Winter Reading

 One of the pluses to winter in Minnesota is that it allows me more time to read. There are a lot fewer distractions! So far this winter, I've been fortunate to follow my standard process of alternating between non-fiction and fiction works. 

I'm further fortunate that I learn something from all of them. I guess that's a tribute to the authors and one of the points of reading. Sometimes it's about writing. Sometimes it's about a time or place. Sometimes it's insight into people. There's always something!

Book One- Moby-Duck by Donovan Hohn- Non-Fiction. I'd heard the story of a shipping container full of rubber duckies that fell into the sea. It broke open, and the duckies floated around the world. This is their story. 

First, it was packages of duckies, frogs, turtles, and beavers. Somehow, only the duckies get any respect. But after that, they started to spread based on currents and storms, and other weather events. Some smart folks started tracking them via public reports to see how their models worked in relation to the real world. The author got a little obsessed and went to see the factory in China, to ports, and garbage patches to get a better understanding. It's topic and stories are great, but I didn't care for his writing.

What did I learn? Oh so much. First, kudos for a fun and on-point title. A play on a classic story of obsession to highlight the author's own obsession! Second, there are so many more factors that influence water movement than I ever imagined. Three, man, if I ever thought plastic pollution was bad, I had no idea how bad. Fourth, I'm not the only one who goes down rabbit holes when I'm researching stuff. Lastly, from a writing perspective, I learned that I don't care for long chapters. I like breaks to keep things moving.

Book Two- From the Charred Remains by Susanna Calkins- Fiction. A murder mystery with a female protagonist in 1666 in London, right after the Great Fire.

I'll confess that it's not my normal cup of tea, however whenever I meet a fellow author, I try to read their books. I met, briefly, Susie Calkins at an author event in Mankato, and she's delightful, so when I saw her book...

The story revolves around Lucy, a servant girl whose time at her master's home is about to end, so she's exploring other options. She's working to help clean up after the Great Fire. She's there when a body is discovered and she helps to solve the murder, all while navigating class differences, being a woman, and managing her new job in a print shop. All in all, a fun read.

What did I learn? Bits and bobs of the history of London from my history-geek perspective. For writing, it was about the language. She had to find a balance between writing a story people would read and understand with the language of 1666. Had she written it all in authentic, time-period dialect, it would have been hard to read and not as engaging. But she still has to stay somewhat true to the time period. 

I face the same thing when my characters visit non-English speaking countries. I can't write much Japanese and I don't want to overdo it, but I want to give it some authenticity. She did that well and I paid attention. Just enough of the language of the times to remind the reader of when or where they are. Insanely helpful!

All in all it's been a great winter of reading. Fun, engaging, educational books. Or at least most of them- I still learn from the others, I just don't gush about them as much.