My Summer Reading List

The sun is shining, the temperature is rising, the bugs are buzzing, and I decided it's an ideal time to sit indoors and organize my reading plan.  I spent the past few days googling lists of books trying to sort out a few that I wanted to read this summer.  I jotted down ten titles and then painfully whittled them down to six, a goal possibly attainable. When making this list, I focused on a getting a diverse set of well-written books.  This isn't ordered in any particular way, I have yet to decide which one to start with.

• Breakfast At Tiffany's by Truman Capote.  The goings on of a female city socialite narrated by a man who is a tenant in the same apartment complex.  I'm not quite sure what to expect out of this novella, but Capote's work is well respected for his mastery of prose.  This novella seems to be mainly character driven, so I'll be getting a taste of that.
• The Postman by David Brin.  Set in post-apocalyptic America, a cold and hungry man finds a United States Postal uniform, and sack of mail and poses as a post man for food and supplies but also gives hope to the people.  I've read that the touching plot is what makes it worth reading.  I know there is a movie out there with Kevin Costner, but surprisingly I've never seen it.
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.  A man fakes insanity to escape a prison sentence and instead goes into an insane asylum.  I've seen the movie and now I'm even more excited to read the book. 
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.  Through he eyes of five Russian aristocratic families we see the story of Russia during the Napoleonic era.  The book delves into many philosophical discussions along as a historical narrative.  I am pretty sure I'll save this book for last and will likely finish it sometime before I die.  War and Peace is one of the longest books ever written somewhere over a whopping 560,000 words.
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.  A detective murder mystery that investigates the death of Roger Ackroyd, if you didn't catch that in the title.  Agatha Christie is considered the best of the best when it comes to detective murder mysteries, so I hear.  On top of that this novel is considered her best work. So I deduce that when it comes to detective fiction, this novel the best of the best of the best.
• Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.  A story about a boy growing up in Ireland who discovers that he wants to be writer and his struggles grow as an artist.  This story is suspected to be semi-autobiographical of James Joyce's own life.  It's said the style of writing in this novel is spectacular; that's why I'm reading it. 

I sure have my work cut out for me.  After I finish each book I'll do a review and analysis post.  For the lack of content in the last couple of months, I apologize.  I'll be getting back to my three posts a month in June.

Have you read any of these books? If so what did you think? What's on your reading list? Which book do you think I should start with?  Answer in the comments below or tweet me @mandycalvin .  I love feedback.
*edit- links added Aug 9, 2012

Collegiate Foothills

For the aspiring writer, there are many valleys and hills and other landscape metaphors that he must cross.  One decision he must make is the route he plans to take in his formal education: what college and what major.  Is it worth the investment of time and money to study creative writing in college?  do you need to? So let's look at successful writers and their decisions about their education:

• Ray Bradbury: His formal education never went farther than his high school diploma.

• Dan Brown: He graduated from Phillips Exeter, his high school, and continued into Amherst college.

• Meg Cabot: She attended Indiana University.  She made a point not to study writing there because a young man, whom would later become her husband, said that, "studying creative writing as a major sucks the love of writing out of you ". Taking his advice she studied studio art instead, however she did take a few workshops in creative writing.

• John Grogan:  Went to Central Michigan University and graduated with a double major in English and Journalism.

• Daniel Keyes: After he finished his service in the U.S. Maritime Service, he Graduated from Brooklyn college with a B.A. in Psychology.

• Stephen King: Graduated from the University of Maine with a bachelors in English.  He wrote a weekly column for his college newspaper while he studied there.

• Jean Kwok:  After moving to America from Hong Kong, Jean attended Harvard and graduated with honors in English and American Literature.  She went on to get a masters in fine arts at Columbia.

• Stephenie Meyer: Graduated from Brigham University in Utah with a bachelors in English.

• Jodi Picoult: Studied Creative writing at Princeton, then continued to get a masters in education at Harvard.

• Nicolas Sparks: He graduated from his high school as valedictorian.  Then he went to Notre Dame on a track scholarship and majored in Business finance.

Of course, there are many more writers, but from the lot we have there is an array of stories.  However, English seems to be the most popular.  Though school and learning the technicalities of writing is important, learning through life is even more important.  Even in the strangest fiction, life is the basic subject matter.  (I already wrote about learning through life in my post An Education).  Ray Bradbury, mentioned above, is very adamant about this also calling himself a "student of life".  Yet you can be a student of life and a student of the book simultaniously.  It's just that the value of learning from what's around you is often overlooked.

No writer is the same as they come from so many different types of backgrounds.  What you choose in your education will affect that.  In the end, I believe it doesn't matter what you get your degree in, so long as it's something you enjoy and if possible practical.  Because you do need some means to pay for your writing habit.  The diploma on the wall, whatever it may be, won't get you published.  It's the things you learn and apply to your writing that will.

References:
http://www.stephenking.com/the_author.html
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/bio.html
http://www.nicholassparks.com/AboutNicholas.asp?PageID=1
http://www.megcabot.com/about-meg-cabot/frequently-asked-questions-about-meg-cabot/#college
http://www.jodipicoult.com/JodiPicoult.html#kudos
http://www.raybradbury.com/bio.html
http://www.danbrown.com/
http://www.jeankwok.com/author.shtml
http://www.johngroganbooks.com/marley/about.html
http://www.danielkeyesauthor.com/dksbio.html

17 Tips for Traveling by Plane

9 General Flying Tips to Enjoy Your Flight:
+Make sure you are not congested before you board a plane.  Planes rapidly ascend and descend resulting in a large amount pressure change.  Slightly uncomfortable nasal pressure problems can happen.  Chewing gum also helps alleviate any pressure problems in the ears.  Moving your jaw around to "pop" your ears works too.
+Be aware of TSA regulations, for those traveling to and from American airports.  When you are packing know that there is limit on how much liquid you can carry and of all the prohibited items. 
+It's best to arrive an hour before your flight departs to allow time for security and to let you locate your gate.
+Dress in comfortable, stretchy clothing.
+If you can, just pack carry-ons, don't check in a bag.  Checked in bags are lost often, even more so on connecting flights.  Some airlines charge money for checked bags, so sometimes it's cheaper to carry just carry-ons.
+Wear easy to take off shoes, because you have to take them off during the security check.
+Have something to do at the gate as you wait to board, but don't listening to your MP3 player.  You need to be able to listen to any announcements like gate changes or delays. 
+When you board the plane, know where the lavatory is and where the occupied light is.  The stewardess should go over that in his or her safety speech.
+ When traveling alone there is a science to getting good seating with space between you and other people.  Isle seats are overall the best.  You can get out easily and you got space next to you.  Sit your carry on in the seat beside you and leave it there until they close the door for the airplane, this deters people from sitting in that seat.  This only works if it's not a full flight.

8 Things to Do on the Plane
+Read (if it's a good book, time passes the quickest doing this)
+Take notes of the experience, especially if it's your first time flying, to use in something you're writing or going to write
+People watch, a plane is like any other public place: filled with strangers who can make good character fodder.  Just don't stare too much. 
+Sleep, maybe you might have an interesting dream.
+Get to know your characters better.  A simple exercise you can do in your head: Come up with some questions and then interview your characters and see how they answer.  By spending flying time on digging into your character's personalities, you're both entertained and developing your story.
+Work on your work in progress on a laptop or paper
+Take a print out of your story, if it's finished, and edit it on the plane.
+Listen to music and meditate on your writing super powers ;)

3 Fun Writing Activities

Writing is a rather solitary craft. Yet, it's nice to go out and meet other people who enjoy writing as much as you.  That's one reason why writing clubs are common.  There are all sorts of writing groups out there.  Some are private and made up of friends, some are school clubs, and some are among the community.  Most of these groups focus on reading each other's work and giving feedback, which is great.  But if no one has anything to share, or just for diversity, why not have some entertaining group activities? 

Here are 3 writing activities I know are fun for groups:

1. Hot Potato Story
The object of the game is creating an impromptu, unplanned, story together.  Generally you should have everyone sit in a circle, as if they were sitting around a camp fire.  The way it works is someone starts a story then passes it on to the next person to continue.  After they are done adding something to the story they pass it on the the next person.  As it goes from person to person the story develops taking a new spin with every person's addition.  You keep going until either the story ends or there is no more time left.  This game is great in getting shy members out of their shell and to have a good time as a group. 

2.  Group Character
It's somewhat like the Hot Potato game, except instead of making a story the group creates a character.  As a group you add on certain characteristics to the character: name, age, gender, appearance, personality traits, memories, and other random facts.  If you have a dry erase board you can draw the character and write down his characteristics.  If not, use pencil and paper to keep track of what you all come up with. 

3.  Observe and Make Up
This is a perfect game if your meetings are at a busy public place like a restaurant or library.  Pick a random stranger that is nearby.  Watch them for a moment and take note of what they do and what their demeanor is like.   After some time, everyone in the group will write down a fictional story about the random person.  In their story the random guy should be given a name, some sort of background, and why they are at that public place.  When everyone is done take turns sharing stories.  This game also be played alone.

Four good writer movies

How we all love the lazy days of summer. After a the many festivities outside, firing fireworks and eating bar-B-Q, in the recent days it feels like a good idea to curl up on the couch and relax before a good movie. Or read a good book. Or just relax on the couch. I don't have a list recommending any good books or good couches at the moment, but I did gather a list of entertaining writer movies. When I say "writer movies", I mean a movie that has a character that is a writer or is about writing or both. So here is my line up, in order of greatest to least greatest:


Romancing the Stone
-Action/Adventure/Romance 1984
Joan Wilder(Kathleen Turner) is a romance/adventure novelist, who has hardly herself strayed passed her imagination when it comes to adventure or romance. When her sister phones her, telling her she needs Joan's help or else her captors will kill her, Joan flees the big city to rescue her sister in Colombia. In Colombia, with criminals on her heels, she meets that ambitious Jack Colton (Michael Douglas)and together they embark on a romantic adventure.


Throw Mama from the Train
-Comedy 1987
This comical spin off of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train begins with Larry(Billy Crystal). Larry is a writer who's ex-wife stole his novel and took all the credit and profit of it. Suffering from mass hatred and writer's block, he wishes she was dead. Larry teaches a writing class and one of his not talented pupils is Owen (Danny DeVito). Owen has an decrepit and overbearing mother, who he wishes was dead. When Larry tries to give Owen some assistance on his murder mystery writing, Owen misinterprets what he says and thinks he is suggesting they themselves swap murders. So Owen flies to Hawaii to murder Larry's ex-wife. When he returns, he expects Larry to keep his end of the bargain.


Julie and Julia
-Comedy/Biography 2009
This story follows cooking and writing hardships of two women of two different times, Julie(Amy Adams) and Julia(Meryl Streep). Most people know Julia Child for her cooking shows and her distinct voice,but the movie begins at the very start of her cooking profession in 1949. In 2002 Julie Powell is a struggling writer and is unemployed. To get through her crisis she decides to start a blog following her way through the numerous recipes of Julia child's book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. We watch the the rise and falls of the two stories, parallel to on another.


Inkheart
-Adventure/Fantasy 2009
This mystical family film is about Mo Folchart (Brendan Fraser) who has the ability to bring characters in books to real life, just by reading them. He and his daughter are busy searching for a specific book,Ink heart, so they can send back the villains that he brought out from it. Also, in attempt to rescue his wife who had gone missing the night the character were brought out from their book. Adventure and friend are strewed across the way as they search, which also affects the destiny of humanity.