What Smack Said #30
What's a reading retreat? We made it up...
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This month my friend and I drove out to the mountains in east county to spend a long weekend at a cute little family-owned hotel for what we call a "reading retreat." It means, simply, that we spent the entire weekend reading. We were essentially the only people in the building on our second night, so we completely took over the couches, blankets, and giant stone fireplace. Even better, it
poured down rain while we were out there. Absolute heaven.
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The books I brought with me included
Firestorm by Rachel Caine (edge-of-your-seat popcorn fiction),
Lent by Jo Walton (so good!), and
The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne (meh). I finished the first two at the retreat, made a sizeable dent in the third, and came home feeling both accomplished and refreshed.
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Not to call it a resolution, but I'm trying this year to get through some of my massive collection of unread books, both to make space (by giving away the ones I don't enjoy) and to save some money. The good thing is that between my personal library, the city library, and the county library, I have access to a book for every possible craving. The bad news is I have terrible shelf (hah) control.
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I've got a little housekeeping to handle this issue. On February 1, 2024, Gmail is changing some back-end stuff that unfortunately requires a little technical wizardry from newsletter-senders. It
should be all sorted now, but in the meantime please make sure you've whitelisted sarahmack@whatsmacksaid.com. And if you realize you've missed the upcoming February newsletter, please reach out! |
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I'm also trying to make the text of these newsletters a little easier to read. Let me know if this newsletter is any better than past ones (the changes shouldn't be too obvious!), or if there's something else that really nags at you.
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One of the books I finished at the reading retreat was
Lent by Jo Walton. I've read enough of her other books to know that a good portion of her fiction is about the journey rather than the destination, so I went in to
Lent ready to go with the flow. (Especially since what I know about Catholicism could fit in a thimble.)
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And for the most part, that was a good idea. The first half is interesting and compelling. It read more like historical fiction than historical fantasy, so the tenor of the writing felt different than my usual fare, but following a priest through Renaissance Florence as he banished demons, talked a French king out of invading the city, and gradually amassed a frankly alarming amount of political influence made for great reading.
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And then. AND THEN. Everything changes at the novel's midpoint. The story got flipped on its head in the
best way possible.
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I don't want to say too much more to avoid spoilers, but I will say that I found
Lent to be one of the more compassionate stories I've read in a long while. It's about forgiveness, redemption, and fellowship. It's about trusting the people around us to be their best selves, with the understanding that they're also taking a leap of faith to do the same for us.
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This has been What Smack Said, a monthly newsletter about books, fiction writing, and everything else. If you don't want to receive these emails, please use the link below to unsubscribe from this list. |
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Votes: 0
Voting..
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