Books Seven and Eight: That Winter the Wolf Came, by Juliana Spahr & A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen

I finished each of these books in one sitting, which has taken a bit of the pressure off of getting through the challenge (!) … especially since I am now involved in a Wallace Stevens book about reality and the imagination- I am loving it, but it is pretty dense and taking me forever to get through.  Anyway, although these books did not require a lot of time, they both affected me deeply and in a very beautiful way.

Juliana Spahr- where have you been all my life?  The writing in That Winter the Wolf Came is timely, connective and edgy.  There is poetry, a bit of prose and combinations of the two throughout.  Something about her voice spoke directly to me- and I even shed a tear (or two) over a beautiful and tragic poem about the BP oil spill.  I read some of this book aloud to my teenage son (who loves writing) and he appreciated and felt the beauty of her use of language.  I look forward to discovering more of her work.

And A Doll’s House- I realized recently that I may have never read this powerful play.  I was inspired to read it while watching the Tony Awards this year, and seeing that there is a sequel to this play on Broadway, called A Doll’s House, Part Two.  The writer of the new play wanted to discover what happened to Nora after Ibsen’s story ended.  Well, now that I am finished, I am extremely curious and ready to jump on a train to NYC to see what he came up with!  Doll’s House (the original by Ibsen) is filled with subtlety and the nuances of marriage, gender roles and – dare I say – Ibsen comes off with a pretty feminist message.  The scenes were realistic, the conversations telling, and I was left unable to stop thinking about the story for the last few weeks…  I think it may be time to head to Broadway to satisfy my curiosity and get a little bit more out of this story!