Written in the Ashes by K. Hollan Van Zandt: A Book Review

Written in the Ashes
by K. Hollan Van Zandt
448 pages
Publisher: Balboa Press- July, 2011
Historical Fiction.

When I heard that this novel was set in the time of the Alexandrian Library in Egypt I could not sign onto this blog tour fast enough.  Such high expectations are often a set up for disappointment but not this time.  This story surpassed my expectations.

For a first novel it is amazingly competent on every level of craft: pacing, dialog, plot, character, description, narrative, setting, theme, symbol, metaphor, historical veracity.  I could not find fault with any of it.  If I had not been told this was a first novel I could not have guessed.

The reason I was so excited about the setting of  Written in the Ashes was because of my interest going back to my teens in the history, myth and cultures around the Mediterranean, in Church history, in libraries in general but especially the library at Alexandria, Egypt that was burned in the 5th century B.C.E. an event I'd learned of in a novel in my early teens which had induced a grief in me on a par with the loss of a loved one.

One of the characters in Written in the Ashes is the historical Hypatia the woman who was the last head librarian of the Alexandrian library who had lived in the library from childhood and succeeded her father in the position..  I had first learned of her in my early teens as well, probably in that same novel I mentioned above, and her story haunted me.  I wanted to be her.  I wished that I lived in a library like her.  I still do.

The scenes of the burning of the library broke my heart all over again.

The story centers on young Hannah a Jewish shepardess who was kidnapped from her father's nomadic camp by slave traders who raped her mercilessly before selling her in Alexandria.  Her master, one Alizar the alchemist, was a kind and perspicacious gentleman who recognized her potential right away and set her on a path towards purchasing her freedom.  Education was the first step and for that he sent her to study at the Alexandrian library.

This library was nothing like the Public Libraries most of us are familiar with.  It was more like today's universities combined with museums, botanical gardens and zoos.  Its mission was to gather and preserve knowledge from all corners of the known world which at that time was expanding as merchant caravans and trading ships ventured further and further in all directions from the Mediterranean bringing back representative materials from their travels of flora, fauna, art, literature, science, math, maps and more.  Alexandria as a port town at the mouth of the Nile river was in a prime location for such a mission.

But there were those who feared the accumulation and availability of such things.  Especially the Catholic Church which at that time was consolidating its political power in the region and defining a definitive doctrine that they wished to impose on all and to that end were intent on eliminating pagan knowledge and practice as well as Christian 'heresies', the Jewish traditions and in some cases populations, and all the literature, science and art that countered the teachings of the Church.

In the novel this perspective was represented by Bishop Cyril who instituted the death penalty for pagan practices, exiled the Jewish population from the town, and was putting pressure on the library to turn over certain items for either destruction or 'safe-keeping' by the church.  Of course Hypatia resisted this and of course this infuriated Cyril who stirred up fear and resentment in the populous by accusing her of paganism and witchcraft setting the stage for a trial or lynching once he could accost her outside the well fortified walls of the library.

There is also a love story threaded through  Written in the Ashes.  Two actually as Hannah is torn between two men.  One a sailor and the other a warrior/priest.

The ending though it wrapped up many of the story's threads satisfyingly left a few of them for a sequel.  I understand this is to be a trilogy and I can't wait to read the next one.

I'm also anxiously awaiting the TV miniseries that is in the works.

Note:  I received and ecopy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest reaction on this blog and participation in this virtual tour. 

The following material is from the press release:

Who burned the Great Library of Alexandria?

When the Roman Empire collapses in the 5th century, the city of Alexandria, Egypt is plagued with unrest. Paganism is declared punishable by death and the populace splinters in religious upheaval.

Hannah, a beautiful Jewish shepherd girl is abducted from her home in the mountains of Sinai and sold as a slave in Alexandria to Alizar, an alchemist and successful vintner. Her rapturous singing voice destines her to become the most celebrated bard in the Great Library.

Meanwhile, the city’s bishop, Cyril, rises in power as his priests roam the streets persecuting the pagans. But while most citizens submit, a small resistance fights for justice.

Hypatia, the library’s charismatic headmistress, summons her allies to protect the world’s knowledge from the escalating violence. Risking his life, his family, and his hard-earned fortune, Alizar leads the conspiracy by secretly copying the library’s treasured manuscripts and smuggling them to safety.

When Hannah becomes the bishop’s target, she is sequestered across the harbor in the Temple of Isis. But an ancient ceremonial rite between a monk and priestess inside the Pharos lighthouse ignites a forbidden passion.

Torn between the men she loves, Hannah must undertake a quest to the lost oracles of Delfi and Amun-Ra to find the one thing powerful enough to protect the pagans: The Emerald Tablet.

Meanwhile, the Christians siege the city, exile the Jews, and fight the dwindling pagan resistance as the Great Library crumbles.

But not everything is lost. . 




What They're Saying:


“A stunning epic about the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt from a brilliant young novelist whose depiction of the ancient world is sure to capture the hearts and readers everywhere.”- Mark R. Harris, Academy Award-Winning Producer (Crash, Gods & Monsters)

“Written in the Ashes is one of those rare novels that sets ‘history’ afire, to bathe readers in the glow of a greater, hotter truth. Fans of The Mists of Avalon will find this romantic/alchemical/feminist/spiritual epic equally captivating.” – Tom Robbins, international/ New York Times bestselling author Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Jitterbug Perfume

“Van Zandt’s vivid description of the Great Library instantly transported me to a lush fifth century Alexandria. Her lyrical writing style and breakneck storytelling kept me riveted to the very last page.”-Robin Maxwell bestselling author of The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn and Signora da Vinci.

“In her captivating debut novel, Written in the Ashes, K. Hollan Van Zandt brings to life a fascinating and forgotten woman of history: Hypatia of Alexandria, who may have been one of the greatest female minds of all time. If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to walk the streets of long ago Egypt, then look no further. You will be enthralled!”-Michelle Moran, international bestselling author of Nefertiti and Cleopatra’s Daughter

“Written in the Ashes is a story that could have been ripped from today’s headlines. It opens the door into a magical, fascinating and frightening era in our history. With hope, it’s one we will not be doomed to repeat.”-Josh Conviser, Executive Consultant HBO’s Rome, author Echelon and Empyre

“This book has been optioned for a TV mini-series by Academy Award-winning producer Mark Harris (Crash 2005). I cannot wait to see this beautiful story on my TV. Once I started this book I worked my way through it in 2 days. And when I say work, I mean it was a perfect read. It is clear that a lot of research has gone into this book, which is perhaps most beautifully expressed in the description of the Library of Alexandria. Next to a beautiful story, the book also shows respect for the time in which the story is set. As a historical fiction novel it is one of the best I have read in a long time. Kaia has truly achieved creating a story that is both captivating and interesting. With beautiful attention to detail and tradition, it is bound to ensnare every reader.”-Juli, UniverseinWords.Blogspot.com

“The story is extremely detailed in historical fact, but by no means is it dry and dusty. The author manages to weave the facts seamlessly into the exciting and romantic fictional story. So much so, that it becomes difficult to separate the two while reading – it just sucks you right into 5th Century Alexandria. I found myself absolutely riveted while reading this book! I highly recommend this book for anyone that appreciates a strong female character or two.” Theresa Jones, frugexperments.com]

Note: Written in the Ashes has been snatched up by Academy Award-winning producer Mark Harris (Gods & Monsters)) of Agape Media Productions. (He won best picture for "Crash" in 2005).  He plans to create a TV mini series with it.  For those who may be offended easily, you should know that there is some rape, violence, sex, and a bit of profanity.  If it were a movie it would be rated R.

K. Hollan Van Zandt has always loved libraries, oceans, ancient history and migrating birds. Her mentor, novelist Tom Robbins, instilled in her an abiding love and respect for language.She lives in Southern California, and dreams of a home in Greece. This, her first novel, took ten years to complete.

From her website:

I am a Scorpio born in the year of the Rabbit in California. (Though American by birth, I am convinced my soul is Greek.) I am a nature lover, deep ecologist, and a devoted yogi who holds 7 yoga certifications. My writing mentor is best-selling novelist Tom Robbins, author of Jitterbug Perfume, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and Another Roadside Attraction. You probably know his quote, “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”

Visit her web page

Join her group on goodreads to ask her any questions you have about Written in the Ashes and the Great Library of Alexandria.


Follow the blog tour to see more reviews, and guest posts by the author and giveaways:

Tour Host:    Date of review:    (GP)Guest Post, (I)Interviewor(G)Giveaway?                   

Teddy So Many Precious Books            April 30      GMeg A Bookish Affair                             May 2        GP & G May 3Joy Renee Joystory                               May 3        None   Ana Book Spark                                    May 4        G

Siobian The Owl Bookmark Blog           May 7         I & G May 8

Gwenddolyn Sea of Books                    May 9         None

Stephanie Curling Up By the Fire          May 10      G

Patty Broken Teepee                            None         GP & G May 11

Brittany Book Nook Club                       May 11      G

Angela Royal Reviews                          May 14       None

Christine Reflections of a Book Addict  May 15       G & GP May 16

Rebecca A Words Worth                      May 17       None

Audra Unabridged Chick                      May 18       G

Ruth My Devotional Thoughts              May 21       G & GP May 22

Dana Let's Book It                                May 23       None

Deb's Book Bag                                   May 24        I & G May 25

Farrah Book Faery Reviews                May 25       None

Valentina Carabosse's Library             May 28       None

Courtney  Stiletto Storytime                 May 29       GP & G May 30

Heather The Maidens Court                May 30       G & GP May 31

Shellie Layers of Thought                   May 31       None

http://www.virtualauthorbooktours.com/

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Let There Be Light

We finally got the mogul based bulb for this vintage 1950s floor lamp that I brought back from Longview last month.  I love this lamp.  It has been in my life from the beginning.  It stands sentinel over my earliest memories of home.

It continued to be the main lighting for the living room of my childhood homes beyond the day I left home.  I'm not sure when it got banished to the basement.  Maybe at first it was meant to be part of the decor of the rec room but at some point the rec room became a storage room and then one end of it became my nephews bedroom in 2004.

At any rate a few years ago--I think it was when I was starting the family photo scan and was down rummaging in the stuff at the end of the room that remains a storage area--I noticed the lamp standing in a corner without bulb, shade or diffusing bowl.  It saddened me.

Then when we moved into our new place in December and noted that there were no ceiling fixtures in the living room or bedrooms my first thought for lighting the living room was this lamp.  So I asked for it.  I accommodates a 3-way bulb and all through my childhood the bulbs we used went from 40 or 60 watt up to 100 or 150.  The bulb Ed picked up starts at 100 and ends at 300.  Not exactly energy saving.  :(

But Man oh Man does it give light!  And for me, because of the RP, Light Rules!

Eventually of course I wold like to put an energy saver bulb in it but it means getting an adapter thingy to screw into the mogul base to accept the standard base of regular bulbs.  I'm not sure why Ed didn't go that route this time.  Either he gave up trying to find one or he didn't like the price.  But for now I'm just going to revel in the light.

Having this lamp for the living room now meant I could move the table lamp we were using in there into the bedroom.  It was one of the matching pair I brought back from Longview last month that had belonged to a friend of my mom's who passed.  Eventually I want both of them in the bedroom but one is lighting my office until I can replace it, with a good full spectrum floor lamp that I can move from reading station to writing station to crafting station in here.

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Vasculitus Awareness Month 2012

In honor of this being the first day of May and the month designated as Vasculitus Awareness Month, I'm going to turn this post over to my sister Jamie for a guest post on her experience of living with one of the Vasculitus diseases.

Those of you who follow my blog might remember the month long vigil we held in her ICU room in the summer of 2010 when we almost lost her.  Or you can go here and here to read about it.

Vasculitis diseases are autoimmune disorders and they come in many flavors. Jamie was finally diagnosed with the flavor Wegener's which causes inflammation of blood vessels in the nose and throat and organs and causes inflammation in the joints which is quite painful.  She has developed scar tissue in her throat that necessitates dilation surgeries every 3 to 6 months.  Last year during one of those surgeries the doctors had to install a long term trach.

With that intro I now turn you over to Jamie but stay tuned at the end for an informative video about Vasulitus.

 I have always been relatively healthy, breathing, running, jumping, walking the three miles around lake Sacajawea in my home town of Longview, Washington. walking a mile to school and back daily.  But in the winter of 2008 that all changed for me. I woke up in pain, my knees hurt to where I couldn’t walk to the bathroom, so I called an ambulance and then called my brother.

Then getting the dreaded cortisone shot in my knee and then my breathing problem began. Everyone thought it was asthma, who would have thought I would be here and have a disease so rare? GPA (Wegener’s)!  That started me on a journey to discovering what strength, endurance; courage truly looks like when faced with a battle.  Especially when it is your own life you are saving.

I have experience thus far in a 3 year period, numerous surgeries, 2 near death experiences, loving support from family and friends from whom I never would have thought I would receive it, learning to communicate effectively with doctors, nurses, family, and friends in order to be heard, not having a voice to speak in order to get what I needed, having a care provider come in 5 days a week to help me to maintain my house, losing a friendship, gaining an old friend I thought I had lost, meeting new and amazing friends who too have Vasculitis disease, losing my ability to drive myself, gaining a furry friend who loves me unconditionally no matter what I look like, sound like, or what mood I am in. 

 And most importantly I have learned that I am stronger and can face obstacles with fear, but still can be calm and get through it anyway. 

I am not some woman that does not feel the tinges of anxiety or nervousness when faced with challenges. I do feel that way; I am just choosing to courageously face the challenges anyway. An example of this is focusing on what I can do and not what I cannot do. When I get news such as having to face yet another surgery and knowing my history of how those surgeries can end up causing more damage in the long run than good, I start looking at the reason I need another throat dilation surgery done: in order for me to breathe. 

Breathing seems like a vital thing to me and even though I have a history of throat spasms during surgery I will face it anyway. I just learned to do some things ahead of time in preparation. Having an illness teaches me to prepare for all sorts of things. One preparation thing I have done is an advance directive in case I am not able to make health care choices or any type of decisions. My siblings have copies of this paperwork and that makes me feel secured. 

The weeks preceding surgery I do not read any horror books or watch horror movies so that in case I have another hallucination episode again I will not hallucinate something bad again like I did in July of 2010 when I read the Dean Koontz “Frankenstein” series before having throat surgery. I ended up having major hallucination around that book. I recommend no one reads or watches things that are scary before going under anesthesia. 

Putting my life in perspective these last three years I have been living with chronic illness, I've learned the value of acceptance: Having to accept that I am sick that I no longer can do many of the things that I use to and realizing that some of those things I used to do were not exactly healthy in the first place. 

I feel blessed that I am here, that I do now know what it is I suffer from. That there are support systems set in place from other suffers who are positive, who share what they are learning, and who are choosing to go on despite being in pain, having blisters on their bodies, brain issues, taking yucky drugs that cause lots of fall out issues more than the disease, and hearing their stories. 

The people with Vasculities are in pain and have chosen to face the challenge and not lay in bed whining about how miserable they are. These men and women are fighting to be able to function and live fulfilled lives. I may not be 100 percent at my best all the time, but I am learning to love me anyway. I am appreciating what it is I do have. I am learning how to stand up, facing the challenge and even if I have one moment where I want to crawl under the rock. I now know that feeling will only last a day and then I am up fighting again. 

I am worth fighting for and that is the biggest thing I have learned on my journey thus far.

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The SITS Girls Spring Fling Event

SITS Girls Spring Fling Event:
A Blog Improvement Challenge--
Build Your Community &
Improve Your Blog

I just signed up to participate in SITS Girls Spring Fling.  Seems to be similar to Bloggiesta--build you community and improve your blog--but lasts nearly two weeks instead of one long weekend and puts more emphasis on social networking as part of blogging.  Also instead of an intense marathon like pace where you try to cram as much blog improvement as possible into 72 hours this one seems to encourage doing a few small things each day.

I almost didn't sign up seeing as it starts the day I'm going to be on the road back to Longview and I'm expecting things to be a lot  busier while there this time so will have less time to hang out on the computer.  But if I manage to get even one useful tip or memorable experience out of it it would be worth it.  And since the whole social networking things is something I am still fumbling around with and still not really getting the point I should see what they have to say about it.  More than just see what they say but see how they work it.

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Sunday Serenity #281

Merlin approves of my new chair as it means he gets booted off the office chair less often.

Three things making me happy this weekend:

1.  Ed got me an exercise ball this weekend and I'm using as a desk chair for a good part of the day.  I've decided I've got to earn time spent in the other chair by spending the first hours of each day on the ball.

It is actually not a hardship.  I've had less trouble with acquiring hotspots of pain on my hips, tailbone, lower back and buttocks or stiffness when I stand to walk after sitting for long stretches.  I've also had fewer incidents of drowsiness and less issue with agitation when windows freeze or downloads are slow.  I just bounce it away.

I call it my bubble butt bouncer.

2.  Open on my netbook when I took the pic was my script for Script Frenzy in Celtix.  Tomorrow is the last day.  I've no idea what my page count is, tho it was 33 10 days ago so is probably over 40 but under 60.  But I am not worried about it since I never intended to reach the 100 pages.  But I am pleased with my accomplishment this year anyway as working with the format is becoming easier to the point I'm hoping that maybe next year I can plan to aim for the win.

3.  My travel date for returning to Mom's has been set.  My sister is driving down to get me a week from tomorrow and I'll be returning on either June 9th or 12th.  I'm going this time to spend Mother's Day with my mom and her bday with my sister Jamie.  And to hang with my mom while my sister Carri attends some training for her work with troubled children which is her passion.

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What Everyone Who Uses The Internet Needs To Know About CISPA

What Everyone Who Uses The Internet Needs To Know About CISPA:

'via Blog this'




CISPA = Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act just passed in House and headed to Senate.

Among the types of personal info they are making fair game for sharing between business and government agencies: 

social network activities, profiles and private info

emails

browsing history

online shopping history

search history

medical records

online file backup

Pretty much anything you have ever done via the internet or info that is stored on a business' computers like a hospital or HMO, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, banks....

the Internet activist community that geared up to defeat SOPA recently is gearing up to defeat this one too.

Is privacy no longer a fundamental value of the American people?

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National Storytelling Day

Today, April 27, is National Storytelling Day.  I should say 'was' considering how close to midnight it is as I write this.  I discovered this quite late in the day with no time left to do up a proper post with musing about what storytelling means to me and links to resources or the history of the event.  So this post is sadly lacking in useful content but I couldn't let the day go by without mention.

So call this a celebration post.  Like the ones I sometimes put up for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and July 4rth.

Hope you had a happy Story Telling Day.

Did you encounter any stories today?  Did you tell any stories today?  What was your favorite story as a small child?  Which story(ies) had the greatest impact on your life?  What does story mean to you?

Obviously story is uber meaningful to me seeing as how this blog was created as a celebration of story.

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Reverse Engineering Crochet

I celebrated a milestone in the unpacking project by playing with a new pattern based on  a tablecloth edging I found while sorting through a bag that came out of the last box.

I'm doing a happy dance today.  I got the last of the largish boxes from our move in December unpacked.

There is still a lot of sorting and organizing and cleaning of too-long-stored stuff but these things are true:

Everything is in the room it belongs in.
Everything is grouped by similarities in kind or function (crafts, papers & books, office misc., food & cooking, HABA: Health & Beauty Aids, bedding, clothing, cat misc. laundry, cleaning, tools, DVD & CD entertainment, Computer/electronics)

That sounds good and in some cases almost looks good but it is still superficial.  That was just a gross sort.  I still need to do two or three passes over most of it refining the sort until everything is in its best possible home for maximizing use and efficiency.  The two biggest projects are crafts and papers which will need up to five passes and it is really hard with both of them not to get sidetracked into doing projects as I discover something I'd forgotten all about.

Like today when I found an old (as in older than me) table cloth with an embroidered border given to me by my mom a few years ago.  I can't remember it's backstory.  But I got intrigued by the stitch and wanted to see if I could figure out how to duplicate it for a bookmark.  After hours of trying, taking out and trying again, I still had only a few rows and was still not happy with my inability to keep a straight edge .  First it wants to curl around the foundation row and second it wants to either shrink or grow on the sides.  Third I doesn't shape up like the one in the table cloth it is round rather than diamond shaped.  Forth it is bulkier by quite a bit which means the original must have been done with size 20 or 30 thread rather than the size 10 I'm using.  Thus mine doesn't have the delicate look and feel of the original which drew me to copy it.

For those interested the general principles of the stitch are :

after the foundation row work a row of single crochet alternating with a number of chains.  The size of the chain link governs the size of the mesh.  At the end of that row turn and work an odd number of single crochet over the chain that number needs to be double the number of chains plus one.  Do this for each chain in row just worked.  Turn and work another row of chains attaching each to the middle stitch of the shell below with a single crochet..

One of the interesting aspects of this pattern is that it looks the same front or back since for each row of single crochet over the chain loops you are working the same side.

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Puzzle on This

This was my entry into the Book Puzzle Mini-Challenge during Dewey's 24hr Read-a-Thon Saturday.  Nobody figured it out so I thought I'd repost it and drop a couple clues.

The challenge was to make a photo montage depicting the title of a book.  I'll drop my clues into the captions for each image.  Except for this one: The one word title of the book is also the title of the trilogy that contains it.

This is a well-known author.  At least in my time.  You need one of his names.

it is what it is.  say what you see

this is apparently a beloved video game.  you need it's name or possibly it is the name of the character depicted as I wasn't entirely clear

This was one of my all time favorite fantasy trilogies.  But I've never blogged about it since I last read it long before I started blogging.  Though I might have included it in a list for the Library Loot meme or something like that since I checked out both the trilogy in a single volume and audio books of each of the three volumes after watching the BBC miniseiries adapted out of it.

Really that should be enough clues to figure it out but if you need another nudge try looking at the image filenames and figure out which syllable contained in them need to merge to make the title.

I loved making this.  I just might make some more to use as posts when I'm scrabbling for content.  I might do the same for the mini-challenge where you make sentences out of the titles of books.

I have other ideas for creating puzzles, riddles, word-games and such out of bookish/writerly themes.  Would there be much interest in that out there?  Chime in.

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At a Loss for Words

LoL by: Joystory
yep I made this one.  You can vote for it a cheezeburger.com.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed today.  I lost three days to the Read-a-Thon and then yesterday happened my mood mirroring the impending storm until it broke.  So now I'm way behind on just about everything except reading.  Script Frenzy script, book reviews, house work, exercise, crochet (gifts for imminent events) and sorting/unpacking from December's move all jostling for head of the list.

So pardon me of I don't spend all my words and time on this post tonight.

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A Tantrum Between My Tympanums

LoL by: extreme_momma
@ www.cheezburger.com

This morning I woke up before 8am after nearly 11 hours of sleep.  Other than being a bit hungry and thirsty I was feeling OK and anticipating a productive day.  But before 10am I started to feel antsy which built up to anxious and then irritable.

For a time I was blaming it on the neighbor using the weed eater.  It was obnoxiously loud and the gasoline smell was nasty.  But I realized that couldn't explain it as there had been worse noise and odors on Saturday when I was sitting on the porch reading.  So something was making me less tolerant of irritants.

It seemed nothing was going right.  I made mistakes that ticked me off.  I bumped into things, dropped things, spilled things, misplaced things.  I closed browser windows I didn't mean to, I clicked on links I didn't mean to, I closed a book before placing a bookmark without meaning to, I put something in the garbage without meaning to.

My computer seemed to be conspiring to increase the negative vibes by freezing its windows, downloading excruciatingly slow, loosing the connection in the middle of a streaming video, crashing the browser and so on.

I felt like throwing the mouse at the wall, like growling at Merlin, like barking at Ed, like going back to bed so I could scream into my pillow.

I felt like it.  But I didn't.  I managed to control myself for the most part.  I got a bit whiny, saying some of the things I felt about my self and my computer and the weed eater and the heat in tones that were far from sweet.  But I didn't manifest outwardly the tantrum going on between my eardrums.

My skin was crawling, my head started to hurt.  I was nauseated.

Then at 5pm there was the first clap of thunder heralding a forty minute thunder storm.

Before the storm was over my inner tantrum had dissipated.

This wasn't the first time I correlated a bad mood with an impending storm but it was one of the worst and I didn't make the connection until twenty minutes into the storm when I started feeling better.  So I spent the whole day disgusted with myself.

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Sunday Serenity #280 Earth Day

Happy Earth Day

Keep the Wonder Alive

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My Brain on Books X

<-- click the pic to learn about the Read-a-thon

I am reading for Script Frenzy and NaNoWriMo today as I am currently participating in my 4rth Script Frenzy and have done NaNo 8 times. I don't have a sponsor but 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. If you would like to sponsor me the link above takes you to the page that tells you how. My Script Frenzy username is joywrite






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 and the Joystory fb fanpage. But this is where I do anything more than a line or two.  Also mini-challenges.   Be sure to scroll to bottom of this post for advice on how to ward off those scary nap attacks. You won't be sorry.

5am -- I back for a brief sign-off but I'm not going to do my official wrap up  until I wake up.  I don't want to risk catching a third wind that could carry me another six hours.  No joke.  It has happened more than once with these 24hr thons and it seems that going back to the hub as the last hour winds down plays a role in getting me all wound up again so I need to avoid that.

I spent the last half hour reading Vonnegut's short story "The Euphio Question" about the invention of a euphoria machine.


3:50am (Sunday, April 22)  About to enter the last hour


Have had a productive several hours.  Have been reading tree books but no single one for very long.  Seem to have the attention span of a butterfly.  Tho all have been NF and dense prose and smallish font.  They are:

The Mobius Strip of Ifs by Mathias B. Freese.  Review copy.  A slim volume of collected essays.  Freese is a retired Freudian Psychotherapist so as you can imagine he is big on self-reflection.  As am I.  I've read the first six essays.  2 thru 6 in the last hour or so.  About 20 pages. They have all had the flavor of personal memoir blended with stand-up comedy.  At leas that is how my internal ears are hearing his words.  They seem to drip with self-depreciating humor, and an acerbic sarcasm and acidic irony directed against the cultural conditioning of the individual.

Creative Mythology by Joseph Campbell.  Volume 4 of his Masks of God series. Have owned for 19 years.  I read the first 8 pages.  Again.  For the 4rth? 5th? #? time.  I've started this book repeatedly over the last two decades and never managed to finish it.  This partly due to how densely packed with information every paragraph is.  Unpacking it is like unpacking a steamer trunk's worth of stuff out of a wallet.  Nearly every sentence requires contemplation.  I'm not complaining mind you.  I love this kind of reading as much as I do speeding through a light entertainment novel.  They each have their place.

And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles Shields.  A review copy.  I read about five pages when I encountered another mention of a story he was writing or got published and it is part of my adventure in reading this biography to stop and try to find a copy of the writing to read before I proceed.  Just before opening this post to update I located the two short stories just mentioned in my ebook collection of his works.  So my plan is to spend the last hour reading those stories.

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.  Since it is an ebook I'm not sure how many pages.  i'm guessing under a dozen tho.  I'm finding the premise of this book exciting and the implications profound.  It is about the recent discoveries of the root of habit formation and their purpose and how to interrupt the unconscious patterns of unwanted habits and consciously create healthy ones.




11pm -- It is finally cooling down indoors.  I've got a second wind I think will carry me through til 5am and beyond like a greased bowling ball on a waxed floor.  It is after all the hours I am used to being awake.

I spent more time on mini-challenges today than on reading but I did read.

I finished the first story, Ex-mas Feast, in Say You're One of Them and am deep into the much longer second story, Fattening for Gabon.  This is an ebook.

I read around 100 pages in The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen.  Love, love, loving it!  But it not an ebook and my eyes can only take short sessions.

After doing the Reading in Translation mini-challenge I spent half an hour or more trying to wade through the first page of 100 Years of Solitude in Spanish.  My googling for cover images for the challenge also garnered me a free pdf of the very book I said I would most want to read in its original language.  Now I can.  If I can scrape 35 years of accumulated rust off my high school Spanish.

I read several pages in The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.  Also an ebook.  I want to spend more time with it.

I am leaning toward wanting to read for most of the remaining hours so we'll see how it goes.




9:30pm -- 


Soporific is not so terrific

I went through a bad patch between 3 and 7.  I did not succumb to sleep but to fight it I could not sit still for long at a time.  The heat was a factor as was getting only five hours of sleep before starting.

I did get some reading done though.  I just had to take frequent breaks to move about, get drinks and snacks.  Take Focus and Vitamin B.

I sat outside on the porch for another good part of an hour before 8pm when I finally lost the light for reading without bringing a lamp outside which would attract things I don't want to attract.  It's cooling down quickly outside since the sun went down but inside the house it is still 85 degrees.

The woman across the street working on the floorboards of her truck has finally called it quits for the day.  For hours there was the interminable clang bang boom of metal on metal like Quasimodo ringing the bell in the church tower.  I wanted to scream.  But I can probably thank her for keeping me awake.

I participated in so many mini-challenges between 6:30am and 3pm I've lost track.  I can think of at least six but I sure there were two or three more.  That meant less reading but it was what I was drawn to do this time.  Unlike many who participate in the thons I seldom have duties or commitment that keep from staging my own private read-a-thon any day of the week.  So I wanted to participate in the parts that I can't do any time I want.

Sheila at Book Journey has asked a question in a spontaneous read-a-thon giveaway: what is your favorite part of the read-a-thon? 

I decided to think about it while I did an update before leaving my comment.

Anyone who knows me well might think it was the reading and I automatically voiced that thought in my head but it didn't fit.  One of the things Sheila listed was 'community' and another was 'mini-challenges' and yet another was 'cheering' but none of them quite name it for me tho they all have their charms.

It is hard to express in words what I think I understand now.  It is the feeling I get as I comprehend the numbers of like-minded bibliophiles as I surf the blogs and lurk on twitter.  I know you are thinking that is what goes by the name of community in the blogosphere.  But community isn't quite the right word for what I'm think of.  Because just realizing they exist in such numbers around the globe gives me the assurance I have a hard time coming by that I'm not so weird after all.

It isn't important whether or not they come together into a community a couple of times a year it is the knowing that they are there and that if/when I am in their presence whether physically or virtually I know I do not have to apologize, justify or hide my passion for story.

But maybe that is the definition of community.

I think my reluctance to call it community is that my definition of 'community' doesn't include my own reticence for participating in the chatter--comments, twitter, fb.  The fact that I remain, still, after so many years of blogging, a lurker makes me feel I am not qualified to wear the badge 'member of a community'.  I don't pull my weight.  I insist on remaining on the fringe like a bag lady who talks to herself and replies to the hum of the electric wires overhead, who appears to watch with longing the easy camaraderie of a group gathered for a meal inside a restaurant she is passing by but refuses to make eye contact through the window and scurries away the moment she feels noticed.

How then could I call my favorite thing about the thons 'community'?


2:55pm -- Book Appetite mini-challenge @ Sheila's Bookjourney - plan a menu for a book club meeting for a book you are reading today based on the food in the book.

Book: The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen
Menu: Lamb and bitter greens; roast beef and mashed potatoes; sausage and beans; corned beef sandwiches and macaroons; tea
can you guess where we are?

1:22pm -- I just spent a little over an hour sitting out on the porch reading The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen.  This was another first, another milestone, for living in our new place.  It is one of the very few days since we moved in that the weather encouraged it.  Today is the first day this year I've started to feel too warm both indoors and outdoors.

I would have liked to stay out longer but the noise was getting to me.  Kids screaming, weed eaters whupping grass, car speakers booming, dogs barking, trucks clanking over the speed bump.  It was also getting too warm and too bright or rather I was having to shift my chair too often to chase the light that was just right--not to dim and not too bright.  So I came back in for now.

11:55am -- Book Sentences Create a complete sentence with the titles of books by stacking the books and taking a picture.  Use at least three books:

10am -- Turn to a Page mini challenge.  from p32 of your current read find a phrase to complete this sentence:
"I would rather read than flatten Neil Lewis any day!"

from The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen


8:30am -- Reading in Translation Mini Challenge


1. If you could read any book that’s been translated into English in its ORIGINAL language, what would it be?

100 Days of Solitude by Gabrielle Garcia Marquez

2. Include the original book’s cover if possible; if you want, also post the English cover for comparison.

There are so many covers for this classic it would take lengthy research to pin down the original.  So I chose my favorite of the covers in the original Spanish (above)

and the cover my copy had the first time I read it (below)

OK well, after posting these I thot to check out wikipedia and found they have the original cover in their article on the book.  But I'm still going with these.  You can see the original by clicking on the tile link in step 1 above.

3. Optional imaginary bonus points: post a sentence from the book in its original language.

The first sentence in Spanish.

Muchos años después, frente al pelotón de fusilamiento, el coronel Aureliano Buendía había de
recordar aquella tarde remota en que su padre lo llevó a conocer el hielo.

7:50am -- Book Puzzle Mini-Challenge - Make a photo montage depicting the title of a book.

I'll drop hints as the day progresses if no one guesses

6:30AM --  Introductory Questionaire:


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

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen which I started a week ago but have only gotten to read in snatches.  Hope to finish it.  The rest of my choices will be made on impulse from my shelves full of tree books and my harddrive stocked with ebooks and audio books.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
The crisp Brayburn apple.  See yesterday's post for pics of my thon food.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
This is my tenth Dewey Thon.  But the first one in our new place in which I now have a room of my own.  See yesterday's post for pics.

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?

I'l move about more.  Drink more water.  Rest eyes more by listening to audio books.  Not wait til my eyes are burning to put the artificial tears in.  And do more mini-challenges and cheers, tweets and updates here--in other words be more social.  Last time I got really wrapped up in the reading.  Which is what I wanted then.  This time I hope to be more balanced.

We shall see tho.  I've got so many wrap worthy reads waiting..

5AM -- The beginning.  Got my coffee, computer, ebooks, tree books, audio books, pre dawn quiet and my cat.  I'm stoked.


I'm starting out with the first story in Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them.  The first story is a re-read for me as I read it when Oprah was giving away an ecopy of it when the book was one of her book club picks.  But I haven't read any of the other's yet.  I'm reading it in ebook with larger than my usual 14pt font as my eyes don't much like to focus for the first hour or so I'm awake

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Read-a-Thon Readiness

The food and drink for the day.  Easy prep and mostly finger food I can eat while reading.

 Well the photos pretty much speak for themselves and if I want to get more than 6 hours of sleep before the thon starts in 7 hours I can't spend to long commenting on them.

One comment I have to make tho is that this is the best environment I've ever had for a read-a-thon and I'm expecting productivity and enjoyment.  Expect for the first two of Dewey's thons I participated in (which I spent most of the daylight hours in the yard or on the porch) I have spent 7 out of the other 9 cooped up for most of the 24 hours in the small bedroom of my in-laws trailer house on a bed shared with our cat Merlin and during the night Ed and his snores.  One April thon in 2009 I was at my Mom's in Longview and the environment was better but had duties which kept me from spending the whole 24 hours participating.

This is my first thon in our new place and the room I call my office is a tad bigger than the room I shared with a husband and a cat for 12 years.

My desk where I'll be most of the time I'm on the computer or reading a hardback book I need to prop on the book easel so I can hold the magnifying glass.

Merlin has commandeered the seat while I'm taking the pics but when I'm sitting there he is usually up on the pillow behind my back.  Not sure how much the two of us will enjoy that when the temps hit 90 plus this summer.

Note the little bottle of eye drops next to the magnifying glass to the right of the mousepad.  Keeping my eyes from drying out is important if I want to keep reading.

Note also the fan.  Set up just today as it was the first day since we moved in just after Xmas that I've needed it.  Temps hit the mid 70s outside and it warmed up to the stuffy level by mid afternoon as is still there.  Temps are expected to be in the 80s tomorrow and I may spend part of the daylight hours on the porch and if I do I'll take a pic and post it in my thon post which will be the usual blog-within-a-blog post called My Brain On Books.

Several of the books I going to be reading in are review copies both tree and ebooks.  I have many more ebooks and audio books loaded on the netbook --many genres, many difficulty levels and many subjects--so much of the time I'm reading I'll be sitting here.

But there is also:

The mini-tramp for those essential breaks to stretch the limbs, get the blood moving and ward off the drowse.  The tramp acts as a hassock for those times I want to lean back in the chair away from the desk.

I can listen to audio books while on the tramp.  I can also take the netbook out to the porch on battery for three hour sessions between recharging.  To read at least but I'm not sure our wifi reaches out there.

Well it is time to stop talking about it and go get that sleep so that I'm not crossing the 24 hour mark at noon with 17 hours left in the thon....

Getting sleep the night before is the tricky part for me as I tend to be laying down around dawn not getting up.  sigh.

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I'm in a Quandary

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I need some insight on a character dilemma in one of my stories.  Here's the set up: Each spouse is a storyteller in one form or another.  One of them sees creative work as direct representation of the heart and soul of its creator and is always eager to give unqualified attention to the other's work and feels a profound sense of rejection when the other refuses to read(watch, listen too, attend performance etc) their work on principle (dislikes genre, politics, philosophy, religion, theme, character and/or style) and considers the threat of hurt feelings on the part of the other a form of manipulative tyranny over their intellectual freedom.

They each feel abused/misused by the other.

Is either of them right?  Or are both wrong?

Or are those just wrong questions?

Does this make the couple a poor match?

Could either of them ever be happy in this relationship without giving up too much of their integrity?

If you are a writer (or other creative) would either of these attitudes be a deal breaker for you in a relationship?

How is this worked out between you and your significant other?

I purposely left the gender out of my scenario to avoid gender bias in consideration of the questions.  It is possible that knowing the genders of the two is biasing my contemplation of it as when I switched the genders experimentally my feelings and judgments of the characters shifted.  I found that either position was more or less sympathetic/justifiable depending on the gender of its holder.  I also found that either position could be held and wielded by a tyrannical heart but only one of them, it seems to me, by a generous heart.  But again, I'm afraid my biases are bending my perception.

I suppose I just need to write the story to figure it out.  That's usually why I write stories in the first place.  But I got my brain and heart twisted into a pretzel of contradictions.

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