Monday Books, again

With apologies to all the IT'S MONDAY WHAT ARE YOU READING consistent bloggers, I submit my occasional Monday books today.

(My blogging skills have taken a hiatus but I do love hearing about and sharing books with others who dig more deeply than I do.)

That said, I've read some excellent books during my absence from Monday sharing.

Both of these came via friends who know how much I love to read and share.

 

                                           (Publisher's Weekly review )

The illustrations, the lovely and very descriptive words, and the helpful Author's Note and backmatter make this picture book the perfect introduction to a war, a part of the world, and a story young readers may not know. Loosely based on both the author's experience and the "real" secret library during the Syrian civil war, NOUR'S SECRET LIBRARY inspires empathy, a love of books, and a very special friendship.

Hot off the press,  FINDING MOON RABBIT is taken from the true stories of families faced with internment during World War II. 

Click on this link for JC Kato's fabulous website. I think kids are going to learn a lot and enjoy the process. 

Girl Scouts, friendship, intrigue, and history, too-- What could be better for a summer read?

JC and I go way back and I know how hard she's worked on her marvelous middle-grade novel. She's traveled to camps, interviewed family members, applied for and won an SCBWI Karen Cushman grant and now the book is out in the world! I'm proud to know her and honored to have read the early versions of FINDING MOON RABBIT. 

Click here for a glowing Kirkus review.

For my own personal edification, I've been reading picture book biographies. Reading a book as a librarian brings different skills and experiences from reading as a writer.  With a push from my friend Shannon Hitchcock (Check her website to see how many excellent books she's recently published about little-known storytellers and artists), I've explored picture books about both artists and sports figures. So much fun!

I'll share just one because I really could go on and on. 

I've visited Flannery O'Connor's house in Milledgeville, GA. (aside: don't you love visiting writers' homes?)  This book takes me back to that afternoon wandering around her backyard, and it takes my breath away, visually. It's also a compelling story, so well-written. I love how the author of this picture book incorporates some of O'Connor's themes into statements kids can understand. Or at least ponder. "There was something about strangeness that made people sit up and look."

Fun reading, no? I can't wait to read all the books my #IMWAYR buddies will share today.

This Post was Inspired by Letters

Or, truthfully, by my friend and fellow debutante (our first novels came out the same year) Caroline Starr Rose's BLOG POST: Do You Write Fan Mail?

I haven't written many letters to authors lately. In the era of Facebook and email, most of the authors I know receive cyber greetings from their fans.

But today is a letter-writing kind of day and I'm actually writing a couple to those who've been steady rocks by my side as I've navigated the past few years of publishing.


 
(I certainly have enough note cards to write everybody I've ever known!)






I'll write my very own editor, also an author, whose book THE RED PENCIL I'm reading right now. She hears from me a lot. But I've never written to her about one of her own books. And I love this one.

Ann Martin's RAIN REIGN is going under a special someone's Christmas tree. I'd love her to know how much this book will mean when that young reader and I talk about it.

I'm going to quote from Caroline's blog, linked in the first sentence, because she says it so well:

“I am a part of everything I’ve read” Theodore Roosevelt said. It’s true. And I am so very grateful to the authors who have made my life richer, fuller, deeper through the books they’ve created.


You might also like this about Flannery O'Connor's letters.

Or perhaps
http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2009/04/ps-write-soon.html

And just for fun: Typing Skills!

Looking Ahead

In the spirit of BEGINNINGS (novels, revisions, years), I'm vowing to read more grownup stuff in 2014. I'm embarrassed to say, when friends bring up great new books (and even newish ones), I mostly haven't read them. Yes, I've heard of them, but I read so many middle-grade and even a few Young Adult novels, that my adult reading has gone by the wayside.

So, here's what's up on my Kindle. 
Donna Tartt's new book, The Goldfinch.
(I don't read everything via an ebook, but this one's so huge, I couldn't see toting it around, hardcover.)

I'm also going to read Sue Monk Kidd's new book, The Invention of Wings because I received an ARC from NetGalley. And because I loved Secret Life of Bees AND she's coming to Tampa soon! Inkwood Books is sponsoring her talk.

This morning, I found --totally haphazardly-- a new blog to peruse. 
And as so many blog writers are doing, he lists the books read in 2013. 
(I had a good plan to keep a list of mine, which failed miserably.)

I love the guest post on working with an editor. 
And Flannery O'Connor.
http://davidabramsbooks.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-first-time-elizabeth-stuckey-french.html 

His "Bookstore of the Month" posts are fun, too.  Long, but fun.

If I'd just stop reading blogs, avoid Facebook, etc., maybe I'd find more time to read.

There's a resolution to consider for 2014...

Dreaming up characters? Telling stories?

This morning two quotes came to me quite serendipidously.

The first reminded me that I haven't read the book, and it's been on my To Be Read list since it first came out. I'm embarrassed to admit, I'd forgotten about  

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.

(Thanks, Carl, for the email reminder. Downloading on my Kindle right now.)

"I believe in the democracy of storytelling," said McCann in an interview. "I love the fact that our stories can cross all sorts of borders and boundaries. I feel humbled by the notion that I'm even a small part of the literary experience. I grew up in a house, in a city, in a country shaped by books. I don't know of a greater privilege than being allowed to tell a story, or to listen to a story. They're the only thing we have that can trump life itself."

Another is from a writing craft book. I'd copied this quote from Flannery O'Connor and it floated out of a notebook I just opened to ponder a bunch of new characters, while traveling in the South.


"If you start with a real personality, a real character, then something is bound to happen; and you don't have to know what before you begin. In fact, it may be better if you don't know what before you begin. You ought to be able to discover something from your stories. If you don't, probably nobody else will."

This makes great sense. Especially if you write by the seat of your pants.
Though I swore I would never do THAT again.

Instead, I'll think about stories while fleshing out characters and taking in setting these next few days.
Which comes first in your writing? Character, story, place?


Related post: Letters 
Bloomsday

SOUTHERN LITERARY TRAIL

Without even realizing I was on a literary tour, I've visited several of the spots:

Eudora Welty's house in Jackson
Faulkner's in Oxford
And now Flannery O'Connor's last family home in Milledgeville, GA.

Having reread THE HABIT OF BEING last winter, I set my sights on visiting Flannery O'Connor's hometown. Fortunately we have gracious friends who grew up in Milledgeville. Our host had even spent time sitting on the front porch of Andalusia as a young boy fascinated/ freaked by the peacocks a while back. Great tour guides. I hope we get invited back to explore via the trolley and poke around inside the church where the evil General Sherman stabled his horses. (Oh, the horror!)

Call me a southern author groupie if you must, but something about seeing how O'Connor faced her typewriter to the wall so as not to be tempted by the beauty of nature outside her first floor window spoke to me. Though how she plotted to the tune of peacocks remains a mystery.

Eudora Welty's garden and home are must-see spots in Jackson.
Oxford, MS, sports a statue of Faulkner on the Square, though he was not universally loved by his home state.
A great way to travel the south. I plan to check out a few more spots on the Southern Literary Trail.

Who out there's visited some of the many author birthplaces, homes, gardens open to the public?
Inspiration? Voyeurism? An excuse to eat fried okra and turnip greens at your author's favorite cafe?


Here's a post from my reading of The Habit of Being.
And another, here- random thoughts about writing like Flannery.

Letters of Flannery O’Connor: the Habit of Being

Recently a friend and I wondered together what will happen to the study of history—be it literary or social—with no letters to document what we think of the world. She and I are were letter writers. So it’s probably not much of a stretch for us to bemoan the loss of letters that were a reflection of the times (John and Abigail Adams, etc.) or a commentary on writing.

This conversation sent me right to a fat book sitting on my shelf: the letters of writer Flannery O’Connor. Although there isn’t a lot of mulling on world events, or even local goings-on here, reading about O’Connor’s writing and her editing and submission process makes me think how the more things change, the more they remain the same. (As my grandmother used to say.)

Also noteworthy, Flannery O’Connor was a poor speller, and she knew it. Even if we save our emails forever, there’s not much chance the spelling won’t have beeen corrected. Reading some of this writer’s (and there truly weren’t many) funny, Southern, exaggerated spellings just made her seem like she was somebody you knew well, writing to a friend. And that friend could be you.

So I offer up a few tidbits, written between 1948 up to her death in 1964, back and forth with her agent, publisher, friends, strangers. Straight from O’Connor’s letters:

After submitting her manuscript to a publisher:

“I had a note…asking how the book was coming. This seems to be a question that extends itself over the years.”

Later, upon her publisher re-issuing the novel, asking if there are revisions she’d like to make:

“I can’t even make myself read the thing again. I am just going to say NO there ain’t any. You can’t rewrite something you wrote ten years ago. And there will be no introduction, as I can’t even read the book, I sure can’t write an introduction.”

Remarking on a student’s letter saying she would appreciate it if Miss O’Connor would explain what enlightenment she should get out of the stories assigned by her professor, as she couldn’t read them:

“This is the kind of letter that leaves me beyond exasperation. I finally wrote her a note and said that my expectation of anyone’s getting enlightenment out of them was mighty limited and I’d be glad if she could just enjoy them and not make problems in algebra out of them.”

Of course, the student showed the letter to her professor.

“Apparently they had a big argument about it…I had this same trouble in Texas. Every story is a frog in a bottle to them. I suppose it has to be that way…”

With the absence of TV and internet in my house this week, I’ve been filling my time with reading. I highly recommend this giving up of technology for a few days, though in the interest of full disclosure, I do have an emergency iPhone. I have been checking occasional emails and Facebook posts.

But mostly I’ve been reading and writing. And loving it.

You Didn't Mess With Flannery..

Over on the Southern writers blog I'm a part of, the question of the month is about inspiration. Now I don't know many of these writers I share that blog with, but frequently when I stop by, I find somebody new I'd like to read more of.

The July 9th post by Man Martin is filled with much food for thought. And some funny quotes and stories about famous writers and exactly what they thought about inspiration. Click on over there to read his whole post. My favorite?

Flannery O’Connor would sit on her front porch tapping away at her manual typewriter several hours every morning. If someone came during her writing time, she would just ignore him. He would be able to see her there, just behind the screen, but though he knocked and pounded and shouted, “Yoo-hoo, Flannery!” she would just keep typing.

You think if I could just ignore the world, the birds (she kept peacocks for Goodness sakes!), the distractions, I could write even one short story like O'Connor dreamed up?