On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

I'll start by telling you that I loved this book.

LOVED it.

And I haven't even finished it.


I am not an aspiring writer.  I do want to write a book or two in my lifetime, but I don't want to be 'a writer'.  In my current job, I have opportunity to write for a community magazine four times a year.  I enjoy that but I wouldn't want to do it full time ... as a job.

I'm not interested, really, in writing fiction.  Although, after reading this book, I reckon I could give it a good crack.  I feel armed to take on the writing world ... even though it is not really what I want to do.  That is how good this book is!

Like I said, I haven't actually finished the book.  I started it a while ago and then life got busy and I gave my time to other things like my kids' and husband's birthdays, end of year events at school, Christmas, school holidays (summer vacation), and who knows what else!?  I have a little sunburn that tells me some of my time was given to the beach!  I hate sunburns and I fully lathered up with 50+ sunscreen but I missed a couple of bits and they aren't happy with me!

But back to the book not being finished!  I picked it up again the other day and have been reading away, totally loving it.  But today I got a notice from my library saying they assume I've lost the book and would I please return it or pay $51.62.  Oops!  I prefer to not pay for library books so I returned it!  I've re-reserved it though so I will finish it when it's my turn to take the book home again!

SK talks a lot about his life and his journey to becoming an author in the first half of this book. He shares some great wisdom that he has gained along the way.  I love this ... 'put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room.  Life isn't a support-system for art.  It's the other way around."

And ... "If you want to be a writer, you must do two thing above all others; read a lot and write a lot.  There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut."  It's really true, isn't it?  My art teacher tells us all the time that the best artists are the ones who do art ALL THE TIME.  It's probably true across the board ... the more you DO __________ fill in the blank, the better you become at it. 

SK encourages aspiring writers to set a goal of writing 1000 words a day.  Just sit and write.  Now, like I said, I'm not an aspiring writer, but I do want to write a book this year.  And so, in Feb, once the kids have gone back to school and I'm back into a routine, I'm going to start by setting myself the goal of writing 500 words a day.  I have no idea how long that will take me!  I guess I'll find out! 

SK says that what each of us knows makes us unique!  I agree.  I have a story to tell ... it's not fiction.  It's the story of 2015  ... my year of 'the uncomfortable'.  I'm not sure if anyone else (besides my husband, my best friend, and a handful of other people) will ever read it, but I'm going to write it!

I've also got a line up of books that I'm going to read in 2016.  I'll share that with you in another blog post soon!  Do you have a reading list?   Shoot me a link in the comments, I'd love to come check it out!  Or you can find me on goodreads ... I love finding new book recommendations on there!

The Fault In Our Stars

This book is sad.  

Real sad.  

But it's worth reading.

Any book about a teenager with terminal cancer is going to be hard to read,

but John Green has a way with story telling that makes this book 

pretty darn easy to read.  The characters are loveable and 

fun.  I felt like the I knew every one of them, quickly.
I felt like I was right there with them, going 

through life as one of them.  I was 

sad when the book ended, sad

because I was going 

to miss my new

friends.

Whistling Past The Graveyard

Whistling Past The Graveyard by Susan Crandall

I have been meaning to sit and write a review for ages but got too busy painting and opening my etsy shop!!!  (more on that in a later post) I kept looking at the book sitting on my desk, needing to go back to the library.  I thought a few times ... I won't write a review ... I'll just take it back.
But I just couldn't.  I just had to write a review! I just had to let you know that 

you need to read this book!!  Seriously. 

It was a fun, easy read. 
I enjoyed every minute of it.

It's written in the voice of a nine-year-old white girl in the early 60's who runs away from the home where she lives with her overly strict grandmother and a father who adores her but works out 

of town most of the time.  She sets off to find her mother.  Along the way she has

adventure after adventure.  Some very dangerous and terrifying.

Trying to make her was from Mississippi to Nashville ... on foot ... she accepts a  ride

from a black woman travelling with a white baby.  This decision will 

change her life forever.

I loved how the author captured the innocence of a child.
The unquestioning devotion of a child to a parent.
The inner workings of the mind of a child.

I just loved it.  All of it.  I wish I 

read books twice.  This

one, I probably

would.

Orphan Train

 

Orphan Train 

by Christina Baker Kline

I'd not previously read a book by Christina Baker Kline but I've

already picked up a second one from the library!

That's how much I liked this book.

Set in two different eras, Orphan Train tells the stories of two women,

one nearing the end of her life and the other just entering adulthood.

The two are put together by coincidence, developing

a friendship due to a common bond they didn't know they had.

The book and it's characters are fictitious but they

could easily be the story of any number of the thousands 

of orphaned and abandoned children who were sent by train 

from East Coast to Midwest America between 1854 and 1929.

Knowing a story based in reality always draws 

me in.  Putting myself in another persons shoes always

makes me take a fresh look at areas in my life where I might be 

less than grateful.  It causes me to re-evaluate and I think that is healthy.

I'm interested to read the next Christina Baker Kline book to see

if it was her writing/story telling ability that I loved so much or if that book

was just a once off success.  I'll keep you posted ... 

The Broken Man

I picked this book up off the shelf at the library last week.  I was thinking that I'd never read anything by Josephine Cox before but when I scanned through the long list of her books, I realized that I actually have!  Blood Brothers, I read it just over a year ago.  It was interesting to go back and read that review and see that I thought that book ended abruptly.  I felt this one did too, though not quite to the same degree.  I also felt like there was one character called Anne who was a major player in the story, but at some point, she just dropped off the planet.  I would have liked to know what happened to her and how her connection to the other characters worked out .... (I can't really say more than that without a spoiler alert!)

Having said all that,  I did still really like this book.  It's the story of a little boy who, having lived his first seven years with an abusive father, is one day taken from that horrible existence and thrown into a life no one would ever wish on any child.  Tragedy strikes early on, but not so early that Adam hadn't already found his way into my heart. I was left cheering him on, hoping for the best.

Phil, the bus driver who was with him the day tragedy strikes, is a loveable fellow.  Kind, sensitive, and loyal, he is the perfect grandfatherly friend for Adam.

 

Sally and Mick ... and Anne.  Three friends whose stories seem unrelated at first but as the story twists and turns, we find out what a small world it really is!  

The Burning Air

The Burning Air

by Erin Kelly

I picked this book up because the front cover caught my eye.  I'd never read anything by Erin Kelly before, but after reading this one, I think I'll give another of her books a go.

Some of the language made me think that this author was Australian but I discovered afterwards that she is English ... one of Britain's foremost psychological thriller writers according to the back of the book.

In one word, this story is about REVENGE.  There are no two ways about it.  The main character is set on taking revenge on a family whom he was convinced had wronged him.  His plan was elaborate and took a long time to see through.   It took over his whole life and I found it so sad.

In a humorous twist, I didn't realize that the main character was a man until I was in the 24th chapter!  That was a shock.  I don't quite know how I got so confused but I had a good laugh about it after I got over the initial confusion!  

The story was enough to keep me wondering until the last chapter how it would end ... I'm just not sure I'm satisfied with how it did.  

 

Not My Daughter

 

It's been a little while since I read a novel.  I had grand plans to read more this year but then the school year started, and after school sports .... and well, I just didn't read.   I had a bunch of books checked out from the library, but I almost think that was part of the problem.  Too many choices, so I chose none.  Last week, I returned them all and decided that I'm only going to get one off the shelf (maybe two if they look really good) each week.  I'll try to read that one book and return it the following week.  That worked this week!

Not My Daughter, by Barbara Delinksky was an easy read.  Nothing complicated about the writing style or the story.  The subject matter ... teen pregnancy and a few girlfriends who made a pact.   The story focuses mainly on Susan, the school Principal and her daughter Lily ... and their friends.   The four best friend mothers have four daughters who have grown up together and forged their own best friend relationships with each other.  The boys who father the babies play a minor role in the story. The book takes you on a journey with each family and the small town in which they live.  It's not a book I would rush to recommend to anyone but I didn't mind the read. 

Coming Home

 

Coming Home

by Karen Kingsbury

I'm a big fan of Karen Kingsbury.  I have been reading her books for years and I haven't read one yet that I didn't like, and I've read most of them!

The subject matter of her books is often challenging.  Mostly relationship issues. Family matters.  Marriage.  Parenting.  Sickness.  Injury.  Death.  Real life stuff that happens to real life people.  But real life people with faith.  Real life people who believe in the power of prayer.   Real life people who believe that God has a plan for their lives.

Many of her books are written as a series, and quite a few follow the lives of the same family.  The Baxter family.  This book is written as the final chapter, if you will, of the Baxter's.  At first, I was a little worried as to the story line.  I started reading and it was like a really long introduction of stuff I already knew.  I realize it had to start out this way,  in case the reader hadn't read all of the books before this one, but I was worried.  And then all of a sudden ... ka blam!  I was hooked.  I was devastated, but I couldn't stop reading.  

I really can't tell you much about the story line ... I don't want to give any of it away.  And I don't know, if you weren't as attached to the Baxter family as I am, if you would be as gripped as I was.   I will tell you this, her books don't always have happy/fairy tale endings.  Things don't always resolve the way I want them to.  Tough life questions aren't always answered, tied up with a pretty bow.  But that's life isn't it? 

What I have found though, is that they leave me filled with hope.  They leave me filled with a renewed knowledge that everything in life isn't going to make sense, all of my questions are not going to be answered ... and that is ok.   

They leave me with a renewed sense of family.  And community.  And love.  A quote from early in the book that I really liked " ... he remembered a sermon he'd heard once about love.  The preacher had stated that there were several types of love.  An all-encompassing love for mankind, and a romantic love and a more surface love for all things enjoyable.  But John disagreed.  In his experience there were as many kinds of love as there were people.  Love between two hearts, two souls was never the same from one person to the next."  

I love the thought of that ... there are as many kinds of love as there are people.  That's a whole lot of love!

The Wild Girl

My sister reviewed this book on her blog and made me want to read it.  Luckily, she had a copy of the book she could lend me and I was able to start straight away.  

It always takes me a little bit to get into a new book.  Especially if I've just finished reading another one.  I get so attached to the characters, that meeting new ones takes a bit of adjusting!   

This book was no different ... but once I knew Dortchen Wild, Wilhelm Grimm and their respective families, I was transported to another time and place. I was in Germany. And it was war time. I was transported into their lives and circumstances.  

As Ellie says in her review, it reads like a fairy tale ... with the appropriate amount of evil intertwined.  Don't all fairy tales have a wicked old witch or some such horror?

Kate Forsyth says on her website that this is possibly one of the most difficult and challenging books she has ever written.  The research took her forever!  Well, I'm glad she persisted through the difficulty and was up for the challenge.  

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it ... especially if you want to know how the fairy tale ends!

The Baker's Daughter

My sister reviewed this book on her blog a year before I was able to get it from my library.  Finally it came in and I started reading it  ... eleven weeks ago.  I know because I posted the photo to instagram on the day I started reading it!  It did not take me eleven weeks to read.  I had told a friend I would edit her novel and that came in just a few days after I started this one.  After that great read, I had to start this one over again because I had become so attached to her characters that I couldn't remember what I had read or who the characters were in this one!  And then, I don't know, for some reason I put this one down again ... Not because it wasn't good.  You know, sometimes it just happens. 

Anyway, a few days ago I picked it up again and this time I couldn't put it down.

It is a wonderful story.  Set in Germany in the 1940's and also in modern day USA.  The Germany part was during the war ... and so it deals with the holocaust but it is from such a different perspective than I've read before.  The story is told through the eyes of a German girl ... not through the eyes of a Jewish person. 

It is not a heavy read and given the subject matter, I found that refreshing.  It is lighthearted without being flippant.  It is honest without giving all the gory details.  It is a story of hope.  (my favorite kind)  It is a story that reminds me that even in dire circumstances, all is not lost.  I still have choices.  Choices that may change the course of another persons life.   And ultimately, the course of my own ...

The Boy From Baby House 10

 

The Boy From Baby House 10 is one of those books that you love reading because the story is so well told, it's also one of those books that you cannot say you loved because the story is nothing short of horrific.  And more so because it is true.

His name was Vanya back then ... when he was an orphan in Russia.  His name now ... John Luhutsky.

I love what the inside cover says about this book ... "The Boy From Baby House 10 is a harrowing but ultimately uplifting story - proof that people seemingly without power can challenge and beat a cruel system."  

Vanya was completely and utterly helpless ... born prematurely and with cerebral palsy he was mistakenly diagnosed as mentally handicapped, abandoned by his alcoholic birth mother at 18 months old, left in a cot to do nothing for the next three or four years of his life, after which his situation just worsened.  He was all but ignored except for a very few people who had minimal contact with him and eventually were instrumental in helping him escape ...  His life was full of neglect, confusion and abuse at the hands of people who were supposed to be medical professionals and his carers  BUT ... and this is the part that I love ... he never gave up.  No one taught him not to give up.  He just didn't.  He seemed to have been born with an uncrushable spirit.

And a gift ... 

A gift his friend Vika describes like this: "Vanya has an amazing and rare gift that saved his life - the gift of connecting with people.  He immediately remembers your name and knows how to talk to you.  Talking to him is a treat for the soul." 

He taught himself, and others, how to talk.  He reached out at any opportunity, longing for human contact.  He chose to hold onto and think about the few good moments and human interactions he had experienced during the long hours that he was left to do nothing. 

This is a recent story.  John was born in 1990.  I wondered after I read the book if there was more info on him on line.  There is.  Last night I sat for just under two hours watching video footage of him telling his story ... Part 1 ... Part 2.  And also the story as it was shared on Dateline, with footage from the actual baby house and mental asylum where he was kept.

The story is difficult to hear, but not even a fragment as difficult as it would have been to live. 

It's a story that gives me hope.

It's a story worth reading ...

The Adoption

 

"I was fourteen when I found out that I was adopted. 
I returned home from school one day, and Mother said that she needed to speak to me. 

And then she told me - just like that. 
And what I felt was not shock or grief, but the most enormous sense of relief."

The Adoption
by Anne Berry

A story told from the perspective of three different women.

Lucilla ... the woman who was adopted as an infant. 

Harriet ... the woman who adopted her.

Bethan ... the woman who was 

not given any choice in 

the matter of 

giving 

up

her baby

girl, Lucilla.

I have such mixed feelings about this book.  It's the sort of book I enjoy.  It is beautifully written.  I was interested in the story the whole time,  captivated even, I wanted to know what was going to happen. How it was going to end. It was great.  Until I read the final page and closed the book.  I was holding out hope for a certain ending and it never came! I felt angry, like there was no resolution.  Like this whole lifetime of struggle had been for nothing.  But maybe that is the way the author wanted me to feel.  Maybe that was the point.  Maybe it's reality.  Maybe it's why I would recommend you read this book ....

The Storyteller

 

 "History isn't about dates and places and wars.
It's about the people who fill the spaces between them." Jodi Picoult, The Storyteller

The characters are fictitious but the subject matter is not.  A German man at the end of his life, a Jewish girl, in the early stages of hers, strike up an unlikely friendship.  In a bid to get her to help him end his life, his horrifying story unfolds. A story that had a life changing effect on six million Jews, the grandmother of this young Jewish girl being one of them.

In true Picoult fashion, this book is full of intertwining lives, twists and turns, quotes that you want to write down and remember forever, and a subject matter that leaves you questioning what you would do in the same situation. 

I read the following section of the book about three or four times.  I just had to go back again and again.  My thoughts went nuts with the imagery and the concept.  I'm still not sure I can completely wrap my head around it.

"One morning after a storm, when the snow had blanketed the camp, Darija and I stepped outside the block to march to work.  We shuffled behind other women, all wrapped in ragged layers, freezing.  The path which we took every day, marched us along the far side of the fence at the entrance ramp to the camp.  Sometimes we would see the new railroad cars arriving: sometimes there was a selection going on as we passed.  Sometimes we shuffled past a line of people waiting for the shower they would not survive.

That day as we passed, a new group of prisoners was being belched out of one of the cars.  They stood like we had on the platform, carrying their belongings, yelling out names of loved ones.

Suddenly, we saw her.

She was dressed from head to toe in white silk.  On her head, a veil streamed out behind her in the cold wind.  She was looking around, even as she was herded into line for the selection.

The rest of us women all stopped, riveted by this sight.

It was, unbelievably, not the most depressing thing we had ever seen: a bride, ripped from her own wedding, separated from her groom, and put on a transport to Auschwitz. 

On the contrary, it gave us hope.

It meant that no matter what was happening in this camp, no matter how many Jews they managed to round up and kill, there were still more of us out there: living lives, falling in love, getting married, assuming that tomorrow would come."

I would recommend this book to most people.  It's well written and in that sense, easy to read.  At the same time, it's confronting and has left me unsettled.  Just the way it should be.  There is no sense to be made of the Holocaust.  There is no box to put it in.  No pretty bow to mask the ugly that it was.  There are no answers to the questions.  There is an unsettling.

And there is hope.

"After I was dressed in the clean clothing - soft cotton and wool, as if I had been wrapped in a cloud - she brought another bucket of clean water, and a bar of soap and washed my hair for me.  She used her fingers to scrub out the mud, and she cut the mats that could not be worked free.  Then she sat behind me, the way my mother used to do, and brushed it.

Sometimes all it takes to become human again is someone who can see you that way, no matter how you present on the surface."

Love Comes Softly

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

First published in 1979, I cannot believe I have never read a book by this author!  I've heard of her.  I've heard of people loving her books.  I'm sure these have even been recommended to me.  For whatever reason, I didn't pick one up until the other day!  I am so glad I did.  It was just what I needed!  I was feeling under the weather.  No energy.  Not wanting to do anything much except sleep.  Of course, I couldn't sleep all day so I grabbed a book, one that I had borrowed from the library.  I started it late morning and finished it just after dinner time!

Set in the 1800's, this is a story about a widow and a widower who marry out of convenience.  The widower has a small child who needs caring for and the widow has no place to live and a baby on the way.  The story is about their journey, finding their way together to become a family.  A love story.

I adore stories set in this era.  They have always appealed to me.  I love the sense of family togetherness.  The community.  The way the simple things in life are experienced and appreciated.   I love the way they seemed to not take life for granted or expect everything to be handed to them.  They worked hard.  They helped each other.  They made the best of what they had.  They shared. 

I'm super excited about this book discovery because there are more!  It's the start of a series and I've ordered the other SEVEN(!) that follow it from my library.  Woo hoo!  I can't wait to dig in!

Blood Brothers

I last posted a book review here in October 2012.
That was the last book I read.
UNBELIEVABLE!
Life has been
a little bit
hectic.

But, this past week, I decided enough is enough.  If I don't have time to read, something needs to change.  While I haven't made any huge changes worth talking about (yet), I did manage to carve out a bit of time to spend reading!  I plan to keep that up!

I have never read anything by Josephine Cox before so I wasn't sure what to expect.   I did a quick trip into the library the other day and grabbed this off the shelf and I'm glad I did, I enjoyed it enough that I'll pick up another of her many books.  I'm not sure I'd say I liked this book though.  I enjoyed the way it was written.  I enjoyed that I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened.  But I found it disturbing.

The story is about two brothers, polar opposites, in love with the same woman.  It's about choices made, consequences and the ripple effect out through the families involved.  I found the actions of so many of the characters to be over the top.  I'm not sure if this is because I have lived such a sheltered existence, or if they really were so cold and heartless.  I think that is what I found so disturbing.

I found the ending a little less than satisfying too.  It seemed abrupt.  I would have liked it a bit less so. 

I'll be interested to see if these things are present in more of her books ...

I'll let you know.

Remembering Me

by Diane Chamberlain

 

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

It was good.  Very good.

I love the way this author develops her characters.  I love how she keeps you guessing until right at the very end ... and then all of a sudden, the pieces start fitting into place! 

I found the pieces of this story to be quite interesting.  

One piece is a lady suffering from Alzheimer's.  Another is a lady whose father died, followed shortly thereafter by her husband killing himself. Another is a little girl who refuses to speak after her father (same man as the aforementioned husband) dies.   Another is a man who didn't know he even was a father but now does. 

Some of the story revolves around the bizarre mind altering 'treatments' (experiments) that were carried out on mental patients in the 1950's. 

I enjoyed this book.  I didn't want to put it down.  It was the perfect blend of mystery, love story and the crazy stuff life throws at you. 

A Beautiful Lie

 

Ever made a bad choice ?  Ever made one with huge consequences ? 

 Huge consequences not only for you but for an entire family outside of your own ...
This book is about a bad choice with huge consequences that span a lifetime,

impacting not only the choice maker but many others as well.

That darn ripple effect ...

Throughout this book, 

I wished that things could be different for this young

woman who was able to be manipulated into making a terrible choice 

because she was searching for love.  

 Forced to live a lie and navigate her way through life as best she could,

 I was captivated from start to finish.

Secrets She Left Behind

I did not want to put this book down.

I read it everywhere. Every chance I got.

And then one afternoon, I had some time and I just lay in bed and read it til it was done !

**

This book is full of tragedy.  Of searching for answers.  Of uncertainty and questioning. 

It's people coming to terms with their actions, and other people coming to terms with the consequences of the actions of someone else.   It's about how they cope.

I could do without all the sex in this book.  It wasn't graphically described

or anything like that, but every time I came to another 'scene', I just 

felt like ... 'really ?  again ?' ... it just seemed a little 

unnecessary, that's all ...

As with the other books I've read by Diane Chamberlain, I found myself

guessing right to the very end ... wondering how the pieces of 

the puzzle would all fit together !

And when they did, I sighed contentedly, closed the book

and went off in search of the next one !  

I have about eight more 

already checked 

out from 

the 

LIBRARY !

 

The Lies We Told

I've discovered a new author that I love.   Her name is Diane Chamberlain and she has written a lot of books for me to read !  I'm excited about that !!

This one is about two sisters.  Two very different sisters and their journey through life after the murder of their parents when they were teenagers. 

It's about learning how much you love someone after they are gone.  It's about learning to be who you are when there's no one else to rely on. It's about looking beyond yourself and your own circumstances and learning to put someone else first.

It's about love.

I enjoyed this book.  I enjoy Diane's style of writing.  I enjoy the twists and turns and the fact that I'm always wondering what is going to happen next ...

The Midwife's Confession

 

(By Diane Chamberlain)

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

There, I've said it.  There's no mystery.  I loved it.  I was totally into it from the first few words.  I had no idea what the story was going in. I just knew it had come recommended and that the front cover said this ... 

 A lie will save one family.  The truth will destroy another.  Which would you choose?

This book kept me guessing right up until {almost} the end.  I had my suspicions as the end drew near but I wasn't 100% certain ... so, yeah, I guess that means I was still guessing.

I enjoyed the style of writing.  I'm hoping that Diane Chamberlain has written other books, and that they are as good as this one.

What I loved most about it though, was my attachment to each of the characters.  They are not all introduced at the same time.  I liked that.  I liked how their stories and their lives were all connected by one person, the midwife.  I liked that I felt for each of them.  I understood their 'side' of the story.  I didn't necessarily feel more attached to one character more than another.

This is the sort of book that sucks me in so entirely that I find myself thinking about the characters as if they are real.  As if they are friends of mine.  It makes me feel like I need to call them and see how they are doing.  I'm almost sad when the book finishes, because then I realize that they aren't real and I won't 'see' them anymore.  That may sound a bit weird but for me ... that's the best kind of book !

What more can I say ?