About a five-minute read
In June, Tulsa libraries launched their annual summer reading program. Aimed for all ages, the library advocates literacy and learning for kids and adults. I signed up, as motivation to finish books I had started. I have a bad habit of starting but not finishing books. Any readers relate?
In my defense, as a writer, I need to read certain books at various times. When I volunteer to serve as a beta or ARC reader, I stop what I’m reading and commit to these manuscripts.
I’m taking a writing course, so I get assigned a masterwork and even a movie. So, I need to make time for those stories. Then, depending on where I am in the writing process, I’ll read a particular craft book. And if I need to research a topic for my story, well, add that to the growing book pile.
So, you can see why I don’t finish books right away. But for this summer’s reading program, my aim is to finish books I had started. As incentive, when a participant reads four books by the end of July, they receive a coupon book with free tickets to the zoo, restaurants, and events.
I completed the challenge within a month. I finished two books I had started last year and read two books I started a month or two ago. (Now, I’m reading books I hadn’t started to read before.)
Fiction:
The Road Home by Richard Paul Evans, the third installment in The Broken Road series. I’d give this a four out of five stars.
I found more than just a story; it became a mirror reflecting my own choices, motivations, and identity. I asked myself: How much of my life’s tapestry is woven to please others? Am I wielding money to aid others or serve myself?
The narrative centers on a motivational speaker embarking on an epic trek along Route 66 from Chicago to California. His path is strewn with the wreckage of lost relationships, casualties of his pursuit of materialism and external acclaim. Confronting his demons, he traverses a soulful odyssey of reconciliation and self-discovery, and embraces what truly matters.
If you enjoy stories where the protagonist transforms through an unconventional quest – shadows similar to The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall – this book is for you.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cicneros. I’d give this a five out of five stars. If you like lyrical prose that’s beautifully written, thought provoking, and brutally honest, I recommend this book.
Each short chapter features a vignette from the eyes of a young Latina girl when she lived on Mango Street in a poverty-stricken area of Chicago. She depicts life as she’s navigating puberty, poverty, and acceptance.
Here’s an excerpt from the chapter called “A House of My Own”:
“Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My books and my stories. My two shoes waiting beside the bed. Nobody to shake a stick at. Nobody’s garbage to pick up after. Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem.”
Non Fiction:
A Summer in Gascony by Martin Calder: I give this book five out of five stars.
This non-fiction account of an Englishman’s summer working in the Gascony region in Southwest France was entertaining and educational. I was transported back to my own travels through Gascony, reliving the cultural richness and natural beauty that define this picturesque mountainous corner of France.
I’m researching this region for Book 3 in my Mayo Love series because my protagonist, Celine Monroe, spends time in the French Pyrenees. So, this book was a rich resource, filled with cultural detail about the Gascon people and the landscape.
Martin served as a stagiaire, a temporary worker, in his early twenties, working one summer for the humble and lively Cazagnac family on their farm and the inn called the Auberge. (They even had a restaurant there). He discovers the cultural pride of Gascony, the rhythms of farm life, the complexities of the Gascon people, and the delectable Gascony cuisine. And as a bonus, he enjoys a summer romance with Anja, a fellow stagiaire.
If you’d like to indulge in a provincial trip to Southwestern France, I recommend this little gem.
Sin and Syntax by Constance Hale. I give it a four out of five stars.
I took a Voice and Style workshop, and the instructor recommended this book. So, I bought it, hoping to glean information on capturing voice. It was the ideal read since I’m working on line edits for my manuscript. Constance Hale dissects the anatomy of a sentence from nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. While she covers all these organs, she doesn’t give us as detailed of analysis on each as I would’ve liked (although that would’ve made for a really thick book). But I recommend it for beginning and even intermediate writers.
I read and re-read passages especially her literary and non-fiction examples (masters such as Virginia Wolff, Cormac McCarthy, and Jacobo Timerman). She also describes the importance of weaving lyricism in your stories. I’m fascinated how literary writers master lyricism in their prose, and Sin and Syntax gave me a handy introduction to this tool.
What I’m I reading now?
East of Eden by John Steinbeck. A massive undertaking, but Tim Mackey from the BibleProject, recommended this novel. So, I added another Steinbeck work to my list. (I’ve read Grapes of Wrath in high school and Of Mice and Men recently.) So far, I’m enjoying diving into this epic saga of the Trasks and the Hamiltons.
Have you read it? If so, how many stars would you give East of Eden?
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash