Read With Me

Do you keep track of the books you’ve read? How about the movies you watch? At my age, it’s getting harder to remember and I sure hate to waste my time only to realize half-way through that I’ve seen or read something before.

My 2023 record shows that I read 31 books last year. Of those, eight were research for the novel I’m currently writing. Three were nonfiction, falling into the category of self-help and all by the same author, Jennie Allen (Anything, Everything, and Nothing to Prove). One was a riveting memoir, Educated by Tara Westover. The remainder were fiction and mostly historical, my favorite both to read and write. I’m going to attempt to choose three favorites to tell you about, in no particular order.

 

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. I was thrilled to find this 486-page book at our local MCC thrift shop for only 85 cents. I was especially intrigued by the portion of this story that takes place near Shelbourne, Nova Scotia, where we have family friends.

 

Abducted as an 11-year-old child from her village in West Africa and forced to walk for months to the sea in a string of slaves, Aminata Diallo is sent to live as a slave in South Carolina. Years later, she forges her way to freedom, serving the British in the Revolutionary War and registering her name in the historic Book of Negroes. This book, an actual document, provides a short but immensely revealing record of freed loyalist slaves who requested permission to leave the United States for resettlement in Nova Scotia, only to find that the haven they sought was steeped in an oppression all its own. Tears welled when I read the reactions of people who had never before seen their name written down anywhere.

 

Aminata’s eventual return to Sierra Leone—passing ships carrying thousands of slaves bound for America—is an engrossing account of an obscure but important chapter in history that saw 1,200 former slaves embark on a harrowing back-to-Africa odyssey.

 

A Child for the Reich by Andie Newton. After her husband, Josef, joins the Czech resistance, Anna Dankova does everything possible to keep her daughter, Ema, safe. But when blonde haired, blue-eyed Ema is ripped from her arms in the local marketplace by nurses dedicated to Hitler’s cause, Anna is forced to go to new extremes to take back what the Nazis stole from her.

 

A former actress, Anna goes undercover as a devoted German subject eager to prove her worth to the Reich. But getting close to Ema is one thing. Convincing her that the Germans are lying when they claim Anna stole her from her true parents is another.

 

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold. Talented and ambitious, cub reporter Aidyn Kelley is ready for a more serious assignment than the fluff pieces she’s been assigned. In her eagerness, she pushes too hard, earning herself the menial task of writing an obituary for an unremarkable woman who’s just entered hospice care.

But there’s more to Clara Kip than meets the eye. The spirited septuagenarian may be dying, but she’s not quite ready to cash it in yet. Never one to shy away from an assignment herself, she can see that God brought the young reporter into her life for a reason. And if it’s a story Aidyn Kelley wants, that’s just what Mrs. Kip will give her—but she’s going to have to work for it.

 

I highly recommend all three of these books and look forward to all the great ones I hope to read in 2024. What are you reading?

 

 

What a Writer Reads

If I could time-travel, I’d return to high school where every morning my homeroom teacher subjected my classmates and me to a fifteen-minute speed-reading session. I would march over to my sixteen-year-old self and say, “Pay attention! Learn how to read faster! You’re going to want this skill. Your future will go much better for you. Trust me!”

Would I have listened? I’d have wanted more details, for sure.

Instead of applying myself, I surrendered too easily. When the speed-reading projector sped up to where I could no longer follow the story, I chose to simply focus my gaze elsewhere, probably on some cute boy. Or close my eyes and rest. Not only that, I proudly told myself I didn’t want to read fast. I’d rather savor every word and enjoy my reading. When the time came for the multiple-choice quiz, guessing correctly often enough to pass proved easy.

I now know those details I’d have asked my future self to reveal. I know that I became a writer. Writers need to spend a great deal of time reading for research. I need to read books on the craft of writing. I need to read novels in the genre to which I aspire. I need to read other genres to expand my world. Now that I’m published, I receive requests from other authors to read and endorse their books. Saying yes is always good, knowing they will return the favor when my books need endorsement. I also spend time reading my Bible every day.

How on earth can I ever get to the myriads of wonderful books I want to read simply for pleasure?

For fun, I took a reading speed test provided HERE. I scored 193 words per minute (WPM) with a comprehension of 82%. If that sounds good to you, it’s not. According to the site, the average speed is 200 WPM with 60% comprehension. To improve my score, I tried THIS WEBSITE and chose a short, simple story. That brought me up to 313 WPM with 100% comprehension. This site claims that for success in college, you should be able to read 350 to 450 WPM. Speeds above 575 WPM are typical. Yikes.

Is it too late for me to become a faster reader? Probably not, but I’d need to really want it and discipline myself to break old habits. How about you?

The notebook where I keep track of such things tells me I read 38 books in 2021. My favorite research book was The Absurd and the Brave by Michael Fathney, which helped me finish my novel about the British Guest Children who came to Canada as evacuees during WWII. A Guest Child himself, Fathney explains how the evacuation program worked, how absurd it was in many ways, and how brave were the children, their parents, their escorts across submarine-infested oceans, and their foster parents. To track this book down, our local library used the inter-library loan service. They found a copy in the Maritimes and had it shipped here just for me. How great is that?

The best personal growth book I read? What If It’s True? A Storyteller’s Journey with Jesus, by Charles Martin. He poses the question, “What if every single word of Scripture is absolutely true and I can trust it? How do I respond? Something in me should change, but what? How?” I’ll re-read this one, highlighter in hand.

In the can’t-put-down department, I chose Anthony Doerr’s
All the Light We Cannot See. It’s a WWII story about a blind French girl whose world collides with that of a German boy forced to become a Nazi soldier.

Going forward, I hope to read more from authors Kristin Hannah, Carrie Turansky, Genevieve Graham, and Cynthia Ruchti because of other great books I read last year. Let’s see if I can do better than 35 in 2022. Happy “I Love to Read” month!

 

 

 

Too Dense to be Condensed?

Do you remember Reader’s Digest Condensed Books? Early in our marriage, with bookshelves in our home but little with which to fill them, I subscribed. Four times a year, I’d receive by mail a hardcover containing four recent bestsellers, condensed to fit into one volume. Reader’s Digest provided this popular service for 47 years (1950-1997) before renaming it Reader’s Digest Select Editions. As far as I can tell, the current version operates the same way. The books provide an opportunity for readers to stay abreast of latest bestsellers with less investment of time, money, and shopping.

At some point, I cancelled my subscription but began buying these books at thrift shops and libraries for 25 or 50 cents apiece. Their matching, faux-leather covers looked fantastic on our shelves and I read most of them. They also served as a lovely way to fill bookshelves on stage for more than one theatrical production over the years.

After I became a novelist, I wondered how authors felt about their work being condensed. Surely some refused to participate. What if favorite scenes were eliminated? What if glaring plot holes left readers with unanswered questions? On Wikipedia, you can find a list of every book published this way, with dates—nearly two thousand in all, sometimes with different selections for the Canadian market. Clearly, Reader’s Digest must pay authors well enough to make the pain of deleted words worth the sacrifice.

Taking shortcuts is not uncommon for human beings. For decades, students have relied on Coles Notes and Cliff Notes study guides to help them bypass heavy reading assignments, though the company would never endorse the practice. Since the first “for Dummies” book came out in 1990, that company has released more than 2,500 titles to teach you about almost anything as quickly and easily as possible. In 2016, an app called Joosr released, which reduces nonfiction books to a 15-minute read. Horrifying? To some. But if the choice is between that or not reading at all, maybe the idea holds merit.

Is it “cheating” to read a shortened version of a book? Is it okay to claim you’ve read it? How about condensed versions of long classics you’d never otherwise read in full?

As more books poured into our home and with both of us reluctant to part with any, our shelves eventually became overladen. The simplest solution? Pulling down all the pretty RD condensed books and donating them to our local MCC Thrift store, bypassing the need to consider every single book. Hubby agreed, and I performed the task during one of my spring-cleaning frenzies. I cleared three shelves (which quickly filled again once I reorganized and rearranged our remaining books.) I’m happy with the outcome.

Imagine my surprise when I unloaded them at MCC only to learn they cannot take those RD books, at least not in large quantities. Not enough space, not enough demand. A pleasant young man helped me reload the six boxes into my trunk. I trundled them off to our recycling depot with a twist in my gut. (If you would have loved to receive them, please don’t tell me. My heart’s already wracked with guilt for not trying harder.)

In a warning to his son in Ecclesiastes, Solomon said, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body … here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”

And yes, I condensed that a bit.

 

How [NOT] to Launch a Book During a Pandemic

What’s that old saying? “Kick-in-the-behind-sight is 2020?” Something like that.

I thought it would be a cool idea to put several of my newspaper columns from the last ten years into a book, organized by themes and topics. It was my first attempt at self-publishing, and it was going swimmingly. I called the book Out of My Mind: A Decade of Faith and Humour.

I ordered my first proof copy in February. It came in record time, slick as anything. I went through it, marked the needed changes, and revised it. By the time I ordered a second proof copy, the pandemic had hit. Amazon was not shipping proof copies into Canada. I had one sent to my mother-in-law in South Dakota, who mailed it to me.  It arrived three and a half weeks after the day she mailed it and I owed her 21 U.S. dollars for the postage.

Now I was freaking out. If it took that long to receive my author copies, how could I be sure I’d have books to sell at the event I’d booked at my local library—assuming that event could even happen as scheduled? Since I couldn’t order any copies until the book officially released, I bumped up my release day. The book went live on June 7.

I attempted to order my first shipment of author copies only to discover they were not being shipped to Canada, either. Which is weird because Amazon now prints books in Canada and you as a customer can order one—the exact product. My only option was to order mine the same as any other customer, at customer prices. So I ordered 25, but by the time they arrived, they were all spoken for. So I ordered another 25 and by the time they arrived, they were all spoken for.

This should be a good problem to have, but frankly, I can’t afford it. Yes, I could have jacked up my price but that just seemed unfair. Besides, if I keep selling them out of my house, neighbours will think I’m dealing drugs.

So I’ve decided not to order more until I can acquire them at my usual author’s price. Our library has tentatively re-scheduled a book-signing party for me on September 26. If we’re able to go ahead with that plan, you’ll be able to purchase a book or bring the one you already have for signing. Technically, the actual ten-year anniversary of my column isn’t until September anyway, so it’s all good.

But, who knows whether it will happen then or not?

Actually, I do know who knows. It’s not me or you or Amazon or the library or the government. The only one who knows is the same one who’s got us in his hands, come what may. The same one who made us, loves us, and is still sovereign. The one who is never taken by surprise, who never rings his hands or feels defeated.

While my little inconvenience is minor compared to what others suffer, 2020 is kicking all of our butts in some way. But it’s helping me learn to depend on God and trust him for all of it. It’s serving as a good reminder that I am not in control, not even a little bit. It’s teaching me yet again that God can use whatever means he chooses to get this book into the hands of whomever he decides needs one. It helps me remember who my provider is. How about you?

Meanwhile, you can order the book in paperback or Kindle form HERE if you’re in Canada and HERE if you’re in the States. I hope you do. It could solve your gift-giving dilemmas for months—especially if the people on your gift list are fans of my column. Or would be fans if they knew about it.

What's on Your Summer Reading List?

I'm officially on vacation. When people ask what big plans I have for my time off, it sounds nerdy to admit what excites me most: having time to sit on my deck, reading. Last January I started keeping track of the books I read, lest my aging brain forgets and I waste precious time starting on one I’ve already read. I average a book per week, hardly enough given the gazillions of volumes waiting to be ingested. Makes me wish I’d paid more attention in those high school speed-reading sessions. At the time, I thought it made me sound sophisticated to say I didn’t want to read fast because I wanted to “savor” every word. Horse feathers.

I picked a few from my reading list from the first half of 2014 to share with you. None are brand new and all are available at our local library. (God bless whoever invented the public library!) If you’re blessed with an e-reader, you can download them as well.

Fiction

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova is a fictional account of an actual neuropsychological condition called Hemispatial Neglect, made especially fascinating because it’s told from the victim’s viewpoint. A traumatic brain injury completely erases the left side of Sarah Nickerson’s world, and for once, Sarah relinquishes control to those around her. Without the ability to even floss her own teeth, she struggles to find answers about her past and her uncertain future. I couldn’t put it down.

I became a fan of Christian author Deborah Raney after meeting her at a writers’ conference last year. Face of the Earth presents a dilemma for its main character, Mitch Brannon, when his beloved wife Jill doesn’t return from her conference. He enlists the help of Jill’s best friend, Shelley, in the search. Months go by, with no inkling of what happened to Jill. As Mitch and Shelley’s friendship grows closer, Mitch must decide how he will honor his vows to a woman who may never return—or who may walk through the front door tomorrow. Deb’s other books are equally intriguing.

Nonfiction

For this category, I chose one local and one formerly local writer. Rusty Rutherford’s autobiography, A Steep Climb, recounts his years growing up as a British war orphan sent to boarding school and then foster homes in Canada and follows through to the present day, including his earning of the Queen’s Jubilee medal. Whether you know Rusty or not, you’ll find his story truly interesting. 

I Am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirkby opened my eyes to much I didn’t know about our Hutterian neighbours. I’d heard it said that Hutterites never have a childhood because they’re made to work hard from the time they’re small and never play. While it’s true they learn to work, Kirkby’s experience points to an idyllic childhood rich in community, security, and fun. Only upon leaving the colony did life grow difficult, as she struggled to belong in a strange new world at an age when fitting in means everything.

The Good Book

With my morning granola, I read a chapter of the Bible. To be honest, many days the words on the page seem to make little difference. But frankly, that’s true for the granola as well. I must simply trust that little by little, both are nourishing me in ways I cannot see, making me stronger, wiser, healthier. And frequently enough, mornings come when I read exactly what I need for the day. Or God sends a little joke my way, like these words from Ecclesiastes 12: “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.”

Enjoy your summer reading!