So this week's episode was all about how we're supposed to believe that Katherine's feelings for Stefan are true. She LOVES him, ever since that day when he unexpectedly declared his love for her in the hallway and kissed her, causing her to touch her lips in wonder. GAG. For some reason, this just takes away from the Katherine I sort of love, evil little witch who could snap a neck while doing her nails. :)
Katherine's love, however, doesn't take any sort of conventional form, she believes it's perfectly normal to threaten Elena's life and pretend she doesn't have immunity to vervain. (this is why I love her...she sips vervain every day so it can't affect her. She's STRONG and clever) She also manipulates Caroline to do her bidding and threatens her life. Stefan thinks he can outsmart her but trying to punish her with vervain, she plays along until he tries to kill her and then she quickly puts an end to the charade. She runs into Elena on her way out and Elena, stunned, can only brilliantly ask why they look exactly like. "You're asking the wrong questions"
In order to throw Caroline off their trail, Stefan and Elena fake a fight that both Caroline and Damon overhear. When Elena asks Stefan if they'll tell Damon it's fake, she says no. So the deceit against Damon continues.
I have to admit the wolf part of the show was a snooze fest. Jenna and Alaric have a barbeque to kind of smoke Mason out. Damon makes lame joke after lame joke and Mason (absolute cutie!!!) puts up with it. Finally he lets Damon know he knows what's up and that he doesn't want any sort of silly feud between them. Damon of course can't be trusted, and tries to stab him with silver. And we discover that silver won't kill wolves.
The one interesting revelation was that in order to bring the curse down a person must kill. Will Tyler take this route? Does he want the curse?
And what's the stone?
Your thoughts on this episode? Looks like things could heat up with a real wolf/vamp feud...just what we love! And where's Matt and Jeremy? 
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The Vampire Diaries Recap and Discussion 2.4: Memory Lane
Adopt a Dog October Giveaway!
The ever generous folks at Hachette Book Group want to help you celebrate Adopt a Dog Month! (which happens to be October)
Here's what ONE lucky person will win:
Katie Up and Down the Hall By Glenn Plaskin
Oogy By Larry Levin
GoD and DoG By Wendy Francisco
Dog Tags By David Rosenfelt
How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend By The Monks of New Skete
This giveaway is open to the US and Canada only, no PO Boxes. I'll choose a winner on October 24th.
To enter, just fill in the form below!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Review: Choosing to SEE by Mary Beth Chapman with Ellen Vaughn
The music of Steven Curtis Chapman was a certainly present when I was young, and even as I read this book, the songs began to go through my head again. He was my youth leader's musical hero and I even went on a road trip in college with some friends to see him play. (one of my friends was obsessed and had a life size cardboard cut-out)
The Chapmans are known for their support of adoption and their work to help Christian families be able to adopt. In recent times, they are also known for the sort of unthinkable tragedy no one wishes on anyone. On May 21st, 2008, their youngest son accidentally hit their youngest adopted daughter in the driveway and killed her.
To have something like this happen is awful, but to have it happen when you are a family somewhat in evangelical Christian spotlight is pretty dreadful. I have often marveled at how well the Chapman's have dealt with this publicly...honestly and yet not without hope. It's a story I can't hear without weeping and so I can only imagine what it's like to live it.
For all of these reasons, I was interested in reading Mary Beth Chapman's new book, Choosing to SEE. This book is not just about that fateful day, it's about her whole life and how she came to be the person she is. I'm always curious and interested in behind the scenes lives of public people and Mary Beth is extremely honest as she shares her struggles with depression, control, etc. The Chapman's lives were never easy going but they tried to live by faith and with love. Mary Beth doesn't paint things over to seem rosy or glowing, she's pretty candid about how much she resented her life at times. That makes me appreciate the story, as does the profound positive effect adoption had for them all.
The first half of the book is her life before Maria's death and the second half is how worked through their grief and sought healing. The writing is quite straightforward, it gets the job done, but there isn't anything particularly beautiful about it. Even so, for anyone with an interest in this family or how people deal with horrific tragedy in their lives, the book is a good one.
Choosing to SEE is available from Revell Books a division of Baker Books in bookstores everywhere.
Rating: 4/5
Things You Might Want to Know: Christian nonfiction
Source of Book: Review copy received from publisher
Publisher: Revell
FIRST: Jackson Jones: The Tale of a Boy, an Elf, and a very Stinky Fish written by Jenn Kelly and illustrated by Ariane Elsammak
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
and the book:
Jackson Jones: The Tale of a Boy, an Elf, and a Very Stinky Fish
Zonderkidz (August 6, 2010)
Jenn Kelly lives in Ottawa, Canada, but her heart lives in Paris. Or Hawaii. She hasn’t decided yet. She is an undercover garden guru, painter, and chef, which has absolute nothing to do with this book. She won a writing award in grade 4, failed English Lit in university, spent many years writing bad poetry, and then decided to write a book. This is it. She is married to her best friend, Danny, and is mom to a five-year-old boy and a dog who worries too much. She embraces the ridiculousness and disorganization of life. Visit the author's website.
Ari has worked as a freelance illustrator for a variety of projects, mostly in children’s media. Her specialty is character design and she most enjoys illustrating humorous and wacky predicaments.She studied editorial and children’s book illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and the DuCret School of Art in New Jersey. She uses a variety of media to create my images both traditional and digital.
Visit the illustrator's website.
Product Details:
List Price: $12.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Zonderkidz (August 6, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310720796
ISBN-13: 978-0310720799
PLEASE CLICK THE BROWSE INSIDE BUTTON TO VIEW THE FIRST CHAPTER:
A Few Books I'm Looking Forward to Reading!
I know this comes as no surprise to anyone, but I'm excited for Maggie Stiefvater's Forever coming out next summer. I'm not excited about summer (we still have unbearable temperatures here) but I am REALLY excited for this book. No synopsis yet. Forever releases July 12th, 2011 from Scholastic.
This book looks pretty amazing to me and looks like it explores all the themes I so enjoy reading about. It releases October 5th from Knopf.
About the Book: Hattie Kong—the spirited offspring of a descendant of Confucius and an American missionary to China—has, in her fiftieth year of living in the United States, lost both her husband and her best friend to cancer. It is an utterly devastating loss, of course, and also heartbreakingly absurd: a little, she thinks, “like having twins. She got to book the same church with the same pianist for both funerals and did think she should have gotten some sort of twofer from the crematorium.”
But now, two years later, it is time for Hattie to start over. She moves to the town of Riverlake, where she is soon joined by an immigrant Cambodian family on the run from their inner-city troubles, as well as—quite unexpectedly—by a just-retired neuroscientist ex-lover named Carter Hatch. All of them are, like Hattie, looking for a new start in a town that might once have represented the rock-solid base of American life but that is itself challenged, in 2001, by cell-phone towers and chain stores, struggling family farms and fundamentalist Christians.
What Hattie makes of this situation is at the center of a novel that asks deep and absorbing questions about religion, home, America, what neighbors are, what love is, and, in the largest sense, what “worlds” we make of the world.
I'm one of a possible minority who loved The Reader for so many reasons, so I'm looking forward to The Weekend from Bernhard Schlink which also sounds quite interesting.
About the Book: Old friends and lovers reunite for a weekend in a secluded country home after spending decades apart. They excavate old memories and pass clandestine judgments on the wildly divergent paths they’ve taken since their youth. But this isn’t just any reunion, and their conversations about the old days aren’t your typical reminiscences: After twenty-four years, Jörg, a convicted murderer and terrorist, has been released from prison. The announcement of his pardon sends shock waves throughout the country, but before the announcement, his friends - some of whom were Baader-Meinhof sympathizers or those who clung to them - gather for his first weekend of freedom. They are invited by Jörg’s devoted sister, Christiane, whose overwhelming concern for her brother’s safety is matched only by the unrelenting pull of Marko, a unnervingly passionate young man intent on having Jörg continue to fight for the cause. The Weekend releases October 12th, from Pantheon.
I also subscribe the freebie version of Publisher's Lunch and they send out some of the weekly deals. I found these books that look fantastic--I'll be keeping an eye out:
Director of Yale University Press John Donatich's debut novel, THE VARIATIONS, one priest's crisis of faith told at the intersection of music, love, and religion when he must reconcile his struggling belief in God with his burgeoning relationship with the daughter of gifted piano teacher, to Jack Macrae at Holt, in a pre-empt, by Bill Clegg at William Morris Endeavor
OH COME ON! Sounds like it was WRITTEN for me! ;)
And you know I love some impossible love:
Natasa Dragnic's EVERY DAY, EVERY HOUR, pitched as reminiscent of The Solitude of Prime Numbers and The Time Traveler's Wife set in Croatia and Paris, about a couple who are meant to be together, but fate keeps them apart; beginning with their meeting as children, when a young boy faints at the sight of his beguiling kindergarten classmate, and following the brief episodes when they reconnect over the course of their lives, through marriages and children, careers and personal tragedies, to Stephen Morrison at Viking, with Alexis Washam editing, by Gesche Wendebourg at DVA
And this YA series:
CLA Award-winning author Lesley Livingston's trilogy STARLING, pitched as a supernatural Bourne Identity that blends Norse, Egyptian, and Greek mythologies with paranormal elements, to Laura Arnold at Harper Children's, by Jessica Regel at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency
I think mythology makes for some good storytelling.
Any of these look good to you? What books are you looking forward?
CFBA Book Spotlight: The Mayan Apocalypse by Mark Hitchcock and Alton Gansky
Andrew Morgan is a wealthy oil executive in search of the meaning of life. In his quest for answers he encounters the ancient Mayan predictions that the world will end in 2012. That the claims seem supported by math and astronomy drives him to check on them. Then he meets Lisa Campbell, an attractive Christian journalist also researching the Mayan calendar. When he learns that she is a Christian, he quickly dismisses what she has to say.
As the time draws closer to December 21, 2012, a meteorite impact in Arizona, a volcanic eruption, and the threat of an asteroid on a collision-course with earth escalate fears. Are these indicators of a global apocalypse? Will anyone survive? Does Lisa’s Christian faith have the answers after all? Or has fate destined everyone to a holocaust from which there is no escape?
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. This is not a review, but a spotlight.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Review: Feed by M.T. Anderson
When a trip to the moon is on the boring side, you know you are living in a different world. The story of Feed begins with a group of teenagers heading off to the moon to look for some fun, some distraction. The beginning of this book is a bit difficult to understand for the very reason that things in this universe are so different. Everyone has a feed, something wired right in their brains that reads their emotional and physiological reactions to the environment, products, etc and makes suggestions to them as consumers. There's a dictionary and ability to chat within the feed to each other, everyone is connected, and online all the time, right inside their heads.
As a result, one could say language has evolved or from my perspective, broken down, simplified to whatever the bare necessities are to get by. The slang is different as well. For these reasons, it took me awhile to get into the story, just a very little while, because I needed to learn the language and understand the world. The story is told from the point of view of Titus, who is not brilliantly self-aware, so that makes for interesting reading as well. But the world Titus lives in, due to the feed, is completely centered around consumption, and that feeling, of boredom of needing to consume more is ever present. Titus meets a girl, though, a girl who has some resistance to the feed since she had it put in later in life. And at first I think this sort of resistance is another diversion in an endless list of diversions fun and sexy but the consequences start to become real.
I really loved this book and found it very thought provoking. One of the things I really appreciate so much about it, painful as it was, is how very real Titus and Violet felt. Violet is our face of resistance, but she also just wants to be a normal girl, she wants to go to parties and fit in with her boyfriend's friends, and she wants to matter to Titus. And Titus is a teenage boy who cares about Violet but struggles to really deal with it all when things turn intense. He doesn't want to feel responsible for Violet's happiness and he doesn't know how to process what's happening with her and enter into that deeper place of pain and suffering and loss with her. He does a couple of things that made me so incredibly angry, but they also seemed very real for someone terrified of truly knowing another person, or someone who simply couldn't be bothered. The sort of relationship Violet offers Titus is not mainstream for the day.
I also found the ideas about media fascinating. It seems I've read a lot of dystopian work lately that wants to take on media and Feed is no exception. In this book, things that should be seen as dreadful and awful gain acceptance when stars also experience them. Everything about what people think is really coming through this piped in feed. There's a scene where Titus just buys item after item until he has no money left, and other scenes where he looks for something to buy but there's just nothing of interest. What's so effective and terrifying about this is that I can recognize this in myself...shopping out of boredom, and shopping to numb the pain.
There are other commentaries being made in this book, about the US and the way we stomp all over the rest of the world to get what we want. The degree to which the president of the United States ability to communicate has disintegrated is interesting. And consequences and side effects begin to show up for everyone for this kind of life. Additionally, major ugly flaws find acceptance if media images make them so. There's so much to examine and think about and discuss in this book.
I won't lie...I cried at the end.
This is the second thing I've read by M.T. Anderson, the first being a short story in the collection, No Such Thing as the Real World. I find his work to be very thought provoking and look forward to more.
Rating: 4.5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: There might have been some profanity
Source of Book: Bought it
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Monday, September 27, 2010
A Special 50th Anniversary Green Eggs and Ham Contest
I actually remember when I first heard Green Eggs & Ham in school. I pretty much thought it was the most brilliant story ever written. Years later, I still have an appreciation for all of the work of Dr. Seuss having used it with my English language students and reading students. Despite the fact that these books are marketed towards children, they have a universal appeal and transcend the age barrier. I was so delighted when my adult Japanese students would tell me they bought the books we used in class for their own pleasure.
So it's my joy to share with you news about a special 50th Anniversary contest celebrating Green Eggs and Ham, perhaps one of Dr. Seuess's best known works. Here are the details from the Suessville site:
Green Eggs And Ham celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and to celebrate we're giving away $2,000 cash, limited edition Dr. Seuss art prints, a year's supply of ham (you read that right!)--and much more--to Dr. Seuss fans who enter and get the most votes in the HAM It Up video contest!
Would you eat them in a box? Would you eat them with a fox? Now it's your turn! Act out a scene from Green Eggs And Ham, but don't be afraid to get creative. Perhaps you like your eggs with jam? Perhaps your ham's a Candygram! Once your masterpiece is complete, upload your video to our contest site and get your friends and family voting and sharing. The videos with the most votes after five weeks will be judged by a team at Random House Children's Books and Dr. Seuss to determine the best overall act. So what are we looking for? We want your most dramatic, your most creative, your funniest, and of course your very, very hammiest! The grand prize winner will take home $2,000 cash, a limited edition Dr. Seuss print worth over $3,000, a year's supply of ham from Ham-I-Am, a Flip cam, and the entire Dr. Seuss library!
I really hope a bunch of you will enter and then come back here and let us know about it! I'm actually trying to think up something clever I can do myself. :) Just remember the deadline is November 3rd.
But that's not all! We're having a little celebration right here! I have one copy of a special 50th Anniversary Party Edition to give away to one lucky reader. This is a highly collectible foil covered edition. To enter, just fill out the form below!
And please, everyone, leave a comment and share your favorite Dr. Seuss story with us all!
Reading and Gender
It's interesting to me how much we end up discussing our gender when it comes to reading, books, and the coverage books get. One of the most recent discussions was the mass amount of coverage Jonathan Franzen received which inspired some of our well known and beloved female authors of popular fiction to cry foul. And do you know what ensued? All kinds of talk, a lot of which didn't seem terribly productive to me. I personally felt annoyed by the dust-up...not by the many wonderful and thoughtful posts female authors wrote but because I sort of agreed. I had no idea who this Franzen guy was, why we were talking about him, and why I was being told He. Mattered. Which I guess goes to show I fall on the side of popular fiction. I fully support the idea of reviewing lesser known fiction, what turns me off is when reviewers and media try to manufacture a sense of excitement about books that is not springing genuinely from within the culture. It was especially a turn-off because there WAS a book at the time, Mockingjay, that was generating true excitement among readers but I'm guessing it couldn't possibly be taken seriously because it was A) YA, B) By a woman, and C) Speculative Fiction.
Jennifer Weiner wrote a follow-up post addressing more the issue of popular fiction getting reviewed and it made me cry. I feel as if I really understand what she's saying, and I get it. And she wrote it so eloquently, this is the part that moved me to tears:
The message: McMillan's book doesn’t really matter. Her readers aren’t worth talking to.Read the whole thing.
And when the paper of record tells its readers, through silence and omission, that some stories, some writers, some readers matter more than others and some stories, some writers, some readers, don’t matter at all, then yes, I’ve got a problem with that.
Maybe it’s because I used to be a newspaper reporter, and continue to cling to the belief that newspapers matter. Maybe it’s because I’ve got daughters, and if either of them is lucky or cursed enough to be a writer, I’d like to think that their books won't have to clear the hurdles of built-in assumptions about the value of women's work.
Or maybe it’s the way gay couples felt when the Times started including their photographs and wedding announcement in the Sunday Styles section. Yes, their unions were legitimate and binding even without the paper’s coverage, and yes, their friends and loved ones always knew the truth about their commitment, but it’s nice to be seen as part of the official record, to have no less an entity than the New York Times say, “You know what? You’re part of the story. You belong here, too.”
Soooo..I haven't been able to stop thinking about that piece since I read it. And then this week I started reading posts about boys and how teen boys aren't reading. There are no books for the teen boys to read is the general cry, nothing of interest! I actually think this comes down to a few separate issues, but I can't help but look at these two stories and ideas and shake my head in wonder. Anyway, I read this post by Maureen Johnson linked to by more people than I can remember and I realized, "oh my gosh, she's right!" I thought back to high school and required reading and the only two works by females that I can remember that we ALL had to read were "My Antonia" and "Raisin in the Sun" Everything else, even in French class, was by men. (well except for maybe a few poems) I was actually shocked by the revelation, first that I never noticed and secondly that women can be so ignored. So if this is still going strong today, than we have a lot of work to do.
I have to admit some frustration with the idea about all YA lit being for girls. I actually heard a dad say something to his son about this in the independent bookstore a few months ago, about how all the covers looked girly. But I admit I fail to understand why a girl as a main character is a reason a boy can't read a book. I ran into this with The Fiddler's Gun discussions--this is a book written by a man, most of the characters in the book are men, and the main character that is yes, a girl, doesn't care about "acting like a girl" and yet several people felt they couldn't recommend this book to boys, because the main character is a girl. Seriously? I just don't think anyone worried about recommending Harry Potter to young girls because Harry is a he.
Anyway, when looking through discussions on this topic, I noticed that apparently boys get teased for liking to read. Would any men who read this care to weigh in? Was reading social death for you in high school?
What makes me sad about this particular conversation is that it inevitably falls into an attack of what IS available. Too much paranormal romance, etc. Can we have this conversation without attacking this one little area where female writers have achieved success and where, THANK GOD, girls are reading! And for the love of God, don't tell me boys don't like Twilight, I know that to be a lie.
I am curious as to why boys aren't reading, though. I don't fully buy the idea that it's for lack of interesting books, and this article suggests there is no literacy gap in homeschooled families. (I like a lot of this article, I'm only unsure the problem is video games) Does our society send a strong message about reading and boys, something that gets delivered from peer to peer?
Finally, I have seen many say the solution is gender neutral covers. Actually this is an idea I can support. I think book covers should focus more on thematic elements of the books. The reason for this is that despite our best intentions, we form opinions about books based on the cover. Let's remove this chance to be prejudiced whether it's against gender or race (covers without faces is an oft suggested solution for white washing as well), let's skip the superficial characteristics of the book, and let a book sell itself as a story for everyone based on the universal truths it's sure to to convey. Look at The Hunger Games covers or Twilight. These covers focus on the thematic elements of the books and invite readership from all. I'm not saying that we'd have to do this if we lived in an ideal world. We don't. I do believe, however, that books are especially powerful in helping us to overcome or confront our prejudices. Story communicates in its own unique way. Let's give books every chance to be for everyone by adorning them with covers that speak to their universal appeal and truth.
Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
The Knife of Never Letting Go has received rave reviews from around the blogosphere. It's also a dystopian series which increased my interest. Can't get enough of humanity's cruelty to humanity! But most importantly, all these bloggers I love, love this series and chatter about it and because I enjoy having shared literature upon which to discuss life's ideas and themes, and because I wanted to love something like I'd loved Mockingjay, I read it.
The Knife of Never Letting Go is a fast paced, interesting universe that takes place on some other planet and has a very unusual dilemma. Everyone can hear each other's thoughts, see each other's memories and feelings, in something they call noise. And when I say everyone, I mean all the men of Prentisstown. There are no women, the same disease that enabled animals to talk and men's noise to be visible to one another has killed all the women. Or this is the story our protagonist Todd Hewitt believes, it's the story he's always been told. Todd is the last boy in the town, the last one to become a man. His birthday approaches in a month and he will go from boy to man.
So Todd is out in the swamp of Prentisstown with his dog Manchee when he discovers something odd..silence. It so confuses him that he is unable to fully hide it from his noise as he makes his way through town and drama ensues. Todd is about to discover that everything he believed to be true is not necessarily the way things are.
Like others, I found myself sucked into this story. I think Amanda of The Zen Leaf said it best when she said it's essentially one long chase scene. For that reason, it's quite easy to keep turning the pages, hoping Todd and his companions will make it to safety. Also the true back story is kept from us for quite some time so the mystery of that, revealed enough in bits and pieces through the new things Todd discovers, is another reason to eagerly turn the pages.
From a pacing perspective, the book starts out a bit slow but picks up. The voice of Todd is clearly defined and immediate and his growth and discovery is an experience for the reader. His changing feelings towards Manchee and his companion, Viola, are well developed and believable.
I did have issues with the believability of aspects of the plot that kept this from being a perfect read for me. For example, certain people Todd will somehow beat within an inch of their lives and they seem to come back stronger and faster. In that regard it felt like an action movie that just won't end. I'm also not sure I completely believe that the back story of Prentisstown would happen. Maybe this makes me naive but it stretched believability for me, and seemed much more about making a certain social statement than creating a plot that was fully believable within its world. I haven't really seen anyone else complain about this, so it's likely just me.
That doesn't mean there wasn't a lot to love. And there's so much to discuss within the pages, so many ideas raised. One of my personal favorite parts is when Todd and Viola cross through the sea of things, massive creatures that sing "here" to each other. Here's what Todd says about the song:
"It's like the song of a family where everything's always all right, it's a song of belonging that makes you belong just by hearing it, it's a song that will always take care of you and never leave you. If you have a heart, it breaks, if you have a heart that's broken, it fixes.
It's...
Wow."
In this space, the noise is drowned out by the noise of these creatures singing to one another and while there may be some other metaphorical meaning to this, to me it communicated how much peace there is in surrender to living in the present.
The knife is obviously the biggest metaphor of the book, this one weapon Todd has and uses for protection and also to slay. It becomes almost a part of him and he uses it according to his evolving and growing self.
Another thing to note is that for some reason, Ness has chosen to alter the spelling of certain words Todd says. I believe this is intended to communicate in a way, the lack of "proper" education Todd has (he can't read for example) but it's slightly distracting to the reading experience. The reason for this is that when we read, our eyes scan a page and intake only some of the letters and our brain makes reasonable predictions about what the text says based on meaning. So when there are misspellings or when things are written in dialect, it can sometimes cause you to need to reread something or to misread something. I had this happen once or twice in The Knife of Never Letting Go.
So yes despite some issues with the believability of the plot, I find this to be a very worthwhile read and one that can certainly open up all kinds of discussion about men and women, the treatment and understanding of women in society, the nature of violence, and the problem of too much information. I'm looking forward to reading The Ask and the Answer which I put off until I felt I could write this revew. I also preordered Monsters of Men so I should be all caught up soon.
Rating: 4.25/5
Things You Might Want to Know: There IS a fundamentalist cult religion and I know this is tiresome storyline for some. I'm not sure that a flip side of religion is shown, but I could just be forgetting. I think there was also minimal profanity.
Source of Book: Bought it!
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Reader Survey Part 1: Help a Girl Out!
I've been thinking about doing a reader survey for awhile...to gauge your interest in different aspects of this blog, to help me know you better, and to see what will happen if I ever radically shake things up. :)
I'm calling this part one, because I have already thought of questions I forgot and it IS a bit long as is. If you read this blog at all it would be REALLY helpful for me if you take this survey. I appreciate it so much! Just click on the words Reader survey below to be taken to the survey.
READER SURVEY
Faith and Fiction Saturday Will Return Next Week
Faith and Fiction Saturday took an unexpected two week hiatus due to BBAW and my closet shelf collapsing prompting a huge reorganization. It will return next week with September's round table.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The Vampire Diaries Recap and Discussion: 2.3 Bad Moon Rising
Before taking a look at this episode, I have to ask...could I love Damon more? No, no I don't think so. Beautiful, tortured, man vampire that he is.
Okay, so our little gang of Ric, Damon, Stefan, and Elena feel it's up to them to figure out what sort of other supernatural entity is living in town. They figure the best way to do this is to go to Duke and look through Isabel's research on the mythic folklore of Mystic Falls. Stefan needs to hang back and baby-sit newbie vamp Caroline and so it's Damon, Ric, and Elena heading off. This gives us the first chance to really have Damon and Elena together since Damon's attempted murder of her brother. On the way, Damon claims he knew about the large tacky ring Jeremy was wearing when he snapped his neck, and Ric looks at his own ring of protection much to my amusement.
Meanwhile, Stefan convinces Bonnie to make Caroline a daylight protection ring. Bonnie is reluctant, but does it, freeing Caroline to go find Matt and be a little jealous and freak him out. I have to say that Caroline as a vampire is one of my most favorite things to happen on this show. Later when they make out, and he gets cut and she bites him, it's just so real, yes this is what would happen. And her decision to let him go, making it seem like his choice is one of the most responsible decisions any vampire has made on this show. I have to admit I'm a little frightened of Katherine's influence on her, but it was an inevitable stroke if it's true that doppelgangers torment the people who look like them. We know Caroline is of tremendous value to Elena, and Katherine trying to influence and corrupt Caroline will certainly be a source of pain to Elena.
But let's get back to Damon and Elena my favorite scenes of the show. Damon tries in many ways to make things up to Elena. He jokes around with her, he saves her life, but she stays up on her high horse. Seriously girl drives me nuts, does she not have eyes???? But more than that, Damon demonstrates his vulnerable side, expressing that it would suck to lose her friendship, giving her a book of Katherine's history, and later telling her the absolute truth about what was going through his head when he killed Jeremy with such heartbreaking vulnerability. Elena is cold, dead cold and tells him he's lost her forever. To which Damon delivers the best line of the night, telling her she and Katherine have more in common than their looks. Elena NEEDS to hear this sort of thing. She's existing in a world where she believes she's good and right but she's not above manipulating others or choosing not to kill her friends even though it puts others at risk. These are all the reasons Damon is GOOD for Elena. He's not afraid to tell her when she's wrong or what her faults are but cares about her nonetheless.
Lastly, the werewolf legend has come to town, Mason is a werewolf and Tyler knows. We also learned that a werewolf bite can kill a vampire and that there are few werewolves left. Not sure how all of this will play out, but it will be interesting to watch, as well as interesting to discover if there are more reasons why Elena and Katherine look so much alike.
I love this show.
What did you think of this episode?
CFBA Book Spotlight: Love's First Bloom by Delia Parr
But with the emergence of the penny press, the imagination of the reading public is stirred, and her father's trial stands center stage. Asher Tripp is the brash newspaperman who determines that this case is the event he can use to redeem himself as a journalist.
Ruth finds solace tending a garden along the banks of the Toms River--a place where she can find a measure of peace in the midst of the sorrow that continues to build. It is also here that Asher Tripp finds a temporary residence, all in an attempt to discover if the lovely creature known as Widow Malloy is truly Ruth Livingstone, the woman every newspaper has been looking for.
Love begins to slowly bloom...but is the affection they share strong enough to withstand the secrets that separate them?
The publisher sent me a copy of this book. This is not a review, it's a spotlight.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
A Conversation with Kathy Charles
Earlier this summer, I read and loved John Belushi is Dead. It was the kind of book that took me by surprise in its wisdom and depth of characterization. After finishing it, I immediately emailed the author and asked if she'd be willing to engage in an email interview/conversation with me. She said yes, because she's awesome like that, and what follows is our conversation.
Amy: Hilda and Benji have an interest and fascination with visiting the places that famous have died. Is this an interest you share?
Kathy: Absolutely. I've always had morbid preoccupations. I was reading Stephen King novels at the age of nine, Fangora Magazine at twelve. In my teens I devoured horror movies, and on my first trip to Los Angeles at the age of sixteen someone pointed out to me the house where the actress Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family. I then discovered a website called www.findadeath.com, a catalogue of the various tragic ways celebrities have met their demise, and couldn't get these stories out of my head. It's an interest that has definitely grown in the writing of the novel too. I wasn't particuarly interested in John Belushi when I started researching his life, but after devouring everything I could find on him I am now a firm fan. Rather than being a cathartic experience, writing this novel has turned my interest into a obsession.
Amy: It's really interesting because people often think of Los Angeles and Hollywood being really glamorous, but there's a definite dark and gritty underbelly. Hilda is drawn to these stories as a way to cope with some of the loss she's experienced in her own life, and also, I think in an effort to remember those who are gone. Have you also gone on the kind of excursions Hlida and Benji go on to see the places of death?
Kathy: I'd only visited a few of these places before I started writing the book, but went to many more in the course of my research. I climbed a fence to get a better look at the house where Marilyn Monroe died, and was chased off by the biggest, angriest dog I'd ever seen! The Chateau Marmont was kind enough to let me see the bungalow where John Belushi died, because I couldn't afford to stay there (it can cost thousands of dollars a night). They bellhop wouldn't comment on what had happened in the bungalow though. I think the Chateau has a policy of silence where John Belushi is concerned. One place I still haven't been that's mentioned in the book is the turnpike in Bakersfield where James Dean was killed in a car crash. I'm hoping to go out there on my next visit to LA.
Amy: You've created a cast of characters that is pretty richly flawed--in fact it's one of the things I like best about the book is how you manage to make them all sympathetic despite what's so unlikeable about them. Did you have any reservations about writing them with such flaws? Even the one strong memory of Hilda's parents is less than rosy...have you had any response to depicting them this way?
Kathy: There was a point in writing the book where some of the characters were even more extreme than they are now, and my editors made me tone them down so they were more 'likeable.' I liked them all to begin with, because they felt real. I never once sat down and thought "oh, better give these characters flaws to make them more interesting." The characters revealed themselves to me and that's who they are, so I tried to interfere with that as little as possible. There have been some pretty strong reactions to Benji from both readers and reviewers. Some people just can't relate to him at all, and write him off as a weirdo. Others are drawn in by his confusion and pain. He's actually my favorite character in the whole novel, which I guess is pretty telling. He's trying to work things out, and going to some dark places to do it. That's almost admirable in a way. Almost.
Amy: I really felt like they were so real. I actually liked Benji, a lot, too, I think it was the part about wearing a Morrissey shirt! Of course, now I'm a bit curious as to what you had to tone down...
You're Australian and the book is set in Los Angeles. Your bio says you divide your time between the two. How did this story come to you and why choose to tell a story in LA as opposed to Australia?
Kathy: I first travelled to Los Angeles when I was sixteen and fell in love with the place. I've always been a big movie buff (I work in the film industry as my day job) so it's natural I'd have an affinity with LA. When I am away from LA I really miss it, and I think writing about the place is a way to feel like I am still there. My stories also deal with pop culture and celebrity, so LA is the ideal setting for them. There is, of course, no way that John Belushi is Dead could have been set in any other place. If the right story comes along that's set in Australia, then I'll write it, but for now my literary heart belongs to LA.
Amy: Yes I agree that Los Angeles is an essential character in the book! What has been your favorite part about writing a book and being an author?
Kathy: The best part, apart from the writing itself which is fulfilling in ways I can't even begin to express, has been the opportunity to meet some of my favorite authors. Recently I spent time with Bret Easton Ellis on his "Imperial Bedrooms" book tour, which meant a lot to me because he is my all-time favorite author (along with Stephen King). You can read the interview I did with Bret here.
On September 9 I will be doing an event at Book Soup in Los Angeles with John Gilmore, another of my favorite writers. John was an actors in the 1950s and very close friends with people like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. He's now a true crime writer, his most famous book being "Severed", which is regarded as the definitive account of the Black Dahlia murder. I love John's work so much that the character Jake Gilmore in JBID is named after him! (Obviously this conversation took place awhile ago!)
Amy: That's awesome!
The original Australian title of the book is Hollywood Ending and the US name is John Belushi is Dead. What do you think about the name change?
Kathy: I love both titles, probably because I came up with them! I always used to say if I had a rock band it would be called John Belushi is Dead, so having a novel called that is pretty sweet.
Amy: You did? That's really cool. Is there a reason you went with different titles for the different countries?
Kathy: Different titles work for different markets. It was the publisher's decision - I'm not fussed either way.
Amy: The YA market is vibrant and growing. Do you read other books in the market and what are some titles you might recommend to fans of John Belushi is Dead?
Kathy: I love Simmone Howell. If you haven't read "Notes from the Teenage Underground" I urge you to run out and get a copy immediately. My favorite YA author is Paul Zindel. Someone mentioned in a review that my novel reminded them of Zindel's The Pigman, and when I read it I was astonished at how similar our themes are. Since then I have devoured him and continue to. His novels are so powerful they leave me shattered. Another favorite YA novel I read recently was "Someday this pain will be useful to you" by Peter Cameron, which is about to be made into a film.
Amy: I will definitely check those out. Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview, Kathy! One last question...are you working on anything now and can you give us a hint?
Kathy: I'm working on another YA book set in Los Angeles. That's all I can say at this point!
I haven't seen a lot of coverage of John Belushi is Dead in my corner of the blogosphere which is a shame! I really hope more of you will check it out! You can follow Kathy Charles on Twitter.
Guest: On Writing Sun Going Down and Come Again No More by Jack Todd
Nearly 150 years ago, Stephen Foster sat down and wrote a song about the unfortunates outside his cottage door. It was called Hard Times Come Again No More, and it was written during one of those times when the American Dream, for reasons no one fully understands, takes a four-story header into an empty swimming pool.
The mournful tune, written in 1855, became one of the more popular songs of the Civil War era and it has been recorded by a long list of musical luminaries in our own time, including Emmylou Harris, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Renée Fleming and James Taylor. Most recently, it was performed beautifully by Mary J. Blige on the Hope for Haiti telecast.
Why would such an old tune have such resonance in our time? The obvious answer is that the hard times do come again, and again. Come Again No More is set almost entirely during the 1930s, a time of such widespread desperation that the jobless rate was more than three times what it is during our own Great Recession.
The parallels between the two eras are so many that a writer researching the Great Depression can be brought up short by nuggets of information such as the news that Bear-Sterns and Lehman Brothers were called on the carpet by Congress to explain their role in creating the stock-market crash of 1929 – much as their successors 75 years later would take advantage of lax regulations to create another bubble market and another disaster.
All that is public history, but it is the private history that intrigues a novelist. My parents survived the Great Depression – barely. They lost their farm in Nebraska, all their backbreaking labor gone up in a foreclosure auction. They joined the great migration to the West Coast, spent six months in Oregon and returned to Nebraska because my father couldn’t stand the rain.
Come Again No More is the second volume of what I call the Paint Trilogy, based on the fictional Paint family and lives that intertwined with more than a century of American history. It could as easily be called the American Trilogy, because it is an American story to the core – the good and the bad.
Like the first volume, Sun Going Down, Come Again No More is an attempt to fix an elusive quality, the American spirit. What it is that causes Americans to respond as they do (or as they once did) to war, famine, hard times, disasters. Sometimes the spirit is challenged in a much more subtle way. What kept my mother going during the decades or her disastrous marriage to my father? She was a soft-spoken intellectual, happiest when she was curled up with Balzac or Chekhov. He was a rough-hewn and almost illiterate ex-boxer, happiest when he was getting into fist fights, breaking horses – and chasing women, which he did with conviction into his 70s.
There are many lessons to be learned from the Great Depression: Don’t trust Wall Street would be the first one. Beyond that, there is an essential truth. Humans endure. Any historical saga has to deal with that essential point. Emaline and Jake McCloskey, the characters based on my parents, endure.
So does Eli Paint, the tough old family patriarch based on my great-grandfather, Squier Jones. Eli survives a terrible car accident at the beginning of Come Again No More, marries for a third time after his second wife dies in a mental institution, loses half the hundred-thousand acre ranch it has taken him a lifetime to build and wins part of it back, and throws his considerable energies into reconciling with his headstrong granddaughter Emaline, who blames him for destroying her mother, who has died of tuberculosis as Come Again No More begins.
The great aspirations of both Eli and Emaline are expressed, in the end, in an attempt to free a mustang stallion known as the Black and five hundred other wild horses destined for a slaughterhouse and a dog-food can. It’s a statement on freedom, the American Dream, rescuing what remains of our wilderness and the transcendant imagination that is able to rise above the money men, the small everyday tyrannies inflicted in bad times and good, the limits of lives that seem to have lost their heroic dimension.
As the wild horses gallop to freedom west of the Bighorn Canyon in Montana, the human characters trailing them have survived another decade of hard times, the Great Depression is ending, and a war has begun in Europe. That is the topic of the third volume of the trilogy, The Rain Came Down. 
Thanks to the publisher I have one copy of Come Again No More to give away. To enter this giveaway, just fill out the form below! US addresses only, please, I'll close the giveaway on September 30th. Good luck!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Two YA Novels I'm Waiting For: Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers and Drought by Pam Bachorz
I recently picked up Some Girls Are on a whim and two and a half hours later, set the book down emotionally exhausted and deeply satisfied. It was that good. One of the best reads of the year.
As a result, I'm very much anticipating the December release of Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers. Here's what it's about: When Eddie Reeves’s father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he had a daughter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father’s and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. He seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie’s vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the truth keeps her hanging on… but some questions should be left unanswered.
Sounds dark but excellent. Really can't wait. 
Another book I read this past year was Candor by Pam Bachorz. It's the kind of book I've kept thinking about months later and so I'm looking forward to her next novel, Drought due out in January. Here is what the book is about:
Ruby dreams of escaping the Congregation. Escape from slaver Darwin West and his cruel Overseers. Escape from the backbreaking work of gathering Water. Escape from living as if it is still 1812, the year they were all enslaved.
When Ruby meets Ford--an irresistible, kind, forbidden new Overseer--she longs to run away with him to the modern world, where she could live a normal teenage live. Escape with Ford would be so simple.
But if Ruby leaves, her community is condemned to certain death. She, alone, possess the secret ingredient that makes the Water so special--her blood--and it's the one thing that the Congregation cannot live without.
Drought is the haunting story of one community’s thirst for life, and the dangerous struggle of the only girl who can grant it.
Wow. Sounds interesting and really different!
Have you read either of these authors before? What's a YA novel you're looking forward to?
Monday, September 20, 2010
A Few Words on Rape as Porn
Heaven help me for the spam I'll attract with that subject line.
This weekend, Twitter and the blogosphere has been filled with the protest of the proposal of a Dr. Wes Scroggins to ban a few books. Among these books is Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, the story of a rape victim. It doesn't take much searching to see that this book has had a profound impact on the lives of teens everywhere, or to see how heartbreaking it is that someone would try to continue to silence the voices of victims. It's wrong. I don't believe in censorship for reasons I explained on Pam's blog during her censorship week.
However, I'm surprised by how many people are objecting by saying rape isn't porn. I have to admit at one point I wondered, "do you live in the same world as me?" (I must be the only one who saw 8mm!) I'm not saying being turned on by rape is sexually healthy, however, violence towards women is on the increase not only in porn but is also perfectly acceptable in mainstream media.
An article about Gail Dines on The Guardian this past July highlights some of the problems with pornography and also the consequences. But you don't have to think too hard to recognize it in film. Have you seen a horror film where some poor woman is killed in a violent fashion while naked? Or a sex scene that seemed far more enjoyable for a man than a woman?
So I am one hundred percent against banning Speak and keeping it from the hands of teens. But I also suggest we have a very big monster on our hands to fight and that this has given us a chance to become more aware of it.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Fall TV: What Will You Be Watching? And A Review of Lone Star
I have to admit there is something so fun and wonderful about fall TV! It means the possibility of exciting new shows to watch as well as the return of characters we love. I've already been enjoying the Vampire Diaries, but this week sees the return of most of our shows as well as the premiers of some newbies.
Here's what I'll be watching:
Monday
House--For some reason, last season's writing and character development was top notch again and pulled me back to this show. I had almost written it off entirely, but found myself charmed last season. (Fox, 8 PM PST0
Gossip Girl--This one forever hangs onto my viewership by a thread. I find myself bored by most of the characters, but forever loving Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass. We'll see what happens this season. (CW, 9 PM PST)
The Event--No idea if this one will stick, but I'll give it a go. (NBC, 9 PM PST)
Hawaii 5-0--Daniel Dae Kim! Also looked like it would be a lot of fun at Comic-Con (CBS, 10 PM PST)
Tuesday
Nothing!
Wednesday
The Undercovers--I'll give this new show a shot and see how it goes. (NBC, 8 PM PST)
Thursday
The Vampire Diaries--LOVE it! And recapping it every week, join in the discussion. (CW, 8 PM EST)
Nikita--watched the pilot and it was okay. This will probably be a show I'll watch if I can but not stress about missing. (CW, 9 PM PST)
Friday
Supernatural--Despite the major fail that was last season, I just can't quit the Winchester boys.(CW, 9 PM PST)
(later this fall I'm looking forward to V returning and The Walking Dead starting)
LONE STAR
Another new show premiering this week is Fox's Lone Star. Fox is going all out to promote this new show and scheduled several advance viewings as well as sent out several screenings. I'd heard such great advanced buzz that I was really excited to receive a screener.
Lone Star is the story of Robert Allen a skilled con artist who has set up two separate lives. This is something he has done his whole life, with great pressure from his father, and it starts to wear on him. He decides he'd like to try to live an "honest" life. Coming to that decision and showing us to the two lives Robert has set up (one with a girlfriend as an everyman, one with a wife, as a successful and wealthy businessman) is the setting of the pilot.
I suspect my expectations were too high. I wasn't blown away by the pilot, and I'm not even sure I'll try to make time to watch this show. It was beautifully shot, no question, and there are some interesting sequences, but I failed to make a strong connection to the main character. Additionally, I think I'd die from the tension of worrying he'll be found out and the people in his life will be devastated each week. On the plus side, the soundtrack is dominated by Mumford & Sons and I enjoyed every second of that!
What will you be watching this fall? What are you MOST looking forward to?
Hiroshima in the Morning Facebook Party
(Disclosure: Reiko Rizzuto is one of my clients. I did read Hiroshima in the Morning and loved it.)
What is the book Hiroshima in the Morning about? Here's what the publisher says:
In June 2001 Rahna Reiko Rizzuto went to Hiroshima in search of a deeper understanding of her war-torn heritage. She planned to spend six months there, interviewing the few remaining survivors of the atomic bomb. A mother of two young boys, she was encouraged to go by her husband, who quickly became disenchanted by her absence.
It is her first solo life adventure, immediately exhilarating for her, but her research starts off badly. Interviews with the hibakusha feel rehearsed, and the survivors reveal little beyond published accounts. Then the attacks on September 11 change everything. The survivors' carefully constructed memories are shattered, causing them to relive their agonizing experiences and to open up to Rizzuto in astonishing ways.
Separated from family and country while the world seems to fall apart, Rizzuto's marriage begins to crumble as she wrestles with her ambivalence about being a wife and mother. Woven into the story of her own awakening are the stories of Hiroshima in the survivors' own words. The parallel narratives explore the role of memory in our lives and show how memory is not history but a story we tell ourselves to explain who we are.
Reiko made a beautiful trailer for the book and wants to spread the word about it! If you post the trailer for Hiroshima in the Morning on your blog, you will be entered to win a Hawaii gift pack, including: 1 package 100% Kona coffee, 1 package of Maui pure cane sugar, 1 package organic luau seasoning rub, 1 pound Alaea Red Sea Salt, and 1 box chocolate covered macadamia nuts, along with a copy of Hiroshima in the Morning. Just email me at mypalamy@gmail.com to let you know you did this.
Don't have a blog? If you tweet about it, share the link on Facebook, or email the trailer to a friend, you will receive on entry for an identical gift pack. Just email me and tell me everything you did to spread the word at mypalamy@gmail.com
Wait there's more! If you attend the Facebook party on Wednesday September 22nd at 8:30 PM EST, 5:30 PST you'll also receive an entry for the gift pack as well as have a chance to win a Koa carved bookmark from Hawaii. The contest closes on September 30th, 2010.
All you have to do is Like Reiko Rizzuto on Facebook and show up to the events page for a chance to chat with the author and ask all your questions about Hiroshima in the Morning.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Looking Ahead (BBAW)
The week of BBAW always flies by to me considering how far in advance we plan it. And we'll be getting an earlier start than ever on BBAW 2011 as we consider how things went this year.
I want to say thank you to all of you for this BBAW. Apart from Bluehost going down for several hours last night, it has been drama free and your joy and enthusiasm has been contagious. I have to admit there were times I wondered if BBAW would even happen this year as I was severely burned out from piling-too-much-on-my-plate syndrome. But thanks to some awesome volunteers (who will get a proper shout-out on the official blog) it happened! And I'm so glad because this week has reminded me of everything I love about book bloggers. The growth of this community and its amazing diversity continues to be something I truly appreciate and I hope maybe after this week the world appreciates it a little bit better, too.
So the highlight of BBAW for me has truly been book bloggers. :)
Now for a few goals. I just mentioned that piling-too-much-on-my-plate syndrome? My goal is to stop doing that. I want to read to become, to write what I'm inspired to write, and to focus on what builds me up. Life is hard enough without adding in more strife voluntarily online.
What are your goals?
The Vampire Diaries Discussion and Recap 2.2: Brave New World
Last week's episode ended with Katherine smothering Caroline to death in her bed, only Caroline had the blood of Damon in her...which kept her from dying and instead led to a pretty interesting episode for the week.
Despite the fact that a Bonnie transformation might be EVEN more interesting than Caroline, I have to admit I am thoroughly enjoying the idea of Caroline being a vampire. What I enjoyed most was watching her realize what was happening to her. We've never really seen this before, Caroline wakes up in the middle of the night hungry. She has no idea why, but she wants blood. When she samples it, she's completely revolted and tosses the blood bag aside, however, quickly finds herself tearing into it for more. The next day she's alarmed to find her skin sizzles in the sunlight and veins pop out around her eyes. She knows...she knows enough to know what's happening to her.
The issue of Caroline is a pretty interesting moral dilemma for our beloved characters in Mystic Falls. Damon suggests killing her right away, but Elena won't hear of it. Stefan sides with Elena, though we're all pretty sure he wishes they could just kill her. Caroline, of course, wouldn't be a vampire if it wasn't for Bonnie and Elena's decision to allow Damon to give her blood to speed up her healing. Bonnie can't deal with the idea of Caroline being a vampire and so she lashes out at Damon. And Elena saves Damon! Because we all know deep down inside Elena looooooves him! But even more interesting, Elena saved Caroline. Even after Caroline had killed someone. (and not just someone but a potential love interest for Bonnie) Damon calls this immediately and tells Elena she's responsible for whatever happens.
Now how about that scene with Stefan tenderly cleaning the blood off of Caroline's face? And telling her to get a grip? Now there's a match I could live with.
Speaking of couples--Caroline and Matt are doomed. I mean either that or he's going to have to come to grips with her being a vampire. Caroline doesn't have a sunshine ring so she won't be able to go out in the daytime and ISN'T HE GOING TO NOTICE? Poor Matt! I really like him and he keeps ending up with a broken heart.
And then there's Jeremy who decides to take on Damon but that doesn't really work out so well.
And Tyler's werewolf tale needs to pick up a bit because so far it's really yawn worthy. I suspect it shall gain momentum and speed and yay!
Now...did you find the final scene with Stefan and Elena? Kinda cheesy? Romantic?
Strangely I found that I already missed Katherine this episode. She brings good energy to the show.
I only could watch this once through tonight so there are my thoughts...I eagerly await yours! If you also recapped the show on your blog or website leave a permalink below!
CFBA Book Spotlights: More Than Words by Judith Miller and Autumn's Promise by Shelly Shepard Gray
Gretchen Kohler is an Amana storekeeper's daughter with a secret passion for writing. But artistic pursuits are frowned upon in her conservative Amana village, so she confines her poems and stories to her journals, letting only close friends read them.
When a young reporter comes into her store, she believes she's found a kindred spirit. She shares a few of her stories with him--only to have her trust betrayed in the worst of ways, resulting in trouble for her entire community.
The scandal is made even worse by the fact that gypsies have camped nearby and seem to be preying upon the Amanans' compassionate, pacifist nature. Will Gretchen lose her job, her reputation, and the love of her childhood beau all because of one bad decision?
Judith Miller is an award-winning author whose avid research and love for history are reflected in her novels, two of which have placed in the CBA top ten lists. In addition to her writing, Judy is a certified legal assistant. Judy makes her home in Topeka, Kansas
Until Robert Miller met Lilly Allen, his world had been dark. A widower after only two years of marriage, he'd been living in a haze, feeling that, at twenty-four, his life was already over.
But thanks to his friendship with Lilly, he now has new reasons to wake up each day. He knows his connection to her doesn't make sense. She's only nineteen, with a past the whole town talks about. Even more, she's not Amish, like Robert. A marriage between the two of them could never happen.
Lilly's heart is drawn to Robert, not to his faith. No matter how much she admires his quiet strength and dependability, she doesn't think she could ever give up her independence and reliance on the modern world. Is their love doomed before it even begins?
(I received copies of both of these books from the publisher)
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Some Forgotten Treasures
The BBAW topic of the day encourages us to discuss books we wish would get more chatter in the book blogosphere.
Talking about books that don't seem to get enough internet buzz is tough. There's quite a few books I love that maybe haven't been read by many of the bloggers I read. Additionally, some of the books I love passionately slip under the radar because they're faith driven which automatically makes the market smaller. So I had to think really hard for this question. I decided to go with two books I loved but have seen little chatter about.
The first is Life of Glass by Jillian Cantor. I read this book pretty much cover to cover which is a rarity for me. I absolutely loved it, it felt like such a true story of grief and growing up. And the good news? Jillian has an adult novel coming out this fall!
Another book I really loved and have recommended like a thousand times but still haven't seen many bloggers in my sphere reviews is The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci. I devoured this book when I read it and longed to talk about it with people so I started recommending it to everyone, but alas! No one read it.
Have you read either of these books? Looking for more suggestions? Head over the BBAW site and find out what everyone else is recommending!