The Mid-June Report

via Pinterest

 Life has been extremely busy of late. A friend's wedding, siblings' sports games, and work has been keeping me busy these past couple days, leaving me with very little energy and time for blogging. However, I am determined not to slack off if I can help it. So here's a small glimpse of what I've been up to in the world of literature, writing, music, and film.

Reading

 The last book I finished was Cards On the Table by Agatha Christie. It was brilliant and probably my favorite Hercule Poirot mystery of the ones I have read. Currently, I am in the midst of London Afresh by E.V. Lucas and The Fisherman's Lady by George MacDonald. London Afresh I picked up at a book sale last year and apparently it is a rarity. I had to add it into the Goodreads database so I could shelve it!

Writing

 I began the process of reading through and marking the obvious mistakes in my recently finished first draft of The Letters of Lee Ames this past weekend. My sister is going through it with me. It is her first time reading past the first chapter, making it amusing when I notice a plot/character name discrepancy and start scribbling a note on the side of the paper to change it. I am also printing the manuscript in portions as needed. I think our printer might die if I printed all 311 pages in one go.

Listening

Brother - NEEDTOBREATHE

The Book Thief Soundtrack composed by John Williams

The Dancing In Gold album by The Von Trapps

Back Beat Boogie by Harry James and his orchestra is still a favorite too.

I have been falling in love with a couple pieces from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns as well.
The score and vintage songs from The Help soundtrack.
I have eclectic tastes to say the least.

Watching

 Most recently, I watched By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) starring Doris Day. It was the sequel to another Doris Day musical, On Moonlight Bay (1951). On Moonlight Bay is definitely my favorite of the two and it's a delight to watch Mary Wickes as the family's maid/cook. Did I mention that it takes place during the First World War?

What have you all been up to? Have you read any good books, discovered a new favorite song, or seen any good films lately?

Book Review: "Pied Piper"

 I stumbled upon Pied Piper while going through a list of Nevil Shute’s works. The synopsis of the book piqued my interest and I almost bought it soon after while making an Amazon purchase (I opted out to buy Steal Like An Artist instead). Several weeks back, I received Pied Piper as a birthday gift from my parents and started reading it a few days later.

 In the most simple of terms, I loved it. The idea of an old man trying to return to England as the Nazis invade France and taking refugee children with him appeals to my imagination and Nevil Shute did not disappointment. Pied Piper was everything I wanted it to be and then some.

 As with the majority of my favorite books it was the characters that captured my heart most. John Sidney Howard might be an unlikely hero at the ripe old age of seventy but he is a compelling one. Feeling useless in England during the stalemate of the winter of 1939, he journeys to Southeast France in the spring of 1940 determined to fish and enjoy himself, unaware of the Nazi invasion of France about overtake him. When his perilous position finally does rouse him into returning to England, he is entrusted to take two English children to their aunt in England as well. Their journey is difficult from the outset but Mr. Howard is completely unprepared for just how arduous and difficult it becomes. As they straggle towards the coast, he finds himself taking more children under his wing even though he hardly knows what he will do with them.

 Fans of historical fiction and WWII history buffs will find Pied Piper a treat, though be on the look out for occasional smatterings of language throughout. The bulk of foul language comes from the mouths of two RAF men Howard and the children travel with briefly.

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
via Pinterest

 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?