Hayes's comments

Hayes's comments from the Constant Reader group.

Note: Hayes is no longer a member of this group.

Just saw the article in today's NYTimes, congratulations!

Kent wrote: "Talking about Kindle editions has made me think about one of the funniest things I've ever seen on YouTube. Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueO0o8Bws... "

That's lovely, Kent. Thank you. Made my day!!

I don't have a kindle (they won't send me one here in Europe because of copyright problems, which I don't totally understand, but never mind.) I am lusting after a Sony eReader (which I can't buy here in Italy for some reason, prolly the same copyright problems) but I am taking a trip to Scotland next month and will splurge when I am there!!

Good luck with your editions. Both look really interesting.

That sounds very painful, Susanna! I had a better experience with the play, I must say:

about 35 years ago (gives away my age!) Sam Waterston played Hamlet at the Vivian Beaumont at Lincoln Center and my grandmother managed to get us seats. (She wanted to see something livelier, I'm afraid, but I wanted to see Hamlet). I understand he recently played Polonius (on Broadway?)

I have seen the Mel Gibson thing, of course - Helena Bonham Carter gets my prize for the best Ophelia. Haven't seen the Branagh.

I particularly enjoyed the second reading of this play. I was very aware of the idea of "whose story are we believing"? The main character is Hamlet so at the beginning we are seeing the story from his point of view... but can we trust his judgement? Then we see other characters and we react to them filtered through Hamlet's reactions. And then slowly, slowly we get other bits of information to round out our perception of what is really going on.

And all through it Hamlet wavers between paralysing angst and burning anger... as a high school reader I didn't quite understand the anger, but the angst was pretty clear. Now I think the anger is perfectly understandable, and the angst just seems overdone.

Cynthia said: By the way, I am the teacher/librarian in a middle school (ages 11-14) and the new vampire series and the "Twilight" franchise have my students doing far more reading than any of the "prize winners" I have seen for some time. I say, if people will read it, it has its place and value.

I'm with you, Cynthia. People have to start reading somewhere and if it's there, I think that's great. The problem for me is that people get stuck in the label, or with the idea of labels in general, and may not branch out and try something with another label on it, or even be turned off by a label, or might have been "warned off" books in a certain category.

I know a woman who will not read anything at all if it doesn't have a "chick lit" label (at least she reads, and a lot!), and I think that might be the key to the problem. The books are just marketed that way to get people who might not have read them to pick them up.

That kind of marketing doesn't work with me (or with most/all of the people here, I bet) but if it is a way to get more people reading, and a way to get the publishing houses to sell more books at the same time, I am perfectly willing to leave the label where it is and ignore it.

No takers, huh? ... I've had a busy weekend, so I haven't been able to get my thoughts together.

Wow!! neat article

Hamlet in Stick Figures is brilliant! What fun!!

It's exactly what I was thinking while I was re-reading the play, Al.

I loved Hamlet in high school, haven't picked it up since, and reading this time through had so many different ideas.

Thanks for the "stuff", Susanna. I will read through it this evening and get my thoughts together about perception and context.

and there I was joking about it... thanks for the link!

Pontalba said: I think to truly understand all the nuances of Lolita you must read, actually read the text, not just listen...

I think you are right, but I'm not sure I could wade through it. As I said in my first post, I don't think I would have finished it if I had been reading it. I'm really not sure how I feel about this book - one minute I loathe it and the next I remember something really incredible about it.

I guess I'm also wondering why he wrote it. (Apparently while he was on a butterfly collecting trip across America). I wonder if his incredible prose wouldn't have been put to better use in an amusing manual of lepidoptery ; )

A shame about the discussion, but thanks, Russ, the historical part of the book is interesting as well: how was it received when written, how received later, etc. I'll have to do a little research.

Fate has me reading books that I wouldn't normally have chosen to read so close together. The Human Stain has just arrived on my doorstep...

Don't get me wrong... I gave 4 stars to Lolita and 5 to Handmaid. I think they are both incredible books.

Another part of the "problem" is the connection with the "real world" (especially here in Rome, but I guess any big city is the same) in our enlightened 21st century: there is so much prostitution here, a lot of it with girls under 18 - although I don't know that it would be any better if the girls were over 18.

Forgive me, I'm sounding particularly "whiny" today... as I said I'm having a hard time coming to grips with these two works.

Russ2 wrote: "Hayes,
I'm not quite sure I follow your contrasts and comparisons...."

Sorry, I wasn't very clear... The two books are rather twisted in my mind... and I'm out of practice talking about books .

As you said, Russ, after you have peeled off Humbert's top layer and see past the intellect and the shiny surface, you find that he is a shallow villain.

The contrast that bothers me was the constant moaning about how he adored and loved her, bought her shiny distractions and took her to lovely hotels and resorts (such a lovely road trip) and all the while had no real interest in her at all. (Then there is the problem of the prose... incredibly beautiful and shiny and then too you peel away the surface and you are left with a squalid subject and not much else.)

Then there is the institutionalized slavery in Handmaid, and that's even worse. At least Humbert is one sick man, whereas everyone in Atwood's Gilead is playing at this sick game.

Both books just left me with an awful taste in my mouth.

Ginger orange marmalade... mmmmm....

The Moosewood cookbook has a recipe for a ginger cake that is out of this world!

I'm so glad I'm reading this again! Thank you for choosing it everyone...

I loved it in high school and it's even better now. I may have to buy a "real" copy - the eBook is tough going for me.

I'm with you Ruth. Ginger is one of my favorite flavors/aromas.

Last summer I was at a beach place with some friends. We stopped off for an ice cream and I saw ginger. Wow... so I had three flavors - in Italy you don't get scoops of icecream flavors, but a small blob of each ... so three flavors is still a small cone, just so everyone doesn't think I'm the gluttonous thing that I really am ; ) as you will see in a second!

It was so good, and reminded me so much of the ginger ice cream from Webster's in Newburyport Massachusetts where we went every summer when I was a kid, that I finished the cone, turned around and went back and bought another, just ginger this time!

Will start reading tomorrow!!

boy, those Korokke sure look good!

thanks for the link Ruth. Will go look this afternoon when I have a moment.

I read Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale last month. I had been putting it off for centuries and was so glad to finally read it. I just loved it (if one can say that about this particular book).

A BookCrossing buddy sent me her copy of Lolita, the audio book read by Jeremy Irons. My first impression was sheer joy at listening to Irons' charming, slimy, hysterical, perverted, perfect Humbert Humbert and Nabokov's incredible prose.

It was the chance juxtaposition of these two novels that struck me in the end. I am still digesting both of them and Lolita is giving me a hard time. I think if I had been reading a paper version I would have thrown it into the trash as being a waste of time. I'm glad Irons got me to the end of it (even if I feel that the ending didn't do justice to itself).

The contrasts between the two books and within the books themselves are hard to deal with. Love/hate, men/women being the obvious ones, but slavery, especially sexual slavery, and freedom is the contrast that is bothering me the most.

Any thoughts?

I don't own any of these, and can't be sure to find them at the library... I will try to find copies of the chosen books somewhere so I can play along.