Live to Tell Provides Creepy, Satisfying Audio Book Experience

When I search for audio books to listen to, I am really attempting to find books that will give me as good an experience as I've had with Lisa Gardner's D.D. Warren series.

For multiple reasons, Gardner's books work extremely well in audio format. First, they are full of suspense, which lend themselves well to being read aloud and keeping my attention. Second, her publisher does an excellent job of choosing voice actors -- yes, plural. As in, multiple voices reading various sections. Third (but somewhat tied to second), Gardner's novels are written from several different points of view: the police, the victim, the suspect, among others. These varying narrators (all read by different actors) draw the reader in by revealing a full, rounded narrative.

Live to Tell, the fourth book in the D.D. Warren series, is no exception to that rule. It was an exceptional read (or listen, if you will). Gardner's books seem to only get better as she matures as a writer. As she has also written another series as well as several standalone novels (this is her twelfth book overall), Gardner has plenty of experience under her belt at this point. Kirsten Potter once again narrates as voice actor, along with a whole cast of supporting narrators.

Several reviewers both on Amazon and on Goodreads denounced Live to Tell for its difficult-to-stomach content. Gardner does include things that are unsettling to read or listen to, but that's par for the course when you're reading one of her novels. I would venture a guess that those reviewers had never read her previous works. If they had, they would have expected a certain level of unease that comes with reading her books. Gardner writes mystery/thrillers, and that genre brings with it murder, psychological terror, and even fear.

Live to Tell tells three different stories that merge into one throughout the course of the novel. First, Gardner introduces Danielle Burton, a nurse working in a children's psychiatric ward. Danielle lived through her own family dysfunction at a young age and now helps children with similar family issues. As the anniversary of her family's deaths nears, she becomes significantly less stable. Simultaneously, Gardner tells the story of mother Victoria Oliver. Victoria lives with her own family demons, ones that despite her best efforts may beat her in the end. When two families are annihilated, Boston detective D.D. Warren is on the case. Warren's character ties this novel to the others in the series, and Gardner gives her readers plenty of updates on her star detective.

However, my favorite part of this series is how different each novel has been. Rather than following a formula in which D.D. Warren solves a case, Gardner makes this series so much more than that. Warren does work the case(s) in each novel, but Gardner delves into side stories as much as she focuses on Warren. As a result, each novel acts almost as a standalone with Warren running through them as a cohesive thread.

Live to Tell is yet another excellent audio book from Lisa Gardner. If you like mysteries and want to try the audio format, I highly recommend Gardner's books. In fact, you will then be spoiled and want to find others that match your experience with her novels! In some ways I wish that I had saved this listen for my upcoming trip to Africa (I leave Tuesday!), but I do have one thing to tide me over: Gardner's newest D.D. Warren series novel, Love You More, already purchased on Audible and loaded onto my iPod for my journey. (I'm also really enjoying Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches via Audible on my iPod.)

If you are a Gardner fan and an iPod or iPad user, Gardner has her own App. Check it out or visit her website for more information about Gardner or her books.

Ann Patchett Speaks About Snakes, Good Books, and Opening a Nashville Bookstore

I have long known that Ann Patchett is a fabulous writer. One of my favorite books (and subsequently, one of my favorite made-for-television movies) is her first novel The Patron Saint of Liars. She went on to win the Orange Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for her novel Bel Canto. What I didn't know -- until last night -- was what an exceptional speaker she is and how funny she can be.

Patchett appeared at the end of a month-long book tour for her new novel State of Wonder at the Humanities Tennessee author series Salon@615 at the Nashville Public Library last night. (As an aside, Humanities Tennessee is also the organizer of the incredible Southern Festival of Books, which I write about in the weeks leading up to the Festival each October.) Although the Salon@615 series has been ongoing for much of the spring and summer (they hosted bestselling author Erik Larson in May), I'm not sure they were fully prepared for the volume of people who attended last night's reception and reading.

We were, admittedly, a few minutes late (we had just had dessert at the original Provence in Hillsboro Village, so we weren't anxious to get to the library for the reception portion of the evening). But we had no idea that we would be sitting in overflow! Patchett is very popular across the country (I wrote just last week about the rave reviews she has been getting for State of Wonder), but especially in her native city of Nashville.

Patchett on the Big Screen in Overflow

Patchett shared so many wonderful tidbits throughout the night (and funny ones), including the fact that a Wall Street Journal interviewer asked her about "her raccoons" but never posted a correction that Patchett does not, in fact, have a house full of the animals. She also recounted a hilarious exchange between herself and a Canadian customs officer, which ended with the officer telling her that he wouldn't be reading State of Wonder because it's set in the Amazon and "has snakes." As a result, Patchett chose to read a pontoon boat section from the book which includes a fifteen-foot anaconda encounter.

Patchett stated that she had traveled to the Amazon both as research for State of Wonder and as part of an assignment for Gourmet magazine. When the piece never ran, she questioned why and was told that the same boat they traveled on had  been taken over by pirates on its next voyage. Thus, the magazine (thankfully) could not in good conscience hype it as a good travel destination for its readers. While there, Patchett met naturalist Greg Greer, who actually wrestled with an anaconda -- much as he does in this YouTube clip:




According to Patchett, Greer will be interviewed on Minneapolis NPR on Friday, and he may have an upcoming television series based on his adventures.

Patchett also discussed her plans for opening independent bookstore Parnassus Books, a partnership between the author and Random House publisher Karen Hayes. The store already has a Facebook page and had an email sign-up sheet last night for those interested in updates. The store will also sell e-books; Patchett told her audience that the publishing world is finally beginning to catch up to the technology its readers crave. She also stated that sales for State of Wonder in paper and e-book have been "neck to neck." According to Patchett, the "Kindle is the Betamax," with many more changes in book-reading technology to come in the future.

Patchett answered audience questions at the end, speaking about various topics:

• On Oprah: "I bow at the altar of Oprah because she got people to read -- Dickens!"
• On authorial thinking: "Anything you think about this book is as right or wrong as whatever I think."
• On young, aspiring authors: "Read. Write because you love it and want to do it -- like the cello. [And] you have to get the junk out -- it's all about volume."
• On her novels: "I can't read my own books [after they are printed]."

She also recommended two books to her audience, because as she said, "we want somebody to recommend a good book to us." Those books were The All of It by Jeannette Haien and Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy, obviously books that will now be added to my own want-to-read list.

Patchett signed copies of State of Wonder after she spoke. She did something smart: she had two lines. An "express" line for those who mainly wanted her signature, and a separate line for people who went to high school with her and "would make [her] cry." I hopped in the express line -- not that I wouldn't have enjoyed a lengthy conversation with Patchett. However, I don't know her, so I don't expect her to spend a lot of time with me! I was happy with hearing her read and listening to her funny stories, then having her sign my copy of State of Wonder.

Happy Standing in the (Very Fast) Express Line

Meeting Ann Patchett

The thing about the "express line" was that I still wanted a photo. My friend Caroline was conveniently with me and didn't mind snapping a quick picture. Because we were in the express line, I was nervous about doing it. The library employee beside Patchett told me it would be fine, but that I "couldn't go behind the table." I'm not sure what she was afraid I might do, but I was fine with leaning in as Patchett signed for me. What's truly funny is that because we were in the express line, I was talking through my teeth as this picture was taken. Something along the lines of: "I'm a book blogger, and I love this book so far(!), and I'm so excited that you're opening a bookstore in Nashville! Thanks!" I know, I know. I'm a dork!

If you haven't yet picked up a copy of Patchett's latest novel State of Wonder, you really want to do so. I am about fifty pages in, and it is fabulous so far. If you missed her last night, she will be at her last stop on the book tour, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, on Friday night at 5pm.

The Murderer's Daughters Examines the Effects of Family Violence on Children

The Murderer's Daughters was one of my vacation reads. (One of only three books I read that week -- I expected to read much more, but highly underestimated the time constraints of a huge, extended family vacation. We were beaching and swimming and running around with kiddos much of the time, which was fabulous, but didn't lend itself to lots of reading time!)

You know that phenomenon where you learn about something for the first time, then that same idea or concept pops up everywhere you turn? (Most recently, it was for me a geographical location I'd never heard of. I learned about it on the Discovery Channel, then I read about it randomly in a book, then read about it in an article on the internet -- all in an 8 hour span!) My reading life has been a little bit like that lately. The topic of family violence keeps coming up. My mom would probably argue that it might have something to do with my reading choices, but I assure you I didn't choose this topic knowingly.

I had been listening to Lisa Gardner's Live to Tell, which was entirely creeping me out at night (so much so that I had to find another Audible title to listen to before bedtime to ward off nightmares!). It deals with family annihilation by a father's hands, among other difficult themes. I picked up Randy Susan Meyers' novel The Murderer's Daughters after reading about it on the book blog Bibliophile By the Sea. The audio version even made it onto her Best Books Read in 2010 list.

The novel follows sisters Lulu and Merry from childhood to adulthood. When the two are very small, their father commits an unforgivable act -- he murders their mother in front of the girls' eyes. He is immediately incarcerated, and the girls are passed from family member to family member, then put in various foster care placements. Lulu, the older sister, carries within her a deep-rooted hatred for her father and the terrible changes he forced onto his daughters. Merry, on the other hand, always a daddy's girl, continues to visit her father behind bars.

Most of the action happens at the novel's beginning (and in fact is detailed in the book's description). So the novel is less action-packed mystery and more in-depth psychological analysis of what happens to a family ripped apart by violence. Meyers does an excellent job of describing the plight of children who find themselves parent-less: the responsibilities of the extended family, the horrors of group homes, the loss of innocence and necessary growth of independence.

Also interesting was the contrast between the two sisters' reactions and emotional growth. Merry, while she is able to forgive her father to some extent (therefore showing a certain emotional maturity), is in many ways still a child -- even as an adult. She continues to lean on her sister for support, both monetarily and emotionally. She flits from one bad relationship (or one-night-stand) into another, never finding the right person to share her life with.

Lulu, in sharp juxtaposition to her sister, decides to do it all. She becomes a doctor, then meets a strong and stable man to marry and have children with. They buy a house and build an uber-normal life together. On most fronts, she seems to have it all. But Lulu continues to blame her father for his sins, which handicaps her emotionally. She constructs an elaborate lie for her past, telling everyone -- including her own daughters -- that her parents died in a car accident when she was young.

Lulu's daughters (and Merry's nieces) serve a crucial role in the climax of the novel. While both Lulu and Merry have become complacent in their separate ways of dealing with their father, Lulu's girls force the sisters to face their past together, as one. While they may never see eye-to-eye entirely, in a harrowing incident at the novel's end they must at least begin to work towards understanding.

The Murderer's Daughters is Meyers first novel. She has published short stories in various places and teaches writing at the Grub Street, Inc. Writers' Center in Boston.

Free Books, Anyone? Summer Reading From My Mailbox to Yours

Photo from Eric Doeringer.com.

I am shamelessly and unabashedly engaging in robbery this morning. It's all for a good cause, though -- free books for you! Kay at My Random Acts of Reading posted a unique giveaway on Friday, and because I believe that imitation is the highest form of flattery, I'm stealing imitating her giveaway today!

What makes it unique? You don't have to win. It's a first-come, first-serve free-for-all. The first person to claim each book gets it! The only rule is that it has to be shipped within the continental U.S. So, if you want one of these books, leave a comment telling me which one. Then, email me at awornpathbooks at gmail dot com with a mailing address. After that, it's yours!

Catfish Alley by Lynne Bryant (click here for my review):

"Roxanne Reeves defines her life by the committees she heads and the social status she cultivates. But she is keeping secrets that make her an outsider in her own town, always in search of acceptance. And when she is given a job none of the other white women want - researching the town’s African-American history for a tour of local sites - she feels she can’t say no.

Elderly Grace Clark, a retired black schoolteacher, reluctantly agrees to become Roxanne’s guide. Grace takes Roxanne to Catfish Alley, whose undistinguished structures are nonetheless sacred places to the black community because of what happened there. As Roxanne listens to Grace’s stories, and meets her friends, she begins to see differently." (Synopsis from the author's website)

 The Crimson Rooms by Katharine McMahon (my review):

"Evelyn is a young woman who has defied convention to become one of [England]'s pioneer female lawyers. Living at home, Evelyn is still haunted by the death of her younger brother James in the First World War. Therefore, when the doorbell rings late one night and a woman appears, claiming to have mothered James's child, her world is turned upside down.

But then two cases arise that make Evelyn realize perhaps she can make a difference. The first concerns woman called Leah Marchant whose children have been taken away from her simply because she is poor. The second, Stephen Wheeler - a former acquaintance of Daniel Breen, her boss - has been charged with murdering his own wife." (Synopsis from the author's website)

My Wife's Affair by Nancy Woodruff (my review):

"Actress Georgie Connelly is thrilled to leave her stifling suburban existence behind and move to London with her husband and three young sons. Almost immediately, she lands her dream role, playing 18th century actress and royal mistress Dora Jordan in a one-woman show. Dora Jordan, a real life figure, was the most famous stage actress of her time. Dora's story, Shakespeare's Woman, unfolds as a play-within-the-novel, and as Georgie rehearses her part she feels a growing connection to Dora.

As the play opens to great acclaim, Georgie also finds herself increasingly drawn to the playwright, Piers Brighstone, and when they leave London for a short run at a countryside theatre, she and Piers begin an affair. The novel is narrated by Georgie's husband Peter, a failed writer turned businessman whose discovery of the affair leads to harrowing consequences that none of them could possibly foresee." (Synopsis from the author's website)

Out of the Shadows by Joanna Rendell: 

"Thirty-four year old, Professor Clara Fitzgerald has been living in the shadows of her fiancé for too long. While her career seems stalled, his scientific research is on the cusp of a major breakthrough. His fight against cancer in the laboratory doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for Clara anymore.

But when Clara stumbles on an old copy of Frankenstein and remembers her mother’s claim that they are related to the nineteenth-century author, Mary Shelley, everything changes. Clara begins a search for the author’s long lost journals and letters. This search reveals surprising facts about the passionate young woman who wrote Frankenstein." (Synopsis from the author's website)

The Wishing Trees by John Shors: 

"Almost a year after the death of his wife, Kate, former high-tech executive Ian finds a letter that will change his life. It contains Kate’s final wish – a plea for him to take their ten-year-old daughter, Mattie, on a trip across Asia, through all the countries they had planned to visit to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary.

Eager to honor the wife and mother they loved, Ian and Mattie embark on an epic journey that retraces the early days of Ian’s relationship with Kate." (Synopsis from the author's website)

Leave a comment claiming your book, email me your address, and free summer reading material will miraculously land in your mailbox. Who says nothing in life is free?

Book News: Pottermore Disappoints, True Blood Premieres, Ann Patchett in Nashville, and Bookstores Charge for Events

I'm just going to say it: it's been kind of a slow week for book news.

The most exciting thing that happened was J.K. Rowling's big Pottermore announcement yesterday morning, and if Facebook and Twitter are trustworthy gauges of how fans feel, the anticipation was much higher than the end result. Most fans were hoping for a new book, even though Rowling's publicist insisted that wasn't it in the days before the announcement.  

The Guardian broke part of the story early, after receiving "accidental" emailed memos. The rest of the announcement? A website full of Potter material Rowling claims she's been hoarding for years, and (finally -- I mean, honestly) e-book versions of all the books. Despite her announcement, little is known about Pottermore. [CORRECTION: After I readied this for posting yesterday, the blog Underwire on Wired.com offered details of what Pottermore will mean -- lots of them. Click on over for those details.] The free site will open to a select few in July and to the public in October.

If you are a Charlaine Harris fan (or just an HBO fan), you are well aware that True Blood season four starts this Sunday night. Although I love both the books and the television series (the two are very different), The Book Bench pointed out a writer who feels strongly that the HBO series bests the books. So much so, in fact, that she listed her 10 Reasons Why True Blood Is Better Than the Books It's Based On. To hype the season premiere and encourage subscriptions, many cable and satellite providers are participating in a free HBO preview June 24-27. Check with your provider for details.

From CBS News

Nashville native Ann Patchett's newest novel State of Wonder is showing up everywhere lately, and receiving all kinds of praise. It made it onto Amazon's Best Books of the Month list for June. The novel has been reviewed and recommended all over the web recently. And best of all? Patchett makes a stop at the Salon@615 author spotlight series this coming Tuesday evening at the Nashville Public Library.

I love this article from EW's book blog Shelf Life: "'The Hunger Games': A doubter finally dives in" details writer Rob Brunner's initial refusal to believe in the dystopian YA series (much like I did). However, also like me, he immediately realizes the folly in his holding out -- and promptly stays up all night to fix how very behind he is.

Graphic from MeettheAuthor.com

In an ongoing effort to stay afloat in this world of e-books and Amazon buyers, independent bookstores announced this week through a NY Times article that they may begin charging for author events. Some stores already require a purchase of the book to attend events; others even charge a flat fee for big-ticket authors. Although once considered "unthinkable" for stores to do so, booksellers nowadays have to find ways to capitalize on the things that make them different from online retailers. As author events are one unique aspect of brick-and-mortar bookstores, it's also one sure-fire way to make money. Unless, that is, readers simply stay at home.

With my trip to Africa less than two weeks away, I am heavily into my reading prep. (This, of course, is a prep necessary only in my own mind -- not because it's actually a requirement!) I am currently reading two novels set in East Africa: Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin and The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton. Baking Cakes is set in Rwanda, but the main character is a native Tanzanian. Bookmobile is set in Kenya, and the main character is a young American woman. I am enjoying both. Although neither is set in Tanzania, where I will be traveling, both countries border Tanzania and (hopefully) both books can teach me something about the region.

I am also in search of lots of audiobooks and e-books to keep me entertained (and ease or distract from my anxiety) while I am traveling. If you have suggestions, please let me know! I can't do "heavy" books in either format; I just can't concentrate as much on audio or e-books. My favorite audiobooks have been those in Lisa Gardner's D.D. Warren series, which are narrated by multiple voice actors.

Sue Ellen's Girl Ain't Fat, She Just Weighs Heavy Explains Southern Sayings & Gives Recipes for Good Eating

I wasn't sure what to expect from Shellie Rushing Tomlinson's latest book, Sue Ellen's Girl Ain't Fat, She Just Weighs Heavy: The Belle of All Things Southern Dishes on Men, Money, and Not Losing Your Midlife Mind.

Tomlinson was a new-to-me author and one whose website All Things Southern was a place I had never ventured. Julie from Book Hooked Blog recently raved about the book, and comedian Jeff Foxworthy wrote a blurb saying it was "laugh-out-loud funny," so I decided it must be worth my time.

Sue Ellen's Girl is not necessarily a book you have to read from cover to cover; it doesn't tell a story. Rather, it is chock full of Tomlinson's own stories about life in the south (and southern relatives), her readers' stories, definitions of southern sayings, and delicious-sounding recipes. I will admit that I felt a little behind, not having read the author's book Suck Your Stomach In & Put Some Color On! or having visited her website. Tomlinson frequently references things in the book and stories from her book tour.

However, that just means I'll have to go back and read it at some point! I can definitely relate to the title. My whole life first my maternal grandmother and then my mother have encouraged me to "put a little color on" because otherwise I look "peaked." I won't reveal exactly when my mom let me start wearing mascara, but it was well before middle school. After all, I have her eyebrows and eyelashes, meaning when we have no "color" on, we look ill. When people who have never seen me sans makeup see me for the first time, they invariably think something is dreadfully wrong!

My favorite part of the book, hands down, were the absolutely mouth-watering recipes Tomlinson included. Apparently, she regularly includes recipes on her website, so there's no doubt I will be making my way over there frequently! Her daughter Jessica Ann (discussed fairly often in the book), also has a food blog called Kitchen Belleicious, another place I'm sure I will be frequenting. (I mean, seriously -- she recently posted both Spicy Crab and Roasted Red Pepper Mac and Cheese and Nutella Coconut and Caramel Brownies. Can you say YUM?!)

Another fabulous part was the way Tomlinson defines southernisms -- you know, words or phrases that southerners use all the time, that mean absolutely nothing to those outside the region. I'm not going to spoil the book by telling you the definitions, but should you happen to pick up a copy of Sue Ellen's Girl, you will be privy to the following vocabulary:

• weighing heavy (that one is obviously included, given the title, right?)
• the get-go
• six ways to Sunday
• wet your whistle
• broke fellowship
• nekkid as a jaybird (as opposed to just plain "nekkid")

And many more words and phrases unique to the south.

When I finished reading Sue Ellen's Girl, I had a virtual fan of bent-down page corners -- things I wanted to remember to go back and look at again. Most of them are one-liners, things that I just needed to share with you when I reviewed the book, because they spoke so strongly to my own life or
upbringing. Here are some of those excerpts:

"All I'm saying is that there are times -- hormonal times -- in every woman's life when she's just one bad decision away from a Fudge Frenzy" (8-9).

"MSS stands for Male Speaker Syndrome, a condition I identified that causes our men to sweat while ordering at drive-in windows. . . . For all those frustrated females struggling to reach over the console and holler into the sound system because Daddy is sweating over the burger order. . . . " (44).

"Where I come from, making it through the night was obviously much more than a barometer of health. It was also used to assess a family member's concern, or lack thereof, as in 'Why, she hasn't even called to see if I made it through the night.'" (60)

"I have considered marketing a Southern GPS, you know, one with a good double Southern name, some new and improved manners, and a more pleasing personality. . . . Not only would [Mary Elisabeth] be more considerate and understanding when you missed your exit, but she'd help prevent such unfortunate mistakes way ahead of time by saying things like 'Pardon me for interrupting, Sugar, but you need to be getting in the right lane. Ya'll gonna have to turn up the road a piece -- right beside that house where the little boy with the big ears is riding his bicycle in the driveway. Good Lord, I wonder if his mama has ever thought about having those things fixed. You can, you know.'" (133)

And finally (this could go on indefinitely, as many things as I have marked in this book), a story from one of Tomlinson's readers:

"My 4-year-old daughter told her preschool teacher (my co-worker) before our egg hunt last Friday . . . 'Mrs. Shelly, it's a sad, sad day.' Shelly asked her why. She said, 'The Easter bunny isn't real and Michael Jackson is dead.' Shelly, who was trying her best to contain her laughter asked her, 'How do you know this?' Prissy looked  her dead in the eye and said very matter-of-factly, 'Just check out YouTube,' and walked away."

~ Jamie Ainsworth McBride
   Monticello, Arkansas

In short, you want to read this book. It may not be a fine piece of literary fiction, but it will make you shake your head and laugh your tail off.

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson can be found at her website All Things Southern, on her blog For Whom the Belle Blogs, and on the radio Mondays from 5-6pm CST.

The Bone Yard Takes Dr. Brockton to Florida From the Body Farm

Several years ago, I sat in a crowd of people and watched a body decompose in a series of time-release photographs. In the heat of a Tennessee summer, the decomposition took about two weeks. I was both repelled and fascinated.

The presenter of the photographs? Dr. Bill Bass, founder of the University of Tennessee's Body Farm, a facility designed to study the field of forensic anthropology.

I first heard about the Body Farm in Patricia Cornwell's book of the same name, one of her Kay Scarpetta series novels. In that session at the Southern Festival of Books (in Memphis that year), I became interested in Bass's work.

When I heard that Bass was beginning a fictional series based on his life's work, I was intrigued. Teaming up with former journalist Jon Jefferson, Bass has written a series of books starring main character Bill Brockton, a UT forensic anthropologist mirrored after Bass. The series in order, followed by links to my reviews:

• Carved in Bone (2006) - my review
• Flesh and Bone (2007) - my review
• The Devil's Bones (2008) - my review
• Bones of Betrayal (2009) - my review
• The Bone Thief (2010) - my review

This past March, the duo, writing under the pseudonym Jefferson Bass, published the sixth book in the series, The Bone Yard. All five previous books have been set in Tennessee, from northeast Tennessee to Knoxville to Chattanooga to Oak Ridge (save one business trip to Vegas). This sixth book departs from that slightly in that Brockton stays in the south, but in northern Florida rather than Tennessee.

When a trainee has to leave a Body Farm training camp early to return to Florida, she asks Dr. Bill Brockton to assist her. The investigation? Her sister's death, ruled a suicide by the coroner but suspected by trainee Angie St. Clair to be a result of domestic violence. That case is what initially pulls Brockton to Florida. However, once there he's asked to consult on a Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) case involving a skull found by a hound.

When that case turns into a deeper mystery, Brockton makes a second trip to Florida for a lengthier stay. They track the missing skulls -- now plural -- to the site of an old boys' reform school, long closed after a fire that destroyed the school and killed several boys. An old diary found at the site uncovers secrets covered up for years by state officials. After all, the reform school was a state-run institution for underage boys convicted of crimes. What the team uncovers will chill your soul.

At times difficult to read, the book examines issues that have been around as long as humans have been on this planet. Abuses of power, injustices against the weak, corruption in government. The passages from the diary were especially heart-wrenching, as they were written in the voice of an underage inmate. My mom read this book after I finished it, and she told me quite frankly that she skipped most of the diary entries. The abuse they detailed was hard to digest.

For most of the book, I missed the Tennessee setting. Although Jefferson and Bass did an excellent job of describing northern Florida (Jon Jefferson's home state, I believe), I read this series initially because they were set in my home state. So, I missed it. However, the storylines -- both the boys' school and Angie St. Clair's sister's death -- were just as good as all of the other books in the series.

The final scene in the book won it over for me. I won't spoil anything for you, but let's just say it shows insight into Brockton's character and celebrates the Florida setting at the same time. It is a beautifully written scene that wraps the book up perfectly, while also setting the scene for (hopefully) more books in the series yet to come.

Lionel Shriver's So Much For That Makes It All Worth It In the End

In her novel So Much For That, Lionel Shriver writes:

"You know, these movies..."[Shep] was groping. "Remember how sometimes, in the middle, the movie seems to drag? I get restless, and take a leak, or go for popcorn. But sometimes, the last part, it heats up and then right before the credits one of us starts to cry - well, then you forget about the crummy middle, don't you? You don't care about the fact that it started slow, or had some plot twist along the way that didn't scan. Because it moved you, because it finally pulled it together, you think, when you walk out, that it was a good movie, and you're glad you went." (404)

As Goodreads member Aaron John Curtis said in his review of this novel, "Lionel Shriver could have been talking about this book."

So Much For That aims to take on several heavy topics: the health care system in America, terminal cancer, Americans' affection for lawsuits, children with disabilities, large corporations, the art world, the housing boom, government taxes, elder care. And to some degree (sometimes too much of a degree), Shriver does indeed delve into those subjects. She has a lot to say in this 448 page tome printed in tiny font -- a lot.

But Shriver's soapboxing was not what made me enjoy this book. Does she make a lot of excellent points? Absolutely. Are some of those excellent points seemingly conflicting (as they often are in real life)? Absolutely. But reading "issue" novels never appeals to me. Jodi Picoult, for all her fans, is not someone whose works I choose to read. I feel as though I understand my own point of view on most controversial topics, as I would guess most readers do. Either you feel one way, or you vehemently disagree; a fictional novel most likely won't change your mind.

Shriver does employ her "soapboxing," as I called it, as a successful method of characterization in the novel, however. Main character Shep's best friend Jackson is a ranter. Meaning,  he enjoys nothing better than a good rant. These rants take on a life of their own at some points in the novel (and, truthfully, become wearing), but in doing so Shriver paints a perfect picture of who Jackson is and who he is not.

Jackson is not the only dynamic, (and -- dare I say it) likeable character in So Much For That. I found the book chock full of characters I loved. That's not to say they were "good." Oh, no. Shriver make sure that each and every character has both good points and extraordinary flaws. Even perfect Shep, as readers will come to think of him eventually, attempts to abandon his family in the novel's opening pages. Glynis, his wife, is both a terrible hag (finding joy solely in others' misfortune) and a sympathetic character as she fights a rare cancer. Her interactions with Jackson's daughter alone will win you over.

And Jackson's daughter -- she is perhaps my favorite of all. Sixteen-year-old Flicka was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease called familial dysautonomia (FD) as an infant. As a result, she can't produce tears, swallow normally, balance properly as she walks, among many other symptoms. However, learning to live with FD has made Flicka feisty rather than downtrodden. She curses like a sailor, talks back to her parents as much as any teenager would, and fights for independence on a daily basis. Both hilarious and heartbreaking, Flicka is as good a character as any author has ever written.

So what's the story? In essence, Shep Knacker has saved his entire adult life for the payoff -- the "Afterlife," as he calls it. He and wife Glynis have taken "research trips" (never vacations) all over the world in search of the perfect "Afterlife" location. Shep has finally decided on an island off the coast of Tanzania called Pemba. After the sale of his handyman company to the tune of a million dollars, Shep is ready to depart. However, things fall apart when his wife reveals that she has cancer -- and she needs his insurance for treatments. What ensues is beautiful, heartbreaking, wallet-emptying fight for her life -- and, in the end, for their marriage.

The rest of the quote above is: "See Gnu [pet name for Glynis]?" he promised. "We can still end well." Because, you see, the paragraph works as both a description of Shriver's novel and for life itself. Sometimes we get restless in the middle, tired of the mundane, people who annoy us, relationships and life goals that don't go according to plan. But in the end, "you're glad you went. . . . [because it] can still end well."

Seagrove Beach: A Vacation Story

 

We arrived last week at our condo in Seagrove Beach to see this sign outside the door, which set an excellent tone for the week: "May your time be filled with relaxing sunsets, cool drinks, and sand between your toes."

Our first meal was at Pizza By the Sea in Watercolor, a slight misnomer given that it is actually several miles from the ocean. The restaurant is located in a nondescript Publix shopping center strip. That makes it all the more delightful when you walk in and discover the cool environment they've created, replete with customer-decorated pizza pans on the walls and old-fashioned glass bottle sodas lining the counter.

We made it to the beach at Seagrove the next day, where my fiance's son decided being buried in the sand was what he needed to do. My cousin's son was pleased to oblige, and quickly covered him up. This lasted approximately 5.2 seconds (long enough for the picture to be made) before he broke free.

On our third day, my dad, fiance, and cousin went deep sea fishing on the Blue Runner II  out of Destin's Fisherman's Wharf. They caught a shark. No seriously -- that almost 9' shark above was that close to their hands.

That evening, we went to Joe's Crab Shack in Destin, where the waiters performed several dances, including Cupid's Shuffle. Yes, it's a chain restaurant, but oh-so-fun, especially with kids along. They have one in Nashville, but nothing beats fresh seafood at a Joe's location near the ocean. My favorite was the one on Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana, but it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Later in the week we had brunch at Another Broken Egg Cafe in Grayton Beach. They serve breakfast and brunch, with several specialty dishes. For example, the blackberry grits (above left), which were amazing. On the right is my platter, called The Castine -- country potatoes then a toasted croissant topped with asparagus, ham, mushrooms, two poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce. It was to die for.

Later that night, the young adults in our family went out for a few hours to listen to some live music. We left the grandparents and GiGi (my grandmother, but the smaller kids' great-grandmother) in charge of the kiddos. Our first stop was the Red Bar in Grayton Beach where we listened to (loud) jazz, followed by a stop at Shorty's Surfside and Topside (for quieter conversation), and finally a little bit of dancing at Pandora's.

We made a trip to the Okaloosa Island Pier the next day. My fiance went twice to fish, and the rest of us joined him on the second trip. These birds were all over the pier, just waiting for people to toss them a spare fish. The pier goes a quarter mile into the ocean, and we spotted schools of fish, porpoises, and a barracuda.

The last day before we left, we did an impromptu photo session on the beach. Here my fiance is playing photographer, as my mom takes a picture of him.

We took family shots, like this one of my dad, me, and my mom.

A couple of lovey-dovey shots (that's required, right?) of me and my fiance (and his son in the top photo).

And some father/ son pictures, as well.

We also did the requisite writing-our-names-in-sand photos, of which I think the bottom one is adorable.

As we drove homeward across the Clyde B. Wells Bridge which spans the Choctawhatchee Bay, this was our view -- one last photo op for our vacation.

I am now rested and relaxed and looking forward to my next big trip this summer -- Tanzania, Africa in July. I'll be visiting my brother, sister-in-law, and this little guy. I can hardly wait! Can you blame me?

Book News: Pottermore, the Shelf Pod, Father's Day Reading, and Used Bookstores

I know this is surprising, but there are actually book blogs and websites that do a weekly book news post -- like, real ones. By the Wall Street Journal and such. But I know you like mine the best, because I leave in the interesting and leave out the boring. But The New Yorker's The Book Bench does an excellent job of wrapping each day, so I have to give them credit for alerting me to a couple of links this week:

• It's been all over the place, but Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling launched a new website this week called Pottermore, and Potter fans went crazy wondering what's coming (via The Hollywood Reporter). Entertainment Weekly linked to a YouTube account that shows a countdown to the big announcement.
• A fantastic op-ed piece from the Washington Post details the writer's struggles with biblio-amnesia -- you know, the state of not remembering what you read. I suffer from this on an extreme level; although I don't want to re-read anything (ever), I never remember character names or details just days after finishing a book.
• I love the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation, and this fall a book "written" by fictional character Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler's character) will hit shelves, detailing all the secrets of small-town Pawnee. It's sure to be funny, as The Hollywood Report, well... reported.
• Possibly the coolest house for book-lovers in the world, a home has been created in Japan in which all the walls are shelves, called the Shelf Pod.

The Guardian offered up a list of the 100 best non-fiction books this week, and then more than 500 commenters added to it. Check it out if you are either a non-fiction fan or looking to read more from this genre.






Daddy and Mom, this week @ the beach



NPR's Three Books... series focuses on fathers this week in  preparation for Father's Day this Sunday. I have, hands down, the best father of all time. Just ask anyone -- he never makes an enemy, and everybody loves him. USA Today reviewed The Reading Promise, a memoir by a woman whose father read to her every night for nine years. My daddy didn't do that, but he fostered my love of reading in other ways -- one of my best reading memories is when he brought me home a robin's egg blue clip-on reading light (for the side of my bunk bed) and a copy of the Nancy Drew mystery Trouble in Tahiti.

My favorite book store is a used one, McKay's Used Books with locations across Tennessee (Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville). This week the LA Times spotlighted used book store the Last Bookstore in downtown L.A. which moved into a 10,000 square foot space recently, defying recent trends in which brick and mortar bookstores have been closing doors rather than opening them. I have a feeling most new purchases of books may be moving online, while stores like McKay's and the Last Bookstore are here to stay.

I may have mentioned my love for celebrity memoirs once or twice, but this memoir has my aunt super-excited. Galleycat announced this week that Carole King will be writing a memoir that will be published next spring, titled A Natural Woman. My mom and her sister have been lifelong Carole King fans, and my aunt is truly the non-fiction reader in our family. She posted this on Facebook earlier in the week to let us know about it (so she was actually the news breaker for me, not Galleycat!):

As you know by now if you've read the blog this week, I have been basking in the sun on the beach and by the pool. We leave bright and early tomorrow, and home will be a nice place to be for a while. Until Africa, anyway. Perhaps I can finally get some reading done once I'm home!

I have read three books this week: Wicked by Sara Shepard, The Bone Yard by Jefferson Bass, and The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers. I'm still listening to Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner and A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I expect I'll probably finish Live to Tell on the ride home tomorrow. Audio books are the best thing that could ever happen to someone like me who gets car sick within minutes of reading in the car! So thank you, Audible.

Vacation Reading Stack, Audiobook and E-Book Version (Part III)

Vacations on the Gulf of Mexico are truly like no other. Despite the fact that I've been many places in my life (within the continental U.S., anyway -- but that is about to change with my upcoming trip to Africa!), the beaches of the Gulf are special to me. It is where my family always vacationed when I was young. I first saw the ocean from Panama City Beach's Pinnacle Port resort. My family traveled there for many years before heading off on a series of less-successful (at least in our kids' minds) "educational" trips -- one to Washington, D.C. and Virginia, then another to Charleston. To be fair, we spent much more time at our condo on Isle of Palms than we did touring southern manses, but the antiquing and trips to the Historic Charleston City Market that we did do almost killed us as kids (or so we thought, anyway).

Nothing has been so relaxing as another week spent here with family. Although we are a bit further west than Panama City this time, we came as a big, sprawling extended family. In our condo, you have my parents, my fiance, his son, and me. In another beach house less than a block away: my paternal grandmother, my aunt, my two cousins (and spouses and children), and my other cousin's wife. As I have a stepson-to-be, but have no kids of my own yet, suffice it to say I was somewhat unprepared for what having so many kids along would mean. It has been a whirlwind of playing and swimming and beaching, with less time spent reading than I had anticipated.

However, audiobooks have been my reading saving grace. At the beach and pool, I can pop one side of my earphones in, start an audiobook, and still keep my eyes and (one) ear peeled for shrieks that require me to help. Monday and Tuesday I described the actual books I brought with me. Today, I want to tell you about the audiobooks and e-books. For all audiobooks, I use Audible's app for iPod/ iPhone. It is super easy, allows bookmarking, allows setting a timer for "sleep," and has many other user-friendly perks. For e-book reading, I have been using my new Samsung Galaxy Tab. Love it. No complaints at all. I can finally read PDF formatted books from NetGalley!

Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner: I am about a third of the way through this audiobook, and I am loving it every bit as much as I've loved the other books in the D. D. Warren series. However, it's superbly creepy, and I can't listen to it before I go to sleep. If I do, I have nightmares. But it's excellent. Cosmo described it best in their intro to an interview with Gardner: "What is it about a creepy, murderous child that is just so freakin’ terrifying? Movies like The Omen, Orphan, and The Exorcist play on this fear, and so does best-selling author Lisa Gardner in her latest book, Live To Tell. The deeply troubled children in her story are mysteriously connected to several family annihilations (where one member of the family kills the entire family, and then commits suicide)." It is that creepy -- but also that good.

Sweet Jiminy by Kristin Gore: I tried to read this title several months ago (before its release) via NetGalley. However, this e-book was in PDF format rather than ePub, and at that time I had only my iPod touch to read e-books, which was near to impossible for PDFs. Now that I have the Samsung Galaxy, I have been able to download it again and give it another try. Although I have not liked it as much as Gore's first two novels (which I loved), I'm slowly getting into it a bit more. The Today Show interviewed Gore and has provided an excerpt of the novel.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness: I read a preview of the e-book version several months ago, and was highly impressed. Again, that was before I owned an actual e-reader. I didn't purchase the whole e-book at the time, but I kept it on my to-read list. When Live to Tell proved too much for me at night, I decided to download the Audible version of Discovery specifically to listen to at bedtime. It is fabulous thus far, and despite its world of witches and vampires, not scary in the least.

The LA Times reviewed the book after its release back in February, saying: "A professor of history at USC, Harkness creates an entertaining world in her first novel, a place in which humans, witches, daemons and vampires peacefully coexist (well, most of the time) and even practice yoga together. . . . [The main vampire's] immortal life has made him one heck of a wine collector, and vamps have heartbeats and can sample food, although, he says, 'food tastes wrong to a vampire once it's been cooked to death.' On the matter of a mysterious book, though, Harkness stays true to the way books have been used in other tales of gothic adventure. [It] remains enigmatic, a symbol of knowledge as forbidden as an apple in Eden. The book shimmers under Diana's gaze, reminding us of an old lesson about the power of books that never goes out of style. 'A little book can hold a big secret,' the witch Agatha tells Diana, 'one that might change the world.'"

Vacation Reading Stack, In Slightly More Detail (Part II)

Reading on the beach



I don't know if you ever venture over to my "Books Read" page, but if you do you notice that my "In Progress" section is always changing. I know there are people who begin a book, and by golly they finish it before they read anything else -- whether or not they enjoy it. I am very much the opposite of that. My reading material changes from day to day, sometimes from hour to hour. A book may disappear from my "In Progress" list, only to reappear in two months (as in the Pretty Little Liars series book #5, Wicked, which seemed too light back in March, but perfect for the beach yesterday).


As a result, when I travel I need lots of options. I showed you the picture of my packed books last week, then went into a little more detail yesterday. Today, part two of what I brought with me to the beach. (Thank goodness we drove! Otherwise I might have had to edit severely.)

Blood, Bones, & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton: This chef memoir has been hailed by all chefs and foodies as the best. I love a good memoir, and I definitely love food (half the blogs I follow are foodie blogs, not book blogs). I began it last night, and I already can see why Anthony Bourdain wrote in his blurb that it is "simply the best memoir by a chef ever. Ever. . . . [This book] is the work of an uncompromising chef and a prodigiously talented writer." The book also received praise from Iron Chef Mario Batali, who said that he would "read this book to my chilren and then burn all the books I have written for pretending to be anything even close to this. After that I will apply for the dishwashing job at Prune [ostensibly, Hamilton's restaurant] to learn from my new queen." High praise indeed.

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell: NPR says that "[s]tripped down, Swamplandia! is one more young writer's saga of a dysfunctional family. But Russell is a rare talent. . . . Russell's setting, the outlandish and fading coastal Florida theme park from which the book takes it title, is inhabited by a clan of "Bigtrees," a self-invented showbiz tribe who have no Seminole or Miccosukee blood but adopt the costumes of buckskin vests, headbands, feathers and gator "fang" necklaces nonetheless. . . . She is as agile at describing the creatures and characters of swampland Florida as she is at offering accounts of Ava's youthful yearnings and Kiwi's humiliating low-level job at a competing theme park. . . . Powered by Russell's vivid wordplay and imaginative energy, Swamplandia! is a continuously alluring phantasmagoria." If NPR likes it, I'm willing to try. I have read about 90 pages so far, and have loved Russell's lyrical writing but not so much the storyline.

Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin: Actually, I originally picked this book up for my mom. In case you've missed me talking about it, my brother and his family are currently living in Tanzania, Africa, and my parents went to visit them last fall. They flew into Kigali, Rwanda, where my brother picked them up, and I thought my mom would be interested in reading some fiction that depicted that area. Now, however, I am going to Africa myself next month, so I've kept the novel to read! More on my Africa trip later, and more on this book right now. USA Today reviewed the novel, saying that "Baking Cakes contemplates the difficult lives of the survivors of genocide, the unrelenting poverty and African women's struggle for independence in a straightforward yet touching way." I'm hoping to read this one in the next couple of weeks.

The Ninth Wife by Amy Stolls: Despite the fact that I live in a (very) small town, our library shelves are always well-stocked. The librarian obviously does an excellent job of both purchasing fabulous books and participating in our region's swap, in which new titles are circulated between rural libraries. Regardless, whenever a book is making waves on the blogosphere, I can be sure that at some point it will come available on my library's New Book shelves. This novel appeared last week, and I snapped it up. Mari at Bookworm with a View just reviewed the book yesterday: "This is a cute summer read. Told in two parts, before Bess finds out that Rory has been married eight times, and after. Rory has a voice in the novel, spending complete chapters on the courting and marriage of each wife. I really liked him, I may not understand eight wives but it all made sense." Mari also posted that there is an interview with the author at Book Club Girl, which is interesting, I'm sure. Sounds like a great summer read.

The Recipe Club: A Novel About Food and Friendship by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel: In an act of overwhelming idiocy, I bought this novel twice -- accidently, of course. One is the paperback version I have with me on vacation; the other is a hardback with color photos of the recipes included. Suffice it to say, I really think this book sounds like something I want to read. Book Addiction says, "I loved the format of the novel – it was done almost entirely in letters, emails, and recipes. It made for a very quick read, and while it somewhat kept the characters at arm’s length, I still felt that I got to know Lilly and Val pretty well. . . . The Recipe Club was not perfect in my eyes, but I still found it to be a fun, engaging story about friendship and the recipes that kept that friendship alive. And the bonus is that I now have another cookbook to add to my collection!" The novel includes more than 80 recipes. Good Morning America offers an excerpt from the book if you'd like to try before you buy (twice, if you're me). On a positive note, I may offer the paperback version for giveaway soon!

The Wreckage by Michael Robotham: I've loved everything I've read thus far from new imprint Mulholland Books. I'm a tad bit unsure about this novel, as it incorporates the war in Iraq and I usually shy away from war-related reading. I will admit that this interview between Robotham and author Mark Billingham has convinced me to at least give it a try. Author David Baldacci has sung the praises of this novel, saying that he has "seldom read a more chilling and suspenseful tale. Robotham makes you see the sand, smell the burning oil and feel the bullets flying past. Most thrillers are lucky to have one great character; Robotham has given us at least four. They sweat, bleed and cry with such raw emotion that you can barely catch your breath and the words on the page feel like a million needles beneath your clenched fingers. This is a writer who will give you a slice of the Middle East you will never see on CNN or Fox. Robotham is the real deal and we can only hope he will write faster." So, yes. I will be diving in at some point.

The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers: I have wanted to read this book for some time. It appeared on Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea's 2010 top 10 list for audiobooks. I have the paperback, but I'm sure it will probably be just as good. Diane says that the novel "is an excellent debut novel that examines the long lasting effects of domestic abuse on the children who witness it. It asks the question, can one ever truly forgive the individual who has brought so much emotional pain into their lives?" The novel was also a Target Book Club Pick, which (low-brow may it be) I usually enjoy thoroughly.

So now you know what paperback and hardback books I packed (and a little more than just pictures of them). Tomorrow, some notes on the audio books and e-books I've been reading this week. Until then, happy reading! Hopefully, you've added to your to-read list with my posts on vacation reading.