Literary Chronicles and Book Reviews from a Bluestocking

Title: Love Begins in Winter
Author: Simon Van Booy
Pages: 226
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Copyright: 2009
Format: Paperback
Rating:

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Simon Van Booy is likely to become on of my favorite writers. His prose is heavy with meaning and yet playful. Love Begins in Winter is a collection of five short stories that are all lyrical and well-wrought. The five stories are “Love Begins in Winter,” “Tiger, Tiger,” “The Missing Statues,” “The Coming and Going of Strangers,” and “The City of Windy Trees.”

My favorite story was “The Missing Statues,” which deals with a hard day in the life of a little boy, made better by the kindness of a gondolier. “Tiger, Tiger” is about a woman who shows her love in an odd way. “Love Begins in Winter” is a winding love story between two slightly odd lovers. “The Coming and Going of Strangers” is about a young boy’s first love. And finally, “The City of Windy Trees” is about a lonely old man who finds a reason to hope. Each story is so full, but I won’t say more. These stories are best approached with little background.

I couldn’t get enough of Van Booy’s writing. Here’s a brief sample of Van Booy’s descriptive powers, which very much evoked Rome for me:

A dog with gray whiskers limped past and then lay on its side in the shade. Men leaned on their brooms and talked in twos and threes. The priest reached his arm around the man and squeezed his shoulder dutifully. The young diplomat turned his body to the priest and wept into his cloth. The fabric carried a faint odor of wood and smoke. An old woman in black nodded past, fingering her rosary and muttering something too quiet to hear.

You really just need to read it. This collection drew me in immediately and didn’t let me go, even after I turned the last page. This isn’t the last I’ll read of Simon Van Booy’s work.

Love Begins in Winter, by Simon Van Booy

Other Reviews:
Bookfoolery and Babble

Buy Love Begins in Winter at Powell’s Books or Amazon.com.

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GIVEAWAY

Harper Perennial declared summer 2009 the Summer of the Short Story. In celebration of this summer’s theme, they sent me six collections of short stories to give away to you!

The Happy Failure, by Herman Melville
Family Happiness, by Leo Tolstoy
A Disgraceful Affair, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Model Millionaire, by Oscar Wilde
An Experiment in Misery, by Stephen Crane
The Bohemian Girl, by Willa Cather

In addition to stories by the stated author, each collection contains a bonus story by a contemporary short story author.

To enter to win one of these collections, leave a comment on this post stating which collection(s) you’d like.  Twitter about the giveaway using the hashtag #thebluestocking for an extra entry.  Leave a comment stating that you are a subscriber of this blog for two extra entries.  U.S. and Canadian addresses only please. Random.org will select six winners on Friday, July 10, 2009. Good luck!

Here is an abstract of my literary doings in June.

Books Read

The Actor and the Housewife, by Shannon Hale – 6/1/2009
Love Begins in Winter, by Simon Van Booy – 6/5/2009

June Total = 2
Year-to-Date Total = 31

Book Club

Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons – Meeting: June 19, 2009
1984, by George Orwell – Online discussion

I didn’t get to either of these books this month, and I missed the meeting.

Our selections for next month are The Hummingbird’s Daughter, by Luis Alberto Urrea (face-to-face discussion) and Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte (online discussion).

Challenges

Here’s my exceedingly long challenge list. Check out my Challenges page for updates all month long.

Really Old Classics Challenge – 0/2 [ends 7/31/2009]
Themed Reading Challenge – 0/4 [ends 7/31/2009]
Chunkster Challenge – 6/6 COMPLETED
Book Awards III Challenge – 0/5 [ends 12/1/2009]
100+ Reading Challenge – 31/100 [ends 12/31/2009]
A Novel Challenge – 9/12 [ends 12/31/2009]
2009 Pub Challenge – 12/9 COMPLETED
A to Z Challenge – 16/26 [ends 12/31/2009]
ARC Reading Challenge – 15/24 [ends 12/31/2009]
Blog Improvement Project – 6/24 [ends 12/31/2009]
Casual Classics Challenge – 2/4 [ends 12/31/2009]
My Year of Reading Dangerously – 3/12 [ends 12/31/2009]
New Authors Challenge – 21/20 COMPLETED
Read Your Own Books Challenge – 25/50 [ends 12/31/2009]
Support Your Local Library Challenge – 5/12 [ends 12/31/2009]
TBR Lite Challenge – 0/6 [ends 12/31/2009]
What’s in a Name? Challenge – 3/6 [ends 12/31/2009]
YA Challenge – 5/12 [ends 12/31/2009]
Elizabeth Glaskell Mini-Challenge – 0/2 [ends 6/1/2010]

The Pulitzer Project – 8/83 [perpetual]
The Printz Project – 2/10 (+4 Honor books) [perpetual]
The Newberry Project – 16/88 (+7 Honor books) [perpetual]

Monthly Highlights

• It’s been a slow month here at The Bluestocking Society. I’ve had many personal things going on that took me away from blogging. I hope to rally in July.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog this month!

Title: No One You Know
Author: Michelle Richmond
Pages: 320
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Copyright: 2008
Format: Hardback
Rating:

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When Michelle Richmond contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in reviewing her latest book, No One You Know, I of course jumped at the offer. No One You Know was released in paperback a couple of weeks ago.

Ellie Enderlin’s math genius sister Lila was murdered twenty years ago. Ellie has not been able to move on in part because her confidante and English professor turned the story into a bestselling true crime novel -without telling her. Now a forty-something coffee buyer, Ellie has a chance meeting with Peter, Lila’s lover and possible killer. The encounter leads Ellie to question everything she has come to believe about her sister’s death and her life since the murder.

I liked this book. The writing is solid and organic. The plot moved along swiftly, and I didn’t want to put it down. And yet, it just didn’t quite come together for me. When I put the book down, I mostly forgot about it. Still, I recently loaned my copy to my aunt, who read it quickly and enjoyed it.

I’d recommend this book as a quick and intelligent reading experience with a little mystery flare.

No One You Know, by Michelle Richmond

Other Reviews:
Presenting Lenore
A Striped Armchair

Buy No One You Know at Powell’s Books or Amazon.com.

Title: The Actor and the Housewife
Author: Shannon Hale
Pages: 352
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Copyright: 2009
Format: Hardback
Rating:

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I feel a special bond with Shannon Hale. I’ve read most of her books. She is a local Utah author. I obsessively read her blog. And I’ve met her. So, I was ecstatic to receive an ARC of her latest book, The Actor and the Housewife.

Becky Jack, married Utah mother of three, almost four, is in L.A. to sell her romantic comedy screenplay. And in walks Felix Callahan. Felix Callahan is Becky’s movie crush, her romantic ideal. After a series of coincidences, she and Felix end up at a hotel restaurant together. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Is it too cliche to say that this is “a delightful romp”? Well, it is. So delightful and funny and charming and heartfelt and any number of other overused adjectives. I didn’t want this book to end. I wanted Felix as a friend. (In fact, my husband and I had a conversation about the potential ramifications of having a famous, opposite sex best friend.) If you like Shannon Hale, or are just in the mood for a light and fun book, you’ll love The Actor and the Housewife.

The Actor and the Housewife, by Shannon Hale

Other Reviews:
Book Nut

Buy The Actor and the Housewife at Powell’s Books or Amazon.com.

I saw this a while ago on Stuck in a Book.

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Let’s see. Probably a tie among Jane Austen (multiple copies of each of her books), Roald Dahl (lots of his books), Shannon Hale (all of her books), and Ian McEwan (many of his books).

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Definitely Pride & Prejudice. I think I currently have five copies of it, in various forms.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not particularly. But I generally avoid such constructions in my own writing.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Well, after just finishing The Actor and the Housewife, I think it’s best to keep my secret fictional crush, well, secret.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children)?
Probably Harriet the Spy. Or Pride and Prejudice. Or Anne of Green Gables.

6) What was your favourite book when you were ten years old?
Harriet the Spy.  Or James and the Giant Peach.

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
I actually haven’t read anything terrible in 2009. Probably my least favorite, though still good, was The Memorist, by M.J. Rose.

8) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
So far, my favorite book read in 2009 is Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell.

9) If you could force everyone you know to read one book, what would it be?
It’s hard to pick a book everyone would like, but I think everyone (all Americans at least) should read To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
I don’t know about the “next” Nobel Prize of Literature, but I wouldn’t be surprised if either Ian McEwan or Carlos Ruiz Zafon won it someday.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Hmmm . . . movies never seem to hold up to the book, but I would like to see what a director would do with The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
I’m not sure on this one.  There’s always the hope that the movie will do the book justice.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
Let’s see. I had a weird dream the other day that I was on an airplane with Jemaine and Brett from Flight of the Conchords. Does that count?  Probably not.  I can’t think of anything else, though.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
Wow. Confessions is what you want, eh? Okay, it would probably be Angels and Demons or The Da Vinci Code. There. I said it.

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy was quite tough, as was The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?
I’ve seen only a few performed live: Hamlet, Macbeth, and The Taming of the Shrew. So pick which one of those is the most obscure to you.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
The Russians. As in writers, right?

18) Roth or Updike?
Updike.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
David Sedaris.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare. Now, throw Dante or Austen in there and you have more of a debate.

21) Austen or Eliot?
Austen. Clearly.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Oh, there’s so many. Homer, Dickens, Hemingway, Faulkner, Joyce, McCarthy, Chabon, etc.

23) What is your favourite novel?
I think I’m going to have to go with Pride & Prejudice. I just love it so much. But, to round out my current top four, there’s The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak; Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck; and Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier

24) Play?
Hamlet.

25) Poem?
The Flock, by Billy Collins.

26) Essay?
Something in Book by Book, by Michael Dirda.

27) Short story?
Oh, there’s so many. Probably “The Way up to Heaven,” by Roald Dahl or “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor.

28) Work of nonfiction?
84, Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff.

29) Who is your favourite writer?
Jane Austen and John Steinbeck.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Dan Brown. Let’s just put it out there. Or possibly Stephenie Meyer.

31) What is your desert island book?
Besides the Bible and Building Boats for Dummies, it would be The Complete Works of Jane Austen, by Jane Austen. Sneaky. I know.

32) And what are you reading right now?
Love Begins in Winter, by Simon Van Booy

New in hardback today:

New in paperback today:

New in audiobook today:

Here is an abstract of my literary doings in May.

Books Read

It Sucked and Then I Cried, by Heather B. Armstrong – 5/4/2009
The Last Queen, by C. W. Gortner – 5/7/2009
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford – 5/11/2009
The Midwife’s Apprentice, by Karen Cushman – 5/12/2009
No One You Know, by Michelle Richmond – 5/16/2009
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart – 5/16/2009
The Angel’s Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – 5/29/2009

May Total = 7
Year-to-Date Total = 29

While I’m still mulling this one, I think my favorite book of May was The Angel’s Game.

Book Club

Everyone is Beautiful, by Katherine Center – Meeting: May 19, 2009
Persuasion, by Jane Austen – Online discussion

We had a very satisfactory discussion of Everyone is Beautiful. Every one of my book club members liked it, and a few found it to be life-altering. And, I really enjoyed Persuasion, my second Austen experience.

Our selections for June are Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons (face-to-face discussion) and 1984, by George Orwell (online discussion).

Challenges

Here’s my exceedingly long challenge list. Check out my Challenges page for updates all month long. This month I completed four challenges!

Book Awards II Challenge – 10/10 COMPLETED
Really Old Classics Challenge – 0/2 [ends 7/31/2009]
Themed Reading Challenge – 0/4 [ends 7/31/2009]
Chunkster Challenge – 6/6 COMPLETED
Book Awards III Challenge – 0/5 [ends 12/1/2009]
100+ Reading Challenge – 29/100 [ends 12/31/2009]
A Novel Challenge – 9/12 [ends 12/31/2009]
2009 Pub Challenge – 10/9 COMPLETED
A to Z Challenge – 16/26 [ends 12/31/2009]
ARC Reading Challenge – 13/22 [ends 12/31/2009]
Blog Improvement Project – 6/24 [ends 12/31/2009]
Casual Classics Challenge – 2/4 [ends 12/31/2009]
My Year of Reading Dangerously – 3/12 [ends 12/31/2009]
New Authors Challenge – 20/20 COMPLETED
Read Your Own Books Challenge – 23/50 [ends 12/31/2009]
Support Your Local Library Challenge – 5/12 [ends 12/31/2009]
TBR Lite Challenge – 0/6 [ends 12/31/2009]
What’s in a Name? Challenge – 3/6 [ends 12/31/2009]
YA Challenge – 5/12 [ends 12/31/2009]
Elizabeth Glaskell Mini-Challenge – 0/2 [ends 6/1/2010]

The Pulitzer Project – 8/83 [perpetual]
The Printz Project – 2/10 (+4 Honor books) [perpetual]
The Newberry Project – 16/88 (+7 Honor books) [perpetual]

Monthly Highlights

• I launched the Book Blog Guild! I’m still working all of the details out as I go, but this will hopefully grow into a hub of the book blog community. I hope you’ll consider joining.
• I continued my New Release feature that appears every Tuesday.
• I participated in two blog tours: Jamie Ford’s tour of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and C.W. Gortner’s tour of The Last Queen.
• I also posted two posts about blogging: 5 Ways to Get Review Copies of Books and Connecting Via Social Media
• And, I participated in Library Loot.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog this month!

1.  Participate in Blog Tours

This is perhaps the easiest way for new book bloggers to cut their teeth on review copies, because blog tour companies are always looking for willing reviewers.  The agreement is simple: in exchange for a copy of a book, you will read it and post a review of it on a specific date.  Just beware not to over book! (No pun intended.) I find that two blog tours a month is quite enough for me.

Here’s a list of a few blog tour companies.  I’ve done tours with all except Promo 101:

Blog Book Tours
Blog Stop Book Tours
Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tours
Pump Up Your Book Promotion
TLC Book Tours

2.  Subscribe to Shelf Awareness

Shelf Awareness – Daily Enlightenment for the Book Trade is an email newsletter delivered to your inbox each business day. It is full of information about the publishing industry – and advance reading copy (ARC) offers! Many of the ARCs I receive come from this source.

3. Sign Up For Reviewer Programs

Many book-related websites have programs for distributing ARCs to their members. Note that your chances of receiving additional books from these sources are greatly increased by posting reviews of the books you obtain in a speedy manner. Here are a few of the most popular programs:

Barnes and Noble First Look Book Club
Goodreads First Reads
Library Thing Early Reviewers

4. Subscribe to Publisher’s Newsletters

A great way to keep tabs on your favorite publishers is to subscribe to their newsletters. Many of the newsletters have information about how to get ARCs. For example, HarperCollins has a “First Look” newsletter that is specifically geared to reviewers. Here are a few of the newsletters to which I subscribe:

Hachette Book Group
HarperCollins
Knopf Doubleday
Random House
Simon & Schuster

5. Directly Contact Authors and Publishers

This one takes guts, but it usually pays off if you do it respectfully and professionally.  This method works best if you are after a specific book.  Linda Formichelli has put together a great list of publishers and their preferred methods of receiving book requests.  Google searches for authors and publishers work well too.  I’ve found that it’s best to do your research on the book, the author, and the publisher before you contact someone asking for a book.  Also, be prepared to share information about your blog and your blog’s audience.

BONUS TIP – Establish a Review Policy

It’s best to post your review policy on your blog prior to accepting review copies. Your policy should clearly delineate your preferred method of contact, your preferred genres, and your reading and posting policies. Here are several examples of detailed review policies:

The Bluestocking Society
Book Addiction
Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?
Maw Books Blog
Presenting Lenore

Okay, now you’ve read my list. How do you get your hands on those precious ARCs?

New in hardback today:

New in paperback today:

New in audiobook today:

And the winner of my copy of The Last Queen is . . . Darlene @ Peeking Between the Pages! Congratulations, Darlene. And thank you to all who entered.

Watch for more giveaways here at The Bluestocking Society soon!