Book Club: The Outlander Series - Book 1 (Outlander)

Cards on the table, I am a bibliophile if there's ever been one.
Ever since reading my first chapter book (which happened to be the first of the Babysitters Club Book Series, if you're wondering) I have been head over heels with the written word. Books, whether they be fiction, inspirational, historical, biographical, or what have you, are completely inspiring, transformative, and fulfilling and such a huge part of me. The only thing I'd wish for would be an environment with like-minded individuals with whom to discuss whatever tome I am most likely to be found obsessing over! With that said, I figure maybe I should take it upon myself to make it happen. Hopefully, one of you out there will be reading this and inclined to reply!

So, Outlander. Had to do it. Had to read it. I regret nothing.

Typically if there is ever a film or television interpretation of a book, I tend to rush and read it and this was no exception. For those who may not be aware the Starz network has filmed a cable show based on Diana Gabaldon's series, of which the first episode was aired last Saturday (new episode out tonight, guys!). My thing is this: movies and series don't usually measure up to their written counterparts and I like to give myself the opportunity to imagine the worlds these works take place in before all I can see is the actors' interpretations.

Let me just begin by saying that romance novels and science fiction are usually not my things. I still haven't finished The Hobbit and I started over ten years ago. But ladies and gents, this book melds these two genres surprisingly well! (Additionally, throw in some fantasy and historical background and BOOM, you pretty much get this in the cauldron.) Outlander is a novel about a nurse named Claire Randall (née Beauchamp) in the 1940s on vacation in Scotland with her husband after the conclusion of WWII before finding herself sent back in time about 200 years to a period just before the Jacobite Rebellion. Yup, that's what happens. Right of the bat, I wondered what would have to happen to make this believable to me. I would probably never have been tempted to read something like this were I not prompted by a small screen deadline, but I am very happy I did.

To me, the best thing this novel had going for it was the complexities of the characters and the way they fully came to life through Claire's words. Because this novel was written in the first-person perspective, we really got to know and learn about the characters as you would people you met in your personal life: slowly and deeply. Finding herself in 1700s Scotland, Claire meets a young lad by the name of Jamie Fraser with whom she becomes instantly attracted to. When Claire realizes that she might be developing feelings for him it is no surprise to the readers because most likely they have also begun to feel them as well! Claire, Jamie, and the rest of the characters (there are quite a few!) are very dynamic and multileveled, never ceasing to surprise as to why they are the way the are or why the act the way they do.

While I don't want to get too deep into this or too detailed, I will say that the ending will keep you wanting more. More of Claire's story. More about the background characters' stories. More of Scotland's story. And definitely more salacious nights with Sir Fraser. It is part romance novel, after all.

To wrap this up, I'll include a link to a song that encompasses the feeling of this novel to me. The magical sense that I imagine would come from being in the Scottish highlands at that time, under the circumstances that Claire does. This song, "Figlia de la Luna" by Highland, also reminds me of a scene from the novel in which Claire and her modern-day husband, Frank, witness in the middle of the night as a coven of  Pagan worshippers complete a ritual of theirs. If you've read the book, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, maybe this will peak your interest.  It's really magical.

Highland - Figlia de la Luna

Molly's day out

Are all dog owners obsessed with their canine companions? I just can't have enough time with my furry friend and any time I can bring my little Molly along with me is just the best day ever! 

These last few days have seen Molly everywhere from department stores, friends' apartments, and even brunch. And even though they were all great, I don't believe she enjoyed anything more than her day at the beach. After such a long and grueling winter having a day with the sun beating down on her, along with the sensation of sand and the promise of the lake, it all added to being the perfect day. 

Rolling around in the sand -- how fun! Getting the sand out of her fur, however, proved to be quite the task afterwards :)

To write or not to write

Is it just me or does everyone dream of one day writing a book? In my fantasies I like to fast forward to inking a multi-book deal, framing positive literary reviews (hopefully), or finding myself in a bookstore where someone is picking up a copy of something I've written. These scenarios are glorified and lovely and easy to skip to because the truth is that writing a decent, nevertheless good, novel is hard. Creating three dimensional characters and bringing the readers into their lives in an attention-grabbing manner takes a lot of time and thought. For those of us that are yet to be dissuaded, however, author Elmore Leonard created a list of tips and general guidelines that he has found helpful when creating work of his own.  Here are a couple of tips that I found interesting and insightful:

1. Never open a book with weather. - If it's only to create atmosphere, and not a character's reaction to the weather, you don't want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.

5. Keep your exclamation points under control. - You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters. - Which Steinbeck covered. In Ernest Hemingway's ''Hills Like White Elephants'' what do the ''American and the girl with him'' look like? ''She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.'' That's the only reference to a physical description in the story, and yet we see the couple and know them by their tones of voice, with not one adverb in sight.

And finally:

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. - A rule that came to mind in 1983. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. What the writer is doing, he's writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle, perhaps taking another shot at the weather, or has gone into the character's head, and the reader either knows what the guy's thinking or doesn't care. I'll bet you don't skip dialogue.

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.