The Love of Books - Valentine’s Day blog hop

This blog is part of  Terri Long's Valentine's Day blog hop. Scroll down for other blogs in the hop (highly recommended - they are a lot of fun) as well as a big giveaway and raffle.

I vaguely remember a time, far in the past, when I couldn’t read. Even then, I was surrounded by books – our tiny living room in the Arizona row home was wall-to-wall with bookshelves.

Both my parents were “desperate” readers. She loved reading so much that if she picked up anything with text on it, we would find her, hours later, frozen in one spot, eyes glued to a book on Irish poetry or the old newspaper that lined the drawer.

In order to entertain me as she graded papers and did dishes, she used to put on records of Alice Through the Looking Glass. I listened to them so often that I nearly memorized the story. Later, it was the Oz books – the entire series, along with the Ruth Plumly Thompson continuations.

When we finally learned to read in first grade (from the old-fashioned Dick and Jane books – really) I loved it right away. The thought that those black marks on a  white page meant something was magic – real magic, that could transport me to different eras and countries in the turn of a page.

Did I say Arizona? Summers there were HOT. My parents scrimped all year to save up enough to take us to Ireland, and there we spent weeks in my grandparents house. There was no television there, only an old radio to be used for the six o’clock news.

As a result, my entertainment was books. My grandmother had old volumes of girls’ school stories – Angela Brazil and the Chalet school books. The volumes were filled with ancient Brit slang and funny, copperplate illustrations of females from a vanished era. They wore huge hair ribbons and dropped waists, and I loved them. They had names like Philippa and Mabel, and their exploits and successes were completely real to me.

I read so much that it became a vice – Mum used to threaten to take my book away if I didn’t wash the dishes or at least clear a path through the books piled up around my bed.  When I had my head in a really good story, I was lost to the outside. People would talk to me, and I wouldn’t respond. I wasn’t there at all, you understand – the book had wafted me off to some fantasy land. (Still, it must have been extremely annoying at the time.)

And did I mention the fascination of maps? (yes, I'm obsessed.)

The pages of those books were often covered in a soft “bloom” of age – yellowed spots that spread like lichen throughout the books. As I read, I inhaled the tantalizing scent of must and old leather. Years later, I would seek out that smell in old bookshops and libraries, and it never fails to quicken my pulse.

Now we have  Kindles and Nooks, and I like them as well. I enjoy carrying entire shelves filled with books on my iPad, and I always having a few books going at once. Still, nothing can replace the feel and the smell of those old books, as well as those gorgeous illustrations.

My dream vacation is to stay in Scotland or some rainy, windy place, in an old inn with soft beds and huge fireplaces. I’ll bring stacks of books and stay for a few days, just reading. Maybe I’ll take a long walk each day to compensate for the cream teas I plan to eat.

Who’s with me?

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Not Feeling It

I'm reading three books at the moment, and two of them are very popular trade paperbacks. One is coming out as a film any day now, and I'd be very surprised if the other trad-pub doesn't eventually make its way to the screen.

Painting by Mary Cassatt

The thing is, I'm not "feeling" either book. One is just so far out there that I'm losing control of the story - there are so many characters that the writers seemed to have lost control themselves. The setting is great, the dialogue is authentic, but what the heck is going on? And do I even care?

As for the other, the writing is lovely. Beautiful scenes are described in breathtaking detail. And therein lies the problem - the author seems to be so transfixed by gorgeous scenes that she has forgotten to advance the plot.

The third book is an Indie read, and it is by far the best of the three. The Sable City has dependable relationships, solid characterization, and a plot that, while far-reaching, is firmly reined in so I can follow all the threads of what is happening to a cast that, while large, is centered on three MC's.

Last night, while pounding away at one of the traditionally published books described above, I gave up in disgust and returned, with a sigh of relief, to The Sable City. I'll finish the other two and write fair reviews, mentioning the plusses and minuses in greater detail. 

However, I am not feeling the books that are carried in every Barnes and Noble store on my night stand. I am, however, greatly enjoying the Indie Sable city which, unbelievably, is free on Amazon. FREE.

And there you have it.

The Great Re-Reader

Posted for the 30 Days of Books blogfest, courtesy of The Indie Exchange)

Today's subject is : A book that you have read more than three times.

Aha! I have the answer at my fingertips : Jane Eyre. I've read that book so many times that I've gone through five copies now. My husband, when he catches me in the middle of it again, says, "Not that Janet Eerie again." (Shocker, he hasn't read it.)

I love her, because she refuses to drown in a "bathos of sentiment" with Mr. Rochester. Bathos is the perfect word here - a different woman would melt instantly into his arms, but Jane will have none of it.

YOU GO GIRL

I first read the book when I was in fifth grade. At the time, I sucked it down for the adventure and the story, as well as the descriptions of parties and beautiful dresses. Later, the quotes about bathos and deglutition hit me, so that reading the book became an entirely different experience. Jane herself emerged, like those tea flowers that open slowly in warm water.

Yup, I love Jane, and here's why:

Because she was so mystical. She had prophetic dreams, she drew elves and the North Star, she saw a ghost in the Red Room. 

Because she felt excitement, even in the middle of a most hopeless situation. "The crisis was perilous; but not without its charm: such as the Indian, perhaps, feels when he slips over the rapid in his canoe."

Because, even when faced with a beautiful rival who is rich and favored, Jane sees the truth. "She could not charm him."

And then there is this passage, that formed an important section in A Room of One's Own, by Virgina Woolf:


"Nobody knows how many rebellions besides political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth.  Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags."

So I will read Jane Eyre (and her difficult, more dramatic cousin, Wuthering Heights) again to find the new delights that keep popping up, like a search through an old attic. There are many, many books I've read again and again - The Hobbit and Mistress Masham's Repose among them, but this is my favorite.

As for my Indie counterpart, I immediately thought of Sax and the Suburb by Marilyn Rucker, which recently won a BRAG medallion. You can read my complete review here. I'm not a mystery fan, but Rucker charmed me right away with her humor, her characters (the father who is a hoarder, the boss who falls asleep on the floor in the office, and even the dead mother) and the lovely little romance within. 

Are there any similarities between the two books? Not at all, at first glance. One is a mystery set in Texas, the other is a 19th century literary romance. Yet there is a certain charm and magic in both. In Rucker's book,  Miranda, the main character, dreams about her dead mother who takes her heart out of her chest and offers it to Miranda. That sounds ghoulish, but in the dream it is a cute heart-shaped box of candy. 

I love that image, and Rucker makes it work. I'll read that book again too.

Reading is great, and sometimes re-reading is better. I heartily recommend these titles for both.

Great Reading Spots

My mother was born near Dublin. Ever year, she scrimped and saved her small assistant lit professor salary so we could visit her parents. They lived in Sandycove, in an old house by the sea. It even had a name, Carrig-na-Chattan, which mean House by the Sea in Irish (go figure.)


My sister and I slept in our grandparents' room. There were two single, mismatched beds side by side, an old fireplace, and three large windows comprised of old, wavy glass held together, I believe, with lead.


One of those windows had a low seat inside. When I climbed in with a book and closed the curtains, it was the perfect reading spot. Ivy cascaded over the glass; in fact, several tendrils had forced their way right inside.


On a rainy day, it was like sitting in a Bathysphere. I would take my old, falling apart copy of The Youngest Girl in the Form or The Faraway Tree and read for hours.


I love my current house, but it just doesn't have a great reading spot. For one thing, my husband loves overhead lights, fixed right to the ceiling. They are trendy and attractive, but not cozy. We don't have a window seat or even enough book shelves.


Let's take a look at some gorgeous reading spots, just so I can drool:

Nice load of books and a lovely room, but I might need a cozier chair

Now that looks cozy.

And here is my window seat!

Word Bricks and Backstories

Backstory - Part One


One thing editors and reviewers love to pounce on is "back story," that section in a book that explains how things came to be that way, or why a character is where she is. "Backstory!" we shout gleefully, as we wave a manuscript under the poor, bewildered writer's nose. "Must get rid of that backstory!"

However, books do need a certain amount of explanation. Readers like to know the wheres and whys, but they don't like to read a long, text-heavy lecture that explains them. 


For example, let's say you (the reader) have just picked up a book about Rose. I (the writer) want to make you understand what Rose is all about. So I include a few paragraphs filled with many, many uses of the past participle. Bored already just reading the words past participle, aren't you, you poor reader you.


Traditional Backstory:


Rose had decided to rebuild her life after her divorce. Her first husband had left her and their children penniless, and he refused to pay child support. Whenever she had made formal requests for payment, he had tracked her down and threatened her. She remembered how he had hit her, and as he left, he had told her that the children were next.

Now, this is pretty interesting action, but it is presented in a really dry, dusty way. Several more paragraphs of this and the reader will skim forward.


More than that, if they are looking at your Kindle or Nook sample online, they might decide to move their business elsewhere.


I am convinced that backstory is necessary, and that there is a creative, vibrant way to express it. In other words, writers can excite and inform at the same time. 


Let's try a rewrite of that paragraph, but in a completely different way.


New, Improved Backstory:


Rose sat by the window. She crossed her arms and winced. The bruise was still fresh from David's last visit. 


"Mum? Can I have my allowance?" Maeve entered the room. There was a rip on the knee of the girl's jeans.


"I'm sorry, love. I just can't afford it at the present."


It hurt to admit that, but the thought of what David would to do to her and, worse, to Maeve, if he returned was more painful.


Now the writer does several things at once. She makes the reader understand Rose's desperation, and she creates a magic picture of where Rose is, what her child is like, and where they are physically. The rewrite won't win any awards, but it's much more interesting than that first word brick.


Advanced Backstory - The Second Book in a Series

As an author of a series, it's even more imperative to get information about my characters out there. Someone may pick up my second book without having read the first. I could include a long "The Story Thus Far" section, but who ever reads those?


It would be better to bring the reader onboard with a few letters, a conversation, perhaps a cat walking among a pile of photographs. That requires much more dexterity but delivers far more interest.


Don't hate on the backstory. Seize it as a chance to serve up a fascinating chunk of detail about your beloved characters to those who make your writing possible: the readers.