My Brain On Books XXXVIII

 

   

 

I am reading for The Office of Letters and Lights the folks who bring us NaNoWriMo today as I love what they are doing for literacy with their Young Writer's Programs and because I've participated in NaNo every year since 2004.  I have been blessed to have it in my life and would like to give something back if only kudos and link love.  I'm putting this plug at the top in hopes some who stop by will check out their site and see all the great things they do to foster love of reading and writing and story in kids. 

This post will be organized like a blog inside a blog with recent updates stacked atop previous ones. I may be posting some updates on Twitter @Joystory and the Joystory fb fanpage. But this is where I do anything more than a line or two.  Including mini-challenges that don't require a separate post..   

Be sure and see my tribute poem to Dewey and the Thon she birthed at the bottom of this post

My new folding camper rocker which will be an integral part of thons from now on.

 

It is supposed to rain off and on the whole thon but unless it is below 50 degrees and/or the rain is being driven in under the porch awning I will try to spend some daylight time out here.  Other times I have the beanbag chair, the rocker and the couch/bed.  Also the mini-tramp if listening to audio.

I never got to sit outside.  It rained all day and was also windy and thus chilly with occasional blasts of rain under the awning.

1:44 AM - Time to eat again

And therefore time to listen to another disc of A Sudden Light by Garth Stein.  See below at update 5am.


12:22 AM - oops! my Kindle Fire shut down in the middle of a sentence

The Closing of the Western Mind
 by Charles Freeman

I was 11 screens from the end of the chapter I'd been reading for over an hour when my screen blinked black and powered off.  Ugh.  I hate when that happens.

I don't typically spend over an hour with a NF (except memoirs and biographies and books about writing craft or creativity.  Well maybe true crime and some investigative journalism that has a throughline as compelling as a novel) but this one was slow reading as it is so dense with quotes and references to other texts--and dates! Not to mention detailed presentations of the various arguments made by the early theologians of Christianity between Jesus and Constantine, including the influence made on them by Judaism and the Hellenistic philosophers.  Lots of things to keep straight.

I wouldn't have persevered if the book wasn't due tomorrow (well today now) probably before I wake from my post thon stupor.  I did not want Libby to snatch it from me before I'd finished that chapter or I'd probably have to reread it on my next turn. It was over 80 screens long!

This is the latest book on my currently reading shelf related to my obsessive decades long study of Comparative Cosmology which is the overarching concept that includes: Theology, History of Christianity (and other world religions and spiritual paths), Sacred Texts, Anthropology, Philosophy, Psychology, Quantum Physics and Mythology.


7:44 PM - Back to Reading!

But first food!  So back to the audio of A Sudden Light by Garth Stein while i fix and eat.  See below at 5am.


5:00 PM - Into the mystic

Savage Beauty
by Nancy Milford

Subtitled: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay

I've been reading this one for several months and am still only about 15% in.  In this sitting I reached the point where she was 'discovered' at age 20 after submitting  a remarkably mature poem to a national contest in 1912.  It was her poem Renascence and after many pages of a play by play of that year in which lines from what she considered her first mature poem had been teased throughout the narration, the entire poem was presented in full. 

I was blown away.  I also got a lesson in how to read a poem.  Or maybe a reminder.  I tend to try to speed read but poems are not meant to be read that way.  Rather they need to be read mindfully, savoringly, and with careful attention to grammar, punctuation, image and metaphor.  I had to keep backtracking to pick up the thread again because I kept missing the signals (mostly punctuation) that indicated what phrase or image was referencing which previous phrase or image in order to complete a thought, an action, a comprehension... 

Missing these signals changes the meaning or throws the mind into confusion like being lost in a maze.  But once it all clicks into place...  WOW. 

I'm not proficient at reading poetry.  I'm too impatient maybe.  But on the random occasions when I manage to connect to one it always changes me.  This is no exception.  As i finally finished after nearly an hour on the poem alone, I exclaimed in my head: OMG she's a modern mystic.  How did I not know that?

Go find a copy and read it.  Better yet get this book and read also about her childhood and the influences on her writing of her experiences and her relationships with her parents and sisters and journals.  Yes, journals.  She named them and spoke to them as if in conversation with a person.  Not just a person but a beloved.

I have a feeling I won't be dilly-dallying my way through the rest of this book.

I will also be looking for a collection of her poetry very soon.

How did I not know she was a mystic?  I became drawn to mysticism in the mid to late 90s during my explorations into Comparative Cosmology.  Milly is the most modern one I've encountered so far.  Unless I missed the signals when I did encounter them, which is quite possible especially if I encountered them before my exposure to the Medieval Mystics during my Comparative Cosmology studies.

Oh my!  I think I need to return to the poets I discovered in my late teens and twenties two decades before my comparative studies and encounter with the concept of mysticism.  Emily Dickenson, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman...

There were others.  Mostly women writing in the 1900s and several publishing in the decades before and after my high school graduation.  I can't remember any other names in this moment but I'm raring to go seek them out somehow.

So poetry is apparently a form of mindfulness!

Just had that thought as something in me made the connection with something I read hours early in The True  Secret of Writing.

Something in me wants to apologize for getting off track but then I rebel against that because this is how I encounters with words and story and ideas affects me.  This is my brain on books!


2:00 PM - Sit Walk Write

The True Secret of Writing
by Natalie Goldberg

I'm about one third thru this after two weeks.  The secret can be summed up by three words understood in the context of Zen:

•  Mindfulness
• Non-Judgement
• Practice (Sit Walk Write)

12:00 PM - Next...

If it Bleeds

by Stephen King

I moved on from the Stein audio at 7AM.

Usually I would spend the next several hours after being immersed in a novel reading NF, spending 15-30 minutes in each of several.  But because of what happened this morning when I accidently opened a Stephen King book on my cell phone while preparing to sleep, I was eager to return to the novella that kept me awake until an hour before the official start of the thon.  Sigh.

I returned to the last novella in the collection, Rat, which was another of Kings exploration of a writer's mind and the bargains they are willing to make to succeed.

Since I'd finished my first coffee and my breakfast of yoghurt, cottage cheese and blueberries I moved from the rocking chair where I'd listened to the A Sudden Light for two hours over to the beanbag where I immersed in Rat for forty or so minutes before I started struggling to keep my eyes open.  So I moved back to the rocker for another half hour or so until yet again the drowse began to take me.  I developed a stitch in my side, a crick in my neck and twinges in my hip from the way I was slouching in my chair.  So I moved to the couch which is also my bed but I was sitting on it like a couch until at some point I wasn't.  I didn't notice the time I surrendered to a nap but it was probably after 9:30 and possibly after 10:30.  I woke at 11:11 when my cell alarm went off.  It is one that goes off every day to remind me to check in with myself and ask certain questions, like:

• have you hydrated in the last two hours?
• have you taken your meds and/or supplements?
• Is it past time to have something to eat?
• Is it past time to get up and move about?
  

Lately because of not sleeping well or much at all the main question it is asking is: Shouldn't you be awake already? Today it startled me into asking: Aren't you supposed to be reading?  Can't you even stay awake for Stephen King?  Oh far have the mighty fallen?

i got up and fixed a second coffee and sat in the rocker reading Rat off my cell for at least another hour.  I'm used to reading a King novella in one sitting so it was very frustrating to have it broken up like that.  It makes it difficult to hold it in my mind like the faceted gem it usually is.

5:00 PM - Starting with:

A Sudden Light
by Garth Stein

I read The Art of Racing in the Rain after seeing the movie last spring and fell in love with both.  Like that one, this one is set in the Seattle area of Washington state which I visited many times in my childhood.  But that is only one of the draws.  Both books also have elements of mysticism and/or magical realism.  This one might be a ghost story unless those elements are related to the use of gaslighting techniques by one or more characters on the rest.  The POV narrator is a 14 year old boy forced to join his father on a cross country trip to meet his grandfather whom his father has been estranged from for 23 years.  The dynamics of these two father/son relationships (both dysfunctional) interact.  The boy begins to understand that the grandfather has Alzheimer's and his father and his aunt who he's also never met and who is the grandfather's caregiver are on a mission to gain power of attorney so they can sell the mansion and acres of forest it sits on so they can afford to put their father in a nursing home and still have a significant inheritance.  He hears them speaking about 'developing' the land.  Also about a curse on the property and family because the family riches had been gained by exploiting the land during the era of the timber barons.  

This is first because it is an audio book on CD and for the first hour I'm awake my eyes are gluey and I'm at risk of falling back to sleep if I don't stay active.  So I will turn it on and listen while I make coffee and while I continue to prepare my beanbag chair for occupancy.  It became a fiber collector the last few weeks--from clothes to bedding to yarn and fiber WIP.  I was going to finish that project before I slept but ran out of time if I was going to get a solid sleep before 5.  

Yeah, right.  Fat chance!  Good intentions and all that.  Instead of clearing off the beanbag I sat on the edge of the bed and organized my ebook library on my cell.  It was suppose to be calming and make me sleepy.  I was suppose to be moving to the top several shelves the dozen or so books I was most interested in encountering in the next 24 hours.  At some point I accidently opened a Stephen King.  It was the If it Bleeds anthology.  I had left off some months ago with one novella left to read and of course I started reading.  Next thing I knew I had one hour left for sleep.  I turned off the cell and the light and settled in to try to catch a nap at least.  But all I did was lay there anticipating the alarm.  Ugh.  It could be a long day.  Coffee will be my friend.  Would it be wrong to take an extra Adderall?  Probably.  Maybe I'll just use coffee until around the 12 hour mark. Sometime between 4 and 6 this afternoon and then take he one Adderall. Ah well.  Times wasting...

4:44 AM - Intro Meme

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

Kelso Washington USA.  Across the Cowlitz river from Longview where I grew up and had been living with my elderly mother between January 2013 and late July 2021.  I moved into my 400 square foot efficiency unit in late July 2021.  This  post was a photo essay of my new space.

So this is my 10th thon in my own home, counting the Reverse Thons in August 2021 & 2023 & 2024.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Non-Fiction: Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford (a biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay

Fiction: A Cautious Traveler's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Savory: Jalapeno Poppers

Sweet: Coconut Bites (with Goji, Cranberry, Chia seeds and Chocolate

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

• My Mother died Thursday evening.  If there are any family events taking place over the next 24 hours I will have to set aside thon activities but for whatever hours of this 24 that I'm alone I will read and update.  The grief is still fresh but reading is one of the ways I process strong emotion and sitting and stewing won't help.  I may return to one of the books that helped me through the loss of my husband 4 years ago last month.
• Widowed September 2020  It still smarts at unexpected moments.  But at least it is usually only once or twice a month now instead of constantly.  
• Began living alone for the first time ever three years ago July. Sometime in the last few months it began to feel like home.
• Legally blind with RP aka tunnel vision.  Have only a sliver of vision left in center of right eye.  The rest is shadows and shimmers.
• Have struggled with mood disorder of Anxiety and Depression and insomnia since grade school
• Diagnosed with high functioning autism in 2015.  In my 50s!
• Have a caregiver who comes in four days a week to help with chores and errands I can't do alone. 
• I proved during this move that I have more volume in fiber art supplies than in clothes by at least thee times.
• I probably have double the volume of clothes in tree-books but since I still haven't got them all moved over I can't be sure.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

This is my 38th thon so there aren't many variations I haven't tried. 

Doing anything but especially reading or writing for a full 24 hours used to be my superpower but not so much anymore.  Now that I'm in my mid sixties the price I pay for that self abuse is significant as all my systems are less forgiving. 

Because of my vision issues I have always considered that the only metric on which I could compete as I'm now such a slow reader.  But I've discovered that I can rack up an impressive number of books dipped into in 24 hours.  I like to read a chapter each in 4 to 6 NF in an hour and then spend an hour immersed in a novel.

Ah but the ONE thing that I could do different that could make a lot of difference in the quality of the experience is to do a better job than in the past of staying hydrated.  But nearly equal to that in impact would be to get briefly active at least once every two hours.  But this isn't the first time I've set that intention.  Let's hope I do a better job at it this time.

Ode to Dewey

by Joy Renee

vote, fav and share for Dewey

We Miss You Dewey

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From Where You Dream -- Wednesday Writing

 

From Where You Dream
The Process of Writing Fiction
by Robert Olen Butler
Edited and with and Introduction
by Janet Burroway

This is one of the writing craft books most influential on my craft.  In fact it was Butler who explained the story dreaming concept to me.  I can't claim he taught it to be since I'd been doing a version of it from the beginning which was before my double digit birthdays.  What he taught me was to respect it as the root source of the stories and the power source for their relevance.

He also taught me that for a story teller, daydreaming was the life blood of your work not evidence of laziness.  After I internalized this concept, I never had any further belief in writer's block as anything other than having gotten trapped in my left brain where the editor, critic and task master reside.  Perfectionists all and all full of disdain for daydreaming.  And yet no story and no idea is born in left brain machinations.  All things new and meaningful must incubate in dreamtime.

I have had this book checked out dozens of times from nearly a dozen different libraries over decades.  Now I finally have my own Kindle copy as I just stumbled on a sale while looking for the latest edition of Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction because I found it's Kindle edition on sale last August and bought it and was thinking of writing about it for this post.  So I grabbed this book and both images thinking I would write about both of them since Burroway's contribution to Butler's book is why I picked it up the first time as I'd been borrowing her book from my library for nearly a decade by then.  That was the 2nd edition.

Butler himself refuses to write non-fiction so without Burroway's help this book could never have been.  She recorded a series of his lectures made extemporaneously from a stack of index card cues then transcribed them (or possibly had students transcribe them) and then edited to smooth out the rhetoric, remove repetition and the grammatical glitches of conversational delivery.

It has been several years since I last read this so it is past time for a re-read.

I think I'll save Burroway's book for next Wednesday.  Unless I'm ready to talk about my NaNo project by then.  Right now that's still incubating.  I'm swimming in dreamtime and in spite of little wordcount, feeling as productive as a mother-to-be.

Storytellers must believe that day dreaming is not slacking but the ultimate making of meaning out of chaos.

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Book Review: Evita and Me by Erika Rummel

Evita and Me by Erika Rummel 

Publisher:  DX Varos 

Publishing (May 24, 2022) 

Category: Historical Fiction, Crime, Women's Literature 

Tour Dates June 21-July 22, 2022 

ISBN: 978-1955065320 

Available in Print and ebook, 

384 pages

Review by Joy Renee

Evita and Me is a historical novel, suspense thriller and coming of age story all rolled into one rollercoaster plot.  This story, narrated by two fictional characters who found themselves drawn into the intrigues of Evita’s inner circle in the late 1940s is a creative exploration into the historian’s question: What happened to Eva Peron’s jewelry?

The first forty percent of the novel is narrated by Toronto born Mona and covers her weeks long trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina as a teen that culminates in a whirlwind trip through Europe with First Lady Eva Peron.  Mona is telling the story from memory as a twenty-something college student traumatized by reading Evita’s obituary in the paper some five years after her life-changing adventure.  She relates how she had at first been reluctant but agreed in order to escape watching the soppy romancing of her mother by her latest boyfriend.  And as a chance to practice her Spanish.

She also decided on the day she left town that she was going to use the trip as an opportunity to remake herself, to ditch the rules and society norms of her hypocritic mother and her socialite ‘friends’.  She remade herself all right and sometimes she walked such a fine edge she could have toppled into unfixable harm–to herself or others.  But in the process she saw both sides of Argentina in the late 1940s–the seedy side of poverty and organized crime as well as the luxury among the mansion-living oligarchs like the family who had invited her.

Shortly after her arrival she caught the eye of First Lady Evita and was invited to be her English coach to help her prepare for an upcoming state tour of Europe and then was invited to join her on the tour. Meeting Evita was the second pivotal moment of her life.  Her determination to remake herself now had a model.  She wanted more than to be like her, she needed to be her.  This was quite reminiscent of Western culture teens' worship of musical celebrities.  Think Beyoncé and the Beatles.  

But in Mona’s case she did get more return on her emotional investment than most modern teens do from their idols.  Mona received from Evita some of the nurturing and validation she had never gotten from her own narcissistic and alcoholic mother.  Plus she experienced surviving the letdown when her idol slipped off the pedestal without losing what she’d gained in self-esteem.

This first section is the part that reads like a coming of age story and ends as Evita’s brother Juan Durate and her bodyguard Pierre put her on a plane back to Toronto after the three of them fulfill a task for Evita.  That of placing two cases into a Swiss bank vault–one of jewels and one of gold bars.  She carries with her one of the three keys that will be needed to open the vault with instructions to hold it until Evita’s personal lawyer contacts her.

I must admit that on my first pass I developed a distaste for Mona and her antics in this first section but on my second read through I realized that I was bringing into it the dregs of the judgmentalism from the prudish Puritinesque cult that I was raised in. She had grown on me by the time I finished the story the first time but by the time I reached the end of her travels the second time, I’d  discovered my usual talent for empathy which necessitates meeting a person where they are.

The rest of the novel goes back and forth between Pierre the bodyguard and Mona and their adventures after Evita dies having never retrieved the keys from them.  Pierre’s sections have flashbacks to his time in Europe under German occupation and tell the story of his leaving Evita’s service after marrying another Canadian.  So Mona and Pierre are both in Canada when the news breaks of Evita’s death and the now powerful Juan Duarte begins to use the long tentacles of his organized crime group embedded in the oligarchic power structure of Argentina to come after the two keys.  And this power-corrupted thug will stop at nothing to get what he wants.  There is a trail of broken people and dead bodies to prove it.

And yes, this story supports multiple reads.  Though it can be read for the plot alone there are plenty of extra gems to unpack in subsequent reads and in my opinion worth as much if not more than Evita’s jewels.

_________________________________________________

Below in the media kit find blurbs and an author bio that includes links to her web presence. Catch more reviews and excerpts via links to other participants in the tour. And don't forget to enter the giveaway.

From the Media Kit:

Description of Evita and Me by Erika Rummel

Evita Peron's jewels are missing. Only three people know that they are in a vault in the Swiss Alps; Evita's corrupt and brutal brother Juan, her bodyguard Pierre, and a teenaged girl Mona, her newest protegee. What happens if two of them team up? Like Eva herself, Mona comes from a broken family and has to make her own way. Perhaps that's why the two women feel close. Evita is at the pinnacle of success but already in the grip of a fatal illness. We see her life through the eyes of Mona and Pierre, two people she trusts -- and who betray her in the end. Or can theft and murder be justified? A story of love, adventure, and murder.

Praise For Erika Rummel's novels

This is a fast paced page turner.  A suspenseful, thrilling roller coaster ride with lots of twisty, loopy sections. Head Games is an apt title for this enthralling read. 

 Joy Renee, Joystory 

Identity's a big theme in this work, so if you've ever felt you were someone other than yourself, if you thought you might like to try living in someone else's skin, if you've wondered whether your friends and loved ones were not exactly who they claimed to be, then this psychological labyrinth might just be your winding road to a good read

Carole Giangrande, Words to Go 

This was a book that grabbed me from the start. I's a period in history that offered much to the world but also had some of man's darkest moments. Due to that it does provide rich material for a novelist and Ms. Rummel does an excellent job of taking her reader on a dangerous journey through the twists and turns of what many faced during the time. The characters are well developed and defined. The scenes are well described and I found myself feeling like I was actually walking the streets with the characters of the book.

Patty, Books Cooks Looks 

To live during such tumultuous times would be horrible. You would have to be careful of every word that came out of your mouth. That might be easy when you are alert, but what about when you are so tired that you can't even think? This book made me thankful that I was born in America in the 20th century. Any fan of riveting historical fiction will get lost in this book from page one.

Lisa, Lisa's Writopia

About Erika Rummel

Award winning author, Erika Rummel is the author of more than a dozen non-fiction books and seven novels. Her seventh novel, Evita and Me is being published on May 24, 2022. She won the Random House Creative Writing Award (2011) for a chapter from The Effects of Isolation on the Brain and The Colorado Independent Publishers' Association's Award for Best Historical Novel, in 2018. She is the recipient of a Getty Fellowship and the Killam Award. Erika grew up in Vienna, emigrated to Canada and obtained a PhD from the University of Toronto. She taught at Wilfrid Laurier and U of Toronto.  She divides her time between Toronto and Los Angeles and has lived in Argentina, Romania, and Bulgaria. 

Erika's Website: http://www.erikarummel.com/ 

Erika's Blog:  http://rummelsincrediblestories.blogspot.ca/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/historycracks

Buy Evita and Me by Erika Rummel

Amazon DX Varos Publishing

Giveaway Evita and Me by Erika Rummel

This giveaway is for 1 print copy and is open to Canada and the U.S. only. 

This giveaway ends on July 23, 2022 midnight, Pacific time.  

Entries accepted via Rafflecopter only: a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Book Review: A Gift Upon the Shore by M K Wren

 

A Gift Upon the Shore
by M K Wren

M K Wren's A Gift Upon the Shore was a gift to readers everywhere and everywhen back in the day before smartphones and internet.  It's a post-apocalyptic story about saving the books for future generations.  

I read it first time decades ago when it first came out in the early 90s and felt the need for a reread in this day when the book burners and banners are at it again.  

What might happen if they gained the upper hand?

The premise:

Civilization is gone.  Nuclear winter just set in.  Two women alone in a house on a bluff above the surf on the Oregon coast not yet knowing if there are any survivors in the local rural community and if so are they the friendly kind?  

The runup to the nuclear End had seen a  plague that killed millions in America alone, roving gangs of nihilists terrorizing those still civil, half of California fell into the sea taking 2 million more souls, the president had been assassinated by a bomb and those taking the power canceled the constitution and set up a Federal Information Broadcasting System.  

You saw that right: FIBS.

But even that was gone on the day the bombs fell as the EMP took out all electronics including car ignitions and digital clocks, home appliances and power tools  And then nuclear winter set in within days.

Is there hope?  And if so will they choose it?  

The only clue is in the author's choice of names for her protagonists: Mary Hope and Rachel Morrow.

This book came back into my life like a miracle.  I'd thought about it often over the years as memories of scenes haunted me as did the mission the women took upon themselves after the initial shock wore off and they had assured their basic survival needs by looting the abandoned buildings and vehicles within a day's travel on horseback.

Instinctively, part of their looting had included every book they encountered until the volumes they found together with those they'd already owned topped 10K not counting duplicates.  It was nearly a full year after the End when they had the time to contemplate a future for themselves and for humanity.  And that is when they devised the mission to preserve the books for the future.  

I had vivid memories of images of them wrapping the books in aluminum foil and then applying a waterproof sealer which I could not remember.  I remembered they had built a vault by digging a cave into the side of the bluff above the surf and lining it with stone and cedar planks.  I remembered that later in the story someone had tried to dynamite the vault.  And that that someone was related to the Christian cult they had encountered years after the End.  The first and only survivors they did encounter within the decades the story covers.

I had remembered that much but even that more vaguely than that summary implies.

I had lost my reading records in a move and could no longer remember either author or title.  But I did remember we had once owned a trilogy written by the same author and that it had been a sci/fant story involving another fundie cult and that the title of book one had the word Lamb in it.  That wasn't enough to find a viable search term for online resources.

But then one day while searching something else altogether (which I no longer remember what it was or the search terms) there in the results was one of the books from the trilogy and there was the author's name and from there it was just a click to find her list of titles and there it was.  A Gift Upon the Shore.

That happened no more than a month before Dewey's thon and I thought what a perfect read for Dewey's legacy.  So I made myself wait for the morning of the thon to start the book.

Reading this book was a slow slog due to eye issues (legally blind with RP) combined with emotional issues related to the events in my life in the late 90s that caused me to excommunicate myself from the cult I was raised in.  I wonder now what role this book played back then in helping me identify my own faith community as similarly toxic to the one featured in Wren's book.  

It must have had some impact if even unconscious as I read it when it was still a new hardback at the library in the early 90s and the first inkling I had of the doctrinal disputes that were about to implode our faith family was in 92.  Then in 94 I witnessed the disciplining of an infant for "inappropriate use of his voice" as the men in the room calmly discussed scripture and the women calmly handed out dessert plates and the small children calmly played their little games on the floor.

That scene became a tornado that devastated my soul. That picked me up out of my world and set me down in what might as well have been another planet. That turned me from a True Believer into a skeptic and set me on a mission to learn to think for myself.

There is a scene in this book where a 13 year old is whipped with a belt for blasphemy for asking in church why the begets for Jesus in the gospel don't agree with each other and both lead to Joseph and not Mary who was supposed to be a virgin.  Reading that scene again after spending the month of April writing my memoir of the events that catapulted me out of my faith community was so surrealistic I can't even...

It was like pouring salt on the wounds I just ripped the scabs off of.

See Friday's post, Of Flux and Fuss and Frustrations, for a more in depth explanation of the roots of the emotions this novel is stirring up.

The read-a-thon was supposed to end at 5AM Sunday for me but I read on until 7:30 trying to finish this story. I was still just over 10% out when I had to give up. Then I woke up after only four hours of sleep and after coffee picked up the book again--and fell asleep over it waking at 9pm after another 4 hours of sleep.  I finally finished it after 10PM. 

This story is going to haunt me for the rest of my days.

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Book Review: Time and the Tree by Roisin Sorahan -- Including an Interview with the Author and a Giveaway

Time and the Tree by Roisin Sorahan 

Publisher: Adelaide Books, NY (September 6, 2021 

Category: Literary Fiction, Fantasy, Modern Fable, and Self-actualization 

Tour dates: January-February, 2022

ISBN: 978-1955196635 

Available in Print and ebook, 

282 pages

 

Description of Time and the Tree by Roisin Sorahan

A modern fable about the nature of time and the quest for happiness. It's darkly funny, deceptively simple, and a necessary read for testing times. In this gripping philosophical tale, a boy awakens beneath a tree in a forest in summer. He is soon joined by Time and his slave, a withered creature hooked on time and aching to disappear. The story evolves over the course of a year as a host of characters are drawn to the Tree for guidance. The unlikely cast grapple with choices and grope towards self-knowledge in a world where compassion is interwoven with menace. As the seasons bring great changes to the forest, we watch the child grow while the trials he faces mount.  Then the time for talk and innocence passes as the forces of darkness rally, threatening the lives of his friends. Lyrical, honest and heart-breaking, Time and the Tree confronts readers with a unique perspective on the challenges life presents. A wise and hopeful book, it is uplifting and unsettling by turns.

Joy's Review of Time and the Tree by Roisin Sorahan

This charming tale enchanted me.  In its very simplicity it drew me in and held me as willing witness to wonder and wisdom.  Not since the era of my late pre-teens have I been so captivated by a story .  Not since the time of my early teens have I experienced the sense of having been profoundly changed at my core by a story. It was such stories that lit the flame of my love for story and memories of them that keep me on a quest for more such stories with the power to transform me and my world.

Time and the Tree is an allegory that might be mistaken for a children's story but its intended audience is as ageless as a tree that is both ancient and new every season.  The setting is the Forest over a year of changing seasons progressing from summer thru autumn and winter and ending as spring is about to give way again to summer.  On this stage in the opening scene we encounter Boy conversing with Tree his constant companion, teacher and friend.  Their dialogs are gentle lessons in living from the heart with integrity and joy.

In the midst of their communion they are joined by Time and his Shadow.  Time is a potbellied functionary with the hands of a clock attached to his navel, the second hand relentlessly circling passes just under his chin.  His companion, Shadow, waits on him hand and foot carrying the burden of all the accoutrements of an urban lifestyle upon its back for their wilderness trek.  Time is a bully constantly calling Shadow Slave and Fool and berating it for being slow and incompetent and worthless.  Time seems to think he is there to tell Tree what's what and make sure Boy has the true scoop on the meaning of life.  But Boy takes his lesson from Time not via his words but by close observation of his behaviors..

Later the group is joined by Weaver a haggard woman with eight limbs who is constantly knitting with wool and needles while weaving snares of words for her intended recruits for her icy northerner empire. Time and Weaver snipe at one another hinting at a history going back to their youth.  Once again Boy's observation of behavior has more impact on his understanding than Weaver's slippery words.

It isn't until the arrival of Wanderer, a caped traveler and adventurer, that Boy becomes enthralled by a visitor's tale.  He hangs on her every word, hankers after a dagger just like hers and spends time among the trees acting out her tales of daring do

.

Then in the midst of winter long after Weaver had left in a snit and shortly after Time, Shadow and Wanderer had set off on a joint adventure leaving Boy alone with Tree, there arrived a pair of scurrilous Woodcutters, minions of Weaver on an an ominous mission for their icy-hearted mistress...  

Of which I can say no more without providing spoilers.

Tree's conversations with each character maintain the same open-hearted respect and compassion no matter their attitude.  They remind me a bit of Plato's dialogs with a hint of Jesus' parables and sermons seasoning rich servings of Buddha and the Tao.

More of my reaction to this story is revealed below in my interview questions for Roisin Sorahan with her replies providing more insight into the heart of her story...

Praise for Time and the Tree by Roisin Sorahan

Time and the Tree by Roisin Sorahan is truly a masterpiece...A fable full of thought-provoking metaphors, knowledge, and awareness of the bigger picture...I would recommend it for all who relish beautiful literature, especially stories with a deeper meaning."-San Francisco Book Review (5/5 star rating)

Time and the Tree explores matters of spirit, intention, kindness and how to live the time that is offered through a series of revelations that will often prompt readers to set aside the tale to consider their own relationships with time and life. Sorahan's...ability to bring to life some basic tenets of existence and the existential questions many come to feel during the course of a lifetime creates an insightful read on the level of The Velveteen Rabbit classic."  - D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review 

A genre-busting masterpiece, full of pacy storytelling, wry dialogue and philosophical challenge -Declan Kiberd, Author (incl. Inventing Ireland), Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, and international authority on modern Irish literature

Time and the Tree is unlike anything I've read in contemporary literature ... a beautiful fable fit for difficult and confusing days. -Luke Gerwe - Associate Editor, PBS NewsHour, and formerly Managing Editor, Voice of Witness book series 

"An uplifting and tranquil allegory filled with positivity and hope, Time and the Tree by Roisin Sorahan is a magical tale of a young boy who lives in a forest, a wise and caring tree which offers shelter and guidance and numerous other characters that appear in order to challenge and change under the tree and the boy's influence. This book is filled with lessons: to be mindful and present instead of constantly rushing towards a tomorrow that's just out of reach; the importance of healing past trauma and self-love and acceptance, or showing empathy for others. Hope and positivity flows from the pages of this lyrical story as we navigate the ever-changing seasons in this magical forest. Time and the Tree is well-written, its characters compliment each other, with the naivety and curiosity of the young boy setting up many of the lessons. There is a level of spirituality in this book, it encourages meditation and gratitude while also promoting that it's ok to be you, to embrace your unique qualities and to follow your own path. Told with an emphasis on nature, Time and the Tree is an uplifting read that will infuse any reader's day with positivity. It's imagery and storyline are gentle and easy to follow with its underlying message about looking to the light in all things will leave readers with warm feelings of hope and positivity. I found this book entertaining and witty in places, but ultimately it left me with a sense of peace and calm."  -LoveReading

"This is a lovely story that, on the surface, appears like a simple fairy tale. But it is much more than that. It is full of symbolism and knowledge...this book has a beautiful message that is sure to stay with me. Time and the Tree is a beautiful debut from a talented author."-Manhattan Book Review

Joy's Interview with Roisin Sorahan

Dear Joy,

It means a lot to me that you enjoyed Time and the Tree. Thank you for taking the time to read it. I also appreciate such thoughtful and insightful questions. 

I believe the reader completes the creative process. They bring their memories, experiences, failures and aspirations, and sculpt their own meaning from it. It is with this in mind that I approach your questions. I don’t want to influence, or shape, the response to Time and the Tree. It’s important that the reader creates it in their own image, according to their need and belief, every single time.

But, to answer your first question, my name, Róisín, is Irish. Phonetically it is pronounced: Row-sheen.

1. Influences.  I hope that this first set of questions related to Influences is enough different from the question 'Where do you get your ideas?' that you won't, as most authors do for that version, turn from them in disgust and horror.:

Authors are often the worst people to describe their work. Articulate on the page, we stutter over words to encapsulate it. Some have been known to bark. I recall Samuel Beckett’s response when prodded: “No symbols where none intended.” 

But, I shall try…

A. Landscapes

What and where were the landscapes you encountered from earliest memory to the last sentence written that influenced your development of your story's landscape?

I grew up in Dublin, in Ireland. It’s a fantastic city. One of my favourite aspects of it, however, is how easy it is to get out of it and find oneself in the hills, smothered by gorse, or on the coast, doused by the smell of the sea.

Some of my earliest, and happiest, memories, are of sojourns along the west coast of Ireland. There’s magic there, it its unruly wildness.

My parents were attuned to the rhythm of the seasons. My mum grew things. My dad took enormous pleasure in the rise and fall of a wild creature’s chest. I learned to observe, and respect, the natural world, from them.

In my childhood, and in all that followed, mountains existed to be climbed; and admired. And trees, well, they offer enormous comfort, don’t they? Perhaps it’s their heartbeats that resonate with us, on a visceral level. 

Our small garden, growing up, was also a place of wonder. I recall hunkering down, head bent over the first flowers of spring. They never failed to draw me closer, and astonish me, every single time. I could have spent hours looking at them. I possibly did. 

As an adult, I took to the road, lured by the siren’s call. I’ve traveled across so many borders, now, that boundaries mean little to me. The world is astonishing in its beauty, and in its capacity to surprise. So, too, are the people one meets. 

I drew on my travels when recounting the Wanderer’s experiences. The road itself became an important landscape in my tale, with all its promise, and uncertainty. 

In this vein I can't help but wonder if you ever wandered alone in a forest as a child as Boy does?

I wandered, certainly. But with the knowledge that my parents were close by, so I never felt lost. Perhaps this sense of security is reflected in the Boy’s ease in this environment.

But, you are right to identify the important role the forest plays in the story. 

It links into the tradition of the fairy tale, where the forest is an enclosed world that can represent both danger and refuge. It thrums with possibility and life. And, for all that it keeps its secrets in the open, it hints at another space, that cannot be seen, that hovers on the edge of awareness. 

The forest is both a portal, and a boundary. 

B. Reading/Philosophies/Media

From earliest memories to the last sentence written, what were the cultural experiences from your life that influenced the development of Time and the Tree?

I live my life deliberately. I take risks and make choices. And I take responsibility for these choices. Even the bad ones. 

It’s a decision to live in this manner. It opens one to possibility; and it comforts with the knowledge that nothing is immutable, and change is always within reach. I remind myself that all that is past has significance, in bringing me to where I am. And all that follows flows from this moment. 

It makes me aware of time. It also helps me to understand that my relationship with time is within my control, and a decision that I make.

This is one of the central tenets of Time and the Tree. It challenges the reader to reflect on choices they have made, from a fresh perspective. It also offers hope. 

As our capacity for tyranny and self-destruction is enormous, so too is our light, and our ability to change. 

I am also a proponent of the Philosophy of Happiness. This, for some, is a tricky one. Culturally, we are encouraged to think of others, and do the right thing. This is critical for operating within social structures. However, this message has been packaged in guilt, and wrapped in self-sacrifice. Dousing the light, to let others shine. 

This, of course, is antithetical. 

Women, I believe, suffer particularly from societal pressure to deny personal need, desire and ambition, for the good of the tribe. They are defined by their roles. And celebrated, or shamed, accordingly. Little wonder that ‘the invisible woman’ haunts galleries, history books and tales of daring do. 

This diminishes all of us. In supressing the will to love and learn and be, it scrubs words and drags darkness into the space where the light should be. Without happiness we cannot help ourselves, let alone another.

The pursuit of happiness is explored in Time and the Tree. It examines the importance of self-actualization. It also illustrates the cost of erasing the self; underscoring the fundamental tenet that underlies pretty much every spiritual philosophy: love yourself; love others. 

Here I can't help but wonder if you discovered and loved allegory type stories as a child and, if so, which ones?

I devoured fairy tales, and all stories magical: The Brothers Grimm; Enid Blyton; Hans Christian Andersen. Then I moved on to fantasy. I read The Lord of the Rings numerous times. 

I just finished Kelly Barnhill’s The Girl Who Drank the Moon, which utterly bewitched me.

Children’s literature continues to fascinate me. It’s subversive. Magic is another word for possibility. And the format of the fable is extremely powerful.  

 

I used it in Time and the Tree because it employs a childlike simplicity that takes you by the hand and brings you to places you might never have otherwise ventured. Before you know it, you’re in the basement in the dead of night, while the wind howls and the electricity fails. 

 

Typically, fables also lead you home again; though the meaning of ‘home’ may have dramatically changed from when you set out on the journey.

C. Life Events

From earliest memories to the last sentence written, what aspects of your personal history influenced Time and the Tree?

I quit a good job to travel the world in pursuit of happiness. When I set out, I figured I’d find places that lured me into staying. However, I discovered that I was never happier than when my nose was pressed against the window of a filthy bus. The road became my destination, and I had time to think.

The opportunity to allow the mind to meander is a novelty in modern times. When my brain quit making lists, it had space for ideas.

I slept in countless beds, packed and re-packed my belongings, shedding stuff, where I could. My sense of need, my understanding of my blessings and opportunities, and my concept of home, evolved. 

During this time, I met numerous people who influenced my thinking and guided me towards my path. The opportunity to learn and practice Vipassana mediation in retreats in Dehradun in Indian, and in Shelbourne, Massachusetts, in the US, played an important role in the evolution of Time and the Tree.

Here I'm especially interested in how your personal encounters with loss and grief played a role in developing the core philosophy of Tree revealed near the end.  But if there are any others that come to mind I welcome them as well.

Death and life are intertwined. Endings and beginnings. Complicated stuff. 

We reach a point in our lives, where we all experience it, at some stage. There is no avoiding it.

Grief and death are not to be confused, however. Grief is painful and ragged. The cost of loving deeply. 

Death is what gives meaning to life. Without winter, there would never be spring.

2. Why did you choose to keep the Boy nameless and untethered to any hint of a life outside the forest?  No parents, siblings, culture of his own?  No past before the Tree?

The Boy is an archetype. He features powerfully in the story, but his role is to question, to seek, to be the site over which a battle is raged. And it is his function to transition from innocence to knowledge. 

He is a critical catalyst in the tale. But, most importantly, in retaining him featureless, he is a vessel into which the reader can pour themselves.

3. As I read your description of Weaver's Web in the far North I got chilling associations in my mind with our World Wide Web.  Was this intentional?  Part of your vision?  Or just a matter of your Story acting like a Rorschach's inkblot for individual readers as so many do?

Tyranny exists in many forms. We have witnessed this throughout history, and our current time is no different. The mechanisms of power change, but the intentions do not.

When I wrote the North, I had ample references. All of our time. They coalesced to shape this dystopian realm. The political unrest we’ve seen these past few years, and the misinformation that foments fear and creates the Other, all played into the evolution of the Weaver’s web. 

4. At one point I saw such a strong correlation between the relationship of Time and his Shadow to our Patriarchal culture's marriage dynamic that I half expected you to reveal them as the Boy's parents.  Rorschach or real?  Have you encountered in reading or travels any other culture types that use time tyranny the way Patriarchy does? Or any Patriarchy that did not? Or any at all that eschew time tyranny and yet exhibit sustainable success?

That’s a wonderful way to read the story, Joy. And I think the relationship between Time and the Shadow can be understood in many different ways.

More generally, time has always held great sway, in one way, or another. The pressure to get the hay in before the rain falls; the need to get the animals into the barn, before the night comes. The roll of the seasons, and the pendulum of day and night, have always been batons that beat out the measure of days and lives.

Then, the industrial revolution monetized time. And, in placing a value on time, it handed it to those with earning potential. Traditionally, men. The breadwinners sloughed to the factories and counted their days in hours spent earning a crust. It wasn’t great. But it was better than time being counted for nothing, which was the case of the domestic, female, sphere. Linking time to money created yet another power imbalance in the Patriarchal structure.

However, there are other ways to engage with time. And this is what Time and the Tree explores. Time is a construct of our making. The role it plays in our lives is ours to choose. It can be the yoke to which we tether our lives, as we strain and yearn towards a better future; or it can add weight to the present moment, with the knowledge that it too will pass, regardless of its wonder, or its pain.

This is central to Buddhist thinking, and it is an ethos that is slowly seeping into Western culture.

5. Why does Tree welcome Time and Weaver and exhibit a faith and hope that they can be redeemed?  Are there some aspects of these two characters that are essential to life if their attributes and actions had not been corrupted?  As distasteful as I found them I also registered empathy for them and this resonates with the personal philosophy I developed after I broke with the fundie cult I was raised in: That there is no such thing as an irredeemable sentient being.  Can you riff on this concept?

I don’t believe in the lost cause. Any more than I believe in our power to change another. We can help. We can support. And we can guide. But the impetus for change lies within the individual.

Our personal capacity for destruction and self-loathing is matched by our ability to evolve. It is within our power to create new thought patterns and relationship habits. We can change how we engage with the world, even when we cannot control society’s mechanisms. Who we spend time with; how we listen; the words we choose to speak; the silences and counsels that we keep. We can put out a hand to help another. Equally, we can decide that we ourselves are worth saving.

If this pandemic has reminded us of anything, it is that humans are adept at evolving and surviving. Regardless of how much we fight it, and how much it frightens us, change is always within our grasp.

The Tree does not bar the path to any who seeks its counsel. It does not stand on judgement. Nor does it crush its limbs, by flinging itself against the world. It helps the reader understand that “Time gives meaning to endings and beginnings and encourages us to dive into the chasm that lies between.”

It also throws the gauntlet to the reader to reflect on their path and the choices they’ve made, and the role they have cast Time in their lives.

The Weaver is more difficult to empathize with. Yet, the Tree consistently approaches her with compassion, even as it displays its steels. The Tree will not compromise, for all the Weaver’s wheedling. It will not be less than what it is. 

Ends

About Roisin Sorahan

Roisin Sorahan is an Irish author currently living in Vermont. She has published numerous stories about her adventures on the road, as well as life as an English teacher in China. Prior to becoming a nomad writer, she pursued a decade-long career in public relations. She holds a Master of Letters from Trinity College Dublin, specializing in Samuel Beckett. Time and the Tree is her debut novel. 

Website: https://roisinsorahan.com/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/roisinsorahan 

Facebook: https
://www.facebook.com/Roisin.Sorahan.Author 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roisinsorahan/

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