Since I left Bequia on Feb. 21st, Dennis has made some more progress with the pizza oven:

Hey! Is that an empty beer bottle I see in the back corner?? No wonder it’s taking so long to build this thing! Oh, no. It’s only a Bitter Lemon bottle…

The Bequia Community High School is still collecting books for its library and reading programme (see my original post, Books for Bequia for details as to what is most needed), but they are now much closer to filling those shelves with good books thanks to a very generous donation.

Over the Christmas holidays, Nancy and Tony Bertolotti held a party at their home on West Street in Bronte, ON, Canada, asking neighbours and friends to bring donations of books. Nancy was also able to collect more books from the Clarkson Branch of the Mississauga Library where she works. The result was over 500 books that will now be shipped to Bequia as soon as the shipping can be organized.

One couple of sailors attending the party had been to Bequia years before the airport was built, so contributing to this cause was special for them given the good memories they have of the island.

Thanks, to everyone, for their generous donations, but a special thanks goes to Nancy and Tony for organizing such a successful collection!

Just my newly improved ankle cast with reinforcing fibreglass - in blue! - and a nifty, and very fashionable, velcroed sandal that now gives me more stability, and makes it much easier to get around in Calgary.

I can live with this for another two weeks…

This week’s question at Booking On Thursday is:

While acknowledging that we can’t judge books by their covers, how much does the design of a book affect your reading enjoyment? Hardcover vs. softcover? Trade paperback vs. mass market paperback? Font? Illustrations? Etc.?

For me, book design goes a long way to influencing my selection of a book from the shelf for personal reading, but it doesn’t actually have anything to do with my reading enjoyment once I’m into the book - that part of the experience is all about the writing. But I do know, firsthand, the importance of cover design, format selection, font and illustration choices, at the initial publishing level. When I was a sales rep - the first time - there were many occassions, during sales conferences, when editors and publishers held up a new book’s cover design and we reps would all either retch or cheer, depending on the impact the design had on us. We were sort of the front line of reaction, if you will. Sometimes those publishers actually listened to our opinions, too, redesigning covers if we didn’t like them. Other times they didn’t. The thing is that if sales reps really like a cover design, and the whole book as a result, they can sell way more copies into bookstores than if the book has a so-so cover. I can remember several instances where I latched onto a book precisely because of that initial positive reaction I had upon first seeing the cover - and I was able to translate that feeling into strong sales, in some cases, and over several seasons - not just during the season of first release.

So, definitely, a book’s cover design is extremely important, and publishers are very aware of the effect a bad design can have in attracting readers.

As the old Gordon Lightfoot song says… It’s good to be Alberta bound! I fly there from Toronto later today, just getting out of Ontario in time to miss the next predicted snowstorm - and, I certainly hope for everyone’s sake, the last of this long, brutal winter. I know from past experience that winter is never declared to be officially over in Calgary until the May 24th long weekend, but I’m optimistic this will be the Year of Early Spring. It only has to remain mild and snow-free for 4 more weeks. Then I’ll be heading to sales conference in Vancouver where Spring will definitely have taken over.

So it’s a new (old) job for me, in a new (old) city to call home. A bit of deja vu perhaps, or reliving of my past life and glories, but not boring. Never boring! And one thing I can be guaranteed is the welcome sight of those Rocky Mountains to the west as the plane begins its descent into the Calgary airport - a sight I never tire of seeing, and one I look forward to enjoying again, and again, and again.

As of today, this blog has had 10,800 views in the year it’s been up and running! I’m astounded, and grateful, that so many people have read what I’ve written here, have looked at the photos, made comments, and returned on a regular basis to check out whatever is going on in my world. I’ve received so much support from many, many friends, and people who have become friends as a result of my maintaining this blog, but I’d like to say a special thanks to Paige Mason who encouraged me to begin blogging in the first place, helped me set the site up, and has been my greatest sounding board, and biggest cheerleader, throughout the whole year. I couldn’t have done this without ya, Paige! Thanks!

And to everyone else, please keep reading. I don’t know where this is all heading, but I do expect it will be one interesting trip. You’re all most welcome to continue accompanying me on the ride…

This week’s question at the Booking Through Thursday site is:

You’ve just reached the end of a book . . . what do you do now? Savor and muse over the book? Dive right into the next one? Go take the dog for a walk, the kids to the park, before even thinking about the next book you’re going to read? What?

(Obviously, there can be more than one answer, here–a book with a cliff-hanger is going to engender different reactions than a serene, stand-alone, but you get the idea!)

Many years ago, my good friend Judy and I came up with several criteria that had to be met in order for books to make it to our own, self-designed “Books That Make You Weep” list. Now these weren’t books that literally caused us to cry, although in some instances that was the case. But they were books in which the writing and stories were so strong, good, even beautiful, that they made us gasp in awe and enjoyment as we read. Then, when we reached the end, our immediate reaction had to be that all we wanted to do was turn back to the first page and start reading all over again, they were that good. The story had to resonate, staying with us for a very long time after we’d finally put the book down and gone on to another. These are the books that are then added to a permanent list of all-time favourites. I find I regularly go back and reread these - and they never fail to satisfy upon a second, third, or even a fourth reading. I find myself still gasping at the sheer brilliance of the writing and the way the stories are put together. Unfortunately, I haven’t read anything recently that has struck me in the same way that these books did in the past. But I continue to search and will add more titles as I find new books that make me weep from the pure enjoyment of reading them. Here’s my list (in no particular order):

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Independence Day by Richard Ford
English Creek by Ivan Doig
Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
Querencia by Stephen Bodio
Blueback: A Cotemporary Fable by Tim Winton
Abra by Joan Barfoot
How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
Losing Julia by Jonathan Hull
Fredy Neptune: A Novel in Verse by Les Murray
Mrs. Bridge by Evan S.Connell
Mr. Bridge by Evan S. Connell
Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell
Atonement by Ian McEwan

(Interestingly, one woman, and a Canadian at that, among all those men…)

I just found out this morning that Ann and Steve are back on Bequia! Coincidentally, I was writing an email to Ann at the same time she was talking with Dennis on the phone, telling him they had arrived. She’s promised to write back and bring me up to date with where Receta has been, and what Ann and Steve have been doing this past while. So, for those of you who have been googling Ann’s name and were directed to my blog as a result (and there have been a lot of you doing just that recently - or is it only one person who’s anxious to know all about Ann?), sit tight and I’ll report back to you as soon as I hear from her.

My novel, Island in the Clouds has made the weekly cut on the www.bookhabit.com site and is now entered in the next round of judging! View my entry by clicking on the black widget to the right —>
and notice the shiny gold announcement that has now been added to the site! You may still download, read, rate and comment on my novel during the coming weeks. And I encourage you to read other competitors’ entries and explore the Book Habit site. View all the entries that have moved on from the first two weeks of competition here. It’s a great way for unpublished authors like me to receive exposure and have my work read.

I’ve entered another writing contest sponsored by www.thenovelette.com. You can view my entry here and vote on it… Thanks for your support!