Books Archives - Page 2 of 3

Books read, influence of books and reading, book reviews, books on travel, memoir, and WWII.

Books, Writing, History, and Me

In “Books, Writing, History, and Me” I share my thoughts on travel, cooking, van-life, books, the process of writing, the experiences of an indie-publisher, WWII, the Holocaust, and anything else I feel might be of interest to readers of my books. Please send me comments and let me know what you like and what you want to know more about. Everything in this blog reflects my personal ideas and feelings–a memoir of sorts, it is my perspective and any errors or omissions are mine.

Comparable Books for A Travel Memoir

A nonfiction book (including a travel memoir such as Wherever the Road Leads) is first presented to an agent or publisher in the form of a book proposal. One of the most important elements of this proposal is the section of competitive and complementary books. These are often called “Comps.” I looked for narratives that matched my own in some way. I scanned memoir lists for woman authors who wrote of long road trips. These are popular, though most focus on solo travel and personal discovery. I found stories of travel with a man, told from the woman’s perspective, to be a rare commodity. Travel books that talked of the local cuisine were a easier to find. Illustrated memoirs were also rare. Still, my search turned up many worthwhile books, and I developed a list of comps. […]

Katie Slattery2020-03-20T19:19:11+00:00March 20th, 2020|Tags: memoir, travel, writing|1 Comment

A Summer of Memoir Reading

Recently, following the writer’s adage to read the genre you write, I set out to read memoirs in search of stories that would inspire my own writing and push me to expand and excel. Some time ago, I fell in love with the memoirs of Isabelle Allende. Starting with Paula, a memoir about her youth and her daughter’s illness and death. I continued with The Sum of Our Days and My Invented Country until I have come to feel that Allende is a friend, a sentiment I'm aware she doesn't share. Getting to know all kinds of people, both famous and not famous, is one of the joys of reading memoirs. Gradually this has become my preferred type of nonfiction. Over the years, I have read all kinds of memoirs —everything from The Color of Water by James McBride to Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl, from The Choice [...]

Katie Slattery2020-03-23T09:14:43+00:00February 29th, 2020|5 Comments

The Muralist and LBJ, a Secret Hero.

WWII novels always figure importantly among the stacks of books waiting for me to read and summer is a great time for catching up. Maybe your "to read" stack is on your bedside table, or in leaning towers on the floor under your desk, or stashed neatly in boxes in a corner of a little used room. My waiting books are scattered in small horizontal piles atop of the vertical rows of titles in my bookcases. Many of the books in my stacks are World War II related fiction and nonfiction. But sometimes I crave a break and want to read a book that has a different slant, and these wait patiently, too. Thus, some weeks ago, I selected from the stack of waiting books a historical novel about an abstract painter. I thought it would be a pleasant break to read about another of my interests—art, [...]

Katie Slattery2020-02-07T22:51:22+00:00July 11th, 2017|0 Comments

A Summer Book for Young Readers

After two years promoting my adult novel, Immigrant Soldier, I decided go back to my roots – children’s literature. As a result of the publication of the novel, I now have my very own publishing company. Why not publish a children’s book? Last February, I pulled out one of my favorite children’s manuscripts - a work where I continue to own the rights. Based on a childhood memory, it tells the story of a little girl with a big idea in early chapter-book format. I checked the manuscript over, made a few changes and improvements, and sent it to my editor, Lorraine Fico-White. She encouraged me to go ahead with the project. “I love Caitlin and can easily see this becoming a series,” she wrote. So preparation work for publishing the manuscript began! In a children’s book, illustrations are primary. However, I never wanted to do the illustrations myself. I turned to a friend who is [...]

Katie Slattery2020-02-07T22:53:44+00:00April 26th, 2017|0 Comments

My Mother’s Secret – A Self-Publication Success

I have to admit, Amazon has my number! Whenever I sign in to my account on their website, I get a display of “featured recommendations,” and when I order a book, I am shown selections that “customers who bought this item also bought.” It was one of these suggestions that lead me to the wonderful little novel, My Mother’s Secret by J. L. Witterick. The description on Amazon says, “Inspired by a true story, My Mother’s Secret is a captivating and ultimately uplifting tale intertwining the lives of two Jewish families in hiding from the Nazis, a fleeing German soldier, and the mother and daughter who team up to save them all.” There was no way I could resist this introduction. Last week, after finishing a group of three dense nonfiction books, I chose this thin book from the huge stack on my bookshelf because I needed a quick read with a compelling plot. [...]

Katie Slattery2020-01-12T19:04:52+00:00March 11th, 2017|0 Comments

December 7, 2016 – The 75th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Though my blogs and my interest center on the Holocaust and the European experience of Nazi dominance in the 1930s and 40s, I never forget that action in the Pacific was crucial to World War II. The “War in the Pacific” began with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, an event that killed and wounded thousands of Americans in one terrible day 75 years ago. It took the events at Pearl Harbor to finally push the United States into World War II — the war we all hoped would protect and preserve world-wide freedom and democracy. Recent events have reminded us how fragile these freedoms can be. Out of respect for and gratitude to the veterans of World War II, those who fought and died to preserve personal freedom for generations to come, we need to remember how easily these [...]

Katie Slattery2020-02-07T23:15:14+00:00December 3rd, 2016|0 Comments

Marthe Cohn, Behind Enemy Lines

Last year in the end of December, I was able to attend a talk by Marthe Cohn, holocaust survivor and French spy. A diminutive woman in her mid-90s, she perched on a high chair with her husband by her side. I was part of the audience gathered at the Laguna Beach Chabad Center to hear her recount her story of living in German-occupied France and serving as a spy for the French Army. We were totally captivated by her personality and what she had to say from start to finish, myself perhaps more than most because she reminded me so strongly of my beloved grandmother, Clara. Recently I finished reading her memoir, Behind Enemy Lines, written with renowned biographer Wendy Holden and published in 2002. Easily readable because of the fine writing of Holden, Behind Enemy Lines is a book that should go on the list [...]

Katie Slattery2020-03-01T01:00:31+00:00May 17th, 2016|0 Comments

Meg Waite Clayton – A World War II “Nut.”

I recently had the honor of hosting best-selling author Meg Waite Clayton for a weekend in my home. She had come to Laguna Beach in order to speak at the annual fund-raising Literary Luncheon for an organization dear to my heart .* Earlier I had been asked by the organization to write a short piece about Clayton for the local newspaper. In order to do that, I had already enjoyed a long phone interview with the author and knew when she arrived we would hit it off. Clayton’s most recent novel, The Race for Paris, is, like Immigrant Soldier, historical fiction set during World War II. She has published five novels, but The Race for Paris was the second novel she began writing and it was the one she came back to repeatedly over 15 years as she completed a string of best-selling novels about women’s friendships – The Wednesday Sisters, The Four Ms. Bradwells, and The Wednesday [...]

Katie Slattery2019-12-01T07:37:28+00:00April 7th, 2016|0 Comments

We Are Readers – An Author’s Favorite Childhood Books

Most writers are also devoted readers. In fact, a love of reading, books, indeed for stories of all kinds, is almost always at the heart of why we begin writing. Most of us read voraciously from an early age. I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite books from all the stages of my life, starting from childhood. I learned to love stories snuggled on my father’s lap and later, sitting cross-legged at his feet. But he didn’t read the normal children’s books to my sister and me. He regaled us with his own dramatic telling of the Greek myths, the stories of the operas, the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, or old Germanic legends. Two sagas I especially enjoyed are intertwined in my memory: the Troll Mountain King (based on the Peer Gynt suite by Edvard Grieg, 1867 and the brave dwarfs of [...]

Katie Slattery2019-12-01T07:05:08+00:00October 25th, 2015|0 Comments

Two Sons of China

Several months ago, when I received news from the Independent Publishers Book Awards that Immigrant Soldier had earned the bronze medal in the military/wartime fiction category, one of the first things I did (after sending the news to my readers) was to look at the other winners of this niche genre. When I had placed my book in this category, it had been as a kind of back up after the historical fiction field where I normally consider Immigrant Soldier to fit. But I knew that popular and often romance-driven genre would be heavily impacted and military fiction would also be a good fit with fewer contenders. Along with the good news of my bronze IPPY, I couldn’t help but wonder what type of books had earned the two higher awards in the area. Not surprisingly, the other winners dealt with more direct military action (fighting, guns, even killing) than Immigrant Soldier. Also, not surprisingly, [...]

Katie Slattery2019-12-01T07:05:25+00:00August 31st, 2015|0 Comments

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