Interview with Poet Rita Martinez of The Jane and Bertha in Me

Last year, at the request of my husband, I reread Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, one of a handful of books I have read multiple times over the years. It remains one of my all-time favorite books. When I first heard mention of Rita Martinez and her poetry book called The Jane and Bertha in Me, I knew I wanted to read it. I also knew I likely would not be able to fit in a review during the month of April. I am happy, however, to kick off National Poetry Month with an interview by the author of The Jane and Bertha in Me. This book is more than just an homage to one of the greatest novels ever written, it also speaks to every one of us, to anyone who has felt like an outsider or anyone who has ever suffered from or knows anyone who has suffered from a debilitating illness, whether seen or unseen.

I hope you will join me in welcoming Rita Martinez to Musings of a Bookish Kitty. Perhaps she and I can convince you to check out this great sounding poetry collection!

About Rita Martinez's The Jane and Bertha in Me: 

This spring marks the bicentennial of Charlotte Brontë’s birth. In her ambitious and timely debut, The Jane and Bertha in Me, Rita Maria Martinez celebrates Brontë’s classic novel Jane Eyre. Through wildly inventive, beautifully crafted persona poems, Martinez re-imagines Jane Eyre’s cast of characters in contemporary contexts, from Jane as an Avon saleslady to Bertha as a Stepford wife. These lively, fun, poignant poems prove that Jane Eyre’s fictional universe is just as relevant today as it was so many years ago. The Jane and Bertha in Me is a must-read for any lover of Brontë’s work.

Q: You first became interested in Jane Eyre as a teenager. Can you talk a bit more about why Jane appealed to you at that young age?

A: As a teen, I wanted to live in another era. I used to sing oldies by my high school’s reflection pond on mornings before the bell rang.

Reading Jane Eyre felt like I was immersed in an exciting and unique atmosphere, which, for me, was a welcome relief from the grunge culture of the 1990s. I liked the mystery, the lush language, and the romance in the novel.

As for Jane’s character, she is an underdog with a lot spunk, a heroine who stands up for herself. I thought leaving Lowood and entering Thornfield, a new environment, was courageous—as was leaving Thornfield. Jane also manages to have strong moral convictions while also being a sexual creature—one who refuses to settle for a passionless marriage.

Q: Bertha gets a good deal of screen-time in this collection. What about Bertha speaks to you as a writer and reader?

A: Bertha is a displaced person, an outsider. I think many readers and writers have felt like outsiders at some point.

In my early twenties, I started experiencing debilitating daily headaches and migraines. I went through several physicians. Some thought I was crazy. Some were sexist. Others thought my complaints were imaginary. These attitudes rob patients of their dignity—especially those who battle neurological conditions which are “invisible.”

Eventually, I was diagnosed with chronic daily headaches (CDH), a genetic disorder that affects about four percent of the population and is often misunderstood and misdiagnosed. At onset, my head hurt non-stop for over two months—that kind of constant pain is enough to test anyone’s sanity. Migraines drive one to seek darkness, silence, and isolation; as a result, I started reflecting on Bertha’s plight.

Her daily life at Thornfield was one of isolation accompanied by periods of great suffering—as was Charlotte Brontë’s at times. Brontë mentions her migraines and health concerns in correspondence. Edward Rochester—who is far from being a one-dimensional character—also undergoes a great deal of anguish. He’s certainly not a saint, but, in some aspects is a casualty of the conventions of his society.

Q: Aside from Brontë herself, what other influences are at work in this collection?

A: There are so many! Some include Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s ground-breaking feminist text The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination (1979); the amazing three-volume set of The Letters of Charlotte Brontë edited by Margaret Smith; Jean Rhys’s postcolonial novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966); Virginia Woolf ’s expanded essays on the female writer’s life in A Room of One’s Own; and Rita Dove's Mother Love. I’m also a pop culture junkie who watches way too much television—especially the Turner Classic Movie Channel.

Q: What do you hope that readers will take away from the experience of this book?

A: I hope readers will become more empathetic and open-minded toward those in their communities who experience disability or illness of any kind—realizing that neither constitutes moral weakness or failure. I especially hope that all types of patients realize that they deserve to be treated with dignity—that a good physician will take one’s concerns to heart.

I hope poems like “The Literature of Prescription” help readers become more vocal about their expectations during doctor visits—and will prompt them to become active, assertive, and informed patients. Most importantly, I experienced a great deal of joy writing many of these poems, and I hope readers will laugh out loud now and then.

I hope the poems will spur them to reread or discover Jane Eyre and to encounter other Brontë works and biographies. April will mark the bicentennial of the birth of Charlotte Brontë, a wonderful reason to celebrate the work and life of such an influential author.

Thanks again!

About the author:

Rita Maria Martinez is a Cuban-American poet from Miami, Florida. Her writing has been published in journals including the Notre Dame Review, Ploughshares, MiPOesias, and 2River View. She authored the chapbook Jane-in-the-Box, published by March Street Press in 2008. Her poetry also appears in the textbook Three Genres: The Writing of Fiction/Literary Nonfiction, Poetry and Drama, published by Prentice Hall; and in the anthology Burnt Sugar, Caña Quemada: Contemporary Cuban Poetry in English and Spanish, published by Simon & Schuster. Martinez has been a featured author at the Miami Book Fair International; at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida; and at the Palabra Pura reading series sponsored by the Guild Literary Complex in Chicago. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Florida International University.

I hope you will check out what others have to say about The Jane and Bertha in Me on the Poetic Book Tours route:

April 4: Musings of a Bookish Kitty (interview)
April 10: Emma Eden Ramos (review)
April 12: Everything Distils Into Reading (review)
April 15: Book Dilettante (review)
April 16: Suko’s Notebook (review)
April 18: True Book Addict (review)
April 22: Jorie Loves a Story (review)
April 25: Diary of an Eccentric (review)
April 26: Unabridged Chick (review)
April 27: Pretty Purple Polka Dots (review)
April 28: Impressions in Ink (review)
April 30: Create With Joy (review)

Many thanks to the Poetic Book Tours and Rita Martinez for the opportunity to be a part of this book tour!

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© 2016, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Guest Post: My Five Favorite Fantasy Felines by Rebecca Chastain

I am excited to have author Rebecca Chastain here today. I read the first book in her Illuminant Enforcer Madison Fox series, A Fistful of Evil, last year and couldn't resist reading the second book in the series, A Fistful of Fire. I highly recommend her novella, Magic of the Gargoyles, if you want to sample her writing. It's not part of the series, but still a fun read.

Please join me in welcoming Rebecca Chastain to Musings of a Bookish Kitty!

About her latest, A Fistful of Fire: 

Madison Fox survived her first week as California’s newest illuminant enforcer, defending her region against imps, vervet, hounds, and one lascivious demon. If her grumpy boss, Mr. Pitt, was impressed, he hasn’t told Madison. In fact, there’s a lot her boss has been closemouthed about, including the dark secret haunting his past.

But Madison’s problems are just igniting. Neighboring regions report an uncharacteristic flare-up of evil, fire-breathing salamanders blaze unchecked across the city, and Black Friday looms. Trapped doing cleanup amid mobs of holiday shoppers, Madison watches from the sidelines as dubious allies insinuate themselves in her region.
As suspicions kindle and the mysterious evil gains strength, Madison must determine who she can trust—and whose rules to follow—before her region and career go up in flames. 

Sizzling with adventure and sparking with magic, A Fistful of Fire is fused with Madison Fox’s trademark blend of humor and ass-kicking action.

My Five Favorite Fantasy Felines

Several years ago, I took stock of all the books I loved and what they had in common. I wanted to build a list of themes that appealed to me for my own future stories. In the process, I realized another important factor of every story that made my top favorites list: they all had animals; most had cats. Since my cats are an integral part of my life and family, it only makes sense that I would fall for these literary felines, too. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite felines to grace the page.

1. Zanth from Robin D. Owens’s HeartMate. In Owens’s Celta novels, many cats can speak telepathically and enjoy bonding with a human companion. Owens does a beautiful job of capturing the aloof-needy air of cats as well as their self-absorption and random acts of compassion. Zanth is a street-tough cat growing used to the finer things in life, and like many of the “famcats” of Owens’s world, he plays an important part in helping his human find love. These books make me wish I could hear my cats’ thoughts—and so thankful I can’t!

2. Sammy from Piers Anthony’s Isle of View. Out of all the extreme creatures of Anthony’s Xanth novels, the one that I remember clearest over two decades later is Sammy. The cat had the ability to find everything (but the way home). Every time my cats sprawl right in my path, I think of the scene in Isle of View when Sammy finds the perfect spot in the room where no one would step. My cats could use a lesson from Sammy.

3. Fritti Tailchaser from Tad Williams’s Tailchaser’s Song. Every budding fantasy writer pens a story from a cat’s perspective at some point in their career. (No, it was just me? Anyway…) Few can get a story with a cat as a protagonist published as a short story, let alone a full-length novel, but Williams is a master at delving into the minutest details of any world, whether it’s a cyberworld of the future or a fantastic world of cats. Fritti and all the cats of Williams’s world read like real cats, not cats given human thoughts and ambitions. From their body language to their names, Williams creates a rich feline world and a hero tomcat that’s impossible not to love.

4. Peekaboo from Pat Brady’s Rose Is Rose. Okay, so this is a comic and not a novel, but the principles remain the same. Peakaboo is an important part of the ongoing story of Gumbo family, and often can hold her own as a feature character in strips. She embodies the loveable/irritating nature of cats everywhere, and Brady dips inside her head for her believable and funny reactions to human rules.

5. Mr. Bond from my own A Fistful of Evil and A Fistful of Fire novels. Based off my real-life cat, Mack Fu, Mr. Bond is an overweight Siamese-mutt who thinks he’s a kitten. He gives the main character, Madison, affection and a reason to live (to fill his food bowl, of course). He even helps her read, by keeping her lap warm. Though without magical powers of his own, Mr. Bond supports Madison’s new life; as she comes into her powers and embraces her new, dangerous job, Mr. Bond is there to soothe her with therapeutic purrs and to ground her by making sure she sticks to the most important routine: keeping his food bowl full.

Who are your favorite literary felines?

Rebecca Chastain’s debut novel, A Fistful of Evil, is an Amazon Fantasy Bestseller in the United States, Australia, and Canada. She’s been lucky to share her life with many wonderful cats, including the much-missed Big Foot, Happurr, Slim, Wild Thing, Stormy, and Tony. She and her husband are currently the well-trained caretakers of Zenzo and Mack Fu.

You can find Rebecca Chastain at her website, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. 

Thank you, Rebecca, for visiting and sharing your list of favorite literary cats with us!  If you are interested in entering a giveaway for a $25 Amazon Gift Card: a Rafflecopter giveaway. The raffle is open for entries from October 10 to October 16. 

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© 2015, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Mouse's Corner: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, A Guest Post by Alexandra Sokoloff

I am excited to host author Alexandra Sokoloff here on Musings of a Bookish Kitty today as part of her Cold Moon Blog Tour. I considered doing a book review, but ultimately thought it would be more interesting and fun to invite her over to discuss one of the most influential books from her childhood. I was happy when she took me up on her offer, and said she wanted to talk about Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. This is one of those mus read books I hope my daughter will want to read one day.

Alex has written many books over the years, her most recent being the Huntress/FBI series, which I have read and enjoyed over the past couple months (Huntress Moon, Blood Moon, and Cold Moon). I enjoyed this dark and intense series quite a bit as it took me into the mind of a female serial killer and the FBI agent tracking her down.

Please join me in welcoming Alexandra Sokoloff . . .

For this stop on my Cold Moon blog tour, Wendy asked me to do a guest post on an influential book from my childhood. Easiest question in the world!

It’s the story of thirteen-year-old misfit Meg Murry, who on a dark and stormy night is visited by three mysterious and iconically eccentric women who transport her, her child prodigy brother Charles Wallace, and her high school crush Calvin O'Keefe, on a cosmic adventure to rescue her scientist father from the evil forces holding him prisoner on a distant planet.

Famously, when author Madeleine L’Engle finished the book in 1960 (pre-YA is putting it mildly!) it was rejected by at least 26 publishers, because it was "too different", and "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was really difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adults' book, anyhow?" Oh, and “It had a female protagonist in a science fiction book.”

I’m eternally grateful to whatever forces of light were looking out for it.

When people ask me why I write what I do, or even just why I write, instead of rambling on, I could just as well just say A Wrinkle in Time. Countless female author and screenwriter friends, and a good number of the men as well, have said the same thing to me over the years—I suspect just about every woman genre writer who came of age pre-Harry Potter. Meg Murry wasn’t just our Hermione – she was our Harry Potter, too. She is every smart girl who ever lived. We didn’t just read that book—we lived it. We are Meg.

I’ve read just about everything L’Engle ever wrote. Once in a while I realize I’ve missed something and it’s always a treat to add that book to my shelf. She was a huge part of my extremely random spiritual education… in fact she might have been singlehandedly responsible for any spiritual sense I did have in my childhood and early adulthood. I was raised with both no religion and a smattering of a large number of religions. My parents took me and my siblings to Native American ceremonies, Orthodox celebrations, and Hindu holy days. If I spent a weekend night with a friend whose family had a religious practice, they’d drag me along to church or temple. But I was never sold on the idea of a single male God (I mean, come on, really? I love men in general, but omniscient? Let’s just look at the facts, here!).

Then A Wrinkle in Time introduced me to the concept of the Goddess, in the three “witches”: Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and the very intimidating Mrs. Which. That powerful, eternal feminine triumvirate, whether you describe them as former stars, guardian angels, messengers, centaurs (don’t you love that scene where the three children try to explain them to Mr. Murry?) —is to me the Triple Goddess. It was the most positive depiction of spirituality I’d ever encountered, and the one that made the most sense to me: that the universe manifests itself in guardians, and we are watched over, and we are loved.

(L’Engle herself was a devout Christian, yet the book often appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books, because of references to witches and crystal balls, because it "challenges religious beliefs", and because Jesus appears on a list of “names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders".)

L’Engle’s equally profound influence on me (it’s inseparable, really) was as a genre writer. I always gravitated toward the spooky, the thrilling, the fantastical, the twisted, in my reading. I discovered A Wrinkle in Time when I was in sixth grade and something in my mind said – “THIS is what a book is supposed to be, do, feel like.” It’s a thrilling adventure with flawed but deeply moral characters, fighting for cosmic stakes. While you’re reading you experience it as a breathless, nail-biting ride, but the moral implications imprint on your soul.

In fact, I was so obsessed with the book the year I first read it that I wrote a movie adaptation of the book. This was a pretty radical and prescient thing for me to have done (at age ten!), considering a lot of adults don’t even understand that there is such a thing as an adaptation process from book to screen. I had no inkling at the time that I would grow up to work as a screenwriter and make a living adapting novels for screen. And no desire to, either.

It was just that book. I wanted to live in that book. I wanted to somehow create the world of that book around me. I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything ever since (except, um, Hamlet) that feels as perfect in every way – character, theme, structure, dialogue, action, spectacle, catharsis – every single layer and detail.

I’ve read it dozens, maybe hundreds of times, and I learn something new about how to tell a story every single pass. And not just about the how of it, but the WHY as well. It makes no sense on the surface to write as dark as I do and say that I aspire to the spirituality of that book, but it’s true.

As L’Engle said:
“Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith, faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

At the moment, I fully admit, I am struggling with Book 4 of my Huntress Moon series. These are very dark books. They confront crimes so heinous that I think they can only be called evil. My FBI protagonist is on the verge of giving up entirely; he feels so powerless in the face of what he’s being exposed to. But these crimes exist. Someone must face them and fight them. And once again, I’m looking to A Wrinkle in Time to remind me that even in the darkest abyss, the universe manifests itself in guardians—and we are watched over, and we are loved.

There are other books of L’Engle’s that shaped me as a writer, an author, a genre writer. She wrote thrillers: Arm of the Starfish is a wonderful YA spy thriller, again with a profound spiritual dimension, and even her dramas have such an thriller edge – I’m thinking specifically of A Ring of Endless Light – that I’d almost call them cross-genre. She put urgency and cosmic stakes into everything she ever put on paper.

But A Wrinkle in Time is a masterwork… and I guess it’s always in the back of my mind, the question – will I ever be open enough, focused enough, skilled enough, mature enough… enough anything – to write something that is everything I could write, in a perfect world?

I don’t know. But at least I have a light to guide me on that path.

So how about you, readers and authors? Do you have A Wrinkle in Time experiences? Or was there another book that most influenced your childhood and/or writing?

- Alex
AlexandraSokoloff.com

The Huntress/FBI Thrillers: Out now!

Alexandra Sokoloff is the bestselling, Thriller Award-winning and Bram Stoker and Anthony Award-nominated author of eleven supernatural, paranormal and crime thrillers. The New York Times has called her "a daughter of Mary Shelley" and her books "Some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre."

As a screenwriter she has sold original suspense and horror scripts and written novel adaptations for numerous Hollywood studios (Sony, Fox, Disney, Miramax), for producers such as Michael Bay, David Heyman, Laura Ziskin and Neal Moritz.

To learn more about author Alexandra Sokoloff and her work, please visit the author's website or her blog . You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads. 

I hope you will take time to visit some of the other tour stops along the way!

Thank you, Alex, for your wonderful guest post!

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© 2015, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Mouse's Corner: Poetry in Childhood, A Guest Post by Poet Laura Foley

If you have ever read a young children's book, you may be familiar with the lyrical style many are written in. There is often a playful cadence and quite a bit of rhyming.  And when you think about it, songs are like this as well. Both help with language development in a very fun way. Mouse loves to read and sing (if you ever come for a visit, you might think you live in a musical the way she and I sing about every day life). Poetry is all around us in one form or another. It is something I hope to explore further with my daughter as she grows older. 

I am interested in others' experiences with poetry in their childhood as well, and so I asked Laura Foley, author of Joy Street, to share some of her childhood experiences with poetry. Please welcome Laura to Musings of a Bookish Kitty:

The first poem I remember loving was Dylan Thomas’ Fern Hill. I savored the pastoral images from Thomas’ childhood in Wales (When I was young and easy, under the apple boughs), and the haunting ending, the evocation of old age and death (…though I sang in my chains like the sea). This was in fifth or sixth grade, in New York City. I remember our teacher, Mrs. Taliaferro, explaining how an image can mean more than the literal. This fairly brief poem was Thomas’ autobiography, from childhood to old age, a tale told in images.

I was also drawn to T.S. Eliot’s New Hampshire. In this one, I began to understand how big concepts could be expressed in small details. The lines Golden head, crimson head/Between the green tip and the root./Black wing, brown wing, hover over… stay with me to this day. It was a poem of children playing beneath an apple tree, but it was more than a simple story. Lilting and elegant, it suggested a world of ideas and sensations just beyond grasp.

Later, when I had my first child (by then I was living in New Hampshire!), I would recite from memory T. S. Eliot’s Prufrock (Let us go now, you and I, when the evening is spread out against the sky…). I loved the lyrical sounds of the words, the lilting cadence that felt comforting to me and, I hope, to my baby in the crib.

Thank you, Laura! Be sure and visit tomorrow to read my review of Joy Street.

To learn more about Laura Foley, and her book, please visit the author's website.

I hope you will check out what others had to say about Joy Street on the TLC Book Tours route!

Many thanks to the TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to be a part of this book tour. 

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© 2015, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

What It's Like to be Married to a Non-Reader: A Guest Post by Author Robin Spano

I was so intrigued by the sample chapters I read on the author's website of Dead Politician Society by Robin Spano that I pre-ordered the book and have since read it. Be sure and come back tomorrow for my review. Although the last thing I need is to become involved with another series given my already long list, I'm already hooked. Dead Politician Society is the first in a new mystery series featuring motorcycle enthusiast and undercover police officer Clare Vengel.

When I read in Robin's bio that her husband hates reading, I just had to know more . . . Please join me in welcoming Robin Spano to Musings of a Bookish Kitty!

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Wendy asked me: What is it like for a writer to be married to a non-reader?

Actually, it rocks.

First, my husband is my biggest champion. Since we met (when I was a strung-out, partied-out 24-year-old and he was a 40-year-old businessman), he has believed in me. He doesn’t read my work objectively or critically—how would he, with nothing to compare it to? He just believes that I’m a writer (and in his warped mind, a good one).

Second, he gets me out of my own head. We don’t sit around discussing literature—my friends and family love to read, so I’m not starved for literary conversation—we go hiking and traveling and do other real world things.

When I say Keith doesn’t read, I mean he doesn’t. The last book he read cover to cover was Spycatcher by Peter Wright. He read it when it came out, in 1987.

“What?” you say. “But Robin, haven’t you written a book? How could Keith read Spycatcher and not Dead Politician Society?”

I mean, Spycatcher was pretty gripping. It’s the true life tale of an MI6 operative who witnessed the Communist betrayal and defection of Kim Philby and his cohorts, a series of events that inspired several awesome Le Carre plots.

And actually, what Keith did for me was even more amazing than read my book in its current shiny packaged form. He read half of my first manuscript at the time when I was both nervous that it was terrible, and toying with sending it out into the world.

He read, he laughed, he commented. He told me he could see the events happening as if it was a movie. (Another great thing about a husband who doesn’t know the writing industry: he thinks that naturally this book will be a movie.)

“Nice,” you say. “But why did he only read half?”

He stopped reading when I got an offer from a publisher. He’d been reading it to be encouraging, to convince me that I didn’t suck. Once the outside world seemed to be saying the same thing, he figured he could go back to his normal, avoid-all-reading self (aka the awesome man I married).

Some parting words for all you single writers: Don’t write off the non-readers. They might be the best match for you.

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Robin Spano is a crime writer from Toronto, living in Vancouver. She loves to explore the world in her boat, on her motorcycle, and traveling new places with her husband. Her first novel, Dead Politician Society, has just hit shelves.

You can learn more about Robin Spano, and her book on the author's website. You can also find her on Twitter and on Clare's Facebook page.

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© 2010, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved.If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

How I Became a Character in a Sookie Stackhouse Novel: A Guest Post by Author Helen Ellis (& Review of The Turning: What Curiosity Kills)

I am thrilled to have author Helen Ellis here at Musings of a Bookish Kitty today. She is the author of Eating the Cheshire Cat and The Turning: What Curiosity Kills, the first in a new Young Adult series. I had the honor of reviewing her book What Curiosity Kills (see review below). But first, I wanted to give you a chance to get to know the author. I admit I'm a little envious--her own character in one of my favorite series!

Please join me in welcoming Helen Ellis!

How I Became a Character in a Sookie Stackhouse Novel

Looking at Musings of a Bookish Kitty, I noticed you’re participating in the Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge. I’ve been reading the series for years. Once I saw the glittery vampire on a shelf at Greenwich Village indie bookstore, Partners & Crime, and read the first page I was hooked. In fact, I love Charlaine Harris’s novels so much that I’m in one!

For fun, my mother and sister and I went to the annual cozy mystery convention, Malice Domestic (see photo). Charlaine Harris was guest of honor. There was a charity auction, and one of the items up for bid was to have a character named after you in the next Sookie Stackhouse book. Well, let’s just say my paddle did not go back into my lap until I was the last one standing (see photo)! A year later, my fictional self was born:

“Her name was Helen Ellis, and she’d worked at Merlotte’s about four years before. Though Helen was competent and so pretty she’d drawn the men like flies, Sam had to fire her for her repeated lateness. Helen had been volcanically upset…She was wearing a leopard print top over brown stretch pants.” – p.194 Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

I love the idea of including devoted readers’ names or ideas in serialized fiction. For my next book in THE TURNING series, I am thinking of inviting readers to nominate a breed of cat to appear. In Book One: What Curiosity Kills, there’s a sphynx, a Russian blue, and two Siamese brothers. If you were a cat, what kind of cat would you be?

Think about it, and in the meantime, join my cyberspace book tour! Send me a photo of The Turning: What Curiosity Kills with your cat and I will post it on helenelliswrites.com!

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You can learn more about the author, Helen Ellis, and her books on the author's website. You can also find her on Twitter.

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I knew something was wrong with me when I fell asleep in school. I never fall asleep in public because it is way too embarrassing. Your face goes slack. If you're sitting up straight, your mouth hangs open. You could say something stupid or say someone's name or make some weird inappropriate noise. You could snore. Twitch. Drool! In the movies, people watch other people sleep and say that it's beautiful. Those people are crazy . . . [pg 1]

The Turning: What Curiosity Kills by Helen Ellis
Sourcebooks, 2010
Fantasy (YA); 224 pgs

It's funny really. I had every reason to say no when I was approached to read The Turning: What Curiosity Kills. I nearly did. I am not even sure why I said yes exactly. Unlike so many bloggers out there, I am not smitten with young adult novels in general. Take Peanut Buster Parfaits. I like them, but only now and then. It's the same with Young Adult fiction. Then there is the little fact that people assume that because I go by the name Literary Feline that I love to read about cats. Sometimes I do. I tend to be picky in that regard though. Animal books and I don't always get along. I have a thing for shape shifters though and it isn't too often I come across a book about shape shifting cats. So, I was more than curious.

I set aside an afternoon to read this book as part of my recent Reading Day adventure, and it made for the perfect light reading, especially after a heavier book that left me feeling a little sad. Helen Ellis has a great sense of humor that shines through in her writing. I really liked the characters, Mary and her sister Octavia in particular.

Both Mary and Octavia were once foster children and have been adopted by a loving and well-to-do family. They attend an elite private school where there is the requisite bully (Ling Ling) and the handsome crush (Nick Martin). Life couldn't get any better for Mary. She has everything she could ever hope for. That is until she begins to notice little changes: a patch of orange fur here and a sudden and undeniable craving for milk, among them. Mary is scared and embarrassed at the changes coming over her. The turning throws her into an entirely new sub-world, one of a feud between cats, the Strays and the Domestics. Not only is Mary told she must choose sides, but she also faces the threat of losing the life she's come to love.

Events unfold quickly in The Turning: What Curiosity Kills. And while I think that the author could have developed certain aspects of the story more fully, I never felt it suffered because she did not. Besides, she has to save something for future books, right? Overall, this was a fun and entertaining read. Mary is a likable character, thoughtful and kindhearted. She has the usual insecurities of a girl her age, and is a character most readers will be able to relate to. Her adopted sister Octavia is probably my favorite character. She doesn't think twice about standing up to the biggest bully in the school, but she is deathly afraid of cats, which makes things even more interesting and tests the sisters' bond. Okay, and so my affection for Octavia might have a little something to do with her love for books too, the hours she spends at the library book sale. Just saying.

I do not often complain about an ending of a book, but I had a problem with the ending of this one. It had more to do with my own personal bias, however, than quality or fit. The ending made total sense in the scheme of things. It's just, well . . . I don't want to say. Spoilers, you know. While sometimes an ending can ruin a book for me, it did not in this case. Far from it. The book has so much going for it, and I really did enjoy reading it. I just wish I didn't have to wait so long for the second book in the series!

Now, to snap a photo of one of my cats with What Curiosity Kills and try to decide what kind of cat I would want to be . . .

Source: Book provided by publisher for review.

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© 2010, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved.If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

A Page in the Life of Florinda of the 3 R's Blog

Just about everyone in my offline life knows Florinda. Or at least has heard her name when I can't avoid sharing some tidbit of wisdom or experience she has shared on her blog. I wouldn't be surprised if Florinda thought I was a stalker, as often as I visit her blog, The 3 R's Blog: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness and tell her how wonderful she is. The truth is that she is wonderful. She is witty and thoughtful--and always honest. She is an inspiration to not only me, but other bloggers as well. I only wish some of her organization skills would rub off on me.

Please join me in welcoming Florinda to Musings of a Bookish Kitty!

Literary Feline: Let's go straight to the important question. How do you like to start off your morning?

Florinda: I usually get up early - 6:30 is sleeping in for me. I spend some time working out with the Wii Fit (I like the Rhythm Boxing, strength training and yoga), check my e-mail, eat breakfast (accompanied by the book I'm currently reading), and get ready for the day. If it's a weekday morning, I'll be up at 4:30, my workout will be shorter, and the order of things may change a little - I try to be on the road before 7 AM. My drive to work is around 40 miles one way into Los Angeles, and most days it takes a little over an hour - not usually much less, sometimes quite a bit more.

The activities on weekend mornings are pretty much the same, but I start later, I spend more time on the Wii Fit, and the rest of it goes at a slower pace. But I always get some reading in during breakfast.


Literary Feline: You fit quite a bit into your mornings. I'm lucky if I have time to eat breakfast before I run out the door. I hang onto that last vestige of sleep for as long as I can during the week. It's sad really. 5:30 a.m. is as early as I can manage on a work day.

I am always interested to know what motivates a person to start blogging. How did you get started blogging?

Florinda: Just last week, I marked my third year of blogging! I'd actually played around with it in the fall of 2006, but killed off that first blog because I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. Around the same time, I began keeping a record of my reading for the first time ever, and after a few months it occurred to me that a blog might be a better place to do that. But I was already reading a few blogs on a range of topics, so I had a feeling that I wouldn't just blog about books, and it actually took me a few months before I started to find other book bloggers (there weren't nearly as many back then!).


Literary Feline: Happy anniversary to your blog! It's hard to believe we're old veterans in this game now. You have done an amazing job with your blog and in encouraging a community atmosphere.

You've carved out a niche for yourself, with your toes in quite a few different arenas. Quite a few bloggers out there juggle multiple blogs to represent different aspects of their lives. You've chosen to keep it all in one place. Did you ever consider having separate blogs or did you know from the start one was enough?

Florinda: Keeping up with one is quite enough, although every now and then I do kick around the idea of splitting things up and making each blog more focused. However, I do like posting nearly every day, and since I don't read fast enough to put up reviews three times a week, I'm probably going to stick with my mix.

In all seriousness, I don't see branching out unless I want to do more product reviewing, as my agreement with the BlogHer Publishing Network limits the dollar value of the items I can post about as long as I'm running their ads on my blog; higher-value items need to be discussed on a separate blog that doesn't have the ad code. Fortunately, most books are below that limit, and I'm not all that interested in reviewing anything else, so there's not a lot of incentive to change things.


Literary Feline: I admit I think of you as a book blogger even though clearly your blog is much broader in scope than that. I love that you tackle so many topics, and you clearly are active in the blogging community, participating in different forums and community building activities (Los Angeles Moms Blog, Weekly Geeks, Book Blogger Appreciation Week, hosting read-alongs, Blogging Authors Reading Project, Tuesday Tangents, and that's just for starters). What motivated you to join in on all these activities? How do you juggle all of that along with work and other of your life priorities? Do you have any advice for other bloggers looking to get more involved in the community?

Florinda: Yikes - I really AM that busy, aren't I?

Starting at the end of the list: thanks for the plug for Tuesday Tangents, Wendy - and for the fact that you participate every now and then! I'd like to see that catch on a little more, and I enjoy doing it; in a way it's filler, but it's fun, and it usually gets good comment participation unless I've talked about really lame stuff that week.

I've gotten involved in different activities for different reasons. I had the chance to sign on with the LA Moms Blog in its early soft-launch stage, and I looked at that as an opportunity to do more straight-out writing than I do here, with the possibility that it could attract notice and possibly lead to other things. So far that really hasn't happened, but I do like the outlet, and I've been introduced to some fine writers and terrific women through my participation there. I've gotten involved in other things partly to gain visibility for my blog, but never just for that reason; if the activity didn't genuinely interest me, I wouldn't volunteer or participate in it.

I'm so glad that you do think of me as a book blogger, though, because with my mix of topics, I'm not always sure I'm seen that way - but it's definitely the place in the blog world where I feel most at home, and that motivates a lot of the "extra-blogular" (did I just invent a new word?) things I do. For example, when Dewey passed away, I was part of the early conversation about continuing some of the great community-building activities she'd started in the book blogosphere. Weekly Geeks actually wasn't my first choice; I was originally interested in the Bookworms Carnival, as I'd really enjoyed hosting one of those, but the WG team had more room. I'm really glad to be part of it - it's a great group, and not a lot of work for me since I just do wrap-ups (coming up with themes is the hard part!).

As to how I juggle the blogging and related pursuits with family and work: honestly, sometimes I don't do it very well. I spend most of my lunch hours working on posts, and I'll slip in some blog reading when I need a break in between tasks at the office. I work with numbers, and sometimes the change in focus can be useful. Most evenings, I'll do blogging stuff on my laptop while watching TV with my husband (but not always - it depends on the show. I never do it during Lost). But it's really not that hard to manage, usually - as long as I stay off Twitter.

Speaking of Twitter: since you asked if I had any advice about community involvement, Twitter can be an excellent way to get more involved in the blogging community, which makes it hard for me to stay away for long. Follow other bloggers and feel free to jump into conversations - book bloggers really are pretty welcoming! Weekly memes like Booking Through Thursday, Mailbox Monday, Friday Finds and the rest - and Weekly Geeks, of course! - can be a good way for newer bloggers in particular to find other blogs and attract visitors, but I'd recommend choosing them carefully and not letting them take over your blog content, which I see happen all too often. I resisted reading challenges for the longest time, but now that I've tried a few (and am hosting my own, the Blogging Authors Reading Project), I appreciate them for both the focus they can give my reading and the connections they can build among participants. But my favorite ways to become active in the community are old standbys. I love putting together my link round-ups twice a week - being generous with the linky love is worth the time it takes. And a blogger can never go wrong by leaving comments on other blogs, and encouraging them to be left on yours!


Literary Feline: That is very good advice, Florinda. Getting involved in the blogging community through memes and commenting on other blogs definitely can help a new blogger develop a following as well as make friends. I still struggle with Twitter, but I know you and others have put it to good use in helping build on the book blogging community there.

Getting back to books, has blogging impacted your reading? If so, how?

Florinda: I used to have a fear of running out of books to read. Thanks to blogging, I've (mostly) gotten over it. My official "to read" collection includes only books I actually own, and according to LibraryThing - another thing I learned about through book blogging! - I currently have over 270 books with that status. Books I'd like to read but haven't bought yet (or been offered for review) get put on my wishlist.

But aside from the sheer number of books that blogging has exposed me to, it's also raised my awareness of books in genres I rarely read before and introduced me to new authors. Blogging has influenced me to read more thoughtfully and critically, and I'm pleased with that development. Blogging has also given me a place to talk about my reading, the tools to talk about it more articulately - and people to talk about it with.

The worst thing that blogging has done to my reading is take away from the time I spend doing it, or divert it from reading books to reading other blogs - it's The Great Book Blogger Conundrum, I believe.


Literary Feline: Oh, yes! I think many bloggers can relate to the struggle of finding a balance between blogging, reading and visiting other blogs, including me. And I do think writing reviews for a blog does make us more critical of what we are reading. Plus, book discussions are among my favorite aspects of blogging. I'm still working on the being more articulate part!

It can't all be about books though, can it? Besides reading and books, what are some of your other interests, hobbies or passions?

Florinda: I enjoy cooking and baking, but I like it more when I'm not rushed, like on weekends and for holidays - I really like making the special meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I like to experiment in the kitchen and I'm pretty comfortable tweaking recipes. I also enjoy eating my own cooking, which is both good and bad.

I love traveling, whether it's a road trip to another part of California or a cross-country flight. I really haven't been outside the US much, but there's so much to see and explore right here. My family is planning a two-week trip to the East Coast in June: a week in Washington DC and a week in New York City, and I'm really excited about it! I was born in NYC and grew up nearby, but I've never really been there as a tourist, and I've never visited our nation's capital (where my son lives now). My husband and I want to make a "Route 66" road trip one year, LA to Chicago - he likes exploring too.

I don't watch a lot of TV, but I'm pretty devoted to the shows I do watch. I will really miss Lost when it ends in May! Some of my other current favorites are Burn Notice, White Collar, The Amazing Race, 30 Rock, The Office, The Big Bang Theory, and Smallville; I'm also a "TV on DVD" collector. Maybe I watch more TV than I think I do!


Literary Feline: Your trip to the East Coast this summer sounds like it will be a lot of fun. Maybe I'll hide in your suitcase!

Lost is one of my favorites too. The Big Bang Theory has grown on me. I watch that on DVD and so am behind, however. I find I prefer to watch TV on DVD nowadays. It's so convenient. No commercials and you can watch whenever you want, as many episodes or as few as you want. It's also given me a chance to catch shows I might have wanted to see at one time but hadn't been able to.

You are even more of a movie and music lover than I am. Do you prefer to see the movie or read the book first? Or if you do one, you'd rather not do the other? And on the topic of music, do you listen to music while you read? Do you ever have soundtracks in your head to match the book you are reading or is that just me?

Florinda: I don't have a hard-and-fast rule about whether the book or the movie comes first, really. I've noticed that if I see a movie that's based on a book, I'll usually want to read the book afterwards, but sometimes reading the book first means I won't be as interested in the movie (or I'll be too apprehensive that the movie won't do the book justice).

I don't listen to music when I'm reading, oddly enough, but it's usually because I just don't think about turning it on - it's not that I find it distracting. (I play music in my office all the time.) I really don't have mental soundtracks to what I'm reading, though; I think I need more of a visual stimulus to do that kind of thing, so maybe it IS just you, Wendy :-).


Literary Feline: It wouldn't surprise me! I always seem to have a song in my head. I used to listen more to music (outside of my head) when I read, but in recent years, I prefer the quiet.

As for movies, I find I'm the opposite. If I read the book first, I almost always want to see the movie; while if I watch the movie first, I do not always want to read the book. Of course, it depends on the book.

On a similar topic, do you have any reading routines, rituals or habits?

Florinda: I read at breakfast and at bedtime, every day. Sadly, some days those are the only times I spend with a book, which is why I don't read or post reviews at the rate some bloggers do! (I blame reading other blogs and watching TV. Oh, and needing to go to work, and sleep.) On weekends, I like to take myself out to breakfast and spend an hour at Starbucks with a coffee and a book; that's become a reading ritual of sorts, and my favorite reading time of the week.


Literary Feline: Sleep and work are always getting in the way.

How do you pull yourself out of a reading or blogging slump or what steps do you take to avoid that from happening?

Florinda: I don't really get into slumps - I can't remember the last reading slump I was in, to be honest. Feeling indecisive about what to read next because you have too many great options isn't exactly the same thing as being in a reading slump, and I've experienced that much more lately! My blogging slumps tend to be pretty short - no more than a few days at a time, usually - because I start to miss it if I go a few days without writing, but sometimes I need a few days without it, especially if I've been on a tear and have several days' worth of posts prepared already. I really don't like writing and posting on the fly - I try to have a post ready at least a day before I want it to go up, most of the time.


Literary Feline: I envy you these traits. If I'm lucky, I may be able to plan a couple of days ahead, but most of the time I am posting on the fly. I find myself needing blogging breaks about every couple of months, which often helps me fend off a blogging slump.

Now to put you on the spot (you have 20 seconds to answer each of these questions--I've got my stop watch ready!):

Book you'd most like to be trapped with in a broken elevator for several hours: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, even though I've read it before - it's long enough that I won't finish it before I get out of the elevator, and it will definitely hold my interest!

It's storming outside, you're alone in the house, and the electricity has gone out; what book do you turn to pass the time? I'm probably not going to pick out a particular book for that occasion, to be honest - I'll just keep on with whatever book I'm reading at the time.

The storm has passed and it's a beautiful day outside. The temperature is just right. Will you read outside or inside? I'll stay inside because that's where the sofa is, but I'll open the windows and the screen doors.

You're picnicking by the lake and have an hour to yourself while the family is off exploring. What book did you bring with you to read? Same answer as the "storm" question, basically - either the book I'm currently reading, or whatever is next on the TBR stack! (Sorry, I'm boring like that.)

Name one book I absolutely must read at some point in my life: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott. It's like a great conversation with a smart, down-to-earth friend.


Literary Feline: Thank you, Florinda, for being my guest today! I hope all of you who are visiting will stop by The 3 R's Blog: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness and check out Florinda's blog.

Florinda: Thanks so much for inviting me to be part of your Page in the Life feature, Wendy, although this may be one of the longest Pages you've posted! I'm not known for keeping it short - except for my height. Thanks for indulging my rambling!

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© 2010, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved.
If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.