Today's guest blogger, Therese Fowler, talks about what she expects from the fiction she reads --- and how she strives to give her readers the same thing in her stories. Her novel Souvenir is now on sale in paperback, and her latest, Reunion, arrives in stores next month. And along with her insightful post, Therese also has an enticing proposition for book clubs...In these tough economic times, I'm looking for two things: escape, and value. It's very cool that something I already love offers both. Yes, of course I'm talking about books.
This escape-and-value desire has been a constant in my life for as many years as I've been able to read. I won't say my early years were miserable, exactly, but they weren't wonderful, and things got progressively worse as I got older. Books provided what real life did not, and libraries provided those books --- so I'm thankful to the early Romans for pioneering the truly public library, and to Andrew Carnegie for his modern contributions; there's no better value than "free."
These days I'm able to buy books regularly. But since I have a lot less time to read, I have to be more discerning about which books I take home with me. For the money I'm spending and the time I'm about to invest, I want stories that succeed in primarily one thing: engaging me in what writer and professor John Gardner called the "vivid and continuous dream" of well-done fiction. I want to be drawn in by the characters, the setting, the drama unfolding page by page. Whether sweeping saga or intimate inspection, historical or contemporary tale, fantastic or realistic, tragic or humorous or sweet, a story needs to leave me feeling enriched in some way. Entertained, or enlightened --- and certainly encompassed by the situation I've watched unfold. I like a story to make me think, but more than that, I like a story to make me feel what the characters are feeling. I really want to connect.
And I especially enjoy a book that gives me something new every time I read it. I like layers.
Given that I have this sort of standard as a reader, you're right if you've guessed that I have the same standard as a writer. You're also right if you've guessed that this is an "easier said than done" affair. But as I tell my sons, you never get there if you don't try. So with Souvenir, I've tried to give you a story that is a great deal more than it may seem at first look.
As consumers, we have an easier time evaluating whether we want to buy something when it's compared to something else. Souvenir has, in the year since its hardcover release, been described as a book that will appeal to readers of Jodi Picoult, Barbara Delinsky, Anna Quindlen, Kristen Hannah, Nicholas Sparks, Luanne Rice, Sara Gruen, Anne Rivers Siddons, Cecelia Ahern, Danielle Steel and Ann Patchett.
Well. I certainly can't complain about the company! I wonder, though, where the bull's eye is --- or whether there is one at all. My aim is to bring to you a style and view that is entirely my own.
Given that we're gathered together here in the interest of marrying book groups to books, and given that the Random House Reader's Circle edition of Souvenir is out now, complete with discussion questions, an author Q&A and an excerpt from my upcoming release, Reunion, I'm going to propose a survey and a contest. If your group chooses to read Souvenir, once you've done it, survey each member as to which author-comparison he or she thinks is most accurate and why, and then share your answers with me at [email protected]. On June 15th, 2009, I'll conscript a neutral party to draw a name at random, and that reader's book group will enjoy a leisurely lunch at a favorite restaurant, my treat.
A discussable book, an interesting survey and a chance to win a free lunch --- now that's escape, and value! I'm making time to chat with book groups whenever possible, so if you'd like even more value-added features, you can schedule a chat. It's hard to imagine a better way to pass the time --- during good times or bad --- than talking about books.
---Therese Fowler
