Saturday, May 30, 2015

Storyline Serendipity: King Arthur


KING ARTHUR SERENDIPITY
IN TWO BOOK I RECENTLY READ


The Lyre of Orpheus by Roberson Davies  (1988 book by a Canadian author)

The Cornish Foundation embarks on an ambitious project -- to finance the completion of an opera about King Arthur left unfinished by the death, in 1822, of the original composer. The lives of the characters in the book start to parallel the opera's plot in this brainy conclusion to Davies's Cornish Trilogy.

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro (2015 book by a British author)

In days of yore, elderly Britons Axl and Beatriceres encounter ogres, imps, dragons, and deadly monks when they wander from their misty hamlet in search of their son. Along their journey, they are aided by a Saxon warrior and Sir Gawain, King Arthur's now stooped and rusty knight of the Round Table.

WHAT IS STORYLINE SERENDIPITY?
A ONCE-IN-A-WHILE BLOG EVENT

Have you had the experience of something coming up in a book -- an event, place, idea, historical character, or even an unusual word -- and then shortly after, the same thing comes up in a different book completely by coincidence? I call this Storyline Serendipity.

I don't mean like when you take a class in Russian history and read two books about the Tsar. Or when you read two mysteries and there are dead bodies in each.

I mean random coincidence between two books. I like it when this happens because it makes me slow down and pay more attention to how the event or idea, place or character was treated in each book. I get a little more out of each book than I would have if the universe hadn't paired them on my reading list.

If you experience Storyline Serendipity, feel free to grab the button and play along. If you want to, please leave the link to your post in a comment. Or leave the link to your post on the Rose City Reader facebook page. If you want to participate but don't have a blog or don't feel like posting, please share your serendipity in a comment.

This is a once-in-a-while blog event that I'll post as I come across Storyline Serendipity. If you want to participate, post whenever you want and leave a comment back here on my latest Storyline Serendipity post. If it ever catches on, we can make it a monthly event.


Friday, May 29, 2015

2015 CHALLENGE: Chunkster Challenge: COMPLETED


COMPLETED

I even passed by stretch goal by reading 17 chunksters this year. This is a challenge I often struggle with and I read almost three times as many chunksters this year as I normally do. Several were particularly slow going, ether for good reasons, like Nabokov's Collected Short Stories, or not, like Guard of Honor that may have won the Pulitzer Prize but hasn't stood the test of time.

My chunkster jag this year is part of the reason I am going to fall short of reading a 100 books i 2015, and far short of my usual 110 or so. It looks like I'll come in right around 95.

------------------------------------

The CHUNKSTER CHALLENGE was started by Wendy at Caribousmom and is now hosted by Vasilly at 1330V. The sign-up page is here.

The basic idea is to read books with 450 pages or more. E-books and audiobooks count, as do collections of short stories, essays, or poems. Pretty much the only thing that doesn't count is graphic novels.

This is a self-motivating challenge. Now that audiobooks count, I am going to set a goal of 12 books, with a stretch goal of 15.

BOOKS FINISHED

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1024 pages)

The Collected Stories by Vladimir Nabokov (720 pages)

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (512 pages)

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (512 pages)

Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi (525 pages)

The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies (480 pages)

The Whole World Over by Julia Glass (528 pages)

Night Fall by Nelson DeMille (528 pages)

Personal by Lee Child (544)

The Georgetown Set: Friends and Rivals in Cold War Washington by Gregg Herken (494)

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (771)

Wickford Point by John P. Marquand (464)

A Bromfield Galaxy: The Green Bay Tree, Early Autumn, and A Good Woman by Louis Bromfield (Pulitzer Prize winner) (639)

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall (624)

Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens (Pulitzer Prize winner) (635)

Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding (496)

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates (480)


BOOK POSSIBILITIES

We'll see what others pop up.

NOTE: Updated December 24, 2015

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Book Beginning: The Humans



THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING



I know that some of you reading this are convinced that humans are a myth, but I am here to state that they do actually exist.

-- The Humans by Matt Haig. My friend, the exuberant literary agent Fiona Kenhole, recommended this to me. It's not the kind of thing I would have picked up on my own and it took me a while to get into it because I found the tone a little too-cute-by-half (humor is hard). But once I got used to the premise and into the story, I decided I like it a lot.

NOTE: Thanks for your patience! I was slow getting my book beginning up because my law firm, Dumas Law Group, is hosting a workshop today for counselors who work with male survivors of childhood sex abuse. We've been busy this week getting ready.


Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Teaser Tuesday: Portland Food Cart Stories



Many food carts do specials as a way of expressing creativity and avoiding becoming too bored with making the same thing day in and day out. The specials that Ryan and Jace come up with are not only cleverly named, but they are always delicious too.

--  Portland Food Cart Stories: Behind the Scenes with the City’s Culinary Entrepreneurs by Steven Shomler. Here, Shomler discusses the success of Fried Egg I'm in Love, a Portland food cart cleverly named after a 1992 Cure song, "Friday I'm in Love."

In Portland Food Cart Stories, you will find 40 food cart stories, about the owners of 30 food carts, organized into eight parts: author's introduction, Iconic Food Carts, people who moved to Portland to open food carts, breakfast food carts, food cart boosters, vegetarian food carts, ethnic food carts, and comfort food carts.

Shomler is the go-to guy when it comes to Portland's food cart scene. Whether you live here or are planning a visit, prep yourself with his book and go mobile with his social media: website, PortlandFoodCartAdventures.com; Facebook page, Portland Food Cart Adventures; and Twitter @GR8FoodCartsPDX. You can find his book at Powell's or on amazon.



Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Mailbox Memorial Day



Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got one book last week:



The Gift of Fear: And Other Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker.

The lovely and dynamic Michelle Williams of Bloom Your Future has organized a new kind of book group here in Portland and The Gift of Fear is her book for the July meeting. Each month, Michelle will discuss a book of interest to the women invited, followed by a presentation by a thought leader from the community related to issues raised by the book.

Michelle asked me to be the thought leader for July because of my work with sexual abuse and assault survivors. I’m excited to work with Michelle and meet more of the women she works with. Her holistic approach to personal, business, and financial coaching – what she calls her Bloom Process – is inspiring.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Book Beginning: Portland Food Cart Adventures




THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING



December in Portland is a little different than December in my hometown of Austin. The wet Pacific Northwest weather didn’t stave off my hunger for learning about the food carts, but the daily drizzle and gray chilled my Texas-thin blood to the bone.

-- From the author’s Foreword to Portland Food Cart Stories: Behind the Scenes with the City’s Culinary Entrepreneurs by Steven Shomler.

Portland Food Cart Stories is more than a guide to Portland’s trendy eating scene. As promised, Shomer tells the stories of 30 food cart owners – how they got the idea for their carts, the crazy names, the sometimes insanely loyal followings, etc. You will feel like a friend next time you step up to the window.

Learn more at Shomler's website, PortlandFoodCartAdventures.com; Facebook page, Portland Food Cart Adventures; and Twitter @GR8FoodCartsPDX. You can find his book at Powell's or on amazon.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Author Interview: Susan Snively



Author and Dickinson historian Susan Snively brings Emily Dickinson to life in her new novel The Heart Has Many Doors, based largely on the poet's own letters and centered on her mid-life romance with her neighbor and father's best friend, Judge Otis Phillips Lord.

Susan recently took time from her Dickinson-related and other activities to answer questions for Rose City Reader:




How did you come to write The Heart Has Many Doors?

I had been interested in Emily’s friendship with Judge Otis Phillips Lord for a long time, but began to see him in a new light, when I dared to think of the passionate possibilities. I went from “what if…?” to “I bet they did!”

The turning point for me was my realizing that Lord was in Amherst on Dec. 10, 1830, Emily’s birth-date. A junior at Amherst College, with an interest in the law, he would have known her father Edward. When I placed the 18-year old Lord on the snowy street near her house, I imagined a connection between them that would over time grow into a full love affair. I call it “the celestial machinery of winter stars that had brought her into his life.”

Can you recommend any other books or resources about Emily Dickinson?

Richard Sewall’s and Alfred Habegger’s biographies are essential reading, as is Polly Longsworth’s The Dickinsons of Amherst. The Emily Dickinson Museum website has a great link to resources, including Emily’s dictionary, family portraits, and biographical material. Amherst College’s digital collection was the first to offer readers a chance to read her poems and letters online, for free. My website and the Facebook page for The Heart Has Many Doors, have other goodies as well—for example, a photograph of the gold mesh bracelet Judge Lord gave to Emily around 1880. Inside the sliding clasp is engraved her nickname for him: “Little Phil.” He was described as “stately.” His nickname for the petite Emily was “Emily Jumbo.”

What did you learn from writing your book – either about the subject of the book or the writing process – that most surprised you?

I learned yet again that writing is re-writing. I think I wrote about eight drafts of the novel. I had the sense of Emily and Phil’s passion from draft one, but I had to learn to climb out of the good-girl-reporting-the-facts mode and leap into the story. As Emily said, “If your Nerve, deny you - /Go above your Nerve.” I also learned that when you have finally finished, you feel a bit weepy, as though your best friend has moved away.

Who are your three (or four or five) favorite authors? Is your own writing influenced by who you read? 

I love Jane Austen, and re-read her to keep myself sane in the New England winter. I love Mark Twain, Dickens, Edith Wharton, Charlotte Brontë. I guess I feel most at home in the 19th c. For poetry, besides Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, Kay Ryan, Tomas Tranströmer, and Richard Wilbur pay great dividends to a re-reader. But I like discovering new things, like Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals, which made me howl with laughter, and Mary Norris’s delightful Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen.

What kind of books do you like to read? 

Historical novels, crime novels, biographies, books on grammar. Cookbooks, which can read like poetry.

What are you reading now?

I’m re-reading Dickens’s Bleak House, because I like novels that feature freaky things like spontaneous combustion. Also Philip Caputo’s The Longest Road, full of sly, wise, and funny detail. Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, a beautifully-written book that lifts me up and drops me in France during the War.

You have a terrific website, a facebook page for the book, and an active twitter feed. From an author's perspective, how important are social networking sites and other internet resources to promote your book?

I think they’re very important, and I’m learning (with help from the young and the brave) how to get better at using these sites. Nowhere to go but up! I keep telling myself that Emily would have loved to tweet. I love finding things to post. The Museum is especially beautiful now, and flowers Emily knew are coming back in her garden and on various websites.

Do you have any events coming up to promote your book? 

I’ve read in Amherst, Northampton, South Hadley, and Peterborough, NH, and I have more readings coming up in Amherst (Amherst Books, May 29 at 7 p.m.); Williamsburg, MA (Meekins Library, June 3 at 7 p.m.); Wilmington, Vermont (Bartleby Bookshop, June 6 at 2 p.m.); Belchertown (Clapp Memorial Library, June 23 at 7 p.m.); Lenox, MA (The Bookstore, Housatonic St, August 11 at 7 p.m.) and Manchester, VT (Northshire Books, Sept. 18 at 6 p.m.) I’ll read anywhere, to any group, large or small. I learned that early on, when I gave lots of poetry readings, including one in the 70’s when a naked guy streaked through the audience!

What is the most valuable advice you’ve been given as an author?

The same advice I gave when I taught writing: re-writing is everything, and that includes reading aloud. It helps restore a flagging spirit, and encourages a sense of humor. Even a genius like Emily Dickinson wrote the occasional bow-wow, so writers need to listen to themselves, and laugh if they can.

What is the best thing about being a writer?

Getting to make up stories about famous dead people, and to help them do what you imagine they wanted to do when they were alive.

What’s next? Are you working on your next book?

I’ve started a new novel—very different from The Heart Has Many Doors. It’s set in contemporary Amherst, and centers on some troubling things that happen to a young girl, a lost romance that gets revived, and an old crime that remains unsolved. Of course, I don’t know what I’m doing—just feeling my way along.

I’d love to write another film script, having written and narrated two on Dickinson for the Museum’s “Angles of a Landscape” series: “Seeing New Englandly” (2010) and “My Business is to Sing” (2012.) They were the most fun I’ve ever had writing. I was writing my novel at the same time. My husband Peter Czap is a very patient man.

I’m a guide at the Dickinson Museum, and the summers are full of buzzing, blooming events. Last year, we created a new adults-only tour called “Dickinsons in Love,” for which I wrote the juicy parts about Austin Dickinson’s affair with Mabel Loomis Todd, and Emily’s romance with Judge Lord. This summer, we’ll offer it again. We love to see our visitors giggle and blush, and to use Emily’s own words to warm up the blood.

THANKS, SUSAN! You can find The Heart has Many Doors at amazon, of course, or ask your local bookstore to order it!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Teaser Tuesday: The Other Oregon by Steve Anderson



Greg had to consider the possibility of killing Donny. . . . Greg worked out the morality of it in his head.

-- The Other Oregon by Steve Anderson. Oh boy! Things have taken a turn for the worse.

In this latest novel, The Other Oregon, Steve Anderson takes a break from WWII spies and secret missions. He sticks closer to home to give his readers an edge-of-the-seat page-turner set in a remote corner of his own Pacific Northwest.

The Other Oregon comes this week and is available for from Powell's or amazon or ask your local book seller to order you a copy


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Mailbox Monday: Portland Food Cart Stories



Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got a couple of books last week, both non-fiction:



Portland Food Cart Stories: Behind the Scenes with the City’s Culinary Entrepreneurs by Steven Shomler.

Shomler is Portland's food cart guru. Learn more at his website PortlandFoodCartAdventures.com; Facebook page, Portland Food Cart Adventures; and Twitter @GR8FoodCartsPDX. You can find his book at Powell's or on amazon.



The Real Thing:: Lessons on Love and Life from a Wedding Reporter's Notebook by Ellen McCarthy. I asked for this through the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program because it looked interesting and I plan to pass it on to my single sister. Just the kind of thing singletons love to get from their married siblings!

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Book Beginning: The Other Oregon by Steve Anderson



THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING



Duct tape had sealed the mouths of the three men.

-- The Other Oregon by Steve Anderson. Well, that's a beginning to get your attention!

With this latest novel, Anderson takes a break from his favorite WWII material to give his readers a creepy, atmospheric thriller set in the Pacific Northwest.

The Other Oregon comes out on May 19 and is available for pre-order from Powell's or amazon.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Teaser Tuesday: Baby's on Fire by Liz Prato



Here I am, perched one-hundred-and-five feet in the sky with the green canopy of the jungle far below. It billows like a giant parachute covering my kingdom.

-- from "The Adventures of a Maya Queen" in Baby's on Fire by Liz Prato, published by Press53. This is a newly-released collection of 12 compelling stories, full of life, that are like catching up with a bunch of friends you didn't know before.

Prato has several readings and other events coming up before the end of June, up and down the West Coast, in Denver, and in Santa Fe.  Check out her calendar for opportunities near you.




Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Mailbox Monday: The Other Oregon



Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got one book last week, and I am very excited to read it:



The Other Oregon by Steve Anderson. Anderson takes a break from his favorite WWII material to write a contemporary thriller set in a remote pocket of the Pacific Northwest.

The FBI sends an undercover operative to investigate a militia commune in rural Oregon. But he has his own agenda -- to make sure a childhood secret stays buried. I'm thinking maybe Twin Peaks meets Stand by Me. I'll find out.

The Other Oregon comes out on May 19 and is available for pre-order from Powell's or amazon.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Book Beginning: Baby's on Fire by Liz Prato



THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING



Three months after I graduated from Colorado College, and things weren't going well. . . . Then my boyfriend cheated on my with a girl he met while volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.

-- from the title story in Baby's on Fire by Liz Prato, published by Press53. This is a collection of 12 stories, set in the West, featuring strong female protagonists trying to find their own way in the world.

I confess that I do not like opening sentences that are not sentences, they are a time and a place, and are designed to set an immediate scene, but they lack a verb, and so are not sentences. But since I got a real chuckle out of the image of infidelity while building a Habitat House, I don't so mind the fragment.

If you are west of the Mississippi, Prato has several readings and other events coming up before the end of June.  Check out her calendar for opportunities near you.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Mailbox Monday: Baby's on Fire



Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got one book last week, and I am jazzed about it:



Baby's on Fire by Liz Prato, published by Press53. A collection of 12 stories, previously published in the kind of super-cool literary magazines we wished we kept up with: Hunger Mountain, Carve, Iron Horse Literary Review, Goldman Review, Los Angeles Review, Hawai'i Review, Cream City Review, and Storyglossia. Now we can get them all in one place!

The stories are set in the West and feature strong female protagonists trying to find their own way in the world. My kind of stories!