Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence (1928)

Gearing up for Banned Books Week, I thought I'd better get to this overdue post on a now-favorite banned book of mine, Lady Chatterley's Lover.

My sorority alumnae book club selected this title--okay, drew it out of a hat (who would have honestly picked this) because I suggested it for the mix--as an alternative to 50 Shades of Grey. It was one of the best book clubs we've had! The conversations were honest and more uninhibited than I would have expected for a group of four women all at very different stages of their lives. 

I wish I had written this post sooner (we met back in May) because we did a great job of discussing the similarities and differences between Lady Chatterley and a lot of other books. Two of us who did read 50 Shades talked at length (ad nauseam, really) about how damned similar we found the title's namesake, Lady Constance Chatterley and the other horrible character, Anastasia. Sadly, I don't remember the legitimate conversations we had other than that. 

There was a lot of talk about social and class commentary, and the differing and frequently changing view points of each character. The book had many characters at various class points--the Lord and Lady, the nurse, the townspeople, the gamekeeper--which created a complex presentation of persons, complicated even further by their altering beliefs. For instance, Connie goes on a tirade about the miners, but then can be very sympathetic and supportive of the little people who work on her estate. Many characters in the book show the same inconsistencies, regardless of their place in the world. I marked page 171, where a deep display of lower-class hatred appeared. The miners are less human and more "creature,"being referred to as "men not men, but animals of coal and iron and clay," the "fauna of the elements" and "weird inhuman beauty of minerals."

Mostly, we talked about how interesting the whole concept of the book is: a novel about sex, 

Watchmen (1986-87)

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

A graphic novel originally published in 12 comic book issues, it is also a movie I saw (and hated) at the midnight premiere my senior year of college. Basically all I remembered was an awkward and seemingly pointless sex scene in a weird machine.

Well, that was in this, too, unfortunately. I just didn't hate it as much this time.

Two close friends of mine said I absolutely had to read this--not only because it's a great book, but also because it's exactly where I should start a dive into comic books and graphic novels.

I hadn't read a graphic novel since my adolescent lit class, and this one was definitely a different experience than even those. There was just so much going on. At some points three stories were happening at once: one in the captions, one in the images, and one in the secondary captions. (Obviously, I lack the proper terminology to discuss this in a scholarly manner.) But I did like it. And although I didn't try to critically read the novel--my film/game/super hero/comic genius friend had all kinds of smart things to tell me about it--I did snag a few bits I really enjoyed.

Love this song reflected in the ad

"The dusk reeks of fornication and bad consciences."

"I like electronic music. That's a very superhero-y thing to like, I suppose, isn't it? [...] Oh, and I've heard some interesting new music from Jamaica... a sort of hybrid between electronic music and reggae. It's a fascinating study in the new musical forms generated when a largely pre-technological culture is given access to modern recording techniques without the technological preconceptions that we've allowed to accumulate, limiting our vision. It's called dub music. You'd like it, I'm sure."

"If somebody wants to call me the world's best-groomed man, then hey, that's okay too."

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes."
[who watches the watchmen.]

Banned Books Week 2012

September 30 - October 6, 2012 is Banned Books Week - and as an English major and lover of literature, this is a week-long holiday!

My parents have absolutely no idea what it is--why, where, when, and what books have been banned are all unknown to them. Although I could ramble off a list of banned books when they asked me, and talk a little about who challenges books, I'm still no scholar. I'm hoping that my knowledge of the subject will grow (as I hope awareness of the cause will grow, too).

A number of books we consider classics have been banned from, or challenged by, libraries and schools. This list below includes banned books that are currently ranked in the "Best 100" and "Rival 100" novels lists. They're many books that you read in high school and college. Books that you've always said you should read, but maybe haven't. Maybe knowing they have a sordid past will spice them up and peak your interest again. Perhaps enough to read one in support of Banned Books Week.


The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald 
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger 
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck 
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee 
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker 
Ulysses, by James Joyce 
Beloved, by Toni Morrison 
The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding 
1984, by George Orwell 
Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov 
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck 
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller 
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley 
Animal Farm, by George Orwell 
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway 
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner 
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway 
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston 
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison 
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison 
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell 
Native Son, by Richard Wright 
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey 
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut 
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway 
The Call of the Wild, by Jack London 
Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin 
All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren 
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien 
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair 
Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence 
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess 
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin 
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote 
The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie 
Sophie's Choice, by William Styron 
Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence 
Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut 
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles 
Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs 
Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh 
Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence 
The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer 
Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller 
An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser 
Rabbit, Run, by John Updike 

The books in green are ones that I've read. The highlighted Vonnegut novel is the one I've selected to read this year for Banned Books Week, thanks to Out of Print's book club. 

You can find Banned Books Week on the web via Facebook and at their official site. Visiting ala.org/bbooks will take you to the American Library Association's website with even more links and information regarding the history of Banned Books Week, and the banning of challenging of books in the United States. 

Reading List: The Summer of Dangerous Reading

"The Summer of Dangerous Reading"
A reading list from More magazine, July/August 2012

1 | Live for Love

[Have an Affair]
Motherland by Amy Sohn

[Follow Your Heart]
The Right-Hand Shore by Christopher Tilghman
Before the Plan by Luisita Lopez Torregrosa

[Get Out of Your Rut]
The Forever Marriage by Ann Bauer
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

2 | Take Center Stage

[Rub Shoulders with an Icon]
Jack 1939 by Francine Mathews
Marilyn by Lois Banner
Dreaming in French by Alice Kaplan

3 | Rock the Home Front

[Fix Your Family]
The Red House by Mark Haddon
The World Without You by Joshua Henkin

[Rewrite the Past]
Elsewhere, California by Dana Johnson
The Secret Life of Objects by Dawn Raffel
Lizz Free or Die by Lizz Winstead

4 | Do a 180 on Your Life

[Switch Careers]

Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story by Dame Daphne Sheldrick

Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson

[Indulge in Some Villainy]

I, Iago by Nicole Galland

[Flirt with Disaster]

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Inside by Alix Ohlin

The Pleasures of Men by Kate Williams

[Find Your Inner Beast]

The Lion is In by Delia Ephron

Shout Out: Where the Wild Things Are

Unless you had incredibly sensitive, alarmist parents or care providers growing up, I'm pretty sure it was impossible to get through childhood without reading (or being read) Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.

Sendak died in May 2012, which lead to a flurry of online postings and remembrances of the rather edgy results of his interviews. He was gruff and sarcastic, and often lacked a filter. 

His interviews with Stephen Colbert in "Grim Colberty's Tales" are a wonderful example, as is this Buzzfeed compilation of his 20 greatest quotes - including: "Fuck them is what I say. I hate those e-books. They cannot be the future. They may well be. I will be dead. I won't give a shit." Bet'cha didn't expect that from a children's author. 

Perhaps my favorite mashup of Sendak's books and beliefs comes from a reading of Where the Wild Things Are by Christopher Walken (or a very talented impersonator). 

Because we all know Sendak would agree that kids are jerks. And that Max character could use a psychological profile. 

Words: ODO addition

Today I read about the latest additions to the Oxford Dictionaries Online, including "lolz"and "soul patch" and a "new sense" of the word "vote" (interesting in an election year... more on that later). When I first heard about this, I complained specifically about the new word "ridic" because it's just a shortened version of ridiculous. The counter argument from my new-word informant was that "memo" was just a shortened version of memorandum, and the only person who still used memorandums just died (Helen Gurley Brown). And then I realized I really do enjoy using "legit" instead of legitimate. But still... who would ever write "ridic?" It just looks ridiculous.

Answer: Stephen King.

"But that was ridic, as the kids said."

11/22/63
hardcover edition, page 330

Moving on from .edu

I recently inherited some motivation - something I was severely lacking most of this year, really until I revamped this blog. But this last week really kicked it into high gear: I started an online book club (fingers crossed that we get it together!) and I am attempting to read The Hobbit in order to join yet another book club that a friend of mine is starting here in Des Moines. But the true testament to my new stimulus is this:

While home over the weekend for my grandma's 91st birthday, I felt compelled to pick up these boxes. They contain a few books and 90% of my notes, research, papers, tests, and other odds and ends from my lifetime of English classes. Seriously, a few things from Heelan, a couple binders from Drake, and a whole box of Tech stuff.

What I've learned is that, even after English majors graduate, it's hard to let it all go--especially after a stint in grad school, even an admittedly a short one. It's hard not to think that maybe I'll need these notes again, that maybe some day I'll have the opportunity to continue research or publish an article, or even that maybe one day I'll want my old tests for teaching my own courses. Basically, it's hard to give up on something you invested so much time, effort, emotion (and money!) into making happen.

When I graduated from Drake, I knew I was going to grad school someday, so I kept everything. Leaving Tech was hurried, and I had mixed feelings, so when I left I boxed up everything English and smacked a big ol' [SUX] on about four boxes, to indicate that those things needn't follow me to Des Moines. Over a year later, I'm ready to peak back at the world I left do a little selective notebook tossing and book selling. I mean, realistically, the notes I took on the math-equation-book-explanations that I can't even remember the name of, are never going to be useful ever again. And, well, I only need so many (zero) books by Jerome McGann.

Although, I do have one entirely open shelf in one of my bookcases... and bibliography was kind of interesting... maybe I can justify A Critique of Modern Textual Criticism...

In the Works

I stopped by the library today and both of the books I had requested were there. This was unexpected-- I didn't plan for either of them to be available for a couple weeks, at least.
But all 1,542 pages were waiting for me.

Game of Thrones and 11/22/63 ... it's on. I bought my multi-colored sticky notes and I'm ready to try reading two beasts of burden at once.

But don't worry! I'll try to post in the meantime. Book club last week has me rarin' to recap, and there is a backlog of books I can revamp and repost from the previous blog setup.

Wish me luck!