"Middlebrow" Novels

Some years ago, critics used to speak of "middlebrow" literature. These novels were assigned a place somewhere between, on the one hand, "good," serious literature, critically acclaimed, and on the other hand, "lowbrow" literature, genre fiction, and "beach reads." This category still exists, although we don't often use the term "middlebrow" these days. Although I generally seek out and read "serious" literature, I have a place in my heart for middlebrow authors who are usually extremely skilled and competent at creating very readable, even compelling works. I think of them as craftswomen (the ones I like are almost always women) and good writers, but their novels are just a bit too undemanding, predictable and formulaic to be great. Yet I can rely on them to interest and entertain me, every time. When I learn that their newest novels are out, I almost always look for and read them. Among my favorite middlebrow authors are Elizabeth Berg, Anita Shreve, Anne Rivers Siddons, Nancy Thayer, and Joanna Trollope. I give these authors great credit, and thank them for the many hours of reading pleasure they have provided me.

Campus Novels

Campus novels are strangely compelling. As an academic myself, I particularly enjoy them, but I think anyone who has ever been a student, or worked on a campus, finds them intriguing. Here I list (in order of publication dates) some of the best such novels I have read over the years. (As I am making the list, I am reminded of how many of these books are satirical. I wonder what that says about campuses and academe?)

1. The Professor's House (1925), by Willa Cather. A lovely if sometimes sad book by the wonderful, pioneering Cather.
2. Groves of Academe (1952), by Mary McCarthy. As sharp in tone as McCarthy's work usually is, and great fun to read.
3. Pictures from an Institution (1952), by Randall Jarrell. His fictional college is based on Sarah Lawrence College, where he taught. Scathing in places.
4. Lucky Jim (1954), by Kingsley Amis. Probably the most famous campus novel ever. Satirical and hilarious.
5. The War Between the Tates (1974), by Alison Lurie (1974). As much about the couple's relationship as about the campus, but it is all connected. Also hilariously, if appallingly, candid.
6. Changing Places (1975), Small World (1984), and Nice Work (1988), all by David Lodge. All very funny and great fun to read. Lodge also gets some great potshots in on both sides of the Atlantic, writing about academe in the U.S. and England, especially in Changing Places.
7. Moo (1995), by Jane Smiley. About a midwestern agricultural (thus the title) university. Very funny in parts, if a bit too detailed and sometimes a bit over the top.
8. Straight Man (1997), by Richard Russo. Funny, but also explores the human dilemma. By one of my favorite authors.
9. On Beauty (2005), by Zadie Smith. A British professor, with his multicultural family, comes to the U.S. to teach at an Ivy League university; there they both connect and clash with another professor's family. The British Smith, who spent a year teaching in the U.S. herself, has some very sharp but sometimes affectionate observations to make about race, class, multiculturalism, youth, romance, marriage, pride, and more. She has said that E. M. Forster's novel Howard's End provided a inspiration and a framework to this novel. A "big" novel with many wonderful aspects to savor.

What are your favorite campus novels?

Books-On-Tape

I love books-on-tape (or, these days, actually on CD). I listen to them in my car while driving to work, or while doing errands, or while on a longer trip, such as visiting my mom 3.5 hours away. It is such a treat to have someone read wonderful stories to you while you are driving. And it makes the stories come alive. I especially (but not only) like to listen to the "classics" -- including my beloved Jane Austen's novels -- on tape, luxuriating in hearing the much-read stories one more time. Fortunately these are available at my local library, so listening to tapes/CDs is not expensive. Usually the novels are read by professional actors, or occasionally by the author herself/himself. I sometimes recognize certain readers who read often. One in particular who has recorded hundreds of tapes over the years is Flo Gibson. At first I didn't really like her gravelly voice, but I soon grew quite fond of it, and admired her skill at conveying the different voices of the characters. After a while, she sounded like an old friend unexpectedly re-encountered from time to time. I guess that even as adults, we never completely outgrow wanting to have stories read to us!

Favorite Living Authors

In addition to the writers I have already posted about (e.g., Penelope Lively, Colm Toibin, William Trevor, Anne Tyler), the following living (as far as I know) authors are among my favorites:
Writers of fiction: Margaret Atwood, Margaret Drabble, Anne Enright, Mavis Gallant, Jane Gardam, Gail Godwin, Mary Gordon, Barbara Gowdy, Tessa Hadley, Ha Jin, Jhumpa Lahiri, Margo Livesey, Ian McEwan, Alice Munro, Antonya Nelson, Ann Patchett, Richard Russo, Jean Thompson, Tobias Wolff.
Memoirists: Diana Athill, Mary Gordon, Patricia Hampl, Alice Kaplan, Madhur Jaffrey.

I also enjoy and learn from the magazines I regularly read. Favorites include The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Ms., The Nation, The Progressive, The Women's Review of Books, The New York Times Review of Books, The Threepenny Review, New York, San Francisco Magazine, and Vanity Fair.

Food and Restaurant Literature

I enjoy going to good restaurants here in San Francisco and in other cities where I travel. I also savor books about restaurants and food, especially memoirs. Below are some examples that I have read and highly recommend. Enjoy! And please let me know of your "food lit" favorites as well.

1. Anthony Bourdain. Kitchen Confidential.
This chef's behind the scenes restaurant kitchen revelations are fascinating, funny, and a little scary!
2. Frank Bruni. Born Round: The Secret history of a Full-Time Eater.
In this memoir by the longtime New York Times restaurant critic, he writes about his life in food, including his struggles with dieting, as well as about his life as the most powerful food critic in the U.S. (He stepped down from that job last year when he published this memoir.)
3. Phoebe Damrosch. Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter.
Damrosch was a server at a top New York restaurant, Thomas Keller's Per Se.
4. Andrew Friedman. Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Cuinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse d/Or Competition.
A blow-by-blow account of the preparation of the United States' candidate for this premier French award competition in 2009. He came in 6th place.
5. Betty Fussell. My Kitchen Wars: A Memoir.
A delightful and sometimes mordant memoir from the years when gourmet cooking first became popularized.
6. Judith Jones. The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food.
Jones, a literary editor for almost 50 years, edited many of the greatest cookbooks and other food-related books by such eminences as Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, and Madhur Jaffrey.
7. David Kamp. The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution.
Kamp chronicles the rise of the foodie movement in the U.S.; a very informative and sometimes very funny book.
8. Thomas McNamee. Alice Waters and Chez Panisse. The story of the woman at the culinary forefront of the movement toward local, seasonal, organic, ingredient-driven food, and of the iconic Berkeley restaurant she still runs today (along with spreading the word on school gardens, and - reputedly - advising President and Mrs. Obama on food-related issues.)
9. Ruth Reichl. Tender at the Bone: Growing up at the Table.
A beautifully written memoir of the food critic's childhood initiation into the world of truly flavorful, fresh, properly-prepared, and delicious food, and of her early years in a life of restaurants and food. (This memoir was succeeded by two others: Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table; and Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise. Both are of interest, and enjoyable to read, but the first book - Tender at the Bone - remains the best.)
10. "The Waiter." Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip -- Confessions of a Cynical Waiter.
This longtime waiter and blogger shares inside information and opinions about restaurants. The author pulls no punches, sometimes praising but often skewering restaurant owners, workers, and patrons alike.

A Novel for Grown-ups: "Noah's Compass"

I enjoy novels about characters of all ages, but I sometimes particularly appreciate reading about characters in their fifties, sixties, and older, and their experiences and perspectives. I just finished reading one such novel, "Noah's Compass" (Knopf, 2009), by Anne Tyler (who is 68 years old herself). The main character, Liam Pennywell, is 60 years old, recently retired, and at loose ends. He is, like many of Tyler's characters, seemingly quite ordinary, stolid, and somewhat passive. He is neither unhappy nor particularly happy. He says at one point, "I just...don't seem to have the hang of things, somehow. It's as if I've never been entirely present in my own life" (p. 263). It is a heartbreaking realization. Such a tamped-down character is unlikely to immediately intrigue readers, who may be tempted to bail out of what seems that it will be a rather depressing story, but somehow Tyler's portrayal of how Liam ponders and responds to the events and everyday moments of his life draws us in, and we begin to admire his essential modesty and goodness, and his determination to be satisfied with what he has in life. I realize that this description of "Noah's Compass" probably won't send you running to the bookstore or library, but I urge you to give the novel a chance to win you over, as it did me.

On Tea in Literature

Tea is a treasured part of my life: tea itself, teacups, tea trays, tea parties, afternoon tea, hotel teas, tearooms, long talks over tea. Some of my favorite novels - by Jane Austen, Henry James, Barbara Pym, Angela Thirkell, Dorothy Sayers - have scenes featuring tea. So I was struck by the regular meetings for tea - what was called "sacred tea" - in the novel "The Elegance of the Hedgehog," by Muriel Barbery (which I wrote about in yesterday's post). Here is a passage about tea from the book:

"The tea ritual: such a precise repetition of the same gestures and the same tastes; accession to simple, authentic and refined sensations, a license given to all, at little cost, to become aristocrats of taste, because tea is the beverage of the wealthy and of the poor; the tea ritual, therefore, has the extraordinary virtue of introducing into the absurdity of our lives an aperture of serene harmony. Yes, the world may aspire to vacuousness, lost souls mourn beauty, insignificance surrounds us. Then let us drink a cup of tea. Silence descends, one hears the wind outside, autumn leaves rustle and take flight, the cat sleeps in a warm pool of light. And, with each swallow, time is sublimed" (p. 91).