Monday, April 30, 2018

Movie Monday: A Quiet Place

While my husband and I were on vacation recently, camping in Virginia, the beginning of the week was a bit too cold for sitting around a campfire and relaxing outside. One evening, we went into town to see a movie (once we figured out that the "late" shows in this small, rural town were at 6 pm!). We saw A Quiet Place, a unique, captivating movie that defies categorization.

Jon Krasinski (who is well-known for playing Jim on The Office in the US for many years) and his wife, Emily Blunt, star as a husband and wife, Lee and Evelyn (though I didn't know their names until just now). They are living with their three children in some sort of post-apocalyptic world, as the film opens. Noah Jupe plays their preteen son, Marcus; Cade Woodward plays their youngest son, Beau; and Millicent Simmonds is magnificent as their deaf teen daughter, Regan. It becomes obvious from the first scenes that the dangers in this new world are some sort of terrifying creatures that hunt by sound. The family takes great pains to stay silent, first at the deserted store in town where they are restocking supplies and later at their home on a farm. They are all barefoot and have even covered the paths they walk with sand so as to muffle the sound of their footsteps. Fortunately, they all know sign language because of Regan, so they manage to communicate. Right from the start, though, you notice that Evelyn is pregnant, and thoughts of a crying baby (not to mention giving birth) in this silent world add to the growing tension, even before you completely understand the dangers.

Watching this movie is a unique experience. For most of the 90 minutes of the film, it is almost entirely silent - no dialogue, few background noises, no music. You quickly acclimate to the family's silent communications, but the suspense builds as you grow to understand what a single noise could mean. On IMDb, this movie is listed as Drama, Horror, Sci Fi, and Thriller, and that sounds strange but is pretty accurate. I've heard it called a horror movie (my son was surprised that I wanted to see it), but it is as much a family drama. The tension lives up to its thriller moniker, and once you get a glimpse of the creatures, you immediately understand that they must be some sort of alien thing, hence the sci fi tag. But this movie is far more than the sum of its parts. Krasinski wrote and directed as well as starred in it, and the full cast listing includes just six people (and "man in the woods" is not on-screen for long!). To create a film with essentially just five characters and all that silence that is so compelling you can't take your eyes from the screen is quite an achievement.

As for the scaredy cats wondering if this is too horror-ish...I don't normally like horror movies, and I loved this movie. However, while it is a (very) quiet family drama delving deep into these few characters' lives (I cried at one point), the suspense and tension are high throughout, and there are a few gotcha moments that made me scream and grab my husband's arm! It doesn't take much after all that silence to feel alarmed, especially when you know the new baby will be coming soon. The few glimpses of the creatures are pretty gruesome, though the movie only gets a PG-13 rating, and there is little gore or on-screen violence (but what you imagine off-screen is enough, when it happens). In short, we were both spellbound for 90 minutes. We've told our sons they must go see it!

A Quiet Place is still in theaters, and that's definitely the best way to see it, if you can, on the big screen, with silent people around you. Chewing popcorn sounds frighteningly loud! Click the Fandango link below to find theaters and times near you - maybe you have a local recliner theater like we do. It is due to come out on DVD, Redbox, and Netflix on July 3, 2018 (link here and below to pre-order the DVD).




Disclosure: I paid for this movie myself. My review is my own opinion.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.


Look up theaters and times:



It's Monday 4/30! What Are You Reading?

Whoa. How did it get to be the end of April already? And the temperature was in the 30's this morning! Of course, the forecast says we'll be close to 90 by the end of the week, so I guess April was still winter, and May will be summer - what happened to spring?

OK, enough weather ranting. Last week was a good productive week. I got lots of writing done - both here on the blog and for my freelance work. I was catching up after our vacation and also getting ready for another trip this week. I will be driving to Vermont at the end of the week for Booktopia 2018! It's an amazing book event that my mom and I enjoy most years, when we can manage it - there's still time to sign up, if you want to join the fun! I can't wait to spend time with my mom, see our old friends from previous Booktopias, meet the authors and spend time with them...and talk books ALL weekend!

Here's what we've all been reading at our house this past week:
  • I finished The Anatomy of a Miracle by Jonathan Miles, a Booktopia selection. It's a novel written as if it were an in-depth investigative report of a true story, about a young man on the Mississippi Gulf Coast who was paralyzed in Afghanistan and suddenly just stands up from his wheelchair and walks. The book delves into many different aspects of the story - his doctor at the VA, the Catholic church's investigation into whether this constitutes a miracle, a reality TV show made about him, and the backstory of his life before. It was completely unique and very good - insightful and funny, about what it means to live in our modern world.
  • Now, I am reading another Booktopia book, All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson. I chose this mystery/suspense novel next because I was in the mood for something fast-paced - and this really fit the bill! I have been staying up way too late each night reading this story about a recent college graduate who returns to his hometown in Maine when his father dies only to find his much-younger stepmother coming onto him and a mysterious young woman wandering around town who seems to be involved somehow. The lies and secrets pile up in this suspenseful and somewhat creepy novel. I hope to finish it today - it's been a fast, compelling read!
  • My husband and I finished listening to The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, which we started on our road trip. It's sort of a modern version of the Hitchcock movie Rear Window. In this case, it features a woman named Anna with agoraphobia who hasn't left her house in 11 months. She amuses herself in part by watching her neighbors from her window, and one day she sees a horrible crime. She tries to report it to the police, but the people involved deny it happened and no one believes her, due to her unstable mental condition, loads of medications, and a heavy drinking habit. Lots of suspense over whether it really happened or not! We enjoyed it, and it kept surprising us.
  • Now, I am listening to a middle-grade audio book, Posted by John David Anderson, about a middle school that bans cell phones. A boy nicknamed Frost and his three misfit friends start a trend of using sticky notes to communicate, and a new girl named Rose changes things for all of them. So far, it's warm and funny and very enjoyable.
  • My husband, Ken, is reading a novel I gave him for Easter (books for all occasions here!), Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne. It's a thriller with an intriguing plot: a man has been put into Witness Protection and moved to a community on Catalina Island in CA, but he doesn't remember what dangerous information he knows.
  • Our son, Jamie, 23, is still reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. He is on book 7, A Crown of Swords. He loves this epic fantasy series. He has been slammed with make-up work and job hunting, but he has less than a month to go to graduation!
Blog posts from last week - a catch-up week!
TV Tuesday: Good Girls - a fun new show about 3 suburban moms who become criminals to save their families

Fiction Review: The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn- suspenseful psychological thriller

FREE Audiobooks - SYNC Summer 2018 Begins! - free audiobooks all summer - still time today to grab the two for week 1!

Fiction Review: Anatomy of a Miracle by Jonathan Miles - a unique, intriguing, funny novel about a possible miracle

Two Recent Travel Articles - links to two travel articles I wrote that were recently published

Saturday Snapshot: Southeastern Virginia in Spring - highlights from our recent trip

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.


What are you and your family reading this week?  

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

I'm missing those lazy vacation days with plenty of reading time!
 

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Saturday Snapshot: Southeastern Virginia in Spring


Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at West Metro Mommy Reads.

We finally got our long-awaited vacation last week - a camping trip to Southeastern Virginia - though the weather was still much cooler than usual for this time of year! We did get a couple of nice days, though. We stayed in two state parks: Twin Lakes and Staunton River. Both were beautiful and mostly deserted at this time of year, especially in the middle of the week. We enjoyed hiking, kayaking (on the one day it was warm enough!), and exploring a few small towns. Some good food, too, but I will save that for another post. Here are some highlights from our trip - click any photo to see it larger sized.


Goodwin Lake at Twin Lakes State Park

Hiking Around Goodwin Lake at Twin Lakes SP

A Bit of Blue Sky & New Green Buds Though Still Looks Wintry!
The High Bridge of High Bridge SP - a 30-mile long rail-trail

The Appotomax River from High Bridge

Kayaking on Prince Edward Lake at Twin Lakes SP

Our Campsite at Twin Lakes SP at Dusk

A Bit Further South & More Green at Staunton River SP!

Dan River on a Windy Day at Staunton River SP

Getting Greener!

Hiking Selfie on Captain Staunton Trail

Staunton River on a Calmer Day at Staunton River SP

Dozens of Turtles Sunning Themselves in Prince Edward Lake at Twin Lakes SP

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend! Lots of catching up to do here.

Friday, April 27, 2018

Two Recent Travel Articles

Happy Friday! I am almost caught up on my e-mails after last week's vacation - down to less than 100! It's been a busy week of catch-up and writing.

No time for a review today, so I thought I'd share two travel articles I wrote that were recently published. Although I love writing about books and am enjoying my freelance work in that area, and I sometimes write about chronicle illness, I want to do more travel writing in the future - preparing for when my husband retires in two years, and we hope to travel more.

So, two of my travel articles recently published (copies of the articles at the links):
Nebraska's Stonehenge, an Around the Bend article for Trailer Life magazine's March 2018 issue about Carhenge, a very cool and unique roadside attraction - classic Americana!
 
In Delaware's Defense, an Unexpected Mid-Atlantic article for AAA World, Mid-Atlantic edition, March/April 2018, about Fort Miles, a strategic WWII fort in southern Delaware.


Look for another travel post tomorrow, with photos from last week's vacation to southeastern Virginia for Saturday Snapshot.

Do you enjoy travel?

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Fiction Review: Anatomy of a Miracle

As most regular readers here know, I am gearing up for Booktopia 2018 (still time to register!) and have been feverishly reading through the Booktopia book list, in preparation for meeting (and hanging out with) the authors next week. My latest read was Anatomy of a Miracle by Jonathan Miles, a novel pretending to be an investigative report.

Cameron and his older sister, Tanya, have had a rough life. Their father left, their mother died when they were teens, Hurricane Katrina demolished their home, and then Cameron became paralyzed during a bombing in Afghanistan while he was in the Army. Now, four years after the event that sent him home, Cameron and Tanya live a quiet, limited existence in their small house in Biloxi, MS...until the day that Tanya pushes Cameron to the local store, the Biz-E-Bee, for beer and cigarettes, and while waiting outside, Cameron just stands up from his wheelchair and walks.

His doctor at the VA can't explain this stunning change, but the local church - and believers from all over - are convinced it's a true miracle. Cameron and Tanya's quiet life explodes into one of fame, including a Vatican investigation, a reality TV show called Miracle Man, and for Cameron, the constant pressure of people asking him to pray for them or wanting to touch him. It's a lot for one young Mississippi man to handle, and Cameron is confused by the religious aspects. He wants to know for sure whether this was a real miracle or there is a medical explanation, but that is an impossible question to answer.

This unique story is written from the perspective of a journalist, reporting on all that happened after the fact. Its subtitle is The True * Story of a Paralyzed Veteran, a Mississippi Convenience Store, a Vatican Investigation, and the Spectacular Perils of Grace (*a novel), so that gives you some idea of the set-up. It's a fascinating and convoluted story, and Cameron is a complex, reluctant hero. As the story progresses, and especially through the Vatican investigation, details of Cameron's past come to light, including his high school years, why he entered the Army after school, and his experiences in Afghanistan, gradually providing answers to the reader. I enjoyed this novel and was intrigued by Cameron and Tanya, though some of the war scenes were slower-going for me (though  important). A thread of humor throughout helps to ease the tension. This original novel is really an in-depth and thoughtful look at what it means to be human and to live in our crazy modern world.

355 pages, Hogarth


Disclosure: I borrowed this book from the library. My review is my own opinion.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.


Listen to a sample of the audiobook.

Buy Anatomy of a Miracle from an indie bookstore:
Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Or order Anatomy of a Miracle (currently on sale) from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

FREE Audiobooks - SYNC Summer 2018 Begins!

Every summer, I look forward to downloading FREE audiobooks from SYNC, a program hosted by AudioFile magazine.

Each week, SYNC offers two free audiobooks that you can download onto any device. The two books usually include one contemporary YA title, paired with a classic or a nonfiction book with a similar theme or subject matter. Each pairing is available for download for one week, to be replaced by a new pairing the following week. Once you download the books, however, you can listen to them whenever you want.

SYNC's program for 2018 started today, so head to the SYNC website right away to download the audiobooks for week 1! This first week is featuring:
  • The Great War by David Almond, John Boyne, Tracy Chevalier, and more - a collection of WWI-related short stories by top authors.
  • A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro, a YA novel about the teen descendants of Holmes & Watson solving a mystery.
I have listened to so many amazing audiobooks through SYNC in the past years. I can't wait to see the rest of their line-up for 2018!

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Fiction Review: The Woman in the Window

I've been hearing rave reviews of the best-selling psychological thriller, The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, so I was excited to give it a try. My husband and I listened to the audio book on our road trip to Virginia last week and just finished it Monday night. We both enjoyed this suspenseful story that kept us guessing (mostly wrong!) until the very end.

Anna hasn't left her house in Harlem in 11 months. The reader/listener doesn't know exactly why, just that there was some kind of an accident, and now Anna is alone, with her husband and beloved daughter elsewhere, though she talks to them almost every day. Other than that, her only visitors are her therapist and physical therapist, but she stays busy online playing chess and helping others also suffering from agoraphobia in an online support group, since Anna herself used to work as a child psychologist. Anna's other main form of entertainment is watching her neighbors from her window, with the help of the zoom lens on her camera.

She is particularly interested in the new neighbors that just moved in across the street: Alistair, Jane, and Ethan Russell. Both Ethan, a teen boy who is homeschooled, and Jane have come to visit Anna separately, and Anna likes them both. Then, Anna sees a horribly violent scene at their house from her window. She reports it to the police, and they investigate, but no one believes Anna. After all, she drinks heavily, is taking piles of pills every day, and appears very unstable. The police try to convince her that she hallucinated the whole thing. So, what's the truth? Did it really happen? Did Anna imagine it? What is really going on across the street?

As you might have recognized, this story is loosely based on the same sort of concept as Hitchcock's  film Rear Window, and the author is a fan of classic noir films and imbues Anna with that same interest. The novel is filled with references to the black and white thrillers Anna is always watching, upping the tension of the story. My husband is one of those people that always guesses the ending to suspense and thriller books and movies - and he's almost always right - but this one stumped us both! There are lots of twists and turns in the plot and many unexpected surprises that keep the suspense level high. My husband also sometimes gets impatient with audio books on our trips, but this one kept his interest (and mine) from start to finish, and anytime we hopped in the car for even five minutes, we were listening to it! This dark and intricate thriller will keep suspense fans rapt.

448 pages, William Morrow


Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audio book of The Woman in the Window here.

You can buy The Woman in the Window from an indie bookstore:
Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Or order The Woman in the Window from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

TV Tuesday: Good Girls

As regular readers know, I enjoy watching more girl-centric TV shows when I am on my own at lunchtime. My latest obsession is a new NBC show, Good Girls, about three suburban moms gone rogue. It's a unique plot with a great cast, and I am loving it.

Christina Hendricks, well-known for playing Joan on Mad Men, is Beth, an overworked mom of four kids who has devoted her life to her family. In the first episode, she finds out that her husband's been having an affair with a woman at his car dealership and that his midlife crisis has cleared out the family's bank accounts so that they are now in serious debt. Beth's younger sister is Annie, played by Mae Whitman who is known for her role as Amber on Parenthood. Annie is divorced and shares custody with her ex of their young daughter, Sadie, who dresses like a boy. Her dad and his new wife have threatened to sue for sole custody, so Annie is also in dire financial straits, needing to hire a lawyer to fight for her daughter. Rounding out the trio is Ruby, played by Retta (best known for her role on Parks and Recreation, though I know her from The Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce). Ruby is happily married and has two kids. She works at a diner, and her husband works as a security guard, so their money is already stretched thin, but now their daughter needs an expensive medication for her kidney disease. These three very desperate friends decide they are desperate enough to do something crazy - rob the grocery store where Annie works. As you might have guessed, nothing goes according to plan, and their one night of crime turns into much, much more.

This is such a fun show. It deals with some serious issues and family drama but mostly in a light way. The women's escapades - which grow out of control into something they never envisioned - provide plenty of suspense but also lots of laughs as these normal moms try to act tough. I love all three of these actresses, and they are great in these roles, playing off each other. It's wonderful to see a show like this that puts a spotlight on women's friendship (even though they are leading a life of crime). There are always surprises in every episode, and I look forward to watching each one.

Good Girls is currently airing on NBC, Mondays at 10 pm Eastern, but I don't watch anything live anymore! Nine episodes have aired so far, and the tenth and final episode of season 1 airs next week. I am up to #7 so far and still loving it. All episodes from season 1 are available On Demand if you have cable or on the NBC website for free. It is also available on Amazon for $1.99 an episode or $16.99 for the entire season.



Monday, April 23, 2018

It's Monday 4/23! What Are You Reading?

I'm back after a week's hiatus. My husband and I took a camping trip to Virginia last week. We went south seeking warmer weather, but it was still pretty cool! We did get some nice days in the second half of the week, though. We enjoyed hiking, kayaking, campfires, exploring a few small towns...and reading! It was very relaxing and just what I needed. Now, I am feeling refreshed and ready to tackle real life again. But I have over 500 e-mails to wade through, so if you left me a message or are waiting for a reply on Facebook or Twitter, just be patient!

Here's what we've been reading the past two weeks:
  • I finished Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate for my neighborhood book group, and we had a great discussion (my review is at the link). Its premise is based in real life - an illegal adoption ring in Tennessee in the 1920's through 40's that stole poor children from their families and arranged expensive adoptions. How have I never heard of this before? The novel, which tells the story from several perspectives (including the children involved), moving back and forth through time, was captivating. Almost everyone in my group liked it (we had one dissenter!).
  • Now, I am reading The Anatomy of a Miracle by Jonathan Miles, another Booktopia selection (just 2 weeks to go!). It's a novel written as if it were an in-depth investigative report of a true story, about a young man on the Mississippi Gulf Coast who was paralyzed in Afghanistan and suddenly just stands up from his wheelchair and walks. The book delves into many different aspects of the story - his doctor at the VA, the Catholic church's investigation into whether this constitutes a miracle, a reality TV show made about him, and the backstory of his life before. It's been good, and I'm enjoying it (almost finished).
  • I finished listening to the middle-grade audiobook Refugee by Alan Gratz, which follows the lives of 3 refugee children from different times in history: a Jew escaping Germany in the 1930's, a Cuban seeking refuge from poverty in the 1990's, and a Syrian caught in the midst of war in 2015. I have loved the other Gratz novels I've read - Code of Honor and Projekt 1065 - and this one was even better, riveting and powerful and a unique look at the refugee crisis.
  • On our trip, my husband and I started a new audio, The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. This one's been getting a lot of buzz, and since my husband likes suspense, I saved it to share with him. It's sort of a modern version of the Hitchcock movie Rear Window. In this case, it features a woman named Anna with agoraphobia who hasn't left her house in 11 months. She amuses herself in part by watching her neighbors from her window, and one day she sees a horrible crime. She tries to report it to the police, but the people involved deny it happened and no one believes her, due to her unstable mental condition, loads of medications, and a heavy drinking habit. Lots of suspense over whether it really happened or not! We are almost finished with it and enjoyed it.
  • My husband, Ken, moved onto the third book in the sci fi classic Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, Second Foundation, after finishing Foundation and Foundation and Empire. He enjoyed re-reading these classics from the 1950's.
  • Now, Ken has started a novel I gave him for Easter (books for all occasions here!), Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne. It's a thriller with an intriguing plot: a man has been put into Witness Protection and moved to a community on Catalina Island in CA, but he doesn't remember what dangerous information he knows.
  • Our son, Jamie, 23, is still reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. He is on book 7, A Crown of Swords. He loves this epic fantasy series.
Blog posts from the past two weeks:
Movie Monday: Ready Player One - a fun adaptation of one of our favorite books!

My First Shelf Awareness Column: Spring Has Sprung! - 5 books perfect for spring

Fiction Review: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate - a novel based on a real-life adoption scandal

Summary of Books Read in March - a great reading month!

Fiction Review: Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala - a powerful, moving novel

Happy Earth Day - Celebrate with a Book!

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.


What are you and your family reading this week?  

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Happy Earth Day - Celebrate with a Book!

Kayaking on Prince Edward Lake in Twin Lakes State Park, VA
Happy Earth Day, all! Sorry I have been absent - we took a much-needed week long camping vacation to Virginia, hoping for some warmer temperatures, though it's a cold spring there, too! We celebrated Earth Day all week long, with hikes, kayaking, campfires, and lots of time outdoors (and books, too, of course!).

I'll be catching up here tomorrow with my Monday post, but I wanted to share this timely column I wrote for Shelf Awareness, Earth Day: Dig Into a Good Book! You can read the full column at that link. It includes 4 different book suggestions related to nature, the environment and conservation - two nonfiction and two novels.

Hope you can get outside today and get your hands dirty...or read a book!

Reading while dinner cooks on the campfire.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Fiction Review: Speak No Evil

I recently reviewed the novel Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala for the Shelf Awareness website. You can read my full review of this powerful, moving novel at this link.

Uzodinma Iweala is the author of the critically acclaimed Beasts of No Nation (made into a Netflix film), which I've heard of but haven't read (or seen). Now that I've seen what a talented writer he is, I want to go back and read his earlier work.

Speak No Evil is a short but compelling story of two high school friends at a prestigious private high school in Washington, DC. Niru was raised by strict and religious Nigerian parents. He's the school's top track star and has already been accepted to Harvard medical school, but when he finally admits - to himself and his parents - that he's gay, his life falls apart. Meredith, his best friend, encourages him to follow his heart and his true nature, bit there are serious consequences to that path. This novel is a heartbreaking personal story about the two friends, but it also delves into important issues involving race, sexual orientation, religion, and immigration. It's a big story in a small package, and I was captivated by it.

Check out my full review at Shelf Awareness.

I'm curious about Uzodinma Iweala's earlier novels - have you read any of them?

Books Read in March

Yes, this is what March looked like here this year!
Oh, yeah, look at me! Summarizing last month, and it's only the 13th! Woohoo! Don't worry - I will get behind again soon when I go on vacation for a week. For now, I will bask in the glow of accomplishment.

March was an excellent reading month for me, with a bunch of review books and the beginning of my reading for Booktopia Vermont 2018 - just a few weeks to go! Here's what I finished reading in March:
  • We Own the Sky by Luke Allnut (UK) - adult fiction, reviewed for Shelf Awareness
  • Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (Canada) - adult historical fiction
  • Freakling by Lana Krumweide - middle-grade/teen fiction on audio

  • The Optimistic Decade by Heather Abel (CO) - adult fiction, reviewed for Shelf Awareness
  • Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy (MS) - teen/YA fiction on audio
  • My Ex-Life by Stephen McCauley (MA) - adult fiction, reviewed for Shelf Awareness


I finished seven books in all in March, all fiction, but a nice mix of ages and genres and types. I finished two audio books (my listening had been kind of slow this year before this). Notice that three of the books I read are for review for Shelf Awareness - that's unusual. I normally just review one book a month for them, but The Optimistic Decade and My Ex-Life were special add-ons because I also interviewed the authors and will be meeting them both in person at Booktopia next month! I will link to my reviews and the author interviews when they are published on Shelf Awareness. Alas, that is probably the real reason why I was ready for my monthly summary so much earlier than usual - fewer blog posts to write! I enjoyed all of these books - some very much - but Ramona Blue really stole my heart. I fell in love with the novel and with its protagonist.

Progress in 2018 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges, though I didn't make much progress this month. With all those review books, I read only 1 book from my own shelves for my Mount TBR Reading Challenge, bringing my first quarter total to only 8. Since my annual goal this year is 36, I have a long way to go! For the Monthly Motif Reading Challenge, March was Travel the World, so Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood fit, with both a Canadian setting and author. Nothing new for the Back to the Classics Challenge or the 2018 Badass Books Challenge (not very badass of me)I added Canada and another UK for my Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge. For my 2018 Literary Escapes Challenge, I added three new states - CO, MA, and MS.
 
Finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month. I filled in 19 squares in March: 





Spaces filled in:
We Own the Sky - pastel colors on the cover, luck - good or bad, wedding, made you cry
Alias Grace - dual POV, historical, shelf love (TBR), woman on the cover
Freakling - in a series, audio book
The Optimistic Decade - read a physical book
Ramona Blue - LGBTQ, bad weather, young adult, empowered female
My Ex-Life - free book, secrets
Graveyard Shakes - magic

Free Space

What was your favorite book read in March?    

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Fiction Review: Before We Were Yours

I just finished reading the best-selling novel Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, and I couldn't wait to tell you about it. This truth-is-stranger-than-fiction novel grabbed me by the heart and never let me go. In fact, as soon as I finished it, I looked up more information online about the true story behind the fiction.

Twelve year-old Rill lives with her three younger sisters and two-year old brother on a shanty boat in the Mississippi River with her mother and father, affectionately known to all the kids as Queenie and Briny. They don't have much, but they all love each other very much, and the river provides for them, even during the depths of the Depression. When Queenie goes into labor for her twins too early and Briny has to take her in the johnboat across the river to Memphis to a hospital, Rill is left in charge of her siblings. Everything is going fine until police and other strangers arrive where they are tied to shore and cart all the children off to one of the orphanages of the Tennessee Children's Home Society. Amidst abuse and mistreatment, Rill tries to protect her younger siblings and keep their family together.

In the present day, a young lawyer named Avery Stafford has returned to her family home in South Carolina. Her father, a powerful Senator, is fighting cancer, though that fact is being kept from the public. Avery is there to help care for her father and also to prepare to possibly step into his role if needed, to keep their family's political dynasty alive. While there, Avery meets someone by chance who makes her begin to wonder if her family might have some long-kept secrets. Worried there might be a hidden scandal that could harm the Staffords, she begins to investigate, never guessing where her inquiries will lead.

In the early chapters of this novel, as I read about Rill and her siblings being illegally torn away from their parents and put up for adoption, I thought to myself, "This is just too horrifying - it's not realistic." So imagine my shock when I found out that part of the novel was actually based on the real-life story of Georgia Tann, director of the Tennessee Children's Home Society, who stole children from poor families and sold them for outrageous sums to wealthy parents desperate for children from the 1920's through the 1940's. That makes this novel all the more gripping and stunning. The story pieces together Rill's story bit by bit, with action moving from the past to the present, weaving together disparate threads until they finally come together.

Almost every member of our book group enjoyed this novel, and we had a good discussion about it last night, much of it focused on the real-life story behind the novel. Even though you kind of have the gist of the story from the beginning (it is, after all, based on real history), most of the characters in the novel are fictional, and some of the connections between past and present are only revealed toward the end of the book. Most of us were captivated by the story and characters. Overall, our group rated the novel 7.6 out of 10 (which is high for us) and several people (including me) rated it a 9. This gripping, moving story about a little-known historical horror kept me glued to the book, until I finished it in record time.

352 pages, Ballantine Books

For more information on the real-life scandal the novel is based on, watch this 60 Minutes segment on Georgia Tann, which aired in 1992:




Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

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Listen to a sample of the audio here (I think this would be great on audio).

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 
  

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

My First Shelf Awareness Column: Spring Has Sprung!

I just wanted to share with you one of my new freelance writing jobs: writing From My Shelf columns for Shelf Awareness' twice-weekly newsletter. So far, I have been writing about two columns each month, so these will be appearing regularly.

My first column, Spring Has Sprung, was published in the April 6 issue - you can read it at the link. It's a round-up of five different books (both fiction and memoir) related to spring to put you in the mood for this season of renewal and hope!

I really enjoy writing these kinds of columns where I can share a bunch of my favorite books on a related topic. I previously wrote a monthly book column like this for Vital! magazine.

I won't post every column I write here on the blog, but you can sign up for the Shelf Awareness newsletter yourself (see the sidebar at the link), and I will also post my columns on Facebook and Twitter.  I have also begun writing author interviews for Shelf Awareness, which I am loving so far! It's like having my own private book group meeting with an author after reading his or her book. The first of those will be published in May.

Hope you are enjoying spring! Word is that it might finally warm up above the 40's here today!