May 2012 Books

I no longer want to read about the works of Alphra Behn, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Virginia Woolf or Toni Morrison, I want to read the actual works.  So this month, my plan is to listen to these amazing women's voices as well as read other women's diary excerpts and memoirs.

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Published: 1929
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I found two broad thesis' that Woolf conveys in this cleverly written essay.

Using history and fictional characters (Shakespeare's equally genius sister, Judith) and places (Oxbridge - cross between Oxford and Cambridge), Woolf gives convincing reasons why there were no female poets, dramatists or novelist before Alphra Behn, who wrote in the latter 17th century.

Women were poor, uneducated, and imprisoned in an extremely patriarchal world.  Even women of nobility and status were entirely dependent upon their fathers, brothers and husbands to marry well, have children and care for the household (think Downton Abbey).

Therefore Woolf argues that " a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction".  This is the first thesis.

The second addresses the main attribute of the literary artist.  Woolf states her belief that a true artist, a literary genius such as Shakespeare or Jane Austen must write with a certain mind - an "androgynous mind..resonant and porous; that it transmits emotion without impedimental,  that it is naturally creative, incandescent and undivided."

Much food for thought in this slim, highly recommended book.

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
Published: 1996
Rating: 4
Goodreads

It is interesting to see the polar reviews on Goodreads. To quote Ryan Mallady from Goodreads, the plot is pretty basic: "Author summers in Tuscany, buys an old farmhouse, refurbishes it, travels through Italy, and cooks constantly."

I liked it.  It does not surprise me the author is a poet. Her use of language was extremely effective; I could smell the garlic, taste the fruit, see the landscape, touch the marble, and hear the beautiful Italian language.  I've never been to Italy but have always wanted to go - even more so after reading her engaging memoir.  Recipes are included - many of which I would like to try such as Basil and Lemon Chicken, Baked Peppers with Ricotta and Basil, Cherries Steeped in Red Wine, Pears in Mascarpone Custard and Rustic Apple Bread Pudding - yummo.   I would recommend to any foodies, especially those who love Italian!

Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl
Published: 1998
Rating: 3
Goodreads

Another foodie memoir, quite different than Mayes', but similar in that they both have a passion for simple ingredients and good food.  Recipes abound in this book such as her father's favorite, Weiner Schnitzel, the author's infamous Artpark Brownies, a straight-forward Boeuf a la Bourguignonne, and super simple Deviled Eggs from her friend Marion.

It would be difficult to re-cap her very interesting life in a few sentences so will just write down the words that are in my book journal: bi-polar mother, passive father, French boarding school in Canada, college, bourgeois lifestyle, married, Europe, squalor living in NYC, commune in California, cook, restaurant critic, food writer, editor of Gourmet magazine.  An interesting and quick read.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
Published: 2011
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I have taken a detour from my intended focus on female authors due to a work-related trip to California and the need to get a book that would make the 5+ hour airtime go by quickly.   I was not disappointed by this quick and engrossing crime thriller.

Nesbo is a Norwegian author that is likened to his Swedish counterparts, Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell.  His protagonist is detective Harry Hole and while this is my first foray into the series, it is the 7th book.

According to Wikipedia, the first two, The Bat and The Cockroaches have not been translated in English.  Books 3 - 9 have been translated by the same person, Don Bartlett and are 3) The Redbreast, 4) Nemesis, 5) The Devil's Star, 6) The Redeemer, 7) The Snowman, 8) The Leopard and 9) Phantom.

The story is pretty self-contained although there are enough references to past cases, partners and relationship to guess that reading in order might be more fulfilling.  I have downloaded a sample of The Leopard into my iPad and from what I've read so far, it does feel like a continuation of The Snowman.

I like Nesbo's writing style and his protagonist.  There are a number of twists and turns - at one point, I was feeling pretty good about guessing "who done it" only to be thrown off - which was okay because I didn't want the book to end.

The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg
Published: 2010
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I have continued down the detour by downloading this book on my iPad after reading Maureen Corrigan's review in the Washington Post a couple of weeks ago.  Lackberg is another successful crime writer from the Scandinavian region;  she is from Sweden. This is the third in the series featuring police detective Patrik Hedstrom.  The first two are Ice Princess and The Preacher.

One word that would describe the content is "dysfunction".  Within the structure of a straightforward detective story, Lackberg explores this theme with all the major and minor characters. Upon retrospect, it is quite disturbing.  The reader is privy to the creation of a sociopath, a true monster whose actions are the root cause of tragic events in successive generations.

Within my book journal, I wrote a list of the other themes/issues addressed in the book:  Evil, incompetent police officers, postpartum depression, child pornography, murders by various modes, child abuse, Aspergers Syndrome, suicide, domestic violence, adultery.  Pretty dark stuff - all done behind closed doors in a small Swedish town.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Published: 1811
Rating: 5
Goodreads

LOVED IT!  I find Austen's writing virtually perfect.  Each word, phrase and sentence is meaningful and important - there is no fluff.  All of her characters, major and minor, are so vivid and real. The heroine (Elinor) is loved; the villains (Fanny and Willoughby) are despised; the spineless (Mr. Dashwood) is annoying, the broken-hearted (Marianne and Elinor) are pitied and the heroes (Colonel Brandon and Edward Ferrars) are without fault.

The comedic ending is perfect.

After reading the book, I watched the 2008 BBC mini-series and the Emma Thompson's 1995 movie adaptation.   Both are excellent.

April 2012 Books

The Odyssey of Homer - Translated by Richmond Lattimore
First published: 750 B.C
Rating: 5
Goodreads

Excellent, highly readable translation of a very exciting epic.  It is truly remarkable to think that both The Iliad and The Odyssey were first composed and performed in the oral tradition and were written down on papyrus scrolls many years after initially created.

Audiocourse: Greek Drama - Tragedy and Comedy by Professor Peter Meineck
Rating: 5
Modern Scholar course

An excellent course covering the major plays of the four prominent ancient Greek playwrights: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes.  What made this course so interesting is that not only is Prof. Meineck a scholar, but he has also produced these plays for the stage.

He speaks about the cultural and political backdrop at the time of the first production in Athens, Greece and how the audience would've thought and felt about certain topics and even moments within each play.  He also addresses the use of masks, the chorus, the three actors and minimal use of props.  A highly recommended course.

Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton
First published: 1942
Rating: 5
Goodreads

When I mentioned to my daughter that I wanted a good book on Greek and Roman mythology, she recommended this book which was part of her high school required reading list.  This became a critical source of information while reading The Iliad and The Odyssey.  I am sure it will come in handy while working my way through the extant plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides.

The Paris Review Interviews: Women Writers at Work edited by George Plimpton
Published: 1998
Rating: 4
Goodreads

The Virginia Woolf Reader edited by Mitchell Leaska
Published: 1984
Rating: 5
Goodreads

I have been intimidated by Virginia Woolf so it was perfect when I spotted this reader with An  Anthology of her Best Short Stories, Essays, Fiction, and Nonfiction on the front cover.  What better way to sample her writing and see how accessible it was?

End result?  I loved reading her essays, short stories, diary excerpts and various letters.  I tried to read the sections from her novels but found it was too difficult to pick up the story mid-stream.  I now own and look forward to reading: A Room of One's Own, Moments of Being, A Writer's Diary and Mrs. Dalloway.

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child (#13 Jack Reacher series)
Published: 2009
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I bought this at a local library book sale a couple of years ago and picked it up after deciding that I wanted a quick and engrossing read after being immersed in Homer's epics for the past few weeks.   I was happy to find it unnecessary to read prior books in the series.

Jack Reacher is a highly trained, extremely intelligent ex-military cop, whose mind is engaged 110% throughout the story.  And because it is told in the first person, the reader knows exactly what he is thinking.  I enjoyed this far more than the one book I read in the Kurt Wallender series,  The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell.  I definitely plan to read more.

March 2012 Books - Poetry, Plays and Survivor Memoirs

In March, our family has been remembering Josh in extra special ways as it was three years on the 18th.  It is apropos that I read these three genres; poetry, tragedies and survivor memoirs.

How To Read a Poem and Fall in Love With Poetry by Edward Hirsch
Published: 1999
Rating: 4
Goodreads
My review coming soon.

Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt
Published: 2010
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I saw this Feb 2010 review in the Washington Post and remember thinking, I need to read this book.  I would recommend this quick read to parents, siblings and spouses who have lost a loved one.

There are a number of thoughts that I could relate to - writing "YES!!" in the margins.

"I seethed at those who spoke of Amy's death in the cliches of modern usage, such as "passing" and "closure." 

"The trouble with a close family is that it suffers closely, too."

"Odd that I seem to know Amy more completely in death than I did when she was alive."

"Grief is a lifelong process for every one of us...one year is no time at all." 

After A Funeral by Diana Athill
Published: 1986
Rating: 2
Goodreads
My thoughts on Josh's blog

The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief & Healing edited by Kevin Young
Published: 2010
Rating: 4
Goodreads
My review coming shortly
Post on Josh's blog: "The Dead" by Billy Collins and original poem: "Where He Lay"

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron
Published: 1990
Rating: 5
Goodreads
My thoughts on Josh's blog 

I was profoundly moved by my reading of this short but powerful book last summer but for some reason, the pages of quotes, thoughts and questions in my journal never made it to either blog.  However, while reading Athill's book, After A Funeral, and the suicidal thoughts of her friend Did, I was reminded of Styron's words and wanted to re-read the book and share my thoughts.

If you happen to read Styron's memoir, I would highly recommend another Styron memoir, written by his daughter, Alexandria called Reading My Father.  In it, she speaks of the profound response to her father's memoir, from the thousands who suffered from depression, making him more famous to the general public than any of his novels ever could.  It is a fascinating coda to his life.

Audiocourse: Iliad of Homer by Professor Elizabeth Vandiver
Rating: 5

I am reading the Iliad and thought it would be helpful to listen to this course.  I would highly recommend anything by Professor Vandiver - she has a gift of making the material accessible and interesting.

Before I Say Goodbye by Ruth Picardie
Published: 1998
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I found this slim book in a local library book sale.  It is not for the faint of heart.  It is the raw, honest writing of a brave woman who died from an aggressive form of breast cancer in September 1997, less than a year from the initial diagnosis.  She was happily married and a new mother of one-year-old twins.

A free lance writer for numerous British publications, she chronicled her journey towards death in a series of poignant articles in the Observer.  These articles as well as email correspondences with close friend and letters received by Observer readers were pulled together by Ruth's husband and sister for publication.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Published: 1603
Rating: 5
Goodreads

Thank goodness for the "No Fear" versions of Shakespeare.  Being generous, I would have gotten about 60% on my own so I needed it!  It's nice to know the context of such famous quotes as "to thine own self be true" and "To be or not to be?  That is the question."

I am listening to Professor Clare Kinney's lecture on Hamlet and realize that my reading is very much through the lens of Josh's death. Everything I read is filtered through that monumental event because it has fundamentally changed me and how I look at things. See two posts on Josh's blog:  Death, Grief and Suicide in Hamlet Part I and Part II.

The Iliad of Homer
Translated by Richmond Lattimore (Professor Vandiver's suggested translation)
First published: 750 BC
Rating: 5
Goodreads 
Helpful resources: audio course (see above),  The Great Books: A Journey Through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature by Anthony O'Hear, Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton.

Prior to reading, these were my preconceived ideas about The Iliad:  ancient literature, must know Greek to understand therefore inaccessible to the general public, uninteresting, old, irrelevant, boring, very difficult read so why bother?  Read full post.

Electra in The Complete Plays of Sophocles
Translated by Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb
First published: 420 BC
Bantam Classic Edition: 1982
Rating: 4
Goodreads
Helpful resource: The Great Books: A Journey Through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature by Anthony O'Hear.

Even though I have been drawn to books that deal with deep human suffering, the tragedies of Sophocles that I have read thus far, Ajax and Electra are tragic to the nth degree.  There is nothing uplifting in either play and from O'Hear's summary of the Oedipus trilogy or Theban plays, I don't think Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus or Antigone will be any different.   Nevertheless, I plan to read them

The Iliad of Homer

Audiocourse: Iliad of Homer by Professor Elizabeth Vandiver
Rating: 5

I am reading the Iliad and thought it would be helpful to listen to this course.  I would highly recommend anything by Professor Vandiver - she has a gift of making the material accessible and interesting.

The Iliad of Homer
Translated by Richmond Lattimore (Professor Vandiver's suggested translation)
First published: 750 BC
Rating: 5
Goodreads 
Helpful resources: audio course (see above),  The Great Books: A Journey Through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature by Anthony O'Hear, Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton.

Prior to reading, these were my preconceived ideas about The Iliad:  ancient literature, must know Greek to understand therefore inaccessible to the general public, uninteresting, old, irrelevant, boring, very difficult read so why bother?

 I was pleasantly surprised at the read-ability and accessibility of Lattimore's translation.  Listening to Professor Vandiver's lectures certainly helped.   There is a reason why this epic has not been lost to obscurity.  I found it to be very interesting and plan to journal through it, after which I will write a more thorough post.

The interaction and interplay of human and gods is sometimes funny, many times tragic and downright captivating.  It is a story of war that showcases all aspects of human drama and emotion:  courage, honor, sacrifice, love, revenge, hate, death, grief, fear, shame, nobility and fate.

The gods in Homer's world are immortal but not necessarily good.  In fact, O'Hear quotes Longinus, a first-century A.D writer: "as far as possible Homer made the humans in the Trojan War gods, and the gods human."  I would agree.

I have Lattimore's translation of The Odyssey of Homer on my nightstand and plan to tackle it next.

The Classics Club Book List - March 12, 2012 - March 12, 2017

I was excited to see  the unveiling of The Classics Club hosted Jillian at A Room of One's Own but wasn't sure I could manage it with my other challenges.  Problem solved - I have decided to roll up three current challenges Great Authors, English Novel and Shakespeare into one - a perfect solution!

UPDATE - the club has grown so much it now has its own blog.

I will give myself the maximum time (5 years) to read the list below.

I don't plan to give myself prizes for certain milestones, rather my rewards will come when I read a reference to a book like War and Peace (which I haven't read yet but seems like everyone else has) and I can say to myself, Yes, I've read that too. 

The number in parenthesis is the rating given to the book.  I use the Goodreads system. 

1 - didn't like it

2 - it was ok

3 - liked it

4 - really liked it

5 - it was amazing

Bibliography from the audio course: Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition by various professors.  Note:  I will be adding to this list as I slowly listen to all seven parts.

• Aeschylus I and II: The Complete Greek Tragedies
•  by Aeschylus ed by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore.
• Euripides I - V: The Complete Greek Tragedies by Euripides ed David Grene and Richmond Lattimore.
• The Epic of Gilgamesh translated by Andrew George.
• The Iliad by Homer translated by Richmond Lattimore - read March 2012 (5).  See post on Josh's blog.
• The Odyssey by Homer translated by Richmond Lattimore - read April 2012 (5)
• Greek Lyric: An Anthology in Translation by Andrew W. Miller.  Includes works by Alcaeus, Archilochus, Anacreon, Sappho and Pindar.  Prof. V says this is "readable and accurate". 
• The Complete Plays of Sophocles translated by Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb. 

1. Ajax - read Feb 2012 (4)
2. Electra - read March 2012 (4) 
3. Oedipus the King - read July 2012 (4)
   
4. Antigone - read July 2012  (4)
   
5. Trachinian Women
6. Philoctetes
7. Oedipus at Colonus.

• The Aeneid by Virgil translated by Robert Fitzgerald (1984) - read July 2012
• Metamorphoses by Ovid translated by Charles Martin (1999)
• The Golden Ass by Apuleius translated by P.G Walsh (1999)
• Confessions by Augustine translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin (1961)

Bibliography from the audio course: The English Novel by Professor Tim Spurgin

1. Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood
2. Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (divided into 9 ibook volumes)  Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3,  
3. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
4. Tristam Shandy by Laurence Sterne
5. Evelina by Frances Burney
6. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - already read
8. Emma by Jane Austen - already read
9. Waverley by Sir Walter Scott
10. Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper 
11. The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
12. Lost Illusions by Honore de Balzac 
13. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 
14. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
15. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
16. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
17. Moby Dick by Herman Melville 
18. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
19. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert 
20. Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
21. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
22. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
23. Middlemarch by George Eliot
24. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 
25. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
26. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
27. "The Art of Fiction" by Henry James 
28. Germinal by Emile Zola
29. Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
30. "Candor In English Fiction" by Thomas Hardy
31. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
32. The Ambassadors by Henry James
33. Howard's End by E.M. Forster
34. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
35. Dubliners by James Joyce
36. The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
37. The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
38. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
39. Ulysses by James Joyce
40. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
41. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
42. To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
43. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce

Shakespeare Challenge

1. Henry V
2. Antony and Cleopatra - read August 2012 (4)
3. Richard III
4. King Lear
5. Othello - read in July 2012 (4)
6. Hamlet - read March 2012 (5).  See two posts on Josh's blog:  Death, Grief and Suicide in Hamlet Part I and Part II. 
7. Julius Caesar - read August 2012 (4)

Other classics:

1. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - read May 2012 (5)
2. Oroonoko by Aphra Behn - read June 2012 (5)
3. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - read June 2012 (5)
4. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway - read July 2012 (4)
5. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf - read May 2012 (4) 
6. On the Road by Jack Kerouac - read August 2012 (3) 

February Monthly Poetry Post

This monthly event is hosted by Lu at Regular Rumination and Kailana at The Written World.  I am a few days past due on this post and actually thought I would skip it altogether except today, I read a poem by Mark Doty in Kevin Young's anthology, The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief & Healing which led to a google search which led to Doty's web site, which led to this amazing essay; a response to the question, "Can Poetry Console a Giving Public?"

In it, he provides a thought provoking answer to the following question, "what are the uses of elegy?"

To confirm the loss is real, that individual disappearance matters; that the rupture in the known world is pointed to, held up for attention, shared.  Death is, simply, not to be understood.  But to assume that therefore no accommodations with it may be made is to give up on language's project of discovering and articulating meaning in experience.  Through negotiation with the fact of mortality arises our education as human beings.

Wow - this really spoke to me.  I have experienced a "rupture" in my known world, the day our 17-year old son was buried - now almost three years ago but at times, seems like yesterday. 

And this quote in which he is speaking about his personal experience with death, of writing about it, and fellow sufferers' reactions to his work.  

Art may not make anything better, but there is some power in recognizing that someone else has felt as you do, that your interiority which seems especially in grief so unreachable, may in fact share a space with the inner life of another.

This articulates why I continue to write on Josh's blog and why I have become a insatiable reader. 

I have put his following works on my wish list:

• Atlantis - a collection of poems published in 1995 in which the title poem is dedicated to his lover Wally, who died in 1994 from AIDS. 
• Heaven's Coast - a memoir published in 1997, based on their final years together. 
• Dog Years - a memoir written ten years later and according to Goodreads, "is the story of two beloved retrievers and is a pointed, perceptive meditation on life, death, and the nature of companionship."

Clarissa Volume 3 by Samuel Richardson

Clarissa or The History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson
Vol 3: Letters 93 - 154
Published: 1748
Rating: 5
Vol 1 post
Vol 2 post
Other posts: 2012 Year long reading co-hosted by Terri and JoAnn.  Post at Delaisse.
Challenge: The English Novel 

I have switched to reading the ginormous paperback bought a few weeks ago at a local library sale, mainly because the previous owned is like me, a "scribbler" (one of Richardson's favorite ways to describe his heroine's need for writing): underlining sentences, writing in the margins, circling words, writing the major theme of the page at the top, asking questions and displaying emotion with the occasional swear word, explained below.  I find it fascinating to see what another reader thought of the work.

This is my favorite volume - I couldn't read it fast enough.  In the first two volumes, the story is told primarily from Clarissa and her best friend, Anna's point of view with only 3 letters from Lovelace.  We are left dangling at the end of volume 2, when C confesses to A that she has run away with LL.  In volume 3, roughly one-third of the letters are from LL to his friend, John Belford.  So now, we are privy to his point of view - the cad and rogue.  Richardson has chosen to show the villain LL in all his vain, conceited and ugly glory (can you tell I can't stand the guy?)

I have been wracking my brains for the past few days to think of another villain in literature that is as bad as LL and had to resort to a Google search for help.  Here is a list called the "50 Greatest Villains In Literature", in which LL ranks six, beat out by 1) Satan in Paradise Lost, by John Milton, 2) Samuel Whiskers from The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter, 3) Cruella de Vil from The Hundred and One Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith, 4) Iago from Othello, by William Shakespeare and 5) Voldemort from the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.  To round out the top ten, the villains that follow are 7) Ambrosio from The Monk, by M G Lewis, 8) Claudius from Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, 9) Mr Kurtz from Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad and 10) Vindice from The Revenger's Tragedy, by Thomas Middleton.

The only book I have read from this list is Harry Potter and would agree that Voldemort's cruelty and disregard for human life surpasses LL.  Some of these books are on my TBR so as time goes on, I will be able to form my own opinion on the order.  Suffice it to say, to be in the top ten is pretty bad.  Surprisingly, one character who did not make this list is the ultra creepy, self-justifying pedophile, Humbert Humbert from Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.  More interesting is that another character from the book, Clare Quilty is ranked 34.  I did read Lolita and do not remember Quilty so had to read the Wikipedia synopsis.  To me, HH should be in the list in lieu of Quilty and ranked higher.

Why is LL so bad and noted as a bastard several times by the previous owner of my book?  He is a pathological liar who reminds me of a sly, cunning, hungry cat that ultimately plans to kill and eat the poor, naive, innocent mouse but thoroughly enjoys toying and playing with it before delivering the fatal blow.  What follows are quotes that make my blood boil.

He proudly admits to manipulating C's entire family with the sole purpose of driving her to utter and total dependence upon himself.

I knew that the whole stupid family were in a combination to do my business for me....working for me, like so many underground moles; and still more blind than the moles...unknowing that they did so, I myself, the director of their principal motions; which falling in with the malice of their little hearts, they took to be all their own (Letter 97: LL to Belford).

To LL, it is all a game with Clarissa as the prize.

It was her character that drew me to her, and it was her beauty and good sense that riveted my chains, and now all together make me think her a subject worthy of my attempts, worthy of my ambition (Letter 110: LL to B).

In the midst of his game, he must show self-control but it is hard.  He dreams of the day when he can do what he wants.

....will kiss her when I please; and not stand trembling, as now, like a hungry hound who sees a delicious morsel within his reach (the froth hanging about his vermilion jaws), yet does not leap at it for his life (Letter 115: LL to B). 

The lies he tells to C are too many to note.  Then he writes this to Belford in Letter 127:

I love when I dig a pit, to have my prey tumble in with secure feet and open eyes; then a man can look down upon her, with an oh-ho charmer!  How came you there!

And even more horridly in Letter 152:

Here, I have been at work, dig, dig, dig, like a cunning miner at one time and spreading my snares like an artful fowler at another, and exulting in my contrivances to get this inimitable creature absolutely into my power.

Poor Clarissa!  She is intuitive enough to know that LL is not one who can be fully trusted but because of the increased estrangement from her family, largely due to LL's "contrivances", she has no choice but to rely upon him; a most unfortunate place to be.