Flowers are starting to bloom, leaves are returning to the
trees, the bugs are starting to buzz, the robins are hopping around and the
world is getting greener every day. Ahhh, Spring has just about sprung so here
are a few titles to get you into the that Spring spirit!
Spring by Ali Smith – From Man Booker Prize Finalist Ali
Smith comes the third novel in her Seasonal Quartet--a New York Times Notable
Book and longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2020. What
unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven,
Brexit,
the present, the past, the
north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, and a woman
trapped in modern times?
Spring. The great connective.
This title was critically well received and was considered
for many literary prizes. This volume of
the quartet is considered the darkest of the four titles, despite being named
for a, usually, hopeful season; the season of renewed life and new hope. The
book deals with the current events roiling about in Britain around 2019 (the
year of the book’s publication); focusing on the refugee crisis in Europe, the
Surveillance State and the nationalistic turn in Britain.
The novels are all stand-alone titles, but are
interconnected by outlook and concerns.
The other three novels in the quartet are Autumn (2017), Winter (2018)
& Summer (2020). You can read them in the order they were published; or
maybe by the time of year they are named after for that seasonal feel.
Spring by Karl Ove Knausgard – Part of another quartet of
books named after the seasons. Knausgard’s quartet is designated as the “Seasonal
Encyclopedia”. These books are also autobiographical in nature, consisting of
diary excerpts, letters, and other personal materials. Spring follows a father
and his newborn daughter through one day in April, from sunrise to sunset. It
is a day filled with the small joys of family life, but also its deep
struggles. With this striking novel in the Seasons quartet, Karl Ove Knausgard
reflects uncompromisingly on life’s darkest moments and what can sustain us
through them. Most of Knausgard’s writing is autobiographical “fiction” and this
series is no exception as the main characters seem to be Karl Ove and his
family. This laying bare of his relations with family and friends is what
Knausgaard calls a “Faustian bargain”— he has achieved huge success by
sacrificing his relationships with friends and members of his family (he is on
his third wife!). As with Smith’s quartet above, these volumes are separate
titles but linked, maybe more than Smith’s as the characters are the same in
all four volumes.
The other 3 titles are Autumn (2017), Winter (2017) & Summer
(2018).
Prague Spring by Simon Mawer – New York Times bestselling
Mawer writes spy novels and this one deals with the “Prague Spring”, a period
of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist
Republic that was crushed by the invasion of Soviet troops in 1968.
In the summer of 1968--a year of love and hate, of Prague
Spring and Cold War winter--Oxford students James Borthwick and Eleanor Pike
set out to hitchhike across Europe, complicating a budding friendship that
could be something more. Having reached southern Germany, they decide on a whim
to visit Czechoslovakia, where Alexander Dubček's "socialism with a human
face" is smiling on the world.
Meanwhile, Sam Wareham, First Secretary at the British
embassy in Prague, is observing developments in the country with both a
diplomat's cynicism and a young man's passion. In the company of Czech student
Lenka Konečková, he finds a way into the world of Czechoslovak youth, its hopes
and its ideas. For the first time, nothing seems off limits behind the Iron
Curtain. Yet the wheels of politics are grinding in the background. The Soviet
leader Leonid Brezhnev is making demands of Dubček, and the Red Army is amassed
on the borders. How will the looming disaster affect those fragile lives caught
up in the invasion?
Banshun Late Spring (Blu-ray or DVD) – A 1949 Japanese movie
directed by the renowned director Yasujiro Ozu. Starring Chishū Ryū & Setsuko
Hara. Noriko (Setsuko Hara) is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed
father, Shukichi (Chishû Ryû), and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her
aunt Masa (Haruko Sugimura) convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his
27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her
life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his
daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.
This film is considered one of Japan’s greatest films of
all-time and started a run of films (Tokyo Story – 1953, Floating Weeds – 1959)
that place Ozu among the greatest film makers of the world. Get the Criterion
Blu-ray edition of this title for the best quality picture and sound, plus a
ton of interesting “extras”.
Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring) (DVD) – Swedish film directed by Ingmar
Begman and starring Max Von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom & Birgitta
Pettersson. Bergman is considered one of the great film directors of the world
and this 1960 film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film,
marking the first time Bergman won the award.
Set in medieval Sweden, it is a tale about a father's
merciless response to the rape and murder of his young daughter. The story was adapted
by screenwriter Ulla Isaksson from a 13th-century Swedish ballad, "Töres
döttrar i Wänge" ("Töre's daughters in Vänge"). Bergman
researched the legend of Per Töre with an eye to an adaptation, considering an
opera before deciding on a film version. Isaksson and Bergman explored a number
of themes in The Virgin Spring, questioning morals, vengeance, and religious
beliefs. The rape scene was also subject to censorship in screenings in the
United States.
Letter to You (Music CD) by Bruce
Springsteen – Okay, this
is a bit of a cheat, but it’s Bruce – the Jersey troubadour! And I wanted to
get a CD on the list. This is his best album (I think) in years.
The E-Street band is backing him up and they
never sounded better. The songs are rocking and the instruments are
rolling.
It is like they took a time
machine back to the days of “Born to Run” or “Born in the USA”.
Yes they sound that good!
Here is a link tothe AllMusic 4.5 (out of 5) star review.
- by Larry McNamara, Acquisitions Librarian
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