Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Authors I’m Dying to Meet
Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten Authors I’m Dying To Meet / Ten Authors I Can’t Believe I’ve Met (some other “meeting authors” type spin you want to do). I’ve never actually met any authors before so I have a very long wishlist. My wishlist got a little shorter when favorites like Harper Lee and Maya Angelou passed away in recent years, but there are still so many I would love to meet in person so that I can thank them for feeding my love of wonderful books.
Top Ten Authors I’m Dying to Meet
1. TONI MORRISON
Toni Morrison is a legend! I took a seminar in college where we exclusively studied her fiction and her nonfiction, and I remember just being spellbound every word she wrote. I’m sure I’d make a fool of myself if I were ever to meet her in person, but I would still just love to thank her for sharing her exquisite words with the world. I remember reading this quote from Morrison back when I was in that class and it still resonates with me today, nearly 20 years later:
“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
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2. HILLARY CLINTON
Speaking of legends…although I don’t often speak of politics and my adoration of Hillary Clinton since this is a blog about books, I sometimes forget that in addition to all of her other many accomplishments, she is also a successful author. I first became a fan of Hillary’s after reading her groundbreaking book “It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us” and would love to have the opportunity to meet with her and thank for inspiring me and so many other women of all ages.
“Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights…”
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3. BEVERLY CLEARY
I seem to be on a roll with legends, so here’s one more that I would love to meet. Beverly Cleary’s stories were such an important part of my childhood. I adored them all and Beverly Cleary is, without a doubt, one of the main reasons why I still love to read as much as I do. I’m now sharing her stories with my son and he loves them too, so I’d just love to meet her and give her a huge hug and thank her for Beezus and Ramona and all of those wonderful characters that added such magic to my childhood.
“I hope children will be happy with the books I’ve written, and go on to be readers all of their lives.”
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4. JUDY BLUME
I would love to meet Judy Blume, another author who definitely gave me my love for reading, to thank her for creating Fudge. Fudgie is my son’s favorite so I’d love to introduce him to the author who came up with such an entertaining fictional character.
“The best books come from someplace deep inside…. Become emotionally involved. If you don’t care about your characters, your readers won’t either.”
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5. STEPHEN KING
I actually haven’t read that many of Stephen King’s book because I’m not a big horror fan, but I’d still love to meet him because I follow him on social media and he just seems like such a fascinating person. I’d love to pick his brain to see where he gets these horrifying brilliant story ideas from, but I’d also love to talk politics with him.
“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.”
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6. J. K. ROWLING
Seriously, is there anyone out there who doesn’t want to meet J.K. Rowling to thank her for the brilliance that is the Harry Potter series? Plus, following her on twitter, she just seems like such a hoot. I love watching her shut down the trolls, haha!
“If it’s a good book, anyone will read it. I’m totally unashamed about still reading things I loved in my childhood.”
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7. V.E. SCHWAB
I’m such a huge fan of Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic series and would love to meet her and make a fool of myself telling her how freaking awesome Lila Bard is. She is also another who seems like she would be a lot of fun to chat with based on her hilarious tweets.
“I am a firm believer that a good plot makes for a fun enough read, but it’s not what binds us. If we don’t care about the characters, we won’t care – not in a lasting way – about what’s happening to them.”
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8. YAA GYASI
I just read Yaa Gyasi’s beautiful debut HOMEGOING recently and it’s one of those books that I just can’t stop thinking about. I read in an interview that she has started writing another book and I’d love to meet her and hear about the new book.
“We believe the one who has power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history you must ask yourself, Whose story am I missing?, Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there you get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.” (Homegoing)
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9. MARGARET ATWOOD
I’m sure I would just end up making a complete ass out of myself, but Margaret Atwood just has such a brilliant mind that I’d love to just sit down and talk about anything and everything with her – her books, her writing process, politics– you name it and I just know she’d have something profound to say on the subject. And I would just sit there in awe.
“Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you’re gonna die, so how do you fill in the space between here and there? It’s yours. Seize your space.”
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10. MARISSA MEYER
Marissa Meyer is an author who is fairly new to me, but I’m absolutely in love with The Lunar Chronicle Series. I’d love to meet her to find out how in the world she came up with such a creative and mind-blowingly fascinating take on the classic fairytales. I mean, seriously…Cinderella as a cyborg? Freaking genius!
“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.” (Cinder)
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Question: So there’s my 10. What authors are you dying to meet? Would any of mine make your list?
ARC Review: The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti 
Published by Dial Press on March 28th 2017
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 480
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Goodreads Synopsis: A father protects his daughter from the legacy of his past and the truth about her mother’s death in this thrilling new novel from the prize-winning author of The Good Thief.
After years spent living on the run, Samuel Hawley moves with his teenage daughter, Loo, to Olympus, Massachusetts. There, in his late wife’s hometown, Hawley finds work as a fisherman, while Loo struggles to fit in at school and grows curious about her mother’s mysterious death. Haunting them both are twelve scars Hawley carries on his body, from twelve bullets in his criminal past; a past that eventually spills over into his daughter’s present, until together they must face a reckoning yet to come. This father-daughter epic weaves back and forth through time and across America, from Alaska to the Adirondacks.
Both a coming-of-age novel and a literary thriller, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley explores what it means to be a hero, and the cost we pay to protect the people we love most.
MY REVIEW
Do you ever read a book, know that you love it, but yet somehow can’t really put into words why? That’s how I feel about Hannah Tinti’s The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley. What initially drew me to this book was reading the synopsis and realizing that the book focuses on the relationship between a father and daughter. I can’t say that I’ve read nearly enough books that explore that dynamic so I was eager to give this book a shot.
Samuel Hawley and his daughter Loo (short for Louise) have spent most of Loo’s life living what can best be described as a transient lifestyle, moving from place to place and never staying anywhere too long. The only sense of permanence that Loo has experienced all this time is the makeshift shrine that Hawley builds for Loo’s mother in each place. Loo’s mother, Lily, drowned when Loo was just a baby, so it has just been Loo and her dad for as long as she can remember. We are given hints early on that the transient lifestyle Loo and her Dad are living stems from the fact that Hawley has a somewhat checkered past. Although Loo appears perfectly content living the way she and her Dad always have, when the novel opens and we meet Hawley and then 12 year old Loo, Hawley has decided that it’s time for Loo to have a more permanent and stable way of life and thus has settled them back in Lily’s hometown of Olympus, Massachusetts. As they go about their day-to-day lives in this tiny town, we start to get more and more hints that Hawley’s past is indeed a colorful one and that not even Loo, the person who is closest to him in the world, knows all that there is to know about him. The extent of Hawley’s past misadventures becomes very apparent when Hawley is coerced into participating in a town event and is required to remove his shirt to take part. When the shirt comes off, we see that Hawley’s body is riddled with old bullet wound scars. So many scars, in fact, that it seems nearly impossible he is even still alive.
LIKES
The revealing of so many scars was where things got especially interesting for me because the author then proceeds to use the bullet wound scars as a roadmap to carry us through Hawley’s past. She alternates chapters that are devoted to explaining how he received each bullet wound with chapters of the new life he is trying to start with Loo. What I loved about this way of constructing the story was how we see Hawley first as a dad, doing the best he can, willing to sacrifice anything and everything to give his daughter a normal life. Tinti fully humanizes him before revealing his past where we then see that Hawley has done a lot of awful things in his day. He has stolen things, hurt people, heck he has even killed people. But somehow, because I still see him first as Loo’s dad, I love the character in spite of the many questionable choices he has made in the past. I think if Tinti had revealed the gory details of Hawley’s past first and then tried to move forward and show that he has now reformed himself and become a great dad, Hawley wouldn’t be nearly as endearing as he is.
As much as the story is about Hawley and his past, I would also consider it to be a coming of age story for Loo. She spends much of the story trying to make sense of this new world she is now living in and what her place is in it, and she is particularly determined to learn more about what happened to her mother. Hawley has sought to protect Loo from the full truth of her mother’s death because he knows that it will be even more heartbreaking for her than the truth she has been led to believe all her life. When Loo meets her grandmother (Lily’s mother) for the first time after they settle in Olympus, her grandmother implies that Hawley is in some way responsible for Lily’s death. This makes Loo’s journey to find the truth all the more poignant as Hawley is all she really has in this world. Can she forgive him if he is responsible? Loo’s story becomes especially moving as we cycle back and forth between her chapters set in the present and Hawley’s chapters set in the past. In Hawley’s chapters, we see how he and Lily met and fell in love, and then in present-day chapters, we follow Loo as she slowly unravels the mystery surrounding her mom’s death. Tinti does a beautiful job weaving together the past and present in a heartwrenching journey that ultimately brings Loo to that truth she has been so desperately seeking.
Tinti adds even more complexity to her story by making it a bit of a thriller as well as the ghost of Hawley’s past still lurks and threatens this new life he is trying so hard to make for his daughter. All of these different layers – the past, the present, the love, the suspense — and how they effortlessly fit together is what makes The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley such an engaging read.
DISLIKES?
I can’t really say that I have any complaints about the novel. At first I’ll admit I was a little wary about the bullet hole chapters, especially since they were actually named BULLET NUMBER ONE, BULLET NUMBER TWO, etc. I thought ‘Oh boy, this is either going to be hokey or it’s going to be brilliant.’ Thankfully, brilliant won out and it worked fabulously.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you’re looking for a wonderfully intricate read that authentically captures the father-daughter bond, then give The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley a read. I would, however, forewarn that there is a lot of violence as you can probably guess from the few hints I dropped about Hawley’s past. Both love and violence are at the core of this tale.
RATING: 4 STARS
About Hannah Tinti
Hannah Tinti grew up in Salem, Massachusetts, and is co-founder and editor-in-chief of One Story magazine. Her short story collection, ANIMAL CRACKERS, has sold in sixteen countries and was a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway award. Her first novel, THE GOOD THIEF, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, recipient of the American Library Association’s Alex Award, and winner of the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Hannah’s new novel, THE TWELVE LIVES OF SAMUEL HAWLEY will be published by The Dial Press on 3/28/17.
#BeatTheBacklist Book Review: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3) by George R.R. Martin Also by this author: A Feast for Crows
Series: A Song of Fire and Ice #3
Published by Bantam on March 4th 2003
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 1177
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads
Goodreads Synopsis: Here is the third volume in George R.R. Martin’s magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. Together, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.
Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of the sorceress who holds him in her thrall. Young Robb still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. And as opposing forces manoeuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, accompanied by a horde of mythical Others—a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords…
MY REVIEW
A giant review for a giant book! Wow, where to even start with this 1,100+ page beast of a book? First of all, I’m ecstatic that I finally finished it because A Storm of Swords has been sitting on my bookshelf begging me to read it for nearly two years. I kept looking at all of those pages and putting it back thinking of how many other books I could read in the time I knew it would take me to tackle that many pages. I’m so glad I finally gave in and decided to tackle it in 2017 because HOLY COW, what a book this is! Definitely my favorite of the series thus far!
It’s so hard to write reviews of books midway through a series because there’s just so much to gush, rant and rave about, but I don’t want to spoil anything for someone who is just starting the series. Here’s my attempt to lay out what I loved about A Storm of Swords as close to spoiler free as I can make it. If you’re truly worried about spoilers, just stop here knowing that the book is phenomenal and incredibly important in terms of character growth. Otherwise, keep reading…
As always, the level of intensity of this story is off the charts as each of our major players continue their quest for the Iron Throne. This installment of the series is filled with betrayals, epic action scenes, and more deaths than I can even begin to count, including one death that is sure to leave readers jumping for joy! There are also ill-fated weddings, a trial by combat, and much, much more. And don’t even get me started on the world building! Martin’s description of the Seven Kingdoms is, without a doubt, some of the best world building I’ve ever read. He is right up there with J. R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.
In spite of all of that, however, what makes A Storm of Swords such a stand out for me are the characters and how Martin shapes them in this book. I keep telling myself not to get attached to any of these characters because George R.R. Martin has no qualms about killing any of them off. Even knowing no characters are off limits in this deadly ‘game of thrones’, Martin just creates such realistic, complex, and utterly flawed characters that you can’t help but become invested in them anyway. With this third book, I found myself growing even more attached than ever to Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen, Brienne of Tarth, and Jaime Lannister (Yeah, I know. I can’t believe Jaime is on my list either, haha!)
LIKES
Arya. Even though she’s still basically just a little girl, Arya is tough as nails, able to hold her own against pretty much anyone out there, and has learned to handle a sword with the best of them. She has a long to-do list of names of people she plans to kill in revenge for what has been done to her family. I love that she periodically recites the list, just to make sure she doesn’t forget anyone, and my money’s on Arya to actually kill everyone she wants to kills and to somehow beat the odds and make it through to the end of the series alive. My favorite moment of this book is the unexpected moment when she actually teams up with her nemesis, the Hound, and they fight together and then end up traveling together.
Sansa. Sansa shows growth as well in the sense that she has become worldlier and less naïve, especially when it comes to King Joffrey and the Lannisters. Even though at one time she thought she would be married to him, she knows all of that is over now and that she is nothing to the Lannisters but a pawn in this game they’re all playing. In this book, she finds herself wed to another man, one who is probably the last person she would have chosen for herself and then ultimately on the run, accused of a crime she did not commit. As much as I like Sansa, I feel differently about her than I do Arya. Where I think Arya is a kick ass warrior in the making, with Sansa, I just always end up feeling pity for her because she seems to go from one bad situation to the next, with little or no reprieve. I fear that she may end up a casualty unless she continues to grow stronger and stand up for herself more.
Jon Snow. In a lot of ways, Jon Snow really comes into his own in this book. After spending much of the first two books lamenting about how he isn’t worthy of anything because he’s just the bastard son of Ned Stark, Jon rises to the occasion and does big things here. My favorite moments for him were when he took the lead in defending the Wall by first infiltrating the barbaric Wildlings to spy on them for the Night’s Watch and then later returning to the Wall and leading the Night’s Watch in their defense of it .
(Speaking of the Wall, there are some absolutely epic battle scenes here as forces converge on the Wall and try to break through. You’ve got the Others, who are basically the supernatural equivalents of the Walking Dead, and they are nearly unstoppable. Then you’ve also got Wildlings attacking, and Giants riding on mammoths barreling through. It was never entirely clear to me just how serious the Night Watchmen’s oath to defend the Wall was until this book and these scenes. What lies beyond the Wall is truly terrifying!)
Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion, or the Imp as he is known, has always been somewhat of a sentimental favorite of mine. Even though he’s a Lannister, who are probably the most hated out of all of the families in contention for the Iron Throne, Tyrion has always been somewhat of an outcast in his own family simply because he’s a dwarf. He tries to protect Sansa when he sees Joffrey and others abusing her, and overall he just seems to have a good heart. What really stood out for me in this book though is that Tyrion finally seems to have had enough of being shamed and name-called by his own family, by those people who should love and care for him even if everyone else is against him. And he snaps, revealing a much darker nature to his character than we have seen up until this point.
Daenerys. There’s not much to be said here other than, like Arya Stark, Daenerys, the exiled Queen, goes full on badass in this book. She’s coming for her throne and she has dragons(!) and an army, so everyone in her path had better watch out! This was particularly exciting to me because I thought her story was kind of lame in the second book. Martin more than makes up for it here though. Talk about strong female characters!
Brienne of Tarth. God, I love this character so much! I love her strength and her fierceness and that she defies gender stereotypes. Most of all though, I admire her loyalty. In a series that is so full of betrayal and deceit, Brienne is just so refreshing in that if she swears an oath, she is determined to keep that oath no matter the cost. In this installment, she has sworn to Catelyn Stark that she will take their prisoner, Jaime Lannister, and journey to King’s Landing to return him to his family in exchange for Catelyn’s daughters, whom they believe the Lannisters are holding. This journey doesn’t quite go according to plan and they face many unexpected obstacles, but Brienne never gives up. As Jaime says on numerous occasions, she is the most stubborn woman he has ever known. Brienne’s exchanges with Jaime are some of my favorites in the book. They are humorous at times, but ultimately Brienne earns Jaime’s respect. And Jaime showing Brienne the respect she deserves actually serves to humanize Jaime quite a bit as well (although it did bother me how much he focused on her looks and couldn’t stop thinking about how ugly he thought she was).
Jaime. Speaking of Jaime, how brilliant is George R.R. Martin that he actually turned one of my least favorite characters into one of my favorites this book? If you had told me after the first book when Jaime throws a young boy out of a window and cripples him, that he would go on to become a character that I liked, I would tell you that you had bumped your head, but yet here we are. Martin introduces Jaime’s point of view in this third book and as we see things from Jaime’s perspective, we suddenly understand that many of his actions along the way have not been as ruthless and unjustified as they initially seemed. What he did to the boy is still unforgivable, but he has a lot more honor and integrity than we were originally led to believe.
DISLIKES?
My only complaint about this book is the length. Yes, the world building is incredible, but Martin does spend a lot of time describing details that probably could have easily been left out (i.e. bodily functions and whatnot). I caught myself a few times along the way contemplating ways that the book could have been shortened without losing any important details.
FINAL THOUGHTS?
Just because these books are such a time investment, it will probably be a while before I move on to the fourth book in the series. That said, A Song of Fire and Ice is still one of the most brilliant fantasy series I’ve ever read and one that I would recommend to any mature reader. I would not recommend it for younger readers because of the levels of graphic violence and sex.
RATING: 4.5 stars
About George R.R. Martin
George R.R. Martin was born September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.
Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin’s first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: “The Hero,” sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.
In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.
As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.
In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.
Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.
Martin’s present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers’ Guild of America, West.