IN WHICH The Girl Succumbs to Austen Mania

The title is a little misleading as I succumbed to Austen mania a dozen years ago or so. But I'm fully indulging in the craziness this week. I like that both Jane Austen and her novels never seem to lose their popularity. Consider the sheer number of books and movies that involve adapting the novels (dozens but most recently famous, Pride and Prejudice), reinterpreting them (Bridget Jones' Diary and Clueless), following characters obsessed with them (Austenland, Lost in Austen, The Jane Austen Book Club), prequels and sequels (Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife), changes in genre (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Death Comes to Pemberley), and Jane Austen herself (Becoming Jane). Check out this Wikipedia page listing all the literary adaptations of Pride and Prejudice alone. Amazing.

Needless to say, should you want to spend hours, days, weeks, or years reading and watching things related to Jane Austen, you could. Yesterday was a travel nightmare and I ended up listening to the entire audiobook of Austenland. It was decent, not awesome, but I nonetheless tried to find the movie version upon returning home. I didn't find a free version, so I ended up with the Lost in Austen miniseries, which I have continued watching this evening.

Here's where I imagine this journey taking me. Since Lost in Austen revolves around Pride and Prejudice, it makes me want to watch the best movie version of the actual novel - the 1995 BBC miniseries with Colin Firth. I mean how can you not love the famous scene where Colin Firth, as Mr. Darcy, walks out of the lake soaking wet in his white shirt? I think Saturday or Sunday of this weekend will be devoted to watching the whole miniseries.

Watching this version will invariably inspire me to watch Colin Firth reprise his role as Darcy in the modern reinterpretation of the novel, Bridget Jones' Diary.

I could go several different directions at this point. If I'm still in a Pride and Prejudice mood, I may watch the BBC miniseries of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, which is essentially Pride and Prejudice with industrialism.

I may be tired of the P&P storyline, however, so I may switch to Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility. This movie actually started my interest in Jane Austen when we watched it in a high school English course.

On the other hand, I may want to stick with more modern versions and watch Clueless, an updated version of Emma. I do love Clueless.

And so on and so forth until the end of time. This might even devolve into book reading. I'll be back when I emerge from my cocoon of refined manners, bonnets, and endless cups of tea.

IN WHICH The Girl Tries to Solve a British Murder

Once a month, I get together with a couple friends from grad school for BBC Night. To clarify, BBC here stands for British Broadcasting Network, as I've been informed it has dirtier implications as well. Our BBC nights generally involve thai food, a decent amount of wine, and the viewing of a British television show.

You should know that I adore British television. I love the accents, the underhanded sarcasm, the wit (Sherlock), the focus on the past (Downton Abbey and every mini-series of a classic novel), the ridiculous of some (Doctor Who), the darkness of others (Luther), or the overall quality of the shows. I love British literature for many of the same reasons. As a teacher, we are observed in the classroom by our higher ups every once in awhile. Last fall, the person who observed me informed me that I had a very subtle but snarky wit when I lectured (I wasn't really sure if this was a good thing or not, but he seemed to think it was entertaining). He asked me where that snark came from, and I responded that I read a lot of British literature. He just nodded like that was a perfectly acceptable response.

So during the course of our BBC nights, which have now been going on for several years, we have watched a large variety of shows: every episode of Sherlock, Downton Abbey, and Luther, plus some Doctor Who, Coupling, Top of the Lake, and at least two versions of Jane Eyre. Last night we started watching Broadchurch, which I had heard was good but knew very little about. So far, it's excellent. The show starts with the murder of an eleven year old boy in a small close-knit community. Yes, not the happiest of topics, but intriguing. The season follows the investigation of this one murder. We have watched three out of the eight episodes in the first season, and I quite literally have no idea who committed this murder. Like all small town dramas, everyone knows each other, but they all have secrets. Every character is suspicious in one way or another, even the kids. I appreciate the fact that the killer is not instantly recognizable. See the trailer below:

The show has a good balance of suspense, drama, and emotion with some wonderful actors. I'm especially happy to see David Tennant, my favorite doctor for you Whovians. You will probably start to notice a pattern here, but I have two main British loves: Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant (Idris Elba ranks pretty high as well). While Tennant doesn't have the effervescence and hyperactivity here that he portrays in Doctor Who, he taps into his darker (and more haggard) side to represent the lead detective on the case. He's clearly struggling with both his own conscience, clues point to a past case gone bad, and some sort of drug or medical issue that hasn't been revealed yet. However, I did question why every lead detective in this type of murder mystery has to be both physically and mentally damaged. Granted, dealing with murder on a regular basis would probably take its toll. Tennant stars in the American remake of the show as well, but listening to him with an American accent seriously disturbs me. I think I'll just stick to the British version.

Overall, I'm totally hooked on Broadchurch at this point. Sadly, I need to wait three more weeks for our next BBC night to watch the rest. It's truly considered a betrayal to sneak ahead (though we've all been known to do it at one point or another).

IN WHICH The Girl Gets Lost in Translation

“Do you know what sign fool put up on our dorm door? Speak, friend, and enter. In f—king Elvish! (Please don’t ask me how I knew this. Please.)” 

Yesterday, I finished reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, the latest pick for my book club. We celebrated the completion of the book by going out for jibaritos sandwiches (a delicious combination of steak, fried plantains, salt, and garlic) and then drinking mamajuana (red wine soaked in spices and then mixed with honey and rum) in a 7-11 parking lot. We are a super classy book club. While we purposefully sought out a multicultural experience, Diaz’s book bakes multiculturalism into every aspect of his characters’ lives. The result is a brilliantly told tale of how our families, beliefs, cultures, politics, and even roommates irrevocably mold our lives, for better or worse.

The title, back cover, and even the first chapter all imply that the story will focus on Oscar, the socially awkward, obese, and perpetually love struck Dominican “hero” of our story. But while Oscar serves as a home base connection for all the characters, the book quickly delves backwards into the history of his family, tracing the effects of a fuku, or “the Curse and the Doom of the New World” that may or may not have been placed on the de Leon family by the infamous Dominican dictator, Trujillo. While this family certainly does seem cursed, and at times the book will break your heart, it never becomes truly depressing because of the narrator, a smart-talking, ridiculous, and completely unreliable storyteller:

“Dude used to say he was cursed, used to say this a lot, and if I’d been old-school Dominican I would have (a) listened to the idiot, and (b) run the other way. My family are surenos, from Azua, and if we surenos from Azua know anything it’s about f—king curses. I mean, Jesus, have you ever seen Azua? My mom wouldn’t even have listened, would have just run. She didn’t f—k with fukus or guanguas, no way no how. But I wasn’t as old-school as I am now, just real f—king dumb, assumed keeping an eye on somebody like Oscar wouldn’t be no Herculean chore. I mean, shit, I was a weight lifter, picked up bigger f—king piles than him every damn day.” 

All in all, Oscar Wao provides an entertaining portrayal of some very unique characters while questioning your belief in curses and fate, exploring the cyclical nature of dictatorship, and teaching you the history of the Dominican Republic. However, there are two aspects of the book that might throw some readers off: the mix of Spanish and nerdy pop culture references that pop up on every page of the book.

Almost every character in the book has one foot set in the Dominican Republic and the other in America, including the narrator. Like most bilingual speakers, both the characters and the narrator mix the two languages together in what Michiko Kakutani from the New York Times calls “a sort of streetwise brand of Spanglish that even the most monolingual reader can easily inhale.” I happen to agree that even non-Spanish speakers, like me, can grab most of the meaning from the context and some basic knowledge of languages, but I also know that I’m missing some of the meaning along the way. While the novel includes an unexpectedly high number of footnotes, none of them are translations. There are really three ways to react to the language:

1. Get frustrated that you don’t understand the language and give up. Hopefully, no one does this because you would miss out on an excellent book.
2. Pull up a Spanish/English dictionary and translate every phrase. One reader went through this process and generously put the results online here for other readers. I didn’t actually discover this website until I was almost done with the book.
3.  Just read the novel straight through, figuring the Spanish sections out by context and any words you might happen to know.

I went through door number three for a few reasons. One, I’m a little lazy and didn't want to have to look up every word. I did look up some of the Spanish words that kept repeating and I thought were important, but otherwise I left the dictionary alone. In addition, I think stopping to figure out each Spanish line would have distracted me from the story itself. I would have been so concentrated on the translations that I would not pay as much attention to the characters and plot. Reading this novel is a lot like listening to a friend tell you about his or her life. You want to just absorb the tale without interruption.

However, even more importantly, I believe that I should be left a little in the dark. I don’t know Spanish – through this really did make me realize how much I should know Spanish – and, therefore, I am slightly outside of the culture of the book, as I am in real life. I am the immigrant in the Oscar Wao land. When asked in an interview how he felt about readers who cannot understand the language, Diaz responded:

“I've almost never read an adult book where I didn't have to pick up a dictionary. I guess I participate more in my readings and expect the same out of my readership. I want people to research, to ask each other, to question. But also I want there to be an element of incomprehension. What's language without incomprehension? What's art? And at a keeping-it-real level: Isn't it about time that folks started getting used to the fact that the United States comprises large Spanish-speaking segments?”

But even if you do know Spanish, another language weaves its way through this book, what I’m going to call geek-speak. We quickly learn that Oscar feeds on comics, science fiction, fantasy, and Lord of the Rings. Even the narrator, who claims to be cooler than Oscar, fully understands and uses tons of references to the “Genres,” as he calls them. According to the narrator, Oscar:

“Could write in Elvish, could speak Cakobsa, could differentiate between a Slan, a Dorsai, and a Lensman in acute detail, knew more about the marvel Universe than Stan Lee, and was a role-playing game fanatic. . . . Perhaps if like me he’d been able to hide his otakuness maybe shit would have been easier for him, but he couldn’t. Dude wore his nerdiness like a Jedi wore his light saber or a Lensman her lens. Couldn’t have passed for Normal if he’d wanted to.” 

This geek-speak provides another barrier for those who don’t follow comics and science fiction closely. I consider myself pretty nerdy, but I only caught about a quarter of the references. Again, you can choose whether to look up all the references or just give them your best shot through context. I will say that these references do add to the entertainment value of the narrator though. It should be noted that Oscar’s propensity for speaking oddly keeps him isolated from both friends and family, just as we are isolated from the novel by not fully understanding the languages.

Despite these language barriers, I thoroughly enjoyed The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and highly recommend it to others. There are so many other things I could say about it, but I’m getting tired, so I’ll let you discover the wonders of the book all on your own. Now, I just need to start on my new bucket list of nerdtastic books, shows, and movies referenced in the novel.

IN WHICH The Girl Wants Benedict Cumberbatch to Read to Her

You know what makes reading easier? Listening instead. Granted, I don't really mind reading as an activity; in fact, I love it. However, I've recently started listening to audiobooks, and I actually quite enjoy the experience. If you've never listened to an audiobook, or it has been awhile, I recommend giving one a shot.

In certain circumstances, I find reading an actual book most inconvenient, say when driving a car. During the school year, I spend a lot of time transporting myself from one school to another. Last fall, I worked at four schools in four completely different cities throughout the Chicagoland area (oh the joys of adjuncting). I spent several hours a day driving and the radio gets real old after about a half hour. And even when I don't have to drive, I usually spend multiple hours on public transportation, hopping from bus to train to bus to walking etc. etc. During all of these activities, it is simply easier to listen to a book instead of read one. I even started listening to books on the beach because I can never seem to comfortably manage reading a book while lying on my stomach.

Technology, oh that wonderful and frustrating set of toys, makes it incredibly easy to use audiobooks today. While you can certainly still buy the big packs of CDs, those only really work if you have a permanent car - which I don't - because otherwise you have to keep finding your spot in the story over and over again. Plus, it's not like I still have a discman to carry around when I'm not in a car. But if you have a smart phone, you can just download an audiobook to your phone. It's fast, you don't have to go anywhere, and it will save your spot for you. In a car with bluetooth, you can then listen to it though the radio. Or you can just plug in your earphones during all sorts of activities. Science!

To make it even better, you can find tons of free audiobooks to download from the library. Audiobook CD sets are actually fairly expensive otherwise. There are also resources like Audible from Amazon for audiobooks, but they charge a fee as well. I think I give a spiel about the library to every person I know. To my understanding, people seem quite terrified of libraries after they graduate school. However, just like everything else, libraries have evolved with the times. You can now get thousands of ebooks and audiobooks from the library website without ever having to step foot in a physical library, should you not want to deal with those crazy book people.

There's even an app called OverDrive Media that will connect to your local library website and let you download your ebooks and audiobooks through it. From my experience, you can actually find more audiobooks instantly available from the library than ebooks because people don't check them out as often. Plus, even if some mean person got to the book you want first, you can put it on hold and have the website automatically check it out for you once it's available. On the opposite end, the book just disappears at the end of your lending time, usually 21 days, so you never have to worry about late fees. If you then check the book out again later, the program also saves your spot in the book. How much more convenient can it get? I strongly feel that people should both have access to and take advantage of free books. I once passed the public library in Boise, Idaho, which had an exclamation point after the name of the library, and I thought, "Yes, that's the kind of enthusiasm we need for our libraries!"

While this audiobook business is all fun and games, there are a few things to keep in mind. One, it can be hard to do two things at once, for me at least. Therefore, I tend to choose light books that I can follow even if I miss a line or two while I'm paying attention to traffic or listening to a train announcement. You don't want to have to keep rewinding to catch an important detail. In the last few months I have listened to The Great Gatsby (having read it several times before so not needing extreme powers of attention), one of the Matched young adult books, and several murder mysteries. I, nevertheless, declined to download the audiobook version of The Sound and the Fury for this reason. In addition, it can be odd to listen to a voice other than your own read the story. Sometimes the speaker's voice annoys me or doesn't fit with what I imagine in my own head, but most of the time he or she has a pleasing timbre. Why can't Benedict Cumberbatch read every book? Lastly, downloading the books can use an incredible amount of data, so always download them when you have wi-fi unless you have some amazing data plan.

Now I just need to decide which book to download for the flight I'm taking this weekend. Choices... choices...

IN WHICH The Girl Wishes for Happy Spies

Oh, the woes of watching summer television. Yes, I know: first world problems. Obviously, our tv watching options become extremely limited during the summer. Beyond reality television (of which I will only watch So You Think You Can Dance), only a few stations produce new episodes between May and September, mainly USA, TNT, and ABC Family. Since I rarely watch TNT and I’d like to keep the number of ABC Family shows I watch on the DL, let’s talk about the USA Network.

Overall, USA has dominated summer television, producing a number of interesting and fun concepts that work well for short runs of ten to twelve episodes over the summer. The shows tend to involve silly but entertaining premises – burned spies, lawyers without law degrees, snarky criminals and/or psychics helping the police, and concierge doctors in the sunny Hamptons. I have watched and enjoyed many of these shows over the years, but I recently started to notice a trend in the USA shows. Over time, the shows turn darker, more serious and more involved, switching from episodic plot lines to season-long stories. While this narrative evolution would be a great thing for normal television, I believe it’s the downfall of the summer series.

My favorite summer shows over the last couple years have been Covert Affairs and Suits. They both started out with fairly simple set-ups. In Covert Affairs, a new spy, Annie Walker, starts working with the CIA and deals with learning the ins and outs of being a spy while trying to hide her new job from her family. Suits begins when a hot shot lawyer, Harvey, hires Mike, a young genius, but one without a law degree, who accidentally ended up in the firm’s interviews while running away from cops. We follow the progression of both Annie and Mike’s careers from the beginning, watching them solve a case a week and enjoy the excitement and danger of their risky jobs while juggling duel lives. Ultimately, the characters’ friendships and love lives evolve from episode to episode, but you never had to follow any complex plot developments and if you missed an episode here or there, no problem.

Lately, Suits has become a little more serious. Over the last couple years, the writers introduced season-long stories that one must follow from episode to episode. Also, Mike left the firm at the end of last season, putting the best part of the series, watching Mike and Harvey outsmart the opponents together, on hold. Mike’s personal life has also fallen apart, so it’s even more depressing. However, the show still includes some light-hearted elements, namely Donna and Louis, and it looks like Mike and Harvey will be fighting on the same side again soon. Suits appears to be following the darkened path of earlier USA shows, like Burn Notice, but still has time to redeem itself.

Covert Affairs, however, has been on the air longer. While still a good show that I continue watching, it’s not nearly as light or fun as it used to be. The previous couple seasons have provided complex season-long stories that I barely cared about, such as the take down of Henry. My favorite part of the show has always been watching Annie hop from country to country on missions, and dishing about these events to her handler, Auggie. But recently Annie’s goal changed from feisty spy craft to revenge, living undercover, and now hiding her medical condition. I can’t remember the last time she genuinely smiled or enjoyed her job. The only thing that looked promising was her relationship with Auggie, which also went kaput. I’m not sure I see a happy light at the end of this tunnel, but I keep hoping.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe that television shows, like any story, must develop over time. You can’t stay static forever. Usually I enjoy watching characters evolve and deal with serious conflicts. Nevertheless, when you start a show off with the promise of an exciting hour of entertainment with little commitment, you should stick to that promise. That is all I want during the summer. I want to watch Annie sleuth through a cocktail party, beat up the bad guy, and then laugh about it before making out with Auggie. I’m taking a break from Lost-style television because in theory I have all sorts of fun summery things to do outside instead (in theory). So please, USA Network, turn the light back on.

IN WHICH The Girl Discovers a Pot of Golden Lectures

And now a word from our sponsor... Kidding, but I am going to promote a website.

Several months ago, a friend introduced me to Open Culture, a collection of free course lectures online. It's wonderful. The site features hundreds of courses ranging from Hannibal to car design to game theory to the Lord of the Rings. At first I figured these would just be lectures by some randos who think they know everything about string theory, but they are all taped lectures by professors at legitimate universities, mainly elite universities like Yale, Princeton, and Berkeley. To top it off, this is the advantage of school without any homework or deadlines. You can randomly pick to watch one lecture on a topic you like - say The Birth of Jazz - or you can go through an entire course of lectures on Jazz and Culture at your own pace.

A few of us decided to start the course on Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner. While we were originally going to read and watch the lectures on the same time schedule, that plan quickly disintegrated. Now, we are all just going at our own pace (I'm definitely the slacker of the group). This set up gives some structure to my reading, which other than book club choices tends to jump all over the place. It also has forced me to try some new books, like Hemingway's In Our Time, and re-read others, like Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. In addition, the lectures provide background and analysis by a Yale professor that I probably wouldn't search out on my own. So seriously, go check it out.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...