Her Book Self

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!

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!)

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.


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.)

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:

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!

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?

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?

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. 

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!