Owie!

[thisnewday]

Made a trip across town, this afternoon, to the Home Depot and Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

At the HD, I picked up a rubber mallet and, at the B&N, Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca.

Not sure there's any connection between the two, besides having acquired them both on the same trip.

Unless I have to kneecap myself into reading DuMaurier in time for for this month's book club, lol...

LPK
Dreamwidth
9.2.2018

Comments

[mallorys_camera]

I'll be interested in what you think about Rebecca.

I'm a Daphne DuMaurier fan myself, and Rebecca is one of my favorites. Brilliant example of 20th century Gothic. But I think it's one of those books that appeals more to women than to men.

[thisnewday]

You know, not being the sharpest tool in the box--but a tool, nonetheless--I had just been mulling the possibility of gender bias in our club selections prior to reading your comment.

And, having pulled the most recent selections from my shelves and placed them in view of my computer, the evidence seems, ahem, stacked in favor of that possibility.

To wit: Zadie Smith, Mrs. Dalloway, Radium Girls, Eleanor and Hick, Eleanor Oliphant and, now, Rebecca. Make that #Overwhelming.

Even as the light was beginning to dawn, I'd placed my hands over my ears and was chanting, "La-la-la-la-la..." Typically inappropriate and ineffective male response.

My rationalizations included (1) we all have the opportunity to suggest future titles, (2) these are some truly interesting and informative books, regardless of one's gender, (3) the club averages between 12-18 members present per meeting and only 2 of us are men.

And so, I concluded, it simply is what it is. Or, maybe, it is what we are. Which is mostly women. Interestingly, and perhaps ironically, it took a perceptive woman to put a point on it for me, lol.

So, I dunno. What do I do? Take out an ad in the Daily Orange? Totally wrong demographic. But where in hell are all the retired men with too much time on their hands?

Apparently, they're not reading books. But who the heck is drinking beer and watching baseball (football, basketball, bowling) at 11 AM on the last Thursday of every month?

If it's like that old joke, and they're eating Cheetos and watching porn, only their internists know for sure. Otherwise, I am, for lack of a better word, stumped.

But I definitely see your point and have a sense that it's become problematic. Which is probably why I see it because, as I've said, I'm not that bright.

But, what to do. Claim some sort of gender-neutral middle ground? For now, I guess I'm gonna do the read and think about the problem.

Gawd, I hate it when someone makes me think, lol...

[mallorys_camera]

Claim some sort of gender-neutral middle ground?

Nah! Possibly look on it as a personally curated journey through the world of female tropes! :-)

But where in hell are all the retired men with too much time on their hands?

You know when I was a young mother, I actually put posters up on telephone poles etc—like missing pet posters, right? :-) —advertising for friends, that's how desperate I was for like-minded human companionship. :-)

You don't play bridge? You don't golf? You don't want to learn? Those are two inherently social occupations.

You must like cars! You like to build! Maybe find an old burner—Syracuse is filled with 'em, I seem to remember—and restore it in your garage? And then you'll get to drive it around to all those car shows!

If you lived within 50 miles of me, I'd hang out with you now and again. But alas! Two hundred miles is a bit too far.

[thisnewday]

Thanks for the suggestion, but the only "burner" I'd be likely to build at this time in my life is one of the AMT "3 in 1" models in 1:24 scale that I used to build as a kid, lol. Other than that, my days of leaning over the fender of a car are quite emphatically over.

I was actually being serious when I wondered where the men of my age are and why they're not represented in book clubs, etc, in anywhere near the numbers that our female counterparts are.

That's one problem. The other is that, as I've recently confessed to our mutual friend, rosegardenfae, I'm a grumpy old fuck with a long history of being a grumpy fuck.

I'm having my yearly physical on Monday, so maybe I'll ask the doc to prescribe something for that, lol.

Except that it's my first time with him and I'm going to explain why I'm handing him my signed DNR and intend to refuse any additional meds or invasive diagnostics. There's nothing wrong, that I know of, and I want to keep it that way. The not knowing part.

My point is that he's gonna love me too, lol...

[mallorys_camera]

There's nothing wrong, that I know of, and I want to keep it that way. The not knowing part.

Ha, ha, ha! :-)

[thisnewday]

Patrizia, a confession: I don't want to put the book down. I want to skip my fitness routine and not eat dinner. Damn you, Daphne! Patrizia, what should I do?

[mallorys_camera]

I love Rebecca myself! It's so filled with great archetypes! From that opening sentence, Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again to Mrs. Danvers to the great destroying Shiva goddess Rebecca herself!

And it's easy to read, the language is very simple. So, you must be finished with it now. :-)

"Daphne DuMaurier" is one of my tags, by the way, if you're interested in learning a little more about her.

[thisnewday]

In fact, I've JUST finished reading it. Normally, I read quite slowly, wanting to absorb all of the emotional nuances--of which there are many, in my opinion--as well as feeling the texture of the writing in somewhat the same way you might brush your hand across the surface of a painted masterpiece--if it would do no damage and you were allowed. That, before stepping back to appreciate the visual presented by the entire work. (Of course, all of that happens together as a unified experience, if the piece is a good one. Which, to me, this is.)

OMG, Patrizia, this is the first thing I've read at such a pace in ever so long and not lost something of it in doing so. Because, you're right, it's so amazingly readable. In so many ways, it reminded me of Virginia Woolf with its amazing internal dialogues and incredibly vivid descriptions of the physical settings. (I made a rather disrespectful comparison by saying that Du Maurier seemed to me a coherent and comprehensible Virginia Woolf due, in part, to her singular narrative viewpoint.)

I must also say that I feel like this book, at this time, has rather saved me from myself, from the recent upheavals in my own life. Which, though perhaps small and insignificant to those around me, have been devastating to me. And so I have Lady Browning to thank for that as well.

Thanks to you, as well, for your comments on this extraordinary book. I did come to it with some rather stubborn biases, which I'm still sorting out, but I think your comment about this possibly being a book which would appeal more to women than to men alerted me to them. And I will, for sure, be sorting through your tagged comments for further thoughts on her writing...

[mallorys_camera]

True confession: I'm not a big fan of Virginia Woolf. I find her very difficult to immerse myself in (a process you describe very well above), and what I like best about reading is that it can be an immersive process. :-) Woolf's frequently odd word and syntactical choices often throw me out right of the text. :-)

I recommended The Goldfinch to you, and I will second that recommendation again. If you'd like to continue distancing yourself from all those upheavals, I think it might do the trick. :-)

[thisnewday]

Yeah, I agree about Ms. Woolf. Some critics talk about her "stream of consciousness" technique where the use of language reflects her immersion in feeling, thought, whatever.

The difference that I see, between her and DdM, is that the latter enables her characters to become convincingly and compellingly lost, in their own thoughts, without losing the reader in the process. At least that's my take on it.

Anyway, going to the B&N out on the blvd tonight and will make a note to look for The Goldfinch. And, if not in stock, will order online. Am also thinking about another DdM novel and/or bio, if you have any thoughts on that...

[mallorys_camera]

I like her short stories a great deal. Except for Rebecca, more than her novels. Try looking for Don't Look Now—which I think is actually the title piece in a collection called Don't Look Now.

[thisnewday]

Great! Thanks!

[thisnewday]

Mission accomplished with respect to "The Goldfinch." There were two paperback editions and I decided on the larger/pricier format because I can better afford that than the emotional cost of a trip to the eye doctor, lol.

I had also decided on a DdM bio by Tatiana De Rosnay, entitled "Manderley Forever," but didn't get it because it was only available in hardbound and I'd seen it at a better price online.

Interestingly though, as I was perusing the bargain books, I found a short story collection by her called "A Paris Affair" which I picked up. It's a very thin little volume which I'll probably read tonight as part of my recovery from the emotionally draining "Rebecca."

After that, it's on to "The Goldfinch." I can't wait!