A brief introduction to Wise Blood

Good morning! Let me be the first to welcome you to the month of June.

 Many people are excited because the month of June marks the first full month of summer. They will all be outside working in the yard or catching a game at the local ballpark. Most of the kids are home from school and vacation season has finally begun. As readers we have an extra reason to be happy for June. This marks the second month of our ‘100 Novel Challenge’ giving us the opportunity to read another of the greatest novels of all time, Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor.

 Wise Blood was published on May 15, 1952 marking the beginning of a short but powerful writing career. The publishing of the story of Hazel Motes didn’t attract a great deal of positive attention at first. One of the first critics even went as far as to say that it was the “work of insanity”. Another critic wondered “if the struggle to get from one sentence to the next is worthwhile”. Reactions from Flannery’s family were not any better. Regina, Flannery’s mom, fell asleep on page 9. A cousin of hers ordered advance copies to send to all of her friends (the local priests) without having read a word of the book. When she finally received her copy some say she was so upset by what she read that she spent a week in bed and then sent apologies to everyone she had sent a copy to. Another older relative simply sent her a note stating, ‘I do not like your book’.

 That first wave of poor reviews was followed by reviews that gave the exact opposite opinion of the book. The New York Herald Tribune Book Review wrote that “Flannery O’Connor, in her first novel, has taken on the difficult subject of religious mania, and succeeds in telling a tale at once delicate and grotesque.” Newsweek called O’Connor “the most naturally gifted of the youngest generation of American novelists”. 

These mixed reviews show the complexity of the book we are about to read. If you are one who likes to surface read a book without looking for greater understanding you may finish this read shaking your head wondering what sort of drugs O’Connor put into her body. If you are willing to read for understanding though, you will find a deep and powerful message.

 I look forward to another great month of reading with you.

 Paper version.  I cannot find a Kindle version to link to.
 

#100 - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - - let the book club begin!

Drama critic Christopher Small noted that Frankenstein is "uniquely new to every fresh generation of readers" but that it is also "familiar to them before they begin to read". For many of us this is true. We will be reading a book for the first time, but the story of Frankenstein has been around our entire lives in one way or another.  With each turn of the page we will go deeper into a world that we have never been before, yet we will be doing so alongside characters we have known since preschool.
As we move through this book you may be surprised to find that there are no hunchback assistants or angry villagers with torches chasing the monster through the country side. These images have been added over the course of 100 years of movie adaptations, graphic novels and all sorts of other pop culture. You may also be surprised to find that after 100 years of Hollywood the central characters and heart of the story has remained unchanged. These cultural icons in the public consciousness are almost identical to the ones that can be found in Mary Shelley's 1818 original copy.

As we progress through this tale it will be exciting to see what portions are as we expect them to be based on our film and pop culture knowledge and what portions shock us because of how different they are from what we know.  

A few words before we begin

As we begin this 8 year 4 month journey I would like to say a couple of words about how I plan to move forward.  

Each month we will all be reading a novel together.  Of course, we all have different schedules and responsibilities so we will not be reading at the exact same time, which could lead to some spoilers if not handled well.  Because of this I plan to spend the first half of each month on author, background, literary and historical information.  These posts will give some information about the book but will focus on bigger picture topics.  The second half of the month will be on the text itself.  This will allow time for all of us to be adequately progressing through the novel before information from the book starts coming out.  I would hate to spoil a great book for someone.  I probably will not be able to stay away from everything for the slower readers though, and discussions will be taking place throughout the month in the comment sections.  If something is being discussed that could ruin a plot twist I will place the text “spoiler alert” on the post or comment so you can decide if you want to read it or not.  I ask other commenters to do the same.

My goal is to post 3 times per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and I should stick to this pretty closely.  I tell you this so that you can hold me accountable if I get behind.  Also, I enjoy research immensely so if there is ever a topic that you would like me to cover, or feel I have not covered deep enough, let me know.

There are only 2 rules for this book club blog.  First is that language should be appropriate for all ages.  I don’t think this will be a problem but I want to say something now just in case.  I have run into some potty mouths before and I hate deleting comments for any reason.  Secondly, have fun.  

With that, I give you Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus.

The greatest novels ever written

What are the greatest novels ever written?  If this question was asked in a group of 100 people we would get 100 different answers.  Some people would include books that others wouldn’t even consider because they touched them deeply.  Others would list books that they had never even read knowing that they had a large impact on the world.  We could spend the rest of our lives debating the topic, but the answer can never truly be known because the list really would be different for each person. 

For example, I love the book Pilgrim’s Progress.  I love its allegorical method of telling a story much larger than itself.  I love the story of the man (John Bunyan) who wrote the book from his jail cell.  Some of you reading this though may hate the book.  You may find it cheesy how a man name “Christian” is traveling through things such as the “slough of despond”.  You may even find its Christian message offensive. 

This book would be on MY list, but it may be nowhere close to being on YOURS.

This is why lists such as the one done by Times or BBC are so important.  They allow us to see what the greatest books are for our generation.  They allow us to see beyond our personal tastes and reactions into the greater scope of literary works.  Sometimes these works, that we may never have found otherwise change us forever.  They allow us to see the world in a way previously foreign to us.

That is the purpose of this blog. 

Starting on May 1, 2012 I am going to start reading the 100 greatest novels.  I am going to start with #100 and work my way down to #1 reading one book a month.  No matter how busy life gets and how full my schedule is adding one more book during the course of a month shouldn’t be too bad. 

I would like to invite you to join along.  Doing this together we can go together through some of the great books of all time.  We can discuss what’s happening in them with the characters and the setting.  We can take a look at the author and what made them tick. 

During the course of the month we can become near experts on a great literary work.

May 1, 2012 we will start our journey with #100.

 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein