Literature and Poetry Reviews, Home of the Virtual Poetry Circle
The winner of Lovesick by Spencer Seidel was:
Ellie, who said, “This sounds like a realistic approach to the problems of substance abuse and the effects this illness has on relationships.”
Congrats to you. I hope you enjoy the book.
I’ll be a bit silent this week as I’m on vacation and the in-laws are in town. I hope everyone had a great week.
The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy is a novel told in a number of different points of view and spans several time periods, including the final year of World War II. Two strong female protagonists, each haunted by the past and each past is tied to war in one way or another.
Elsie Schmidt is a German immigrant to El Paso, Texas, who spent the last year of WWII in her father’s bakery working and shying away from the decisions that came with living in Nazi Germany. Unlike her sister, Hazel, who was in the Lebensborn program and praised for her work to help the Fatherland, Elsie sees herself as more of an outsider, lacking in the standard skills expected of a Good German.
“While Hazel thrived and grew more popular, Elsie felt oppressed and stifled by the uniforms and strict codes of conduct. So at the tender age of eleven, she begged Mutti to work in the bakery.” (Page 16)
Reba Adams is also an El Paso transplant, but she’s a journalist looking for her latest feel-good piece for the magazine she works for, but she gets more than she bargained for when she meets Elsie. Meanwhile, she’s hiding from her past and the ghosts of her dead Vietnam veteran father and failing to fully commit to the life she’s created in Texas with her fiance Riki, a border patrol officer.
“Everyone on campus knew her from the photograph in the Daily Cavalier: her lips bulging on the mouth guard; fuzzy, dark hair matted beneath the headgear; gloves up and ready. They thought she was an anomaly coming from the Adams family.” (Page 33)
The two different main perspectives in two different time periods is deftly handled by McCoy and each of her characters are strong and stubborn, but neither is lacking in dynamism or flaws. Also unique to the novel is how well McCoy weaves in the elements of baking and pastry into her description; it is seamless and will make readers’ mouths water and have them itching to try the recipes in the back of the book. Touching on family loyalty, mother-daughter bonds, father-daughter bonds, relationships of all kinds, plus the search for love and forgiveness, McCoy reaches deep inside the dough to knead the bonds of these women to help them grow outward and inward, allowing them to absorb more love and connections. The recipe for a successful novel is two parts dynamic characters, one part intriguing plot and story lines, and one part clever writing style, and The Baker’s Daughter provides all the nourishment you’ll need.
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About the Author:
SARAH McCOY is author of the novel, The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico. She has taught English writing at Old Dominion University and at the University of Texas at El Paso. The daughter of an Army officer, her family was stationed in Germany during her childhood. She calls Virginia home but presently lives with her husband and dog, Gilbert, in El Paso, Texas. The Baker’s Daughter is her second novel. She is currently working on her next.
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This is my 16th book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.
A Long, Long Way by Sebastian Barry is a historical fiction novel in which the main protagonist, Willie Dunne, joins the military to prove to himself and his father that he can be more than a short teenage boy. As a young Irish boy, he dreamed of joining his father in the police force, but he never grew to the required height. After disappointing his father, Willie meets a young woman, Gretta, and falls in love, just before he leaves for the front lines in Belgium. Willie is a bit dull when it comes to the politics behind WWI, but he’s also dull about the politics and struggle facing his home country of Ireland.
Barry’s prose meanders is a storytelling fashion that dates back to the old days in Ireland, and is likely to remind readers of Frank Delaney’s storytelling style. Willie’s mind wanders into his past as a boy to the present situations he finds himself in at the front lines, with a variety of men who are as young as he is. It is clear that these men he mentions are names that will either be soon forgotten as the ravages of war take them or who are men that make an impression on Willie’s psyche, such as Father Buckley.
“Four men killed that day. The phrase sat up in Willie’s head like a rat and made a nest for itself there.” (Page 21)
“As they approached the war, it was as if they went through a series of doors, each one opened briefly and locked fast behind them.” (Page 37)
“The first layer of clothing was his jacket, the second his shirt, the third his longjohns, the fourth his share of lice, the fifth his share of fear” (Page 43)
Barry’s prose is clipped when necessary to demonstrate the immediacy of war-time battles, but also it slows down the action as Willie reflects on the battles, the gas attacks, the deaths of his comrades, and more as he attempts to process all that he’s seen. There are gruesome gas attack scenes as the mustard gas inches its way across no-man’s land and down into the trenches, filling every open crevice with its nasty poison, including the open mouths of men caught in the trenches without gas masks or even well-secured gas masks. Barry’s work not only demonstrates the physical trials of war, but also the mental hardships that accompany the loss of friends and people you didn’t even really have time to get to know, as well as deal with the bureaucracy that is the military and the perceptions of others about your commitment to the cause and battles that happened in the past that you witnessed first hand and may not be retold in the way in which they actually happened. There is a battle that rages inside each soldier about when to speak up and when to keep quiet, and Willie struggles with that daily.
Willie can be a trying character in that he has little knowledge of the politics around him and has little opinion on the matter, and this can keep readers at an emotional distance. However, Barry has crafted a novel that demonstrates the ins and outs of war at a time when modern mechanisms were just coming into play, even though much of the combat was still hand-to-hand and the troops conditions saw little improvement. Additionally, it seems that Barry is attempting to comment on “authority” whether it is in the parent-son relationship, the soldier-military relationship, or the citizen-country relationship, but the message becomes quite muddled. It would almost seem as though the narration is trying to tackle too much in the way of the “authority” figure relationship, making it harder for readers to clearly make out the purpose of so many “father” figures in the narration.
A Long, Long Way by Sebastian Barry takes a while to get into, but once you begin the journey with Willie, you’ll want to see if he returns to Ireland knowing his own mind — the one requirement Gretta has made of him before she will agree to marry. While Willie thinks of her often, he also has to contend with the daily trials of war and military service. The novel is does not gloss over the gruesome aspects of trench-life and warfare, so be warned. In fact, some of the best and most suspenseful scenes were those involving mustard gas, which Willie and his fellow soldiers had never seen before; Barry did well in describing how it crept across the battlefields. Overall, a worthwhile look at WWI from the point of view of an Irish soldier caught between his loyalties for Ireland and the British army.
About the Author:
Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. His play, The Steward of Christendom, first produced in 1995, won many awards and has been seen around the world. His novel, The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, appeared in 1998. He lives in Wicklow with his wife and three children.
This is my 7th book for the WWI Reading Challenge.
This is my 15th book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.
This is my 1st book for the 2012 Ireland Reading Challenge since the main protagonist is Irish and must cope with being away during WWI while uprisings are occurring in Ireland for independence from England. The author also was born in Dublin.
Mailbox Mondays (click the icon to check out the new blog) has gone on tour since Marcia at A Girl and Her Books, formerly The Printed Page passed the torch. This month’s host is Diary of an Eccentric.
Kristi of The Story Siren continues to sponsor her In My Mailbox meme.
Both of these memes allow bloggers to share what books they receive in the mail or through other means over the past week.
Just be warned that these posts can increase your TBR piles and wish lists.
Here’s what I received this week:
1. What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes, which I bought.
In 1968, at the age of twenty-three, Karl Marlantes was dropped into the highland jungle of Vietnam, an inexperienced lieutenant in command of a platoon of forty Marines who would live or die by his decisions. Marlantes survived, but like many of his brothers in arms, he has spent the last forty years dealing with his war experience. In What It Is Like to Go to War, Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at what it is like to experience the ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our soldiers for war. Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination, and his readings—from Homer to The Mahabharata to Jung. He makes it clear just how poorly prepared our nineteen-year-old warriors are for the psychological and spiritual aspects of the journey.
Just as Matterhorn is already being acclaimed as acclaimed as a classic of war literature, What It Is Like to Go to War is set to become required reading for anyone—soldier or civilian—interested in this visceral and all too essential part of the human experience.
2. The Names of Things by John Colman Wood for review in May from Ashland Creek Press.
The anthropologist’s wife, an artist, didn’t want to follow her husband to the remote desert of northeast Africa to live with camel-herding nomads. But wanting to be with him, she endured the trip, only to fall desperately ill years later with a disease that leaves her husband with more questions than answers.
When the anthropologist discovers a deception that shatters his grief and guilt, he begins to reevaluate his love for his wife as well as his friendship with one of the nomads he studied. He returns to Africa to make sense of what happened, traveling into the far reaches of the Chalbi Desert, where he must sift through the layers of his memories and reconcile them with what he now knows.
3. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng for review in March from Myrmidon Books.
It’s Malaya, 1949. After studying law at Cambrige and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh, herself the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in Kuala Lumpur, in memory of her sister who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses, but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice ‘until the monsoon comes’. Then she can design a garden for herself. As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to her sensei and his art while, outside the garden, the threat of murder and kidnapping from the guerrillas of the jungle hinterland increases with each passing day. But the Garden of Evening Mists is also a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan? Why is it that Yun Ling’s friend and host Magnus Praetorius, seems to almost immune from the depredations of the Communists? What is the legend of ‘Yamashita’s Gold’ and does it have any basis in fact? And is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all?
4. A Demon Does It Better by Linda Wisdom, which I won from Peeking Between the Pages.
A MADHOUSE IS NO PLACE FOR A CURIOUS WITCH…
After more than a century, Doctor Lili Carter, witch healer extraordinaire, has returned to San Francisco and taken a job at Crying Souls Hospital and Asylum, where something peculiar and wicked his happening. Patients are disappearing, and Lil wants to know why. AND DOUBLY DANGEROUS FOR A DEMON… Lili finds herself undeniably attracted to perhaps the most mysterious patient of all-a demented but seriously sexy demon named Jared. What’s behind the gorgeous chameleon demon’s late-night escapades? Before long, Lili and Jared are investigating each other-and creating a whole new kind of magic.
What did you receive this week?
Welcome to the 139th Virtual Poetry Circle!
Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.
Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s books suggested. Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.
Also, sign up for the 2012 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge because its simple; you only need to read 1 book of poetry. Please visit the stops on the National Poetry Month Blog Tour from April 2011 and beginning again in April 2012.
Today’s poems is from Federico García Lorca:
Arbolé, Arbolé . . . (translated by William Logan) Tree, tree dry and green. The girl with the pretty face is out picking olives. The wind, playboy of towers, grabs her around the waist. Four riders passed by on Andalusian ponies, with blue and green jackets and big, dark capes. "Come to Cordoba, muchacha." The girl won't listen to them. Three young bullfighters passed, slender in the waist, with jackets the color of oranges and swords of ancient silver. "Come to Sevilla, muchacha." The girl won't listen to them. When the afternoon had turned dark brown, with scattered light, a young man passed by, wearing roses and myrtle of the moon. "Come to Granada, muchacha." And the girl won't listen to him. The girl with the pretty face keeps on picking olives with the grey arm of the wind wrapped around her waist. Tree, tree dry and green.
What do you think?
I’ve dropped all reading today
because today is Dr. Seuss’ birthday
or so they tell me
those bloggers I see.
Let’s celebrate
his wit and fate
to entertain children and adults
with whimsical words to exult.
He’ll be 108
isn’t that great.
Come share your rhymes
on Twitter; we’ll have good times.
Hashtag #SeussDay
Come and Play.
For the LOVE of Seuss
In all Seussiness, please join us and share your Seussian memories, favorite books, favorite rhymes, politics, and more today. I’ll tell you that my love of poetry started with Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, which he didn’t have published until 1958! If you have no idea why Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) is so fun, you should check out Seussville where you can learn about the author, his life, his politics, and just have fun creating your own Whoville character!
In a twist on Necromancy Never Pays‘ weekly trivia game, I’ve crafted a set of Seussian lines for you to check out and tell me which book they came from. A Seussian prize will be given to the winner who will be drawn at random from those who get all the answers right.
1. “UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
2. “They kept paying money. They kept running through until neither the Plain not the Star-Bellies knew whether this one was that one . . . or that one was this one or which one was what one . . . or what one was who.”
3. “‘I will not let you fall. I will hold you up high as I stand on a ball. With a book on one hand! And a cup on my hat! But that is not ALL I can do!'”
4. “I hate this game, sir. This game makes my tongue quite lame, sir.”
5. “I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you. You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on.”
My daughter’s room is homage to Seuss in his books, his famous quotes, his color palette, and his characters. I wanted her to be secure in her imagination, and I think that room will help her see that imagination can be
instrumental in success and happiness. What I always loved about Seuss — besides his poetic rhymes — was the limitlessness of his imagination in the worlds and characters he created. Worlds I just wanted to jump into and lose
myself in as a kid. He showed me that life was full of possibilities as long as I was willing to grab onto opportunity or create it where there was none.
For some fun with kids older than mine, you should check out the Seuss crafts on CoffeeCupandCrayons (Mulberry Street, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Oobleck)!
***Also today, I wanted to let everyone know that the judging process is still going for the Indie Lit Awards, and that the winners will be announced this month.***
The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage by Walter Dean Myers and Bill Miles is a book for ages 9-12 and chronicles the exploits of the “Harlem Hellfighters,” who were African-American soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment of World War 1. Miles writes the preface to the book and talks about his personal connection to the unit and Harlem, eventually becoming the unit historian.
“Hundreds of black men laid down their lives in France because they refused to believe that they were anything but men, worthy of being Americans and representing their country.” (Page IV)
Myers chronicles the presence of African Americans throughout military history starting from the French and Indian War through WWI. It also discusses the politics in Europe at the time, especially the desire of European nations to colonize developing countries and those nations rich with resources. Eventually, a division of partners arose, with Britain and France on one side and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other. There are detailed accounts of trenches — how they were dug and how many sets of trenches there were and why — and the rise of modern mechanized weapons and warfare.
Once the foundation is laid down, Myers begins to discuss the problem of race in the United States, beginning in 1896 with the Supreme Court decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson, which enabled companies, counties, states, etc. to segregate whites and blacks so long as the facilities are “equal.” Not only was segregation a problem, but within the black community, men were reluctant to join the National Guard and possibly fight for the United States when they were unable to vote or have the same rights as their white counterparts. This reluctance was only overcome when a famous black composer James Reese Europe agreed to volunteer for the 15th New York National Guard or 15th Infantry Regiment. It took organizers in New York at least one year — between 1916 and 1917 — to reach peacetime size of 1,378 men to obtain federal recognition and additional funding.
The true gems of The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage by Walter Dean Myers and Bill Miles are the historic photos of those volunteering for the regiment, tenement farmers, and more as well as copies of War Department letters, newspaper columns, telegrams, posters, and other documents. Although some of the military background can be dry, the story Myers tells about the black soldiers and their struggle against segregation and the solidarity they found as part of the Harlem Hellfighters is inspiring. The stories of Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts offer additional perspective on how black men became soldiers and how they fought once abroad. There are other stories like theirs as well, and these personal accounts humanize these historical figures. The struggle against racism and segregation and early war and political background takes up most of the book, with only the remaining third telling the story of the Hellfighters in WWI France. For the younger age group that this book is aimed at, Myers does well to pinpoint individual soldiers’ stories, but readers of that age would likely pay closer attention to the historical aspects if there were more of these stories.
About the Author:
Walter Dean Myers is a New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed author who has garnered much respect and admiration for his fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for young people. Winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award, he is considered one of the preeminent writers for children. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his family.
William Miles was born in Harlem, New York, and has used his deep knowledge and experience of that borough to produce films that tell unique and often inspiring stories of Harlem’s history. Based at Thirteen/WNET in New York City, William Miles produced many films dedicated to the African-American experience that have been broadcast nationwide. Miles’ interest in creating historical documentaries was nurtured through 25 years of restoring archival films and early feature classics for Killiam Shows, Inc. and the Walter Reade Organization in New York City.
This is my 6th book for the WWI Reading Challenge.
The Unauthorized Biography of Michele Bachmann and Other Stories by Ken Brosky is a collection of short stories prefaced by a bit of background about each story in the collection, including his trio of “Dodge County” stories. While this kind of preface can be enlightening or amusing, this one just seems unnecessary given the powerful stories beyond this “prologue.” From surviving a car accident that takes the life of your best friend to surviving the loss of a new friend in Darfur, these stories are poignant and threatening. They serve to demonstrate that loss can happen unexpectedly and can tear at you emotionally and physically.
“When you see your best friend’s neck snap back with all the force of three thousand pounds behind it before everything goes black, there are other bruises, too. They hide under the skin, just out of sight, and they take longer to heal.” (“The Third Pile,” page 50)
Some of these tales of survival border on the surreal, such as the arrival of the horseman of the apocalypse or a man deciding his future based on how many virtual deer are killed in a video game. Beyond the theme of survival, the collection also touches upon the theme of carpe diem — to stop waiting for something to happen or your fortunes to change — and take a risk. Each story is narrated by the first person, but the narrators are not the same, though they are similar in humor. Some narrators are harsh in their machismo, while others are self-deprecating about their accomplishments and talents. Brosky offers a variety of insecure male perspectives in these stories, which demonstrate how men cope with their insecurities. However, there are perspectives that are determined and secure in their convictions, no matter how unorthodox. Another interesting aspect of these survival stories is the settings chosen from rural areas to urban Washington, D.C., and with a range of characters from artists to war veterans.
The Unauthorized Biography of Michele Bachmann and Other Stories by Ken Brosky brings to the fore the power of indecision and chaos in a way that forces each narrator to struggle and survive even when circumstances are not as they expect them to be nor as they want them to be. Brosky’s prose is clipped at times, weaving stories in very few pages that leave a lasting impression. In some cases the characters are not as well developed and appear to be mouthpieces talking to the reader, although there is one essay with a satiric bent in which that is to be expected. Some stories leave their marks better than others, but overall, it is a satisfying look at survival in a number of different situations.
About the Author:
Ken Brosky was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He received his MFA from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and currently teaches English at various colleges in the Madison-Milwaukee area. He’s currently averaging 3 short story publications per year and wants to keep it that way.
Additionally, this is a stop on The Literary Road Trip since some of these stories take place in/near Washington, D.C.
This is my 14th book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.
Today’s monthly poetry event is sponsored by Kelly at The Written World, so go over there and link up your poetry post for February!
After reading and reviewing Resilience edited by Eric Nguyen last week, I started thinking about all the poetry I’ve read and how universal it is. I really pay little to no attention to what poets are LGBT and which poets are not. Most of us know that Walt Whitman was gay, as was Oscar Wilde. But what other classic and contemporary poets are/were LGBT? And could you tell by reading their poetry or were the verse more cryptic about it or more universal in scope?
While I am curious about how many published LGBT poets there are in contemporary society compared to those from the past, I’m more interested in whether we should bother categorizing our artists in this way. Do we really need to know the sexual orientation of our poets in order to enjoy their art form? Does it affect how we see their work and whether or not we enjoy it? And does their poetry have to focus on the struggles of their oppressed minority or can it be broader in focus?
Just some food for thought. I’d like to hear what everyone has to say.
For now, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite poems from Resilience edited by Eric Nguyen:
The Straight Boys Kiss by Rene Cardona so they sit and stare into the air the secrets texted make them nervous more each second so they lean in-- the smiles stop, and stares shoot like evening stars to the lips of the one across.
For those in NYC:
On March 17 at 3-5PM, an Open Mic night will be held for contributors to the collection at WordUP Books.
For more information about the Resilience project, visit the blog.
I hope you’ll consider joining the 2012 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge.
For those in the challenge who already have reviewed poetry volumes in February, please put your full links in the Mr. Linky below:
Ken Brosky’s book, The Unauthorized Biography of Michele Bachmann and Other Stories, is a collection of stories about survival whether it is a white man lost in Darfur or an Iraq war veteran with one leg. The collection has a certain wit about it and the writing is expected to make readers think about survival and all that it entails.
Today, Ken is going to regale us with his expertise on researching a story. So please give him a warm welcome.
When I was compiling my short stories for my first collection, I noticed that a number of them were examples of what I call “writing outside your box.” I’ve never been a phone hacker. I’ve never visited the region of Darfur. I’m not an Iraq War veteran. But regardless, the stories involving these various scenarios have all received a warm reception from readers and critics alike.
“Writing outside your box” isn’t anything new, but nowadays in literary fiction there really aren’t that many writers daring themselves to step away from their own lives and try something alien and unfamiliar. The old saying “write what you know” probably stops writers short when it comes to this. But there’s not a hypocrisy here, provided writers take the time to research the topic they’re going to incorporate into a story.
For example, my award-winning short story “I Can’t Just Turn it Off,” features an Iraq War Veteran who returns after losing a leg in an I.E.D. explosion. The story was originally published in Gargoyle Magazine and contains a fair bit of fiction given that I’ve never been to Iraq. So how did I put it together?
First, I talked to a veteran. His stories and experiences jump-started the writing process and sent my imagination into overdrive. After I’d established what I wanted out of the overall story, I began researching. I looked up I.E.D. details. I watched and read interviews with veterans. I research PTSD. I was also inspired by a very touching warts-and-all first-person account of a soldier who realized just how much the war had changed him and was disgusted by it.
All of this made for a better story, even though 99 percent of it wasn’t used in the final draft. The research became more of a guiding force, and it was all inspired by a single conversation with an Iraq War veteran.
I remember while in my MFA program, I’d accidentally convinced my workshop class that I’d worked in a video store. They were convinced, reading one of my short stories, that I had some experience renting out DVD’s and VHS tapes. I didn’t. What I’d done was fool them well enough that they were able to get lost in the story and accept the details I was providing them. I did it mainly through research: I spent time inside my favorite video store. I talked to the owner constantly. I wandered the aisles, picking up the smells and the sights. I even spied on the employees as they went out and restocked recently returned videos!
Here’s another example: “Gojira: King of the Monsters” by Jim Shepard is one of the best short stories I’ve read in a long time. It re-energized my writing habits and challenged me to dig even deeper while researching for stories. “Gojira” is a fictional story about the man who designed the Godzilla costume for the original movie. The details are amazing, right down to the director’s frustrations and the methods used to destroy the mini-Tokyo set. Beyond that, it’s also a story about the bombing of Hiroshima, and how important that all-too-familiar monster really was to an entire society.
Research like this takes practice. It takes patience. But one of the best gifts a writer can provide to readers is the gift of escape, and taking readers to new and exciting places is a fantastic thing … provided the writer does some research first.
Thanks, Ken. Stay tuned for my review of this collection.
Mailbox Mondays (click the icon to check out the new blog) has gone on tour since Marcia at A Girl and Her Books, formerly The Printed Page passed the torch. This month’s host is the Metro Reader.
Kristi of The Story Siren continues to sponsor her In My Mailbox meme.
Both of these memes allow bloggers to share what books they receive in the mail or through other means over the past week.
Just be warned that these posts can increase your TBR piles and wish lists.
Here’s what I received this week:
1. The Turning of Anne Merrick by Christine Blevins, which I won from Mailbox Monday.
She spies for General Washington, betrays the Redcoats and battles for America’s independence…
It’s 1777, and a fledgling country wages an almost hopeless struggle against the might of the British Empire. Brought together by a fateful kiss, Anne Merrick and Jack Hampton are devoted to each other and to their Patriot cause. As part of Washington’s daring network of spies, they are ready and willing to pay even the ultimate price for freedom.
From battlefields raging along the Hudson, to the desperate winter encampment at Valley Forge and through the dangerous intrigue of British-occupied Philadelphia, Anne and Jack brave the trials of separation, the ravages of war and an unyielding enemy growing ever more ruthless.
For love and for country, all is put at risk-and together the pair must call upon their every ounce of courage and cunning in order to survive.
2. The Music in Her Mind by Robert Gilkes, which I received from the publisher Winged Lion.
In June 1945, Colonel Alexander Litchfield is an exhausted war-torn officer, tormented by nightmares of the inhuman acts he has committed. In the last days of the war he takes the surrender of a vast army of Cossacks escaping from the Russians.
Among them is Larisa Korsakova, a concert cellist with whom he had an idyllic love affair in Paris before the war. High in the Alpine forest above the POW camp they escape from the horrors they have endured into their irresistible passionate desire for each other… Until Lara is handed over to the Soviets.
3. You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake by Anna Moschovakis, which I received from the Academy of American Poets and won the 2011 James Laughlin Award.
A sharp-witted investigation of love, work, and human responsibility in the age of consumption and hyperexposure.
“[Moschovakis’] poems illuminate, amuse, and provoke. Plato would have loved them.”—Ann Lauterbach
In a world where we find “everything helping itself / to everything else,” Anna Moschovakis incorporates Craigslist ads, technobabble, twentieth-century ethics texts, scientific research, autobiographical detail, and historical anecdote to present an engaging lyric analysis of the way we live now. “It’s your life,” she tells the reader, “and we have come to celebrate it.”
4. Nadia Knows Best by Jill Mansell, which I received for review from Sourcebooks in May.
Nadia Kinsella meets Jay Tiernan after plowing her car into a snowdrift. When they end up stranded for the night in a rural pub, the attraction between them flares. But Nadia already has a boyfriend, and she’s not a one-night-stand kind of girl. When Nadia and her boyfriend break up months later, she bumps into Jay again. They start working together on a joint venture, but now it’s Jay’s turn to be otherwise involved…
5. All Roads Lead to Austen by Amy Elizabeth Smith, which I received for review from Sourcebooks in June.
Armed with only a suitcase and dozens of copies of Austen’s novels, professor Amy Elizabeth Smith took to the road and organized book clubs in six different Central and South American countries. Along the way, she battled through a life-threatening illness, discovered friendship and love, and learned more about life-and the power of Austen-than she ever could have imagined. All Roads Lead to Austen celebrates the wisdom of letting go and becoming, no matter what our age.
What did you receive this week?
Sometimes kismet happens and another event in the blogosphere happens to coincide with the war we’re covering here at War Through the Generations. In this case, a WWI-related mystery series written by Charles Todd — a mother-son writing team — is having a read-a-long at Book Club Girl. The series is those starring Bess Crawford.
If you’re interested in joining, here are some of the details:
The “Book Time with Bess Read Along” kicks off now and runs through the publication of the newest book in the series, An Unmarked Grave in June 2012.
As an added bonus to get you started, the e-book of A Duty to the Dead is just $1.99 for a limited time, so order up today and get reading!
The read-along officially kicks off today (but don’t worry, our first discussion won’t take place until March 26th) and it runs through the publication of the paperback of the most recent Bess Crawford novel, A Bitter Truth (on sale 5/1), as well as the new Bess Crawford hardcover, An Unmarked Grave (on sale 6/5). We’ll end the read-along in June with a Book Club Girl on Air Show with the Charles Todd writing team to discuss all the books in the series.
Here’s the schedule of when I’ll post questions about each book for us to discuss:
March 26th – A Duty to the Dead discussion
April 30th – An Impartial Witness discussion
May 1st – A Bitter Truth paperback goes on sale
May 29th – A Bitter Truth discussion (May 28th is Memorial Day)
June 5th – An Unmarked Grave – the new hardcover goes on sale
June 25th – An Unmarked Grave discussion
June 28th – Book Club Girl on Air Show with Charles Todd to Discuss the Entire SeriesLook for updates along the way here, on Twitter (#besscrawford), and on the Book Club Girl and Charles Todd Facebook pages.
Please check out the rest of the details and sign up here.
