by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 17, 2012 | craft of writing, journeys, novels |
If you were to ask me to recommend a novel written in the first person, I would say Anne Enright’s The Gathering. I’ve read it twice and I’m thinking about reading it again. But I just finished her most recent novel, The Forgotten Waltz, and although...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Dec 17, 2011 | novels, obsession, reading, stories |
My writing group just finished reading Colm Toibin’s collection, The Empty Family. Although some people in the group loved it, I didn’t. I’ve started giving away the books I know I won’t read again, and this one will be sent on its...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Nov 10, 2011 | journeys, mfa, novels |
It’s difficult to think of anything other than the stunning crimson and gold leaves outside my windows. I have been doing too many other things lately. And I have come to the place where I need to set aside time for writing. Why do you refuse to admit that in...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Sep 28, 2011 | craft of writing, novels |
In a stack of books I wanted to write about, I found Elizabeth Strout’s Amy & Isabelle that I reread in November of 2010–almost a year ago. (I really should clean out my study more often–yes, I’m still going–down to one laundry...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 31, 2011 | first novels, reviews |
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, the debut novel by Heidi Durrow, is a story that will make you ache in all the best ways. Barbara Kingsolver chose it as the winner of the Bellwether Prize for Fiction in 2008, and it was published by Algonquin in 2010. It is a story...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 17, 2011 | craft of writing, details, novels |
In Await Your Reply, published in 2009, Dan Chaon uses repetition in a very cool way. Instead of bogging down the original scene, he pushes the action forward first, then a bit later, moves in for a close-up or two, adding additional details. For example, on page 246,...
