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August 31, 2006

An Interview With Lewis Buzbee, Author of The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

Lewis Buzbee

1). How has the experience of publishing The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop surprised you? What about the experience has stood out from your other writing endeavors?

It has been a lovely surprise all the way around, to find so many readers--booksellers, librarians, and civilians--so passionate about the bookstore. I've always knowns this, from my first bookselling days on, but to see it fleshed out like this, well, it's great. Not for me necessarily (though it has been that, too), but for the bookstore. I'm not nearly as pessimistic about the future of the bookstore as others, and the reaction has been heartening.

One of the great delights of all of this is meeting these folks in person, at trade shows and in bookstores. I've been out of the business for 12 years--I'm a teacher these days, at the University of San Francisco's MFA program--and so I'm seeing old bookstore friends, sales rep friends, old customers. And meeting new friends, too, booksellers and librarians and those merely besotted with booklust. Terrific. It feels oddly like home.

2). What writing projects are you working on currently?

Right now I'm working on a series of kids' chapter books, JoJo Pearlwhite's Mix and Match Adventures, for readers 6-9. It's always been my hope to write kids' books, and the moment seems right. We're just sending those round to publishers now. Part of my desire to do this comes from having an 8 year-old daughter, Maddy, and the immersion in kids' books that comes with her. But as a bookseller for so long, kids' books have always been a part of my adult life, a compulsion. And it's been a gas writing these.

3). Do you practice any writing rituals?

Well, with an 8 year-old, rituals get a little suspended. My ritual is to write when I possibly can. Usually when Maddy's at school, and I've the time. It's catch as catch can. The ritual that's replaced the regular time-slot for writing is that since Maddy's been born, I write in long hand again--at least for the first drafts--which I used to do all the time, of course, before computers. It was a wonderful return, writing with a pen again. The slowness and quiet of it, the commitment one makes to a sentence, the scratch and smooth of the paper.

4). What have you been reading lately? Is there anything you're reading now, or have read recently, that's impressed you?

As you know, people like us are always reading and always reading too much. So much. And isn't that a lovely feeling, that one never runs out of great, and I mean truly great books to read. I re-read a lot these days, books from an earlier time in my life I find it compelling to revisit. I've just re-read James Agee's A Death in the Family, after a twenty year hiatus. What a beautiful, wondrous book that it. The writing is exceptional, and there's something about the quiet of the times he writes of, 1915. Entrancing.

But the exciting new find is a book I'm about halfway through right now, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, a young Australian writer. This is billed as a young adult novel, but like the best young adult novels, it's as sophisticated and thrilling as any "adult" novel. The narrator here is Death, who tells the story of a young girl in WWII Germany. It's sweet and harrowing, absolutely unflinching, and the writing is exceptional, completely unique. A true discovery for me.

One of the great developments in recent years in publishing is the breakdown of the barrier between children's literature and adult. Harry Potter, of course, helped that along. But Philip Pullman's novels, too, and Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, and Yann Martel's The Life of Pi, and many others.

5). Aside from writing and reading, what else do you feel passionately about?

My daugher, of course, family life. That's where I live now, and most of my recent fiction's been about that. I've also just published a new book of stories, After the Gold Rush, and they're all centered on this. But music, too. I play bass--badly--with some musician friends now and then, and there's nothing better than playing music with friends.

Family, friends, that pretty much takes up the space in a day. And what a way to take up one's time.

6). Do you have a favorite quotation, or perhaps just a few words, you feel sums up your philosophy on life?

Ach. Such a hard question. I'm more of an Aristotle than a Plato. I don't think I'm smart enough, or sure enough, to have a philosophy. In fact, it seems that so many of the problems we have in the world today come from philosophies, this one or that one, and the people who carry those philosophies and try to impose them on everyone else.

But a question that made me think. So, not a philosophy, but a stance rather, an attitude. Italo Calvino said the he was a pessimist of the mind and an optimist of the soul. I try to keep that in mind. A balance of engagment and observation. Or as the Canadian musician Jane Sibbery sings, "half eagle, half angel."

Oh, and one should always be as polite as possible. That helps.

7). If you were marooned on a island, stuck on an elevator, or otherwise cut off from society, what one book would you want to have with you?

Oh, I want a clever answer here. But honestly, the one book that comes to mind is The Norton Anthology of English Literature, volume 1. From Beowulf through Shakespeare. And preferably the one I had--and still own--in my sophomore year in college. It's all beat up, taped together in places. But that would last me.

8). What memories do you have, from your childhood, about your experiences in public libraries? Did they play a role at all in your love of books and reading?

I was visiting my mother in San Jose recently, and happened to drive by the public library I'd used as a child, the local branch. It was gone, razed. I couldn't believe it, shocked. Then I saw that construction was going on and that they were building a new branch, a much bigger one. I was saddened to see the old one go, but thrilled to think there'd be a new one.

Perhaps my most vivid memory of a childhood library is of the very tiny one at my junior high school in San Jose, where one late, dusty afternoon, the librarian introduced me to a wonderful little book called the Teddy Bear Habit, by James Lincoln Collier. It's one of those important memories that just attacks you now and then; I'll be walking along, and boom, something in the shade of light or the particular quality of a hushed moment will strike me, and I'm back there. We can never underestimate the importance of libraries in the literacy of our culture. I mean, just imagine this, after centuries of books being owned and read by only the most wealthy, here come public libraries. Every book is yours, and for free. That's progress.

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee

From The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop:

"It's not as if I don't have anything to read; there's a tower of perfectly good unread books next to my bed, not to mention the shelves of books in the living room I've been meaning to reread. I find myself, maddeningly, hungry for the next one, as yet unknown. I no longer try to analyze this hunger; I capitulated long ago to the book lust that's afflicted me most of my life. I know enough about the course of the disease to know I'll discover something soon."

This quote could have come from my own autobiography, were I ever to feel compelled to write one. How comforting to know I'm not the only book addict on this earth, even in this age of reality TV when the average attention span is all of three seconds long.

As someone who reads books about books compulsively, I'm always on the lookout for anything new in this genre. Often I'm disappointed by either lightweight content or lack of a really interesting style, but in the case of this book that wasn't a problem.

This is a book that's both charming in style and very rich in content, something that's all too rare. Books like this need champions to proclaim their glory to the world. They're little books, from the standpoint of having to battle the heavy-hitting bestsellers, but huge books if you are anywhere near as enamored by books as Lewis Buzbee. And, if you were attracted enough to look this one up on Amazon, I can only trust you ARE enamored and I hope you'll not just read this one but comment on it wherever you can. This book deserves as wide an audience as it can get, but it's largely by word of mouth that so many small press books achieve that. So, give it a read and proclaim it to all the world!

Don't make me beg...

As countless other readers will likely find, I identified with so many aspects of this book, from the author's musing on the My Weekly Reader book orders from his grade school days through his various bookstore jobs. His wonderful sidetrips into the history of the book itself made fascinating reading, adding so much to what could have been a fine stand alone memoir of book lust and bookselling. Absolutely wonderful stuff, and a must for all the book-obsessed.

Now comes my big decision, whether to hoard this book all to myself or set it free to delight my other bookloving friends. Though I'm torn, I think I will send it on. It pains me, but as Buzbee put it, "Reading is a solitary act, but one that demands connection to the world..."

So, humbly, I send my copy of this book forth into the wide world, with the full knowledge that another copy of this book is only a One Click finger twitch away.

Posted by lisa at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)

August 29, 2006

Mark Haddon, A Spot of Bother: A Novel

From A Spot of Bother: A Novel:

"If he were given the choice he would rather someone had broken his leg. You did not have to explain what was wrong with a broken leg. Nor were you expected to mend it by force of will.
...

What he felt mostly was a relentless, grinding dread which rumbled and thundered and made the world dark, like those spaceships in science-fiction films whose battle-scorched fuselages slid onto the screen and kept on sliding onto the screen because they were, in fact, several thousand times larger than you expected when all you could see was the nose cone.

The idea of genuinely having cancer was beginning to seem almost a relief, the idea of going into hospital, having tubes put into his arm, being told what to do by doctors and nurses, no longer having to grapple with the problem of getting through the next five minutes."

Mark Haddon's follow up novel to the curious incident of the dog in the night-time is another sort of exploration into the darker, more obscure regions of the human mind. Instead of an adolescent main character with Asperger's Syndrome, in A Spot of Bother Haddon portrays a 61-year old who begins to think he's losing his mind shortly after finding a mysterious skin lesion on his hip.

George Hall is convinced he has cancer, and that there's nothing that can be done for him. He's plunged into a dark, confusing sort of despair in which the world seems to wobble on its axis, throwing life as he knew it into an alternate nightmarish dimension. Fear overtakes him, often crippling him, and he begins having panic attacks he believes are a further proof of the cancer he's convinced himself is ravaging him.

Meanwhile, his daughter is planning her second marriage to a man he and his wife disapprove of. His wife is having an affair with a former colleague of his, and his homosexual son lurks like an unsolved problem in the background.

George Hall is falling apart.

Mark Haddon's second novel is stellar. It's at times riotously funny, deeply empathetic and peopled with characters the reader comes to identify with so closely it's not surprising to find yourself actually worrying about them. Well, at least I hope it's not surprising to find yourself worrying about fictional characters! Perhaps I've just hit on fodder for Mark Haddon's third novel, devoted to the notion that readers can actually come to care so much for fictional characters they build a delusional world around them.

All royalty checks accepted, Mr. Haddon.

A Spot of Bother is a book not to be missed. Thanks so much to Doubleday for sending me a review copy of this book.

Mark Haddon

Posted by lisa at 9:51 AM | Comments (0)

August 28, 2006

Labor Day Weekend: Get Thee to the Arthur Cheese Festival!

Have anything planned for the long holiday weekend?

If not, I have a suggestion for you and it's only about a four hour drive away. Why not attend the annual Arthur Cheese Festival in Arthur, IL?

Even if cow chip throwing isn't your thing, the ceremonial cutting of the cheese is not to be missed. Of course I mean the ceremonial cutting of the 300-lb wheel of cheese, presided over by local celebrity Miss Slice. I think I can guarantee a toe-CURDling good time will be had by all this weekend at the Arthur Cheese Festival in Arthur, IL.

After you've enjoyed a slice of cheese may I suggest a visit to a quilt shop or two? Amish quilts aren't only gorgeous. They're also a piece of genuine Americana. Pricey, yes, but they'll last forever. Even if you aren't in the market to buy, though, you can have a good look at these beautiful works of art.

Arthur is the town I grew up in, and it's located in the heart of Illinois Amish Country. While I'll admit growing up there it seemed the place was about as entertaining as watching corn grow (and there was a lot of opportunity for doing that), now it seems one of the most charming and bucolic places on earth. After having lived in Chicago suburbia for twenty years, going back to Arthur gives me a chance to exhale and decompress. The pace is slower there, and the traffic definitely less challenging. The worst traffic congestion there happens when a buggy doesn't give you right-of-way. It's a whole different world.

I appreciated the charm of watching buggies go by as a child, but the Amish had so little contact with we "English" it seemed a bit offensive. We did take it personally, silly as that sounds now. It drove a wedge between Amish and English, which is something they really encourage. They aren't hermits, and don't cut themselves off entirely (they need the commerce too desperately to do that), but too much mixing isn't perceived as a very good thing. Knowing they thought us inferior, sinful and overly-worldly didn't lend itself to very much positive feeling, growing up. A person takes exception to that.

There was one Amish child in my class in school. He attended with us through junior high. That's as long as the Amish children tend to go to school. They're only there to get enough education to ensure they'll be literate, generally educated, and have basic math skills. Generally they attend their own one room schools, but for some reason this boy, Willard, attended with the English. He received a lot of abuse in his years with us, shamefully, at the hands of the bullies who singled out anyone who was different. Being Amish painted a target on the poor kid's back, and I really don't know why he stood for some of the treatment he got. Maybe it was a lesson to him, that life with the English would lead to a lot of heartache and unhappiness. Whatever the reason, I'm sure he was glad enough to leave when the time came.

Martha Stewart featured Arthur in one of her programs. She did a program on the Great Pumpkin Patch in the rural Arthur area. You may have caught that on TV, but if you didn't something tells me you can buy a video of it somewhere in Arthur. I have a strong feeling that's the case, as it's not every day this tiny town is featured on national TV.

Even if you don't make it down for the Cheese Festival, I heartily recommend Arthur as a getaway destination that's not too far to do in a weekend. There's actually a lot there, for such a small town, and the Amish area covers a few other small communities that feature their own share of charm and recreation.

Rockome Gardens (Arcola, IL) is one of the necessary stops. If you can imagine a rural Amish amusement park this is about as close as anything gets to that. There are also shops (Amish and non), plenty of restaurants and even a few hotels in Arthur, Arcola and Tuscola. Tuscola is along I-57 and also features an outlet mall, in case getting that far away from suburbia gives you the jitters and makes you have shopping withdrawal.

Keep this in mind when you feel the need to get away, and maybe I'll see you there.

Posted by lisa at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)

August 26, 2006

Wotcher Readin' in the U.K.?

Great bookish article in the Guardian this morning about the reading habits of the British public. "Unputdownable" summer reading books is the topic, and here's their list:

1: The Island, Victoria Hislop. Has she got news for him? Wife of Private Eye editor eclipses husband's media career with book in which Anglo-Cretan Alexis, fleeing man trouble on island of Plaka, uncovers family secrets involving leprosy. Infectious story.

2: My Best Friend's Girl, Dorothy Koomson. Kam and Adele are best chums until Kam has sex with Adele's Nate. Flash forward to Adele revealing to Kam that she has terminal cancer and Nate's child. Can Kam bring herself to bring up the bastard's bastard? Mother of all shlock.

3: The Righteous Men, Sam Bourne. Guardian political columnist mounts conspiracy to steal Dan Brown's audience, using easily cracked pseudonym and less easily cracked plot about global murders linked to the Kabbalah. Da Vinci clone.

4: The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova. A young woman discovers ancient papers relating to the Dracula legend. A novel that tries to alchemise The Da Vinci Code, Possession and The Name of the Rose into one bookstore-entrancing potion. Long, slow bite.

5: Perfect Match, Jodi Picoult. Just the thing for when you've finally got the kids down. An assistant district attorney handling cases of abuse is forced to apply her skills closer to home when her five-year-old son is discovered to have been molested. Earnest importance.

6: The Abortionist's Daughter, Elisabeth Hyde. George Bush claims to have read Camus' L'Etranger this summer but might have been happier with this. A pro-choice champion is murdered in Colorado, leading to her daughter and husband becoming suspects. Sad to terminate.

7: Making Your Mind Up, Jill Mansell. There have been many reports of the death of chick lit, with crime fiction wanted for questioning. But the gags-and-shags genre survives in Mansell's 17th novel: 30-plus divorcee lusts after office hunk despite the disapproval of her young children. Small minds only.

8: End in Tears, Ruth Rendell. The only veteran on a list filled with new writers. Chief Inspector Wexford overcomes media scepticism to solve the murder of a young girl in a case that touches on love, drugs and the anger of modern society. Same from Dame.

9: On Beauty, Zadie Smith. The novels of EM Forster and the paintings of Rembrandt are transferred to the email age in the third bestseller from a writer who has barely turned 30. Faster Forster.

10: The Devil's Feather, Minette Walters. In the 12th book by the female pretender to Rendell and PD James's crime-queen title, a foreign correspondent, exiled to England from Africa, dangerously uses herself as bait to catch a serial killer. Cool chills.

While I haven't read a single one of these titles, I have read some of the authors. Ruth Rendell is my very favorite mystery writer of all time. She also writes, equally well, as Barbara Vine. I've never read a bad book by Rendell/Vine. I'd recommend them all, but Master of the Moor is a "thumping good" gothic.

Speaking of authors with pseudonyms, I can't figure out why an author writes under two names, especially when (s)he puts both names on the book covers. Why do they do that? Rendell/Vine doesn't, but many authors do. Defies any explanation I can think of, unless they have a big reputation under one name and want their readership to also read their "other" books, but that seems more than a bit schizophrenic to me.

I bought The Historian months ago, after the reviews started coming out. Still haven't worked it to the top of the reading pile. I've heard mixed things about it. It's one of those love/hate books.

Finally, Jodi Picoult. I read her The Tenth Circle for review several months ago. I thought it an ambitious task to model a work of fiction on Dante's Inferno, but in some ways Picoult did a nice job with it. At times I wanted to hit myself over the head with a heavy object from the 3/4 point through the end, due to extreme improbability of plot and some rather tedious writing, but still overall it had some promise. I don't read graphic novels but I thought she used that element well in this book. I won't read Perfect Match, though. One was really enough for me.

Interesting to see what they've been reading this summer in the U.K. I half expected it to be a bit more highbrow than here in the Colonies, and the Guardian article has some really interesting insight into that. Give it a read if you have a moment.

And God Save the Queen.

Posted by lisa at 9:46 AM | Comments (0)

August 25, 2006

Insane News Week Wrap-Up

This has been an extraordinarily rich week for news stories. It's been so huge the media may not even have a need to embellish anything. That's a gift they don't get every week. They're putting their feet up at Weekly World News, scratching their heads wondering if they'll even have jobs next week. They should take comfort knowing there are always aliens landing in remote, rural areas, not to mention the likely impending birth of more than one three-headed cow. It'll be okay.

Even without going into the whole JonBenet wierdness there's still an awful lot of blogger fodder. I can hear the airwaves humming as I type. The highlights below only scratch the surface of what's been thrown around the blogosphere this week.

Jumpin' Jupiter!

Have you heard?

Astronomers this week decided to kick Pluto out of the planet club. Apparently they've decided it no longer meets the definition of what makes a planet. It's been in doubt for a while, so this wasn't very shocking news. However, this will send textbook publishers and other informational sources back to the presses in order to make the correction.

I broke the news about Pluto to my children yesterday, and my astronomy expert middle child informed me, "But mom, they decided one of Pluto's moons is a planet, so we still have nine. And didn't they just discover more planets?"

Can't put anything over on that boy! That's why he's our official family memory bank and fact checker. The child can remember baseball scores from games we attended three years ago, as well as defining plays in the games (extrapolating all of this out to compare the performance of specific players when they were playing for other teams, and how their performance has risen or declined since being traded). I have trouble recalling what I had for dinner yesterday.

I think this child will be going places.

Bringin' Home the Bacon

In other news, there was a huge flap this week regarding an article published in Forbes magazine telling men to avoid marrying career women, as they're apparently more likely to: a). not want to have children, b). leave them for another man, c). be slovenly housekeepers, and d). be more strong and self-assured, thus more threatening to the ego of some small-minded men.

Okay, that last bit was my own editorial comment.

As hard as women have worked through the centuries to achieve equality or at least recognition, it's galling reading something like this Forbes article. That a national magazine of this stature would publish something so blatantly misogynist is really shocking, and this is in a world where there's not an awful lot out there that seems shocking anymore.

But there's good to be had from this. It acts to bring gender equality issues to the foreground, essentially rallying the troops. People are thinking about the issue, and debating it heatedly on both sides. It may also lead some to see there's a grain of truth to the author's premise, even if he does take it in a very misguided direction. There's something he's most definitely missing, and it's a glaring omission.

In Elizabeth Corcoran's rebuttal to the original article by Michael Noer she makes the point I immediately thought of when I heard about the article in the first place. The fact career women do divorce more often may be because they're able to. Simply put, they have the resources to stand on their own feet, so when they find themselves in an unhappy marital situation they actually CAN leave. Women without these resources don't have this option, which is something Noer doesn't even take into account. Just a bit of a slanted article, which makes it even more striking seeing this published in a venue like Forbes.

You can read both opinions here. If you feel strongly about the matter let Forbes know. They've been inundated already, but it may make YOU feel better.

Saints Alive!

Finally, something entirely weird.

This man says he's Jesus returned.

Not sure I really need to expand much on this particular topic, but I saw him on the Today Show this morning and apparently he's raking in an awful lot of money. People are giving him multiple millions in cash and houses. If you really want to know more about this, he has a website.

On that note, I think I'll bite my tongue and leave it at that.

Though I don't mind getting mail, I wouldn't want to be in Forbes' shoes right now.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Posted by lisa at 8:37 AM | Comments (0)

August 22, 2006

Linda Gillard's A Lifetime Burning: Author interview & book review

" Home is where one starts from. As we grow older
The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated
Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment
And not the lifetime of one man only
But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.
There is a time for the evening under starlight,
A time for the evening under lamplight
(The evening with the photograph album).
Love is most nearly itself
When here and now cease to matter."

- T.S. Eliot, from "East Coker" (Four Quartets)

An interview with Linda Gillard, author of A Lifetime Burning and Emotional Geology, published by Transita.

1). How has the experience of publishing ALB surprised you? What about the experience has stood out from your other writing endeavors?

I had no idea I'd written a good book. I hoped I had, but I wasn't sure. Reader reaction and reviews have astonished me, exceeding my wildest dreams. I've also been surprised by the warm response from male readers. I don't think I write for a female readership (I'm certainly far more interested in writing about male characters than female for some reason) but my publisher Transita produces contemporary fiction aimed at mature women and that's how my books have been marketed. I also had no idea how upset some people would be by ALB. An Oxford book group almost came to blows over it and one woman stormed out leaving the group in disarray. I didn't realise mere fiction could provoke such strong reactions.

One way ALB has been different from the experience of EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY, my first novel, is that although both books are issue-driven, I've been unable to promote ALB because of its byzantine plot! EG was a book about the relationship between mental illness and creativity and it was upfront about that. On the surface ALB is a "family drama" but there's a lot going on beneath the surface but I don't talk or write about it because it would spoil some of the plot's jaw-dropping (I hope) revelations. If pushed, I say ALB is a book about compassion and tortuous moral dilemmas, how much damage you can do by trying to do The Right Thing. Whilst this is a fair summary, it's not going to make copies leap off the shelves! So whereas I could actively target-market EG to interested parties I am very much dependent on word-of-mouth, in particular book group support, to get ALB better known in an overcrowded marketplace.

I think I've learned a lot about the marketing of books from the experience of publishing ALB but I don't think it will affect what or how I write in future. I just write for myself and for the people who enjoy my books. I don't do it to get rich or famous. (Which is probably just as well.)

2) What writing projects are you working on currently?

I'm now working on my 3rd novel. It's set on Skye and in Edinburgh and once again the female protagonist is middle-aged. I'm at that stage (25k words) where I wonder if it's going to become a real book or be an abandoned, half-formed manuscript that never really takes off. It could go either way. I'm trying to write something shorter and lighter than ALB, which was a demanding, at times gruelling book to write. It was also very complex (58 years of an extended family's life were covered in a non-linear narrative) so this time I'm trying to be simpler but the truth is, I like complex, I like ambitious, so I doubt this one will stay short and sweet.

3) Do you practice any writing rituals?

Not really. I don't have a problem with writer's block or the terror of the blank screen. I don't have a daily routine, I just write when I want to write. If I'm well into a book the problem is pacing myself so that I don't become mentally and physically exhausted. In the final stages of writing a draft I'm quite happy to skip meals. I'll happily work from 8.00am till midnight with a few breaks if it's going well. I wouldn't recommend this as a work method - you get too tired to appraise your work - but I do find it necessary to disappear, almost completely, into the world of the book. I do get obsessive and my characters seem to me at least as real as my family - possibly more so! I noticed that when I was writing about the pianist Rory in ALB who is left-handed, I ended up doing things left-handedly myself, so powerful was my identification with him.

I think my only foible is that I have to use a certain type of disposable propelling pencil. (I write longhand on lined paper for my first draft.) I buy them in packets of 6. I've often wondered if my writing career would grind to a halt if they stopped making these pencils.

4) What have you been reading lately? Is there anything you're
reading now, or have read recently, that's impressed you?

I'm always re-reading Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles - that's just an endless cycle and I think I'd better be buried with one of my 3 complete sets. (Different editions.)

I usually have a novel on the go by a writing friend or acquaintance. At the moment I'm reading Adele Geras' young adult read, ITHAKA as she sent me a copy. I've also read 3 novels this year by prolific fellow Transita author, Adrienne Dines, a versatile Irish writer who I think is going places. I read her SOFT VOICES WHISPERING in manuscript and found it compelling and beautifully written.

I read non-fiction for research purposes. Recent reads have been popular science: THE REVENGE OF GAIA by James Lovelock, THE SENSE OF BEING STARED AT by Rupert Sheldrake and UNWEAVING THE RAINBOW by Richard Dawkins. But the book that has impressed me most recently (apart from Dunnett) is Stephen Kuusisto's PLANET OF THE BLIND, about the experience of being blind. The writing is quite wonderful.

5) Aside from writing and reading, what else do you feel passionately
about?

1. Global warming (which I refuse to call "climate change".) The globe is warming. Period.
2. Education, particularly arts education (provision for which is lamentable in the UK.)
3. Music of all kinds. I was on a piano kick writing ALB but now I'm back on opera.
4. The Scottish Highlands. I live on the Isle of Skye. Every so often I have to go south to see my family or for work purposes. By the time I've got as far as Edinburgh, I'm already pining for the North again and counting the hours till I get home.
5. Mental health issues. A year after EG was published I'm still trying to raise awareness of the stigma attached to mental illness and promote understanding of the issues.

6) Do you have a favorite quotation, or perhaps just a few words, you
feel sums up your philosophy on life?

I'm tempted to quote chunks of HAMLET which has always been something of a vade mecum, but instead I think I'll give you a quotation from Louise DeSalvo's WRITING AS A WAY OF HEALING which got me writing again after a break of many years during which I'd been a teacher. "If you want to write and don't, because you don't feel worthy enough or able enough, not writing will eventually begin to erase who you are."

7) If you were marooned on a island, stuck on an elevator, or
otherwise cut off from society, what one book would you want to have
with you?

Without a moment's hesitation I can say The Lymond Chronicles by the Scottish historical novelist, Dorothy Dunnett but that's actually 6 books, which form a series. As they don't exist in one volume I'll settle for the final book, CHECKMATE, which is the best and the longest.

8) What memories do you have, from your childhood, about your
experiences in public libraries? Did they play a role at all in your
love of books and reading?

Although my local library (in Dartford, Kent, England) seemed to me a sombre, rather forbidding place, silent and not at all child-friendly compared to its modern equivalent, I remember feeling transported to a magical world. There was a lot of dark, polished wood and 2 turnstiles. You went in by one door and out by another and I always wondered why this was. I remember too that people's shoes squeaked on the floor - that's how quiet it was.

I suppose excitement is the feeling I associate with that library and that excitement was to do with choice. I had never seen so many books before. I didn't know that many books existed! I lived in a town with a very small bookshop, which we never visited. (We were not well off and I had few books when I was young. My mother used to buy us comics and my father bound them into books and covered them with plain brown parcel paper.)

I remember feeling overwhelmed by the choice of books in the children's section of the library. (This was the 1950s. What on earth would I have felt if there had been the variety and quantity of children's books now available?) I remember too the pleasure I got from the physical experience of books: their smell; the variety of colours on the shelves; the feel of big, heavy books in my hands; the sound of crisp pages turning.

I had an unfortunate friend who wasn't allowed to visit the library because her mother said you could catch diseases from dirty library books. I was shocked by this piece of information. I remember considering it, then deciding I didn't care. I was a reckless book addict from an early age!

Thanks very much to Linda for so kindly taking the time to answer my questions. Following is my review of her recent book A Lifetime Burning:

A Lifetime Burning by Linda Gillard

I truly enjoyed Gillard's first book Emotional Geology, and thought it so beautifully lyrical in style I read it very slowly, to savor every word. If it had a flaw I'd say it was the graphic, raw nature of both the sex and the language of the main character. It's not that I'm a prude that way. Not at all, but I'm just not one for overly graphic language or sex scenes in general. A personal call, and there you have it. But the rest of that book was so lovely, and the story so wonderful, the bit about the graphic nature didn't mar my enjoyment. Her latest, though, A Lifetime Burning, is brilliant in every way, start to finish.

What's somewhat surprising about that is the fact the premise of this book hinges on what could only be termed rampant incest within the family, which is the focus of the plot. There are multiple incestuous layers, which you'd think I'd find more disturbing considering my minor criticism of Gillard's first book, but the simple fact is this book is so wonderfully written as to present the reader with a completely non-judgmental exploration of what is love, and what should the limits be when pursuing something you believe to be "the real thing." I found myself forgetting the taboo nature of the love, so wrapped up I was in the beauty of the raw need and complete, encompassing love between the characters. The fact it was incest was, of course, disturbing, but Gillard manages to work her way beyond that, finding just the right perspective that made the reader feel less uncomfortable, though just aware enough to see there was a horrible element to it. In short, the book is masterful and shows a huge leap of sophistication from Emotional Geology, which was at the same time one of the most outstanding first novels I believe I've ever read.

A Lifetime Burning is just unearthly beautiful in terms of prose style and lyrical quality. The language is gorgeous and lush, and if the author falters anywhere it's at that hideously difficult three-quarters mark, building up to the climax, when so very many writers seem to have a difficult time filling the space. But even there, when the plot slows down a bit, my interest never actually flagged. I noted the bit slower pace of things, the slight slowing of the prose, but just as soon as I had the chance to notice it was happening things took off at a brilliant clip again, never to slow down again so much as a hair.

I will be recommending this book to everyone I know who enjoys reading contemporary literary fiction. I found it tremendously moving, and even the day after finishing it I continue to find it positively haunting. I will temper my recommendation to others by adding a caveat about the theme, as the issues raised could be very painful to some, but there will be no strong warning. It's simply not needed, given the deft way Gillard handles the subject. The sheer beauty of this book is its biggest recommendation, and this book deserves a wide readership. I'll be waiting very anxiously for Gillard's next offering.

Posted by lisa at 4:53 PM | Comments (0)

August 21, 2006

Booker Book # 3: The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson

I absolutely loved this book. The Other Side of the Bridge is one of those family saga sorts of novels, I guess you'd say, though it's not a really long epic sort of book at 304 pages. It's a variation of the Cain and Abel tale set in rural Ontario, Canada and takes places within the space of one generation in the Dunn family.

Arthur Dunn is the lumbering, slow-witted older brother, and his younger brother, Jake, is his nemesis. Arthur doesn't have a vindictive bone in his body, but his manipulative younger brother pushes him to his limit, seemingly for his own entertainment.

Jake is a cruel person, almost completely without any sense of morality. He has been spoiled and indulged by his mother from birth, mostly due to the fact numerous miscarriages occurred between the births of Arthur and Jake. When Jake was born it was all but miraculous to his mother, and the fact he was a sickly, small child only added to her overprotectiveness. While their father didn't approve of this kind of extreme coddling, he was such a pushover for his wife he wouldn't step in and oppose her. That left Arthur very much on the fringes, to fight his own battles.

After years of being pushed by his brother, Arthur does eventually break. By his own inaction he causes a devastating accident to happen to Jake, and spends the rest of his life living through the guilt. This guilt becomes the force that overshadows the rest of the novel, casting a dark cloud on the lives of Arthur and his family. Before the end of the book an even bigger price will be paid, and the life of a complete innocent will finally pay the devil's ransom that ends the feud between the brothers.

This is a powerful book, written in a very understated but lyrical style. It's absolutely gorgeous. But will Lawson be the breakthrough winner of the Booker? I'd be inclined to think not, considering the staggering competition and her comparative newcomer status (though this isn't her first book). However, if she does by some small chance win I would be thrilled. Her style reminds me a bit of two other tremendously skilled native Canadian writers, Margaret Laurence and Margaret Atwood. She seems to be following in the footsteps of these two icons, and I think she's well on her way to achieving her own literary greatness.

But my final bet is no, The Other Side of the Bridge won't be the victor. If it doesn't win it won't be from lack of worthiness, but rather from the lack of a big literary reputation backing her up. Having been nominated, though, greatly increases her visibility. If Lawson keeps writing this well she may have a shot at the prize in the future.

After this very positive reading experience I'll be reading her first novel, Crow Lake. Reviews for this one are glowing, and I have no doubt it's as beautiful as The Other Side of the Bridge.

Mary Lawson

Posted by lisa at 9:57 AM | Comments (0)

August 20, 2006

Booker Book # 2: Mother's Milk by Edward St. Aubyn

Booker Book # 2 wasn't what I'd call a let-down, by any means. Mother's Milk is charming, sweet and at times very, very funny. It's told partly from the perspective of a young boy named Robert who, until his brother Thomas arrives on the scene, is the beloved only child of very involved parents. Even after Thomas's arrival Robert has little to complain of, save the normal plight of sibling rivalry. He's most definitely a very well cared for little boy.

In addition to Robert's story we also go in-depth into what is actually a quite strong marriage, though it begins to flounder around the time of Thomas's birth. Not one to be actively jealous of his children, Patrick Melrose still can't help feeling hurt he's pushed off to the back burner while his wife, Mary, becomes the role model for the perfect, doting mother. That he loves his family is never in doubt, but faced with a mid-life crisis it seems inevitable he decides he needs a bit more in his life, and he does begin to act on those impulses.

The frustration of Patrick, which matches the frustration of the dedicated Mary, is what fuels the rest of the novel. This is all very true-to-life, and if you're a parent I'd be surprised if you couldn't identify with at least some of this story.

This novel is very well-written, there's no disputing that. But is it quite up to Booker Snuff? That's what I question. I probably would never have read it if it hadn't been on the Longlist (and if I weren't a woman on a mission), and I am glad I did read it. It was enjoyable, very much so. It's funny, at times thigh-slappingly so, and very tender, poignant, caring and all those other warm and fuzzy things. But is it SUPERB?

I'm not quite thinking so.

Unless the other novels really fail to thrill me, I think I'll rule out Mother's Milk from the running. There, I've put my money where my mouth is and said it! Black Swan Green for the Shortlist, and Mother's Milk, while still a good read (and I do recommend it), not quite winning Booker gold.

Edward St. Aubyn, author of Mother's Milk

Posted by lisa at 1:45 PM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2006

Black Swan Green Starts Things Off Nicely: An Update on the Booker Project

David Mitchell's Black Swan Green is a fantastic read thus far. The narrator is a wonderful, funny, intelligent young man and his voice is, as they say, pitch-perfect. There's an air of mystery/intrigue to the book, in addition to the fabulously intelligent humor. Great stuff.

David Mitchell

Kate Grenville's The Secret River is queued up to read immediately following, then I also have Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss at the ready.

As far as books ordered (which I hope will come in before I complete what I have on hand dear god let it be so!), The Other Side of the Bridge, The Emperor's Children, Mother's Milk and The Ruby in Her Navel are supposed to be on their way to me from four different used book sellers. Getting a Life and Gathering the Water are two I'll be purchasing new. The rest, well, I have interlibrary requests in for several but I really don't know if those will pan out anytime soon.

But for now, David Mitchell's book has me completely captivated so I simply don't much care about all the other details. Oh, but when I've finished I'll be getting fidgety, you may rely on that.

In other news, I've received notice this morning my review copy of Susanna Childress's Jagged With Love will be shipped out to me. This will be my first review for Jacket Magazine. What led me to select the Childress title is the fact the poet Billy Collins lauds her. Seems like enough of a reason for me.

Childress is from the American midwest, Indiana to be precise, and though ready has a list of credentials as long as my arm. Remarkable, and I can't wait to read her book, and I'm entirely grateful to Jacket Magazine for this wonderful reviewing opportunity. I'm looking forward to a very long relationship with them.

Susanna Childress

Posted by lisa at 9:51 AM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2006

Stop the Presses! The Booker Prize Longlist Has Been Announced

At last, at last, the Booker Prize committee has released their longlist for the 2006 prize:

Carey, Peter Theft: A Love Story (Faber & Faber)
Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss (Hamish Hamilton)
Edric, Robert Gathering the Water (Doubleday)
Gordimer, Nadine Get a Life (Bloomsbury)
Grenville, Kate The Secret River (Canongate)
Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down (Canongate)
Jacobson, Howard Kalooki Nights (Jonathan Cape)
Lasdun, James Seven Lies (Jonathan Cape)
Lawson, Mary The Other Side of the Bridge (Chatto & Windus)
McGregor, Jon So Many Ways to Begin (Bloomsbury)
Matar, Hisham In the Country of Men (Viking)
Messud, Claire The Emperor's Children (Picador)
Mitchell, David Black Swan Green (Sceptre)
Murr, Naeem The Perfect Man (William Heinemann)
O’Hagan, Andrew Be Near Me (Faber & Faber)
Robertson, James The Testament of Gideon Mack (Hamish Hamilton)
St Aubyn, Edward Mother's Milk (Picador)
Unsworth, Barry The Ruby in her Navel (Hamish Hamilton)
Waters, Sarah The Night Watch (Virago)

I own just one of these already (The Night Watch) and currently have one out via interlibrary loan (Black Swan Green). That means I'll have to do an awful lot of scrambling, as a group of my more hardcore literary friends has decided to read as many of these as we can lay hands on and as quickly as possible. I guess I'll be kept off the streets for the next several weeks. No idle hands for the devil, here!

My friends in the U.K. will have the distinct advantage, as not all of these are likely to be published in the U.S. quite yet, but don't discount the Colonists just yet. Persistance is the better part of valor, after all, and I'm nothing if not persistant.

Keep tuned in as events develop. I'll be sure to keep you informed on our progress as we read like madwomen, making our own predictions on the ULTIMATE VICTOR in the Booker Prize game.

For more info on the Man Booker Prize CLICK HERE

Posted by lisa at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2006

A Gem in Dundee: Steeplejack Books

Having the day off yesterday I was free to roam the streets. Book vendors everywhere generally find this a windfall, but seldom do I have a truly new place to rave about from my ramblings. After seeing this place I knew I'd have to share the information on my blogs. It's just heaven for a book lover!

Steeplejack Books in West Dundee looks like the idyllic sort of charming bookshop you'd find in a small village in Britain. What's more, they have managed to pack an incredible amount of quality stock into its somewhat modest space. Steeplejack sells used and new books, and can order anything you could possibly need. They're a full-service independent bookshop located on Main Street in West Dundee.

In addition to the thoughtfully selected books themselves, they also sell those wonderful moleskine notebooks I personally use for all manner of journaling, from book reviewing to travel and beyond. I wouldn't be without my moleskines.

Here's a photo of what I managed to find there:

Couldn't walk out empty-handed, after all...

If you're in the area please do consider popping by this bookshop. There's a very good chance you'll find me ferretting in the corner if you do!

Steeplejack Books
125 West Main Street
West Dundee, IL

847.836-7871

http://www.steeplejackbooks.com/

Posted by lisa at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

August 9, 2006

Summer Concert Event: Creole Stomp

Where has the summer gone?

The days are already getting shorter. I noticed that last evening at 8:15 p.m., when the sun was already starting to set. There was even a bit of a blissfully cool chill in the evening air, most welcome after all that horrible heat.

I'm not sorry to see the summer waning on most counts, but I am from the standpoint of school starting again. No more unstructured days home with the kids. It's back to the grind. Back to the daily homework, the projects, the rousting the kids out of bed every day...

But not quite yet!

Back in July we hosted an outdoor concert at the Algonquin Library, featuring the group Creole Stomp. As a bid to slow the departure of lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, here's a photo flashback:

Creole Stomp is an outstanding group of musicians who play very animated, spirited music that appeals to all age groups. The Illinois Arts Council also gives grants to libraries to help fund their concerts. If you'd like information on bringing Creole Stomp to your library just drop me a line: lguidarini@aapld.org

Posted by lisa at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)

August 8, 2006

An Interview With Author Pamela Fudge

1). How has the experience of publishing _Widow on the World_ surprised you? What about the experience has stood out from your other writing endeavours?

I've been surprised at how excited I have been with each step along the way - from the acceptance of the manuscript for publication by Transita, to the moment I held the actual copy of the book in my hand. It's been lovely that all my family and friends have shared the excitement. I've been very touched by the interest and positive comments I've received from strangers as well as friends (also by the kind reviews, including yours!) To be honest I thought my experiences of life - including the fact that I was widowed twice in seven years - meant I would find it impossible to get excited about anything ever again. It just goes to show how wrong I was!

What has stood out most about the experience of seeing Widow on the World published and available in shops and libraries has been the much greater interest generally. My two previously published novels were romances and mainly available in libraries only. There was little publicity generated apart from local interest. Apart from that my short fiction has been published by women's magazine nationally - that was how I started out as a writer around twenty years ago. I really enjoyed seeing my stories in print, but have to say having a book published has a whole new feel to it. So much of yourself and your experiences goes into the writing of a book, I think.

2). What writing projects are you working on currently?

I'm currently working on a new book and am nearing the end of the first draft. It focusses on family relationships as Widow on the World did, but I think it is very different. I've given the characters a whole new set of problems. I'm looking forward to the polishing and editing which I love. I write poetry all the time - mainly for my family and friends - and still write the odd short story and a few articles.

3). Do you practice any writing rituals?

Apart from procrastinating, you mean?! (Most writers' favourite pastime)

I used to handwrite everything in the early days because I couldn't type, which meant I could write anywhere. My daughter, who was a teenager then, used to type it up. Now I write on a computer and find I can't write anywhere else.

I like to start with a rough outline and perhaps an opening line. The characters must be named first and then I look for a picture that matches the one I have in my head of that person very closely. Next comes a character sketch, including the vehicle they will drive and I find the house they will live in in property pages.

If I get stuck at any point I will walk the dog or do the ironing and rush back to work when the next bit comes to me.

4). What have you been reading lately? Is there anything you're reading now, or have read recently, that's impressed you?

I've read several Transita books lately including 'The Dangerous Sports Euthanasia Society' by Christine Coleman, 'Uphill All The Way,' by Sue Moorcroft and 'Scuba Dancing' by Nicola Slade. I enjoyed them all. Presently I'm reading 'The Thirteenth Tale' by Diane Setterfield, which has been loaned to me by my boss at Bournemouth University, and which he insisted I must read as he 'couldn't put it down.' I couldn't believe it when I saw you had reviewed it on Bluestalking and I forwarded the review on to him. I've only just started 'The Thirteenth Tale' but I'm hooked already.

One of my favourite authors of all time is LaVyrle Spencer, the American author, who I think writes the best romance ever. Unfortunately, I think she has now retired. I do miss the book a year that used to be published in England around Christmas time each year.

Basically, I just love books, and though writing myself means I don't get the chance to read as much as I'd like these days, I do always have a book on the go and it doesn't have to be fiction.

5). Aside from writing and reading, what else do you feel passionately about?

I feel passionately about my family and friends (and my pets). Without them it would have been very difficult to sustain the positive attitude that has got me through some very difficult times in my life.

I hate cruelty of any kind, particularly when it involves children and animals.

I love my job and my home and I feel passionately that life is for living and we are here to be happy.

6). Do you have a favourite quotation, or perhaps just a few words, you feel sums up your philosophy on life?

'God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.'

I have no idea where that came from but I've tried to make that my philosophy and it seems to be working for me.

7). If you were marooned on a island, stuck on an elevator, or otherwise cut off from society, what one book would you want to have with you?

Now, that is a difficult one! I love so many books and many of them I would be happy to read over and over again. I plan to do just that when I am too old to do anything else and will have lots of time on my hands. I guess it would be 'Gone With The Wind' by Margaret Mitchell, which is a great romance and a real page turner, with believable characters who are very human and get things wrong - just like the rest of us.

8). What memories do you have, from your childhood, about your experiences in public libraries? Did they play a role at all in your love of books and reading?

When I was a child we lived right across the street from a public library - just how great was that? My mother was a great reader herself and took us (my two sisters and me) with her to choose books from a very early age. As soon as I was old enough I went there on my own (as did my sisters) and I quickly worked my way through the children's section and just kept going! It was like treasure trove to me.

When I had my own children (two boys and a girl) the whole process was repeated with them, and now my grandchildren bring piles of books home from the library, too. I think a love of reading is the greatest gift you can give to a child.

Libraries gave me a taste for seeing a pile of books beside the bed waiting to be read. I still can't bear to be even close to running out of reading material. I could live without a lot of things, but I don't think that I could live without books.

When I started writing, the librarians - who knew me well - got totally involved, helping with research material, and advising on publishers. It was such a thrill to see my own books on the very shelves I had spent so much time perusing. It was also a librarian who encouraged me to give my first talk and that was a sell-out!

Yes, libraries certainly played a huge part in developing my love of books and reading. My parents weren't well off, and as a family we wouldn't have had the means to go out and buy even a fraction of the books we had access to through the library. I have wonderful memories of the hours I spent in what was pretty much my second home, and I'm happy to say that little old library is still standing today.

Pamela Fudge's book Widow on the World was published by Transita in April 2006.

Posted by lisa at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)

Book Review: Widow on the World

Widow on the World by Pamela Fudge

Widow on the World is about three women who find themselves at a crossroad, reaching a state in their lives in which they must do SOMETHING. The need to choose a path is due to both internal and external causes, but in all cases action must be taken and its up to the individual woman to make choices that will impact the rest of her life.

Denise has been suddenly and unexpectedly widowed at the age of 45. Not only must she come to grips with that, and find a way to heal and move on, but she must also deal with the rather obnoxious needs of her runaway mother and temporarily misdirected daughter. Her daughter, Bobbi, has decided to leave nursing school, and a promising career, in order to cohabitate with her extremely unsuitable boyfriend, Jason. The place she's chosen to cohabitate is, incidentally, Denise's own home. Denise's mother, not to be left out, has left her husband, inexplicably, for goodness knows what reason, and it doesn't seem she even knows herself. She shows up on her daughter's doorstep with no real explanation whatsoever, expecting to be taken in because she is the mother and that's how things are done!

When the book opens, Denise is at a turning point in the grieving process. By no means is she over the loss of her husband, but she has reached a sort of peace with things. She's been through the worst of it and she's ready to move forward. Her journey lies not so much in finding a new career path, as she's happy enough with her work, but in finding a new partner with whom to share her life. At the same time, she feels she must stop and ask herself "Am I worthy?," which after all her years comfortably ensconced in marriage seems a very natural doubt to have. She's feeling shop-worn and more than a bit insecure.

Denise's mother has reached that state of life in which she finds herself growing older and with nothing of our own to show for herself that's purely hers. Her identity lies mostly in being somebody's wife, and somebody's mother. She's left her husband not because she doesn't love him, but because she's stymied, and stuck in the rut of longterm marriage. What she's seeking is overall life fulfillment, and the feeling of being needed for who she is rather than who she's been.

And Bobbi, the daughter, is simply young and uncertain. We've all been there.

Most of us have been all three of these places, actually, or have been one or two of them and will almost certainly be in the third before it's said and done. That's the strength of this book, that it does effectively show the stages of a woman's life, from youth to middle age to the older years. It depicts all our usual self doubts and insecurities in a way that's very sympathetic.

The treatment of these subjects goes middling deep. It's not a deeply psychological self help manual, but it does contain some very positive, constructive wisdom. It's a lighter book with just enough substance to help it avoid the "chick lit" title. In the end what it really does is reaffirm what it means to be a woman in today's society, and to give us all a very much needed bit of uplift and hope, and that theme is its own recommendation.

Published by Transita, April 2006

ISBN: 1-905175-22-1

Posted by lisa at 9:34 AM | Comments (0)

August 7, 2006

Le Weekend Reading

Not all surprises are good surprises, but recently I've discovered one that is. I've managed to find what I can only describe as my own personal warp drive (have been watching lots of Star Trek re-runs lately - does it show?) when it comes to reading speed. Perhaps it's just a virtue of necessity, in the face of an ever-growing pile of books to read. Whatever it is, it's working and I'm not about to question it. Set phasers to stun!

(Sorry .)

The first book I read over this past weekend was Amy Ephron's A Cup of Tea. Like so many of my other reads, this was recommended to me by a friend with similar reading taste. The book is somewhat reminiscent of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, and set in the same general era. Ephron's a contemporary writer, and her style is the more concise and sparing of the two. Though her book misses the depth of Wharton, it's a good book to cozy up with for a couple of hours. I'd call it Wharton Lite, if forced to define it. (N.B.: No idea why anyone WOULD force me to define it, but it's best to have your story prepared beforehand.)

The book is about a love triangle and makes for a very quick read. Love triangles usually do find a way to be compelling, just by their very nature, and this one's well written to boot.

After the Ephron I finished a book I've been working on for a while now, Jim Lynch's wonderful coming-of-age story, The Highest Tide. Even without a working knowledge of the sea or marine biology this is a beautiful, lyrical book. It has a magical feel, and a sense there's more out there in this crazy, cosmic world than we can very easily define. That's not to say it goes over the edge in a New Age-y way. It doesn't quite go that far, but it does hint there's more in heaven and earth than we've dreamt of in our philosophies. It's good to be reminded of that, every now and then, and a good consciousness-raising as to Mother Nature and her power doesn't hurt, either. This book contains all of these things, and more.

Finally, I read the first book in a young adult trilogy, Adele Geras's Egerton Series, Book One, The Tower Room. This is a contemporary re-telling of the Rapunzel story, but with a very modern twist. Rapunzel's role is filled by a young girl who has an affair with one of her teachers, which is something that may make parents a little nervous. The target age for the book is 12 and up, but I'd use a little caution before handing this off to my own 12 year old daughter. The themes are quite mature, and the main character gives her virtue with what some may deem a little too much ease. Even if the teacher is young, the girl is younger still (about 16 or 17). For a more mature young girl the subject matter may be fine, but I would exercise a little parental guidance on this one. Just my two cents' worth.

Nothing like a weekend spent reading, eh?

Posted by lisa at 4:35 PM | Comments (0)

August 4, 2006

Hype is as Hype Does

The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan

I will say this, Kathleen McGowan is someone who does seem to have the courage of her convictions. If she's faking her zeal on the subject of Mary Magdalene she's doing a very thorough job of it. My insincerity detector didn't sound, at least on this score. I really believe she's a believer.

I'll give her that.

Improbable or not, I really think she does believe firmly in all of her visions and visitations. The question is, does this all make for a good novel, and, as in all fiction, that's really all that counts. Her backstory, and all her secretive "evidence," are automatically moot without backup. They're a non-issue entirely. Scholarship is scholarship, and the same standards apply universally. If you want someone to believe you, you gotta cough up the source. Period. And if you have the sources, and the backup, write a work of non-fiction. Tell the world about the visions, about what it means, and about these fascinating documents, please. Otherwise, it's fiction, and as such it had better be quality or there's no point. There's enough out there that's tripe already.

On the book itself, disregarding all the other esoteric information that tries to cloud the issue of the quality of the actual writing, my feelings are somewhat mixed. The prose style of the book is riddled with so much trite language it was at times painful to read. The dialogue is so wooden you could make furniture from it, and, what was perhaps most annoying of all, McGowan mentions the first name of her main character, Maureen, so many times on each page I considered keeping a running tally, but then thought that an exercise in futility so I abandoned it. This is a prime example of lazy writing. There are other ways to phrase a sentence, and there are pronouns. It gets monotonous hearing Maureen, Maureen, Maureen times twenty. Believe me.

The wealth of historical detail was interesting, but then I'm no historian and can't verify a word of what she's written. I'm also no theologian, though I can vaguely hear the rustling of the Vatican getting its cassock into an uproar over all this. The subject's all moot to me, as a skeptic, but I can give a nod to the interesting concepts McGowan employs, regarding Magdalene, the love triangle, and other matters biblical. Mary Magdalene is a fascinating figure. Hanging your story frame around that theme isn't the worst choice you could make. But the thing is, in case anyone on the planet hasn't noticed, that's been done, and big time, about five minutes ago.

Timing is everything, I'm afraid, in life and in fiction.

The real root of the problem is McGowan's trying to make this come off as a non-fiction novel, and Truman Capote she ain't. Ultimately, we're left with a novel that has no leg to stand on scholarship-wise, and nothing original to say fiction-wise. What it's trying so desperately to do is to generate sensational interest based on supernatural visions. Well, okay. Maybe there is a certain sector out there that will eat that up, and good luck to it on that score.

Just don't expect the rest of the world to take it all very seriously.

Posted by lisa at 9:12 AM | Comments (0)

August 3, 2006

From France to Ireland: Two Outstanding Works of Contemporary Fiction

The story behind the publication of Suite Francaise is exceptional. Author Irene Nemirovsky was a Jewish woman living in France at the time of World War II. Already a published author respected for her wonderfully literate style, she had a premonition the end was near. As the Nazis marched into France, and the French rolled over for them, she knew her days were numbered. But still she worked, writing for hours everyday, sometimes cycling for miles to find the perfect isolated spot in which to work on her novel.

As it turned out, she was right to feel paranoid. The knock on her door did come, and she was taken to Auschwitz where she died of disease just a month later.

The manuscript of Suite Francaise wasn't published until 60 years following Nemirovsky's death. In the possession of one of her daughters, it wasn't delivered to publishers until the woman became an editor at a publishing house.

Even without the backstory, the book itself is beautiful. It captures the time of World War II in France in such vivid detail it's like a film rather than a novel. Everything from fear to greed to patriotism is represented, from the time the war begins to its end. Bombs drop on railroad depots, people are killed and mangled, and mothers desperately run with their children in an attempt to get away from the carnage to find safety. Food becomes so scarce people do violence to each other in order to get what scraps they can. Perhaps most disturbingly of all, a group of orphans loses all grip on humanity, murdering and stealing with what can only be described as a manic glee. Suite Francaise is a microcosm of the war from the perspective of those who lived it.

From France to Ireland, the late John McGahern wrote incredibly poetic and beautiful novels set in his native country. The Barracks is about a middle-aged woman named Elizabeth Reegan who marries a widowed man with three children. A frustrated police officer with dreams of buying his own farm, and fulfilling the legacy of the Reegans, her husband is a man all but oblivious to Elizabeth and her needs. Already a widower, when he learns Elizabeth has breast cancer he can hardly bring himself to face the reality. When his first wife died his only thought was what a horror it was seeing her in the morgue. Any feelings of love or support are simply beyond him, leaving Elizabeth to deal with mortality on her own.

As she worsens, declining into death, Elizabeth is able to observe the family as an outsider. Already all but a ghost, she watches them go about their daily tasks while inside she's screaming with frustration, hoping for any bit of attention or kindness she doesn't dare ask for.

The Barracks is a heartbreaking novel, and a masterful one. McGahern gets inside the head of Elizabeth, expressing her plight with such empathy it's staggering. The prose is poetic and lyrical. I would even say it's flawless, and as perfect a work of fiction as I've ever read.

What a loss to literature, and to humanity, when McGahern died earlier this year, leaving behind him an award-winning body of fiction. There simply aren't enough contemporary writers out there like McGahern, more's the pity, but that's what made him stand out like a shining light while he was alive. Better to have written like an angel and then been lost than never to have written like an angel at all.

Posted by lisa at 8:54 AM | Comments (0)

August 1, 2006

A Game of Tag, Reading Style

One thing about book-obsessed bloggers, when we aren't reading or blogging we very much enjoy sharing lists. We also enjoy passing along any and every book-related quiz or questionnaire we get our hands on.

I was recently "tagged" by a friend who maintains a literary-themed blog of her own, and below are the questions she sent me.

If you have any interest in playing along, consider yourself tagged!

1. One book that changed your life

I think I've been influenced more by the combined wisdom contained in all the books I've read, rather than by any one specific book, so I'd say one book that broadsided me with its originality and genius would be Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. I remember finishing that one in a state of shock that anyone could write with such passion, imagination and sheer beauty. Just a breath-taking book.

2. One book that you've read more than once

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

3. One book you'd want on a desert island

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

4. One book that made you laugh

Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson. I love his self-depracating humor.

5. One book that made you cry

That's a difficult one, as that's not something that happens very often, but I'll go with Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Star-crossed lovers get me nearly every time!

6. One book you wish had been written

Just about anything by Margaret Atwood. I'll go with The Blind Assassin because I think it may be her masterpiece, so far.

7. One book you wish had never been written

So many I'd put in this category! Wow, that's a tough one. I really can't name just one title. Look on the bestseller list and you'll likely find one I'd put here...

8. One book you're currently reading

Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age by Bohumil Hrabal

9. One book you've been meaning to read

Anything and everything by Barry Hannah. He's a fellow Mississippian who's come highly recommended, yet I can't seem to get to his books.

Posted by lisa at 2:49 PM | Comments (0)