October reads

I feel like I've barely been reading lately, but I read 3 books in October. 

 

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Gregory Rabassa - historical fiction, "true" crime, based on a true story, magical realism

Everyone in a Colombian village knows of a young man's honor killing before it happens, yet all attempts to warn him fail, and he is murdered anyway. Told sort of backwards by the narrator, who goes around asking everyone for their recollections on the murder and the events leading up to it twenty years after it happens, this story is very interestingly told and, naturally, very sad. I had read One Hundred Years of Solitude in college (this book is set in the same universe, according to one throwaway line) and know that GGM's books feature excellent writing and sad, angry-making plotlines, but the years had made me forget about the misogyny (the man is murdered because he allegedly takes a bride's virginity before her wedding to another). Ultimately, this murder didn't have to happen, but the misogyny and purity culture brought about by Spanish Christian colonialism is why it does. The English title makes this book sound rather fantasy-ish, while the original title is actually "chronicle of an announced death", aka a death announced ahead of time, a different connotation. Trigger warnings for murder, gore, violence, sexual assault of a minor, sexual content, and misogyny.  ★★★★  🌶🌶

 

The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne, illustrated by Ernest H. Shepherd - children's classics, fiction, low fantasy

Last month was Winnie the Pooh's 100th birthday, so naturally I read my Barnes & Noble special edition of the two Pooh books, Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. Loved them, of course; obviously they are both rereads, although I hadn't read this specific edition before. Eeyore is my favorite character because he is so funny and sarcastic (something adaptations omit). Ideally, to be a true WtP treasury, this should include the poems that mention him to be complete (later editions of this book do have them). While excellent books, these are too wordy to read aloud to small children (my nephews enjoyed them, but I could tell the four year old's attention was lagging), so I recommend reading the shortened picture book adaptations to small children instead. My edition has very nice color illustrations; Pooh is drawn as wearing his Disney red T-shirt during the winter scenes, funnily enough.  ★★★★½

The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene, illustrated by Russell H. Tandy - children's classics, mystery, young adult

Her Literary Society's October book club read was the first Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Old Clock. I read this on ebook via Hoopla and my public library. I have never read any of the Nancy Drew books; my public library had them, of course, but I was daunted by the sheer number of them and unsure where to start, so I never did (I didn't have this issue with the Hardy Boys books, which I read a few of when my brother checked them out). I had a general idea in my head of how this book, and Nancy, would be like; I was wrong. For starters, Nancy is 16 years old, which basically makes the Nancy Drew series young adult (they feel middle grade and were, I think, shelved in that section); this is undoubtedly so she can drive her car around and be totally independent when it comes to getting around and going places. I had this vague idea of Nancy as a sweet, traditional girly girl, but she's independent, goal-oriented, and strong-willed to the point of being demanding, with very firm convictions. This was very surprising to find in a book written in 1930 (Nancy is feminine and loves shopping though). I didn't really like her; she was stubborn and single-minded to the point of being abrasive, although to deserving others, she is kind and compassionate. She just didn't feel like a real person or a well-rounded character; she doesn't go through any character growth and is always right about everything and good at everything all the time. I get that the mystery is the point, but she's unchanged from the beginning to the end. Supposedly she's been running the household since she was 10 and her mom died? Sure, Jan. Also, the amount of independence she has as a teenage girl in 1930 is crazy; her father is so indulgent that he even lets her boss him around. The name Mary Sue has to have been chosen as an homage to Nancy Drew, I'm sure of it. Nancy had the logical reasoning and mystery-solving skills of a middle-aged hard-boiled professional detective. She acted like an adult all the time; no real 16 year old would have thought the way she did. At one point the author like realizes she's made her too perfect and clumsily tries to walk this back by making Nancy not immediately make a super obvious connection that her usual characterization would have gotten within a nanosecond. She gets into a LOT of scrapes in this book, some of them actually dangerous; at one point she's captured by robbers, and at another she steals police evidence in order to solve a mystery. She's really out here doing the most. Literally so much happens in this book. The sole character of color is an African American racist stereotype character (bumbling, stupid, an alcoholic, speaks in a dialect), while the sole poor character also speaks in an accent and needs to be helped by Nancy. The villains are cartoonish evil and two-dimensional, not to mention stupid: why would anyone start treating their rich relative cruelly as soon as they knew he had made his will in their favor? He can change it back as long as he's alive. Also, why was the rich old man going around to his friends and other relations like "don't worry, you'll be taken care of *smirk*" rather than just giving them money while he was alive? Stupid. Anyway, solid and very active mystery, two-dimensional characters. It's a fantasy; imagine being a super-independent rich teenager with your own car and indulgent, rich and famous lawyer father who lets you do whatever you want and you're super smart (smarter than 95% of all adults) and solve all sorts of mysteries that change people's lives, etc. etc. I would have liked this book and Nancy a lot more had I read it in my much more forgiving youth. I'm not going to go out of my way to read the others, but I won't avoid them either. I ended up missing the Zoom book club discussion, oh well. TW for racist Black stereotype character, Nancy being locked in a confined space (claustrophobic), some minorish violence towards her by an adult man, threats of violence/death by the same, injuries mentions, classism  ★★★¼