Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

genre: non-fiction
book 10 of 10 for the Book Bloggers Reading Swap Challenge

For those of you not poetically inclined, Rainer Maria Rilke is a significant German poet from the turn of the 20th century.  This book is a compilation of letters that he wrote to a young man he did not know personally, but with whom he created a lengthy correspondence. 

It's a short book, but so rich (bordering on dense) that it took me longer to read than I'd anticipated.  Rilke is DEEP, friends.  His letters are so thought-out, so clearly thoughtful and full of personal insight that, had I been that young man, I would've kept them too.  Rilke speaks often of solitude - of the absolute human need for alone-ness, if one is to truly become at peace with one's self and especially if one wants to create art.

I especially appreciated his thoughts on love and marriage, as well as sorrow and trials.  Even in this rather literal, I think, translation from the German, Rilke's ideas on how to cope with our troubles are absolutely beautiful.  He sees them as something absolutely necessary for our growth and that instead of doubting our ability to handle our trials, we should strive to figure out what we can learn from them and how to best incorporate their lessons into our being.  I have to give a quote:

So you must not be frightened, dear Herr Kappus, when a sorrow rises up before you...You must think that something is happening upon you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall.  Why do you want to exclude any disturbance, any pain, any melancholy from your life, since you do not know what these conditions are working upon you?

Deep stuff, right?

So I am having a hard time knowing how to "rate" a book such as this - it is amazing in the sense that it is full of profound truths and beautiful thoughts, but it is challenging and dry sometimes to read.  It is philosophical and sometimes I felt as though my brain could not stretch enough to even comprehend what he was even trying to say, which could be a translation issue or a "my bran" issue.  I think what it needs is 4 stars - an average of  3 for readability and 5 for giving me so much to think about.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott

genre: historical fiction

Tess knows that she is capable of so much more than what a servant is asked to do.  Not only does she hate being subservient, but she would so much rather sew than clean.  Give her a thread and a needle and she can create magic, she just needs a chance to prove herself.  When she finally gets the courage to change her stars, she ends up in designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon's high-class world, a sphere so unfamiliar it's foreign.  It also happens to be the on the decks of the Titanic.  You see where this is going.

While this is absolutely Tess's story, it's also a Titanic story - its aftermath, all the ethical questions that arose from this absolute tragedy.  The waters are murky for Tess, it's so hard to know who to believe, especially when she feels so beholden to Lady Lucile for giving her a chance.  There is also a love triangle, with its predicable but pleasant-enough conclusion, as well as a glimpse at turn-of-the-century fashion.

This book was a lot of fun.  Very historical, vaguely political, a great look at a country on the brink of change of all kinds: higher skirts?  Women getting the vote?  The death of a poor person mattering as much as the death of a rich one?  I can't say that the writing blew me away, but the plot moved along swiftly and kept my attention. I wouldn't have minded a bit more of the romantic storyline, and occasionally some dialogue felt far too 2011 than 1912, but I can't lie, I enjoyed it.  Not five star material, but if you like historical fiction and shipwrecks and tough ethical questions, it won't disappoint. 

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

genre: children's literature

I am not a re-reader.  Rarely does a book capture my heart so fully that I am willing to read it twice - twice out loud even.  But this is one of them.  I read it to my daughter when she was in early elementary school and I have just finished reading it out loud to my sons who are nearly nine and six.  I never finished a chapter without them begging for one more and my six year old in particular was adamant about getting at least one chapter before bed every night.

Ramona is just a girl.  A little sister to Beezus.  Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Quimby.  Third grade student.  Everything about her is so normal but her imagination and her down-to-earth worries and frustrations are so familiar and poignantly spot-on that you can't help but feel like she's an actual real person.  It's not as though she has "adventures," per say, just more like she experiences the sorts of things that happen to any other eight year old.  She gets sick at school.  She misunderstands her teacher.  She gets in quarrels with her family.  She worries about money because she can tell her parents are worried - it might as well have been written in 2011 instead of 1981, with how relevant her issues still are.  In fact, within 3 days of reading the "getting sick at school" chapter to my 3rd grader son, he got sick at school.  We had to laugh about that.

Beverly Clearly has truly created a timeless character in Ramona.  When I asked how many stars this book deserved between one and five, I got a firm "FIVE."  And I totally agree.


note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

genre: adult fiction

Charles is a soldier in the second world war, in England.  When he arrives with his fellow troops at Brideshead to set up camp, he allows himself to revel in the past - a past that has, at its core, Brideshead and its former inhabitants, the Marchmain family.  Especially, there is his school chum Sebastian, full of life and without care - when they met the Great War was over. They live a life of frivolity and halcyon freedom among the upper class of British citizenry.  It doesn't lead to happiness, however, as England's prospects change and Charles, as our introverted narrator, watches the Marchmain family of Brideshead slowly fall apart.

It's a nostalgic book.  I kept looking at the published date - 1945.  Waugh wrote it during the war and published it JUST as the war was ending.  And the war is IN the book.  It feels like Waugh is sorting through all that was beautiful and good from that in-between-period and trying to figure out how it all went wrong.  There is an interesting religious storyline also - as the Marchmain family is Roman Catholic in a land of staunch protestants, and Charles is quick to dismiss religion as a good reason for anything.  Other characters, especially Sebastian's sister Julia, think deeply and beautifully about sin and God and how all of that ties into our real lives and the consciences that we can't seem to get rid of even when we want to.  And all of this is wrapped up in the whole class issue in England - the old landowning families and the new rich and the more middle class and how that was all shifting.

Brideshead Revisited is the sort of book I'd probably prefer to read in an English class.  Clearly there are themes and motifs flying every which where and probably if I understood them better I'd want to give it five rousing stars instead of 3.5.  As it was, I did enjoy it - as sad and depressing as it tended to be - because it felt authentic, timely and relevant.  I didn't particularly like Charles but I liked how he told me his story.  Parts of it were beautiful - the sorts of quotes that you'd imagine hanging on a poster in a history classroom.  Other parts were more dull as far as the plot went, but in the end, I am glad that I now have this classic under my belt.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Imagined London by Anna Quindlen

genre: non-fiction/travel

Imagined London isn't really a travel book.  It's more of a place book.  An homage.  Anna's love of London - its' characters both real and imagined, its' spaces both past and present - is an essential and relevant part of this book.  She doesn't pretend to be anything but a huge fan of this amazing city and the works of literature it has both inspired and produced.

If you are a lover of British literature, many names and book titles will thrill you with their familiarity as Quindlen gives us a tour around London.  Of course there is Dickens and Shakespeare, but we meet Heyer and Waugh, Austen and Doyle as we make our literary way.  It's not the sort of book you'd necessarily take with you on a journey - but one you'd want to read beforehand, to get your feet wet a bit and know how to best use your time if seeing bookish sites is one of your top priorities.

But more than all that, Quindlen is also thinking about herself as a reader and as an American who loves everything British  and about the way we imagine things in our head versus the way they are in real life.  Perhaps a city like London just has to be appreciated in many different levels - as the place that it was, the place it was only ever imagined to be and the place that it actually is.  Quindlen's got a beautiful style and while maybe the subject of this book isn't for everyone, for what it is, it is beautifully done.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

genre: young adult fantasy

Lucy's life was as normal as she could've hoped for: caring foster parents, a supportive best friend, her life ahead of her.  Of course, her real mother is homeless and seems to be - well - crazy, always singing Lucy this crazy version of the song Scarborough Fair while wandering the streets of town.  Even THAT can be handled easily compared to the fact that on prom night Lucy's life is changed forever.  Not only is she raped and becomes pregnant (wouldn't that be enough?) but slowly she figures out that even the rape isn't a random happenstance - it's the result of a curse that won't be broken until certain tasks are completed before the birth of her baby.

WILD.

It took me a little while to be okay with the plot - I had to shift my brain into "family curse" and "fairy" mode from the whole rape and pregnancy thing (which was quite tastefully done, by the way).  But once I did, I have to admit that I was interested in how this story was going to shake down.  My sister said it before she told me to read the book - one of the great things about this story is that the love comes to fruition in the MIDDLE of the story, you don't have to wait until the end like in most young adult novels.  Love plays such a big part in Impossible - love for your parents and true love and love unrequited - all of it plays deeply into the plot.

I listened to this one, and so I think most of my little annoyances were because I wasn't actually reading it, so I don't feel like I have too many complaints.  Sometimes the dialogue was a little cheesy or scripted - and really, sometimes it felt SILLY listening to these modern-day characters try and sort out how to accomplish the tasks in this age-old curse but like I said - I was nearly always along for the ride.  I did want to know how it sorted itself out.  Although of course you know what the end WILL be, I just was interested in how we got there and that didn't disappoint.


note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com