Once again I'm attempting a blog. If successful, this blog will feature a mixture of book reviews, writing thoughts, parenting adventures, political rants, and religious musings. Some posts will probably blend a few of those. There's a lot going on in my life right now that I feel like I need to document: my children are growing too fast, I'm about to start my second semester teaching, I'm in the midst of completing a nonfiction book that's going to get published...and there are a lot of things happening and books happening that I have thoughts and opinions on that I want to share.
With that being said, let's start with a book review...
As many of you know, there are few writers I idealize like I do Julianna Baggott. She was one of my undergrad instructors at Florida State. Not only did she teach me a lot about the writing craft, she inspired me by sharing her experience of the writing life...an experience that involved juggling motherhood and writing. This was especially pertinent to me the second time I had a class with her, because I was pregnant with my first child, and I was wondering if the birth of my daughter would mean the death of writing...
In addition to being the mother of four and a college professor, Julianna Baggott has about twenty books out, the most recent is published under the pen name Bridget Asher, and is titled "All of Us and Everything."
This author has a gift of using specific, engaging details to evoke the uniqueness of a situation or place. I love the tiny things in this work, like the taxidermy squirrels and the references to the musket incident...an event that occurred "off stage" but still had a lasting impact. I love the usage of family legend, and of legend come to life. The work managed to be both light and humorous, and yet deep, thoughtful, and beautifully meaningful. I can't think of another book that so perfectly blended entertainment and heart-wrenching emotion. From a craft perspective, I found the usage of a sort of omniscient, head-hoping narration intriguing...it's not something you see often, but for this story it works very well, and is the perfect vehicle to convey the thoughts and emotions of a diverse cast of characters. Because of the originality and uniqueness of each character, the head-hopping is never disorienting or confusing. Ultimately this is a story about love and loss, family, and sisterhood. I highly recommend it.
Julianna's website is: http://juliannabaggott.com/
Here's a podcast interview with Julianna Baggot discussing another book, "Harriat Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonder," which also came out in 2015: http://writethebook.podbean.com/e/julianna-baggott-interview-366-92115/
Happy reading!
