Good, solid historical fiction

A Reader's Respite is pretty certain that we are the only historical fiction fanatic left on the planet that didn't have a shelf full of Elizabeth Chadwick novels.

Shameful, isn't it?


We recently went about rectifying that tremendous oversight with a copy of The Time of Singing. Set in 12th Century England in the court of Henry II, The Time of Singing is based on the life of Ida de Tosney, mistress to the king and later the wife of Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk.

*Sigh*

This is just plain good, solid historical fiction, folks. Chadwick follows known history to the letter and the gaps are filled with mesmerizing, yet plausible, fiction. Character development reigns supreme here with one of the best characterizations of Henry II ever put to paper.

Ida is a touching heroine and the chronicle of her marriage to Bigod is both heart-rending and gritty in turn. In short, it's realistic....no fairy tales here.

And the icing on the cake? Just drink in that cover, folks. No blurbs and Ida has her head intact.

What a refreshing read.

As we look at the list of Chadwick books we have to look forward to, we feel a little like a kid in a candy store, he he.

Chadwick's books are like crack, for book lovers. Just sayin'.

We know, we know. You're wondering where the giveaway of this one is. Nuthin' doin'. This copy is inscribed and even if it wasn't, this historical fiction deserves a permanent spot on the bookshelves.

But you can get your own copy here!

Books and more books

A Reader's Respite is one over-worked and underpaid book blogger. We hope you all enjoy wherever you're flying to this summer 'cause we sure are working like a dog to take you there. Working so hard, in fact, that we've missed a couple of book winner announcements.

We can only hope you'll take pity on us and forgive our memory lapses.

(And to the lady in Baton Rouge who just had to make that smart-ass comment about the landing tonight: next time, you try it and we'll see how it turns out. So there.)

With no further ado:



Kathleen of Boarding in My Forties fame has won Jennifer Woodlief's Wall of White!

Jemima, of The Reading Journey fame, has won a copy of Charlotte Greig's A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy.

Congratulations, ladies! Please zap us your mailing address so we can get these in the post for you. Or at the very least, drop them out of the airplane as we fly over your house. Your choice.

Diversifying My Bookshelves

Bombproof Your Horse, by Rick Pelicano

The newest weapon against terrorism, brought to you by the efficient folks over at Homeland Security.

It's Chick Lit Time!

No, not Chiclet....Chick Lit. You know, the marketing-driven genre that caters towards women and is traditionally considered vapid, empty reading. To be fair, most of the genre is a little on the, shall we say, light side?

Occasionally, however, a novel pops up that has been stuffed in the Chick Lit genre undeservedly. Cutting Loose, a new novel by Nadine Dajani, is one of those novels.




Cutting Loose is a fast-paced examination of three women, each transplanted to America from a different culture, who appear to have it all: success, wealth, beauty and smarts. On the surface, the novel chronicles each of these compelling women as they re-evaluate their lives at critical junctures. Beyond that, however, Cutting Loose is a touching revelation of the importance of our culture and values, no matter where we may live in this world.

Each of the three main characters is unique and diverse both in circumstance and heritage. Yet Dajani manages to illuminate the commonalities we all share across cultural divides using subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) humor and heartbreak.

This would make a great book to take along on an airplane, a trip to the beach, or even just a couple of relaxing evenings in a bathtub. Very recommended.





And of course, A Reader's Respite has two copies to give away (yay!). Enter to win simply by leaving us a comment below (international peeps always welcome!) and on August 4th, we'll draw two random winners.

Speaking of giveaways.....

In our continuing effort to recruit more unsuspecting reading fools into the Outlander Series cult, there is a huge, huge giveaway going on over at The Outlander Reading Challenge site.


Hosted by yours truly and One Literature Nut, it is a giveaway of the entire Outlander Series.

Yep, the whole kit-n-kaboodle.

So if you've always wanted to read the series (or know someone who does), get over there pronto and enter!

Read the rules and have fun.

Philisophical musings, of a sort

A Reader's Respite is waxing a bit philosophical about books these days. Why, Kierkegaard might have wondered, are books about Tudor vampires so popular?



Immanual Kant may have wondered whether an author has a moral responsibility to refrain from writing bad historical fiction.



Or perhaps not.


Would Locke have said that each of the over 400 million people who have read Harry Potter come away with a different perception and therefore, a different reality? Or would Nietzsche have said none of it matters since we're all just going to trample over each other to get our hands on the newest Diana Gabaldron book anyway?

somehow, we're just not seeing Nietzsche as a big Outlander fan

Okay, okay, we're not really thinking too much about all of this, but Charlotte Greig's novel, A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy, did get us thinking about our old university philosophy courses. (As it turns out, A Reader's Respite has forgotten most of our edu-ma-cation over the years.)




Greig's charming book recounts the story of Susannah, a young British university student majoring in philosophy during the turbulent 1970's, who plows through life's problems with a decidedly philosophical eye.

Finding herself unsure of her romantic choices and pregnant, Susannah uses her philosophical education to sort out her problems and try to make the right choices in life.

While you shouldn't expect a comprehensive education in philosophical schools of thought here, a general overview and historical perspective is woven into the story line as the reader follows Susannah's life, choices and the consequences.







Would you like to read it? Leave us a comment (all comers welcome, including international!) and on July 28th, we'll draw a random winner who will receive a copy!

While we appreciate your business, we want to announce a winner!

On some obscure level, A Reader's Respite recognizes that our day-job depends on the public buying tickets and flying around the world on airplanes. That is, business-ly speaking, what pays our salary (and ergo, pays for our seemingly insatiable appetite for books).

go home, folks, airplane travel just ain't worth it

That said, on a practical level, you all just need to STAY AT HOME for a while. Your endless travel from one end of the world to the other is keeping A Reader's Respite so busy that we can't even grab two minutes to announce a winner of Rebecca Dean's Palace Circle.

So cut it out and give us a little break here, okay?


Oh, and by the way,

S and H

you won the drawing! Zap us a mailing address via email and we'll package this little bundle up and send it on it's way to you!

Presidential readings....

Despite our New Year's Resolution not to get sucked into any reading challenges for 2009, some of you may know that A Reader's Respite chucked that one out the window when Books 'N Border Collies sponsored the U.S. Presidential Reading Project.


We've since completely lost all control and like a person whose diet lasted one whole week, we then gorged ourselves on about a dozen other challenges, but that's not important right now.

Back to the original subject: books about American Presidents. The essence of the U.S. Presidential Reading Project is to read a book about each and every American President.

Yep, that's right, all of 'em.

And look what came in the mail today....


That's right, Jon Meacham's Pulizter Prize winner, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.

Anyone else read this yet? This tome (at 512 pages, it ain't what we'd call a light read) has been called the definitive story of our seventh President. While there isn't any new material in this biography, we've heard tell that Meacham's writing style makes this one a must-read.

We'll report back and let you know.

In the meantime, can anyone recommend a good book (or, let's be honest here, any book) about President Chester Arthur?

(*sound of crickets chirping*)

Winners!

We have two winners today so read on:

Bybee at Naked Without Books

and

Lauren at Shooting Stars Magazine

You each won a copy of Kyria Abrahams hilarious book, I'm Perfect, You're Doomed! Email us your mailing address!

Armchair Adventurers Unite!

We've mentioned before that A Reader's Respite is very big on armchair adventure books. It's much safer in our old age to simply read about other people's brushes with death as opposed to seeking it out ourselves.

Remember when Harrison Ford was young? Yeah, us too.

Thank goodness for armchair adventure books. Some of our favorites over the years have included

Into Thin Air is a must-read, even if you're not that into adventure books. Krakauer shot to the top of his game with this true account of the 1996 Everest disaster that claimed the lives of eight climbers, including some world-class mountaineers.



Seven Summits is another favorite that is the true account of two middle-aged (albeit very wealthy) men who set out to be the first to climb the highest summit on each continent. The narration in this one is just riveting, like being told the story first hand at a great dinner party.



West With the Night is the 1942 biography of pilot Beryl Markham, who was the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west (against prevailing winds, which is no mean feat). She covers her childhood in Kenya and her bush-flying adventures in Africa in this book. Lots of girl-power here.

With classics like these in our library, it's admittedly difficult for a newly-released adventure story to compete. Such was the case with Jennifer Woodlief's A Wall of White. The topic she chose was a good one: the true story of the 1982 avalanche at Alpine Meadows, a popular ski resort in Lake Tahoe. Lots of good survival stories to make your hair stand on end there, one would think. And perhaps there were.


The problem is that A Reader's Respite never even made to the actual avalanche and it's aftermath because we couldn't plow our way through the first seemingly never-ending 150 pages of background information. It was as if Woodlief lacked the material for a full length book and so she packed it with the most annoyingly minute details just to take up space.

As much as we wanted to get to know the principle players in this tragedy, we can't say that we were interested in a verbatim recount of every conversation they ever had. With anyone. Starting from childhood.

That said, the mechanics of Woodlief's writing are quite good. We-thinks this was a case of fleshing out a book gone bad, which makes one wonder: where exactly was the editor when this one went to print? Vacation? Potty-break? Perhaps there is a job opening over at Atria Books.


Regardless, for our fellow armchair adventurers out there, NileGuide provides a terrific list of the Top 50 Adventure Books of All Time. There's more than enough there to keep the most avid adventurer busy for quite some time.....happy reading.


Now this is where A Reader's Respite inserts our standard disclaimer: just because we weren't thrilled with A Wall of White doesn't necessarily mean you won't be. There's a butt for every saddle, folks.

With that in mind, if you'd like to try it out yourself, leave us a comment and on July 25th, we'll draw a random winner to receive their very own copy of A Wall of White. International entrants are always welcome. And remember to check back to see if you won.

How to not win a book.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when A Reader's Respite announced a winner of a beautiful, shiny, new copy of The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns?

Remember all those entries to win the book?

We randomly chose one lucky winner. But we-thinks perhaps this lucky winner may be too busy reading this summer to claim her prize since no mailing address was forthcoming.

So here's the gig: if you entered to win The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns (you know who you are!) and weren't chosen, be the first to comment here on this post with a correct list of the Seven Deadly Sins (making you work for it, ain't we?) and your email address and you will be our new winner!

Help us find this book and new and loving home!

It's time for a winner....

It's time to find out who won Debbie Macomber's Summer on Blossom Street! Now those of you who pop in around here on a regular basis know that the winner has to email A Reader's Respite to claim your book. So,

Ashley (of Ashley's Library fame)

please email us with your mailing address! We hope you love the book and happy reading!

Jackie and Bobby....Whatcha Think?

Now A Reader's Respite knows that it isn't nice to gossip and that one should probably let the dead rest in peace.

HOWEVER....at the risk of burning in hell, let's talk about C. David Heymann's new tell-all book due to hit the shelves on July 14th. Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story alleged that Saint Jackie had a four year affair with her brother-in-law following her husband's assassination.

While Heymann claims a handful of family friends as credible sources, other respected Kennedy biographers have dismissed Heymann as a shyster looking for a quick buck.

What say you?

Reading for a Cause - A Winner!

Since our blog secretary is on strike these days (unionized workers....sheesh), we've had to do the work ourselves and randomly pick a winner who will receive James Levine's new novel, The Blue Notebook (released today!).

Drumroll....(oh wait, never mind, our blog musicians are on strike, too).....

DeSeRt RoSe!

Send us an email with your mailing address and we'll get it on the next slow boat to China (or Omaha, as the case may be).

Genre Niches and A Reader's Respite's Obsession

Now we know what you're thinking: what in the hell are genre-niches? A Reader's Respite fully admits to making that term up right here on the spot (we're just creative that way). It was the only term we could think of used to describe a very topic-specific book within a genre.

Are there any specific genre-niches that you all like?

For example, we know of a dedicated reader who is absolutely obsessed with any cozy mystery novel that involves a cat. That's right, it must involve a cat. Not a dog, not a horse, not even a cute pig. Only cats.

cat detective noir

Another dear friend loves novels (any novel) that contain recipes. Themes, characters, settings all mean nothing to her. If it's fiction and there's a recipe in it, she owns it. We suspect if a porn novel involving chefs (and a recipe is printed) exists, we would find it on her shelves.

somehow, we don't think we'll be seeing her on Iron Chef anytime soon

If you're suspecting that A Reader's Respite also has an obsession with a certain genre-niche, you'd be absolutely correct. We happen to have a weakness for politically-oriented thrillers set in Africa.

You see, we're fairly specific about it. Not any novel randomly set in Africa will do. (No Alexander McCall Smith for us, thankyouverymuch.) No, the novel must revolve around the political chaos that has devastated so many countries on the Dark Continent in the post-colonial world. Ever see the film Blood Diamond? Now you're getting the picture.

The not-so-great part about an obsession with a specific genre-niche is that there aren't too many books out there that fit the bill. Even less that are well-written, too. When you find one, you tend to savor it, wanting to relish every last drop of the story. At least that was what is was like for us when we recently sat down for a marathon reading session of The Secret Keeper.

Journalist-now-author Paul Harris has penned a real winner with his debut novel, The Secret Keeper. Set in Sierra Leone four years following the civil war that ultimately would claim over 50,000 lives, the story revolves around journalist Danny Kellerman. The war over, Danny is safely ensconced in London when he receives a startling letter begging for help from an ex-girlfriend, Maria, still living in Sierra Leone.

But before Danny can even figure out the meaning of the letter, Maria is found dead. Returning to Sierra Leone to find answers and battle his own demons, Danny finds himself caught up in politcal intrigue and mystery in a country still struggling to find it's place in the world.

Given Harris' past reporting as a war-correspondent in Sierra Leone, one can't help but wonder how many autobiographical tidbits made their way into the story. His ability to recreate the political climate during this time of upheaval is unrivaled in our reading experience.

This plot is absolutely fine-tuned and taut with multi-dimensional characters and a very well-painted picture of Sierra Leone. It really doesn't get much better than this, folks. Much more accessible (and believable) than Tom Clancy, if you're inclined towards thrillers, especially ones that teach you a few things along the way, The Secret Keeper will not disappoint.

This one will most assuredly be making an appearance on our Ten Best List at the end of the year.



Title: The Secret Keeper
Author: Paul Harris
ISBN-13: 978-0525951025
336 pages
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Date: April 2, 2009


We know, you're thorough. So we've provided some more reviews of this book for you:

Book Addiction
Jen's Book Thoughts
Bloody Hell, It's a Book Barrage!
The Bookworm
Presenting Lenore
My Friend Amy
Maw Books Blog
Dreadlock Girl Reads
Savvy Verse & Wit
Peeking Between the Pages

Book snobs and other musings....

It's a lovely Sunday morning (well, it's is somewhere, just not in south Texas where the heat and humidity are enough to suffocate even the most ardent heat-lover) and A Reader's Respite is hoping that all of you revelers out celebrating America's birthday last night are safe and sound.

All fingers and toes accounted for?

Good.

This weekend, as we inexplicably picked up the second installment of Anna Godbersen's The Luxe Books (the first of which, you'll recall, A Reader's Respite skewered in a spiteful review), this one entitled Rumors, we found ourselves wondering a couple of things:

1. why did we purchase a book that is a sequel to a book we so disliked?
2. why, precisely, did we dislike the book so very much?

The answer to #1 involves a treacherous journey into the depth's of A Reader's Respite's twisted psyche, so we'll graciously spare you that particular torment. Suffice it to say that it involves forking over cold, hard cash to alleviate our oddly-placed guilt over our scathing review of The Luxe.

In other words: we hated your book, but here is some money to take the sting out of it.

Perfectly rational, wouldn't you say?

The answer to #2 is far more complex and deserves further attention. What is it about certain best-selling books that draws our ire? And if said books are so disliked, why are we all propelling them onto the best-seller lists?

Let's use one of my favorite examples: Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code.

The book everyone loves to hate.

Since original publication in 2003, The DaVinci Code has sold around 40 million copies worldwide. That's right: 40 million copies. And yet, it is a challenge to find a positive review of this novel. This is the book that everyone loves to hate.

Why? The most commonly reason cited is historical inaccuracies. These same reviewers who later lauded Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl are downright spiteful towards Brown's free and easy interpretation of history. Dost we detect hypocrisy? Wethinks we do.

A quick perusal of lit blogs uncovers an almost universal dislike of The DaVinci Code. Anyone who's anyone claims to have disliked the book. And yet, we keep coming back to sales: 40 million copies sold. If it's such an awful book, exactly who keeps buying it? A handful of fans who have purchased ten million copies each?

Similarly, as A Reader's Respite consciously restrained ourselves from hurling Anna Godbersen's Rumors at the nearest wall, we couldn't help but see the similarity between ourselves and the DaVinci-haters. After all, our stated reason for our dislike (and we're sticking to it) is, indeed, historical inaccuracies. Aside from that, we found the technical portion of the books quite acceptably executed. Dialogue flows (however inaccurate in 1899 vernacular), the plot moves along quickly (ie, from one illicit teenage rendezvous to the next), and the characters are sharply developed (developed into snotty whores, that is).

The best we can figure is that evidently historical inadequacies as they pertain to Christian history serve as entertainment to A Reader's Respite, while historical inaccuracies that pertain to a young woman's moral code greatly disturb us. Hypocrisy? Definitely.

Is A Reader's Respite a book snob? Perhaps not, we've decided, after perusing a few blogs. Comparitively speaking, that is. At least we've never written a review entitled The DaVinci Code is a Stepped-On Bag of Pork Rinds.

But we can always aspire to, can't we?

WTF Wednesday

Book chosen for the GoodReads European Royalty Group's read for the month of July.

I'll let you ponder that for a while.


This WTF moment brought to you by: