Inside Michelle's Brain - Reviews

These are my thoughts on various trends that have me rolling my eyes, raising my eyebrows and in general wondering about the state of book blogging. I've discussed readathons, giveaways, blog hops, rules and reasons to start blogging, followers, comments, and overdoing guest blogging. Now I tackle reviewing.


As a book blogger, reviews are our bread and butter. Our words are used by publishers and authors to create anticipation about pending and new releases or get an idea of what books are going to be big sellers. Authors use our words to adjust and improve their writing. Let's face it - our reviews are what make us important (well, that and our love of books). They are what we do.

However, I continue to see reviews that are poorly written and/or fail to be objective in any way. Some bloggers hesitate to write anything negative, even going so far as to ignore those books left unfinished for various reasons. Even worse, there seems to be a new trend of looking for and focusing solely on the negative aspects of books. For every well-written blog, there are at least three or four poorly written ones. This, to me, is a disturbing trend.

You make be asking, "But Michelle, why do you care?" I care because I am proud of being a book blogger, and I take pride in my work. Call me old-fashioned, but I was raised to always give my best effort in everything. The adage "a job worth doing is a job worth doing well" is one of my unspoken and unconscious life mottoes. I treat my blog like my job, always striving to put forth my best work and constantly looking for areas of improvement. I take CPE credits to maintain my expertise in my chosen field in real life, and I continue to read and write to improve my writing skills here on the Interwebz. It is important for me to do this because for the vast majority of my readers, these words will be the only way by which you can get to know me. I want to be known as an erudite, well-spoken, thoughtful blogger because that is who I am in real life. Something can still be considered a hobby, which is what blogging is to me, but still invoke my professionalism.

For the vast majority of the bloggers out there, I do not get this same sense of professionalism and self-respect. So, what do I mean by unprofessionalism? I mean either extremely positive or extremely negative reviews. I mean criticizing a novel or an author so badly that it begins to take on the feel of a personal attack. I mean gushing about a book so badly that the thoughts are not coherent. I firmly believe there is no book that is 100 percent awesome or 100 percent awful. There is ALWAYS something which could use some improvement or something positive to be found within a novel's pages. More importantly, no author sets out to write a bad book. When someone is overly critical about an author's work, that is similar to someone coming up to you and criticizing your work. The mere fact that an author is able to get a novel published is worthy of our respect, and our reviews should reflect that respect. It is okay to point out why you did not like something, but to let the discussion spiral into a rant against the author's ability to write is completely inappropriate.

This is not to say that no one should ever write a negative review. There is a way to write them in such a way that anyone reading it can understand why you did not like a book, but that it is your own biases impacting your opinion and in no way is the fault of the author. The same can be applied to books not finished. I don't feel that a blogger should ignore them. There is obviously a reason why you didn't want to continue reading them, and there is a way to let your audience know these reasons without it becoming trash talk against the book or against the author. I try to do this with every review. I will admit that with some reviews, I am less successful at being overly harsh than I would like, but I always try to keep the feelings of the author in mind when writing up my thoughts.

If we want to continue being an important part of the book world, there needs to be room for both positive and negative reviews on a blog. We owe it to our readers, to authors, and to publishers to be honest and open about what we read and why. We should not be afraid to share our opinions in a respectful manner. More importantly, we should continue to consider ourselves professionals and act as such. I confess, when I was purging my feed reader earlier this year, it was actually quite easy for me to discern which blogs needed to go by their poor writing and extreme reviews. I would love to see the day where to purge a feed reader is pure agony because then I feel we are doing our jobs as bloggers. My fear is that as the book blogging world continues to grow, it is going to be more and more difficult separating the wheat from the chaff for everyone, and the power of book bloggers will diminish as publishers and authors struggle to find the gems hidden among all the rubble. This does the entire community a disservice.

I'm curious what you think about this. Am I a blog snob, or do I have a legitimate concern here? Have you been seeing something similar in your feeds? What are your own approaches to reviews?

REVIEW - A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Title: A Moveable Feast

Author: Ernest Hemingway

Synopsis (Courtesy of Powell's Books):

"Published posthumously in 1964, "A Moveable Feast" remains one of Hemingway's most beloved works. It is his classic memoir of Paris in the 1920s, filled with irreverent portraits of other expatriate luminaries and insightful recollections of his own early experiments with his craft."

Thoughts: A Moveable Feast is a relatively light-hearted collection of essays and vignettes about Hemingway’s life in post-war Paris with his first wife Hadley. His uber-mensch personality explodes from the page, as he expresses even the minutest details of his life at this time. From his obvious enjoyment at eating and drinking, to his somewhat guilty pleasure at gambling on horses, to his very serious and methodical approach to his writing, every word is carefully crafted to afford the reader a very intimate glimpse into Papa Hemingway’s life as a young man and young father.

His essays are a veritable who’s who of the literary elite, as he shares his impressions on such notables as Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among others. As one would expect from such a larger-than-life character, he does not hold back in his praise, his sarcasm, or his honesty. The reader gets a very clear image of the life these expatriates lived at this time, all the while learning a bit more about Hemingway’s frame of mind. As acquaintance after acquaintance succumbs to mental instability, poverty, infamy, or illness in the form of suicide or death, Hemingway’s easy acceptance of such events is chilling, especially given the family history and his own unfortunate demise.

Hemingway’s obsession with taking a novel into new directions is apparent to even the casual reader, as he plays with his sentence structure and word choice in each new essay. He does not bother to hide his aspirations to be considered one of the world’s greatest authors and frequently references the fact that his own opinion of his ability as well as his works are extremely high already. The evolution of his skills and well as the growing sense of egotism at those skills is interesting to watch unfold, especially if the reader has experienced any of Hemingway’s other works.

A Moveable Feast is one of those novels of which a reader can easily finish in one sitting and enjoy every minute of it. Even the most depressing essays have their charm, while their glimpses of the artistic Parisian life in the 1920s are unparalleled. Ernest Hemingway simply comes alive again on each page. It is easy to see why some consider A Moveable Feast one of his best works, as Ernest Hemingway comes alive on each page.

Acknowledgements: I purchased this on my own.

TLC Book Tours presents The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen

Title: The Grief of Others

Author: Leah Hager Cohen

Synopsis (Courtesy of Powell's Books):

"The Ryries have suffered a loss: the death of a baby just fifty-seven hours after his birth. Without words to express their grief, the parents, John and Ricky, try to return to their previous lives. Struggling to regain a semblance of normalcy for themselves and for their two older children, they find themselves pretending not only that little has changed, but that their marriage, their family, have always been intact. Yet in the aftermath of the baby's death, long-suppressed uncertainties about their relationship come roiling to the surface. A dreadful secret emerges with reverberations that reach far into their past and threaten their future.

The couple's children, ten-year-old Biscuit and thirteen-year-old Paul, responding to the unnamed tensions around them, begin to act out in exquisitely- perhaps courageously-idiosyncratic ways. But as the four family members scatter into private, isolating grief, an unexpected visitor arrives, and they all find themselves growing more alert to the sadness and burdens of others-to the grief that is part of every human life but that also carries within it the power to draw us together."

Thoughts: The Grief of Others explores the breakdown of communication that typically results during periods of loss, no matter what the cause of the loss. Everyone handles loss differently, and through the eyes of six different characters, Ms. Cohen showcases the various ways others are affected by a typically internalized feeling. Often heartbreaking, The Grief of Others comes across as a warning shot to others who may be experiencing similar emotional upheaval.

Unfortunately, what starts out as poignant individualized stories of coping ends up devolving into a bewildering cacophony of chaos as the characters begin to come together and share their burdens with each other. This results with the introduction of two characters outside the Ryrie household through which the Ryries are forced to come to grips with their own mourning. Without the additional characters, the story would have remained concise and powerful. With the two characters, however, there are two more distractions from the overall story that detract from the Ryries’ experiences.

Ms. Cohen does a tremendous job capturing the subtleties of various reactions, especially the reactions of the children. From Biscuit’s fascination with funereal rights, Paul’s self-imposed isolation from all but one of his peers, Ricky’s withdrawal from her family, and John’s bewilderment, all four struggle with the long-lasting results of not seeking closure and discussing their feelings with each other at the time of the incident. Readers with children of similar ages to Biscuit and Paul will agonize over their withdrawals and mute forms of rebellion.

Unfortunately, Ricky’s and John’s struggles are not as powerful, as Ricky and John are not as sympathetic. Ricky’s motivations behind her decision to withhold key information from her husband are never fully explained in a satisfactory manner. John’s reactions to her “betrayal” appear overly dramatic for the situation. Furthermore, whereas Ms. Cohen satisfactorily concludes Biscuit and Paul’s futures, Ricky and John’s futures remain deliberately open to interpretation by the reader. It is frustrating and a trivialization to the seriousness of infidelity and trust on a marriage.

The Grief of Others is a book of two parts. When the story revolves around Paul’s and Biscuit’s issues, it is a poignant story that tugs on the heartstrings, as these two lost children try to grope their way around a larger world in which they have been left to flounder by their grieving parents. When the story revolves around Ricky and John, it is a maudlin, overly simplistic sermon on the dangers of keeping secrets and the importance of trust in a marriage. The two stories eventually come together by the end of the novel to create a confusing narrative in which a reader is not certain just what to take away from it in the end. That Ms. Cohen is trying to present her readers with a specific lesson is very clear; just what that lesson is remains unclear. It is the unfortunate dichotomy of story lines that creates a majority of the muddiness, which is unfortunate when one considers just how powerful the story could have been with the right focus.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to TLC Book Tours and Riverhead Books for my advanced reading copy!

For further thoughts on The Grief of Others, please check out the other stops on the book tour!

• Tuesday, September 13th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
• Wednesday, September 14th: Book Addiction
• Thursday, September 15th: BookNAround
• Monday, September 19h: Colloquium
• Monday, September 19th: Crazy for Books
• Tuesday, September 20th: Life In Review
• Wednesday, September 21st: 2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews
• Thursday, September 22nd: A Cozy Reader’s Corner
• Monday, September 26th: The House of the Seven Tails
• Tuesday, September 27th: Library of Clean Reads
• Thursday, September 29th: StephTheBookworm
• Monday, October 3rd: A Bookish Way of Life
• Tuesday, October 4th: In the Next Room
• Wednesday, October 5th: Laura’s Reviews
• Thursday, October 6th: Peeking Between the Pages
• Friday, October 7th: Iwriteinbooks’s blog

REVIEW - The Year Everything Changed by Georgia Bockoven

Title: The Year Everything Changed

Author: Georgia Bockoven

Synopsis (Courtesy of Powell's Books):

" 'As Jessie Patrick Reed’s attorney, I’m writing to you on behalf of your father, Jessie Patrick Reed. I regret to inform you that Mr. Reed is dying. He has expressed a desire to see you...'

Elizabeth, even though sustained by a loving family, has suffered the most from her father’s seeming abandonment and for years has protected herself with a deep-seated anger that she hides from everyone.

Ginger, in love with a married man, will be forced to reevaluate every relationship she’s ever had and will reach stunning conclusions that will change her life forever.

Rachel learns of her father’s existence the same day she finds out that her husband of ten years has had an affair. She will receive the understanding and support she needs to survive from an unlikely and surprising source.

Christine is a young filmmaker, barely out of college, who now must decide if her few precious memories of a man she believed to be long dead are enough to give him a second chance.

Four sisters who never knew the others existed will find strength, love, and answers in the most unexpected places."

Thoughts: The Year Everything Changed is an immensely readable, albeit predictable, story about family and love. Four women are thrown together at the behest of their biological father. Two never knew him; two were seemingly abandoned by him at young ages. All must adjust their expectations and opinions of him in order to seek closure, if closure is what they seek. No matter what their relationship to their biological father, all must adjust to the fact that they each have three "new" sisters.

There is not much that is a surprise in Georgia Bockoven's latest novel. The reader can predict every plot twist and turn in the novel several pages, if not chapters, in advance. The characters are one-dimensional with little to no character development. The novel itself is too short to adequately build any empathy with any of the characters or to learn more about them at a level deeper than the superficial. It is a testament to Ms. Bockoven's writing that in spite of all this, a reader will find it difficult to stop reading. In fact, I would say that I kept reading The Year Everything Changed because of these normally negative elements.

The Year Everything Changed makes no demands on the reader. One only has to suspend a modicum of disbelief at some of the occurrences. The story is prettily written, glossing over some of the more dubious situations with lighthearted grace. It requires no deep philosophical studies but rather shows the ebbs and flows of love - parent, spouse, child - over generations and how one's perceptions can so easily be skewed by others. It is a simple reminder that one very rarely knows the entire story of someone else's actions.

The Year Everything Changed fits in to the ubiquitous genre of "chick lit". I think a more fitting term would be to describe it as "relationship lit" since the novel is more about the relationships between parent and child than about women in general. As expected, there are no earth-shattering revelations. Instead, it is a charming story about love that is ridiculously difficult to put down and that leaves a reader with the all-important "warm fuzzies". Everyone deserves/ needs a book like this periodically.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Megan Traynor from William Morrow for my review copy!

REVIEW - Little Black Dress by Susan McBride

Title: Little Black Dress

Author: Susan McBride

Synopsis (Courtesy of Powell's Books):

"Two sisters whose lives seemed forever intertwined are torn apart when a magical little black dress gives each one a glimpse of an unavoidable future.

Antonia Ashton has worked hard to build a thriving career and a committed relationship, but she realizes her life has gone off track. Forced to return home to Blue Hills when her mother, Evie, suffers a massive stroke, Toni finds the old Victorian where she grew up as crammed full of secrets as it is with clutter. Now she must put her mother’s house in order—and uncover long-buried truths about Evie and her aunt, Anna, who vanished fifty years earlier on the eve of her wedding. By shedding light on the past, Toni illuminates her own mistakes and learns the most unexpected things about love, magic, and a little black dress with the power to break hearts . . . and mend them."

Thoughts: Little Black Dress by Susan McBride is one of those charming but forgettable woman’s lit stories. Revolving around a mysterious black dress and its impact on three members of a family, the dress now falls into the hands of the next generation at a time of another family crisis. Secrets will be revealed, and everyone will find their happily ever after in predictable fashion.

This is not to say that Little Black Dress is a horrible novel that no one should read. It is charming in its own right, as such novels usually are. Antonia is a strong character, determined to forge her own path through life, even when it takes her away from her loved ones. She has a strained relationship with her mother, filled with unspoken needs and wants and harmed by years of secrets, just as Evie’s own relationship with her sister was damaged so many years ago.

Where Ms. McBride does excel is in the details. Whether she is describing the Mississippi River or a winery, the reader is transported to Blue Hills, Missouri with little effort. She acknowledges the improbable at the same time she is incorporating it into the story, i.e. a dress made out of silk spun by spiders that is indestructible. The jokes made about the origins of the dress do much to dispel one’s inability to believe.

Little Black Dress is at best a cute story. It is not going to change the world. It is not going to cause any epiphanies. Rather, it will allow the reader to spend an enjoyable afternoon getting to know Toni and Evie, and may even cause just one reader to pick up the phone and reach out to an estranged relative or friend. Every novel should result in such actions.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Megan Traynor from William Morrow for my review copy!

The Sunday Salon - September 25, 2011

Happy Sunday, everyone! If I seem a bit distracted today, it is because my beloved Packers are playing the hated Chicago Bears as I type. It is a vicious rivalry, made all the worse because I grew up in the Chicago suburbs but remained true to my Wisconsin roots with my love of the Green and Gold. Attending one of these games is definitely on my bucket list. For now, I will remain content with watching them on the television.

Thanks for all the well wishes last week! I am definitely feeling better. I am not certain if it was exhaustion or if it was something more serious but all the sleep I got last weekend seemed to make a difference.

On the work front, the sales and purchase agreement between Cargill and Kerry was officially signed on Wednesday. They now have twenty days to present us with our formal offers for employment, and the sale should be final sometime in December. I have my good days and bad days about this entire scenario. I have noticed that as I get closer to finding out what the company has in store for me, I get more nervous and more despondent. Thankfully, the waiting game is almost over. I will definitely keep everyone posted!

It was back to basics on the blog this week with reviews, reviews and more reviews. Here they are if you missed them the first time:

• Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell
• Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
• The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison
• The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
• Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey

I would normally share with you what I finished this week, but the Pack is getting ready to score again. I need to cheer them on. Have a great week, everyone! Happy reading!

REVIEW - Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey

Title: Becoming Marie Antoinette

Author: Juliet Grey

Synopsis (Courtesy of Powell's Books):

"Raised alongside her numerous brothers and sisters by the formidable empress of Austria, ten-year-old Maria Antonia knew that her idyllic existence would one day be sacrificed to her mother’s political ambitions. What she never anticipated was that the day in question would come so soon.

Before she can journey from sunlit picnics with her sisters in Vienna to the glitter, glamour, and gossip of Versailles, Antonia must change everything about herself in order to be accepted as dauphine of France and the wife of the awkward teenage boy who will one day be Louis XVI. Yet nothing can prepare her for the ingenuity and influence it will take to become queen."

Thoughts: In Juliet Grey’s Becoming Marie Antoinette, it is easy for a reader to forget the tragic fate that awaits Marie and her husband. Under Ms. Grey’s skilled pen, she steps away from being the frivolous creature who worries more about the latest fashions than the people and becomes a person placed into an unfortunate set of circumstances, about which she had neither the education or support to make any changes. Meticulously researched, Marie Antoinette comes to life in this first in a trilogy about her life. The reader will never look at the French Revolution in the same way again.

The story starts out with Maria Antonia as the youngest daughter of the Hapsburg dynasty. Born among royalty, she has lead a sheltered and stable life, adored by servants, sisters, and governesses, and with access to more material wealth than most of her subjects will ever see in a lifetime. Her parents married for love, a rarity among royalty, and it is by this standard that Maria Antonia grades all other marriages, even as she knows full well that she will not be as lucky. For she has been raised knowing that her sole asset lies in her ability to unite the Hapsburgs to other royal families through marriage. Her worth is only as high as the marriage contract that can be written on her behalf. To know this at the age of ten is both disheartening and exceptionally pragmatic. Maria has no qualms about her duty and understands the political implications behind such arrangements. While she can still hope and dream like most normal little girls, she realizes that she will be lucky if only one or two of those dreams comes true. For her, happily ever after is as much a fairy tale ending as it is for the rest of her subjects.

The story showcases Maria Antonia’s transformation from gawky pre-teen to charming queen. Once the negotiations to become the future queen of France are underway, the Hapsburgs stop at nothing to prepare her for her future role, including elocution and diction training, a personal hairdresser, a bevy of tutors to get her up to speed on French history, and even 18th century braces. She succumbs to all of it quietly, as it is made more than clear that the fate of her family dynasty rides on this marriage. It is a rather heavy burden to allow someone so young to bear, but it was also the norm for 18th century royalty.

Through the extensive research provided by Ms. Grey, the reader gets a clear understanding of the changes required before Maria Antonia was considered acceptable enough to become Marie Antoinette. The reader also gets a detailed image of life in both royal Vienna and in Versailles during the waning years of Louis the Fifteenth’s life. If anyone considered the French court to be the epitome of royal life, the one is quickly disabused of that opinion within minutes of Marie Antoinette setting foot on the grounds of Versailles. Ms. Grey does not mince words at the more indelicate aspects of life near the royals, which only highlights the hypocrisy of some of the more eye-raising protocol young Marie faces as a new bride.

In Ms. Grey’s eyes, Marie Antoinette is as much a victim to her circumstances as is the poverty-stricken she tries so hard to help in any way possible. While the story ends just as Louis the Sixteenth becomes king, there is still hope that Marie and Louis will be the queen and king they hope to be -compassionate, understanding, and available to their subjects. There are hints, however, that neither is very politically savvy, and the ease with which they are both manipulated after their marriage is disturbing and saddening. In spite of it all though, Marie remains sympathetic in her fight to remain true to her family, while carving out her own place among the French royals. Being thrown into a veritable lions’ den at such a young age would be enough to undo most young women. Marie Antoinette more than survives the gauntlet; she overcomes and rises to the top. It will be interesting to see how much that becomes her undoing in the next two novels.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Ballantine Publishing and NetGalley for my e-galley!

REVIEW - The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson

Title: The Lantern

Author: Deborah Lawrenson

Synopsis (Courtesy of Powell's Books):

"Meeting Dom was the most incredible thing that had ever happened to me. When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom in Switzerland, their whirlwind relationship leads them to Les Genevriers, an abandoned house set among the fragrant lavender fields of the South of France. Each enchanting day delivers happy discoveries: hidden chambers, secret vaults, a beautiful wrought-iron lantern. Deeply in love and surrounded by music, books, and the heady summer scents of the French countryside, Eve has never felt more alive.

But with autumn’s arrival the days begin to cool, and so, too, does Dom. Though Eve knows he bears the emotional scars of a failed marriage—one he refuses to talk about—his silence arouses suspicion and uncertainty. The more reticent Dom is to explain, the more Eve becomes obsessed with finding answers—and with unraveling the mystery of his absent, beautiful ex-wife, Rachel.

Like its owner, Les Genevriers is also changing. Bright, warm rooms have turned cold and uninviting; shadows now fall unexpectedly; and Eve senses a presence moving through the garden. Is it a ghost from the past or a manifestation of her current troubles with Dom? Can she trust Dom, or could her life be in danger?

Eve does not know that Les Genevriers has been haunted before. Benedicte Lincel, the house’s former owner, thrived as a young girl within the rich elements of the landscape: the violets hidden in the woodland, the warm wind through the almond trees. She knew the bitter taste of heartbreak and tragedy—long-buried family secrets and evil deeds that, once unearthed, will hold shocking and unexpected consequences for Eve."

Thoughts: The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson is garnering a lot of attention these days because of the many comparisons to the outstanding Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Yet, these comparisons only do The Lantern a disservice because while it is similar, it is distinct and well-written enough to more than stand on its own as a modern Gothic novel. Wisely, Ms. Lawrenson does not shy away from the comparisons. Instead, she acknowledges them by specifically mentioning du Maurier’s masterpiece, having Eve read it while surrounded by her own mysterious goings-on. It is a brilliant stroke of writing, to recognize the inevitable comparisons while not-so-subtly pointing out why the comparisons are not as accurate as one may initially perceive.

The Lantern is strong enough to stand on its own accolades, of which there are many. Told between the former mistress of Les Genevriers and its current mistress, Ms. Lawrenson deftly weaves the probable and improbable elements together. At its heart, however, is the larger than life Les Genevriers and the greater backdrop of Provence. The descriptions of the area alone are worth the read, as Ms. Lawrenson forces the reader to stop and smell the lavender as well as the roses. Provence comes alive under her descriptive narrative.

The strong writing makes up for the weaker elements of the story. Of the two narrators, Eve is definitely the weaker one, as she blusters her way into understanding the truth, falling prey to misdirection and her own inability to stick to her resolve. Her vacillating nature becomes fairly whiny towards the end of the novel, in direct contrast to Benedicte’s narration and strength of character. Unfortunately, Eve is given the louder voice of the two, and the reader must overcome any lack of sympathy towards her to get some resolution.

The Lantern is one novel that I feel would be better as an audio book than written, and reviews of the audiobook support my hypothesis. With the narrator switches every chapter, and only the most subtle of clues is given to help the reader with the switch, a reader can quickly lose track of who is speaking at any given time. The reader needs the verbal cues that accompany the audio performance, making it easier for the reader to follow along and discern which character is narrating. This would also help set the tone a bit more, as the reader can listen to the story instead of having to decipher who is speaking.

Still, The Lantern, in print, is the perfect read for this time of year. The weather is such a key element in setting the mood throughout the novel, and as the weather turns blustery throughout the United States, the reader will be drawn into the spookier elements of the story. Ms. Lawrenson excels at forcing the reader to guess the truth behind the hauntings; just when the reader thinks all is resolved, she throws another misdirection or clue into the story. The epilogue itself will leave the reader with goosebumps and a sense of appreciation for everything Ms. Lawrenson accomplished throughout the novel.

The Lantern is going to continue to be a highlight of the season because it is one of those novels that seemingly has it all - a gorgeous backdrop, shady characters with mysterious and unknown pasts, tragedy, and hauntings. While it isn’t quite as strong as the novel to which it is being compared the most, it is able to stand on its own thanks to the strength of Ms. Lawrenson’s writing and the beauty and charm of Provence that comes alive under her pen. This is the perfect read to help you get into an autumn frame of mind.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Danielle Plafsky at Harper Books for my review copy!

REVIEW - The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison

Title: The Very Thought of You

Author: Rosie Alison

Synopsis (Courtesy of Powell's Books):

"England, 31st August 1939: The world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade Poland, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Torn from her mother, eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated with other children to a large Yorkshire estate which has been opened up to evacuees by Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, an enigmatic, childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn into their unraveling relationship, seeing things that are not meant for her eyes and finding herself part-witness and part-accomplice to a love affair with unforeseen consequences. A story of longing, loss, and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle psychological observation, The Very Thought of You is not just a love story but a story about love."

Thoughts: The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison is a surprisingly complicated story about love and loss of those left behind by the soldiers at the dawn of World War II. It follows the stories of multiple characters during the war and beyond, as they each try to find happiness and love during a time of tumult and chaos. Some are more successful than others, while others remain content with what they are able to experience.

The multiple character plot strands become a bit confusing after a while. There is the love triangle between Thomas, Elizabeth, and Ruth. Then there is Anna and her childish longings for her mother and for a father figure, and Roberta finding happiness and a newly-gained sense of freedom in war-torn London. There are too many characters for any one to be developed properly, and the individual stories do not coincide well enough for a continuously smooth transition from one strand to another. The result is a jagged, often confusing, jump from one character to another with no sense of continuity.

Another point of contention is the fact that the ending seems rushed. Three-fourths of the novel occurs during World War II and is strengthened by the reader’s knowledge of what is occurring during that time. The final section of the novel, approximately fifty pages, covers a time span of over sixty years. This is a huge jump in time with very little or explanation or connection to previous sections. The reader is left feeling that Ms. Alison was compelled to connect two key plot lines together without thinking through the impact it would have on the overall novel. Some stories are best left open-ended, without the author connecting the dots. The Very Thought of You would have been one of them, had Ms. Alison left well enough alone and ended the novel with the second world war.

The Very Thought of You was shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize for fiction, and I must confess that I remain unconvinced as to why it was. I was not drawn into any of the stories and found several of the key characters quite despicable. None of them had very much backbone, and while their weaknesses created much of the drama, I still scoffed at some of the realism behind their actions.

The Very Thought of You is one of those novels in which my expectations did not live up to reality, in that I was really hoping to read a story about the children sent away during the London Blitz and the psychological impact of such upheaval. Rather, the children's plight is one small portion of a much larger, and more complex novel. Without some of the extraneous characters and story offshoots, The Very Thought of You would have been a compelling reader. Instead, it tries too hard to define love and belonging. It is not a horrible novel, but there is an element of redundancy to it that is disappointing, as I do not feel Ms. Alison was breaking new ground in any way but rather rehashing old facts and philosophies about love and happiness. She falls short in making it a fresh perspective, and the reader is left disappointed.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Atria Books Galley Grab for this review copy!

REVIEW - Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde

Title: Something Rotten

Author: Jasper Fforde

Narrator: Emily Gray

Audiobook Length: 12 hours, 27 minutes

Synopsis (Courtesy of Powell's Books):

"Detective Thursday Next has had her fill of her responsibilities as the Bellman in Jurisfiction, enough with Emperor Zhark's pointlessly dramatic entrances, outbreaks of slapstick raging across pulp genres, and hacking her hair off to fill in for Joan of Arc. Packing up her son, Friday, Thursday returns to Swindon accompanied by none other than the dithering Danish prince Hamlet. Caring for both is more than a full-time job and Thursday decides it is definitely time to get her husband Landen back, if only to babysit. Luckily, those responsible for Landen's eradication, The Goliath Corporation — formerly an oppressive multinational conglomerate, now an oppressive multinational religion — have pledged to right the wrong.

But returning to SpecOps isn't a snap. When outlaw fictioneer Yorrick Kaine seeks to get himself elected dictator, he whips up a frenzy of anti-Danish sentiment and demands mass book burnings. The return of Swindon's patron saint bearing divine prophecies could spell the end of the world within five years, possibly faster if the laughably terrible Swindon Mallets don't win the Superhoop, the most important croquet tournament in the land. And if that's not bad enough, The Merry Wives of Windsor is becoming entangled with Hamlet. Can Thursday find a Shakespeare clone to stop this hostile takeover? Can she prevent the world from plunging into war? Can she vanquish Kaine before he realizes his dream of absolute power? And, most important, will she ever find reliable child care?"

Thoughts: In Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde ties together all of the loose ends that remain outstanding from the previous novels to create a thrilling story that retains all of the humor and literary mentions that make the series so memorable. Flashing forward two years from the last time the reader sees Thursday, it does take more than a few pages for the reader to adjust to the jump in time. In fact, I had to double-check to make sure I did not skip a novel because I was so surprised to find out that Friday Next was two years old instead of a newborn or still in utero. Once the reader adjusts to the jump in time, the rest of the novel falls into place quite quickly.

There is so much to love in all of Mr. Fforde’s novels, but the reader gets the impression that he was truly on top of his game when writing Something Rotten. There is so that requires laughing out loud, from the caddish patron saint of Swindon to the Superhoop championship. Yet, Something Rotten is not without its more serious moments as well. There is a delicate balance between the humor and the drama, and Mr. Fforde walks this line with aplomb. In fact, the dramatic moments were more poignant and powerful because of the levity of the rest of the novel.

Emily Gray was not quite as bad a narrator as I remembered her to be. Her ability to vocalize Thursday’s wry wit makes the audio productions so worthwhile. Her biggest fault lies in her performance of the male voices in the novel. These remain a weak area for her, as each male character ends up sounding the same - somewhat dopey and unpolished. In a novel that builds its humor upon subtleties, her inability to vocalize male characters in a more erudite fashion is a disappointment and detraction from the overall story.

In spite of the weaknesses of the narrator’s performance, Something Rotten remains the strongest in the Thursday Next series to date. Thursday is on top of her game, trying to outwit Goliath and Yorrick Kaine, uneradicate her husband, and prevent the world from ending...again. Fforde excels at tongue-in-cheek humor, and the laughs are almost non-stop. The impression the reader gets is that Something Rotten was meant to be the last book in the series. If this is true, then it definitely would have ended on a high note. This is a true must-read for fans of the series.

Acknowledgements: I purchased this from Audible.

REVIEW - Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell

Title: Once Upon a River

Author: Bonnie Jo Campbell

Synopsis (Courtesy of Powell's Books):

"Bonnie Jo Campbell has created an unforgettable heroine in sixteen-year-old Margo Crane, a beauty whose unflinching gaze and uncanny ability with a rifle have not made her life any easier. After the violent death of her father, in which she is complicit, Margo takes to the Stark River in her boat, with only a few supplies and a biography of Annie Oakley, in search of her vanished mother.

But the river, Margo's childhood paradise, is a dangerous place for a young woman traveling alone, and she must be strong to survive, using her knowledge of the natural world and her ability to look unsparingly into the hearts of those around her. Her river odyssey through rural Michigan becomes a defining journey, one that leads her beyond self-preservation and to the decision of what price she is willing to pay for her choices."

Thoughts: Bonnie Jo Campbell’s Once Upon a River is a poignant coming-of-age story without the normal trappings of such stories. Margo Crane is very much a fish out of water, as the lone child in a very adult world. She struggles to make sense of the adults around her while finding peace and understanding of a world gone upside-down.

The one constant in Margo’s life is the Stark River, and her love for that constant flows much like the words over the page. Both meander, sometimes slowly, sometimes more rapidly, but always with a sense of purpose. It is an effective form of storytelling, as the plot never bogs down, as it so easily could. Rather, everything Margo faces in her search for her mother has its own sense of importance because it just one more stop along a journey.

Margo Crane is a conundrum. She is wise beyond her years in so many things, but the mistakes she makes, her longings and some of her hopes are very childlike. She is a girl who is forced to grow up too fast and is now struggling to adjust. The reader’s heart bleeds for some of the situations in which she finds herself. Ms. Campbell does not mince words or gloss over the rougher portions of Margo’s story, and the reader is an uncomfortably close witness to some horrific scenes. Still, Margo never gives up nor gives way to despair, as it would be so easy for her to do. She remains steadfast in her resoluteness and draws the reader’s admiration as a result.

There is a timelessness to Once Upon a River that adds to the overall story. Even in today’s world of constant connection, the isolation Margo feels is still plausible, and in fact, all too probable. Just because one is constantly connected to thousands of others through the Internet and social media does not mean that one is not alone. Margo exemplifies this in her journey.

Once Upon a River is a painful novel to read. Margo’s story is filled with painful and very difficult experiences for one so young. Yet, the reader walks away from the novel with a feeling of hope.Margo, in all of her naivety and desperation, is able to find a sense of happiness and belonging by remaining true to herself. The journey may be frightful, but she never makes the same mistake twice. Many an adult could stand to learn from Margo Crane.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Erin Lovett from W.W. Norton & Company for my review copy!

The Sunday Salon - September 18, 2011

Did everyone survive Book Blogger Appreciation Week? While "Inside Michelle's Brain" did not win for Best Feature or Series of Posts, Armchair BEA did as the Best Blogging Event for 2011! A huge thank you to everyone who voted and to my fellow co-creators and this year's organizers for a job well done. It was an amazing week both as a founder and as a participant, and I remain proud to be associated with it. Thank you all again!

Last week, I thought long and hard about posting my thoughts/feelings on the events of September 11, 2001. I did not want to bombard people with yet another post, but I felt that the day needed to be recognized as something other than just another Sunday. I opted for something very simple because I realized that was all I could handle. Watching the memorial services on Sunday and the news coverage in the days leading up to the anniversary was almost more than I could bear. I was blown away by how raw that day still is to me. I tear up at the images and was a blubbering mess during the moments of silence during the memorial services. The terror, uncertainty, shock, and fear I experienced that day ten years ago remain just as strong for me today. It definitely will be a day which I will never be able to forget.

I am going to keep this short this week, as the three-day quarterly sales meeting and late nights reading BBAW goodness felled me quite hard on Thursday. What started as exhaustion, which is typical for the sales meetings, turned into a sore throat and congestion on Friday, and by Saturday morning, I felt like I had wrestled with a semi-truck and lost. Fevers, joint and muscle pain, congestion, exhaustion, sore throat, and general malaise kept me in bed yesterday. I don't have any plan to move much farther than the couch today. With seven reviews to write, and bills to pay, I hope I can keep it together long enough to cross a few things off my to-do list!

Have a great remainder of the weekend, everyone. Happy reading!

BBAW 2011 - Bloggers

Today is our last day together celebrating the world of book blogging for another year. I hope you all achieved a level of appreciation for our fabulous community and was able to reenergize yourself with all the blogging love.

The world of blogging is continually changing. Share 3 things you find are essential tried and true practices for every blogger and 1-3 new trends or tools you’ve adopted recently or would like to in the future.

Ah, trends in book blogging - a theme near and dear to my heart this year! My first and essentially only tried and true practice for blogging is the idea that there are no rules to blogging. Depending on what you hope to get out of blogging, there are some tricks of the trade that can make your life easier, but they should in no way, shape or form be adopted by every single book blogger out there. Blogging will always be a hobby for a large majority of us, and hobbies should never be stressful or tiring and should remain fun. Do what feels right for you, from your blog design to your posts to the books you read and the reviews you write. If you do this, then you will never get tired or experience burnout. It took me over two years to come to this realization, and I am a much happier blogger now as a result.

As for trends or tools I want to start adopting, I am a huge proponent of Google documents. It has kept my TBR pile manageable, which is saying something when it contains over 450 books. I have different tabs to track those unread books I've purchased versus those that are review copies versus those I requested and still have yet to receive. I also distinguish between e-books and audiobooks. My file also allows me to sort through the lists so that I can quickly find which review book is next on my list to read and review, when a book was/is being published, and so forth. I can also keep track of those books for which I still need to write reviews. The fact that I can access this document wherever I have a wi-fi connection thanks to smartphones and my NookColor is a huge bonus. It may take a bit of work to set up initially, but it is SO worth it in the end. It isn't a new tool, but it is one upon which I rely the most!

Thank you to everyone for making this week such a blast! I am proud to be a member of the Book Blogging community!!

BBAW 2011 - Readers

Book bloggers blog because we love reading. Has book blogging changed the way you read? Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging? How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits? Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging? Choose any one of these topics and share your thoughts today!

Let's face it - most of us would have never started blogging about books if we didn't love to read. Blogging is definitely a twenty-first century phenomenon that finally allows like-minded individuals to come together and share in their love of books. At no other point in history would this have been possible to such a degree as has been allowed due to the advent of the Internet age. Book blogging opens up a world of possibilities to those who are interested, from exposure to entirely new canons, genres, authors, and the like, to gushing about the latest YA love triangle with a fellow blogger halfway across the world from you. We have the power to change lives and careers, and it can be a heady experience.

Before I started blogging, I never knew which of the new books were worth reading, so I stuck with classics, Nora Roberts, and Anne Rice. My entire literary exposure revolved around those two present-day authors and authors long since dead. This always meant that I was struggling to find my next read and had a relatively small library of carefully selected books, only a handful of which remained unread. I never discussed books with other people because of a lasting trauma at being ridiculed for being a bookworm as a child. Reading was never considered cool, and it was a lesson from school that stuck with me for decades. It didn't prevent me from reading, but I learned to keep it my "shameful" secret.

I have been blogging for over two years now, and things have definitely changed! My library has grown 400 percent, with a majority of them unread. I now know which books are going to be big, which ones are sleeper hits, and which ones I need to avoid at all costs, well in advance of them ever hitting the shelves. I no longer read just classics, Nora Roberts or Anne Rice. In fact, while I continue to read a classic a month, I haven't picked up a Nora Roberts or Anne Rice novel in almost three years. I am no longer ashamed to say that I read voraciously and relish handing out my blog business cards to as many people as possible. I am proud to be a book blogger, proud of the confidence I have built as a result of blogging and the voice I now have. I love each and every blogging friend gained over the past two-plus years because they have all made me a better person in some way. Book blogging literally changed my life.

BBAW 2011 - Community Part II

After yesterday's love fest, you'd think I would be tired of all this, but I find these events so invigorating. Today's theme builds upon the idea of community.

The world of book blogging has grown enormously and sometimes it can be hard to find a place. Share your tips for finding and keeping community in book blogging despite the hectic demands made on your time and the overwhelming number of blogs out there. If you’re struggling with finding a community, share your concerns and explain what you’re looking for–this is the week to connect!

How does one define community in such a context? For me, after two years of an ever-expanding feed reader and blogroll, I had to redefine my own definition of community to include only those blogs with whom I had a true affinity. If I found myself skimming through a majority of a blog's posts or even marking all as read, then it was removed from my reader. As a result, I feel a closer bond with those remaining blogs because I know that I will actually comment on these blogs. Even if I don't, I know that they will provide me ample fuel for my growing wish list, honest and thoughtful reviews, and greater appreciation for the wide world of books. They are my own little community.

Still, I would absolutely love the chance to meet more bloggers face-to-face. I would love to create just as strong an Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana Book Blogging community as exists in Utah. I crave more get-togethers with like-minded adults and harbor secret dreams of creating a real-life book club filled with fellow bloggers. If anyone lives in the tri-state area and is interested, please let me know!

In the meantime, I will continue to check out new bloggers in an effort to find the next kindred spirit and member of my little community. It's my own solution to the overwhelming number of blogs out there!

BBAW 2011 - Blogger Interviews

This is always a favorite of every BBAW, a chance to learn more about each other beyond reviews and other posts. The diversity of our group never fails to amaze me, and it is such a privilege to learn more about the individuals in our wonderful, albeit extremely large, group!

This year, I have the good fortune of presenting to you Jehara from Quirky Girls Read. One look at her individual posts and autobiography, and I knew I had found another kindred spirit. Her tastes are as eclectic as mine, as she calls out everything from Nora Roberts to Harry Potter. I loved the chance to get to know her a bit better and look forward to following her blog in the months and years to come!

The lovely Jehara!

Your site is a group site. I've always considered them to be fairly tricky, managing multiple personalities and egos.What made you start one?

Books were starting to take over my personal blog, but I wanted to keep that one the way it was and decided to create a proper home for book blogging. I had originally planned on maintaining a separate book blog and did all the work to get it set up. Just as I was ready to launch it, Molly posted about group blogging for her blogging tips feature. I was super inspired by that post and decided that instead of maintaining a book blog by myself, I would make it a group blog. The beauty is that there is a variety of content and I don’t have to write every day. I knew it would be a lot of work to maintain two blogs and I wanted the book blog to have a proper presence in the book blogging world. I think it is much more fun having other people be a part of it than if I had kept it as a solo project.

How did you go about picking those who would participate with you?

I chose people that I already had relationships with, people I knew that had a deep love for books and reading. Molly and I have been blog buddies for some time now. As it was her post that provided the initial inspiration, I definitely wanted her to be a part of it. Faith and Izzybella are two real life friends who have personal blogs and they are big time readers. I thought it would be fun to have them on board. Molly recommended Margot, with whom she had a personal relationship with, (so glad she did!!) and QGR was born. :)

How do you manage the site and the reviews?

Molly, Margot, Faith, and Izzy have assigned days for posting. I didn’t want people to feel overwhelmed as they already have their own blogs. So I asked for a minimum commitment of two posts a month. Some post twice, others have taken on other projects with the blog such as maintaining memes or taking on an extra posting day a month. I fill in the gaps where the others are not scheduled. We have a shared calendar on gmail so we can all see who is posting when. Everyone has access to the site so they can write and publish their own posts. We have agreed-upon guidelines for posting, content, etc. which is in our shared google documents for reference. Now that I have written that all out, it seems very organized, yes?

Any behind-the-scenes drama that occurs with multiple reviewers?

Oh no, not at all!!! We are a laid-back bunch. There has never been any issues. Everyone is willing to help out each other when anyone needs help covering posts when personal emergencies arise. Everyone has been great about participating as a group in blogging events such as Armchair BEA and now BBAW. I am so honored to host this group of women.

Even though you all have various interests, do you ever find yourself wanting to review the same books? How do you manage this?

So far this really hasn’t come up. I have been reading more books that my fellow QGR-ers have reviewed because of their reviews, but I opt out of reviewing those books. One time Izzybella and I did a double review of a book we read at the same time. I read it right after she did based on her recommendation. I loved it so much that I wanted to share my thoughts on it. That was really fun to do. Our reading is so varied that this doesn’t seem to be an issue for us.

Are there any differences between solo blogging and group blogging that surprised you?

I don’t know that there is anything that surprised me about it. I am enjoying it as much as I thought I would. I really like being a part of a group effort. I like the variety it brings, the cross-section of readers it brings, and the exposure to new things.

We have very similar tastes in literature, especially the interest in vampires, werewolves, and witches.
How do you feel about this trend now?

I really enjoy paranormal subject matter so it is nice that there are so many books to choose from. The downside is that because there are so many, there are going to be more mediocre books so I am much more discerning about which ones I read than I was as an adolescent. At that time there weren’t nearly as many so I pretty much got my hands on whatever I could at the time.

In your opinion, has the quality of these themes remained as high as a few years ago? Why or why not?

Hmmm. I think there are still some good books coming out; however, there is a bit of an oversaturation of the market. There are more mediocre books out there, but I’d say that is because there are more books out there period in this genre, as is the case with any genre.

Have we reached critical mass yet? Will novels about vampires, werewolves and witches ever get old? Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing?

I don’t know if we have reached critical mass yet. It will probably ebb at some point, but I think there will always be books about the paranormal being published. There may come a time where there aren’t as many being published as there are now. I, for one, will keep reading as people keep writing. As for too much of a good thing, there can be sometimes, in terms of reading too many vampire books in a row. Although, I don’t want the stories to stop being imagined. I just have to pace my reading. :)

In your autobiography on your site, you mention your previous shame about reading and loving YA. Do you think that bloggers were the reasons for you overcoming your embarrassment or was it something else?

Part of it was befriending Izzy and Faith and realizing they love YA too. That was the first a-ha moment. Then when I discovered book bloggers, yes, absolutely, I realized I was not the only who had an ongoing love for YA even though I am no longer in that specific age group. ;)

Why do you think YA has become so popular these days? Are they truly better than adult fiction?

I don’t think YA is better than adult fiction. I read plenty of adult fiction as well. I just really really enjoy YA stories. Part of it could be that I will never stop relating to that adolescent self. Another part is that I still follow the YA authors that I loved as an adolescent. And another part doesn’t want to miss out on the great YA books that are being released now. Hmm, let’s just say I am unbiased in my reading.

You mention that your mother taught you to read at the age of three. Is everyone in your family such avid readers?

I would have to say the women in my family are. My mom is a big reader and definitely passed that love to me. My sister also reads quite a bit. We continually give each other recommendations. For instance, I got her hooked on Blue Bloods. She got me hooked on Vampire Academy.

What do they think of your blogging? Do they follow you? Would you ever consider letting them become a part of Quirky Girls Read?

Um, actually, my family is unaware of my blogging. . . I started my personal blog anonymously using an alias and only told a few choice people about it. And because I use the same handle for book blogging I haven’t really clued in anyone beyond the few choice people.

I adore the name of your blog and love the fact that you have highlighted the quirks of the individual reviewers. What made you opt for that as a brand?

When I was originally going to do a book blog as a solo project I decided on the name Quirky Girl Reads because I am a quirky girl and it seemed catchy and concise. Once I brought others on board I offered to take suggestions for the name, but everyone liked the name I had already picked so I just added the letter s to the end. :)

What have you learned about blogging, especially group blogging, that you would like to share with your fellow book bloggers? Anything else you would like to share?

Well, having other people holding me accountable I definitely stick to my schedule better than I do with my personal blog! Being a part of something bigger than me motivates and inspires me; it makes me feel braver to dream bigger for the blog.

Thank you, Jehara, for providing such interesting insight to the world of group blogging. I feel privileged to have been partnered with someone with such similar interests.

Please take the time to give Jehara some love and check out her awesome group blog, Quirky Girls Read!