Karen Comer

Collecting Stories

Dear readers, it’s been a while

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Dear readers, it’s been a while since I last posted. My website updated itself in December and there were problems that seemed insurmountable because it was December and there were work deadlines and Christmas deadlines and general December busyness.

Thank you to the lovely Nic from Planning with Kids who helped me with the technical side of my blog as well as giving me a big pep talk for continuing on!

There is news to catch up on!

Reading

I’ve been reading a lovely pile of books – my usual mix of fiction, non-fiction, children, young adult and poetry. Standout books include Seth Godin’s The practice (non-fiction), Cate Kennedy’s The taste of river water (poetry), The forty rules of love by Elif Shafak (novel) and The girl who became a tree by Joseph Coelho (young adult). Reviews for some of these books coming!

Editing

I have a mix of projects at the moment which makes my editing life varied and exciting. I’ve almost finished editing a fabulously detailed family history of six generations dating back to Scotland in the 1850s, I’ve proofread a book about wills which has prompted me to have conversations with family members, I’m about to start reading an exciting crime novel for a general reader’s report and I edited a wonderfully lyrical essay on nature.

Writing

My first middle-grade verse novel is under submission so I’ve been researching for my young adult verse novel. I’ve almost finished this now, so I’m ready to look at the structure of the first draft. Are my key scenes in the right places? Do they match up with my research? Do my two main characters meet up at the right moment?

Facilitating

I’m now the facilitator for the online Springfield writers’ group. This is a talented, oh so talented group of women who are writing poems, essays, novels, short stories, memoirs, non-fiction. We meet once a week to discuss two writers’ work and the creative collaboration in this group is a tangible thing.

Creating

Apart from creating a weekly menu of lunches and dinners and snacks which lately have NOT been as creative as my other pursuits, I’ve been teaching myself to weave. Last year during the lockdowns, I found quilting and sewing to be an antidote to the news cycle. I have a beautiful weaving kit and I am making a random, unplanned small weaving in soft dusky pinks, creams and burgundies.

Tutoring

I am constantly telling my children how lucky they are to have me as a mother but it’s only when I cook their favourite meal or help them with an English essay that they truly appreciate me! Mr 17 is in year 12 this year and we have already spent some time together talking through his first SAC. I also read through a few of his mates’ pieces – one of them named a character Karen. I am not sure whether to take it as a compliment or an insult – the character was rather annoying!

Your news …

Please tell me what you have been reading, writing or creating – I’d love to know.

Sea Hearts – book review

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I’m always happy to crawl into bed at the end of the day and read my book but I found myself thinking about bedtime at 4pm, just because I was looking forward to reading my book! This was a library book called Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan. I reviewed Lanagan’s short stories, Singing my sister down and other stories, here – and was in awe of the way she uses language to paint pictures.

Her novel, Sea Hearts, is worthy of the same praise. It’s the story of a small island called Rollrock Island, told through several characters’ viewpoints. One of the characters, Misskaella, a misfit of a small girl even in her own family, realises that she can use her hidden powers to draw a girl out of a seal. But not just any girl – these girls are bewitchingly beautiful, gentle, serene and become lovely mams to their boys. The young men of Rollrock Island use all their savings to buy a bride, and eventually, the original women of Rollrock leave, broken-hearted as their husbands and sons buy themselves a sea-wife.

The story is told over a few generations, so the changes to this small community are widespread and unforgiving. Regardless of what you think of a witch being able to draw girls out of the hearts of seals and men who are enchanted and cannot turn away from them, this story shows the way something can pervade a small village and change the lives of everyone, no matter who thinks they can stay strong to the old ways.

This quote comes from Dominic Mallet, when he first sees his sea-wife – as reluctant as he is to meet her and forget his fiancee.

‘Kitty Flaming, I told myself desperately, my wife-to-be. Kitty. But the words were nothing against Misskaella’s singing. Kitty was nothing, a frail flag blown to tatters by a magical wind. Her face blurred and faded in my memory, while the seal-girl’s grew clearer and clearer in the moonlight, serene, dark eyed, full lipped, a pale oval, her night-black hair moving around it, breathing of warm sea. She watched me soberly, fearlessly, unsmiling; she could no more look away than I could. No one, no woman or man, had ever regarded me so steadily, so trustingly.’

It all seemed so dreamlike, yet so realistic, to me. The island life, with its red-haired inhabitants living there together for so long, suddenly interrupted and disturbed by first one, then another, then another seal-girl with their enchanting faces and bodies so that any Rollrock woman with her round face and body and flaming red hair would look so much less than, so ordinary. The witch Misskaella became richer and richer as first the young men, then those men who were already husbands, begged and bribed her to create them a sea-wife. What happens a generation later is startling and surprising, yet also inevitable. The book is almost a poem with its language and the way Lanagan paints pictures, but it’s also an anthropological exercise in what happens to a small village and its people when change occurs.

I read it as an adult novel and later discovered it’s marketed towards young adults. Either way, it’s a great read.

Even though it’s only February, I can see this might be one of my top ten books for the year! Unless I like some of Lanagan’s other books better …

 

Books for young adults – Christmas ideas

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With potentially seven or eight weeks of holidays ahead of them, teenagers need some decent books to keep them away from their screens! Young adult fiction can be a tricky area to navigate – a book that a nineteen-year-old might enjoy may not be suitable for a fourteen-year-old. The age of the protagonist is a good guide as teenagers usually like reading about a protagonist a year or two older than they are. However, there aren’t any rules with young adult fiction so don’t let the suggested ages hinder anyone from reading a good story. There are a couple of books here told by both a female and male protagonist, which makes it more appealing to girls and boys. While girls will usually want to read a book with a female protagonist and vice versa, it’s so important to encourage kids to read about a variety of viewpoints. Here’s a selection of ten fabulous young adult reads.

Take three girls by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell and Fiona Wood – this book delighted me because of the concept – three Yr 10 girls at the same school who didn’t have much to do with each other are forced into a group through a school wellness program. They all branch out and develop in unexpected ways, as does their friendship. The story is told from three different viewpoints, and all three voices are strong. This book also terrified me because of the social media angle – there’s an anonymous website where students at local schools comment on different posts, like a list of girls with eating disorders and unflattering photos. This book is one for girls aged 14-16.

The gathering by Isobelle Carmody – this is an oldie, published in 1993.  Nathaniel has moved with his mother to a quiet suburb where everything appears to be in order but underneath the surface lies evil. Nathanial learns he is one of the Chain, a group of five kids who have been chosen to break the reign of evil by the head master, Mr Karle. This is quite a grim, page-turning tale, suitable for 13-15 year-old boys and girls.

Legend by Marie Lu – I’ve just started this one, and so far, I’m intrigued. One of the protagonists is Day, a boy who is undercover because he’s wanted by the authorities but secretly watches over his family. The other protagonist is June, who has skipped ahead a few years at college, and lives with her beloved older brother. Day and June have heard of each other but don’t know each other. One day, June’s brother is killed by Day, and June swears to find Day and kill him.

The hate you give by Angie Thomas – this is one of my favourite reads (children, young adult and adult fiction) for this year. It’s about Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old African American girl living in Garden Heights, an area notorious for crime and drugs. She goes to school at Williamson, where she’s one of a handful of black students. Within the first twenty pages, she’s at a party chatting to an old friend, Khalil. There’s gunshots at the party so they flee in Khalil’s car, are pulled over by the police and because Khalil checks to see if Starr is ok, he’s shot dead. As you can predict, the novel focuses on the cruelty and unfairness of a young black man’s life at the hands of a white policeman. You can read a longer review here. Suitable for boys and girls, aged 13-16.

This is Shyness by Leanne Hall – This is an apocalyptic type book, where darkness reigns over the suburb of Shyness. While many have left Shyness, those that remain live out their days without sunlight, watching out the for sugar-high Kidds. When Wildgirl, an outsider, meets Wolfboy from Shyness, they spend a night exploring the best and worst of Shyness. This story is told from both viewpoints, making it an excellent choice for boys and girls, aged 13-16. It won the Text prize in 2009.

The girl from everywhere by Heidi Heilig – It’s about a sixteen-year-old girl called Nix Song, who is a Navigator on a pirate ship with the ability to follow maps into the margins, into different countries and different timelines. Led by her father the Captain, and supported by a crew of time refugees, she discovers her own abilities. She needs to, lest her father steer them into a time and place where Nix doesn’t exist. Perfect for 14-16 year-olds.

No limits by Ellie Marney – I loved reading this book earlier in the year. It’s gritty but the two characters are interesting, the danger they find themselves in is page-turning and the chemistry between them is magnetic. Because the story is told from both Derwent and Amie’s viewpoints, it’s another great read for boys and girls, aged 15-18. You can read a longer review here.

His dark materials by Phillip Pullman – this one I haven’t read but am planning to over January because I’ve heard so many good things about it. It’s a trilogy which contains Northern lights, The subtle knife and The amber spyglass. This description comes straight from the book blurb for Northern lights – ‘Lyra, an orphan lives in a parallel universe in which science, theology and magic are entwined. Lyra’s search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children and turns into a quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust.’

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan – I haven’t read this one either but it’s on my list because I loved her earlier book, One, so much. One was so extraordinary that I would read anything by Sarah Crossan without knowing a thing about it. The blurb below comes from the book –

‘They think I hurt someone.
But I didn’t. You hear?
Cos people are gonna be telling you
all kinds of lies.
I need you to know the truth.

Joe hasn’t seen his brother for ten years, and it’s for the most brutal of reasons. Ed is on death row. But now Ed’s execution date has been set, and Joe is determined to spend those last weeks with him, no matter what other people think …’

Turtles all the way down by John Green – another moving book by best-selling young adult novelist, John Green. I didn’t cry through this one, like I did with his earlier book, The fault in our stars, but it was definitely a page turner. The protagonist of this story, Aza Holmes, has anxiety. She lives with her mother, loves her best friend Daisy (who is one of the most vividly-drawn sidekick characters I’ve enjoyed) and has reconnected with an old friend, Davis, whose billionaire father is missing. Anxiety for Aza manifests itself in a fear about the bacteria Clostridium difficile. This means she has to constantly check an old wound on her finger, washing it, using hand sanitiser and reapplying fresh bandaids. It also means she worries about kissing Davis – all that bacteria. Reading Aza’s thought processes was exhausting but it put me right into her head. Like all John Green’s characters, Aza has a strong voice and her courage makes her a likeable character. The orange spiral on the front cover is a motif for the way Aza sees her thoughts, spiralling down and down into a never-ending vortex. This book is suitable for 14 years plus. Green has added a list of supportive websites at the back of his book for readers who may be affected by the issues raised in his book.

Please pass this post on to anyone who may be looking for young adult books to buy as Christmas presents. I’ll be compiling a list for adult fiction within the next week or two. Happy Christmas shopping!

Singing my sister down and other stories by Margo Lanagan – book review

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I had goosebumps when I read Margo Lanagan’s short story, ‘Singing my sister down’. It’s a combination of her evocative language, believable worlds and her unique characters and the situations they find themselves in.

This story is also the title of her collection of fantasy short stories, some of them written almost twenty years ago. If you’re looking for a collection of short stories that will take your breath away, this is it. It’s been marketed for young adults but also fits into the adult literary fiction category.

‘Sweet Pippit’ is a story about a group of elephants. But Lanagan doesn’t ever mention the word elephant. Yet you understand by her choice of words that Gooroloom and Booroondoon are elephants. And if elephants could talk, this is what they would sound like.

But our bearing is the sort that soothes others; we move with inevitability, as the stars do, as the moon swells and shrinks upon the sky.

Let’s unpack that sentence for a minute as if we were literature students.

  • our bearing – instead of saying ‘the way we hold ourselves’ which is a little clunky – we have our bearing which implies regency
  • soothes others – elephants, by their very presence, calm others – both humans and animals
  • move with inevitability – the word inevitability has a sense of certainty and destiny about it
  • as the stars do – she has linked heavy, earth-grounded elephants to the stars –  tiny pricks of light
  • the moon swells and shrinks upon the sky – a lovely way of describing the moon waxing and waning.

And all of that in one sentence!

Here’s another beautiful line –

And our spirits, which had been poised to sink with Gooroloom’s worry, lifted as if Booroondoon’s words were buoyant water, as if her song were breeze and we were wafted feathers.

Again, the pairing of unlikely elements – elephants and wafted feathers – creates lyrical, contrasting images in our minds.

In her interview with Charlotte Wood, in the book The writer’s room, Lanagan talked to her about the craft of writing.

When you’re writing the sentences you’re also thinking about the paragraph, and beyond that to the entire scene, or the entire story. And then you feel the rhythm faltering – so you put square brackets around the blundery bit and you keep going so you don’t lose that sense of the rhythm. Then you come back and find the right word or phrase to fill the gap. Sometimes you’ve got the sense of it but you don’t have the perfect word. You know there is one – it’s on the tip of your tongue, but it’s not there. But you know it means roughly this, so you put down that meaning in square brackets and go on, and you come back and find your way to the perfect word when you’re fresher.

Even if you’re not usually a short story reader, read Margo Lanagan’s book and become one!

 

The hate u give – book review

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The hate u give by Angie Thomas may be one of my favourite books for 2017 – and we’re only a quarter of the year in.

It’s a young adult book but I’d argue that anyone over the age of 14 should read it. I’ve given it to Mr 13 to read.

It’s about Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old African American girl living in Garden Heights, an area notorious for crime and drugs. She goes to school at Williamson, where she’s one of a handful of black students. Her daddy is an ex-con who runs a grocery store. Her momma is a nurse, working hard on a promotion. Her older and younger brother both annoy her and look out for her.

Within the first twenty pages, she’s at a party chatting to an old friend, Khalil. She grew up with him, looked after by his grandmother, Ms Rosalie. There’s gunshots at the party so they flee in Khalil’s car, are pulled over by the police and because Khalil checks to see if Starr is ok, he’s shot dead.

As you can predict, the novel focuses on the cruelty and unfairness of a young black man’s life at the hands of a white policeman.

Starr has a foot in two worlds – she’s at home in Garden Heights as Big Mav’s daughter and she fits in at school where she watches her language. Her white boyfriend, Chris, is the only person who makes her feel she can be both selves, yet she can’t tell him what happened to Khalil – or about seeing her ten-year-old friend shot six years ago.

She decides to go before the Grand Jury, believing that her weapon is her voice and she can use it for Khalil – to explain how he didn’t do anything to deserve being pulled over, let alone shot.

Apart from the page-turning plot, this book is authentic. The dialogue brings you into contemporary black America immediately. Starr is a fully realised, in-depth character who elicits both hope and empathy in readers. Her family will make you laugh and cry.

Although fiction which focuses on diversity is all the rage now, this book transcends genres and popular trends – it’s just a good read.

It will make your heart race and your mind spin. Read it.