Empress of Asia by Adam Lewis Schroeder

An interesting book, on several different levels. It begins and ends with a love story. The seventy-something narrator is given a cryptic message by his wife on her deathbed, to find someone that he thought had died long ago in southeast Asia. The entire middle section of the book recounts the life of the narrator during the second world war, when he was a prisoner of war in the infamous Japanese camps in southeast Asia (think "The Bridge on the River Kwai"), and the story of how he met his future wife and married her, as well as his friendship with the mysterious man who saves his life several times. The novel is brought to a close in the final part, when we return to the current time, and the narrator solves the mystery that his wife had set for him on her deathbed.

A couple of things make the book unusual. There are no chapter breaks, only the division of the book into three parts. It is told in a very close first-person narrative, as if the narrator is speaking to his dead wife, as in "I did this, when you did that." Unusual, but not unique. Another novel that is similar in construction is  "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson. It is very effective in this case by adding a sense of urgency as the narrator is rushed from one life-changing event to another.

On the other hand, it is a little more difficult to read and absorb than a more normal novel. The lack of chapter breaks, or of any break, doesn't give the reader much time to pause. The very close narration is sometimes confusing - what is going on exactly? I had to re-read several pivotal scenes to make sure that I had understood exactly what had happened. The long middle section, as the narrator is captured, escapes, re-captured, shipwrecked, and so forth is possibly too long. We lose track of the love affair, which is only a small part of this section.

It is an excellent read, and the surprises of the final part of the book, as the narrator learns the truth about his wife and the mysterious man who saved his life are very satisfying. I highly recommend it.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

I can see why this Austen novel is not so popular. It's a re-telling of Cinderella, but the glass slipper doesn't fit. And Cinderella (Fanny) doesn't want it to fit. And Prince Charming (Mr. Crawford) runs off with one of the evil stepsisters (cousins). At least the evil stepmother (aunt) gets punished in the end, sort of.

Seriously though, Austen has a very adult, insightful, take on the old story. Well worth reading. I'm trying to read (or reread) all of her novels in conjunction with the Masterpiece Classic Jane Austen season on PBS.

Update: Watched the PBS video, and it was pretty bad. Who was the screenwriter? He trashed the novel. Left out the ball - turned it into a picnic - maybe he was the victim of budget cuts, but what good is a cinderella story without a ball? Also left out the entire trip of Fanny's back to her real mother's, which was extremely important to show the change in Fanny's attitude towards Mansfield Park. I watched it with my wife, and I had to constantly explain to her what was going on, since she couldn't follow the story based only on the screenplay. Oh well.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Reading this novel makes me want to go take a book-binding class. It's the story of a Hebrew prayer book that survives through the centuries, and the people who created it and helped to preserve it. The book travels from Moorish Spain to Italy to Sarajevo. The narrative alternates between a modern archivist, which is told in first person, and historical sections told in third person omniscient.

I'm a big fan of Brooks. I loved March and her plague novel. This one is not quite as engaging. It's a little slow to develop - give it time. The omniscient sections were a little distant and sometimes hard to follow. Some details of the story toward the end seemed a little contrived - it might have been better to gloss over a lot of the details throughout the book. Readers are so willing to suspend disbelief as long as writers don't be obvious in explaining things.

But I loved it. Highly recommended.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

An interesting novel, part polemical, pointing out the abuses of the Chancery Court, part first person narrative of a young woman whose life is caught up in a famous suit before the court. Sections from the omniscient viewpoint alternate with first person.

Dickens is a master at painting the culture and times, from the lowest classes to the highest. His characters are excellent and memorable. The fog of the Chancery Court does not really detract from the enjoyment of the novel.

And there are a couple of mysteries hidden in the massive text. Who is Esther's mother and who committed the murder? Both serve to move the novel forward.

My only complaint with Dickens, and it is pretty obvious in this novel, is that his female characters are sometimes difficult to believe - their actions seem so unnatural. Perhaps it is a difference of the times, but the author seems to have less insight into the motivations of his female characters like Esther.

Geraldine Brooks talk at Margaret Mitchell House

Laurie and I went to hear Geraldine Brooks talk about her new novel last night. She is one of my favorite authors. I just loved March and The Year of the Plague. She is an outstanding speaker, so clear and focussed, much like her writing. Very intelligent, and passionate about her book and her writing. Quite an inspiring talk, maybe the best author talk I have ever heard.

2007 Reading - Year End Wrap-up

I read ninety books last year - seems incredible. How did I find the time to do anything else? I read at night before bed, and at lunch. In fact, when the weather is good I walk and read at lunch, between the downtown connector and Peachtree Street, from North Avenue to 10th street. I'm sure people look at me like I'm nuts.

Here is the list of what I read in 2007, courtesy of librarything and published with Google documents.

FIrst draft of "Life Portraits" is done

Sixty-two days. 116,599 words. The first draft of the novel code named "Life Portraits" is done.

Here are some stats:

• 116,599 words


• 62 days


• average 1881 words a day


• twelve "zero" days - no writing


• 38 chapters


• 96 "scenes"


• shortest scene: 131 words


• longest scene: 4219 words

Of course, these boring stats tell you nothing about whether the novel is any good or not. I don't know - it's too soon to tell, and I am too close to it at the moment. Now I need to let it sit for awhile before reading it to see what kind of a mess it really is. But I have high hopes for it - I think it may be my best yet.

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

An intriguing book, written from the viewpoint of a ten-year-old girl who has been abandoned, orphaned, and abused. She seems to be the only one in her family with any morals, the clear knowledge of a child of what is right and what is wrong. The novel follows her as she stays with various relatives and finally ends up in a foster home.

One intriguing characteristic of the narrator is the way she misuses words and figures of speech. For instance, when she is talking about her mother, why she married her father, and how sick she is, she says, "You see when she was my size she had romantic fever I think it is called and since then she has not had a good heart." Excellent writing...

Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier

A rambling re-telling of the Eastern band of the Cherokee's efforts to remain in Western North Carolina, as told by the fictional Will Cooper, who is a stand-in for the real Will Thomas. Anyone who has read the history of Tsali (called Charley in the novel) and the Cherokee removal will be familiar with this story. And Frazier has probably written the first fictional account of it, and has come as close as anyone could to capturing the feel of the times and the people.

It does ramble, though. The love story is opaque and hard to get excited about, as opaque as the female character in the tale. We never find out what she is thinking, and why she seems to come and go without much emotion for Will. In a sense the novel reminded me a lot of David Copperfield, in that it was a coming of age novel, but it is also comic in parts and just plain nostalgic in others.