The Woman in White, update, the fourth.

Classics Club Spin #9, fourth update on progress

Book: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Pages read: 544 of 609.

Weekly goal: I have a little over 60 pages until the end. I managed to read over 20 pages every day and some days I read many more pages than that, not being able to stop myself.


In 2010 there was The Woman in White 150 years anniversary of publication project. The project included:

• The original 40 installments that were made to the literary magazines, All the Year Round (Great Britain, and Harper's Weekly (USA).
• The installments are available in pdf format so the project participants could read the installments just as the original readers did 150 years before. Here is the pdf of Part 1 so you can see what the format looked like.
• John McLenan, created illustrations for each of the installments for the Harper's Weekly magazine. The illustration above is from part 1 when Walter meets the woman in white.
• Engravings by Francis Arthur Fraser from the 1875 Piccadilly edition by Chatto & Windus are beautifully rendered.
• In the original book Willie Collins wrote this opening to his preface. The edition I am reading, published in 1991 by Everyman's Library, Alfred A. Knopf, also contains the same preface.

                           PREFACE
AN experiment is attempted in this novel, which has
not (so far as I know) been hitherto tried in fiction.
The story of the book is told throughout by the
characters of the book. They are all placed in
different positions along the chain of events; and
they all take the chain up in turn, and carry it on
to the end.

• The Woman in White was Collins' favorite book of all that he wrote. After reading bits and pieces of the information from the 150 year anniversary project, I can see why. He had an adoring public for his work.

What pleases me:
I reflected this morning during a quiet moment of thought how The Woman in White has returned my reading mojo. By holding myself to the 20 page a day (approximately) goal and meeting this goal I feel quite accomplished. But more than that I no longer feel any fear of the "classics." What is next for me? Middlemarch? Great Expectations? The Three Musketeers?

The action (no spoilers):
The SECRET has finally been revealed and it is a doozy. Collins did a great job doling out the action and suspense and I couldn't figure out the terrible secret that made Sir Percival so angry and defensive, and frankly, dangerous. Now that the secret has come to light one would think the last 100 pages would all be anti-climatic. No. Now we turn out eyes toward the dastardly Count Fosco.

Comments: I hope to finish up by or before Friday, a week ahead of schedule. Woot. Woot!

Sunday Salon, May 3rd

Weather: Gorgeous. Sunny and bright. A perfect day to walk around the garden and marvel.

Wisteria: Our wisteria is blooming which is so lovely. It also accompanies other loveliness in the garden: blooming azaleas, lilacs, rhododendrons, and even early lavender. Spectacular scents and sights.

Hummingbirds: Our feeder has been very busy the past several weeks as the Rufous hummingbirds have returned and the Anna's hummingbirds are more active. Don saw three fight over the feeder one day this week. He thought all three were Anna's males. I saw both a Rufous male and a minute later an Anna's male feeding in the late afternoon. Carly has spotted at least one female so we must have a nest nearby. How can we tell the difference between these two tiny bird? Rufous males are browner with a deep orange/red throats, Anna's are greener with a burgundy color at their throats. I can even tell the difference between their songs and the sounds of their flight patterns.  Click the link. Half way down the page is a little, short audio file of the vocals and flight sounds of the Rufous and the Anna's hummingbirds. (I am driving my cat crazy listening to these.  She is looking around the house for the birds.)

Cavalcade of Authors West: Yesterday 16 YA/Middle-grade authors and 225 students converged at PLU for a day of book-nerd bliss. The students were assigned three seminars with different authors and one panel discussion. They also had an opportunity to buy books and get them signed. Take the kids who love reading/books the most from all the area high schools and middle schools, put them in one spot, and what do you get? Sheer unadulterated joy! It was a sight to behold. At one point I asked a group of girls who passed the information table where I sat, how things were going and one turned to me and said, "This is the best day of my life so far."

Disappointing news: Carly found out this past week that she wasn't accepted in to the graduate program she was hoping for. Time to regroup and rethink. Everyone was disappointed and sad.

"Come See" by Michael W. Smith---this song really spoke to me today in church, especially the line about taking the gift of grace:

Come see
Come see with spirit eyes
Come see
The door is open
Come near
Come weary and ashamed
Come near
His arms are open
His arms are open

Come live
Come live in freedom here
Come live
The chains are broken
Come rest
Come take his gift of grace
Come rest
The word is spoken
The word is spoken

Books read this week: (I had a good week with books)

• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach---very different than the movie but also quite charming. (Audiobook)
• NFL Today: The Seattle Seahawks by Jim Whiting---written for teens this was a colorful and well-written (also short) book about our favorite football team. Whiting was one of the Cavalcade authors.
• Amulet, Book 1: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi---a very popular graphic novel, the first in a series. Kibuishi was another Cavalcade author and he signed his books with a small illustration.
• And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard---a Printz Honor book dedicated to those who stay behind in the wake of suicides. I really enjoyed the poetry. (Audiobook)
• A Month in the Country by JL Carr--- a friend loaned me this book several years ago and it feels good to have finished it not only because I enjoyed it but also so that I can return it and remove my guilt of keeping it too long.

Currently reading:

• A Woman in White by Wilkie Collins---I'm over 3/4 of the way through the book and cannot believe this book is not more popular as a classic. I'm attempting to keep up with my goal of 20 pages per day but I didn't reach that goal yesterday.
• The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B Teresa Toten---a new YA book about a boy with OCD and his therapy group of misfits who are all taking on a new persona, that of a super hero. Audiobook.

DVD: We checked out from the library and viewed Babette's Feast. It is possibly the slowest movie I have ever seen. My daughter's comment: "Even though this movie has subtitles when I fell asleep for a few minutes and then woke up I don't think I missed a thing."

Prayers for a friend who had surgery on his neck a few weeks ago to relieve almost debilitating pain. May he find relief and healing.

From the kitchen: gingerbread cookies that we baked too long so they were more like gingersnaps. But hey, I like gingersnaps.

5 People One Guitar: I never get tired of this:



Have a lovely day!

Cavalcade of Authors West Photos

Pacific Lutheran University the site for Cavalcade of Authors West this year

A panel of authors at the first ever Cavalcade of Authors West

Today sixteen YA and middle-grade authors and over 225 secondary students converged on Pacific Lutheran University for the first ever Cavalcade of Authors West (west of the Cascade Mountain range.) It was a wild and fun day and for my post at the information table I'd say that everyone had a great day.

Every student was assigned to three author sessions where the authors spoke about the writing experience and how to get published. They also were assigned to attend one panel discussion with four of the authors. Questions were asked and prizes were awarded. As the day went on students got more excited and delighted. I asked one group of middle school students how things were going. They all remarked that it was going well, but one girl hung back and exclaimed, "This has been one of the best days of my life!"

Left to right: Leslye Walton,  Stasia Ward Kehoe, Jim Whiting, Liesl Shurtliff

Midmorning the local bookstore, Garfield Books, opened up for book sales and the only girl they sent over was soon swamped and huge line formed. The kids were wild to buy books from the authors whose sessions they attended.

After lunch and the last session, the book-signing sessions commenced. Long lines formed for favorite authors but many students used their t-shirts for autographs and were getting signatures for all authors.

It was so fun.

Students queuing for Marissa Meyer's signature 

The line is pretty long. Notice friendly faces peeking over the crowd?

Showing off Kazu Kibuishi's signature

Finally at the front of the line with Marissa Meyer

Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles series

Think these kids are excited?

Getting Liesl Shurtliff's signature

Kazu Kibuishi signs a book for my library

Here it is, a work of art

Kimberly Derting signing a poster 

Kevin Emerson

Back for more Marissa Meyer

Leslye Walton

Hanging out after the event

Another happy bunch of readers and young, aspiring writers. Kia A. (center back) won the 1st writing context for Cavalcade of Authors West.

Can you tell the kids had a great day?

Friday Quotes, May 1st

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. 
The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. 

Check out the links for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Participants don't select their favorite, coolest or most intellectual books, they just use the one they are currently reading. This is the book I'm reading right now:

Book title: And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard

Book Beginnings:

There are rumors the day Emily Beam arrives at the Amherst School for Girls--- in January, halfway through her junior year. She doesn't look like the other girls,, who look like girls in magazines. She doesn't sound like them, either, and she wears different shoes.

Friday 56:
POEM OF THE MIDDLE HEART
You cannot hear me
through a stethoscope.
I do not say Ba-BUM, Ba-BUM.
If you cut the body open,
you would not find me...

My comment: Emily has arrived at the new school after her boyfriend committed suicide in front of her at her other school. Now she is writing poetry as if she is channeling Emily Dickinson. I like the poetry part of the book. The book dedication says: "For the ones who stay."

Memorable Animals in Literature

 HelpUCover created a cool graphic of Memorable Animals in Literature.

Before you hop over to take a look at the graphic make yourself a list of animals from literature (don't forget children's lit) in my comment section. Let's see if we come up with more than they did. (don't peek below if you want to do it without looking at my list.)




Here are a few that came to my mind:

• Aslan (Lion in Chronicles of Narnia)
• Mr. and Mrs. Beaver (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)
• The Disreputable Dog (Lireal and Abhorrsen by Garth Nix)
• Old Dan and Little Anne (Dogs in Where the Red Fern Grows)
• The Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss)
• Misty (Horse in Misty of Chinoteague)
• Marley (Dog in Marley and Me)
• Enzo (Dog in The Art of Racing in the Rain)
• Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Tabitha Twitchet, etc (Animals in books by Beatrix potter)
• Algernon (Mouse in The Flowers for Algernon)
• Charlotte and Wilbur (Spider and pig in Charlotte's Web)
• Manchee (Dog in The Knife of Never Letting Go)

 OK, your turn. Please list memorable animals in literature in the comment section below. Ditto animals on my list if you thought of them, too.  Then hop over to HelpUCover and check out their list (graphic.)

Cavalcade of Authors West is this Saturday.

This coming Saturday, May 2nd is the first Cavalcade of Authors West (west of the Cascades).

Here are the details:

Seventeen Young Adult and Middle-Grade authors will converge on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University for a day of seminars, author panels, and book-signings.

Who is invited to attend:

• 20 students from each of the area high schools and middle schools were invited to attend. These students had to pay the registration fee, read books by a minimum of four of the authors, and get themselves to PLU on Saturday.
• Students were also invited to submit their writing samples to be judged by college students.
• Preregistration was required.

These authors will present workshops:

Sorry about the poor quality of this photo. It is a copy of a copy of the handout given to potential participants in the writing contest.

In case you can't read the authors names (imagine that!?) Here is a list of the authors and a few titles of their books.

Author	Book titles (not an exhaustive list)
Royce Buckingham	The Terminals; The Dead Boys
Kimberly Derting	The Body Finder series; The Taking
Peggy Eddleman	Sky Jumpers; The Forbidden Flats (Mid grades)
Kevin Emerson	Breakout; Exile; The Dark Shore
Kristin Halbrook	Surfacing; Nobody But Us
Kazu Kibuishi	Amulet series (graphic novels) (Junior)
Mindy McGinnis	Not a Drop to Drink series
Lish McBride	Hold Me Closer, Necromancer series
Rachelle Mead	Vampire Academy series
Marissa Meyer	The Lunar Chronicles series (Cinder)
Alyson Noel	Immortals series; Soul Seekers series
Lisa Schroeder	The Bridge from Me to You; Far From You
Lisesl Shurtliff	Jack: the true story of Jack and the Beanstalk (Junior)
Terry Trueman	Stuck in Neutral; Life Happens Next; Cruise Control
Leslye Walton	The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
Stasia Ward Kehoe	The Sound of letting Go; Audition
Jim Whiting	The Story of the Seattle Seahawks; Many other nonfiction titles (most for Mid-grades)

This is the first year of Cavalcade of Authors West.  Apparently a similar event has been happening on the other side of the mountains for several years. I am sure that it will be a fantastic event and I am excited for Saturday.

The Woman in White---update, the third

Classics Club Spin #9, third update on progress

Book: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Pages read: 370 of 609.

Weekly goal: I passed the halfway point. I managed to read 20 pages all but one day.

What I have learned so far:

• This cover, featured on the right, is from the 1966 abridged edition of the book. This is the description on this edition: 

"What was the strange secret of the mysterious woman in white? What was the real identity of this ghostlike being? Was she sane - or mad? Was she living - or dead? And why did beautiful Laura Fairlie fear her presence in the dark corridors of Limmeridge House? The strange answers to these sinister questions haunt the thrilling pages of The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins' most brilliant Gothic novel!"

What pleases me:
Still enjoying the book and I am pleased with my progress.

The action (no spoilers):
No one is what they appear to be at first glance. Sinister situations and people abound. The narrator has switched several times this week from Miss Holcomb, to her uncle, and now the housekeeper.

Comments: the plot has me on pins and needles making me want to peek ahead to find out how everything turns out. No wonder fans stood in line to get the next installment of the story when it was originally serialized in a magazine.

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters who have triumphed despite parental neglect or addiction

 Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic: Characters Who _____ (are musically inclined, have lost someone, have depression, who grow up poor, etc.). I decided to select a tough subject.

YA novels that feature characters who have triumphed despite parental neglect or addiction.

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexis
 (Junior sees the effects of alcoholism everywhere he looks near his home on the Spokane Indian  Reservation.)

“What's the difference between bulimics and anorexics?" I ask. "Anorexics are anorexics all the time," she says, "I'm only bulimic when I'm throwing up." Wow. She sounds just like my dad! "I'm only an alcoholic when I get drunk." There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away. Penelope gorges on her pain and then throws it up and flushes it away. My dad drinks his pain away.”

 2. Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes
(After Karl's father's death, his mother abdicates her responsibilities as a parent, choosing instead drink and other men. Karl must make his own way and be the rock for his other friends in the Madman Underground.)

“I always liked that time of day, when people were shutting up their shops, putting the town to bed for the night, going home to do normal stuff with their normal families. I wonder if they got to enjoy being normal, to know just how terrific it was, or whether it was just invisible to them like air? Sometimes I got so pissed off at how easy the normal people had it that I just wanted to walk down the street shaking them and screaming into their squishy self-satisfied faces.”

3. Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach
(Felton just wants to be a normal high school boy but how can he when his mother disappears into her wine glass and his brother dresses like a storybook character?)

“Have you ever noticed you can't get away from yourself? There is no way to get away from oneself. You're always there with you.” 

4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
(Francis' father, an Irish immigrant, is an alcoholic but she loves him. She discovers within herself a true strength.)

 “[t]he child must have a valuable thing which is called imagination. The child must have a secret world in which live things that never were. It is necessary that she believe. She must start out by believing things too ugly for living in, the child can reach back and live in her imagination.”

5. Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick
(Amber Appleton remains upbeat even though she lives on a school bus with her alcoholic mother until circumstances threaten to swamp her.)

 “As I pedal, I start to get a bad feeling. I start to feel like I have everything all wrong, and that everyone else is right, and all my hopefulness is just childish bull-crap.”

6. How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford
(Beatrice wants to help Jonah whose family is abusive and neglectful before he disappears within himself.)

"There is a separation between parents and children that shouldn't be breached when the children are young. The parents' adult follies are private. They're disturbing and hard to understand. But eventually the kids wise up, the follies start leaking out, and the parents are revealed in all their flawed humanity. Dad and I were about to cross that boundary for good.”

7. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
(Sarah Brynes' father was abusive. Her friends and a school counselor step in to help.)

“It's a scary thing, moving on. Part of me wishes life were more predictable and part of me is excited that it's not. I think it's impossible to tell the good things from the bad things while they're happening. Once I thought being a fat kid was the worst thing that could possibly be, but if I hadn't been fat I would never have known Sarah Byrnes--I mean Sarah--and that would have been a true tragedy in my life. And what is a worse thing than living like she lived for all those years? Nothing I can think of, but someday some kid in a group home somewhere in Kansas--chronicled in LIFE magazine more than five years ago--may be touched by her courage, and I guarantee that will change his or her life forever.”

 8. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
(Ruby is abandoned by her alcoholic mother. She lives with her sister and must make her way in the world.)

“What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed in there, regardless. It wasn't just about blood relations or shared chromosomes, but something wider, bigger. We had many families over time. Our family of origin, the family we created, and the groups you moved through while all of this was happening: friends, lovers, sometimes even strangers. None of them perfect, and we couldn't expect them to be. You can't make any one person your world. The trick was to take what each could give you and build your world from it.”

9. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
(The main character feels all alone in the world. His parents are neglectful by their absence emotionally. A teacher steps in and pays attention to the symptoms that Leonard is displaying.) 

“I can tell you get it -- you're different. And I know how hard being different can be. But I also know how powerful a weapon being different can be. How the world needs such weapons. Gandhi was different. All great people are. And unique people such as you and me need to seek out other unique people who understand -- so we don't get too lonely and end up where you did tonight.”

10. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (NONFICTION)
(The author, Jeannette Walls, grew up in a very dysfunctional family brought on my alcoholism and mental illness. Yet Walls thrived and is now a renown author.)

“One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.”