Tag Archives: books

Use Pinterest as a Reading List

A fellow writer of mine told me how she uses Pinterst to catalog the books she reads. Yes there are other websites out there that do the same. Goodreads comes to mind. But none have the ease and popularity of Pinterest. I already have a list of books I recommend on this blog, but not with pictures. It’s a hassle to put them in. Pinterest solves this.

I plan to pin each “good” book I read. Then I get an easy to find list of my favorite books. What could be better. Click over to see the list. There are plenty of great reads.

Masters Class on Voice

Every start reading a book and find that you simply cannot put it down? You’re hooked. Snagged. Hopelessly snared by the character unspooling the story. That, my friends, is voice. Some authors have it in spades. It’s a very tricky subject to nail down. Rather than pontificate, let’s show two amazing examples.

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

“The musical would be easy for me. I am a good actor. I have a whole range of smiles. I use the shy, look-up-through-the-bangs smile for staff members, and the crinkly-eye smile with a quick shake of my head if a teacher asks me for an answer. If my parents want to know how school went, I flash my eyebrows upward and shrug my shoulders. When people point at me or whisper as I walk past, I wave to imaginary friends down the hall and hurry to meet them. If I drop out of high school, I could be a mime.”

You can smell the desperation on the narrator in Speak. How does Anderson make it happen? Look closely, she has the narrator’s thoughts fire away like dialogue. It helps that she uses a first-person narrator in present tense. It creates an immediacy that resonates with the reader. She also utilizes made up words and phrases to convey this girl’s distinct point of view. Check out: “look-up-through-the-bangs smile.” Everyone can picture this. It so completely describes the action, yet it also demonstrates the girl’s viewpoint. Strong verbs like “flash my eyebrows” or descriptions like “crinkly-eye smile” also paint a picture of this narrator.

How Lamar’s Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy, by Crystal Allen

“Since Saturday, I’ve fried Sergio like catfish, mashed him like potatoes, and creamed his corn in ten straight games of bowling. And it’s just the middle of the week. People call Wednesday “hump day,” but for Sergio, it’s “kicked-in-the-rump day.” I’m his daddy now. The maddest, baddest, most spectacular bowler ever.”

Allen uses many of the same techniques as Anderson. She works with a first-person narrator in present tense. She makes up phrases like “kicked-in-the-rump day” and “creamed his corn.” She also employs fragments to better create the feel of clipped speaking. Notice she started the second sentence with “and.” Not grammatically correct, but if she’d fixed it, the narration would have lost it’s punch.

So when scanning for a book to read, look for a narrator who lets it all hang out. Or, if you’re a writer, use these techniques to add captivating voice to your writing.

Tim Kane

5 Books I Couldn’t Put Down

It isn’t often that I’m struck by this phenomenon: I start reading, pass a point, and I can’t stop. I literally steal every single moment to read, craving each and every word of a book. What follows are five books I’ve been addicted to.

Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs

Although the selling point for this novel is the bizarre (and authentic) photos of freaks, the book doesn’t need them. That’s how captivating the prose is. I started reading it on my Nook and eventually sneaked away from my family to finish it. It has time travel, freaks, and monsters. Who could want more? Plus it has the most realistic young romance I’ve read in years. I actually want to buy another copy in print, just to appreciate the pictures.

Uglies
by Scott Westerfeld

This book constantly circles through my head. It’s not just the premise (getting surgery at 16 to make yourself pretty) but the characters and the world is addicting. The hoverboards, the Smoke, the Specials (hyper-enhanced soldiers). I’m amazed this hasn’t made it to film yet.

 

The Wave
by Todd Strasser

This is a book I chanced upon in the bookstore, picked up, and then never put down. It concerns a high school teacher wanted to instruct his class on why Germans were swept up by the Nazi movement, so he started a propaganda campaign in his class. Soon the whole school is involved and the experiment is out of control.

 

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
by Stephen King

I’ve read this book at least six times (in print and audio). The opening line is the best: “The world had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted.” It follows a girl who gets lost in the woods and has to face the God of the Lost. She struggles to survive, her only salvation is a radio which plays the Red Sox games with her favorite pitcher, you guessed it, Tom Gordon.

 

Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare
by Darren Shan

There are too darned many vampire books. Yet this one has such a vivid voice it’s addictive. I showed it to a colleague of mine who can hardly spare the time to read a comic book, and he devoured it. It’s a book build for people who don’t like to read. Addictive.

Hope you fall in love with one of these.

Tim Kane

Books Live Through Anonymous Scupltures

Throughout 2011, an anonymous artist created unique sculptures from books and deposited them throughout Edinburgh. Each came with a tag addressed to a Twitter alias. The whole thing was a mystery. The Edinburgh Evening News claimed it had identified the mysterious artist, but a poll revealed that the public wanted the artist to remain anonymous.

The Poetree

The first sculpture delivered was named “The Poetree” after Librarian Julie Johnston discovered it in the Scottish Poetry Library. At the base is a broken egg with words from Edwin Morgan’s poem, “A Trace of Wings.”

Gramaphone and Coffin

This sculpture is crafted from a copy of Ian Rankin’s Exit Music. The tag read: “For @natlibscot – A gift in support of libraries, books, words, ideas….. (& against their exit).”

Tea, Coffee, and Books

This sculpture includes a a tag that reads: “By leaves we live.” The cup on the top has a swirl of words that reads: “Nothing beats a nice cup of tea (or coffee) and a really good BOOK”. Finally, the tray near the cupcake reads: “Except maybe a cake as well”.

Tea cup detail

The artist was able to craft sculptures with amazing detail like these feathers. This is part of a hat shaped like a bird’s wing.

Feathers

For more on these amazing works of art read the article by The List or on the Central Station.

Skeletons and record player

Tim Kane

Will the Codex Lead to the Demise of our Precious Scrolls and Reading?

I’m sure you’ve all heard of this new invention: the folding book. Recently certain sects have developed this new format where, instead of our beautiful papyrus scroll, the text is scribbled onto tiny pages. One after the other. Plus, these people write in recto and verso, on both sides of the paper!

Personally, I love strolling through the library and choosing just the right scroll from the stacks. I know where to start reading and where to stop. The scroll is simple. You unroll as you read. Need to take a break? Then simply leave the scroll at the point you stopped.

You can’t do this with to codex. Instead you need some sort of tool to mark your position. Additionally, readers can skip around the text, going from the middle to the start and then to the end. Insanity. The author did not intend for that sort of haphazard reading. You might as well cut up scrolls and toss them on the floor.

Obviously, reading will decline. Scholars shall not tolerate these hard bound, page flipping codices. Our precious knowledge, stored up for centuries on scrolls, will slip away. Readers attention will decrease, tempted as they are by the ability to skip to the end of the story.

I say we do whatever we can to halt the codex in its tracks. Bring back fine papyrus scroll work—the only method to publish a scholarly work.

Think this is absurd? Look closely at what’s happening today with books. Manuscripts have survived from scrolls, to codices, to paper books. Words are ideas that cannot die, no matter the publication format.

Tim Kane