Book Marks

* Update (9/13) *: Welcome, Alarming News readers and thanks, Karol, for tagging me!  You provide the needed motivation for me to properly finish this annotated list. Hope you like the fare.

Oh, boy.  Blog-buddy Irina has "tagged" me to provide unique answers to "the book meme," that is, about books that stand out in my experience. Where to start? There are so many that didn't make my list.  There is so much to say about the ones that did.

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1.    One book that changed your life
        Whittaker Chambers, Witness

        * Update (04/2007) * Please, Gentle Reader, read my post of April 1, 2007 commemorating Chambers's 106th birthday, "True Whit - Part One (Homo Rei Publicae)".
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2.    One book you have read more than once
        Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

        Anna Karenina may be the wiser and more economically written of Tolstoy's two (two!) magna opera, but nothing I've yet come across knocks War and Peace out of the top slot for must-read modern books (as opposed to #3, below). Although, granted, I haven't undertaken Proust's Remembrance….

        While we were teenagers, a friend set out to read War and Peace before we graduated high school.  Unfortunately I mistook his aloof determination for a species of arrogance. My mistake. For what I discovered about 10 years later, when I finally picked it up in a college lit. course, is that War and Peace is concerned with vital questions every man should concern himself with when he's a very young man: whether to devote one's best efforts to mysticism or mundane affairs, why and how to perform military service, and when, whom, and how to marry. I read it again within a year (this time intimately familiar with the characters) and found it at least twice as engaging, entertaining, and elevating.

        Choicest Quote (from Pierre's diary):

        Human sciences dissect everything in order to comprehend it, kill everything in order to examine it.
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        btw, At the semester's end, on the instructor's evaluation form -- brackets and all --  I wrote, "[Comparative Literature] dissects everything in order to comprehend it, kills everything in order to examine it." Heh.

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3.    One book you would want on a desert island
        (tie) The Holy Bible (King James Version)
        The Koren Bible

        Why? Simply because either one assures that, although deserted, I am not alone.

        Choicest quote:

        Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak! For I am only a youth." And the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth,' for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak.  Be not afraid of them. For I am with you to deliver you," says the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:6-8)

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4.    One book that made you laugh
        Honoré de Balzac, The Duchess of Langeais

        This novella, little known among English readers, has few comic moments.  It's a romantic melodrama with many a lesson on how to avoid -- or survive -- what in the American idiom we call, “Good Lovin' Gone Bad.” But one section of it made me cackle like a loon, like someone who is, let's just say, still bitter after all these years.

        Choicest Quote:

        Religion, Love, and Music, aren't they the three-fold expression of the same fact: the need for expansion out of which is wrought every noble soul?

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5.    One book that made you cry
        William Styron, Sophie's Choice

        This isn't the only novel to embrace the twin inheritances of American innocence and Holocaust memory (e.g., The Devil's Arithmetic (novel; movie) and From a Sealed Room come to mind), but Styron's masterpiece is and will remain for years to come the genre's standard.

        That said, I admit a sentimental interest in an appreciative reckoning with all of Styron's œuvre, and in particular with Sophie's Choice. The narrator and plot approximate my mother's fresh arrival from the Protestant heartland to New York City and her own rough introduction to certain aspects of New York Jewish society.  Thus for me Sophie's Choice snatches from oblivion details of a bygone New York which otherwise I'd only heard tell of -- heard in fact around the time Styron was conjuring his novel -- at my mama's knee. In addition, he wrote another of his novels just a couple of blocks from where I grew up.  And for reasons I won't go into here, an Emily Dickinson poem he inserts near the end of Sophie's Choice served as a most apt tribute to my grandmother at her interment.

        I had the temerity once to track Styron down by telephone. You have an idea why, Gentle Reader, but don't ask me how! It was entirely legal, if (despite being handled with discretion) not quite ethical. Burdened with a need to confide certain thoughts to him and to try to elicit some (any) response, my only calculation was to get his address so I could mail him a letter. Little did I know that he would answer his own phone! The astonishment nearly took my breath away. Clueless as to this stranger's motives, Styron was naturally on guard. I sensed a degree of reticence in him so encompassing that no matter how much I professed my most unprofessional interest in placing the call, my intrusion into his domestic solitude seemed to me to leave him traceably wounded!  I was thrilled and mortified all at once, while he was, I fear, mostly mortified. After a brief introduction I cut to the quick and asked him if I could send him the letter I'd written.

        He said Yes. I said Thank You and Goodbye.

        I sent it. He didn’t reply.

        Despite subsequent raw disappointment, I knew that that was as it should be.  For me -- and for you, Gentle Reader -- let it serve as a lesson in the high degree of delicacy decency dictates when approaching an author whose work impacts you. And, frankly, a lesson in the slim chances that one’s gesture will amount to anything more than a cursory one.

        Over time I’ve become more exacting of my erstwhile idol (and of myself, too, let's hope!). For example, that he's placed his Albert Camus-derived opposition to the death penalty in the service of appealing the murder conviction of racist, anti-American cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal I find unconscionable. Still, Styron imposed on himself almost Flaubertian standards for his rich short story trilogy, A Tidewater Morning. I once read that his ultimate project is a novel set in WWII in the Pacific (where he served during that conflict). As with Sophie's Choice and the short stories, he intends to revisit a pivotal time from his youth. I've also read that his health has declined sharply in recent years.  For the duration of his remaining tasks, whose struggles are but the accumulated riches of love and loyalty, I wish him and his family all strength and comfort.

        Choicest Quote:   "What's Owswitch?"
       
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6.    One book you wish had been written
        (tie) Albert Camus, Islam's Existential Threat To the West (2002)
        Abraham Lincoln, My Country at 100, My Life at 67 (1876)

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[6a. One book you wish you had written (as I initially misread #6)]
        Charles Baudelaire, Flowers of Evil

        Dandified bohemians and ruthless revolutionaries are entirely at cross-purposes except for one profound, shared trait: each embrace and employ evil and in turn become enmeshed in it. Baudelaire's mighty verses conjure evil's power, corruption, and cruelty -- and its fascinating, terrible beauty.

        Knowing, as I do, a bit about bohemians and more than a bit about revolutionaries, I will say that no poet renders vivid more than does Baudelaire what I had become enmeshed in -- had become -- in the course of that most seductive and elusive (and illusory) radical attachment. Whittaker Chambers's Witness (of #1, above) is a testament of one man's agonized return from the spiritual brink to which Communism leads men; Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil is, for me, a vision of the brink itself.

        Choicest quote:

        Les sanglots des martyrs et des suppliciés
        Sont une symphonie enivrante sans doute,
        Puisque, malgré le sang que leur volupté coûte,
        Les cieux ne s'en sont point encore rassasiés!
        -- from "Le Reniement de Saint Pierre"

        (The sobs of martyrs and tortured men
        Make an intoxicating symphony, for sure,
        For despite the cost in blood of such pleasure,
        The heavens haven't yet had their fill of them!
        -- from "The Denial of Saint Peter"; trans. by JMK)

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7.    One book you wish had never been written
        V. I. Lenin, What is to Be Done?

Had there never been What Is To Be Done?, there would never have been a Bolshevik revolution in Russia -- and maybe never anywhere else. Q.E.D.

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8.    One book you're currently reading
        (concurrently) Allegra Goodman, Kaaterskill Falls
       The Book of Elijah
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9.    One book you've been meaning to read
        Adin Rabbi Steinsaltz, The Talmud, The Steinsaltz Edition: A Reference Guide
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Five other blogs "tagged" to answer "the book meme":

Dreams Into Lightning (Asher)
[Talk about provocative and engaging answers.  Go see for yourself!]

Roncesvalles (The Editrix)
[The voice of Germany in the West's 21st Century fight for survival.  A must-read blog!]

Pearlies of Wisdom (Pearl)
[Pearl has respectfully declined, but you should go read her blog anyway!]

Mad Zionist (MZ)
[His answers are in the Comments, below]

Crossing the Rubicon2 (Gail)
[Gail's thoughtful, tasteful posting makes her a "go-to" site to find out whether news is good for the Jews.  Soon we'll get to see another side of her.]

Free Thoughts (Stefania)
[One of the b-sphere's most energetic, dedicated bloggers she at first declined, but then said she's in.  I can't wait for her answers.  Now, that's Italian!  (Update (8/21) - Stefania's answers are in! see Comment #23)]

Comments

[Irina]

That's an interesting list! I'm looking forward to your explanations!

[JMK]

Thanks, Irina! This "meme" is a very good occasion to organize some thoughts that have been accumulating. I'll acknowledge you when I make the updates, too.

[Irina]

I really, really enjoyed War and Peace as well, although for some reason I identified more with thoughts in Anna Karenina, perhaps because I was older when I read it.

In what way did Witness change your life?

[Madzionist]

Am I supposed to answer the questions, too? Please explain, as I'm having trouble thinking since finding out that Olmert is planning to sue for peace with Hezballah and retreat.

[JMK]

MZ,
If this isn't your speed right now (esp. with the potentially FUBAR consequences of the Lebanon campaign), please forgive me. I blame it on my curiosity to learn more about what makes you tick. If you'd like to pass, or take a rain check, that's perfectly OK.
-JMK

[JMK]

Irina,
I've been meaning to write an article-length post about Witness ever since I started this blog. So please bear with me for the moment as I distill key thoughts about it for this post. I may post comments on it last of all the titles here -- I must get it right!
pleadingly,
JMK

[Madzionist]

JMK, here I go:

Book that changed my life more than any other: Tanach.

Book I've read more than once: See above.

Book I'd want on desert Island: see above.

Book that made me laugh: I'd say Catch-22 was biggest belly laugher I've read.

Book that made me cry: Old Yeller, of course. Read it several times as a kid and it just made me bawl.

Book I wish was written: "How islam was wiped off the face of the earth"

Book I wish I wrote: Foundation series by Asimov. Brilliant and very entertaining.

Book I wish never was written: Koran

Book currntly reading: "Do-Gooders", Mona Charon

Book I've been meaning to read: Hmmm...The one I've been meaning to right.

[JMK]

MZ,

Thank you, thank you!

As always, reading anything you write spurs me on to embrace Judaism -- with the sure, warm-handed clasp of Reb Kahane...

Wow, it never occurred to me to imagine the Koran never being written...

Truth be told: I never cared for Catch-22...

Never got around to Old Yeller, but when I was 11 I did help my mom get through putting our own dog down. It hurt me, sure, but I was stoic. Her, it took a piece out of.

Mona Charon: I love her prescription for escaping poverty: 1) graduate high school, 2) get a job, any job, 3) get married before having kids.

[Irina]

JMK: Looking forward to your post/comments! : ) Take all the time you need!

[Asher - Dreams Into Lightning]

JMK, I'm not ignoring you! Got your tag, I'm working on the list. Shavua tov.

[JMK]

It will be a privilege to read your choices, Asher, as it is a privilege to read your well-tended and tendered blog posts.

[Pearl]

Jeremiah: wonderful list you have. And I thank you for tagging me, but I gracefully have to bow out of this one. Isn't it ironic that someone who's worked so many years in the publishing industry, and who majored in English many years ago can't even complete this assignment? (I haven't done a lot of pleasure reading in the past LONG LONG while, and thus don't have much to offer. But I will look into some of your selections.)

[Asher - Dreams Into Lightning]

JMK, you are too kind. Anyway, it's up.

[JMK]

Can anyone be "too kind"?

[Asher - Dreams Into Lightning]

JMK, there's a tragic update to my list. I mentioned a book by Israeli novelist David Grossman. David's son Uri Grossman was reported killed yesterday.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1154525864908

[JMK]

Pearl,
Of all people... (sigh). I'll keep looking for your pearls of wisdom, though, in your words and in your time.

Asher,
I'm terribly sorry to hear of this priceless loss for the Grossmans, for the IDF, for Israel. Perhaps because his novel moved you so, your empathy extends especially to the father?

But frankly -- bearing in mind the Israeli "antiwar" literature that emerged after the 1982 war -- I'm suspicious of the ironic tone of the news mention ("son of peace activist killed" etc.) and I anticipate with reservation the celebrated author's future statments or writings related to this war.

His 1980s book about Palestinians, The Yellow Wind, helped shape my anti-zionist sympathies in the 1990s. Among "antiwar" literature re 1982 I'm familiar with Dov Yermiya's My War Diary and Jacobo Timerman's The Longest War. Also the movie Cup Final.

(Am not happy to send shots across anybody's bow in a "war" of words - but that's my honest, initial reaxn.)

[Asher - Dreams Into Lightning]

I read (or rather, started) "The Yellow Wind" shortly after finishing "See Under: Love" and found it disappointing. Oddly enough, I think TYW made me more pro-Zionist.

[JMK]

Heh. I've got my copy in front of me right now. The nitty-gritty "ordinary" details are important, but their presentation or "angle" concerns me very much.

I'm sure you have a lot more to say on the subject... :)

[Gail]

Thank you for tagging me. Terrific meme! I will take some time to think and post my responses in the next day or two.

[JMK]

Hi, Gail! So glad you're "in". Looking forward to your picks.

[GM Roper]

I too wish Lincoln had written "My Country at 100, My Life at 67 (1876)"

Of the rest, I can glean some great reading methinks. Thanks!

[JMK]

Hi GM,
So glad you find some nourishment here.

[JMK]

Stefania's answers:

One book that changed your life
There are many of them. Two in particular: "Women of Algiers in their Apartments" Author: Assia Djebar and Karl Popper's Thoughts.

One book you have read more than once
None. I like surprise. If I read a book, reading it again would be a waste of time!

One book you would want on a desert island
A book of love poems. Don't know which, but one who speaks about love and romance.

One book that made you laugh
Fantozzi, an Italian comic character

One book that made you cry
Titanic

One book you wish had been written
Cannot say! I am not that good in writing books!

One book you wish had never been written
The Manifesto, Karl Marx

One book you're currently reading
For lack of time, I quit reading books since two years. But will do again very soon!

One book you've been meaning to read
I have no idea at all...