R.A. Nelson's Blog, page 5

The Thunderclap Series #7: Jane Austen

Dearest, loveliest Jane.

I did not include Jane Austen on my original “Thunderclap” list; but, upon reflection, I have decided ’twould be uncouth – nay, unconscionable – to exclude her. My initial argument was that “Thunderclap” means something more than hours of enjoyment: these are books that have impacted me on a visceral level, changing and shaping my understanding of the world and my place in it. I can’t put Jane Austen on my Thunderclap list just because I love her...

Dear New Book

Dear New Book ,

Welcome to the world! Those last few days involved some epic struggles, didn’t they? I am sorry if it was uncomfortable for you; it certainly was for me. There were hours when I felt you had no end – just a long tunnel, stretching out further and further and then turning in the distance so I could not see around the next bend. 

I kept following what I hoped was your voice. It was singing – such a unique, poignant song that I knew I had to meet the singer. Through hours...

The Thunderclap Series #6: Steinbeck

Since this Thunderclap series is in no particular order, the jump from Hiccup & Toothless to John Steinbeck shouldn’t be too jarring.

I came late to the Steinbeck party. I remember reading Grapes of Wrath in 8th grade and admiring it, but also feeling not quite at home in it. There was an entire chapter devoted to a turtle crossing the road.

A whole chapter.

That was too much even for my nerdy brain – at the time.

Fast forward 14 years to when I met the man who is now my hu...

The Thunderclap Series #5: Hiccup

“There were dragons when I was a boy . . .”

Thus begins the fifth in my no-particular-order Thunderclap list, How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. It’s a smashing opening line, for it introduces all sorts of questions that can only be answered by reading on: are there no longer dragons? Why not? Where did they go? Will they come back? Who is speaking? What did he think/feel about dragons as a boy, and how has that changed?

Well played, Ms. Cowell. Well played.

As w...

The Thunderclap Series #4: Madeleine L’Engle

I can’t point to any one book by Madeleine L’Engle as THE “ Thunderclap ” book for me.

Like C. S. Lewis, she is a Thunderclap author to me – not to the same degree as Lewis, but still, I am finding her increasingly significant as I grow older.

How to express the rising wave of inspiration this woman has become to me? I believe she would appreciate a scientific approach, so we shall organize by title:

The Rock that Is Higher

This spiritual/artistic autobiography shattered me...

A Father’s Day Thank You

During Women’s History Month, I had the privilege of hearing several female writers share their work at a local gathering. My heart was broken by how many of the pieces – at least two-thirds – recounted tales of abuse, oppression, and belittlement by men. Even more heartbreaking, most of these stories were nonfiction. I carried the heaviness of this sorrow home with me, but it was laced with something else – a puzzlement amounting almost to bewilderment.

Later, sorting through these...

The Thunderclap Series #3: Wimsey

Regarding Oxford:“There’s something about this place,” said Peter presently, “that alters all one’s values.”

That is the quote which opens Gatekeeper I: The Finding, and its source – though this may seem strange to some – is the next in my Thunderclap series:

Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) was a writer/theologian/playwright/translator of Dante, but most remember her best – if they know her at all – for her series of mystery novels starring that charming aristocrat-turned-amat...

The Thunderclap Series #2: Redwall

I believe it was for my sixth birthday that I received this gift:

I had already read it – and it had been read to me – but I received it with gladness. It was the first book (chronologically; not the first book written) of what was then the Redwall trilogy by Brian Jacques. Over the next two decades, Mr. Jacques released a Redwall novel every year; accordingly, rarely did a birthday (or, some years, a Christmas) go by without me receiving a similar present. And, every ye...

The Thunderclap Series #1: Narnia

“But it is a real book: i.e. it’s not a book at all, but like a thunderclap.”

I recently came across this gem in The Letters of C. S. Lewis. He wrote it to his dear friend, Arthur Greeves, in 1930.

I posted about my “thunderclap” books on my Facebook page that same day; but, upon further consideration, I realized such a worthy topic merits a post. Several posts, in fact – a running topic to which I can return when I encounter soul-changing cosmic reverberations in a book.

Welcome to...

Musical Interlude, Part 2: Meet Brad

Someone mentioned to me recently that my last few posts have seemed rather . . . down. Fret not, friends! We are turning that around this week – though it may not seem that way at first.

See, I want to tell you about the new book I’m writing.

And that book is a fantasy novel set in a world where people go after they lose someone dear to them. So, it spends a lot of time talking about grief.

I remember what one of my friends said when I told her this. She had just finished reading The...