Quotes about writing

"I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn."

— Anne Frank

 

"There are three rules for writing a novel.  Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

— W. Somerset Maughan

 

"I know I was writing stories when I was five.  I don't know what I did before that.  Just loafed, I suppose."

— P. G. Wodehouse

 

"Write a short story every week.  It's not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row."

— Ray Bradbury

 

"If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood.  I'd type a little faster."

— Isaac Asimov

 

"It's doubtful that anyone with an Internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction."

— Jonathan Franze

 

 "I think 'write what you know' is the single worst piece of writing advice.  Instead, write what you're really interested in.  Write what is going to keep you awake at night; write what you don't understand; write to figure something out.  Good novels are journeys into the unknown, for their authors as well as their readers."

— Toni Jordan  

“People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy… and I keep it in a jar on my desk.” 
— Stephen King

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” 
— George Orwell

"This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important."
— Gary Provost

Quotes about reading

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

— Frederick Douglass

"There is no future for e-books, because they are not books.  E-books smell like burned fuel."

— Ray Bradbury

"Read to your heart's content. Though if you are a reader, the heart is never content."

— Jenny Hubbard

"There are worse crimes than burning books.  One of them is not reading them."

— Ray Bradbury

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

— G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer, as paraphrased by Neil Gaiman

"The paperback is very interesting but I find it will never replace the hardcover book – it makes a very poor doorstop."

— Alfred Hitchcock

"A library of mostly unread books is far more inspiring than a library of books already read."

— Gabe Habash

You'll scream too

As a kid I loved ghostly mysteries.  My favorite series was Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators which featured three boys – Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews – who formed their own detective service and solved mysteries in Southern California.  They'd go into haunted buildings and face scary situations but the ghosts were never real in the end.  But it was great fun and I still enjoy the books (although now I don't have kids young enough to read them with).  But I just found a new series that reminded me a little of those books, except in this one the ghosts are not only real but they're a "Problem."

The Problem began about 50 years ago when ghosts and hauntings became much more prevalent and dangerous.  For the most part only kids can see them so agencies employing the young have sprung up to deal with hauntings.  Lockwood & Co. is different because there are no adult supervisors – just Anthony Lockwood and George Cubbins.  Except for burning down a client's house, they're fairly good at what they do.  Lucy Carlysle, the newest member, can't see the ghosts as well as the others but she can hear and feel them much better.  But when they're called on to deal with a "cluster" of very dangerous ghosts at Combe Carey Hall, one of the most haunted houses in England, they just might be in over their heads.

Lockwood & Co. The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud  is a well-written book and Stroud has a great way with words.  (I loved this quote about George when Lucy first meets him: “His face was uniquely slapable – a nun would have ached to punch him – while his backside cried out to heaven for a well-placed kick.”)  The characters are interesting, the story is compelling, and the suspense is palpable.  It's a bit intense toward the end and I found myself unable to put it down (reading more than half of it at once), but I think it's appropriate for middle-school kids and up.  I'm not usually one to guess an ending ahead of time but I thought it was a bit predictable.  Nevetheless, I'm enthusiastically recommending it and already looking forward to reading the second in the series when it comes out.  (I received this book from Amazon Vine.)

Ungrateful children

YA books (which generally means middle school and teen) are really big right now.  Some are being made into movies (not always with success, however) and even though many adults (like myself) have always preferred them, more are reading them with less embarrassment.  (For the record, I still feel self-conscious if I'm reading one in public, however.)  But a lot of YA books fall into a couple of categories: paranormal (vampires, werewolves, fairies, and even mermaids) and dystopia (futuristic-ish, but with society falling apart like The Hunger Games, Divergent, etc.).  We've definitely seen too many paranormal stories*, but now some readers are wondering if dystopia has run its course and maybe there aren't any fresh ideas anymore.  The 'world-building,' after all, tends to sound alike at a certain point.  But what if the world was limited to one home?  There are challenges with such a limited setting, but it can be pulled off quite well if the author is talented (if you've ever seen Hitchcock's Lifeboat you might understand).  At any rate, that's the premise behind Engines of the Broken World by Jason Vanhee (which I received from Amazon Vine).

The winter is getting colder and 12 year-old Merciful Truth's mama just died after a long illness. Her 15 year-old brother, Gospel, says that they can't bury her because the ground is frozen. The minister tells them it's not right to leave the dead unburied and castigates them for being ungrateful children to the mother than birthed them - but he's just a cat. And as the storm worsens and the world outside shrinks they can't possibly dig a hole, so they put her under the kitchen table. But then Merciful hears the lullaby her mother used to sing to her before the sickness got too bad... and it's coming from under the kitchen table.

This is an incredibly creepy story with a very twisted world - and I'm still mystified by the minister. Vanhee tells the story with cleverness in the voice of Merciful, with - I think - an Appalachian dialect and feeling, and I found it nearly impossible to put down, finishing the last couple hundred pages in an evening. However, not being able to put down a book might make it "compelling," but doesn't necessarily mean it's an enjoyable read. It's a bleak and lonely world, and although Vanhee skillfully wrings every last drop out of a small and limited setting and brings characters to life (in more ways than one!) with amazing "voice," I just found myself reading to finish and be done with it. It's certainly a well-crafted story and I "liked" it, but I wanted to like it more than I did. Still, if you want a really creepy "end-of-the-world" tale and don't mind a stiff dose of darkness, you might find yourself clinging to this one right to the last page.

*Incidentally, some are speculating that "ghost stories" may become the "next big thing," which is what my novel turned out to be - and I hope so.  I'll post a ghost story next week.

Miasmas – or – just take the handle off the pump

We live longer now than we used to, you know?  One thing I've learned from books I've read is that cancer probably appears to be increasing because people live longer, and cancer is mostly a disease of older people.  But we're living longer in part because we're much better at preventing and treating other diseases – diseases that used to kill lots of people – like cholera, which you rarely hear about anymore.*  Now we understand what causes those diseases and how they spread.  Before scientists had powerful microscopes and understood the role of germs, the theory was that most illness and even epidemics were due to "miasmas," which is a Greek word for polluted or unhealthy air.  After all, a truly awful smell can affect both your nose and your stomach if it's strong enough, and might even inhibit your mental capabilities.  

But in 1854 a cholera epidemic broke out in the Soho area of London and affected both upper and lower-classes of people, and both clean and filthy houses.  But two people who spent a great amount of time visiting those afflicted in the area – without becoming sick themselves – were able to pinpoint the cause of the problem.  One was an English physician named Dr. John Snow.  He visited the houses affected and concluded correctly that the water from the Broad Street pump was the culprit. Even though not everyone was convinced, the pump handle was removed and the epidemic died out. The Reverend Henry Whitehead also visited those afflicted and was able to prove Dr. Snow's conclusion, even tracking down the exact source – both the individual and the defective sewer that had leaked cholera into the water supplied by the Broad Street pump. 

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson was incredibly fascinating.  The detail of how Dr. Snow came to his conclusion and how Rev. Whitehead proved and tracked it back to the source; the descriptions of how cholera is transmitted and what it does to the body; and the explanations of how it affected the city and those who suffered had me hanging on every word.  If Mr. Johnson had stopped there I'd be singing his praises, but... the "ghost map" comes up in the lengthy conclusion and epilogue when he compares the mapping efforts by Dr. Snow, the Rev. Whitehead, William Farr, and others with today's disease tracking methods.  Unfortunately, he strains credibility by stretching this idea further into Google and Yahoo maps for coffee shops, etc. then goes on a rant about the "population explosion" and the benefits and problems of densely populated cities. In fact, while the idea of urban environments is a thread throughout the book, he tries to analyze their value as a solution to global warming against potential nuclear disasters and terrorist attacks (with a lengthy discussion of Sept 11).  While I highly recommend the history in the book, the author's attempts to apply the lessons (however tenuously) to several modern-day concerns was dull and I found myself wishing the book would just end.

So, watch what you drink and skip the epilogue.

* Although cholera is unheard of here in the U.S., it still affects 3-5 million people worldwide and as many as 130,000 die each year (2010 estimate), primarily in developing countries.

Eavesdropping on farts

The 80s was a great time to grow up.  Not only did we have great music, but world events made things interesting (and those events affected the music, of course).  The Cold War heated up and many people feared a nuclear war was imminent.  But I think it might have been worse back in the 60s when the Russians were lead by a guy who seemed unstable and had a propensity toward violent outbursts.  He was a guy who said what was on his mind and did crazy things.  Turns out he was crazy – crazy like a fox.

Nikita Khrushchev had been one of Stalin's deputies and a military leader during WWII.  In his own words he'd been up to his elbows in blood.  And while that's a fact, I wonder if it doesn't give us a distorted picture of who he really was.  After all, everyone did what Stalin said without question or they didn't live long.  And as soon as Stalin was dead Khrushchev loosened things up (a little) and did away with some of the harshest practices.  But perhaps the most interesting – and certainly the strangest – image we get of him was when he came to the United States.

It was an accident, really.  Ike had only intended to invite Khrushchev if he'd back down on some inflammatory statements he'd made about Berlin, but the US ambassador messed up the invitation.  And Khrushchev was so thrilled to be invited that he pretended to be offended by Sweden so he could cancel an already planned visit there.  K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America's Most Unlikely Tourist by Peter Carlson recounts some of the most bizarre historical events I've ever read.  Khrushchev – or "K" as he was often referred to in America – was still a leader with an outsize ego, and he insisted on having the biggest plane, the Tu-114.  Unfortunately, it was taller than the stairway ramps and initially they needed a ladder to get out.  And that's only the beginning!

From the "kitchen debates" at the World's Fair in Moscow with Vice President Richard Nixon (it was at a display of an "modern American kitchen") to an actual supermarket visit in the US, where members of the press stood on moving check stand conveyor belts, climbed on store shelves, and knocked women shoppers into displays of potato chips, the trip was the first media circus.  Khrushchev was initially wary of being invited to Camp David (the Soviets didn't know it was a presidential retreat), but he was a master politician and once he was allowed a little freedom to interact with the crowds he enjoyed himself immensely, hamming it up, swapping hats, and playing the vaudevillian.  He most loved the cafeteria at the IBM offices with its self-serve style, and laughed on a visit to a corn farmer in Iowa who threw trash in an angry fit at the reporters trampling his crops.  But the book isn't all funny as World War III seemed about to start when he exploded at being harangued by the mayor of Los Angeles and denied a visit to Disneyland.

Peter Carlson has written an easy and fast read that was both hilarious and frightening.  K comes across as the funniest dictator imaginable, with his playing the crowds one moment and throwing a tantrum the next (and it turns out most of the time it was all for show).  And yet, it demonstrates why Cold War tensions ran so high with such a volatile personality running the largest nation on earth.  (He engineered a return trip to the US where he famously banged his shoe on the desk at the United Nations.)  In fact, he was so unpredictable that he was subsequently deposed as leader and later lamented to Nixon that the KGB had even bugged his bathroom so they could eavesdrop on his farts.  But his story would make a great summer read, so if you're looking for a great beach book, I'd recommend this one.

Who needs magic?

One of the most likeable characters in the Harry Potter books - at least in my opinion - was Ron's dad, Mr. Weasley.  He's a guy who can do magic, and yet he's fascinated to the point of obsession with how muggles get by without it.  Since Harry grew up in a muggle home he's always asking him about things like electricity and escalators and rubber duckies.  I suspect most of us would LOVE to live in a magical world and be able to use magic for our own benefit, and yet he's curious about our world.  But what if we really lived in a world with magic?  How easy would it be to rely too much on it?  That's a question I wondered about while reading The Real Boy by Anne Ursu.

Oscar works for the magician Caleb.  But he isn't his apprentice; he's just the "hand."  He spends most of his time hidden in the cellar mixing herbs and potions for the customers who come from the shining city to buy Caleb's magic.  They rely on it for almost everything, from potions and spells that will make them lucky or beautiful, or help them gain money or make someone fall in love with them.  But there's something different about Oscar.  Many people call him "simple" - or worse! - but in some ways he's actually smarter than Caleb's apprentice, Wolf.  But when the usual order of things starts to unravel, and children in the city begin to fall ill, Oscar will have to venture out of his comfortable life in the basement to confront the problems.

This is an interesting story that kept me guessing throughout.  It's told from Oscar's point of view, and the mystery of what's going on and how Oscar and Caleb fit into it all, as well as the interesting characters, makes for a compelling read.  And I honestly liked the way it ended, and thought it had a nice message.  But the most interesting thing in the story was Oscar himself.  He seems to be somewhere on the autism spectrum, like Asperger’s maybe.  He is obsessed with order and I thought it was an interesting glimpse into his thought processes.  (I received this book from Amazon Vine, and it sounds like readers of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime might enjoy this one as well.)

My Beloved Brontosaurus

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." — C. S. Lewis

Like most kids - or boys, at least - I was in love with dinosaurs.  My favorite was Triceratops.  I remember visiting the quarry at Dinosaur National Monument and the Vernal museum when I was a kid.  When I had sons of my own I went back to Vernal so they could see it (which resulted in my oldest wanting to be a paleontologist until he was around 12).  I drew numerous pictures of them (some of which I still have, and yeah, they're pretty bad) and the stuffed animal I slept with (until I got sick one night and threw up on him) was a little blue Brontosaurus (my mom tried to wash him, but he was never the same).  I even remember avoiding commercials for "Jurassic Park" before it came out because I didn't want to ruin the movie - then Jamie and I went on opening night.

As an adult (or a close approximation of one) I no longer spend my time doodling dinosaurs or wondering where I can find a fossil, but I still find them interesting.  Keeping up with the science and discoveries, however, is a bit beyond my reach.  That's where My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs by Brian Switek was a nice read.  He's obsessive and writes about them in a way that is easily understood.  And he covers a lot of topics, such as did they really have feathers, what color were they, and what did they sound like, as well as what happened to Brontosaurus?  (The bones that were described as "Brontosaurus" had previously been described as "Apatasaurus.")  And he explains very clearly why it's so hard to assemble a skeleton, because dinosaur skeletons are rarely found intact; once the animal died, it was usually scavenged and eaten by others.  

The writing is clear and understandable, and while there's a little bit of travelogue in it, it's entertaining and not overdone.  This is, however, a book for grownups.  It's not written anywhere near a childs level (and pictures are minimal) and has occasional profanities, plus he covers... umm, theories of how dinosaurs mated.  So, this isn't the kind of book you'll want to purchase for a 7 year, but if you're still interested enough (like me) to read a relatively short and easily understood book, you might want to buy it for yourself.

When I was about 5 years old with the book I got from the Dinosaur quarry (I couldn't find the picture with Grandma in front of the Stegosaurus statue).

 

Braiden and Taylor *not climbing* on the quarry wall.

I'm not sure where this was, but it was a Triceratops, so...

"Authentic heroes," instead of the "screen variety"

In 1940, more than half the adult US population went to the movies each week. In addition to a double feature and some short cartoons, they also got ten to twenty minutes of newsreels, which was one of the primary sources for Americans to see and hear the news in the days before television.  And then (as today!) the way current events were portrayed by the media was a very powerful way to influence public opinion.  This was never more evident than the famous 1935 German propaganda film "Triumph of the Will" by Leni Riefenstahl, which galvanized support behind Adolf Hitler.

And the movies made by Hollywood reflected - unofficially, for the most part - the stand taken by the United States.  Films like "How Green was My Valley" and "Mrs. Miniver" were decidedly pro-British.  Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris (which I received from Amazon Vine) is an account of the relationship between movies and the war effort during WWII.  It focuses on five famous Hollywood directors who put their lives and careers on hold and enlisted during the Second World War. Although mostly a bit too old for regular service, all were able to contribute their unique filmmaking talents. I'd heard of Frank Capra, John Ford, and John Huston, but William Wyler and George Stevens were new to me (in name at least - I'd heard of some of their films).

All the men were touched by their service in different ways. I loved Huston's comment that after "working with authentic heroes, I was in no mood to put up with the screen variety." His most notable wartime film was the mostly forgotten "Report From the Aleutians," which tried to play up the mostly non-existent action.  Capra spent his time fighting government bureaucracy trying to make the "Why We Fight" and "Know Your Enemy" series of films for soldiers.  Perhaps the most successful was Ford's "Battle of Midway," which for the first time showed audiences actual combat footage.  It also set the tone for future war movies, with choppy footage and cameras shaking after explosions (and yes, even critics back then found the sappy narration a bit over the top). But there was also the private film he had made and quietly sent to the families of the members of Torpedo Squadron Eight, all but one of which died in the battle.

For me, Wyler and Stevens became my favorites.  I enjoyed the accounts of Wyler's filming on bombing runs with the crew of the Memphis Belle (not to be confused with the 1990 film).  He even lost his hearing after spending an entire bombing run in the belly of a bomber (it returned partially in the following years).   Stevens believed it was important to prepare the public for life after the war, and was forever scarred by his painful yet crucial filming of the liberation of concentration camps.

And although this felt like an unusually long read (about 450 pages), I really enjoyed it and found myself constantly turning down page corners and marking interesting quotes and information. Whether it was Capra's efforts to increase the visibility of negroes in film two decades before the Civil Rights Movement or the wartime activities of other notables such a Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) who worked on the "Private SNAFU" cartoons or John Wayne who avoided military service, it's an interesting look at how American culture was influenced. Harris also follows up with their work after the war, such as the awards competition that pitted Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" against Wyler's "The Best Years of Our Lives" (which won easily). Ironically, both films were efforts by the directors to put their own experiences into perspective and to deal with them in the only way they knew how.

But perhaps one of my favorite comments that illustrates the human side Harris captures in this excellent book is when Stevens filmed some Axis collaborators from the prison in Luxembourg. "When they march these prisoners through the streets," Stevens wrote, "a little boy about ten marches bravely in the front rank. Probably his father is the prisoner marching by his side."

San Francisco

For President's Day weekend we went to San Francisco.  Jamie's always complained that - even though she's lived in Southern California for most of her life - she's never been there.  So, we fixed that.  And had a great time!

Since we had to drive through Oakland, I talked everyone into stopping to see the temple.

 

The temple has the best view of the Bay area, even on a gloomy day.  After checking in we had a nice late lunch at a bbq place in Ghiradelli Square, which I thought was really good.  But the most overrated food of all we had was the Ghiradelli ice cream - skip it unless you like melted and salty ice cream.

 

But we woke up to a beautiful day and a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge from our hotel.  The hotel was right near Lombard Street, the "crookedest street in the world."

 

We spent a little time on Hyde Street Pier and got to tour some of the old ships.

 

A big anchor, a beautiful girl, and Ghiradelli Square in the background.

 

We took a trolley to Union Station, then walked through China Town to Little Italy, where we had a delicious lunch.

 

We had forgotten to buy Alcatraz tickets in advance, but by a miracle we were able to get tickets - for the last trip of the day, too (which was what we wanted in the first place).

 

 

 

 

The next morning, before leaving, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, then walked out on it from the Sausalito side.

 

And last of all, before we drove back home, Kate wanted to see this tiled staircase - very cool.

 

Now I think Jamie and I need to go back sometime, and leave the kids at home.