Summer Reading

I just finished reading THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton, first published in 1905...I LOVED THIS BOOK!! I don't know how I've missed reading Edith Wharton for the last 25 years...I am still under its tragic spell. Poor Lily Bart, you spineless, un-feminist, product-of-your-age-&-upbringing, twit! Ah, there is nothing like a great book. Now on to THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, which is actually the Midtown Book Group book for our July meeting...and I have to see if we can get the movie version of Mirth (Agent Scully as Lily Bart?!) on AppleTV...

Camp Mommy: 2010

July 2010 - Forgot to mention there is a NEW Rebel Review up:
BOOK GROUP REVIEWS [new feature!]: The Lost City by Henry Shukman

The summer is ambling along at a fairly quick pace, for summer. The kids are all three active and busy in various activities and we are actually going on a REAL vacation this year (as opposed to tent camping in Talladega, Alabama and our other "value-conscious" family vacation misadventures over the past couple summers!): We have rented a condo in Cocoa Beach for the 4th of July holiday - woo hoo!

Now that the kids are older -- 15yo Puberty Angst Boy, 13yo Drama Queen and 10yo ADHD Phenom -- Camp Mommy is not as active or in demand. That's a good thing, on the whole, but still...I kind of miss my cute little campers. The 15yo is either sleeping; on the couch watching TV; on the computer playing World of Warcraft (sometimes both at the same time!); off with his friends; or, last week, away at Army Camp at Fort Benning, Georgia, part of his JROTC program in school, which he loves. The 13yo has herself hooked up with a great job this summer, as a Summer Camp Counselor for a day-camp program in Piedmont Park, which is right across the street, so she, too, is fairly independent and over Camp Mommy. Fortunately, I still have the 10yo, my brilliant, quirky, very bright, very ACTIVE boy. He still loves and appreciates his Mom! (The others do, too, I know.)

The Young One and I have been spending most of the summer at the Georgia Tech CRC (Campus Recreation Center) which is, in a word, amazing! We are very fortunate to enjoy membership and use of the facility (hubby is hooked up like that, since his company is affiliated with the Georgia Tech ATDC - Advanced Technology Development Center). The 10yo doesn't much care for summer camp programs or crowds, sensory overload in general. He *loves* the CRC, especially the indoor recreational pool, with a big ol' waterslide (!!!) and, perhaps even more, the separate Olympic Competition Pool & Diving Well (built for the 1996 Summer Olympics hosted in Atlanta), where he can dive to his heart's content from the low & high diving boards. He loves to dive, go figure. He's also savvy enough to "join" (kind of) the summer camp program for kids at Georgia Tech -- timing our visits to the recreational pool during swim time, so he can play in the pool with a huge group of kids -- or not, if he's not feeling it -- and he can leave anytime, go over to the diving well and have the place to himself after the campers leave. Genius. So we spend hours at the CRC and it is wonderful. (There are adult-only hot tubs at both pools and comfortable lounge chairs and a sundeck at the recreational pool -- excellent for reading!)

It's a good summer, 2010, after a season or several of change. I guess that's what Life is all about, after all.

Joshilyn Jackson in Atlanta - Favorite Author Sighting 2.0!

I am very excited, and yes, of course, I'll tell you why:

One of my most-favorite authors, Joshilyn Jackson, has a new book out!



Not only that, she will be appearing at
The Literary Center at the Margaret Mitchell House
990 Peachtree Street | Atlanta, GA 30309-1366 | Phone 404.249.7015
to introduce Backseat Saints -- see the Rebel Review --
Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 7pm.

For more info about Joshilyn Jackson's books, check out Rebel Reviews:
2005 - I liked GODS IN ALABAMA -- a lot.
2006 - I love, Love, LOVED (still my favorite) BETWEEN, GEORGIA.
2008 - Liked THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING -- the author-crush began.
2010 - Buckle in for a wild ride with the spectacular BACKSEAT SAINTS!

SEE ALSO: Focus on The Author: Joshilyn Jackson 2.0

Focus on The Author: Joshilyn Jackson 2.0

Focus on The Author: Joshilyn Jackson

[updated re-post from April 2008]

First of all, I have to say, in five years of stalking the woman -- professionally, of course -- and reviewing her four (4) fabulous novels, I've had some Love Her/Hate Her contradictions regarding Joshilyn Jackson.

I overwhelmingly Love Her and I think she is a supremely talented and truly original author. After meeting her in person several times, drinking with her and having dinner with her, I think she is fabulous: funny, animated, engaging and a really, really nice person. We have a lot in common, despite the fact she was born and raised in the South, and I wasn't: She just turned 42 in April; she has two kids and now four published books. I turn 43 in October; I have three kids and one published book (but I have a Special Needs dog, does that count?) So she's younger and she is a best-selling author, still Love Her.

The one, teeny-tiny, little, very brief Hate Her moment came early in March [2008], before the book launch event for THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING, when I opened the Sunday Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) to not one, not two, but THREE separate articles about her, WITH pictures, on one day:
Sunday, March 2, 2008 - AJC/Arts & Books
K1 - Her 'small' books grip in a big way
K4 - Southern novelist's latest story turns on sisters' relationship
K7 - Mix of realism, fantastic keeps 'Swimming' afloat (Book Review)

Can I just say one little 'damn'?!

The three articles were all glowing with effusive praise for her and all three of her novels, of course. Actually, that's not an "of course," because the AJC can be fairly brutal in reviews, so it is, admittedly, well-deserved praise.

There are a few things I wanted to share with you, from my obsessive research and interaction with the author:

She claims to be a "plot girl" -- she likes stuff to happen.
From the AJC: "I tell myself stories or I make up people in my head, and after a long time, some of them will become internally loud...Then, usually, some triggering event will occur to me: What is going to blow them out of their comfort zone and make them change and make things happen? Then I do that thing. [She calls this process setting a character on fire in her book discussions.] And then I wait and see what happens."

In person, when I met her at a book group appearance in September 2007 (not my own -- I crashed just to see her) and at the Swimming launch in March, I found her down-to-earth, sparkly, entertaining, engaging and funny. She is, as they say here in the South, a hoot and fun to listen to, fun to be around.

She is candid, upbeat. Her first two novels did not get published. She quit for a while. She was lured back by her agent while she was working on Gods in Alabama, finished only after taking time off to have her daughter, who is now five years old.

From the AJC:
"The whole thing with the first two books not selling, it's the best thing that ever happened to me, because I wouldn't have my daughter. I think I could've been published earlier, but I wouldn't have the career I have now. This is better. I like having readers. I like making a living. I like that I get to tour. This is better."

Another reason to Love Her was her answer to a question from an audience member at MMH about her writing practice or rituals: "I have children. I write when I can."

She elaborated: "I HATE writing, but I love to revise."
For a busy mom/writer, that is very helpful, and hopeful, too. I keep thinking about her explanation, how for her writing is like digging clay; it's hard and it's messy and so, so ugly, but then you have something to work with, to sculpt and shape and make something beautiful -- and that is the fun part.

Joshilyn Jackson Trivia:
1) How many books did Joshilyn Jackson write before she was published? TWO
2) What was the title of her unpublished novel #2? "Forty Dead Horses"
3) What was the original title of Gods in Alabama?
"Gone to Bones" -- the idea of kudzu, with secrets being revealed by the passage of time. The title was ultimately changed to Gods in Alabama just prior to publication when Alice Sebold's Lovely Bones hit the best-seller's lists and it was too close for distinction.

Rebel Reviews Summary:
2005 - I liked GODS IN ALABAMA -- a lot.
2006 - I love, Love, LOVED (still my favorite) BETWEEN, GEORGIA.
2008 - Liked THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING -- the author-crush began.
2010 - Buckle in for a wild ride with the spectacular BACKSEAT SAINTS!

FaceBook Update

Oh, see now, my last post was complaining about Facebook...and this morning I posted a link to RebelHousewife.com on my FB wall, so that all my old friends that I have reconnected with in the last week can come visit and check it out...only to see me complaining about Facebook!

Of course, I didn't mean any of YOU!

I have trolled the Facebook in the last couple of weeks. I connected with my GCA (Georgia Cyber Academy) groups, which was the whole point, and my GCA friend in Columbus (hey, Tamee!) - she's a hoot, as they say down here in The South (capitalized) and a huge help with this homeschooling (kind of) thing. I discovered family all over the place, even my mother-in-law, which is just...weird. But a good weird. My 7th grade daughter Friended me back, which is very cool. I didn't even send a request to my 9th grade son -- as if I could take that kind of rejection. (Actually, having Facebooking teens is one of the best reasons to be on it.)

And then there is the whole high school crowd, from North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, Washington (Class of 1985). I started searching out to see if there was going to be a 25th reunion this summer (there is) and ended up finding a trio of my very best friends from high school. Wow. For someone who has not been back to the past in 15 years (made it to the 10th reunion, but nothing since) and hasn't kept up, it is really interesting and wonderful to see my very best girlfriends, now women, with husbands and children and adult lives just like my own. I went so far away after high school and college and getting married, Washington State to Florida to Atlanta, I completely lost touch.

25 years later...it's a shock, it really is.