Literature?

If you know me at all, you know that the best part of being retired is that I don't feel guilty staying up all night reading. When I was working, reading until 3 AM, then getting up at 5:20 AM to go to work made for some long days.  Now, though, I can sleep in or nap if I have a really good book. I don't have a broad range of books that I like: when I go to the library once a week, I look for science fiction first, then mysteries, nonfiction about math or science, maybe an interesting biography. Another major category for me is books about words: their origins  ("happy as a clam?"), grammar concerns like 'who' vs. 'that' (if the pet has a name, we say, "Morris is a cat who knows what he likes," but otherwise, "There's the dog that catches frisbees"), and books on how to write (they help with the graduation speeches).    

I do not, by and large, however, choose books that might be called "literature."Much of that stems from reading lists in high school and college that attempted to force me to read books that were considered "literature".  Ten pages of Les Miserables was enough to cause bad dreams even now, Hugh Jackman notwithstanding.   

I have changed recently, however, with the purchase of a small kindle ebook entitled "Start Here  - Read Your Way into 25 Amazing Authors"  by Jeff O'Neal and Rebecca Schinsky. These editors have found people in the book world who have a manageable passion for a certain author. Nicole Perrin, for example, is an editor, reader, and a blogger at Bibliographing. In "Start Here", she writes about what are the three best books to choose to start reading Herman Melville. The "Start Here" idea is that these experts will give you a place to begin to understand what the author is trying to say. That way, you won't start with Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Start with some essays  to see what he is about - "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again',  then move up to short stories - "Girl With Curious Hair", before tackling the 1079 pages of Infinite Jest.   

The twenty-five authors are a very eclectic group, so it is fun to read across several genres. Although most are currently writing, there are a few oldies: Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe are included, but for the most part the writers are current. So I decided to try literature again with the help of "Start Here". And so far, I feel like they have made good choices for me. On my most recent trip to the library, after picking up a Raymond Feist three book sword and sorcery series which was excellent, and a new Robin Hobb book I have been looking forward to, I went over to the regular fiction section. I had decided on three authors to begin with and because of the small size of our library, was prepared to have to take the second book on the list if the first one was not available.    

First up was Sherman Alexie. Alexie writes about the Wellpinit Reservation of Indians in Washington State where he grew up. My small library did not have in stock The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (although they will order it), so I went with the second choice Reservation Blues from 1995. It is the story of the short life of the Coyote Springs rock and roll band. Funny at times, very depressing at times. The novel can be hard to follow as he dips in and out of dreams with the characters. I did enjoy it enough that I am planning to go on to the other novels listed in the book.   

The second author I chose was Margaret Atwood, a Canadian author highly decorated as a poet, story writer, and critic. The starting novel was The Handmaid's Tale, written in 1985. This dystopian novel shows you a community where women's rights have been suppressed severely. In many ways, the novel foretells some of the antics of the past election where various congressman spoke out about things they knew nothing about: Todd Akins, Missouri - "Victims of legitimate rape rarely get pregnant, so maybe the pregnant women were not legitimately raped,"  along with many other knucklehead opinions that have no basis in fact or science. As recently as this week, Senator Chambliss, of Georgia, addressing top military officials about the incredibly large number of sexual harassment incidents in the armed forces, said: "The young folks that are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22-23. Gee whiz -- the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur." Luckily,  Rep. Mike Turner, co-chairman of the military sexual assault prevention caucus, issued a statement saying criminals, not hormones, cause sexual assaults. But that attitude, that women are partly to blame for rapes, and it's just boys being boys, permeates the culture of old white men, particularly in the South. The number of bizarre laws coming out of South Carolina and Mississippi curtailing women's reproductive rights is incredibly scary. I have not finished The Handmaid's Tale yet, but so far it is well written, but pretty bleak.    

My third foray into respectable literature is the author Cormac McCarthy. The starting book suggested to get into McCarthy is All the Pretty Horses, written in 1992. I have not started this one yet. I am hoping it is not as violent as No Country for Old Men, which is second on the list. After that, I have Bernard Malamud to look at, Richard Russo and Alice Munro, Italo Calvino and Zora Neale Hurston. I hope to get to Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami which is in the "Start Here" book and was on Mike's top ten books list on Marshmallow Fight.

I am excited to be reading these books and hope that they give me a wider perspective on life in general. As long as I can find a Philip K. Dick or Ray Bradbury story to read along with them, I'm happy.