Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt... A Review

Did you know that Winston Churchill suffered from depression? Author Rebecca Hunt very cleverly uses this bit of information to create a literary character out of Winston Churchill's real life & well known depression which he affectionately referred to as The Black Dog. Depression is personified as a BIG black dog, who calls himself Black Pat, that can talk and has meaningful conversations with both Churchill, who is soon to retire from Parliament and is suffering with the decision and Esther Hammerhans, a young librarian in the House of Commons, who has advertised for a lodger, and gets Black Pat answering her notice.

Black Pat claims he is in need of a room, close to work. But once "Black Pat" moves in, Esther can't help but wonder if he is coming to stay with her for another reason. You see Esther lost her dear husband almost a year ago, and as the anniversary of his death nears, Esther can feel the pull of Black Pat. There's something enticing about him, at the same time revolting. And he can be so charming when he wants to be...

"Let me stay."

A heavy uncertain stare from Esther. Above the orange light and the chaos of the kitchen grew a thin sadness, the empty sadness of a dying relationship. Here it was unstoppably. Black Pat fawned his chops against the wall with a moan.

Esther said, "Sorry?"

That old Romeo, what he said next was shameless. He said it slowly and full of clues. "If you let me love you it will be the longest love of your life."

The book is quirky, fun and Rebecca Hunt does a clever job of representing depression as a living breathing ugly creature. In her dialogue between the characters she plays with the subtleties of real depression, in a quiet respectful way. The characters are "proper English subjects", keeping a stiff upper lip even in the throws of trouble, keeping their emotions in check until lured into conversation with Black Pat, who is also Mr. Chartwell, which is a reference to Winston Churchill's home which was called Chartwell. Mr. Churchill is believable as a stoic leader, quietly suffering. And Esther is also believable as a proper English widow. When the story lines of Winston Churchill and the "proper" English librarian finally meet, it is with some unexpected and wonderful twists. Black Pat eventually reveals his real relationship with his "clients" as well.

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't the kind of book where you are turning the pages as fast as you can, but the kind of book that you sit down to read in a big comfy chair, with a steaming cup of tea for company. I loved Esther, who is demure, but finally comes through at the end to show she's got real spunk! But all the characters are memorable. And Rebecca Hunt's writing is wonderful.

I highly recommend Mr. Chartwell to anyone who enjoys literary fiction. This would also make a perfect Reading Group choice, as it really is rich with the meat of good conversation. I want to thank the folks at Random House & The Dial Press for sending along a copy of Mr. Chartwell for review! I can see this being a favorite read.

Mr. Chartwell will be available from your local bookstore Feb. 8th! *P.S. This book will be Kindle Ready!

Memoir Monday... Memoir Rock-n-Rollers: Literally, Figuratively and Secretly Speaking

Yesterday I blogged about some great Fall reads, but it seems that there are quite a few Fall Memoirs coming out too! So, today I thought instead of highlighting just one memoir, I'd highlight 3! Three very prominent Rock-n-Rollers- one literally, one figuratively, and one secretly speaking! Intrigued? Well, let's get to them...

First we have our literally speaking Rock-n-Roller...

Life by Keith Richards... The long-awaited autobiography of the guitarist, songwriter, singer, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Ladies and gentleman: Keith Richards. With The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the songs that roused the world, and he lived the original rock and roll life. Now, at last, the man himself tells his story of life in the crossfire hurricane. Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records, learning guitar and forming a band with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones. The Rolling Stones's first fame and the notorious drug busts that led to his enduring image as an outlaw folk hero. Creating immortal riffs like the ones in "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Honky Tonk Women." His relationship with Anita Pallenberg and the death of Brian Jones. Tax exile in France, wildfire tours of the U.S., isolation and addiction. Falling in love with Patti Hansen. Estrangement from Jagger and subsequent reconciliation. Marriage, family, solo albums and Xpensive Winos, and the road that goes on forever.

I grew up first listening to the Beatles, Elton John, Billy Joel and groups like Journey, Boston, Jethro Tull... The Rolling Stones was not my generation. That said, I knew all about them- and about lead guitarist Keith Richards. I may have passed by this memoir, except I saw an interview segment on one of the Sunday morning shows yesterday that showed an entirely different man than what I had pictured. And he himself said there were two Keith Richards, one man the image of the bad boy rocker, and another later version that we see now as the family man, gardener, etc. It intrigued me enough that I had to stop and listen, and now read Life. This book will be released on Oct. 26th. *P.S. This Book will be Kindle Ready!

Next our figuratively speaking Rock-n-Roller...

Extraordinary, Ordinary People by Condoleeza Rice... From Booklist: Having served under two Bush presidencies—as national security advisor and secretary of state—Rice is well known for her icy demeanor and steely disposition. This memoir presents a young woman deeply attached to her devoted parents, who encouraged her at every step of her life to overcome racism, sexism, and her own personal doubts. Her roots are deep in the South, with a family that pridefully skirted racism—never using the “colored” facilities or riding in the back of the bus. Her mother, Angelena, was a cultured teacher who taught her piano, while her father, John, was a Presbyterian minister and later a college administrator who, despite his Republican politics, strongly admired black radicals, developing a friendship with Stokely Carmichael. He declined to march with Martin Luther King in nonviolent protests and was more inclined to sit on the front porch with a loaded shotgun to ward off white night riders. The Rice family personally knew the young girls who were killed in the church bombing, one of the more violent episodes the family endured before they eventually left the South. Rice presents a frank, poignant, and loving portrait of a family that maintained its closeness through cancer, death, career ups and downs, and turbulent changes in American society.

No matter what your political leanings are, you have to admire Condoleeza Rice whose strong family values and loving family came to shape her into the woman who would overcome racism and sexism to become the Secretary of State. It took 207 years before a woman was appointed to Secretary of State of the United States, and that was in 1997 with the appointment of Madeline Albright. Condoleeza Rice is only the second woman to ever hold the position. (Figuratively speaking she's a rock-n-roller, 'cause she rocks! ) *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

And finally our secretly speaking Rock-n-Roller...

The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 by Mark Twain and edited by Harriet E. Smith and others involved in The Mark Twain Project... From Goodreads: "I've struck it!" Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a friend. "And I will give it away-to you. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography." Thus, after dozens of false starts and hundreds of pages, Twain embarked on his "Final (and Right) Plan" for telling the story of his life. His innovative notion-to "talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment"--meant that his thoughts could range freely. The strict instruction that these texts remain unpublished for 100 years meant that when they came out, he would be "dead, and unaware, and indifferent" and therefore free to speak his "whole frank mind." The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of Twain's death. In celebration of this important milestone and in honor of the cherished tradition of publishing Mark Twain's works, UC Press is proud to offer for the first time Mark Twain's uncensored autobiography in its entirety and exactly as he left it. This major literary event brings to readers, admirers, and scholars the first of three essential volumes and presents Mark Twain's authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, and speaking clearly from the grave as he intended.

Mark Twain is our secret Rock-n-Roller because this is the book that will reveal a side to Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain, that we may not have known. Mr. Twain specified that this book, his autobiography, should not be released until 100 years after his death. The reason being that he would not offend or embarrass any family or friends. The book will be published in three volumes. And I for one, and there have been many great reviews of this book, am looking forward to reading the "uncensored" version of Mark Twain. Official release date of this book is November 15th, but it is available now from Amazon. *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Memoir Mondays with Stitches by David Small... A Graphic Novel, A Memoir and A Review

A Memoir in Black & White...

Stitches, written and illustrated by David Small, is his coming-of-age story told in graphic novel form. It's David Small's memoir of growing up in a family where his mother "had her little cough", sobbed quietly "out of sight", and slammed the kitchen cabinets to communicate. His father took his frustrations out on a punching bag, and his brother on the drums... and it's the story of the operation that would remove a vocal cord and leave David practically a mute...

There aren't a lot of words in Stitches. There really isn't a lot of need for lengthy prose- David Small's black & white ink drawings tell his story perfectly... I could almost feel his grandmother dragging me up the stairs to bed without supper.. I could feel the terror as he is put through shots, enema's and radiation to cure his boyhood illnesses. His drawings are so expressive and the bird's eye views he chooses to show certain scenes in, make the story a visually treat. They are not pretty pictures, but they are meaningful.

From "sock-skating" on a freshly waxed floor in the hospital his father "the radiologist" worked to finally having the operation to remove that cyst on his neck (which he'd find out later was really cancer caused by all the radiation his father gave him), Stitches takes you on a visual adventure of emotions. You'll get to know his often times cruel & dysfunctional family and feel the pains of growing up. I was surprised how haunted I was after I finished reading Stitches. I felt such pain for David growing up virtually unloved and isolated. A sensitive child trying to find his place in the world, trying desperately to have a relationship with his mother, but being let down each time the door to that relationship cracks open a bit, except for one final moment . This was definitely not my usual read, but part of my "reading outside the box" with The Graphic Novel Reading Challenge 2010. I chose this because it had gotten so much buzz and was nominated for The National Book Award in 2009 under the young peoples literature category . Only one other graphic novel has been nominated for the The National Book Award, and that was American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang in 2006. Stitches was a moving read, and one I am glad I stepped outside of my box to read! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to step into a graphic novel for the first time. And as far as the seasoned graphic novel readers are concerned... I bet you all read this already!

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett... January Book Club Selection

Three Ordinary Women are About to Take One Extraordinary Step...

January Book Club Selection

About the Book...

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

What makes a great book club selection? Great writing, compelling characters, conflict & heartbreak, redemption... The Help by Kathryn Stockett has all these elements! Just glancing through the book on the shelf, Kathryn's writing grabs you and holds you there to read just a little more. The 60's was a turbulent time in the south, with racial tensions & segregation, and the author takes pains to be authentic in writing about the times the three women of the story lived in, one in which the black maids took care of and virtually raised the children of their white employers, but could still be harassed when walking down those same streets. The author herself was raised in such a household in Jackson, Mississippi... Here's an excerpt from a conversation with Kathryn Stockett about growing up and about writing her book...

"Growing up in Mississippi, almost every family I knew had a black woman working in their house—cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the white children. That was life in Mississippi. I was young and assumed that’s how most of America lived. When I moved to New York, though, I realized my “normal” wasn’t quite the same as the rest of America’s. I knew a lot of Southerners in the city, and every now and then we’d talk about what we missed from the South. Inevitably, somebody would start talking about the maid they grew up with, some little thing that made us all remember—Alice’s good hamburgers or riding in the back seat to take Willy May home. Everybody had a story to tell. Twenty years later, with a million things to do in New York City, there we were still talking about the women who’d raised us in our mama’s kitchens. It was probably on one of those late nights, homesick, when I realized I wanted to write about those relationships from my childhood."

'The Help is fiction, by far and wide...I was scared, a lot of the time, that I was crossing a terrible line, writing in the voice of a black person. I was afraid I would fail to describe a relationship that was so intensely influential in my life, so loving, so grossly stereotyped in American history. I am afraid I have told too little. Not just that life was so much worse, for many black women working in the homes in Mississippi. But also, that there was so much more love between white families and black domestics, that I didn't have the ink or the time to portray. But what I am sure about is this: I don't presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi, especially the 1960's. I don't think it is something any white woman, on the other end of a black woman's paycheck, could ever truly understand. But trying to understand is vital to our humanity..."

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is my reading group's January read. The book has gotten tremendous praise from reviewers all over, and it was Bookreporter.com's "Book of The Year"! Published by the Penguin Group in February 2009, you can read an excerpt of The Help at the publishers website. And you can also read about what Kathryn felt about her life and writing The Help "In Her Own Words", found on her website KathrynStockett.com.

If you've read The Help, I would love to hear what you thought of the book! And if you're going to read it, either as a group or yourself, Penguin has put together a reading group guide with some thought provoking questions...

Discussion Questions...

1. Who was your favorite character? Why?

2. What do you think motivated Hilly? On the one hand she is terribly cruel to Aibileen and her own help, as well as to Skeeter once she realizes that she can’t control her. Yet she’s a wonderful mother. Do you think that one can be a good mother but, at the same time, a deeply flawed person?

3. Like Hilly, Skeeter’s mother is a prime example of someone deeply flawed yet somewhat sympathetic. She seems to care for Skeeter— and she also seems to have very real feelings for Constantine. Yet the ultimatum she gives to Constantine is untenable; and most of her interaction with Skeeter is critical. Do you think Skeeter’s mother is a sympathetic or unsympathetic character? Why?

4. How much of a person’s character would you say is shaped by the times in which they live?

5. Did it bother you that Skeeter is willing to overlook so many of Stuart’s faults so that she can get married, and that it’s not until he literally gets up and walks away that the engagement falls apart?

6. Do you believe that Minny was justified in her distrust of white people?

7. Do you think that had Aibileen stayed working for Miss Elizabeth, that Mae Mobley would have grown up to be racist like her mother? Do you think racism is inherent, or taught?

8. From the perspective of a twenty-first century reader, the hairshellac system that Skeeter undergoes seems ludicrous. Yet women still alter their looks in rather peculiar ways as the definition of “beauty” changes with the times. Looking back on your past, what’s the most ridiculous beauty regimen you ever underwent?

9. The author manages to paint Aibileen with a quiet grace and an aura of wisdom about her. How do you think she does this?

10. Do you think there are still vestiges of racism in relationships where people of color work for people who are white?

11. What did you think about Minny’s pie for Miss Hilly? Would you have gone as far as Minny did for revenge?

Happy Reading... Suzanne

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready! (available under $9!) And the hardcover edition of The Help is available from Amazon.com for $9.50 right now! That's 62% off!

The Sunday Salon... Starting the year off with some Books with Buzz!

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake...

It's always exciting when a new year begins. Even though books are published all through the year and new releases are coming out every week, a new year seems to be the start of a fresh reading year. Last Sunday we looked at some of the best of the past year, today let's look at some of the new books that have a lot of buzz or caught my eye...

Blacklands by Belinda Bauer... (A Psychological Thriller) EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, Billy Peters disappeared. Everyone in town believes Billy was murdered -- after all, serial killer Arnold Avery later admitted killing six other children and burying them on the same desolate moor that surrounds their small English village. Only Billy's mother is convinced he is alive. She still stands lonely guard at the front window of her home, waiting for her son to return, while her remaining family fragments around her. But her twelve-year-old grandson Steven is determined to heal the cracks that gape between his nan, his mother, his brother, and himself. Steven desperately wants to bring his family closure, and if that means personally finding his uncle's corpse, he'll do it. Spending his spare time digging holes all over the moor in the hope of turning up a body is a long shot, but at least it gives his life purpose. Then at school, when the lesson turns to letter writing, Steven has a flash of inspiration...Careful to hide his identity, he secretly pens a letter to Avery in jail asking for help in finding the body of "W.P." -- William "Billy" Peters. So begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game. Just as Steven tries to use Avery to pinpoint the gravesite, so Avery misdirects and teases his mysterious correspondent in order to relive his heinous crimes. And when Avery finally realizes that the letters he's receiving are from a twelve-year-old boy, suddenly his life has purpose too.... Although his is far more dangerous... What is interesting about this book and it's author, Belinda Bauer, is how this novel came to be. Belinda sent out her novel to a few publishers without any luck. So she decided to enter the Debut Daggar awards, an award given by the Crime Writers Association, a writers association of the United Kingdom. She didn't win the competition, but she got plenty of offers following the exposure she got being short listed for the award. Here's an excerpt of Blacklands from the publisher, Simon & Schuster. *This Book is Kindle Ready!

The Kingdom of Ohio by Matthew Flaming... A story set against New York City at the dawn of the mechanical age, featuring Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and J. P. Morgan. After discovering an old photograph, an elderly antiques dealer living in present-day Los Angeles is forced to revisit the history he has struggled to deny. The photograph depicts a man and a woman. The man is Peter Force, a young frontier adventurer who comes to New York City in 1901 and quickly lands a job digging the first subway tunnels beneath the metropolis. The woman is Cheri- Anne Toledo, a beautiful mathematical prodigy whose memories appear to come from another world. They meet seemingly by chance, and initially Peter dismisses her as crazy. But as they are drawn into a tangle of overlapping intrigues, Peter must reexamine Cheri-Anne’s fantastic story. Could it be that she is telling the truth and that she has stumbled onto the most dangerous secret imaginable: the key to traveling through time? Set against the mazelike streets of New York at the dawn of the mechanical age, Peter and Cheri-Anne find themselves wrestling with the nature of history, technology, and the unfolding of time itself. I'm just a sucker for stories that involve time travel and I'm hoping that this will not disappoint. I am also curious as to how the author, Matthew Flaming, adds Tesla, Edison and J.P. Morgan into the story... Here's a look at the very cool website of The Kingdom of Ohio, where you can find an excerpt of Chapter One. *This Book is Kindle Ready!

Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler... A wise, gently humorous, and deeply compassionate novel about a schoolteacher, who has been forced to retire at sixty-one, coming to terms with the final phase of his life. Liam Pennywell, who set out to be a philosopher and ended up teaching fifth grade, never much liked the job at that run-down private school, so early retirement doesn’t bother him. But he is troubled by his inability to remember anything about the first night that he moved into his new, spare, and efficient condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore. All he knows when he wakes up the next day in the hospital is that his head is sore and bandaged. His effort to recover the moments of his life that have been stolen from him leads him on an unexpected detour. What he needs is someone who can do the remembering for him. What he gets is—well, something quite different. Anne Tyler, who has given us Breathing Lessons and The Accidental Tourist, is a wonderful writer and the expectations are high for this book as well. There is so much positive buzz for this book! Here's an excerpt of Noah's Compass from the Random House website. *This Book is Kindle Ready! And as of today, Amazon has Noah's Compass priced at 50% off!

What are you reading!? Have you read any of these books yet?! If so, share what you think! Does a new year signify anything in your reading? Hope you found something that peeked your interest today!

Happy reading... Suzanne

Seduced By A Rogue Blog Tour & Review

Be Seduced By A Rogue...

And Enter the World of 14th Century Scotland and Amanda Scott!

A fair-haired beauty at 19, Lady Mairi is heiress apparent to her father Lord Dunwythie's rich barony. He has carefully taught her how to manage their estates, but a feud between his clan and the Maxwell clan is brewing as the two families edge toward a clan war - their dispute over money owed. Mairi's father believes he owes nothing, and of course Mairi sides with him.

When the impulsive and blue-eyed Rob Maxwell chances to meet Mairi in a barley field, they feel instant attraction, despite their families' antagonisms. Knowing he must put his clan first, Rob enacts a plan to force Dunwythie to pay his debt: Rob kidnaps Mairi, making the abduction appear the work of a stranger; then he and his sheriff-brother offer to help Dunwythis rescue his daughter IF, and only if, he will pay them the monies due. Yet after Rob captures Mairi's body, she captures his heart. When Dunwythie summons the aid of the most powerful clan in all Scotland (the Douglases), clan-tensions rise to a fever pitch. Love takes its own feverish course, as Mairi and Rob join forces to prevent a clash between hot-headed clans, and to protect their budding love.

What did I think?... Seduced by a Rogue is enchanting! The characters were rich and likeable. The setting in Scotland was wonderful with authentic touches of language and scenery. You can tell that Amanda knows her history, especially when writing of the intricacies of the clans. At the beginning of the story Amanda writes in her Author's Note explaining some of the language and some of the references that the reader may not be familiar with, but these touches are what allows us to travel back in time to experience the world of Lady Mairi Dunwythie in the 14th century. The romance between Lady Mairi and the clan warrior Robert Maxwell starts at a slow boil and finally sizzles! Plus Amanda has a wonderful sense of humor- I found myself smiling out loud at some of the wonderful situations between Mairi & Rob. I love historical romances and Seduced By A Rogue is a terrific read. Amanda is a wonderful storyteller!

About Amanda... Amanda Scott, best-selling author and winner of the Romance Writers of America's RITA/Golden Medallion and The Romantic Times' awards for Best Regency Author and Best Sensual Regency, began writing on a dare from her husband. She has sold every manuscript she has written. More than twenty-five of her books are set in the English Regency period (1810-1820), others are set in fifteenth-century England and sixteenth-and eighteenth-century Scotland. Three are contemporary romances. Learn more about Amanda at Hachette Book Group HERE! And here's a link to Amanda's homepage where you can check out ALL her books!

Chick with Books is part of Seduced by a Rogue Blog Tour! Amanda is making other stops along the way to promote her book this month between Jan.6th - Jan. 20th, here's the other blogs you can find her:

http://jensbooktalk.blogspot.com/, www.bibliophilicbookblog.com, www.chickwithbooks.blogspot.com, http://justanothernewblog.blogspot.com/, http://myoverstuffedbookshelf.blogspot., http://brokenteepee.blogspot.com, http://www.saveyspender.com, http://www.kballard87.blogspot.com, http://thecajunbooklady.blogspot.com/, http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com,

http://www.renees-reads.blogspot.com/, http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/, http://www.mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com, http://bridget3420.blogspot.com, my-book-views.blogspot.com, http://juniperrbreeeze.blogspot.com/, http://star-shadowcreativeconcepts.blogspot.com, http://www.morbidromantic.net, http://www.betweenthelinesandmore.blogspot.com /, http://redheadedbookchild.blogspot.com, http://myreadingroom-crystal.blogspot.com, http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com, http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/, http://therempels4.blogspot

Thank you to Anna from Hachette Book Group for sending a copy of Seduced By A Rogue for me to review!Thanks Anna I really enjoyed it! Seduced by A Rogue was just released this week in paperback, And it's Kindle Ready!

Memoir Mondays... Fall to Pieces by Mary Forsberg Weiland, a Memoir of Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll and Mental Illness

A Memoir of Drugs, Rock 'n Roll, and Mental Illness

In Fall to Pieces, Mary Forsberg Weiland shows us how a life full of promise can be shattered with drug abuse. And how mental illness is a disease that can be 'hidden' for a very long time...

International model, wife of her childhood sweetheart rocker Scott Weiland of the Stone Temple Pilots, and mother of 2, Mary Forsberg Weiland seemed to have an envious life. But with amazing candor Mary opens up the pages of her life to us and shows us what a roller coaster life her life was, first with her mother & father growing up, then as a young girl living the life of a international model, and finally in the lavish world of Rock 'n Roll. In writing Fall to Pieces Mary Forsberg Weiland could have relied on name dropping and a white wash of her drug abuse, but she doesn't. She shares with us the people around her that were her friends, the life she lived as a model and then as a celebrity wife.

In the prologue we get an up close and personal look at Mary shooting up heroin for the first time, it's direct and graphic. From there we read about her normal, hardworking family, rehabs, relapses, jail and her bipolar disease. Hey, we even get a look at the Barbizon School of Modeling! Fall to Pieces is well written and poignant. It's not just about Rock 'n Roll, but about a girl struggling to grow up when the odds were against her. It's about the consequences of the choices we make. Mary is likeable and you'll be entranced by her story, turning those pages to see how things turn out...

I want to thank Imran of Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc. for sending Fall to Pieces my way! Thank you Imran it was a great read! Fall to Pieces was published this past November, and is Kindle Ready!

Giveaway: The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker... A Great Book Club Selection!

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

Congratulations to Jonita, Beth and Marilu! They each won a copy of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County! Thank you to EVERYONE for joining in on the fun by entering and tweeting the giveaway!

When Truly Plaice's mother was pregnant, the town of Aberdeen joined together in betting how recordbreakingly huge the baby boy would ultimately be. The girl who proved to be Truly paid the price of her enormity; her father blamed her for her mother's death in childbirth, and was totally ill equipped to raise either this giant child or her polar opposite sister Serena Jane, the epitome of femine perfection. When he, too, relinquished his increasingly tenuous grip on life, Truly and Serena Jane are separated--Serena Jane to live a life of privilege as the future May Queen and Truly to live on the outskirts of town on the farm of the town sadsack, the subject of constant abuse and humiliation at the hands of her peers.

Serena Jane's beauty proves to be her greatest blessing and her biggest curse, for it makes her the obsession of classmate Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest in a line of Robert Morgans who have been doctors in Aberdeen for generations. Though they have long been the pillars of the community, the earliest Robert Morgan married the town witch, Tabitha Dyerson, and the location of her fabled shadow book--containing mysterious secrets for healing and darker powers--has been the subject of town gossip ever since. Bob Bob Morgan, one of Truly's biggest tormentors, does the unthinkable to claim the prize of Serena Jane, and changes the destiny of all Aberdeen from there on.

When Serena Jane flees town and a loveless marriage to Bob Bob, it is Truly who must become the woman of a house that she did not choose and mother to her eight-year-old nephew Bobbie. Truly's brother-in-law is relentless and brutal; he criticizes her physique and the limitations of her health as a result, and degrades her more than any one human could bear. It is only when Truly finds her calling--the ability to heal illness with herbs and naturopathic techniques--hidden within the folds of Robert Morgan's family quilt, that she begins to regain control over her life and herself. Unearthed family secrets, however, will lead to the kind of betrayal that eventually break the Morgan family apart forever, but Truly's reckoning with her own demons allows for both an uprooting of Aberdeen County, and the possibility of love in unexpected places.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker has the qualities of a great book club selection, with a good story, interesting characters, complicated family dynamics and a sympathetic protagonist. Plenty of story to make a good roundtable discussion at your next reading group get together. Below you will find the reading group guide from the publisher to help a discussion along. But even if you don't belong to a reading group, reading group guides offer an individual reader insight into the story too. A story of "friendship, love and identity", this book has gotten plenty of good buzz, and is coming out in paperback in January! Look for my review coming soon, but in the meantime would you like to read an excerpt? Here's a link to Chapter One! How about winning a copy for yourself?! Courtesy of Valerie of Hachette Book Group, I have 3 copies for a giveaway! Here's how...

To Enter this giveaway...

*For one entry leave me a comment with your email address!

*Get an extra entry for following my blog! Just leave a comment letting me know you're a follower! ( Not a follower yet? No problem, sign up by clicking on the 'followers" button on the sidebar to the right! Just let me know you became a new follower!)

*Blog or tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only.(No PO boxes). The books will be shipped to the winners directly from the publisher. Contest ends 11:59pm EST on Jan. 23rd. I will randomly pick the winners the next day and email them! (please check your email.. winner must reply to me within 3 days! Thanks!) Good Luck!

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Reading Group Guide

1. Truly is the “little giant” of this book, yet her size seems to make her less, rather than more, visible to the town around her. Can you explain this phenomenon? What do you think the author is trying to say about her outsider status?

2. Serena Jane and Truly are as physically different as sisters can be, yet Truly sees that this difference is crucial, explaining “the reason the two of us were as opposite as sewage and spring water, I thought, was that pretty can’t exist without ugly.” (pp. 97-98) How would you describe Truly and Serena’s connection? How is it different from Truly’s relationship with Amelia Dyerson? Which seems the more genuine sisterhood to you?

3. As the successor to a long line of old-fashioned, small-town doctors, Robert Morgan is traditional, strict, and often cruel. I the end, however, the legacy terminates with him and he becomes Aberdeen’s last Dr. Morgan. How do he and Bobbie stray from the family paradigm? What Morgan characteristics stayed with each of them? Is the town “more modern” without a Dr. Morgan, and with Bobbie and Salvatore’s restaurant instead? Is the replacement of nurturing through nourishment rather than doctoring a symbolic replacement?

4. Death haunts Truly and all of Aberdeen, sometimes in unexpected ways. As a gardener, Marcus’s aim is to “make things live,” but, as Truly realizes, “wasn’t it also true that gardeners were always wrestling with death, whether in the form of drought, or blight, or hungry insects? In a garden, Marcus always said, death was the first, last and only fact of life.” What other parallels do you see in the ways Marcus and Truly court life and death?

5. Truly’s size marks her as an outcast, but throughout the novel, other characters have trouble “fitting in” in a more figurative way. Examine how this manifests in Bobbie, Marcus, Amelia, even Serena Jane. What larger point do you this the author might be trying to make about the importance of conforming?

6. What role does Aberdeen County play in the novel? Could the story or these characters exist elsewhere? Do the effects of the 60s and the Vietnam War seem to touch Aberdeen in the same way they touched the rest of the country? What is unique and what is not about Aberdeen as a setting?

7. When Amelia discovers how Priscilla Sparrow and Robert Morgan died, she asks Truly whether it was mercy or murder that killed them. What do you think? How do you feel about Truly’s actions? What in Truly’s character draws her to “collect souls” as she comes to call it?

8. When Marcus and Truly finally come together, Marcus says “We’re not exactly a match made in heaven, you and I, but I figure we’re good enough for here on earth” (p. 334) What does he mean by this? Do you agree?

9. Why doesn’t Robert Morgan “care” that his son runs away? What does it say about what he thinks of himself? How does this connect to Serena Jane’s leaving and his reaction to that event?

10. After Robert Morgan’s death, Truly gradually takes on some of his responsibilities as town doctor by using the knowledge she’s gained from Tabitha’s quilt. How is this a fitting purpose for Truly, and a fitting counterpoint to the legacy of Morgan doctors?

11. What about this story is larger than life or possesses elements of a tall tale or folklore? How are these details woven into the story? How is the book similar to or different from other works in this tradition?

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

The Sunday Salon... "Snow Bound with Books"

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake...

The fire is roaring in the woodstove as I write this morning... the big Nor'easter dropped a bit of snow, but not quite the 10 - 18 inches that was predicted. Of course it's still snowing... All this snow did bring to mind of few good books... all involving SNOW! So today's Sunday Salon will feature 2 books with snow in their title!

Snow Angels by James Thompson... The first thriller in a new series featuring Inspector Kari Vaara: the haunted, hardened detective who must delve into Finland's dark and violent underbelly. Kaamos: Just before Christmas, the bleakest time of the year in Lapland. The unrelenting darkness and extreme cold above the Arctic Circle drive everyone just a little insane . . . perhaps enough to kill.

A beautiful Somali immigrant is found dead in a snowfield, her body gruesomely mutilated, a racial slur carved into her chest. Heading the murder investigation is Inspector Kari Vaara, the lead detective of the small-town police force. The vicious killing may have been a hate crime, a sex crime-or one and the same. Vaara knows he must keep this potentially explosive case out of the national headlines or else it will send shock waves across Finland, an insular nation afraid to face its own xenophobia. The demands of the investigation begin to take their toll on Vaara and his marriage. His young American wife, Kate, newly pregnant with their first child, is struggling to adapt to both the unforgiving Arctic climate and the Finnish culture of silence and isolation. Meanwhile Vaara himself, haunted by his rough childhood and failed first marriage, discovers that the past keeps biting at his heels: He suspects that the rich man for whom his ex-wife left him years ago may be the killer... Endless night can drive anyone to murder.

Author James Thompson is American born, but has lived the last 10 years in Finland, and is considered a Finnish writer. Though he has been writing for years, Snow Angels will be his first published book in the U.S. Prior to Snow Angels he was having a hard time finding a publisher because they felt his writing was "too brutal and subject matter too controversial for publication." But the quality of his writing is evident in Snow Angels, a crime novel set in a place he knows so well, Finland. His writing has the ability to evoke the feelings of the dark, long days & nights of Kaamos, and the desperation it can cause. His characters are well developed and the writing is good. There are a few passages that involve some "honest" descriptions of the crime scene, but it's not gratuitous. I was immediately drawn into the story! If you like crime noir and would like to read a wonderful new & upcoming writer, Snow Angels will be published the beginning of January in the United States! AND it's going to be Kindle Ready! It's gotten a lot of great buzz, and the deal has been signed for book 2 already! Thank you to Lydia of G.P.Putnam's Sons for sending me an advanced copy of this book! I enjoyed investigating with Kari Vaara!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See... This absorbing novel takes place in 19th century China when girls had their feet bound, then spent the rest of their lives in seclusion with only a single window from which to see. Illiterate and isolated, they were not expected to think, be creative, or have emotions. But in one remote county, women developed their own secret code, nu shu – "women's writing" – the only gender-based written language to have been found in the world. Some girls were paired as "old-sames" in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their windows to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.

This is one of my favorite books of all time! It is the story of 2 Chinese girls whose friendship and love for each other helps them survive the turmoil of living in China during the 19th century. The characters are rich and full. The setting is fascinating. The history of the times is so well woven into the story. And I learned so much about the culture and traditions that these 2 little girls grew up with! Lisa Sees' writing is beautiful, the story is mesmerizing & heartbreaking. If you've ever had a girlfriend, a BFF, you will look deep within yourself and your friendships as a result of reading this book. If you haven't read this yet, if you have a girl friend that you still have to buy a gift for, pick this book up! This book is also Kindle Ready!

I hope if you're snowbound today like me, that your fire is burning brightly, you have the comfort of family, friends and a good book! If snow hasn't come your way, I wish for you a wonderful relaxing sunday as well! Tell me what you're reading! And if you've read either of these books, please share what you thought!

Enjoy the day! Suzanne