Kate Padilla's Blog, page 2

ROULETTE: LONESOME DOVE

LONESOME DOVE, BY LARRY MCMURTRY
Fiction: Western. Pocket Books (1985). 945 pp.Westerns seem to be a dying genre, unfortunately. In fact, up until Lonesome Dove came up on the Book Roulette, I had never read one before. And yet it's such a great genre to read. this book, especially, is considered one of the best westerns ever written. It's an epic -- full of adventure, love, goodness and evil, and brotherhood. And, in reading through it, I recognized three takeaways that can serve as good less...

ANNOUNCING: THE 2018 CHARACTER NAME GUIDE

In 2016 I began documenting the names of the characters from the books I read, and at the end of the year I compiled it into an ebook to offer as a free resource here. Last year I did the same thing, and I'm excited to announce that the 2018 Character Name Guide is now available!

But I am doing things a bit differently. The 2017 guide is still available on my Free Resources page, but the 2018 guide will be available to new subscribers as a thank-you gift for subscribing (current subscrib...

REVIEW: THE SONGBIRD

THE SONGBIRD, BY MARCIA WILLETT
Fiction. Thomas Dunne (Dec 2018). 323 pp.
BUY THE SONGBIRD ON AMAZON THE STORY When Tim confides in Mattie that he needs a sabbatical from work and a fresh place to live, she suggests he move into one of the cottages at her family's home in the beautiful English countryside. She senses there's something he's not telling her, but she has faith that he'll fit right in with her eccentric but affectionate crowd at Brockscombe.

As he gets to know the warm jumbl...

THE BOOK ROULETTE'S GUIDE TO THE 2019 POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE

At the start of every year magazines and websites produce reading challenges. Some, like Goodreads, have you set your own challenge. Others, like Book Riot or PopSugar, give you a guideline to help you read more broadly. 

I love the entire idea of this, but I thought I would help out a bit. It's hard, when you have a preference of reading a certain kind of book, to think of stories that are outside of that narrow scope. So, with the help of The Book Roulette, I've included some ideas to help y...

MY GOALS FOR 2019

I love this time of the year. The holiday spirit is alive and well, and it gives us time to reflect on the previous year and look ahead to the next. It's a new beginning, a clean slate to set intentions and work to become the best versions of ourselves.

I completely resonate with this, because I feel like I’m always looking ahead to what’s possible. This blog is a prime example of that – it started as simply a place for me to track what I was reading and my thoughts on those books. And, over t...

MERRY CHRISTMAS (AND HAPPY NEW YEAR)

HOW TO APPROACH A TOUCHY SUBJECT: SHAKESPEARE'S 'TWELFTH NIGHT'

I find Shakespeare to be incredibly fascinating. On the one hand, he's incredibly hard to read. I have degrees in English Literature and Writing; I took a class in college entirely devoted to Shakespeare and his works. And when I pick up one of his plays after not having read him for a while, it took some time to understand what was going on.

On the other hand, his plays are so accessible to the mainstream. Almost every one has been adapted for a more modern-day audience, and the stories tran...

WHAT'S IN A NAME? 28 LOCATION-BASED STORY PROMPTS

Sometimes it's hard to come up with your next story idea. But there are stories all around us, in everything. When I'm searching for an idea, I will often turn to music, other books and movies, or fanfiction online. However, sometimes I'll hear a name and a character will begin to form in my mind. Other times the setting comes first, inspired by a town I read about or drive through.

When searching for interesting town names and locations to inspire this post, I came across a lot of historical...

INDIE FEATURE: 'GAME CHANGER'

GAME CHANGER, BY NICOLE THERIEN
Nonfiction: Memoir. Self-published. 145 pp. BUY GAME CHANGER ON AMAZON THE STORY Society and certain people can have pre-determined ideas about how individuals with disabilities, with or without learning challenges, should relate to the world. I've constantly tried to understand them and allow my very unique voice to be heard. I'm just a regular girl trying to make sense of the very confusing and upside down world. That can be confusing to eve...

OVER-USED TROPES IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANTIC FICTION

I came across this article by The Writing Cooperative detailing over-used tropes in the stories being written today. Zoe Nixon, the author, lists twelve: Love TriangleThe evil oneAverage person takes the crownUgly turned beauty queenCop falls in love with criminalSave the worldBack to my small townThe sheriffThe conspiracyVampires are just normal peopleFalls in love with the unnoticedThe airport rush Are these bad? Not necessarily. As Ms. Nixon said, they have just been over-used. I can think...