Book Collections

  LUCY BURDETTE: Eight years ago, my wonderful stepmother died unexpectedly, which meant that we needed to move my dad (who had Alzheimer's) to be near my sister in Florida. And this meant that John and I needed to go to South Jersey to clear out his office. He'd been a book collector all his life – we didn't have the same taste, he preferred history to my fiction. As we were sorting through those books, deciding which would go to the library and which we would send to his room in an assisted living facility, we got a little window into his psyche. Here's an example of what he was interested in; as you can see he was fascinated with American Indians and their battles with white men. We got the biggest giggle out of his impressive collection of books about white women who'd been captured by Indians. Freud might've had a field day with that but I will leave it alone. 

If you look on my shelves, aside from the huge piles of mysteries and women's fiction, you'd find a big collection of foodie books. (This doesn't even count the horde of cookbooks I have in the kitchen, many of which I haven't looked at in years.) To me, food is so much more than eating to stay alive. And the people who write foodie books write about food as a conduit for relationships and history and love.

Reds and red readers, what are your book collections like, if you have them?

HALLIE EPHRON: I have a tiny book-lined office -- crime fiction, writing, and reference. If I acquire a new book one has to go out... that's the rule.

Jerry's cool collection

My husband, on the other hand, is a serious book collector. Old illustrated children's books, books about New York City, and birds are his sweet spots. He's also cheap, so most of what we have has been acquired at yard sales. And there's a TON of them in bookcases all over the house, so I'm sure my children will have a miserable time going through it when it comes that time.

Here's just a sample of some small books he has tucked in at the end of a row in a bookcase with glass doors. Irresistible, right? He's a keeper, too.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Not many "collections"- but a few books I treasure. 
These are in my study: the beautiful Sue Graftons, just a few so far. And my Nancy-Trixie-Cherry Ames shelf.   There are bookcases all over our house, gosh, just about in every room, and one lining the hallway upstairs.  We just gave hundreds of books to the library, but you almost cannot tell. Which is so sad. I fear there are piles on the floor in my study, but they are behind a chair so you can't see them.  :-)  It's just so difficult to get rid of books.  Hallie, that's a good rule. But so far, not doing it!  (But then--it drives me crazy that I can't find the one I want. Somewhere in our house is the Ruth Ware book. But where?) (I know, it sounds like a who's on first...)
 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: A couple of years ago I purged about 400 books from my house. To be fair, some of them were loads of foreign editions of my own books, but most were just accumulated odds and ends. Don't worry, there are plenty left! But I have tried to be better about passing on things I don't think I'll reread. The shelves in my upstairs office (once again groaning and triple-stacked) are mostly to-read books, and the research books I've used for my novels. The shelves in the downstairs office are mostly mystery series that are "keepers" for me, and some fantasy and sci-fi. The bookshelves in the hall and the dining room, however, are an odd assortment of classics and children's books, biology, poetry, biography, and things long out of print. Here are a couple of my favorite shelves (looking forward to sharing some of these with Wren in a year or few!) That's two bookcases out of five in our hall, and there are two more in the dining room. Maybe I should purge again...

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm not sure if I'm a book collector as much as I am a book KEEPER. We have boxes of books in the attic. Shelves in the hallways and on the stair landings. Each of the kids has at least three bookshelves in their rooms. There are stacks in the bathrooms. In fact, the only place where they're aren't any books are downstairs in the cellar (too damp) and in the entryway (we need the room for coats, boots, etc.)

That being said, I do have a nice collection of books by other mystery authors signed to me, or to Ross, or just signed. I keep a bunch of them in this living room bookshelf/glasses tray/curio cabinet. The only ones I know for sure have any monetary value are the three first printing, first edition copies of IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER that I saved for the kids, currently going for $300 to $400 on ABE. Why didn't someone tell me to hang on to the rest of my author copies?!? I also have THE WHITE TRILOGY by Ken Bruen, a softcover published by Justin Charles & Co, Kate's Mystery Books imprint. It was brand new in 2003 when I bought it at her annual holiday party in Cambridge (remember how much fun those were?) and now it's worth between $300 and $400, too. Who knew?

Of course, I'm never going to unload any of my books, so I suppose it'll be my grandchildren who reap the financial rewards of collecting. Unless they're book keepers as well, in which case, these babies may never go on the market.

 
SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Not really enough room in a NYC condo for collections of any kind (although that doesn't stop Noel), but I did put together a set of Random House children's classics for Kiddo. I started when I was in my twenties (a lot of them are my favorites, too!) and now he's been dipping in. I usually get him a new one every Christmas, too!

How about you Reds? what would we find on your shelves?

The Collaborative Relationship Between Reader and Writer

LUCY BURDETTE: You may remember a visit in 2013 from Kristen-Paige Madonia with her marvelous novel, FINGERPRINTS OF YOU. She has a new book out now called INVISIBLE FAULT LINES, and I couldn't resist checking in with her. Welcome Kristen-Paige!

KRISTEN-PAIGE MADONIA: I never imagined becoming a writer who wrote books about time-travel or alternate universes, but when I began drafting INVISIBLE FAULT LINES I knew that I wanted to be braver on the page. I wanted to take risks and do something different than what I had done with my first novel, FINGERPRINTS OF YOU. Both of my books explore the complexities of family dynamics and a teenager’s journey coming-of-age, but with INVISIBLE FAULT LINES I wanted to consider the idea of the impossible being possible, to experiment with structure and form, and to challenge my own perceptions of reality and mystery. It turned out that I wouldn’t be able to do that on my own -- the book would become a collaborative project with each person who read it.

INVISIBLE FAULT LINES is a character-driven missing-persons story about the ways we cope with loss and an intimate look at one family’s modes of survival when faced with tragedy. But it’s something more, too. It’s a mystery novel with historical fiction elements blended into a contemporary story that contains hints of time-travel and the possibility of alternate worlds or simultaneous existences. And so I’ve settled on the label “hybrid” – it’s part contemporary, part historical, part mystery and part magical, depending on what you choose to believe. In the end, it’s up to the reader to decide what has happened to the characters and how their lives will take shape as the story progresses. 

The book invites the reader to participate and to make his or her own decisions. With this novel, I wanted to acknowledge that not all questions have clear answers, and I wanted readers to reevaluate their own beliefs and consider how they would cope with the loss that my character is faced with it. The book asks a great deal of the reader in that way. 

With each novel I publish I become more aware that once the book is on shelves, it no longer belongs to me. My book becomes your book, and the book becomes a different book with each reader who reads it. No two readers are alike, and, consequently, there are as many versions of the novel as there are readers. With the publication of INVISIBLE FAULT LINES it has become increasingly clear that creating a story requires active participation from the reader. Regardless of my own intentions, the reader will enter the novel with their own backstory and experiences that will impact their interpretation of the narrative arc and the characters’ actions and reactions. The reader becomes responsible for filling any voids or ambiguities I’ve allowed for in the story. 

And isn’t that why we write? To engage with the world in new ways, to connect with others by exploring our emotions on a more complex and intimate level, and to come together in collaboration to create something magical through the words on the page.    

What do you look for in an ending, Jungle Red Readers -- a tied up conclusion with all the questions answered, or an open-ended ambiguous conclusion that invites you to participate in the story? 

Kristen-Paige Madonia is the author of Invisible Fault Lines and Fingerprints of You, both published by Simon & Schuster. She teaches creative writing at James Madison University, Goochland County High School, and the Key West Literary Seminar and is a member of the low-residency MFA program faculty with the University of Nebraska, Omaha. Visit her at http://www.kristenpaigemadonia.com/ or follow her @KPMadonia.
 

I Saw the Signs By J.C. Lane

LUCY BURDETTE: The year I served as the president of the National Sisters in Crime organization, Judy Clemens was my vice president. She proved herself to be talented, dedicated, and a tireless worker. Later on, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her doggedness surfaced. She was determined to get through that health crisis and welcomed the support of her friends and fans. Today she's written a guest post that highlights her determination and humor--I know you'll enjoy it! Welcome Judy aka JC Lane!

JC LANE: Somewhere on the crazy side of my brain I decided it would be a good idea to run a half-marathon. Sure, I know people who have run full ones, and even one person who’s training for a fifty-miler (talk about crazy!), but a half was as far as I was willing to go, especially since I’d never been a runner before last summer.

So starting in January I went through the training regimen for four months (which, depending which day you asked me, was the Worst. Thing. Ever.) Sore feet. Sore knees. 5:30 AM alarms to squeeze a run in before work. But finally, race day arrived. April 30, the Capital City Half-Marathon in Columbus, Ohio. I was excited and ready to go!

Neon running shirt? Check.

Banana and yogurt? Check.

Bathroom break? Check.

My faster-than-I hubby crowded into our slow-pace corral with me (isn’t he the best?), and after watching the elites and some not-so-elites start off on the big screen, it was our turn.

Immediately, poster board signs showed up along the course held aloft by children, men, women, groups, and families. The signs were varied. Big, brightly-colored, scribbled, artistic, inspirational. funny…

The Funny Ones. Why hadn’t I expected that?

THIS IS A LOT OF PAIN FOR A FREE BANANA!

SMILE, YOU PAID FOR THIS

RUN FASTER! I FARTED!

And such they were.

The first few miles I was feeling pretty good. I got this. I’m doing this. No problem.

I TRAINED FOR SIX MONTHS TO MAKE THIS SIGN

We hit mile four and single digits – only nine miles to go!

SMILE IF YOU PEED A LITTLE

At mile five my feet started to hurt.

DON’T WORRY! TOMORROW YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO FEEL YOUR FEET.

During mile six I could feel my sleeve chafing my underarm.

GETTING UP EARLY TO HOLD THIS SIGN WAS HARD WORK, TOO.

Seven, eight, nine…

By mile ten my legs weighed a hundred pounds each. When did this happen?

RUN FASTER! RYAN GOSLING IS AT THE FINISH LINE!

Every step after mile eleven was farther than I’d ever run before, since training took me only up to that point. My knees and my right glute were killing me.

WTF. WHERE’S THE FINISH LINE?

Mile twelve. Would you believe the last half-mile was UPHILL? For real.

SERIOUSLY! YOU’RE ALMOST THERE!

And finally, finally, the finish line.

YOU ARE A CHAMPION.

I’d done it. It was over. I’d run every step without stopping.

Never again.

I guess I need to make my own sign for that.

What would your sign say?

 

J.C. Lane is the author of the thriller Tag, You’re Dead, which crossed its own finish line on July 5. She also writes mysteries as Judy Clemens, including the Stella Crown series and the Grim Reaper mysteries. She’s gone through more running shoes in the past year than she has her whole life. You can read more about her at jclanebooks.com.