“On the days that the radio played Ammu’s songs, everyone was a little wary of her. The sensed somehow that she lived in the penumbral shadows between two worlds, just beyond the grasp of their power. That a woman that they had already damned, now had little left to lose, and could therefore be dangerous. So on the days that the radio played Ammu’s songs, people avoided her, made little loops around her, because everybody agreed that it was best to just Let Her Be.”

- Arundhati Roy – The God of Small Things

↑ Susan Hill – cut me and I am made of books
A quote from Susan Hill on Facebook: “Books help to form us. If you cut me open, you will find volume after volume, page after page, the contents of every one I have ever read, somehow transmuted and transformed into me….[J]ust as my genes and the soul within me make me uniquely me, so I am the unique sum of the books I have read. I am my literary DNA.”

↓ I hate them but I have given in
27% of all fiction sold last year was e-books, up from 12% in 2011, according to a new Nielsen report. I admit to being torn. I love the heft, the smell, the touch of books, there’s something sensual about it. But, when packing my suitcase for a six-week holiday in the USA last year, I packed one Kindle containing 71 books [including guide books]. It will remain a practical once or twice a year alternative to the real thing, I think. Real books are an addiction [see Susan Hill above].

↑ The death of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
The only writer to ever win a Booker and an Oscar. Actually she won two Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars: for ‘Howard’s End’ and ‘Room with a View’. What a legacy to leave behind. That word ‘legacy’ again.

I know I’m not alone in this…

Book bub  is a email program courtesy of Amazon that delivers a choice of four or five books for ebook down load ranging in price from $3.99 to Free.

I love free the best.

And I love Amazon for assuming the role of my own personal drug dealer.  For a woman who considers books her crack cocaine, this daily email offering a free book download is like the  archetypal drug dealer lurking just on the other side of the playground chain link fence.

“Want to trip for free?”

And I reply, “SURE of COURSE I do.”

Since I missed doing drugs in college due to financial constraints,  this is my next best experience.

The  Amazon one click option is like main-lining in a meth lab.

If you are a real writer you are not book – free or novel-neutral.  So it’s not a question of  addiction, the question is,  how does your addiction manifest?  The local used book store?   The monthly Friends of the LIbrary sale?   The library itself?  Amazon?  A fabulous destination store  like (cue the god-clouds and heavenly chorus) Powells?

This is not an intervention, this is not a plea to just say no. On the contrary, don’t say no, say yes, and if you know your weakness, then you know that when you come across it in your in bo

I’m rarely without a book, magazine, comic, catalog, flyer, playbill, postcard, print-out from the web, fundraising letter. It’s got words? I have it in my pack, maybe two of ‘em!

My partner and I bought these along on a ten-day vacation once. No lie.

My to-read list? It’s scary. The number of years in my life are a poor match for the number of books on my list.

I’ve been using the website Goodreads since 2007. Beginning 2013, I decided to at least get that particular to-read list under control. So I’ve worked to whittle -wicking a few books I’ll likely never touch, re-allocating some to Paperbackswap (if a book shows up in the mail, then I’ll submit to reading it), and requesting a score or two through library request systems.

I’ve grown stricter about the length of time books can stay in the queue before being shoved off the edge like one of those coin-push games at the arcade.

Still. So much to read . . .

Library haul

The long weekend saw me fly through the following books:
Beastly – Alex Flinn
It’s one of my favourite movies, my favourite beauty and the beast adaption, it took me a while to get into though as the book and the movie are nothing alike, at first I thought this might be one of those instances where I really do think the movie is better than the book but after finishing it I realized there is no way you can compare the two because the movie may have used the names and location but it is jack shite like the book in any other way.
Light in the shadows (the sequel to Find me in the dark) – A. Meredith Walters
I wrote a piece on Find me in the dark after I read it, it was one of those books that touched me in a way most books haven’t no matter how I’ve enjoyed them. This book hits home, well the theme of it does and it makes me both happy and sad at the same time. Happy that someone told the story and sad that I now have a slight view as to what those around me have to put up with.
Cloud Walking – A. Meredith Walters
Sort of an in between book for Find me in the dark and Light in the shadows, where the first two told the story of Maggie and Clay Cloud walking told the story of Rachel and Daniel falling in love while Maggie and Clay fell apart.
Sharp Objects – Gillian Flynn
I downloaded this because someone asked me for her “gone girl” book and the write up of sharp objects caught my attention, again there was a bit of a reason it did I guess, again something hit home but only the cutting bit, the creepy mom and psycho daughter not so much hahaha. The writing style is strange and it’s a change from what I’ve been reading as of late but it was good. And hells bells but the twist in the end…
Down to you – M. Leighton
Smut with a twist…not your usual twist either…
Up to you – M. Leighton
More a continuation than a sequel really, as good as the first with an even harder twist to it.
The siren – Tiffany Reisz
Not sure how much I should reveal about this book… let’s just say you should read it with an open mind. It’s like 50 shades of grey, but realistic. And I love it because it reminds me a lot of one specific relationship… let’s just say that you’ll understand a hell of a lot about my private life if you read this book ;) Definitely looking forward to the other 3 in the series…
The Chef – Martin Suter
I started this one but I’ve stopped about half way through, it’s not an easy read. Originally written in german (I think in swiss to be exact) it reminds me of something typically german and growing up with one as a parent I think I can say that without causing too much of a stir, the story is about two people who open a catering business but it’s slow reading and for the most part it’s about politics and the recession and banks closing. I’ll get it finished. Eventually.

And that dears is just this weekend… as of January 1st I have read 54 books. FIFTY FOUR. I set a goal on good reads to read 100 by years end… somehow I think I’ll manage to manage that…

[photo: http://www.shedblog.co.uk

Ian Holm as Bilbo

‘The Hobbit’ by JRR Tolkein

Well, all of them are short story collections and one anthology. I am currently in the state of immensely liking short fiction ever since I’ve read My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead. In fact, 5 of the books in here are penned by the same authors who were featured in My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead. Booksale and the Fullybooked bargain bin seems to be cooperating with me so I really didn’t hesitate when I was buying these books.

• Loot and Other Stories by Nadine Gordimer – This one stared at me from the book pile of Bookay-Ukay (which is dangerously near my place of dwelling) and I just picked this collection of short stories by this Nobel laureate without knowing what is contained within the pages.
• Natasha by David Bezmozgis – The title story of this collection is included in My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead and it is one of the most haunting portraits of teenage love that I have ever seen. Finding this in a bargain bin totally caught me off-guard.
• Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson – I have read from one of the blogs that I read that this short story collection is so good that it is required reading. I don’t know about it being required reading but one of the stories within, featured in My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead, titled Dirty Wedding is devastating and brutal.
• No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July – Another discovery from My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead. The story Something That Needs Nothing is a portrait of unrequited and homosexual love that tugged my heartstrings in an unusual way and left me sad.
• Last Night by James Salter – There’s really no reason why I bought this book except for the fact that it was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and because Salter is considered to be one of the most brilliant yet underrated writers of his generation.
• Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro – Confession: I have not read a complete collection of Alice Munro’s short stories although I have read quite several on the internet and on some anthologies. This book is also supposed to be Alice Munro’s masterpiece and one of the stories here, the depressing The Bear Came Over The Mountain, is included in My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead. 
• Birds of America by Lorrie Moore – The writer who penned what is probably the story (How To Be An Other Woman) that I liked best in My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead. This is supposedly her masterpiece although How To Be An Other Woman is not included here.
• Children Playing Before A Statue of Hercules edited by David Sedaris - I am a sucker for anthologies and this one is just an addition to my ever growing collection of anthologies that I hope to read soon. Edited by David Sedaris, this collection contains personal favorites of Sedaris and these are stories that Sedaris considers as Herculai of short stories.

My March acquisitions are probably the best of this year so far and I expect to read most of these before the year ends. Assuming that I have the time, of course.

‘The Big Sleep’ by Raymond Chandler

↑ Coming soon… Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 4  Who will make the list this time? Included on the last list in 2003, published in Granta 81, were Sarah Waters, AL Kennedy, Monica Ali and David Mitchell. Granta 123 out in April.

↑ Welcome news as Carole Blake announces on Facebook…

[photo: Jack Ladenburg]

↓ Where’s the fiction gone?  Only two of the top ten most reviewed books this week, according to The Bookseller magazine, are fiction – Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw, and The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna. The rest of the list is memoir, political memoir and history.

Maybe I should be more vague about my feelings on this issue, because I have no intention of ever talking politics or religion and I want to promote a feeling of inclusiveness on this blog, rather than turn people off, but there it is.  I believe so strongly that I cannot fathom the other side.  I have had conversations with friends who are intelligent and loving, who are on the other side of this argument, but in the end I just don’t get it.  I don’t understand why anybody could be against someone loving someone else until death do they part.  If we have learned nothing else from history, we should know that when all else fails, even faith, it is love that remains and endures and allows people to get through the toughest of situations.  Love should be supported and encouraged.

I say all of this because I just finished reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.  For years I have heard how great it is, but resisted reading it because I am not a “sci-fi” girl.  Once I started reading it, I could not believe why I waited so long. It’s one of those books that transcends the genre and is so universal that even 20+ years after it was first published, the themes feel current and modern.  I loved the characters and the message of empathy for those that are different or separate from you.

And once I was through with the book, I turned to the internet to read about the other things that Card had written.  Instead, I found articles about the horrifying things that he has said against marriage equality.  I will not repeat them here.  But it made me sick.  Sick that anyone who writes with such beauty and understanding could feel the way he does about other people.  And sick that I had supported him with the purchase of his book.

Which got me to thinking, Where do we draw the line?  I will absolutely stand up for Card’s right to have and express any position he likes, but I can also choose not to support him.  And then I started thinking about the inextricable link between artist and their art.  I think Ender’s Game is a wonderful book and that it should absolutely be read, but in that way am I strengthening his position by giving him an audience to which he could spread his hate?

I choose not to eat at Chick-Fil-A for the same reason, I do not go to Carls Jr. because I think their commercials are sexist and promote a bad message, but I have relented on similar stances on Best Buy, Target and Arco, because I wondered if it was really worth it.  Also, is not supporting a business because of a viewpoint, really the same as holding an artist’s viewpoint against their art?  Should they be separate and appreciated as different?  Maybe as an artist, I want to believe the best in my fellow artists and its hard for me when they don’t live up to the expectations that their exceptional work makes me have for them.  I don’t know.

I would love to hear what anybody else thinks.    

“Human beings may be miserable specimens, in the main, but we can learn, and, through learning, become decent people.”
― Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

Winona Ryder as Jo [photo: mayocka.tumblr.com]

‘Little Women’ by Louisa M Alcott

Some libraries I visit are impressive works of architecture. Some are one-room, sweet, charming, quaint.

The Robbins Library, housed in a stately building on Mass. Ave. in Arlington Center, moments from a 77 MBTA bus stop and the MinuteMan Bikeway, is the sort of place where you favorite a table, chair, or study cubby.

Maybe you show up early in the morning to claim that table/chair/study cubby, and frequenting it becomes your rally cap, magicking you towards the success with your homework/dissertation/novel/job search.

Cutest mini library-catalog ever

Form, function, inspiration, and surprises.

Art to check out, literally

Old and new architecture meet – indoors!

Self-service laptop loan

Book tableau

I look forward to discovering more on my next visit.

‘Goldfinger’ by Ian Fleming

To my sadness, I haven’t got my original copy of this book. I read it when I was about 9 or 10, I guess, and it opened up a new world of possibilities to me. That you could be free to live your own life, free of adults, free of rules, free to imagine, free to believe.  The writer Clive King grew up in a house near a chalk pit, so I’d like to think he did actually meet Stig. I re-read it recently and the story was just as fresh. It was published 40 years ago but it hasn’t aged at all.

‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King

Pre-Twilight, I was obsessed with LJ Smith’s books.  They are tiny compared to current YA standards and they (especially Nightworld) are formulaic.  But I LOVED them.  I’m not sure about reading the newer books or even rereading the ones I loved before, but I’m still waiting
for Strange Fate.  On a whim, I went to LJ Smith’s official website and noticed she had the first chapter of Strange Fate posted.  I don’t care if it’s good or bad, I’m just excited to read it.

“‘I’m writing a history of the world,’ she says. And the hands of the nurse are arrested for a moment; she looks down at this old woman, this old ill woman. ‘Well, my goodness,’ the nurse says. ‘That’s quite a thing to be doing, isn’t it?’ And then she becomes busy again, she heaves and tucks and smooths – ‘Upsy a bit, dear, that’s a good girl – then we’ll get you a cup of tea.’”

‘Moon Tiger’ by Penelope Lively

I love books. I mean crazy, I could live in a fort built of my books because I have so many, love. When I was in Elementary school and we did Read Across America, I had crisscrossed the country several times before most of my class had gotten to the Mississippi. I have always written stories, but it was something I did in addition to whatever else I was doing in my life.  I never considered that the voices I heard in my head would someday get so loud that they would demand that they get their turn.

I’ll admit it.  Until recently, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life.  While my friends left college and got on with their careers, becoming teachers or professionals, I killed time.  I knew that I was not an office type of person, I would never be satisfied working a 9 to 5 job, but I also  found out that I was really good at dealing with the details of other people’s lives.

This year, finally, after years of talking about it, I applied to an MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Spalding University and I was accepted.  The day I heard was an amazing day and something finally clicked for me.  I haven’t started the program yet, that will come this July in Dublin, but I know that I have finally found the place that I belong.

Yesterday, I went to a panel of YA authors at my local Barnes and Noble.  Standing in the back, listening to them talk about their novels and the writing process, watching them banter with the audience, I could see myself doing that.  I would be happy doing that.  One of the voices in my head broke away from the rest and whispered, “These are your people.”  More specifically, I think YA writers and readers are my people.  I am starting on a journey and I hope along the way, I will find more of my people.

“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.”
― Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life

 ‘The Language of Flowers’ by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The weather here is foul – cold and wet, yes in Andalucía! – so I hunker down in front of the fire with a book that’s been sitting on my bookshelf here for a while. I’m reading about art and artists, as on-going research for my current novel, Connectedness. Having read Martin Gayford’s The Yellow House last summer, the story of Van Gogh’s stay at Arles in the South of France when he painted the Sunflowers series, I would read anything he writes.

Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud is a diary kept by Gayford as he sat for a portrait in Freud’s studio from 2003-2005. The book made headlines when published in 2010 because Freud was initially dissatisfied with the portrait. He couldn’t get the blue of the scarf right. Gayford finally admitted there were two scarves he wore alternately to the sittings, each a slightly different shade of blue.

Freud is painting a portrait. My character Justine Tree is a collagist, but that doesn’t matter. I want to get inside the artist’s head.