Non-fiction

Greetings fellow Armchair Adventurers!

Sincerest apologies for the delayed news and views. As most will know I’ve been engaged in a spot of non-fiction writing. Although… at times a certain amount of creativity was required to prevent the tome from turning into fiction.

For those interested in stats and averages: My thesis was submitted on 2 November 2007 at about 13:15 GMT. It contained 221 pages, 29848 words, and 22 images. After near death, I am please to say I have survived and am almost thriving again.

The viva examination has been set for 23 January at 11:00 GMT. So, watch out world, Dr. M is on her way.

Tragically, for those paperback ‘readers’ the reviews have ground to a halt, but not for a lack of reading. After 12 to 18 hours in front of a computer screen drafting and editing, all this little ‘gnome’ wanted to do in the evenings was NOT see pixels. So, we are behind a few books. Reviews for the following shall be appearing in the not so distant future:

- Jodi Picoult’s Keeping Faith
- Alexander McCall Smith’s The Sunday Philosophy Club
- Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist

And finally, I present for your consideration this month Celia Ahern’s PS, I Love You.

The Historian

By Elizabeth Kostova.

For my brother, P...

I tend to be intimidated by mammoth tomes. Be it my slow reading or the devotion required to see such a volume to the finish, I generally prefer novels of 200-500 pages. That said, I might have independently chosen this 704-page opus due to the controversy surrounding its quality – reviews either rave or rant, but certainly none sit on the fence. Had it not been for a promise to my brother over the holidays, (“You pick a book, and we’ll read it together!”) this queue-jumper would have been relegated back to the bookshelf within 100 pages.

Ms. Kostova’s epic Dracula-cum-Da Vinci Code novel is an update to the Bram Stoker original. Over 10 years in the making, Ms. Kostova received a sizable advance ($2 million from Time Warner), sold the rights to Hollywood, won the Hopwood Award for Novel-in-Progress, and became a New York Times No 1 bestseller during her first week in print. Surely this must be decent popular fiction?

Despite being well research, I found the novel overly detailed and more of a meandering travelogue than a vampire-hunting ghost story. Similarly, the plotline is highly predictable (owning to its faithfulness to numerous genres – adventure, historical, mystery, science fiction, thriller; oh and did I mention romance?) and filled with uncanny coincidences involving the introduction of new characters just in time to provide the principles with new information to further their quest. It is over 500-pages before Dracula shows his undead head and then as a maniacal egomaniac. Given popular culture’s present love of celebrity, again such a baddie is not completely unexpected.

In spite of these shortcomings, I was intrigued by the structure of the novel. Ms. Kostova weaves together three Dracula quests, roughly thirty years apart, through a series of letters and flashbacks within the most contemporary quest. Cunning, and undoubtedly requiring a white-board on the author’s part, this device was almost enough to keep me plowing through the pages. Almost.

Given these plot failings; it is hard to recommend this tome. After three months plodding through this novel, I strong endorse waiting for the movie! (And as everyone knows, I prefer to read the book.)

Next Up:
While on the road in Amsterdam, I recently found myself fiction-less. Generally, I don’t travel with novels in tow; I’m out experiencing the world, not reading about it. But, after galavanting all day, the tootsies, and camera, needed a brake. I was given Jodi Picoult’s Keeping Faith by the hotel proprietor and offer it for your consideration.

Update!

The good news: I've finally finished The Historian!

The bad news: I've been traveling (Holland and Scotland) for the past few weeks and haven't had a chance to properly review this, uh um, novel. Hoping to attempt to find something positive to say about the 704 page beast this evening.

In the meantime, I was given Jodi Picoult's Keeping Faith while on the road in Amsterdam and am just about finished with this one too!