Books in pictures

 

       I'm reading Stoner by John Williams, a most kind gift from Lynne, and although I'm only thirty or so pages into it, it has conjured a clear picture in my mind. The early part of the book describes William Stoner leaving the family farm to enter the University of Missouri; this is 1910, money is in short supply, and forty miles is a long way from home. When he graduates, taking his degree in English, not Agriculture for which he first enrolled, his parents come to visit:

"To attend the ceremony, his parents - in a borrowed buggy drawn by their old dun mare - had started the day before, driving overnight the forty-odd miles from the farm, so that they arrived at the Footes' shortly after dawn, stiff from their sleepless journey. Stoner went down to meet them. They stood side by side in the crisp morning light and awaited his approach.

....[he could not] bring himself to tell them of his change of plans, of his decision not to return to the farm. Once or twice he started to speak; then he looked at the brown faces that rose nakedly out of their new clothing, and thought of the long journey they had made and of the years they had awaited his return...."

    On reading that passage I thought straightaway of Grant Wood's American Gothic. It dates from 1930 and is of a farmer and his spinster daughter, but it depicts - for me - that scene.

    We had a lot of fun recently choosing pictures to sum up our reading taste (remember this post?), so why not let's all choose an image as I've done here which in some way represents a book, a character, an episode, say. It could be a painting or a photograph, any visual interpretation of something literary.

    If you have a go on your own blog, please link back to us here so that we can see what you've chosen, and if you are blogless then you may just want to mention book and picture in the comments on this post. I hope lots of people will join in with this as it will be very subjective and may cause us to 'see' familiar things differently.

Comments

[stujallen]

wonderful idea ,I ve already posted mine came straight to me ,hope other people choose great books and pictures

[Dark Puss]

American Gothic! Now you're talking my language; let me think and post something tomorrow or Friday (I'm off to Cirencester in a couple of hours).

Black Magic Cat

[Diana Birchall]

B-but what happened next to Stoner? I'm at the edge of my seat!

[jodi]

Karen,

I have received the book. Thank you so much ( I have written a post about it also). It is the perfect book for me as I have been thinking about buying the book because of the anniversary (It deserves a reread) but then I would look at my stacks of library/own books that need to be read and kept putting it off.

Jodi

[Danielle]

Hm...I'd have to think about this. Now, however, I feel like reading Stoner, too.

[Thomas at My Porch]

Everyone should read Stoner. Such a good book. It is nice to see it making the rounds in the blogosphere. I am currently reading Whipple's collection of short stories so thinking of one image so sum it all up might be somewhat difficult. But I think I should try, it sounds like fun.

[Thomas at My Porch]

Okay, I posted mine! http://myporchblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/books-in-pictures.html

[Desperate Reader]

I love this idea but am having to give it some real thought. I will be back with ideas soon!

[Frances]

Clever and fun idea! Mine is up too for The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

http://nonsuchbook.typepad.com/nonsuch_book/2010/07/books-in-pictures.html

[bibliolathas]

Nice idea. Mine's at http://bookforgetter.blogspot.com/2010/07/books-in-pictures.html -- Sulari Gentill's A Few Right Thinking Men.

[GeraniumCat]

For a couple of years I had a print of American Gothic over my desk, so I'm rather fond of it. Since we moved building, though, "my" painting has been changed for one by Tom Thomson.

My own books-in-pictures post (on Elizabeth Goudge's The Herb of Grace) is here: http://geraniumcatsbookshelf.blogspot.com/2010/07/books-in-pictures.html

[Dark Puss]

My choice is inspired by Colette's Ripening Seed.

http://morganas-cat.tumblr.com/post/850913970/le-ble-en-herbe

[Desperate Reader]

Better late than never (I hope) I've just posted my choice which was inspired by reading Wilkie Collins http://desperatereader.blogspot.com/2010/07/well-this-one-sort-of-fits-bill.html

Lovely and surprisingly hard challange.