Many thanks to my friend Pam for sharing this fun pic of the
perfect hoodie to wear while working on your book blog! If your
Superpowers are Reading & Writing, you could use one of these!
*******************
The title of this month's post ~ Advising Alma ~ is in honor of the fact that I just finished reading
A Gentleman in Moscow, in which all of the words in all of the chapter titles begin with
"A": An Anglican Ashore; Advent; An Actress, an Apparition, an Apiary; Arachne's Art; Absinthe; America; Achilles Agonistes; And Anon;
and so forth.
As the author asserts:
What’s with All the A-Words in the Chapter Titles?
As you’ve probably noted, all of the book’s chapters are titled with words beginning in A. Why is that so? To be perfectly honest, I don’t have a good answer. Early in the drafting of the novel, I had the instinct that I should follow the rule, and I trusted that instinct. One reader has suggested that it was my own version of playing “Zut”; another has suggested it was a tribute to the first letters in the names Alexander and Amor; a third has suggested it was because the book is about new beginnings. All of these answers strike me as excellent!
~Amor Towles
So, back to advising Alma, my sweet friend
& helpful translator when I visited Medellin ~ Colombia,
who wrote to me a few months ago:
A: I wanted to ask you if you’ve read anything from
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie?
K: I read
Americanah and would say that it's good, not great. However, I know it was wildly popular. Maybe I'm in a small minority who didn't find it appealing; but, to me, it did not seem novelistic; so many characters were introduced but never developed, which I always find disappointing. I suppose I should read more by her but I probably won't. Life is so short, one has to pick and choose.
A: So I've been reading
Americanah for about two weeks now. If I had read it in a different time of my life, I might not have liked it as much; but currently I've related in some way to her story as an immigrant in the U.S.
Earlier this year I wanted to read all of Jane Austen's books, and got all the way to
Mansfield Park, but struggled a lot with the female characters.
K: Yes, I can see that.
A: So I was looking to read something with a strong female, and hopefully immigrant, character; and that's when I found
Americanah.
K: I'll try to think of some more for you!
A: Please do! I'm about to finish it and am looking for my next book for the train rides.
K: Oh fun! Where are you headed?
A: Well, on my daily commutes.
K: I see what you mean! I thought maybe you were taking Amtrak coast to coast!
A: I wish!! Just to NYC!
*******************
K: Alma, not to disrespect Jane Austen, but you might have a little more fun with these two novels that I have greatly enjoyed in the last year or so -- both written by women:
1. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry ~ by Gabrielle Zevin
A.J. is man, who owns a bookstore, but he shares the lead with
Amelia, a traveling book agent, and his surprising daughter, Maya.
So, plenty of strong women to keep you inspired on your commute!
No spoilers here, here, or here!
2. The Truth According to Us ~ by Annie Barrows
Lots of amazing women and a lot of interesting U.S. history."Jottie's mind flicked over her own heedless childhood, recalling the protection and authority she hadn't even known she enjoyed. How light and lordly she'd been, how free, how certain that her happiness was the product of her own virtues and powers. How wrong she'd been. How foolish. And how very, very lucky.
"If only Willa could have what I had, Jottie mourned. If only she could be so certain and proud. It was an illusion every child should have. And Willa was losing it, right before her eyes" (83).
"So the story wasn't over. No story was ever really over" (155).
"Let the history commence . . . " (217).
A: Thank you! I started
The Truth According to Us and am loving it!
I’m so curious about what’s going to happen!
. . . a few weeks later . . .
A: I was thinking about you today, as I finished
The Truth According to Us. What I thought was super funny, was that at the end of the edition that I have, there's an interview with the author where they ask her what she thinks the book is about, and she doesn't mention what
I think it's about! Haha!
K: So happy to hear you liked it and curious to hear more about your favorite aspects!
*******************
K: I might have already mentioned this book awhile back; if so please forgive duplication. It's a memoir rather than a novel, but one of the best immigration narratives EVER:
Stealing Buddha's Dinner ~ by Bich Nguyen
And of course I want you to read
The History of Love ~ by Nicole Krauss
because it's about a girl named Alma!
"MY NAME IS ALMA SINGER: When I was born my
mother named me after every girl in a book my
father gave her called The History of Love" (35)."As soon as you finish this one, you will immediately want to begin reading it again! It's that good -- and that mysterious! A teen - aged girl named Alma Singer narrates her personal, literary quest to understand her name and her family history. Reading about reading; writing about writing."
Additional Suggestions: Does Nanny Have a Line?
