Tuesday, April 19, 2011

On Folly Beach by Karen White


On Folly Beach was another traveling book from my online book club. However, one day I stupidly left it on the bed and my 1 year old daughter got to it and tore the cover to shreds. So, I had to order a replacement book. Luckily, while waiting for the replacement I was still able to read this book.

On Folly Beach intermixes two stories. One is of Emmy in 2009 buying the bookstore that was once owned by Maggie. And then Maggie and Lulu who are sisters living in in 1942-43. When Emmy buys the bookstore, Lulu is still alive and still doing her side business of making bottle trees out of the back.

At first the story seems a bit jumpy, but I got used to it. While I liked the story and watching Maggie and Lulu, and later Emmy and Lulu interact, I felt that it dragged in the middle. I was turning page after page just waiting for something to happen.

The only character I felt any emotion toward at all was Maggie. I was rooting for her, and I felt what she felt. When she was hurting my heart went out to her. I think I could have gotten there with Lulu, but she remained so closed off for so long that when she finally did open up it was too little too late for me. As far as Emmy...I really wish I could have liked her more than I did, but she was just kind of there to me.

The story itself was beautiful, I just wish it had been told a little bit more concisely.

I give this book 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sweet Song by Terry Persun



I won this book on a Goodreads Giveaway.

Sweet Song is one of those books that a person has to take their time with. It follows the story of Leon, who was born to a black mother and white farm-owner. Even though it was after the Civil War and Emancipation, there were still a lot of racial tensions. The black people who worked on the farm were treated as slaves.

This story shows Leon as he is trying to discover for himself who he is. He is an outcast by both the black and the white society, and he has to learn how to make a life for himself. He travels from town to town and struggles with his identity, he even gives himself a new name every so often to see if that identity works for him. He is constantly living in fear and self-doubt.

This book is a tough read because the reader really feels for Leon and all that he has to go through. It's hard to read about one person suffering through so much. It almost reminds me of the Pursuit of Happyness, where you think that there's only so much one person can take, and life just keeps hammering them over and over.

Even though it was a hard subject matter, I'm very glad I won this book and I would recommend it to anyone.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Sweet Baklava by Debby Mayne


Sweet Baklava was another one of those books that was free for Kindle that I finally just got around to reading. Imagine my surprise when I start it, and it's set in the next town over from me. It is set in Tarpon Springs, which is a small town right on the Gulf of Mexico that has a large Greek community. I have to say that all of the descriptions of Tarpon Springs were spot on, so Mayne had obviously done her homework.

Sweet Baklava is the story about Paula, a woman who is not Greek and owns a soap and candle shop on the docks, and Nick, a man who is from a large Greek family who is on six weeks leave from the Air Force. Nick and his family are determined to do everything they can to help woo Paula and convince her to marry Nick.

While the story was cute, it was nothing really special. At times the relationship between Paula and Nick felt forced and by the end of it I realized that I didn't care if they got together or not. They went back and forth and back and forth and I just wanted to tell them "enough already! make a decision!"

Also, I found Paula and Nick almost too-good-to-be-true characters. They both always seemed to know what to do and when to do it to make the most people happy. Nick just kept showing up whenever he thought he was needed, even if he wasn't, and taking over trying to make everything all better.

While I was glad to see a story set in my area, it just wasn't that great to me. I'm glad it was free.

2 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen

The Apothecary's Daughter was free for Kindle awhile back and I finally got around to reading it. It is set around 1800's England, and features Lilly who helps out her father and his apprentice in his apothecary shop. She has a brother who suffered a birth defect making him mentally challenged. Her mother left the family a few years back. And, if that weren't enough, she has many men all vying for her affection.

Typing it all out like that, the story sounds rather complicated, but actually it read really well. There was a lot going on, but it all fit into the story and there was no part where I was confused about anything that was happening. I enjoyed reading Lilly's story, because the majority of the story deals with her trying to find herself and figure out exactly what she wants.

The men that like her all have their good qualities and their bad, and I found myself rooting for each one to end up with her at different times throughout The Apothecary's Daughter. There were times throughout the story that I couldn't believe she'd end up with any of them. However, I was pleased by the result. (And no, I am not going to spoil it).

The drawback to The Apothecary's Daughter was that there were some characters that I felt were left unresolved. There were a number of characters to keep track of, so it makes sense that there wasn't enough space to fully resolve all of the issues, but I just needed a little something more to let me know how they made out.

All in all it was a good story, but it didn't wow me.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Interview with Priya Parmar


Priya Parmar is the author of the book Exit the Actress, which is one of my new favorite books and one of the best historical fictions that I've ever read. I was very nervous about contacting her for an interview, but I was thrilled when she agreed to do this for my blog. Thank you so much Priya!

Priya Parmar's Website: http://www.priyaparmar.com/

Exit the Actress is available on Amazon and in bookstores everywhere.

How did you get started writing?


It is funny but I do not really know. I was always a voracious reader and I think that started it off. And then, for years, I had to do huge amounts of critical writing for my undergraduate and postgraduate work. That sheer habit of constructing a line was invaluable.
Eventually, I left academics and began to work in theatre. Writing for theatre was amazing. It was write it one night and then try it out the next day, life without a net sort of stuff. It was a wonderful apprenticeship. In terms of creative writing on my own, it is terrible to say, but this is the first thing I have done. Should I say that? Probably not…


Who are your favorite authors?

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Evelyn Waugh, E.M. Forster, Jane Austen, Jean Rhys, Emily Bronte, Leo Tolstoy, Henry James and more recently, Philippa Gregory, Sharon Kay penman, Sandra Gulland, Michael Cunningham, Michael Chabon, Tracy Chevalier, Sebastian Faulks, Jude Morgan… so many!

Describe yourself in one word.

Disorganized

Why did you decide to write historical fiction?

There was an inevitability there that I do not really understand. I never considered anything else. I look at novelists who do not have to spend years meticulously researching a period and think, why did I do this to myself? But I love the nexus where history and story meet.

What was it about Ellen and her story that you were drawn to?


Again, there was a weird inevitability. I had researched her for my doctorate and she just stayed with me; a happy but somewhat belligerent ghost that insisted I write about her.

Ellen herself came across as a bright and spunky young lady, how much of that was actually her and how much was your interpretation?


It is interesting. There is the Eleanor Gwyn of history and the Nell Gwyn of popular legend. I tried to go back to the history and resist the personality lent her by centuries of popular culture. That is why I chose to call her Ellen. She only signed her name to very few documents but she used the initials “E.G.” As well, Aphra Behn dedicated her play to her dear friend “Ellen Guin.”

She must have been more than a cheeky, fun, illiterate girl to hold the interest of the litarati company she kept. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that she came from an educated, well off family before her father died on the wrong side of the Civil War. Her grandfather was a canon at Christchurch and her father was a captain in the Royal Army. Her mother, who also likely came from a moneyed family, probably fell into prostitution after the death of her husband and her addiction to alcohol.

As well, the loose morals that are always attributed to Nell seem misplaced. She was assiduously faithful to the man she was with—and in her life, there were only three! She must have refused dozens of men, even though they could have offered her huge wealth. That seems rather principled to me.


The diary format was an interesting format, and I felt like it really helped the reader to get inside of Ellen's head. Why did you feel that a diary format would be better than 3rd person?


Everyone warned me off the diary format and told me a first person narrative was a classic first novelist’s mistake. I was terrified and tried to nudge it into third person but she just refused. The story wouldn’t move.

I think after working for years with primary documents during my academic life, I was just more comfortable writing this way.

How long did it take you to write Exit the Actress? Did you have to do a lot of research?

It took about five years. I had done a huge amount of research during my doctorate but I still had so much to do. It was a different animal to write about her creatively as opposed to critically. I had to make friends with her, get to know her and her family and friends in a whole new way.

If there was one key idea or message that you wanted the reader to take away from Exit the Actress, what would it be?


I hope everyone will come away with a different message or lasting impression and that is exactly how I would like it to be. For myself, I came away understanding exactly how difficult it is to make the choices you have to make in order to live the life you want to live. Ellen had to decide exactly what she would and would not accept to be with the man she loved. She was very precise in setting her watermark.

What are you working on now?


I have moved to the years just before and during the First World War. It is a different more modern, leafy London. It is so interesting to be writing about the last moments in the history of the world when we could not conceive of a world war.


Do you have any advice for new or aspiring authors?

Write the thing you need to write. Whatever it is. However contradictory to popular opinion or common sense. It will be the right thing.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Arms of an Angel by Linda Boulanger


There is an amazing website that I am a part of, called Goodreads. Goodreads is a website that lets you keep track and rate all of the books you've read. They also have online book clubs. One of the groups I am a part of is called The Sisterhood of the Traveling book, and as the name suggests, we mail books to each other, all over the United States. Sometimes these are books we've liked, other times they're donated by the author, and still other times they are books that members have won on the giveaways.

Arms of an Angel was a book that was mailed to me by a fellow sisterhood member. It is a novella that tells the story of Claire Orion. Claire should have everything, she's rich and beautiful with a sharp tongue and a quick mind. However, she suffers from very low self-worth and is determined to end it all. By chance she meets Garrett, who helps her with feeling that maybe life is worth living after all.

I know that this was a novella, so the story had to be told in a very short amount of time. So, I have no issue with the pace of the book. The dialogue in the book, however, left something to be desired. Neither Garrett nor Claire spoke like a 20 or 30 something year-old. Instead they sounded like high-society old ladies at tea. It just left an unreal quality and I had a hard time wrapping my mind around it.

Other than that, it was a compelling and quick read. It is really a good novella for anyone to read who might be suffering from low self-worth. Claire was adorable and Garrett was a true knight. In fact, I would have liked to have seen this story expanded even more, it felt like it had enough material for a full-length novel.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Second Duchess by Elizabeth Loupas


The Second Duchess was another book I picked up on the recommendation of a friend. However, I am a big fan of historical fiction so this was right up my alley. I am also fairly critical of it, because the historical aspect of a novel is so important. They don't have to be 100% accurate, because it is fiction after all, but it at least has to have the aspect of "this could have happened.

I found The Second Duchess to be just the kind of historical fiction I loved. The clothes and the hair were described so I felt like I was in the same room with the characters. I absolutely loved Barbara, the heroine, she was tough and she didn't let anyone stand in the way of getting the answers she wanted about the Duke's first wife, who died under mysterious circumstances. Barbara was also fiercely loyal to those closest to her, and she did all that she could to keep them out of harm's way.

I also liked the writing style of The Second Duchess, because it was told in the first person, so I really got to follow Barbara's thought process throughout the entire novel. Also, at the end of each chapter, the first wife was watching from the in-between and she got to have her say as well. It really helped to piece all of this mystery together.

The Second Duchess
was a historical mystery that kept me guessing until the end. I thought it was well-written with characters that I both loved and hated. I have to say, also, that the end was unexpected, which I loved. So often with these types of books I have in pinpointed from the very first chapter who the "bad guy" is, but in this case every character has their own good and bad qualities and I could have seen any one of them doing the murder.

All in all, this book was well worth the read.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Interview with Nina-Marie Gardner


Interview with Nina-Marie Gardner

After reading Sherry & Narcotics I was so impressed with it that I emailed Nina-Marie Gardner and asked if she would be willing to answer a few questions for this blog. She immediately replied back an enthusiastic “yes!” Thank you so much Nina-Marie, for agreeing to this interview.

Sherry & Narcotics will be available in May 2011.

Nina-Marie’s Website: http://www.ninamariegardner.com

How did you get started writing?

Growing up I always kept journals—the book “Harriet the Spy” made a big impression on me and as early as the third or fourth grade I was recording my observations of the people around me. Needless to say, this got me into quite a bit of trouble as some of these ‘observations’ weren’t very nice and my journal inevitably fell into the wrong hands.

The books I grew up reading influenced me tremendously as far as my desire to write. As much as I loved novels, I also loved reading the biographies and journals of my favorite writers—Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Dylan Thomas to name a few—I was fascinated by their ‘writing lives’—how they worked and how events in their own lives played into their work. I think as someone who loved literature from a very young age, the idea of actually being a writer myself was always there in the background.

In high school and college I began experimenting with short stories and plays, and I took every class offered in creative writing—although there were not many. After I graduated from Yale, I spent a good decade as an actress in New York and Los Angeles, but I continued (kind of in secret) writing fiction. I was always taking a class or workshop through Gotham Writer’s Workshop or the UCLA Extension program. After 9/11, I realized I needed to go after my dreams, no matter how unfeasible they seemed. So I applied to creative writing master’s programs, was accepted to the one at the University of London, and with a student loan and no more than $300 in my bank account, I was off to England.

What authors do you enjoy reading?

My taste is pretty wide-ranging, although I must confess, I wasn’t able to get very far in the first Harry Potter book, and anything related to Vampires I really have no interest in. However, that’s not to say I don’t have my guilty pleasures. I’m a sucker for the odd Marilyn Keyes romp, and I’ve read everything by Dick Francis and Val Mcdermid.

However, my true loves, the writers who most inspired me and whom I read over and over again include Jean Rhys, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Keats, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, Sylvia Plath, Carson McCullers, Margery Latimer and Dorothy Parker. Recently, I was turned on to Hilda Doolittle, and she is amazing—I have a fictional project stewing based on her life, in fact. As far as contemporary writers who have rocked my world, I love Helen Walsh, Jardine Libaire, Gwendolyn Riley, Chris Kraus, Sam Shepard, Jonathan Lethem, David Foster Wallace—I’m sure I’ve left people out in both lists, but that’s off the top of my head.

If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would it be?

(Well, it’s been a long road, but…)

Happy.

Where did you get the idea for Sherry & Narcotics? Was any of it based on real life?

Yes, the novel was based on real events, although all the characters are fictional. Much of what Mary experiences, I have as well—although perhaps not to such a stark, single-minded and isolated extreme. After I completed my degree in London, I stayed in England and had a relationship that ended very, very badly. As badly as a relationship could end (although I didn’t fall into a canal and nearly drown, like Mary.) When it was over, I was pretty devastated and numb and it took me some time to get back on my feet. Several of my friends suggested I write about it, and I was also inspired by Justine Levy’s book “Nothing Serious.”

How long did it take you to write Sherry & Narcotics?

Well, over the last three years or so, while I was working on a different novel, the idea for Sherry & Narcotics was germinating in my head, and I had some notes and experimental pages for it. But I didn’t actually start the book for real until the end of last March (2010). Then it all went very, very quickly—the book pretty much wrote itself. It was finished by the end of July, and in September I was offered a deal with Future Fiction London to publish it. From July until the end of November, I did flesh out certain parts and do some revising and editing.

Sherry & Narcotics dealt with some pretty dark subject matters, how did it feel to write about that? How were your feelings throughout the whole writing process?

It was pretty painful, and I would never have been able to write it if I truly believed one day it might actually be published. But I really wanted to get down the experience of a woman alcoholic who is also so love addicted it takes her to the extreme of shame and despair. Because I think the place Mary gets to in the book is a place others have been—or could potentially go. I didn’t want to gloss over anything, or make her choices any less excruciating than what they were. I wanted to keep it as real and as brutally honest as I could—real and honest as far as my own experiences, which the book is based on.

I was also interested in writing a main character who isn’t all that sympathetic, who is flawed and makes terrible choices and succumbs all too easily to her self-destructive tendencies. Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like there are not that many female characters like that in fiction. We see plenty of men—it’s like, cool and accepted to have men in fiction who are down-and-out destructive drunks or drug or love or sex addicts who make bad choices and end up in horrible places—but survive. Some of my favorite books/writers might fall into this category—from JP Donleavy’s The Gingerman, to John Fante and Bukowski and Kerouac, to more contemporary guys like Tony O’Niell and Stephen Elliot and James Frey.

I was also pretty fed up with such a glut in the women’s fictional market of heroines who were obsessed with finding “Mr. Right” as the be-all and end-all—and he was always rich but faithful and sweet. Where there was so much emphasis on material stuff like designer handbags and clothes—I mean, there’s nothing wrong with these things, but I felt like there was a dearth of the edgier, darker side of what it is to be a woman in today’s world. What is so great about novels is that they can reveal so much about the human experience—and things that remain constant through time. They are about shared experience—reading books like Wuthering Heights or Voyage in the Dark or The Scarlett Letter or The Bell Jar when I was growing up was profound—on the most basic level, these books made me feel better, less alone—and they gave me insight and strength and courage as I went out into the world.

I’m not saying Sherry & Narcotics
is going to have this profound impact on anyone who reads it, but if it gives a person insight or a new perspective—or especially comfort or hope in light of their own or someone they knows’ experience—well that’s what matters.

All that said, it’s still terrifying to me that the book is going to be out there, published.

As a reader, there were several times that I wanted to push Mary into the right direction, but at the same time I couldn't help but wonder just how far down she was going to go. Was that the kind of reaction you wanted to get from Mary?

Definitely. Because I lived much of what happened in the book, you can imagine what it was like for me to write it—but from a more ‘recovered’ and rational distance. I could see very clearly the horrendous and downright delusional choices she was making, and I wanted nothing more than to have her get some sense and pull herself together, but I had to stay true to the story I had set out to tell—the one that takes her to the very limits of self destruction by way of desperation, denial and addiction.

The fact remains she wants nothing more than most of us want—security, happiness, to be loved…And what if Jake hadn’t been involved with someone else, what if he’d been available and honest and dependable? There’s plenty of stories out there with the happy endings, where the girl is a wreck but the guy becomes her rock, her savior and helps her get straight. I think a lot of women are messed up by the myth of “Prince Charming.” Sure, there are heroes out there, but in my experience (which certainly isn’t the norm, I’ll admit) the world isn’t exactly rife with them. There’s just as many liars and schmucks and opportunists. There is no guarantee you’re going to be rescued—I think that’s the exception. In the end, only we can save ourselves.
is going to have this profound impact on anyone who reads it, but if it gives a person insight or a new perspective—or especially comfort or hope in light of their own or someone they knows’ experience—well that’s what matters.


Would you ever want to continue her story?


Absolutely! I cannot wait—although it might be awhile. I have three books in the works, and all three of them are essentially prequels to
Sherry & Narcotics.

If there was one key idea or message that you want people to take away from Sherry & Narcotics, what would it be?

Hmmm, it’s tough to narrow it down to one. Everyone is flawed to different degrees, we make mistakes—some worse, due to various circumstances—mental illness, addiction. But it is all part of the human experience—and it’s all equally valid. I would hope people might gain more insight or understanding or compassion for someone in a situation that would be very easy to judge or take a harsh view of. I’m interested in the people on the margins, who maybe have fallen through the cracks, the misunderstood or underrepresented. I know it sounds trite, but I hope sharing my experience through fiction might help someone feel better about themselves, or less alone.


What are you working on now?

I’m working on a book about an American girl who finds herself at a posh all-boys boarding school in England.


Do you have any advice for new or aspiring authors?


Over at The Rumpus, they sell these awesome mugs that say “Write Like a Motherf*%#er.” That pretty much sums it up. Write as much as you can—try to get into the habit of it—even if its just 100 words a day, written first thing when you wake up in the morning. And read a lot. And get rid of your TV. And take workshops, always bearing in mind that what matters most is telling your story the way you want to tell it. With workshops, one of the most important things you can learn is not what you need to change or develop about your craft, but how to sort the criticism, and take what you need and not be held up or discouraged by the rest. Learn to stick to your guns, and believe in your story—and give yourself permission to write badly, just atrociously! Once it's down, you can go back and fix it. Just write!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Sherry and Narcotics by Nina-Marie Gardner


I'll be honest here, I don't normally pick up books that have to deal with drugs or other illegal activities. However, this book was generously donated to a book group I belong to, and I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone and try a book that I would normally walk past. I am very glad I gave Sherry and Narcotics a try, because it was well worth it.

This book deals with some very dark subject matters, but it does so in a compelling way. I was hooked from the first page and even now I feel like I have to take some time to really reflect on what I've read. It was a bit haunting, but so real. I felt like I was really there and I wanted to shake some sense into the characters. It was a very well-written book and I'm happy to have read it. Once I read a book, I usually reflect on it for a little while and then move on to the next book. This is a different kind of book. This is one of those books that is going to stick with me for a very long time.

The only problems with the book were things that were most likely no fault of the author, but of the publisher. It needs page numbers, I like being able to flip to a page to remember where I am. Also, the font was a bit odd, but once I got used to it, I could overlook it.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Monday, April 4, 2011

Outside Wonderland by Lorna Jane Cook


I won this book on a Goodreads Giveaway.

This book deals with three adults who are living their lives 20 years after their parents died. The eldest, Alice, is an actress who doesn't really care for commitment. The son, Griffin, is a gay man who is at-odds with his partner of 11 years. And the youngest, Dinah, is a woman who is constantly trying to find herself, but knows that she doesn't like to be alone.

I found myself really enjoying this book and the characters in it. They were likable and they were human. They made mistakes and they either hid from them or owned them. They had a true sibling relationship with one another and the ups and downs that go with it. I also enjoyed the non-family member characters such as Alice's neighbor Ian and Griffin's boyfriend Theo. I adored Theo so much, I would have loved to see more from his point of view.

At the end of each chapter the book changes it's point-of-view so that we are seeing it from the eyes of the mom, up in heaven. This book very very lightly touches on religion, but it is in no-way over the top. It was almost comforting to see that she was still checking in on her kids, even though there wasn't much she could do for them.

The only thing is I wish the epilogue were expanded a bit more. There were some plots and minor stories that I felt were left unresolved, but all in all it was a great book and I'm glad I read it.

3.5 out of 5 stars