March 2011 Rusty Blackwood’s 5 Favourite Books — Interview with UK’s The Book Mogul

• Posted on 1st September 2013
• in Interviews
• by admin

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http://www.thebookmogul.co.uk/2011/03/rusty-blackwoods-5-favourite-books.html

This week is the turn of Candian author Rusty Blackwood

Rusty Blackwood was raised on her grandfather’s farm in south-western Ontario, Canada. She attained her love of writing while still in grade school, entering poetry and short story competitions throughout her area, and always striving for the next writing achievement. She has carried that love ever since. Inspiration can be found where least expected, and she has demonstrated that daily since becoming a serious writer in 2001. Rusty now lives in the picturesque Niagara area where she enjoys art, music, nature, and spending quality time with family, and friends.

This was a hard choice coming up with merely 5 favorite books. I don’t get a lot of chance to read other people’s work anymore so I’m very lacked when it comes to knowing what is out there,but I do have my favorites which have been so from childhood to present and they are:

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
From Goodreads: A horse is a horse of course unless of course the horse is Black Beauty. Animal-loving children have been devoted to Black Beauty throughout this century, and no doubt will continue through the next.
Although Anna Sewell’s classic paints a clear picture of turn-of-the-century London, its message is universal and timeless: animals will serve humans well if they are treated with consideration and kindness.
Black Beauty tells the story of the horse’s own long and varied life, from a well-born colt in a pleasant meadow to an elegant carriage horse for a gentleman to a painfully overworked cab horse.
Throughout, Sewell rails – in a gentle, 19th-century way – against animal maltreatment. Young readers will follow Black Beauty’s fortunes, good and bad, with gentle masters as well as cruel. Children can easily make the leap from horse-human relationships to human-human relationships, and begin to understand how their own consideration of others may be a benefit to all.

I have always adored horses which drew me to Black Beauty. The story touched my heart, for I’ve always felt if a horse could actually talk, the stories they might tell would be exactly as Beauty’s. Some beautifully free, some incredibly sad.

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
From Goodreads: “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” – Ernest Hemingway

Of all the contenders for the title of The Great American Novel, none has a better claim than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Intended at first as a simple story of a boy’s adventures in the Mississippi Valley-a sequel to Tom Sawyer-the book grew and matured under Twain’s hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity. More than a century after its publication, the critical debate over the symbolic significance of Huck’s and Jim’s voyage is still fresh, and it remains a major work that can be enjoyed at many levels: as an incomparable adventure story and as a classic of American humor.

Huckleberry Finn was not only a childhood classic, but a graphic history lesson. In many ways it was a simpler way of life when compared to today, but it told a story of survival when all odds were against it. I always felt a lot could be accomplished by Huckleberry’s direct outlook, as well as the outlook of different characters throughout the book and their refusal to be suppressed.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
From Goodreads: Little Women is an American classic, adored for Louisa May Alcott’s lively and vivid portraits of the endearing March sisters: talented tomboy Jo, pretty Meg, shy Beth, temperamental Amy. Millions have shared in their joys, hardships, and adventures as they grow up in Civil War New England, separated by the war from their father and beloved mother, “Marmee,” blossoming from “little women” into adults. Jo searches for her writer’s voice and finds unexpected love…Meg prepares for marriage and a family…Beth reaches out to the less fortunate, tragically…and Amy travels to Europe to become a painter. Based on Louisa May Alcott’s own Yankee childhood, Little Women is a treasure — a story whose enduring values of patience, loyalty, and love have kept this extraordinary family close to the hearts of generation after generation of delighted readers.

Little Women was filled with courage; it displayed it, taught it, and it also filled the reader with a simpler time where family carried top importance in a person’s life. You don’t always find that today.

Gone With the Wind by Margret Mitchell
From Goodreads: Sometimes only remembered for the epic motion picture and “Frankly … I don’t give a damn,” Gone with the Wind was initially a compelling and entertaining novel. It was the sweeping story of tangled passions and the rare courage of a group of people in Atlanta during the time of Civil War that brought those cinematic scenes to life. The reason the movie became so popular was the strength of its characters–Scarlett O’Hara, Rhett Butler, and Ashley Wilkes–all created here by the deft hand of Margaret Mitchell, in this, her first novel.

Gone With the Wind I feel is one of the best books ever written. It not only sweeps the reader through the American Civil War in way one could only experience short of being there, but it displayed courage and pride in a way that shows what a person is actually capable of when pushed to the extreme. I love graphic, descriptive writing, and this book is one of the best in those areas.

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
From Goodreads: It was a case of tender, loving murder. The four children had perfect lives. They lived in a golden family filled with happiness. But their father dies suddenly, their mother throws themselves on the mercy of her parents – who had disowned her long ago. Their mother promised they would stay only long enough to inherit the fortune. But gradually she forgot how much she adored her family. Kept hidden in the airless attic, the children now lived alone except for fleeting visits from their mother. Visits that became increasing infrequent… and increasingly deadly…Flowers in the Attic: the compelling story of a family’s betrayal and heartbreak, love and revenge.

Flowers in the Attic makes one truly think. It opens the unconscious and allows the reader an insight to what actually may dwell not only within one’s attic, but within one’s life. Just because it can’t be seen doesn’t mean it can’t exist; it also reveals how the past can wash into the present and touch the lives of those who live in a different time with different ideas, and different implementations of life for those who went before, and this story masters that.

This is a rather eclectic scope, but one could say I have a rather eclectic mind 🙂

Rusty has a new book out called;
PASSION IN PARIS: CONNECTIONS TO THE PAST

The past may contain secrets which only the future dare on-lock, even then it is purely a question of chance for those who venture forth. Like a web of deceptive patterns Passion in Paris: Connections to the Past tells a story of forbidden love, salacious adultery, cunning jealousy, and unrequited passion at the dawn of the 21st Century in the bewitching City of Lights. As Paris welcomes the Festive Season Joy Wychmere and Cullen Malone revel in a time never to be forgotten, but only if they are let survive.

The first in a series of two in this searing love story is available at COLES, Pen Center, St. Catharine’s, Ont. CHAPTERS, Fairview Mall, St. Catharine’s, Ont, and COLES, Seaway Mall, Welland, Ont. as well as online at www.xlibris.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.rustyblackwoodpassions.com, or through me at www.rustyblackwood.com, or e-mail me at rustyciam@hotmail.com and include your intent in the subject header.
Posted by TheBookMogul at 09:16

Labels: 5 favourite books, rusty blackwood