Lump - Leena Luther

Rating: 4 stars

Definitely not your typical memoir - Lump is a series of monologues that can be read or performed. Either way, Leena Luther asks that the reader embrace the performance aspect of her work. I thought, at first, that this might be hard to do. But - and maybe having seen the Vagina Monologues about 4 dozen times helped - I found myself really getting into it, reading certain passages out loud, seriously feeling the spoken emotion behind each word.

Which was refreshing. And we're talking about breast cancer, here. Leena Luther approaches cancer in a very real way - sometimes with bitterness, sometimes full of humor, sometimes with fear or with sadness - and oftentimes with all of those emotions rolled into one. I found - even though I've experienced nothing like this in my life - that I was able to connect with Leena. That connection was created by her amazing ability to express her hopes, fears, insecurities, weirdness and strength on a human level.

Visit leenaluther.com to learn more about her and the charities she supports.

Purchase Now from Amazon: Lump: 19 Monologues from a 27-Year-Old Breast Cancer Survivor

Battle of the Kids Books - A Spectator's Commentary

Judge: Matt Phelan

Review Excerpt for Amelia Lost: "As I read the perfectly balanced alternating chapters detailing Amelia Earhart's life up to the last flight and the tense hours after she vanishes, I felt the book pulling me along, leading me on her journey and then placing me in the search." 

Review Excerpt for Anya's Ghost: "[Vera Brosgol's] drawing delivers everything you need to know, every beat, every mood. She doesn't merely draw, she acts with her brush. If that weren't enough (and in graphic novels, it actually isn't), Brosgol can write. Her dialogue is sharp and funny and is always in service of moving the story forward." 

Comments: Both of these books seem incredibly read-able to me. I wasn't so sure about Amelia Lost prior to this review though. I understand the importance of interactive books in today's reading climate - but do I, as an already avid reader that doesn't need to be tricked into it, need that? However, it seems like avoiding this book because of that would be like cutting off my nose to spite my face, or whatever that old saying is. 

Want to know the winner? Visit SLJ Battle Blog to read the full review, and feedback from the commentator, kid reviewer and other readers! 

Purchase Now from Amazon: Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
Purchase Now from Amazon: Anya's Ghost

Judge: Gayle Forman

Review Excerpt from Bootleg: "...so much of Blumenthal's lively and often-funny book is about how everyday folk skirted Prohibitions strictures and how hifalutin folk didn't have to (during the height of Prohibition, upstairs at the White House was lousy with whiskey). Rule-breaking and hypocrisy? A glossary that includes terms like blind pig? What's not to love?"

Review Excerpt from Between Shades of Gray: "...a harrowing, page-turner of a novel that shines a light on a piece of history too long shrouded in the darkness." 

Comments: I want to read both of these! I've got the adult non-fiction novel Last Call sitting in the TBR pile on my nightstand. Pairing it up with the YA Bootleg might be a great activity. And Between Shades of Gray is a no-brainer, isn't it? Go read the full review - it sounds utterly fantastic. 

Want to know the winner? Visit SLJ Battle Blog to read the full review, and feedback from the commentator, kid reviewer and other readers!  

Purchase Now from Amazon: Between Shades of Gray

Purchase Now from Amazon: Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition

Judge: Sy Montgomery

Review Excerpt from The Cheshire Cheese Cat: "Which is what brings [Skilley] to Ye Old Cheshire Cheese, a popular London inn frequented by, among other characters, Charles Dickens (who we learn from excerpts from his diary, is having a dickens of a time writing the first lines of A Tale of Two Cities.) Skilled parodies of his writing, scenes taken right out of Dickensian London, and even names taken from characters of his novels make The Cheshire Cheese Cat even more fun to read."

Review Excerpt from Chime: "But when we meet Briony, she is suffering a fate worse than death. She's drowning in guilt and self-loathing. She thinks she caused the flood that nearly destroyed her minister father's house. She believes she set fire to her family's library. She's sure she killed her beloved step-mother. Her self-imposed sentence for all these sins? A lifetime of caring for her screaming, damaged sister while remembering, always, to hate herself."

Comments: I have to admit that I had no inclination to pick these two up before I read the review and still have no inclination afterwards, through no fault of the reviewers. Perhaps I'm doing what no one is supposed to do and judging the books by their covers. But, I'm not a Dickens fan (I know, right?) and I'm not a fan of talking animals. And, I'm getting really tired of paranormal teen romance. Nothing about it gushes - unique! I've already read the ones I like and I'm ready to get out of this genre-rut. Maybe I just need some more convincing. 

Want to know the winner? Visit SLJ Battle Blog to read the full review, and feedback from the commentator, kid reviewer and other readers!   

Purchase Now from Amazon: Chime

Purchase Now from Amazon: The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale

Judge: Sara Zarr

Review Excerpt from Daughter of Smoke & Bone: "It's a book for lovers of lush language and exotic locales, a velvet sofa of a book, something you sink into. Karou is a compelling heroine and the stakes for her story are high."

Review Excerpt from Dead End in Norvelt: "The book has a lot of charm, true laugh-out-loud hilarity, and is full of enough historical detail and information to keep any teacher or librarian happy. And I'm sure boy readers especially appreciate the thorough descriptions of Jack's chronic nosebleeds and his dad's cool World War II stuff, not to mention how he manages to save a deer in one of the funniest scenes in the book."

Comments: Again, I'm kind of done with the paranormal teen romance, the star-crossed passionate, eyes met across a classroom love. And again, Daughter of Smoke & Bone, from this review, really doesn't scream UNIQUE at me. But Dead End in Norvelt sounds like a book I could really get behind. I'll have to add it to the list. 

Want to know the winner? Visit SLJ Battle Blog to read the full review, and feedback from the commentator, kid reviewer and other readers! 

Purchase Now from Amazon: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Purchase Now from Amazon: Dead End in

Read Aloud Time - Famous Dead Authors Read Their Work

From the Grave!

Just kidding.

Flavorwire has a new list, comprised of famous authors and links to audio of them reading short stories or sections of their books. So far I've listened to Kurt Vonnegut, Ernest Hemingway and Truman Capote.

Beware the Ides of March!

I AM the girl who celebrates the Ides of March every year. I also celebrate May the Fourth be with you and the Fifth of November. I can't help it. I'm a nerd.

We're just having some fun.

Inside Out & Back Again - Thanhha Lai

Rating: 5 stars


Written in prose, Inside Out & Back Again is the story of 10-year-old Kim Ha, who escapes Saigon during the Vietnam War and moves with her mother and her three brothers to Alabama. Ha poignantly describes a war-time Saigon - her home, filled with family, photographs and plenty of papaya - and a peace-time Alabama, where she is bullied by her American classmates just for being Vietnamese.

I'm not typically a fan of poetry and prose, but I found myself sucked into this almost immediately. The sights, smells, tastes, and colors of Saigon are vibrantly brought to life by this innocent and matter-of-fact 10 year old. And then to juxtapose that war torn city with Alabama - a place that is relatively safe yet strange and unwelcoming... it was so incredibly beautiful.

One of my favorite passages is from the Alabama section of the novel, in which Ha is trying to ask their American sponsor, whom she refers to as "Cowboy", if he has a horse:

"To make it worse,
the cowboy explains
horses here go
neigh, neigh, neigh,
not hee, hee, hee. 

No they don't.

Where am I?" 

It's so simple, that passage - but speaks volumes. And that is what Thanhha Lai is able to do throughout this wonderful book.

Purchase Now from Amazon: Inside Out and Back Again

Write Here: An Albany Writer's Conference

Last Saturday, I attended the Write Here! conference at The Arts Center. Attending these events always sparks crazy creativity. I was disappointed in myself for not bringing my laptop - all I wanted to do while I was there was write. There's just something about being around local talent that makes you want to just jump right in and start - start writing, start creating.

The sessions were great - advice from writers and teachers that was absolutely invaluable. In this post, I hope to share the knowledge I learned from the sessions I attended, as well as point you guys to several different resources and local writers.

Session 1 - Submittors & Rejectors
Panelists: Daniel Nestor, David Holub, Nancy White, Rob Arnold, Matthew Klane, Chloe Caldwell, Benjamin Harris

This session was primarily about the several different literary journals and small presses that you can submit to as an author.

Advice:

• Editors are looking for reasons to reject a piece. Let's face it, there's so much work out there. I know that, in my own work as a Reader, or even for what I do within educational publishing - if you've submitted something unpolished, or that didn't follow my directions - I won't bother to follow up with you. There are too many other writers who are willing to take the time to do it right. 
• On that note, make sure you look at the guidelines set forth by journals, small presses, publishing houses, and/or agents. 
• Same note - make sure you know the specialty of what you're submitting to. Even with agents - some agents focus on specific genres. One of the gentleman on the panel today runs a Literary Humor journal and he actually said that sometimes he'll receive pieces that definitely aren't humor. 

Links: 

Kuglemass - A journal of literary humor

The Word Works - a small press

flim forum press - another small press

Duotrope - allows you to track submissions and search for literary journals that are within your own genre. 

Submittable - another submissions manager.
Thoughtsmith - an online literary journal

Session 2 - The Writing Life

Panelists: Amy Halloran, Elaine Handley, Robyn Ringler, David Goldschmidt, Dan Wilcox

I found I got a lot more out of this session than the first. The panelists discussed their writing routines, sources of inspiration, revision process, and their thoughts on writing groups. 

Writing Routines: The processes varied for each panelist, which was actually pretty relieving. I thought I was going to be told - wake up early and write! But, one of the panelists actually admitted to the fact that he hasn't written a word in two months, because it just hasn't been there for him. One panelist had this to say though, and I thought it was good advice: 

"Show up at the page." 

That's it. Just show up there. Make a date and show up. 

Inspiration: 

• Look for it in anything out there in the world. Anything. Politics, nature, love. Anything. 
• Read a lot of books, all different kinds. It's a great way to expand your mind, but also a great way to get to know your market. 
• Life events. Be it memoir or fiction - the next action your character takes could form around something that happened in your life.

Revision:

• Read out loud. If you stumble over a line, your readers are going to as well. 
• Leave something and then come back to it later. Allows you to actually be the reader. 
• Write fast! Get it all out before you stop to revise.
• Use different colored highlighters to highlight the senses. This is something I've never thought of before, but was such a cool suggestion. Assign a color to each sense and highlight as you go. If you see a lot of one color, maybe it's time to go back and insert some touch or smell to the descriptions in your work to bring it to life a bit more. 

Writing Groups: 

• One of the panelists doesn't like writing groups. Instead, he likes to attend events because he's more interested in the people in this community. 
• When in a writing group - look for consensus. 
• Even when looking for consensus, remember that YOU are the author. 
• Choose the right people who can give you positive, but also honest, feedback. 
• Try to remain non-competitive with the group members. 

Links: 

The Synonym Finder / Family Word Finder: A New Thesaurus of Synonyms and Antonyms in Dictionary Form - both are apparently better sources than your normal thesaurus.
Hudson Valley Writer's Guild - along with a lot of great resources, you can easily search for or start your own writing group (if you're in the area)

From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction - this book was referenced pretty often by all of the panelists. It's about writing from dreams and/or finding that dreamlike state when writing.

Also, a great quote from this session:

"Beware of advice, even this." John Steinbeck

Session 4 - Social Networking for Writers*
Presenter: Carolee Sherwood

An awesome quote from this presentation:

"Many of us became writers because we were silenced in some way, and the written self on the page speaks more authentically than we do as individuals." Polly Clark

• Find someone doing something well that you'd like to emulate. 
• Use some commonly searched words for your blog genre either withing the title or the first few lines of your post to increase searchability. 
•  Don't violate blog manners and etiquette. 

Links: 

Klout - a way to measure your own influence on social media. 

The Writers Network - for connecting with writing assignments and other writers. 

Inked-In - like LinkedIn for writers. 

Editorial Freelancer's Association - for job listings. 

Winning Writers - resources for writers and poets

Bookfair
There were so many local writers represented here, but these are the books that really caught my eye. I either purchased these, or will purchase them in the future. 

Lump: 19 Monologues from a 27-Year-Old Breast Cancer Survivor, by Leena Luther - I started this while I was in between sessions, and it's wonderful. I should have a review up by the end of the week.
What Time Do the Crocodiles Come Out? A Travel Memoir of Mexico, by Kathe Kokolias
How to Be Inappropriate, by Daniel Nestor - the cover for this is hilarious and it just seems so good!
The Death of Pringle, by Justin Katko - about a pringle that comes to life, I think he does some singing, before he meets his untimely end in someone's stomach. 

*Yes - I skipped Session Three because it was all to do with poetry, and I don't really like that stuff. 

Nigger - Dick Gregory

Rating: 3 stars

Shelf: 2012

Published in 1964 - a year after the church bombing in Birmingham - Dick Gregory's memoir was one about civil rights before civil rights was even fully realized. 

Broken into three parts,  Gregory begins at the beginning, his life as a 'broke, not poor kid' on relief with an absent father and a mother who works herself to her death to keep her children well. It's very clear just how much of an impact Gregory's mother had on his life - her positive attitude in the face of many adversities and her insistence that she and her children face every day with a smile certainly made Dick Gregory into the man that he was. 

From a kid on relief, to a track star, to a famous comedian - Dick Gregory dreamed big. Growing up and leaving him forced him to face his black and segregated reality. He was no longer a kid on relief - a problem that had a solution, however far away - he was a black individual - a problem that shouldn't have been. In the last part of the novel, Gregory talks about his work with the civil rights movement. He talks to his long deceased mother at the end - "We thought I was going to be a great athlete, and we were wrong, and I thought I was going to be a great entertainer, and that wasn't it, either. I'm going to be an American citizen. First class." 

Unique because it was written in the midst of change rather than after it, Nigger ("When we're through, Momma, there won't be any niggers any more."), captures the raw emotion and unbelievable inequalities that were America's past. It isn't an historical account, yet it is. "This is a revolution. It started long before I came into it, and I may die before it's over, but we'll bust this thing and cut out this cancer. America will be as strong and beautiful as it should be, for black folks and white folks. We'll all be free then, free from a system that makes a man less than a man, that teaches hate and fear and ignorance." 

I didn't know Dick Gregory, prior to picking up this book and reading it. Though, to do a quick search shows that he's still incredibly active and is often interviewed concerning political matters. He was the first black comedian to entertain an all white audience and he was known for his ability to joke, yet also speak intelligently, about politics and racial inequalities without coming off as preachy or bitter. I actually like the man a lot more watching him through the clips I was able to find, watching him speak - seeing how engaging he was. How quick witted he was. And there were moments in his book when I loved him - found him to be earnest and endearing. But there were also moments when I didn't understand and didn't agree with his actions.

For example, he writes about losing his infant son. On the night before a protest, Gregory had a premonition of death, and, since he was going into "battle" he was sure it was his own. Instead it was his son's. To shock his wife out of her grief, that very same night, he explains to her that perhaps God wanted it this way, because Dick Gregory got to go on and fight another day for equality. And if she had to choose, him or the baby, to die - who would she have chose? 

That just seemed horrible to me. And there were a few other strange, grand-stand-y type admissions from Gregory throughout the memoir. I couldn't help but wonder if the tone at these moments was there to cover up his own grief and guilt. 

In the end, I think, this is probably one of the most important books I'll have read this year. The most important book I think anyone could probably read. To be shown a glimpse of what was as if it currently is. To be reminded to behave as an American. First class.