The First Warm Evening of the Year

Forty-something Geoffrey Tremont thought he was settled in his life in New York City - he has many friends, a successful career doing voice-over spots and a relationship with a woman who offers him companionship. But when Tremont is notified that he has been named the executor of a will for an old college friend, Laura Wells, whom he hasn't seen in twenty years, and he sets off to reconcile her estate in Shady Grove, a small town in upstate New York in the Berkshire Mountains, his life is suddenly upended. He falls, love at first sight, for Marian Ballantine, a dear friend of the departed, a woman living in a perpetual state of mourning since her husband's death and stuck in a repressed relationship of her own.

The inherent risks--and joys--of love and loving are the cornerstones of The First Warm Evening of the Year by Jamie M. Saul (Light of Day).  This is a psychologically astute and emotionally evocative novel about death (literal and figurative), the nature of grief, passion, self-knowledge and the complexities of love. Laura's passing assembles a cast of deeply drawn supporting characters forced to examine their own intimate associations - or lack thereof. Sometimes people settle and use substitutes for cultivating more substantial relationships in their lives. But as one character remarks when considering the risks of love despite the consequences of heartbreak, "What's the point of having a heart, if you're not going to use it?" Those in this absorbing, beautifully written novel ultimately discover that sometimes love is not a choice, but rather a matter of having no choice. 

The First Warm Evening of the Year by Jamie M. Saul

William Morrow, $24.99, Hardcover, 9780061449727, 304 pp

Publication Date: April 24, 2012

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Please note:  This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (4/27/12), click HERE.

The Life Lessons of Baseball

"Get your peanuts, Cracker Jacks, hot dogs, beer... and books?"

There is so much more to the game of baseball than stats or what's witnessed via your TV or even among a crowd of thousands cheering in the stands. Baseball embodies universal stories and life lessons that can be found on the field and off--especially in the pages of baseball-inspired books.

The theme of "life isn't always fair" is the idea captured in Nobody's Perfect: Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History by Armando Galarraga and Jim Joyce with Daniel Paisner. The story is a detailed, factual retelling of a first-base umpire's call that shattered a historical, almost perfect game played between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians on June 2, 2010.

"You win some, you lose some" resounds in The Game from Where I Stand. Doug Glanville's memoir, now in paperback, is an eye-opening, gritty, insider's perspective of a life spent working toward building a career in the Major Leagues and rubbing elbows with a host of big-name ballplayers.

"Practice makes perfect, but be careful what you wish for" is the embodiment ofThe Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach's debut novel about baseball. A small, scrawny high school kid, with a major league talent for playing short stop, is recruited by a private college on the shores of Lake Michigan. But when a throw by the young infielder goes dreadfully awry, his life and the lives of those around him are suddenly changed in unexpected ways.

"Money talks--but not always" is the overriding theme in Moneyball, a mega-hit on page and screen. Michael Lewis details the story of how the Oakland Athletics reinvented their baseball team on a budget. And in Hot Stove Economics: Understanding Baseball's Second Season, economist J.C. Bradbury examines what constitutes a first-rate ball club and how the worth of baseball players--and success--is calculated. 

Note: This article is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this piece as published on Shelf Awareness for Readers (4/13/12), link HERE

Writers on the Edge

In the Foreward to the book Writers on The Edge: 22 Writers Speak About Addiction and Dependency, edited by Diana M. Raab and James Brown, writer Jerry Stahl (Permanent Midnight) tells the reader that, "America, at this point in time, may not manufacture much. But we do manufacture addicts." He goes on to state that approximately one out of four Americans qualifies as an addict of some kind, be it a compulsion to alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, overeating or even love. Amazing, isn't it?  And what's even more amazing are the 22 first person narratives, by accomplished writers, that illuminate personal experiences with addiction and dependency. The editors also weave in stories of depression and suicide stating that they "feed into the same tributary."

Most of the selections in the anthology are essays, but also included are moving, often heartbreaking, poems by Molly Peacock and John Amen to name just a few.

Each entry depicts the painful, often harrowing, consequences of addictive behaviors. Raab (Writers and Their Notebooks) states in her introduction that the anthology aims to "be helpful to all artistic personalities who wish to gain a stronger sense of how their colleagues navigate their way through addiction, mental illness, suicide and other obsessive, self-destructive behaviors."  She hopes the stories will offer "insight and hope to artists themselves and loved ones who also have to bear the consequences." The anthology ultimately asks the reader to consider if addiction might be an occupational hazard of the creative life.

Ruth Fowler (No Man's Land) who, in her essay, finds herself forced to chose between being a drinker or a writer, offers insight into the creative personality by eloquently stating, "Sometimes feeling everything so acutely is unbearably painful."

With unflinching honesty and courage these narratives and poems ultimately shine light into some very dark and ominous corners.

Some essays take an outsider's perspective. Scott Russell Sanders (A Private History of Awe) views his alcoholic father over the course of a lifetime. A suicide, in the poignant essay by Kera Bolonik (Salon), shows how addictions can inspire others to change their own lives. Maud Casey (The Shape of Things to Come) peruses a journal her mother kept during Casey's depressive collapse and begins to understand how hard it is to watch someone you love succumb to addictive behavior. And Victoria Patterson (The Vacant Paradise) bears witness to an alcoholic grandfather only to realize, most chillingly, that the two share many of the same traits.

Other essays, jump head-first into the mire of addictive behavior. Margaret-Bullitt Jonas (Draftjournal) offers an affecting analysis of an unhealthy love relationship. Steven and Frederick Barthelme (Double Down) detail how two brothers, respected authors and college professors, descended into a gripping world of slot machines and blackjack tables.  And Stephen Jay Schwartz (Boulevard) struggles to conquer a sex addiction only to be tempted by new pitfalls. 

What all the writers have in common is the daring ability to face overwhelming truths - and live to tell about them. I'm sure the anthology was not accidentally subtitled with the word "speak" as in 22 Writers Speak About Addiction and Dependency. In the end, Raab and Brown have assembled a host of accomplished writers and thinkers allowing them to finally give "voice," on the page, to their unique stories of healing and survival. 

Writers on The Edge: 22 Writers Speak About Addiction and Dependency

Edited by Diana M. Raab and James Brown

Modern History Press (an imprint of Loving Healing Press), $19.95, Trade Paper, 9781615991082, 185 pp; Publication Date: January 1, 2012
To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Dark Side of Valor

Lelia Freeman hasn't had an easy life and the broad, sweeping arc of her experience sets up the Dark Side of Valor, a debut suspense novel by Alicia Singleton. The first half of the book delves into Lelia's childhood, where she is raised by an alcoholic, single mother. When Lelia turns sixteen, she runs away, determined to make a better life for herself. Setting off from New York to Los Angeles, she lives on the streets, vowing to avert the lure of drugs and prostitution. She survives, fending for herself, ultimately empowered by congregants of a Christian church who encourage her to help other homeless runaways.

The novel then fast-forwards ten years. Courageous Lelia has been transformed into a prominent child advocate. When Washington D.C. appoints her to a task force in search of orphans in the war-torn African Sudan, Lelia sets off only to discover the greater political implications of her mission. Things take a dangerous turn when the corrupt president of the Sudan takes Lelia prisoner. Can Elijah Dune, a mercenary grappling with skeletons from his own past, rescue Lelia from a deadly fate?

Singleton has created authentic characters and has embroiled them inside a chilling, complicated story. As rats crawl along tenement baseboards, readers will shiver and feel the palpable depths of predatory evil--and compassion--that lurks inside the hearts of many who cross Lelia's path. The human instinct toward triumph and striving to do the right thing, despite personal cost, are the major threads running through this haunting, suspenseful novel.

Dark Side of Valor by Alicia Singleton

Strebor Books (A Division of Simon & Schuster), $15, Trade Paper, 9781593093853, 352 pp

Publication Date: February 7, 2012

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Please note:  This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (2/17/12), click HERE.

"Hey, Boo"

If you're a fan of the novel, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, then you won't want to miss, "Hey, Boo," a documentary now being aired via the PBS American Masters series. The film delves into the process of how the book came to be written, offers insight into the life of author, Harper Lee, and depicts how "Mockingbird phenomenon" has touched the lives of millions.  

Link HERE to view the program in its entirety.

Take a sneak peek at the promo trailer below:

Further Reading: Forensic Scientists in Contemporary Fiction

Novels about the study of bones and human remains in relationship to crime solving continue to fascinate and entertain readers - and top best seller lists. On the page or in real life, forensic scientists, those who perform chemical and physical analyses of evidence submitted by law enforcement officials, are crucial in piecing together a cohesive storyline between victims and suspects.

A host of contemporary authors are currently spinning tales about the role and lifestyles of forensic scientists:

Kathy Reichs, who is, herself, a practicing forensic anthropologist, has emerged as the leader of the pack. Her popular thrillers (Flash and Bones, Spider Bones) are filled with stories culled from her own work experience. Dr. Temperance Brennan, Reichs' protagonist and alter-ego, is a highly skilled forensic anthropologist who works at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington, D.C. and writes novels on the side. Reichs's series has even inspired the long-running FOX-TV show, Bones.

Thorough scientific research gives credence and authenticity to books in this mystery and thriller sub-genre. Multi-faceted protagonists, often women faced with complex personal lives, add an additional level of engagement to these intricately plotted novels of suspense.

In The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths, forensic archeologist and college professor Ruth Galloway lends her expertise to the discovery of a mass grave of skeletal remains found on Britain's Norwalk Beach. In this second novel featuring Galloway, secrets are unearthed that may stem from World War II. Readers become embroiled in a plot that may hold deadly consequences, while they are also swept up in the intricacies of Galloway's personal life. She struggles to juggle the demands of her job and the investigation, her life as a single mother and a secret intimate liaison with married DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) Harry Nelson.

Other Eyes, a carefully structured, stand-alone forensic mystery by Chicago-based writer, Barbara D'Amato, features Blue Eriksen, a divorced single mother and a noted Northwestern University forensic archeologist. In this novel, Blue and her team travel the globe, studying and testing mummies in ancient cultures and religions seeking to identify a scientific compound that may actually cure people of drug addictions. Their work is suddenly deemed as a threat, and Blue becomes stalked by an assassin who may be working for a powerful drug cartel.

Note: This article is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this piece (in a slightly shorter form) as published on Shelf Awareness for Readers (3/13/12), link HERE

The Dog That Talked to God

How does a person of faith go on living after tragedy strikes? This is the major question facing 43 year-old, recently widowed, burned-out novelist, Mary Fassler in The Dog That Talked to God by Jim Kraus (The Silence). Disillusioned by the platitudes offered by well-meaning friends and family in an effort to ease her inconsolable grief, Mary--shaken, lost and confused--decides to adopt Rufus, a Schnauzer puppy, in the hope he will offer her companionship. During their daily walks through the suburbs of Chicago, Mary talks to Rufus, railing against a God from whom she feels estranged and abandoned while trying to make sense of a past she can't let go of and the prospect of a lonely, uncertain future. One day, Rufus unexpectedly talks back to Mary and informs her that he is in regular communication with The Almighty. When he begins to relay messages from God, Mary begins to pine less and listen more.

Rufus becomes the impetus for Mary to reconcile her life. This dog-savior scenario is plausible because Rufus is a lovable, quirky, gentle soul, and Mary's philosophical, humorous, and refreshingly honest narrative buoys an otherwise heartbreaking predicament. As Mary interacts with family, friends, her literary agent and new love interests, her unwitting spiritual recovery propels her to pack up and set off, with Rufus, on a pilgrimage in search of a whole new life. Kraus's novel is an entertaining, deeply engrossing portrait of what it means to be fully human and fully alive.

The Dog That Talked to God by Jim Kraus

Abingdon Press, $14.99, Trade Paper, 9781426742569, 278 pp

Publication Date: November 15, 2011

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Please note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (3/9/12), click HERE.

How Georgia Became O'Keeffe: Lessons on the Art of Living

"She followed her own rules, and got away with it," author Karen Karbo states in How Georgia Became O'Keeffe, referring to the artist as "the poster child for doing exactly what you want, in the service of an abiding passion."

This innovative, inspirational biography seeks to understand the intersection of O'Keeffe's life and art. The narrative is filled with great wit and hilarity and delves beyond the facts of O'Keeffe's "art star" status in order to better understand her choices: why she lived and painted the way she did; endured a tumultuous, co-dependent artistic and romantic relationship with the father of modern photography, Alfred Stieglitz; and how she maintained her sense of self and authenticity throughout.

Karbo's personal admiration for this bold, fearless artist leaps off the page. A single verb introduces the theme of each chapter with the intent to compare the artist's challenges to those that plague creative women today. Karbo explores O'Keeffe's artistic influences while circling the idea that O'Keeffe came from a sensible, hardworking, middle-class family and yet, she continually took risks and defied expected traditions of womanhood in order to nurture and preserve her ideals of self-expression. 

This is the latest installment in Karbo's "kick ass women" trilogy. The two other books examine the lives of Katharine Hepburn and Coco Chanel, also showing how strong, independent women forged their own paths by living true to themselves, despite being considered "unconventional."  While O'Keeffe continues to be revered as a personal icon to millions of women and aspiring artists everywhere, it is Karbo's original, wry analysis that is bound to enrich O'Keeffe's status even more.

How Georgia Became O'Keeffe: Lessons on the Art of Living by Karen Karbo

skirt!, $21.95, Hardcover,9780762771318, 240 pp

Publication Date: November 15, 2011

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Please note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (11/18/11), click HERE.

Further Reading: Valentine's Day

 

Valentine's Day... 24 hours dedicated to love, lovers and loving. For some, it's a joy. For others, a dread. They say the key to your true love's heart is through the stomach, so why not take to the kitchen and whip up something scrumptious for--or even with--your amore, surprising the object of your affection today and long after the designated day of romance?

Jacques Pepin can help. In Essential Pepin, he delivers more than 700 recipes, with something for every palate, including his signature roast duck a l'orange and crepes Suzette. Pepin blends the pragmatic with elegant sophistication. The "old chef," as he refers to himself, has come to the conclusion that even seasoned home cooks need the option of seeking some packaged shortcuts to help them prepare dishes from scratch.

And for dessert? Reach for Choclatique by high-octane chef and chocolatier Ed Engoron. This luscious cookbook is complete with useful tips and guides for whipping up decadent chocolate sweets for your sweetheart--even those with special dietary needs. There are 150 recipes for candies, cookies, fudge, soufflé, ganache, even cocktails. Watching your sugar or weight? Then simply cuddle up with the one you love and drool over the mouth-watering photographs of each delectable, chocolate-inspired creation.

But what if you don't cook or would rather not be trapped in your kitchen? You could always splurge and be wined and dined at your favorite upscale restaurant.

Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch is part gritty exposé and part witty memoir, detailing the ascendant career of a restaurant captain at a high-end New York City eating establishment. The book is everything you've always wanted to know about the people who take and serve your order, including how a waiter navigates through elaborate menus and moves food from kitchen to table, as well as a waiter's interpretation of the dining foibles of notable clientele, critics and hand-holding couples.

Note: This article is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this piece as published on Shelf Awareness for Readers (2/14/12), link HERE

The House at Sea's End

Forensic archeologist and college professor Ruth Galloway is having a hard time juggling the demands of her life, and things only get worse once this single mother returns to work after a maternity leave. When a team studying coastal erosion discovers skeletal remains buried under the cliffs near a historical home on Britain's Norfolk Beach, Galloway lends her expertise to the police and DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) Harry Nelson. Upon investigation, it appears six people might have been killed in one mass grave. Were the deaths accidental or the result of foul play? When the bones are determined to be roughly seventy years old, the investigation turns toward World War II, a time when the Norfolk coastline was patrolled by the Home Guard, a local group ready and prepared for German invasion. But when Nelson and Galloway and their counterparts begin questioning some of the now elderly old-time guards of Norfolk--and those who knew them during wartime--secrets are suddenly unearthed that may incur deadly consequences.

The House at Sea's End is an engaging, contemporary crime novel. This is the third book in the Ruth Galloway mystery series (The Crossing Places, The Janus Stone), and author Elly Griffiths continues to enrich the main forensic investigation with compelling characters embroiled in personal challenges. The reader learns that Ruth's newborn daughter was secretly fathered (in a previous installment) by DCI Harry Nelson, who is married and not intending to leave his wife. Therefore, the scenes involving Ruth, Nelson, the baby--and Nelson's wife--evoke as much suspense as the crime plot. Once again, Griffiths delivers a smart, well-balanced, atmospheric mystery.

The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25, Hardcover,9780547506142, 384 pp

Publication Date: January 10, 2012

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Please note: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (1/17/12), click HERE.

Forgotten Bookmarks

Used books and bookselling have been in Michael Popek's blood since he was a child. In Forgotten Bookmarks: A Bookseller's Collection of Odd Things Lost Between the Pages, he shares his unique collection of things discovered tucked inside the pages of books, "treasures within treasures . . . often untouched for decades."  The ephemera includes objects such as personal photographs, baseball and greeting cards, poems, shopping lists, recipes, invitations, report cards, burial vault information, razor blades, marijuana leaves and handwritten letters (received or unsent?). 

Each bookmark specimen has been reproduced, as found, and each is paired alongside a picture of the original book where the discovery was made. In an entertaining scrapbook-like presentation, Popek takes the liberty of transcribing some illegible handwriting.  However, he offers no commentary, preferring instead to let each relic and book exhibit speak for itself. This deepens reader fascination, as there is much intrigue in trying to decipher and decode whether the ephemera and book hold any combined significance.

Forgotten Bookmarks: A Bookseller's Collection of Odd Things Lost Between the Pages by Michael Popek

Perigree Trade, $18.95, Hardcover, 9780399537011, 288 pp

Publication Date:  November 1, 2011

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Please note: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (12/6/11), click HERE.

Further Reading: "Sisters" in Fiction

Jane Austen launched the Bennet Sisters in Pride and Prejudice in 1813. Louisa May Alcott wrote the proverbial classic about the March sisters in Little Women in 1868.  Jane Smiley captured the love-hate  relationship of the Cook sisters in A Thousand Acres in 1991.  And Nettie and Celie, the sisters of The Color Purple by Alice Walker, released in 1982, will soon celebrate thirty years of literary significance.

Three debut novels, crafted with resonant prose, can now be added to the ever-growing canon of sororal literature:

In The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown, the Andreas sisters reunite at the family home in Ohio while their mother battles breast cancer.  In this contemporary family saga, the trio of disparate thirtyish sisters--each named for a Shakespearean character due to their father's affinity for the bard--are forced to face each other, their sibling intimacy/rivalry and the limitations of their lives in trying to find their places in the world. The story also addresses romantic complications, issues of mortality and the reversal of parent-child roles.

Familial sacrifice and sudden loss define The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen.  In this Wisconsin-set novel, Milly and Twiss, two spinster sisters in the twilight of their lives, spend the majority of their days caring for wounded birds - and people.  The two look back on life-changing events from a summer in 1947 when they were teenagers.  The story weaves seamlessly between the present and the past, when small moments from that one summer, and subsequent decisions made, dramatically altered the course of the sisters' existence.

A single, tragic event comes to define and filter through three generations of one Kentucky-based family in The Sisters, a multi-generational saga by Nancy Jensen.  Secrets, lies, betrayal and miscommunication set off a chain of events that irreparably estranges the teenaged Fischer sisters. The frayed bonds of family, and how misunderstandings can rob us of time spent with those we love, is at the heart of this deeply compelling narrative that winds through almost eighty years, from the Depression to WWII to Vietnam to the present. 

Each of these gracefully written novels delves into the complexities of love and human nature.  And whether the reader is a sister or not, the multi-layered plotlines and deft characterizations found in each of these stories continue to shed light into the ties that bind and also tear apart. 

Please note: This article is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this piece (in a slightly different form) as published on Shelf Awareness for Readers (1/10/12), link HERE