Weekly Geeks: That's Classic!

Behold! This is the part of the week where I extol the classics complete with utterly random linkage. Thanks to the Weekly Geeks for this fine opportunity to type my fingers off!

In the third Weekly Geeks of 2009, let's have fun with the classics. For our purposes, I'm defining a classic as anything written over 100 years ago and still in print.

For your assignment this week, choose two or more of the following questions:

1) How do you feel about classic literature? Are you intimidated by it? Love it? Not sure because you never actually tried it? Don't get why anyone reads anything else? Which classics, if any, have you truly loved? Which would you recommend for someone who has very little experience reading older books? Go all out, sell us on it!

Actually, I'm going to go ahead and break with the definition of classics here because most of my favorite books that I consider to be classics (and I think a lot of people consider classics) haven't reached their 100th birthdays yet, but I would be hard-pressed to remove them from classic status based on that criterion alone. For my purposes, I'm going to use...say...1950 or so for my cut-off date for classichood though it all just kind of makes me wonder who decides which books are classics and which ones just aren't.

Anyhow - getting on with it. I've got a love hate relationship with classics. Some I love, and some I hate (I bet you needed that explained in detail, right?). Some of the best books I've read are classics and so are some of the worst. I have a longstanding and well-publicized dislike of W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage which I tried with great tenacity to read the summer before my senior year of high school, hoping upon hope that some great redeeming characteristic would make itself known, but it didn't. Just the thought of this book continues to frighten me, though, it seems there are quite a few people that are fans of this dreadful tome. That same year I struggled through Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, an author I've nearly always wanted to like but whose work I haven't yet been able to appreciate, unless, of course, you count A Christmas Carol. Shakespeare was always kind of a killer for me, too, but for a few notable soliloquies. Sophomore year of high school was also a pretty dreadful exercise in classic reading, and I credit it with my continuing dislike of Moby Dick (even abridged!) and The Red Badge of Courage. And don't get me started on Lord of the Flies. Argh.

But, wait, lest you begin to believe that I am a huge classic hater, let me regale you with other stories. In the vast pit that is high school required reading, I did encounter a few great gems. The first comes with a story. So, I have a notoriously bad track record of choosing classics off lists of required reading. You know, you'd be assigned this book, that book, and the other book and then for the final book of the year you'd have to choose some book from a list of "worthy" literature. In cases like this the books assigned by the teacher would be pretty decent, okay, and so-so, but the one that I chose myself would inevitably be utterly torturous (and inescapable given that I'd already committed to it by the time I recognized its awfulness). Case in point - I picked Great Expectations for myself, and you may remember it from the last paragraph. One year, I went out on a limb and chose Steinbeck's East of Eden. Out on a limb because it's quite a doorstopper, and you only get so much time to read such things. Everyone thought I was insane, but it still ranks as my one and only successful foray into choosing a required reading classic for myself. Loved it - I can still remember sitting at lunch in the cafeteria and reading East of Eden even amid the din because I liked it that much. Of Mice and Men - another Steinbeck winner, though it is on the heavily depressing side.

I enjoyed a bunch of the usual suspects - Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, etc, but maybe not as much as other people seem to. I was a big fan of George Eliot's Silas Marner and a huge, huge fan of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory which I guess is considered a classic, though I'm sure it's debatable. Oh, and Russian lit has always been a hit with me - Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, Fathers and Sons by Turgenev, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn (which I may or may not have spelled right). Yes, I undoubtedly need to read some more Russian lit. And, of course, your fantasy classics The Lord of the Rings trilogy (and The Hobbit too!) and The Chronicles of Narnia. And how about (this is where we lapse into no organization at all) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Anne of Green Gables, and All Quiet on the Western Front's underloved sequel The Road Back about post-war Germany (also debatable in its classichood, but a great book nonetheless)?

Oh, and I have very fond childhood memories of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and White Fang by Jack London, too. Do those count? And will somebody please stop me from continuing to ramble on indefinitely about every classic I've ever read in my life (yes, there are still a few I haven't mentioned, and I'm sure you hope I don't...)

All very worthwile reads and all currently making me feel guilty for not more actively pursuing classic reading now. I guess maybe I'm a little afraid because I'm paranoid that I'll pick up another enormous dud (given my track record with freedom of choice) and be soured on classic works yet again despite so many notable successes, which isn't to say I don't have a bunch of classics lurking on my shelves awaiting my attention. Oh yes, they are there, calling out to me...

3) Let's say you're vacationing with your dear cousin Myrtle, and she forgot to bring a book. The two of you venture into the hip independent bookstore around the corner, where she primly announces that she only reads classic literature. If you don't find her a book, she'll never let you get any reading done! What contemporary books with classic appeal would you pull off the shelf for her?

Okay, I promise this answer will be shorter. I have three ideas for silly cousin Myrtle (I mean, she forgot to bring a book? Come on!). Not super contemporary but Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry for the epic storytelling that's associated with classics. It's a huge chunkster and yet totally absorbing from cover to cover - should keep Myrtle out of my hair for a while. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson because so much of what people appreciate from classics is the beauty of the language, and this one has the most delicious language that I've read in some time. Last, and a little out of left field, maybe The Other Side of You by Salley Vickers because it's a sort of love story that seems so re-readable that you'd get more and more from with each re-read. Even on my first read, there was something about it that just seemed inherently "classic." It seemed to me when I read it that it had so many layers of meaning that you could just go on pealing them off forever if you chose to read it again and again, and a classic should definitely stand up to re-reading, no?

4) As you explore the other Weekly Geeks posts: Did any inspire you to want to read a book you've never read before—or reread one to give it another chance? Tell us all about it, including a link to the post or posts that sparked your interest. If you end up reading the book, be sure to include a link to your post about it in a future Weekly Geeks post!

Well, I haven't been around to visit too many folks quite yet, but Chris and company have me convinced that maybe I should give Dickens another shot and have (another) go at A Tale of Two Cities. Perhaps I shall!

A (not bookish) Funny!

Tonight I have for you - an illustration of me - IN REAL LIFE! Point, laugh, and be merry!

So (my friends always said the funniest stories started with "so"), my 10-year-old cousin got Guitar Hero World Tour for Christmas. I tried it once and quickly became addicted. Now, I take every chance I get to go over and play with his toys rock with him and my aunt and uncle, on occasion, too. We're not very good, but we have a great time. So, tonight after they provided me with a scrumptious (and authentic!) Mexican dinner, my cousin and I set off for the playroom to have a round of Guitar Hero. As we were playing, my aunt decided she would go visit my grandparents - behold this dialogue and see if you notice anything odd.

Aunt: I'll be back in a little. I'm going to see Gram and Pap.
Cousin: You're leaving us here by ourselves?!?!?
Aunt: Well, your dad's here!
*pause*
Aunt: And you know, Megan's a grown up!
Me: Surprise!


Guess my secret's out, though I am, apparently, "too fun to be a grown up." Being a grown-up is way over-rated anyway, no?

I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson

Greetings, bloglings. I'm afraid I don't have much to report, the whole tainted chicken episode, while not lasting terribly long, did kind of knock my whole week for a loop. Thanks all, for your comments on the previous post, I am, indeed, feeling much better - in fact, I was better astonishingly quickly, which was great (and it was good getting to watch that inauguration).

I was happily reading about a book a week, which is a rate of reading I deem acceptable for myself given my turtle-like reading capabilities and many distractions like jobs and relationships with humans and televisions and blogs and things, but I've sadly fallen off the pace since I didn't much feel like doing any of the things I normally do through the week (speaking of, you should see my Google Reader! On second thought, maybe you shouldn't...it might make you scream or cry like it does me). Due to my failure to promptly review books that I've read, however, I do have a book to review! It's next weekend that's in jeopardy not least because I probably won't have a book to review (much less time to review it). *Sigh* But onto more depressing fare. Yes, that's right, it's time for my "annual" January Holocaust book, which thankfully, has not morphed into a January Holocaust-fest like last year.


I Have Lived a Thousand Years is Livia Bitton-Jackson's (born Elli Friedmann) memoir of growing up during the Holocaust. Her story begins as the Nazis invade Budapest. Shortly thereafter, Elli and her family are forced into a ghetto which then leads to their imprisonment and forced labor in a seemingly endless litany of concentration camps.

Aimed more at a young adult audience, I Have Lived a Thousand Years is written in a present-tense first person style that is reminiscent of a girl's diary. Though it may be aimed a younger audience, it doesn't gloss over the painful details of a childhood lived under the impossible cruelty of the Nazis, though it doesn't always give quite as many vivid details as others I've read. Somehow, though, it is not the most violent and tortuous situations that leave the biggest impression but the more understated moments, like the image of Elli running barefoot outside realizing she didn't get to say good-bye to her father, possibly for the last time, or the sound of the old men in the ghetto constantly chanting the Psalms in the days after the younger men are taken away.

The conundrum of reviewing the Holocaust memoir is that you can't. I can't very well sit and say "I enjoyed this or that," but Bitton-Jackson's memories are vivid and well-told. After the first few chapters, the writing flows easily and for a story of such painful events, it is surprisingly difficult to put down. Even though I've read my fair share of Holocaust memoirs, I was staggered by many of Elli's experiences not least the sheer amount of places she and her mother are taken by train to do forced labor over a relatively short period of time. The only minor quibble I could make with the writing is that the most dramatic language seems to arrive well before the most dramatic events. The narrative, well before the family is experiencing ghettos and concentration camps, is peppered with "Oh my Gods" and "Will I ever...?" that seem to indicate extensive foreknowledge which seems a bit overblown in a book that is written from a present tense perspective and an unnecessary effort to create drama. Soon, though, the events change to suit the language. While the writing continues in the same way, the drama and tragedy are totally real and well-suited to the language, and there is no longer a need for it to be manufactured by portentous language.

What Being a Geek Means To Me

Greetings, fellow internet travelers! I've decided to funnel my personal interludes into even posts with relatively little actual content since so many of you seem to enjoy them. (Yay! You like me! You really like me...and all my circular ramblings!)

Having sufficiently recovered from eating some tainted chicken yesterday at work (I don't recommend this - it kind of sucks - but if you're going to eat tainted chicken, definitely do it the day before a really historic presidential inauguration so you can take the day off without guilt but not be so ill that you can't enjoy watching the the new president get sworn in and give a really great speech), I sat down this evening with the intention of writing an e-mail to someone about a book exchange I'm taking part in. Pretty basic - a little "hey, how you doing? I'm sending this book to X person." Instead of just getting to the point I rambled on somewhat humorously (I hope) for several paragraphs. Having done that, I thought, "Hey, I can't let all this verbosity (is that a word? I think it's a word...spellchecker?) go to waste. I should go blog so I can afflict people with it semi-publicly." So, I trundled myself over to the new Weekly Geeks site, where a group of people have picked up where Dewey left off. It's good to see that people have really stepped up to continue it, and I look forward to continuing to participate.

Anyhow, here's this week's question...


For those who have been with the group, either from the start or joined within recent months, what does being a member mean to you? What do you enjoy about the group? What are some of your more memorable Weekly Geeks that we might could do again? What could be improved as we continue the legacy that Dewey gave us?

I've been geeking since the very beginning. I wasn't going to sign up initially, but then I thought, hey I only really have to do it when I feel like it, and hey, this is Dewey - it can't help but be cool. So, sign up I did, and I've been at it on and off ever since.

To me, as to many others it seems, Weekly Geeks is about community. I think that I was a particularly big fan of the weeks when we were asked to go out and visit some Geeks we hadn't seen before either to comb their archives or to find something we had in common or just to leave a comment to say "hey, I've been here" and post the links to our travels in our Weekly Geeks post. The very first week, I remember, was like this, and I "met" a bunch of people whose blogs I still read mostly faithfully, if quietly, today. It's always fun getting out and "discovering" some new faces since it seems like even more great book bloggers are being added to our ranks every day. Between the Weekly Geeks and the 24 Hour Read-a-thon, there are an immense number of bloggers I've come to love because of Dewey's efforts at building up our community with both events.

Obviously, those sorts of make new friends "assignments" stuck out the most for me, but I also rather enjoyed being told to catch up on my reviews or organize my challenges and all those sorts of things that gave me just that little bit of needed motivation to get moving on some things that prove all to easy to put off.

If I had to suggest but one improvement, and I think it's been suggested already, I would like to see the weekly post spotlighting some peoples' response to the previous week's post. As much as I'd like to, I don't always get to visit as many people on the Mr. Linky as I'd like to, so it's kind of nice to have that spotlight so I'll at least go out and visit a few - or a few more.

Thanks to everybody who is working hard to continue this great thing that Dewey gave us. I'm sure we all greatly appreciate your efforts.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

Wow, it's been a slow week in blogland for me, which is bad because it seems that everybody else is really back in the bloggy swing of things. Blogland is in full swing and so's the workload at my job where it seems like we were busier than ever this week. Every day I try to sit down and read what everybody's writing and rarely get very far before getting distracted by all of life's have tos (and a few of those pesky other want tos, too). It all reminds me of why I've always been (and continue to be despite my best efforts) a big old lurker. All this commenting stuff makes this bloghopping take so much longer. Yet it would be a bizarre contradiction if I stopped taking the time to comment in the name of getting through the posts in my Google reader quicker, no?

Is anybody starting to get the feeling that the brief personal interludes at the beginning of most of my posts with actual content are merely serving to get me into the flow of writing? Because I'm pretty sure that's why I do this. Or else I'm just dragging my feet without really knowing why. Anywho, I'm all warmed up now, so on to the good stuff...

I finished a great book last weekend and my first read that will be released this year. It was one of those books that was fully satisfying and one that I knew that I would be recommending before I even came close to turning the last page. Any book that can make me forget that A) it's snowing outside and B) I'm sitting on a rock hard kitchen chair that's really making my back hurt for a considerable amount of time definitely gets my vote. Now the irony in all this is that, uh, I don't even remember requesting this ARC. Terrible, right? It arrived in the mail, and I was like...I chose this? I guess it sounds good, but when did I choose this? Oh well, all's well that ends well, and this book certainly does!


The book in question, of course, is Erica Bauermeister's debut novel The School of Essential Ingredients. Lillian recognizes from an early age that food is powerful. For Lillian, flavors can heal, spices can seduce, and even an ordinary apple can be magical for someone who eats it at just the right moment. During a monthly cooking class at her restaurant, Lillian sets out to show that cooking is much more than simply following directions in a recipe and eating is much more than a practical action to stave off hunger. As her students come from their seperate walks of life, each of their personal stories is illuminated and each of their lives is impacted by lessons they learn under Lillian's perceptive tutelage, lessons that extend far beyond how to bake a good cake or prepare Thanksgiving dinner. Slowly but surely, Lillian's students come to discover the power of a good meal to bring people together, to heal past hurts, and to alter the course of current struggles.

She saw that cookies that were soft and warm satisfied a different human need than those that were crisp and cooled. The more she cooked, the more she began to view spices as carriers of the emotions and memories of the places they were originally from and all those they had traveled through over the years. She discovered that people seemed to react to spices much as they did to other people, relaxing instinctively into some, shivering into a kind of emotional rigor mortis when encountering others.

The School of Essential Ingredients is a briliant blend of the obvious and the subtle just like the flavors that change the lives of Bauermeister's characters. Bauermeister's writing is a rare and sensual treat as her writing brings scents, flavors, and textures to life right alongside the poignantly rendered moments in the lives of each of the characters. Each of the students is fleshed out and all are having experiences that it is easy for the reader to relate to their own life. Their stories are both sweet and sad, but above all, genuine. Bauermeister's debut is a delicious story about food, about love, and about life that left me totally satisfied, even as I wiped a tear or two from my eye.

The frosting was a thick buttercream, rich as a satin dress laid against the firm, fragile texture of the cake. With each bite, the cake melted first, then the frosting, one after another, like lovers tumbling into bed.



That's two for two on books making me cry in 2009 which is actually a highly unusual event. And I should have written this review right after I finished the book instead of now when the afterglow has worn off in the face of a week of hard work - then maybe it would not be so feeble - though it is admirably concise, for me. *sigh* I loved this book a lot more than it seems like from the review, mmkay?

The School of Essential Ingredients will be available where books are sold on January 22, 2009. And have I mentioned that it was really, really good?

Read other reviews at:

Worducopia
A Reader's Respite
Books and Cooks