Staff Recommendation #16 : Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

So, here I am, once again, reviewing a book that is hard to review. It's not as bad as trying to review Gone Girl without giving away anything, but it is still a little complicated. But here goes!

First off, I've been a fan of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series for quite awhile, but had never read any of her other works. Her earlier novels were all written before Case Histories (the first in the Brodie series) was published in 2005. While the Brodie series is a mystery series, they are a little different. What I liked about Case Histories is that it wasn't a typical mystery. Yes, there is a murder to solve, but it's only one of three cases that Brodie is working on.

When I heard that Kate Atkinson was writing another book, I was actually a little disappointed that it wasn't a Jackson Brodie book. But since I already knew I liked her writing style, I assumed that I would get to the new book sooner or later. Well, it turned out to be sooner rather than later.

Life After Life starts off with the birth of Ursula Todd in 1910. Minutes later, she dies. And then she is born again, but this time she lives. That is, until she dies again and the process starts over. Good things and bad things happen to Ursula in her different lives. Some events are exactly the same; other times, they are very different. Often she is aware of her past life, but most times she is not. Maybe it's déjà vu? Maybe it's not?

Ursula's very proper English mother is quite exasperated by Ursula's behavior (it is very un-English like), and eventually takes her to see a psychiatrist, who brings up the subject of reincarnation. But Ursula doesn't always encounter Dr. Kellet, so is she aware of this idea in her other lives?

London during the Blitz -- 1941

Much of the story revolves around English life during World War II, and Ursula's role in it. In one life, she is a warden during the Blitz; in another, she is acquainted with Eva Braun and Hitler. Sometimes she meets the same people, sometimes she doesn't.

As you see, it's a hard book to describe. But I think the author put it best herself:

People always ask you what a book is ‘about,’ and I generally make something up, as I have no idea what a book is about (it’s ‘about’ itself). But if pressed, I think I would say Life After Life is about being English (on reflection, perhaps that’s what all my books are about). Not just the reality of being English, but also what we are in our own imaginations.

Atkinson just uses the premise of living your life over and over again to demonstrate her view on being "English".  (She goes into greater detail here, but don't read it if you don't want spoilers.)

This book turned out not to be exactly what I thought it would be, but sometimes it's good not to have your expectations met. In this case, it was a very good thing.




Click below for books in the Jackson Brodie series:

Case Histories

One Good Turn

When Will There be Good News?

Started Early, Took My Dog

Click below for other books by Kate Atkinson:

Behind the Scenes at the Museum

Human Croquet

Emotionally Weird

Not the End of the World





-- Post by Tracy

Staff Recommendation #15: The Plain State of Being Human

How to describe Nick Hornby?  He's the British author of such popular novels as About a Boy and High Fidelity (if you haven't read the books, you may have seen the movies). He's known, primarily, as an author who takes a closer look at the lives and lifestyles of aimless single guys -- but it's something of an unfair pigeon-holing. Nick Hornby knows how to write about everyone. 

His books are noteworthy precisely because they seem like they shouldn't be -- being stories about average people who find themselves in situations that, while not average, become totally relatable. His plots are so uniquely quirky (obsessive fans, spiritual conversions, and temporary time travel, to name but a few), that it's only because of Hornby's incredible way with words that you can still relate to the characters. He has a knack at describing our everyday thoughts, feelings, and impulses in simplistic language -- but it's a language that shows off his uncanny ability to reveal what it truly means to be human.

And, if it's true that I don't always agree with those conclusions, I always enjoy coming along with Hornby to see what his characters discover. Here, then, is a look at my three personal Hornby favorites:

-- About a Boy

"This thing about looking for someone less different... It only really worked, he realized, if you were convinced that being you wasn't so bad in the first place."

Thirtysomething Will Freeman lives a life of somewhat boring leisure, whiling away his time watching reality TV and listening to music albums. He doesn't have to work (and so he doesn't work), thanks to the royalties rolling in to him from his father's one-hit-wonder music career. (His dad wrote a smash-hit Christmas jingle.) Will's life has been lacking in any particular challenges, until he hatches a unique scheme to meet women: he joins a support group for single parents. He's not a single father, himself, but he solves that problem neatly enough by inventing an imaginary two-year-old son named Ned to tell the ladies about.

Then there's Marcus -- a slightly awkward, slightly nerdy twelve-year-old who is having a rough time of it. He and his mum have just moved to London, and adjusting to his new school proves impossible. Nobody likes him -- not even the teachers -- and he can't figure out why. (He'd go to his mum, but she has problems of her own.)

When Will and Marcus's paths intersect, Will finds that he can't just brush Marcus out of his life. Marcus needs an adult in his life, after all -- and even if, on the surface, Will doesn't seem like the best guy for the task, it quickly turns out that he's the only one up for the job.

(The 2002 film adaptation stars Hugh Grant -- and the book is also the basis for a single-camera sit-com due out this fall, courtesy of NBC.)

-- How to Be Good

"The plain state of being human is dramatic enough for anyone; you don't need to be a heroin addict or a performance poet to experience extremity. You just have to love someone."

I picked this book up on a whim at a bookshop. I wanted something different from what I normally read, and this quirky, darkly hilarious, quietly heart-rending book definitely fit the bill.

Katie Carr is a family practitioner whose marriage is on the rocks. She's married to a man known in his own newspaper column as "The Angriest Man in Holloway" -- which might explain why they can't stop fighting. Divorce seems inevitable -- that is, until David undergoes a most unusual spiritual conversation and decides to change his life.

Determined not only to treat Katie (and their two kids) much better than before, David's plans for turning over his new leaf go much further than that. Donating their most valuable belongings to shelters. Giving away their holiday dinner to the poor. Organizing a neighborhood-wide project to bring in homeless teens and offering them places to stay in everyone's homes. On paper, it sounds magical -- but it takes a toll in ways Katie couldn't have imagined. 

Darkly funny, sharply observant, and devastatingly real, Hornby uses this book to answer one of the most stark but complicated questions of the human condition: why can't we come together and make it all right?

-- Slam

"There are many differences between a baby and an iPod. And one of the biggest is, no one's going to mug you for your baby."

There's lots of books about teen pregnancy. This nominally-YA novel takes a different approach from the norm and tells the story from the guy's point of view.

Fifteen-year-old Sam is, himself, the son of a teen mum. He certainly knows all about how much a small mistake can change your life -- but he never anticipated becoming a teen dad.

He explains all this to Tony Hawk, his skateboarding hero. Sam's got a poster of TH in his bedroom, and he's taken to explaining all of his problems to his imaginary mentor when he can't quite figure out what to do next. He isn't going to leave Alicia to handle things on her own -- but what does this mean for her?  For them?  For Sam himself?  And how can he find his way through it?

As if that's not bad enough, something ... weird is going on. Sam goes to bed and wakes up a few years in his own future. (It's how he knows he's going to be a dad even before Alicia gets the pregnancy test results.) After a day, he's back in time where he started -- with no idea how he went there, how he got back, or even what it all means. But it must mean something, because Sam is pretty sure that Tony Hawk's behind it ...

As funny and insightful as his other books, Hornby's Slam stands out to me. It's a sci-fi book without the science fiction, a teen book perfect for adults. In the end, the story's sporadic windows into the future are there to show Sam -- and us -- that our present might not be so bad after all.

-- Post by Ms. B

The Land of Oz Redux

Our thanks to MPL librarian Sally Michalski for today's Birthday Biography!

While most people know the Land of Oz from the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, there was a time, before radio and television, when the children of the world were caught up in the wonderful Land of Oz in print. Oz was the Harry Potter series of its time.  It was a craze.

Lyman Frank Baum, a man who could not find his place in the real world, loved to tell stories to his children.  Finally, about 1899, he was persuaded to put his stories on paper. He engaged W.W. Denslow as the illustrator of his imaginary Land of Oz that they tried to get published, but no one would take them on. Finally, the Geo. M. Hill Company agreed to publish the book, but Baum and Denslow had to pay for the binding and color illustrations themselves.

The first 1900 edition was a printing of 5,000 books and was quickly sold out.  Two other printings followed, and between April and November of that year, 60,000 copies had been sold.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was such a success that L. Frank Baum, as he preferred to be known, went on to write other children’s books about other children -- but not Dorothy.

He got letters from children begging him to write another story about Dorothy and the Land of Oz, and finally he said that he'd only write another Oz tale when he had received a thousand letters. And he got them.

The second book, The Marvelous Land of Oz, was once again a hit, but Dorothy wasn’t in it. The children clamored for more -- but this time with Dorothy, please.  Ever after, every Oz book Baum wrote had Dorothy taking part.

I read these books as a child who frequented my local library. It was a strong emotional pull that took me directly to the bottom shelf of a stack, kneeling on a corrugated rubber runner hoping against hope that there was yet another Oz book I hadn’t yet read. I loved the characters, and I’m not just talking about the Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion.  I am talking about such high falutin’ characters as H. M. Wogglebug, T. E. (or Highly Magnified Wogglebug, Thoroughly Educated). Another favorite character was the Patchwork Girl, who was the only person of color in Munchkinland.

There were oodles more, each one more interesting than the last. I couldn’t stop reading them.

As a child, I loved the stories as stories themselves.  I grew up to be a collector of Oz books, because I still can’t get them out of my system. As time went on, I began to see the man behind the stories.  Frank Baum kept popping out in his opinions, his politics, and his thoughts about new-fangled inventions.

In Ozma of Oz, published in 1907, a new character is introduced.  Her name is the Princess Langwidere -- whose name is close to languid, which means unwilling to exert oneself.  Baum portrays the Princess Langwidere in this fashion, as she must lean on her maid for support as she travels from one room to the other or from one closet to the next.

Langwidere is a princess of the Kingdom of Ev.  She does not rule, but spends much of the royal treasury. The princess cannot be recognized by her face, because she is very vain and has thirty heads, one for every day of the month.  This princess has a waiting room that is surrounded with mirrors, even on the ceiling, and the floor is silvered so that every object in the room is reflected. A vain and flighty person is the Princess Langwidere.

Baum pokes fun at the suffragettes in The Marvelous Land of Oz, published in 1904.  A girl named General Jinjur raises an army of four hundred pretty girls.  The army is going to attack the Emerald City because “[the City] has been ruled by men for long enough.”

Jinjur’s army is dressed in silk uniforms with green blouses and multicolored skirts. (The skirts have panels of blue, red, yellow, and purple.  Depending on what Oz country the girl is from, she wears the color of that country in front.) Each girl has a pair of knitting needles in her bun that she uses as a weapon. When they arrive at the gates of the Emerald City, the Guardian of the Gate is surprised to be attacked, and says, “Good gracious, what a nonsensical idea! Go home to your mothers, my good girls, and milk the cows and bake the bread.” The army then attacks him with their knitting needles and he runs off in search of help.

Next, Jinjur sits on the throne in the Emerald City and begins eating caramels. The men of Oz are doing housework and minding children, and are worn out from the work.  The Scarecrow, who was the reigning King of Oz, is asked, “Why don’t you send her back to her mother where she belongs?” Another asks, “Why don’t you shut her up in a closet until she behaves herself, and promises to be good?” A third says, “Or give her a good shaking.”

In Ozma of Oz (1907), Jinjur is seen again.  On another trip to the Emerald City, Dorothy and her gang stop to beg some milk from a pretty maid.  Ozma sees that it is Jinjur who explains, “I’ve married a man who owns nine cows, and now I am happy and contented and willing to lead a quiet life and mind my own business.”

In all, L. Frank Baum wrote 14 Oz books and numerous other titles for children.  When he died in 1919, Ruth Plumley Thompson took up the stories with The Royal Book of Oz (a posthumous honor to Baum) and, in total, wrote 19 more books about Oz. John R. Neal, the second illustrator of the original Baum series, wrote four Oz books.  Jack Snow wrote two and Rachel Cosgrove wrote one, as did Eloise Jarvis McGraw and her daughter.  There are other Oz books beyond these, but they are not considered canon.

The land that Frank Baum created is still very much with us today.  Not only is The Wizard of Oz movie with Judy Garland a staple for children, but recently Oz, the Great and Powerful was produced as the latest addition to the story of Oz.  I am happy to report that I think this new movie carried through the personality of the Wizard, although I could have done without the sexy witches.

A first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is very valuable today. There are websites that have first editions of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from $6,000 to $100,000. For myself, I've found that writing a blog plot can be expensive.  In doing this little exercise, I just had to purchase a copy of John R. Neill’s posthumously published book The Runaway in Oz. One can never have too many Oz books.

Happy Birthday, L. Frank Baum -- 157 years old this May 15. You enriched my childhood with imagination and a sense of wonder.

-- Post by Sally Michalski

For more reading:

- Introducing the Girls of Oz
Sally Michalski's website, with more information about the female characters of Baum's Oz books.

- Rare Oz Books 

All about the rare collectibles of Oz.

References: 

- Baum, L. Frank, The Marvelous Land of Oz: A Sequel to the Wizard of Oz, ill. John R. Neill (New York: William Morrow & Co., c1904).

- Baum, L. Frank, Ozma of Oz, ill. John R. Neill  (Chicago: The Reilly & Lee Co., c1907).

- Betty Lee Johnson, “The World of Oz Remains Wonderful To this Day,” Antique Week, 3 February 1992.

- Daniel P. Mannix, “ The Father of the Wizard of Oz,” American Heritage, December. 1964.


(All illustrations by John R. Neill.)

Tilting at Windmills

Weltevreden Mill, Domburg, Netherlands, built 1817 (personal photo)

There are three things that come to mind for most people when thinking of the Netherlands: tulips, dykes and windmills. For me, it's a toss up between tulips and windmills. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that May 11th is National Windmill Day in the Netherlands! Unfortunately, I won't be there to enjoy the festivities around the country, but it did make me curious about the history of windmills and the use of windmills today.

Although there don't seem to be any reliable documents, it's believed the first windmills were probably built by the Persians in the 7th century. These windmills were quite different from the windmills we know that were developed later in Europe. Persian windmills had spokes that were perpendicular to the ground. They were first used to power boats, but were later adapted for use on land.

This is a modern design similar to what might have been used in Persia in the 7th century.

Independently, Europeans developed the horizontal windmill in the late 12th century. They were mainly used for grinding grain or pumping water. The first style was a post mill, with a box shaped wooden body. These were used all throughout Europe for several hundred years and there are still a few existing from the 17th century.

Example of a post mill.

The tower mill was invented in the 15th century and perfected by the Dutch. This is the type that most of us are familiar with. Since most of the Netherlands lies below sea level, flooding has always been a problem for the country. Dykes were built to control the water, but this did not solve all of the problems. Polders, or low lying areas of land created by dykes, were full of water and causing more problems. Eventually, mills were used to pump the water out of the polders. The largest number of these forms of mills that are still standing are near the village of Kinderdijk.

Watermills at Kinderdijk

Today windmills are a part of a growing new form of alternative energy. Some of the new and sleeker windmills can be found throughout Western Pennsylvania. According to the Department of Energy, the United States has a wind power capacity of just over 60,000 megawatts (Pennsylvania produces 1,340 MW). However, in the European Union, they produce over 100,000 MW (the largest producer is Germany at over 31,000 MW). They also have, what are known as, offshore wind farms. These mills take advantage of the winds created by the oceans. However, they are much more expensive than ones operated on land.

Wind turbines, Laurel Highlands, Pennsylvania (personal photo)

Windmills are still very much a part of the Dutch culture, which is why they have a special day set aside to celebrate them. Many of them are open to the public for tours. And there are even windmills where you can spend the night! So, if you ever have a chance to go to the Netherlands make sure you take the time to visit some windmills. They are amazing! (And don't forget to check out the library's collection of travel guides).

-- Post by Tracy

The Boy Who Grew Up

If you don't know the story of J.M. Barrie, you still know the story of Peter Pan, the Boy Who Never Grew Up. Peter Pan and his crew of Lost Boys, his sidekick Tinker Bell, his arch-nemesis Captain Hook, the mermaids and fairies, the "Indians" and pirates, and the Darling children that he introduces to the world of Neverland -- like Robin Hood and King Arthur, or Odysseus and Hercules, Peter Pan and his story have become a part of our cultural mythology. Even if you've never seen the films, watched the plays, or read the books, you know the name "Peter Pan."

But to look behind the pirates and fairies and see what the classic tale is truly about, you need to know a little bit more about the author behind its creation: J.M. Barrie.

James Matthew Barrie was born on May 9, 1860. His father, a weaver, struggled to support the large family (James was the third son and youngest child). His mother, Margaret, who had a strong interest in literature and art, helped bring about her son's determination to become a writer. Her influence, unfortunately, was far-reaching in other respects: when James's older brother, David, died in a skating accident at age thirteen, James took is upon himself to help his mother over the loss. When Margaret took to bed for the remainder of her life in grief over the loss of her favorite child, six-year-old James played the part of his older brother -- even wearing David's old clothes -- to try and repair his mother's grief.

James Matthew Barrie

Barrie was only seventeen when his first play was performed: Bandolero, the Bandit, presented at the Dumfries Academy of which Barrie was a student. He graduated in 1882 from Edinburgh University, finding employment first as an editor for the Nottingham Journal, then as a journalist in London. He was a well-financed novelist and playwright by the time he married (his wife was Mary Ansell, who appeared in one of Barrie's plays). It was at about this time that Barrie began taking long walks through Kensington Gardens, and it was there that he met the Davies family: father Arthur and mother Sylvia, and their five children: George, Jack, Michael, Nicholas ... and Peter.

The Davies children became an instant family for the childless Barrie, who spent countless hours entertaining the boys with his games and elaborate stories. (They'd also eventually become his wards, when first Arthur, and then Sylvia, both died at young ages.)

Peter Pan first came to life as part of one such story for the Davies children. The character made his first written appearance within Barrie's novel The Little White Bird, which was published in 1902. Two years later came the release of the three-act play Peter Pan.

The classic play is so much a part of our storytelling history that it's something of a shock to realize how much of a gamble the production truly was. Success was by no mean a given with this elaborately fantastical story of flying actors, dogs and crocodiles, pirates and fairies and shadows. Barrie grew increasingly enough about several elements of the play -- including the sequence in which Tinker Bell, Peter Pan's fairy sidekick, drinks from a poisoned goblet and dies. Peter then turns to the audience and asks them to clap if they believe in fairies, the sound bringing Tinker Bell back to life. On opening night, Barrie had instructed the orchestra to begin clapping if the audience did not -- but his concern was unwarrented. The audience burst into wild applause, beginning a tradition that continues in performances of the play to this day.

From Arthur Rackham's illustrations for "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens"

The pop culture portrayals of films like Finding Neverland, as well as our own understanding of the myth of Peter Pan, make it tempting to see J.M. Barrie himself as the model for the Boy Who Never Grew Up. But it's also been noted that Barrie gave his eternally youthful hero the name of one of his charges. Barrie reserved his own first name to share with a different character: Captain James Hook. Captain Hook's injury -- his missing right hand -- may have been given in reference to the crippling pain Barrie experienced in his own right hand (a condition which was exacerbated by his time spent writing). 

And Captain Hook's greatest enemy may have been a reference to Barrie's own. It's not just any crocodile which remains in eternal pursuit of Hook -- it's a crocodile that has swallowed a clock. Hook is forever chased by Time itself -- a fitting metaphor, perhaps, for Barrie's own view on the tragedies of mortality.

The Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens

The story of Peter Pan is thought of as a children's tale, but that is not, perhaps, quite right. The story, while whimsical and fantastic, has a darker element. Peter Pan, the Boy Who Never Grew Up, is an almost tragic figure: so consumed with thoughts of himself, he cares for no one else. Indeed, he not only cares for no one else: the effects of Neverland mean that he cannot remember anyone else. (Wendy and her brothers must continually remind Peter who they are, as it continues to slip his mind.) Peter may live eternally youthful, but Barrie himself seems to understand that never growing up would be more of a curse than a blessing.

Still, the whimsical world he created for Peter and the Lost Boys remains, for most of us, a symbol of the innocence, fun, and magic of childhood. Neverland seems destined to remain such a symbol for centuries to come. "And thus it will go on," wrote Barrie himself, at the end of his novel, "so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless."

Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook and Robin Williams as Peter Pan

Books:

The Annotated Peter Pan - The original text by J.M. Barrie, with notes and annotations all about the classic story.

Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth by J. V. Hart - The childhood of James Hook!

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson - A fun, action-packed prequel series to the original novel.

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean - The "authorized" sequel to the original story. 

Muppet Peter Pan - The Muppets meet Peter Pan in this fun and kid-friendly graphic novel adaptation.

Films:

Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up - A classic production of the musical version, starring Cathy Rigby.

Hook - This movie answers the question: what if Peter Pan grew up?  Starring Robin Williams as Peter Pan and Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook.

Neverland - A miniseries that serves as a prequel of sorts to the traditional story.

Peter Pan - This 2003 film release returns to the stage tradition of having the same actor play both Mr. Darling and Captain Hook. A whimsical, dark adaptation that keeps in the spirit of the novel.

Finding Neverland - Stars Johnny Depp as J.M. Barrie, recounting his meeting of the Davies family and how that meeting led to the story of Peter Pan.

-- Post by Ms. B

No Place Like Home

Pittsburgh, and Western Pennsylvania, have not been the setting of many books or films until the last 20 years or so. Our area is not as popular as, say, New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. There might even be more made up-places that get used as story settings, rather than authors placing their stories in Pittsburgh (though that's just pure conjecture).

According to a 2010 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, the first book to use Western PA as a locale was Modern Chivalry by Hugh Henry Brackenridge, published in 1792. Unfortunately, it seems that this didn't start any kind of trend of writers wanting to explore the intricacies of the area. By the late 20th century, however, it started to slowly change.

One of the most successful writers to use Pittsburgh as a setting was Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson (April 27, 1945). Born Frederick August Kittel in the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh, he made a name for himself with his Pittsburgh Cycle of plays. Of the ten plays in the cycle (one for each decade of the 20th century), all but one are set in Pittsburgh. The first play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, took place in Chicago in 1927, but was based on musicians that Wilson knew while growing up in Pittsburgh.

Wilson was one of six children born to Daisy (Wilson) and Frederick August Kittel. His father was a German immigrant who did not live with or support the family; he was a baker by trade, but often out of work. Wilson's mother was the biggest influence on his life. She worked as a cleaning woman to support the family and provided a loving, but strict, home for Wilson and his siblings. He lived much of his life in the then-racially diverse Hill District neighborhood. This is where he got much of the inspiration for his stories.

Wilson dropped out of school after ninth grade, due to the racist treatment he felt he was receiving. Instead, he spent his time at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's main branch, where he immersed himself in the writings of African-American authors. After a stint in the Army in the early 60s, Wilson returned to Pittsburgh. He bought a used typewriter, moved out of his mother's house and started writing.

He started out writing poetry but eventually moved on to plays. His involvement in the Black Power movement, and his neighbors and friends in Pittsburgh, greatly influenced his writing. When he moved to Minnesota in 1977, and was no longer surrounded by a large black community, he turned to those people and places he knew in his youth.

While Wilson did write other plays, his main focus after 1984 was on his Pittsburgh Cycle plays. While none of the ten plays opened in New York (most opened at the Yale Repertory Theatre), they all eventually were produced there. He earned two Pulitzer Prizes, one for Fences (1987) and the other for The Piano Lesson (1990). He earned numerous New York Drama Critics Circle Awards and won the Tony for Best Play in 1987 for Fences. These plays focus on the African American experience throughout the 20th century. While many of the issues raised are familial in nature, the stories tend to be about issues of black identity, of those that embrace their African past, and those that have turned away from it.

While Wilson never lived in Pittsburgh again (he died in Seattle in 2005), the city and its people were always a part of him.


To read any of Wilson's plays:
Pittsburgh Cycle Plays

To watch a television production:
Television broadcast of The Piano Lesson (DVD)

Additional information:
Interviews with August Wilson (DVDs)

August Wilson: Pittsburgh Places in His Life and Plays by Laurence A. Glasco and Christopher Rawson

Also, be sure to take time to visit the August Wilson Center for African American Culture located in downtown Pittsburgh.

And here are a few select titles from some other Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania authors who use our area for the setting of their works:

Tawni O'Dell -- For a dark, but, at times, humorous, look at life in rural Pennsylvania, start with Back Roads. Her other works are also set in the same area.

Kathleen George -- For mysteries, start the Richard Christies series with Taken. Also, be sure to take a look at Pittsburgh Noir, a collection of short stories edited by George.

Jennifer Haigh -- Set in fictional Bakerton, PA, Baker Towers follows the lives of one coal mining family in Western Pennsylvania. Recently published is News From Heaven, a series of short stories about Bakerton.

Michael Chabon --  This award-winning novelist's first books, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys, are set in Pittsburgh.


-- Post by Tracy

Mutiny on the Bounty

They're known and remembered as bitter mortal enemies -- the cruel-hearted ship's captain and the daringly brave second-in-command who rose up against him. But the truth of Captain William Bligh and master's mate Fletcher Christian is more complicated than pop culture retellings have led us to believe.

William Bligh's career as a naval officer was always a certainty. His path into the navy was one of the hardest; rather than the nepotism of becoming a "captain's servant," or the "intellectualism" of the Naval Academy, Bligh spent five years working his way up from the lower decks (without the usual patronage of a rich relative to assist him).

Fletcher Christian had a similar longing for a naval career, and made his way up the ranks with surprising speed. Still, he was desperate to prove himself and knew that serving under William Bligh would provide him with invaluable experience. Determined to win over Bligh, Christian wrote personally to Captain William Bligh, asking the man directly for the opportunity to sail with him. Bligh promptly brought him on board his ship, the Britannia.

The two man came to be good friends as the Britannia made two voyages to the West Indies. Bligh was ten years Christian's senior, and Bligh took it upon himself to form a sort of mentor-student relationship with the younger man. The two men were constantly seen in conversation or dining together, and other sailors noted that Bligh seemed to give Christian plenty of slack in regard to his duties. When Bligh was given the Bethia (shortly renamed the Bounty) to take on a journey through the West Indies to deliver naval supplies, it was natural for Bligh to choose his friend and protege Fletcher Christian as his second-in-command.

4:00 a.m., April 28, 1789. The last few weeks had been a trying time for master's mate Fletcher Christian. Things had been stressful throughout the voyage, but ever since the crew had left the island of Tahiti several weeks previously, Christian had reached his breaking point. As the Bounty's second-in-command, Christian was the go-between between the captain and the crew, and it was up to him to keep the peace between them. The job put Christian first in line to receive the worst of the captain's temper, and the growing strain had proven intolerable.

Christian's original plan had been escape, and to that end he had spent the previous night lashing together some loose planks into a raft. Facing off against the Pacific Ocean was a plan that was suicidal at best -- but it was all Christian, in his panicked state, could come up with. Until a crewman approached him to implore him to change his mind. He was insistent that there was a better way: mutiny.

Before dawn had begun to appear on the horizon's edge, Christian had decided to abandon his original plan. All accounts suggest it was a move brought about by pure desperation, more than anything else. Christian's first move was to slice through the line holding one of the sounding leads in place and drape the length of rope around his neck. Should the mutiny fail, the heavy weight would provide him with a quicker end than he'd have if he was left to flounder above the waves with the sharks.

The grim precaution was ultimately an unnecessary one. Moving from crewman to crewman, Christian quickly amassed a small group of mutineers. By great good fortune, one of the men, Joseph Coleman, happened to have been given the keys to the arms chest that night, which allowed Christian and his followers to arm themselves to the teeth.

Within an hour, nearly a dozen men had joined the cause. Incredibly, no one uninvolved with the mutiny had yet to realize what was happening. It wasn't until Christian and his men began charging towards the captain's cabin that those unconnected to the mutiny realized, and by then it was far too late.

Captain William Bligh was yanked from his bunk by five of the mutineers (there wasn't room in his cabin for the whole lot). His capture set the ship into a kind of chaos. Men were shouting, running, dashing back and forth to deliver curses and news of the mutiny to one another. Many seemed to be waiting to see which way the mutiny seemed to be swinging before choosing a side. And, much to Christian's surprise, at least twenty members of the crew were not only refusing to join the mutiny -- they were, in fact, insisting on remaining at the captain's side.

It was decided that Bligh and his loyalists would be set at sea in the Bounty's launch (the largest boat on board). The launch was lowered and the loyalists made their way down the gangplank, arguing with the mutineers that they should be given supplies and tools to increase their chances of survival. Before leaving for the launch, Bligh made a last attempt to reclaim his ship and change the mind of his former friend. "Consider what you are about, Mr. Christian," he said. "I'll give my bond never to think of it again if you'll desist. I have a wife and four children in England, and you have danced my children on your knee." Replied Christian, "It is too late."

After Bligh had made his way into the launch, he was followed a moment later by one of the mutineers, who had come to hand Bligh and his loyalist crew a sextant and nautical tables -- tools they would need had they any hope of reaching land. The tools were Christian's own. "There, Captain Bligh," Christian shouted down to him. "This is sufficient for every purpose. You know the sextant to be a good one." It was a charitable act to the captain from his second-in-command, even then.

It took the launch weeks to make its way to land. But Captain Bligh ultimately survived, making his way back to England to report the mutiny. Of the mutineers, only three were ever caught, tried, and executed. Fletcher Christian and many of his fellow mutineers made their way to Pitcairn Island (in the South Pacific), and his ultimate fate is debated to this day. 

The theories on what drove William Bligh to his bouts of fury at his crew -- and what drove Fletcher Christian to mutiny -- are unending, precisely because a sure answer will never be known. What is certain is that the black-and-white portrayals of the mutiny on the Bounty that have become so popular in mainstream fiction, while entertaining, can't be taken as the whole truth. It is, however, precisely those literary and filmed adaptations that have ensured that that night on the Bounty will be regarded, in the words of author Richard Hough, as "the most celebrated mutiny of all time."

Mutiny on the Bounty in Pop Culture:

-- The 1932 novel, by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall

-- The 1935 film, starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable

-- The 1962 film, starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard 

-- The 1984 film, starring Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson

More about the real Bounty:

-- The Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty by William Bligh

From the captain of the Bounty.

-- After the Bounty: A Sailor's Account of the Mutiny and Life in the South Seas by James Morrison

An account from one of the Bounty's mutineers.

-- Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian: The Men and the Mutiny by Richard Hough

Presents a new theory on the motives behind the mutiny.

-- The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty by Caroline Alexander

An attempt to separate the myth from the reality of the infamous mutiny.

-- Post by Ms. B