Category: Books

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Books

It’s All about Money

Someone in my family qualified as an optician and found a job in a large UK company. On her first day, she was told to recommend glasses to everyone, whether they really needed them or not. She left that job and went into another field entirely.

Last weekend’s edition of the Yediot Aharonot newspaper had an article that highlighted a similar situation in the two big book store chains here. Employees are given a list of books to recommend. It doesn’t matter whether they’ve actually read those books or not, they have to recommend them. And if they succeed in selling enough of them, they are rewarded with bonuses and trips abroad.

I’ve hardly ever asked for a recommendation for a book in a shop. I certainly won’t do that any more.

Is this how it works? Is this what happens all over the world? Can this be stopped?

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Books Holidays

Home From Home – Day 40

Right! It’s time to finish my account of the almost six weeks I spent in the UK and Holland in the summer. In the meantime, I’ve accumulated other things I want to blog about. But I must finish this first.

***

After another visit to my mother, I buy some more leggings, have a quick meal and make my way to a pub called The Phoenix to attend the event for which I extended my trip. Once a month, downstairs at the Phoenix, is an event called “Liars’ League”, in which people come to listen to a few chosen stories read by real actors. I decided that I couldn’t let this opportunity of being in London pass without doing something connected to fiction, and I’m not disappointed.

The stories are read exceptionally well, and I even speak to some people during the breaks. It’s a very pleasant evening.

Back in M2’s house, I spend some time organising my belongings, putting the heaviest things in my rucksack. There’s not much time to sleep. Tomorrow, I’m finally returning home.

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Books Social anxiety

Creativity

I never used to think of myself as a creative person, yet here I am talking about creativity. Well – not here but over at Honest Speaks. Thanks for having me, Rachael!

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Books Holidays

Home From Home – Day 33

I can do this. A week on my own is manageable. Any more and I’d go crazy. How do people do it?

I spend a whole day in and out of shops, first in Boscombe and then in Bournemouth. After finally finding two tops that I like, I don’t want to visit another shop. I’ll do without the other clothes I wanted. I buy a 99 and consume it in the Bournemouth Gardens, while watching the world go by. Then I walk back by the sea.

In the evening, I do some writing. It’s good to get back to it.

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Books

An Amazing Contest

I’m supposed to be getting ready to go away, but I had to come back to tell you about this contest. You get a brief review of and suggestions for ways to improve the first three chapters of your manuscript whether you win or not. Can you resist it? I can’t.

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Books

I feel honoured

That’s what it says here. Sounds good to me!

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Books

Writing Quotes

Some great quotes about writing, via Yeda:
This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.
~Winston Churchill
Writing is 1 percent inspiration, and 99 percent elimination.
~Louise Brooks
Write without pay until someone offers pay. If nobody offers within three years, the candidate may look upon this as a sign that sawing wood is what he was intended for.
~Mark Twain
Three years? Ahem. Does anyone have a wood saw?
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Books Bullying

About a boy, or two

I took Nick Hornby’s About a Boy out of the library. Yes, I know it’s from the last century, but it looked as if it might be interesting and it was – most of it.

As the blurb says, it’s really about two boys, one of twelve who acts too old for his age and one of thirty-six who needs to grow up. I identified with the twelve-year-old, but not because I ever acted older than my age. It’s because the boy didn’t fit in at school and was therefore bullied.

I enjoyed following the characters of this story, and especially the two main characters. I found their motivations believable and interesting. And I enjoyed the humour throughout. But I was disappointed by the ending.

Firstly, on page 265 out of 278, there is a typo. It says “Ruth” where I’m pretty sure it should say “Katrina.” Not very important, but that seems to herald the bad ending.

What happens at the end is what’s supposed to happen in all good stories. The characters change. The man becomes an adult and the boy becomes a normal boy who is no longer bullied. For me, it all happens too quickly. I don’t believe that the boy’s life could have changed so fast. I want to see how it happens. I want the author to show me the process.

But he doesn’t and I’m disappointed, even though I enjoyed reading 264 278ths of the book. That’s 95%.

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Books

A well-timed book

At the end of April, I won a book.

The book that I won is Kwaito Love by Lauri Kubuitsile. It’s a romance novella published by Sapphire Press, a new imprint of Kwela Books.

The book took a month to arrive. I was beginning to wonder whether it would ever come. But, as it turned out, its timing was perfect. Because the morning after its arrival brought news that heralded a difficult week for me. It was so hard that by the end I decided to take two days off from my connection to the world – my computer. (More about that tomorrow.)

With all the extra time, I sat in my garden and relaxed with this sweet story that’s completely removed from anything I know. It’s set in South Africa, and describes a world where traditional food includes vetkoek or makwinya – depending on the language being spoken, where women of twenty-four are too young to marry, where family ties are very strong and where the worst problems are caused by misunderstandings.

No doubt the last item in my list is not always true of this place, but in the world described in this story, that’s all there is. And that’s what drew me to this beautiful, well-written story: its ability to distract my mind from all my worries and transport me to a world where the love between two people is the only thing that really matters.

The heroine of this story is called Mpho (pronounced M-Po) and Lauri tells me the name means a gift. The book was certainly a beautiful gift to me. Thank you, Lauri!

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Books

Helpful community of writers

Since getting interested in the business of getting published, I have discovered several published writers who genuinely want to help other writers to achieve this status. I’m going to mention four of them. There are others.

Tania Hershman has compiled a list of UK & Ireland Lit Mags that Publish Short Stories and often blogs about upcoming short story competitions.

Nicola Morgan has posted lots of helpful advice about writing and getting published.

Sally Zigmond is posting a ‘hands on’ short story tutorial.

Karen Gowen is holding a contest and has something to offer to everyone – published, non-published or reader.