Post by Rich on Mar 19, 2008 19:13:48 GMT
While travelling I read quite a few books - some bad (stand up Patricia Cornwall) and some good, some few exceptional, I thought I might as well say a few words about the 3 best.
Wild Swans by Jung Chang
A very well known book which was, I think, first published in the early 90s, Wild Swans is a book I've been meaning to read for a very long time. Wild Swans is Chang's account of her life and that of her mother and grandmother. It begins with possibly the greatest opening line of all time, 'At the age of fifteen my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general, the police chief of a tenuous national government of China.' and goes on to detail the struggles, loves and hardships of 3 extraordinary women.
At times because of its truth the text makes difficult and shocking reading, but for anybody who has any interest in how and why the nation on earth that may soon become its most powerful came to be the way it is, this is an essential read.
The only thing that left me slightly disappointed is that Wild Swans does not spend much time on the events of Tienanmen, but given the fact that Chang was no longer a 'daughter of China' by that point this is entirely understandable.
The Gospel of Judas by Simon Mawer
Marketed as something of a thinking man's Da Vinci code, The Gospel Of Judas is a fictional account of the translation of an apocryphal fifth gospel (although I think such a text has been uncovered and was the inspiration for the novel). However, the comparison with The Da Vinci Code are shallow and do a great disservice to Mawer who has actually created an engaging narrative about a man who has suffered a personal crisis of faith, albeit one that is set against a rather grand backdrop. Unlike Browne's this is a genuinely intelligent book rather than simply clever and manipulative.
Finally, I'll have to pick between 2 fantastic long novels, Bettany's Book by Thomas Keneally and and Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess. Earthly Powers is probably the better book but I enjoyed BB more because one of its 4 main narratives (2 main and 2 minor) is located in historical Australia and I was travelling in the lands it describes while reading it.
The four narratives that make up the book are; the first person account of one of the original Australian sheep farmers dealing with life in world seemingly without frontiers; the letters of his wife and two 3rd person accounts of his descendants, the lesser of these two is the story of Dimp, an Australian film producer in the 80s and the major narrative is that of Dimp's sister, Prim an aid worker in the Sudan in the late 80s, a setting which is all the more engaging given the current events in Darfur.
Bettany's account of his life is truly interesting and manages to reach moments of real emotional resonance. Prim's story is likewise moving and disturbing. The novel explores many ideas connected to the theme of inheritance and focuses on our connection to the past.
I'd happily recommend either BB or EP, but as with most contemporary long novels, they are better read in as short a period as possible or they lose their narrative thrust, as a result you need to be able to commit a decent amount of time to them.
These are 3/4 amazing books and you should check them out if you have time.
Wild Swans by Jung Chang
A very well known book which was, I think, first published in the early 90s, Wild Swans is a book I've been meaning to read for a very long time. Wild Swans is Chang's account of her life and that of her mother and grandmother. It begins with possibly the greatest opening line of all time, 'At the age of fifteen my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general, the police chief of a tenuous national government of China.' and goes on to detail the struggles, loves and hardships of 3 extraordinary women.
At times because of its truth the text makes difficult and shocking reading, but for anybody who has any interest in how and why the nation on earth that may soon become its most powerful came to be the way it is, this is an essential read.
The only thing that left me slightly disappointed is that Wild Swans does not spend much time on the events of Tienanmen, but given the fact that Chang was no longer a 'daughter of China' by that point this is entirely understandable.
The Gospel of Judas by Simon Mawer
Marketed as something of a thinking man's Da Vinci code, The Gospel Of Judas is a fictional account of the translation of an apocryphal fifth gospel (although I think such a text has been uncovered and was the inspiration for the novel). However, the comparison with The Da Vinci Code are shallow and do a great disservice to Mawer who has actually created an engaging narrative about a man who has suffered a personal crisis of faith, albeit one that is set against a rather grand backdrop. Unlike Browne's this is a genuinely intelligent book rather than simply clever and manipulative.
Finally, I'll have to pick between 2 fantastic long novels, Bettany's Book by Thomas Keneally and and Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess. Earthly Powers is probably the better book but I enjoyed BB more because one of its 4 main narratives (2 main and 2 minor) is located in historical Australia and I was travelling in the lands it describes while reading it.
The four narratives that make up the book are; the first person account of one of the original Australian sheep farmers dealing with life in world seemingly without frontiers; the letters of his wife and two 3rd person accounts of his descendants, the lesser of these two is the story of Dimp, an Australian film producer in the 80s and the major narrative is that of Dimp's sister, Prim an aid worker in the Sudan in the late 80s, a setting which is all the more engaging given the current events in Darfur.
Bettany's account of his life is truly interesting and manages to reach moments of real emotional resonance. Prim's story is likewise moving and disturbing. The novel explores many ideas connected to the theme of inheritance and focuses on our connection to the past.
I'd happily recommend either BB or EP, but as with most contemporary long novels, they are better read in as short a period as possible or they lose their narrative thrust, as a result you need to be able to commit a decent amount of time to them.
These are 3/4 amazing books and you should check them out if you have time.