The Astonishing Thing

April 21, 2018

Just finished reading The Astonishing Thing by Sandi Ward.

It’s about the break-up of a marriage seen through the cat’s point of view.

https://www.sandiwardbooks.com

Feathered Serpent Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico

April 21, 2018

I am reading Feathered Serpent Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico by David Bowles. My friend Kathy and I met the author at the TLA Conference in Dallas.  Take a look at Cinco Puntos Press, one of my favorite publishers, www.cincopuntos.com

Max New Family Member

Since my last post, we have a new furry family member, Max.

He looks a lot like Rufus. He showed up at our back door last winter.

I spent about six months gaining his trust and finally brought him into our home.

He loves to follow Dexter around the house and sits with him on the cat tree.

Dexter new family member

Dexter, a Siamese mutt, has joined our family.  He is about twelve weeks old.  I brought him home from  my mom's house in Pasadena.

Rufus and Ellis are adjusting.

Texas Library Association Conference in April

I had a great time in Houston at the Texas Library Association Conference. Interestingly, the big publishers brought few books for adults.  The independent and university presses had excellent selections in fiction, non-fiction and poetry.  I visited my favorites: Arte Publico Press, Cinco Puntos Press, Orca Books, and the university presses: Texas Tech, University of North Texas, University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University. I picked up some interesting titles that will be reviewed in later posts.

Eerie Books Closed in Wylie, Texas

Eerie Books closed earlier this year.  Randy created a great bookstore with an excellent collection of books and memorabilia.  I was sorry to see another great indie store close. 

Eerie Books in Wylie

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  At Eerie Books it is Halloween everyday.

Eerie Books in Wylie, Texas has an eclectic collection of books, calendars, and movies.

Horror is defined in a broad sense.  You can find books by Anne Rice, Stephen King, and Peter Straub. You can find Christian fiction by Dekker and Perreti.

Eerie also has an excellent offering of H.P. Lovecraft.

You will also find reprints of old classics from small independent presses.

The independent presses are my favorites to discover.  I recently purchased Theodore Sturgeon's Some of Your Blood (Millipede Press) and Thomas Tyron's The Other (Millipede Press). These two are my Thanksgiving reads.  Millipede Press is now Centipede Press at centipedepress.com

Randy Ray, owner, leads a Horror Book Club the first Thursday of each month.  In December, the club is reading  The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.

Visit Eerie books online at eeriebooks.com

Rufus Joins Our Family

Rufus is our new Indie Reads cat.  We adopted him from the Wylie Animal Shelter.  He is a beautiful, big grey and black Tabby.  Ellis was suspicious at first, but as I write, he is sitting next to Rufus on the cat tree.

Lily, Indie Reads cat, passes away

We lost our sweet Lily on Wednesday, October 27.  She was an independent and strong soul who survived being abandoned before she came to live with us.  She was 16 and had kidney failure.  Her name is in the web address and you can see her picture on the blog.

We will always love and miss our Lily.

Northwestern University purchases Curbstone Press

Curbstone Press has been purchased by Northwestern University Press.

Northwestern purchased their backlist, plus titles in progress.

www.nupress.northwestern.edu/

The Late Show

The Late Show
 David Trinidad

Turtle Point Press, 2007

Before cable television, streaming video, and all our other electronic ways of watching movies, there was the late show on Saturday night at 10:30 p.m.  It was a treat to stay up late.  I remember watching “A Summer Place” with my mom until 1 a.m.

David Trinidad’s collection The Late Show uses popular culture and movies in particular to write about his mother, friends, and movie stars. 

The first poem “The Late Show” recalls those movies. 

Natalie Wood, in the middle

of reciting a Wordsworth poem,

bursts into tears and runs out

of the classroom.

Julie Harris hears Hill House

beckoning, beckoning. Geraldine

 Page begs Paul Newman for a fix.

Trembling, Ingrid Berg-

man watches the gaslights dim.

In “Watching the Late Movie with My Mother,” he writes:

It was our special time:

just the two of us

alone in the family room

on a Saturday night,

everybody else—my father, brother

and two younger sisters—

asleep in the back of the house.

She reclined on the brown couch;

I was sprawled on the carpet

in front of the TV, totally

absorbed in the drama

on the small screen.

“Classic Layer Cakes” is also a memory about his mother.    He writes about his mother doing the universal 1950s/60s role:

“My mother in her frilled apron, dusting and vacuuming sweeping and moping rinsing, scouring, scrubbing.”

“perusing The Brand Name Calorie Counter at the check-out stand. Folding her receipt and green stamps into her purse.” 

“When we were sick she’d bring us Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, saltines, and ginger ale on a TV tray.  A rerun of I Love Lucy was also medicinal”

In two poems, he describes his mother’s battle with cancer.

In “Sonnet”,

"The day she died, my mother divided

up her jewelry, placed each piece in Dixie

cups

When we placed the last ring in the last cup,

she looked up at me and said, “We never

have enough time to enjoy our treasures.”

In “Classic Layer Cakes” the poet tells his mother, as she lies dying:

“Thank you for being my mother.  I love you.”

“You’re onto the next journey. God be with you.”

“You’ve done a good job, Mom.  You can let go now.”

At one point, the poet writes in “Classic Layer Cakes”

“I wish I could do this memory better.” 

The poet doesn’t have to worry, he writes a beautiful memory.  Any reader growing up in the same time period can recognize his/her mother in these poems.

Trinidad is a Barbie doll collector.  There’s an interview about his doll collection on  

the Poetry Foundation website. (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/article.html?id=180916)

In “Doll Memorial Service” he describes how dolls die:

There are many ways

a fashion doll can

die:  chewed limbs, split

neck, ponytail snipped to

the hair plugs.

“A Poem Under the Influence” begins, “I dreamt of Barbie, or to be precise, a Barbie outfit: a big pink gown that came with unusual shoes; clear plastic half shells…”

He writes about so many of my favorite things:

His nod to Plath, “I am typing on pink paper in tribute to Sylvia Plath, who wrote her great poems

on “pink, stiff, lovely-textured” Smith College stationary….”

He writes a list and description of the “movies that scared the hell out of me when I was a child.”

Trinidad also honors his friends, Joe Brainard, Rachel Sherwood, Tim Dlugos and James Schyler.

In “A Poem Under the Influence,” he writes:

“At the end of fourth grade, I asked a substitute

teacher

to sign my blue autograph book.

I threw the book away; I wish I could include her name. But I’ve never

forgotten

what she wrote: “David, you are an unusual boy.  May it continue into adult

life.”

Fortunately for us, it continued into adult life.

Poetry Books to Read

I just completed my second poetry class with Storycircle Network.
Here are three of my favorite books that I have read.

Paper House by Jessie Carty
Published by Folded Word
www.foldedword.com

The “Poet’s Note” is a fun A to Z read.
My favorite poems in this collection:
“While Mom Watched Bewitched”
“While We Were Unattended”
“Gift Catalog”
“After Judy Blume”

Lizzie Borden in Love: Poems in Women’s Voices
by Julianna Baggott
Published by Southern Illinois University Press and
Crab Orchard Review
www.siupress.com

My favorite poems in this collection:
“Mary Rockwell after the Abortion”
“For Sylvia, Come Winter, Come Winter”
“Lizzie Borden Addresses Her Jury of Men”



The Late Show
by David Trinidad
Published by Turtle Point Press
www.turtlepointpress.com

My favorite poems in this collection:
“The Late Show” (see if you know the movies)
“Nature Poem”
“Doll Memorial Service”
“All This and Heaven Too”
“Watching the Late Movie with My Mother”

American Library Association Visit

I returned from the American Library Association in Washington, D.C. last week. I had a good time visiting with friends, attending sessions, and special events. Marlo Thomas, Natalie Merchant, and a poetry and book reading, “Many Voices, One Nation” were highlights.

I visited one of my favorite presses, Orca Books. I also went by Tin Books, Cinco Puntos Press, Continuum, and Milkweed Press. I picked up some new titles from each and plan on reviewing them in the future.

The Beckoners by Carrie Mac

The Beckoners
Carrie Mac
Orca Book Publishers

"You've got your slacks, your punks, pushers, users, Goths, slags, geeks, hippies, rejects and other garden variety misfits--the ones that smoke at least." These are the words Simon uses to describe his classmates as he introduces Zoe to the world of Abbotsville. He fails to tell her about the secrets of the Beckoners, an exclusive clique. Zoe is in too deep as a member of the group before she realizes the violent and evil motives of the Beckoners.

When Zoe drops out of the Beckoners, they become angry and vengeful. They are not just an ordinary clique concerned with fashion and popularity. They are a dangerous and violent group of girls who terrorize their fellow students.

Carrie Mac writes creates strong characters. Zoe is the new girl in school who must discover the importance of real friends over popularity. Simon and Teo are a loving couple who become Zoe's good friends. Then there's "Dog" or April. She is the primary target of the Beckoners. She has the strength and courage to withstand the Beckoners brutality.

Is This What Other Women Feel Too?

Is This What Other Women Feel Too?
June Akers Seese
Dalkey Archive Press

Katie is an isolated college student in 1954 Detroit making her way through a variety of jobs. She is having an affair with a married man. Francis is 23 years her senior with an invalid wife at home. She says of her relationship, “I stopped using the word lover; it describes noting and sounded leftover from the twenties.” Katie’s life is told through her eyes and letters between herself and Parker, her only friend.

Seese describes the uncertainty of Katie’s relationships and life in stark terms. Katie is left behind when her lover leaves for home and Parker to New York. She describes the loneliness of her relationship, “I have a brittle laugh that’s worse when I cry and I couldn't stop. That’s all. I asked him to leave and he did. I fell asleep. My dreams were filled with his narrow chest and five o’clock shadow.” Even in sleep, she can’t escape her obsessive love. Even Parker’s advice that “Francis will never get a divorce. There are other men who read books and who have a few books left over to spend on dinner out and Christmas presents” won’t keep her away from him.

“I saw the blinds drawn in his shop that Monday and I knew something awful had happened.” With those words, Katie’s life is changed forever. The description of Katie sitting by Francis’s bedside is heartbreaking.

Set from 1954 to 1966, we see Katie evolve into an independent woman. We also meet David. Katie’s first boyfriend after Francis’s death. David is also struggling with his homosexuality and how to live an authentic life within the conventions of the 1950s. Then there is Parker, 28, walking stooped against the wind with a lot of miles on her. Even her New York job and tight prose can’t save her from the conventions of the 1950s. Through Katie’s voice, Seese creates characters deserving of compassion. They are good people making the best of difficult circumstances and always finding the will to and courage to survive.

Other books by June Akers Seese:

James Mason and the Walk-In Closet
A Nurse Can Go Anywhere and Collected Short Stories
What Waiting Really Means

Icarus in Flight by Hayden Thorne

I look for a new publisher every time I attend a library conference. At the American Library Association Mid-Winter conference, I discovered Prizm books.

The Prizm website states that
"Our mission is to encourage and publish gay young adult books that focus on the story, rather than on the characters being gay. Today’s young readers crave stories they can relate to, stories about their lives. Prizm Books is committed to producing great, positive books that young adults will love, and will want more of!"

Icarus in Flight by Hayden Thorne fulfills their mission. Set in the Victorian Era, the story follows the lives of two young boarding school students, James Ellsworth, and Daniel Courtney and the realization that they love each other. James takes Daniel under his wing and guides him through boarding school. Because of his father’s death, James returns to his family estate. James invites Daniel to his estate. It is during this visit that the two acknowledge their love. Daniel looks at a painting of James and “without thought, he brought the partly finished portrait to his lips, kissed it, and restored it to its rightful place…An icy rush stung Daniel at the realization that his friend could have easily have caught him kissing the miniature.” James does observe him and later pays a visit to Daniel’s room. Isabella, James’s sister, is aware of their relationship. Her disapproval runs throughout the story. Daniel tries to show interest in the opposite sex, but decides not to burden a girl with an unhappy marriage. James steadfastly refuses to enter a marriage and moves to Italy briefly where he can live more openly. Over the course of eleven years, James and Daniel grow into adulthood, go their separate ways, but never really lose each other. Hayden Thorne weaves an interesting story without the stereotypical angst of the young gay found in so many young adult novels. Her characters accept their sexuality and stay true to their love.

About the author: Hayden Thorne taught college freshman English composition. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three cats. Hayden Thorne's blog is http://haydenthorne.com

What is an independent press?

For this blog, an independent press has some of the following features:

targets a specific market (for example: Arte Publico Press publishes bilingual books in Spanish and English)
publishes "edgier" stories
sometimes non-profit
university presses
publishes older works long-forgotten

Dalkey Archive Press is one of my favorites and exemplifies the small, independent press. They publish about 24 titles a year. Half of the titles are new fiction and the other half are reprints of older titles. Dalkey Archive also focuses on literature in translation.

Dalkey Archive books have a distinctive look--simple white covers with their symbol on the spine. In small, independent book stores, it is easy to scan the shelves and find them.

Welcome to Indie Reads

I have always enjoyed books from the independent presses ever since I discovered Arte Publico Press at a Texas Library Association Convention. At the most recent library convention that I attended, I picked up some new books from some of my favorites like Milkweed Press and Kids Can Press. I also discovered a new publisher, Prizm, focusing on books for gay, lesbian and transgendered young adults. I will be reviewing titles from a variety of publishers in the next few weeks.

Indie Reads

This blog will review books published by small independent presses.