"...said to have been found in the arms of a dead German sailor..." — Erik Larson
Erik Larson admitted that he was a bit nervous at the prospect of writing about the sinking of the Lusitania for his latest book, 'Dead Wake.' It's a well-known incident, though I have to say that "sinking of the Lusitania" probably summarized the extent of what I knew about it before reading the book.
But what Larson does is much more than historical non-fiction. To this reader, he epitomizes the way history should be taught; through story. He has an amazing ability to put readers into the worldview of his non-fictional characters, to the extent that we find ourselves rooting against the history we know happened.
I spent some time exploring this notion with Larson, which becomes even more complicated in this book. In Captain Walther Schwieger, Larson has found a character to whom our reaction is very conflicted. We like this man, and by all accounts he ran a nice U-boat. I found myself (Larson told me I was not alone in this) wanting him to sink something big — just not the Lusitania. We even admire his ambitiousness at going for the big game.
In spite of his own conflicts about writing a book on such a well-known incident, Larson went ahead, because, he told me, "I wanted to write a historical maritime thriller." In that he has admirably succeeded. Again, as readers, our reactions to this book are themselves interesting. For me this book about well-known history was probably more exciting than a fictional novel in the same setting.
The tension that Larson creates as we wait for the inevitable is intense but well earned. You do not want to (or need to) skip ahead to find out what happens. You want to read every word, carefully, and savor the book as it unfolds.
04-17-15 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 201: Erik Larson, Dead Wake
Click image for audio link.
Here's the two-hundred and first episode of my series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read, or when I warn the writer in advance, the lightning round. This is turning out to be really fun, and especially since I get to take on my game show host persona.
This week, I'm way behind, but who knows what the hell might happen. I am hoping to get back up and stumbling. I have lots of great books in the hopper to review and lots of great interviews to podcast.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
The two-hundred and first episode is a look at Erik Larson and 'Dead Wake.'
"...I looked up some of the old books..." — Peter Bell
I met Peter Bell at a lonely pub in the midst of the wilds of Yorkshire; the Lamb Inn. It was overcast, cool and breezy. We were the only customers, sitting in a cozy booth looking out onto the dour day and discussing his stories of life, death and life after death. The Lamb Inn served Black Sheep ale. It could not have been a better setting.
It won't surprise anyone to learn that Bell is a quiet man with a strong sense of story. When he gets going, there's a bit of melody in his voice, a sort of distant tune from a place in the wild. We sat, sipped and chatted about his stories, and the landscapes that inspire them. There's landscape to spare in Yorkshire, none of it conventionally pretty, but with a raw appeal that has an undeniable draw. It wants you to walk out into it and never return.
We talked about both of his collections; 'Strange Epiphanies' and 'A Certain Slant of Light.' It turns out that Bell, for all that he writes of being indebted to M. R. James, is also a fan of a more recent writer of the strange, that is, Ramsey Campbell. 'Conservation' from 'A Certain Slant of Light' is set in Campbell territory. But again, he's more than his admitted influences; to me Bell is a true original. And he hits a high mark for quality with every story.
For this reader, the ghost story offers perhaps the greatest potential of any genre trope, and Peter Bell is a master of the ghost story. But these aren't just the shades of the dead. Peter Bell's protagonists may be buried in ancient books, landscape and architectures, but it is their own doubts that haunt them.
Peter Bell and I talked for 45 minutes, and then for another seven in a "lightning round" interview. We sipped ales and let the silence of the pub ring through us. Then he bid me good-bye, and told me that he was going for a walk. He struck out across a trackless field and disappeared. Clouds, sun, old barns and houses in the fields.
04-15-15 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 200: Peter Bell 'A Certain Slant of Light' and 'Strange Epiphanies'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the two-hundredth episode of my series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read, or when I warn the writer in advance, the lightning round. This is turning out to be really fun, and especially since I get to take on my game show host persona.
This week, I'm way behind, but who knows what the hell might happen. I am hoping to get back up and stumbling. I have lots of great books in the hopper to review and lots of great interviews to podcast.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
