waltt@tekecs.UUCP (Walt Tucker) (04/23/85)
For some reason, I seem to enjoy books by James A. Michener, even though
reading one of his books is a major investment of time. After completing
one of his novels, I usually take a few months to a year off before attempting
to read another. Of the books I've completed so far, this is my personal
ranking (years are dates published):
1. Chesapeake (1979)
2. Hawaii (1956?)
3. Centennial (1974)
4. Space (1982)
5. The Covenant (1980)
All of the above are good, with books 2, 3, and 4 being very close to
each other in rank. In "Centennial" you could probably skip the second
and third chapter and not lose anything. The remainder of the book is
excellent.
I've rated "The Covenant" last, not because it is extremely poor, but
because (1) It is the thickest book so far (1240 pages) and is taking
me forever to get through (2) It takes place in South Africa and I
am having trouble relating to historical events, places, etc (in the
other books the ties to the U.S. are such that I have some background
knowledge prior to reading the book), and (3) it is generally a little
slower moving than the other four selections (possibly because of number
2 above. Other than that, "The Covenant" has really given me some good
insight into what is happening in South Africa. I find myself reading
and understanding more of the events that are taking place there.
I have "Poland" in my book drawer at home, but will probably take a break
with some science fiction after completing "The Covenant."
I'm also impressed by the research that goes into one of Michener's books.
In "The Covenant", there are five pages of research acknowledgements.
-- Walt Tucker
Tektronix, Inc.techpub@mhuxt.UUCP (mcgrew) (04/26/85)
> For some reason, I seem to enjoy books by James A. Michener, even though > reading one of his books is a major investment of time. After completing > one of his novels, I usually take a few months to a year off before attempting > to read another. Of the books I've completed so far, this is my personal > ranking (years are dates published): > > 1. Chesapeake (1979) > 2. Hawaii (1956?) > 3. Centennial (1974) > 4. Space (1982) > 5. The Covenant (1980) > > > I have "Poland" in my book drawer at home, but will probably take a break > with some science fiction after completing "The Covenant." > > I'm also impressed by the research that goes into one of Michener's books. > In "The Covenant", there are five pages of research acknowledgements. > > > -- Walt Tucker > Tektronix, Inc. I too am a Michener fan. I have read Centennial, Poland, The Covenant, and Bridge at Andau and agree that usually by the time the end of the book is getting close, I'm tired of reading. However, he does portray such a ralistic picture of what he's writing about that I usually don't have much trouble finishing his books. My favorite was probably The Bridge at Andau which was written in '56 I believe, right around the time of the Hungarian Revolution. It was extremely interesting since I didn't really know that much about Hungary and their oppression of that time. God what those people didn't do trying to break free from Russia. Excellent read and it isn't even that long -- about 100-150 pages I think. Poland would have to be my second favorite. Excellent! The only problem I had with this one was pronouncing the names of characters and towns, etc. At one point Michener includes a page on how to handle the pronounciations but he included the page too late--it should have been in the beginning of the book. I enjoyed Centennial for the most part, especially the first 4 or 5 chapters but towards the end, I don't know, it just got a bit boring. Currently, I have Iberia waiting for me. It should be interesting--travels and experiences in Spain, but like you Walt, I have to take long breaks in between. I thought The Covenant was excellent and gave me so much insight to the problems that S Africa has experienced for so long. Happy Reading! Melanie Accomando mhuxt!techpub
cas@cvl.UUCP (Cliff Shaffer) (04/28/85)
It sounds like Michener fans might like the books of James Clavell (and vise versa). Clavell has written (I believe) 4 books: "King Rat" "Tai-Pan" "Shogun" and "Noble House" in order of writting. All but the first are quite long, (getting longer as they become more recent). All are set in the Far East - KR in a Japanese prision camp, TP in 19th century Hong Kong, "Shogun" 17th(?) century Japan and NH in Hong Kong again, but 20 years ago. They do seem to be well researched, and I found them quite entertaining. However, I was looking through NH for the second time, having just read TP (which is the wrong order!) and on the second look (I couldn't possibly spend the time to try RE-READING it!) it seems a lot more trivial. Anyway, they are certainly worth a read, if not a re-read. One note, though. While the first 3 are unrelated and can be read in any order, it is a good idea to read "Noble House" LAST - there are many many references to "King Rat" (same characters) and "Tai-Pan" (NH is a continuation about 2-3 generations latter), as well as even a reference to "Shogun"! Cliff Shaffer ...rlgvax!cvl!cas
mag@whuxlm.UUCP (Gray Michael A) (04/29/85)
> For some reason, I seem to enjoy books by James A. Michener, even though > reading one of his books is a major investment of time. After completing > one of his novels, I usually take a few months to a year off before attempting > to read another. Of the books I've completed so far, this is my personal > ranking (years are dates published): > > 1. Chesapeake (1979) > 2. Hawaii (1956?) > 3. Centennial (1974) > 4. Space (1982) > 5. The Covenant (1980) > > For less time and more pleasure, try "Sayonara" and "Tales of the South Pacific". Both are about 200 pages and are my favorite Michener books. Starting with Hawaii, he got sort of stuck in the span-2000-years-type-saga, most lately with Poland, which I gave up on after 300 pages. It's deadly, he's getting boring in his old age. As far as the massive sagas go, I liked "Hawaii" best and "The Source" second, but they have no literary value compared to his short works written after WW II. "Tales . . ." was his first book and won the Pulitzer Prize. Mike Gray
tkoppel@udenva.UUCP (Ted Koppel) (04/29/85)
I think that one of his best was also one of his earliest-- Caravans--written in the mid-50s about a trip across barren Afghanistan. It was before his style had moved to the point of destroying the plot by overburdening us with facts. By the way, one of the best books about the Kent State massacre was written by Michener about 1971-2; it was called Kent State:What Happened and Why, and is just excellent. Ted