The Summer of Reading

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 Last week I realized to my horror that I hadn't put together my summer reading list yet. So, I promptly went to work compiling such a list. By the time I finished thirty-five individual titles looked back at me. I have since narrowed it down a bit to only thirty-one and decided to share the list with you all.

Fiction:

The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim

Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag

The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

Sundown Slim by Henry Herbert Knibbs

Pied Piper by Nevil Shute (I actually finished this one a few days ago and plan on writing a review of it at some point in time. In short, I loved it.)

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard

Stella Dallas by Olive Higgins Prouty

N or M by Agatha Christie

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

A Fair Barbarian by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmund Rostand

The Zion Chronicles Series by Bodie Thoene

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock

Non-Fiction:

Reckless Abandon by David Sitton

The Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson

London Afresh by E.V. Lucas

Spies of the First World War by James Morton

Norman Rockwell: My Adventures as an Illustrator by Norman Rockwell

Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss

Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung

Mission at Nuremberg by Tim Townsend

Land of the Burnt Thigh by Edith Eudora Kohl

Rereads:

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Random Harvest by James Hilton

 It is an ambitious list for someone who only managed twenty-five books last summer, and I probably will switch out quite of few of them for others as the summer goes by, but I will be quite happy and contented if I can top last summer's book count by even a little bit.

What are you reading/planning on reading this summer?

Book Review: "Ain't We Got Fun"

 "It was never much of an issue for Bess: living contentedly on her family's farm, despite the Depression which loomed around them. But when her older sister Georgiana takes off to New York City to make a fortune and help Papa out, feelings of adventure and wanderlust strike Bess at home. Through their lively letter correspondence, the sisters recount to one another their adventures, surprises, and heartaches, leaving little room for depression. For in a world of such wonder, ain't we got fun?"

 When I first learned about this novella I was excited to find out that the authors, Emily Ann Putzke and Emily Chapman, were publishing it. They had previously posted the story as a series on their blogs but I had missed it. This way I would have a chance to read it. Not only that but it takes place during one of my favorite time periods to read about- The Great Depression/1930s. (I blame American Girl and Kit Kittredge entirely.)

 I enjoyed the story immensely. I was quickly caught up into the lives of sisters Bess and Gi Rowland and wondering how their stories would turn out. Both girls learn over the course of the story, and while it is important to know that you still have fun in hard times it is also important to help each other out when things get rough. I felt very much invested in the characters and really would not mind finding out more of how their lives went (hint, hint).

Vivid characters is something of a trademark that I have experienced with both authors’ writing from the smaller short stories/scenes they have posted on their respective blogs and Ain’t We Got Fun follows in that vein. You are running across the Kansas prairie with Bess or downing uncountable cups of coffee in New York City with Gi. Not only are the two narrators vivid but also the people they encounter and describe. You even have a rough idea of what the musician couple who play the V-instrument are like even though they never really have “on screen” time.

Ain’t We Got Fun is the perfect short historical fiction read for you to add to your summer reading list.

You can purchase it at: 

Amazon (Paperback) 

Amazon (Kindle) 

Createspace (Paperback)

Smashwords (ebook)

About the Authors:

EMILY CHAPMAN, also known as Bess Rowland, is a young hobbit living in the dear old South, and she is entirely bonkers. She's a dreamer, an optimistic pessimist, and an introverted people person. Blue skies, dancing, Disney, and whipped cream make her happy, and she swears she's once been to Narnia. She's been a reader all her life, became a writer because of that, and published her first novel, Cry of Hope, in March of 2014. But without her Savior, all of this would mean nothing. It is in Him that she puts her hope.You can learn more about Emily Chapman and her books at www.emilychapmanauthor.com and www.facebook.com/emilychapmanauthor.

EMILY ANN PUTZKE and Gi Rowland have two big things in common: their love for God and coffee. Besides writing historical fiction, Emily enjoys being an aunty, photography, Irish dancing, spending time with family, attempting to play the guitar, reenacting, and reading. She loves polka dots, war movies, and all things vintage. Her first novella, It Took a War, was published in December of 2014. You can learn more about Emily Ann Putzke and her books at www.authoremilyannputzke.com and www.facebook.com/authoremilyannputzke.

Giveaway: Only open to people in the U.S.

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Snippets for May

Mogollon Trail by Olaf Wieghorst
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 I believe I have a thing going for thick books right now. I cracked open my thick red bound copy of War and Peace last week and began the journey into early nineteenth century Russia. Its 1,000 plus pages edge it out as the longest book I am reading. The Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson comes in second at 588, while The Gates of Zion by Bodie Thoene settles into a comfortable third at a mere 400 some pages.

 Thick reading aside, I have started work on rewriting the beginning of my 1930s/Great Depression novel Finding Home. It is slow going as I get back into the swing of the story and figure out the best way write my main character's POV. I have also been working somewhat on a few of my short stories.

 Here are couple snippets from my writing so far in May:

 Salty was unamused. “A cow?” The word came spitting out of his mouth like a missile. “Cows are terrible creatures. I have had to ride with far too many of the revolting beasts since my fall from the dizzying heights of wealth.”

from Finding Home

 I eyed her and she eyed me. She was even scrawnier up close, her long face hollowed and sagged. Her big brown eyes watched me intensely a moment before she starting stuffing her mouth with musty hay.

from Finding Home

 Ansel took a cup of coffee from the third man and sat down on one of the larger boulders. He took a swig of the coffee and grimaced. “Where’d you learn to make coffee?” He emptied the black liquid over the edge of the cleft and set the tin cup down.
 The third man scowled. “I make no claims to being a good cook. You get what you get, Tom Ansel. That the boy?” He nodded towards me.

from The Gunfighter

On Notebooks

 Elisabeth Grace Foley recently invited fellow bloggers to share about their writing notebooks at the end of her post on the subject. I have decided to do such a post.

 I started my writing journey typing away at the big old computer or the family laptop. I used notebooks when I could not access either of those instruments, or when my computer privileges were revoked because I spent too much time writing on there. Sadly, in the early days, my notebooks were filled with a catalogue of girl names I could use for characters and scribbles and ideas that all died early deaths. I wish I could say that the bulk of my stories started on paper but they didn't. I have always done better writing on a laptop. Notebooks were what I used when I did not have access to my electronic documents. I also did not enjoy typing up what I had written by hand into my Word document. It took too long. Instead, I mostly devoted my notebooks as a place to jot down scene ideas and casts of characters. I never did actual manuscript writing in them.

 In recent years, however, the notebook has started to play a more important role in my writing process. I have difficulty outlining on the computer so I do it by longhand in my notebooks. I have also started to transcribe my short stories into my notebooks when I hit a rough spot and work it out in there. I free write my brainstorming sessions in my notebooks. I am finally utilizing them in a more productive manner.

 My notebook collection largely consists of the Back to School Sale stock up variety. My family keeps a large stash of those handy for school and other purposes and they are both affordable and practical. I did splurge a few years ago and bought the "Ideas Grow Here" notebook from Target. It holds notes on short stories, session notes from conferences, and some scribbles for Chatterbox. The purple one has held my outlining notes, short story scribbles, and even some blog stuff for the past year, while the black is a new one I pulled out during Camp NaNoWriMo. I also have a brown moleskin type notebook that a friend gave me for Christmas and that I keep in my purse for spurts of inspiration when I am out and about town.

How do you use notebooks in your writing process?

Hello May!

  Hello people! Hello world!

 Well, I did it. I wrote a little over 50,000 words in April and successfully accomplished my Camp NaNoWriMo goals. But that is not all, I also finished the first draft of my story! *sets off fireworks and dances a wild jig* Yes, it is all thrilling and exciting. I finally finished writing an actual novel-length book. It is a very satisfying feeling to look at the combined word count number of the story and it is also very satisfying to know that I only started writing it last July- July 1st to be exact.

 *deep, happy sigh*

 Now, I have to let it rest for a little while before I go through for edits. I definitely need a little time from it or else I might completely tear it apart. I am debating what I should work on in the mean time. There are a number of short stories I want to finish but then I also want to start working on another novel using Scrivener. I just bought the Scrivener program and cannot wait to explore everything you can do with it.

 Anyhow, with Camp NaNo over I will be able to resume my normal blogging schedule. I am not sure yet what I am going to post about next. For a while now I have been wanting to do a post on why Rio Grande (1950) became one of my favorite westerns, but I need to watch it again before I work on that. Oh well, we'll just have to see.

Have any of you ever used Scrivener? What sort of posts do you enjoy reading here?

An Update

This is only going to be a short update because we are still in the midst of Camp NaNoWriMo and I am behind on my word count.

Camp NaNoWriMo

 It was a struggle to get back into the groove of things for The Letters of Lee Ames at the beginning of the month, but as I head into the final stretch of the story I am starting to gather a bit of steam. I just keep telling myself after I write a section that I feel is horribly written: "Don't worry, when you get to edits you can redo it." *deep breath* I just have to keep going.

Reading

 When it comes to reading, I have slowed down a bit on account of NaNo but have still managed a fair amount. I finished Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and also managed to read Parnassus On Wheels by Christopher Morley this past weekend. Via the wonderful world of audiobooks I read Partners In Crime by Agatha Christie while cooking dinners. I like to multitask and audiobooks are wonderful for that. I only wish they weren't so expensive. I also managed a biography on Isaac Watts by Douglas Bond.

What have you been up to so far this month? Are you doing Camp NaNoWriMo? If so, how is it coming along for you? Oh, and have you been reading any really good books this month?