Diane Chamberlain's Blog, page 12

My Favorite Reads of 2012

Every January (or as in last year, February), I blog about my favorite books of the year. There was a lot to love this year and I had trouble choosing just ten. I hope you’ll share some of your own favorites in your comments.   (As always, I’m leaving out some of my very favorite books because they’re written by close friends: I just can’t be objective about those novels!)

Listed in no particular order:

1. THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB by Will Schwalbe

Okay, now that I’ve said these are listed in no particular order, I must say that if someone held a gun to my head and forced me to pick my favorite of the year, this is it. That said, I’m not sure if it’s for everyone, but I was personally moved, educated and inspired by this memoir. My sister called it “exhilarating”, so it’s not just me. Will Schwalbe is a middle-aged man who accompanies his mother as she goes through chemotherapy treatments for terminal pancreatic cancer. They’re drawn together as they discuss the books they’ve read. I’d read perhaps thirty percent of those books and that, of course, added to my enjoyment, but it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d read none of them. The story goes so much deeper than that. The most inspiring aspect to me was not the son/mother relationship or the courageous way his mother faced her cancer, but the woman herself and all she’d accomplished in her life for other people. She made me want to do more myself and I hope to hold onto that feeling for the rest of my own life.

2. THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS by ML Stedman

I found the setting–Janus Rock, an isolated and immensely lonely island off the coast of Australia–nearly as intriguing as the story. Of course, as most of you know from my own Keeper of the Light trilogy, I’m a sucker for lighthouses. The light keeper and his wife who settle on Janus Rock try unsuccessfully to have a family, suffering loss after loss. When a boat washes ashore carrying a dead man and a live baby, who can blame Tom and Isabel for keeping the child as their own? But the baby has a mother, and that’s where the plot thickens. There are no neat answers to the dilemmas in which the characters find themselves. A very human story.

3. RU by Kim Thuy

I heard Kim Thuy interviewed on NPR and had to read her book. Having worked with some Vietnamese “boat people” when I was a social worker in San Diego, I was curious to hear her story. The book is considered fiction but it’s strongly influenced by Thuy’s own experiences as a Vietnamese emigre’ transported to Canada. (The book is translated from French). The chapters are very short vignettes delivered in non-chronological order, which I found a little off putting at first, but once I gave myself over to the structure, I enjoyed it. Thuy’s writing is exquisite, her tale eye-opening.

4. SHINE, SHINE, SHINE by Lydia Netzer

This book won’t be for everyone. . . well, I could say that about any of the first four on this list. . . but I did love it. I loved it for its uniqueness.   When’s the last time you read about a bald eccentric woman about to go into labor, her astronaut husband  on his way to outer space, and their young autistic son? Yes, these people are up against the wall in a dozen different ways. Their story is tense, intriguing and ultimately touching.

5. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green

Don’t be put off by the fact that this is considered a Young Adult novel. It will speak to you no matter your age. The basic premise of the book–a boy and girl  with terminal cancer meet at a support group–sounds so lame and depressing, I hesitate to even state it. Hazel and Augustus will make you laugh as well as cry–and they’ll make you think. A lot. I loved this book.

6. WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? Maria Semple

This is not the sort of book I’d usually pick up. It looks funny. It has a funny cover. It is funny. Just like I don’t write funny, I don’t read funny. But my friend Mary Kay Andrews who definitely writes funny stuff suggested I read it, and I’m so glad she did. Bernadette is the beyond-eccentric mom of fifteen-year-old Bee, who aces her report card and requests a trip to Antartica as her reward. Fearful of the trip, Bernadette disappears and Bee and her dad must find her. Okay, it gets ridiculous, but I thought it was a fun and fast read worthy of my top ten list for the sheer speed with which I turned the pages.

7.  BLACKBERRY WINTER by Sarah Jio

I love stories that move back and forth in time. In Blackberry Winter, we visit Seattle in 1933, when a little boy disappears, and in 2010, when a young newspaper writer picks up the old clues of his disappearance. The two women at the heart of story–Vera, the little boy’s mother and Claire, the writer–touched me deeply with their individual plights and I couldn’t wait to find out how their stories intersected.

8. DEFENDING JACOB by William Landay

Another page turner here. A teenager is murdered in a quiet Massachusetts town and the prime suspect is the son of the Assistant District Attorney. It’s a story of family loyalty and guilt, and it’s revealed in a way that keeps the reader in the blissful, enticing dark until the very end.

9. GONE GIRL, by Gillian Flynn

Okay, I honestly feel silly adding this book to my list because it’s so  . . . I don’t know, so commercial. It’s been on the bestseller list forever, just relaxing there with all its engrossing, teasing, taunting, plot points. It has no redeeming depth, no empathetic characters, no heart tugging moments. However, it’s unputdownable, and there’s a lot to be said for that.

10. SNOW CHILD by Eowyn Ivey

This is another one of those “really different” books that I love. In turn-of-the-century Alaska, a childless couple builds a snow child who turns into a real girl. Or does she? I’m not a big fan of magical realism, but it worked for me in this book and the writing easily carried me into the world of Jack and Mabel and their beautiful daughter. Based on a Russian fairytale, the story is moving, wistful and hard to forget.

So how about you? What books did you adore in 2012?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Story Weekend: Neighbors

I’m watching an episode of House Hunters on HGTV (I lead such an exciting life!) and the woman is complaining about how close together the houses are, which started me thinking about neighbors. I bet you have some great stories about yours, past or present!

If  you’re new to Story Weekend, here’s how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme, however you interpret it. Thanks to all of you who’ve been contributing. As always, there are a few “rules”:

▪   The story must be true

▪   Try to keep it under 100 words. Embrace the challenge! That’s about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it’s too long. I know how tough it is to “write tight” but I hope you’ll accept this as a challenge.

Winner of a Book Store Gift Card!

Happy Holidays, and congratulations to Deb Miller, whose name was picked randomly from all the comments sent to this blog in the last couple of months. Deb will receive a $100 gift certificate to whatever bookstore, online or not, she chooses.

I hope you’re able to enjoy a few days with friends and family, and of course, a good book!

ps That’s my gone-but-not-forgotten Goldens, Ben and Chapel, making their yearly appearance. How I miss those sweeties!

 

 

Story Weekend: Favorite Christmas (or Chanukah or Kwanzaa…) Memory

Such a busy time of year, but it might be worth it to respond to this Story Weekend post, because Sunday night I’ll use the random number generator to select a winner from all blog comments made over the last two months. The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate for the bookstore–online or bricks and mortar–of her/his choice. So share your favorite Christmas memory with us. I’d love to hear it!

If  you’re new to Story Weekend, here’s how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme, however you interpret it. Thanks to all of you who’ve been contributing. As always, there are a few “rules”:

▪   The story must be true

▪   Try to keep it under 100 words. Embrace the challenge! That’s about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it’s too long. I know how tough it is to “write tight” but I hope you’ll accept this as a challenge.

 

Story Weekend: What Does Music Mean to You?

That questions needs no embellishment from me. Can’t wait to see your stories!

If  you’re new to Story Weekend, here’s how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme, however you interpret it. Thanks to all of you who’ve been contributing. As always, there are a few “rules”:

▪   The story must be true

▪   Try to keep it under 100 words. Embrace the challenge! That’s about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it’s too long. I know how tough it is to “write tight” but I hope you’ll accept this as a challenge.

 

Sex and Religion

Please welcome author Angela Fested to the blog! Angela’s written an intriguing young adult novel every teen can relate to—even though one of her protagonists is a devout Mormon. Angela’s questions at the end of her post really got me thinking. I could see Sister Joseph in my catechism class doing the whole banana thing for sure! Thanks for joining us here today, Angela.

Sex and Religion

My husband thought about leaving me earlier this year. Of course, he didn’t actually do it, but the fact that he considered it was shocking at the time. Shocking because we both valued commitment. Shocking because we had twelve years of marriage behind us, four kids, two cars, and a house.

Shocking because it was supposed to last forever.

At least, that’s what they tell you in the Mormon temple after you’re officially sealed. I remember standing next to my husband in my white beaded dress, gazing into a mirror that faced another mirror on the opposite wall. Our reflection went on without end. Him and I, holding hands into the eternities, our fates intertwined for as far as I could see.

So when I backed out of my commitment to the Mormon Church earlier this year, my husband took it personally. I was never supposed to change. The dream was never supposed to change. But the plan we’d agreed to when we married over a decade earlier to raise our children in the faith, send them to early morning seminary, encourage them to go on missions, and trust the fifteen leaders of the church with our most important decisions—from what we could eat, drink, and wear to how we should spend our time—had ceased to look reasonable after I stopped believing in The Church.

The last part of that paragraph makes the “stopped believing” part sound casual and painless. I can assure you it was not. Because Mormonism is more than a religion, it’s a culture. One where it’s acceptable for Bishops to ask single members if they struggle with masturbation, where teenagers spend sleepovers debating if French kissing is okay, and where sexual sin is ranked just below murder.

Years before my crisis of faith I sat in a room full of girls and watched as my Sunday school teacher, Sister Black, held up two beautiful bananas. She put one down on the table, and then she peeled the remaining one.

“This is delicious,” she said after taking a bite. “Does anyone want to try it?” She held out the banana so the peel hung limp over her knuckles, seeds exposed, teeth marks turned to mush around the edges.

Right on cue we shook our heads no.

“I won’t tell anyone,” she told us. “Nobody has to know. It won’t hurt anyone if you sample it.  Besides, I’ve tested this one for you. Who’d want to take a risk and eat the unopened one?”

Every hand in the class shot up.

Sister Black had made her point. She tried to close the banana and pretend it wasn’t partly eaten, but the sides kept falling open and all of us knew that it was useless. No one would desire this banana again. Not when they could have a fresh one. Without our sexual purity, no one would ever want us!

Growing up Mormon, this didn’t bother me. It was just the way things were. In my single days I had nightmares about losing my virginity. Boys scared me. Helplessness scared me. Losing control scared the heck out of me, but I thought this was normal. In fact, the thought of a stronger person taking away my worth, my purity, my spirituality against my will seemed a fate worse than death at the time.

Again, I thought this was normal.

So I decided to write a novel that would depict this kind of sexual climate. Put the hero in a place where his chastity is everything. Give him those natural urges. Give him reasons to fight against the world at large, pair him with a heroine who challenges his way of life, and watch him struggle to accept himself.

There are times when I miss the certainty Mormonism afforded me. Acceptance is a journey and nothing is certain now. Nothing is perfect. Life does not have easy answers. But I’m grateful for my choices, grateful to make my own decisions, and grateful to finally own my sexuality.

Tell me, dear reader, do you have faith in forever? Do your spiritual beliefs intersect with your sexuality, or do you keep them separate? 

Note from Diane: Angela’s novel, Chaste, is available in paperback and e-book format at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

Our Red Cross Donation!

This was both fun and satisfying! As many of you know, on November 21st I announced I would donate all royalties received from the ebook sales of Secret Lives for the rest of the month to the American Red Cross to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy. I estimated about $800, but with your help, spreading the word on Facebook and Twitter, we made it to $1550! I rounded the figure up to $1600, and the check will go in Monday’s mail. Thank you for helping me make this a success. Here is the letter I will send with the check.

 

December 2, 2012

To Whom It May Concern:

 As a former Jersey Girl, I wanted to find a way to help the hurricane relief effort from my home in North Carolina. I’m the author of more than twenty novels and I’ve been able to e-publish a few of my early out-of-print books on my own. On November 21st, I announced via my blog and Facebook that any royalties I made on one of those books, Secret Lives, between the 21st and November 30th would be donated to the American Red Cross and earmarked to help the hurricane victims. As you can see, my readers really came through and I’m happy to send you this check for $1600. It’s a small amount in the big scheme of things, but know that it comes from the hearts of my readers and myself.

Best wishes,

Diane Chamberlain

 

Story Weekend: If You Could Live Anyplace. . .

. . . where would you live?

If  you’re new to Story Weekend, here’s how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme, however you interpret it. Thanks to all of you who’ve been contributing. As always, there are a few “rules”:

▪   The story must be true

▪   Try to keep it under 100 words. Embrace the challenge! That’s about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it’s too long. I know how tough it is to “write tight” but I hope you’ll accept this as a challenge.

 p.s.  I’ll be announcing the grand total of our donation for the Red Cross on Monday. Thanks to those of you who helped us reach our goal!

 

Help Me Help the Victims of Hurricane Sandy

My older brother, Tom, has been helping with the relief effort for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. (This is one of his pictures from the devastation). Since I live several states away, I’ve pondered how I could help. Of course I’ve made donations, but then it struck me that my readers and I could join forces to have an even bigger impact. I decided that I’d donate 100% of my royalties earned on the e-book version of Secret Lives between November 21st and midnight November 30th to the American Red Cross. I made this announcement on Facebook about this time yesterday (the 21st) and I’m excited that the donation total is well over $200 already!

For those of you who like technical details, here is how this will work. Secret Lives is one of my out of print novels that I’ve made available myself as an ebook. It’s sold for any e-reader you might have: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iPad, etcetera. I am paid royalties on the book approximately two months after the sale, so for November, I will be paid in January. However, I have online access to the records for each seller and I will know by the end of the month how many copies of Secret Lives have sold between November 21st and November 30th and what my royalties will be (they run between 35-70% of the cover price of $4.99, depending on the seller and the country in which the book is purchased. For example, foreign Kindle sales earn 35% royalties, while US and UK Kindle sales earn 70%). My plan is to write that check to the American Red Cross on December 1st. I can’t wait to do it!

If you’ve already read Secret Lives (it’s the  most popular of my backlist books), I hope you’ll pass along this blog post to friends who have not yet read it. Thank you for your help!

Here are the most popular purchase links for the book in the US:

Kindle

Nook

Kobo

iBook

The New Sheltie

You may remember we lost our eight-year-old Sheltie, Jet, a couple of months ago. There are those people who get another dog right away (me) and those who wait a long time (John) and then there are those who compromise (us, usually). So when I saw the picture of an eight-month-old Sheltie on a breeder’s website and learned she was selling him because he was growing too tall to show in the conformation ring, I was ready. And when John met him, he was ready, too. (Here’s how I really knew he’d be our dog even before I met him: when the breeder spoke to me on the phone and told me his name was “Cole”, I got a chill up my spine. My dogs have often been given a name connected in some way to my books. The main character in my very first novel was named Cole. Who names a dog Cole? It was meant to be. And yes, he looks a lot like Jet but that was not intentional. A little spooky, though.)

We’ve had Cole a little over a week, now, and we’d forgotten what it’s like to have a young, energetic, unhousebroken, unneutered pup around! It’s been an adventure and a lot of work, but he’s really a little doll. Smart and sassy. He’s skittish like many Shelties, so we’ll have to work on that. At first I was afraid Keeper wasn’t going to take to him, since Keeper was born somber and old, but when I let Cole out of his crate this morning, Keeper’s tail, usually immobile, was going a mile a minute. Relief!

There are issues, of course. He’s a chewer and I’d forgotten (obviously!) how watchful one must be around a chewer. (How long does that phase last?? I don’t recall my other dogs being destructive chewers, but there’s a lot about puppies and young dogs I’ve apparently forgotten!) Keeper’s a barker, so Cole’s decided that’s a cool thing to be—only Cole’s been debarked (Many breeders debark their Shelties, a notoriously barky breed. I wouldn’t have done it, but I have to admit, I’m not really sorry it was done), so his bark sounds like he has a terrible cold and is hard to listen too. He hasn’t had a single accident in the house (we’ve been obsessively careful not to give him a chance) and he’s now neutered (yay!). It’s been quite a week for the little guy.

I’d love to hear your puppy/young dog advice and anecdotes. And remember, anyone who comments is eligible to win a $100 bookstore (online or bricks and mortar) prize on December 23rd.