I write southern historical fiction, local history, and I've written a devotional book. The two novels I'm writing are set in Virginia and the Carolinas in the 1760s. My weekly blog started out to follow my journey as a writer and a reader, but in 2025 it has been greatly expanded to include current events and politics in the United States as I see our democracy under attack from within. The political science major in me cannot sit idly by and remain silent.
For starters, relax, no mention of politics in America in today’s post.
Second, where did October go? Or September, for that matter?
I only read two books in October, but they were both wonderful reads that gave me much to think about. It was great to get back in the groove and read some excellent historical fiction!
The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau
Two weeks ago, on October 20th, I blogged about The Weight of Snow and Regret, an historical novel by Elizabeth Gauffreau. If you missed reading that post, please go back and read it now: The Weight of Snow and Regret.
The Weight of Snow and Regret, by Elizabeth Gauffreau
I don’t want you to miss it! Ms. Gauffreau’s novel will take you back to a time in our country when poor houses were available for people who did not have anywhere else to go. The book is populated by distinct characters who will tug at your heart.
After not finding any novels that held my attention for months, October was a much-needed dive back into reading for pleasure for me.
15,000 Kilometers, by Laleh Chini
In addition to reading Elizabeth Gauffreau’s new novel, I read Laleh Chini’s new book, 15,000 Kilometers. In case you are an American and kilometers don’t mean anything to you, 15,000 kilometers is more than 9,300 miles. The book is Laleh Chini’s husband’s memoir.
15,000 Kilometers, by Laleh Chini
Hassan was a teenager when he risked his life to escape Iran after the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979. Life under the Shah’s rule was not perfect, but things deteriorated rapidly during and after the revolution.
This book will take you along with Hassan every excruciating step of the way as he was determined to get to Canada and have a free life.
Hassan’s decision was gut-wrenching for himself and his parents, but he faced a bleak future if he stayed in his home country. He already had his eye on the lovely Laleh, who was from his hometown. He never gave up on his dream of reaching Canada and reuniting with Laleh.
He joined others who sought to escape Iran, and they bonded as they walked and ran to the border with Afghanistan, then braved the desert with very little food and water, always at the mercy of smugglers they had placed their lives in the hands of.
Then came two more countries! Hassan continued to do everything he needed to do to blend in and not draw attention to himself in one strange land after another.
Did Hassan make it to Canada? How did he and Laleh find one another again after so much terror and sacrifice? I don’t want to give that away. You must read the book to appreciate Hassan’s bravery and sacrifice and to see if he realized his dream.
The exquisite hand-drawn illustrations are a bonus in 15,000 Kilometers. There are wonderful detailed images of Hasson, the guards and other men he encountered, and some of the sights he saw along the way.
The words and the images in 15,000 Kilometers, by Laleh Chini, are a real treasure that reminded me how fortunate I was to be born in the United States. Even with all of America’s flaws and current challenges, I was blessed to be born and grow up in a free country.
Hurricane Helene Update
As of Friday, October 31, 31 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene’s wind, flooding, and landslides on September 26, 2024. That’s two fewer roads than were closed when I gave my last update two weeks ago. Friday’s count included five US highways, two state highways, and 24 state roads.
Future progress will probably be slow, as winter weather is already setting in in the mountains. I will give updates periodically as there is something new to report.
Sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will remain closed for at least another year, and I-40 at the Tennessee line will continue to be just two lanes at 35 miles-per-hour for a couple more years while five miles of the highway are being rebuilt in the Pigeon River Gorge.
But western North Carolina is open for business and tourists this fall, although the elevations above 3,000 feet are well past their peak of fall color. Be aware that you might run into a detour, and you can’t drive the full length of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
If you visit western North Carolina, please drop by Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville and Highland Books in Brevard. Tell them I sent you. They sell my books!
Being a cold month and more than a little wet in North Carolina, January turned out to be a great 31 days of reading opportunities for me. Today I’m blogging about three of the 10 books I read last month. I’ll blog about the other books February 11 and 19.
As I often have in the past, I begin this post about the books I’ve read by stating that I am not a book reviewer. True book reviewers have some rules they go by. I have no such rules; I just write my reactions to the books I read. Sometimes my political leanings come through. I majored in political science in college. I can’t help myself!
I enjoy a variety of genres. Much of my reading is more or less dictated by when my name reaches the top of the waitlist at the public library. If not for the public library, my reading selections would be severely limited. Never miss a chance to support your local public library!
That said, here are my thoughts about three of the books I read in January.
So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men, by Claire Keegan
So Lat in the Day: Stories of Women and Men, by Claire Keegan
This book is made up of three short stories, each taking a look at the relationships between women and men – each from a different perspective. The publisher calls this book a “triptych of stories about love, lust, betrayal, and the ever-intriguing interchanges between women and men.”
The first story shares the title of the book. In it, Ms. Keegan, an Irish author, explores what Irishmen think of women in general. What she portrays is a man who never in any way thinks of a woman as his equal. It is demonstrated through a love story that goes sour when the bride-to-be sees the groom-to-be for what he is. Underlying the story is the premise that this man is the way he is because that’s what his father was like.
“The Long and Painful Death” is the second story in this book. It’s about a writer who goes to live in the basement of a house on an island to be the writer-in-residence for two months. She has a strange encounter with a scary German man.
“Antartica” is the third story. It’s a dark tale about a married woman who goes to London under the guise of doing Christmas shopping for her husband and children, but in reality she goes to find out what it would be like to sleep with a different man. This tale begins nicely and (spoiler alert!) ends badly.
Vitiligo Made Me Beautiful, by Laleh Chini
Vitiligo Made Me Beautiful, by Laleh Chini
This is the latest book published by my dear blogger friend, Laleh Chini. Although the book is meant for children ages 7-12 years of age, it can serve as a reminder to adults, too, that we need to always be kind to one another.
The main character in the book is a little girl who wakes up one day with white patches on her skin. A few days later she is diagnosed with Vitiligo. It is a condition in which patches of a person’s skin lose their color. This, of course, is especially difficult for a person with dark skin.
In the book, the little girl’s classmates rally around her as they focus on what they like about her and her qualities and talents. Don’t we adults need to do that more often, too?
If you want to read a compelling book by Laleh Chini, I recommend Climbing Over Grit. It is the story of her mother’s growing up years in Iran and the child bride culture there. Fortunately, Laleh’s family escaped life under that regime when she was 16 years old, and they made their way to the United States. Here’s the link to Climbing Over Grit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/9176375536/. It won the Canada Book Award
Climbing Over Grit, by Marzeeh Laleh Chini & Abnoos Mosleh-Shirazi
If you’d like to read what I said about Climbing Over Grit on my blog right after I read it, please follow this link to my November 5, 2018 post: Many Good Books Read in October!
Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th, by Harry Dunn
Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th, by Harry Dunn
Harry Dunn was on duty at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 – that infamous day of the insurrection and attempted coup. I’ll never be able to erase the images of that day as I watched TV in horror.
In his book, Mr. Dunn talks about the honor it is to serve as a US Capitol police officer. He talks about our country’s history and how proud he has always been to serve in that complex government building, to protect the US Constitution and the people inside that building. He talks about how he enjoys interacting with people who visit that building.
And he talks about the unexpected vicious attack on our democracy on January 6, 2021 and how it has changed him forever. He talks about the violence and the racial slurs, the bear spray, the WD-40 spray, the pepper spray, the beatings, and the hatred the mob showed toward police officers and our country that day.
He talks about the fact that some in the mob were already convicted felons with a history of violence. He talks about some in the mob being swept up in the moment after being hoodwinked by Trump’s big lie.
He talks about the fragility of democracy.
This is a gutsy, no-holds-barred, raw book. I highly recommend it, especially if you have any doubts about what happened on January 6, 2021.
Since my last blog post
I learn from comments from readers of my blog. One of the comments I got in response to last week’s post prompted me to add a postscript to that blog post. I’m afraid my reference to the side effects of my second Shingrix injection might deter others from getting the Shingles vaccination. That was not my intent. I had Shingles in my right eye a few years ago. It felt like a knife in my eye for weeks; therefore, I was eager to get the Shingrix vaccine as soon as it was available free of charge for Medicare patients. The discomfort of the side effects of the shot pale in comparison to the pain of having Shingles, so please talk to your doctor about the Shingrix two-injection vaccine, and take it if you are a good candidate for it.
My research about the route of The Great Wagon Road/The Carolina Road in Virginia continues as I work on my historical novel tentatively titled The Heirloom.
Until my next blog post
You have no idea how much I appreciate the moral support my blog readers give me – even when I fail to read all their blog posts!
I hope you have at least one good book to read.
I hope you will pay attention to reputable news sources and keep up with the events in the world. If you are a citizen of the USA, I pray you will do so to be an informed voter this year more than ever before.
Remember the people of Ukraine as they are the only ones standing between Vladimir Putin and his invasion of NATO countries. When a dictator or a dictator-wannabe announces his plans, believe him.
I considered writing about the Louisiana Purchase today. You know, that 828,000 square miles (or 2,140,000 kilometers) of central and northwestern present-day United States of America purchased from France in 1803 during the Thomas Jefferson Administration? It’s a fascinating topic, but I decided to set it aside in favor of writing a follow-up to last week’s blog post, “Am I a Sun or Just Another Star?”
Was that a collective sigh of relief I heard from the blogosphere?
In answer to last week’s question, I admitted I’m just another star in the blogosphere, and I’m okay with that. Of the 40,320,000 blog posts published every week, I would be delusional to think my one measly post stood out in the crowd.
I wrote that blog experts tell people like me that we have to find our niche. Often times it seems those experts are pushing me to find something to write about that no one else is writing about. The advice that always stops me in my tracks is the ever-popular: Your blog must solve someone’s problems.
I have enough trouble solving my own problems without taking on someone else’s. Perhaps if I had a product to sell or stellar advice to offer on a particular subject, my blog could solve someone’s problem. That’s not going to happen.
At the end of last week’s post, I asked for feedback about my blog. I wanted to know what you like and what you don’t like about my blog, so I could make adjustments to make my blog more appealing. I thank each one of you who took the time to leave a comment.
In a nutshell, people seem to like my blog topics just the way they are. “Whew!” No one had the courage to tell me to stop writing about my long-suffering novel. And no one said my “OnThisDay” posts need to bite the dust. I usually get lots of “likes” when I blog about the books I’ve read, so I think that first-of-the-month topic is safe, too.
Photo credit: neonbrand-3gznpblimwc-unsplash
Here are some of the people who gave me feedback last week:
Jo (stillrestlessjo.com blog)
Jo, an Englishwoman living in Portugal wrote the following: “Something that captures my interest, and holds it, and isn’t trying to sell me something. You pretty much succeeded, Janet. Good luck with the book.” Jo’s photos from Portugal are fascinating. I’ll never get there in person, so her pictures bring the southern coast of that country to me.
Randall Anderson
Randall from the state of Georgia wrote that each blog he follows reflects the individual blogger, and that’s what he likes about blogs. Randall specifically commented that he enjoys my blog posts about the books I read because he can compare notes on the ones he’s read and sometimes discovers something he wants to read.
Francisco Bravo Cabrera (paintinginvalencia.wordpress.com)
Francisco in Valencia, Spain is one of my loyal readers. He offers encouragement every week as I aspire to be a novelist. His blog brings art history and music to me that have greatly broadened my horizons. He recently redesigned his blog. He never ceases to amaze me with his talent as a painter, a poet, and his ability to enhance his blog with music and graphics. Francis and I have a bit of a mutual admiration society going on. He flatters me by saying he’s amazed at how many books I read and says I write about them and about history in a way that he envies. The truth of the matter is, every one of his blog posts amazes me.
Laleh Chini (lalehchini.com)
Laleh, a native of Iran who lives in Canada, is another loyal follower of my blog. She encourages me to keep writing, and I’m encouraged by the several books she has written and published in the last few years. The stories she shares from her native Iran often remind me of the parables of Jesus. Her stories remind me that human beings are very much the same all over the world, regardless of nationality or religion. Laleh is a fantastic storyteller and freely shares her talent on her blog.
Neil Scheinin (yeahanotherblogger.com)
And then there’s Neil Scheinin. His blog always brings a smile to my face. He describes his blog as “an award-free/tag-free/challenge-free/etc.-free blog,” and I love that. (I’m tempted to steal that description, Neil!) Neil goes with the flow. His laid-back, self-deprecating style draws me in every time. The last time I checked, his December 7, 2021 blog post had 141 “likes.” Just for comparison, I do cartwheels (well, I would if I could) when I get more than 10 likes.) In his response to my blog post last week, Neil rightly pointed out that WordPress gives bloggers a wonderful platform for expressing ourselves and he added that it has brought to his attention that there are many good writers out there.
S.J. Schwaidelson wifelyperson.blogspot.com AND sjschwaidelson.com
S.J. Schwaidelson took more than a few minutes to write a sincere and thoughtful response to my blog post last week. She’s a New York native who has made her home in Minnesota for many years. She’s a novelist, current events blogger, and playwright. She shared with me the three main things she’s learned from her two blogs. Yes, you heard me right: she writes two very different blogs. She started her first blog after her husband, Ziggy’s death: wifelyperson.blogspot.com. After her third novel was published, she launched her new blog about being an author. You can find it through sjschwaidelson.com.
Rebecca Cuningham (fakeflamenco.com)
Rebecca Cuningham and I have recently found some common interests and started following each other’s blogs. Rebecca writes from Wisconsin. Her blog brings to life her many interests and talents. She shares her vast knowledge of history, her travel experiences, her humor, and life in Wisconsin – all through her descriptions and photographs. Rebecca sets the bar high for me when it comes to writing about history. She’s fluent in English and Spanish and, like Francis Cabrera, she blogs in both languages.
Trish Deveneau (trishdeveneau.com)
Trish Deveneau is a retired teacher, writer of creative nonfiction, blogger, and once-again resident of New York. Her comment last week was so well thought out and beautifully written that I not only will share it here, but I also printed it and taped it to the top of my computer screen. She wrote: “I enjoy blogs that are written from the heart as well as the head, that make me think about things in a new way or expose me to ideas that I haven’t yet bumped into. And of course, I am looking for prose that makes me sit up and take notice!” Please visit Trish’s blog. She writes from her heart and from her head and will expose you to ideas you probably haven’t bumped into yet.
Shelly DS (growingwithspawn.com)
Shelly dropped by my blog yesterday for the first time. I love hearing from new readers! Shelly’s words of wisdom in her comment included the following: “focus on our own niches than to be trying to conquer the universe… that’s the best way to add value!” Absolutely, Shelly! Your comment reminded me of the old saying, “Bloom where you’re planted.” Every blogger needs to do his or her own thing and have fun with it.
Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash
As for me…
Blogging is a creative outlet for me, but it comes with a responsibility. It takes a reader a few minutes to read a blog post. Everyone’s time is limited and valuable, so I appreciate every time my blog is read.
I’m fortunate to have some loyal blog readers. I count them as friends. I value their time, their “likes,” and their comments. A bonus this past week was hearing from several new people. I feel like I’m constantly adding to my circle of blogging friends.
Knowing I have readers and friends throughout the United States and around the world makes the pandemic, conflicts, and other crises of life in 2021 a little easier to take.
By the way, I didn’t try to put true links to the blogs of my referenced respondents because I was afraid I’d mess someone’s link up. I hope I’ve included enough information that you can find each of their blogs by using a search engine.
Since my last blog post
In addition to reading the comments my blog received and responding to each of them, I also found time to read and write. A lot of my public library waitlisted books came in. One of them is Diana Gabaldon’s latest novel, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. It’s 900 pages and I have three weeks to read it – along with a stack of other books. Wish me luck!
I dived into the writings of K.M. Weiland and suddenly some elements of novel structure fell into place for me. It was truly one of those “aha” moments and it felt like a weight was lifted off my back. I didn’t add to my word count this week, but what I finally learned about novel structure was priceless. I’d read all that structure stuff many times before, but last week I was finally able to visualize my manuscript in that framework and that made a world of difference.
Between breaking a 10-year-old crown while eating pizza, having to get it replaced, learning that an acquaintance has Covid-19 and is on a ventilator in ICU, running out of my medicine that keeps my Seasonal Affective Disorder under control, and finding out that our dog’s heart is three times its normal size, it’s been a trying week; however, all I need to do is to think of the thousands of people who were left homeless by tornadoes in Kentucky and five other states last week, and I realize how blessed I am.
Life goes on for me. Tomorrow is promised to no one, but today I continue to live my life and enjoy the benefits it gives me. I have a roof over my head and access to more food than I should or need to eat. I live in a place of relative peace and quiet. All those blessings probably put me in the top one percent of all the people in the world. I truly don’t know how fortunate I am.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have at least one good book to read. I have so many to choose from that it makes selecting just one difficult. Hence, I usually have several books going at the same time. (Thank you, free public library systems!)
Note: Tomorrow is National Short Story Day in the United States. Support your local library and short story writer by reading a short story. With some hard work and a bit of luck, maybe I’ll have a collection of short stories to offer you next year when Short Story Day rolls around.
If you’re of the Christian faith, I hope you have a very meaningful Christmas Day on Saturday.
Janet
P.S. When I previewed this post to see how it would look on a tablet or smaller mobile device, it looked terrible. There were no margins! I hope that’s not the way it will look published!
Post three photos of just yourself and write a short caption beneath each about why you chose that photo.
Nominate seven women for the Fix Her Crown Award, women who lend a helping hand to the woman whose crown seems too heavy, who appreciate the sister who dares to be her own glorious self, who raise strong young women, who smile at the sister journeying alone and walk alongside her for a time, who stand with the sister whose crown has been knocked off her head time after time and women who shine as their own beautifully unique selves.
Link to the blogs of the seven nominees.
Here are three photos of me:
Silas and Janet were equally excited the day “their” vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, arrived in July, 2014.
Janet with Penny Padgett, owner of The Book Shelf in Tryon, North Carolina. Penny and The Book Shelf bookstore hold a special place in my heart. Penny was the first (and only) book store owner who invited me to have a book signing after my vintage postcard book was published. That was in happier days for Penny and for me. Sadly, she has had to sell off her inventory and close the bookstore this year after not being able to find a buyer for her business in the wonderful small mountain town of Tryon.
This is a photo of my first local history column in 2005 in the now defunct weekly newspaper, Harrisburg Horizons in Harrisburg, North Carolina. I wrote a different local history article every other week for more than six years. It was the most enjoyable “job” I’ve ever had. Maybe someday I’ll be able to publish all those newspaper columns in a book!
That’s enough about me. Here are the women, in random order, I nominate for the Fix Her Crown Award:
I enjoyed participating in February so I look forward
to blogging the four Tuesdays in March using these prompts.
It was tempting to list two books that readily came to
mind, but I decided to give today’s prompt some deeper thought. I reviewed the
list of books I’ve read and the two I chose to write about might not be selected
by anyone else doing Rae’s #TwoForTuesday challenge.
Climbing
Over Grit,
by Marzeeh Laleh Chini and Abnoos Mosleh-Shirazi
Climbing Over Grit, by Marzeeh Laleh Chini and Abnoos Mosleh-Shirazi
Few books I read in 2018 left an impression on me like
Climbing Over Grit, by Laleh Chini
and her son. It left me wondering how any women raised in Iran have the
strength, resolve, and grit to overcome the oppression that men inflict on
females there.
“I have been following Laleh Chini’s blog, “A Voice from Iran” for quite a
while, but I had somehow missed knowing that she was writing a book. When she
announced that her book, Climbing Over Grit, was available on
preorder, I immediately ordered it. Laleh has a gift for storytelling, so I
knew her book would be good.
“Little did I know that Laleh’s book was based on some experiences within
her own family! The book is written in first-person point-of-view, but I still
didn’t catch on that it was written in her mother’s voice until I came to a
page well into the book that said something like, “The second daughter was
named Laleh.” I gasped out loud! It was then that I couldn’t put the book down.
I finished reading it at 4:30 in the morning.
“I still cringe to think about some of Laleh’s family members being
subjected to arranged child marriage and the abuse that often goes along with
that practice.
“Fortunately for her readers, Laleh got out of Iran at the age of 16 and
came to the United States. She now resides in Canada. The photographs and
Iranian folktales she shares in her blog have helped me get a picture of an
Iran I didn’t know existed.
“Climbing Over Grit is not a pleasant read, but I highly recommend
it to anyone wanting to know more about the child bride culture of Iran. Her
blog can be found at https://avoicefromiran.wordpress.com/.”
The
Taster, by V.S. Alexander
The Taster, by V.S. Alexander
I’m sure somewhere in my study of history I knew that
tasters had to sample Adolph Hitler’s food before he ate it, but it wasn’t
something I’d given a lot of thought to until I read The Taster, by V.S. Alexander. What The Taster shines a bright light on is the fact that Hitler’s
tasters were all women because in his warped mind women were replaceable.
I’ve read The
Magdalene Girls and The Taster,
by V.S. Alexander and I am impatiently waiting to rise to the top of the
waitlist at the library for The Irishman’s
Daughter. Alexander is fast becoming one of my favorite historical fiction
writers.
I read The
Taster a year ago and shared my thoughts about the book in my March 5, 2018
blog post “Reading and Writing in February 2018,” (https://janetswritingblog.com/2018/03/05/reading-and-writing-in-february-2018/.)
Feel free to read that entire blog post, if you missed it the first time. The
following is a quote from that post:
“The Taster is the story of a young woman in need of a job and
living in Hitler’s Germany. The job she got was not a job she wanted. She was
selected to be a food and drink taster for Adolph Hitler. Hitler was mortified
of being poisoned, so all his food and drink had to be tasted in advance by a
replaceable woman. If a taster died, she could be replaced. Hitler, of course,
did not see himself as replaceable.”
The life of a food taster for Hitler was beyond
stressful, as we can only imagine. The tasters didn’t know from one meal,
snack, or reception to the next if that would be their last bit of food or
drink.
Some months I get lucky with the books I get to read. October was one of those. I was overwhelmed with library books for which I reached the top of the waitlist. Several books had to go back to the library unread, so those remain on my to be read list.
Climbing Over Grit, by Marzeeh Laleh Chini and Abnoos Mosleh-Shirazi
Climbing Over Grit, by Marzeeh Laleh Chini and Abnoos Mosleh-Shirazi
I have been following Laleh Chini’s blog, “A Voice from Iran” for quite a while, but I had somehow missed knowing that she was writing a book. When she announced that her book, Climbing Over Grit, was available on preorder, I immediately ordered it. Laleh has a gift for storytelling, so I knew her book would be good.
Little did I know that Laleh’s book was based on some experiences within her own family! The book is written in first-person point-of-view, but I still didn’t catch on that it was written in her mother’s voice until I came to a page well into the book that said something like, “The second daughter was named Laleh.” I gasped out loud! It was then that I couldn’t put the book down. I finished reading it at 4:30 in the morning.
I still cringe to think about some of Laleh’s family members being subjected to arranged child marriage and the abuse that often goes along with that practice.
Fortunately for her readers, Laleh got out of Iran at the age of 16 and came to the United States. She now resides in Canada. He photographs and Iranian folktales she shares in her blog have helped me get a picture of an Iran I didn’t know existed.
Climbing Over Grit is not a pleasant read, but I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the child bride culture of Iran. Her blog can be found at https://avoicefromiran.wordpress.com/.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris
The Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris
The main character in The Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris, will haunt me for a long time. Ludwig “Lale” Sokolov was a Slovakian Jew taken to the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Nazis. He was not a trained tattooist, but he found he could do the work. Anything to stay alive. He had to tattoo the identification numbers on the forearms of the prisoners at Auschwitz and Birkenau for the last two to three years of World War II.
One particular female prisoner named Gita caught his eye, and they began a love story. The promise of being together forever with each other helped keep both of them alive throughout their awful ordeals.
This is a story of courage, love, and man’s inhumanity to man. It is an international bestseller and is based on a true story. His position of some level of trust affords Lale the opportunity to come in possession of some money and jewels that were taken from other Jews upon their arrival at the concentration camps. He used those items in exchange for food for his fellow prisoners.
The author interviewed Lale and his descendants in order to weave Lale and Gita’s story into this work of fiction. Their story of suffering, courage, and love will stay with me for a long time. Even those of you who don’t normally read historical fiction might find this novel appealing.
Sea Prayer, by Khaled Hosseini
Sea Prayer, by Khaled Hosseini; illustrated by Dan Williams
My October 8, 2018 blog post, Words of Khaled Hosseini was about his new children’s book, Sea Prayer. I invite you to read that post in case you missed it earlier.
I will not go into the details of Sea Prayer today, since I explored the book’s theme in that earlier blog post. Although it is a book for juveniles, I highly recommend it to people of all ages – to anyone old enough to have an understanding of what a refugee is.
The Devil and Webster, by Jean Hanff Korelitz
I mention this book because the premise sounded promising. I tried two or three times to read it, but I just couldn’t get into it. I decided to list it today because it just might appeal to some of you. It is literary satire, so maybe I just don’t get the satire or didn’t read enough of it to catch on. The book has many five-star reviews. People seem to really like it or not like it at all. I read the first 25 percent of the book.
Lying in Wait, by Liz Nugent
Lying in Wait, by Liz Nugent
After reading A.J. Finn’s recommendation for Liz Nugent’s Lying in Wait, I checked it out of the library. I had enjoyed Mr. Finn’s novel, The Woman in the Window, so his recommendation carried a lot of weight. I was not disappointed in this psychological thriller.
The first chapter of Lying in Wait is from the point-of-view of Lydia and opens with the following sentence: “My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.” That got my attention, so I kept reading.
Part I of the novel takes place in 1980. Each chapter was from the point-of-view of one of the characters, and the emphasis was on how Annie Doyle’s parents and sister responded to her unexpected disappearance. It is near the end of Part I when the reader finds out why Lydia’s husband killed Annie.
Part II follows each character as they continue to deal with the situation in 1985. You have Annie’s sister still demanding answers from the police over her missing sister, while Lydia and her son deal with the secret of Annie’s murder. To get into the details, I would have to reveal too much of the storyline, so I’ll leave it at that. Suffice it to say, there are some interesting interactions between some of the characters.
Part III jumps to 2016 to pull together all the loose ends, and the ending might surprise you.
As a rule, I don’t like novels in which chapters alternate between various characters’ points-of-view, but this format worked for Lying in Wait. I want to read more of Liz Nugent’s books. She has won many awards for her writing in her native Ireland and, apparently, has a cult-like following.
My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
This historical novel told from the point-of-view of Eliza Schuyler, wife of Alexander Hamilton is a long but enjoyable read. At 642 pages, it’s the longest book I’ve read in quite a while. I must say I learned some things about Alexander Hamilton, and I learned a great many things about his wife. I really knew nothing about her before reading the book.
That said, it is a work of historical fiction, so most of Eliza’s feelings and emotions throughout the book fall into the fiction category. I appreciated the authors’ extensive notes at the end of the book where they told what was true, what was fiction, and what was adjusted chronologically to make the book work. I also appreciated the fact that they included in the book that Eliza grew up on a plantation that had slaves in the state of New York. Many people are not aware that some people outside The South owned slaves in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
It’s about time the women who helped found our nation got a little credit.
Since my last blog post
I attended the memorial service for a true American hero, Seville Schofield Funk, Sr. He served in the United States Army’s 10th Mountain Division in Italy during World War II. In the line of service he sustained a broken ankle and went back into battle after a brief recovery. Later, he was shot in the left shoulder and returned to battle. Later, he was shot in the right shoulder and yet again returned to the front lines. I was honored to have known this unassuming man. When I go to my polling place to vote tomorrow, it will be because Mr. Funk and others like him have preserved my freedom to vote by their unselfish military service.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
If you’re a writer, I hope you have productive writing time.
Thank you for reading my blog. You could have spent the last few minutes doing something else, but you chose to read my blog. I appreciate it! I welcome your comments.
Let’s continue the conversation.
Have you read any good books lately? Have you read any of the books I read last month? If so, what did you think of them?
Janet's Writing Blog 