Sandy Hates Books

Two days before the hurricane hit New York City I walked around the DUMBO area of Brooklyn. I walked past the Powerhouse Arena bookshop. Inside there was a group of people having a Halloween party. The books were positioned all over the shelves looking shiny and new, and the people inside were having a great time eating snacks and drinking champagne.

Two days later, the entire DUMBO neighbourhood was underwater. The beautifully restored carousel I love so much which sits on the banks of the East River was left unable to be used after the mechanics were destroyed by sea water, and as water poured into the Powerhouse Arena, many books became causalities of Sandy.

Two weeks to the day after I was last there I walked past the Powerhouse Area once again, on my way to take pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge (which I couldn't do, power is still out in the park so the whole area is closed down at night). As I walked past the shop I noticed a number of garbage bags sitting on the sidewalk. On closer inspection I realised they were filled with water logged books.

It made me so sad to see all these books which had to be thrown out after the storm, and as we're a reading and writing community, I just wanted to share these pictures with you. The shop lost hundreds of books, their computer system, their security system and the water even broke the door.

Despite putting the books up high off the ground on the Sunday before the storm, the water levels were much high than they ever imagined. What's worse is they don't have flood insurance. The shop is having a fundraiser  THIS SATURDAY in NYC to help recover after the hurricane. It's a day of reading, refreshments, book signings and book browsing (See last photo). As well as that, if anyone wanted to make a donation or anything I'm sure they'd be very appreciative. 

It's so sad, and I really feel for the owner of the store. Please watch the video I've embedded at the end of this post which shows just how badly the store was hit.

Here's a video of them cleaning up after Sandy

RTW: Our Inspiration

Another Wednesday, another Road Trip! Road Trip Wednesday is a blog hop hosted by YA Highway!

This week we're all sharing our most inspiring and/or motivational video, book, or quote on writing!

When I was 11 I collected motivational quotes. I'm not entirely sure why, I just loved them so much. I had folders and books full of the things. Not all of them stuck with me, but there is one in particular that I've never forgotten. It's not specifically about writing, but in general I think it's a great approach to life.

"Always aim for the Moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

Of course there are a number of variations of this particular quote but I love it so much. I feel it can certainly be applied to writing, and any other aspect of your life. In general I use them as words to live by. 

To me, this quote is saying to aim as high as possible, always believe you can achieve, and never think any dream is too small. To that end I've always never thought of dreams as merely dreams, I think of them more as something that can be obtained if I work hard enough. Of course it's not always easy, not at all, but if you want something bad enough I believe you can get it. 

The other quote I really love, which can be applied to writing or again, life in general, is by the amazing Dr Seuss. 

'Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.'

It's true! Those who matter don't mind!

As for videos... again, they don't necessarily motivate or inspire me in terms of writing, but more in terms of life which consequently motivates and inspires my writing. The best place for inspirational videos is, of course, YouTube. You can find some real gems in there. 

There are heaps that I love, so I can't add them all here so I'm just going to show you one of my favourites.

This boy is such an inspiration. If he can build a windmill, I can ... write a book, climb a mountain, get a new job etc etc. This guy goes to show that if you want something, and you work at it, you can make miracles!

In terms of inspirational books, I talked recently about some non-fiction books that really inspire me.

Elissa Wall's story, document in A Stolen Innocence and Kay Bratt's story from Stolen Tears, inspired me to stand up for those who don't have a voice in this world. It motivated me to get out there and learn about other cultures and to do something worthwhile with my life. They're both brilliant books, I highly recommend them!

So they're mine! What are yours?

I am tired.

I'm sitting here trying to write. It's not working. I think the extend of my abilities at the moment are fighting the urge to keep my eyes from shutting and writing a blog post that isn't particularly witty or smart.

I'm very tired. I've watched my self-set bedtime slip later and later into the night. I've always been one to do my best work in the mornings and sleep soundly at night. I'm probably an abnormality here. Most people I know are night owls and work best during the hours of darkness. I wish I was one. Instead if I don't get enough sleep (and we're talking 7+ hours) then I am a zombie. A serious zombie who walks around with semi-glazed eyes all day while being extremely unproductive. Sad really.

I used to write essays for college when I was this tired. I'd think they were great, then I'd send them to my mum who would read it and tell me if it made sense before I'd turn it in. The essays that were written when I was tired were always sent back to me with the note "I feel like you wrote this while half asleep. It doesn't make sense. In fact it feels like you're combining two entirely different topics into this one essay. I suggest you redo". I would pout for a while and then with a fresh brain which had been given plenty of rest I would redo.

My roommate described this to me really well the other day. She said it's like being a flower. When I've had plenty of sleep, I'm alive and happy swaying in the sun. When I'm tired I start to droop until I'm 'watered' with sleep.

It really means when my brain feels like marshmallow I can't write a thing. Which is a real annoyance when I'm trying to write more than one sentence which makes no sense. What do you do in these circumstances? Do you have a way to kick start your brain or do you conclude there is no way to fix the situation except to sleep and try again tomorrow?

Note: Apologies if this is a load of nonsensical dribble. It tends to happen when I'm tired. In fact, chances are I won't even remember writing this post later.....!

Reading habits

Before I moved to New York, I didn't read as much as I wanted. I'd go through a couple of books a year, I'd read now and then before bed, and if I was traveling to my hometown (90 minute plane ride each way) I'd take a book along and read as much as I could.

Consequently I didn't get many books read. That all changed when I moved to America. My first apartment was out in Newark and it would take me around an hour each way to get to work. There was just so much time sitting on trains that I was suddenly reading for two hours every day. I had bought a few books over to America with me, but within the first week in our new apartment I'd finished them all. I had a lot of difficulty joining the New York public library because of my Newark, NJ address, and I didn't particularly like the library selection at Newark public library.

Once I did join the NYPL I found the book loaning system very strange. I couldn't quite figure out exactly how it worked and it kind of made me nervous! It was one of those little American differences that I couldn't quite get around.

I asked a few people I knew if they had any books I could borrow, and while they lent me some interesting looking stories, none of them were really my genre or really captured my attention. Not only that, but these books were big and heavy.

So, naturally, I bought a Kindle. It changed my life. I could carry my Kindle with me everywhere and the amount of books I read increased dramatically. Once I moved out of Newark and moved closer to the city the amount of time I had to read decreased somewhat, so my reading pace has slowed a little, but I'm still chewing through books as quickly as I can.

What I'm wondering though, is what your reading habits are. When I'm on the train and absorbed in my book I'm in good company. In other places though, I seem to be the only one reading. Maybe I'm just a bookworm, but I'm sure I can't be alone. Once I get off the train, I can't just put my book away, at least not until I finish the chapter, so I road read. A lot of people don't understand this term. I borrowed it from The Sky Is Everywhere (which is a pretty good book y'all should read). Basically it's just walking along the road and reading. Not always safe in NYC if you forget that you have to stop for traffic. I've only ever seen one other person do it for half a block after emerging from the subway. Aside from me and my FH who got the idea from me and only did it while he was absorbed in The Game of Thrones books.

Aside from road reading, I'll occasionally read while on the cardio machines at the gym, while i'm waiting in a line for the restrooms (most commonly) or any other occasion that finds me in a long line, while I'm waiting for the train, at the laundromat or sometimes while I'm waiting for my food to arrive at a cafe or super casual restaurant. I carry my Kindle with me, where ever I go, just in case something comes up that leaves me bored for more than 2 minutes and needing something to do.

Am I alone in this? Does anyone else carry a book or e-reader with them for those lulls in the day, or read in strange places to pass the time.... or simply because they can't put the book down. I'd love to know....!

RTW: Best Book of October

Roadtrip Wednesday is a blog hop hosted by YA Highway.

This week we're talking about the Best Book of October

Unfortunately I don't have one. I haven't been reading as many books lately because I'm STILL going on the Pretty Little Liars series. I'm up to the last book that's been published... so that's been taking up all my  reading time.

I did however read two other books during the month of October - unfortunately I didn't like either of them.

The first was The Clan of the Cave Bear. I know, I should have liked it because it's a classic and whatnot but I just couldn't get into it. Maybe it was the writing style or the way the story was told.... I can't put my finger on what I didn't like exactly...

I wanted to like it, and I wish I'd liked it. In fact I was determined to finish it so I actually skim read most of the chapters and read the last five with full concentration. To be fair, the concept of the book I really liked, and the story was really intriguing but it just wasn't my kind of book.

The other book I read was Titanic 2012. I don't even know what to say about this book other than that I thought it was terrible. For one, I found it really disrespected the lives of those lost in the sinking but suggesting it was an ancient curse that possessed people on the ship to cause the sinking in the first place. Then, there were many historical facts that the author got wrong. Half the book is set in 1912 and the other half in 2012. Both time periods see's people on both the Titanic, and a Titanic exploration ship that are trying to stop the curse from wrecking havoc. This book is the only book this year that I've put down and walked away from.

Clearly I'm in need of some recs. Anyone got anything good?

The Favourite Part

In the last week I spend 33 hours traveling. On four buses and a train. I don't know what was worse. Two buses were night buses, and anyone who has ridden a night bus before knows how horrible it is to try and sleep in a bus overnight. Unless you can fall asleep at the click of your fingers (I used to have this talent, I'm not sure where it's disappeared to...) then you arrive at your destination looking like you've walked off the set of The Walking Dead.

During some of these long trips I was sorting out my kindle. In two weeks I'm going to be embarking on a two month road trip across the United States before I move back to New Zealand. While I'm hugely excited about this trip I also know it's going to involve many, many hours of bus rides (unfortunately it's the cheapest, and most uncomfortable, way to travel). My kindle will be my best friend (not that it wasn't already).

And just slightly off topic here, I know some of you are very anti kindle, but I must stress, for me they don't replace books. I still love getting the hardcopy books, being able to flick through the pages, pour over the cover, easily flick back and forth.... but it was becoming difficult to lug heavy books with me along with my laptop, gym gear, lunch and other daily essentials on the train for an hour each way to and from work. I got a kindle for my birthday and now it goes everywhere with me. It's so lightweight and slim it hardly takes up any room, and it's meant I've started reading so much more than I used to. I've even convinced my FH to buy one which he's quite excited about.

So anyway, I was organising my collections in my kindle for hours, shuffling books around, making new 'collections' and new lists of what I want to read next when I started thinking about the whole 'book reading process'.

I was trying to figure out which part of reading a book is my favourite part.  It could be the beginning when you have the whole book full of adventure to look forward to; the middle where you're wanting to know what happens next and can't quite put the book down but you've got plenty of the book left to look forward to; the climax, when you won't let anyone talk to you because you must...keep....reading!; or just after the conflict has been resolved and the book is wrapping up, when you know you're finishing this adventure and you're almost ready to pick your next book.

I asked my FH what his favourite part is, and he said "half way through when you know there's no turning back, when it's pulled you in and you have to finish the book to know how the story ends." I do love that part too, but I'm not sure if that's my favourite part, my favourite is at the climax near the end, when the tension is so high and your head has gone all buzzy and you can't think of anything else but what is going to happen in the book. There's also the knowledge that the book is coming to and end soon and you're going to get to pick out your next book soon.

So what is your favourite part of the reading process? Is there a time when your favourite part lets you down? Perhaps it's when it's not enough of a page turner, or when the book drags, or when it doesn't quite give you the satisfaction you were looking for.... thoughts?

Non-Fiction Books that stay close to your heart

I want to talk a little bit about reading books that leave their footprint on you (so to speak). By this I mean books that have really have affected me in some way. The story has, in some way, made an impact to the point that I haven't easily been able to forget it.

This happens a lot with novels, which i'll talk about in the next few weeks, but there are a collection of other books I've read recently that have had a similar impact on me, but they're all non-fiction stories. That possibly makes them even more memorable.

The first that I read was several years ago. It's Torey Hayden's first book called One Child. Torey Hayden is a behaviour psychologist who has written a number of books about her experience helped traumatized and disturbed children. This book is about her experience with her first seriously mentally tortured child. Parts of the book - mostly those bits where you find out what has happened to the young girl, Sheila - are so horrible you'll be in tears and enraged at the same time. Other parts will turn you into the biggest preppiest cheerleader in the history of cheer as your root Sheila on. I've read a few more of Hayden's books, but this is definitely the most touching and incredible of all of her books.

 

Silent Tears is one that I'm recommending to everyone at the moment. It's basically a diary a woman kept during the years she lived in China volunteering at a Chinese orphanage. I can't get my head around the fact that this not only happened in my lifetime but just in the last few years. The conditions in these orphanages broke my heart. I wanted to adopt all of these poor children, many of them girls who were abandoned so couples could have more babies until they got boys because of the one child rule. Shocking. The book also talks about women being left by their husbands when they fail to give birth to a boy. I just can't even get my head around it. It is so barbaric, but then again, I don't fully understand the ways of their culture and no matter how hard I try, I don't think I ever will unless I go and live in China.

 

The woman who wrote this book really advocated for these kids. She worked so hard to try and encourage more American families (and others from around the world) to adopt these kids if they were looking to adopt. She helped raise money to get surgeries for the many kids with deformities, and she grew particularly attached to a number of the kids. This is a hard read, but it's a must read and I will never forget the things I took from this book.

Another book set in China that made a profound impact on me was Mao's Last Dancer. I'm sure many of you will have read this or seen the movie. It's a fantastic book which sends you on a total emotional journey. I learned a lot about China in this book, much of which really shocked me, but the journey of Li is a really incredible one, and to see how far he's come and to where he is now is astounding.

 

The final book that's really wormed its way into my head is Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall.
I started reading this book in New Zealand and was reading it as I flew to the USA, so I had no knowledge of Elissa's story or of Warren Jeffs but after this book I had a great deal of knowledge about it. This is basically the story of Elissa, an incredibly strong and brave young woman who grew up in the FDLS. She knew nothing of the 'outside world', and even after being forced to marry her first cousin (among other things), she still was fearful of what was outside the church. It's a heartbreaking and very powerful story which actually made such an impact that I reached out to Elissa to tell her how incredibly brave she is.

This book really helped me understand the life of those in cult religions such as the FDLS and to really comprehend why it is so hard for those that want to get out, to actually get out. It's an amazing story though, and also another I really recommend.

What are some non-fiction books that have really stuck with you that you can't help but recommend to everyone?