Welcome to the Writers' State

The O.Henry stamp, on sale now
from the USPS.

The South has a rich heritage of storytelling. As I once wrote on this blog: "After all, there are enough quirky characters, class tensions, long-rooted melancholies, traditions, religions, accents, and storytellers in the region to fill millions of volumes."
And while I recognize that Mississippi has created once of the richest gumbos of authors and books, I contend that my home state of North Carolina offers its own fertile ground for creativity.
I know most people first think of Thomas Wolfe, Maya Angelou, Jerry Bledsoe, or even William Sidney Porter (aka O.Henry) when they think of North Carolina writers.
But this state also has been home to Clyde Edgerton, David Brinkley, Doris Betts, Charles Kuralt, Edward R. Murrow, Jill McCorkle, Kaye Gibbons, Lee Smith, and even Zelda Fitzgerald. Zelda once spent an infamous spell in an Asheville institution.
It's almost one year to the day since Doris Betts died. I was lucky enough to meet her and to review some of her books. What an amazing woman. Read Souls Raised from the Dead. You won't be sorry.
North Carolina also has many famous sites that have been written about, towns that were the inspiration for fictional locations, and hidden gems that are of historical value for those who love literature. One of my favorites is a little-known garden and cemetery in Greensboro where O.Henry's parents and grandparents are buried.
Now there's an online database for all of us who are fascinated by this literary heritage. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro has spent years researching locations of fictional towns and the hometowns of over 3,000 authors.
Recently featured in Our State magazine, the database is finally getting its due for all the hard work. And this will be an ongoing project for UNCG as the state continues to produce new authors, and to provide the backdrop for compelling reads.
If you'd like to peruse that database and its map of storytelling and storytellers, click here.
And if you need something to read, look up any of those authors I listed above. They have an incredible number of books ready to entice you.

Review + Author's Recipe: Family Affair

I've known Lee Woodruff for years through a cyber-friendship. We recently met "in real life" at a signing event for this new book. I'm thrilled that Lee agreed to provide a recipe for my book review, and to a quick interview that I've included at the bottom of this post.

Review: Those We Love Most

by Lee Woodruff

The blink of an eye. That saying may be a cliché, but as we learned from the news about Boston last week, it truly takes just a brief moment to change everything. And the ripples from a tragic event can shake the foundations of even the closest relationships.
When I hear about those awful events, and about the people that sometimes cause them, I think of the families, and how they must be coping - or not coping - with the aftermath.

Tragedy and family are at the core of this touching book, an examination of how we react and move on when all that we know is challenged.
One quick and painful mistake sends shockwaves through Maura Corrigan's family, shattering her carefully constructed façade of a perfect life.
The effects of that single event open a Pandora's box of secrets for Maura, her husband Pete, and even her parents, as they all struggle to recover from their grief and pain.
Far from a "heavy" tragic tale, though, Those We Love Most examines the struggles that families face, the way we knit our relationships back together after a roadblock knocks us apart, and how, in the end, we can emerge individually stronger and, perhaps, closer than before.
Woodruff is an unfortunate authority on this topic, having been through her own well-documented and difficult tragedies. But she writes with warmth and humor, offering the comfort of a close friend who holds your hand in dark hours, and makes you laugh when you truly need it.
Those We Love Most is now available in paperback from Hyperion/Voice.

Recipe: Lee Woodruff's Asparagus Artichoke Salad

My thanks to Lee Woodruff for providing this accompaniment to Those We Love Most. She says this is a spring salad recipe one could find on the Corrigan table at a family gathering. It is also a preferred one for Lee and her sisters.
Prep time: 10 minutes. Cook time: 12 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 large shallot, sliced thin (can sub a few thin slices of red onion or some sliced spring onion)
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 pounds thick asparagus, rinsed, tough ends broken off and discarded (or saved for stock). Note: Thick asparagus spears are easier than thin to roast or grill without becoming too dry or over-cooked.
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
Salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 15-ounce jar of good quality marinated artichoke hearts, quartered or cut in half (depending on the size of the artichokes)
METHOD
Soak the sliced shallots in the lemon juice as you get ready to make the rest of the salad. To roast the asparagus, preheat the oven to 400°F. Coat the asparagus spears with 1 Tbsp of olive oil, and salt them well. Place in a single layer in a foil-lined roasting pan, and cook for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned and fork-tender. To grill the asparagus, prepare your charcoal or gas grill for high direct heat. Coat the asparagus with 1 Tbsp of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Grill them until nicely charred and fork tender, between 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the asparagus from the oven or grill and cut into bite-sized pieces. Put the asparagus and all the remaining ingredients into a large bowl and mix to combine. Add as much of the marinating liquid from the jarred artichokes as you like. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Yield: Serve 6-8 as a side dish.

An Interview with Lee Woodruff



Cathrine White Photography

Read Eat Think: You've written non-fiction before; did you have any reservations or concerns about moving into fiction?

Lee Woodruff: Not at all. This is exactly what I have always wanted to do - make up stories. And while writing fiction was more challenging than non-fiction, it was incredibly enjoyable for me to make up a story, create dialogue, and get the characters to play well together.

RET: Even though this book is fiction, it's usually the case that authors find their best stories in reality. What events or characters in your own life wove themselves into this book?

LW: Most authors I know use their own lives and experiences in some way to inform their writing. The premise of the book, that a teenager inadvertently hits a child while driving a car, is something that happened a few towns over in real life. I received a phone call that the child's parents, whom I didn't know, wanted to speak to me about his injuries as I had been through a traumatic brain injury with my husband. I never ended up talking to them but the phone call about the accident stayed with me. I thought about all the people that one random act would affect and then I began writing.

Some of the scenes in the hospital, the familiarity with loss and grieving...I drew on my own experiences for that.

RET: You've received a lot of praise for Those We Love Most. What is it like to read incredible quotes about your work like those you've received from Harlan Coben, Sue Monk Kidd, and Alice Hoffman?

LW: It's pretty freaking humbling. I'm still pinching myself.

RET: Tell me about your writing process - do you have a particular time of day that you like to write, or a particular place? Do you listen to music?

LW: Boy, do I wish I had a routine! Some day...

I can't wait to write every single day. Or almost. I think every writer needs to take sabbaticals where the creativity whip isn't at your back. Right now, with kids at home and a day job, I describe my non-existent writing routine as “writing in the margins of my life.” 

Most of this book and the one before it were written largely on planes and in hotel rooms. That’s my best place to write with no distraction. Having more of this time will be one of the bright sides of being an empty nester in a few years. I used to write with soap operas on in the background for company, believe it or not, but now after four kids my most blissful noise is..... silence.

RET: What are your favorite books?

LW: My MOST favorite of all time, and I wrote a blog about re-reading it 20 years later, is Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety. I loved Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, and Map of the World by Jane Hamilton. I love anything by Nora Ephron and David Sedaris. I have so many that I've started a list.

World Book Night: A Handmaid's Tale

I was thrilled to be selected to distribute free books this year for World Book Night, which will take place next week on April 23. And I was even more excited when I discovered that I would be able to give away one of my favorites: The Handmaid's Tale.

I first read Margaret Atwood's incredible novel in college. I remember thinking that it was beautifully written and disturbing...and that nothing like it could ever happen in reality.

Reading it again today, decades later, the book is chillingly familiar, with themes that resonate around our current culture and politics. In fact, The Handmaid's Tale almost feels too close for comfort when viewed against our society's debates about religion and its role in politics.
In the book's fictional realm of Gilead, a military coup has been staged by a right-wing, ultra-religious, homophobic cult that sees itself as the solution to social ills and "degradation." The coup starts with a terrorist attack, falsely blamed on Islamic militants. The attack kills the president and many members of Congress, so the Sons of Jacob take over, suspending the constitution and setting new religious and social rules as a way of "restoring order." The sexes are segregated, as are all non-white races, any child with a birth defect is made to "disappear," and homosexuality is punishable by death.
Part of that new theocracy, and the heart of the novel, involves removing the rights of all women and creating an ultra-conservative social agenda. Women are now forbidden to read, to hold jobs outside of the home, to vote, or to be in public view at all. And, as part of a plan to reverse the declining birth rate, some women who have proven to be fertile must now serve as concubines to high-ranking officials to help continue the line of "right thinking" people.
Offred is one of these "handmaids," assigned to The Commander to produce an heir for him and his wife, who is assumed to be (and is blamed for) being sterile. Offred is seen only to be a tool and nothing more; even her name is a derivation of The Commander's (of-Fred). Her spirit has been crushed by the subjugation of the totalitarian Sons of Jacob. Although Offred had children in her pre-revolution life, she doesn't appear to be able to become pregnant with The Commander.
With all of their livelihoods depending on a child, The Commander's wife insists that Offred have a relationship with Nick, the family chauffeur. With Nick, Offred learns that there is a resistance movement called Mayday, and that there could be hope for change in her world. The book ends uncertainly, as life often does, but an epilogue suggests a more positive future for Gilead.
I recently asked a few college-age young women if they had read The Handmaid's Tale, and was quite surprised that it no long appears on university required-reading lists. In fact, in an ironic twist that would be funny if it wasn't so frightening, Atwood's novel is often found on lists of banned books. Given that its themes are about censorship and controlling governments, that's a stunning statement.
So look for me on April 23 – I'll give you a free copy of this mind-altering and "subversive" text. Maybe it should be renamed The Cautionary's Tale.

An Ode to Scrabble

Last Saturday was National Scrabble Day. Yes, there is a National Scrabble Day.

As I have mentioned many times here before, I am a Scrabble player. And like with many other obsessions, admitting you have a problem is the first step. But can anything so right be so wrong? The answer, in a two-letter word, is no.
In my ongoing mission to recruit new members to my Scrabble cult club, I present to you a clever poem that will teach you all 101 two-letter words in the English language. Wait, let me amend that. There are 101 two-letter words in the Scrabble dictionary. Which is not at all the same as the Oxford English Dictionary. I have had many arguments about this in the past, and it is still the one thing I don't like about Scrabble. But I digress.
As anyone who has played the board game with any level of strategy can tell you, two-letter words are one of the keys to success. Well, that and memorizing all of the Z words.
David Bukszpan, author of Is That a Word?, is the creator of this ingenious poem, presented by Daily Beast here.
My favorite on the list (and the bane of my daughter's playing time) is Qi. That also happens to be the most popular of the two-letter words used in Scrabble. Mainly because it is one of the only ways you can use the stupid Q when you don't have a U.
So when you find yourself stuck with two vowels (AA, AE, OE) or a rare-ish letter (KA, KI, XI, ZA), you'll thank me for the reference.

Look for Me April 23

As I'm sure you've guessed, I am very excited to have been selected as a "giver" for World Book Night on April 23.
This is just a short post to share that excitement, and photos of the books I picked up yesterday. Look for me next week if you would like to receive The Handmaid's Tale.

The box I picked up at Barnes & Noble last night.

The fantastic certificate for Book Givers.

The most important part - the books.
 

Love that they are all imprinted with World Book Night.

Nice inscription inside each book, too.

Finding the Zen

This is my 200th post. I started this blog, as many of you know, just for myself. I am a former journalist who wanted a chance to write again, and to share my love of books and food.
It's interesting how often I hear fellow bloggers say that they find their blogs to be stressful at times. I thought that was a strange statement – until I found myself stressed out by my blog.
As I said, I started this blog for myself. I didn't really talk about it (I still don't) and I certainly haven't done any advertising or promotion for it. But yet the audience grew, I mean really grew. I'm still startled when someone tells me that they enjoyed a particular post, or that they subscribe to my blog.
Once I saw the stats on the blog, I started to think about the people who were reading it, and I freaked out if I couldn't post as often as I like, or I would second-guess what I was going to write. Recently, I had to snap myself out of it, to remind myself that I started out writing for the enjoyment of it, not so I could grow a huge audience. And I assume that if you are reading this, you just enjoy books as much as I do and will forgive me if occasionally my real life gets in the way of my reading life. Because, well, that's just life.
I found the Zen again in my blog. The whole reason I started in the first place. So for my 200th post, I'm going to review a book that truly is about rediscovering Zen.

Review: Buddhaland Brooklyn

by Richard C. Morais

Seido Oda is only 11 when his father tells him that he will join a nearby Buddhist monastery on Mount Nagata in Japan. Being pushed from his tight-knit family of innkeepers into a quiet introspective life is a shock to Oda's system. Soon after, his family perishes in a fire, leaving the young Oda shaken and in turmoil. The monks slowly help him heal, and Oda is soothed by the surrounding rivers and mountains. But a rift remains inside Oda. As he says, "I made the conscious and forceful decision...never to cry again. I determinedly locked the tragedy of my family away in the deepest chamber I could find, as if it all had happened to a different person in a different world."
But, as we know, those buried secrets have a way of finding their way to the surface.
Thirty years later, Oda is a high-ranking monk with a severe way of looking at the rites and practices of his faith. His superior asks him to leave his quiet life and go to faraway Brooklyn, to help a group of Buddhists open a new temple. Despite his reservations, Oda agrees to go.
In Brooklyn, he finds a group of disparate personalities who are practicing their faith in sometimes strange and misguided ways. Oda decides it is his job to snap them all into shape, to follow his idea of Buddhism to the letter.
His reserved attitude and his strict approach to faith are tested again and again, and when he is faced with another tragedy, Oda realizes that his strictness has really barred his own way to true enlightenment all along.
Told with humor and empathy, Buddhaland Brooklyn shows us all that there are many paths to finding one's Zen, and that it can be right in front of us all along.
This is the second book I've read by Morais. His first, The Hundred-Foot Journey, is completely different and equally as good.

Guest Review: Vampires in the Lemon Grove

Guest Review by Aana

Readers of this blog may have noticed a trend: My mom hates short stories. I cannot think of a single collection of short stories she actually liked. And that’s totally fine. Like country music or romance novels (ugh), short stories aren’t for everyone.
However, I love short stories, when done correctly. They are a lot like commercials – there’s always the potential to be hilarious or touching, but the majority end up like this. So it’s always nice to see a collection of short stories like Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell.
What really appeals to me about Vampires is that the author’s imagination really shines through. It reminds me of being a little kid and getting in one of those “what-if” competitions with my friends.
You know, “What if aliens exist?” “Well, what if cows are actually aliens that are spying on us?” “Well what if horses are members of an anti-alien organization sent here to keep watch on the cows?” “Well what if the whole farm is actually a huge space ship and the barn is equipped with meteor-busting lasers and a force-field powered by atomic chicken droppings?” You know how it goes.
Except that Karen Russell has made the “what-if” competition mature and intriguing. For example, what if women in Meiji-era Japan were duped into working in silk factories, given tea that turned them into silkworms, and forced to actually produce silk threads through their skin?
What if all of the events in the universe were influenced by random items stolen by seagulls? It’s like reading someone else’s dream diary. Everything makes just enough sense that you could see someone dreaming it up, but each story is stranger and more fascinating than the last.
For a weird, twisted, thoroughly enjoyable journey, I highly recommend Vampires in the Lemon Grove. Unless you don’t like short stories, that is.

Ed Note: She's right, I don't like short stories. However, I do like her "what-if" games. They are always entertaining, and she always takes hers 10 steps beyond what "normal" people tend to. That's how we roll in our family. Try to keep up. CTS 

Review: The Orphan Master's Son

For the second year in a row, a Zombie book has won the Tournament of Books, brought to you by The Morning News. Last year, I completely disagreed with the overall winner. This year, although it wasn't the book I selected to win, I am very happy that The Orphan Master's Son took home the coveted Rooster prize.

With North Korea becoming more provocative every day with its talk of war and destruction, this is an apt time for a book about life in the bafflingly combative country. Adam Johnson paints a vivid picture of a country that is secretive, brutal, and as self-destructive as anything else.
Pak Jun Do is the "son" from the title, who grew up in an orphanage run by his father. He learned early on to live two lives, pretending that his father was not related to him so that he could remain in the orphanage.
Jun Do (whose name is a definite nod to John Doe), grows up both anonymous and a mirror of whatever others want to see in him. He becomes a kidnapper for the state, grabbing whoever the country's leaders need from the shores of South Korea and Japan – like a doctor, or a sports pro, or even a prospective bride for a prominent politician.
His life of secrecy, and an ear for other languages, later makes him the perfect spy to be posted on a fishing trawler, listening to radio transmissions from other countries. A pivotal encounter with the U.S. Navy changes everything when Jun Do and his shipmates create a story about one of their number being thrown to the sharks, rather than having to tell the authorities he has escaped. They even go so far as to give Jun Do a severe wound from a dead shark's mouth to lend credence to the story.
Returning to the shores as a "hero," Jun Do is selected by the government to pretend to be a diplomat. His newest mission is to fly to Texas on a secret trip to get concessions from the U.S. government. When he expresses doubt about his ability to convince the Americans of his new identity, his handler Dr. Song tells him, “Where we are from, stories are factual. If a farmer is declared a musical virtuoso by the state, everyone had better start calling him maestro. And secretly, he’d be wise to start practicing the piano.”
That single quote gets to the heart of this book, and really defines why North Korea could be teetering on the verge of an un-winnable war. The trip to Texas also brings into focus the conundrum that we who have lived in freedom cannot understand about those who have lived under a totalitarian government.
As Jun Do visits the ranch of an influential senator, he looks through family photos and is almost overwhelmed by what he sees: “This was a family start to finish, without wars or famines or political prisons, without a stranger coming to town to drown your daughter.”
But when asked if he would ever want to remain in the U.S., particularly since he has no family ties himself in North Korea, Jun Do asks, “Are there labor camps? Mandatory marriages? Forced-criticism sessions? Loudspeakers?” When he is told that there are none of those things in the U.S., he responds: “Then I’m not sure I could ever feel free here. In my country everything makes simple, clear sense. It’s the most straightforward place on Earth.”
Jun Do returns to his country and to yet another identity. But this time, his new persona is a high-ranking official, and Jun Do has the opportunity to reveal his true self through this facade.
After all, as one of the people he meets in Texas tells him, “A John Doe has an exact identity. It’s just yet to be discovered.”
Although it's a work of fiction, Adam Johnson has added enough of the real-world North Korea to his book to bring the country to life – including details like actual kidnappings, the strange Vinalon fabric that is unique to North Korea, the deprivation, and the sheep-like following that the people seem to have for their government.
Given the almost mind-boggling declarations of superiority coming from Kim Jong-un, The Orphan Master's Son at least offers some sort of explanation, that this is a country that is propped up by its lies to the point where almost no one knows what the truth is anymore.