Shogun, or My Everest

I finished Shogun last night and I am so happy with myself. 

The cover fell off my ancient copy, I'm not easy on my books.  

There have been many long books in my reading history.  Most of them I really enjoyed.  This one was only slightly enjoyable for me and because of that, finishing it was very sweet.  

I'm not wondering what happens next or longing for more (after 1,152 pages few questions were left unanswered).  At times I wanted to abandon this book and move on but I didn't, I kept reading.  And, now I'm done with this book.  Hallelujah!  

I've talked to a few people who really enjoyed Shogun.  It has many elements that should be appealing to me (historical fiction, fish out of water story, etc) but for some reason I never really connected with it.  There were moments that I didn't want to put it down because I wanted to see what happened next, however, there are many other books I would recommend before this one.  

While reading I kept searching for things to share.  Surprisingly much of the text is either plot driven or detailed descriptions that wouldn't be particularly interesting out of context.  Finally, in the last chapter I found something to share:

"He squinted into the sky once more and watched the falcon, no longer his falcon.  She was a creature of immense beauty up there, free, beyond all the tears, soaring effortlessly.  Then some force beyond his ken took her and whirled her northward and she vanished." 

It is well written but there just weren't enough characters that I really loved.  In some ways, it was very stressful which could be the author successfully giving the reader a taste of what Blackthorne (the Englishman stranded in Japan) was feeling.  

I got used to the names that were tripping me up so much at the beginning.  I liked learning about historical Japanese culture and I respect Clavell for the amount of research he did to bring this era alive.  And, it is kind of awesome to sit in the children's section of the library while your son is playing and read this massive tome, while everyone else looks at you like you must be a genius.  Or maybe they were just annoyed with my pretentiousness?  Either way, I'm done with Shogun and moving on to greener pastures!  

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

As I just typed the title of this book into the space for the blog title, I was struck by 

how unusual Alan Bradley's titles sound (A Red Herring without Mustard, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, etc.).  Bradley includes excerpts from great literature before each story and part of this excerpt winds up being the title.  However, these strange names also seem to set his books apart from the crowd and give them an eerie, old timey feeling.  They are weird and they work for him.

Another vacation read, As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust is Bradley's seventh Flavia DeLuce novel.  I have read all 7.  

I started with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie a couple of years ago after reading that Jen Hatmaker loved the books.  I was completely hooked.  I devoured the ones that had already been published and then waited excitedly for the new books to release.  

The series follows 12 year old Flavia DeLuce as she solves various mysteries in the 1950's.  She is a chemistry genius and her home is an English manor complete with a lab she uses exclusively.  Bradley does a great job developing many of the recurring characters.  And Buckshaw (her home) feels so familiar.  

I seriously dislike series.  I avoid them like the plague (which is funny because when I was a kid I read almost all of the babysitter's club series).  However, my adoration of this series should speak to Bradley's ability with words--the books have not gotten stale or boring, they are only predictable in the ways they should be, and Bradley seems to have maintained his ability to eloquently craft a tight mystery.  

When I got the new book in January I didn't want to read it right away.  I wanted to hold off until summer so the wait for a new book wouldn't be so long (he seems to publish a new one each January).  So it sat on my shelf for a while and the anticipation was almost as fun as finding out what Flavia was up to again.

Unfortunately, this one wasn't my fave.  It was actually my least fave.  Flavia leaves her home and our usual cast of characters and enters a finishing school for girls where a mystery literally falls into her room on her first night there.  Flavia hates having to leave her home and she is constantly lamenting her banishment.  Constantly.  Perhaps this was the 12 year old girl voice in Bradley's head, but it got a little tedious for the reader.  Also, there were many page breaks and abrupt stops, "almost as if--" 

See it's not super fun.  Unfinished thoughts were often blamed on being out of sorts.  

While I understand, after six books, it may be time for a change of scenery, I missed the old characters and kept waiting for Dogger, Flavia's faithful butler, to pop out of a closet or something.  And while Flavia usually relies on facts and scientific evidence (though it's not mind numbing...I barely passed high school chemistry and still am completely smitten with Flavia) in this book she has more "feelings" that prompt her sleuthing.  Even she repeatedly tells herself that she needs to find facts and not just go on feelings.  

I'm not sure if this is the new direction for the series or not.  I will still read the next book (if there is another) and hope for the best.  I'm not terribly worried that I wasn't in love with this book--I mean, you have to have a least favorite and now I do, but I truly enjoyed and loved the others.  And with lines like this:

"Curse this life! I thought.

And then I remembered the dead body upstairs and I cheered up at once."

How can you not love Flavia?  Let's face it, we all went through a bit of an identity crisis at 12, right?

If you have never read this series, you should give it a shot.  It is fun and funny and mysterious and wonderful.  At least I think so.  

What's So Amazing About Grace

When you travel with your family I highly suggest reading something that will challenge you spiritually.  This is the third time I've done it and the results were fantastic.

Just when you start to think, "Ok, now I get to be selfish and demand my own way," you remember your book and stop yourself (most of the time).  

The book I read on our recent trip to Hawaii was What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey.  It was challenging and thought provoking and has changed my view of grace.

  

Yancey writes about the modern Christian experience with thoughtfulness and depth.  He does not leave any stone un-turned.  It was great to be reading along and have a question pop up and then have it answered in the next chapter.  He pulls from years of life experience and Bible study as he teaches about the grace of God and the grace we should have for each other.  I felt smarter reading this because every time I picked it up I learned something new about history, politics, or God.  

Grace tends to be something that seems too huge for me to distill into my daily life.  Grace is a big thing, not really necessary for the mundane.  Yancey encourages the opposite.  Every interaction can be processed through "grace-healed eyes" and even the way we perceive the things we read in the news can lead us toward a life of grace.  In our world committed to competition, "grace is not about finishing last or first; it is about not counting."  This is like a breath of fresh air.  

My two criticisms of the book were that the copy I read was slightly dated--I'm not sure if there is a more updated verison--and Yancey takes a little while to get started.  Most of the references to politicians and speakers were from the 90's.  This wasn't a huge problem, though, because so many of his examples could be easily reapplied to current events.  The first chapter of the book didn't grab my attention like I had hoped.  If I had been slightly less committed to finishing it or had other books lying around I think I would have been inclined to push this book to the side.  Fortunately, the deprivation of books while on vacation kept me focused and I pushed past the first chapter.  

 Philip Yancey must be an incredibly well read gentleman.  Throughout the book he talks about other philosophers and uses quotes from a variety of sources.  This helped to validate his claims about grace (and ungrace) and gave his writing a deeper dimension.  We are so used to reading blogs and books that just assert the author's opinion and it was kind of wonderful to read something that had been well researched.  Though it did take my brain a little time to adjust to the change.  Where were the catchy titles?  Why isn't he giving me a list of 10 things I can do to incorporate grace into my life today?  How can I possibly pin any of this???  Even searching for simple quotes to share was a little problematic because so many of his thoughts on grace are built up with the use of a few sentences.  

I highly, highly recommend this book to anyone curious about grace.  If you are a Christian you should know what sets your faith apart from so many other religious belief systems and grace is the heart of Christianity.  As I read this I became more aware of my need to forgive those around me and the role grace plays (or should play) in every day of my life--timely lessons for vacation with family...  

Vacation Reading

I love vacation reading.  Especially when the vacation involves the beach.  Coming home with books filled with sand and pages slightly damaged from being thrown in a beach bag with wet towels is my favorite.  

On my very first trip to Kauai with my husband's family I took Life of Pi.  I remember coming home and missing the tranquility of beach days and just flipping through the pages of that book, the texture taking me back.  

Over the course of the last 11 years we had four kids.  They changed our beach trips dramatically.  Gone were the days of actually reading on the beach or even having enough energy to stay up and read in bed.  I still lugged multiple books across the country but I barely cracked even one while we were away.

This year, all of my kids can swim.  They all play pretty well together and with their cousins.  We won't be telling anyone to stop eating sand (I hope) and there will be no rushing to the car to take care of a messy diaper.  This year, I will read on the beach.  

I'm still not done with Shogun yet.  But I'm getting closer.  In the next week I will make a big push to finish it up but if I'm not finished before we leave I may leave it at home.  I like the idea of starting and finishing at least one book while I'm away.  

On my packing list are:
The Boys in the Boat
Paper Towns (for my other blog, because I have seen so many tweens reading it)
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

What are you taking on vacation?  What should I add to my list?

The Interestings

I took a break from Shogun to read The Interestings.  It was this month's book club pick.  I was excited because I had seen the recognizable cover at bookstores and libraries over the last two years.  

It has a rainbow cover, it has to be good!

I was not a fan.  Well, I wasn't, and then I was, and then I wasn't again.  

The Interestings follows a group of teenagers who connect at a summer camp.  It tracks their lives, success and failures, loves and hates, until they are in their fifties.  While some are able to make their fortune in their creative pursuits, others give up their dreams and find a more economically feasible way to make a living.  

At first, I wasn't a fan because it reminded me of The Secret History but sloppier.  A group of kids unites and forms a bond that transcends time.  But these kids were so self absorbed.  The dialogue wasn't particularly well done--they either seemed vapid or would say things that were wise beyond their years.  

The shining part of this novel is the discussion on art.  It looks at the way kids are raised to believe they are talented and creative.  And the truth is, not everyone is, and very few can build a career around the arts.  I enjoyed thinking through the idea of the force of culture and age on one's art.  Is art only about our passion or is it also dependent on what other people need?  How does money change art and one's relationship to art?  

As the characters age, the dialogue continues to feel forced.  I often looked up from the book feeling disconnected from the characters but understanding a message Wolitzer was trying to send me.  It was as though many personal essays were twisted and forced into the novel format.  

Here's an example:

"'When you have a child,' she'd recently said to Jules, "it's like right away there's this grandiose fantasy about who he'll become.  And then time goes on and a funnel appears.  And the child gets pushed through that funnel, and shaped by it, and narrowed a little bit.  So now you know he's not going to be an athlete.  And now you know he's not going to be a painter.  Now you know he's not going to be a linguist.  All these different possibilities fall away.  But with Mo, I've seen a lot of things fall away, really fast.  Maybe they'll be replaced by other things I can't even imagine now; I really don't know.  But I met this mother recently who said that she'd become so grateful that her child is high functioning.  She said she'd become proud of the term high functioning, as if it was the same as National Merit Scholar.'"

I can see what Wolitzer is saying about parenting and I don't disagree with it.  But, it doesn't feel like part of a conversation.  It feels like a monologue and a little more insightful than most chats with friends.  

Wolitzer jumps around between subjects and characters and at times it felt disjointed and hard to follow.  The plot was thin and it was more of a character study in characters who weren't really likable.  And, the ending seemed abrupt.  I don't need neat and tidy endings but the trajectory of these people's lives included so little joy it was depressing.  The main character never seemed satisfied in her marriage or career and even compared her daughter to her friends' daughter. 

Wolitzer's descriptions are good and I may try another one of her novels at some point in the future to give her another chance.   But now, I'm heading back into Shogun.

Shogun #2

I'm still not close to finishing this book.  I just passed the 400 page mark and got a bit discouraged.  As with any novel this long, there are parts that feel like a desert.  I remember reading Anna Karenina and thinking all that writing about Levin mowing was just put in there to test your mettle and see if you're worthy enough to finish such a long book.  I'm in a stretch like that right now and I'm waiting to see if I'm worthy.

For me, the boat information in Shogun is my challenge.  I have no idea what a "fore poop" is and I don't intend to learn.  I don't know my aft from my fore and it is making this part dry and boring.

Some people may see this as a chance to expand one's knowledge of boats and sailing.  Not me.  I just want to get through these parts to get back to the Japanese history (which I recently learned is mostly true, just with a few name changes) and the tension of foreigner in an unwelcoming land.

While I'm sure Shogun is an important read, I wouldn't say the writing is lovely.  It is well written but not beautifully written.  I don't find myself underlining passages or trying to work any passages into a facebook status update because of their deep meaning.

I read The Thornbirds earlier this year and I can see similarities between these two books (other than that Richard Chamberlain played the main character in the mini series).  Both authors tell a story well.  The characters are carefully crafted and dynamic and you learn something about the land in which the novel is set.  But neither book is a classic.  Maybe Shogun will change my mind sometime in the next 670 pages but I doubt it.

Shogun #1

Shogun is going to take me a while.  It's over a thousand pages and more than a little daunting.  I decided I need to break it up into a series of smaller posts.  Otherwise, you may never hear from me again until August.

My husband read this, years ago, and he suggested I read it too.  This is the copy he read.  I love that about saving books--when you read the exact same copy that someone else read you feel the history in it.  

This book appears to be a sweeping epic (that sounds a little phony but I think it applies here) about an Englishman who winds up in Japan during the early 1600s.

I am in the first two hundred pages and I've just started to really get into it.

The names are super complicated and there are lots of them.  I'm having a struggle figuring out who is who.  The first 50 pages are hard to get into...but that's not unusual.  And all the old Japanese customs and rules are a little daunting.  But, slowly, I'm adjusting.

Blackthorne is an English ship pilot working on a boat full of Dutch men.  He convinces them to sail past the Straits of Magellan and make an attempt at reaching Japan.  The guys who are left in his crew, after a very long trip, grudgingly go along.  Unfortunately, they get caught in a storm and don't land on Japan in the best circumstances.  

The Dutch crew serves as a chorus.  They emphasize themes and actions that are important for the reader to pay attention to.  Their names are also somewhat difficult.  

This certainly isn't high literature.  It is good story telling, though, and has it's value.  The historical aspects of this book make it worth taking a stab at...I have a feeling I will be well educated on the Samurai code by the time I'm through.  

Now, back to reading...