On Daily Writing and Treasure Island(!!!)

Over the last six years I have cajoled, bribed, encouraged, pressured and inspired (ha, I wish) my students to read every single day for two reasons: 1) because I strongly believe that the more one reads the better he or she becomes at reading and writing, and 2) because I love to read. Writing, however, is not quite as near and dear to my heart. Although I remember a time long ago when I kept various "quote books," journals, and notebooks of poetry, these days I write only when required to do so.

As I gear up to teach a creative writing elective (for the first time) next year, I anticipate asking my students to write each day, and I'm feeling compelled to do the same. Hence, this blog, which will serve as an experiment to see if I actually can find time each day to write.


Creative Writing Lesson #1: Write about what you know.
What I know best is ___books____, so until I can come up with something else to write about, books it is!

My Reviews of Treasure Island!!! and Treasure Island 
(read 7/11/12-7/15/12)

A few months ago, one of my beach book club friends discovered a review of Treasure Island!!! by Sara Levine (@levinehere), and we agreed it should be added to our summer book list. The reviewer accurately promised a hilarious read, but failed to warn the reader of the psychotic episodes that would emerge throughout the story. Fifty pages in, I found the book to be hysterical and imaginative. After all, the narrator is a 25-year old college graduate employed at a Pet Library, who aspires to something greater than cleaning up cat poo and shaving dogs. One hundred pages in, I started to deplore the increasingly insane actions of the protagonist whose obsession with Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island leads  to her being marooned on the island of insanity.

In hindsight, I can't say the author didn't drop some hints that her novel's protagonist was wacky bizarre crazy. I should have paid more attention to the three (not one or two) exclamation points in the title and the Holden Caulfield-like narration evident on the first page:

"In the aftermath of my adventure, I decided to write down the whole thing, starting with my discovery of Treasure Island and keeping nothing back, not even the names of the friends and family members whose problems plagued me; and so even though I'd love to go into the other room and stab someone with a kitchen knife, I take up my pen..."

In the end, it is because I had become so attached to the narrator, that her downward spiral affected me so greatly. From the start, I wanted her to reach for the stars!!! Find that dream job!!! Make a difference in the world!!! I was sure that the quotations and lessons she had excerpted from the classic novel would guide her to a fulfilling career, marital bliss, and a general zeal for life!!! When none of that happened, I found myself annoyed, distraught, and confused. So while I can't say that I enjoyed every moment of this book, it sure kept me reading, if only so that I could watch the train (ship?) wreck transpire. Any author who can make me initially connect with a character whom I eventually come to distrust and even disdain earns my vote of approval!

After the mania of Treasure Island!!! I thought I should read the more sedate Treasure Island, thinking that reading the latter would illuminate some hidden meaning that had eluded me in the former. As I read Stevenson's classic for the first time, I did experience a few "a-ha" moments. However, not having prior knowledge of the classic did not prohibit me from accessing Levine's work.

Overall, I found the classic to be a bore, perhaps because it could not live up to the Treasure Island!!! narrator's claims that it contained themes and characters that would change my life. And perhaps because I am not its intended audience. A typical boy's adventure tale, full of far-fetched, impossible feats of valor, Treasure Island's only treasure is its contribution of Long John Silver and his green parrot to the contemporary cannon of pirate imagery. Perhaps at one time, when television and the internet did not compete for a youngster's time, a boy would have been caught up in the action and adventure of this pirate's tale. However, 129 years after Stevenson penned this story, the esoteric language and writing style (think Dickens) and the myriad nautical terms would likely prevent the book from being enjoyed by modern day young male readers whose grandfathers and great-grandfathers devoured the tale in its prime.

Bottom line: If you're looking for a laugh and an opportunity to psychoanalyze a 20-something "boomerang" kid who's not living up to her potential, read Treasure Island!!! (I wouldn't recommend it to young teen readers).  If you want to (re)read a classic, 19th-century novel with no shortage of shipwrecks, marooned pirates, black spots, mutinies, buried treasure, and Jolly Rogers, assuming you have no opposition to ubiquitous maritime lingo, you'll enjoy Treasure Island minus the exclamation points.

Beach Book Club

In May of 2012, as teachers tried using their keys to leave their classrooms (always a bad sign) and as motivation to grade research papers on the legalization of marijuana wore thin, the idea of a beach book club was born in the English Department work room at my school. Finally, an opportunity to read something self-selected! Intelligent discussions of literature! At the beach!  The idea kept sounding better and better.

Two of my fellow teachers offered their beach houses as places for discussions. A third teacher indicated that she was interested in participating and, by the way, could we read the book she had just finished writing? My contribution? I would spend the gas money to drive to the beach once a week. 

Our goal: To read and discuss one book a week.

Our promise: As three English teachers and a librarian, to not be caught dead reading or discussing Fifty Shades of Gray. (Although we all seemed to agree that the YA novel Between Shades of Gray was quite lovely.)

Our list:

June 20-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

June 27-Home by Toni Morrison

July 11-We the Animals by Justin Torres

July 18-Treasure Island!!! by Sara Levine

June 25-Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick

August 1-the book by our group member and fellow teacher :)

August 8-It Happened on the Way to War by Rye Barcott 

August 15-Open City by Teju Cole

August 22-Game of Thrones Book 1: A Song of Fire and Ice by George R. R. Martin

Although as of today, July 16, all four of us have only met at the beach one time (once only a few of us could meet and another time were forced to meet in Pennsylvania), we've still managed to read and discuss the first three books if not in person and if not at the beach then over email or at someone's non-beach house. The discussions have been nothing less than memorable and stimulating. There's really nothing quite like reading a text (be it a poem, novel, or piece of art), forming a staunch opinion on it, and then watching your opinion grow, change, and second-guess itself when confronted by the opinions of others.  

On creating the list:

I must say that I had a difficult time finding "Books to Read this Summer" lists when I conducted my search in late May (2012).  Once our group completed our list, I abandoned my search for "hot summer titles."  It seems like, aside from the 'colorful' book previously mentioned in this blog post, few blockbuster reads have taken the country by storm this summer. Where is the next Hunger Games? Harry Potter? The Help? Girl With the Dragon Tattoo?  Although the books I've read so far this summer have been enjoyable, I'm dying for a new author or series to take on rock star status and be "the next big thing."  If you hear about any such book, please share!