In Reach by Pamela Carter Joern

In Reach by Pamela Carter Joern

From Pamela Carter Joern comes a book of short stories that focuses on characters who live in the small town of Reach, Nebraska.  Inside of, In Reach, you will find 14 short stories of varied length, all of which contain wonderfully imagined characters who feel like your next door neighbors.

How you read a short story collection varies from book to book and person to person.  I personally love to read short stories in between novels and I like to read at least one short story a week.  With Joern's collection, I read one story a day.  I just wanted to immerse myself in this little town and get to know its residents.

Pamela is a great writer and masterful storyteller and she draws the reader into her stories with finesse. Each story is unique and rooted in reality of human life and filled with compassion.  Some were heartbreaking while others made me smile and laugh.  Each one is just so good, its hard to pick my favorites.  I adored the story, All the Wildness in Her (great title) of a widowed couple who sneak out of town to enjoy each other's company and steal kisses.  I loved the story, Redeeming the Time Being about a mother and daughter grieving the death of a spouse/parent that takes place in Seville, Spain ( I have visited here recently) and I loved the story, The Sky is Falling about Ella who has just been saved at a revival meeting and how her husband Buck handles her new found religion.  Oh my, all the stories are just so, so good.  You need to read it for yourself.

Pamela Carter Joern is not a well known author but she should be.  You should remember her name.  She is a really talented writer and super creative.  Her stories leap off the page with realism, honesty and grit.  I can't wait to read more of her books and stories and maybe even visit Nebraska someday (since it's pretty close to Minnesota).

In Reach was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in 2015. Pamela has won the Nebraska Book Award for her book, The Floor of the Sky (which I also read and it was awesome).

If you liked Olive Kitteridge you will love In Reach by Pamela Carter Joern.

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?  by Jeanette Winterson

"Books, for me, are a home.  Books don't make a home-they are one, in the sense that just as you do with a door, you open a book, and you go inside.  Inside there is a different kind of time and a different kind of space.  There is warmth there too - a hearth.  I sit down with a book and I am warm.  I know that from the chilly nights on the doorstep." pg. 61

Jeanette Winterson grew up in an unhappy, abusive, and religious Pentecostal family.  She was adopted at a young age and her mother planned to mold her into a missionary of God.  Yet Jeanette heard time and time again that her parents were led to the wrong crib. Jeanette grew up with the knowledge that she never really belonged.  She didn't belong to her adoptive parents, she didn't belong to her birth parents, she didn't belong to her public school because she was so religious and she didn't belong to her church because she was a lesbian.  She spent many nights outside, alone on her doorstep.

She was kicked out of her home at the age of 16 and was homeless living in her car.  Growing up, books were forbidden in her house and so the library became a haven and she began to read every author from A to Z in English Literature.  She applied to Oxford and to her surprise got in as the "working class" experiment.  Jeanette then writes her first book, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, when she was 24.  Some words of advice:  Read Oranges are Not the Only Fruit before you read this book.  It will make a big difference.

I once heard that if you don't deal with the trauma of your past, that the trauma will find you and make you deal with it.  Well that is what happened to Jeanette.  She sunk into a type of madness, became depressed and emerged forever changed.  When Jeanette decides to go on with her life she then makes the decision to find her birth mother.

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal is an amazing memoir.  It is not told in a linear fashion but it is full of life and passion.   Complex, yet simply told, Winterson bares her soul, telling her readers that she never learned how to love nor how to be loved.  Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal is an explanation of her book, Oranges and a confession of a very painful past.  She divulges her tumultuous past with style, wit and grace all the while showing her readers, wisdom and the strength to endure.  I was so inspired and riveted to Jeanette's story and have many passages of wisdom marked in my book.  This memoir is deeply personal to Winterson and to me, as the reader.  I felt I was looking into the window of her soul.

"Nobody can feel too much, though many of us work very hard at feeling too little.
Feeling is frightening.
Well, I find it so."
Pg. 187

Fall Reading Retreat

Fall Reading Retreat

On October 24 to Oct. 27, I attended a Fall reading retreat in Collegeville, Minnesota.  I go almost every year and I figure this is probably my 9th reading retreat.  The location has varied over time but the sustenance I receive at this event continues to nourish me each year.  Glenda Martin and Mollie Hoben, founders of the Minnesota Women's Press and BookWomen magazine, are the organizers and creators of this wonderful event.  We each read 7 books in preparation for the retreat, all around the theme, Our History is What Shapes Us, What Do You Know About Yours?

The seven books we read are:
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Original Fire: Poems by Louise Erdrich
Going Blind. A memoir by Mara Faulkner
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Why Be Normal When You Could Be Happy by Jeanette Winterson
Pieces of a White Shell by Terry Tempest Williams
When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams

I arrived at St. John's University around supper time and settled into my private room at the Episcopal House of Prayer.  I was excited to see friends from past retreats and eager to meet all the
new women in attendance.

This year, 15 women attend from 6 different states, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Rhode Island.  We ranged in age from 21 to 70 something.  Normally I am the youngest but not this year.

On opening night, Thursday, we sat in a circle to discuss a question about the importance of our 18th year of life.  The range of experiences are incredible and what we find out is that we are all educated and many of us are teachers.  We talk about time and how Everything is Connected.  After a great discussion, we hurried off to bed to continue reading and reviewing our books to get ready for the tomorrow's discussions.

Friday:  In the morning we met to discuss land and one of my favorite authors, Louise Erdrich.  The Round House won the National Book Award and in my opinion it is well-deserving.  We also read some of her poems from Original Fire.  Wow, Erdrich poems are powerful.

After lunch, author Mara Faulkner met with us to discuss her book, .  The theme for the afternoon was spirit.  Mara writes about how her father slowly went blind and refused to acknowledge his blindness.  Her family has a genetic disease called retinitis pigmentosa and her sisters and now Mara also suffer from this degenerative disease.  Faulkner's book is a testament to her father and a history lesson on blindness that was never taught in school.  It was a pleasure to meet her and I'm hoping to attend one of the creative writing workshops she teaches, someday.
Going Blind

After Mara Faulkner left we had some free time to explore the land and grounds of the college.  Guess where I went?  I went to the student bookstore and bought a book called The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe.

After dinner, we read aloud a children's book by Louise Erdrich called The Range Eternal and then watched an excellent documentary called My Monster and Me about author, Jeanette Winterson.  We cozied up to two different laptops in two different rooms and many of us were riveted.  This is an excellent documentary and if you have read her books, I think it would be beneficial for you to view it.

Saturday:  In the morning we met to explore gender and discuss the books by Jeanette Winterson.  Winterson knocked my socks off with her intelligent writing and her experiences in many ways mirror mine.  I was really worried I would cry during this discussion as I have gone through similar experiences in my life, but I held it together.

After lunch we had a two hour break and I decided to spend it alone, reading in bed and relishing my time.  I don't get a lot of free time and it was wonderful to just read without interruption.

In the afternoon we met to explore war and discuss Terry Tempest Williams books.  This is the first time I have read a book by Williams, who is a fierce environmentalist and a Mormon.  I find her books about the land, women, Natives and history compelling.  I will definitely be reading more books by Williams.

After dinner I got a call from a hospital in North Dakota.  Turns out my son was in an ATV accident.  Luckily, he is going to be OK but I was visibly shaken and worried and many horrible possibilities flashed before my eyes.  No broken bones.  Just a sore and swollen body.  Thank God he was wearing his helmet.

The rest of the group started a movie called Real Women Have Curves.  After I talked with my son, I joined the group and was able to relax and enjoy the movie.  Then I went back into my room and poured all of my emotions into a poem.  I haven't written a poem in a long time and it felt good.

Sunday: The weekend always goes so fast and I woke up disappointed that the reading retreat was already coming to an end.

In the morning before we left we met to look at children's books, Between Cattails by Terry Tempest Williams and The King of Capri by Jeanette Winterson. We also revisited the theme, How has Time, War, Land, Gender and Spirit shaped you?  Then Glenda read to us from a book called My Bookstore and I thought, wouldn't it be fun to visit all the bookstores in the book? I just might have to do that.  The last thing we did before we hugged goodbye was to pick our Great Book for the weekend.  I chose Why Be Normal When You Could Be Happy by Jeanette Winterson.  I had marked more pages in this book than all the others.  It was a poignant, emotional, beautiful read.

What a great reading retreat.  I am counting down the days until next year.

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Jeanette was adopted by a set of very religious pentecostal parents who lived in North England.  Her mother adopted her so she could grow up to become a missionary and donate her life to God.  Jeanette was only allowed to read one book, she could recite Bible verses and sing many songs unto the Lord.  They went to church everyday and Jeanette grew up loving the Lord and evangelizing.

Jeanette's mother was abusive, locking her out of the house and beating her for her own good.  She frequently said that God lead her to the wrong crib.  As Jeanette grows up alienated in school because of her religious fervor, she begins to realize that she is different.  Her religion sets her apart but more than that, Jeanette realizes she was attracted to the same sex.

This semi-autobiographical, coming of age, novel was written in 1985, when the author was 24 years old.  Winterson writes that the true story is too painful to recount and much worse than this fictional retelling.  Each chapter is named after a book of the Bible, starting with Genesis and ending with Ruth.  Oranges is an amazing book and an incredibly fast read.  I took it on vacation with me and I read it in two days.

I was drawn in by Jeanette's story and her Biblical mother.  Her mother and her religious fervor reminded me a lot of my strict Baptist grandmother.  My grandmother was so religious that she refused to attend her own sons wedding because he married a Catholic girl.  My grandmother never hit me but I was afraid of her for a long time and felt like the outsider in the family.  In many ways my experience mirrored Jeanette's.

The characters in Oranges are well-developed and Jeanette is the unorthodox heroine of her own story. Parts of the novel are quirky and some parts are awful and I admit I was intrigued when poor Jeanette was being exorcised of the devil.  I found myself hoping the main character would find compassion and love from someone in the church.  This book left an indelible mark on my soul and I don't think I will ever forget it.

“Everyone who tells a story tells it differently, just to remind us that everybody sees it differently. Some people say there are true things to be found, some people say all kinds of things can be proved. I don't believe them. The only thing for certain is how complicated it all is, like string full of knots. It's all there but hard to find the beginning and impossible to fathom the end. The best you can do is admire the cat's cradle, and maybe knot it up a bit more.”

Oranges are Not the Only Fruit won the Whitbread Prize for first fiction and was made into a film by the BBC in 1990.

Book of Fire by Cary Waterman

Book of Fire poems by Cary Waterman

Cary Waterman has written a wonderful collection of poems in the Book of Fire.  The book is divided into five parts with many different themes reflected.  The theme of fire runs through the book as well as the myth of Persephone, Waterman's travels to Iceland, nature, seasons and gardens in Minnesota and war. These are poems of investigation.

Waterman's poems reflect deep imagery, stark reality and promote pondering.  The individual poems in Book of Fire will pull on your heart strings and some will make you smile.  Book of fire has a poem that each one of us can relate to.  Like the poem, Polar Bear,  in which Waterman writes about the first polar bear to swim to Iceland in many years and how it was eventually shot by police.  Or the poem, The Transplant, where a friend of Waterman's receives a heart and a second chance at life.  Writing in Bed is about the death of Waterman's mother and it is deeply moving.

I met Cary Waterman recently and she spoke about writing as her spiritual practice.  Some of the poems in Book of Fire just came to her as gifts, as Muse, and others took time.  She is currently a teacher at Augsburg college and is doing what she is meant to do.

Personally I don't read a lot of poetry but I used to.  It has to be approached different than fiction or non-fiction, as poetry takes time to reflect and digest.  Poetry speaks to most people through their heart and soul and touches people on a deeper level.  Poetry speaks to the individual and Book of Fire spoke to me.

The Orchard by Theresa Weir

The Orchard. A Memoir by Theresa Weir

City girl, Theresa Weir reinvents herself when she falls in love with a local apple farmer at age 21, whose orchard is supposedly cursed.  She grows up despised by her mother, abandoned by her father and she ends up trying to survive by working in her uncle's bar in Burlington, Iowa when cute farm boy, Adrian Curtis walks in the door.  Her uncle warns her to stay away from Adrian but she is drawn to him like a bee to honey.

She marries Adrian after a short courtship and expects to have found a loving family.  Instead she finds herself rejected as white trash and never accepted in the family.  Theresa's in-laws despise her and run their apple farm with a hard hand.  They spray herbicides and pesticides on the apple trees to protect them from the codling moth.  Adrian comes home reeking of chemicals, the smell and taste of it is everywhere.  The apple farm has been in the Curtis family for generations and their farm practices are slowly ruining the land and making people sick.

The Orchard is a powerful page-turning memoir.  From the very first page I was hooked and could not put the book down.  The Orchard is shocking, raw and true, and I will never look at another apple in the same way again.  In many ways The Orchard is a fairy tale gone horribly wrong, from the wicked mother in-law to the poisoned apple, readers will hope for the happy ending.

Theresa Weir aka "Anne Frasier" is a well known mystery and romance writer, although this is the first book I have read of hers.  Theresa details a difficult and genuine time of her life with grace and wit.  Don't let the cover deceive you, The Orchard is an unforgettable story that will possible change your perceptions about farming.  I am adding The Orchard to my list of the best books I have read in 2012.  It is thought-provoking, timely and necessary for all to read if you care about the food you eat and the world we live in.

Leaning into the Wind by Susan Allen Toth

Leaning into the Wind.  A Memoir of Midwest Weather by Susan Allen Toth

Everyone's life is affected by weather.  If you happen to live in the midwest you life through cold and snowy winters, severe storms in the Spring, hot and humid summers.  On a particular day in Minnesota the temperatures can vary over 50 degrees.  Midwest weather can be extreme and Toth does an excellent job of capturing the nuances of it.

Leaning into the Wind is a unique memoir where Toth tells her story within twelve essays. The focus of the book is her life amidst midwest weather.  Toth grew up in Ames, Iowa.  Met and married her first husband in California and then moved to Minnesota where they both had teaching positions.  She raised a daughter and remarried a architect named James Stageburg.  He designed and built her a lovely weekend house in Wisconsin.

Toth compares her turbulent first marriage to Minnesota storms in one essay.  She writes about gardening and her hatred of bugs of all sizes.  She writes about how every day, the first thing she checks in the paper, is the weather and when she mentions the daily forecast to her husband, he seems ambivalent.  She writes about weather from the different stages of her life.  She includes excellent quotes at the beginning of each essay.  She writes thoughtfully and creates a visual picture with her words about weather.  Toth will make you laugh and she will make you think about how weather has been an important part of your life.

"Weather dominates everything."

Quote by Stephen E. Ambrose, Nothing like it in the Wind. (pg. 1)

Reading Retreat

BookWomen Reading Retreat 2012

Last weekend I attended a BookWomen Reading Retreat held in northern Minnesota at St. John's University.  16 women from multiple states attended with the women spanning four different decades and states as far away as New Jersey, Washington and Arizona who came together for a weekend to talk about books.  Our facilitator was Glenda, who is an amazing women.  She and friend Mollie began The Women's Press over 25 years ago.

Each woman read 5 books around the theme, "Earth, Wind, Water, Fire:  Shaping Midwestern Women".  The retreat started with dinner and then conversation began in a circle as we got to know each other and shared our story of "What has shaped you".

The first morning we gathered around the fire-place to discuss the theme, Earth and the book Last-Standing Woman by Winona LaDuke.  Winona LaDuke is from the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota.  Other books mentioned were A Geography of Blood by C. Savage, The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich and Spirit of the Ojibwe by Balbin, Bailey and Nayouonabe.

After lunch I took a walk through the woods and explored St. John's campus.  We stopped and viewed the Illuminated Bible in the Hill Museum.  Very beautiful and a must see for book lovers.  I bought a beautiful book about books that is a work of art in itself.  We stopped at the student bookstore and bought St. John's bread and browsed their great book selection.

In the afternoon we met to discuss the theme, Water and the book The Long-Shining Waters by Danielle Sosin.  This book is about women who lived in three different centuries and who are connected through Lake Superior.  As a Minnesotan, Lake Superior is our ocean and is the largest fresh water lake in the world.  The conservation was stimulating.

After dinner we again shared some more pieces of our life on the questions, Do you tell your Story?  When and Where?  It was an engaging day and I retired to my room to read and to reflect on these amazing women I was spending the weekend with.

On Saturday morning we met to discuss the theme Earth and the book The Orchard by Theresa Weir.  Most people in the group really enjoyed this book and we discussed the question, What makes us a survivor?  The level of trust and empathy in the group was astounding.  This was a memorable conversation.  Other books discussed include:  Turn Here, Sweet Corn:  Organic Farming by Atina Diffley

After lunch, Cary Waterman, poetry author of Book of Fire, joined the group for an afternoon of reading and discussing beautiful poetry around the theme, Fire.  Each participant picked their favorite poem in the book and read it aloud to the group.  I read Skull.  It reminded me of a Georgia O'Keefe painting.

After supper we watched the film Sweet Land which was a originally a short story written by Will Weaver called A Gravestone Made of Wheat.  Excellent movie.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it as I have now seen it twice.

The last day, we met to discuss the theme, Wind, and the book Leaning into the Wind by Susan Toth.   This is a memoir about midwest weather.  We discussed living in the midwest and the weekend went incredibly fast as it was full of beautiful women and wonderful books.

It was great to spend the weekend with like-minded people and it felt like coming home after being gone for years.  We picked a great book, talked about our venue and hugged goodbye, hoping to see each other again because many of us left friends.

Thanks Glenda!!

BookWomen

Book Women Magazine Cover Story

Hey Everyone, I am super proud and excited to tell you that I am featured as the cover story in the April-May issue of BookWomen magazine published by Women's Press, Inc.  I have included the picture that is on the cover.  My sweet daughter took the photo in our kitchen.  BookWoman magazine is written by women and features women readers and writers.  The Women's Press is located in Saint Paul, Minnesota and BookWomen is a print only magazine.  If you would like to check out this cool mag visit the website at www.womenspress.com then click on the BookWomen tab.  You can order a copy of one magazine for 5 dollars.  This is my favorite book magazine and it has stood the test of time as this is my 9th year being a subscriber.  I Love BookWomen!

If you are stopping by my blog because you read the article in BookWomen, please let me know by leaving a comment.  Please take a look around.  I hope you like what you see and come back often.

I'm Doing the Happy Dance Now!