flashback friday | Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight — and you’re invited to join in!

Here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

Other than that, the sky’s the limit! Join me, please, and let us all know: what are the books you’ve read that you always rave about? What books from your past do you wish EVERYONE would read? Pick something from five years ago, or go all the way back to the Canterbury Tales if you want. It’s Flashback Friday time!

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

(first published 1950)

From Goodreads:

Nevil Shute’s most beloved novel, a tale of love and war, follows its enterprising heroine from the Malayan jungle during World War II to the rugged Australian outback.

Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her. However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the villagers who saved her life. But it turns out that they have a gift for her as well: the news that the young Australian soldier, Joe Harmon, who had risked his life to help the women, had miraculously survived. Jean’s search for Joe leads her to a desolate Australian outpost called Willstown, where she finds a challenge that will draw on all the resourcefulness and spirit that carried her through her war-time ordeals.

It’s hard to neatly sum up A Town Like Alice. Part of it is a moving, horrifying account of a death march during World War II, in which civilians women and children suffered and died. Great courage and sacrifice move the story forward, and this segment of the book concludes with terrible events and a tragic outcome. From there, the narrative moves into the story of a woman rebuilding her life, determined to make a difference, and not fitting the mold of a complacent, wealthy Englishwoman. The remainder of the book is filled with adventure, and is part frontier drama and part romance. That’s a lot to fit into a not particularly long book (the mass market paperback version is under 300 pages), but gifted author Nevil Shute pulls it off.

A Town Like Alice takes place in gorgeous, rough, wild settings include Malayan jungles and the Australian Outback. The characters are heroic and steely, and Jean herself is a delight. Nevil Shute’s writing conveys the terror of war and the triumph of human spirit. This is just a lovely, lovely book, and although it’s been many years since I read it, I remember certain parts of it quite vividly, and always list it among my favorites.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that way back when there was a TV mini-series of A Town Like Alice, with a very photogenic cast:

I have no idea if the TV series itself would be worth watching today or if it would feel tremendously dated, but I’m willing to bet that the book holds up quite nicely. If you’ve read it, let me know what you think!

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join the Flashback Friday fun, write a blog post about a book you love (please mention Bookshelf Fantasies as the Flashback Friday host!) and share your link below. Don’t have a blog post to share? Then share your favorite oldie-but-goodie in the comments section. Jump in!

This is my first of two items for today, playing along with today’s Armchair BEA topics.

First up: Blogger Development.

The purpose of the conference is to foster “blogger development”–and clearly, that development can go in a variety of directions! Today, we’re inviting you to talk about your approach. Have you branched out into your community? Do you partner with other bloggers? Have you gone “pro” or tried generating some income through your blog? If you’re a long-term blogger, how has your online personality developed over the years?

Tell us about things you’ve done to expand your blogging horizons, and the things you’d like to do but haven’t managed (or figured out) yet. Come back here to link up your post, and then go see what other participants have to say. Let’s foster our development as bloggers and learn from each other!

As a relatively new blogger, still in my first year in the blogosphere, I’m working my way through issues constantly and trying to find the right fit for me. When I started Bookshelf Fantasies, my only goal was to take the scattered bits and pieces of book-related writing I was doing anyway and to put them together in one consistent outlet. I had hoped that writing a blog would give me a good creative outlet, help me find other like-minded booklovers to connect with, and lead me to new and different approaches to thinking about books.

What’s worked for me so far is trying to write or post almost every day; participating in a few — but not too many — weekly or ongoing memes and features; and trying to establish my own rhythms and identity for blogging.

I haven’t thought about blogging in terms of income, and that’s not why I do it. I understand some people find it helpful to become Amazon affiliates, and I could see doing that in order to be able to offer giveaways and other perks that might cost me money. I’m not blogging for money, but I also don’t want to lose money on it!

What have I done to expand my blogging horizons? Well, one thing I’ve done is to start two regular features on my blog. While they haven’t really taken off yet (I get a few participants here and there, but it’s not consistent), I haven’t given up hope! My two weekly events are:

Thursday Quotables: Every Thursday, I feature a quote or passage from something I’ve read that week, and encourage other bloggers and readers to link up and share their own quotables from their weekly reading.

Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday: On Fridays, I highlight an older book that I’ve read and enjoyed, and invite bloggers to post their own Flashback Friday selection and link up!

Of course, the main thing I’ve done to expand my blogging horizons is to visit other blogs, comment, and connect! I don’t think I “got it” when I first started, but now I absolutely do: There’s a whole wide world of amazing bloggers out there, and the number one takeaway for me from my first year of blogging is the wonderful sense of support and community that comes from connecting with other people who care about reading and love to talk about books.

Sure, I’ve had my down days when I’ve felt discouraged: Why aren’t I getting more page views? Why didn’t I get approved for that ARC? Why haven’t more people read that one particular post that I was so proud of? I’ve had to slow down and remind myself that I do all this because I love to read, I love to write about what I’m reading, and I love to talk books with other people who love them as much as I do! All the rest — the stats, the page views, the followers — that’s just icing on the cake!

What I’d still like to do is find new and different ways of connecting with others in the book world, develop new and interesting features for my blog, try to start featuring some guest posts, and overall, continue to be open to new ideas and meet new people.

I’d welcome your input! For anyone who’s visiting Bookshelf Fantasies for the first time, I’d be honored to get your feedback. Thanks for stopping by!

And a final bit of shameless self-promotion: If you’d like to take part in Thursday Quotables or Flashback Friday, I’d be thrilled!