FIERAMENTE IL LIBRO - BOOKS & WRITERS, A LITERARY FESTIVAL IN MY HOMETOWN

Books and writers have always fascinated me since I was a child, as soon as I could  read and write. These days I'm experiencing a full immersion of meetings with writers and discussions  of  books which makes me proud and happy.  The atmosphere is rather familiar and intimate, the location stunning and the people I met interesting or even inspiring. Nothing of the speculation over literature, culture and publishing we see in other literary festivals. 

Fieramente il libro is an event at its second edition in my home town, among the organizers two dear friends of mine, whom I must thank for the energy and the enthusiasm they put in everything they do  and, of course, for inviting me to be part of the event as a member of the reading jury. I've read the 3  books finalists in the Narrative section and tomorrow I'll have to choose the one I liked best.

Yesterday TrainDogs and Fabio Palombo gave start to a weekend of special encounters: beautiful words and awesome music in a show called, Abracadabra. Fabio Palombo read his stories of men and women in little less than 11 lines, which he used to post on facebook at firsr. They are an extraordinary example of how words can do magic. 

BOOK BLAST & GIVEAWAY - TRUE COLORS BY KRYSTEN LINDSAY HAGER

True Colors

Landry Albright enters a modeling competition with her two best friends, but runs into jealousy when she advances to the next level without them. Enter the gorgeous Devon, who also makes the first cut of the modeling contest. Devon seems like the perfect new best friend, but can their friendship survive the competition? Throw in a new boy, jealousy and loyalty issues, and insults from hair stylists. How’s a girl to deal?

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Smashwords

Excerpt 

The competition was for girls between the ages of thirteen and seventeen, but it felt like Ericka, Tori, and I were the youngest ones there. I only saw a couple of girls from school, and the lineup looked more like something you’d see on a music video set. All the girls were gorgeous, and they had these curvy womanly bodies. I looked like a skinny little kid next to them. The first girl walked out, and I heard the judges say she “owned the runway,” and, “walked like a gazelle.” I was starting to feel ill. I wasn’t sure which way it was going to come, but I knew I had to find a bathroom — fast. I started to get out of line when Ericka grabbed my wrist. “It’s almost time,” she said. A tiny bit of spit flew out of her mouth and hit my cheek. I wasn’t sure why she was so intent on me going through with it, but she had a death grip on my arm, so I didn’t have much of a choice. Her number was called and she walked out to the stage. One of the other girls said she walked like a kid with sand bucket stilts on her feet, but she came back with a smirk on her face like she knew she’d get chosen. “They said they had never seen such long legs,” she said. Tori was next. 

BOOK REVIEW - URBAN GRIMSHAW AND THE SHED CREW (2005)

You're twelve years old. Your mother's a junkie and your father might as well be dead. You can't read or write, and you don't go to school. An average day means sitting round a bonfire with your mates smoking drugs, or stealing cars.

Welcome to Urban's world

Picture from the set of Urban and the Shed Crew

Let’s start being direct and honest: this book is one I would never have read if it wasn’t for Richard Armitage. This admission is not a  first, for me.  I have already thanked his acting projects for introducing me to readings and worlds I’d never have approached otherwise. After this totally truthful introductive statement,  I’m ready to tell you something about this story without,  I hope,  spoiling your pleasure to discover more reading the book yourself or watching the film adaptation, when it comes out.

Bernard Hare wrote  “Urban Grishaw and the Shed Crew” several years ago now (it was published in 2005)  mixing compelling reportage with deeply personal memoir. His alter ego in the book is Chop, aka Richard Armitage in the upcoming movie adaptation I mentioned before.  

Leeds in the 1990s is the setting for this story. Chop is an ex social worker who dropped his job and retreated in a world of drinking and drugs, living at the margins of society. It is in that unfortunate situation that he meets Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew, a gang of feral kids who live stealing or as young prostitutes.

THE HUNT FOR TOMORROW

THE HUNT FOR TOMORROW 

  22 AUTHORS. 3 DYSTOPIAN BOXED SETS. 1 MASSIVE EVENT. 

  A virtual scavenger hunt through twenty-two fictional dystopias. Friday, July 18 at 6:00pm _(EST) - Sunday, July 20 at 6:00pm _(EST).

Join THE HUNT FOR TOMORROW, an on-line scavenger hunt, and embark on a virtual odyssey through twenty-two dystopian futures. Become an intrepid scavenger and solve clues at each of the dystopian author stops as you navigate your way to the finish line where you’ll be entered into a random draw for the Grand Prize. For each correct answer collected along the way you’ll get an additional chance to win. During The Hunt, the authors will offer up their own exclusive material, sneak peeks, contests, and giveaways at their individual stops on The Hunt, giving all scavengers multiple chances to win bonus prizes.

ADDING REALISM: ARE SOME PERIOD MOVIES TOO GORY?

Photo by Jonathan Kos-Read

(by guest blogger Ken Meyer)

Like any other entertainment genre, there is a certain following for gory horror movies. While some may not understand why the need for such detail is attractive for many, the amount of "blood" within a movie can suggest its popularity with those that enjoy the...entertainment. However, some movies were critically acclaimed by using the gore to add realism when telling a story. This is especially true when developing period specific movies that have undertones of being true. 

Gore in the War - The opening scenes to "Saving Private Ryan" demonstrated how bloody the Second World War actually was. Involving an almost artistic style to creating a realistic effect, the movie depicted parts of the war that are commonly overlooked. It was more than explosions of tanks and planes going down in the ocean. The movie provided a taste of what it would be like to be faced in similar situations through the 1940s in Europe. In this respect, the blood and displayed internal organs moved from the impact of "gore" to that of "art." However, was this gore viewed more artistically simply because it was a movie about World War II?

BLACKWOOD CROSSING BY MK McCLINTOCK - BOOK BLAST & GIVEAWAY

Blackwood Crossing

 If you had to make a choice, would it be loyalty or love? Torn between loyalty to her family and refusal to marry a laird she despises, Rhona Davidson accepts a dangerous proposal from a man she knows only as Blackwood. Leaving behind a life of leisure, Charles Blackwood bravely serves his country with honor and the skill of a trained British agent. When his newest case returns him to the wild Highlands of Scotland, he is faced with a choice between killing a man and saving the only woman he has ever loved. Charles and Rhona join their lives, only to discover that their choices will result in bloodshed, unless they can uncover a truth long buried, deep in the Highland soil. 

 Praise for Blackwood Crossing 

"MK McClintock has spun an enchanting tale deeply entrenched in the lands of Scotland and England that will leave you riveted to your chair until you turn the last page." - Donna McBroom-Theriot, mylifeonstoryatatime.com 

“This is a wonderful book with suspense to keep me on the edge of my seat and surprises to keep me guessing . . . a feisty heroine and a strong, gentle hero . . . My poetic soul is fed by the beautiful descriptions of nature.” – Verna Mitchell, author of Somewhere Beyond the Blue 

PERIOD & MORE PERIOD: TURN, THE STORY OF WASHINGTON'S SPIES

Jamie Bell as Abraham Woodhull

AMC Turn

This was an amazing series! The season finale was broadcast last Sunday 8 June, with an amazing crescendo of emotions but no news of a second series.  I think this story deserves a second season, I would be more than disappointed if it didn't get it. 

An excellent historical fiction drama series,  starring a blend of great British and US actors, TURN  is a period piece that reveals the story of America's first spy ring. 

A historical thriller set during the Revolutionary War, this TV show is based on Alexander Rose's book Washington's Spies. It was developed and written by Craig Silverstein (Nikita), who also serves as showrunner. It stars, among others, Jamie Bell (Filth, Jane Eyre, Nicholas Nickleby, Billy Elliot) , J. J. Feild (Northanger Abbey, Austenland, The Ruby in the Smoke), Seth Numrich (The Good Wife) and Heather Lind (Boardwalk Empire).

REMEMBERING SIGFRIED SASSOON AND HIS PROTEST AGAINST THE WAR BY GUEST BLOGGER ROSS BARNETT

"I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the War is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it. I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this War, on which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purpose for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation. I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed. On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practised on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacency with which the majority of those at home regard the contrivance of agonies which they do not, and which they have not sufficient imagination

PERIOD & MORE PERIOD: LOOKING FORWARD TO OUTLANDER, POLDARK, THE MUSKETEERS 2 & REIGN 2.

Outlander, based on Diana Gabaldon's best selling saga,  premieres on Starz on August 9th. Sam Heughan - 6' 3" of Scottish handsomeness -  wears Jamie Fraser's kilt and boots, while dark beauty Caitriona Balfe is Claire Randall,  a married combat nurse from 1945,  who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743 and ends up caught in the dangerous events that will lead to the Jacobite rebellion, but also in the protective arms of young Jamie.
If you haven't read the books yet, at least the first one in the series, it may sound quite a confusing story, but I'll assure you,  it won't be once you familiarize with its gripping plot and characters.
In the cast also a few familiar faces, like Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones, Rome, Spooks) and Graham MacTavish (The Hobbit).

JUNE KINDLE FIRE GIVEAWAY

Enter to win 1 of 2 great prizes. Winner’s choice of a Kindle Fire HDX or $229 Amazon Gift Card or $229 Paypal Cash! The first prize is available via the rafflecopter below. The 2nd is available only to bloggers who post about this giveaway. You can find info on how to enter the 2nd giveaway in the rafflecopter.    

Win a Kindle Fire HDX, Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash ($229 value)

All New Kindle Fire HDX 7" Giveaway

The winner will have the option of receiving a 7" Kindle Fire HDX (US Only - $229 Value)

TEACHING SAROYAN, READING CASSANDRA CLARE

Teaching Saroyan

I’ve been flustered and terribly emotional these last few days. What’s going on? Is that the “getting older” mood? “I’m going soft in my old age”. This is  a quote, but I can’t remember where I heard it. It was a TV movie or series, can’t tell you more.   OK.  Add "has bad memory" to "gets flustered and emotional". 

These last days I have been giving my last lessons to my last year’s students (doesn't that sound really final?) reading them a couple of chapters from The Human Comedy by William Saroyan,  which I had chosen to say good-bye and wishes good life to them. And what happened?  I just couldn’t avoid it: my voice went broken,  my  eyes filled with tears.  Problem is they were all so silent and so focused on me and some girls had tears in their eyes too. Boys? They must be tough, you know.  But they were not giggling, nor being distracted. They looked, let’s say,  surprised?

This has actually hardly ever happened to me before. Not that it was a bad experience, it was just … weird. That’s all. Here are the “guilty” words: