"The rich are different from you and me."

I read Caitlin Macy's FUNDAMENTALS OF PLAY shortly after it came out in 2000 and have always remembered liking it. It's Macy's first, and as far as I can tell, only novel, which is somewhat surprising since I found her writing style to be smooth and very polished. George Lenhart is the book's narrator and his jaundiced views of his "set's" manners, relationships, careers and obsessions are well worth reading. One such obsession of this group of wealthy and not so wealthy (but still painfully class-aware) twenty-somethings is Kate Goodenow and who she will marry. As these former Ivy Leaguers begin making their way in New York in the early 80's, they sense the changing world, some more acutely than others. George, always the intelligently aware narrator says "we were the last generation of the century to come of age, and the first one that wanted to be as much like our parents' as possible. We ought to have started a revolution; instead we brought cocktail shakers." I have read people dismiss this novel as Gatsby-lite, and while there are hints of Fitzgerald as well as John O'Hara (mentioned earlier in this blog), I think Macy has a definite and unique take on these characters at a particular time and place in America.

When you don't know what to read

The library has several excellent titles that give suggestions on authors and novels that are worth reading. Some of these books are aimed at book discussion groups and others at individuals interested in broadening their reading horizons. One title I've looked at more than once is THE NEW LIFETIME READING PLAN by Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major. It's divided into five sections. The first section deals with authors such as Homer and Virgil and the following sections trace important literary works from that time until the 20th century, the fifth section featuring Edith Wharton, E.M. Forster, Ernest Hemingway and Saul Bellow. Each entry puts the featured author into his or her historical and literary context and explains why the suggested title is important in world literature. The book describes itself as a "lifetime plan" and is certainly helpful if that's what the reader wants, but it can also be dipped into for one or two suggestions. Another similar title is THE WELL-EDUCATED MIND: A GUIDE TO THE CLASSIC EDUCATION YOU NEVER HAD by S. Wise Bauer. Although the suggestions in these books aren't exactly beach reading, they are fun to look through to see what classics you might be interested in.

Zany summer read

The inside flap of James Conrad's MAKING LOVE TO THE MINOR POETS OF CHICAGO says it's "a novel of love, ambition, poetry, and nuclear waste," and that pretty much sums it up. The government has hired an artist, a botanist, and an architect to design a warning for future generations of the nuclear waste to be stored deep in the Yucca mountains in Nevada, but an influential Chicago poet insists that the project include an epic poem. Of course, the poet envisions herself as the author of this epic poem. As she schemes to make this happen, a fairly large cast of minor poets are introduced, each with their own ambitions, attractions and plans. Watching just how far academics and literary types will go towards achieving their ambitions is what makes this novel fun. Some of the plot is unrealistic but the characters are genuinely interesting and the book moves quickly as the differing subplots come together. It's a fun crazy summer read and author Dale Peck calls it "the ultimate love story of the nuclear age."

Political fiction, Part I

In honor of the upcoming presidential elections, I thought I'd remind people of some of the great political novels the library has. As I was looking for titles to highlight, one novel kept coming up over and over: ADVISE AND CONSENT by Allen Drury. Written in 1959, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the next year and has been called one of the greatest novels about politics in Washington D.C. ever written. It tells the story of a U.S. president naming a new Secretary of State to deal with the U.S.S.R. and the nomination process that follows. As the hearings proceed, the reader has an insider's view of D.C. It's a definite page-turner.

The library also has the movie version on dvd. It's directed by Otto Preminger and has an all-star cast, including Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton and Gene Tierney.

Have you read Kent Haruf?

Kent Haruf describes PLAINSONG as "any simple and unadorned melody or air" and this perfectly describes his wonderful novel. It's set in Holt, Colorado, a small town on the High Plains east of Denver. As the book opens, the reader is introduced to half a dozen characters, each dealing with different issues: Tom Guthrie's wife is seriously depressed and won't leave her bed; their sons Ike and Bobby wonder what will happen to their family; high school student Victoria Roubideaux is struggling with an unplanned pregnancy; the older bachelor brothers Harold and Raymond McPheron are ranching, unaware of the changes soon to come; and Maggie Jones will soon bring these disparate characters together. The story is fascinating in the way the unique landscape influences the characters and how they interact and Haruf's writing style also matches the setting -- sparse and lean, reminiscent of Hemingway.
Many of the characters in Plainsong are reintroduced in EVENTIDE. Haruf is definitely an author to savor.