I should but teach him how to tell my story.

    When I first began reading Money by Martin Amis, I felt there was something different about it, but something I couldn't quite put my finger on.  It eventually hit me however, that the book was written in first person.  John Self, the protagonist, is telling his story to me, the reader.  But after quickly going through my first 54 reads from this list, I realized about a third of the books have been first person narratives, including a lot of my favorites too; Brideshead Revisited, The Great Gatsby, and Midnight's Children just to name a few.  First person isn't unique at all.

But Money still seemed to strike me as a little different.  It isn't as if it has been a while since I've read a first person story (notwithstanding the amazing amount of time it took to read The Recognitions); numbers 51 (All the King's Men) and 50 (Red Harvest) were both told in this fashion.  As my reading continued however, I realized that perhaps it was the narrator talking to the reader that had caught my attention, the breaking of the 'fourth wall.'

I think in literature, every first person narrative is, in a way, breaking the fourth wall as we have to assume the narrator it telling the story to the reader.  This isn't always the case of course, as in Portnoy's Complaint where the story, in first person, is being told to a psychiatrist, but usually it is to the reader.  But in Money, the narrator doesn't just break this wall by talking to the reader, rather he engages the reader, asking questions, looking to the reader for approval, and even acknowledging that his words are in a fictional book and being read by somebody.

None of this is really groundbreaking or anything, but it caused me to sit back and think about who was telling the story, or perhaps more accurately, how they were telling the story.  I'll admit I never really paid any attention to narrative mode when reading, but I think that is probably because I don't know a lot about it.  To fix this, I've done a little bit of secondary reading, trying to learn to better appreciate, or at least understand, these different techniques.  This has led me to two conclusions.  First off, I would classify Money as metafiction told in first person.  Second is that I should have taken more English classes in University because I find this all very interesting.

Obviously the point of view is an important part of any writing, and I'm beginning to wonder if this has been one of the things I've been missing in a few of these reads.  Perhaps this is the reason I didn't enjoy certain books that so many seem to love.  If that is the case, I suppose I could count this as another benefit of reading through this list.  Maybe it has been reading books I wouldn't normally touch with a ten-foot pole that has forced me to look deeper into the writing, which in the end will only make me a stronger and more sophisticated reader.  And I don't think that's a bad thing.

#50 - "Red Harvest" by Dashiell Hammett

I'm finally there, the halfway point to finishing all 100 novels.  While I had planned to reach this point with something a little more...notable I suppose, Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest will do just fine.

The novel takes place in the fictional town of Personville, pronounced 'poisonville' by the locals, as the unnamed protaganist arrives in town to visit a new client.  Unfortunately that client was murdered before they ever had a chance to meet and soon our hero finds himself entangled in a corrupt, violent, and seemingly lawless town, where everybody needs to watch their back.

For the most part, I found it to be a fun book, filled with kitchy dialogue, detective speak, and Bogart-esque slang.  There are plenty of murders and double crossings, and a cast of good guys and bad guys.  You could say it's a real 'guy's novel,' in that there's lots of action and sometimes not everything needs to make sense.

The problem I did have with it was that it was a little difficult to follow at times.  And by that, I don't mean that the plot was too complicated nor the language, but just the sheer number of characters was almost overwhelming.  At times, there were so many different people playing important roles in the story, it was difficult to follow who was who.  Throw in a few dozen double crosses, and it became impossible to know who was on which side.  Several times I had to flip back a few pages to confirm who somebody was and where their allegiance was.  Adding tot he confusion was that every charachter seemed to have several nicknames.  What a minute, is Whisper with Slick Al and Fat Tony?  Or did he cross them, and now he's with Bick Nick and Young Albury?

There was also a little bit of what I would call TV detective syndrome in the book, when our protaganist would suddenly piece a crime together, seemingly out of mid-air.  It reminded me of how Columbo was always able to figure out who the murderer was because the clock said 12:15 when the cat meowed.  It didn't really make any sense, but we marveled at his ingenuity.

But like Columbo, this was an entertaining book, and I won't be bothered by these 'flaws.'  Much the same way I don't mind that fact that John Wayne could shoot his way out of a saloon, even though he's surrounded by 150 men from the Bar-T.

Red Harvest was an enjoyable read, and I would consider reading more from Dashiell Hammett, but I think this book found its way onto the list as much because it was the first of such a popular genre as because it is such a good novel.

I'll be starting the second half of my journey tonight, or possible tomorrow morning, with All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren.  I had originally taken this book out of the library with the intention of it being my 7th read.  But that was almost two years ago.  It was almost my 36th read as well, but instead I went with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.  Well, it will be number 51.

Midway between your tents and walls of troy

The next book I read, will be a milestone of sorts, as it will be my 50th from the list.  The halfway mark.  My first thought was I should be picking something special for the halfway mark, but quickly realized that on a list of '100 All Time Books,' they're all supposed to be special.  Of course one could argue that these books are sort of like the beasts in Animal Farm; all books are equally great, but some are more equally great than others.

I ventured over to my local library yesterday to see what was available and to pick up what would be my 50th book.  For a long time I had figured on reading Lord of the Rings as the 50th.  It's a book I'm not that keen to read, it's big, it's well known, and for some reason always struck me as an ideal halfway book.  After spotting it on the shelf, I decided to keep searching.

The copy my local branch has is 1,100 pages, with font so small I'd need a magnifying glass to read it.  Considering I'm coming off a seven week odyssey through The Sot-Weed Factor I don't think I should be reading something so monumental right now.  While I did check it out, it will not be my 50th read.  Perhaps 52 or 53, but not 50.  I don't want get bogged down in another lengthy tale, and suddenly find that it's April and I've only read two books.

Instead, I've decided to read Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett.  The first criteria it meets, and perhaps the most important, is that it's short, only 215 pages.  But also, it's the first detective novel I'll have read, granted there are only a couple on the list.  It was also written in the 1920's, and I haven't read a book from the 20's since The Bridge of San Luis Rey, nearly a year ago.  So that's that.  The midway point will be Red Harvest.  And so far the plan is working as I'm about halfway through it already.

You must return and mend it.

Progress on number 48 continues, as I read The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski.  I'll admit it might end up being a bit of a slow read.  I say this because the book is turning out to be a major downer; it's about the Holocaust.  While there's nothing wrong with a 'depressing' book, many good reads are, it's just that it's a difficult read, and one you don't just breeze though.  But it isn't slow because of boredom, like To the Lighthouse or because it's so mammoth like Infinite Jest. I'm hoping that as I get deeper into it, my pace will pick up.

In other news, I've been having a little bit of trouble managing my library books.  After not incurring any fines for almost six months, I racked up fines on Animal Farm and Red Harvest in October, but only $1.40, so nothing to write home about.  Before I left for Hawai'i, I thought I had made sure I had everything renewed until I got back, but some how missed two, which became overdue the day I left.  It wasn't until yesterday afternoon I realized I had two book that were more than ten days overdue.  The books in question were Christopher Hitchens' biography of Thomas Jefferson, as well as poet Ian Williams' Not Anyone's Anything.  As a result, my library account was locked, and I was billed $7.30.  To add to my shame, I didn't read either of them, which means I paid the library seven bucks to store their books on my shelf for a few weeks.

When I had started this project, I only borrowed one or two books at a time, but thought that with the Internet making it so easy to renew, I could take out dozens at a time, and always manage them without any problems.  I guess I was wrong.  While it is still much less expensive than buying all the books I read, I have now generously donated $41.15 to the Calgary Public Library since November of 2009.  Of that, $25.15 has been from books from the list.

I vow to not incur any more fines, until the next time I forget to return a book on time; which could be as early as next week.