Holly Chamberlin's Blog

If you're in Maine, don't miss my interview (Monday, July 23 at 7:00 pm) with Kathleen Shannon on the "207" show, Channel 6 in Portland. Of course, if you can't watch it live I'll be posting a link to the...

I'll be signing books and talking about "Last Summer" and my story in "Beach Season" at Kennebooks, 149 Port Road in Kennebunk, Maine -- August 1, 6:30. For more information CLICK HERE. See you there!

Sorry I'm a little late posting this! I'm very excited that my local paper, the Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, published a very thoughtful review of "Summer Friends" a few weeks ago! CLICK HERE to read it...

This past Saturday I had the privilege of being one of forty-one authors from around the state of Maine to participate in the 7th annual book fair now known as Books in Boothbay. All forty-one of us gathered in the old Town Hall on the grounds of the Boothbay Railway Village to meet and greet readers and, thanks to Sherman’s Books and Stationery, Maine’s oldest bookstore, offer some of our books for sale.

Wayne Sheridan and Sharon Pulkkinen, long known in Maine literary circles, were the organizers of the event. Wayne, Sharon and their amazing staff of dedicated volunteers made sure that we were well supplied with food and water and at the end of the afternoon, with wine, cookies, and cheese!

I got to meet again with one of the best young writers around, Ron Currie, Jr., a native of Maine. His first two books – GOD IS DEAD and EVERYTHING MATTERS – are published in hardcover by Viking and in paperback by Penguin. His work is original and thought provoking – check it out.

But I suppose the best moment of the day for me came when one of the organizers told me she had been asked to buy a copy of THE FAMILY BEACH HOUSE for the Boothbay Harbor Region Memorial Library. What an honor!

I capped the day with a dinner of steamers and onion rings at a lobster shack with a fantastic view of Boothbay Harbor. How very Maine!

 

 

 

I'm sorry I haven't been posting lately...I'm deeply immersed in my next book, which means no time for a lot of things I'd like to be doing. But I'm looking forward to taking a break to participate in this year's Books in Boothbay: Maine's Summer Book Fair. I'll get to meet other Maine-based writers, sign some books and hopefully, chat with some readers.

Boothbay Harbor is a wonderful destination in July so I hope you can join me there if you're in Maine...and don't miss the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens while you're there...it's one of my favorite destinations in Maine. 

Books in Boothbay takes place on July 9, 2011, from 12:30 - 3:30 at Boothbay Railway Village, Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 

 

Yes, you got it. Yesterday I went for my annual mammogram. What fun! The technicians at Mercy Hospital are lovely – women who have been on the other side of the machine, i.e., women who have been the squishees as well as the squishers. It’s not fun for anyone involved but it has to be done so . . .

Stephen was in New York on foodie business so I took a cab to the hospital and back. The driver on the return trip was a woman about my age, maybe a bit younger. I just had to tell her what I’d been doing at the hospital, and within a second we had launched into a humorous tirade about the agonies and humiliations women have to endure in the world of medicine. Why, the driver wondered, can’t gynecological exams be conducted via some sort of camera that reads right through the skin, etc.? Why does my collar bone get bruised during the squishing process, I asked.

From there the conversation naturally led to men – specifically, our husbands – and their uncanny ability not to notice things about us – like new haircuts or the fact that we’re soaking wet and yes, have just taken a shower. (That’s one of Stephen’s specialties, asking if I’ve taken a shower yet when I’m soaking wet with a towel around me. It’s quite amazing, actually.)

There was a lot of laughter and some good-natured shouting and when we pulled up outside my house I felt compelled to dramatically overtip and to thank her for relieving some of the residual tension I had been feeling post cancer screening. As she pulled away she shouted out some advice. Here it is: “Be sure to have three glasses of wine tonight, one for you and one for each of the girls!”

I did.

The other day I had a tooth extracted. It was a necessary procedure, given the fact that the poor tooth had never fully been well since an emergency root canal operation about eight years ago. My dentist, Dr. Katherine Horutz, is fabulous. I felt no pain and not even any pressure, though she apologized throughout the procedure for any discomfort I might be feeling.

The immediate recovery was also uneventful. Bleeding stopped after about six hours and the pain was barely recognizable as such. I’ll have to be careful of the wound for a while, but that’s no big deal.

As I lay in the chair with my mouth open (and no doubt drooling), I thought about the novelist Fanny Burney, Madame D’Arblay, who, in 1811 in Paris, endured the removal of a breast with absolutely no anesthesia. The doctor put a thin piece of fabric over her face so that she might be spared the sight of her own blood, but the fabric was very thin and Fanny had to close her eyes against the doctor’s instruments cutting into her flesh. Afterward, she wrote a long account of her ordeal, in itself an act of extreme bravery.

No one ever said it’s easy being a woman – being human, rather – but the story of Fanny Burney’s experience (typical of many such experiences, I’m sure) really made me feel very thankful to be living at a time when anesthesia is available and recovery from surgery is much more of a sure bet than ever before.

Of course, not everyone is as lucky as I am to have health and dental insurance (for which we pay an extraordinary sum) . . . But I won’t go into politics here.

I read about Fanny Burney’s surgery in Richard Holmes’ wonderful new book entitled THE AGE OF WONDER – How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. I recommend it highly.

There’s a commercial currently being run on TV in which a woman brings her neighbor a casserole. “Chicken divan,” she says.

Stephen and I saw this commercial the other night and I said, “I can’t recall what, exactly, goes in to chicken divan, besides chicken.”

He whipped out his iPhone and began a search. “Paula Dean has a recipe,” he said. I replied that I didn’t want to know about a southern version of chicken divan (no insult to Ms. Dean, whom I love), I wanted to know the basic, classic, version. He continued to search. “There are all sorts of variations here,” he said, staring down at the little machine.

I took The Joy of Cooking from the shelf by the kitchen table, found chicken divan in the index, opened to the page and read aloud the recipe. Curiosity satisfied, I returned the book to the shelf. Stephen said, “From what I’m seeing, it’s basically creamed chicken on toast. Let me check this other site.”

Books rule.

On an exciting note, I just bought the latest Peter Ackroyd novel to hit the States. It’s called THE CASEBOOK OF VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN. This will be the eighteenth book of his I’ve read. It’s safe to say that Mr. Ackroyd is my favorite writer. (Finished the book – fabulous.) Last evening a friend reminded me that I really should read more Herman Hesse, so he’s now back on my to-do list. (Hesse, not the friend.) And I’ve three more Iris Murdoch novels waiting to be read. I’m now reading HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY by Audrey Niffenegger, and very much enjoying it. Many more books await . . .

A few weeks ago, my friend Ruth asked if I would like to join her and her nine year old daughter, Hannah, on a shopping trip for back-to-school clothes. (Hannah, it must be said, is growing taller by the minute and stands to inherit the clothes I can no longer, ahem, fit in to.) Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. I love spending time with Ruth and with Hannah and hey – I love shopping!

It was a rainy day, but Ruth braved the roads and we drove down to the outlets in Kittery. Hannah made out like the proverbial bandit – and everything was on sale! – and Ruth and I each got a little something-something for ourselves at Old Navy. (Gotta love the Navy.) After, we had lunch at Billy’s Chowder House on the marsh in Wells (all fried foods – hey, it was a fun day!), and then wound our way back to Portland.

Nothing spectacular occurred – by which I mean we weren’t asked to star in our own reality TV series or anything – but I had such a good time. I remember very clearly my own back-to-school shopping trips with my mother as special occasions. Not having a daughter (or son) of my own, it meant a lot to me to be asked along on Ruth and Hannah’s excursion.

The point: Embrace life’s simple rituals.

This past weekend I was privileged to attend the New England Independent Booksellers Association’s 36th Annual Trade Show in Hartford, CT. This, of course, was thanks to Kensington, my publisher, and more specifically to my terrific editor, John Scognamiglio, and to Doug Mendini, sales bigwig, all-around mover and shaker, and one of the best guys ever.

Even though I’ve been out of house for about fourteen years, working as a freelance editor and writer, it still felt a bit odd to be on the other side of things – being the one feted instead of the one doing the fete-ing. (I know that’s not a word and I’m pretty sure I’m spelling things incorrectly.) I was happy to meet two other Kensington authors, Cathy Lamb and Beverly Barton, lovely people, good writers, and fun dinner companions. I also have to thank Stephen, who gamely drove me to Hartford and back, as Holly doesn’t drive and never has. (Some people just shouldn’t.)

A quick word on my reading: I just finished THE LOST ART OF GRATITUDE, the latest in Alexander McCall Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie series (very satisfying, as always); E. L. Doctorow’s HOMER & LANGLEY (lovely); and am about mid-way through Nicholson Baker’s THE ANTHOLOGIST, which is great fun. Unfortunately, I missed his reading at Longfellow last Thursday, due to a minor (and temporary) family crisis. I hope to attend the next time he’s in town.

Next week: back-to-school shopping with Hannah!

Well, I must dash as I have a head full of hair color that needs to be rinsed out before I become Bozo’s little sister!