Bookworm Press

About thirty years ago, four of us poets and artists, Gwynne Garfinkle, Mary Striegel, Ann Braeff and I, founded a group called Los Angeles Poetry Ensemble. We read our poems at different venues in the Los Angeles area and some of us traveled out of state to participate at readings and performances. We created a chapbook of our poems and art work, titled Under the Surface of Childhood.

It was an exciting, creative, and fun time.

After years of collaboration, we all went our own ways but kept in touch. Ann Braeff wrote poetry and taught school. Mary Striegel moved to Louisiana where she worked in different functions in her community and kept on writing and painting. Gwynne Garfinkle wrote and published poems and short stories and this year published her debut novel, Can’t Find My Way Home, through Aqueduct Press. I, myself, published poems in poetry magazines as well as a collection of poems, Path of Fire, through Finishing Line Press and then tried my hand at novels and wrote and published two trilogies, Family Portrait and The Wine Lover’s Daughter as an independent author.

At the reunion after ten years, it was exciting and inspiring to realize that all of us kept our creative dreams alive and made them reality. Unfortunately, Ann Braeff couldn’t meet with us this time, but I hope she’ll be ready to join us at our next get-together–and, hopefully, we won’t have to wait another ten years!

And the brunch was delicious!

The Seamless Web by Joe Eliseon

I came across this legal comedy by accident and I’m glad I did. It totally cured me of the faulty notion that lawyers couldn’t possible have a sense of humor and that they didn’t know how to write. I mean, really, have you ever read  legal texts? They don’t make any sense at all. Well, the author Joe Eliseon, is a lawyer, or was, before he began to write fiction and he darn well knows how to write and on top of it he creates quirky and humorous characters! Here is my review of one of his novels.

The Seamless Web – fun and thought-provoking

No matter what your opinion about lawyers, whether you think of them as saviors of the unjustly accused or as greedy, manipulative liars, who rob you blind if they get a chance, you will greatly enjoy this rambunctious, funny, and thought-provoking comedy.

Pete Roselli, a young lawyer fresh out of law school, wants to do things right. He believes in the law and wants to stick to it. This honest attitude, however, gets him into trouble with his law firm and his ugly, demanding, and ill-tempered boss. Not the law is important but the satisfaction of the client. The client has to win no matter what. Desperately searching for a solution in order to keep his job, Pete stumbles upon a tool that solves his problem and makes him one of the most sought after lawyers. However, in the process he gets trapped in a web of lies and manipulations that threatens both his professional and personal life.

A hilarious and insightful book in four parts by an author with plenty of experience in the legal field. A page-turner with colorful, quirky characters. Definitely worth reading!

If you need a good laugh and a fascinating read, here is the link to Joe Eliseon’s author page on Amazon, where you find his other novels as well:

Joe Eliseon – Author Page

THE BREVITY OF ROSES by Linda Cassidy Lewis

During these difficult and turbulent times we all look for things to relax and soothe us and bring some joy into our day-to-day life. It may be getting back in touch with friends or family we may have neglected in the past or devote more time again to a hobby, to something which gives us joy and our life meaning. Or perhaps we simply look for a little entertainment, diversion, an escape.

In my case, it is activities such as reading, writing, singing, playing my guitar, exercising, cooking, a little baking, going for walks (wearing a mask now and waving at others from afar) and staying in touch with friends and family that fill my days.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about the many authors I’ve met, some in person, some only through social media, during my writing career and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share my thoughts on some of my favorite books that I reviewed over the years.

The first contact I made when I began to independently publish my first novel Love of a Stonemason is the author Linda Cassidy Lewis and her debut novel The Brevity of Roses. Since that book, Linda has gone on to publish several books, which I enjoyed very much, but The Brevity of Roses remains one of my favorite novels. Here is my review:

Every once in a while, I come across a work of literature, which is not only fascinating, entertaining, and moving, but which touches me on a deeper level. The Brevity of Roses by Linda Cassidy Lewis is one of those books.

The Brevity of Roses is a story about love, the power and beauty of love as well as the fear it can trigger and the pain it can cause. Love is what the three main characters—Jalal, Meredith, and Renee—struggle with.

Jalal, a handsome American-Iranian poet from a well-to-do family escapes a life of drugs, alcohol, a career he hates, and a lot of superficial relationships by moving across the country from New York to California. He finds love and embraces it but when tragedy strikes, he withdraws from life. Underneath the shiny veneer he presents to the world, he is slowly dying. Meredith, an anthropologist, struggles with feelings of guilt toward her former husband which hold her back from giving her heart fully, and Renee, a waitress and survivor of childhood abuse and neglect, falls in love but when it gets serious, her first reaction is to run. But it is the tenacious Renee who ultimately manages to break down the walls Jalal has built around himself and forces him to face his demons, a grief so deep it threatens to undo him.

While reading this book, I was often reminded of a quotation by May Sarton in her book Mrs. Stephens Hears the Mermaids Singing: “Love opens the door into everything, as far as I can see, including, and perhaps most of all, the door into one’s secret, and often terrible and frightening, real self.”

The Brevity of Roses is a carefully crafted, beautifully told story. The characters are complex and believable, flawed but loveable. With vivid descriptions, the author manages to engage our senses, our thoughts, and our emotions. And, without any explicit love-making scenes, she creates a highly charged and sensuous atmosphere.

Masterful debut novel by a talented author. I look forward to more of her work.

If my review made you curious, click on the book cover or title link, buy the book, and you’ll have something wonderful to entertain you. I can guarantee it!

Sally Cronin writes a wonderful blog with inspiring posts. Check it out. Have a great weekend and stay safe!

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2020/04/18/smorgasbord-blog-magazine-weekly-round-up-april-12th-18th-relationships-abba-guacamole-pasta-guests-poetry-and-funnies/comment-page-1/#comment-270115

I want to give my prospective and current readers some background to the creative process behind my novel. I think it’s always interesting to hear “the story behind the story.”

In my case, it was a series of deaths in my family and among my friends a few years ago. Within three months, I lost my mother, my brother-in-law, and one of my closest friends. The death of my mother left me as the last survivor of our immediate family, my father and my only sister having passed on years before. After the funeral, I began the difficult task of cleaning out our family home in Switzerland, getting it ready for renovations. I shuffled through old documents, read letters my parents, my sister, and I exchanged, while I lived abroad. I even found a love letter my father had written to my mother while he served in the Swiss Army during the Second World War. I took down my father’s paintings in the home–he was an artist as a young man–and wrapped them, so they wouldn’t get damaged during the renovation. I met with a stonemason to talk about the tombstone on my parent’s grave.

One evening, I was sitting in front of the fireplace in the only room in our house that wasn’t full of boxes and bags, staring into the flames. It was a cold January night. Thick snowflakes were floating to the ground. I finally had time to reflect and to mourn and I did what I always do when I am in an intense period of my life. I began to write. I wrote about a young painter, who struggled with loss and loneliness, about a stonemason, who carved tombstones and who, interestingly enough, became the harbinger of new life for the young woman.

The novel is pure fiction, all the characters are made up, but the building blocks of the story can be found somewhere in my own life. Over the following few years and with the help and support of some very dear friends, the book took on shape. What began as a time of death and loss was transformed into something new, life-affirming, and uplifting. I offer it to you, dear Reader, and I hope you will enjoy it. If you feel like it, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

The novel is available as an eBook at Amazon.com for the Kindle.

If you prefer paperback, click here.

Thank you and Happy Reading.
Christa