Fairy Tale

I visited the library just after Thanksgiving and found Fairy Tale by Stephen King. It was a Lucky Day book (which means a new release that can't be renewed) so I had three weeks to read the 600 page tome. Oh my! I was initially up to the challenge, but then got sick with covid and was up for nothing. In the end I read most of it in the last two days. But I finished! And returned it on time - ha! 

What a fun mashup of everything fairy tale, from Jack and the Beanstock to Rumpelstiltskin and any other fairy tale story or character you can think of. Current and timeless. Smart and truly entertaining. The references were intentional and made this other world seem the source of them all, discovered by wayward travelers who happened upon a portal. 

I also enjoyed the illustrators, Gabriel Rodriguez and Nicolas Delort, alternating a drawing for each chapter. Very cool. 

Page 17:  You have to keep in mind that high school kids - no matter how big the boys, no matter how beautiful the girls - are still mostly children inside.  

Page 33:  The windows were dusty, all the shades pulled. Those windows looked like blind eyes that were somehow still seeing me and not liking my intrusion. 

Page 414:  You get used to the amazing, that's all. Mermaids and IMAX, giants and cell phones. If it's in your world, you go with it. It's wonderful, right? Only look at it another way, and it's sort of awful. Think Gogmagog is scary? Our world is sitting on a potentially world-ending supply of nuclear weapons, and if that's not black magic, I don't know what is. 

And finally, page 595:  You may say I have no reason to feel shame, that I did what I had to do to save my life and the shed's secret, but shame is like laughter. And inspiration. It doesn't knock. 

Carrie Soto Is Back

I enjoyed reading Taylor Jenkins Reid's latest novel, Carrie Soto Is Back. I attended her author talk at the Portland Book Festival earlier this month. I haven't read her previous books but have friends who enjoyed some. The book didn't immediately suck me in, and I'm not much for tennis. But Reid's work is very readable and smart. In the end I found it well-crafted and emotionally satisfying, exploring identity and belonging. I kept three quotes: 

page 40:  I hit the ball the same as I always did, but inside, I felt flushed and in possession of my first real secret. It was like opening the front door and letting fresh air into the house. 

page 177:  But of course there are no absolute morals or lessons. Only perspectives. One man's bitch is another woman's hero. 

page 303:  Gwen stands up and puts her hand on my shoulder. "Falling in love is really quite simple," she says. "You want to know the secret? It's the same thing we are all doing about life every single day." I look at her. "Forget there's an ending." 

A Visit from the Goon Squad

When I heard about Jennifer Egan's recent book, The Candy House, I was intrigued, but since it uses the same universe as her book from about a decade ago, A Visit from the Goon Squad, I decided to read that one first. What navigational skill! Jennifer presses the boundaries of the novel, barely binding a collection of stories into one cohesive experience - this is almost a short-story collection. Or perhaps it is a collection of shorts that was satisfyingly connected. Either way, my attention was rapt. 

Only kept two quotes: 

Page 205: Hilarity keeps you busy for several blocks, but there's a sickness to it, like an itch that if you keep on scratching, will grind straight through skin and muscle and bone, shredding your heart.

Page 337: It was one of those days when every intersection brings up another familiar face, old friends and friends of friends, acquaintances, and people who just look familiar. 

ALSO! I am thrilled to announce that I have a novel coming out November 1st! It is called The Runestone's Promise and it's being published by Unsolicited Press out of Portland, Oregon. Set in 1799 Norway, I found the bones of the story in some family genealogy records. It was fun to write and very satisfying to see being put into print. I'm currently working on my third novel.