Onward with Versatility!

I'm so appreciative and grateful that Lisa at Bibliophiliac has decided to award me the Versatile Blogger's Award. Based on the past three weeks here, I scarcely deserve it, but I must say that Lisa's act of bestowing the award has given me the motivation to try harder to share the books that are so meaningful to my life.

I have several obligations to fulfill for receiving this award, and I'm afraid everyone will have to wait until tomorrow for me to begin satisfying those tasks. I think you and I will enjoy it. And by all means, please do visit Lisa's blog--it's one of the finest.

Tonight I want to say that Noam Shpancer has eagerly responded to my request for a brief interview here. (See yesterday's post.) That will be fun! It's so nice when authors reply promptly to these requests. So stay tuned!


Because I had a doctor's appointment way down south in Saratoga Springs today, I had the chance to stop at Crandall Library to pick up the books waiting for me. One is The Island by Elin Hilderbrand, which I've already posted about (and have been longing for!), and the other is a book I've not heard much about, entitled The Summer We Read Gatsby. The New York Times pooh-poohed it a bit, but, for some reason, that did not deter me from wanting to read it. The novel is by and please do click on her link to read the exquisite Danielle Ganek Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews and others beside!

Did you know that we all are going to have to pay for access to The New York Times come November? It's a price I'll gladly pay, but it is the only newspaper I'm willing to pay for, unless you can think of another I should consider! Do tell!

Eagerly Awaiting...August Titles!

Please scroll down two paragraphs to get past my personal news!

The Library Book Sale was a huge success--we made more money than last year, and last year we'd set a new record, so we're really doing well. $3500 for a rural town of 2,200 is incredible. Our Friday night party was very festive, and we sold lots of our most expensive, best books!

After the sale, and after the seemingly endless clean-up, I came home to collapse and to beg Ken to take me to the Inn on Gore Mountain, a salve for the frazzled soul. The Inn is the quietest restaurant in North Creek, the waitress the most comforting and accomodating, and the cook! Everyone acknowledges that Susan Minucci is the best chef in North Creek. I consumed a very large, very special dinner without any trouble or assistance from Ken.

Enough personal news!


Yesterday I ordered a book from Amazon that I've been waiting and waiting for: The Good Psychologist by Noam Shpancer, set to be released today, August 3rd. It has received many excellent reviews, and I must confess, I love books that reveal the lives of people who strive to help the troubled and the confused. (Yes, it's available in the UK.) Shpancer is a psychologist, and I'm attracted to novels that are based on a professional's personal experiences. He was born and raised on an Israeli kibbutz and claims that his book reads much more beautifully in Hebrew. The Good Psychologist was first published in Israel, but Shpancer is equally comfortable with English, and he did the "translation," if that's what we can call it.


In June, librarians at Book Expo America commented, "Reading Noam Shpancer's debut novel, The Good Psychologist (Holt, August), "is like sitting through your own personal therapy session," said Robin Nesbitt. It's the story of what happens when the boundary between personal and professional begins to blur between a psychologist and his exotic dancer patient.

Phyllis Whitney is Saving My Sanity

I am embarrassed to write that blog heading. It's hard to admit that occasionally, under extreme circumstances, I slink off to bed with a Phyllis Whitney book tucked under my arm.

The one I'm reading now, Hunter's Green, was published in 1968. I picked it up at a library book sale, and it's so well done!

Phyllis Whitney, who died at the age of 104 in February 2008, was a master of the romantic suspense genre, which reached its height in the late 1960s. Mary Stewart's romantic suspense novels of the same era are often compared with Whitney's, and they are similar, except that Whitney was American and Stewart is English.

Mind you, Whitney is not a literary writer, and never pretended to be. But she knows plot, pacing, and how to create atmosphere better than the best genre authors and better than many literary fiction authors.

Whitney's plots usually focus on a young, vulnerable female protagonist. These women are never naive because of a flaw in intelligence, experience, or character--they're vulnerable because of their youth and because of the tragedies and misfortunes that have befallen them. They tend to be much stronger than Victoria Holt's heroines.

Okay, so I'm using Hunter's Green as pablum for a beleagured soul. I think everyone has these "secret" sources of comfort that they reach to in times of stress.

Would you be willing to share your "comfort authors?"

A Terrible Bind

Yes, I'm caught in it, and am busy from dawn til too late to mention. Things will be much, much easier starting Sunday, August 8th.

I hate to say I won't post until then. And I might be able to squeeze a decent post in to the mad schedule. So I'll try really hard really soon.

Hope your summer reading is full of pleasure and discovery!

Bear with Me!

Please bear with me as I struggle to juggle too many jobs. As a friend told me told me today, "That's an Adirondacker's life!"

I have time to post tomorrow for the Blog Hopper Hop? I've got the name of the weekly weekend event all mixed up, I think!

Be back soon!

Up to My Ears in Adirondack Authors!

Last Tuesday I was flagged down while exiting Trapper's Tavern in North Creek. The owner of an exquisite store in town, The Hudson River Trading Company, asked me if I had time to work on a project for her, contacting Adirondack authors for a huge book-signing gala she's planning for Saturday, August 7th. Books? Authors? How could I say no?

Ever since that evening I've been on the phone with authors. Short notice, yes. But even so, I think we'll end up with around 15 writers and all of their books. We're going to have music. And a cookbook author is bringing some food! That would be Annette Nielsen, author of North Country Comfort and North Country Bounty.


If there's one novel set in the Adirondack wilderness that you, my readers, would certainly relish, it's Cold River by William Judson. I'm 99% positive he's deceased now--the book was first published in the mid-70s--but what a true-to-life adventure tale about two teenagers' hair-raising scrabble for survival in deep wilderness back in the 1920s! I must say, I adored it. Both Ken and I read it before we moved to the mountains. I wonder if our reaction to it would be more moderate if we read it today? It's a brief read, and reads as well and sells as well as it did decades ago. It's available as a Signet paperback for only $6.99through Amazon.

So we can't get poor William Judson to come sign his book. A shame, really. I would have loved to have met him.

Which Book Do I Want to Get My Hands On?

It's Book Blogger Hop Weekend again, hosted by Crazy for Books. The Hop is a lifesaver. I want to escape! It's peculiar to live in a place that hordes of people escape to, especially when you can't escape yourself. The Adirondacks. The summer home of vacationers. I'm glad they like it, but it's too hot and humid for me this summer. I haven't minded having plenty of work.


To answer this week's question about the book I most want to read right now, I can answer without hesitation. It's The Island by Elin Hilderbrand, a book that first appeared in bookstores 10 days ago. I must read it this summer!

I want to go to a place, with this book under my arm, where no one can reach me, no one can bother me, no one will see me, where I can just let the waves of Nantucket Island swell around me.

Actually, The Island is about a tiny island named Tuckernuck off the coast of Nantucket Island. I know nothing about it. I never knew it existed. I want to be there. Alone with the characters.

I'm beginning to realize that I may have to BUY the book to read it this summer. Libraries can fail me when a book is in high demand. So I'll buy it, if necessary.

Twenty Minutes Later: This week's Blog Hopper Topic is a great incentive to head out to the bookstore and buy the coveted book!!

Ghosts of War--The Iraq War by a 19-Year-Old GI

Perhaps I've never mentioned that I've been fascinated by soldiers' personal narratives (diaries, journals, and other accounts) for decades. All the way back to 1972 when I took a course in World War I Literature as a college freshman. The readings transformed me, but the professor's daily three-hour lectures nearly killed me. (A brief 3-week course during a winter session, but 21 days is still 3 weeks.) He acted like the students had nothing to say--during the Vietnam War, no less? I managed to survive with my fascination intact, but it was only the writers who saved me.

These days I'm trying to survey as many soldiers' narratives as I can because I'm interested in eventually producing a global anthology of soldiers' writings covering all historical eras.

I have written and published a book about war before.


But today I'm not going there. I'm talking about Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI by Ryan Smithson, published by HarperCollins in 2009. Smithson lives in upstate New York with his wife these days. Not far away from where I live at all (relatively speaking).

The prose is spare, whittled down to bare bones. Sentences of seven words or less. Powerful. I held the book in my hands the first time and immediately wondered, who edited this book? Who helped Smithson write it? It's published by HarperCollins, after all. And I know for damn sure that when they have an inexperienced writer, they edit the newbee's stuff to pieces. So what's the story BEHIND the writing and editing of this book? That's what I need to know. I'll find out, one way or another. I always do.

In any case, there are some excellent passages for my first-year college students, who will be 17, 18, and 19 years old. But, as I said, that's not why I grabbed onto this book. Can't wait to read it.

Tuesday Evening Thoughts

I'm grateful for my eight Followers, and I can't wait to learn more about the Follower program. I vow to post a true book blog entry tomorrow. For this evening, this post is all I've got.

I am aggrieved (sp.?) that I have but a few minutes to post an entry. A crazy day, but yesterday was much, much crazier. A truly Manic Monday. But in early September, my life changes.

Today I escaped to SUNY (State University of New York) Adirondack, where I'll be teaching writing to first-year students this fall (September-Christmas). I'm extremely excited about it and, as a lifetime writer, I feel a tremendous sense of mission. I'm sure you don't want to hear about all the books about the teaching of writing that I picked up!

In a few minutes Ken and I will have a relaxing dinner with warm, comforting friends at Trapper's Tavern and I'll have an opportunity to reflect on what's most important. Rick is a Richard Russo fan (as is Ken, my husband) and Anne is a 100% Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Mystery afficiando. I always enjoy her take on books and movies because she always sees the mystical bend of things. I seem to only see what's in front of my face.