NYRB Classics discussion

Okay, here is where, once it's August, although if you anything to say now go ahead, we'll discuss The Summer Book. I'm psyched, I've read the Moomin books before, but never Tove Jansson's adult books.

Nick

Tove Jansson will be new for me, too. excited. :D

Ditto.

I can't wait! The Summer Book is the first NYRB Classic I ever purchased.

Cindy wrote: "I can't wait! The Summer Book is the first NYRB Classic I ever purchased."

YES! you made it here. :D

I'm a new member and, as luck has it, I bought The Summer Book about two weeks ago (although it is the Sort Of Books edition, does that mean I am immediately dismissed from the group? Oh! The shame.)

Sort of Books must be a publisher? Never heard of it, but I'm excited there are at least seven of us on board. This is already fun.

Trish wrote: "Sort of Books must be a publisher? Never heard of it, but I'm excited there are at least seven of us on board. This is already fun."

Yes Trish, their website is here: http://www.sortof.co.uk/ . It's a lovely edition with flaps and lots of photos, but I'm sure the NYRB edition is equally nice.

What an absolutely fabulous-looking website! I adore the covers. And it looks like they have lots of Tove Jansson books - including some I'd never heard of. I've never read her, so this is going to be something completely new! Many thanks for the link.

I've ended up with a Sort Of copy too, so count me in.

yay!

Declan wrote: "Trish wrote: "Sort of Books must be a publisher? Never heard of it, but I'm excited there are at least seven of us on board. This is already fun."

Yes Trish, their website is here: http://www.so..."

Hey, hey! No rival publishing marketing here, please!

In all seriousness, I don't mind which edition we read--although you'll miss out on the lovely Thomas Teal translation, he recently won the Bernard Shaw Translation Award for his translation of another Tove Jansson book, Fair Play--it's about the book, not the publisher.

Nick

I was kind of wondering about that, but actually the Sort Of edition is Thomas Teal as well.

I just got my copy of the NYRB edition. it has an intro that the other publishers won't have. :D

i'll be reading it as my "Saturday Shortstack" selection this upcoming Saturday morning....

Just found a post about our choice on a blog with beautiful pictures. Feel like we may all be want to move to an island after this: http://hibernianhomme.blogspot.com/20...

indeed...i think this is going to bring back a lot of memories of summers in Maine at my best friend's grandparents' place. those pictures already made me think about "our" beach!

Marieke wrote: "indeed...i think this is going to bring back a lot of memories of summers in Maine at my best friend's grandparents' place. those pictures already made me think about "our" beach!"

Oh, Beauty! What a wonderful review. Are you sure, S., that you can't locate a copy somewhere?

You're right about the introduction Marieke, the Sort Of edition has a foreword by Esther Freud, daughter of the recently deceased painter Lucian Freud (one of his 13 or so children!).

It sounds like we'll all be reading the same text, apart from the introduction. I don't usually read introductions till after I've read the book anyway, so I'll try to hunt it down. But I'm pleased to have Esther Freud's. I've read and liked her fiction, but had no idea that she was Lucien Freud's daughter, nor that he was Sigmund's grandson till just this last week.

Seana wrote: "It sounds like we'll all be reading the same text, apart from the introduction. I don't usually read introductions till after I've read the book anyway, so I'll try to hunt it down. But I'm pleased..."

I'm the same way with intros. It would be interesting to compare notes after we've all read the book.

I got The Summer Book today & have already looked inside...summer stretches ahead like an island vacation...

Waiting patiently for The Summer Book to arrive.

It's wonderful. I'm almost finished.

i read it today and i loved it. :D

I'm ashamed to admit I didn't get it to this weekend. But I did want to share some reviews from a book club that read it in February and posted their reviews on a blog: http://slavesofgolconda.blogspot.com/...

Glad you enjoyed it, looking forward to being there with you soon.

Nick

I probably won't be able to get to it until I get back from vacation in 2 weeks. But I can't wait!

Nick, How are we to do this? I can publish my review in the next couple of days on the book site and my website. Then I can comment here when people begin to discuss. does that sounds right?

I finally got "The Summer Book" Hurray!

I finished it yesterday and am ready to discuss whenever people feel ready. It's a wonderful book, and not long, so don't let feeling behind stop you from diving in.

I think I can say this without it being a spoiler. I read this back in May, but one impression I remember having is that it took me back to my own childhood, where I would wander the forest where we lived, creating "living spaces" from fallen trees, swings and art and "food" from my surroundings, and just spending hours in that imaginary green world. I think the Grandmother and I would be kindred spirits. :)

Trish wrote: "Nick, How are we to do this? I can publish my review in the next couple of days on the book site and my website. Then I can comment here when people begin to discuss. does that sounds right?"

I think so, kinda winging it here. What exactly do you mean by 'book site', I haven't set up any other page. Or did you mean just the Goodreads page? I think that works.

I started it yesterday and am loving it so far. It feels very lyrical, but maybe that's wrong--I'm thinking of the amazing descriptions of the island and its environment, but looking up lyrical I'm told that its more about emotions, and this book has a subdued emotional feel, though there are some intense feelings under the surface, particularly in Sophia's case.

What do you guys think?

I also love the two different perspectives--one an old grandmother, the other a young girl--and how strangely similar they are.

I loved it. Here's my review. it's very short and doesn't have spoilers.

i agree there are some intense emotions going on, with both the Sophia and her grandmother. and a lot of love. i sensed a lot of love.

I like that review, Marieke.

I just finished the chapter 'The Road' and love how at the end of a chapter about the destruction of the forest by a bulldozer, and Sophia's observation of it, she thinks, "It's like when God smote Gomorrah. It'll be a lot of fun to ride instead of walk." It seems every chapter has a contradictory message, like 'The Cat' chapter which I also read this morning. Any thoughts?

New York Review Books wrote: It seems every chapter has a contradictory message, like 'The Cat' chapter which I also read this morning. Any thoughts? "

I liked the cat chapter. To me the message was "who can say what we will love and why?" Love, like the rest of life, is unpredictable. One would think that a cuddly, affectionate kitten is the cat that one will be loved, when in fact that wasn't the case at all. (I'm trying not to write too much for those who have not read this yet).

I think that both Sophia and Grandmother are much more like cat number one than cat number two. Not cuddly. But loved in their essential selves. Which is better.

Seana wrote: "I like that review, Marieke."

Thanks!

I'll have to go back and have another look, but I thought it was funny that after everything, Sophia really wanted the cat that was hard to love.

I'm not sure if this fits in with the current moment in the discussion, but I really enjoyed the discussions Sophia and her grandmother had about God and God's purpose. I'm not religious, but there is something really interesting and special about children trying to wrap their minds around something as abstract as God.

Don't worry about fitting in with the current moment of discussion. It's nice to hear your comments. I was just struck by how very deep the conversation between the very young and the very old can be. I thought that was very realistic. Although I like to think that I am not quite as old as Grandmother, I have had some similar relations with very young kids. At least I know the kind of completely uncensored comments they can make to people who they trust but who are not their parents.

Marieke wrote: "Seana wrote: "I like that review, Marieke."

Thanks!

I'll have to go back and have another look, but I thought it was funny that after everything, Sophia really wanted the cat that was hard to lov..."

My favorite discussion of God is on pg. 35/36, or the entire The Pasture chapter:

"Sophia picked some flowers and held them in her hand until they got warm and unpleasant; then she put them down on her grandmother and asked how God could keep track of all the people who prayed at the same time.
'He's very, very smart,' Grandmother mumbled sleepily under her hat.
'Answer really,' Sophia said. 'How does He have time?'
'He has secretaries...'

There are so many dichotomies running through this book, not least a split between practicality and spirituality, of some sort. The island is both an idyllic place to live, but also must be very hard place to live.

God must seem close to them all the time, living as they do on a small island, and at the mercy of natural phenomenon. In The Enormous Plastic Sausage chapter, there is a quote I marked: “The thing about God, she thought, is that He usually does help, but not until you’ve made an effort on your own.”

Speaking of small island, did anyone get a clear picture of how big this island was? Shall we assume from the picture on the front of the book that it was like a castaway small island? What about the talk of building a road? Did I miss a connector somewhere?

y favorite discussion of God is on pg. 35/36, or the entire The Pasture chapter:
Marieke wrote: "My favorite discussion of God is on pg. 35/36, or the entire The Pasture chapter:

"Sophia picked some flowers and held them in her hand until they got warm and unpleasant; then she put them down on her grandmother and asked how God could keep track of all the people who prayed at the same time.
'He's very, very smart,' Grandmother mumbled sleepily under her hat.
'Answer really,' Sophia said. 'How does He have time?'
'He has secretaries...'

I loved that part as well. When the questions keep coming about God she makes up something that hits us as funny but satisfies Sophia. She does that a lot.

The Grandmother always seems so weary, but wise to the world and life.

At the risk of belaboring the point that I'm not reading the NYRB version, I thought I would post a bit of the introduction from the Sort Of edition by Esther Freud. She goes out to the island that Tove and her niece Sophia and her mother, a.k.a., grandmother knew so well. Esther, on landing is taken aback by how small the island is. After taking a walk around its perimeter, she says: "I feel a little uneasy. Claustrophobic even. My walk has taken me four-and-a-half minutes!"

But by the time she is at the end of her visit, she says "I stand on a wide stepping stone and wonder if it would be possible to swim right the way round.My focus has changed now. The island is no longer quite so small. The rocks have become cliffs, the creek a ravine. But Sophia is calling me, it's time to go, and I realize it would need a whole summer to discover everything there is to do."

In a way, this mirrors my own feelings about the book. At first it seems a rather small thing, but by the end you realize how much it has packed within it.

Seana wrote: "In a way, this mirrors my own feelings about the book. At first it seems a rather small thing, but by the end you realize how much it has packed within it. "

I loved this, what a great observation.

Seana wrote: "...a bit of the introduction from the Sort Of edition by Esther Freud. She goes out to the island that..."

Seana, does she say which island group it is? I'd like to try and locate it on Google earth so I can get a better idea.

Glad you liked it, Jenny.

Trish, not so precisely, but Freud does mention leaving from the Pellinge Peninsula, and that from Sophia's island, it is possible to see the island where Jansen herself ended up living with her companion after the original island got too crowded. Tove's island is called Klovharu, and you should be able to find some sort of location for that, anyway.

I also came across a nice little website on her just now.

Seana wrote: "Glad you liked it, Jenny.

Trish, not so precisely, but Freud does mention leaving from the Pellinge Peninsula, and that from Sophia's island, it is possible to see the island where Jansen herself ..."

Oh, thank you! The picture of the island on the website is brilliant. I see the "grass lay stretched on the ground like a light-colored pelt" (one of my favorite lines), but also the paintings and life. There is a reserve even in the website information--just essential facts and nothing more.

I took a look at the NYRB version yesterday, and was surprised to see her drawings included. In my version, there are black and white photos of the island, so I probably had more sense of it as a 'real place' than you did. But either way has its own charms.

I am not sure if you all had this photo of the real Sophia and Grandmother, so I hunted it out and there is a blogpost that contains it as well as some other great stuff about that region.

I liked the Kathryn Davis introduction. It shed more light on Tove Jansen's own life than I got from my edition. It is so interesting that Tove wrote the book so shortly after her mother's death, and relates it to a time right after Sophia's mother has died. So all this contradiction that we keep finding in it seems so connected to looking back at a happy time through the lens of loss.

Re "the road," I think I get it. It was just an adventure day because "grandmother waited down by the bank by the boat."

What about this: "It's funny about love," Sophia said. "The more you love someone, the less he likes you back."
"That's very true," Grandmother observed. "And so what do you do?"
"You go on loving," said Sophia threateningly. "You love harder and harder."
Her grandmother sighed and said nothing.
The cat is traded, then returned.
"You know how it will be," Grandmother said.
"It'll be awful," said Sophia gravely. "But it's Moppy I love."
Can any of us choose whom we love, or does love "happen to us" like a disease or a condition we cannot prevent?

Seana wrote: "I took a look at the NYRB version yesterday, and was surprised to see her drawings included. In my version, there are black and white photos of the island, so I probably had more sense of it as a '..."

Awesome, Seana! Love the photo of Tove's mother with niece Sophia. Boy, that really brings it all into focus. And the picture of the rock pool with the purple loosestrife...