About Laura Craner

Usually things like this are written in third person, but that feels awkward to me. I’d rather start with this: Hi.

I’m Laura Hilton Craner, a twenty-something living near Boulder, CO who is married to a computer/electrical engineer and is a SAHM to three (!) children ages five, three, and one. I’ve spent a lot of time on my ward’s Enrichment committee (I still don’t toll paint or quilt, but I do garden) and in the Primary.

Oh, and I’m obsessed with LDS literature. (Which is why I blog for AMV.)

I read all kinds of books–from The Backslider to the Twilight series to A Comprehensive History of the Church to Enna Burning. My favorite books are The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, The Omnivore’s Dilemmaby Michael Pollan, A Moveable Feast by Hemingway, and A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L’Engle (to name a few). I’m also familiar with Robert Jordan, JRR Tolkien, John Grisham, and Sarah Dessen–so don’t be jumping to conclusions. I’m a member of two separate book clubs and the other members make sure I read plenty of books I would never consider otherwise (Dickens and Austen, anyone?).

Being the passionate reader that I am, I’m opinionated about books and I love to hear what other people think. (Another reason to blog for AMV.) Discussions about books are some of my favorite discussions to have. I can usually turn any conversation into a book discussion–I’m great at parties. Really. I am.

My love of literature predictably compels me to write. Language and the human capacity to manipulate and reinvent it are so cool! How could you not want to be a part of that? I got my B.S. in Literature (with a focus on medieval lit. and Jewish lit. [strange combo, I know]) from Utah State University. I’ve been published in Chicken Soup for the LDS Soul (Don’t laugh! A girl’s got to start somewhere!) and Segullah. I’ve won a couple poetry awards, but they’re ones you’ve never heard of so I don’t usually bring them up. My current writing project, besides AMV and my other blog , Depressed (but not unhappy) Mormon Mommy, is a narrative nonfiction work about Deaf people who survived the Holocaust. (By way of information, Deaf is supposed to be capitalized–but only when you are referring to the cultural group, not the the medical condition. Pass it on.) It’s a fascinating and difficult subject and I’ve been working on it since fall of 2005. That feels like a long time but, hey, it took Harper Lee fifteen years to write To Kill a Mockingbird so at least I’m still in the ballpark.

Anyway, that’s me. Oh, and if you haven’t heard it from anyone else yet, welcome to AMV. Leave us a comment. We want to know what you think.