Bound by Ice by Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
I checked this captivating eBook out from the library, not realizing it was a middle grade book, but I think it can be enjoyed by all ages! The authors depict the 1879 voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette to the North Pole, in a quest to be the world’s first successful expedition. The U.S. Navy sponsored the expedition and it was mostly funded by James Gordon Bennett, owner of the New York Herald.
Thirty-three men departed San Francisco toward Alaska and the Bering Strait, hoping to cross through to the Arctic Sea and east toward Siberia and the North Pole. Their plan was based on a false theory that the warm Pacific Ocean current called Kuro Siwo would enable them navigate free of ice. Interestingly, the captain and crew used maps drawn a man named Petermann who was considered the “world’s foremost maker of maps,” but had never traveled! Unfortunately, these maps and Petermann’s theories were unreliable and caused them much frustration.
Lieutenant Commander George Washington DeLong hand-picked his sea-faring crew with experts in engineering, navigation, and medicine. Chief Engineer George W. Melville was one of the most notable senior crew members, a Civil War hero and genius in fixing things. Also on board were experienced sailors as well as a naturalist and a newspaper reporter.
As foreshadowed by the title, the ship became trapped in ice and drifted with the ice floes for almost two years! Along the way, they discovered two islands. In 1881, the ship sank due to the crushing pressure of the ice. The crew persevered, however, across ice and eventually via three smaller boats they had managed to save. A violent storm separated the boats and, while some made it to Siberia to be rescued, others died from injury, starvation and cold. Of the thirty-three, twelve survived. DeLong was found dead on the ice, but his journals survived, providing an important record of their journey.
I really liked this account and how the authors included plentiful pictures, renderings, maps, and other documents. I liked seeing their daily menus, which were surprisingly decent. I also liked reading about their daily schedule and how it included two hours of exercise.
It’s hard to believe that these types of expeditions occurred less than 150 years ago. I’m always impressed by these explorers and how tough they were under unimaginable conditions. I recommend Bound by Ice to readers who like history and sea-faring adventures.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Although I’d been wanting to read Kitchen Confidential for a while, I also felt a little hesitant. First published in 2000, it’s both memoir and a behind-the-scenes look at the restaurant business and Bourdain’s experiences, from cook at a seafood restaurant in Provincetown, Massachusetts to executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, in Manhattan. Later in his career, Bourdain hosted several travel and food shows, beginning with A Cook’s Tour on the Food Network. He moved to the Travel Channel for Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations,The Layover, and The Taste, and eventually moved to CNN to host Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Bourdain died by suicide in 2018, while filming an episode of Parts Unknown.
Bourdain wrote the book thinking his audience would be people in the restaurant business, but it quickly became a bestseller. Reading a bestseller when it’s first published is different from reading it almost twenty-five years later and in this case, the experience is shadowed by Bourdain’s personal demons. I questioned whether I was reading it because of this aspect or whether I really wanted to know about the restaurant business. Or maybe I just wanted to understand the man who became a wildly popular celebrity chef.
I’m glad I read it! Bourdain was a very good writer. His book is both entertaining and insightful. It’s also irreverent and often crude, but you always get the feeling that he’s in there with everyone, slinging food and talking trash like the best of them.
Bourdain was tough in the kitchen, and with vendors and suppliers. He demanded perfection, but understood that excellence often came from line cooks and bakers whose lives were full of drama, and worse. He wasn’t afraid of that. My impression is that he thrived on the chaos and drama.
I didn’t follow his celebrity chef career when he was alive, except for a few episodes of Parts Unknown, including one where he meets up with President Barack Obama in Hanoi, Vietnam and they share Bún chả, a meal of grilled pork and noodles. I thought that was cool.
We like to think that we know celebrities because of what we see, but we’re wrong. Despite looking cool and laid-back on-screen, living what many deemed a perfect life, Bourdain was actually uncomfortable with his celebrity chef image and life. He was much more of an in-the-kitchen-with-the crew kind of guy. It’s a good reminder that there’s a lot behind the person on the screen.
I enjoyed Kitchen Confidential very much. I have no idea if the restaurant business is the same as it was in the 80s and 90s, or even if his experience was the same as others during that time. I was left feeling that Bourdain was an unusual combination of humility, arrogance, humor, and energy.
Book Titles: The Devil and the Wolf and Perseus Kills His Grandfather
Genre: Comedy/Fantasy
Tell us about yourself: I’ve retired from the corporate world and going through a zero-stress process of adjustment – meaning, I haven’t settled into any particular routine or significant focus.
My career included Cognitive research, UI Designer, HTML Instructor, and Business Analyst. I tended to go with the flow of opportunities as they arose and I was extremely fortunate. Every job I had involved a ghastly commute which took a significant amount of time out of my life, so I’m quite happy to indulge in my hermit side for a few years and have the world come to me.
My hobbies include anything food related (cooking, history, growing), gardening, reading, photography (new), a little on-line gaming, crossword puzzles, and playing around with digital graphics. Writing (a.k.a. storytelling) has always been more than a hobby as it is likely my only fully artistic outlet.
Tell us about your writing career. When did you first start writing? I started writing some 50 years ago during my days in high school. Sometimes I would daydream a scene as if viewing a snippet of a movie, or hear part of a conversation that would trigger a more creative one in my mind, or be struck by an idea I would research and be surprised by what I learned. In each case at that age, I began to be compelled to write it all down and, in some cases, expand them into short stories or essays.
The output I would sometimes share with friends, who always enjoyed them. I would often hear I should become an author, but I also had other interests – mostly in science – that I wanted to pursue as well. Difficult choices but as mentioned, I let opportunity be my guide.
Off and on over the decades, I considered self-publishing but the area was often filled with sketchy organization and you needed to front a significant amount of money up-front. The derogatory term “Vanity Publishing” was used back then and that was the last thing I wanted – to have people assume I wanted notoriety. My goal then, as it is now, was simply to tell stories for people who would enjoy them and hopefully make their day a little bit better. That’s probably why 80% of what I have written over the years was comedic.
In 2016, my comet-like mental orbit reapproached the concept of self-publishing and I was surprised to find how much easier it had become in the digital age. I was currently attempting (for the 3rd time) to break out of the short story / essay mode and craft an entire novel. I came across a company called CreateSpace (since subsumed by Amazon) which would both print on-demand and provide a digital copy for Kindle. So, click of the button and boom, my work was uploaded. I didn’t expect anyone to buy or read it, my plan was to surprise my friends and family, have copies printed, and hand them out to them just for the fun of it. To my shock and surprise, someone I did not know bought a copy and gave it a five-star review.
And now, here we are.
Do you write full-time? If not, do you have an outside job or other responsibilities? I only write when I feel a drive to. I continue to write snippets of work as a personal artistic outlet to my mental musings, but now I also have a few book ideas I’ve been slowly crafting. I don’t think writing can ever become a “job” for me as I never want one of the only two ways I can express myself artistically to be bound by deadlines, subject to marketing pressures, and income stresses. It’s the same with my other love and outlet – cooking. Despite requests from friends and family, I never wanted to open a restaurant or bakery. My emotional outlet would become my career.
Granted, something I love doing (which is true of the areas I chose for my career) but that would eliminate it as an unfettered outlet. I guess it would be different if I could also draw or play a musical instrument, but I need to have something I can do to express myself without constraints and pressure.
Have you ever based a character on yourself? If so, tell us about it. In a way, nearly all of my characters are based on myself. My brain has always been wired for having multiple internal voices, which has helped me view issues from many sides. This also assisted my greatly while I was working in research. So, yes, I would say that all of my major and many of my minor characters are reflecting some part of me, and/or giving voice to my point of view.
Have you ever based a character on a family member or close friend? If so, tell us how you navigated what could be a tricky portrayal.
I did once, the first time I was attempting a novel and – without going into detail – it was a minor disaster. One significant issue was people I knew would start to become suspicious if a character was supposed to be them even if it wasn’t. I didn’t want to have any sense of mistrust from those closest to me. So, on the occasions when I need to create a character wholly separate from anything I have internally, I will amalgamate features and behaviors from people I knew in passing. One upside to working in large to mid-size companies is that you meet a lot of people – a lot. I also believe having a sensitivity to anyone’s personality and physical behaviors is a relatively common talent among writers. I think one “secret” is to hone that sensitivity and then use what you pick up like Lego blocks when building a character.
How do you keep track of all your ideas? Do you have a little notebook? Do you keep a running document on your computer or phone? For the last decade, I’ve been relying on my phone. Whenever something hits me – be it a concept, a scene, a joke, a snippet of dialogue, etc. – I jot it down in notes or, on occasion, voice record it.
Describe your editing and publishing experience. What has worked for you and what hasn’t? I’m afraid it’s very simplistic. Having interacted with a range of writers – some indie and some published – I’m very aware of the enormous amount of effort they put into it. (And I’m respectfully in awe of that).
Not having available funds, I have to rely on my own editing with copyediting being an Achilles heel. I’m quite aware of the mistakes when I find them, but have a difficult time finding them.
Other than that, I rely on beta readers. My experience being a UI designer puts me at an exceptional advantage here. In UI design studies, your goal is to find the issues – negative feedback. You quickly learn to put your ego aside because that’s your only route to success. You also learn the most efficient way to take disparate feedback and sift out the critical issues.
As for the actual publishing process, as I mentioned I use an indie-publishing service. I have had knotty issues with getting the cover artwork correct for submission with the paper editions (working out bleeding edges and such), but I got through them after reading the help information several times until something clicked.
Do you belong to a writer’s group? If so, tell us about it. Yes. Kind of. I was invited by a group of writers who were on Twitter (yes, I call it Twitter) to join them in a monthly video chat. The group is Writers Supporting Writers (@wsw2021), and we post the videos on YouTube. I absolutely love this. It gives me a way to connect, discuss, and learn in an enjoyable way. I also connect with other writers via social media and I find that a good way to sense the common experiences that we share.
Name three people who have had the greatest influence on you and why. I guess the classics – family.
My mother for starters. She helped build my intellectual foundation. She encouraged me to read as early as possible and supported any endeavor I undertook with very visible pride. She also never pushed me or criticized me in any area I pursued.
In terms of writing and education, my dad. He introduced me to all of the old-time comedies (which, given my age, I should re-term “ancient”) along with fascinating backstories. If it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t understand comedy as a crafted artform following some specific rules. He never finished high school, but was a voracious reader – mostly history books – allowing him to converse on that topic as well as any professor I had.
I would also consider my three aunts collectively . They were unique, quirky, funny and big-hearted. They gave me living examples of having an “express yourself” and “love life large” attitude.
What event(s) in your life have influenced you as a writer? Without details, I’ve been through some hellish times during my life and that has driven me to attempt to provide a pleasant respite for others. I’ve often said, if someone is reading something I’ve written – be it at home, at the beach, on a train – and they find themselves releasing even a single chuckle, well, my job is done.
For writing itself, as I mentioned, it’s driven by an internal need for artistic expression probably borne out of all of the reading I have done.
Did you have a favorite children’s book when you were growing up? If so, tell us about it and why it’s your favorite. Yes, but I couldn’t point to a favorite. I do have a memory of which was the first. I think I was 3 at the time. It was Dr. Seuss’ One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. In my early teen age years I went heavily into SciFi, Fantasy & Mystery classics (Le Guin, Asimov, Zelazny, Clarke, Christie, etc.) and those have heavily influenced my writing. In later years and my 20’s I was very much into literary classics (Dickens, Melville, Wodehouse, Bronte, etc.) My favorite contemporary authors are Christopher Moore and Richard Russo, but favorite is a difficult term since I read and enjoy quite a large number of contemporary authors. Those two are the ones whose comedic craft in novel form I admire the most.
What’s the most difficult thing about being a writer? Finishing. But that’s kind of true of everything I do. I call it “The DaVinci Mode.” He would often come up with creative ideas but at the point of them becoming real and grounded, he would lose interest and move onto the next. I often have this issue in writing. I may get the first few chapters in a novel or pages in a short story down, but then I feel like I have to push myself up and over a hill to get the momentum going again.
Tell us about your writing routine. What time of day works best for you? Do you write at home? Someplace else? On a computer or do you use paper and pen/pencil? I feel that daytime is meant for the routine aspects – fleshing sections out, editing and the like – while night time is more fertile for the creative aspects. All my writing is done at home on a computer. I was especially diligent about this when I worked in an office. I wanted to keep those areas of my life compartmentalized. Before the advent of computers, I used a typewriter. I can get words out far faster and can easily read them afterwards – my penmanship is deplorable.
What beverage gets your creative juices flowing? Coffee, tea, soda, energy drink, water or something else? Tea, in all of its glorious forms.
What do you do to relax? Write. Seriously, it is very cathartic. Other than that, reading, listening to music, and nothing. I can, and have, watched grass grow (okay it’s my garden plants, not grass). That might be my favorite. It frees up my mind and separates me from my concerns. Doing nothing on a beautiful summer’s day – chef’s kiss.
What are you reading right now? I’m about to start Honeysuckle Cottage by P.G. Wodehouse on advice from my fellow Indie author, Berthold Gambrel.
Please share your website and social media links: Website: https://rlpastore.com (fair warning, I’m not much of a blogger)
I’m on Twitter, BlueSky, Mastodon, Threads, and Instagram (links to all are on this page): https://rlpastore.com/contact
Are you an indie or self-published author? Do you want to build your author network? Get your name out on Who’s That Indie Author!
The Wager A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
I’ve always loved a good sea-faring tale. And I already knew David Grann was an excellent writer (read my review of Killers of the Flower Moonhere), so I dove into The Wager, knowing little about the ship or the story behind it, just that it was a tale of shipwreck and more.
The Wager was one of eight British ships that sailed from Portsmouth, England in 1740, on a secret mission to capture a “treasure-filled Spanish galleon” near Cape Horn, South America. At the time, Britain and Spain were the dominant forces of imperialism around the world, eager to acquire and control far-off lands. The War of Jenkins’ Ear (you can imagine the details) erupted between Britain and Spain when the Spanish coast guard, searching for contraband, attacked a British ship.
Despite typhus, scurvy, and other hardships, the ships (minus one cargo ship that departed the group) made the 8000-mile trip to Cape Horn, and that’s when the trouble began. I was fascinated by the description of the treacherous waters between the southernmost tip of South America and Antarctica, where the Atlantic meets the Pacific. The ships spent weeks trying to navigate through Drake Passage and around Cape Horn, with all kinds of trouble. Imagine sailing through this with only wind power and limited navigational tools!
Why is the book titled The Wager? Well, in the middle of Drake Passage, Captain David Cheap lost sight of the rest of the ships. As Grann writes, “The Wager was alone at sea, left to its own destiny.” They made it around Cape Horn, but were shipwrecked off the coast of Patagonia, on an unforgiving, unpopulated island, with very few resources.
Now, the men on the ship were a rough crew, including criminals and vagrants. Some, of course, were officers or in training. But many of the 250 original men were not actually sailors, forcefully conscripted off the streets to fill the boat. To prepare for battle, a group from the British army joined the crew, but they knew nothing about ships!
Ninety-one men survived the shipwreck, including seventeen-year-old John Byron, future grandfather of the poet Lord Byron, and a super-interesting man named John Bulkeley, the gunner. Bulkeley was strong, smart, and a natural leader, but also a little chippy. And he didn’t like Cheap, who wasn’t much of a leader. Factions split and tensions rose, leading to a murder. This part is also fascinating.
Grann got this information from the multitude of journals the officers and others kept.
Some from The Wager made it back to England, and slowly, stragglers from the other ships returned. Survivors published books. Bulkeley’s was a favorite. But eventually, charges of wrongdoing, abandoning the naval mission, mutiny, and murder led to a court-martial.
You’ll have to read it to find out what happened. I thought it was incredible that these survivors traveled across the world on wooden ships, close to three hundred years ago. What a story.
I highly recommend The Wager, for readers who like stories about tension between in highly-stressed situations.
Tell us about yourself: My name is Jonathan Faia and I’m the author of the books, Wylde Serenity and most recently, Love Letters From Barstow. I was born in Southern California and spent my early years developing my love for reading and writing. Thanks to the open arms of the Fullerton and Buena Park public libraries I was able to experience and develop a lifelong love of all things writing. My writing has heavy influences from my Gen X adolescence, and combines my utter infatuation with all things Beat Poetry. My writing encompasses despair, angst, even flirts with death while reflecting on the indulgences of love and the loneliness that accompanies its failures. I pass the time writing freelance articles and performing interviews for several online publications. In my free time, I can be found walking the aisles of local independent booksellers. I enjoy connecting with readers and working with public libraries to bring support to young authors.
Tell us about your writing career. When did you first start writing? My writing dates back to the mid-1990s where I began compiling what would later become elements of my first book, Wylde Serenity. I was an English major and combined elements of my Gen X adolescence and my love for Beat Poetry. I don’t want to date myself but this was pre-internet so I submitted written submissions to any magazine or outlet I could. It was my dream to be a writer whose work would change lives.
Do you write full-time? If not, do you have an outside job or other responsibilities? I write constantly. While I don’t make a full time living from writing, it is a major part of my life. Aside from my books, I spend time contributing to many web publications performing artist interviews and other freelance work. I’m a grateful and proud husband and father. I also contribute my time to bringing healthcare to the underserved in Southern California.
How do you keep track of all your ideas? Do you have a little notebook? Do you keep a running document on your computer or phone? I love to keep notebooks, they are everywhere in my house. I love the feeling of being able to refer back to an idea on paper. I use everything from the traditional notebook, to scratch pieces of paper, and napkins. I am beginning to use my phone more though to dictate ideas while I’m out and about. It’s a great opportunity to playback ideas to see how they might sound to others.
For poetry writers, what moves you to write a poem? This is a great question because it allows for a lot of self-reflection. So much of my writing is based off autobiographical notes. Poetry allows me a chance to highlight the beauty and desperation in love. I make it a point, though to incorporate themes from everyday life that can relate to others.
Describe your editing and publishing experience. What has worked for you and what hasn’t? When it comes to my writing I have a couple trusted editors I work with to finalize my work. That includes some beta-testing of the initial project to make sure that the voice in my work is resonating with someone else and there’s honesty in my words. My publishers have a voice and they obviously want what is marketable so I try to take their input and incorporate my spin. So far my publishers have allowed for a great partnership and have allowed me to be me, which has really helped my bond with my readers.
Do you belong to a writer’s group? If so, tell us about it. I don’t have an official writer’s group, but I do have a select group of independent writers I consult with on a regular basis who really support each other.
Name three people who have had the greatest influence on you and why. As a writer I feel like I take inspiration from a lot of areas and individuals. I can say that my biggest influence has to be Jack Kerouac. The free-flowing existence of his words and ideas have been a theme in my writing since I can remember. The honest and blunt force of Charles Bukowski’s work runs through my every word. I’ve strived to be a champion of the forgotten in my work and that comes directly from Bukowski’s influence on me. Finally, I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the help from the satirical stylings of Kurt Vonnegut. During the writing of my latest book, Love Letters From Barstow I hit a hard case of writer’s block. It was at that point I reread Vonnegut’s, Breakfast Of Champions and it inspired me to keep going.
What events in your life have influenced you as a writer? From my earliest days I’ve had a love for writing. As a child I enjoyed all things creative which led me to loving writing. I remember when I was around 7 or 8 years I saved my money to buy a composition book to begin writing what I thought would be the story of my life. Little did I know then, I wasn’t old enough to have an autobiography. I was lucky to have teachers early on that fueled my love for reading and writing. With their support I began reading the works that would shape my life. It may have begun with Harper Lee, but it soon progressed to Kerouac and Hermann Hesse. I found an early friend in my local library which was my gateway to everything. I spent so many afternoons and summer days experiencing everything the library had to offer. It was not only a sanctuary for me, but a place that allowed me to experience the world.
Did you have a favorite children’s book when you were growing up? If so, tell us about it and why it’s your favorite. I read, To Kill A Mockingbird back in elementary school and it was life changing for me. The themes in the book showed both the beauty and evilness in man. Growing up in an environment that wasn’t always the most stable of situations, that book brought me peace. Its characters had depth and it sparked my love of reading. For me growing up without a stable father figure at home, Atticus Finch taught me everything in how to be a man of value and how to become the father every child deserves.
What’s the most difficult thing about being a writer? The most obvious thing is rejection. There is something about writing that is so personal that the mere thought that someone wouldn’t like your work is crushing. I guess that goes for anyone attempting to be creative though. Aside from that it has to be marketing your work. There is so much competition for attention now it’s hard to find your way. Anyone working with a small publisher like myself or any indie writers have to be careful because there are so many predatory companies trying to take advantage authors. It’s hard for a writer without the backing of a large publisher to gain attention or market share, so any opportunity to promote is crucial. Partner with your local booksellers, put together interesting social media content and stay true to your work.
Tell us about your writing routine. What time of day works best for you? Do you write at home? Someplace else? On a computer or do you use paper and pen/pencil? My writing routine is a little chaotic to say the least. For years I’ve had this habit of scribbling on everything just to get ideas out. I have shoe boxes filled with ideas, one liners and premises. Many of them have made it into my books, but there are many still waiting for the right moment. While a lot of my ideas are pen to paper, when it comes to organizing I spend a lot of nights glued to my laptop. A good soundtrack helps when organizing ideas from paper to hard drive. Nearly the entirety of my first book, Wylde Serenity was written alongside John Frusciante and Ryan Adams tracks.
What beverage gets your creative juices flowing? Coffee, tea, soda, energy drink, water, or something else? There is nothing I love better than writing with a nice serving of black tea on a grey morning.
What do you do to relax? Other than good writing, there is nothing better than good music. Whenever I’m looking to relax you’ll find me roaming the aisles of local indie booksellers and record shops. My daughters and I have a few local favorites we visit regularly, and then eventually end up at the nearest coffee shop to discuss all the aesthetics from our travels and purchases. Some of our favorite places include, Half Off Books and Records in Fullerton, California and The Bookman in Orange, California and that certainly means a stop at The Night Owl coffee shop.
What are you reading right now? I’m lucky to have daughters who aren’t afraid to recommend books and music. Right now I’m finishing up reading, Beat Punks by Victor Bockris. It’s the tale of the New York underground scene from the Beat Generation to the Punk explosion. It’s a great representation of creativity with inclusions from legends like Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, and Patti Smith to mention a few. It’s full of excellent photos and interviews.
Book Titles: Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots What Leora Never Knew: A Granddaughter’s Quest for Answers
Genre: narrative nonfiction
Tell us about yourself: I’m the oldest granddaughter of Leora Wilson, who lost three sons during WWII and was widowed, all during a three-year period. Through the decades, I helped take Memorial Day bouquets to the graves of those three young uncles, not knowing that only one of them is buried there–until decades later, after the death of my courageous little Grandma Leora. I became a writer to tell my grandmother’s stories.
I’m a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and I live in central Iowa with my husband, Guy (an Air Force Veteran of the Vietnam War and retired Air Traffic Controller). Our son and his wife live out-of-state with a small daughter named Kate. I’ve lived with fibromyalgia for two dozen years, giving me plenty of home-bound days to write blog posts and books.
Tell us about your writing career. When did you first start writing? I didn’t get serious about writing until after Grandma Leora died in 1987, leaving a story that needed sharing. I began with articles and essays, attending conferences and Summer Writing Festivals at the University of Iowa. When I came down with fibromyalgia, writing was on hold until the brain fog began to lift. My first book was published when I was 75, with three more since. I’m working on the next one.
Do you write full-time? If not, do you have an outside job or other responsibilities? The daily challenges of fibromyalgia keep me mostly housebound, and I can only write in short spurts throughout the day.
How do you get your book ideas? My trajectory was set when I discovered genealogy decades ago. Since then I’ve become the keeper of all the WWI and WWII letters, terrible telegrams, photos, and compelling stories. And I enjoy research.
How do you keep track of all your ideas? Do you have a little notebook? Do you keep a running document on your computer or phone? I have a notebook for each book, completed and planned, where I keep ideas for endorsers, beta readers, chapter ideas, even ISBNs.
For poetry writers, what moves you to write a poem? I haven’t yet published a book of poems, although several have been sparked by the stories I’ve worked with.
Describe your editing and publishing experience. What has worked for you and what hasn’t? I hire an editor, a cover designer, and someone to upload the manuscript to KDP. I’ve enjoyed radio interviews and making memes with Canva for marketing.
Do you belong to a writer’s group? If so, tell us about it. I’ve tried a few but haven’t been able to attend often enough.
Name three people who have had the greatest influence on you and why.
Grandma Leora, who lived so courageously despite all those losses during and just after the war. Because I asked her to, she wrote a memoir. Several of those stories have ended up in the “Leora books”.
John Busbee, founder and host of The Culture Buzz, radio interviewer and an extraordinary encourager.
Marilyn Bode, a faithful beta reader and encourager who hosted different book clubs for my books until we lost her to cancer.
What events in your life have influenced you as a writer? Getting paid for the first time for writing. Feedback from readers–of my blog posts, essays, and books. Invitations for book talks.
Did you have a favorite children’s book when you were growing up? If so, tell us about it and why it’s your favorite. I didn’t read much as a child growing up on a farm, but I did enjoy The Boxcar Children and The Secret of the Old Barn. (I wish I’d discovered a book like Leora’s Dexter Stories when I was junior high age.)
What’s the most difficult thing about being a writer? Fibromyalgia, because I can only write in spurts, and I can no longer participate in book shows and talks.
Tell us about your writing routine. What time of day works best for you? Do you write at home? Someplace else? On a computer or do you use paper and pen/pencil? I begin longhand, then move to the computer, and only when I have enough brain energy.
What beverage gets your creative juices flowing? Coffee, tea, soda, energy drink, water, or something else? Black coffee mornings, tepid water after that. (Iced coffee during the summer.)
What do you do to relax? Reading and x-word puzzles. (I don’t watch TV.)
What are you reading right now? All Manner of Things by Susie Finkbeiner
Today I went on a bit of a book-buying binge. That is unusual for me because I usually borrow books from the library. But…there’s something exciting about having some new books waiting for me when I’m ready. For me, though, it’s a balance because I don’t want those books nagging me to read them and then feeling guilty about buying them! Plus, you know, the library really is the way to go. Full disclosure: I also have a stack of those in my corner. 😉
I bought four books for my Kindle and I’m adding two Advanced Review Copies (ARCs) that I got through Edelweiss, where I’ve promised to write reviews.
Here are the four I bought for my Kindle. All links and blurbs are from Amazon.
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston: Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray: From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart.
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride: From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them.
The Wager by David Grann: From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.
And here are the ARCs I got from Edelweiss:
Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum(Publication date: May 24, 2024): A gripping, darkly comic novel from the national bestselling author of Bad Summer People about a team of wealthy and powerful executives on retreat in Miami when one of them goes missing . . .
Things Don’t Break on Their Own by Sarah Easter Collins(Publication date: June 20, 2024): Nobody ever found out what happened to Laika Martenwood, the girl who vanished without a trace on her way to school one morning. But for her sister Willa, life shattered into tiny pieces that day, and she has never been able to put them back together again.
Now the only thing I have to do is decide which to read first…
I never paid much attention to the Lizzie Borden legend, but I always assumed she was guilty of murdering her stepmother and father. The Trial of Lizzie Borden is a detailed look at the 1892 murders in Fall River, Massachusetts, the investigation, and Lizzie’s trial. After finishing this book, I can tell you that the facts are not as clear-cut as I thought they might be. Cara Robertson does a great job pulling it all together and, in addition, gives the reader an excellent picture of life, attitudes, and style during this period. Published in 2019, this is Roberton’s first book.
If you’re not familiar with the story, Lizzie Borden, thirty-two and her older sister, Emma lived with their father, Andrew and stepmother, Abbie. On August 4, 1892, someone murdered Abby with a hatchet, then an hour and a half later, murdered Andrew, also with a hatchet. Lizzie reported the crime to the police. Police, journalists, and curious neighbors descended on the house, a much than today’s crime scene scenarios. People moved freely throughout the house and in the barn and yard. Police reports varied, Lizzie’s reactions were strange, and all kinds of witnesses provided different and confusing accounts. What great material for a book!
Get ready for a lot of names. I tend to overdo on keeping track, but all readers need is the author’s handy Persons of Interest list at the front of the book. Here’s where reading a print book is better than an eBook because you can flip back and forth easily. Robertson also includes a lot of pictures. That was fun to see the faces associated with their names. Your imagination may go wild when you see Lizzie’s portrait because she looks strangely detached from reality. Remember though, that this was in 1892 and not during the out-of-control era of today’s selfie and perfect pose pic craze.
The trial was a huge national sensation and crowds mobbed the courthouse. Journalists provided daily reports of witness testimonies, as well as character sketches of all the players. Another interesting part of the book were all the courtroom sketches. Very detailed, almost works of art. How did we go from there to today’s wild courtroom caricatures?
Robertson covered the trial in full detail and I like how she framed it with journalists’ more colorful accounts. I felt that give a realistic and interesting picture of the trial and all the people involved.
You may think you can fly through this books 289 pages, but it’s much slower reading than fiction. It was worth it!
I recommend The Trial of Lizzie Borden to readers who like courtroom drama as well as those who enjoy a good mystery. Who knows, maybe you have a theory on what happened!
These 4-star and 4.5-star reads were some of my favorite books of 2023 and I totally recommend them to readers looking for a great book!
What’s up with my rating system? Why 4 stars and not 5? I do what Goodreads does. So if I give a book 3 stars, that means I liked the book. And 4 stars means I really liked the book! Not everyone is comfortable with that, but I feel strongly that there has to be a way to distinguish between good books, very good books and great books.
You can read my full explanation here. So here are my 4s and 4.5s. Curious about the rest? Check out the full list of what I read in 2023 here.
I’ve read three books since my last review and I’m looking forward to telling you about them. Meantime, what great books did you read in 2023? Leave a comment!
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