A Gaggle of Book Reviews

Mameve Medwed’s book How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life was one of those books you let sit for a bit before you read them. I (mistakenly) thought it was a book about poetry. I was interested to read it as part of the BlogHer Virtual Book Tour (though I’m reviewing it belatedly), but I’m not a huge fan of poetry.

I read the back cover, though, and was intrigued. It isn’t about poetry! Rather, it’s about a young woman who runs an antique booth in one of those large markets with various antique dealers with boothes next to eachother. Abby is at some loose ends after a bad breakup, her mother’s death, and a tell-all novel written by her ex-fiancé. One of her possessions she inherited from her mother is a porcelain chamber pot that a colleague suggests she takes to Antiques Roadshow.

When Abby goes to the Roadshow, she is pulled aside, and discovers that a sketch on the side of it was drawn by the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Rather than saving Abby’s life, this discovery makes her better off financially (more people are coming to her antiques booth), but rips a tear in a lifelong friendship.

As the novel continues, we see Abby go through introspection, learn more about her past, and see her scramble to determine what she should do with her future. It is a beautiful read as we see what is truly most important to Abby, and how she can find her way through life’s maze.

I am so glad I was given the opportunity to read this book. I highly recommend it, and am looking forward to reading other books by the author!

Jennifer Weiner has a collection of short stories out called The Guy Not Taken. I should admit up front that I am not a big fan of short stories. I am the type of person who finishes a 500 page book wondering “but what happens next?” Short stories tend to leave me wishing they were longer.

Weiner’s book of short stories starts with three stories that are connected to each other. The first story is about a teenager and her family after the father has left. The next two stories show the main character growing up through visits with her grandparents and her plans for her wedding. The following stories also follow an age arc – each successive story focuses on someone older.

Each story was gripping – Jennifer Weiner is an amazing author. The stories that gripped me most were “The Guy Not Taken” – where a married but tired & lonely new mom edits an online wedding registry for her ex-boyfriend so she is the bride. She spends a day with him, and is enthralled with the massage and the full night’s sleep (as anyone with a new baby would!), but realizes her real life was much better than the alternate one. That story felt finished when it was done.

The other story I was gripped by was “The Mother’s Hour”. It is a fabulously written story about new moms and judgement and what is the worst that could happen. I understand why the author ended the story where she did, but it left me with that “what’s next?” feeling.

I really enjoyed The Guy Not Taken, and someone who really likes short stories would love it. I left the book wishing I could go back into the book and read just a bit more from each story. I was mollified a bit by the Author’s Notes at the end of the book, which explained more about each story. I really did enjoy it, but I’m going back to a novel next – I need to read something with more of a conclusion!

If someone asked me to name my favorite vampire books, I’d end up looking at them like a deer caught in headlights. Since I discovered vampire fiction this year, I’ve been sucked into it so much that I have too many favorites. I have read too many fabulous vampire novels to review each one individually, too. I want to share them with all of you, but how do I order them – by title? by author? by when I found them? by randomly having my children draw names out of hats? They are all great, so they’re in a random order.

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This book was sent to me by the publisher for review.

Piece of Work is the newest novel by Laura Zigman – funny, heartwarming, and real. If you haven’t already read Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, and Her, go do so now. Buy all 4 novels – they look wonderful together in a square! You can also check out Laura Zigman’s website for some clever and insightful writing, too. I realize it is no longer Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but it’s definitely worth checking out her moving and informative illustrated stories about her own experience with breast cancer.

If you’ve had it up to here with the “Mommy Wars”, your reading list should include Piece of Work – it’s a funny, biting, and heartfelt story about a family, finances, fun, and parenting. In a world where folks are either in the stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) camp, the work-outside-the-home (WOHM) camp, or the absolutely Politically Correct camp, there needs to be a story about how many moms really feel about the pull between work and family.

Piece of Work is a novel about a family, first and foremost. At the very beginning of the book, Julia is an at-home mom who loves being home with her son Leo. She adores spending time with him, and even when he’s being a tyrant (as 3 year olds are wont to do), she remembers her previous celebrity bosses as a publicist, and reminds herself that he’s the best boss she’s had. Julia is happy to be a SAHM, and is not feeling any longings for returning to work. Leo is a sweet, train-obsessed preschooler, who any mom can understand – heck, my scooter is blue, so it’s named Thomas. He isn’t played up as a brilliant child with perfect quips, he feels like a real 3 year old. Peter is the dad, working as a management consultant re-organizing companies, but like many dads not managing his home life. Everyone is happy with the status quo until Peter gets fired (or he’s the only person in the office to be laid off).<!–break–>

Five months into her husband’s unemployment, Julia has her credit card declined at The Container Store, and decides they must have income from somewhere. Her husband is either not succeeding in finding a job or not trying hard enough, but Julia can’t find it within herself to keep pestering him about how the job search is going (a difficult situation, and one I understand after having a husband unemployed for a year). So, with no income in 5 months, and none in the forseeable future, Julia returns to the world of Celebrity publicity. Of course, after 4 years out of the loop, she’s not quite as marketable, so she has taken a few steps down and is working with “has-beens” at a less prestigious PR company.

I have written about my issues with many novels in which stay-at-home moms who return to the workplace or become involved in something that is as time-consuming as a job. Most of them talk about how good they feel when they can be around other adults without talking about children, and how the new job fulfilled them in a way parenting never did. One wonderful exceptions is Julie Kenner, whose books are filled with children who are realistic, and whose mothers miss them when they are apart (2 books reviewed here). Piece of Work is amazing in this regard – I’ve never seen my feelings about needing to do outside work, and the feelings of many of my friends, expressed so eloquently. Actually, I’ve never seen these thoughts about transitioning to work outside the home ever expressed in a mainstream book. One wonderful quote that captures Julia’s feelings:

She knew a lot of women would disagree with her and she knew she wasn’t supposed to think this, but there wasn’t anything on her desk that was half as interesting to Julia as Leo was.

As Piece of Work continues, Julia finds her home is being incredibly well-run by her husband, who is even cooking elaborate dinners. Her heartache over returning to work is made even more difficult by her perception that her husband is better at being a SAHM than she was. When she has to travel, she is dealing with celebrities who are far fussier than little kids, plus they can be verbally abusive in ways children could never manage (er, unless we’re talking about middle school girls…). Even when she is alone in her room, she is thinking of her son, who they’ve nicknamed “Scooby Doo” or just “The Scoob”. Even as her anxiety over her relationship with her son becomes all-consuming, her relationship with her husband is also strained. The very real emotions tied into finding income for the family and managing the home are so well expressed.

Piece of Work shows a side of working mothers that is rarely shown in books. You usually see working moms who are comfortable about daycare/working, or occasionally have a few qualms that are quickly dismissed. In the “Mommy Wars”, mothers who work outside the home and mothers who stay at home are pitted against eachother. In real life, this is less accurate, as each person and family has different needs. There are rarely novels brave enough to show that no choice is perfect, and that sometimes you don’t have a choice, it’s made for you. I am exceedingly grateful that I was given the opportunity to read and review Piece of Work. I sniffled, I giggled, and I could relate. Many thanks to Laura Zigman for writing such a wonderful book. To the rest of you – go read it already!

I might be described as a novel addict. I chant to myself that “the library is an extension of my bookshelf” so I won’t keep buying dozens of books. I have found that in addition to fantasy and mystery, I really love Chick Lit, or women-centered books. There are obviously good books, not-so-good books, and books not worth finishing in all of the categories. Late Night Talking: A Novel by Leslie Schnur falls into the good category!

Late Night Talking is a novel that centers on a the host of a Late Night call-in show. Jeannie keeps telling herself (and her father) that she leads a happy life, but working in the middle of the night, rarely dating, and rarely seeing anyone except for her co-workers belies her claims.

I know I’ve said before that my step-dad works in radio – we always ate dinner between 7pm and 8pm (and still do!) because his shift usually ended at at 7pm. Then there were the days when he was asked to cover for the morning folks when they went on vacation – he’d leave the house when it was still dark, and he’d sleep while we were still at school. Now he works until 8pm most of the time, so weekday evening engagements just don’t happen. However, it does mean that if I drop my kids off at 10am for a few hours, they get to see their Vovo for a couple hours before he goes to work.

Anyhow, that lovely little tangent was my way of saying, “I’ve never worked in radio, but I know quite a bit about how it works and about the crappiness of many radio host schedules.” Late Night Talking showed the reality of the crappiness of the Late Night talk show host (the only one I knew who was happy with his lot had his apartment set up as a studio and he managed to work from home), as well as the jealousy of the people with good schedules (morning drive time is prime). The behind-the-scenes radio stuff also seemed realistic, and it would have really bugged me if it wasn’t realistic. Jeannie is jealous of the morning drive time host and knows her show (”Sterling Behavior” – discussing bad behavior and ethics in NYC) would get even better ratings if it were on during that time slot.

Leslie Schnur has created characters with real depth – you cheer for them, squirm for them, and sniffle for them. There are twists and turns – none of the characters are perfect, and none readily admit their imperfections. It was a book that reminded me about what faults you can live with, and which ones you can’t, and how that affects dating/marriage. This is a conversation I had with both of my parents as a teen (”never marry anyone expecting to change them!”), and now it’s a regular topic with friends. It’s interesting to see which faults are deal-breakers for which people – and which of those aren’t even on another’s radar. As much as I had to laugh at the title of Jeannie Sterling’s show (”Sterling Behavior”), that part of the book fascinated me. I hate call-in talk shows, and never listen to them. But the idea of what is ethical and what is bad behavior is so different between people that the show excerpts were very interesting. (side note – I never discuss names of my family without their permission, but I guess I can say that before I was married, my middle name was the same as Jeannie’s last name, and that was because it was my father’s first name. Hence the amusement at the show title.)

Since this falls into the “chick lit” genre, you know there is likely to be a happy ending – but there are plenty of low points, as well as twists and turns along the way! There are moments that leave you wanting to smack the main character, and moments when you want to hug her – just like she was a real friend. This is a book that didn’t tie everything up neatly with a cute epilogue. You feel as if the characters are going on with their lives now and you’ll hear from them again. I hope we do, too I really liked the book and the characters.

This is being cross-posted on my main blog. I received this book for free to review for the MotherTalk book tour. I love free books, but I give reviews based on what I think about the book, not if it is free or not!

If you’d like to win a copy of Late Night Talking, as well as two chick lit books by Melanie Murray (Good Times, Bad Boys: Friends don’t let friends date musicians and Miss Bubbles Steals The Show), leave me a comment with the most recent chick lit book you enjoyed. I’ll get one of the girls to draw one name out of a hat. I’m fine shipping within the US or to Canada – no shipping books to Oz or the Emerald Isle, sorry!

I love it when I get the opportunity to review books by authors whose books I have already enjoyed! This is a first for me, on two counts: this is my first time reviewing for Parent Bloggers Network; as well as my first time reviewing a novel after previously reviewing a picture book by the same author. I wrote a review about Jane O’Connor’s wonderful picture book Fancy Nancy, and now I’m writing a review for her first novel – Dangerous Admissions: Secrets of a Closet Sleuth. The simply fabulous Fancy Nancy has become a staple in our house – even my husband has read it often enough to remember it. My daughters were disappointed that Dangerous Admissions doesn’t take place in a posh place like Paris, and that the characters don’t dress fancy. However, the world of the exclusive prep school in New York City is decidedly fancy, as well as potentially lethal. I grew up in a small wealthy town, and have seen the world of “I’ll do anything to get into xxx college” – it’s a world that is prime material for a murder mystery!

Dangerous Admissions is a wonderful mystery with a touch of chick-lit. This mystery set in an elite NYC private school (The Chapel School, aka Chaps), where a few special words from teacher and adviser Mr. Tutwiler can get you into (or keep you out of) an Ivy or other elite college/university. When “Tut” is found dead by a student, questions start about his cause of death – murder? old age? suicide? stress? Rannie Bookman is the divorced mom of a “lifer” (a Senior who has been at Chaps since kindergarten), a freelance copy-editor, and a tour guide for the Chapel School (since she lost her full-time publishing gig). Rannie is motivated to add “closet sleuth” to her other jobs when her son Nate was the last person on Mr. Tut’s calendar before he was killed. (One un-intentional slip on the part of the publishers, though – the back of the book says that the mystery is at the school Rannie’s children attend. At the time of the novel, one child has graduated, so she only has one child at Chaps. Slightly ironic following the description of Rannie losing her job over a copy-editing mistake, though hers is funnier – leaving off the last L in The Secret of the Old Clock.)

I have written before about an author’s choice to use first person or third person, and how it can affect the reader’s experience of the novel. Dangerous Admissions is a great example of third person done right – you see the mystery primarily from Rannie’s point of view, but you also see Nate’s point of view and that of Olivia (the girl who found Mr. Tut). In addition, memos, phone calls, and text messages are also used to convey another character’s opinion. O’Connor shows us so much about each character through these different points of view, as we peer into their thoughts and lives. These little tidbits held in the minds of each character help us start gathering clues about the murder(s), and the other sub-plots within the story.

O’Connor throws out some wonderful red herrings in her mystery; there are so many people with motives, so many hidden secrets within the world of the wealthy in NYC, and so many people with the opportunity to have committed the murder. As each little clue is uncovered, we start building a theory, and then the theory changes when another clue is uncovered. The chick-lit part of the novel also keeps you hooked – the relationship between Rannie and a new beau, teenage lust and longing, as well as Rannie’s search for a permanent job. In Dangerous Admissions, O’Connor even makes Rannie’s freelance copy-editing horribly fascinating – a book about Dr. Mengele’s Nazi experiments.

The ending of Dangerous Admissions is a delicious surprise – a twist that you can see foreshadowed when you look back at the book after finishing it, but one I didn’t see coming. This is very different from some mystery authors who throw in a twist that isn’t linked to anything in the book, so you couldn’t see it coming. In addition, most novels with a chick-lit feel tie up every loose end when the book is finished. O’Connor didn’t do that in her novel, so the story felt even more real to me. The characters developed into people I could imagine meeting for a cup of coffee, and now it feels like I am ready to meet them for coffee again soon to find out what happens next. I hope that O’Connor is considering a sequel!

A definite thumbs up here for Dangerous Admissions. This novel succeeds with multi-faceted characters that are easy to like, a mystery that is surprising, intriguing sub-plots, plus some romance. Fancy Nancy would call it fabulous, darling! (However, most of the topics in Dangerous Admissions would not be appropriate for Nancy!). Win a copy by leaving a comment over at the Parent Bloggers Network, and see links to other reviews of Dangerous Admissions this week!

I was fortunate enough to receive a preview copy of Gods Behaving Badly, the debut novel by Marie Phillips. It’s being released here on December 10, (but of course, it is available for pre-order at Amazon). It was released this past summer in the UK and Europe, and as a result has already garnished enough attention to be optioned for TV!

I’ve always loved the Greek gods and goddesses, and have really enjoyed other novels that dealt with them in current times. Nothing, however, has been like Gods Behaving Badly! The story re-introduces us to the Greek pantheon, who are all living in a London townhouse that has become filthy and incredibly run down. Their powers are waning, but Apollo’s still randy, Artemis still has a chip on her shoulder, Athena’s still wise, Ares is still plotting wars, Aphrodite is using her sexual wiles – but now as a phone sex operator, and Eros has become a Christian. Zeus has gone mad, and needed to be locked up and supervised by Hera.

The townhouse in London was purchased in the mid-1600s, so you can imagine its state without much upkeep. You also have a full pantheon in one townhouse with a small yard – Demeter doesn’t have much land to keep fertile, Artemis can’t have a dog so she walks dogs for others, and Dionysus seems happiest as a DJ with a club, who makes his own wine on the side! After being together so long, and losing their powers slowly, the pantheon has turned into a family that hates, has sex, and manipulates each other. Two humans, Alice and Neil, are accidentally pulled into the workings of this dysfunctional family, and things are irrevocably changed for all of them.

Gods Behaving Badly uses a third-person point of view to show the perspectives of all the characters – you can see the thoughts behind their actions. This unique perspective looking into the minds of the Gods is fascinating – at times a bit disturbing, but still fascinating. I made the mistake of starting Gods Behaving Badly when I was getting ready for bed. I had read at least half the book before I forced myself to close it and sleep. Mind you, I finished it as soon as I got home from grocery shopping the following day! The unique twist on the Greek pantheon and the storyline sucks you into the world inside the book. Marie Phillips has forged a story of which Hephaestus would be proud – it pulls you in from a romance/chick lit perspective, a paranormal/mythology perspective, and a humor novel perspective. With all three working together, you don’t have a chance of pulling loose until you’ve finished the story.

If you poke around her website and blog, you’ll find that Marie seems to be the type of person you’d love to take out for coffee. She appears very friendly and laid back. Marie has decided to use the occasion of her book release to arrange for charitable donations to a children’s charity in the UK. The only negative thing I can say after reading the novel and her site is that she’s 5 years younger than me, and has gotten her novel published.

If you have friends who love the Greek Gods, love Chick Lit, or simply love a good novel, giving them Gods Behaving Badly for the holidays is a brilliant choice. Be sure to buy yourself a copy, too!