Category Archives: Fiction

05.01.11
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Did Stephen Holden of the NYTimes Read/See The Same Water for Elephants?

Last week I suggested you read Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen then see the movie.  I had read the book then happened to read Stephen Holden’s New York Times review  of the movie before I went to the theater.  I came away from the movie asking myself if Holden read the same book and saw the same movie I did?  I also ask, did he have a bad day on April 22 when the review was posted?

All of us who love books have read and enjoyed a wide variety of authors ranging from great novels, memoirs , to non-fiction and biographies.  Books have vastly different appeal to different audiences. However, for Holden to call Gruen’s work Water for Elephants a lightweight page-turner  is a travesty.  Certainly the work may not be of the calibre of Gone with the Wind, Grapes of Wrath  or For Whom the Bell Tolls but neither are many books that are great reads! 

When I read Holden’s overly negative review of the movie Water for Elephants my enthusiasm  for seeing the picture was diminished. However, when I left the theater I realized Holden was wrong on all counts! 

Water for Elephants the movie  did in fact capture Gruen’s book, certainly not in every detail, but a film seldom does.  Contrary to Holden’s view, the nitty-gritty and cruelty of the world of a traveling circus was abundant, as was the  survival instinct of a circus family.  Hal Holbrook as narrator did in fact place the movie in perspective and drove home the book’s message that at the end of the day, good or bad, the circus, Marlena and Rosie was the only family that Jacob had!  I only regret that time on the screen did not allow further development of the aged Jacob in the nursing home prior to the circus’ arrival in town, thus opening the flashback with  even greater impact.

Before putting a wrap on this I must express my amazement at Holden’s  comment  that the love scene between Marlena and Jacob was disappointing because is was “dimly lighted!”   In retrospect that remark  revealed that Holden missed it all, the book, the movie and the message.

Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson played extremely well both individually and in their roles together.  Surely the characters  we create in our minds from a book can never be totally replicated on-screen but that is why people read books! Despite Stephen Holden’s view,  I think Witherspoon did create an authentic period character and to suggest she was directed to do otherwise is foolishness!

If you have read  Water for Elephants you will enjoy the movie even more but see it whether you have read the book or not.   Don’t believe a word  of Stephen’s Holden’s review. I think he had a bad day and took it out on an enjoyable ” good read ” and a movie that did an admirable job with Sara Gruen’s novel.

04.27.11
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WikiLeaks,The Brooklyn Bridge,Suspension

The New York Times revealed on Wednesday April 26th that the latest WikiLeaks distribution tells a story of plots to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge. “Al Qaeda has long had a fascination with suspension bridges, especially the Brooklyn Bridge. New documents reveal that before Sept. 11, 2001, methods for bringing down bridges were being taught at a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, ” says the Times.

The longer I write this blog the more flashbacks I have to books I have read that connect with current events.  If you are interested in reading of terrorist plots, sabotage and sophisticated murder mysteries written on the level of Caleb Carr and wish at the same time to connect with the glorious history and construction of the Brooklyn Bridge I commend Suspension, a novel by Richard Crabbe. You will also discover an important Civil War connection with the bridge.

Written in 2010, Crabbe builds his story around a murder mystery that leads to a plot to sabotage the bridge by seven former Confederate soldiers who labored for years to hatch a plot to destroy the bridge because of a deep hatred for the Yankees who vanquished them in the Civil War. The Brooklyn Bridge?  Of Course! Washington Roebling the son of  Brooklyn Bridge designer John Roebling was placed in charge of the project upon the death of his father.  Washington Roebling was a distinguished Union Army Civil War officer having served with particular distinction at the Battle of  Gettysburg.  Thus Roebling’s ” Yankee-Bridge” became an even more meaningful target!

A wonderful mystery with vivid details on the construction and history of the most famous bridge in the world. Crabbe’s first novel qualifies as excellent in both plot and storytelling.

04.25.11
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Water for Elephants Movie Vs. Book

You may have seen my previous comments on this blog concerning Water for Elephants, the book, by Sara Gruen. I urged those that had the time to read the book before seeing the movie.  Since the film opened last Friday I would be interested in your comments and comparisons.  If you like, please take the time to post your comments here on the blog.

04.12.11
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Civil War/ Lincoln Assassination/ Anniversary Week

Today, April 12, marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War with the firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina.  April 15, Friday, marks the 146 anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  Earlier this week I commended to you Jay Winik’s April 1865,  an important work of non-fiction on the assassination and the tumultuous period that followed.

Hundreds of volumes have been written on the Civil War. On this anniversary I suggest to you three writings of fiction that I believe will give the reader the most vivid portrait of this monumental period in American History.  If you choose to read them all, I would suggest the following order.  Jeff Shaara’s  Gods & Generals, Michael Shaara’s Killer Angels ( The battle at Gettysburg)  and then Jeff Shaara’s The Last Full Measure. Jeff Shaara is the son of Michael Shaara.

These three historical novels describe the Civil War from the viewpoint of those who fought in and directed the great battles.  You will be present at the siege of Richmond, at Pickett’s Charge and on Little Round Top with the 20th Maine at Gettysburg and at the  Confederate surrender at Appomattox Courthouse .

The knowledge of the Civil War that you will gain from these three works of historical fiction is  priceless!

04.02.11
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C.J. Sansom-Masterpeice Mysteries-Historically Impeccable

C.J. Sansom, the fabulous British writer of the Shardlake Mysteries, is out with a new book, Heartstone which my bookseller placed in my hands just yesterday.  It reminded me to share with you my experience with this wonderful  series.

 

I have read and enjoyed  three of the Matthew Shardlake Mysteries. The first in the series is Dissolution, published in 2003.  Shardlake is a retired attorney turned investigator charged with solving  the murder of one of Thomas Cromwell’s commissioners during King Henry VIII’s  closing of all of the monasteries in England.  Sansom’s attention to historical detail is so excellent that the book could qualify as a historical novel! You will also meet  Shardlake’s able assistant Jack Barak.  What a team indeed! The characters Sansom developes and the localities he describes place you firmly in Sixteenth Century Tudor England. Sansom kindly publishes for the reader maps of the setting of the plot!

Move on to the  second Shardlake Mystery, Sovereign published in 2006.  Shardlake and Jack Barak are called upon to solve yet another murder this time within King Henry VIII’s  Court. They undercover a plot against the King Himself!  You will meet the fifth wife of Henry the VIII, Catherine Howard, and be plunged into a question of the legitimacy of succession to the English Throne! It only gets better and better.

Want more?  In Revelation,  published in 2008,  King Henry VIII is wooing his sixth wife Catherine Parr.  Archbishop Cramer is suspicious that Lady Catherine has reformist sympathies. She is also resisting the King’s affection ! Sansom’s physical descriptions of the King leave little wonder as to why it is a hard choice for Catherine. Add to the plot a young boy who because of his religious zealotry has been placed in the Bedlam hospital for the insane.  If he is released he will be burned at the stake as a heretic!  Enter Shardlake and Barak who while investing the murder of a personal friend discover a direct connection to the imprisoned boy!  One more Sansom mystery that will lead you page by page into the late evening, enjoying every minute.

There is a fourth in this series titled Dark Fire  ( 2004)but I am now so consumed with the opening pages of Heartstone that Dark Fire will have to wait. Sansom authored another novel, Winter in Madrid  (2006) set during the Spanish Civil War.  Some reviewers have called it a Hemingway without the romance! I have not read that work .

I commend C.J. Sansom to lovers of extremely well written mysteries and don’t discount the value of his accurate historical perspective. A painless way to discover the world of Sixteenth Century Tudor England and the life and wives of Henry VIII>

03.30.11
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DUSTING OFF FOUR SINCLAIR LEWIS CLASSICS

Browsing the  “Classics” section in the local library can be truly rewarding and it is a very private place!  I promise, you will have a  “I always wanted to  read that” moment! Move along the shelf to the “L” section and pull four of the very best from Sinclair Lewis.  Main Street,  Elmer Gantry, Dodsworth, and Babbitt.  The stories  are timeless.

Babbitt,  a man in “mid-life crisis” before anyone had coined the term!  Dodsworth, the least likely expatriate,  an adoring  husband following  his adventurous wife into a The Sun Also Rises escapade in Europe.  Elmer Gantry invents and reinvents himself listening to his own voice stepping into the world of traveling tent evangelism.  Main Street, back to  small town America and Minnesota roots with a dash of Prairie Home Companion, long before Garrison Keillor was born.

We all look to the New York Times Best Seller List but obviously so many of the great ones have already been written.  Visit or re-visit Sinclair Lewis and you will quickly forget that these books were published in the 1920s.  They are equally if not more relevant today and the beauty of the writing is nourishing to the mind and soul.

03.24.11
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WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, READ IT BEFORE SEEING!

Did Sara Gruen, author of  the novel Water for Elephants, grow up in a circus family?  Was she an equestrian center ring star or a master trainer of elephants?  Did she and the other members or her family leave her father largely alone with his memories in a  “respectable nursing home?”  The answer to all of the previous questions is no!

How then did Sara Gruen create two marvelous parallel stories packed with  the intricate details and broad panorama of a Great Depression era travelling circus and the daily routine of a ninety-three year-old man spending his last days reminiscing in a nursing home?  My observation is that Gruen has a vivid imagination, wonderful story telling skills, and sought out the correct research to bring realistic detail to the story.

After devouring this book ( that is what you will likely do)  I think you will agree that there is little wonder why it has been on the New York Times Trade Fiction Best Seller List for 111 weeks!

I don’t know which story I like better. Is it Jacob in his old age making every effort to maintain his dignity and self-esteem? Or is it Jacob the young would-be-veterinarian out of Cornell before graduating , running away from  a family tragedy and in the dead of night hopping a circus train ? Is it the beautiful young Marlena the equestrian circus star stuck in a hopelessly abusive marriage?  Is it Rosie, an elephant that only understands Polish that becomes the glue in a love story?  Is it the collection of humanity that populates a travelling circus stuck in a daily struggle for survival?

I wonder if the up-coming movie can possibly create the color, smells, smiles, sadness, humanity and empathy that Sara Gruen has done so beautifully in WATER for ELEPHANTS.  I hope so. I will be there but I am sure glad I read the book first!

One final thought, buy WATER for ELEPHANTS in hardcover. It will stand the test of time in your library!

03.15.11
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Kane & Able If You Missed It Read It Now!

Bestselling author Jeffrey Archer’s Kane and Able is truly a fabulous novel that follows the lives of two boys born  worlds apart on the same day in 1906. They  grow into manhood  to intersect each others lives in most incredible ways.  Kane and Able from my perspective is Jeffrey Archer at his very best but of course that is a personal observation about an author who has written success upon success.

The scion of a noble New England  banking family and a Polish immigrant born of unknown parentage are each determined to excel beyond the hopes and dreams of their probable and improbable backgrounds.   Archer developes the characters and the plot and weaves a story that is impossible for the reader to predict but satisfying in every single chapter. If you need more detail check out the hundreds of on-line reviews.  Hard to find a bad one!

You will have to dust off  the paperback version of this 1979 Archer best seller if you go to the local bookstore but it comes dust-free on-line.

If you want a great Gordon’s Good Reads recommendation enjoy this book now! Everyone that I have passed it along to has been grateful!

03.11.11
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BIRKEBEINER

The American Birkebeiner  is the largest Nordic ski marathon in North America.  Jeff Foltz of  the University of Southern Maine and a resident of Camden has participated in the 32-mile race five times.  He committed to writing his first novel BIRKEBEINER after seeing the  famous Norwegian painting Skiing Birchlegs Crossing the Mountain with the Royal Child by Knud Larsen Bergslein.

Fascinated with the legend portrayed in Berglstein’s work , Folk travelled to Norway to research the thirteenth century folklore of an incredible trek by a young mother, her child and two soldiers across 7000-foot mountains, snow choked valleys and sub-zero temperatures  to save the life of her infant boy who would  one day be king of Norway.

Eight hundred years ago the Croziers and Birchlegs were engaged in a brutal  war over who would control the Norwegian throne. As the legend unfolds, Croziers overrun the Birchlegs at Lillehammer. Desperate to save the life of their two-year-old son King Hakon of the Birchlegs, dying from the wounds of battle, dispatches Prince Hakon and his mother Inga  along with two loyal medieval Birchleg Soldiers on an impossible nine-day trek to safety in faraway Nidaros.  

The trio is pursued by a force triple their size led by none other than the Crozier heir apparent, Magnus!  His mission is to kill Prince Hakon to prevent his possible ascension to the throne and preserve his own legacy. Only a Nordic skier like Folk could attempt to accurately recreate this near impossible ordeal in an environment both breathtakingly beautiful and as hostile as one can imagine.  The descriptions are mindful of the detail in the epic true story The Endurance, Ernest Shackelton’s  Antarctic sailing from Elephant Island then climbing across the impossible terrain on South Georgia Island to reach the whaling station and ultimately save every member of his crew.

Underlying the suspense and adventure is the time-honored story of motherhood, war and a mothers love for her child. In this novel Folk pursues one version of the royal child legend and makes the mother Inga the heroine.  Bergslein’s painting tells the other version of only the two Birchleg Soldiers skiing the child to safety.

BIRKEBEINER could easily be overlooked but once you open the cover, whether or not you are a Nordic skier,  you will be enveloped in the story.

03.10.11
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Nine Short Stories/One Great Writer. How To Breathe Underwater

What is so wonderful about Julie Orringer’s  How To Breathe Underwater is that there is a piece of each of us in all of the nine short stories.

Orringer’s passages  through childhood and puberty are incredibly vivid and will register in your mind and jolt your own recall of life experiences exactly like those jumping from pages.

The message in How To Breathe Underwater comes from the hand of a gifted writer offering a combination of imagination and reality told through true to life characters whom we have all met at some point in our childhood and adolescence.  You may even find yourself!

You will find Orringer’s How to Breathe Underwater  so compelling that you will likely turn through all nine stories non-stop.