Review: The Name of the Sister by Gail Jones

* Copy courtesy of Text Publishing *

The Name of the Sister by Gail Jones is about an unknown woman who is sighted on a deserted highway outside of Broken Hill in rural New South Wales. A passing trucker stops to render aid to the woman who is traumatised and unable to talk. The media is ablaze with the story as families and friends of the missing from within Australia and abroad claim the unknown woman Jane is their sister, daughter, wife, mother, friend.

Angie is a freelance journalist in Sydney who begins to write about Jane's re-appearance from the point of view of those who have had their hopes crushed after learning Jane is not their missing loved one. Supporting character Bev is Angie's best friend and a cop, who happens to be assigned to the case and travels to Broken Hill to investigate Jane's identity and where she came from.

This sounds like another great Australian crime fiction novel with two strong female characters, but let me tell you, I needed a dictionary by page 6 to look up the word 'contrapuntal' and it didn't stop there. There were moments where there was a particular turn of phrase I especially enjoyed, like this one from Angie:

"Their conjugal irritation was mutual, and both needed by some edifying alternative to be reminded of who they were." Page 74

However, moments like conjugal irritation were fleeting, and I needed to frequently stop reading and reach for a device to look up words like: lunette, propinquity, ziggurats, raddled (yes it's a word), maunder, ineluctable and interregnum. Other new to me words were: obduracy (I was hazy on this one so had to check the meaning), lacrimarium, cartouche and invidious.

I enjoy learning new words, however Angie's internal thoughts started to feel like an intellectual flex by the author when combined with the lines of poetry, quotes and double helpings of introspection. In fact, this quote from Angie's inner thoughts perfectly describes the writing style of The Name of the Sister:

"And the fact that she was composed of all this mixed-up cultural stuff: drifting phrases, lines from songs, literary quotations, rhymes and rhythms, scraps of image, nothing that really passed for coherent thought." Page 75

The novel was definitely coherent, but this intellectual flotsam and jetsam peppered the page when I really wanted to get down to Jane's story. Couple this with the internal musings from Angie on missing women in general, the intrusion of journalism in true crime, the contrast between the urban streetscape and rural landscape, her mess of a marriage, and the malevolent predation of women and my patience started to wear thin.

The focus on feminism and misogyny was a little too heavy handed for me but is timely and will deeply resonate with many readers. Here Angie reflects on Bev's role:

"She'd been an officer most of her adult life and must surely have known what to expect: how a woman is intruded upon, how a woman is presumed known, and how what is unknown incites anger, or desire, or the wish crudely to expose." Page 5

Broken Hill is described as parched, inhospitable and empty-looking so you might be thinking this an odd cover design for an erudite rural mystery. Angie's love of white ibises and the ancient Egyptian culture (Thoth in particular) is the inspiration for this literary design although I didn't think it was a good fit for the story within.

The denouement was engaging and I enjoyed the action and plot development at the end, however overall I found this pretentious and ostentatious. I've enjoyed literary fiction in the past so I don't think I'm unsuited to the entire genre, but The Name of the Sister by Gail Jones is high-brow literary crime fiction which I found to be full of Angie's internal contemplation and cogitation that failed to engage my interest. I'm clearly not the right audience for The Name of the Sister which might be called a literary masterpiece in the hands of other readers. Gail Jones is a celebrated Australian author but I don't think I'll be exploring any more of her novels.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent

* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan *

Always Home, Always Homesick is a memoir by bestselling Australian author Hannah Kent, focussing on her relationship with Iceland and the writing of her bestselling novel, Burial Rites.

Hannah Kent first visited Iceland straight after high school at the age of 17 when she participated in a Rotary exchange student program for a year. Living with different host families, learning the language and adapting to the culture and wildly different landscape was a life changing experience for the author.

Occasionally she mentions differences in language and culture that made me laugh out loud. One of those was her description of eating whale blubber for the first time and her response when asked by her foster family whether she liked it:

"It's like..." I hesitate. "Like biting into a lipstick. Made of fish." Page 74

However, buried deep within the travelogue and culture shock is the genesis of Burial Rites. I read the historical fiction novel Burial Rites in 2014 and was incredibly moved by Agnes' story. Agnes Magnúsdóttir (daughter of Magnus) and a farmhand by the name of Fridrik were convicted of murdering two men in March 1828. Agnes was the last person to be executed in Iceland and was beheaded in January 1830. Hannah came across the site of Agnes' execution while visiting Iceland and later became consumed with the case.

In 2013, Hannah Kent was featured in a piece called No More Than A Ghost on Australian Story where she described her writing and research process for Burial Rites. She revealed that many bizarre and weird coincidences took place throughout the writing process and it was this I was hoping to learn more about.

Thankfully I didn't have to wait long, and Hannah disclosed the following very early on:

"I come from a line of women who sometimes do dream things that are other and strange and not quite dreams at all, and there have been times in my life when my sister and my mother and I have known things, avoided things, warned of things dreamed. We don't usually speak of it outside of our tight trinity. It spooks people. But we three know the feeling of these not-dreams and I recognise it in that northern sea, in the boom of its crashing waves and their spray against my face, and the hidden river running to meet it. I lick my lips and anticipate salt. I wait for a greater understanding." Page 2

The first half of the memoir is Hannah's experience as an exchange student and it did take a while before this element re-surfaced. During this period I was moved by the connections she was able to make, largely due to her dedication to learning the language. Just as in Burial Rites, the writing is evocative, introspective and enlightening and raised many points for the reader to reflect on.

It wasn't a surprise to read she was homesick for her Australian home in the early months, but years later Hannah found herself homesick for Iceland, leading to the title Always Home, Always Homesick.

Other than the whale blubber and hákarl (rotten shark), the descriptions of Icelandic food made my mouth water and I'd love to try the kleina (donut) and the porridge made from fresh cow's milk. Trying to recreate some of the recipes in her home kitchen in Australia years later, the author reflects:

"But the truth is that all this cooking is an act of grief. I am engaging in ritual, locating a place and people I miss deeply, trying to create a little of the culture I miss." Page 151

The second half of the book moves into Hannah's life beyond the year of exchange, into her studies, PhD and research about Agnes. I was amazed to learn the full extent of her research, including more time living in Iceland and the reference material she was able to dig up in the archives and by meeting and engaging with the locals.

It was here that the author began to mention Agnes' presence and guiding hand although I had the sense there was a lot more going on than she felt comfortable sharing in this memoir. Perhaps it was dialled back out of fear of isolating the reader or perhaps the publisher suggested it be toned down, but the mere fact that others Hannah met during her research (like the actress Maria Ellingsen who played the character of Agnes in a 1995 movie about the case) had their own interactions with Agnes makes me believe that an intuitive person like Hannah would have experienced more than she shared on the page. 

As an example, in 1995 an Icelandic medium was urged by Agnes to guide a team to the burial location of two heads from the day of Agnes' execution so that they could be relocated. The remains were previously thought to have been buried in consecrated ground at a church but in truth were hastily disposed of near the site of her execution 165 years earlier.

Hannah's connection to Iceland has deepened over the years and she stayed in touch with her host families and friends and watched new generations born while time marched on in her own life too. Now married with children, the author manages to convey the importance of literature, storytelling and reading in Iceland and it's easy to see how this would have been a magnet to a young poet and writer from Australia.

I was also impressed to learn about Iceland's insistence on linguistic purism which extends to the naming of all babies born in Iceland. The Personal Names Committee must approve all baby names and if a name isn't included on the approved lists and if approval is sought for a name that doesn't reflect Iceland's structural and spelling conventions they're rejected by law. While this may sound rigid and inflexible to some, I can't help but admire a culture committed to protecting their heritage and ensuring their language is preserved generation to generation as the world continues to shrink.

All in all, Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent was a reflection on the trials and tribulations of being a writer, the wonder of language and our connection to the past. Containing next level nature writing - recommended for fans of Robert Macfarlane - in an almost square format that was a delight to hold in the hand, it's also about daring to step beyond your limits and the transformative discoveries and lasting bonds that can emerge as a result.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Fierce Appetites by Elizabeth Boyle

Fierce Appetites - Lessons From My Year of Untamed Thinking by Elizabeth Boyle is structured in 12 chapters, each representing one month in the year 2020. Boyle manages to seamlessly blend elements of her own personal life with the stories and tales from her field of study as Head of Early Irish at Maynooth University and Anglo Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies in which she has a doctorate from Cambridge University.

Drawing on Irish myths and sagas from 5th-12th centuries - part of the Middle Ages and medieval period - the 12 essay topics include: grief, journeys, inheritance, time, bodies, memory and more. From January to December, the author does mention the pandemic in order to touch on her living circumstances, the isolation of lockdown and the ways she manages to keep her students engaged, but this - thankfully - isn't a covid memoir.

Within each chapter, the author shares autobiographical information about herself, right alongside ancient stories and texts from medieval Ireland and somehow manages to make it work. Not your typical medieval historian, Elizabeth Boyle discloses to the reader many times that she left her child with her daughter's father in order to pursue her desire for knowledge and self fulfilment in another country. The separation and guilt she bears continues to surface in the essays and she boldly remains unafraid to share details of her alcoholism and sex life and the fact that she was 'the other woman'. In addition to her love of heavy metal music, I found these personal insights incongruous with her smooth and polished accent and method of delivery in the audiobook.

I imagine Dr Elizabeth Boyle is a favourite amongst her university students, despite - or perhaps a direct result of - her intimate disclosures. She's able to relate the challenges of our everyday lives in the present to medieval Irish mythology in a stimulating and nuanced way, making it easy to see why she's at the top of her field.

Fierce Appetites by Elizabeth Boyle is recommended listening for those who enjoy Irish history and memoir, a unique combination in this case.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: The Book Lovers' Miscellany by Claire Cock-Starkey

The Book Lovers' Miscellany by Claire Cock-Starkey is a cute little pint sized hardback packed with bibliophilic facts and fictions. Quirky chapter titles include: Movies That Started Life As Books, Identifying a First Edition, The Twenty Most Influential Academic Books of All Time, Oddest Title of the Year, Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts, Famous Last Lines and more.

Some of the chapters are short and snappy at just a few paragraphs while others are in listicle format making this perfect for dipping in and out of. If you're a traditionalist like me who wouldn't dream of 'dipping in and out' of a book and insists on reading a book 'properly' - front to back - then you'll find a mix/combination of topics that didn't seem united by chronology or subject matter.

The content in The Book Lovers' Miscellany is definitely of a miscellaneous nature, which even extended to bookish gossip in the form of a supposedly well-known estrangement between A.S. Byatt and her sister Margaret Drabble.

"According to newspaper reports, the sisters have apparently been estranged since childhood due to their intense sibling rivalry and are said not to read each other's books due to the autobiographical elements in their work." Page 31

I didn't even know these talented and accomplished authors were sisters, so learning that they don't share their literary success together as they should was sad.

Reading the chapter on Most Prolific Writers, I was shocked to learn Enid Blyton wrote more than 800 books, and while I was aware of Barbara Cartland's prolific writing career, seeing in print that she produced 723 novels in her lifetime was seriously impressive.

I love stationery, but in a chapter about Quills I found this astonishing:

"John of Tilbury, a scholar in the household of Thomas Becket in the twelfth century, described how a scribe taking a full day of dictation would need between sixty and a hundred quills sharpened and readied." Page 41

Wow! I'm presuming you'd need a trunk or sack for the quills. And what did they do for the assizes during that period? The Book Lovers' Miscellany by Claire Cock-Starkey is full of facts and trivia, much of which I've read about elsewhere*, yet still managed to be entertained by again.

Recommended for trivia junkies and readers who love books about books. You know who you are!

*You may also enjoy these books for booklovers:
The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski
The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities from History by Edward Brooke-Hitching

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Magic Words by Jonah Berger

Magic Words - What to Say to Get Your Way by Jonah Berger was an interesting audiobook and the author's research promises to reveal 'how six types of words can increase your impact in every area from persuading others and building stronger relationships, to boosting creativity and motivating teams'.

According to Berger, digital language processing tools have revolutionised the social sciences, and after analysing countless movie scripts, customer service calls, academic papers, millions of online reviews, song lyrics and more, he has comprised a list of six types of words.

Listening to this audiobook and flipping through the ebook from my library, I'm not left with 6 specific words burned into my brain - like please or thank you - rather the book was more about how to use words more effectively. Here's more in the author's words.

"This book uncovers the hidden science behind how language works. And more importantly how we can use it more effectively to persuade others, deepen relationships and be more successful at home and at work." Introduction

The one magic word I will take away from reading this is the word 'because'. The author tells us of an experiment where the test subject asked if they could push in front of a queue of people waiting in line to print a document. First they asked nicely and then they made the same request and used the word 'because' and followed on with words to the effect they were in a hurry. I was surprised that the word 'because' resulted in the request being met more favourably because it's an approach I already employ. (Pun intended).

Having said that, I thought the success lay in spending more time talking with the person to make a case, hence lessening the rudeness of the request and explaining the reason in an attempt to mitigate blowback. You could argue the word 'because' is a magic word, or in the act of using it, you're also achieving the above.

The second key takeaway for me was the fact that some of us want to claim a desired identity and Berger uses an example whereby young children were asked two questions in order to determine the best approach. Children were asked "can you help clean up the blocks?" or "can you be a helper and clean up the blocks?" Those asked to be helpers were more enthusiastic to help in the task.

Rephrasing the request makes the task of helping seem like an opportunity to claim the desired identity of helper and being a helper is a useful and positive experience that reflects well on the child. This also taps into the naughty/nice and good girl/good boy language that recognises and reinforces good behaviour. Interesting!

Magic Words - What to Say to Get Your Way by Jonah Berger is full of small moments like this, although having read How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie and Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott, the majority of the content wasn't new to me. Readers fresh to the topic of language, the art of communication and social sciences will love this!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: You're All Talk by Rob Drummond

* Copy courtesy of Scribe Publications *

I've always been fascinated by language, accents and linguistic diversity. I have an Australian accent and my favourite accents to listen to are the Kiwi and South African accents. All I need to do is Google 'Anna accent Downton Abbey' or 'Peaky Blinders accent' and I can easily lose half an hour or more in my day.

In You're All Talk - Why We Are What We Speak by Rob Drummond, the reader is introduced to the broad range of accents from a UK central perspective with various distinguishing features highlighted to demonstrate the language differences in accent and dialect. Drummond gives us a history lesson as to how the different accents developed and changed around the world, and how they continue to evolve and change today.

The author is a Professor of Sociolinguistics and academic linguist and he explains why accents shift between locations and within classes in the UK and the stigma associated with some accents while others are considered more refined or cultured. Linguistic criticism and judging people by their accents was covered, as well as the practice of expressing accents in writing; Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe comes to mind here.

Adopting accents to signify a shared group identity was fascinating and the author draws on the nature of gay talk (gay voice) and Valley Girl speech as two clear examples of this.

"Speech features become associated with specific groups through those groups repeatedly using them. Not because there is anything intrinsically feminine/middle-class/gay about them, but because that's the association that develops when particular people use them again and again. And when this association has been made, these features can be used by others to help create that identity for themselves." Page 79

I'm still pondering this many days later. The differences in vowel sounds across accents is touched on, and how the American accent evolved to pronounce the 'r' in words (which is called a 'rhotic' accent by the way) and it's not what you think! I loved learning about the glottal stop and worried when I read about accent reduction. The inclusion of foreign accent syndrome brought to mind an old 60 Minutes episode and sent me off hunting that down.

One of my favourite takeaways from You're All Talk was without a doubt learning about vocal fry:

"Creaky voice or 'vocal fry' is another speech feature that is often associated with young, especially American, women. Combined with uptalk, it provides the toolkit for what is often referred to as 'Valley Girl' speech, and is a feature that is often heavily stigmatised." Page 14

The author suggests listening to a video of Kim Kardashian talking and I quickly found a montage of her using vocal fry and that was it! Now I can't un-hear it and regularly notice it appearing in male and female speakers in the content I'm viewing.

Drummond touches on too many aspects of the way we speak and why to mention here. I haven't been able to share even half of my favourite snippets (there were 17!!), but if any of these topics interest you, you'll love this book.

You're All Talk by Rob Drummond is highly recommended for non fiction readers interested in language and communication and why we speak the way we do.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Fierce Love by Susan Scott

In 2007 I read Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott and remember being impressed with the knowledge imparted and trying to absorb and implement as many of the key points as I could into my day to day life. Not since reading How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie had I read a book that made an immediate impact on the way I communicate with others.

I noticed the author Susan Scott released a new book last year called Fierce Love - Creating a Love that Lasts, One Conversation at a Time and I was hopeful for a brand new set of skills I could incorporate into my life a mere 16 years later.

Choosing to listen to the audiobook narrated by the author herself, unfortunately Fierce Love didn't have anything new to teach or show me.

This time there were no breakthroughs, a-ha moments or epiphanies. I did really enjoy this reading highlight from Chapter 16 though when the author quotes from Robert Brault:

"Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got." Chapter 16, It's Not You, It's Me

Despite that little nugget of insight which I definitely need to work on, I think I would have been better off with a re-read of the original - and easily the better - Fierce Conversations.

If you haven't read Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott, I recommend starting there for the greater reading experience.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Sorry, Sorry, Sorry - The Case for Good Apologies by Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy

Apologies are complex. A well-worded apology can soothe hurt feelings, save a failing relationship or repair one, while a bad apology can exacerbate the situation or end up causing further insult. Hopefully we've all been recipients of a good apology and remember how it made us feel. I can still remember an unexpected apology at a reunion once that blew me away and healed a hurt I'd long since forgotten I even had. I've also been the recipient of terrible non-apologies, some of which still make my blood boil if I pause to think of them again.

Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy are the brains behind SorryWatch, a website dedicated to analysing apologies in the news, media, history and literature. They 'condemn the bad and exalt the good' and it's easy to spend an age on their website, browsing everything from sports apologies and political apologies, to bropologies and true crime apologies.

Together, Ingall and McCarthy have published Sorry, Sorry, Sorry: The Case for Good Apologies in an attempt to educate the reader on what constitutes a good apology and the pitfalls to avoid delivering a bad one.

Some highlights on the do's and don'ts of apologising include apologising without rehashing past insults, like: "I'm sorry I criticised your terrible new hairstyle".* Another pitfall to avoid was the 'sorry you', for example "well I'm sorry you keep forgetting our anniversary". Time was also spent on avoiding the 'if' and 'but' apology: "I'm sorry if I made you feel that way", or "I'm sorry, but I never meant to offend anyone".

Attempts like: "anyone who knows me knows I'm not a racist / homophobe / insert slur here" also indicate efforts to dodge responsibility or accountability for our actions. These always sound like weasel words to me, but now I have a clearer understanding of why they never sound like genuine apologies.

In Chapter 3 (Sorry If, Sorry But, Sorry You: Things Not to Say), I learned about performative utterances. A performative utterance is a statement where the words are the action, like "I insist" or "I promise" or "I swear". "I'm sorry" is a performative utterance and saying it feels like an admission of wrongdoing. This makes us feel uncomfortable and we often don't want to admit fault, especially if we don't believe we've done anything wrong. Just ask any 4yo. Another strategy is the sarcastic apology: "well sorry for not checking with you first, I guess nobody's perfect," is a passive aggressive apology.

I do believe public apologies have changed over the decades, with PR companies and spin doctors writing statements and apologies that address an incident, event, oversight or mistake while not directly admitting any fault. Sorry, Sorry, Sorry includes some interesting examples of bad apologies like this from CEOs, police officials and politicians. I listened to the audiobook, which meant I was unable to visually enjoy the apology bingo tables that frequently accompanied the text. Since finishing the book though, I'm recognising lame apologies all around me, with plenty of 'sorry if' and 'I regret' and 'it was never my intention' examples.

No doubt we've all delivered a range of apologies that have missed the mark ourselves. So, how do we do better?

Here's the SorryWatch approach:
1. Use the words “I’m sorry” or “I apologise.”
2. Say specifically what you’re sorry for.
3. Show you understand why the thing you said or did was bad.
4. Be very careful if you want to provide explanation; don’t let it shade into excuse.
5. Explain the actions you’re taking to insure this won’t happen again.
6. Can you make reparations? Make reparations.

Sounds simple enough doesn't it? When the topic of the apology is emotive, or the insult very grave, it can be hard to take the six steps outlined above. Fortunately I wasn't reading Sorry, Sorry, Sorry - The Case for Good Apologies by Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy in preparation for a huge apology in my own life, but we can all improve the interactions we have with people, and I don't think I'll ever stop wanting to do that.

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry - The Case for Good Apologies by Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy was an informative read and met the requirement for the Non Fiction 2023 Reader Challenge prompt for relationships.

*All examples in this review in italics are my own.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

My first impression after reading On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, is just how hard the author has worked to get where he is today. Many readers know Stephen King was raised by his single Mum and grew up poor, but he also worked his arse off from a very early age doing all kinds of jobs; working in a laundry and washing sheets being one of them.

I enjoyed the stories he shared of his childhood antics with older brother David, and in recounting his upbringing, I'm reminded just how old King's references are. His US centric pop culture references are decades before my time, and his love of old movies and books lead me to suspect that even those within his immediate generation might miss a few titles here and there. This is a memoir as much as a treatise on the craft of writing and it was an enjoyable read.

There's a tonne of advice in here for aspiring and established writers, like this:

"Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open." Page 56

King is a powerhouse and an absolute work horse, even when the writing isn't going well:

"Stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position." Page 82

Stephen King is incredibly relatable, and this is a conversational how-to from a willing mentor rather than a dry rule book or style guide from a fusty professor.

The author is up front about his years of addiction although few lines are dedicated to it. His wife Tabitha King is an established author in her own right, and together with family members staged an intervention. There is no pity party and no excuses. Eventually King got clean, but it was a hard road to sobriety. Throughout his life, Stephen King has dedicated his all to his writing, and after receiving more rejections in his career than we can possibly imagine, started seeing success. He soaked up every piece of advice along the way and readily shares lessons large and small with the reader.

"What follows is everything I know about how to write good fiction. I'll be as brief as possible, because your time is valuable and so is mine, and we both understand that the hours we spend talking about writing is time we don't spend actually doing it. I'll be as encouraging as possible, because it's my nature and because I love this job. I want you to love it, too. But if you don't want to work your ass off, you have no business trying to write well." Page 163

There are some basic rules on grammar, but above all, King's message is that you learn by reading and by doing. By writing.

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut." Page 164

When reading, watching or listening to author interviews - or conducting them for Carpe Librum - I'm always surprised when a writer says they don't have time to read. Some say they're too busy writing, or they don't want to be accused of plagiarism or stealing another person's work, but I'm not buying that. Some writers choose to read a different genre from their own while working, or switch to non fiction or the reverse if applicable. I agree with the author, if you want to improve your vocabulary and writing style, you must read and you must write. You must evolve. There are some helpful examples of good writing and bad writing, and I was able to learn a lot from these comparisons.

"In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it 'got boring,' the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling." Page 207

Yes! This explains how King can make a 500 page novel such a page turner. He isn't vain or 'self indulgent' and believes in cutting content that isn't necessary.

Hit by a van while out for his regular walk in 1999, I was reminded of just how lucky King was to survive the accident. King's injuries included a collapsed lung; 4 broken ribs; a spine chipped in 8 places; hip fracture (his lap looked sideways); broken left leg (in 9 places); broken right knee cap and a scalp laceration that took 20-30 stitches. I was interested in the author's recovery from multiple surgeries and subsequent rehab but didn't learn if he has any residual injuries or ongoing chronic pain.

Like me, King reads 70-80 books per year, and this 2012 edition of On Writing includes two lists comprising more than 180 books he personally recommends. King is generous with his time and praise for his peers but I was surprised to find how few I've read.

Known to fans and members of the publishing world as the King of Horror, he's also the King of Persistence. This is a recommended read for those interested in the man or his craft.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★