A Book Problem

I wanna read all of them

I have a problem. Don’t laugh, this is serious. I have too many friends writing stunningly evocative books and there are only so many reading hours in a day, week, month. And I’m not a fast reader.

Right now I’m reading Louise Ells, Lies I Told My Sister, which might be retitled, Lies I Told Myself. This is not a disparaging remark, though. The protagonist, Lily, is a softer, more passive character than my Brett in What the Living Do, but she’s just as secretive and misguided. There are so many echoed threads in these two novels even though the styles and voice are very different. Her turning points are more dramatic than in my story, but as a reader I’m left with the same desire to give that woman a shake. However, I’m fiercely hanging on to her in the hope she’ll turn things around. I’m on her side, even though like my Brett, she’s making some not great choices.

We’ve recognized that our stories are a great pairing. We’ve been interviewed together once. We’re slated for signings at !ndigos in Barrie (July 19) and Vaughn (August 30) and have been bugging some bookstores to host us for panel events, because, honestly, I think we rock.

In the last months I’ve read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (fantastic, mind-bending), How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelman (a rather grisly modern spin on fairy tales), The Plot by Jean Hanff-Korelitz (writers will love this – especially that the “twist” isn’t were you might think it is), Knife by Salman Rushdie ( candid memoir of being wounded and being loved), If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marias (a deep-dive into post-Apartheid South Africa featuring three very different women and addressing the impact of AIDS), Widow Fantasies by Hollay Ghadery (Oh yeah, get funky and colour outside the lines. Flash prose that will stay with you for a long time), and Held by Anne Michaels (You will almost forget that this story is about the hell of war because the prose is luscious poetry). Written by friends, I’ve read Claire Ross-Dunne’s At Last Count (what you never realized about OCD and how this character gets under your skin in the best of ways. Oh yeah, and birds), Unrest by Gwen Tuinman (a dark history of Ottawa’s beginnings), The Stones of Burren Bay by Emily DeAngelis (a Y/A story that’s also a great grown-up read – after great loss, the veil between worlds is lifted for fifteen-year-old Norie), Negative Spaces by C.A. O’Brien (secrets abound, reckoning awaits), and have started Lisa Llamrei’s The Feather of Ma’at (Oh my god, Nefertiti – who doesn’t want to read this exhaustively researched and brilliantly imagined story about the greatest queen ever?) And still, my tbr pile is high to the sky. Some titles include other friends and acquaintances, such as Greg Rhyno’s Who By Water, and C S Richardson’s The Emperor of Paris, Emily Weedon’s Autokrator, and Mary Ella Magill’s memoir, About Time. Whew.

You may be able to tell that I read many different genres - from YA to Historical Fiction to memoir and of course, my go-to, literary fiction.

Last week I attended Shelley MacBeth’s Independent Bookstore extravaganza at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge where local authors mingled with avid readers. I neglected to get many photographs and since I’m banned from Facebook I can’t snatch anyone else’s. At least I have this one of Bianca Marais and Andrew Varga in our bookstore tee-shirts courtesy of Shelley. (On the back it says, “Canadian Author.” I’m taking it to Europe to show off a little.

Being in a bookstore is such sweet agony. I just want to bury myself in books and read, read, read. Alas, my pile is about to topple and I’m packing for Spain and Italy. I’m only taking a carry-on so I won’t be packing books to read and my Kindle died. I will be writing, though… just trying to finish my organ transplant story.

On that note, I’ve finally hit my stride. I’m half-way through the edits and I may have a finished draft ready for my Beta readers soon.

Now, something for you.

A prompt for your writing or your life:

Think of an article you or your character might choose to signal a message. It could be an article of clothing, a piece of jewellry, a pair of shoes, or something carried. Begin by describing it in a way that evokes the intention of the wearer.

And I would love to see what you come up with in the comments. I’ll offer good old AWA feedback sure to keep you writing.

Happy writing!