Escaping 2013

Does it say something about our current social environment that I am escaping by reading an adventure story that begins in Asia during the chaotic and dangerous days of World War II?


Reading The Persimmon Tree by the late Bryce Courtney. I love it after just reading the short Amazon sample and I've bought the book. At the same time I'm reading the John Lanchester novel Capital which I'm enjoying. But The Persimmon Tree talks to my heart and my spirit - not so Capital even though it is a finely told story and I'm engaged with the characters. So what is the difference? Is it the setting, or the era, or the story, or the characters, or the language? Does Courtney's restless spirit somehow ensnare me as my eyes traverse the text? Do I have a particular empathy with the characters for some reason? Is it that recently I spent a few days on the island of Java where the story begins? If only I knew the definitive answer it would revolutionise my unfulfilled aspiration to write; it's not so much about whether my stories could make money, it's about wanting them to be enjoyed by others.

There was a time when paper texture, the heft, or the binding had influence over what I selected and purchased but sadly these influences are now but a footnote because I mostly read Kindle books. Not perhaps the most elegant volumes, but very transportable.

So. What influences you in the selection of a work of fiction?