Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed, is the only non-fiction book I’m reviewing in my haunting books this year. I almost didn’t review this book, because I was disgusted with the author throughout most of the time I was reading her memoir. But […]
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Haunting Book: Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson
This week’s haunting book is a novel about a privileged Englishwoman, Ursula Todd, born in 1910. She is born over and over throughout the novel, living a series of lives, each life slightly different from the one before. Life after life poor Ursula lives, some lives happy, others not. This […]
Continue readingBarlow Road to Foster Farm: Civilization At Last
I’ve mentioned the grueling Barlow Road around the south slope of Mt. Hood before. Barlow Road was the last leg of the Oregon Trail for the emigrants who decided against floating down the Columbia River. The descent down Laurel Hill on Barlow Road past the summit, a 60 degree slope […]
Continue readingHaunting Book: Defending Jacob, by William Landry
This week’s haunting book is the story of a family in turmoil. The protagonist is Andy Barber, a prosecuting attorney whose teenage son Jacob is arrested for murdering a classmate. Did Jacob kill the other boy or not? The reader is left wondering throughout the book. Andy’s instant reaction is […]
Continue readingHaunting Book: Still Alice, by Lisa Genova
My posts last October about the “haunting books” I had read are among some of my most viewed posts, so I have decided to review more haunting books this year. (See here for the last haunting book of 2012, a book similar to today’s choice.) My first haunting book for October […]
Continue readingPreserve Your Family’s Stories During National Family History Month
October is National Family History Month—a month for those with an interest in genealogy to spend a little extra time on their hobby, and a month for all of us to reflect on our forebearers and on how our pasts have shaped our todays and tomorrows. For tips on activities […]
Continue readingThe Wizard of Oz: Stories and Memories for Kids (and Writers) of Every Age
Last Friday, September 20, 2013, NBC Nightly News aired a piece narrated by Brian Williams about The Wizard of Oz. Although the reason for this news segment was the just-released 3D version of the film, Brian Williams waxed nostalgic about the world in 1939 when the original movie came out. He […]
Continue readingStepping Back To See the Big Picture: Exhibits at the National Archives
When I researched the 1840s for my Oregon Trail novels, I started with the big picture—the general route the emigrants took, their modes of transportation, what was going on in the East at the time, etc. Much of this research never made its way into my early drafts, but I […]
Continue readingSilent Skies: Returning to September 11
So much has changed in the twelve years since September 11, 2001. The security lines at airports, where we shuffle forward in stocking feet carrying our plastic bags of three-ounce liquids. Newspaper stories of bombs in shoes and in underwear. Attempts to blow up Times Square, and the actual blowing […]
Continue readingWriting: The Consistency of Voice
I mentioned several months ago that I had resurrected a short story I wrote in college and was editing it. I shared a draft of the revised story recently with my critique group. One of my partners commented after our meeting, “You know, Theresa, it’s amazing how much your voice at […]
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