SoWal Book Lovers

[Teresa]

I love many kinds of books, but my favorite is a good historical fiction epic novel. Just finished Ahab's Wife by Sena Naslund. The story was rich, wonderful, and beautifully written...

amazon description...
It has been said that one can see farther only by standing on the shoulders of giants. Ahab's Wife, Sena Naslund's epic work of historical fiction, honors that aphorism, using Herman Melville's Moby-Dick as looking glass into early-19th-century America. Through the eye of an outsider, a woman, she suggests that New England life was broader and richer than Melville's manly world of men, ships, and whales. This ambitious novel pays tribute to Melville, creating heroines from his lesser characters, and to America's literary heritage in general.
here is an online review that summarizes very nicely...

Author Naslund takes up the tale of the young wife Ahab mentions but briefly in Moby Dick. It takes place during and after the loss of the Pequod during its fatal hunt for the great White Whale and is the first-person memoir of Una Spenser.This book is so literary, so well crafted for its subject that I can't believe it was written in 1999 and not in the late 1800's. Only a few anachronisms betray the modern date for Ahab's Wife. (A mention of kiwi fruit for one, they were not cultivated outside of China nor known as Kiwi until the early 1900's)
Una Spenser (named for Spenser's character in the Faerie Queene) is a courageous yet imaginative heroine. She struggles against God, against slavery, against traditional women's' roles in pre-Civil War America, runs away to sea, and meets Captain Ahab after a harrowing experience aboard ship.
The scope of this book is grand and it is written a bit in style that pays homage to Melville, grasping some of Melville's poetry and symbology of Nature and also the sexual ambiguity. But Naslund also stitches in a bit of Virginia Woolf and To The Lighthouse. Sections of Melville's work are patched in to form a smooth story of Ahab's soul mate, his female side, Una, whom he loved and abandoned for his destiny with Moby Dick.
In fact, this book reminds me of the patchwork quilts mentioned many times in Ahab's Wife. The pieces are stitched together (12 stitches to the inch, Una can sew) in colors that blend to make a pleasing whole. Yet pieces of fabric come from many diverse sources, such as the Melville classic and Woolf as well as others.
This is a brilliant achievement of a novel yet reads like a magnificent yarn. Naslund is not only a master writer but also a master storyteller. I could not put this book down until I finished every last page and I am going to re-read it immediately.

So far though, I believe Ahab's Wife is my favorite for this year.

Do you have a favorite epic novel?

[shakennotstirred]

Thanks for sharing this suggestion. I really enjoy historical fiction - this one is going on my "to read" list.

[Teresa]

Thanks for sharing this suggestion. I really enjoy historical fiction - this one is going on my "to read" list.

It will not disappoint.

Minnie - the Wilderness Series sounds very interesting. Just downloaded to kindle (book 1). I think you told me about this a long time ago! thanks!

[Minnie]

I love Sara Donati's Wilderness Series, basically takes up the story of the Last of the Mohicans. The Queen of Swords which is book 5 was my favorite as it was set in New Orleans during the War of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans.

Love the Rose trilogy by Jennifer Donnelly which starts in the time period of Jack the Ripper and just finished The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, and loved, loved it. I am reading Kate Morton's House at Riverton right now.

I like Phillippa Gregory too, but only in small doses.

[Teresa]

I love Sara Donati's Wilderness Series, basically takes up the story of the Last of the Mohicans. The Queen of Swords which is book 5 was my favorite as it was set in New Orleans during the War of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans.

Love the Rose trilogy by Jennifer Donnelly which starts in the time period of Jack the Ripper and just finished The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, and loved, loved it. I am reading Kate Morton's House at Riverton right now.

I like Phillippa Gregory too, but only in small doses.

Minnie: Just finished all 6 books (on kindle): Wilderness Series by Sara Donati. Loved the whole saga! My kind of reading. Thank you for the wonderful recommendation. I enjoyed reading about such an interesting/mixed family in early American history.

The books in the series are (1) Into the Wilderness (2) Dawn on a Distant Shore (3) Lake in the Clouds (4) Fire Along the Sky (5) Queen of Swords (6) The Endless Forest.

http://www.saralaughs.com/

[Minnie]

Minnie: Just finished all 6 books (on kindle): Wilderness Series by Sara Donati. Loved the whole saga! My kind of reading. Thank you for the wonderful recommendation. I enjoyed reading about such an interesting/mixed family in early American history.

The books in the series are (1) Into the Wilderness (2) Dawn on a Distant Shore (3) Lake in the Clouds (4) Fire Along the Sky (5) Queen of Swords (6) The Endless Forest.

http://www.saralaughs.com/

Glad you liked it. I have recently read some other really good books you might enjoy.

The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose and The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. Great trilogy.
If you have not read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, loved it. There are 7 books.
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
South of Broad by Pat Conroy
Roses by Leila Meacham
The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey