I started out with a grand plan to visit a new bookstore or library each month of 2020. We all know how that worked out. My bookstore for January was McIntyre’s in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a lovely independent bookstore with a huge mystery section. I was even able to participate in an author’s eventContinue reading “A Bookstore a Month”
Category Archives: reading
My Life as a Reader
I remember my mother telling me when I was about seven, “You can read any book in this house.” The books in our house were my dad’s history and science related books from Book of the Month Club, and my mom’s books about having and raising children and lives of saints and other holy people.Continue reading “My Life as a Reader”
Reading about the Hard Things When You are Young
I just finished reading Ashes to AshevilleAshes to Asheville by Sarah Dooley. It is a Young Adult novel dealing with the “hard things.” It is told from the point of view of Fella, a twelve year old girl whose mother has recently died of cancer. That is, one of her mothers. Mama Lacy andContinue reading “Reading about the Hard Things When You are Young”
Have you read Damaged Goods?
Occasionally I like to post a review of a book I have read recently. Damaged Goods by Jack Everett and David Coles is a great one. The following is the review I wrote for Suspense Magazine: Damaged Goods opens as Robert Cleghorn is chopping a tree in his brother Alan’s front yard. While he musesContinue reading “Have you read Damaged Goods?”
Blog Hopping for The Writer’s Process
I’m doing a question and answer session today for The Writer’s Process blog. It is a little introduction to my writing, and those of you who know me may learn something about me you didn’t know before. I would love to read your comments! What am I working on/writing? I am currently working on aContinue reading “Blog Hopping for The Writer’s Process”
Who Loves Lady MacBeth?
Writers often create characters who are not likeable, to serve as foils or antagonists for the main characters. These antagonists exhibit qualities in opposition to the main characters in order to create conflict. Readers love an evil character. Think of the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz. We love to have someone toContinue reading “Who Loves Lady MacBeth?”
Never Say Never
If you have read my first two novels, you are familiar with Nara Blake, the protagonist in both The Gate House and Lydia’s Story. In my new novel, due out this summer, we go back to Nara’s experiences in the fictional Caribbean nation of Saint Clare. In a sense, since the other books came outContinue reading “Never Say Never”
How About a Slice of Papaya Bread?
In my first novel, The Gate House, Nara laments the lack of tropical fruit as she prepares a typical English breakfast at her aunt’s bed and breakfast. I lived in Costa Rica for seven years, where I, too, learned to appreciate the huge variety of exotic fruits available year round. Although Nara’s home, St. Clare,Continue reading “How About a Slice of Papaya Bread?”
When a Book is More than a Story
I just finished reading The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. I have probably read thousands of books during my lifetime, but I don’t ever remember reacting to a book as I did to this one. The Language of Flowers is the story of a young woman who was abandoned as an infant, and livedContinue reading “When a Book is More than a Story”