Sunday, January 22, 2006

Middlesex: Rich with History

For The Record: we are meeting on Friday February the 24th, which gives us about a month to complete the book. As a guide, we should all be around the mid-point.

I’m just at the beginning of Part Three (i.e. Caliope’s story) and I think it’s necessary to acknowledge how much history is interwoven into the story. Here are some links that help to put things into a historical perspective.

Asia Minor / Smyrna: the picture of the boat (above) shows the escape from burning Smyrna. Over 100,000 people died, but some managed to escape to America (Lefty & Desdemona)

Nation of Islam & W.D. Fard: interesting that Desdemona ends up working with the founder of the Nation of Islam

I’m finding these historical references to be interesting albeit a little contrived. Regardless, I think we’ll have tons to discuss on the 24th.

posted by MJ @ 7:48 p.m. 0 comments

Friday, January 06, 2006

Middlesex: Update

I'm about 30 pages into Middlesex and I'm truly intrigued. I especially enjoy how the narrator is telling his/her story before being conceived. Or as Eugenides puts it..."In the greenroom to the world, I waited." Very clever.

Barnes & Noble has an excellent webpage devoted to Jeffrey Eugenides. I noticed that one of his favourite books of all time is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, a novel that has been on my 'to read' list for a while. I think our next book should be trailblazing and controversial.

In the mean-time, I hope everyone is enjoying Caliope's (or Cal's) story as much as I am. Happy reading!

posted by MJ @ 2:24 p.m. 0 comments