Once again, I find myself going head to head with this monster of a novel - the last time being in college, when the novel won the battle.  Our book group chose to watch the movie version for our August meeting. I liked the movie and assumed that I would like the book even more, knowing that the original surely would fill in some details that swept by too quickly in the film version.

What I do remember from my college confrontation is that the title references John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress published in the 1600's.  It was common for writers to tell stories about pilgrims taking an allegorical spiritual journey called a "progress."  Chaucer did it, followed by many others.  In Bunyan's work, the pilgrims stop at a continuous fair in a a town named Vanity where they are supposed to witness the dangers of desiring material possessions.  That's about as far as I got with my study of VF last time...although I think it was some sort of assignment that I may have ended up faking.  Oh well.

Thackeray's style is different than expected.  No stuffiness.  It is readable, and even fluffy at times.  He certainly gives us plenty of opportunity to read between the lines, as each of the flawed characters step up to the plate and proclaim their desires...all driven by vanity.

Many plot lines weave in and out, making it tough for me to keep track of relationships.  And, a father and son have the same name which got me even more confused.  But, the story really belongs to Becky Sharp, the ever conniving social climber who men find alluring.  Most women click their tongues in that old lady judgemental way, but I'm guessing they all regret not being more like her in their youth.  Becky is never anything but honest and transparent in her dealings with men, which makes many of the male character seem a tad silly. 

I'm not far into the book, and to be honest, once again, the book may win the battle.  This beast, including copious footnotes, consumes nearly 1000 pages.  That seems like a life sentence to me.

I'm also trying to make my way through Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  Trying it for the third time.  The book doesn't grab me in the early pages, and so I set it aside; then a customer comes in and raves about it, and I start again.  This time I might make it through. 

 More next week if I succeed.

After comments ranging from "It's really a beautiful love story" to "I found it oddly fascinating" I finally gave in and read the chart topper getting all the buzz, Fifty shades of Grey.  I found it to be neither a love story, nor fascinating, but I won't go into detail.  Suffice it to say, I won't be reading the second and third books any time soon. 

Instead, I decided to take a look back and re-read one of the first moden novels to cause a ruckus, Peyton Place.  While Grace Metalious's novel would hardly be considered scandelous now, it surely brought taboo subjects into the open and prompted discussion.  There's pre-marital sex, children born out of wedlock, affairs, gossip, incest, murder....basically the seven deadly sins packed between the covers of this now innocent work.  When it was first published in 1956, Peyton Place unbottoned the straightlaced New England of pupular imagination, revealing the secret anatomy of small town America. 

For me, this is a far better book.  The reasons are many.  There is a lot to be said about the author's skill level when it comes to plot development, sentence structure, and the rhythm of the story arc.  She's pretty good it - not in a clasical sense -  in a pop fiction sense, Metalious did a great job.  But, it's her characters that resonated for me.  She has populated Peyton Place with people we know, our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends and our enemies.  Sure, many of them are sterotypes, like the druken step father who takes adgantage of his beautiful step-daughter, but still, we know enough about these people to have some feeling for them.  We want Rodney to be safe when he goes off to war.  We want the doctor to do make an ethical choice and help exhonerat Selena from a murder charge.  We know there is something sizzling beneath the folds of Allison's tightly cinched shirtwaist dress, and we wait for it to burst.

In short, to use a theatre phrase - less is more.  I wonder if Peyton Place would be bolder if it were written today.  I hope not. 

*************

I can't let the week pass without acknowledging the event in Colorado the past weekend.  Do whatecer it is you do personally in these situations...but, please, do something.

  These events always cause us to stop and take stock, which is not a bad thing.  But we tend to look at societal flaws as the answer.  Have we been desensitised to voilence?  Are  gun control issues at the heart of the matter?  Should video games, comic books, and rap music take the balme?  And what about the breakdown of the family - is there culpablity there?  All good questions, and all things worth examining.  But we have to be careful about saying this is a systemic problem.  One person did this and we need to consider the source of the stress, the anger, the desperation  and the illness that brought about this dramatic action. We may never get the answers we want. Our country will spend some time in the next weeks processing this, and hopefully we will move forward  confident that most of the time, most of us are surrounded by good people doing good things.

Well, this is quite the book.  Let me begin with a few confessions of my own.  I have never read the "Little House" books, nor was I a fan of the show.  Top that with the fact that I seldom read celeb autobiographies.  But. considering that Alison Arngrim, Nellie, will be at Pinecrest Historical Village on August 11, and we are vending books for her, I figured I better get up to speed quickly.

This book is good.  The title refers to the character she played on the TV series, but could easily be applied to her personal life, which was,  well...a bitch.  That seems to be the case with a lot of stars, and they tell their tales in such angst laden prose that the book pages themselves feel weighed down with sorrow.

Arngrim's book is different.  No kid should have to endure what she did, but her style is so fresh and friendly that we just know she is OK despite it all.  At least that's what I want to think.  "Little House" was her escape and, apparently, her salvation.  While many other stars would be moaning about being forever associated with a particular character, Arngrim is forever grateful for growing up in the nurturing, but demanding world on the prairie. 

You know what?  Before August 11th, I plan to read at least one Wilder book, and watch a couple episodes of the show.  After reading Alison's book (yup, I plan to be on a first name basis with her by the time we meet up for dinner the night before her event)  I decided that I will give her a copy of The Family Fang. That book kept coming to mind as she related family stories. 

I also started At Home by Bill Bryson.  In this book, he roams from room to room in his old, Victorian house and relates the history of various objects in each room.  Sounds boring, but it is anything but.  For example, I bet you didn't know early sellers of flour and other baking goods often used fillers such a plaster of Paris to stretch their commodities.  Tea leaves were mixed with dirt, and early loos were situated such that people could gather around and talk, or play board games while an individual was "occupied."  Such fun.  As Bryson is know to do, he takes many, many sidetrips sharing history along the way.  The bathroom provides the occasion for the history of hygiene,the bedroom for an account of sex, death and sleep, the kitchen for a discussion of nutrition and the spice trade showing how each has figured in the evolution of private life. 

I'm not a history reader.  In fact, century numbers continue to give me trouble.  Is this the 20th or the 21st?  But if Billy Bryson had been my history professor, I might have declared myself a history major and had a very useful life spending my days looking over my shoulder.

Thanks for stopping.

Acousticfest this Saturday...11-9...Washington Park.  Music...Friends...Fun...Food

We get all sorts of crazy mail and email here at LaDeDa.   Of course, we get the usual scam offers that you all get, but we also get others that the general public would be unaware of.  For instance, there was the 80 year old preacher passing himself off as a 45 year old author of relationship books.  He sent a letter with a prune-like picture of himself, and a sales pitch filled with spelling and grammar errors.  if you read this blog, you know that his spelling had to be atrocious if I noticed the errors.  We receive regular email orders for 500+ copies of Black's Law  Dictionary, and other professional books to be sent to Nigeria.

 One day we received a copy of a creepy little book called The Excreman,  a picture book featuring a main character molded out of...well, figure it out from the title. 

Last week I got one of the more unusual, and funny emails.  Here it is for you - complete with the original spelling and punctuation.  Enjoy

How are you doing? hope fine and well sounded in good health my name is Jenny Cole a young pretty lady 28 years of age originated from South Africa (Johannesburg) , very responsible with a great sense of humor, I have a Christian background , well am in search of the words called Love , a very good man I can establish a relationship based on honesty and understanding and also get to know our selves, age race and religion does not matter to me , what matters is having a true love from a man that really want to care and establish a family and life together with understanding.I? fond of reading books, magazines, newspapers. Also I like cooking for my family and friends. I like to spend my free time in the cheerful company of my best friends....I? an optimistic and cheerful person, kind and joyful. I love my friends and family; always try to be honest with them, because I think that honesty is the most important thing in the relations. I am a romantic person but I!have a real point of view to our life.I? looking for my future husband. I? like to create serious relationships. I want him to be honest, kind and tender, intellectual enough. I like men who enjoy traveling very much. Love is to think about someone else more times in a day than you think about yourself, so I am sure that my only one will never miss my attention.I want to meet an understanding and loving man, who knows how to treat a lady and how to make little pleasant surprises for her. I like active and steadfast men, who enjoy going in for sports and dancing. Though for me the most important traits in a man are his ability to be responsible for his family and be a real support and the best friend for his beloved.I feel you will consider a heart like mine forever. I will wait for your response.. I want you to write me on this email and i will get back to you as soon as you write..

What am I reading?  I re-read The Family Fang this weekend for our book discussion group on Friday.  I found it even more fascinating the second time around, and marked several passages as I went.  The story is quirky, for sure, and will no doubt have a cult like following.   The author crafted some stunning metaphors, along with recurring themes, and symbols that tie two odd story lines together.  Even the title took on more meaning the second time.  He could have easily reversed the order to the words, but the impact carried by the word arrangement is very telling.

Nicole Kidman bought the rights to the movie, so I assume she will play the chilly mother.  High Grant or Hugh Laurie could play the dad, but my choice would be Matthew Broderick,  His off kilter delivery would be perfect.  The adult children - Christina Ricci, and Johnny Galecki  We'll see if Nicole takes my suggestions to heart.

My prediction is that I will be the only one in our group who liked this book.  Should be an interesting discussion. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Do you remember a movie from the 50's called "The Bad Seed"?  It starred Patty McCormick as a cunning, deceptive child with no conscience.  Before the movie was over, she was implicated in the murder of up upstairs neighbor who had promised Rhoda her lovebirds after she died.  Rhoda was clearly responsible for the death of a handy man who confronted her about his suspicions concerning the drowning death of one of rhoda's classmates. 

Well, let me tell you, Rhoda has met her match.  I spent the weekend reading We Need to Talk About Kevin, and watching the movie starring Oscar nominee Tilda Swinton.  I cannot recall the last time a story disturbed me to the point of losing sleep.  Right from the beginning of the book, we know that Kevn went on a Columbine style rampage at his school shortly before his 16th birthday. 

That fact is horrifying enough, but equally disturbing is the dynamic inside the family.  Eve never wanted to be a mother.  Although she tries to be warm and responsible, she never quite catches on to the role.  However, I am not sure that much would have changed had she been an attentive mother.  Kevin was just too flawed.   Dad is in total denial, partially because Kevin perfected the art of smoozing and manipulation.  No one talks about Kevin - hence the title - even though Kevin himself hints at needing to do so.

The movie has some Fellini-esque moments, but once a concrete storyline emerges, it is more focused.  Several layers of flashbacks can be confusing a times, and so much of the why is left open for speculation.  Still, the performances are riviting, the total effect  - disturbing.

As long as I'm on a not so pretty subject, did you happen to read Cindy Hodgson's HTR article about drug use/abuse?  Part I appeared on Sunday.  Cindy did thorough research for the revealing piece.  I bet she'll win an award for it.  Check it out. 

For the latest Heart-a-Rama news, including the July 3rd reveal of our 2013 theme go to  http://www.heartarama.blogspot.com/.

Happy 4th of July!