lit*chick

TLC Book Tour: Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber

Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber, 240 pages. Available in hardcover, Kindle, Nook, and ebook from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Mothers— both reluctant and euphoric — ride the familial tide of joy, pride, regret, guilt, and love in these stories of resilient and flawed women. In a battle between a teenage daughter and her mother, wheat bread and plain yogurt become weapons. An aimless college student, married to her much older professor, sneaks cigarettes while caring for their newborn son. On the eve of her husband’s fiftieth birthday, a pilfered fifth of vodka, an unexpected tattoo, and rogue teenagers leave a woman questioning her place. And in a suite of stories, we follow capricious, ambitious single mother Ruby and her cautious, steadfast daughter Nora through their tumultuous life—stray men, stray cats, and psychedelic drugs—in 1970s California.

It seems when I read a particularly well crafted collection of short stories that I am somehow getting more bang for my buck.  Beyond the standard plotting of a novel, there is the reward of multiple (and complete) intense little morsels to savor. And the fresh hope of discovery that comes at the beginning of each tale is rarely met with disappointment in this volume. The continuing thread of Ruby & Nora dominate the pages, but don't be fooled - these are glimpses into the lives of mother and daughter and not a novella of sorts. Serber has not shied away from any of the ugly realities of life - her characters are observant, sometimes awkward, always honest (at least in their thoughts). At times their gritty truths made me squirm and not from vulgarity, but from the most ordinary details laid bare.  It is a credit to Serber that her writing appears effortless, although I know it cannot be true I still admire the result.

You can learn more about the author at her website: http://www.natalieserber.com

And here is a sample of her writing from the site Culinate.

Thank you to TLC for the review copy - for more thoughts on Shout Her Lovely Name click here.

The End.

TLC Book Tour: We Only Know So Much by Elizabeth Crane

.
We Only Know So Much by Elizabeth Crane, 304 pages. Available in paperback, Kindle, Nook, and ebook from Harper.

Jean Copeland, an emotionally withdrawn wife and mother of two, has taken a secret lover--only to lose him in a moment of tragedy that leaves her reeling. Her husband, Gordon, is oblivious, distracted by the fear that he's losing his most prized asset: his memory. Daughter Priscilla (a pill since birth--don't get us started) is talking about clothes, or TV, or whatever, and hatching a plan to extend her maddening reach to all of America. Nine-year-old Otis is torn between his two greatest loves: crossword puzzles and his new girlfriend.

At the back of the house, grandfather Theodore is in the early throes of Parkinson's disease. (And he's fine with it--as long as they continue to let him walk the damn dog alone.) And Vivian, the family's ninety-eight-year-old matriarch, is a razor-sharp grande dame who suffers no fools...and still harbors secret dreams of her own.

With empathy, humor, and an unforgettable voice, Elizabeth Crane reveals what one family finds when everyone goes looking for meaning in all the wrong places.

This take on a dysfunctional family comes down on the side of quirky, with a wry examination of each character spinning wildly in their own orbit and occasionally banging into one another. Each member of the family is utterly self absorbed while completely lacking self awareness - husband/father Gordon with his annoying tendency to share knowledge on the mundane, wife/mother Jean and her various escapes,teenager Priscilla is a legend in her own mind and should be treated as such, and poor Otto is left to his own devices. Grandparents Theodore & Vivian provide much in the way of relief with his quiet determination and her feistiness.  Many of the book blurbs mention its humor, although I found author Crane's gently unraveling of each character gives them a forlorn quality. An added twist is the  first person plural omniscient narrator (which took me a healthy dose of google and wiki to figure out).

When I read books like this, with a funky family dynamic (The Unbelievers & The Family Fang come to mind) my reaction usually looks like this -  Just Get It Together People! And they do, sort of, in a subtly sweet but still very true to their nature kind of way. This is not a typical summer read, but I still consider it refreshing with its wit and unique point of view.

For more visit TLC Book Tours or the author's website: http://www.elizabethcrane.com

The End.

Giveaway: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

 

 

If you haven't read it already, you really should. :) It was a big hit in both of my bookclubs. Thanks to the good folks at Penguin, I get to give one away to celebrate the paperback version.  Just leave me a comment and tell me what book is on your must read list this summer...besides this one!

I will pick a winner on Tuesday. After we celebrate Evie's 3rd birthday - hooray! Have a great weekend.

The End.

 

 

TLC Book Tour: Perla by Carolina De Robertis

Perla by Carolina De Robertis, 256 pages. Available now in hardcover, Kindle, Nook, and ebook from Knopf Doubleday.

A coming-of-age story, based on a recent shocking chapter of Argentine history, about a young woman who makes a devastating discovery about her origins with the help of an enigmatic houseguest.
 
Perla Correa grew up a privileged only child in Buenos Aires, with a cold, polished mother and a straitlaced naval officer father, whose profession she learned early on not to disclose in a country still reeling from the abuses perpetrated by the deposed military dictatorship. Perla understands that her parents were on the wrong side of the conflict, but her love for her papá is unconditional. But when Perla is startled by an uninvited visitor, she begins a journey that will force her to confront the unease she has suppressed all her life, and to make a wrenching decision about who she is, and who she will become.

Perla had always struggled to reconcile her father's role in Argentina's Dirty War, plagued since childhood by shame and loyalty, how could this man be both a tender papa yet a monster?  When a dripping wet man, smelling of the sea, appears in her living room in obvious pain and unable to move, she must face her family's past and rethink her future. 

How do you write a lovely book about such heavy material? In this case I suspect it is the use of magical realism, which is a genre that this reader normally does not embrace (though I try), that contributes to its success.  De Robertis seamlessly ties in the unpleasant historical details of civil war with snippets of Perla's youth and relationships. Her writing style teems with beautiful imagery, without being too flowery, but in the way of elevating the ordinary.  Obviously the appearance of the stranger may seem awkward, but it doesn't detract and makes sense, even to a skeptic like me. The setting of Buenos Aires and the pulse of the city add to the tension. Before reading Perla, I was not familiar with this surprisingly recent piece of Argentine history where thousands of suspected subversives were stripped from their families, tortured and killed. From what I have gathered, this is the first time it has been handled in fiction and I think it was done quite masterfully. I would be curious to know if fans of Latin American literature enjoy Perla as much as this reluctant reader. This is a wonderful introduction to that genre for readers that may be intimidated by Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Isabel Allende.

For more about the author visit her website: http://www.carolinaderobertis.com.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for the review copy.  For more thoughts on Perla look here.

The End.

Any May A Beautiful Change

To celebrate dear Katherine's new memoir Any Day a Beautiful Change,  I was asked to particpate in chronicling a beautiful change in my world. You can see the whole shebang at her blog of the same title, where there are links to all the glorious posts. If you aren't someone who normally reads memoirs, I urge you to reconsider and will give you a chance to win one soon :) Stay with me, people.

And I am a wee bit late because I had this CAHRAZY idea that I should actually read the book before I write my little tribute. And I did. In one sitting. And because it was on my Kindle I decided to order a real copy, so I could pass it around after I muss it up a bit. It is lovely and real and funny and warm and wise.  Because we all struggle and we all rejoice, often at the same time.

It would be too easy to talk about books and the ways reading can be life changing - where we can be soothed and educated in equal measure, comforted and chastened. And if you have followed along here for a little while, you have seen a lot of the changes our family has experienced - homeschool to private school (and potentially back again...), 3 little boys to 3 big boys and a little girl, and the house - oh the house. So with great delight I announce our next beautiful change - OUR NEW HOUSE! And in MAY, no less. (Another reason for the delay - we close on said house today and it would be a real bummer to have this post and not have the actual keys, yes?)

Because there are small changes and big changes, and sometimes a lot of small ones lead to a really big one. In our case, there were big changes that led to bigger changes and an equal measure of joy and struggle with my bad attitude mixed in. You see, it may have appeared that we downsized by choice two years ago, but we didn't really....unless you count choosing before we had no choices left which is no choice at all.  When Evie was born, it halted my return to work plan, which coincided a few months later with a blessedly short layoff for the hubs, followed by a new job with a smaller income. This layover gave us time - to regroup, figure out what we wanted, figure out what we needed, then hope we would find it. And we did - just in the nick of time. We are thrilled with our smallerish house (including a bigger yard and circular driveway of my dreams)and look forward to squeezing ourselves into a new space (unlike the squeezing that occurs with jeans straight out of the dryer). And despite being absorbed/obsessed with paint colors and furniture placement, I have not lost sight of the goodness of God in His timing, provision, and care for our family throughout this process. While I may have made most of our time in the rental miserable with my complaining and grumbling, His plan for us has put mine to shame (as always). And here's the thing, even if it hadn't worked out wonderfully, it would not have changed God's character or His goodness. It probably would have continued to change my attitude though, which is usually the way. So hooray for beautiful changes, from painful to joyful...the roller coaster continues.

I'd love to gift you a copy of the book, please share a change (beautiful or otherwise) in the comments. I'll pick a winner after this glorious long weekend. Enjoy it!

The End.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greenfest 2012

 


If you are in the area (Columbia, MD) tomorrow stop by the Howard County Greenfest at Howard Community College. It's a local celebration of ways to be kind to our created world with gardening info, enviro friendly businesses, workshops and lots of recycling opportunities. I'll be there with my book prints and NEW notecards!  It should be a fun day (I hope I remember to take pictures!) - more info here: http://www.hcgreenfest.org

Have a lovely weekend! 

The End.

TLC Book Tour: Butterfly's Child by Angela Davis-Gardner

Butterfly's Child: A Novel by Angela Davis-Gardner, 384 pages. Available in paperback, Kindle, Nook, and ebook from Dial Press.

When three-year-old Benji is plucked from the security of his home in Nagasaki to live with his American father, Lt. Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, and stepmother, Kate, on their farm in Illinois, the family conceals Benji’s true identity as a child born from a liaison between an officer and a geisha—and instead tells everyone that he is an orphan. When the truth surfaces, it will splinter this family’s fragile dynamic and send Benji on the journey of a lifetime from Illinois to the Japanese settlements in Denver and San Francisco, then across the ocean to Nagasaki, where he will uncover the truth about his mother’s tragic death.

Triple bonus points if you recognized the main characters of Madame Butterfly in the above description. For those not familiar with Puccini's opera, like me, you will quickly be brought up to speed with a helpful summary contained in the preface. From there the tale of young Benji takes off with a unique coming of age story that spans two continents. In the face of harsh and unyielding conditions, Benji's spirit never wanes. Author Davis-Gardner's extensive knowledge of Japan - its customs, history, and people- is apparent, as she enhances the opera's imagined aftermath with a sly and well placed wink at the original.  And it is quite a balancing act - taking characters from one art form and developing them in another - with a risk that pays off as the extension seems natural and believable. I found the unflinching portrayal of the Pinkertons' and the consequences for their poor choices to be particularly genuine. A couple minor blips with a bit too much coincidental good fortune on Benji's travels and some other loose ends occur so far into the story they can almost be overlooked. The pace is brisk but not hurried, which makes for an engrossing read. Butterfly's Child defies easy categorization but is a wonderfully rich continuation of a celebrated classic, with a twist. 

thanks to the sweet ladies at TLC Book Tours for the review copy

visit the author's website here: http://www.angeladavisgardner.com

for more reviews check the blog tour schedule here: TLC Book Tours

The End.

Elegy for Eddie (Maisie Dobbs #9) by Jacqueline Winspear

Elegy for Eddie (Maisie Dobbs #9) by Jacqueline Winspear, 352 pages. Available in hardcover, ebook, Kindle and Nook from HarperCollins.

Early April 1933. To the costermongers of Covent Garden—sellers of fruit and vegetables on the streets of London—Eddie Pettit was a gentle soul with a near-magical gift for working with horses. When Eddie is killed in a violent accident, the grieving costers are deeply skeptical about the cause of his death. Who would want to kill Eddie—and why?

Maisie Dobbs' father, Frankie, had been a costermonger, so she had known the men since childhood. She remembers Eddie fondly and is determined to offer her help. But it soon becomes clear that powerful political and financial forces are equally determined to prevent her from learning the truth behind Eddie's death. Plunging into the investigation, Maisie begins her search for answers on the working-class streets of Lambeth where Eddie had lived and where she had grown up. The inquiry quickly leads her to a callous press baron; a has-been politician named Winston Churchill, lingering in the hinterlands of power; and, most surprisingly, to Douglas Partridge, the husband of her dearest friend, Priscilla. As Maisie uncovers lies and manipulation on a national scale, she must decide whether to risk it all to see justice done.

While I enjoyed the last couple Maisie books for their dependable comfort, I was resigned that our calm, cool, and collected heroine was never going to show signs of cracking. I am happy to report that this book delivers for all the fans (like me) who were waiting for Maisie to soften a bit. She remains true to form - smart, practical, composed - but we are exposed to her thoughts of self doubt as she confronts some of her controlling tendencies. Also, I thought setting the mystery in Maisie's childhood home was a fitting contrast and backdrop to her inner struggles.  Elegy for Eddie has reignited my anticipation for more, author Winspear reveals Maisie has more going on than just reliability. Not only does the character  continue to grow but the historical atmosphere gains much from World War II looming on the horizon.

And what a difference a year makes...I think Maisie will enjoy a surge in popularity with the Downton Abbey craze - since she lives in post WW 1 London and was raised as a housemaid.  I am planning to reread Maisie no. 1 just to remind myself of her humble beginnings.

Visit the author here: http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com

Thank you to HarperCollins for the review copy.

The End.

Little Free Library...

saw this on the news and almost burst into tears for all the sweetness....you know i dream of a bookmobile, this seems pretty close

(picture of the first little library, taken from the website)

Using Books to Build Community

http://www.litttlefreelibrary.org

sometime in between unpacking boxes and rearranging furniture i'd like to add one of these to our yard...

the end.

 

The Darlings by Cristina Alger & Giveaway

The Darlings by Cristina Alger, 352 pages.Available in hardcover, ebook, Kindle, and Nook from Pamela Dorman Books.

A sophisticated page-turner about a wealthy New York family embroiled in a financial scandal with cataclysmic consequences.

Now that he's married to Merrill Darling, daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to New York society and all of its luxuries: a Park Avenue apartment, weekends in the Hamptons, bespoke suits. When Paul loses his job, Carter offers him the chance to head the legal team at his hedge fund. Thrilled with his good fortune in the midst of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression, Paul accepts the position.

But Paul's luck is about to shift: a tragic event catapults the Darling family into the media spotlight, a regulatory investigation, and a red-hot scandal with enormous implications for everyone involved. Suddenly, Paul must decide where his loyalties lie-will he save himself while betraying his wife and in-laws or protect the family business at all costs?

A few weeks ago, I finished the memoir of Stephanie Madoff Mack whose husband Mark (Bernie's son) comitted suicide after despairing over his father's lies and thievery. Having read that book added a bit of extra dimension to The Darlings, which gives a 360 degree view of a fictional (but similar) financial scandal.  It was a fast moving, engaging story that skims the surface of all involved - from the family whose reputation is ruined, to the SEC investigators, the reporter, attorneys, and secretaries. If you have ever had an office job, you know it is the administrative support staff that really knows what's going on. While I found all the perspectives had something to offer, I did wish that Paul and Merrill's story had gone a bit deeper.  In a story with so many shifty characters, it is natural to want to rally behind the "good" guys and I wanted to know more about their relationship, in particular. I appreciated the quick pace and how Alger managed to keep it moving and still connect the dots. She also had a gentle touch with her characters, giving insight into their motivations without condoning their behavior. And I was surprised by the element of suspense - not a thriller, but definitely a slow simmer.  I found it to be a fascinating look into a world of privilege, excess, and deception, where loyalty is not necessarily a virtue.  If you are looking for a timely and effortless read, The Darlings would be a good fit for your outdoor reading bag. (Hello Spring, welcome!)

Would you like to win a copy?  Leave me a comment by Saturday at midnight EST to enter and tell me what you're reading now :)

Thank you the kind folks at Viking for providing both a review & giveaway copy!

Visit the author website:  http://cristinaalger.com

The End.