Day One Hundred and Nineteen

7/30

The Book: Ecstasy by Irvine Welsh

ISBN: 0-393-31581-9

Suggested By: Unnamed Grad-Student

Where: STC Library

When: 10-10:30P

Music: Kanye West

Company: Sissy

Pages: 224-276 (55)

The Lead In: Big road trip tonight, helping Monty drive to El Paso. I’m such a saint, I know... Anyway, so getting the reading done early was an absolute necessity. Having a gun to your head makes things important. Funny.

The 411 on the 55: Ok, so Lloyd’s life is spinning out of control. More and more drugs get tossed into his life, but he can’t seem to get things together. He even moves on to Crystal Meth and yet, still, he feels empty and unhappy.

Heather is sick of her straight-laced husband,Hugh, and her life. She goes out with her friend one weekend and takes e, opening her view on life. She decides she has had enough of Senor Hugh and pushes out of the marriage and her old life.

They meet in a club and all is golden for both of them, granted they are high as kites, but you get the drift. Eventually Heather throws a fit because Lloyd is always high when he is with her. Then several weeks later they meet in a club and Lloyd tries to talk to her and she blows him off. Later she learns that he is off of drugs and she falls in love again. Blech.

The 20/20: The best way to do an accurate 20/20 would be to subdivide it. #1 was a good story, complicated and laughable. I enjoyed the method of storytelling and the characters were amusing. #2 was the best of the bunch, a little creepy and full of revenge. I enjoyed it very much. #3 was my least favorite of all the collection. It was too predictable. You knew they would end up together. Both stories 1 and 2 shocked me with their endings. He could have done better. OVERALL: A good collection of short stories, the second such book read for this exercise (Breece DJ Pancake). I must confess I find drug culture off-putting, but the method to the writing was well-executed.

Line of the Day: “So ye have tae watch oot before ye call it love. It’s just another form ay entertainment. See if the feelings transfer tae yer everyday life, then call it love. Love’s no jist for weekenders.” pg 261

Fact on the Fiction: “Basically, particularly in Britain, it's a hegemonic thing that people who write tend to come from the leisure classes. They can afford the time and the books. They tend to be public schooled, Oxford types: writers. Consequently, you have exactly the same narrative voice. It's alright to do the vernacular in dialogue, but the narrative voice is always kept in standard English. It's a basic question, really: how do people think, in standard English or in colloquialisms?” Irvine Welsh

Day One Hundred and Eighteen

7/29

The Book: Ecstasy by Irvine Welsh

ISBN: 0-393-31581-9

Suggested By: Unnamed Grad-Student

Where: Home

When: 11-11:45P

Music: None

Company: Alone

Pages: 168-223 (55)

The Lead In: Reading Welsh is difficult. His use of accents and dialects makes for a difficult read, especially for an American.

The 411 on the 55: Two stories in one for this last short story. One is a drug user who seems to have no aim in life but getting high. The other is Heather, a married woman who is incredibly unhappy with her life. Hates her husband, hates her life.

I realize that this 411 offers little, but, to be honest, I think this story is the least impressive.

Line of the Day: “When all this is in your head it has to come out into your life. If it doesn’t, you get crushed. I’m not going to get crushed.” pg 217

Fact on the Fiction: An article that gives Welsh alot of credit for shifting the way drugs were viewed in the UK. “Trainspotting was the loudest articulation of the chemical generation's rage against the Conservative government, who for 17 years tried to make Britain conform to a materialist vision and destroy anything that disagreed with it. Taking part in Britain's dance culture - and so taking drugs - was a way of refusing to be part of that vision, even if you did have to come down the next day.” Spike Magazine

Day One Hundred and Seventeen

7/28

The Book: Ecstasy by Irvine Welsh

ISBN: 0-393-31581-9

Suggested By: Unnamed Grad-Student

Where: Home

When: 5:30-6:15P

Music: None

Company: Alone

Pages: 112-167 (55)

The Lead In: Skipping the gym today to read and something came to mind. Not having to go to the gym today really freed up my reading “mindset.” I feel more focused and centered on my reading and I really enjoyed today.

The 411 on the 55: Samantha is a victim of Tenazadrine. Pushed to the market too soon, birth defects abound until the connection is made and the drug is pulled. She is left with stubs of arms, basically flippers on her shoulders. She meets Dave.

Dave is a soccer hooligan into fighting and pretty much being a screw-up. He falls in love with Samantha, ignoring her strange arms. His love is pure, while hers is not. She needs him to help her get even with life. Her target, the man who marketed the drug, Sturgess. Lucky for them, he likes young men, which Dave is.

The story culminates with Dave picking up Sturgess in a bar, bringing him back to the autoshop he co-owns, and Samantha chainsawing his arms off while the cops surround the building. Kind of pretty in the book, to be honest.

Line of the Day: “I’m forever blowing bubbles...pretty bubbles in the...” pg 150

Fact on the Fiction: The line of the day comes from the closing page of the story and, after some research, is found in the West Ham United (soccer) fight song. Originally introduced in the 1920s, its sung before all the matches. Here is a Youtube clip.

Day One Hundred and Sixteen

7/27

The Book: Ecstasy by Irvine Welsh

ISBN: 0-393-31581-9

Suggested By: Unnamed Grad-Student

Where: Home

When: 10-10:30P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 56-111 (55)

The Lead In: Just realized this book is actually a collection of three short stories. Duh.

The 411 on the 55: Rebecca’s book is incredibly dirty, though it will never be published. Freddy continues to screw corpses and when a new guy threatens him, they blackmail him while he is high. Lot of loose ends in the wrap up of that story.

The second story is a bit more complicated, jumping from time period to time period, 60’s to present. I’m still figuring it out, second story tomorrow.

Line of the Day: “SHUT YIR FUCKIN MOOTH SLAG!” pg 87

Fact on the Fiction: Irvine Welsh describes himself as "not so much middle-class as upper-class. I'm very much a gentleman of leisure. I write. I sit and look out of my window into the garden. I enjoy books. I love the density and complexity of Jane Austen and George Eliot. I listen to music; I travel. I can go off to a film festival whenever I like." He also describes himself as monogamous: "it sounds boring but it's the way I am.” Wikipedia

Day One Hundred and Fifteen

7/26

The Book: Ecstasy by Irvine Welsh

ISBN: 0-393-31581-9

Suggested By: Unnamed Grad-Student

Where: Home

When: 9:30-10P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 1-55 (55)

The Lead In: Don’t like drug culture, don’t like drug culture, don’t like drug culture....

The 411 on the 55: The book is told in separate chapters that follow the story-line from different points of view, to better explain this, let me outline the major characters:

Rebecca: Writes a series of romance novels, eats too much. Is married to Perky.

Perky: Is milking Rebecca for money to feed his deviant lifestyle: prostitutes, porn, videotaping sex, etc.

Lorraine: Rebecca’s nurse after her stroke. Pushes her to pay Perky back after discovering his secret life.

Glen: Works at the hospital in the morgue, has big crush on one of the girls, either Lorraine or Yvonne, not sure which.

Freddy: Some sort of media big shot, works at the hospital. Insane pervert, main squeeze is corpses.

Line of the Day: “That’s just it, Lorraine sniffed, - I don’t want to find someone, not yet at any rate. I want to find me first.” pg 42

Fact on the Fiction: “Irvine Welsh was born in the great city of Edinburgh, Scotland. He can't quite recall if it was Simpson's or Elsie Inglis maternity pavilions. In fact he remembers little of the birth, though his mother assured him later that it was fairly routine. This selective memory at key points in his life would continue.” IrvineWelsh.Net

Day One Hundred and Fourteen

7/25

The Book: The Bonesetter’s Daughter

ISBN: 0-8041-1498-6

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When: 2-3P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 296-403 (107)

The Lead In: This book has been a really nice read. Really sparked my interest in Chinese culture and the language. Seriously considering a trip to the country. The country just sounds so fascinating.

The 411 on the 55: Well, the Japanese decide to kill all Communist sympathizers and LuLing’s husband is one. Pow, he’s dead. She’s heartbroken but decides to not kill herself and help in the school. But things begin getting worse and finally they decide to pack it in and move all the kids into the city.

In the city, an opportunity is given to the sisters, LuLing and her sister, to go to the U.S. with one of the missionary teachers. LuLing pushes her sister to go, and she does, hoping to send for her when she is settled. But things stretch further and further out, and Luling begins to lose hope.

In the present again, Ruth puts her mother in a nursing home and things begin to even out. Art turns into a not horrible guy and LuLing gets settled in her new digs. A scholar from China starts hitting on the old lady and they have old people romance (you know, no sex, but lots of googoo eyes). Turns out her family name, that she wanted desperately to remember was Gu. Eh, in the book, it is really pretty because it has a multitude of meanings.

The 20/20: A very good book. I will definitely recommend it to those that are looking for a “heart-warming book.” Too often, snobs like me look down on a book that has that effect, but, if done well, why can’t a book of that type be good? This one certainly was.

Line of the Day: “And then I realized what the first word must have been: ma, the sound of a baby smacking its lips in search of her mother’s breast.” pg 299

Fact on the Fiction: “Some readers will not agree with Tan's decision to tie up all the loose ends of the novel's plot as neatly as if Glinda the Good had waved her wand over everybody's problems. Fortunately, this does not mar the real ending, for which Tan's superb storytelling has amply prepared us.” Better said than I ever could. NY Times Book Review

Day One Hundred and Thirteen

7/24

The Book: The Bonesetter’s Daughter

ISBN: 0-8041-1498-6

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When: 6:6:45P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 227-295 (68)

The Lead In: Interesting the role foreigners (from America and Japan) play in this book. Often they symbolize change or upcoming change. For a culture steeped in tradition (as the Chinese culture is), maybe that makes sense.

The 411 on the 55: When LuLing (Ruth’s mother) finally meets the family she is to marry into, she realizes that it is the family responsible for the death of PA’s husband and father. She doesn’t care, even when PA finds out and throws a fit. PA writes a story, which ends with the information that she is LuLing’s mother, but LuLing doesn’t read it. Instead, she tells PA she doesn’t care about what’s in the book. That night, PA kills herself.

The next day, LuLing read the story and is crushed to find out the news. The family is dealt wave after wave of bad events (cancellation of the marriage, family business burnt down, creditors calling, etc.), they send LuLing to an orphanage.

There, LuLing becomes a teacher in calligraphy (the skill her actual mother taught her), meets a boy, and gets married. Then the Japanese invade China.

Line of the Day: “When you have nothing else to do, you can always busy yourself picking maggots out of rice.” pg 234

Fact on the Fiction: “From June 1937, Japanese troops carried out intensive military training maneuvers in the vicinity of the western end of the Marco Polo Bridge. These maneuvers were held every night, while night maneuvers held by other foreign garrison troops were held very seldom. The Chinese government had requested that advance notice be given, in order that the local inhabitants not be disturbed. The Japanese had agreed to this condition. However, on the night of July 7, 1937, night maneuvers were carried on without prior notice, which greatly alarmed the local Chinese forces. The Chinese, thinking an attack was underway, fired a few ineffectual rifle shots, which led to a brief exchange of fire at approximately 23:00.” Wikipedia

Day One Hundred and Twelve

7/23

The Book: The Bonesetter’s Daughter

ISBN: 0-8041-1498-6

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When:10-!0:30P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 171-226 (55)

The Lead In: Last night’s reading freaked me out a bit. The image of Precious Auntie’s ghosts lingering around freaked me out a bit.

The 411 on the 55: The second section of this book flies back in time across the globe to China to tell us the story of Ruth’s mother.

Precious Auntie is actually her mother, but because she never had the chance to marry her fiance (he was killed by a horse kick), the family decided to cover it up. Precious Auntie, in a fit of sadness having lost her future husband, attempts to kill herself by drinking boiling ink. The family rescues her and she becomes her baby’s nursemaid.

The family is attempting to marry the young girl off and P.A. seeks to be involved but is shut out by her own daughter (thought she is unaware of this fact, having been lied to from birth). Upon arrival in another city, she is unprepared for what is happening around her and is incredibly overwhelmed. Instead of missing PA, she blames her for not training her correctly. Snot.

Line of the Day: “She speaks in the languages of shooting stars.” pg 200

Fact on the Fiction: Primary to this second section of the story is the discovery of Dragon Bones, valued by archeologists visiting the caves near their home. From Wikipedia: “They were directed to the site at Dragon Bone Hill by local quarry men, where Johann Andersson recognized deposits of quartz that were not native to the area. Immediately realizing the importance of this find he turned to his colleague and announced, ‘Here is primitive man, now all we have to do is find him!’” Wikipedia

Day One Hundred and Eleven

7/22

The Book: The Bonesetter’s Daughter

ISBN: 0-8041-1498-6

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When:11:15-11:40

Music: None

Company: Alone

Pages: 112-170 (58)

The Lead In: Squeezing the reading in after work. Good thing Tan’s work is easy on the eyes.

The 411 on the 55: Ruth has to cancel her trip to Hawaii to care for her mother. She has basically dipped into full-fledged crazy pants.

Memory is a big deal in this book, both her mother’s lost one and Ruth’s own experiences. Ruth focused today on a particular coming-of-age, near raping by her neighbor. She also relays the story of when she pretended to be Precious Auntie and told her mom to kill herself. Which she tried to. Eh...

Line of the Day: “It’s the chemistry that gets you pregnant.” pg 133

Fact on the Fiction: “Born in the US to immigrant parents from China, Amy Tan failed her mother’s expectations that she become a doctor and concert pianist. She settled on writing fiction.” (thought that was funny.) AmyTan

Day One Hundred and Ten

7/20

The Book: The Bonesetter’s Daughter

ISBN: 0-8041-1498-6

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When:8:30-9P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 56-111 (55)

The Lead In: Amy Tan’s work reminds me of Sandra Cisneros. Heavy on the family focus, references to other cultures, food, etc. Maybe that is the minority aspect of their writing. Or maybe it is my point of view from the majority.

The 411 on the 55: Ruth takes her mother to the doctor and his first diagnosis is depression, eventually shifting towards dementia. Ruth is taken aback, but realizes she has seen this coming for a long time. Her mother is constantly forgetting things, being confused, and angry.

There is a brief interlude in which Ruth (as a child) breaks her arm and through a weird chain of events, her mother becomes convinced Ruth is the medium to her dead Precious Auntie. Creepy.

There is a family meal (back in the present). Everyone is there, its incredibly uncomfortable because Art decides to invite his ex wife. Art’s not a very cool guy. I’m a little down on him at this point.

Line of the Day: “Hambugga? You say ‘hambugga,’ then eat.” pg 82

Fact on the Fiction: How cool is this? “Adapted from the best-selling novel by beloved Bay Area author Amy Tan, this world premiere tells a resonant story of belated intergenerational understanding that leads to emotional healing. A troubled Chinese-American woman learns the horrible secrets of her immigrant mother’s past in this touching and terrifying tale, set in both modern-day San Francisco and the Chinese countryside during the tumultuous events surrounding World War II.” San Francisco Opera

Day One Hundred and Nine

7/20

The Book: The Bonesetter’s Daughter

ISBN: 0-8041-1498-6

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When:8:30-9P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 1-55 (55)

The Lead In: A new book, a new day. Amy Tan, who I only know from a Simpson’s episode.

The 411 on the 55: The book opens with a Chinese girl with her Aunt. The Aunt is burned and everyone hate her except for her niece. They go to pray and her Aunt shows the girl her family name (which is a secret) written on a piece of paper, but the girl (or the speaker of the memory) has forgotten the name over time.

From the intro, the book starts with Ruth, a woman who lives with her boyfriend, Art. He has two daughters from a previous marriage but they try and make it work. Ruth struggles with managing her time and family, while dealing with her whining (and apparently senile) mother. By the way, the niece in the intro story is her mother.

Line of the Day: “You wish I dead? You wish no mother tell you what to do? Okay, maybe I die soon!” pg 54

Fact on the Fiction: “What happens when a bunch of bestselling authors get together and form a garage band, then go on tour? In the case of Stephen King, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Dave Barry,Tad Bartimus, Roy Blount Jr., Michael Dorris, Robert Fulghum, Matt Groening, Barbara Kingsolver, Al Kooper, Greil Marcus, Joel Selvin, Amy Tan, Dave Marsh, Mitch Albom, Ridley Pearson and a few others...what happens is...THE ROCK BOTTOM REMAINDERS BAND!” Interview

Day One Hundred and Eight

7/19

The Book: My Lobotomy by Howard Dully

ISBN: 978-0-307-38127-9

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When:6:30-715P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 199-283 (84)

The Lead In: Got to the end of the days reading today and just decided it was time to push through. Finished it.

The 411 on the 55: Howard finally gets his life together with the help of his new wife, Barb. She offers him stability he hadn’t had before in his life. With her help, he mellows out on the drugs and drinking, settling into the role of father and husband.

Eventually he is contacted by an NPR rep wanting to do a story on lobotomies and Dr. Freeman. After meeting Howard, they decide to do the story on him. His story is premiered in NYC to great acclaim. Eventually, Howard writes this book to help out in the pay department because he is broke.

He believes that this experience, the book, the show, etc, brought closure to his life.

The 20/20: I fluctuated today when considering what I thought of this book. The positives: information about lobotomies, good story of a troubled man, interesting characters. The negatives: is Howard blaming his lobotomy for every bad decision he made? The epilogue negated that. He admits that he let it control his life and by facing it (through the book) he was free of it. So the one negative becomes a positive. Really interesting book, I would recommend it.

Line of the Day: “I wasn’t doing much of anything. But now, or the first time in my life, I was ashamed of that.” pg 203

Fact on the Fiction: This book, along with the closure it brought, would not have been possible without this radio show. Follow the link and hear his story. NPR

Day One Hundred and Seven

7/18

The Book: My Lobotomy by Howard Dully

ISBN: 978-0-307-38127-9

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When:9-9:30P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 143-198 (55)

The Lead In: It’s amazing how many crappy things happened to this kid. I wonder if this could happen now, with CPS watching parents so much tighter. Of course, when I was a teacher, kids would come in bruises and would go to the counselor. But in Howard’s case, doctors are doing this!

The 411 on the 55: Howard bounces from half-way house to mental institution as he gets older. He gets on disability when he is 18 and survives (barely) on that. He gets into some trouble writing bad checks, and is institutionalized to stay out of jail.

As he gets older, he marries one lady, but has trouble keeping faithful. They fight alot, but manage to have a couple of kids together. Being a father doesn’t really help Howard pull his life together, he still chases skirt and drinks constantly.

It’s hard to tell if Howard blames his lobotomy for his lack of focus in life or his life in general. The lobotomy certainly was the capper though.

Line of the Day: “But we didn’t have a life. We didn’t have a real marriage. We had a kind of association. We were just playing at marriage.” pg 182

Fact on the Fiction: Just look at that picture.

Day One Hundred and Six

7/17

The Book: My Lobotomy by Howard Dully

ISBN: 978-0-307-38127-9

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When:10:30-11P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 87-142 (55)

The Lead In: Squeezing reading in after drinking is a bad idea. Hooray bad ideas!

The 411 on the 55: Freeman bullies them into giving Howard a lobotomy. What’s amazing is that Howard had no idea what was going on. Basically, they checked him into a hospital and the next day he was lobotomized. Howard doesn’t remember that day at all. The trauma to the brain must have juggled the memories all up.

After the lobotomy, Howard doesn’t change all that much and neither does his step-mother. She becomes hysterical and insists that he be removed from the house. They try several solutions, but finally settle on a mental hospital, which somehow the state approves. Howard is checked in as a patient. Unbelievable.

Line of the Day: “But nothing would really fix me, Freeman said, except a lobotomy.” pg 91

Fact on the Fiction: The “ice pick lobotomy” was, according to Ole Enersen, performed by Freeman “with a recklessness bordering on lunacy, touring the country like a travelling evangelist. In most cases,” Enersen continued, “this procedure was nothing more than a gross and unwarranted mutilation carried out by a self righteous zealot.” Wikipedia

Day One Hundred and Five

7/16

The Book: My Lobotomy by Howard Dully

ISBN: 978-0-307-38127-9

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When:8-8:45P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 31-86 (55)

The Lead In: This will be the first autobiographical book of 55pages. Lobotomies scare the bejesus out of me.

The 411 on the 55: Howard Dully is born to a set of parents relatively thrilled to have him. That all changes when his mother dies delivering her next son. It worsens when Howard’s dad remarries a woman with two children of her own, Lou. Lou hates the crap out Howard. Complains about him constantly, even making things up to prove how bad of a person he is.

Eventually she decides to seek professional help and she finds someone to help, Dr. Freeman. Freeman is a specialist in lobotomies and recommends them for pretty much everything, much to the chagrin of his fellow doctors. Seriously, his entire career is based off lobotomies.

Line of the Day: “One summer he logged 11,000 miles in his Lobotomobile.” pg 72

Fact on the Fiction: “Teenage Lobotomy” is a fantastic song by The Ramones. Check the lyrics of the second verse:

“Slugs and snails are after me

DDT keeps me happy

Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em

That I got no cerebellum

Gonna get my Ph.D.

I'm a teenage lobotomy”

Day One Hundred and Four

7/15

The Book: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

ISBN: 978-0671-02734-6

Suggested By: Mario Leal

Where: Home

When:12-12:30P

Music: None

Company: Alone

Pages: 188-213 (55)

The Lead In: Very disappointed with this book. Not sure how this will end but I bet there is a twist. All good books have them, all bad books have them. All books have a twist.

The 411 on the 55: After the graduation, Charlie goes over to Sam’s house and they end up messing around. Sam goes “into his pants” and he freaks out and stops it from going further, but he isn’t sure why. Everyone is confused by the whole thing...until the epilogue.

Throughout the book, Charlie talks about how much he loves his Aunt Helen. Well, apparently she was sexually abusing him. But now Charlie is all better and the book closes with him headed to school, minus all his friends, but ready to face the world, well-adjusted.

The 20/20: If I had to say something nice about this story, I would praise the cover. Other than that.... the plot is a little unbelievable. Why are all these seniors hanging out with a freshman? He’s 14, Sam is 18+ and she still wants to mess around with him? All the references in the book feel forced, including the issues: drugs, abortion, sex, etc. It reads like a self-help book for teenagers. But not just any self-help book, a cool self-help book, with hip references to all the bands you love. Screw it.

Line of the Day: “It’s like all I can do is keep writing this gibberish to keep from breaking apart.” pg 205

Fact on the Fiction: Ladies and Gents, A photo of the last two pages of this book will show what I am talking about...

Day One Hundred and Four

7/14

The Book: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

ISBN: 978-0671-02734-6

Suggested By: Mario Leal

Where: Home

When:8:45-9:10P

Music: None

Company: Church

Pages: 132-187 (55)

The Lead In: Sissy has a migraine and Monty is chatting with me, but this damn book will be read, damnit. Also, a prediction, I bet Charlie kills himself at the end of this book.

The 411 on the 55: Charlie screws over Mary Elizabeth at a party, kissing Sam on a dare “to kiss the prettiest girl in the room.” Real nice, jerk. Mary dumps him. He gets depressed because no one will talk to him now and begins smoking pot. And it stays that way until Patrick and Brad get in a fight in the cafeteria. Patrick is getting the crap kicked out of him by a bunch of football players when Charlie steps in an kicks some ass. Then all is well.

Everyone is friends again going into the end of the school year. Charlie is scared that he will be left alone when everyone else graduates. He is younger than them. Bill, his teacher, has him over for supper and tells him that he is super special. Today’s reading closes with everyone going to the graduation.

Line of the Day: “I saw other people there. Old men sitting alone. Young girls with blue eyeshadow and weird awkward jaws. Little kids who looked tired. Fathers in nice coats who looked even more tired. Kids working behind the counter of the food places who looked like they hadn’t had the will to live for hours. The machines kept opening and closing. The people kept giving money and getting their change. And it all felt very unsettling to me.” pg 144

Fact on the Fiction: According to this study, The Perks of being a Wallflower is a favorite among less than average SAT scorers. Booksthatmakeyoudumb

Day One Hundred and Three

7/13

The Book: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

ISBN: 978-0671-02734-6

Suggested By: Mario Leal

Where: Home

When:8:30-9:10P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 76-131 (55)

The Lead In: This book feels dated. Not like a Fitzgerald or Hemingway book, those ring sincere. This feels like a time-capsule. Everything crammed together to prove this book was written in the 90s. Eh...I wonder if I am being harsh because I am from that era, while maybe my great-grandfather thought The Sun Also Rises was shit.

The 411 on the 55: Charlie does his first LSD, ends up in the hospital, not so good. Ends up spending time with a psychiatrist, and seems to improve his outlook on life. His love of Sam becomes more complicated when he decides to give into another friend, Mary Elizabeth, and date her.

Mary is a control freak who is very into all the movements of the time period. When Charlie dates her, however, he finds her to be less like her facade and more like every one else. This reminds me of an experience I had, dating a girl who I thought was brilliant and insightful, etc. One week was enough for me to realize she was not the woman advertised. Funny enough, she dumped me.

Side note, Charlie drives his sister to the abortion clinic to have one done. I don’t know if this was indicative of more to come or not.

Line of the Day: “It’s important to say “sir” at these moments.”pg 84

Fact on the Fiction: “Chbosky agreed to serve as co-creator, executive producer, and writer of the CBS serial television drama Jericho, which premiered in September 2006. The series revolves around the inhabitants of the fictional small town of Jericho, Kansas in the aftermath of several nuclear attacks.” Awesomely, the show was actually cancelled twice. (on a side note, this page definitely seems to be written by Chbosky himself) Wikipedia

Day One Hundred and Two

7/12

The Book: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

ISBN: 978-0671-02734-6

Suggested By: Mario Leal

Where: Home

When:9:30-10:15P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 18-75 (57)

The Lead In: I remember when this book was super huge. I remember how everyone told me to read it, as it would “change my life.” When people recommend anything that way, they curse the book to failure...We shall see.

The 411 on the 55: To begin, letters? Really? ung. I don’t like this method of story-telling. But...Charlie is a young man, dealing with life in his own way, writing letters to a stranger (in effect, us).

He has two close friends, Sam and Patrick. Sam, he has a crush on but she is older and dating elsewhere. Patrick is gay and has secret sex with the high school quarterback who won’t come out of the closet.

Charlie struggles in English till he gets a teacher who gives him life-changing books: The Catcher in the Rye, On the Road, This Side of Paradise, Naked Lunch.

Line of the Day: “And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.” pg 39

Fact on the Fiction: “Chbosky names Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye as an inspiration, and he pays homage to Salinger's work by naming it as one of the books that Charlie's English teacher, Bill, gives him to read.” Wikipedia

Day One Hundred and One

7/11

The Book: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

ISBN: 978-1-59308-081-5

Suggested By: Patrick Garcia

Where: The STC Library

When: 3-4P

Music: None

Company: Sissy

Pages: 482- 521(55)

The Lead In: I finish this book today. Wow, my first completed Dostoevsky. More in the 20/20.

The 411 on the 55: Rodion caves in and submits to the police. His mother is heartbroken and ends up dying. His sister marries his old friend and is marginally happy. Sonia follows him to Siberia to be around him.

I leave Rodion’s fate to its own paragraph because I was super thrilled with the way he had gone. There is much internal thought process revealed by the author and we know R is completely unrepentant. He feels he did nothing wrong and is irritated to be locked up. This is in line with everything else he has theorized concerning human nature. He views himself as being above the rules.

But Dostoevsky chickens out in the last two pages of the epilogue. Why? I’m not sure but he caves in and R grovels at Sonya’s feet, pouring out his love and even reading the Bible. Really Fyoder? Really? You chicken.

The 20/20: The book was great. Brutal in the murder scene and excellent in the philosophy and dialogue. Overall a great read, but I am horribly disappointed with the ending.

Line of the Day: “And if only fate would have sent him repentance - burning repentance that would have torn his heart and robbed him of sleep, that repentance, the awful agony of which brings visions of hanging or drowning! Oh, he would have been glad of it! Tears and agonies would at least have been life. But he did not repent of his crime.” pg 515

Fact on the Fiction: “Then we get this one line telling us Raskolnikov will suffer, as if the narrator is trying to convince us that it's OK for Raskolnikov to be happy because he earns it by suffering. Do we buy this? In the beginning of the epilogue, we hear that Raskolnikov likes the prison atmosphere. He gets sick because of his mind, and because a bunch of guys tried to kill him, not due to the conditions. “ Shmoop

Day One Hundred

7/10

The Book: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

ISBN: 978-1-59308-081-5

Suggested By: Patrick Garcia

Where: Home

When: 9-9:45P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 426-481(55)

The Lead In: Drove for ten hours today, came home and read 55. Awesome. Awesomely tired.

The 411 on the 55: Very quickly as I am wore out. R’s sister is almost raped by a man who is from her hometown. He uses his knowledge of R’s murdering ways to badger into having sex, but she escapes after shooting at him twice. He, on the other hand, decides to go to America, and holes up in a seedy hotel to wait for the rain to stop.

R considers suicide after meeting with the detective. Porfiry (the dick) tells him that he knows he did it, and R narrowly evades confessing.

Line of the Day: “You, Rodion Romanovich! You are the murderer...” pg 433

Fact on the Fiction: A note on Russian names: Most Russian family names originated from patronymics, that is, father's name usually formed by adding the adjective suffix -ov(a) or -ev(a)). Contemporary patronymics, however, have a substantive suffix -ich for masculine and the adjective suffix -na for feminine. For example, the proverbial triad of most common Russian surnames follows: Ivanov (son of Ivan), Petrov (son of Petr), and Sidorov (son of Sidor).Wikipedia

Day Ninety-Nine

7/9

The Book: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

ISBN: 978-1-59308-081-5

Suggested By: Patrick Garcia

Where: Home (Longview, Tx)

When: 8:15-9PM

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 370-425(55)

The Lead In: There is a twisted world-view within the story that is interesting. I mentioned it before, but that concept of being above the law because someone is superior is interesting. Not sure how I feel about it.

The 411 on the 55: Did I call it or did I call it? Who shows up but the old reject of R’s sister and to claim that Sonya has stolen 100 rubles from him. R and another money lender defend her, even after the money falls from her pocket, apparently the lawyer had slipped it in to paint her a crook. However, with the two men defending her, Sonya is vindicated and the lawyer runs out to jeers from the crowd.

After the confrontation, R decides to confess to Sonya. She is shocked, of course, and pushed him to confess. He decides to think about it, but is interruppted with the news that Sonya’s step mother (the recent widow) has gone mad and is making her kids dance and sing in the streets for money. They run to her and, when they arrives, she has a fit and dies.

Line of the Day: “Oh, if Divine Providence is going to be mixed up in it, no one can do anything...” pg 388

Fact on the Fiction: How awesome is this? A Crime and Punishment Museum. Jailmuseum.com (sadly not related to the book...)

Day Ninety-Eight

7/8

The Book: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

ISBN: 978-1-59308-081-5

Suggested By: Patrick Garcia

Where: Mug Shot (Longview, Tx)

When: 3:45-4:20

Music: None

Company: Sissy

Pages: 314-369(55)

The Lead In: I like Dostoevsky’s use of Biblical references in his stories. I like the moral undertones it adds to the story. It makes the book more serious, more important.

The 411 on the 55: Raskolnikov heads back into the inspector to have a chat. It gets worse and worse, leading R to begin raving that he should be charged or left alone. The inspector seems to be closing the trap, when a door is flung open by another man who confesses to the crime.

The old lawyer, now spurned by R’s sister calls in Sonya and offers to help out with her mother (now a widow). While I didn’t pick up the actual goal of this, the gist is that he is doing it for evil intents.

The last 3rd of this day’s reading was the funeral scene for Sonya’s father. People are getting drunk and little honor is being paid to the dead man. It’s a wreck.

Line of the Day: “The candle-end was flickering out in the battered candlestick, dimly lighting up in the poverty-stricken room the murderer and the harlot who had so strangely been reading together the eternal book.” pg 314 (pure poetry)

Fact on the Fiction: “Suffering, often as a means of redemption, is a recuttern theme in Russian literature. Dostoevsky in particular is noted for exploring suffering in works such as Notes from Underground and Crime and Punishment. Wikipedia