Spring Break at the Hotel Chelsea

Mark Twain. O. Henry. Tennessee Williams. Arthur Miller. Simone de Beauvoir. Bob Dylan. Joni Mitchell. Janis Joplin. Leonard Cohen. Jane Fonda. Uma Thurman. Stanley Kubrick. Frida Kahlo. Countless writers, musicians, actors, directors, and artists have lived or stayed in NY's historic Hotel Chelsea. With such an artistic legacy, I felt privileged and honored to spend a week at this elegant, spacious, bohemian hotel ("boho") for spring break.

Taken from the living room balcony outside of our suite (the "C" in Chelsea wasn't visible from this angle), this photo features the hotel sign and street fair below.


Colorful, contemporary art brightens the lobby and lines the stairways of the Chelsea Hotel. Taking the stairs was like walking through art galleries.


I found this picture along the stairway. It's by one of my favorite contemporary artists, Niki de Saint-Phalle, who's known internationally for her large mosaic sculptures (pictured below is part of Southern California's Queen Califia's Magical Circle).


By now you may be thinking, isn't this a blog about books, not art? Don't worry, I'm getting to the books now. Truth be told, it was hard to settle down and read in NY. I saw my family and we were out a lot--we went to the theater to see three shows, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls (with Oliver Platt), and Accent on Youth (with David Hyde Pierce, and which features metaplaywriting). Most of my reading took place in flight, which is always the best way to make time fly by. I was able to finish two books on my To-Be-Read list.

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This Armenian memorial is in Emerson, NJ, and relates to one of the books I finished over spring break, The Road From Home: A True Story of Courage, Survival, and Hope by David Kherdian, the true story of a young girl's escape from the Armenian genocide. Published in 1979, this book about a young Armenian girl, Vernon Dumehjian Kherdian, has won several awards including a Newbery Honor Award. It's an important book because it preserves memories and records history, and will help future generations remember the extermination of the Armenians.  I found that once I started reading this book, I couldn't stop.  David Kherdian tells his mother's story as Vernon's life goes from idyllic to horrifying very quickly because of this devastating holocaust, but her will to survive is strong.  I recommend this young adult book to older readers, too, who have an interest in historical stories which depict extraordinary strength, spirit, and courage.

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"My size makes me speak slowly and move slowly, and it's also paradoxically enabled me to slip through cracks no one in Aberdeen would think possible."
~ The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, Tiffany Baker

Another book I read and enjoyed, mostly at very high altitudes, was The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, published in 2009, the first novel by Tiffany Baker. I'd seen this book in the NY Times Book Review a few months ago and vowed to read it, because one of my favorite books is Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, which happens to be about the life of a German dwarf (a zwerg), Trudi Montag, who helps Jews escape the holocaust. I thought that I might also enjoy a book about a giant (or giantess). Perhaps this is a tenuous connection, but the book proved to be a good choice. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County is a beautiful, memorable debut by Tiffany Baker, the story of a very large young girl who must learn to live with her unexpected, monstrous size. Truly Plaice, the heroine and narrator of this story, is born large and keeps on growing bigger, in a small town where she's often mocked due to her appearance, whereas her older sister, Serena Jane, is a normal-sized, eye-catching beauty. When Serena Jane suddenly disappears, leaving behind a husband and young son, Truly's life changes and she grows in new and unexpected ways. This grand novel is about inner and outer beauty, finding your place in the world, love and friendship, medicine and magic, life and death. I was captivated by this original book from start to finish, and look forward to reading more by this author.

A Conversation with Kate Jacobs

 
I can't believe my luck!  Best-selling writers tend to be extremely busy people, so I'm very grateful that Kate Jacobs, author of The Friday Night Knitting Club and Comfort Food, took the time to do this interview with me via email right before the release of her new book, Knit Two.


1) Kate, my first question is which blog post title do you prefer, A Conversation with Kate Jacobs, or An Interview with Kate Jacobs?  Or something else altogether?

KJ: Whatever works for you, Susan! Either title is just right.

(As you can see, I chose the first title, because Kate Jacobs is remarkably personable.  I felt as if we really did have a conversation, because her emails to me were so warm and friendly.)

2) Were you influenced by any particular (women) writers as a child? 

KJ: Well, I certainly loved to read! But I’m not sure I was influenced so much in writing style as in my awareness of the world and of ideas. That’s the great magic of books. Now I was a library kid growing up – I’m from a small town and there often wasn’t even a bookstore in town. And my mother is a big reader and we would often go together. When I was a little girl, I adored Anne of Green Gables – though that’s rather a prerequisite for a Canadian girlhood – and I also vividly remember a novel called From Anna by Jean Little. I essentially read everything I could get my hands on and continued doing that as a I got older, devouring everything from dramas to thrillers to Westerns to literary fiction. When I was an older teen, the novel that just hit me was So Big by Edna Ferber and to this day I often reflect on that novel, with its themes about the nature of success and the importance of creativity.

3) Are you on a writing schedule?  Do you write every day?

KJ: I intentionally do not write every day. My overall process is that I write, and then I recharge. So I prefer to go through periods where I’m thinking and absorbing and reading and being social, and then go through stretches of time where I stay in and wear pajamas and am just focused on the story all the time. I write in bursts. That said, I am always working on a story even if I’m not always doing that work at the computer. Also, I tend to write early in the morning or late at night, blocks of time when the house is quiet and I won’t be distracted. I love distractions! If my deadline is looming, I will definitely be sorting laundry or baking. It’s some combination of procrastination and stress relief.

4) Do you drink coffee or tea while writing? (As a tea guzzler, I had to ask this!)

KJ: I do enjoy a good cup of tea. I just love a nice cup of English Breakfast with a little lactose-free milk and sugar. Or homemade iced tea; that’s great. And a cookie tucked in somewhere. However, my real secret is that I love bubbles. Carbonation, to be precise. So I drink a lot of sparkling water and -- my big vice – nice, cold glasses of Pepsi. (My husband is a Coke drinker, btw.) I try to limit my soda in general, so no pop for me if I’m not typing. But the last few weeks of working on a book are just long, long hours and I exist in an endless Pepsi haze. It’s both glorious and awful – delicious but too much sugar and caffeine all at once.

(Kate, I've recently discovered lemon-flavored San Pellegrino, Limonata. It's transcendent!)

5) Do you listen to music, or prefer silence while writing?

KJ: Both – but not at the same time. I typically prefer to work in silence because I can concentrate. It’s especially nice when my dog Baxter snoozes under my desk and so I can just hear his little breaths. However, there are moments when the characters and I need a little buoying up -- it could be a sad scene or I could just feel frustrated with the story. And so I’ll put on some perky instrumental background music.

6) What advice do you have for aspiring writers, especially women?

KJ: Believe in yourself. Ignore the naysayers. Keep at it. Tell the stories you feel you want to tell and are driven to tell. And just keep putting one word after another on the page. That’s the only way you’ll finish your manuscript!

7) You lived in NY for ten years.  I grew up in NY, and feel as if you captured something very real about NY life and the cozy yarn shop which becomes an oasis for these women.  Did you enjoy living in NY?  Which experiences did you most enjoy?  What did you dislike about NY?

KJ: Well, initially I hated New York! Too busy and too loud. Overall, it was a big change from growing up in Canada. But then, once I’d made friends, I really began to get a sense of home. That was important. And after awhile I simply couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. I didn’t always enjoy living in a small apartment, especially once I got married and my husband moved in with all of his boxes. What did I love? The restaurants. The people. The access to indie movies. The noise. I never sleep so well now as when I hear sirens and traffic, which is funny because that’s what drove me insane when I had first arrived. Of course, life is full of surprises, and change is always around the corner. I thought I’d never leave the city and now I live in southern California (because of my husband’s work). And you know what? I like warm weather. I like the people. And I love having my own washer and dryer which we were never able to have in our Manhattan apartment. So every experience has pluses and minuses.

8) Your new book, Knit Two, is coming out on Nov. 25, a sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club. Was it harder or easier to write the sequel? 

KJ: Different. Just different. Writing is always hard and it can also be wonderful. On the one hand, it was a joy to return to the characters of The Friday Night Knitting Club – to Dakota and Catherine and Anita and so on. On the other hand, I had to stay true to who they were – the past experiences, how they looked, etc – and that requires a certain discipline. But, without question, I loved writing Knit Two. I intentionally made it soothing and upbeat, because I wanted to balance out some of the emotion from FNKC, and also because it just felt right. I am so excited to share this novel with readers; I can’t wait to go out on book tour in Dec. and Jan.!

And I can't wait to read Knit Two! Thank you so much for doing this interview, Kate! 

Comments are welcomed.

Back from NY

Greetings! I'm back from a week long trip to NY (Manhattan). For those of you that don't know, I grew up in NY, but have lived in Southern CA for many years now. NY is such an energizing city. I love walking around in NY, and dining in its unique, ethnic restaurants. Every nation has a restaurant in NY--it's amazingly diverse! This time we had brunch at a Japanese/Brazilian restaurant in the West Village, and a dinner at a Turkish restaurant on 9th Avenue between 44th and 45th St.. There's always so much going on it NY that it's truly hard to decide what to do and where to go. Thanks to my family and friends for putting up with me!

I finished The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency on the flight to NY. What a charming book! Now I want to drink the African red bush tea, rooibos, mentioned so frequently in the book, and find the next book in the series, Tears of the Giraffe. Precious and the other characters drink rooibos throughout the day in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I bought some red tea today from Trader Joe's. Perhaps this brew will help me to figure out the little mysteries in my own life.

On the flight back I read a great deal of the book by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love, the story of her enlightening trips to Italy, India, and Bali. It's really a celebration of life and shows the writer's great love of people. I think you have to genuinely love people to be a good writer. Reading on flights makes the time absolutely fly by (pardon the pun) and adds pleasure to a vacation or trip, don't you agree?