A Farewell to Arms: 42% Complete

I'm really enjoying A Farewell to Arms so far.  Hemingway's writing is so raw and terse and real.  The fact that he was an ambulance driver himself during the first world war means that his descriptions of the front are realistic and detailed.  I'm racing through it and I expect to be done in the next day or two.  After Faust, it almost feels like reading children's literature.

 

I chose the quote for today because I think it is representative of Hemingway's writing; the way he chooses words and phrases that show how the characters feels.  In this piece, Lt. Henry is getting to know Catherine Barkley.

 

"I held her close against me and could feel her heart beating and her lips opened and her head went back against my hand and then she was crying on my shoulder. 

 

'Oh, darling,' she said. 'You will be good to me, won't you?'

 

What the hell, I thought.  I stroked her hair and patted her shoulder.  She was crying."

 

The way he says he thought "What the hell" and the way he says, twice, that she was crying, brings to mind that combination of frustration and confusion that many men feel when women display unexpected emotions.

 

Because this is so much easier to read than Faust, I know most of the vocabulary words, but there are a few words borrowed from Italian that I had to look up.  So today's word is "carabiniere" which means "a member of the Italian paramilitary police."

 

I expect that I will be finished with this very soon, so now I just have to decide what I want to read next.  Suggestions?

A Farewell to Arms: Beginning

The next book I will be reading is A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.  This book was written in 1929 and was Hemingway's first best-seller.

 

It is a love story between Lt. Henry, an American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army during World War I and a British nurse: Catherine Barkley. 

 

An interesting fact: in the first editions of the work, certain swear words (I'm too much of a lady to name them here!) were replaced with dashes.  This book has been adapted for stage, screen and radio, including a 1932 screen adaptation which was nominated for an Academy Award.

 

I have read one piece of Hemingway's before: The Old Man and the Sea.  I was in high school and any ironic symbolism was completely lost on me and I hated it.  I thought it was the stupidest story and for a long time I used that and Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath as proof that most American literature was horrid.  However, having said that, I am much older (and I hope, wiser) now and with a little relevant life experience and appreciation for hidden messages in literature, I think I have a decent chance of enjoying this one.

 

I'm reading a hard-copy version of this, specifically the 2003 paperback version published by Scribner.  The copy is a little worn around the edges, but since I bought it for two dollars at a book sale, I don't really mind.  This merely allows me to feel more comfortable folding down page corners and leaving it splayed open on the coffee table while I get another cup of tea.  This copy has 332 pages, and because it's much easier to read than Faust, I'm anticipating that I'll get through it pretty quickly.

 

Happy reading!

Faust: 100% Complete

Well, I whizzed through the last bit of Faust and finished it up late night.  Overall, I'm glad I read it, although I won't say it was my favorite book on the list.  I did find the second half easier to read and understand than the first, although I'm still sure I missed a lot.  If I were going to read it again, I would try to find a version that had more footnotes (mine had a few here and there, but not much), because frequently there were references that I didn't understand.

 

The final quote for Faust is rather a long one, but I thought it was both funny and philosophical (if that is possible).  In this quote, Faust is speaking with Margaret, the innocent young girl he woos and whose life he basically destroys.  She has asked him if he believes in God, and he has hemmed and hawed around the question, and here he tries to explain that perhaps he believes in God but by other names.

 

"Faust: Then call it what thou wilt,

Joy! Heart! Love! God!

I have no name to give it!

All comes at last to feeling;

Name is but sound and smoke,

Beclouding Heaven's warm glow.

 

Margaret: That is all fine and good, I know,

And just as the priest has often spoke,

Only with somewhat different phrases."

 

Of course this question of whether the principle of a rose by any other name smelling as sweet applies to God, is a theological and philosophical question that goes far beyond the scope of this project, but I mostly found Margaret's response funny; that the priest says basically the same thing, but the phrases he uses are a little different.

 

Our final vocabulary word for Faust is "expiate" which means "to atone for (guilt or sin)." (definition from The New Oxford American Dictionary).

 

Up next I'm tackling: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.

Faust: 68% Complete

I had a chance to get a lot of reading done at work today, so I'm over two-thirds of the way through Faust.  I can't tell if the story is getting easier to understand or if I'm just getting better at reading it, but it seems like I'm getting more of the story now than I once was.  One of my clients at work (I'm a caregiver for elderly people) is very well-read and of German ancestry, so I mentioned to him today that I was reading Faust and he said, "Wow, I read that.  It's kind of hard to understand, though, isn't it?" so I felt a little better about my lack of comprehension!

 

I have two quotes for you today.  The first one is by Mephistopheles, in which he is upset about something and he says,

 

"Oh, to the devil I'd give myself instanter, if I were not already he!" 

 

In the second, Mephistopheles says,

 

"Such love-sick fools will puff away sun, moon and stars and all in the azure,

To please a maiden's whimsies, any day."

 

The vocabulary word of the day is "ennui" which means "a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement" (definition from The New Oxford American Dictionary).

 

Before I go, I had to tell you about a great bargain I got on books yesterday.  I work at a retirement home, and they had a book sale, so of course I couldn't resist going to check it out.  I ended up spending only six dollars and I got an anthology of humor pieces from The New Yorker, a copy of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (which is on the list!) and a copy of The Scarlet Letter with a copyright date of 1919!  All in all, a pretty successful book-shopping trip, I think!

Faust: 48% Complete

Now that Faust has sold his soul to the devil, he and Mephistopheles are cavorting around the countryside with Faust getting his wishes granted, more or less.

 

In this scene, Faust has asked to be younger (interesting to note that people's top wishes haven't changed a whole lot).  Mephistopheles tells Faust he has a way to do that, and his instructions are:

 

"Out to the fields without delay,

And take to hacking, digging, planting;

Run the same round from day to day,

A treadmill-life, contented, leading,

With simple fare both mind and body feeding,

Life with the beast as beast, nor count it robbery

Shouldst thou manure, thyself, the field thou reapest;

Follow this course and, trust to me,

For eighty years thy youth thou keepest!"

 

Of course Faust doesn't much like his suggestion, but Mephistophales's description of the "simple," idyllic life of a farmer reminded me of Leo Tolstoy's depiction of Konstantin Levin's life on the farm in Anna Karenina (I confess, after I read that book I wanted to move to a farm, even though I grew up on one).  It also points out the human desire to get things without working for them.

 

The word/phrase of the day is "as lief" which means "as happily or as gladly" (definition from The New Oxford American Dictionary).

 

Before I sign off for now, I want to suggest a holiday gift idea for new parents/grandparents or anyone who has care of small children.  I am convinced that my love for reading, and indeed the ease with which I communicate can be traced back to the fact that my parents faithfully read to me from the day I was born.  The Read-Aloud Handbook outlines research that demonstrates how beneficial reading to kids can be and is a wonderful gift for anyone who has influence over children!

 

Happy Holidays to one and all!

Faust: 41% Complete

First of all, I want to thank all of you for checking in on my blog! In November I had a six month high in terms of page views, so thank you!

 

I have finally reached the point in the play where Faust sells his soul to the devil.  I think this story is meant to parallel the story of The Fall from Genesis.  Faust's motivation to sell his soul is his own boredom with life and with his limited knowledge, coupled with his own pride.  At one point Mephistopheles is talking, under the guise of Faust, to a student scholar who comes seeking advice from Faust and he writes in his book: Eritis sicut Deus, scientes bonum et malum.  Now I took Latin for a number of years in school but it's gotten pretty rusty, so I had to look this one up.  It seems this line is actually from Genesis 3:5 and means "You will be like God, knowing good and evil."

 

I have flagged so many good quotes, but I think I'm going to give you this one, which sums up the essence of Faust's deal with the devil.  Mephistopheles says,

 

"I to thy service here agree to bind me,

To run and never rest at call of thee;

When over yonder though shalt find me

Then thou shalt do as much for me."

 

I have also run into a large number of vocabulary words, including "ennui" which is "a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation of excitement" and "soporific" which is "tending to induce drowsiness or sleep" (definitions from the New Oxford American Dictionary).

 

Faust: 15% Complete

I'm still enjoying Faust.  One of the things I like best about it so far is how Goethe (I'm assuming this is a product of the original German, not something added into the translation) mixes different styles of poetry and prose depending on the mood or the character.  Some of the characters use very short, clipped rhymes and meter and some use longer, more sonnet-like poetry when they speak.  It adds a whole other dimension to an already complex fabric of words and emotion which I'm really enjoying.

 

This quote I just like because of the images it conjures up, and because it talks about reading classic literature, obviously a soft spot for me!

 

"Excuse me! in these olden pages

We catch the spirit of the by-gone ages,

We see what wisest men before our day have thought,

And to what glorious heights we their bequests have brought."

The word of the day is "famulus" which is "an assistant or servant, esp. one working for a magician or scholar." (definition from The New Oxford American Dictionary).

 

I hope all my American readers had a happy Thanksgiving.  Let the Christmas festivities begin!

Faust: 9% Complete

I'm slowly but surely working through Faust which I'm thoroughly enjoying.  It's actually a little bit more difficult to read than I was expecting, but I find if I slow down and really pay attention to the words and the rhymes and the lyrics, it's really enjoyable.

 

As far as a quote goes, I could pretty much quote the whole piece as I've read so far; it's that poetic and lyrical.  But I managed to select one.  This quote is God talking to Mephistopheles (the demon).  Mephistopheles points out that Faust is not the most loyal follower that God has, and God says,

 

"He serves me somewhat darkly, now, I grant.  Yet will he soon attain the light of reason.  Sees not the gardener, in the green young plant, that bloom and fruit shall deck its coming season."

 

The word of the day is "stager" which is an archaic term for an actor.

 

This Thanksgiving I'm grateful for the access, the education and the time (however scarce) that allows me to read these wonderful works of literature.  At no time in history has wonderful literature been so available to us at our fingertips, and this is a wondrous thing.

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Faust: Beginning

Well, I'm back.  Basically I lost my motivation to work on the project for a while, and then I started nursing school and that has eaten up a lot of my time.  But I'm getting better at studying now so I have a little free time and I figured I could work on the project a little at a time.

I know I left off in the middle of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples but I will come back to that at some point.  The problem is, I had to check it out of the library so the setup was not very conducive to my slow reading pace.  So I've decided to move on to a Kindle book, and then come back to Churchill when I have more time.

A quick update on me, since so much has happened since I last was here: I got married in September, I started nursing school two weeks later (my husband is also a nursing student) and I turned twenty-five four days after I got married (it was a busy couple of weeks).  This officially means I have less than five years to finish the project, and I haven't done the calculations yet, but I'm sure I'm way behind pace.

So the next book I'm going to tackle is Faust by Johann Wolfgang van Goethe.  This is a tragic play in two parts written in German in the mid-1700's.  The version I am reading was translated by Charles Timothy Brooks. 

The play tells the traditional German story of Heinrich Faust, a dissatisfied scholar who sells his soul to the devil.  According to Wikipedia, this play is considered one of the greatest works of German literature.  Franz Liszt, the great Hungarian composer, wrote a symphony called Faust Symphony and Charles Gounod wrote an operatic version as well.  There is apparently a musical version by Randy Newman and there are Czech and Russian film adaptations as well.

The Kindle version I have has 226 pages and will probably take me a while to finish because nursing school and work are eating up the majority of my time.

But at least I'm back!

I'm baaaaaccck!!!

Hello faithful readers.  As promised, I am back in blogging land, and will shortly be back with an update on progress with The History of the English-Speaking Peoples.

 

I enjoyed my mostly restful couple of weeks off.  I finished up my finals so now I have just over three months before I start nursing school.  During the two and a half weeks since I last posted, I have read (in no particular order):  Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (five out of five stars), All Roads Lead to Austen by Amy Elizabeth Smith (five out of five stars), Weekends at Bellevue: Nine Years on the Night Shift in the Psych E.R. by Julie Holland (three out of five), The Intern Blues by Robert Marion (three out of five), Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling (four out of five...actually I loved this book because I love Mindy Kaling, but objectively, it's just a four out of five.), Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky (three out of five), Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown (five out of five) and Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse by Janice Hudson (four out of five).

 

By the way, the rating scale I use roughly looks like this:

Five out of five: Awesome book! Someone I know is probably getting a copy of this for Christmas

Four out of five: Very good. I would recommend it.

Three out of five: It was entertaining, but not anything special.

Two out of five: Meh, not very good/wouldn't recommend.

One out of five: I probably didn't finish it, or just I skipped to the end to see what was going to happen.

 

I guess eight books in eighteen days isn't too bad.  Anyway, they were all light reading, so my brain is all refreshed.  Out of all of the above, I laughed the most reading Adulting, was most inspired by Trauma Junkie (I'm considering becoming a flight nurse after I finish nursing school) and objectively think that Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the best one up there (and the movie with Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt is fun and quirky and good).  All Roads Lead to Austen a must-read for Jane Austen fans and I think they should make it into a movie.  Maybe starring Julia Roberts or even Meg Ryan (is she still making movies) in the lead.  But I digress.

 

Anyway, I'm getting back into Churchill now and I'll give you an update when I have read some more.

 

Happy reading!