On Bookmarks

I think bookmarks are stupid. Well, let me clarify that, I think the bookmarks with yarn on the end, with pictures of puppies or inspirational passages are stupid. Obviously one need to use a bookmark; dog-eared pages just aren't right.

I tend to be very loyal to the bookmark I use as well. For the first 45 books on this list, I used the joker from a deck of playing cards. It featured a picture of Jack Nicklaus golfing at St. Andrews on one side, and was blank on the other, which allowed me to keep track of how many list read I had finished with tally marks. But that disappeared after finishing Portnoy's Complaint. I looked everywhere for that card, and to say losing it bothered me, would be an understatement.

#45 - "Portnoy's Complaint" by Philip Roth

As I mentioned on Monday, I've come to regret the time I borrowed Portnoy's Complaint from the library, and returned it without reading it.  Not only have I returned it without having read it, I've also renewed it seven times without having read it.  But like Mark McGwire and steroids, that's all in the past and I'm here to talk about the present.  My 45th book was one of my favorites, I don't think there's really any other way to put it.  Funny, engaging, interesting, realistic, satirical, truthful; it had everything.

Alexander Portnoy is in his early 30's, works in a very prestigious position with the Mayor's office, and is obsessed with sex and loves his penis.  Of course this might not really be any great revelation, as it probably describes most men in their early 30's; they just might not work for the Mayor.

The book reads as a confession, from Portnoy to his psychiatrist.  He relives his past, telling his stories of growing up Jewish in Newark, his early obsessions with sex, his over-bearing parents, and the guilt he so often feels as a result.  He feels guilty for his obsession with sex, wondering why he has no desire to settle down, get married and have a few kids.  But despite his guilt, he isn't ready to change anything.

Often I enjoy a book because I feel an attachment to the protagonist, whether it be because I think I would enjoy their company like in The Berlin Stories or because I just find them so damn interesting as in Rabbit, Run.  Alexander Portnoy falls somewhere in between; there are times when I think he'd be a great buddy, and other times he's infuriating, but he's always fascinating.

Portnoy's Complaint was probably the most vulgar book, other than Naked Lunch, that I've read so far from The List.  I only use 'vulgur' because I can't think of a better word; there isn't anything offensive, it's just very descriptive about Portnoy's sexual exploits.  Said Time magazine in their 1969 review, "no one has written so amusingly and yet so crassly about sex since Henry Miller."  It was the sexual descriptions that led to the initial success of the book when it was first released, but it is the brilliant writing that made it a literary classic.

It was also a very funny book.  Roth writes Portnoy's parents so well, it leaves the readers with a crystal clear image of what they would be like, as stereo-typical, post-war Jewish parents.  I can think of so many movies that portray these same type of characters, and I'm pretty sure they all use Portnoy's Complaint as a template.  It was described at the time of its release as "more laughs per page than any novel in recent memory, Catch-22 and The Sot Weed Factor notwithstanding."  And it may be the only book I've ever read, in which the last line made me laugh out loud, as if it served as a punchline for the rest of the book.  I can't tell you what that is, of course, you'll have to read it yourself.

You can read a review in Tima magazine from February 21, 1969, right here.

I'm moving on to Go tell it to the Mountain by James Baldwin for my next book.

Like, to be, or not to be: that is, like, the question:

I'm just finishing up my 45th read from The List, with Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint.  It's been a great read, and I'm really regretting the times I've borrowed this book from the library, and returned it without having read it.  I don't think it was because it didn't appeal to me, or rather because I didn't think it would appeal to me, it just sort of slipped through the cracks.  But it's almost finished now, as I continue my march to the halfway point.

Portnoy's Complaint was first published in 1969, and takes place, for the most part, in 1966.  At least 1966 is the "present" time, most of the novel is in the past.  But I digress, what I found interesting was a small complaint Portnoy had about his on again, off again girlfriend, usually referred to as 'The Monkey':

"As she put it (before I forbade her ever again to say like, and man, and swinger, and crazy, and a groove): 'It was, like ethics.' "

I have to say I was a little, like, caught off guard by this sentence.  For some reason, I always had it in my head that the expression like, as is used today, originated in the Valley in the 80's.  But here we are with a West Virginia-born coal miner's daughter, living in New York in the 60's, like totally using the word like.  But, when I asked a few people when and where they thought this expression might have sprung up, one person was like, "I think it might be a hippie term, maybe the late-sixties."  And I guess if a word was a hippie term, it was probably coming out of San Francisco or New York, not the San Fernando Valley.

I am happy this term annoys Portnoy as much as it annoys me.  When it come to the word like I'm not sure which of it's present manifestations I loathe more.  For many, it has replaced 'um' or 'uh' and is like used as a nervous, like, pause.  But for others, it seems to have replaced the word 'said.' "I was like, 'how's it going?' and he was like 'pretty good.' "  Nervous pauses are always annoying, but almost everybody has them, so I really shouldn't fault anyone for that.  But to use the word like to represent speaking, well, that's just plain wrong.

I have always found it interesting why some words or slang terms seem to stick in our lexicon, while others fade into the sunset.  In Portnoy's list above, we see not only like but also man and crazy, all of which are no longer cliquey terms used by niche groups, but broadly used colloquialisms.  As to why they have stuck around, and swinger and groove have not, is anybody's guess.  Probably for the same reason we continue to say cool and awesome, but not gnarly or boss.

When I to sulphurous and tormenting Flames

Looking back at my progress through the list these past couple of months, I realise I haven't been doing a very good job.  I finished The Blind Assassin on August 23rd, and I finished Under the Volcano on September 15th.  So even if I finish my current read, Portnoy's Complaint, in the next three days, I'll have essentially only read two books in one month.

But, I suppose that a two books per month pace is all I have ever shot for.  At that pace, I'd finish in just over four years, from start to finish.  But I had been doing so well, having knocked off six books in the previous two months.  That would have be finishing the remaining 55 books in about a year and a half.  Not bad.  But it looks like that isn't going to happen.

Though when I do look back at what I've read, I notice that while I'll only have read two books from the list in the previous month, I will have read seven other books, be they non-fiction or non-list books.  So I guess the real problem isn't that I haven't been reading, I just haven't been doing my assigned reading.

Previously I had mentioned my desire/need to read a couple of hockey books as slowing me down a bit.  And I fear that trend may continue.  Tonight is the Flames' first pre-season game, and I could become a little distracted.  But of course, I was able to get a lot of reading done during last year's hockey season, so I guess there is no reason to think this one will be any different.  Plus, I have a couple of trips planned for later in the year, both of which may provide me with ample time to squeeze in a few books.

I think the real key, is to re-focus myself onto reading the list, and stop spending so much time reading other books.  This doesn't mean I'll stop reading other books altogether, just not as much or as often.  Right now, I'm reading Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth for the list, and Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor on the side.  Both were started on the same day, so I've decided to use one as a yard stick for the other.  By this I mean, I'd like to finish Portnoy before I finish one-third of Stalingrad.  So far, I'm right on pace.

#44 - "Under the Volcano" by Malcolm Lowry

After three long weeks, I've finished number 45 from The List, Malcolm Lowry's 1947 novel, Under the Volcano.  There are a few reasons it took me so long to read this book; I've been doing some non-ficition reading and, it just wasn't my favorite book.

Under the Volcano is the story of Geoffery Firmin, a British Consul in Mexico, an alcoholic, and estranged from his wife Yvonne.  After being seperated for over a year, Yvonne has returned to Mexico in the hopes of rekindling their relationship, but is confronted with difficulties arising from the Consul's drinking and the appearance of his brother, Hugh, with whom she had a brief several years prior.

While both of them desire a reconcilliation, these other problems seem to be an unsurmountable obstacle, preventing them from ever being together again.  The Consul, capable of, but unwilling, to curb his drinking, and Yvonne's distraction from Hugh's presence, make it impossible.  As the day unfolds, and the Consul descends deeper and deeper into an alcoholic haze of despair and self-pity, the trio's worlds crumble.

So often, Lowry's descriptions left me depressed and uncomfortable, with both the surroundings and the characters.  I guess this was the intent however, as Lowry describes a day in the life of Firmin, a day that spirals slowly, but surely, to an inevitable, tragic ending.  But I don't think it was the depression that made this a long read for me; so many good books are depressing, in fact most are.  It was just that sometimes that long, drawn out fall toward tragedy was, quite frankly, a little tedious.  Malcolm Lowry himself decribed the book as "...superficial, profound, etertaining, and boring, according to taste."  I guess I know which camp I fall under.

But looking back at this book, I did appreciate it.  There were times when I was truly gripped by the writing.  But too often, I'd begin to lose interest as the situation was dragged out for a few dozen more pages.  It wasn't that it was bad, it was just very slow, and at times, very dry.

I began reading this book while I was in Mexico, and somehow felt more attached to it, as if I was somehow better able to appreciate a book set in pre-war Mexico, because I was sitting by the pool at a resort in 2011.  Upon returning to Calgary, I felt I had lost some connection to the book.  Of course as I write this, it doesn't really make any sense, but that's how I felt.


You can read Time Magazine's orginial review from February 24, 1947 here.

My next book is going to be Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth.  Roth is one of eight authors on The List with two books, and I've planned to read at least one from each, before I hit number 50.  After Portnoy's Complaint, I'll only have Orwell left, which means I'll need to read Animal Farm in the next few books.

Might have found easy fines: but there to end

I had to go to the library today to return a book.  Yesterday, I had gone on-line to renew all the books I currently had out, but ran into two problems.  Firstly, Portney's Complaint had been put on hold, so I couldn't renew it.  That makes it the second book I've borrowed from the library and not read, after All the King's Men, which was also put on hold before I could read it.  My second problem was I missed renewing one of the books on time.  It's no mystery how this happened either, as I've been borrowing so many books at one time, and until today had six checked out, it was only a matter of time that I'd forget to renew one  on time.  If you recall, on October 1st, I had written about this very problem:

"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."

Apparently I'm no Arab spice trader, as I had forgotten to renew Gravity's Rainbow, which has now incurred $2.10 in fines for being seven days overdue, bringing my fine total to $10.15  This was the first time I've incurred a fine on a book I have not read or even started to read.  To be honest, I had a feeling this would happen at some point, and I'm sure it will happen again as well.

While returnning Portney's Complaint and Ragtime, I grabbed a few more books; Infinte Jest, Gone with the Wind, Lolita and Animal Farm.  As it stand right now, save the books I have already read, I have every single book on The List from my local library branch and a total of 8 books right now.  The only question now is, which one will I incur fines on next!?