Written in My Heart's Own Blood - Outlander book #8

Written in My Heart's Own Blood by Diana Gabaldon was my big book for the summer.  I love the Outlander series, and book eight didn't disappoint.  In fact I enjoyed it much more than it's predecessor, An Echo in the Bone, because it wrapped up comfortably, like the rest of the books in the series, instead of with a cliff-hanger, which was so unsettling.  There's still room for lots more books, should Gabaldon want to continue the story, but it also had a lovely sense of completeness and closure.

One of the things I like about the series is the sense of extended family--it's really the clan idea, but more so. Some of the characters are connected by blood--that's the traditional family or clan--but Jamie and Claire have big hearts and a sense of responsibility to the waifs and the dispossessed whose paths intersect with theirs, and the collection of people who can rightfully say they are part of the Fraser clan, American-style is large and diverse.  Sort of like America itself!

This particular book had the right balance of time travel stuff thrown in too.  In some of the books, the idea of Claire being not of the time she is living sometimes gets lost in the plot.  And there definitely is a lot of plot...and characters...and story threads.  Gabaldon also achieves the right balance of Jamie/Claire with the rest of the threads.  Some of the newer characters are really growing on me, and it was so good to have Jenny's sister Claire back on stage again.  I can't help it, I'm already matchmaking for her and I think Lord John's brother Hal would be an interesting love-interest.  I don't believe he's eligible at the moment, but a lot can happen!

Again, I'm so impressed by the level of detail Gabaldon achieves in a very throw-away style. You never get the feeling with her that she is inserting her research because she did it. I found Claire's treatment of Lord John's eye absolutely fascinating, and I did some reading on the Revolutionary War battles that feature in the story and Gabaldon got the details right and made them relevant.  That is no mean feat.

I do hope there's a book nine in the works.  I think with the Outlander TV series looking so good, the market will be hungry for more.  I sure am.

Speaking of the TV series, did everyone catch Gabaldon in her bit part as Iona McTavish, who attended the gathering?  She talks about it on an Aug 30 post on Facebook.

Big Book Summer Challenge - checkpoint

When I signed up for the Big Book Challenge earlier in the summer, I figured that Diana Gabaldon's latest, Written in My Heart's Own Blood, would be the only book that I read this summer that would qualify (i.e., >400 pages).

Boy was I ever wrong!

I'm 633 pages into the 822 pages of Written in My Heart's Own Blood, and loving it.  I'm glad I'm reading it slowly--just one section per week.  This way I have time to enjoy the story and characters and all the details that Gabaldon so painstakingly adds that makes her fictional world seem so real.

I'm also 324 pages into the 601 pages that is John Steinbeck's East of Eden.  Man, how I love this book.  I haven't read it in over 30 years and it is simply wonderful.  I just read the "timshel" section of the book where Lee expounds on the Cain and Abel story and the importance of the phrase "thou mayest."  I can't wait to visit Steinbeck country in September when I go out to visit my daughter in San Francisco.  In addition to Monterey, I'm planning on visiting Salinas and maybe King City when we go to Pinnacles National Park (hoping to see some California Condors)

I read all 576 pages of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, and reviewed it here.  I was half-way through with it before I realized it was an official "big book."

Beatriz Williams' A Hundred Summers qualified as a "big book" with 432 pages.  I reviewed it here.

Daughter of the Forest, by Juliet Marillier, was my first "big book" of the season, clocking in at 560 pages.  I read it in June with the GoodReads TuesBookTalk Read-a-Longs.  I cannot believe I never got around to reviewing it as I did enjoy it and am looking forward to reading the next book in this very interesting series.

Since I'm an English major and my mantra is "you do the math," I got out my calculator to discover that I have read 2525 pages in my Big Book Challenge so far this summer, and that's not counting the books I read that didn't have the page count required.

So yeah, I guess I like to read.

Hope you're all have a wonderful summer, reading what makes you happy, and enjoying life.

Outlander First Look Trailer

I am so excited for this Starz mini-series, which will be out this summer.  I started reading the Outlander series about ten years ago, and have been patiently waiting for someone to make a series of it.  A series makes so much more sense than a 2-hour movie.  The books are long, and there are seven so far!

Last night when I watched this preview after the first episode of Black Sails, I was a bit underwhelmed.  After watching it again, I realize that I was underwhelmed because I wanted to watch the whole thing...NOW!

I'm going to reread Outlander, the first book in the series, in February.  Maybe I'll reread the whole series this year, just for good measure.

Anyone else eagerly anticipating this summer treat.  Oh, and by the way, Black Sails was okay but I kept on obsessing on how nice all the pirates teeth were and wished that someone in makeup had been paying attention to this detail also.  Overall, I've been impressed with Starz--they did a wonderful job with The White Queen and Dancing on the Edge, so I'm expecting a great production of Outlander.

An Echo in the Bone

I finally read Diana Gabaldon's latest in her Outlander series (aka the Claire and Jamie Fraser saga), An Echo in the Bone, in December and January. These are long books--most are around 800 pages--so it did take awhile to get through.

I have been studiously ignoring the many reviews and posts about the book as I didn't want to bias my take on it, and I really hate spoilers (I picked up one inadvertently and I was looking for the event to happen during the whole book, which is annoying!). One of the things I've really liked about each of the books in the series thus far is that each is a standalone story, with a defined beginning, middle and end. Even though you know that a lot went on previous to the start of the book, and that Claire and Jamie's story is not yet over, Gabaldon was able to wrap each book nicely, providing satisfying resolution to the major plot lines of the particular book and pulling those plot lines together into an overarching theme.

Sad to say, this didn't hold true with An Echo in the Bone. She really should have titled it An Echo in the Bone, Part I because it ends abruptly with at least half a dozen cliff hangers and an extremely strange position for Claire and Jamie to be in. I am pretty generous when it comes to suspending my disbelief, but I confess to rolling my eyes and feeling a bit miffed at devoting a few weeks of my life to reading a book that didn't deliver a satisfying ending.

Will I read the next book in the series? Absolutely. But...fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Book seven in a series is not a time to go messing about with a tried-and-true formula, not to mention devoted readers. Now, I'll have to go and read other reviews and discover whether other readers were bothered by the ending as I was.

SPOILERS BELOW...

To be fair, for most of the book, I really enjoyed the story.

I love the time travel element of the book, and was thrilled to see Brianna and Roger and the kids back in Scotland in the 20th century--dealing with dislocation in reverse and how they handled reintegration. I also loved how William Buccleigh Mackenzie ends up in Scotland with them and "haunts" them. I also loved how Bree "felt" the force of the rocks when she was in the tunnel--that was actually kind of cool, in a shivery sort of way.

I enjoyed the pirating aspects and the general history of the early days of the Revolution, the Benedict Arnold connection, and the new characters, especially the Turners. At first, I didn't care for William, Lord John Grey's stepson, but he definitely grew on me and I became much more interested in his story.

I enjoyed Claire and Jamie's return to Scotland and their interaction with Jenny and her family, although I didn't care for the way Claire started telling her time-travel story and cluing the relatives in to what was coming in France. I'll buy that Jamie believes her story, but this is inconsistent with the rest of the series.

I hated Claire marrying Lord John and performing her wifely duties with him. This really stretched the limit, was overly rushed, and made me, for the first time, actually dislike Claire. Jamie's response when Lord John told him the situation also defied belief. This whole aspect of the story felt unthought out. I wish Gabaldon had ended the book earlier in the story, and left this part for the next book, she might have not written herself into this corner if she had.

The Exile - an Outlander graphic novel

I have the same mixed feelings about this book that I expect I will have if a video/film version is ever made of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. In the afterword, Gabaldon warns that readers who love her books carry their own images in their heads of what her characters look like and that no drawings, even those collaborated on by the author, will mesh exactly with what a reader carries in her/his mind. I found this to be true, however my primary issue with this book was not the drawings but the storytelling itself.

In her foreword, Gabaldon talks about how she used to write comic scripts for Disney. Given that experience and her superb storytelling skills in the Outlander series, I was surprised by how weak the story was. Of course, I got the parts that were lifted from Outlander, but I had a hard time connecting the dots and seeing the story for the trees with the new parts. The cover says that the book will enable the reader to "experience Jamie's side of the story," but again in the foreword Gabaldon says that she wrote the story from the point of view of Murtaugh, Jamie's godfather. The problem was that she didn't stick to one pov--sometimes Jamie's, sometimes Murtaugh's, sometimes even Claire's. Given the complexity of the plot--time travel, clan issues, English/Scottish issues, family issues--it was easy to not follow what the heck was going on.

The drawings didn't really do their part either--I found most of the men ended up looking alike, and so got confused by the new characters since they weren't clearly differentiated from the others, in particular, Dougal, Murtaugh, and Kevin, another time traveler and cohort of Gellis Duncan, seemed interchangeable to me. Strong jawed, clad in plaid, snarling, middle-aged...

I'm glad I own the book--it was actually a fun, quick read, and it will remain on my shelf with my Outlander collection--but I really don't think this is the right medium for Gabaldon to work her craft and tell her stories. Give me another 800-pager over a slim graphic novel any day of the week.

With the holidays upon on this week, I would say that if you have a Gabaldon fan on your shopping list, this would be an excellent gift. On the other hand, if you are looking to introduce someone to Gabaldon, I don't think this is the way to go.

Bottom line: A good, fun, collectible book but not a stick-to-the ribs story experience for moi.

A Breath of Snow and Ashes - series or just long story?

I finished A Breath of Snow and Ashes last night. The book is the sixth in Diana Gabaldon's set of Outlander novels. Most people describe these books as being a series, but unlike most series, which in my mind are self-contained stories that do not depend on each other for a continuous narrative though the main character might grow and develop, these books are really volumes in a very long story. Not that it really matters...

This is among my favorites, partly because it has actual time travel, although 99.9% of the book is set solidly in the Carolina colonies of 1773-1776. Books 4 and 5, Drums of Autumn and The Fiery Cross, tell the story of the characters, those from the 20th century and those from the 18th, as they live their lives in the 18th century. I'm hoping that book 7, Echo in the Bone, will have more of the characters who return to the 20th century. One of my favorite aspects of the books is the displacement--how does a modern person deal with the past when it is staring them in the face daily.

I'm finding this review difficult to write without spoilers so I'm abandoning coyness and if you don't want spoilers, abandon ship.

I absolutely love how Claire adapts her doctoring to the realities of the 18th century frontier. She has a mid-1960's approach to health and medicine but doesn't have the medicines, facilities, or cultural acceptance to practice the way she wants to. I found the discussion of illnesses, injuries, etc. to be fascinating.

I also loved how Brianna took to fabricating what she wanted and needed--again, based on a mid-20th century view of what makes life comfortable and how to approach achieving it given the materials and tools on hand. I loved how she figured out plumbing and matches in particular. I still fantasize about what the world would be like if we collectively lost the recipe for producing things like matches, and this was one author's insights into how we might cope.

I thought the side story of Claire's medical assistant, Malva, interesting...especially when it turned out that she didn't turn against Claire in the end.

I thought Gabaldon finally gave Roger a break and was thrilled that he found his calling and was able to refind his voice in the process.

I loved how Gabaldon resolved the fact that the family "knew" when Claire and Jamie were supposed to die and how. That truly made me laugh out loud at the end of the book. So many books falter towards their ends, as if their authors get impatient to be done with the thing. Gabaldon, knowing that she is not yet at the end of her story, just of a volume of it, doesn't fall into that trap of rushing to conclusion and botching the ending.

Gabaldon's isn't the most gifted writing around, but she is a first rate storyteller. I don't earmark passages of piercing insight when I read her books, but I do find myself thinking about her characters, the family life that they build across geographies, time and space, and the warmth and energy they bring to their lives and those around them.

I am definitely looking forward to reading Echo in the Bone this winter, but first I will read The Exile, a graphic story of Outlander (volume one of the Outlander set) as told from Jamie's perspective. It arrived from Amazon earlier this week, and I can hardly wait.

Here's a page from The Exile. My feeling is that Gabaldon has finally given up hope on seeing her story brought to film/video in an appropriate way, so she went the graphic route...

And now for something completely shorter...

Last Monday I blithely laid out my reading/viewing plans for the week, and I'm happy to saw that I did finish The Fiery Cross, fifth in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I thoroughly enjoyed it, hadn't remembered huge chunks of it, but gratifyingly remembered key nuggets, so it was a thumping good reread.

None of my bloggie friends have mentioned being Gabaldon fans, that I can recall, which is a bit surprising, frankly. It's excellent time-travel, with a spunky, intelligent, attractive heroine and a hunkster hero and wonderful twists and turns to well-crafted plots. True, this fifth book, like the others, weighs in at just under 1000 pages, but it's relatively quick to read once you start pacing yourself.

What I enjoy most about these books is how Gabaldon has so neatly solved the problem that plagues most historical writers, anachronisms. The fact that Claire Randall Fraser is a twentieth-century woman learning to live in the mid-eighteenth century she can get away with saying and doing modern things because she is modern. Repeatedly I read the chief complaint against any given historical novel is that women couldn't or wouldn't act as the author has them act. Gabaldon doesn't have this problem because her two main heroines, Claire and her daughter Brianna, weren't raised in the timeframe in which they are currently living. Brilliant!

All my gushing aside, I do need a break from Gabaldon, though I do plan to read her sixth and seventh books in the series before next winter. At least that's the plan.

In them meantime, I need to read and think about and write about Ethan Frome (only 133 pages!) for the Edith Wharton leg of the Classics Circuit, which starts tomorrow. Mark your calendar to visit me on January 18 for that post. I'll be on a business trip that week, so I'll be writing it ahead of time and queueing it up to post from a hotel in Florida. Yes, Florida in January. I also do Florida in August in case you're wondering.

I'm a hairsbreath away from finishing the audio book of Vanity Fair which I posted on a while ago here. There's another massive book that I've managed to complete and enjoy completely. Not one to stick to my resolutions and stick to short books, I'm thinking the next audio book will be either Pickwick Papers, which will be a reread, or a Tolstoy (either War and Peace or Anna Karenina, depending on what the library has since I haven't read either.

Speaking of the library, their computer called me today to let me know that it's holding a copy of Murder at Longbourn for me. That one's short, isn't it? Can't be more than a couple hundred pages tops.

Need to squeeze in reread of Northanger Abbey before Valentine's Day and my next JASNA meeting.

Oh well, my TBR list is more ambitious than I have time for. It's back to work tomorrow, though it's been a wonderful, relaxing holiday.



My best wishes for a happy, prosperous book-filled 2010 to all of you.

Sunday Tally: Bon Appetit

Yesterday morning I wrote a post-it note and stuck it to the microwave. I completed 6 of the twelve tasks on the note and feel worthy!

The tally?

15 pints of tomato glut--I used a recipe from Joan Gussow Dye's This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader. I've made it for years, and I usually make enough each summer to last fall, winter, spring. I use it in soups and stews, on pasta and with rice. I grow virtually everything needed--I only buy the celery, and this year had to buy bay leaves as our bay tree hit the dust around about March.

Three-quarters through with Drums of Autumn. Brianna just met Jamie. Have I mentioned before that I think Diana Gabaldon is a terrific storyteller. Planning to go to the Tattered Cover in Denver on September 22 to get her final book in the series, An Echo in the Bone: A Novel. Am dog-earring all pages in Drums of Autumn that contain the phrase "echo in the bone." Two so far. Planning to go to her reading September 23 in Highlands Ranch. Anyone else going? How cool is it that she will be in Denver area that day after her final book in the series launches?!

Refilled quilted pillows and hand-stitched opening. My husband and I made a gorgeous quilt for our bed that he finished while I was travelling this June with our older daughter. We started it three years ago, and it's gorgeous--almost exclusively Kansas Troubles fabrics. Love that palette. Anyway, for practice, before we tackled the quilt, we made two throw pillows that the cats adopted last year. Last month, I took them back. Unstitched one side, washed them, restuffed them, and then yesterday finally restitched the open side. The kitties are happy :)

Made 3 pints tomatillo salsa, trying to duplicate the Cantina Laredo salsa. Again, everything from the garden except the tomatillos. Next year, we grow tomatillos. Got close. V. good. Could live on this stuff, but maybe more charred cilantro next time?

Went to church. Haven't been since before Easter. Something always comes up, but it was great to go and feel part of my Methodist church family again. Wish I could bottle the music. Pat the organist has a rare talent.

Went shopping with 14-year old son. Bought two pairs of jeans, converse sneaks, henley shirt, zipped sweatshirt, backpack. He's happy. It doesn't take much.

Saw Julie and Julia with husband and two of three teenagers who call our house home. Fantastic. Loved it. Didn't find Julie whiny. Found both interesting and funny and inspiring. Came home and cooked favorite summer stew for dinner. Ready to tackle Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon. Have added Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One (1) (Vol 1) and My Life in France and Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously to Xmas and Bday lists. Totally marvelous to hear two fourteen-year olds laughing out loud with parents during movie!

Watched disc 2, episode 1 of Playing Shakespeare. David Suchet and Patrick Stewart debate and demonstrate two different interpretations of The Merchant of Venice's Shylock. The most interesting point is that director John Barton claims that he gave both of them the same direction and each came up with a very different approach to the character. I think I like Suchet's better, but it's hard to really say having viewed only parts of four scenes, but I liked how Suchet handled the final exit of Shylock versus how Stewart did.

Framed the poster of Top Withins that I picked up at the Haworth Parsonage when I visited it in June. I googled trying to find the image to share, but to no avail. But, it is wonderful, very Van Gogh-esque, and will be a nice image around which I hope to add some book shelves to my office walls soon.

What didn't I do? Didn't make zucchini bread. Didn't do the expense report for the biz trip I took last week. Didn't sew the button on a jacket that has been sitting on the mending pile for several weeks.

All in all...a good weekend.