Her entry begins:I'm currently 92% of the way through the Collected Works of Edith Wharton. I'm reading them on a Kindle, which is why I know what percentage I've completed, but now how many pages I have left to read. There are thirty-one books in this collection, and I actually skipped two that didn't interest me (both nonfiction). The rest have been wonderful reads. Her books are thoughtful in the most literal sense, consisting mostly of the internal musings of her characters fleshed out with vivid, beautiful descriptions. As a writer, I tend to focus a great deal on plot, which is why the Wharton books have been so interesting to read. In almost all, the plots play a secondary role to the motivations of the characters. She has an incredible ability to empathize with all sorts of people--one gets the sense that she would have been a very intuitive, compassionate person. At the same time, her writing offers a scathing critique of social norms, and she wrote a few things (Summer, for example, and Bunner Sisters) that must have been very shocking for...[read on]About Siren's Storm, from the publisher:
Nothing has been the same for Will ever since what happened last summer. One day, on an ordinary sailing trip with his brother, there is a strange accident. When Will wakes up, he learns his brother has disappeared, presumed drowned.Learn more about the book and author at Lisa Papademetriou's website.Worst of all, Will can't remember what happened—his family finds him unconscious, with no memory of the accident.
Now Will and his best friend and neighbor, Gretchen, are starting a new summer. Gretchen seems troubled—her sleepwalking habit is getting worse, and she keeps waking up closer and closer to the water. Will is drawn to Asia, the exotic new girl in town. Nobody knows where she's from—all Will knows is that her beauty and her mesmerizing voice have a powerful effect on people.
Then there is another mysterious drowning, and Will and Gretchen begin to wonder: Is Asia just another beautiful, wealthy summer resident? Or is she something entirely more sinister ... and inhuman?
Papademetriou has written or adapted over thirty books for young readers, including Sixth-Grade Glommers, Norks, and Me; The Wizard, the Witch, and Two Girls from Jersey; How to Be a Girly Girl in Just Ten Days, and the New York Times bestselling Disney Fairies novel, Rani in the Mermaid Lagoon.
Writers Read: Lisa Papademetriou.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
