Rethinking the top 100
After posting about the Globe’s top 100 New England books last week, I have a few quibbles with their choices. First of all, I think the books should be about New England or at least have some connection with New England beyond the fact that the writer went to college here. I just read “Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, which I liked a lot, but it is set out west and the only connection with New England is that the author went to Pembroke College in Providence and taught at UMASS-Amherst. The same with Julia Glass who wrote Three Junes, which is a lesser book and the only connection with NE is that Glass was born in Boston. I defend the inclusion of Kerouac, because On the Road is rooted in Lowell, it is the starting point of his journey. The same is true of Richard Henry Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast which while being set entirely on a sailing ship is steeped in the New England sensibilities of the author, so that the people he meets and places he goes are all seen through a uniquely New England sense of the world. Some books that should have been included:
1) Come Spring by Ben Ames Williams – sure no one reads Williams anymore, but the book is so old New England.
2) Carry on Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham. If I were Salem, MA, I would be strenuously objecting to the the omission of this title from the Globe’s list. Not only is it a fascinating and inspiring, and well-told tale, of a young boy who overcomes hardship to achieve success, but it is a wonderful snapshot of Salem, back in the days when her sailing ships roamed the world, bringing back exotic treasures from around the globe. A visit to the Peabody-Essex museum in Salem lets you view a portrait of Bowditch and also see intricate ivory carvings as well as a “late Qing Dynasty merchant’s house.” Salem may be more known for the witch trials but back in the day it was a proud and prosperous seaport.
3) Lost on a Mountain in Maine by Donn Fendler. This is a simple, but compelling true story, told by Fendler, about his experience of walking off the path on a day hike up Mt Katahdin, Maine’s highest mountain. He was 12 at the time, quickly became lost in the fog that rolled in and spent 9 days out in the wilderness. It reminds me a bit of the classic, My Side of the Mountain.
4) Why would they leave off Country of the Pointed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett? This is a classic, capturing the sensibility of the early 1900’s in coastal Maine.
5) If one is including less literary authors, such as Richard Russo and Stephen King (not really a fan), then why not Eleanor Lipman’s The Inn at Lake Devine?
More omissions keep occuring to me. In short, I feel that the list was hastily assembled without much thought going into what categorizes a book as from or of New England.