Re: Music
Absolutely! In fact, my first writing job ever was as a music critic for the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel.

Re: Top Ten Favorite Songs
Too tough to say. I'm a slut musically speaking -- I change all the time. At the moment, the songs I'm probably listening to most often are THIS HEART'S ON FIRE by Wolf Parade and NEIGHBOROOD #1 by Arcade Fire and OXFORD COMMA by Vampire Weekend. For all time favorites, I love Jeff Buckley's version of HALLELUJAH. When I was sixteen, my favorite song was probably SHE TALKS TO ANGELS by the Black Crowes or LOSING MY RELIGION by REM. I consistently love ANGELES by Elliot Smith, LIFE ON MARS? by David Bowie, DON'T THINK TWICE IT'S ALRIGHT by Bob Dylan, RIPCHORD by Rilo Kiley, etc., etc., etc.

Re: My ringtones on my phone include
BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY by the Verve
DRIVE MY CAR by the Beatles
FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE by the Cure
TOXIC by Britney Spears
WHO LOVES THE SUN by the Velvet Underground

Re: My theme song:
at the moment... I WAS BORN (A UNICORN) by the Unicorns

Re: Last Five Songs from Itunes
Okay, I had to go check to make sure --
The last five songs I downloaded all came from the album, THE HISTORICAL CONQUESTS OF JOSH RITTER by Josh Ritter.

Thanks for the playlist it is great!

Gabrielle

Slowing down to read....

I usually breeze through a book the first time I read it because I want to see how the story ends, but then miss all the finer nuances. It's an obnoxious habit! I usually read books at least twice and then if they become a favorite I read them over and over again. I also find that I may feel differently about a book depending upon where I'm at in MY life.

What is one of your favorite books? Do you have a book that you may not have liked initially, but upon a second reading changed your mind?

Thank you,

Shannon

This is such a nice post! One of the things I'm most delighted by is mothers who write to me about reading my books with their daughters. I'm really close to my own mom and one of my great pleasures in life has been reading and discussing books with her.

And thanks to your daughter for recommending Elsewhere!!!

Yours,
Gabrielle

P.S. I think Cass & Naomi would have reconciled eventually anyway -- the amnesia just sped the process a bit. [/color]

She cut it really short! James compares her to Jean Seberg in A BOUT DE SOUFFLE so I am attaching a still from that movie so you can see what he means.

That said, I didn't want to be too specific about Naomi's hair. The point was, it was short to her.

I'm all for impulsive haircutting. I cut off all of mine after I sold my first book. I also have a weird white stripe in the middle of my naturally black hair -- like a skunk. It appeared when I was about thirteen, and I'm always dying it different colors depending on my mood.

That is EXACTLY how I pictured her hair cut! I have been known to chop off all of mine just like that... Once I drop 20 pounds I plan to do it again

I've often thought about chopping my hair. It's like if I cut my hair, I 'll be a whole new me. I've not thought about coloring it, but just cutting it.

I've been asked recently if I'll shave my head in support of someone close to me because he will be going through chemo. I said "of course", but secretly I'm afraid it will all come back grey.

My daughter wants to cut her hair short. I'm cringing. It's so beautiful.

Why are we as women SO defined by our hair?

Welcome to TwilightMoms Gabrielle! I really enjoyed Memoirs, but I don't know why. I think there was meaning in it for me that I discovered after finishing it.

Have you ever heard the term, "mortal layers"? I heard that term used to describe the layers that build up around us when we go through life, such that sometimes we lose who we truly were/are. They are usually caused by unpleasant experiences and as each layer is added we move further away from our true self. Naomi's amnesia in a sense was the peeling off of many layers and getting down to who she was. There was no trying to be the cute jock's girlfriend, or ignoring the strange kid (James), or the intensity of the hurt and devastation caused by her mother's act of infidelity. The walls came down and Naomi was able to reexamine how she felt about everything. I LOVED when she felt that she needed her momma, and that she was less inhibited by that layer that had been there. Naomi essentially had a clean slate and could do with that what she wanted. I just can't imagine what it would be like if all the emotional walls came down for each of us. I think we'd all be better people!

I hope all that made sense! I am sharing the book with everyone I know!

Hi Gabrielle!

Thanks for taking the time to read our thoughts and answer some questions.

I'm about halfway through Memoirs and really enjoying it. I'm honestly finding myself a little jealous of Naomi's experience. High school is such a complicated time of allegiances and baggage, walking a tightrope betweeen popularity and conscience, and Naomi has suddenly been released from all those obligations by virtue of not remembering anything. I really like the part at Homecoming when Naomi thinks "maybe it was as easy as asking myself what I liked and what I didn't like." Not many high school age kids are even able to ask themselves that question because they are so tangled up inside. Naomi has a certain ironic clarity because of her amnesia.

Speaking of irony, I love Will and his smoking jacket and his passion for the yearbook. If I were Naomi, I would have been a total sucker for James with his moodiness and his artsy film buff self.

Thanks again for joining us, and I can't wait to read the rest of the book!

Hello Gabrielle!

I just ordered your book and hope to finish it before the month is over, but I loved your web site. I loved your commentary about your book jackets and the little trick with rolling the cursor over the paperback cover of Memoirs.

http://www.memoirsofa.com/Memoirs_of_a_ ... esiac.html

How much input do you have about the book jackets? I've read Stephenie Meyer's commentary about her covers and wondered about yours.

Why is the Hard Cover jacket of Memoirs your favorite?

Thank you for your detailed post! One of my favorite bands...OK... not ONE of but my all time favorite band is the Cure! They are the reason my husband and I met! They defined my teen years! That is really cool that you like them too! I also adore Hallelujah, too. Did you like Jason Castro's version on American Idol?

**skipping off to iTunes to check out your songs!***

I'm not so loyal bookwise, I'm afraid. My favorite book from last year was probably THEN WE CAME TO THE END by Joshua Ferris. I really admire Vikram Seth -- I feel sure TWILIGHT MOMS would enjoy his book, AN EQUAL MUSIC, which is a totally romantic love story set in the classical music world. And it makes me out of control cry. I consistently love some of the obvious ones like LOLITA, THE GREAT GATSBY, CHARLOTTE'S WEB, and THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. As for the second part of your question, I have books that I've just not been ready for in a way, and I've read a chapter and maybe set it on the shelf for two years or ten, and when I came back to it, I adored it. But honestly, I don't think I've ever learned to love a book that I truly disliked. I can maybe learn to appreciate it, but not love! Never love. Sometimes, the opposite is true. Like, I positively adored THE FOUNTAINHEAD when I was fifteen, and now, as a grown up? Not so much.

If only I knew!

(Was this a rhetorical question?)

This will kind of totally contradict what I said before re: hair, but I also think we have the right not to do anything to our hair, if we choose. One of the things I like about being the age I am is that I know what works for me. Not just in hair, but in lots of other things, too. Which means I get to waste less time figuring things out. I've had a lot of haircuts now, you know? And some of them were mistakes and I won't be getting them again.

Yes, this all made perfect sense!

I'm not sure I have heard the term "mortal layers" but it seems very appropriate to the book.

Re: your comment about if emotional walls came down for all of us.

I believe the "walls" are obstacles we create for ourselves.

You know (and I'm not sure if I've already said this here), but I really don't think Naomi's head trauma was necessary for her emotional growth. I believe it speeded and facilitated changes she was already well on the way to making. Though psychically, maybe she needed (and even caused) the accident to happen -- maybe she was being careless with many things, not just stairs, if you know what I mean. You know, a lot of people say that people can never change. And I completely disagree with this. Above all, I believe in human beings' capacity for great, great change. (My book MARGARETTOWN was sort of about that...) And beyond that, I believe in the redemptive possibilities of change. The Naomi character was inspired by the last line of a poem by Rilke: "And here, there are no eyes that cannot see you: you must change your life."

Reading this through, this answer is sort of all over the place -- I think I've been awake too long.

I don't have a lot of input anywhere except the US. And this is fine with me; I have no idea what "sells" a book in China or Korea. But in the US, my publisher has always been very open to all of my suggestions and really responsive to my ideas. For instance, the snow globe on ELSEWHERE was a suggestion I made. And when, at various times, the publisher has presented me with covers I absolutely did not like, I expressed that and they did not go with them. If this weren't in public, I might spin some yarns... But suffice it to say, covers are very emotional for authors, I know.

I had no idea what I wanted for MEMOIRS -- I think the only thing I suggested was that it should look like the Beatles' White Album, which in retrospect, was a horrible idea. But I absolutely adored what they came up with. I had nothing to do with it and maybe that's why it's my favorite -- there is a certain pleasure to something working out that did not force you to exert any effort. And the other reason it's my favorite is simply because I feel that it is a perfect symbolic representation of the themes of the book. And I think all authors want their jackets to be attractive, yes, but also meaningful. Oh, and lastly, I love typewriters.