#76 - "A House for Mr. Biswas" by V.S. Naipaul

It is done. #76 on the list, A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul. By no means the longest book on the list, but I believe 2nd only to Lord of the Rings in how long it took me to read, at nearly four months.

This was a bit of a different one for me; I enjoyed reading it, the entire time in fact, but when I put it down I had little to no motivation to pick it up again. Reminds me of Possession. Looking back on the book, this actually makes sense; the writing was wonderful, with complex characters, interesting settings, and vivid descriptions. There was just one thing missing, a plot. It didn't seem to be a book I needed to pick up on a regular basis, as I wasn't really concerned with what was going to happen.

Mohun Biswas is born into a poor, Indian family in Trinidad, sometime in the early part of the 20th century. His birth is looked upon as a stroke of bad luck, as he is born with an extra finger, and comes out feet first. And for the following 500 or so pages, it seems that prophecy turns out to be true. Mr. Biswas lives a life without many successes.

His troubles start when he hides from his parents, fearing harsh punishment. Mr. Biswas' father, fearing his sun has drowned, dives into a lake to find him, only to drown himself. And it goes downhill from there. He is pulled out of school to begin a career, but fails at nearly everything he does. Eventually, through cowardice, he becomes engaged to Shama Tulsi, daughter of a shop owning family; a family that would come to dominate him for the rest of his life.

To beautify thy triumphs and return,

Like MacArthur to the Philippines, I have returned. I took a hiatus of sorts; not from reading, but from writing this blog. There are probably a million reasons, but most importantly, I seemed to have lost my motivation.

I'm still eager to read through this list of 100 books, but I seemed to have lost my desire to write about it. I'm sure there were probably several reasons for this, but the most likely was I'd just run out of things to say, especially when I'd been bogged down in a book as I was with the most recent read, A House for Mr. Biswas. There are only so many things you can say about reading a 500 page book for close to four months. 

The excuse that thou dost make in this delay

I seem to be making the same mistake I've been making for quite some time now, in that after I finish one book, I don't seem to start the next book for a week or two. The good news is I have started #76, A House for Mr. Biswas, but the bad news is I didn't start it until yesterday.

I'm not really sure of the reason for doing this, but I think the problem might be that there are currently 199 books on my "to-read" list, and only 25 of them are from the list. Add to that, I have 17 non-fiction books out from the library right now, and they're all screaming to be read!

After finishing a list read, I think my mind set is that I'll just whip through one of these non-fiction books, and then start my next list read. Of course I never read as fast as I think I'm going to, and before I know it, a week has passed.

The culprit this time, since I finished White Teeth, was Walls: Travels Along the Barricades by a Calgarian author, Marcello Di Cintio. He travels the world, visiting different places where walls have divided a society or city or culture. It was kind of a combination political essay and travelogue; basically it was right up my alley.

But that book is finished, so I have moved on to #76. I just really need to make sure I go back to reading two books at the same time; one list read and one non-fiction read. When I have done this, it's really worked well, and I seem to get a lot more reading done.

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#75 - "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith

I've finished #75, White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Actually, I finished it about a week ago, but haven't had a chance to write anything until now.

It's tough to say what, or rather, who this story is really about. I suppose it's the story of a group of people, three families, whose lives become intertwined over the course of several decades. It begins with Archibald Jones, recently divorced from his wife, as he attempts to commit suicide. After being rescued by a passer-by, Archie gets a new lease on life, and before too long, is re-married to a Jamaican woman named Clara, who is 30 years his junior.

After marriage, Archie is reunited with an old Army pal, Samad Iqbal, a Bengali Muslin who has recently immigrated to the United Kingdom. Both men are married to much younger women, and both are soon raising young families. From there, the book follows their lives, as they struggle with a variety of topics, including race, religion, substance abuse, infidelity, and...genetics.

I know this; and thus I challenge it.

I'm about three quarters of the way through number 75, White Teeth by Zadie Smith, and am happy to report it I'm enjoying it. I started it a couple of weeks ago, but was away at a golf tournament last week, on an annual trip that doesn't afford me much reading time. Looking back at the Victoria Day weekend the past few years, I see there is always a gap in my reading each time. But I'm back on track now, and plan to finish it before I leave on another trip this Thursday.

When I do finish it, I might be in a bit of a conundrum with regards to what to read next. Right now I'm planning on reading A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul, and I do currently have it out from the library. The problem is that it is getting more and more difficult to plan my next read, simply because there are fewer books to choose from.