My Reading Life by Pat Conroy... A Review

"From the beginning I've searched out those writers unafraid to stir up the emotions, who entrust me with their darkest passions, their most indestructible yearnings, and their most soul-killing doubts." ...Pat Conroy, My Reading Life

Perhaps you know author Pat Conroy from his unforgettable novels, The Prince of Tides, Beach Music or South of Broad. But what you might forget for a moment is that authors also read. In Pat Conroy's My Reading Life we are allowed to step back in time to learn the origins of his passion for the written word and follow along as that passion becomes a life long relationship...

In My Reading Life, Conroy revisits a life of reading through an array of wonderful anecdotes, sharing the pleasures of the local library's vast cache with his mother when he was a boy, recounting his decades-long relationship with the English teacher who pointed him onto the path of letters, and describing a profoundly influential period spent in Paris, as well as reflecting on other pivotal people, places, and experiences. His story is a moving and personal one, guided by wisdom and an undeniable honesty. Anyone who not only enjoys the pleasures of reading but believes in the power of books to shape a life will find here the greatest defense of the credo.

Pat Conroy is a wonderful storyteller, and in his book, My Reading Life, he uses his gift with the pen to weave a wonderful story full of a life long passion for reading, with the people, places and books that fed his appetite. One of those people was his mother, and at the beginning of the book I was so touched by their relationship, how they discussed books, and how Peg Conroy took her little boy's curiosity of the world around him and showed him how the answers could almost always be found between the pages of a book...

"The deep forests of those isolated bases became the kingdom that I took ownership of as a child. I followed the minnow-laced streams as they made their cutting way toward the Trent River. Each time in the woods, I brought my nature-obsessed mother a series of captured animals, from snapping turtles to copperheads... At the library she began to check out books that gave me a working knowledge of those creatures that my inquisitive, overprotective dog and I had found while wandering the woods."

Pat Conroy's mother was only the beginning of the influential people that would play a part in his reading life. There was his teacher Gene Norris that helped Pat speak his mind in defending Catcher in the Rye at a school board meeting, a grouchy librarian that handed him The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and a great antiquarian bookstore where he befriended the owner and learned the ins and outs of old books.

We all have fond memories of the books that we read as a child and of the many books we've loved as an adult. A special book you received as a gift, a teacher that inspired you to read the classics... These memories form our relationship with books and reading. My Reading Life chronicles Pat Conroy's relationship with books and reading. This is such a wonderful little book! The writing is filled with the love of reading, with books that I myself have loved and I couldn't help but enjoy reading about someone else's love of books and how it all came to be. This is a great inside look at a favorite author, but also a look at a reading compadre- someone else whose life was impacted by the written word, and who shows us that no matter what your station, books can change your life!

I want to thank Doubleday for sending along a review copy! You can get a copy for yourself at your local bookstore because My Reading Life by Pat Conroy was just released last week! *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

The False Friend by Myla Goldberg... A Review

Two eleven-year-0ld girls... go into the woods... Only one comes out

The False Friend by Myla Goldberg isn't so much a story as to what happened to eleven-year-old Djuna Pearson when she never came back from that fateful day when she and 4 other eleven-year-old girls walked the twisted dangerous road to the woods, as it is a journey of self discovery as Celia Durst retraces those steps 20 years later after a flashback sends her running back to her hometown to find the truth. The truth about what happened to Djuna, but also the truth about Celia & Djuna two best friends who were cruel & bullies and what long term consequences their cruelty had on themselves and the other girls in their clique...

From the Book Jacket...

Celia and Djuna were the ringleaders of a highly competitive quintet of girls, caught in an escalating cycle of test, reward and punishment that peaked the afternoon they all walked home along a forbidden woodland road. Celia blocked out what happened, but everyone else in Jensenville assumed that Djuna was abducted that day, though neither Djuna nor her abductor was ever found.

Twenty years later, Celia and her boyfriend Huck are professionally successful, but their relationship has fallen into a stasis that Celia feels helpless to change. When Celia’s memory of that terrible afternoon suddenly returns, she is forced to confront the part she played in her best friend’s disappearance, and returns to Jensenville to confess.

In a hometown defined by what it was and can no longer be, Celia discovers that her unconscious avoidance of what really happened so long ago has had lasting repercussions. Her aging parents—their love handicapped by a lifetime of reserve—insist that she is innocent. Celia’s childhood friends not only don’t believe her, but insist that she should be apologizing for a completely different offense. Huck wants to be supportive, but can neither ignore all that contradicts Celia’s version of the past, nor the damage it has inflicted on their shared life. Celia’s search for the truth has startling and powerful consequences, resulting in a story that persists in the mind long after the last page has been turned.

Deeply resonant and emotionally charged, The False Friend explores the complexities of moral judgment, the fallibility of memory, and the adults that children become—leading us to question the truths that we accept or reject, and the lies to which we ultimately succumb.

The False Friend opens with Celia walking to work, and something she sees jars a long forgotten memory. It's 21 years before, and she's just meeting Djuna in fifth grade. Djuna will become the friend that will replace all others. But her other friends, Josie, Leanne and Becky will make up part of the circle that surrounds her. As she remembers Djuna, loving & hating her, she remembers a lie. A lie that may have had dire consequences for Djuna in the woods that day... Little girls are passionate, especially when it comes to friendships. They can be cruel, love, hate, and can be your BFF at a moments notice. Myla Goldberg captures those feeling perfectly in The False Friend. That is what really makes you turn the pages of The False Friend- Celia's introspective look at her childhood relationships. The dynamics of these 5 girls is so interesting. And the intensity of the friendship between Celia and Djuna reverberates off the page. As Celia tracks down those 3 childhood friends from twenty years ago, not only is she surprised at what she learns, but you will be too. I really enjoyed The False Friend. Myla Goldberg's writing was compelling and slowly drew me in. The relationships she portrayed, from the friendships between the girls to the relationships between the parents and the girls was so authentic. And I think that all these parts of the story, all these relationships, added the richness to the story that kept me reading well into the night... My only complaint with The False Friend is the very ending- it fell a little flat at the very last page, but all in all a very good read, realistic portrayal of bullying, and an interesting reflection on what we perceive of ourselves growing up.

* I want to thank Liz of Doubleday for sending me a copy to review!

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex ...A Review

"I stared into the flames as they resurrected images and memories from my first days with him in this very room so many lifetimes ago. There is no explanation for love; no spoken words compare with its silent exhilaration. If that was true of the ordinary love between two mortals - if love is ever ordinary - then it was truer of a love that has contorted itself into different bodies in different eras over the centuries." ...Mina Murray

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex is seductive. It is the telling of a love story that had endured centuries, the love story between Count Dracula and Mina Murray, and part of that story is Count Dracula's rich history and how he became immortal. Karen Essex's prose is beautiful, draping itself around you and slowly drawing you in. Dracula in Love is erotic and passionate, and everything you'd want in a gothic love story. It's haunting, it's wonderful and I LOVED it!

In the original story by Bram Stoker, Dracula was everything that embodied evil, a blood sucking monster who almost destroyed the lives of a young naive lawyer he had hired, Jonathan Harker, and Harker's "prim & proper" fiance & soon to be wife, Mina Murray. Dracula's ultimate seduction of Mina was an act of revenge. But in Dracula in Love, the story of Dracula is told through Mina's eyes, with a backstory that has Dracula as Mina's soulmate, with a power over her that 700 years of yearning could not break. Even as she marries Jonathan Harker, she is drawn to him... in vivid erotic dreams she shares herself with the mysterious man she later knows to be Dracula. Her seduction is far from undesired, as the stirred memories of her past life with Dracula slowly open up a world that her victorian sensibilities should reject, but instead draw her even farther into the arms of Dracula.

Walk the dark, damp streets of Victorian England... Listen to the faint whispers of the night... watch out for the unnatural ones called vampires... OK, just read it! Karen Essex does an amazing job of creating a handsome, brooding, passionate Dracula any girl would love to invite in for a bite. And Mina is the ultimate heroine at first gentle and bound by the Victorian morals imposed on women of the time, but whose strong will and determination give her the strength to become so much more. And as if the love story weren't enough to satisfy any reader, Karen does a wonderful job of painting a true portrait of the women of the late 19th century, and what their place in society was. If walking the dark streets of Victorian England appeal to you, if a brooding handsome seductive vampire makes your knees weak, and if you love a girl who knows her own mind you will enjoy Dracula in Love! I was so fortunate to receive an ARC of Dracula in Love from Doubleday! Now I'm going to have to check out the other books Karen Essex has written because her writing in Dracula in Love was just so beautiful I want to read more.

Mark your calendars for August 10th, because that's when Dracula in Love will be coming to a bookstore near you!

*Hey, I'm sharing this with Cym Lowell's Book Review Party!

First Lines...

I was fourteen when I stopped believing in God. At the time it wasn't dramatic. I remember lying in the bedroom of that old, drafty house and thinking: If you are there, I hope you'll forgive me if I stop believing in you for a while, because right now I just don't see a reason. When you're fourteen, you don't have much reason to believe one way or the other. Everyone tells you what to do and anything you want is in within arm's reach Then you grow up, and you start disbelieving for other reasons."

...Taroko Gorge by Jacob Ritari

The Sunday Salon... Books with Buzz, a Bit about Birding, and author happenings in Connecticut

Spring has finally sprung and broken some records here in Connecticut! When average temps are usually in the 50's this time of year, this week we broke 90 degrees!

It was a great week to peak at the garden and see how things look (not too bad), but need to start weeding already (ugh), and maybe check out some new gardening books. My gardening is for the birds... literally. I dug up a small patch of lawn in my backyard and started planting a bird & butterfly garden. It's a long term project, changing as I see what works and what doesn't. A great basic book for learning about bird gardens, with lots of ideas and information, is Attracting Birds to Your Backyard by Sally Roth. And I would love to hear about your gardening ideas too!

For my bookish endeavors this week I've had my head in Ken Wheaton's The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival and the smell of Cajun food practically waifs off the pages! I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this book. Light, funny and original. Check back this week for my review of Ken Wheaton's book! Also coming this week... a review for Bernice McFadden newest book, Glorious. It's filled with Bernice's signature great characters. And a review and giveaway for a copy of Forget Me Not by Vicki Hinze. Forget Me Not is suspense with romance and plot twists that will have you turning those pages! And I've held off a bit so no one would get over iPadded, but I'll post my review this week about the iPad. (just a hint though... I really love it!)

If you are anywhere in Connecticut, there are a few author events... Books on the Common is hosting Pete Nelson whose new book, I Thought You Were Dead, is coming out this week. In a nutshell it's about a down-on-his-luck guy and his faithful dog Stella, who just happens to be able to talk him through his problems. The Date & Time is April 16th @ 7:30pm, and Books on the Common is located in Ridgefield, Ct. The New Canaan Library will be hosting Lisa See, who wrote one of my all time favorite books, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. She'll be talking about Shanghai Girls. The Date & Time is April 14th @ 7:30pm. Reservations are necessary, but you can call the library to make them.

I did manage to pick my head up off the page and check out some interesting books this week... here are some other Books with Buzz...

The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli... On a stifling day in 1975, the North Vietnamese army is poised to roll into Saigon. As the fall of the city begins, two lovers make their way through the streets to escape to a new life. Helen Adams, an American photojournalist, must take leave of a war she is addicted to and a devastated country she has come to love. Linh, the Vietnamese man who loves her, must grapple with his own conflicted loyalties of heart and homeland. As they race to leave, they play out a drama of devotion and betrayal that spins them back through twelve war-torn years, beginning in the splendor of Angkor Wat, with their mentor, larger-than-life war correspondent Sam Darrow, once Helen's infuriating love and fiercest competitor, and Linh's secret keeper, boss and truest friend. This has gotten so much great press. I downloaded this book (My first iPad Book) and began reading a bit and all I can say is Tatjana Soli's writing is poetic and the story wrapped itself around me from page one. The images are vivid & haunting. She paints a beautiful picture of war-torn Vietnam and at the same time creates this love story. This is going to be big once more people discover it... *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready! And priced at $11.99

The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw... A heartbreaking affair, an unsolved murder, an explosive romance: welcome to summer on the Cape in this powerful debut... Seven summers ago, Marcella Atkinson fell in love with Cecil McClatchey, a married father of two. But on the same night their romance abruptly ended, Cecil's wife was found murdered—and their lives changed forever. The case was never solved, and Cecil died soon after, an uncharged suspect. Now divorced and estranged from her only daughter, Marcella lives alone, mired in grief and guilt. Meanwhile, Cecil's grown son, Jed, returns to the Cape with his sister for the first time in years. One day he finds a woman's bathing suit buried in a closet—a relic, unbeknownst to him, of his father's affair—and, on a hunch, confronts Marcella. When they fall into an affair of their own, their passion temporarily masks the pain of the past, but also leads to crises and revelations they never could have imagined. This book is sure to be a summer break-out book. Lots of great buzz. Holly writes with such a wonderful easy style, but this is not your typical beach read. This book has got a gripping plot with plenty of suspense. Just published by Doubleday, I have a copy sitting on my nightstand waiting to dive into! And I can't wait! *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Something Missing by Matthew Dicks... From Publishers Weekly, An expert thief unexpectedly finds himself aiding his victims in Dicks's charming if rambling debut. During his hours off, barista Martin Railsback burgles the houses of folks he calls his clients, taking only what they won't notice is missing: for instance, three boxes of long grain rice... two rolls of toilet paper (in Martin's estimation, the Gallos had excellent taste in toilet paper), three cups of olive oil and, on occasion, something really valuable. The system works beautifully until the day Martin drops a client's toothbrush into the toilet and feels compelled to replace it. This act of simple decency sets him on an entirely different course, and pretty soon he's breaking into houses to improve the lives of their occupants. A fun light-hearted read, it's gotten great reviews so far. I have a friend (Steve) who is really enjoying it! (He offered, but I let him take the last copy at the bookstore). I think the premise is great, and I look forward to cracking the spine on this one. *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready! At a "bargain" price of $9.99.

What are you reading this week!? Share some of your books and let us all know! Have you tried out the iPad? And what do you think about eBook pricing? In the meantime, have a great week!

Happy reading... Suzanne