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Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

December 19, 2013 by

Source: Borrowed from Diary of an Eccentric
Paperback, 460 pages
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Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt is a memoir about his young life and his coming of age.  The memoir does not gloss over the hardships he and his family face, nor does it leave out the bad things McCourt did as a child to survive.  It’s heartbreaking to see how a father can shun his responsibilities in favor of alcohol, while leaving his wife little recourse but to beg for charity on a weekly and daily basis just to feed her young children.  Angela, his mother, becomes a shadow of herself with the trials they face, especially as some of their youngest children perish from starvation and disease in America and even at home in Ireland.  Beginning in America, Angela meets a young man and falls in love, but he’s not the man she thinks he is and soon discovers that he is plagued by the need for drink.  Their hardships continue even as they are sent back to Ireland by relatives in the New World.

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all.  It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while.  Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”  (page 9)

Living in a time when women were not allowed to work and when men were not expected to hand over their wages to their wives or to have their wives with them when they got paid — because his father takes the wages when he’s paid and eventually comes home with nothing — becomes a heavy burden on the family.  This leaves his wife to beg the grocer for credit so she can buy necessities for her family, and in Ireland it is worse because with a husband from the North, he’s unable to get a job in the first place.  Even when he does get a job, he often loses it by drinking late into the night and then sleeping in the next day.  These circumstances make it difficult for her and the family to stay healthy and even survive.

Although readers will be surprised at how long this family is able to survive in spite of the deaths and the starvation, they’ll also be surprised at the depth of their own loyalty and love for their father.  Rarely is anything said by the children about their father, though the mother surely speaks her mind about his penchant for the pint and his irresponsibility — to no avail.  McCourt pulls no punches about telling the darkest moments of his early life, including the beatings he took from teachers and family members.  There is still a sense of hope in him even in the most dire of circumstances.

Whether all of the things that happened in the memoir are fact or just his remembrances, there is clearly an atmosphere of struggle that has driven him to make the most of the circumstances he’s given.  He strives to do his best in school, to care for his family as best he can in the absence of his father, and to make something of himself in spite of all he must battle against.  Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt is dark and hopeless at times, but there is the light of humor and hope between the lines.  This is a memoir that reads more like a novel.

About the Author:

Frank McCourt (1930-2009) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Irish immigrant parents, grew up in Limerick, Ireland, and returned to America in 1949. For thirty years he taught in New York City high schools. His first book, “Angela’s Ashes,” won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the L.A. Times Book Award. In 2006, he won the prestigious Ellis Island Family Heritage Award for Exemplary Service in the Field of the Arts and the United Federation of Teachers John Dewey Award for Excellence in Education.

This is my 4th and final book for the Ireland Reading Challenge 2013.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, Ireland Challenge, memoir, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, reviews, Simon & Schuster Tagged With: ,

Undressing Mr. Darcy by Karen Doornebos

December 18, 2013 by

Source: Publisher Berkley Trade
Paperback, 368 pages
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Undressing Mr. Darcy by Karen Doornebos is a contemporary novel steeped heavily in the Austenite world, with Vanessa Roberts’ Aunt Ella one of the leaders of an American chapter of the Jane Austen society.  Vanessa is a social media genius and public relations expert, and as a favor to her aunt — with a bit of matchmaking in the background — she takes on the book tour and American media blitz tour of Mr. Darcy.  The man has stepped out of the pages of Pride & Prejudice, including the breeches and cravat, and he oozes British charm and politeness that’s hard to read, but Vanessa can’t help falling for the storybook fairytale.

“A fortune-teller with heavy makeup lasered in on Vanessa from across the lobby and came right up to her.  ‘I see foreign travel in your future.  It’s what you need, darling.'” (page 29)

Doornebos sets the scene of Vanessa’s world well, from her attachment to the virtual world as a safety blanket to protect her from the real world to the real-world life that comes crashing down around her.  While her relationship with her aunt is tight and endearing, her fallout with Lexi — her former best friend and business partner — is a bit mysterious, but once revealed seems like a deal-breaker for good until the friendship chemistry between the two becomes overpowering, even for the reader.  It’s clear that these two women are strong and will butt heads, but that they sincerely have their friend’s interests at heart.

Mixing the modern world with Austen’s world creates clashes and moments of nostalgia for written letters and face-to-face meetings. While the first half of the book is quick and engaging, once Vanessa hits the streets of Bath and London, the pace slows down as she takes in the sights of Austen’s home and goes on a scavenger hunt for the man of her dreams. Doornebos has created a commentary on the modern pace of life, while at the same time holding true to Austen’s outlook on matchmaking and romance. Things are not always as they seem in this world or in Austen’s.

Undressing Mr. Darcy by Karen Doornebos is full of romance, misdirection, secrets, and sexy men.  Doornebos surely knows what most women want these days in a love story — hot men with substance.  Vanessa is a strong woman who needs to learn how to be vulnerable, and she also needs to learn that being vulnerable doesn’t have to translate into being a lapdog or doormat.

About the Author:

Karen Doornebos is the author of UNDRESSING MR. DARCY published by Berkley, Penguin. Her first novel, DEFINITELY NOT MR. DARCY, has been published in three countries.

She lived and worked in London for a short time, but is now happy just being a lifelong member of the Jane Austen Society of North America and living in the Chicagoland area with her husband, two teenagers and various pets, including a bird.

A fun moment in the book for me is imagining the lecture Dr. Cornel West would give at a Jane Austen Society gathering.  If you think it’s an odd pairing, check out this video:

This is my 81st book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

Robert Plant: A Life by Paul Rees

December 4, 2013 by

Sources: It Books, HarperCollins
Hardcover, 368 pages
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Robert Plant: A Life by Paul Rees is an unauthorized biography of one of Led Zeppelin‘s front men — the one some called a golden god.  Beginning with his early years in grade school, Plant was not destined to be the straight arrow his father wanted him to be.  His antics started as a young adolescent stealing small instruments from well-known musicians that visited local clubs.  He was initially influenced by the sway of Elvis, miming his records on the sofa with a hairbrush for a microphone.  But Rees also provides a background on the region and its hardships, which shaped his father and his older family members.  The hardships the family faced also shaped their attitudes toward a young man finding his love of music and barreling headlong into it.

Rees prose is engaging, like an old friends talking to one another, and the smattering of quotes from friends and family about the events that shaped not only Plant, but also the band, make readers feel like their watching a documentary unfold.  And like most documentaries with producers close to the subject, some of the more sordid details of drug use and sex are muted — though a salacious tale about the band and its members has likely been done before and does not need to be repeated.  Rees has a greater focus on the music Plant created in a series of defunct bands, his poor luck with bands when he started out, and his wild success as the lead singer of Led Zeppelin.

“He had felt fear gnawing away at him.  The dread of how he might appear to all the thousands out there in the dark.  Here he was, a man in his sixtieth year, desiring to roll back time and recapture all the wonders of youth.  Did that, would that, make him seem a fool? In those long minutes with himself he had looking in the mirror and asked over and over if he really could be all that he had once been; if it were truly possible for him to take his voice back up to the peaks it had once scaled.  He had so many questions but no answers.” (page 1)

As a young husband, he’d made a pact with his bride that if he had not made it by his twentieth birthday in a successful band, he’d give it up to support his family.  It was just before he was set to find a real job that he was asked to join Jimmy Page to create Led Zeppelin.  Plant soon finds himself separating his personalities in two directions — the devoted family man and the consummate rock star.  Several tragedies and the weight of drugs and violence lead to the band’s demise and Plant’s moving onward — creating more music.

Robert Plant: A Life by Paul Rees leaves analysis of the personalities behind and merely relies on outside sources, interviews, and other insights from those who were there to give shape to a tumultuous time of a rock star.  But beyond that, the biography offers up a human look at a rock god, though one with a limited view.  Readers will feel like its rehashed and glosses over the real man in favor of critiquing the music.  It seems like his early beginnings in music, Plant’s career after Zeppelin was up and down, but he never seemed to lose his love of music.  Just wish there was more fresh research.

About the Author:

Paul Rees has written about music for more than twenty years. In that time he has interviewed everyone from Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, and Madonna to Bono, Take That, and AC/DC. His work has appeared in many publications, including the Sunday Times Culture, the Telegraph, the Independent, and the Evening Standard. He was also editor of two of the UK’s most successful and long-standing music publications, Q and Kerrang!, for a total of twelve years.

This is my 80th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, Harper Collins, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

The Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Pamela Mingle

December 3, 2013 by

Source: William Morrow and TLC Book Tours
Paperback, 240 pages
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The Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Pamela Mingle is what could be considered a sequel Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, but rather than focus on Elizabeth and Jane Bennet as the heroines, Mingle chooses the more pious and somewhat ridiculous sister Mary.  Mary Bennet has been the butt of the family’s jokes and jibes for much of her childhood, and for the most part Lydia and Kitty Bennet treat her in much the same way even though she is in her early twenties and has clearly changed.  Rather than sing to the detriment of society’s ears, she’s content with refining her pianoforte playing, leaving singing to others who are more gifted.  She once sat idly by and took the criticisms of her siblings and parents and held those resentments inside, but now she’s more inclined to speak her mind, while not being overly rude.  She’s a more matured woman, though still unsure of her feelings and her place in the family.

“I’d always believed I would remain a spinster.  I would disappoint as a wife.  I had not the easy compliance, the ability to defer to a husband, and worst of all, I lacked beauty, conduct, and, at times, even common sense.  But Jane said I had changed.  Truly, I valued her opinion above that of anyone else.”  (page 85)

Told from Mary’s point of view, readers are given an inside look into her growth as a young woman and a sister.  Rather than admonishing her sisters for their poor behavior aloud and in public, she’s taken to more tactful advice.  She’s a more well-rounded woman, though still naive when it comes to marriage, romance, and the bond between men and women.  While readers will enjoy this more evolved Mary and getting a glimpse into the lives of their favorite Bennets — Jane and Lizzy — the parallels between Lizzy and Darcy’s love story is reflected in Mary’s romance.  The close parallels from the quick prejudices and anger over easily explained moments lack an imagination one would expect, especially in this tale.  However, given Mary’s limited contact with men at Longbourn, it does stand to reason she would be unsure how to respond to male attentions.  Readers may have wanted a more inventive romance with trials different from those of Darcy and Lizzy.

The Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Pamela Mingle is a solid novel in the same vein as Austen’s work, and breathing life into the stern and bookish Mary is tough to pull off, but Mingle’s Mary is believable.  She’s a young woman of principle, and given her sisters’ love matches, it is no wonder that she would want to settle for nothing less.

About the Author:

Pamela Mingle is the author of Kissing Shakespeare, a time-travel romance for young adults set in Elizabethan England. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Pikes Peak Writers, Romance Writers of America, and the Jane Austen Society of North America.

Find out more about Pamela at her website, connect with her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

This is my 79th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, Harper Collins, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

November 26, 2013 by

Source: Public Library
Paperback, 235 pages
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The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway is a truncated look at the siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s that lasted about three years, though in this novel, it is reduced to about 30 days.  While the cellist is a real individual, Galloway has crafted him into a larger-than-life character, who signifies the hope that the people of Sarajevo cling to even in the face of dead bodies left to rot in the streets.  In addition to the cellist, who is more of an abstraction than a character with his own perspective, there is Arrow, a young, female sniper, Kenan, who has a wife and three children to care for, and Dragan, an older man who works at the local bakery.  Through alternating chapters, the fear and angst felt by these characters becomes heightened for the reader as they watch people fall to their knees after snipers shoot them or as the shelling begins and their own lives are at the mercy of chance.  The novel has a heavy atmosphere, a gray smoldering that permeates through the pages, weighing down the characters, slumping their shoulders and pushing them into darker places.

“If this city is to die, it won’t be because of the men on the hills, it will be because of the people in the valley.” (page 213)

Arrow has joined the resistance to fight against those that wish to destroy her people and the city, but while she’s been given free rein to choose her own military targets, things are about to change for her, and the hatred she feels for “them” — who are never clearly defined — becomes a motivator and a detriment to her.  Her character is pushed to the limit and she’s forced to make a decision that could be detrimental — a move that was rather dramatic and a bit predictable.  Kenan, meanwhile, is merely striving to keep his family alive, running to the brewery with his water containers to ensure they have enough to get through the next couple of weeks.  He makes these trips trembling in fear, but the fear only momentarily paralyzes him as he remembers the life before the siege and what life would be like without it.  He holds onto his daydreams of a family engrossed in its daily chores and entertainments, and keeps moving.  Dragan has been traveling to the bakery in solitude, rarely speaking to strangers and nearly always avoiding conversation with those he knew before the siege, cutting himself off.  Readers spend a great deal of time with him at an intersection where people are forced to take chances with their lives when they cross — some running, some sauntering, and some zigzagging across.

“‘Give Raza my love,’ she says, leaning in and hugging him.  She feels warm and substantial, much larger than when he hugged her only a short time ago.  She has become real to him again.” (page 115-6)

Galloway’s novel is about what it means to be in the midst of war, without understanding the reasons behind it, and yet, still facing the violence on a daily basis.  Readers will be required to ask themselves what is important, and to draw their own conclusions about why the cellist sits at 4 p.m. for 22 days to play Albinoni’s Adagio — the site of a mortar shelling where 22 people were killed while waiting in line for bread. Although lacking actual political/sociological motivations and the time line of the siege, Galloway seems to have a handle on the range of emotions and reactions people can have in war — whether it be a focus on hatred and revenge or the dissociation people can feel from their own country men in the face of uncertainty and death. The Cellist of Sarajevo is a novel in simple prose that belies the complexity of the moral and emotional issues it addresses.

About the Author:

Steven Galloway was born in Vancouver, and raised in Kamloops, British Columbia. He attended the University College of the Cariboo and the University of British Columbia. His debut novel, Finnie Walsh, was nominated for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award. His second novel, Ascension, was nominated for the BC Book Prizes’ Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and has been translated into numerous languages. His third novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo, was published in spring of 2008. It was heralded as “the work of an expert” by the Guardian, and has become an international bestseller with rights sold in 20 countries. Galloway has taught creative writing at the University of British Columbia.

What the Book Club Thought:

Even though three members were unable to make the meeting, those that were able to attend seemed to like the novel, with one member saying that it was an easy and short read. Two members liked the POV of Arrow best, while one seemed to like both Arrow and Dragan and another preferred Kenan. One member believed that Kenan was the most human of the characters because of his interactions with other people throughout his travels to get water, while another thought that Dragan was more realistic in his detachment from others because of the harshness of war and the constant fear the residents endured. Arrow’s POV was more active, and one member enjoyed the use of strategy she employed in her efforts to protect the cellist. It seems as though this book was well received among the members in attendance.

This is my 78th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Adé: A Love Story by Rebecca Walker

November 12, 2013 by

Source: TLC Book Tours and New Harvest
Hardcover, 128 pages
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Adé: A Love Story by Rebecca Walker reads like a memoir, but it is fiction.  A young, American woman who has felt unmoored since her parents’ divorce, even at an Ivy League school until she falls into the web of Miriam, a free-spirited twenty-something whose eager to lose herself in the passions of others, particularly by having sex with men.  At the end of the school year, she and Miriam decide to see the “real” Africa and Middle East, traveling first to Egypt and slowly moving into more southern territories.  While Walker’s novella is considered a love story, it is far from overtly romantic, and it is more a search for identity, an identity that is strong and unwavering.  This nineteen-year-old, who later becomes known as Farida, is searching, always searching and consciously taking note of her place in the world.

“I was nineteen years old to Miriam’s twenty-one.  I felt raw and unfinished, where she seemed complete and self-assured.  I was a child of divorce and felt like I came from a thousand places — each one holding a little piece of me, and I drifted among them with no way to gather them up.  Miriam was from just one place, Miami, and more specifically, the moneyed enclave of Coconut Grove.” (page 4)

As they are touring Egypt, both young women are searching for something more authentic in their experience, rather than the tourist traps of Cairo and Giza, where Walker’s prose refers to tourists as flies around a plate of food.  Just from these early moments and descriptions, the reader can garner a sense that Farida is still searching for a home, a place where she not only feels worthy but safe and loved.  These tourist traps are not what she has come for her, with her “copper-colored” skin and “brown eyes the shape of almonds.”  As the narrative shifts away from Farida and Miriam’s experiences and becomes more focused on Farida’s alone, the reader gets a sense that something has shifted in the narrative — something more serious has come.

Even after she meets Adé, a Swahili Muslim from the Kenyan island of Lamu, Farida has succumbed to the feeling of belonging in these nations’ she’s visited, with their small villages and welcoming people.  Their romance is slow, and yet fast.  They begin with meetings at night after he works and walks throughout the town, then things heat up even faster after she reveals her passion for him.  Although this relationship blooms quickly and breaks her away from the past she’s known in America, her sensibilities have never strayed too far outside those democratic principles, and it is those principles that sets her apart in a world she’s come to think of as her own. Adé: A Love Story by Rebecca Walker is not a traditional story of love between a man and a woman, but of finding the love that can lift you up, complete you, and make you stronger even in the most adverse circumstances — and there are plenty of those here as the Persian Gulf War begins in the background.

About the Author:

Rebecca Walker is the author of the best-selling memoirs Black, White and Jewish and Baby Love, and editor of the anthology Black Cool. She is also the editor of the anthologies To Be Real, What Makes a Man, and One Big Happy Family. Her writing has appeared in Bookforum,  Newsweek, Glamour, Marie Claire, The Washington Post, Vibe, and Interview, among many other publications, and she blogs regularly for The Root. For more information, please visit her Website and follow her on Twitter.

 

ENTER to win 1 copy of Rebecca Walker’s Adé: A Love Story by leaving a comment below by Nov. 18, 2013, at 11:59 p.m.

This is my 77th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, giveaway, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

The Super Duper Princess Heroes: How It All Started by Sanjay Nambiar

November 7, 2013 by

Source: Umiya Publishing
Hardcover, 32 pages
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The Super Duper Princess Heroes: How It All Started by Sanjay Nambiar is the story of three ordinary girls — Oceana, Kinney, and Sammie — who stumble upon a silver bag one day in the forest.  Once they put on the magical tiaras, Oceana, Kinney, and Sammie garner some fantastic super powers and become the Super Duper Princess Heroes!  However, like anything, there’s a catch, and in this case, that catch is the magical powers come with responsibility.  The book is tailored to those in Kindergarten or perhaps even preschool with help from mom and dad.  The pictures are vibrant in color, though the book is clearly geared toward young girls, rather than boys.

Using nearly current vernacular, such as “awesomeness,” the author is sure to engage young readers in his fanciful princess world.  While the girls have less than ordinary names for the most part, the Fairy Teacher Mother Superstar Queen does — her name is Betty.  Some of these titles, however, can be a mouthful for youngsters, and readers may simply shorten them to Princess Heroes and Fairy Queen or Superstar Fairy.

Another unique feature in the book is when one of the princesses flies a prince across a river — the page shifts from left to right to top to bottom reading in the book.  This gives young readers a sense of the princess and prince flying upwards.  It would be interesting to see how the author may consider using a similar technique and perhaps other interactive features if the book were turned into a series.

The Super Duper Princess Heroes: How It All Started by Sanjay Nambiar hit the spot for my little one, who is not near kindergarten quite yet, because she’s in princess mode.  Everything is about princesses, including this year’s Halloween costume, unless it’s about fairies — in that case, Tinker Bell.

About the Author:

Sanjay Nambiar grew up in Carson, CA, where he overcame a gang- and drug-riddled environment with the help of a closely-knit family and a focus on education. He graduated with honors from U.C. Berkeley, with degrees in Economics and Neurobiology, and earned an M.B.A. from UCLA. He now is a freelance copywriter in Los Angeles, CA. Through his books, Sanjay hopes to inspire readers and convey positive messages to kids. He won a Mom’s Choice Awards Silver Medal and a Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Awards Gold Medal for his debut book, “Maybe (A Little Zen for Little Ones)”. He also is the author of the award-winning “Still There? (A Little Zen for Little Ones)” and “Remember the Stars (A Little Zen for Little Ones)”. In 2013, Sanjay published “The Super Duper Princess Heroes: How It All Started,” a picture book that subverts the princess paradigm and encourages girls to be empowered while retaining the cuteness of the princess aesthetic.

This is my 76th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Milk and Other Stories by Simon Fruelund, translated by K.E. Semmel

November 5, 2013 by

Source: K.E. Semmel, translator
Paperback, 110 pages
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Milk and Other Stories by Simon Fruelund, translated by K.E. Semmel is a collection of short stories translated from Danish to English.  This slim collection is not only nuanced, but powerful in how it uses stripped down prose to examine complexities in human relationships.  From the brothers who clearly have become estranged and strive to rekindle their brotherhood to a young poet coming to terms with a professor who is not as he remembers, these short stories are subtle enough to get under the skin and powerful enough to make an impression on the psyche.  Fruelund’s stories are short but no less indelible than a well-written novel; and at no point in the English translation will readers feel that something isn’t right — in fact, these stories seem both distinctly Danish and English.

Many of these stories seem to touch upon what the cover suggests — spilt milk.  The idiom everyone knows is “There’s no point crying over spilt milk,” but how true is that saying…should we not cry over the adversity we face and simply move on or is it okay to dwell and cry over those events even if they cannot be changed.  For instance, in “What Is It?,” a father helps his son from a second marriage move out of his shared apartment and into another, thinking all the while about failed marriages — of which the father has had three — and how similar patterns can play out in the lives of loved ones.  What advice could he possibly offer his son; how do they relate knowing that the father left his mother for a third marriage; and how does the son move on from one relationship to the next without questioning it?  Although some of these questions may not be answered, Fruelund provides the reader with enough to chew on.

From ” Hair”:  “Frands stands and goes out to the yard.  Yellow apples lie in the grass.  He walks to the garage looking for something to sit on and finds an old recliner.  With some effort he hauls it outside.  He sits facing the house and takes a nip from the bottle.  He lets his eyes wander over the house’s whitewashed facade.  Even in the half-dark it seems stained and porous, and he can see spots where the plaster has been cracked by frost.  The real estate agent had talked for a long time about how charming the house was.  An artist villa, he’d called it.  With space for children.  It was exactly what they were looking for, Mette had said.” (page 40 ARC)

Milk and Other Stories by Simon Fruelund, translated by K.E. Semmel, is about ordinary people facing some pretty typical situations, but what makes each one unique is the parts outside the stories that we cannot see and that are only hinted at.  Fruelund explores not only jealousy and infidelity, but also regret and many other complex emotions that each of experiences with not only family but wives, husbands, lovers, friends, and neighbors.

About the Author:

Since the publication of his first book in 1997, Simon Fruelund has been one of Denmark’s most delightfully entertaining writers. He possesses a rare gift for creative reinvention. From his early realist-inspired stories (“Tide,” “What is It?” and “Hair”) to his later “pointillist” work (“Man on the Bus,” “Civil Twilight”), Fruelund finds new ways to express and shape his ever-developing artistic vision. He is the author of five books, among them Mælk (1997) and Panamericana (2012). His work has been translated into Italian, Swedish, and English, and his short stories have appeared in a number of magazines across the U.S, including World Literature Today, Redivider, and Absinthe.  For nine years Fruelund worked as an editor at Denmark’s largest publishing house, Gyldendal, but is now writing full time.

About the Translator:

K.E. Semmel is a writer and translator whose work has appeared in Ontario Review, the Washington Post, Aufgabe, The Brooklyn Review, The Bitter Oleander, and elsewhere. He is the Publications & Communications Manager of The Writer’s Center, an independent nonprofit literary organization based in Bethesda, MD that offers over 300 workshops in writing annually and hosts around 50 literary events a year. It was recently named by Poets & Writers Magazine as one of 8 “places to go nationwide for writing classes”. For his work translating Simon Fruelund’s fiction, he has received a translation grant from the Danish Arts Council.

This is my 75th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2013, reviews, short stories Tagged With: , , ,

Sense & Sensibiliy by Joanna Trollope

October 31, 2013 by

Source: TLC Book Tours and Harper
Hardcover, 368 pages
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Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope is the first of the books in Harper’s Austen Project in which six bestselling contemporary authors use Jane Austen’s famous novels as a basis for their own modern versions.  With so many modern day versions, spin-offs, and continuations of Austen’s classic books, the expectations for the project are likely high, but this first rendition is a mixed bag.  While sticking very close to the original plots, Trollope’s main contribution to the original is an exaggeration of the characters — Elinor has too much sense (even more than Austen’s version) and Marianne is overly dramatic at every turn — and the introduction of modern technology, like Twitter, YouTube, iPods, and Facebook.  Although the exaggerated characters could be considered parody in a way, in some scenes they come off as merely annoying.

“It had been made plain to Sir John, from a young age, that the luxury of making choices in life simply did not exist without money.  Money was not an evil.” (page 42 ARC)

The social conventions of Austen’s time continue to play a role here, with characters motivated to find matches with money because without them, they will be destitute.  But in this modern society, it is hard to see that women would have just this option open to them, unless they are as shallow as Lucy Steele.  In fact, Elinor takes a job, at least part time until she completes her degree, but most everyone else seems content to sponge off their richer relatives, without much gratitude — though with relatives like these, it would be hard to muster gratitude.  Trollope clearly understands the foils that Marianne and Elinor play in the novel, and her exaggerations of their character in a modern society of social media may seem a bit much, but for young women constantly surrounded by their faults and mistakes, it might be believable.  Elinor, here, seems to represent a need in society for privacy, a greater need than society seems willing to allow unless people completely withdraw from society.  She’s strong, but at the same time, she’s vulnerable, as she pines for Edward.

Trollope has done a superb job with the youngest sister, Margaret, a young girl struggling with her emotions after her father’s death, being pushed out of the only home she’s ever known (Norland), and moving to a new school without her friends.  Bill Brandon is still reserved and quietly watching in the background, still considered boring by Marianne, and still caring, but there is a dynamic Trollope adds that will have readers cheering for something that was not in the original.  Meanwhile, John “Wills” Willoughby is even more dastardly in Trollope’s novel, yet he is still partially redeemable if you can buy that marrying for money is still a motivator in society, which it might still be among the more wealthy families.  Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope is more focused on the excess in modern society as seen through her take on Marianne, Margaret, Elinor and the other characters, which can be extrapolated from their reactions to events and relationships.  Although readers would expect a more cohesive melding of the modern world with Austen, Trollope has created a new commentary on society that applies more easily to the modern world’s emphasis on excess and self-promotion.

About the Author:

Joanna Trollope is the #1 bestselling author of eighteen novels, including The Soldier’s Wife, Daughters-in-Law, Friday Nights, The Other Family, Marrying the Mistress, and The Rector’s Wife. Her works have been translated into more than twenty-five languages and several have been adapted for television. She was appointed to the Order of the British Empire in 1996 for her services to literature, and served as the Chair of Judges for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2012. She lives in London and Gloucestershire.  Find out more about Joanna on her website.  Photo credit: Barker Evans.

This is my 74th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, fiction, Harper Collins, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

Halloween Sleepwalker by Thomas Freese, illustrated by Fran Riddell

October 30, 2013 by

Source: Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
Hardcover, 64 pages
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Halloween Sleepwalker by Thomas Freese, illustrated by Fran Riddell will be an instant hit with kids from the colorful images that are American Gothic with a pop culture twist in style to the story that will have their imaginations zooming. The images are crisp and at times resemble scrapbooked pages with cut out designs and stickers, but they’re so engaging, there’s never a wasted moment.  The illustrations match very well with the dialogue and the plot, and kids will be excited to see where Shelby Sanford’s adventures take him in the night.

Shelby Sanford has a family who fears things that go bump in the night, but he’s not afraid of anything, not even on Halloween.  He wants to roam the streets and greet the witches, beasts, and ghouls, but most of all its the stories his family tells that sets his wheels turning.  My daughter and I read this book together the day it came in — she could hardly wait to get the plastic wrapping off of it before we began.  She just loved the cover, and was delighted as we read the adventure together.  She pointed to the scary Halloween things she recognized and watched as Shelby met every test.

Halloween Sleepwalker by Thomas Freese, illustrated by Fran Riddell is so well done, I’m sure that this will become a traditional favorite in our house every Halloween — at least until our daughter is too old for trick-or-treating.  I know my daughter would recommend it, and I certainly do too.

About the Author:

Thomas Freese is an author, storyteller, and artist. He has written 10 books and performs over 20 educational and entertaining story programs.

About the Illustrator:

Fran Riddell is a teacher, artist, cartoonist, and illustrator living in Lexington, Kentucky.

This is my 73rd book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

October 29, 2013 by

Source: Purchased
Paperback, 440 pages
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Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld — our October book club selection — is a steampunk novel set during the onset of WWI.  Alek is whisked away in the middle of the night by his two teachers on a midnight run with one of their Austrian walkers, which they claim is practice for the coming battles.  Meanwhile, in England, Deryn is hoping to join the British military service as a boy even though she has very feminine features and is very light compared to other boys in their young teens who are signing up.  There is fact mixed with fiction, creating a fanciful landscape of genetically engineered animal ships and weapons alongside the mechanized beasts of gears and metal.  Alek is learning to run the walker at night, while Deryn is learning the ropes as a midshipman.  While things take a turn for the worse for both of these young people, both find their gumption to push through and find solutions, though not always the best or most satisfying.

When the story lines converge, it’s interesting to see how Deryn reacts to Alek’s self-importance and how timid Alek becomes in the presence of a science he’s only read about and never come in contact with.  Westerfeld has melded these modern ideas with the past in a way that makes the world he’s created seem like an alternate to the real past.  While the characters are coming of age in the time of war, there is still an innocence about this boy and girl that clings to them, and it’s clear that neither of them truly has a sense of fear when it comes to war — perhaps because of their sheltered lives and that the war they’ve encountered thus far has been minimal.  Both seem to believe that they are invincible, throwing themselves blindly into action.

The subordinate characters are not as well developed, except for Dr. Barlow who is a Darwinist engaged in the science of weaving together living beings.  The interplay between Barlow and the young teens is fun at times, but also enigmatic as each is hiding secrets from and about each other.  Count Volger is an interesting caricature who shines the most in his one-on-one fencing session with Alek.  The real stars of the novel are the Clankers’ machines and the beasts created by the Darwinists.  Westerfeld does weave in some facts, but it’s unlikely that younger readers would see which is fact versus which is fiction without reading the Afterword.  Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld is an adventure that young adults will enjoy for its fast-paced action and teenage bantering.

What the Book Club Thought:

Most of the book club enjoyed the book and seemed to prefer Deryn’s character more at first than Alek, but the ways in which the stories converged was well done.  One member even indicated they would give it five stars because they couldn’t see how Westerfeld could have made it better, at least in structure.  Most of the club said they would be interested in reading the second part of the series.  The mixing of the facts with the fanciful seemed to work with everyone in the book club, though two members had not finished reading at the time of the meeting.  The machines versus the genetically engineered beasts was an interesting angle, but the way in which the story is told demonstrated both sides so well that it enabled readers to see both sides of the story, rather than just see one as the enemy of the other.  This book was well balanced, adventurous, and touched on WWI, though a modified version of it.  Westerfeld also includes notes in the back about what facts were changed and which were maintained, which we felt was a good addition for those not as familiar with the time period.

About the Author:

Scott Westerfeld’s teen novels include the Uglies series, the Midnighters trilogy, The Last Days, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and the sequel to Peeps. Scott was born in Texas, and alternates summers between Sydney, Australia, and New York City.

 

This is my 72nd book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2013, reviews, Simon & Schuster, young adult fiction Tagged With: ,

Half Popped by Jeff Feuerstein, illustrated by Dayna Brandoff and Alex Miller

October 28, 2013 by

Source: Burger Night Publishing Partners
Paperback, 44 pages
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Half Popped by Jeff Feuerstein, illustrated by Dayna Brandoff and Alex Miller is a cute little story about Kenny the Kernel who is not a fully popped piece of popcorn and feels alone.  He’s stuck at the bottom of a bowl of fully popped popcorn, and he feels as though he’s an outcast.  However, on his journey through the fridge and pantry, he comes to discover that those who are different have something to offer and that their uniqueness makes them just as desirable.  Kenny takes a long time to realize that he’s not alone and he’s not an outcast, and it doesn’t happen until he returns to the bowl to be eaten.

The story has a good message, but there are moments in the text, which tries to hard to rhyme at certain points, that lose the natural rhythm of the story, making readers stumble reading aloud to younger kids.  The combination of photography and illustration gave the impression of images with stick-figure faces stuck on like stickers.  My daughter didn’t find these images engaging enough to sit still to read the book, but she’s also more into books with flaps and hidden things for her to interact with than she is with books that are read to her.   She may not be the target audience for this book — perhaps someone who is age three and older.  Half Popped by Jeff Feuerstein, illustrated by Dayna Brandoff and Alex Miller has a great story about learning to see the good in yourself and the good in others who are different, but the images could have been better and the text tweaked a bit to make it less awkward in places for those reading aloud.

About the Author:

Jeff Feuerstein has been writing since he was strong enough to hold a pencil. However, none of it was legible until much later. A New York sports fanatic with an affinity for Chinese take out and vintage t-shirts, he fills the time between by walking, thinking and dreaming up new characters. Jeff has worked in the film business since graduating from the Syracuse University S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

About the Illustrators:

Dayna Brandoff just loves a good art project. As a mother, she was eager to create a children’s book that parents would actually want to read “again!” (and again. and again.) As an entrepreneur and all around “do-er,” she was thrilled to be able to help make it happen. Dayna is a Brooklyn-based professional organizer. She founded Chaos Theory Inc in 2007.

Alex Miller is an artist, imagineer, and creative individual that is passionate about what he does. When he is not elbow-deep in his sketchbook he is still thinking of fun and fantastic ideas for his next project. Inspired by everything around him, Alex is on a life long journey to inspire others with his art. With a line here, dash of color there, Alex just wants his work to bring a smile to anyone that views it.

This is my 71st book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,