Devourer of Books

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Alessandra that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

Even though I keep checking out books, my holds list doesn’t get any smaller.  I have about 35 books on it now, up from the 30 last week.  At this rate, I’m going to have everything in the library’s collection on hold!  I am doing my best to get the books out in circulation in my grubby little hands, though.

Here’s what I checked out this week:

Books:
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys by Stephen James and David Thomas

DVDs:
The Lion in Winter

Sort of a young adult literature week, with the addition of a parenting book and a movie from the 60s about Henry II.  I didn’t much care for “The Lion in Winter,” by the way.  My husband and I already watched it and I’d much rather just read “The Devil’s Brood.”

Thank you to Christine Blevins, author of “The Tory Widow” (link goes to my review) for sharing her experiences in writing historical fiction with us today.  Don’t forget to read all the way to the bottom for giveaway information!

“Boy – you must do a lot of research…”

I hear this often – usually accompanied by a puckered brow and a worrisome shake of the head. I am always a bit bemused by this concern. For historical novelists, research is an exciting component of the writing process. Research is where story ideas are born, and where I really get to know my time period and learn all the nitty-gritty details that help to make my story come alive.

I actually have to temper my proclivity to become hijacked by the research. I will often pause when wandering between websites or library stacks ask my self questions like “Okay Chris, do you really need to know the differences between a barkentine and a brigantine?” or “Does it really matter whether women in 1776 tied their garters above or below the knee?” The problem is, most of the time, the answer is “yes”.

My most favorite research is the kind that results in an “ahhh!”– when my newfound enlightenment raises the curtain and I can fully envision a scene. These moments are sometimes sparked by something other than information found in a book or on the internet.

When I was writing The Tory Widow, I became stymied trying to make sense of all the parts and pieces I had gathered pertaining to a particular mob scene I was working into the story. On July 9th, 1776, General George Washington gathered his troops on the Commons in New York City (today’s City Hall Park) for one of the first public readings of the Declaration of Independence. After the reading, the happy rebels – soldiers and citizens – marched down to the Bowling Green, where the exulting  mob toppled the immense gilded statue of King George III. The statue’s head was severed with an ax, mounted to a pike and paraded around the city. The engravings and paintings of this famous event were all executed many years after the fact, and the varied artists’ viewpoints do not mesh with many of the facts in the historical record. I was having difficulty imagining the scene, and figuring out how to weave my characters into it.

There are few vestiges of colonial New York existing in modern-day New York, but one is the wrought iron fence that surrounds the Bowling Green. As chance would have it, I had a day-trip to NYC scheduled for a meeting with Jackie Cantor, my editor at Berkley, and I decided I would also take some time and pay a visit the Bowling Green.

There weren’t many people out braving the cold that winter day, but with a large chai latte in hand, and all my research roiling around in my head, I walked the circumference of the Green to get a feeling for the space. I stepped up on the curb running along the base of the fence and peered through the iron pickets, trying to imagine what it might have been like on that rainy, hot July day in 1776. As I ran my fingertips over the tops of the fence posts, I could feel the rough marks left where decorative cast iron crowns had been sawed off by the rebels to rid themselves of all monarchal symbols.

So, I started to think about what happened to the toppled statue, and what might have happened to the little crowns, and I thought, “How cool would it be, to have one of those discarded crowns…”

The scene then came to me in a rush. I began writing in the cab on the way to LaGuardia. By the time I landed at O’Hare, I had ten very scribbled up pages in my spiral notebook – a first draft!

So, you might wonder, what did happen with the toppled statue and the little crowns?

Most of ol’ King George was recycled, revolutionary-style. A good portion of the much-needed lead was melted and cast into musket balls – ammunition the Continental soldiers used to “make an impression” upon the Redcoats. According Massachusetts’ ex-governor Thomas Hutchinson’s diary, the severed head was stolen by Loyalists and smuggled to England. The head was seen briefly in the home of Lord and Lady Townsend in 1777, and has not been seen since. Loyalists managed to salvage a few bits, as some pieces resurfaced years later, buried in different locations. A few of these fragments, including the horse’s tail can be seen at New York’s Historical Society Museum.

As for the little fencepost crowns – read the The Tory Widow, and find out what might have happened with one of them

Up the Rebels!!

Christine Blevins

PS
To Chicagoland lovers of historical fiction:
I will be reading the mob scene at the Bowling Green and signing copies of The Tory Widow this Saturday, April 11th, 2pm at the Barnes and Noble at Oak Brook Mall.

Christine has graciously agreed to giveaway one copy two copies of “The Tory Widow” to a lucky readers anywhere in the world!  She says, “Christine Blevins does not discriminate against readers by location, and will ship anywhere in the whole wide world.” In addition to a copy of “The Tory Widow,” the winners will also receive an 18th century survival packet (aka, lavender water and a hankerchief).  To enter, leave a message sharing your favorite period in history in your country of birth or residence.  You can gain an extra entry by blogging or twittering about this contest, but you must leave a SEPARATE comment with the link to your blog entry/tweet.  Winners will be chosen by random.org after the contest closes on Friday, April 24th.

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Please avoid spoilers!

“Anna scolded herself for not telling VanCleve on that first day that Little Bek did not belong to her.  But his false perception had served at the time to reinforce the story of widowhood, a story she had made up along with the forged documents to gain license to sell her books in the marketplace.”
- The Mercy Seller by Brenda Rickman Vantrease, p. 162

Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon

Lil is an old woman living alone in New York and working in a used bookshop, but she has a secret: Lil used to be a fairy.  Not just any fairy, mind you, Lil was the fairy godmother responsible for getting Cinderella to the ball.  Cinderella was fated from birth to marry the handsome prince, but in order to do that she had to go to the ball and in order to go to the ball, she needed her fairy godmother’s help and encouragement.  When Lil allowed herself to feel human emotions -desire for the handsome prince – and go to the ball in lieu of Cinderella, she is quickly banished to the world of humans by the fairy elders.  There she lives, barely making it, until she finds the chance to make amends, to unite two people who remind her for all the world of Cinderella and the prince.

This book was just absolutely lovely.  I adored Lil.  She was a slightly pathetic figure: the fairy who can’t fly, the woman who can barely afford rent or to feed herself; and yet she was strong and determined to make amends for her past mistakes and be readmitted to the world of the fairies and see all her old friends – and her sister – again.  The story was brilliantly thought out and imagined and the descriptions rich, but the ending is what really made the book for me, it was perfect.  Turgeon could not have ended her story better.

This book is a little on the lighter side without being what I would consider ‘fluffy.’  You don’t need to be a fan of fantasy or fairies to read this, it could probably bridge the gap between those who prefer chic lit and those who read more literary fiction.

Buy this book on Amazon.

After last week when I had so many links that i needed to leave half of them out so as not to overwhelm you all, this week I was horrid at collecting links.  Luckily, I still managed to round up some great stuff to share with you.  Search below and see if you can find the thing I’m most excited about:

Book Reviews:

Earlier this week I reviewed the fantastic book “A Reliable Wife.”   To make it all more fun, I didn’t review it alone, but had a mini self-organized blog tour with the lovely and talented bloggers Swapna and Amy.  Check out their reviews, if you haven’t yet.

At BethFishReads there is a review of a book I am basically terrified to read, “Thirteen Reasons Why,” by Jay Asher, a book in which Hannah Baker commits suicide, but not before sharing her reasons and laying blame where she feels it belongs.  Beth says, “What makes the book so difficult is that not everyone whom Hannah blames was purposefully mean. Sure, there were some jerks, but some of the culprits were simply clueless or shy or too unsure of themselves to do much to help out a friend.”  *Shudder*  As difficult as it sounds, I may try to read this eventually, because Beth believes it could be helpful in learning to recognize signs of suicidal tendencies in others.

I have been getting more book recommendations lately from Swapna of S. Krishna’s Books.  The girl reads more than a book per day on average and 70-80% of those seem like things I want to read.  Since I already have my own pile of books and can only finish a book every 2-3 days usually, this could become quite a problem (I think most of the books on my library hold list are there because of her).  Well, this week was no different.  Swapna reviewed the fantastic-sounding “The Lost Hours” by Karen White.  Hello, this is a character-driven book with an engaging mystery!  I honestly had no idea such a thing even existed.  *Sigh*  Another book on the wishlist!

At Linus’s Blanket, Nicole reviewed “The Light Across The River” by Stephanie Reed, a page turner about the Underground Railroad that sounds really great.

If you like fluffy romances, you might want to check out Wendi’s review of “Married By Mistake.”  Although romances aren’t my thing, this one definitely sounds entertaining.

If you occasionally get burnt out on reviews, feeling like they are all the same, you might want to check out this review from My Friend Amy.  She and Ali of Worducopia both needed to review “Etta” so they decided just to have a (Google Chat) conversation about it and post that!  Very neat.

Other Bookish News:

Have you heard of the blog The Debutante Ball?  It is a group blog for debutante authors.  I was introduced to it by Swapna because Eve Brown-Waite, author of my favorite book last month, “First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria,” is one of this year’s debs.  Each week the debs blog on a different topic.  This week the topic was rejection.  If you want to see what I am talking about when I tell you that Eve’s writing is smart and sassy, check out her post entitled “Rejection Sucks and I’m Taking to my Bed.”  Also, if you’ll take some time to read the comments, you will notice that Eve says that I am her BFF!

Just in time for National Poetry Month, Carrie at Books and Movies is continuing her discussion of her favorite works in specific genres with…you guessed it…poetry!  If you’re looking for some good reads to celebrate National Poetry Month then check out her list.

If you didn’t know Dewey, she was an amazing book blogger with an emphasis on community who passed away at the end of last year.  One of her legacies was the 24 Hour Read-Athon which has now been taken over by Trish, Ana, and Hannah.  The next Read-Athon will be taking place on Saturday, April 18th at 1 pm GMT.  If you’ve never participated before, it is great fun.  Go over, read the FAQs, and sign up!

Giveaways:

Shelly at Write for a Reader has a big April Fool’s Day giveaway going on – it isn’t a prank!  She’s got two books to give to each of five winners, but if she can get over 100 comments she’ll be adding MORE books to the mix, so get over there and enter!