Caroline Bock's Blog: Caroline Anna Bock Writes, page 22

Roger Ebert and Michael Moore... and LIE

Both Roger Ebert and Michael Moore are coming out with memoirs tomorrow... okay, so that's interesting you say, but at Bravo and IFC I worked closely with both these 'big,' super-smart, intense, quirky Midwestern men who love the movies. I wonder if I buy/read their memoirs will they buy/read LIE?  And isn't it weird that they're both coming out on the same day?  I can't wait to read!!

Why do I keep thinking of the line - where were you when the lights went out? I want it to be September 12

I think it will take 20 or 25 years for someone to write the "great" 9/11 novel... though even in LIE I mention 9/11 and keep turning it over in my head the idea of heroes.  Who's a hero and who isn't? 

Front Page local weekly!!

http://www.antonnews.com/plainviewoldbethpageherald/news/17687-author-caroline-bock-explores-hate-crimes-on-long-island-with-lie.htm

Ten years, a blink of the eye, and I am back calling my husband on 9/11....

Calling My Husband
on Tuesday, September 11, 2001  
Calling

him but no

answer on his

cell.
He should

have been at

work, but wasn't.

He had taken

a different route,

dropped off my

car at the mechanic,

gone in late,

had to take the train

into Penn Station

instead of Brooklyn,
had to push into the

subway downtown,

the A, always

too many people

at the World

Trade Center stop--
he hated subways,

too many, in too small

and hot

and claustrophobic

a box lurching

underground—

but then, he didn't like

heights either.


What everyone

remembers is how blue

the sky was.

How

perfect the day -- 


cloudless, crisp.

But otherwise

an ordinary Tuesday,

oh, a day to vote in

the primaries, still

an everyday Tuesday,

except that I couldn't

reach him --

not on his cell,

nor in his office.


A regular Tuesday,
except

that I was in Long Island,

and on the television,

planes were hitting

the World

Trade Center Towers.
I wanted to scream

out my office window –-. 



Later, that afternoon,back home,

his black suit,
(which he

never wore again),
hung stiff with sweat

and grey with dust,


debris and fear.


He had made it to his

downtown Brooklyn

law office just in time,

had the view

clear to lower Manhattan,

and the Twin Towers.

That Tuesday morning,
amid the acrid smell of

fuel and plastic and --

everyone who could was

hurtling over

the Brooklyn Bridge --
jamming into

the last LIRR train

to leave the station --

he could barely breathe –-

nobody knew what was going on;

except, men like him were

leaping off the

Towers --

into

blue

sky.


But he had

come home,

and others didn't –-

other husbands, fathers,

wives, mothers, sisters,

brothers, cousins, friends,

lovers, children—

didn't come home on that

everyday Tuesday in September,

a primary day, a day of clear blue skies.


Every September 11 since

I say a prayer for him

at my side, and

another prayer –

from the pit of my heart,

from the place where things

don't make sense, and never will,

a prayer

for all those ordinary

men and women,

who didn't come home.   

 --

Caroline Bock, 2011

   

Bookshelves what do they say about us??

Check out the interview I did for figment, a very good web site, if you are interested in writing, especially writing for young adult, or if you happen to be one.  They asked me to take a picture of my bookshelf... here's the one by my desk.  Maybe I should have organized the books before I took the picture??

Bookshelves and Interview with Figment

http://blog.figment.com/2011/09/08/qa-with-caroline-bock

SUMMER ENDS...with five stars....

"Review: 5 Stars -
LIE by Caroline Bock is an extremely powerful, emotional charged, well
written, heart wrenching story that'll leave you stunned time and time
again as you follow along with the characters throughout the novel."   As this blogger stresses an honest review.  Gulp. More at cool blog: http://alifeboundbybooks.blogspot.com/2011/08/review-lie-by-caroline-bock-out-today.html
Now, a new countdown, 24-hours until first grade and 6th grade starts!!   Where did the summer go?  

Author Debuts first Novel Nationwide

Tightly written short feature -- on the AOL local 'Patch' -- on LIE -- kudos to Nicole Murphy(talented young writer!) for crafting.  Story at http://plainview.patch.com/articles/plainview-author-debuts-first-novel-nationwide

GREAT Reviews for LIE

Let there be light!  Electricity back on!! Rush to computer and read reviews:
"... LIE by Caroline Bock is a powerful book that explores hate crimes, the reasons
behind them, and how hatred affects our lives..." The Figment Review  

"Whatever
preconceived ideas I had about this novels were consummately shattered upon
reading five chapters in. I went into this thinking it would be an
angst-ridden, emotional tale of one girl's struggle to balance right and wrong.
Perhaps the most valuable lesson Caroline Bock taught me is that there is no
simple answer, and one story can have many sides.   Rating A- theirishbanana.blogspot.com
So what happens next?  Waiting and hoping for New York Times, you'd think that LIE would be the kind of book they'd review??

  

LIE is HERE -OUT IN BOOKSTORES TODAY

Earthquakes, hurricanes, power outages... nothing can stop the publication of LIE -- my first novel -- now in bookstores everywhere.  Honestly, it's been quite a week.   LIE has come out to amazing reviews ("Gripping" starred School Library Journal; "Fantastic book discussion read," Stacked; "Unusual and important," starred Kirkus Review).  But that's not all the news from the past week, the east coast had a major earthquake, followed by a Hurricane Irene, followed by major power outages (still no electricity at my house.  I've read three books so far -- more on them in another blog.  Plus, yesterday was the first day of classes at The City College of New York for me -- teaching two lit classes -- and they went on as planned.  Thank the heavens that the local library has power and computer access.  I love the POB library!!   So, if you are stuck without electricity, and need a compelling read, pick up a copy of LIE.