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Carol Shields
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Carol Shields readalong, here is the discussion thread
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Gill
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Jul 05, 2015 10:08AM
There were several of us who fancied a readalong of Carol Shields, choose whatever books you fancy! We'd said midJuly; I'm starting the thread now so people can start when they want. Anyone is welcome to join in!
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Okay Gill, count me in - and how's your Spanish coming along? ;)
I'm hoping to join in with either Unless or Happenstance, not sure which yet. Will be a couple of weeks off though.
Noorilhuda wrote: "Okay Gill, count me in - and how's your Spanish coming along? ;)"Glad you are joining us, Noorilhuda. My Spanish is ok, but I'm not practising as much as I should be!
I will be reading The Collected Stories of Carol Shields I hope, short stories are okay. This one is supposed to contain her last written story, Segue.
☔Diane S. wrote: "I will be reading The Collected Stories of Carol Shields I hope, short stories are okay. This one is supposed to contain her last written story, Segue."Anything goes, Diane. It sounds interesting re Segue.
I've just opened The Stone Diaries. There is a massive family tree at the start of the book. Still, the book covers an 80 year period, so I guess that's time for a lot of relatives!
I bought The Stone Diaries while on holiday, but will have to wait until the beginning of August to start.
Read the Introduction to her short stories and found it very informative. It was by Margaret Atwood.
Gill thanks for this - (recommending Stone Diaries)I've read quite a bit, but just to start of - Daisy's mother didn't know she was pregnant - it seemed whimsical, how obese was this woman to not realize biological changes! - I don't know if it's crude to say so, but it still happens here in Pakistan, in interior / rural areas - where girls don't know that much about sex, and don't know how or what leads to it, and then don't know why they are preggers.
I know that I will have difficulty keeping track of which book each of us are reading. Wouldn't it be helpful to always state which book we are referring to when we leave messages? Just an idea. Noorihuda, which book are you referring to?
@Chrissie, updated it - Stone Diaries. Good one. Thoughtful.
Noorilhuda wrote: "@Chrissie, updated it - Stone Diaries. Good one. Thoughtful."Thanks.
GREAT IDEA, ladies - I'm going to do that starting next thread, as soon as I start reading Carol Shields, Unless
I am reading the Collected Works, short stories and have read her last known work, Segue. It is about a man and woman in their sixties, he is a novelist and she writes sonnets. Confronting their aging and her changing body which she wants to write a sonnet about. It finished rather abruptly and I was confused, so I did a little investigating and found out this is the only part existing from the last novel she was writing before her death. May take a little detour to read her novel The Box Garden, which was mentioned in the intro by Atwood.
Good idea, Chrissie.
Glad others are like me and need reminding! Diane, I am going to read the Box Garden after Small Ceremonies, if I want more. So what did Atwood say that intrigues you about The Box Garden?
Chrissie wrote: "Glad others are like me and need reminding! Diane, I am going to read the Box Garden after Small Ceremonies, if I want more. So what did Atwood say that intrigues you about [book:Th..."
She mentioned that this was the first book of Shields she read and that there was a part in there that had her laughing so hard she thought she was going to do herself an injury.
Not that we have the same sense of humor she has, but it is a relatively short book and easy to read, so I thought why not?
Well, I have started Small Ceremonies. First I wondered, "Where is this going?" Now I know, a few chapters in, that it is very interesting. All about fiction versus biographies. I happen to agree with what I think is being said. Even if biographies are fabulous because people are so hard to understand, so you always keep groping for knowledge, fiction that is made from nothing, that has to be imagined, is the real art when it succeeds. Maybe I haven't stated this clearly - I do like fiction and am totally blown over when it is very good, it is just that it usually isn't good enough for me. Do you understand how I can like both biographies and fiction? It is like biographies are a surer bet and I don't want to be continually disappointed. Nevertheless, a great book of fiction is a masterpiece because it is created from nothing. There is a character in the book that thinks about this. The lines are amusing and get you thinking. I am satisfied. Now is it going to get bad b/c I said I liked it?
Glad you are enjoying it, Chrissie.Re The Stone Diaries. I've just finished the first chapter. It's interesting what you say about rural Pakistan, Noorilhuda. I had a friend who a couple of years ago only found out she was pregnant a couple of weeks before the baby was born, but she'd been told that she couldn't have children so just didn't connect any signs she had with being pregnant.
Anyway, I'm enjoying the book so far. I think Shields has a real ability to describe the life of ordinary people, and show us how interesting they are.
Gill wrote: "I think Shields has a real ability to describe the life of ordinary people, and show us how interesting they are. "I note particularly that the conversations between husband and wife are SO genuine.
Gosh I start laughing sometimes. I am laughing at the husband at the moment. He has a crazy idea......... and I don't know if the wife is going to do biographies or novels. She studies people and tries to understand them but at the same time she has a great imagination. It will be interesting to see where this goes. If the book were boring me, I wouldn't want to talk about it.
It's good to have a book make you laugh, isn't it?Chrissie, I think you'd also like The Stone Diaries. If you read the first chapter of it, I think you'll know by then whether it's for you or not. The final few pages of that chapter are IMO brilliant.
Gill, Stone Diaries is not available to me. Isn't that the one where there is a women who loves to cook? I hate cooking, so I wasn't perturbed.
I've just got to the middle of The Stone Diaries, and realise that there is a bunch of photos of different members and generations of the characters in the novel. I bet Carol Shelds enjoyed putting them together!
Gill, I checked those out first - who do you suppose they really are?
Evelyn, I've found this review of The Stone Diaries from when it was first published (several spoilers)http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/07...
I thought it made lots of interesting points, and also near the end tells you that the later photos are of Shields' own children, and the rest were from museums and markets.
Gill you are a fabulous sleuth! I haven't started the book yet, so will come back to this when the spoilers don't spoil anything.
I'm still hunting around for my copy of Unless. I keep forgetting which book I am looking for and get red herringed by other novels:)
Read two more short stories, Accidents, the main character in this one is an abridged. SAILORS LOST A SEA, the mother is a poet at a loss for words. So far these stories seem to have an artistic bent. Do love the way she expresses herself though.Will start The Box Garden, now.
I finished The Stone Diaries. Loved the photographs in the middle, even though I knew the characters were fictional, every time a new one was introduced, I flipped to the middle to see what they looked like! I also loved that cousin Beverley was from Climax, Saskatchewan. As a young wife and mother, I lived for a time on my husband's family farm near Climax. It is so tiny a town that most people in Saskatchewan have never even heard of it.What struck me as most profound as I read the final sentences was that I had read an entire book about a person, yet I felt I knew nothing about Daisy at all, who she was, what made her tick, her thoughts and feelings. Then I realized this story is actually about Daisy's life, the people, places and events that made up her life. When I think about it, that is all we really know about most people we come into contact with in our lives.
Yes. It's interesting about Daisy, isn't it Evelyn? It's all other people, and how they link to her, not about Daisy herself.
A very different way of telling a story, but more real somehow.
Evelyn, the distance that you first felt between yourself and Daisy, I think this distance I felt too in Small Ceremonies. There is a lack of communication and space that surrounds the characters, that cuts them off from others.
I'm struggling a bit with Unless, I can't seem to get into it. I'm at a wedding reception tonight, so it will have to wait until tomorrow now. Not much time to read!
Shirley, I'll be reading Unless, it's actually a re-read for me x 3 or so. I remember finding it so evocative, that a young woman in her prime forsakes everything in an odd search for 'goodness'. I found it so emotive from the parent's point of view, they felt so unable to 'rescue' her or to heal her. When a child has some sort of breakdown, often the parents feel unable or stymied to help.I'd say persevere with the book, it's worth it.
Thanks B for the encouragement, I will definitely persevere with it!
Chrissie, I think you have stated that perfectly, distance due to lack of character communication, thank you for seeing through my rambling!
Well, Evelyn, I felt the same thing with my book.
Shirley wrote: "I'm struggling a bit with Unless, I can't seem to get into it. I'm at a wedding reception tonight, so it will have to wait until tomorrow now. Not much time to read!"Shirley, I, too, struggle with Unless and have put it down a couple of times, hoping it picks up when I do, no luck so far so I'm leaving it for this week, starting another and going back to see if that helps...
Janice wrote: "Shirley wrote: "I'm struggling a bit with Unless, I can't seem to get into it. I'm at a wedding reception tonight, so it will have to wait until tomorrow now. Not much time to read!"Shirley, I, t..."
Glad it wasn't just me! I've read a bit more now and I can see what B means - as parents there is a sense of helplessness as your offspring choose their own paths in life, and if they go "off the rails" as they try to find themselves, then you have to hope and trust that they will find their way through, especially when they cannot hear your offers of help.
Just finished Unless, so glad I kept reading, as the second half is much better than the first. I thought this was a very moving, poignant story about the relationships between parents and children and how a family copes when one of them is taken and they are powerless to help.
Gill/ gang, my book of The Stone Diaries had NO pictures and that's why am waiting for another edition, which will come around in another 2 weeks to finish the book.
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