Since I’m a sucker for short stories, I have another favorite I want to share. It ran in Writer’s Digest several months ago and has been on my mind every since. And, let me tell you, if Ice Cream for Breakfast by Tina Rivera doesn’t make you hug your loved ones just a little tighter or treat them to ice cream, I don’t know what will. Grab a Kleenex and head on over to Writer’s Digest for a quick read.
I do still love discovering new blogs and reading old posts. I won’t ever be able to give that up, but Google Reader helps me stay focused on my favorites. I also look forward to those times when I know I’ve finished everything on my to-do list and can journey into the black hole of blogland guilt free.
Psssttt…Allison Winn Scotch is giving away some galley copies of her latest novel. You can find out how to enter on her Web site. It is as easy as visiting her Facebook page and leaving a comment. Just be sure you do it by Thursday.
In anticipation of Jodi Picoult’s next book, House Rules, that will hit book stores on March 2, I thought we could ‘Pick a Picoult Book’ for the next virtual book club.
There are 18 to choose from, so pick one that sounds good and let’s circle back and share our thoughts on March 9. Who knows, maybe I will have even finished the new one by then! You can read about all of the books at http://www.jodipicoult.com/.
What can I say? I loved this book. I hadn’t read it before selecting it for book club, which can sometimes be a risky maneuver. Luckily, it worked out.
I’m sure she had to learn how to manage her fair share of cowboys and ranch hands. Here she is whistling to try and keep someone in line, I’m sure.
I haven’t read Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle, but after reading this one, I definitely plan to pick it up. And, I want to know, if you’ve read Half Broke Horses, what were your favorite parts? Can you relate to Lily?
The new book tour dates for Jodi Picoult’s House Rules, which will be released March 2, are up on her site. It is a draft schedule (visit www.jodipicoult.com and click on appearances), and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Picoult will make a stop near me. For the past few years she has and I’ve been lucky enough to make every one. Well, almost every one. There was the time my son arrived five weeks early, just a few days before Picoult’s reading, so I had to skip it. I’m sure she’d understand.
Even though I’ve been to several of her readings, I am star struck every time I see her. My heart beats fast, my palms get sweaty, I begin to utter mere syllables instead of actual words. It is pathetic.
After her reading of Handle with Care last year, she took questions and answers. When she announced she had time for one last question, I decided I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk to her, so I shot my hand up in the air. It was right as she called on me that I realized I didn’t have a question to ask! So, I pulled together a really lame, boring question: Has your writing routine changed since your first novel? Ugh. I might as well have asked what toothpaste she uses. She answered it graciously saying her routine hasn’t changed at all. Go figure.
Next came the signing. I waited in line hoping I could get a picture with her, only to find out she wasn’t doing photos. She wrote my name and her signature in my book and I tried to think of something to say to her. "I love your writing" seemed too obvious. So I came up with the incredibly witty, "I love the MP3s you post on your Web site." That was it? That was all I could come up with? I’ve read every single one of her books, some of them twice and that was all I could think to say? I blame it on the butterflies. She thanked me and told me she’d be posting a new one next month. I walked away shaking my head.
I’m looking forward to redeeming myself at her next reading, so here is hoping she stops in the D.C. area!
Whew! The hustle and bustle of the holidays are over and I’m looking forward to getting back into a routine. I haven’t had as much time for reading as I would like, so I’m ready to dig into a new book. For the next book club, let’s read Jeannette Walls’ Half Broke Horses. Walls is speaking near me next month. I’m planning to attend and capture some good info and a few pics for the blog. For those of you in the Washington D.C. area, you can catch her on Jan. 20 at the Borders in Baileys Crossroads. I’ll plan to post about the book on Jan. 29, so let’s get reading! See you in a little less than a month.
I am trying to come up with the next selection for the virtual book club. Does anyone have any suggestions? Jeanette Walls is going to be speaking near me next month, so I am leaning towards her new book, but I’d love to hear what others are reading right now. E-mail me or leave a comment.
The winner of the Loraine Despres autographed book plate is Sarah! I will get it in the mail to you right away.
I love my virtual book club, but every once in a while even I miss talking in real time about the books I love. So tonight I hosted an in-person book club, pulled out some serving platters and dusted off the carafe.
The holidays and the dreary weather here resulted in a small turnout, but we delved into The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell by Loraine Despres and had a great conversation. In addition to writing Belle, Despres wrote The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc in which Belle appears as Sissy’s grandmother. Despres was generous enough to call in and take part in the discussion and we peppered her with our questions.
Belle is full of details from the 1920s—details that could only be captured by meticulous research. Despres said she spent a year researching the time period. “Thank God for the Web,” she laughed. She read books, visited the library and studied magazines from the period.
To capture the details of one particular scene, Despres reached out to the Stutz Barecat Club and found someone who shared the particulars of how to shift.
Despres even committed to only reading literature written before 1920 during the three years it took her to write Belle.
I fell in love with Sissy, and the entire time I was reading Belle I couldn’t help but think about how Despres weaved the two stories together even though they were very different stories. I was also left wondering how much the author knew about Belle when writing Sissy.
“I knew I wanted a lady like some of the ladies I knew in New Orleans—very imperious, very sure of themselves. Belle really came to me,” she said.
Of course we asked Despres her favorite rule. Without hesitating she said, "It’s okay for a woman to know her place. She just shouldn’t stay there." She also told us she doesn’t usually come up with a rule cold. “If something tickles me, I write it down,” she said.
Several parts of the book were inspired by Despres’s own experiences. She told us she grew up in a house like the Rubinstein’s—a house complete with bullet holes in her bedroom wall. “A vigilante group tried to drive my family out of town. It probably happened in the 1890s, but I knew I wanted to tell that story,” she said.
She also shared that she some of her favorite traits of Belle’s were her courage and her cynicism. “She was pretty much based on my mother,” she said.
SPOILER ALERTS—IF YOU HAVEN’T READ BELLE, STOP READING NOW. COME BACK AFTER YOU FINISH THE BOOK.
Based on the letter Belle found in Claude’s jacked, I assumed he was having an affair, but since I’m ever the optimist, I held out hope that Belle just misunderstood parts of the letter. I asked Despres flat out if Claude was having an affair. She confirmed my fear—he was unfaithful. Oh Claude—how could you? I will cut him a little slack since he was at war.
Throughout the novel I went back and forth on whether Belle was ignorant of the dangers she faced or if she was brave. I felt that she became more aware of her danger she faced as the novel went on and clearly was courageous when defending the Rubinsteins against the Ku Klux Klan.
Despres said she envisioned Belle as being brave when writing her. She added, “As a middle-class southern lady, she thought [the KKK] wouldn’t hurt her. Her family was important in the town and she thought they wouldn’t go after her.”
There were so many great story lines in the book. After we hung up the phone with Despres, we kept chatting about the book. I definitely recommend it as a book club pick and, you never know, Despres might call into your group, too. You can visit her blog at http://www.lorainedespres.blogspot.com/ and her Web site at www.lorainedespres.com. Also, check out my earlier Q&A with Loraine here, my post about Sissy here and my virtual book club post about Belle here.
By the way–my local library system had a a good number of copies of Belle available, but there was a wait list! So, you may want to check your local library or order from Amazon.
GIVEAWAY!!! What could be better than adding an autographed book plate courtesy of Loraine Despres to your copy of Belle or Sissy? Leave a comment by midnight Dec. 4 and I will pick a lucky winner on Dec. 5.
