#10 "The Shipping News" by Anne Proulx

I must've taken a wrong turn in Albuquerque!

Both girls are taking their late morning naps, wife in the garage attempting to clear out space that was once allotted as a scrap booking room for her. Now it's just been a collection for plastic grocery bags, garage sale items, and other decorations that need to find a new place. As I look outside at a gloomy November day, a couple weeks away from Thanksgiving, our second favorite holiday, I am not happy looking at this 15 foot long mound of earth protruding out of what is now our front yard. We
had plumbing issues and now it looks like Bugs Bunny has burrowed through our yard. Anybody still remember those cartoons?

I won't take too much time writing my thoughts on this novel.



This is a story about a man named Quoyle and his journey from his abusive home living in New York to his new home in Newfoundland, Canada where he begins to rectify his life. In the company of his 2 teenage daughters and with the assistance of his aunt and a close friend he is hired on with a local newspaper in Killick-Claw to report on traffic accidents and, you guessed it, the shipping news while helping to repair his aunt's childhood home that's been abandoned for decades which will become their new house.


I won't lie, I had a dictionary and my iPhone handy for much of my reading. The main setting is on Newfoundlands' coastal regions and I am very unaware of nautical terminology and frankly the variety of words we have in our English language to describe basically the same stuff. She liked to compare one thing I've never heard of to another thing I've

Can you see the boat?

never heard of. It was infuriating! Anyone know what an Eskimo knife looks like? She compares a ship to an Eskimo knife in appearance. Instead of calling it a ship, its a skiff or the actual names of vessels that I've never heard of. Reading this reminded me of when I was reading a "An Army at Dawn" a WWII book. It was geared towards those that know an advanced working of military terminology. It wasn't fun having to look up words in every sentence. Forget about it!!



Boats!

Boat by iceberg

Besides my ignorance of the sea life I was very surprised with the style of Anne Proulx's writing. I was led to believe in correct sentence structure as the only mode of writing. In high school and college I was hounded by my teachers to correct my punctuation and run on sentences to the point when I had to write a paper in college I would avoid it at all costs. So reading "The Shipping News" I was surprised about the amount of incomplete sentences. Sometimes just one word sentences. Besides all these unfortunate surprises I trudged along and found the novel to be slightly entertaining. If it was boring I don't think I would have finished it but put it on hold for later in hopes that someone would buy it for me in audio form. Even with her unusual writing style I enjoyed many parts of it. Her abrupt sentence structure was a quick way to describe the environment these characters were a part of. For instance, I walk outside. Trees blowing. Limbs appear to be playing a tune. Sun hidden. Gloomy. This is somewhat of what it was like to read it but much more beautifully done.

A Skiff

I think this novel is on "The List" and that it won a Pulitzer Prize for Anne Proulx's creativeness in describing life's experiences, her unusual writing style, the amount of detail of the life of a Newfoundlander living by the sea, and the intriguing story of Quoyle's life. For some people this could be a great read but for me it was long. I gather that many great books have an element of educating the reader and this one certainly had that but it lacked character development. Dialogue, relationships, and the overall story were placed on the back burner to the description of other components in the novel. The life living on the cusp of the sea in Newfoundland. Although it was interesting at times I just hoped there was more about Quoyles transformation and his job working at the newspaper. There were a few times of possible excitement such as a possible investigation into a murder on the sea but it faltered into more talk about boats. Oh well.

#9 "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

 I read "The Life of Pi" last spring so much of this blog is written from that time perspective...

The start of another spring. Although it's still a week away I can feel it in the air. A slightly warmer moist breeze passing over me. I take a deep breath inhaling the rejuvenating gases. It's like the air entering into my body sends messages to all the cells that a new season is near. No longer do they have to work so hard keeping me warm. The cells cheer giving me that feeling of excitement. This is the season of new beginnings.

This is what I felt stepping out of my car towards another day of work. As I trek across the long expanse of the GM parking lot, a punishment for driving a foreign car, I see the residue of a season passing away. Can't wait for shorts and tee shirts. To shed the confining garb of the bitterly cold winter. I punch in and enter my cubicle-like work space where human interaction is frowned upon. 'If you have time to talk then we have more work for you to do.' "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!"

Any escape from the monotony of my job is through the spoken word. Literally!! However the same stories, previously mentioned in my blog "The Black Dahlia", started to become monotonous as well. I needed something new, fresh. I tried listening to Nicholas Sparks' "Dear John" but I think I popped a blood vessel preventing the tears from gushing out. A man working on a truck on the assembly line a sobbing mess would just be embarrassing. No more of that thank you. My wife loved all the mushy love letters the book aroused though.

Yann Martel, Tom Hanks look-a-like!

My search for something different led me to "The List" as I will call it from now on. Scanning slowly
down the list with my right index finger at the title's I've never heard of by author's I've never heard of becoming a little discouraged I finally came upon a familiar title. "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. Never heard of the author but I, being somewhat of a movie buff, did connect the book with the new movie which won an Oscar for best picture. All I knew was it was about a boy from India in a boat with a big tiger. The Academy Awards panel choose such obscure movies to make their list. Why don't they pick something normal? Is this book going to be over my head leaving me feeling stupid? Stick with the Harry Potter books even kids have no trouble following and leave the big boy books for the intellectuals.

As this thought swirled around in my head I place my headphones over my ears, the season of new beginnings looming, about to embark on a journey that "The Life of Pi" will eventually inspire.

"The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel is about an inquisitive boy named Piscine "Pi" Molitor. Growing up in India circumstances led him and his family to be taken from his home, during his late teens, on a ship towards Canada for his dad's new job. During this voyage the ship had an accident causing it to sink abandoning Pi on a small life boat containing a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger until "hopefully" a rescue party or land come to save him. Are you asking yourself "Where did the animals come from?" This isn't exactly a place where you usually find these sorts of animals. Well, they were on the ship with him and his family. I like this game ask me another one. "Why were they on the ship with his family?" Because Pi's dad was a zookeeper while in India. I believe I've had too much coffee. I am starting to sound like Robin Williams. That's not good.

Moving along. Why is this novel on "The List" and why did I enjoy reading it? There were a few elements involved in the story that were easy to follow.  The spiritual element: Pi's curiosity and naivety drew him to adopt Christianity, Muslim and Hinduism as his faith at the same time. Yann's humor in spite of the controversial topic of religion made this issue a light-hearted affair. One instance in particular was an altercation between a leader of each faith who battled in a debate over the valid and absurd points of each faith. It left me desiring to see this discussion in real life. It would be like Reverend Lovejoy, Rabbi Krustofsky, the various Hindu deities of Apu's faith, God, Jesus, the Devil, and Ned Flanders all in a round-table discussion.

The educational element: Pi is in the company of a variety of animals due to his father being a zookeeper so he knew a lot about them. While living in India and his adventures on the life boat he explains to himself as well as the reader specific characteristics each animal possessed. This information would be helpful for his survival. I came to appreciate the intrinsic quality these animals possessed that I really never gave much thought to. It was delightful to read something so beautifully told by a person who seems to really take appreciation in these creations.

The story element: Yann's story telling was at times funny and captivating but always entertaining. It is a work of art how he intertwines the spiritual which all of us have some familiarity with, the educational which many times we like to shy away from these learning experiences, and the overall originality of the story, with its humorous and yet serious elements makes the "The Life of Pi" a pleasure to read. The movie was good but it mostly captures the element of the story but leaves out the other 2 that leaves you feeling just entertained. If this is all you look for then the movie will suffice but if you desire something more then read the book.

#8 "the Black Dahlia" by James Ellroy

I've read my share of crime-solving mystery novels to the extent that they all started to run together. The Michael Connelly's, Tom Clancy's, James Patterson's, Janet Evanovich's, Harlan Coben novels are all fine and good mystery novels. Very entertaining but ordinary. I have never walked away thinking, "Man that was a great story! I can't wait to tell others about it." If I were to ask you what's your favorite book I am guessing it wouldn't be these types of stories. Why? Because they are all the same. None of them stand out alone. I understand crime solving author's are not trying to create a great work of fiction that would blow our minds. Their publishers signed them up to make so many books per year. This isn't a conducive setting for great works of fiction but the authors have to pay bills just like the rest of us.

I've recently discovered something about myself. I like a variety in my life. When it comes to food, music, movies, books, family and friends I want it to be like a sampler platter. A taste of everything. A night out at a restaurant with me could be entertaining especially when it's time for the server to take my order. 10 minutes of deliberation on whether to go with my usual or to venture out with something new. I wish more restaurants had a top selling list to go by. That way I could avoid THAT item in the menu nobody else is brave enough to try. It's all a risk, isn't it. That's why we stick to what we know. I will go with the Stephen King even though afterwards I know I will end up with a upset stomach. What I usually do is ask the server what's the most popular dishes and if one of them is on my narrowed down list of 2 or 3 I go with that or just order a burger with fries. Can't screw that up right? I use this method when my wife and I pick out a movie in our collection to watch. I call it, "let fate decide." I narrow it down to 5 movies, number them and have my wife eliminate each number until only one stands alone. Of course if it's one we are not really crazy about watching we go with the burger and fries. You see how indecisive I am? Does it make sense more of why I am reading "1001 Books to Read Before You Die"? I am that indecisive. I am surprised I finally got married after 29 years. It took that long to figure out what I wanted. I am totally happy though.

The movie



I'm ready for my close up Mr. Deville.

"The Black Dahlia" is very much like any other crime solving
mystery novel. It's a respite from my past 2 books about suicide...sort of. Based on real events, the book is about an investigation by a detective named Dwight Bleichert into the grisly murder of a 22 year old woman, Elizabeth Short. It had its fair share of twists and turns alongside other mystery novels but the story never stood apart from other crime novels with 2 exceptions. 1: the nonfictional part of the novel is disturbing especially if you look up the real details of what happened (pictures painful to see) 2: the final twist which I never saw coming is James Ellroy's inspiration for writing "The Black Dahlia". His relationship with his mother filled in many of the holes of the plot absent from the original story. If you ever read it this knowledge will give you the chills on top of the chills already present just from real facts of the murder. When reading any book we are not just entering the imagination of the author, but their actual life experiences. Behind the veil of plots and fantasy is a piece of the author etched onto the pages of his/her work. Each book in a way is like a Horcrux. My

Creepy!

blog is like a Horcrux. BEWARE!!

My last question for you all, and I think I know the answer, is why is this murder still being talked about? We hear about killings every week. Some devastating but I doubt we will be talking about it 60 some odd years later. Feel free to comment. I believe the media has played a big role. Checking out the background of the investigation I read about how the police and media were working side by side during the search for the killer. Gory photos were broadcasted to the public, which I might add was in Los Angeles. Imagine the circus that caused. More than 50 people confessed to the murder. The only information they had was what they read in the paper. Only in LA. Whatever can get you on TV. Not only the media, but the way in which she was killed has left a lingering effect. Nothing I have ever seen before. Given the fact they never solved the murder, there was a movie and book about it, and well "The Black Dahlia" is a catchy name. This is my reason for its popularity among people today.