Kate's Queen City Notes

Blundering through Cincinnati, laughing all the way

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100 Books by 40 – THE ALCHEMIST

Book: The Alchemist
Author: Paulo Coelho
Published: 1988

It’s not what you thought
When you first began it
You got what you want
Now you can hardly stand it, though
By now you know
It’s not going to stop
It’s not going to stop
It’s not going to stop
Till you wise up

You’re sure there’s a cure
And you have finally found it
You think one drink
Will shrink you till you’re underground
And living down
But it’s not going to stop
It’s not going to stop
It’s not going to stop
Till you wise up

Prepare a list for what you need
Before you sign away the deed
‘Cause it’s not going to stop
It’s not going to stop
It’s not going to stop
Till you wise up

No, it’s not going to stop
Till you wise up
No, it’s not going to stop
So just give up

– Aimee Mann “Wise Up”

Stories serve different purposes. Some stories represent reality in no way, but they paint the world in an ordered and intentional way that sooths us in times of suffering. It’s psychologically critical to believe that life has meaning when we hurt. Facing how arbitrary life is only makes that pill more bitter to swallow.

The Alchemist describes the adventures of a boy seeking his true destiny by being present in nature and with people. The boy travels and learns from those he meets along the way that the universe is ordered and is God manifested. His heart never steers him wrong. He gets riches and the woman he loves. And it’s all so precious. So very precious.

And that’s lovely, but there’s a reason books and movies like this exist. This sort of happily ever after ending only happens in fiction. In real life, the boy would have died in the desert. In real life, his love wouldn’t have waited endlessly for him to return. In real life, treasure isn’t buried, and the universe isn’t directing us to it. In real life, stunningly shitty things happen. In real life, those stunningly shitty things are meaningless, arbitrary.

If meaning can be taken from suffering, it’s because the sufferer has willed it to be so. A 102 year-old WWII survivor was awarded her PhD last week. She’s chosen to live past her suffering by sheer will and determination, and not because the universe is whispering to her heart about bullshit treasure.

And this, fundamentally, is what our culture gets wrong about success. Nothing is free. People who perservere in the face of terrible circumstances have nothing special aside from will. They manage to pull themselves out of bed in the morning in spite of their body screaming to stay.

Objectively, Ingeborg had her life forever altered by the year and place she was born in. If just one of those variables were different, she would have achieved her PhD years ago. She wouldn’t have fleed human cruelty. The fact that she is still chosing life, is an act of will and suggesting a benevolent universe is guiding her along robs her of her strength.


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100 Books by 40: GOD OF SMALL THINGS

Book: God of Small Things
Author: Arundhati Roy
Published: 1997

Everyone has a story. Some stories dig into tender places. They curl around vital organs, touching where the pain ancient, dull lies deepest.

A woman revisits her childhood home in India and reconnects with her twin brother. Their story sneaks in, quiet on the back of lush prose and resonant consiousness. Family catastrophes that spring from the best intentions carry a sorrow all their own. The loss that carves space into the main characters  is revealed early, leaving the rest of the book to elaborate on good intentions. I devoured it eagerly.

Soaking in the book’s warm dispair was a salve on my own fresh wounds. Good intentions abound in my story. Chairs upright and tray tables stowed have got nothing for the hard landing, but the ritual’s purpose is to comfort not protect. That’s a story for another day.


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100 Books by 40: THE COLOR OF MAGIC

Book: The Color of Magic
Author: Terry Pratchett
Published:

Terry Pratchett took me on a romp through space and time. I flew on dragons. I contemplated the implications of a multidimensional universe. I was confronted with the enormity of our world and how this vastness is at once terrifying and comforting. He sharpened the truth that all control is an illusion. Fear and anxiety fall impotent, useless at its steely feet.

My plate is filled with high risk and high impact decisions that spring from big disappointment. And now more than ever, I needed constant whispering in my ear… “The present is always enough.” “Control is an illusion; worry serves no purpose other than to spin a web of suffering.”

Thank you, Terry Pratchett, for your words. Thank you for sharing your playful yet profound mind. Thank you for bringing me comfort at a time when it was scarce.


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100 Books by 40: COLD COMFORT FARM

Book: Cold Comfort Farm
Author: Stella Gibbons
Published: 1932

This is an ode to references. Stella Gibbons is poking fun at books that were popular at the time. Novels that idealized English rural life were common with quirky characters and regional dialects galore.

I purchased this as an audiobook because I was headed out of town for the weekend and wanted something to listen to in the car. Due to my lack of planning, I didn’t have time to get the audiobook from the library. I failed to grasp the implications of purchasing a “dramatized” reading. Dramatic, it is.

This dramatized reading is complete with different voice actors for each character as well as sound effects. I could live without the sound effects. I do, however enjoy the different voice actors.

This book is a little tough for me to get into. In order to fully appreciate parody, I would need to be more familiar with what is being lampooned. Imagine watching Spaceballs without seeing Star Wars. Sure, it’s still funny, but many of the jokes would fall flat. That’s my experience with this book.

I’ve read a couple of the authors that Gibbons is parodying. Via this list, I’ve read the Bronte sisters and Thomas Hardy. But I sense that my familiarity would need to be more significant than one read through can give me.

Regardless, I enjoyed the book. I’m sure many jokes sailed over my head. And I suspect some of the absurd aspects of the plot were more obvious due to the voice actors interpretation. But, if you haven’t read any of the authors that this book lampoons, I suggest you skip it.

Reading now:
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett

Finished reading:
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen – only 99 cents for Kindle edition
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens – have on Kindle
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy – have on Kindle
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens *I read this when I was too young to appreciate it; I would like to read it again as an adult. I will do so if I have time.
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time.
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time. I have the unabriged unedited version and will probably take on that if time allows.
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel

Pending reading:
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie


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100 Books by 40: VICKY ANGEL

Book: Vicky Angel
Author: Jacqueline Wilson
Published: 2000

Writing a children’s book about the grieving process must have been tough. Reading a children’s book about the grieving process was tough. It would be inaccurate to say that I enjoyed this book.

The main character has a troubled relationship with her parents. She also has a troubled relationship with her best friend who passes away early in the book. She stumbles through the grieving process with little support.

I recognize that this context is considerably more realistic that what’s often portrayed in our books, movies and TV shows. So, I see the need to paint a more relatable picture to young adults. But filling a need doesn’t necessarily equal enjoyable end product.

I don’t like children’s books. I often feel that the reader is being condescended to. This book was no exception. The only children’s author that I’ve read in this list that’s avoided condescending is Roald Dahl. Somehow he manages to deal with emotional challenges and ethical problems while fully inhabiting child-like imagination. Feel free to skip this book. But for God’s sake read Roald Dahl if you haven’t.

Check out my blogs on Roald Dahl’s books here:
THE TWITS
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
BFG


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100 Books by 40: THE TWITS

Book: The Twits
Author: Roald Dahl
Published: 1980

I am not sure I needed to read The Minpins and The Magic Finger, but I did. All three of these stories came packaged together in the audio book. I am not sorry for it as I loved The Minpins. I suppose read isn’t the right verb to use in this context. Listened it is.

Roald Dahl is obsessed with our ethical responsibilities to the other living creatures we share this planet. His sense of ethics are clear in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. All of the children aside from Charlie suffer unfortunate ends due to character flaws and poor behavior. Hints reveal his concern for life apart from human; in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, he’s careful to justify how the Oompa Loompas turned up in the factory.

I wonder if the current trend toward sustainability isn’t in part due to a generation raised on Roald Dahl books coming into middle age. Dr Seuss was a contributer here too with The Lorax. I never considered the role that writers might play in shaping the minds of the next generation until now. This is due to my own struggles with reading as a child.

I didn’t have any favorite books growing up. I didn’t read. Couldn’t is perhaps a more accurate word. I am dyslexic and failed to sort out my reading issues until I was 16 or 17.

When people describe a love of childhood stories, I can’t relate. But had I been a little reader, I would have loved The Minpins. This is about the secret world in trees. And I loved that world. One of the characters rides a swan to other hidden worlds. The story is beautiful and fantastic. I loved every word of it.

I know that I’ve not mentioned The Twits. It was an entertaining read, but my heart was stolen by The Minpins. Roald Dahl would have captivated me as a child. He continues to captivate me as an adult.


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100 Books by 40: CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR

Book: CLAN of the Cave Bear
Author: Jean M. Auel
Published: 1980

I get the point of this book. I understand the research that preceeded it. I respect research.

The book is set in prehistoric history when early versions of man were competing to survive and evolve. What we recognize as humans had just emerged, and our ancestors were starting to die off. The book provides enormous detail describing what life was like for early man, including lists of available plants and animals and tools that were in use at the time.

I appreciate the effort that this required. This only elevates my disappointment at the other aspects of the book. The dialog is shit, partially this is due to the neanderthal characters speaking mostly in a primative form of sign language. But the plot is terrible too. The main story arc describes a struggle between the heroine and her nemesis. Unfortunately neither of them are well develope, and they are devoid of any complex emotions. When this arc was resolved at the end of the book, I felt nothing.

This book is solidly mediocre. All that great research really can’t make up for everything else that is lacking. Read at your own risk.


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100 Books by 40: I CAPTURE THE CASTLE

Book: i Capture the Castle
Author: Dodie Smith
Published: 1948

A less interesting title for this book could be, Exercising Good Judgement in Love. And congratulations, main character of this book, you’ve managed to stick the landing on this while simultaneously being seventeen. And here lies the most preposterous aspect of the book’s plot. I’ve known many 17 year-old girls, myself included. Sensible judgement is not their strong suit.

But this book was published in the 40’s. Humans seemed to mature faster in the past. Perhaps that’s to do with so many men getting shipped off to wars at 18. Perhaps that’s to do with women becoming mothers at 20. Or perhaps it’s due to a shorter life expectancy in our not-so-distant past. What I do know is that maturity seemed to come earlier to people at that point in time. Perhaps maturity is driven by environment, and the lazy hairless apes that we are will fail to mature until life forces otherwise.

The book goes to lengths to indicate that the main character is mature for her age. But some things require experience. This girl exercises good judgement the first time she falls in love. I cannot suspend my disbelief.

But Castles are romantic. The setting for this book is an old castle in the English country side. The descriptions of the seasons passing over this idyllic setting are delicious.

The book is ok. I won’t read it again. If you love romance novels this might be your bag. It simply isn’t mine.


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100 Books by 40: NIGHT WATCH

Book: Night Watch
Author: Terry Pratchett
Published: 2002

It’s an accident that I finished Night Watch a few days after Terry Pratchett passed away earlier this month. But I will call it a happy accident. Because I can’t think of a better way to celebrate him and his life. While I’m sorry that I didn’t get turned on to his books earlier in my life, I am thankful that I found them at all.

In the same way that I cannot resist any combination of chocolate and peanut butter, dry British humor in any form will delight me. The humor obscures the science fiction elements of the plot; since I am not a fan of sci-fi, that works for me. This is an excellent outcome considering that time travel is often a lazy plot device, a device that this book uses. Although, I don’t think time travel is used in a lazy manner in this particular book. This was a dazzling, funny whirlwind. Read it.

Time for an update on my list.

Reading now:
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel

Finished reading:
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen – only 99 cents for Kindle edition
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens – have on Kindle
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy – have on Kindle
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens *I read this when I was too young to appreciate it; I would like to read it again as an adult. I will do so if I have time.
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time.
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time. I have the unabriged unedited version and will probably take on that if time allows.
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo

Pending reading:
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie


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100 Books By 40: THE GODFATHER

Book: The Godfather
Author: Mario Puzo
Published: 1969

I have seen many movie adaptations of books. Mostly, they are poor adaptations. The Godfather is an exception. The movie was as great as the book.

The book challenges our current system as being just as arbitrary and unjust as any power structure The Mafia might have. When The Don is dispensing retribution against someone who has violated his trust, is this anymore meaningful than juries convicting their fellow citizen? I am hard pressed to come up with an answer for that.

In some ways our legal system seems even more unjust. So much of a trial hinges on irrelevant factors apart from the crime in question. Eye witness testimony has been proven to be unreliable. The incarceration rates suggest that minorities are given harsher sentences than white people. And the money. People with money and connections often seem able to out run justice.

The 2008 financial crisis left thousands of Americans without homes and jobs. It wiped out retirement funds. That crisis had a measurable impact on millions of Americans. No one went to jail. Haven’t we arbitrarily decided that those misdeeds don’t deserve jail time?

I was just talking with a friend a few nights ago. We agreed that everything is a hustle. We dress accountants up in nice suits, but this time of year they are all breaking the spirit of tax law if not the letter. How is that more admirable than the panhandler up the street selling cigarettes? It’s not. We’ve just labeled it as such.