Slice of Life: A Start to New Stories

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(This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. We write about small moments each and every day for March. You come, too. Write with us.)

There’s something special to starting a new book. Yesterday, I began to read two new books that have been on my radar for some time. On one hand, I love stacks of unread books. They represent so much potential. On the other hand, seeing a stack of book to be read makes me antsy, and I risk losing the “moment” of being “in” the book I am reading in order to rush to get to the book next up on my list.

Does that happen to you?

 

Wildwood book cover

Anyway, the first new book I began reading yesterday is a read-aloud with my nine-year-old son (a common theme of my Slices of Life – if you remember, my very first Slice of Life six years ago was reading The Lorax to my older boys, who were much younger then). Wildwood Imperium, by Colin Meloy (he, of The Decemberists fame), is the third book in the Wildwood Chronicles. We read the first two books and have been waiting for some time for the third. That’s a whole other feeling, right? Waiting for the writer to get to work and get the story out (I’m talking to you, George R.R. Martin).

So, when Wildwood Imperium arrived earlier this week, and sat on the kitchen counter, my son and I were both thumbing our way through the pages, checking out the glorious illustrations by Meloy’s wife, Carson Ellis, and getting ready to dive in. Of course, neither of us can recall all the details of the last book, so I keep stopping and we keep asking each other, do you remember the shape shifting fox? the bear with hooks as claws? the plan to find the automaton boy prince? the magical tree?

There is tricky vocabulary in here (no surprise if you know Meloy as a songwriter) but I like that, and I like that my son has new words floating in his head as the story unfolds.

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The other book I picked up as a solo read is The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud,  American Legend — a non-fiction book about the masterful leader of the Sioux Indians who oversaw a huge swath of America and even defeated the U. S. Army at one point (I believe), only to have the tide of injustice sweep him under the rug of history. Those who win write the history books, right? I know I never read about Red Cloud in my social studies classes. Now, I am learning.

While non-fiction, the book has beautiful writing, very evocative of the landscape and characters and the time of expansion and turmoil in our country, and I am only a chapter deep but already wishing I had a few hours to sit with the pages, reading.

What are you reading?

Peace (in the words on the page as stories in the mind),
Kevin

2 Comments
  1. It’s amazing what you read about when you really read about history. I’m reading “The People’s History of the United States,” by Howard Zinn right now and I’m constantly referring to it in my English classes.

    I loved your comment about authors getting to work. I remember an interview that Chris Robinson (lead singer of the Black Crowes) did when their second album came out. He said, “Well, we were only in the studio for like 8 days, because we recorded everything live” and the reporter asked what took so long, and he said, “Well, we were kind of busy, you know.” There’s touring, writing music, lyrics! It still makes a fan want more though! That’s a sign that you’ve made it I guess!

  2. I have too many piles/bookcases full of books to be read. I need to live til I’m well over a hundred to get them all read! lol
    The second book sounds fascinating. Will search it out for sure.

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