The Library Book
Nov. 16th, 2019 09:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisnewdayHaving finished my re-read of Amor Towles' Rules of Civility last night, I decided to pick up my borrowed-from-the-library copy of... wait for it... The Library Book by Susan Orlean and to attempt a re-read of it before this Thursday's meeting of the book club in Liverpool.
Except that this morning I found myself making a conscious effort to read it through different eyes--those of my bookish, brainy, articulate, intelligent 12-year-old granddaughter Sophia.
Now, anytime you re-read a book, it is with NEW eyes. That can't be helped. Unless you've been in a coma since your last reading of the book, it's gonna happen that way. And it's not a bad thing. In fact, there's a lot to be gained by it, learned from it.
But reading the same book through DIFFERENT eyes is, well, different. And maybe not even possible. Because you can't really know what someone else would see. But even though faced with something that's theoretically and practically impossible, I was still gonna try it.
Because on a trip to the Boulevard B&N, which I took last night because I was in serious danger of going crazy in the confines of a house which problems with my grandson had made, simultaneously, as echo-empty and claustrophobically close as that horrific tunnel they use for CT scans, I found a red-bound paperback copy of Orlean's book.
And I wondered, as I picked up mine this morning, if my bookish, brainy, articulate, intelligent granddaughter would like to read it. Which I think she might. And so, among the several missions which still lie ahead of me today, I think I'm gonna include a return trip to the Boulevard to pick it up for her.
Which is a bit, um, ironic because I had decided, before last month's club meeting, that I WOULD NOT buy any more books but would instead BORROW one of the copies of the next month's selection to take home and read. Because I'd finally come to understand that this relentless acquisition of books for purely personal use is an addiction, a disease, right?
And yet, I'm now buying the very same book for Sophia. Which means I've totally relapsed and am attempting to blame it on an innocent 12-year-old kiddo, right? I'm so-o-o pathetic...
LPK
Dreamwidth
11.16.2019
Except that this morning I found myself making a conscious effort to read it through different eyes--those of my bookish, brainy, articulate, intelligent 12-year-old granddaughter Sophia.
Now, anytime you re-read a book, it is with NEW eyes. That can't be helped. Unless you've been in a coma since your last reading of the book, it's gonna happen that way. And it's not a bad thing. In fact, there's a lot to be gained by it, learned from it.
But reading the same book through DIFFERENT eyes is, well, different. And maybe not even possible. Because you can't really know what someone else would see. But even though faced with something that's theoretically and practically impossible, I was still gonna try it.
Because on a trip to the Boulevard B&N, which I took last night because I was in serious danger of going crazy in the confines of a house which problems with my grandson had made, simultaneously, as echo-empty and claustrophobically close as that horrific tunnel they use for CT scans, I found a red-bound paperback copy of Orlean's book.
And I wondered, as I picked up mine this morning, if my bookish, brainy, articulate, intelligent granddaughter would like to read it. Which I think she might. And so, among the several missions which still lie ahead of me today, I think I'm gonna include a return trip to the Boulevard to pick it up for her.
Which is a bit, um, ironic because I had decided, before last month's club meeting, that I WOULD NOT buy any more books but would instead BORROW one of the copies of the next month's selection to take home and read. Because I'd finally come to understand that this relentless acquisition of books for purely personal use is an addiction, a disease, right?
And yet, I'm now buying the very same book for Sophia. Which means I've totally relapsed and am attempting to blame it on an innocent 12-year-old kiddo, right? I'm so-o-o pathetic...
LPK
Dreamwidth
11.16.2019
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 06:05 pm (UTC)And, Happy Turkey Day tomorrow :-)
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 08:33 pm (UTC)Anyway, I tend to agree with you on Orlean's TLB. I guess I sort of pushed on through the drier parts to the Harry'er parts of the narrative which I found at least somewhat compelling.
Sorry if I led you down a dead end on that one. I never thought I'd do that after reading Nancy Atwell's "In the Middle" where her mantra for engaging middle schoolers in reading and writing is that there are too many good books out there to force your way through something you don't truly love.
I guess it's a feeling that I somehow owe that to my book club and I don't--no one really does except that I'd missed so much of it this year. Anyway, again, sorry.
I don't think you'll feel that way about Towles' "Rules" but I am really interested in your reaction to his "gender appropriation," I guess you'd call it, his assumption of a female persona in the form of his central character--and most of the others. Does he do a credible job of writing in that voice?
One of the women I queried, before the start of our meeting, said she just couldn't engage with his writing in this one although she'd liked "Moscow." I asked if she thought it might be because of what I just mentioned to you, but she was unsure.
I did preface my question to her with the statement that I'd asked the same of a respected LJ friend of mine in Missouri, so now the pressure's on, lol.
As for Turkey Day, I did have an invite to join my daughter and son-in-law at his cousin's--a yearly event--but I passed it up this time with the excuse that I wasn't quite ready to eat a meal in polite society with my new choppers.
Which is true, but my social energy is also quite low right now and I still feel like I'm struggling to recover physically for the expected next round. But that's OK because I feel like I can still do that if I just buy myself a little time in between.
Happy Turkey Day to you too... L
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 11:37 pm (UTC)As for the book, no one can predict how someone else will react to a book. From my view, reading is a totally subjective experience. And, one of these days I may pick it up again.
I did order "Rules" so it should arrive about the time I finish my latest Kate Atkinson, "When Will There Be Good News?" She keeps me entertained and is reasonably melodic in doing so. A sample: "She liked the way he took over in that authoritative way, didn't stand for any of her shit yet was always amiable about it, as if she were precious and yet flawed and the flaws could be fixed."
I am not feeling particularly sociable either, having spent the entire day lying on the couch, attempting to ward off a possible upper respiratory thing and generally feeling like crap, while all the time worrying about my responsibilities for tomorrow's feast. Turkey Day is not my favorite holiday. I loathe large crowds on a good day. LOL However, unless I am actively dying I will do best to attend, being the matriarch and all.
I shall have to come up with some sort of literate opinion on "Rules." You know I'll have to study a bit on voice as I haven't really thought in those terms in a very long time. I read for distraction. However, I did get some practice while helping Lainey in her AP English class. Coming up with an original idea to discuss comparing ancient lit to modern as demonstrated in "Gilgamesh" and "Annie John" was, if not exactly fun (what is fun these days?) was a bit of a pick-me-up. :)
And most certainly you can and will recover. It takes an amazingly long time to do so at this stage of the game. After listening to my nursing daughters describe patients who are much younger than you and I, it is easy to see that we are healthy and even reasonably lucid at times. LOL
E
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 05:31 pm (UTC)You know, similar to the way I now have to consult my grandson to understand how my phone works--after years of helping other people understand the design software we were using back then. However, I digress.
I'm really just interested in what you might think of Towles' main character--and her BFF Eve--taking into consideration, of course, the social and cultural changes that have taken place in the decades between the fictional setting and now...