A New year brings new titles to try
By: Dr. Joan Ruddiman
A reader called to ask if she could expect another "what did you give, what did you get" Book Notes column. Readers always like to know what other readers are into. With delight, we did get some new authors and titles to try and with pleasure share a hint of what’s coming up in 2006.
My reading pals know that I’ve re-discovered the joy of reading just for fun, so they wrapped up some of their favorites. From Jan in Kansas comes "Light on Snow." Anita Shreve is a prolific and best-selling author, most noted for "The Pilot’s Wife" which Oprah Winfrey recommended. "Light on Snow" is a "relational narrative" much in the vein of the novels Diane Chambers writes. What sounds particularly intriguing is that the story centers on 12-year-old Nicky as told by a grown-up Nicky. It will be fun to see how Shreve pulls off this narrative feat.
The "girls" in Florida gave me "The Red Hat Club Rides Again." Of course there would be a novel (actually several by Haywood Smith) featuring one of the biggest social groups in the world and one with the loosest organization. Red Hat Societies seem to be a great excuse for women of a certain age and companionability to "hang out" together. Smith’s "Club" is in this mold as five friends from Mouseketeer days now don their red hats and purple outfits to take on Atlanta. That’s the other twist these are southern women. I’m anticipating a "Steel Magnolia"/"Ya Ya Sisterhood" adventure.
Jake and Kate sent several books that will expand my literary awareness. "Son of a Witch" is a beautiful hardback that may entice me to finally succumb to my students’ pleas to read Gregory Maguire’s "Wicked." We do love good parody and Maguire seems to have hit on a real niche with his grown-up retellings of the L. Frank Baum classic "Wizard of Oz." "Son of a Witch" is the second in what appears to be a series. I’ll check it out to see if "Wicked" needs to be read first.
Kate expands my horizons, usually with southern authors, but always with the off-kilter that challenge my thinking. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon became a best seller and the winner of several prestigious awards including the Whitbread. This is quite remarkable for a first novel. Even more remarkable is that Haddon creates the narrative voice of a 15-year-old who has autistic behaviors. The story of how Christopher John Francis Boone sets out to solve the murder of his neighbor’s dog is told through his eyes and mind. Challenging and intriguing!
Jake reads my mind about as easily as any open book. He knew without my saying that the biography of William Shakespeare is high on my list of must-reads. I find good research in itself fascinating. Harvard professor Stephen Greenblatt builds his biography of the bard from Shakespeare’s own words. Gives new meaning to "the play’s the thing." Besides working through the plays as primary sources, Greenblatt delves into the history of Shakespeare’s world to place his creations within the context of his times.
From the cover of Greenblatt’s book is the teaser, "A young man from a small provincial town moves to London in the late 1580s and in a remarkably short time, becomes the greatest playwright not of his age alone but of all time."
How did Shakespeare become Shakespeare? All good research studies begin with a question and that’s a good one. Should be a good book.
I gave a few books, too, of course. Katie could not have been more delighted with the first in a new sci-fi series by Scott Westerfeld. "Uglies" is high on my recommendation list for teens. Some thoughts on this book and the distopia genre are coming.
Jake was glad to get Bill Brands’s biography of Andrew Jackson. Between the big deal of the Revolution and the great American tragedy of the Civil War is a rather unremembered span of years with a few dominant personalities notably John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.
Adams was the querulous son of the querulous John Adams. He was briefly president and a longtime Congressional curmudgeon. He had a stroke while sitting in the House and died in the chambers two days later. Jackson was the hero of New Orleans and did something big in Florida. His pals trashed the White House on his Inauguration Day. Oh, and there was that matter with the National Bank and the Cherokee Indians. That’s about the extent of what we recall of the seventh president. That’s more than can be said of the string of 19th century presidents that follow Jackson. Even the White House has the portraits of Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk brief occupants hanging in the little-used lower entrance way.
Brands not only expands an understanding of Jackson’s importance in U.S. history, he makes that whole period come alive. Jake has been hearing about Jackson for the past month and is quite pleased to add the Brands biography to his collection.
Given the parallels to our own times, the Jackson biography seems to a good place to begin the 2006 reviews. Next week then: "Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times."
Dr. Joan Ruddiman, Ed.D., is a teacher and friend of the Allentown Public Library.