Sunday of Lesley: Books

The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant

I spent the weekend reading "The Red Tent," by Anita Diamant. There's a literary movement right now towards women's literature (ever noticed all the pink bestsellers at Barnes & Noble??), and one branch of that is Biblical women. I LOVE reading books about the historical Bible...stories that retell an old tale from a different perspective, stories that delve into and humanize famous characters, stories that give you an understanding of the social and geographical world that the Bible is set in (Michener's "The Source" does an amazing job of that, in particular).

So I was eager to read "The Red Tent," which is the story of Jacob's only daughter, Dinah. The poor girl gets a bit shortchanged in the Bible; she's at the crux of a very violent and important occurrence, yet she doesn't speak a word. It's kind of nice to let her have her say, and it's interesting to see the Biblical events through her eyes. It's also a fascinating peek into the everyday life of women in that society. And of course, as Dinah travels around, she sees that even within her own culture, women have vastly different roles in other societies and villages.

The book is extremely well written, with poetic language and exciting events blending well.

I was a bit surprised by all the negative reviews of it, though. Readers were highly offended by it and repeatedly referred to it as sacreligious (and in one instance, "Satan-inspired"!). Frankly, I don't understand why people took it so seriously. Diamant never claims that it's God's truth; she says right at the beginning it's a fictional account of what this girl's life was possibly like. True, Jacob and his 12 sons aren't always portrayed in a good light, but...hello?...have you read the Bible? If anything, Diamant gives them enough of a background to explain some of their more reprehensible actions. The angry readers did make a point about some of the direct Biblical references being inaccurate, and they're right; I'm not sure why she has Jacob work for 14 days instead of 14 years. But then, I didn't get hung up on it, either. I read it as a fictional novel, and was quite happy with it.

And now I'm going to slow down on the book-fest; 3 books in 5 days is a bit much! I have a biography of Elizabeth I waiting for me, but Good Queen Bess can cool her heels for a while. I have some painting to do!

Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks

I found this book while I was browsing through Target; I usually avoid that section, as it seems to have nothing but science fiction, Oprah book club entries, and aisles of those dreadful, gag-inducing Chicken Soup books. However, I've been wanting to read "The Red Tent," which I assumed they'd have there because Oprah had reviewed it, and my attention was diverted to the book next to it, partly because of the appealing cover art (ah, I'm such a sucker for good marketing), and partly because of the subtitle, "A Novel of the Plague." Ooooh, a Plague story! That sparked my interest. No, it really did.

I bought the book (along with "The Red Tent") and set into reading it right away. Two days later, I was done! I enjoyed it VERY much, but as I've said, I enjoy Plague stories. Not so much because of the macabre details, but because it's such an amazing time. The things that those people went through and the way that it completely changed the way they viewed life. No life in Europe was left untouched. Whole families might be buried on the same day. The way that people dealt with it is fascinating.

As this book illustrates, the very best and the very worst in people come out. Well, how could it not? The fear must have been unthinkable. Geraldine Brooks does a great job of making her characters' hopes and fears believable; the fact that people turned to God, to witchcraft, to self-flagellation...anything and everything they thought might help.

The novel is based on the true story of the village of Eyam, a rural town in Derbyshire that was infected in 1665 through some cloth that had been sent from London. The immediate reaction of the villagers, of course, was to run as far from the village as they could, but the rector pointed out that by doing that, they'd spread the Plague all over the countryside. So in an act of supreme self-sacrifice, they quarantined themselves inside the village...no one allowed out, no one allowed in (not that that was likely to happen, anyway). In doing so, they condemned themselves to living with the Plague for almost a year, and about two-thirds of them died.

The Plague, by the way, was contained in that village and not spread throughout the surrounding countryside. (In London it raged out of control, until the Great Fire brought it more or less to an end.)

This is an engaging read and sort of puts petty problems in their place! There are some truly grisly images, though, that really set my teeth on edge and stayed with me.

Death At La Fenice, by Donna Leon

I've always loved old-fashioned murder mysteries - Agatha Christie types, not Dean Koontz types - and when I saw a mention of "Death at La Fenice" in the LA Times I was immediately drawn to it. It's a light, mildly exciting, truly old-fashioned mystery that was a lot of fun to read.

The plot is pretty straightforward and lacks any shocking twists, and the big "whodunit" reveal isn't terribly surprising. But predictability and surprises are overrated and can never make up for mediocre writing. They never could; that's why modern thriller writers come and go, while Agatha Christie is the most translated author in the world. Donna Leon creates characters that you like, support, and what's more, really enjoy reading about.

The main character is the city of Venice herself. Leon's descriptions are beautiful and nicely detailed, and what I liked about it is that it's written from the point of view of someone who lives there. You don't feel like you're a tourist in the city; you feel like he's simply taking you along for the ride in his day-to-day life. It's very engaging. La Fenice itself is a real opera house, which actually burned down a few years ago and just reopened last month.

The main reason I picked it up was the subject matter. It revolves around a production of La Traviata, which goes awry when the conductor, a mean and spiteful little genius, is poisoned. It's great fun to follow the police inspector as he interviews the singers and spends time backstage at the opera. He's a fish out of water and is completely baffled by some of the things he sees.

It was particularly enjoyable to read this while I was doing Cosi. In fact, the book opens with a quote from that opera.

Highly recommended, but again, don't expect high thrills and surprise endings. Let your gondola drift as you sit back and enjoy the view!

Book Shopping

I've been so swept up in rehearsals and shows lately, I haven't had much time for books. An hour here and there, but mostly when I was home I was just trying to catch some sleep.

I did, however, come across a really fun store in Irvine. A Home Base closed down a year or so ago leaving a big empty warehouse, and when I drove by the other day I saw a new sign - "Crown Book Liquidation Center." Oooooh! You bet I screeched the car to a halt in the parking lot, urgent errands forgotten.

It's not fancy, by any means; it looks rather like a big yard sale. Metal picnic tables piled with dusty books. But it's an enormous place and well laid-out, so it's kind of fun if you have a while to browse.

The books are new, but they're titles that didn't sell very well. No current bestsellers here. Also their Literature section is sad and tiny. But I like all kinds of books and the prices were very cheap, so I ended up with...hmm...maybe a dozen? They have a huge History section, so I satisfied that yen with two books about Henry VIII's wives, a fictional biography about Elizabeth I, the John Adams bio that I've been wanting to read, a few Stephen Ambrose titles (including "Band of Brothers"), and "Ragtime," which I've always wanted to read.

I can't wait to get started on those. I'm finishing up a fun little murder mystery that takes place in an opera house. I also have the new book by Jimmy Carter (yes, THAT Jimmy Carter) on the back burner. He's written a fictional tale about the Revolutionary War that's gotten fairly mixed reviews, but I thought I'd give it a try. As long as there are no sexy bits in it; that would be rather disconcerting, coming from Jimmy Carter!

The Da Vinci Code

I finally read "The Da Vinci Code," by Dan Brown. Finally! I had to know what all the fuss was about, and Mary Magdalene is an interest of mine, ever since I did a great deal of research about her for Maundy Thursday.

The great thing about this book is that Mr. Brown has certainly done his research. Every secret society, every historical figure, every place and past event is true. I don't think any of it is based on speculation on his part; as far as I can tell, he bases it straight on historical fact and a TON of research by historians, religious symbologists, scientists, and who knows what else.

First off, no, I won't spoil any huge surprises for you. Everyone I know was lauding the book and saying, "But I don't want to spoil any surprises for you!" And I have to say, I reached the end of the book, and aside from a couple of nice plot twists at the end, I was left with the thought of, what surprises?

The thing is, every theory he puts forth and all those "surprising things" have been around for ages and ages. And they're extremely well-known, too. If you watch the Discovery Channel or the History Channel (particularly around Easter or Christmas), you'll have seen countless documentaries about the very subjects he discusses. Even at the Pageant of the Masters, where the Last Supper is performed every year, there's inevitably a discussion about it. So I was a little surprised that it's such a huge deal to everyone. I'm a little surprised that people have NEVER heard this before.

I guess I was a tiny bit disappointed that there was no great revelation in it, sort of like seeing "The Sixth Sense" when you've been told the ending, but I really enjoyed it anyway. Every chapter ends with a cliffhanger, so you'll find yourself at 2:00 a.m. saying, "Well, just one more chapter..." I defy you to read it slowly!

Some of the writing is a bit easy; it can start to sound almost like a preteen novel. But for the most part, it's an exciting Grail chase across Paris and London. It's a lot of fun. It even has an albino monk; really, what more can you ask for?

I won't go into any more of it...I don't want to accidentally say too much and risk the wrath of someone who's halfway through it! Read it; you'll enjoy it very much. Trust me.

Gone For Soldiers

I just finished “Gone for Soldiers”, by Jeff Shaara. It’s the first book (chronologically) of the Civil War series, and although I would recommend reading them in order, unfortunately I think this is the worst of them.

This one is about the Mexican-American War, which I’ve been studying quite a bit recently. It’s interesting because all the characters that later figure so prominently in the Civil War are here, fighting together in this war.

I can’t decide quite why I didn’t care for this book. There’s plenty of action, it’s well-written, and the characters are well developed (Robert E. Lee in particular). I think my problem with it was that he throws a huge amount of characters at you at the beginning of the book, and then mentions the secondary characters maybe every 80 pages or so, so I spent a lot of time flipping around trying to remember who everyone was. Maybe it didn’t matter; maybe I should have just read it through and not tried to keep everyone straight!

I do recommend this book to anyone interested in the Mexican-American War; the battles and strategies are very well described and easy to follow. But none of Jeff Shaara’s books can hold a candle to Michael Shaara, his late father. Michael wrote “The Killer Angels” (the movie Gettysburg was based on it), and after he died I suppose his son decided to continue the series. And Jeff is a very good writer, but Michael is really superb. When I was visiting battlefields back East, my uncle lent me a copy of “The Killer Angels” and I read it in a couple of days! It’s impossible to put down. I can’t recommend it strongly enough.

If you’re interested in the Mexican-American War, I also strongly recommend “The Gates of the Alamo” by Stephen Harrigan. It follows 3 fictional characters through the year of the Alamo siege. There are so many unknowns about what really happened at the Alamo, but Harrigan seems to have done a lot of research and picked what seems most likely to have happened. It isn’t overly sentimental (no “line in the sand” and all that). But be warned – it can be quite descriptively gory!