friday july 20
After turning the last page of a particularly breathtaking book, have you ever said to yourself, “Hmmm, I wonder where the inspiration for that came from?” You aren’t alone. Driven by the need to “tear down the invisible wall between us readers and them writers and see what’s really going on behind the page,” Dan Crowe and Philip Oltermann took an unusual approach to exploring the creative writing process. Instead of relying on the standard Q&A exchange, they asked the writers to “…think for a minute about which object, picture, or document in your study reveals most about the relationship between living and writing, and then send it to us.” The resulting essays and photographs, collected together in How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors are surprisingly fascinating!
Some excerpts:
Jay McInery: “This is an Acheulian hand axe, approximately half a million years old, crafted by Homo Erectus, which was given to me by my friend Hamilton Russell…I like to heft it and hold it between paragraphs. It fits the palm beautifully. It reminds me of a friend and a beautiful landscape; sometimes I try to imagine its maker and his world.
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wednesday july 18
Potty humor is big in the world of popular children’s literature—from best-sellers like Captain Underpants to Walter the Farting Dog, who now boasts a fabulous plush representation, complete with sound effects. Some are referring to the genre as “poop fiction.”
"You've got to give kids something they want to read," says Glenn Murray, co-author of the Walter the Farting Dog books, who firmly believes that his smelly, but well-meaning protagonist has become an ambassador for literacy.
It would seem that kids agree, since the genre's books regularly appear on children's best-seller lists.
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Thirty-something high school Latin teacher April Epner has never had any desire to find the woman who gave her up for adoption. Her adoptive parents were perfectly loving, if rather restrained, and she is contented with her single state and quiet career.
But into her tidy life bursts Bernice Graverman, a flamboyantly self-dramatizing woman who wears “toad sized clip-on earrings” and “wet-look white eyeshadow.” Bernice, who is a local talk show host, confessed to her TV audience that she once gave up a child for adoption, and the ratings were so good (“You didn’t happen to see the show, did you?”) that tracking down April was the inevitable next step.
That’s how Elinor Lipman’s 1990 debut novel Then She Found Me begins. The rest of it is just as wryly funny and perfectly pitched.
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friday july 13
One of my favorite mystery authors is Texas native Susan Wittig Albert. Of her series, her most well-known is probably the one starring former lawyer-turned-herbal shop owner China Bayles. China co-owns a tea shop and catering business with her best friend Ruby Wilcox in Pecan Springs, Texas, where the two women have a knack for stumbling across dead bodies and sticking their noses into dangerous situations. Every mystery includes some great recipes and tips for using herbs in either cooking or medicinally. The latest is Spanish Dagger.
China Bayles' Book of Days is a non-fiction companion to the series, complete with recipes, crafts, and gardening tips.
Albert also pens an Edwardian mystery series with her husband, Bill, under the pseudonym Robin Paige. Death on the Lizard is the latest entry. You might also want to check out her Beatrix Potter series, including The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood.
thursday july 12
My alternate title for this entry was "It's A Wonder Anyone's Alive at All."
The total casualty rate during World War I was far higher than the American Civil War's. However, huge medical advances occurred between the 1860s and 1914. You may ask yourself which would be worse--to be wounded in the Civil War or in World War I.
I have to say that being wounded in the Civil War in most situations, especially early on, would be much worse. Ira M. Rutkow's Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine is a sobering reminder of how awful medicine was before the development of asepsis and antiseptics. It's also the story of how personality conflicts and inter-agency political battles can get in the way of what everyone agrees is a good thing--in this case, proper care for the war's wounded soldiers.
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In all the Harry Potter brouhaha, don't overlook a movie coming out this summer by a fantastic writer, Neil Gaiman. The movie is Stardust, based on the wonderful book of the same name. This is a grown-up fairy tale, with richly spare writing and fantastic imagery.
The story follows Tristran Thorn's quest for a fallen star, which turns out to not quite be what he expected. But then, as we continually find out, things are never quite what you expect in the land of Faerie. As Tristran seeks to fulfill his quest to bring the fallen star to his beloved, he quite naturally finds out whom he really is and what it is that he really wants.
This is again the story of the Hero's Quest, just like Star Wars and Luke Skywalker, The Odyssey and Odysseus, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Dorothy, and so many others, even Harry Potter and all of his adventures.
Stardust is also available as a digital audio book, read by the author.
Neil Gaiman might be familiar to some as a graphic novel author, most notably perhaps being the Sandman series.
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wednesday july 11
July and August are my least favorite months to garden. The flowers look great, but it’s too hot outside to care. And who wants to weed while getting eaten by mosquitoes? Fortunately, the library has plenty of books to cure those summertime gardening blues. Here are a few selections:
Three Seasons of Summer: Gardening with Annuals and Biennials by Ethne Clarke discusses plant recommendations and maintenance tasks for early, mid-, and late summer gardens.
Summer Garden Glory by Adrian Bloom explains the challenges of summer gardens and emphasizes how to maintain color and interest throughout the season.
Late Summer Flowers by Marina Christopher suggests late blooming annuals, biennials, and perennials for the garden as summer gives way to autumn.
We’ve also put together a great list of gardening books and websites for you. So put on those gardening gloves, grab a trowel, and dig in!
