Books: Memories, Time, the Supernatural

It suddenly occurred to  me that the three books I have read recently had the following themes; memories and time plus the supernatural as a subtheme. I read two of the books for the book club, Leaving Time by Jodie Picoult and The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. The other book, Slave Time: Midnight was a gift from the writer, Howard Potts. Really, it's just a coincidence that they all had similar themes and I read them one after the other.

Leaving Time was about Jenna recalling childhood memories and what happened to her mother.  Also included in the story was the incredible memory of elephants. And one character just happened to be a psychic. A good portion of Slave Time was about Old Sam's childhood memories of slavery and the stories told to him as a child.  Some of the stories were about his experiences as a young adult and included a meeting with a voodoo Queen of New Orleans, Madame Laveau.

I just finished reading Ocean at the End of the Lane, fantasy fiction for adult readers.  It is the book club selection for August. This was not my favorite book. The main character drove to the Sussex country side where he grew up as a child, after being the speaker at a funeral.  We are not told whose funeral. I thought that was odd.  I thought I missed it and went to the beginning to reread. The main character has no name. Very odd. Anyway, once in the area of his childhood home, he looks for and finds a pond at the end of the lane that he remembers from his childhood. He remembers some strange magical incidents that happened when he was 7 years old.

"Memories were waiting at the edges of things, beckoning to me." The narrator was a sad, lonely, and imaginative child who loved to read.  He found solutions to his problems in books.  He recalls how he met 11 year old Lettie Hempstock, her Mom and grandmom, and was transported to a whole new "other" world.  He recalls how he became the door that let the monster, Ursula Monkton, into his family's lives.

I am about to start an award winning book by Jamaican writer Marlon James, A Brief history of Seven Killings. If this book turns out to have the themes memories, time, and magic (the supernatural), then I think the universe is telling me something.

In a World of Peculiars, Hollows, Wights, Ymbrynes

I am in a time loop in a world of peculiars; disaffected peculiars, who wanted to become immortal and instead turned into hollows;wights, who are in a purgatory-like state, and ymbrynes,who protect peculiar children and who can transform into birds. In this time loop, the peculiars relive the same day every day so they never age. The protagonist, Jacob, can pass through the loop freely from the present to the past and back again.

I am reading the fantasy fiction of Ransom Riggs titled, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, written for young adults. I like the pictures in the book because they make the story seem real, seem possible. The cover is great because it is creepy. I was expecting a scary ghost story but it is more about adventure. We don't get the 100 year old history of the hollows and wights until page 254 close to the end of the book.

I would rate this book 31/2 stars out of 5 even though I have not finished reading it. I find the resolution is taking too long. I am on page 323 and am rushing to complete the end. I like most of what I have read but am not committed enough to this story. This is not one I would recommend for members of my book club. When I get to the end, I will determine  if I want to read the follow up book, Hollow City.

Watch a Novel

I heard you dear reader saying, "Yeah right, how do you watch a novel?  Well, read this very interesting article titled, "Watch a novel being written live."  It is about a new trend in writing novels.  Specifically, it is about a project called The Naked Writer  which was launched on September 12th by British fantasy writer Silvia Hartman.  Hartman invited fans to watch her write her novel, "The Dragon Lords" using Google Docs via her social networks.

Also interesting was this storyteller, Willy Shyr, who had a "crowdsourced" novel published by an Australian newspaper titled, The Necklace.  He invited readers to participate in the actual writing of the novel by submitting their own sentences.  We live in a connected world dear reader.

Fanstasy Fiction: The Alchemyst

We discussed The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel at our book club meeting yesterday.   This is of the fantasy fiction genre so not everyone loved it. This is the first of 6 books in a series, published in 2007, by Irish writer Michael Scott.

The setting is San Francisco. All of the main characters are based on history or mythology. Dr. Dee walked into a bookshop with his goons and foul odor, attacked the owner Nicholas Flamel, and kidnapped his wife Perenelle. Nicholas and Perenelle are the guardians of The Book of Abraham and Dr. Dee was in the bookshop to steal it. Teenagers Sophie and Josh Newman try to help Nicholas and Perry fight off the bad guys and suddenly they find themselves caught up in a world of magic and myths and legends.  They meet humans who have lived for centuries without aging and a non-blood sucking vampire. They have had to flee with Nicholas and they have been followed by rats and later attacked by birds and cats.  They hid in a tree house in the shadow realm of an Elder.  They get help from a Witch with no eyes who can see the future.

I think I  can see the future too. I see a movie with an abundance of special effects coming out of this series.  It is fascinating to me that there really was a Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel in France, that they really did do charitable works and founded hospitals and schools, and that their tombs are both empty.

Our book for discussion next month is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.  The play will be performed in Jacksonville May 1-6.  Atlantic Coast Bank is organizing a trip to St. Augustine then an evening of Les Miserables on May 3rd.