And so it died an abrupt, premature, yet appropriate death

We're discontinuing the "Book You May Have Missed" segment. Earhart was the first to voice her woes on this front, with April fast approaching it was her turn to do the segment and she was stressing as to what title to choose. We had a confabulation and decided that it is a bit of a redundant segment, as we have trouble choosing a book we think you may have missed as we assume everyone reads as much as we do. Alternatively, a book you may have missed even if you are an avid reader is a problem as we probably missed it as well and thus wouldn't think to post on it.

Sigh.

OK, that worrisome topic dealt with I am now in search of something else to stress about.

March's Book You May Have Missed: The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)

I'm not entirely sure The Poisonwood Bible hits the point of this feature bang-on considering it's an international bestseller. However, that label often works to the detriment of a novel; the number of social elitists who didn't read Harry Potter or The Da Vinci Code because "everybody else was" is ridiculous. Thus, I am going to assume many people missed this book and announce March's Book You May Have Missed!

Barbara Kingsolver now seems to be far more concerned with growing organic vegetables, but before this foray into green goodness she churned out a few quality novels, the best by far being The Poisonwood Bible. It tells the story of a Baptist Preacher who takes his wife and four daughters to the Congo as missionaries in 1959. Those of you with any knowledge of African history will know that this was NOT the best time to go act as missionaries; the country was on the brink of overthrowing the shackles of Belgian Colonisation and embracing independence and not really in the mood to hear about the fire and brimstone that awaited them.

Thus we have inevitable conflict as the mad-as-a-meataxe Nathan Price will not allow his family to return to America as he feels he has not fulfilled his duty in saving as many souls as possible in the small village whose inhabitants have little or no interest in him or his faith .

Narrated by his four daughters and wife Orleanna the novel took me a few chapters to get into because of the different voices of the girls. It annoys me NO END when a story is narrated by young children. Unless you are as brilliant as Scout Finch I do NOT want to read about your take on the world if you are under the age of ten. Fortunately, once I got into the story and started to really enjoy hating the father the narration ceased to grate on me.

The build-up of suspense and tension in this ridiculous situation the family finds themselves in is quite magnificent and Orleanna Price's descent into depression is tenderly wrought. The character studies are for the most part thoughtful and subtle, although the character of the daughter Adah was a little overdone. She is a cripple AND a genius AND intentionally mute AND prefers to write and read backwards AND morbid and dark AND a philosopher AND an atheist. Or maybe she's not overdone but her sisters are not formed as thoroughly and thus seem a little 2-D in comparison. Either way, Adah doesn't fit as well into the story.

But it's a good novel, easy to read yet still creatively and intelligently delivered. I want to go read more on the Congo now, which demonstrates how much the story piqued my interest in Congolese history. Either that or it awakened in me an irresistable urge to become a baptist missionary and I want to see what my chances are of getting a mass following once I'm over there.

Rating: 7/10.

February Book You May Have Missed: I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes

Let me tell you a little bit about the Zing family. Fancy Zing is married to Radcliffe (not a Zing) and writes lists (types of leaves, sounds, irritating things about her husband). Marbie Zing (full name: Marbleweed) lives with Vernon and his sister Listen, and is contemplating an affair with an aeronautical engineer. Maude makes amazing (truly amazing: life changing) pies; and Cassie can run as fast as a bus (no, really).

Oh, and every Friday night they meet in the garden shed to have Zing Family Secret Meetings.

I'll admit, before I even knew any of this I was won over by the title: I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes. Yummy. Combine that title with the surname 'Zing' and I'm yours. The world of IHABMOBP is one where it snows in Sydney, flying beach umbrellas are a real danger, and spell books containing useful things like 'Spell to make someone take a taxi' are available to 12 year old girls.

By this point you are either really excited about the book (which is what I am hoping) or you are looking sceptically at the computer screen thinking 'what is she on?' in which case I was never going to win you over. If you're in the former group read on... and then go read one of the most original books I have read in a long time. Not just the plot, but the way the story is structured: the interweaving of about 10 million different plot lines (one of them is set in 1810!) and the way tiny bits of the Zing Family Secret are revealed slowly, slowly throughout the book make it a fantastic un-put-downable read.

Jaclyn Moriarty is well known in Australia as a writer of YA fiction, and this was her first foray into the world of adult fiction, (you know...for grown up people. Not porn. Although there is a Zing who writes erotic fiction...) and it would be a great pity if your lives weren't enriched by reading the marvelousness that is I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes. Which, incidentally, shortens to the coolest initialism ever.

8/10

January's Book You May Have Missed: When Nietzsche Wept

Gah, just the thought of writing about this book makes me want to rush and read it again, not many novels make me almost sob with gratitude that the author has created such an intelligent, visceral read that I can fully and honestly comprehend and appreciate. I hate those books that you KNOW are brilliant, but wading through waist-high mud is by far the easier option... *cough* Carpentaria (Alexis Wright) *cough*. When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel of Obsession by Irvin D. Yalom was originally published in 1992 and tells the story of Austrian psychologist Josef Breuer and his encounter and subsequent treatment of a mentally incapacitated Friedrich Nietzsche. Sigmund Freud makes a cameo as a young psychoanalyst as does the author Lou Salome. All historical figures I had heard of and studiously avoided their literary tomes whenever they popped up on an English reading list for uni; but brought together in the wake of Nietzsche's (probable but for the sake of semantics, fictional) breakdown they create a tense and emotional iceberg of a story that I couldn't put down. In fact, for a few days afterwards I quite considered myself the amateur psychologist and contemplated a change of career. If you have no interest in psychology, history or intellectual relationships (and are, in fact, completely oblivious to the mental hinderance that your narrow-sightedness has caused) this book probably isn't for you. But considering it came out more than a decade ago, chances are many who would have enjoyed it missed it first time around and should look it up.
Rating: 7/10