Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Looking for a good book to read.

I'm having a run of bad luck choosing books to read. In the past, I've enjoyed the mindless comedies of Christopher Moore, such as Coyote Blue (published in 2009). So I thought I would be cheered by his latest, Shakespeare for Squirrels. It's a send-up or mash-up or screw-up based on the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream, narrated by a character not in the Shakespeare play. It features all the characters from the original -- especially Puck, the fairies Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed, and the fairy king and queen Oberon and Titania.

Let me mention that I have a great fondness for the fairies in this play, and I don't mind if they are borrowed by another writer. The very first Shakespeare re-write I encountered (well, the first one after Lamb's Tales) was written by my 9th grad Latin teacher Miss Gorse for our graduation from junior high school. She assigned me the role of Moth, and all of us had to memorize the Shakespeare scene where the fairies dance, which was fun to rehearse and not too bad to perform. However, you can imagine how the other kids reacted in relation to the four of us who were assigned to be "fairies." Never mind. Sorry for the digression.

My problem is that Shakespeare for Squirrels didn't do anything for me. The humor is crude -- no Shakespearean light touches. And the plot is forced. I didn't find it very amusing or at all enlightening as a reading of the play. I didn't even like the few food scenes, such as when Pocket helps himself from the dining table where Oberon is eating:
"I tore a leg from the roasted bird, a duck methinks, and had a taste of the greasy flesh, sans plate, settings, or goblet.
“'Oh, scrumptious. Well done,' said I. 'Do you have any wine?'” (Kindle Locations 2461-2462). 
Moore's efforts at humor just seemed to fall flat in this novel. Oddly enough, in his Afterword, Moore completely summarized my reaction (except that somehow throughout the years I've actually read virtually all of Shakespeare's plays and enjoyed most of them) --
"I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream is my favorite Shakespeare play— it’s the only one I’ve ever made it all the way through without thinking about things I’m going to eat— and you, sir, have besmirched this delightful, spirited sex comedy with murder, goblins, and gratuitous squirrel shagging. You, sir, you cad, you dilettante, you scrofulous scribbler of unscrupulous satire, have made a sow’s ear from a perfectly lovely silk purse. Why? Why, why, why?'
"Okay, harsh, but fair." (Kindle Locations 3799-3803).

A Food Novel that Missed

Another failure in my efforts to find a book that I would enjoy reading: High Bonnet: A Novel of Epicurean Adventures by Idwal Jones, originally published in 1945. Considered a very obscure classic, it was republished in the Modern Library series selected by Ruth Reichl in 2009. While I'm very fond of most of the books in this series, I just couldn't get into this one -- in fact, I didn't even finish it.

High Bonnet is in the picaresque tradition -- that is, adventures of single character who is typical of something. In this case, the adventurer is a chef, and his adventures are mostly about cooking and relating to other chefs and chef mischief.

Despite how much I like food and food books, the combination of food and personalities here didn't click for me. For one thing, the cheffy descriptions in the narrative seemed to interrupt it awkwardly rather than to advance the novel. Too many different things were going on at the same time.

Here's an example of a description that goes too far for a novel:
"We sent up the consommé. Then a baked pike à la Genoise. After that a pair of langoustes from some Devonshire cove. Jules had boiled them; he cut up the meat, stirred it into thick velouté sauce with the pounded coral, a spoonful of meat extract, seasonings, chives, sherry, a half cupful of grated Parmesan, some sherry, and sliced truffle. It was the veritable black truffle with veinings of white. With this mixture he filled the shells, baked them a while in the oven, then coated them with buttered crumbs which he browned with a red-hot salamander. Finally a Grand Marnier soufflé was put into the oven." (p. 23).
Or another one:
"Connoisseurship exacts too often its penalty. Savors pall, the taste buds dull, the palate grows as indurated as the sole of an old boot or the conscience of a judge. Guido feared it. He judged the perfection of his soups by the twitch of his nose in the steam. He was protected also by a childlike gift of wonder. This drew him nearly every night into some remote quarter, in quest of surprises. He knew all the bistros at Clichy where red-sashed navvies engulfed their ragouts. For months he made a pilgrimage to the Annamese colony in Grenelle, where he had surrendered himself to a beef-and-veal soup. It was tinctured with a few drops of nuoc-man, a briny exudation of decaying fish, mellowed for years in a jar." (p. 32).  
At the risk of too much punning, I'll say this book is neither fish nor fowl -- neither a real novel nor a real work about cuisine. Too bad.

Finally, a Rather Sensationalistic Novel 

I read this a few weeks ago. I can't remember where I heard of it. I finished it, but did not enjoy it:


Wish me luck finding something better!

Blog post © 2020 mae sander. 

12 comments:

Tandy | Lavender and Lime (http://tandysinclair.com) said...

I've decided to stop reading books if I don't enjoy them. I hope you can find something enjoyable to read soon!

Angie's Recipes said...

Sorry that you didn't enjoy them. Hope that you have better luck next time, Mae.
Yesterday I flipped through my book lists in Kindle..o man...and didn't find one that's really interesting. I need to update my reading list.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I fear you lost me on the Shakespeare book. I've not read any books by him and the one that you describe does more than imply you must know a great deal about A Midsummer Night's Dream in order to appreciate Shakespeare for Squirrels.

I can see why you didn't like the Novel of Epicurean Adventures. I kept waiting for the paragraph to end so I could take a breath. However, with so much lumped together, it was impossible to appreciate any of it. However, I do appreciate your reviews.

Debra Eliotseats said...

Thanks for the tips. Too bad. I tend to go ahead and try to slog through books. I am finding lately that I am all on board and loving a book for it to totally let me down in the final few chapters. Thanks for the warnings here.

Jeanie said...

Sometimes it's just a bad reading streak. I've been lucky this summer -- but sometimes it just seems to run a course. You read so much, Mae, I've no doubt you will turn it over soon!

Claudia said...

Looks like you've been on a bad book run lately. If I don't like the way my read's going, it's back to the library with it or the Kindle chute. I've been enjoying some pretty good ones lately though.

My name is Erika. said...

I always enjoy good book post Mae. Too bad about the Christopher Moore book. I enjoy reading him so I shouldn't rush out to read this one I guess. Thanks for sharing these.

Tina said...

If this is a duplicate comment I apologize. I typed out a fairly long comment and must have closed the window and it disappeared.
In hope you get some books to love soon. Usually I give any book a fair chance but if I'm not loving it, I start a new one. I have so many books I recently acquired, both hardcover and Kindle, plus my long list in a notebook of titles I want in the future.

That Christopher Moore book remi des me of the trio who perform Reduced Shakespeare. They are entertaining, I saw them live 30 years ago.

gluten Free A_Z Blog said...

Three books in a row? That certainly is disappointing. Lately, if I don't enjoy a book- I stop reading it. There are too many good ones out there. Hope it's a better reading week next week.

Marg said...

It's really disappointing when you have a run of books that you just don't enjoy. Better luck with your next choices.

Laurie C said...

Too bad about three duds in a row! Especially the foodie ones. I find the first-person domestic suspense novels are becoming boringly predictable. Which isn't good in a suspense novel!

A Day in the Life on the Farm said...

Wow...three bad books in a row.....so sorry Mae.