The Bird Artist (Bowie's Top 100)

The Bird Artist by Howard Norman

Open for Business! The Group Read page for anyone who wants in.

Megan and I are continuing our Bowie's Top 100 journey with this month's selection. Please join us!! We will start in May.

David Bowie's Top 100 Reads:

Interviews With Francis Bacon by David Sylvester
Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse
Room At The Top by John Braine
On Having No Head by Douglass Harding
Kafka Was The Rage by Anatole Broyard
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
City Of Night by John Rechy
The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Iliad by Homer
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner--January ✔ ✔
Tadanori Yokoo by Tadanori Yokoo
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin
Inside The Whale And Other Essays by George Orwell
Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
Halls Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art by James A. Hall
David Bomberg by Richard Cork
Blast by Wyndham Lewis
Passing by Nella Larson
Beyond The Brillo Box by Arthur C. Danto
The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes
In Bluebeard’s Castle by George Steiner
Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd
The Divided Self by R. D. Laing
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Infants Of The Spring by Wallace Thurman
The Quest For Christa T by Christa Wolf
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter
The Master And Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Herzog by Saul Bellow
Puckoon by Spike Milligan
Black Boy by Richard Wright
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima -- April ✔ ✔
Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler
The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot
McTeague by Frank Norris
Money by Martin Amis
The Outsider by Colin Wilson
Strange People by Frank Edwards
English Journey by J.B. Priestley
A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Day Of The Locust by Nathanael West
1984 by George Orwell
The Life And Times Of Little Richard by Charles White
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock by Nik Cohn
Mystery Train by Greil Marcus
Beano (comic, ’50s)
Raw (comic, ’80s)
White Noise by Don DeLillo
Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom by Peter Guralnick
Silence: Lectures And Writing by John Cage
Writers At Work: The Paris Review Interviews edited by Malcolm Cowley
The Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock And Roll by Charlie Gillete
Octobriana And The Russian Underground by Peter Sadecky
The Street by Ann Petry
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
Last Exit To Brooklyn By Hubert Selby, Jr.
A People’s History Of The United States by Howard Zinn
The Age Of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby
Metropolitan Life by Fran Lebowitz
The Coast Of Utopia by Tom Stoppard
The Bridge by Hart Crane
All The Emperor’s Horses by David Kidd
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters -- March ✔ ✔
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos
Tales Of Beatnik Glory by Ed Saunders
The Bird Artist by Howard Norman -- Reading in May
Nowhere To Run The Story Of Soul Music by Gerri Hirshey
Before The Deluge by Otto Friedrich
Sexual Personae: Art And Decadence From Nefertiti To Emily Dickinson by Camille Paglia
The American Way Of Death by Jessica Mitford
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote -- February ✔ ✔
Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Teenage by Jon Savage
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Viz (comic, early ’80s)
Private Eye (satirical magazine, ’60s – ’80s)
Selected Poems by Frank O’Hara
The Trial Of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens
Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes
Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont
On The Road by Jack Kerouac
Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder by Lawrence Weschler
Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Transcendental Magic, Its Doctrine and Ritual by Eliphas Lévi
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
The Leopard by Giusseppe Di Lampedusa
Inferno by Dante Alighieri
A Grave For A Dolphin by Alberto Denti di Pirajno
The Insult by Rupert Thomson
In Between The Sheets by Ian McEwan
A People’s Tragedy by Orlando Figes
Journey Into The Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginzburg

Oh oh! The one I have is the first cover you have on #1. I can start whenever you want, as have it in my hot little hands already.

Yay!!! I try hard you know. ; ) Do you want to start now or wait for May? I have a little bit left on one book and then I am all yours! ; )

Let me know when you finish your current book, and we will dive on in. I will try to get through the last 40 pages of Domestic Manners of the Americans in the meantime....

I had forgotten The Bird Artist was on David Bowie's list. What a remarkable guy he was.

I've ordered a copy from the library but your guess is as good as mine how long it will take to get to me!

What Charlotte said.

That's okay, I can stall a little and at least wait until May!! Glad to have you guys on board!

You have me on the team too as I bought the book this afternoon. My cover is the same as Megan's.

Woohoo! It's a party :)

I have the same cover as well. We are triplets!!

If I promise to read slowly, can I start now?

LOL. Go!!

:)
I'll be slow, I can nearly 100% guarantee. My mojo has flatlined

Ok, here's a nice sentence:

I felt there was something coldly sequestered about Botho's lighthouse, and associated Botho with that feeling.

Mainly I just like the words 'coldly sequestered' being used together. It's only on p20, so I really have only just started

I am finishing up a book, and then I will jump in. Hope your mojo spikes up again!

The library has notified me that the book has arrived - I can pick it up today!!

Yay!!!

Chapter 1

So, I forget to mention up at the top, but Megan and I have taken to writing the Chapter Headings above our comments, so people can choose to read or not, depending on how far they are in the book. Occasionally we use spoilers, too. : )

Random rant...I am on page 3!! Why do they always start on 3? Such a silly rule. Title page, then a blank page, then Chapter 1 on page 3!

Okay, no secrets here. The murder is revealed in the first paragraph.

Somehow I missed getting this thread on our group wiki. It's there now!

Okay. I have read Chapter 1:

Abby was making cupcakes yesterday when I returned from the library with this, so I read part of the first chapter out loud, and we all loved Margaret's brashness and the humor that the story is told with. I was confused about who Alaric was - why doesn't he just say tht his mother's name is Alaric right at the beginning?!

I loved this passage: "I looked up at the lighthouse and thought how rarely I had spoken to Botho August, only a few words in passing if he was standing near the road, even though he had been the lighthouse keeper since I was eleven. People may assume that in a village of less then two hundred everyone talks to everyone else, but in truth being reclusive is a kind of expertise....I felt there was something coldly sequestered about Botho's lighthouse, and associated Botho with that feeling. The manicured lawn, white picket fence, goat bell nailed to the gate. Not a cobble was out of place in the low wall marking the path, past the supply shed down to Witless Bay Harbour. The lighthouse made me feel that even to appraise it from a distance was a kind of trespassing."

>21 Crazymamie: You are making me want to re-read this one! I think, though, that I will put another one of Norman's books higher on my TBR pile instead.

Ha! I also have his The Museum Guard out from the library. Have you read that one?

>23 Crazymamie: I haven't read it, but it's on my shelf!

This just arrived home with me from the library. Will try and catch up...

>21 Crazymamie: you expanded on the quote that I was drawn to earlier! Great minds....

Looks like the Bird Artist party has started, and I can read in earnest now :) (not that I read un-earnestly all that often)

>20 drneutron: Thanks!!

>21 Crazymamie: I love that quote. And I find it fascinating reading this book already knowing the identity of the victim and the murderer.

>22 laytonwoman3rd: >23 Crazymamie: >24 laytonwoman3rd: I haven't read any Norman before--we'll see how this one does before I get excited about the next one! Where have I been that you all read him or have another ready to go?!

>25 charl08: Yay!!

>26 LovingLit: On to the next chapter....



The Gargeny

>26 LovingLit: Oh! You are right, Megan - I did not go back up thread to reread the posts after I read the first chapter. Cool that we both liked that sentence!

Chapter 2

I liked how Fabian is so thoughtful in his analysis of his mother.

"My mother closed her eyes, she sometimes gathered her thoughts so intensely that she all but sank into sleep."

"I recalled a sermon...He had quoted someone, a martyr, blind sage, someone, to the effect that the lifelong vigil for redemption, each show of faith in the face of torment and doubt was a reprieve from madness. At the moment of hearing that, I had especially clung to the word 'vigil'. I thought that the word fit my mother. That her life was a vigil. Though waiting for redemption for which sin, which trespass, exactly, I could not say at the time, nor could I say now."

"All through my life at home with my parents, I knew that my mother's sadness (that is the word that I always fall back on) had a grip on her...Some days in our house you could breathe it like air."

I think it very telling that he always refers to her as mother, never a shortened version of the title. Also telling is that he has been paying room and board since he was thirteen. The atmosphere in the house is cold and isolated, like I imagine the setting of the story to be.

Chapter 2

The dad seems more romantic; he says to his son at night, "Before I go in, I'll let her stare out the window...At the lighthouse. Or more likely the stars."

But wait, then there is this from the mom to the son: "...can you believe that curiosity might be the first part of passion?...It means a lot in life, passion does. Especially if it's absent." Why doesn't she share this with her husband...perhaps he has passion for Alaric, but she does not return it, hence the wearing of tons of clothes to bed? Dun, dun, dun!! I sense a lonely heart.

And then, when I think I am all clever and have pounced upon something, like an upcoming affair, the son just up and reveals it a scant few paragraphs later, "Passion for what, or whom, I did not know. Later, of course, I thought it all applied to her adultery with Botho August. Yet as time passed, I realized that Botho August--that one man--was finally too narrow and convenient a way to consider my mother's emptiness, her longings."

How odd that the plot is so open. I guess this will be all about the hidden thoughts and feelings of the characters....

Oh, and favorite quote, honesty at it's best! Alaric: "I'll get up at 4:30 to make your coffee," my mother said. "But I won't be in a civil mood." (That would be me at that hour!)

>28 Crazymamie: I was also surprised by the paying for room and board, too. Although the father also suggested he pay for groceries, so it was definitely agreed upon by the parents.

I do love that part you quoted. It's very poetic, and sad.

I have done the first two chapters also and am throughly enjoying it after the harrowing read of Ruby. The issue of a murder is settled with the feathered touch of, well, a bird artist.

>30 Berly: tough old times huh?
This morning Lenny yelled out "give me breakfast" (!!!) and I replied "this is not a bed AND breakfast anymore! It is just a 'bed' until some manners appear."
Maybe I need to introduce board....

LOL. Did he say "please"?

Eventually :)

I wonder how good Lenny is at drawing birds?..............better keep him away from Lighthouse keepers methinks!

Lennyism made me laugh. That's pretty much my attitude to food. Thank goodness I can get my own breakfast.

I think I've failed at the group read, as I couldn't resist finishing it. Great read. I like thinking about why Bowie chose it too. Strong similarities to Sweetland I thought.

I also loved the Lennyism.

Charlotte, you are cracking me up! There is no right or wrong, so you have not failed.

>35 PaulCranswick: LOL

>36 charl08: No! You have succeeded!! You read the book, you posted on the thread, you are spurring us on to finish, and you liked the book! ; )

>37 Crazymamie: See, Crazy agrees.

>36 charl08: lol, epic success!

I have redeemed myself (or in Charlottes view, approached failure) in reading a good 4 chapters straight last night. I am loving it. I love feeling like I know the main character, even though he could hardly be said to be elaborate in his speech!

Chapter 9
Some pages in....
Exciting! In a subdued kind of way :)
Re: the wedding in the previous chapter, how is it that the constable let it proceed!? I would have thought that was that last thing that he should have been thinking about.

Behind again...dang it! And no reading tonight. I have about an hour before friends are arriving for our 25th Annivesary hoopla. And tomorrow I am hosting Mother's Day Brunch. Sunday?!! ; )

26 pages left and will finish it at lunchtime. Glad that Bowie made this list; it is just a shame that we had to wait for him to up and die before choosing this one to read. Has a great feel to it.

>40 LovingLit: I loved that bit - overcome by the romance of it all? I wondered why he didn't just run when he saw get constable in the hall though...

>43 charl08: yeah! Me too :)

I happen to quite like the character of Margaret, btw. She pulls no punches, and calls a spade a spade!

With murder, adultery, family break-ups and fine arts this should be the stuff of serious literary fiction. Instead we get a homespun, whimsical tone to the whole thing that is a delight.

That the black comedy works is a testament to Norman's ability to create interesting characters from an unfamiliar setting. The two main female characters in particular Margaret and the memorably named Alaric are extremely well drawn and hog the very best scenes, the Lighthouse Keeper Botho and the Bank Robbing relatives make for a heady mix.

Enjoyed this and thanks go to Kimmers and Megan as well as Mr. Bowie whose depth of reading would have made the dear chap a worthy member of this little group for sure.

>45 PaulCranswick: nice! Comedy though? I never thought of it as a black comedy, but I suppose it is. There is a comedy of errors made, and now that I am thinking about it, the conversation between the reverend Skillet and our main man was cleverly dry.
I can't wait to read the last few pages

I haven't written my review yet, but I finished it a few days ago. I really liked it. I'll be back with some favorite quotes and some comments.

Thanks so much Kim and Megan for picking this one - I don't think I would have found it by myself.

So glad everyone seems to be enjoying The Bird Artist. I "discovered" this one several years ago when Howard Norman was a guest at Scranton's short-lived "Pages and Places" Book Festival. I had never heard of him before. I subsequently bought most of his available books. The only other one I've read so far is a memoir, In Fond Remembrance of Me, which was slightly odd, but delightful.

>48 laytonwoman3rd: "Slightly odd" is an apt description of his writing, Linda.

>41 Berly: I am joining you now, Kim, in being 'slightly behind'...no reading in 48 hours! Only An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science has passed my retinas in the last few days. And oh boy, is this philosophizing messing with my head......oh to get back to the refuge of fiction ;)

Update: I shall read the final pages this very evening! Good night :)

Well, I did ht I threatened to do in my last post, and now I have completed the book. It was a good solid 4-star read for me. I enjoyed it and wanted to go back to it ASAP.
Nice choice Bowie! (and Berly)

The End

I am not sure why Margaret liked him so much--the man had no emotions and never stood up for himself!! Everything just felt cold. How appropriate that Margaret was the one to run his mom over. Can't imagine why the officer let the marriage take place and then arrested him. A memorable but strange book.

>53 Berly: oh, poor....what was his name again? ( either a bad memory, or a not memorable enough character?). Margaret probably liked him because he didn't react to her provocations. I took him to be not so much cold, as cool, calm and collected.
Margaret has a habit of knocking people off!!!