First Lines Friday...

  "Fingers clutching the steering wheel, the mother sat in her car, staring at the house. A narrow, rickety little shotgun shack that had somehow stood there for more than a hundred years. A sagging roof to match the sagging, postage-stamp front porch. Narrow clapboard siding that hadn't seen a fresh coat of paint in a generation. The front windows were not quite square in the wall. No light shone through the dirty glass.

    How had it come to this?"

                                                                                                ....Bad Liar by Tami Hoag

Memoir Monday... Can We Talk About It?

Code Talker, The first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII by Chester New...

His name wasn’t Chester Nez. That was the English name he was assigned in kindergarten. And in boarding school at Fort Defiance, he was punished for speaking his native language, as the teachers sought to rid him of his culture and traditions. But discrimination didn’t stop Chester from answering the call to defend his country after Pearl Harbor, for the Navajo have always been warriors, and his upbringing on a New Mexico reservation gave him the strength—both physical and mental—to excel as a marine.

During World War II, the Japanese had managed to crack every code the United States used. But when the Marines turned to its Navajo recruits to develop and implement a secret military language, they created the only unbroken code in modern warfare—and helped assure victory for the United States over Japan in the South Pacific.

I have always been fascinated by the WWII Code Talkers. It's such an amazing part of history and an important one. Imagine the dedication these young men had to fight for their country, the country that pretty much turned its back on the Indians and their culture, forcing them off their land. 

"On August 7, 1942, U.S. Marines of the 1st Marine Division hit the beaches of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and the Florida islands in the first land offensive against Japan. Of the 11,000 Marines who landed, 15 were Navajo Code Talkers. This was to be their inaugural test in battle—three months after they’d been initially sworn in at Fort Wingate, New Mexico on May 4, 1942. In those three months, the code talkers went through basic training, underwent extensive instruction in radio operation and message transmittal, and developed and memorized a code that not even other native Navajo speakers could decipher."

Navajo Code Talkers Day was established by President Ronald Reagan on August 14, 1982. In 2014, Arizona passed legislation declaring every August 14 Navajo Code Talkers Day in Arizona. And every year around this time, there is a special Ham Radio Event commemorating the history of the Navajo Code Talkers. I had the privilege to talk to a relative of one of the Code Talkers on my ham radio last August. It was an honor and such an interesting conversation. I look forward to reading Code Talker by Chester Nez, published by Dutton Caliber, a boutique imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, in 2011. 

Such a Fun Age by Kiely Reid... A Review

First book of the year and what a thought-provoking read. My emotions were running in so many directions, as the stories of each of the main characters played out and their histories revealed.

The opening "incident" of the book just sucks you in. Emira, the 25 year-old black babysitter of a very privileged white couple, is accused of kidnapping their daughter when she takes the little girl into an upscale market late at night. Words are exchanged, things happen, a bystander films it and as I feverishly read the pages because I wanted to find out how it ends I am thinking that this is what the book is about. This incident. But it's not. Deceptively this incident really isn't the story at all, it just serves as a catalyst for everything else.

Mother of the little girl, Alex, feels guilty over the incident and decides to try and become friends with Emira. Try to treat her like an "equal", which doesn't really work out too well because they really live in two very different worlds. And we see this as the book navigates the two women's lives separately and together. Emira doesn't really want to be friends and she doesn't want her "help" either.  

But when something from Alex's past connects the two women, it causes an explosion of emotions from both women, and the story really takes off. OMG... Any façade that these characters had just got burned off in the fire.

The writing is fresh. The story is complex and interesting. You can really read this story in many ways. On the surface it's a story about Emira's "coming-of-age", a story of a young black girl trying to find herself as she navigates her life with 2 part time jobs and a strong group of women she calls friends. It's about the strong bond of women's friendship. It's about being young and vulnerable. But deeper into the layers of the story you see the social commentary Kiley Reid is pointing out about race, privilege and the the choices we make to be true to ourselves.

The characters are awesome. The author really develops their personalities, lives and back stories. Once you start reading Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, you won't want to put it down. There is so much more to talk about, but if I did, it would reveal all sorts of spoilers. That being said, this would make a great book club selection, because believe me, there is plenty to discuss. I definitely give it a solid 4 stars.

I want to thank Penguin Group Putnam for sending along a digital copy for me to review.

In My Mailbox...

In My Mailbox... I've received some great eGalleys last week! And I decided I would join in on the fun sharing them with you and the other bloggers participating in Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly event for bloggers to share what books arrived in their mailboxes. Mailbox Monday was originally created by Marcia of To Be Continued and is now hosted by Vicki, Serena and Leslie at Mailbox Monday's own blog.

I think ghosts are a theme for me this week, with almost all the books here having some sort of ghost involved. All except for The Passenger, which is a thriller that involves a death, but no ghosts to speak of. ( I think) Here's what landed in my eReader this week...

Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase... Ghosts are everywhere, not just the ghost of Momma in the woods, but ghosts of us too, what we used to be like in those long summers . . . Amber Alton knows that the hours pass differently at Black Rabbit Hall, her London family's country estate, where no two clocks read the same. Summers there are perfect, timeless. Not much ever happens. Until, of course, it does. 

More than three decades later, Lorna is determined to be married within the grand, ivy-covered walls of Pencraw Hall, known as Black Rabbit Hall among the locals. But as she's drawn deeper into the overgrown grounds, half-buried memories of her mother begin to surface and Lorna soon finds herself ensnared within the manor's labyrinthine history, overcome with an insatiable need for answers about her own past and that of the once-happy family whose memory still haunts the estate.

Ahh, a ghost story in a country estate in London! Need I say more? I am so looking forward to diving into this one! (and actually I have!) Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and G.P. Putnam 's Sons.

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz... A blistering thriller about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past: you’ll want to buckle up for the ride!

"In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it..."

Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time. She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born. It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?

I have been wanting to read this after all the great reviews for a long time! I kind of feel like I won the lottery here, but in all seriousness this sounds like a great read and Lisa Lutz has the talent to do it! Thank you to Simon & Schuster!

Fell side by M.R. Carey... From Kirkus Reviews: A woman in prison must fight violent inmates and suspicious ghosts to find some measure of redemption.

Jess Moulson wakes up in the hospital with no memory of where she is or what has happened. High on heroin, she started a fire that burned her own face beyond recognition, severely injured her addict boyfriend, and led to 10-year-old Alex Beech’s death by smoke inhalation. Jess is found guilty of Alex’s murder and sentenced to Fellside, a notorious women’s prison in the remote Yorkshire moors. Alex’s ghost visits her in prison, assuring her that she was not the one who hurt him and begging her to uncover the truth behind his murder. Soon Jess is projecting into “the Other World” with Alex while simultaneously navigating the very dangerous real world of Fellside.

You know, I love a good ghost story and the hook here for me was Alex's ghost coming back and visiting Jess in prison. I thought that was interesting. And I'm also interested in how well M.R. Carey handles Jess visiting "the other world", which I presume to be the place in-between life and death.  Thank you to Orbit Books!

Summer lost by Ally Condie... It's the first real summer since the devastating accident that killed Cedar's father and younger brother, Ben. But now Cedar and what's left of her family are returning to the town of Iron Creek for the summer. They're just settling into their new house when a boy named Leo, dressed in costume, rides by on his bike. Intrigued, Cedar follows him to the renowned Summerlost theatre festival. Soon, she not only has a new friend in Leo and a job working concessions at the festival, she finds herself surrounded by mystery. The mystery of the tragic, too-short life of the Hollywood actress who haunts the halls of Summerlost. And the mystery of the strange gifts that keep appearing for Cedar. 

This was just a 6 chapter sampler released by the publisher, but it sounded like a wonderful "summer" read, and hints of a coming of age tale, so I happily downloaded the sample eGalley!  Thank you to Penguin Group, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Dutton Books for Young Readers.

That's my mailbox this past week, what kind of books arrived on your doorstep?! Hop on over to Mailbox Monday and check out what everyone found waiting for them!


Happy reading... Suzanne

The Sunday Salon and Reading Anticipation (With Giveaways to Come…)!

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! It's the day of the week we virtually talk about that thing we love… READING! And finally, in Connecticut, we can step out of the house and not into a foot of snow! It's a beautiful sunny day here and it just makes me feel refreshed and ready for a new reading season! So let me ask you...

Do you get excited when you hear that a favorite author or series is coming out with a new book?! I do and so today I thought we'd talk about one such series that is wrapping up with the final chapter… Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy! And what's even more fun is that the publisher is celebrating as well with a giveaway! And to top that is, you can enter the giveaway and read a guest post by Deb, right here starting June 6th! Don't miss it, it's going to be a blast!

So what is the All Souls Trilogy?! Take one part Anne Rice mix that with the Twilight series and a good helping of historical fiction, and you have an idea what you're in for with the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. An enchanted manuscript, known as Ashmole 782, a reluctant witch and a sexy vampire…

A Discovery of Witches (Book 1)… "When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family’s legacy. She banishes the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer.

For witches are not the only otherworldly creatures living alongside humans. There are also creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires who become interested in the witch’s discovery. They believe that the manuscript contains important clues about the past and the future, and want to know how Diana Bishop has been able to get her hands on the elusive volume.

Chief among the creatures who gather around Diana is vampire Matthew Clairmont, a geneticist with a passion for Darwin. Together, Diana and Matthew embark on a journey to understand the manuscript’s secrets. But the relationship that develops between the ages-old vampire and the spellbound witch threatens to unravel the fragile peace that has long existed between creatures and humans—and will certainly transform Diana’s world as well."

Shadow of Night (Book 2)… "Book Two of the All Souls Trilogy plunges Diana and Matthew into  Elizabethan London, a world of spies and subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the mysterious School of Night.  The mission is to locate a witch to tutor  Diana and to find traces of Ashmole 782, but as the net of Matthew’s past tightens around them they embark on a very different journey, one that takes them into heart of the 1,500 year old vampire’s shadowed history and secrets. For Matthew Clairmont, time travel is no simple matter; nor is Diana’s search for the key to understanding her legacy.

Shadow of Night brings us a rich and splendid tapestry of alchemy, magic, and history, taking us through the loop of time to deliver a deepening love story, a tale of blood, passion, and the knotted strands of the past."

The Book of Life (Book 3!)…  "After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago."

I don't know where I was at the beginning of this trilogy, but I'm a good ways into book 1, A Discovery of Witches, and I am hooked! From the very beginning when I found myself in an old dusty library with Diana Bishop I did not want to come out! For a reader, who wouldn't love a story set among old dusty books. And even though Diana is a witch (she's a reluctant witch), this book doesn't seem to rely on that as its sole plot, there just feels like so much more substance to this story. More of a historical fiction feel with a bit of spice. So, if you haven't read this series you need to catch up! The Kindle version is only $2.99 right now for  A Discovery of Witches: A Novel (All Souls Trilogy, Book 1) and $4.99 for Shadow of Night: A Novel (All Souls Trilogy, Book 2). Book 3, The Book of Life comes out July 15th by Penguin Group, so you and I both have time to read up to the final chapter in the series.

I am lucky though, because I just received this series in the mail courtesy of Penguin Books! And I can't wait to share my thoughts after reading each book. But from the looks of it, I'm going to be liking this series A LOT! And I'm going to love participating in the celebration so some of my Chick with Books readers can win some cool stuff! OK… it's back to the books for me! You come back this week to learn more about those great giveaways!

Happy reading… Suzanne

Dark Witch by Nora Roberts… A Review

It has been a while since I've read any Nora Roberts, but like an old friend you haven't seen in years, it feels just like yesterday that you were visiting. I was excited when I read about the new trilogy Nora Roberts had planned, the Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy, because it's setting was Ireland, and it had a bit of magic for fun. I have never been disappointed in any novel I've read by Nora Roberts, and Dark Witch was no exception! Filled with a beautiful ancient landscape, a curse, romance and compelling characters, Dark Witch had me totally absorbed and turning the pages late into the night.

Dark Witch opens in the year 1263, with Sorcha, the original Dark Witch, and her three children. We learn that another powerful witch, Cabhan, has lusted after Sorcha and her powers and will stop at nothing to have her and her powers. A powerful fight ensues and a curse follows all the descendants of these two through present time, which is where we land next - County Mayo, 2013. In present day we meet Iona Sheehan, who never quite fit in anywhere before, who decides to travel to her ancestors home in Ireland, to start her life fresh. With the stories from her Nana, County Mayo is no stranger to her. She sells almost all her belongings and makes the trip, to find her cousins, who welcome her with open arms. But there is a purpose for her being there, a purpose she doesn't quite understand until she gets there. Oh, Nana has shared the folklore and the stories, but it all becomes very real once she's decided that she will be staying in County Mayo- permanently. Without giving away any spoilers here, with Iona finding her way "home" to County Mayo, the curse is stirred and all hell breaks loose. But not before we have some romance, explore the ancient ruins of Ireland and mix a good potion or two.

Nora Roberts is a master with mixing all these elements together into a great story. The romance is almost perfect, the history of the area is wonderfully shared as the characters explore their world, and the magic seems real. My only nagging qualm is that I really didn't like our protagonist Iona. I thought she was a bit whimpy and not up to par with what I would have expected. But that put aside, I enjoyed the story, all the other characters, who we will no doubt see again in books 2 & 3, and I can't wait for the second book in the trilogy, Shadow Spell, to come out. But I'll have to wait because it won't be out until March. Ugh! I warn you though, Dark Witch ends at a place where you're looking for the rest of the story! I know that's the usual with these trilogies, but I thought there would be a bit more wrap up where it ended. I wanted to start reading book 2 immediately because of it!

Historical romance with the backdrop of Ireland is what Dark Witch is all about, and a great beginning to the Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy.

Memoir Monday

I have read a lot of memoirs. I started Memoir Monday not because of my love of memoirs, but because they were so prolific. I look back on all those posts and think about some of the wonderful books I've read... the stories that leave an imprint, stories you just can't forget. And then there are the not so wonderful books. Memoirs that seem long and tedious, maybe the person's life doesn't resinate with me, maybe the writing didn't pull me in. Everyone has a story, but is that story book worthy? And what sets those memoirs apart that seem to linger long after you've turned the last page? The answer to that last question may lie in Handling The Truth On the Writing of Memoir by Beth Kephart. It just screams READ ME... 

Kirkus Review, who gave it a starred review, writes that Handling The Truth, "is not only about "the making of memoir and its consequences," but also "its privileges and pleasures." Though firmly rooted in personal experience, memoir is not an exercise in narcissism. As Kephart shows through examples from writers such as Michael Ondaatje and Annie Dillard, it is a process by which "memoirists open themselves up to self-discovery and make themselves vulnerable...  In the process of self-discovery—and like the Penn students from whose work she quotes liberally throughout—memoirists must also learn to ask the right questions about the past and about life itself."


Beth Kephart is a writer in her own right, and teaches creative nonfiction. Handling The Truth On the Writing of Memoir sounds like a perfect read for anyone who enjoys memoirs; to get a look at the process that can make those gems that stand out. Maybe her book can even help you tell your story! 

HANDLING THE TRUTH On Writing of Memoir by Beth Kephart will be out August 6th, 2013 and is published by Gotham, a division of Penguin.

The Sunday Salon and Books with Buzz!

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! It's the time of the week to kick back and relax, grab a cup of java and talk books... It's been a while since you've read a Sunday Salon here, but don't worry, I've been reading and finding some great books and we're going to share them all starting today!


First, let's look at two new novels at the top of my reading list...

And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, from the authors website...Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their fatherand stepmother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and brutal winters.

To Abdullah, Pari – as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named – is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their heads touching, their limbs tangled.

One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand.

Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways in which we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us.

It's been six years since Khaled Hosseini has given us a gift of his writing, and his newest offering has gotten so much positive praise and hype that I have to read it and I can only hope that it lives up to the wonderful writing I experienced in The Kite Runner. A friend of mine just told me that she thinks it's better than The Kite Runner. Published by Penguin Group, this book available right now at your local bookstore. This book is also Kindle Ready! AND Nook Ready!



The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls: A Novel by Anton DiSclafani... From the publisher: It is 1930, the midst of the Great Depression. After her mysterious role in a family tragedy, passionate, strong-willed Thea Atwell, age fifteen, has been cast out of her Florida home, exiled to an equestrienne boarding school for Southern debutantes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its complex social strata ordered by money, beauty, and girls’ friendships, the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is far removed from the free-roaming, dreamlike childhood Thea shared with her twin brother on their family’s citrus farm—a world now partially shattered. As Thea grapples with her responsibility for the events of the past year that led her here, she finds herself enmeshed in a new order, one that will change her sense of what is possible for herself, her family, her country.

Weaving provocatively between home and school, the narrative powerfully unfurls the true story behind Thea’s expulsion from her family, but it isn’t long before the mystery of her past is rivaled by the question of how it will shape her future. Part scandalous love story, part heartbreaking family drama, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is an immersive, transporting page-turner—a vivid, propulsive novel about sex, love, family, money, class, home, and horses, all set against the ominous threat of the Depression—and the major debut of an important new writer.

I just love these "coming-of-age" novels. (Now that I think about it, I'll have to write a post on some of the great books that come to mind!) The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls sounds like the perfect summer read. Scandalous, mysterious, plenty of drama, with a strong flawed female protagonist that may both pull at our hearts and infuriate us. I've heard mixed reviews, but the majority opinion is, that this is the "IT" novel of the summer. It is on my wish list! Published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin, it went on sale June 4th and is available at your local bookstore! This book is Kindle Ready! And Nook Ready too!


IN other bookish news... BEA, BookExpo America wrapped up June 1st with a great look, maybe a tease since I wasn't able to attend this year, at some great authors with new books and some great books from authors we are just getting to know. Next week we'll look at a few of the top choices from BEA, and boy am I excited!!


eReaders are all the rage. Lots of reading choices out there. Amazon has announced it's going to offer the KindleDX again. Its' 9.7inch E-Ink display is at a premium price of $299. Is there a market for the KindleDX with the price of full color tablets at almost the same price?

Reviews coming soon... My World Book Night book choice was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer. What a fun book. A chapter book for young readers, which celebrated its' 50th anniversary not too long ago, is a children's book with hidden delight for us older folks. If you like words (and what reader doesn't) you will love this book! I Also read a great novel set in the Vietanam era that centers around 2 brothers. The Turtle Warrior by Mary Relindes Ellis is set in a rural town in Wisconsin and will be pulling at your heartstrings. Overwhelmingly sad at some points, the story just wraps itself around you pulling you in. One of the best books I've read in a long time. AND I also read two great graphic novels recently- Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel, a great YA novel that mixes folklore and history with great fiction and The Mail Order Bride by Mark Kalesniko, which is definitely an ADULT graphic novel. The drawings are beautiful, the story funny and yet poignant. I can't wait to tell you about that one!

How was your week?! What great books are on your nightstand? Share your reading! I always love to hear about a good book!

Happy reading... Suzanne

First Lines...

"On the day that Nan Gilbert decided to kill herself, she awoke sometime after noon to the sound of her neighbor playing the radio in his backyard. The song was new to her, but the voice was familiar. It was Paul Simon singing without Garfunkel. And though "Kodachrome" was a rueful song about the bright-colored days of youth, it seemed quaint to Nan, who couldn't imagine that people still experienced the world in any kind of light." ... The Other Life by Ellen Meister (coming Feb. 2011)

Sounds like Crazy by Shana Mahaffey... a Review

Sounds like Crazy... ( by Shana Mahaffey)

And You'll Love it!

What would you do with 5 different voices in your head telling you what to do?! Well Holly Miller, who stars in Sounds like Crazy by Shana Mahaffey, calls her 5 voices "the Committee", and she's brought negotiation to a new level as she tries to deal with the life before her and the people in her head that each play a key role in how she handles different situations. There's Ruffles, who weighs a ton and eats Ruffle Potato Chips all day while sitting on a purple pillow. There's the Faceless Boy, who Holly can only see his red Converse Sneakers. There's the Silent One, who prays all the time, and Sarge who is like a drill Sargent and very protective of Holly. And last but not least there's Betty Jane, the diva, the dress to the nines and "Charmin only" control freak who everyone is generally afraid of. (yes, that's Charmin as in bathroom tissue, which she makes Holly carry around because she won't let Holly use anything else if she goes to a restroom!). They make her life hell for the most part, but they also make up her life as she's always known it. What's a girl to do?! Deal with it!

Having multiple personalities makes it difficult to navigate a normal life, but Holly has the "support" of her dysfunctional parents, a long distance sister, a sometimes boyfriend, and a job as a waitress. Yes, I put "support" in quotes because basically her father left her mother, and pays Holly's medical bills (she sees a psychiatrist now) out of guilt for being a horrible father, and her mother basically dropped her off across the country at college and left her there, but gave her an "emergency" credit card, which Holly uses to support her habits, which include food, living expenses beyond the low paying wages of waitresses, and Betty Jane's expensive tastes. That's until one day a customer walks in to the diner, Betty Jane takes over flirting (always good for tips) and loves the voice of Betty Jane for his new animated TV show. Things should be looking up, except Betty Jane is even more over the top with stardom, the rest of the Committee wants to throw her out, and Holly's psychiatrist is trying to heal her for good- AND it all works together beautifully!

Shana Mahaffey has written a smart, funny, and compassionate story. What you may suspect as being just another "chick lit" selection, is really an amazing story of the healing of a woman who was so traumatized at a young age that it left her with dissociative identity disorder, or what was once known as multiple personality disorder. The plot turns from the madcap life of Holly living her life with the Committee, to what caused her trauma and ultimately how she is healed in the end. And it's because of this that the story is so much deeper than what you first see on the surface. Shana's writing is fresh & wonderful. Her characters are all so well written and fully fleshed out. Their personalities are so unique and the Committee is a blast. The story will sneak up on you, grabbing you in the end... I know because it sure grabbed me! It's original and it's a great read! it's about sisters, dysfunctional families, and it's about healing... (throw in some Ruffles potato chips and Charmin bathroom tissue and you're all set!)...

Shana Mahaffey is also a great person! She took the time this week from her busy schedule and chatted with my reading group, who read Sounds like Crazy for our reading group selection this month, via Skype. The book made for a good conversation, but Shana was so much fun to chat with too! She shared her whole writing process, how she came up with the book (no she does NOT have multiple personalities!), and how she researched the book. Thanks Shana!

You can learn more about Sounds like Crazy and the author at Shana's website ShanaMahaffey.com. Plus you can find out how YOUR reading group can have Shana join you virtually to discuss the book while you're there!

Hey, I'm sharing this book review at Cym Lowell's Book Review Party! You get follow the link to Cym Lowell's Blog to read more great reviews!

Every Dog Has a Gift: true stories of dogs who bring hope & healing into our lives... A Review

Inspiring Stories of Hope & Healing...

There's a reason dogs are referred to as "Man's Best Friend", dogs have the unwritten power to bring us joy and make our worst days better just by offering us their unconditional love. Rachel McPherson knows this all too well as the founder & executive director of The Good Dog Foundation, a non profit organization dedicated to all aspects of dog-assisted therapy. "Good Dogs brings comfort and joy to people receiving chemotherapy; restore a sense of control to people whose lives have been upended by an illness or disability; serve as the perfect audience to help disadvantaged children practice & improve reading skills; comfort the bereaved and victims of disaster; and much more."

But Rachel doesn't limit her beliefs to dogs just specifically trained to be therapy dogs or "service" dogs, she believes all dogs are therapy dogs in one way or another. In every dog has a gift: true stories of dogs who bring hope & healing into our lives by Rachel McPherson, you will read simple inspiring stories of dogs who make a difference. The stories are heart warming, honest & moving. From the opening story of Chad who changes the life of a little boy with severe autism to Sierra, a three-year-old Lab who helps a wheel-chair bound Vietnam Veteran gain his freedom again you will be touched. There's the story of Fidel a cute little papillon who seemingly absorbs the grief of a woman taking the ferry ride to visit Ground Zero after the tragedy of 9/11 and who thanked Fidel after the trip for easing her pain; and the story of Pixel who makes all the difference in the world to the homeless Veteran who cares for her.

Every Dog Has a Gift is more than just stories though, it's a great resource! There are lists of some wonderful programs, such as The Good Dog Foundation Reading Program, which pairs dogs with children in libraries and schools, or Canine Companions for Independence, which is an organization that provides trained dogs for people with disabilities. Rachel also shares with us advice on choosing a dog, caring for a dog and fun things to do with your dog! (one of which is read to your dog! I already do, do you?) Plus Rachel talks about caring for our own dogs with disabilities and lists organizations that can help us help them.

As a dog lover, I enjoyed this book so much! The stories were inspiring, but learning about the worthwhile programs where the dogs went out into the community was eye opening! So many wonderful programs where dogs help heal our hearts and help us live better lives! Well written and entertaining, eye-opening and inspiring, Every Dog Has a Gift will bring greater awareness to the amazing powers of our four legged friends to bring us happiness. And it's a good read too!

Every Dog Has a Gift by Rachel McPherson will be released March 18th! 5% of all the proceeds will be donated to The Good Dog Foundation! Want to learn more about The Good Dog Foundation? They have a great website at www.thegooddogfoundation.org where you can learn about the organization and learn how you and your furry friend can become volunteers in your community. I want to thank Penguin Books for sending me a copy of Every Dog Has a Gift for review!

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett... January Book Club Selection

Three Ordinary Women are About to Take One Extraordinary Step...

January Book Club Selection

About the Book...

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

What makes a great book club selection? Great writing, compelling characters, conflict & heartbreak, redemption... The Help by Kathryn Stockett has all these elements! Just glancing through the book on the shelf, Kathryn's writing grabs you and holds you there to read just a little more. The 60's was a turbulent time in the south, with racial tensions & segregation, and the author takes pains to be authentic in writing about the times the three women of the story lived in, one in which the black maids took care of and virtually raised the children of their white employers, but could still be harassed when walking down those same streets. The author herself was raised in such a household in Jackson, Mississippi... Here's an excerpt from a conversation with Kathryn Stockett about growing up and about writing her book...

"Growing up in Mississippi, almost every family I knew had a black woman working in their house—cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the white children. That was life in Mississippi. I was young and assumed that’s how most of America lived. When I moved to New York, though, I realized my “normal” wasn’t quite the same as the rest of America’s. I knew a lot of Southerners in the city, and every now and then we’d talk about what we missed from the South. Inevitably, somebody would start talking about the maid they grew up with, some little thing that made us all remember—Alice’s good hamburgers or riding in the back seat to take Willy May home. Everybody had a story to tell. Twenty years later, with a million things to do in New York City, there we were still talking about the women who’d raised us in our mama’s kitchens. It was probably on one of those late nights, homesick, when I realized I wanted to write about those relationships from my childhood."

'The Help is fiction, by far and wide...I was scared, a lot of the time, that I was crossing a terrible line, writing in the voice of a black person. I was afraid I would fail to describe a relationship that was so intensely influential in my life, so loving, so grossly stereotyped in American history. I am afraid I have told too little. Not just that life was so much worse, for many black women working in the homes in Mississippi. But also, that there was so much more love between white families and black domestics, that I didn't have the ink or the time to portray. But what I am sure about is this: I don't presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi, especially the 1960's. I don't think it is something any white woman, on the other end of a black woman's paycheck, could ever truly understand. But trying to understand is vital to our humanity..."

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is my reading group's January read. The book has gotten tremendous praise from reviewers all over, and it was Bookreporter.com's "Book of The Year"! Published by the Penguin Group in February 2009, you can read an excerpt of The Help at the publishers website. And you can also read about what Kathryn felt about her life and writing The Help "In Her Own Words", found on her website KathrynStockett.com.

If you've read The Help, I would love to hear what you thought of the book! And if you're going to read it, either as a group or yourself, Penguin has put together a reading group guide with some thought provoking questions...

Discussion Questions...

1. Who was your favorite character? Why?

2. What do you think motivated Hilly? On the one hand she is terribly cruel to Aibileen and her own help, as well as to Skeeter once she realizes that she can’t control her. Yet she’s a wonderful mother. Do you think that one can be a good mother but, at the same time, a deeply flawed person?

3. Like Hilly, Skeeter’s mother is a prime example of someone deeply flawed yet somewhat sympathetic. She seems to care for Skeeter— and she also seems to have very real feelings for Constantine. Yet the ultimatum she gives to Constantine is untenable; and most of her interaction with Skeeter is critical. Do you think Skeeter’s mother is a sympathetic or unsympathetic character? Why?

4. How much of a person’s character would you say is shaped by the times in which they live?

5. Did it bother you that Skeeter is willing to overlook so many of Stuart’s faults so that she can get married, and that it’s not until he literally gets up and walks away that the engagement falls apart?

6. Do you believe that Minny was justified in her distrust of white people?

7. Do you think that had Aibileen stayed working for Miss Elizabeth, that Mae Mobley would have grown up to be racist like her mother? Do you think racism is inherent, or taught?

8. From the perspective of a twenty-first century reader, the hairshellac system that Skeeter undergoes seems ludicrous. Yet women still alter their looks in rather peculiar ways as the definition of “beauty” changes with the times. Looking back on your past, what’s the most ridiculous beauty regimen you ever underwent?

9. The author manages to paint Aibileen with a quiet grace and an aura of wisdom about her. How do you think she does this?

10. Do you think there are still vestiges of racism in relationships where people of color work for people who are white?

11. What did you think about Minny’s pie for Miss Hilly? Would you have gone as far as Minny did for revenge?

Happy Reading... Suzanne

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready! (available under $9!) And the hardcover edition of The Help is available from Amazon.com for $9.50 right now! That's 62% off!

The Jane Austen Birthday Celebration Week continues with The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

A Fictional Book Club that loves Jane Austen!

In California’s central valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen’s novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her eye for the frailties of human behavior and her ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Karen Joy Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships. Dedicated Austenites will delight in unearthing the echoes of Austen that run through the novel, but most readers will simply enjoy the vision and voice that, despite two centuries of separation, unite two great writers of brilliant social comedy.

A few years back The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler was all the rage! It was a favorite among book clubs (it's always fun to read about other book clubs!) and it still gets a lot of great buzz today. It's been on my TBR list for a long time, so what better time then Jane Austen's Birthday Celebration Week to finally pull it out and start reading! Karen Joy Fowler is known for her wonderfully developed characters and her great writing. In The Jane Austen Book Club each chapter focuses on a particular Austen novel and the character that is hosting the discussion of that book- slowly unfolding the lives of each of the book club members little by little as you read the book. The book club members also come up with their own discussion questions (which is interesting to read!), but here is a LINK to the discussion questions from the publisher for your book group! I also think that it's nice to look through a reading group guide after you've read a book yourself- sometimes the questions posed can add an interesting viewpoint you may not have considered. So check it out even if you're reading this on your own! Would you like to read an excerpt? Here is a link to Chapter One. The cover shot that I used is the first PB cover, now the cover is the movie tie-in image. (I prefer non-movie tie in covers!) So, if you're looking for it, keep your eye out for a different cover....

As we continue Jane Austen Birthday Week Celebration, this is one book that is more chick-lit than vampire & sea monsters, and should satisfy the reader who doesn't really get into Mr. Darcy with fangs. It should also be a fun read and one I'm looking forward to finally starting! Have you read this one yet? What did you think!? And if you have a review, I'd love to put a link here so we can all check it out!

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!