Rome: A History of Seven Sackings, by Matthew Kneale
This book seemed like a fabulous idea – how Rome’s been changed by invaders and wars – what it looked like before the invasion; what society was like, and how it was changed by seven invasions. The author stated that he thoroughly enjoyed writing the book. I read it in preparation for a trip to Rome next month. While I learned a lot I found myself lacking maps.
The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño, a fantastic counterpoint to Asymmetry, by Lisa Halliday. Both in 3 parts. Both about the process of writing, dialogs/beefs/paeans to other writers, and both set in a variety of locales. While Bolaño is, at times, coarse & tedious in a young man’s voice (sex, drugs, profanity), and at other times very funny (a woman who spends the takeover of the University of Mexico in a bathroom stall, the story of which goes viral in pre-internet terms). I suppose I was also partial to the book as the characters are traveling (escaping) around the world in the 1970s (mainly), when I was also visiting some of the same locales. And Bolaño does a great job bringing Mexico City to life. So much so, that I’m ready to go again. Maybe some day my Spanish will be good enough to read The Savage Detectives in Bolaño’s language. I’m sure that would be an incredible treat.
I wonder if I would have enjoyed this book better had someone other than Sam Lipsyte read it. I can understand an author wanting the extra royalty, and so committing to read a work to be published as an audiobook. Maybe some have told Lipsyte that he’s a great reader. And, maybe in person he is a great reader. But, for me there was a lack of drama in this audiobook. You had to search for the important in what sometimes seemed like a barrage of clever words. While the book has a narrative arc, it’s mainly about day to day ups and down of married life with kids in LA ~2010, while trying to find a creative center and/or spiritual meaning amidst the cacophony of day to day routines. Many have liked it (according to reviews), for me, “meh.”
A quick little book about reading, writing, and love…is there more to life? Le Mystere Henri Pick, par David Foenkinos (yup, read it in French), is set largely in contemporary Brittany, a young woman editor is searching for a book to publish that is going to establish her reputation. She finds it in a library of unpublishable manuscripts (rejected manuscripts). The mystery is who wrote the book – the name of the manuscript’s cover doesn’t seem to comport with the actual man, deceased, who ran a pizzeria and seemed (to his wife and daughter) barely literate. Foenkinos has barbs and kudos for actual writers near and far, as well as the publishing world. I happened to open the Goodreads page on the book and saw rave reader reviews in many, many languages. Also a movie will be forthcoming.
N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy
I probably read this trilogy over the course of six months as I waited for each (popular!) audiobook to become available from the library. I remember listening to some of it walking through the park; another section by the S.F. Bay, and yesterday lying in bed while the rain pounded down.
A three word, plot synopsis of the trilogy would be “ashes to ashes,” for a whole variety of human and non-human creatures living in on a dystopian planet earth. The book starts with changes in a planet – to the atmosphere, to the climate, and to the actual substance of the earth. Although the time scale of the books is a bit confusing – weeks, decades, aeons shifting within 100 pages – the characters in the book are dealing with planetary changes as much as human-based dynamics.
This science fiction is really social critique, taking on class/caste issues, race issues, and gender issues. I’m not often drawn to SciFi because the make believe (hokey) names of people and things often put me off. This series, however, borrows heavily from geologic terms. I found it fairly easy to follow. Further, the struggles between people/castes/societies rang true: people oppressed because of intrinsic differences; people’s abilities unseen, discounted, or feared; and people’s lives diminished due to societal dysfunction.
The author, US Poet Laureate in 2017/2018, reads her poems: What a treat! She speaks softly and precisely as if to one of her children. About half the poems are about family and children. The other half are historical re-imaginings.
One poem, Watershed, is about Dupont and its relationship to the people in a small Michigan town. One plant employee sold the company land and then the company proceeded to illegally dump per fluoro-octinoic acid (PFOA)waste to this land. “The white ash trees shedding their leaves.” “Dead black calf in snow with blue chemical eye.” Children of plant workers had eye problems. PFOA from Scotchguard was supposed to be incinerated, not discharged to fields or pits or the Ohio River.
And from God’s eye view: no signs of mankind but living things more alive than on earth. “Experiencing the luminuous warm water was a connection to the eternal….”
A PBS interview with Smith: Tracy Smith Interview