Independent bookstore owner Roxanne Coady envisioned and edited a wonderful little volume called “The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them.” It may not come as a surprise to you to
Independent bookstore owner Roxanne Coady envisioned and edited a wonderful little volume called “The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them.” It may not come as a surprise to you to find that the books which inspired these authors are mostly classics, loosely defined here as ground-breaking books, or ones that continue to be read and relevant through the years. Book Buzz this week rounds up a few new books whose authors have used ancient or modern classic literary works as a foundation for their novels.
Happy reading!
Agamemnon’s Daughter: A Novella in Three
Stories
By Ismail Kadare
Adult Fiction Kadare
Harkening to Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey, these three translated stories by the Man Booker International Prize winning author skillfully realizes the theme of fear as an instrument of power. In Agamemnon’s Daughter the protagonist contemplates how his fiance’s circumstances mirror the fate of Iphigenia, sacrificed by her father so that the Greeks could reach Troy. For a whacky and wonderful Odysseus story try the delightful DVD movie O Brother, Where Art Thou.
Alice I Have Been
By Melanie Benjamin
Adult Fiction Benjamin
Here Benjamin spins a tale about Alice Liddell, the real girl who inspired Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) to write Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Focusing on three eras in Alice’s life, Benjamin offers a finely wrought portrait that seamlessly blends fact with fiction.
And Another Thing
By Eoin Coilfer
Adult Fiction Coilfer
In this tale, author Coilfer bravely revives the motley band from Douglas Adams’s renowned literary work, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe. It features a pantheon of unemployed gods, everyone’s favorite renegade Galactic President, a lovestruck green alien, an irritating computer and at least one very large slab of cheese. Readers may find this volume paradoxical: on its own it is a funny novel, but Adams set a legendary, nearly impossible standard. You be the judge.
Black Ships
By Jo Graham
Adult Fiction Graham
In the last shadowed days of the Age of Bronze, one woman dreams of the world beginning anew. This is her story. Author Graham recounts the events of Virgil’s The Aeneid through the oracle Gull, daughter of a slave taken from fallen Troy. Chosen at the age of seven to be the voice of the Lady of the Dead, Gull is destined to counsel kings and princes. Historians will admire Graham’s deft blending of Virgil’s epic story with historical fact.
Drood
By Dan Simmons
Adult Fiction Simmons
In this unsettling and complex thriller, Simmons brilliantly imagines a terrifying sequence of events as the inspiration for Charles Dickens’s last, uncompleted novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Based on the historical details of Dickens’s life, this book explores still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author’s last years. See also Girl in a Blue Dress: A Novel Inspired by the Life and Marriage of Charles Dickens by Gaynor Arnold.
Fool
By Christopher Moore
Adult Fiction Moore
The king’s fool, Pocket, retells Shakespeare’s drama of King Lear -the mad royal, his devious daughters, rhyming ghosts and a castle full of hot intrigue. Together with his dimwit apprentice, Drool, Pocket sets out to clean up the mess Lear has made of his kingdom, his family and his fortune. Moore’s cheeky and ribald romp supplies more murder, mayhem, and mistaken identities. For another take on Lear try A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.
I, Mona Lisa
By Jeanne Kalogridis
Adult Fiction Lewis
Inspired not by classic literature but by a classic painting this tale identifies the subject of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting as Lisa di Antonio Gherardini. Set against a backdrop of political and religious conflicts in 15th-century Medici-ruled Florence, author Kalogridis’s fevered bodice ripper invents a passionate woman behind La Gioconda’s enigmatic smile.
March
By Geraldine Brooks
Adult Fiction Brooks
Brooks imagines here the Civil War experiences of Mr. March, the absent father in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Through the idealism of Mr. March, the passion and rage of Marmee and a host of achingly human minor characters, this beautifully written novel drives home the intimate horrors and ironies of the Civil War and the difficulty of living honestly with the knowledge of human suffering.
Me and Mr. Darcy
By Alexandra Potter
Adult Fiction Potter
Dreams come true in this hilarious, feel-good fairy tale about life, love, and dating literature’s most eligible bachelor. U.K. author Potter makes her U.S. debut with Emily Albright, 29, who half-seriously blames Jane Austen’s Fitzwilliam Darcy for her abysmal dating life: Darcy sets the bar too high. Also look for the short story collection by Lee Smith entitled Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James or the outrageous Pride and Prejudice and Zombies series by Steve Hockensmith.
The Secret Adventures
of Charlotte Bronte
By Laura Joh Rowland
Adult Fiction Rowland
The author of Jane Eyre plays sleuth in this enchanting read from Rowland, acclaimed for her mystery series set in 17th-century Japan. Rowland creates a believable Charlotte whose intelligence, stubbornness and wit recall Jane at every turn. Perhaps more importantly the mystery itself is particularly fine. This volume also has a new sequel: Bedlam: The Further Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte. You can also try Adele: Jane Eyre’s Hidden Story by Emma Tennant, Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael, or Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman.
Stealing Athena
By Karen Essex
Adult Fiction Essex
Lord Elgin may be famous for bringing the Greek Parthenon’s sculptural masterpieces to England during the Napoleonic wars, but for author Essex it’s Lady Elgin who pays for it, in fortune and in reputation. Essex alternates the story of Scottish heiress Mary Hamilton Nisbet Bruce, countess of Elgin, with that of Aspasia, courtesan lover of the great Pericles and the inspiration for the Parthenon’s Athena. Essex shines light on the women who inspired and protected some of the greatest art ever created and the men who exploited them.
• Carolyn Larson, head librarian at Lihu‘e Public Library, brings you the buzz on new, popular and good books available at your neighborhood library. Book annotations are culled from online publishers’ descriptions and published reviews.
