Nan McCarthy

author of Since You Went Away, Chat, Connect, Crash, & Live ’Til I Die

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#denverbotanicgardens #naturewalk #familytime #roadtrip #summertime

I love true crime and I love Harper Lee but this book didn’t hit it out of the ballpark for me. Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the last trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep is divided into 3 parts. The 1st section is devoted to Reverend Willie Maxwell, a preacher in 1970s rural Alabama accused of murdering 5 of his family members for insurance money, who was himself murdered by a family member at the funeral of his last victim. The 2nd section is about Maxwell’s defense attorney Tom Radney, who also ended up defending the man who murdered Maxwell. The 3rd section is about Harper Lee, who attended the trial and planned to write a book about the murders (a la In Cold Blood) but after struggling with the manuscript for years eventually gave it up. This last section was absolutely fascinating and worth the price of the book alone. The 1st section was interesting but unsatisfying and the middle section lagged and seemed unnecessary. The book would have been a lot better if the author had combined the stories of the preacher and Harper Lee into one narrative, with some info on the attorney sprinkled throughout. Did you know Harper Lee had intended to write a true-crime book? This last section offers lots of fascinating info about Lee’s relationship to Capote and how she helped him write In Cold Blood, as well as a recounting of her success with To Kill A Mockingbird and her struggles that followed. • #nonfiction #truecrime #HarperLee #narrativenonfiction #lovetoread #booksofinstagram #bookstagram

When I’m working on a novel I have a hard time reading other writers’ fiction, so I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction lately. Bad Blood reads like fiction because it’s so fucking unbelievable that a twenty-something Stanford dropout was able to convince investors to cough up tens of millions of dollars for a blood-testing device that never actually worked. Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou broke the story of Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos, in 2015. The details of how Holmes and her partner Sunny Balwani bullied and lied their way to a nine-*billion* dollar valuation are riveting. This is one of those books where you’re constantly reading passages out loud to your spouse because the real-life anecdotes become more and more outrageous as the story unfolds. • #BadBlood #JohnCarreyrou #Theranos #ElizabethHolmes #nonfiction #narrativenonfiction #lovetoread #amwriting #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #truthisstrangerthanfiction

#coworkers #favespot #homeoffice #workingfromhome #writinglife #amwriting #lovetowrite #sinceyouwentaway #part3 #dogsofinstagram #catsofinstagram #dogcatlove #rescuedog #rescuecat #officebuddies

“I’d like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: Thank you for immigrating to America. We’re a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation—and he will never be forgotten.” —Senator John McCain #whatitmeanstobeamerican #GoldStarFamily #IndependenceDay #FourthOfJuly #AnAmericanFamily #KhizrKhan #nonfiction #memoir #autobiography #bookstagram

Happy Birthday to Chesty Puller, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. Favorite Chesty quote: “Son, when the Marine Corps wants you to have a wife, you will be issued one.” This biography of LtGen. Lewis B. Puller was written by Col. Jon T. Hoffman, USMCR. #Oorah #USMC #Marines #ChestyPuller #USMarines #Marinespouse #milspouse #vetspouse #militarybiography #militarybooks #nonfiction #biography #bookstagram #lovetoread

Today’s writing fuel is a matcha smoothie 🍵⛽️📝 2 cups coconut almond milk, 2 tsp matcha powder, 2 frozen bananas. #amwriting #writingfuel #part3 #sinceyouwentaway #bookseries #lovetowrite #epistolarynovel #epistolaryfiction #epistolary #matchasmoothie

#onmywalk #awalkwithmylove #kaufmannmemorialgardens #summersolstice #firstdayofsummer #summerinkansascity #kcsummer #kansascity #kcmo #gardenwalk #inmyneighborhood #kcjewel

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Blog (26)
Books (23)
- biography/memoir (5)
  - Live ’Til I Die (5)
- fiction (14)
  - Chat: book one (3)
  - Connect: book two (3)
  - Crash: book three (3)
  - Since You Went Away (Part One: Winter) (3)
  - Since You Went Away (Part Two: Spring) (1)
- how-to (1)
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NOW AVAILABLE

Since You Went Away, Part Two: Spring

Since You Went Away, Part Two: Spring Nan McCarthy (Rainwater Press, 2017) 226 pages F I C T I O N…

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