by Mary Saums
The envelope, please ...
And the winner ...
for Best Inspirational Underdog Hero ...
Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks!! Friends, it is GOOD to see a young person work through tough times and setbacks and come out shining. When his star teammates went out with injuries, Lin came off the bench and gave 100% to the team. Sports fans can't help rooting for this humble young kid who excelled when given a chance at his dream.
As Bill Murray's Caddyshack character might say, It's a Cinderella story.
And as we readers and writers know, it's that kind of story we crave. We're in constant search mode for those special books that allow us to follow heroes through their journeys. We want them to be of good character. We want them to rise above bad situations and go forward to help others and save the day.
This morning, when looking through my TBR shelves for the next read, I took out The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths.
Some reviews are printed just inside the cover, and the excerpt from BookPage caught my eye. It says, "Atmospheric [and] witty ... The Crossing Places reassures readers of the continuing power of fiction to envelop and entertain."
That last part, that fiction has the power to envelop and entertain us, strikes me as the real difference between a so-so book and a great one. Envelop? Yes, please.
I want a story that wraps me up so completely, I don't want to come out of it.
I'm about halfway through an audiobook like that. A Discovery Of Witches by Deborah Harkness is so enjoyable, I can hardly make myself turn it off. Last night when my husband and I went to meet friends at a restaurant, I listened on the drive over, through the parking lot and didn't unhook until I sat down at the table.
This book rings several of my chimes, story-wise. Many scenes take place in a library Ding and not just any library, the Bodleian in Oxford. Dingdingdingding!
Diana, the heroine, is descended from the Bishop witches of Salem. She has scorned that inheritance, preferring her academic life as a historian. But the world is about to change. A Discovery of Witches is about the events that force her to be a hero and to acknowledge who she really is, aided by an eminent scientist with many secrets and rock-your-world medieval cribs in the English and French countrysides.
BONGBONGBONGDA-BONGONGONGONGGGGGG ...
Harkness does a wonderful job of balancing the heavy paranormal with equally strong historical and scientific elements and an intriguing and very well-drawn cast of characters. In a way, I'm glad I didn't read this book as soon as it came out. Now I don't have so long a wait for the sequel in June.
Until then, I can catch up on the Elly Griffiths series. After reading only about 25 pages of The Crossing Place, I can see it's living up to the BookPage review. Beautiful evocative atmosphere with the Norfolk marshland setting, near an excavated henge circle, archeaologist heroine. Yes! I can hear distant chimes ready to roll in with the mist ...
Oh, Mary..it;s on my kindle..but now I'm afraid i will dump my important to-do lists and be..enveloped..
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | February 20, 2012 at 07:35 AM
I really, really liked that book as well. Another "enveloping" book that I didn't expect to like was THE NIGHT CIRCUS. Amazing fiction. And I love the feeling of being transported, of hardly being able to wait to find out what happens next. We all aspire to be able to that; it's magic when someone actually achieves it.
Posted by: Charlaine Harris | February 20, 2012 at 02:06 PM
In that case, I'll try The Night Circus. It's one I've almost bought several times. Just not a circus person. The only circus thing that appealed to me was the HBO series Carnivale.
But then, I put off reading Discovery of Witches too. The blurbs all mention the Salem connection which has always been a turn-off for me. So, I was pleased that, though Salem was mentioned occasionally, the book didn't have anything to do with it.
I finished DoW today. Now I want to read it again and take notes. If I can keep from getting caught up in the story again. :)
Posted by: Mary | February 21, 2012 at 04:46 PM
Thank you so much for mentioning The Crossing Places. It sounded exactly like something I'd like to read, so I downloaded the sample to my nook. After reading the sample, I couldn't wait to buy the whole book, despite the fact that I have a personal rule about not spending more than the price of a paperback for an ebook.
I'm almost finished with it because it's very hard to put down. In a quiet way, it does envelop you in its atmosphere and story. An awesome read!
Posted by: Elise M Stone | February 27, 2012 at 08:16 AM
Elise, I'm almost finished with Crossing Places too. I agree completely with all your points about her writing. She's fantastic. Yes, her style is "quiet", isn't it? Love the setting on the marshes. Also love how she quietly makes everyone around Ruth a suspect.
Actually, there isn't anything about the book that I 'don't' love. This series, or anything else she writes, is an automatic buy for me.
Posted by: Mary | February 27, 2012 at 02:50 PM