I spent the first day of 2015 in an international flight
over the Pacific in the company of my family and my books (you could say with
my two biggest loves). If you read my last post you might have noticed I took
an end of year resolution to read Ulysses. I am happy to report this quest is well
underway and it has been an absolute JOY! No, I am not done … yet, but I have crossed the turnaround point for most people and
have tunneled my way through the prose and have been well rewarded so far. Will have more to say once I am done with this quest.
One book which I read as a precursor to Ulysses on my way to India proved to be extremely useful, illuminating and was such a great read,
that I have to recommend it to others who have always wanted to get into Joyce’s
masterpiece but have held back. Kevin Birmingham’s The Most Dangerous Book: The
Battle for James Joyce’s Ulysses. How can a book about a book be so full of
intrigue and adventure, and such fun to read? Kevin Birmingham is qualified to
write a heist thriller for the screen – that’s how well he has portrayed the
cast of characters, told the back story, and described the battles for the book
fought both on and off courts across continents. While Joyce and Ulysses might
be the central characters of the book, the supporting cast of Ezra Pound,
Sylvia Beach, Harrier Weaver, Margaret Anderson, Jane Heap, T.S.Eliot, Hemingway
(in a minor role) and the villains (Comstock specifically) are names that are
not to be taken lightly. I loved the book as it clearly established two things
in my mind 1) Importance of Ulysses in breaking barriers for all art and
artists in the 20th century 2) Without courageous women Ulysses
would not exist. Hands down, the best non-fiction I read in 2014!
2015 began with an amazing book – Richard Flanagan’s Booker
winner “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”. Many many years ago when I was in
middle school, my dad dragged my brother and I to a movie which he thought was
a must-watch for us. It was the William Holden, Alec Guiness starer “Bridge on
the River Kwai”. As I read “Narrow Road”, I couldn’t avoid flashes of the movie
entering my brain. Set during WWII the subject matter of both involve building
the Burmese Railway by POWs under unimaginable circumstances and extreme
duress. But “Narrow Road” moves beyond WWII and follows the life of the
protagonist Doctor Dorrigo “Big Fella” Evans as he survives the camp and
becomes a national hero in his home country Australia. In many ways Dorrigo’s
life after the war seems a lot more painful than during the war (“It’s the
everyday living that does us in”). What does it mean to be a good person, a
hero to the outside world when inside you feel that all of it is just a charade
and lies? Dorrigo and his counterpart Nakamura find their post war lives
completely dominated by their experiences on “The Line” and they live with such
internal conflict for the rest of their long lives. “Do you still believe in
God? Dunno Colonel. It’s human beings I’m starting to wonder about” – haven’t
we all felt like this at some point (today especially after hearing about the shootings in Paris). A poignant book that will remain with you,
and am glad it kept Richard Flanagan from going to work in the Tasmanian mines and focus on his writing, as we really need to hear from him more.
With that powerful start, I am hoping 2015 will remain a
good year for me and my reading adventures. It was also good to hear about Mark
Zuckerberg’s resolve to read a book every other week in 2015! If 2015 is
anything like 2014 I should be able to achieve that. Am working on two
in parallel this week – The Sea and Blackwater Lightship, in addition to
Ulysses. Certainly looks like an Irish month!
