Nan McCarthy

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

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Why yes, the book *is* better than the movie. I love the Alfred Hitchcock film based on du Maurier's 1938 classic, but this is my first time reading Rebecca. And it's delicious. Du Maurier got the idea for Rebecca when she was a 30-year-old officer's wife stationed in Alexandria with her husband. According to du Maurier, "I think I put a brave face on the situation and went to the various cocktail parties which we were obliged to attend, but all I really wanted to do was write, and to write a novel set in my beloved Cornwall." • The house in which the story is set, Manderley, is based on a real-life house called Menabilly which sat empty and neglected three miles from the harbor. After Rebecca became a worldwide success, du Maurier purchased Menabilly and restored it to its original beauty. • Du Maurier originally planned to start the novel with Chapter One (which begins, "We can never go back again, that much is certain"). She later decided to start the story with what was originally the epilogue, beginning with the now-famous first line, "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." • #Rebecca #DaphneDuMaurier #supernaturalfiction #horror #suspense #booktofilm #AlfredHitchcock #lovetoread #militaryspouse #milspouse "I have put in it the best of me." —Thomas Hardy, upon completion of his novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles in 1891. One of the things I love most about the #bookstagram community is being reminded of books I read long ago. Thanks to Alex @vintagebook.love for inspiring me to dig out my copy of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. This is the 1964 Signet Classic edition priced at $1.25 which I probably bought used at the Illini Union Bookstore back in the day (ok 1979 to be precise) for my Sex & Violence in Literature class at University of Illinois. Thanks Alex! Did you know that Hardy destroyed his first novel after it was rejected by publishers, and that his next novel was self-published? #tessofthedurbervilles #thomashardy #signetclassic #illiniunionbookstore #lovetoread Finally read this on a recent road trip after almost 30 years on my TBR list! Sometimes when a book becomes a classic or wins numerous literary awards, readers expect a slow-moving or challenging reading experience that requires a great deal of intellectual effort. While The Handmaid's Tale surely challenges patriarchy (and all sorts of other social issues), and is intellectually stimulating, the story itself effortlessly draws the reader in to the world of Gilead. From the moment I read the first page I could hardly put the book down. (Good thing my husband doesn't mind driving for hours at a stretch.) My reading of this book is especially timely in relation to current events and the TV series which just won 8 Emmys. In fact the TV series is what finally prompted me to read the book after all these years—I wouldn't want to see the TV adaptation without reading the book first. Now that I've read it, I'm not sure I'll want to watch the series. I like having Atwood's writing and my imagining of her characters front and center in my mind. This is a story to ponder long after you turn the last page. #TheHandmaidsTale #MargaretAtwood #speculativefiction #Emmys2017 #booktofilm #lovetoread So I guess the new "It" movie comes out today. I've been a huge Stephen King fan since Carrie came out in 1974 when I was 13. Bought every one of his books (except the Dark Tower series—never got into that) as soon as it came out. This is my 1986 Viking hardcover, a first edition as it turns out (valued between $100-$300). Never thought of it until now but I probably own a number of King first editions. (BRB, off to count my 💰💰💰.) Would never sell any of my King books though. "It" wasn't one of my favorites, but I did like it. (My faves are Misery, Pet Sematary, On Writing, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and 11/22/63.) The new "It" film adaptation looks totally scary—in a good way. Has anyone seen it already? My hubs is out of town so I won't be going to see it until he comes back—I need to go with someone who'll let me dig my fingernails into his arm, hide my face in his shoulder, and—if necessary—jump into his lap. 🤡😱 #stephenking #it #itmovie #firstedition #kingofhorror #stephenkingfirstedition #itfirstedition ##booktofilm #lovetoread #imyournumberonefan The clouds cleared for the entire 2+ minutes of totality at Shatto Dairy Farm in Osborn, MO. Magical. #eclipse2017 #eclipseonthefarm #totaleclipse Checking in at Shatto Dairy Farm in Osborn, Missouri to watch the total eclipse 🌔🌓🌒🌑🐄😎 #eclipse2017 #eclipseonthefarm #shattodairyfarm One of my favorite novels and also one of Jerzy Kosinski's most significant works, Being There offers a satirical view of America's media culture. Published in 1970, Being There is the story of Chance the gardener, a man who emerges from nowhere and suddenly becomes the heir to the throne of a Wall Street tycoon and a presidential policy adviser. His simple responses to popular concerns are praised as visionary despite the fact that no one actually understands what he is really saying. • Kosiński was born Józef Lewinkopf to Jewish parents in Poland. As a child during World War II, he lived under a false identity, Jerzy Kosiński. A Roman Catholic priest issued him a forged baptismal certificate, and the Lewinkopf family survived the Holocaust thanks to local villagers who offered assistance to Polish Jews, often at great risk. • Kosinski eventually emigrated to the U.S. where he became a controversial and well-known literary figure, winning the National Book Award in fiction for his 1968 novel Steps. Kosinski took his own life in 1991 at the age of 57. • I've posted about this book before but it's worth a revisit in light of current events. This is the 1979 Bantam movie tie-in edition which I purchased at the Illini Union Bookstore (note IUB sticker) as a student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. #JerzyKosinski #BeingThere #satiricalfiction #prescientfiction #ChanceTheGardener #booktofilm #lovetoread Black milk for the eclipse from Shatto Dairy Farm. Have you tried it yet? I'm told it's cookies & creme flavored. Waiting for my hubs to get home to taste it. #eclipse2017 #ShattoDairyFarm #ShattoBlackMilk #kansascity "The sun, an hour above the horizon, is poised like a bloody egg upon a crest of thunderheads; the light has turned copper: in the eye portentous, in the nose sulphuric, smelling of lightning." • Most of us would simply write, "Looks like rain today." Which explains why Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 and his 1930 stream-of-consciousness novel As I Lay Dying is considered among the best novels of the 20th century. • Written in six weeks while Faulkner worked at a power plant during the day, As I Lay Dying is a harrowing account of a family's struggle to trek across the Mississippi countryside with their mother's coffin as they honor her wish to be buried in her hometown. • Faulkner said he didn't change a word of the novel once it was written. • This is the 1964 #VintageBooks edition which I purchased in 1979 for a college literature class. It's one of my most treasured books. #WilliamFaulkner #AsILayDying #southerngothic #streamofconsciousness #NobelPrizeInLiterature #lovetoread #lovetowrite

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      • Live ’Til I Die (5)
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      • Chat: book one (3)
      • Connect: book two (3)
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NOW AVAILABLE

Since You Went Away, Part One: Winter

Since You Went Away, Part One: Winter Nan McCarthy (Rainwater Press, 2017) 172 pages F I C T I O N Set a…

Recent Posts

  • Student Interview: Writing & the Writing Life
  • How I Got the Idea for Since You Went Away
  • Buy: Since You Went Away (Part One: Winter)
  • Since You Went Away, Part One: Winter
  • Shit On a Shingle
  • Shot and a Beer
  • Live ’Til I Die: Student Interview
  • Vegetable Soup
  • Gooey Butter Cake
  • A Very Dry Martini
  • Bacon & Eggs
  • The Last Time I Saw My Dad Alive
  • My Favorite Scary Books
  • For Those Who Make Art
  • To My Sons: What I Would Like for Mother’s Day
  • New ebook editions of Chat, Connect, Crash now available
  • Buy: Chat (book 1)
  • Buy: Connect (book 2)
  • Buy: Crash (book 3)
  • Buy: Live ’Til I Die
  • Chat: book one
  • Connect: book two
  • Crash: book three
  • Timeline: a publishing history of Chat, Connect, & Crash
  • A Hero’s Welcome: Parades & Promises
  • Summer Shandies
  • Nan’s Top Secret Extra Special Super Duper 
Philosophy on How to Write A Book
  • excerpt: Live ‘Til I Die: a memoir of my father’s life
  • Gray Hair
  • A Journey to the Center of Time

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