Nancy Freund LikesBooks
I'm intrigued by one of the current giveaway books, 'Swans Are Fat Too,' for its Polish history and broadly-reaching narrative. Even the description is well written and compelling. But I can't click to win it until I blog, evidently. So here I am. I'm a novel writer and a tweeter -- I like little tiny snippets of news (and links, often) or I like long literary explorations -- ideally with plenty of dialogue and left-of-center humor. I like poetry! And personal essay! But blogging, I'm not so sure. It's supposed to be a web-log of my life, right? I just never quite know where to start (or why) or when to end. But hopefully this little addition will suffice because I do hope to click to win those fat swans in Poland.
And one more thing... if I ever do figure out how to do it, I think I'll blog about my recent conversation on Arabic tattoos with an Emirati pilot I met on a flight to Rome. You never know where the most wonderful connections will occur. I lost the little notebook I had with me that day (sadly got all giddy with my bad self at Paul McVeigh's book launch at Waterstones in London -- for 'The Good Son,' which I highly recommend, if you haven't read that), and I dropped said notebook, never to be recovered... it had my name in Arabic lettering, a gift from my pilot friend, who has now sent me a scan of my name by email and told me of a new tattoo he's inked on his thigh... a Biblical quote in Latin about resisting temptation. See what I mean? There are unimaginable riches to write about, but putting them into a story format worth delivering is often beyond me. And until I can learn to gift-wrap an experience or a thought, I'm just not much of a blogger, I guess. Still -- please wish me luck with the Swans.
A perfect antidote to complicated, too-busy people-lives
My to-do list has been long and complicated this summer, so this lovely little book was the perfect antidote... an entirely guilt-free "guilty pleasure" that asked nothing of me, but delivered much. It's a beautiful melange of fable, philosophy, fairy tale, nature fiction, multicultural and cross-cultural social studies, and a hero's journey told through a filter of motherhood... with charming illustrations to mark transitions. I am glad it was translated from Korean for English-speaking readers, and glad this copy found its way to me. Any book that particular friend recommends in future will go straight to the top of my to-read stack.
