For the Love of Dog

The one and only Rhett***

An issue devoted entirely to the dogs of Violet Vale . . .

I share a bit of Chapter Thirteen,
where we meet these marvelous canines,
on YouTube here.

I know, I know, Butch is a long-haired Dachshund.
So this is him with a haircut.
It is summer when we first meet him, after all.

Some may say there’s no such thing as too cute.

Claude begs to differ.
The photographer wouldn’t even let him
rip the teddy bear to shreds.

Did you know Great Pyrenees have “self-cleaning fur”?
Freya looks relatively clean here, but I can assure you from firsthand experience that white fur gets grimy.

There is, I believe, nothing quite so wonderful
as a Labrador leaning against you
and looking up at you adoringly.

As Crackers would say:
Oh my good and gracious me.
Who wrote this content???
Lipton’s a GIRL!
Well, male, female, or non-binary,
in my not so humble opinion
Lipton is the star of the story.

If you haven’t read Two Over Easy All Day Long
and want to know more,
or if you’ve read it and want to share it
with someone you love,
hie thee to a bookseller:
Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, BarnesandNoble.com, Powells.com, etc.
Better yet, order it from your favorite local bookstore!

To all of you from Rhett-Dog:*
A Happy New Year!
May your days be filled with
everything you like best**
and nothing you like least.***

* Rhett is currently the sum total of our own Hairy Horde, and not a character in Two Over Easy All Day Long. He did model for Freya, though, so his photo is included here as an honorary member of the pack.

** Rhett would have listed belly rubs, chicken-flavored treats, roaming the fields at his favorite dog-sitter’s house, snoozing by the fire near myself or my Other Half, and any time spent with one of my adult children, or my dad - who is visiting as I write this and is one of Rhett’s new favorite people. I agreed to share his personal list of favorites because he can’t. No opposable thumbs, you know.
*** Trips to the vet, nail-trimming, mornings when it’s raining so hard we skip the walk, and any time someone Rhett has identified as a member of his flock walks out the door. Even momentarily.

The images shared here - other than Rhett’s photo - are [mostly] how I picture these sweet and silly dogs. Butch image by NORRIE3699 from Getty Images (text added). Marigold image by Alkir from Getty Images (text added). Claude image (sans squirrel toy) by Wavetop from Pexels. Freya image by JZHunt from Getty Images (text added). Callooh image by Elina Volkova from Pexels (text added). Lipton image by Petar Tutunjiev from Getty Images (text added).

Give the Gift of Story

“You just can’t help
but feel better about life
when you read it . . . ”
Emily Quinn, A Quintillion Words

“Two Over Easy All Day Long is a story of finding meaning in the little things. It’s a story of responsibility, redemption, and resilience. Of friendship and hope. In fact, there is so much packed into this story that it’s pretty hard to define in a single sentence, and for that reason, I fell in love with it. These characters are so full of life and personality that you’ll find it hard not to consider them friends afterwards . . . . I found myself laughing one minute and tearing up the next. A really powerful journey of growth and acceptance, with a few laughs thrown in. It really is a hidden gem!”

Find the full A Quintillion Words review here.

Maybe you’ve already been inspired to Give the Gift of Story. Maybe you’ve already bought a book to give to someone you love. If so, why not buy another, or two more, or ten? Why not make it a baker's dozen?

End of year is a particularly critical time for authors, as annual sales data influence media, contest judges, and other people and organizations who can help spread the word about a good book. So if you’re considering giving a book, might I gently suggest that you do it today? After all . . .

The long dark days of winter
are just begging for a good book!

And if you need more justification, there’s this: more and more research confirms what we bibliophiles know instinctively—reading is good. Good for the soul, good for the brain, good for the individual, good for the community, good for the world. Stories, essays, memoirs, poems, plays . . . reading connects us to each other, builds empathy, and feeds the light within.

There is so much that could be said about the value of reading. In the immortal words of Inigo Montoya, “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” A 2020 article in the Harvard Business Review reported on findings that:

Fiction builds empathy, because
“fiction provides an opportunity
to complicate standard good versus evil tropes.
Good literature presents characters
with competing and often equally valid viewpoints.”

Developing empathy by seeing the world through another’s eyes is one of the  underlying themes in Two Over Easy All Day Long, as mentioned in the review by A Quintillion Words excerpted above. 

And so, “to flog a horse, that if not dead is at this point in mortal danger of expiring,” (quoting Tom Hanks as The Professor in the 2004 version of the movie The Ladykillers), here is my ask, my recommendation, and my advice:

Give a book —
Two Over Easy All Day Long
or any book.
Better still, give lots of books
and
do it today!

Still on the fence? Check out my website for more reviews of Two Over Easy All Day Long, and past newsletters for other wonderful book recommendations!

www.sharilane.com

Image of a reader by Bowie15 from Getty Images (text added).

Fall

Autumn on Bywater Farm in Beavercreek, Oregon

Others may talk of spring, “When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim/Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,”[1] or the wealth of being “rich . . . in sunny hours and summer days,”[2] but autumn is by far my favorite season.

According to the Monell Center, “that brisk, crisp, slightly sharp smell we associate with autumn is actually the smell of leaves, trees, and plants dying and rotting.”[3] The article goes on to explain, “The memories we associate with the change of seasons are what make it pleasurable, even when many of us are allergic to moldy leaves and burning wood.”

I won’t let that sadly unpoetic description (yes, I meant “unpoetic” — “prosaic” doesn’t satisfactorily describe my disgust at bringing allergies and mold and death into it) dampen my ardor for fall.

O Autumn, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

. . . The wild burst of color in the leaves, even in the Pacific Northwest, that declares to the world I LIVE even as death creeps inevitably near . . .

 . . . The return to school, with its promise of new ideas and knowledge—so far, I’ve attended school for twenty-one of my years on this earth, and taught in various positions for still more years, and the thrill of a new school year has never dimmed . . .

And, to bring my own banal and pedestrian element into it:

 . . . Sweaters to hide the wrinkles and other indignities that come with age.

Yes, we in the US have a highly contentious election coming up, and yes, a new variant of Covid appears to be surging, with flu season tittering in the wings, and yes, climate change and wars and famine remain existential threats to us all.

Still I will celebrate the heady aromas and new adventures heralded by September.

Care to join me?

Two Over Easy All Day Long News

• Meet the Author event at Bloomsbury Books in Ashland, Oregon
  10/7/2024 7:00 pm

• Meet the Author event at Bookery Manchester in Manchester, New Hampshire
  11/16/2024, 2:00 pm. Invitation and RSVP

• A new YouTube video taking a shot at describing the genre of Two Over Easy All Day Long. (On the new video: Getting Better All the Time, as the song goes, but it’s still A Long and Winding Road - I hope the Beatles who are still alive forgive me for using their lyrics to excuse my lack of skill in videography)

Book Reviews

Attica Locke’s Bluebird, Bluebird (Mulholland Books 2018)

This book has everything I ask for from a book: a page-turner mystery with danger and red-herrings galore, complex and beautifully written characters, tangled family histories and traumas, and musings on being human (among other themes the book explores race relations in Texas, and the difficulty of sustaining an intimate relationship when two people feel love but want very different lives).

Locke just came out with the third book in this series, Guide Me Home. I stumbled upon an interview with Jami Attenberg about the latest book, and decided to start at the beginning of the series.

Highly recommended!

M. Stone Mayer’s Ashes to Ashes (Three Towers Press 2024)

Mayer is a fellow alum from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, and it is a pleasure to promote his debut novel!

A fast-paced thriller, Ashes to Ashes follows Will Mercer, a former Army ranger, who wakes on a sandbar in the Oregon wilderness, unable to remember who he is. More importantly, he can’t remember who his enemies are and why they chased him into the river. It’s a race against time as his pursuers close in. One reviewer said, “Loads of suspense from the beginning...great characters and storyline. Vivid descriptions put you right there in the action...A+!”

The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel, and I’m sure Mayer’s readers will be looking forward to the next installment.

I’m always looking for the next great read,
so send me an email (or comment below),
and let me know what you’re reading!

Art Corner

When it comes to the visual arts, I have absolutely no talent. During my years as a preschool teacher I attempted, once (and only once) to make my own felt stories. I had to give it up when, after sharing my homemade version of the Rudolph story, one of the children said, “Teacher, what is that?” “A reindeer,” I said, trying to hide my consternation. “Oh,” the precious tot said, “It doesn’t look very much like a reindeer. Are you sure that’s what it is?”

But my lack of talent does not foreclose appreciation for the work of those who do have talent.

In newsletters, on the website, and on the Laughing Dogs website, I’ve waxed ecstatic about the multiple geniuses of my friend Gini Chin: artist, writer, and video-creator. I’ve said it before and will say it again - do yourself a favor and check out her website: https://spot312.com/.

Now I want to highlight another brilliant artist that I have the good fortune to know: Martha Spieker. In Martha’s hands the ordinary becomes magical. I am especially enamored of her Faces series. And the Owls and Other Birds. And Octopuses. And Abstracts. Oh, who am I kidding? I love it all! Please check out her website: https://spiekerart.com/. And if you need more encouragement, take a look at these…

Reaching

Feeding Time

Isaiah

Follow Martha Spieker on Facebook and on Instagram @spiekerart.

Both Gini and Martha have an amazing reputation in the art world
- they don’t need my bumbling praise -
but anything that gets art into more hands and hearts is a good thing.

Ending this Newsletter with George Eliot’s words:

“Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love
- that makes life and nature harmonise.
The birds are consulting about their migrations,
the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay,
and begin to strew the ground,
that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air,
while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the Earth
seeking the successive autumns."

~ George Eliot

                                         September sunset over the Salish Sea

Postscript: Yeah, yeah, I know – footnotes? It comes from being a lawyer (and a perennial student, see previous statements). And anyway, attribution matters. I certainly hope if anyone ever decides to quote me they’ll provide full attribution.

[1] Sonnet 98 by William Shakespeare. It should be noted for the purists in the audience that Sonnet 98 is not, in fact, a paean to spring, but rather a description of how the narrator is unable to enjoy the season because his beloved is absent.

[2] Thoreau, Henry David. Walden (1854)

[3] Fallik, Dawn. “Why Do We Love the Way Autumn Smells?” Monell (11/21/2021), available at https://monell.org/whyy-why-do-we-love-the-way-autumn-smells/  (accessed 9/21/2024).

Storytelling: Building Bridges

Image by Cody Hiscox @codyhiscox

I’m giving up on the ironic “so little to share” and will tell you plainly: there’s so much to share! Some of the news follows, but if you want to skip right to the heart of this particular newsletter, and the source of the title Storytelling: Building Bridges, scroll down to the bottom. Better yet, click right on through to this NPR Article.

Otherwise, hold onto your hats for news!

Two Over Easy All Day Long has received new reviews, available on the New Release page.  A few of my favorite comments:

• Readers’ Favorite gives it 5 Stars and calls it “a deeply moving and thought-provoking read” with themes of “resilience, adaptation, and the transformative power of compassion.”

• Reader Tammar Paynter says it is “a very well crafted book, finely plotted and beautifully written,” and says, “After finishing the book, I felt a sense of hope, feeling that growth and change are possible even after tragedy.”

• Midwest Book Review says, “Two Over Easy All Day Long is a fun read from start to finish, and an impressive work of literary excellence . . . .”

• Literary Titan gives it 4 Stars and calls it “a compelling story” with “richly drawn characters,” “a thought-provoking and heartwarming read that explores themes of accountability, personal growth, and the power of community.”

• Reader Heather H says she “loved this well-written, quirky, and captivating book. A highly recommended read that speaks to the power of community, hope, resilience, and transformation.”

There was also a marvelous write-up in the Salish Current by talented writer Gretchen Wing: Lopez Author’s Debut Novel Rooted in People and Place (A quick plug for the Salish Current and for independent local media!)

The book launch party was fabulous! Over sixty wonderful friends and family came, many bringing delicious food to share (potlucks are a favorite tradition here on “my” island). The Friends of the Library introduced themselves and their amazing work in our community, and several library staff and volunteers gave up their Friday evening to share the celebration - “grateful” doesn’t begin to describe it! Last but definitely not least, if you haven’t already listened to the original music Adam Brock shared with us at the party, check it out (and if you have already heard it, well, it’s worth another listen or two or three hundred): At the Library

More readings are scheduled in Friday Harbor, Washington and Bend, Oregon, with others in the works. Keep an eye on the Home Page for advance notice.

There are more updates but for today I’m borrowing
the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons,
or the Monty Python skits (if you prefer): 
“And now for something completely different . . .”

Last week, NPR’s All Things Considered covered a story titled, “Abortion can be difficult to talk about. These 14 strangers took it on anyway,” by Maayan Silver (NPR 5/24/2024). Accessed 5/24/2024.

Why on earth would I focus on such a controversial topic in this newsletter?

Because the NPR article gets at the heart of what believe is the last best hope for humanity, and, coincidentally, the reason I write fiction. I believe what this world needs now (more than a refreshing carbonated beverage which shall remain nameless, maybe even more than “love, sweet love,”) is communication, people telling their stories to each other, and listening to each other’s stories, and deciding together that they don’t have to agree politically or religiously to recognize our shared humanity.  

I’ve said it before and will say it again, and again, and again: stories build bridges, bridges that span the metaphorical canyons currently dividing us.

The article points out the fourteen participants from wildly different political sides of the abortion issue forged lasting friendships, in spite of their differences, and ends with this paragraph:

“That's how this starts,” says Gardner Mishlove [one of the participants]. “A relationship develops, you get to see someone else's point of view. It challenges you.” She says maybe they only agree on the right color socks to wear, “but that’s a start, right?”

In this time of war (even as we honor those we’ve lost to war), and loss and grief (even as those losses and griefs continue, seemingly unabated), and divisions and broken bridges:

Here’s to Relationships. Here’s to Storytelling. Here’s to Building Bridges.

Tune in next time for more book reviews! Sneak Peek:

• “Stories are life lived backward.” The Book of Form and Emptiness, by Ruth Ozeki (Penguin Books 2022)

• “When we are paying attention, we see how much holds us invisibly. Love is a bench.” Somehow, by Anne Lamott (Riverhead Books 2024)

A Good Book

On Reading and Writing and Pigs in Heaven

I’d like to talk to you about
Barbara Kingsolver’s Pigs in Heaven.

Yes, this is my brand new blog/newsletter on my brand new website launched to support my brand new book, Two Over Easy All Day Long.

But I’ll have plenty of time to talk about that in the coming months, maybe even (if I’m lucky) in the coming years.

I hope so.

For now, I just want to rave about one of my all-time favorite books, by one of my all-time favorite authors.

The quotes below, from Barbara Kingsolver’s Pigs in Heaven, encapsulate beautifully what is possible in a good book.

___________________________________________

Background: Annawake Fourkiller, a newly-minted lawyer, is trying to explain to her boss, Franklin, why she believes the Cherokee child Turtle should be returned to her people, even though Turtle’s white adoptive mother is the only family Turtle knows. Annawake describes how important a sense of belonging is.

“People thought my life was so bleak . . . But I dreamed about the water . . . . All those perch down there you could catch, any time, you know? A world of free breakfast to help get you into another day. I’ve never been without that, have you?”

“No,” he admits. Whether or not he knew it, he was always Cherokee. The fish were down there, for him as much as for Annawake.

“Who’s going to tell that little girl who she is?”

. . . Franklin wears a Seiko watch and looks as Cherokee as Will Rogers or Elvis Presley . . . yet he knows he isn’t white because he can’t think of a single generalization about white people that he knows to be true. He can think of half a dozen about Cherokees.

Later, Annawake tackles Turtle’s adoptive mother, Taylor, who is deeply upset and offended that anyone would try to take her child away.

“There’s a law that gives Tribes the final say over custody of our own children. It’s called the Indian Child Welfare Act. Congress passed it in 1978 because so many Indian kids were being separated from their families and put into non-Indian homes.”

“I don’t understand what that has to do with me.” [Taylor says]

“It’s nothing against you personally, but the law is crucial. What we’ve been through is wholesale removal.”

“Well, that’s the past.”

“This is not General Custer. I’m talking about as recently as the seventies, when you and I were in high school. A third of all our kids were still being taken from their families and adopted into white homes. One out of three.”

. . . “My home doesn’t have anything to do with your tragedy.”

Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins 1993)

___________________________________________

In a few short paragraphs, Kingsolver tackles identity, loss, and the desire for absolution from our ancestors’ sins. Her characters are morally and ethically imperfect, not fully “good” but—like Giles/Tony—“not bad,” and evolving into something better.

(See? I did get in a reference to Two Over Easy All Day Long after all.)

Kingsolver’s stories are full of grace, even when tackling the darkness we humans sometimes fling at each other. And humor, too, which is nothing short of miraculous; to look into the void and find, in addition to hatred and bias and hurt, an infinite well of laughter.

What does that have to do with me?

I’m a writer because I love to read, because ever since I was a child books have touched me, moved me, and, sometimes, changed my mind. I felt as if the authors were speaking directly to me, as if the characters were friends taking me along on their journey, whispering their revelations to me. I knew from the first time I opened a book and the symbols resolved themselves into words that this, this is what I wanted to do—speak through stories. Then and now, it often feels as though stories are my only meaningful form of communication. I often feel a Homer Simpson-ish ‘Doh! over every word I actually speak aloud, certain I’ve said the wrong thing, or failed to say the right thing.

Image by Elena Mozhvilo @miracleday

But when I write, I can test and weigh and sit with the words first, make sure that my words are honest, and sincere, and as often as possible, kind.

When I write, I can paint a verbal picture of how I see the world, and more importantly . . . how I imagine it could be.

The title of this, my inaugural newsletter, is A Good Book. I am, of course, hoping something I’ve written or something I write some day in the future will merit the label: A Good Book.

In the meantime, in the newsletters that follow, I’ll often share what I’m reading, in that elusive search for “A Good Book.”

Barbara Kingsolver’s Pigs in Heaven feels like a great place to start the conversation.

Got a good book to share? Thoughts on Pigs in Heaven?
Drop me a line here, in the Comments,
or send me an email.