Mysteries make good reading. Some are perfect for an afternoon at the beach, and some challenge your logical expertise. A third group absorbs you thoroughly, solving the mystery by a slow unraveling of the characters’ inner life. For me, this is the group that is memorable, for they open new areas of the human soul. […]
Author Archive | Judy
Back to Reading
My apologies to anyone trying to read my blog in the last couple of weeks. We were having technical difficulties and it took a while to solve them. Also, I’ve been off to writer conventions—The Pacific Northwest Writers Association in Seattle and the Chanticleer Reviews in Bellingham—getting refueled. My own latest book, Home Fires, was […]
Racial USA and The Inheritors
Fifty years after the Civil Rights movement, race has once again hit the first page in the form of riots and police violence. But this time the Wall Street Journal of August 25th,”In Ferguson, Multiracial Neighborhoods Defy Image of Strife.” stressed the multiracial peace that characterizes many neighborhoods in Ferguson Missouri. And today, multiracial […]
Why Read Book Blogs?
I’m sitting here wondering what to write about for my next blog—and the one after—and the one after that. My brain is in neutral, so I bounce about other people’s blogs hoping to spark a response, or a topic. They say you should pretend you’re at a cocktail party, flitting between groups, picking […]
Race in America—in Fiction
Earlier in this series of blogs, I talked of the rewards of reading novels whose characters are swept up in the crises and “hot topics” of our times. In the discussion, I sympathized with readers who find topics such as the Holocaust and race done to death and given to ideological preaching. I recommended […]
Reading Beyond the Familiar
Last week I talked about the disadvantages of fencing yourself into reading categories such as “mystery,” “romance,” etc. and about the rewards of reaching beyond those walls to find books that sweep readers into characters lives and move them to a different perception of the world or themselves. I discussed my own writing and reading […]
What “Sort of Book” Do You read?
An all to frequent response to my books is, “I don’t usually read that sort of book, but I really got into it.” So what “sort of book” do I write? Stories that sweep you into the life of the characters and move you, change your perceptions or your sense of your own life. But […]
Book Review: The Weird Sisters
As another of a series of reviews on the rewards of reading “reality” or”serious” fiction, let me introduce Eleanor Brown’s New York Times bestseller, The Weird Sisters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “We came home because we were failures.” So Eleanor Brown opens her debut novel of three sisters, born in a college town of a father immersed […]
Book Review: Alice I Have Been
We’ve been talking, in recent blogs, about the rewards of reading novels. I discussed my own preference for stories about characters involved in our culture’s current dilemmas, but my recent reading reminds me that stories of the past bring to life issues that never grow old. The book I’ll talk about today, Melanie Benjamin’s Alice I […]
Why Read a Novel?
Earlier this month I urged readers to “Drop Out and Read” , and talked about its value to me. I was delighted to see that a good friend and marvelous writer, Toni Fuhrman, had blogged on the same subject, so let me share with you a brief excerpt and link. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why read a […]
Book Review: Goodbye For Now
In last week’s blog I talked about the power of the novel to carry us into other lives and change our perspective on our own. I also talked about my own preference for characters confronting the crises of contemporary life. Laurie Frankel’s novel, Goodbye For Now, is an excellent example of both. You will […]
Drop Out and Read
I’ve dropped out. Reinvented Sunday. I’ve given myself permission to not read my e-mail, catch up on Facebook, converse with other writers on LinkedIn, or review in my head all of the things, including writing my blog, that I ought to be doing. I feel liberated, relaxed, utterly euphoric. I dip into one magazine […]