And we're off!This month we're starting with Naomi Wolff's The Beauty Myth.
You know who was a beauty and mythical? Helen of Troy, who appears in many great works, including Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?" If you haven't seen this play, give it a try. It's seriously great - Dr. Faustus, in deciding to sell his soul to the devil is possibly the first anti-hero.
The devil does love to make an appearance in literature, and in modern times, too. Take Rosemary's Baby, by Ira Levin. Far creepier than Faustus! And set in the Bramford, which we all know is really the marvel of 19th century NYC architecture, The Dakota.
And when speaking of great NYC architecture, Rockefeller Center -home of 30 Rock and Radio City Music Hall - will definitely be on that list. To learn more about the politics and personalities behind its construction, read Pulitzer Prize finalist, Great Fortune, by Daniel Okrent.
There are all kinds of theaters in NYC, from Radio City Music Hall to the low-rent, Second Avenue, Bowery location of the movie theater box office staffed by Saint Mazie - the "Queen of the Bowery" who sells tickets and takes care of the homeless during the Great Depression. A wonderful novel by Jami Attenberg that is both funny and touching.
In The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown, on the other hand, the Great Depression is raw and real. This is the story of young men who have already lived through the hardest of hard times, striving for something better. A college education at the University of Washington, a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics, personal redemption, learning to trust.
Set in Seattle 70 years later and a few miles away from where the boys practiced rowing, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple is many miles away in tone! It is a spot-on satire of life in Seattle, complete with tech nerds, virtual personal assistants (or are they?), competitive helicopter parents, unrelenting political correctness, coffee, and blackberries (Puget Sounders will laugh knowingly about the blackberries).
So there we go - from serious to humorous in six steps! Happy Reading!
Six Degrees of Separation is courtesy of Books are My Favourite and Best
The only one on your list that I've heard of is the Faustus, and I remember studying him at uni - I'd forgotten until now. Saint Mazie and The Boys in the Boat both sound really interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy chain is here: https://www.melindatognini.com.au/6-degrees-of-separation-from-the-beauty-myth-to/
Very interesting chain! A friend suggested Tim Winton to me a few years ago, and it was love at first read. I don't know why he isn't better known here in the US.
DeleteYour chain ends with three books I've had in my TBR stack for the longest of times! I have Saint Mazie because I love Attenberg. I bought Boys because as an ex-rower, I was keen to read their story. And Bernadette seemed like a good book to have up my sleeve for when I needed something light.
ReplyDeleteAll three are definitely worth reading. Enjoy!
DeleteStarting with Helen of Troy - inspired! Nice chain.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteWhat a great start to the chain - I love Dr Faustus and Marlowe - that play can stand alongside Shakespeare's greats, I think! And I have been planning to read the last three in your chain for ages, don't know why I keep putting them off!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it can hold its own with many of Shakespeare's plays. I love Marlowe's poems, too.
DeleteI love your chain! The only one I've read is Rosemary's Baby - a long, long time ago. I do have the Bernadette book here and plan to get to it at some point. Very nice!
ReplyDeleteIt has easily been 35+ years since I've read the book; I do remember it as creepy with a macabre humor. Bernadette is much more fun!
Deletesmart links! thanks for vising my chain. if your readers are interested, it's here: https://wordsandpeace.com/2018/03/03/six-degrees-of-separation-from-beauty-to-truth/
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I wanted to follow your blog, but I see no social media icon, no box to follow through email, and when I clicked at the very bottom to Subscribe to Posts (Atom), it didn't work!!
Unbroken and Bernadette!!!! Wow! Good list.
ReplyDeleteLisa @ https://hopewellslibraryoflife.wordpress.com/2018/03/05/6-degrees-of-separation-the-beauty-myth-by-naomi-wolf/