Do you like reading Jewish literature? Share your thoughts, opinions, & reviews!
why folks should read
Finally I'm home from my Florida book tour, which I consider a success despite some good news and some bad news. Good news: my programs at Jewish venues drew large audiences of over 100 attendees. Bad news: except for "Books & Books" in Miami, none of my independent bookstore events drew even half a minyan. Good news: Jewish venues often sold out of Books I and II, which means lots of readers are new to RASHI'S DAUGHTERS. Bad news: if they don't get a signed copy when I'm speaking, are they really going to go out and buy one elsewhere? And I really would rather that readers don't start with Book III - RACHEL.
Of course BOOK I - JOHEVED stands alone, but the biggest change the editors at Plume had me make for BOOK II - MIRIAM was to have that volume stand alone as well. They convinced me that some, perhaps many, readers would find only MIRIAM for sale, and that I should make it easy for these folks to join the ongoing story. So I opened with a big mealtime scene with all the characters from JOHEVED at the table, and generally brought new readers up to speed in chapter one. I hoped they'd like MIRIAM enough to go back and read JOHEVED later.
With RACHEL, I again attempted to make the book independent of the other volumes, despite my doubts that anyone [other than a reviewer] would read a novel that clearly says "Book III" without having read either Book I or Book II. But that is exactly what is happening - either because their book group is reading RACHEL and they missed reading the earlier volumes, or because the bookseller doesn't have the others in stock.
This distresses me because I consider the three volumes one long book [like "Lord of the Rings"] and I have many subplots that wind through the earlier volumes to conclude in RACHEL. For example, I want the reader to share Joheved's satisfaction when Brunetta finally divorces Shemayah or when Rivka finally forgives Joheved for studying Talmud, and to appreciate the parchment maker's family dying of hoof-and-mouth disease. In JOHEVED and MIRIAM, I carefully situated secondary characters in various German towns [Aunt Sarah's son in Speyer, Elisha in Worms, Catharina and Samson in Mayence, Daniel in Cologne] so that my readers would share these characters' experiences when the marauders attacked the Jews in those cities. If the reader hadn't become attached to them in Books I and II, would she care so much what happened to them? Lastly, I saved the most difficult Talmud passages for Book III, assuming that readers would already have some familiarity with how I explain Gemara.
So if anyone asks if they can read RASHI'S DAUGHTERS out of order, tell them that it's best not to do that. The story progresses in chronological order, and that's how I intended that they should be read.
Of course BOOK I - JOHEVED stands alone, but the biggest change the editors at Plume had me make for BOOK II - MIRIAM was to have that volume stand alone as well. They convinced me that some, perhaps many, readers would find only MIRIAM for sale, and that I should make it easy for these folks to join the ongoing story. So I opened with a big mealtime scene with all the characters from JOHEVED at the table, and generally brought new readers up to speed in chapter one. I hoped they'd like MIRIAM enough to go back and read JOHEVED later.
With RACHEL, I again attempted to make the book independent of the other volumes, despite my doubts that anyone [other than a reviewer] would read a novel that clearly says "Book III" without having read either Book I or Book II. But that is exactly what is happening - either because their book group is reading RACHEL and they missed reading the earlier volumes, or because the bookseller doesn't have the others in stock.
This distresses me because I consider the three volumes one long book [like "Lord of the Rings"] and I have many subplots that wind through the earlier volumes to conclude in RACHEL. For example, I want the reader to share Joheved's satisfaction when Brunetta finally divorces Shemayah or when Rivka finally forgives Joheved for studying Talmud, and to appreciate the parchment maker's family dying of hoof-and-mouth disease. In JOHEVED and MIRIAM, I carefully situated secondary characters in various German towns [Aunt Sarah's son in Speyer, Elisha in Worms, Catharina and Samson in Mayence, Daniel in Cologne] so that my readers would share these characters' experiences when the marauders attacked the Jews in those cities. If the reader hadn't become attached to them in Books I and II, would she care so much what happened to them? Lastly, I saved the most difficult Talmud passages for Book III, assuming that readers would already have some familiarity with how I explain Gemara.
So if anyone asks if they can read RASHI'S DAUGHTERS out of order, tell them that it's best not to do that. The story progresses in chronological order, and that's how I intended that they should be read.
Comment
About
© 2009 Created by Naomi on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
You need to be a member of JBC Bookspace to add comments!
Join this Ning Network