books

Wilde, or Three Things to Love About The Picture of Dorian Gray

/ J. Thorp / 3 Comments

I nearly entitled this post “Three Things to Loathe …” because it seemed more appropriate. It’s a great story full of people you can’t stand, living in a world of false beauty. Without further ado, Three Things to Love about The Picture of Dorian Gray.

  • Awful(ly Fascinating) People. Listen in on just a few of the conversations over dinner and drinks and fresh cut flowers, and you’re hooked. Part of the genius of this book is the sinking feeling that there really are people like these, and we may even know some of them.
  • Intense Beauty. The sights and smells. The small gestures. The long white fingers, red lips, pinks, blues, and greens. The hum of bees. These people are play at Eden, and they fall, fall, fall.
  • Great Premise. Fascinating idea, building to a great ending. I’ve seen similar endings in more recent stories, but I didn’t see it coming here, in part because the ending is swiftly paced.

Next: Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying.

Steinbeck, or Three Things to Love About East of Eden

/ J. Thorp / 3 Comments

At the beginning of summer, I agreed to my friend Jacqui’s challenge to read 15 Classics in 15 Weeks. At least, I agreed in spirit, with the understanding that I may not accomplish it in the suggested timeframe. Obviously I haven’t, but not for the reasons I thought (kids, work, etc.).

In late July I began reading Steinbeck’s East of Eden, a novel Jacqui read in a day and a breath, a novel that my friend Deacon Tyler couldn’t wait for me to finish. I struggled to finish, not because it was slow going or difficult or bad, but because it was so good. It required my full attention for long periods of time, and I wouldn’t cheat it.

This is a novel to break yourself upon — a mountain of a book that makes you want to climb even at risk of life and limb.* This is a book, Jacqui and Jinglebob, that inspires you to want to write breathtaking, aching prose, and makes you afraid to ever set down another inadequate word on paper.

My summertime Three Things to Love schtick seems to belittle this book somehow, but here goes:

  • Grand Themes. The book is biblical, universal, deep, and moving.
  • Minute Authenticity. Steinbeck conveys complex emotion precisely with a single detail: the arch of a brow, the movement of lips. Beautiful.
  • Memorable Characters. Samuel and Liza Hamilton. Cal Trask. Lee and Abra. Complex, flawed, and totally lovable for it.

I liked the book. A lot. Next: The Picture of Dorian Gray.

* * * * *

*This gushing praise is authentic for my part. A colleague started this book during the fall and quit, seeing it as an apologetic for bad parenting. You may not like it; I am not as well read as I should be, but this may be my favorite book I’ve ever read.

The Tao of Piglet and the Te of Poo

/ J. Thorp / 2 Comments

A couple years back, I shared with some of the you the story of when Jodi shared with Brendan a book she’d purchased for me. It was called, The Tao of Pooh, and used the classic A. A. Milne characters to illustrate principles of Taoist philosophy in an easy-to-read and -understand way.

I loved the book. Brendan’s comment, however, was, “Is that about Winnie-the-Pooh, or just poo?”

Our tai chi instructor recently gave me his extra copy of the companion follow-up to The Tao of Pooh, a somewhat thicker volume called The Te of Piglet. I couldn’t wait to dig in.

A lot of people love both of these books. For me, Te tries way too hard to make Big Points, forgetting the point of the book is the Virtue of Smallness, manifested in Piglet. Much of the content centers on the author’s politics, which is fine, but none of his points require the pages he takes to make them, and what the book gains in weight it loses in charm.

Read The Tao …, and enjoy how Benjamin Hoff captures the spirit and voice of Milne and his beloved animals. If you like it, by all means pick up The Te … and read just one chapter: “The Upright Heart.” The tao of Piglet is contained there. The rest is kind of just poo.

Summer Vacation, Day 70: Gone Fishing (Belated)

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Spent the day at Hardy Dam, and the kids learned a bit more about fishing and camping – namely that, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, you never know what you’re gonna get. Bren, Gabe and I went fishing with Dziadzi early in the morning and caught seven or so small walleye (8 to 13 1/2 inches; minimum to keep ’em is 15). I caught a 22-inch pike (minimum is 24 inches). So, no keepers, and Bren didn’t catch any at all!

Jodi and Busia went to town for groceries (our family changes the entire feeding dynamic at the camp site) and the kids decided to read (Bren = The Silmarillion; Gabe = The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen) or nap through a good part of the afternoon, so Dad and I read (East of Eden continues to be a masterpiece; Dad is reading Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising). When the ladies returned, we took the kids to the beach, but a steady breeze had blown a thick layer of pea-soup muck into the swimming area. The kids played in the sand, instead, and I went with Dad to install two more bunks in the houseboat.

Afterward, all of us set out to go fishing, only to be blown in off the lake by a rapidly advancing storm. We barely got the houseboat docked again before the rain began – the cabin catches a lot of wind! So we went into my folks’ fifth-wheel to eat supper and watch the Olympics. Oh, and we learned that smallmouth bass are quite good to eat – cousin Kyle had left one behind. Not really what we planned, but it all worked out. Amen.

Summer Vacation, Day 66: Good For Nothin’

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Today, friends, was a good-for-nothin’ day. In fact, it was great for nothing. Soaked the sun and visited with family. Almost nothing else. So nice!

I may even write a little tonight. It’s hard – I have “free time,” didn’t have to write at all today … but you know? I have almost no desire to write. First day off from speechwriting, and you want me to write other stuff?

And East of Eden is calling me, too – what to do; what to to? I can tell you this: until I decide, I’m doing nothing!