Friday, 8 April 2011
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Oh, so caught by a book's cover, I had to tell the truth on Parajunkee's Follow Friday's current question from her guest today. I've always been drawn in by an intriguing or beautiful cover. As an artist, myself, I can't help "reading" the nuances of the covers...so much of the book is given away that way! I love to look at them as I'm reading.
This doesn't preclude the fact that I'm also a true reader, so I do read the summaries and flip around in the book before I lay my money down, however. But, (sigh) truth be told, I'm a sucker for a beautiful cover!
Please leave a comment about how covers affect you! And, go by Parajunkee's site to get involved in our "Follow Friday" to find some new friends and book blogs.
Deb/TheBookishDame
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Oh, so caught by a book's cover, I had to tell the truth on Parajunkee's Follow Friday's current question from her guest today. I've always been drawn in by an intriguing or beautiful cover. As an artist, myself, I can't help "reading" the nuances of the covers...so much of the book is given away that way! I love to look at them as I'm reading.
This doesn't preclude the fact that I'm also a true reader, so I do read the summaries and flip around in the book before I lay my money down, however. But, (sigh) truth be told, I'm a sucker for a beautiful cover!
Please leave a comment about how covers affect you! And, go by Parajunkee's site to get involved in our "Follow Friday" to find some new friends and book blogs.
Deb/TheBookishDame
"The Cypress House" is one of the first novels I'm not sure I will do justice to in a review. It is a book so rich in good writing and suspense that it demands reading to really get a complete sense of its excellence. Michael Koryta is at the top of authors in this genre today.
I am simply exhausted. "The Cypress House" is not a book that allows you to go calmly about your daily business once you've opened it and read the first two paragraphs. I've been fitting it into my schedule, bit by bit, for the last three days, and wishing I could have read it in one sitting. Completely addictive novel...hands down.
Rumors about Michael Koryta's being "one of the best of the best" suspense writers, a quote from Michael Connelly (author of "The Poet," -- a personal favorite), are almost damning him with faint praise. Koryta is in a league of his own, seriously.
He is an artist. His masterful hand, creating time and place, draws one into step with his characters moment by moment, relentlessly. Koryta's descriptions are his paintbrush coloring in the reality and truth of things, laying in the minute details. As he mentions the creaky shutters slamming in the wind 'just like the screen door at his old home'...or something squeaking 'like the swing on the porch' of his father's house, I know exactly what the sound is and where its origin lies. As a Southerner, I see that picture in my head, and I'm there with his characters...visually, in my hearing and viserally.
This is only one example of many.
This is only one example of many.
I was drawn into the hearts and minds of Koryta's characters, whether good or evil, and could understand the motives of each. What admirable people the "good guys" are; so worthy of respect and teachers of morals and virtue, 'though not perfect...just a bit grimy with human foibles.
Arlen, a pivitol character, and Paul, who are bonded in a sort of father/son relationship, are characters with depth of sensibility, personality and symbolism. Their love interest, the central character, Rebecca, is a young woman caught up in personal struggles and circumstances that ask of her self-sufficiency and criminal wiles not common for women her age.
Arlen, a pivitol character, and Paul, who are bonded in a sort of father/son relationship, are characters with depth of sensibility, personality and symbolism. Their love interest, the central character, Rebecca, is a young woman caught up in personal struggles and circumstances that ask of her self-sufficiency and criminal wiles not common for women her age.
The reader becomes as entangled in the anxieties and complexities of the characters' problems as they do, even as they seem insurmountable. It is this common bonding under duress that Mr. Koryta so deftly channels, bringing us into the situation without our knowing it--as surely as an impending storm will falls on us, until we've become caught up in the horror and magnitude of the danger, ourselves. We become invisible accomplices with our characters, so that when all is done, our own hearts and minds are as striped to the bare bone as theirs. We are as exhausted as they are. Their triumphs are ours; and their losses, our losses.
Along with his "film noir" story setting in the storm tossed, hurricane season of Florida's Gulf Coast, Michael Koryta also throws us the tangy bit of extra-sensory perception. Arlen has the paranormal gift of seeing the impending, possible death of others. This gift lends another dimension to an already stirling suspense novel. Mr. Koryta has us totally amped-up for the ride...
His expertise as a writer is refreshing, and far from the stacatto clacking that so many new authors employ in suspense. His use of vocabulary and dialog works to build his characters and their place in the story to just the right pitch. Additionally, I learned a great deal about the veteran's work program, the depression era mind-set of post WWI, and political corruption that nearly makes 2011 look bad. I also learned a bit about a soldier's post-traumatic stress syndrome, and its pros and cons. The account of Arlen's soldiering days, though horrific, gave substance and foundation to the novel. There is so much "meat" in Koryta's writing.
He magically employs the technique of anthropomorphic, natural setting to build suspense and an over-hanging doom. A house made of cypress...the wood of coffins, nearly indestructible, and carrying a foreshadowing, for instance. The darkness of weather patterns and the damage they reek, as well as the frightening unknowns of the swamp, provide an additional picture of looming danger and the unknown factor of an "act of God," which could turn any plan upside down. Because Koryta employs these powerful techniques, we are always set on edge and waiting for the proverbial "next shoe to drop." It's excruciatingly tantalizing, setting an oppressive mood over our reading.
"The Cypress House" is a powerful and masterfully written murder/suspense novel. Readers of this genre will, from now on, place Michael Koryta's books among those that they purchase simply on the basis that he wrote them. His first editions will become collectible because he is our next "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James Cain-like, suspense author...only, like Cain, he's blazing his own new trail.
His other books include: "So Cold The River," a recent release and, "Envy The Night," for which he won The LA Times Book Prize for best mystery thriller
Visit his website at: www.MichaelKoryta.com
*If you're a Michael Koryta fan, I'd love to know about it in comments!
Deborah/TheBookishDame
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Jodi Picoult is the voice of the everyday woman today. While one may not always agree with her, I believe that she attempts to give as complete a perspective of comtemporary issues as any social "observer" can. In "Sing You Home," Jodi has made no exception.
Like the message or not. Jodi is what used to be known in ancient times as a "scop." Scop means a bard or news-carrier from Anglo-Saxson England. It was a word practically obsolete by the 14th c., but revived again in the 18th c. It is a definition of those who carried news and stories from town to town in ancient cities before people could read or write. What I mean to say here is that Ms Picoult will be known, I believe, as an author who recorded our contemporary times and social struggles in such a way that the general population could understand them...like a scop who stopped in villages and spoke around fire gatherings giving the latest news of the "world."
"Sing You Home," is a controversial novel. And, it is a good one. The characters are real; their feelings and personal struggles are heavy. Though you may not agree with every decision they make, you can understand why they make them, ultimately. My daughter who has experienced the personal pain and emotional upheavals associated with IVF, told me she had to put the book down. She was moved to tears, relating to the reality that Ms Picoult wrote into her characters. She was hit once again with the emotional passages she had walked. "How can she tell about something so intimate?" she wanted to know. That's the gift Jodi Picoult has. The gift of conveying the realities of emotional pain, horror, love and healing...the conditions of life.
In "Sing You Home," the story guides us through a marriage that disintegrates and then works its way around to something more interesting. We learn how innovative therapies such as music can reach an otherwise locked-up teenager. And, we find that a person of age doesn't mean they are unwilling to learn and be valuable contributors to other's lives. While it's unrealistic to expect everyone to agree with decisions made by Picoult's characters, we are given an opportunity to envision the situations that many encounter in our society with it's alternative choices.
Jodi Picoult is an author of significant writing skills. It is clear that she is capable of reaching a wide range of readers. Her goal is to do just that. I believe she is more than capable of narrowing her scope to a more specific following, even to her own personal perspectives alone...but she choses to reach more people with views that are as multi-faceted as possible. This is the gift of a true writer who is committed to giving herself to her readers for the good of all. A writer who sees her purpose as shedding light on the issues of the day, and allowing her readers to make their own, more informed decisions about them.
I highly recommend "Sing You Home." It's a novel that will make you cry, make you think outside the box...it will make you angry, and it will expand your sense of what could be done to resolve what seems unresolvable. It's a novel of our times for good or for bad. It sheds a light on what different people and groups of people are thinking and living, and for the most part, I think Jodi does that in a way that's unsurpassed by other writers today. She knows her readers, and she writes for them.
I don't think the Christian perspective received a full and complete audit; but, nor do I think the teenager in her novel was fully developed, nor the reality of dealing with different relationships. There is much that could be written about these that was left unsaid in "Sing You Home," so I'm wondering if it's a segway into a second book, or if she meant to leave things open ended.
As a gift, Jodi has written some song lyrics which her friend has set to music and sings. She has added this as a CD and it is attached to her book. It is an accompaniment to every chapter. I'm not one to listen to music as I read, so I have listened to it separately. I appreciate the gift and the inner work it took for Jodi Picoult to share with us.
If you haven't already gotten this book, I hope you'll go now and buy it. It's an important and excellent read. Your book groups will have a fantastic time with it, too!
Deborah/TheBookishDame
Please be on the look-out for two new virtual book tours.
Coming up this month~ April 14th: "The Mpire" by TL James
and in June: "The Katyn Order," by Douglas W. Jacobson
These are two books that I've chosen are published by small publishing houses and are little known authors, though you may find them on Amazon.com.
Over the last couple of years, I've found several of my favorite books of the year through small publishing houses or even through self-publishing. It's just amazing what authors are doing out there today!
This does not preclude, of course, our big publishing houses by any stretch. They continue to chose the finest of literature, having had to be very selective in strained economic times.
As a book reviewer whose goal is to bring the best of both worlds to my readers, I strive to keep you informed and, hopefully, involved in your choices of reading material.
I always look for literature of the highest quality, and do not want to represent anything of a lesser value to you. Additionally, you will always find me crossing all genre trying to please all readers, and introducing you to different possibilites you might have thought you might not like. I'm very selective, though!
Please take a moment to join me on April 14th to see and hear from this new author, TL James and her series "The Mpire..." It's an interesting twist on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Deborah/TheBookishDame
Monday, 4 April 2011
"Wither"
Publisher: Simon & Schuster: Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0905-7
Pages: 368
Ages: 14 and up
Summary from Book Cover:
"In the not-too-distant future, because of genetic engineering, every human is a ticking time bomb--males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. To keep the population from dying out, girls are kidnapped and sold into polygamous marriages.
When sixteen-year-old Rhine is taken, she enters a world of wealth and privilege that both entices and terrifies her. She has everything she ever wanted--except freedom. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to escape Before It Is Too Late."
My Review:
With author Lauren DeStefano, there is hardly a moment's breather from the time you read the first to the last sentence of "Wither." This novel is fantastic. Her writing style is beautifully suited to a young adult audience, but I also found it mesmerizing as an adult, as well.
Ms DeStefano's storyline is well-conceived, and she deftly executes it without flaw, presenting a book that melts away so that time flys by. I simply could not tear myslef away from it, and I didn't want it to end when it did. This is a rarity for a reader who is used to mostly adult fiction.
Not since Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," have I read such a believeable dystopian novel. Lauren DeStefano brings us into a futuristic society whose population has been chemically altered with horrifying results. "Wives" and servant-workers are blackmarketed by slavetraders called "Gatherers," and discarded undesirables are eliminated. Young people of 2nd and 3rd generations of chemical/genetic altering have become victims of scientific efforts to extend life. Many become orphans and fodder for the Gatherers who supply 1st generations with human replacements.
Our own youth obsessed society is not so distant from this mindset when we consider our society's interest in plastic surgery and prolonging life, not to mention the attempts to find ways to put off old age all together. It was, obviously, this youth-centeredness that caused the mishap that set the chemical disaster into motion in DeStafan's novel. What a warning to all of us!
Ms DeStafano is so adept at creating her characters that they live. Told from the perspective of Rhine, who is her narrator and primary female character, we feel as if we are actually living in the moment. The "sister wives" are individuals, not shadow people, but girls we come to know and cherish. And, Rhine's love interests illicit complex, mixed feelings that mirror her personal struggles, as well. Genius writing causes one to long for more in the Chemical Garden Trilogy.
My recommendation is to buy this book immediately. It's a fantastic read for the weekend, or for a couple of days when you need a good novel. Your daughter will love it and thank you, too.
Personally, I'm anxious to find out when the second book in her series is coming out. Lauren DeStafano is an author who will capture a following. She has a bright future. Her trilogy is going to be a collection for your library.
And, by the way, isn't the cover beautiful and interesting?
I love to hear from you...let me know what you think, please.
Your Bookish Dame/Deborah
Saturday, 2 April 2011
"Being Polite to Hitler"
By: Robb Forman Dew
Publisher: Little, Brown & Co.
January 2011
ppgs: 296
Summary:
"After being a teacher and raising her family for most of her life, Agnes Scofield realizes she is truly weary of the routine her life has become. But how, at age fifty-four, can she establish an identity apart from what has so long defined her? Despite a newfound freedom, Agnes finds herself becoming even more entangled in the family web. In Being Polite to Hitler, one of our most cherished chroniclers of the intricacies of personal and family life in all its seasons brings us a sweeping portrayal of a much misunderstood American era."
My Review:
Absolutely stunning novel so full of meaning and history that you can bearly read each page without wanting to stop, think and take it in. This novel is absorbing to read, as well as being a voyeristic trek into one family's dynamics. Ms Dew's sense of plot and timing is seamless. You will be taken up and lifted through this book effortlessly.
Robb Forman Dew, a former National Book Award winner for her book "Dale Loves Sophie To Death," is an author whose ilk I've rarely had the pleasure of experiencing since college in classic American Literature. In fact, this book ought to be read as a requirement, it's that relevant today for understanding our social history in the post-WWII 1950's and early 1960's. Dew ranks with such authors as Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, Virginia Woolf and Carson McCullers in her abilities and significance.
Centered around the Scofield family in "small town" Ohio, Ms Dew renders the microcomic view of an ordinary set of people with their reactions to such critical transitions as civil rights, the Rosenbergs, the atomic bomb threat, post-war commercialism, JFK's assassination and other issues of the mid-century.
Her characterization is flawless with such women as Agnes, the matriarch. Just her saying this below made her a wonder in my mind:
"But what on earth possessed these people for whom she had been the best parent she could manage to be, for whom she had tried to pretend wisdom, to mime adulthood--oh, Lord! Those children! Why weren't they safe by now? What were they doing? They rushed along through their lives, discarding the days like so many pieces of bad fish. It amazed her that they hadn't absorbed the idea--through all the time they spent growing up--of taking care, of guardedly harbouring...Well! Why were they so careless of their own contentment? Why weren't they willing to be happy all the time?"
Which mother of us hasn't felt that way??
Interestingly enough, her grandchildren are the children raised on the cusp of ribald commerciaism and over-indulgence; as they search the skies for Sputnik, play in bomb shelters and learn how to hide under desks at school.
Ms Dew is a gifted writer whose work will make a difference and will become an edict for contemporary Americans, and our society which is caught up in our every day distractions and fatalism. It's easy, however, to be seduced into a false complacency by the numerous sources of media today. Like those who "saw" the threats around them in those early decades, we often believe that "being polite to Hitler" in polite company, and throwing money at a cause will suffice.
I would highly recommend this novel to everyone--women and men. You can find a video introduction on Amazon.com, and bookgroup questions at:
http://www.hachettebookgroupcom/_assets/guides/ARG_9780316889506.pdf
Let me know what you think, please!
Your Bookish Dame
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