Carsten Jensen’s debut novel has taken the world by storm. Already hailed in Europe as an instant classic, We, the Drowned is the story of the port town of Marstal, whose inhabitants have sailed the world’s oceans aboard freight ships for centuries. Spanning over a hundred years, from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War, and from the barren rocks of Newfoundland to the lush plantations of Samoa, from the roughest bars in Tasmania, to the frozen coasts of northern Russia,We, the Drowned spins a magnificent tale of love, war, and adventure, a tale of the men who go to sea and the women they leave behind.
Ships are wrecked at sea and blown up during wars, they are places of terror and violence, yet they continue to lure each generation of Marstal men—fathers and sons—away. Strong, resilient, women raise families alone and sometimes take history into their own hands. There are cannibals here, shrunken heads, prophetic dreams, forbidden passions, cowards, heroes, devastating tragedies, and miraculous survivals—everything that a town like Marstal has actually experienced, and that makesWe, the Drownedan unforgettable novel, destined to take its place among the greatest seafaring literature.
I saw this book at Barnes & Noble the other day, and now I'm crushing on it!
"I don't do patrols, I don't go hunting, I just stick close to you. You live your life. I'll keep you safe," Tamani said, sweeping a lock of hair from her face. "Or die trying."
Laurel hasn't seen Tamani since she begged him to let her go last year. Though her heart still aches, Laurel is confident that David was the right choice.
But just as life returns to normal, Laurel realizes that a hidden enemy lies in wait. Once again, Laurel must turn to Tamani to protect and guide her, for the danger that now threatens Avalon is one that no faerie thought would ever be possible. And for the first time, Laurel cannot be sure that her side will prevail.
When Alice Ozma was in 4th grade, she and her father decided to see if he could read aloud to her for 100 consecutive nights. On the hundreth night, they shared pancakes to celebrate, but it soon became evident that neither wanted to let go of their storytelling ritual. So they decided to continue what they called "The Streak." Alice's father read aloud to her every night without fail until the day she left for college.
Alice approaches her book as a series of vignettes about her relationship with her father and the life lessons learned from the books he read to her.
Books included in the Streak were: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and Shakespeare's plays.
The Worst Thing by Aaron Elkins For Bryan Bennett, designing hostage negotiation programs is the perfect job-as long as he keeps a safe, theoretical distance. What he can't do is deal directly with kidnappers or their victims, as a result of his own abduction and imprisonment as a small boy. Thirty-some years later, intense nightmares still plague his sleep, and a fear of enclosed spaces prevents him from attempting to travel.
So when Bryan's boss asks him to fly to Reykjavik, Iceland, to teach his corporate-level kidnapping and extortion seminar, he automatically says no. But the CEO of GlobalSeas Fisheries, Inc. has specifically requested Bryan-or no one else. Bryan finally relents...
For decades he's treaded gingerly around the edges of his deepest terrors. Now, on this trip, Bryan's taken hostage again and must face his fears full-on. Will he realize that in this battle of will and nerve, he is his own greatest enemy? Or has this fight already been lost, years and years ago?
From the time she was twelve, Julie Holt knew what a random tragedy can do to a family. At that tender age, her little sister disappeared-never to be found. It was a loss that slowly eroded the family bonds she once relied on. As an adult with a prestigious job in the arts, Julie meets a struggling artist who reminds her so much of her sister, she can't help feeling protective. It is a friendship that begins a long and painful process of healing for Julie, leading her to a house on the Gulf Coast, ravaged by hurricane Katrina, and to stories of family that take her deep into the past.
Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated," Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen's life.
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.
Meet Radar Hoverlander, a witty, gifted con artist with the mind of David Mamet, the voice of Tom Robbins, and the morals of a sailor on shore leave.
What do the Merlin Game, the Penny Skim, the Doolally Snadoodle, and the Afterparty Snuke have in common? They’re all the work of world-class con artist and master bafflegabber Radar Hoverlander. Radar’s been “on the snuke” since childhood, but he’s still looking for his California Roll, the one big scam that’ll set him up in sushi for life.
Trouble arrives in the stunning, sassy package of Allie Quinn—either the last true innocent or a con artist so slick she makes Radar look like a Quaker. Radar’s hapless sidekick, Vic Mirplo, a lovable loser who couldn’t con a kid out of a candy cane, thinks Radar’s being played. But if love is blind, it’s also deaf, dumb and stupid, and before Radar knows it, he’s sucked into a vortex of double-, triple-, quadruple-crosses that’ll either net him his precious California Roll or put him in a hole in the ground.
As timeless as a perpetual-motion machine, as timely as a Madoff arraignment, The California Roll brings you deep inside the world of con artistry, where every fact is fiction and the second liar never has a chance.
John Vorhaus is best known as the author of The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not. This seminal book on writing comedy for television and film is now available in four languages, and continues to be a definitive source of information and inspiration for writers from Santa Monica to Scandinavia.
An international consultant in television and film script development, Vorhaus has worked for television networks, film schools, and production companies in 30 countries on four continents, including half-year stints in Romania and, God help him, Russia in winter. He has traveled regularly to Nicaragua, where he helped build a social-action drama designed to teach the young people of Nicaragua to “think for themselves and practice safe sex.”
Vorhaus’ own screenwriting credits include Married… with Children, Head of the Class, The Sentinel, The Flash and many overseas television shows and films, including the sitcoms House Arrestand Pretty, Sick and Twisted, and the movie Save Angel Hope.
In another corner of his ADD multiverse, he is the author of the six-volume Killer Poker series,plus miscellaneous other books on the subject, including the novel Under the Gun, a “how-to whodunit” set in the world of high stakes tournament poker. His other novels include The California Rolland its upcoming sequel, The Albuquerque Turkey.
Vorhaus is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University and a member of the Writers Guild of America. He has taught writing at Northwestern University and the American Film Institute, and lectured for such disparate groups as Mensa and the New Jersey Romance Writers Association. His favorite sport is ultimate, his favorite game is poker, and his favorite color is plaid. He lives in Southern California in the company of his wife and an endless rota of dogs.
Here's a video trailer for the newly released The Albuquerque Turkey...
My Thoughts
The first person I ever scammed was my grandmother, who had Alzheimer's disease and could never remember from one minute to the next whether she'd just given me ice cream or not.
Radar Hoverlander is a grifter- a con artist -and like every grifter, he's seeking his California Roll. Which means to say that he is seeking his one big take that will set him up with sushi for life, and allow him to ride off into the sunset to live a charmed life of hot sands and cold beers. Then he meets up with fellow grifter Allie, and he has to begin to wonder whether he just bit off more than he can chew.
This was a fun and “smart” story. Full of clever dialogue, a twisting plotline, and more new-to-me vocabulary words than I can even mention in this review, I found it to be fresh and engaging.
There’s something likable about Radar Hoverlander. You almost get the feeling that he’s “honorable”, despite him being a con artist. Is there such a thing as an honorable con artist?
So I work hard to keep up my pointillist perspective-- make every day indeed Sunday in the park with George if I can-- and I always try to give my victims the metaphorical reacharound, so they can feel like crossing paths with me wasn’t the worst thing that could’ve happened to them in life. (p. 3)
According to me, I’m moral. (p. 3)
Radar finds himself surrounded by his ragtag team of fellow grifters. And grifters always seem to be trying to wind up as the man on top, always trying to outdo one another. And, really, how does a player trust a player not to play them?
But who can a confidence man confide in? (p. 133)
Allie had me as stumped as she did Radar, wondering what her game was. You want to believe that she is real, but can you really trust her to be on the up and up?
...I met Allie Quinn and saw in her a reflection of myself, the sort of flirty, tarty, smarty grifter that only a grifter could love. (p. 145)
Vocabulary:
Peripatetic- Walking about or from place to place; traveling on foot. Usage: I suggest that the Doolally is a little more peripatetic-- at that age I was all about the SAT words-- wandery, yeah, than they can handle, but this other dog is a real homebody and won’t go nomad like the Doolally. (p. 2-3)
Arrogate- To take or claim for oneself without right Usage: I was thinking I might even arrogate the structure of the yak for myself, maybe dress it up in Santa clothes for Christmas. (p. 24)
Cataleptic- A condition characterized by lack of response to external stimuli and muscle rigidity. Usage: And he does have a certain cateleptic charm, a sunny membrane of optimism utterly impermeable to reality-- and equally oblique to critique: There aren’t too many people who will smile while you call them stupid to their face. (p. 34)
Truculently- Eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant. Usage: “She is not,” I said truculently, “easing me in.” (p. 74)
(Note: This one always makes me think of the Lorax. Didn’t he refer to “truculent” trees? Something like that.)
Penumbra- The partially shaded outer region of the shadow cast by an opaque object. Persiflage- Light and slightly contemptuous mockery or banter. Usage: “Not just the...penumbra of persiflage you call the real you!” (p. 101)
Moue- A pouting expression used to convey annoyance or distaste. Usage: Kyoko made a moue. (p. 158)
Helot- A serf or slave Usage: In other words, harlot no, helot yes. (p. 184)
Simulacrum- An image or representation of someone or something. Usage: ...and since Radar Hoverlander wasn’t well heeled like simulacrum Chad Thurston, the money would have to come from elsewhere. (p. 185)
The Cover:Interesting cover. A faceless individual in stereotypical grifter garb. Very apropos.
Content:There are some mild sex scenes, crudity and occasional vulgarity, but all of it is appropriate to the story and the characters involved. There was no real gratuity (other than gratuitous usage of pedantic vocabulary- which I loved!)
My final word:There are interesting footnotes in the book, but they are used more parenthetically than in the traditional sense that footnotes are used. The character Radar even has a website in the book that is an actual website used by the author: radarenterprizes.com
The story was a little slow to start, which is probably one reason that I took so long to actually read it, but by the second chapter it really picks up and takes off. At that point, hang on for the ride of your life! This book had so many twist and turns, I thought I may have to file a lawsuit against the author for whiplash! A fun read that I would definitely recommend!
My thanks to author John Vorhaus for verifying the quotes for me in the final release version, and for his good humor and quick response!
My Rating:8 out of 10
Disclosure:
I won a copy of this book through Random House’s Read It Forward program. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. The book that I received was an uncorrected proof, but I verified with the author that the quotes used did appear in the final printed copy.
NOTE: A reminder that you are free to email me about any giveaways that you are having, if you want me to blog them, and I'll be happy to try to post them even if I am not entering them. Just include a link to the giveaway, what you are giving away, how many copies are being given away, and the deadline in order to assure being included. Email me at nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com.
Here is a list of some giveaways going on in Blogworld*. Please note that new giveaways that were added this week are indented in Blockquotes:
The Bookish Type is giving away Bumped and Awaken to one winner. Deadline is April 23. US/Canada only.
I Heart Monster is giving away $50 to the online bookstore of your choice! Deadline is April 30. International!
21 Pages is giving away your choice of book. Deadline is May 1. International!
Suko's Notebook is giving away $25 to Amazon. Deadline is May 2. International!
*Courtesy Note:Please keep in mind the many, many hours of work that goes into me compiling this list each week. Please be courteous and thoughtful, and do not steal my text. Either recreate your own list, or link to this list and direct your readers here for giveaway information. Thank you so much for your consideration.
The dust jacket for Stephen King's upcoming 11/22/63, due out November 8, 2011, has been revealed. Click here to launch the artwork page. (The image file is protected, and I don't think they want it shared out on the blogs.)
Interesting! It definitely gives you a glimpse into what the book is about. From the official launch page:
Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.
Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time
A coming-of-age story that pierces the soul and heals the spirit, this is the tale of the future leader of the Amazon women warriors. Rain must hold fast to her inner warrior, but she is startled and mystified by the first stirrings of mercy towards the enemy.
Born in the 1950s to college-educated parents who divorced when she was young, Alice Hoffman was raised by her single, working mother in a blue-collar Long Island neighborhood. Although she felt like an outsider growing up, she discovered that these feelings of not quite belonging positioned her uniquely to observe people from a distance. Later, she would hone this viewpoint in stories that captured the full intensity of the human experience.
After high school, Hoffman went to work for the Doubleday factory in Garden City. But the eight-hour, supervised workday was not for her, and she quit before lunch on her first day! She enrolled in night school at Adelphi University, graduating in 1971 with a degree in English. She went on to attend Stanford University's Creative Writing Center on a Mirrellees Fellowship. Her mentor at Stanford, the great teacher and novelist Albert Guerard, helped to get her first story published in the literary magazine Fiction. The story attracted the attention of legendary editor Ted Solotaroff, who asked if she had written any longer fiction. She hadn't -- but immediately set to work. In 1977, when Hoffman was 25, her first novel, Property Of, was published to great fanfare.
Since that remarkable debut, Hoffman has carved herself a unique niche in American fiction. A favorite with teens as well as adults, she renders life's deepest mysteries immediately understandable in stories suffused with magic realism and a dreamy, fairy-tale sensibility. (In a 1994 article for The New York Times, interviewer Ruth Reichl described the magic in Hoffman's books as a casual, regular occurrence -- "...so offhand that even the most skeptical reader can accept it.") Her characters' lives are transformed by uncontrollable forces -- love and loss, sorrow and bliss, danger and death.
Hoffman's 1997 novel Here on Earth was selected as an Oprah Book Club pick, but even without Winfrey's powerful endorsement, her books have become huge bestsellers -- including three that have been adapted for the movies: Practical Magic (1995), The River King (2000), and her YA fable Aquamarine (2001).
Hoffman is a breast cancer survivor; and like many people who consider themselves blessed with luck, she believes strongly in giving back. For this reason, she donated her advance from her 1999 short story collection Local Girls to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.
For more information, check out her website
Find her on Facebook
My Thoughts
I was born out of sorrow, so my mother named me Rain.
Rain is the future queen of a band of Amazon women, and a reluctant queen at that. This story follows the life of the Amazon women- their battles, triumphs, losses and cultural practices- and the inner workings of the would-be-queen Rain.
This was a brief story, and it felt almost too brief. I felt like I wanted to know so much more. I wanted to get to know the male counterpart Melek, to get to know his people and their way of life. I wanted to know what became of Anto. I wanted to know the back story of the smith, and of Penthe and Io. This just briefly touched on so many things, and introduced characters that were only half-fleshed out. And especially frustrating, because I felt that I would like these characters and really enjoy getting to know them better.
I liked Rain. She was strong, yet she had heart. She's lived a life of sorrow much of her life, with moments of bliss. And she is conflicted, trying to be something she isn't. Her clan practices collectivism, whereby its members generally think of what is best for everyone and not a single individual. Some of the Amazon are cruel and savage, some are patient and thoughtful...
“The weak are cruel,” Cybelle said to me. “The strong have no need to be.” (p.39)
Town/Location/Environment:
Amazons are thought to have lived in what is today Turkey, near the Black Sea.
The Cover: I love the cover, which shows a beautiful white horse representative of Rain, looking back behind itself where a storm brews in the distance.
Content Rating: There is no vulgarity, and no graphic sex, although sex is alluded to. There is also a lesbian relationship, and lots of death and disturbing events that are spoken of, but not graphically so (things like rape and infanticide).
My final word: I generally enjoyed this story, but it felt like it was only half a story. I would have loved to dive into it more thoroughly.
I was reading an article on Bloody Disgusting about Stephen King's showbiz history (e.g. movie/TV adaptations of his work, directing and acting attempts). It was an interesting read for a King fan. Here are a couple of blurbs from it:
After noting that more and more aspiring directors were writing him for permission to adapt his short stories for the screen, in 1977 King implemented his "Dollar Babies" policy, in which we would grant any student filmmaker the non-commercial right to adapt one of his stories for the bargain-basement price of one dollar (novels excluded). All that King required, other than a guarantee that the film wouldn't be exhibited for commercial purposes without his express consent, was that the filmmaker send him a copy of the completed product for inclusion in his private library. Though the declaration allegedly sent his accountant into a tizzy, this open-door policy – which King himself never publicly addressed until nearly 20 years later – demonstrated the down-to-earth qualities that to this day so endear the author to his legions of loyal fans. It also resulted in kicking off the Hollywood career of frequent King collaborator Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist), who at only 24 years old adapted King's short story "The Woman in the Room" into a well-received short film that was shortlisted for the 1983 Academy Awards.
And in regards to his disdain for the adaptation done of his "Lawnmower Man"...
Grossing over three times its $10 million budget at the domestic box-office, The Lawnmower Man became a sleeper hit based partially on the strength of King's name, which was used prominently in the film's advertising campaign. Unfortunately for New Line, King went on to sue the distributor for exploiting his name to sell a movie that he claimed "bore no meaningful resemblance" to his original "Lawnmower Man" story (included in his 1978 collection Night Shift). Forced to pay King $2.5 million in damages, a court injunction was also issued barring the studio from further using his name to market the film. Nevertheless, King later discovered the studio had released the movie on home video with his name still attached, and New Line was found in contempt of court and ordered to remove King's name from every home video copy or else pay him $10,000 a day until they complied. In addition, the author was awarded all profits they had so far derived from the home video release.
To age is to embrace a slow hurt inside and out, to collect scars like rings on a tree, dark and weathered and sometimes only visible if someone cuts deep enough. Scars keep the past just close enough to touch, but healing is forgetting. Healing invites another cut. Healing is the tide that smoothes away our line in the sand. For life to begin, the damage must be permanent.
- Dale Sampson, The Samaritan
Dale Sampson is a nobody. A small town geek who lives in the shadow of his best friend, the high school baseball star, it takes him years to even gather the courage to actually talk to a girl. It doesn't go well. Then, just when he thinks there's a glimmer of hope for his love life, he loses everything.
When Dale runs into the twin sister of the girl he loved and lost, he finds his calling--he will become a samaritan. Determined to rescue her from a violent marriage, and redeem himself in the process, he decides to use the only "weapon" he has--besides a toaster. His weapon, the inexplicable ability to regenerate injured body parts, leads him to fame and fortune as the star of a blockbuster TV reality show where he learns that being The Samaritan is a heartbreaking affair. Especially when the one person you want to save doesn't want saving.
The Samaritan is a brutally funny look at the dark side of human nature. It lays bare the raw emotions and disappointments of small town life and best friends, of school bullies and first loves, of ruthless profiteers and self-aggrandizing promoters-and of having everything you know about human worth and frailty questioned under the harsh klieg lights of fame.
This lively, intricately plotted, laugh-out-loud funny, and surprisingly touching family drama combines the wit of Carl Hiaasen with the southern charm of Jill McCorkle.
Seventy-seven-year-old Marylou Ahearn is going to kill Dr. Wilson Spriggs come hell or high water. In 1953, he gave her a radioactive cocktail without her consent as part of a secret government study that had horrible consequences.
Marylou has been plotting her revenge for fifty years. When she accidentally discovers his whereabouts in Florida, her plans finally snap into action. She high tails it to hot and humid Tallahassee, moves in down the block from where a now senile Spriggs lives with his daughter’s family, and begins the tricky work of insinuating herself into their lives. But she has no idea what a nest of yellow jackets she is stumbling into.
Before the novel is through, someone will be kidnapped, an unlikely couple will get engaged, someone will nearly die from eating a pineapple upside-down cake laced with anti-freeze, and that’s not all . . .
Told from the varied perspectives of an incredible cast of endearing oddball characters and written with the flair of a native Floridian, this dark comedy does not disappoint.
“I wanted the lettuce and eggs at room temperature . . . the butter-and-sugar sandwiches we ate after school for snack . . . the marrow bones my mother made us eat as kids that I grew to crave as an adult. . . . There would be no ‘conceptual’ or ‘intellectual’ food, just the salty, sweet, starchy, brothy, crispy things that one craves when one is actually hungry. In ecstatic farewell to my years of corporate catering, we would never serve anything but a martini in a martini glass. Preferably gin.”
Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty fierce, hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. Above all she sought family, particularly the thrill and the magnificence of the one from her childhood that, in her adult years, eluded her. Hamilton’s ease and comfort in a kitchen were instilled in her at an early age when her parents hosted grand parties, often for more than one hundred friends and neighbors. The smells of spit-roasted lamb, apple wood smoke, and rosemary garlic marinade became as necessary to her as her own skin.
Blood, Bones & Butter follows an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited through the years: the rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand; the kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by complete strangers and learned the essence of hospitality; the soulless catering factories that helped pay the rent; Hamilton’s own kitchen at Prune, with its many unexpected challenges; and the kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law, who serves as the link between Hamilton’s idyllic past and her own future family—the result of a difficult and prickly marriage that nonetheless yields rich and lasting dividends.
Blood, Bones & Butter is an unflinching and lyrical work. Gabrielle Hamilton’s story is told with uncommon honesty, grit, humor, and passion. By turns epic and intimate, it marks the debut of a tremendous literary talent.
One Bird's Choice: A Year in the Life of an Overeducated, Underemployed Twenty-Something Who Moves Back Home by Iain Reid Won from Colloquium
Meet Iain Reid: an overeducated, underemployed twenty-something, living in the big city in a bug-filled basement apartment and struggling to make ends meet. When Iain lands a job at a radio station near his childhood home, he decides to take it. But the work is only part time, so he is forced to move back in with his lovable but eccentric parents on their hobby farm. What starts out as a temporary arrangement turns into a year-long extended stay, in which Iain finds himself fighting with the farm fowl, taking fashion advice from the elderly, fattening up on a gluttonous fare of home-cooked food, and ultimately easing (perhaps a little too comfortably) into the semi-retired, rural lifestyle. A hilarious and heartwarming comic memoir about food, family, and finally growing up, One Bird’s Choice marks the arrival of a funny, original, and fresh new voice.
A glorious literary debut set in Africa about five unforgettable women—two of them haunted by a shared tragedy—whose lives intersect in unexpected and sometimes explosive ways
When Adjoa leaves Ghana to find work in the Ivory Coast, she hopes that one day she'll return home to open a beauty parlor. Her dream comes true, though not before she suffers a devastating loss—one that will haunt her for years, and one that also deeply affects Janice, an American aid worker who no longer feels she has a place to call home. But the bustling Precious Brother Salon is not just the "cleanest, friendliest, and most welcoming in the city." It's also where locals catch up on their gossip; where Comfort, an imperious busybody, can complain about her American daughter-in-law, Linda; and where Adjoa can get a fresh start on life—or so she thinks, until Janice moves to Ghana and unexpectedly stumbles upon the salon.
At once deeply moving and utterly charming, The Civilized World follows five women as they face meddling mothers-in-law, unfaithful partners, and the lingering aftereffects of racism, only to learn that their cultural differences are outweighed by their common bond as women. With vibrant prose, Susi Wyss explores what it means to need forgiveness—and what it means to forgive.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Won from Book Harbinger (I won a special movie tie-in package that included a pen, a journal and a music CD, as well as the book!)
Charlotte Brontë’s most beloved novel describes the passionate love between the courageous orphan Jane Eyre and the brilliant, brooding, and domineering Rochester.
The loneliness and cruelty of Jane’s childhood strengthens her natural independence and spirit, which prove invaluable when she takes a position as a governess at Thornfield Hall. But after she falls in love with her sardonic employer, her discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a heart-wrenching choice. Ever since its publication in 1847, Jane Eyre has enthralled every kind of reader, from the most critical and cultivated to the youngest and most unabashedly romantic. It lives as one of the great triumphs of storytelling and as a moving and unforgettable portrayal of a woman's quest for self-respect.
Awesome! And additionally I found a great local independent used bookstore called Sandman Books, and I purchased "like new" copies of Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, and a "gently used" Prettiesby Scott Westerfield.
Well, I finally have winners for these two books! It took a little work to get the extra entries worked out, and who was entering for which book, but it is finally done.
Congratulations to the two of you! I'll send out emails soon to request your addresses, but you are welcome to contact me in the meantime if you see this first.
And don't forget about the ongoing giveaways for The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst (ends 4/30), and my 2-year Blogoversary giveaway where you can win your choice of one of my twelve favorite reads in the last 2 years.
You have a chance to win books for your local library! From the Regal Literary site:
Celebrate National Bookmobile Day with Audrey Niffenegger, and win books for your local library! Regal Literary is giving away, with the support of Harcourt Houghton Mifflin and Abrams Publishing, 25 copies each of Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry, The Night Bookmobile, and The Time Traveler's Wife.
All you have to do is complete this statement in 140 characters or less: "I love my library (or bookmobile) because...." We'll pick 25 people at random, and then deliver the books to your library or bookmobile!
NOTE: A reminder that you are free to email me about any giveaways that you are having, if you want me to blog them, and I'll be happy to try to post them even if I am not entering them. Just include a link to the giveaway, what you are giving away, how many copies are being given away, and the deadline in order to assure being included. Email me at nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com.
Here is a list of some giveaways going on in Blogworld*. Please note that new giveaways that were added this week are indented in Blockquotes:
Peeking Between the Pages is giving away 5 copies of Claude and Camille. Deadline is April 16. US/Canada only.
Suko's Notebook is giving away a copy of Dancing with Gravity. Deadline is April 18. US/Canada only for print, or PDF copy international!
Musings of a YA Reader is giving away an ARC of Memento Nora. Deadline is April 18. US/Canada only.
Tutu's Two Cents is giving away 2 copies to Caleb's Crossing. Deadline is April 19. US only.
The Bookish Type is giving away a copy of Enclave. Deadline is April 19. International!
The Bookish Type is giving away Bumped and Awaken to one winner. Deadline is April 23. US/Canada only.
I Heart Monster is giving away $50 to the online bookstore of your choice! Deadline is April 30. International!
21 Pages is giving away your choice of book. Deadline is May 1. International!
Peeking Between the Pages is giving away 2 copies of The Peach Keeper. Deadline is May 7. One is US/Canada and one is International!
Peeking Between the Pages is giving away a copy of Song of the Silk Road. Deadline is May 7. US/Canada only.
Peeking Between the Pages is giving away a copy of The Uncoupling. Deadline is May 14. US/Canada only.
*Courtesy Note:Please keep in mind the many, many hours of work that goes into me compiling this list each week. Please be courteous and thoughtful, and do not steal my text. Either recreate your own list, or link to this list and direct your readers here for giveaway information. Thank you so much for your consideration.
Boy howdy! It's hard to believe that I started this blog two years ago, but that's exactly how long it's been. 2 years and 66 reviews. I know. That is on a much smaller scale than some of you insanely productive readers and reviewers out there! But I've said before that I am a very slow, distracted reader. So 66 is a lot to me!
So in tribute to this little landmark I decided to hold a giveaway. The winner of the giveaway will get to choose one of my twelve favorite books that I've discovered and reviewed here since my blog began in April 2009. You have your choice of the following books, covering several different genres, and shown with my rating:
A moving tale of the triumph of the human spirit amidst heartbreaking tragedy, told through the eyes of a charming, impish, and wickedly observant Afghan boy
The Taliban have withdrawn from Kabul’s streets, but the long shadows of their regime remain. In his short life, eleven-year-old Fawad has known more grief than most: his father and brother have been killed, his sister has been abducted, and Fawad and his mother, Mariya, must rely on the charity of parsimonious relatives to eke out a hand-to-mouth existence.
Ever the optimist, Fawad hopes for a better life, and his dream is realized when Mariya finds a position as a housekeeper for a charismatic Western woman, Georgie, and her two foreign friends. The world of aid workers and journalists is a new one for Fawad, and living with the trio offers endless curiosities—including Georgie’s destructive relationship with the powerful Afghan warlord Haji Khan, whose exploits are legendary. Fawad grows resentful and worried, until he comes to learn that love can move a man to act in surprisingly good ways. But life, especially in Kabul, is never without peril, and the next calamity Fawad must face is so devastating that it threatens to destroy the one thing he thought he could never lose: his love for his country.
A big-hearted novel infused with crackling wit, Andrea Busfield’s brilliant debut captures the hope and humanity of the Afghan people and the foreigners who live among them.
Evocative and compelling, rich in imagination and atmosphere, Under This Unbroken Sky is a beautifully wrought debut from a gifted new novelist.
Spring 1938. After nearly two years in prison for the crime of stealing his own grain, Ukrainian immigrant Teodor Mykolayenko is a free man. While he was gone, his wife, Maria; their five children; and his sister, Anna, struggled to survive on the harsh northern Canadian prairie, but now Teodor—a man who has overcome drought, starvation, and Stalin's purges—is determined to make a better life for them. As he tirelessly clears the untamed land, Teodor begins to heal himself and his children. But the family's hopes and newfound happiness are short-lived. Anna's rogue husband, the arrogant and scheming Stefan, unexpectedly returns, stirring up rancor and discord that will end in violence and tragedy.
Under This Unbroken Sky is a mesmerizing tale of love and greed, pride and desperation, that will resonate long after the last page is turned. Shandi Mitchell has woven an unbearably suspenseful story, written in a language of luminous beauty and clarity. Rich with fiery conflict and culminating in a gut-wrenching climax, this is an unforgettably powerful novel from a passionate new voice in contemporary literature.
In the middle of her life, Nan decides to leave her husband at home and begin an impromptu trek across the country, carrying with her a turquoise leather journal she intends to fill. The Pull of the Moon is a novel about a woman coming to terms with issues of importance to all women. In her journal, Nan addresses the thorniness—and the allure—of marriage, the sweet ties to children, and the gifts and lessons that come from random encounters with strangers, including a handsome man appearing out of the woods and a lonely housewife sitting on her front porch steps. Most of all, Nan writes about the need for the self to stay alive. In this luminous and exquisitely written novel, Elizabeth Berg shows how sometimes you have to leave your life behind in order to find it.
Reminiscent of Keith Donohue's The Stolen Child, Erick Setiawan's richly atmospheric debut is a beautiful, engrossing fable of three generations of women in two families; their destructive jealousies, their loves and losses, their sacrifices and deeply rooted deceptions, and their triumphs.
Of Bees and Mist is the tale of Meridia -- raised in a sepulchral house where ghosts dwell in mirrors, she spends her childhood feeling neglected and invisible. Every evening her father vanishes inside a blue mist without so much as an explanation, and her mother spends her days venomously beheading cauliflowers in the kitchen. At sixteen, desperate to escape, Meridia marries a tenderhearted young man and moves into his seemingly warm and charming family home. Little does she suspect that his parents are harboring secrets of their own. There is a grave hidden in the garden. There are two sisters groomed from birth to despise each other. And there is Eva, the formidable matriarch whose grievances swarm the air like an army of bees. In this haunting story, Setiawan takes Meridia on a tumultuous ride of hope and heartbreak as she struggles to keep her young family together and discovers long-kept secrets about her own past as well as the shocking truths about her husband's family.
Readers of magic-realist fiction will instantly be captivated by this richly evocative fairy tale. Of Bees and Mist takes place in a nameless town during a timeless era, where spirits and spells, witchcraft and demons, ghosts and clairvoyance -- both real and imagined -- are an everyday reality. Setiawan skillfully blends the real and the fantastical as he follows our heroine over a 30-year time span in which her love, courage, and sanity are tested to the limit.
From the day Cobb and Mary meet kayaking on Maine's Allagash River and fall deeply in love, the two approach life with the same sense of adventure they use to conquer the river's treacherous rapids. But rivers do not let go so easily...and neither does their love. So when Mary's life takes the cruelest turn, she vows to face those rough waters on her own terms and asks Cobb to promise, when the time comes, to help her return to their beloved river for one final journey.
Set against the rugged wilderness of Maine, the exotic islands of Indonesia, the sweeping panoramas of Yellowstone National Park, and the tranquil villages of rural New England, Eternal on the Water is at once heartbreaking and uplifting -- a timeless, beautifully rendered story of true love's power.
Zombies have infested a fallen America. A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.
For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can't remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.
Falling Home is a coming home story about forgiveness and acceptance, and of finding love in the most unexpected of places. Home is where the heart is, but Cassie Madison prefers to think of it as a place where one is born, then outgrows, along with skinned knees and childhood dreams. A humiliated Cassie left Walton, Georgia for Manhattan fifteen years before, vowing never to return.
And then her sister calls. Their father is dying and wants Cassie to come back home. When Cassie's father dies, saddling her with the family's antebellum home and letters hinting of an unknown sibling, Cassie finds herself sinking into the red Georgia clay like quicksand. Reluctantly, Cassie is pulled into the lives of her sister and family, and that of Sam Parker, the town doctor.
When tragedy strikes, Cassie is led to discover that home is a place that lives in one's heart, waiting with open arms to be rediscovered.
On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when — or if — it will go away.
Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens — town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing — even murder — to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.
The Color Purple is the story of two sisters—one a missionary to Africa and the other a child wife living in the South—who remain loyal to one another across time, distance, and silence. Beautifully imagined and deeply compassionate, this classic of American literature is rich with passion, pain, inspiration, and an indomitable love of life.
To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.
Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.
Fiona Walsh thought her family’s secrets would follow her to her grave, but when her diary is found by a young postman, Niall, the truth about her untimely demise—and that of her sister and aunt—begins to see the light of day. It’s the most tragic love story he’s ever heard.
Niall soon becomes enveloped by the mystery surrounding Jim—an itinerant storyteller who traveled through Ireland enrapturing audiences and wooing women with his macabre mythic sagas—though a trail of murder followed him wherever he went. The Walsh sisters, fiercely loyal to each other, were not immune to “darling” Jim’s powers of seduction, but found themselves in harm’s way when they began to uncover his treacherous past. Niall must now continue his dangerous hunt for the truth—and for the vanished third sister—while there’s still time.
And in the woods, the wolves from Jim’s stories begin to gather.
Rules for the giveaway (you knew there had to be some):
You must be 18 years or older
Open international. I retain the option of delivering the book by whatever means I prefer, e.g. Book Depository, Barnes and Noble, etc.
There is a $20 maximum. You have your choice of paperback, hardback or kindle edition, as long as that option it is under $20.
To enter, just comment below. Be sure to leave your email address in your comment, or have it visible in your profile. You don't have to decide which book you prefer at this time, but I would be curious to know. Don't worry- you will have a chance to change your mind, if you should win.
For extra entries, follow my blog, follow me via Facebook/Networked Blogs, and/or blog about this contest. One extra entry for each. Sidebars are okay.
Leave a separate comment for each entry.
That's a total of 4 possible entries!
Those who don't follow the rules risk being disqualified.
NOTE: A reminder that you are free to email me about any giveaways that you are having, if you want me to blog them, and I'll be happy to try to post them even if I am not entering them. Just include a link to the giveaway, what you are giving away, how many copies are being given away, and the deadline in order to assure being included. Email me at nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com.
Here is a list of some giveaways going on in Blogworld*. Please note that new giveaways that were added this week are indented in Blockquotes:
Frankie Writes is giving away a signed copy of Where She Went. Deadline is April 11. International!
Stories & Sweeties is giving away a copy of Wither. Deadline is April 12. International!
Zombie Girl Shambling is giving away 5 copies of The Zombie Autopsies. Deadline is April 13.
I Swim for Oceans is giving away Awaken. Deadline is April 15. International!
All About {n} is giving away a copy of The Dark and Hollow Places. Deadline is April 15. International!
Stuck in Books is having a 300 follower celebration! City of Fallen Angels and Red Glove up for grabs. Deadline is April 15. US/Canada only.
Passages to the Past is giving away 5 copies of Claude and Camille. Deadline is April 15. US only.
Peeking Between the Pages is giving away 5 copies of Claude and Camille. Deadline is April 16. US/Canada only.
Suko's Notebook is giving away a copy of Dancing with Gravity. Deadline is April 18. US/Canada only for print, or PDF copy international!
Musings of a YA Reader is giving away an ARC of Memento Nora. Deadline is April 18. US/Canada only.
Tutu's Two Cents is giving away 2 copies to Caleb's Crossing. Deadline is April 19. US only.
The Bookish Type is giving away a copy of Enclave. Deadline is April 19. International!
I Heart Monster is giving away $50 to the online bookstore of your choice! Deadline is April 30. International!
21 Pages is giving away your choice of book. Deadline is May 1. International!
Peeking Between the Pages is giving away 2 copies of The Peach Keeper. Deadline is May 7. One is US/Canada and one is International!
Peeking Between the Pages is giving away a copy of Song of the Silk Road. Deadline is May 7. US/Canada only.
Sparkling Reviews is giving a color Nook! Deadline is whenever 1100 followers is reached. International!
Eli to the nth Power is giving away $25 to Amazon or Book Depository. Deadline is whenever 100 followers are reached. International!
*Courtesy Note:Please keep in mind the many, many hours of work that goes into me compiling this list each week. Please be courteous and thoughtful, and do not steal my text. Either recreate your own list, or link to this list and direct your readers here for giveaway information. Thank you so much for your consideration.
From the bestselling author of The Dogs of Babel comes a dazzling literary mystery about the lengths to which some people will go to rewrite their past.
Bestselling novelist Octavia Frost has just completed her latest book—a revolutionary novel in which she has rewritten the last chapters of all her previous books, removing clues about her personal life concealed within, especially a horrific tragedy that befell her family years ago.
On her way to deliver the manuscript to her editor, Octavia reads a news crawl in Times Square and learns that her rock-star son, Milo, has been arrested for murder. Though she and Milo haven’t spoken in years—an estrangement stemming from that tragic day—she drops everything to go to him.
The “last chapters” of Octavia’s novel are layered throughout The Nobodies Album—the scattered puzzle pieces to her and Milo’s dark and troubled past. Did she drive her son to murder? Did Milo murder anyone at all? And what exactly happened all those years ago? As the novel builds to a stunning reveal, Octavia must consider how this story will come to a close.
Universally praised for her candid explorations of the human psyche, Parkhurst delivers an emotionally gripping and resonant mystery about a mother and her son, and about the possibility that one can never truly know another person.
About the Author
Carolyn Parkhurst is a writer with a true talent for using the strangest of premises to tell tales that are genuinely insightful and moving. Her debut novel The Dogs of Babel, the story of a grieving widower who attempts to teach his dog to speak, won her wide acclaim. Now with a smart and funny follow-up that takes on reality television, Parkhurst is proving that she is anything but a one-hit-wonder.
My Thoughts:
There are some stories no one wants to hear. Some stories, once told, won't let you go so easily.
Octavia Frost is a successful author, but there are times when she feels like a failure as a mother. Having lost her husband and daughter at a relatively young age, she was left to raise her young son alone. The son that she must admit she was never really very compatible with. And by all external appearances, she was a good mother. She cared well for her son, gave him every external thing he needed. But there has always been a chasm between them. Despite this, they have both succeeded. She is a successful author, he is a popular musician.
Then comes the day when she learns that her son Milo has been arrested for the murder of his fiance. She rushes to his side, unsure of how to best help him, and together the two of them begin navigating the distance between them.
This book started out a little slow for me, but eventually it picked up and pulled me in. The relationship between Octavia and Milo is very real and believable. Her love for him is apparent, and her desire to try to "make it all better" is genuine. But Milo harbors pain from the past, and hasn't yet found a way beyond it.
I love when I learn new things from a book. This time I learned about the Wave Organ in San Francisco. Here is a video that I found about it.
Quotes:
In beautifully expressing a woman’s grief:
“I performed a sort of internal bowing. I honor you. I’m thinking of nothing else. I bear witness that Mitchell and Rosemary lived on this earth. I bear witness that they were loved. I bear witness that they are not gone from my body, from my life. Make haste to remember them.” (p. 270)
Vocabulary/Things Learned:
A word that I am loosely familiar with, but have never added to my own vocabulary...
Unctuous- Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness Usage: He’s in his mid-fifties, sleek and well groomed, charismatic but not unctuous. (p. 33)
The Cover: I like the cover, which shows a young boy standing in water with a lifesaver. Milo is basically a lost little boy just waiting for his mother to save him.
Five words to describe this book: forlorn, hopeful, despair, frustration, kindness
My final word: The actual story is interspersed with the endings of many fictional stories, and then alternate endings for those stories. This is probably what dragged the story down. While I enjoyed a couple of the stories, most were pretty boring.
All in all, this was a pretty good story. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride-- up, down, enjoyable, not so enjoyable. Overall it was pretty enjoyable, with the last third being the best of the book.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10
GIVEAWAY: Win The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst. I have both a new hardcover and gently read hardcover copies available. There will be two winners.
Rules (you knew there had to be some):
You must be 18 years or older
Open to US and Canada residents only
To enter, just comment below. Be sure to leave your email address in your comment, or have it visible in your profile. Please note in your comment whether you wish to enter for the new copy only, or if you would also like to be considered for the gently read copy.
For extra entries, follow my blog, follow me via Facebook or Networked Blogs, and/or blog about this contest. One extra entry for each. Sidebars are okay.
Leave a separate comment for each entry.
That's a total of 4 possible entries!
Those who don't follow the rules risk being disqualified.
Deadline is April 30, 2011.
Please note that these books are being shipped by me, and will be shipped without insurance or tracking. Therefore I am at the mercy of the post office. So far no book that I've shipped has been lost by them, but I can make no guarantees!
Good Luck! Ready, Set, Go!
Disclosure:I received a copy of this book to review through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel.
1. Which hour was most daunting for you? The hardest for me is about now, but it starts around 2 AM. What is that? Around Hour 19?
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Uhhhh...I don't know. Not the two I've been reading! Maybe The Reapers are the Angels, or some other zombie story?
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope. You guys are always awesome. I personally may have my own little read-a-thon that lasts the weekend, but isn't an all-nighter. It is just too exhausting! Better to just set aside a weekend to "read as much as I can", but not necessarily try to stay awake 24 hours straight. But this read-a-thon is perfect just the way it is, for what it is.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? Uhhhh...it was all great! I'm too tired to think too hard. Can't think of anything.
5. How many books did you read? I finished one and got 1/4 of the way through a second.
6. What were the names of the books you read? I finished The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurstand have been reading The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman
7. Which book did you enjoy most? I enjoyed The Nobodies Album.
8. Which did you enjoy least? I'm having a harder time with The Foretelling, perhaps because it is a leisurely stroll and I need a fast jaunt when I'm this tired!
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? No one has ever described me as a cheerleader.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I'll probably continue to sign on as a reader.
So that's that! I'm signing off and probably won't post again until I get some sleep. I hope everyone had a good read-a-thon! See you same time, same place next year (well, maybe the time will be a little different, but you know what I mean!)
Stella Matulina is challenging us to find an image on the internet that well represents the book we are currently reading.
Well, I am currently reading The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman, which is about Amazon-type women. So I think that this image is a good representation of the story...
The funny thing is that I think this image is supposed to be of Ancient Iranian Women Warriors. If so, then obviously women used play a much stronger role in Iranian culture before they were stomped down and forced to fully shroud themselves in a hijab. Which makes it even more startling for me to see what the women in that culture have become. How difficult it must have been for them to go from being such strong individuals to having no identity.
Blogging since 2009, I'm a south Florida girl living in the home of mudding and hog hunting. Just trying to survive amid too many books and vastly outnumbered by a ZooCrew, hoping not to wind up a trophy head mounted on someone's wall in the process. Lover of lists, an eternal procrastinator, and really just a flower child at heart.
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