Megan Chance's Blog, page 28

KCLS Author Salon

On Saturday, Kristin Hannah and I did an Author Salon for the King County Library System Foundation--a wonderful brunch with great food and conversation, and a cause near and dear to my heart: Libraries! Here's a picture (Kristin and I are sitting in the front)

New at Author's Blog

I've got a new blog up at Author Magazine today, speaking on Muses. The link is here.

Brainstorming Weekend

Back to work after a long weekend with my best friend and critique partner Kristin Hannah. We did a fundraising Author Salon brunch for the King County Library System, which was a lot of fun, with some fascinating women, and then Kristin and I hunkered down into a hotel room for a long knock-down, drag-out brainstorming session. I came away with an (almost) fully plotted book, but it wasn't all work. We took a break to do a few fun things: lunch at Maximilien's in the Pike Place Market, which was ... well, amazing doesn't seem too strong a word. And we also went to see World War Z--another amazing thing, and my favorite movie of the year so far. Really intelligent, emotional, and so real that both Kristin and I were jumping at shadows when we left.  Go see it! It's not just a zombie movie (for the record, zombies are so NOT my thing).

So here are a couple of pictures from the weekend:


Lunch: duck confit with green lentils


My impressionistic view of the View from our room.

Now, I have a head full of ideas and a bit more research to do before I can fully realize them. So ... off to work!

Busy week!

Just a quick note to let everyone know I'm taking the rest of the week off to prepare for my daughter's high school graduation. During the midst of all this end of the school-year, end of high-school-life business, I've been busily re-editing the second book of the YA trilogy--a trilogy I wrote for her and her sister, and one I began when she was sixteen. It all feels very apt and bittersweet. And astonishing too, that I could possibly be old enough to have a daughter going to college in the fall.

In any case, a bit of radio silence is warranted ...

Carry on without me!

Just for Fun

Today my daughter brought these home for me. She did not want anything. She was not trying to atone for anything. She simply knew I liked irises, and thought they were pretty.

So wonderful!



Also, I have finished the first round of edits for the Young Adult manuscript (the first of three), and it went back to my editor today for her review. So I've got something to celebrate too.

Book Review: Paris

Paris: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


As you might expect, this novel is about a city: Paris. The characters are secondary to the broad swath of history--and frankly, there's no better or more enjoyable way to learn about history and how it intersects and overlaps than a historical novel of this type. But make no mistake, that is the point here. Rutherford tells the story of four or five different families as they move through time and Paris, and those characters are only important insofar as they reflect certain aspects of Paris's history: you've got noblemen and priests, street boys and scoundrels, a man who builds the Eiffel Tower, and another who is a noblemen during the Revolution, etc. While some of those characters are really interesting in their own right(Luc Gascon, for one, and Charlie de Cygne for another), many of the others are simply place-holders meant to witness and interact with historical events. There's a lot of information dump through dialogue, and a lot of switching back and forth through time, which lets you see the sometimes interesting ways these families weave throughout each other's lives. It's a credit to Rutherford that it is never confusing, given the huge canvas he is working with. As such, it's an interesting endeavor, and I learned a lot about Paris, and was entertained. I was not moved, however--and while I wouldn't say that was a flaw so much as a personal preference (I like to be dragged through the mud with the characters, so to speak)--it does detract, for me, from the story. Still, I enjoyed it and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to know a bit more about Paris.



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Grass Update 2

What--could that be an increasing lush greenness I see? Why yes, it is. Still some thin spots, as you can no doubt see, but my visions of lolling around on nice, plush grass are beginning to look as if they may becoming true.

The Author's Blog

Today is the start of a new gig for me over at Author Magazine Online. Four other authors (all great, all writing different things) and I are doing a rotating blog, Monday through Thursday, called The Author's Blog. I've been assigned even-Wednesdays, and my first contribution, "On Feeding the Well,"  is up now!

All of these authors have something interesting to say, and I've enjoyed all the entries thus far. The blog is geared towards writing and the writing life, and you can get to it here.

Enjoy!

In other news, I am typing in changes for the YA manuscript, and I expect that will take me another hundred years. Then I will read it again.

And the grass is beginning to grow at last!

Book Review: And Sons

And Sons: A Novel by David Gilbert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A good book, if not perhaps the work of genius that all the quotes on the cover want you to believe it is. It's the story of a famous literary author (ala J.D. Salinger) and his sons--both real and psuedo--and the relationship between them. When it comes to privileged white celebrity fathers and the effects they have on their sons (angst, self-destruction, never measuring up to a father who was mostly emotionally absent), there's really not much new here. What elevates this book from the morass of pretty classic father-son dynamics is 1)the prose, which is really fantastic (with at times a bit too much gamemanship) and 2) the characterizations, which are first rate. Each of the characters is sharply defined, and each feels very true and real. They are interesting enough that I sped through the first half of the book, unable to put it down.

Gilbert adds a rather fantastical element about halfway through, which only partly works. While I admire the effort--and it WAS different and interesting--the book never really regains traction afterwards. The narrator, while an interesting character in his own right, feels under-utilized, and at times one feels the strain the writer must undergo to get the narrator where he needs to be. The end result is that--for me--the book never really had the emotional impact I wanted it to have, or that I felt it could have had. But again ... it was entertaining, never boring or slow, well-written, and I admired how well Gilbert brings his characters to life. Well worth reading.



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Book Review: Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 1

The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934 by Anaïs Nin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This volume, at least, isn't the kind of diary that's filled with details about time and place--in this particular case, Paris in 1831-34. But in terms of character studies--of Henry and June Miller, Anais Nin's father and Nin herself, in particular, along with Nin's two therapists from this time period, and one of her brothers--this is priceless stuff. She is much more interested in the emotional landscape of her world, and the details of what's happening and when it's happening are barely touched upon (there's no mention of her husband, who asked to be removed from the journals, and a pregnancy comes out of nowhere and while there are hints of the incestuous relationship between Nin and her father, it's so veiled you really have to read between the lines--very skinny lines with not much space separating them--you suspect it, but it's only the affirmation of later journals that makes it clear).

She spends a lot of time writing about artists and art, and the relationship between real life and a writer's imagination, all of which is fascinating. Her ardency and intensity come across very strongly--this was an unusual and intelligent woman who is always interesting. One can see why men and women were so taken with her. And what she has to say about the artist's internal world is very revealing and articulate.



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