#83 - "The Death of the Heart" by Elizabeth Bowen

This is the second book in the "Death Trilogy" that features on this list; the others being A Death in the Family, and Death Comes for the Archbishop. I guess the novelization of Death to Smoochy just didn't make the cut.

I didn't know anything about this book when I started reading it, but shouldn't have been surprised that I enjoyed it. First off, it's on this list, and I've enjoyed most of the books on this list. Secondly, it's set in inter-war Europe, and I don't think there has been an inter-war European book I haven't enjoyed (remember, Gravity's Rainbow was during the war).

#79 - "A Handful of Dust" by Evelyn Waugh

I finished Evelyn Waugh's second book from the list, A Handful of Dust about two weeks ago, while still in Thailand. It was one I had been looking forward to for quite some time, having enjoyed his other list book, Brideshead Revisited, when I read it five years ago, at #2.

Written in 1934, A Handful of Dust follows Tony and Brenda Last, as they live out their happy, but mundane life at Hetton Abbey, Tony's beloved estate in the English countryside. The couple has one son, and lives very comfortably on their inherited wealth, sticking to old fashioned, aristocratic social norms.

Soon, life becomes too routine for Brenda and while at a party she becomes interested in John Beaver, a rather common man, who finds himself at these parties more as a novelty than a guest. Brenda is pulled toward him, finding him exciting and different, when in reality he is merely ordinary, if not mediocre. But she continues a relationship with him, even going so far as to rent a flat in London, for weekday rendezvous.

Was i, to take this drunkard for a god

My reading has continued at a good pace this week and according to my Goodreads account, I'm 80% through The Sheltering Sky.  I'm enjoying it very much, and as soon as I'm finished writing this, I look forward to returning to it.

I've decided that part of my good progress since 'the big one,' since Infinite Jest, is due to the fact that I've been throwing in a little non-fiction on the side.  As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I find reading some non-fiction works as a motivational tool, causing me to actually read more often.  When I have two books I'm enjoying, I'm eager to read both, but must split my time; therefore I read more often.  If I'm not enjoying one of them, I make reading some of it mandatory before continuing with the book I am enjoying, so again, I read more often.  So far I haven't run into an instance where I don't like either book, so I'll have to cross that bridge when I get to it.

The non-fiction book I just finished is called God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens.  Obviously this is a very polarizing book, and I don't really have any desire to get into any kind of religious debate, despite my feeling so passionately toward one side.  What I can comment on is what a good writer Hitchens is.  I'd never read anything of his before, and had only seen him in interviews or debates, where he carries himself as well as anybody, mostly due to his uncanny ability to recall quotes, facts, examples, etc.  Said Martin Amis (author or the book Money, which is on The List), "With his vast array of geohistorical references and precedents, he is almost Google-like; but...Christopher's search engine is much more finely tuned."  In God is not Great, Hitchens uses this 'google-like' ability to explain why he doesn't believe in any god, and why he feels 'religion poisons everything.'

As far as The List is concerned, I have been able to find some relevance.  Throughout my quest, I have been noting when one book from The List mentions another book, or at least an author.  Well God is not Great takes the cake, making references to eleven different authors and five different books from The List.  Some references tied in nicely to the book's theme, like C.S. Lewis, a tireless promoter and defender of religion, and Salman Rushdie, whose work offended some religious types so much they ordered him executed.  Other times, such as when Hitchens quotes The Adventures of Augie March, it doesn't pertain to religion necessarily, but rather he quotes them because great writers are so good at putting their thoughts on paper, why not borrow from their genius to make a real impact.  After some background research, I did discover Hitchens' love of literature, it seems to be his true passion.  Perhaps this is why he turns to the literary world the way many would turn to, ironically, religion.  I guess Hitchens prefers to look to the good books for advice (Hitchens also can't resist a bad pun).

For those interested, the authors mentioned in one way or another in God is not Great are Salman Rushdie, George Orwell, Saul Bellow, C.S. Lewis, Ian McEwan, Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Powell, Graham Greene, Doris Lessing, Philip Roth and Joseph Heller.  As for books, Hitchens refers to Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-four, The Adventures of Augie March, Brideshead Revisited, and A Dance to the Music of Time.

I don't have any non-fiction reads ready to go right now, so my concentration will return solely to The List for the next few days.  I'll hopefully have number thirty four finished soon.  I'm still unsure of what thirty five will be, but am currently, as I type these words, staring at Gone with the Wind. And it's staring right back at me, I think daring me to read it.

#16 - "Lucky Jim" by Kingsley Amis

Luck Jim is finished, number sixteen on The List.  Good progress has been made after taking so long to finish To The Lighthouse over the summer months.  As much a humour novel as a character study, Kingsley Amis is able to combine laughs with a great story, making Lucky Jim a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Amis' first novel follows a regular guy, a college professor, as he struggles with social gaffes, awkward situations and for the most part failure in every aspect of his life, be it socially or professionally.  Jim Dixon is described as an unlucky man.  Of course, like everybody who considers themselves to be "unlucky", he puts himself in these situations everyday.  Most of Jim's shortcomings arise from his childish behaviours or his yearning for strong drink.  Not really a matter of luck, but what makes Jim different is he doesn't seem to care.

Part of a post-war class of Britons who weren't as concerned with upward mobility or more precisely nobility, as previous generations, Jim Dixon doesn't aspire to be anything he isn't.  He is content having a job at a middle of the road college in rural England.  He doesn't strive to become a department head, and he doesn't aspire to move up to a college in London.  He just wants to be able to earn a steady paycheck with minimum effort, that allows him to enjoy a few pints every night from the local pub.  Maybe he isn't so unlucky after all, maybe he's actually quite lucky.  How many people are fortunate enough to know their place int he world, and not get caught up in trying to reach unreachable goals?

The book won the Somerset Maugham award for fiction in 1955, which is handed out each year to an author under the age of thirty-five.  Almost fittingly, both the novel's protagonist and author disgusted the award's namesake, Somerset Maugham.  Part of the old guard and a grand pupa of inter-war British literature, Maugham described both the book, it's characters and it's author as 'scum.'  He hated the change they represented in the post-war period, a move from nobility to equality, complaining about people on 'government loans' being able to attend college, and only for the purpose of 'getting a job', not for cultural enlightenment.  The horrors!  I think it's safe to say this probably gave young Amis lot of satisfaction and accomplished exactly what he set out to do in his writing.

Notes:

Kingsley Amis' son Martin Amis also has a book on The List, Money.

Evelyn Waugh is mentioned in Lucky Jim.  So far, there's been one mention of one book from The List in another (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in The Corrections) and now a mention of an author from The List in a book from The List.


You can read Time Magazine's orginial review from May 27, 1957 right here.

#2 - "Brideshead Revisited" by Evelyn Waugh

I finished the second book from my list today, Brideshead Revisited. I write this from our hotel room in Honolulu, sitting on the balcony and I'd like to thank Honolulu for allowing me to finish the book so quickly. Our hotel room is on the 43rd floor, and offers fantastic views of the city. With a large patio and perfect temperatures outside, I’ve spent the past couple of mornings drinking coffee and reading for a while after getting up. Being on the 43rd floor also keeps most of the distractions at bay, as I’m too high up to really hear anything from the street, only the distant sound of traffic and general noises from the city.

Brideshead Revisited is the story of Charles Ryder in inter-war Britain. The story begins as Ryder, along with his platoon, is sent to set up shop in an old, nearly abandon castle named Brideshead. Unlike the other men, Ryder has been to the castle before, in fact it is there that his life became intertwined with the Flyte family, an aristocratic group of a dying breed; British nobility. The novel looks back at the events of his experiences from Oxford in the early 1920’s and his development from university student to architectural painter to military officer.

While attending Oxford University, Charles befriends a wealthy aristocrat named Sebastian Flyte. He is enchanted by the life that Sebastian leads, one of indulgence and excess and one free of responsibility. On frequent trips to the family home, the aforementioned Brideshead, Charles becomes endeared to not only Sebastian, but also his sister Julia, his mother Lady Machmain, and his estranged father.

The Flytes represent a dying breed of British society, the old school nobility which had ruled the country for so long. Families with such extreme wealth, they do as they please and do not worry about the consequences. But the inter war period in Britain created a new class, also wealthy, but one that had earned its wealth; the nouveau industrial riche. Slowly, the nobility of generations past was ending, and the new regime was taking over. Through this societal change, the two friends drift apart, one needing and wanting to find a career and earn his own money, the other content living in squalor in Northern Africa, an alcoholic, only able to continue his existence because of the allowance checks he continues to receive.

After establishing himself as a successful architectural painter, Charles enters the military during World War II, where he finds himself back at the castle he spent so many summers as a younger man. However, by this time the age of nobility was nearly over, and the unkempt castle was a stark reminder of days gone by and the end of an era.

Evelyn Waugh is one of four writers to appear on the list twice, (the others are Nabokov, Faulkner, and Virginia Woolf), and wrote Brideshead while on injured reserve during World War II, only part of the autobiographical nature of the book. Like Charles Ryder, Waugh was fascinated by the wealthy elite in England, and always sought to be a part of the fraternity. While by no means poor, neither Charles nor Waugh was ever able to make the leap from wealthy businessman or artist to a wealthy “man-about-town,” elite-status person. They could never break the glass ceiling so to speak. I mean really, if you weren’t born with money, does it still count? I can see the conversation over brandy and cigars at a posh club in London’s finest neighbourhood. “Look at Evelyn over there…can you believe they granted him membership? I mean, he earned his money. How terrible.” “Yes; quite.”

Catholicism also features prominently in Brideshead, or rather intolerance toward Catholics. The Flytes were one of the few wealthy Catholic families in England, and experience a fair bit of backlash as a result. Waugh himself was Catholic; well actually he was born Anglican and converted to Catholicism in the early 1930’s. Charles Ryder is often quite critical of the religion in the book and eventually it becomes a point of contention for his relationship with the Flytes. I found it surprising however, as Charles was so critical of Catholicism, actually all religions, whilst Waugh turned out to be quite a devout Catholic, despite not finding it until later in life. I don’t see religious people writing a lot of critical statements about their beliefs, even if it is in a satirical novel. However, that could the point of his writing. Charles basically loses his closest friends and part of his family because of this division caused by religion. In the end, the various members of the Flyte family chose religion over Charles, and he’s left without wife, friends or family, toiling in the military, longing for the days of yesteryear.

I find it interesting that the topic of Catholicism in this British novel is much like that of race in American novels. While America was ripe with intolerance for blacks, Jews and, well, pretty much everybody, the Brits were intolerant to Catholics, considering these people to be “different” and perhaps not worthy of the same considerations they expected for themselves. I have a feeling that social differences and intolerance might be a theme explored in a lot of the novels on this list.

I enjoyed reading this book, as well, making the list two for two. Waugh's writing style, combined with what I found to be an interesting story, made for an enjoyable read. I think I'm going to find this to be the case with the majority of books on the list. Not knowing anything about them, I don't expect anything. However, as they find themselves on a "Top 100" list, it's doubtful any of them are real duds. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I'm enjoying these books.



Time magazine’s original review from January 7th, 1946 can be found here.


Next up is Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs.