Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The Child Garden

Idgie Says:
This is a lovely English suspense story where a woman quite on her own and not sure who to trust suddenly finds herself embroiled in a 20 year possible murder mystery - that could end up affecting herself and her child if she's not careful.  Who can she trust - and really, should she just keep her head down and pretend to know nothing?

As the bodies begin to be discovered via newspaper obituaries in addition to actual bodies in the woods, the mystery takes a very ugly turn.  Who is killing people from an event that happened 20 years ago, why are they doing it, and who is next?


 
The Child Garden
Catriona McPherson
Hardcover: 336 pages
Midnight Ink (September 8, 2015)
Book Description:

Eden was its name. "An alternative school for happy children." But it closed in disgrace after a student's suicide. Now it's a care home, its grounds neglected and overgrown. Gloria Harkness is its only neighbor, staying close to her son who lives there in the home, lighting up her life and breaking her heart each day.

When a childhood friend turns up at her door, Gloria doesn't hesitate before asking him in. He claims a girl from Eden is stalking him and has goaded him into meeting her at the site of the suicide. Only then, the dead begin to speak—it was murder, they say.

Gloria is in over her head before she can help it. Her loneliness, her loyalty, and her all-consuming love for her son lead her into the heart of a dark secret that threatens everything she lives for.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Saving Laurel Springs

Idgie Says:
I have had various Lin Stepp books pass over my desk for quite a few years now and I will say this about the Smokey Mountain Series, she has professional appearing books now.  In the past they had amateurish covers and I had mentioned that I felt that might stop readers from looking past them to the pages inside. But she has a new publisher and so far, they are doing right by her.  

Lin is a prolific writer and a very busy woman.  She has about 15 books under her belt, teaches and tours and much more. If you go to her website you get tired for her. 

This is apparently book 8 in a series surrounding an area of the world that she is very familiar with.  These books tell of the world she lives in, the beautiful Smoky Mountains.  I describe the books as wholesome, but not Goody Two Shoes. They contain all of the usual human emotions that come with living, along with a good dollop of romance.


Kensington Publishing
September 29, 2015


Book Description:

In a heartwarming novel set amid the lush splendor of the Great Smoky Mountains, Lin Stepp reunites two kindred spirits in a charming story of first love and surprising second chances…

See ya later—and love you forever, Rhea Dean. Those are the words Rhea’s childhood sweetheart, Carter Layman, used to say whenever they parted. Not that she places much stock in words anymore. After all, Carter drove off to college in California, promising to make a fortune to help save their families’ vacation resort. Instead he stayed there and married someone else. It fell to Rhea to keep Laurel Springs going and she’s done just that, working long hours on the campgrounds, buoyed by the beauty of her Smokies home.
Now a widower with a young son, Carter has achieved huge success as a games developer. But he always planned to return to the spring-fed lake and the soaring mountains, to the covered bridge where he and Rhea made wishes and traded kisses. He’s coming home to turn Laurel Springs into the place they planned to build together. And as he reveals the truth about his past, Rhea must decide whether to trust in the man—and the dreams—she’s never forgotten.

Me, My Hair and I

Idgie Says:
These are great stories.  I really enjoyed reading through them.  As all women know, we go between loving and hating our hair (mainly the hate part I think) and also have the unfortunate tendency to take our emotional state out on our hair.   We cut it, dye it, curl it, threaten it... all depending on what's going on in our lives.   We seem rarely satisfied. 

These are stories of women who express themselves through their hair.  They tell life stories of how certain haircuts affected them, or how their lives affected their hair.  Some of the stories are amusing, many are introspective and all make you realize how much of an integral part of your personality your hair is.

I believe you will nod knowingly through many of these pages. 

_________________________________


Algonquin Books
September 29, 2015
Paperback

Book Description:
Ask a woman about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life. Ask a whole bunch of women about their hair, and you could get a history of the world.

Surprising, insightful, frequently funny, and always forthright, the essays in Me, My Hair, and I are reflections and revelations about every aspect of women’s lives from family, race, religion, and motherhood to culture, health, politics, and sexuality.

They take place in African American kitchens, at Hindu Bengali weddings, and inside Hasidic Jewish homes. The conversation is intimate and global at once. Layered into these reminiscences are tributes to influences throughout history: Jackie Kennedy, Lena Horne, Farrah Fawcett, the Grateful Dead, and Botticelli’s Venus.

The long and the short of it is that our hair is our glory—and our nemesis, our history, our self-esteem, our joy, our mortality. Every woman knows that many things in life matter more than hair, but few bring as much pleasure as a really great hairdo.

Hair matters. And these writers go to great lengths to help us understand why.

Lightless

Idgie Says:
A well written Sci-Fi book that combines space and science together, along with a fine dose of intrigue.  

3 people man a giant space station/ship that monitors and guards the universe around them. They are always watched by their employers, who appear to be a rather harsh corporation.  When two thieves sneak on board by hacking into the computer's system, the ship starts to become unstable. To make matters worse, one of them manages to disappear into the hidden areas of the ship.

The question is whether the reason the thieves are on board and what has been done to the computer system will be discovered in time to stop whatever it is they are planning.  

Will keep readers of several different genres entertained. 

_________________________________ 


 Description

Spetember 29, 2015 Pub Date
Lightless


The deeply moving human drama of Gravity meets the nail-biting suspense of Alien in this riveting science fiction debut. With bold speculation informed by a degree in astrophysics, C. A. Higgins spins an unforgettable “locked spaceship” mystery guaranteed to catapult readers beyond their expectations—and into brilliantly thrilling new territory.

Serving aboard the Ananke, an experimental military spacecraft launched by the ruthless organization that rules Earth and its solar system, computer scientist Althea has established an intense emotional bond—not with any of her crewmates, but with the ship's electronic systems, which speak more deeply to her analytical mind than human feelings do. But when a pair of fugitive terrorists gain access to the Ananke, Althea must draw upon her heart and soul for the strength to defend her beloved ship.

While one of the saboteurs remains at large somewhere on board, his captured partner—the enigmatic Ivan—may prove to be more dangerous. The perversely fascinating criminal whose silver tongue is his most effective weapon has long evaded the authorities' most relentless surveillance—and kept the truth about his methods and motives well hidden.

As the ship's systems begin to malfunction and the claustrophobic atmosphere is increasingly poisoned by distrust and suspicion, it falls to Althea to penetrate the prisoner's layers of intrigue and deception before all is lost. But when the true nature of Ivan's mission is exposed, it will change Althea forever—if it doesn't kill her first.

BOGO Opportunity for Diane Chamberlain Books!

email-header-dance (1)
Bestselling author Diane Chamberlain is back with her 24th novel, Pretending to Dance (October 6, 2015, St. Martin’s Press), and we would like to invite YOU to join us for an exclusive, never-before-seen POGO opportunity!
You may have heard of BOGO (Buy One Get One free) but, for the first time ever, BookSparks is hosting a POGO special (Preorder One book and Get another One free)!  That's right, Preorder One, Get One (this is even better than shoes)!
This week only, thanks to St. Martin's Press, if you preorder blockbuster author Diane Chamberlain's highly anticipated new book, Pretending to Dance, you will get her amazing last book, The Silent Sister (coming out in paperback next week), for free. Two AMAZING books for the price of one!
Starting TOMORROW Tuesday, September 29th, to Friday, October 2nd at 5 p.m. PST/8 p.m. EST, you can preorder Pretending to Dance and receive a free copy of Diane's last novel that was hailed as the next Gone GirlAlready preordered a copy of Pretending to Dance? As long as you preordered during the month of September and can provide us with your receipt, you are still eligible to participate for this POGO offer!
Email your preorder receipt to janay@sparkpointstudio.com and your mailing address to claim this awesome POGO offer. (US only)
Hurry! You can only participate in the POGO this weekPreorder Pretending to Dance, sign up for the Blog Tour send us your receipt, and share this sweet deal on social media on Tuesday, September 29th so your friends and fans can too! Tweet this now: It's POGO time! Preorder @D_Chamberlain's 24th novel & get one free! Check out @BookSparks exclusive offer: http://bit.ly/1iFg87i #POGO

Participating in the POGO special is as easy!

1.  Preorder Pretending to Dance and email us your proof of purchase. Please email all receipts to janay@sparkpointstudio.com. 
You can place your preorder with any of these fine retailers: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Target | Walmart Powell's Books | Books-a-million | iBooks
All participants must be US residents and provide proof of purchase and mailing address to qualify.

It's POGO time! Preorder @D_Chamberlain's 24th novel & get one free! Check out @BookSparks exclusive offer: http://bit.ly/1iFg87i #POGO
4.  Become a Diane Chamberlain Superfan! Tell us why you love Diane Chamberlain’s stories for a chance to get a personal shout out from Diane and a designed graphic to share on your blog!  Reply to this email and we will notify you if yours has been chosen for design!

memes
Need more convincing? Let's let the books speak for themselves:

PREORDER ONE: Pretending to Dance:

pretendingMolly Arnette is very good at keeping secrets. She and her husband live in San Diego, where they hope to soon adopt a baby. But the process terrifies her. As the questions and background checks come one after another, Molly worries that the truth she's kept hidden about her North Carolina childhood will rise to the surface and destroy not only her chance at adoption, but her marriage as well. She ran away from her family twenty years ago after a shocking event left her devastated and distrustful of those she loved: Her mother, the woman who raised her and who Molly says is dead but is very much alive. Her birth mother, whose mysterious presence raised so many issues. The father she adored, whose death sent her running from the small community of Morrison Ridge. Now, as she tries to find a way to make peace with her past and embrace a future filled with promise, she discovers that even she doesn't know the truth of what happened in her family of pretenders. Told with Diane Chamberlain's compelling prose and gift for deft exploration of the human heart, Pretending to Dance is an exploration of family, lies, and the complexities of both.

 

GET ONE: The Silent Sister:

silentRiley MacPherson has spent her entire life believing that her older sister Lisa committed suicide as a teenager. It was a belief that helped shape her own childhood and that of her brother. It shaped her view of her family and their dynamics. It influenced her entire life. Now, more than twenty years later, her father has passed away and she's in New Bern, North Carolina, cleaning out his house when she finds evidence that what she has always believed is not the truth. Lisa is alive. Alive and living under a new identity. But why, exactly, was she on the run all those years ago? What secrets are being kept now, and what will happen if those secrets are revealed? As Riley works to uncover the truth, her discoveries will put into question everything she thought she knew about her family. Riley must decide what the past means for her present, and what she will do with her newfound reality. Told with Diane Chamberlain's powerful prose and illumination into the human heart and soul, The Silent Sister is an evocative novel of love, loss, and the bonds among siblings.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Week #4 - Flashback Recommendations

This week's flashback recommendations has books that start all the way back in the dark ages of 2003.  One in particular "should" still be in print, but there is always the chance you'll need to find a used copy if interested.

First up is Hallam's War by Elisabeth Payne Rosen.  A fine story based during the Civil War - yet the war is not the center of the story nor the war alluded to in the title of the book.  Hallam is a man who is kind and gentle to his slaves and therefore ridiculed by many neighbors, who look to take advantage of him due to his kind ways. The war Hallam fights is with himself and it is this question - Is he a good man for taking such good care of his slaves, or is he a bad man for owning them in the first place?

Next up is The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy.   Set in Nazi occupied Poland, this is the story of a small town overrun by Nazi soldiers who are determined to get rid of the nasty population.  Hansel and Gretel are sent to live in the forest alone to survive as their Jewish parents attempt to flee and are caught.  Finally they come upon Magda, an old woman called witch by the town.  Magda, the children and the rest of the town struggle to hide and survive in a time where death is always at your door.  This is not a happy book, but it is a very good one. 

Now we come to Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron.  This is a powerful story of a boy in Rwanda who has the unexpected opportunity to run in the Olympics, and perhaps run away from his war-torn country.  This is a very intense and involving novel where you are on the edge of your seat and hoping only for safety for the characters in the novel.  I loved this book.  

Finally I have Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin.  Set in rural Mississippi in the 1970s, it's the turned about tale of a black sheriff and a white suspected murderer/run down mechanic, who just happen to have been friends since they were boys. The white boy has never been able to overcome the town's suspicions about the missing girl, and the sheriff not only has a duty to protect the town - hard enough with most suspicious of his color - but also he doesn't necessarily know whether to believe his old friend or not.   A good story putting the suspicion on the other foot for once. 

 Idgie says to check these books out!


Thursday, September 24, 2015

Rise and Shine - A Southern Son’s Treasury of Food, Family, and Friends

Idgie Says:

This book is a lovely mix of recipes and memories, sharing Johnathon's life from birth to now, with each age holding fond remembrances of the family and food that raised him during that time period. 

The recipes sound delightful and I would have loved the opportunity to sit down at his dinner table a few times growing up.  

The recipes and the stories are mainly Southern, but once he grows to adulthood and starts to travel, so does the book's content.  

Johnathon has taken all of the memories and recipes and turned them into a successful life/dining lesson for everything from casual BBQ's to sit down formal black tie dinners.  

Now, the only dilemma I'm facing is whether to put the book on my bookshelf.........or in the kitchen.

________________________________________

Mercer University Press
September, 2015

 RISE AND SHINE! is an engaging, funny, and poignant memoir about a Southern son and his life’s relationship with food. Johnathon Barrett takes you on a decades-long journey of culinary exploration, starting in the 1960s in his hometown of Perry, Georgia. There in the low-rolling hills and slow-moving creeks of Middle Georgia he tells—with good humor and reflection—stories about his family, and how for generations farm-to-table food was a mainstay in their daily lives. He also relates how food was the common denominator for all aspects of life in the South, especially in small towns and rural communities. 

Barrett shares his need to leave behind those days of stewed squash and fried okra, and move on to what he felt were more sophisticated and global offerings. He discovered, however, that while he tried to take his palate of out of Dixie, there was always some Georgia red clay in his blood—and in his taste buds. Successfully melding those early days of learning the basics of Southern fare and later stretching his culinary skills, Barrett demonstrates in this narrative his formula for a successful casual dinner or a formal black tie affair. With several menus and 100 recipes ranging from down-home picnic offerings such as ‘Joyce’s Don’t Mess with Success Pimento Cheese’ to a magnificent platter of ‘Grouper Meunière,’ the author provides a wonderful array of delights for contemporary cooks. 

This culinary love letter to Barrett’s parents and other loved ones who raised him will make you laugh, maybe shed a tear, and fill your hearts with a renewed appreciation for the magic that can happen in a family’s kitchen


Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Abnormal Man

Idgie Says:

Alright, where to start with this novel.  It has an interesting backstory in that several publishers turned it down as having too disturbing of a subject matter.  Grant could not find a home for it but felt strongly enough about the story to go ahead and self publish it.  I will admit, that after hearing about all the refusals combined with the fact I'm particularly squeamish about graphically violent books, I did simply sit and look at the book for a bit before ever opening a page. 

I will say this - the book has some graphic scenes of violence and sexuality - but no more than other books by big name authors that I have come across.   I would put it in the realm of James Patterson's Kiss the Girls violence.  There are children in this novel and they are subjected to child pornography and all that goes along with it.  But, it is not described in any detail - unlike other books that I have come across.  I toss books like that across the room and refuse to read them.  I found I was not required to do so with this book, which was a huge relief to me. 

This is not a pretty book.  This is not a happy book.  It deals with very distasteful subject matter. You are asked to have empathy for the main character, who is involved in some very nasty business.  Well, once you read the book you can understand why. 

The writing is strong, the subject intense and the pace fast.  To me, it was a very well written novel with a strong "not for sensitive readers" warning label slapped across it.  But I was pulled in and followed along with the story for the entire ride, even while wincing now and again.

_____________________________

Go HERE for Excerpt.

Create Space Independent Publishing
September, 2015

Book Description:

FATE: Abused at home, a high school outcast destined for a dead-end job, Billy Smith longs to be free--and to indulge his love of setting fires.
CHOICE: One-legged ex-con Frank Dobbs suffers from severe rage disorder, but believes he can save himself by saving Billy.
CHAOS: Sexual predator Chandler Norris has a plan that pits fate and choice against the chaotic spiral of his malignant mind.

"Chaos? Or fate? What brought you here? Were the choices yours, or did something outside of you conspire to bring you to this place? Because out in the woods, in a box buried in the ground, there is a little girl who has no hope of seeing the moon tonight. The moon has forsaken her. Because of you."
 
 ___________________________________

About the Author

Grant Jerkins is the author of A Very Simple Crime, which The New York Times called "An extremely nasty study in abnormal psychology." The prize-winning debut was selected by Book of the Month Club, Mystery Guild, QPB, The Literary Guild, and Doubleday Book Club; and has since been optioned for film by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Nicholas Kazan.

Jerkins is also the author of At the End of the Road, The Ninth Step, and coauthor of Done in One.

The Shift

Idgie Says:
Have you ever gone to the hospital to visit someone, or to be seen yourself and you grow irritated at the length of time to receive medicine or receive information?  Have you groused about the nurse's somewhat short attention time to you and how they can be a bit abrupt in style?  Or have you noticed how they look completely drained and frazzled but patiently stand there and answer your questions and refill your water?  As we all know, hospitals can provide you a varied style of care and service depending on the time of day and the events surrounding the hall. 

This book, written by a nurse describing one of her 12 hours shifts, might just give you a better understanding of what's going on in their minds, what's happening on the other side of the doorway or simply how they are coping with the responsibility of caring for so many people's needing - doing their best to help heal. 

An interesting read.

__________________________________________  

Hardcover
Algonquin Books
September 22, 2015

Book Description:
A moving story unfolds in real time as practicing nurse and New York Times columnist Theresa Brown reveals the individual struggles as well as the larger truths about medicine in this country. She lets us experience all the life that happens in just one day in a busy teaching hospital’s oncology ward. In the span of twelve hours, lives can be lost, life-altering treatment decisions made, and dreams fulfilled or irrevocably stolen. Every day, Theresa Brown holds these lives in her hands. On this day there are four.

There is Mr. Hampton, a patient with lymphoma to whom Brown is charged with administering a powerful drug that could cure him–or kill him; Sheila, who may have been dangerously misdiagnosed; Candace, a returning patient who arrives (perhaps advisedly) with her own disinfectant wipes, cleansing rituals, and demands; and Dorothy, who after six weeks in the hospital may finally go home. Prioritizing and ministering to their needs takes the kind of skill, sensitivity, and, yes, humor that enable a nurse to be a patient’s most ardent advocate in a medical system marked by heartbreaking dysfunction as well as miraculous successes.

This remarkable book does for nurses what writers such as Atul Gawande and Abraham Verghese have done for doctors, and at shift’s end, we have learned something profound about hope and healing.

About the Author:
Theresa Brown, RN, works as a clinical nurse and is a frequent contributor to the New York Times opinion pages as well as on the Times Opinionator blog. She has also been a contributor to the popular “Well” section of that paper and writes for CNN.com and other national media.
Brown received her BSN from the University of Pittsburgh and, during what she calls her past life, a PhD in English from the University of Chicago. Before becoming a nurse she taught English at Tufts University.

Today, her focus is medical oncology and end-of-life issues. She lectures nationally, is a board member of the Center for Health Media and Policy at the Bellevue School of Nursing at Hunter College. Brown was a panelist for the TEDMED’s Great Challenges of Health and Medicine initiative and is also involved in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Flip the Clinic” initiative and an advisory board member for Scrubs Magazine.

She lives with her husband and three children in Pennsylvania.

Succession

SuccessionIdgie Says: 
An extremely detailed telling of the lives of two women surrounding the Tudor years in England.  These women had no real authority or ability to run their own lives, but they took the tiniest windows of opportunity to make as much of themselves as they could.  To hold what ground they could fight for.  A very interesting story of this time in history - but pay attention, this is not a book you can skim through.

________________________________

SUCCESSION (Thomas Dunne Books; September 22, 2015) by Livi Michael, a dramatic historical novel about the fall of the House of Lancaster and the rise of the Tudor dynasty focusing on the two remarkable women that helped shape it. Drenched in history and scandal, SUCCESSION follows Margaret Beaufort and Margaret of Anjou through pinnacle years in England’s history when King Henry VI starts to lose his grip and these fascinating women step into place.
The birth of this well-crafted historical fiction came when Michael was researching the Manchester Cathedral, and noticed the stone angels on the roof of the cathedral, said to be donated by Margaret Beaufort. On further research, Michael was captivated by Margaret’s extraordinary life and felt she wanted to tell the well-known story through the key players’ eyes. Michael’s goal was to make the book as accurate as possible, as she interweaves actual source material and medieval chronicles, some written by monks associated with great monastic houses, into the narrative.

In the vein of Game of Thrones and The White Queen, SUCCESSION takes a fascination with monarchy and gives voice to the real figures that once were caught in its grasp. This ambitious novel will resonate with history buffs, English history aficionados, and readers who appreciate strong female leads.

 In Succession, Livi Michael engages meticulously with the diverse historical accounts of the Wars of the Roses, but she also invests intimate and poignant humanity into the personal tragedies of an era wrought with conflict and terror. 

Elizabeth Fremantle, author of Queen's Gambit Behind the bloody battle scenes of the Wars of the Roses lie the sinewy political skills of a remarkable pair of women. Margaret of Anjou, French, beautiful, unpopular; her marriage in 1444 to a young Henry VI causes national uproar. As English rule in France collapses, Henry goes insane, civil war erupts, and families are pitted against each other. With Henry VI incapacitated, Margaret Anjou is left to fight alone for her son's position as rightful heir. Meanwhile Margaret Beaufort, nobly born but far more distant from the throne, becomes a great heiress while only an infant. Her childhood is lived in echoing remote castles and she is lonely and vulnerable: everyone at Henry's court competes to be her guardian and to engineer an advantageous alliance through marriage to her. By the age of thirteen, she has married twice and given birth to her only son - the future King of England. But then she is separated from him . . . and her fight really begins Succession is the intense and powerful story of the women who gave birth to the Tudor dynasty.

The Visitant

Idgie Says:
A nice Gothic novel involving a rundown mansion in Venice, various people roaming loose in the house, an ill man and perhaps a ghost or two!

Elena is sent to the house to care for Samuel and basically get him off of his drug addiction.  She is receiving no help from the mysterious owners of the home, nor the vibrantly sensual housekeeper and her apparently large brood of family members she is keeping well and feeding nicely from the home. In addition, Samuel doesn't actually want to get better, he sees no need to become clean.  Combine a group of people who refuse to help Elena do her job with the possible need for an exorcism in the home and you have a very creepy story. 

________________________________

The Visitant

A Venetian Ghost Story





Description
After she nearly ruins her family with a terrible misstep, Elena Spira is sent to Venice to escape disgrace and to atone by caring for the ailing Samuel Farber. But the crumbling and decaying Ca’ Basilio palazzo, where Samuel is ensconced, holds tragic secrets, and little does Elena know how profoundly they will impact her. Soon she begins to sense that she is being watched by something. And when Samuel begins to have hallucinations that make him violent and unpredictable, she can’t deny she’s in mortal danger.

Then impoverished nobleman Nero Basilio, Samuel’s closest friend and the owner of the palazzo, arrives. Elena finds herself entangled with both men in a world where the past seeps into the present and nothing is as it seems. As Elena struggles to discover the haunting truth before it destroys her, a dark force seems to hold Samuel and the Basilio in thrall—is it madness, or something more sinister?

Monday, September 21, 2015

Come Back When You Can


Come Back When You Can
by Rocky Rutherford
___________________________________

When I was a kid at Colonial Drive I used to visit Miss Johnson, who lived up on Spring Street hill from us, and we'd read and recite poetry on her screened-in side porch. I had found out she taught at THS and was the best English teacher in the world. Somehow I loved poetry almost as much as I loved love. And since I was in love every other day, she could, so I figured, help me say with poetry what I needed to say to all my loves. Pretending I was soliciting lawns to mow, I tried selling her my services, even had my push mower with me. She knew better and listened patiently as I rattled on about my love for muses, poetic juices, and bolts of inspiration from the poetry gods.

"What do you want, McQueen Hamilton Dillahey?" There was no hustling her.

"Iwanttolearntobeapoet," I said in one marble mouthed sentence so garbled she blinked.

"Do you know any poetry?" Even before the words left her I started quoting:

"There's blood on the saddle, there's blood on the ground, there's blood on the saddle and a great big puddle on the ground." This did not impress her, she even caught her breath. Thinking she was going to excuse me I jumped in on Trees: I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree, A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed to the earth's sweet flowing breast." Which seemed to assuage the situation and she asked me to sit.

Miz Johnson had this way of taking in whatever she saw quickly and critically. I had heard she was tough and would not tolerate nonsense and silliness. I might have been silly at times but I didn't mean to be, I was not trying to make her like me, I was trying to induce her to teach me poetry. While I sat there listening I hoped she would notice the fine job I had done starching and pressing my jeans, and how bright (I bleached it) my t shirt was. My worn but clean Chuck Taylor's looked good, didn't smell. Early that morning I had taken a bath and furiously brushed down my tow-headed cow lick. I brushed my teeth till my gums bled. And I remembered my mother's words. When you face a problem that calls for class, when you get in a situation that demands courage, or when you stand up to the world to get what you want...Act Like Somebody... She didn't say go to college, make a million dollars, get a whole bunch of credentials, she said Act Like Somebody. To me this meant act like I already had what I wanted or was whoever I wanted to be and I would get it or be that person. Advice that worked for me all my life all over the world. I was good at acting to get what I wanted by acting like somebody.

Sitting there with Miz Johnson my mind was on her every word, every gesture, every expression. Every move she made meant something. I wanted to learn poetry so I acted like it and she sensed that. At first I was shy, self conscious, and awkward. To me she was a goddess and twelve year old tow- headed street rat cowboys are authorized to be discombobulated in the presence of deity

We agree to meet once a month at 8 o'clock on Saturday morning. I was to mow the grass but I'd get paid for it then we would talk poetry for one hour.

Was that satisfactory, McQueen Hamilton Dillahey?  It was.

She had every minute planned. The first thirty she read or recited, mesmerizing, charming, captivating me with her soft, Southern, Carolina voice, so kind yet firm and solid. I watched her breathe, how her chest rose and fell with the flow of her voice, and I listened to and for the changes in sound that often carried more meaning than the words. I studied her face, the way she showed meaning in a sideways glance, or sorrow in tearing eyes, or happiness in a big moonbeam smile that made my heart jump. When she cried I cried, when she laughed I laughed.

Then it was my turn. For the next thirty minutes I copy catted her which made her chuckle now and then. But she never embarrassed me or made me feel inferior, no, she made me stand tall and believe in myself and believe that poetry was good for life and soul. Then we talked about the poems, what they meant to me, how they affected me, how they sounded in my heart, and why I must always listen for their precious voices. She heard them and she wanted me to hear them. I tried with all my heart and a I think I heard them a few times but never as she. It was always inside her, this precious voice.

I guess special is the word I feel most comfortable with when I describe Miz Johnson, so special, because she took the time to give a deep and lovely part of herself to a snot nosed kid like me. She taught me love comes from within and sometimes it is cruel, unnecessary, but it is there and as long as it breathes it will surface in all its goodness. If you allow it, McQieen Hamilton Dillahey, if you allow it.

Many times in my world of violent and choreographed death I fought my way back to sanity because of that sweet voice of poetry that Miz Johnson helped me find. For solace and help I drifted back to that little elfin grot screened-in porch, back to the twelve year old who didn't know who he was or where he was going and I lived those halcyon mornings over and over until I heard her voice calling up the muses. Then, no matter the horrible or sinister situation I lived, or how deranged I had become, love and peace came as she said they would and I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, came out the other end that same big eyed, idealistic, boy, tired but whole.

 We met in  softt Spring,  hazy Summer,  vibrant Fall, and in the deep of Winter, always on the side porch. And then, so quickly, and without warning it ended. I knew it was coming. I would be entering my freshman year at THS. No longer a poetry struck boy, I wobbled just on the cusp of manhood, not in experience, but in those shaky years when life is so uncertain and cruel. My life changed.

I didn't want to go to high school and I would have quit had I not made a promise I do my best to go and graduate. That last September Saturday morning we met after Labor Day we both knew it would be the last. From now on I'd see her as English teacher.

I sat in my usual chair and tried not to be sad. Again she sensed my feelings and quickly dispensed with the nonsense "Life goes on, McQueen Hamilton Dillahey, life goes on." "Yes, Mam."

"I have a special poem I'd like us to share. It may take our whole hour but I think it is most appropriate." I nodded because I could not speak and waited for her to open her The Art of Reading Poetry. Even though she had her place marked, she hesitated, and looked over the top edge of the book at me. She blinked then looked away. Miz Johnson, I wanted to say, let's try to find a way to keep meeting and reading poetry. I 've never told anyone and I won't ever tell. She waited and I knew it was for the nonsense welling up inside me to subside. She knew emotion and she knew how to control it, I knew nothing and my feelings hung out for the world to see. Though it was warm, humid, I shook like a dog shitting razor blades; I tried to stop but couldn't and sat choking down tears and shivering. After all this time I was going back to being what I was, a whining, sniveling, snot nosed street rat cowboy. I gripped the arms of my chair and forced myself under control. I'm fifteen and it's time I acted like a man. Something in the yard fluttered from a bush near the porch and landed on the birdbath, a strange bird, one I had never seen before. It looked straight at me, right into my eyes with its big surprised ones. An owl? In broad daylight? "Do you not hear the Aziola cry?" it screeched and busted skyward over the mimosas, gone as it came.

"St. Agnes' Eve-Ah, bitter chill it was!
 The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;
The hare limp'd trembling through the frozen grass, And silent was the flock in woolly fold:"

It was a long poem but I listened and watched her make the beautiful, sweet sounds of poetry. Sounds not words. She did not, this time, look over her book to see if I was paying attention. She hypnotized me and she knew it. She wanted me in that realm of gold, that world of poetry she knew and wanted to share. Her voice told me she neared the end and I lowered my head to catch the last echo of our Saturday morning poetry world.

"And they are gone: aye, ages long ago
These lovers fled away into the storm."
Silence. I lifted my shaggy head to see her looking over the rim of her book at me. With that trinkle smile she said as she lowered and closed the book "Come back when you can."

In high school I failed Latin my freshman year; my sophomore year I failed chemistry, and algebra my junior year. Overall I was a very poor student and did just enough to get by and get out. But one thing I never did: I never failed English, actually made very good grades, even an E X E lent now and then.

I saw little of Miss Johnson my high school years but I did not stop reading, reciting and even writing poetry, pitiful as it was. When I was in trouble I recited something like El Dorado, when scared it might be La Belle Dame Sans Merci, and when I was lonely and scared it might be The Shepherd's Psalm (Psalm 23). Most of my classes bored me and no matter how hard I tried I could not "pay attention." So I memorized poetry to get me through
Chemistry (the second time around), History, Social Studies, whatever. I toted my little Palgrave's everywhere. I slipped it inside the leaves of bigger books I was supposed to be studying and instead of putting together chemistry compounds and algebraic formulas I read of Casabianca, the boy who "stood on the burning deck/Whence all but he had fled;/The flame that lit the battle's wreck/Shone round him o'er the dead," or "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." I didn't learn much practicality but I learned how to hide myself in silver dreams and swim with silver swans and "pluck till time and times are done the silver apples of the moon, the golden apples of the sun."

 Miz Johnson always had a quick glance for me with that trinkle smile that told me she'd always be a part of my life. My last day in her class I hung back just to say good bye. She had heard I signed a baseball contract and was off to the majors. I had memorized Elizabeth Barrett Brownings's Sonnet 43 to do for her but it just didn't seem to fit when the time came to do it. Someday I'd come back and do it for her.

"You be the best baseball player in the world," she said, and then looked at me with that little trinkle (my word) smile "Go, McQueen Hamilton Dillahey, come back when you can." I know I shouldn't have done this but I pecked her on the cheek before she could back up and I took off for Arizona.

Years later, after returning from an assignment, I visited her at her little brick house on Spring Street with the screened-in side porch and we sat there in a soft spring evening and she read again Mister Wordsworth's ode, Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood. This time I did not interrupt or turn my mind to fleeting thinsg or nothings written on the wind. I listened and she read as only she could:

What though the radiance which was so bright
Be now forever taken from my sight,
Thought nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith
that looks through death, In years that bring the philosophic mind.
Her neat hair had silvered and mine was getting there but that trinkle smile still enchanted me. Like poetry it said things only the poetry lover could understand. She had touched me deeply and she knew it and we would always share that, never talk about it, but share it.

The last words I heard her say on that little stoop outside her screen-in porch come to me when I need peace and there is no other place to turn but to memory.  I hear the soft sounds  and see that trinkle smile "Come back when you can, McQueen Hamiliton Dillahey."

 

Where The Souls Go - Review and Book Trailer

Idgie Says:

I sat down to start reading this novel and within 20 minutes was completely engrossed in the story.  It was nearly impossible to tear myself away from what was happening on the pages of Ann's latest book.  
 
This story involves two empathetic young girls surrounded by callous, cold-hearted men and stone-hearted, soulless women....several of them just "thisside" of crazy.  The girls are of the same age and appear to be from the same family line.  The main difference is that one of them just happens to be a ghost.  Both girls deeply lack love and affection in their lives - past and present.

As the novel changes first person narration throughout, to give all the women involved a chance to tell their story, it becomes filled with twisty turns as you learn who did what to whom.  The entire book is surrounded by death.  There is barely a likable person in the story, but regardless, you are hooked until the very end.

______________________________
Mercer University Press
September, 2015

At the age of ten, Annie Todd finds not only is her mother quite mad but that Annie has inherited an unusual legacy. The ghost of a young girl visits Annie in her new home deep in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where Annie’s mother, Grace Jean, has hidden them away from the life they used to know. Annie finds an unlikely ally in Pearl, a young woman who keeps house in Annie’s new home. The secrets that surround Pearl take Annie’s mind off her loneliness and soon her family history is revealed to her. “Instead of wind, I heard my name being called. The whispery voice came from the woods. ‘Annie Todd’. My sixth sense had not yet kicked in and didn’t warn me I was standing on the backbone of my history.”

WHERE THE SOULS GO is Ann Hite’s third novel set in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Readers who loved GHOST ON BLACK MOUNTAIN, Hite’s first novel, will find many of the characters familiar. This book follows three generations of the Pritchard family, not only telling the story of how Hobbs Pritchard became the villain of Black Mountain, but highlighting women’s struggles in Appalachia, beginning in the Depression Era and ending in the mid-sixties. 

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Week #3 - Flashback Recommendations

This week we concentrate on the Gentlemen.  I am not centering on one particular book, but a style of writing and story telling that gripped me hard and wouldn't let go. I will, of course, tell you my favorite book in their stack of books that rest on my bookcases.  

The first Gentlemen is Robert Olmstead.  Think Cormac McCarthy but with more poetry and flow in his writing.  Cormac tends to be short and succinct, sometimes too much.  Robert writes in the same vein of depth and despair, but his words are as a burbling brook, flowing over and through your mind.  Beautiful.  My favorite book of his?  Coal Black Horse - where a 14 year old boy must throw on the mantle of manhood and find his father, injured on the Civil War battlefield... and bring him home to his mother.  

The Second author in this pile of books is Raymond Atkins.  Each of his books flow with Southern cadence and flavor.  His characters simply jump off the page and demand to be heard and recognized.  I find myself wincing, laughing, and tearing up while reading his novels.  His people are so alive and interesting and filled with vitality.   My favorite book is Camp Redemption, where the main characters are close to losing their Bible Camp - which is their very way of life - and while dealing with this issue somehow manage to "adopt" quite a few needful folks.  I loved each and every character - even the ones I hated. 

Finally there is Hugh Howey - independent self-publishing sensation.  I still love that I fell upon his books while he was up and coming, so that I can claim I "knew him when".  Hugh has busted loose and done very well for himself.  He is well thought of and quite successful.  He has written multiple books in the last few years and is a force on Amazon, but the Wool series hit me hard and stuck with me.  The circumstances are bizarre and confusing, but not necessarily completely unrealistic - knowing how our political world works.  The characters are alive and filled with small life worries along with the big picture. The first book in the series felled me.  Dragged me in and had me gnashing my teeth to get to the next one.  I have read several other Hugh series and I will admit that this one remains my favorite to this day.


Showing the Love for Bill Bryson

Shout out for the Day.  Have you read Bill Bryson?  If not, you are missing GOOD STUFF.  Introspective, educational and funny as hell all at the same time.

His books are my go to when I need a few minutes of downtime.  They always put me in a good mood, though they do irritate my hubby when I start snorting and snickering in bed when he's trying to go to sleep.

I have gone through a few copies of his books and had to replace them.  I see here that I actually have two copies of one in the pic.  They are just that good. 

As a special treat, A Walk in the Woods is now on the movie screen with Robert Redford and many other talented actors.


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Devoted in Death - a Shout Out

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51vTlRt6oSL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpgIdgie Says:
I am far too squeamish to read this book, but anyone that has written 215 books deserves a shout out!

_______________________________________

DEVOTED IN DEATH 
(G.P. Putnam’s Sons Hardcover; September 15, 2015)
J.D. Robb 

In DEVOTED IN DEATH, a couple on a cross-country killing spree end up in New York City.  Ella-Loo and Darryl hit the road innocently enough until things go wrong in Arkansas and a need for murder stokes their desire for more victims.  Their calling card: a heart with their initials carved into the victim’s skin.  Their misstep occurred when they crossed into New York, where it’s up to Lt. Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke to stop them in their tracks.This extraordinary futuristic suspense novel is the perfect read for any women’s fiction fan.

One of the longest-running suspense series currently being published – J.D. Robb’s In Death series – celebrates its 20th year with the forty-first installment this fall, DEVOTED IN DEATH.  While writing one series for twenty years is impressive enough, Robb’s alter-ego is Nora Roberts, and this is her 215th novel overall.

How did this beloved bestselling series come to be?  Roberts writes quickly, and a pseudonym offered her the opportunity to reach a new group of readers.  But she had one stipulation –to write something different from the romance and romantic suspense she’d built her career upon.  She’d been toying with the idea of setting something in the near-future, and the In Death series was born.  The tough Lieutenant Eve Dallas was at the heart of the series – a strong heroine with a dark past.

The In Death series is set in late 21st century New York City, and in writing Lt. Eve Dallas’s story, J.D. Robb has created an empowered, resilient, and realistic character with unwavering purpose.  Robb’s ability to pair gripping and spine-chilling suspense, while exploring the relationships that Eve shares with her husband Roarke, her colleagues, and her close friends, as well as her quick wit, snappy dialogue, and inside jokes, keeps readers devouring each new book as it’s published and re-reading the series again and again.  These traits are also a trademark of Roberts’s gift for storytelling, which has garnered her one of the largest and most dedicated fan bases in the publishing world.

Roberts’s career began in 1979; during a blizzard in rural Maryland, she was stranded indoors with her two rambunctious sons and running low on chocolate and patience.  For sanity’s sake, she picked up a pad and pen and started writing down the tales that she’d always conjured in her head.  Those tales were based on what she liked to read – specifically a great story filled with interesting and realistic characters, where good conquers evil and love conquers all.  The In Death books, while a suspense series set in the future and centered around a female detective, are just that – novels about good conquering evil, family, and love, the hallmarks of a Roberts or Robb novel.
 
About the Author:
J. D. Robb/Nora Roberts is the bestselling author of more than 200 novels with more than 500 million copies of her books in print worldwide.  Every Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb title released in 2014 hit the New York Times bestseller list, keeping up a streak started in 1999. You can find Robb on the web at www.jdrobb.com or join the discussion on Facebook (jdrobbauthor) with her 130,000 fans.

MY SOUTHERN JOURNEY: TRUE STORIES FROM THE HEART OF THE SOUTH

Idgie Says:
I love Rick's stories.  Half the time when I'm reading them I find I'm laughing out loud in public places, making people stare at me.  Other times I find myself nodding along as I read, affirming with my own thoughts and memories what he's sharing on the pages.  

He is a wonderfully introspective yet down-home Southern guy who isn't afraid to say what he means and share what he feels.  This book of Southern thoughts and memories is fantastic.  The stories are the perfect length to absorb a few on a lunch break, before bed, or with or morning coffee.  Have a long rainy afternoon?  Heck, let's work our way through half the book.  

Some of my favorite chapters that I've read so far have been: 
  • Crazy Cat Lady
  • For a Vegetable, I'll have White Gravy
  • The Eternal Gulf
  • Donkey Business

The list goes on.  I highly recommend this book of memories and amusing anecdotes by one of our beloved Southern writers.  You won't regret it.

 ____________________________________________
 
Book Description:
Announcing Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times Bestselling author, Rick Bragg’s new book, MY SOUTHERN JOURNEY: TRUE STORIES FROM THE HEART OF THE SOUTH (Time Inc/Oxmoor House; September 15, 2015). 

 Bragg has written essays about Southern living mixed with uniquely American experiences such as the regional obsession with college football and dinners with the family to colorful descriptions of southern food. Watch Rick describe his love for the south in his own words on Southern Living’s special video interview, Southern Journal.

MY SOUTHERN JOURNEY is a feel good read that will make you feel content about the little things in life that mean the most: family, food, and tradition.  This heartfelt collection is mixed with humor and personality and keenly expresses the humanistic need to have a place to call home and all the little things that make life whole. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Bragg is a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist and the bestselling author of All Over but the Shoutin’, Ava’s Man, and The Prince of Frogtown. Bragg, who has written for numerous magazines, including Southern LivingSports Illustrated and Food & Wine, was a newspaper reporter for two decades, covered high school football for the Jacksonville News, and, among other topics, Islamic fundamentalism for The New York Times. He has won more than 50 significant writing awards, in books and journalism, including, twice, the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award. 

ABOUT MY SOUTHERN JOURNEY
With humorous, touching, and thoughtful writing, Rick Bragg explores enduring Southern truths and traditions in his first-ever essay collection focused on life in the South. All-new essays are intertwined with classic favorites as My Southern Journey delves into the regional obsessions ranging from college football to family suppers, from mayonnaise to spoonbread, and the simple beauty of a fish on the hook.

This volume is an enjoyable read and give for Southerners and fans of the South, no matter where they are.

Monday, September 14, 2015

This week's flashback recommendations

#2 in the series of Flashback Review:


When she Woke by Hillary Jordan:
A dystopian novel similar to a Handmaid's Tale, where women have very little rights and the puritanical have taken over.  Great writing and such a different book than her first, Mudbound, that it blew me away.

Roseflower Creek by Jackie Lee Miles:
The first chapter horrifies you.  The rest of the book surrounding this abused child horrifies you.  Yet the child warms your heart and you cannot put the book down.  Beautifully written, I was sore from tension while reading it. 

One Hundred and Four Horses by Mandy Retzlaff:
A wonderful true story of Mandy and her family's escape from Zimbabwe during the turbulence there, somehow finding themselves taking 104 horses with them that were left behind by their neighbors as they fled.  While everyone left quickly, their family chose to foot it across rough terrain and desert with these beautiful and helpless animals.  

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward:
A rough, tough and wonderful story about an incredibly poor family's survival before and during Hurricane Katrina.  This novel shows the very rough side to being at the poverty line, but brings forth the human strength and determination that they possess at the same time.  Absolutely gripping novel.

The Last September - A spotlight

jacket image for The Last SeptemberThe Last September Hardback, 320 pages  (also available in Electronic book text and CD-Audio )
ISBN: 9781616201333 (1616201339)
Published by Algonquin Books
$25.95(US)
 
This title will be available for purchase from Workman.com on Sep 15, 2015.

about The Last September

The Last September is a wonderful, glowing book populated by characters that become a part of your life long after the last page has been turned. It is the type of novel writers admire and readers long for.” —Jason Mott, author of The Returned

Brett had been in love with Charlie from the day she laid eyes on him in college. When Charlie is found murdered, Brett is devastated. But, if she is honest with herself, their marriage had been hanging by a thread for quite some time.

Though all clues point to Charlie’s brother Eli, who’s been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years, any number of people might have been driven to slit the throat of Charlie Moss--a handsome, charismatic man who unwittingly damaged almost every life he touched. Now, looking back on their lives together, Brett is determined to understand how such a tragedy could have happened--and whether she was somehow complicit.

Set against the desolate autumn beauty of Cape Cod, The Last September is a riveting emotional puzzle. Award-winning author Nina de Gramont is at the top of her game as she takes readers inside the psyche of a woman facing down the meaning of love and loyalty.

“Brilliant rendering of love story, murder mystery, pitch-perfect study of horrific ‘ordinary’ mental illness, and that rare coming-of-age novel that deals with adults who actually do come of age in the most difficult ways. I was hooked by the first paragraph, which somehow contains all the beautiful, luminous grief of the whole story, and I truly did not want to let it go in the end.” —Brad Watson, author of Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives

 
photo of Nina de Gramont

about Nina de Gramont

Nina de Gramont is the author of the story collection Of Cats and Men, which was a Book Sense selection and won a Discovery Award from the New England Booksellers Association. Her first novel, Gossip of the Starlings, was also a Book Sense pick. She is the coeditor of an anthology called Choice and the author of several young adult novels. She teaches in the MFA program at the University of North Carolina–Wilmington. Find her at www.ninadegramont.com.