2018 Reading Wrap Up

Courtesy of Josephine Wall 

2018 Reading Wrap Up 

Yikes, I only read 37 physical books versus ebooks this year and explains why my book stacks didn’t decrease much.  Plus it tells me I've been spending way too much time on my Ipad getting distracted by the internet. 

During your travels did you have time to stop and smell the flowers with our Blossom Bookology challenge or explore a plethora of mysteries with 52 Books Bingo? 

I finished the Blossom Bookology spelling challenge and squeaked by the last three months with flowers mentioned in the stories as colors or characters.  I forgot to keep track of all the reference mentioned in my reads, but pretty sure there were more than a few mentions of a variety of flowers so I'm calling this challenge completed. 

Did you stay on the detective bus, join the rebel bus or hang around with Bertram Wooster?  

I joined the rebel bus and bounced back and forth between London.  I did manage to make it to London Scotland Yard, York, Buckinghamshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Somerset, Kent and back again to London.

·         London: Spymaster's Lady,  What Angels Fear, Midnight Riot as well as Last Chance Christmas Ball

·         York - Sunne in Splendour as well as I found You

·         Buckinghamshire - Flowers from the Storm

·         Herefordshire - Foxglove Summer

·         Leicestershire – Dinner Most Deadly

·         Somerset - For Deader or worse  and Cozy Tea Shop in the Castle

·         Kent – Midsummer Moon

Did you remain earthbound or take off for worlds unknown? I think I remained pretty much earthbound although I did visit quite a few alternate realities.  I also traveled through different centuries to England, Africa, Germany, France, Antarctic, Ireland, Canada, Amsterdam, and Ceylon.

Did you reach your reading goal or did you decide to just meander about and follow rabbit trails and end up getting lost in the enjoyment of reading?  I totally lost track two thirds of the way through the year but I did make my goal of 100 books.

Did you set any aside to read again at some point and savor the story all over again?   Oh yes. Rachel Caine’s Great Library series, Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling trinity with Silver Silence and Ocean Light, as well as Roxanne St. Claire’s Dogfather series are all well worth rereading.  

Which books intrigued or entertained, made you laugh, cry, dance or sing?  So many and it is hard to narrow it down.

• Anna Richard’s The Road Home and Laura Kinsale’s Midsummer’s Moon touched my heart.  Thank you to KarenI  for introducing me to these two authors.
• Lian Dolan’s Elizabeth the First Wife and  Laura Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm made me laugh.
• Robyn Cadwaller’s The Anchoress and Julia Drosten’s The Elephant Keeper’s Daughter enthralled me while and Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour pulled me into the history of the times.  
• Tahareh Mafi’s Shatter Me and Mindy McGinnis’  A Madness So Discreet and Dean Koontz Innocence gave me the chills.
• Mark Helprin’s Soldier of the Great War pulled me from the present into the past and back again and put my emotions through the ringer.
• Two WWII novels - Leon Leyson’s The Boy on the Wooden Box made me cry while John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas irritated me with the child’s naivete.

Stats Wise

I read 114 Fiction books and 9 non fiction. I read quite a few series so have many repeat authors I enjoy which include Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb, James Rollins, Keri Arthur, Nalini Singh, Jennifer Estep, Roxanne St. Claire, and Faith Hunter to name a few. 

Female authors -  47

Male authors – 11

New to me authors – 29

The majority of my reads were Fantasy and Mystery/Suspense/Thriller with quite a few contemporary romance, historical and a few nonfiction thrown in.

52 Books: Blossom Bookology Challenge completed

I completed 52 Books Blossom Bookology spelling challenge and squeaked by with a couple with flowers mentioned in the stories as colors or characters.  I forgot to keep track of all the reference mentioned in my reads, but pretty sure there were more than a few mentions of a variety of flowers so I'm calling this challenge completed. 

January - Chrysanthemum

C: Genevieve Cogman - The Masked City (fantasy) 

H: Thor Heyerdahl - Kon Tiki  (NF)

R: Robyn Cadwallader - The Anchoress (historical)

Y: Rick Yancey -  The Infinite Sea (fantasy)

S: Sharon Kay Penman - The Sunne in Splendor (historical)

A: Anna Richland - His Road Home (military romance) 

N: Natalie Goldberg - Writing Down the Bones (NF)

T: Thomas Merton - Thoughts in Solitude (NF) 

H: Mark Helprin - A Soldier of the Great War (WWI historical)

E: Emma Hamm - Silver Blood (Paranormal)

M: Haruki Murakami - Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball (literary)

U: Lisa Unger - Beautiful Lies (Mystery)

M: Haruki Murakami - A Wild Sheep Chase (literary)

February - Rose

R:  J.D. Robb - Dark in Death (Futuristic)

O:  Melissa Olson - Dead Spots (Paranormal)

S:  John Sandford- Secret Prey -  (Detective)

E:  Jennifer Estep - Bitter bite (Paranormal)

March - Clover 

C: Chosen - K.F. Breene (fantasy)

L:  Louise Penny - Glass Houses (mystery)

O: The Overlook - Michael Connolly (crime detective)

V: Carrie Vaughn - Discord's Apple (paranormal)

E: Elizabeth the First Wife - Lian Dolan (Literary fiction)

R: Rachel Caine - Ill Wind (paranormal)

April - Mountain Aven

A:  Atlantis Fallen - C.E.Murphy (Paranormal)

V:  Mud Vein - Tarryn Fisher (Suspense)

E:  Black Echo - Michael Connolly (Mystery) 

N: Nerd's Pocket Pets - D.R. Grady (Romance)

May - Lily 

L: Alan Alda – If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on my Face

I:  Innocence - Dean Koontz (Thriller) 

L: Lake Silence - Anne Bishop  (Paranormal)

Y: I Found You - Lisa Jewell  (Mystery)

June - Tulip

The Golden Tulip - Rosalind Laker

July - Edelweiss

E: Elephant Keepers Daughter - Julia Drosten

D: The Art of Deception - Nora Roberts (Romantic suspense)

E:  Jennifer Estep - Unraveled (Paranormal)

L:  Luke - Barbara Freethy (Romance)

W: Where Dreams are Born - M.L. Buchman (Romance)

E:  Jennifer Estep - Snared (Paranormal)

I:  Ice Hunt - James Rollins (Antarctic, thriller)

S:  Where There's Smoke-Susan May Warren (Romance)

S:  Spymaster's Lady - Joanna Bourne (Regency) 

August - Jasmine

J: James Rollins - Demon Crown 

A: Ash and Quill - Rachel Caine

S: Foxglove Summer - Ben Aaronovitch

M: Midnight Curse - Melissa Olson

I: Ink and Bone - Rachel Caine

N: Nora Roberts - Leverage in Death

E: Ellie Weisel - Night 

September- Lotus 

L:  Peter the Latvian - Georges Simenon (Detective)

O:  Nalini Singh -  Ocean Light, #2 Psy/Changling Trinity (e)

T:   Twyla Tharp - The Creative Habit

U:  Unfit - Keri Arthur (Paranormal)

S:  Shelter in Place - Nora Roberts (Suspense)

October - Marigold

Flowers from the Storm - Laura Kinsale: Marigold flower colored wall paper 

or Foxglove Summer - Ben Aaronovitch with Marigold gloves 

November - Daisy

The Cozy Tea Shop in the Castle - Caroline Roberts with a character named Daisy

December - Holly 

  Last Chance Christmas Ball - Word Wenches.  The Ball is being given by Lady Holly who is character in every story that makes up the whole book. 

Book Review: A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

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Synopsis:  "Grace Mae knows madness. She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum.

When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past.

In this beautifully twisted historical thriller, Mindy McGinnis, acclaimed author of Not a Drop to Drink and In a Handful of Dust, explores the fine line between sanity and insanity, good and evil—and the madness that exists in all of us."


I just finished A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis. I had a hard time it putting it down once I started reading. McGinnis's writing and characters drew me in  and played upon my emotions. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, liked the characters, but found myself questioning how I feel about it. Does the character's plight make her actions justifiable. How do you root for someone who takes matters into their own hand and goes against the law. But then the law wasn't doing anything for her. Is it madness or justice or revenge. Which is it? Which is why this was a truly great story. It makes you question as well as bleed for the characters.

Book Review: Fighting Terrorism by Benjamin Netanyahu

First lines:  Organized crime has plagued all the democracies.  It has attacked business establishments, assaulted judges, corrupted police officials.  But the rise of terrorism in recent decades presents a new form of organized violence directed against democratic societies.  Making their appearance in the late 1960's, terrorist attacks have afflicted virtually each of the Western Countries in an unfailing sequence. 

Synopsis:  In this innovative and concise work, Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu offers a compelling approach to understanding and fighting the increase in domestic and international terrorism throughout the world. Citing diverse examples from around the globe, Netanyahu demonstrates that domestic terrorist groups are usually no match for an advanced technological society which can successfully roll back terror without any significant curtailment of civil liberties. But Netanyahu sees an even more potent threat from the new international terrorism which is increasingly the product of Islamic militants, who draw their inspiration and directives from Iran and its growing cadre of satellite states. The spread of fundamentalist Islamic terrorism, coupled with the possibility that Iran will acquire nuclear weapons, poses a more frightening threat from an adversary less rational and therefore less controllable than was Soviet Communism. How democracies can defend themselves against this new threat concludes this provocative book

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, first wrote this book in 1995 and updated it in 2001.    He covers the beginnings and backers of terrorists groups, the rise in terrorism over the decades, the question of civil liberties, Gaza, nuclear weapons and lastly, What can be done about terrorism.  James and I spent quite a bit of time discussing the ideas and material as we read and talked about all that has changed in the past 18 years.  Makes for an interesting and educational read and provokes much discussion.  

Book Review: The Boy on the Wooden Box - Leon Leyson

Leon's parents adopted a saying that he used to repeat often when the German's started to take over Poland - "If this is the worst that happens," taking each day one day at a time, dealing with each issue as it came along.  Quietly uttered when faced with losing their freedoms, their jobs, their homes, being forced into the Ghetto, then a work camp.  I chose to read The Boy on the Wooden box with James to give him a look at what life was like for the Polish Jews whose lives were turned upside down by the war.   How they had to scrape and scrounge for food, sharing even the tiniest bit with each other. How they managed to hold onto their humanity in the face of evil.  Leon, his brother, and his father worked for Schindler in his factory so he got to know them and was nice to them when the other Germans treated them badly.  When they were taken away and put into the labor camp, Schindler worked to build his munitions factory as quickly as possible and put them on his list of the workers needed who were necessary because they were already trained. He  managed to save the majority of Leon's family.  The memoir is heart wrenching as well as a tribute to perseverance, life and love during the most horrendous of experiences.    

Synopsis:  Even in the darkest of times—especially in the darkest of times—there is room for strength and bravery. A remarkable memoir from Leon Leyson, one of the youngest children to survive the Holocaust on Oskar Schindler’s list.

Leon Leyson (born Leib Lezjon) was only ten years old when the Nazis invaded Poland and his family was forced to relocate to the Krakow ghetto. With incredible luck, perseverance, and grit, Leyson was able to survive the sadism of the Nazis, including that of the demonic Amon Goeth, commandant of Plaszow, the concentration camp outside Krakow. Ultimately, it was the generosity and cunning of one man, a man named Oskar Schindler, who saved Leon Leyson’s life, and the lives of his mother, his father, and two of his four siblings, by adding their names to his list of workers in his factory—a list that became world renowned: Schindler’s List.

This, the only memoir published by a former Schindler’s List child, perfectly captures the innocence of a small boy who goes through the unthinkable. Most notable is the lack of rancor, the lack of venom, and the abundance of dignity in Mr. Leyson’s telling. The Boy on the Wooden Box is a legacy of hope, a memoir unlike anything you’ve ever read. (less)

January Reading Wrap Up

I've had a great start to my reading year and still working on January's Blossomology challenge spelling out Chrysanthemum and have H A E U and M to complete.  I decided to spell out using author names and have been successful so far.  Thank goodness February's challenge is to spell out Rose.  My reading goals this year are to read more physical books from my shelves, not spend any money on books for the first four months of the year and to read more non fiction. 

I finished twelve books this month including five nonfiction books, three of which were started last year.  James and I read Netanyahu's Fighting Terrorism and Leon Leyson's Boy in the Wooden Box together which took a bit of time. Reviews will be forth coming.   One of my goals is to read at least two non fiction books a month.  I completed Writing Down the Bones and Thoughts in Solitude, plus sailed from Peru to Polynesia with Thor Heyerdahl in Kon-Tiki.  

Started out my 52 books Open Roads adventure in Japan with Haruki Murakami and the first two books in his Rat Trilogy - Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball. I visited 12th century England through The Anchoress and 15th Century England through The Sunne in Splendour.   Explored the fantasy world of Venice with Cogman's The Masked City and the United States during an apocalyptic alien invasion in The Infinite Sea.   I traveled through history with Doucette's The Immortal from the beginning of man to the Roman Empire to the United States.  Then finished off my month with His Road Home, a romantic novella about a soldier disabled in war discovering how to walk, talk and love.  Quite an eclectic mix of stories.  


C: Genevieve Cogman - The Masked City (#2 Invisible Library)
H: Thor Heyerdahl - Kon Tiki  
R: Robyn Cadwallader - The Anchoress (e)
Y: Rick Yancey -  The Infinite Sea 
S: Sharon Kay Penman - The Sunne in Splendor
A: 
N: Natalie Goldberg - Writing Down the Bones
T: Thomas Merton - Thoughts in Solitude  (e)
H
E
M: Haruki Murakami - Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball 
U
M - 

The Boy in the Wooden Box -Leon Leyson 
Fighting Terrorism - Benjamin Netanyahu 
Immortal - Gene Doucette (#1 Immortal)(e)
Anna Richland - His Road Home (e)

Another goal is to read more slowly and do a review for each book completed.  I'm slightly behind with reviews on the four books that didn't match up with the flower spelling challenge.  

I'm currently reading Mark Helprin's A Soldier of the Great War (chunky and dusty book) as well as Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase (ebook) which is the 3rd book in the Rat Trilogy.    I'm trying to decide whether to read Leon Uris or Umberto Eco for my U book.  I'm thinking Achebe for the A book. 

I also have ROSE to spell for February and won't be constraining myself to just author names and mixing it up with Author Name or Title of the book.  I received J.D. Robb's newest in her In Death series - Dark in Death which I pre-ordered in December so doesn't go against my buying ban.  So I may be mixing up things a bit because her book is calling my name loudly.  *grin* 

Meanwhile our 52 Books group will be traveling through England for February so I'm pulling a very dusty Sherlockian by Graham Moore off the shelves to read. 

Book Review: The Anchoress - Robyn Cadwallader

First lines: "I was near the door, where woman should stay.  The floor was hard, refusing me, though I lay face down, my arms outstretched, embracing it, wanting this life, this death. I  knew there were people nearby, those from the village who had come to look or pray, but I saw none of them.  Voices in the sanctuary that seemed so far away sang a dirge, a celebration of loss, prayers for me.  I knew the words: I had read and reread them, memorized them, prayed on them, but now they were nothing but sound."

I was intrigued by the story of The Anchoress as I'd never heard of the anchorite life before.  I knew about cloistered nuns as I had visited a cloistered convent when I was a teenager.  We were allowed to talk to them through a screen in which they could only see us from the waist up, a privacy screen raised in case any outside visitor was inappropriately dressed.  They were a giggly group of ladies who enjoyed their simple life of prayer and work inside the convent walls.  It was an interesting experience to say the least.  

Set in medieval times, Sarah is a 17 year old young woman who chooses to become an Anchoress, shutting herself away from the world. She thinks by leaving the outside world, it will help her forget her grief about her sister who died in childbirth and protect her from marrying the local lord's son.  She will spend her day in prayer and deny herself all those things that will come between her and God.  Except that even though she is shut away from the world, the world still revolves around her. She can still hear all the the activities of the village, the people who work in and around the church.  There is a parlor in which those who wish counsel may sit and talk with her through a covered window.  She goes through a myriad of emotions and in the process, figures out her place in the world and what it truly means to be the Anchoress for the community.  It's quite an intriguing story, delving into the culture of a 13th century village and spiritual life. 

Book Review: Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl

First lines:  "Once in a while you find yourself in an odd situation.  You get into it by degrees and in the most natural way but, when you are right in the midst of it, you are suddenly astonished and ask yourself how in the world it all came about."

Back cover:  Kon-Tiki is the record of an astonishing adventure -- a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean by raft. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east, led by a mythical hero, Kon-Tiki. He decided to prove his theory by duplicating the legendary voyage.

On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl and five other adventurers sailed from Peru on a balsa log raft. After three months on the open sea, encountering raging storms, whales, and sharks, they sighted land -- the Polynesian island of Puka Puka.

Translated into sixty-five languages, Kon-Tiki is a classic, inspiring tale of daring and courage -- a magnificent saga of men against the sea.

I've had Kon-Tiki on my shelves for quite a while, relegated it to the bathroom and had been reading it a few pages at a time, until one day it finally captured my attention enough to make it a priority.  The first three chapters of the book goes into detail as he discussed copying Tiki's voyage, decided to really do it, got permission, put together a crew and traveled through a war zone to get the same wood as the legends of Tiki had used to build the raft. 

Once they launched, life got interesting as the men went with the flow of the water and nature. They learned what plants to eat which allowed them to drink sea water and avoid getting sick as well as harvesting plankton in the middle of the ocean.    I was particularly fascinated by all the underwater life in the middle of the sea that on an ordinary motorized ship would have gone unnoticed.  History and nature combined with Thor and the crew's dedication and courage to follow in Tiki's footsteps (or should I say 'wake') made for quite an adventure. 

Book Review: The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman

First lines:  "The London air was full of smog and filth. Kai's senses were better than those of a human, though he tried not to be too smug about it.  But even he couldn't see down a dark alley any better than the average Londoner.  And even native Londoners walked carefully in the narrow streets behind King's Cross Station."

Back Cover: The written word is mightier than the sword—most of the time...

Working in an alternate version of Victorian London, Librarian-spy Irene has settled into a routine, collecting important fiction for the mysterious Library and blending in nicely with the local culture. But when her apprentice, Kai—a dragon of royal descent—is kidnapped by the Fae, her carefully crafted undercover operation begins to crumble.

Kai’s abduction could incite a conflict between the forces of chaos and order that would devastate all worlds and all dimensions. To keep humanity from getting caught in the crossfire, Irene will have to team up with a local Fae leader to travel deep into a version of Venice filled with dark magic, strange coincidences, and a perpetual celebration of Carnival—and save her friend before he becomes the first casualty of a catastrophic war.

But navigating the tumultuous landscape of Fae politics will take more than Irene’s book-smarts and fast-talking—to ward off Armageddon, she might have to sacrifice everything she holds dear....

The Masked City is the 2nd book in Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series.  Irene uses all the resources possible from the Library to Silver to the King of Dragons as well as masquerading as a fae teacher's student, using her wit and making up things on the fly, to travel  through a world of chaos, in a race to save Kai.  The story is non stop action with unexpected twists and turns that will make you breathless by the the very end.

Book Review: Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

First lines:  The world is a clock winding down.  I hear it in the wind's icy fingers scratching against the window.  I smell it in the mildewed carpeting and the rotting wallpaper of the old hotel.  And I feel it in Teacup's chest as she sleeps.  The hammering of her heart, the rhythm of her breath, warm in the freezing air, the clock winding down.

Synopsis: How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans?

Rid the humans of their humanity. Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate. 

The Infinite Sea is the 2nd book in the young adult, apocalyptic series -  5th Wave -  in which aliens are trying to wipe out all humanity on earth.  It picks up right where the first book ended with the kids having escaped Camp Haven,  hiding out in an old hotel.  Ringer is leaving to go in search of other survivors, to find a safe place for all of them.  They are all aware she might not make it back, but are willing to take the risk. From there the story is non stop action, even though some of the characters remain hunkered down in the hotel, fighting psychological as well as physical forces, while Ringer battles for her mind and humanity against Camp Haven's commander, Vosch.   I'm looking forward to reading the third and final book in the series - The Last Star.  

Book Review: The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman

First Lines: "Richard did not become frightened until darkness began to settle over the woods.  In the fading light, the trees began to take on unfamiliar and menacing shapes. There was movement in the shadows. Low-hanging branches barred his path; rain-sodden leaved trailed wetly across his cheek."

Back cover:  He was the last-born son of the Duke of York and the last Plantagenet King.  He was Richard III, a complex man living in tumultuous times.  Caught in the vicious power struggle that history has called the War of the Roses, Richard had been raised in the shadow of his charismatic brother Edward.  At nineteen and against all odds, Edward had defeated the House of Lancaster and claimed the English throne for York.  Famous for his sensual appetites and his preference for the expedient over the correct, Edward nonetheless found in his younger brother Richard an unfailing loyal ally.  Richard himself was repaid for his allegiance; he was denied nothing, except the one thing he wanted most in life--the right to wed the woman he adored, Anne Neville. Their love would haunt them both and add to the tragedy of Richard's eventual defeat at the hands of the Tudors.

Sharon Kay Penman has become one of my favorite historical fiction story writers. I was first introduced to her books through her Welsh trilogy with Here Be Dragons.   Her stories are full of depth and richly populated with interesting historical characters.  

The Sunne in Splendour covers the life of Richard III over a 33 year period from when he was seven years old until after his death. From page one she immerses you in the lives of the House of York, as well as Lancaster and Neville.  I enjoyed learning about Richard, his brother Edward's rise to to be King and his relationship with Richard, the War of the Roses, the intrigues as well as betrayals of the time period.  History too often is rewritten with the facts being lost in the process when told from your enemies point of view. Through meticulous research, Penman set out to write a historical fiction novel that would show Richard wasn't the villain the Tudors and Shakespeare made him out to be. At 900+ pages, The Sunne in Splendour is a rich and densely packed story about 15th century England,  family, power, and politics which will capture your attention and hold you there until the very end.  

Monday Meanders: Weekly intentions - filling in the blanks

Sunday evening and hubby is using everything - including the kitchen sink - to make Margaritas!  *grin*    He dug out the old oster blender and ice crusher and is having a fun time mixing our drinks.  Best he's made yet...Well this time! 

I made great progress this week with outlining my current WIP on poster board and had more than a few epiphanies! I've always been a visual person so don't know why I didn't try this before.  Love seeing each scene and how I can move each one around to make better sense.

I'm far from done  and have written more notes,  found holes in the main arc and subplots and discovered which characters I need to still interview.  Even after two sessions with the storyboard, I can see I need to put in more time ironing out details so this week will continue to work with the story board and adding scenes.  I have made a lot of changes regarding the number of characters, deleting some and including new ones, plus I had too many points of view. I also forgot I had just the basics on my villains and never interviewed them, so will work on their background as well.  I think I'll give myself two more weeks for refreshing myself on story points, discovery and interview process, with the goal of beginning actual rewrites the first week of February.  I know characters will reveal new information and some things will change as we move through the story, so as always I'll remain flexible.  

However, life interrupts with taxes so I'll be working on those this week. I need to run our 2017 numbers and find out if we own more in  taxes than originally planned for, since our next estimated payment is due.  I know I should have done this a while back, but just didn't have the time.  Plus we coming to the end of the 1st semester of 12 grade and you guessed it, grades are due.  Lots of numbers will be floating through my head for the next few days.  

Meanwhile I'm 2/3rd's of the way through Sharon Kay Penman's historical novel,  The Sunne in Splendor.  I really enjoy her writing.  I shelved The Courage to Write because it was too negative for me and happily reading Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones essays as well as Write a Novel in Ten Minutes a Day by Katharine Grubb.

I've been quite inspired the past couple weeks and feeling more creative. I now look forward to writing, embracing whatever emotion is raised in the moment rather than burying my head in a book and ignoring life.  

Happy writing! 

    

Book Review: Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball 1973 by Haruki Murakami

Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball 

By 

Haruki Murakami 

Amazon:  Wind/Pinball, a unique two-in-one volume, includes, on one side, Murakami’s first novel Hear the Wind Sing. When you flip the book over, you can read his second novel, Pinball, 1973. Each book has its own stunning cover. In the spring of 1978, a young Haruki Murakami sat down at his kitchen table and began to write. The result: two remarkable short novels—Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973—that launched the career of one of the most acclaimed authors of our time. These powerful, at times surreal, works about two young men coming of age—the unnamed narrator and his friend the Rat—are stories of loneliness, obsession, and eroticism. They bear all the hallmarks of Murakami’s later books, and form the first two-thirds, with A Wild Sheep Chase, of the trilogy of the Rat. Widely available in English for the first time ever, newly translated, and featuring a new introduction by Murakami himself, Wind/Pinball gives us a fascinating insight into a great writer’s beginnings.

Hear the Wind Sing is an intriguing first book which reads like a memoir. Like his later books, it meanders and introduces topics or goes on tangents that you not quite sure how they fit, but you know they fit anyway. Parts of a whole, more story to come. Derek Hartfield, NEB radio, the girls who touched his life, Rat who is still a bit of a mystery. Captures you and leaves you wondering.

The 2nd in Murakami's rat trilogy illustrates his growing style for writing in a non linear, pseudo stream of consciousness style.  The fondness for the radio station guy calling out of the blue, his love for cats and dogs, and the theme of obsession.  Murakami loads his books with oddball characters which keeps you reading, wanting to know where he is taking you. The still unnamed narrator's memoir like journey with the nameless twins.  We learn somewhat more about Rat who is an very unhappy guy, but yet remains somewhat of a mystery.    The narrator's obsession over pinball has an quirky resolution you probably wouldn't find in other stories.  I thoroughly enjoyed both stories 

Book Review: Thomas Merton - Thoughts in Solitude

I fell in like with trappist monk Thomas Merton several years ago when I read Seven Storey Mountain.  Since then I've collected several of his works and they are always enlightening and inspirational.  

Synopsis:  Thoughtful and eloquent, as timely (or timeless) now as when it was originally published in 1956, Thoughts in Solitude addresses the pleasure of a solitary life, as well as the necessity for quiet reflection in an age when so little is private. Thomas Merton writes: "When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. But when men are violently deprived of the solitude and freedom which are their due, the society in which they live becomes putrid, it festers with servility, resentment and hate."

Thoughts in Solitude is a short read of 130 and packed with Merton's philosophical and spiritual thoughts on humility and silence.  So much stood out and I'll probably be coming back to this time and again. 

Part one:  Aspects of the Spiritual Life.  

"What is the use of praying if at the very moment of prayer, we have so little confidence in God that we are busy planning our own kind of answer to our prayer?

The spiritual life is first of all a life.  It is not merely something to be known and studied. It is to be lived.  

Meditation is one of the ways in which the spiritual man keeps himself awake.... It requires unending courage and perseverance and those who are not willing to work at it patiently will finally end in compromise.  Here, as elsewhere, compromise is another name for failure. To mediate is to think." 

Part Two: Love of Solitude:

"Words stand between silence and silence: Between the silence of things and the silence of our being.  Between the silence of the world and the silence of God.  When we have really met and know the world in silence, words do not separate us from the world nor from other men, nor from God, nor from ourselves because we no longer trust entirely in language to contain reality. 

"Do not flee to solitude from the community. Find God first in the community, then he will lead you to solitude." 

He recommends reading the Psalms as well as Max Pickard's The World of Silence from which he found inspiration.  I fortunately found The World of Silence online in pdf format and began to read it last night. I'll let you know what I think when I'm done. 

2018 Challenges, Goals and Intentions

Balancing Rocks by Stuant63

Happy New Year!   Yes,  it's that time of the year when we start over with good intentions to balance out our lives and spend less time on the internet.   I’m still trying to figure out my Word for the year – debating between persist, steadfast, or intention. 

To persist is to continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, course of action, or the like, especially in spite of opposition, remonstrance.  Also means to last or endure tenaciously.  

To be steadfast is to be fixed in direction; steadily directed

Intention - purpose or attitude toward the effect of one's actions or conduct. To have purpose or design. 

Now that I’ve looked at the definitions, persist and steadfast seem to be pretty much the same. Continue to stay the course, being stubborn, have purpose, despite opposition. The only opposition is myself and neither word at this point seems too terribly optimistic  or will help me move forward.  Intention is more positive, more purposeful. More action oriented.  I feel like I’d make more progress with life and  writing and other projects if I went with intent.  Instead of saying I think I will or maybe I will or perhaps we should, it will be I intend to.  Or as Yoda says "Do or do not, there is no try."  

Blog wise, the official posting schedule will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday which means the posts need to be written the day before. I started to dabble with poetry and created my own A to Z poetry challenge. I made it through K this past year since I started midway.   So I'm going to start all over again.  I want to keep the schedule flexible as I'll be working on not only poetry, but flash fiction and nonfiction, book reviews.

Back in June after reading Sage Cohen's Fierce on the Page,  I tried my own My Promise to Write Month (MyPRoWriMo) in which I posted every single day of the month and I did well for a couple months. This year I'm going to take it month by month, play it by ear and maybe do it every one month. We'll see.  I need to spend time coming up with an outline, work on editing my current WIP as well as coming up with new story ideas so will probably start MyProWriMo in February.

Writing wise, I've been having a  failure to commit to anything. My last WIP is festering. I haven't any new ideas except perhaps one that is percolating at the moment.  This is where my word of the year comes in.  My intent is to finish rewriting my current WIP by the end of the year or decide once and for all to shelve the story.  Now that I'm starting to feel more creative having freed myself from the 'silence' debacle, I'm ready to dive in.  I'm going to feel my way through the schedule for January, determining when the best time to write and the best time to edit works for me, plus figure out a weekly word goal. 

Reading Wise: For the next few months, I’ll be reading from my TBR shelves since every year I start off with the goal of a  4 month buying ban.  I usually make it until February before I’m enticed by a new release by a favorite author.  *grin*  

I’m starting my year with something historical but couldn’t wait to start and dove into Sharon Kay Penman’s 15th century history fiction novel -  The Sunne in Splendor – a couple day ago.  A dusty and chunky book which has been calling my name for some time.  I’ll be dipping into Murakami’s Trilogy of the Rat starting with Hear the Wind Sing in between Penman's book since it is quite chunky.

My 52 Books armchair travel adventures are starting the year in Japan and China so besides  Murakami’s Trilogy of the Rat and Miyabe’s The Gates of Sorrow, the other books on my nightstand is  Keigo Higashino's Devotion of Suspect X, Qui Xiaolong's Mao Case, and Cixin Lui's Three Body Problem.

Inspiration  wise – I’m reading Thomas Merton’s Thoughts in Solitude.

Writing wise – Katherine Grubb’s Write a Novel in Ten Minutes a Day as well as Ralph Keyes The Courage to Write.  

Audiobook wise – I’m listening to Faith Hunter’s Blood of the Earth.  James and I are also listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 

“Live with intention.

Walk to the edge.

Listen Hard.

Practice wellness.

Play with abandon.

Laugh.

Choose with no regret.

Appreciate your friends.

Continue to learn.

Do what you love.

Live as if this is all there is.” 

― Mary Anne Radmacher

~Cheers to a wonderful, productive, intentional writing and reading new year!