How Many Books–Libdrone’s 2nd Book Giveaway Contest

Submitted by The Thin Red Line

I will be the first to admit that this is not a pretty picture.   Not in any sense of the word.   But lest my loyal readers think that the reason I’ve not been posting any book reviews lately is because I don’t have any books to write about.    The above photograph,  which has been expanded to give you a fair shot at counting just how darn many books I have awaiting some disposition as to review or no review.   Add in the fact that lovely summer weather has me spending more time outside and with new friends and reading a lot less and you notice that Ron pretty much carried the site for me in June.

To enter the contest,  leave a comment on this post with your best guess of the number of books pictured in the chair.     A few hints:  the top row of books with their spines facing the camera is supported by a completely concealed back 2 stacks of books.   And yes,  the audio book does count.    The contest will run until July 31st.   In August,   I will announce the correct number and if anyone has chosen it that person will receive their choice of any of my advanced reading and review copies, listed below.    In the event that more than one person chooses the correct number,  I will use random.org to pick one winner from all who guessed correctly.   Now then the prizes.    Please include your choice of book in your comment.   Winner will be contacted by e-mail the first week in August.

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly– Advanced Reading Copy

Afraid by Jack Kilborn–Advanced Reading Copy

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher– hardcover published copy

Fault Line by Barry Eisler– hardcover published copy

Home Girl by Judith Matloff– hardcover published copy

Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton–hardcover published copy

Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton– published CD audio book

Annie’s Ghost by Steve Luxenborg– hardcover published copy

The Islamist by Ed Husain– trade paperback published copy

The Dead Man by Joel Goldman– mass market paperback published copy

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Library Loot #25

Submitted by Book Nut

A piddly small week this week because (gasp!) we’ve been very bad about reading to A and K. We tend to get off schedule in the summer… and stay up late… and watch too much TV. (Even A’s watching Robin Hood with us… on an unrelated aside, Richard Armitage is totally winning me over as Guy. He is definitely list-worthy.) Sigh.

What I did come home with:

For A/K:
My Friend is Sad (An Elephant and Piggie Book), by Mo Willems
I Love My New Toy! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), by Mo Willems
Crazy Hair, by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
OK Go, by Cain Berger

For M (and me… I want to get to them)
Goddess Boot Camp, by Tara Lynn Childs
Fragile Eternity, by Melissa Marr

For Hubby:
Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew B. Crawford

For the road trip:
Inkheart (it’s the audiobook; we told C she couldn’t see the movie until she read the book. She balked — she’s not that into reading really long books — and so we came up with a compromise: we’ll listen to the book on the way down to Dallas and back. She liked that…)

The roundup is either at Reading Adventures or A Striped Armchair.

*Ones that M eventually read.
**Picture books we really liked.

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10 Questions for Julie Berry

Submitted by Book Nut

My second victim author for the 10 Questions feature is the delightful Julie Berry, whose first book, Amaranth Enchantment — an interesting Cinderella-like fantasy/fairy tale for upper-middle grade readers — I thoroughly enjoyed.

MF: This is your first novel, congrats! Can you tell us a bit about the process of writing it and getting published?
JB: It took me about a year to write it. I was a graduate student at Vermont College’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults when I wrote it, under the direction of advisers Cynthia Leitich Smith, Brent Hartinger, and Tim Wynne-Jones. I learned so much from each of them. I worked on it nearly every day, generally in the evenings after my children were in bed. It took many starts and stops before I figured out Lucinda’s story, as well as the tone and voice of the final piece. It was a lot of work, but I loved writing this story, and loved its characters.

As for getting it published, it won a prize at Vermont College, for which I remain forever grateful. I met an agent at an SCBWI conference and told her about the prize. She asked to see a few chapters, so I sent them. She offered me representation, and after we’d made a few revisions to the manuscript, she sent it out to several publishers, and before long we had a deal with Bloomsbury.

MF: Sounds like it was a charmed experience… Did you set out to write a young adult/middle grade novel, or did you just write the story and let the publishers decide?
JB: It’s always been my hope to write for children and young adults. It’s my genre of choice.

MF: Is being a writer something you’ve “always” wanted to do, or is it something you’ve discovered later in life? Do you have any specific writing influences?
JB: I think I always had deep-down authorial hopes, as I suspect most book lovers do. I majored in communication in college and had done professional writing of all sorts during my career, so I knew I had some capability with words, but I never knew whether or not I had the knack for fiction. It was on my “try before I die,” list. Part of me was afraid to try and learn that I did not have the knack. That, I thought, would be devastating. But after I’d had my fourth son, I began to think more about that dream. I imagined myself rocking on my front porch one day, old and blind, and regretting that I’d never tried. That thought become more scary to me than trying and failing. So I gave it a go, and I’m so glad I did.

MF: I think that’s very admirable. Trying something new, taking a risk, especially when you’ve got a family. Speaking of which: you have four boys (I’ve got four girls, about the same ages…) and a job. How on earth did/do you find time to write? Do you find it difficult juggling everything?
JB:Yes! Yes, yes, yes. I find it incredibly difficult juggling everything. But I am learning how to live with difficulty and juggling. (Incidentally, I can juggle. I’ve had to get very creative about when and where I write. I write late at night, and I write early in the morning. I generally never wrote when the children were awake, because they needed my attention, and anyway, they’re far too distracting! Now I sometimes have to. The older my children get, the busier they get, which has its pros and cons. It means our lives are more scheduled, jumping from pillar to post, but it also means they’ve got interests of their own, and I can find 30 minutes here, 50 minutes there in which to make some progress with a scene. My house is fairly chaotic most of the time. My job is part-time, and it gives me a great deal of flexibility. Some times I wish I didn’t wear so many hats, but I recognize that they all make me who I am and keep life interesting.

MF: A bit about the book: I really enjoyed the combination of history and religion and fantasy in The Amaranth Enchantment. Can you tell us a bit about how you came up with the idea(s) behind the book?
JB: The first thought I had was about a decaying mansion full of memories. That became Lucinda’s home. The next was about an enigmatic woman who had a connection to the supernatural. At first I thought that might be ghosts. Eventually I figured out she was a trapped and unhappy immortal, stuck in a world full of people who die. It took longer to figure out my main character, Lucinda. It became clear early on that she needed to be an orphan, and that led to developing her backstory. The process of writing forces you to answer so many questions. I come across a question that needs answering, cast about in my mind for possibilities, and go with the one that feels most right.

MF: I totally missed that it was a Cinderella-type story until someone pointed it out after I was done. Did you deliberately pattern it after the fairy tale, or was it something that just happened on its own?
JB:You’re like me — I didn’t realize I was writing a Cinderella story, either, until I was well into it. When I realized that was what I was doing, I had some fun playing with Cinderella motifs, but I never wanted my book to conform to a preexisting story. I wasn’t setting out to do a fairy tale retelling, just a fairy-tale like novel.

MF: I don’t feel so bad about missing that now. Is there anything in your background — growing up or currently — that helped in creating this book? In what ways?
JB: Hm, that’s a tough question. In one sense, our stories spring from who we are, from our entire backgrounds and life experiences. If I’d lived a different life, I would have written a different book. But I can’t really draw a many lines between specifics in the book and specifics in my life. I love gemstones, though I’m the un-bling-est person you’ll ever meet. But I’m fascinated by the purity and clarity of stones. One of my favorite places to hang out is the gemstone exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. So I wrote that fascination into the magical gemstone in the store. I grew up on a farm where we had chickens, turkeys, pigs, rabbits, dogs, and cats, but no goats, so I threw in a goat.

MF: Do you have a favorite character or scene?
JB: I really do love all of the characters, but I probably feel the closest to Lucinda. We spent the most time together. My favorite scene is the one where Beryl is helping her get dressed for the ball. I cried when I wrote it. Isn’t that silly?

MF: What are your favorite five books, or five books you think everyone should read?
JB: Oh, I can’t possibly whittle it down to five! Here is a link to a document I’ve made listing favorite books.

MF: What can we expect from you next, if you don’t mind telling us?
JB: I’m working on a second book now for Bloomsbury, another fairy tale-like fantasy. I’m also working on a series of graphic novels for younger boys. My sister is the illustrator. It’s a good thing I can type fast.

MF: Thanks so much for your time!
JB: My pleasure.

You can read more of her writing at her blog.

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June Jacket Flap-a-thon

Submitted by Book Nut

I read 27 books this month (the 48 Hour Challenge helped…), which is nearly double my “usual” monthly total. Sometimes, I feel like I’m insane for reading SO much (not as many as some… I know that…). Other times — like this past weekend, when I was talking to the wife of one of Hubby’s friends (she’s an aspiring YA writer) — I realize how much I don’t know, how many books I haven’t read, and I wonder if there will ever be time enough to read them all.

Am I the only one who feels this way? (Probably not.)

Starting with the one worst:
Wintersmith (HarperTempest): “At 9, Tiffany Aching defeated the cruel Queen of Fairyland. At 11, she battled an ancient body-stealing evil. At 13, Tiffany faces a new challenge: a boy. And boys can be a bit of a problem when you’re thirteen. . . . But the Wintersmith isn’t exactly a boy. He is Winter itself—snow, gales, icicles—all of it. When he has a crush on Tiffany, he may make her roses out of ice, but his nature is blizzards and avalanches. And he wants Tiffany to stay in his gleaming, frozen world. Forever. Tiffany will need all her cunning to make it to Spring. She’ll also need her friends, from junior witches to the legendary Granny Weatherwax. They—Crivens! Tiffany will need the Wee Free Men too! She’ll have the help of the bravest, toughest, smelliest pictsies ever to be banished from Fairyland—whether she wants it or not. It’s going to be a cold, cold season, because if Tiffany doesn’t survive until Spring— —Spring won’t come.”
It’s not so bad, but it doesn’t really draw the reader in. It’s more dorky than anything, and this book is anything but dorky.

And on to the better stuff:

Whales on Stilts! (Harcourt, Inc.): “Monstrous Thrills! (Startling teeth! Cellos in fast cars! Photocopy repair!) Gruesome Chills! (Okay, maybe not that gruesome, but we’re trying to sell a book here.) Sidesplitting laughs! (Ouch. This is why my friend Bill wears a girdle). Swaying above them, outlined against the fresh morning sky, were the ominous shapes of the whales. They towered thirty feet high, their eyes glowing. They had spread their flukes. They drooled from their wet baleen. Lily stopped on her bike and stood for a second at the crest of a hill. She stared with horror at the scene of destruction down in the valley before her. The whales stepped on used car dealerships and a putt-putt golf course. They burned down trees in a trice with their laser-beam eyes. They stalked on rows through the countryside. They had to be stopped.”
I didn’t do this justice: the jacket flap cracked me up. Like the book.

Poison Study (Luna): “Choose: A quick death and hell or slow poison and hell. About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia. And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison. As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear.”
This is one of those books that, had I been browsing, I would have picked up because the jacket-flap copy is really intriguing. A good balance between being enticing and not revealing too much.

Wicked Lovely (HarperTeen): “Rule #3: Don’t stare at invisible faeries. Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty-especially if they learn of her Sight-and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens. Rule #2: Don’t speak to invisible faeries. Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer. Rule #1: Don’t ever attract their attention. But it’s too late. Keenan is the Summer King, who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. His is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost-regardless of her plans or desires. Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; everything. Faery intrigue, mortal love, and the clash of ancient rules and modern expectations swirl together in Melissa Marr’s stunning twenty-first-century faery tale.”
Again, a good balance of intriguing and not giving too much away.

Other books read this month:
Magickeepers: The Eternal Hourglass
Don’t Call Me a Crook!
How Not to be Popular
The Painter from Shangahi
Clementine
The Chosen One
Here Lies Arthur
Magic Study
Fire Study
Hat Full of Sky
Manga Shakespeare: The Tempest
Forever Rose
The Talented Clementine
Keturah and Lord Death
Tales from Outer Suburbia
Girl Force
Atonement
Girl at Sea
Garden Spells
The Talisman Ring
That Summer
Ink Exchange
Alcatraz versus the Scrivener’s Bones
Nation

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Teaser Tuesdays: June 30, 2009

Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN

Miz B and Teaser Tuesdays asks you to: Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page. Share with us two (2) sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My teaser comes from The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum, page 47.

“I miss this, I think.  You never know when you’re going to meet someone who’s going to change your life.  New York, it’s consistent throb of potential, can be a dangerous place for the overly imaginative; everyone you see is a possible route toward a different future.”

I’m packing this book in my beach bag for tomorrow!

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Book Review: Waiter Rant: Thanks for the tip–Confessions of a cynical waiter by The Waiter

Submitted by The Thin Red Line

Alan brought home a book that totally fascinated me. Waiter Rant: Thanks for the tip–Confessions of a cynical waiter by The Waiter. The author keeps his identity a secret for multiple reasons and doesn’t reveal it in the book. Nor does he name the restaurant for which he works. Still it’s a fascinating look at life on the working side of the restaurant table. A life of paranoid/abusive owner/bosses, borderline alcoholic waitstaff, what really goes on in the unseen depths of the kitchen of an upscale Italian restaurant in New York, and what your waiter or waitress is probably thinking about you while taking your order and serving your food. The author claims he can sum up within ten seconds of seating customers approximately how much of a tip they’ll be good for.

He also occasionally mentions an order entry system, that the restaurant he works in uses for entering customers orders for the kitchen. The amount of other information stored in the system, such as are you a difficult customer, birthdays, special needs or unusual requests was surprising to me. He does bring up a lot of very interesting points. The stories of some of the immigrants who cook and prep our food, wash our dishes, and work hard to attain the American Dream are varied and interesting. Such as a South American man with a wife back home, and a son he’s putting through a law school. Or the young dishwasher who came here from Venezuela, and took a job that we wouldn’t tackle for the wage it brings , yet is happy to be here and hoping to build some sort of a life here. As opposed to the tremendous poverty and poor life he would’ve had at home.

Is the book perfect? No, the author can sometimes take on a bit of smugness and a blase , seen it all attitude. But to me the most shocking part of the book is where he describes a Mother’s Day night, where an older woman has a stroke in the back section of the restaurant. After calling 911 and clearing the other patrons seated in the area, then having yuppie couple and his mother throw a fit over not being able to be seated where they want to sit due to the “inconvenience of a poor woman having a stroke” Incidentally, he also mentions that Mother’s Day is the day waitstaff everywhere in almost any kind of restaurant hates, with as he describes good reason.

Waiter Rant is a good read and is a very pleasant read for a nice quiet day. Unless you’re planning to go out to eat that day as well. By the way, the author also runs a Web Site by the same name and has since 2002.   Which is where the idea for the book came from.   Waiter Rant is Highly Recommended.

Title: Waiter Rant    Author: The Waiter   Publisher: Harper Collins Format: Hardcover   Publication Date: 2008

Buy From Amazon $18.96  (new)

Buy From Powells  $12.95 (used)

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Review: Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN

Still Alice by Lisa Genova is the heartbreaking and terrifying story of 50 year old Alice Howland, a brilliant Harvard professor, wife, and mother of three who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.

I can’t read about any disease, however unlikely or impossible, without starting to feel like I have it myself. Lyme disease, lupus, swine flu, prostate cancer- it doesn’t matter what it is. If it says something about fatigue (hmm, I’m tired), frequent headaches (hey, I had a headache yesterday!), flu-like symptoms (I’m hot- well it is summer), or mental confusion (where did I put my glasses??), I convince myself I must have it.

Such was the case with Still Alice. In the first 100 pages or so, I was practically panicked thinking I needed to see my doctor immediately. Thankfully I calmed down enough to finish the book and realize that maybe I’m ok after all.

This is a great book told from the point of view of the sufferer rather than a family member or caregiver. I was so completely engrossed in the story I felt like I was going through everything right alongside Alice. If you ever wondered what it was like to have Alzheimer’s- what it really feels like to be the person with the disease- to understand the fear, confusion, panic, and dread- read this book. Genova is able to realistically take the reader through the progression of the disease and the changes it brings on for both Alice and her family.

Initially Alice’s mental hiccups are the same variety as anyone might have. Blanking on a word, misplacing keys, that sort of thing. We all do it. Alice attributes it to middle age, impending menopause, stress. Except, she’s not feeling stressed, and she hasn’t gone through menopause yet.

One day while out for a run near the home she’s lived in for 25 years, she gets inexplicably turned around and can’t figure out how to get home. That’s a lot harder to explain away, so she sees the doctor and soon has this awful diagnosis. Through genetic testing she learns she carries a mutated gene responsible for EOA, which means her children could have it, and so could her future grandchildren. Just the thought of it is devastating.

But even as the disease is robbing Alice of her memories, she retains her sense of humor. There is a scene where she is struggling to put on a sports bra so that she and her husband can go for a run. Finally she screams and her husband runs into the bedroom.

“What’s happening?” asked John.

She looked at him with one panicked eye through a round hole in the twisted garment.

“I can’t do this! I can’t figure out how to put on this fucking sports bra. I can’t remember how to put on a bra, John! I can’t put on my own bra!”

He went to her and examined her head.

“That’s not a bra, Ali, it’s a pair of underwear.”

She burst into laughter.

“It’s not funny,” said John.

She laughed harder.

“Stop it, it’s not funny. Look, if you want to go running, you have to hurry up and get dressed. I don’t have a lot of time.”

He left the room, unable to watch her standing there, naked with her underwear on her head, laughing at her own absurd madness.

-from page 199

Alice compensates for the holes in her memory in all kinds of ways. Her Blackberry helps her to remember appointments, and she becomes a great list maker, although she can’t always make sense of her lists. She devises a way early on to gauge how she’s doing, and a back up plan in case she’s not doing well, a letter she has written to her sicker self. She keeps the letter in a file labeled Butterfly on her computer. However, by the time she needs the back up plan, she can’t retain the information long enough to put it into place.

Later in the book, when her symptoms are more severe, when she’s lost so much, I cried. I pretty much cried through the last third of the book- not horrible sobbing but a constant river of tears. This is a devastating disease that takes everything away. Everything-and at breakneck speed. But I never felt manipulated by Still Alice. It is by no means a sappy tearjerker. It’s just very tragic, compelling, and real, but hopeful too.

I loved Still Alice and can’t recommend it highly enough. It offers such insight and would make a wonderful gift for anyone touched by this devastating, incurable disease in some way. It speaks volumes about love and compassion. It would be especially good for book clubs because there is so much to discuss. I read it for my own book club and can’t wait to talk about it.

Very Highly Recommended!

I was surprised to learn that Lisa Genova self-published her book first, before it was picked up by Simon & Schuster. Read more about Lisa Genova and her amazing debut novel HERE. Discussion questions can be found HERE. And for an excerpt, click HERE.

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Nation

Submitted by Book Nut

by Terry Pratchett
ages: 12+
First sentence: “Imo set out one day to catch some fish, but there was no sea.”

Mau is just a boy in the Nation — an island in the Pelagic Ocean — he’s off on Boy’s Island, in between souls, when the wave hits and wipes out his island. Left alone, he is despairing: how could the gods do this to the Nation? Then he meets Ermintrude (hereafter known as Daphne, since it’s a much more sensible name): a girl from England, who was on a ship that ended up crashing on the Nation because of the wave. At first — because this is how all things go — they were wary of each other, but then, when other refugees see the fire and come toward the island, they begin to forge a new Nation of their own.

I’m not terribly schooled in the world of Terry Pratchett, having only read the Tiffany Aching books, but I loved this one. It’s nothing like the Tiffany Aching books (and probably nothing like the Discworld ones, either), but it’s absolutely engrossing in its own way. M was just asking what it’s about, and it’s about many things: love and loss, religion and science, exploration and stagnation, discovering and retaining. But, it’s mostly the story of two people who figure out new ways of doing things, who find truth in the little things, and who manage to create something out of what had become nothing. It’s got all of Pratchett’s signature touches: the world is 90% ours, but it’s just off enough to make it fantastically different and wonderful. It’s full of love and life and humor. It doesn’t have a something-magical-happens ending (like in the Tiffany Aching books); in fact the ending is as far from magical as possible, and just about perfect.

In short: it’s storytelling at its finest.

Buy it at Amazon, Powell’s, or your local independent bookstore.

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Book to Movie Friday: Jane Austen Book Club

Submitted by Book Nut

I was looking for something light and fluffy the other night, and I lit upon this one searching in the Netflix instant play (can I tell you how much I love Netflix? I LOVE Netflix. A whole lot.). I remembered liking the book well enough, and I figured that while the movie wouldn’t be great, it might be enjoyable in a shallow, mindless, fluffy way. So I gave it a shot.

Afterward, when I checked my review, I was surprised how much the movie kept of the book, at least superficially. I don’t remember if the specifics were the same, or even if the arc of the story was the same (I think the book covered a longer time span then the movie did and maybe events were mix-mashed), but honestly, I don’t think it mattered. The plot was still mostly non-existent: the movie (like the book) just being an excuse for people (some screwed up, some more or less together) to sit around discussing, and possibly learning from (and learning to like), Jane Austen’s books. Which is not something I can argue with. I liked it.

I liked Hugh Dancy as the computer/sci-fi geek the best. The women were mostly stereotypes (the eccentric, the divorced woman, the gay younger woman, the control freak, and the screwed up one), but he was refreshing in the midst of all that estrogen. As time went on, and he learned more about Austen (when he first started he thought they were all sequels, which cracked me up), he actually had some refreshing insights (or at least the screenwriters gave him some) into Austen’s work. Which makes me wonder what Hubby would think about them, if he ever got around to reading them.

Verdict: probably as good as the book. Maybe better because it has Hugh Dancy in it.

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Ink Exchange

Submitted by Book Nut

by Melissa Marr
ages: 14+
First sentence: “Irial watched the girl stroll up the street; she was a bundle of terror and fury.”

Leslie has not had an easy life. With a deadbeat dad who drinks away everything she can earn, and a druggie brother who actually sold her body for drugs, things are not as cheerful as she makes them seem. She’s afraid, she feels out of control. Which is why she wants a tattoo: to do something to herself for herself.

But the tattoo that calls to her is a dangerous one: it’s the mark of the faerie Dark Court king, Irial. His court is barely surviving with the peace that has been established between the Summer and Winter courts. The Dark Faerie feed off of negative emotions: greed, lust, revenge, fear… and with peace there isn’t as many of those hanging around. And when Irial discovered that he was drawn to Leslie — as she was to him, even if she didn’t know it — he realized he could use their connection to feed his court: use Leslie as a conduit for mortals’ emotions.

This however has some unexpected consequences. First, Niall — advisor to the Summer King — is in love with Leslie, and even though he’s a Gancanagh (they’re addictive to women) he’s more than willing to do anything to protect her. Second, Leslie, while she’s attracted to the world at first, eventually realizes that this is no way to live.

It’s a dark novel, but less harsh than expected. Also, while it’s repelling in its subject matter, and the characters are not as likable as they could be, it’s an incredibly compelling read, as addicitive as Niall is to women. Which is a good thing, because it has a very satisfying and quite heroic ending. And that does much to help offset the darkness of the world Marr has created.

Buy it at Amazon, Powell’s, or your local independent bookstore.

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RIP Michael Jackson

Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN

The King of Pop 1958-2009

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Review: The Local News by Miriam Gershow

Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN

Miriam Gershow’s debut novel, The Local News, is an excellent story narrated by 15 year old Lydia Pasternak, whose older brother Danny has mysteriously gone missing after shooting hoops with a couple of friends at the local elementary school.  

Lydia doesn’t exactly miss her brother right away.  Her feelings are complicated.  Danny and his football playing friends spent years picking on her and calling her names, but he’s still her brother, and she has good memories from when they were little kids.  Danny, athletic and loud, took up a lot of space in the family, and his absence in their lives is huge.  

Her parents are disconnected, drifting through the days in anguished grief.  They are hyper focused on finding their child- “Not you,” she tells herself; “their other child.”  Lydia feels forgotten at home.  It’s the opposite at school- everyone knows who she is. Even the most popular kids, the ones who never gave her the time of day before, suddenly want to know how she’s doing; what’s new with the investigation.  At times it seems she is who she is only in relation to her brother. 

Lydia has a nerdy friend, David, with whom she talks about world politics and other brainy topics.  David is her only friend who is all hers- completely independent of her brother.  She is comfortable with David until his attraction for her becomes obvious, and they drift apart as things get awkward between them.  She then starts hanging around with cheery Lola Pepper, an admirer of her brother and captain of the flag team, falling into the party scene Danny vacated.  

The Pasternaks hire a private investigator when the local police hit a wall with the case.  Lydia develops a crush on the PI and finds herself focused and energized; organizing and analyzing letters from strangers, looking for possible clues, going over mug shots, taking notes.  When the PI has exhausted most of the leads, he turns a suspicious eye on Lydia, freaking her out and turning her off. 

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down.  Gershow nailed Lydia’s complex adolescent voice.  It reminded me of Melinda’s voice in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  She’s smart, wry, sad, funny, damaged, and heartbreakingly real.  I ached for Lydia, especially as she lay awake night after night listening to the silence in the next room, her brother’s bedroom.  I cried at one bittersweet interaction with her dad, when “for the first time in a long time, I remembered a little bit that he loved me, so I loved him a little bit back.”   And the end.. well, the end tore me up.  

The book is reminiscent of The Lovely Bones, from the title to the cover (the same blue) to the subject matter.  In both we have families that are disintegrating over a missing loved one.  And I also thought about Songs for the Missing by Stewart O’Nan, a book with a similar story about the disappearance of a teen.  But I preferred The Local News to both those books.  The Local News is Lydia’s story and told from her perspective alone, while the others are told from several perspectives, including the missing teen.  I thought the single narration was a more effective, less diluted way to tell the story.  But the main reason I preferred The Local News is because at the end we get to see Lydia as an adult and understand how the loss of her brother continues to affect her relationships years later.  In the wake of Danny’s disappearance, life has been forever altered. 

Sharp, raw, and brilliantly written, this is a powerful book and one I can highly recommend.  

Please check out this terrific guest post from Miriam Gershow:  From Books to Babies.  To visit the author’s website, click HERE.  And check out Miriam’s TLC Book Tour for other reviews of The Local News.

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Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones

Submitted by Book Nut

by Brandon Sanderson
ages: 10+
First sentence: “So, there I was, slumped in my chair, waiting in a drab airport terminal, munching absently on a bag of stale potato chips.”

I enjoyed the first one in this series enough that I should have jumped at the chance to read the second, especially after Becky’s and Tricia’s reviews reminded me how much I liked these.

The book picks up where Evil Librarians left off, basically (it’s been more than a year since I read the last one, and I didn’t really feel like I was missing anything). This time, however, Alcatraz needs to find his grandfather who has gone searching for his father in the (dreaded) Library of Alexandria (you only thought it was destroyed). Teamed up with Bastille and having met his uncle Kaz and cousin Australia — oh, and being chased by a member of the Scrivener’s Bones, a half-human, half-Alivened machine-thing that’s pretty ominous — he heads down into the bowels to see what he, and his Talent of Breaking things, can do.

Going back and rereading my review for Evil Librarians, I found that my reactions were similar: while I liked the snide comments, the tongue-in-cheek-ness, it also simultaneously annoyed me. I did think quite a few times as Sanderson/Alcatraz took detour after detour in the narrative that maybe it was several times too many. That maybe the fish and shoes and other distractions were a bit much. But, aside from that, it’s still a very enjoyable journey, with lots of asides about authors and writing (The Honorable Council of Fantasy Writers Whose Books are Way Too Long — the good old THCoFWWBAWTL; or the aside about serial killers wanting to read these books because they have some vendetta about the author, in which case, the author is not Brandon Sanderson or Alcatraz Smedry, but rather Garth Nix, who lives in Australia) that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot, but are entertaining nonetheless.

At any rate, even though it’s not as good as the first one, I’m still interested in where the story will go. After all, Alcatraz, torturer that he is, left us with a bit of a cliff-hanger. Which makes me curious.

Buy it at Amazon, Powell’s or your local independent bookstore.

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Library Loot #24

Submitted by Book Nut

Things I love about my library:
1. They catch books that we own that have mysteriously *cough* ended up in the library pile and get them back to me.
2. They commiserate with A, whose experiencing a bit of a loss because we got rid of our cats.
3. They chat with me about the books in my pile…
4. I can generally get everything I want, within reason, of course.
5. They’re just so danged nice.

I love my library.

For A/K:
Maisie Moo and Invisible Lucy, by Chris McKimmie
Boomer Goes to School, by Constance W. McGeorge/Illus. by Mary White
The Bravest Knight, Mercer Mayer
George and Martha, James Marshall
Adele & Simon, by Barbara McClintock
Mirette and Bellini Cross Niagara Falls, by Emily Arnold McCully
Just a Minute, by Bonny Becker/Illus. by Jack E. Davis
Tea for Ruby (Paula Wiseman Books), by Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York/Illus. by Robin Preiss Glasser (A book that belongs on the BACA list instead of requisite Dora book…)
A Tree for Emmy, by Mary Ann Rodman/Illus. by Tatjana Mai-Wyss
Lazy Little Loafers, by Susan Orlean/Illus. by G. Brian Karas

For M
City of Bones (Mortal Instruments), Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments), Cassandra Clare

For me:
I have decided that July is going to be ARC and Challenge month, so I’m going to lay off on checking books out, since those usually get precedence. Hopefully. At any rate, both of these are for challenges…
Story of a Girl, by Sara Zarr
Echoes From the Dead, by Johan Theorin

The roundup is either at Reading Adventures or A Striped Armchair.

*Ones that M eventually read.
**Picture books we really liked.

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That Summer

Submitted by Book Nut

by Sarah Dessen
ages: 13+
First sentence: “It’s funny how one summer can change everything.”

I figured the best way to tackle the Sarah Dessen Challenge is to start at the beginning and work my way through to her most current one (Lock and Key excepted, of course.) And since this was her first book, I figured it was the best place to start.

There has been a lot of change in 15-year-old Haven’s life in the last couple of years. First, her dad — sportscaster Mac MacPheil — cheated on her mom with the weather woman — in one of those horrid name instances, Lorna Queen — and then they got divorced. Her older sister Ashley, who has spent her life bouncing from one boyfriend to another, and her have had a strained relationship for years. And the fact that Ashley has settled on boring Lucas (at least I think that’s his name), and is getting married in 29 days doesn’t help. On top of that, her mother is talking about going to Europe with a group of friends for an extended trip, and thinking about selling the house.

The only thing real in Haven’s life, it seems, is the past. And she remembers one of Ashely’s boyfriends — Sumner — best. He was the light in their life. He was what brought their family togehter. And it was after Ashley uncerimoniously dumped him on Halloween that Haven’s life started falling apart around her.

So, when Sumner shows back up in Haven’s life (right before Ashely’s wedding), she knows its Fate, a Sign.

The book follows Haven as she comes to terms with the changes in her life. And while it’s enjoyable, it’s not as fun or as engrossing as the other Dessen book I read. I wonder if she’s the type of author where the first book you read is your favorite… At any rate, it’s not a bad story, and at times I felt like Dessen captured a 15-year-old absolutely perfectly. It’s a difficult, awkward age, and to throw so many changes at the poor character… lets just say I was rooting for it all to come out okay. And I wasn’t disappointed.
Buy it at Amazon, Powell’s or your local independent bookstore.

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For Fun

Submitted by Book Nut

There’s a why do you blog survey that I saw over at things mean a lot (which I will probably — maybe — do), but first, I had to copy Nymeth’s wordle idea…

I really like mine.

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From Books to Babies: How I Stumbled Upon the Biggest Decision of my Life

Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN

Please welcome Miriam Gershow, author of The Local News, who has written this guest post as part of a TLC Book Tour!  Check back tomorrow for my review of this excellent debut novel!

For years, whenever anyone asked my mother when I planned to have children, she quoted a line I once told her: “Miriam needs to give birth to a book before she’ll give birth to a child.”  It was one of those lines I had said so off-handedly and so long ago, I barely even remembered it.  But my mother held onto it.  I think it reassured her as she waited through my twenties and then my early thirties, as she watched me get married at 35, as my husband and I bought a house and got a cat, and did all the things newly married couples were supposed to do.   

Well, almost all the things. 

My mother, like any good Jewish mother, awaited word of a coming grandchild, or, short of that, at least some a hint of interest from our end.  But at a time when the ticking of my biological clock should have been a base drum booming in my ears, it was barely even a tick. 

Because that line I had so casually tossed to my mother years before was true.  All my life, I have wanted to be a writer.  I dabbled in it through my twenties–writing bad stories and worse novels, joining writing groups, sharing my work with anyone willing to look at it.  At thirty, I returned to school for an MFA in fiction.  After graduating, I committed to writing as my honest-to-goodness job.  During the day, I took an adjunct instructor position at a university.  Whenever I wasn’t teaching, I wrote.  And wrote and wrote.  I began the arduous, one-step-forward-two-steps-back process of forging a fiction career.  I won a prestigious writing fellowship.  I was paralyzed by writer’s block for most of that fellowship.  I got a handful of stories published in literary journals.  I got dozens and dozens more stories rejected. I finished a short story collection.  I found an enthusiastic agent, who tried to sell that collection.  The collection never sold. 

Through this all, I could not conceive of conceiving a child.  Trying to get my writing published was already a full time job on top of a full time job.  I couldn’t fathom a third job–and one as life-altering and paradigm-changing as becoming a parent.  

And then a funny thing happened:  I wrote a novel and I sold that novel.  After fifteen years of trying, I had done it.  I had finally birthed a book. 

So now what?  

At first, nothing changed.  If anything, I was more consumed in my writing then ever. I was working with an editor and on-deadline for the first time.  My life was all about the panic, pressure and excitement of revisions.  There was no aching in my loins.  There was no longing for a child in my arms.  

But then an even funnier thing happened.  I finished the revisions, took a few months off, and began work on my next novel.  As I sat in front of my computer, I found I was a little bored.  A little restless.  This never happened with my writing.  My writing was always what centered me, what kept me sane and balanced and happy.  For the first time ever, I had the feeling of having already done this, of retracing my own steps.  I was not excited.  And it hit me, distinctly and undeniably: 

I’m ready to try something different.  I’m ready for whatever comes next. 

Without particular fanfare or panic or even those aching loins I’d been waiting for, I realized I was ready to have a baby.  I was ready to alter my life and change my paradigm.  The idea actually excited me.  Suddenly, I just knew.  If my writing career had been a long, slow process, with me concertedly hammering out each step of the path before me, then the decision to have a child was far more instinctual, percolating quietly beneath the surface until bursting through one day, clear and resolute. 

I am now two months away from my due date.  My novel came out four months ago. I’m still at work on the next novel and no longer bored by it.  Pregnancy has proven to be a creative wellspring; I’m bursting with ideas.  I know my life as a writer is about to change in ways I cannot even fathom.  I know everything is about to change radically and irrevocably.  For many years, the idea of such a change filled me with–at best–apathy, and–at worst–all-out dread. Now, though, I embrace it.  Surely, I’m about to stumble into the most rigorous juggling act of my life, but, to my own amazement, I’m up for it. 

My mother already has her plane ticket booked.  She arrives three weeks after the baby’s due date.  Briefly, my husband and I toyed with the idea of telling relatives to wait a few months before visiting, so we could have a long stretch of time alone with our baby.  But then we changed our minds; my mother, we figured, had waited long enough.

Blogger Bio:  Miriam Gershow is a novelist, short story writer and teacher. Her debut novel, The Local News, was published in February 2009. It has been called “deftly heartbreaking” with “urgency and heft” by The New York Times, as well as “an accomplished debut” (Publisher’s Weekly) with a “disarmingly unsentimental narrative voice,” (Kirkus Reviews).

A QUESTION for all you moms out there:  Did you have an ‘aha’ moment when you knew you were ready for parenthood?

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Book Review: The Best Skillet Recipes by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated

Submitted by The Thin Red Line

The Best Skillet Recipes is a book compiled by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine. They also do the America’s Test Kitchen PBS TV show. All of the recipes have been tested and are reputed to be the best versions of classic one skillet recipes. Everything from Glazed Chicken Breasts to Sautéed Tofu. These one pot meals are quick as a rule, but be warned that some call for expensive and exclusive ingredients. Or require multiple steps. But none require advanced culinary skills and with the clear, illustrated directions, these recipes should be valuable for busy moms/dads/family members who need quick weeknight meals and are tired of boxed or frozen meals.

Some recipes are worth becoming family staples such as Glazed Pork Chops, or Pan Seared Scallops, or Pan Seared Shrimp with Parsley-Lemon Butter. Some such as the aformentioned Sauteed Tofu should be avoided unless you really do like tofu.

The book also includes diagrams for how to cut or prepare the meats and vegetables , plus very clear instructions on exactly how to follow the recipes directions. It has complete directions and instructions and if someone has any basic level experience in cooking, then they should be able to make any of these recipes with relative ease. As someone who’s read Cook’s Illustrated on occasion, this book has the same crystal clear information as the magazine.

The Best Skillet Recipes by Cook’s Illustrated is Highly Recommended as a reference for making quick and easy meals in one pot.

Title: The Best Skillet Recipes    Author: editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine   Publisher: America’s Test Kitchen    Format: Hardcover   Publication Date: 2009

Buy From Amazon $23.10  (new)

Buy From Powells  $28.00 (new)

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The Talisman Ring

Submitted by Book Nut

by Georgette Heyer
ages: 13+
First sentence: “Sir Tristram Shield, arriving at Lavenham Court in the wintry dusk, was informed at the door that his great-uncle was very weak, not expected to live many more days out.

For about a year now, I’ve seen reviews of Georgette Heyer’s books floating around the book blogs, and I’ve thought to myself that I ought to give one a whirl. But it wasn’t until Becky’s review of this book that I hit upon the perfect Heyer book to start with.

Think of Heyer this way: one part Jane Austen, one part P.G. Wodehouse, and one part Oscar Wilde, with some Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Alexandre Dumas thrown in for good measure (and adventure). In short: absolutely delightful.

There’s an incredibly complex plot and a huge cast of characters, but all you really need to know is there are three cousins: Sir Tristram, severe and definately unromantic; Eustacie, young, French, silly, and desiring of an Adventure; and Ludovic, the heir to the Lavenham’s fortune, yet wrongly exiled for a murder he didn’t commit. Everyone at some point or other ends up at an inn where they meet Sir Hugh and Miss Sarah Thane, there is many Adventures (daring and otherwise), they flush out the Real Bad Guy and everyone lives Happily Ever After.

The real charm is in the sheer silliness of the novel. It’s a book about some of the silliest people I’ve ever “met”, which (of course) makes it absolutely hilarious and charming and plain fun to read. It’s not high literature by any means, but it’s definately worth the time.

Of course that means I’m going to go find another book of Heyer’s to read. Any suggestions?

Buy it at: Amazon, Powell’s or your local independent bookstore.

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Geeky Challenges

Submitted by Book Nut

This week’s geek (it’s been a while, but there hasn’t been one I’ve felt an urge to participate in… sorry…) asks us about Reading Challenges:

Reading Challenges: a help or a hurt? Do you find that the reading challenges keep you organized and goal-oriented? Or, do you find that as you near the end of a challenge that you’ve failed because you fell short of your original goals? As a result of some reading challenges, I’ve picked up books that I would have otherwise never heard of or picked up; that, frankly, I have loved. Have you experienced the same with challenges? If so, which ones? Do you have favorite reading challenges?

Breaking it down…

Reading Challenges: a help or a hurt? Do you find that the reading challenges keep you organized and goal-oriented?
I started doing challenges a couple of years ago because I realized it was a way to knock books off my TBR list. Which is my #1 rule with challenges: all the books have to come off of my TBR pile/lists. (Which isn’t always possible, depending on the challenge I choose to join.) Also, I’m very deadline-oriented, and so having a finish date to work towards helps me finish all the books that I’d like to read.

As a result of some reading challenges, I’ve picked up books that I would have otherwise never heard of or picked up; that, frankly, I have loved. Have you experienced the same with challenges? If so, which ones? Actually, I’m pretty terrible (*blushes*) about reading other people’s reviews for specific challenges. That is, except for the one I host. (Which is part of the reason I started hosting the challenge… that, and I like feeling a part of something bigger than myself.) And, yes, for that challenge, I am amazed at the books people pick out, and I have gone on to read some amazing books that others have recommended.

Do you have favorite reading challenges?
I really only join ones that I know I’ll like — I’m pretty bad about expanding my reading circle, though I did to the RIP challenge last year…), but out of those, I like: Carl’s Once Upon a Time (the only challenge that I can say I’ve participated every single time in). I liked Leslie’s Armchair Traveler challenge a couple of years ago. And Becky’s YA Romance last year. Trish’s Classics Challenge is helping me work through books that I’ve needed to reread for a while. And Mother Reader’s 48 hour Book Challenge, is an immense amount of fun. (Should I be self-serving and say I liked how the Well-Seasoned Reader challenge worked this year?)

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Girl Force

Submitted by Book Nut

Review copy sent to me by the publisher

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Tales from Outer Suburbia

Submitted by Book Nut

by Shaun Tan
ages: 11+
First sentence: “When I was a kid, there was a big water buffalo living in the vacant lot at the end of our street, the one with the grass no one ever mowed.”

Someone — Tricia? Andi? Heather? — wrote in a review I read recently that one doesn’t read Shaun Tan books as much as experience them. Which I totally have to agree with: this isn’t a book (it’s not even really a proper graphic novel; more like a grown-up picture book; it reminded me of a more sophisticated Stinky Cheeseman) as much as it is an experience.

I also wasn’t expecting this book after reading The Arrival. It’s got the same surrealness, but I wasn’t expecting, well, words. The stories were odd, to say the least, but that’s one of the things I like about Tan: he takes the everyday and makes it fantastic. There are fifteen short stories in this collection, and all of them sound quite ordinary — The Nameless Holiday, Alert by not Alarmed, Stick Figures, Eric, and my favorite, Distant Rain — and yet, there’s this element that turns it from the ordinary to extraordinary: the art.

As was evident in The Arrival, Tan is an amazing artist. Which is really why you should pick up this book: to marvel at the genius that is Shaun Tan.

Buy it at: Amazon, Powell’s, or your local independent bookstore.

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Book Review: New Orleans Classic Gumbos & Soups by Kit Wohl

Submitted by The Thin Red Line

I regret that I have not been nearly as faithful as planned about updating my Amazon store. The store is up and running at libdrone.com but I have failed to add every book to it that I’ve reviewed.   I do however, love the little selection that I am offering and am even pleased at some of the recommendations that Amazon makes to store visitors. It’s through one of these suggestions that I first became acquainted with Kit Wohl’s gorgeous new book New Orleans Classic Gumbo’s & Soups.

Back home in N’awlins it is said that the basis of Every recipe is “first you make a roux, and then you add the holy trinity”.   (For non-New Orleanians the “holy trinity”  is chopped onion, celery and bell pepper.)    And the subject of making a roux to begin your gumbo or soup is a passionate one for many New Orleanians.    All of the chefs who have contributed to this volume preach the old way of slowing browning butter and flour for about an hour to get it the perfect dark brown.     Me,   I  never do it that way.     I heat the big soup pot on high heat on top the stove.    When it’s really hot,   I throw in oil (not butter) and flour all at once and whisk like mad.   It smokes and  I whisk.     In about 2 minutes the smoke clears and I turn the heat Way down and add my shrimp or vegetables to simmer in my roux,  which is always a perfect shade of Hershey bar brown.

Apart from not standing with me on the Great Roux Question   (and  I kind of think the dividing line there is that professional cooks want to make it look really hard;  informed amateurs just want good food the easiest way they can get it),   the chefs whose recipes are included provide a full range of the many wonders of gumbo as experienced in New Orleans’ very best restaurants.    And honestly,  whether you choose to make the roux the only fashioned way as specified in the recipe or the easy way (see my recipe below) this book would be an excellent guide for a reasonably experienced cook to bring the classic flavors of Louisiana to their own kitchen.     The book is also very beautifully photographed by  Kit Wohl,   herself a  New Orleanian who has produced a book that is  beautiful and informative.

Alternatively,   below the book information  I am including my own recipe for Seafood Gumbo.     As the only child of gourmand parents who usually brought him along rather than call a baby sitter as they at their way through New Orleans’ best food,   I  kind of learned to cook by osmosis.    the recipe I give is just how I make it,   adapated from many different recipes and influences over the course of my life.*

Title: New Orleans Classic Gumbos & Soups   Author/Photogtrapher Kit Wohl    Publisher: Pelican    Format: Hardcover   Publication Date: 2009

Buy From Amazon $10.85  (new)

Buy From Powells  $15.95 (new)

Seafood Gumbo

2 lbs shrimp

crab (here in the Northwest I use one Dungeness crab.   on the east coast I would use two or three blue crabs.    in New Orleans I would try to get a couple of pounds of small gumbo crabs.     if you can’t get fresh you can add a  pound of lump crab meat at the very, very end instead)

1 cup cooking oil

1 cup white flour

2 lbs fresh okra  + oil for frying

2 large onions

2 large bell peppers

2 bunches green onions

1 can tomatoes

6–10 cloves garlic

First,  make the roux.    Measure out your oil and your flour and heat a big soup pot on the stove on high heat.      In about 5 mins when the pot is Really hot add the oil and flour all at once.   WHISK!   It will smoke but keep whisking and leave the heat alone.    In a minute or two it will feel like your arm wants to fall off and the smoke will begin to clear.    Keep your eyes on the Roux.   When it looks like a hershey bar color,  turn the heat to low.

Add the two pounds of peeled raw shrimp to your roux and cook over low heat for about three minutes,  until shrimp pink.    Remove from heat.     Meanwhile,  in a separate large skillet cook the okra,  chopped, in a few tablespoons of oil.   (I never measure this).   You have to cook the okra for a long time.    It will be done when it STOPS making long gummy strings,  after about 45 minutes.  When the okra is done, add it to the soup pot with the shrimp cooked in roux,  which is set aside and not on the heat at this point.

Now,  add some more oil to the skillet and fry off all the other vegetables for 5–10 minutes until lightly browned.   Add the fried off vegetables to the soup pot.   Add the tomatoes and garlic,  both chopped.   (Note i said to chop the canned tomatoes — just run your knife through them right in  the can  and to Chop,  NOT mince, the garlic.)    If you are using crab in the shell,  add it to the pot  along with about two quarts of water and two or three bay leaves.    Simmer over low heat for about an hour,  then serve over hot white rice.

*This is why I am always saying that even though  I may never return to the city,   I will always be first and foremost a New Orleanian,  wherver on this planet I may call home.

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Review: Beach Trip by Cathy Holton

Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN

You might think Beach Trip by Cathy Holton would be a light, fun, summertime romp, based on the cover and the description, but it really isn’t that.  I’d call it women’s fiction, which to me means it’s a bit more serious than chick lit, and a lot less fluffy than what I think of as a beach read. 

The story is about Lola, Mel, Sara, and Annie, college roommates and close friends who get together some 20 years later, in their 40’s, for a week at the beach.  Life has taken them in completely different directions since their college years, but they still have a bond. 

Alternating between the past and present, we get to know the women as they were and are.  Lola- rich, beautiful, married to the very controlling Briggs, is sweet but childlike- she seemed medicated and in her own little world during the week at the beach.  Mel, the wild one, is a twice-divorced writer and a breast cancer survivor who gets the women talking over margaronas.  Sara is an attorney whose marriage is suffering under the strain of a difficult medical diagnosis for one of her children.  Annie is an empty nester and uptight clean freak with secrets of her own.  I related most to Sara, a former career woman with a long marriage and a couple of kids, whose life isn’t perfect, but I found Mel to be the most interesting of the four.

The women don’t connect immediately at the beach- they definitely have their guard up- and it takes almost the entire trip before they have any meaningful conversation with each other.  I doubt they would have been friends without their shared history- they are friends because they’ve known each other forever.  But as the week wears on and the secrets start coming out, their friendship grows and changes to allow for the mature people they’ve become.  

So much of the first 3/4ths of the book is made up of the women’s inner dialogue- being around their old friends brings on a flood of memories- so much so that I kept thinking, are they ever going to really talk to each other?  They are all so self involved!  But then, finally, they do talk and share their lives with each other.  That’s when the book starts to get really good. 

I like when a book can surprise me, and there are a couple of big twists in Beach Trip.  The ending was great- it totally made the book for me!  One twist was obvious to me from the beginning (I’m not sure I’d even call it a twist, but then in our Summer Reading Series discussion, several people said that their favorite part was when it was revealed, so I guess it was a twist).  The end, though, really took me by surprise.  If you’ve read the book, don’t give it away!  It’s a great ending. 

I’d recommend Beach Trip to anyone who likes women’s fiction.  For more thoughts on Beach Trip, follow Cathy Holton’s TLC Book Tour.

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Keturah and Lord Death

Submitted by Book Nut

by Martine Leavitt
ages: 12+
First sentence: “I was sixteen years old the day I was lost in the forest, sixteen the day I met my death.”

I’m trying to get a handle on this book. I really liked it, don’t get me wrong, but it’s one of those books that’s really hard to sum up. Keturah gets lost in the woods for three days, and is visited by Death — in the form of a man. She pleads, cajoles for her life, and it doesn’t work. Then, Scheherazade-like, she tells Death a story, withholding the end until the next day. She heads back to her village, suddenly aware of how blessed she is for just being alive. As the story progresses, her stories and bargains with Death become increasingly more varied — she bargains for lives of those in her village, mostly because she cannot bear to see them die. As an addendum for all this, she has to find her one True Love, for only if she finds him and marries him will Death truly set her free. Full of earthy magic — it strongly reminded me of A Curse Dark as Gold — high romance, mystery and Life Lessons, it truly is one of those tales that could be called timeless.

Buy it at: Amazon, Powell’s, or your local independent bookstore.

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