GREAT ESCAPES SUMMER 2012

Here's why these five books make great ways to relax this summer:


“The Age of Miracles,” by Karen Thompson Walker. Twilight Zone meets Mother Nature: Isn't that he perfect plot to hold your attention in these sustainable times?  This novel is built around a simple premise -- the earth's rotation is slowing, lengthening the 24-hour day. The story is told by a 12-year-old girl living in Southern California who describes how this uncontrollable phenomenon disrupts circadian rhythms, cell phones and life itself.


“Niceville,” by Carsten Stroud. Twilight Zone meets Southern Gothic. This novel is set in a sleepy Southern town that’s not as nice as it sounds -- naturally. People disappear at an alarming rate, and there's a certain part of town that seems to hold the key... A cop and his lawyer wife are on the case.


“In the Kingdom of Men," by Kim Barnes. An award-winning Idaho writer creates the story of a woman named Gin, who comes from a hardscrabble Oklahoma background and marries young yet ends up in a house with marble floors and servants. But this is no Cinderella story: The house is in Saudi Arabia, where the cross-currents of change create a sinister backdrop for a couple of naive Americans.


“Bring Up the Bodies,” by Hilary Mantel. If history is your thing, and smart history to boot, try this story of the last days of Ann Boleyn. Mantel’s ability to recreate the Tudor era -- which she did so well in "Wolf Hall" -- is repeated here, and for those who already know something about Henry VIII, his tumultuous reign and his eye for women, this fiction version will tell it in fresh ways.


“A Conspiracy of Friends: A Corduroy Mansions Novel,” by Alexander McCall Smith. The man who brought us the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series has also created an idiosyncratic world revolving around a very clever dog and the residents of a dilapidated mansion in London. This is the third in the series, and for those who don’t want their sweet dreams interrupted by natural catastrophes, weird phenomenon, Arabian nights or beheaded queens, bless the Scottish bard for his comfort-food stories. 

THE WORDS TO SAY IT

In my review of Jeanette Winterson's memoir, "Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?", the emphasis is less on her unhappy childhood -- how many of those stories have we heard? -- and more on what saved her from it: a love of words and books. It helped, of course, that Winterson was a willful child who refused to be pulled into the undertow of her adoptive mother's depressive personality and rigid religion. But the curiosity to read literature and to find "the words to say it," to borrow the title of another  memoir that would be among my top picks: These are what took Winterson from a life of rage to a life of accomplishment.

It wasn't just that she needed to be loved. It was that she needed the words to name what she was feeling and its destructive effect on her life.

Not that Winterson hasn't had her valleys as a writer. As Dwight Garner pointed out in his review of the same book in The New York Times last week, Winterson's quick rise as a novelist was followed by a time when the critics turned up their noses. Based on her memoir, it's likely that her fallow period coincided with her own confusion and depression, which ultimately led her on a the search for her natural mother. In my reading, it wasn't so much the lost object -- that is, her mother -- that pulled her down like an anchor. It was her need to break the chain of self-loathing, to believe that she was lovable. Read the book and find out how that was done.

IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY: From "Downton Abbey" to "The O'Briens" to Ken Follett

Of course, I'd be a sucker for "Downton Abbey." I saw "Gosford Park" twice. For me, snobby Brits and good entertainment go together like tea and biscuits, and I have watched nearly every series PBS has put on since the days of "Upstairs, Downstairs." From the dowager countess Violet, played so beautifully by Maggie Smith, to noble down-unders such as Carson, Anna and Mr. Bates, I relate to them all. These are my people -- repressed and dutiful, but not without the hint of mischief that humanizes them.

The real draw of "Downton Abbey," however, is not the stiff upper lip, starched Edwardian manners, or even the incredible setting in a mansion that even Donald Trump would give a second look. It's the family saga that makes the series so marvelous, And, in using the term "family," I mean the whole lot of them, because even the servants become relations in this rosy-eyed view of the English class system.

This fascination with the family also explains the appeal of Peter Behrens' newly published novel, "The O'Briens" -- another fictional brood that enters the picture not long after Lord Grantham finds his American heiress wife, a backstory that's filled in during the early stages of "Downton Abbey." (It was all the rage with the American nouveau riche and British aristocrats back then; the rich Americans wanted the title and the English needed someone had to pay for their grand houses and the staff to run them.)

"The O'Briens"also features people not like the rest of us (i.e., so rich that money is never the object). But if you've had a snout-full of English manors and manners, rest assured that this one is entirely New World in both setting and point of view. The story opens in a poor household in rural Quebec. There, the ambitious oldest brother, Joe O'Brien, is determined to get out of that country backwater and make his fortune. He's got money to burn by the time he finds Iseult, the well-bred wife he's been looking for, in California. The heart of the story is their life together, which Behrens rolls out with unusual sensitivity. He shows both the mutual attraction that brings them together and how time and temperament tear them apart. And, as with "Downton Abbey," Behrens places his characters in the context of historical forces they can't control.

Speaking of "Downton" -- yes, that was our topic, wasn't it? -- Ken Follett's "Fall of Giants" deserves a shout-out for covering the same critical time period in European history but on a much broader canvas than the one that the Earl of Grantham occupies. World War I, the Russian revolution, women's and workers' rights -- it's all there, wrapped around a cast of emblematic characters. At nearly 1,000 pages, "Fall of Giants" is merely Book One in Follett's Century Trilogy. So, saga lovers, brace yourself for a long, bumpy and engrossing ride.

BRAIN BUSTERS

These days books about the gray matter are anything but gray. Every move we make – not to mention mood disorders and  addiction problems – has a connection to the brain, and of particular interest to neuroscience these days is the chemical bath we receive from Mother Nature or our own pill-popping selves and how they alter how we behave.

I like the premise of David Eagleman's "Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain." Here we're not talking about the subconscious wounds from childhood, but the fact that your nervous system takes in so dang much material that you can't handle it all. So your conscious awareness amounts to a fraction of the intake. A good layman's intro to the lay of the land inside our heads.

Also a great read: “An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted and the Miracle Drug Cocaine,” by Howard Markel. The author, a doctor himself, creates a highly readable tale about drug use before there was such a thing as “controlled substances.” With opiates as available as aspirin, addiction problems were abundant, and Freud’s research with cocaine was inspired by the effort to use it as an antidote to get a friend off morphine. In the process, both Freud and Halsted, a renowned American surgeon, got hooked themselves.

And speaking of drug addiction:  If you want to get freaked out about the extent of the problem now, read Robert Whitaker's “Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America.” Whitaker, long a critic of the medical establishment, takes on the mental health profession in a book that sees a collaboration between psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical companies who offer a pill for every problem mentioned in the ever-expanding diagnostic manual of mental illness. He notes that a half century ago mental problems were almost exclusively the preserve of small group of middle-aged adults or the elderly. Now they're calculated to affect one out of ten Americans, including vast numbers of children, every year. How did the goalposts change, and whose interests were served by changing them? he asks.

Finally, I appreciate the premise of “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined,” by the prolific Steven Pinker. A psychology professor at Harvard, in his latest book he argues that society has become less violent over time and tries to determine why our dualistic natures have turned to the light. The printing press, more rights for women, diplomatic options for settling conflict: These are among the reasons, he says. Yes, but: In a book that acknowledges the Muslim world (a mere 2 billion souls) has not participated in this advance... and in a book that says one-to-one homicides actually declined in Nazi Germany (the genocide part doesn't count?)... I was, sadly, left less than convinced that the better angels are winning the fight.

--Ellen

WHAT ARE THE BOOK BABES UP TO THESE DAYS?

      Would you like to have the Book Babes – together or solo – speak at your event? Don’t hesitate to contact us at thebookbabes@yahoo.com. Here are our latest endeavors:

ELLEN

     Book Reviews: Watch for my upcoming book reviews in The Seattle Times: Lisa See’s “Dreams of Joy”  in May and Ann Patchett's "State of Wonder" in June.

     Both Patchett and See are bestselling novelists who have won critical acclaim for their work -- in Patchett's case, a small pile of literary prizes. Her latest book takes readers into the Amazon for a battle of the wills between a pair of women scientists.

     See's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" has been made into a film that will be released in July (with bulging-bicep Hugh Jackman, no less). In her latest book, she continues to tell the story of women's lives in the context of Chinese history. "Dreams of Joy" is set against the backdrop of the disastrous Great Leap Forward, which attempted to increase farm output in the late 1950s and led to the deaths of 20 million from starvation.

   

         Novel research: I'm juggling my "new book" reading with some old books, often really old. I'm studying the period of Pacific Northwest history that started with the "Boom of the Eighties" -- that's the 1880s, folks, when the abundance of natural resources brought a bunch of settlers to the land of Ken Kesey (and long before "Sometimes a Great Notion" -- imagine that).  I am following the peaks and valleys to the Depression, when the economy for timber and just about everything else tanked. 

MARGO

     Book reviews: My review of “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” by Manning Marable can be found at http://postgazette.com/pg/11142/1147807-148-0.stm?cmpid=newspanel0 on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website.

     Manning worked 20 years on this massive biography of one of the most fascinating figures in American history. He died just a few days before its publication. 

   

    TV appearance: This month C-SPAN came to the Tampa Bay area and interviewed a slew of people involved in the book world, including yours truly. Our interviews will be aired on C-SPAN’s Book TV May 28-29 and will be made available on the C-SPAN website.

     Creative Late Bloomers book project & blog: I’m still at work on a book about creative late bloomers. The tentative title is “Never Too Late: Secrets Behind Creative Second Acts.” Meanwhile, I’m blogging about the subject at creativelatebloomers.blogspot.com.

  

   

IN PRAISE OF THE DOORSTOPPER

Ken Follett's "Fall of Giants" takes me back to my roots: the small-town girl with book in hand, preferably a really big book. Taylor Caldwell and James Michener were my kind of authors, writing truly voluminous works of fiction that kept me occupied for hours, of which I had plenty to spare. In spite of the heaviness in both the size and writing of Dreiser's "An American Tragedy," I slogged through because of the terrific plot line (he stole it from real life). I read "Gone With the Wind" four times -- although on every repeat Scarlett misbehaved and Rhett didn't give a damn, and I cried as if I thought this time things might be different.

At nearly 1,000 pages, "Fall of Giants" fits nicely into this bigger-is-better formula. But the novel reads quickly because it's less about savoring the style than the story. Yes, dear readers, I felt an "ouch" when I hit a wooden cliche, and his characters are more or less plucked from central casting. But big friggin' deal. Follett's gifts as a yarn spinner turn these faults into mere quibbles. Experts may contest his point of view, but it seems consistent with my understanding of the period, and he gives a terrific feel for the broad sweep of history and massive economic and cultural changes that were occurring.

In this, the first of three novels on the century just past, he builds an upstairs-downstairs view of European society and the catalysts for change, World War I and the Bolshevik revolution. Here's the Twitter version of the book: Hierarchy is out, workers' and women's rights are in. But consider the cost: slaughter in the trenches that broke the spirit of a generation and a continent while setting the stage for another conflagration.

The starvation and bloodshed in Russia may have started in 1917 but continued on through Stalin, with a trickle-down effect that became the Cold War. The self-destructive tendencies in Europe give America an opening to become the leading world power, with all the prosperity that allows but also a steep price (in lives and dollars) that we're still paying today in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

But I shouldn't get ahead of Follett's tale. He may see it differently. So bring on those big, fat sequels.  



:    

E-books, iPad, Egads! The Book Babes' Guide to Reading and Publishing Kicks Off the Fox Cities Book Festival in April

The Book Babes have been invited to kick off this year's Fox Cities Book Festival in Appleton, Wisconsin. In addition to presenting their book, Between the Covers: The Book Babes' Guide to a Woman's Reading Pleasures, the duo will be speaking on the changing world of book writing and publishing:

                                   E-books, iPad, Egads!:
                The Book Babes' Guide to Reading and Publishing
                                    Monday, April 11, 2011
                                               7 p.m.
                                    Menasha Public Library
                                          440 1st Street
                                      Appleton, Wisconsin

Check out the festival site:  http://www.foxcitiesbookfestival.org/author/2011/book-babes