Writer | Teacher | Editor | Publisher
Deep into edits
of stories about family,*
I am reminded why
we explore
the boxes,
the stacks of old letters,
the clippings
from news,
pages of a journal.
Every word a link
to history.
Every image a glimpse
at our past,
Hand-held.
Pieces to the puzzle.
“Write what should not be forgotten.” ~ Isabel Allende
Most often, the Remington Roundup includes links for writers, but this month, it’s entirely devoted to readers.
Over the next two months, I’ll be posting on four-freshly pressed books–as author Q&A’s or as a general review–all four from different genres and guaranteed to pique your interest. Today, I’m offering a sneak peek at these books with notes to mark your calendars: there are also giveaways in the near future (after all, good reading is good sharing)!
Published by Forest Avenue Press, this book hit the Bestsellers list at Powell’s City of Books one day after it launched. From Forest Avenue Press’ website:
…death, darkness, ghosts. Hungry sea monsters and alien slime molds. Blood drinkers and game show hosts. Set in Portland, Oregon, these thirty original stories blend imagination, literary writing, and pop culture into a cohesive weirdness that honors the city’s personality, its bookstores and bridges and solo volcano….
Kirkus includes City of Weird in its list, “A Savory selection of Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read,” and yeah, savory is a perfect description. I’m relishing each story I read, going all wide-eyed as I get lost in the pages, even though I know there’s no such thing as a tattoo of an octopus that comes alive, hungry for more than just mollusks. Or is there?….
Look for my review at the end of October.
A romantic comedy about protagonists Oliver Pike and Page Maddux and “fifty-one seniors on a multinational bus tour, including a ninety-five-year-old with a lethal cane.” From The Thurston Hotel Books website:
In the hold of the bus, amid the walkers and luggage, lies a half-frozen stowaway. Page Maddux is commitment-averse and obviously lacking in common sense. Once revived, she’s also the person Oliver must depend upon to help him keep the “oldsters,” as she calls them, out of harm’s way.
Once a month, I meet with a group of senior citizens for a writing class, and what I’ve learned in my time with them is that age serves to energize. They don’t mess around; they mean business–in life as much as in love, I imagine. Especially when it comes to bringing people together.
Even more intriguing, Opposite of Frozen is the second book in a series of 12 novels, each written by a different author but set in the same fictional Canadian town–a literary cooperative that gives readers the taste of several authors’ work in one collection.
Watch for the Q&A (& giveaway) in early November.
If you’re a poetry lover, this one’s for you, with three chapbooks between the covers of one publication. From Upper Rubber Boot Books’ website:
…brothers Anders and Kai Carlson-Wee’s Northern Corn invites us on a trip across an America of dust, trains, poverty, dignity, and dreams; Begotten, co-written by Cave Canem fellows F. Douglas Brown and Geffrey Davis, bravely and tenderly explores fatherhood in the era of Black Lives Matter; and Enid Shomer’s Driving through the Animal lovingly moves between unflinching witness of destruction and hope for the future.
To get a taste of the authors’ work, check out the website of Kai Carlson-Wee; listen to F. Douglas Brown read two of his poems from his collection, Zero to Three; read Enid Shomer’s poem, “Bald,” on 32 Poems.
Watch for the Q&A (& giveaway) with authors Brown and Davis in late November/early December.
A cartoonist, writer, and teacher, Amy Kurzweil’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, Huffington Post, and more. Her new graphic memoir is a story about three generations of women. From Amy Kurzweil’s website:
At thirteen years old, [my grandmother] Bubbe (as I call her) escaped the Warsaw Ghetto alone, by disguising herself as a gentile. My mother taught me: our memories and our families shape who we become. What does it means to be part of a family, but how does each generation bear the imprint of the past, its traumas and its gifts? Flying Couch is my answer to these questions, the documentation of my quest for identity and understanding.
Watch the book trailer (one of the best I’ve seen).
And, look for the Q&A (& giveaway) in mid December.
So…if you haven’t subscribed to the blog yet, this is a good time to do so (for the giveaways alone–free books, people!). It’s easy: CLICK HERE.
Great New Books (GNB) is a website dedicated to spreading the word about favorite books and must-reads. With a team of 10 bloggers, GNB posts a book recommendation once a week on fiction or nonfiction, memoir, young adult, and more–a diverse range of reading guaranteed to grow your t0-be-read pile.
This week, I’m honored to be one of their guest bloggers, where I spotlight one of my recent faves: Anna Solomon’s newest novel, Leaving Lucy Pear:
Several years ago I fell in love with Anna Solomon’s first novel, The Little Bride, so it took hardly any press on the news of her second, Leaving Lucy Pear, to convince me to run out and grab it. In both books, Solomon weaves vivid imagery with a deep study of characters, so that the events of one person’s story are molded by the decisions of another.
Click HERE to read the rest of my GNB review of Leaving Lucy Pear, a book that speaks on the Jewish American experience, on cultural expectations and gender roles, and on women who go against the grain.
And many thanks to Jennifer Lyn King and the rest of the GNB team for the invitation to post!