Reading
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Re-reading Miracle
This winter break I’ve been re-reading Miracle, by Katherine Sutcliffe. When I was in high school, she was my favorite author, next to Victoria Holt. I’m amazed by how much Miracle inspired my own story ideas. I remember in college trying to write like Katherine Sutcliffe, when I was trying seriously to publish a romance Continue reading
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I finished Lauren Kate’s Passion. The fourth in series is Rapture. The ending of Passion wasn’t so bad, but there was still a lot about the book I didn’t like. My greatest objection was the shallow skim of history she did. It reminded me a lot of how Alyson Noel described historical settings. Both authors Continue reading
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Passion
I am reading Lauren Kate’s Passion right now. I am having a really hard time with it. It’s “creative” in the same way Harry Potter books are, where the made-up world seems like just that: made-up. It doesn’t correspond to any internal mythology or imaginary that I can relate to, doesn’t touch anything within me. Continue reading
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Woman’s Home Companion, January 1901
The stories I have read so far are Harriet Prescott Spofford’s “A Little Old Woman” and Sewell Ford’s “The Pliant Hour.” Continue reading
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I’m excited to finally have a sit-in at the new Burleson Starbucks. I never thought I’d have a Starbucks so close to my house, although the Forest Hill one is pretty close. This place was being built during the pandemic, and I was excited for it, but all of the local Starbucks stores closed their Continue reading
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Fifty Shades Darker is just as fun as the first novel. And I can’t believe the author references Mansfield, Texas. I was right in thinking that E.L. James is British. It turns out that the first edition of Fifth Shades Darker was published near Mansfield in a small press called The Coffee House Press, which Continue reading
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Eighteenth-century sentimental and gothic fiction on Librivox
Recently, I have been using Librivox, which offers audio versions of public-domain published books, for my scholarly readings, when possible. The time and frustration the service saves me is huge: it allows me to multi-task while I listen, so that I can do other activities during the day besides read, and it also permits me Continue reading
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My summer with Gerald Vizenor’s haiku
This summer with Gerald Vizenor’s haiku I will never forget. Walking in the hot sun to the mailbox to get another small book from Amazon. Leafing through these small books with fine, old paper, beautiful Japanese calligraphy and photography, and Gerald Vizenor’s too-vigorous words which cut across the calm and complacency of nostalgic feelings. Continue reading
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But a klaxon made me come out of the angle where I was beginning to die of an angel’s dream. — Albert-Birot Continue reading
Sunlight-Colored Roses 