By JK, on September 11th, 2009 I was reading an article in this Saturday’s Globe on the canning/preserving craze that’s sweeping the nation, and it re-ignited a simmering desire I’ve had to read a good pioneer-living novel. Because while the 18 uses of one hog or the healing properties of the cranberry make some people run for the hills, I find it completely fascinating. I have enough trouble surviving the Long Winter with central heating and the grocery store two minutes away.
I think my fascination started when I was hooked on Little
In my younger days
House on the Prairie (the books and the television series) as a kid. (Incidentally, my celeb lookalike? Totally Melissa Gilbert.) Now that I’m older, I’ve got a penchant for hist-fic that’s heavy on the how-to-survive-the-winter details. I’ve read all of Diana Gabaldon’s Jamie and Claire books, which I enjoy both for the bodice ripping and the old-timey medicines and food preparation.
In any case, I’ve been craving a little pioneer savvy lately, and want some recommendations. Should I be Roughing it in the Bush with Ms. Moodie? (I confess, by avoiding CanLit classes in university, I missed out on this classic canon fodder). So rather than recommending, I’m looking for help: Leave [...]
By JK, on April 23rd, 2009 While book lovers almost universally malign their favourite books being turned into movies, reading books simply because one has seen the movie is also often frowned upon. After the books are tarted up with movie covers and showered in media coverage, their new mass appeal gives them a sort of nouveau-riche celebrity. But really, this knee-jerk snobbery is founded on an overly biased and likely faulty assumption that film is somehow inherently inferior to literature, and that the two mediums can’t enrich one another. Or perhaps I’m just saying that because I can think of two books I’ve read recently that jumped up in the interminable “to be read” queue by virtue of their film adaptations.
Of course having seen the movie already inevitably affects our experience of the book. Most importantly, we already know the plot, so the book itself is forced to rely on its other strengths. And as I picked up Charles Frazier’s celebrated novel Cold Mountain, I hoped that my reading experience would be undiminished by my familiarity with (and appreciation of) the movie (2003, Directed by Anthony Minghella, who also wrote the adapted screenplay).
But before we get into it, a brief synopsis for those who haven’t [...]
By JK, on April 13th, 2009 With a history degree and two English degrees under my belt, it’s safe to say I’m a big fan of historical fiction. It’s also safe to say that the best histfic I’ve ever read is Sandra Gulland‘s Josephine trilogy (The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.; Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe; The Last Great Dance on Earth). These novels are written as the diary of Josephine Bonaparte (nee Beauharnais), the first wife of Napoleon: the first novel following the outbreak of the French Revolution, the second chronicling Napoleon‘s rise to power, and the third depicting his fall. Now admittedly French history is among my favourite historical topics; however, even if it’s not yours this is mesmerizing stuff. In fact, forget reading the rest of this, just go buy them now! (The box set is a steal on amazon).
So when Sandra Gulland wrote another novel, 2008′s Mistress of the Sun, I was thrilled. With Mistress of the Sun she’s wound the clock back 150 years to portray another complicated historical personage – Louis XIV, the sun king. As with Napoleon, Gulland does a good job at depicting Louis as a young, tender ruler, before he is hardened by [...]
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