So I’m heading out this afternoon for ten days of needed rest at my parents’ place in Virginia – woo hoo! My blogging will be a bit sporatic, since they have the slowest dial-up connection I’ve ever seen – but I will do my best. . . please don’t forget me .

But before I go, I thought it best to get your blessings on what I”ll be reading over the break. Let me know what you think.
When Ghosts Speak by Mary Ann Winkowski – book research and not too bad so far.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee – for the Southern Reading Challenge
Wicked by Gregory Maguire – for the Once Upon a Time Reading Challenge
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Admit One by Emmett James
Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss – and if you’d like to read a fun grammar article about my new heroes, check out this link that Maud put me on to.
On Beauty by Zadie Smith – for the 1% Reading Challenge
Chloe Anne: Force of Nature and The Sassamon Circle – for reviews
And probably a bunch of other stuff BECAUSE
I’m going to a huge book fair on Monday. Usually my mother and I can spend four or five hours wandering through the warehouses here, loading up baskets that become too heavy for us to carry. . . I can’t wait.

So enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, think of Oscar and I as we brave I-95 today with Martha Grimes playing in the background, and look for us in the days to come. Take care and happy reading.

Filed by Andi at 5:18 am under Book Recommendations, Written and Wrought
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Confession time – this time I have a lot to confess, which I think is the opposite of how this works traditionally, but still . . .
I have actually written this week – not a lot, nothing publishable, but I have written. Plus, I’ve sent several pieces out for consideration at journals like MonkeyBicycle and Relief. We’ll see what comes of those submissions.
I’ve done a lot of reading about my book topic – ghosts and such – and you guys have been immensely helpful with your suggestions. Thanks.
I’ve chatted with people about the topic, and I think I’ve honestly made some real headway in terms of my concept . . . I keep plugging along. . .

I also finally finished reading Theft of the Master by Edwin Alexander. Here’s the basic gist – a one-of-a-kind piece of art is stolen by the Nazis and smuggled around the world with them as they avoid capture. In the process of the art being brought back to its homeland, Estonia, a young woman is killed, and her family hires PI Al Hershey to find her. . . Chess comes into the plot, as does a bit of romance. But ultimately, it’s a complicated whodunnit with some groundings in historical events.

I found this book very difficult, mostly because the person I was to be sympathizing with in any given chapter kept changing. At one moment, it’s a German neo-Nazi (I know it’s hard to imagine sympathizing with him); the next it’s a young woman falling in love; the next it’s a Private Investigator; the next it’s the young woman’s parents. . . all in all I found the book to be choppy and hard to follow. I kept losing track of people because they didn’t get much attention in the book but then ended up being crucial later on.

The concept here is very interesting, and Alexander’s detective has some great quirks – particularly his very responsible wife, Mrs. Hershey, who never appears directly in the book – but all in all, it was a tough one for me to follow. My sense, however, is that if Alexander keeps writing, he will be able to develop a stronger through-line that will hold the book together more solidly.

Booking Mama had a very different take on this book than I did, plus she links to some great “bonus features” on the novel. The post is worth a visit.

The book did bring up a question for me – what do I think of historically-based fiction? I’m usually not a big fan, but sometimes – in the case of something extraordinary like the Nazi theft of art – I find it engaging. What do you guys think?

If you reviewed this book, post a link to your review here. Thanks.

Filed by Andi at 5:25 am under Book Recommendations, Written and Wrought
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Recently, TJ posted a great bit about how to balance a more main stream voice with more academic content all while keeping the writing clear and rigorous and genuine (at least that’s what I took from the post – hope that’s fair, TJ), and I’ve been thinking about these ideas ever since. I find myself in the same place that TJ is where I write scholarly work (and seem to write it well, if acceptances for publications and such are any indicator, which I’m not sure they are) and creative work (less success in the publications there) but don’t often get to blend the two. Additionally, when I’ve tried to blend the two, comments like “Cumbo uses an unhealthy reliance on an extended metaphor . . . .” seem to crop up a lot, an occurrence which is frustrating because I’m not a person who likes to separate areas of life . . . I like it all to seep together and form something yummy, like chile. My writing life is like chile. (See, there’s one of those “unhelpful” similes again.)

But this quandary is coming up right now for me as I try to write a book about the current interest in supernatural things – as evidenced by shows like Paranormal State and Ghost Hunters – while also bringing my own experiences into the mix. I don’t really want to write a memoir for a few reasons:
1. I don’t have that much to say personally on the matter.
2. I want this book to push beyond the confines of “supernatural” literature, the confines that seem to keep those books from receiving larger attention because they are weird or looney or too “new age” for most folks.
3. I’d like to weave in research in an accessible way so as to portray a continuum of interest in things like ghosts and mysticism.

But I don’t want to write a strictly scholarly work for the same number of reasons:
1. I want the book to be accessible to mainstream folks, not relegated to the back shelves of giant university libraries.
2. I want the book to be personal because this topic is personal for me, and I feel that the personal makes things more accessible.
3. It may not be, probably is not, possible to write a scholarly work on something that is largely unprovable.

So I’m in a bit of a quandary here, and I’m digging my way out of it through reading and writing (the ways I make sense of anything), and right now, I’m at a place where I think I may be writing something like Tracy Kidder writes, heavily researched but also accessible and occasionally personal.

What do you guys think of this idea? Do you have any models that you’d suggest?

Thank you to you all for all the book recommendations and such you’ve made . . . you’ll all get a credit in the book – really!

Filed by Andi at 4:40 am under Written and Wrought
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To set you up for this post, I must tell you that last night I watched three episodes of Digging for the Truth (good History Channel show if you haven’t seen it), and the third was about Stonehenge. Of course, as most of the world, I have been fascinated with this site since I was a kid. But when I studied in England a few years ago, the mysticism of the place wore off for me a bit because of how tourist-y the site has become. We arrived by bus with lots of other people arriving by bus, and we then paraded around the stones, separated from them by a thin yellow rope . . . I felt like so much cattle. . . meanwhile, other Americans talked loudly to one another – via cell phone – across the circle. . . Not exactly a magical experience.
However, during my time in England, my classmates and I visited Avebury, and I have never been to a place that felt more powerful to me. . .

This set of circles (often described as an old Druid temple but not really fully understood) is much more rustic, much less distinct, and interestingly overlaps with the town of Avebury at one end. . . there’s no yellow rope here – you can wander amongst the stones.

I’m not sure if I can describe accurately – or without sounding creepy – what I felt in Avebury, but it was like I walked into a tingly field of energy, like history vibrated there. I didn’t feel scared; I felt like I was in a holy place (and I do mean that literally – I’ve felt something of the same thing when I’ve gone to churches, like Canterbury Cathedral when the boys’ choir sang on Palm Sunday).

I’ve heard people say they felt a similar touch at other sacred sites – Jerusalem, Macchu Picchu, Llasa – but for me, this was the only time – and it came on me so unexpectedly in a place that I hadn’t known existed.

Now, all I want is to go back – anybody up for a summer trip?

Filed by Andi at 5:54 am under Uncategorized
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I started writing yesterday – and by that I mean, I read a lot and wrote a little -but at least I wrote a little. And it seems God was happy with that because I got something published – these things never work this way, right?
So here’s what happened. I’d been working on interview with Sharman Apt Russell for two years now – we started it when her last book came out, and she has another book coming out in July (the kind among you will not point out that she wrote two books in the time it took me to publish one interview with her). She and I had been emailing back and forth; I had queried a bunch of places, and finally someone bit – after I followed-up with them and found out they never received my original query . . . So my interview with Sharman will be published in the July/August issue of Science and Spirit Magazine. I tell you this not to brag (the interview is good because of Sharman’s loveliness), but as an encouragement that sometimes these things do happen. . . so keep writing. (And read Sharman’s book – my review is here – if you’re interested in nature, pantheism, good writing, etc.)

Sometimes it’s not just writing that comes out of the woodwork but stories, too . . . I’m working on this ghost book, right? And suddenly, maybe it’s because I’m paying attention now, people have stories to tell me – children that have appeared to them, people who can tell the future, individuals who can help the dying – This stuff is great – like this morning, I came across (thanks to Google Alerts) this hysterical post from Life at the Whyte House about a woman and her mother watching ghost shows. Do any of you have any ghost/psychic stories you’d like to share? I’d love to hear them – post them in comments or shoot me an email.

Filed by Andi at 5:53 am under Book Recommendations, Written and Wrought
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