Across Two Novembers: A Year in the Life of a Blind Bibliophile
by David L. Faucheux
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GENRE: Memoir/Journal
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BLURB:
Friends and family. Restaurants and recipes. Hobbies and history. TV programs the author loved when he could see and music he enjoys. The schools he attended and the two degrees he attained. The career that eluded him and the physical problems that challenge him. And books, books, books: over 200 of them quoted from or reviewed. All In all, an astonishing work of erudition and remembrance.
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Excerpt Two:
Friday, October 17, 2014
A Blast from the Past
While in the waiting area at physical therapy prior to this morning’s session, I met a former coworker of mine on her way out. Just as I did, Quintina taught in the early 1990s at the Deaf Action Center (DAC). I liked working there, but it was very part–time, and I pursued other employment. The director of DAC was a great supervisor, and I wish I could have taken her with me to other employment situations. She had a genuine appreciation of her employees and was always professional and pleasant, even kind.
I have continued reading Madame Picasso.
I’m researching Louisiana’s early history. It wasn’t so great in the 18th century—no elegant riverboats and mansions, rather frontier–like.
Tonight I attended Novel Ideas on accessibleworld.org; we discussed Christina Baker Kline’s novel Orphan Train. I enjoyed the book, which dealt with the relationship between foster teen Molly and orphan train survivor Vivian Daly. Daly tells Molly of immigrating to America from Ireland in the early 1900s and being sent to Minnesota on an orphan train after her family dies in a New York City tenement fire. The novel is rather dark, as Vivian is exploited as cheap labor by several families.
Did You Know?
Speaking of reading books about Picasso and the art world, I learned while reading Color: Travels Through the Paintbox and doing research on Wikipedia that ultramarine refers to a pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. Ultramarine was the finest and most expensive blue used by Renaissance painters. It was used for the robes of the Virgin Mary, and it symbolized holiness and humility. It remained an extremely expensive pigment until a synthetic ultramarine was invented in 1826. The best lapis lazuli is said to come from the Sar–e Sang (or Sar–i sang) mines, in the Badakhshan region of Afghanistan. The turban of the Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Vermeer, is painted with a mixture of ultramarine and lead white, with a thin glaze of pure ultramarine over it.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
I’m pleased to take a moment to talk about myself and what makes me tick. I’d have to say books, books, and more books. Let me explain. Braille and recorded books take me places and show me things I would otherwise never get to encounter. They see for me by their descriptions, their vivid word pictures, and lyrical prose. They befriend me when I'm lonely, educate me when I'm curious, and amuse me when I'm in a blue mood. I have always known
I could pick up a book and for a time be in a better or at least A different place. Books don't judge, ignore, or marginalize us. I remember long, hot, Louisiana summers that were perfect for curling up with a good book. I have had to struggle some nights to put the book away because I’d not be able to get up for work the next morning. That’s being a bit too biblioholic.
I have worked as a medical transcriptionist and braille instructor. I attended library school in the late 1990s when the Internet was starting to take off. I ran an audio blog for several years. I have also served on the board of a nonprofit organization that attempted to start a radio reading service in the town where I live. Since 2006, I have reviewed audio books for Library Journal.
You might wish to view a segment about me done by a local reporter in February of this year.
Buy Links:
BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/across-two-novembers-david-l-faucheux/1126509872?ean=2940154404683
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/across-two-novembers-year-in-life-blind-bibliophile/id1246001661
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/across-two-novembers-a-year-in-the-life-of-a-blind-bibliophile
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/728327
Interview with David L. Faucheux
Hello, and thank you for this opportunity
* Where do you get inspiration for your stories?
Well, this was a journal. I got inspiration from the events of my daily life. I was also inspired in part by the books I read during the year covered in my journal. I chose the best books and featured them at the end of each chapter. I also included reviews of audio books I did for Library Journal. It is this inspiration factor that has caused me some anxiety. I’d like to write something, maybe my next project, that is a lightly fictionalized short story collection that remembers my time at a residential school for the blind. These schools are today’s dinosaurs. Perhaps, I’m a biblio-paleontologist?
Well, this was a journal. I got inspiration from the events of my daily life. I was also inspired in part by the books I read during the year covered in my journal. I chose the best books and featured them at the end of each chapter. I also included reviews of audio books I did for Library Journal. It is this inspiration factor that has caused me some anxiety. I’d like to write something, maybe my next project, that is a lightly fictionalized short story collection that remembers my time at a residential school for the blind. These schools are today’s dinosaurs. Perhaps, I’m a biblio-paleontologist?
* How did you do research for your book?
I read constantly. I accessed books via the BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) website maintained by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and a few other producers. I consulted a book of quotations for those that related to books and writing, even reading. I consulted the Web constantly and my editor also helped check lots of things. The research took a considerable amount of time. We had to check the bibliographic information for the over 240 books that are mentioned in my journal. Attempting to find the place of publication was a challenge at times.
I read constantly. I accessed books via the BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) website maintained by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and a few other producers. I consulted a book of quotations for those that related to books and writing, even reading. I consulted the Web constantly and my editor also helped check lots of things. The research took a considerable amount of time. We had to check the bibliographic information for the over 240 books that are mentioned in my journal. Attempting to find the place of publication was a challenge at times.
* Do you have another profession besides writing?
Unfortunately, no. I went to graduate school in hopes of becoming a librarian. I do have the MLIS Degree. I also have credentials to teach braille. During the year I wrote the journal, I was concluding an online course in scoping. Should you be curious, scoping is a kind of legal editing. The scopist reviews the transcript sent by the court reporter and checks for accuracy. Behavioral issues concerning my text-to-speech software, the scoping software, and my refreshable braille display nixed this career possibility. To make a long story short, everyone involved thought it was the other party’s problem. I need to explore this new “gig economy” in hopes of finding something I can do part-time that is flexible.
Unfortunately, no. I went to graduate school in hopes of becoming a librarian. I do have the MLIS Degree. I also have credentials to teach braille. During the year I wrote the journal, I was concluding an online course in scoping. Should you be curious, scoping is a kind of legal editing. The scopist reviews the transcript sent by the court reporter and checks for accuracy. Behavioral issues concerning my text-to-speech software, the scoping software, and my refreshable braille display nixed this career possibility. To make a long story short, everyone involved thought it was the other party’s problem. I need to explore this new “gig economy” in hopes of finding something I can do part-time that is flexible.
* If you could go back in time, where would you go?
I’d love to visit the world from 1890 through about 1910. There had been no world war yet. Science was changing how people lived. Paris was aflame with artistic turmoil. America was in a gilded age. Oh, I’d need some money to time-travel back to this era; it was not overly kind to the poor. I doubt I’d want to go back further because the world was so different. Would you really want to live in the time of Henry VII, especially if you were a woman? I’d think one’s neck would be itchy and fearful of the headsman’s axe. Ditto for Rome of the Caesars. While 18th-century France might be interesting, I’d have to swallow a language pill to survive at Versailles. The Byzantine Empire would be too strange as would any period of Japan’s glorious past through 1868.
I’d love to visit the world from 1890 through about 1910. There had been no world war yet. Science was changing how people lived. Paris was aflame with artistic turmoil. America was in a gilded age. Oh, I’d need some money to time-travel back to this era; it was not overly kind to the poor. I doubt I’d want to go back further because the world was so different. Would you really want to live in the time of Henry VII, especially if you were a woman? I’d think one’s neck would be itchy and fearful of the headsman’s axe. Ditto for Rome of the Caesars. While 18th-century France might be interesting, I’d have to swallow a language pill to survive at Versailles. The Byzantine Empire would be too strange as would any period of Japan’s glorious past through 1868.
* What is your next project?
I’m not certain. I’m tentatively thinking about either a short story collection or a bit of nonfiction about an ancestor.
* What is your favorite part of this book and why?
I liked the trivia bits, the Did You Know sections.
* 3. If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose?
Oh, I had to answer this even though I did the first set of questions.
Oh, I had to answer this even though I did the first set of questions.
I miss the historic fiction writers of times past: Gary Jennings, Aztec; James Clavell, Shōgun; James Michener, Poland; Robert Elegant, Manchu; Michael Ennis, Byzantium; Nicholas Guild, The Assyrian; Margaret George, The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers; Rosalind Laker, To Dance with Kings; Michael Talbot, To the Ends of the Earth; Marge Piercy, Gone to Soldiers; or Thomas Hoover, The Moghul. Add to this Morgan’s Run by Colleen McCullough, Paris: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd, and Ken Follett’s A Column of Fire.
* What made you want to become a writer?
I wanted to be heard. I wanted to be remembered. I felt invisible.
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
David will be awarding a library edition audio book (US only) or if an international winner, a $15 Amazon/BN GC, to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Follow the tour here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2017/07/nbtm-tour-across-two-novembers-by-david.html
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting today! I have a question for your readers. What celebrity would you like to read a biography of?
ReplyDeleteFor me, I'd like to read a dual bio of Jackie Kennedy and her sister, Lee Radzwill. Looking forward to chatting with your blog readers. Thanks!
congrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteWhat was your favorite book growing up? Thanks for the giveaway. I hope that I win. Bernie W BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new book and good luck on the book tour!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting.
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