In Which A Reader's Respite Rolls Out the Red Carpet....


A Reader's Respite is in the mood for an award ceremony.


We missed the Academy Awards this year and since we didn't watch them, we can't really bitch about them.
It's leaving a big hole in our lives.

So here's the plan: A Reader's Respite has 364 blogs in our feed reader. Each and every one of them has something unique that draws us back there again and again.
Once a week or so, we're going to tell you about a blog in our reader and tell you why, in our own sick and twisted way, we love them so much.


If they're new to you, GREAT. If you're familiar with them, you can add in your allocades.

Like our very own award ceremony.


Here's the dress A Reader's Respite is wearing for this week's award ceremony:


While it is cutting edge, perhaps this dress doesn't exactly reflect our dire personality.



Here's our Master of Ceremonies patiently waiting for A Reader's Respite to get into said dress:


"Darling, that dress is stunning on you."


Okay, okay, it's time to get on with the program.



The Award for Bankrupting A Reader's Respite With a Ridiculously Long Wishlist goes to.....

Passages to the Past






Seriously. Amy is personally responsible for at least $4,568 worth of books on my wishlist right now. It's got to stop.






BIG DISCLAIMER: Given today's blogging environment, A Reader's Respite would like to make it perfectly clear that the above awards post is a lark. This post in no way takes away from the Book Blogger Appreciation Awards (expertly put together by My Friend Amy) and is in no way a theft of that idea.

This one is snarky.

Amy's is the REAL THING.


So the first person who accuses me of stealing content is going to get slapped.

Review: Bound South: A Novel





Bound South: A Novel, by Susan Rebecca White

















The Down & Dirty

Louise has her hands full. Her teenaged daughter has run amok, her son is retreating into teenaged angst, her maid's problems are her problems and her best friend is getting divorced. But these are Southern women, smack in the heart of Atlanta, and they deal with problems using two failproof weapons: humor and alcohol.



The Lit Crit

This debut novel by Susan Rebecca White is a pleasant addition to the growing Southern Lit genre. Told from multiple (female) viewpoints, White is at the top of her game in the snarky department and apparently no topic is off limits. Religion, adultry, student/teacher affairs, homosexuality and race relations in the south are all treated with equal honesty and wit.

Louise's relationship with her wild-child daughter is particularly refreshing and while sharp humor is the order of the day, White doesn't use it to sweep issues under the rug. Rather, humor is used for perspective, something most mothers need on a daily basis.

Louise and her husband, John Henry, are not perfect parents by any means. A product of their generation, they enable their children's dysfunctions at every turn, although you can hardly hold it against them:

"To be perfectly honest, San Francicso is a better place for her than Atlanta ever was. It suits her. It seemed that the moment she stepped off the plane and onto California soil she got her act together. She earned her GED, not that we're exactly beaming with pride over that, but then she enrolled at San Francisco State University. She's majoring in something called American Studies, although judging by what she's learning it should be called American Sins.


I don't mean to sound negative - I think it's important to learn about indigenous cultures and to take a skeptical stance towards government, and so on and do on - but I do sometimes get a little tired of being lectured so often by her on the Complicity of America in all things Evil...

...she seems to be okay. Of course we pay for her college classes, and John Henry sends her a small check each month to cover part of her rent, but other than that, she's on her own."

Bound South, by Susan Rebecca White
Bwahahahahah...A Reader's Respite thinks this last sentence is hysterical....

If there is any quibble to be had, it would be with the end of the novel, which had little (if any) conclusion. It was as if she just stopped writing. You turn the page, but that's it. One page the characters are at dinner and the next.....poof. The end.


Of course, not every novel needs a perfect, tightly-wrapped conclusion.

Perhaps it's an artsy thing I'm missing.


Our Recommendation

If you're a fan of southern lit or just appreciate the humor inherent in parenting, this is a fun book and certainly a worthwhile read. Enjoy the perspective this one offers!





Think you might like this book? Leave me a comment saying so and A Reader's Respite will draw a random winner next Monday, March 2 and send you the book.





Title: Bound South
Author: Susan Rebecca White
ISBN-13: 978-1416558675
368 pages
Publisher: Touchstone
Date: February 10, 2009


Other fabulous opinions about this novel:

S. Krishna's Books
Books and Cooks
Dew on the Kudzu

Technological Asshattery

I know, I know.....real mature, huh?


But I feel better having said it.






Review: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox






The Down and Dirty

Iris Lockhart is going about life, minding her own business and trying not to think about the fact that she is in love with her step-brother when *bam*: she finds out she has a great-aunt that she's never heard of who's been locked up in an asylum for the last sixty years. Iris feels compelled to take Aunt Esme under her wing and the novel goes on to reveal the events that led to Esme's lockup while Iris tries to sort out her own life.




The Lit Crit

Wasn't too crazy about this one. The book vacillates between Iris's life and what happened to Esme that led her to lockup in the nuthouse. It took a while to figure out that the random stream-of-consciousness passages were coming from an addle-pated grandmother and that added to the bit of confusion over the rapidly changing points of view in the novel.

Nor was the (adopted, step, whatever) brother/sister-being-in-love-thing working for us. Yes, we understand they weren't blood related. It was still creepy in a V.C. Andrews kind of way.

If you've never read V.C. Andrews, well...don't start. Just don't.


O'Farrell did a nice job of conveying the terrible conditions that existed (and still do, to some extent) asylums during the early 20th-century, but she didn't play enough to this strength. It was one of those novels that could have been great, but fell flat, although we admit the ending was pretty sharp. Ultimately, it needed more One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest quality to really work.


A Reader's Respite's other job

You've got to feel a little sorry for the book that's picked up right after you read a string of excellent novels. Any other time, it would likely have fared a better review.


Our Recommendation

Kinda meh on this one. Don't rush out today to buy it...perhaps a library checkout would be better because it does have a pretty snappy ending.



And by the way, yes it did take a little work to manage TWO Louise Fletcher references in one completely unrelated book review. No applause, please, just throw money.




Title: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
Author: Maggie O'Farrell
ISBN-10: 0151014116
256 pages
Publisher: Harcourt
Date: October 24, 2007



More Riveting Opinions in Blogland:

Blue Archipelago
Peaches' Corner
Educating Petunia
BookBound
Reading and Ruminations
A Bookworm's Musings
Ex Libris Book Reviews
Dovegreyreader Scribbles

Review: Guernica

Guernica, by Dave Boling







The Down and Dirty


On April 26, 1937, the German Condor Legion bombed the bejeesus out of a small Basque town in Spain called Guernica.
Hitler had "loaned" his deadly Luftwaffe to the soon-to-be facist dictator Franco who was battling for control during the devastating Spanish Civil War. No one knows for certain how many civilians died that day. Guernica had no air defenses and it was market day in the center of town. What is known is that the majority of the town was completely destroyed and a new age of attacking civilian targets was ushered in.


Dave Boling's debut novel Guernica is an intensely personal examination of the destruction of a town. Rather than take on the entire political spectrum that led to the bombing of Guernica, Boling examines the lives of two families who are Guernica. Like families the world over, they live, they love, and in this case, they suffer losses unimaginable in the Western world today.





Picasso's great mural: Guernica


The Lit Crit

This is a character driven novel and Boling fills the novel with complex, rich characters, making the reader a part of the community. You feel as if you have known these characters all of your life...their joys are your joys, their pain is your pain.

You should be aware that the passage relating the actual bombing is, perhaps, one of the most intense scenes on paper. Be prepared for tears, anger and excruiciating anguish. The jarring transition from character-centric to stark destruction masterfully mirrors the transformation of Guernica from a sleepy, peaceful town to a raging inferno.

Don't look for a happy ending here. Thankfully, however, neither does Boling offer up a gratuitous sob-fest. He sees it through to the end and you can expect a healthy dose of realism. Anything less would have cheapened the novel.


Our Recommendation

Highly, highly recommended. This novel is one that will stay on your permanent shelves (right next to a box of Kleenex) to be read and re-read. There is a good reason this book won the 2009 Pacific Northwest Book Award for Fiction.




If you would like to learn more about the broader political situation of the Spanish Civil War and Spain's role during World War II, pair this novel with C.J. Sansom's novel, Winter in Madrid (review here). Both novels would make the perfect gift for your favorite history buff.

The Metro recently interviewed the author -- one of the best interviews I've ever read and worth checking out.





Title: Guernica
Author: Dave Boling
ISBN-13: 978-1596915633
384 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury, USA
Date: September 2, 2008



Some More Reviews in Blogland:

A Lovely Shore Breeze
Presenting Lenore
Fresh Ink Books
BCF Book Reviews
The Optimistic Bookfool
Bookbound
Literarily
She Is Too Fond of Books
Redlady's Reading Room
Bookmarks
Raging Bibliomania
Muse Books Reviews
Devourer of Books
Hobo's Books
Virtual Wordsmith

Review: Winter in Madrid





Winter in Madrid, by C.J. Sansom

The Down and Dirty


Settle in with a nice cup of coffee and allow A Reader’s Respite to tell you about a book.

A fabulous book. Really and truly.


In 1936 Spain, as World War II was gearing up, a military uprising led by General Franco sprang up against a leftist government and the Spanish Civil War began. Unable to obtain help from any other country, the leftist government turned to the Stalin who was all too happy to export his particular brand of “assistance.”

And so it was that the Spanish people found themselves in the crossfire between two of the most undesireable factions fighting for control of their country: facists or communists.

The breadth of the destruction of Spain both during the Civil War and the years following the dictator Franco’s rule over Spain cannot be overstated.

And this is the riveting time period that C.J. Sansom brings to life in his novel, Winter in Madrid.


Harry Brett finds himself at a bit of a loss whenout of the army on a medical discharge after the British retreat from the advancing Germans at Dunkirk. Recruited by British Intelligence, whose goal is to keep Spain from entering WWII on the side of the Axis powers, Harry heads off to Madrid to spy on an old school chum, Sandy Forsyth, who may or may not be supporting Franco’s fascist regime.

But Sandy isn’t Harry’s only connection to Madrid. Bernie Piper, another old schoolmate who dropped out of school to join the International Brigades, died there fighting the fascists during the Civil War.

Except Bernie didn’t die. And Sandy isn’t who he appears to be.


The Lit Crit


Not much to say here, as this novel was nearly as perfect as a novel can be. From a historical perspective, Sansom’s research is a wonder and more importantly, his ability to translate his research into a seamless story is nothing short of amazing.

The Spanish Civil War was a politically convoluted mess. Yet Sansom never loses the reader. It is impossible not to feel incredibly illuminated about a period in history often glossed over.

The plot is perfectly paced, eventually reaching a conclusion that reflects the ambiguity of the time, and the characters are some of the most fully developed ever seen in a historical novel of this scope.


The Recommendation


For any historical buff, A Reader’s Respite is not just recommending Winter in Madrid to you, we’re telling you that you MUST read this book.

If you’re looking for an even more comprehensive education about Spain’s Civil War and their role in WWII, couple this novel with Dave Boling’s award-winning novel, Guernica, a review of which you can read here tomorrow.







Title: Winter in Madrid
Author: C.J. Sansom
ISBN-13: 978-0143115137
544 pages
Publisher: Penguin
Date: January 27, 2009 (pbk.)


More Opinions Floating Around in Blogland:


My Friend Amy
We Be Reading
Daisyeyes

Happiness is a Relative Thing

A Library Girl Reads has tagged A Reader's Respite for the Six Things That Make Me Happy meme.

It bears mentioning that the things that make us happy are a big unconventional.



Don't say you weren't warned.


1. Silence. There's nothing like a good dose of Shut-the-Hell-Up around this house to make A Reader's Respite sigh with delight.



2. Anytime someone messes with Ann Coulter. That woman is a nutjob.



3. Clear skies and calm wind. It makes work ever-so-much easier when we're not #94 in line for takeoff out of Newark.



4. Normal passengers. It makes us most happy when peeps aren't trying to pass off their 3-month old Chihuahua as a seeing eye dog. Or trying to bring a monkey aboard as a "food taster." Really.



5. Mystery Science Theater 3000. I love that show.




6. Mayonaisse. It's our favorite condiment.





Books for the Heart Wrap-Up



Thought you all might like to know how A Reader's Respite did on the Books for the Heart project, brought to you by 1 More Chapter.

Books we blew through from February 1-14th:



The Memorist, by M.J. Rose


Guernica: A Novel, by Dave Boling




The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, by Maggie O'Farrell



Winter in Madrid, by C.J. Sansom



Silent in the Sanctuary, by Deanna Raybourn



So at $10 a book, that's a check for $50 that's going out to the American Heart Association. Our cold, black heart is melting already.



Happy reading!


Amazon Adventures in Asshattery

A Reader's Respite has about three or four book reviews that we should be writing.

Instead, we're sitting here thinking about all the asshattery that goes on at Amazon.com.

For those of you wondering what an asshat is....well, we feel it's pretty self-explanatory, but in general it refers to one who's head is so far up their rear that it could pass for a hat.

Like this:





For those who don't submit book reviews over at Amazon, allow us to give you the run-down:

Anyone can write a book review for Amazon. Other Amazon customers who read reviews can choose, if they like, to vote on reviews. A review is either "helpful" or "not helpful."

Amazon then uses some ridiculously complicated formula to then rank reviewers based upon the number of reviews they've written, the number of "helpful" or "not helpful" votes, and the current alignment of the stars in the sky.

Now A Reader's Respite is still not sure what exactly benefits there are to a high reviewer ranking. Allegedly, reviewers with a high ranking are invited to participate in Amazon's version of Early Reviewers, which like LibraryThing, sends out advance reader's copies of new books for review. But aside from that, there don't seem to be any prizes, discounts or other incentives to participate.

And yet, some Amazon reviewers seem to take this whole ranking thing quite seriously. So much so that there are roaming packs of rabid reviewers who spend all day voting "not helpful" to every other reviewer in a pathetic attempt to raise their own rating.


Scary Amazon Reviewer




Then we have the maniacal "don't you dare give my favorite author a negative review" faction. Look out, these are some real loonies. If you dare to give their favorite author anything less than a five-star review, these nut-jobs find every review you've ever written and cast their all-powerful "not helpful" votes in some weird attempt to punish you.

Dave over at Read Street recently lured this faction out of Amazon when he posted about the Stephanie Meyer versus Stephen King smackdown. (Funny stuff if you haven't yet seen the comments on his post.)



Careful...they will attack


But the strangest of all creatures lurking about over at Amazon are the authors who feel that the Amazon reviews of their latest novel is the force that keeps the world spinning. Whatever you do, DO NOT offend these creatures. They will attempt to have you banned from Amazon altogether for the crime of having an opinion.



The problem over there seems to be the cloak of anonymity people are allowed. There is no accountability and it's easy for people to sign up for multiple and fraudulent accounts. Ergo, there is a lot of asshattery going on.


Now we know you were reading with baited breath for some big scandal going on over at Amazon.

But I'm not sharing.

Not because A Reader's Respite is noble and above the fray. But because we'd rather a couple of certain historical fiction authors not target this blog or blow up our house.

Seriously.


So do you even bother with Amazon anymore? Do you use the reviews when making a purchase?

And perhaps most importantly, when are people going to grow up?







Perhaps she forgot to bring a good book?

One needn't be fluent in Chinese to understand the International Language of an Airline Temper Tantrum. A direct result of missing one's flight.

Episodes like this occur daily at Newark Liberty Airport, but this video clearly demonstrates they can pop up anywhere airplanes take off and land.

I'm thinking she forgot the number one rule of air travel: always bring a good book.




Forgetfulness at 35,000 Feet

Whilst A Reader's Respite was winging our way somewhere across New Mexico yesterday afternoon, mulling over the general asshattery going on over at Amazon these days (post soon to come), the thought occurs to us:

"Oh crap, I forgot to pick a winner."


So upon landing in beautiful southern California, I ask a flight attendant to pick a number. The result?


Jenners!

You've won a copy of The Reincarnationist and The Memorist, by M.J.Rose


Email A Reader's Respite with your mailing address and I'll send them out!

Apologies that this was late, folks.

Review: Lethal Legacy


Lethal Legacy: A Novel, by Linda Fairstein







The Down and Dirty

There's something naughty afoot at the New York Public Library. One of their book conservationists turned up dead and there are some very juicy suspects...all of them associated with the library. It's up to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alex Cooper to find out who before more people die and more valuable library property disappears.



The Literary Criticism


Patience (one half of the NYC Library Lions named Patience and Fortitude)


Lethal Legacy is the 11th Alex Cooper novel written by Linda Fairstein. A Reader's Respite has not read any of the previous novels, but that didn't hamper our enjoyment.
Full of library lore and fascinating tidbits regarding book collecting, book restoration and the world of rare books, this novel is a vertible treasure trove of tidbits that bibliophiles would love.
The thriller storyline itself was quite secondary in our view. Adequately written, we had no complaints as Alex Cooper stalked a killer, but it was the fascinating world of book restoration and library politics that kept us rapt with attention.

From learning how antique books are valued to how damaged books are restored, the tidbits of book collecting were a fun ride.
And we'll never again use a sticky note in a book again. Really.


Our Recommendation


Recommended for book fanatics who enjoy a good thriller or for any bibliophile who wants to dip their toes into the thriller genre.







Title: Lethal Legacy: A Novel
Author: Linda Fairstein
ISBN-13: 978-0385523998
384 pages
Publisher: Doubleday
Date: February 10, 2009



Other Opinions in Blogland:

Diversifying My Bookshelves


You are Worthless, by Dr. Scott Dikkers
Business must just be booming for Dr. Dikkers.
A Reader's Respite would make an appointment, but he doesn't accept Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
That's a shame.


In Which Author Jennie Nash Kidnaps A Reader's Respite


Announcement


Jennie Nash, author of The Only True Genius in the Family, has kidnapped A Reader's Respite, thrown her in a closet with duct tape over her mouth (and more importantly, her typing fingers) in order to bring you a REAL blog post.

Enjoy.




*****


I am nothing like the character in my novel, The Only True Genius in the Family. I am not a mother of a painting prodigy, the daughter of a famous photographer, the owner of a gorgeous house on the beach (or in the mountains), and I barely know how to operate a point-and-shoot camera. But The Only True Genius in the Family is, at its root, a story about a woman in search of her creative voice, and this is a subject I know well.


I wanted to be a writer all my life. I grew up listening to my dad (a professor of environmental studies) typing on his Olivetti electric typewriter, and there was something about that sound, and about a person sitting alone in a room writing words that someone in another time and place would read, that I loved.

I was an English major in college, got my first job at Random House, sold my first book at the age of 25, and went on to have a rich and varied career in publishing that included stints as a magazine editor, a magazine writer, and the author of two other books of narrative non-fiction. I worked hard, I was good, and I was lucky – a winning combination – but I never felt like a “real” writer. I never felt entirely legitimate.

My self doubt came to a head several years ago in Anchorage, Alaska. I had flown up there to give the keynote address at a breast cancer event. My second book, The Victoria’s Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming and Other Lessons I Learned From Breast Cancer, was a breast cancer memoir, and I did a lot of presentations after it was published. This time, however, I happened to know that the speaker who had given the keynote the year before, was Dr. Susan Love -- a world famous surgeon, the author of the book many breast cancer patients consider to be their bible, and on top of it, the woman who is pioneering an early detection method that has a very real chance of doing for breast cancer what the Pap Smear did for cervical cancer, which is to say, all but eliminating the threat of the disease. As I sat at the banquet table awaiting my time to talk, I thought, “What do I have top say that Susan Love didn’t say? What do I had to add to her expertise? Who do I think I am?”

My self doubt snowballed to such a size that I even thought, “I’m not even a legitimate breast cancer survivor, because I didn’t have to have chemo.” As if losing a breast and spending six weeks in wound care weren’t “enough.”

When my name was announced, I walked up to the podium, stood in front of the microphone, looked out over the ballroom full of eager faces and this thought came over me in a warm rush: I am a storyteller. That, I realized, what I had to offer: a story.

I gave a good talk – the kind of presentation when you know everyone in the room is cheering for you – and when I got home, I started writing a novel. It was the first time in my entire career I’d dared to write fiction. I finished the book (The Last Beach Bungalow), sold it, published it – and the feeling of pride and satisfaction was so enormous, that I felt what it meant to be wholly creatively alive, and I loved it.


I gave that same success to my character in The Only True Genius in the Family. It is my celebration.



*****



A Winner!


We've got a randomly chosen winner, thanks to Mr. Reader's Respite and his superior mathematical skills.



Congratulations Cip!



Email A Reader's Respite with your mailing address and you'll receive a copy of Jennie Nash's The Only True Genius in the Family.