Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Book Your Stocking with Donna Miscolta

Book Your Stocking: December 5

Book Your Stocking 2018
You love books. Your favorite person loves books. You have a burning desire to love books. You have a book list ten miles long composed of book titles you must read now.

Good.

This is the place to be to revel in that love of books and to add another 1/4 mile to your to-read list. All December, writers and readers are sharing the book that they'd love to find in their winter stocking, whether they've read it, wish to read it again, or just discovered it.

Today's book recommendation is a discovery. Please welcome  Donna Miscolta who found a voice from the radio and traced it to a new book, just released this November.


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Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
This is the book: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol

This is how I found it:
One morning in November, I turned on the radio and dropped into an author interview Scott Simon was conducting on NPR’s Weekend Edition.

I sat in the car, alert to the voice of the author whose intelligence, passion for her novel’s subjects, and humor and goodwill transfixed me.

Later, I went to the NPR site to read the interview with Gina Apostol and to find the passages that had most riveted me. 

Like this one about Elvis and who he belongs to:

The thing about Elvis is that I — you know, I didn't like him because he was my mom's favorite. But it was only a few years ago that I realized that all these songs that my uncles, when I was a kid, would sing — this is in the '70s — would sing for, like, long long long guitar-strumming fests, were actually all Elvis songs. So I actually thought Elvis was Filipino for a long time. ...

And this one about Americans’ history that goes beyond liberator:

I think it's important, for instance, for an American to recognize its multiple histories. You know, this history of wanting to be the liberator in the Spanish-American War period, but also recognizing the inhumanity that came from that war. So there's this tension of the two.

And this one about the kind of book it is:

…it's a Filipino book, it's an American book…

And this one about her intention as a novelist:

So I think as a teacher, it's just — given the difficulty of our times, it's also kind of liberating for me to do the work that I do as a novelist that's not at all separate from the ethical reader that I want, and the ethical citizen that I want in my classroom.

Shouldn’t we all read this book?


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About today's reader:
Donna Miscolta
(photo by Meryl Schenker)


Donna Miscolta’s story collection Hola and Goodbye, winner of the Doris Bakwin Award for Writing by a Woman, was published by Carolina Wren Press in 2016. It won an Independent Publishers award for Best Regional Fiction and an International Latino Book Award for Best Latino Focused Fiction. She’s also the author of the novel When the de la Cruz Family Danced published in 2011. Recent work has appeared in The Fourth River, Cascadia Magazine, Moss, Blood Orange Review, and Seattle Review of Books. She writes a monthly blog at donnamiscolta.com.


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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Book Your Stocking with Julia Drescher

Book Your Stocking: December 4

Book Your Stocking 2018
Welcome back! Every day of December, writers and readers are sharing The One: the book that most captured them this year, a book remembered, a book found, a book wished for . . . a book that would utterly please them should they find it in their winter stocking. 

Please welcome back poet Julia Drescher, who is recommending today's book.





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Arthur Jafa: A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions by John Akomfrah (Author), Jean Baudrillard (Author), Judith Butler (Author), Tina Campt (Author), Ernest Hardy (Author), Dave Hickey (Author), and 6 more

I am not sure this book would fit in anyone's stocking!! (which is part of the reason I am so happy it exists! - it is a serious undertaking to figure out how to even read this book *physically*). Merely one reason why I love this book: it approaches an alternative to the whole problematic of the 'single artist' in such wonderful ways--the collaborative "casebook" construction (i.e. texts/artists that are/have been in some way present in/to Jafa's work interspersed with stills from his work etc.) is just amazing and so moving--like a library without walls (or something:)...



Here is a really good interview with him:



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About today's reader:
Julia Drescher

Julia Drescher lives in Colorado where she co-edits the press Further Other Book Works with the poet C.J. Martin. Her book of poems, Open Epic, is available from Delete Press. 









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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

Monday, December 3, 2018

Book Your Stocking with Kendra Fortmeyer

Book Your Stocking: December 3


Book Your Stocking 2018 
Well, friends and folks, we've reached the changing of the seasons and, thus, the festivities, customs, and traditions that winter brings. Here at What She Might Think, that custom is Book Your Stocking. All December, writers and readers will share books they would be delighted to discover in their winter stockings--or in their sock drawers, really . . . or dryers, which would be a lovely tradition: to find a book in your sock, wherever your sock may be. If you try that with family or friends, let me know.

This year on Book Your Stocking, writers will share The One: the book that captured their imaginations this year, whether that's an old book remembered, one they lost track of, one they are craving to read, one they did read and now love, or even a book that doesn't exist but how magical life would be if it did exist and appear in one's stocking--and so on: so many books, so many possibilities, so many socks and stockings to fill and unfill.

Please welcome the first contributor of the season, Austin, Texas author Kendra Fortmeyer.

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As a Jew, I have no idea how Santa works -- I'm pretty sure he's a time traveler, right? I hope so, because that would allow him to leave the perfect book in my stocking: Gita Trelease’s debut Enchantee, which is forthcoming from Flatiron in February 2019.

This book – a YA fantasy set in Paris during the French Revolution – has everything: a bloodthirsty dress, a desperate heroine bound to save her sister, the birth of balloon aeronautics, the gilded intrigue of Marie Antoinette’s Versailles, a cameo by Marquis de Lafayette, magic powered by sorrow... it’s rich, luscious and intoxicating, a perfect winter read.




Kendra Fortmeyer

About today's contributor:

Kendra Fortmeyer is the author of the magical realist young adult novel Hole in the Middle, and a bunch of weird short fiction. Her work has won the Pushcart Prize and appeared or is forthcoming in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, LeVar Burton Reads, One Story, The Toast, Lightspeed, and elsewhere. Find her at @kendraffe or kendrafortmeyer.com.


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Check out more recommendations from Book Your Stocking contributors: 

Monday, November 26, 2018

Willow Springs, I'd nominate you for a Pushcart if there were an application

Willow Springs, Issue 82
The Pushcart Prize is an annual award bestowed upon written works published in small journals the previous calendar year. Most journals vie for the awards by nominating works for the prize, and submitting them to the Pushcart Committee for review.

This is the time of the year when you'll begin to see nomination announcements from editors, journals, and writers themselves. This is one such announcement. My story "Valentine's Day," published in the Fall issue of Willow Springs (Issue 82), has been nominated for a Pushcart by those-behind-the-pages of the magazine.

Willow Springs is a long-standing magazine based out of Eastern Washington University; every issue is created, curated, and run by writing students in the Master of Fine Arts program.

"Valentine's Day" follows three brothers on a night several years after their father's sudden death. It's a long story, at the 50-page mark; so I'm not only honored that they published it, as most journals shy from long works, but I'm also honored that they have risked nominating it since works awarded the Pushcart are published in an anthology, and so, again, space is surely considered by the committee when selecting the best works for an anthology that isn't a million pages long.
First page of the story Valentine's Day by Erin Pringle
Valentine's Day by Erin Pringle,
published in Willow Springs Issue 82

But, listen, my dear reader, luck's on your side no matter my Pushcart fate; you and all your favorite people can read "Valentine's Day" by ordering Issue 82 of Willow Springs ($8).

Additionally, you can subscribe to the journal ($18/year). Of course, when you subscribe, you're actively supporting the arts, culture, and the written pursuit of reality--not to mention ensuring the ongoing opportunity for graduate students to learn the craft of journal curation, creation, and publication. Willow Springs publishes non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and interviews. It's also one of few remaining markets that pays its contributors in cash-money (as opposed to payment in the form of a copy of the journal).

Now, I'd like to speak directly to everyone at Willow Springs. Thank you for supporting my work through publishing it and, now, nominating it for such a prize. Even if you don't consider it a risk (good on you), it was. And much of writing, if not life, is battling people, institutions, and groups who swerve from risk or interpret it as a wilderness that should be a hedge. Thankfully, confidence is contagious and yours plays no small part in my ability to write more today. Thank you for all the time, energy, and focus you have given and give the journal, its contributors, its writers, and our culture. May another group of readers and editors bless you with the same support and confidence as you go forward with your writing, editing, and arts careers.


P.S. Learn more about the Pushcart Prize at their website.
P.S.S. Follow Willow Springs on Facebook to learn about past, present, and upcoming issues.


Monday, November 19, 2018

Spunky the Turkey, We Like You

Spunky the Turkey
This Thanksgiving, our family decided to adopt a turkey. That's right. So, Henry and I looked through all the turkeys and their stories at Farm Sanctuary, and Spunky's story stood out most to him because it involved an adventurous rescue directly from a factory farm. Spunky lives at the Farm Sanctuary in Southern California. Until the day we can meet Spunky, we will proudly display this turkey's portrait and adoption certificate in our home (in a prominent place, far from the dinner table, this Thanksgiving)!
I learned about Farm Sanctuary from my friend Tina when she was living in New York. She would share posts on Facebook about her involvement with the organization, from visiting the farm, to fundraising for the organization through dedicating races to them, to adopting a turkey every Thanksgiving. 
I'm so thankful for friends who lift us up, like my Tina who constantly reminds me, no matter where she lives in the world, that the community we live in is large and good when we include all creatures great and small.
Learn more about Farm Sanctuary here: https://www.farmsanctuary.org/adopt-a-turkey/
Happy Turkey Day to Spunky and to everyone in our giant, twirling community.

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Thursday, October 25, 2018

I Told a True Monster Story at Pivot Spokane


Spokane is now home to its own storytelling series, Pivot. Now in its second year of bringing community members and their stories to the stage, Pivot curates three main-stage events through the year as well as monthly open-mic story slams at Spark Central

Last week was the main-stage event, themed Monster; I joined six storytellers who shared their own true monster stories at the Cracker Building, a wonderful warehouse that has been renovated into an event space. It was a full event, with about 200 people in the audience, and as many vintage-style bulb lights sweeping across the ceiling.  

Although I have deep gravitational forces pulling me to the art of fiction, I found myself telling a true story, as are the rules, from when I was five, on an October night in the Midwest. Though I had never told this particular memory before, and I hope never to tell it again, it's true, I do like to tell a story.

If you missed the event, you can hear the stories on Spokane's NPR station, on The Bookshelf: Tuesday, November 6th (91.1 FM).

To learn more about Pivot, upcoming events, and how to participate as a storyteller or listeners, visit the Pivot website or Facebook page.


That time I told a story, and my friend took a picture. Photo by Rebecca O'Bryan



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Wednesday, October 24, 2018

2018 Summer Library Series, Finale

Leaf by Richard Ricciardi,
used under CC license

2018 Summer Library Series


Somehow summer closed and autumn has opened, and we reached the end of the 2018 Summer Library Series. I must have been in denial about it. But here we are after a wonderful summer of writers sharing memories of their childhood libraries. Thanks to all who contributed this year. Please enjoy another trek down their library aisles of memory, and look to their bios for more of their writing.




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My First Library by Richard Paolinelli
Richard Paolineli, novelist

The 2019 Summer Libraries will begin in June with a new lineup of writers. The second annual Book Your Stocking series will return in December with reading wish-lists by writers. Until then, I hope you find time to visit your local library, read many books, and have a lovely winter and spring. 
Library Loading Dock by LibraryGroover, flickr, used under CC license


Thursday, October 4, 2018

Monster: 2018 Pivot Storytelling Series

Pivot is a live storytelling series in Spokane.
And I have a story to tell you.

October 18, 2018
7 PM
Washington Cracker Building
304 W. Pacific
$10 donation suggested


Storytellers: Julie Humphries, Erin Pringle, Raymond Reyes, Juan Mas, Ann Porter, Cleve Penberthy, Sam Schneider




Saturday, September 29, 2018

Quick Review: Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by Kate Manne

GO READ THIS BOOK.
TAKE ALL THE NOTES WHILE YOU READ IT.
WHEN YOU'RE FINISHED, START A STUDY GROUP TO DISCUSS IT WITH  SO YOU CAN READ IT AGAIN.

That's what I did.

It's brilliant.






Link to book on publisher's website: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/down-girl-9780190604981?cc=us&lang=en&





Monday, September 17, 2018

2018 Summer Library Series: My First Library by Richard Paolinelli

We have reached the middle of September and nearly the end of summer, and though the doors to summer are closing, the library doors will remain propped open when the weather's right, and autumn leaves will hopefully follow you to the circulation desk and book return.

Please welcome this week's writer, Richard Paolinelli, and his beginning of many visits to the library shelves.

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My First Library
by
Richard Paolinelli


Richard Paolinelli as a child
My first library was located at the corner of Minaret Avenue and Cooper Avenue in Turlock, California. It was across the street from Crane Elementary School, which I attended in 1972. A lot has changed in my hometown. But the library is still there.

It was a magical place. A place of so many different worlds and universes, filled with people and things and creatures beyond imagination. A place I would go to if I needed to wait to be picked up well after school got out. I didn’t mind waiting there. I met many friends there: Wells, Blish, Poe, Verne, Doyle, Burroughs, Foster and so many, many others.

It was there, in the audio room, where I listened for the first time to the recording of Orson Welles’ infamous radio play of War of the Worlds that created a nationwide panic back in 1938.

I walked along the many shelves, looking at random for the next adventure I wanted to immerse myself into. Sometimes I would have a title or subject in mind even before I walked through the doors and would head to the cabinet where the index cards were. Flipping through them until I found the book I sought, getting the Dewey number and then hunting the shelf, hoping someone hadn’t checked it out already.

That library was a haven, a source of familiarity that I took with me as we moved from town to town (my father’s business kept us fairly mobile). No matter what new town we landed in, I sought the nearest library and felt right at home everywhere we went.

To this day, I credit that love of reading, those hours spent within the walls of that first library, with planting the seed to my becoming the writer I am today. Anytime we venture back to Turlock, I stop by and peek in.

It hasn’t changed all that much in 46 years. Oh, there are books in there that weren’t there in 1972 of course. And there is a small area for computers and a terminal to search for books instead of the old card cabinet. But if I stand in just the right spot, it is 1972 all over again, and a new adventure waits somewhere among those shelves.

Turlock Library
(image from Google Earth)
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About this library author:

Richard Paolinelli began his writing career as a freelance writer in 1984 and gained his first fiction credit serving as the lead writer for the first two issues of the Elite Comics sci-fi/fantasy series, Seadragon. His 20-year sports writing career was highlighted by the 2001 California Newspaper Publishers Association award for Best Sports Story.

In 2010, Richard retired as a sportswriter and returned to his fiction writing roots. Since then he has written six novels, including the recently released, When The Gods Fell, three Sherlock Holmes pastiches, two non-fiction sports books, three novelettes, and shorter works in several anthologies.

He plans on releasing The Timeless series, a middle-grade YA Steampunk series, this fall and another novel, Firstborn’s Curse, around Christmas. Learn more at his website: https://scifiscribe.com/

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Continue enjoying reflections from the Summer Library Series: 
http://www.erinpringle.com/p/summer-library-series.html