Why You Should Read The Inquisitor’s Mark

Inquisitors MarkDo you crave an adventure story to entertain you during these last cold weeks of winter?  I’ve got a great suggestion, especially if you like action, magic, and Arthurian legends.

In January 2015, Dianne Salerni released the second book in the middle grade The Eighth Day series, and I’ve gotta tell you, I liked The Inquisitor’s Mark even better than The Eighth Day.

The Premise

Long ago, King Arthur and Merlin Emrys trapped their enemies into a magical eighth day of the week.  Thirteen year old Jax Aubrey and his friends are modern-day descendants of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. They have special magical powers, including the ability to transition between the eighth day and regular time.  Jax and his companions must use their talents to keep evil sorcerers from breaking the eighth day spell and taking over the world.

What I liked

The first chapter of The Inquisitor’s Mark gives Jax multiple problems to solve, and plenty of obstacles to get in his way.  Jax embarks on a quest to help his liege lady, and plot twists and unexpected revelations kept me up reading later than I should have.

The Inquisitor’s Mark has several good role models for young readers.  In this book, Jax’s guardian Riley is absent much of the time, so Jax must buck up and handle things himself.  It was fun to watch him grow.  I especially like Evangeline, a girl with powerful magical talent who everyone wants – for all the wrong reasons.  Jax and his friend Riley must protect her, but she’s no passive damsel.  During a battle, Riley tries to use his magical gift of command to get Evangeline to escape to safety. But Evangeline chooses to stay and help:

“Stop making me waste my strength fighting you!” she shouted.  “I’m not leaving!

Gotta love a girl with moxie.

Even though kids today don’t worry about clan wars or evil sorcerers, most struggle with knowing who to trust.  Jax, and his younger cousin Dorian, don’t always like the things their friends and family members do, and they must decide where to place their loyalty.

The book ends on a high note for Jax (which so often doesn’t happen with a second book of a series- so thank you Dianne!), but it’s clear that he still faces grave danger.  I can’t wait for the next installment, but I’m afraid that won’t be out for at least a year.

The Eighth DayWhat I struggled with

I read the first book in the series, The Eighth Day, a while ago, so I needed help remembering all the family connections and some key plot points.  Dianne weaves in review during the first few chapters, and even includes a chart for visual people like me, but I was still confused sometimes.

What my son said

My 11-year-old finished The Inquisitor’s Mark a few days after we got it.  He raved about the plot and liked book number two better than The Eighth Day.  He didn’t appreciate all the necessary groundwork laid out in the first book, but The Inquisitor’s Mark fed his craving for adventure.

For more information about The Eighth Day, The Inquisitor’s Mark, or Dianne Salerni, visit her site at DianneSalerni.com.  You can also find her on Twitter.  Also, if you are a writer, Dianne is looking for submissions for her monthly critique feature, First Impressions.  I submitted the first page of my manuscript and got helpful feedback.

Have you read either The Eighth Day or The Inquisitor’s Mark?  What do you look for in an adventure story?

Thanks for stopping by!

Julia

What Does Eidetic Mean?

wondrous memeAre you ready to flex your word nerd muscles?  Then you’re in the right place.  Join me for Wondrous Words Wednesday, a meme for the vocabulary obsessed.  Visit Kathy at Bermuda Onion to find more interesting words.

 

 

Inquisitors MarkMy word comes from the recently released kid lit novel The Inquisitors Mark, by Dianne K. Salerni.  It’s the second book in The Eighth Day series, an adventure that brings Arthurian legends to life in our contemporary world.  If you or your kids like magic and adventure, a la Rick Riordan or Harry Potter, you should check out this series.

Do you know what eidetic means?  Here’s an excerpt from the book:

“The Taliesin family has an eidetic memory.  That’s their talent – memorizing everything they’ve ever read or heard.”

eidetic \ī-‘det-ik\ adj from the Greek eidetikos, idein “to see”

  • Marked by extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall, especially of visual images

An eidetic memory would have been super helpful in grad school, especially for anatomy class!

Word Nerd Workout

Think of a character who has an eidetic memory, like the kid lit favorite Cam Jansen or Shawn Spencer of the “Psych” TV show.

Stay tuned for a review of Dianne’s book.  To learn more about it, visit her site at DianneSalerni.com

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

Julia

Why You Should Read The Cuckoo’s Calling

cuckoo's callingAttention Harry Potter fans!  J K Rowling is writing another book series.  Don’t expect spells or castles, or even J K Rowling’s name, but you will find interesting detective fiction.

The Cuckoo’s Calling released in 2013 to good reviews but small sales.  Published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, the mystery only sold 8,500 copies before someone leaked the author’s true identity.  After that, sales took off.

The Premise

The Cuckoo’s Calling opens with the death of celebrity model Lula Landry, a biracial young woman whose life was plagued by mental illness and the stress of stardom.  The police rule her death a suicide, but her adopted brother suspects foul play.  He hires Cormoran Strike, a veteran who lost a leg in Afghanistan, to investigate.

What I Liked

Galbraith creates a compelling lead with Cormoran Strike.  He’s haunted by his past in the military police and a destructive relationship with a beautiful, vituperative woman.  Strike needs money and gladly accepts the hefty payment from his newest client, Lula Landry’s brother.  But Strike isn’t in it just for funds.  His own tumultuous childhood makes him a thoughtful, compassionate observer.  (I only wish I was privy to more of his investigative deductions!)

Strike hires Robin, a smart and efficient temp who he cannot afford for longer than two weeks, to help him get his struggling business stabilized.  Neither one of them discusses the fact that Strike lives in his office.  Robin’s capable sleuthing and social skills keep Strike afloat.  When she gets an offer for a better paying job, Robin struggles between her passion for detective work and financial stability.

But these aren’t the only interesting characters.  Galbraith aptly sketches several distinct, realistic, and interesting people to serve as suspects in the mystery, including a gay fashion designer and a drug muddled young movie star.

What I didn’t like

Although the writing style was easy to read, the pace moves slowly, with many key plot points revealed through dialogue, not action.  I’m all about character development and good dialogue, but sometimes things dragged.

Also, I had no idea who the killer was until the end of the novel.  That could be a praise for the story, except I would have felt more involved if I had a better idea where Strike was headed with his conclusions.  At the end of the novel, Strike spends ten pages (literally, I counted) explaining the case.  It felt like a lecture.  I would have liked him to clue me in earlier.

That said, I must share two caveats: First, I rarely read mysteries, so perhaps this is the typical format for the genre.  Also, I read at night, about an hour after my brain has flared its last brilliant burst, and perhaps I didn’t catch clues I should have.  I distinctly remember two scenes in which Strike says, “She didn’t realize how much information she gave me,” and I thought “What did I miss?!”  But I was too tired to reread.

The story behind the story

As Rowling explains on the Robert Galbraith website, she hoped to keep the truth about her authorship of The Cuckoo’s Calling a secret for longer.  She wanted to write in a new genre, free from expectations and open to honest criticism.  However, she decided early on that if the world discovered the novel’s true author, she would donate the royalties from The Cuckoo’s Calling  to ABF The Soldiers Charity.  This London-based organization helps active and retired servicemen  with debt relief, mobility, and access to education.

SilkwormRowling/Galbraith intends to write more novels for the series.  The Silkworm is already out; my friend Rachel warns that it is more gory than The Cuckoo’s Calling. BBC One plans to turn the novels into a television series.

Have you read any of Rowling’s books for adults? How do you like them?  If you read mysteries, can you comment on the typical structure for that genre?

Thanks!

Julia

 

 

 

What is a Growlery?

wondrous memeWelcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a great meme for learning new vocabulary.  My friend Nan, fellow English major and lover of all things literary, inspired my entry when she shared this unusual word on Facebook: growlery.

Have you ever heard of a growlery?  Read on, word nerds, because it’s a  “must have.”

To learn more interesting words, visit meme hostess Kathy at her Bermuda Onion blog.

Merriam-Webster couldn’t help me with this one, so I searched online:

growlery \grou-‘ler-ē\ noun; a place of refuge or retreat when one is out of sorts or in ill-humor.

Thank you, Collins English Dictionary, for the definition of this archaic word.

Urban Dictionary defines it: a den or lair in which to prowl with one’s growler out.

Online Slang Dictionary takes a different approach: something undesirable to the point of disgust

That movie is a growlery.

Dickens often referred to a growlery in his novel Bleak House.  Here’s a photo of a growlery, from Lambert’s Suburban Architecture (1894):

Internet Archive Book Images via Flickr PD
Internet Archive Book Images via Flickr PD

Lambert’s Suburban Architecture describes this illustration:

A study or growlery is just as dear to a man’s heart as a boudoir is to a woman’s ; and the master of the house deserves to have some corner which shall be his very own, whither he can retire when he wishes to read or work, or simply smoke and rest, or receive business visitors, blissfully undisturbed by the rest of the household.

I’m sure I’m not the only woman who thinks that she deserves a growlery too!

Word Nerd Workout

Imagine you could have a growlery in your house.  What would it look like?  Where would it be?  What would you do there, “blissfully undisturbed by the rest of the household”?

Mine would be a small room not shared with anything else.  I would paint the walls moss-green, and it would have several windows looking out over the farm.  I would escape to that room to read, write, paint, and read.  The walls would not let sound in, and the door would have a solid lock.

Thanks for getting nerdy with me today.

Be sure to visit Kathy’s blog for more word nerdy words.

And if you like old words, read this article from The Atlantic on the social networks built around archaic terms.

Julia

 

Is Handwriting Important?

At a swim meet last month, I overheard a coach talking to one of his young swimmers.  Coach said, “I learned cursive in 3rd grade, and I haven’t used it since. It’s pointless.”

This word nerd gasped.  Cursive, pointless?  According to a New York Times article, the Common Core suggests teaching legible handwriting in kindergarten and first grade, and then moving quickly to keyboard instruction.

handwriting

Does that mean that soon basic handwriting won’t get attention in school?  In the dystopian novel Matched, by Ally Condie, the characters only use computer tablets.  Hand written letters were abandoned as a silly artifact of the past.

All this leads me to wonder…

How important is handwriting?  

Pen and paper work for me because…

  • At the writing conference I attended this weekend, several writers, like me, took notes with pen and paper. I’ve always enjoyed the art of note taking, using colors and structural elements (indents, bullets) to organize information.  That interaction helps me process and remember.
  • Several authors at the conference said that their creativity flows better without a machine between their thoughts and the paper. One writer mentioned she does all her first drafts long hand with pencil and legal pads.  (Wow!)  She pointed out that with the first draft handwritten, she does an automatic edit as she types up her second draft.
  • Note from mom
    One of my Mom’s notes. She suffered from a neurological disease that affected her fine motor skills.

    Although I use a “to do list” app on my phone, during weeks like this one, when I’ve got twenty tasks to complete, I feel more composed writing everything down on paper. I also get more relief when I scratch things off.  Paper is less stimulating, and therefore less stressful, than a screen.

  • With the increasing use of email, texts, and messaging for communication, I worry that we will lose important connections with each other. My mother died almost 20 years ago, but I still have her handwritten notes and cards as a precious memory.  Handwritten notes take more time and thought than an email or text, and that stands for something.

Digital works for me because…

  • Those notes I took at the writer’s conference? They’re still in a bag on the floor next to my writing desk.  I plan to file them into different folders, like “writing exercises” and “social media tips,”, but it’s my son’s birthday this week, and I’m leaving town for a swim meet, and I haven’t gotten to filing yet.  If my notes were digital, they’d be organized and filed already.
  • I’ve shifted from a paper planner to a digital calendar on my iPhone. The calendar syncs across devices, so my husband has all the critical information on his phone too. (However, I keep a paper calendar in the kitchen to track our monthly activities, color coded by family member 😉 .)
  • For my writing activities, I use applications like Evernote and Scrivener to make notes and organize them into digital binders or digital index cards. With Evernote, I can access my notes from all my devices, so I can record or review my thoughts almost anywhere.
  • In some areas, like health care, digital notes have improved the quality of documentation. I remember having difficulty deciphering patient care notes when I practiced physical therapy.  Electronic medical records can make it easier to create legible and comprehensive records.

 

Research on handwriting

Note cardsForget my ramblings, here’s what some experts say about the significance of handwriting. According to an article from the New York Times, various researchers have found interesting data about learning and handwriting.

 

 

  • Students learn better when taking notes by hand; it forces the brain to process and organize information, which improves memory about the information.
  • Children who learn how to write by hand also learn how to read more quickly. They are better at creating ideas and remembering information compared to their peers who don’t learn handwriting while learning how to read.
  • In two groups of children learning to write, those who had to copy a letter free hand showed more brain activation compared to those who had to trace a letter or type it.
  • Children writing stories by hand produced more words and more ideas than those writing on a keyboard.
  • Cursive activates different brain centers than printing.

All this tells me, yes, handwriting is important, and we shouldn’t abandon paper and pen for convenience.  But that’s just me…

Where do you stand on the handwriting debate?  Do we still need to hand write things, or can digital words replace everything?

Visit my Facebook profile to see a lively discussion on this topic.

Thanks for getting thoughtful with me.

Julia

What is a spoonerism?

wondrous memeWelcome to the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme.  My entry this week made me giggle: spoonerism. Ever heard of it?  Read on to learn something new and visit Kathy at Bermuda Onion to find more nerdy words.

My 11-year-old son is preparing for the fifth grade spelling bee. Whew!  You should see some of the words on his list.  Doozies like hirsute, souchong, and obstreperous give him (and me) a tough time.  I need my Merriam-Webster app handy to look up definitions and pronunciation.

 

We got a kick out of this word from column four (getting to the hard stuff) on his study list:

spoonerism \’spü-nǝ-riz-ǝm\ noun, associated with William A. Spooner, English clergyman and educator at the turn of the 20th century

A transposition of (usually) the initial sounds of two or more words.  For example, tons of soil for sons of toil.

I’m sure, in my mommy induced fatigue, that I’ve done this. Please call Rosh and Josie downstairs for dinner.  She left her poggles at the gool.  Who knew there was actually a name for this phenomenon?

Word Nerd Workout

Can you think of a funny spoonerism you’ve spoken or heard?  How can you share this cool new term with your friends and family?

Word Nerd Digression

Do you remember spelling bees?  My son is getting nervous about his, and although I’m proud he’s preparing so well, I remind him that we’ll still love him no matter how he does. Half the battle of a spelling bee is getting over the anxiety.

Zach Den Adel via Wylio  CC-BY-ND
Zach Den Adel via Wylio CC-BY-ND

In fourth grade, I beat Palmer Johnson, the perennial grade champion, to advance to the school wide bee.  It was held at night, probably during a PTA meeting. The lights burned my eyes as I stood behind the microphone on the auditorium/ cafeteria stage.  I had to spell “different” in round two.  Not hard, right?

My voice echoed in the auditorium as I spelled, “D-I-R-R.”  The bell (of defeat) rang, and I slumped backstage where the principal consoled me with a spicy root beer hard candy shaped like a barrel.

I’ve never liked root beer.  Or performing onstage.  Which is why I express my creativity through writing. 🙂

Do you have a spelling bee story?

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

Julia