I've been bad - better in 2012!

A happy and healthy holidays to you both! I know I've been the terribly weak link in this badass book club - forgive me? I'm resolved to be better - resolute in fact, and hence one of my resolutions is to finish 28 books in 2012 - a little over a book every two weeks. I've made a tentative goal list, pasted below in no particular order - some new ones I received for Christmas, the next in two series I'm reading, some recommendations and classics I've never gotten around to, and a few unread by my favorite authors (Steinbeck, Austen, Woolf, Fitzgerald). It's still in the planning stages, so you guys could either join me for the whole shebang as is, or I can alter this to add in things y'all want to read. Let me know what you think! I know it's ambitious, but I think it's doable!


Hope you both had an amaaazing break. I'm so not looking forward to getting back to the grind. Also resolving to travel more - visits with each other in the future? Skype dates at the least.


Cait's 28 in 2012


Fiction
1. The Marriage Plot, Jeffrey Eugenides
2. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
3. A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
4. Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Stieg Larsson
5. The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach
6. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
7. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Aimee Bender
8. Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart
9. The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood
10. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
11. White Teeth, Zadie Smith
12. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
13. Stardust, Neil Gaiman
14. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
15. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell
16. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
17. To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
18. Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
19. Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
20. The Beautiful and The Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald
21. 1984, George Orwell


Non-Fiction/Memoir
22. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy Kaling
23. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, Patton Oswalt
24. Moonwalking with Einstein, Joshua Froer
25. The Psycopath Test, Jon Ronson
26. As Always, Julia, Julia Child
27. A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage
28. In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson

Woahhh...

...holy come together story!! I'm not finished with the book yet, more on this later. How are you two coming along?

I don't know

Here I am in my pajamas with a lingering hangover, pissed off because Netflix is down, but yes, this seems like as good a time as any to try to answer your question about the Mexican drug war. Needless to say I feel a little ridiculous presuming to have an opinion at all (see above). But one thing this blog has been making me consider again, maybe for the first time since college, is that it's okay to form opinions and ask big questions about situations we're removed from, because those questions can bring us closer to understanding. It's like what you're saying, Megan, about stepping back to see connections. On the one hand, I'm trying to not feel guilty about a night like this, for example -- when I'm sitting on my lazy ass just enjoying myself while people are killed in Mexico. I want, like anyone else anywhere, to just be happy and delight in the small things. But on the other hand, I know how important it is to remember that we are all connected. I think it was the Boston Globe article you linked to that said calling it "Mexico's drug war" is misleading, because so much money/drugs flow between our two countries. It's not so far away from us. So my biggest question is, how do I balance those two -- trying to be happy and also remaining connected to the people in this world who aren't so lucky?

To answer your question, it seems that it is important to crack down on the gangs and bring an end to the violence. But that's only my perspective from this comfortable, safe spot in my bed. Could there be a better way than how the president is going about it? Sounds like it. I wouldn't want to say that someone shouldn't stand up to evil/injustice just because it might cause more trouble before it's over. But honestly, I'm uncomfortable with the consequences of that choice. Megan, what do you think? Has your opinion changed since being there?

As for Bolano, I don't think he meant to tie things up at all. I base this opinion solely on the other novel of his that I read, The Savage Detectives, which he did finish and which still had a lot of loose ends/unanswered questions at the end. I think that was his style and also shows something about his worldview -- maybe he was okay with not having the answers, as long as he could ask the questions. But I agree that maybe he was trying to show us those previously-mentioned connections, which many of his own characters in 2666 don't see.

Other things going on in your life that are exhausting your attention?? I love that we started this book club again but in addition to reading I think we definitely need to carve some time out to chat and bitch and moan about all our worldly woes. Like for example I have three desperately itchy mosquito bites on my right ankle that are driving me crazy and distracting my from enjoying the E! channel.

I just started up on section five I think it is, sowe're back to Germany. Part four was rather gruesome but probably to me the most interesting part of the book so far.. what's that mean? Anyway at the moment I'm in Berlin and I was thinking about how this all ties back together - or beyond that, because we know the initial characters went to Mexico in search of Archimboldi and there they met Amalfitano and on and on until we get to the "real" story, but we don't know the point for all that seemingly irrelevant backstory. And while we're on the topic of superfluous crap can we please all take note of the fact that I can't seem to write a coherent, concise sentence that isn't a cognitive pants-pee. The question I'm trying to arrive at is, why do you think Bolaño has all this otherstuff? Do you think he intended to tidy it all up but wasn't at that point in the book when he died?

I thought it was interesting that in one section, I think when the scholars came to Mexico, one of the characters pointed out that he felt like time stopped in the place he came from, when he traveled somewhere far away. I am not 100% that it was actually in this book that I read that so ignore if it sounds unfamiliar. what I was thinking, though (and remember I have to cut and paste every so forgive me if I don't bother to hunt down the capitals), was maybe the story issupposed to be sort of jarringly disjointed to draw attention to the fact that we live our livesseemingly disjointed from these goings on/going ons, but they are in fact happening just assimultaneously as each of these unrelated stories. Maybe we need to take a step back and seewhat else is out there even though they don't immediately appear to connect - or maybe they don't connect at all, but that we have to start realizing that's not an excuse.

This afternoon (after I got back from the pool and from seeing the president on his morning jogsurrounded by a crew of orbiting men, roughly 8 suburbans filled with men with large guns, and probably around forty or fifty Air Force guys. This incidentally was rather frightening because I'd spot the ones in the army tanks pretty early on but then all of a sudden I'd glancesideways and see a disembodied head floating in the bushes, the rest of him hidden by his camouflage and massive war gun). Holla Felipe. Anyway when I came home I spent the nextseveral hours doing my research on the prezzy since I knew next to nothing. Then also the night before Mono had told me that he was no longer going home for Christmas because it would put his family at too great a risk for him to come back. All this stuff I was reading about got me really sad and I continue to be amazed at how bad things are here. In the place where he's

from when it was at its worse 15 people were being killed a day. Not in the whole country, just in this little state. And it continues to be really really dangerous particularly since Calderón has made it his mission to take down the drug trade. I was curious what your thoughts were on this, though. Do you think he should back off and let the drug cartels just go about their business, if doing so means that they won't be killing so many in response to threats from government? Maybe they should just treat the drug trade as any other legal export and take advantage of the fact that there is a huge demand in gringo-landia and the country could bring a lot of money because of it?

I know this is not strictly related to Juarez or the book, but I wanted to hear your thoughts.

Besos, amores.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/04/mexicos_drug_war_1.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2011/0407/Mexico-mass-graves-add-fuel-to-public-s-anger-over-drug-war/(page)/2

I started to write this in a comment on your post, Bribs, but it got too long so I'm moving up here.

Are Pelletier and Espinoza in love? No, you're just dumb. At least a bromance didn't occur to me, although there were a fair number of threesomes. I would sort of doubt that storyline because as far as I know we're done with these characters now so it would seem useless to hint at that idea if the author wasn't going to develop it more later, but maybe I'm wrong. I wonder why the author would quietly try to convey that message, though. I suppose you could argue that it objectifies Liz if she's just being used as an excuse or distraction for the men to cover or deny their secret sausage fest fantasies, but I think that's a looong stretch from the sitch in Santa Teresa and I don't really know what the point would be. Thoughts?

I'm glad you mentioned Guernica because that's exactly what was going through my head when I was reading your previous paragraph. My initial reaction is to say that whether or not the intentions of the author or painter are 100% pure or noble or even legitimate (ex. the author has visited Juarez), if the end result is positive than it's a good thing. But then you have to think what was the end result of Guernica? Of this book? I think it's often suggested and believed that awareness is so important when it comes to these sorts of things, but is it? How many people, after having been made aware of the atrocities in Juarez are going to do anything about it? I think often it serves as more of a kind of conspicuous humanitarianism - Oh my gosh, isn't it terrible what's going on in Juarez? Isn't that so sad? I think beyond myself and my own well-being, that really sucks.

And...? It doesn't change anything to say it's shitty, it just allows you to declare yourself a concerned global citizen. We chose this book because, what, we care? Enough to do something beyond take pleasure in reading it? I'm certainly not criticizing either of you, nor do I consider myself in any way apart from it, but I would say that an author capitalizing on such a theme is maybe not such a terrible thing, and I'm no one to judge a person for having questionable effectiveness while I'm sitting on my ass lapping up his work until it's time to go to the beach or the bar. Further, I don't think that in this case Bolaño had to be in Juarez in order to be well-informed about the issue, and I wonder if maybe Brit you are more inclined to think that in terms of journalism? In the end it is a fictional book and writers do research and fill in the missing parts with their own story. I think that's actually where the value of a fiction story comes in, particularly one that is based on reality. What readers and the public lack in terms of the Juarez homicides is not a factual report of the city and the situation - you can find that in the newspaper - but rather a deeper look or original perspective on it. I haven't made up my mind yet how successful 2666 was in doing that, but if it isn't I don't think it will be for failing to have visited the city himself.

I say all this with the utmost respect for you two as writers. I love reading your stuff and I've been a book whore my entire literate life. I do think, though, that maybe it's a mistake to expect literature to be all-noble or for authors to be perfectly representative (and equally subjugated?) as the populations they represent. At the end of the day we love books (or art, or writing, or whatever) because they bring us enormous pleasure, comfort, distraction, etc. If they can fulfill all those functions (or one), that's pretty damn good and maybe I need to get over myself if I also expect that something I do for entertainment should also be morally gratifying. I mean, hey, I'd never demand that of premarital sex, right?

What I'm trying to say is you two are both awesome writers and I know how much you love it. That's point enough so I better not be hearing any more about this not continuing business.

SPOILER ALERT, CAIT. Don't read this first paragraph until you finish part one, but I have an urgent question for Megan....

Were E & P in love with each other? I was confused about that. Am I just dumb? If that's how you interpreted it, can you show me where you got that? I did get that M & L wanted to bone each other at the end.

Okay, this part is for both of you now. I started part 4 today, "The Part about the Crimes," which focuses almost exclusively on the actual murders - whereas up until now, I think it's been more in the background of the other story lines. I have two conflicting thoughts about this section of the book:

1) I may need to break up my reading with some old episodes of Felicity because what's being described is so horrible. And possibly I will need to follow this book with a Jane Austen novel or something equally heartwarming.

2) Strangely enough, I don't always feel disturbed when I'm reading this part. I think this is because I'm just reading a novel about the murders, which removes me from the actual reality of it. But I also think it's because I like the writing. Whether you're a big fan of this book or not, 2666 is considered by many critics to be an important work of literature, so you could argue that the author created something beautiful from a horrific reality, which is... ironic? And leads me to a few questions:

Is a novel, or any piece of art, an appropriate response to real, scary, often terrible life? Is it wrong/good/noble/naive to create beauty from horror?

Megan, remember when we saw Picasso's Guernica in Madrid? And you said that Picasso hadn't actually been there, so we were talking about whether he had somehow exploited that event. Well, I read a review of 2666 and it turns out that while Bolaño was somewhat obsessed/completely disturbed by the murders in Ciudad Juarez, he never actually traveled to the city and met the victims' families or other people involved. Did Bolaño exploit the murdered women to make his art? Or is what he did a completely normal, acceptable, even beautiful response to a world that we just can't deal with sometimes?

I love to read books, and I like to write stories too, but sometimes when I sit down to do that, after everything I see and hear on the news, I wonder why I continue. What could I or anyone else say that would matter when a place like Ciudad Juarez is real. Those thoughts aren't enough to make me stop doing what I love, but I guess it does make me consider it. What do you guys think?

On Academia

Hello my dears - 

I know I've been lax in my blogging duties, but I fully intend to change my ways. I'm still fairly early on in the book, still in part one, but I had a stray thought I can quickly share on my lunch break.

I miss school...a little. I miss being an egghead and staying up late writing papers.  It's not enough for me to jump back into higher education (though yesterday I went to a grad school fair to shop around). But reading about people being passionate about some obscure German author and it bringing them together from different parts of the world made me yearn a little. Luckily I have you ladies who are inspiring me to read and think about what I'm reading, which hasn't been the case so much lately. Good books, but not a lot of analysis going on.

Last Reads:

Around the World in 80 Days - Michael Palin. A delightful travel book by one of the Pythons. He retraces the journey in Verne's book, and though it's not deeply thought-provoking, he's very funny and smart and the anecdotes made me want to pick up and go somewhere I've never been. Excited to read his other travel books - one called Pole to Pole about going from one end of the earth to the other sounds really neat.

Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin. I saw everyone and their mother is reading this on the T due to it being adapted for TV on HBO, and after a slow start I really got into it. Books like these are usually not my cup of tea, but the characters are really engaging and the drama grounded in power and family dynamics, vs some fantasy-type books that usually lose me with "world rules".

The Help - Kathryn Stockett. The reason I'm delayed on 2666 is an impending library deadline for this one. Very enjoyable. 

Succubus Blues - Richelle Mead. Perfect beach read. Succubus with a heart of gold. Not a lot of thought going on, but it's fun and silly.

Tonight I have a date with 2666 - will report back soon! I'm intrigued as to how German literature is going to transition into the murders of young women in Mexico. Skype-wise, I'm free after 6:00 or 7:00 EST, just let me know and I'll clear my night for book club!

Yours lagging-ly, but lovingly,

Caito