As summer approaches, people begin to get excited about reading for pleasure. Because I am the mistress of procrastination (I may not be doing homework but I'm stimulating my intellect, right?), reading for pleasure is not quarantined to seasonal breaks, but these periods certainly provide a jolt of excitement. I no longer have to feel guilty about my favorite pastime, and the rest of you can catch up. Here are a few books to get you started.
Although it's not the most appropriate choice for the warm weather, I have to recommend Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." The story of two people, called only the man and the boy, takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of our world. The earth is covered in ash and the sky never clears. There are few people on the road with the man and the boy, and those who are "good guys" are even more scarce.
The two are on the road, headed toward the water. There is never a reason why the coast is the destination, nor is a full explanation of what happened provided.
McCarthy writes with incredible control. The man and boy's journey is a slow plod toward the ocean and not much happens. The earth is practically empty and all there is to do is survive. But McCarthy keeps the tension high. The desire for survival is fierce and our investment in the fate of these two people, who might as well be the last on earth, is immediate and visceral. It turns out there is something worse than an apocalypse: surviving it.
On a slightly less somber note, there is "The Sun Also Rises." Ernest Hemingway has long been a favorite of mine. But in the years that I imbibed his prose regularly, falling in love with "A Farewell to Arms" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls," I resisted "The Sun Also Rises." Acclaimed as Hemingway's breakthrough work, the jacket always mentioned the bullfights and this kept me at a distance.
I finally picked it up this spring. Returning to Hemingway was enough of a pleasure, and was only heightened by the discovery of Jake Barnes and the lovely Lady Brett.
Jake is pitiable, stupidly generous with the woman he loves, tragic and wonderful. Brett is selfish and confused, a woman with the constraints of her time, lost among men.
Members of the lost generation, these two, along with Brett's many admirers, languish in Paris, and drink, fish, and quarrel in Spain. Hemingway's scenes are simple and poignant and ravishing.
It hardly needs to be said that Hemingway is superb. And the beauty of his work is often in his omissions. His breaks in text suggest intimacy and heartache. They are more pungent for their innuendo. Without melodrama or sensationalism, Hemingway builds a mood of fluctuating tensions, only to diffuse it by saying something beautiful, plain, and complex. "It felt good to be warm and in bed."
Don't let the bulls or the immensity of Hemingway's fame deter you.
Neither of these books are particularly conducive to summers on the beach (though I am sure Hemingway will enthrall at dusk on a porch with a glass full of wine, or two, or three), so I am going to reiterate the incredible pleasure to be derived from Jhumpa Lahiri's collection of short stories. "Unaccustomed Earth" is exquisite and I cannot emphasize enough how profound you will find their effect. They are the perfect travel companion and will prove hard to let go of, even after you're through.
Take this break to use the library for its wealth of free, literary treasures.