Today’s book is a book that I read quite a few years ago and then picked up again recently. I’d remembered that I enjoyed it but I couldn’t specifically remember why. The reason is that it’s a character-driven story with an interesting approach to writing – an approach that is specifically of interest to people who write for a living. The book is called Our Sometime Sister and the author is Norah Labiner.

The book is about a woman in her twenties who is writing two books at the same time. The first book is a novel. The second book is the story of her life. The two stories seem to parallel one another and the writer starts to realize that either her novel is too close to real life or her real life is too close to being a work of fiction.

Through the different approaches that the writer takes to writing these stories down, we as readers of the book get some insight into the struggles, mistakes and successes of a young first-time author. Anyone who has tried to write their own life story (as fiction or memoir) will really relate to a lot of the writing experiences in the book.

At the same time, the novel is about more than just a writer’s struggles with writing. It’s a character-driven book which uses the two stories to give us information about the childhood and development of the main character. It’s an interesting approach to learning about the person we’re reading about and one that I think works really well in the novel.

I’ve listed this book for trade over at Paperback Swaps but I like it so much that I’m thinking about keeping it!

Tags: book recommendation, book review, books, kathryn vercill, labiner, our sometime sister, paperback swaps, reading

As a SmartChick I find myself completely interested in impossible car design concepts. For awhile I was totally in love with the Aptera, a three-wheeled car that’s designed by a company in Southern California. I don’t particularly even want a car at all but for half a second I was convinced that this would be the car that I did want if I were to get a car because I just loved how unique and innovative and interesting the design of this green vehicle was.

The car that I’m feeling that way about at the moment is the Terrafugia Transition. Appealing to all of those people who have wondered when we’d have flying cars like the Jetson’s had, this is said to be the world’s first flying car (although in design it’s really more of an airplane that can also do well on the road).

The Terrafugia made some headlines this month when it was finally tested out in the air by a pilot in New York. Launched as a concept in 2006 by MIT business and aerodynamics students, it was finally ready to be flown for real. It only lasted 37 seconds in the air but it was pronounced a success in terms of a milestone for getting the car ready for the road.

The car is basically a plane that can be folded up to look and drive like a car. It reaches highway speeds, gets 30mpg using regular fuel and functions as a small two-seater car would function. The difference is that it can fly distances up to 500 miles away (in theory, anyway) so it can be used for some light travel that isn’t on the road.

It’s an interesting concept. The makers of this car are pegging 2011 as the date when it could be customer-ready so we’ll have to just keep an eye on them until then and see what happens in terms of the developing the design.

Tags: airplane car, auto, car, car plane, concept car, design, flying car, hubpages, innovation, jetsons, kathryn vercill, terrafugia, transition