A goodly house: the feast smells well;

I've nearly finished my 37th book, The Sportswriter, with only a few dozen pages left.  I'm still not sure what I think of it as a book.  There are times when I'm mesmerized and can't put it down, and there are times I find it drags a little.  But all in all, it's one I'm enjoying, even though it doesn't really have anything to do with sports.

It has also provided me with two links to other books on The List, which for some reason I find really interesting.  I don't know why, but it seems odd or funny to me, that a book from a list of great books, would mention other books from the same list.  It first happened in The Corrections, when one of the characters was reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  In The Sportswriter, Frank, the protagonist, is asked how long it has been since he read The Sun Also Rises.  He doesn't recall, but figures it's probably been quite some time.  For me, I read it last September, #17 on my list.  Later on in the novel, Frank is listening to the radio, where a feminist announcer is reading dirty passages from Tropic of Cancer, my 10th read. If I had never read this book, I wouldn't really know what he was talking about.  I suppose, in a way, I can thank The List for making me a little smarter.  Or maybe just a little more aware.

While reading The Sportswriter I have also continued my plan of reading a non-fiction book at the same time.  Yesterday, I was able to finish A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.  Another book that mentions The Sun Also Rises, but I guess that's to be expected.  The book is really an account of Hemingway's time in Paris in the mid-20's while he was working as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star Weekly.

Really, this book reads just like one of Hemingway's novels with short, too-the-point dialogue, and limited descriptions about settings or surroundings.  Hemingway talks about his experiences in Paris, being what he describes as 'very poor and very happy.'  He talks of the people he spent time with, most notably Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and F. Scott Fitzgerald.  It is the chapters about Fitzgerald I found particularly interesting.  Hemingway really paints an almost pathetic picture of the writer.  He describes him as a drunk and a  hypochondriac, who has very little self esteem and is basically an all-around helpless human being.  I think of The Great Gatsby and how it is received today and wonder how somebody like the man Hemingway describes, could write such a masterpiece.

#17 - "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway

I have now finished reading Ernest Hemingway's first novel, and only novel on The List; The Sun Also Rises.  Myself, I'm a fan of Hemingway's writing style, but I know it isn't for everybody and I find people either love him or hate him.  I once recommended A Farewell to Arms, to someone, saying how great it was and how I couldn't put it down.  They returned it two days later, having read about thirty pages and saying they couldn't take it anymore.  I like it, but I can understand not liking Hemingway's style.

The Sun Also Rises is the story of ex-pat Jake, who lives in Paris and seems to lead quite the life of leisure, all whilst keeping a job with an English newspaper in the French capital.  His days are taken up with drinking, eating and meeting with friends; usually to continue eating and drinking.  They seem to lead the same lifestyle as the characters in Tropic of Cancer, who were also ex-pats, living in Paris, spending their time eating and drinking.  Hmmm...perhaps I should have been born around the turn of the century, so I could have moved to Paris in the 20's.  I too enjoy eating and drinking.

Looking for a break from Paris (not eating and drinking), Jake and his friends Bill, Robert and Lady Brett Ashley take a trip to Spain, to partake in the Fiesta of San Fermin in Pamplona, which again involves eating and drinking, but also bull fighting.  Hemingway himself was a known fan of bull fighting, and this seems to be his ode to the sport.  He speaks eloquently of the majesty of bull fighting, and to be honest, reading this book has made me want to take in a fight myself.  While at the fiesta, Jake and his friends experience a roller-coaster of emotions, but despite the ups and downs, they all seems to have a good time in the end.  I could be more specific, but there isn't really any point.  In the end, not much really happens, but I still enjoyed reading it very much.  The story was still interesting, more as a result of the characters and Hemingway's short and to the point descriptions.  But like his other novels, I foresee a lot of people not liking this book at all, while others will praise it till the cows come home.

Now, I have a confession.  The entire time I was reading this book, I kept wondering why Jake and Brett didn't "hook up."  They both profess their love to each other several times throughout the book and they seemed to be very compatible together.  However, while Brett sleeps with almost every man she encounters, Jake never takes beds any women.  He even picks up a prostitute in Paris, but only takes her out for dinner and drinks.  Until the very end, I was still thinking the two would get together and perhaps live happily ever after, but alas, it never happened.  After I had finished the book, I began my secondary research on the novel and much to my surprise, I learned that Jake was impotent from a war injury, and hence, he wasn't hookin' up with anybody.  I don't know how I missed this, as every review I read, this was basically mentioned in the first line.

From Time Magazine:

"Meet Jake Barnes: working journalist, expatriate, tough talker, tragic hero. Jake was horribly wounded in the war — in fact, he was effectively gelded."

Wikipedia:

"The narrator of The Sun Also Rises is Jake Barnes, an expatriate journalist in his mid-twenties who lives in Paris. Barnes is impotent because of a war wound..."

Well, you get the idea.  Everybody seemed to have picked up on this except me, even Wikipedia!  Oh well, I guess I can't absorb everything, including major plot elements.  It makes a lot more sense now, knowing that two people, in love, we're never going to end up together, but didn't take away from the book, as I still enjoyed it.  I hope when I read Nineteen Eighty-Four, I realize it isn't about Winston Smith's husky sibling.


You can read Time Magzine's original review from November 1, 1926 here.


My next book will be I, Claudius, the book I had intended to read had I not fogotten to take it with me to BC.

What think you of this page, my lord?

My progress on The Sun Also Rises continues, but not without problems.  The book I have borrowed is, in one word, old.  The problems is pages are falling out, and I have to either have the book set down, or be holding it with both hands.  Or, I can pick up each single page, read, turn, place in pile.  A book that's in pieces is also difficult to take with me away from home.  I might stop at the library to get a different copy.  Or try to finish it tonight.

O, 'tis the sun that maketh all things shine

I spent the weekend in the mountains, which is why I had been able to finish Lucky Jim so quickly.  If only I could spend more time on vacation, I could probably finish this list in less than four years!  Anyway, I had made sure to bring two books with me on this little trip, in case I was able to finish the first.  In this case, the second book was to be  I, Claudius, which I had picked up from the library at the same time.  However, despite have placed the book in a prominent position near the door, to make sure I didn't forget it, it somwhow didn't make it into my bag.  I was now faced with over 24 hours in the mountains without anything from The List to read.

It was then I remembered the bookshelf in my room, which was filled with an assortment of fiction and non-fiction books, including an old copy of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.  The List would be able to continue unabashed for the rest of the weekend.

I've liked all the Hemingway books I've read in the past, and this is one of the few I haven't read.  So this should not only allow me to continue to read, but also to continue to make good progress, as I expect to like this one as well, and naturally I read books I enjoy a little faster.  I, Claudius will have to be #18.