About that Prince

If you remember, awhile back I received a copy of a book entitled, The Golden Prince. I agreed to read the book and share my thoughts with my readers.

The cover fascinated me. Do you ever choose a book based on the cover artwork? Since I'm a sewing nut I'll say that the sumptuous layers of beautiful fabric certainly attracted me and made me curious.

Here's the exchange I had with the Farmer when the book arrived.

THE GOLDEN PRINCE ARRIVES

As I've said many times I'm just not a lover of fiction and I was curious to see how I'd react to this book. It's historical fiction, based on the life of the Prince of Wales who eventually became King Edward VIII.

The book is a fictional account based on historical fact. When he was a young man Edward VIII fell in love with a young woman, but since she wasn't a royal his father squelched the relationship. The author takes this premise and writes a "what if?...." account. The author sets up circumstances that lead to the prince meeting a warm and interesting family with lots of daughters. He falls in love with one of the sisters and the story expands from there.

There's lot of insight into the strictures of being royal and how limiting that life can be.

It's very interesting and a romantic novel with many interesting characters. It was a quite enjoyable read and timely with the release of the movie "The Kings Speech" based on the struggles of Edward's brother who was forced into the role of King after Edward abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson.

It's also timely read due to the upcoming marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton (a non-royal).

If you're interested in reading "The Golden Prince", leave me a comment. I'll be passing the book along to an interested party.

Now I'm going to prepare for the approaching snowstorm.

Leapfrogging Books

Yes, I'm leapfrogging books again. What's leapfrogging? It's reading more than one book at a time.

I'm getting better about this because I used to have a book in each room and would simply pick up and read based on where I was sitting. My brain can't take that kind of thing anymore so I don't read any more than two books at a time.

Imagine my surprise when someone offered me a book to read and review. Hmmmmm, someone must have gotten word that I was housebound by the weather and without reading material. Yes, we have about 1,000 books in the house, stashed in various bookshelves in every room. Have I read them all? Mostly, but I draw the line at the Farmer's 1997 U.S. Tax Codes which is a little dry for my tastes.

Probably the number one reason the book fascinated me was the cover.



Look at that sumptuous fabric, those beautiful folds in the ball gown. Gosh, I'll never wear a ball gown in my life so this is the closest I'll get.

The book was sitting on the kitchen table when the Farmer spied it.

"What's that?"

"Someone sent me a book to read and review."

"It looks like fiction. You don't read fiction."

At this point I take a moment to think about his observation. Can the cover alone denote fiction. In the Farmer's case it can.

"I know, I know.... I don't really like fiction but I thought I'd give it another try. The book sounds fascinating. It's about Edward VIII, and you know how I love history."

The book is actually based on historical fact. When he was still the Prince of Wales and serving in World War I, Edward fell in love with a pretty Red Cross nurse. Although the woman was aristocratic (the daughter of a Duke), in the eyes of Edward's stern father she was a commoner and thus, he refused to allow them to marry. Rebecca Dean has taken those facts and created a fictionalized account.

The whole subject seems quite interesting in light of the fact that Edward's great-nephew is marrying a commoner with the blessings of the royals.

A short way into the book and I'm already in trouble. It really has nothing to do with authors, it has to do with the fact that I lack the ability to "suspend belief" and simply enjoy a story. It's me. The other problem is that I know too much. Seriously, my brain is jammed with thousands and thousands of bits of information that I may or may not ever need. That is why I was always captain of the trivia team when I worked at the local newspaper.

Here's an example of the type of trouble I get myself into when reading fiction. The author states that the main character steps over her chocolate colored lab. The brain comes to a screeching halt. Chocolate colored lab? I'm pretty sure that chocolate colored labs did not appear until the 1930's. A quick trip to the internet reveals that at the turn of the century labs were actually called St. John's water dogs and they were black.

Do you see how crazy I am? When reading fiction I'm often calling out loud for the author's home phone number because I'm wanting to quibble over pretty insignificant details. I'm crazy that way.

Anyway, I'll continue to read with interest and struggle to calm my crazy tendencies.

I'm pretty sure this post isn't exactly what the marketing group had in mind when they offered the book for my opinion. But...... I gotta be me!!

Dandelion Wine

My friend Cindy is a writer, a real writer, the kind that gets a degree and spends a lifetime honing her craft. She doesn't write simply when the mood strikes her. For years she produced a weekly column for her local newspaper, pulling from her life experience for inspiration.

I once read something by an author who said that he often sat in front of a blank typewriter until beads of blood formed on his brow. Yeah, sometimes writing can be that hard.

It is sometimes true for reading also. There are books that simply do not grab your interest. I can read 50 or 60 pages and decide that it's no longer worth my time or effort to continue. When I was young I had the crazy idea that reading War and Peace was a good idea. Pretty soon I was lost in a sea of characters whose names gave me a headache. I quit.

About ten years ago I was mentoring a young co-worker who was making at attempt to get a college education, the first in his family to do so. He was having some difficulties in a literature class and I said I'd read Grapes of Wrath along with him. Pretty soon my head was hurting. I could barely get through a page a day. I was afraid to say anything lest I squelch any enthusiasm for the work on his part.

One day he called and said, "I want to start a bonfire. Gotta any logs? I've got kindling."

"What do you mean?" I queried.

"This book is the worst, ever," he replied.

I could not disagree and we entered into a conversation as to why it sat on us like lead weights.

For me it was just so heavy handed. It's dry. It's dusty. It's poor. It's chaos. It's melodramatic. It's all too much. Page after page Steinbeck hits you over the head with the images. I got it. Seriously, I got it on page 3, and 6, 7, 9, 42, 53, 135......ad nauseum. It's a literary version of that bird that's singing in my yard.

For those of you who love the book, that's fine. Very knowledgeable people declare that it's a classic, so who am I to say otherwise? We all understand that tastes in reading are as varied as tastes in food or wine, which brings me to the wine. Dandelion wine to be exact. My friend Cindy had suggested the book, "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury.

I purchased a paperback copy on Amazon for a penny plus shipping.



It has a lovely stylized illustration on the cover, although I'm sure that neither Bradbury nor his mother actually looked like this.



The book is a collection of stories loosely based on his childhood here in northern Illinois. Shortly after the book arrived I carefully set up my nightstand with a small snack and something to drink. When everything was just right I climbed into bed under the covers to read. I read five pages, ten page, twenty-five pages. Oh gosh!! This is not grabbing me. It simply is not resonating with me and I was feeling very confused because I know that Cindy has very good taste in books.



Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the paperback was older, yellowing around the edges, produced in a very small typeface.

Finally, I gave up and laid the book aside on my bedroom bookcase. Maybe in the future I would pick it up and try again.

Months later I picked up the book again and found myself engrossed. I started from the beginning, page one, and was soon captured and engaged. What was the difference? Why, the first time around, did I find it so strangely unappealing? Why? Because I tried to read Dandelion Wine in the wintertime!!

This is a summertime book, something Cindy realized. She reads it once a year, at the beginning of summer. Great plan. I shall do the same.

As for giving Steinbeck another shot...... I think not.

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Cindy LaFerle has written her own book. It's entitled "Writing Home" which is a memoir and a collection of stories of home and family life. Proceeds of new book sales go to organizations supporting the homeless.

WRITING HOME

Her blog:

CINDY LA FERLE'S HOME OFFICE

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How about you? Do you ever give a book a second chance?