Nothing Like the Sun

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Nothing Like the SunI’m sure Anthony Burgess’s Nothing Like the Sun is like nothing I’ve ever read before.  The novel is subtitled A Story of Shakespeare’s Love-life; Burgess’s essential claim is that Shakespeare’s literary genius was borne out of his lust.  It’s an interesting thesis, as desire can be quite a motivator, and Burgess manages to convince.

The novel is rich with period detail and dialogue; indeed, it might take some time for the casual reader to become accustomed to Burgess’s use of Early Modern English.  For readers familiar with Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays, the novel is a delight of allusions.  I found myself wishing I were much more familiar with Shakespeare even than I am, having taught several of his plays (and some of them many times) because I feel sure that some allusions passed me by.

Burgess crafted a plausible, entertaining narrative from the few scraps of information we have about Shakespeare’s life and in the process, held a lens up to Shakespeare’s work and times, exposing both work and times as sublime and filthy at the same time.  I would recommend this book highly to anyone interesting in learning more about Shakespeare or about Elizabethan England.

Because I am in a Shakespeare frame of mind, I plan to take a break from the Historical Fiction Challenge and read The Book of Air and Shadows next.  As always, I’ll let you know how it turns out.

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Goodreads

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GoodreadsMy daughter invited me to join Goodreads several months ago, but I haven’t been very active on the site. I already review what I read here at this blog, so I didn’t see much point in reviewing books at Goodreads, too. Goodreads is, however, growing as a social network of readers, complete with Facebook and MySpace apps.

If you are a regular reader of this blog and would like be my friend on Goodreads, you can find my profile here. I have now posted all the books I have read and included links to my reviews here.

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Confessions of a Pagan Nun

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Kate Horsley’s Confessions of a Pagan Nun has been on my to-read list for at least a couple of years, and I finally decided to take it off the shelf and read it. Serendipitously, I discovered the Historical Fiction Challenge and was able to use this book as part of the challenge.

For those of you who may have read The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (review here) or The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, the premise of this novel is not new. Confessions of a Pagan Nun is told from the viewpoint of a woman a the crossroads in history: she is born into a pagan culture and watches, reporting her observations, as Christianity gradually subsumes paganism and druidism. Gwynneve, the narrator, longed to learn to read and become a druid as a child. She tells her story from the monastery of St. Brigit, where a confluence of strange events leads to wild accusations against her.

This book is different from The Virgin Blue and The Mists of Avalon because Gwynneve sees wisdom and beauty in both Christianity and paganism; she also sees violence and ignorance in both, and boldly reports what she sees. I was reminded that while history is written by the victors, the truth usually reveals itself, and words have the power to transmit the truth when we have nothing else. It was refreshing to read a book about the conflict between paganism and Christianity that casts neither as evil in and of themselves, but lay bare that men have used both to their own ends for the worse.

Confessions of a Pagan Nun is a quick, enjoyable read. In terms of historical fiction, I saw no inaccuracies that I could tell, having studied this time period — 6th century British Isles — quite a bit. I certainly think that should one be interested in learning about life in 6th century Ireland, this book would not disappoint.

One of these days, I need to re-read The Mists of Avalon. It’s one of my all-time favorite books. My next book for the Historical Fiction Challenge is Nothing Like the Sun by Anthony Burgess (yes, author of A Clockwork Orange). This book is about Shakespeare’s love life, a topic which never fails to inspire much speculation and not a few pretty good stories.

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Jane Austen Blogs

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Jane AustenJane Austen is quite popular in the blogosphere, and readers have a wide selection of Austen blogs to choose from.

Jane Austen’s World includes regular posts about life during Austen’s times.  I would recommended it not just for readers interested in the times, but also for students, teachers, and writers doing research.  Posts have links for further reading, which is very helpful.  The blog is visually appealing, too.

Austen Blog serves up Jane Austen news with a side of snark that Jane herself would appreciate.  Be careful not to wind up on the wrong side of their Cluebat of Janeite Righteousness.

Austen-tatious is a blog for Austen fans by an Austen fan.  The blog discusses all things Jane, including movie adaptations and popular derivative works, as well as Austen-related events in North Carolina.

Austenprose readers are treated to a passage from Austen’s writing each day in another visually appealing and informative blog.

Jane Austen Today examines movie adaptations, derivative works, web sites, and other modern-day media based on Austen’s works.

Following Austen is the blog of writer Lori Smith, whose book A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith was released in October 2007.  She also blogs at Austen Quotes, where you can get your daily fix of Jane in bite-sized chunks.

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict is the blog of Laurie Viera Rigler, author of the book by the same title.

Lydia Bennet’s Journal is one of Jane Odiwe‘s blogs.  She is the author of Lydia Bennet’s Story.

I’m reading Emma through DailyLit right now, and I’m really enjoying it, although I must point out that I find it aggravating that the excerpts sometimes cut off in the middle of a sentence, and the transcriber makes errors like putting apostrophes in possessive pronouns (e.g. her’s).  It makes me shudder every time, and I don’t understand it — I saw no such errors in their transcription of Moby Dick.

As a fan of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, I have decided it’s time to read all of Austen’s novels, and Austen blogs certainly inspire me to complete this quest.  In fact, some of these “sequels” and other derivative works look interesting, too.

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Confessions of a Neglectful Reader

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I have had Kate Horsley’s novel Confessions of a Pagan Nun for so long that I did a search of my blog to see when I first mentioned it. I don’t know when I bought it, but I planned to read it as long ago as the summer of 2005. I seem to remember buying with a birthday gift card, so it may be that I didn’t have it yet that summer; it was on my wish list for a while before I bought it. In any case, it has been sitting on my bookshelf for too long, and I really have wanted to read it for a long time, so it’s my current work in progress. However, I have decided my choice to wait until now to read this book is well-timed: I can include it as part of the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. To complete the challenge, I must read six historical fiction novels in six months. I plan to read the following as part of the challenge:

  • Confessions of a Pagan Nun by Kate Horsley: Sixth-century Ireland as Christianity supplants paganism.
  • Nothing Like the Sun by Anthony Burgess: Sixteenth-century England, the story of William Shakespeare’s love life.
  • Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke: Nineteenth-century England, rival magicians change history. This one feels a bit like cheating because I put it aside as part of another challenge, but I never finished it. I really want to finish it, and maybe a challenge will help me.
  • Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys: Nineteenth-century Caribbean, the mad woman in the attic tells her side of the story.
  • The Known World by Edward P. Jones: 1840’s Virginia, the story of black slaveowners in the antebellum South.
  • Run with the Horsemen by Ferrol Sams: 1930’s Georgia, Porter Osborne grows up on a farm during the Depression.

I have many books like Confessions of a Pagan Nun that I bought some time ago and haven’t read yet. And I try to tell myself that when I’m in the bookstore, but I don’t often listen.

On an unrelated note, I have added a new feature to the sidebar. Random quotes about books and reading will appear. If you have one you want to share, feel free to leave it in the comments; maybe I will add it to my collection.

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Eclipse

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EclipseLast night, I finished reading Stephenie Meyer’s Eclipse, the third book in her Twilight Saga.  It has been as entertaining as the other books in the series.  Meyer has a gift for writing page-turners, and this story should leave readers anxious for Breaking Dawn.  I will not make the wild claim that these books are more than fun diversions, but I know I enjoyed reading them.  Of the three, I would have to say that Twilight is my favorite.

As I said in my review of New Moon, Bella’s self-deprecation can be annoying.  She doesn’t put herself down as much when she compares herself with Jacob, but she seems to feel so strongly that she isn’t good enough for Edward, and as much as he tries to protest, I don’t see that changing.  I wonder how she can be happy with someone when she feels she is inferior to him?  I hope Meyer can resolve this particular problem in the next book.

If you have read the other two Twilight books, you don’t need a recommendation from me to pick up the third; however, I think this book is less able to stand on its own than the other two.  I do think one could read either Twilight or New Moon without reading the rest of the saga, but this book ties in elements from both previous books that only make sense in context.  I think that’s fine — by the third book in a series, an author can expect some loyalty; J.K. Rowling waited until Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix before she gave up the pretext of thinking readers might not have read the other books first, and she certainly could have dropped that pretext earlier.

If you are looking for Literature (yes, with a capital “L”), you probably don’t want to read Meyer’s books, but if you’re looking for fun, page-turning reads about vampires and werewolves, I think you’ll enjoy her books.  It is certainly easy to see why she has become so popular with young adult readers.

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Writers Who Blog

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Would-be published writers blog all over the Internet, but what about established authors? I can’t claim this is a comprehensive list because I had to do some digging, as I couldn’t find a really good list anywhere else, except for this good list of Science Fiction/Fantasy writers who blog (some of the writers are reproduced below). The list that follows is limited to writers of fiction; there are quite a few nonfiction writers who also blog, but perhaps that compilation is for another time.

If the list seems to be dominated by science fiction and fantasy writers, well, then that’s because it is.  I looked for other types of writers to include, but if they’re blogging, I didn’t find it.  I suspect that sf/f writers would naturally be quicker to adopt this method of communicating with their fans because they tend to be “geeks,” and it stands to reason that more “geeks” blog than non-geeks.  Present company included, of course.

Do you know of any I missed? Share in the comments, and I will update the list.

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New Moon

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This evening, I finished reading New Moon, the second novel in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga.  I enjoyed it.

The novel picks up following Bella’s recovery from certain events at the end of the previous book.  Bella has just turned 18, and she is unhappy because her beloved Edward, a vampire, will never be older than 17.  The prospect of growing old while he remains perpetually youthful is distasteful to Bella.  The Cullens, Edward’s family throw Bella a birthday party, and an accident makes Edward decide Bella is not safe with the Cullens.  When Edward leaves Bella, she makes friends with the enigmatic Jacob Black, only to discover that he, too, harbors a dark secret.  Will he help her forget Edward and heal the hole left by Edward’s absence?  Or will Edward return to challenge his rival?

Meyer has the gift for creating a plot that will engage the reader — a real page-turner.  To me, a good test is whether I can keep from turning ahead to see what the future holds — something I consider cheating.  And I have to cheat with Meyer’s books.  Her characters are believable and likable.  If her vampires are a bit too perfect, well, it’s because they’re supposed to be.

I do wish Bella, Meyer’s main character, had a bit more self-confidence.  I think the Cullens treat her like a pet, and it’s somewhat demeaning.  She feels unworthy of their attention, so it’s a vicious cycle.  I like Jacob Black, who Meyer introduced in the first book, but fleshed out in this second book.  Meyer’s allusions to Romeo and Juliet, woven throughout the text, worked well.

I can definitely see why these books are so popular with teens.  I really enjoyed going to Stephenie Meyer’s book signing in September, and if she comes back to sign copies of Breaking Dawn, I will be there!

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More Thoughts on Stephenie Meyer

Posted on by Dana
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I am enjoying the second installment of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.  I wish Bella had a bit more self-esteem, but I can certainly relate to her.  She is like a lot of teenage girls, which is why I think she’s so popular.  It occurred to me as I was reading today that my own daughter’s writing style is somewhat similar to Meyer’s.  I am sure she would consider that a compliment, but I’m not sure it was conscious on her part.  The piece I am thinking of Sarah wrote a year ago or more, and I’m not sure she was into Twilight yet at that point.

That said, while I think she is the “next big thing” in the way that J.K. Rowling was the “big thing” in children’s/YA lit., I’m not sure that her stories are as grand in scale.  Harry Potter is an epic of the sort that I believe Joseph Campbell would have enjoyed in the same way he enjoyed Star Wars.  I don’t see the heroic journey as the dramatic underpinning of Twilight.  There is the sense of the bildündsroman about it, but that could be said of many works of YA lit, I think.  However, in a certain remarkable respect, Meyer does remind me of Rowling: reluctant readers are picking up her books in the same way they did Rowling’s books.  For example, I had a student last semester who was a self-professed non-reader.  I told her I thought she would like these books.  I think because I made personal recommendation, she felt obligated to try the first one.  She loved it and read the following books in rapid succession and even convinced another English teacher on our faculty to try them (and she loved them, too).  Her mother nearly broke down in tears of gratitude during a conference.  All I did was suggest.  That gratitude really belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

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