April Voytko Kempler's Blog, page 6

The Message Behind The Altered I

Another question I get asked a lot is, “Why did you write the book?” Good question. I had been long dreaming of writing something. I wasn’t sure just what that would be. I was a writer without a story. But one night as I lay in my bed ruminating on the subject of what I could possibly write about I was struck with the idea of Joe’s story. Here was a tremendous story right at my finger tips. I had inside information on this subject. Why on earth wasn’t I tapping into it?

For that matter why hadn’t Joe written his own story by now? Another good question.

Why hadn’t Joe written his story. I don’t know. I know he talked about it. A lot. I know other writers, shall we say more professional than yours truly, offered to help him write it. I sure heard that one enough. “Oh, so and so, who’s father is a Pulitzer prize winning author, really wanted to write Joe’s story with him.” Well. . . why hadn’t they? I will never know. I’m going to have to ask Joe these questions. I doubt I’ll get an answer, but maybe. Regardless, he didn’t do it. Knowing Joe he likes to think about a thing for a long time before acting on it. I’m only speculating on this, but maybe he was gearing up for it, but since there were so many aspects to his story he just didn’t know where to begin, or end. That is where I come in. I could look at it more objectively. I targeted in on what I wanted to hear or understand from Joe’s story and just went for it! In all my naiveté I plunged into the task at hand.

I really believed THE ALTERED I needed to be told. I couldn’t wait for Joe to do it, or any one else for that matter. This was my springboard to launch my writing career. I looked at it as my starter book, my practice book. I hoped I would do it justice but ultimately I gave everything I had to it. I needed to prove to myself and Joe that we could get this story told in a way that no other Holocaust memoir has been told.

THE ALTERED I is relevant for our times. We live in a world where love is seldom seen. There is a lot of selfishness, a lot of greed, and to be frank, a lot of people don’t stand up for what is right. Even if their conscience dictates otherwise. Young people especially need to fight tremendous peer pressure.

The dilemma is that people have different choices on how they face the same problem. What makes one group succeed while another seemingly fail? There were a group of people under duress in a similar way as Joe during the Nazi regime. They made different choices than he did and came out of the situation better, seemingly undamaged. While Joe made every choice based on his own immediate need. There was seldom a sacrifice for another person. It was always about his survival. Yet he came out damaged.

These are some of the issues THE ALTERED I touches on. Choices. Doing the right thing. Setting aside our own selfish inclination under hard times. What will you do? What will I do?

Read an excerpt here.

Purchase here.

If You Liked The Altered I You Might Like These Similar Titles

If you like The Altered I, you might also like Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally, published by Simon & Schuster (1982, Serpentine Publishing Co.,1993, published by Touchstone) Joseph Kempler was in the camp featured in Schindler’s List and missed an opportunity to be on the actual list which, would have saved him a lot of anguish.

[image error]

Similar to The Altered I is The Road to Rescue the Untold Story of Schindler’s List by Mietek Pemper in collaboration with Viktoria Hertling (2005)

[image error]

Leap Into Darkness Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe  by Leo Bretholz, edited by Michael Olesker (1999, Woodholme House Publishers) tells a similar story of a teenage boy escaping from the Nazis. The Altered I is different because Joseph Kempler managed to survive inside the concentration camps rather than hiding while on the run.

[image error]



Night by Elie Wiesel tells the gritty story of survival in Auschwitz, similarly The Altered I tells the story of survival in six different concentration camps, some of them death camps.

Mauthausen by Iakovos Kampanellis (1996, published by Kedros S.a. July 1996, Modern Greek Writer’s Series) tells a similar story of survival in Mauthausen where Joseph Kempler was imprisoned and climbed the famous 186-steps with stones on his shoulders.

If you like The Altered I, you might be interested in reading these story’s of survival by those who were persecuted for their faith:

Crucible of Terror: a Story of Survival Through the Nazi Storm  by Max Liebster Sept. 1, 2003 pub. by George Milakovich & Associates, Inc.) Max Liebster was Jewish who later became a Christian. He was impressed by the outstanding example set by the Bibelforscher, while under trial in the concentration camps. This is a similar story to Joseph Kempler’s life story portrayed in The Altered I.

Facing the Lion by Simone Arnold Liebster (2000, Grammaton Press) These are the memoirs of a young girl in Nazi Europe and how she took her stand for what was right.

Unbroken Will, The Extraordinary courage of an Ordinary Man  by Bernhard Rammerstorfer (2009) tells the story of Leopold Engleitner, who was imprisoned in concentration camps for refusing to renounce his faith. He was recently the oldest living Holocaust survivor in the world, but he sadly passed away in 2013 at the age of 107 years old.



And in case you missed The Altered I, here is some brief info: 
The Altered I , chronicles survival in six different concentration camps throughout Poland and Austria. If you liked Survival in Auschwitz (1958, first touchstone edition 1996) by Primo Levi, then you will like The Altered I.

Book Cover for The Altered I

What Does Joe Think About His Book?

I get asked this question a lot.

Honestly, I didn’t know. Until yesterday. Most of you are aware that Joe suffers from the abominable disease Alzheimer’s. This disease makes communication with the person who has it almost impossible. So I didn’t really know what Joe thought of his book. When we worked on it together it was mainly to get the facts and chronological order correct. Beyond that he didn’t say “yea” or “nay.” As is my way, I would cross that bridge when I got to it.

When asked, “What does Joe think about the book?” I usually said what was customary: he likes it. He says it’s the best book he’s ever read. . . of course it’s about HIM! Then I would chuckle.

Yesterday was different. Joe was sharp. He started conversations, he answered questions. He was polite! He said, “Yes please,” and “Thank you.”

Ever since the book came out he has been asking to read it. He is a little obsessed. He has his very own copy, but I have no idea where it is. I only know whenever he comes over to my house he asks if  there is one he can read.

Yesterday he played a new trick on me. He said he had a dream about which point of view the book was written. Was it first or third person? Did I have a book lying around that he could look at so he could settle his mind on that issue? Coincidentally, I had a few, but they were all spoken for. Getting books has been problematic for this author. Orders on Amazon must be fulfilled first, then after any other orders I can have what I want, but only in limited quantities. So I was hesitant to let him look at any books I had. They weren’t there for him to rifle through!

There was one book though, designated to a dear close friend of the family, an older woman, and I knew she wouldn’t mind in the least if Joe thumbed through her book. I sat him down at the table, made sure his hands were clean and gave him very specific instructions: don’t lick your fingers to turn the page, don’t blow your nose over the book, and don’t crease the spine! I showed him the only allowable position for reading the book, the pages at a 90 degree angle. I know, I’m so demanding, not to mention uptight. Anyway. That man proceeded to start at the beginning and read all the way through to page 123! And often he told me what every author dreams of hearing about their writing. Did I mind? Not one bit! It was the best news all day. And better yet, reading the book the way he did revived his memories. He couldn’t believe all the things he had forgotten. Over and over he said in utter amazement how he was reliving it. I asked him if this was a good thing or a bad thing, and he responded, “It’s good. I have my memories back.” Now if that doesn’t break your heart, I don’t know what will. Right there I was so happy he had his book. It’s the only thing that helps him remember his past. Now I can say with all confidence that the book has Joe’s wholehearted stamp of approval.

Joe Absorbed in his book The Altered I

Last night the three of us talked about Joe’s active role in upcoming book signing events. I warned Joe that those books wouldn’t be there for him to read through. Paul laughed and said, “We can market them as pre-read by Joe.”

Later I said to Paul that this was a good day with Joe. That we need to hold onto this memory of him so that when the disease makes Joe behave in a way that is challenging we will think of something positive. Joe is brilliant, sweet, adorable, funny, and charming. I hope the readers will see that in his book and think of him in those terms.

Lazing Around on a Caribbean Cruise Vacation

I’ve been noticeably missing for most of December and if you really want to know what I’ve been up to well then here is visible proof. Paul and I went on a vacation to celebrate our 20-year-anniversary.

First we traveled to the north part of Florida to visit family. Then after a few days visiting and cooing over new babies and young ones we traveled to the south part of Florida. There I met up with my long-time friend Leigh. She is looking pretty good too!

We went to the neatest estate in Miami. It is a museum now but once was known as Villa Vizcaya, a sprawling mansion built in 1916 fit for a king. I recommend it if you are in that part of the world and looking for something really amazing to do.

Then the cherry on top of our vacation was a cruise to the Caribbean. What was unusual about this cruise was that we traveled north first! Charleston, SC was our first stop and we stayed there three wonderful days. Besides touring Fort Moultrie (there is a very entertaining video to watch) and Fort Sumter, we saw gorgeous plantations and historic homes, and fit in some souvenir shopping.

We also took a day trip to Savannah, GA. Here I am standing next to a statue of Johnny Mercer, legendary songwriter.

After that we headed south (for real this time) to Haiti, Dominican Republic and Bahamas. Along the way we entered the Bermuda Triangle and watched a Meteor Shower. Amazing!

We leave 2013 with this relaxing picture in mind:

How I found My Editor in a Barnes and Noble Bookstore

Nothing about my road to publishing has been done by conventional routes. I really can’t even say how I found a publisher to take on my manuscript in the first place. I was trying to narrow the sequence of events down with my husband, and what we came up with was that we found the publisher through a business acquaintance of his.

I had just finished writing the memoir known as THE ALTERED I and had no idea what steps to take next. I asked everybody from my Mary Kay sales person (don’t ask me why! Unconventional, remember?) to the webmaster of our window covering business. Apparently he worked in some kind of publishing and said there was one publisher in town and we might give them a call. My husband must have done just that because next thing I know they were calling to find out when my manuscript might be finished and when they could read it.

Oh my goodness! Could this be true? As easy as that I found a publisher? It just so happens this publisher was new in the business, as was I, so that didn’t bother me. They are actually what is known as a small press. Things are done somewhat unconventionally when dealing with a new business, or a smallish start-up, and there is more room for leeway.

In an earlier post I wrote about how long it took me to get published, so if you read that we will just skip to the bit where I submitted an entire manuscript without it being professionally edited. “Have it edited and re-submit,” were the closing comments.  Well then, where to begin?

Again I had no idea! I wasn’t part of the Facebook family, or LinkedIn, and didn’t even know how to tweet! So, where was I to start? Heaven only knew.

One night while sitting in my local Barnes and Noble with some friends at the coffee lounge I took a long, slow look around me. Why, seemingly, everyone there had a laptop and was working on something important. These must all be writers, or dare I say it? Could they be editors? How naive can a person get? I’m telling you I was as green as the Irish hillsides. Lo and behold, the first person I approached turned out to be a professor at our local university. No, he wasn’t an editor, but he knew one. Really? And he happened to have her business card on him. What a break!

I called her. She called back. We emailed each other. I sent her a sample chapter to edit. She edited it and sent it back. We agreed to meet over coffee and see if we would make a good fit. We did! Not only that, but we agreed on a price and time frame. She loved my manuscript, loved my genre and exceeded all my expectations.

The point of the matter is this: you can find what you are looking for in unusual places. Thinking outside the box can be very instrumental in finding success.

For example, an author acquaintance wrote a collection of edgy, modern short stories. She has had her book signings not only in bookstores, but at her local gym, a second-hand funky and unique consignment store, and a second-hand record/DVD store. These places match perfectly the themes of her stories, her characters and the vibe she is creating to attract her target audience.

I may not have gotten published the conventional way. I may have taken a long time to figure it all out, but I got there and you can too.

What unconventional ways have you found to complete your manuscript?

What unconventional ways helped you to find your target audience? I would love to hear about it!

Related articles

What to do (and not do) While Waiting for Your Book to be Published (renogalsays.wordpress.com)
Writing For Love by Joan Reeves (authorsofmainstreet.wordpress.com)
How Long Does it Take to Get Published Anyway?

Hello Miss Author: The Altered I Is Officially Published

Whew! What a whirlwind two weeks this has been! The Altered I was released on November 13, 2013 and there was much rejoicing. This was an exciting day in the Kempler household. My parents came from Burbank to share the special moment with us. I hadn’t even seen the book, just the front and back cover in an attachment and the review copy in manuscript format. Boy was I in for a big surprise. The book is beautiful. A nice heavy weight, smooth pages, front and back covers attached. It is lovely to see and feel. I liken it to (and I have no children bear in mind) when a new mother is handed her baby for the first time. There is awe and wonder that this new creation came from her body. She counts all the fingers and toes to make sure it’s all there and everything is in working order. And I am sure there is a lot of pride and love expressed over the new addition. Well, that is how I felt, and not to cause any offense to real mothers out there, but I just could not have felt more happy.

The release event–though it was more a party– was a whopping success. Friends, family and bystanders alike showed up. We blew the roof off the place! I know this really impressed the publishers. And I’m glad. A lot of pre-marketing work went in to this event. Blog posts, personal connections, handing out chapter excerpts to random strangers and I cannot remember what else. Not to mention my ever-zealous husband, who chatted the book up with clients and business associates whenever the subject warranted it. He was the main push behind the marketing plan and I could not have accomplished what I did without him. He is always on my side! Of course my publishers at LeRue did their part. I was hosted on The Book Hound before the event and they tagged and shared my posts all over Facebook. I’m grateful for their support.

It has been a steady stream of author appearances: 4th Annual Book Blast, a signing at Total Wine & More and scheduling up coming events. I will have to tell you in another blog post my experience at Total Wine. It was a great learning lesson and I’m sure you will want to hear about it!

For now, that is the latest update on the book. Best!

Book Cover for The Altered I

A Note From the Personal Files of April Kempler: Unknown Author or How Long Does it Take to Get Published Anyway?

I get asked all the time How long did it take you to get published from inception to published book? I have an answer but it is a bit complicated. First, I will give the short answer: I started May 23, 2007, I will have a published book in hand November 13, 2013, so that is 6 years, 5 months, and 21 days. Math really isn’t my thing, so I hope my math is good on this.

These dates don’t tell the whole story of how it began or the long, and sometimes arduous journey it has been after signing a publisher’s contract. But, I will try to explain it as best I can.

Here is the longer version and I hope you stay with me. After finishing the manuscript I did what every author is told to NEVER do: Don’t send your entire manuscript to a publisher and for heaven’s sake don’t send one that hasn’t been properly edited! Yes, I blundered this one right from the get-go. I figured it was edited. I know how to spell and my husband read it and made all his little adjustments, so it was ready, right? Wrong. Only after I had delivered 174k, or so,  words in a large, and I mean LARGE, binder did I bother myself to read anything on how to actually get a publisher. Then in big, black and white letters I read: “Always hire a professional editor before submitting any manuscript.” Oh! A professional editor, like one I had to pay. I get it now! Silly me.

Then I realized no one in the professional author realm ever sends their entire manuscript to a publisher unedited, no one in the professional author realm ever refers to their manuscript by page number (blunder # 277). I fumbled and bumbled my way through this entire thing. There is a process to getting published, and had I learned it I might have saved myself a year or two and maybe several months. So after slogging through (all 417 pages) of my tome, the publisher called me for a meeting. The bottom line: get it edited and re-submit. This took additional time and research not to mention weeks, turning into months of waiting for the edits to be complete.

From reliable sources I read that the average time for an unknown author to get published is around 5 years. By some miracle the publisher still was interested in the manuscript after all the false starts and offered me a contract. If you count the time to signing the contract (which is considered being published) then I come in around 4 years, and approximately 5 months. That is near average for an unknown author so I’m pleased. But somewhere along the way I had managed to cause some concerns for the publisher. After handing in my copy of the contract, with all my changes in bold, black ink, I was told that they were rescinding their offer.

Wait! What?

What had I done wrong? Aside from everything in the beginning, what had I done wrong to get myself out of a cherished and much anticipated publishing contract? I thoroughly researched it. I read books, asked questions, hired an attorney. Perhaps it was the myriad of changes I made to the contract (I might have gone overboard), or perhaps it was the rights I wanted to reserve without a good reason (e.g. could I actually hope to secure publishing rights in Turkey? No. Impossible. I have zero connections for  getting my book published in the middle east!) whatever it was, it sent up some kind of red flag and just like snuffing out a candle, my publishing dreams went up in smoke. I was free to roam about the country to find another publisher.

Did I rant and rave, break down sobbing WHY? No, for the first time I behaved like a professional. I wrote a nice letter thanking the publisher for all their work, all their advice they had given me over the course of several months. I thanked them for giving me the opportunity to be published and I hoped we could remain friends, in a business sense.

I’ll skip ahead, about two weeks later I received a message from the publisher saying they would like to revisit the terms of the contract.

They were giving me another chance!

I couldn’t believe it. But first they wanted to, yes — maybe you have figured this out already — rewrite the contract. I had to wait some time for this, another 5 months, or so. Then the day came, which according to my contract was: March 27, 2012, I was legit, I was a published writer.  So from signed contract to book release it will be 1 year 7 months, and 17 days, but who’s counting?

I have come to understand one thing about the publishing world. It is that everyone’s publishing journey is different. Some paths chosen are shorter and some longer. But each writer, published or unpublished, self-published or traditionally published, has a similar goal: to get our written words out there into the universe. Hopefully to be read, enjoyed, cherished. Hopefully to give pause for thought. Or create an emotion (love, sympathy, anger, shock, horror), or to learn something we never knew before. Hopefully to share something of ourselves with another person. That is what it’s all about isn’t it? We write to encourage one another, to inspire one another, to sharpen each other.

What has your writing journey been like? Are you a published author? How long did it take you?

Or, are you hoping to be published some day?  What are your goals to getting published? I would love to hear about it in the comments section, don’t be shy, share!

Related articles

Ted Olinger – How I Broke Out of Publishing & Learned to Write in Obscurity (anoveldesignblog.wordpress.com)
Why Self-Publishing Is Not For Me (stevensalvatoreshaw.wordpress.com)

The Diary of Anne Frank: Perhaps Hiding was Not a Great Idea

While watching The Diary of Anne Frank, the 2009 BBC version, I was suddenly struck with the idea that going into hiding was not the best thing the Frank and van Pels (van Daan) family could have done. My opinion stems from something Joe said in his memoir, THE ALTERED I. He told me that in the concentration camp of Melk, big, strapping, strong men (soldiers, prisoners of war) came in, but quickly died. They couldn’t take the transition. Camp life was just too hard, too horrid and squalid. Joe said that within six weeks some of them hadn’t survived. He on the other hand, scrawny, starved, and barefoot had survived some of the worst situations.

Perhaps going into hiding did a great disservice to the Franks, van Pels (van Daan’s) and Mr. Pfeffer (Mr. Dussel). Although they had limited rations, had to be as quiet as mice, could hardly stir all day long, and lived in cramped quarters, they still had it more comfortable than living inside a concentration camp. When they were inevitably found, a tragedy to be sure, they were ill-prepared for the hardships of transportation, starvation, and camp life.  It’s no surprise they died. And so close to the end of the war too. That’s the disturbing part.

I wish they hadn’t been found in their secret annex! I wish they had all survived. I wish Margot Frank’s diary had been recovered as well as Anne’s. But sadly this didn’t happen. Although I had seen this movie (not necessarily this version) many times, read the book, and often pondered the cruelty of their demise, I was touched more deeply this time around.  Although she is just a young girl, Anne’s diary had a profound effect on future generations of young people. Those Nazis who rounded them up were so superior, so full of self-importance. But who remembers them? Who were they? No one knows. Their names are forgotten. As weird as this sounds, I wanted to shout out to the Nazi oafs on the screen Leave her alone! Don’t you know who she is? She’s more important than you’ll ever be!

Anne’s name remains. Anne’s story will continue as long as people want to know it. . . so I guess that means forever. That very little girl and her diary became a treasure to us who value such things.

A part of me wishes they had taken their chances in the selections to begin with, but then that beautiful diary might not have been written. That goes to show that we can’t know the impact our decisions will make on our lives. We can only hope for the best. Decisions like these aren’t easy to make, and who is to say which way is the better choice? If they had all made it and only come out of hiding after the war was over, then definitively we could say  that was the right decision. People during those times had to survive the best way they knew how. That’s a true statement where Joe is concerned. He made drastic decisions in order to survive.  For him there will always be that guilt, that question mark.

Of the eight souls in the hidden annex, only Otto Frank survived, and Anne’s diary. At least we have that.

Related articles

[Bea's Book Reviews] The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947) (supermarcey.com)
‘I was in Anna’s shadow’: Stepsister of famous Holocaust victim survived ‘hell on earth’ in Auschwitz (news.nationalpost.com)

What to do (and not do) While Waiting for Your Book to be Published

I’ve had quite a bit of time on my hands lately since signing that Holy Grail of a publishing contract and waiting for said book to actually be published.

The Damsel of the Sanct Grael, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti: medieval romance. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Most authors who have been around this publishing block a few times dig in and write another book. Of course, if you are like me and barely know how to use the tools in your Word program, then you’ve been gobsmacked!  There are a number of things you should be doing. Sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting for your publisher to tell you what to do isn’t one of them.

Not that I ever thought that. I went into this situation with my eyes wide open. I knew the rules had changed since the early days of publishing and now a substantial amount of marketing was squarely on my shoulders. I just didn’t know where to go or how to get started and it all seemed daunting, and techie, and alien to me. So here is a brief list of things I discovered and that just might be useful to you, the burgeoning writer:

Step One: learn how your computer works.

Step Two: learn how to back up files. For some time it has been suggested opening up a drop-box account and simply shift your files there. I have been too overwhelmed with learning everything else there is to learn that I haven’t taken this step myself. . . yet. But I will! In the meantime, my computer automatically backs up to an external hard drive and I feel comfortable with that system. And yes, I hired someone to help me, just so you know before reading step three.

Step Three: if any of this is over your head hire an IT guy, or a computer fix-it guy, or gal (don’t want to presume) and let them handle it!

Step Four: set up you social media sites. This will take time, cause a headache, make you crazy and cross-eyed, but you just have to do it, so there! Not to mention all the passwords and user I.D.’s you will have to set up. Write them all down and keep them somewhere safe.

Step Five: learn how the social media sites work. Sometimes just a picture will suffice. Sometimes a sentence or two and a link (go back to Step One: learn how to work your computer) Simply cut and paste the URL and this will take readers down a rabbit hole right to where you want to lead them, hopefully. If it is any consolation I’m still learning. For example Twitter. I had no idea how to work it, I just wrote something and clicked on the tweet button. I had no idea where it went or what it all meant. You will also want to learn about ow.ly and bit.ly for Twitter. . . take my word on that.

Step Six: Start a Blog. If this proves problematic for you, don’t stress it, don’t do it. Content yourself with social media, or whatever is easiest or suits your personality. There are a lot of different ways to market yourself nowadays. Don’t limit yourself.

Step Seven: write blogs or short articles for other bloggers. Where to start? Facebook, Writer’s Literary Cafe, LinkedIn. These are all excellent places to find bloggers looking for content for their blog. The easiest is to write an author interview.  In your search engine look up typical author interview questions (you supply the answers) and customize the questions for your book, your genre and your personality.  This really works. I am personally grateful to all those bloggers out there who generously invited me to write for them. You can also write for news sites like examiner.com or Yahoo!Contributor Network. Click here to read my articles: April’s Yahoo! Articles.

Step Eight: if you have all this down cold, are already doing this sort of thing, then by all means write your next book!

In my opinion these steps are good to follow even if you are going down the self-published lane. It all comes down to marketing. So while you are designing your font, your front cover, your back cover, getting expert reviews, setting up your author pages on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble (and where ever else you can dream up), and learning how to create your space, you will need to tack on some of the above-mentioned steps.

Whatever you do don’t do nothing at all. Now is the time to build your platform, make a brand for yourself, make your unique voice heard. Many authors are doing this very thing, so don’t hold back and don’t be shy. I fondly remember what my publisher said to me in an email: “You are an author now, act like it. Get out there and get some interviews done.” Then she kindly shared some helpful links. Remember you are authors. Get out there and act like it.

April signing her book publishing contract with LeRue Press for THE ALTERED I

What other suggestions do you have while waiting for your book to be published? I would love to hear about it.

Related articles

Need Book Reviews ??? (savvybookwriters.wordpress.com)
An author blog. An important piece of an author platform and why you shouldn’t give up on it. Part 2……finally (yamulticulturaljunkie.wordpress.com)
A few notes on publishing, then back to work (saphirdrachen.wordpress.com)

Teaser Tuesday: The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading.  Anyone can play along! Just do the following;

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
Be careful not to include spoilers! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others.)
Share the title and author so that other TT particpants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers:

“He had been dressed just as he had been dressed on that day, Isabel remembered the colour of his cravat; and yet in spite of this familiar look there was a strangeness in his figure too, something that made her feel it afresh to be rather terrible he should have come to Rome.”

“He appeared never to have heard of any river in America but the Mississippi and was unprepared to recognize the existence of the Hudson, though obliged to confess at last that it was fully equal to the Rhine.”

I have to admit I’m having a love/hate relationship with this book. It is our chosen Classics/Impossibles read on my Facebook Book Club. Since it was collecting dust on my shelf I jumped right into the group read when it was suggested our next big read was The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. I’m glad I did it, now I can check that off my To Be Read Shelf. And perhaps in time I will look back on this story with great fondness. For right now, it is at times work getting through it! I am interested in watching the movie version of this book.

Our next big read is A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. I’m really looking forward to it.

How about you? Would you read a book like The Portrait of a Lady? Let me know in the comments section below!

Please leave a link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your “teasers” in a comment in the section below.