Bluestalking

National Book Critics Circle Awards - The Semi-Finalists

This is it. This is the list from which the winners of this year's National Book Critics Circle awards will be chosen. There will be one winner from each category:

Fiction

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

What Is the What by Dave Eggers

The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Nonfiction

The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq by Patrick Cockburn

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe V. Wade by Anne Fessler

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution by Simon Schama

The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan

Poetry

My Brother Is Getting Arrested Again by Daisy Fried

Tom Thomson in Purgatory Troy Jollimore

Poems (1945-1971) by Miltos Sachtouris

Ooga-Booga by Frederick Seidel

Not for Specialists: New and Selected Poems by W.D. Snodgrass

Criticism

While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West From Within by Bruce Bawer

Follies of the Wise: Dissenting Essays by Frederick Crews

Breaking the Spell: Religion As a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel Dennett

On Looking: Essays by Lia Purpura

Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences by Lawrence Weschler

Memoir/Autobiography

The Afterlife by Donald Antrim

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters

The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn

Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz

Biography

The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate

At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968 by Taylor Branch

Flaubert: A Biography by Frederick Brown

James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips

A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler by Jason Roberts

Columnist and NBCC board member J. Peder Zane has issued a challenge. Choose one of these categories, read all five nominated books in that category, and let him know which one title you think should win. He'll share your comments when the board convenes in March. But if you're going to do this you'd better hurry. The board will convene to decide on the winners on March 8.

Good luck. Hope your favorites win.

Book review editor J. Peder Zane can be reached at 829-4773 or pzane@newsobserver.com

Interviewing a Poet Laureate

The down and dirty truth of what my biggest interview to date actually looked like. All the pink Post Its contain questions I feverishly copied out of the Paris Review Interviews, Volume I, the night before I spoke with Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 - 2003. I believe in preparation, obviously.

I'll get the transcription cleaned up and post that here soon. It was all so fascinating it was easy to forget I was supposed to be WRITING ALL THIS DOWN. I did get the majority of it, but the star-struck factor was an obstacle.

N.B.: You'll also see, in the background, what's actually an inflatable space shuttle. This was the model for yesterday's project, which was to make a space shuttle out of styrofoam, as Youngest Child had that due today. In a twist of irony that doesn't even surprise me, Youngest Child is home sick from school. All that feverish scraping of styrofoam could have been a more leisurely, less frenzied endeavor.  But that wouldn't be life chez Bluestalking Reader now, would it?

Photo of the Day

Double Trestles, Near Union, Illinois

- Photo by Mr. BSR (Canon EOS XTi)

Review: The Scent of Water by Alison Hoblyn

From The Scent of Water:

"She would have to create herself somewhere else, in some other context.The one thing she couldn't experience in her daily life, continuity, she was finally learning to experience inside herself. She was not her house, not her work, not even her body. She was a living creation, and creation is constantly changing. The thought was a  break in the clouds."

Ellie is a woman who finds herself middle-aged and widowed, but she's not precisely a grieving widow. Her marriage to her husband hadn't been the stuff of dreams, though it hadn't been completely horrible either. What it had been was a marriage held together through habit, as so many marriages are.

After the loss of her husband Ellie is free to pursue her own interests, and make her own way. Joining a group of other students she travels to Tuscany where she enrolls in a garden course. She meets and becomes friends with an older woman named Nerine, and also a much younger man named Max.  Both characters bring her out of herself, giving her two completely different perspectives on her life. In a manner reminiscent of The Enchanted April, Ellie explores her soul, and the true nature of what she wants to do with the rest of her life, in a romantic Tuscan setting teeming with life and art.

Max, the younger man, is interesting and provocative to Ellie. He's clearly interested in her, but she has to take a step back. The question in her mind is could this possibly work, considering both the age gap and the other disturbing differences she notices when he doesn't think she's aware of them. At the conclusion of the course she goes home, still conflicted:

"She had no peace. No peace, no purpose. the certainty that she had experienced standing in front of Primavera, where had it gone? She stood in her garden and prayed that God might do with her life what he would. Could she truly believe that would change things? Was it only in books, where life could be shaped and edited, that change seemed to happen immediately and consequentially? In real life change seeped up in unexpected places like a spring. It was the scent of water making the dry ground into a musky seedbed."

Not long after arriving back home she hears from Salvatore, the man who'd owned the palazzo in Tuscany where she and the other students had stayed. Salvatore's married, but his marriage is very much on the rocks. He and Ellie get along well. They speak the same language, in so many ways. Still uncertain as to how prudent it really is to pursue this relationship, Ellie finds she still doesn't have a firm handle on what she really wants for her life. Once again, she's conflicted between what she thinks she wants and what she thinks she should do.

The Scent of Water explores what happens to a woman when she's suddenly cut free from a long relationship that's kept her from being happy. Hoblyn explores both the euphoria of release and the fear of having to plunge in and make a real decision for the first time in a long time, which is something a lot of women will immediately identify with, especially if they've experienced the end of a long-term marriage.

The book has a sort of Room With a View feel to it that's at once charming and sensual in the way Italian settings generally are. It has romantic elements, but it's not technically a romance. It delves deeper into the angst associated with Ellie's situation to be dismissed as mere romance for romance's sake. It's a read that's on the lighter side, but for those who've been where Ellie is, it's sure to resonate.

Published by: Transita Publishing

ISBN 1-905175-175

306 pp.

A Note to Writers Requesting Reviews

I get a lot of emails from writers asking about sending me review books. Because so many of them are asking me the same questions I thought I'd do a post directed toward them. I'll post this one regularly, since not every writer will see it at the same time.

Following are the most commonly asked questions, along with my answers:

1. Would you review my book?

If I have the time, as well as the interest in your genre/subject matter, then yes, I'd be happy to receive your book and put it into my current review queue. But even if I can't review your book I'm happy to ask around in the network of book reviewers I know in order to find a reviewer for you.

I am a member of the National Book Critics Circle. All the member book critics are listed in a directory we all have access to, so finding someone looking to review books won't ever be a problem.

I am considering getting a P.O. box in order to receive review books. If and when I do that I'll post the address on this blog. In the meantime, if you'd like me to review your book contact me and I'll give you the address where you may send it.

2. How much do you charge to review a book?

I am an independent reviewer. That means I have no bias. Therefore, I never accept money in order to produce a positive review.

If a periodical or journal wants to pay me to objectively review we can talk. That I can do. But I never take money from authors in exchange for reviews or interviews.

If a reviewer ever asks you, the author, for money to write a review I'd be very suspicious. The only time money should change hands in relation to a review is in the case a periodical pays a reviewer to review a book. In this case, the periodical is paying the writer for writing, not for producing a biased review. The author him or herself shouldn't have to pay for the privilege of having a book reviewed.

3. How long until I see my review?

That will depend on how long my queue is currently. Right now I don't have a terribly long list, but I do other writing, aside from reviews, so that also impacts my review time. If you're sending me a book in advance of its publication date, just let me know when that date is so I can better plan a deadline for your book.

4. Where will my review appear?

It will appear on my blogs, first and foremost. In addition to Bluestalking I blog for both my local public library and also the huge Northwest Suburban Library System in Chicago, one of the largest library districts in the country. That system consists of just under 500 member libraries, including public, university and special libraries. Librarians in charge of buying books for their individual districts read that blog, as well as a wide spectrum of librarians and library professionals. Readers also come from outside the library district, as well, as it's publicly searchable.

I also submit reviews to HabitualReader.com, EstellasRevenge,com, JacketMagazine.com and occasionally I seek out other venues. This expands and changes all the time, but wherever I publish regularly I'll try to publish your review.

I will also copy it to retail book sites, such as Amazon.com, Amazon UK, etc.

5. What about interviews?

I can write and publish more interviews than book reviews, for obvious reasons. They take much less time for me to do. As with the reviews, I'll publish these in the same venues I publish book reviews.

For purposes of PR, I ask that you provide me with a photo of yourself I may legally use to go along with the review. If you have a website where I can get this that's great, otherwise let me know where the photo is available, or send me a .jpg file.

This answers my most frequently asked questions. If you have any others please feel free to send them to me at any time. I'm always happy to talk with you about how I can help promote your book. Promoting quality books and authors is one of the things I'm about, and I'm very accessible and open to talking about it with you.

Thanks very much.

Photo of the Day

Those Also Serve Who Only Stand and Wait

- Photo by Lisa Guidarini (Canon EOS XTi)

Return of the Book Hoor: the Legend Contines

There's no better time to wallow in books than after a week like this. I figured it was either books or alcohol, and I don't have the head for alcohol. After one drink I turn bright red and promptly fall asleep. That could be one reason I get so few invitations to parties.

The following outlines my rampage:

This book completes my collection of LOA edition Faulkner novels. I've been waiting to buy it for ages. It could have something to do with the fact the cover price is $ 40. FORTY DOLLARS?!  Jehosephat. I think they're patently insane (as opposed to garden variety insane).

For some reason, the first of Faulkner's novels were the last to be published by LOA. Why?

Writers talking about their favorite books. That one took me all of five seconds to put on order.

This book's the fault of more than one person. You know who you are. I wouldn't have found this one for a while without the help of my fellow bloggers. It's also likely this particular book will lead me to MORE books I'll desperately want need. Let the responsibility for this be on your shoulders. Oh, the shame of it!

Yeah, I'm done.

And then there's this one. Several heavy-hitting big name reviewers most insidiously called my attention to the publication of this book. How dare they, I ask you. Then one or twenty bloggers read it and felt compelled to say it was good,too. They knew they'd eventually pull me over to the dark side if they kept mentioning it often enough. There's a vile plot afoot, and all the universe is dead set against me.

On the upside, hey, look at my new books! Who needs all that pesky money hanging around, anyway, clogging up the place. If I didn't spend it on books I'd just waste it on something frivolous, like cookies, anyway. Better to direct it toward the purchase of new books. At least the books won't go directly to my hips. They go just as well with coffee, too.

I'm Admitting This in Public.

This all started from a conversation at MarysLibrary. Okay, it started from my suggestion, in a conversation at Mary'sLibrary.

Mary's post was on the topic of personalized novels. More specifically, she mentioned it's possible to have yourself written into a romance novel. That sent me to thinking (my first mistake), what would happen if a group of people who enjoy writing got together and wrote a romance novel together. What if they set their brains in "parody" mode, what would the result be?

Well, I'll tell you what the first step was, at least:

http://kissmeyoufool.blogsource.com/

Meet Miss Tempestua Blousey, my alter ego. Tempestua will be one of the heroines of what I hope will become the first of multiple efforts, a romance novel/parody I'm calling:

Love's Heaving Bosom

If you don't have the stomach for it feel free to look away. I predict gross silliness, blatant overacting and at least one ripped bodice. If you do have the stomach for it, and would like to take on a chapter, drop me a line and let me know. The only requirements are that you a). follow the story line, b). add characters as you see fit, and c). don't have anyone with naughty bits hanging out. Discretion is the better part of parody, at least to my mind.

N.B.: I also consider this an exercise in the possibility of collaborative writing, exploring its potential in this silly way first, before sticking a toe in the water seriously. It's something to keep us all off the streets and out of trouble, even if it doesn't do much to further the cause of SERIOUS LITERATURE. Then again, it's not pretending to, so that's the distinction.

Miss Tempestua Blousey

Kenya's Mobile Library: The Camel Bookmobile

   

Life in Kenya, along the unstable border with Somalia, is grueling. People there scrape out a living, moving from place to place in a semi-nomadic existence. Food, shelter and protection from violence are full-time worries.  Providing children with books is a luxury the people there simply cannot afford.

Books, as we know, expand the mind. They provide light, hope, and an escape from the rigors of daily life. They also give children a reason to dream, opening them to new ideas while also helping them pass long, wearisome hours.

Here in the United States we are fortunately blessed with libraries, ensuring that even the poorest have access to books. In Kenya life isn't quite that simple.

A group of authors, lead by Masha Hamilton, have started an organization called Authors for African Literacy. Hamilton, along with a group of nine other authors so far,  are sending books to these children in Kenya. They're asking others to do the same, donating boxes of books to these impoverished, nutritionally and educationally malnourished children.

Masha Hamilton is the author of the novel The Camel Bookmobile, which will be published this year by HarperCollins. Her book is fiction, but the story behind it is real.

From Publishers Weekly:

" Hamilton's captivating third novel (after 2004's The Distance Between Us) follows Fiona Sweeney, a 36-year-old librarian, from New York to Garissa, Kenya, on her sincere but naïve quest to make a difference in the world. Fi enlists to run the titular mobile library overseen by Mr. Abasi, and in her travels through the bush, the small village of Mididima becomes her favorite stop. There, Matani, the village teacher; Kanika, an independent, vivacious young woman; and Kanika's grandmother Neema are the most avid proponents of the library and the knowledge it brings to the community. Not everyone shares such esteem for the project, however. Taban, known as Scar Boy; Jwahir, Matani's wife; and most of the town elders think these books threaten the tradition and security of Mididima. When two books go missing, tensions arise between those who welcome all that the books represent and those who prefer the time-honored oral traditions of the tribe. Kanika, Taban and Matani become more vibrant than Fi, who never outgrows the cookie-cutter mold of a woman needing excitement and fulfillment, but Hamilton weaves memorable characters and elemental emotions in artful prose with the lofty theme of Western-imposed "education" versus a village's perceived perils of exposure to the developed world. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

If you'd like to make a donation to Kenya's Mobile Library, see The Camel Bookmobile website for more details. A group of people could donate a box of books, to help minimize shipping costs. You may also donate money directly to the drive to help pay shipping, by following the link on their webpage. Amazon.com offers the opportunity to purchase books for the project, as well, via their website. You'll just need to pay a little extra to cover the international shipping.

Seeing children's faces light up at the sight of a book is priceless, especially when you know these are children for whom books are a huge luxury. Sending a book to an impoverished child gives the satisfaction of knowing we've turned on one little light, halfway around the globe. That's one little light with the potential to grow and light the whole world.

Finished Alison Bechdel's 'Fun Home'

  The denouement of Alison Bechdel's memoir-in-graphic-form is a universal one we can all identify with. The sins of the fathers are visited on the children. What happens to us in early childhood, and how we're raised, affects us throughout the rest of our lives. Nothing shocking or surprising there, but in the case of Alison Bechdel her coming-of-age story is told in a way that's very immediate. I'd call it sensually complex. I'm not sure if it's the graphics adding to the experience, or the sparing prose that packs a lot more punch than you might think, but the overall effect is really very poignant and moving.

What bemuses me is the blurb on the front. It declares the book is "hilarious." Maybe I'm just not as easily amused as all that. Though I found Bechdel is in possession of a highly developed tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, I never once laughed out loud at her. I don't find occasionally physically abusive fathers funny. Nor do I laugh at parents whose mental absence leaves their children feeling alone and forlorn.

The quote on the book jacket is from Time magazine. That's a pretty big credential, as far as reviews go, but it's a truth universally acknowledged that critics write blurbs to be eye-catching. They write blurbs to help sell books. Another big shock, I know. I've done it, myself, and I've had it done to me from my material. Publishers have taken blurbs out of my reviews, and also on one occasion a publisher took an extract out of what I wrote outside the formal review, and used that on promotional material. Not a big deal, because I liked and endorsed the books, in every case. What the publishers like is what's big impact and packs a punch. You have to be more dramatic to get attention, especially in these modern days of short attention spans.

What was I saying?

This wouldn't be the first time I didn't "get" humor in books. I think I have a pretty well-developed sense of humor (you're free to argue that, of course), but when humor goes dark and grim I sometimes can't follow that it is humor. I find it depressing, actually.

I won't go so far as to say Fun Home is a depressing book, but it does delve into what's understandably a difficult time for this icon of the comic genre. I just can't find myself laughing at that. I do find myself respecting her for what she's come through, and how she's turned what could have been a crushing, bewildering early life into a very successful creative life. I wish her continued success in all her endeavors. If she has found a measure of peace with her past, via Fun Home and her other efforts, I have a feeling that won't ever be a problem for her.

Houghton Mifflin (2006)

ISBN: 0618477942

240 pp.