readingroom

Lots of reading going on around here. But not much writing about it, unfortunately.

Rita loaned me American Pastoral (1997) some weeks ago. And I read and read on it until it was done. It was not fun. The story was slightly of interest. It’s about a Jewish man who was nicknamed Swede because that’s what he looked like, and he was a perfect athlete and man. The narrator is Zuckerman from the other two books by Roth in this trilogy.

Since I’d not read Roth, mainly because I read his former lover’s memoir which painted him none too nicely, I felt as though I should. Rita conferred with a friend and together they agreed that American Pastoral was what I should read.

Once Zuckerman removed himself from the narration, I enjoyed the plot. The characters were unusual. But mostly I didn’t appreciate Roth’s style. Or was it Zuckerman’s? Too wordy, too much going on. Too many constant questions. Oh how I wished the story could unfold without so much else going on.

So it’s about Swede and his wife and daughter. Swede and wife create a perfect home for their daughter, but she grows up influenced by the radical sixties and bombs a post office and kills one man. Then she is underground for many years. Great slice of Americana, but I prefer a different piemaker.

Always like Rebecca Walker’s books, but Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After A Lifetime of Ambivalence (2007) disappointed, slightly. It’s about the year before she gives birth to her son. The reader accompanies her on her journey through motherhood and we sit on at appointments with doctors, midwives, doulas, etc. Something in the title or book flap caused me to think that Walker’s decision (actually, accident, as I recall) contained a lot of ambivalence. And that’s what I expected in the book: Lots of flip-flopping around with do I or don’t I want to become a mother. But from the start, Walker states that she’s always been a mother. Also from the book was something about how she thinks that motherhood is the most important thing for women to do. But why? I wanted more reasons. More examples. Parts I liked best were how raw Walker’s relationship with her mother was and how much a feminist her partner, and the baby’s father, was. He pointed out all the times when the baby industry and hospitals are pro-mother and anti-father.

Though dated, Last Harvest: The Genetic Gamble That Threatens to Destroy American Agriculture (1995) remains an excellent introduction to all the issues surrounding the commercialization of farming and genetic modification of seeds. I wanted to read about seed banks. And there were several good pages containing historical information about the development of seed banks. What fascinated me was the idea of these Indiana Jones-like biologists out in the wild adventuring for exotic germplasms.

Since I like reading about women, but not so much war, I picked up Women of Valor: The Romchabelles on the WWII Front (2006) from my public library. The Rochambelles were a group of women ambulance drivers who worked in combat zones to transport wounded French (and other soldiers fighting with the Resistance) soldiers to hospitals. Great bunch of history in the book, but keeping all the Rochambelles clearly identified in my mind was impossible. And for that reason, reading this otherwise excellently written and researched book, was a bit of a drag. I couldn’t get excited about it.

Then the last thing I read, that I finished up last night, was Horse People: Scenes From the Riding Life (2003) interest me lately because I take riding lessons. Naturally after my first lesson I went to the bookstore, grabbed four or five promising titles from the shelves, sat, and read each one briefly to determine which I had to take home. Horse People won. Its contents focus almost exclusively on English-style writing, dressage, and horse events.

However, there’s a fair amount of history, psychology, and culture to do with horses, and that’s what I liked best about it. Korda writes about his experiences riding for 30 or 40 years. Then he and his second wife buy land, build a barn, and install six horses inside. I liked reading about Korda and his wife’s relationship with the horses. Also loved reading about the horse’s personalities. One of Margaret’s horses liked drinking Dr. Pepper’s from a can.

The book is criticized at Amazon by reviewers who say that there’s too much about Margaret and her events. Or, there’s too much about his fancy horsey friends. Since it was all new to me, I liked every bit of it. I’ve never foxhunted, but reading about one was interesting. And learning about foxhunters lifestyles was intriguing as well.

And despite there being very little about Western-style riding, which is what I’m learning, I found that horses are horses are horses. Surely there are differences between those horses, but the only one I found had to do with the way humans ride them. It came down to bits and differences in saddles.

I’ve requested several other horse-related books from my public library, including two by Jane Smiley. I sense an obsession in the making, but I’ve also got a half dozen books about birds awaiting my attention at home, too. Birdwatching, it seems, has sucked me in.

Somehow I quite forgot to mention (or in my annual list) another book I read a few weeks ago. To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession (2006). I bought it in Seattle and started reading it in March. Written by the son, it’s about his father who traveled the world to see around 7,000 birds. Lots of good history in the book, great cultural and historical context, plus birds, too. What else could you want?