Posted by: patriciamar | March 6, 2016

Rainbow Valley: Oh, Anne…

I love Anne of Green Gables.  That’s the person, not the book.  Of course I love the book too, I really just love Anne.  We’re kin.  Bosom friends, kindred spirits, all of that.

I have read the whole Anne series, and also the collections of short stories, however, one that really touched me was Rainbow Valley.

I wouldn’t really be that surprised if you’ve never heard of Rainbow Valley. It’s pretty deep in the series, and the main character is no longer Anne, but rather, Rilla.

Walter, dear Walter, also plays an important role.

You might consider this one sort of a throwback, but I have always considered it a classic. I am half Canadian though, I’ll admit.

I have read the whole series a couple of times, but Rainbow Valley pulled and tugged and stretched at my heart strings in a way that few books do. I don’t often cry–well, I sometimes cry while reading, but not allll the time, and I cried during this one.

War is a very difficult thing to write about, particularly in a way that is educational, inspirational, poetic, and painful, yet fictionalized.  I’m no expert, but I found this World War I depiction to be very well done.

Lucy Maud, as I’ve decided to call her for this one, crafts characters in a way that many authors cannot. She also crafts stories that are ridiculously readable. You and your daughter, or your friend, or your grandmother, or your students, can read the whole series start to finish in a week. I swear it as I swear that Anne’s hair is as red as carrots.

Are carrots really red?

I sometimes wonder if I would be a writer if Anne of Green Gables, again the person, was not. She had ideas, she had dreams, and then those dreams did not work out. She ended up winning a contest for flour–or was it baking soda? that she was embarrassed by.  It’s a good lesson. She was reaching for the sky with all her might, and she didn’t get what she wanted, but in the end, she may have gotten more.

Rilla, Gilbert, Marilla, Matthew, Mrs. Lynde (Oh, that woman!), Diana, and Walter, oh, Walter.  If you liked Anne, I suggest you read the whole series through to Rainbow Valley.

Watch this video for inspiration.  It made me smile!

 

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Posted by: patriciamar | March 5, 2016

Hemingway & Hotchner, BFFs

I recently read “After the Storm” as part of a reading challenge with a coworker. It was meant to be my Book to be Read in a day.  However, I fell in love with A.E Hotchner’s introduction, and spent a greater part of the day rereading, pondering and taking notes on the anecdotes and delicious advice for writers, writers of stage and screenplay adaptations in particular.

The short book-around 130 pages- has three sections.  First, Hotchner describes the difficulties of writing adaptations. Then, you read the short story, “After the Storm,” by Ernest Hemingway, a brief story, a mere five pages long. Then you read A.E. Hotchner’s screenplay adaption.

I most loved the first section by A.E. Hotchner.  The way he uses words to write non-fiction is nothing short of fantastic. If all informative non-fiction were written in this way, I never would have left college, but instead read my way happily from Spanish and Government to chemistry to kinesiology to computer engineering to geology to… You get the idea. Take, for example, the following tidbits:

The first is regarding the similarities and differences between Hemingway and his fictional teen character, Nick Adams.

“‘The Battler’ and ‘A Pursuit Race’ are the two stories that tell of Nick Adams’s searing adventures as he sets east in pursuit of a goal more intuitive than intellectual.”

 And on the perils and dangers of writing adaptations:

“Actually, one of the worst perils of adapting Hemingway or Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe or Dostoyevsky, is that cultists of such writers have a reverence for their works that precludes any dramatic interpretation short of reading the original prose aloud.”

He goes forward with an example.

“Although these two stories find their origins in Hemingway’s experiences at a Chicago gymnasium, where he hung out for a while in hopes of becoming a professional fighter, they are, in substance, invented; but the emotional response of the boy to seeing, for the first time in his life, the extent to which men can be battered and maimed by their experiences was certainly autobiographical.”

Hotchner’s last line before the screenplay adaption reads:514dd1qcdhl

“All grist for the adapter’s mill.”

Just before, he throws out a dozen and one questions to be asked and possibly answered during the adaption process.  This was interesting to me because it’s just how I begin writing a short story. There’s some idea, a character, a title, a room with a certain type of chair sitting below a portrait of a certainly important person; I’m already getting ideas.

In “Case by Case Basis,” there are two stories that started in this way.  First was The Argentinean Champagne Heist.  It’s virtually impossible to come up with a story that lives up to that title. Second was “Street Food for Days” or possibly, “Food Trucks for Days.”  The latter was a title that eventually became the punchline, to use the term liberally, of a story I’d previously written that had no purpose and no title. It’s fascinating how things work themselves out if the right questions are asked and the correct steps are taken.

In the end, I did finish the book in a day. It was impossible not to.

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Posted by: patriciamar | March 4, 2016

The Mixed-Up Chameleon

Does this one surprise you?  I think it’s Eric Carle‘s best book.   Shocking!  Yes!  Just think what I’m saying about “The Very Hungry Caterpillar!”

I always felt so bad for the chameleon.  The poor thing didn’t know who he was.  How could he ever live a complete life without knowing this information?

An identity crisis–not all that uncommon really.  It’s something that happens to many, so why not start teaching children how to find themselves and figure out who they are?

Come to think of it, I have a somewhat loosely related story in “Case by Case Basis” called He Has Multiple Personalities.

Now let’s take a look at what can else we learn from that chameleon. Perseverance, hope, friendship, and I suppose the idea that sometimes life is a struggle, even for a strange old world lizard made of paper scraps on paper.

I’m just so glad he got it all figured out by the end.  I really am a sucker for happy endings.

Plus, when his body is combined with the bodies of all those other animals!?  Why that’s just silly!  And as a kid, silly is a sought after quality in a book.

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Posted by: patriciamar | March 3, 2016

The Alternative Book

Today I want to talk about chapbooks, books of poetry and short, possibly odd, and definitely unique books.

I’ve read a couple of good ones lately, two in  particular that I’d like to recommend.  The first is “Girl Coming in for a Landing,” a novel in poems by April Halprin Wayland.  The second is “Glaciers,” by Alexis M. Smith.

In a way, the two are quite similar, though really, they are completely different.  Both served a very interesting, somewhat dual, purpose for me.  Firstly, they are writing fuel.  You can pick them up and set them down and they aren’t intimidating, at least not in the “Sarum” sense, and they are quick, memorable, and chock-full of ideas. “Glaciers” is a short novel with rough edged pages that you can read in an hour.  “Girl Coming in for a Landing” is a book of poems written through one year as a high school student.  I didn’t think that writing a novel of poems would work, but it certainly does.   Every page is illustrated with random art, sketches, clippings, fabric art and all sorts of funny things to look at.

Girl Coming in for a LandingTen Thousand Stories
Glaciers

I love to read, and this has clearly been a part of what made me a writer.  As a writer, the book(s) that I’m reading can be either a help or a hindrance.  A new post-apocalyptic dystopian series, for example, is a bit of a hindrance.  Once I pick it up, I’m pretty much checked out for the weekend or week, depending on how long the series is.

Short and odd books like these two, however, oftentimes serve as an excellent muse.  They are full of thoughts that make you think, if you know what I mean.  You read a page and then you take a sip of coffee, pondering, before pulling out your notebook or turning on your computer to tap away, full of new ideas.

Some small publishers, or perhaps I should say Independent publishers (Does that work?), Chronicle Books, for one, are busting open a whole new genre of books.  The first time I went on their website, I ended up with 10 books in my Shopping Bag.  What was interesting about these books was that every one of them was a different size.  I mean literally a different size.  “Meanwhile in San Francisco” was 6 x 8. There was a small coffee table book, 4 1/2 x 6, “I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats,” and “Ten Thousand Stories,” one of the coolest books I’ve seen in a long time, is large – 9 x 11.

Are you picturing all this on a typical bookshelf?  It’s not the norm and it does something very interesting to the brick and mortar bookstore idea, in my opinion.

It also seems to parallel the situation in the rest of the reading world.  What’s the last thing that you read?  For many people, I’d be willing to bet that it wasn’t a book- paperback, hardcover, or trade paperback sized (4 1/4 x 7 1/4).

Was it buzzfeed?  That’s not a book, nor is it an article.  What is it exactly?  It is words on a page.  Was it a feed?  Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest?  I hope you’re not thinking that this isn’t reading, because it is.  In fact, in the ESL world some of the first reading skills that you teach in a Reading class are skimming and scanning.  We use newspaper headlines, grocery ads, phone books and oh!  Facebook.  Identifying how and where to look for information is probably one of the most important literacy skills that a person possesses.  Of course, I think we should all read long works as well, for a multitude of reasons- vocabulary, focus, grammar and language constructions, all in addition to the obvious benefits from the contents of a book.

These new book styles and sizes and shapes and genres are right in line with the new types of reading that can be found on the internet.  Plus, they are quick.  When I’m in a Goodreads slump, and I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve marked a book as “Read,” I pull one of these books from the library shelf and finish that evening, all to start the next day fresh–reading, and likely writing too!

 

 

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Posted by: patriciamar | March 2, 2016

The Thirteenth Tale

The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield, is one of my VERY favorite books.  I really, truly love it, so much that sometimes I see it on the shelf and then pick it up to read.  I don’t put it back down for hours.  Right now, in fact, I’m considering abandoning this blog post because I could use a reread.  I’m due.  This was a dollar book at the WEAVE thrift store in Sacramento (a non-profit that is working to end domestic violence and sexual assault, as well as help survivors in the community).

I bought the book because the cover was beautiful.  It made me think of Belle’s Bookshelf.  Yeah, don’t be shy.  If you’re reading this, you probably know exactly what I’m talking about.  By the way, there’s an amazing tattoo, ahem, literary based tattoo of this image.  Before this list of Bookish tattoos from Bookglow, I’d never really seriously considered a tattoo.thirteenth tale

The Thirteenth Tale is of a genre that I cannot describe.   It’s a novel.  That’s about as specific as I can get.  I’ve heard it called Gothic.  It’s mysterious and well written in a poetic, descriptive and spell binding way. It’s a little creepy- no, eerie- at times, and just delicious at others.  The main character, Margaret Lea, has a job that I would want, a father that I would want, and a bookstore/home that I would want, but other than that, I don’t envy her in the slightest.  It’s a strange hard coming and going for her.  Oy!  I need to get home and crack this one again.   I  miss you, Vida Winter.  See you sooooon.

 

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Posted by: patriciamar | March 1, 2016

Lucia, Lucia!

Deciding which of the millions of books in the world I should choose as the first book in my top thirty-one was nearly impossible.  I fretted and I fretted, and then eventually I just picked one.  The point is not to judge my book preferences or compare them to yours or anything of the sort.  The point is to share some of my favorite books, and explain why I felt that they were notable enough to share with you.

The first on my list is Lucia, Lucia, by Adriana Trigiani.  Adriana is a great author in the Chicklit realm, and she’s important to me for a couple of reasons.  Just look at the wallpaper of her website.  It’s perfect and lovable.

There’s a load of stuff going on with feminism right now.  Indeed, I described it as a “load,” because there is hardly another way to describe it.  Policies are changing, for the better or for the worse, and women are shouting.  Gloria Steinem is shouting (and writing) and Hillary Clinton is shouting and people are shouting at Hillary Clinton.  The meaning- the connotation, to be more specific- of the word “feminist” is changing, and I’m not sure that it’s a good thing.  What is a word anyway, but a randomly assigned string of letters?  At times, I don’t believe it  should mean as much as it does.  Don’t we all just want the best for women and the world and women in the world?

I recently joined a Goodreads reading group created by Emma Watson (Yes, Hermione!) and it’s themed around and for women, since she is a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador.  I’m not sure if that title is right.  I’ll try to remember to check on it, but I might not.  That happens.  Simply following the comments and discussions in the group has been really interesting.  There are discussions and sometimes heated arguments daily, if not hourly, with participants from all over the world.  I’d recommend joining just to check it all out.

…

Now on to “Lucia, Lucia.”

This book was one of the first books that I read that ended in this particular way.  The way, I won’t elaborate on explicitly, but it’s a way that I believe that the aforementioned reading group would both appreciate and analyze thoroughly.  I think that if you continue with Adriana Trigiani, you’ll find that she often ends her books in this way, and I for one, love it.  Don’t get me wrong, I might be making it seem like all of her books end in the same way, but that is most certainly not true.

I’ve found that many people believe that “Chicklit” or “Women’s Fiction” has a formula, but I disagree.  Not once you’ve started reading Adriana Trigiani.  In this particular novel, besides the story, there’s Italiano, recipes that you’ll want to try making, a big interesting city, and of course, hope.

Start next weekend with “Lucia, Lucia” and a cup of tea.  I think you might enjoy it.

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Posted by: patriciamar | February 29, 2016

My 31 Favorite Books! 31 Great Reads!

Happy Leap Year!  I thought of starting with a leap year pun, obviously, but then I decided that it’s unnecessary.  The joys of reading speak for themselves, no puns necessary.  For National Reading Month, and in anticipation of the release of “Case by Case Basis,” a book of short stories that I’ve written over the past 8 years, every day in March I will be featuring a book- my most influential books, most intriguing books, and just generally delicious reads!

I hope you’ll check back to read about my favorites, and then comment and share yours too!

Case by Case Basis (forthcoming) is 150 pages of strange stories, happy stories, and sad stories. Smattered with poems and illustrated with sketches in ink and charcoal by my sister, Natalie Willers, it’s a book you can pick up and put down and then pick up again. A perfect book with coffee or before bed. You might even find its home to be the bathroom.

image2

Sketch by Natalie Willers

In the meantime, I hope you’re reading your own favorites!  Start a challenge with a friend, do a Bout of Books (May 9-16), join a reading group in your community or online (Try Goodreads!) or just book yourself some time to read, read, read.

😉

 

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Posted by: patriciamar | February 28, 2016

Fancy a Reading Challenge?

image

Courtesy of Teresa Pargeter

My current reading challenge!

I’m not doing all that well so far, but I’m a procrasti-reader, so I’ve already made it almost 25% through my Goodreads reading goal, so that’s something!

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Posted by: patriciamar | February 23, 2016

Hynotizing, isn’t it?

The whole scene comes together in an oddly disconcerting way, leaving you feel unsettled.

What is this strange temporary exhibit of paved paradise?

For the past month, a tattered bay window on 21st and I in Sacramento has showcased a temporary art exhibit by Mehran Mesbah, artist and curator of the exhibit and space.  On the left a solid block of leaves floats, hardened. Simultaneously and disparately, uncatalyzed silicone rubber drips in a thin tendril down to the bottom of its world. On the right is another natural piece, the shadows of leaves on a sidewalk displayed on a screen, looping. They bristle a shiver.

For one more weekend, passersby can see the first installation of this new project, put in place by Mesbah.  The display is not always visible; you have to wait for weekends to see things in action on the southeast corner of 21st and I.

For more information or to become a part of the experience—creating, performing, building, writing or whatever else comes to mind, contact Mesbah or stop by the exhibit when he’s out front, likely drinking spiked tea or something from Sun & Soil.

Is this paved paradise a future?  Maybe not, but you’ve likely not seen plastic drip in this way, so either way, it’s worth checking out.  The exhibit will be up for one more weekend. Stop by.

mehr

P.s. Wanted: Marquee

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Posted by: patriciamar | February 5, 2016

Busy, busy #amwriting #amediting

Publication preparations are underway!  The spreadsheet is up, the to-do list is full, and I have coffee in hand.  I’ve got my stories compiled (14, I think…), but I’m already so tired!  Yowza.

So often I wish that the publication process were as enjoyable as the writing process.  The editing process, too, leaves much to be desired in terms of joy, but this to-do list!  Argh!

It’s long.

There are a few things about it that I do enjoy.  Website editing and creation can be a pain in the arse, but it can also be fun (Updated!: Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Be kind, I’m pretty inexperienced in this world).  I might even figure out what to do with my Wandering Canalside Facebook Page.  I don’t think I’m ready for an author page yet.  Suggestions? I also enjoy working on cover design, tweeting randomly related tidbits by way of procrastination, and reading, which I have just been told is “professional development.”  Hell, yes it is!  What could be better for a writer than reading?

There’s also YouTube, the spot where my procrastination finds its home.  But I’ve found some surprisingly great songs and videos lately.  Check out this newish one with Paul McCartney, Rihanna and Kanye, and this ooooold one with the best backup dancers in the entire world!

Returning to this whole publication day thing…

I have a habit of setting a date and then forcing it through, which works well for me.  If there’s no date, I tend to glide along a little too slowly.  I’m a mid-level procrastinator.  It could be worse, but it could be much much better as well.

I have ample upcoming events, and I’ll be attempting to do better at keeping this blog updated.  For now, here are a few that I am looking forward to, and that I hope you’ll be interested in too!

March is Reading Month!  31 Posts in 31 Days: My Favorite Books!

The release of “Case by Case Basis,” a book of short stories

Charcoal and ink sketches by Natalie Willers in “Case by Case Basis”

possible guest posts!

Sac Beer Week!

(whoops, that last one’s from my procrastination list)

 

 

 

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