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Search Results for: what she knew

My Life, My Love, My Legacy by Coretta Scott King

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New memoir of Coretta Scott King published posthumously is a testament to her incredible strength.

A few weeks ago, I heard that there was a new Coretta Scott King memoir that was being released in January, and I had a moment of forgetfulness, thinking that she was still alive. Unfortunately, I was quickly reminded that she had passed away over 11 years ago. The Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds, a journalist who became a close friend of Coretta Scott King’s for many decades, compiled this memoir from her many years of interviews, conversations, and travels with her. My Life, My Love, My Legacy is an intensely compelling read, giving personal insights into the life of a woman who faced hatred with perseverance and love.

Growing up, I learned what most American children do about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and I knew that Coretta Scott King was his wife. As a fan of children’s literature as an adult, I’m always interested in the American Library Association’s annual awards, one of which is named after Mrs. King and is awarded to “outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.”

Admittedly, I knew very little else about Coretta Scott King, so I was excited when this new memoir became available at my local library. I began reading with fervor, instantly captivated by the stories of her childhood and heartbroken to read about the many, many losses she suffered in her life. Living in the South under Jim Crow laws, she was bombarded with the idea of being a second-class citizen. When King was just 15 years old, her family narrowly escaped death when white racists set fire to their home. Unfortunately, that would not be her only close brush with violence and terror.

King chronicles her pursuit of higher education, her early relationship with Martin Luther King, Jr., and her own calling to serve the Civil Rights Movement. Her strong Christian faith never wavers, even in the face of her husband’s assassination, as well as the murder of her mother-in-law. After her husband’s death, King worked tirelessly for decades to continue on the path of nonviolence and education that he had forged.

I didn’t know much about her life before reading this memoir, but after finishing it, I feel such a strong sense of admiration and love for Coretta Scott King. With her name in the news just this month with Senator Elizabeth Warren’s attempt to read a letter of hers on the Senate floor during the confirmation hearing for the position of Attorney General, I was reminded of just how powerful her words could be. Indeed, it can be said of Coretta Scott King, too– nevertheless, she persisted.

The Girl Before

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The Girl Before

Ever since Gone Girl, there’s been a rash of psychological thrillers featuring a female main character and some kind of a twist. The latest in these is The Girl Before by the mysterious J.P. Delaney, who according to Goodreads, “has previously published best-selling fiction under another name.” I wonder who it is.

Emma and her boyfriend Simon are looking for a new place to live after having been burgled, and after turning down all available flats in London for one reason or another, their real estate agent suggests One Folgate Street. It’s an unusual property in that there’s a list of 200 rules to be followed and a rigorous application process that includes being interviewed by Edward, the minimalist architect. Emma is drawn to the idea of living with few possessions and making a fresh start and convinces Simon to apply.

A few years later, Jane is also looking for a new home after having lost her stillborn daughter, and is also drawn to One Folgate Street. After she is approved and moves in, she learns of the death of the previous occupant — Emma. The more Jane digs into Emma’s death, the more she becomes suspicious of the circumstances of her death, wondering if Edward had something to do with it.

The chapters alternate between Emma and Jane and can be a bit jarring at times when the women are leading parallel lives. I occasionally couldn’t remember which character was narrating, and had to rely on the different voices (Emma is third person, Jane is first) to remember whose story is being told.

One thing The Girl Before does is keep you guessing, and before long you realize that everything you thought you knew isn’t quite the truth. And just who is the titular girl? You won’t know until the end, even if you think you do from the beginning.

What Falls From the Sky, a Five-Star Read

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what-falls-from-the-sky

5M4B disclosure

What Falls From the Sky is the most beautiful book I’ve ever seen. When I got the email pitch to review the book, the cover captivated my heart. Once I received it in person, I continued to react with joy to the cover. I don’t think of myself as a visual person, but this book cover knocks me out. The subtitle clinched it: “How I disconnected from the internet and reconnected with the God who made the clouds.” After reading it, I can attest to the accuracy of the subtitle with one caveat. Those reading it might assume it’s a spiritual memoir — and yes, that is part of Esther Emery’s story of a year without the internet, but I am afraid that will turn away readers who are not spiritual, and it shouldn’t. There are books written which are meant to persuade, but this is a memoir which exists to share one woman’s experience. There isn’t an ounce of judgement or preachiness about her choices at all. In addition to eschewing the internet, and searching for God, she also becomes a vegan. Meat-eaters wouldn’t avoid this book for that reason, and I’m urging agnostics and those who are firmly plugged in to view the book with the same open mind.

When I’ve shared with friends that I was reading and enjoying this book so much, I wanted to follow up quickly and defensively with “Don’t worry! I’m not quitting the internet, and I’m not going to start telling the world that they should quit the internet.” I’m not. That said, I think that one of the things that attracted me to Esther’s story was the knowledge that for me “trying to finish reading the internet” as she references was her practice before her experiment, never leaves me feeling satisfied. I love the internet. I love being able to connect with friends (though, as she realized, hiding behind screens can get in the way of real connection sometimes), I love the convenience of shopping online and banking online and doing research about vacations and products. Netflix streams wirelessly from wherever it comes to my TV or tablet many more hours that I might want to admit. I love the internet. Even before I read this book, I had purposed to turn it all off more and listen to music (or — okay — maybe a podcast that was also made possible by the internet) or read a real book with real words (again — possibly on an electronic device). And do you know what I found? I found space, space in my heart and in my mind and my intentions. I have made more connections with people — and yes, with my God. I have made more, better, time for myself with exercise and other hobbies. I haven’t changed much in my day, but any time I let go of the escapism of the internet just a little bit, I always discover something.

Esther Emery began this memoir and this experiment in the midst of a complete life change. She was a new mom, trying to repair a marriage, freshly relocated from west coast to east coast, experiencing a change in identity from playwright and director to stay-at-home mom. All of these changes would have resulted in some type of change — they would have to — but she maintains that to find herself, she had to shut down those faceless connections from whom she sought approval or identity or her blog, as well as the chaos that comes from that relentless stream of information. It began when she decided to cancel her cell phone, because that was also something that defined her in her previous life as a theater person. The silence was a condemnation of her new choice, so she got rid of it, and then went the next step of going dark completely.

The words inside are as beautiful as the cover, I’m happy to report. There are no forced giant a-ha moments, just this one unusual introspective year in the life of a woman. I will let her words speak for themselves:

  • I feel crazy — and simultaneously awesome. Maybe this is how those genius artists of the history books always felt. Where I had the Internet, with it’s obsessive photographers …and the steady stream of attacking, flashing advertisements, now I have something I am learning to call silence (page 27).
  • When I first told (my husband) my plan to go for a year without internet, he said, “You’re trying to live in 1980 for some reason.” Now he seems to like 1980 well enough. I cook. I spend less money. I notice when he comes home from work. And, since we’re not both trying to finish reading the internet every night, we go to bed earlier, and together, which comes with certain advantages. Less internet, more sex. Who knew? (page 65).
  • …this is the prize I won for everything I lost in these last six months. I learned how to unplug without disconnecting. I learned how to be fed like a plant, from underneath. I feel a thrill. The air is dry. My hair is lying down. We have come home (page 159).

Searching for John Hughes

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A memoir of a man finding himself in his obsession with the 1980s director.

5M4B disclosure

The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. These titles conjur up images of 1980s teenagers and their struggles to find their voice, independence, and place in the world. These and other flicks that filmmaker John Hughes had a role in creating all definitely bear the mark of that decade, but there is also a timeless quality to their depictions of adolescence. An undeniable obsession with Hughes led Jason Diamond to write a memoir entitled Searching for John Hughes: Or Everything I Thought I Needed to Know about Life I Learned from Watching ’80s Movies, and it details his own extended adolescence and its connection to the movies he grew up watching.

Diamond’s initial quest was to write a biography of John Hughes, simply because he wanted to be a writer. He didn’t think he had a novel in him, and in the vein of the old literary adage to “write what you know”, Diamond was confident that he ‘knew’ Hughes, for he had consumed all of his films again and again. This quest turned into years of on-again, off-again writing, along with on-again, off-again confidence in his ability to fulfill this task. Diamond had difficulty securing an agent and found no publisher interested in his pitch, and he hit many brick walls in his attempts to make contact with Hughes or actors who’d worked with him.

This memoir is a book about Diamond’s attempt to write a book about John Hughes. But that simple description doesn’t do justice to what actually fleshes out Diamond’s story. In experiencing his challenges and struggles to create this unauthorized biography, he reflects upon his own childhood and adolescence growing up in the very same Chicago suburbs where Hughes placed so many of his earlier films. Diamond’s attempts at making sense of John Hughes and his films really parallels his desire to work through the traumatic experiences in his life.

Though I would find it difficult to piece together a precise timeline of Diamond’s childhood after reading his memoir, his sharing of snippets of his young life paints a sad picture of a child not cared for when he needed it most. As he writes about his research and immersion in Hughes’ films, he revisits some of his darkest times before and after his parents’ divorce, including serious physical abuse, devastating long-term emotional abuse, and eventual abandonment. Even years removed from this time in his life, the grief he felt comes through in his writing.

Diamond’s is an interesting personal narrative, filled with longing and desperation, but also a sense of hope that always returns, no matter how dark his life gets.

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The Underground Railroad, A Five Star Read

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THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD by Colson Whitehead is a devastatingly blunt depiction of life under the rule of slavery for a young woman and her attempts to break free.

 

I’m not sure how I first heard about Colson Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroad, but I did not receive it for reviewing purposes. Instead, when it was chosen as the next selection in a local book club in my new town, I thought it the perfect opportunity to read it on my own, outside of my reviewing reading responsibilities. I offer you my unsolicited review here for no other reason than because this book was remarkable.

A brief synopsis from the inside cover:

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood– where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned– Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.”

That description is just the beginning, for this epic novel places Cora in several different states and situations in her travels, each seemingly a different world with its own set of customs and approaches to the concept of slavery and its treatment of black people. Spoiler alert- none of them are actually safe, even if first impressions may indicate otherwise.

The pacing of this novel alternates between heart-racing and stomach-churning to deceptively calm, and as a result, readers may be lulled into a false sense of security for Cora. But Whitehead’s devastatingly blunt depictions of Cora’s experiences give a realistic sense of the ever-present danger Cora and all slaves, runaway or not, were forced to live with. This is the history that must be acknowledged.

As different characters are put under the spotlight in shorter sections of the narrative, a few different perspectives are given on the state of slavery. Common to the slave-catcher and other white people were statements about the concept of manifest destiny and the belief in an innate superiority of the white race over the Africans they saw only as imported goods and property. Whether this belief was fueled by religious sentiments or simply a sense of “fate,” it was clear that the status of Africans as slaves was meant to be– if they were meant to be free, they simply wouldn’t be in chains. It was admittedly difficult to read of this perspective during the week of the latest election cycle, for the parallels to racially-fueled hate crimes and destruction are undeniable.

I leave you with this extended quote, as it stands out to me the most to describe the foundation of our country’s development. I urge you to read this book. It is inarguably a difficult story to read, and you’ll likely feel sick as you read it, but it is important beyond any measure.

Cora had heard Michael recite the Declaration of Independence back on the Randall plantation many times, his voice drifting through the village like an angry phantom. She didn’t understand the words, most of them at any rate, but created equal was not lost on her. The white men who wrote it didn’t understand it either, if all men did not truly mean all men. Not if they snatched away what belonged to other people, whether it was something you could hold in your hand, like dirt, or something you could not, like freedom. The land she tilled and worked had been Indian land. She knew the white men bragged about the efficiency of the massacres, where they killed women and babies, and strangled their futures in the crib.

Stolen bodies working stolen land.” (page 117)

Girl Underwater

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girl-underwater

5M4B disclosure

Girl Underwater by Claire Kells is one of the books that I read on my long road trip (read my post How to Survive a Long Road Trip to see the role that books had in the experience). It was a perfect book to read on a road trip, because I was able to give it concentrated attention and read it over a short period of time. At only 304 pages, it’s one that you could probably finish in a weekend under most circumstances.

Avery fled her Boston home and slightly overbearing father for college in California. She’s swimming on the college team, though she’s stuck with middle distance, not the long distance swimming that she loves because it allows her to lose herself. One of the other swimmers — the best swimmer — is on her Thanksgiving flight home to Boston, and in spite of trying to avoid him, he ends up sitting right beside her.

When the plane goes down, Colin’s presence calms her. She and Colin end up with three boys from the flight, fighting for survival and waiting for rescue in the Colorado mountains.

The story is not told in any sort of chronological order, with information being filled in as we learn about Avery’s time in college before the accident, her time at home after the accident, and most importantly, what happened as they waited for rescue.

This wasn’t a tension-filled suspense novel, but it was a page-turner. Learning what exactly Avery was hiding, and why she wanted to avoid Colin and what exactly happened after the plane crash kept me reading.

Though this is not a young adult novel, it’s one that would definitely interest older teens, especially including the “new adult” market of 18+.

I knew that this was the paperback release, but I didn’t know that Dawn reviewed it in hardcover on our site. Read her review HERE.

The Unseen World

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>the unseen world

5M4B disclosure

Covering a time span from the 80’s to the early 2000s to “soon” (a time slightly forward of 2016), to a time further in the future, The Unseen World captivated me. It delves into the emerging world of artificial intelligence in a time on the brink of all sorts of technology that we all take for granted. It’s about computer science, but it’s also about family or the lack of family.

Ada Sibelus is an interesting girl. She is the only daughter of David Sibelus, born to him via a surrogate. He’s an older than typical dad and an odder than typical dad. He schools her at home, or more specifically in the research lab. Educationally, she’s advanced, but emotionally she is anything but a normal 12-year-old girl. She has had almost no contact with children, and a stilted relationship with the other adults her dad works with, due to her shyness.

When David begins to show signs of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, colleague, neighbor and friend Diana Liston takes Ada in. It’s her first time living in a family setting and with a mother figure. It’s her first time attending school with others. As David’s memory retreats, Ada finds it hard to visit. It becomes even harder when facts are discovered that indicate that David may not be who he claims to be. If he’s not who he claimed to be, and he’s the only tie to the world that Ada ever really knew, then who is she?

This element of the story as well as leap frogging to Ada’s future, kept me reading.

I am not describing this book well at all. The writing was beautiful, the story was unique and well-thought of, and the way that it transcends genre by including elements of character-driven suspense, family saga, and science make it truly one of a kind. I was in a bit of a reading slump when I picked this one up, and it cured me by getting me to keep my nose buried in a book.

Jennifer Garner says “Reading is Sacred” #NineLives

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Film Title: Nine Lives

I had the opportunity to do a phone interview sponsored by Europa Corp with Jennifer Garner about her new movie Nine Lives. She was a treat to talk to, exuding that sweetness that you see on screen, addressing that mythical work/life balance of motherhood with grace and also speaking with such respect for her co-workers that I earned an all-new respect for her.

When she was talking about that balance and how she made her family a priority, she said “Bedtime is sacred. Reading is sacred.” I felt like I was talking to a kindred spirit. I knew that you booklovers would agree, and I wish I had been able to ask a follow-up about what books she enjoyed sharing with her kids.

Please click through to 5 Minutes for Mom to read more about the movie, what she had to say about working with a cat, playing mom roles, family pets and more.

About the movie

NineLives-FinalPosterDon’t be the scaredy-cat in your family! ‎Nine Lives opens in theaters this Friday. Get your tickets: http://ninelivesmovie.com/tickets/

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Greetings from Utopia Park

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Claire Hoffman's memoir about growing up within the Transcendental Meditation movement.

5M4B disclosure

The Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s method of meditation and philosophies of how to live a full life formed the basis for the Transcendental Meditation movement, and the new memoir by Claire Hoffman,  Greetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood gives an honest and thoughtful assessment of the experience of growing up within that community.

Hoffman was introduced to meditation at a very young age, and it was a magical, peaceful, and wondrous thing from her childhood perspective. When her alcoholic father left her mother, her older brother, and her unexpectedly, the TM movement seemed to be their savior. Her mother arranged for them to move to Fairfield, Iowa, the center of the TM movement, as the Maharishi had created the national headquarters there, and Hoffman’s entire world shifted.

This supposed utopia provided a childhood of mixed experiences for Hoffman, which she describes with vivid detail and emotional depth. I found the descriptions of the Transcendental Meditation movement fascinating, and as Hoffman’s descriptions of her experiences grow from her young childhood memories to her adolescent and adult understandings of what had been happening with the movement, it became more apparent how this was truly a business, even if it had been started with the best of intentions.

As a child, she longed to believe in what she heard the adults in her life describe. She could imagine her mother flying off her mat while deeply meditating, but as she grew older her skepticism grew as she continued to be torn between the world of the ‘rus (gurus) and the townies. Somewhat an outsider in both groups, she never knew what to believe.

Clearly it was a mixed bag experience for Hoffman, as TM brought her closer to her mother at times, but also drew away so much of her mother’s attention, leaving Hoffman and her brother to fend for themselves more than should be expected of children. Her experience of never quite fitting in either world- the TM community and the general town- made her an astute observer of both groups. In the end, her assessment of the movement as generally positive for her family was one that somewhat surprised me, but something I could respect.

tlc-logo-resizedWe’re happy to be participating in the TLC Book Tour for Greetings from Utopia Park.

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Don’t You Cry

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dont you cry

5M4B disclosure

Quinn has the perfect roommate. They met through a classified ad, but they’ve become good friends. Esther is sweet and kind, fun to be with, concerned about helping Quinn achieve her goals. Quinn is not the perfect roommate though; she doesn’t always pay her bills on time, and she can be a little messy to Esther’s perfection. One Saturday night in November, Quinn tries to persuade Esther to try out a new martini bar that just opened, but Esther pleads a cold and stays home wrapped in blankets on the couch. In the morning her window, which opens onto the fire escape, is open but Esther herself is gone. Worried, Quinn goes through her things looking for clues, and what she finds disturbs her. First of all are the notes to “My Dearest” signed EV, Esther’s initials. They seem to imply a different life, with references to some other woman. There are the bright blue contacts–does this mean that Esther’s one eye is actually brown like its mate instead of blue as everyone thinks?

Quinn enlists the help of Ben, a colleague of hers and friend of Esther’s as well. Together they begin to discover more unsettling facts of Esther’s existence, including cryptic messages sent to the cell phone she left behind. Who was she really? Did they actually know her?

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Alec lives in a small town on the shores of Lake Michigan. All his high school friends are off to college but he’s left behind, working a dead-end job in a cafe while keeping his father, the town drunk, from accidentally killing himself. Alec’s mother abandoned them when he was 5, because she couldn’t handle being a mother, didn’t like being touched, couldn’t meet his needs, etc. Alec has many signs of brightness–he loves telescopes and viewing the night sky, and collecting fossils from the lake shore. He’s a sweet, thoughtful kid with virtually no future. Then one Sunday morning in November, a gorgeous woman walks into the cafe and spends hours staring out of the window. He nicknames her “Pearl” because she won’t tell him her name, and she stays in the abandoned house across the street from his, a house rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a little girl. Alec follows her, spies on her, a young man in love. She’s strange though. She swims in freezing water without seeming to feel the cold, won’t give out any personal information, even casually, and spends hours staring at a house across the street.

The latest from Mary Kubica slowly, inexorably reveals the truth, bit by bit. And while I knew the general direction things were headed, there were many clues I missed that only became clear in retrospect. Don’t You Cry is creepy and suspenseful, and will have you questioning things yourself. I didn’t totally love the ending, but it was well done.

 

A Q&A with Judith Hooper, author of Alice in Bed

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alice in bed

Some books don’t hit home with every reader. Our reviewer was interested in the premise of this historical fiction  novel based on the life of Alice James, sister to author Henry and groundbreaking psychologist William, but it wasn’t what she expected. Instead we are posting the Q&A from the author. The reviews on Amazon are pretty good, so check them out to find out more.

 

1. What was it about Alice James personality or profile that provoked you to devote so much time in
writing this book?

Odd as it may sound, I was drawn to the idea of a character with a vivid inner life and (at one point) almosto outer life. I had to imagine how she would entertain herself, what she might think about, what a brilliant, creative mind would do in that situation.

2. Where is the Alice James archive and how much other research did you have to do for the book? Would you say the book is more historical or more focused on fiction?

There is an enormous collection of James family letters at Harvard’s Houghton Library. There are
fascinating letters between Alice to her friend Anne Ashburner in the National Library of Scotland in
Edinburgh, which is accessible online. I read Henry’s novels, family memoirs, and travel writing; Harvard histories; William’s psychological writing; letters and memoirs of other Bostonians of the period. I consulted railroad timetables, 19 th century medical tracts, steamship narratives, and women’s magazine like Godey’s Lady’s Book.

Although I did substantial research, and I tried to remain true to the person Alice James was. Alice in Bed is a work of the imagination. The James family, like many people of the time, burned many of their letters, and I like to think of some events imagined in the novel as the letters that went up in flames.

3. What does the story say about women’s lives in the Alice James era?

The last quarter of the nineteenth was an interesting time for upper class women like Alice James. Women were still denied the vote; there were no female colleges in Alice’s youth; and in the eyes of the world women belonged to the sphere of home (as opposed to “the world”) On the other hand, in reality, women were largely in charge of the arts, and virtually all the charities and social work. In Alice’s day many of the great Boston hostesses were deeply committed to Hegelian philosophy, Ruskin’s artistic theories, and other serious intellectual matters. While late Victorian men saw themselves in charge and running the show, you get the sense that powerful women sometimes ran rings around them. Alice James had access to the most brilliant intellects of her day (including her brothers) and she could joust with the best of them.

5. Are you working on another historically focused novel presently — or what might the reader look
forward to from Judith Hooper?

I’m working on a novel set the present time, but I wouldn’t be averse to writing another historical novel. I’m interested in exploring the World War II era and the 1950s. We’ll see.

6. Did you find yourself drawn to the entire James family while doing research?

Absolutely. It was like having a huge crush; I even dreamt about them. They were unlike any other family. In a way they had their own language. William James, the philosopher and psychologist, was about a hundred years ahead of his time and was so mesmerizing that people stopped talking at dinner parties to listen to him. (He also hypnotized people; sometimes half the guest ended up on the floor.) Henry James was Henry James—the Master. Both were very close to Alice; she adored them and they her (though my novel records several significant quarrels between Alice and the mercurial William). The younger two brothers, who fought in the Civil War, moved to the midwest in their early twenties, so they aren’t as much a part of the story in Alice in Bed. Alice’s father, Henry James Sr. was a mystic and a spellbinding talker and was probably rather psychologically unstable; her mother was more prosaic but extremely capable. I hope readers will have the feeling of eavesdropping on James family dinners. Boston was full of extraordinary characters in the late 1800s and the James family knew them all.

Alice in Bed

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The Mother

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The tragic murder of her only son leaves a woman lost in her grief, wondering how it could have happened.

5M4B disclosure

Yvette Edwards’ new novel The Mother opens on the day of the trial of a seventeen year old boy accused of murdering another teenage boy by brutally stabbing him in the back. Marcia, the mother of the slain sixteen year old boy, is left reeling, trying to fight through her disbelief at her new reality and desperate for answers about her only child’s killing.

Marcia is not completely without support, as her sister is by her side for each day of the trial, after being the person who took control over the funeral and services management when Marcia was too foggy to think clearly. She has also been assigned a “family liaison” representative from the police department who has become more like a friend, taking Marcia where she needs to go and offering emotional support whenever it is needed. Even so, the absence of Marcia’s husband Lloydie has only added to her seemingly endless devastation. He is there, physically, in their home, but he has removed himself entirely when it comes to any emotional communication, and he cannot bring himself to attend the trial. As a result, Marcia is doubly wounded.

Though nothing could ease the pain she’s feeling, Marcia can’t help but long for answers about her son’s death. Nothing makes sense to her, as she feels that she truly knew her son, and he was not the type to get mixed up into trouble. In the depths of her grief, she loses herself to memories of him, unable to make sense of it all.

All mums say their baby was the best and the smartest, I know they do, I’ve heard them, but Ryan really was. He smiled so much, and laughed all the time, even when he was teething, even when he was hot and the dribble was a constant flow and his poor gums so hard and red and swollen he smiled, as if he knew how much his pain distressed me and was trying to make it okay for me, even then. I close my eyes, see him again at that adorable age; sausage arms and legs and fat cheeks so delicious. It washes over me again, a familiar rolling wave of grief, never smaller, or less, or more manageable, regular and constant as the tide. What has happened can never be undone that means it will never be okay. No, this will never be okay.”

The almost stream-of-consciousness flow of much of the text, especially in the beginning of the novel, reads so authentically, making the first-person narrative voice so much more alive. Of course, this is exactly how a heartbroken parent would likely sound, and that voice rings with pain.

Themes of poverty and lack of opportunity are woven into the story behind Ryan’s murder, and the UK setting didn’t differ too much from what one could imagine in a US-based story, except perhaps for the weapon of choice. No matter where the story takes place, the parental loss is the same. Though devastating, this novel was captivating and begged to be read at a quick pace, with the dull pounding of my heart in the background. I’ve already purchased Yvette Edwards’ previous novel A Cupboard Full of Coats on Kindle, as her storytelling greatly impressed me here.

tlc-logo-resizedWe’re happy to be participating in the TLC Book Tour for The Mother.

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Tell Me Three Things

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tell me three thingss

5M4B disclosure

It’s been a long time since I read a book in two days (really, two or three sittings). This was one of those times. I loved Julie Buxbaum’s novel for adults that I read a few years ago, After You, so when I saw she had a new book for young adults coming out, I definitely wanted to read it. The YA genre is not foreign to me, so it wasn’t a stretch for me at all to pick up a book by an author I already knew I enjoyed reading.

In Tell Me Three Things, Jessie moves from Chicago to LA when her dad gets remarried, and she feels totally alone. Her new stepbrother attends the swanky private school her stepmother pays for her to attend, but he doesn’t talk to her. The mean girls — who are also perfectly formed and beautiful — make her feel insecure with their taunts and looks, and on the first day of school she has to introduce herself in all her classes, revealing just how different she is from these rich kids when she shares about her summer working at Smoothie King.

When she gets home, she has an anonymous email from “Somebody Nobody” offering to help her navigate the waters of Wood Valley High School, including telling her whom to befriend (a small select few) and whom to avoid (probably everyone else). These things help, and she likes having a safe place to go to ask questions, but why must he remain anonymous? She and SN begin communicating throughout the day and building a real friendship, but he still refuses to meet her in person.

In the meantime, she makes other real friends — a couple of girlfriends, an English project assignment buddy, and the hot son of the owner of the bookstore where she works. She begins trying to figure out who SN is, and of course, who she really wants him to be. As a reader it was fairly obvious to me from the very beginning, but not 100% confirmed until much later.

I loved this book. The voice was strong, the characters were that wonderful mix of confident and insecure that great YA fiction presents so well and seems true-to-life for many high schoolers.

I don’t like the general YA “12 and up” category. Some YA is 12-year-old fiction, but most YA fiction is appropriate for high schoolers, not middle-schoolers. This novel contains profanity, not a lot and not really superfluous, but the content that is definitely not appropriate for a less mature teen is drinking, drugs and sexual activity. The book is about 16-year-old juniors in high school. Whether or not a particular person chooses to participate in these activities, they are concepts familiar to a real child of that age, whereas a younger child reading about it filters it in a different way.

The Pug List

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the pug list
5M4B disclosure

When I requested a review copy of The Pug List, the following things appealed to me:

  • A story about the redemptive power of pets of which I’m a believer
  • An account of relying on one’s faith to survive hard times, since I’m a Believer

I didn’t realize the following until after I received it, which made me look forward to reading it even more.

  • The author Alison Hodgson is a Moth StorySLAM winner, which means she’s probably funny, but definitely can tell a story and connect with an audience
  • I guess I knew it was a memoir when I requested it, but when I received it and it sat on my TBR shelf, I started thinking it was a novel, so I was surprised once I started reading.

The first chapter is called “Before,” and it puts us right in the present of Alison Hodgson, and the reality of that ignorant bliss, focusing on things that later seemed so inconsequential. Anyone can relate to that. We’ve all been blindsided by something that changes our perspective immediately, whether it’s a cancer diagnosis, the loss of a job, a break in a relationship, or a natural disaster.

She quickly gets to the defining moment — waking in the middle of the night with her whole family in the house to fire alarms clanging and the ultimate realization that her house is on fire. Hodgson shares honestly. She gives details which helped me to understand the true ongoing trauma but never gets tedious or whiny as some memoirs can become.

Her faith is a big part of what helps her survive, as it is for me when I’m in a rough patch, but she shares this element of her struggle in a full manner as well. It never felt as if she was trying to be preachy or holier-than-thou. There are definitely aspects that anyone can take for themselves when facing a difficult situation, but mostly this is just an interesting and heartfelt story about a family’s transition — after surviving a fire and rebuilding, through adolescence, through adding a dog to their family and ultimately, a second dog.

Most of us will not ever have to rebuild our home and our family after a house fire, but Hodgson shares other stories of struggles that they’ve had to overcome to which anyone can identify. I think reading her story will also help me to relate to others going through trials, remembering that regardless how people are holding up on the outside, that tragedy is wearying, and they need support, and help, and sometimes to just be cut a little slack.

When I’m Gone

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WhenImGone

5M4B disclosure

Luke Richardson has just lost the love of his life and mother of his children to cancer. On the day of Natalie’s funeral, Luke finds a blue envelope on the floor with a letter from Natalie, written on the day of her first treatment. Luke treasures the letter, thrilled to have a piece of his wife after her death, and each day that a blue envelope arrives in the mail is like a gift.

As Luke tries to get through his days, taking care of his three children, and eventually returning to work, he looks forward to his letters from Natalie. She instructs him to hire Jessie, a college student whom Natalie befriended while taking classes at the local university, as a nanny for the kids, and to lean on Annie, Natalie’s best friend.

When Luke’s 14 year old son, Will, discovers information in a box of Natalie’s, Luke begins to wonder how well he really knew his wife. Luke also realizes Annie’s marriage to her husband, Brian, isn’t all he thought it was, and brings back memories of his own childhood he’d rather not resurface.

When I’m Gone is a story of a man’s love for his wife, and how he deals with his grief while still living his life. Even as he unearths the truth around the secrets she was keeping from him, he misses her deeply. The truth is shocking but he comes to accept it, and the ending has a positive note to it.

I enjoyed When I’m Gone and was happy to participate in the TLC Book Tour.

tlc-logo-resized

The View from Prince Street

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TheViewfromPrinceStreet

Rae MacDonald has been labeled as a matchmaker with a heart of stone. She insists she’s a family practice psychologist and not a matchmaker, but knows she has put up walls around herself and she doesn’t know how to break them down. Or if she wants to. The death of her sister at a young age, followed by a mistake that has come back into her life, have made her not want to let anyone in.

Lisa Smyth has returned to Alexandria to care for her ailing Aunt Amelia, whose Alzheimer’s means she’s less and less lucid. But during one of those lucid moments, Amelia admits she was adopted, a secret Lisa never knew. As Lisa prepares Amelia’s house to be sold to pay for her medical costs, her memories of the night her best friend –Rae’s sister — died come back, and the desire to drink after 11 years sober is stronger than ever.

Margaret McRae is thrilled when Rae hires her to research her family history, which includes a witch bottle unearthed when Rae knocks down a stone hearth in her yard. Two other witch bottles have been recently recovered, one belonging to Lisa, and the other to Addie, Margaret’s business partner. Margaret is determined to dig into the past and discover what links together the families of the three women.

Part of Margaret’s research includes letters written in the 18th century from Patience McGowan, Rae’s ancestor, to her own mother, telling of a witch who has come to live with her family. The bits and pieces of Patience’s story are strewn throughout the book, giving it a bit of a past-and-present feel to the book. But the majority of the story takes place in the present as Rae and Lisa fight their own demons and work to put their pasts behind them.

The View from Prince Street is the second book in the Alexandria series, but having not read At the Corner of King Street, I did not feel I was missing much. There are references to past events but the main characters from King Street are secondary in this one, with a new group of women as the focus. There are a lot of characters, so I referred often to the family tree at the beginning of the book, and at times it was difficult to keep track of who was who. But Rae and Lisa have their own distinct voices, even with alternating first person narratives. And I’ve added At the Corner of King Street to my ever expanding to-read list.

Michelle reviewed the first two books by Mary Ellen Taylor that take place in Alexandria and follow the McRae sisters. You can read her reviews of The Union Street Bakery and Sweet Expectations if interested.

The Pocket Wife

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the pocket wife

5M4B disclosure

Celia Steinhauser is found dead in a pool of her own blood in her house late one evening by her husband Ronald. Dana Catrell is awakened from her drunken nap by the sound of the siren, and she hurries down the street to see what has happened. She and Celia were just together, drinking too much sangria. Dana thinks they fought but doesn’t remember much else.

Dana has had a hard time, especially since her only son left for college. She feels like a pocket wife**. Whenever she calls her husband Peter, even for something as important as to report the murder of their neighbor, he never has time to talk to her. If he does make time, he slips her (the phone) into his pocket until he can leave his meeting or get off his phone call so that he can give her some attention.

She feels herself slipping into madness, a feeling she remembers from a breakdowns she’s had in the past, though not for many years. She undertakes her own investigation which only leads her to question her own role more closely.

The Pocket Wife follows detective Jack Moss’ investigation into this murder. Instead of there being no suspects as is sometimes the case, there seem to be too many. Dana herself fears she did it and just can’t remember. Peter seems awfully shifty and more concerned about talking to Moss than an innocent person should be. Of course there’s always the husband: Ronald is caught in several lies, has revealed that their marriage was in trouble, and doesn’t really have an alibi.

Author Susan Crawford kept me turning pages. I read the bulk of this novel on a flight, and I’m glad this was the book I brought along, because otherwise I might have sat as stone on my sofa as I needed to find out the resolution to this story. Throughout the novel, I felt as if I knew who the murderer was at different times, but never with complete certainty. She deftly doled out clues and once the true culprit is revealed, it holds up against the narrative.

When I was writing up the review for this paperback release, I noticed that Elizabeth reviewed the book last year when it was released in hardcover. Read her review — they’re always excellent — for another perspective. Realizing that my friend had read the book made me want to discuss it with her, which led me to believe it would be a great book for a book club. You could easily discuss who you thought was guilty and why, who the good guys and the bad guys are, and the question that I kept pondering: were Celia and Dana really friends, and if they were, why did Dana downplay their friendship?

In the notes at the end of the book, the author explains the pocket wife, yet another topic that bears discussion:

I think one of the reasons women are so interested in the meaning of the title is that on some level they already know what it means. They have experienced pocket wifery themselves, or maybe they’ve watched a friend underplay her intellect at a neighborhood barbecue or douse her ambitions with one too many eggnogs at her partner’s Christmas party.

The Big Rewind

by

big rewind

5M4B disclosure

Jett Bennett lives in the super-hip Barter Neighborhood of New York City in her grandmother’s rent-controlled apartment. Barter neighborhood is filled with people loosely connected, sort of friends, and they all trade goods and are ironically into retro things. One of Jett’s sort-of friends is her downstairs neighbor Kit-Kat, who bakes “enhanced” brownies (everybody from Oregon got that) and trades in old video games. Jett gets a mix-tape in her mailbox meant for Kit-Kat, and when she takes it to her, she finds her neighbor lying in front of her pink oven, her head bashed in with her marble rolling pin.

Jett wanted to be a music journalist but the only job she’s found is temping as a proofreader for a team of private detectives. She and her best friend, Sid, love binge-watching TV cop shows, so when Kit-Kat’s sister tearfully begs her to find the real killer, she agrees, even asking her boss for tips. And so begins a story that is part ‘tec novel and part hipster commentary and part funny and part sad and all in all a novel about love and community, connections, and what it means to truly know another human being.

Libby Cudmore is a great writer, and she make me wish I knew more music. She’s great at descriptions too. One example: “The bar was a Tom Waits song come to life: cramped and dimly lit with rickety tables…and a pull-knob cigarette machine.” (128) There’s an echo of the classic noir styles of Raymond Chandler or Erle Gardner in her writing style, but she’s also very modern and ironic, and pulls no punches when it comes to looking for love.

The Big Rewind also comments on what it means to really be friends in our age of social media when no one needs to ever lose touch with everyone. Jett, musing on lost loves, makes the  connection between her generation’s love of vinyl records and vintage aprons, with the fact that nothing digital ever needs to be thrown away, that there are no used mp3 stores where you can flip through other people’s song choices.

The Big Rewind is funny, moving, tender and hard-boiled at times too. Whether it’s a group of hipsters collecting egg-free and casein-free cookies for a friend who’s in trouble, or Jett and Sid microwaving dinner from Trader Joe’s while he tells her how he’s found true love with a stripper who has a trust fund and is getting a degree in womyns’ studies, the plot has lots to enjoy. Yet it manages to muse on the meaning of true love without slipping too far into sentimentality–although I would like to have seen some long-term relationships make the cut. All in all, it’s an enjoyable read that I highly recommend as a fun way to pass the weekend. And it will make you get out your vinyl–or at least your old music from high school and college, and relive the days when a mix tape was better than talking about your feelings.

Breaking Wild

by

breaking wild

5M4B disclosure

Amy Raye is out in the wilderness on an elk hunt with her good friends Kenny and Aaron. It’s the end of the season and their trip. Her friends have already tagged theirs, so Amy Raye decides to head out on her own with her bow — her weapon of choice — to get hers.

The snow had stopped falling, but its moisture still coated the air. She drank a large cup of coffee, then poured another, more for the warmth than the caffeine. Silence hovered over her like a tarpaulin. The wilderness wasn’t asleep. She knew it had awoken with her first stirring, was waiting for her next move, watching her. Its stillness was a sure sign.

–Breaking Wild egalley

She hits one, but not fatally. As she tracks the animal through the woods, she begins to realize coming out on her own was a mistake on her part. The changes in elevation and direction she makes as she follows the dying animal confuse her. The snow and cloud cover adds to it. Her flashlight dies and she did not bring replacement batteries. The quick breakfast she ate at the truck before heading out has worn off. It’s getting dark. She’s cold, hungry, and lost.

The determination that it takes for Amy Raye to stay alive and her many hours alone causes her to turn inward, rethinking her recent past, specifically the mistakes she’s made that have estranged her from her husband Farrell. She has considered leaving him, wondering if he was just not the man she needed, that he was somehow too kind for her.

When Amy Raye is reported missing, Pru is the first on the case. She and her dog Kona follow the scent through the woods, but it’s soon lost and covered by fresh snow. Pru also has made mistakes in her life as she’s raised her son on her own. One area about which she feels absolutely confident is her work on rescue. She always finds the missing person. One time she found a body, but she usually has found the missing alive. She does not want to give up on Amy Raye’s case. She wants to understand why she set off on her own and what exactly happened. She doesn’t want to wait for the spring thaw to find a body. She wants closure, both for the investigation and for Amy Raye’s family.

Breaking Wild is a great combination of a mystery and an adventure/finding oneself type of story. I was hooked from the beginning. The alternating narratives from Pru and Amy Raye build the suspense as Pru continues the search for missing hunter Amy Raye. Author Diane Les Becquets uses flashbacks to the past to give us more detail about each of these women in a seamless way. The descriptive and beautiful prose just adds to the experience of reading this novel.

What the Waves Know

by

What the Waves Know

5M4B disclosure

Every so often you read a book that sticks with you. And while you’re reading it, you know it will stick with you. What the Waves Know by Tamara Valentine is one such book.

Izabella Heywood worships her father. At age 6, she believes his fantastical dreams, crazy adventures, and claiming to hear woodland sprites are all there is to life. But when she yells at him to go away in a fit of anger and he then disappears, she blames herself. Iz stops speaking, terrified her voice will inflict more damage on her loved ones.

8 years later, Iz’s mother, Zorrie, has gone through doctors, therapies, and countless words of advice without successfully bringing back her daughter’s voice. She decides to take Iz back to the scene of the fateful night on Tillings, an island off the coast of Rhode Island, and is joined by her own mother, a hippie who is the polar opposite of her straight-laced daughter.

As Iz, her mother, and her grandmother settle into island life, Iz becomes intrigued by Remy, their neighbor who also runs the island ferry and knew Iz’s father, and Riley, a handsome teenage boy who seems to hate her for no reason. Iz gets the feeling that the locals know more about what happened to her father than she does. Memories slowly come back to her, and she overhears conversations that distort her perception of her father and cause her to come to a new appreciation of her mother.

What the Waves Know takes place in the early 1970s, though it could easily be set today, except for the understanding of mental illness that exists today. References are made to Iz’s father not taking his medication, and it becomes clear to the reader that he had an imbalance of some kind.

Before reading What the Waves Know I wasn’t familiar with the legend of Yemaya, the Santeria Goddess considered the mother of all who lives and rules over the seas, or the Nikommo, tiny woodland sprites that it is said only descendants of the Wampanoag can hear. I love stories that intertwine this type of mythology. Tillings even has an annual Festival of Yemaya where they pay tribute to the goddess, and I enjoyed the way the story culminated on the festival day.

Iz is 14 when she tells her story, though she’s not a typical teenager. Being unable to speak means she doesn’t have many friends, and it’s painful sharing her terrified feelings of what will happen if she speaks. An adult’s perspective figures some things out before Iz does but experiences them along with her. And while the protagonist is a teenager this is not a YA book as it explores some adult themes, though I think older teenagers could handle it.

I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

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