books and reading

I really felt like I was sitting across the table having a warm and friendly conversation with an old friend, Diana Gabaldon! Because her 1000+ page books in the OUTLANDER series were written over the course of several years, people tend to forget some of the lesser characters or events. This book makes it easy to look up a person or even a Gaelic phrase to become familiar with past events. Having recently discovered this series, I've been fortunate to read these books straight through (at great expense to my personal life and sleep, I might add). Frankly, I can't imagine the torture of having to wait years for each book, especially between DRAGONFLY and VOYAGER!
Subsequently, I read this book in chronological order (5th) because I absolutely didn't want to miss a thing (even though the plot and characters remained familiar to me). I did turn to it twice before to look up a forgotten name and wish I hadn't because I learned something about an individual that took place in a future book. I do know people who like to read ahead but I won't even read a review of a book until I have finished it; I like to be surprised!
The great part of this book is all the information gleaned from Gabaldon's personal life. We are introduced to her husband and three children. We learn that besides the fact that she is a genius (she didn't state this--it's just a given considering the epic tales she weaves) and best selling author (not to mention going without sleep), she has quite a normal life as a wife and mother. Diana tells us the unorthodox way she spins her tales--not in sequential order, but in bits and pieces. The result is not only a tremendous insight into the author, but background information of characters (even horoscopes and genealogy-which did not interest me) and events in her delightful novels.

I absolutely loved The Outlandish Companion. I think it deserves one star for the Gaelic pronunciations and explanations, a second star for the sketches and pictures (loved seeing Claire's rings!), a third star for the character list, a fourth star for Diana taking the time to answer all of those questions from everyone, and the fifth star for her explanation of where characters come from. I would give her a sixth star for her wit and humor if Amazon gave me that option. I was a little surprised to see how closely the horoscopes matched Jamie and Claire's personalities. Diana didn't write the horoscopes anyway, they were sent to her and she liked them so she included them for anyone who was interested. Who cares that they are fictional characters? Not me. The fact that Diana has made Jamie, Claire & Co. 'real' to so many people is an amazing accomplishment itself. I enjoyed the Companion for the reasons I listed above. Will I read the book cover to cover repeatedly? No. Will I go through it fairly often? Yes. Why? Because it's interesting information and I participate in Outlandish Trivia Games and I could use all the help I can get. My book was worth every penny I spent on it and I hope to someday have it signed along with the rest of my books. Great job Diana and I look forward to books 5 & 6 as well as the next Companion!

This book is just as good as you would expect, coming from Diana Gabaldon. It merges right into the Outlander series & is just chock full of information. It really is worth the money, especially if you plan to read the entire series. It was released before the 5th book, The Fiery Cross, so there is very little (if anything) about that book in the Companion.

Be sure to check out the web links section, there are some really cool Outlander websites & E-groups on the internet!

Happy reading,

Miranda