One of my brilliant professors in the English MA program at East Carolina University told me once: “There are no bad books, just bad times to read some books.” He told me that he wasn’t sure he believed that, but that he understood the idea.
I’d soon find this out in my MFA program when the first book assigned in my first class was The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I’d had to read this in 10th grade and just could not understand what the big deal was … I did not get it. At 40, there I was having to go at it again. Only this time, I loved it — because I was ready to read it.
And that brings me to another example, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, Book #4 in my summer reads book suggestions series. It won the National Book Award in 1997.
I bought this book for my wife Kristi, when it came out. I can’t remember when she read it, but I decided to give it a go a few years later and could not get into it. People seemed surprised when it would come up and I’d mention I hadn’t read it, because they said it was “right up my alley.” Finally, a good friend told me she couldn’t believe I didn’t love it, and I ought to try again.
So about 16 years after my first attempt, I tried again and Cold Mountain became one of my favorite novels of all time. I’ve followed that by reading every Frazier novel out there and enjoyed them all. You may see at least one more in this series, as a matter of fact [cheat code: Varina or The Trackers].
Cold Mountain is about a Confederate soldier who is wounded and then deserts from the hospital where he is recuperating. The soldier, Inman, decides to walk home to the mountains of North Carolina, where he had met an intriguing woman just before shipping out with his unit when the war started. [Note: Frazier is a North Carolina writer].
The story is based on an account Frazier found of one of his ancestors. It seems like an unusual story until you research and find out this was not an outlandish story at all. The man I wrote about in Galvanized had a similar story.
It is also interesting to note that Cold Mountain is a version of The Odyssey set in the Civil War, and knowing that makes the story more fun and interesting. Inman has many encounters on the trip, makes friends and enemies, and is faced with hard choices.
When I use this novel, I’m always nervous that students will not like it, partially because I love it. It’s been quite the opposite — passions have flared in class over the story, in particular, the ending … but I promised no spoilers in these reviews, so you’ll have to read it to find out.
I’ll be honest, I think a reader has to give this book 40 pages to get going. That’s pretty much my cutoff of whether I’m sticking a book out. Cold Mountain is well worth it — not only is the plot/story great, the writing itself is a joy. And, the movie with Nicole Kidman and Jude Law, along with many other famous faces, is quite good … even though one of my classes found 100+ differences in the book and the movie. It received seven Academy Award nominations.
I fully believe there are certain times when books will come to you and other times when the switch won’t be flipped — it helps to remain open, a lesson I’ve learned over the last two decades.
Discussion questions: Inman lived in a part of the South that was sharply divided over the Civil War — why do you think North Carolina was like this? Do you believe in instand connections such as the one between Inman and Ada?
Writing Prompt: Think of a well-known, very old fairy tale or story and try to compose a modern version of it in short form.