Genie died two years ago, and her life was just as chaotic as Mattie’s. How does someone end up failing at adulthood? As far as Mattie is concerned, it’s all her mother’s fault. She’ll lie to try to get herself out of a jam. She’ll take things that don’t belong to her because she’s broke. She’s not going to be around to help her stepfather deal with his cancer diagnosis. And DeCarlo, in her first-person narration, takes care to ensure that Mattie is aware of her shortcomings. She is a far cry from the women’s fiction heroines whose biggest problems are cheating rich husbands and spoiled teenage children. In her debut novel The Art of Crash Landing, her heroine, Matilda “Mattie” Wallace, is thirty years old, pregnant with an unwanted child, and fleeing a deadbeat boyfriend with only a few dollars to her name, six garbage bags of belongings and her dead mother’s 1978 Chevy Malibu. And then there are those who wonder what could have happened to this person to make responsible adulthood so out of reach.Īuthor Melissa DeCarlo is probably in that last group. Some of us recognize ourselves in their suffering and say, “There, but for the grace of G-d, go I.” Others are sure that this walking disaster’s own behavior is to blame for their circumstances. It could be a friend, family member, or the woman in the parking lot always asking for bus fare because her wallet just got stolen. We all know someone who just can’t seem to get his life together.
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But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives. Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. Alexandra Monir is the Iranian-American author of the internationally bestselling novel The Final. When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. Enjoy this chapter sampler for Timeless written by Alexandra Monir. Which brings me to something that’s completely unique about Story Genius: Enter the brilliant, savvy, courageous novelist and book coach Jennie Nash, who volunteered to begin her next novel – utterly from scratch – within the pages of Story Genius so that readers could watch the process in action. How could I write a prescriptive book without examples of what writers need to actually do – step by step - order to write a novel? Where on earth could I get those examples? Lisa: You bet! In a nutshell: Story Genius is a fully prescriptive how-to guide that decodes what is actually captivating us when we’re lost in a story, while taking writers through the step-by-step process of creating a novel, starting with the first glimmer of an intriguing idea.īy the way, Story Genius almost didn’t get written, because right off the bat I ran into a thorny problem: I knew that while we could talk forever about “how to create a novel” in a conceptual way, the only way to make it work is to see the steps in action. Q1: Can you tell us a bit about Story Genius, and how it’s unique in the market? We are so excited to introduce you to WU contributor and craft guru Lisa Cron’s new book, STORY GENIUS, and that she’s with us today for a Take Five interview - and a sneak peek of her book. On every other page, Harrison's detailed illustrations bring each profile to life. From the moment it got announced people were asking me, 'Are you going to write one about black men as well?'"Įventually she gave in, since demand was so high for a followup - and the result was Little Legends. "I was thinking about the stories that I needed to see when I was a little kid. came from a really personal place," Harrison says. "My first book Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History. She says she thought long and hard about taking on this subject matter, because she relates more to women's stories. Little Legends celebrates exceptional men in black history it's by the author-illustrator Vashti Harrison. The book we're talking about right now almost didn't exist. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Little Legends Subtitle Exceptional Men in Black History Author Vashti Harrison and Kwesi Johnson Each month we list several of our books, new and old, and ask you to like as many as you wish for a chance of winning that title. If you have a Facebook account, like and follow our official page by clicking here. If, like Simon Lavery, you’d like a chance to win one of our titles, why not join us on Facebook? Participation is simplicity itself. Jeremy Reed’s biography of the enigmatic Anna Kavan A Stranger on Earth is also still available. In a follow-up, Simon discusses her posthumously discovered novel The Parson.įind out more about our nine Anna Kavan titles by clicking here. In his first entry he discusses Kavan’s posthumous collection of short stories Julia and the Bazookaand gives a useful biographical summary of this most intriguing of writers. Simon has written about Anna Kavan before. Simon Lavery, winner of our monthly Facebook competition, has reviewed Anna Kavan’s novel Ice on his excellent literary blog Tredynas Days. Archive > Anna Kavan’s ‘Ice’ – Reviewed by Simon Lavery “It allows me to take us out of what we take for granted because we take realism for granted. Still, she said the sub-genre of fantasy does allow for flexible storytelling. She points out that all fiction presents an alternate reality. The genre is fantasy, though Hairston doesn’t think it’s fair to define the genre too narrowly. "Master of Poisons" follows two main characters who are working to save the world. "And people go from, 'Oh, my God, we should do something,' to 'We should just save ourselves, and let everybody else die,'" Hairston said. Who could fight the wind?Īt the center of the book’s plot, there is a poison desert encroaching on the world. Good citizens now feared change would make no difference or was in fact impossible. Then crops failed and rivers turned to dust. But as long as sweet water fell from the sky every afternoon and mist rolled in on a night wind, everybody promised to change - tomorrow or next week. For twenty years as it crashed through river valleys and swallowed forests, Djola pleaded with Council and begged good Empire citizens to change their ways. The narration alternates between the two, effectively getting readers into both kids’ heads. Spending time together will inspire each of them to become stronger, and slowly a kind of friendship develops that turns into more. When Jack grabs Libby in a cruel “game” called Fat Girl Rodeo, she punches him in the mouth, and they both wind up in group counseling. Full of swagger and the life of the party, Jack has developed this persona to hide the truth about himself: he can't recognize faces due to a condition known as prosopagnosia-he doesn't even recognize himself except by his Afro. After three years of weight loss and counseling, Libby's returning to school, where Jack Masselin is the big man on campus. Libby Strout was once America's Fattest Teen, whose house had to be cut open to allow her to be taken to the hospital. Love blooms between two teens-a white girl who refuses to be judged and a biracial boy who hides himself from judgment. Or Poseidon, for he looks not like mortal men but like the gods who dwell on Olympus. Surely this is either Zeus or Apollo who has the silver bow, “Madmen! what god is this whom you have taken and bind, strong that he is? Not even the well-built ship can carry him. Then the helmsman understood all and cried out at once to his fellows and said: They sought to bind him with rude bonds, but the bonds would not hold him, and the withes fell far away from his hands and feet: and he sat with a smile Put him on board their ship exultingly for they thought him the son of heaven-nurtured kings. When they saw him they made signs to one another and sprang out quickly, and seizing him straightway Presently there came swiftly over the sparkling sea Tyrsenian 1 pirates on a well-decked ship -a miserable doom led them on. I will tell of Dionysus, the son of glorious Semele, how he appeared on a jutting headland by the shore of the fruitless sea, seeming like a stripling in the first flush of manhood: his rich, dark hair was waving about him,Īnd on his strong shoulders he wore a purple robe. |a Novelists, American |y 20th century |v Biography. |a New York : |b Riverhead Books, |c 2005. |a Plan B : |b further thoughts on faith / |c Anne Lamott. It is further evidence that, as The New Yorker has written, "Anne Lamott is a cause for celebration." It shares with us Lamott's ability to comfort and to make us laugh despite the grim realities.Īnne Lamott is one of our most beloved writers, and Plan B is a book more necessary now than ever. And there are personal demands on her faith as well: getting older her mother's Alzheimer's her son's adolescence and the passing of friends and time.įortunately for those of us who are anxious about the state of the world, whose parents are also aging and dying, whose children are growing harder to recognize as they become teenagers, Plan B offers hope that we’re not alone in the midst of despair. Environmental devastation looms even closer. Terrorism and war have become the new normal. From the New York Times bestselling author of Hallelujah Anyway, Bird by Bird, and Almost Everything, a spiritual antidote to anxiety and despair in increasingly fraught times.Īs Anne Lamott knows, the world is a dangerous place. Apparently, Andersen wrote 156 stories, 12 of which appear in this 'best of' collection. The book includes a behind-the-scenes journey, including an author profile, a guide to who's who, activities and more.Īlice's Adventures Through the Looking GlassĪlthough Naomi Lewis has made a decent job of the translations/retelling of these stories, I actually preferred her introduction and notes at the back, to the stories themselves. With a wonderful introduction by award-winning picture-book creator Jan Pienkowski. Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales is an enchanting collection, retold by writer and critic Naomi Lewis, and contains twelve of Hans Christian Andersen's magnificent stories including Thumbelina, a little girl no more than a thumb-joint high, The Emperor's New Clothes, the tale of a man who cares only for his appearance and The Little Mermaid, who longs to one day marry a human prince. |