Leaping From The Box

As I mentioned yesterday, I first heard of Ann Packer a couple of weeks ago on NPR. She was being interviewed about her newest book, Songs Without Words. Since I’m too cheap right now to go out and buy her new book, I instead added it to my wish list on PaperbackSwap.com and then ordered one of her older novels, The Dive From Clausen’s Pier.

As the title might suggest, a diving accident is the beginning plot element around which the rest of the novel is written. Packer gives us a cast of characters that are well developed and believable. As I was reading The Dive From Clausen’s Pier, the characters became almost more real to me than those around me in real life. I cared about how they were reacting to the events in their lives, worried about the directions in which they were headed, was saddened by changes in their life-long friendships, and rooted for them to find their way back to some sense of normalcy and acceptance.

Best of all, Packer gave an ending that was believable and not all neatly tidied up. I usually like nice neat endings, but Packer wrote an ending that was not what I expected, having the main character make a choice that seemed almost disappointing in the short run, but infinitely more realistic. Based upon my enjoyment of The Dive From Clausen’s Pier, I am eagerly awaiting Songs Without Words. I look forward to richly developed characters and believable situations in which the characters must work through to some new self-awareness.

Penelope is still at the shop and we do not have a clue when she’ll be done. Her bodywork was finished last week, but there was a noise the shop couldn’t pinpoint. She went to another shop and had her front end aligned, but that didn’t end the noise. Now the diagnosis seems to be a new steering box, but since that is over a certain dollar amount, the shop has to go back to the insurance company for approval of additional expenditures. So there Penelope sits, waiting for approval. And here I don’t sit, because while we’re down to one vehicle I get to be the chauffeur, driving Bill to work, driving David to college, picking them up, taking people here and there to appointments, etc. David has taken the bus a few times to college, but for an 11:15 class he has to leave here at 9:30, and it only takes 20 minutes to drive there. So most days I drive him there.

There is an upside to all this driving, though; listening to the local NPR radio station. For some reason I do not remember to turn the radio on at home, preferring to listen to Folk Alley. I get more accomplished at home when I listen to music. But I love NPR for all the great interviews, book reviews and talk shows they offer daily and it’s great company in the car.

Of course, there is also a downside to NPR; it spurs on my reading habit. After listening to interviews of authors who have new books coming out and listening to book reviews, I now have more books that I want to read. I have to keep a pad of paper handy in the car so I can jot down author names and book titles of those that sound really interesting. And when I get home, I head to PaperbackSwap to see if I can acquire a copy. If reading is my habit of choice, PaperbackSwap is my enabler. Most of the books I have read this past year have come from PaperbackSwap, and when I am done with them, I relist them and swap them back for more! If you like to read, check out PaperbackSwap. And if you decide to join, I would greatly appreciate it if you would use my email address ( wdkmg@pipeline.com ) as your “sponsor.” That will gain me a book credit! Thanks!

NPR and PaperbackSwap are the reasons for no blog post yesterday. I was engrossed in The Dive From Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer, an author I listened to a couple of weeks ago on NPR. But more about that tomorrow, when I post my review!

I have never read Dracula or any Ann Rice novels, much to my daughter’s great dismay. Whatever knowledge I have of Dracula’s story probably comes from some Saturday afternoon “Monster Movie Matinee” television version that I watched as a child. Vampire lore has just never really appealed to me. But something about the blurb on the back cover of The Historian (by Elizabeth Kostova) intrigued me, even though the story revolves around the search for Dracula. Maybe it was the mention of the fifteenth-century, a fascinating period in European history. Maybe it was the words “dusty libraries” and “capitals of Eastern Europe” that appealed to my love of books and travel. Whatever it was, I am very glad I picked up Kostova’s book!

Kostova writes with an evocative voice, describing people and places with a surety that leads the reader to believe she is relating actual experiences from her own past. The story intertwines three different searches for Dracula and missing friends and/or family members spanning sixty years. Each search is dependent upon the knowledge acquired from the previous search and at times it does become confusing deciphering which search one is reading about and in which time period. As search builds upon search, ultimately the reader discovers that Dracula is not the only quest, but also Kostova’s mother, whom she had thought was long dead and whom is now feared to be among Dracula’s undead.

The pace of The Historian seemed slow to begin with, but by the last third of the book I only wanted to keep reading until I discovered the ending. I found the writing wonderfully detailed and rich, the historical settings compelling, and the Middle Ages history fascinating, even if it did pertain to Dracula! As a first novel, Elizabeth Kostova has set the bar high and I eagerly anticipate reading her next book.