One of the perils of reading books for review is that you lose some of the enjoyment by concentrating on what you will say in the review (or making sure you have something to say). While this does affect me on occasion (I more often feel pressure to read every book someone sends me), I generally don’t have this problem. Because I don’t get paid to write reviews I don’t approach fiction any different than if I were just reading for myself. The problem with this strategy - if you can call it that - is that on occasion I read a book, enjoy it, and then have very little intelligent to say about it.

Such is the case with In The Wake by Per Petterson. Looking for slim fiction to take on vacation I grabbed this novel translated from Norwegian and read it siting by the lake watching the kids play. I enjoyed reading it and appreciated the author’s skill, but it didn’t have the emotional impact on me that it seemed to have on other reviewers. Perhaps the idyllic lakeside setting was a bit too comfortable and thus created a barrier between me and the psychological struggles of Petterson’s protagonist.

For whatever reason, I just can’t seem to get my thoughts together on this book. And as time passes I will lose whatever perspective I did have. So once again allow me to cheat and use snippets of other reviews to help communicate the book’s strengths and weaknesses.

First, lets turn to Publishers Weekly for the brief summary:

In his impressive American debut, veteran Norwegian novelist Petterson chronicles Arvid Jansen’s breakdown in the six years since his parents and brother were killed in a ferry accident (modeled after the 1994 sinking of the MS Estonia). Arvid wanders around Oslo and through the Norwegian countryside, sifting through memories of his stern, ultracompetent father and nursing an infatuation with his attractive neighbor, Mrs. Grinde. After Arvid’s architect brother attempts suicide, Arvid tries to reconnect with him and pull them both out of the abyss. Despite the gloomy subject matter, Arvid is a witty, self-deprecating narrator who fought with his family while they were alive and misses them terribly now that they’re gone. This novel won several literary prizes in Europe, where the Estonia disaster is well known. The events may not feel as immediate to American readers, but many will find Arvid’s path of loss and redemption affecting nonetheless.

Maybe it was my disconnection to the Estonia tragedy that undermined the book’s immediacy for me. I did find Arvid to be an entertaining narrator but I am not sure I found his “path of loss and redemption affecting.”

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With the focus on the anniversary of Katrina this week it is the perfect time to note the availability of SIGNS OF LIFE: SURVIVING KATRINA. More information on the work - “an Extraordinary Photographic Collection of Survival: One Sign at a Time” - can be found on the website. Here is a brief description :

Signs of Life is a moving collection of photos of the hand-made signs that appeared in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. Profits from sales of the book will go to two organizations still working in the area: Common Ground Relief and Hands On Network.

Hand-made signs—spray painted on houses, on cars, on refrigerators—were some of the first “signs of life” to appear after the flood waters receded. The signs range from the sacred to the profane, from defiant to defeated, from frightening and encouraging. The signs reveal a powerful story of those who survived the deluge.

Compiled by Eric Harvey Brown and Lori Baker, New York-based photographers and writers who volunteered in the Gulf Coast after the hurricane, Signs of Life shows not only the traces of the violence of the storm, but also that much devastation remains one year later. The pictures in Signs of Life come from more than forty photographers— including local residents, relief volunteers, and those just passing through. The images were found on flickr.com and other photoblogs, and have been donated by the photographers for use in the book.

Sounds like a fascinating book put together by a valuable organization.

Athol Dickson’s River Rising is one of those books that I very likely wouldn’t have read a few years ago. Before my blogging focus turned to books this novel would not have been on my radar screen. I rarely read Christian fiction. I tend to avoid historical fiction. And I shy away from books that focus on the multicultural obsession of “race, class, and gender.”

River Rising can be described as all of the above, but not in the ways you might think. As I have mentioned a few times before, when I decided I should look into Christian fiction, or fiction from Christian publishing houses, I asked Dave of Faith In Fiction to recommend a few books. Among his recommendations was Madman by Tracy Groot and River Rising.

Having now read River Rising I understand the awards and compliments. It is a novel of grace and power. One that challenges your beliefs and changes your perspective. It is beautifully written and full of suspense. I would heartily recommend it to anyone.

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Sometime ago I saw this article and thought: hey, that sounds like fun! So I slowly went about getting the equipment and software necessary. Soon I had all the tools to attempt my own podcast. But I was a little nervous about entering the territory of Bat Segundo and other masters of the form. Much time passed.

Eventually I summoned up the courage to try it. Inspired by an Brock Clarke’s essay in the Virginia Quarterly, The Novel is Dead, Long Live the Novel, I decided to venture into this uncharted territory. So I sent Brock an email.

He graciously agreed to be my guinea pig and we went about setting a date. Murphy’s Law intervened and as the date approached for our conversation I started having problems with my broadband connection at home. Rather than risk my connection futzing out in the middle of the interview I decided to add another layer of complexity to the whole thing. I actually conducted the interview at a local coffee house. So here I was talking on the phone and recording my first ever podcast using a free Wi-Fi connection on my laptop.

As I mention in the introduction, I would ask for your patience and charity as I attempt to get the hang of this new format. I have no real expertize or experience in this kind of thing so there is bound to be technical and aesthetic issues. My hope is that these will not overshadow the conversation with Brock. As always, feel free to send suggestions and comments my way.

By way of introduction, let me say that the conversation largely centers on Brock’s essay noted above which is in itself partly a reaction to Rachel Donadio’s NYTBR essay from last year entitled Truth Is Stronger Than Fiction. We also discuss a book that plays a prominent role in the essay Heidi Julavits’s 2003 book, The Effect of Living Backwards.

So without further ado, here is the first ever Collected Miscellany Podcast: Click on the graphic below to listen to a conversation with Brock Clarke.

In an attempt to learn more about the history of the Templar knights, an order of fighting monks who pledged to protect the Holy Land and the pilgrims who traveled to it, I decided to read The Templars by Piers Paul Read. The Templars have been associated with everything from heretical teaching to the protectors of the relics of Jesus Christ.

Read chronicles the rise and fall of the Templars, officially called the Knights of the Temple of Solomon. The book is generally split into three unequal parts: the importance of the Holy Land to the Jews, Muslims, and Christians; the creation and role of the Templars; and the fall of the Templars, including their legacy.

Read clearly has done his research on the topic. I like his explanations of the different religions and how they came to value the same real estate. For instance, the Temple Mount, which includes the Dome of the Rock, is sacred - to Jews because it is the site of the Temple of Solomon, to Christians because it includes ground that Christ walked on, and to Muslims because this is where they believe Muhammad ascended into heaven. Read’s history helps you understand why there is so much fighting between the religions for control of the area.

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In the course of reviewing Olen Steinhauer’s last novel, 36 Yalta Boulevard, I had this to say about his Eastern European crime series:

What is so captivating and entertaining about Steinhauer is that each book tackles a new character and brings a new perspective. Steinhauer is not just cranking out sequels to make his publisher happy. He is using the history and culture of Eastern Europe as a setting and as a source for an imaginative tweak on a host of genres. Aspects of hard boiled detective story, police procedural, psychological mystery, espionage thriller, and historical fiction are all included as he tells the story of these unique characters.

And yet there is more. Steinhauer explores deeper issues than just who did what, where, and how. Thorny personal, political, and cultural issues are addressed while the mystery unfolds. Taken together they paint a thought provoking portrait of time and place; and yet each work stands satisfyingly on its own. “Literary crime series” may seem like an oxymoron to some, but it seems a perfect description of Steinhauer’s work.

I guess I should quit being surprised that Olen keeps meeting - and exceeding - my expectations because he has done it consistently. And his latest work, Liberation Movements, is no exception.

I mentioned previously that Liberation Movements is my must read book of the year so far. As is obvious from the above quote, I have enjoyed the previous books in this series (see Bridge of Sighs, The Confession, and 36 Yalta Boulevard) but I really believe this latest work takes it to another level. The well developed characters, the tight prose, the quick pacing and suspense all combine with a philosophical depth to create a near perfect reading experience.

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The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters is the second book in her series chronicling the exploits of Amelia Peabody (now Emerson) and her husband Radcliffe Emerson in Egypt. This book is as strong as her first, Crocodile on the Sandbank.

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I want to quickly mention an interesting book I just read, Wellington’s Rifles by Mark Urban. If you are a follower of Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe Series, you are familiar with the 95th Rifles in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. The book generally covers the exploits of the 1st battalion, 95th Rifles from 1809 to 1815.

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This interview originally appeared in my free monthly writing newsletter WRITING UP A STORM last year after I met Harley Jane Kozak at the Malice Domestic conference in Arlington, Virginia. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Gayle

Gayle Trent
http://www.graceabraham.com
Guest Blogger for Kevin (8-12 - 8-19)

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Hello, I’m Gayle Trent. Lucky Kevin is going on vacation next week and has asked me to fill in as his guest blogger.

I’m a full-time freelance writer, author, editor and publisher. You can learn more about me at http://www.graceabraham.com and/or http://gayle24202.tripod.com. I say that because I don’t want to turn this into a post about me.

I’m planning on blogging about writing. If there is anything you’d like to ask or have me address this coming week, please let me know.

Kevin, I hope you and your family have a wonderful time on vacation!