Day 19--19/501General Musings: Today I realized that my new phone that took four days to get working is not sending or receiving text messages properly--anyone want a broken Torch?
Some people have been asking me about a schedule for the books and I just want to explain why it has not been forthcoming. I have been scrambling to get enough books from the library due to availability of titles and the caprice of the hold system. I often don`t know what books I`ll be reading from week to week and only after I acquire books do I then adjust my daily reading to suit my life`s schedule. Reading three hundred pages a day is my typical reading project pace so a big book or little book can cause a schedule headache. There are several books on the list that far exceed daily norms and will need to planned months in advance--looking at you Proust (Remembrance of Things Past at 4000 pages). So far I have been faithful to my announced title from the day before.
Do you remember that my recent searches in the Calgary Public Library (CPL) led to some questions on how books were chosen and categorized--well today I have answers. There is a materials selection policy that guides the library through their purchasing choices. In terms of regular stock, the CPL uses (although not exclusively) Benet's Reader Encyclopedia, the Fiction Catalogue and the Oxford (American, Canadian, English) Companion[s] to Literature as their canon guides. The library also has a link for suggestions to the collection located here and on their main website's FAQ section.
The library also suggested the following books for me (why is it that when you tell someone you are reading a book they suggest another one and if you tell someone you are reading a list they suggest several more?):
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die edited by Peter Boxall (on my to-do list)
The Book of Great Books: a guide to 100 world classics by W. John Campbell
Good Fiction Guide: 4000 great books to read by Jane Rogers
Now that you know a bit more about how the CPL works I just want to reiterate my plea for books. The CPL only has a portion of the books on the 501 Must Read Books (buy the book here) list the rest I'm desperate to acquire through other means. If you have a copy of a book on the 501 book list please lend (lease or sell) it to me and I'll make quick work of it. As an incentive I'll give you props on the blog.
Running Page Count: 5,139
Today's Title (Modern Fiction): Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient
Preface: Ondaatje is a Sri Lankan-Canadian poet and novelist who won the Governor General`s Award along with the Booker prize for The English Patient. I was first introduced to Ondaatje's work when I knocked a book off of a shelf on the 10th story of the University of Calgary Library Tower. I picked up the book with the odd title There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do: Poems, 1963-1978 and found it to be the most approachable and interesting poetry I had ever read to that moment. I had read several books of Ondaatje`s poetry in the weeks before reading his book In the Skin of a Lion and was interested in what he could do with prose--I`ll never know since Ondaatje`s writing seems always to be a luxuriant verse. I was concurrently reading The Epic of Gilgamesh for a university class and found the title and theme to be serendipitous as my initial exposure to his writing. The English Patient is considered to be his greatest work. I once wrote him asking to option a poem for screen treatment but he hasn`t got back to me and I suspect he has bigger fish to fry.
The Book: The English Patient is a story about four people holed up in an Italian villa. There is a female nurse (Hanah), a Hungarian cartographer desert specialist (Almasy-he's actually the English patient--seriously), a thief sans thumbs (Caravaggio), and an Indian sapper (Kip). The narrative is non-linear and explores the lives of all four characters with an emphasis on the badly burned Englishman (I believe they would call him a crisp on the island) and his doomed romance with a married woman (Katherine).
There is romance at the villa with Kip and Hanah and in flashback with Almasy and Katherine, there is intrigue, betrayal, heartbreak, and a lot of desert geography. I don't want to spoil any of the plot (it is sad and romantic) but the story isn't in the plot points but in the telling.
Grade: A
Observations: Another great Canadian book--maybe Canada is the greatest country in the world after all. Ondaatje's writing is like honey and like any good treat you have to slow down to savor it. There is a great deal of eroticism and the exotic about it that really turns my crank. By the end of the novel you love the characters and the story although sublime it leaves you wanting much more.
Segues: The 1996 film The English Patient won nine Academy Awards including the Oscar for best picture. It was a commercial failure but a critical success--interesting piece of trivia: Demi Moore was originally cast as Hanah (shiver) but lost out to Juliette Binoche.
Ondaatje was involved in the filming and later wrote a book of his dialogues with the editor Walter Murc called (appropriately) The Conversations. The best book on film editing ever.
The character Elaine Benice from Seinfeld was not a big fan of the film and I have included two outtakes (the video is above) from the Seinfeld episode entitled The English Patient.
Elaine and Peterman are watching The English Patient:
Peterman: Elaine, I hope you're watching the clothes, because I can't take my eyes off the passion.
Elaine: (nearly in tears) No, I can't, I can't, it's too long. (to the screen) Quit telling your stupid story about the stupid desert and just die already! (louder) Die! (the crowd shushes her)
Peterman: Elaine, you don't like the movie?
Elaine: I hate it! (the crowd yells at her) Go to hell!
Peterman: Why didn't you say so in the first place? You're fired.
Elaine: Great. I'll wait for you outside.
Tomorrow`s Book (Modern Fiction): J. D. Salinger`s The Catcher in the Rye 20 of 501
