Modern Fan Mail

I am often the first to complain about social media and the Internet. With some many electronic devices competing for our attention these days, it is getting more and more difficult for the old fashioned book to get the time it deserves. But I recently discovered that Twitter and Facebook allow us to communicate with our favorite writers and sometimes even enhance our reading experience. This modern method of fan mail is just fine with me.

Recently, I enjoyed reading Me Before You,  a novel I picked up at the Book Expo last summer in New York.  JoJo Mayes' tale was totally engaging. The book tells the story of a 26-year-old young woman who still lives in her small English town with her parents and has settled for an existence rather than a life.  When she loses her job at a local café, she has to take a job as a caregiver for a bitter male quadriplegic.

Me Before You was one of those books that made me forget everything else I had to do until I finished it early on the MLK holiday Monday. I cried at the ending (no spoilers here).  Later that morning while watching the inauguration and because I follow several writers, I happened to see a tweet from JoJo Mayes, the author whose book I had just tearfully completed. I decided to tweet her about how much I enjoyed her book. I did (see inset) and a few minutes later, she replied, "thanks." I was thrilled. I had actually sent fan mail and gotten an immediate response. How cool is that?

So now I will tweet Barbara Kingsolver and Michael Chabon and more authors and tell each how much I appreciate their writing.  Just in case you are wondering, here are the writers and writing-related folks I follow on Twitter:  Susan Orlean, Very Short Story, Richard Blanco, Eating Our Words, World Book Night, Language Bandit, Bob Goff, Donald Miller, Caitlin Moran, Writer’s Relief, Book Expo America, GrammarHulk, Oscar Wilde, John Green, Marilyn Johnson, Nancy Pearl, Grammar Girl, Smith Magazine, OwnYourStory & Page Turner. I’m sure I will follow more writers now that I realize (finally) that I can communicate directly with my favorites.

Illusions of War

I don’t know how I missed The Gardens of Kyoto by Kate Walbert when it was published in 2002. Perhaps I thought it was set in Japan, which is sometimes a turn off for me or for some other reason, this book was off my radar until a good friend recommended it for my book club recently.

This gem of a book was a New York Times Notable Book and received several other awards. And with good reason. Walbert’s first novel (she had previously published an acclaimed short story collection), The Gardens of Kyoto is a coming of age tale of a young woman during the time of World War II.  The woman’s story reminded me of the TV sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” because the female narrator is telling her child how she met his father. She is addressing the child directly, often saying “your father” even though, as readers, we are unclear who this man is exactly. But the resemblance to HIMYM ends there because this is a dark story about loss and love.

The novel unfolds in a fragmented fashion with different stories unfolding in bits and pieces. The title, Gardens of Kyoto, is actually a book within the book about the beautiful gardens in this treasured place in Japan. The fragmentation of the gardens symbolizes the narrative technique of the book. One of the gardens described in the book leaves “the viewer to fill in the landscape.” This book, too, requires the reader to fill in the gaps and re-read portions until they make sense. The narrator, near the end of the book, says, “We are none of us who we are.”

The book illustrates that illusion with the themes of family secrets that damage lives, the repression of women in those post-war years and the ravages of war. Everyone is damaged in some way by secrets and illusions.  I found this to be an intriguing story beautifully written with all the fragments fitting together at the end.  

Looking Back: Personal Best

Before the year ends, I am compelled to add my Best Books of 2012 to the cyber sphere. I’ve seen several lists in the last week or two and feel like I should look back over the books I read and enjoyed in 2012 and share my favorites.  

First of all, I’ll always remember 2012 as the year I discovered YA author John Green. My older daughter introduced me to him and I quickly read all his books and heard him speak twice in January. It was a big year for Green with the release of The Fault in Our Stars. I know I wasn’t alone in my enjoyable discovery of his books. I also count reading the Australian fiction standout Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey as one of the highlights of my reading year. I will continue to encourage everyone I know to read that soon-to-be classic.

But the book that stands out from all the rest is a novel I haven’t reviewed yet. I didn’t feel I could do it justice. However, I cannot let 2012 end without sharing the most stunning book I read this year, maybe ever. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway, published in 2008, just came to my attention this year, thanks to my book club and dear friends Beverly and Linda.  Words cannot do justice to this perfect novel.

With a theme that offers hope in the midst of a dark situation, this book is based loosely on a true event that took place during the Siege of Sarajevo in 1992. I’m embarrassed to admit that I knew very little about this atrocious violent massacre during the Bosnian War.

The centerpiece of the book is the true story of a professional cellist with the Sarajevo Opera who performed in the midst of a battle zone for 22 days to honor 22 innocent citizens who had been killed while waiting in a bread line. The people of Sarajevo and the music they heard are honored in this book narrated by four main characters. The story is one of humanity and dignity in the face of brutality. The redemptive music is the backdrop for this amazing novel. Don’t make me say it again – read this book.