The Blue Castle

If it had not rained on a certain May morning, Valancy Stirling's whole life might have been entirely different.

Hear the name Lucy Maud Montgomery and immediately other names like Anne Shirley, Green Gables, Gilbert Blythe, Prince Edward Island, and Emily Starr also spring to mind. But though she is most well-known for these wildly popular young adult novels, she also created a few stories for an older audience. Published in 1926, The Blue Castle tells the story of a young woman whose sudden diagnosis leads her to pursue the freedom that she has never known.

The Plot:

At 29 years old, Valancy Stirling is a confirmed old-maid. Not only is she not conventionally pretty like her cousin Olive, but she has also been dictated to her whole life by her controlling mother and her overbearing relatives. She is told what to do, think, feel, say, and believe. Her only joy in life is in reading the nature books of John Foster and daydreaming of an imaginary Blue Castle where she is free. Then one day, the doctor diagnoses her with a terminal heart condition, giving her only a year to live. Valancy decides to take what is left of her life back, and sets on a journey to claim her freedom.

She starts out by moving in as a housekeeper for an old acquaintance named Cissy Gay (who is dying of consumption) and her drunken father Roaring Abel. Scandalizing her family even more, she becomes friends with Barney Snaith, a solitary young man who is rumored to have committed all sorts of crimes. After Cissy's death, Valancy reveals her condition to Barney and asks him to marry her so that she does not have to go back to her family during her final months. Barney agrees and takes her to his small house on an island in the middle of a lake. Just as Valancy and Barney begin to grow close, a startling revelation comes to light and Valancy fears that her beautiful Blue Castle will come tumbling around her ears.

My Review (Caution-Spoilers):

Like most girls, I have loved the Anne of Green Gables series from a very young age. I also read a few books from the Emily of New Moon series and liked those as well. I was interested to read another Montgomery novel that I had never heard of, and one that was intended for an older audience.

Overall, it runs in the same vein as the other Montgomery stories. Valancy (once freed from her former life) is vivacious and caring. Barney is warm, friendly, and very interested in nature and literature. Roaring Abel is eccentric, yet likable. And though the story is not set on Prince Edward Island, nature in all of it's glories provides a beautiful backdrop. All in all, it is the sweet little romance that we expect from the Canadian author.

All this being said, it didn't quite live up to the magic of the Anne books. I can't really pinpoint anything specific that didn't live up to my expectations. All of the ingredients are there, but it just didn't come out as good. Maybe the dreaminess and romanticism didn't fit the 29 year old woman as well as it did the 11 year old girl. Maybe Barney, no matter how nice, just couldn't live up to Gilbert Blythe. Or maybe I can't relate to this type of story the way I did when I was younger. Had I read this ten years ago, I'm sure I would have fallen head over heels for it, but today it reminds me of a scoop of ice cream; very sweet and light, but not something that will last.

If you are an L. M. Montgomery fan, you should definitely give this a try. Though it didn't live up to my memories of Anne, it was nice to see another work from this famous author. I know many readers who consider it to be their favorite romance, so you may enjoy it better than I did.

Of Books and Film

If you are like me, the news that a beloved book is to be adapted for the silver screen fills one with both a feeling of overwhelming excitement and overwhelming dread. Excitement because maybe, just maybe, the pictures and characters in your head will come to life before your very eyes. Dread because you also know that there is just as much of a chance (of not a better one) that you will not be able to even recognize the story you so love. In this week's "Dear Book Lover" article over at The Wall Street Journal, Cynthia Crossen discusses that belief that is as old as the film industry itself...can the movies ever really live up to the books?

The thing to understand, Crossen says, is that "[w]ith books, the reader and writer collude in deciding what the characters, rooms, landscape look and feel like; movies make all the decisions." When you watch a film, you are at the mercy of the director's (and writer's and producer's and actors') interpretation of the story. We lose the possessive quality that reading has, for it is no longer "our" story to imagine and create, but someone elses' to serve as they see fit. Sometimes this works out and the characters and setting of your imagine meld beautifully with theirs (Pride and Prejudice 1995, for example). Other times, you wonder if the two of you were even reading the same book (like the newer Chronicles of Narnia series).

All of this being said, though the usual rule is that the book is (almost) always better than the movie, that doesn't mean that the classic stories should not be brought to the screen. I have been introduced to many great stories because I happened to see the film first, and I know that I am not alone. Crossen ends her article by quoting James M. Cain's comment: " People tell me, don't you CARE what they've done to your book? I tell them, they haven't done anything to my book. It's right there on the shelf." That, I think, is the real moral of the book to film argument.

So how about you? Are there any adaptations that you felt were spot on for one of your favorite books? Any where you think the filmmakers should have their heads stuck on a pike? Fell free to sound off in the comments...while I leave you with the trailer's for four upcoming book-film adaptations. Do any of these excite (or horrify) you?

The Three Musketeers October 21

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn December 23

War Horse December 28

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy November 18

Cry, the Beloved Country

Yes, God save Africa, the beloved country. God save us from the depths of our sins. God save us from the fear that is afraid of justice. God save us from the fear that is afraid of men. God save us all.

In 1948, a novel was published that told the world of the struggles, heartaches, and injustices of the people of South Africa. It called upon those in power to face the problems that they had created, and to strive to bring hope and healing back to the land. That same year, the horrible political system of apartheid became the way of life in South Africa, a way of life that would not be destroyed until almost 50 years later. Alan Paton's novel Cry, the Beloved Country is a call for truth, justice, freedom, and human dignity.

The Plot:

Stephen Kumalo is an Anglican priest living in a small village in South Africa. When news comes regarding his sister, who left for Johannesburg years previous and did not write, he makes his first journey to the big city. He is immediately overwhelmed by the size and pace of city life. He is also shocked and saddened by the poverty and degeneration of the local native population. It is not long before Rev. Kumalo learns that his son, Absalom, who has also been gone for awhile, may have fallen into a life of petty crime.

Tragedy strikes when Absalom is accused of the murder of a local engineer who was heavily involved in seeking justice for the native tribes. Rev. Kumalo realizes that the engineer was also the son of a white farmer who lived near Kumalo's village. Shame, regret, doubt, anger, and grief envelope Rev. Kumalo as he struggles to keep his faith in God, in people, and in the country he loves. He can only wonder if the broken tribes of his people will ever be made whole again.

My Review (Caution-Spoilers):

In his introduction to the novel, Lewis Gannett writes, "We have had many novels from statesmen and reformers, almost all bad; many novels from poets, almost all thin. In Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country the statesman, the poet, and the novelist meet in an unique harmony." That is the perfect description of what this novel is.

First (and in my mind, foremost) this is a beautiful novel. It is lyrical in it's style and from the first line to the last, you will be swept away by the rhythmic, powerful tone that Paton uses. In fact, there are many places where the book reads almost like one long poem. It isn't often that a novel can be enjoyed simply for it's words, regardless of the story.

But, of course, the story itself is powerful too. So powerful, in fact, that it was one of the banned books during South Africa's apartheid. Like Rev. Kumalo, Paton is not blind to the degeneration of the native population like crime, alcohol abuse, and prostitution. But rather than simply view it as an internal problem, Paton lays the blame squarely at the European's door. The breaking up of the tribes, the forced labor in the mines, the ruining of tribal lands, the poverty, the lack of useful education...all of these have contributed to the problems that plague South Africa. The other part of the problem is that South Africa is not a unified country. Rather, it is three separate worlds (English, Afrikaans, and native) fighting for space and power. Paton attacks this also, urging us to not seek power over another, but to realize that true power is found only in love.

With such a heavy message as this, one has to wonder if this book can be at all uplifting. The answer is a resounding "yes". Though Paton deals with many difficult issues, he ends the novel with a glimmer of hope. Rain falls once again on the sunburned valley, local native farmers are given instruction on better methods, and a local white farmer uses his position to better the whole valley. Hope has come to the valley, but only because grief, anger, and prejudice have been laid aside in favor of a country built by and for the English, the Afrikaans, and the natives. I also enjoyed the strong faith portrayed in the novel. It is more than obvious that Paton's own faith had a great role in shaping him and his writing.

This is by far the best book that I have read this year. I can't begin to describe how enthralling, gorgeous, and uplifting I found it. If you have not yet read this gem, I suggest you do so immediately. It is a story that the world must continue to hear.

The Movie:

There are currently two version of this story on film. The first is the 1952 version starring Canada Lee, Charles Carson, and Sidney Poitier. I have not seen this one.

The other is the 1995 version starring James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. This was a very good version. Of course, some of the beauty and scope of the novel did not translate to the film, but overall it was a very good adaptation. I recommend it.

Weekly Geeks 2011-19: Notable Quotables

We all have our favorite bookish quotes. Some well known, and some not so well known. This week for our geeky assignment I thought it would be fun for us to share some of those favorites. It can be just one favorite that you'd like to highlight, or a whole list. It can be quotes from books, or quotes about books and reading.

I absolutely love bookish quotes. It always makes me feel good to see someone else express the felling for reading that I have. Here are some of my favorite quotes on books and reading. They have made me smile, laugh, and find kindred spirits among the family that spans time and place..the family of readers. Enjoy!

An unliterary man may be defined as one who reads books once only. There is hope for a man who has never read Malory or Boswell or Tristram Shandy or Shakespeare's Sonnets: but what can you do with a man who says he 'has read' them, meaning he has read them once, and thinks that settles the matter? -C. S. Lewis from On Stories.

The venerable dead are waiting in my library to entertain me and relieve me from the nonsense of surviving mortals. -Samuel Davies

"But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do." -C. S. Lewis from An Experiment in Criticism

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. -Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," New York Times, 7 August 1991

Where is human nature so weak as in a bookstore? -Henry Ward Beecher

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. -Jane Austen

You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children. — Madeleine L'Engle

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. —Italo Calvino

When I read a book, I put in all the imagination I can, so that it is almost like writing the book as well as reading it -- or rather, it is like living it. It makes reading so much more exciting, but I don't suppose many people try to do it. -Dodie Smith from I Capture the Castle

You think your pains and your heartbreaks are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who have been alive. -James Baldwin

Try to avoid your house catching fire, as this does no good at all. And while your house is still intact, it is a sound idea to persuade all babies and animals to live in another one - and if you really value your books, only offer hospitality to illiterates who won't persist in bloody touching them all the time. Mind you, you will have to tolerate them telling you you could open a shop with all these books (people have suggested this to me - in the shop) and betting that you haven't read them all. — Joseph Connolly (Modern First Editions: Their Value to Collectors)

Jayber Crow

"You have been given questions to which you cannot be given answers. You will have to live them out - perhaps a little at a time."

Community. It is a word that very few of us understand in today's hurried modern life. Though we communicate more and more through television, social media, and the internet, we do not connect on an intimate level. The days of neighbors REALLY knowing their neighbors is a thing of the past, even in some of America's smallest communities. It is those days that American author Wendell Berry hearkens back to in his collection of novels centering around the lives of the members of the fictional community of Port William, Kentucky. In his 2000 novel Jayber Crow, Berry gives us a glimpse of this bygone era through the eyes of the community barber, who is at once a part of the community and outside of it.

The Plot:

This is the life story of Jonah "Jayber" Crow. Orphaned at a young age and raised at a river landing in Kentucky by relatives, Jayber is just beginning to learn what it means to belong somewhere when death again forces him to move on. After years spent at a charity institution, a seminary, and doing odd jobs, he finally finds his calling as a barber. That calling is completed when through chance (or providence), he finds his way back to the town not far from where he grew up, Port William.

As he spends his days cutting the hair of the men of Port William, Jayber gains a unique perspective on life in the small farming community. From friendly Burley Coulter and snobby Cecelia Overhold, to traditional farmer Athey Keith and his modern-thinking son-in-law Troy Chatham, the members of the Port William community are as varied and colorful as could be. As the years pass, time and modernity take it's toll on the community, and Jayber Crow must watch the things that have meant the most to him come to an end, one by one.

My Review (Caution-Spoilers):

There is a notice given by Berry at the beginning of this novel that reads as follows: "Persons attempting to find a 'text' in this book will be prosecuted; perons attempting to find a 'subtext' in it will be banished; persons attempting to explain, interpret, explicate, analyze, deconstruct, or otherwise 'understand' it will be exiled to a desert island in the company only of other explainers. By order of the author." Thus, it is with some trepidation that I write a review of this book.

I first heard about Wendell Berry through the many recommendations over at The Rabbit Room where he is one of their more revered authors. That makes lots of sense, since Berry, like that website, places a lot of emphasis on community. Not the "we've got 2,000 friends on Facebook" kind, but the intimate, raw, and beautiful kind. Though Port William is far from the perfect place (there's plenty of lawlessness, immorality, and hurt going on), it still has much to recommend it. The closeness of it's people and the idea that what affects one member affects them all create an intimacy that few of us know today. Jayber himself might have the best perspective of the place. Though he is hard-working member of the community, as a bachelor, he is somewhat outside as well. He is well-involved in all of the public dramas, but as far as the personal ones he is left outside looking in.

But the loss of community is not all that Berry deals with throughout the novel. The destruction of war, the end of traditional farming, and the ever-growing dependence on debt are all touched on. But it is in his role as conservationist that Berry truly waxes poetic. Kentucky as it once was is given lots of space, and one cannot help but feel a connection with it, even if you have never been there. Many reviewers have stated that reading Berry's works have made them want to sell everything and find a piece of "heaven on earth" for themselves. Of course, the beauty the Berry describes is no longer there, for the preservation of community and of nature go hand in hand. Once the community of Port William begins to disintegrate, so do the natural wonders that surround it. It is this idea that ultimately gives Jayber Crow its bittersweetness.

So what was my overall impression of this work? It was fairly good, but I'm not enamored with it. I couldn't help but compare it with my impression of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, which I absolutely loved. While a worthwhile read, it won't be going on my "favorites" list. If this kind of book piques your interest, then you should definitely read it...but I wouldn't throw it out there as a must-read. Satisfying, but not what I would call delicious.

Masterpiece Theatre: South Riding

As the 2011 season of Masterpiece Classic draws to a close, the people at PBS & BBC reach to the back of the shelf to bring us an adaptation of a lesser known British novel. Published in 1936, this novel is by Winifred Holtby, a journalist and close friend of pacifist author Vera Brittain, and is set in her home county of Yorkshire. Andrew Davies, writer of Pride and Prejudice, Wives & Daughters, and Bleak House, brings his creative talents to this new re-telling.

It is 1934, and Sarah Burton (Anna Maxwell Martin) is one of "the surplus two million", a term given to the young British women of the time who never married, presumably because of the shortage of young men in the aftermath of WWI. But Sarah is determined to not simply be "surplus". She brings her radical view of education back to her childhood home of South Riding where she becomes headmistress of a local girl's school. Though she soon finds allies in socialist Joe Astell (Douglas Henshall) and progressive Alderwoman Mrs. Beddows (Penelope Wilton), not everyone is thrilled with Sarah's new ideas. Local landowner Richard Carne (David Morrissey), burdened by his own guilt and difficulties, is especially put off by her exuberance. But as Richard sees the changes that Sarah is making in the lives of his troubled daughter, Midge, and the bright but poverty-stricken Lydia Holly, both he and Sarah begin to wonder if they might not find some common ground, despite their philosophical differences.

I was completely ignorant regarding this novel before seeing this series, so I went into the whole thing not really knowing what to expect. My reaction? I didn't really like it. Once again, I can't really fault the production qualities. Each actor was good in their own part. Martin did a wonderful job at portraying an exuberant, if romantically frustrated, young woman and Morrissey captured the earthy English landowner as only he can. And the cinematography of the Yorkshire coast is breathtaking to say the least. It was, in essence, the story that I couldn't connect with. Not having read the book, I'm not sure if the fault lies with Holtby or Davies. It seems like South Riding just can't seem to figure out exactly what story it is trying to tell. Is it a thwarted romance between two very different people? Is it a story of the human affects of war? Is it a story of the necessity of eliminating the chains of poverty? Is it a story of political corruption? In reality, it is all these things, and in trying to tell so many different stories, it doesn't tell any of them particularly well.

Perhaps the biggest story within the story is how much of a drag husbands and families are on women. With Carne's death, Midge is "released" to become a wealthy and happy girl, Sarah is able to move on and achieve true worth in her role as teacher, and Muriel Carne is finally able to come home. And Lydia Holly achieves her happy ending only after she is rid of her responsibility to her father and siblings. Not being much of a feminist myself, this "men are the problem" tone did not settle to well with me, and left me somewhat unsatisfied with the story overall.

Though it was a well done program overall, it just wasn't for me. Not being able to connect with the story really affects my feelings for a film. It might be one that others will enjoy, but for me, this is a story that deserves to be put back on the shelf.

Odds & Ends

There are always lots of interesting things going on in the world of reading. Here are a few odds and ends of articles and news bites that are on the minds of readers everywhere:

• Today is the 100th anniversary of the opening of the New York Public Library. With a main reading room stretching for two city blocks and a complete open door policy, the NYPL is truly an icon of the literary world. In all it houses over 50 million items, including such treasures as Christopher Robin Milne's original stuffed animals, a letter from Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra, and a Gutenberg Bibe. This number is surpassed only by the Library of Congress and the British Library. Read more about the centennial celebration here.
• Guardian UK Books talks with writer Umberto Eco and screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere on their new book This is Not the End of the Book. In it they confess that there are great books that even they have decided to lay aside and read in another life: "There are books on our shelves we haven't read and doubtless never will, that each of us has probably put to one side in the belief that we will read them later on, perhaps even in another life. The terrible grief of the dying as they realise their last hour is upon them and they still haven't read Proust."
• Over at The Wall Street Journal, Cynthia Crossen is answering a reader's question on a phenomenon that has been around in literature for awhile, but has only recently begun to have a name: the "unreliable narrator".
• Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are teaming up to bring us a motion capture film version of the wildly popular (in Europe, anyway) Tintin stories. Starring Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig, The Adventures of Tintin will be hitting theaters this December. We'll see if this glossy, 3D adaptation will interest more Americans in these nostalgic stories by Belgian author Herge.

Anyway, there are some tidbits from the literary world today. Is there anything cool going on in your literary life? Finished a good book, read an interesting article, or watched a good adaptation recently? Feel free to share!