"the odyssey" by homer, translated by robert fagles

this was actually really good.  perhaps it's the translation, perhaps it's because i've been reading a lot of heavy academic shit, but i quite enjoyed this novel.

odysseus has fought for ten years in the trojan war and is now on his way home.  however, before he can get there, he is held captive by the lovely nymph, calypso, has to fight the cyclops, get past the beautiful and deadly sirens, travel to the underworld to speak with a dead prophet, outwit the monsters charybdis and scylla and a whole host of other seemingly impossible tasks that make my schoolwork seem like paint-by-numbers.

i was dreading this book, but it turned out to be a lot more accessible than i thought.  i could actually follow the story and with the one undergrad course i took in greek mythology, found myself recognizing characters and situations.

i may feel differently about this story after i spend the next two weeks reading about the penelopian aesthetics so i can deliver a seminar on gendered readings of this text, but as a pure piece of entertainment, it was worth the time spent reading.

"whale music" by paul quarrington

strangely enough, this classic of canadian lit is out of print and my library did not have it. i had to get it on an inter-library loan all the way from medicine hat.

"whale music" is the story of desmond howl. once a hugely successful musician, des now wears little more than a bathrobe and spends his time in a california mansion reminiscing about the glory days while composing the titular opus.

this is classic paul quarrington. funny, seamless transitions from present to past, fully realized wonderfully human characters... mr.quarrington may be my new literary boyfriend.

"pride and prejudice" by jane austen

this classic of english literature concerns itself with the bennet family. the matriarch, mrs. bennet spends the whole novel attempting to get her five daughters (from eldest to youngest), jane, elizabeth, mary, kitty and lydia, hitched. the two eldest are the primary concern and most of the storyline centers on them and the two gentlemen whom they are interested in, mr.bingley and mr.darcy respectively.

in standard 19th century lit form, nothing very exciting happens. there's a lot of gossip and parties and dinners and long walks but no car chases, sex, duels or deaths. things were simpler and more dramatic in those days. also, it's perfectly acceptable to marry your cousin.

this book is widely considered to be the prototype for the romantic comedy. while there definitely were moments where i smiled, i couldn't always tell whether certain situations and characters were meant to be funny or if i was just interpreting them that way.

this book successfully fulfilled my quota for a classic for this year. 

"the ravine" by paul quarrington

poor phil mcquigge. once a successful television writer and producer, he now spends his time drunk-dialling and writing an autobiographical novel. his wife is leaving him, he can't connect to his daughters and he feels guilt over the mysterious death of his former show's star. he narrows his life's misery down to a childhood incident in the titular ravine and embarks on figuring out the missing pieces of the event.

paul quarrington is incredible. his writing is effortless, flowing seamlessly from past to present. he has an uncanny ability for dialogue, directly transporting his readers to a specific time and place. the aspect of meta-fiction is also interesting as quarrington is writing about a writer who is writing a book.

a great and quick read. definitely recommended.

"when you are engulfed in flames" by david sedaris

when i discovered david sedaris a few years ago, i was almost livid that no one had introduced me to his work before. here was a writer i wanted to be; how easy, i thought, to simply write funny moments from your life, turning them into stories that are as enjoyable as they are intelligent. i attempted to write my own personal anecdotes, but i never came close to sedaris' brilliance and realized that he has a superhuman talent for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

his newest collection of essays suggest a wiser and more mature sedaris. he's settled down, stopped smoking and recalls his days of drinking and drugging rather than living them. while his sardonic wit and wonderful observations are in tact, i found myself not often laughing out loud or smiling as i had when reading his other books. as i sped through this book in a few days, there's no question it's immensely readable, hilarious and entertaining, but perhaps this older sedaris is mellowing out, preferring subtleness to extravagance. and i'm ok with that.

"the glass castle" by jeannette walls

"the glass castle" is another one of those jaw-dropping hard-to-believe-it's-true memoirs. however, it's compelling and moving and well-written and easy to read.

jeannette walls' childhood involved getting severely burnt at the age of 4 when cooking hot dogs for herself, making her own braces, colouring her legs with markers in an attempt to hide the holes in her pants, sewing a gash in her father's arm with needle and thread, eating food found in trash cans at school and sleeping in a cardboard box. to say her parents were laissez-faire would be an understatement; the walls' believing in self-sufficiency and learning from your mistakes. often full of tales of neglect and abuse, jeannette never plays the victim and the story comes off as a unique and entertaining memoir overflowing with life lessons and truths.

"water for elephants" by sara gruen

this book had a quote comparing it to john irving on the front. if that's not a prelude to disappointment, i don't know what is.

90something jacob jankowski recalls his days as a vetrinarian in a circus during depression-era america. he makes good friends, mortal enemies and falls in love with the star of the equestrian act, marlena, and a polish-understanding elephant, rosie.

the story took me a while to get in to, but i commend gruen for the painstaking research she evidently required to realistically portray not only the 1930's, but a travelling circus in the 1930's.