Two Birds: Two Vastly Different Meals

This might just be my favourite picture from Mexico. When we went into Puerto Vallarta, a man had a giant bucket full of fish bits (heads et al) that he was feeding to the various sea birds. If anyone out there knows what kind of pelican* this is, I’d love to know.


And then I had the camera with me because the falcon had flown so close to my window at work that I could catch the colour of its eye, and I wanted to be prepared to snap him if he came around again. Instead, this little black bird (again, I don’t know what it is) was eating a pizza crust at my bus stop. All of his mates flew away. But he was bold enough to a) squack at me for interrupting and b) not be in the least bothered by the slushy snow while having his/her breakfast.

*Edited to add that I looked the pelican up in the bird book and it’s a Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis). 

Ah, Valentine’s Day

The RRHB and I sent each other anti-Valentine’s Day cards from a really funny anti-Valentine’s Day site. And then I had a fun day because lots of people are reading my interview with Diane Schoemperlen as a result of her article being up on the homepage of MSN. And then I had a little extra time to read The Quiet American on the way to work because I had a funny test at the hospital. And then I saw the falcon today in the distance. And then the snow is just so much fun. And then now it’s just about time to go home where I can watch Coronation Street (gack, Leanne!) and Lost. And then I will go to bed early with a good book and a good husband and have a good sleep and wake up tomorrow barely noticing the saccharine holiday that usually puts just about everyone in a funk.

#14 – The Talented Mr. Ripley

If I could choose only one word to describe Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, it would be: thrilling. If you haven’t seen the movie, I’d highly recommend reading the book first; it’s so much richer and far less stereotypical than the film. And now I’d even go so far as to say the movie spoiled the book for me in many ways.

When first introduced to Tom Ripley, he’s pulling a half-hearted tax scam and not even bothering to cash the cheques. When fate brings him into contact with Mr. Greenleaf Sr., and presents him with the opportunity of a lifetime, there’s an instant when the story could have gone either way. Highsmith could have set out to write a beat-inspired (which is certainly what the movie picked up on) buddy tale, an On the Road Does Europe, but for one fact: ambition. Tom sees the life he wants and sets about getting it, doing anything he possibly can to abandon his pathetic life back home and reinvent himself as a man worthy of his surroundings.

When the wealthy Greenleaf sends Tom over to Mongibello with all of his expenses paid to “rescue” his son Dickie from a life of total and utter leisure, Sr. believes them to be friends, which is his first, utterly tragic mistake. From the very moment that Tom abandons his pitiful existence in New York for Europe, one can embrace the following statement from a 1001 Books:

Tom Ripley is the one of the great creations of twentieth-century pulp writing, a schizophrenic figure at once charming, ambitious, unknowable, utterly devoid of morality, and prone to outbursts of extreme violence.

See, thrilling.

Tom just doesn’t want to live with Dickie, he wants to be Dickie. And Tom’s decision to become him is so cold and calculated that it sends a chill down well below your spine. While the crimes add up (what’s another murder, really?) and the lies become truth in Tom’s head, the book races along to its utterly satisfying, yet somewhat open-ended, finish.

In a “is this book worth 1000 words” aside, here are the reasons why I book is just so much better than the Hollywood version:

1. There are far less characters. In fact, ones that play a huge role in terms of amping up the dramatic action, namely “Meredith Logue” (as played by Cate Blanchett) and Peter Smith-Kingsley (Jack Davenport), aren’t even in the book (the former) or play an incredibly insignificant role (the latter).

2. So much of the action takes place in Ripley’s head. You really get to explore the motivation behind his actions. They hint at that in the film, but the action has to be driven by impulses that can be read by even the most dense in the audience. Hammer. Meet head. Head. Meet hammer. The book is just so subtle, and that’s what’s so seductive about it.

3. Marge is pudgy. I think there’s a point when Ripley refers to her as a gourd. Unkind, to be sure, but certainly not the svelt, sexy Paltrow as portrayed in the film.

4. I do admit that the film did justice to the setting of the novel. Yet, there’s so much more in the little details: how Tom’s only going to heat his bedroom in his palazzo in Venice; how Dickie’s house has no refrigerator at first in Mongibello; how Greece looks when Tom first lands toward the end of the book. The descriptions are crisp and clean, like scissor cuts, and absolutely contribute to the atmosphere of the book. They don’t need to make the book believable; they just are.

5. The film turned Dickie into a jazz musician. Yes, it’s utterly sexy, but it’s way more real when you discover he’s a totally (from Tom’s point of view, of course) mediocre painter.

6. The end of the film always, always sat wrong with me. I felt that it was overkill (ahem, pun not intended) and unnecessary. I could understand Ripley’s motivation in terms of his other crimes, but not at all in terms of this one. It felt fake and constructed. Imagine my surprise to find that the ending to the novel is nothing like the one from the movie. Imagine my delight to see the pitch perfect note that Highsmith ends upon. And then imagine how redeemed I feel in terms of having the criticism in the first place. See, I knew it just wasn’t right…

And while I realize I can’t go back in time and unwatch the movie to preserve my reading experience, it has taught me an incredibly valuable lesson: always, always read the book first.

PHOTO IN CONTEXT: The Vintage Crime / Black Lizard trade paperback on the shelf with many other 1001 / Around the World in 52 Books titles. This one’s a keeper.

READING CHALLENGES: Another title from the 24 that I’m trying to read this year from the 1001 Books challenge. Although, I have to say, that the classics are really inspiring me these days. They’re all I seem to want to read. And I’ve now hit the nice number of 150 books read from the list. Whee!

More Snow = More Sickness. Anger Is The Answer

Everyone in my office is out with some form of illness this week, whether it’s a cold or strep throat, I am in mortal fear that I’ll catch something and be even sicker, with the stupid cough still hanging around after three weeks I’m ready to toss myself in a snowbank and just be done with it. So I’m holed up in my cubby at work frightened to leave or breath any air. Which means I did a bit of surfing this morning before settling in with a cup of Wild Sweet Orange tea.

So, there’s an interesting article over at the Guardian blog about how publishers just don’t know what to do with the internet. And while it’s an interesting point of view, Nicholas Clee says:

It is 17 years since the creation of the world wide web, and still no publisher has any idea how to deal with it. Is it a threat? An opportunity? Will it be the medium for the spread of free, mostly pirated texts, or will it broaden the market for authors’ works? How do you promote books on the internet? By giving them away? By giving them away in snippets? By charging small sums for snippets? We haven’t got a clue.

And I don’t entirely agree. I mean sure, publishers may still be working out how to work with content online; but I think many, if not all, agree that it’s quite fun to promote books on the internet. In fact, many of my colleagues around the globe would agree that with the decline of traditional media devoted to books, the explosion of intelligent, well written and extremely well read book blogs, and the use of multimedia (podcasts, book trailers, author interviews, viral videos) books have found a natural home on the web.

And I think it’s absolutely clear, even with the two or three big news items he points to, Random House offering chapters for a small fee and HarperCollins offering up whole books from its digital warehouse project, that publishers are testing in the space. And isn’t that exactly what the internet is about? They’re learning from industries who are currently getting absolutely whooped by the ease of content flowing online (anyone think the music peeps did a better job; the movie guys?). And so what if both models don’t work: we’ll simply try something else next time.

And why do so many journalists focus on the idea of recreating the reading experience online as the key way for publishers to (for lack of a better word) play in the digital age? It’s just a part of overall strategy, one aspect of how book content can be used online, but it’s all the media seems to glom onto these days. There’s so much out there for books online, and every single person I know in the business is exploring many, many ways of not only promoting books, but building word of mouth, exposing readers to new authors, and breaking down the virtual walls that may have separated the publishers from the readers in days gone by.

Why so negative Nicholas? It seems to me that we’ve all got a pretty good idea that there are book lovers online who love not only to read our books, but to write about them, to talk about them, and to buy them. So what if we’re taking baby steps.


Dinner At Cowbell

Last night we had one of the best meals we’ve ever eaten in the city at Cowbell, which is just a hop away from Mitzi’s Sister, where we eat all the time. My RRHB had gotten an email from the owner (we were friends in high school) wondering when he was going to come for dinner, and luckily we had Amanda here from Winnipeg for the night, so he replied, ‘if there’s a cancellation, we’d love to come.’ Isn’t life always about the timing?

The food was outstanding. Both my RRHB and Amanda had steak frites as their main course, and I had trout with oyster and corn meal fritters (B ate the oyster; he’s good that way). We started with soup and salad, had a couple glasses of wine, and then dessert, which was definitely too much food, but my goodness was it worth it. Then we ended up having a tour of the restaurant, and having never seen the inner workings of any eatery before in my life (with the exception of the summer I worked at Smitty’s pancake house, which hardly counts), it was utterly fascinating. The approach to the food at Cowbell is so inspired: they buy locally produced meat, whole (trust me, I’ve seen the cuts in the walk in fridge*), and then use every part of the animal, including the bones and fat, in various ways throughout the week. To top it all off, it’s an understated, yet utterly lovely environment (wonderful tiles on the floors, gorgeous fabrics on the benches, good artwork), and the service was truly excellent.

Like I said, one of the most lovely dining experiences I’ve ever had in the city.

*edited to correct my own ignorance: we saw a walk-in fridge (as per someone’s comment; thank you) and not a freezer. Apologies!

Oddly Noticing That James McAvoy Is In Everything

Starter for 10, which was on this week on TMN, that I watched last night when I couldn’t sleep because the meds were making my stomach so upset.

Becoming Jane, which I’m watching as we speak.

Penelope, which I saw a trailer for by accident the other day.

Atonement.

And some upcoming film with Angelina Jolie that Zesty and I saw advertised before we watched American Gangster.

I mean, that’s not a bad thing, obviously.

#13 – Helping Me Help Myself

I had brought the ARC of Beth Lisick’s Helping Me Help Myself to Mexico with me, and had planned to read it on the plane home, but then I got swept away in What is the What. Most of my thoughts about the book are already noted over at The Savvy Reader so I won’t go into much more detail except to say that I’m really excited to send the author some questions next week for an email interview.

After a particularly grueling New Year’s Eve party, Lisick decides to spend the next 12 months working through the works of 10 self-help guru’s in an attempt to honestly change her life from the inside out, as she says, “What if I could just look at everything in my life that was bugging me, everything I wanted to make better, and systematically fix it all?” And despite being utterly skeptical of the whole self-help racket, she actually manages to find kernels of good advice in just about every aspect of her ‘year spent on the bring of [her] comfort zone.’

This is not a self-help book, but a book about helping yourself, about discovering what holds you back, about finding humour and dedicating yourself to a cause even if it means spending a whack of money to attend a Richard Simmons fitness cruise. It’s about approaching change honestly and openly, and taking what you need and leaving behind the rest, the bits that seem false, that seem like a racket, and improving your character because of it.

Also, it’s got a banana suit. And who doesn’t love a 30-something woman dressed up in a banana suit to pay the bills. Seriously?

As with many of my ARCs, I have no need to keep them and am very happy to use Canada Post, so, who wants my copy?

PHOTO IN CONTEXT: My own Achilles heel when it comes to home organization, the absolute exhaustion at the end of a work day that leads to every single piece of clothing being piled up on a chair instead of in my closet.

#12 – What Is The What


For the first time in my Around the World in 52 Books two-year reading odyssey, I am going to break the rules. You heard me. I’m going to bust them wide open and actually let the setting of the novel define my country choice, and not the author’s birth. It’s impossible to ignore the fact that the voice in Dave Egger’s What is the What seems so completely that of Valentino Achak Deng that to name this my book from the US might do it a disservice.

When I saw Eggers back in November, I was very taken by the social commentary found within his slide show presentation. The idea that China’s need for oil propels the terrible situation in Sudan still makes me think twice every time I see a Made In China stamp on just about everything we buy and/or own. But now that I’ve read the book, I’m thinking more about the accomplishments of its writer and main character, and not just about the social-political underpinnings of the book and its incredibly important message. It’s as if it all has a human face now.

Subtitled “The Autobiography of Valentine Achak Deng,” What is the What is such a skilled, intense and utterly compelling book that it held my interest through every one of its 535 pages. The structure of the novel develops around an epistolary format reminiscent to an early scene in the book where Achak, still living then with his parents quite happily in Marial Bal, sits with a group of men and listens to them debate ‘What is the What.’ Achak speaks to a number of different people directly within the novel as he tells his story, the nurse/clerk at the hospital, the boy set to watch him as he gets robbed in his own home, members of the health club where he works, and as a narrative tool, it’s ridiculously effective. It’s almost as if, as a larger theme, the entire story sets out with the need to find and define ‘the What,’ an elusive, angry at times, but always tragic quest for Valentino to discover not only his own purpose, but a larger sense of the universe.

It’s an unbearably sat, yet utterly uplifting story, as the rebels fight against the Arab government, war breaks out and a country falls apart, and then Achak begins a long, arduous walk to Ethiopia surrounded by hundreds of other Lost Boys. Finally settling at a refugee camp in Kenya called Kakuma, Achak lives with a foster family, receives an education, and finds a decent job before being relocated to Atlanta to start a new life in the United States. The novel opens with a harrowing scene of Valentino being beaten and robbed in his own home, and still, the utter strength of his character remains steadfast. When any number of truly horrible events conspire against him, Achak carries on.

In places, Valentino describes a feeling that tears through him, not that he is cursed per se, but that bad luck has a way of following him around, shadow-like, in every facet of his life. I am not going to lie, and I know it might seem almost shameful for me to have felt akin to him in this way, but for many, many years I fought with the idea that I too must have been cursed in another life to have endured what I have. Nothing, nothing at all compared to Achak’s own struggles, I know, I have always had a roof over my head and have never had to walk further then a few blocks to a bus stop, but the feeling that life seems to consistently be a current working against you, well that’s something I can absolutely empathize with in more ways than one.

READING CHALLENGE UPDATE: Am declaring What is the What as my book from Sudan and not the United States as I had originally intended, which is good because I think I’d like to read Tom Perrotta’s Little Children instead. And because I did not buy my copy of the book, and with all the author proceeds going to Valentino’s charity, I went online and made a donation in lieu of the cost of the novel.

PHOTO IN CONTEXT: I want to thank Baby Got Books for linking to the place to buy the t-shirt that had just arrived the day I finished the novel, where it ended up on my desk amongst a whole bunch of mail clutter from when we were away. I also want to give Tim an extra shout-out for saying that I “had” to read Eggers’s novel, because he was so very, very right, I did.

CURRENTLY READING: The Talented Mr. Ripley and last Saturday’s Globe and Mail crossword puzzle.

Miss Me?

I’ve been posting like a maniac the past few days over at SavvyReader just to keep the momentum going again after I was away. If you miss me, head on over there, but I finished reading What is the What and have pictures of my new kitchen window that I want to share…so, I’ll be back this afternoon.