My Thoughts on “Scribbling Women”

I really enjoyed exploring the lives included in Marthe Jocelyn’s "Scribbling Women". This book was interesting not just because of the rare writing that it explores, but because of the adventures portrayed. Real women - wives and mothers, sisters and slaves - who struck out in new and unconventional ways, and managed to write about it. The fact that many of them were literate at all is impressive for their eras.

One of my favourite "Scribbling Women" was Mary Hayden Russell in Chapter 3. She’s a bit like a real-life Elizabeth Swann, sailing the high seas and being entertained at various seaports in the Atlantic Ocean. Through Mary’s accounts, we get a glimpse of what life was like for other adventurous women – the wives and daughters of colonial governors. Perhaps for the same love of Pirates, I was also intrigued by Mary Kingley, who made a similar voyage to the Canary Islands and spent her life exploring and recording.

To me, "Scribbling Women" is the kind of book you want to put into the hands of any young woman who is destined for great things. It proves over and over again that life can take you anywhere. In a world where we record pretty much everything about ourselves and share with the public, the significance of a book like "Scribbling Women" could easily be lost. I hope it finds more readers like me who will treasure the life stories with in.

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From Henning Mankell, author most recently of the bestselling, internationally acclaimed thriller The Man from Beijing - comes the first Kurt Wallander mystery in more than a decade: the much-anticipated return of the brilliant, brooding detective. Suspenseful, darkly atmospheric, psychologically gripping, The Troubled Man is Henning Mankell at his mesmerizing best.

The Troubled Man will be available wherever books and eBooks are sold on March 29, 2011, but we’ve got a sneak peek for you:

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As a rule, a book cover should offer an evocative image (perhaps two), a come-hither wink to the prospective buyer. “Look at me,” the cover should say. “Aren’t I the most attractive book in the store? Don’t you want to take me home?”

Now there are as many ways to define attractive as there are people with opinions, but one can assume a few standards. The image should be colourful, it should be in focus, and if possible there should be some sort of “eye contact.” (If that contact involves locking orbs with a cuddly animal or a chiseled Hollywood star, so much the better. But that’s children’s books and celebrity bios, an entirely different discussion.) Designing a hockey book tends to be challenge when faced with these criteria.

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There are lots of obvious reasons for me to love my job: great books, amazing authors and awesome colleagues. A slightly less obvious reason is baking! We have more than a few skilled chefs in our midst and to celebrate the release of the new Martha Stewart Pies and Tarts cookbook we decided to have a Piebonanza! Long time BookLounge blog readers will remember our very first Martha-inspired bake-off, the Cupcake-a-pahlooza. Veteran “Pahloozers” Tan and Ainsley from the Digital department were the first to sign on for this new challenge, with bakers from Editorial, Publicity and Production. Nothing brings people together like pies and tarts both savory and sweet! (pictures after the jump)

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One of the many things I love about my job is working with people who are passionate about books and authors. Jonathan Coe is a huge favourite for many of us (his novels include The House of Sleep, The Rotters Club, The Closed Circle, and now The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Simm) but sales reps Maylin Scott and Mike Rose raised the bar of devotion this week.

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In January we asked a few of our authors what they had on their nightstands. This month, we talked to Don Winslow, Jamie Zeppa, Cynthia Holz and Paula McLain about how they named the characters in their new novels.

	I hate coming up with character names. I wish we could just number them. I often consult book indexes. - Don Winlsow, author of Shibumi
	I googled popular names by decade, looking for ones that sounded like my characters. In the beginning, everyone’s name started with a D, which made all my early readers crazy. - Jamie Zeppa, author of Every Time We Say Goodbye
	Sometimes a name pops up at the same time a character comes into focus, and sometimes I use the name of a dead friend or relative, but mostly I try out many different names till one sounds exactly right. - Cynthia Holz, author of Benevolence
	With this novel, they came ready made, thankfully. Usually it’s a painstaking and awkward process, where everything feels silly or random until I settle on something. But by the end of the process, the character does come to grow into that name, or vice versa. - Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife

Want to learn more about the reading and writing habits of our authors? Check out our
20 Writerly Questions feature!

I am a huge fan of working dogs and especially admire Border collies. Many years ago I attended a sheep herding event on Saltspring Island. Afterwards, I fell into conversation with a shepherdess about her dog, Tessa who, the shepherdess explained was a delinquent, unmanageable dog she rescued from the local pound. Tessa had lived in several homes but was brought back to the pound because she was too unruly, too wild, and had way too much energy for family life. The shepherdess said, “I put Tessa in a pasture with a three or four sheep to see what she would do. Tessa had never seen or smelled a sheep before, and as far as I knew, never even been in the country.

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The bookclub I’m a part of has existed in some shape or form for ten years. In it’s current nameless existance, we’re made up of a few original members, a few new members, and even a satellite member who Skypes in from Michigan when she can (and who sends lengthy notes when she can’t). We’re tea drinkers. And we like our water with frozen lemon wedges. We’re also major snackers and have become experts on a variety of cheeses, fruits, candy and baked goods thanks to our monthly meet-ups. Usually we do the book club thing in someone’s barely tidy living room (often mine), and occassionally we class it up a notch meeting at a chacuterie board-style restaurant and sip wine while we eat. Like most book clubs we don’t talk business first. As members trickle in at 7:30pm we catch up on what the kids are up to (there’s two moms amongst the ten), what our partners have been doing to make us crazy, and how work is going (collectively we are three teachers, two book publicists, one physiotherapist, one event manager, one software developer, one fashion consultant, and one project manager). About half an hour in we usually get reigned in by one of the teachers who pulls out her book with several sticky notes. Often our starting point is “whatdja think of the book in general?” or “would you recommend this book to others?” and often “what the heck was going on with…?”

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One of the great things about my job is that every once in a while I get a chance to be a fan and meet people whose work I really admire. I’ve had that experience over the last couple of days working with Rodney Crowell in promoting his absolutely beautiful memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks.

I’ve been a huge Rodney Crowell fan for years. He’s one of the best singer/songwriters working today. Over the course of his career, Crowell has worked with such great performers as Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams, and has penned huge hits for everyone from Bob Seger to Keith Urban to Tim McGraw.. MORE…