Gail Gauthier's Blog: Gail Gauthier Reads
September 25, 2025
Hispanic Heritage Month: Short Stories
Recently, I discussed Junot Diaz's The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao as part of my Spanish Heritage Month observance. I feel I should point out that I am aware that seven years ago he was the focus of claims regarding inappropriate behavior toward several women writers. As a result of that issue at that time, writer and critic Monica Castillo tweeted "Because I need/want to deal with this Junot Diaz news in another way, can we signal boost some Latina authors out there?" And that led PBS to run the article Sexual misconduct claims against Junot Diaz have sparked support for Latina writers. Here’s who you should be reading now.
That is how I came to find Night at the Fiestas: Stories by Kirstin Valdez Quade, a book of very fine short stories. They are all set in the southwest, many around Santa Fe, with Hispanic families/culture often part of that setting. This raises a question for a lifelong New Englander: Am I being exposed to a world I know nothing about? Or do I know so little I can't recognize whether or not I'm being exposed to a world I know nothing about?
But I obsess.
I will admit that though I found these stories highly readable, I often wasn't clear about the endings. Now this is an issue for me when reading short stories, anyway. Endings are a factor for me when writing short stories, too. Could my lack of ending knowledge be keeping me from finding publication homes for more of my short stories?
I continue to obsess.
Let's Talk About Some of These Stories
When I looked over these stories a second time in preparation for writing this post, I noticed a couple things that I wasn't aware of during the first read.
Religion plays a part in a number of them. In Nemecia, the main character has an opportunity to lead the procession at the annual Corpus Christi festival, an opportunity her creepy cousin Nemecia snatches from her. In The Five Wounds> a pretty poor excuse for a father is playing Christ in a local Passion Play. In Family ReunionOrdinary Sins, a young, single woman pregnant with twins works at a local Catholic church office.
Family trauma turns up in many of them. In Nemecia, Nemecia is living with the main character's family because of something that happened in Nemecia's past, something the narrator only knows about through what creepy Nemecia tells her. In that one, childhood trauma spreads. In The Five Wounds the poor excuse for a father is seeking redemption for forsaking his child, realizing that the child his daughter is carrying is going to suffer pain from that, too. The Guesthouse is your classic family trauma instigated by a death. And in Family Reunion that atheist child I mentioned is the daughter of an alcoholic father and thus recognizes that something is wrong with the Mormon family she has become attached to.
Family trauma isn't something I'm usually a fan of in my reading, but, as I said, I did like these stories.
>b>Other Favorites
Mojave Rats. A woman is trapped in trailer park with her children while the furnace is broken. She insists to herself that they aren't like the other people there. They will be leaving. Readers may have their doubts.
Night at the Fiestas. This story is clearly set in the fifties or sixties, which I found novel. I also liked it because I found the main character unlikable. Writing workshops/how-tos often insist that main characters must be likable, because readers won't relate to them otherwise. I've never agreed with that, and I found this story particularly memorable because of this main character who wants to escape her world and doesn't mind a little theft to help her do it.
Jubilee. The daughter of a Hispanic man wants to hate his Anglo employers, the Lowells, which is an old New England upper class family name, in case I am the only person who noticed. Do they deserve it? Another main character who's not all that likable.
Canute Commands the Tides,. A New England artist moves to Santa Fe, with little understanding of what's there or what she's doing there. Her move has a bad impact on the painting she's working on "Canute Commands the Tides." Should we stay in the culture that made us? I particularly liked this story because the artist moving west is from my part of the world. I can see this woman. Also, I was familiar with the Canute Commands the Tides story, though with a different spin than the narrator of the story gives it. Canute was not a foolish old man. He was making a point to his followers who had been sucking up to him. No, he could not command the tides. If I had all the time in the world, I would read this story again to work out Canute's place in it. Also, there are two women here with adult children, something I should probably think about more.
Another Interesting Work from Quade
The Five Wounds is Kirstin Valdez Quade's first novel and picks up on the characters and world she introduced in her short story The Five Wounds. I love when this kind of thing happens.
That is how I came to find Night at the Fiestas: Stories by Kirstin Valdez Quade, a book of very fine short stories. They are all set in the southwest, many around Santa Fe, with Hispanic families/culture often part of that setting. This raises a question for a lifelong New Englander: Am I being exposed to a world I know nothing about? Or do I know so little I can't recognize whether or not I'm being exposed to a world I know nothing about?
But I obsess.
I will admit that though I found these stories highly readable, I often wasn't clear about the endings. Now this is an issue for me when reading short stories, anyway. Endings are a factor for me when writing short stories, too. Could my lack of ending knowledge be keeping me from finding publication homes for more of my short stories?
I continue to obsess.
Let's Talk About Some of These Stories
When I looked over these stories a second time in preparation for writing this post, I noticed a couple things that I wasn't aware of during the first read.
Religion plays a part in a number of them. In Nemecia, the main character has an opportunity to lead the procession at the annual Corpus Christi festival, an opportunity her creepy cousin Nemecia snatches from her. In The Five Wounds> a pretty poor excuse for a father is playing Christ in a local Passion Play. In Family ReunionOrdinary Sins, a young, single woman pregnant with twins works at a local Catholic church office.
Family trauma turns up in many of them. In Nemecia, Nemecia is living with the main character's family because of something that happened in Nemecia's past, something the narrator only knows about through what creepy Nemecia tells her. In that one, childhood trauma spreads. In The Five Wounds the poor excuse for a father is seeking redemption for forsaking his child, realizing that the child his daughter is carrying is going to suffer pain from that, too. The Guesthouse is your classic family trauma instigated by a death. And in Family Reunion that atheist child I mentioned is the daughter of an alcoholic father and thus recognizes that something is wrong with the Mormon family she has become attached to.
Family trauma isn't something I'm usually a fan of in my reading, but, as I said, I did like these stories.
>b>Other Favorites
Mojave Rats. A woman is trapped in trailer park with her children while the furnace is broken. She insists to herself that they aren't like the other people there. They will be leaving. Readers may have their doubts.
Night at the Fiestas. This story is clearly set in the fifties or sixties, which I found novel. I also liked it because I found the main character unlikable. Writing workshops/how-tos often insist that main characters must be likable, because readers won't relate to them otherwise. I've never agreed with that, and I found this story particularly memorable because of this main character who wants to escape her world and doesn't mind a little theft to help her do it.
Jubilee. The daughter of a Hispanic man wants to hate his Anglo employers, the Lowells, which is an old New England upper class family name, in case I am the only person who noticed. Do they deserve it? Another main character who's not all that likable.
Canute Commands the Tides,. A New England artist moves to Santa Fe, with little understanding of what's there or what she's doing there. Her move has a bad impact on the painting she's working on "Canute Commands the Tides." Should we stay in the culture that made us? I particularly liked this story because the artist moving west is from my part of the world. I can see this woman. Also, I was familiar with the Canute Commands the Tides story, though with a different spin than the narrator of the story gives it. Canute was not a foolish old man. He was making a point to his followers who had been sucking up to him. No, he could not command the tides. If I had all the time in the world, I would read this story again to work out Canute's place in it. Also, there are two women here with adult children, something I should probably think about more.
Another Interesting Work from Quade
The Five Wounds is Kirstin Valdez Quade's first novel and picks up on the characters and world she introduced in her short story The Five Wounds. I love when this kind of thing happens.
September 17, 2025
Reading for Hispanic Heritage Month: The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao
Hispanic Heritage Month, one of the heritage months recognized by the U.S. State Department prior to 2025, runs from September 15 to October 15. For those of us very focused on traditional classifications/designations of time, mid-month to mid-month seems...wrong. However, a number of Latin American countries observe their independence days on September 15 or soon thereafter, so think outside the box, Gail.
I must admit upfront that in the past I associated Hispanic American literature with my back-in-the-day book discussion group. The books by Hispanic authors I read for book group I found difficult. Deep. Maybe stylistically outside my experience. Very literary? The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos--There were only a couple of sentences in that book that registered with me, and they both dealt with Desi Arnez, who I had some previous knowledge of. Even the movie was lost on me. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez--that's pretty dramatic original material and all I could tell you about it is that everyone...... Well, that would be telling you the ending, so I won't. I think we read some magical realism, which is a big deal in Latin American literature and after that I avoided that genre. Even if you take the attitude that magical realism can exist in writing from nonLatin American writers, and I've heard that some people don't, I tend to avoid it now. Be magic...be real...be one or the other.
In short, I wasn't looking forward to my Hispanic Heritage Month reading. But things have gone really well.
I Found Oscar
I cannot recall what led me to look into author Junot Diaz's work, other than I'd heard his name. I often say I can't recall why I read this or that, and it isn't because of some kind of mental lapse. Though would I recall it, if it were? No, it's because I juggle reading a great many things, as well as thinking about them.
Pardon me for obsessing.
I became aware that Diaz has published in The New Yorker, and flash fiction, too! I could get a short sample, and I did with the lovely The Books of Losing You.
And so I went on to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which I think I chose because it was available at a library I was in. Yes, I have crap reasons for reading the things I read. I shouldn't even mention them.
This is not one of the Hispanic-related books I was used to, even though it has markers of what some people would think of as a "literary" book. The story moves around a number of twentieth century periods, and a number of points of view. Much of the book has a narrator who remains unknown for a while. (He's Oscar's college roommate and his sister's sometime boyfriend.) There are footnotes. There's a lot of Spanish. There's what might be a curse.
On the other hand, though, there is Oscar, a sad, Dominican-American nerd who might be living under that family curse and who wants love so badly. His story is extremely engaging. Of course, everyone who has watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory thinks they know nerd culture. Oscar Wao reads as if author Junot Diaz really knew it back in 2007 when his book was published. Or I should say, knew it in the '90s, the period when Oscar was living. Who doesn't love a nerd, wherever he comes from?
A Little Bit of What We're Dealing With Here
A lot of footnotes. Footnotes were a thing in fiction for a while. I have a family member who intensely dislikes them used that way, but I enjoy them. I liked what Diaz did with them here. He uses them to explain the Dominican Republic world that earlier generations of Oscar's family lived in under the Trujillo regime there. I had actually heard of Trujillo, probably because I'd read In the Time of the Butterflies, which Diaz mentions. Meaning I got something out of that book. I realized he was bad news, but I couldn't have told you what country in which he was bad news. Meaning I didn't get very much out of that book. Diaz places the bulk of his Trujillo history in footnotes, but he handles that history with wit. Could readers skip the footnotes, which is probably what many readers of nonfiction do with footnotes there, and still get a story in Oscar Wao? Probably, but the footnotes are fantastic. It's hard not to compare our own times to the Trujillo era, which most readers probably weren't doing in 2007 when this book was published. As grim as things are now, they are not Trujillo grim.
A lot of Spanish. I've read that there are some objections to the amount of Spanish in this book. I don't feel you had to understand it to follow the story. What's more, this is a story about Spanish speaking people. Wouldn't a book about Spanish-speaking people with little or no Spanish be a book about Spanish-speaking people for nonSpanish people? What am I trying to say here? Would it be a book about Spanish-speaking people that English-speaking people would be comfortable with? I read a book about Spanish-speaking people but they weren't Spanish enough to speak Spanish?
I have to admit, though, that I did wish the Spanish was French. Because I study French, de temp en temp, and I would have looked up what I didn't know, and my French would have improved so much! So I was patient with the Spanish. Someone's Spanish probably improved as a result of reading this book.
The curse. I am not a fan of curses, but this one provided a connection between characters. It was a sort of storyline. A recurring theme, perhaps.
In short, there is a great deal to like about this book.
Has Oscar Influenced Another Book?
Earlier this year, I read The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie. The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao brought it back to mind. The books' titles are similar, both in terms of how they're structured and in terms of them tipping readers off to the fates of the main characters. Both books deal with an ethnic group in America, Dominican Americans in one case, Franco-Americans in the other. Both make use of a language other than English in the text, Spanish for Oscar Wao and French for Babs Dionne. (There's far more Spanish in Oscar Wao than there is French in Babs Dionne. I'm going to make a wild guess here that Diaz is more fluent in Spanish than Currie is in French, but that may just be me overidentifying with another Franco-American author.) In Oscar Wao we have the nightmarish Trujillo back in the Dominican Republic. In Babs Dionne we have a pretty terrifying criminal back in Canada. Both books also have a touch of the supernatural. In Oscar Wao there is that curse. In Babs Dionne there is a character who suffers from hallucinations in which she communicates with the dead.
I should be writing an undergraduate paper, shouldn't I?
Yes, my Hispanic Heritage Month reading is off to a good start.
This post originally appeared at Original Content.
I must admit upfront that in the past I associated Hispanic American literature with my back-in-the-day book discussion group. The books by Hispanic authors I read for book group I found difficult. Deep. Maybe stylistically outside my experience. Very literary? The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos--There were only a couple of sentences in that book that registered with me, and they both dealt with Desi Arnez, who I had some previous knowledge of. Even the movie was lost on me. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez--that's pretty dramatic original material and all I could tell you about it is that everyone...... Well, that would be telling you the ending, so I won't. I think we read some magical realism, which is a big deal in Latin American literature and after that I avoided that genre. Even if you take the attitude that magical realism can exist in writing from nonLatin American writers, and I've heard that some people don't, I tend to avoid it now. Be magic...be real...be one or the other.
In short, I wasn't looking forward to my Hispanic Heritage Month reading. But things have gone really well.
I Found Oscar
I cannot recall what led me to look into author Junot Diaz's work, other than I'd heard his name. I often say I can't recall why I read this or that, and it isn't because of some kind of mental lapse. Though would I recall it, if it were? No, it's because I juggle reading a great many things, as well as thinking about them.
Pardon me for obsessing.
I became aware that Diaz has published in The New Yorker, and flash fiction, too! I could get a short sample, and I did with the lovely The Books of Losing You.
And so I went on to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which I think I chose because it was available at a library I was in. Yes, I have crap reasons for reading the things I read. I shouldn't even mention them.
This is not one of the Hispanic-related books I was used to, even though it has markers of what some people would think of as a "literary" book. The story moves around a number of twentieth century periods, and a number of points of view. Much of the book has a narrator who remains unknown for a while. (He's Oscar's college roommate and his sister's sometime boyfriend.) There are footnotes. There's a lot of Spanish. There's what might be a curse.
On the other hand, though, there is Oscar, a sad, Dominican-American nerd who might be living under that family curse and who wants love so badly. His story is extremely engaging. Of course, everyone who has watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory thinks they know nerd culture. Oscar Wao reads as if author Junot Diaz really knew it back in 2007 when his book was published. Or I should say, knew it in the '90s, the period when Oscar was living. Who doesn't love a nerd, wherever he comes from?
A Little Bit of What We're Dealing With Here
A lot of footnotes. Footnotes were a thing in fiction for a while. I have a family member who intensely dislikes them used that way, but I enjoy them. I liked what Diaz did with them here. He uses them to explain the Dominican Republic world that earlier generations of Oscar's family lived in under the Trujillo regime there. I had actually heard of Trujillo, probably because I'd read In the Time of the Butterflies, which Diaz mentions. Meaning I got something out of that book. I realized he was bad news, but I couldn't have told you what country in which he was bad news. Meaning I didn't get very much out of that book. Diaz places the bulk of his Trujillo history in footnotes, but he handles that history with wit. Could readers skip the footnotes, which is probably what many readers of nonfiction do with footnotes there, and still get a story in Oscar Wao? Probably, but the footnotes are fantastic. It's hard not to compare our own times to the Trujillo era, which most readers probably weren't doing in 2007 when this book was published. As grim as things are now, they are not Trujillo grim.
A lot of Spanish. I've read that there are some objections to the amount of Spanish in this book. I don't feel you had to understand it to follow the story. What's more, this is a story about Spanish speaking people. Wouldn't a book about Spanish-speaking people with little or no Spanish be a book about Spanish-speaking people for nonSpanish people? What am I trying to say here? Would it be a book about Spanish-speaking people that English-speaking people would be comfortable with? I read a book about Spanish-speaking people but they weren't Spanish enough to speak Spanish?
I have to admit, though, that I did wish the Spanish was French. Because I study French, de temp en temp, and I would have looked up what I didn't know, and my French would have improved so much! So I was patient with the Spanish. Someone's Spanish probably improved as a result of reading this book.
The curse. I am not a fan of curses, but this one provided a connection between characters. It was a sort of storyline. A recurring theme, perhaps.
In short, there is a great deal to like about this book.
Has Oscar Influenced Another Book?
Earlier this year, I read The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie. The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao brought it back to mind. The books' titles are similar, both in terms of how they're structured and in terms of them tipping readers off to the fates of the main characters. Both books deal with an ethnic group in America, Dominican Americans in one case, Franco-Americans in the other. Both make use of a language other than English in the text, Spanish for Oscar Wao and French for Babs Dionne. (There's far more Spanish in Oscar Wao than there is French in Babs Dionne. I'm going to make a wild guess here that Diaz is more fluent in Spanish than Currie is in French, but that may just be me overidentifying with another Franco-American author.) In Oscar Wao we have the nightmarish Trujillo back in the Dominican Republic. In Babs Dionne we have a pretty terrifying criminal back in Canada. Both books also have a touch of the supernatural. In Oscar Wao there is that curse. In Babs Dionne there is a character who suffers from hallucinations in which she communicates with the dead.
I should be writing an undergraduate paper, shouldn't I?
Yes, my Hispanic Heritage Month reading is off to a good start.
This post originally appeared at Original Content.
September 1, 2025
National Book Festival This Saturday, September 6
Long time no see, Readers. But here is something you might be interested in taking part in this Saturday:
During the height of the pandemic, the National Book Festival was fully on-line, and I "attended" a few events. This was one of the pandemic activities that opened me up to the incredible possibilities for readers and writers on-line.
This year's festival is this Saturday, one day instead of three, as it was in 2020. During that one day you can still do some live streaming, and videos of all the speakers are supposed to be available after the festival is over.
Here is the list of authors' presenting. Children's writers are well represented. My favorite historian will be there.
It appears that all authors have a resent book that is being featured, in case you see some favorite writers there and want to see what they're up to.
During the height of the pandemic, the National Book Festival was fully on-line, and I "attended" a few events. This was one of the pandemic activities that opened me up to the incredible possibilities for readers and writers on-line.
This year's festival is this Saturday, one day instead of three, as it was in 2020. During that one day you can still do some live streaming, and videos of all the speakers are supposed to be available after the festival is over.
Here is the list of authors' presenting. Children's writers are well represented. My favorite historian will be there.
It appears that all authors have a resent book that is being featured, in case you see some favorite writers there and want to see what they're up to.
February 23, 2024
Some Annotated Reading, February 23
Another week, another book finished. Reading, not writing or selling. How To Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann was an intriguing read for me, because it followed last week's book, The Manor House Governess, which was a modern spin on Jane Eyre. How To Be Eaten isn't a modern spin on our Jane, but on fairy tales. How bizarre is it that connection? The connection being "modern spins," in case I didn't make myself clear. (Which happens.) These fairy tales all have women main characters who feel guilty for what happened to them or are made to feel guilty. Included in the book is a section treating a Bachelor-type program as an unhappy fairy tale. I have never seen a minute of one of those shows, but I was kind of riveted to that portion of the book. And, wow, the Rumpelstiltskin section was pretty impressive.
Speaking of books I've read recently, I read The Jane Austen Society a couple of weeks ago. And guess what I stumbled upon this week? A Jane Austen Lent.
Time Travel Science Fiction Stories Recommendations at Fit 2B Read is not reading but a terrific video about reading. Yes, I am researching time travel fiction and would really like to do it with short stories. Though I'm thinking of rereading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which is taking a risk because I liked it when I was a teenager, and sometimes rereads don't go that well for me.
The Chronic Argonauts by H.G. Wells, recommended in the video above. Mehhh. It seemed more of a Lottery by Shirley Jackson type story. And masses and masses of description. It's been a long time since I've read H.G. Wells, and I can't say I have much desire to read more now.
A humor piece you probably can't read at The New Yorker--A Timeline of Articles About Amelia Earhart Throughout History by Sarah Hutto. The vaccination headline was my favorite.
Also humor-related--I've been watching The Daily Show for the past year. (No, never before then. Yes, it's a mystery.) Dulce Sloan is a correspondent, and I am a fan. So, of course, I read We're Not Stupid or Racist, an interview with Sloan at Salon. This woman has thoughts! And a book coming out.
Speaking of books I've read recently, I read The Jane Austen Society a couple of weeks ago. And guess what I stumbled upon this week? A Jane Austen Lent.
Time Travel Science Fiction Stories Recommendations at Fit 2B Read is not reading but a terrific video about reading. Yes, I am researching time travel fiction and would really like to do it with short stories. Though I'm thinking of rereading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which is taking a risk because I liked it when I was a teenager, and sometimes rereads don't go that well for me.
The Chronic Argonauts by H.G. Wells, recommended in the video above. Mehhh. It seemed more of a Lottery by Shirley Jackson type story. And masses and masses of description. It's been a long time since I've read H.G. Wells, and I can't say I have much desire to read more now.
A humor piece you probably can't read at The New Yorker--A Timeline of Articles About Amelia Earhart Throughout History by Sarah Hutto. The vaccination headline was my favorite.
Also humor-related--I've been watching The Daily Show for the past year. (No, never before then. Yes, it's a mystery.) Dulce Sloan is a correspondent, and I am a fan. So, of course, I read We're Not Stupid or Racist, an interview with Sloan at Salon. This woman has thoughts! And a book coming out.
February 16, 2024
Some Annotated Reading, February 15
This week I finished reading https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... Manor House Governess by C.A. Castle. It was terrific to stumble upon this after just having finished reading The Jane Austen Society, because while The Jane Austen Society was about people obsessed with Jane Austen, The Manor House Governess is about a character obsessed with Jane Eyre. In addition, Bron, the main character, is living a twenty-first century, gender-fluid Jane Eyre life. I enjoy reading "versions" of Jane Eyre, and this one is well worth the read for people like me. Though I couldn't connect all the characters and situations in Manor House to characters and situations to Jane Eyre. Which means either that I wasn't being just to Manor House and reading it for itself or I need to read Jane Eyre again. I've only read it twice, and it's been a while. Both The Jane Austen Society and The Manor House Governess made me feel I should be reading the related classics over and over again the way the characters in these books do. But how when there are so many Austen- and Eyre-related work to read?
Remember The Madwoman in the Attic Answers Letters Pleading for Her Advice that I read this week? That's what I mean by needing time for Jane Eyre-related work.
Jon Stewart Knows "The Daily Show" Won't Save Democracy by Inkoo Kang in The New Yorker includes something interesting I'd never heard of before--claptor comedy. It's comedy that isn't used to make people laugh but to make them applaud, because you've appealed to their beliefs. So now I know that.
A humor piece for you: Ways I Imagined I Might Die When I Was A Kid by Anthony DeThomas in Points in Case.
Remember The Madwoman in the Attic Answers Letters Pleading for Her Advice that I read this week? That's what I mean by needing time for Jane Eyre-related work.
Jon Stewart Knows "The Daily Show" Won't Save Democracy by Inkoo Kang in The New Yorker includes something interesting I'd never heard of before--claptor comedy. It's comedy that isn't used to make people laugh but to make them applaud, because you've appealed to their beliefs. So now I know that.
A humor piece for you: Ways I Imagined I Might Die When I Was A Kid by Anthony DeThomas in Points in Case.
February 13, 2024
Some Annotated Reading, February 8
What Is The Difference Between Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller Novels? by Tika Viteri at Book Riot. I read this, because I'm submitting a mystery novel to agents who often say they are interested in mysteries and thrillers or mysteries and suspense or mysteries, thrillers, and suspense. I found another article on the subject that went on and on--and on. Here's what I'm claiming I've learned: In a thriller, the main character is in danger. In suspense, readers know things the main character does not. Neither of these apply to the book I'm subbing. I'm going to wing it, and say it's a mystery.
I finished The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner earlier this week. It's set in a small English village after World War II with a group of people who are huge Jane Austen fans. They read her work over and over again. The book turns into a bit of a Jane Austen novel. Probably more than a bit, but it's been a while since I've read P&P, and I'm not sure which of the other books I've read and which I've seen BBC productions of. Reading The Jane Austen Society made me feel that if I had all the time in the world and wasn't always overwhelmed with so many books to read, I'd reread Jane Austen like these people did. I think of books like The Jane Austen Society as being grown-up books, which I like to read every now and then, and I do enjoy a story set in an English village.
Some Short Things I Also Enjoyed
Classified Ad For A Ghost by Mario Aliberto III at Fractured Lit
Signs You May Be An Adult Character In A Y.A. Novel by Shannon Reed at The New Yorker Shouts & Murmers
Ayn Rand Reviews Children's Movies by Daniel M. Lavery at The New Yorker Shouts & Murmers
I finished The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner earlier this week. It's set in a small English village after World War II with a group of people who are huge Jane Austen fans. They read her work over and over again. The book turns into a bit of a Jane Austen novel. Probably more than a bit, but it's been a while since I've read P&P, and I'm not sure which of the other books I've read and which I've seen BBC productions of. Reading The Jane Austen Society made me feel that if I had all the time in the world and wasn't always overwhelmed with so many books to read, I'd reread Jane Austen like these people did. I think of books like The Jane Austen Society as being grown-up books, which I like to read every now and then, and I do enjoy a story set in an English village.
Some Short Things I Also Enjoyed
Classified Ad For A Ghost by Mario Aliberto III at Fractured Lit
Signs You May Be An Adult Character In A Y.A. Novel by Shannon Reed at The New Yorker Shouts & Murmers
Ayn Rand Reviews Children's Movies by Daniel M. Lavery at The New Yorker Shouts & Murmers
February 9, 2024
My First Publication For 2024
My first publication of the year is a humor piece, Useful French Phrases For Madame Keith's World Languages Class at Slackjaw. And, of course, there is a story behind this piece, because there is always a story behind everything I write. For books there are usually multiple stories, and, sadly, I often can't remember them all because it takes me so flipping long to write books.
But I've got this one.
The Story Behind Useful French Phrases For Madame Keith's World Languages Class
I have been studying French moi-meme for years. By ,i>moi-meme I mean, really, myself, because I haven't taken a real French class or even an adult ed class in decades. J'etude de temps en temps, sometimes going years without making an effort. In fact, for the last few years studying French for me has involved watching French TV shows with English subtitles. Je me dit, "You're studying, you!" Mon objectif, because of course I have a goal, is to speak pig French, a term used by Marcel, a man I knew briefly years ago, or even rise up to franglais, which I understand is common with some of my family members in Ottawa. But let's be honest. I'll be satistifed to parle comme un couchon.
That's background. Psychological background, you might say.
Okay, last September I was on the Cape (That's Cape Cod, if you're in New England. There are other Capes, I'm sure.) and playing Monopoly with an eleven-year-old family member. The Monopoly part is important. We're chatting away (I don't care much for Monopoly so don't feel any need to concentrate while playing it), and it comes out that said eleven-year-old family member is taking a world languages class. And what is the first unit? You guessed it! French!
I'm sitting there thinking, I have someone to practice French with? Comment je dit "your turn?" "How do I say" should probably have another verb in there, but, remember, I'm only shooting for pig French and "How I say?" is all I can manage.
So that got me thinking about kids and French and French classes. And the Monopoly game is important, because there is a section in Useful French Phrases on playing games. Our eleven-year-old is in sixth grade, but I kicked the speaker in Useful French Phrases up to seventh, thinking that would be more believable for the amount of French being used.
While I checked all the French phrases on Google (I didn't replace my last French-English dictionary when it fell apart, because I like Google so much) most of the French I used is at least familiar to me.
But I've got this one.
The Story Behind Useful French Phrases For Madame Keith's World Languages Class
I have been studying French moi-meme for years. By ,i>moi-meme I mean, really, myself, because I haven't taken a real French class or even an adult ed class in decades. J'etude de temps en temps, sometimes going years without making an effort. In fact, for the last few years studying French for me has involved watching French TV shows with English subtitles. Je me dit, "You're studying, you!" Mon objectif, because of course I have a goal, is to speak pig French, a term used by Marcel, a man I knew briefly years ago, or even rise up to franglais, which I understand is common with some of my family members in Ottawa. But let's be honest. I'll be satistifed to parle comme un couchon.
That's background. Psychological background, you might say.
Okay, last September I was on the Cape (That's Cape Cod, if you're in New England. There are other Capes, I'm sure.) and playing Monopoly with an eleven-year-old family member. The Monopoly part is important. We're chatting away (I don't care much for Monopoly so don't feel any need to concentrate while playing it), and it comes out that said eleven-year-old family member is taking a world languages class. And what is the first unit? You guessed it! French!
I'm sitting there thinking, I have someone to practice French with? Comment je dit "your turn?" "How do I say" should probably have another verb in there, but, remember, I'm only shooting for pig French and "How I say?" is all I can manage.
So that got me thinking about kids and French and French classes. And the Monopoly game is important, because there is a section in Useful French Phrases on playing games. Our eleven-year-old is in sixth grade, but I kicked the speaker in Useful French Phrases up to seventh, thinking that would be more believable for the amount of French being used.
While I checked all the French phrases on Google (I didn't replace my last French-English dictionary when it fell apart, because I like Google so much) most of the French I used is at least familiar to me.
February 10, 2023
My First Publication of the Year is About--Macaroni and Cheese
I am focusing on writing for adults this year. One of the things I'm interested in writing about for adults is eating. I do not mean I'm interested in food writing. For food writing, you need to know something. I'm interested in writing about eating.
My first publication for 2023 is, indeed, about eating. Mac and Me: A personal history of macaroni and cheese was published recently at Kitchen Tales.
While writing eating essays for adults is new for me, writing about eating is not.
My first book, My Life Among the Aliens, was built around the premise that a mom's healthy, wholegrain cooking was drawing alien life forms to the family home, which her kids than had to deal with. In the follow-up book, Club Earth, Will and Rob come up with a sugar- and additive-laden dinner that drives away the aliens using their house as a resort.
My fourth book, The Hero of Ticonderoga, includes a meal of French Canadian treats loved by the main character, but not by her guest. And food plays a big role in Saving the Planet & Stuff.
So it's not at all out of character for me to be writing about eating. I'm just doing it now for adults.
My first publication for 2023 is, indeed, about eating. Mac and Me: A personal history of macaroni and cheese was published recently at Kitchen Tales.
While writing eating essays for adults is new for me, writing about eating is not.
My first book, My Life Among the Aliens, was built around the premise that a mom's healthy, wholegrain cooking was drawing alien life forms to the family home, which her kids than had to deal with. In the follow-up book, Club Earth, Will and Rob come up with a sugar- and additive-laden dinner that drives away the aliens using their house as a resort.
My fourth book, The Hero of Ticonderoga, includes a meal of French Canadian treats loved by the main character, but not by her guest. And food plays a big role in Saving the Planet & Stuff.
So it's not at all out of character for me to be writing about eating. I'm just doing it now for adults.
November 21, 2022
The Story Behind My Latest Publication In Literary Mama
My short story The Mother Suite has been published in the latest issue of Literary Mama. Literary Mama is one of the first literary journals to focus specifically on the work of mother writers and is celebrating its 20th anniversary next year. It publishes a blend of poetry, book reviews, profiles, fiction, and nonfiction.
Now The Mother Suite has a history that may be of interest to writers who haven't done a lot of submitting yet.
--According to my records, I first submitted The Mother Suite in 2005. I submitted it 9 times over the next 17 years.
--I continued to tinker with it during that time and didn't just keep submitting the same thing over and over again. Come on. There's always a possibility that a piece of work is rejected for a reason. My submission records indicate that around 2020 the story evolved into a flash version. That is about the time I became interested in flash.
--Sadly, I have no hard copies of the original, presumably longer, version. Nor can I find anything pre-flash on my hard drive. As a minimalist, I believe that is good. As a writer...not so much.
--The first publication I submitted the original story to in 2005 was...Literary Mama! I thought it was worthwhile submitting it again this past March for two reasons. 1. The story had changed over the years. 2. Publications change editors over time. A new person would be seeing this.
Working With A Developmental Editor
Literary Mama has department editors who function as real developmental editors (I published a piece of creative nonfiction with them in 2007, and the situation was the same.). This is unique in my limited experience publishing short work, but it was a big part of publishing my books with G.P. Putnam. It's hard to describe what developmental editors do to someone who hasn't worked with one and especially to people who aren't writers. But, essentially, they help develop the story. Developmental editors working for a publication or a book publisher see something in a submission that appeals to them in some way, that they think could work for their publication or company. Writers and editors agree to work together to develop the story, to help it evolve into something they all believe enhances the original submission.
In this case, the original submission, called Take It From Me, was written as an older mother's advice to new mothers. The main character had two children, and she had more experiences that she talked about. It was essentially a superficial rant. Looking back, I think there was a feeling that the children were at fault somehow. Literary Mama's fiction editor liked a particular aspect of the story. She suggested dropping one of the child characters and creating more of a relationship between the mother and remaining child. She suggested dropping some of the experiences the mother originally talked about and elaborating on the ones I did use. She also suggested dropping the advice frame I was using, which went a long way to eliminating the ranting.
Maintaining the mother's voice was important to me. Among the good things that happened as this story evolved is that the daughter developed a voice as well.
The story became much more sophisticated than it originally was. I hope that the experience of working with this editor will have a positive impact on my future short story writing.
Now The Mother Suite has a history that may be of interest to writers who haven't done a lot of submitting yet.
--According to my records, I first submitted The Mother Suite in 2005. I submitted it 9 times over the next 17 years.
--I continued to tinker with it during that time and didn't just keep submitting the same thing over and over again. Come on. There's always a possibility that a piece of work is rejected for a reason. My submission records indicate that around 2020 the story evolved into a flash version. That is about the time I became interested in flash.
--Sadly, I have no hard copies of the original, presumably longer, version. Nor can I find anything pre-flash on my hard drive. As a minimalist, I believe that is good. As a writer...not so much.
--The first publication I submitted the original story to in 2005 was...Literary Mama! I thought it was worthwhile submitting it again this past March for two reasons. 1. The story had changed over the years. 2. Publications change editors over time. A new person would be seeing this.
Working With A Developmental Editor
Literary Mama has department editors who function as real developmental editors (I published a piece of creative nonfiction with them in 2007, and the situation was the same.). This is unique in my limited experience publishing short work, but it was a big part of publishing my books with G.P. Putnam. It's hard to describe what developmental editors do to someone who hasn't worked with one and especially to people who aren't writers. But, essentially, they help develop the story. Developmental editors working for a publication or a book publisher see something in a submission that appeals to them in some way, that they think could work for their publication or company. Writers and editors agree to work together to develop the story, to help it evolve into something they all believe enhances the original submission.
In this case, the original submission, called Take It From Me, was written as an older mother's advice to new mothers. The main character had two children, and she had more experiences that she talked about. It was essentially a superficial rant. Looking back, I think there was a feeling that the children were at fault somehow. Literary Mama's fiction editor liked a particular aspect of the story. She suggested dropping one of the child characters and creating more of a relationship between the mother and remaining child. She suggested dropping some of the experiences the mother originally talked about and elaborating on the ones I did use. She also suggested dropping the advice frame I was using, which went a long way to eliminating the ranting.
Maintaining the mother's voice was important to me. Among the good things that happened as this story evolved is that the daughter developed a voice as well.
The story became much more sophisticated than it originally was. I hope that the experience of working with this editor will have a positive impact on my future short story writing.
November 18, 2022
A New Publication For Gail: Julie Powell And A Mini Blogging History
I spent a lot of time a few weeks ago reading articles about Julie Powell who died on October 26 at forty-nine-years-old. That's just forty-nine, folks. She was a blogger, back in the day, but her blog went seriously big time, turning into the book Julie & Julia and then the movie with the same name.
I wrote what I like to call a flash essay about how Powell is representative of the arc blogging has followed over the last twenty years since the two of us became bloggers. Julie Powell and the World of Blogging was published at Feedium.
I wrote what I like to call a flash essay about how Powell is representative of the arc blogging has followed over the last twenty years since the two of us became bloggers. Julie Powell and the World of Blogging was published at Feedium.
Gail Gauthier Reads
I have been maintaining the blog Original Content for twenty years. That one is about any number of things related to writing. I think here I will just post about new publications from me and reading.
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