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Books No. 39-40
Jul. 20th, 2017 11:48 amBook No. 39 was "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton. I'd read her novella "Ethan Frome" in college but nothing else by Wharton, though I've seen both this novel and "House of Mirth" as movie adaptations. Wharton received the Pulitzer Prize for this, and was the first woman to win the prize. I'm not sure it's worth *that* much praise, but I did enjoy Wharton's writing. The love triangle structure of the story is not new or innovative, but writing from 1918-1919 about the 1870s, you can tell she did meticulous research on the dress, social life, food, etc. of that period in New York City. The story follows Newland Archer who is engaged to marry May, a woman from a respectable NY family, when he falls in love with May's bohemian cousin, The Countess Ellen Olenska. Archer is very concerned with "form" and what society thinks of things, and yet he feels stifled by a conventional life and fears that his life with May will contain no surprises or adventures. "Society" becomes almost a character in the book as it passes judgements on the actions, good and bad, of many people in the book. If you're looking for a book with lots of action or sex, this will not fit the bill. But if you like stories that delve deep into characters and their motivations and writing that can convey whole conversations in one glance, this will be up your alley. I need to re-watch the movie (where I think Michelle Pfieffer is terribly miscast at the countess) and may need to read more by Wharton, probably "House of Mirth."
Book No. 40 was "What's That Pig Outdoors?: A Memoir of Deafness" by Henry Kisor. Kisor illuminates a part of deaf/disabled history in the U.S. that I wasn't that familiar with, even though I've read other memoirs by disabled/deaf authors ("When the Phone Rings, My Bed Shakes" by Philip Zazove covers some similar territory). Kisor loses his hearing at age 3, and his parents are adamant about mainstreaming him. He learns lip-reading rather than sign language, and his parents do their darndest to make him feel like any other kid. He goes to mainstream schools and figures out accommodations for himself in college and later on the job as a copy editor at newspapers and magazines, well before the Americans with Disabilities Act. Kisor is a liberal, but he's NOT PC in his take on many things, from gender relations to disability rights to race. He is somewhat controversial in the deaf community and sometimes pegged as a deaf man who refuses to "accept" that he's deaf because he doesn't know sign and interacts mostly with the hearing community. I found this really fascinating because his life was so different from other deaf writers I've experienced and because he was involved in journalism for several decades. The book ends in the mid-90s and feels a bit dated by this point, but I still found it fascinating. It unfortunately leaves off before Kisor goes on to write detective/thriller novels, so I do wonder if the reissue from 2011 adds something about that part of his life. If you're interested in either the history of journalism or of deaf rights in America, you may enjoy this book. You've got to love that the title of this book comes from a Kisor family story that involves a fart joke!
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
Book No. 40 was "What's That Pig Outdoors?: A Memoir of Deafness" by Henry Kisor. Kisor illuminates a part of deaf/disabled history in the U.S. that I wasn't that familiar with, even though I've read other memoirs by disabled/deaf authors ("When the Phone Rings, My Bed Shakes" by Philip Zazove covers some similar territory). Kisor loses his hearing at age 3, and his parents are adamant about mainstreaming him. He learns lip-reading rather than sign language, and his parents do their darndest to make him feel like any other kid. He goes to mainstream schools and figures out accommodations for himself in college and later on the job as a copy editor at newspapers and magazines, well before the Americans with Disabilities Act. Kisor is a liberal, but he's NOT PC in his take on many things, from gender relations to disability rights to race. He is somewhat controversial in the deaf community and sometimes pegged as a deaf man who refuses to "accept" that he's deaf because he doesn't know sign and interacts mostly with the hearing community. I found this really fascinating because his life was so different from other deaf writers I've experienced and because he was involved in journalism for several decades. The book ends in the mid-90s and feels a bit dated by this point, but I still found it fascinating. It unfortunately leaves off before Kisor goes on to write detective/thriller novels, so I do wonder if the reissue from 2011 adds something about that part of his life. If you're interested in either the history of journalism or of deaf rights in America, you may enjoy this book. You've got to love that the title of this book comes from a Kisor family story that involves a fart joke!
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
