Book Embargo

Everyone is neurotic. At least, I hope so, so that I am not alone. Alicia Thompson’s book helps prove that. Leigh Nolan is such a great girl and has no problem “thinking up for her self,” even if she has trouble speaking up for herself, if you get what I mean. She is majoring in psych and going to the same school as her high school boyfriend, who is a bit of a dick. Each of the chapter headings are different psychology terms, Counterconditioning, intimacy v. isolation, and confirmation bias.
Absolutely fabulous. Such a fun read.

Fabulous review here, from someone who I guess knows the author, at Shane Guy External. And another good description at Marsh Agency.com which I will copy for you here,

Eighteen-year-old Leigh Nolan is just starting her freshman year at a small college in California and is suffering from the psych major syndrome, a common affliction wherein a psychology major, overwhelmed by conditions, effects, and disorders, begins to overanalyze her own life.
When Leigh is asked to complete forty sentences about herself for an assignment, some of her answers start her thinking. What compels her to procrastinate on every paper she has to write? Why does she lie all the time, mostly about little things that don’t even matter? And how in forty sentences could she have possibly forgotten to mention Andrew, her boyfriend of over a year? Although, what exactly is going on with the lack of intimacy in their relationship anyway?
Not that Leigh feels guilty about that last one when she shows up at Andrew’s apartment, all dressed up for their date, and finds him still in his pyjamas. Nor does she feel too bad that the date is a bust, largely due to her aversion for peanut sauce (she never told Andrew she hated Thai food, but still). Now, Leigh’s appreciation of Nathan, Andrew’s aloof math-major roommate, walking shirtless around their apartment . . okay, that she feels a tiny bit guilty about.

Unfortunately, this book is not due out until AUGUST of 2009. Not sure why I have already gotten an advance of it… but yeah. It was so much fun.

There is this whole story line about being a mentor, and yeah it will spoil it a bit for you, but it made me laugh SO HARD, I have to share it with you. This is Leigh describing a contest she got 2nd place in, “…”You can achieve anything you want. Well, almost anything. You know, if there wasn’t some stupid girl who wrote some cookie-cutter piece of crap essay about The Heart of Darkness.” THIS IS TO A BUNCH OF MIDDLE SCHOOLERS!!!
Oh lord priceless.

So yeah, definitely check it out. It has good times, bad times, serious topics and one liners, and lots of overanalyzing. But it also has lots of good kids, which make every book better to be. Remember August 2009, BE THERE!

Tags: alicia thompson, august 2009 release, college, disney, fiction, hyperion, hyperion teens, leigh nolan, novel, psych major syndrome, psychology, stiles college, teen read, thompson, young adult

Ah, Tammy Pierce. How I love you. I don’t love that new books aren’t coming out 5 a year, but as an adult, I must deal.

yeah, I’ve lived that.

I do love that she also loved Impossible by Nancy Werlin. It was a beautiful novel and its use of “Scarborogh Fair,” WOW. I don’t know any young adults who have read it, just other staff from my shop, but yeah, everyone should read it.

Just a general, “make sure you have read some Tamora Pierce lately” blog post, with some fabulous Impossible thrown in for variety.

Happy Monday!

Tags: books, fiction, garfunkle, hardcover, impossible, nancy werlin, paperback, pierce, scarborough fair, simon, tamora pierce, tortall, werlin, young adult

You might think this book is just another little bit of fluff. The cover indicates it is definitely woman fiction. Yes to the woman’s fiction part, but it was so much more than just a bit of fluff. These days it seems that there is not enough “pressure” (if that is the right word) on what should be done to keep a marriage together. I think that this book shows (in a fabulous and fun way) different routes you can take.

Amazon info here though please make sure to purchase through your local independent bookshop! And from the Random House website,

All you need is love? For the residents of swanky Mayfair Estates, a pre-nup is just another item on the wedding to-do checklist—but three friends get more than they bargained for when they promise to love, cherish . . . and sign on the dotted line.

Ellie married her handsome, wealthy Prince Charming when she was young, naive, and willing to sign a one-sided pre-nup in the name of true love. But seven years and one toddler later, her happily-ever-after has come screeching to a halt. If she can’t save her marriage, she’s determined to save her divorce…. When Jen married Eric, he knew she wasn’t head over heels. Still, he insisted they were perfect together and even bankrolled her business. But when Jen’s career takes off, she may lose the husband she loves more than she realized—and everything else she’s worked for…. Up-and-coming attorney Mara is sure her fiancé has forgiven her for a foolish one-night fling—until he adds a “cheating clause” to the pre-nup she had demanded. If he really trusts her, why the clause? And if she’s really trustworthy, why is she objecting?

As romance collides with real life, three very different women turn to each other for moral support and insights about how to safeguard their most valuable assets: their hearts.

Good review over at Genre Go Round. It really is a great friendship book, though I did not feel that the men were all that thin on the description. From that review, “Thus the reader never fully sees the viewpoints of Michael, Eric or Josh.” While you don’t see the viewpoint of the three men, I feel that the way Kendrick writes them shows the kind of men they are. While I was definitely not endeared to Michael, I actually respected Eric and Josh as much as the three women.

It was a fun one and goes on sale on November 25th, 2008. Head on over to your local independent bookshop, and then start reading!

Tags: beth kendrick, Book, chick lit, fiction, h ardcover, kendrick, novel, paperback, prenup, prenuptial agreement, random house, rh

I just found a new book! No idea how I missed it since apparently there are now four out in the series. Oh well! I just know that it is FUN! Shannon Greenland has written a series called the Specialists. It is about teens who excel in one area, and are recruited to a secret government organization (who becomes more like a family) where they learn limits, further their skills, and learn respect for themselves and their friends.

From Shannon’s website, here is the description of the first novel, Model Spy…

Sixteen-year-old Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. When David, her incredibly nice, not to mention super cute and irresistible, college RA, asked her to uncover some top-secret information, she thought why not? All she has to do is hack into the government’s main computer system. Simple enough for a computer techie genius like herself. But a few hours later, she is caught. Only this isn’t a run-of-the-mill arrest. Rather than serve a jail sentence in a juvenile detention, she accepts the option to change her identity and enlist in a secret government spy agency that trains teen agents to go undercover. After all, she has no family or friends at school. What does she have to lose? Instantly, Kelly Spree, a.k.a. girl genius GiGi, is born. And as if that wasn’t overwhelming enough, she discovers that David works for this agency as well. Before she even begins to understand what is going on, she’s sent on her first mission as an undercover model. Her partner? None other than David himself!

A really nice review here at FlamingNet.com.

And from Shannon’s website is a great bio.

You name it. Shannon Greenland’s done it. Hiking, rafting, swimming, snorkeling, sailing, surfing, mountain biking, spelunking, canoeing, power lifting, running, camping, para sailing . . . well, you get the drift. She’s traveled the world extensively and is thrilled to be living on an island, looking for her new adventure. Believe it or not, Shannon dreaded reading and writing when she was a kid. How ironic that she’s now an award winning author.

Goes to show you, you don’t have to start out liking books and reading to end up loving them Check out the Specialists Novels, because they are F-U-N!

Tags: fiction, greenland, kelly james, model spy, novel, penguin putnam, shannon greenland, speak, specialists, spy, young adult, young adult novel

I am quoting from The Guardian’s site this article about Eoin Colfer, Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Oh I am Giddy..

Douglas Adams’s increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy is to be extended to six titles, after Adams’s widow Jane Belson sanctioned a project which will see children’s author Eoin Colfer taking up the story.

And Another Thing… by Colfer, whose involvement with the project was personally requested by Belson, will be published next October by Penguin. No information has yet emerged about the plot of the novel but Hitchhiker fans will be hoping for a resurrection of much-loved characters Arthur Dent, Trillian and Ford Prefect, who were all apparently blown to smithereens at the end of the fifth novel, Mostly Harmless.

Adams himself had plans for a sixth Hitchhiker book, saying in an interview: “People have said, quite rightly, that Mostly Harmless is a very bleak book. And it was a bleak book. I would love to finish Hitchhiker on a slightly more upbeat note, so five seems to be a wrong kind of number, six is a better kind of number.”

But his death in 2001, aged 49, meant the book was never written, and “legions of Hitchhiker fans were left with their hearts beating a little too quickly for all eternity,” said Colfer, author of the bestselling Artemis Fowl series for children.

The proposal from the literary agency which manages Adams’s estate was “quite out of the blue”, said Penguin marketing and publicity director Joanna Prior. “It was something I guess [Jane Belson] had been mulling over for some time, and we jumped the minute we got the call – we could immediately see what a fantastic project this would be.”

Colfer, who has been a fan of Hitchhiker since his schooldays, said being given the opportunity to continue the series was “like suddenly being offered the superpower of your choice”. “For years I have been finishing this incredible story in my head and now I have the opportunity to do it in the real world,” he added. “It is a gift from the gods. So, thank you Thor and Odin.”

The book will “make no claims for Eoin being Douglas”, according to Prior. “It’s not Eoin Colfer writing as Douglas Adams, as was the case with Sebastian Faulks,” she said, pointing to Penguin’s successful publication of Faulks’s new James Bond novel Devil May Care earlier this year. “It’s absolutely about him being himself – Eoin the author, but with the cast of Hitchhiker.”

Colfer himself is currently grappling with nerves over the quality of his addition to Adams’ oeuvre. “I feel more pressure to perform now than I ever have with my own books, and that is why I am bloody determined that this will be the best thing I have ever written,” he said. “For the first time in decades I feel the uncertainty that I last felt in my teenage years. There are people out there that really want to like this book.”

Penguin hopes that Belson’s choice of Colfer will bring a new generation of readers to Adams’s work. “It’s always a challenge when we haven’t got Douglas any more – how can we introduce his writing to the next generation?” asked Prior. “There’s a huge fan base out there, but this is a really exciting way of creating a new legacy.”

Belson said the project had her full support. “I am delighted that Eoin Colfer has agreed to continue the Hitchhiker series. I love his books and could not think of a better person to transport Arthur, Zaphod and Marvin to pastures new,” she added.

Approximately 16m copies of Hitchhiker books have been sold worldwide, according to Penguin. The “trilogy in five parts”, which started with radio series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 1978 and was completed with The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, The Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish; and Mostly Harmless, has been translated into 35 languages.

Tags: adams, artemis fowl, colfer, douglas adams, eoin colfer, fantasy, fiction, hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, mostly harmless, penguin books, penguin putnam, penput

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle that EVERYONE has been raving about, really is worth it. David Wroblewski has written an AMAZING debut novel. It is the story of a boy and his family, and the dogs that they raise, and it is so much more than that.

Some one-two liners about how amazing it is:

A CLASSIC IN THE MAKING… The scope of this book, its psychological insight and lyrical mastery, make it one of the best novels of the year, and a perfect, comforting joy of a book for summer. — O Magazine, July 2008

The most enchanting debut novel of the summer… this is a great, big, mesmerizing read, audaciously envisioned as classic Americana…. Pick up this book and expect to feel very, very reluctant to put it down. — Janet Maslin, New York Times

Nothing quite compares to my experience of reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. This debut…. is one of the most stunning, elegant books I have ever read…. what can deservedly be called a great American novel. — Lisa Jennifer Selzman, Houston Chronicle

I am completely smitten…. The most hauntingly impressive debut I’ve read all year…. Edgar might be silent, but his story will echo with readers for a long time. — Yvonne Zipp, Christian Science Monitor

It’s the must-read of the summer… — People Magazine

The Great American Novel is something like a unicorn – rare and wonderful…. Yet every few years or so, we trip across some semblance of one…. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle… [will] leave you crying for more…. — Elle Magazine, June 2008

Grand and unforgettable. — Ron Charles, Washington Post Book World (cover review)

The best book I’ve read in a long time. It is a class apart—a 570-page literary novel that has as much emotional punch as anything I have ever read. — Michael Fraser, Publishers Weekly “Galley Talk”

And Sawtelle’s first and biggest supporter is Stephen King. He has done a great review:

“I flat-out loved The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Dog-lovers in particular will be riveted by this story, because the canine world has never been explored with such imagination or emotional resonance. Yet in the end, this isn’t a novel about dogs or heartland America — although it is a deeply American work of literature. It’s a novel about the human heart, and the mysteries that live there, understood but impossible to articulate. Yet in the person of Edgar Sawtelle, a mute boy who takes three of his dogs on a brave and dangerous odyssey, Wroblewski does articulate them, and splendidly. I closed the book with that regret readers feel only after experiencing the best stories: It’s over, you think, and I won’t read another one this good for a long, long time.
In truth, there has never been a book quite like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I thought of Hamlet when I was reading it (of course… and in this version, Ophelia turns out to be a dog named Almondine), and Watership Down, and The Night of the Hunter, and The Life of Pi — but halfway through, I put all comparisons aside and let it just be itself.
I’m pretty sure this book is going to be a bestseller, but unlike some, it deserves to be. It’s also going to be the subject of a great many reading groups, and when the members take up Edgar, I think they will be apt to stick to the book and forget the neighborhood gossip.
Wonderful, mysterious, long and satisfying: readers who pick up this novel are going to enter a richer world. I envy them the trip. I don’t reread many books, because life is too short. I will be rereading this one.”

— Stephen King, author of Duma Key

Here is the NY Times article
Another review from the Chicago Tribune
Another from the International Herald, which is part of the Global NYT

And the creme-de-la-creme… The New Yorker…

I might just name my next dog Almondine, because if my dog is anything like her… I would count myself blessed. You only have to read to like this book. You don’t have to love dogs or Minnesota. Just give it a try, completely worth it.

Tags: breeding, david wroblewski, debut novel, dogs, edgar sawtelle, fiction, hardcover, new yorker, nytimes, sawtelle, stephen king, summer pick, wroblewski

I just finished Tethered by Amy MacKinnon. It was phenomenal. Truly phenomenal. I took an extra break so I could read more. I did not even log into my WiiFit because I was reading. Beautiful and heart-wrenching, and yeah, go read it right now!

The book description from the Random House webpage:

Clara Marsh is an undertaker who doesn’t believe in God. She spends her solitary life among the dead, preparing their last baths and bidding them farewell with a bouquet from her own garden. Her carefully structured life shifts when she discovers a neglected little girl, Trecie, playing in the funeral parlor, desperate for a friend.

It changes even more when Detective Mike Sullivan starts questioning her again about a body she prepared three years ago, an unidentified girl found murdered in a nearby strip of woods. Unclaimed by family, the community christened her Precious Doe. When Clara and Mike learn Trecie may be involved with the same people who killed Precious Doe, Clara must choose between the stead-fast existence of loneliness and the perils of binding one’s life to another.
About the Author

AMY MacKINNON is a former congressional aide whose commentaries have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, and on National Public Radio and This American Life. This is her first novel.

Available August 12th 2008 in Hardcover, and it will definitely be on my staff pick shelf. Worth the money to buy in hardcover. Definitely worth it

Tags: amy mackinnon, Book, child abuse, fiction, hardcover, mackinnon, mortuary, random house, tethered, under taker

One of the reasons I like to read fiction is because at the end, the characters can be happy. The goal of course is for the author to make it believable, but still, I want HAPPY people…

I just finished reading Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins. It was beautiful. It takes place in India in the 1970’s. Here is the jacket blurb on it…

When her father loses his job and leaves India to look for work in America, Asha Gupta, her older sister, Reet, and their mother must wait with Baba’s brother and his family, as well as their grandmother, in Calcutta. Uncle is welcoming, but in a country steeped in tradition, the three women must abide by his decisions. Asha knows this is temporary — just until Baba sends for them. But with scant savings and time passing, the tension builds: Ma, prone to spells of sadness, finds it hard to submit to her mother- and sister-in-law; Reet’s beauty attracts unwanted marriage proposals; and Asha’s promise to take care of Ma and Reet leads to impulsive behavior. What follows is a firestorm of rebuke — and secrets revealed! Asha’s only solace is her rooftop hideaway, where she pours her heart out in her diary, and where she begins a clandestine friendship with Jay Sen, the boy next door. Asha can hardly believe that she, and not Reet, is the object of Jay’s attention. Then news arrives about Baba . . . and Asha must make a choice that will change their lives forever.

It was a beautiful book.. (haven’t I said that already?) But it really was. The family dynamics, with the father gone to America, the mother and two sisters left to live with relatives. The money problems, the Indian culture, it was all so beautifull7 written and described.

However, it was not a romance novel where everyone lives happily every after in their perfect world. It was a novel of family honor and respect, doing what is right even though it may kill you inside.

It was beautiful and worth it, but have tissues ready at the end!

Look for it on the shelf of your local independent bookshop in January of 2009. I also wanted to include this bio of Mitali, from her website, because it will definitely show you how this woman knows her stuff about different cultures!

Mitali Bose Perkins was born in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Her name means “friendly” in Bangla, which she tried to live up to because the Bose family moved so often – they lived in India, Ghana, Cameroon, London, New York City, and Mexico City before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area when she was in middle school. Mitali studied political science at Stanford University and public policy at U.C. Berkeley, surviving academia thanks to a steady diet of kids’ books from public libraries and bookstores, and went on to teach middle school, high school, and college students. She lived in India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and California with her husband and twin sons before the Perkins family moved to Newton, Massachusetts, where they live now.

Tags: calcutta, fiction, india, mitali perkins, novel, secret keeper, secrets, young adult

First Marisa De Los Santos wowed us all with Love Walked In. In 2006, my manager deemed it the best book of the year.

I think that Marisa outdid herself with the sequel, Belong to Me.

It was beyond delightful. It has been a while since I have read Love Walked In, but I think I liked it more. I felt that there was even more depth to the Cornelia character. I loved how she solved problems, and I loved how accurate everything felt. De Los Santos writes about situations, and as I read it, I think… “wow, that is how I would react!”
It is a good feeling.

So go read it, and re-read Love Walked In again. It is a beautiful story.

Tags: belong to me, cornelia brown, de los santos, fiction, hardcover, love walked in, marisa de los santos, old movies, paperback

Do you want a lighthearted novel that just makes you feel GREAT? I know I do! Recently, I have been reading a lot of fiction that is more literary in quality. Sometimes you just want a good happy novel so here is one that fits the bill.

Go check out Sarah Strohmeyer’s Cinderella Pact. From Sarah’s website,.

NOLA DEVLIN HAS A SECRET IDENTITY.
By day she is an overweight, frumpy, and overlooked editor at Sass! (the “celebrity magazine with an edge!”), but by night she slips behind her keyboard and into her alter-ego: Belinda Apple. Belinda is thin, gorgeous, British and the author of a trendy advice column— she is, in effect, the latest Carrie Bradshaw. Not even her two best friends or her self-absorbed sister (who worships Belinda as the “sister she never had”) know her secret.

When “Belinda” jots off a column about how easy it is to lose weight, Nola is shocked when her best friends take her own lies to heart and urge her to follow Belinda’s weight loss program. Since Nola can’t reveal herself as the real Belinda Apple, she bites the bullet and joins her friends in making the “Cinderella Pact” — a last ditch attempt to lose weight (again!) and transform their lives for good.

But as the pounds come off, things don’t turn out the way the three friends expect. Their journey of self-discovery leads to the rediscovery of an old love and the unmasking of new problems. Meanwhile, Nola finds herself torn between two different men as she stomps out fires caused by her deception as Belinda Apple and falls in love with the man who just might be her prince — or the rat in coachman’s clothing.

It is a great fun fabulous book. I like happy people, or at least people who have GOOD things happen to them. This is the perfect book. Nola has to work to figure out what is real, what is fake, and what is worthwhile, and it is a great ride to take. It is available in paperback at your local independent bookshop. At my shop, look for it on the Staff pick shelf!

Tags: chick lit, cinderella, cinderella pact, fiction, light fiction, nola devlin, sarah strohmeyer, strohmeyer, weight loss