Her Book Self

Blameless

2012-02-29T19:51:00.000-06:00

Vampires, werewolves, and steampunk scientists all return in Blameless, the third entry of Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series (Soulless, Changeless). After adventures in London and Scotland, book three finds heroine Alexia traveling to Italy in search of some answers to past and present mysteries - including why a group of vampires have targeted her for death. Returning to her father's homeland brings up plenty of questions for the Tarabotti heiress but she also must face dangers and horrors - including the Italians' preference for coffee over tea!

Blameless features all the great characters that fans have come to love throughout the series and members of the supporting cast are even developed and built upon, making them all the more delightful to read about. The plot picks up directly where Changeless left off and unfolds at a great pace. Although each book in the series does contain its own adventure there is enough of a continuous plot thread that readers will want to start at the beginning of the series and work through the books sequentially. Carriger does a great job of blending the Victorian romance with the steampunk and supernatural elements and her witty dialog adds hilarity to a climactic and suspenseful mystery. This series is overall plenty of fun and I eagerly look forward to Alexia's next adventures.

Any Parasol Protectorate fans out there want to weigh in on this series? Which book is your favorite? Any supernatural or steampunk fans on the fence about checking out Carriger's work?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2012-02-23T12:08:00.000-06:00

I know I don't normally post reviews on this blog of books I didn't care for, but many people have asked my opinion about the immensely popular Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so I thought I would do my best to explain my feelings about it. Let me also encourage anyone who loved this book to openly disagree with me. I would love to read comments about why others were enamored with the book and engage in some dialog about this one.

It took me a while to get around to reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I really, really wanted to like this book. Multiple friends and positive reviews set me up with high expectations for it, but unfortunately it never lived up to those hopes for me - and even setting my preconceived notions aside, in many ways the book fell flat for me.

The story was decent following journalist Mikael Blomkvist whose career spirals downward after he is found guilty of libel. Promised a job and a hefty paycheck, Blomkvist follows the reclusive Henrik Vanger out to his island and accepts the task of searching out the truth behind the disappearance of Henrik's neice forty years earlier. Under the cover story of writing a biography of Henrik and his family, Blomkvist is introduced to the various eccentric characters that comprise the Vanger family. Accompanying him on his sleuthing expedition is a young hacker and talented research assistant named Lisbeth Salander. Lisbeth is the titular Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and in many ways she steals the show from Blomkvist as the much more intriguing character of the two of them.

I'll admit that the mystery portion of the book was really well done - I liked the puzzles and codes and suspicious characters - but Stieg Larsson takes an exorbitantly long time to get there. The first third (or maybe even half) of the book is devoted to Blomkvist's back story of his libel suit and a very disturbing walk through Salander's past. Knowing that the two characters would eventually intersect was probably the only thing that kept me reading the first portion of the book which alternated between boring details of financial lawsuits and cringe-inducing scenes of sexual assault.

Salander's character is perhaps one of the aspects of this book that seems to garner the most praise, but ultimately she never won me over. Though I found myself feeling sympathy and sadness toward her, some of her actions and unrelenting distrust for authority just frustrated me. Also, I found her relationship with Blomkvist overly contrived and their attachment seemed borne more out of plot convenience than of any real connection in their characters.

Many people have told me that Larsson's Millenium Trilogy only improves as the books go on, but many of these same people raved to me how good Dragon Tattoo was. Filled with a bit too much depravity and with a lack of likeable characters for my taste, I'm not certain that I want to continue the series and overall I'm left a bit baffled at the overwhelming popularity of this book.

So there you have it. Not my cup of tea, and hopefully I did an adequate job explaining why. Did I miss something? Was this really an excellent book that I'm just gaining an extremely wrong impression of? Is the second book really immensely better? Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts!

"A little reading every day"

2012-02-17T11:48:00.004-06:00

“Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year.”~ Horace Mann

I haven't shared a good quote in a while and this one sort of goes along with my snail's pace of reading this year. In past winters, I've consumed books as quickly as I could carry them out of the library, but I've found myself taking things slower this year. I'm purposely not signing up for any reading challenges as I don't want any pressure to compel myself to reach a certain number of books read. But, despite numerous other things in life that pull me away from my passion for pages (and my enjoyment of blogging!), I like this quote because it fits my current reading goals of the year. I'm not going to push myself to compete with past years when I finished 80, 90, or 100+ works in under twelve months, but I do want to focus on reading every day.

And I do think I will feel it at year's end.

Do you set reading goals for yourself each year? What do you think about the goal of just a little bit of reading each day?

Books to Not Read on Valentine's Day (Top Ten Tuesday)

2012-02-14T14:20:00.000-06:00

This year's Valentine's Day Top Ten Tuesday is a bit of a twist on the expected and rather than look at great love stories or great romances, today's list topic is Top Ten Books That Broke My Heart A Little. Interestingly I can think of a lot of books that really made me cry for their shocking death scenes, tragic circumstances, or agonizing subjects but I thought I would challenge myself to keep this about love stories. Today I am featuring books whose romantic resolutions made me cry, cringe, or complain (though in many cases I wouldn't write them any other way!) Underlined titles link to my reviews.

1. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
If you've read this book, I needn't say anymore. I think I also listed this one on my list of top ten jaw dropping endings but despite wanting to throw the book across the room when I finished I wouldn't end this one differently even if I could.

2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Before there was Team Edward or Team Jacob I think there was definitely a Team Laurie and Team Professor (why can't I ever recall his name?) even if they were never officially labeled as such or gained a rabid teen following. I admit that after reading the book (and not just watching the movies) I was slightly swayed out of my Team Laurie fervor, but this still remains a love story pairing with which I never quite agreed.

3. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
I won't say that I specifically disliked the ending of this one, but there was certainly tearfulness in the way it played out. Sometimes even though the couple I prefer ends up together, the surrounding circumstances leave even the correct match up bittersweet.

4. Still Alice by Lisa Genova
This entire book is difficult to read with dry eyes, but the relationship between Alice and her husband is perhaps one of the most heartbreaking aspects of the work.

5. The Ghost King by R.A. Salvatore
I had to include a fantasy novel on here since it's a genre I'm passionate about and I also can't think of a more appropriate example of a novel that broke my heart than this one. I won't say much since to do so would give spoilers, but I definitely finished this one in tears. Lots of tears.

6. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
This one is an equal balance of love it and hate it of the love story within. The relationship between Anne and Gilbert was so frustrating and though I appreciated the subtle nuances of how their feelings for each other were revealed to the reader, the situation that ultimately brought them out of animosity was a tearjerker.

7. Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael
There is plenty in this book to cause readers to reach for the tissues but the resolution of the primary love story really did break my heart. I read this one not knowing a lot about the life of Charlotte Bronte so the end was a surprise to me which made it that much more devastating.

8. Anybody Out There? by Marian Keyes
Part of my love for this book stems from spending a good two thirds of it as confused as the main character. And I know that sounds crazy, but the impact of the story is amplified by the way Keyes unravels it. Again, I won't say too much, but it more than earns its place on a list of heartbreaking books.

9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Okay, it's the obvious choice and the love story is one between young kids so it's never overly serious, but it's still powerful enough to rip your heart to shreds.

I'm going to stop at 9 and let the tenth be filled in by suggestions from others. What's the most heartbreaking book you've ever read? I'd love to hear your suggestions - or any of my choices that you agree or disagree with - in the comments below! For those new to the feature, Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely bloggers of The Broke and The Bookish. Check out their site for upcoming topics and to link up your own list and click here for previous Top Ten Tuesdays on Her Book Self.

Lost in a Good Book

2012-02-07T10:30:00.000-06:00

For those that enjoyed Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair (my review here), the sequel Lost in a Good Book delivers more of the same: more action, more quirky characters, more wordplay, and of course, more Thursday Next.

Though Fforde never quite crosses the line into somber, this entry in the series takes a slightly more dark and serious tone. Super criminal Acheron Hades is assumed to be out of the picture, but when Thursday is in the cross-hairs of death by coincidence a few too many times, she begins to suspect that only Hades could be behind the attacks. Meanwhile, the Goliath corporation is still after the Next family's book jumping technology, but Thursday soon learns of a whole world of literary travelers and takes on an apprenticeship to Miss Havisham in the world of Jurisfiction - the written word's version of her own job as a LiteraTec.

Crossing genres artfully as few other authors can, Fforde again dabbles with time travel, history, humor, and horror without hesitating to borrow heavily from the classic canon of Shakespeare, Dickens, Lewis Carroll, and even Franz Kafka. With their unprecedented level of quirkiness, the Thursday Next series is not for every reader, but for those that are hooked, Lost in a Good Book provides another delightful adventure that is as enjoyable on a reread as it was the first time around.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses (Fairy Tale Fridays)

2012-02-03T15:22:00.000-06:00

Welcome back to Fairy Tale Fridays! Though I never quite completed my 2011 Fairy Tale Challenge, I wanted to return to this feature since it's been a while since I shared my thoughts about a short story. Today's tale of choice is from the authors I seem to favorite: The Brothers Grimm!

Image Credit

The Twelve Dancing Princesses is a story that I always thought should be more magical than it actually is. The story begins with something of a mysterious and enchanting scenario:

There was a king who had twelve beautiful daughters. They slept in twelve beds all in one room and when they went to bed, the doors were shut and locked up. However, every morning their shoes were found to be quite worn through as if they had been danced in all night. Nobody could find out how it happened, or where the princesses had been.

At this point I can imagine all sorts of mythical and frightening plots which cause the girls to be spirited away and hypnotized into an endless dusk to dawn dance. The king is equally puzzled about the circumstances and places a challenge - anyone who can solve the mystery of where the princesses go will receive permission to marry one of them and become king. However, anyone who accepts that challenge and does not succeed in three nights will be executed.

Predictably, "a king's son" is the first to attempt the task and he fails. "Several others" - whom the reader can assume are also noblemen of some type - follow suit with equally tragic outcomes. Then comes a different sort of man to attempt the task. He is described as an old soldier and on his trek into the kingdom and into the story his first encounter is with an old woman who asks his destination. He replies,

'I hardly know where I am going, or what I had better do,' said the soldier; 'but I think I would like to find out where it is that the princesses dance, and then in time I might be a king.'

I like that the soldier is so unassuming and I think it's this rather ho-hum attitude that sets him up well as the hero of the tale. Fortuitously, the old woman knows something of the antics of the princesses and warns the soldier not to drink any wine he is offered and gives him an invisibility cloak to help him on his quest. As is typical with fairy godmother types, this encounter is the only appearance of the old woman in the story. The reader is never told if she is a seer, fairy, or witch and the fact that she knows so much of what is going on remains unexplained.

Image Credit

The soldier proceeds to the castle and undertakes the challenge of solving the dancing princess mystery. Following the crone's advice he drinks no wine, pretends to be asleep, and then dons the invisibility cloak to follow the girls through a trap door in their room. The princesses proceed down a stairway, into boats manned by twelve princes, to a secret ball where the dance the night away. The soldier follows and partakes in their revelry with only the youngest princess suspicious of his presence. The elder girls all tell the youngest that she is imagining things or explain away the sounds she hears. Three nights proceed the same way with the soldier secretly following the girls and collecting evidence of their activities.

When the time comes for the report to the king, the soldier explains all that he has seen. Oddly enough, there is little protest or argument from the girls.

The king called for the princesses, and asked them whether what the soldier said was true and when they saw that they were discovered, and that it was of no use to deny what had happened, they confessed it all.

I half expect the youngest princess to blurt out some form of "I told you so" to her elder siblings. Though she seemed the wisest and most astute of the lot, the soldier surprisingly chooses the eldest to be his bride. The story explains that she is a better match age-wise, but I almost wonder if this is to be interpreted as some sort of punishment for the eldest. I found the ending of the story to be rather anticlimactic and combined with the lack of magic and mystery surrounding the princess's disappearance every night, it's not one of my favorite fairy tales. I know there are several retellings and reinventions of this tale and I would be intrigued to search out and read some of them. For myself, I would love a new version of the story (though not one starring Barbie) in which the princes that spirit the girls away are wizards or ghosts or possess some other enchantment over the princesses such that their evening dancing is more the result of fantasy than just rebellion.

What do you think of The Twelve Dancing Princesses? Do you like the ending of the story or do you wish it had a bit more excitement? Have you read or seen any other versions of this story?

This post marks my first Fairy Tale Fridays entry of 2012. To check out more FTF posts and my 2011 Fairy Tale Challenge click here!

How to Eat a Cupcake

2012-02-01T15:24:00.001-06:00

I love cupcakes. It's not that I'm overly trendy, I actually love just about any dessert, but there's something pretty and petite, simplistic and easy-to eat about cupcakes. The picture at left is a Cookies and Cream Cupcake I made last year for some coworkers (using this recipe) and I figured talking a bit about my culinary passions would make a nice tie in to a book review of Meg Donohue's debut novel How to Eat a Cupcake!

Annie and Julia were born into opposite stations in life - Annie to an Ecuadorian immigrant and Julia to a rich prep-school family - but as nanny to Julia, Annie's mother raised them both and as children they were practically sisters. High school antics drove them apart and after Annie's mother died, the two girls went their separate ways: Annie to pursue independent culinary dreams and Julia to business school.

As grown woman, the two cross paths again and though Annie is reluctant to place any trust in her old friend, Julia's wealth and business savvy hold the keys to making Annie's dream of owning her own cupcake shop a reality. Entering into a an uneasy partnership, the two find that their past of hurt, betrayals, and buried secrets soon surfaces. Annie and Julia must decide if they can overcome their differences amidst a new barrage of business challenges and threats to their shop and possibly even find their childhood friendship rekindled along the way.

Meg Donohue cooks up a winning recipe of friendship, and family, blended with puzzling mysteries in this heartwarming novel. The title How to Eat a Cupcake refers to the different styles each character has of consuming pastries perfectly and though Annie and Julia are as different as chocolate mocha and vanilla bean, each is a delightful heroine in the novel. Reminiscent of the works of Sarah Addison Allen, this was a book that brings descriptions to life in tastes and smells along with sights and sounds, and if there's anything bad I have to say about this novel it's that it will certainly leave readers hungry for a home-baked treat!

Are you a cupcake fan? Is there a home-baked dessert you prefer? (I'm thinking of trying out these tasty looking sweets for Valentine's Day!) If you're not much of a culinary creator, do you like reading books about people who are?

An advance review copy of this book was provided by LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. This review represents my honest and unbiased opinions about this work. How To Eat a Cupcake by Meg Donohue will be released on March 13, 2012.

The Chalk Girl

2012-01-23T22:20:00.000-06:00

There are two types of readers that will approach Carol O'Connell's newest book The Chalk Girl: those who know Kathy Mallory and those who are meeting her for the first time.

As a part of the former category, I was thrilled to discover novel number ten in O'Connell's Mallory series featuring the brilliant, beautiful, sociopath who is the law but doesn't quite object to bending it. The mystery presented in The Chalk Girl finds Mallory placed in desk duty after her unexplained absence but pulled into active service with a case of a serial killer stringing up victims from trees in Central Park. The only witness to the crimes is a young girl named Coco starving for human contact. Coco instantly latches on to the cold-hearted Mallory causing many - especially psychologist Charles Butler - to wonder if Mallory has a soft spot for a kindred spirit or if she's just using the girl's trusting nature as a means to solve her case.

Complexly layered with a storyline spanning past and present, O'Connell once again keeps the reader guessing throughout the entire story. Though I was a longtime Mallory fan when I picked this book up, the beauty of this series is that each entry can be enjoyed as a solid novel on its own. Granted, the back stories and character development of Mallory, her partner Riker, Charles Butler, and the rest of the well-drawn cast are painted over time throughout the series so that constant fans will have the benefit of closer ties to the key players, but that is not to say that newcomers to the books will enjoy this one any less.

Would you read them with a fox? (Top Ten Tuesday)

2012-01-17T22:00:00.001-06:00

This week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday features a lovely topic of "Top Ten Books I Would Recommend to Readers That Don't Read (blank)". The theme immediately brought to mind Green Eggs and Ham because I think many readers that typically don't read *insert your own blank here: audiobooks / young adult / fantasy* have the type of prejudice that Seuss's book related. Just as Sam I Am's friend insisted on not liking Green Eggs and Ham until he tried them, I think many readers could be pleasantly surprised about enjoying a new genre or type of book that they just haven't tried. (And while I'm on the topic, is the ham green too or is it normal colored ham just served with green eggs? And if the ham is colored should the book really be called green eggs and green ham or would that just kill the whole rhyme scheme?)

As always, though, I digress. I debated for a while what I wanted my list to be about. Should I extol the virtues of R.A. Salvatore and Jim Butcher to those who don't read fantasy? Should I rave about my favorite female protagonists to those who generally avoid chick lit? Or maybe I should explain why not all vampire books are written like Twilight? All of those would have made intriguing posts, but I thought instead I would tackle a topic that has more readers opposed to it than any others I encounter: Indie Fiction. I'm guessing at that very announcement, many people X'ed out of their browser. *sigh* Independently published fiction has a crazy stigma attached to it that it's no good, and it's a prejudice that plenty of readers cling to which is why this list was so important to me. As a book blogger, I take recommendations seriously. There are plenty of books I read which I know are not for everyone. And there are plenty of books I read (both by indie and traditionally published authors) that I feel could have used a bit more work before reaching press. However, as I present this top ten list, these works all come with a Her Book Self seal of approval. They're all stories I enjoyed and would happily read again and I hope some adventurous blog reader just might take a chance on one or more of them! (Titles below link to my reviews.)

Top Ten Works For Readers Who Don't Read
Independent Fiction

10. The Muse of Edouard Manet by M. Clifford
Read It If You Enjoy: Romance; Time travel; Books set in Chicago; Historical fiction; Famous artists
Popular Book I Would Compare It To: Outlander; Girl With the Pearl Earring
Why You Should Try It: It's a romantic story with a mix of time travel, adventure, and a really fascinating behind the scenes look at The Art Institute of Chicago

9. Revenge by Mark Young
Read It If You Enjoy: Crime novels, Action adventure; Police books; Books about Native American culture
Popular Book I Would Compare It To: One of the Jim Chee Mysteries by Tony Hillerman
Why You Should Try It: Revenge has an intricate plot with layers of suspense, great characters and highly detailed setting.

8. Progeny by R.T. Kaelin
Read It If You Enjoy: High fantasy; Detailed world building; Loveable characters
Popular Book I would Compare It To: Furies of Calderon; Warbreaker
Why You Should Try It: Epic in scope, Progeny is on par with many traditionally published high fantasy works.

7. Adelaide Einstein by April L. Hamilton
Read It If You Enjoy: Women's fiction; Humor; Encouraging stories about friendship and family
Popular Book I would Compare It To: Everyone is Beautiful; Fried Green Tomatoes
Why You Should Try It: This was one of the first works of independently published fiction I ever read and I know it predisposed me towards trying out more indie authors.

6. Foxy's Tale by Karen Fraunfelder Cantwell and L.B. Gschwandtner
Read It If You Enjoy: Young adult fiction; Mother/daughter stories; A touch of supernatural
Popular Book I would Compare It To: Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic books crossed with a PG version of Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries
Why You Should Try It: The writing is smooth and witty and the story is clever and unique.

5. Color Me Grey by J.C. Phelps
Read It If You Enjoy: Action and suspense with a touch of romance; Kick-butt heroines
Popular Book I would Compare It To: Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination; James Bond meets Bridget Jones
Why You Should Try It: Phelps's protagonist Alex Stanton is a strong sassy female holding her own in a man's world and her adventures are a great example of fun, escapist fiction.

4. Hungry For You by A.M. Harte
Read It If You Enjoy: Short stories; Zombies; Off-beat horror mixed with humor and romance
Popular Book I would Compare It To: Married with Zombies
Why You Should Try It: This is a great collection of pieces varying in length but they're as delightful and creative as they are gruesome and hilarious.

3. The Legend of Lady MacLaoch by Becky Banks
Read It If You Enjoy: Romance; Magical realism; Books set in Scotland
Popular Book I would Compare It To: Outlander; Highland Fling
Why You Should Try It: This book is a beautifully woven story with a gorgeous setting and an intricate plot of age old curses and star-crossed lovers.

2. Take the Monkeys and Run by Karen Cantwell
Read It If You Enjoy: Mysteries with a female protagonist; Humor; Family stories
Popular Book I would Compare It To: Something by Donna Andrews or Heather Webber
Why You Should Try It: Cantwell is downright hilarious and her mystery manages to pack in a heap of suspense and intrigue while still being full of laughs.

1. The Book by M. Clifford
Read It If You Enjoy: Thought-provoking fiction; Dystopia; Books set in Chicago
Popular Book I would Compare It To: Fahrenheit 451; 1984
Why You Should Try It: The Book is a novel for anyone who's ever contemplated the long term ramifications of our society's increasing dependence on technology and, specifically, what the move to eReaders could mean for our great literary heritage.

So there you have my list. Are there any that you have read? Are there any that you may take a chance on after reading this post? Do you hold to the stereotype that indie fiction is somehow not as good as traditionally published work or do you read work by indie authors? (If the latter, I'd love to hear your own recommendations!) For previous Top Ten Tuesdays on Her Book Self, click here.

I'd also like to send a shout-out to those indie authors who I have featured on Her Book Self but whose works did not make this list. I really wanted to stick to ten in the hopes that more readers will get through this whole post, so please do not be offended if your work did not make my Top Ten. There are plenty more I could include but I did want to keep this at least slightly brief!

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

2012-01-11T15:00:00.000-06:00

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms follows the story of Yeine Darr, a girl from a rugged village summoned to the lush capital city of Sky by her grandfather. After her mother dies under somewhat mysterious circumstances, Yeine appears before her grandfather Dekarta, who is the ruler in Sky, and learns that she has been chosen along with two of her cousins as potential heirs.

Weaving her way through various political schemes to remove her as a successor and trying to determine what really happened to her mother are enough of a challenge for Yeine. Complicating matters even further are a host of enslaved Gods residing in Sky - including the endearing Child-God Sieh and the dangerously alluring Night Lord Nahadoth.

I downloaded this book for my Kindle after hearing some glowing reviews for it. It took me a while to really get pulled into the story, but I appreciated the unique voice and creative storytelling of author N.K. Jemisin combining fantasy, romance, and politics. Yeine was a very original heroine and in many ways she was my favorite part of the book. At times the pacing of the story was a bit slow, but once I reached the central action of the story I was hooked until the end. This was a promising debut work with great potential for future entries in the series.

The Wolves in the Walls

2012-01-08T19:17:00.000-06:00

I've always known myself to be an eclectic reader, but one genre I love, which I don't spotlight very often on this blog, is books for young readers. As the saying goes, "We all have to grow older, but we don't have to grow up," there are few things that make me feel more like a kid again than a really great picture book. Knowing this, and knowing how much I enjoy the writing of Neil Gaiman, my husband gave me the book The Wolves in the Walls as a Christmas gift!

The story follows a young girl named Lucy who hears some strange sounds late at night and is convinced there are wolves in the walls of her house. Her parents and brother wave away her worries with theories of mice or rats or bats and reiterate to her that, "If the wolves come out of the walls, it is all over." Despite the unbelief of her family, Lucy is right about the wolves and they do make it out of the walls, displacing Lucy, her brother, and her parents from their home. Though it does seem to be "all over", Lucy comes up with a plan to get their house back!

I really enjoyed the cute and funny but slightly scary story told in Neil Gaiman's signature fashion. Equally enjoyable were the illustrations crafted by Dave McKean. I was first exposed to McKean's work through the feature film MirrorMask and have been a fan of his unique style ever since. Though the wolves may be a bit frightening for very young readers, I think this is an exceptionally charming tale for grade school audiences. And of course, it can be equally appreciated by much older readers as well.

Are you an older reader that is still a fan of picture books? Have any great titles to recommend?

Six Geese A-Slaying (Plus a bonus poem by lisa...)

2012-01-05T12:09:00.000-06:00

Twas the week before Christmas and all through my blog
I gave up on posting to sleep like a log.
I fought seasonal colds and needed my rest
'Tween volunteer projects, nap-time seemed best.
Followers were quiet, comment fields lay bare,
And I hoped that a new review soon would be there.
With book piles aplenty, library holds galore,
I should have found many a book to adore.
But alas the days passed and I turned so few pages
To read through a novel was taking me ages!
"Come new year! Come Spring! Then I'll finish more books!"
Yet this bold declaration drew skeptical looks.
Without book consumption, of what would I post?
For what is a blog with a stricken mute host?
Her Book Self lay silent awaiting my time
And all I could manage was this silly rhyme
Explaining my absence with wishes for more
Posting and writing as in blog days of yore.
Plus a bonus review of a holiday tale
I picked up for free at a library sale!
(For those who want Christmas over and done,
Pick this one up next year, it really was fun!)
Now on to reviewing a mystery delight,
Happy reading to all and to all a book light!

I know I'm overdue on posting this review, as the Christmas season is quickly fading to eggnog hangover memories and regretful bill paying of impulse induced gift purchases, but just before the holidays I finished a Christmas themed book that I really did enjoy. Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews is the tenth in a series of (now fourteen) cozy mysteries featuring amateur sleuth Meg Langslow. This entry finds Meg reluctantly planning the town holiday parade - with a twelve days of Christmas theme - and amidst the chaos of drummers drumming, pipers piping, boy scouts camping, and reporters nagging, someone went and murdered Santa.

I don't normally read series books out of order, but as I was in the mood for a cute and engaging book, I couldn't resist the holiday flair of this one. I assume that the earlier books in the series provided more character development for Meg, her family, and the eccentric and varied cast of townspeople around her, but even without the background of their relationships, there was plenty of charm to entice me into loving the heroine and her team. The mystery was well paced too with a good amount of red herrings and multiple motives to keep me guessing the murderer's identity throughout the story. Six Geese A-Slaying was a really fun holiday mystery and I'm interested in checking out more from author Donna Andrews in the future.

Wishing you all a slightly belated "Happy Holidays from Her Book Self" and here's to another fabulous year of great books and great blogs in 2012!

Farewell 2011, Welcome 2012

2012-01-01T17:53:00.000-06:00

It's time for my yearly wrap up of books read in 2011! Before I create my collage of covers, here are a few fun statistics:

Total Books: 74
Fiction/Nonfiction: 70 / 4
Re-reads: 4
Top Genres: Fantasy (26); Historical fiction (18); Mystery (8)

The Final Countdown (Top Ten Tuesday)

2011-12-27T11:46:00.000-06:00

Rather than apologize profusely for my absence from the blogging world, I'm actually going to give myself permission to take the rest of the year off from my blog. It's not for lack of love of this blog or any of my fab readers and it's certainly not for lack of great books to write about. Rather, this has been one of those months where life has thrown me for some loop-de-loops and in an effort to simplify, I'm allowing myself to take a breather. That's not to say that this will be my last blog of the year and that's not a promise that come January things will return to normal, but it's just an announcement that if I'm not here with my typical frequency, keep heart - I will be back.

With that said, I really can't resist jumping in on today's Top Ten Tuesday topic: Favorite Books Read in 2011. As usual, I can't actually limit this to ten, but with 70+ books finished this year, this list does still represent the cream of the crop!

Favorite YA Fiction:

Tall Story by Candy Gourlay

Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

Tyger, Tyger by Kersten Hamilton

Matched by Ally Condie

Favorite Adult Fiction - Fantasy:

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin

Fables (The Deluxe Edition, Book 1) by Bill Willingham

Favorite Adult Fiction - Mystery:

Take the Monkeys and Run by Karen Cantwell

The Chalk Girl by Carol O'Connell (review to come)

Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews (review to come)

Favorite Adult Fiction - General Fiction:

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

Favorite Classics:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

This really is just a sampling of many wonderful books I encountered for the first time this year! Are there any that I've mentioned that you loved as well? How about titles I loved that you didn't particularly care for? Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Feel free to join the fun with a post of your own and link up at their site!

Middlesex

2011-12-15T16:01:00.000-06:00

First comes the apology for my unexpected blogging hiatus. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was a bit under the weather last week. Once I was feeling more human, I was busy playing catch-up at work and trying to get ready for the holidays (service projects, card writing, shopping, party planning). But as a very special return post, I'm happy to share a review of a book that impressed my socks off - happy Christmas socks, that is, featuring little puppies and kitties in Santa hats... the socks, not the book.

Ambitious in scope and epic in execution, Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides is an amazing story not just for its sweeping family saga but for its remarkable narrator. Calliope "Cal" Stephanides is a hermaphrodite - genetically male but raised as a female - and the genetic mutation that led to his condition is rooted in the history of his family. Though Cal is introduced immediately, the majority of the story is told in the past - from Cal's grandparents, Greek immigrants Lefty and Desdemona; to his parents Milton and Tessie.

The unique relationships between the two couples is almost as captivating as their surroundings. Settling in Detroit, Michigan, Lefty and Desdemona's tale corresponds to the city's glory days of Ford. As the next generation takes the focus of the narration, the landscape shifts as well and Cal's parents witness the race riots of the sixties and follow the white exodus to suburban Grosse Pointe, where Cal and his brother are raised.

Eugenides succeeds not only in revealing the complex history of Detroit, but in telling the book with an amazing flair for detail. Some of the characters are painted so richly with personalities that jump off the page while others are classified precisely by their lack thereof. Cal's parents were complete with their own back-stories, hobbies, quirks, and talents; meanwhile Cal's brother is only ever referred to cleverly as "Chapter Eleven". Everything about the story feels real and more than once I found myself running an internet search on a business, neighborhood, or event to distinguish facts from Eugenides's fiction.

I must admit that I had this book on my "To Read" list for a long time and was unfairly prejudiced against the story - which I assumed would revolve primarily around gender identity issues. What I found was a book that did deal with gender and sexuality, but through the eyes of a witty and unique narrator that I came to love, because I was first introduced to his captivating family saga. I was swept up by the Stephanides's history and as Cal interspersed his own struggles into the tale - complete with a decent dose of science and genetics - I felt like a member of the family. I'm also not normally swayed by awards and accolades on book covers, but Middlesex deserves all the praise and attention it has received. I was thoroughly amazed by this book and can easily say it's one of the best I have read this year.

"Curling up with a good book when there's a repair job to be done"

2011-12-08T15:31:00.000-06:00

"There's nothing to match curling up with a good book when there's a repair job to be done around the house." ~Joe Ryan

I've been home sick the past few days and I always have a hard time making myself rest when I'm sick versus getting things done around the house. The cold bug I caught this year however really wiped me out. I'll sleep nine or more hours a night and still wake up feeling really tired. So the quote above seemed rather appropriate for me this week as it has been rather nice to kick my feet up and cuddle with a cup of tea, a cozy blanket, and a good book with hopes of feeling better soon!

Tales of an African Vet

2011-12-05T14:36:00.000-06:00

Tales of an African Vet is a fascinating series of vignettes from the life of author Roy Aronson. The stories follow his real life experiences as a veterinarian in South Africa and his patients range from elephants and lions in the wild, to snakes and squirrel monkeys brought into a clinic for treatment.

Dr. Aronson shows a depth of passion for his work and for all the animals he treats that reveals a sense of compassion as great as his intelligence. The book is amazing for its details of science and medicine - and the logistics behind treating incredibly large and dangerous wild animals - as well as the knowledge and interesting facts about the variety of animals encountered (from rhinos to alligators to hedgehogs to koi).

The book was well written and the format of stories rather than a single narrative provides a sweeping coverage of the grand scale of Dr. Aronson's work. This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in African animals, exotic veterinary medicine, or just a great biography of a man with an extraordinary job.

Rumpelstiltskin (Fairy Tale Fridays)

2011-12-02T11:41:00.001-06:00

In lamenting a particularly frustrating portion of my work as a research scientist, I once described a group of my assignments as "The Rumpelstiltskin Effect". I felt as though in moving my project forward I was being asked to spin straw into gold - a task that was in every way something that nobody could do, but still I was pursuing it. Needless to say, that project did not pan out as well as some of my others.

Reflecting on that portion of my work, I also realized that I've never reviewed and analyzed the popular Brothers Grimm story Rumpelstiltskin. As many know the story begins with the Sisyphean task for the miller's daughter all because of something her father says:

"Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he had to go and speak to the king, and in order to make himself appear important he said to him, 'I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold.'"

Notice that the problems all begin because the man was trying to "appear important". The adage of pride before the fall comes to mind here as the story is set in motion. The greedy king locks the girl up with a room full of straw and a spinning wheel and threatens to kill her if she cannot perform the feat by morning. Partly I wonder if this was the king simply trying to call the man's bluff. I have to wonder if the king would really go through with executing a subject - and a beautiful one at that - for what seems to be an obvious exaggeration. So the miller's daughter is more than a little bit stuck. The story tells us:

"She had no idea how straw could be spun into gold, and she grew more and more frightened, until at last she began to weep. But all at once the door opened, and in came a little man..."

I'll try not to roll my eyes at why the miller's daughter didn't at least start trying to spin her straw, plead hay fever and demand release, or fess up to her father's lies; but as in many fairy tales, we have a male who comes to her rescue. The stranger creates the gold in exchange for a necklace and when the king's greed causes a repeat of events the miller's daughter turns over a gold ring. (Does anyone ever stop to wonder why, if the miller was so poor, does his daughter have a necklace and a ring that become some pretty hefty bargaining chips? Or why, if Rumpelstiltskin can spin stray into gold, does he have need of the girl's trinkets? Sorry, moving on.) On the third night, the girl is once more thrust into a room of straw and told by the king, "You must spin this, too, in the course of this night, but if you succeed, you shall be my wife."

Rumpelstiltskin appears to save her once more but she is left without anything to offer him in trade for his service - and yet he offers her a deal:

"'Then promise me, if you should become queen, to give me your first child.'"
Who knows whether that will ever happen, thought the miller's daughter, and, not knowing how else to help herself in this strait, she promised the manikin what he wanted, and for that he once more spun the straw into gold."

I know fairy tale heroines are not known for their brains but since the king promised to marry her for one more night of spinning and if Rumpelstiltskin had already delivered a straw to gold transmogrification twice, why didn't she think she would be queen? So the story proceeds with the girl marrying the king, and eventually having a child that Rumpelstiltskin comes to claim. She pleads with him not to take the baby and he offers her a reprieve if she can guess his name. (I have to wonder, how did he help her out three nights in a row and she never asked who he was?) Of course the big "R" is not a name on anyone's lips so the new queen's situation is rather dire. She sends out messengers to seek new names from all the kingdoms and eventually one returns with the following tale of what he observed:

"Round about the fire quite a ridiculous little man was jumping, he hopped upon one leg, and shouted -
     'To-day I bake, to-morrow brew,

     the next I'll have the young queen's child.
     Ha, glad am I that no one knew
     that Rumpelstiltskin I am styled.'"

The queen reveals the answer to the guessing game and the peeved little man suffers a rather disastrous fate:

"...in his anger he plunged his right foot so deep into the earth that his whole leg went in, and then in rage he pulled at his left leg so hard with both hands that he tore himself in two."

Typically Grimm, that line is the morbid end to the story. At first, my reaction to this story is one of disdain. None of the characters are exceptionally virtuous, but on second look there are some actual morals to be found. The first may be that honesty is the best policy and that one should not tell lies to make themselves seem more important, but I think the larger lesson revealed is to guard one's words.

There are multiple Biblical proverbs about this topic, and regardless of your thoughts on the divinity of scripture, the advice is exceptionally wise. One example is Proverbs 13:3 "He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin." (18:21 says, "The tongue has the power of life and death" and 21:23 states, "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.") Knowing that the Grimms were in the practice of moralizing, I think it can be rather obvious how these verses tie into the tale.

Firstly, the father's boastfulness is what begins the whole fiasco. The king's harsh threats cause the miller's daughter her panic, which in turn leads to her making an unwise promise to Rumpelstiltskin. All through the story we see the characters causing their own trouble because of what they say and ultimately, it is the little man's words when he thinks no one can hear him that leads the queen to have his name.

What are your thoughts on the morals and lessons of Rumpelstiltskin? Is discretionary speech a good theme to pull out of this tale or do you interpret it differently? Do you feel bad that things ended so poorly for the titular character or do you think he got what he deserved?

This post marks another entry in my 2011 Fairy Tale Challenge (10 out of 12) hosted by Tif of Tif Talks Books. I'd love for you to share your thoughts on this post or any of my previous Fairy Tale Fridays selections and wish me luck in finding two more tales to post about before year's end!

"The Ideal life"

2011-11-30T11:12:00.000-06:00

"Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."
~ Mark Twain

Happy 176th Birthday to Samuel Langhorne Clemens! I know most of us are used to seeing pictures of a white-haired Twain, but I wanted to choose a younger photo, especially after coming across this quote: "Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen." Odd that a man who dreamt of a backwards life is immortalized as an octogenarian!

I was first introduced to Twain's writing when I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in sixth grade and I really fell in love with his work after reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when I was a junior in high school (okay, I admit, the musical Big River plays a large part in my obsession with that novel).

Do you have a favorite Mark Twain book or quote?

Dracula in Love

2011-11-29T11:09:00.000-06:00

I give in to peer pressure. No, I wouldn't jump off a bridge just because my friends did, but I would certainly read a book that other bloggers raved about. Such was the case with a recent read that came highly recommended by Stephanie D. over at Misfit Salon!

The idea that a well known story is not the way things really happened is not a new concept for a book, but in Dracula in Love Karen Essex manages to present the idea as fresh and creative. Retelling Bram Stoker's classic from Mina Murray Harker's perspective, Essex reveals a Count Dracula who is perhaps more akin to Shakespeare's Puck than Bela Lugosi's movie monster stereotype.

Mina herself is entirely reinvented from the original book. She is not the helpless victim of a terrifying fiend but rather a strong willed woman with unexplained and somewhat mystical secrets from her childhood. Dracula is not out to destroy her but rather to awaken her own supernatural side. He is her soul mate, who has sought her through multiple lifetimes, rather than a predator intent on her demise. All of the details of Stoker's work fit within the context of Dracula in Love but the expansion and explanations of these details - especially Lucy Westenra's tragic role in the story - provide a thoroughly engaging new perspective on the well known events.

It always seems cliche to me to call a book a "page-turner", but this was definitely a work I could not put down. Equal parts chilling and romantic, this is definitely a book for fans of the original, and especially for fans of the original who thought Stoker's female characters needed a bit more moxie!

I won a copy of this book through Stephanie's blog and I owe her a huge thanks for the giveaway which rocketed it to the top of my TBR list when it arrived in the mail. (And if you have not already checked out Misfit Salon, hop over there and start following! Seriously awesome content and overall a beautifully awesome book blog!)

The Eyre Affair

2011-11-25T22:58:00.000-06:00

Sometimes it's the books I love the most that I have the hardest time writing reviews for. There are certain titles that I just feel rather defensive or possessive about - the books which when others admit to not liking them, I almost feel a bit offended. Does anyone else have works that they get this emotional about? For me, one such book is The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

The bare bones of the plot is a mystery centered around a detective named Thursday Next who lives in an alternate version of England in the 1980's in which the Crimean War is still raging, time travel and dodo cloning are routine occurrences and literature is taken exceptionally seriously. In fact Thursday is no ordinary detective as she works for a low-in-the-pecking-order division of Special Ops - Literary Detection. When the original manuscript of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit is stolen all of England is on alert. And when the super villain targets not just the pages but the characters of Jane Eyre, Thursday must step in - into the story itself - to save Bronte's beloved classic.

Now the story alone is enough reason for me to enjoy this one, but Fforde's writing is also peppered with wordplay, literary gags, and all sorts of humor for bibliophiles. Yet, even saying that I know there are still plenty of readers that just never warmed to this book. And I think I understand why. The Eyre Affair is the ultimate example of a cross-genre book. It's satire, mystery, science fiction, and humor. Numerous classics are referenced, at least one chapter reads like a horror novel; there's a large plot involving time travel that might make your brain hurt if you over analyze it; not to mention a love story; and a good deal of political commentary criticizing war, corporations, and their all too intertwined relationship. Many negative reviews I've read for the novel point out this mish-mash of details as distracting or unfocused, but to me it just demonstrates Fforde's suave pen at juggling so many seemingly disconnected genres and entwining them all into a clever and cohesive book.

I first read this book after picking it up at a used bookstore in 2003 or 2004, but I recently reread it and enjoyed it just as much the second time around. I look to Fforde's novels when I need a happy read, a book I can rely on to make me smile. Along with picking up more of the jokes and classic references that I had forgotten or missed the first time, I liked this book even more now that I'm closer in age to the protagonist. It was a fun book when I was ten years Thursday's junior but now that there's only a handful of years between us I can relate to her even more.

What are your thoughts on The Eyre Affair? Are you a fan or are you one of the people that failed to be impressed by it? (You can be honest, I can take it!) Do you ever have books that you're overly fond of or defensive about people liking?

Turkey, Stuffing, and Literary Greats (Top Ten Tuesday)

2011-11-22T23:00:00.001-06:00

I almost skipped this week's Top Ten Tuesday, but the more I pondered the topic, the more I really wanted to post about it!

Today's topic is Top Ten Authors I Want At My Thanksgiving Feast.

Because this is a glorious flight of imagination many of my choices are deceased and those that aren't likely have families of their own and wouldn't join mine anyway, but I really enjoyed dreaming up this literary dinner table!

10. 9. & 8. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte
Thanksgiving for me is always about family so there would be something really intriguing for me to sit down with the Bronte sisters as well as my own sisters. I would be very curious how their family dynamic compared to ours, although to be fair I would have to read something by Anne if she were in attendance!

7. Edgar Allan Poe
I have a feeling that if EAP ever got a taste of my mom's fabulous cooking or any of our many traditional desserts he would have a much sunnier outlook to his writing. Plus, I think Thanksgiving should be about including those that are needy and since Poe never really made it in his own time, I would be glad to save a place at our table for him.

6. Mark Twain
Every conversation - especially among an eclectic group of strangers - is more enjoyable with a storyteller and I can think of none better than Mark Twain to fill the role. I would love to hear him read some of his own work or regale us with stories from his childhood.

5. Dr. Seuss
I would invite Seuss to entertain all my nieces and nephews while the dinner is cooking. I feel like he would be a fun guest and in my imagination all the kids would enjoy gathering around him for story time.

4. Rachael Ray
I adore my mom's cooking, but I'm also a huge fan of RR's 30 minute meals cookbooks. I wouldn't trade my mom's turkey and stuffing for anything, but if Rachael could come and help us throw all the side dishes together in a jiffy, I would love to let my mom relax and know that it was all taken care of!

3. Lee Strobel
Thanksgiving is also a God-centered holiday in my family so I would love to have Lee Strobel join us to say grace for our dinner. I've always admired Strobel's writing and his faith journey so I think he would be a great guest to remind us to be thankful to God for all the blessings in our lives.

2. & 1. Christopher Moore and Jasper Fforde
I mentioned Family, Food and Faith and the other "f" that's sure to be found at our Thanksgiving feast is always Fun. Many a dinner with my parents and siblings has erupted into extensive gales of laughter so I would invite Moore and Fforde to our table since they are two writers that always make me laugh.

I'm sure if I keep thinking about this topic I'll change my mind a hundred times, but I think I've got a pretty interesting crowd selected. How about you? Who of my choices would you like to be seated near? Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Check out their blog for future topics and to link up with your own TTT post! (My previous Top Ten Tuesday posts can be found here.)

Foxy's Tale

2011-11-21T21:17:00.000-06:00

I was already a fan of Karen Cantwell when I downloaded Foxy's Tale for my Kindle so I was eager to discover the first in The Reluctant Vampire Series co-written with L.B. Gschwandtner. I expected more of a paranormal story but what I found was a delightfully charming family story with plenty of wit - and just a touch of vampires.

Foxy Anders is a former beauty queen, former wife to a football player, and former all around success. Down on her luck she ventures to Washington D.C. to open an antique store, run a boarding house and try to bridge the ever widening gap between her and her teenage goth daughter Amanda. Though the book bears the title Foxy's Tale I felt that Amanda definitely stole the show! It is through her eyes (and her sardonic blog "Amanda's Life in Hell") that Foxy's selfish tendencies are unveiled, and through Amanda's perspective that the reader becomes better acquainted with Foxy's eccentric boarders: shoe addict and amateur chef Knot Knudsen (pronounce the K's) and the elderly foreigner Myron Standlish who might just be stocking his refrigerator with blood.

As Foxy struggles to get her business off the ground she's saved by Knot's eye for antiques but she's also tempted to rationalize blowing her profits on "business" vacations and a new wardrobe. Meanwhile, Amanda gets sidetracked out of her disdain for Foxy by the entrance of Nick - a boy at school who's harboring some nasty secrets. Mother and daughter have never seen eye to eye but when the supernatural enters the picture, they just may find a way to pull together against a much scarier common foe.

I really enjoyed this novel and loved that it contained the same elements of quirky characters, funny plot, and engaging dialog that I saw in Cantwell's other work Take the Monkeys and Run. Though I would have preferred a more solid ending, I liked the story arc and I'm excited to see where Cantwell and Gschwandtner take the series in future entries.

It's been a while since I called a featured title a KinDEAL and since I love the portmanteau (Kindle + Deal = KinDEAL), I'm definitely giving that label to Foxy's Tale as the Amazon eBook is just $0.99 At that price I can only hope that more readers will take advantage of trying out this super cute series!

Gobbling Up Good Books?

2011-11-20T22:18:00.000-06:00

I know there are a ton of books out there about Christmas, but does anyone know of any really great books about Thanksgiving?

I was having a conversation about this earlier today, and aside from some children's picture books, I couldn't think of any titles for adults or young adults that really dealt with - or had important scenes - set around Turkey Day! Anyone have any suggestions?

(And yes this has been a "busy life - slow blog" week for me. Reviews of Dracula in Love, Middlesex, The Eyre Affair, and Foxy's Tale will hopefully be along shortly!)

For Rent: Space on my TBR shelf (Top Ten Tuesday)

2011-11-15T16:03:00.000-06:00

I know I used to always refer to my To Be Read list as the ginormous entity called Mount TBR, but lately I'm trying to think of it more like an apartment building. Each book has a room to rent (or a flat, if you prefer the UK term), and they all stay there for varying degrees of time. Some are more or less permanent residents, where as some move in and then jump ship to the finished shelf almost immediately. For this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday I'd like to take you all on a tour of the TBR Apartments and introduce you to a bunch of the tenants (aka heap of books I own) that I have not yet read!

And of course I can't narrow this down to 10 so I came up with categories - or "floors" - since there seem to be different reasons why these are all lingering in TBR land.

Unread Books Residing on Lisa's Shelves

First Floor:
Books I've Started but Just Never Finished

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Dreamsongs Vol. 1 by George R.R. Martin
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams

Second Floor:
Books I Bought Because I Went to an Author Signing

The Ambition by Lee Strobel
Reckless by Cornelia Funke

Third Floor:
Books I Bought Because Everyone Said They Are Awesome

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Looking For Alaska by John Green

Fourth Floor:
Books I Bought Because I Love Their Authors

The Outside of a Horse by Ginny Rorby
Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
Trouble in Spades by Heather Webber

Fifth Floor:
Books I Bought Because I Should Read More Classics

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Sixth Floor:
Books I Bought But Haven't Read Because They Begin a New Series

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Everlost by Neal Shusterman

Seventh Floor:
Books I Bought Because They're Next in a Series (YA)

Garden of the Purple Dragon by Carole Wilkinson
Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel
Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Eighth Floor:
Books I Bought Because They're Next in a Series (Adult)

Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

Ninth Floor:
Books I Bought on Impulse

Tunnels by Roderick Gordon
Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor
Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell

Tenth Floor Penthouse:
Books I Bought Because I'm Kinda Obsessed with R.A. Salvatore

The Crimson Shadow by R.A. Salvatore
The Highwayman by R.A. Salvatore
Neverwinter Wood by R.A. Salvatore

The crazy thing is - these aren't even ALL the books on my TBR shelves right now! But I hope you've all enjoyed this tour of the - hopefully - temporary housing for many of my owned but unread books! Are there any that I've listed that you feel I should bump to the top of my reading queue? Any that you also have sitting in a to-read pile?

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by the lovely bloggers of The Broke and The Bookish. Check out their blog to link up your own list this week or to see the schedule of future Top Ten Tuesday themes! (My previous Top Tens can be found here.)

An Eyre Affair to Remember (A Weekend to ReCOVER)

2011-11-13T11:13:00.007-06:00

I know I just did a cover comparison post with my "Dracu-lot of Covers" but as I was cataloging my recent reread of one of my very favorite books, I couldn't help but notice some totally adorable artwork over on LibraryThing for Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair. This cover holds a special place in my heart since it first caught my eye at a used bookstore circa 2004:

It may be my favorite cover for largely sentimental reasons, but here's a few more I think are fun:

And there are some creative foreign language covers that I think are pretty cool too:

Do you have a favorite of these Jasper Fforde covers? What catches your eye most: colorful cars, cloned dodo birds, books on book covers?

A Weekend to ReCOVER is a monthly (or so) feature hosted by Her Book Self that is all about discussing eye catching covers and bookish artwork. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts in the comment section or create a post of your own and leave me a link!

Fables: The Deluxe Edition Book One (Fairy Tale Fridays)

2011-11-11T21:09:00.000-06:00

I'm falling woefully behind on my 2011 Fairy Tale Challenge and feeling uninspired by classic fairy tales last week, I sent out a Twitter request to Tif from Tif Talks Books asking her to recommend a tale for me to read and review. I was expecting something along the lines of HCA or the brothers Grimm, but Tif surprised me by suggesting Fables the graphic novel series by Bill Willingham. Even more surprising was walking into my local library and spotting book one of the hardbound deluxe edition of the series hours after it was mentioned to me!

Fables: The Deluxe Edition Book One encompasses the first ten issues of the series. The first five compose the story "Legends in Exile" (Chapter 1: Old Tales Revisited; Chapter 2: The (Un)Usual Suspects; Chapter 3: Blood Tells; Chapter 4: Remembrance Day; and Chapter 5: The Famous Parlor Room Scene (Sans Parlor).) In this sequence, the characters and world are introduced and the reader discovers a neighborhood of New York City known as Fabletown in which all the classic fairy tale characters are alive and thriving in modern society without the general population having any clue to their existence. As the introduction by Bill Willingham states, "Welcome to the woods: where all fairy tales take place - even those that don't." Ruled over by King Cole and his second in command the ever beautiful Snow White (who has a less than amicable relationship with her ex-husband who is not-so Charming), things are far from happily ever after as the main plot of this section of the story involves a murder mystery and the subsequent investigations by Sheriff Bigby Wolf.

The story was bound to hook me in, but as with any graphic novel, the artwork is what kept me glued to the pages. I love hardbound editions to graphic novels because not only do I love diving into multiple issues at at time but I love that the finishing on the inking and design gives them an even more vibrant look. Color aside though, I think this is a series that would be enjoyable in any format since I really just loved the way the characters were conceived and drawn. Take this example of a figurine designed off sketches from issue eight:

Which brings me to the second half of The Deluxe Edition, the story "Animal Farm" (Chapter 1: Road Trip; Chapter 2: The Guns of Fabletown; Chapter 3: The Pirates of Upstate New York; Chapter 4: Warlord of the Flies; and Chapter 5: Twilight of the Dogs.)

"Animal Farm" comprised a much darker tale involving the non-human residents of the fairy tale community who, unable to blend into normal city life, have their own residence on a farm in upstate New York. The title taken from Orwell's classic is no coincidence and the literary allusions don't stop with a revolt led by one of the three pigs. I was really impressed with the more sinister feel of this set of tales. Willingham creates a story arc that is constantly surprising and I know if I had read this issue by issue I would have been agonizing over each and every cliffhanger.

All in all, I'm really glad to have discovered Fables. I'm thankful both for Tif's suggestion that brought it to my attention and for the fact that my local library carries graphic novels. I know some readers consider "comic books" to be some substandard form of literature, but I can honestly say that the storytelling I found in this series was as complex and intriguing as many of my favorite fantasy works and I find that well done artwork enhances rather than detracts from the narrative. (This picture is the spread cover of the Deluxe Edition - just had to give another example of the creative and imaginative artwork found in the collection!)

Fables: The Deluxe Edition Book One by Bill Willingham is the latest entry in my 2011 Fairy Tale Challenge (9 out of 12). Are you familiar with the Fables series? Is it one you're interested in checking out? What are your thoughts on graphic novels as literature? Does your local library carry them?

French Lessons

2011-11-08T21:58:00.000-06:00

On occasion I read books with very little preconceived notions about them - an unfamiliar author, a title I've never noticed - usually because a cover or a blurb draws me to them. Such was my experience with French Lessons by Ellen Sussman.

And really, who doesn't want a literary escape to Paris once in a while? :)

That said, little impressed me about this book besides the setting and the slightly unique storytelling style. The story follows the day in the life of three French tutors - Nico, Phillipe, and Chantel. The drama between the three is set up immediately as Philippe and Chantel are lovers but Phillipe's infidelity has sent Chantel into the arms of Nico who carries a lingering attraction to her. But rather than focus on this triangle, the story proceeds in portions with a short tale of each of their separate days teaching. Nico's student is the heartbroken American Josie; Phillipe is on assignment with Riley, a lonely housewife; and Chantel tutors Jeremy, the husband of an American actress.

At first the vignettes seem disjointed, but what appears as an unconnected series of occurrences blends into a nice interwoven character drama at the end. I liked the way Ellen Sussman constructed French Lessons and the Paris setting was vividly detailed, but I had a hard time connecting with - and thus caring about - the characters. Nico was by far my favorite so his portion of the story was most enjoyable for me. Since his narration started the story, the book lost steam towards the middle, but I did appreciate how all the stories were tied together in the end.

Do you ever pick books to read that you have little to no previous impression about? I know the cover and blurb of this one sounded really intriguing to me but I hadn't read any previous reviews, nor was I familiar with Sussman's writing. This one wasn't my favorite, but have you ever picked a book rather randomly and been surprised by the treasure you discovered?

"Let us read"

2011-11-06T18:00:00.000-06:00

“Let us read, and let us dance;
these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”
- Voltaire

I'm a bit behind on reading and reviewing right now, thus I wanted to share a quote that -as always - I totally love. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend filled with reading, dancing, and many other pleasures that will never do any harm to the world.

And the Winner is... (Hungry For You giveaway)

2011-11-03T20:20:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Onge the winner of an eBook copy of

Hungry For You by A.M. Harte!

On surviving a zombie apocalypse, Onge said,

"My survival or not depends on where I am. I work overnights at walmart and if the apocalypse happens then my coworkers and I have some ideas on how to survive. If it is anywhere else I'm not sure I'd make it. Maybe I need to start carrying a bat with me everywhere I go."

"Shop smart. Shop S-Mart."

If there's one thing I learned from watching Army of Darkness, it's don't mess up the magic words when reading the necronomicon. But if there are two things I learned from watching Army of Darkness, they're don't mess up the words when reading the necronomicon; and superstore employees are definitely the folks you want to team up with when zombies are on the loose!

Congratulations, Onge, and hope you enjoy the book!

The True Memoirs of Little K

2011-11-02T21:50:00.000-05:00

Many know the story of the fall of the Romanovs, the splendor of the imperial court toppled by revolutionaries, but author Adrienne Sharp tells the somewhat familiar history in a brand new way. The True Memoirs of Little K begins in Paris in 1971 with the blunt and rather boastful introduction, "My name is Mathilde Kschessinska, and I was the greatest Russian ballerina on the imperial stages." The tale which is unraveled from the memories of an old woman is that of Russia - before, during, and after the upheaval of its royalty - told through one of its most famous artists.

Mathilde Kschessinska, known to her loved ones as Mala or Little K, rose to fame in the tsar's Russian Imperial Ballet. She gained the coveted position of prima ballerina assoluta - more from her charm and cunning than talent at dance. She found herself mingling in the inner circles of several grand dukes and eventually finding the favor, and the bed, of Tsar Nicholas II himself. Throughout the story of the changing political climate in Russia, from the Romanovs and Rasputin to the revolutionaries and royal executions, Mala is a fair narrator. She constructs the history piece by piece - at times close to the action and in other scenes as confused by the tumultuous world around her as any of the Russian citizens.

Adrienne Sharp draws heavily on true events to create this book, weaving in some fiction and speculation only as a garnish for the facts. I greatly enjoyed learning more about the time period of the last Russian tsars, the culture of the ballet, and the atmosphere of the Russian revolution. Though Kschessinska lends a human perspective to the events, I never really connected with her as a character. I found her rather unlikeable, but in a way that did make her more realistic as a flawed historical figure. The way that the story was told, as memoirs from a flashback point of view, was also a bit distracting. The narration would occasionally jump between different past occurrences and although the non-linear trajectory served to remind the reader of the elderly Kschessinska, I would have preferred to fully embrace the historical setting.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but it took me a little while to warm up to the narrator and the storytelling style. It wasn't a very quick read, but I would definitely recommend it to those interested in the subject matter and time period.

A Dracu-lot of Covers (A Weekend to ReCOVER)

2011-10-29T21:45:00.000-05:00

I have a nerdy Halloween joke for you all:

Q: Where do vampires like to study science?
A: In the Dracu-lab!

Bad puns aside, the joke serves as a great intro to my spook-tacular edition of A Weekend to ReCOVER! Bram Stoker's Dracula is my favorite vampire novel and I was really impressed with the number and variety of covers out there for this one. This goes to show not only is this a book that has stood the test of time since its original publication in 1897, but it's also a work that has weathered various reinventions of marketing for a very timeless tale.

Some seem to display scenes directly from the text while others dabble with more abstract images or typical vampire themes. These are just a fraction of the many covers and if anyone wants to view more, check out the gallery at LibraryThing here.

Do you have a favorite among the covers I've shown here? Which edition of Stoker's classic would you be most likely to display on your shelf?

A Weekend to ReCOVER is an occasional feature hosted by Her Book Self comparing or discussing cover art, dust jackets, or anything else related to design and marketing of books. Feel free to chime in with your comments below or create a post of your own (and be sure to leave a link if you do!).

And for those caught in the Halloween spirit, don't forget to enter the eBook giveaway for a copy of A.M. Harte's collection of zombie love stories, Hungry For You!

Author Interview - A.M. Harte (Plus a Zombie eBook Giveaway!)

2011-10-26T09:00:00.004-05:00

Just five short days left before Halloween and today I get the pleasure of introducing all of you to A.M. Harte who wrote the delightfully funny yet creepy anthology of zombie love stories Hungry For You. Along with answering all my questions about reading, writing, and surviving the zombie apocalypse Ms. Harte has generously offered to provide one lucky reader with an eBook version of Hungry For You! Check out the details after the interview. (And if zombies aren't your thing, this could be a great chance to score an eBook for a friend as an All Hallows Read gift!) Please join me in a warm Her Book Self welcome to A.M. Harte!

*applause, applause*

I have to start with perhaps the most obvious question about your book - why zombies?

I hate horror. I can’t watch scary films, I can’t read scary books, and despite being somewhat grown-up, I’m still convinced there are monsters under my bed.

But a key aspect of being a writer – and of life in general – is pushing past your comfort zone and trying new things. There’s nothing worse than being stuck in a rut, either because you’re afraid of what’s outside or you’ve grown too comfortable. Yes, there could be a giant scary monster out there, but there could also be a double rainbow waiting to be discovered.

Fear is a great motivator because it shows you where your comfort zone lies. And tackling my fears by writing about zombies – the epitome of horror – was a challenge I couldn’t turn down.

On your blog you mentioned that the zombies in your work "evolve from faceless, insatiable voids mindlessly destroying the world and become people, individuals with whom [you] can relate." How did you develop this concept? Was it difficult for you to write from such a different angle as compared to traditional zombie lore?

I’ve very little experience with traditional zombie lore, so I can’t say which version of zombies I would find easier to write.

Traditional zombies cater to two very human fears: the fear of the unknown, and the fear of disease and death. Since I’m a scaredy-cat, it came naturally to write about zombies from a different angle to make them less frightening. So I gave my zombies human emotions and desires, making the stories less about disease and death, and more about the darker sides of love and relationships.

I think my lack of experience with traditional zombie lore was a boon – it made it easy to come to the subject from a different angle.

Which of the works in the collection is/are your favorite(s)?

It’s hard to say! I like each story for a different reason, so it’s difficult to compare.

The title piece, “Hungry For You”, is some of my best work and was the piece that most inspired the collection because of its tragic human/zombie love story. “Dead Man’s Rose” is another favourite: the creepy imagery and obsessive love really capture my imagination, and I put a lot of work into weaving subtle clues throughout the story.

I have a love/hate relationship with “The Perfect Song”. It’s about undying love and tea addiction, and sometimes I think the concept’s great, and other times I scoff at the faux-literary writing style.

And of the shorter pieces, it’s a toss up between “Alive”, which is about missing out on love and hits very close to home; and “Electricity”, because it lies somewhere between a very short story and a poem.

Have you always been a short story writer? Are there any pieces that you considered expanding to novel length?

I still struggle to think of myself a short story writer! I’ve always imagined myself to be a novelist – but I somehow ended up writing a short story collection instead. That’s life, I suppose, but I’m not going to complain. I’ve very much enjoyed the experience: writing short stories teaches you a lot about writing succinctly and writing well.

I don’t think I’d expand any of the shorts in Hungry For You into a novel, although if I had to pick one, it would probably be the title piece. I envisioned the short stories as just that – short – and so I’d be afraid of ruining them by trying to bulk them out into novels. Besides, I have thousands of other ideas waiting for their turn on the stage!

A friend once told me she didn't want me backing her up in the event of a zombie apocalypse because she didn't think I would be capable of destroying my own loved ones if they were turned into zombies. I was both flattered at her note of my compassion and insulted at her underestimating my ability to loot a Wal-Mart and wield a shotgun (beating Resident Evil 5 in co-op with my husband had to be good for something!) I responded that in the event of a zombie apocalypse I would most likely play the role of the mad scientist who captured zombies and attempted to cure them. I digress...there's a question in here somewhere - Do you imagine you would last long against hordes of undead? How would you picture yourself surviving?

I’ve never wielded a gun, I’m hopeless at video games and my pain threshold is embarrassingly low. Also, I run away screaming from all kinds of creepy crawlies. Chances of survival: not looking good. That said, I was on the varsity cross country team and have stayed relatively fit, so perhaps I’d be able to outrun the zombies whilst you covered my back with that shotgun of yours!

My zombie survival plan has always involved a boat with a built-in greenhouse and salt water purifier. I’m banking on the fact that zombies don’t float and can’t swim (even though one of the zombies in Hungry For You does both).

Along with your work as a writer you're one of the editors at 1889 Labs. Do you prefer editing to writing or vice versa? Can you explain the significance behind the press's unique name?

Ooh, tough one. Writing is my first love, but it’s a very tempestuous relationship with extreme highs and lows. Editing is the steady, comfortable relationship (assuming I get along with the author).

What I like about editing is that I see it as midwifery: assisting an author in the birth of their book, without the actual strain of giving birth. When I’m helping an author, I’m also learning more about the process and craft – all lessons that help me as a writer. But I think I’ll always be a writer first.

As for the press’s name, you’ll have to ask MCM, the company founder. He picked the name and has been fairly tight-lipped about its meaning. Personally I think it’s his year of birth....

What projects are you currently working on?

I’m serialising Above Ground, a post-apocalyptic science fantasy where humans live underground and the infected (werewolves, vampires, etc) roam the surface. It’s an action-packed novel following the adventures of Lilith Gray, a human girl who is unexpectedly trapped on the surface.

The Above Ground series ( http://amharte.com/abovegroundseries ) is my biggest project, actually. The main series will eventually become a trilogy, and I am tinkering away at accompanying side stories and novellas set in the same universe. For example, I recently published Belonging, an Above Ground short story which explores the origins of the human/infected divide.

Other than that... I’ve a lot of editing on my plate, and I’m still working on my master plan to try chocolate from every country in the world. I recently added Russia to the list!

Where can we find out more about you and your work?

My main hub is http://amharte.com so that’s the best place to start. I’m also on twitter as @am_harte and on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/annamharte

I love to chat and am always excited to hear from readers – so don’t be afraid to get in touch. Especially if you come bearing chocolate.

And now for the giveaway! To enter, leave a comment below with an email address or way to contact you (blog, Librarything/Goodreads, Twitter) and answer the question, "How do you imagine yourself surviving - or not surviving - a zombie apocalypse?" You can also gain up to two bonus entries by leaving comments on my review of Hungry For You and today's post on Anna Harte's blog. (Be sure to check out Anna's blog - there's an additional bonus for commenting over there!) Giveaway is open internationally and the winner will receive a code for a free download from Smashwords.com (to download the eBook in any format of your choosing). Winner will be drawn using Random.org on Monday, October 31st! Good Luck!

Halloween Books are like Pringles... (Top Ten Tuesday)

2011-10-25T10:25:00.002-05:00

Paprika - Available in France!

You know that slogan for Pringles that says, "Once you pop, you can't stop"? Well, I'd like to amend it for Top Ten Tuesday and say "Once you Top, you can't stop" because not only can I not get enough of this super fun meme (hosted by The Broke and The Bookish) but I also can't stop at just ten books for today's topic! The current theme is Top Ten Books To Read During Halloween and with ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and zombies overrunning my recently read list, I really can't pick just ten books to spotlight!

Her Book Self's Monster Mash of Halloween Reads

Classics
So we all have those books that we had to read in school, but every once in a while, the really cool lit teacher assigned one that was more spooky thriller than stuffy old book.
1. Dracula by Bram Stoker
This is still my go-to answer when people ask my favorite vampire novel. There's a reason it's inspired so many spin-offs, retellings, adaptations, and updates.
2. 3. Macbeth and Hamlet by William Shakespeare
I always love conversations with people that say they don't like fantasy but love William Shakespeare. Let's see... Witches? Check. Ghosts? Check. Few people stop to think about The Bard as a source of spooky tales, but these two are not only my favorites of the tragedies but they also have a lot of the supernatural tied into their stories.
4. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
This one will always be tied to memories of Halloween for me and, even though I have Disney to thank/blame for that (did anyone else adore that cartoon?), the original text is a really great story.
5. The Tell-Tale Heart (or just about anything) by Edgar Allan Poe
So I picked Tell-Tale Heart because it was the story that my sister and I used to scare ourselves senseless with but many, many of Poe's tales are excellent Halloween spooky stories!

For The Younger Audience
Since I don't always talk about books for grade school or middle school readers on this blog, I want to point out a few faves for the kiddos.
6. Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe
I haven't read this book in ages but it was an all time favorite one from my youth! And the title - that beautiful portmanteau of Bunny-Dracula - still cracks me up!
7. What Eric Knew by James Howe
So I graduated from the Bunnicula series (Howliday Inn, The Celery Stalks at Midnight, etc.) to the Sebastian Barth mysteries and I think I worked my way through the entire James Howe repertoire at my local library. These books were a great mix of supernatural and suspense!
8. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
I almost didn't include this one because it seems like such an obvious choice for this list, but at the same time, it's a book I really enjoyed and can't bring myself to omit it simply because of its popularity.
9. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
I really liked the movie, but I definitely loved the book!
10. Something Upstairs by Avi
This was another book that I count as a favorite from my youth. This story of a boy who moves into a new house and is haunted by a murdered slave was a great blend of historical and suspenseful fiction and it secured my passion for both genres into adulthood.

More Vampires
For the people that don't like to accept Dracula as my favorite vampire novel, these are the very close runners-up.
11. Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
Yes, that GRRM. Long before he was Dancing with dragons, Martin composed a story about vampires set during the era of steamboat life and the result is a delicious horror novel with all of the signature character development and plot intricacies that Song of Ice and Fire fans adore.
12. Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice
I already sang the praises of this one in my Top Ten Book to Movie Translations. :)
13. Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth
Vampire action meets political thriller - the premise is unique and the execution is brilliant.

Werewolves
Previously taking second fiddle to vampires, werewolves and shapeshifters have started to take their own place in pop fiction and here's a pair of books that I loved them in.
14. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
This second novel in the Dresden Files series showcased Butcher's ability to weave multiple plot lines into a cohesive entertaining story and this book dealt with werewolf mythology in ever manner possible.
15. Soulless (and the subsequent books in the Parasol Protectorate Series) by Gail Carriger
I could have included this one under vampires or ghosts as well, but of the supernaturals in Carriger's books, I know I'm not alone in preferring her werewolves most of all.

Ghosts
I feel like I should be able to think of more really great stories about ghosts and I'm sure in blog hopping I'll discover some titles that are eluding me right now, but the one I can mention easily eclipses all others right now.
16. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
I borrowed this book from my mom who must have decided it was okay for me to miss a few nights' sleep. Not only was I addicted to finishing this book, but it's also one that had me waking up and peeking sheepishly around my room at any little sound I heard in the middle of the night.

Monsters
I should have Mary Shelley's Frankenstein on this list, but as my Top Ten Tuesdays are about books I've read and recommend, I can't put that one on here as it still lingers on my TBR list - with sincerest apologies to the Shelley fans out there.
17. It by Stephen King
I think there might be cause to shun me from the literary community if I wrote this list without a single King book (and no, I won't count #15 despite the relation). I really need to read more SK, but this one is a worthy entry and is one of few reasons I don't laugh at people that are actually scared of clowns.
18. Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Preston and Child's Pendergast series seems to keep popping up in my Top Ten Tuesday lists! Plenty of works in this series could make there way into this ~~top ten~~ uh... mega list of Halloween reads, but Still Life in particular is another book that managed to scare me quite a bit when I read it. It also taught me the valuable lesson - if you're going to read a book about a mysterious killer that strikes at victims randomly from corn fields, you may not want to read it on a solo driving trip through central Illinois in the summer.

Zombies
I suppose I have a hard time taking the undead too seriously when my two favorite zombie books are ones that really made me laugh.
19. Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen
I won't rehash everything I said in my review but this book was a delightful surprise in bringing levity and laughter to the topic of a zombie apocalypse.
20. Hungry For You by A.M. Harte
And not only does this mash up of zombie love stories finish off my overly long list, but I'm also hosting an eBook giveaway of it along with my interview of author A.M. Harte tomorrow! Check out my review from yesterday and stop by tomorrow to enter to win a copy!

I can't believe I did a double-duty Top Ten and actually hit twenty with this list, but I suppose the Pringles analogy should have served as a warning for those that didn't want a lengthy list!

Any books you think I missed? Should I have included a category for witches too? Which choices do you agree or disagree with? What Halloween book should I most definitely add to my TBR? (And if you don't like Halloween books, what are your thoughts on Paprika Pringles? I have a coworker from France that loves them, I was skeptical until I tried them and actually thought they were delicious!)

Thanks again to the fab bloggers at The Broke and The Bookish for always making this such a great meme to participate in and a special welcome to any readers visiting Her Book Self for the first time. Again, be sure to stop by tomorrow for the Hungry For You giveaway!

Hungry For You

2011-10-24T20:27:00.000-05:00

I rarely read short stories, and it's even more rare that I review collections of them, but Hungry For You by A.M. Harte was a worthwhile exception to this trend as it is unlike any collection - and really, unlike any book - I've ever encountered. And I mean that as an incredibly high compliment!

Hungry For You takes on the genre of zombies but rather than the typical approach to the zombie apocalypse with hordes of undead taking over the world (or classic literature), Harte uniquely examines zombies in a sympathetic light. In these stories, the undead are the heroes, the romantic leads, and the misunderstood protagonists of a wide variety of scenarios.

The entries in the collection range in scope of a few lines to several pages. Some are funny, some are disturbing but all are entertaining and well written. For those that appreciate the lighter side of zombie fiction and enjoy a chuckle with their chills, this is definitely a book to devour!

It's no coincidence that Her Book Self is trending towards monsters and mayhem this week. With werewolves yesterday, zombies today and a vampire book later in the week, it's easy to guess that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. In the spirit of celebrating, I'm also excited to present an interview with Hungry For You author A.M Harte on Wednesday of this week which will also feature a giveaway of this fun collection of zombie love stories. If you like books that mix the morbid with the humorous, be sure to stop by later this week and enter the giveaway!

Nightshade

2011-10-23T21:06:00.000-05:00

Calla Tor is an alpha Guardian, a werewolf of sorts, who unwittingly reveals her ability to shapeshift to a human hiker while saving his life. She never thought to see the young man, Shay Dorian again but when he shows up as a new student at her school and seems to ask a few too many trouble causing questions, Calla wonders if her act of heroism was a mistake. Her life had already been planned for her - she was to graduate high school and marry another alpha guardian Ren Larcohe - but Shay's inquisitive nature, and Calla's feelings for him, leave her questioning the life she's always known.

This is definitely a "peer-pressure read" for me as I picked it up from the library after reading several rave reviews of it from other bloggers, but it certainly lived up to the high expectations I had for it. I wasn't prepared to enjoy the love triangle, but I think Calla's relationship with Shay was portrayed well and Ren, who was a bit of a stereotype at first, became a more intricate character towards the end of the book. At the heart of the story though is Calla - smart, tough, and loyal - a heroine torn between her own desires and what's best for her family and friends. Despite her supernatural abilities she is an everyday teenager and her struggles come across as sympathetic rather than angsty.

Andrea Cremer has reinvented werewolves with her story of Guardians and Keepers, and the mythology and history that she writes into the world makes it easy for the reader to become enveloped in Calla's story. Nightshade is the first in a trilogy and with the cliffhanger that ends this book, readers will eagerly reach for the second.

I have to point out, also, how much this book reminded me of Matched by Ally Condie. Granted Nightshade is more paranormal where as Matched was definitely sci-fi, but both books deal with a girl torn between the guy that society deems the right mate for her and another who represents hidden knowledge and a chance to question authority. I know these aren't really new themes, but there were a lot of interesting similarities in how they were handled in both books. I don't bring it up as a criticism because I enjoyed both books, but I was curious if other readers of these two works had noticed how alike they are.

Random Nerdy Book Stuff

2011-10-20T15:25:00.000-05:00

I was playing around with some data from my catalog over at LibraryThing, and one of their recently added record fields is "From Where" providing users a place to track their books sources. For fun I thought I would compile the information for the books that I've read so far in 2011, and since I'm nerdy I put it all into a cute little pie chart:

Lest people get the wrong idea about my online habits, the Amazon field (comprising 27% of the books I've read this year) includes all the books I've read on my Kindle, the majority of which were downloaded for free. Along with spotlighting my fondness for my public library (13%) and LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program (plus GoodReads giveaways =13%), this paints an interesting picture of my preference of Borders (10%) over Barnes & Noble (2%) or other bookstores (3%) when I was actually purchasing books.

I suppose there's a good chance this post could be of little interest to anyone besides me, but it was an odd exercise in looking at from where I really do get the books I read. Often people ask if I primarily read eBooks, and though I state that I still read plenty of paper books it's handy to look at how much (or how little) digital reading is a part of my book consumption.

Anyone else out there fascinated with random bookish data?

Birthmarked

2011-10-18T14:04:00.001-05:00

I know young adult science fiction and dystopian works are hugely popular right now, but with all the praise and press I've heard for The Hunger Games, Delirium, Wither, and Matched, I've found another in the genre that seems to be running under the radar of popular titles. Caragh M. O'Brien's novel Birthmarked was recommended to me by my librarian aunt and I'm incredibly glad that I jumped at her suggestion to read it (she hasn't steered me wrong yet).

Gaia Stone is a midwife who has learned all her skills from her mother - how to deliver a baby and how to calm and comfort a mother whose child will be taken from her, because in Gaia's village the first three babies born each month have a special fate. Three children a month are "Advanced" and pulled from their homes in the slums to be raised in the Enclave, destined to have better nutrition, education, and opportunities they would be denied outside the city walls.

Gaia has never questioned her life or her duty, but when her parents are taken to the Enclave and Gaia herself is interrogated about her mother's work, she begins to see beneath the surface of the life she has always known. Suddenly the strange tattoo, four small dots on the heel, that her mother has given to every baby she delivered gains a new significance and it is up to Gaia to unravel the mysteries around her when her own life is at stake.

Caragh M. O'Brien captivated me with Birthmarked. The dystopian world she created has just enough echoes of modern society to be realistic, but the future portrayed is a bleak and chilling one. I loved the way that science and genetics were blended into the story to create a tale that is as smart as its heroine. Gaia Stone manages to be intelligent and innocent, sweet but also strong. It is the dichotomy of her character that pulled me into the narrative and kept me hooked from start to end. Her relationship with Leon, the captain of the guard within the Enclave, was also handed beautifully. In a genre peppered with love at first sight or cliche triangles, their interactions of animosity turned mutual respect had layers of complexity that I really appreciated.

This is O'Brien's debut young adult novel and I eagerly anticipate more great work from her in the future. Birthmarked is the first in a planned trilogy with Prized to hit shelves November of 2011, and a third yet untitled book to follow in 2012. I keep telling myself I'm going to stop starting new series books whose sequels are not yet released, but in this instance I'm glad to have read Birthmarked. The mix of science and suspense, friendship and family, mystery and midwives made for a very excellent book.

Has anyone else read this one or planning to read it? I'm curious to know if anyone wants to compare notes in how it stacks up against other YA dystopian stuff. Maybe it's the science nerd in me, but this one spoke to me with an element of believability that I haven't found in many others. I'm really interested to know if other readers agree or disagree!

Practically Perfect

2011-10-16T10:16:00.001-05:00

Katie Fforde is one of my go-to authors for cozy love stories. I picked up Practically Perfect at the library last week and - as expected - it was a quick, cute book to enjoy.

Interior Designer Anna is ready to dive into her latest project of fixing up a house in the Cotswolds and when she immediately strikes up a friendship with her neighbor Chloe, things are looking bright. Of course, considering Anna's only staircase is a ladder and when she learns from handsome housing inspector Rob Hunter that everything must be built to comply with strict standards, she comes to think the house might be more than she bargained for. Add in a rescued greyhound in need of a good home and the obnoxious mother of Anna's old flame living just down the street and all the elements are in place for an entertaining story.

This isn't a book with any grand surprises or overly inspired writing, but it is a cute and fun novel. Even when the outcome is rather transparent, it's the journey of how everything comes together that makes it a sweet story. I wouldn't say this was my favorite of Fforde's books, but as far as a cozy love story goes, it is Practically Perfect.

As I mentioned, I've been reading Katie Fforde's work for a number of years but it wasn't until recently that I learned she's a cousin-in-law to another favorite author of mine Jasper Fforde. Now that's a family reunion I would love to be invited to!

My next major distraction

2011-10-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

Many of you hoped, predicted, expected and wished for this to happen, but as I recently announced my presence on facebook, I suppose my next announcement comes as slightly less of a surprise:

HerBookSelf is now on Twitter!

This doesn't quite mean I have any idea what I'm doing yet, but as I navigate the fast paced world of hash tags (#), retweets (RT), mentions (@), and follows I hope to add a new layer to my blogging experience and connect with some of my favorite bloggers on a more regular basis. I also want to extend a huge thank you to April over at Good Books and Good Wine. I've long been a fan of April's blog and her post during BBAW was one of the main persuading factors to me joining Twitter. The big surprise though came within just an hour or so of me signing up for Twitter and finding some favorite blogs to follow, when this note appeared:

booksandwine April C
Hey all Lisa @HerBookSelf is way new to twitter, so why not give her a warm welcome and a high five for joining the land of twitter!!

And then I was inundated with notes of welcome, hellos, and a host of followers! I replied, in Tweet, that I felt like the new kid at school who got invited to sit at the cool kids' table on the very first day! And I also want to thank Lesa (from Baja Greenawalt's Cozy Book Nook) who noted that "Twitter looked like Greek at first" and offered to answer any questions I came up with; and another big thanks to Greg (the man of multiple blogs) who made a note on Her Book Self's facebook page regarding surprise that I was not yet on Twitter, which prompted me to check it out and join the fun! I know I'm still learning the ropes, but I can't say enough how much I appreciate everyone being so friendly and encouraging. And if any bloggers out there are still hesitant to join the Twitter pool, jump right in, the water's warm... just watch out for the whale!

The Throne of Fire

2011-10-12T15:27:00.000-05:00

Carter and Sadie Kane are a typical young adult brother and sister - who just happen to be descendants of Egyptian pharaohs. Gifted magicians, the two have put out a call to other such talented teens and The Throne of Fire picks up shortly after The Red Pyramid with the Kane siblings providing training for their new recruits. Faced with a quest to wake the sun god Ra and prevent Apophis from destroying the world, Carter and Sadie must use their array of magic, brains and strength with powerful human magicians and a host of Egyptian gods joining the fight as both allies and foes.

Rick Riordan has mastered the art of modernizing the history and culture of ancient civilizations. Myths and magic are blended so naturally into the story that the novel is fully enjoyable while simultaneously providing the skills to sweep an Egyptian Gods & Goddesses Jeopardy category. The book is also told in alternating perspectives by both Carter and Sadie (who provide amusing chapter titles and humorous asides to each other throughout the narration). Along with creating two unique voices with which to frame the story, Riordan ensures that the adventures will appeal equally to male and female readers.

A good mix of laughter, action, and education, The Throne of Fire is an exciting continuation of The Kane Chronicles. Rumored to conclude in a yet untitled book three (possibly released spring of 2013), the worst part about this book will be waiting for what comes next!

"A Girl and her favorite novel"

2011-10-11T12:05:00.000-05:00

Plenty of reviews to come later this week but for now I just had to share this quote:

“The relationship of a girl and her favorite novel can be complex indeed.”
― Andrea Cremer, Nightshade

I think it's even more amusing in context, but I don't want to spell out the whole scene since I'm guessing the book may still be on some bloggers' TBR lists. It was one of my favorite bits of dialog from the work and really sold me on liking Calla. But I suppose I mentally cheer a bit when any book character turns out to be a bibliophile!

Sarah's Key

2011-10-08T23:20:00.000-05:00

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay tells the alternating story of modern day journalist Julia Jarmond and a young French girl Sarah Starzynski who lived in Paris in 1942. Julia is researching the events surrounding the Vélodrome d’Hiver, more commonly known as the Vel' d' Hiv, when Jewish citizens were rounded up by the French police to be sent to concentration camps. Sarah belonged to one of the many families taken from their homes, but thinking she would only be gone a few hours, she secreted her younger brother in a hidden room before leaving her home. Clinging to the key with which she locked him in, Sarah's story unfolds between Julia's as the journalist finds a tie between her own family and the Jewish people that were pulled from their homes.

I don't want to give away too much of this story so I will keep this review rather brief. Though I liked it, I didn't love the book as much as I wanted to. Perhaps I had some over hyped expectations from people that told me I would adore it, or perhaps I wasn't mentally prepared for a tear-jerker. I found myself extremely ensconced in Sarah's story but less so in Julia's narrative. Nevertheless, what I most appreciated in this book was the information about the Vel' d'Hiv and the atrocities committed by the French police. Though I like to think I learned a lot in school about World War II, this was entirely new and shocking information for me to read. For that reason alone, I do find myself recommending Sarah's Key to others.

And it also leads me to ask, what fiction book(s) do you consider a must-read for educational content alone? Even if you weren't thrilled with the story, is there a title that you consider important because of what you learned from it?

Small Favor

2011-10-06T08:49:00.004-05:00

Last year, I posted my review of White Night - book nine in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files - but I didn't realize until I was writing up my review for Small Favor that it's been almost a year between books in this series for me. Maybe because I read another Butcher book earlier this year, it didn't seem like I had been away from Dresden for quite so long, but like any reunion with an old friend, once I started reading it felt like Harry and I had never been apart.

An early winter in the Midwest is usually nothing to question, but when snows roll in mid-autumn, Harry Dresden - the only wizard listed in the Chicago phone book - knows to suspect something sinister. Mab, Queen of the Winter Fae, calls on Harry for one of the favors he owes her and though he'd like to pick and choose which assignments to accept from her, the last place he wants to be is on the Winter Queen's bad side. Add in unexplainable magical forces, a host of fallen angels, and a missing mobster and Small Favor is another excellent entry in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.

Some fans argue that the inflation nature of the saga - baddies who keep getting bigger, stronger, and more numerous - has turned Harry Dresden into more of a superhero than an everyman protagonist, but I disagree. For one, Harry was never an everyman but his talents also never blossomed unrealistically. If anything, he's a hero who knows his limits and occasionally does manage to get his butt kicked a little. Second, along with increasing foes, Harry has stronger allies as the book series progresses. The supporting characters are often as endearing - and hilarious - as Harry himself and more often than not Harry is a team player rather than a lone ranger. Finally, despite his wizarding skills, Harry at heart is still a character to relate to. He is caring, smart, and funny and the series is as much about him growing as a person as it is about his magic.

I love that these books can thoroughly distract me from life. Filled with humor, action, adventure, and characters that I've come to genuinely care about, I know I can rely on Butcher when I find myself in that strange between book limbo phase when nothing I pick up to read strikes my fancy. Ten books strong the series refuses to run out of steam and I continue to look forward to the next entry.

I'm not catching flies, I'm reading a book! (Top Ten Tuesday)

2011-10-04T12:50:00.000-05:00

I'm a compulsive book finisher. I know, I know. Life's too short to read bad books. Why read something that you don't enjoy? I can rationalize it from here to Main street, but when it comes down to sticking to a so-so book I usually do because of a nagging voice in my head that wonders if, by giving up on a book, I will miss the very best part! What happens if the ending - the last ten, twenty, or fifty pages - holds the redeeming value of a less than stellar book? How can I fairly rate a book I want to abandon if by chance the author's brilliance lies at the denouement? I've tried to be persuaded out of my stubborn ways, but today's Top Ten Tuesday list features books that convince me that maybe a great ending can make a so-so book good because these are ~~ten~~ eleven great books whose endings made them awesome!

Top Ten Books with Jaw-Dropping Endings
In more or less random order - Underlined titles link to my reviews

(Bonus)11. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
I'm going to start with this choice because I have a feeling it's going to be a popular one today. The ending took this book from a decent young adult dystopia to a gripping and powerful novel. Though I've stated before that I would love for the ending to stand and for this to remain as a solo novel, I admit that I'm captivated enough to want to devour Oliver's sequel Pandemonium.

10. The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde
Fforde's wit is by far what sets him apart from most authors, but in this book he constructs a really great mystery that's also extremely funny. The plot follows Detective Jack Spratt investigating the death of Humpty Dumpty (did he really "fall"?) and the ending is as unpredictable as it is hilarious and enjoyable.

9. 1984 by George Orwell
It's tricky to do a top ten list about endings without revealing any of them. Orwell's entire work is intelligent and thought-provoking but I'm sure many that have read this one concur that the ending has spawned Philosophy class curriculum for the ages.

8. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
This one is the first SAA book I read and it remains my favorite (though I will tip my hat in respect to those that argue Garden Spells to be superior). The brilliance behind the ending of this book is that all the pieces are in place throughout the work for it to be entirely predictable and yet it still manages to be a beautiful surprise.

7. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
From the setup of a fry cook who's friends with the ghost of Elvis there was plenty unique and bizarre about the first in Koontz's Odd series. In talking with others who have read this book, I've found the ending to be quite polarizing - but I'm a reader that falls in the "loved it" side of things.

6. The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
This book is the seventh in Preston and Child's Pendergast series and the conclusion of what they refer to as The Diogenes Trilogy. What I loved is that this book ended with a kicker that I definitely did not see coming. What I hated was that it offered a massive plot opportunity that was pretty much abandoned in subsequent books in the series.

5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The ending of this book is not quite a surprise since the narrator hints at it and then reveals it long before it happens. What I love though is that it still manages to be awe-inducing when you read it. There's a part of me that wanted not to trust the narrator and to cling to a hope that things would turn out a different way and the fact that even with the reveal the ending managed to be remarkably powerful makes it a definite choice for this list.

4. Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud
With the exception of the first and sixth choices on my list, I'm trying to avoid series books because cliffhangers at the end of book one or two of a series hardly shock me anymore. However, what I love about the ending of Ptolemy's Gate - book three in Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy - is that he delivers a punch with a key character that wraps up the series perfectly. There are times when I protest an author's handling of a series because it's not what I would have done, but this is a great example of an author delivering an ending that is a million times better than anything I could have conceived.

3. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
The world needs more excellent stand alone fantasy novels and the world needs more writers like Sanderson. This book was well-written, unique, and creative and the ending - which tied together multiple plot lines, characters, and climactic moments in one fell swoop - was absolutely brilliant.

2. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris
Many people know Harris as a writer from the book (and subsequent Johnny Depp movie) Chocolat and though I love her artistic and descriptive love stories, Gentleman and Players is one of the best mystery works I've read recently. I really don't want to say too much about this book but if you consider yourself an armchair detective who loves a good mystery - go read this book!

1. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
This has to be my number one choice despite my reluctance to include "Book One"s here. Even apart from the "what's next?" questions when any series begins I had to choose this book for it's emotionally charged finale. Considering that upon rereading the book I was wondering if on the second time around certain characters would make different choices, I can't think of a better cap for this list!

So there you have my list of the week. Which choices do you agree with? Which do you dislike? Have I given you any new titles to check out and/or avoid? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

For those that don't know or are new to the feature, Top Ten Tuesday is a blog meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Check out their blog to link up with your own Top Ten Tuesday post and to find the schedule for future TTT lists as well. (And for those who want a flashback to the Top Tens I've participated in you can see them all here.)

Series in September Wrap Up (2011)

2011-10-02T16:25:00.000-05:00

October has arrived so it's time to wrap up this year's edition of Series in September. (And here's a flashback to last year's wrap up post for anyone interested.) This year I reviewed entries in The Alexis Stanton Chronicles, The Parasol Protectorate, Anne of Green Gables Series, The Goblin Wars, and Ally Condie's Matched Series. I also had some meme-time with the Top Ten Sequels I'm Eager to Read and A Weekend to ReCOVER with Anne of Avonlea.

Along with alerting me to how many series I am in the middle of reading, this September feature also makes me all the more aware of how much I enjoy sagas of great books!

Matched (Series in September)

2011-09-30T21:11:00.000-05:00

Book: Matched by Ally Condie

Series: Matched

Books: Matched* (1); Crossed (2) - to be released November 2011
* indicates a book I have read

Matched by Ally Condie tells the story of Cassia Reyes a teenager living in "The Society" - a utopian world where life appears perfect. Disease has been eradicated and every person trusts in the government to control aspects of their life from what they will eat, where they will work, who they will marry, and when they will die (which for everyone is at the age of eighty, peaceful and surrounded by loved ones). The story begins on Cassia's seventeenth birthday, the day of her Matching banquet when her future husband will be revealed to her.

Cassia couldn't be happier when the Matching data pairs her with Xander Carrow, her childhood friend and trusted confidante, but when just for an instant she sees the screen flash to the face of Ky Markham, Cassia wonders how much The Society really should control about her future. Ky has always been a bit of an outsider in Cassia's neighborhood but once he appears as a possible match for her, she is determined to find out as much about him as possible. Xander and Ky come to represent two different sides of Cassia's life tearing her between safe, comfortable choices and the chance to really choose for herself.

I suppose when I heard the premise of Matched I rolled my eyes a little. Dystopia in young adult fiction seems to be the replacement for supernatural beings in trendiness and I wasn't overly thrilled about another book with a love triangle. But I plunged ahead with reading Matched after hearing so many good reviews for it, and I couldn't be more glad that I did. Where other novels present a shattered dystopian universe, The Society represented a utopia of sorts. It is a world where technology takes over but rather than destroying life it is a structure built to persevere through removing free will. Like many such science fiction stories, there is also a hidden world in Matched but through most of the novel, the darker portions remain hidden under the veneer of The Society's perfection.

The love triangle was also handled really well in the story. Xander and Ky didn't fit typical teen male stereotypes and I actually found myself understanding Cassia's draw toward each of them and for one of the first times in a young adult book I was as conflicted about the choice as the protagonist. My largest complaint about this book is the one area where it most follows the pattern of recent young adult releases - it is book one in a series. I really wanted Cassia's story to be resolved and though there is a great story arc in the book, it's definitely a novel to leave readers wanting more.

In many ways I feel like a bit of a broken record with this review coming so soon after Tyger, Tyger. Also, having just recently finished Andrea Cremer's Nightshade, (review to come next month) I know many of my same sentiments apply to that work as well. Despite some glaring similarities, I appreciated that these books were all very original and unique from one another. Yet, with the sequel-wait I'm inevitably tormenting myself with, I do have a bit of regret about devouring so many "Book One"s in a row!

Tyger, Tyger (Series in September)

2011-09-29T10:32:00.000-05:00

Book: Tyger, Tyger by Kersten Hamilton

Series: The Goblin Wars

Book Order: Tyger, Tyger* (1); In the Forests of the Night (2) - coming November 2011
* indicates a book I have read

Teagan Wylltson, also known as Tea, is a more or less average teenager with an artistic mother, a bookish father and a younger brother Aiden who has a gift for karaoke. She has a great internship working with primates at the local zoo and is on track for a college scholarship, yet things start to get strange when Finn Mac Cumhaill arrives. Introduced as a not-quite-cousin, Tea and her best friend Abby are pretty sure that Finn is trouble despite Tea's attraction to him. Finn leaves almost as soon as he arrives, but when malevolent shadows strike out at Tea's family, she soon discovers that the Irish stories and legends her parents used to read to her are more than just myths and fantasy. She learns that Fear Doirich - the goblin king - is frighteningly real, and when he spirits away Tea's father it's up to her, Aiden, and Finn to mount a rescue. Delving into a land that she barely understands, Tea must learn the truth about the stories she thought she knew, including the secrets about her own identity and the normal life she's always known.

Kersten Hamilton weaves an enchanting young adult urban fantasy story in this book. I loved that it was set in Chicago with ties to Irish myths and legends. Teagan was an exciting and dynamic heroine who displayed honest emotions - fear, concern, uncertainty, regret - while still possessing a bold spirit to face the challenges in front of her. Finn was intriguing, a good conflicted hero, and I hope there is a bit more development of his character in the second book. The supporting cast was also delightful and musically-minded Aiden and Teagan's friend Abby - who may have ties to the mafia - added a spark of humor to the novel. Filled with action and imagination, the book was well paced. At times chilling, funny, sentimental, and surprising Tyger, Tyger was a great blend of modern storytelling with Irish mythology. Continuing on with William Blake's influence for a title, the second Goblin Wars book In the Forests of the Night (due to be released in November of 2011) promises to carry on the beautiful setup of this novel and hopefully deliver more of the same.

Along with featuring this book for Series in September, I want to include it as part of my 2011 Fairy Tale Challenge (8 out of 12). The incorporation of traditional characters from Irish legends make this a great work for those that love updated versions of classic stories. I was originally attempting to blog one fairy tale a month, so I'm a little behind on my schedule, but I hope to still make 12 by year end. I'll happily take recommendations for tales I should read, too! And if you want more information about the genesis of the 2011 Fairy Tale Challenge check out the blog that started it and got me hooked on fairy tales once again: Tif Talks Books!

The Legend of Lady MacLaoch

2011-09-27T08:05:00.001-05:00

I know I've lamented my lack of travel experience on this blog before but I've also stated that I love books for their passport nature. It's exciting to me to visit new places and travel the world without going farther than my local library and one of my recent journeys took me on a trip across the Atlantic to a locale I've long dreamed of visiting in real life.

Cole Baker is a spunky American graduate with a passion for her family's past. In studying her ancestry she discovers a link to a Scottish clan with a strange history. Unable to sate her curiosity where myth and legends cross with reality she hops a plane overseas determined to find her family's roots.

Rowan MacLaoch is the modern day laird of the clan linked to the bizarre story of ancient star-crossed lovers that Cole uncovers. Curses should be a thing of fairy tales but Rowan's people have a hard time shaking the superstitions they have lived with for centuries. Cole finds herself drawn to the secretive Scotsman but as a veteran of the RAF, Rowan lives with scars and shadows of his own past even on top of the legends of his clan.

The Legend of Lady MacLaoch was a delightful journey through the past and present castles and highlands of Scotland. From the sights and sounds of lush gardens to the intricate tastes of Scottish whiskeys, author Becky Banks paints masterful scenery that leaps from the page in stunning details. Cole is a heroine to cheer for with equal parts smarts and sass and Rowan walks a delicious line between brooding heartthrob and renaissance man. From start to finish, the book was hard to put down and it seamlessly blends action, mystery, and romance with just a dash of magical realism. Not since Diana Gabaldon's Outlander has a book left me with such a desire to see Scotland for myself, but The Legend of Lady MacLaoch is certainly cheaper than plane tickets and makes for an excellent literary journey.

I'm pleased to be part of author Becky Banks' Legendary Blog Tour promoting this book. Check out my previous post for my interview with Becky Banks and a chance to win a paperback copy of The Legend of Lady MacLaoch (leave a comment on this review for an extra entry into the giveaway!)

And of course I'm still trying to pinpoint what it is about Scotland that has me so enamored. The kilts? The accents? The highlands? The whiskey? Maybe it's all of the above. Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts about the book (or Scotland) below!

Author Interview - Becky Banks (Plus a Legendary Giveaway!)

2011-09-27T08:00:00.009-05:00

I'm pleased to start this week as a stop on Becky Banks' Legendary Blog Tour celebrating her novel The Legend of Lady MacLaoch! Be sure to check out my next post with my review of the book and after reading through this author interview, leave a comment with your best guess to the trivia questions as an entry to win a paperback copy of the book - details below!

Hi Becky! Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get started as a writer and how did a girl from Hawaii end up writing a book set in Scotland?

Alooooooha! Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) Lisa for having me! Well, the two-second explanation on how a girl from Hawaii got to Scotland is, by plane. Iceland Air, specifically.

Ha-ha! No, really though, I first attended college here in Oregon (go Beavs!!) then settled down in Portland and started my career in the environmental field. A handful of years went by and in 2009 my husband and I took a trip to Scotland. At that time I had already dabbled in novel writing, I had written but not finished two manuscripts and with the excitement of the trip began my third. After Scotland, being immersed in the history and ancient lore of places like Portree, Urquhart, Drumnadrochit, Sterling, Elgin, and Dunvegan the tapestry of The Legend of Lady MacLaoch took shape.

What type of research went into constructing the details of this novel?

Being curious by nature and having a knack of never forgetting certain details, the majority of the book came right out from memory from the ten days we spent in Scotland. The biggest research portion was the fighter jet scene at the beginning. Right at the beginning *spoiler alert* Rowan and co-navigator Vick are cruising in a jet and get struck down. Now, I’ve logged my fair share of mileage in planes traveling to and from the islands from the mainland, but an airline is called an airbus for a reason. It’s pretty much a different world from being in a fighter jet. I feel that one can be told or read about what it’s like to be in the cockpit of a jet but for me nothing can replace seeing it, or being there. I have a healthy fear of heights so I wasn't about to sign up for ride in one. Enter YouTube. I spent hours flying in jets, doing flybys and ejecting all via uploaded videos. You’d be surprised on how many ejection videos there are on there – and some recorded from the cockpit!

On your website, you have a poll for readers to choose which Scottish actor they most picture as Rowan MacLaoch. Did you have any of these highland hotties in mind when writing Rowan?

Ha-ha! Oh, great question. Actually, Rowan is none of these men. He lives and breathes as a bartender in Portree on the Isle of Skye. Of course I took a few major liberties on his persona, using his looks and physique as the inspiration. I did little more than converse briefly with him (he being a MacLeod) and when he overheard my husband and I talking about visiting the MacLeod castle estate that day he said, “Ye visited my castle today, aye?” One look at him, and into the story he rolled.

What would you say are the highlights and challenges of working as an independent author?

My other profession, besides being an author, is in the marketing field. I have been involved with taking an environmental start-up company with a bootstrap budget to a successful nationally recognized leader in its industry. With this experience under my belt I thought going independent would be easier than trying to go the traditional route with the manuscript. I also need to confess now, I am a control freak. As an independent author I have control over my novels from beginning to end. From cover art to editing styles. The other great part of being independent has been choosing my own team. As you may have read in the acknowledgement section, this was a community effort to create The Legend of Lady MacLaoch. My editing team are an awesome set of talented women, my peer reviewers too are amazing and each of them make being an independent author a major highlight of this career. The challenge however, is finding time to do it all. Because I take on more roles than just writing as an independent author, I find that writing, plus working a day job and still finding time for the rest of my life can be a little difficult. But despite that challenge, being an independent author is bliss.

What authors or works have inspired or influenced you?

Well, I have to say two books influenced me the most. The Berenstain Bears and Madeline L. Lingle’s A Wrinkle in Time. I wasn’t a huge fan of reading as a kid so these stuck with me because I can remember, still, reading them for the first time. Though I have to say that it wasn’t necessarily books or authors that influenced me the most, it was cinema. One of my most beloved pastimes was watching movies with my father. We seldom had extended time with him so when he would bring home movies we (my brother and I) would just go nuts. The action adventures with strong female leads are the ones that resonate deepest with me. One in particular that is a wonderfully fierce and funny movie called The Long Kiss Goodnight. I still love this movie; it’s right up there with Top Gun. Ha-ha!

Your blog recently mentioned a tribute to your late grandmother (you have my condolences) and you referred to her as a "certified badass" who instilled her spirit of strength and confidence into you. Do you see her present in Cole's character?

That’s a very interesting point! (And thank you for your condolences she was truly and amazing person) Gran and Cole do have many things in common, both are southern ladies who have more of the Wild in them than they do the Lady and both have a stubborn streak. :0) Cole also has an analytical air to her when it comes to research – in that she sees the data and sometimes gets pigeonholed there not seeing the world that the data exists in. Hence she has a hard time believing in coincidences. However, my gran was more an observer of the world, she enjoyed the stories that people told, and everyone whether they knew it or not had a story to tell. For her, the more coincidences and outliers, the better the story.

What projects are you currently working on and where can we find out more about your work?

The next project that I’m currently working on is another novel, its working title is The Mechanic. The Mechanic, is very very different from The Legend of Lady MacLaoch, as it is set here in the US and is much more of a gritty love story. The main character is a woman named Eva Rodgers. She’s a businesswoman and chief editing officer for a large magazine, the man in the story is a man named Nathaniel Vellanova. Nate is a street-wise European auto mechanic with a brutal past. The grit comes out in strong language, even stronger characters and a storyline that is about fast cars, smart yet tragic youths and intense life changes. Oh, and the bond of it all? Love. Currently planned to release early 2012.Thanks for having me Lisa and if people want to get more info or personally drop me a line visit me at www.beckybanksonline.com. Happy reading!!

Thanks for joining me, Becky!

And now for the giveaway! One lucky Her Book Self reader will win a paperback copy of The Legend of Lady MacLaoch! The contest will run from now until October 1st and is open to entrants in the US and Canada. To enter leave a comment below with your name and email address and your best guesses (or well researched answers) to these two trivia questions:

Question 1: What castle is Castle Laoch in The Legend of Lady MacLaoch loosely based upon?
Hint: This answer can be found in the comments at the first tour stop at www.romancing-the-book.com.

Question 2: What does laoch mean in Gaelic? As in MacLaoch.
Hint: Lisa's last name translated from Spanish has the same meaning.

You can gain up to three entries for this contest - one entry for making a guess at each answer, one entry if you get both answers correct and a third entry for leaving a comment on my review of The Legend of Lady MacLaoch! Good Luck!

"Influence is Bliss" (Series in September)

2011-09-23T09:25:00.000-05:00

“All novels are sequels; influence is bliss.”
-Michael Chabon

This quote from Michael Chabon made me giggle a little, since I've complained in the past about wanting more standalone novels and less sequels and have also composed a list of sequels I'm eagerly waiting to read. I know I've felt before that all new novels are sequels but at the same time I can only partially agree with such a pessimistic take on novel writing. I know there's some truth to the idea that there are no new stories and that every new work is an old one wrapped up in new clothing, but I still stand that creativity and originality are rampant in fiction these days. I think some of my very favorite books are the ones in which authors really are creating something fresh and unique. What are your thoughts? Is everything new these days a reinvention of something previous?

Anne of Avonlea (Series in September)

2011-09-21T09:21:00.021-05:00

Book: Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Series: Anne of Green Gables

Book Order: Anne of Green Gables* (1), Anne of Avonlea* (2), Anne of the Island (3), Anne of Windy Poplars (4), Anne's House of Dreams (5), Anne of Ingleside (6), Rainbow Valley (7), Rilla of Ingleside (8)
* indicates a book I have read

Anne of Avonlea is the continuation of the story begun in Anne of Green Gables of L.M. Montgomery's indomitable heroine Anne Shirley. Grown up from the first novel, Anne begins book two as a school teacher in Avonlea on Prince Edward Island. Many of characters from Anne of Green Gables return in the sequel - Marilla Cuthbert, Diana Barry, Gilbert Blythe, Rachel Lynde - but Anne also makes many new acquaintances and her students and neighbors provide some fresh drama to the story.

I love this series, but I did feel that this book wasn't quite as enjoyable as the first. There was something enchanting in book one about discovering Green Gables and Avonlea through Anne's innocent eyes, and this book felt a bit more - for lack of a better word - ordinary. There were definitely memorable moments and fun points to the story but it's hard to say that any of them were as brilliant as Anne's antics in the series opener. The first book was the story of a young girl and this one is clearly the story of a young woman. Anne has matured and so the book lacks some of her youthful humor and fanciful imagination. Still, it is the characters and the picturesque scenery that make this book a heartwarming read as well as Montgomery's slowly unfolding love story between Gilbert and Anne.

For any readers who complain about the irksome trend in popular fiction of eye-roll-inducing love at first sight, I give you a quote revealing a different perspective:

"Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music, perhaps... perhaps love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath."
~ Anne of Avonlea, L.M. Montgomery

Even if I may not have loved this book as much as the first in the series, this quote melted me. The more I read of the Anne of Green Gables series, the more I realize that the beauty of Montgomery's saga is not just in the individual works, but in the sweeping narrative as a whole. I still wish I had read these books at a younger age, but even discovering them as an adult, they are charming, lovely works and I look forward to the next six in the series.

Pirate of My Heart (Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!)

2011-09-19T08:47:00.000-05:00

Yo ho, yo ho! It be Talk Like A Pirate Day once more an' the only thing better than a bottle o' rum be a bottle o' rum and a piratey book to read! Today the Dread Pirate Brody be bringin' ye a review o' Pirate of My Heart by Jamie Carie.

Lady Kendra Townsend is left in a dire situation when her greedy uncle takes over her father's estate. Given the choice between being married off to a husband twice her age or being shipped off to live with relatives in America, Kendra chooses an unknown life overseas.

Captain Dorian Colburn has his own plans for the running of his new cargo ship and escorting Lady Kendra as a passenger to America was not one of them. At first he is annoyed by the inconvenience of the heiress aboard his ship but soon he finds his attraction to her an even larger distraction from his duties.

Set upon by pirates during their voyage and facing family conflicts and burdens of the past once they reach their destination, the relationship between Kendra and Dorian is far from simple. She is a woman of faith and turns to God during all her difficulties, and she is unsure if the ship captain fits into God's designs for her life. Though the element of Christianity is a turn-off for some, I thought it was dealt with really well as an aspect of Kendra's personality.

Yet, I would have preferred the book more had Kendra been a stronger heroine and relied less on Dorian to come to her rescue. I also thought more of the story was going to take place at sea, with pirates playing into a larger part of the plot. Nevertheless, this was still an enjoyable novel and I'd be willing to check out future works by Jamie Carie.

Thar ye have it. On top o' my review, I say I be lovin' the arrrt work on the cover o' this book. The picture made me be thinkin' that it be a book more about pirates and seafarers than a tale o' love on land. I be receivin' a copy o' this book on me Kindle for review from the ebook service by the name o' NetGalley - I be thinkin there be a pirate ship lurkin' among their site but I've yet to find one!

Not sure if anyone else be celebratin' Talk Like a Pirate Day but it be a holiday I been bloggin' about fer many a turn o' the tides. Check out me review o' Treasure Island for more bookish pirate fun or spy The Dread Pirate Brody's Pirate Arrrrchives from me former blog.

Do you "Like" me?

2011-09-18T11:21:00.026-05:00

I know as recently as four days ago I said Her Book Self was on neither Facebook nor Twitter and in that short span of time, I made at least a partial liar out of myself. Are you ready for this breaking news?

Her Book Self is now on Facebook!

Feel free to click on over to check it out and, of course, I would love for you to "Like" my page. I would also like for you to love my page, but currently that's not an option so we'll just have to settle for liking at present unless anyone feels the call of poetry...

"Moss is green,
It grows on a log.
I love Her Book Self
It's such a great blog!"

Ummm... maybe not. I'll leave the poetry to others and stick with the book reviews. I'm hoping to use the Facebook page as an auxiliary space and make it interactive with polls and fun stuff as well as using it to share short random thoughts that aren't quite worth a full post. For now it's pretty bare bones, but stay with me and I'll try to make it something awesome. Special thanks to those who encouraged me to jump on the bandwagon and give Her Book Self a Facebook presence. If your blog has a Facebook page and I haven't already Liked it, feel free to drop me a line and I'll connect with you over there. And who, knows, perhaps the wide world of Twitter is next!

BBAW - Blogging

2011-09-16T11:07:00.000-05:00

Friday is here and so Book Blogger Appreciation Week is coming to a close. Along with all the great participants in Book Blogger Land, I've written posts about Community and Reading, and now it's time for the third key to the triumvirate of book blogging - Blogging itself. Today's prompt says,

"The world of blogging is continually changing. Share 3 things you are essential tried and true practices for every blogger and 1-3 new trends or tools you’ve adapted recently or would like to in the future."

And I must say this suggestion makes me giggle a little (and not just for the "you" instead of "that" in the second sentence - I won't be rude and answer proofreading). I laugh because it's inherently assuming that I know a thing or two about book blogging when in fact, as in most things in my life, I'm more or less making things up as I go along. You could say I have a "fake it til you make it" attitude in that I threw this blog out there into the netherworld of the internet a year and a half ago and by some freak chance people actually started reading it. And liking it! I know!! Even I'm still pretty amazed at that!

But okay. Let's pretend for a moment that my experiences have taught me something. (Come on, stop laughing, you really can teach an old blogger new tricks...) I've been dabbling in the blogosphere for almost a decade now, so here's what I guess I would say "works" for Her Book Self:

1. Posting, Posting, Posting. There's a catch phrase that states the three most important things in real estate are "Location, Location, Location" and I think the most important thing in blogging is posting, posting, posting. No content, no blog - simple as that.

2. Reading, Reading, Reading. I love Top Ten Tuesdays, Wordless Wednesdays, and Sunday Salons as much as the next girl, but I don't think blogs should rely on them too heavily. Memes are my idea of blog seasoning. They add some great flavor, but if there's no meat and potatoes (or felafel and pita) underneath pretty soon you realize you're just sitting in front of a plate of salt and pepper. Quality reviews and commentary are what make blogs substantial and without reading, all the extras can get pretty bland.

3. Comments, Comments, Comments. A favorite quote of mine states that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. I touched on this point in my post about community, but communication is a two way street. If I wasn't willing to visit other blogs, read content, and interact with other bloggers I never would have made Her Book Self public. For anyone wondering why their blog doesn't get more comments just ask yourself how many you've stopped to leave.

And now my favorite question: What's next? I don't want to tip my hand, but Her Book Self will be trying some new things in the coming year. (If you reeeeally want a sneak peek, check out the welcome sidebar on the right.) For now, it's more of what - I hope - works at present. Series in September will be continuing next week after another celebration of Talk Like a Pirate Day (of course!). I have a giveaway planned for the end of the month along with participation in a blog tour and a few more author interviews. I want to thank everyone who visited here for the first time during Book Blogger Appreciation Week. I've really enjoyed discovering even more great blogs over the past few days and I look forward to making the rounds today and learning from all of you how to make my blog even better!

BBAW: Reading - Tall Story

2011-09-15T10:47:00.000-05:00

Book Blogger Appreciation Week continues and where as yesterday's theme was Community, today's prompt is about reading habits; specifically, has book blogging changed your reading habits?

I will be surprised if any book bloggers answer that question with a no. (And if you're a blogger who feels your habits have not changed at all, leave a note below because I'd love to hear your thoughts!) From the pressure of completing books and writing reviews in a timely manner to the explosions of my very own Mount TBR - which is now officially a volcano due to the massive amounts of recommendations I've gained from others. But the change to my reading habits that I love the most comes from discovering books that I would never have heard of before all because of other blogs and their great bloggers.

Rather than expand on this topic, I want to share a review that I recently wrote for one of my favorite reads of the year so far - a book that I read all because of Enbrethiliel over at Shredded Cheddar. (And since BBAW is all about really awesome book blogs, pop over and check out her writing - that girl has serious talent and if I were in charge of the BBAW awards Shredded Cheddar would have won a handful!!) I won Tall Story by Candy Gourlay in a contest at Shredded Cheddar spotlighting books about the Philippines - it came highly recommended and lived up to all the high expectations I had for it!

Amandolina (Andi) knows her life is in for a change when she learns that her half-brother Bernardo is moving from the Philippines to live with her and her parents in England. People have always said Bernardo is "tall" but at eight feet he towers over everyone - taller even than Andi's hero Michael Jordan. Andi dreams of sharing her love of basketball with her brother but doesn't expect the culture shock he has to deal with adjusting to a new country. In his home village of San Andres in the Philippines, Bernardo's height is considered a mark of good fortune. Though he longs to reunite with his family, he fears leaving his superstitious neighbors behind.

Tall Story is a tale of friendship, family, wishes, and curses with a twist of folklore blended into a story of growing up and fitting in. The book is told in alternating chapters by Andi and Bernardo and author Candy Gourlay does a remarkable job giving each character a unique perspective and voice. Though their situations are original they both face awkwardness and adjustments that any young adult can relate to, but the heart of this story is a theme of love and family that will charm readers of any age.

In short, (no pun intended) I read Tall Story because of Enbrethiliel, and because I love to expand my horizons of reading through input from book bloggers. Whether it's a recommendation about a classic that I missed reading in school or a work about a country, culture, or time period that I could really stand to learn more about, I highly value the insight that other bloggers provide about books I should read. I think we'd all nod our heads at the statement, "So many books, so little time" so I'm glad to have blogs that help me vet out wonderful choices from among the masses.

Also, I wanted to include my review here, not only to give new visitors a taste of my style, but because last year during BBAW I raved about my love for the young adult book Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby; and I was thrilled to find that other bloggers cited me for recommending it to them when they loved it as much as I did. Tall Story is one that touched me almost as much as Hurt Go Happy and I would love to see more bloggers embrace it for the wonderful work that it is.

If you're looking for a great new-to-you book to read, check out Tall Story; and if you're looking for a great new-to-you blog to read check out Shredded Cheddar; and if you have the time be sure to do both!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week - Community

2011-09-14T14:23:00.000-05:00

Somehow Book Blogger Appreciation Week is here - and halfway over - without me doing much to commemorate the event. The theme this year is Cultivating a Community of Bloggers and Readers. Today's prompt says,

"The world of book blogging has grown enormously and sometimes it can be hard to find a place. Share your tips for finding and keeping community in book blogging despite the hectic demands made on your time and the overwhelming number of blogs out there. If you’re struggling with finding a community, share your concerns and explain what you’re looking for–this is the week to connect!"

I suppose I'm not sure how to respond to this one. I certainly feel like I've found a community within book blogging but I haven't been as involved in that community as others seem to be. Her Book Self isn't currently on Facebook and I haven't yet put time or effort into figuring out Twitter. But I don't see those as community outlets so much as ways to network. I know I have a decent number of Google Friend Connect followers and I know I follow way too many blogs than I have time to read. Yet within the group of all the blogs I follow - and within the group of all those that follow me - I feel there's a bit of an inner circle of those that really read my posts. They're usually the ones that take the time to leave a thoughtful comment. And I do the same for them because they're the blogs that make me smile a little when I see them come up in my massive blog roll because I'm actually excited to see their posts.

I don't have any tricks or tips to contribute here because I don't think there's a how-to guide about finding blogs you like to read. It's going to be different for each person, but I know when I do find blogs I like, I'm quick to comment and even quicker to follow. When those bloggers reciprocate - either responding to my comments or commenting on my own blog - I feel a sense of connection. It's validating to have people care about what I write.

And of course, cultivating community online can be most difficult in busy seasons. Right now I've been struggling to keep this blog updated as two family friends were diagnosed with cancer within a week of each other. These are the times when I feel like giving up this blog altogether because real life seems too demanding. But at the same time, I love the creative outlet that blogging provides. Reading keeps me sane and blogging keeps me reading. So how do I maintain community when I rarely have time for my own blog let alone time to keep tabs on those I enjoy most? Like good friends that can go years without seeing each other and still fall into intimate friendship, I appreciate comments and posts from bloggers in my community, even in their periods of inconsistency and I can only hope that same grace extends from other bloggers to me.

Whether you read every post I publish, one a week, one a month, or one a year - I appreciate you taking the time to hear me.

I write for myself, but I hit "Publish Post" for you.

A Plethora of Avonleas (A Weekend to ReCOVER)

2011-09-10T21:10:00.000-05:00

It's cover comparison time again! This time the culprit... I mean the subject is the work by Lucy Maud Montgomery Anne of Avonlea. You may be wondering why not Anne of Green Gables, but since this is Series in September I thought it would be fun to instead focus on the sequel!

Time to choose your favorite!

Do you like the modern or the retro? Anne alone? Anne and Diana? Anne and Gilbert? (I have a soft spot in my heart for the miniseries with Megan Follows so I had to include that one.) Check out more great - or not so great - Anne of Avonlea covers here and be sure to leave your thougts in the comments below!

Changeless (Series in September)

2011-09-09T09:18:00.001-05:00

Book: Changeless by Gail Carriger

Series: The Parasol Protectorate

Book Order: Soulless* (1), Changeless* (2), Blameless (3), Heartless (4), Timeless (5) * indicates a book I have read

Changeless, the second novel in Gail Carriger's steampunk romance series begins with a strange force temporarily wiping out the powers of London's supernaturals. Amidst the clawless werewolves and fangless vampires, preternatural heroine Alexia is puzzled but determined to discover the source of the event - though some point to her as the problem. Alexia boards an airship to Scotland accompanied by her trying sister Felicity, her dear friend with a horrid fashion sense Miss Ivy Hisselpenny, Tunstall the valet turned suitor, and the enigmatic inventor Madame LaFoux.

I loved Soulless for its humor and though perhaps not as laugh out loud funny as the first, Carriger's witty style is equally present in Changeless. This one is very decidedly a "book two" in that I don't recommend reading it before the first one and it definitely leaves off with a cliffhanger for book three. Though some of the plot twists were predictable, Changeless is still highly enjoyable and an excellent entry into The Parasol Protectorate series.

I read this one as an eBook on my Kindle, in which I purchased the first three in the series as a single package. I was incredibly tempted to delve right into Blameless when I finished this one, but decided that some other series should be mixed into my Series in September reading plan.

I rarely binge read series and prefer to savor them with one book at a time and other works and authors in between. How about you? Do you read series from start to finish or break them up book at a time?

But what's next???? (Top Ten Tuesday)

2011-09-06T11:07:00.000-05:00

In a strange incidence of blogging convergence, this week's topic for Top Ten Tuesday fits in beautifully with my Series in September Feature! Top Ten Tuesday is a fun list-based meme hosted by one of my favorite blogs The Broke and the Bookish! Today's theme is Top Ten Sequels I'm Dying to Read. My list features some that have been out for a while that I've somehow just never gotten around to as well as some new releases and some that are still to come.

Series in September Meets Top Ten Tuesday:

Sequels I'm Dying to Read

1 & 2. First Among Sequels and One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde

I've read and loved the first several books in Fforde's Thursday Next series, but I didn't manage to catch up with the last two releases. These two have been on market for a few years and months, respectively, but I have not read either yet. I think a reread of the entire series is probably in order and it's a matter of me just going as far as my at home bookshelf to revisit my favorite fictional Swindon once more.

3. Cold Vengeance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

This one is a slightly more recent release in Preston and Child's Pendergast saga. The last book in the series (Fever Dream) left off with a tantalizing cliffhanger and I'm eager to see how it's resolved in this book. Plus, Pendergast is the type of character that I never get bored with. Preston and Child could probably publish something along the lines of Agent Pendergast takes a Walk or Pendergast Reads the Phone Book and I would eagerly read the work, because no matter what situation the character is in, you know it will end up thoroughly engaging.

4. Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett

I chose Desert Spear because it's one that I've waited so long to read that I keep forgetting I actually really want to read it. The work is the sequel to The Warded Man (or The Painted Man) which I read as an ARC a few months before it was published. It's the book that's made me reluctant to read ARCs that are the first in a series. As bad as it is to wait a year or so for a book two, it's even harder to wait for book two if book one isn't even on shelves yet! Needless to say, the first book really was quite impressive, and I am interested to see what Brett did with the second in the series.

5& 6. The Fall and The Night Eternal by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Take everything I said about reading book one ARCs from #8 on this list and everything I said about not keeping up with a series in #1 on this list and you have a pretty good idea of where I stand with this trilogy. I was really impressed with book one (The Strain) but the rest of this series remains on my TBR list. So many books, so little time!

7. Vanish by Sophie Jordan

I read Jordan's Firelight last year as part of a multi-blogger event called Fall into Fantasy and my biggest gripe about the book was that it didn't turn out to be a complete story. If my biggest problem with a book is that I wanted it to be longer, you know I'm anxious to read its sequel. Vanish hits shelves today and though I probably won't get to it immediately, I'm definitely intrigued to continue Jacinda's story.

8. The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth

Blood Oath was one of the surprise hits of 2010 for me. I picked it up knowing nothing about the author but loving the premise and really enjoyed the book. The sequel's been out for a little while now and I keep meaning to pick it up, but one of the things I loved about the first book is that it was a succinct story on its own. I'm eager to read the second, not because my favorite characters were left in mortal (or immortal) peril, but because I want to know how their stories continue.

9. Neverwinter by R.A. Salvatore

I have a yearly tradition of purchasing the latest Salvatore novel in October. In hardback. I'm not sure what I will do this year as my local Borders will not be there for me to excitedly dance into (*sniff, sniff*) but I know I still plan on acquiring this one close to its release date. I used an Amazon giftcard to purchase the last book Gauntlgrym,but part of me wishes I had continued my Borders tradition, especially as it will no longer be a book shopping option.

10. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

I blame bloggers for this one. I really didn't want to get swept up into Clare's work. I've been resisting getting pulled into The Mortal Instruments series despite having the first book teasing me from my TBR shelf. But earlier this year I read Clockwork Angel and despite some misgivings, I find myself eagerly anticipating the release of its sequel. I'm not sure if this should just fall under the guilty pleasure category but nevertheless, I know I want to read it.

11. BONUS The Winds of Winter by George R. R. Martin

I'm not sure if it's right to list this one since it isn't even written yet, and not even George knows when we can expect to hope for it, but truly it is my top choice at present for my most anticipated sequel. For those new to Her Book Self, I spent a large portion of the spring and summer rereading GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire series and the next in the saga can't come soon enough.

So with which books on my list do you agree or disagree? Does anyone else fall behind on series and find themselves having to reread several books before checking out a favorite author's latest? Are there series books that you find yourself eager to purchase as soon as they are released?

As always I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! And for those that are stopping by Her Book Self for the very first time, thanks for joining me! Feel free to check out my previous Top Ten Tuesday entries here. Also, I'll be celebrating sequels (and sequels' sequels) all month long with my Series in September feature and I'd love to have you join the fun!

"Something Different" - Guest Post by J.C. Phelps Part 2 (Indie in Summer)

2011-09-05T20:27:00.001-05:00

You know how when you watch a TV series and the last episode left off with a cliffhanger, the new show starts with "Previously on..."? Well, for those that missed it, click here for "Previously on Her Book Self". Welcome back, J.C. Phelps!

****

I finally settled on submitting a scene I have written. It may or may not be used in an upcoming book.

To set the scene: Alex and Will’s relationship has grown stronger and Will has invited her to tour the Naval carrier he will be deployed to. After the tour, the two of them decide to make an evening of it and do some bar hopping.

To begin the night inside my comfort zone we went to the Skylight first. I’d done my fair share of partying in the past but I’d only been to a few select bars.

“I see Anthony is working.” Will pointed out my one and only ex-boyfriend.

“How do you know Anthony?”

“Rick told me all about your history,” Will said.

“Do you two make it a habit of talking about my past?” The thought was both flattering and embarrassing.

“No. There’s not much past to talk about. I think we covered it all in one or two conversations.” Will winked. “Let’s go say hi. Rick also told me a few things about Anthony that I bet you don’t even know.” Will raised his eyebrows in a challenge that I left unanswered. I was too engrossed in my thoughts anyway.

As usual, Anthony came right to me. “Wow. I thought you’d moved. I haven’t seen you forever. How long has it been? A year?” He was doing his best to show off his severely lacking biceps by imitating ‘The Thinker’. Actually, they didn’t look half bad but I knew he didn’t know how to use them, so they didn’t count.

“Nope. Didn’t move. Can you get me a coke and…” I turned to get Will’s order but Anthony cut in.

“I’m glad you came to see me. I’m currently between girlfriends,” he waggled his eyebrows at me.

Oh, the ego. I hadn’t even considered Anthony might still be working here when Will and I decided to come to The Skylight. “I’m currently taken.” I didn’t expect what happened next. Will cleared his throat and Anthony noticed him for the first time.

Anthony's normally tanned skin had become pale. “Ssss... Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. Please tell Malone not to… not to…”

Will’s ominous look changed to a grin. “Don’t worry, Anthony. She’s on my arm tonight, not my brother’s. Can you please get the lady her coke and add a beer and two shots of whiskey.”

“On the house.” Anthony quickly filled our order and moved away.

“What was that all about?” I asked as we moved away from the bar.

“Rick told me about a visit he paid to Anthony a while ago. Good to know he hasn’t forgotten.”

“When did -- What did he do?” Will ignored me and led me to a table near the dance floor.

We each had a couple of drinks and made our way to the dance floor twice before we decided it was time to move onto the next bar. By the time we were leaving the third bar on the list I was ready to call it a night. However, Will was still warming up. I didn’t want to ruin his fun, but I told him I had to slow down on the drinking. He complied by ordering me only one shot at bar number four. But, that still was number seven and I was surprised I could even count that high by then. It had been months since I’d had any alcohol and I’d never been able to handle it well anyway.

Bar number five could have been The Rave as far as I was concerned. It was definitely a dance club. The deep tones radiating through my body sent me to places I hadn’t been for a long time.

I closed my eyes. The heady music, the close bodies and the various smells pushed all thoughts from my brain.

Eventually, a very distinctive aroma snuck in on my consciousness and brought me back to reality. I opened my eyes and searched for the source. As I turned around I was met with White, not more than a few inches from me.

“What are you doing here?” Having to yell didn’t help mask the slur in my voice.

White hiked his head toward Will.

I threw an accusatory look at Will.

He shrugged. “I’m out of money and can’t pay for a cab to get us home.”

“I have money. You didn’t have to call him.” I yelled at Will.

“I’m not asking a girl to pay on a date.” I could tell by the look on his face this was unthinkable.

I looked at White for support on this but he just mimicked Will’s previous shrug.

I leaned in to talk in Will’s ear. “I thought you wanted to give the guys something to talk about.” I’d been looking forward to making White wonder if Will and I got along extra well, and now I didn’t know how to go about it without actually doing something drastic.

“Oh, they’ve already started,” he answered.

His voice in my ear gave me chills and made me giggle like a girl. I’m sure the alcohol helped.

“Ready?” I heard White yell from directly behind me.

“Not yet,” Will hollered over the music and gave me a wink.

It didn’t take me long to get lost in the music again. Strangely enough it was even easier to lose myself with White directly behind me. I knew I’d be safe with these two men near me and I was able to relax.

The music finally released its hold long enough for me to realize I’d backed up enough to feel White’s body heat against my back. I don’t know how long I’d been that close to him but I knew how it was affecting me. It was time to go home. I turned my head just enough to get a glimpse of White’s face. He was in bodyguard mode, scanning the entire building. It didn’t take him long to glance down at me with his undecipherable look. I mouthed the words, “Are you ready to go?” He answered with a nod.

I poked Will in the ribs and asked him the same thing in a shout. He also nodded his agreement.

I sat in the back of White’s black Mustang, though the seat was extremely uncomfortable. I figured I’d be left out of the conversation on the way home if I did and they didn’t let me down. I’d definitely had too much to drink and didn’t need to emphasize that fact with my slurred speech.

Will generously helped me navigate my way out of the vehicle once we’d parked in the garage of White and Associates. I held my own quite well after I got to my feet and Will and White let me lead the way into the lobby where I was greeted by all of my partners. Green and Black wore disapproving looks, but Red, Blue and especially Brown all smiled broadly.

“Pay up,” Will said to Brown as he stumbled up to him with his hand out.

“I want proof first. So, Ms. Grey. Did you have a good time tonight?”

I gave him a tight-lipped smile and muttered, “Mmm hmm.”

Suddenly, he took a swing at me. I had him on the floor instantly and just as quickly I lost my balance and found myself on top of him. Brown lifted me easily as he rose from the floor and set me upright.

“Okay. Here you go.” He laughed as he pulled out a wad of cash.

Money was being exchanged between everyone and I had no idea what was going on.

White was the only one not handing out or receiving cash. I gave him a questioning look. “What’s going on?”

“Will bet the guys he could take you out and get you drunk.”

“What?” White gave me his evil grin, the one that tied me in knots.

I stammered, “I didn’t mean to get drunk.” It took me being drunk, but I realized I preferred to be one of the guys instead of the girl in the company. I wondered why it had taken a prank like this to make me recognize that.

“I’ll take you home,” White offered but was instantly swarmed by the rest of the men with Brown up front.

“Oh no you don’t! You, Black and Blue are the only guys that have been around her when her tongue has been loosened by spirits. The rest of us want to get to know our partner like we know each other.” Brown grabbed my arm.

“No, no, no. I think White’s right and I should go home.” I tried to free myself as Brown towed me toward the elevator. I looked back at White for help but he was lost in the sea of men following us.

Everyone piled into the elevator and I felt a little claustrophobic. The feeling came mostly from everyone poking fun at me rather than the closeness of the bodies. As soon as the doors opened I pushed my way out to a floor I’d never been on before.

“Where are we?” I asked as Red pushed past me.

“Welcome to my abode.” He opened up the door and showcased the interior with a flourish of his arm.

I walked in and was overwhelmed with the feel of it.

“Now this is exactly what I thought White’s apartment would look like.” The black and red accents made me think of Gigi’s, the strip joint that Colin had me working at before the Dimitri hit. The apartment screamed bachelor on the hunt.

Black let out a chuckle as he followed me inside.

All of the partners’ apartments were the same floor plan but we each had a room that we used for our personal touch. White’s housed C.I.C. Mine was still used for storage. Black’s housed plants and all kinds of non-bachelor items, and Red’s was set up as a game room. He had a bar in one corner, a pool table, a dart board, and those tall tables that only seated a couple of people. However, he did have a couple of larger tables that would allow us all to sit together.

Blue stepped behind the bar and started lining up shot glasses like a pro. There was one for everyone but I didn’t get a chance to object until he brought over my usual shot of whiskey with a coke back.

“I can’t drink this,” I said as I pushed the shot away.

“Gonna be sick?” Brown mocked me with an exaggerated pout.

“Not yet, but I might soon,” I countered, weakly.

“Oh, come on. You’re home now. Who cares if you get sick. Just as long as you make it to the bathroom,” Red added.

“I promise to hold your hair,” Brown teased.

****

For more of J.C.'s writing check out The Alexis Stanton Chronicles. Color Me Grey (book one) is my current favorite KinDEAL (at present it's free from Amazon).

"Something Different" - Guest Post by J.C. Phelps Part 1 (Indie in Summer)

2011-09-04T11:05:00.001-05:00

Though September is here, I'm holding onto the last dregs of summer for as long as possible so my Indie in Summer feature of spotlighting independent authors isn't quite done. Joining me for a two-part guest post on this lovely labor day weekend is J.C. Phelps author of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles (Color Me Grey, Shades of Grey, and Reflections of Grey)!

***
I want to start this post with a big thank you to Lisa for allowing me to post here. Her Book Self is a blog that I have followed for quite a long time and this is a great honor.

Though I run a blog of my own, I mostly post about other authors and their books. I love letting my readers know how diverse and great the writing world has become. But when I’m not posting about other authors I’ll post something more personal such as pictures of my garden, books I’ve recently read or want to read, and every once in a while I post recipes I’ve recently tried.

Since you can find all that at my blog I decided I needed something different for this post. I could write a post about my writing process. A lot of authors might be interested in something like that and maybe even some readers. Let me tell you, my writing process, if I were a hermit living in a cave, would be nothing to talk about. However, with three kids…

Just let me give you an example the things I go through after the writing bug has passed and I rejoin the real world.

The other day I finally had an idea and started to type it up on the computer. I wasn’t involved in my writing for very long before I had to pull myself away and yell at the three-year-old to get out of the kitchen. She loves to get into everything, including the cleaning supplies. I can’t have that!

Later, after I’d made sure she remained in my sights for the majority of the day, I made a journey into the kitchen for coffee or something else equally mundane. I about fell on my butt.

In the course of the couple of minutes she had spent in the kitchen earlier that day, the three-year-old had managed to get butter out of the refrigerator and spread it all over the floor in front of the refrigerator AND she had washed the floor in front of the sink with nothing but dish soap. Butter AND dish soap on linoleum creates a slippery situation.

These are the kinds of things I must deal with whenever I stick my head into my computer for more than just a few seconds. Even though I could write an entire book on the antics of my three-year-old and how she affects my writing process, I decided I didn’t want that to be the main topic of my post. So what should I write about, I wondered.

The next thing on my list was talking about my self-published status and why I chose that route. Again, this would be something that could be interesting to other authors, but the general reader really just doesn’t care that I didn’t submit to agents or publishers because I have no patience and I’m afraid of deadlines. The general reader doesn’t care about the business of writing and how I think it’s best to have your books out there, gathering readers and making money rather than sitting in the drawer gathering dust. So, cross that off the list and move onto…

What are some of the questions people have asked me after reading my books?

Well, the most frequently asked questions are, “Are you going to write another book? When is it coming out?”

The answers to these questions are as elusive to me as they are to the reader. Let me just say I am working on a fourth book. But because of my writing process and my fear of deadlines I have no idea if I can ever finish it or give a release date until it is complete.

So, I finally settled on submitting a scene I have written. It may or may not be used in an upcoming book.

*****

Stay tuned tomorrow for the scene that J.C. Phelps wrote for us!

Reflections of Grey (Series in September) (Indie in Summer)

2011-09-01T11:33:00.001-05:00

It's September 1st!! Which along with shocking statements of "Where oh where did the summer go??" means it's time for Series in September to return! This is a feature I started last year where I devote the month to making progress through series that I'm currently reading as well as embarking on fun new-to-me works that are "Book One" in their sagas. Today's pick is a bit of a crossover from my Indie in Summer feature and stay tuned for upcoming posts from the book's fabulous author!

Book: Reflections of Grey by J.C. Phelps

Series: The Alexis Stanton Chronicles

Book Order: Color Me Grey* (1), Shades of Grey* (2), Reflections of Grey* (3)
*indicates a book I have read

The action and intrigue of The Alexis Stanton Chronicles continues in book three Reflections of Grey. Alex Stanton, also known as Ms. Grey extends her training with White & Associates and takes on the challenge of an undercover job. Despite her misgivings about getting involved with Rick "Mr. White" Malone, Alex finds her resolve about their relationship tested. Things only get more complicated when Alex's work brings her across the path of another Malone, Rick's equally handsome brother.

Reflections of Grey carries the same high-energy, character driven action of the books that preceded it (Color Me Grey, Shades of Grey). J.C. Phelps continues to grow and develop her heroine with each new book in the series. Three books strong, there remains plenty more of Alex's story to be told and readers can only hope that Phelps has future works in store for the series.

The longer a series is, the harder time I have writing reviews for the books in it. It's not that I don't love the books as much as the early ones in the series, but I tend to get really worried about including spoilers in my reviews! Hopefully this teaser of a review conveys how much I enjoy the series, without giving away any plot points of the earlier books to readers who may be curious about the third!

Stay tuned this week and weekend as J.C. Phelps returns to Her Book Self with a fun guest post and a preview of her future work!

The Raven's Bride

2011-08-29T21:10:00.001-05:00

A while ago I posted a review of book I read back in 2007 but wanted to mention on this blog because it was a charming tale (and I was in the mood to write about something light). The book I mentioned was Becky by Lenore Hart. In recalling how much I enjoyed that book, I did a little web search of Ms. Hart and found she had released another book - also dealing with a fictionalized version of historic characters but this time focusing on Edgar Allan Poe. I secreted the title away in my mind to pick up in the future, so imagine my surprise when on my very next trip to the library, Hart's book was facing me from the front of the New Fiction shelf!

The Raven's Bride is the story of Virginia "Sissy" Clemm, first cousin to Edgar Allan Poe who later becomes his wife. The story follows young Sissy who is charmed by her cousin at a very early age and weds him when she was just 13 and he 27. As a reader it was odd to think about this relationship in modern context, but Hart writes in such a way that Sissy's feelings for Edgar and her intellectual attraction to him seem quite natural. Despite her youth, she comes across as very mature and her relationship with the moody writer makes for a very interesting story.

Hart ties Edgar's relationship to Sissy with the inspirations for his most famous works and paints a believable picture of what their life may have looked like. Granted, the story of Poe's life is a tragic one. Plagued with alcoholism and financial instability, Edgar and Sissy walk a rocky and troubled road. Sissy's health also fails and though she and Edgar don't have long together, Hart weaves in a bit of the supernatural in a way that is both a positive spin to the story and a tribute to Poe's darker tendencies.

In the author's note, Lenore Hart reveals that her own name is taken from Poe's most famous poem and her admiration for him is shown in her dedication to detail regarding the life of the master writer. The Raven's Bride is an unique and original story and acts as a great companion work to those seeking to learn more about the lives of Edgar Allan Poe and his lesser known wife.

A Dance With Dragons

2011-08-26T11:49:00.000-05:00

George R.R. Martin's latest volume, A Dance With Dragons, was *the* most anticipated book of 2011 for me. We all have that book, right? The one you actually pre-ordered and counted down the days for. The book that made you hyperventilate just a little when the cover art for it was announced. The book that came in the mail and when you tore open the packaging, you stood there for a moment just reveling at the fact that you were actually holding it. And the excitement when you first heard that little sigh of the spine when you gingerly opened the cover was indescribable.

Despite my desire to chug this book down in a sitting or two, my hunger for the plot was tempered by the thousand pages of Martin's signature hefty and detailed prose that is better served chapter by chapter than in hundred page chunks. I finished reading this one in the first week of August, and yet I've been sitting on the process of reviewing it because it is an immensely more difficult task than I first pondered.

On the one hand, I can evaluate this book as nothing more than the fifth Song of Ice and Fire book. By that criteria, it's a solid entry in the saga. There's perhaps a bit less action and drama than some of the previous books, but where Martin wins is in continuing to build upon his subtle style of character development. For the first time, several major players in the drama are near to crossing paths and the tensions of how these heroes, anti-heroes and heroines are going to interact is a valuable impetus in driving the story forward. And yet as delightful as it is to reunite with them, very little of substance actually happens in the story. Once more a large portion of what makes this book good is the promise of what it's leading up to.

Which leads me to the second factor on which this book is inevitably being judged. Did it deliver? Nicknamed "Kong" on Martin's blog as the six hundred pound gorilla that hovered in the room of any project he worked on, Dance With Dragons carried with it astronomical expectations. In terms of answering some of the lingering questions dangling in front of fans after A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows, it did. Granted it also proposed numerous questions and cliffhangers of its own. Story-wise this one doesn't seem to stand as solidly as the first three in the Song of Ice and Fire series, but it still manages to be compelling - perhaps more so because, after four epic books, the reader is undoubtedly invested in these characters than because of a dynamic plot.

I suppose I loved the idea of this book more than I actually adored it as a work by George R.R. Martin. Was it good? Yes. Was it satisfying? Partially. Was it fantastic? Maybe. I think it deserves a reread after a year or so, since I'll be better able to evaluate my true feelings on the book itself if I can distance it from my expectations for it.

"The reader and the book"

2011-08-24T14:52:00.000-05:00

"The reader and the book,
either without the other is naught."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am the book nerd ...I am the walrus? (A Weekend to ReCOVER)

2011-08-21T21:29:00.000-05:00

Red hair? Check. Lab coat? Check...

Most people know that I'm something of a nerd. I take the title with pride as the science fair medals of my youth turned me into I am a research scientist by trade, and I can be seen sporting the oh-so-glamorous accessory known as a lab coat on an almost daily basis. What's new to me is how many of my friends and family also now identify me as a book nerd - a term I also willingly claim for myself. I've always been an avid reader but it's only been during the past few years (and especially since I began this blog) that I am more vocal with others about my reading and writing habits.

I point this all out because it's really fun to get bookish feedback from my friends and family. My aunt regularly passes me boxes of books to read and even my coworkers have started offering me their latest favorite picks. Another fun bookish connection came from my friend Ellen who blogs over at The Art of Losing Myself. On a recent trip to LSU she stopped by the Louisiana State Museum and spotted, in her words, "a lisa thing". It's a bit of artwork composed of book covers for Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ellen apologized for the slightly blurry image, but I think it's really awesome that she saw this and thought of me:

I've actually never read Uncle Tom's Cabin (shame on me!) but this collage looks really neat and of course I love the idea of creating art from book covers! Thanks, Ellen, for thinking of me and sending this along and for those that haven't already done so be sure to check out Ellen's blog. (And leave a comment - she loves comments!)

Oh and I'm not sure if it needs an explanation or not but the title of this post is from The Beatles' song I am the Walrus. I've either been playing too much or too little Beatles Rock Band, but "I am the Book Nerd" made me think of the song.

A Weekend to ReCOVER is the random feature in which I talk about just about anything relating to book covers, art or illustrations. Feel free to join in the fun with your thoughts below or create AWTR post of your own with book cover comparisons or any striking cover art that caught your eye! I realize it's been a really long time since I posted on this feature, so if you like it and want to see me talk art more often, let me know and I'll try to bring it back more often!

Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human

2011-08-18T21:56:00.001-05:00

My "adopted chimp" reading Nim's story

I have a heart for great apes. I love stories involving gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans and I think these amazing animals can provide valuable lessons of compassion and conservation for humans to learn. Last year I spotlighted one of my favorite young adult novels, Hurt Go Happy, which features a fictional chimpanzee who speaks sign language, and this year I encountered a book dealing with the same subject from a nonfiction perspective.

In Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human, author Elizabeth Hess chronicles the awkward but innovative experiment in which a chimpanzee was raised as a human in order to test the long held ideal that language is a uniquely human trait. Named in parody of linguist Noam Chomsky, Nim Chimpsky is the center of "Project Nim" and thus the book surrounding his life.

Delving into the details of the primate facility in Oklahoma where he was born to the home of his foster family and the research university in New York, Hess unravels a story that fluctuates between humorous, sweet, appalling, and unbelievable. I found myself exceptionally interested in the scientific side of this story but was shocked at the lack of ethics and standards in raising Nim. Though expected to learn ASL, the family he lived with was not fluent in sign language and few of his numerous handlers were intent on keeping records of his progress. Also, when the project began very little thought was given to the long term ramification of teaching a chimpanzee to behave as a human and predictably, the adolescent Nim quickly becomes too much to handle. The tragedy of the personable chimp left without a home or a purpose - and the greater story of research animals in general - is ultimately the most stunning part of Hess's work.

It's impossible to approach this book without falling a little bit in love with the precocious Nim. The photographic documentation of the tiny baby chimp who dresses in toddler clothes; growing into a midsized animal with enough sense to wash dishes and play with pets; and finally a full grown ape with a deep intelligence in his all-too-human eyes reveal the closeness of chimpanzees to homo sapiens in a way that statistics about genetic similarity will never match. Though it may not conclusively answer the questions of animals' ability to use language what Nim's story does is raise even more questions about our compassion towards other species. This is a book for lovers of animals and fans of science and anyone who enjoys an out of the ordinary biography.

I read this book with my husband (a lover of great apes as I am) earlier this year after stumbling upon it at a used book store. Despite the occasionally tearful read, we were both fascinated by the story. Last month we also had the privilege of attending a screening in Chicago of the film Project Nim based on the same story. The documentary is an excellent companion to the book and offers a unique series of first hand accounts from those who lived and directly interacted with Nim himself. Though I enjoyed the deeper details and background given in Hess's work, the movie was exceptionally well-done and is a great summary of the full length text.

"I'm Trying to Tell A Story Here!" (Indie In Summer - Guest Post)

2011-08-15T13:45:00.029-05:00

Many of you know that along with this blog, I'm a four time NaNoWriMo winner. Some people claim that makes me a "writer" but I've never really owned that title and have no dreams of publishing my work. So why did I spend the past four Novembers spewing out over two hundred thousand words of stories? Simple answer: because I felt like it. To me, writing is enjoyable. I like the challenge of inventing a story and I like the goal of completing a 50K word work in 30 days. The frenetic pace inspires me and despite what other people may think, I find novel writing - even really bad writing - extremely fun.

With this in mind, I'm pleased to present a guest post on the subject of writing and storytelling. Earlier this year I read and reviewed Vessel: The Advent, book I in her series and she joined me for a great interview and giveaway. As Indie in Summer continues please join me in welcoming back, author Tominda Adkins!

I'm Trying To Tell A Story Here!
Tominda Adkins

I don't know why you write. Only you know that.

All I know is that when I write, I don't do it to highlight what words are capable of, nor what I am capable of making them do at will. I don't write to create beauty. I don't write to change writing. I don't write to alter lives. I don't write to save literature. I write simply because these stories have built themselves in my brain, and writing is the only satisfactory way I've found to pass them on to other brains.

In short, I tell stories. I aspire to nothing else.

Many of us start out with a well-meaning but false reverence to the so-called 'artistic' aspect of writing. Too often, our commitment is such that we make failure inevitable. We sabotage ourselves. We hold our work up to ridiculous standards and aim to make statements that are beyond our own scope of experience. And just what is art, anyway, in terms of prose? I sure didn't know, but looking for it used to make me do all sorts of foolish things, like emulate Dave Eggers or write about the deeper observations of young white Americans. What steered me away from that nonsense? I got fired up about a long-neglected story, and just like that, my writing improved. To be honest, I was initially embarrassed that the story in question was akin to urban fantasy (how low!), and yet I was emotionally invested in it beyond control. The characters became people. The story progressed. And lo, there was my art.

So if you are writing, take a moment. What did you set out to do? Are you showing the reader how you write, or are you telling a story that must come out? If you are striving for some certain aesthetic, or trying to sound as crisp and soulful as your favorite obscure genius, then it sounds to me like you're either getting in the way of your story or you're taking a floundering stab at literary fiction. Trust me: if you spend every other second at the keyboard wondering what your MFA friends will think (and they will secretly hate your work no matter what), then you will never accomplish anything true. Move on. The best you can do is read a lot. Write a lot. Write some more. Tell the story, tell the story, tell the story. Do it until the way you tell it sounds about right, then get to the next scene. It's still art. I promise. Art for art's sake is a pretension. Art for the artist's sake is art.

As Stephen King says it in On Writing: "Practice the art, always reminding yourself that your job is to say what you see, and then to get on with your story." Tell it, brother. Write the truth. Write the book that is driving you mad, inside and out, not the book that will bowl the world over--no matter what it is. We can't all be Vonnegut or Plath, and if you still want to keep pounding away at the manuscript of your Great American Novel, hiding it from the light of day until every sentence flows like a polished little pearl straight out of Hemmingway's salty old prostate--go for it. Just know that in the meantime, some of us can still delight, entertain, and yes, even inspire, by telling a damn good story. That's enough for me, and that's why I write.

*****

What do you think about Tominda's thoughts on writing? Should I own up to the title and consider myself "a writer"? Do you call yourself a writer? What do you write and what are your main motivations for writing?

Tominda Adkins can be found online at the Vessel website or her author blog. Vessel: The Advent is available now in paperback or eBook format!

40 Love

2011-08-12T12:01:00.000-05:00

40 Love by Madeleine Wickham, who also writes under the name Sophie Kinsella, follows the story of Caroline and Patrick Chance who invite a group to their country home for a tennis party weekend. Arriving for the tournament are Patrick's ultra-competitive client Don and his daughter Valerie; wealthy and elegant Charles and Cressida; and the unassuming academics Stephen and Annie. Drama ensues both on and off the court when Patrick tries to convince a few of his guests to invest in some risky business deals and the unexpected arrival of free-spirited Ella, Charles' former lover, is sure to upset the tournament.

Wickham's main success in this novel is her characters and the way their strengths and weaknesses are gradually uncovered. At first few of the protagonists seem at all likeable, but as the story unfolds she reveals their humanity through their actions, faults and double faults alike. Though parts of the book are amusing it lacks the outright hilarity of some of Wickham's later novels and never quite reaches the charm of those written under her Kinsella pseudonym. Yet there remains a simple sincerity to the story that captures a snapshot of realism creating a delightful tale.

This book was originally published in 1995 under the title The Tennis Party and has been reissued with the name 40 Love and the added link to associate Madeleine Wickham with Sophie Kinsella of Shopaholic fame. I'm curious what others think of the name change and/or the reissuing of the book with a new title. I know I'm always confused when books by authors I follow are given new cover designs. I've been known to pick up a book from the "New" shelf at the library and read the description with a feeling of deja vu. As I question to myself, "Have I read this before?", it's always startling to flip to the copyright page and discover a date from decades earlier. But on the other hand, I find 40 Love a much more charming and catching title than The Tennis Party.

A Feast For Crows

2011-08-08T16:12:00.000-05:00

What do you do when a book just doesn't live up to its expectations? There's nothing wrong with the book. By any and all standards its actually quite good, well written, and thoroughly entertaining. But somehow it's just not... well, you know... it's not what you wanted it to be. So goes the story for me of one of my recent reads.

A Feast For Crows is the fourth book in George R.R. Martin's ever-growing Song of Ice and Fire series but it is perhaps more appropriate to call it the fist part of the fourth installment in the series. Known by fans as "The Great Book Split", this novel continues the story of about half of the heroes (and villains) of Westeros portrayed so dynamically in the first three books in the series. For that reason alone, Feast has little to no chance of maintaining the avalanche of action that begun the epic series.

That's not to say that this is not a great book. Despite the nagging question of what's going on with some fan favorites, for those characters featured within the book's many, many pages suspense, action, drama, and intrigue collide, tumble together, and explode. The politics and geography of the saga expand to encompass Dorne, the southern realm of Westeros, populated by the Martell family and the dangerous women known as the Sand Snakes. Religion also takes a more heated role in the power struggles across the land and Martin's signature surprises are as present here as in previous books. More than one lead character is left in peril at the close, making the long-promised and recently-released book A Dance with Dragons a welcome addition to the saga.

I definitely enjoyed this book, but I found myself stymied by my inability to ignore the fact that one of my favorite characters in the series was decidedly absent and another only appeared briefly in one chapter. The book was still great - epic on a scale that few authors can rival - but I know my expectations were pretty elevated. Do you ever struggle with books not living up to what you want from them? Have really awesome books ever let you down just a little?

Author Interview - Kate Ellison (Fairy Tale Fridays) (Indie In Summer)

2011-08-05T13:15:00.011-05:00

As mentioned in my previous post, Fairy Tale Fridays and Indie in Summer have merged together this week with my review of The Curse Girl and today's interview of the book's lovely author! Please join me in welcoming Kate Ellison!

Kate Ellison's "Portrait of a Writer"

*applause, applause*

Hi Kate! Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get started as a writer?

I've always been addicted to telling stories, even before I knew how to read and write. I wrote fan fiction mostly as a teenager, and I dabbled in terrible poetry. When I was in college, I decided I would write a novel and get it published, but I knew almost nothing about how to do that, and I got discouraged and quit after a few months. After several years of no writing and a lot of creative stewing, I was inspired by some things I'd read, and I started writing again in earnest. I wrote a few books and began submitting short stories to various markets to build up some publishing credits. Then I read about the changes in self-publishing and the rise of the indie author, and I decided to give that a try. Now I have one novel out and more on the way. It's been an exciting journey and I'm absolutely thrilled to be where I am now.

Your book The Curse Girl is a modern adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast", do you have a favorite version (besides The Curse Girl) of the story?

Hmmm. It's hard to say--I think maybe Robin McKinley's Rose Daughter. But I also always loved the Disney version too.

Was it difficult to choose how much or how little to vary your story from the source material?

With a retelling, I like to use the original tale as a jumping off point and then see where the story takes me as it unfolds. When you set up certain constraints from the beginning, they shape the way the story plays out, but beyond that I wasn't devoted to a strict adherence to the source material. I did, however, want to preserve some of the original themes, and I think I did that.

Have you always been a fan of fairy tales? Besides "Beauty and the Beast", which one(s) is/are your favorite(s)?

I have always adored fairy tales. When I was a little girl, I had 3 or 4 big collections of them that I read them over and over. I liked seeing how different versions told the stories differently.

My favorite fairy tale might be Cinderella, not really for the story itself, but for all the lovely retellings it has inspired (Ella Enchanted is my favorite, followed by Ever After. Plus I have a Cinderella retelling that I'm itching to write!)

The Curse Girl begins at the moment Beauty, also known as Bee, is arriving at the house of "The Beast". Though I wanted to know more about her family and the reason she was there, I loved that you thrust the reader immediately into the story. How did you choose to begin the tale at that scene?

I probably could have started earlier, like the original tale does, but I felt it was unnecessary. I wanted to jump in right to the moment of action--since we all know the story, I felt like I could trim the extras without confusing anybody.

What are your thoughts on "happily ever after" endings - great conclusion or overdone cliche?

I like them. Some of my favorite book endings ever include the epilogue in Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword and the ending of Pride and Prejudice, which are both pretty happy. You don't always get them in real life, and they might seem a little naive to some people, but I enjoy having them in literature. On the other hand, I also love dark, realistic stories that don't quite resolve, like Margaret Atwood's stuff, so I equally appreciate that sort of ending as well. I guess it depends on the story and what fits it.

Zombies vs. Unicorns: Zombiecorns

Your website features some pretty funny stick-figure cartoons, what prompted you to start expressing yourself with these drawings?

Well, probably two things. I was raised on a steady diet of Calvin and Hobbes comics (not stick figures, but humorous and definitely an influence on what I find funny) and I always loved Calvin's hilarious expressions. I'm also an avid follower of the blog Hyperbole and a Half, so her style influenced me. Plus I like expressing myself with humor. It's a nice change of pace from writing, and it's a great creative outlet when I'm frustrated with a book that isn't coming together the way I'd like.

What would you say are the biggest challenges and rewards to being an independent author?

The biggest challenge is probably being taken seriously/getting treated badly within the industry. The traditional/self-publishing debate is almost as polarizing as politics. A lot of people are awesome and very supportive of indies, but unfortunately, some writers look down on people who self-pub and either 1) dismiss their work as terrible or 2) dismiss the authors themselves as simply impatient hacks who were unable to get a traditional deal (although this mindset is thankfully changing). I hadn't expected to encounter this attitude and I was speechless the first time I did. It was a HUGE eye-opener for me. I never tried to get The Curse Girl published traditionally because I really wanted to try being an indie author. I wanted to do it out because it sounded awesome, not because I was impatient or incapable of doing anything else. These attitudes aren't fun to encounter, but I think the solution is to continue to behave professionally and treat other writers with support and graciousness no matter what path to publication they choose.

The biggest reward of independent authorship is total creative freedom. I love designing my covers, I love choosing my release date, and I love writing my own book blurbs. These are the reasons I wanted to be an indie! The only thing I don't love is paying for my own advertising (ha!) and doing my own copy editing (hopefully I'll be able to outsource that one soon ...)

What projects are you currently working on?

Several very exciting things are in the works! I have three books I'm working on right now--a dystopian novel about a group of people living underground who have never seen the sun, a fantasy about a human and a fairy who fall in love, and a paranormal monster story that takes place in wintery Maine. I also have a zombie book that keeps getting put on the back burner.

Where can we find out more about you and your work?

You can find out more about me by visiting my blog: http://thesouthernscrawl.blogspot.com/ or following me on Twitter: @KEllisonWrites I love meeting new people!

Thanks for joining me Kate!

The Curse Girl (Fairy Tale Fridays)(Indie In Summer)

2011-08-04T13:04:00.015-05:00

I know it's not quite Friday but consider this a double dose of Fairy Tale Fun with a book review today and an author interview tomorrow!

Taking a modern spin on the classic tale of "Beauty and the Beast", Kate Ellison's The Curse Girl begins with teenage Beauty, also known as Bee, arriving at the doorstep of a strange old house known to be the home of the village Beast. Dropped off by her father as something of a sacrificial lamb to save his family, Bee bravely enters the house where a world of magic awaits her.

The labyrinthine mansion with its self-lighting candles and ever-changing rooms and corridors is but one of many wonders Bee encounters as the structure's denizens are even more unique. She meets Butler and Housekeeper who are as integrated into the house as their names suggest and the little girl Rose, who becomes more plant-like every day. And then there is the Beast. Rather than some bizarre monster, Bee encounters the head of the household as a young man named Will. A large scar mars his countenance but the most beastly thing about him is in fact his short temper. Bee, however, has a fiery personality to match Will's own, and she soon discovers that it's up to her to break the riddle-filled curse that holds them all enslaved if she ever wants a chance to go home.

I enjoyed the fantasy elements that Kate Ellison blended into this story. The characters are intriguing and the puzzles involved in the curse were unique. I didn't find Bee particularly easy to relate to - the book would probably be better suited to a younger audience - but I still appreciated her spirited nature. I also enjoyed the relationship between Bee and Will, which developed throughout the story.

With a sprinkling of fairies, witches, and shapeshifters, this urban fantasy work manages to update "Beauty and the Beast" for today's teen readers, while still maintaining the elements of the story that make it so beloved. All in all, The Curse Girl is a creative new take on a classic story.

This work also marks an odd hybrid between my Indie In Summer feature and my 2011 Fairy Tale Challenge (7 out of 12). Stay tuned tomorrow for my interview with author Kate Ellison as we discuss her work and favorite fairy tales!

Too much of a good thing... (Top Ten Tuesday)

2011-08-02T11:02:00.000-05:00

I know this is a first for me to jump into two Top Ten Tuesdays in a row, but the superb bloggers over at The Broke and the Bookish came up with another topic for which I'm eager to toss around my two cents:

Top ~~Ten~~ Eight Trends of which I'd Like to See More/Less

Awesome picture found here!

1. MORE: Though "cowbell" should be my number one on any list of what I want more of, the first trend I can think of is Stand Alone Novels! I feel like series, and specifically trilogies, have become the norm and I really enjoy when authors can take the time to just write a single well-told story without any to-be-continued at the end. I can think of a number of books that have been released since I began blogging (Matched, Nightshade, Paranormalcy, The Iron King, etc) that I've avoided reading because I don't like to be in the middle of too many unfinished series at one time. I don't inherently object to series books, but I much prefer them when each entry in the series is a complete story in itself. (A great example is Delirium - though I recently found out Lauren Oliver has a sequel in the works, the first book works perfectly fine on its own.)

2. LESS: I'm a fan of color and the first trend I can think of that's starting to wear on me is Black Covers. I talked a bit about the Twilight-esque covers in the comments of this post, but all-in-all I'm a bit amazed how many covers tend toward such dark colors these days. I would think that bright vivid ones would be more eye-catching but I'm always amazed when I walk into the few remaining bookstores near me and am confronted by black, black, and more black.

3. MORE: Though I mentioned the book in a previous Top Ten Tuesday post about movies, one of my favorite books is The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I mention it here because I think it's a great example of a Young Adult Work that Appeals to Males as well as females, and I would love to see more books in that category.

4. LESS: Along those same lines, I think the book world can afford to do with less novels about Thirteen-Year-Old Girls riding around in Limos and Drinking Martinis. I know a lot of what I read as a young girl was very much fluff-fiction, but I seem to see lots of books these days geared at girls in which the main characters are rich socialites. Though I understand the fun of these characters, why not decrease this trend and have more females making a difference rather than just enjoying themselves.

5. MORE: And while I'm on the subject of having more characters make a difference, my wishlist of trends definitely includes more Novels Set in the Real World. I like dystopia as much as the next reader, but I also enjoy a good story about friendship or a classic mystery in a suburban setting.

6. LESS: Reading should be about connecting to real life as much as it should be about escapism or daydreaming, and while I'm dreaming about more novels with realistic settings, could we also get a little less Paranormal? For a while it was just vampires that were overdone but now it seems that werewolves, zombies, angels, demons, psychics, and ghosts have all happily joined the parade.

7. MORE: Someone once explained the supernatural trend in literature in saying that all the good "normal" stories have already been told, but if that truly is the view, I say, why not retell them? Great stories do stand the test of time and I love the trend of Updating and Reinventing Classics. I'm not talking about all the "And Zombies" quirk stories that, for me, fall firmly in the LESS category, but rather the young adult novel that focuses on making a classic story accessible to today's audience. There's a wealth of source material, so really authors, what are you waiting for?

8: LESS: Just don't be one of the countless authors that's writing a Retelling or Sequel to Pride and Prejudice. Please. Please, please, please, can we as a literary community agree to finally leave the Bennets, Bingleys, and Darcys alone? The original is a masterpiece and some of the new spoofs and homages have been great fun but the market is saturated and I really think we can all survive without another glimpse into the life of Denny's cousin's butler or Georgiana's friend's secret diary. There are countless other works out there - even plenty other Austen pieces - that haven't had the ~~abuse~~ attention given them that Pride and Prejudice has garnered.

I think I'm going to stop this list at eight today. As always, I love to hear your thoughts, agreements, and disagreements. Thanks for stopping by and thanks again to The Broke and the Bookish for always hosting such a fun start to the blogging week!

The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb

2011-07-31T09:56:00.004-05:00

I have a weakness for fictionalized biographies. Joining books I've loved in this unique genre next to What is the What, Romancing Miss Brontë, and The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott is Melanie Benjamin's latest novel, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb.

Mrs. Tom Thumb whose name graces the title of this novel, was the better known moniker of Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump Stratton - a name whose size matches the personality, though not the stature, of an amazing yet diminutive woman. Born with a form of proportional dwarfism, "Vinnie" as she was called by friends and family, rose to fame under the wing of showman P.T. Barnum and married to Barnum's star, General Tom Thumb.

From humble beginnings as a school teacher, Vinnie wanted something more out of life and eventually seized the opportunity to travel the world with the circus as her ticket. Her fame and renown grew raising her to the social circles of New York's elite while she and her husband basked in the company of presidents and royalty throughout Europe.

Melanie Benjamin's story The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb takes a glance inside Vinnie's mind and world, and the story unveiled is engaging and fascinating. The historical details of circus life and the figures of P.T. Barnum, Tom Thumb, and Vinnie herself are drawn with a degree of realism that reflects Benjamin's meticulous research. The story is fully captivating from start to finish and headstrong Vinnie - with her sharp wit, gentle heart, and untamed dreams - is definitely a heroine to love.

What do you think of historical fiction biographies? Do you prefer nonfiction or do you enjoy authors' reimaginings of historical figures and events?

An advance review copy of this book was provided by LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program. This review represents my honest and unbiased opinions. The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb is available now.

Author Interview - Mark Young (Indie in Summer)

2011-07-29T09:30:00.001-05:00

In my last post I was raving about the latest Kindeal - $0.99 for the eBook of Revenge by Mark Young - and now it's my pleasure to introduce the author himself. Please join me in welcoming a man of many talents of which writing is only one, Mark Young.

*applause, applause*

Hi Mark! Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get started as an author?

After combat in the Vietnam war, I returned to college to become a journalist and picked up a copy of Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom The Bell Tolls. His writing about war and human conflict resonated with me because I knew he was writing from experience. His writing started me thinking about writing fiction. Shortly thereafter, I took the next step—since I was already writing news—and began to think of writing a novel …someday in the future. Many years later, after writing two other novels, I decided to become an indie author/publisher and launch Revenge.

The intricate suspense story and the character development were wonderfully balanced in Revenge. Which of these aspects did you more enjoy crafting? Was either easier or more of a challenge for you?

I find writing suspenseful plots easier than creating believable characters. Story plot lines come easy to me, and I found my past career in law enforcement gave me ample material to work from as I created stories. Every writer, I imagine, has strong and weak points. Character development is one of my weaker points. So, I’ve tried to focus on developing my skills and knowledge to create solid, believable characters that readers can visualize and relate to in some fashion. My main characters—Travis Mays and Jessie White Eagle—are vividly alive in my own mind. In fact, they still talk to me from time to time—but that’s another story.

Your book also has a wonderful setting and captures the mountains and rivers of Idaho as well as city streets of California. Are your travels as varied as those of Travis Mays or are your descriptions from research of those locations?

All my scenes in Revenge are from places I know well. This plot concept arose from my life-long goal to learn how to fly fish and where I honed my fishing skills along the Lochsa and Clearwater rivers in central Idaho. As I traversed those rivers and learned about the history and people of those mountains, the story began to unfold.

I really appreciated that your Native American characters were believable and not drawn as stereotypes. What prompted you to include characters from the Nez Perce tribe?

First, their land and history in Idaho intrigued me, a nation whose boundaries once extended into eastern Washington and western Oregon before the Treaty of 1861.

Also, I am part Cherokee on my mother’s side, and have always had an interest in Native American issues. Before I became a police officer, I worked on a number of newspapers. One publisher allowed me cover the 1973 takeover of Wounded Knee in South Dakota. I was able to sneak onto the reservation and interview American Indian Movement leaders Russel Means and Dennis Banks before federal authorities closed it off to outsiders.

Finally, I did not feel my main character—Travis Mays—could be involved in anything along the Clearwater tributaries without including characters from the Nez Perce nation. And Jessie White Eagle is quite a character.

Photo from author's website

Travis and Jessie White Eagle begin their relationship when she serves as a river guide to him. Do you share Jessie's talent for kayaking?

I share Jessie’s love of the mountains and rivers. Though I like to kayak, I would not consider myself an expert. As part of my research for this novel, I signed up with a female guide from the Three Rivers rafting company to take me down the Lochsa River whitewater on a raft.

Confession time: I fell in the Lochsa River twice and my guide, Tasha Lyons, fished me out both times. She is an amazing athlete, who works on the river during the summer while working on her teaching credential the rest of the year. And, yes, the Three Rivers company in the novel actually exists, but all the characters are a figment of my imagination.

One of the more turbulent whitewater rapids, dubbed Grim Reaper in the novel, actually exists by that name. It’s aptly named. This was one of the two places I fell in, and it was from this experience that I could write so vividly. Hanging upside down in white turbulence is quite an adventure. One of the rookies on my raft—who thought she was helping—hung on to my legs as I was face down in the turbulence. I couldn’t get back up without smacking her. Fortunately, Tasha jumped in and told her to back off, then she helped me climb onboard. True story!

What authors or works would you say have inspired or influenced you?

Ernest Hemingway, of course, was one of the first authors to really inspire me about writing. I have been an avid reader all my life, hiding away in the library on Saturdays as a child after my chores were done. Though I’m more inclined to write police/mystery/action-adventure novels, I enjoy mixing up my reading choices. Among my favorite contemporary mystery suspense and thriller authors are Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritson, John Lescroart, David Balducci, Lee Childs, and James Scott Bell. These and other genre writers I read regularly to study their styles, techniques and writing craftsmanship.

What do you find to be the greatest challenges and rewards of being an indie author?

The greatest challenge as an indie author is that everything falls on your shoulders once the novel is written—editing, formatting, cover design, marketing, and advertising. I pay others for editing services, because an author who self-edits is akin to an ailing medical patients performing surgery on themselves. But the indie author still needs to coordinate with others to get all these tasks done, or do it all themselves. Another big challenge is getting the word out to readers. An indie author generally does not have a large advertising budget, nor do they generally have access to other avenues of publicity open to traditional publishers. Sometimes you feel like David facing the Goliaths of the publishing world. Opportunities like this interview on your wonderful blog help indie authors connect with readers.

The greatest reward is that you don’t have to wait eighteen months to two years before your novel reaches readers. Once everything is in place, a few clicks and the novel is up and ready to be sold in a matter of a day or two. You have more control over price, distribution, and content. Once an indie author determines who their readers are and what those readers want, the writer does not need to water down or change their characters to meet a broader market as defined by traditional publishers. They have the freedom to write the kind of unique character their readers expect and want. Finally, an indie writer does not have to wade through hundreds of rejections from traditional publishers or agents as they try to get their works before the public.

What projects are you currently working on?

I am working on an international thriller titled Off The Grid, with an expected release date the first week of December. The main character is Gerrit O’Rourke, a Seattle cop with a doctorate in computers and nanotechnology, and a veteran from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He and a mysterious woman, Alena Shapiro, find that they must team up with others to live Off The Grid when they stumbled over a conspiracy that threatens national security. Their foes have unlimited resources, and Gerrit and his companions must learn to elude a highly-technological manhunt. And for Travis Mays and Jessie White Eagle fans, they make a limited appearance in this novel as well.

Which brings me to a point about the characters in my novels. From my own experiences as a cop for twenty-six years, I learned that the law enforcement community is relatively small. I’ve maintained friends and acquaintances in local, state and federal agencies, as well as contacts around the nation and other counties. So, in my novels it is not unusual for a Travis Mays character to have contact with a Gerrit O’Rourke, as well as other characters in my novels. You just never know when your favorite character might suddenly emerge in someone else’s novel.

Where can we find out more about you and your work?

Unfortunately, the only place right now is on my blog, Hook’em and Book’em. Before the release of Off The Grid in December, however, I will finally have my web sit up and running at MarkYoungBooks.com and a blog—connected to that web site—simply titled Mark Young. Meanwhile, you can connect with me on Twitter or Facebook, or shoot an email to me at MarkYoung@MarkYoungBooks.com.

The print version of Revenge should be out later this summer, and eBook version is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Thank you for agreeing to this interview!

Thanks for inviting me on this great blog, Lisa. It is a privilege to be able to share my passion for writing with your readers.

Revenge: A Travis Mays Novel (Indie in Summer)

2011-07-27T14:18:00.003-05:00

I've been reviewing a wealth of fantasy lately so I'm pleased to jump genres again and spotlight an action thriller.

Shouldering responsibility for the death of a witness, Travis Mays walks away from police work and settles into the scenic mountains of Idaho accepting a job as a criminology professor. Content with teaching and learning to kayak with the help of a lovely instructor, Jessie White Eagle from the local Nez Perce tribe, Travis has no desire to return to the life of an investigator. However, when trouble strikes Jessie's family and a deadly sniper seems to have targeted Travis and his loved ones, Travis may have no choice but to confront his past and a killer set on Revenge.

Action packed from the very beginning, Mark Young builds layers of suspense and subterfuge into his story and he does a fabulous job weaving great characters into this fast-paced thriller. Travis was an original lead hero and Jessie was far from a sniveling damsel in distress stereotype. I am always impressed when the female lead can hold her own and Jessie was as interesting and complex a character as Travis. The supporting characters were also well drawn and the identity of the killer was as unpredictable as the next victim.

Along with realistic characters and an intricate mystery, Young excels at painting a scenic and varied setting for the story. From whitewater rapids in Idaho, to gritty California city streets, and capturing the culture clash of tradition and modernity among the Nez Perce people; details bring the narrative fully to life. Reminiscent of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series or Tony Hillerman's Jim Chee books - Revenge, the first Travis Mays novel, is a solid work that promises great things for future mysteries by Mark Young.

This post also marks a return to Indie in Summer - my tribute to small press and independent writers - but I have to say that if you didn't know Revenge was an independent work, you would be hard pressed to believe the claim that author Mark Young has not yet been scouted by a big name publisher. The book was definitely on par with bestsellers in the genre and at just $0.99 for the Kindle eBook it's a bargain not to be missed!

Stay tuned this week for my interview with author Mark Young!