Author Interview: Susan Winkler

Susan Winkler had the enviable job of writing, and updating, The Paris Shopping Companion: A Personal Guide to Shopping in Paris for Every Pocketbook. How great would that be?

Now, expanding on her Francophile sensibilities and drawing on a little family history, Susan has written a captivating novel about love and art and Paris and Nazis.  With war-torn lovers, a family saga plot, and a stolen Matisse, Portrait of a Woman in White is a terrific historical novel.  Each copy should come with a "Perfect for Book Club" sticker on the cover!

The is a busy week for Susan, with the official launch of Portrait today, at Powell's City of Books in Portland (see details below).  But Susan was gracious enough to answer some questions for Rose City Reader.

What is your background? How did it lead you to write Portrait of a Woman in White?

I fell in love with France when I saw the movie Gigi as a young girl. I studied french literature in college and in grad school, and in Paris, then worked as a journalist in New York and for The Oregonian. I was very fortunate to be asked to write a guidebook to Paris (The Paris Shopping Companion) which required regular updates that allowed me to travel to and explore my favorite city ever since.

Years before writing this novel, I had read a groundbreaking expose about how the Nazi's looted art from French collections during WW2 (The Lost Museum by Hector Feliciano) and I wanted to illustrate that history as fiction . . . the story of a single made-up family and what could have happened to them. But I was busy with the Paris guidebooks. One day I heard a moving memoir told by an old woman about having to leave her first young love in Europe when her family escaped to America during WW2. These threads of tales I found intriguing wove together to become my story.

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

I had never written fiction, and I knew that I would have to come up with characters, dialogue and a lot more plot. So I started by reading all I could about Nazis and their art looting, figuring I would need very bit of that information to carry my story. What I didn't realize was that my fictional family would develop lives and relationships of their own and become even more interesting than those notorious Nazis. The fictional characters turned out to be the "real" characters who drive the book.

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

Most fiction I read is set in Europe, and I always look for something that will teach me about good writing. Currently I'm reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, a great sensually descriptive book. I just read Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, which has a special writerly interest in the way it plays with plot. I loved The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt), mostly because of a character, and everything by Eric Maria Remarque, the German WW1 writer because he has a way with dialogue. The Great Gatsby, while set in America, is a fave because of point-of-view and simply great writing.

What kind of books do you like to read? Do you have a favorite genre? And guilty pleasures?

I don't read much genre fiction. I download "samples"of new books on my kindle to read for style, and keep up with short stories in The New Yorker.

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

By far the most valuable advice was given to me at a New Year's Day party shortly after I got my first book contract (for The Paris Shopping Companion). It was simple: Get a daily writing schedule on your calendar a month in advance, and keep to it. That solves half the problem. It's been my New Year's resolution ever since.

What is the best thing about being a writer?

Once you are far enough into your work, it can provide endless fascination. You are trying to solve a huge puzzle: to create an entire intricate world that works in the end, like the mechanism of an old clock.

What do you do to promote your books? Do you use social networking sites or other internet resources?

I have a publicist, Mary Bisbee-Beek, who works wonders. The book has a new Facebook page, and a presence on twitter and pinterest.

Do you have any events coming up to promote Portrait of a Woman in White?

I have a book talk at Powell's Books on Burnside, in Portland tonight, September 10, at 7:30 pm. This is the official book launch and author reading for Portrait of a Woman in White. The event is sponsored by Alliance Française de Portland.

Other events are in the works, including:

• Book talk at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA on Saturday, September 13, at 4:00 pm

• Reading at Beach Books in Seaside, OR on Thursday, October 30, at 11:30 am

• Signing at Annie Bloom's Books, Portland, OR on Tuesday, November 4, at 7:00 pm

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

Yes, I'm thinking about it. Hmmmm . . . it will take place in France . . .

THANKS SUSAN! PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN IN WHITE IS AVAILABLE AT POWELL'S, ON KINDLE, AND FROM OTHER BOOKSELLERS, OR ASK YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE TO ORDER IT!

Teaser Tuesday: Portrait of a Woman in White by Susan Winkler

. . . Göring turned back with a swirl of his cape and fixed his piercing blue eyes on Claude. He said, in perfect French, "Normally, I look for Renaissance painters and the Dutch school, but here in Paris I find I'm attracted to French art, especially the romantiques – the nudes."

-- Portrait of a Woman in White by Susan Winkler, published by She Writes Press, available in paperback and a Kindle edition.

Young lovers are torn apart when Lili Rosenswig flees Paris with her family as the Nazis invade and her husband-to-be stays to defend his country.  When the Nazis loot a Matisse portrait of Lili's mother, art, love, and war are entwined in an enthralling new historical novel.

PORTLAND BOOK EVENT:  Tomorrow, September 10, 2014 at 7:30 PM at Powell's City of Books on Burnside

This is the official book launch and an author reading for Portrait of a Woman in White. The event is sponsored by Alliance Française de Portland. You can pre-order a signed edition on the Powell's website.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday: Summer Finds

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.

Summer always brings a mixed bag of books. Between garage sales, passing Little Free Libraries while out enjoying the nice weather, socializing with book-loving friends, and my family cleaning house in a burst of back-to-school energy, all kinds of books come into my house in the summer.

These came last week:



The Illustrated Rhododendron: Their Classification Portrayed Through the Artwork of Curtis's Botanical Magazine by Pat Halliday. I found this gorgeous, pristine, coffee table book at an estate sale for only $1! Thereby appealing to the book-, botanical print-, and bargain-lover in me all at the same time.



Just This, tanka by Margaret Chula, from Mountains and Rivers Press. My friend Kirsten Rian gave this to me. It is the latest poetry collection from one of the foremost practitioners of Japanese poetic forms. If it weren't for Kirsten, who among other roles is the Poetry Editor for The Oregonian, I wouldn't read new poetry.



An Expensive Place to Die by Len Deighton. All that art and poetry is fine, but a good, Cold War spy novel always finds a place on my TBR shelf!



An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin. I really enjoyed Shopgirl, so was pleased to find this in one of the half-dozen Little Free Libraries that dot my neighborhood.

Book Beginning: Portrait of a Woman in White by Susan Winkler

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

Tomorrow was to have been her wedding day.

They allowed themselves just a few hours before nightfall to pack – a single suitcase for each of them, and only what they could easily carry.

-- Portrait of a Woman in White by Susan Winkler, published by She Writes Press.

When Nazis invade Paris in 1940, lovers are torn apart and a Matisse portrait goes missing. This enthralling story of love, war, and art should be at the top of your Must Read list!

PORTLAND BOOK EVENT:  Wednesday, September 10, 2014 at 7:30 PM at Powell's City of Books on Burnside

This is the official book launch and author reading for Portrait of a Woman in White. You can pre-order a signed edition on the Powell's website. The event is sponsored by Alliance Française de Portland.

Teaser Tuesday: The Witch-Hunt Narrative by Ross D. Cheit

The book argues that even though many cases have been held up as classic examples of modern American "witch hunts," none of them truly fits that description. . . .  Other cases that have been painted as witch-hunts turn out to involve significant, even overwhelming, evidence of guilt.

--  The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children by Ross E. Cheit.

Cheit is a professor at Brown University who examined high-profile day-care abuse cases from the 1980s and undertook empirical studies of criminal sentencing in sex abuse cases to determine whether child sex abuse is a pervasive problem or a "witch-hunt" blown out of proportion by eager prosecutors and sensation-seeking reporters.

I got this book because of my work with child abuse survivors and it is fascinating. It has also generated quite a bit of buzz:

• How the ‘Witch Hunt’ Myth Undermined American Justice in The Daily Beast
• Abuse Cases, and a Legacy of Skepticism:‘The Witch-Hunt Narrative’: Are We Dismissing Real Victims? in the New York Times
• Professor Aims to Discredit ‘Witch-Hunt Narrative’ of Child Sexual-Abuse Cases in the Providence Journal

For a summary of his argument, see Cheit's piece on The Huffington Post: Mythical Numbers and Satanic Ritual Abuse.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Happy Labor Day!

Mailbox Labor Day Monday: Elizabeth George

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.

Below is the list of Elizabeth George books that have come into my house in the last couple of weeks. I've been collecting her Inspector Linley books from garage and library sales this summer, based on nothing more than watching one Linley BBC episode and hearing good things.

I get like this about mystery series. If I hear about one that sounds good, I want to read them all, but in order. So I start collecting them but don't start reading them until I get the first one. Luckily, last week I found the first book of the series at Booktique in Lake Oswego, my favorite Library Friends store. I now have eight of the books in the series and look forward to starting it!

A Great Deliverance (#1)

Playing for the Ashes (#7)

In the Presence of the Enemy (#8)

Deception on His Mind (#9)

In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner (#10)

A Traitor to Memory (#11)

What Came Before He Shot Her (#14)

This Body of Death (#16)

I better keep collecting because I still need many of the early books.

Favorite Author: P. D. James

P. D. James was an English novelist, best known for her mystery series featuring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh. Those I've read are all set in some kind of closed society -- an adaptation of the "closed room" mystery. She also has two mysteries starring Cordelia Gray, stand-alone novels, and non-fiction books.

She passed away in 2014, at age 94, still writing books and serving as a Life Peer in the House of Lords.

I've now read 12 of James's books. Unusual for me, all but one with my ears. The audiobook editions are particularly good and readily available from my library.

Those I have read are in red; those currently on my TBR shelf are in blue.

ADAM DALGLIESH MYSTERIES

Cover Her Face (1962) (country house)

A Mind to Murder (1963) (private mental hospital)

Unnatural Causes (1967) (writers' colony)

Shroud for a Nightingale (1971) (nursing school)

The Black Tower (1975) (reviewed here) (adult care home)

Death of an Expert Witness (1977) (forensic lab)

A Taste for Death (1986) (parish church)

Devices and Desires (1989) (community with a nuclear power plant)

Original Sin (1994) (publishing house)

A Certain Justice (1997) (inns of court)

Death in Holy Orders (2001)

The Murder Room (2003)

The Lighthouse (2005)

The Private Patient (2008)

CORDELIA GRAY MYSTERIES

An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972)

The Skull Beneath the Skin (1982)

MISCELLANEOUS NOVELS

Innocent Blood (1980)

The Children of Men (1992)

Death Comes to Pemberley (2011)

SHORT STORIES

The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories (2016)

NON-FICTION

The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, 1811 (1971), with Thomas A. Critchley

Time to Be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography (1999)

Talking About Detective Fiction (2009)

NOTES

Updated on January 7, 2019.

Book Beginning: The Witch-Hunt Narrative by Ross E. Cheit

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

Just as this book was being completed, the scandal that has come to be associated with Penn State took a definitive turn. Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky, the football team's defensive coordinator for many years, was convicted of forty-five counts of sexual crimes against children.

-- from the author's Preface to The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children by Ross E. Cheit.

Child sexual abuse emerged into public discourse in the United States in the early 1980s. A public opinion poll in 1983 indicated that almost all parents were aware of the problem and had seen a story about it in the media.

-- from the author's Introduction: "The Infamous Child Sexual Abuse Cases of the 1980s."

Chiet is a professor at Brown University whose study of criminal sex abuse cases is the basis of his new book.  He examined high-profile day-care abuse cases from the 1980s and undertook empirical studies of criminal sentencing in sex abuse cases to determine whether child sex abuse is a pervasive problem or a "witch-hunt" blown out of proportion by eager prosecutors and sensation-seeking reporters.

I got this book because of my work with child abuse survivors and it looks fascinating. It has gotten a lot of media coverage:

• How the ‘Witch Hunt’ Myth Undermined American Justice in The Daily Beast
• Abuse Cases, and a Legacy of Skepticism:‘The Witch-Hunt Narrative’: Are We Dismissing Real Victims? in the New York Times
• Professor Aims to Discredit ‘Witch-Hunt Narrative’ of Child Sexual-Abuse Cases in the Providence Journal

For a summary of his argument, see Cheit's piece on The Huffington Post: Mythical Numbers and Satanic Ritual Abuse

Teaser Tuesday: Report from the Interior

The following summer, you went back to the sleepaway camp in New Hampshire. The experiment in unstructured time had been no more than a partial success, that is, largely a failure, so once again you asked to go up north for July and August, and your parents, who were neither rich nor poor but well enough off to spring for the several hundred dollars it would cost to send you there, gave their consent.

Report from the Interior by Paul Auster.  This is a new memoir from the author of The New York Trilogy and, more recently, another memoir, Winter Journal.

I have mixed reactions to this new memoir from a Paul Auster. His observations and his life make for a good story, but the second-person narration (referring to himself as “you”) is off-putting and, eventually, exceedingly annoying. And just when I got so I could ignore the style enough to appreciate the substance, Auster turns from a biography of his childhood to describing, in great detail, the plots of movies he watched. It is possible to glean interesting bits from Report from the Interior, but it was an overall disappointment.

The Boston Glob reviewed Report from the Interior here; The Seattle PI's review is here. 

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday: Make It Mighty Ugly

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 already started reading it:



Make It Mighty Ugly: Exercises & Advice for Getting Creative Even When It Ain't Pretty: A Handbook for Vanquishing Creative Demons by Kim Piper Werker. I saw this in the Sasquatch Books fall catalog and was immediately drawn to it. 

Make It Mighty Ugly is about overcoming "demons" like procrastination, self-doubt, and perfectionism to be more creative. I usually associate creativity with arts-and-crafts, DIY projects, and maybe fiction writing. But I plan to read Werker's book with and eye to my law practice because I think the same demons restrict creative thinking in the workplace.

Book Beginning: Cocktails for Book Lovers

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

Growing up in England, I was obsessed with Virginia Woolf – her luminous prose, her melancholy brilliance – and the glamorous image of the Bloomsbury set, a famous group of London intellectuals and writers in the early 1900s.

Book Girl's Guide to Cocktails for Book Lovers by Tessa Smith McGovern, published by sourcebooks. I love books. I love cocktails. Perfect!

Cocktails for Book Lovers offers 50 recipes straight from the pages of, or at least suggested by, famous authors and their books. The recipes range from classics, like William Faulkner's favorite Mint Julep, to the imaginative, like a "Sherry Alexander" inspired by Thrity Umrigar.

And on top of all that, the publisher is hosting some fun giveaways:

Teaser Tuesday: Jam Today Too

The day after my dinner party featuring that unctuous oxtail stew, I was in the mood for something a little simpler and more modest in scope. That’s the time when I think about an omelet.

-- Jam Today Too: The Revolution Will Not be Catered by Tod Davies, published by Exterminating Angel Press.

This is the second book of food and cooking essays by Tod Davies, following, Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking With What You've Got. Reading Jam Today Too feels like sitting at the kitchen counter with a glass of wine, talking with your best friend while she cooks dinner for just the two of you. I must go back and read the first volume!

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday: Cocktails for Book Lovers

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.

One terrific book in my house last week:



Book Girl's Guide to Cocktails for Book Lovers by Tessa Smith McGovern, published by sourcebooks. This is as fun as it looks, with cocktail recipes straight from, or inspired by, authors and their books.

Cocktails for Book Lovers is on a blog tour this month. Look for other posts with this badge and join in the fun:

Book Beginning: Jam Today Too

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’m still cooking, and thinking about what I and my loved ones like to eat, still keeping a diary of what I got and what I do with it. 

-- From the author’s Foreword to Jam Today Too: The Revolution Will Not be Catered by Tod Davies, published by Exterminating Angel Press.

I never thought I would see the day that I would hate to cook. 

-- From chapter 1, "Food for Disasters."

This is the second book in Tod Davies' series of food and cooking essay collections, following, Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking With What You've Got.

Jam Today Too is a fantastic collection of essays on what to eat, why to eat it, and how to make it.  Davies deserves a spot right up there in the food writer Pantheon with MFK Fisher, Elizabeth David, and Jim Harrison.  In chatty style, Davies offers recipes along with anecdotes about when she made the dishes, including recreating childhood favorites, cooking for grieving friends, cooking in an RV after her house flooded, and cooking solo meals.  Reading Jam Today Too feels like sitting at the kitchen counter with a glass of wine, talking with your best friend while she cooks dinner for just the two of you.

Teaser Tuesday Two-fer: Dead Float & Scene of the Climb

I heard a distant voice, then felt two strong hands pull me out of the water and up a steep bank. I remember wondering where the knife was going to go – into my chest or across my throat?

-- Dead Float by Warren C. Easley.

This is the second in an exciting new series from Poisoned Pen Press, featuring lawyer and amateur sleuth Cal Claxton. Claxton moved to Oregon from LA to set up a small practice in wine country. Here, a guided fishing trip down the Deschutes River Canyon leads to murder and Cal is up to his waders in it.

He held a finger to his lips to silence me and pushed me to my knees with his other hand. Carefully he drew his binoculars out and scanned the area where the bushes had been disturbed.

-- Scene of the Climb by Kate Dyer-Seeley, who has several upcoming book events scheduled around Oregon and in California.

This new series features freelance outdoor writer Meg Reed, who exaggerated her enthusiasm for outdoor adventures to get a job with Northwest Extreme magazine. When Meg sees a body falling past her as she climbs to the top of a 2000-foot peak, she knows she has more than blisters and sunburn to worry about.

Scene of the Climb even includes a short appendix at the back with travel and hiking ideas for a trip to the Columbia River Gorge.

The two together would make for a great summer weekend!

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

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.

Three entertaining and interesting books came into my house last week:



Portrait of a Woman in White by Susan Winkler, published by She Writes Press. When Nazis invade Paris in 1940, lovers are torn apart and a Matisse portrait goes missing.  Put this enthralling story of love, war, and art on your Must Read list!



The Court that Tamed the West: From the Gold Rush to the Tech Boom by Richard Cahan, Pia Hinckle, and Jessica Royer Ocken, published by Heyday Books.  This is the history of the American West seen through the lens of the US District Court for the Northern District of California. It is legal history written for a general audience -- looks great!



By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from the New York Times Book Review, Edited and with an Introduction by Pamela Paul, Foreword by Scott Turow. The title says it all. Can. Not. Wait.

Book Beginnings: Scene of the Climb & Dead Float

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

My fingernails dug into the soggy dirt as my body lurched closer to the sheer cliff face.

-- Scene of the Climb by Kate Dyer-Seeley.

This "Pacific Northwest Mystery" is the first in a new series featuring freelance outdoor writer Meg Reed. Meg exaggerated her enthusiasm for outdoor adventures to land a job with Northwest Extreme magazine. Now, when Meg sees a body falling past her as she drags herself up a 2000-foot peak, she has to survive her adventure and solve a murder mystery.

Stick this one in your backpack for a great weekend read. There is even a short appendix at the back with travel and hiking ideas for a trip to the Columbia River Gorge.  Dyer-Seeley has several upcoming book events, including one this Monday, scheduled around Oregon and in California.

If I've learned one thing in this life, it’s that trouble has a way of finding you, no matter where you go or what you do to avoid it.

-- Dead Float by Warren C. Easley.

This new mystery series features lawyer and amateur sleuth, Cal Claxton. The first book, Matter of Doubt,   introduced Cal as a former LA prosecutor starting a small practice in Oregon wine country. In this second book, Cal finds himself tangled in a murder mystery while guiding a fishing trip down the Deschutes River Canyon.

This looks like a great summer read and an exciting new series from Poisoned Pen Press.

Author Interview: Lisa Lenard-Cook

Lisa Lenard-Cook’s first novel Dissonance won prizes and acclaim when it was first published in 2003. This fall, the Santa Fe Writers Project will reissue Dissonance, making this terrific novel available again.

Lisa took time from her writing and book tour to answer questions for Rose City Reader:

How did you come to write Dissonance?

I’ve found that any fiction I write requires three seemingly unrelated seeds. The first seed for Dissonance was planted when my daughter Kaitlin Kushner, then (1995) in middle school, brought home a library book, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, about children’s art at the concentration camp Terezín. Now, when I was young, I read an autobiography by my friend Leslie Klein’s mother, Gerda Weissman Klein, All But My Life, about her experiences in Europe during WWII. I never intended to write a book about the Holocaust. But that first seed was reawakened.

That Christmas, we went to my in-laws in Los Alamos, where my mother-in-law mentioned the apocryphal story about physicists measuring the velocity of those who jumped off a high bridge. It got me thinking about the Manhattan Project, about physics, about the atomic bomb, & & &. A second seed.
I happened to be reading a great deal of music theory at the time, although I no longer remember why. (Although I love music, I’m a piano lesson dropout.) One morning, I read about the mechanism of the piano, and a line came into my head: “The piano is unique among instruments for its double stroke.” While I didn’t know who was speaking, I did know I’d better take notes. From that first line, the first draft of Dissonance was written over a two-month period in the summer of 1995. It was finished coincidentally (or, perhaps, not coincidentally) on the 50th anniversary of the bomb at Hiroshima.

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

The most important thing I learned—something I stress in my writing classes, and when I edit and coach—is the value of putting a book away for a while after one writes it. It allowed me to revise not only this book (five years after I first wrote it) but many others, as an editor rather than as its author. A first draft is just that—a first draft. Novels that touch readers do so because the author has reworked them over and over again.

Who are your three (or four or five) favorite authors?

Katherine Anne Porter, Margaret Atwood, Carol Shields, Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro--and many, many more.

What kind of books do you like to read? What are you reading now?

Literary fiction and smart mysteries with female detectives (Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, Marcia Muller). Right now, I’m reading Hilma Wolitzer’s The Interestings and rereading Andre Dubus III’s House of Sand and Fog. Also, home design books.

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

Revise, revise, revise.

What is the best thing about being a writer?

The gift of being able to consider life’s quandaries from a fictive perspective.

What do you do to promote your books? Do you use social networking sites or other internet resources?

I’m on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and have author pages at Goodreads and Amazon. I blog on my website.

Do you have any events coming up to promote Dissonance?

Book launch: Bookworks, Albuquerque on September 7, at 3 pm;
Discussion/reading: Garcia Street Books, Santa Fe on September 14, at 2 pm;
Talk on the seeds of Dissonance: Albuquerque Chapter of Hadassah on September 16, at noon;
Talk on book’s reissue: Southwest Writers, Albuquerque on September 16, at 7 pm;
Discussion/reading: Bookwoman, Austin on October 7, at 7 pm; and
Santa Fe Writers Project fall launch party: Silver Spring, MD on October 25

THANKS LISA! DISSONANCE IS AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER FROM POWELL'S, AMAZON, OR YOUR LOCAL, INDEPENDENT BOOK SELLER.

Teaser Tuesday: "Therefore, Choose Life. . ."

The happiness that every bridegroom experiences at his first family wedding supper was diminished in my case by a sense of loss. I could not suppress the thought that none, not one, of my unforgettable, beloved family had survived to see my wedding, which would change my lonely life for the better in the most fundamental way.

-- "Therefore, Choose Life. . ." by Moisey Wolf, edited and translated by Judson Rosengrant, published by OSU Press with the support of the Oregon Jewish Museum.

Dr. Moisey Wolf spent his Jewish childhood in Poland, escaped the Holocaust, served in the Soviet Army during World War II, had a distinguished career as a psychiatrist in post-Stalinist Soviet Russia, came to America in 1992, and spent the last 15 years of his life in Portland, Oregon.  His autobiography, still in manuscript form when he died in 2007, is the story of a remarkable life lived in extraordinary times.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Book Beginning: "Therefore, Choose Life. . ."

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

Among the philosophical reflections of the Pirkei Avot is the observation that there are three times and we are compelled to act against our will: . . . "Despite your self you were born, despite yourself you live, and despite yourself you die . . ."

From the Author's Preface to "Therefore, Choose Life. . ." by Moisey Wolf, edited and translated by Judson Rosengrant, published by OSU Press with the support of the Oregon Jewish Museum.

"Therefore, Choose Life. . ." is the autobiography of Dr. Moisey Wolf, who escaped the Holocaust, served in the Soviet Army during World War II, had a distinguished career as a psychiatrist in post-Stalinist Soviet Russia, and came to America in 1992. It is the story of a remarkable life lived in extraordinary times.

Teaser Tuesday: The Queen of Katwe

"I saw there were many children seated and they were all looking at some good things and I didn't know if it was a game because I had never seen it," Phiona says. "I looked at it some more and I just felt like I really wanted to go inside and touch the beautiful pieces."

-- The Queen of Katwe: One Girl's Triumphant Path to Becoming a Chess Champion by Tim Crothers. Phiona Mutesi is now, at only 19, a world chess champion.  This book is the story of how she grew up in Katwe, a notorious Ugandan slum, and transformed her life by playing chess.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.