Audio Books~ November 2013

SUMMARY :

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.




I TOOK A NOTION to collect some audio books for listening over the next couple of weeks.  I have a love hate relationship with them.  First of all, I see them as a convenience more than a pleasure...  When I grab one, it's usually because I want desperately to read a certain book, but can't find a way to fit it into my otherwise slammed schedule. 

I tend often to find the narrator's voice grating.  Rarely do I find it fits the tone of the book.  When it does, it's really a slam dunk.  When it fails badly, it can completely ruin a book for me.  Usually, it's just a tinnitus in the background that I can learn to live with after a couple of chapters.

It's a wonder to me when I come across blogs and vlogs with those who spend a good deal of time "reading" audio books.  Where do they listen to them?  What are they doing when they listen?  I find it unbearable to just sit still and listen.  I have to be doing something.  The times I've traveled and listened to a book on CD have been the most rewarding to me.  I also knit, do needlework and quilt while I listen.  I really do wonder what others do...

Audio books are a sort of necessary evil to me.  I love the convenience of them, and their being available as a sideline when I can't get time to read the book I've had on a long list.  I applaud the good they do to a community of booklovers who may be unable to get to books or read them otherwise. 

This week, I've been tasting a couple and thoroughly enjoying myself.  I'll just share them in summary here and say that I recommend them highly.  :]

SUMMARY :

The brilliant new novel in the New York Times bestselling series by Louise Penny, one of the most acclaimed crime writers of our time

 

No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as “the beautiful mystery.”

 

But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery’s massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. One of the brothers, in this life of  prayer and contemplation, has been contemplating murder. As the peace of the monastery crumbles, Gamache is forced to confront some of his own demons, as well as those roaming the remote corridors. Before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.

Winner of the 2012 Agatha Award for Best Novel

OVERVIEW:

"It is 1940. France has fallen. Bombs are dropping on London. And President Roosevelt is promising he won't send our boys to fight in "foreign wars." "But American radio gal Frankie Bard, the first woman to report from the Blitz in London, wants nothing more than to bring the war home. Frankie's radio dispatches crackle across the Atlantic Ocean, imploring listeners to pay attention - as the Nazis bomb London nightly, and Jewish refugees stream across Europe. Frankie is convinced that if she can just get the right story, it will wake Americans to action and they will join the fight."

 "Meanwhile, in Franklin, Massachusetts, a small town on Cape Cod, Iris James hears Frankie's broadcasts and knows that it is only a matter of time before the war arrives on Franklin's shores. In charge of the town's mail, Iris believes that her job is to deliver and keep people's secrets, passing along the news that letters carry. And one secret she keeps are her feelings for Harry Vale, the town mechanic, who inspects the ocean daily, searching in vain for German U-boats he is certain will come. Two single people in midlife, Iris and Harry long ago gave up hope of ever being in love, yet they find themselves unexpectedly drawn toward each other."

 "Listening to Frankie as well are Will and Emma Fitch, the town's doctor and his new wife, both trying to escape fragile childhoods and forge a brighter future. When Will follows Frankie's siren call into the war, Emma's worst fears are realized. Promising to return in six months, Will goes to London to offer his help, and the lives of the three women entwine."

Alternating between an America still cocooned in its inability to grasp the danger at hand and a Europe being torn apart by war, The Postmistress gives us two women who find themselves unable to deliver the news, and a third woman desperately waiting for news yet afraid to hear it.


 

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO LATELY?

WHAT DO YOU DO WHILE LISTENING?  Just curious....


Deborah/TheBookishDame

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"The Imposter Bride" by Nancy Richler~Beautifully Written...

SUMMARY:

The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler is an unforgettable novel about a mysterious mail-order bride in the wake of WWII, whose sudden decision ripples through time to deeply impact the daughter she never knew.

In the wake of World War II, a young, enigmatic woman named Lily arrives in Montreal on her own, expecting to be married to a man she’s never met. But, upon seeing her at the train station, Sol Kramer turns her down. Out of pity, his brother Nathan decides to marry her instead, and pity turns into a deep—and doomed—love. It is immediately clear that Lily is not who she claims to be. Her attempt to live out her life as Lily Azerov shatters when she disappears, leaving a new husband and a baby daughter with only a diary, a large uncut diamond – and a need to find the truth...

Who is Lily and what happened to the young woman whose identity she stole? Why has she left and where did she go? It's up to the daughter Lily abandoned to find the answers to these questions, as she searches for the mother she may never find or truly know.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK:

Published by:  St. Martin's Press
Pages:  368
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Author:  Nancy Richler
Website:  http://nancyrichler.com
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

NANCY RICHLER's short fiction has been published in various American and Canadian literary journals, including The Fiddlehead, Room of One’s Own, and The New Quarterly. Her previous novel, Your Mouth is Lovely, published in eleven countries, won the 2003 Canadian Jewish Book Award for fiction and Italy’s 2004 Adei Wizo Award. Nancy is the cousin of the famed Canadian writer and literary critic Mordechai Richler. She lives in Montreal.



THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

What could be more heart-breaking than to arrive in a strange town after a grueling journey, only to find those you hoped would greet and accept you warmly reject you?  Such is the beginning of this novel.  Nancy Richler holds us spell-bound in a trance showing us the pain of rejection, and then the humility of being taken up by another in a town that has its "eye" on you.  I was cringing and feeling for the protagonist from the start.  But, more than that, I was caught up in the beautiful writing of this author.

This is a psychological novel of loss and redemption.  We are told bits and pieces of the story through the characters, but mostly through the eyes of Lily's daughter, Ruth.  Throughout the novel, the author focuses on the emotional and psychological responses of her characters to the situations they find themselves in.  She highlights mother-daughter relationships throughout. She also focuses on the cultural "heritage" and abuse the Jewish community has  experienced through the horrors of WWII.

Nancy Richler is an author whom I highly regard.  Her style is strong and her prose is beautiful.  I love the strength with which she draws Lily.  Lily is not a victim of her time and circumstances, rather she is a heroine, a strong and educated woman, and a woman who chooses her path in life.  While her choices are not always those all of us would make, we still recognize the courage and will to survive in Lily.  Richler examines this spirit of humanity in the face of what seems or is real impending "death," whether physical, emotional or psychological.  An amazing study.  Lily's resilient spirit is seen, as well, in Ruth's tenacity to find the mystery of who her mother was and why she left her as a child.

While I started out thinking this was just another book about a WWII refugee war bride, I came away with much more.  This is a novel I can strongly recommend for the reasons stated above.  The story is captivating, but the writing is amazing!

5 stars               Deborah/TheBookishDame

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Author Lisa April Smith tours "Exceeding Expectations" and Sequel with Interview!

SUMMARY :

It's 1961 and Palm Beach socialite, irresistible rascal and devoted father Jack Morgan encounters genuine danger while staging his suicide to shield his beloved daughters from scandal and disgrace. Next, meet his daughter Charlotte (Charlie), an over-indulged 23 year-old struggling to cope with the loss of her beloved father, her sister's resulting mental breakdown and the discovery that she's now penniless. Fortunately Raul, an admiring young attorney, offers assistance to the traumatized young woman, who can joke about her inadequacies. As terrified as she is about paying for her sister's costly treatment and her own daily survival, Charlie soon realizes that she must learn what drove her father to kill himself. With Raul's much needed ego-bolstering, she pursues a career that makes practical use of her lanky 5' 11" frame. Despite roadblocks and emotional upheavals, she embarks on an ocean-spanning journey that leads to a family she doesn't know, distressing truths about her father, crimes great and small, a diabolical villain and a fireworks of surprise...


Buy Exceeding Expectations the E-book at Amazon.com  or Barnes&Noble.com                                            


Buy Exceeding Expectations in Paperback at Amazon.com




FIND AN EXCERPT OF CHAPTER ONE ON THE AUTHOR'S WEBSITE HERE:

http://www.lisaaprilsmith.com





ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Lisa April Smith lives with her husband, He-who-wishes-to-remain-anonymous, in Eternal Playland, Florida, a delightful spot just off I-95. Ms. Smith describes Eternal Playland as: "a little piece of level heaven with occasional dampness, where the bugs are plentiful but respectful, and even the smallest strip mall contains at least one pizza place and a nail salon."

 Past work experience includes designing software and managing projects for IBM, selling plumbing and heating and antiques, teaching ballroom dancing and modeling. Lately, in addition to writing page-turners, this author enjoys corresponding with fans, spending time with her family, encouraging her fiercely independent orchids and rearranging antiques. (Having run out of space, Ms. Smith no longer permits herself to add to her collection.)




A BOOKISH LIBRARIA HAPPILY BRINGS YOU THIS INTERVIEW OF MS SMITH TODAY!!


So, Lisa, it's so good to have you back with us this summer for an interview about your fantastic "Exceeding Expectations" series.  I need to mention the second book of that series, "Paradise Misplaced," which just topped the whole mystery off.  I loved the story and wish you would keep it going!!  But, I know you're moving on to other exciting things.  Let's talk about you and your plans...

1. Tell us something about yourself, please.  How do most people describe you?

Lisa: Depending on how well they know me and in what context, they would describe me as a diligent (compulsive), disciplined (obsessive), eager to learn (academic geek), motivated (impatient), ordinary woman who adores her family (and can’t stop bragging about them).

 

2. Briefly, where did the idea for your novel germinate?

Lisa: My first three books began with fascinating characters I’ve read about in newspapers. I didn’t use their childhoods, physical appearances or personalities.  I’ve never met any of them. There’s was just something about their stories that sent my imagination into overdrive. I wasn’t going to do something that I’ve seen before. No naïve/good-hearted hookers, like the protagonists in Pretty Woman or Sweet Charity.      

Take Exceeding Expectations as an example. Back a few years, Floridatelevision and newspapers were reporting a story of a local Palm Beach socialite (Stephen Fagan) arrested for kidnapping his daughters eighteen years earlier, when they were 2 and 5 years old. The primary reason that it had taken eighteen years to find Fagan was that he had successfully reinvented himself. As William S. Martin, a handsome widower with two young daughters and no apparent means of support, Fagan had met and married a wealthy Palm Beach widow. After their divorce, another affluent woman agreed to wed and maintain his family’s plush lifestyle.

Neighbors, friends and the teachers at the girls’ tony  private school all described him as “likeable,” “charming” and “devoted father.” Throughout his arrest and subsequent proceedings, his loyal third wife steadfastly stood by him, as did both daughters. Perhaps what most surprised people who followed the case was that the girls’ mother, a research scientist teaching at the University of Virginia, through the media and her attorney, repeatedly begged her daughters to meet with her and they refused. To my knowledge, that continues to this day.

As I was following the case I found myself thinking that there was an even juicier story using a few core facts. A man with an invented name and history, twice married to wealthy widows, living in Palm Beach, playground of the mega-rich and famous, and involved in a crime. Two adoring daughters unaware of their true identities. Over time my imagination happily supplied the rest. A townhouse off Fifth Avenue. A sprawling estate in Virginia. Romantic Paris in the years prior to WWII. A riveting past for Jack Morgan: skilled lover, lack-luster artist and irresistible rascal. A full-blown range of challenges and hard-wrought triumphs for his traumatized daughter Charlotte (Charlie).     

 

Who first told you that you could write well, and how did it affect you?

Lisa:  One of my elementary school teachers. Probably in 5th or 6th grade. I showed her a play I had written and she insisted on my class performing it for the entire school. (A very small school.) How did that affect me? I don’t know. I think I already knew that I wrote well for a kid and not nearly as well as authors of the books I loved. I was more concerned that I was dreadful in geography. Other kids knew that Italywas in Europe and that Europewasn’t a country. I had no clue. 

 

Which contemporary authors do you most admire?

Lisa: Khaled Hosseini: favorite book, The Kite Runner

  Edward Rutherford: favorite book, Russka

  Sara Gruen: favorite book, Water for Elephants (I adore anything to do with the circus, side-shows and carnivals, but NOT Disneyland. Disneyland is too antiseptic to me).

 

Which are your favorite classical authors?

Lisa: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Marcel Proust, Guy de Maupassant – if you like pithy wry, read his short stories, and Louisa May Alcott. When I was kid I read and loved everything she wrote. I absolutely saw myself in Jo March. I was the independent tomboy who enjoyed staging plays and “scribbling.”   

 

Jump into any book which character would you be?

Lisa:  While I saw myself as Jo March, Little Women, she didn’t have the adventurous life that I dream about. I hope this doesn’t sound too egotistical, but I would like to be Charlie, at the end of Paradise Misplaced. She’s going to travel the world, hobnob with the rich, famous and infamous, be knee-deep in fabulous art, expose theft and fraud, win respect for her expertise, love passionately, be hurt many times and recover, all the while keeping a self-deprecating view of herself.

 

If you could have 5 historical people to dinner, who would they be?  What would you have to eat?

Lisa:  Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth I and Woody Allen. I could rely on Woody to ask far better questions than I could. He and Samuel Clemens would bond immediately. As for food, it would have to catered. I wouldn’t want to waste a single minute in the kitchen and I’d serve twenty courses, like a Chinese feast, so that the meal would go on for hours.    

 

Read any good books in the past 6 months?

Lisa: One comes to mind immediately - New York: The Novel, by Edward Rutherford

       

Favorite two tv shows:

Lisa:  How about three favorites? “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Fashion Star” and “Alaska: The Last Frontier.” How’s that for an eclectic range? Maybe not. The first two showcase incredibly talented creative people – dancers, choreographers and dress designers. But “Alaska: TLF” is decidedly outside the box. Life in Alaska is a contact sport. The program appeals to both my love of adventure and my admiration for the resourceful, determined, kind, intelligent people. 

 

Favorite movie of all time:

Lisa:  I adore good movies. Some plots and characters stay with me forever. I love almost every Woody Allen film that I’ve seen. “Sweet and Low Down” might be my favorite, or “Radio Days” or “Hanahh and Her Sisters.” Regrettably, I’ve missed a few. He’s done 61 to date. And I also have to include “The Man with Two Brains” a wacky hilarious movie. (After rereading this I know I should’ve chosen a serious movie (“To Kill a Mockingbird” “Gone with the Wind”) or a musical, I adore musicals (“Gigi”, “Chicago”) . . .  I’d better stop. You did ask for only one. 

    

Are you working on a new book?

Lisa:  Positively. Of course, it’s going to be my best to date. It’s an epic novel set in ancient Chinatentatively titled The Storytellers. 

 

Anything else you would like to add or share with us?

Lisa:  Thank you for asking, Deb. I’d like readers to know that Exceeding Expectationshas a sequel, Paradise Misplaced, which also received amazing reviews. 

 

 

Thanks for this witty and thoughtful interview, Lisa.  I have to go back and watch some of those old Woody Allen movies.  They are classics...  I can see that type of quick  humor in your books.

 

 

******************************************************************************

THE DAME'S REVIEW OF "EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS" :

 

Charlie, a girl in her early 20's, is just another over-indulged, wealthy daughter of Palm Beach who's major concerns are horses, parties and gossip. Then, her father commits suicide, her sister has a mental breakdown and her posh step-mother leaves them penniless. The beautiful life comes to a dead halt, and Charlie, who never even learned to wash dishes, has to get a job.

When Charlie sets out to discover why her beloved, pampering father would abandon them, knowingly leaving her sister and her without a means of support, she discovers more than she ever could image about him, herself and her abilities to "exceed expectations." She also discovers that PB society may not always get it right about love and class, when she meets and gets help from the brilliant young lawyer, Andy Garcia clone, Raul. Armed with Raul's encouragement, her own pride and tenacity, Charlie uses her only skill; modelling, to help finance herself and her sister while she travels from Palm Beach to NYC, across the US and to Paris in search of some answers.

I appreciate Lisa Smith as a seasoned author with astute writing skills after having read and reviewed her "Dangerous Lies" last year. She has a brilliance for conveying characters, and the intellectual capacity to place them in historical settings that sparkle with glamorous detail.

In fact, it's the authentic details of the time-periods that make it fun to read Lisa's book as it skips from Charlie's current days of the late 1950's and early '60's to the past Palm Beach and Manhattan, with hints of Sister Parish's posh interior designs, famous museums and artists, the fashions of different eras, vintage cars and high society parties. Her historical and fictitious characters work in sync as they are perfectly set in these time frames, and midst the transitory madness of WWs I and II Paris.

Lisa Smith's writing isn't over-blown with emotion and sappy romance; rather, it is sophisticated and subtle. It's witty, fun and sassy. There's love of family; and, there are affairs of the heart, pain and anxieties that accompany romantic relationships in difficult times, intrigue and madness. I loved this kettle of mystery and suspense that dominates her characters.

I'm a fan of Ms Smith's. I love a good story with interesting characters, a mystery and a romance that's not over-the-top but that rests securely in reality. I like foreign intrigue and the sophistication of art and society. Most of all, I so appreciate an intelligent author of worldly experience! If you do, too, you'll love "Exceeding Expectations." This book has a sequel which I'm dying to read!

5 soaring stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

       

Please follow this link to find my full review of this book last year on A Bookish Libraria: 
http://abookishlibraria.blogspot.com/2012/09/paradise-misplaced-by-lisa-april-smith.html

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"The Gods of Heavenly Punishment" by Jennifer Cody Epstein~Chilling and Engaging

SUMMARY :

A lush, exquisitely rendered meditation on war, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment tells the story of several families, American and Japanese, their loves and infidelities, their dreams and losses, and how they are all connected by one of the most devastating acts of war in human history.

In this evocative and thrilling epic novel, fifteen-year-old Yoshi Kobayashi, child of Japan’s New Empire, daughter of an ardent expansionist and a mother with a haunting past, is on her way home on a March night when American bombers shower her city with napalm—an attack that leaves one hundred thousand dead within hours and half the city in ashen ruins. In the days that follow, Yoshi’s old life will blur beyond recognition, leading her to a new world marked by destruction and shaped by those considered the enemy: Cam, a downed bomber pilot taken prisoner by the Imperial Japanese Army; Anton, a gifted architect who helped modernize Tokyo’s prewar skyline but is now charged with destroying it; and Billy, an Occupation soldier who arrives in the blackened city with a dark secret of his own. Directly or indirectly, each will shape Yoshi’s journey as she seeks safety, love, and redemption.

PARTICULARS OF THIS BOOK :

Twitter Hashtag: #HeavenlyPunishmentTour
Publication Date: March 11, 2013
Published by:  W.W. Norton & Company
Hardcover; 384p
ISBN-10: 039307157X
Author:  Jennifer Cody Epstein
Website:  http://www.jennifercodyepstein.com


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

I am an unrepentant book addict and the author of The Gods of Heavenly Punishment, as well as the international bestseller The Painter from Shanghai. I have also written for The Wall Street Journal, The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Nation (Thailand), Self and Mademoiselle magazines, and the NBC and HBO networks, working in Kyoto, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok as well as Washington D.C. and New York. I’ve taught at Columbia University in New York and Doshisha University in Kyoto, and have an MFA from Columbia, a Masters of International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a BA in Asian Studies/English from Amherst College. I currently live in Brooklyn, NY with my husband, filmmaker Michael Epstein, my two amazing daughters and an exceptionally needy Springer Spaniel.



INTERVIEW WITH MS EPSTEIN!!!

We are pleased to be able to bring you this personal interview today with Jennifer Cody Epstein.  Thanks for taking time out from your very busy schedule to be with us, Jennifer!  Let's start out...

1)      Tell us something about yourself, please.  How do most people describe you?

Hmmm….honestly? I’d say it depends on the person. My friends might describe me as thoughtful, chatty, self-deprecating, bookish, in love with shoes and always up for a night out. My husband would say I’m terrible in the morning (which I guess goes with the up-for-a-night-out thing), not the world’s best housekeeper (ha!) but a good best friend and mother. My dog (whom I consider an honorary person) would say I’m awesome.

2)     Briefly, from where did the idea for your novel germinate?

Ever since living in Japan (which I did for five years) I’ve been fascinated by the US/Japan dynamic and our complicated but incredibly rich history together. I knew I wanted to write about it, but I didn’t really know where to start until my husband—who is a filmmaker--came back from an interview he’d just conducted with a military lawyer on the topic of war crimes. He told me that the Tokyo firebombing is widely considered to fall into that category today and asked me what I knew about it—which (to my chagrin), I realized was very little. So I began to research the event, and was floored by both how profoundly destructive it was and how little anyone seems to know about it in general.

3)     Who first told you that you could write well, and how did it affect you?

Miss Markey, my creative writing teacher in third grade, was the first one to really encourage me with my writing, though my sixth-grade teacher Mr. Kahane was also super-supportive. He helped me win the coveted “Author’s Corner” spot in our middle school, where I had a short story I’d written—I think it was about a magic swingset—posted on the wall by the principle’s office. Along with an appropriately broody-looking author’s photo.

4)     Which contemporary authors do you most admire?

That’s such a hard question, since I admire so many of them. I’d have to say Jennifer Egan is somewhere at the top, however—I find the craft of her sentences truly breathtaking. I love Sarah Waters’ work as well—The Night Watch was one of my favorite books in recent years. And Toni Morrison has written two of my favorite books ever: The Bluest Eye and Beloved. I also really admire the works of Joanna Hershon and Hillary Jordan, both of whom I am lucky enough to share work with.

5)     Which are your favorite classical authors?

If you can consider Nabakov classical, I’d say he tops my list—he’s got an ability to both innovate in his storytelling and manipulate the English language in a way no other author I know can do (and English wasn't even his first language!). Lewis Carroll is also a longstanding favorite, as is Edith Wharton and Henry James.

6)     Jump into any book~which character would you be?

Another tricky question! I’d say at the moment, though, I’d opt for Ursula Todd in Kate Atkinson’s most recent novel Life After Life. She does die several grisly deaths in the book, but the fact that she gets to keep coming back and try living again over and over gives her character’s storyline extra bang-for-the-buck. Plus, she kills Hitler.

7)     If you could have 5 historical people to dinner, who would they be?  What would you have to eat?

Pan Yuliang, the prostitute-turned-painter who became one of China’s early pioneers of Western-style painting (and the subject of my first novel) would be one of them for sure. Anais Nin would be another. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald seem like they’d be interesting and entertaining additions. And lastly, since we’d need another guy, James Doolittle—the dashing aviation legend who led the 1943 Doolittle Raid to Japan (which I explore in The Gods of Heavenly Punishment).  To eat we’d probably have French food, including really pungent cheese, foie gras and some super-decadent dessert.  

8)     Read any good books in the past 6 months?

Life After Life was, as I said, really wonderful and a very unique reading experience. I also loved Joanna Hershon’s A Dual Inheritance, which I read in the early draft stages but got to read as a finished novel this winter. I loved Butterfly’s Child by Angela Davis-Gardner, and Debra Dean’s The Mirrored World, and also really enjoyed Karen Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove and Heidi Julavits’ The Vanishers.

9)     Favorite two tv shows:

A month ago I (like almost everyone else I know) would have said Game of Thrones was one, but it’s gotten so violent that I haven’t been able to bring myself to turn it on for the last couple of episodes! I’m going into Tyrion Lannister/Peter Dinkel withdrawal, however, so I think I may have to just suck it up and go back to it one of these days. The other show that’s become something of an obsession for my family is Once Upon A Time, which follows a small New England town that happens to be full of fairy tale characters. I love it because it’s engaging for all of us without being too “adult” for my kids, who are 9 and 12.

10)  Favorite movie of all time:

La Dolce Vita.

11)   Are you working on a new book?

I’m actually researching two (!) One is set in California and Germany, the other in Southeast Asia. I haven’t figured out which one I want to write yet—or maybe which one I want to write first. They’re very different thematically, though both will have historical elements to them.

12)  Anything else I forgot to ask you?

I don’t think so….but thanks for some fun and thought-provoking questions!

 

Such interesting answers!  I'm particularly intrigued by your favorite "La Dolce Vita" movie!  And, it's fun to see who you'd have for dinner...great choices there.  I'd love to be a part of that one.  Zelda is one of my favorite historical figures.  I hope I get a chance to read one or both of your new books when they come out.  I'll be the first in line, Jennifer!

 

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

Chilling, absorbing, unique, humorous and heart-breaking.  All those adjectives come to mind when I think to describe Jennifer Cody Epstein's book "The God's of Heavenly Punishment."  It's part historical account churned with love stories and family dysfunction.  It's character-driven in the most powerful of ways.  This is a book I will remember among the many this year.

 

I have read several accounts of the war between America and Japan, but none so specifically personal as this one.  The characters are captivating, as immediate relationships with the reader are cultivated.  The impact of their stories is both devastating in parts and heart-tugging.  I found each of them immensely engaging; some endearing, and some stone cold hateful.  The humorous moments take one by surprise in several instances. Either way, it was as if I couldn't tear my eyes away from them.

 

This is a novel told in sections from the perspectives of the different nationalities/countries and characters, which gives it an even more significant impact.  Because of the way Epstein chose to structure her story, I was sympathetic to both sides, as well as to the neutral view.  War in all it's human drama was staggering in her hands, sometimes brutal and sometimes drawing out the best in people with love.

 

"The Gods of Heavenly Punishment" is a show-stopper of a book.  You won't be able to put it down once you start reading.  It halted my life for hours. 

 

I recommend this book to everyone without reservation.  It's a very adult book in the sense that it's written with intelligence and aplomb.  You can't help but be taken in by its significance and engaging quality.  I loved it!

 

5+ stars                            Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

This review and interview are brought to you in cooperation with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, although the review is strictly my own opinion and have no bearing on that fact.

Please find more information, reviews, guest posts and interviews by clicking on this link to their website:  http://hfvirtualbooktours.com

 

 

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"Dream When You're Feeling Blue" by Elizabeth Berg~Young Women in Chicago WWII

SUMMARY:

New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Berg takes us to Chicago at the time of World War II in this wonderful story about three sisters, their lively Irish family, and the men they love.

As the novel opens, Kitty and Louise Heaney say good-bye to their boyfriends Julian and Michael, who are going to fight overseas. On the domestic front, meat is rationed, children participate in metal drives, and Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller play songs that offer hope and lift spirits. And now the Heaney sisters sit at their kitchen table every evening to write letters–Louise to her fiancé, Kitty to the man she wishes fervently would propose, and Tish to an ever-changing group of men she meets at USO dances. In the letters the sisters send and receive are intimate glimpses of life both on the battlefront and at home. For Kitty, a confident, headstrong young woman, the departure of her boyfriend and the lessons she learns about love, resilience, and war will bring a surprise and a secret, and will lead her to a radical action for those she loves. The lifelong consequences of the choices the Heaney sisters make are at the heart of this superb novel about the power of love and the enduring strength of family.


AUDIO BOOK/PARTICULARS:

Produced by:  Random House
Discs:  8
Hours:  10
Cost:  $44
Author:  Elizabeth Berg
Also comes in novel format
Can be purchased:  Amazon


ABOUT MS BERG:

 

Elizabeth Berg won the NEBA Award for fiction for her body of work, and was a finalist for the ABBY for Talk Before Steep. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, and the New York Times Magazine. She has also taught a writing workshop at Radcliffe College. She lives near Boston, Massachusetts.

 

 

BOOK TRAILER:

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THE DAME'S REVIEW:

Captivating story read by author Elizabeth Berg!  As most of you know, I love stories set in WWII.  This one was no exception.  The "voice" given by the writer of the book made it all the more real, and lifted the spirit of her book into my heart.  This is an audio book well worthwhile.

Characters here are so alive.  Kitty and Louise, the older sisters just break your heart in their strength of spirit and love for their sweethearts. And little sister Tish is a scream with her "just over" teen-aged shenanigans so typical of girls her age in any era.   Their interactions with young soldiers typify the times, and they also bring into mind our times with young men separated from their families and loved ones.  This is a book that really touched me at the core.

Other characters such as the girls' little brothers and parents also became personal to me.  Especially the little brother who felt the war so desperately in his own spirit.  They struggled in other ways than the girls, but the whole family was affected by the war.  The storyline is moving and it's the characters who clutch you as you read.

Elizabeth Berg has been writing best selling books for years.  I have to say that I haven't been reading them.  Sometimes I drag my feet when too many people are reading a book, especially best sellers.  I'm one who likes to pick out a book that isn't getting a lot of hype...find a hidden gem, I guess.  I'm glad I found this one.  And, I intend to go back and find Berg's other books. I'm sorry I missed her on the first go-round.

If you like women's history set in fiction and from the perspective of WWII, you can't miss this one.
I listened to it on a round trip to pick my mother up 5 hours away.  She also enjoyed the last bit.  It's a book for women about women left home when their men are far away and in danger.  Women who love and support them, though their hearts are slightly broken...women who "dream when they're feeling blue."

You'll love this one on audio!

5 stars                 Deborah/TheBookishDame

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Book Hauls! A Month of Books for Review!

 

HUGE!!!  MONTH LONG book hauls!!

 

Whether it seemed like it or not, I was away for nearly a month helping my mom get organized and doing some errands for her over February and part of this month.  Meanwhile, the books kept coming in from my dear publishers and authors!  I am so grateful, but am now backlogged with books to read and review, once again.  Here are some of the ones I love, and I think there may be a couple of books I've shown you before, but bear with me....

 

 

Front and center, of course...  I bought this one before it was published, naturally.  My favorite author.  I've yet to start it because I've been catching up on my reviewing commitments, but I'm hoping to get to it later this week.  It's going to be a marathon read.  One of Ms Oates gothic novels!  She can be the new Edgar Allen Poe, you know...

 

A Small Summary:

 

"A major historical novel from "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation)—an eerie, unforgettable story of possession, power, and loss in early-twentieth-century Princeton, a cultural crossroads of the powerful and the damned.

Princeton, New Jersey, at the turn of the twentieth century: a tranquil place to raise a family, a genteel town for genteel souls. But something dark and dangerous lurks at the edges of the town, corrupting and infecting its residents. Vampires and ghosts haunt the dreams of the innocent. A powerful curse besets the elite families of Princeton; their daughters begin disappearing. A young bride on the verge of the altar is seduced and abducted by a dangerously compelling man–a shape-shifting, vaguely European prince who might just be the devil, and who spreads his curse upon a richly deserving community of white Anglo-Saxon privilege. And in the Pine Barrens that border the town, a lush and terrifying underworld opens up..."

 

 

 

A book that's already targeted to be one of the best of 2013.  I'm so excited to have received this one from Little, Brown!  Here's something about it:

 

"On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the third child of a wealthy English banker and his wife. Sadly, she dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Clearly history (and Kate Atkinson) have plans for her: In Ursula rests nothing less than the fate of civilization.

Wildly inventive, darkly comic, startlingly poignant — this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best, playing with time and history, telling a story that is breathtaking for both its audacity and its endless satisfactions."

This is a Simon & Schuster book which I can't wait to get into to...exotic and interesting subject, it seems.  The author is one I've been meaning to read.  Here's something about this book:

"THOUGH SHE WAS ORPHANED AT BIRTH, the wild and headstrong Korobi Roy has enjoyed a privileged childhood with her adoring grandparents, spending her first seventeen years sheltered in a beautiful, crumbling old mansion in Kolkata. But despite all that her grandparents have done for her, she is troubled by the silence that surrounds the circumstances of her parents’ death and clings fiercely to her only inheritance from them: the love note she found, years ago, hidden in a book of poetry that had belonged to her mother. As she grows, Korobi dreams of one day finding a love as powerful as her parents’, and it seems her wish has finally come true when she meets the charming Rajat, the only son of a high-profile business family."

I will be reviewing this one in the next month.  It's being touted all over the publishing world and is one to be on the lookout for if you're interested in a new woman protagonist who's a hard line FBI agent.  Thank you to Minotaur Books who sent me this to review!   See this partial summary:

 

You have never met an (ex) FBI agent like Brigid Quinn.

“Keeping secrets, telling lies, they require the same skill. Both become a habit, almost an addiction, that’s hard to break even with the people closest to you, out of the business. For example, they say never trust a woman who tells you her age; if she can’t keep that secret, she can’t keep yours. I’m fifty-nine.”

 

Brigid Quinn's experiences in hunting sexual predators for the FBI have left her with memories she wishes she didn’t have and lethal skills she hopes never to need again. Having been pushed into early retirement by events she thinks she's put firmly behind her, Brigid keeps telling herself she is settling down nicely in Tucson with a wonderful new husband, Carlo, and their dogs.

 

 

 

I thought this was an interesting one sent by Weinstein Books.  For any of us who watched "Little House on the Prairie" we'll remember this little girl...   Here's the summary of the book which you can find on Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

 

"The Glass Castle meets The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother in this dazzlingly honest and provocative family memoir by former child actress and current Fox Business Network anchor Melissa Francis.

When Melissa Francis was eight years old, she won the role of lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, the little girl who was adopted with her brother (played by young Jason Bateman) by the Ingalls family on the world’s most famous primetime soap opera, Little House on the Prairie. Despite her age, she was already a veteran actress, living a charmed life, moving from one Hollywood set to the next. But behind the scenes, her success was fueled by the pride, pressure, and sometimes grinding cruelty of her stage mother, as fame and a mother’s ambition pushed her older sister deeper into the shadows."

Other books in that haul:

A White Wind Blew by James Markert:  This one is about a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1920's Louisville, KY, and the "compelling questions about faith and confession, music and medicine, and the resilience of love."   I'll be reviewing this one next week.

Pictures At An Exhibition by Camilla Macpherson:  A WWII novel set in London and the National Gallery of Art..."Can a collection of war-time letters hold the key to happiness?"  Happy to receive this one from the author and Random House/UK

The Monastery Murders~An Unholy Communion by Donna Fletcher Crow:  Fans of Ms Crow will be delighted to have another of her books in this series!  I was.  Thanks to Donna and Lion Fiction. 
 "..From the top of the tower at the College of Transfiguration, voices rise in song.  Felicity's delight turns to horror when a black-robed body hurtles over the precipice and lands at her feet.  Her fiance' Father Antony recognizes the corpse as Hwyl Pendry, a former student who has been serving as Deliverance Minister in a Welsh diocese..."

The Mystery Box edited by Brad Meltzer:  New stories collected by such greats as:  Laura Lippman, Tom Rob Smith, R.L. Stine, Katherine Neville, Karin Slaughter, and many others!  Can't wait to slip into this one!!!  Thanks to Grand Central Publishing!

The Last Telegram by Liz Trenow:  Published by Sourcebooks, this one is about a disaster of a decision a young girl made in WWI that haunted her with grief for many years and how she finally overcame its consequences through love and forgiveness.  (Paraphrased from the book jacket summary.)

Angel Baby by Richard Lange:  "To escape the awful life she has descended into, Luz plans carefully.  She takes only the clothes on her back, a Colt .45, and all the money in her husband's safe.  The corpses in the hallway weren't part of her plan.  Luz needs to find the daughter she left behind years earlier, but she knows she may die trying..."   Sent by Mulholland Books/Little, Brown and Company...I'm excited to read this one.

Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus:  International best seller!  This one was sent to me by Minotaur/St. Martin's Press.  Thanks to Minotaur!  I'm very interested to start this one this week.  It's supposed to be a very scary and super suspenseful thriller about disappearing girls in a small village and a pair of (man and woman) police detectives who solve the case.

Murder As A Fine Art by David Morrell:  Dean Koontz called this author, "An absolute master of the thriller."  It's a historical thriller about the author of "Confessions of an Opium Eater" who is a suspect in a series of London murders.  I'll be reviewing this one next month.  Also a Mulholland/Little, Brown published book.

___________________________________

2nd HAUL!!!!

What could make me happier than a book by my favorite suspense/thriller author?  I don't know...  I just gasped and stomped with pleasure the minute I opened this one from Grand Central Publishing!!  Many hugs and thanks to them.  This is #10 in the Lincoln Rhyme series for those of you who follow.
Here's the summary:

It was a "million-dollar bullet," a sniper shot delivered from over a mile away. Its victim was no ordinary mark: he was a United States citizen, targeted by the United States government, and assassinated in the Bahamas.
The nation's most renowned investigator and forensics expert, Lincoln Rhyme, is drafted to investigate. While his partner, Amelia Sachs, traces the victim's steps in Manhattan, Rhyme leaves the city to pursue the sniper himself. As details of the case start to emerge, the pair discovers that not all is what it seems.
When a deadly, knife-wielding assassin begins systematically eliminating all evidence-including the witnesses-Lincoln's investigation turns into a chilling battle of wits against a cold-blooded killer.

This beautiful little book was sent by the author and Viking Press.  I love it...  Here's a summary:

"A magical debut about an enchanted house that offers refuge to women in their time of need

Distraught that her academic career has stalled, Alba is walking through her hometown of Cambridge, England, when she finds herself in front of a house she’s never seen before, 11 Hope Street. A beautiful older woman named Peggy greets her and invites her to stay, on the house’s usual conditions: she has ninety-nine nights to turn her life around."

A new historical fiction by one of the best authors in the genre, Barbara Kyle.  Kensington Books brings this copy and I'm so thrilled to have it.  My 2nd favorite queen is Mary Queen of Scots...a close tie with Elizabeth I.  :]   I'll be reviewing this one very soon!  

Summary bit follows:

"Following her perilous fall from a throne she'd scarcely owned to begin with, Mary, Queen of Scots, has fled to England, hoping her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, will grant her asylum. But now Mary has her sights on the English crown, and Elizabeth enlists her most trusted subjects to protect it.

Justine Thornleigh is delighting in the thrill of Queen Elizabeth's visit to her family's estate when the festivities are cut short by Mary's arrival. To Justine's surprise, the Thornleighs appoint her to serve as a spy in Mary's court. But bearing the guise of a lady-in-waiting is not Justine's only secret."

OTHERS IN THIS HAUL:

The Baker Street Translation (A Mystery) by Michael Robertson:
Sent by Minotaur/St. Martin's this one has lots of Holmes inclusions and is one of the series written by Mr. Robertson.  The Heath brothers, lawyers, lease the famous residence of Sherlock Holmes and are caught up in a modern mystery including an heiress, an actress and everyone in between.   Library Journal says: "The characters here are charming and the tone is  humorous...Recommended for Robertson devotees and cozy mystery enthusiasts."

 

Finally, I thought this one an intriguing one sent by request from the author who is an award-winning one for her previous book, "Miriam the Medium."  One of the best of new contemporary women's authors, Jillian Medoff (I Couldn't Love You More reviewed here last year) says about this book, "Whip-smart, funny, and all-too-relatable, Kaylee's Ghost will stay with you long after you've turned the last page."  Isn't the cover pretty?  I'm looking forward to trying it for review in the Summer.

 

 

So Ends My Humongous Haul for February and So Far in March.

 

I'm grateful to the Publishers and Authors Who Have Entrusted Me with Their Books for Review...

 

 

What do you think?  Which ones interest you?  What are you reading?

 

 

Deborah/The Bookish Dame

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