by Margaret Laurence, as part of my Year of Reading Dangerously. The "official" title for March is Cat's Eyeby Margaret Atwood, but I decided to push beyond my Atwood comfort zone with another Canadian author. Since I'd only discovered Margaret Laurence in January, when I started my adventures in blogging, it seemed appropriate to include one of my first blogosphere discoveries in my first reading challenge! Laurence's novel The Stone Angel
was featured as the February title over at the Slaves of Golconda (see here for Stefanie's thoughts). Following the Golconda discussion really whet my appetite for this author and the first pages of The Diviners, as Morag Gunn delves into the recesses of her early childhood memory, have not disappointed. But I've decided to set this book aside for the time being. This is totally out of character for me - I usually finish what I've started, even if I really dislike the book (see my thoughts on Then We Came to the End for the latest of example of my chronic inability to put down a book once I've started even if I'm not enjoying it!). I've decided I want to start with The Stone Angel and work through Laurence's work in a roughly chronological order. The Diviners will be enriched by reading at least some of the earlier novels and stories. Since I read Cat's Eye
in March anyway, I'm substituting that as my Dangerous book for March (my thoughts on Cat's Eye will be posted this weekend). I've ordered Transformations by Anne Sexton, my April title, and am looking forward to continuing this challenge.
5 comments:
I always find it rewarding to read an author's work in some sort of chronological order. If it's someone I'm willing to really delve into, that is.Paul Auster comes to mind.
I hope you enjoy Transformations as much as I have over the years. I need to ILL a copy or snatch one up at the bookstore this weekend. My original copy is in TX at my mom's house. Darnit!
Hi Andi, I'm quite excited about attempting some sort of chronological reading, as it's not something I've done before. I'm always leaving copies of books with my mum - a bigger reader even than me!
Like Andi, I always like to read a writer's works chronologically. I love watching their development and often find it a useful way to gauge what really concerns them as themes that are perhaps minor in an early work become more fully developed later on. I haven't read any Lawrence, but must add her to the list for the future.
Hi Logophilia--our odd parallel existence continues. No surprise that we were on vacation at the same time. I just put up my post on Revolutionary Road, which was my second vacation read, prompted in part by your recommend. You already saw the Scarlet Song post, and it was only after I got back that I saw you had So Long on your list. Ha!
Table Talk, thanks for such an insightful comment! You've pinpointed what I was murkily thinking when I decided to put The Diviners aside for now!
Zhiv, glad to see that our parallel reading experiences continue apace!
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