As of two weeks ago, I had never read a book by Caroline B. Cooney, which is amazing considering she has 45 or more! Since she is a featured speaker at the SCBWI Midsouth Fall Conference, I thought I should read a couple so that I could speak intelligently about them and her writing.
Wow! It's hard to say more than that, but I'm sure I'll manage.
I started with Enter Three Witches, based on MacBeth. As I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan, I was skeptical, but the title drew me in. It was great! Really, super interesting. I almost want to read Macbeth. Almost.
Okay, so one book down, and it was really good, so no problem reading more. Next, I chose A Friend at Midnight. It's hard to say why because I don't read the back of books; sometimes they give things away! Anyway, it turned out to be a GREAT pick. This book is stunning! There were so, so many instances where I thought, oh, I wish I'd written that; I wish I could write like this; I wish my characters were so full and wonderful. I can not do the writing justice by my descriptions, but this is a must-read for YA authors--or anyone. The book is poignant, funny, heart-breaking, and hopeful. I sobbed through at least the last ten pages, but it was a good kind of crying, not the horrible crying of a kidnapped, murdered child or a canine best friend getting killed after saving the main character from a dire fate. No, this was the kind of crying I love to do when reading a wonderful book. You know the kind--tears flowing with each new sentence from every character. Thank goodness I was at home instead of my usual Starbucks because I wouldn't have been able to prevent those tears. I would have been bawling like a baby, and I'm sure the baristas and my fellow customers would have felt compelled to check on me. And that would have only irritated me--because it would have interrupted those crucial ending pages and the flow of my emotions!
After that, I'm happily onto my next Cooney book, Goddess of Yesterday, and I anticipate many, many more before the conference. I went from thinking I should read of couple to becoming a die-hard fan. It will be such a pleasure to meet Ms. Cooney and such a thrill to have her sign books for me. Until then, I have lots of happy reading ahead!
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2 comments:
Sounds good, I'll check her books out, hopefully before the conference.
You should definitely read Macbeth and Hamlet and maybe a Shakespeare comedy or two! But I always recommend people start with a simpler version of Shakespeare, like one of these retellings, or even a classics illustrated comic book version, so you can absorb the plot without the archaic language getting in the way. Then watch a play or movie or a movie (Mel Gibson's Hamlet is great, for example), and again just absorb the plot without worrying about the language. You'll find that it becomes easier to understand what they're saying and then you can enjoy the beautiful language and insights on humanity that Shakespeare gives.
I enjoyed Caroline's work, too. I haven't read Enter Three Witches but as a big Shakespeare fan, I will have to read it now. I first read her work because one was required in a class. I find her output as an author quite remarkable. She should be a household name. In fact, many people do know her from movies like Face on a Milk Carton. They just don't know they know her! If you have time, look at my readwithyourteen.wordpress.com again. I think it would be great if you could help me feature some of Ms. Cooney's work.
I enjoy your blog! Maria
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