The Uncommon Reader is a simple, spare, and charming novella about what happens when Queen Elizabeth II accidentally comes across a Book Mobile at the kitchen door of Buckingham Palace. Intrigued and slightly mystified about the purpose of a traveling library, the Queen asks the flummoxed driver for assistance in selecting a book
"...because to tell the truth...[s]he'd never taken much interest in reading. She read, of course, as one did, but liking books was something she left to other people. It was a hobby and it was in the nature of her job that she didn't have hobbies.... Hobbies involved preferences and preferences had to be avoided; preferences excluded people. One had no preferences. Her job was to take an interest, not to be interested herself. And besides, reading wasn't doing. She was a doer. So she gazed round the booklined van and played for time."
Almost against her will--and certainly against her better judgment--the Queen becomes A Reader. She is fascinated by the concept of reading for pleasure and how it opens the world to her. She is delighted by the new ideas sparked by what she reads and that continue to grow after she has put a book down. Her family, staff, and even the Prime Minister become alarmed at the changes they see in her and conspire to put a stop once and for all to her dangerous new hobby. But the Queen is ready for them, and how she handles their underhanded scheming makes for a very funny finale.
It is obvious that Bennett had a lark writing this novella. It is full of wonderfully dry humor and he has created a voice for the Queen that is probably dead on. His sketches of the royal staff and how they try to manipulate the Queen without appearing to do so are hilarious. And, through it all, from one quip to the next, Bennett writes what is ultimately a love story about books, ideas, and the joy of reading.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Little Book by Selden Edwards
The Little Book offers great hope to those of us who desire to write a book "some day". Edwards started working on this novel in 1974, consistently revised and rewrote it for over thirty years, and published what he refers to as "a life work" in 2007. The Little Book is truly a labor of love, and it shows. This story is so entertaining that at the beginning I found myself almost rushing through it to see how each problem, each question was resolved, but I realize quickly that this was a tale to savor. So I took a breath, deliberately slowed down, and took my time with it. I am very glad I did.
The Little Book is the intricately told story of Wheeler Burden, eccentric college prep. baseball star, renowned but reclusive 70's rock icon, and time traveler. It is narrated by Burden's mother, an extraordinary woman in her own right, and this is how she begins:
Flora Burden is able to tell us the story of her son's time dislocation because of the journal Wheeler kept during his time in 19th century Vienna. In it, Wheeler detailed everything he witnessed, everyone he met, and his thoughts and impressions of the city and its culture. How the journal got into the hands of his mother in the present is part of the complex thread of "improbabilities" that makes up the body of the novel. In fact, it takes a great deal of time for Wheeler, himself, to understand what caused him to travel through time in the first place. His last memory before finding himself wandering through the Ringstrasse in Vienna in 1897 was leaving a book signing at a San Fransico bookstore in 1988.
Wheeler comes to Vienna equipped with an incredible foreknowledge of the city and its political climate. He knows his way around and is easily able to acquire clothing and currency that allow him to blend in almost immediately. We quickly understand where his knowledge comes from, but the mystery remains: why is Wheeler here? When will he return to the present? How will he survive until that time comes? How will he exist in another time period without affecting history in some way?
Throughout The Little Book we follow the two stories of Wheeler's life. We learn about his blue-blooded, highly respected Boston family; his famous war-hero father; his remarkable grandmother. We follow his childhood with the feminist mother his father's family never approved of. We watch his brilliant and strange talents flower on the baseball field and in concert halls. And we also observe how he bursts on the scene in Vienna and makes his time travel experience completely his own by fully engaging in the conversations and debates among the young intellectuals of the city and even becoming, for a time, a protege of Sigmund Freud. As the chapters move forward, the parallel stories become more and more intertwined until the ultimate mystery at the heart of the novel is revealed at the end.
Edwards's novel has so many elements that come together seamlessly: wonderful characters; a well rendered portrait of a time and place so crucial to the history of the 20th century, but often forgotten in its larger context; mystery after mystery; and a fully integrated, intertwined story line. Maybe it is the 30 years' effort Selden Edwards put into this story that made it possible for him to so thoroughly dot every "i" and cross every "t" in this complex novel, but I very much admire a writer who so beautifully crafts a story as Edwards crafted The Little Book.
The Little Book is the intricately told story of Wheeler Burden, eccentric college prep. baseball star, renowned but reclusive 70's rock icon, and time traveler. It is narrated by Burden's mother, an extraordinary woman in her own right, and this is how she begins:
This is the story of how, through a dislocation in time, my son, Frank Standish Burden III, the famous American rock-and-roll star of the 1970s, found himself in Vienna in the fall of 1897. It is a complicated story, full of extraordinary characters and wild improbabilities. Rather than dwell on those improbabilities or the parts that require more thought and explanation, I will simply tell you what I know exactly as I know it and let you sort out the pieces for yourself, forgiving a ninety-year-old woman her various lapses of memory.
Flora Burden is able to tell us the story of her son's time dislocation because of the journal Wheeler kept during his time in 19th century Vienna. In it, Wheeler detailed everything he witnessed, everyone he met, and his thoughts and impressions of the city and its culture. How the journal got into the hands of his mother in the present is part of the complex thread of "improbabilities" that makes up the body of the novel. In fact, it takes a great deal of time for Wheeler, himself, to understand what caused him to travel through time in the first place. His last memory before finding himself wandering through the Ringstrasse in Vienna in 1897 was leaving a book signing at a San Fransico bookstore in 1988.
Wheeler comes to Vienna equipped with an incredible foreknowledge of the city and its political climate. He knows his way around and is easily able to acquire clothing and currency that allow him to blend in almost immediately. We quickly understand where his knowledge comes from, but the mystery remains: why is Wheeler here? When will he return to the present? How will he survive until that time comes? How will he exist in another time period without affecting history in some way?
Throughout The Little Book we follow the two stories of Wheeler's life. We learn about his blue-blooded, highly respected Boston family; his famous war-hero father; his remarkable grandmother. We follow his childhood with the feminist mother his father's family never approved of. We watch his brilliant and strange talents flower on the baseball field and in concert halls. And we also observe how he bursts on the scene in Vienna and makes his time travel experience completely his own by fully engaging in the conversations and debates among the young intellectuals of the city and even becoming, for a time, a protege of Sigmund Freud. As the chapters move forward, the parallel stories become more and more intertwined until the ultimate mystery at the heart of the novel is revealed at the end.
Edwards's novel has so many elements that come together seamlessly: wonderful characters; a well rendered portrait of a time and place so crucial to the history of the 20th century, but often forgotten in its larger context; mystery after mystery; and a fully integrated, intertwined story line. Maybe it is the 30 years' effort Selden Edwards put into this story that made it possible for him to so thoroughly dot every "i" and cross every "t" in this complex novel, but I very much admire a writer who so beautifully crafts a story as Edwards crafted The Little Book.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles
There are so many levels on which to appreciate Jonathan Miles's Dear American Airlines that it will take some effort to write about it without giving too much away. It is a short novel, only 180 pages, but Miles offers readers a many layered and profound story in this very small space. He does two things in Dear American Airlines that I have always admired: he delivers big themes with incredible economy and employs a non-traditional style to do so.
Dear American Airlines is, essentially, a complaint letter. Bennie Ford, a middle-aged, washed up hack of a poet (now translator of Polish novels) is trapped at O'Hare International Airport. All flights have been cancelled because of weather, and Bennie is about to miss his daughter's wedding. Aside from photographs, Bennie has had little to no contact with Stella for most of her life. He sees her invitation to the wedding as a chance, at long last, to try to salvage some sort of connection with her.
Between trips outside the terminal for cigarettes, and jockeying with other stranded passengers for comfortable seating or questionable food court fare, Bennie adds material to his complaint letter. Though he is a self admittedly failed poet, his astute observations of the absurdity of airport life, and also of his own past, are sprinkled with humor and pathos. Winding through his letter are tidbits of Bennie's autobiography that reveal a man who has spent a great deal of his life basically being stranded by his own choices.
In his review, Barry Hannah calls Dear American Airlines, "[a] powerful and hilarious fugue from whine to eloquent tragedy. It is an easy and happy read. Miles is a rare original who has pity and sympathy for almost everybody...." Bennie Ford is a highly flawed character, but he is so witty and so unsparing of himself that there is no other way to feel about him than to simply like him. And after reading this novel, I'll never look at airports the same way again...who knew they could provide a venue for such complete catharsis?
Dear American Airlines is, essentially, a complaint letter. Bennie Ford, a middle-aged, washed up hack of a poet (now translator of Polish novels) is trapped at O'Hare International Airport. All flights have been cancelled because of weather, and Bennie is about to miss his daughter's wedding. Aside from photographs, Bennie has had little to no contact with Stella for most of her life. He sees her invitation to the wedding as a chance, at long last, to try to salvage some sort of connection with her.
Between trips outside the terminal for cigarettes, and jockeying with other stranded passengers for comfortable seating or questionable food court fare, Bennie adds material to his complaint letter. Though he is a self admittedly failed poet, his astute observations of the absurdity of airport life, and also of his own past, are sprinkled with humor and pathos. Winding through his letter are tidbits of Bennie's autobiography that reveal a man who has spent a great deal of his life basically being stranded by his own choices.
In his review, Barry Hannah calls Dear American Airlines, "[a] powerful and hilarious fugue from whine to eloquent tragedy. It is an easy and happy read. Miles is a rare original who has pity and sympathy for almost everybody...." Bennie Ford is a highly flawed character, but he is so witty and so unsparing of himself that there is no other way to feel about him than to simply like him. And after reading this novel, I'll never look at airports the same way again...who knew they could provide a venue for such complete catharsis?
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