Book Haul~My Birthday Week!

HUGE!!!  At least, I think so...  This was a great birthday present week opening a plethora of books from wonderful publishers and authors.  I was especially excited to receive the book from St. Martin's Press by Barbara Delinsky and will tell you why below.  Ten books in a week is hard to miss by my poor postman!  Here is a summary:

 

SUMMARY :

 

On Quinnipeague, hearts open under the summer stars and secrets float in the Sweet Salt Air...

Charlotte and Nicole were once the best of friends, spending summers together in Nicole's coastal island house off of Maine. But many years, and many secrets, have kept the women apart. A successful travel writer, single Charlotte lives on the road, while Nicole, a food blogger, keeps house in Philadelphia with her surgeon-husband, Julian. When Nicole is commissioned to write a book about island food, she invites her old friend Charlotte back to Quinnipeague, for a final summer, to help. Outgoing and passionate, Charlotte has a gift for talking to people and making friends, and Nicole could use her expertise for interviews with locals. Missing a genuine connection, Charlotte agrees.

But what both women don't know is that they are each holding something back that may change their lives forever. For Nicole, what comes to light could destroy her marriage, but it could also save her husband. For Charlotte, the truth could cost her Nicole’s friendship, but could also free her to love again. And her chance may lie with a reclusive local man, with a heart to soothe and troubles of his own.

Bestselling author and master storyteller Barbara Delinsky invites you come away to Quinnipeague…

Sent by St. Martin's Press this week, and I was never so surprised when I opened the package!  Barbara and I are old friends from the days when I lived in Wellesley, MA.  We were in the same very close book group where we gathered and read some wonderful books for over 20 years.  Barbara is a fabulous person and friend, so I'm very much looking forward to reading and reviewing this latest book from her.  We haven't been in touch for a handful of years.  So excited!

 Overview: 

With the twenty-first century just a distant memory and the world in environmental chaos, many people have lost the will to live.

Business is brisk at The Suicide Shop. Run by the Tuvache family, the shop offers a variety of ways to end it all, with something to fit every budget.

The Tuvaches go mournfully about their business until the youngest member of the family threatens to destroy their contented misery by confronting them with something they've never encountered before: a love of life.

This one sounds fun, don't you think?  It's supposed to be a "black comedy."  I'm looking forward to this quick read.  Sent by a UK publisher:  Gallic Books, and written by a French author.  Should be interesting!

SUMMARY :

Like most gentiles in Nazi-occupied Paris, architect Lucien Bernard has little empathy for the Jews. So when a wealthy industrialist offers him a large sum of money to devise secret hiding places for Jews, Lucien struggles with the choice of risking his life for a cause he doesn't really believe in. Ultimately he can't resist the challenge and begins designing expertly concealed hiding spaces—behind a painting, within a column, or inside a drainpipe—detecting possibilities invisible to the average eye. But when one of his clever hiding spaces fails horribly and the immense suffering of Jews becomes incredibly personal, he can no longer deny reality.

A holocaust story that really appeals to me from an architects perspective.  I've often wondered how they found ways 'midst the old houses to hide Jews from the Nazis...and how gentiles came to grips with really risking their lives.  I think this is going to be a fresh look at those issues.  I'm appreciative to Sourcebooks for sending this copy.

OVERVIEW :

On a summer’s night in 1955, CIA agent Michael Suslov is summoned to a secret vault in the heart of Buenos Aires. His mission: transport the corpse of Eva Peron to a new hiding place in the wake of her husband’s fall from power. But before Michael can comply, everything goes tragically, horribly wrong…
 

Sixteen years later, Michael Suslov is a ghost of a man, an ex-government agent living off the radar—and the only soul alive who knows where Evita is buried. When an old friend from Argentine Military Intelligence appeals to him for help bringing the body home, Michael agrees, hoping this final mission will quiet the demons from his past. But he’s not the only one on a recovery mission: two rogue CIA agents are tracking him, desperate to unearth Evita before Michael does—and to claim the secret millions they believe she took to her grave.

Based on a little-known yet fascinating true story, Blood Makes Noise is a brilliant examination of the power of the dead over the lives of the living.

I have loved to hear stories about Eva Peron "Evita" since I saw the play about her in the 1980's...(has it been that long?)   She was such a controversial figure in history, but so evocative.  I'm very interested in this book.  Many thanks to the author, Gregory Widen, for sending this book to me!

SUMMARY :

William and Louisa Day are a suburban husband and wife, with no children, confronting the question of what their relationship means to them and if and how it will survive. One day, after weeks of bizarre behavior—disappearing in the middle of parties, hoarding mail—Louisa approaches William with a stark request: "I want you to build us a house." Caught off guard, William is suddenly forced to reckon with his own hopes and desires, his growing discomfort at home and work, and, in the end, his wife's fight-or-flight ultimatum. The result is an emotionally powerful novel, marked by Ben Greenman's trademark blend of yearning and mordant wit.


I don't know about you, but I love a good suburban story that's twisted by a couple that's dissatisfied with each other!  LOL   Can't wait for this one, although it may be the fall before I get to it!  Sent by Harper Collins...Thanks, Harper!!!

SUMMARY :

It's 1983 in Berkeley, California. Twenty-year-old Allie Dodgson is a straitlaced college student working part-time at a dress shop to make ends meet. But when the shop turns out to be a front for a dangerous drug-dealing business, Allie finds herself on the lam, speeding toward Los Angeles in her best friend's Prelude with a Wonder Bread bag full of cocaine riding shotgun and a hit man named Vice Versa on her tail. You can't find a more thrilling summer read!

Obviously, one I have to get to this summer...  This sounds so good.  Can you imagine having to run with a bag of cocaine?  I can't.  Too scary.  One of the reviewers says it's "heart-wrenching and hilarious."  So, I'm interested...   Another thanks goes out to Harper Perennials/Harper Collins for this one!

OVERVIEW :

Commissioned Investigators Atticus and Lucie Fox are summoned to an estate in remote Northumberland where a series of bizarre, grisly deaths appear to centre on the delusions of a madman who lives alone on the edge of the moors. Close by are the remains of a long-vanished castle where local legends say King Arthur still lies in an enchanted sleep, waiting to be awoken at a time of great need. The killings have all been committed using Arthurian artefacts and the locals swear they have seen a ghostly knight in armour roaming the moors. But how can that be? This is 1890 and King Arthur died over thirteen-hundred years before…

I'm a complete sucker for King Arthur and any story about him and his knights in shining armour.  This, coupled with contemporary investigators caught my attention for a read and review.  I look forward to this one.  Sent to me by the author, Gary Dolman, and Thames River Press.  Thank you!

SUMMARY:

"As entertaining as it is original, this is a story to enjoy like a chocolate with a surprise centre."—Marie France

"An enjoyable trip into the heart of the 1980s."—Le Figaro

"Impossible to resist"—L'Express

This prize-winning French bestseller is a charming fable about the power of a hat that takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride through French life during the Mitterrand years.

Dining alone in an elegant Parisian brasserie, accountant Daniel Mercier can hardly believe his eyes when President François Mitterrand sits down to eat at the table next to him.

After the presidential party has gone, Daniel discovers that Mitterrand's black felt hat has been left behind. After a few moments' soul-searching, Daniel decides to keep the hat as a souvenir of an extraordinary evening. It's a perfect fit, and as he leaves the restaurant Daniel begins to feel somehow . . . different.

Has Daniel unwittingly discovered the secret of supreme power?

For two years the iconic item of headgear plays with the lives of the men and women who wear it, bringing them success that had previously eluded them. Antoine Laurain's brilliantly orchestrated tour captures entertaining portraits of a rich gallery of characters.

Shot through with a delicious, wicked sense of humor, The President's Hat is a vivid re-creation of the everyday life of an era.

Antoine Laurain was born in Paris. He is a writer, collector, and director of several short films.

Another French translation published by Gallic Books of London, this one is different from any I ordinarily read.  We have to see...  It's been compared to "The Elegance of the Hedgehog."


And,  there is also a book sent by the PR firm for Stockholm Press called "Me On The Floor, Bleeding" by Jenny Jagerfeld.  It's YA Fiction, and I have no cover picture for it at this time.   Here's the summary:

"A Unique Love Story with doses of splatter, farce, poetry, and psychological suspense, "Me, On The Floor, Bleeding" is a rare page-turner that will leave no one unaffected! 

High School outsider Maja would never hurt herself on purpose as her dad, teachers, and classmates seem to believe.  Can't a person saw off the tip of her thumb without everyone starting to worry?  That is, everyone except Maja's mum, who disturbingly seems to have disappeared from the face of earth."

SUMMARY :

Amanda Rosenbloom, proprietor of Astor Place Vintage, thinks she’son just another call to appraise and possibly purchase clothing from a wealthy, elderly woman. But after discovering a journal sewn into a fur muff, Amanda gets much more than she anticipated. The pages of the journal reveal the life of Olive Westcott, a young woman who had moved to Manhattan in 1907. Olive was set on pursuing a career as a department store buyer in an era when Victorian ideas, limiting a woman’s sphere to marriage and motherhood, were only beginning to give way to modern ways of thinking. As Amanda reads the journal, her life begins to unravel until she can no longer ignore this voice from the past. Despite being separated by one hundred years, Amanda finds she’s connected to Olive in ways neither could ever have imagined.

Very excited to read this one.  Nothing I like so much as vintage clothing and journals...and set in modern day Manhattan with flashbacks to the Victorian days is a grabber for me!  This is one sent by Simon & Schuster!  Thanks so much!!


So, there's the line-up of my latest 10 books in my birthday week book haul.  What say you????   Any new books in your week?

Which book don't you think you'd like to read?

Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

 

"Glastonbury: A Novel of the Holy Grail" by Donna Fletcher Crow ~ Historical Treat!

 

SUMMARY : 

GLASTONBURY
A Novel of The Holy Grail
New Release, Ebook Format

The Holy Grail lies somewhere in Glastonbury!
When Joseph of Arimathea and his little band of pilgrims sought asylum from Roman persecution they fled to Glastonbury—and carried with them the most sacred relic in all of Christendom.
This tiny, sheltered corner of Britannia—this holy "Isle of Avalon"—was also a place of refuge when King Arthur and his knights fought off the invading barbarian hoard. And it became Arthur's final resting place.
Centuries later, the discovery of Arthur's bones in Glastonbury sparked a great flowering of the faith and magnificent building—after a devastating fire nearly obliterated the work and worship of centuries.
Then, after the last abbot of Glastonbury was dragged to his death atop the Tor, the Abbey's splendid arches were left to crumble. Yet they stand today—as beacons of hope for the future.
Two millennia of history and legend intertwine around Glastonbury's broken arches. And through it all—through ages ancient and modern—the faithful have sought to answer the same question that Arthur asked: Where is the Holy Grail?

 

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Genre:  Fiction/Historical Fiction

Author:  Donna Fletcher Crow

Find her:  Donna

 

ABOUT DONNA :

 



 

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 36 books, mostly novels dealing with British history. The award-winning Glastonbury, an Arthurian grail search epic covering 15 centuries of English history, is her best-known work. A Very Private Grave, Book 1 in the Monastery Murders series, is her reentry into publishing after a 10-year hiatus. Book 2, A Darkly Hidden Truth, will be out this fall, and she is at work on Book 3, An Unholy Communion, scheduled for 2012.
The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries is a romantic intrigue series using literary figures as background: Dorothy L Sayers in The Shadow of Reality and Shakespeare in A Midsummer Eve's Nightmare.
Her newest release in the ebook field is Lord Danvers, a Victorian true crime series: A Most Inconvenient Death, Grave Matters, and To Dust You Shall Return.
The Daughters of Courage, Kathryn, Elizabeth and Stephanie is a pioneer family saga based on the stories of Donna's own family and other Idaho pioneers in the Kuna, Nampa and Boise area.
Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 10 grandchildren. Donna is remembered by Idahoans with long memories as a former Queen of the Snake River Stampede, Miss Rodeo Idaho and runner-up for Miss Rodeo America. She is an enthusiastic gardener.


THE BOOKISH DAME INTERVIEWS MS CROW :

Hello, again, Donna!  I'm so happy to have you visit "A Bookish Libraria" again with another of your exciting books.  Every time you come out with a new book I'm first in line to read it.  Thrilled to be interviewing you!  Let's get started~

Thank you so much, Deb. I’m delighted to be back with you. I absolutely loved my earlier visit to A Bookish Libraria! (http://ning.it/Kkl2kN)

 

1) First of all, please tell us a special something about what makes you "tick."  When you aren't writing, what are you doing? (Aside from being a mom)

 

Well, yes, being a wife, mom and grandmother is a huge part of the picture, but I suppose my passion for England has always been a major driving force of my life. My love for English history, literature and landscape certainly played a major part in my writing GLASTONBURY, A Novel of the Holy Grail.

 

2) You chose a specific genre, a place and time to write about, what made you choose it?

 

I can’t really say I chose to write an epic, that more just happened. I first envisioned a six-book series, then I read Edward Rutherfurd’s SARUM and saw how my story would work perfectly in that format.

 

As to place, so many things came together to make me focus on Glastonbury: my lifelong love of the Arthurian legends, my fascination with William Blake’s poem Jerusalem:

                        And did those feet in ancient times,

                        Walk on England's mountains green…

                        Till we have built Jerusalem

                        In England's green and pleasant land.

 

3) Bronte or Austen?  Hemingway or Hawthorne?  Why?

 

Austen, Austen, Austen! First last and always. Since I was a teenager. The delight of her humorous understatement, her wry observations of human nature, the wonderful people she creates, the peace and beauty of her world. . .

 

Actually, I’ve just returned from doing an extensive research trip to the places where Jane lived. It will serve as background for my next Elizabeth & Richard Mystery.

 

4) In your opinion, what makes a book a great one?

 

I choose my books first of all for their background. I want a well-developed setting so that I can feel that I am there— living the story with the characters. I need the author’s style to have a flow to it that doesn’t pull me out of the fictive dream. That is the experience I strive to deliver for my readers as well.

 

5) Which author(s) most influenced your love of books from childhood? 

 

I was an only child growing up on a farm so I simply read everything I got my hands on, starting with HEIDI, BAMBI, THE BOBBSEY TWINS. . . It was really discovering the English classics, though that fired my passion. Starting, oddly, with WUTHERING HEIGHTS (which I still don’t understand), then Dickens, George Eliot, and the sublime Jane.

 

6) Read any good books in the past 6 months?

 

A JANE AUSTEN EDUCATION by William Deresiewicz was the best nonfiction I read. I enjoyed returning to an old favorite Barbara Pym with EXCELLENT WOMEN, I’m currently reading an excellent historical crime novel HANGMAN BLIND by Cassandra Clark.

 

7) Choose 4 guests from any era for dinner.  Who would they be and what would you choose for a topic of conversation?

 

Well, no surprise here, they would all be English authors: Jane Austen, Barbara Pym, G. K. Chesterton, and C. S. Lewis. I would sit back and let them talk about their lives and their writing. And if I could ask one more just to drop by for dessert I would love to have it all punctuated by Oscar Wilde’s ascerbic wit.

 

8) Which of your characters is most like you?

 

Well, since GLASTONBURY covers 1500 years of English history, there’s quite a range to choose from. Perhaps I could claim some small kinship with Marie de France since she chose to live in England and wrote about some of the same subjects I cover in GLASTONBURY, such as Arthurian legends and Saint Patrick.

 

9) If you could cast your book for a movie, who would you choose?

 

Derek Jacobi would be wonderful as Austin Ringwode, whom history tells us was the last monk of Glastonbury. It is his searching for the Holy Grail that gives my story its structure.

Hmmm— Kenneth Branaugh or Jude Law for King Arthur? Definitely Kiera Knightly  for Guenivere. If this were to be filmed it would truly be “a cast of thousands.”

 

10) Worst habit you have?

 

Hoarding. My mother was a child of the depression and always believed in keeping something “because we might need it.” Of course, it often turns out that I do need it— but can I find it??

 

11) How much research did you do before and during writing?

 

In a sense GLASTONBURY is the product of a lifetime of research and reading because I literally grew up on the tales of King Arthur. Before the actual writing I took an extensive research trip to all the places I write about, especially Glastonbury, Tintagel, Dozmary Pool, Hadrian’s Wall, Caerleon. . .

 

The writing itself took three years and I was continuing my research for each section: Celtic, Roman, Arthurian, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Tudor through all that time.

 

12) Psychologists tell us the thing we think we'd most like to grow up to be when we're ten years old is our avocation.  What did you want to be?

 

It’s true that I always loved to read and write, but mostly I wanted to be a rodeo queen— which I was: Miss Rodeo Idaho and runner-up to Miss Rodeo America.

 

 

 

Thank you, Donna.  I always love your answers to interview questions.  You're the most fun!  Good luck with your new book...I just know you have another one brewing.  I'm anxiously awaiting it.

 

5 stars for all of Donna Fletcher Crow's books

 

You can find them on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

 

Deborah/TheBookishDame