Well, my slow journey through Sandra Gulland’s trilogy of novels about Josephine Bonaparte has finally come to an end. What a lovely journey it was! They are the epitome of great historical fiction: engaging, rich with true details, full of familiar figures brought to life. They were so good I ordered a biography of Josephine from the library; I must know more!
The trilogy is comprised (as you may guess) of three books: The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B., Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe, and The Last Great Dance on Earth. They are written in first person, as Josephine’s diaries, beginning when she is a girl on the island (then) of Martinico and concluding with her death in France, years later. Each book picks up where the previous left off. Throughout, Gulland inserts footnotes that clarify French phrases, odd practices, and historical tidbits. It’s rare that footnotes don’t drive me nuts, but in this case they’re quite helpful and interesting.
I often forget how much I enjoy hearing from the great females of history. In school, we hear about this battle and that, King such-and-such and the Point A-Point B War. It’s easy to forget — or difficult to imagine in the first place — that the people you read about were real. I think one of the great abilities of historical fiction is that it can bring the past to life in a way that nonfiction, with its necessary focus on what happened, cannot. Fiction allows us to create the inner lives of the people whose exterior lives we see in the history books.
If you like historical fiction, Napoleon & Josephine, fictional diaries, or strong female characters, I would absolutely recommend picking up a copy of this fantastic trilogy!
Well, I bit the bullet and finished Suite Francaise on audio today. When I’d stopped the day before, I had a feeling that something terrible was about to happen, and I just couldn’t bear more suffering to be inflicted on the poor characters. It did not go the way I feared. On the contrary, I felt Nemirovsky wrapped the story up well.
Divided into two parts, Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky tells the story of French citizens during the German invasion and the subsequent occupation. The first half, “Storm in June,” roams around France following several Parisians who must decide what to do faced with the threat of an imminent German invasion. As a pair of bank employees, a wealthy family, an artist, a priest, and several others struggle to flee the city, their stories unfold and entwine just enough.
The second part, “Dolce,” remains settled in a remote French village, where the occupants have been forced to take in German soldiers. Subtler yet equally affecting, this half of the story traces what happens when conqueror and conquered must figure out how to live side by side. A few loose tendrils reach out from the latter half to the first to hold the book together as a whole.
The book was supposed to have five parts; however, she died in the Auschwitz infirmary before she could complete the final three. I learned this backstory after I finished the book and had no idea there was meant to have been more; the novel stands alone as it is.
The audio version was well done; I definitely liked “Dolce” better, but I am partial to Barbara Rosenblat’s performances after having listened to The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Daniel Oreskes does a fine job reading “Storm in June,” but to me it’s rare to find a male reader who does female voices in a way that doesn’t make me want to giggle. Maybe I’m immature. Either way, listening to a book so steeped in a foreign language as opposed to reading it is a huge help for me, since it frustrates me to not know how words are properly pronounced.
Overall, a lovely audiobook!
Now I can focus my attention solely on Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, which I started yesterday at the gym and continued today on my drive to work. There is no way I’ll be able to keep it just for gym time — it’s far too good!
I’ve fallen behind on my audiobook reporting! When last I posted on the topic, I was listening to The Graveyard Book, written and read by Neil Gaiman. The story is quite good; intriguing, with those odd bits that make it Gaimanesque. There were a few parts that made me say, “Huh?” But most of his books are like that. The reading made up for any misgivings I may have had. That man can read. With the accent, the dramatic pauses, the dead-on inflection…mmm. Definitely worth a listen.
Somewhat concurrently with, and then after I’d finished, The Graveyard Book, I moved on to Suite Francaise, written by Irene Nemirovsky. I picked this one out because my favorite reader, Barbara Rosenblat (from The Elegance of the Hedgehog!) does the latter half. I’m stuck about half a CD from the end. I have this feeling something terrible is about to happen, and I can’t bear to hear it at the moment. I’m probably wrong; listen for yourself and see!
In the meantime, I’ve started listening to Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants at the gym. I’m only a chapter or so in, but I’ve definitely found another outstanding reader: John Randolph Jones, who is doing an exquisite job reeling me in as the elder Jacob. This one’ll take awhile for me to get through at just half an hour twice a week or so, but I’ll get there!
So, it’s been a slow reading month. Lots of other things going on has left me with less reading time. The other things have all been good, though, so I’m okay with it!
I am currently savoring Sandra Gulland’s Josephine B. books right now. I’m midway through the second one. The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. followed Josephine Bonaparte up to her marriage to the infamous ruler; Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe picked up seamlessly where the first left off. I have to say, I’m thoroughly enjoying these books. Plenty of interesting history, enough adventure to keep things exciting, and believable first person narrative make them a treat to read. If you’re a fan of historical fiction and/or good women characters and/or good fictional memoirs, give them a shot. I’m curious to read some of Gulland’s other books now!Remember how I just posted about Ellen Currey-Wilson’s The Big Turnoff, about raising a TV-free kid? Guess what? next week is Turnoff Week!
Check out the full article here. I especially like the quote from second grader Drew Henderson at the very end…
Whew, the past few weeks have been busy! Not only has not much posting happened, but not even much reading has occurred. Here’s what I’ve gotten through:
I really enjoyed The Big Turnoff by Ellen Currey-Wilson. Published a few years ago, the memoir follows the author’s adventures raising her son without television when she herself is a TV addict. She talks about the challenges (will her son fit in at school without knowing all the cool TV shows? How will she find time for herself without plopping her son down in front of Sesame Street?) and joys (playing with her child, being the her son’s friends’ favorite house to visit) of trying to raise a TV-free kid in the modern world while weaning herself off reruns of old sitcoms and classic movies. It was both comical and eye-opening; definitely a great read, with lots to think about without being preachy.
Most recently, I finished the newest novel from Audrey Niffenegger, the author of the fantastic love story The Time Traveler’s Wife (just made into a movie, but go read the book…Niffenegger’s elaborate plot and careful details guarantee it’s better than its cinematic counterpart). Entitled Her Fearful Symmetry, it’s most broadly a ghost story. I will not reveal anything further about the plot. I will say that where The Time Traveler’s Wife was both emotionally and intellectually satisfying, for me Her Fearful Symmetry was delightful from an intellectual perspective but left me cold emotionally. It definitely has plenty of Audrey Niffenegger’s great writing. The book is released later this month, and I’ll be interested to hear what others think of it.Whew, I’ve been slacking! Just on the posting though, not on the actual reading, which is an improvement!
I finished Cartwheels in a Sari by Jayanti Tamm first. It’s a very well written, interesting memoir about growing up as part of a cult. When her parents break their guru’s rule about sex and her mother ends up pregnant, their guru tells them he has arranged for a special soul to be sent to them, a soul that will be his perfect disciple on earth. Tamm was told from infancy that she was this special soul. The story follows her into her 20s, when she finally breaks with her guru.
The thing I liked most about Cartwheels in a Sari was the honesty with which Tamm writes. In some memoirs, the author’s bias or agenda seeps heavily into the narrative. With this book, however, Tamm tells her story moment by moment as she felt about each event as it happened. The result is that in addition to being a good story, the book helps you understand the mentality of such a cult and why someone would feel the need to be a part of it. I was reading this book at the same time that I was listening to David Ebershoff’s The 19th Wife on CD, and there were a surprising number of parallels.
The 19th Wife is really two stories spliced together, plus fictional newspaper articles, school papers, letters, journal entries, and Wikipedia entries. The first story is that of Ann Eliza Young, one of Brigham Young’s wives who ended up divorcing him and becoming one of polygamy’s most outspoken critics. It is her fictional memoir, which is based on her actual memoir.
Interspersed with Ann Eliza’s story is that of Jordan Scott, a “lost boy” who was kicked out of the polygamist cult in which he was raised and left to fend for himself. When he comes across a picture of his mother online accompanying a story about her arrest for the murder of Jordan’s father, Jordan finds himself heading from California to Utah to find out what really happened.
The whole thing took up 15 CDs, which took me two months of driving to and from work plus listening at home to finish. It was a lot. I was fascinated by the two main story lines, but the supplementary “documents” got to be a lot. I think that if I’d been reading the book instead of listening it would have been better, and they certainly added depth to the two main stories. Definitely a book worth reading, and really interesting when read in conjunction with Cartwheels in a Sari, about a totally different yet eerily similar cult situation.
Finally, I just sped through a galley lent to me by a coworker: Spellbinder by Helen Stringer. It’s a young adult novel coming out next month, I believe. It reminded me a lot of The Prophecy of Sisters by Michelle Zink, which I wrote about here. Both follow main characters who find out there is more to their reality than they believe (think other worlds and supernatural beings) and that they have key roles to play in the overall scheme of the universe. Spellbinder has more humorous bits; even the wording itself tends toward sarcasm instead of drama. The Prophecy of Sisters, on the other hand, is very much about the drama. Spellbinder is also contemporary; Prophecy is set a couple of centuries ago. Both were fun reads. Prophecy leaves you hanging, and while Spellbinder wraps up most of the story, there’s definitely room for many sequels to come!
Currently reading: The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid by Ellen Currey-Wilson.
Currently listening to: The Graveyard Book by (and read by!) Neil Gaiman at home, and Irene Nemirovsky’s Suite Francaise in the car.
Whew, what a title! The cover is what drew me to this book initially. That, and the opening story, in which our protagonist fights of a living coonskin cap he’s acquired while taking out the trash with nothing but tube of Burt’s Bees lip gloss and some breath spray.
At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Life is Wade Rouse’s memoir about giving up urban life in St. Louis and moving to rural Michigan with his partner, Gary. Inspired by Thoreau’s Walden, which his grandmother introduced him to during his rural Ozark childhood, Wade sets out to establish his own simple country existence, which he dubs Wade’s Walden.
What ensues is by turns hysterical, ridiculous, embarrassing, and touching. Whether he’s sneaking in a covert shopping binge at an outlet mall or singing Kelly Clarkson at the local karaoke bar while getting hit on by a pair of girls, Rouse’s anecdotes are always over the top and saturated with pop culture references.
The book is divided into sections, with each chronicling progress with one of the ten areas Rouse has decided to work on during his time in the country. These include getting to know his neighbors, taking care of the fuzzy woodland creatures, and deepening his relationship with Gary. At each step, Rouse must also confront the rural childhood he fled when he moved to the city so many years ago. Each section concludes with a scorecard-style tally of who’s winning: Wade’s Walden or Modern Society.
I must say I enjoyed the book. If you can handle the exaggerated style, it’s certainly fun. It even has some good messages tucked in amongst the drama.
Now reading: Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult by Jayanti Tamm. Surprisingly well done; more when I finish it!
It’s like I always say…life is too short to read bad books!
I finished The Nanny Diaries last night. It’s been on my shelf for years, and every time I cleaned out my books I would read the first few pages, think, “Yep, I still want to read it,” and put it back. But after reading the quick, witty Sleeping Naked is Green by Vanessa Farquharson, I was in the mood for something similarly written.
I really enjoyed the first 250 or so pages of the book. To me it was good girl fiction, including a boy (but not too much), a mom and sister, helpful friends, a stressful situation, and–of course–a cat. I was either rooting for or against pretty much every character in the book.
The last 50 pages? Not so much. It almost felt like the authors were done writing and had to think of a quick way to end the book. I guess some would argue the final situation was inevitable, but I wanted it to end on a different character’s terms. Instead of feeling satisfied, the way you do when you’ve just finished a fantastic book (the feeling the rest of the book made me anticipate!), I was left with quite the opposite, kind of like I’d eaten something that hadn’t quite hit the spot and was now beginning to disagree with my stomach.
I guess, though, that authors who can make you care that much about their characters are talented indeed. The sequel, Nanny Returns, will be out on December 15th, if you’re interested. I just might pick it up and see if it makes up for the first one’s ending!
