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Jun. 24th, 2008 09:47 amI picked up Jamaica Kincaid's At the Bottom of the River at a book-stall in NY, after flipping through it and realizing that the first short story was Girl, which I have read in several short-story classes and been extremely impressed by every time.
'Book of short stories', it turns out, is kind of a deceptive term; the very untraditional 'Girl' is probably the most traditional of the lot, and the rest veer consistently more in the direction of prose poetry. They are complicated, disorienting and dense with imagery. It is very easy just to follow the words and lose track of the themes underneath if you're not careful. My favorite after "Girl" was probably "My Mother", which draws one of the most fascinating and honest portraits of mother-daughter relationships that I have ever read.
It does not feel quite right to add in the Georgette Heyer which I read yesterday to the At the Bottom of the River booklogging post, just because the two are such utter opposites in, um, everything, but in interests of not clogging up people's flists I will anyways. Sprig Muslin is another one of those Heyer books that, while consistently described as a romance, probably should not be so, because it is most interested in turning romantic convention on its head and then pointing and laughing at it (in a good-natured way). A good-looking and eligible bachelor who lost his True Love in a Tragic Accident long ago decides it's his duty to wed, and therefore he ought to propose to his quiet spinster friend with whom he can live in amiable amity for the rest of his days. Along the way, however, he encounters a Spirited Seventeen-year-old who has run away from home and decided to become someone's governess, or possibly chambermaid, or dairymaid if all else fails. Our Hero decides that it is his responsibility to get her home safely. Hijinks, obviously, ensue, but since this is Heyer, it's not really a spoiler to say that they are not the kind that the reader - and all the other characters, who also know how this storyline works - would expect. Heyer loves subverting appearances and expectations, and the result is generally hilarity.
( My favorite thing about the book is a spoiler, though, so I cut! )
Today I go to the awesome local library! I have made Library Rules for myself to prevent myself falling into reading ruts. Expect many moar booklogging posts. You are forewarned.
'Book of short stories', it turns out, is kind of a deceptive term; the very untraditional 'Girl' is probably the most traditional of the lot, and the rest veer consistently more in the direction of prose poetry. They are complicated, disorienting and dense with imagery. It is very easy just to follow the words and lose track of the themes underneath if you're not careful. My favorite after "Girl" was probably "My Mother", which draws one of the most fascinating and honest portraits of mother-daughter relationships that I have ever read.
It does not feel quite right to add in the Georgette Heyer which I read yesterday to the At the Bottom of the River booklogging post, just because the two are such utter opposites in, um, everything, but in interests of not clogging up people's flists I will anyways. Sprig Muslin is another one of those Heyer books that, while consistently described as a romance, probably should not be so, because it is most interested in turning romantic convention on its head and then pointing and laughing at it (in a good-natured way). A good-looking and eligible bachelor who lost his True Love in a Tragic Accident long ago decides it's his duty to wed, and therefore he ought to propose to his quiet spinster friend with whom he can live in amiable amity for the rest of his days. Along the way, however, he encounters a Spirited Seventeen-year-old who has run away from home and decided to become someone's governess, or possibly chambermaid, or dairymaid if all else fails. Our Hero decides that it is his responsibility to get her home safely. Hijinks, obviously, ensue, but since this is Heyer, it's not really a spoiler to say that they are not the kind that the reader - and all the other characters, who also know how this storyline works - would expect. Heyer loves subverting appearances and expectations, and the result is generally hilarity.
( My favorite thing about the book is a spoiler, though, so I cut! )Today I go to the awesome local library! I have made Library Rules for myself to prevent myself falling into reading ruts. Expect many moar booklogging posts. You are forewarned.
