Day 15

Current Book: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
Books Left: 99

Okay, so due to a combination of laziness and getting back into crocheting, I haven't had much to post about this week.  I'll start reading again now that I finished my shrug and shawl.

About halfway through the first semester of his senior year, George gets a telegram from his mother saying that his father has died.  Apparently I should have been worried when he was sick.  The next spring, at George's graduation, Lucy and Eugene Morgan are there because Eugene "happened to be in the area".  Over the next few chapters it comes to light that the town is talking about Isabel, George's mother.  They think that she is not grieving enough over George's father (Wilbur!  His name is Wilbur!), and that she'll be engaged to Eugene at any time.

Now, Lucy finally admits that she doesn't want to be engaged to George because he doesn't want to "do" anything with his life.  He doesn't want to work.  He just wants to live off his grandfather's money, but there's already been some hinting that the fortune is dwindling.  I for one cannot understand someone, male or female, who doesn't want to be able to take care of themselves.  I realize that at the time this book is set, in the late 1800s, that it was unheard of for a woman to work, but shouldn't George want to work so he and Lucy can be comfortable into their old age?  I just don't understand why he'd want to rely on his grandfather's money, rather than provide for himself.

I'll step off my soapbox now.  So that's about all that's happened recently.  George is mad at a neighbor lady, who is a good friend of his Aunt Fanny, for spreading the rumors about his mother.  George doesn't like Eugene Morgan, and thinks that his mother should basically mourn Wilbur for the rest of her life.  The selfish git.

Day 8

Books left: 99
Current book: The Magnificent Ambersons, by Booth Tarkington

Finally the book is picking up a bit.  When George comes home from college the summer before his senior year, Aunt Fanny teases him by telling him there's a rumor that Lucy is engaged to Fred Kinney, a boy that George had a fight with in their younger days.  George is understandably upset at this.  At this point I actually feel sorry for George, and I hope the rumor isn't true.  He goes straight over to Lucy's house to ask her if she is engaged to Fred Kinney.  She tells him she's not, and so he asks her to marry him.  At first she says no, but eventually George convinces her to say she'll give him an answer the night before he leaves for his senior year.

Now, in among this, there's some mention about the expansion of the town and an automobile factory that is being erected.  I'm perfectly aware that these are supposed to be central themes of the book, but so far I don't really see how they come into play much.  Also, George's father is sick, but I'm not really concerned about it.  He's such a small character.  He's inconsequential.

George and Lucy write letters to each other while George is away at school.  Reading them really makes me wish people still wrote letters.  It's so much easier to say things in letters, than it is in a text or email, or in real life.  I thought about doing that thing where you write letters to people, but then don't actually mail them.  But then I thought, what's the point if you don't mail them?

Anyway, the night before George leaves for senior year, Lucy tells him she'll consent to being "almost engaged"  and that it's "too solemn to think about".  I don't really understand what she means by this.  My interpretation of it is that she doesn't like coming to terms with the fact that she's an adult now, and has to make adult decisions.  I like Lucy as a character, but it is kind of hard to believe that she's 20 or 21 at this point.  In my mind she seems about 17.

I'm about halfway through The Magnificent Ambersons now, so I've decided to start looking for the next book, The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy.  But it's not at the library!  I guess it's out of print, so I could order it from Borders.com or Amazon, but I really don't want to have to pay much more than $5 for any of these books, if I have to pay for them at all.  So I'm off to scour used book stores.  Hopefully I'll find it fast!

Day 6

Books left: 99
Current book:  The Magnificent Ambersons, by Booth Tarkington

The past few days have been really busy, so I haven't had time to post, but I have been reading, I promise!

I'm about a quarter of the way through the book now, and there's really not much action yet.  George is really into Lucy Morgan, but she's playing coy, which makes him mad.  George Amberson is so arrogant; I really don't like reading about him.  I wish the book was written from Lucy's point-of-view.  I think it would be more interesting.  Along this line, George actually does say one thing that I agree with:  "he did not care to read a book...about people he would not care to meet at his own dinner table."  So true!  This is why I don't like reading about you George!  I would pretty much constantly be rolling my eyes if I had the displeasure of dining with George Amberson.  This line made me think about characters that I do enjoy reading about.  They're mostly fun, frivolous, and intelligent; such as Becky Bloomwood (of Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series), Georgia Nicolson (of Louise Rennison's Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series), and Harry Potter (and Ron, and Hermione, and Neville, and Luna, etc).

Okay, back to the book.  Apparently George's Aunt Fanny likes Lucy's father, Eugene Morgan (who is a widower).  However, he keeps giving his attention to Isabel (George's mother, and Fanny's sister-in-law), which of course, makes Fanny mad.  Chapter nine ends with her eyes narrowed at Isabel "as if her mind engaged in a hopeful calculation".  So it looks like she's planning some sort of revenge.  Finally!  Some action!

So far in the book, we haven't learned much about George's father; just that he's plain, and quiet, and George is embarrassed by him, cause he's a Minafer, not an Amberson.  George's name is technically George Minafer, but he introduces himself as George Amberson, because he wants to be associated with his mother's family.  There was one thing about George's father (I can't even remember his name) that stuck out for me, cause it reminds me of my boyfriend, Ben.  "Minafer doesn't believe in money being spent.  He believes God made it to be invested and saved."  Ben and I were actually talking about money and saving yesterday.  He will do anything to save a buck, however, I will only go so far.  I'll research big purchases online, but clipping coupons and driving around to compare prices aren't worth it to me.  Mr. Minafer would not approve of my spend-thrift life.  Now I'm going to go use the rest of the gas in my car to drive to Whole Foods and find something for dinner, even though there's food in the house, and I have associate certificates for Bread Co, which means I could eat there for free.

Day 2

Current book: The Magnificent Ambersons
Books left: 99

I'm realizing that George Amberson, the protagonist, is a horribly entitled child.  Apparently everyone else in George's life realizes this too, as they "longed to see the day he would get his come-uppance:.  At age 12, George enters private school.  He proves to be quite intelligent, but still very bellicose.  At age 16, he's kicked out of prep school for "insolence and profanity".  The next couple chapters develop George as an arrogant youth.

When he comes home for Christmas break during his sophomore year of college, a party is held in his honor.  Here, while standing in the reception line with his mother, he feels an "uncomfortable feeling" of attraction towards her, which escalates to a moment of resentment.  I'm not sure, yet, if this is important or not.  At the party he meets a "queer-looking duck [man]" who is the uncle of two neighbor girls called The Sharons.  He also meets Miss Lucy Morgan, a pretty 19-year old girl who catches his eye.  George is quickly enamored of Lucy and insists that she must dance "every third dance" with him.  Throughout the evening he finds out that the queer-looking man is her father, and also an old friend of George's mother.  I think that he might be one of two young men that tried to woo her at the beginning of the book.  The other wooer was George's father.

I think that my high school English teacher, Mrs. Barton, would be proud of me.  I've noticed I'm reading more for the author's purpose than I ever did in high school.  I'm not sure I like this development.  I have quite a lot of notes written down for the first six chapters of this book, but now I've realized that I didn't really use all that many of my notes.  I think from now on I'm going to read just for the story, and only write things down that really catch my attention.  I guess I'm still not completely sure what I want this blog to be.

Day 1

Books left: 99
Current book: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington, 268 pages.

From the back of the book: "Winner of the Pulitzer Prize when it was first published in 1918, The Magnificent Ambersons chronicles the changing fortunes of three generations of an American dynasty.  The protagonist...is George Amberson Minafer, the spoiled and arrogant grandson of the founder of the family's magnificence.  Eclipsed by a new breed of developers, financiers, and manufacturers, George descends from the Midwestern aristocracy to the working class.

I haven't had any time to read today, so I'm still only a couple chapters in, but I've got a lot of notes written down in my new Paperchase Book Journal, from Borders.
The first chapter describes the changing fashion and culture at the time, the late 1800s.  It makes me wish I lived about a hundred and fifty years ago, and also makes me wonder if people will say that about our time when they read "historical fiction" in the 2100s.  One humorous quote that I liked about the clothing fashions was about the invention of the "dude"-a "dandy" who wore his "trousers tight as stockings, dagger-pointed shoes, a spoon 'Derby' [hat], a single-breasted coat called a 'Chesterfield',...a heavy, puffed cravat or a tiny bow fit for a dolls braids."  He also describes men's & ladies' hair fashions, saying that it was a "hairier day".  There's a good quote that Tarkington uses when describing houses that "lack pretentiousness".  He says that "Whatever does not pretend at all has style enough".  I love this quote, and think that it means you should be true to your own style, and not try to be anyone else.  Because people will like you for who you are, and will not like the person you're trying to be.

I haven't quite finished chapter two, so I don't think I'll comment much on it yet, but so far it's describing George Amberson's childhood.  I must say, he reminds me a lot of Dudley Dursley.

Also, I tend to type in the style of whatever I'm reading at the time, so for the next few days or so, be prepared for some eloquent, turn-of-the-century-type writing.

The Beginning

Earlier today, Kristin turned me on to a blog called The Displaced English Major.  The writer originally planed on reading all 100 books from The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list in two years.  But, as Kristin said, she's not doing very well.  I've always wanted to read a Best Novels list, and as I looked over the blog I thought, "I could do so much better than this."  So I decided to start reading, and to chronicle my journey.

Now, there are two lists on the 100 Best Novels list.  I'm reading The Board's List, but there are also some books from The Reader's List I'd like to read.  I'm not putting any time constraints or anything on myself.  Like the other blogger, I'm going to start at the bottom, with #100.  I'm not sure if I'm actually going to make it through all the books on the list, but I'm going to at least attempt all the books on the list.  Luckily, it doesn't contain any Dickens, but it does contain three Faulkner books.  I still maintain that William Faulkner was the worst author ever to write, and in my mind The Sound and The Fury belongs at the top of a list of the worst books ever written.  But...we'll see how it goes.

Today I went to the library and checked out the first book, The Magnificent Ambersons, by Booth Tarkington.  I've read a couple chapters already, but I'm pretty tired, so I'll post about it tomorrow.

Wish me luck!