In My Mailbox... Advanced Reading Copies that Came My Way This Week and You'll Want to Know About!

I'm so excited about these two soon-to-be-published books! It's been a few years since we've heard from Richard Russo and Chang-Rae Lee. Both wonderful writers whose books I've devoured in the past...

Under The Falls by Richard Russo...
A spellbinding page-turner about a crime in a small town that exposes long-held secrets and betrayals among a group of lifelong friends.When Tyler Sinclair left Stone Mountain at eighteen, he had no plans of returning. With only a duffel bag full of clothes, a few bucks stolen from his father’s dresser, and a guitar, his most prized possession, Tyler disappeared without so much as a goodbye. Eighteen years later, Tyler, now the frontman of a famous band aptly named Stone Mountain, finds himself returning to his hometown for a one-night-only benefit concert to support his old friend, Doc, who lost feeling in his legs following a childhood accident. As Tyler ascends the mountain, memories of his childhood come rushing back—memories of his abusive father and despondent mother, of the friends he left behind—and he quickly learns that, for many people on Stone Mountain, the past does not feel like so long ago, and not everyone has been eagerly awaiting Tyler’s return.

At the concert, resentment simmers just beneath the surface, and Tyler finds himself confronted with faces new and old: there’s Curt, Tyler’s childhood best friend, now Stone Mountain’s chief of police, and his star officer, Deb, an out-of-towner who may have bitten off more than she can chew by accepting a job in Stone Mountain. And then there’s Freddi, Curt’s wife and Tyler’s former lover, a woman whose questionable dealings and fraught history with Tyler will become the catalyst for a tragedy that will upend each of their lives and threaten to validate Tyler’s worst fear: that “Stone Mountain is the kind of place you might escape from once, if you’re lucky, but not twice.”

Under the Falls is at once a propulsive thriller, a gut-wrenching portrait of a tight-knit rural community undone by the sins of its past, and an unflinchingly honest depiction of how porous the line between right and wrong, good versus evil, can become. This is a stunning, deeply empathetic novel, one that takes Russo’s penchant for character-driven drama to thrilling new heights. 

Richard Russo is a master storyteller and I've enjoyed all of his novels. When I heard he was coming out with a new standalong novel, I was excited and even more excited when I received an advanced digital copy of Under The Falls from the publisher, Knopf. Just add this to your TBR list. It will be published on August 11th.

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A Tender Age by Chang-Rae Lee... A story of guilt, innocence, and a boy on the cusp of adolescence. A spellbinding exploration of American masculinity and family dynamics as seen through the confused eyes of a prepubescent child of immigrants, A Tender Age joins the rich tradition of the American *bildungsroman (*a literary genre that focuses on the psychological, moral, and emotional growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood.) The natural descendent of characters like Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caufield, Korean-American Jeon-Gi is torn between competing ideas of himself. At home, his working-class parents dote on him. Outside, he is part of a roving pack of kids with dominion over a derelict baseball field, weedy parking lot, and rusty jungle gym. Getting into and out of trouble is all-consuming. But the summer he turns eleven, he becomes embroiled in a staggering series of events reverberating far beyond himself and his family.

Devastating in its emotional precision, A Tender Age captures a family and community in striking distance of the American dream, and a young person on the precipice of adult knowledge, looking at his own culpability and looking away—then thinking about it for the rest of his life.

Another great storyteller, Chang-Rae Lee has dived deep into his character's soul to share their lives. This sounds like a great coming-of-age story, and then some. I am excited to read this new novel from Chang-Rae Lee and was happy to received an advanced digital copy from the publisher, Riverhead. A Tender Age will also be published on August 11th!

 

It's New Book Release Day! And it is Stacked!

It's an exciting day! Why? Because it's "New Book Release Day"! Here are the books on my TBR list....

Rites Of The Starling by Devney Perry...
A princess journeys across a cursed realm to find the truth about her family, only to discover her quest intertwines with the fate of a lost warrior.

Calandra’s five kingdoms are on the verge of destruction. The crux migration is coming. And in the wake of a devastating attack, I’ve been separated from the man who owns my heart. I’m lost. Terrified. Homesick. Hunted by monsters, driven to exhaustion, and kidnapped by a powerful priest, the only thing keeping me going is the little girl counting on me to keep her safe. It’s my turn to become the Guardian. Our lives change one fateful night. A night of death. A night of monsters. A night of truths. That night, I learn the real meaning of fear—and the depth of my own strength. Everyone wants me to be something I’m not—a queen, a spy, a sacrifice. But what if I embrace my crown? What if the secrets I uncover save our realm? What if my sacrifice means salvation for the man I love? For too long, I’ve feared the monsters we make. It’s time to discover the monster within.

Sequel to the Shield of Sparrows. This is a HUGE anticipated release! I've got Shield of Sparrows in my TBR pile and this one on order. I pre-ordered this during that big buy2/get1 one day sale at Target, but was notified yesterday it's on BACKORDER!!! Published by Entangled Publishing.

American Fantasy by Emma Straub...
When the American Fantasy cruise ship sets sail for a four-day themed voyage, aboard are all five members of a famous 1990s boyband, and three thousand screaming women who have worshipped them for thirty years.

Newly divorced and with an empty nest, Annie is on board as a lark to appease her sister. Once a diehard fan of the band as a teen, her tastes have matured, and she feels out of place amid the sea of bedazzled, air-brushed t-shirts bearing the singers’ faces. Yet when the lights come up and the idols of her youth begin to sing before her, something is unlocked. “Maybe that was nostalgia after all, the music a direct vein to her childhood, the least complicated part of her life. A short cut to happiness.” Between the slushy alcoholic drinks, the music of her youth, and the thousands of middle-aged women acting like lovesick teenagers, Annie finally reconnects to a long-submerged part of herself. By the time she befriends one of the band members -- not just a celebrity but someone also in need of a friend -- she feels like anything is possible. But a lot can go wrong on a ship ruled by hormones and hope, frustration and fantasy.

Packed with wisdom, heart, and laugh-out-loud reflections on fame, youth, nostalgia, marriage, and middle age, Emma Straub delivers a richly textured, uplifting story about the magic of revisiting youthful feelings, and the even greater magic of starting anew.

This book has gotten so much positive buzz and sounds like a fun read for us "girls of a certain age". Sounds like a cruise I would want to go on! Definitely on my wishlist. Published by Riverhead Books.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke... A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified in the brutal reality of 1805—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.

My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the Republican equivalent of a Kennedy? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a brutal reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.

A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.

There has been so much anticipation for the release date for Yesteryear! OMG, I read this back at the end of January and was totally enthralled! I just couldn't stop reading! Read my review and add this to your TBR list! Published by Knopf.

Just Announce this morning... Reese's Book Club pick for April is Into The Blue by Emma Brodie which was also released today. Here's the publisher's blurb: “The truth is there’s no such thing as a normal life. There’s just the time you get and how you spend it.”

In the summer of 2000, AJ Graves dreams of writing for Saturday Night Live; instead, she’s stuck working in a video rental store, with slim odds of escaping her small Massachusetts town. Then in walks Noah Drew, the enigmatic and intense scion of the Drew acting dynasty, and her life changes forever. Despite wildly different upbringings, the two forge a deep, cosmic bond, first as friends, then as acting partners—until one day, Noah disappears without a word.

Seven years later, in New York City, AJ is shocked to find herself cast in the same intergalactic TV production as Noah, by then a well-known Hollywood heartthrob. As their on-screen characters grow closer every day, the lines between reality and acting begin to blur. Unable to stay away from each other, AJ and Noah are forced to confront the truth of what happened years ago—and the devastating secret that will send their lives careening apart, even as fate continues to draw them together.

Blending unforgettable characters, explosive chemistry and yearning, and profound emotion, Into the Blue is a journey unlike any other—one that asks: What does it mean to diverge from the script to forge your own story?

I know nothing about this book, except that Reese announced it as her pick for April and that it was published today by Ballantine Books. I usually like her picks though and sounds like a good read. On my radar now and putting it on my wishlist.

What new books are you reading today?

 

Memoir Monday... and a Tale of Survival at Sea!

Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst... 

From Goodreads... Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He’s a loner, awkward and obsessive; she’s charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream – as we all dream – of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat, and sailed away?

Most of us begin and end with the daydream. But in June 1972, Maurice and Maralyn set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves.

What ensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive in the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their inner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. Although they could run away from the world, they can’t run away from themselves.

Taut, propulsive, and dazzling, A Marriage at Sea pairs an adrenaline-fueled high seas adventure with a gutting love story that asks why we love difficult people, and who we become under the most extreme conditions imaginable.

This book is not your "traditional memoir", it's actually what is called narrative nonfiction... written like a story using all true facts of the story, but not written by the actual couple who experienced it. Sophie Elmhirst won a NERO award for this book and the book has gotten great press. There was an "original book" that was published by Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, the couple who the book is about, called 117 Days Adrift, written in 1988 and under 200 pages. A Marriage at Sea expands the story to 256 pages and written by Sophie Elmhirst who is an award winning journalist. 

Which book to read to learn what happened to Maurice and Bailey? Being published in 2025, A Marriage at Sea is a bit more accessible, written and the only choice for an ebook. The original book by Maurice and Maralyn Bailey got great reviews all around and can still be found. I've been doing a lot of eBooks lately, so I'm putting A Marriage at Sea on my TBR list! 

Published in 2025 by Riverhead Books and at your favorite bookstore!

Memoir Monday... I'm Suppose To Protect You From All This by Nadja Spiegelan

A memoir of mothers and daughters—and mothers as daughters—traced through four generations, from Paris to New York and back again.  

For a long time, Nadja Spiegelman believed her mother was a fairy. More than her famous father, Maus creator Art Spiegelman, and even more than most mothers, hers—French-born New Yorker art director Françoise Mouly—exerted a force over reality that was both dazzling and daunting. As Nadja’s body changed and “began to whisper to the adults around me in a language I did not understand,” their relationship grew tense. Unwittingly, they were replaying a drama from her mother’s past, a drama Nadja sensed but had never been told. Then, after college, her mother suddenly opened up to her. Françoise recounted her turbulent adolescence caught between a volatile mother and a playboy father, one of the first plastic surgeons in France. The weight of the difficult stories she told her daughter shifted the balance between them.

 It had taken an ocean to allow Françoise the distance to become her own person. At about the same age, Nadja made the journey in reverse, moving to Paris determined to get to know the woman her mother had fled.  Her grandmother’s memories contradicted her mother’s at nearly every turn, but beneath them lay a difficult history of her own. Nadja emerged with a deeper understanding of how each generation reshapes the past in order forge ahead, their narratives both weapon and defense, eternally in conflict. Every reader will recognize herself and her family in this gorgeous and heartbreaking memoir, which helps us to see why sometimes those who love us best hurt us most. 

I happened upon I'm Suppose To Protect You From All This by Nadja Spiegelman and wanted to know what Nadja Spiegelman was suppose to be protected from. The title made me curious. And so, I read what it was about and was fascinated. I opened up the preview and started reading and could not put it down. Aren't we women fascinating?, and the relationship between mothers and daughters is fascinating... and complex. This book looks like one of those books every daughter should read. Just published August 2nd by Riverhead Books and On my Wishlist!
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The Sunday Salon and 3 Books "Coming Soon" to Sink Your Teeth Into...

Welcome to The Sunday Salon and The Sunday Post! It's that day of the week bloggers from all over the internet get together virtually in a large gathering place called The Sunday Salon and talk books!  And at The Sunday Post, which is a weekly meme hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, in which more bloggers share their bookish news!

It's another rainy Sunday morning in Connecticut. The birds are singing though and I'm hoping the sun with show its face later. One the reading front... I've been leisurely reading LaRose by Louise Erdrich and really enjoying it. Erdrich's writing is wonderful and the story is absorbing. I added LaRose to the "must read" mix this week for anyone not familiar with Louise Erdrich's latest emotional work.

I also squeezed in two other books this week and an AUDIOBOOK. One book was a science fiction novella titled  Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (I reviewed it Saturday) that won the Nebula award for best science fiction novella for 2015. I don't read very much science fiction, but the premise sounded interesting (girl runs away from home to experience world and attend the most prestigious university in the galaxy. Encounters alien cultures, finds friendship and must learn to survive in an apocalyptic war she just happened to accidentally fly into on the way to school) The writing was wonderful. The story really held my attention and all of those things made me wonder why I never read science fiction.

     The other book I read was a Manga titled I Am a Hero by Kengo Hanazawa. I do read Manga, and I picked this out because I was hearing all sorts of great things about this series that Dark Horse Comics just bought the rights for and was beginning to publish in the States in 2016. This book also won the Shogakukan Manga Award, which is Japanese literary award for Manga series. I Am A Hero is an Omnibus, collecting a couple of the original japanese books in this one big 464 page volume. I'll be reviewing this Manga this week, but my initial thoughts were "why is this the cat's meow" until over half way through the story started to pick up speed and I was wanting to read more, but it ended and the next book is due in October. Oh, what's it about? It's about a Zombie Apocalypse in Japan. Think Walking Dead in Japanese, but there's so much more to it, really. And the artwork is nice, very detailed which is one reason people are raving about it.

Now the audiobook I listened to was Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at The End of the Lane, and it was wonderful!! OMG, it was such a marvelous tale that I wish everyone would listen to it. Neil Gaiman actually read it, played all the characters and did a fantastic job on all counts. Basically a fairy tale in the vein of Grimm's Fairy Tales- you know those dark fairy tales that look innocent enough from the start, but start to turn into a thinly veiled horror story. I'll be reviewing this also this week.

I'm always on the lookout for the next read, though and this week I found 3 books that should really satisfy that need to read... not just anything, but something with a really good story...

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler... From Kirkus Review: An ingénue from the Midwest learns the ways of the world, and the flesh, during her year as a back waiter at a top Manhattan restaurant. 

A flurry of publicity surrounded the acquisition of this book, which was pitched by an MFA–grad waitress to an editor dining at one of her tables. Danler’s debut novel takes place behind the scenes of a restaurant in Union Square whose rigid hierarchy, arcane codes of behavior, and basis in servitude and manual labor makes it less like a modern workplace than the royal court of 18th-century France—but with tattoos and enough cocaine to rival Jay McInerney. There’s even a Dangerous Liaisons–type love triangle with the beautiful, naïve young narrator at its apex, batted between the mysterious, brilliant waitress who teaches her about wine and the dissolute, magnetic bartender who teaches her about oysters. The older woman says things like, “I know you. I remember you from my youth. You contain multitudes.” The older man “was bisexual, he slept with everyone, he slept with no one. He was an ex-heroin addict, he was sober, he was always a little drunk.” What 22-year-old could ever resist them? The writing is mostly incandescent, with visceral and gorgeous descriptions of flavors, pitch-perfect overheard dialogue, deep knowledge of food, wine, and the restaurant business, and only occasional lapses into unintentional pretentiousness. From her very first sentences—“You will develop a palate. A palate is a spot on your tongue where you remember. Where you assign words to the textures of taste. Eating becomes a discipline, language-obsessed. You will never simply eat food again”—Danler aims to mesmerize, to seduce, to fill you with sensual cravings. She also offers the rare impassioned defense of Britney Spears.

I've read so many great reviews on this book, that I have now put it on my TBR list. What tempts me is  the backdrop of New York and all the wonderful food that fills the pages. This is published by Knopf and will be released May 24th!

 The Children by Ann Leary... The captivating story of a wealthy, but unconventional New England family, told from the perspective of a reclusive 29-year-old who has a secret (and famous) life on the Internet. 

Charlotte Maynard rarely leaves her mother’s home, the sprawling Connecticut lake house that belonged to her late stepfather, Whit Whitman, and the generations of Whitmans before him. While Charlotte and her sister, Sally, grew up at “Lakeside,” their stepbrothers, Spin and Perry, were welcomed as weekend guests. Now the grown boys own the estate, which Joan occupies by their grace―and a provision in the family trust. When Spin, the youngest and favorite of all the children, brings his fiancé home for the summer, the entire family is intrigued. The beautiful and accomplished Laurel Atwood breathes new life into this often comically rarefied world. But as the wedding draws near, and flaws surface in the family’s polite veneer, an array of simmering resentments and unfortunate truths is exposed. With remarkable wit and insight, Ann Leary pulls back the curtain on one blended family, as they are forced to grapple with the assets and liabilities – both material and psychological – left behind by their wonderfully flawed patriarch.

Again, I've heard lots of great buzz about this book and have put it on my TBR list! Published by St. Martin's Press, The Children will also be released May 24th!

Modern Lovers by Emma Straub... A smart, highly entertaining novel about a tight-knit group of friends from college— and what it means to finally grow up, well after adulthood has set in.

Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring. Back in the band's heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her Midwestern smile, Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. Now nearing fifty, they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn, and the trappings of the adult world seem to have arrived with ease. But the summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adult lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose—about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them—can never be reclaimed.

The highly anticipated next novel of Emma Straub has gotten some nice press and what I find appealing is to see how this group of friends navigates being grown up after surviving their youth together, and dealing with the fact that their children have become them. On my TBR list. Published by Riverhead Books and will be released May 31st!

Question... Do you like to look ahead to see what books are "Coming Soon"? 

Bonus Book... 
LaRose by Louise Erdrich... An emotionally haunting contemporary tale of a tragic accident, a demand for justice, and a profound act of atonement with ancient roots in Native American culture.

North Dakota, late summer, 1999. Landreaux Iron stalks a deer along the edge of the property bordering his own. He shoots with easy confidence—but when the buck springs away, Landreaux realizes he’s hit something else, a blur he saw as he squeezed the trigger. When he staggers closer, he realizes he has killed his neighbor’s five-year-old son, Dusty Ravich. The youngest child of his friend and neighbor, Peter Ravich, Dusty was best friends with Landreaux’s five-year-old son, LaRose. The two families have always been close, sharing food, clothing, and rides into town; their children played together despite going to different schools; and Landreaux’s wife, Emmaline, is half sister to Dusty’s mother, Nola. Horrified at what he’s done, the recovered alcoholic turns to an Ojibwe tribe tradition—the sweat lodge—for guidance, and finds a way forward. Following an ancient means of retribution, he and Emmaline will give LaRose to the grieving Peter and Nola. “Our son will be your son now,” they tell them. LaRose is quickly absorbed into his new family. Plagued by thoughts of suicide, Nola dotes on him, keeping her darkness at bay. His fierce, rebellious new “sister,” Maggie, welcomes him as a coconspirator who can ease her volatile mother’s terrifying moods. Gradually he’s allowed shared visits with his birth family, whose sorrow mirrors the Raviches’ own. As the years pass, LaRose becomes the linchpin linking the Irons and the Raviches, and eventually their mutual pain begins to heal. But when a vengeful man with a long-standing grudge against Landreaux begins raising trouble, hurling accusations of a cover-up the day Dusty died, he threatens the tenuous peace that has kept these two fragile families whole.

First, Louise Erdrich's writing is beautiful, I am enjoying reading the words that convey such strong emotions. The story is so devastating and yet inspiring. I'll be reviewing this soon, but for now, put this on your TBR list because I think it will be one of this years big hits. It has gotten a lot of positive press and a starred review from Kirkus. Published by Harper and released last week!

That about does it for this Sunday. What have you been reading (or listening to?!) Please share because I'd love to hear about it all!

Happy reading... Suzanne

The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins… A Review

The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins… OMG! This has to be one of my absolute favorite reads so far this year! Murder, obsession, evil, jealousy, cruelty and heartbreaking at times, The Girl on The Train has what it takes to keep you turning those pages and let me tell you… the twist at the end will have your jaw drop! It is so deceptively simple in some ways, that as you are reading, suddenly the sun is setting, day turns into night and your eyes have not left the page. I wasn't furiously turning the pages, I was absentmindedly turning the pages because I was so engrossed in the story.

Here's the gist… Rachel Watson rides the train everyday past a housing complex and becomes obsessed with this couple she sees most days lounging on their patio… until Rachel sees something that she shouldn't see. But because Rachel has some problems of her own, when she tries to tell someone what she saw, no one believes her… until…

 Read this book! Both a great murder mystery and literary fiction. Well written characters, a leading lady that you can empathize with, and a great story. If Hitchcock were to write murder mysteries, this would be it!

I give this 5+ Train Tickets! Hop aboard and enjoy!

Best Books and New Books…

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's the day of the week we devote to talking books! So, pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of Joe and get comfy! Let's talk books……

It's the beginning of a new reading year! I'm looking forward to some great books coming our way and I'm looking forward to some great books I missed during the year too! At the end of the year there are many, many "best of…" lists, and on those many lists I hunted down, there were three books I saw over and over. So, today let's take a peek at those books that stood out among all those lists, a few books I think should have made those lists, and a couple of books you're going to want to read that are new for 2015…

On those lists…

All The Light We Cannont See by Anthony Doerr… a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.  Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

I talked about this way back in a March Sunday Salon  and it is clearly the stand out hit of 2014. A book club favorite as well as a great book for people who love that WWII time frame. I didn't get a chance to read this one yet, but it is going to the top of the list.
                                      
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The Martian by Andy Weir… Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first... Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Another book that has gotten rave reviews and is slated for the big screen this year. Adventure and survival at the harshest odds.

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This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki…Every summer, Rose goes with her mom and dad to a lake house in Awago Beach. It's their getaway, their refuge. Rosie's friend Windy is always there, too, like the little sister she never had. But this summer is different. Rose's mom and dad won't stop fighting, and when Rose and Windy seek a distraction from the drama, they find themselves with a whole new set of problems. One of the local teens - just a couple of years older than Rose and Windy - is caught up in something bad... Something life threatening. It's a summer of secrets, and sorrow, and growing up, and it's a good thing Rose and Windy have each other.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! One of my favorite reads this year and I am so glad it's gotten the praise it deserves. Beautifully drawn, tender writing, just a great BFF book. Here's my REVIEW.

Where are THESE books on those lists?! 2 of my favorites...

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan… The improbable love story of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson and his tempestuous American wife, Fanny. At the age of thirty-five, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne has left her philandering husband in San Francisco to set sail for Belgium—with her three children and nanny in tow—to study art. It is a chance for this adventurous woman to start over, to make a better life for all of them, and to pursue her own desires.  Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists’ colony in France where she can recuperate. Emerging from a deep sorrow, she meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with the earthy, independent, and opinionated “belle Americaine.” 

I LOVED THIS BOOK too! The romance between Robert and Fanny was so special and Nancy Horan is the writer who knows how to whisk you away into the pages of one of her books without you ever wanting to leave. Here's my REVIEW. Read this Book!

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A Sudden Light by Garth Stein… In the summer of 1990, fourteen-year-old Trevor Riddell gets his first glimpse of Riddell House. Built from the spoils of a massive timber fortune, the legendary family mansion is constructed of giant whole trees and is set on a huge estate overlooking Seattle’s Puget Sound. Trevor’s bankrupt parents have begun a trial separation, and his father, Jones Riddell, has brought Trevor to Riddell House with a goal: to join forces with his sister, Serena, dispatch the ailing and elderly Grandpa Samuel to a nursing home, sell off the house and property for development, divide up the profits, and live happily ever after. But as Trevor explores the house’s secret stairways and hidden rooms, he discovers a spirit lingering in Riddell House whose agenda is at odds with the family plan. Only Trevor’s willingness to face the dark past of his forefathers will reveal the key to his family’s future.

Garth Stein is a master storyteller! He captured my attention and I couldn't read this fast enough. Here's my REVIEW. Another book for your TBR pile if you missed it!

Books to Look Forward to This Year…

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion… The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Rosie Project, starring the same extraordinary couple now living in New York and unexpectedly expecting their first child. Get ready to fall in love all over again. Don Tillman and Rosie Jarman are back. The Wife Project is complete, and Don and Rosie are happily married and living in New York. But they’re about to face a new challenge because— surprise!—Rosie is pregnant.  Don sets about learning the protocols of becoming a father, but his unusual research style gets him into trouble with the law. Fortunately his best friend Gene is on hand to offer advice: he’s left Claudia and moved in with Don and Rosie.  As Don tries to schedule time for pregnancy research, getting Gene and Claudia to reconcile, servicing the industrial refrigeration unit that occupies half his apartment, helping Dave the Baseball Fan save his business, and staying on the right side of Lydia the social worker, he almost misses the biggest problem of all: he might lose Rosie when she needs him the most. 

Another charming story of Don and Rosie. This actually was published Dec. 30th, but I'm counting it as a 2015 reading selection. Their friends are back, their love is being tested, and if you enjoyed the first book, The Rosie Effect, you're going to want to read the sequel of Don and Rosie make three! I started reading a sample of this and felt right at home.
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The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins… Intersecting, overlapping, not-quite-what-they-seem lives. Jealousies and betrayals and wounded hearts. A haunting unease that clutches and won’t let go. All this and more helps propel Paula Hawkins’s addictive debut into a new stratum of the psychological thriller genre. At times, I couldn’t help but think: Hitchcockian. From the opening line, the reader knows what they’re in for: “She’s buried beneath a silver birch tree, down towards the old train tracks…” But Hawkins teases out the mystery with a veteran’s finesse. The “girl on the train” is Rachel, who commutes into London and back each day, rolling past the backyard of a happy-looking couple she names Jess and Jason. Then one day Rachel sees “Jess” kissing another man. The day after that, Jess goes missing. The story is told from three character’s not-to-be-trusted perspectives: Rachel, who mourns the loss of her former life with the help of canned gin and tonics; Megan (aka Jess); and Anna, Rachel’s ex-husband’s wife, who happens to be Jess/Megan’s neighbor. Rachel’s voyeuristic yearning for the seemingly idyllic life of Jess and Jason lures her closer and closer to the investigation into Jess/Megan’s disappearance, and closer to a deeper understanding of who she really is. And who she isn’t.

Oh, this sounds so intriguing! Lots of great reviews for this already! Let's see if the story lives up to the hype and hop on the train! On my wish list!

What were you're favorite reads in 2014?! And what are you looking forward to reading this year? Hope you found a couple of great reads here today, and next week back to the basics… great books with buzz!

Happy reading… Suzanne

The Sunday Salon and 3 Books to Sink Your Teeth Into...

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's the one day of the week we virtually connect to one another to talk about, what else?... BOOKS! Last week we explored Manga during Chick with Books Manga Week and I hope you've discovered some interesting reading! This week it's back to some great fiction. Here's what's on my nightstand and on my wishlist...

Secret of A Thousand Beauties by Mingmei Yip... Set against the vibrant and intrigue-laden backdrop of 1930s China, Mingmei Yip's enthralling novel explores one woman's defiant pursuit of independence. Spring Swallow was promised in marriage while still in her mother's belly. When the groom dies before a wedding can take place, seventeen-year-old Spring Swallow is ordered to become a ghost bride to appease his spirit. Under her in-laws' protection, she will be little more than a servant, unable to know real love or bear children. Refusing to accept her fate as a "bad-luck woman," Spring Swallow flees on her wedding day. In the city of Soochow, Spring Swallow joins a community of renowned embroiderers. The women work for Aunty Peony, whose exquisite stitching once earned her the Emperor's love. But when Aunty Peony agrees to replicate a famous painting--a lucrative assignment that will take a year to complete--betrayal and jealousy emerges within the group. Spring Swallow becomes entangled in each woman's story of heartbreak, even while she embarks on a dangerous affair with a young revolutionary. On a journey that leads from the remote hillsides around Soochow to cosmopolitan Peking, Spring Swallow draws on the secret techniques learned from Aunty Peony and her own indomitable strength, determined to forge a life that is truly her own.

One of my favorite authors is back with her 5th novel set in the land of China. I am so lucky to have an ARC for this and I am diving in head first. Her books always have beautiful settings, wonderful plots, intrigue, folklore, great characters and have a good bit of humor in them. Mingmei Yip never fails to trap me in the pages of her books. Secret of A Thousand Beauties will be available Nov. 25th from your local bookstore. Keep your eye out for a review from me soon.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters... It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants,  life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers. For with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the 'clerk class', the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

I started reading a sample of this and had to go out and buy the whole book. Sarah Waters is a wonderful writer. In The Paying Guests, the pace seems slow, but it isn't really, it's delicious. I felt I was slowly devouring the pages like a piece of decadent chocolate cake. Look for a review coming soon for this one too!

The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith ... Set in a small coastal town in North Carolina during the waning years of the American Revolution, this incandescent debut novel follows three generations of family—fathers and daughters, mother and son, master and slave, characters who yearn for redemption amidst a heady brew of war, kidnapping, slavery, and love. Drawn to the ocean, ten-year-old Tabitha wanders the marshes of her small coastal village and listens to her father’s stories about his pirate voyages and the mother she never knew. Since the loss of his wife Helen, John has remained land-bound for their daughter, but when Tab contracts yellow fever, he turns to the sea once more. Desperate to save his daughter, he takes her aboard a sloop bound for Bermuda, hoping the salt air will heal her. Years before, Helen herself was raised by a widowed father. Asa, the devout owner of a small plantation, gives his daughter a young slave named Moll for her tenth birthday. Left largely on their own, Helen and Moll develop a close but uneasy companionship. Helen gradually takes over the running of the plantation as the girls grow up, but when she meets John, the pirate turned Continental soldier, she flouts convention and her father’s wishes by falling in love. Moll, meanwhile, is forced into marriage with a stranger. Her only solace is her son, Davy, whom she will protect with a passion that defies the bounds of slavery.

The storyline of this book seems a lot to digest, but it sounds so interesting. To see how these two girls grow up virtually together and yet separate because of their differences in birth. This is a time period seems interesting too and I can't wait to see how North Carolina is portrayed. On my TBR list.
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Weekly Recap... If you missed last week on Chick with Books, you missed Manga Week! Here's all the Manga we covered in just one week...

Last Sunday, Oct. 5th... Discovering the World of Manga... All about what Manga is, how to read it and where to find it.

Monday, Oct. 6th, Memoir Monday... A memoir about an American girl named Jamie Lynn Lao, and how she traveled to Japan to become an assistant to a Mangaka, or an artists assistant helping to draw and put out a Manga series. A behind the scenes look at how Manga are made.

Tuesday, Oct. 7th, What's So Cute About Manga... All about Cute and 2 Cute Manga's you've got to try.

Wednesday, Oct. 8th, A Review of the Manga Series called Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga... This is historical fiction with a dystopian take on Japanese history. LOVE this series! The women and men switch places in this series and it is so interesting. Think Shogun with women.

Friday, Oct. 10th, A Review of the Manga Series called Battle Royale by Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi... Before The Hunger Games there was Battle Royale. Amazing Story, Graphic and Beautifully drawn this is a must read... if you can get through it.

Saturday, Oct. 11th, One Shot Manga's and 3 You Should Read Now... You don't need to always read a series of books to enjoy Manga. One Shots are stories that are complete in one book.

So, there's the recap of what we talked about all last week... Now lets add some more fun Manga to that (follow the links to learn more...)

Oh! My Goddess by Kosuke Fujishima, xxxHolic by CLAMP,  Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi, Emma by Kaoru Mori (Victorian England), Midnight Secretary  by Tomu Ohmi (Vampire Romance Manga), Uzumaki by Junji Ito (Horror Manga).



So as we put down our Manga, what good books have you picked up this week?! Share them here! I'd love to know what's on your nightstand. And if you did you get a chance to check out some Manga, I'd love to know what you thought!

Happy reading... Suzanne

The Sunday Salon and "Snow" books...

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's that time of the week where we sit down, relax and talk books. So get comfy, pour yourself a cup of hot cocoa and let's talk…

Yesterday was the first day the snow came down steadily. It was windy and cold and the sky got dark around 4pm. No use in getting out the snow shovels until the morning after, because it snowed until late at night. This morning the sun smiled down on all that beautiful snow and the sound of plows, blowers and shovels could be heard echoing down the streets. So, I thought today we'd talk about "snow" books…

Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon… from Goodreads: In this elegant, haunting, and highly anticipated debut novel from 5 Under 35 National Book Foundation honoree Paul Yoon, a North Korean war refugee confronts the wreckage of his past. With spare, evocative prose, Snow Hunters traces the extraordinary journey of Yohan, who defects from his country at the end of the war, leaving his friends and family behind to seek a new life in a port town on the coast of Brazil. Though he is a stranger in a strange land, throughout the years in this town, four people slip in and out of Yohan’s life: Kiyoshi, the Japanese tailor for whom he works, and who has his own secrets and a past he does not speak of; Peixe, the groundskeeper at the town church; and two vagrant children named Santi and Bia, a boy and a girl, who spend their days in the alleyways and the streets of the town. Yohan longs to connect with these people, but to do so he must sift through his traumatic past so he might let go and move on. In Snow Hunters, Yoon proves that love can dissolve loneliness; that hope can wipe away despair; and that a man who has lost a country can find a new home. This is a heartrending story of second chances, told with unerring elegance and absolute tenderness.

Paul Yoon is one of the authors to keep your eye out for. He has gotten such praise as being one of the up and coming young authors of the day. This book has gotten great reviews and should showcase what is wonderful writing. I did enjoy his novel of short stories called Once the Shore, so Snow Hunters is on my "To Read" list now. Snow Hunters is available in a Kindle Edition, and Paperback now.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See…  A journey back to a captivating era of Chinese history where the journey delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationships: female friendship. In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, an “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she has written a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on the fan and compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together they endure the agony of footbinding and reflect upon their arranged marriages, their loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace in their friendship, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their relationship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

This is one of my all time favorite books! If you have a girlfriend, a BFF, or a Sister, this is a great book to share with them. The characters are wonderful, those two little girls will wrap themselves around your heart, and after you are done reading Snow Flower and The Secret Fan, the story will stay with you for a long long time. Here are the links for the Kindle Edition and the Paperback Edition .

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi… In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty—the opposite of the life she’s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman. A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she’d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy’s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white. Among them, Boy, Snow, and Bird confront the tyranny of the mirror to ask how much power surfaces really hold.

This book has gotten a lot of great pre-publication praise. Helen Oyeyemi's writing is suppose to be beautiful. A very controversial subject matter in such a deft hand should make this a great book club selection, but I think this is going to be one of those break out reads with a wider audience. Write this one down because you'll have to wait until March 6th 2014 for this to be out, but here you can pre-order Boy, Snow, Bird: A Novel.

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