Caroline Bock's Blog: Caroline Anna Bock Writes, page 18

Looking forward to .... Downtown Abbey, Anjelica Huston, Writing Adult and more!

I have been hesitant this year to set resolutions, so instead, I've put together a list of things I am looking forward to in 2012...
-Watching the new season of Downtown Abbey starting this Sunday on PBS!
-Starting a new novel  -- a sexy, disturbed female executive,an adult work. Enough said. 

-Watching Smash on NBC, at least for Anjelica Huston! 
-Reading the classics.  I don't know which ones yet, but I feel like I have some significant gaps in my literary knowledge.  For example, I like this new quote I found: "The greatest gift is a passion for reading.  it is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind.  It is moral illumination." Elizabeth Hardwick.   But then I had to look up who Elizabeth Hardwick was (literary critic, novelists, helped establish New York Review of Books).  Am thinking of attempting Moby Dick, again.  Other ideas?  

-Attempting to write something completely different.  I don't know what, yet! 

-Getting physical -- getting back in to touch with my body -- (I'm writing it this way because I hate to say exercise. It's useless, for me, to have a resolution, to exercise x number of times a week).   But this could involve a broader scope... meditation... and, yes, going to the Y and working out body parts.
-Being more 'there' for those  I care deeply about ... being there, in the moment, for them.  One of those moments, drinking hot chocolate with daughter, is here. 
-Last thought, promoting LIE -- my debut young adult novel -- am doing several visits and workshops at Long Island schools in 2012 -- and am available for more in the Long Island, Westchester and Southern CT. areas.  

What are you looking forward to?

January Strangeness

I find it strange that some readers have claimed that kind of response to the hate crime described in LIE, my debut young adult novel, never could have happened, not this way.  LIE is the story of the aftermath of a brutal hate crime, of the decision of the two main characters, Skylar and Sean, to tell the truth, or to keep with their friends and lie about what happened. LIE is also the story of a community in the midst of upheaval and change, forced now to face ingrained sentiments about race, and hence, LIE is told in 10 distinct first person voices.   

Certainly, some character in the novel would have told about the beating sprees, or realized the 'true' character of the mastermind, Jimmy, behind them, and rebelled, or at least, personalizing the story, the readers claim that they would have come forward.

In fact, in the 2008 Long Island murder of Marcelo Lucero that, in part, inspired this novel, nobody came forward. Even though, according to news reports, it was widely known within the teen circles of this Long Island town that a group of their peers, including several school athletes, regularly went out to beat up Hispanics. I even start the novel with a quote from the real New York Times front page story attesting to this:  "The attacks were such an established pastime that the youths, who have pleaded not guilty, had a casual and derogatory term for it, 'beaner-hopping.'" 

So I find some readers comments strange. Strange.  

One last thought on 'strange.' I wrote LIE listening to Billie Holiday's famous song, "Strange Fruit" and re-reading the poem by the New York City schoolteacher, which comprises the words to this blues lyric about lynchings. I even taught the poem to my college world humanities class, played the song in class, and while we have traveled far from that song, I found it strange still, strange enough to write LIE.  

Bottom line:  You read LIE.  You decide. 

Onward into 2012 -- may it be a happy, healthy, inspired new year for all!

Sherlock Holmes, Chinese Food, Santa on the Roof -

Robert Downey, Jr. on the big screen--Eggrolls and General Tso's chicken on our plates--What do you mean we don't celebrate?
Most of all, here's to a spirit of joy, love, and peace that lasts all year long --and reaches those of all faiths. Must-add last thought of night:  if you received an ebook as a holiday present, check out LIE, my debut novel, available in all ebook formats.  Happy holidays to all and to all a good night!!

Only in New York, Baby... and LIE available in all ebook formats!!

Lookit, you got to love NYC!!  Carolers on the corner of Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, the 'real' little Italy, singing X-Mas songs in French.  Merci.  Or, another way:   Only in New York, baby.

And happy night of lights for all those who celebrate the Maccabees victory and the miracle of oil... and latkes! I attended a rockin' service tonight, which makes me want to shout:  Shalom! Peace to all!!

Last thought of the night: If one of the gifts you receive is an ebook -- LIE is available on all ebook formats.  Happy Holidays to all... and to all a good night!! 

Happy Holidays to Readers One and All!

The amazing Cynthia Garcia asked if I would write a guest post for her blog for the holidays -- and I did.  I'm not sure it's a traditional Christmas missive, but you decide. And --at her bookreaderaddicts blog --  have a chance to win a signed copy of LIE!!  Go to Cynthia's blog!! http://bookreaderaddictsgiveaways.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-celebration-with-caroline.html

Winter Solstice Haiku

Winter Solstice Haiku

This night is longer Deeper, darker, the wind howls:
The Solstice, winter. Last reminder...for last minute gift... signed copies of LIE at Barnes & Noble in Carle Place, NY and at Book Revue in Huntington, or if you are expecting an ebook for the holidays, LIE is also an ebook! 
Let the winds howl --there is no sleeping, for me, on the longest night of the year.

Cinderella, Cher, Michael Jackson... and Santa... in the Bronx

Sometimes we all need an adventure.  Yesterday  was one - to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, the true 'Little Italy.'  Shopped for fresh mozzarella, sweet Italian sausage, right-out-of-the-oven olive bread, marzipan cookies.  Had dinner at old-style Italian restaurant -- Marios - on Arthur Avenue with husband and kids.  Veal parmigina.  Highly recommend.  Then, we drove to Pelham Parkway.... stopped along Williamsbridge Road and Morris Park Avenue, and remembered being four-and-a-half, living here.  We drove further down Pelham Parkway and found what we were truly looking for The New York Christmas House (yes, someone's actual home - the Garabedien family - a family of costume designers!) decorated with over 200 costumed mannequins  --from Cinderella to Cher to Mickey to Santa on the roof -- and lights --and crowds all in good cheer at the spectacle!  An adventure!!

Last thought:  looking for a different holiday present -- signed copies of LIE now available at Barnes & Noble in Carle Place and at Book Revue in Huntington!  (And yes, that's Michael Jackson behind Cher).  Joy of the season to all!! 

Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded... emails from literary cyberspace

Had a reader write to me about one of the lines in my novel -- that 'nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded.'  I paraphrased that famous line from baseball great Yogi Berra, or so I thought.  The reader claimed it's paraphrased from Jack Warner, old time head of Warner Bros. Studio.  Even so, he liked my use of it   It didn't matter whether he was right, or I was about the original attribute, (though I was impressed by his close reading!), only that the email writer went on to to say that he liked my writing... direct, edgy, sassy.

I don't know who this person is -- just a voice from the vastness of literary cyberspace-- but, today of all days, I was grateful for it.  It was one of those days --  I'm sure everyone has one, when nothing was right.  My head ached with the beginning of a cold.  The computer screen was too bright, the lights were brighter.  I turned off all, and something buzzed. I couldn't think.  All was futile. Resistance to the futility was futile, to paraphrase one of my favorite shows.  I couldn't write a line.  I didn't want to.  I was sure I was done with words, or they, done with me.  I drank too much tea.  If I was another kind of writer, tougher, Hemingway, I would have drunk something tougher.  But I'm not that tough, and I gulped down mugs of black tea.  Then the email out of cyber space about malaprop,  (what a great word --snaps off one's tongue:  malaprop),  and I thought that I could, at least, write him back, and I found the words, or they me, and I realized: It's not over until it's over. 

Last thought of the night.... looking for a last minute gift??  Autographed copies of LIE now available at Barnes & Noble in Carle Place, New York and at Book Revue in Huntington, NY.  Limited quantities!!!

He asked me about Sherman Alexie... and I wanted him.....

At Book Revue today, he was at the cash register -- a young Tom Hanks, dark-headed, in a flannel shirt, for which I have a thing, the contrary ideas of softness and warmth and hot chocolate, and then, the outdoors and snow and thirst from cutting wood in big blocks  -- all this was embodied in a lean young man wearing a flannel shirt.  I was in Book Revue on a mission, to sign copies of LIE in order for them to be placed in the front of the store, on the signed book shelf.  I was also buying a few books too, including Sherman Alexie's first short story collection, some of the stories I had read, but I wanted them all together, I wanted the book in my hands.  He asked me if I had read anything of Alexie, and I said I had.  He said that he loved the title story, had been assigned it in his last English class, that he felt it was the one story he read in college that he would always remember, that it stayed with him, you know?  He looked at me intensely, and of course, I knew.  I knew only a few stories make a difference, change us, and when we find them we want to share them.  He was sturdy and sure in that flannel shirt behind the counter at Book Revue.

What I said was that I had just taught Alexie's young adult novel this semester, and even more so, had taken my class to see him at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan.  He said he had heard that Alexie was funny in person.   A line was forming behind us, a sudden surge of urgent book-buyers, but I wanted to keep talking to this young man in the flannel shirt.  With too much efficiency, he was handing me my credit card back, he was putting the books (I had bought other children's books for my kids), in a plastic bag. He probably thought me strange, this woman of a certain age in black sweat suit and dangling earrings, but I continued on about Alexie --sharing how funny like a stand up comedian, but poignant too, and literary, reading only his poems. I ventured further -- asking where he went to school (recent college grad), and asking what he wanted to do with his life (teach).  The line pressed behind me, but  this young man was of the intense kind, the kind of young man I used to know when I was in college who always had dog-eared paperbacks in their backpacks.  The kind of young man I would be afraid to approach, being shy and quiet and into my own dog-eared paperbacks.
Now, at Book Revue, I pushed a postcard for LIE into his hand.  Said I had just signed copies for the store. Said he he should check it out.   I wanted him to tell all the people in the line behind me to buy my book now, but even more, I wanted him to read it.  I wanted him to say to another customer, I just read a book that will stay with me for a long time.  I wanted my words to be in him, ruminate in him, turn over in his head.  I wanted him, dark-haired, lean, in the flannel shirt -- as a reader, I mean, of course.
Yes, autographed copies of LIE are available exclusively at Book Revue in Huntington, New York.  A perfect holiday gift... and look for that flannel-shirted store employee:)! 

If you are in a book club check out LITLOVERS

If you are in a book club, teen or adult, check out LITLOVERS -- the fabulous Molly there just ran a review of LIE and has a reading guide to the novel posted. 

Here's a peek at the Molly Lundquist review at LitLovers:   "What's so very good about this book is that while the author places two young people in the midst of a horrific dilemma, she makes their quandary palpable without over-dramatizing. Bock also draws a clear moral distinction between right and wrong but, again, does so without preaching and condescension. The only false note is in Jimmy Seegar's father, the single character who seems overdrawn. But it's a terrific resource for book clubs."
I could have  ... the part out about Jimmy's father -- but I appreciate that Molly read LIE so closely.  You read LIE and judge. 

Molly has other thoughtful, insightful recommendations -- plus other fun ideas for books clubs (recipes, books that make you go 'wow,'  books that make you go 'ow,' word etymologies  -- i.e. do you know the history of the word 'thunder' -- I didn't -- go to the site and find out!! ).  In short, she's smart.   I like smart.