Summer Reading?

My teaching ends on Wednesday, June 26, at 12:30pm. I will be free during all of July and August! I will read whatever I want, whenever I want, but it's true I'll also be working on my book project and writing stuff for my writing group.

When I'm that free, I can never be sure in what reading direction I'll turn. I do know I'd like to read more Nordic Noir. I also must read Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver and Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan, two of my all-time favorite novelists. I own the books but haven't had the cognitive space to devote to a close reading of them. I haven't wanted to read them while my head is crammed with my teaching life, which I can't seem to stop from being so all-consuming. I wish it were different, but so far I haven't been able to change my habits, however much I've tried.

And for years I've had a copy of one of Gillian Flynn's first novels, Sharp Objects, which I picked up years ago at a library book sale. I intend to read it this summer.

Still, I'm haunted by how much I haven't read.

Head over Heels reading Norwegian Night by Derek Miller

I do hope that I allow myself the time to be immersed in Norwegian Night this weekend. I started it early last week, and I've had one interruption after another that has interfered with my absorption. I've had books to read for the Children's Lit class I'm teaching now, articles of criticism to digest, and then the research reading for my book project.

But I'll tell you, Norwegian Night is a special book. I so appreciate the acutely drawn characterizations of Sheldon, the protagonist in his eighties who has been diagnosed as being in the early stages of dementia, and Rhea, his granddaughter, particularly. I feel completely at home with them and have embraced all the assorted themes that are running through the novel. Norwegian Night has depth and believable characters who suffer and carry on, and that's what I'm enjoying so much about it.

I desperately need the down time to finish this book because I had a terribly big "special" birthday on Monday, and I'm groaning under the weight of years. Okay, if you must know, my mother was watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II when her water broke. I was born 7 hours later. (I always wondered how my mother's story could be accurate when the coronation took place on June 2 and I was born on June 3.) Last week I learned that the televised broadcasts in the U.S. were delayed a full day. I'm so glad to have that discrepancy cleared up because I've been puzzled by it for decades! It was the biography Elizabeth the Queen by the American writer Sally Bedell Smith that set me straight. As for the book itself, it's entirely too laudatory a bio, yet I enjoyed learning what I did. Smith had a vast access to Royal archives, which an objective biographer probably would not have been given. Will it be possible someday to have a fully balanced biography of the Queen? Perhaps. I hope so.

Thoughts: The Healer by Antti Toumainen

The premise of The Healer by Finnish crime writer Toumainen was what prompted me to pre-order the book on my Nook. "Ruthless climate change" has dramatically altered climes to the south of Finland, and as the novel opens, even Helsinki appears to have a limited window of sustainability due to relentless rain and terrible flooding. People of means from all over the world are fleeing to the north of Finland (and other far northern areas around the world, one imagines), which has set a grim pall over Finland's capital.

Tapani Lehtinen, a poet who appears to have no current occupation, lives in Helsinki with his wife Joanna, a journalist, whom he loves deeply. When Joanna vanishes, Tapani assumes her disappearance is linked to her journalistic preoccupation with "The Healer," a [former] environmental activist who has in recent years adopted more extreme tactics, including terrorist acts. Tapani's goal, naturally, is to find his wife, whom he is sure has fallen into the hands of those who mean her harm.

Before I mention the aspects of the novel that hindered my enjoyment, it's important to note that the book is a mere 224 pages in hardcover. And before rattling off what I view as shortcomings, I will say that the rising action leading to the climax and the climax itself were very well constructed and allowed me to be "there," with the action every step of the way.

Yet most of the novel was tedious. Why is this so? I was very disappointed by the lack of characterization of Tapani. For gosh sake, he's a poet. But he doesn't appear to view the world as a poet, there aren't references to his poetic inner world, and, as a result, I found it impossible to believe in him as a character. His love for his wife is made clear, that's true, but nothing else. Nothing. Frustrating. Nor is there development of any other character.

Plot. Not  particularly engaging until the plot starts heading toward the climax.

Setting. Oh, dear, so much more could have been done here. We're at the end of the world--in the midst of this dystopia--please tell us more than a very wee bit about it. This aspect was very much underplayed. A richer setting would have enhanced the mood and atmosphere. Not only that, The Healer takes place within the two days before Christmas. But there are startling few references to the holiday, and, actually, none enter into the actual plot at all, except for maybe one red star toward the end of the climactic action. So why set it at Christmas? I am curious.

This is silly, and please forgive me, but in my wild imaginings I would love to rewrite this book. Its skeletal frame doesn't bear weight, and I'd love to give it a whack. But, you know what? Despite my disappointment, I will pick up the next Toumainen novel to see where he goes next. Maybe The Healer's climax was a promise of better crime fiction to come. The Healer is Toumainen's third novel, but his first to be published in English. It was awarded The Clue Award for the "Best Finnish Crime Novel" of 2011.

Back from Lake Placid and to Work--Toumainen, Anyone?

I had three full days in Lake Placid, home of the 1932 and 1980 Olympics, and the premier vacation destination area within the six-million-acre Adirondack Park in northern New York State. When I set out on Tuesday, I had no idea what my exhausted mind and body would decide to do. I gave myself permission to do whatever felt right. As it turned out, I found I was drawn to hiking and exploring (and bushwhacking a bit) in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks, as opposed to flopping down with lots of books all day, which was what I had expected I would want to do.

When I go on my annual solo jaunt to Lake Placid, I never know what I will feel like doing, so I bring loads of books, my current writing project stuff, all my hiking and outdoors gear, and see where my spirit takes me. Maybe because my body desperately needed the exercise tune-up, I spent hours and hours walking and hiking, and now at last, I've found I'm more at peace with myself and am back to good bushwhacking shape. Two of the three nights I slept 11 hours! 

Of course I did read in the late afternoons and evenings. I chose the recently released Finnish novel The Healer by Antti Toumainen, and at this point I have just 40 pages to go. Finishing might seem to be no problem, but I've had my summer course to prepare (two 3.5 hour classes per week!) and a new-to- me YA award-winner to read by Walter Dean Myers.  Monster won the Michael Printz Award, which is the American Library Association's YA equivalent to the John Newbery Medal.

I would love to post some of my photos from my climb up Mount Jo. The summit affords more than 180-degree views of some of the grandest High Peaks. I will, when I have time to get them downloaded. School tomorrow!

When Life Is Upside Down...

Keep grading exams and late papers! But what happened to my reading time I was drooling for this weekend? Well, the college registrar forgot to inform English instructors at the satellite campus that after giving exams today, final grades for the semester must be in by Monday.  And this, a weekend with a holiday, with no advance warning, and in opposition to tradition. My blood is gathering steam for a royal boil.

Now for the meat course. Books on tap for me:
1. I know for certain you won't believe this, but I STILL have a hundred pages to go in Midwinter Blood by Mons Kallentoft. I really, really like the book very much, but because I'm so tired every night, I fall asleep as soon as I'm in a comfy position in bed. It's called the end-of-the-semester sleeping pill. It's more like anesthesia.

2. Yay! Yay! Hooray! Oh, gosh. Oops. Just checked my Nook. I thought The Healer by Antti Tuomainen would be on my Nook today, but now it says it won't be delivered until the 14th of May. I can't wait to dig into this novel because of the post-apocalyptic, "ruthless climate change" environmental disaster backdrop. I'm also keen to read a crime novel by a truly Finnish writer.

3. To the Lake District! That's where I'm headed with The Frozen Shroud by Martin Edwards. It was inexpensive on the Nook ($6.99), and the good reviews about Edwards and this particular novel pushed me to buy it.
Have you read Martin Edwards?

My Time Off Has Vanished!

I must forget all that time off I thought I had in May. Gone! Vanished! Vamoosh!

Since February the college has changed the dates of the Summer I session, but I didn't know until, by happenstance, I heard the current dates from a chemistry professor. I thought she was crazy, but no--I'm the dumb one. I now get only one week off. During that time I am going on a solo writing/reading/hiking retreat to Lake Placid. Three nights at a much-reduced cost. I did this last year in late June and it was so rejuvenating. So, again!

The Silver Lining: This academic schedule change means that I will not be teaching during all of July and August. I understand I will likely be leading occasional nature investigations at Garnet Hill Lodge during late July and August, but that's it! Two months to read! And two months to work on my writing/book projects!  I will need a trip to Boston during that time to visit family, but that's it for travel.

How cool--two entire months to READ during the hottest part of the year when outdoor activities are difficult! Can you imagine? I'm so psyched! I know, I'm overdoing my enthusiasm and exclamation points.

I want to make a list of the books I want to read during those two months. That will be fun. Nordic Noir, yes. Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior, Ian McEwan's latest, and more. A more complete list will be forthcoming.

Do let me know about your summer reading plans. OR, are you too busy to read in the summertime? Do report!

In the Merry Month of May: Books to Come

Yes, just a few days until May. April has not been my best reading month, although it has been a good month for launching work on several writing projects. My reading has been usurped by these projects, so I find I'm not making headway with what I call my recreational fiction.

Some of you may be shocked to learn that I am still reading Midwinter Blood by the Swedish crime writer Mons Kallentoft.

Two weeks ago I borrowed two copies of Phantom by Jo Nesbo, in the hopes that Ken and I would read along together. I could not keep up, and he has zoomed through the book and is entering the final fifth of the novel. It was a terrific idea to read a book like this together, but, well, he has more time to read recreationally and I overestimated my abilities. Yes, you're right--bad excuse! By the way, he's loving the book. He loves the darkness, although he admits he can't read book after book of Nordic Noir. I think I can, but how will I know if other academic books are constantly claiming my time.

So, while I'm reading numerous books about the desperate end of the Civil War in the bludgeoned Confederacy, I'm not progressing with my other bookish interests.

In May, I have a break of exactly 2 weeks and 5 days before I teach a grueling course in the Summer I session.

So here's what I hope to accomplish:
1. Finish Midwinter Blood, of course!

2. Read and write a review for All That I Am by Anna Funder for Caroline's War and Literature Readalong  title for May. Funder is an Australian-born author who now lives in Brooklyn, New York. I'm looking forward to reading this World War II novel. Please join us!

3. I hope to listen to some audiobooks. I'm finishing up the Carole King memoir (fantastic!). I'll be sorry to say goodbye to such a memorable listening experience. I can't say enough good things about it.

4. But I can't claim too much for a mere 2 weeks and 5 days. I have high hopes for leisure reading, but I need to see how it goes!

Paul Auster and J. M. Coetzee in Bookish News

I was about to address the readers of this entry as "Auster fans." For such an esteemed American writer, fandom seems too commercial, too disrespectful of Paul Auster's stature in American letters. At least, that's my opinion. But, that said, if you are a devoted reader of Auster's work, have you heard about the volume of letters that he and J.M. Coetzee pulled together, entitled Here and Now: Letters 2008-2011, published by Viking Penguin this March, I believe?

Evidently the two literary comrades, living on opposite sides of the globe (the South African Coetzee now lives in Adelaide, Australia), decided to embark on an epistolary correspondence to see where it led, and with the possibility that they might pursue publication. The project seemed contrived to me at first, but then again, to a reader who has long lamented the loss of handwritten letters as documentary evidence, I was curious about what they might come up with. Anything and everything Auster does fascinates me, so I contemplated buying the book, but before I made the commitment, I found the book sitting on the "New Books Shelf" at the Lucy Scribner Library at Skidmore College, a place I frequent for my scholarly reading. So, last Friday afternoon I literally snatched it off the shelf with a little gasp, as if someone were about to grab it before I could claim it.

Auster's first letter to Coetzee is a reflection about friendship. Wouldn't you know I was so swamped this weekend I haven't had time to read it! Augghh!


   

More Boston Talk (No Books)

Last evening, after a very long day of climactic events in Boston, I called my mom as I often have during this difficult week. And she asked me last night, "Did all of this make you at all homesick for Boston?"  "Oh, yes!" I answered emphatically, "And Ken, too!"

Mom and I discussed the fact that the surviving terrorist, 19 years old, was in my nephew's (her grandson's) class at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, graduating in 2011. I haven't spoken to Liam--he lives with my brother in Cambridge, one of the areas in total lock down yesterday. They both must be exhausted. But, because I teach 19-year-olds, and because I've heard so many reports about the high regard the terrorist's friends and teachers held him in, I feel an enormous sense of tragedy.

I am touring around Boston in my dreams at night. And I was so surprised when Ken told me how he wished to be in Boston with his coworkers and friends this week. I was so surprised to hear him say this because Ken has never said anything about missing Boston. Quite the contrary, in fact. I haven't missed the city either--we've both been so content with the wonders of our wilderness. 

It's embarrassing to say this, but the only things we have missed before this week have been ludicrously trivial, such as fresh seafood, superb Chinese and Thai cuisine, Whole Foods supermarket, and just plain all-round excellent food, all of which we most assuredly do not have here in northern New York. We've made do with the inferior fare available at supermarkets, and because we have wealth in our environment, we haven't complained. How important is food anyway? Not at all, in the grand scheme of things.

I think we both need a brief trip back--to visit friends. Ken needs to see his buddies at The Boston Globe. I'd love to spend time with my mother, and then, in the evenings, visit our best friends...in great restaurants, of course. Oops! There goes the family budget! Perhaps we can in the next month.