My Stewart O'Nan Summer

West of Sunset - Stewart O'Nan.  Instead of the predictable Gatsby-era take, O'Nan explores the last three years of F. Scott Fitzgerald's life, when he was employed in Hollywood as a scriptwriter. This book hit all my happy buttons: Scott hangs with Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley, and even better, Humphrey Bogart is his neighbor. Also, seen through Scott's eyes during brief visits, Zelda comes to life even more thoroughly than she did in the famous biography of her by Nancy Milford. O'Nan so accurately conveys the weird combination of tenseness and tedium that goes with spending time with someone experiencing mental problems. This is O'Nan's latest novel (published early in 2015) and although I haven't made it through all of his works yet, I have a feeling that this is his best one.

The Night Country - Stewart O'Nan. One Halloween night, five teenagers riding around in a car are in a fatal accident. Three die, one suffers severe brain damage and the other is unharmed. The novel properly begins on the first-year anniversary as the ghosts of the three dead teenagers follow the actions and thoughts of the unharmed teenager, who has survivor's guilt; the mother of the brain-damaged survivor, and the cop who was there when the accident happened. There's that same slice-of-life quality that made Last Night at the Lobster so good, but it's also quietly chilling with flashes of sharp, dark humor, like a Shirley Jackson novel.  The ending reminded me of a Coldplay song and I wanted to weep. Weighing in at less than 225 pages, this 2003 novel by O'Nan would be a great read for the R.I.P. Challenge.

The admiration continues. Next up: Wish You Were Here.

New 19th Century Crush: George Gissing

Move over, Emile Zola.  Step aside, George Moore.  (Stay where I can still see you gentlemen, though!)

 There's a new fellow in the Bybee bookiverse.  George Gissing.  I've only read one complete novel so far -- The Odd Women -- and I'm about 15% into another -- The Nether World -- but I'm a fan.  Look at me, dashing like Emily Dickinson.  Yep, I'm smitten.  How did his work escape my notice for so long?  Or did it?  A long time ago, before most of your blogs were born, we had an Outmoded Authors Challenge.  Did I see his name there?  A memory stirs...

Anyway.  How do I love George Gissing?  I won't count all the ways, but suffice it to say that he hits my literary sweet spot.  He's like George Eliot and Emile Zola combined.  One foot in Victorian literature (but not the fainty, fussy kind -- the spirited, intellectual discourse kind that really takes its time about developing characters. Yes, I'm looking at you, Middlemarch!) and the other foot in Naturalism. His characters go off the rails on a crazy train from time to time, but then they go home and have a cup of tea and think about it.

 Furthermore, his prose is so intensely readable. [Rant about Henry James removed.]  I'm afraid to read him on the subway; I'm going to miss my stop one of these times.  Also, the way he creates characters!  I wanted to smack practically everyone in The Odd Women upside the head, but it's only because Gissing made me care so much about their lives.

Of course, this in no way plays into my hero-worship, but Gissing's books are free.  Thanks to Susan at Pages Turned, who mentioned him on Goodreads, I hunted them down and snapped up five -- The Odd Women, The Nether World, New Grub Street, Eve's Ransom, and The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft.

It's going to be a George Gissing summer.

P.S. He was cute, wasn't he?  I tried not to say it, but there you go.  

Dorian At The Beach

I've seen so many great suggestions for beach and poolside reading now that summer is here.  After looking at several lists, I'd like to make my own recommendation:

My first encounter with this novel was during one of my summer vacations in high school.  I got it from a list of 5 "great" summer reads in Seventeen magazine.  Back then, I did everything Seventeen suggested.  For example, if they proposed that the perfect movie date outfit was a fluffy white sweater, a red plaid skirt, white tights and black Mary Janes, I was all over it, even though denim was de rigueur in 1970s southwest Oklahoma.

I don't remember what the other 4 books were.  The Picture of Dorian Gray jumped out at me so I dutifully found a copy at the local library, put it in my bag with my beach towel and suntan oil and went off to the pool.  I lay on my towel and read the whole book in one afternoon, pausing only to jump in the water when I got too hot.

The Picture of Dorian Gray was so engrossing, I forgot to reapply the suntan oil after my first couple of trips into the pool, and ended up with a blistery sunburn that stretched my skin painfully tight and turned me the color of Barney for about a week. Nevertheless, I have only fond memories of this novel, and consider The Picture of Dorian Gray quintessential beach read.

 If you should make the same mistake I did, the 1945 movie version would be a nice distraction while you're lying around slathered in aloe vera gel and knocking back the ibuprofen.

June and July: Reading

I was working then I was traveling and I was reading but I couldn't get the words out about it all.  Now here we are in August, and I think I can speak.  It'll be a bit Tweetish, but I don't care.  It's summer; my brain is broiling.

June Reading

1. Sweet Thursday - John Steinbeck.  Steinbeck being lovable and goofy.  It's like a comic strip, but you still feel for the characters.  You know the 1982 movie Cannery Row?  It's based more on this one than Cannery Row.  I'm glad the movie caught that cartoony feeling, but I'm sure audiences didn't know what to make of it all. Starring Debra Winger as Suzy and Nick Nolte as the Steinbeck-ish character, Doc.  Very nice!

2. The Fault In Our Stars - John Green.  Griffin and Phoenix for the young ones.  Tearjerker.  I told/ordered all my English majors to read this book when it's translated into Korean.

3. American Pastoral - Philip Roth.  I broke up with Philip Roth so hard.

4. Are You My Mother? - Alison Bechdel.  It's very meta.  There's a lot going on with mothers and daughters, dreams, therapy, Virginia Woolf and an early 20th century shrink named Winnicott.  It's hard to keep up sometimes, but I like it that Bechdel trusts us to make the effort.

5. Running In The Family - Michael Ondaatje.  Ondaatje's memoir about his family in Ceylon caught me in an exuberant mood as I prepared to go on vacation.  Now vacation is over and I'm feeling the opposite of exuberance, but the richness of the language and imagery has stayed with me.  It's like my own 'invincible summer'.

6. Fun Home - Alison Bechdel.  It's amazing how Alison Bechdel can examine her memories to the point of pain and create such exquisite art from them.  Most of us would fall into darkness and cut ourselves to ribbons on the shards of remembrance.

7. When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead.  I wasn't wild about the A Wrinkle in Time shout-out; I was more interested in the subplot in which the mother gets a chance to be on the $20,000 Pyramid.

8. Drifting House - Krys Lee. She's so lovely.  I hope this collection of short stories about the many aspects of being a modern-day Korean, both in Korea and abroad, gets all the attention it deserves.

9. Number the Stars - Lois Lowry.  During WWII, a family in Nazi-occupied Denmark gets the opportunity to be heroes on a small scale by hiding their Jewish neighbors. Some of my students read this book for their Newbery report and raved about it, so I had to see for myself.  My Newbery reading is turning out to be quite rich and satisfying.

July Reading

1. Heartburn - Nora Ephron. I read this book when it first came out, and when I reread it, it was very different.  I remember it as being very funny and witty.  This time, I was much more aware of the sadness and anger simmering barely below the surface.  This time I was struck by how stinkin' rich Mark and Rachel are!  This time, I was also trying to figure out who was who in this roman a clef.  I'd forgotten about how Rachel loved New York and loathed Washington, D.C.  Finally, I didn't realize till now that this was the book that made me a fan of key lime pie.

2. I Feel Bad About My Neck - Nora Ephron.  I'm not a big fan of audiobooks, but Nora Ephron read her own book, and I'd really love to hear her commentary in her own wry, New York-accented cadence.

3. I Remember Nothing - Nora Ephron. In her final book, Ephron tackles ageing (again), illness, divorce, death, her conflicted feelings about her mother and Lillian Hellman.  Strangely enough, in this era of there's-no-such-thing-as-too-much-gutspill, she doesn't mention her own cancer battle.  There are plenty of hints for those reading with hindsight, as I was, but Ephron maintains a friendly but steely reserve.  I will always love and respect her for that.

4. Growing Up Amish - Ira Wagler.  I started reading this one last summer, and forgot about it. Happily, I picked it up again this summer, finished it and discussed it briefly here.

5. Lamb - Christopher Moore.  Yeah, he farts around and there's a ton of puerile jokes, but Moore studied the Gospels closely.  At certain brief points, you can tell he's not joking around.

6. Caddie Woodlawn - Carol Ryrie Brink. The winner of the 1936 Newbery Medal.  The story of a tomboyish girl and her family living in 1860s Wisconsin, based on Carol Ryrie Brink's grandmother's stories.  Very enjoyable slice-of-pioneer-life with a little touch of Frances Hodgson Burnett towards the end.  I'm ashamed to talk about what really preoccupied me about this book.  Oh well, here goes:  Would it be terribly wrong to say that I found Caddie Woodlawn's father, John, incredibly hot?  I enjoyed it whenever he popped into the book, and was sorry to see him out of it for pages at a time. I also kind of hated it when he was kissing and comforting Mrs. Woodlawn in one of the chapters.  The second thing was author Brink's second name.  Ryrie.  How do you say that?  Mr. Bybee and I studied it and decided that Ryrie rhymes with Bybee.  We said it over and over again in Scooby-Doo voices:  "Ryrie.  RY-REE.  Ruh-roh."

7. Canada - Richard Ford.  One of the best opening lines ever:  "First, I'll tell you about the robbery our parents committed, then about the murders, which happened later."

8. The Three of Us - Georgette Jones. The daughter of country singers George Jones and Tammy Wynette reminisces about her parents, as well as her own life.  All were stormy, as benefits country royalty.  Georgette worked as a nurse for a while, but decided to pursue a career in country music a few years ago.  I checked out some of her videos on Youtube, and she's a really good singer.  I actually prefer her voice to Tammy's. This book surprised me with its deft ghostwriting and careful research.

9. License to Pawn - Rick Harrison.  Fans of the History Channel will recognize Harrison's name from the TV show Pawn Stars, which features him, his father (Old Man), his son (Corey/Big Hoss) and Corey's childhood friend, Chumlee working at their family business, The Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas.  Rick talks about his early life, the protocol of working in a pawn shop, some of the characters and objects that have come through those doors, and how he pursued the idea of turning the business into a reality show.  An enjoyable and informative read.  The other Pawn Stars principals get their own chapters in the book as well.   I love this book.  I love the show.  My mom thinks Rick is cute.  I think Old Man is cute and curmudgeonly.  Time for a trip to Vegas.

10. Our Valued Customers: Conversations From the Comic Book Store - Tim Chamberlain.  Hilarious!  Here are some of my favorite snippets that accompanied the cartoon drawings of customers:
"He reads Marvel *and* DC.  You just can't trust that guy."
"If Catwoman is so smart and together, why not knock off all that burglar shit and get a REAL job?"
"I just can't be with somebody who doesn't have room for Edward and Bella in his life."
"Fantasy football is just D&D for jocks."
"I wish there were comic book police and I could call 'em and be like, "HEY, they're fuckin' up Batman with a dumb story!  GET 'EM!"
"That movie's gonna suck, and Thor's lame, anyways.  He's not a superhero.  He's just an old Bible character."
"My son Trevin only reads books that are based on movies.  That way he already knows how they end and he won't get too anxious."
"If I ever get married and my wife doesn't want a Star Wars wedding, I'm gonna dump that chick on the spot."

June and July.  It was fun.  Time for some serious reading, though.  If I can.