Keep Those Letters and Cards Coming in, Folks...

By Cornelia Read

The inbox almost always holds some interesting reader response, these day. Below are some of my favorites of recent weeks (with some pix of other peoples' fan letters thrown in for fun)...

I would think that by the time a writer has a book published,
she would be able to tell her story in descriptive fashion
without using so many curse words. I have never started
reading a book with so many GD's, F's and "sh" words.  Is
that all the language you know?  Come on!



Unfortunately for you, I will NOT finish the book and I will NOT
be recommending any of your books to my friends.  What could have
(might have) been a good story has been ruined by your poor command
of the English language.

"That's HEDley..."

I am in the process of reading your book, The Crazy School, and am amazed
at the similarity of its content and my experiences  teaching English at
the Kolburne School just outside of Great Barrington, Mass. and was
wondering if Kolburne School was the model for your novel.  I know there are
a few other smaller schools in that area that are alternative schools, but the
core experiences in your book bring back memories of that sad community. 
I had one student who swallowed a magic marker and died.





I picked up your book at the library having no idea that the setting
would be the Berkshires much less a school that so closely resembled
DeSisto, the word resembled being an understatement.  Almost forgiving
in your description of the school's philosophy and milieu, you've
done an extraordinary job of recreating the flavor of the "treatment"
that went on there.




 Thanks for brightening my week with a good story.  :-)




by no means am i qualified to write a literary review.  i just wanted
to write a quick note to acknowledge you.  there was so much stuff that
i havent thought about (probably on purpose)in a long time, and it was
a real pleasure to see it in your pages.  the "desisto talk", the mansion,
the grape arber...wow, if only your readers could take the time to go up
and visit, and see how true your words are.

I'd like to first tell you that I am currently enjoying the story line of A Field of Darkness.
The characters seem real and the details are amazing. I'd like to suggest to you though
that you not use the word go*damn so much. Almost every page has this word and I have
to stop reading and pray for forgiveness each and every time. It's frustrating when I'm
reading along and really enjoying it and then I have to stop. I think you'd be surprised the
many people who take offense to using the Lord's name in vain.

Anyway, I will also read your next book because I'm sure it will be just as good as your first.

What's the best or worst email you've ever gotten? Inquiring minds want to know...