Tag: Controversy

Books

Book 270: Who Murdered Chaucer? – Jones, Yeager, Dolan, Fletcher & Dor

Geoff W

Jones, Terry - Who Murdered ChaucerI know I say this often, but what a fascinating read, but what’s most exciting is that this is a work of nonfiction. I don’t generally read a lot of nonfiction, but after reading about this on a site ages ago (at least a year ago) and having just finished A Burnable Book, I knew this was a great time to read it. Needless to say I absolutely plan on finding a full biography of Chaucer.

Who Murdered Chaucer? focuses on the last 20(ish) years of Chaucer’s life, but more so on the political climate, which is vital to interpreting Chaucer’s writings and why so few survived, I found. And come on, the man lived 150 years before and is considered the father of English poetry, why does Shakespeare get all the credit? I mean sure Shakespeare wrote A LOT, but just this next paragraph should make you want to learn more about Geoffrey Chaucer.

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Books, Quotes, The Classics Club

Book 138: Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak

Geoff W

Doctor Zhivago counts for three challenges, and actually wraps up one of my 2012 Challenges! It counts for the Back to the Classics Challenge (6 of 9), The Classics Club (12 of 100), and is my final book for the Tea and Books (8 of 8) challenge! I will do a wrap up post for the Tea and Books challenge early next week. For the Back to the Classics Challenge, this book was the novel from a place I realistically wouldn’t visit. After reading Doctor Zhivago and Anna Karenina I can say my aversion to visiting Russia is less, but I still would list it as not likely to travel to.

One thing I’ve learned that is vitally important when reading a classic novel is that you have to read the introduction. Sure it might tack on 20-30 extra pages, but they are there for a reason and they reveal so much information that is incredibly useful when reading a book, not to mention they give you a head’s up of what to look for as you read. For example, in the introduction to Doctor Zhivago, the following quote points out how the novel is written.

“Pasternak’s vision is defined by real presence, by an intensity of physical sensation rendered in the abundance of natural description or translated into the voices of his many characters.” (loc. 146)

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Books

Book 7: A Million Little Pieces – James Frey

Geoff W

This novel/memoir completely surprised me. I knew of the controversy, but managed to avoid knowing anything else about the novel. Regardless of whether this novel/memoir is falsified or true (Frey has admitted that it was embellished), I think more people should read it. I thought James Frey provided an interesting and intimate look into the life of an addict, whether it was fabricated or not, I still think it was a beautiful story. His writing style took a while to get used to, but over-all it didn’t take anything away from the story.

What I thought was most beautiful about the novel/memoir was the way he wrote about eyes. His struggle to look himself in the eye and the eventual passing of the struggle provided specific instances of improvement, or not, in his struggle to kick his habits. The way Frey described other people’s eyes was both beautiful and eerie. You never learn the name of his ‘first love,’ but you know her as ‘Arctic Eyes’ and that image stays with you throughout the entire book. He talks about the truth in people’s eyes and the darkness and depth in others and I just thought it was incredibly beautiful and insightful.

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