Sunday, February 01, 2009

Sunday night roundup

I'm blogging while attempting to ignore the Super Bowl on the television behind me. Here we are in February already; January was a tough reading month for me, as I'd only found three novels worth pursuing to the very end.

The first was Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wreath, volume one of Sigrid Undset's trilogy (I'm saving the remainder for a later time). The second was Carla Kelly's Daughter of Fortune, her first novel, about a young woman's struggle for belonging and survival in the 17th-century Southwest. (It took me forever to purchase this book, because online booksellers kept sending me Allende's novel of the same title by mistake.) And the third, which I finished last night around 10pm, was John Harwood's The Seance, a superb Victorian ghost story about mesmerism, a decaying old mansion, a mysterious inheritance, and diaries that may hold the secret to a murder by occult means ... it reminded me quite a bit of Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale.

I'm doing a longer writeup for my March NoveList column, but I'll say here that I highly recommend it. It's deliciously morbid without being grim, and the author clearly knows what he's doing. He'll quickly anticipate your thoughts about where the plot is leading, but the novel, just like the seances themselves, is all about deliberate, elegant deception.

Besides, you can't go wrong with these covers. Victorian stencil art (UK) or Julia Margaret Cameron (US), take your pick.



You may not have noticed I haven't said anything specific about the storyline or characters. That too is deliberate. I hope this blurb intrigues you enough to want to read it anyway.

In other news, many literary awards were announced at the American Library Association's midwinter conference last week. Among them were those presented by the Reading List Council, honoring the best in genre fiction in seven categories -- one of which is Historical Fiction. For 2009, the winner was The Steel Wave by Jeff Shaara, with the following titles on the shortlist: Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell; The Given Day by Dennis Lehane; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows; and The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss. (Source: RUSA blog and the fictionmags mailing list.) I've read both the Russell and the Shaffer/Barrows; both are well deserving of their place on the shortlist.

12 comments:

  1. I can't wait to read The Seance because I absolutely loved The Thirteenth Tale. Thank you again for posting some really interesting books (I realize I am thanking every time I leave a comment). :-)

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  2. You're the second reader of late that I see is reading Kristin Lavransdatter. I read it a couple of years ago (have the deluxe edition with all three novels in one) and loved it. I'm so glad to see other reader's picking it up! I also have the Seance on order--am looking forward to reading it!

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  3. Danja, you're very welcome, and I hope you enjoy The Seance! The atmosphere's more forbidding than that of The Thirteenth Tale, but the effect it had on me is similar... the conclusion had me wanting to read it again from the beginning.

    Danielle, was it you that reviewed all three volumes of Kristin on your blog? I remember reading some blog reviews a while back and being encouraged to pick it up; I have the three-in-one set too. I almost wish I'd bought them singly because it's on the heavy side, but what a rewarding read! The new translation is so much more approachable than the previous one, which I attempted once, and gave up on not long after.

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  4. Ok, you got me. I immediately rushed over to my library page and reserved The Seance. Now I just have to stay patient while they track it down!

    Thanks!

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  5. I just posted a review of The Seance--which I really enjoyed. Prefer the US cover, but that's just the American in me talking.

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  6. Thanks for the heads-up on The Seance! I've been in a real slump lately in finding good things to read. This sounds like something I want to try.

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  7. Wendelene and DM, I'd be interested to hear what you think if/when you read it. I was in a horrible reading slump until I got to it... I'd abandoned three other newish books right beforehand, and feel sort of guilty, but...

    Katherine, thanks for pointing to your review, and glad to see you liked it too. I did take it to bed with me, alas - fortunately it had no effect on my dreams!

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  8. I am dying to read The Seance. It was one of the amazon vine books this month but I missed out on it. I'm so mad. Glad to hear its a good read!

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  9. I appear to be the only person who doesn't like the Kristin Lavransdatter series. I've read all the books in the series, thinking that as I read further they might start living up to the reputation, but they never captured me. Kristin's extreme bitterness toward her husband ruined both her relationship with him and my ability to like her and enjoy the books.

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  10. That's interesting, Shauna, as I've only read book 1 so far, and Erlend hardly seems like ideal husband material - not due to the scandal in his past, but because he doesn't always treat Kristin very well. I'm not seeing bitterness on her part so much as guilt which she can't overcome, which the introduction to the series discusses in detail. That may change as I read more of the series. I'm not sure I like either one of them, to be honest! But the story intrigues me nonetheless.

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  11. Sarah, the KRISTIN LAVRANSDATTER trilogy is my all time favorite book, historical or otherwise. You really must read the entire thing to appreciate Undsett's genius. The first volume is a simple love story, but the next two deal with the much larger themes of repentance and forgiveness. It's absolutely wonderful.

    Undsett's other novel, THE MASTER OF HESTVIKEN, is also a masterpiece. I wish this author, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in the 1920's, were better known here in the States.

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  12. Julianne, thanks for your comments and recommendation! I intend to read the remaining two books - just thought I'd take a break rather than reading all 1000 pages all the way through. It won't be hard to pick up the story again. I also own the Hestviken series, too, and was happy to see the translator was different than it was for the original Kristin series. Did you find the translation stilted at all? I haven't gotten to those four yet.

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