also serves in the war and is determined to distinguish himself as a great hero for Russia. He goes through much spiritual and emotional change throughout the novel, and never seems to die until you want him to finally live.

"Nothing, nothing is certain, except the insignificance of everything I can comprehend and the grandeur of something incomprehensible but most important."

Also running around Russia is Pierre, the bastard son of a count who is adopted and made extremely rich. He marries a horrible woman and joins the Free Masons in his quest to find spiritual peace. While he does not serve in the army, Pierre is present at the burning of Moscow and is taken prisoner by the French.

"They could not believe it, because they alone knew what their life was for them and thereafter did not understand or believe it could be taken from them."

My main beef with this novel was the points when Tolstoy would tell me repeatedly that history is not made by the choices of great men, or any man, that free will is a bunch of bunk and that power and authority are abstract ideas. This mostly came about in the second part of the epilogue (of course the epilogue had multiple parts) where we leave the story completely and do not pick it up again. I thought that Tolstoy said everything he needed to say in the novel, and at the end was just beating me over the head with it. Perhaps this was necessary when it was originally published, but these ideas are not new to me and I did not enjoy reading twenty pages of them. It was a lot like reading John Galt's gigantic speech in Atlas Shrugged - get to the point!

"If everyone made war only according to his own convictions, there would be no war."

That being said, this novel is great for a reason. I loved Natasha, Pierre, the Rostov parents and even, at times, Marya. I loved all the little details about their lives and how the wars changed so many things for them. He does a great job of illustrating how orders given in war time matter much less than the thoughts of those who are actually in the action (and does so without preaching when focused on the actual characters).

Worth reading. I'm glad that I did and I am looking forward to reading more classics in this coming year. But first I have to finish my book about superheroes.

You've become The Vegan Freak

Having recently made up my mind to become a full-fledged vegan, I have been scouring cookbooks and other vegan guide books. This little one caught my eye at the local library and I devoured it very quickly.

Vegan Freak is written by a married couple that are laid-back and not afraid to drop an eff-bomb.They mostly handle advice on how to respond to questions and attacks one might receive as a vegan, such as where do you get your protein? (I have already gotten this question several times - a few from vegetarians) and what on earth do you eat?

I really, really enjoyed this book and found reassurance that my little family and I are making the right choice. This book is funny and smart, and gives lots and lots of sources for further learning on specific subjects (like vegan pet-food!). They give a brief overview of everything from animal rights to vegan sex toys. 

To sum up their advice, do what you can to be happy and healthy since, like it or not you are a poster-child for all vegans. And try not to be a douche because that will not convince anyone. 

Bob and Jenna Torres run veganfreak.com which has an interesting blog and lots of links to related websites and sources. 

Note: I've posted this over at my vegan themed blog (girlveggie) with a bonus Taft the cat story if you are interested.