What We’re Reading

The list goes on and on! For the sake of space, we’ll give you two each: what we’re reading right now and what we’ll be reading after that.

Geo’s books

 

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier

Ian Frazier makes his second appearance on the Urchin Bookshelf: first as Margaret’s pick for his highly-acclaimed Great Plains, and now as my pick for his latest effort, Travels in Siberia. This book has it all: a bit of Russian history here, a bit of anecdotal material there, and it’s all interesting. It’s quite amazing how a place so perceptibly barren can be fascinating enough for someone to write a 500-page book about it, and then to have that be fascinating enough for someone to read it all. Not only is this another testament to the power of the pen, but it’s another example of how one place can capture your mind and not let go (until you’ve at least written a book about it).

Walking with the Comrades by Arundhati Roy

Ever since winning the Man Booker Prize for her novel The God of Small Things in 1997, Indian writer Arundhati Roy has burst onto the literary and political scene, making her voice prominently heard on issues from globalisation to US foreign policy to India’s growing position as an industrialised country. Her latest book Walking with the Comrades is described as a frontline expose of brutal repression in India. I don’t know many more details about the book other than the fact that she spent several months with rebel guerrillas in the forests of India, and that’s enough for me to want to read the book.

Margaret’s books

 

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I first read The Great Gatsby while in living in London, and couldn’t believe I had never read Fitzgerald before. Tender is the Night has been described as Fitzgerald’s darkest novel. He wrote it just after his wife had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and hospitalized. While writing, he relied on income from short stories and loans from his editor. Set in the South of France, Tender is the Night is the romance between a young actress and a seemingly perfect and glamorous couple. Rosemary falls in love with Dick Diver and befriends his wife, Nicole. We soon learn that Nicole is as much a patient of Dick’s as she is his wife. Death, affairs and the destruction of a character’s soul at the cost of another’s, Tender is the Night has been described as Fitzgerald’s darkest novel… though sometimes his best.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

It’s Steinbeck fest here at The Urchin Movement! Though I’m also currently reading Travels With Charley, I’m already planning on catching up with more Steinbeck. Somehow I managed to miss The Grapes of Wrath in high school – I’ve never even seen the movie! I think reading The Grapes of Wrath is particularly pertinent at this time. It’s the story of the Joads, an Oklahoma family, forced from their home by the depression. They take to the road, seeking a better life in California, but upon arrival realise it wasn’t the land of opportunity they had expected.

Sarah’s books

 

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

Picture it: me, cruising around New Zealand in my Toyota Estima mini van named Hongi with my curly haired girlfriend reading aloud about John Steinbeck cruising about America in his pimped out pickup truck named Rocinante with his curly haired dog. Even though New Zealand is thousands of miles and fifty years away from the America of Steinbeck’s road trip, his interactions with people, places, and himself would ring true for any traveller. Wanting to learn more about his own country in order to write about it honestly, Steinbeck embarked on a road trip across the United States. His insights about the future of American life are nothing short of prophetic, and his reflections range from poignant to hilarious. I was the last Urchin to read this book, and decided to after receiving countless emails from Margaret and Geo along the lines of ‘WHY IS JOHN STEINBECK SO AWESOME/CUTE/FUNNY/BRILLIANT.’ Reading it for myself, I can now happily confirm that 3 out of 3 Urchins recommend this book!

Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

I first heard of Thomas Hardy while performing in The Marriage of Bette and Boo by Christopher Durang. In the play, the narrator Matt often brings up various pieces of literature, oftentimes by Thomas Hardy, about whom he wrote his thesis. I felt embarrassed at the time that I hadn’t even heard of Hardy, and am embarrassed now to admit that I’m just finally getting around to reading him. Armed with a newly-procured Auckland library card, I recently took 17 books out of the library. Two of them were by Hardy. Once I’ve finished them, I’ll have to re-read The Marriage of Bette and Boo and catch up on some previously missed references.