A Big Ol' Pile of Books

This past Friday marked the 5th anniversary of my first book review on this blog about The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. It's hard to believe it's already been five years, as it really doesn't seem that long ago that I decided to embark on this mission.

For the longest time, I had expected to be finished after five years. In fact there was a time I thought I'd be done in four! Now that I'm older and wiser, I figure I might be done in a year and half, and that two more years is probably more realistic. I've read 76 books from the list in those five years, which is more than one a month. I've also read about 170 non-list books in that time. I guess if I had stuck to only list books, I would have been done quite some time ago, but I also might have succumb to madness. Really, I don't think my pace has been that bad when put into perspective, and 76 books really is a lot of books. 

What is Your Title?

I'm a little over halfway through Native Son right now, and it's fantastic. Right now, it would be in my top five books from the list. But while I've been reading it, I keep finding myself thinking back to my last book, Their Eyes Were Watching God. What I keep thinking back to though, is on line I read, on the 160th of 193 pages; specifically, the line "They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."

Whenever I read the title of a book, in the book, I can't help but think of the "Family Guy" episode where Peter says he "usually only gets this excited when they say the title of the movie, in the movie." We then see Peter watching "Clear and Present Danger," "As Good as it Gets," and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace." I must admit it does excite me in some small way as well.

Reading the title of the book in the book this time, started me thinking of what other books from the list have had this happen. However, unlike references to other books on the list, I haven't been keeping track of every instance, so I'm forced to go by memory.

#60 - 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' by Ken Kesey

For the second time since I've been reading through this list, I've read a book that I was very familiar with because I had seen the movie several times, but never read the book.  As was the case with Deliverance, two things struck me after reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. First off, the book is almost always better, second, I wish I had read the book before I saw the movie.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is narrated by Chief Bromden, the deaf and dumb, well at least everybody thinks he's deaf and dumb, Indian living in an Oregon Psychiatric Hospital.  The lives of the patients at the hospital follow a fairly mundane routine, that is until the day Randle Patrick McMurphy arrives.  McMurphy, a larger than life character, bucks the trends in the hospital, questions every practice, and isn't afraid to stand up to the powers that be.  Having been transferred from a nearby prison, McMurphy has engineered his move, with the thought that six months in the psych ward would be more pleasant than prison.

Of course he didn't count on being transferred to the ward managed by Nurse Ratched, one of literature's more evil characters.  With the rest of the patients serving as mere pawns in their game, Mr. McMurphy and Nurse Ratched do battle for power within the ward, each trying to show the other who's boss.  But for perhaps the first time in his life, the deck is stacked against him, and almost immediately, we know this will be a battle Mr. McMurphy can't win.

The book works well on so many levels, and made for an interesting and enjoyable read, despite me knowing how it would end.  Chief Bromden provides insight into the goings on at the hospital through his narration, and allows the reader to join him for a front seat to the pending war between nurse and patient. 

While McMurphy is by no means a good person, I found myself cheering for him for a couple of reasons. First off, he isn't nearly as evil as Nurse Ratched, which would make him the good guy in this little battle. Secondly, he finds himself in such a hopeless situation, it is nearly impossible to not only feel for McMurphy, but also the other patients in the hospital.

Author Ken Kesey had a lot of experience with 1950's psychology techniques, having served as a human guinea pig for several years, as well as working in different mental institutions.  He denounces most of their practices, and creates McMurphy into a very sympathetic character, who is caught in the machinery of 'medicine.'  And while Nurse Ratched is pure evil, the entire institution also serves as a worthy antagonist, as we see how the patients are trapped by their surroundings, and are not really offered any help or any cure for their conditions.

Even with such great and iconic characters, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest's greatest attribute is the entertaining give and take between McMurphy and Ratched.  Despite McMurphy's inevitable downfall being so apparent, we're given almost continuous hope with every small victory he has against the nurse.  His ability to stand up to Nurse Ratched, and his ability to have the rules of the ward changed in the patient's favor, create a feeling that maybe, just maybe, things will work out.  Of course this only makes McMurphy's fate that much more difficult to swallow, and reminds us that the house always wins.

While I finished this book over a week ago, I have yet to begin number 61.  Instead, I've been pre-occupied with reading books that will be featured at WordFest.  Currently that would be Cures for Hunger by Deni Bechard, an autobiography of growing up with am ex-bank robber father.  But my reading the list will not be put on hold until after WordFest and I will pick my next book this week.

#20 - "Deliverance" by James Dickey

What can I say about the twentieth book on the list?  While I had already read a couple of the first twenty books before, I haven't been as familiar with a story as I was with Deliverance.  It makes for a different reading experience, and I found myself concentrating on the difference between the movie and the book, not the things I normally, ney, should be concentrating on; writing style, character development, etc. 

What I thought made Deliverance a good book, is the story.  Even though I knew what was going to happen, I was still reading, eagerly anticipating the next page.  To me, this is what makes a book 'good.'  If there isn't much happening (think Naked Lunch or To the Lighthouse) I find it really difficult staying interested in the story.  The imagery or poetic elements of a book have failed to get my attention.  However, I am finding the more I read, the more I pick up on these things.

The other great part of Deliverance, is the characters.  When I was reading this book, I always had a good picture of what the characters looked like and how they reacted to different things.  I really felt like I knew them.  I do realize however, that this is probably a result of having seen the movie so many times.  I fear that I wasn't picturing Dickey's descriptions as much as I was picturing the actors from the film.  Either way, it made me enjoy the book a great deal.

Now the question that remains, is what was better, the movie or the book?  I've thought about this a great deal, as I rally enjoy the movie and think it was well done.  However, I'm going to go with the book for the same reason the book is always better than the movie.  Simply, books can go into greater detail than a movie can.  In the case of Deliverance, the book covers the back story so much better.  We learn more about who the characters are and what their motivations are.  We learn more about what happens after their fateful trip down the river.  The movie never really gets into how each man changed as a result of what happened.  In short, the book answers most of the questions one has after watching the movie; that's why it's better.

Plus, I now have a better understanding of my role as Hillbilly Santa in my Grade 8 Christmas play, a character with an extra ear and an extra eyeball sewn into the forehead of his skullcap.



You can read Time magazine's original review from April 20, 1970 here.

You have it from his own deliverance

So I've been reading Deliverance this week, and am very familiar with the plot from having seen the movie several times.  Knowing more or less what's going to happen makes for a fairly quck read, and I'm a little over half done already.  So far, the book has followed the movie rather closely; okay, let me rephrase that, the movie has followed the book quite closely, but from my current perspective it's the other way around.

Not only are the main plot elements identical, the characters also seem to be bang on.  When Dickey is describing the main players in the beginging of the book, it's quite easy to picture Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds and Ronny Cox.  Ned Beatty's character didn't seem to be as close a match as the others, but fits the bill rather nicely either way.  I wonder though if the descriptions seems to match because that's who I'm picturing in my mind whilst I'm reading, regardless of the words on the page, or if the actors in the movie actually do resemble the descriptions.  I guess it's a bit of a "chicken or the egg" question.

Despite all the similarities though, I was shocked to learn that one of the most famous scenes from the movie is not in the book. Warning: The rest of this paragraph will have spoilers if, for some reason, you are not already familiar with what happens.  The famous rape scene, the most pivotal scene in the entire story, is told differently in the movie from the book.  The main elements are the same, Ned Beatty still gets cornholed (Dickey's word, not mine), and Jon Voight avoids his special moment by a split second.  However, in the book, the hillbillies do not make Ned Beatty crawl around on all fours and 'squeal like a pig!'  I was surprised this wasn't in the book, as it is such a memorable part of the movie, and adds to the savagery of the scene.


By the way, this was an important seen in "A Christmas Deliverance" as well, where hillbilly Santa demanded that two canoers "squeal like a pig before they get any presants."  Again, I'm not kidding, that is what actually happend.

#19 - "Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson

My race to finish 25 books by mid November has made some progress, but will have to continue at a feverish pace to be successful.  Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, my 19th book, has helped my cause, thanks to it being a little on the short side, and for the most part is an easy read.

It's the story of two sisters, Ruth and Lucille, who are orphaned after their mother's suicide.  They move around between different relatives, until they settle in with their estranged aunt, Sylvie.  Or rather, she settles in with them.  The two sisters begin to grow in different directions, as one becomes closer to their aunt and one drifts farther and farther away, eventually running away from home to stay with neighbors.  Aunt Sylvie, who speaks mostly of bus and train stations from her drifting days, is a bit odd to say the least.  She returns to town to take care of her nieces, having arrived from places unknown.  While she had been married, nobody knows what happened to her husband, and Sylvie isn't really interested in telling anybody.  Aunt Sylvie isn't big on disciplining the girls, and for the most part lets them do as they please.  While at first both girls love it, this laissez-faire attitude to practically everything is what eventually drives Lucille to run away, but it is also what brings Ruth and Sylvie together.

Housekeeping reminds me of a couple other books on The List, The Sun Also Rises and Tropic of Cancer.  Not because it's about sexually frustrated ex-pats, living in Paris, but because nothing really happens in the book.  Housekeeping just seems to drift along, without any real plot twists or any pivotal events.  The end of the book is merely a little later in time than the start.  This isn't to say, however, that it is enjoyable to read this book.  It flowed very well, and I found myself very interested, despite realizing early on that nothing would happen.  I was still interested in reading it for its' style and I enjoyed the characters.  I suppose this is a sign of a well-written book and one of the reasons it is on The List, and I need to get a little better and recognizing 'good writing' when I see it.  I'm thinking 'writing quality' is what separates this book from say, a Clive Cussler novel.  Sure, lots of things happen in Raise the Titanic!, but in terms of style, it's likely a little lacking, much like a good movie over, say, "Death Wish."  So to summarize, not a lot happens in  Housekeeping but I enjoyed it, and it isn't anything like "Death Wish." (I think that's inside cover material!)

You can read the original TIME magazine review from February 2nd, 1981, here.


Next up, will be my 20th book on the list, a milestone of sorts I suppose.  Seeing as how there are a few books left on The List that I have already read, and there are some whose story I am very familiar with, I've decided to try and space those out a little, trying to read one every tenth book.  So, my next read will be James Dickey's Deliverance.  I've seen the movie several times, and even played the role of "Hillbilly Santa" in my Grade 8 Christmas Concert, in a skit entitled "A Christmas Deliverance."  I'm not kidding, that actually happened.  It was brilliant.

Come, and take choice of all my library

I've been getting most of my books from the Calgary Public Library, and am a big supporter of the library in general. However, that isn't to say there aren't problems with the institution. Now, understanding that although Calgary's library is the second most used system in Canada, it is also one of the most poorly funded. And the evidence of this is everywhere.

To begin with, many of the libraries are, for lack of a better word, dumps. And the crown jewel of the system, downtown, is the biggest dump of them all. From the outside it looks like either a drop-in center for the homeless or the building that houses the Ministry of Truth in Nineteen Eighty-Four. It isn't inviting, it's run down, and needs to be replaced. Add to that, it is usually full of tramps and hobos, who I'm pretty sure are pretending to be reading so they can sit down in climate controlled comfort. I say this because there will be three or four tramps sitting at one table, each with giant books on their laps open right to the middle page. In two hours there earlier this week, I'm pretty sure not one page was turned at the table next to me. But, I digress, as these problems are not necessarily the library's fault, and have more to do with City Hall.

What is the library's fault and my main beef, is the catalogue search. Going to the library's website, the catalogue search is on the home page and is easy to access. It is the results that are the problem. Obviously the books from The List are well known, highly regarded books, but finding them is a gigantic pain in the ass. When I searched for The Great Gatsby, perhaps the most famous American novel of the past hundred years, it is the 20th result returned. Searching for Deliverance, the catalogue returned 36 results and the actual book was the last one. Titles that came up before Deliverance included The Deliverance of Dancing Bears and I Walk in Dread: The Diary of Deliverance Trembley, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials (Massachusetts Bay Colony 1691). While I'm sure both are fine works they should not be appearing before the book that's title exactly matches the search query. I'm thinking if somebody was looking for a book on the Salem Witch Trials, they'd type in more than 'deliverance' in their query.

The reason this happens is because their catalogue returns results newest to oldest and the novel is of course older than the 'study guide to' or the DVD or the audio recording. But this frustrates me to no end, because I think a library should return books before non-books. In an attempt to have this fixed, I began contacting the library, first via Twitter:

TheRevBW: I search for The Great Gatsby @calgarylibrary but the book is the 20th result. Shouldn't it be ahead of DVD's, audio recordings and essays?

The library responded a couple days later with this:

calgarylibrary: the results are automatically reverse chronological, can change this by selecting "sort by Old to New" once search has happened.

So, the library freely admits the search gives me the opposite of what I'm looking for. Perfect. Oh, and this didn't work for On the Road, which was the 203rd of over 500 results. Either way, it's going to be in the middle and I'll be stuck sifting through pages and pages of results.  While I hate to admit this, Toronto's public library returned On the Road 1st and Edmonton's returned it 2nd.

Not satisfied with my Twitter attempts I wrote an email to the library, outlining my problem with searching for great books. They responded telling me to use their "power search" feature, which allows the user to enter more detailed search criteria. I have used this feature, but when searching for multiple books, it can be very time consuming. Instead of one click shopping from the home page, you must go through about 300 steps to use power search. First off, you have to fail at your initial search before you have the option of using the power search and from there, you can enter more crucial data than just the title, such as the author, the publication date, or the ISBN (which I'm sure is great for Rain Man, but not for me). However, even all these options don't usually help.

The real key to the power search is to change the 'sort' of the returned results from 'new to old' to 'relevance.' Ah ha! And this is my point, why aren't all search results sorted by relevance, as I'm sure people are more interested in relevant answers opposed to newer answers. When I go to the grocery store looking for aged cheddar cheese, I don't want to be told where 'New and Improved' cheddar cheese soup is, despite it being 'newer.'  I've replied to the library yet again, explaining that I understand this process, but the point I am trying to make is that it needs to be changed. We'll see if I make any progress, but I vow to continue the fight for as long as I can!

End Rant.

As an aside, while at the Central library, I picked up a bunch of books, as my local branch doesn't have near the selection. I already had Housekeeping (which I'm reading), Deliverance (which I had delivered to my local branch), and Gravity's Rainbow (which I'm delaying, because I'm intimidated by its' 750 pages). I've now added Portnoy's Complaint, Herzog, Ragtime, Snow Crash, and On the Road to my loan collection.  My thought was they can be renewed several times and they can be returned to any branch, so while I'm downtown, why not grab a bunch...just in case. Only time will tell if this is a move so shrewd it's worthy of an Arab spice trader, or if this is a quick path to increasing my fine total.

I will (not) watch to-night;

I cam across the movie version of Catch-22 today while I was flipping channels. Let me re-phrase that, I came across the movie Catch-22 today, when I was flipping channels instead of doing what I should have been doing; reading. Although I'd heard of the movie, I've never actually seen it. I believe this means that Catch-22 fits into the "I've heard of the movie but didn't know it was a book as well" category from this list. Along with A Clockwork Orange and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Fortunately I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't realize A Clockwork Orange was a novel before it was a movie.

I didn't watch Catch-22, but I have PVR'd it for later viewing. I've actually PVR'd (perhaps the newest verb I've ever used) a couple of movies from the list, to watch them after I've read the books, including All the King's Men, Deliverance, To Kill a Mockingbird and Gone with the Wind. I always like seeing a movie version after reading a book, to see how others have interpreted the same story.