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034) Brighter and Brighter until the Perfect Day by Sharlee Mullins Glenn, finished April 27
It's a funny thing to read a book so quickly to remember all its typos (a misturned apostrophe and, hilariously, a 0 instead of a -, a simple misplaced finger suddenly creating, in the acknowledgements a chapter 107 of Moses.
But those are obviously minor things. Especially when we are speaking of a new epic poem covering much the same ground as Paradises both Lost and Regained in a fraction of the space. And it's a deeply Latter-day Saint rendering. For the endowed reader, it will be impossible to read without constant internal crossreferencing.
Largely, I think it is successful as a story, as a work of verse, and as a work of speculative theology. Some commonly proposed solutions to uncertain identity (eg, what if the heavenly Mother is the Holy Ghost?) are part of this story; the most talked-about aspect of the book (or, for me at least, the most heard-about aspect) is its feminism. Specifically that Elohim is plural (as, you know, it is), interpreted as the Gods male and female both (which, in my [unaskedfor] opinion, is proper interpretation), and that more premortal characters beside Michael (viz., including women) are given names and responsibilities.
All that is great, but it also leads into my sole problem with this book. I've no issue with any of the speculation—I don't agree with it all equally but it's all valid and reasonable and exciting and decidedly noncrazy—but I do take issue with one character: Ora.
Ora is one of the more advanced premortal spirits. It's not stated so, but I get the sense she was probably #3 behind Jehovah and Lucifer. And she independently comes up with the concept of the Holy Ghost and offers to do it herself before the Parents reveal that Mother will lay down her body for a time to play this role herself. I found this aspect interesting but unsettling. But then Ora is foreordained to be the prophet to restore knowledge of Heavenly Mother in the latter days. This of itself is fine but it was impossible not to read this without considering the possibility that the author of the text, the inventor of Ora, was setting herself up as Ora. Now, given what I know of Sharlee Mullins Glenn (incidentally, I read another fine book of hers about a week ago), I think a better reading would be an impassioned plea for this prophet's arrival, but there's something about Ora's presentation that really feels like a lot of arrows pointing straight back at themselves. I found it kinda weird and offputting. But, as I said, otherwise, in my opinion, this poem is excellent, perhaps even vital. Poe said a poem can only be a good poem if read in one sitting. I read this in two with a break of perhaps two hours inbetween and I was still able to experience the "totality, or unity, of effect" that Brighter and Brighter has to offer. Her wielding of blank verse is wonderfully adept and, in short, this poem must by any reasonable standard be considered a great success.
Props also to the BCC Press team for a lovely book. The cover art by J. Kirk Richards and interior illos by Sara Forbush support the text wonderfully.
This is a slender volume and, I think, approachable. Not that I'm expecting it to be a blank-verse bestseller or anything, but I suspect anyone who might give it a shot will find their way in and be able to have an experience.
Let them who have ears to hear, etc etc.
Anyway, I liked it.
one day for the pre-stuff and one for the epic itself
035) Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett, finished May 3
This was kind of a strange experience. About a 130 pages in or something I started to think maybe I'd read it before. In terms of theme and character and plot, it shares much with other Discworld novels, particularly the Tiffany Aching books. One might see this as a rough draft of what he'd pull off later. And while much of the book was new to me, I couldn't be sure I hadn't read it. I've been reading Pratchett since 2002 and only logging what I read since 2007, so I suppose it's possible I did read it in that window (though I don't think so). I kind of hope so because it's evidence that I can reread books and enjoy them afresh which is something I often cannot do.
Anyway, Margrat is getting married, the elves are seeking entrance, the other witches won't allow for it, and some wizards are coming to town.
Does this sound like something you have read before?
Yes or no, it's delightful.
months
036) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, finished May 5
Technically I missed most of act iv scene ii which is a long and important one when I was called out on union business, but I'm claiming it anyway. Even if I never got to be with a student as they read Caesar's ghost.
over a week
037) Equus by Peter Shaffer
This is one of the most famous plays of the 20th century. Besides Shakespeare and Shaw, I find free copies of Equus more than any other play by any other writer. But all I really know about it is is involves violence to horses and an opportunity for a young actor trying to prove his seriousness an opportunity to get naked onstage. Given those two facts I'd always nervously assumed this was a play about bestiality. Not so. I mean, what does happen ain't great, but it also ain't bestiality. If you call that a win, call that a win.
The play is deliberately unrealistic, with the cast sitting in a circle around the stage, standing and joining the action when called for and sitting back down to observe when not. The horses are actors on stilts and wearing wire horse heads which they put on ritualistically when the time comes to play horses.
The film is deeply religious in the sense that it is about a deeply religious character and how that form of religion may or can or may not or cannot fit into the modern world. It's about the many failed ways we have to interact with one another in this life we're building. From psychiatry to pornography. We need a bit more self-reflection.
So it's an impressive bit of writing. Makes me want to watch and see more Shaffer. Perhaps I should start with Amadeus. It's easily accessible.
maybe three weeks
038) Travesties by Tom Stoppard, finished May 8
Having just read The Importance of Being Earnest and then learning Stoppard had written a play that played on that play, I knew I had to read it. I love or at least admire all the Stoppard I read and this one, recreating Earnest in WWI-era Zurich and starring folks who were actually there (Lenin! Joyce! Tzara!), well it sounded delightful. (And the intro in which Stoppard tells us that the other real person in the play, an obscure figure he could learn nearly nothing about, had a wife who sent him a letter after the play's premiere, is wonderful.)
I guess it was.
I imagine it's better on stage, but it's hard to see on the page how this would even work. Or even how many of the jokes a person can get if they haven't just watched an Earnest or were reasonably up on the Lenin/Joyce/Tzara. This is a play for overeducated people and the best way to enjoy it would be in a room filled with them.
So it's okay.
perhaps a week
039) The Art of Intimacy: The Space Between by Stacey D'Erasmo, finished May 10
Back to reading something from this The Art of series. I wasn't instantly enamored of it, but her method of discussing books I haven't (with two exceptions) read ended up working for me by the end. She has a keen observational sense and he plucks apart the magic of what books do, how they create intimacy between writer and reader, how they discern all kinds of possible intimacies between characters.
Ultimately, I think it is not as accessible as others in the series—and more a work of criticism than a piece of instruction—but ultimately a fascinating work that pushed the edges of my thinking.
under a week
040) A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt, finished May 16
Two tangents.
I said above that Equus is the most-found non-Shakes/Shaw play. Probably. It might be this one. (Or Death of a Salesman. Or are we counting multiple Ibsens in a single volume?)
I only took one class from him, but Royal Skousen is a brilliant and decent person I'm glad I got to know, however slightly. But one thing he said which makes me roll my eyes to this day is that he does not like movies; they are an inferior artform; they are not worth his time. But the film A Man for All Seasons, the last movie he had seen (almost 40 years old at that point and, iIrc, the only film he had a firm memory of), was a masterpiece, a work of genius, one of the most important achievements in human artistry. I've never understood how, even given the small sample size, a 100% genius rate leads to an it's-all-crap conclusion.
It occurs to me now that perhaps he was curious if any of us would call him on it.
Royal Skousen is not the kind of person you call things on.
Anyway, the play is a terrific read. Easily the most entertaining of the three in this set. The characters are written such that instantly you know them. More is a wily man but a good man, trapped in an impossible situation given he has actual intergrity. Rich is a tragic fool. Cromwell is Iago-like in his villainy. And Henry is a coward as proven by his disappearance from events.
In a world with no integrity, putting this story before people must count as holy rebellion.
Anyway. Long live the king.
a week
earlier this year..........
Bro! Tell me we still know how to speak of kings!
001) Beowulf translated by Maria Dahvana Headley, finished January 1
002) Cthulhu Is Hard to Spell: Volume Three, finished January 1
003) Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (translated by Megan McDowell), finished January 8
004) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris, finished January 11
005) You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown, finished January 12
005) Into the Headwinds: Why Belief Has Always Been Hard—and Still Is by Terryl Givens and Nathaniel Givens, finished January 24
006) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters: Book Two by Emil Ferris, finished January 25
Maybe we should just pretend this set begins and ends with Wednesday Addams
007) Chas. Addams Half-Baked Cookbook, finished January 29
008) Monica by Daniel Clowes, finished February 3
009) The Unexpurgated French Edition of Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland, finished February 19
010) Peach and the Isle of Monsters by Franco Aureliani and Agnes Garbowska, finished February 20
011) Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, finished February 28
012) Comic Poems edited by Peter Washington, finished March 7
Love, Beauty, and a complete lack of sasquatch
013) Love that Dog by Sharon Creech, finished March 11
014) Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper, finished March 21
015) Antelope Spring by John Bennion, finished March 24
016) Shelley Frankenstein by Colleen Madden, finished March 28
017) Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #21: Double Take, finished April 5
018) The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clark, finshed April 8
019) Rave by Jessica Campbell, finished April 13
020) The Creeps: A Deep Dark Fears Collection by Fran Krause, finished April 14
Do not ask what she does with the babies.
027) Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, finished April 21
028) Somna: A Bedtime Story by Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay, finished April 23
029) Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu, finished April 24
030&031) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, finished April 25
032) Raised by Ghosts by Briana Loewinsohn, finished April 26
033) Ephemera by Briana Loewinsohn, finished April 26
PREVIOUS OTHER YEARS IN BOOKS
2007 = 2008 = 2009 = 2010 = 2011 = 2012 = 2013 = 2014 = 2015
2016 = 2017 = 2018 = 2019 = 2020 = 2021 = 2022 = 2023 = 2024
