Fiction: The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson

True charm and genuine innovation mark the debut novel of Pushcart Prize-winning author, Cynthia Swanson.

In Sliding Doors style, The Bookseller (Harper) tells the twinned stories of two women in the early 1960s. In 1962 Denver, 38-year-old Kitty Miller lives an austere life. By day she runs a bookshop with her best friend. By night the unmarried bookseller mostly hangs out with her cat and reads.

In 1963 Denver, Katharyn Andersson is the wife of Lars, the man of her dreams. Their life is perfect and looks exactly like the life Kitty once dreamed of for herself. The catch? Katharyn’s life only exists in Kitty’s dreams.

And Kitty has dreamed a beautiful, seductive place. The more time she spends there, the more the lines between fantasy and reality begin to fade.

Swanson writes beautifully, compellingly and we want to stick with Kitty to find out where this all will end. Sadly, that ending doesn’t deliver the surprise one might have hoped, for this reader anyway. That doesn’t stop me from recommending The Bookseller, and highly. I anticipate that Swanson’s debut will be one of my reading highlights for 2015.

New This Week: The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier

Though it felt like a long wait since Juliet, Anne Fortier’s 2010 debut, The Lost Sisterhood (Ballantine) seems absolutely worth it. Once again we have stunning historical detail, though this time with a strong thread of fantasy: or so many of us have been led to believe.

As the book opens, we meet bright young thing Diana Morgan, a philologist at Oxford University with a personal fixation on the Amazons that her colleagues find ridiculous. Morgan’s fixation has a strong foundation, though: an eccentric grandmother who thought that she herself was descended from the Amazons.

Diana’s beliefs seem vindicated when a mysterious organization invites her to consult on an excavation that will prove the Amazons existed.

In another thread, we meet those elusive and legendary Amazons as they begin their trek in North Africa and set out, accompanied by great danger and exciting adventure, on a mission of revenge.

One of the things that made this literary journey so enjoyable is the fact that there just hasn't been much fiction about the Amazons, though myths abound. Fortier leads us through largely uncharted territory as we follow her tribe of warrior women from North Africa on an indirect journey to their ultimate home.

The Lost Sisterhood is a perfectly fleshed out embodiment of a bit of lost history it would be wonderful to be able to believe. ◊

New Today: Night in Shanghai by Nicole Mones

Kiriyama Prize contending author Nicole Mones mixes things up deeply in her fourth novel, Night in Shanghai (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

An African American jazz musician from Baltimore is recruited to lead an all black jazz orchestra in Shanghai in 1936. Once there he discovers his life has taken a startling turn. Where he had struggled mightily back in the States -- against both poverty and racism -- he discovers that, in Shanghai he is revered and can reach for the highest heights.

While there, his life becomes entangled with that of the beautiful, educated and forbidden Song Yuhua. While Song initially appears obedient to the most powerful crime boss in Shanghai, it develops that she is secretly a spy.

To this already intriguing set up of characters, Mones mixes in the onset of the Second World War and a sea of change that will alter the very face of Shanghai -- and in some ways the world -- for ever.

Whether or not you recall her name, this is a storyteller whose voice we trust in matters of the recently historical. Not only is she the author of the stellar Lost in Translation and two other novels, her non-fiction work has appeared in the New York Times magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and Gourmet magazine and she is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Mones has said that Night in Shanghai is the result of extensive research. The novel is based on historic events including China’s role during the Holocaust when it became the only nation to welcome all Jews who managed to get there. Aspects of this are dramatized in the book. Mones’ genius comes in her attention for detail and her ability to sort out which of the vast array of facts she must search through will give the book its verisimilitude. And while Jazz Age China leaps to life for us, it never bogs down in encyclopedic overexplanation.

Night in Shanghai is a riveting, entertaining and illuminating look at a moment that has largely been lost from history. ◊

Fiction: The Forever Girl by Alexander McCall Smith

Fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s internationally beloved Ladies Detective Agency novels may find themselves confused by his latest book, The Forever Girl (Knopf Canada/Random House). Not an entry in either of McCall’s long-running series, The Forever Girl explores the nature and nuance of love through interlinked stories involving a couple and their daughter.

A child experiences her first love at age six, though she doesn’t have the words to describe it or the experience to understand. At the same time, her parents are discovering they are less in love than they once were. As the child, Clover, grows and changes, so does her love, even while her parents continue to struggle with their own realities and definitions.

This sweet and well-honed story shows McCall Smith to advantage. The characters and the tale are engaging and The Forever Girl emerges as a contemplation of love and how it forms us. Even so, it seems to me that many of this author’s fans will be put off by both the language and the very nature of the book. Though McCall Smith’s well known humor is not absent here, in The Forever Girl he uses it as a tool for examination of the inner-workings of the human heart and the tone, in general, is considerably less jaunty.

Now 65, McCall Smith is one of the most prolific authors alive, having written more than 50 books. ◊


Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat in the North Pacific.

Fiction: The Theory of Opposites by Allison Winn Scotch

There’s something pleasing about fiction that focuses on the premise of a self-help book that actually helps. Or doesn’t. Self-help in action explored in fiction is just a fun and satisfying idea. Will Ferguson’s 2001 novel Happiness(™) (which was first published as Generica) played with this idea most successfully. Someone writes a self-help book that actually works… and the world is changed.

Allison Winn Scotch’s The Theory of Opposites (Camellia Press) is sort of the reverse. The daughter of a bestselling self-help author writes a book that proves her father’s theories wrong. Dad’s book? Is It Really Your Choice? Why Your Entire Life May Be Out of Control. While daughter, Willa, whose perfect life has suddenly come unglued, writes the book that contradicts all of theories her father posited. (And, you guessed it: Willa calls her book The Theory of Opposites.)

If you were to believe my father -- and many people do -- you would believe that there is no such thing as coincidence. That life is a series of intentional moments that lead us from one of the next, each one ping-ponging us from one destiny to another, all of which carry us on a wave of life up until the inevitable: death.

In a nutshell, my dad is the guy who has more or less eliminated the idea of free will and has instead doomed us all to fate, to that old and ever-present irritating adage: everything happens for a reason. (Air quotes.)

Allison Winn Scotch’s fifth novel is smart, charming and a bit of a romp. If your taste in reading runs to RomCom-style literature (think Jennifer Cruisie, Sophie Kinsella or Jodie Picoult in her less serious moments) you are likely to enjoy this one. ◊


Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Non-Fiction: Working with Bitches by Meredith Fuller

Working with Bitches (DaCapo) is one of those books you’ll either not care much about one way or the other, or that will change your life almost as soon as you know it’s in the world. That is, if you need this book, you’ll know it when you see it.

The subtitle promises that the book will help you “Identify the 8 Types of Office Mean Girls and Rise Above Workplace Nastiness.” Again: this won’t speak to everyone and certainly not at all times, but I know from experience there are times in my life it would have been consoling, if nothing else, just to know this book was around and that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. As Fuller points out in her Prologue:

Bitchy behavior can be so insidious or slippery that it’s often hard to tell if you’re really being targeted or if you are simply too sensitive. You feel an uncomfortable mix of confused, amused, devastated, and angry. You don’t want to believe that someone in the sisterhood could possibly be working against you, whether consciously or unconsciously. You think you should be able to handle it, especially when you pride yourself on bringing out the best in others….but if you can’t fix it, the negative effect gets harder to cope with. You remain haunted by a cruel secret that you’re too humiliated to mention -- another woman is causing you grief, and you haven’t done a thing to deserve it.

Working psychologist Meredith Fuller helps readers recognize the eight types of office mean girls and -- more importantly -- how to deal with them.

Here, as Fuller sees it, are the eight types of workplace bitches:

The Excluder sees other women as oxygen thieves if there is no personal gain from communicating with them. She can pretend you don't exist and fail to pass on important information.

The Insecure micromanages everyone, trusts no one, and thinks that no one knows better than she does.

The Toxic is a two-faced game-player who should never be trusted. She'll suck up to you and be your best friend one minute, then gossip about you the next.

The Narcissist is a self-serving ego-centric mean girl who expects everyone to admire her. She doesn't care about the good of the company, only about looking good, and expects you to feed her ego.

The Screamer cries for attention, yells to intimidate, screams to insult, and then yells some more for good measure.

The Liar has mastered the art of excuses, quick fibs, and charming manipulations.

The Incompetent lacks knowledge, work ethic, and awareness. She makes you do the work for her or takes credit for your work in order to make herself look good.

The Not-a-Bitch may have an unfortunate or disagreeable manner, but is just trying to do her job.

New Today: Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

Jamie Ford’s second novel is exactly what you’re hoping to find when you pick up a family saga. It’s what you hope to find, but so seldom do.

Songs of Willow Frost (Ballantine) is a complete and surprising package. The book is polished, the storytelling sound, but there is heart here, as well. And passion. In other words, a balanced parcel in every way and truly one of my top reads of the year.

A Chinese American orphan sees an exotic actress, Willow Frost, at the theatre and feels certain it is his mother, lost to him many years before. He determines to find and confront her: how could she have given him up? What was the story there? The deeper he delves, however, the more starkly he discovers that there is more to that story than initially met the eye.

It’s been four years since the publication of Ford’s debut work, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet but, judging by this new book, it was four years well spent. Ford evokes Depression-era Seattle in all its conflicted nuance with a hand that is both deft and steady. Songs of Willow Frost is a heartbreakingly beautiful story of love and loss and the bonds that families create. ◊


Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

New Today: You Knew Me When by Emily Liebert

By the time I was a few pages into You Knew Me When (NAL) I was rolling my eyes and close to throwing in the towel. It just seemed that there was not much new in Emily Liebert’s (Facebook Fairytales) debut novel and it just felt as though I’d been down this particular fictional road before.

Having committed to reviewing the book, I persevered and I’m glad to report: first impressions aren’t always right. Though (especially in the beginning) it often feels as though You Knew Me When is treading familiar ground, Liebert’s warmth and skill draws you in and you realize that at least part of the reason so much of this story resonates on a personal level is that Liebert has tapped emotions and even experiences that many of us share. For a lot of us, that’s enough of a reason to read on.

Katherine Hill and Laney Marten were best friends as teens. Sisters, almost. But a dozen years have passed since Katherine left their shared hometown in Vermont for a life in Manhattan where she has become a successful cosmetics company executive.

Though Laney had big dreams, too, her life took different turns. She married young and started a family, but she hasen’t forgotten that her best friend bailed on her when she most needed her and the intervening years haven’t softened the grudge she bears her old friend. When Katherine returns to town claim an inheritance Laney and her are to share, the town finds the citified girl completely changed.

You see the part where all of this feels familiar, right? But Liebert tells her story compellingly and draws her characters so very well. Still have a bit of beach time to squeeze out of this summer? You Knew Me When would make for a terrific seaside companion. ◊


Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

New Today: Blood & Beauty: The Borgias by Sarah Dunant

Those who love their historical fiction blended up with the searing accuracy of solid research blended with a storyteller’s flare for the dramatic will love Sarah Dunant’s Blood & Beauty (Random House). Dunant’s fictional encounters with Italian Renaissance families have left sheafs of fans in her wake and Blood & Beauty will add even more: it seems like the best of a very good lot.

Under Dunant’s hand, the Borgia’s emerge with a complexion quite different from the one painted by popular history. Dunant’s Borgias are a more human bunch. The result is a more humane read than might be expected. As the title suggests, this is a family connected indeed by beauty, but more importantly by blood: the connections that matter beyond all others.

Fans of Dunant’s previous novels, including the dazzling Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan will be far from disappointed by Blood & Beauty. In fact, with its infamous cast, careful research and luscious leaps, this may be Dunant’s most thoroughly enjoyable novel yet. And those who adore it need not feel dismayed: only 10 years of Borgia time are covered by Blood & Beauty. It seems that fans will have more Machiavellian power plays to look forward to. ◊


Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

New This Week: The Boleyn King by Laura Anderson

What if Anne Boleyn had given her king a son? That’s the premise of this debut novel from an author who seems likely to give the likes of Phillipa Gregory and Alison Weir a run for their Tudors.

In an inclusion to the review package, author Laura Anderson describes how her young Tudor king came about:

In the summer of 2003, while reading a biography of Anne Boleyn, I was haunted by Anne’s final miscarriage in 1533: a baby boy that she lost on the very day of Catherine of Aragon’s funeral. Less than four months later, Anne herself would be executed -- in no small measure because of that miscarriage.

“What if?” I wondered for months afterward. What if Anne had not lost her son, but gone on to give birth to the male heir Henry VIII had so desperately sought?

And on this fanfic premise, Anderson began.

The Boleyn King (Ballentine) is an absolutely gorgeous manifestation of that urge to bring an intriguing story forward. Sure, there is history but, in so many ways, this is history-plus-more and Anderson’s Henry IX is a winning young man born to be a king beyond all others. There are empires to secure, of course. And, before long, love to consider.

The Boleyn King is the first in a trilogy, so brilliantly conceived and richly executed, fans of bold, historical dramas are likely to gobble them up as soon as they appear. ◊


Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Graphic Novel: War Brothers by Sharon E. McKay, Illustrated by Daniel LaFrance

Though I’m still slightly torn about whether or not the making of a child soldier is appropriate fodder for a graphic novel aimed at young adult readers, the combination of Sharon E. McKay’s powerful prose and Daniel LaFrance’s luminous illustrations is just right in War Brothers (Annick).

War Brothers was originally written in traditional novel form and published in 2008. Storyboard and graphic artist LaFrance brings the story to life with richly vivid illustrations shown us the abduction, training and ultimate escape of 14-year-old Ugandan Jacob, an apparent composite of children McKay interviewed several years ago who had been kidnapped then trained as soldiers for the Lord’s Resistance Army under the infamous Joseph Kony.

These components -- strong story, powerful storyteller, talented artist -- make for a winning combination. I’ll be very surprised if War Brothers doesn’t pick up its share of awards this year. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

New This Week: Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt

Ava Lark is a character out of time and out of place. In a Boston suburb in 1956, newly divorced Ava rents a house for herself and her 12-year-old son, Lewis. She is Jewish, a working mom, a divorcee, at a time when the combination of these things was rare and even suspicious. When Lewis’ best friend, Jimmy, goes missing, the Cold War paranoia that engulfs their neighborhood directs itself at Lewis and his mother.

The trauma of losing his friend haunts Lewis and has great impact on his life. In his 20s, he is ungrounded and failing all of his relationships. When the truth around Jimmy’s disappearance belatedly come to light, all of those whose lives were impacted by his loss must rediscover their own truths.

Caroline Leavitt’s 10th novel is a triumph of light and dark. The story at times brings to mind Dennis Lehane’s masterful Mystic River: a missing child, Boston, and the shocking darkness of the human heart, starkly glimpsed. In the end, though, Is This Tomorrow (Algonquin) is a woman’s story in a way that Mystic River never could be. And, ultimately, it begs the question: when someone goes missing, what happens to those left behind?

Though all of Leavitt’s novels have been superb and highly acclaimed, it strikes me that Is This Tomorrow is her most accomplished work. There is a sharp nuance here, one that reverberates throughout. That and lovely, vivid characterizations and superb period detail contribute to making what may be Leavitt’s best book yet. ◊


Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

New Today: A Dual Inheritance by Joanna Hershon

Boston 1962. Hugh Shipley and Ed Cantowitz are seniors at Harvard. Son of poor Jewish immigrants, Ed craves financial success, something he’s willing to aim for at almost any cost. Hugh, on the other hand, is from a wealthy family and has loftier goals. He wants to go to Africa and help those less fortunate than himself.

The years unwind and, in carefully shared chapters, the picture changes. Over time, Ed discovers he is less hollow than he feared. For his part, Hugh finds he is more flawed than he ever dreamed. And the two are bound by their love for the beautiful and enigmatic Helen, whose contributions to their shared stories will be surprising.

I’ve oversimplified, of course. Compressing a gorgeous, rich and deeply nuanced story into a couple of paragraphs. A Dual Inheritance (Ballantine) is so much more than that. For one thing, the careful unraveling of many years and an international backdrop give the novel an epic canvas. Hershon’s keenly told observations add another, deeper, dimension while her bang-on dialog and detailed character studies result in a story that seems to breath on its own as it leads us from Boston to Wall Street and from China to Haiti and Africa.

This is Hershon’s fourth novel, after The German Bride, Swimming and The Outside of August. This may be the best of a very good bunch. A Dual Inheritance is a stunning and accomplished read. I enjoyed every line. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

New in Paperback: Raising Elijah by Sandra Steingraber

Several years ago, my husband and I decided not to have children. It’s a decision we’ve seldom regretted, but I never regretted it less than when reading Sandra Steingraber’s Raising Elijah (Da Capo), a book that is essentially about the hazards of raising children in an increasingly toxic world.

Dangers to children -- both born and unborn -- abound. The very thought of it must, for parents, be crazy making. I can’t imagine how they do it. But if Raising Elijah were just a book about the myriad environmental hazards to children, it would be a deeply interesting book. Steingraber knows these waters well. But that would be a book that lacked this author’s heart and voice. Raising Elijah is lovely. It is interesting and mortifying, moving and funny. A call to action and a call to grief. Most simply, it is a wonderful book.

Steingraber, herself a PhD and a cancer survivor, is the author of Living Downstream and Having Faith, both highly personal books that look at the environment and what troubles it in an entirely lucid and compelling way. And while all of what she shares is interesting, some of it is downright shocking. Even alarming. Take this:

Here is what we know about the boy babies of women pregnant during the 9/11 attacks: Some of them disappeared. That is to say, they were never born at all. And they vanished not just among women living in New York City but throughout the United States. Three to four months after 9/11, significantly fewer boys were born and the death rate of male fetuses … increased by 12 percent.

This gender-selective loss and consequent reduction in the male birth rate is not without precedent. The male birth rate has been known to decline after “natural disasters, pollution events, and economic collapse.” No one understands the biological underpinnings for this phenomenon. 

And while on a certain level, all of this makes perfect sense, it feels startling to have it pointed out in this way: and having it not be something that is always and perfectly known. Plus, by the time early in the book when Steingraber shares these details, you are so entwined in the details of the story she is telling that when she does tell us, you just want to weep.

Raising Elijah is a call to action and a sweet love letter to motherhood from a talented and learned pen. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

New This Week: Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman

Those who love to start into a new year with a book substantial enough to do some damage when dropped on their foot will enjoy Sharon Kay Penman’s critically acclaimed Lionheart, which came out in paperback on January 1st from Ballantine.

It’s 1189 and the newly crowned Richard II, son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, sets off from England to the Holy Land and the Crusades.

Penman’s skill at spinning historic events into believable human tales has been demonstrated in several novels since her debut with 1982’s The Sunne in Splendour, about the life of Richard III. That was 11 novels ago. Lionheart is worthy of those early efforts, with all of the depth, nuance and mastery that Penman is noted for. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: Cakepops Holidays by Bakerella

Bakerella is Angie Dudley, the popular and adventurous blogger whose confections have formed a revolution. It’s possible that she didn’t invent them, but she certainly has done more than her share to not only bring them to the masses, but also to push the very boundaries of cake on a stick.

More than 800,000 copies of her first book about cakepops are in print. High time then to follow up with a second book, this one targeted on a theme -- in this case, the holidays -- and showcasing even more refined and well-thought-out confections. After all if nothing else, Dudley has more cakepops under her belt now than she did the last time.

The examples in Cakepops Holidays (Chronicle) are exquisite. Each one a tiny work of art ready to be “oohed” and “ahed” over before consumption. For example, who could ever resist a whole herd of tiny polar bears, each with a body that looks like a peppermint stick? Or tiny presents complete with name tags and pretty bows? Santas. Elves with freckles. Tiny Christmas lights. And many, many more.

Since Bakerella advises her readers to start with cake mix cakes, this is not exactly a cookbook. More like a book of edible art projects. The other things it is? A lot of holiday fun! ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas written and illustrated by Melanie Watt

The holidays are a veritable hotbed of hazards. As the publisher of Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas (KidsCan) tells us, it’s the season for “worrying, planning, decorating, wrapping, entertaining, caroling and, worst of all, fruitcake!”

Fortunately, in order to help out with all the frightening possibilities, beloved Scaredy Squirrel has compiled a “Safety Guide for Scaredies” in what I believe is his sixth outing.

As usual, award-winning author illustrator Melanie Watt delivers a charming mix of tomfoolery and silliness. For instance, a list of 12 things to do before Christmas includes ironing your tuxedo (to look spiffy), weighing your piggy bank (to balance budget) and get annual eye exam (to keep focus.)

A few pages later, there is some slight instruction on what does and does not look festive. (Hint: acorns make good holiday decorations. But hot dogs? Not so much.)

Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas is everything a Scaredy Squirrel book should be, with the added bonus of a seasonal tie-in. A terrific gift for the sacredy squirrel in your life! ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: A Shtinky Little Christmas by Patrick McDonnell

Those who love Patrick McDonnell’s “Mutts” comic strip featuring Earl the Dog and Mooch the cat will get a kick out of A Shtinky Little Christmas (Andrews McMeel).

Earl and Mooch find a lost kitten in a garbage can, name it Shtinky Pudding and try to give it shelter. Comic-style hijinx ensues, but there’s a happy ending and, on the way there, we are given one of the best take away lines in a book I’ve seen in a while: “One can purchase ‘unconditional’ love at any animal shelter for a small fee!”

This is a sweet, small, stocking-sized book. If you enjoy the aberrant style of the Mutts strip, make sure you add this one to your list. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: The Judge and the Lady by Marlyn Horsdal

Author, editor and one-time publisher, Marlyn Horsdal, pulls a page out of British Columbian history for her latest novel, The Judge and the Lady (Touchwood).

It is 1870 and beautiful Eleanor Wentworth arrives in the coastal city of Victoria from London just in time to lower her expectations. How can the fledgling city at the edge of frontier ever find its place in society? Though her first thought is to flee (but to where?), she soon finds herself attracted to a fascinating man who looks as though he may well go places, despite the disadvantages of location.

While Horsdal’s prose is occasionally a little breathless, her research and passion moves the story forward fruitfully. This is one for those who like a bit of fiction woven in with their history. And the history here seems unimpeachable. In an author’s note, Horsdal shares the fact that she edited a biography of Judge Matthew Begbie (the historical person whom the fictional Eleanor finds so fascinating). “I have portrayed the real Judge Begbie as accurately as I can,” Horsdal writes, “much of what he says in the novel is actual quotes, or drawn from his Bench Books, letters, and other writings.”

The Judge and the Lady provides as complete a fictional portrait of the era and the place as one can hope to find. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.

Holiday Gift Guide: A Year of Writing Dangerously by Barbara Abercrombie

The idea behind A Year of Writing Dangerously (New World Library) is to provide, as the subtitle says, “365 Days of Inspiration & Encouragement.” And it does.

Every day, seasoned author Barbara Abercrombie offers a single page that contains a relevant quote plus an essay, anecdote or even a question or thoughts, all about writing and all intended to get your juices flowing. As Abercrombie writes in her introduction:

Why a year?

Because if you want to write a novel or a memoir or an autobiography, you’ll need at least a year of focused work to get from the idea in your head to the reality of a first draft …. This is a book about writing your way through 365 days.

And it’s a lovely way. Abercrombie’s stories are rich and sharply detailed and well told. They are mostly intensely brief -- the better to get you going writing your own stuff, I suppose -- but they lift and inflate the reader. Sometimes in unexpected ways.

Some of the chapter headings tell the story. Why Writers Get Scared. Our Baggage. Imaginations Going Nuts.

A Year of Writing Dangerously would be a rich gift, indeed. And it is almost dangerously inspiration, with some witty and wise thrown in for good measure. It’s a very good book. ◊

Monica Stark is a contributing editor to January Magazine. She currently makes her home on a liveaboard boat somewhere in the North Pacific.