Reflections on Onliness

This past week I read both Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo, which made me question every action I've ever taken and wonder if it is totally textbook only child, and Washington Square, which has an only child as its heroine. Perhaps because I read Only Child first, my reading of Washington Square was necessarily tainted by the attempted psychoanalysis I now give to things related to only children. However, that aside, here are my thoughts on both.

At the obvious risk of outing myself, I am an only child and it was for this reason that I wanted to read Only Child (and because I recently made the acquaintance of one of the co-editors, another only). I hoped that I would read the book and either find commiseration in things I never realized were only child things or realize that I was what I hoped to be: a utterly not stereotypical only. (You know the type. Self-centered, spoiled, bratty. A general headache.) However, what the book ended up doing was opening up a Scylla and Charybdis of things I never thought to worry about before. For example, when you're an only, who is there to remember your family memories after your parents are gone? It's just you. Similarly, who is there to help you take care of your elderly parents? Again, just you. And who will be there to grieve when those parents are gone? Can anyone but a sibling feel the kind of pain you feel over the loss of your parents? I don't care how many cousins and other well-meaning relatives you have, I can't imagine anyone feeling the loss of either of my parents more sorely than yours truly.

That said, I also feel compelled to make everyone around me read this book. It honestly affected my life and the way I think about things and what more can you ask for in a book? There is this curtain of curiosity that exists between onlies and non-onlies. It is sheer and you can just make out the shapes on the other side, but you can never really join them, but that doesn't ever stop you from wondering what it is like over there. I think Only Child just might be the answer to pulling back that curtain a wee tad and learning a little more about the other side.

Having gotten those essays under my belt, I turned to Washington Square by Henry James. It is my second James and the official New York City Big Read this year, so it seemed like a good choice. And, as fate would have it, an utterly appropriate choice following Only Child since the heroine is an only. While my first James (The Aspern Papers) was utterly disappointing, I really enjoyed Washington Square.

The book is a close character study focusing on four characters, Dr. Sloper, Catherine Sloper, Mrs. Penniman and Morris Townsend. There is a small plot, but the characters are mainly what move the story. This works quite well since James is extremely deft at keeping up the mystery of someone's "true" character. While he left the women in the book utterly unambiguous in their character (e.g. Catherine is sweet but simple and Mrs. Penniman is foolish), the two males were much more complicated and their motives are less easy to see. And, coming at the book from the perspective of only-child-ness, Catherine was a wonderful treat. The conflicts set up by the essays in Only Child, such as the unenviable decision an only must eventually make between parents and mate, played out beautifully in Washington Square.

On the whole, I would probably recommend Washington Square if you were simply looking for something well-done and eloquent to read and Only Child if you want something to talk to your only friends about or, if you are an only, something to make you worry to no end. (Doesn't sound appealing? Better stick with the James, then.)

Since I can't seem to access my shelf at right, I give you
Next Up: Footnote: A Curious History by Anthony Grafton.

By Way of Introduction

The thing you should know about me is that I have a problem. It's been a life-long problem, but one that has only truly manifested itself now that I have a regular paycheck. The problem is thus: I simply cannot (and I mean really cannot, even when I put my sternest stuff to the task) stop buying books. To give you an idea of the magnitude of my problem (and the detriment to my bank account), I give you the following list of books that I have purchased merely in the last week:

The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading by Francis Spufford
Once Voice Please by Sam McBratney and Russel Ayto
Washington Square by Henry James
The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee
Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo edited by Deborah Seigel and Daphne Uviller
Orientalism by Edward Said
Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott
Footnote: A Short History by (someone whose name I can't remember but who rather wonderfully wrote an entire book about footnotes with numerous and lengthy footnotes)
Amor Est Sensus Quidam Peculiaris by Joan Walsh Anglund

Yes, indeed, the last is entirely in Latin, a language that, at my best, I am only passingly fluent in. I doubt I could ever read an entire book in Latin even after studying it for semesters on end. That alone should be indicative of my problem.

I tell you this by way of introducing you to my reading habits, clearly rather varied and often entirely unexpected even to myself, and to give you a teaser for what's coming up. Having purchased these books, I should now rightfully be compelled to read them. So here's hoping that during my tenure at this lovely blog, I'll get to write about all these books in some way or another. (And we'll just count the above comments as the extent of my writings on Amor Est Sensus Quidam Pecularis since I think we all know I shall probably never muscle my way through that one.)

Teasers

I stole this from the book blog Reading Adventures (a "Blog of Note" this week) and thought it was an easy way to get a vaguely interesting post out. It's also a fairly decent way to keep you even vaguely interested in the books I'm reading currently.

Here's the deal: I have grabbed the books I have in the "On The Shelf" bar to your right, flipped to a random page, and chose two sentences between lines 7 and 12 on that page. Ready? Okay --

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
"They also wanted 'For Those Who Willingly Made The Supreme Sacrifice' to be written on the front. Father refused to back down on the sculpture, saying they could consider themselves lucky the Weary Soldier had two arms and two legs, not to mention a head, and that if they didn't watch out he'd go for bare-naked realism all the way and the statue would be made of rotting body fragments, of which he had stepped on a good many in his day."

Lolita by Valdimir Nabokov

"I watched dark-and-handsome, not un-Celtic, probably high-church, very high-church, Dr Humbert see his daughter off to school. I watched him greet with his slow smile and pleasantly arched thick black ad-eyebrows good Mrs Holigan, who smelled of the plague (and would head, I knew, for master's gin at the first opportunity)."

The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe

"All was dark and silent. She called aloud for help, but no person appeared; and the windows were so high, that it was impossible to escape unassisted."

Let me just add briefly here that the above teaser is typical of The Romance of the Forest, in which the heroine is constantly calling for help in the middle of the most deserted situations and then pacing, wringing her hands and crying until (most improbably) someone rescues her. At this point she usually faints, and the hapless rescuer is forced to either carry her out of her imprisonment or to stay until she recovers and try to fend off whomever might come to investigate.

Welcome to the Club

I would like to introduce my new co-blogger, Corey! She has been solo blogging over at Travels Through Life and we've done some joint writing in the past on various projects, so I'm excited to have her on board!

Reading-wise, Corey tends to be far more comfortable than I am with the non-fiction side of things, especially anything involving the British Empire, Egypt, and Emerson. Also, she reads things like Dumas. This is why she's brilliant and probably going to go to Oxford for a PhD and I am getting a master's in Popular Literature.

But welcome, Corey, and I'm so glad there's someone around here who wouldn't be caught dead with a Jodi Picoult novel in her hands! Though let's face it, if you're having a bad day, there's nothing like some cheesy chick lit to cheer anyone up.

Works in Progress

I've been a little busy -- not so busy, though, that it's kept me from buying six books in two weeks, and starting reading three of them. Here's what you can expect in the upcoming weeks, as well as a few tidbits about my purchases recently:

* Arthur & George by Julian Barnes -- I picked this up for 1 euro at Charlie Byrne's in Galway, which I viewed as fate, since a friend and I had just been talking about it. It's about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Edalji, and since it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, I'm guessing it's pretty decent.

* Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling -- I couldn't resist picking this up at some bargain-basement/thrift store in Galway, especially with a two and a half hour train ride ahead of me. I won't review this one, but I'm loving the chance to read it again and pick up on all the stuff I missed earlier. I am kind of glad I waited on Harry Potter until most of the buzz was over...it's giving me the chance to read it without getting caught up in the frenzy and judge objectively how good the series is and how likely it is to last.

* The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood -- I am deeply in love with Margaret Atwood. Actually, I kind of want to be her. She is one of the most versitile and original writers, and when she finds her stride, everything that comes from her pen is so beautifully written and so true that I can hardly tear myself away. This book is getting a review once I finish it, and once I find the time. Oh, and by the way, read Oryx and Crake if you like dystopian novels, and The Robber Bride if you don't. Also, The Edible Woman was my favorite Atwood for a long time, and even though it's her first novel, it's well worth reading.

* The Romance of the Forest by Anne Radcliffe -- The Gothic novel that spawned all other Gothic novels! Radcliffe was so popular in her day, and she was enough of an influence on literature that Jane Austen felt the need to take the piss out of her (heh -- pardon my Irish) in Northanger Abbey. Can't wait to start this one!

* Chocolat by Jonanne Harris -- I won't review this one, I don't think, since I've already read it, but I would recommend it, even to people who have seen the movie. It's different from the movie, but it's really fun and better-written; even though I loved the film, the book is better. I'm a big fan of Joanne Harris, especially Gentlemen and Players, but this one comes a close second.

* Christmas Books by Charles Dickens -- Okay, this one is just bragging, but I was so freaking excited...I found an edition of this book at the Temple Bar Book Market for six euro, and was excited enough just to find an old copy of a Dickens book. Then I opened the cover, and read this: "Xmas 1903 / To Dear James / with best wishes / MOC". The copyright date is 1894, the condition is beautiful, and I was so thrilled I couldn't stop from grinning as I paid the lady running the stall. She probably thought I was crazy, but then most people here do, so I'm not worried about it.

* Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. As read by Hugh Laurie -- I found this set of 3 CDs tucked away in the corner of the Classics section of Hodges Figgis, and I grabbed it like it was a gold nugget. And I suppose it is, even though I'm sure millions of copies are out there, this was the first I had seen, and I didn't even know it existed. It was also the last one on the shelf, so for all I know, it could have been a direct gift from God, dropped there to reward me for actually going through with this crazy-ass idea to move to another country and get a master's. Then again, if it was a heavenly gift, I suppose it wouldn't have had an ISBN or, ya know, a price tag on it...anyway, I cannot WAIT to listen to this, and it might actually inspire an entry on Great Expectations, so be looking for that! Note: There is a an audio version of this on iTunes, but not read by Hugh Laurie, so I don't know if it's worth it.