I’m starting to feel a little disillusioned. Maybe they aren’t so addictive (for me) after all.
Ok, so the very first one I did was the one in last Saturday’s paper. I guess they are like crossword puzzles, going from easy to hard as the week progresses. So it was probably a mistake to start on a Saturday. I did manage to finish it though I had to burn some serious midnight oil and I still don’t know how I did it.
So, Flashman was a great read. It’s the fictional memoir of Harry Paget Flashman, whose first claim to fame was as the school bully in Tom Brown’s Schooldays (which I haven’t read, but believe me, it’s high on the TBR stack now!). In this first episode he is expelled from school, has a fling with his father’s mistress, gets married in what amounts to a shotgun wedding, joins the army, goes to fight in the First Afghan War, and comes back such a hero that he even gets to meet the Queen.
Flashy is a true anti-hero: he’s a cad, a coward, and a scoundrel of the first degree. If he does do the right thing, it’s for all the wrong reasons. In one scene, for example, he and his underling are attacked by four bad guys. Flashy, of course, turns tail and runs for it. The underling kills all the bad guys but is himself killed in the process. Flashy returns to the scene, stabs one body just to make sure it’s really dead, and then is discovered, sword dripping, surrounded by corpses, and only too happy to take credit for the carnage. This is typical.
Steve and I watch a lot of movies, actually, but I hardly ever write about them. Probably that’s because I’m so tired by the end of the day that I can barely remember what I watched, even assuming I was able to stick it out to the end. As well as the fact that highbrow “films” are not my thing at all — this is a source of pain to my dear dad, whose favorite movie of all time is Aguirre, the Wrath of God — in fact, I can barely even sit through a Merchant Ivory. Let alone come up with something coherent to say about it. Give me a blockbuster comedy action thriller special effects extravaganza starring beautiful people any day.
I’ve been continuing to obsess over Davies and Irving and the whole issue of homage and plagiarism and so forth. Finally I did what I should have done at the very beginning, which was, duh, some research. And oh, the irony. Guess what I discovered?
Found this one at Kate’s Book Blog.
What are you reading right now?
Flashman, by George MacDonald Fraser. And lovin’ it.
Do you have any idea what you’ll read when you’re done with that?
Probably some more Wendell Berry.
What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now?
Upstairs: a big stack of back issues of National Geographic and Family Handyman. Downstairs: current issues of Consumer Reports and The Atlantic Monthly. Typically I bring a book, though.
About a year ago, my friend Leland asked me if he could borrow my scanner. He had written a children’s story, he explained, and his then-11yo son Mekiah had illustrated it. He wanted to scan the pictures so that he could get the book printed. A bit more discussion, and the next thing I knew, can I borrow your scanner had turned into will you design my book. Read more on Self-publishing a children’s book…
Wendell Berry’s The Life Story of Jayber Crow, Barber, of the Port William Membership, as Written by Himself is a portrait of a community and a bygone era. I read it in about three days and I loved it to pieces. Already I am looking forward to rereading it.
The novel takes place in the fictional town of Port William, a farming community located along the Kentucky River. In describing the various different members of the community Berry shows us how interconnected and interdependent they all are — and we see why he calls it the Port William Membership. I was reminded of Orson Scott Card, who is at his best when describing the ties that bind, such as the tapestry of life in the Alvin Maker series or the golden strands in the Homecoming series. Berry expresses the same idea, only he does it in a beautifully understated way, without resorting to hokey metaphors.
