I’ve been posting about some great events lately at my local favorite indie bookshop and last night’s event was no exception. J. Courtney Sullivan read from and answered questions about her newly released novel THE ENGAGEMENTS. This is a novel about love and marriage, about diamonds and marketing campaigns. It should prove to be an interesting read!
J. Courtney Sullivan is also the author of MAINE and COMMENCEMENT.
She was quite gracious and a great speaker! I look forward to reading her book.
Books Reviewed
Reviews of books, audiobooks, etc…
Saturday Snapshot: Splash of Color Run!
Last weekend my best girl and I did a local 5K Color Run. If you’ve never heard or done one, they are a walk/run where every half mile you are squirted with colored cornstarch. It was quite fun and celebratory! The origins, as I understand them, are in the Indian celebration of the coming of spring (Holi) – the color is often called Holi color. We started off wearing white shirts and ended up quite multi-colored! 🙂
You can join in the fun of Saturday Snapshot — just post a pic you or a friend took (appropriate content!) and link to the host – Melinda’s blog at www.westmetromommy.blogspot.com
Review: LOOKING FOR ME by Beth Hoffman
I really enjoyed Beth Hoffman’s first novel, SAVING CEE CEE HONEYCUT. (Here’s a link to my earlier review of “Saving Cee Cee Honeycut”: https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/review-saving-ceecee-honeycutt-by-beth-hoffman/). I follow Beth on twitter and she seems like an incredibly nice person. Plus she has that “Southern writer touch” that I love so much in novels. So – I was quite thrilled to receive a copy of LOOKING FOR ME through Net Galley recently. I saved it a bit so that I could savor it while I read it. I love Ms. Hoffman’s characters and I knew that I would not want this story to end!
In LOOKING FOR ME, Teddi Overman is an artist – a furniture restorer – who owns her own shop in Charleston, S.C. Teddi comes from a humble family in Kentucky, and in flashback we are told her back story. Years ago her beloved and sensitive brother, Josh, has left and not returned. The family comes to believe that he is now dead, perhaps dying in an accident in the woods or from exposure. Teddi has some ghosts from her past to deal with, along with her incomplete grieving of her loss of Josh. Then events occur which suggest that maybe Josh is still alive. Teddi must return home and face the past – and the present.
Once again, I loved Ms. Hoffman’s characters and her story-telling! These people stayed with me so much, I actually dreamed about them one night. 🙂 This story’s sense of hope and strength left me feeling positive. I highly recommend it -especially as a summer read!
Thanks, Net Galley and Pamela Dorman Books, for my copy – it made my day!
Saturday Snapshot: I could use a sign like this…
I saw this sign at the Louvre when we were there in the fall and loved it. Nothing says “no loud talking” like an ancient Egyptian who is making too much noise!
Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at http://www.westmetromommy.blogspot.com. It’s easy to participate. Just post a pic you or a friend took (appropriate content please!) and link it to Melinda’s site!
Review: RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA: A NOVEL by Kimberly McCreight
It seems that RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA is all over the blogosphere these days, so I requested it from the library. There were a ton of holds already ahead of me. When it didn’t materialize after a month, I purchased it for my kindle. I had heard a lot about this book and it didn’t disappoint me!
In RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA, high powered attorney Kate Baron gets a phone call from her daughter’s private school that there’s been an incident of cheating and her daughter is being suspended. When she reaches the school, her daughter Amelia is dead, apparently having committed suicide by jumping off the roof. “Sorry” is written on the wall near where Amelia was. Then Kate receives a text: “She didn’t jump”. Thus begins Kate’s journey into discovering who her daughter really was – her secrets, her desires, her inner self. Kate harbors a lot of guilt for being a working single mom, and she seeks to prove that Amelia did not commit suicide and she did not plagiarize. The more she digs, the more she finds, and that makes her rethink all that she thought she knew.
This story is told in present day tense (Kate’s voice) and then through flashback (Amelia’s voice), texts, blog posts, and emails. Even though it jumped around a lot chronologically, I liked that way of telling the story.
There were some of elements in this story that did NOT work for me (SPOILER ALERT!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!). For instance, this principal at Grace Hall had a lot of spare time on his hands (having worked in independent schools for over twenty years I can tell you that spare time for a headmaster is rare!). Also, no one questioned the writing on the wall at first. And Amelia didn’t think it odd that Ben got her private cell number supposedly from Princeton since they would be attending a summer session there (strangers, but both attending, and Princeton just gives it out?). Kate, supposedly brilliant, was the last to figure out who Amelia’s father was (I figured it out before she did – lol). And that English teacher?? Can we say: quick way to lose your job?
But – overlooking these things – I found this novel to be compelling and thought-provoking, suspenseful and exciting. I could hardly put it down because I wanted to know what happened. My only sadness was that it started with Amelia’s death and I knew she wasn’t coming back. Having the book in her voice and getting to know her made for a poignant reading experience.
Here’s a book trailer I found on You Tube for this book — also found on the Amazon page — it’s interesting and thought-provoking!!
Review: Fifty Shades of Louisa May by L M Anonymous (Yep – you read that right!)
If you know me personally, you know I did NOT like “Fifty Shades of Grey”. I never reviewed it because I didn’t finish it (made it about 2/3 through). Anyhow — a friend jokingly suggested I read “Fifty Shades of Louisa May”, and I never gave it a thought until the other day when I was pondering how Fifty Shades was still on the NYT best seller list. Louisa May popped into my head and since it was less than $10 on Kindle, I bought it.
First, let me say I did not know what to expect with this book. If you know me, you know my passion for all things Alcott and that I hobnob with Alcott scholars and run around in a hoop skirt at the museum and just love, love, love that whole family. I was feeling a bit sensitive, for want of a better word, that someone might be maligning my beloved Alcotts. I have to say how surprised I was at how much I enjoyed this truly ridiculous read. First, if you think it’s like the original Fifty Shades, you are off the mark. It’s more of a satire on the time period of the Alcotts, Transcendentalism, and the social mores that held in New England in the 1800’s. It’s erotica that makes fun of erotica. I’m not a huge fan of erotica (to me, some things should just be left behind closed doors – or book covers, for that matter); but L M Anonymous (who claims to be Louisa’s spirit) writes in the voice and style of Louisa’s work (kudos to you for that, sir/madam!) and portrays the main players (Louisa, her sisters, her parents, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, even Melville) in caricature. Whoever wrote this book knows a LOT about these people and these places, and I have to wonder who is the real author. Someone I know? One of the Alcott scholars? I think not as there are a few minor factual errors that a true Alcott scholar would not make. But the level of detail included that is correct (e.g. what Louisa dreamed about when ill from typhoid fever; the true personalities of the main players) is there, so it’s definitely someone who has read extensively on the family and their friends. The best part of the book for me was trying to figure out who wrote it!
Now I can imagine that some folks would not “get” this book. Alcott lovers, like myself, could be offended (when you study great minds, you often overlook their sexuality). Those who want a read like Fifty Shades will most probably be disappointed. I can’t say I recommend this book – erotica is just not my thing and I generally don’t recommend books with graphic sexual content – however, if you are a lover of this time period and can imagine ridiculous scenarios (e.g. Melville playing peeping Tom to Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne; Louisa on a quest to lose her virginity) then you might enjoy it. I laughed out loud through much of it and read it in a few hours.
Review: SWEET SONG by Terry Persun
I was recently contacted by a publisher to see if I would read and review a copy of “Sweet Song” by Terry Persun. I enjoy historical fiction of this time period (1870’s), so I said yes.
In “Sweet Song”, Leon, the mixed-race son of a landowner and his black servant, seeks to find (and create) his identity. A violent interaction causes him to run away from his home and he takes this opportunity to recreate himself. Leon, who looks and passes for white, decides to define himself as white, and this leads him to explore racism and views on society from a different perspective than he had before (when he had lived with his mother and black father in the tenant’s cabins on the property). Leon has many struggles and several things he is running from. His story is a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance.
To be honest, I really wanted to like this book, but I found it slow-moving; and Leon began to annoy me. I wanted to root for him, but instead I felt like he was passive and weak and things just happened to him (until the end – which I liked). I have to say there were some really disturbing things in this book (SPOILER ALERT!) which I’m still not sure why they were there. Leon is in a sexual relationship with his half-sister, which he is seduced into by her. Also Leon suffers for years as a child, being physically and sexually abused by his mother. I racked my brain and while I could say that the relationship with his sister would be the catalyst for him running away (but did it have to be his sister??), I found no literary reason for this horrible experience with his mother. I would have thought this could be a good YA book with good discussions on identity development and race, but I can’t recommend it for the younger set due to the (disturbing) sexual content.
Thank you, Emily from Booktrope, for the chance to review!
Here is some information sent to me about Mr. Persun:
Terry Persun writes in many genres, including historical fiction, mainstream, literary, and science fiction / fantasy. His novel, Cathedral of Dreams is a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year finalist in the Science Fiction category. His novel Sweet Song received a Silver IPPY Award last summer. His latest novel is, Doublesight, the first book in an epic fantasy series. Find Terry online at TerryPersun.com and @tpersun.
Kids/YA Review: TWERP by Mark Goldblatt
Another Net Galley find, TWERP is the story of Julian Twerski: a boy growing up in NYC (Queens) in 1969. Julian’s made a major error in judgment and has gotten suspended for bullying another kid (eventually revealed through the story). When he returns to school, his English teacher suggests that he keep a diary of his life and events and tell the story of what happened through his own words (and if he does the journal, he gets out of writing a report on Shakespeare!). Through Julian’s diary we get to know him, his pack of friends, his family, and what life is like for him. He’s a typical sixth grader with a slightly annoying but sometimes helpful older sister. His friends are a garden variety of boys who get into scrapes. He has a crush on a girl in his class (but so does his friend!). He even holds the title of “fastest kid in sixth grade”, but is finding that he might lose that honor this year. All in all, this book made for a great kids’ read: sometimes serious but often funny. I’d happily get it for our school library for our 4th-6th graders. I haven’t read Mr. Goldblatt’s other books (which are for adults) but you can tell he put his heart – and a piece of himself – into Julian’s story.
Thanks, Net Galley and Random House, for my copy!
Kid Lit Review: THE SILENT BOY by Lois Lowry
I grabbed this book from the shelf at the children’s section of the library. I have read most of Lois Lowry’s works, and I did not know this one. It tells the story of Katy Thatcher, a precocious ten-year-old and daughter of the town doctor, growing up at the turn of the 20th century. Katy likes to accompany her father on his rounds and she wants to be a doctor herself when she grows up. She becomes intrigued with Jacob, the adolescent brother of their household help. Jacob is a gentle and shy boy, who doesn’t speak, but has a quiet relationship with animals and a fascination with how things work. Katy reaches out to Jacob to try to befriend him. In time, the book moves to a terrible and tragic conclusion.
I loved this story and the characters in it. One of Lowry’s strengths as a writer has always been character development and this is evident once again here. This book could open some good discussions with students on understanding differences. In the story, Jacob is referred to as “touched”. Today he would most likely be seen as on the spectrum for autism/PDD. Katy’s compassion for him is quite beautiful; however, due to the traumatic ending of this book, I would recommend it for older children, grades 5/6 and up.
Review: Women’s Murder Club THE 12TH OF NEVER by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
I’ve read all the James Patterson and Maxine Paetro “Women’s Murder Club” books. Just out is number twelve: THE 12TH OF NEVER, which I managed to get at the library even though there is a long wait for it. In this installment (number 12 obviously!) Lindsay and Joe have a baby girl. Lindsay is learning to balance the demands of motherhood and the demands of her job. Baby Julie is the light of their lives, but then she falls ill (and that’s all I’m saying about that!).
Meanwhile, down at the precinct, Lindsay is faced with some tough cases. A rather odd English professor comes in to announce that he is dreaming of murders happening. No one really takes him seriously until the murders DO happen, very much the way he predicts they will. This case gets more confounding as time goes on. At the same time, the high-profile girlfriend of a star 49er football player is murdered, and then her body disappears from Lindsay’s best friend and medical examiner, Claire’s, lab. At the same time, Yuki, another murder club member, is prosecuting the case of her career against a sleazy lawyer who is accused of killing his wife and child. And, last but not least, reporter Cindy is having relationship issues with Lindsay’s partner, Richie.
All in all, there’s a lot going on in this novel. It moves quickly and I read it in a day or two. I have to say it wrapped up quickly, especially the missing body/murder part. I still don’t fully understand how the precognition piece and how the murders involved happened. Without saying too much, I will say I found that piece far-fetched. Also (SPOILER ALERT) I found the missing body/missing security guard problem kind of far-fetched, too (everyone seemed to think of the guard as a suspect and not a potential victim – perhaps to create another suspect?). However, overall I enjoyed this read, as I have the other ones in the series!
Beth's Book-Nook Blog 