June 2, 2010

Giveaway – The Last Bridge

I have fantastic news, dear readers!  In honor of Teri Coyne’s The Last Bridge that is now available in paperback, she has graciously offered a copy for Stack of Spines to host our first giveaway!  I read and reviewed The Last Bridge in 2009 when it was first published, so please be sure that I wouldn’t use my blog as a platform for a book that I didn’t recommend highly.  You can read my thoughts here.

After a ten-year absence, Alex “Cat” Rucker returns to her Ohio hometown because of a letter left on her mother’s kitchen table—a suicide note, carefully preserved in a Ziploc® bag, that reads:

“He isn’t who you think he is. Love, Mom”

Thus opens this stunning debut novel from author Teri Coyne, who, with wry humor and sharp wit, follows Alex’s journey through the traumatic experiences of her youth and the haze of her adult life.

While Alex tries to repress the memories of her brutal childhood—an abusive father, her estranged (and possibly illegitimate) brother, and the first love who would do anything to save her—she must face just how shattered she still is. At each step Alex confronts her biggest fears, realizes the impact of her choices, and inches closer to redemption. Can she embrace her vulnerabilities, talents, and desire for love, or will the revelations of her mother’s cryptic note prove too overwhelming for her to bear?

The Last Bridge is a perfect blend of suspense, despair, and romance—and at its heart lies the question: are we a product of our experiences or our choices?

Can I just say that I love the new cover art?  I do.  It’s fantastic and speaks to the novel much more than the water droplets featured on the hardcover version.

Also, be sure to check out Teri’s website and Facebook page!

Now for the fun part – the giveaway.  There are a few ways to enter, and each way serves as 1 entry for you with a maximum of 3 entries per person:

  • Leave a comment here stating what you know or like of my home state of Ohio (Michiganders are not excluded, so long as you are nice!)
  • Re-tweet an @stackofspines tweet mentioning @tericoyne
  • Link a blog entry to this post

The contest starts now and runs for one week – through Wednesday, June 9 at midnight.  Good luck!

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May 24, 2010

Review – Nineteen Minutes

I’ve been on a school shooting book kick, which is perhaps sad and somewhat bizarre, reading both fiction and non, (as exhibited here and here) so I of course had to add queen of societal conundrum and commentary Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes to my ABC Challenge list this year.

I’m not sure what I expected – I’d read My Sister’s Keeper and Plain Truth and was prepared for the whirlwind plot with unpredictable twists and turns – but this was my least favorite of the three.  I didn’t connect with any of the characters like I’d hoped.

Picoult added a dimension to the social discussion this time regarding Peter’s bullying, and I’m not sure if that adds to, or takes away from the seriousness of something like a school shooting.  There was the potential for another layer, but it was lost on me.

Along with that comes a very slippery slope for the author here – any author who takes on such a subject.  If you theme your novel around a bully provocation that puts some of the blame back on the surrounding community; similarly, if the killer is a psychopath, questions are raised based on family and mental health history.  There are no winners, ever – which translates to no fictional winners via their creators.  If someone is bullied, does that excuse it?  If someone’s beyond help mentally, does that mean it the tragedy couldn’t be prevented?  Anytime a fictional novel is based around actual events, there is a tacit explanation expected, however small.  Why else would you read something so grim?

In a roundabout way, I wasn’t thrilled with the presentation which perhaps tainted my view on the main theme of what exactly is possible in nineteen minutes.  Bullying, domestic violence, and murder were caught up in sidebars of happiness quotients, judge politics, midwifery, and covert romance.  The plot seemed slow at times, the characters didn’t draw me in, and the underlying themes were a scattered attempt to tidy up a messy subject that, in my opinion, shouldn’t be tidied up at all.

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May 22, 2010

Review – Heart of the Matter

Emily Giffin amazes me.  Her #1 criticism must be that four of her five books are themed around adultery in some way or another, and all contain the messy potential breakup of families and friendships.  And yet, I am still drawn to her books with their neatly themed covers and carefully thought out characters.

Heart of the Matter certainly fits the mold when it comes to Giffin’s style, just as Jennifer Weiner or Jodi Picoult’s books do if you read enough of them.  If you like her other novels, you will probably enjoy this one, but if you don’t, you won’t.  For some reason I love her style above all chick lit writers, which goes totally against my loyal and brutally honest nature.  It’s like an upper middle class train wreck you can’t walk past.  Her novels are thought-provoking enough to generate those inward questions any good book creates, but light enough to breeze through on the beach in a matter of hours.

I love that Giffin has a knack for telling a story from all of the sides, and I think that’s what she’s second-best known for.  I am in awe of her ability to create believable, realistic characters that make you want to root for them despite their (occasionally very obvious) flaws.  And when past characters pop up in the most unexpected places it’s a delight to see their situation through a where-are-they-now lens.

Alternating first person views, if done poorly, is one of the biggest pet peeves I have with novels.  If it’s done well, it magnifies the intensity of the story dramatically, and if it’s not, the writing seems somehow cheap.  At first I was nervous that style would not work for this book, but as I read on it was the obvious choice.  Tess and Valerie become somehow closer even as they simultaneously drift apart.  There was no hero, no villain, no neat and tidy package, and with this story Giffin reminds us that we’re all messy and complicated creatures.  There is no right answer in life, no linear path to follow, and nothing is ever as idyllic as it seems.

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May 20, 2010

In My Mailbox #1

It’s a big week here in the stack of spines house.  Because I’m a library and library sale junkie, I’ve never done an In My Mailbox post before.  So, this is exciting!  Most of the action my mailbox gets is in the form of junk mail.

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I haven’t won a book on GoodReads in quite a while, so I was thrilled (pun intended!) to win the sequel to Linda Castillo’s Sworn to Silence, which again features Painter’s Mill police chief Kate Burkholder in Pray for Silence.

In the quiet town of Painters Mill, an Amish family of seven has been found brutally murdered on their farm. Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and her small force have few clues, no motive, and no suspect. Formerly Amish herself, Kate is no stranger to secrets, but she can’t get her mind around the senseless brutality of the crime.

State agent John Tomasseti arrives on the scene to assist. He and Kate worked together on a previous case during which they began a tentative relationship, but each is wary of commitment. The disturbing details of this case will push them to their limits and force them to face demons from their own troubled pasts.

When Kate discovers a diary, she realizes a haunting personal connection to the case. One of the teenage daughters may have been leading a lurid double life. As the case develops, Kate’s list of suspects grows. Who is the attractive stranger that stole the heart of the innocent young Amish girl? Did her estranged brother—a man with a violent past who was shunned by his family and the Amish community—come back to seek out revenge? Driven by her own scarred past, Kate swears she’ll find the killer and bring him to justice—even if it means putting herself in the line of fire.

Topping her own bestselling debut, Linda Castillo once again immerses readers in the world of the Amish with a chilling story that is both a fast-paced thriller and compelling psychological puzzle.

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AND…it’s my birthday today and what kind of birthday would it be without a book as a gift?

It’s become a bit of a tradition since Emily Giffin’s books conveniently come out the second week in May that I receive one; I have her whole collection that got me hooked just as I was about to tie the knot.

Tessa Russo is the mother of two young children and the wife of a renowned pediatric surgeon.  Despite her own mother’s warnings, Tessa has recently given up her career to focus on her family and the pursuit of domestic happiness. From the outside, she seems destined to live a charmed life.

Valerie Anderson is an attorney and single mother to six-year-old Charlie–a boy who has never known his father.  After too many disappointments, she has given up on romance–and even to some degree, friendships–believing that it is always safer not to expect too much.

Although both women live in the same Boston suburb, the two have relatively little in common aside from a fierce love for their children.  But one night, a tragic accident causes their lives to converge in ways no one could have imagined.

In alternating, pitch-perfect points of view, Emily Giffin creates a moving, luminous story of good people caught in untenable circumstances. Each being tested in ways they never thought possible. Each questioning everything they once believed. And each ultimately discovering what truly matters most.

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Reviews coming soon!

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May 17, 2010

Review – The Secret Life of Bees

I think this book has been on my mental to-read list for the longest amount of time – 5 years at least.  I am sad I waited so long to get to know the characters that Sue Monk Kidd so eloquently crafts within these pages.

The story itself is relatively simple and is the perfect mix of sadness, friendship, mystery, and hope with a touch of that childhood anger and frustration you remember so well but wasn’t yet equipped to articulate.  Lily’s life is unfortunate to be sure, but the main element I loved the most was that she could be any child grappling with the pain of her past that she doesn’t yet understand.  We have all soldiered through a tough event in life and looked back confused, asking ourselves if we really want to know the intimate details of that defining moment.  I saw myself as Lily so easily as the book flew through my hands, which must be why so many have it rated high on their list of favorites.  It’s heartwarming in the most basic sense of the word, and I cherish that Kidd did not try to overly-complicate the book with deep themes.  The ones that do stand out are beautiful.

Lily says

Up until then I’d thought that white people and colored people getting along was the big aim, but after that I decided everybody being colorless together was a better plan.

and later August notes

People can start out one way and by the time life gets through with them they end up completely different.  I don’t doubt he started off loving your mother.  In fact, I think he worshiped her.

The Secret Life of Bees is alive, just like those that buzz on August’s farm.  Our sons and daughters should be reading this instead of Twilight.

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May 13, 2010

Review – In the President’s Secret Service

I picked up this book because my mother-in-law brought it to town with her during this last trip.  And since I can’t resist the pull of a normally hush hush topic, I had to read it.

In the President’s Secret Service had such potential.  SUCH potential.  In reality, the book was put together so poorly I often asked myself how it got to press in the first place.  It felt like all the vignettes of Secret Service protectees were thrown together based on where they fit, and some stories were only a sentence or two.  Similarly, the alleged mismanagement of the Secret Service was addressed in three separate (somewhat irrelevant) places instead of in its own chapter.  Each was structured to be titled after a Secret Service code name – Bush 43 was Trailblazer, as an example.  And while chapters contained information about various figures, there was also weapons commentary, remarks on who respected who, and random other tie-ins.

Kessler railed on current Secret Service practices and then only offered a sentence or two suggestion for improvement and left it at that.  I’m not sure what his goal was – to inform (and horrify) the people and hope we spring into action?

In the beginning, I was intrigued by two great chapters about Lincoln and Kennedy’s assassinations and how the United States learned from the errors that occurred before both.  And he offered a brief snippet about the way the world has changed since – we are not after a lone sniper any longer but rather suicide bombers willing to risk it all.  But nothing tied it all together.  In between Kessler discussed the Bush daughters evading their protective cover and drinking underage.  Maddening.

I finished the book and felt cheated.  Johnson and Nixon are jerks.  Hillary Clinton and John McCain have tempers.  Michelle Obama is respectful and Laura Bush always makes sure the agents are fed.  Got it.  (And truth be told, I can’t say I’m that shocked by any of it.)

All the good spoilers on the back cover.  Next time you’re in the bookstore, grab the highlights that way, but don’t waste your time inside the pages.

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May 10, 2010

Review – The Handmaid’s Tale

I am not sure what to think of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.  It’s almost so scary you don’t want to fully process the gravity of the society that the unnamed women live in.

A place where nearly all women are un-named and live in some form of sexual slavery and freedoms were taken away so gradually and in the name of fear everyone agreed without noticing the consequences, I probably would not have read this book if I realized at the outset how depressing it was. The Handmaid’s Tale is dense.  And heavy.  I often had more questions than answers by virtue of the writing style and wish the origin of the societal change was better explained.  But, that was likely Atwood’s plan from the beginning.  Most dystopian novels I’ve read that take place in the future are ripe with draw-your-own-conclusions undertones, and The Handmaid’s Tale is no exception.  Each time I put the book down I sat quietly and had to process what I’d just witnessed.  Atwood makes you feel like you are in a dream bubble, floating above the sad and disturbing world she describes.

I found it on a few Best Book Club discussion lists on GoodReads and I really think having someone to work through the plot, chapter by chapter, would be beneficial.  The Handmaid’s Tale is worth reading, but don’t take it to the beach.

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May 9, 2010

Bookstore Spotlight – The Book Loft

There is a hometown favorite here, The Book Loft, that takes up the length of an entire city block and is 32 rooms of awesome.  In historic German Village, this book store is like no other.  They will never have a Starbucks.

My college friend Melissa was in town for business this weekend and stayed a little later to spend time with me.  As we chatted about books, especially We Need to Talk about Kevin, I realized had to show her this awesome and neat place.

After browsing for 2 hours and hitting every section, I ended up with Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.  It was too on sale to pass up!

Anybody recommend this one?  Melissa said she loved it.

If you are ever in Columbus, check out The Book Loft.

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May 3, 2010

Review – Committed

I have a girl crush on Elizabeth Gilbert’s voice.  She seems like such an interesting lady and her warm writing style envelops me like a warm throw blanket and a cup of hot tea.

I jumped on the Liz love bandwagon after reading her smash hit Eat, Pray, Love and enjoyed every minute of her whirlwind adventure right up until the very end, when I felt absolutely robbed that she fell in love in Bali.  I suppose you can’t help who you meet and when, but it just seemed so cliche that her year of healing herself and striving to become a strong, independent woman was covered up with the shiny wrapping paper of a new relationship with a MAN.  So, when I heard she actually married this guy, I had to know how that could have possibly happened.  I thought she swore off marriage?

One of the most interesting parts of this memoir is the beginning where Gilbert accounts her previous novels of cowboys, truck drivers, athletes, and strong male figures that had defined her career prior to Eat, Pray, Love.  That she became famous with “chick lit” was not even on her radar of possibilities in a million years – right up there with getting married again.  And see, she got me again, because now I must read one of these burly tales.

As open as Eat, Pray, Love was with her personal struggles, I really think Committed explains more about Gilbert’s life and her reasoning behind her actions.  Not that she should have to explain her decisions to anyone, but if you were left feeling slightly lost with her first memoir, I’d recommend her sophomore work for that reason alone.  Her easy and colloquial language makes the book fly by.

So Elizabeth Gilbert’s journey with Committed begins because she is made to marry her Brazilian born Australian citizenship holding world traveler boyfriend she met living in Bali (got all that?) because the US government won’t let him back in the states otherwise.  Marrying someone for legal reasons is tricky, and it’s even trickier if the aforementioned parties are more than a little gun-shy of tying the knot ever again.  Ever.

While they wait for lawyers and paperwork and interviews, Liz and Felipe travel where they can be together in Eastern Asia.  Gilbert is forced to accept her impending reality and decide what marriage really means to her and what went so horribly wrong the first time around.  Heavy at times with mostly interesting but occasionally tiring historical data, Gilbert evaluates the traditional, cultural, and modern definitions of marriage while she attempts to form her own ideas and craft a lasting agreement with Felipe.

As I just celebrated my 2-year anniversary, I found the questions and insights Gilbert grappled with very worthy of applying to my own life and marriage.

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April 28, 2010

Review – Curtains

Tom Jokinen reminds us all that the funeral business is a business.  Though not as scientific or in-depth as Mary Roach’s Stiff, Curtains outlines Jokinen’s foray into the death industry as he navigates traditional rituals, the cultural aspect of burial & cremation, and what exactly forever entails.  Not terribly morbid or off-putting, I enjoyed Jokinen’s conversational style very much.  He seems like a very interesting and perceptive fellow.  When I think about my own death (a somewhat scary thought), I quite agree with his conclusion that he drew at the end of the novel that less is more.

Previous to reading Curtains, I’d never put much thought to the notion that as North American (the book takes place mostly in Winnipeg) customs change, funeral homes must adapt.  The adage “Nothing is certain except death and taxes” is absolutely true, but what happens when customs change and the service they once provided is no longer necessary?  Sure, there are funeral directors out to make a big buck with giant casket, service markups, and up-selling, but there are also families in the business who care deeply about what they do; however, caring deeply does not automatically ensure the safety of their livelihood.

The truth is that people have options.  Perhaps they don’t realize it because they are in a period of serious grief with the recent passing of their loved one, but as Jokinen points out, there is no right or wrong way to remember someone.  Curtains is an enlightening and different kind of memoir, and a solid weekend read.

^Hey FTC, Curtains was a gift of Da Capo Press.

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