The Wife's Tale: Discussion Recap

What a night! We were thrilled to discuss The Wife’s Tale with Lori Lansens with about a dozen other women.

At the end of my work day I was able to fit in a quick workout before getting on the call. I know a few mom’s listened with their kids in the background, Heather joined from work, and I believe Kim took the call while on the bus (traveling from NYC to her home). We started our discussion talking about a mom who listened to our January book club while waiting for her children at Karate. We are truly on the move, trying to find time for us!

If you were not able to join us last night you will find a 30 minute clip posted for your listening pleasure (see link on the right column). More importantly, if you haven’t had the chance to read this book yet I encourage you to read it. This is the story of a woman who is lost, paralyzed by life. She has stopped living and when her husband goes missing Mary Gooch is forced to take make some decisions. Along the way she begins to find herself, meeting some wonderful people, discovering that she is a priority and can survive!

I need to give a special thank you to Lori, I was having some computer issues for the first few minutes of the call and had to reboot my laptop (ugh) – while I did this Lori shared a bit about her life. She’s married, with two children and lives in California. Her first three books take place in Canada, where she is from and she is working on an idea for her fourth novel. You can hear all about it when you listen to the audio clip.

We have a few bloggers that are also MMBC readers. Gayle with Everyday I write the Book has posted her review.  Leave a comment with the link to your review, if you are reading/writing with us. I"m aware of two or three others (they haven't posted yet though).

Here are some questions for you, the reader:
- What was your overall view of the book? Did you enjoy it?
- Did you have a favorite part in the book?
- How did your opinion of Mary Gooch change from the beginning of the book to the end?
- Lastly, do you have any questions for the author? If yes, leave them here and I will send a list to Lori.

The following recap is in my own words:

Overcoming fears: We discussed that Mary is fearful to the point of not being able to live her life. Fear is a state of mind, when Mary boards the plane for the first time she overcomes a fear and begins to realize flying isn't so scary.  As the book continues we watch Mary overcome many fears.

Women going through a divorce seem to relate to Mary, they have a great opportunity to recreate themselves

Mary’s voice: This book has little dialog since we are listening to Mary work through her issues. Why? Mary is looking into a mirror in the first paragraph and shes sharing her 'internal landscape'. The story is told with only Mary’s voice so we can understand that she feels cloistered.

Mary’s high school weight loss: Lori shares the dirt story that we were all talking about! It’s an unbelievable story – listen to the clip to hear the complete story. It’s based on tur events.

Author’s weight struggle: Yes, Lori has struggled with her weight over the years; she wants everyone to remember you do not need to be over weight to have issues with food. Mary Gooch is just one woman and this is one woman’s weight loss story.

The Ending: One reader commented on the ending and mentioned it was satisfying. As mentioned before, this is Mary’s story and the truth of Gooch remains a mystery (we never hear from him).

Where to you see Mary today? This is a tough question! Many readers have asked for a sequel and some would like to read Jimmy Gooch's story. Lori has thoughts about Mary but she doesn’t want to spoil her version because it changes as time goes on and she wants the reader to hold onto their vision for Mary.

Writing habits: Lori writes daily and has been known to set her alarm (she doesn’t want to write through the end of the school day - in true manic mommy fashion!).  She treats writing like a job and starts each day editing the previous days work.

What’s next for Lori: She’s thinking about writing setting her next book in Golden Hills (the California location in The Wife’s Tale)

Current reads and favorite authors: Lori is reading The Self Esteem Trap (a parenting book).  She enjoys Phillip Roth, John Irving, Margaret Atwood and many more.

Audio Link: If you were unable to join us, you can listen by clicking on the arrow below (you can also download to your computer/itunes by clicking on the link to the right).




Next month we will be discussing Why is my Mother getting a Tattoo with Jancee Dunn

March 2010 Selection: Why is my Mother getting a Tattoo?

Manic Mommies Book Club Selection: March 2010

We will be discussing this book with the author on March 17. Watch for details as we get closer to the date.

A 24 book giveaway will be posted to the Manic Mommies website within the next week. 

Click here to read my review - I am expecting a lot of storytelling and getting to know everyone a little more come March.  We were sharing stories last week after we finished discussing April and Oliver and I shared just one story from the book.

Synopsis: Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo? explores this phenomenon–through both Dunn’s coming to grips with getting older and her folks’ attempts to turn back the clock. In a series of hilarious and heartwarming essays, Dunn conspires with her sisters to finagle their way into the old family homestead, dissects the whys and wherefores of her parents’ obsession with newspaper clippings, confronts the seamy side of the JC Penney catalogs she paged through as a kid, and accompanies her sixtysomething mother to a New Jersey tattoo parlor, where Mom is giddy to get a raven inked onto her wrist. And Dunn does it all with humor and insight.

Type: Fiction, 224 pages, Trade paperback

Author Q&A:
Tell us a little about yourself: I am 43 and live in a converted church in Brooklyn, New York with my husband, Tom (who is also a writer) and my baby, Sylvie. I have written three books: But Enough About Me, a memoir on my life as a rock journalist for Rolling Stone, a novel called Don't You Forget About Me, and my latest book, a collection of essays entitled Why Is My Mother Getting A Tattoo? And yes, she got a tattoo, at the age of 67: a big black raven on her wrist. My mother isn't exactly a biker, either. She's a member of her garden club in New Jersey and wears pink cable-knit sweaters. I write frequently about my family. They used to protest and throw around phrases like 'this is off the record,' but now they don't even flinch. At every family get-together, I harvest new material.

I also write for many magazines, among them Vogue and O, The Oprah Magazine. And I was once a veejay on MTV2 for five years. I'm proud to say I was the oldest female veejay in the history of Viacom.

Do you write daily? I do. I write when the baby naps, so it's this sort of concentrated burst. I had the baby right before I turned 43, so I think this will probably be my only one, and I really want to enjoy her. So I don't have a nanny, or daycare, or anything. It's been a challenge, to say the least, to try and earn a living during her nap times. So far I'm squeaking by.

What was it like getting your first novel published? The day it came out, I ran down to the Barnes and Noble in my neighborhood. I literally ran. I burst in the door and there it was, piled on a table near the entrance. I grabbed a book and burst into tears. The security guard was watching me with concern. I think he thought I was a deranged person, which might have something to do with the stained sweatpants I was wearing at the time.

It was one of the most exciting moments of my life. It has been my dream since I was a small child (which is kind of a weird dream for a kid) to get a book published. That's all I ever wanted.

Then, of course, I lurked by the table, pretending I was a customer, to see if anyone picked up the book. I was probably reading a prop book upside down.

What do you think of the electronic book (kindles and such)? I'm old-fashioned. I like holding a book. I understand why electronic books are popular, especially among travelers, but I just love the experience of holding a book and turning the pages. Books are like friends to me.

What is one tip that you can share with aspiring writers? Read, read, read. Quality books will seep into your own writing. And I got the hang of writing in other people's voices by listening to people's conversations on the subway, and then running home and trying to replicate them on my computer. It was a very helpful exercise.

What are you reading now? Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, which is excellent, and The Children's Book By A.S. Byatt. And Baby 411, my favorite baby advice book ever.

Lastly, share one or two of your all time favorite novels read, excluding classics: I love novels that completely immerse you in a time and place. To that end, I highly recommend The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, a creepy ghost story about the remaining members of a venerable old English family who live in Hundreds Hall, a crumbling mansion in the countryside. I wasn't wild about the ending (I could go on here but I don't want to give anything away) but until then, I thought the novel was perfection, the sort of book where you're so absorbed reading it that you're irritated to stop for a meal or take a shower.

Just for fun:
Favorite Season: Autumn. I do everything autumnal that I possibly can: pumpkin picking, shuffling through the leaves, drinking hot apple cider. Buying mums. Making molasses cookies.

Morning or night: Morning! I'm up at 6:30. It's particularly nice in New York City, where I live, because the cars aren't out yet and the air is as fresh as it's going to get. I bound out of bed for my coffee and newspaper. It never gets old! It was very easy to adjust to an early-rising infant, I must say. She wakes up at 6:30, too.

Favorite ice cream flavor: Chocolate peanut butter from Haagen-Dasz, which I can never find but oh how I love it. And apparently they have a special flavor called Fleur de Sel Caramel, and I've searched everywhere in vain. One day I will find you, Fleur de Sel Caramel!

If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go: I love to travel and have a long, long list: Buenos Aries, Budapest, and Kenya are at the top.

MMBC: April & Oliver Discussion begins today!

The Manic Mommies Book Club is a year old this month!

Congratulations to everyone who read with us in 2009 and we welcome all of those who will be reading with us in 2010.

If you read April and Oliver but didn't have the chance to join the call I do have a few questions for you. As always, you can answer any or all of them or just leave a comment expressing your opinion.

Here are some questions for you, the reader: 
1)What was your overall view of the book? Did you enjoy it?
2)Both April and Oliver grew up without their mothers.
3)How was this important to the story?
4)Did you have a favorite part in the book?
5)How did your opinion of Bernadette change throughout the book?
6)Both April and Oliver grew up without their mothers.
7)How was this important to the story?
8)Lastly, do you have any questions for the author? If yes, leave them here and I will send them to the author.

We do have a few blogger's reading along with us. If you have blogged about the book, please leave the link to your post!

The following is a recap in my own words:

Tess has thirteen year old twins and is busy juggling family, writing and is also a teacher. April and Oliver is her first novel which was published in 2009. She is working on a second novel.

Tess start writing April and Oliver several years ago, it started as a short story. She put it to the side for a time and completed in a few years later.

April and Oliver are both motherless in the book, we wanted to know if mothers were included in any draft: The mother’s were not in any draft of the novel. Oliver makes a life change when his mother dies during his senior year of high school. He decides not to follow his mothers wishes and gives up music, making the decision to study something practical (law). April’s mom could have had a physical presence in the novel but with April being responsible for raising her younger brother Tess realized that April was really alone in life.

Was Buddy alive in any draft? He was never alive in the book but is such an important character to the storyline. He is alive in a way, by memories.

Is April based on anyone you know? She wears a thick personal to cover her vulnerabilities and has a resemblance of a passing friend but is really a fictional character.

Did you start this book knowing the general plot or did you begin with by creating characters and follow their journey? Tess mentioned that she starts with characters, weaving their history into a story. She doesn’t know what will happen until the words are written. She expressed being as surprised as we were at times during the book!

Use of water is throughout the novel, do you have an affinity with water (which is also the books cover). Tess found this question very interesting, she likes to view water as our subconscious (its unspoken, echoes the forces) and expressed being pleased with the cover.

Bernadette (Oliver’s fiancé): We wanted her to hold her ground and stand up for herself. Did Bernadette change from the beginning to the end of the writing process? She did transform quite a bit from the first draft to the final version. Bernadette thinks with logic and doesn’t view April as a threat. Over time she sees that Oliver is spending too much energy/time with April. We did wonder if they would get married and were a little shocked by the events on their wedding day.

Other highlights:
- We also discussed Nana and her resemblance to Tess’s grandmother. Tess’s grandmother also had a necklace that she wore daily.
- The story of the kiss in the diner is loosely based on a true events.
- Tess has completed the first draft of her next novel
- Tess teaches writing to middle school students and loves helping children discover the passion of writing
- She tries to write during the day, when her children are at school

February 2010 Selection: The Wife's Tale

Manic Mommies Book Club Selection: February 2010

I'm pleased to announce that we will be discussing this book with the author on Feb 17th at 7PM central. Watch for details as we get closer to the date.

If you would like to enter the book drawing for one of 24 copies, watch for details on the Manic Mommies website (details should be up in the next week).

Update Jan 11: Winners of the book giveaway have been notified.  Congratulations: Angie S, Osheta, Lacy J, Amy, Carissa, Janet, Shelle, Randy Teri, Jennifer C, Andrea T, Kim, Julie C, Christy L, Dale, Emily, Rose, Kim I, Jill W, Sarah C, Sharon, Vicki, Amy H, Heather and Adriene

Author Q&A
Tell us a little about yourself:  I grew up in Ontario, Canada in a rural farming community not far from the Detroit border. All three of my novels are set in full or part in the landscape of my youth. The population of the town where I was born is considerably less than the number of Manic Mommies listeners - a thought that humbles me. I'm a 47 year old mother of two - Max is 9 and Natasha, 7. My husband and I have been together for twenty-six years and lived in downtown Toronto until three years ago when we moved to Southern California where he works as producer/director on the television show "24".

Do you write daily?  I struggle, like any working mom, to balance the duelling demands of motherhood and career. I take my children to school in the morning then return to my computer for a solid six hours of work before I have to leave to pick them up. I write 5 days a week when I'm working on a novel. When I'm not writing I am full-on Mommy, taking my kids to soccer practice, supervising homework, playing catch in the backyard. The time in between the final editing of a book and the launch of it has thus far been taken up with the job of promoting the book (in some cases touring with it) and perculating the next. This is the time when I can take a few walks and read novels and allow the next set of characters to emerge from behind the curtain. It's also a time for me to reconnect with non-fictional characters since I badly neglect my friends when I'm writing.

What was it like getting your first book published?  I started writing short stories when I was 20 years old and went on to write some terrible plays and then screenplays, a few of which were produced. I had a brief career as an actor - my biggest claim to fame being that I was cut out of the Al Pacino movie Sea of Love. My husband and I lived in an apartment over a grocery store in downtown Toronto, struggling artists (he was an actor turned filmmaker) trying to pay the rent. We were filmmakers together for a short time and had both invested years trying to produce a screenplay I'd written and wanted to direct. When the financing for it fell through for the third time my husband shook me out of my disappointment by suggesting I take some time away from the film business to write the novel I'd been talking about writing for fifteen years. We also decided it was time to have a family. I was several chapters in to Rush Home Road when I discovered I was expecting. Writing Rush Home Road was an emotional journey - maybe it was the pregnancy hormones - but I felt I'd found my place as an artist. I finished the first draft of the novel in the days before my son was born and my husband read it for the first time and we discussed the characters and plot during the hours that I was in labor. After my son was born, I revised the work on the few occasions that he napped outside of the stroller. I had no connections in the book business and sent the manuscript to a literary agent whose address I got from a directory. Some time later I received a call from her saying she'd found Rush Home Road in the slush pile, and read it, and wanted to represent me. The book was sold at auction in US, Canada and the UK. A fairytale - too ridiculous for fiction.

Can you share some tips for aspiring writers?  I often hear writers talk about the difficulty of confronting the blank page, or dealing with writer's block. The tip I might offer to combat both is just keep writing. I spend each morning editing the previous days work which gives me a running start and creates a flow for the work to come. I'm not always certain about the path that I'm taking but I keep writing. The truth reveals itself to the writer when her or she hits a wall and must go back, like travelling a maze, and start again at another point.

We often hear the refrain "write what you know" which is a phrase that shouldn't be taken too literally. Perhaps "write what you love" would be more accurate. 

What am I reading?  Joeseph O'Neill's Netherland. Fantastic!

Kindles and Sony Readers: I like to hold a book in my hand. I like to turn the pages and refer to the cover art and to gaze at the author's image. I understand and appreciate the attraction people have to the digital readers but they're not for me.

Just for Fun:
Favorite ice cream? Pralines and cream

Morning or night?  I rise early, 5:30 am, and have a quiet dark hour to myself before I wake my children.

Favorite season?  The spring has always been my favorite season. When I lived in Canada I was moved by the brilliant yellow Forsythia that blossomed after the last snow. Now I live in southern California and love the way the winter rains make green our parched landscape.

Where would I visit? My husband and I made several trips to Europe before children and we both fell in love with Italy. We've promised our young ones that we'll take them to Venice one day.

MMBC: Oxygen Discussion begins today!

After dinner was served (takeout Thai for my family and Kim mentioned making supreme nachos) – we had a wonderful discussion with Carol Cassella. I received several emails after the discussion expressing how much the readers enjoyed listening to the author. Thank you to everyone for taking time from your family and busy lives to discuss the book with us.

Let’s get right to it!

Carol is married with two sets of twins, is an anesthesiologist and finds a way to fit writing into her schedule. She starting writing as a hobby but did mention she has always wanted to write a novel and drew upon her life to build aspects of the book. There are two main characters, Marie is a woman with no family and focused on her career and her sister who’s life focuses on family (they are opposites).

The plot twist comes from the fear doctors have, they do not want to harm their patient. She also wanted to write about issues with malpractice and decided to write about her own worst nightmare and what happens when a doctor loses control.

Here are some questions for you, the reader:
- What was your overall view of the book? Did you enjoy it?
- Did you have a favorite character (include why you liked the character)?
- Did you have a favorite part in the book?
- How did your opinion of Marie change from the beginning of the book to the end?
- We didn’t talk about the men in Marie’s life, on the call but I wonder what you thought of Joe.
- Let’s talk about Jolene’s mom. Did you like her as a character?
- Lastly, do you have any questions for the author? If yes, leave them here and I will send a list to Carol.

The following recap is in my own words.

How would the anesthesiologists protocol change if the patient has an existing relationship with the doctor, versus coming to the hospital via ER? It varies depending on the situation (some surgeries take longer, we are not selected by a doctor or patient). They don’t always have a lot of time to establish a relationship and trust is the most important, the first five minutes are critical.

How did you come up with the plot for the book? Did you start with the characters or the idea of the story? When she started the book Carole mentioned that she thought she knew the characters well but they changed with each revision of the novel (as the plot was tweaked). At some degree every character can be a reflection of an author. The more history you give a character the more they can make decisions on their own.

One reader mentioned getting angry at Marie for taking the blame – why was she the only one? Is that what happens in real life? The author reminded us that this is a work of fiction but it is a realistic scenario. With no bleeding, and no obvious place to cast blame it is common for the anesthesiologist to take the blame since they give the go ahead.

Jolene’s medical issue (defect) wasn’t laid out nor did the author include an autopsy in the first draft. Her editor reminded her that readers want answers, they need a conclusion.

How long did it take you to write Oxygen? It took 3 ½ years. Her goal was to write a book for her children. She did get an agent quickly and when the book wasn’t sold she told us that she started burning copies of the book - on a whim sent it to one more agency. A few months later they called, and it was sold within weeks.

Did her family/friends participate in the editing? How did she take their input? While it’s important to get an outside view but hard to take sometimes. Be selective, find someone who is honest and objective – as a writer you have to have a tough skin.

With the death of a child in the book we had to remind some people reading with us (MMBC) to push through this part of the book. When people pushed through Jolene’s death we did learn the book wasn’t centered around this. Was this intentional? She wasn’t sure she wanted to have the patient be a child but it was more realistic with drug doses. Children are vulnerable, our medical system is not fair. She wanted to show this in the beginning and then move from this aspect of the story.

Are you working on a second novel? Her second novel was going to be about human trafficking – when she did the research she couldn’t write about this topic.

Her second novel, out Summer 2010, and is about a woman completing her medical residency (she is married and learns she is pregnant). Flash forward 14 years - she doesn’t finish her residency and ends up working in the medical field with a focus on the financial situation of a family and helping those in need.

What are you reading? Olive Kitteridge

Carol is a member of the Seattle Seven – a group of writers who support each other and are working to raise money for children’s literacy.

The feedback she has received has been so moving. She mentioned a letter from a mother who lost a child during surgery – it broke her heart. The author would love to hear from anyone who has a question or would like to comment on the book. You can visit her website to reach her.

She was off to a piano recital for three of her daughters. Thank you Carol to talking with us this week!

A few of us stayed on after the call to share what we are reading:
- I’m reading The Woman who named God
- Robin is reading People (she’s in book club for the wine)
- Kim just started Brooklyn and is enjoying it
- Sharon French women don’t get Fat (tip: swap OJ for champagne for breakfast!)