Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Reading Takes You Away
I may have been on vacation in Maine, but through the transporting pages of four novels, I’ve also recently traveled to Newport, Manhattan, Philadelphia, Paris and Spain. In the first book of my trip, Sail, James Patterson takes me to Rhode Island with the Dunne family for a treacherous two-month sail that tests by ability to survive on a deserted island and reaffirms my love for my family. In Sundays at Tiffany’s, the same author takes me along an imaginary ride through the life of a Manhattan playwright, Jane, who I watch as she finds true love and happiness after decades of fantasy, self doubt and loneliness. Next, in Lovely Bones, I spend over a dozen years in a familiar 70’s suburb (similar to my Dutchess County NY childhood) looking down from heaven with Susie as her family overcomes her devastating murder and learns to create a new life without her. In the last “trip” of my trip, I eat, drink, eat, drink, and drink some more, with Jack Barnes and his flamboyant writer friends in post-war Paris and Spain, thanks to the spare yet powerful writing style of Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises. I wonder, where will I go next?
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4 comments:
The Lovely Bones is one of those books that stays with you. Did you know that Sebold went to Syracuse?
I highly, highly recommend "I Know This Much Is True," which is one of my favorite books of all time. It's by Wally Lamb. I so wish he'd write another soon.
Love the blog. Great Maine pix.
I will put it on my summer read list.
Didn't know Sebold was an SU grad. All roads lead back to M Street, don't they?
Some day after you are a bestselling author, I'll get up the gumption to write one myself.
Mare, since you changed your web address I can finally access your blog. Great vacation photos. Although your blog seems to be missing photos of your Granby stay... :) I could not finish Lovely Bones. I have a 14 year old daughter and just couldn't bear to entertain those thoughts. I stopped reading when the "My Heaven" descriptions started. Lovely Bones is one of those books that makes me think that its too bad the author ever thought there was a societal need or reason to write that novel. I am reading Buffalo Soldier right now and highly recommend it. Also, The Secret Life of Bees has been my favorite book for several years now. I have read it twice. Any other recommendations for MY vacation?
My daughter actually recommended Lovely Bones to me. Odd, isn't it? But this book seems to have resonated with young people, because many of her friends have read it. I wonder why - will have to ask her. It was a tough book to get through for sure, but of the 4 I read it stayed with me as much as the Hemingway. The Patterson books are simpler in my opinion and more entertainment value. Mindless mysteries - which are fun on holiday. Baldacci is a decent read too. If you haven't read the Di Vinci Code or Angels and Demons, they are good. Or try a Hemingway like I did! You'll feel so smart.
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