Dodie Smith’s novel is just like any other charming British novel set in the countryside in the 1930s: the landscape is glorious, the cupboard is bare, and the characters eccentric. I Capture the Castle opens with the wonderful line “I am sitting in the kitchen sink as I write this.” The “I” is Cassandra Mortmain, the 17-year old narrator of the novel (which is, in fact, her journal). She is keeping vigil over her stepmother, Topaz, and her elder sister, Rose, as they attempt to rejuvenate their ragtag wardrobes with a healthy dose of green dye. Unfortunately, this lends both their clothes and their skin an interesting virescence – a state that is much lamented when their new, handsome, wealthy American neighbors come calling. This episode is just one of the many very human portraits that Cassandra draws, wittily and honestly, with her stub of a pencil. And just like humanity, I Capture the Castle manages to be funny and sad at the same time.  The castle in question, where the Mortmains reside, is magnificent but dilapidated. This state of affairs seemed romantic to the family once, but now it is simply mournful. No member of Cassandra’s family escapes her keen sense of observation, and she certainly has no shortage of material. The characters are already caricatures of themselves, even without Cassandra’s commentary. Her father is a brilliant author with one highly lauded book, whose inspiration has vanished since Cassandra’s mother died when the girls were young. When he…

For twelve years, the Fox Cities Book Festival has been connecting writers and readers of all ages and interests, and this year the festival will take place over the week of October 7-13. Different this year compared to previous festivals, “Each day, a different Fox Cities community will become the focus of the festival with all, or most of the events taking place in one location,” states their website. This means no competing events and no rushing across the Fox Valley to get to the next event. Instead, festival attendees can sit back and relax without having to worry about too much travel time. The headliner for this year’s festival is Elizabeth Letts, “the #1 New York Times bestselling author of both historical fiction and non-fiction.” She will be at the Lawrence Memorial Chapel on October 13 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. to discuss writing her newest novel, Finding Dorothy. “This richly imagined novel tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum’s intrepid wife, Maud,” reads the book’s description. Find out more about Elizabeth Letts and her event at the Fox Cities Book Festival here. No matter what your favorite genre is or how old you are, Fox Cities Book Festival has something for you. Hone your writing skills at a workshop, enjoy a reading or performance by authors from every genre, get advice on publishing and writing craft, and attend a presentation…

  The world is coming to an end. At least, that’s what it feels like. In contemporary fiction, apocalyptic stories have captured the attention of young adult readers. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave, and Veronica Roth’s Divergent series—these novels found millions of fans and have become immortalized on the silver screen. But why? One answer that comes to mind involves the stories that flood the news and internet every day. The Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando was a hate crime that claimed 49 lives in a matter of minutes. Videos of police officers killing blacks surface on a daily basis. The environment is being destroyed faster than it can be renewed. These are only a few of the many problems that plague the United States. My generation grew up in a world where we assumed the future looked bleak, so naturally literature which shares this world view appeals to many young readers. Stories of the apocalypse are not new. The nuclear era ushered in a new wave of dystopian novels. George Orwell’s 1984 was published in 1949 and predicted a world where the government monitored your every step. Walter M. Miller Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz, published in 1959, described a world destroyed by a nuclear holocaust. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) chronicled government attempts to control a woman’s mind and body. Each generation has their own version of the apocalypse, and each generation has an apocalyptic novel which reflects their fear. Looking at 21st century…