Blogging for the sake of blogging; books and reading

I just finished another novel, Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel. He is the one that wrote the famous Life if Pi; which I consider one of the best and most interesting books I have read. I purchased Beatrice and Virgil solely because I remembered how much I enjoyed reading Life of Pi. This one was different, thought provoking, deeply symbolic and totally unexpected. I wouldn’t say it was one of the top five best books I have ever read, but I will definitely remember this one. It was actually exhausting in the middle, tiring out your mind and thoughts while attempting to reason just what direction the author is leading you. I wondered how the author was able to come up with all the images and metaphors that are detailed in the words of this book. The one line from Beatrice and Virgil that really hit me was “Those who carry a knife and a pear are never afraid of the dark.” Wow, what a thought; how many ways can this phrase be interpreted by readers? His description of a pear was a beautiful use of the English language and a brilliant piece of writing. The jacket cover describes this one as a “novel” but to me it isn’t novel at all, it is “literature.” I think a person really has to enjoy reading before they would enjoy and appreciate this particular book. Yann Martel’s work should be studied and learned from.

I guess not all books written today are for profit or a potential movie script. I think reading different styles of books and various authors increase a person’s range in enjoying a book. Can a person appreciate and truly enjoy modern day written novels without first reading authors from the past? Can you appreciate the success in story telling without having read works by James A. Michener? Can you get as much out of a novel without having experienced a Morris West novel? I think personally that I enjoy the books I read now which are written within the past decade more because I have previously read several authors from the past fifty years. I also think reading various types of novels and books also widen my enjoyment of the books I now choose. I believe I was able to grasp Beatrice and Virgil easier not because I had read Life of Pi but more because I have also read Watership Down by Richard Adams years ago.

I recommend anyone that likes action/mystery novels also read the three book Big Stone Gap series by Adriana Trigiani. Why does a series of personal growth/semi-romance novels help with novels of a different genre? The character development and storytelling without the drama of an action sequence or blood curdling mystery broadens your sense of the human experience. Like taste buds if you don’t widen your range of foods and flavor profiles you can dull your palate. I think one of the most poignant factors of Beatrice and Virgil is Yann Martel’s statements about the mixture of fiction and non-fiction books.

Reading and books are very personal, which probably keeps the book publishing and book selling business successful in this modern “e-world.” We should encourage the reading and development of the written word. Good storytelling is timeless and the great stories will never leave us. I feel sorry for those who can’t read a good book and I pity those who refuse to read. I hate it when someone says, “I can’t read that, it is a thousand pages.” A good book has no page count and some books make you wish it contained many more pages of that fulfilling story and captivating plot. When I read Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote nothing about the page count, book size, or any physical attribute of the book mattered. The pure emotion and totally engrossing story of this dog took over. Humans should read this book; it will affect you if you are human.

I admire people that can make a living writing. My son-in-law and I recently joked about Nora Roberts having either a herd of trained typing monkeys or a room full of slave labor literature majors cranking out pages of her many juicy romance novels. Maybe it is trained monkeys shooting out pages to slave-editors all who previously had huge gambling debts paid off by Nora. Well it obviously works for her and she is successful. I am at the book store purchasing Nora’s latest for my bride as soon as it hits the shelves. My wife consumes Nora Roberts’ books almost as fast as Nora can crank them out. If she is happy, I’m happy and I bet Nora’s publisher is also happy. He probably doesn’t mind the searing pain from the “I heart Nora” brand on his butt as he rides to the bank in his Bentley. I will give my wife credit; she has and does read other authors than Nora and other than just romance. People that are making a good living writing novels have a skill and I admire this skill. Badly written books help make good books good. Mediocre books make well written books shine even brighter. Authors that can maintain a steady course of enjoyable novels, well written with new elements mixed with the remembered pleasure of the past are the ones keeping book stores in business. When a reader finds one or two of these steady authors, they are truly happy.

Novels are almost organic and reveal much about the author. A person that produces a successful novel which receives public and critical success will unveil their true personality in their following offerings. I have read several “first” novels. I look for these in the bargain books sections. Speaking from a purely speculative aspect I am of the opinion that this “first” novel requires more effort on the author’s part with more personal pressure to not only produce a well written original book but a manuscript that will initially make it past a publisher’s set of hurdles and blockades into print. First novels are interesting to read. When an author doesn’t have tags like “Best Selling” or “Author of” on the covers items such as the title, cover art, and the synopsis written in the jacket cover can be the book’s only selling points. Just getting published is such a feat that it prevents many from even trying, like me. Remember John Kennedy Toole and his Pulitzer Prize winning book A Confederacy of Dunces? It was published eleven years after the author’s suicide. Supposedly he committed suicide after failing to get his book published. First novels reveal the authors raw talent, inexperience, and desire to tell a story. They also have an element which convinced a publisher to spend money. The following works of that author prints how history will remember them.

When and if an author hits the big time, the truth unfolds. That’s when he or she will continue to captivate the readers or the author will let their ego overrun. I have read both, ones successful in writing more good books and those that only sold because of a marketing campaign. In books, art and music you can tell when the creator of such has forgotten what it is like to be hungry. Fame and fortune has ruined a many a poor boy. What is the old cliché? You rise to the level of your incompetence?

Yann Martel brings this to mind in his recent book. I guess I was expecting the same magic in Beatrice and Virgil that I found in Life of Pi. I found something completely unexpected and very though provoking. I can’t really say if the book was good or bad; my thoughts on completing the book was that Martel is a genius that has managed to create new literature for the world. I am glad that I bought the book. Now will the next book I pick up impact my life or disappoint? I guess we will have to find out.