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Blog postOne of the goals of the Why Not 100 is to clue literature lovers in to facts they might have missed. Sort of the way Sherlock Holmes did. Sure, you’re probably aware that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books were told from Dr. John Watson’s point of view, that Holmes lived at 221B Baker Street, and even that Holmes was addicted to cocaine and morphine. But did you know...He was this close to being called “Sherringford” Holmes.Dr. Watson was originally named “Ormand Sacker.”While Holmes and Watso
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Blog postJ.R.R. Tolkien would be turning 123 years old this week—he was born on January 3, 1892. Were he alive now, he would be oldest human ever, but he would still fall eight years short of Bilbo Baggins’s hobbit record. Maybe you’re a Tolkienphile, and you knew that. Actually, I knew that, too. Tolkien’s books are what inspired me to become a writer. My oldest son’s middle name is “Balin.” I named my dog “Pippin.”
But there are J.R.R. Tolkien fans, and then there is Emil Johansson.
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Blog postThe closing lines of My Mantelpiece, the memoirs of civil rights icon Carolyn Goodman (published by Why Not Books in 2014), reflect a woman’s relentless pursuit of social conscience and her realization that the job is never done. In the twilight of her life, as she looked back on life lessons amid tragedy and triumph, Dr. Goodman recalled the following:
I once asked a question of a slightly younger friend: “What do you during the day?”“Nothing,” she told me, offering a few minor examples t -
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Blog postHow much would you pay for a first edition of a classic book? Fifty dollars? Maybe $100? How about several million bucks? What follows is a list of the 14 highest known prices paid for manuscripts and books.The first 13 largely represent iconic and ancient texts, although the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers didn’t quite make the list. And there are certainly classics among them, including works by Chaucer and Shakespeare, although original copies of Don Q
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Blog postLeonard Da Vinci. Alexander Graham Bell. Thomas Edison. Dr. Seuss. Really, has anyone been more inventive?
Consider the evil Once-ler in The Lorax, who stays in his Lerkim on top of his store, tells his story via a Whisper-Ma-Phone (his whispers coming down through a snergelly hose) and makes his own clothes out of miff-muffered moof. What exactly is a Lerkim or miff-muffered moff? How does a Whisper-Ma-Phone work? Does it matter?
Or how about little Cat Z from The Cat -
Blog postNever judge a book by its cover, but how about a bookstore? Shouldn’t a repository of creativity boast a creative name of its own?
Sure, practicality has its place. But it can become… commonplace. There are stores out there—or least at last check in these volatile times, there were stores out there—named The Book Barn (Leavenworth, KS), Book Stop (Hood River, OR), Book Cove (Pawling, NY), Book Mine (Leadville, CO), Book Vine (Cherokee, IA), Book Parlor (Burns, OR), Book Vault (Oskal -
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Blog postNovember 20th is Ann Turner Cook’s 88th birthday. But she’ll always be four months old.
Back in 1927, she was about the same age as the daughter of Dorothy and Daniel Gerber, who produced a line of canned fruits and vegetables at the Fremont Canning Company in Michigan. Tired of hand-straining solid foods for her daughter, Dorothy suggested to Daniel that the work could easily be done at the plant. By late the next year, her suggestion bore fruit in the form of strained prunes, peas -
Blog postThere have been a number of “100 best books” lists over the years. But what happens when you amalgamate those lists to select the books regarded as the best of the best? One enterprising reader (posting online under the name Scerakor) accepted the challenge.
He (she?) chose 11 such lists—from sources as varied as Time, Entertainment Weekly, Goodreads, Modern Library and Reddit—and compared them to find the most recommended books among the top-100 lists. Since today is November 11th— -
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Blog postWhen authors are in need of subject matter to carry the narrative along, two arteries in particular are popular fodder. One is love found and love lost, be it Lolita or Frankenstein. The other is the road trip, whether that means On the Road or The Lord of the Rings. The same is true, probably more so even, in songwriting. And I love a good road-trip song. I’ve written three American travel memoirs. I’ve visited each of the contiguous 48 states several times over. My wife and I take a road
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Blog postYou want to troll for a date? Try a bookstore. Or better yet, read a book.
Have you resolved to learn about the Norman invasion of England? Pick up a copy of David Howarth’s 1066: The Year of the Conquest. The first permanent settlement in the New World? Karen Lange wrote 1607: A New Look at Jamestown. America’s origins? How about David McCullough’s 1776.
You can read 1492: The Year the World Began by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. But if you want some more historical contex -
Blog postR.L. Stine has been called the “Stephen King of children’s literature.” He has written, literally, hundreds of books and has racked up sales in the hundreds of millions. On his Twitter feed, he describes his job as “to terrify kids.” And in fact, he is nearly as prolific at tweeting as he is at writing.
We at the Why Not 100 love an epic book, but we well know that it is also a talent to write pithily. And while horror can be fun, humor can be funnier. It’s why our blog celebrates e -
Blog postAuthor and poet Kwame Alexander’s delightful 2011 picture book, Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band, tells the story of a jazz-loving rooster who recruits his friends—pianist Duck Ellington, singer Bee Holiday, percussionist piggy Pepe Ernesto Cruz—in an attempt to win a barnyard talent show. There’s some stiff competition from the likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald, but the riffing rooster comes to realize the power of understanding that you can’t go it alone.
It’s anothe -
Blog postAny writer will tell you: The name has to match the character.
Just take a stroll through another Why Not 100 list—the 70 best character names in literature—and try to re-imagine many of those names. It’s not easy. What if Huckleberry Finn was Nat Bricklebush? What if a Golden Ticket (found inside a Lervin bar) earned you a tour of Larry Lervin’s chocolate factory? What if Hannibal Lechter was Ernest Munch?
Literature is filled with iconic characters whose -
Blog postNot long ago, I was having a conversation with a friend about favorite movies, and we were talking about The Princess Bride. I don’t think I know anybody who doesn’t love that movie. It’s almost perfect. Anyway, I mentioned that William Goldman and I happened to attend the same high school and summer camp (albeit about 37 years apart).
“William Goldman,” I said. “You know, the guy who wrote the book.”
My friend replied, “It was a book?”
Yes, it seems that mainstream films somet -
Blog postOn this day 101 years ago – Sept. 19, 1913—an unknown amateur golfer made an 18-foot putt that transformed the sport.
My motivation for writing the children’s book FRANCIS AND EDDIE (Why Not Books, 2013) didn’t necessarily come from the fact that I think it ranks as perhaps the greatest underdog feat in championship sports—the tale of Francis Ouimet beating the best golfers in the world to win the U.S. Open. It wasn’t even because it struck me as the ultimate local-boy-makes-good story—a -
Blog postA few years ago, author Judith Schalansky published a widely praised book called The Atlas of Remote Islands. She pairs full-color cartographic drawings with compelling narratives about lore and legend and science and history, the aim being to celebrate the cartographic unknown.
That’s one way of exploring uninhabited or sparsely populated blips of land amid endless seas. Another way is to read some classic fiction.
As setting goes, every island is brimming with possibilities that -
Blog postI wish an author had visited my elementary school back in the day. I was just beginning to become enthralled by the written word—Judy Blume and Roald Dahl and J.R.R. Tolkien. The chance to see a real live author, up close and in person? I’m sure I’d still remember it.
It is that thought that drives me when I visit schools as a guest author, telling students about how I became a writer, about the fun stuff I get to do as a writer, about where my ideas come from. When the kids and I create a -
Blog postIn my latest American travel memoir, Turn Left at the Trojan Horse, I passed through a town called Laporte, located in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania. There I met a remarkable woman who called herself Mollie Sheldon Elliot. It turns out that Mollie, Sheldon, and Elliot are three of more than a dozen disparate personalities within her, the products of dissociative identity disorder stemming from childhood molestation. Each is aware of the others, a group that includes a baby, a teena
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Blog postOnly a dozen men have walked on the moon. It is, perhaps, the ultimate in elite accomplishment. Someday, certainly, a thirteenth Earthling will follow in their dusty gray footsteps, but it won’t be a surprise performance. So everyone should know these 12 names. They should be taught in schools—beyond Neil Armstrong. I’m not saying every elementary school student should be as enamored with space minutia as I am. I’m not saying Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff should be a required part of the curriculu
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Blog postIn my last Why Not 100 post, I offered up 68 pictures books for 68 of the most popular girls’ names these days. Now it’s the boys’ turn. Again, I’m focusing on picture books specifically. That means no James and the Giant Peach or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And, of course, personalized book series don’t count either.
And there are currently popular names that haven’t attached themselves to book titles over the years. Can someone write a picture book about Brayden? Jayce, maybe? Ca -
Blog postMy sons Luke and Jesse were prolific readers from the beginning, and I remember two picture books in particular that captured the fancy of the boys (and their parents). Jesse had a few books in the Jesse Bear series by Nancy White Carlstrom and Bruce Degen—I particularly recall Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? And Luke and I both enjoyed a book called Luke’s Way of Looking by Nadia Wheatley and Matt Ottley. It’s the story of a kid whose art teachers and classmates don’t have the imagination tha
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Blog postI’ve long believed that reading across America is one of the best ways to experience it. The Fourth of July celebrates a nation, but really it’s a community-by-community display of attitudes and priorities. Fireworks? A parade? A lawn party? A slo-pitch softball tournament? A symphony? What say you? No, you have to travel to truly rejoice in America.
As long as there have been travelers, there have been attempts to put the experience into words. But sometimes what has already been written -
Blog post“Every man’s life ends the same way,” Ernest Hemingway once declared. “It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.” With that in mind, this edition of the Why Not 100 presents 15 odd and extraordinary facts—somewhat chronologically—about the Pulitzer- and Nobel-winning author, his family, and how he lived and died:
1. HIS MOTHER LIKED TO DRESS HIM AS A GIRL
Grace Hemingway liked to fashion young Ernest’s hair like a girl -
Blog postThe Gold Rush notwithstanding, California’s most precious commodity may be the nugget of an idea, which turns into a story, which graces a piece of literature for the ages. The number of famous authors who lived and worked in San Francisco alone is remarkable, from Ambrose Bierce and Dashiell Hammett to Upton Sinclair and Mark Twain. Several of them even have streets named after them. Stroll across Keroauc Drive. Stretch your legs at William Saroyan Place.
But the convergence of lit -
Blog postMy Mantelpiece: A Memoir of Survival and Social Justice, recently published by Why Not Books, is Carolyn Goodman’s account of her lifetime of love and loss, courage and conviction. Her life was punctuated by tragedy—a brother’s premature death, childhood molestation, teenaged abortion, a mother’s callousness, a father’s suicide, the loss of two husbands. But hers is foremost a tale of survival, of turning personal anguish into social conscience—and the fulcrum of this tragedy-and-tr
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Blog postYeah, something you definitely don’t see every day is a nine-year-old riding a fiberglass giant Jackalope.
Wall Drug – that iconic pit stop along Interstate 90 in South Dakota, on the outskirts of the Badlands and some 40 miles from Rapid City – might be characterized as the epicenter of American kitsch. And that’s okay. Sure, I love peering up at Mount Hood or down at Crater Lake or into the gloaming of Carlsbad Caverns. Yes, I’m mesmerized by Montana’s big sky and California’s big t -
Blog postWith the Academy Awards now in our rearview mirror, I offer a trivia question: What do Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson, Robin Williams and Albert Brooks have in common? Answer: They’ve all driven RVs, of course. Hollywood has a long history of making motor homes and trailers part of the silver screen story – from Lucy and Desi in “The Long, Long Trailer” to Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl in “The Incredibles.” There have been comedies (“Borat”), thrillers (“2012”), dramas (“What’
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Blog postI always get a kick out of my half birthday. I mean, we all used to tell people we were 3 ½ or 6 ½ or 8½, but somewhere along the line we stop counting the halfway point to another dreaded birthday. Still, I enjoy the whimsy of it.
So in honor of turning 43 ½ today, here are a half-dozen intriguing American halves. I think they represent a nice cross-section of possibilities for an RV trip – a natural wonder, a vacation spot, a classic eatery, a sporting ic -
Blog postToday was exciting. My 11-year-old son Luke was interviewed by a local TV news reporter. In addition, our regional newspaper is about to publish a feature story about him. The boy is hitting the big time (at least, locally).
During our cross-country road trips over the previous dozen summers, Luke and his younger brother Jesse have appeared on TV scores of times, along with the occasional newspaper feature – everywhere from Salt Lake City to Savannah and from Great Falls to Green Bay. -
Blog postIn honor of Valentine’s Day, a Hallmark holiday that actually has grown to have a hint of gravitas, I’m recalling a visit to northernmost California’s Trees of Mystery last June at the beginning of our summer family RV trip. It’s another one of those places that you simply don’t get to experience unless you take a road trip.
Certainly, the line between reality and… non-reality, was mightily blurred. Before strolling through the grand monarchs of the forest, for instance, we peered up -
Blog postYesterday was the first round of the annual Pebble Beach pro-am golf tournament here on the Monterey Peninsula. Most of the best professionals in the world and a whole bunch of celebrities gather on some of the finest golf courses in America. I live only a few miles away, so I try to catch the scene at least once each year.
Today, my parents (visiting from Chicago) and I set up chairs alongside the green at the 18th hole of Spyglass Hill Golf Club on a day when most of the biggest names w -
Blog postThe photo you see below was a scene we came across in rural Maine a couple of years ago. Self-explanatory really: “Moose Horns 4 Sale.” A guy was hawking moose horns by the side of the road.
I stopped the RV and climbed out to chat with him for a few moments. He told me that he explores on foot and snowshoe from December through May, searching for discarded horns that moose have shed. So actually, if you want to get technical about it, he was selling antlers. Those are shed each yea -
Blog postLast June, we pointed our RV down (and up) a sparsely traveled highway that took us from Utah’s Arches National Park into western Colorado. At one point, as we merrily rolled along, I glimpsed something to my left and stopped the RV along the side of the road. It so happens that I pulled over right at the state line. In fact, as we climbed out to take a short stroll and snap some pictures, I’m pretty sure that the front half of the RV was parked in Colorado while the back half was in Utah.
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Blog postWhen is an RV more than an RV? Over the years, I have concluded that the answer is this: Constantly.
It is a home, a comfort, a means of transit, a safe haven, a movie screen playing an ever-changing American reel. At times it is a source of a pride, a symbol of adventure, a conversation starter, a plot device, an inspiration. But I have also found it to be… a measuring stick. And I mean that almost literally. Along a crowded city street or in a suburban ne -
Blog postTravels With Charley, John Steinbeck’s classic travel memoir in which he named his house on wheels Rocinante, was published 50 years ago. One of my favorite Steinbeck lines about travel is this: "A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it"
Being happily married for nearly two decades, I understand the sentiment. But I actually think the statement doesn’t apply too well to RVing. You’re actually more in control in an RV – you travel on -
Blog postAs we slog into the depths of winter, my thoughts turn to North Dakota, which I have passed through several times amid my RV journeys. I happen to like the place. I’ve even written about it. But CBS newsman Eric Sevareid – who was born and raised there – once described the state as “a large rectangular blank in the national consciousness.” Such is North Dakota’s general public perception.
Of course, it doesn’t help when two Rutgers University urban planners suggests, as they did a couple -
Blog postI’m a connoisseur of tiny hamlets named with noble aspirations, many of which I visited and wrote about during my very first RV excursion, which resulted in my first travel memoir, States of Mind. So, with a little help from some of the smallest dots on the map in nearly three-dozen different states, here is my lyrical wish for all of us during the new year:
A life of Freedom (Wyoming), Liberty (Nebraska) and Independence (Kansas) Prosperity (Florida), Charity (Missouri) and Gratitu -
Blog post‘Twas the night before Christmas, and the house was quite boring.
Not a sound could be heard, except Daddy snoring.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
But there still was this urge to travel somewhere.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Disneyland danced in their heads.
The beach beckoned Mom. The redwoods called Dad.
As winter descended, there was fun to be had.
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Blog postAbout a month ago, we got a dog. Those who know me well are rather shocked. It was pretty much the last thing I said I’d ever do.
I’ve never been a pet person. Never had one, with the exception of a few goldfish that didn’t last long. Never really wanted one. I prefer life to be uncomplicated, serene, quiet. Control your own destiny – that’s one of the three tenets of my life philosophy (along with sleep late and shave once a week). Can you really do that when you’re following an animal a -
Blog postThe data from the 2010 Census is full of fascinating developments – a factoid-lover’s dream. For instance:
The number of Hispanic Americans has grown 43 percent since 2000 (the non-Hispanic population grew 5 percent).
The most ethnically diverse state: Hawaii. Least diverse: Vermont.
More than 84 percent of population increases happened in the West and South. Indeed four of the 10 most populous states are now in the South (Texas, Florida, Geor
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