I think I found a new author to check out: Shalom Auslander. LibraryThing posted an interview with him this month, and just the introduction alone got my attention. As stated in the LibraryThing "State of the Thing":
Shalom Auslander is the author of the short story collection Beware of God and the memoir Foreskin's Lament. His first novel, Hope: A Tragedy is out this month from Riverhead Books.
Irreverent, crass, fearless and caustic, his character revealed through his interview and the titles of his books grabbed me. I've now added all of his books to my "Wish List"!
Check out his interview with LibraryThing, and if irreverent tales of a love/hate relationship with God interest you, you may want to check out his books as well.
Jem Perkins has it all – money, a fine house, a handsome husband, and a new baby boy. But when her family fortunes turn, Jem’s husband Seth leads her to a new home: a sod house on a Nebraska homestead.
It is a season of growth for Jem as she reluctantly confronts her new realities: back-breaking labor, dangerous illness, and mind-numbing isolation. She learns to embrace her new role as a capable woman and marriage partner and discovers an awareness of God’s hand in her life.
Then, on January 12, 1888, the history-making Children’s Blizzard sweeps across the land, ushering in a season of hardship she never expected. Can Jem’s confidence, marriage, and new-found faith weather the storm?
How do you fit writing into your life? Do you have a regular routine?
I would love to have a routine! Life is pretty complicated right now. In addition to all the activities that come with a teen and a ‘tween, I’m the full-time caretaker for my husband, who is totally blind and chronically ill. He had a kidney-pancreas transplant in 1994, so his immune system is suppressed. Still, we both worked full time until 2005, when his health declined. He was in the hospital 9 times in 2010 with various infections and problems. This year he was in twice before the third time on April 13, when he went into the hospital and is still there now.
Three of my four books were written at my husband’s bedside, as well as many commission writing projects and editing jobs. I once wrote 10,000 words on a novel in a single night at the Emergency Room. I know, because I added them up. I have no idea whether I ended up keeping any of those words, but I wrote them.
What are you passionate about?
My passion is making the moments of my life count. I’m deliberately idealistic in the face of reality: The world is broken and it’s going to stay that way until Jesus comes, but I believe we have to pour ourselves into making it better anyway. Second to that, launching my children well. I pray that they’re prepared, that they’ve learned to rely on Jesus, and that they will find God’s path for their lives. If I do nothing else well, I want to do this. And if I do everything else well but this . . . it just doesn’t count.
It’s also really important to me to help people; it’s my drug. If I think someone is in distress, I get all twitchy and strain to find a way to help. God had a fight on His hands when He decided it was time for me to learn to accept help instead of give it, but I’m getting there.
What is your writing process?
I usually begin with some core idea – character, concept or conflict. And sometimes I write out a scene if it plays in my head. But before I begin officially working on a book, I plan it out from beginning to end, down to the individual scenes. Sometimes I even plan next books for a potential series. The plan is flexible; things will change as I go along. But it’s a lifesaver when I haven’t written in weeks, I’m mind-numb with exhaustion and surrounded by beeping IV’s and rattling hospital machinery. I can check the map to see where I’ve been and where I’m going. I just plow through. When I can’t write well, I write badly. Then later I fix it.
How would you define your unique writing style? What sets you apart from other authors?
I’m a Christian author, but I struggle with the guidelines of the Christian Bookseller Association standards. It feels so unrealistic. Modern Christian readers connect with characters who make mistakes, lie, have blunt conversations with their girlfriends, and enjoy sex with their husbands. This is my standard: my characters make their mistakes, but I won’t write a yummy scene about them doing something dumb with a man they’re not married to.
Married sex, on the other hand . . . Our culture delights in glorifying perversions. Why not give the good stuff – trusting, genuinely loving married sex – a little airtime too? Young readers today are only exposed to images of sex outside of marriage. Romance novels, for example, have lots of explicit scenes, but if the characters are married, the story no longer constitutes a romance (trust me – I’ve grappled with this one for years).
I have been told – adamantly – that I’m leading people into sin by writing this way. That may be so – I’ll ask God when I see Him. Meantime, in my life, He has dealt with me where I am and how I am. That’s the only story I know how to tell.
What else would you like to tell us about yourself?
I believe the Bible is the word of God, and that my job as a Christian is to serve and love. I’m in no hurry to leave this earth, but when I do go to heaven, I’m going to learn to play a musical instrument. Ten thousand years ought to do it. I’m going to sing, write, paint, keep a garden without worrying about the water bill, and I’m going to savor the fact that geographical distances no longer separate me from my loved ones.
At midnight, Charley woke shivering in his trundle bed. "Ma?"
Town/Location:
The story begins in St. Paul, Minnesota, moves into Kansas, and ends in Nebraska.
This story offers a glimpse into how hard life was (and still is to a great degree) in the
west, and brings to light the story of the Children's Blizzard, which took place in January 1888.
Hot, scorching summers and brutal and unpredictable winters, the
land is unforgiving and only the most stalwart individuals can survive. What chance do a couple of city folk stand?
Seth
is a good man, brave and strong. Fair and ethical. He’s been a good
provider for his family, a good father to his son, if a bit estranged
from his wife.
Jemima has been raised a spoiled daughter and is now a somewhat indulged wife.
Jem and Seth married "liking" one another, "lusting" after one another, and perhaps even "loving" one another, but they didn't really know one another and weren't friends. Seth is with the military and has been gone traveling much of their marriage. Jem has been coddled and indulged by her father, who lives nearby and gave Seth and Jem the house that they live in with their infant son Charley.
Life takes a turn, and Seth chooses to move the family out West to become homesteaders in Nebraska. They know that life will be tough, but Seth seems to underestimate just how hard things can get.
In the beginning, Jem is spoiled, selfish and annoying. She isn't very likable by any means, often using tears to get her way with the men in her life. But the more that life throws at the family, the more Jem rises to the occasion.
My greatest disappointment with this story and the characters was Seth. I was disappointed that he only saw Jem for who she had been, and did not acknowledge the amazing woman that she had become. She showed herself in many circumstances to perhaps be even stronger and tougher than Seth.
This was my first e-book, and I've gotta say, I came to love being able to just pick up my phone and read a little here and there. It was a comfortable way to settle down at night, turn out the lights, and read one more chapter before giving way to sleep. This was the perfect introduction to the world of e-books!
My final word: This was a lovely story, and it really held me throughout. I kept wondering what was going to happen next? Would they survive the West? Would they find their way back to each other? Would life cast them a lifeline? I've been interested in the past with the Children's Blizzard, and this was a nice introduction to it. Tragic and stirring, leading you through the story with little drops of hope like Gretel's trail of breadcrumbs, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a moving story that can touch your soul.
My Rating: 8.5 out of 10 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.
For this hop, I decided to give two (2) winners their choice of book from my list of available books. The first winner will get first choice, and the second winner will get second choice. To enter, just complete the Rafflecopter form below.
NOTE: A few people have said that the form is not working properly, but it is working just fine for me, and some who reported it not working are shown as having entered through it. I did note that the code mentions that Java must be enabled, so you'll want to check under your browser Tools > Options and make sure that you have Java enabled!
Also please be aware that Rafflecopter often logs you in, and if it does it won't give you the opportunity to put in your name and email-- it already knows who you are! When it does this, you should see a little "Hi, Your Name!" in the upper right panel of the form.
NOTE 2: I don't know what could be going on with Rafflecopter, but the same people who are saying down in the comments that it isn't working are showing up in the Rafflecopter database. So it is actually working for them! I don't know what is happening on their end to make them think that it isn't working! If you think it isn't working for you, go ahead and leave a comment, and I will check the database to make sure you were actually added.
Mailbox Monday is now hosted monthly by a different blog. Here is the official blog of Mailbox Monday.I've had my mailbox on hiatus for the holidays, but here are some of the books I've received in the last couple of months:
Wings: A Novel of WWII Flygirls by Karl Friedrich Won from A Bookish Libraria
Based on the true World
War II stories of America’s first female military pilots, this historic
novel follows the story of a young woman from a dirt-poor farm family.
Sally Ketchum has little chance of bettering her life until a mysterious
barnstormer named Tex teaches her to fly and to dare to love. But when
Tex dies in a freak accident, Sally must make her own way in the world.
She enrolls in the U.S. military’s Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)
program at a special school known as Avenger, where she learns to fly
the biggest, fastest, meanest planes. She also reluctantly becomes
involved with Beau Bayard, a flight instructor and aspiring writer who
seems to offer her everything she could want. Despite her obvious
mastery of flying, many members of the military are unable to accept
that a “skirt” has any place in a cockpit. Soon Sally finds herself
struggling against a high-powered Washington lawyer that wants to close
down Avenger once and for all.
Intense, powerful, and compelling, Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones's The Thin Red Line.
It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas,
and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain
jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood.
Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also
monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition.
Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover
between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous
superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and
outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines are thrust into the
raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them
forever.
Written over the course of thirty years by a highly decorated Marine veteran, Matterhorn
is a visceral and spellbinding novel about what it is like to be a
young man at war.
It is an unforgettable novel that transforms the
tragedy of Vietnam into a powerful and universal story of courage,
camaraderie, and sacrifice: a parable not only of the war in Vietnam but
of all war, and a testament to the redemptive power of literature.
(Matterhorn has been on my Wish List for so long, that I'm excited to finally have it on my TBR shelf!)
In the near future, at a
moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our
world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy
human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence
known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network
of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities,
defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic
glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single
mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely
Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an
isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire –
but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.
When the Robot War ignites -- at a moment known later as Zero Hour
-- humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in
history, united. Robopocalypse is a brilliantly conceived action-filled
epic, a terrifying story with heart-stopping implications for the real
technology all around us…and an entertaining and engaging thriller
unlike anything else written in years.
Cinema of Shadows by Michael West Won from Wag the Fox
Welcome to the Woodfield Movie Palace.
The night the Titanic sank, it opened for business...and its builder died
in his chair. In the 1950s, there was a fire; a balcony full of people
burned to death. And years later, when it became the scene of one of
Harmony, Indiana's most notorious murders, it closed for good.
Abandoned, sealed, locked up tight...until now.
Tonight, Professor
Geoffrey Burke and his Parapsychology students have come to the
Woodfield in search of evidence, hoping to find irrefutable proof of a
haunting. Instead, they will discover that, in this theater, the terrors
are not confined to the screen.
Children of Paranoia by Trevor Shane Won from Bibliojunkies
ALL WARS HAVE RULES
Rule Number One: No killing innocent bystanders. Rule Number Two: No killing anyone under the age of eighteen.
BREAK THE RULES, BECOME THE TARGET
Since
the age of eighteen, Joseph has been assassinating people on behalf of a
cause that he believes in but doesn't fully understand. The War is
ageless, hidden in the shadows, governed by a rigid set of rules, and
fought by two distinct sides-one good, one evil. The only unknown is
which side is which. Soldiers in the War hide in plain sight, their
deeds disguised as accidents or random acts of violence amidst an
unsuspecting population ignorant of the brutality that is always inches
away.
Killing people is the only life Joseph has ever known, and
he's one of the best at it. But when a job goes wrong and he's sent away
to complete a punishingly dangerous assignment, Joseph meets a girl
named Maria, and for the first time in his life his singleminded, bloody
purpose fades away.
Before Maria, Joseph's only responsibility
was dealing death to the anonymous targets fingered by his superiors.
Now he must run from the people who have fought by his side to save what
he loves most in this world. As Children of Paranoia reaches
its heart-in-throat climax, Joseph will learn that only one rule remains
immutable: the only thing more dangerous than fighting the War...is
leaving it.
Whither Thou Goest, I Will Go by Naomi Dathan Won through LibraryThing Early Reviewers
Jem Perkins has it all –
money, a fine house, a handsome husband, and a new baby boy. But when
her family fortunes turn, Jem’s husband Seth leads her to a new home: a
sod house on a Nebraska homestead.
It is a season of growth for Jem as she reluctantly confronts her
new realities: back-breaking labor, dangerous illness, and mind-numbing
isolation. She learns to embrace her new role as a capable woman and
marriage partner and discovers an awareness of God’s hand in her life.
Then, on January 12, 1888, the history-making Children’s Blizzard
sweeps across the land, ushering in a season of hardship she never
expected. Can Jem’s confidence, marriage, and new-found faith weather
the storm?
(This is my first e-book. I was very hesitant to do an e-book, as I am a very tactile person who loves the look and feel of a bound book and loves the look of it on a shelf and having it as a constant visual reminder of the anticipated story held in its pages. However I must say, I am enjoying having this book on my phone, and being able to pull it out and just read it for a few minutes anywhere, anytime.)
Books that I've purchased from Barnes and Noble:
The Birth House by Ami McKay
An arresting portrait of the struggles that women faced for control of their own bodies, The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare—the first daughter in five generations of Rares.
As apprentice to the outspoken Acadian midwife Miss Babineau, Dora
learns to assist the women of an isolated Nova Scotian village through
infertility, difficult labors, breech births, unwanted pregnancies, and
unfulfilling sex lives.
During the turbulent World War I era,
uncertainty and upheaval accompany the arrival of a brash new medical
doctor and his promises of progress and fast, painless childbirth. In a
clash between tradition and science, Dora finds herself fighting to
protect the rights of women as well as the wisdom that has been put into
her care.
The Alchemist by Paula Coelho
PAULO COELHO'S
enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This
story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is
about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his
homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried
in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls
himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom points Santiago in the
direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if
Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what
starts out as a journey to find wordly goods turns into a discovery of
the treasure found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story
of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transformation power of our
dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.
The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips
The Tragedy of Arthur
is an emotional and elaborately constructed tour de force from
bestselling and critically acclaimed novelist Arthur Phillips, “one of
the best writers in America” (The Washington Post).
Its
doomed hero is Arthur Phillips, a young man struggling with a
larger-than-life father, a con artist who works wonders of deception but
is a most unreliable parent. Arthur is raised in an enchanted world of
smoke and mirrors where the only unshifting truth is his father’s and
his beloved twin sister’s deep and abiding love for the works of William
Shakespeare—a love so pervasive that Arthur becomes a writer in a
misguided bid for their approval and affection.
Years later,
Arthur’s father, imprisoned for decades and nearing the end of his life,
shares with Arthur a treasure he’s kept secret for half a century: a
previously unknown play by Shakespeare, titled The Tragedy of Arthur.
But Arthur and his sister also inherit their father’s mission: to see
the play published and acknowledged as the Bard’s last great gift to
humanity. . . .
Unless it’s their father’s last great con.
By
turns hilarious and haunting, this virtuosic novel—which includes
Shakespeare’s (?) lost King Arthur play in its five-act
entirety—captures the very essence of romantic and familial love and
betrayal. The Tragedy of Arthur explores the tension between
storytelling and truth-telling, the thirst for originality in all our
lives, and the act of literary mythmaking, both now and four centuries
ago, as the two Arthurs—Arthur the novelist and Arthur the ancient
king—play out their individual but strangely intertwined fates.
The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggert
The book you hold in
your hands is revolutionary, a groundbreaking exploration of the science
of intention.Drawing on the findings of leading scientists from around
the world, The Intention Experiment demonstrates that thought is a thing that affects other things. It is also the first book to invite you, the reader, to take an active part in its original research.
Using cutting-edge research conducted at Princeton,MIT, Stanford, and many other prestigious universities and laboratories, The Intention Experiment
reveals that the universe is connected by a vast quantum energy
field.Thought generates its own palpable energy, which you can use to
improve your life and, when harnessed together with an interconnected
group, to change the world.
In The Intention Experiment,
internationally bestselling author Lynne McTaggart takes you on a
gripping, mind-blowing journey to the furthest reaches of
consciousness.As she narrates the exciting developments in the science
of intention, she also profiles the colorful scientists and renowned
pioneers who study the effects of focused group intention on
scientifically quantifiable targets -- animal, plant, and human.
McTaggart
offers a practical program to get in touch with your own thoughts, to
increase the activity and strength of your intentions, and to begin
achieving real change in your life. You are then invited to participate
in an unprecedented experiment: Using The Intention Experiment
website to coordinate your involvement and track results, you and other
participants around the world will focus your power of intention on
specific targets, giving you the opportunity to become a part of
scientifichistory. A new Afterword by the author recounts the successes
of the several Intention Experiments so far.
The Intention Experiment
forces you to rethink what it is to be human. It proves that we're
connected to everyone and everything -- and that discovery demands that
we pay better attention to our thoughts, intentions, and actions. Here's
how you can.
(I've been wanting to read this one. It reminds me of a book that I read and loved a couple of decades ago by the name of The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Thompkins and Christopher Bird.)
Thanks to everyone! For 2012, my goal is to spend less time on the computer and more time reading!
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:
Debbie's Book Bag is giving away Wine to Water. Deadline is 1/16/12. 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.
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:
Debbie's Book Bag is giving away Wine to Water. Deadline is 1/16/12. 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.
This is my own perpetual challenge, to try and read more books about Florida, or those that take place in Florida or somehow have Florida as a major component. I'll try to keep adding to this list as I discover more books that interest me, but here is what I have so far:
After the tragic death of her parents, Eva Lange must battle for her freedom; indeed, her very life. Fleeing her aunt's abuser, she falls prey to a murderous drug lord and his wife in their luxurious lair of lust. Using her wits, beauty, and sexuality to save herself and break the bonds of captivity and degradation, Eva struggles against corruption and powerful political forces to reclaim her independence and save the life of the man she loves.
About the Author
Pat Lawrence is a Wisconsin author who has previously penned Murder Mysteries and stage plays. When asked about what type of readers would be interested in this book, they responded: Anyone who enjoys fast paced, exciting fiction with a strong protagonist and convincing, fully drawn supporting characters will enjoy this book.
Eve was their only child, a "miracle baby," conceived after four years of trying, hoping and praying for a baby. Eva was a beautiful baby. Everyone said so.
Town/Location:
The book takes place in a number of cities, but much of it takes place in Corpus Christi, TX.
Eva Lange has been dealt a tough hand in life, losing her parents at a young age and being stuck with a flaky aunt to care for her. She is thrust into the world at a young age and forced to live by her wits. Luckily she is bright and charismatic, as well as being beautiful, all of which aid her in no small part in caring for herself. But her beauty can also be a bit of a curse, gaining her unwanted attention and helping to land her in some unsavory situations.
At one of the worst moments in her life, Eva meets Rafael. Rafael is both passion and compassion, and they fall in love.
Later, after she and Rafael are separated, Albert Sr. takes on a fatherly role for Eva, fulfilling her desire for a loving older man in her life who will take care of her and make sure that everything is okay.
Something about Junior reminds Eva of Rafael. Junior initially seems like a self-centered brat, but later proves himself to actually be quite capable, or at least proves to be a man with great potential.
Denny becomes like a little sister who looks up to Eva, and she is always underestimated by her father and brother, still thought of as a childish little girl.
This story was very readable, and there were enough twists and turns to keep my interest. I don't recall ever being bored with the storyline. However, highly sexualized, this isn't a book for everyone. At 287 pages, it's a comfortable read. I read it in under a week, which is quite fast for me!
Final word: A very interesting story that kept me engaged throughout. I kept wanting to know what would happen next, and wanted reassurance that everything would work out for Eva in the end.
My Rating: 8 out of 10
Disclosure:
I received a copy of this book to review from the author, 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.
So, I made it through 34 books in 2011. A pittance for many book bloggers, but a respectable tally for me! My goal in 2012 is to have more time to read books that I really want to read, as I had so many "review" books to deal with this year. So my TBR shelf (shelves) keep growing and growing!
Here are my top ten favorite books that I read in 2011, with links to my reviews, listed in the order that they were read and reviewed:
Can Katniss Everdeen win the final fight against the Capitol? Against all odds, she's survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she is still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no-one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12...
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank Fort Repose is an idyllic little town located in Central Florida. At least everything is idyllic until "The Day". "The Day" is the day that the bombs fell-- nuclear bombs-- and entire cities were wiped off the map.
To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. . . . It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. 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's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack's curiosity building alongside her own desperation, she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer.
Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating--a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.
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.
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.
Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran Smart and ambitious, Marie Tussaud has learned the secrets of wax sculpting by working alongside her uncle in their celebrated wax museum, the Salon de Cire. From her popular model of the American ambassador, Thomas Jefferson, to her tableau of the royal family at dinner, Marie’s museum provides Parisians with the very latest news on fashion, gossip, and even politics. Her customers hail from every walk of life, yet her greatest dream is to attract the attention of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI; their stamp of approval on her work could catapult her and her museum to the fame and riches she desires. After months of anticipation, Marie learns that the royal family is willing to come and see their likenesses. When they finally arrive, the king’s sister is so impressed that she requests Marie’s presence at Versailles as a royal tutor in wax sculpting. It is a request Marie knows she cannot refuse—even if it means time away from her beloved Salon and her increasingly dear friend, Henri Charles.
As Marie gets to know her pupil, Princesse Élisabeth, she also becomes acquainted with the king and queen, who introduce her to the glamorous life at court. From lavish parties with more delicacies than she’s ever seen to rooms filled with candles lit only once before being discarded, Marie steps into a world entirely different from her home on the Boulevard du Temple, where people are selling their teeth in order to put food on the table.
Meanwhile, many resent the vast separation between rich and poor. In salons and cafés across Paris, people like Camille Desmoulins, Jean-Paul Marat, and Maximilien Robespierre are lashing out against the monarchy. Soon, there’s whispered talk of revolution. . . . Will Marie be able to hold on to both the love of her life and her friendship with the royal family as France approaches civil war? And more important, will she be able to fulfill the demands of powerful revolutionaries who ask that she make the death masks of beheaded aristocrats, some of whom she knows?
Spanning five years, from the budding revolution to the Reign of Terror, Madame Tussaud brings us into the world of an incredible heroine whose talent for wax modeling saved her life and preserved the faces of a vanished kingdom.
The Bells by Richard Harvell The celebrated opera singer Lo Svizzero was born in a belfry high in the Swiss Alps where his mother served as the keeper of the loudest and most beautiful bells in the land. Shaped by the bells’ glorious music, as a boy he possessed an extraordinary gift for sound. But when his preternatural hearing was discovered—along with its power to expose the sins of the church—young Moses Froben was cast out of his village with only his ears to guide him in a world fraught with danger.
Rescued from certain death by two traveling monks, he finds refuge at the vast and powerful Abbey of St. Gall. There, his ears lead him through the ancient stone hallways and past the monks’ cells into the choir, where he aches to join the singers in their strange and enchanting song. Suddenly Moses knows his true gift, his purpose. Like his mother’s bells, he rings with sound and soon, he becomes the protégé of the Abbey’s brilliant yet repulsive choirmaster, Ulrich.
But it is this gift that will cause Moses’ greatest misfortune: determined to preserve his brilliant pupil’s voice, Ulrich has Moses castrated. Now a young man, he will forever sing with the exquisite voice of an angel—a musico—yet castration is an abomination in the Swiss Confederation, and so he must hide his shameful condition from his friends and even from the girl he has come to love. When his saviors are exiled and his beloved leaves St. Gall for an arranged marriage in Vienna, he decides he can deny the truth no longer and he follows her—to sumptuous Vienna, to the former monks who saved his life, to an apprenticeship at one of Europe’s greatest theaters, and to the premiere of one of history’s most beloved operas.
In this confessional letter to his son, Moses recounts how his gift for sound led him on an astonishing journey to Europe’s celebrated opera houses and reveals the secret that has long shadowed his fame: How did Moses Froben, world renowned musico, come to raise a son who by all rights he never could have sired?
Like the voice of Lo Svizzero, The Bells is a sublime debut novel that rings with passion, courage, and beauty.
The Reversal by Michael Connelly Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change stripes and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch.
Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years.
With the odds and the evidence against them, Bosch and Haller must nail a sadistic killer once and for all. If Bosch is sure of anything, it is that Jason Jessup plans to kill again.
It's 1911 and the secluded southwestern Alabama town of Old Texas has been besieged by a scabrous and malevolent character called E. O. Smonk. Syphilitic, consumptive, gouty and goitered, Smonk is also an expert with explosives and knives. He abhors horses, goats and the Irish. Every Saturday night for a year he's been riding his mule into Old Texas, destroying property, killing livestock, seducing women, cheating and beating men-- all from behind the twin barrels of his Winchester 45-70 caliber over and under rifle. At last the desperate citizens of the town, themselves harboring a terrible secret, put Smonk on trial, with disastrous and shocking results.
Thus begins the highly anticipated new novel from Tom Franklin, acclaimed author of Hell at the Breech and Poachers.
Smonk is also the story of Evavangeline, a fifteen-year-old prostitute quick to pull a trigger or cork. A case of mistaken identity plunges her into the wild sugarcane country between the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, land suffering from the worst drought in a hundred years and plagued by rabies. Pursued by a posse of unlikely vigilantes, Evavangeline boats upriver and then wends through the dust and ruined crops, forced along the way to confront her own clouded past. She eventually stumbles upon Old Texas, where she is fated to E. O. Smonk and the townspeople in a way she could never imagine.
In turns hilarious, violent, bawdy and terrifying, Smonk creates its own category: It's a southern, not a western, peopled with corrupt judges and assassins, a cuckolded blacksmith, Christian deputies, widows, War veterans, whores, witches, madmen and zombies. By the timethe smoke has cleared, the mystery of Smonk will be revealed, the survivors changed forever.
Jarred Into Being by Pat Lawrence
After the tragic death of her parents, Eva Lange must battle for her freedom; indeed, her very life. Fleeing her aunt's abuser, she falls prey to a murderous drug lord and his wife in their luxurious lair of lust. Using her wits, beauty, and sexuality to save herself and break the bonds of captivity and degradation, Eva struggles against corruption and powerful political forces to reclaim her independence and save the life of the man she loves.
And here is a list of some of the top books that I look forward to reading in 2012:
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Sometimes being on the vanguard of scientific progress thrusts you into the teeth of danger. For Minnesota pharmaceutical researcher Dr. Marina Singh, that means being sent into the remotest region of the Amazon jungle to track down her former mentor. Finding Dr. Annick Swenson promises to be perilous: The last scientist assigned to find her has disappeared too. What follows is the most ambitious novel yet by Bel Canto author Ann Patchett as its adventure story opens into a penetrating study of personalities, loyalties, and ethics. Editor's recommendation.
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
Intense, powerful, and compelling, Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones's The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever.
Written over the course of thirty years by a highly decorated Marine veteran, Matterhorn is a visceral and spellbinding novel about what it is like to be a young man at war. It is an unforgettable novel that transforms the tragedy of Vietnam into a powerful and universal story of courage, camaraderie, and sacrifice: a parable not only of the war in Vietnam but of all war, and a testament to the redemptive power of literature.
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.
Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Obviously, something went terribly wrong. Genetic mutations have festered, reducing human longevity to twenty-five, even less for most women. To prevent extinction, young girls are kidnapped, mated in polygamous marriages with men eager to procreate. Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery, a recent victim of this breeding farm mentality, has vowed to break loose from its fetters; but finding allies and a safe way out is a challenge she can only hope she will survive. A dystopian fantasy series starter with wings. Editor's recommendation.
Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel
One sunny morning in 1969, near the end of her first trip to Miami, twenty-six-year-old Frances Ellerby finds herself in a place called Stiltsville, a community of houses built on pilings in the middle of Biscayne Bay.
It’s the first time the Atlanta native has been out on the open water, and she’s captivated. On the dock of a stilt house, with the dazzling skyline in the distance and the unknowable ocean beneath her, she meets the house’s owner, Dennis DuVal—and a new future reveals itself.
Turning away from her quiet, predictable life back home, Frances moves to Miami to be with Dennis. Over time, she earns the confidence of his wild-at-heart sister and wins the approval of his oldest friend. Frances and Dennis marry and have a child—but rather than growing complacent about their good fortune, they continue to face the challenges of intimacy, and of the complicated city they call home.
Stiltsville is the family’s island oasis—until suddenly it’s gone, and Frances is forced to figure out how to make her family work on dry land. Against a backdrop of lush tropical beauty, Frances and Dennis struggle with the mutability of love and Florida’s weather, and with temptation and chaos and disappointment.
But just when Frances thinks she’s reached some semblance of higher ground, she must confront an obstacle so great that all she’s learned about navigating the uncharted waters of family life can’t keep them afloat.
In Stiltsville, Susanna Daniel interweaves the beauty, chaos, and humanity of Miami as it comes of age with an enduring story of a marriage’s beginning, maturity, and heartbreaking demise.
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Magic is dangerous--but love is more dangerous still.
When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.
Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.
Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.
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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