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The Snow Whale by John Minichillo

August 11, 2011 by

The Snow Whale by John Minichillo, which is published by local Maryland publisher Atticus Books, is a satire of Moby Dick by Herman Melville to a certain extent.  The debut novel centers on the life-changing decision of John Jacobs, a zombified office worker selling desk doodles to corporations via telephone, to find out his ancestry through a cheek-swab DNA test.  The results come back and find him more than one-third Eskimo/Inuit, and its enough for John to quit his job, take a vacation from his marriage, and head to Alaska to claim his birthright and go whale hunting.

“And why couldn’t a mild-mannered desk doodle salesman like Mike be the recipient of the Genghis Khan gene?” (page 9 of ARC)

His wife, Jessica, is equally in a rut, but still enjoys her job as a ballroom dance instructor.  She wishes that her marriage was more passionate and spontaneous, but the spontaneity she gets from John is not exactly what she’s looking for.  However, she agrees that he should go to Alaska given the passionate gleam in his eyes.  While some of the actions John takes are irrational and a bit nutty, readers will enjoy the shear witty prose and dialogue that accompanies the surreal situations presented.

“Q continued to walk with half steps, arms folded.
‘Stop shivering,’ Jacobs said.
‘I’m fucking freezing.’
‘Act Eskimo.’
‘What does that even mean?’
‘This is the thaw.  This should be warm for you.'”  (page 88 of ARC)

John is on a journey to find himself and to shake up the mundane, but in the midst of his journey he comes to realize that his life was already full before he left for Alaska.  Meanwhile, the chief of the Inuit tribe, Akmaaq, is looking for an end to his suffering as the leader being slowly shunned and cast aside following a dreadful whale hunt the year before.  He is like Ahab more than John because he is seeking to meet the white whale — his fate and death.  Although Akmaaq is native, like Queequeg in the original Melville novel, Akmaaq is neither a cannibal nor seeking adventure in the wide world beyond his isolated tribe, but he has established a friendship with John to ensure his safety — at least partially — and is aware that death awaits.  Ishmael is John, here in Minichillo’s novel, because he is seeking adventure and change — he is on the journey.

The Snow Whale by John Minichillo is an excellent debut novel that will likely be on the best of 2011 list.  It incorporates classic literature, though knowledge of Melville’s novel is not necessary to enjoy the wit and captivating story Minichillo creates.  John is a quirky character that readers will sympathize with, and his journey may be a bit surreal, but probably mirrors some of the fantasies readers have had about escaping their boring lives behind a cubicle wall.  Book clubs would find a great deal to discuss from the modernization of tribal people to the misconceptions “white” people have about different cultures and peoples, and themselves.

About the Author:

John Minichillo lives in Nashville with his wife and son.  This is his first novel.  Please do check out the interview with John at Atticus Books.  Here’s a sneak peak of the book.

 

This is my 39th book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

 

 

 

 

This is a stop on The Literary Road Trip since this book is published by Maryland house Atticus Books.

Filed Under: ARC, Atticus Books, challenges, Events, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2011, reviews, The Literary Road Trip Tagged With: ,

Focus Features Giveaway: One Day by David Nicholls

August 9, 2011 by

Boy, have I got a prize pack for you!  One Day by David Nicholls (check out the reader’s guide) is hitting the theaters this month on August 19 through Focus Features, which if you may recall brought the stunning Pride & Prejudice with Matthew MacFayden as Mr. Darcy to life.  But I digress.

Here’s the synopsis:

Twenty years…two people. Directed by Lone Scherfig (director of “An Education,” Academy Award-nominated for Best Picture), the motion picture “One Day” is adapted for the screen by David Nicholls from his beloved bestselling novel One Day. After one day together – July 15th, 1988, their college graduation – Emma Morley (Academy Award nominee Anne Hathaway) and Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess of “Across the Universe”) begin a friendship that will last a lifetime. She is a working-class girl of principle and ambition who dreams of making the world a better place.

He is a wealthy charmer who dreams that the world will be his playground. For the next two decades, key moments of their relationship are experienced over several July 15ths in their lives. Together and apart, we see Dex and Em through their friendship and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. Somewhere along their journey, these two people realize that what they are searching and hoping for has been there for them all along. As the true meaning of that one day back in 1988 is revealed, they come to terms with the nature of love and life itself.

The movie stars the phenomenal Anne Hathaway, along with  Jim Sturgess, Patricia Clarkson, Ken Stott, Romola Garai, and Rafe Spall .  If you love romantic dramas, this is for you.

Check out this video:

The prize pack for 2 U.S. winners includes:

  • *Autographed* copies of the book (movie tie-in edition, paperback, signed by David Nicholls)
  • Clear cosmetic case
  • Necklace
  • Moleskin Journal

Prizing values: $30.95 per pack

Giveaway provided by Focus Features

About the Author:

David Nicholls was born in Eastleigh, Hampshire, David Nicholls attended Toynbee Comprehensive School and Barton Peveril Sixth Form College prior to studying English Literature and Drama at the University of Bristol. Having graduated, and keen to pursue a career as an actor, he applied for and won a scholarship to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. Following his studies there, he returned to London in 1991. There he worked in a number of bars and restaurants before finally earning an Equity card. He worked sporadically as an actor for the next eight years, appearing in plays at the Battersea Arts Centre, the Finborough, West Yorkshire Playhouse, and Birmingham Rep. In between jobs he worked as a bookseller at Waterstones, Notting Hill.

Mr. Nicholls is currently working on his fourth novel, as well as a feature film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

To Enter the giveaway:

1. Leave a comment about what romantic drama you’ve recently either read or watched in movie form that you enjoyed or tell me what about romantic dramas makes you swoon?

2. For a second entry, become a follower of my blog or let me know if you are already.

3. For a third entry, “Like” the One Day Facebook page, and let me know.

4. For a fourth entry, enter the Good Reads One Day Sweepstakes and let me know you did.

5. Finally, for a fifth entry, Spread the word about the giveaway on Twitter, Facebook, or your own blog and let me know (leave a link).

Deadline is Aug. 16, 2011, at 11:59 PM EST.

Filed Under: giveaway, Publishers/Publicists, random house Tagged With: , , ,

Mailbox Monday #138

August 8, 2011 by

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 our host is Life in the Thumb.  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.  When She Woke by Hillary Jordan from Algonquin Books for review in October.

2. The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls by Wendy Del Sol, which I received from Berkley for review.

3. The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate from Algonquin for review.

4. Maman's Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan from unrequested from Algonquin.

What did you receive this week?

Filed Under: Algonquin, mailbox monday, meme, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

109th Virtual Poetry Circle

August 6, 2011 by

Welcome to the 109th 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 2011 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge because its simple; you only need to read 1 book of poetry. Please contribute to the growing list of 2011 Indie Lit Award Poetry Suggestions, visit the stops on the National Poetry Month Blog Tour from April.

Today’s poem is from Erika Meitner‘s (I interviewed her in 2009) Ideal Cities:

O Edinburgh (page 18)

it was night & we were always drunk
    or it was day (gray day) & I'd buy
              boxes of clementines on my way
    from school & keep them outside
my window on the sill so they'd stay
    cool -- O Edinburgh, where we'd
              mash ourselves together on that shelf
    of bed after you lined up shoes
to toss, one by one, at the heater
    on the wall -- open coils that glowed
              orange for 15-minute increments
    like a toaster, & when you'd hit
the button your shoes would thud
    like large fish tails slapping the sides
              of a boat & we rose with the wind's
    current, its November brogue, &
O Edinburgh, it spoke in tongues,
    flapped doors open & shut, howled
              until I couldn't remember exactly
    what happened in the dark except
that we curled ourselves up into
    the smallest specks until I wept
              over a horoscope & someone else's
    tattoo & I never loved you because
I was a wall of a city I had never been to

Let me know your thoughts, ideas, feelings, impressions. Let’s have a great discussion…pick a line, pick an image, pick a sentence.

I’ve you missed the other Virtual Poetry Circles. It’s never too late to join the discussion.

Filed Under: Harper Collins, Publishers/Publicists, virtual poetry circle Tagged With: ,

The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock

August 5, 2011 by

The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock is written in chapters that alternate between the present with Catherine Rozier in 1984-5 and the past during the German occupation of Guernsey during WWII and her uncle Charles Rozier’s story.  Like her uncle, Cat is a liar.  Lies are often told to protect loved ones, to gain acceptance among peers, or to cover up bad behavior, and the lies told here are no different.  Unreliable narrators are tricky in that readers can often get frustrated with the lies or become disenchanted with the story because they no longer know how to gauge the truth.  However, Horlock hovers on the edge of that line so as to keep readers engaged by presenting “historic” documentation for the WWII portion of the story.

Cat’s father, Emile, often shut himself away from his family and buried himself in historical research about the German Occupation of Guernsey, and this isolationism led Cat to believe she needed to make up stories to fit in and gain attention from not only her peers and parents, but from everyone else on the island.  In a way readers will wonder throughout the novel if she is still lying to gain the attention of readers with her sensational narrative of murder and teen hijinks.

“It’s a 3,000-foot drop and even though I’m fat, I’m not fat enough to bounce.  I’ll dive headfirst into ye ancient Guernsey granite outcrops and then my mashed-up body will be washed out to sea.  Of course, if I get the tides wrong I’ll be stranded on the rocks with seagulls eating my eyes.  I know for a fact they’ll eat anything.”  (page 1)

Cat unwittingly gets swept up in a friendship with Nicollette Louise Prevost, a beauty and from a family of wealth.  Everything is grand as Nic and Cat drink, hang out, start rumors, and hit on boys and men, but something changes and Cat is cast aside in a callous manner, which drives her to engage in reckless behavior and possibly murder?!  Her uncle’s story is similar in that he is befriended by Ray, who quickly casts him aside, but they are reunited in an effort to escape the Germans.  Lies are told by each, and each face tough consequences as a result.  The incestuous nature of the island and the close ties of families on the island are often alluded to, and in a way the close-knit community resembles a large family, and like all families, they hurt those they love.

“I haven’t had a shower for as long as I can remember and there’s this spot on my chin that I’ve had to squeeze and squeeze.  Peter Falk might be able to get away with looking like he’s slept in a hedge but I’m not a famous TV detective (wearing what is surely a wig).”  (page 146)

Much of the world created by Horlock is fantasy, but readers know that their narrator is unreliable from the beginning.  The chapters about Charles’ life are taken from the transcripts of a conversation he had with his brother before his death, which provides a certain authenticity to them.  However, are these entries true?!  Readers will have to sort that out for themselves.  Horlock’s style places you in the thick of it with Cat, and readers will feel all of her emotions, particularly that of alienation.  However, how much whining and justification for her actions readers can take will determine how much they empathize with her.  One part of Cat’s character that could annoy was her overuse of “as per usual” and “as per” to clarify nearly every statement or situation.  Also some of the diction was just awkward and stilted.

Regardless of or in spite of the unreliable narrator, Horlock has created a well-crafted story that circles in on itself as ancestry is unraveled and history appears to repeat itself decades after Charles Rozier’s story of espionage and teen rebellion.  The Book of Lies will keep you guessing throughout its 300+ pages, –right up until the end — but readers will be riveted and satisfied once they get there.  An excellent selection for book clubs with the espionage, teen angst, and trail of lies to analyze and discuss.

 

About the Author:

Mary Horlock is an authority on contemporary art who has worked at the Tate Britain and Tate Liverpool, and curated the Turner Prize for contemporary art. She spent her childhood in Guernsey, and lives in London.

 

 

For the rest of the stops on the tour, please click the TLC Book Tour icon.  Thanks to TLC and Harper Perennial for sending me a copy of the book for review.

 

 

This is my 38th book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, Harper Collins, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2011, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: ,

Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens

August 3, 2011 by

Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens follows the success of her debut Still Missing (my review).  Again, Stevens uses therapy sessions with Nadine to tell a terrifying story that leaves readers anxious and biting their nails.  In her second novel, Sara Gallagher — resident of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, who restores furniture for a living — walks her therapist through the search for her birth mother and how it led to her discovery that her birth father has committed some heinous acts.

Recapitalizing on the “waiting” in Still Missing, where the Annie waited for her captor to return and waited for her moment of escape, Sara Gallagher is waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for the other shoe to drop with her fiance, and waiting for her birth father to come out of hiding.

“When I first told you I found my mother, I said it was like standing on cracking ice.  This is like falling straight through into the freezing water.  You struggle back to the surface, your lungs burning, everything focused on that patch of light above you.  And you finally make it there, but the hole’s frozen over.”  (page 164 of ARC)

The sessions between Sara and her therapist ramp up the tension even further, keeping readers anxiously turning the pages.  Like other thrillers, the situations are surreal, but not to the point that they are unbelievable.  The police officers are running Sara ragged with their demands, veiled disappointments, and outright guilt trips.  Moreover, the entire situation has caused problems with her adoptive family and her fiance.  Readers will want to slap the cops in this one, while at the same time become suspicious of her fiance and the cops throughout the story and shake Sara.

“This last week I went through the motions, but I felt flat, disconnected — angry.  I didn’t know what to do with this new reality, the horror of my conception.  I wanted to bury it in the backyard, far away from anyone’s eyes.  My skin crawled with knowledge, with the evil that I’d looked into, that had created me.  I took long showers.  Nothing helped.  The dirt was on the inside.”  (page 31)

Stevens creates tension and builds sympathy easily.  The main protagonist, Sara, transforms from a woman with abandonment issues to a woman exhibiting the symptoms of a rape victim and to a strong mother bent on saving her own child from danger.  While some of the plot is predictable for avid mystery readers, there are revelations at the end of the novel that will make it worthwhile.  The story is tied up neatly at the end and is satisfying, though bittersweet.  Overall, Never Knowing is a fast-paced, thriller for the summer, and it begs the question would it be better to know or not to know about your birth parents or your own past if you were adopted.

About the Author:

Chevy Stevens grew up on a ranch on Vancouver Island and still calls the island home. For most of her adult life she worked in sales, first as a rep for a giftware company and then as a Realtor. At open houses, waiting between potential buyers, she spent hours scaring herself with thoughts of horrible things that could happen to her. Her most terrifying scenario, which began with being abducted, was the inspiration for STILL MISSING. After six months Chevy sold her house and left real estate so she could finish the book.

Chevy enjoys writing thrillers that allow her to blend her interest in family dynamics with her love of the west coast lifestyle. When she’s not working on her next book, she’s hiking with her husband and dog in the local mountains.  Please also check out her blog, follow her on Twitter, and on Facebook.

This is my 17th book for the 2011 Wish I’d Read That Challenge.  I’ve wanted to read this book since finishing Still Missing and listening to Chevy Stevens talk about her books live on BookTrib.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, fiction, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2011, reviews, St. Martin's Press, Wish I'd Read That Challenge 2011 Tagged With: ,

Guest Post: Margaret Dilloway on Her Mother’s Immigration

August 2, 2011 by

Today, Margaret Dilloway’s How to Be an American Housewife (my review) comes out in paperback.  I really enjoyed the novels look at the immigrant experience, as Shoko adapts to her life as an American housewife, but also the differences between her children, Mike and Suiko.  There are three generations in this novel and their interactions ring true.  While the topic is similar to Amy Tan and Lisa See’s work, the style is Dilloway’s own.

In addition to a giveaway for my U.S. readers (Sorry, the publisher is mailing out the books), I have a guest post from Margaret Dilloway about her mother’s own immigration story, which inspired her to write the novel.  Even better, I’ve got some great photos to share with you as well of her mother and herself.

Without further ado, please welcome Margaret Dilloway:

My mother came of age in Japan during the 1950s. The country was wrecked, men were scarce, and traditional opportunities were few for a young woman like her. The U.S. occupation of her country opened up welcome jobs. Her father told her, “America is the way to go,” and they might as well embrace the American way.

Margaret Dilloway's Mother

She began working for Americans after she graduated from high school, sending money home to help her family and her younger brother go through college. She was a housekeeper and worked at a gift shop.

Mom dated both Japanese and American servicemen, but in her mid-20s she decided she ought to marry an American and get out of the country. She took photos of all her suitors and took those home to show her father. He selected my father, who was in the Navy, as the one she ought to take seriously. “He has honest eyes,” my grandfather decided. I don’t know whether those pictures were black and white or color, but my father has very blue, wide round eyes.

My mother liked to tell the story of how she asked my father to marry her. With his ship was due to leave in a matter of months, she decided he was dillydallying, so she asked him point-blank if he planned to marry her. In her story, she said, “So, you gonna marry me or what?” He said okay. They married in 1958.

About 1940s; Margaret's Mother is in the top row, 4th from the right

They lived all over the country, moving for the Navy. They were stationed in Hawaii, Japan, Florida, and on both the West and East coasts. It wasn’t always easy, especially in the early days. My mother reported people staring or outright insulting her. She struggled to learn English, relying on imitating phrases she heard on television or from my father. My oldest brother, born in 1960, also felt the brunt of insults as a “mixed” race child.

Eventually, in the early 70s, they settled in San Diego, choosing it because of its nice weather; also, it was the final place my dad was stationed. Dad had done his early training here and fell in love with the place. My mother said she liked San Diego because it was more culturally diverse than other places she’d lived, and she didn’t feel so out of place here. My middle brother and I were born, and my father retired from Navy life.

Stories of their peripatetic lifestyle, before my middle brother and I showed up, became part of family lore. Stories of how my oldest brother got stared at, whispered about. How so many people didn’t like my parents being married, while others were pleasantly surprised. My mother loved telling these stories, but I didn’t always like listening. They were her version of, “When I was your age, I walked two miles in a snowstorm to school…” stories, the kind parents tell you to remind you how good you have it. So, like most kids, I’d roll my eyes, but I still listened.

Margaret and her mother (1987)

The stories stuck. I remember her telling me about everything from the beloved Shirley Temple doll she had when she was a kid (it melted, made of a flammable pre-plastic material), to how her Japanese fiancé cheated on her, to how hard she tried to become a proper American housewife.

Her stories, floating around in my head for so many years, inspired the novel. A book she had, THE AMERICAN WAY OF HOUSEKEEPING, gave me the structure I needed to hang the story on. I made up the plot during my research, changing the character from my own mother into the fictional heroine Shoko.

Thanks, Margaret, for sharing such an inspirational story from your family.

Giveaway details: 1 copy of How to Be an American Housewife for 1 U.S. reader.

1. Leave a comment about your own immigrant story or one you heard.

2. For a second entry, leave a link with your Facebook, Tweet, or blog post spreading the word about the giveaway.

3. For a third entry, follow this blog and let me know.

Deadline is Aug. 10, 2011, at 11:59PM EST.

Filed Under: giveaway, guest post, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists Tagged With: ,

A Weekend With Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly

July 26, 2011 by

A Weekend With Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly is a summer read for Austenites and those who want to have fun.  Set in modern day England, Dr. Katherine Roberts works too hard as a professor at St. Bridget’s College in Oxford and sees her role as lecturer at the Jane Austen Conference as a way for her to get away and relax.  She befriends regency romance author Lorna Warwick through letters and hopes that the conference will put a face to the name she’s begun to call friend.  Meanwhile, Robyn is stuck in a relationship with Jace (Jason Collins) and is too worried about his feelings to express her own or to end their relationship.  She decides that she’s not going to think about her life while at the Austen conference, but just enjoy herself before dealing with her fading relationship with her childhood friend.

“She thought of the secret bookshelves in her study at home and ho they groaned deliciously under the weight of Miss Warwick’s work.  How her colleagues would frown and fret at such horrors as popular fiction!  How quickly would she be marched from her Oxford office and escorted from St. Bridget’s College if they knew of her wicked passion?”  (page 2 of ARC)

Women and their passion for Jane Austen’s characters seems never-ending, but does this passion for Austen sometimes prevent these women from living their own lives?  And does it ensure that the men in their lives will never measure up to Mr. Darcy or Captain Wentworth?  Connelly has created a cast of characters that have flaws and find themselves in situations they never expected.  Dr. Roberts is a strong woman with a passion for sexy Regency romances, but her own love life is a disaster until she finds herself in situation much like Captain Wentworth, while Robyn is trapped by obligation in a life much like Edward Ferrars.  It is an interesting correlation between Austen’s characters and Connelly’s female leads, as it demonstrates a new perspective on how these situations would be handled.

Connelly also creates a cast of characters that are fun and outrageous from Dame Pamela to Higgins the butler.  And of course, what Austen spinoff doesn’t have its own Lady Catherine de Bourgh — in this case, it’s Mrs. Soames.  A Weekend With Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly is a great romp in the English countryside with some gal pals and hot men that will make you giggle, squirm, and sit on the edge of your seat.  A quick summer read that will have readers wondering if an Austen-filled weekend should be their next vacation.

About the Author:

Victoria Connelly grew up in Norfolk before attending Worcester University where she studied English Literature. After graduating, she worked her way through a number of jobs before becoming a teacher in North Yorkshire.  In 2000, she got married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales and moved to London.  She is currently working on a trilogy about Jane Austen addicts.  The first, A Weekend with Mr Darcy, was published in the UK by Avon, HarperCollins, and will be published in the US by Sourcebooks in July 2011.   The second in the trilogy, The Perfect Hero, was published in the UK in April 2011.  She lives in London with her artist husband, a springer spaniel and four ex-battery hens.

 

This is my 34th book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, chicklit, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2011, reviews, sourcebooks Tagged With: ,

Guest Post: My Craziest Austen-Related Adventure by Victoria Connelly

July 25, 2011 by

Has anyone else noticed that Sourcebooks has some of the best Austen-related fiction on the market?  I have.  Victoria Connelly’s work, however, is new to me, and since she writes Darcy-related fiction, I figured it was time to give her novel a try.

Today, I’ve got a treat for you as Victoria regales us with her craziest Austen-related adventure and includes a photo for us to share.  Without further ado, let me turn it over to her.

My Craziest Austen-Related Adventure

When I started writing my Austen addicts trilogy, I soon discovered the wonderful website of ‘Pride and Prejudice Tours’. Run by the amazing Helen Porter, these bespoke holidays take you to the locations used in the film adaptations of Austen’s novels. As a fan of the films, this sounded like a dream come true especially as many of the houses used are privately owned and impossible to find.

I quickly got in touch and started a long conversation with Helen – telling her about my books and swapping stories about our favourite locations and we soon discovered we had a dream in common – of owning a Georgian manor house deep in the heart of the English countryside.

One of the most perfect houses I have ever seen is the house that was used as Barton Cottage in Emma Thompson’s 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. I love the scene where Elinor and Marianne Dashwood arrive at the cottage and both stare at it in wide-eyed horror because they have just left the grand stately home of Norland Park, and Barton Cottage must look like a shack in comparison. This scene always makes me laugh because, to me, Barton Cottage in this film is my idea of perfection and the thought of actually staying there seemed too good to be true.

Without further delay, I booked myself a weekend there with ‘Pride and Prejudice Tours’!

The coach picked me up from Bath where I joined the tour group. They were a lovely bunch mainly from America and Canada, and they were all women bar one solitary man. Leaving Bath, the coach headed south through Somerset and on in to Devon where the roads became so narrow that we almost got stuck at one point!

I’ll never forget my first glimpse of the cottage. Tucked away on a private estate of rolling hills ending in the sea, the three-story stone house rose up from a sloping garden, looking out over a secluded estuary. It was May and cow parsley filled the garden in a lacy froth. There were bluebells in the field beside the cottage and red campion in the wood – all of which appeared in the little bunch of flowers which Willoughby gives to Marianne in the film.

I got up early on my first morning there and walked down the little lane which Willoughby, Edward Ferrars and Colonel Brandon all the ride along in the film. Of course, it was impossible not to think about handsome heroes on horseback whilst staying at the cottage but, alas, none had made an appearance whilst I was there.

What made the weekend really special for me was meeting the other Austen fans. I think I can safely say that Jane Austen fans are amongst the nicest people in the world and I loved talking to them about their favourite scenes from the books, their favourite heroes and heroines and what it is that makes Jane Austen so special. They all helped to inspire my writing and, although I hated the thought of leaving Barton Cottage, I was excited about getting back home to write my trilogy.

I knew I wanted to use Barton Cottage as a setting for one of my Jane Austen novels and I’m delighted to say that it has a starring role in the third book in the trilogy, Mr Darcy Forever. So, if you can’t visit the house yourself, you can read about my heroine’s adventures there!

Thanks, Victoria, for sharing your adventure with us. Stay tuned for my review of A Weekend with Mr. Darcy tomorrow.

Filed Under: guest post, Publishers/Publicists, sourcebooks Tagged With: ,

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

July 21, 2011 by

“But the end, when it finally came, was quiet.” (page 109)

Where She Went by Gayle Forman is the follow-up to If I Stay (my review — please do not read this review of Where She Went until you’ve read the first in the series because this will contain spoilers), and it is told from Adam’s point of view several years after the end of the previous book.  His band Shooting Star has hit it big, he’s got an A-list actress girlfriend, and all the money he could want, but what he doesn’t have is what he wants most of all.

Closure is a word that is thrown around a lot, but as humans we often want to know the reasons why things happen, and when we are not given a reason — even one we think is bollix — it incenses us.  In some ways we become obsessive about it.  Forman has a firm grasp of this obsession and its ties to passionate love, and the intensity of these feelings come to the fore when Adam is in New York and attends a concert at Carnegie Hall.

“I slide into my seat and close my eyes, remembering the last time I went to a cello concert somewhere this fancy.  Five years ago, on our first date.  Just as I did that night, I feel this mad rush of anticipation, even though I know that unlike that night, tonight I won’t kiss her.  Or touch her.”  (page 38)

In addition to the flashbacks of Adam’s rise to fame, Forman sprinkles in lyrics, which act like stanzas from poems, at the beginning of certain chapters, providing a certain lens or frame of mind for the characters.  Readers will enjoy seeing the more creative fruits of Adam’s labors because it provides an insiders view into his evolution into the “guy” he’s become.  Forman also does well showing the realities of the music industry and how many musicians just become commodities, losing themselves and their artistry.

Told from Adam’s point of view and using a similar style of flashbacks,  Forman again builds the tension between Mia and Adam from the beginning of their relationship and its end.  A young love unfinished, a journey taken alone by both characters, and so much left unsaid between them — a situation ripe for awkwardness, tenderness, and more.  Where She Went is an excellent follow up that not only fleshes out these characters, making them your friends so that you cheer them on and hope they find peace.  Both are quick, engaging reads, but are far from fluff, dealing with tough topics like death and redemption.

This is my 16th book for the 2011 Wish I’d Read That Challenge.  I’ve wanted to read this book since reading Jill’s dual review in June.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2011, reviews, Wish I'd Read That Challenge 2011, young adult fiction Tagged With: ,

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

July 20, 2011 by

If I Stay by Gayle Forman is a young adult fiction novel about a teenage musical prodigy and her family.  She’s got a boyfriend with a band that is just taking off, and she’s under pressure to gain admission to Julliard playing the cello.  Tragedy strikes and changes everything, shaking up her world.

Forman’s prose is engaging from the first page, but the tragedy that befalls Mia is a predictable plot device that forces this blossoming 17-year-old to reassess her life.  Her music transports her to a safe place and even though she is not as confident as she thinks she must be to perform it, it is as much a part of her as her family and her boyfriend.  The strength of this novel is Mia’s character, her introspection, her trepidation at experiencing new things, and her ability to overcome embarrassment and fear.

“And I didn’t know how to rock-talk at all.  It was a language I should’ve understood, being both a musician and Dad’s daughter, but I didn’t.  It was like how Mandarin speakers can sort of understand Cantonese but not really, even though non-Chinese people assume all Chinese can communicate with one another, even though Mandarin and Cantonese are actually different.”  (page 47)

Mia often feels on the outside of her family, which has deep rock-and-roll ties in the community, and from her boyfriend, who is a lead guitarist in a up-and-coming rock band, and sometimes even from her own classical music because she has not done many of the things that other classical music prodigies have done with local quartets, etc.  However, Mia continues to plug along, beating back her insecurities and striving for the life she wants.  Forman has a firm grasp of a teenager’s life — the peer pressures they face, the insecurities that haunt each decision they make, and the passions in which they lose themselves.

Forman builds tension by shifting from Mia’s present into her past, careful not to rush through each moment and unfurling revelations as Mia sees them in each fragment of time.  Readers will be moved by Mia’s story and her struggle to find her true self amid high school pressures and more.  But If I Stay by Gayle Forman is more than a coming of age story, it’s about the ties that bind us to one another and how we keep those ties alive and relevant.

This is my 15th book for the 2011 Wish I’d Read That Challenge.  I’ve wanted to read this book since reading Jill’s dual review in June.

 

 

This is my 32nd book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

 

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2011, reviews, Wish I'd Read That Challenge 2011, young adult fiction Tagged With: ,

The Secret Lives of the Four Wives by Lola Shoneyin

July 19, 2011 by

Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of the Four Wives is set in modern-day Nigeria where men are supreme and wives are meant to breed children — an obsession of Baba Segi and the reason he has four wives.  However, his newest wife, Bolanle, is the youngest and most educated of the four — Iya Segi, Iya Tope, Iya Femi, and Bolanle — and her entry into the household generates jealousy and change.

Baba Segi’s only concerns are being catered to by his wives and procreation, and when Bolanle fails to produce an heir after much “pounding” (his words), he seeks counsel from his male friends and the “Teacher,” who advises him to bring her to the hospital.  It is then that the jealousy of the women becomes more concentrated on Bolanle, as they struggle to protect a family secret.

“Even a child would have worked out why my father was extolling qualities that had previously vexed him; I was compensation for the failed crops.  I was just like the tubers of cassava in the basket.  Maybe something even less, something strange — a tuber with eyes, a nose, arms and two legs.  Without fanfare or elaborate farewells, I packed my bags.  I didn’t weep for my mother or my father, or even my siblings.  It was the weeds I didn’t get the chance to uproot that year that bothered me.”  (page 91)

Shoneyin adopts what many might consider a very masculine prose that creates a crass view of sex in a polygamist household and a not-so-favorable perspective of Baba Segi, the husband.  Even when the narrative shifts to Bolanle’s first-person point of view, the language is harsh, making it difficult for readers to discern the speaker with each shift.  However, these shifts gradually become easier to discern, and each perspective adds a new layer to the narrative and deepens the complexity within the Segi family.

Readers may want more background and detail of Nigeria and its customs or at least its a more vibrant picture of its places and culture.  Shoneyin generates a harsh world that is not only Nigeria, but could be any country at any time in which polygamy is the norm and women are seen as second-class citizens.  What is absent here is a clear sense of place and time — a setting that could have made the story more vivid and memorable.

The Secret Lives of the Four Wives may have been long-listed for the Orange Prize, but the characters and story are reminiscent of other oppressed women under similar circumstances.  However, what makes this novel unique is the four wives and their perspectives on why they became wives of Baba Segi — what circumstances led them to that choice and why they continue to stay.  Each has a compelling story to tell, and while Baba Segi is not a sympathetic character, he does provide his wives with an oasis from their pasts and with the confidence to rule their own lives.  Overall, readers will get a glimpse into another world and of what it means to be one of many wives.

 

About the Author:

Lola Shoneyin lives in Abuja, Nigeria, where she teaches English and drama at an international school. She is married, with four children and three dogs.  Please visit her Website and her blog.

 

 

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This is my 31st book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: fiction, Harper Collins, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2011, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: ,