Author Archives: Victoria Waddle

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About Victoria Waddle

Victoria Waddle is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer and has been included in Best Short Stories from The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest. Her books include a collection of feminist short fiction, Acts of Contrition, and a chapbook on grief, The Mortality of Dogs and Humans. Her YA novel about a polygamist cult, Keep Sweet, launches in June 2025. Formerly the managing editor of the journal Inlandia: A Literary Journey and a teacher librarian, she contributes to the Southern California News Group column Literary Journeys. She discusses both writing and library book censorship on her Substack, “Be a Cactus.” Join her there for thoughts on defiant readers and writers as well as for weekly library censorship news.

“In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer”

Posted on June 5, 2008 by Victoria Waddle

Many of the books that are popular with young adults have a life crisis as their theme. All teenagers can relate to trauma and good novels and biographies often help the reader to see through the anguish. They can show … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography/Memoir, Multicultural, Non-fiction | 308 Comments

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Posted on December 4, 2007 by Victoria Waddle

How does an author make us feel connected to a narrator who has Asperger’s Syndrome–who can’t understand others’ emotions, who can’t deal with anything out of his ordinary routine, who, as a part of his compulsive behavior, will eat red … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Multicultural, Young Adult Literature | 295 Comments

Life of Pi

Posted on December 4, 2007 by Victoria Waddle

   Here’s another story that begins in India, but marches to a very different drummer. The main character, ‘Pi’ Patel is named after a swimming pool in Paris. His father, a zoo keeper, decides to immigrate to Canada, and sells … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure Stories, Environmental Issues, Faith-Based/Religious Element, Fiction, Movie Tie-In, Multicultural, Over 375 pages | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Interpreter of Maladies

Posted on December 4, 2007 by Victoria Waddle

This book of short stories concerns Indians who are new to the United States or are first-generation Americans. They deal with their sense of foreignness while coping with the problems that people endure all over the world—infidelity, betrayal, loss of … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Multicultural, Short Stories | Leave a comment

Inheritance of Loss

Posted on December 4, 2007 by Victoria Waddle

Here we have another good book about India and the residual effects of colonialism. The novel is set Kalimpong, a Himalayan town that is on the border with Nepal. It’s the mid-1980s and a judge, who had been educated in … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Multicultural | Leave a comment

The Namesake

Posted on December 4, 2007 by Victoria Waddle

I sometimes read in cycles and right now, I’m interested in books that deal with cultures that I think of as ‘eastern’ as opposed to ‘western.’ In seeking these books, I’ve found several enjoyable novels (as well as solid works … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Multicultural | Leave a comment

How I Live Now

Posted on November 14, 2007 by Victoria Waddle

I decided to read How I Live Now in my search for good, young-adult fiction because it won the Printz Award for excellence in YA literature. It’s the story of Daisy, an American teen with some serious problems. Her mother … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Sci-Fi/Futuristic, Young Adult Literature | Leave a comment

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Posted on November 14, 2007 by Victoria Waddle

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (the author of The Kite Runner) is popular right now for good reasons. Again, Hosseini explores life in Afghanistan, but with this novel, there’s no escape to the United States. Three decades of … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Multicultural | Leave a comment

The Book of Dead Birds

Posted on November 9, 2007 by Victoria Waddle

We often think of authors as distant celebrities, but the truth is that more authors—even of very good books—are desperately working alone in the hope of sharing their vision with others. Here in the Inland Empire, we have many good … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmental Issues, Family Problems, Fiction, Human Rights Issues, Multicultural | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Ahab’s Wife or, The Star Gazer

Posted on November 6, 2007 by Victoria Waddle

Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund is the perfect book for the junior English project that starts with a work of fiction. It’s rich with historical as well as fictional characters and takes on several of the social issues of … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure Stories, Fiction, Historical Fiction/Historical Element, Junior Project, Literary Read Alike | 1 Comment