Publication

This morning I published my first ebook, a collection of poems titled Conditions, illustrated with photos taken by my friend Karen O'Malia. I have been working on the collection for about 5 months. But the excitement I felt this morning upon publication was out of all proportion to my expectations.

I have no illusions of the small electronic tome being a million-seller. In fact, at this point, I don't care if I sell any. The journey to create it and format it and actually push the button and see it available for purchase was so enjoyable and the rush of seeing it as an actual publication so large, the rest is gravy.

It was wonderful to collaborate with Karen, with whom I have been friends for well over half my life. It was also fun to get feedback from people I was both close with and others who were just casual acquaintances but who had some experience with publishing or editing or writing.

While in the formatting and pre-publishing phases I continued to work on more poems and am about a third of the way toward another volume. Generally, I think, they are getting better. But the most fun is writing them and talking about them and showing them and getting feedback.

I certainly hope I sell a few copies. I know I'll write more.

1962 and Literature

1962 was a very good year for literature. We've already profiled Ken Kesey and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Other outstanding works include Madeline L'Engle's timeless (pun intended) classic juvenile science fiction story A Wrinkle in Time. I read that one as an eleven-year-old, one of the first true science fiction books I ever read. Needless to say I've read many more since.

Another fiction work from 1962 was Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. A dark and unconventional story, it too was has stood teh test of time and was recently on a best 1000 books of all time list. I read that one at twelve and have recently re-read it. Thoroughly enjoying it both times.

Finally, in the realm of nonfiction icons, stands Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Also first published in 1962 and just as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. Just look at the environmental disasters in China in the name of industry and profit.

I encourage anyone to read these classic pieces and share their insights with friends and neighbors.

Two Classic 50-Year-Olds

One of two classic humorous, yet with dark undertones, turns 50 this year.

Ken Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest based on his experiences as an employee in a psychiatric ward. His book, and the subsequent movie starring Jack Nicholson, captured the institutional madness (pun intended) of the psychiatric asylum system.

The book is an engrossing read, one of the first books I couldn’t put down. The movie is a classic, being inaugurated as one of the 100 best movies of all time in 1991.

The second book, also 50 years old, is Catch-22, the crazy anti-war book which coined a new term in the English lexicon from its title alone. It was another book I could not put down when I first read it in the early 1970s.

Both are highly recommended. Their story and their message are as valid now as then. And their writing is phenomenal.

Reading is Hard

I had a conversation with a friend of mine one morning. Her son was an excellent reader from early on and continues to read a lot and to enjoy what he reads. Her daughter is a different story. She finds reading difficult and does not get much enjoyment from it. The question my friend asked was which came first – the lack of enjoyment or the difficulty. In my experience, the two things come together.

If reading is difficult, and we are not talking about kids whose test scores are even necessarily low, they try fewer things to read. The things given in classes to read, despite the best efforts of the teachers, are generally not interesting to kids. Now the student has a double whammy – it’s hard and it’s not interesting. This quickly becomes a vicious circle. The student only reads what is required, which is not interesting, so they think reading is not interesting and not worth exploring outside school.

My son was in this camp until he found something, by accident, that he liked. Now he will read the topics he enjoys voraciously. He has become a better reader and it is no longer as difficult and he is more likely to try reading new things. 

The moral to the story seems to be keep trying. If it’s not interesting in the first 10 pages, don’t worry but don’t force it. Encourage your kids to read different things but don’t make it onerous. They will find something. Eventually. And it will open the door for them. That door is just more carefully hidden for some than for others.

Back to Youth

I was a voracious reader when I was a kid, literally hundreds of books a year. Now that I'm more mature it is interesting to go back and re-read what I thought was prime literature at the time, or even read a book I wanted to but didn't back then. Since they are written for kids they take hardly any time to read.

One of the latter category is Lloyd Alexander. Best known for his Prydain Chronicles series he also wrote a series of adventures featuring Vesper Holly as well as many others. I must admit to enjoying them. The Vesper series is humorous even today with its historical references to Victorian mores and custom but with a very modernist tilt.

To Kill a Mockingbird was my favorite book and, I am pleased to say, has passed the test of time. It is still my favorite. Another set that also passes the test of time is anything by Ruth Chew. I highly recommend them to any child who is interested in history and adventure.

One that I was not interested in as a youth and still have not plunged into but was incredibly popular is the V. C. Andrews series. I do have a friend who has recently re-read many and she says they still hold her interest even almost 30 years on.

Happy Reading!

Post Christmas

The interesting thing about Christmas (and the other holidays at this time of year) is that bibliophiles always seem to get books (duh!) as gifts but that by the end of the holiday they have them all read or have decided it looked better in reviews than in actual fact or for some other reason have put it aside.

Now the long winter months stretch ahead of you with "nothing to read". I find this is the time to order old favorites and new possibilities online from my favorite used book stores. Many have sales and you can use the cheapest shipping options since the books can dribble in over the first weeks of January. You only need one at a time, after all!

Happy reading!

Paper books in the age of Kindle, Nook and the rest

I do not have an e-reader, so far by choice, though I do see the utility. Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth is much more convenient to lug around on an e-reader than its massive paper form.  My reason, so far valid, is that I still own so many paper books that I want to read that I don’t need to buy any, in any form. That said, I am sure I will eventually break down.

But that does not mean I will abandon paper books, ever. I am one of those people who enjoy the smell of the ink and paper and the heft of the paper in my hands and even the changing distribution of the weight as I read; the weight shifting from the right to the left. One other big reason – I am an eclectic reader. I like old stories as well as new ones. Many of the books I am interested in are not available in electronic format, and may not be in my lifetime.

And therein lies the rub for any reader. You find a new, to you, author and you want to read their earlier works. Or you want to re-read a book from your past. Or you get a recommendation from a friend for a book published before the advent of the e-reader. In all these cases the paper is often the only choice.

In this increasingly digital marketplace this means that used (“pre-read” or “pre-owned”) books take on a greater importance as they become the only option as even libraries reduce the amount of old paper books on their shelves.

I hope that many new horizons will open to you and that paper books will continue to be a part as I know they will for me.