The Sunday Salon

I did it!! I completed my NaNo novel. See the cool badge? Only winners get that. I clawed my way to the finish line with 50,049 words and an hour left in November. The last 10,000 words were written in the last two days. Amazing! But now it is taking every ounce of energy I have not to walk away from writing this post. I am in major word overload.

Also completed this week: Sarah's Key. Expect a review this week. I could review it in one word (very funny!). I bet you want to know what that one word is. You'll just have to come back or check your reader frequently to find out. I have already started The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. It's curious so far and that's a good thing.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I had two celebrations so I'm full. My jeans were tight this morning. Looks like it's time to get out my jogging shoes again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a most scrumptious Thanksgiving Day everyone!

A Literary Kind of Retreat

Scheduled to open early next February, the Inn BoonsBoro is an historic inn in Boonsboro, Md that is being remodeled by author Nora Roberts and her husband, Bruce Wilder. The inn has a literary theme. Each of the eight rooms is designed around a romantic literary couple, like Jane and Rochester, Elizabeth and Darcy, Titania and Oberon, Buttercup and Westley, etc. With rates anywhere from $220 to $300 a night, and a note that the hotel is not suitable for children under the age of 12, this is a true getaway from everyday life. I think I know where I want to spend my next anniversary. I only have to choose which room. Tough choice.

A New Generation of Wonderland Dwellers

Have you heard? Tim Burton is making the ultimate remake of Alice in Wonderland. When I first heard I wondered what it would be like. Well the first photo has been released and it's no surprise.

Press Trust of India quotes Dailymail as saying, "Depp is unrecognisable in his latest role." I beg to differ. It just looks like Edward Scissorhands made it to middle age. That's Johnny Depp as a slightly darker version of the Mad Hatter, a role I fear will be a repeat of his uber-bizarre Willy Wanka. Let's hope not. *shudder*

Joining Depp as fellow cast members are a few familiar names: Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar, and Crispin Glover (Oh McFly!) as the Knave of Hearts. As you can see this is not just a scarier vision of the Disney version. You may want to read the real thing before hitting the movie theaters to refresh your memory of the actual story. Don't worry though. You have plenty of time. The movie is not scheduled for release until March 2010.

National Book Awards 2008

From their web site:

"On March 15, 1950, a consortium of book publishing groups sponsored the first
annual National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in
New York City. Their goal was to enhance the public's awareness of exceptional
books written by fellow Americans, and to increase the popularity of reading in
general."

The winners for 2008 have been announced:
-Fiction: Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen (Modern Library)
-Nonfiction: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed, (Norton)
-Young people's literature: What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell (Scholastic)
-Poetry: Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems by Mark Doty (HarperCollins)

Looks like some good Christmas gift ideas for the serious reader.

The Sunday Salon

Well, I'm posting from the other side of the L.A. fires this week. I saw no fire damage from the freeway but then I couldn't see much with all the brown, sooty air. *cough cough* Hopefully the bad air quality will mean lots of writing time for me since I need to write about 18,000 more words this week to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge. I've just finished with the rewriting of the beginning and i like this one much better. I've had a couple more ideas that I hope will get me through to the end. I could use all the cheerleaders I can get. Go Petunia!

I'm excited about an anonymous comment from my sister to the last post. I didn't think she was still reading. Hi Bren! Thanks for reminding me about The Monster at the End of This Book. I think that was the most read book in the house, like, ever. I don't know what happened to it (probably a garage sale) but my kids have a copy of their own and they loved it as much as we did. My kids also like the sequel, Another Monster at the End of This Book with Grover and Elmo. "Turny turny. Turn, turn." was a favorite phrase when the MonkeyBoy was a wee one.

Reading? Whose reading? I am but very very slowly. I will finish up Sarah's Key this week. I mean it this time. I also brought a couple of books with me on vacation but I think that was being a bit ambitious. As always, we'll see what happens.

I hope you all have a happy happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful to see my family again. Mom, Grandma, and my hairy little brothers (the four legged variety) have been sorely missed. Wish the other brother and the sister with her kiddos were here too but I'm hoping for a family Christmas together. Be well, friends. Eat lots of turkey and pumpkin pie, then nap the day away. Come on, you know you want to.

Prereader Reading Treasures

The Guardian's Book Blog has a smallish article wherein it asks its readers what was their most influential books before they could actually read. I'll give you my top three, though you have probably heard me talk about them in the past:

• Beauty and the Beast book on tape - the well loved story of a girl sent to live with a wild creature of a man. Her love for him in his beastly state transforms him back to the handsome prince he once was but with a much bigger heart. I listened to this tape, following along in my book, over and over again. My sister's companion book, Rumpelstiltskin, also holds many fond memories for me.
• Little Bear - my cardboard covered book with black, white and blue forest growing in a circle around Mama Bear holding her Baby Bear on her lap was a wonderful treat. I was shocked that Mama Bear called her Baby Bear a fat little bear cub and that he did not burst into tears. But I loved that she made him all the articles of clothing that he asked for when he was cold. I couldn't figure out why he wasn't cold when she pointed out he already had a fur coat and removed all the artificial clothing. And the funniest part was, of course, seeing a naked bear cub once the clothes were removed.
• The Fourteen Bears: Summer and Winter - could this be where I first got a taste for room decoration? The fourteen bears were a ma and pa bear with 12 girl cubs who all dressed differently and had rooms decorated differently, except for the twins Flora and Dora. We see their various activities in the summer and winter times in the forest. I loved staring at all the girls different rooms.

Do you have any fond memories of childhood treasures to share?

An Award with a Twist on Sexy

From the E-zine Shelf Awareness today:

The shortlist has been unveiled for what the Guardian called "the literary world's most dreaded honour," the Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction award. The winner will be announced "on November 25 at London's aptly named In and Out Club." And this year's nominees are:
-The Gate of Air by James Buchan
-Sashenka by Simon Montefiore
-The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike
-To Love, Honour and Betray by Kathy Lette
-All in the Mind by Alastair Campbell
-Shire Hell by Rachel Johnson
-Attachment by Isabel Fonseca
-Triptych of a Young Wolf by Ann Allestree
-The Reserve by Russell Banks
-Brida by Paulo Coelho

Wow! I wonder if they get to put a cool sticker on their book declaring to the world that here in lies really bad sex. And what are the criteria for becoming a judge for such an award?

The Sunday Salon

It's been another slow week for reading but I knew it would be. NaNoWriMo tends to suck up all my free time, permeating my every thought and influencing everything I do. I continually have my word count on my mind. And I wonder about which scene I should work on each night. I cannot write during the day when the family is around because they interrupt too much, wanting my attention and other things like conversation and food. The author's life is a hard one. But I bravely soldier on because I am 3500 words behind(you can see my current word count in my sidebar) and Thanksgiving will be here soon. Then I'll have even more family members to demand my presence and prevent me from finishing my Masterpiece.

Now that I've finished The 19th Wife I am finally reading Sarah's Key. I'm only 20 pages in but I've no complaints to make thus far. I also hope to get into The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennex. I've heard glowing reviews so I'm anxious to get to it.

I may as well make it official. I am dropping my reading challenges. I cannot possibly read all the books left on the lists by the end of the year. Especially since I've now started a new personal challenge. Or I will start it in December. Once my novel's first draft is complete I will be reading several books on writing with an eye for revising my book to make it match the idea in my head. Right now I have a picture of the Mona Lisa in my mind but what I have in my hands is more like a child's stick figure drawing. I need to give it meat, then color, then depth. So all other challenges will be pushed to the wayside as I study and learn and hone my skills. Sorry challenges. It was fun while it lasted.

Review: The 19th Wife

The 19th Wife
by David Ebershoff

One night in the deserts of Utah, a man is shot to death in his room in the cellar. Standing accused of the crime is his 19th wife. Though long estranged from his parents Jordan Scott is sure that his mother couldn't have shot his father. His journey to uncover the truth will lead him back to the community that deserted him on the side of a highway while he was still an innocent boy.

Running parallel to this mystery is the story of the original 19th wife, Ann Eliza Young, the notorious wife that dared to leave Brigham Young, the Prophet and President of the Latter Day Saints more than a hundred years before.

Their stories are intertwined. The neglect and isolation of the polygamous family is what Ann Eliza fought so hard to eradicate but the fringe group that Jordan Scott's family is part of lives in defiance of the LDS Church's official ruling against polygamy. They believe celestial marriage to be part of the path to salvation as revealed by the founder of the LDS Church, Joseph Smith and maintained by its most influential Prophet, Brigham Young.

This is not the kind of book that you can rush through. There are many different components to it. Ebershoff did an excellent job of creating a very realistic fiction. All through my reading I wondered if the autobiography of Ann Eliza was her actual autobiography entitled Wife No. 19 published in 1875. There are several recreations of actual original sources from correspondence to wikipedia articles to personal diaries. Each succeeds in speaking with its own voice and style.

I can't help but wonder what Mormons think about this book. Ebershoff has chosen to follow the lead set in Ann Eliza's book in portraying Brigham Young from a very narrow point of view. He admits as much in the Author's Note and Acknowledgements section at the end, which I found just as compelling a read as the rest of the book. He points out that the Prophet is remembered as a very complex, multifaceted man known for many noteworthy accomplishments. But this book was not about Brigham Young but about the dramatic history of polygamy and its most outspoken opponent, Ann Eliza Young.

I want to thank TLC Book Tours and David Ebershoff for the opportunity to read and review The 19th Wife. It was a book on my wish list from the first moment I heard about it. If it is on your wish list (and it should be) I recommend you send yourself an early Christmas treat. It will not leave you disappointed.

Find out more about the book here.
Buy this book at Amazon.

Check out the rest of the book tour stops:
Maw Books
Reading, ‘Riting, and Retirement
She Is Too Fond Of Books
Age 30 - A Year in Books
A High and Hidden Place
It’s All About Books
Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Books on the Brain
The Cottage Nest
B&B ex libris
Anniegirl1138
The Tome Traveler
The Literate Housewife

And watch for the final tour stops tomorrow at Diary of an Eccentric and on Friday at Book Chase.

The Sunday Salon

Welcome back after another seemingly uneventful week. I wish I had more book related news for you but there has not been a lot of reading. I get in a couple of chapters a day in The 19th Wife. You can watch for my positive review about it on Tuesday. Then I hope to work a little faster through Sarah's Key.

It's difficult to squeeze in time for reading when you're writing a novel. It is the beginning of NaNoWriMo Week 2 and I am at 10,328 words. I've officially passed last year's quitting point so I am really jazzed. This year I made an outline and it has helped to keep me focused and moving forward. The story is flowing nicely. I am happy with my progress and I remain excited about my storyline. I already have a few people expecting to read it. Okay, so they are my husband, Mom and my pastor's wife, but their opinions mean a lot to me. I also wonder what some of my blogging buddies would think of it. If I ever do get published you can look for my book on LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Program. :-)

Anyway, have a great week everyone. The weather here has finally turned cold (by that I mean in the 60s) so I will be watching the leaves changing color while sipping my hot mug of cocoa. You should do the same.

Best of 2008

Go check out Amazon's Best Books of 2008. They have top editors' picks, customers' favorites, even the best covers of the year.

What Kind of Writer Should You Be?

You Should Be A Poet

You craft words well, in creative and unexpected ways. And you have a great talent for evoking beautiful imagery... Or describing the most intense heartbreak ever. You're already naturally a poet, even if you've never written a poem.

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

By way of the Book Imp.

The Sunday Salon

It is the second day of the NaNoWriMo and I'm off to a good start with 2863 words under my belt. Only 47,137 left to go. ;) And I already have friends lined up to read my book when it's published, uh, I mean, when I'm done. My husband is rooting for me too. It's so nice to have a support system. I'm sure I will be relying on it by the second week.

For those who didn't hear yet, I finished the mammoth Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Getting that chunkster off my shelves will make room for 2 or 3 books in its place. Yay! I'm halfway through The 19th Wife which is living up to all the hype. I'm curious to solve the mystery in the modern story thread but the real magic of the book lies in the historic accounts of Ann Elisa, the ex-wife of Brigham Young. Good stuff that. When that book is complete I will be picking up another historical fiction, Sarah's Key. It's funny, when I was in school I hated history. Now I can't seem to get enough of it. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon due to reading?