Pi and Pie

The completed books list now stands at this:

1) JANE EYRE--Charlotte Bronte

2) WHOSE BODY?--DL Sayers

3) U IS FOR UNDERTOW--Sue Grafton

4) LIFE OF PI--Yann Martel

Currently, my favorite book so far this year is LIFE OF PI. It's unlike any book I've read before, although it sits squarely in the Man (Boy) vs. Nature camp.

I was stuck in snow traffic for several days, so I was able to read the whole book over the course of only a few days. Once I got home, every time I looked at my cat, I saw a miniature tiger. I told my daughter that she needed to read the book. She told me an amusing anecdote in return: "I was talking to J one time, and was telling him I'd just read an absolutely awesome book. He said, 'Was it about a boy and a tiger in a lifeboat?'" That was his way of recommending the book to her in return.

Most telling of that was that she has now forgotten what book she was going to recommend to him. My guess is, it was CITY OF ASHES, since she raved about that book around the time she was reading it.

I am now on to my fifth book of the year, that being THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, by I forget whom. I'm enjoying it very much. It's an epistolary novel, and I always think that kind of book "reads fast," but again, I had a lot of time in airports this week, so I read the majority of it over the course of a couple of days. I only have ten percent to go. Yes, it's on my Kindle.

Again, the book is not following a basic plot structure. This one hops all over the map, more like a patchwork quilt than a linear plot line. When I studied the Feminist Literary Tradition, the concept of a patchwork quilt plot was very popular as a concept.

Being a writer, I have spent my entire writing life trying to create a book that appeals, but also maight have a tiny chance at commercial success. My novels are plot-driven. They are like movie scripts, or they follow an Aristotelian structure. So, the fact that I have now read two best sellers of the last couple years, and neither of them even remotely resembles Aristotelian plot structure has me questioning what I've been doing all along. CATCH 20XX, the book I've had so much trouble trying to revise, is the one book I didn't create by following Aristotle or Blake Snyder's save the cat structure. My one test reader kind of panned it, so I tried to change the structure to more of a movie script thing. Maybe that was a big mistake.

Maybe my gut's been right about this all along. I guess I should reread the first version again. But this time, I know something about the characters that I didn't figure out till last week. They are on a quest, but it's more of a Biblical style quest.

Yet more work cut out for me. I think I need to go finish GL&PPPS instead...

Comments

[Readitsomeday]

Including your review, I have heard a lot of great things about Life of Pi and the Author Yann Martel. He has a new novel coming out this year, Beatrice And Virgil. ReadItSomeday

[Christine Cook]

I was just talking with someone about the book, and he asked me if Yann Martel had come out with something new. Well, there you have it, the answer is yes, in an "about-to-be-published" kind of way. Thanks for the scoop!

[breitlingwatch]

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