I'm typing to you from my new home in Rural North, GA where I dwell in rooms made into mini art galleries because of the large 6.5' x 3.5' Pella quadruple-framed, double-hung plate glass windows that make the views through them of the rose garden, ornamental maples, bluegrass lawn with its birdbath, and the surrounding mixed hardwood and pine forest seem to be works of art. There are no such windows in SoFla, where I have spent the last 32 years of my life looking out onto nature through awning style Miami windows, easily covered by hurricane shutters when the need be.
No need be these.
What's the point of my telling you this? I guess it's because I'm experiencing feelings of up-rootedness, disorientation, and confusion. I suppose not unlike an inexperienced astronaut might feel as s/he drifts at the netherend of an umbilical in space -- attached but unable to get any bearings. And those emotions seem to be contributing to my now disrupted reading life: I can't choose a book to read next. I pick one up from my TBR pile, or from an open moving carton, intrigued by the color of its cover, a catchy title, the Old Familiar author but after a few moments spent in my lap, the book slides away and my eyes return again to gaze at the views outside my windows.
From where I'm sitting now, merely by swiveling my head on its neck I can look out six of these true picture windows and one glass paneled set of French doors that are the entrance to my home. It's green and park-like in every direction, like being on permanent vacation in a tree house or Shenandoah cabin.
And I ask, "Who needs to read?"
Please turn the page.
Well, I do!
While I've been typing, my chaotic mind (always cooking in multitudinous little mental labs, various dangerous experiments in thought) presented itself with this conclusion. "Let's read a political novel." Just so happens I have one lined up on my Kindle, Winston's War by Michael Dobbs.
Full disclosure demands I divulge that this book has been the read aloud selection Lime Spouse and I have been working on these many weeks spent in a hotel while the house hunt and closing happened. I haven't been able to remain conscious long enough while Lime Spouse read to hear more than a snatched sentence or two. Of course, he read on while the corpse slept beside him and finished the book without me. Just so you know, the story deals with the pugnacious Churchill's political combat against the appeasing Chamberlain.
Then I got to thinking, "Why doesn't R&BLers have a Series on Political Novels?" Wish we had! I'm looking for an Editor whose passion combines politics with the love of reading good (and possibly bad) said fiction. So, if this sounds like you, please PM me soonest.
And that led me to go Google and search the keyphrase "best political novels." Now, Kossacks love lists. Here's one from the Richmond Times Dispatch of 10 Best American Political Novels.
⢠All the Kingâs Men by Robert Penn Warren (1946). Warren, who won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel, based his story on Huey Long, a Louisiana governor and later senator who was assassinated in 1935.
⢠The Last HurrahAdvise and Consentâ by Allen Drury (1959). An intimate look at the workings of the Senate, the story focuses on the confirmation battle over a nominee for secretary of state who once belonged to the Communist Party. Drury won the Pulitzer for this novel.
⢠Seven Days in May by Charles W. Bailey and Fletcher Knebel (1962). Set at the height of the Cold War, this one centers on a plot by American military leaders to depose the president by coup.
⢠The Shad Treatment by Garrett Epps (1977). Epps, a native of Richmond, uses a fictionalized version of Virginiaâs bitter and narrow 1973 gubernatorial contest between Mills Godwin and Henry Howell to examine politics and its human costs.
⢠Union Dues by John Sayles (1977). The story of a working-class father from West Virginia and his 17-year-old runaway son, this novel is set in 1969 and tells a story of politically radicalized youth in the â60s.
⢠Primary Colors by Anonymous, later revealed to be Joe Klein (1996). Based â and not loosely â on Bill and Hillary Clinton and his 1992 campaign for president, âPrimary Colorsâ created a stir, not only by the initial mystery surrounding its author but also by its gritty and deep depiction of the world of political insiders.
⢠Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson (2000). Patterson specializes in political suspense and deals with numerous topical issues in his many works. In âProtect and Defend,â he spins a gripping yarn about abortion and the nomination of the nationâs first female chief justice.
⢠November 22, 1963 by Adam Braver (2008). Undoubtedly the least well-known book on this list, Braverâs work is imaginative and lyrical as it tells the story of the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated through the voices and experiences of those around him, particularly first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. In doing so, Braver melds murder and mythology.
⢠Watergate by Thomas Mallon (2012). Only a few fictional characters appear â though some important ones â as Mallon imaginatively examines the scandal that brought down Richard Nixon through the lives of the president, his family and those around him.
I've read only three on this list -- the classics at the top. Do you see your favorites? Let us know in the comments below what some of your favorite political novels are. And please,
let's get this new Series on Political Novels going before Election Day Tuesday.
I notice my eyes are drifting away from the computer screen to the window where not long ago, I saw a heavy bodied owl lift gracefully off and skim over our gravel drive, away into the trees. . .