Author Interview: Ellen Urbani

Ellen Urbani is the author of the newly-released novel Landfall, which takes place during Hurricane Katrina, and is now taking the fiction world by storm.

Ellen is in the middle of an ambitious book tour, but took time to answer questions for Rose City Reader.

How did you come to write Landfall?

When my first book, When I Was Elena, released in March of 2006, I was six weeks into a new and unexpected version of my life: freshly divorced, and on my own with a two-year-old toddler and an eleven-month-old baby. To say that it was an insane time is not hyperbolic, nor does it truly convey the whirlwind nature of traveling across the country on a book tour with little ones while juggling house sales/legal wranglings/relocation back in Portland. I can’t say I recommend such timing, but it did keep my mind focused enough on external events so as to prevent me from wallowing in more emotive concerns.

When I finally resettled myself, I determined that having weathered so many changes already I could tackle a few more, so I decided to leave my medical career and focus on writing. This change allowed me stay productive and intellectually stimulated while still being home with my children during their formative years. It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever done, as it required me to ask for help, accept support, and press forward toward an unknown outcome – none of which appeals to a Type-A planner/organizer like me.

It is really no wonder then, is it?, that in the midst of that moment I wrote a book that features single mothers and girls who leave behind everything they know to venture in the direction of novel – and requisite – possibilities, relying on the goodness of strangers and building community as they go. Landfall is, at heart, a story about chasing hope. In that way, it is as much about me as it is about New Orleans or a hurricane.

Did you know right away, or have an idea, how you were going to end the story? Or did it come to you as you were in the process of writing?

I hate surprises. I absolutely cannot tolerate them – in real life, or in my literary life, apparently.

I wrote the ending of both my books before I wrote the beginnings.

Can you recommend any other books about New Orleans, fiction or nonfiction?

There are many insightful, well-researched books written about Hurricane Katrina and its impact on the Gulf Coast; I list many of them in the Resource Guide at the back of Landfall and also highlighted a number of others in a recent piece for Literary Hub.

But the books that first sold me on the mysticism and history of New Orleans, which I drank up during my college years, were Anne Rice’s. While her Vampire Chronicles, featuring Vampire LeStat, brought her the most acclaim, I also relished The Feast of All Saints for its majestic descriptions of a city I grew to love.

Also, I feel compelled to mention A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, for it is perhaps the most lauded and acclaimed story set in NOLA. Yet I must admit it is one of the few books I have ever despised – so much so that I can’t even keep a copy of it on my bookshelves, for Ignatius repulses me to such a degree that I can’t share a home with him. Which is exactly how Kennedy Toole meant for me to feel, and it is what makes him such a revered author.

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

I have always been a sucker for the circus. Despite the political incorrectness that has plagued Ringling Brothers for years on end now, the circus still delights me with all the vigor it ever did, and no matter where I am in the world I will race to duck beneath the tent awnings and watch with glee as three rings come alive with color and magic and coordinated fervor. As much as anything, the circus influences my writing.

Those authors I most adore, whose skills I endeavor to emulate, are those who can set three separate rings to spinning in a coordinated fashion: well-developed characters in one sphere, a captivating plot in another, and wordsmithery in the third. Think Michael Chabon, Wallace Stegner, and Pat Barker: ringmasters all, whose love of precise language often forces me to reach for a dictionary with one hand while I flip their pages with the other, who possess a keen understanding of pacing and never forsake character in their storytelling.

Theirs is the greatest show on earth.

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

When I am camping, I prefer smart and taut Scandinavian crime novels, for the act of adventuring alone in a dark forest is always heightened when one starts the trip a touch on edge.

In the midst of Oregon’s cold and gloomy winter, when it is pitch black outside by 4pm and a fire is crackling in the hearth, I prefer literary fiction; stories of people whose lives unravel in ways that make my relatives’ conflicts at holiday gatherings seem like simple fare.

When I am barefooted and the scent of fresh hay is carried to me on a mountain breeze, I prefer true-life adventure stories that remind me anything is possible with a stout soul and a Swiss Army knife.

When I am in a hammock: anything at all.

When I was pregnant: Disaster survival and storm survival books. (Had you asked me to explain during my childbearing years why I was drawn to such topics, I couldn’t have told you. Yet neither could I read anything else. These many years later, looking back, the metaphor is so obvious as to cue a laugh track.)

And today: the Ferrante series, I think. For I am beginning to feel left out of the party that is the Neopolitan saga.

You have a terrific website, facebook page, and overall social media presence. From an author's perspective, how important are social networking sites and other internet resources to promote your book?

In our present digital age, I believe all these things are essential to promoting a book. But I’d also say they are addictive, and can be complicit in stealing one’s life. Oddly enough, I find that managing the way my online persona interacts with the virtual world is the most vexing part of present-day publishing for me. I don’t think it is an overstatement to say the online universe is a whole new world, and I recognize that, for me, the building of boundaries and parameters within that world is necessary in order to allow my real and primary world – the one in which I exist with my children and new husband, the one in which I find time to pet my dogs and feed my horses, the one in which I volunteer in my community and consider writing again – to thrive.

You are in the middle of an ambitious book tour. Are you energized or exhausted right now?

Both. In equal measure. But more than energized or exhausted, I am grateful: to the people who helped make my book, to the people who read my book, and for the chance to live the life I chose. I do not fail to notice that mine is a very lucky life, indeed.

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

A gifted editor, Phyllis Hatfield, wrote in the margins of an early draft of Landfall: “When next you are tempted to write a word ending in –ly, please stop yourself. I can’t bear any more.”

I love her for that.

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

I’m not sure what’s next, exactly. Which is to say I’ll try to keep being a good mother, a loving wife, a decent farmer, a happy pet owner, a loyal daughter and sister, an attentive friend, a world adventurer, and a documenter of my experiences. Maybe that will result in another book. But I’m not yet ready to place any bets in that regard.

THANKS, ELLEN!

LANDFALL IS PUBLISHED BY FOREST AVENUE PRESS AND IS AVAILABLE FROM POWELL'S, AMAZON, OR ASK YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE TO ORDER IT!

Teaser Tuesday: Never Look Down by Warren Easley

 

The tips of her fingers caught the block, but without enough purchase to arrest her fall. Her dad's favorite saying – gravity never sleeps – flashed through her head as she plunged downward.

-- Never Look Down by Warren Easley, from Poisoned Pen Press. This exciting series features lawyer sleuth, Cal Claxton, a former Los Angeles prosecutor now living and practicing in Oregon wine country.

In Never Look Down, Cal steps in to protect a young foster kid after she witnesses a murder. The twist? She saw the crime from 40 feet up, when she had climbed the outside of a building to graffiti tag it.

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

Mailbox Monday: The Man Who Wasn’t There by Judy Nedry

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 Man Who Wasn’t There by Judy Nedry. Available for pre-order, here. Out on September 23, 2015.

This is the latest in the Emma Golden mystery series, featuring an Oregon wine country amateur sleuth of a certain age. Here, Emma gets involved in the murder of one of Oregon's founding winemakers, found dead at the International Pinot Noir Celebration he established. What fun!

Read my review of The Difficult Sister, the second book in the series, here. Read Judy Nedry's author interview, here.

PORTLAND BOOK EVENT: Launch Party on Wednesday, September 23, at 7 p.m. at Annie Blooms Books in Multnomah Village, Portland, Oregon. Free and open to the public. Reading, signing, Q&A, and some stuff to nibble on. Everyone is invited.

Author Interview: Evelyn Searle Hess

After living for 15 years in a tent and trailer in the foothills of southern Oregon's Coast Range, Evelyn Searle Hess and her husband built a real house on their 20 acres. But they wanted their "better nest" to be off-grid, sustainable, and reflect the personal and community values they had developed during their years of camping life.

Her new book, Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World, is the story of how they built their house and accomplished their dreams.

Evelyn recently took some time to answer questions for Rose City Reader:

How did you come to write Building a Better Nest?

My earlier book, To the Woods, was the story of our lives during fifteen years of camping. Though of course not without challenges, those years were rewarding in numerous ways: in new connection to the natural world, in growing self-knowledge, in improved interpersonal relations and, perhaps most importantly, in the kindling of gratitude for gifts of nature such as clean drinking water, that I had formerly taken for granted. When readers seemed to consider simple living a deprivation, I wanted them to know that, rather than a hardship, I found it to be an awakening and a joy. A wish to convey that message was my original impetus for writing Building a Better Nest.

But as I began to tell the story, it grew and branched and meandered like a river. A river and its watershed, because we don’t nest solely between walls. The ecosystem, the community and the planet all contribute, as we and our actions and attitudes also affect them. So that became the driver for the book. What kind of world do I want to live in? How can I be a responsible and effective organism within this tortured and wondrous biosphere? What models do I have in history and in my ancestry? What societal, economic and political roadblocks stymie cooperative sustainable living in each layer of nest? And finally, as climate and other environmental and social issues become increasingly dire, how can we not only lessen the impact, but also learn to live in the most comfortable and satisfying manner in a changing world? Building a Better Nest evolved chasing those questions.

What is your work background? How did it lead you to writing your book?

I have worked a variety of jobs, but primarily within the world of plants. For twenty years my husband and I owned a plant nursery and I designed gardens and often installed and maintained them. I managed commercial greenhouses, and for ten years ran the teaching and research greenhouses at the University of Oregon, where I also taught plant propagation. Watching plants grow, seeing their response to their environment and understanding their natural cycles and interactions with other organisms, all were important fodder for exploring wider connections in the natural world and our place in it.

Building a Better Nest is as much your memoirs as it is about building a sustainable, off-grid house in the woods – did you have any qualms about sharing so much?

I got through my qualms during the writing of To the Woods. That required a big psychological shift. Once I acknowledged that telling the story required an honest look within, the processing helped me accept my own flawed self. After making that leap, I didn’t mind sharing

Your book is beautiful, philosophical, and somewhat practical, but not technical. Who is your audience?

The audience is anyone who sees depleted resources, endangered species, economic disparities and the frightening potential effects of climate change; recognizes that society must change course, and that there’s no superhero to do it for us. Rather than being a manual (I’m no expert!) I hope Building a Better Nest will inspire discussion that may guide readers to find their own paths to building their personal and cooperative best nests.

Can you recommend any other books about personal home construction or living off the grid? Are any of them personal account like yours?

Charles Goodrich’s Practice of Home and William Sullivan’s Cabin Fever. I wouldn’t say they were either like mine or like each other’s, but both share personal stories within the framework of house-building, and both are definitely well worth reading.

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

There were many surprises: that borax is anathema to ants; that a gopher snake with a body diameter of more than an inch could thoroughly enmesh itself in the three-quarter-inch grid of bird netting; that people were already arguing the necessity of sacrificing the environment to benefit the economy in the nineteenth century; that the brain is elastic and can continue to form new synapses and learn new emotional responses well into old age. But most surprising to me was my personal change through the research, observation and analysis, followed by the synthesis of writing.

Can you give us an example or two of advice you wished you had before you started to build your own house?

I’m afraid that likely advice would have been along the lines of, “You’re too old.” Or “You don’t have enough money.” Or “You’re not clever, organized or hard-working enough.” And though those statements may be true, I’m grateful we didn’t hear them. Sometimes the only way forward is on unfounded hope. But I do wish that I had picked up carpentry skills at some earlier point of life.

What were you least prepared for when you moved to the Oregon Coast Range, before you built your house?

In a practical vein, the necessity of driving more than we would prefer. When we lived in town, we mostly biked and walked. In a deeper—perhaps spiritual—vein, I was completely unprepared to face my duplicitous (or at least divided) attitude. On one hand, I considered myself a self-confident person happily turning her back on convention, on the other hand, I had to acknowledge that I had confided in almost no one about my new life. Intellectually dedicated, I apparently harbored a sub-conscious germ of society’s condemnation of the appearance of poverty. I desperately feared—and rejected the idea of—pity.

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

I tend toward non-fiction, but my taste is eclectic. I just finished Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna, preceded by two novels by local friends, Deb Mohr’s Great Day in the Morning and Chris Scofield’s The Shark Curtain. I am currently reading The Age of Empathy by Frans de Waal.

What is the best thing about being a writer?

Exploring the questions constantly running in my head.

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

Tell the truth—the deep truth, which sometime requires some probing. Be specific, but don’t use the first description that pops into your head.

What’s next? What are you working on now?

I’m working on a series of long essays concerning environmental issues addressed cooperatively by diverse, sometimes even historically combative groups. Exploring how people find common ground has been exciting. I’m also cautiously exploring the art of the short story.

THANKS, EVELYN! GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR NEW PROJECTS!

BUILDING A BETTER NEST IS AVAILABLE FROM OSU PRESS, FROM POWELL'S, ON KINDLE FROM AMAZON (OR PAPERBACK), OR ASK YOUR LOCAL BOOKSELLER TO ORDER IT!

Book Beginning: Never Look Down by Warren Easley

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

It's hard to pinpoint when a story begins. Who knows when that butterfly flapped its wings, churning up the atmosphere enough to send a new tangle of events careening your way?

 

-- Never Look Down by Warren Easley, from Poison Pen Press. Cal Claxton is an ex-L.A. prosecutor now practicing law in Oregon.

This third book in the series finds Cal helping a 16-year-old graffiti tagger and urban climber after she witnesses a murder -- from four stories up the outside of a downtown office building.

Teaser Tuesday: Baker's Blues by Judith Ryan Hendricks

When he's gone, I sit down at the table with his empty coffee cup and chocolate smeared plate. I think I would like to cry, but my reservoir of tears is empty.

-- Baker's Blues by Judith Ryan Hendricks.

This is the third book in Hendricks' Bread Alone Trilogy, following Bread Alone and The Baker's Apprentice. Baker's Blues finds baker Wyn Morrison dealing with the unexpected death of her ex-husband and re-learning the lessons she first discovered when she opened her Seattle bakery.

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

Happy Labor Day!

Mailbox Labor 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.

An interesting batch of books came into my house this week:



Never Look Down by Warren Easley. This is the latest in Easley's Cal Claxton mystery series featuring an ex-L.A. prosecutor now with a private law practice in Oregon. Here, Cal steps in to protect a 16-year-old street kid after she witnesses a murder.



The Lost Journals of Sylvia Plath by Kimberly Knutsen. A funny literary novel of academic life, a rocky marriage, and the bleak Midwest. My favorite!



Marie Equi: Radical Politics and Outlaw Passions by Michael Helquist, published by OSU Press. The first full-length biography of Equi, who was a doctor, progressive activist, and open lesbian.

BOOK LAUNCH in Portland on Monday, September 14 at 7:00 pm at the Oregon Historical Society.

2015 Challenge: Vintage Mystery, Silver: INCOMPLETE

INCOMPLETE

Although I read eight books for this challenge, I failed to get BINGO. I read indiscriminately and can't seem to get a rw of six no matter how I try to make it work. Oh well! There's always 2016!

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

I'm signing up late for the Vintage Mystery Challenge in the Silver category.

Every year I sign up for the Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block. Last year was the first time I successfully finished, but I've always had fun and the challenge introduces me to authors I haven't read before (Ngaio Marsh and Micheal Innes, for example) and inspires me to read the old mysteries I love but never seem to get around to (Agatha Christie and Rex Stout, for example).

The original idea of the challenge was to read mysteries from the Golden Age of mystery writing, meaning those published prior to 1960. Bev added a "Silver" level last year for mysteries published between 1960 and 1989.

I signed up again this year for the Gold category, but here it is September and I haven't read a single qualifying book. So I decided to re-energize my mystery reading with this late entry into the Silver category. I've binged on five qualifying audiobooks in the last three weeks.

Like last year, there is a BINGO theme this year, which mixes it up a bit. You complete the challenge by filling in six in a row or the four corners and any other two. You can use one Free Space as a wild card to complete the bingo.

BOOKS READ

I haven't figured out yet what bingo spaces to cover.

• The Butcher's Boy by Thomas Perry (Edgar winner)
• The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie
• Cat Chaser by Elmore Leonard
• The Sins of the Fathers by Lawrence Block
• A Caribbean Mystery  by Agatha Christie
• The Charm School by Nelson DeMille
• Promised Land by Robert B. Parker
• In the Frame by Dick Francis

NOTE:

Updated December 24, 2015

Book Beginnings: Baker's Blues by Judith Ryan Hendricks

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

Of all the ways he could have died, drowning was the least likely.

-- Baker's Blues by Judith Ryan Hendricks.

This third book in Hendrick’s Bread Alone Trilogy finds baker Wyn Morrison in an emotion quandary, with her ex-husband dead, but Wyn the executor of his estate and forced to deal with one hot mess of memories and regrets. I want to make a weekend project of reading all three of the books in the trilogy.

Author Interview: Suzanne Jauchius

Suzanne Jauchius now has a successful career as a professional psychic, radio personality, and public speaker. But her life was a real mess for a long time, with five husbands before she was 40 and a family that demanded she deny her gifts and her nature. You Know Your Way Home is the story of her decision to live up to her potential.

Suzanne recently took time from her busy life to answer questions for Rose City Reader.

How did you come to write You Know Your Way Home?

It began as a journal for my grandchildren. Both of my great-grandmothers had some "abilities" that the family would never talk about. It wasn't until I began my professional practice that the stories came to me, passed down from cousins and other relatives. How I wished I'd known them or had their personal journals. So I decided it might be a gift I could leave my children.

Your memoir is intensely personal – did you have any qualms about sharing so much?

Not really. Having done so much personal work with my therapist years before helped me simply tell the story. As I wrote it, it actually began to lead me. I have had so many readers thank me for the courage to be so open and vulnerable in the telling of it.

Telling our stories is how we heal each other. Too often we feel isolated in our experiences, and memoir shares the experience of being fragile, scared, vulnerable, courageous and human. A common comment I hear from readers is that I have told their story too.

Your book is as much about finding your own voice and identity as it is about being a psychic. Please tell us more about that part of your story.

It is absolutely about finding my own voice, and I happen to be a psychic. Early in my life I was told to not see; that it wasn't "normal." So I began taking my cues from the outside world in an attempt to be acceptable. I zigged and zagged for the first 40 years until one day I just couldn't bear being the fake me any longer. I broke. Fortunately, with the guidance of an amazing therapist, my voice began to be heard.

Who is your audience?

This was possibly one of the most surprising aspects of my readers. Of course many are baby-boomers like myself who really relate to those times, but the men who've read it, who tell me that they never read but couldn't put it down! Those are the surprise.

What were you least prepared for when you went public about your psychic abilities?

The acceptance I received from people of all walks of life. Of course, there are still those who take a couple steps back when I tell them what I do. For the most part however is the acceptance. I would venture to say it is most likely because I have accepted myself.

Can you recommend any other books about psychic abilities or similar gifts? Are any of them personal account like yours?

My favorite is Natural ESP by Ingo Swann. It may be out of print by now, but it's the one I personally relate to in terms of "seeing." I also love all the Edgar Cayce work. His biography, There Is A River by Thomas Surgue, was very inspirational to me years ago.

As a psychic, you must encounter skepticism both from secularists who resist the supernatural and traditional religious believers. How do you respond to both?

My response is usually one of acceptance. I stopped defending myself years ago. As a wise woman once said, "What you think of me is none of my business."

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

My biggest surprise in writing my memoir was how it began to write itself. After a month or so of writing, it took on it's own rhythm and flow. I was also amazed at how going back into the memories was actually like I was really there. I could see very specific details.

You have a terrific website and facebook page. How important are social networking sites and other internet resources to promote your book? How about your work as a psychic?

Well, as they say, social media is where it's all at right now. I resisted it for some time but recognize it's value today. People expect to be able to find you somewhere on the internet. What's very exciting about that is the amount of people from around the world who have read my memoir and are able to communicate with me on the web.

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

Other than my monthly appearance on the radio at 105.1 fm, I do have a conference I am part of on October 3rd in Lake Oswego. It's called Activating Happy, and features several speakers including therapists and neuroscientists, on the subject of happiness. I am honored to be part of this exciting event.

[NOTE: Typically, Suzanne can be heard on 105.1 fm, The Buzz, on the first Monday of the month from 4:30 – 5:30 pm. Upcoming Buzz: Monday, October 7th, at 4:30 – 5:30 pm and Monday, November 5th, at 4:30 – 5:30 pm.]

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

Trust yourself.

What’s next? What are you working on now?

I am working on a sequel to You Know Your Way Home. It seems to be including my interactions with the "other side," something that has been happening for me since the death of my father in 2000. But it's too early in the writing process to know for sure!

THANKS, SUZANNE!

YOU CAN BUY YOU KNOW YOUR WAY HOME IN PAPERBACK OR KINDLE FROM AMAZON OR ASK YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE TO ORDER IT. 

Teaser Tuesday: Exit Wounds

When I enlisted in the Marine Corps, I decided I wanted to be a Tanker. Unfortunately, that job is not open to women, so I changed paths and decided to become an engineer.

-- Exit Wounds: Soldier's Stories - Life After Iraq and Afghanistan, by Jim Lommasson, from the author's interview of Margo Ellis, who now works for the Department of Veterans Affairs as a Congressional Liaison in the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs

Exit Wounds is a collaboration between Jim Lommasson and American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Lommasson interviewed and photographed 50 men and women soldiers about why they went to war and how the war has affected them and their loved ones.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, 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.

Two fun books came into my house last week:



The Emergency Sasquatch Ordinance: And Other Real Laws that Human Beings Actually Dreamed Up by Kevin Underhill, author of the popular and very funny legal humor blog, Lowering the Bar.



The 52 Lists Project: A Year of Weekly Journaling Inspiration by Moorea Seal, coincidentally published by Sasquatch Books (not under an emergency ordinance). This isn't a book to read, it is a journal to keep, with beautiful pictures and prompts to inspire 52 weeks of journal writing.

Book Beginning: Exit Wounds

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

Despite more than a decade of occupation and armed conflict, there is one reality show American viewers are not offered. War.

-- Exit Wounds: Soldier's Stories - Life After Iraq and Afghanistan, from the author's Preface, "America is not at war. The Marine Corps is at war; America is at the mall."

Fifty men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan talk about why they went to war and how the war came home with them. Portraits by Jim Lommasson are interspersed with some of the soldiers’ own photographs from the war zones.

Teaser Tuesday: Landfall by Ellen Urbani

-- Landfall by Ellen Urbani, published by Forest Avenue Press. The lives of two mothers and their teenage daughters are torn apart by Hurricane Katrina in this debut novel that is catching a lot of attention.

Be the first book club in your state to read Landfall and your club will get a package of cool extras: autographs, invitations to special events, a chance to visit with Ellen by Skype (or in person?), and more. Check for details on The Book Club Challenge on the author's webpage.

Urbani is on an ambitious book tour for the next three months. Check the schedule to see if she will be in your area soon.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, 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 very different books came into my house last week:



Baker's Blues by Judith Ryan Hendricks. This is the third book in Hendrick’s Bread Alone Trilogy. Now I want to make a weekend project of reading all three of them.



Singing with the Sirens: Overcoming the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Sexual Exploitation by Ellyn Roberts Bell and Stacey Ault Bell, published by She Writes Press. The authors address the long term complex trauma that results from the sexual abuse and exploitation of girls and young women.

In my law practice, I work with adults who were sexually abused as children, so I want to read this to see if I can recommend it to some of my women clients.



Hiroshima and Nagasaki: An Illustrated History, Anthology, and Guide by Magnus Bartlett and Robert O'Connor, published by Odyssey Books & Maps.

This is definitely the "unique and eclectic book" it promises on the back cover, with a breadth of information on these twin cities, beginning with ancient Japan, through the WWII bombings, to a guide for modern visitors. It is packed with art reproductions, photos, illustrations, unusual graphics, maps, historical documents, essays, and quotes.

Book Beginning: Landfall by Ellen Urbani

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

For nearly nineteen years, Rose lived with a woman she barely knew.

-- Landfall by Ellen Urbani, published by Forest Avenue Press. Hurricane Katrina brings the lives of two mothers and their teenage daughters together, first in a fatal car crash, then as the survivors battle the rising flood in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Landfall is a stunning debut that has people talking already. Urbani is on an ambitious book tour for the next three months. Check the schedule to see if she will be in your area soon.

Teaser Tuesday: Building a Better Nest

I do believe in living in the moment, as in being attentive, awake, grateful for what is here, today. The moment, after all, is the only place we can live.

-- Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World by Evelyn Searle Hess, author of To the Woods.

After living for 15 years in a tent and trailer in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range, Hess and her husband built a real house on their 20 acres. But they wanted their "better nest" to be off-grid, sustainable, and reflect the personal and community values they had developed during their years of camping life.

Building a Better Nest is available from Powell's, on kindle from Amazon, at OSU Press, or ask your local bookseller to order it!

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

Mailbox Monday: Landfall and Exit Wounds

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.

Two books came into my house last week:



Landfall by Ellen Urbani, published by Forest Avenue Press. This novel set during Hurricane Katrina just came out last week and is generating a lot of buzz. People are crazy for it.



Exit Wounds: Soldiers' Stories Life After Iraq and Afghanistan by Jim Lommasson, published by Schiffer Publishing. This is the book that grew out of a collaborative photo and oral history project about the trials of homecoming coordinated between Lommasson and returning veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. It's powerful stuff.

What Are They Reading? The View from Castle Rock

Authors tend to be readers, so it is natural for them to create characters who like to read. It is always interesting to me to read what books the characters are reading in the books I read. Even if I can't say that ten times fast.

Usually, the characters' choice of books reflects the author's tastes or, I sometimes think, what the author was reading at the time. But sometimes the character's reading material is a clue to the character's personality, or is even a part of the story.

This is an occasional blog event. If anyone wants to join in, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your related post. And feel free to use the button. If this catches on, I can pick a day and make it a weekly event.

THE VIEW FROM CASTLE ROCK BY ALICE MUNRO

Munro may convert me to a short story fan, I enjoyed this collection so much. The View from Castle Rock is a later collection of her stories, more autobiographical than most, even drawing on primary source material from some of Munro's immigrant forebearers.

One of my favorite stories is "The Hired Girl" about a teen-age girl from a small rural Canadian town who gets a job working for a family at their summer house on an island in Georgian Bay because "Mrs. Montjoy needed a country girl for the summer who was trained to do housework."

I love the story for nailing the excruciating awkwardness of first teenage jobs, especially for a bookish, unsocial girl too trapped in her own head to read the people around her. Elsa feels intellectually superior to her boss because she recognizes that the island is named for Nausicaa, a princess in Ulysses, not a character from Shakespeare as Mrs. Montjoy tells her. Elsa tries to establish their social equality from the get go by immediately announcing that, back home, they refer to the maids as hired girls, which Mrs. Montjoy simply ignores. There is a steady conflict between Elsa never admitting she is a servant and Mrs. Montjoy so absorbed with her own concerns to think of Elsa as anything but, and a temporary one at that.

Cutting across the tension in the story is Mr. Montjoy, who only shows up on weekends and spends most of them drinking and reading in the library. He is the only adult who treats Elsa more as an equal. When they first meet, he is reading Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dineson. He later gives her the book as a going away present. I hope Elsa accepted it as a sign that she would be one of the grown ups eventually.

Book Beginning: Flambé in Armagnac

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

A hot-air balloon was slipping into the clouds above a herd of wild horses. A village of rustic chalets hewn from rustic logs stood silently on a ridge against a blue sky.

-- Flambé in Armagnac by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noel Balen. Well, that certainly sets an idyllic scene!

This is the fifth book in the "winemaker detective" series featuring amateur sleuth Benjamin Cooker. The has already been made into a TV show in France. I have dived into this cozy but I want to go back and start at the beginning of the series.

Find the winemaker detective series and several other mystery and thriller series on my new favorite timesuck, the Le French Book website.

Review: The Rise and Fall of Great Powers

Tom Rachman's debut novel, The Imperfectionists, about an ex-patriot newspaper in Rome, knocked my socks off. The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, like so many sophomore efforts, is a major letdown.

The heroine, Tooly Zylberberg, is a 32-year-old bookshop owner in Wales with a profound disinterest in selling any books and a befuddling lack of knowledge about the internet. The story of her adventuresome past is told through a series of flashback-and-forths between her as a 9-year old in Bangkok, a 20-year-old in New York, and present day.

My big gripe is that the secret of her past was made so mysteriously obscure that there was almost no plot to the first half of the book, lest the secret be given away. Her activities in the flashback scenes are intentionally unmoored from full explanation until the final chapters, to build up the mystery. It got pretty boring, floating around, waiting for a story to turn up.

Of course, the trouble with a big build up like that is that it has to deliver. I was disappointed. Tooly’s unorthodox childhood turned out to have a pretty banal explanation. And she wasn't even likable. She couldn't do anything for herself, including finishing school, getting a job, making any money, or being a friend. I slogged on to the end to find out what happened to her, but by then I barely cared.

OTHER REVIEWS

New York Times

If you would like your review of any Tom Rachman novel listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

This is one of the books I read for my personal 2015 TBR challenge: