Leslie Gould

Writers Faire

I will be selling and signing books with over 40 other authors on Tuesday, December 1, starting at 7 p.m. at the Willamette Writers Faire. If you're in the Portland area, stop by the Old Church (corner of SW 11th and Clay) and do some serious Christmas shopping--while supporting local artists. There will also be an Open Mic for people who would like to pitch their books or their stories. I would love to see you there!

A Thousand Splendid Suns

We’ve been battling the flu at our house, yes, the dreaded H1N1 virus. The good thing about being a writer is that I never have to miss a day of work. (The bad thing? I never have to miss a day of work.) On several days during the last two weeks I’ve found myself hanging out with my youngest, watching reality TV shows, and writing on my laptop. Amazingly, I've met my word count goal for those days. (I’ve reminded my youngest that the older kids were only allowed to watch PPS when they were home sick…not that we had cable back then. Oh, the benefits of being the caboose.)

I’ve also done a little bit of reading, including devouring A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini in one day. I could not put the novel down, even as I was stirring chicken noodle soup for dinner. Like The Kite Runner, Hosseini's first novel, this too is an amazing story. The structure is clean and defined and Hosseini develops the characters scene-by-scene, chapter-by-chapter. This story, also like The Kite Runner, covers decades and provides a survey of the history of modern day Afghanistan.

Women are the subject of A Thousand Splendid Suns, and when I finished the last sentence I had two conflicting thoughts. The first: How can the U.S.’s involvement in Afghanistan make a lasting difference? The second: How can it not make a lasting difference? Please let there be hope for these women…for these children…for these men.

If you haven’t read A Thousand Splendid Suns I recommend it. Hosseini is a master storyteller. (And thank you to our friend Diana for loaning it to me. Peter enjoyed it too. He read it first and then handed it to me the second he was done.)

Recommendation

One of the best books that I've read recently is The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss. I heard Gloss read a passage from the novel in May at PSU, and the scene she chose brought tears to my eyes. The novel is about a young woman breaking horses in 1917 in Eastern Oregon. Gloss's voice is pitch-perfect throughout the story. It reminded me of my grandfather's tone when he told old stories about being a cowboy on the high desert--all matter of fact with no drama. You had to really listen because his voice didn't change, even when someone got shot. But his stories were so good you couldn't help but listen. (My grandfather was 17 in 1917--probably another reason I really enjoyed the novel.) Ultimately The Hearts of Horses is a story about finding one's self within a community--and finding love along the way. It's a beautiful story.

Another Favorite Novel

The Quiet American by Graham Greene is another one of my favorite books. It was written between 1952 and 1955 and, as it turned out, is a rather prophetic introduction to America's struggles in Southeast Asia. The character Phuong, a young Vietnamese woman, is a metaphor for Vietnam, and Pyle, a "boyish" American, is a metaphor for--you guessed it--America. The whole story, narrated from the point-of-view of a British journalist, is a metaphor for America's involvement there. But it’s not a simplistic story in any way--it’s a beautifully written and layered story. The film with Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser, which was filmed in Ho Chi Minh City near where we stayed, is very good too.

I bought the novel at Powell's to read while we were in Vietnam. As it turned out, I could have saved the packing space--photocopied editions of the novel were available on nearly every street corner around the Rex Hotel. There are no copyright laws in Vietnam--you can buy reproductions of Monets, Van Goghs, and Da Vinci's too. I passed on those and intended to pass on purchasing photocopied books--but after nearly five weeks, two-and-a-half more than we expected, I ran out of reading material and purchased a couple of photocopied books. (Amazing what desperation does to morals!)

Happy reading,
Leslie

Two favorite books about Vietnam

Back to the list of my favorite books...here are two more, and it's no coincidence that they're both about Vietnam (one of my favorite subjects):

1. Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam, by Andrew X. Pham. This is one of my favorite non-fiction books and one of my favorite books about Vietnam. It explores themes of identity, home, and loss as it weaves the Pham family’s life in Vietnam during the war and aftermath, their fight for survival in California, and the account of Andrew’s return to Vietnam as a Viet-kieu. The writing is lyrical and offers some of the best sensory descriptions that I have ever read.

2. The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War, by Denise Chong. This is also non-fiction. It’s about the girl in that picture, the photo of the naked girl running after being hit during a napalm drop, the photo that helped turned American sentiment against the Vietnam War. It’s also about faith and redemption and amazing love. Kim Phuc’s story is one of the most amazing accounts that I have ever read. I can’t recommend it enough.

Second fav novel...

My second all-time favorite novel is Cloudstreet, by Tim Winton, an Australian author. The novel was published in 1991, and we read it—sometime in that decade, maybe towards the middle—in our book group. The novel is set in post-WWII Perth, Western Australia and is about two unfortunate families, the Pickles and the Lambs, living in the same house. Cloudstreet includes themes of community, family, and reconciliation. The lyrical writing, the character Fish, the setting, and the ending of the novel are especially amazing. The mother, Oriel Lamb, is also a striking character. I've thought of her often, over the years, and wondered who Tim Winton knew or what he experienced to be able to create her.

I've read several other Tim Winton novels, most recently Dirt Music (2003). Again, the setting is incredible and one of the main characters, Luther Fox, has stayed with me through the years. The other characters, not so much though.

That's the beauty of Cloudstreet. It has a full cast of memorable characters.

Tim Winton has been called Australia's best novelist. I'm no judge of that, but I do know that he's one of my favorite writers.

Favorite Books: To the Lighthouse

Happy New Year! In celebration of 2008, I’m going to start blogging about my favorite books—both novels and creative nonfiction. This list isn’t complete in anyway, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve left out many of my favorites. So…when I’m done with the list, in a few weeks or months, remind me (those of you who read along with me—Lib, fellow bookgroupies, etc.) of what I’ve left off. And let me know what your favorites are too—and if you agree or disagree with mine.

Okay, here I go. My favorite all-time novel is To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

Did that make you raise an eyebrow or two? Last term, in my book promotion class, a guest speaker had all of us students say what are favorite novel was. When I declared mine, she raised an eyebrow (I’m always so amazed with people who can raise just one eyebrow—two of my children can do that) and said, “Interesting choice.” Hmmm.

Anyway, like I said, my all-time favorite novel is To the Lighthouse. I read it in college and figured out that Virgnia Woolf was also my favorite short-story author. I had been reading her stories for years, since junior high, in a couple of old collections that belonged to my father. It wasn’t until I read To the Lighthouse that I registered her name—and really came to appreciate her. (And her other work too, Mrs. Dalloway and A Room of One's Own in particular.)

What do I love about To the Lighthouse? The stream of consciousness writing, the mother, the children, the brilliant but aloof father, the setting on the Isle of Skye, and the shift from the first section, “The Window,” that focuses on the domestic details, both interior and exterior, of the Ramsay family and their guests, to “Time Passes,” that explores the family’s empty vacation home and its decay. The third section, “The Lighthouse,” is about the members of the family who return to take a trip across the water to the lighthouse, a trip that had been planned years before. The novel explores the changes in the family and the losses that flatten the Ramsays into only a memory of what they had been before. It’s not as depressing as it sounds, not really. But it is haunting. I’ve read it a couple of more times over the years and have liked it just as much, probably even more, than the first time I read it all those years ago.

Here’s to reading old favorites—and discovering new favorites in 2008.

Love,
Leslie

The Shack

I heard about The Shack for a couple of months before I read it. My friend Marilyn Weisenburg, whose soldier-son was killed in Iraq, told me and other members of a group that we all belong to about the novel. Then she bought copies for all of us—she liked it that much.

The author, William P. Young, weaves a convincing character, a devastating loss, and understandable theology into an awe inspiring novel. Young presents the Trinity (don’t you love the word? the way it sounds? what it means?) in a way that brings deep hope and intense comfort to the reader.

Once I started reading The Shack I couldn’t put it down, and now my husband is racing through it too. The book is sublime. After a tragic start, the story transported me to a safe and beautiful place. Now, a week after I finished reading The Shack, I want to start all over and read it again. (Last night I picked up the book and thumbed through the pages. It’s black print on paper, like all books without pictures, but still I was a little surprised. I marveled, again, at the color and power and emotions that all of those words created.)

I can’t even speculate what experiences of loss and love led Young to write The Shack, but he is obviously a humble person who has known immense sorrow and profound joy. Check out his website and blog for more details. (You can also order books from this site.)

This novel (oh, the power of fiction) has changed the way I think. And now I also have a list of people that I want to buy copies for. I’m so thankful that Marilyn bought a copy for us—that she did more than just recommend The Shack.