With our (rescheduled) January meeting a few days away, perhaps we should start throwing out suggestions for future reads; what would you like the Neanderthals to tackle next month (and beyond)?
I'll fire the first shot . . . I'd be interested in reading On The Road or A Clockwork Orange.
Any strong requests or recommendations?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Lumpy on "Why you should read All The King's Men"
I finally made time to put down a few thoughts regarding All The King's Men. If you have read about it, you know that it is about Governor Willie Stark. However, it is really about Stark's Assistant, Jack Burden, and how Burden gets along in Stark's world.
Penn Warren's gift is, like Nabakov, the sound and feel of language. His other gift, and just as extraordinary, is his ability to describe the indescribable...finding words for feelings, places, and people that we all struggle to communicate about. See if you can find better descriptions for rural farmland, childhood innocence/growing up, adult struggles with priorities, and more. These physical descriptions make the characters vivid to the point that you think Warren must have really known these people. In turn, we realize we know someone with each and every trait.
These achievements are why the book appears on every "TOP 100 Novels" list Here's a brief synopsis of the scenes or parts of the book:
Penn Warren's gift is, like Nabakov, the sound and feel of language. His other gift, and just as extraordinary, is his ability to describe the indescribable...finding words for feelings, places, and people that we all struggle to communicate about. See if you can find better descriptions for rural farmland, childhood innocence/growing up, adult struggles with priorities, and more. These physical descriptions make the characters vivid to the point that you think Warren must have really known these people. In turn, we realize we know someone with each and every trait.
These achievements are why the book appears on every "TOP 100 Novels" list Here's a brief synopsis of the scenes or parts of the book:
- OPENING: Incredible language describing Governor Stark returning to his North Louisiana town and home on a press tour to get photos for promotion.
- FLASHBACK TO EARLY WILLIE: How Jack Burden met The Boss and how the Boss became a dynamic politician, and rose through the system to become Governor. Great scenes in here about a return to Burden's hometown to see The Judge. You get little bits and pieces of Jack's childhood with Adam and Anne Stanton (and a Perfect Summer), but not the full, engaging story that comes later. Those childhood/falling in love scenes are some of the best reading I've ever done.
- CASS MASTERN: Burden's research project for his History PhD.
Burden's research into his Judge Irwin, his family friend (and later we find out...way more), where Burden finds Irwin's checkered past for the Boss to leverage. - Burden's trip West to ponder bad news. This section has the Perfect Summer flashback mentioned earlier. Brilliant writing.
Burden's return to Louisiana, the trip home to burn the Judge that goes wrong. - The end. The conclusion.
Happy Reading!!
Michael
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